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A WEEKEY
[ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
VOEUM Eee XVIT.
NOVEMBER 1882 to APRIL 1883
“ To the solid ground
Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WoRDSWORTH
Vondon and slew Zork:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
»QO 4
1003
LONDON :
R, CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C.
« ~
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
LN DEX
ABERCROMBY (Hon. R.), the Aurora and its Spectrum, 173
Abney (Capt. W. de W., F.R.S.), Work in the Infra-red of
the Spectrum, 15
Acetate of Soda, Heating by, 344
Acta Mathematica, 180
Adamson (Chas. Murray), “ Another Book of Scraps principally
relating to Natural History,” 480
Aérolite near Alfianello, 496
Aéronautics, see Balloons
Africa: Joseph Thomson’s Expedition, 21; H. M. Stanley’s
Report of his Expedition, 21; Milan Society's Expedition,
230; Lieut. Wissmann’s Expedition, 348; Wissmann and
Pogge’s Expedition, 401 : Central and West, H. Capello and
R. Ivens, 391; Ethnology of North, Prof. A. H. Keane,
408; ‘‘ Afrika’s Strome und Fliisse,” Dr. J. Chavanne, 447 ;
“ Africana,” Rev. D. Macdonald, 526; Dr. Emil Holub’s
New Expedition, 542
Agram, Earthquakes at, 348
Agricultural Students’ Gazette, 230
Agriculture in Madras, 607
Aino Ethnology, Dr. J. J. Rein, 365; Prof. A. H. Keane, 389
Ainos, Bear Festival among the, 19
Air, Elasticity of, M. Kraevitch, 183
Air, on the Movements of, in Fissures and the Barometer, A.
Strahan, 375, 461
Air-pump, Double-action Mercury, Serrawalle, 324
Airy (Sir G. B., F.R.S.), on the proposed Forth Bridge, 131 ;
C. S. Smith, 99; B. Baker, 222
Airy (Dr. Hubert), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 86 ; Hover-
ing of Birds, 294, 336, 388, 412; Soaring of Birds, 590
Albuminous Bodies, on the Isomerism of, Shigetaké Sagiura,
103 |
Aldis (Prof. W. Steadman), “Introductory Treatise on Rigid |
Dynamics,” 265 ; the Sea Serpent, 338
Aletia xylina in United States, Hibernation of, Dr. C. V. Riley,
214
Aleutian Islands, Fauna and Flora of, 520
Alfianello, Aérolite near, 496
Algze in Paleozoic Strata, Invertebrate’ Casts verses, 46
Algze, Fossil, Marquis de Saporta, 514
Algeria, Projet de Mer Intérieure dans I’, 133; an Algerian
Winter Resort for Gout and Rheumatic Patients, 113; Heavy
Rains in, 229
Allen (Grant), Prof. Owen on Primitive Man, 31; the Shapes |
of Leaves, 439, 464, 492, 511, 552; F. O. Bower, 552; |
| Athens, Dr. Schliemann’s proposed Excavations at, 276
Leaves and their Environment, 604
Almanac, the Churchman’s, for Eight Centuries, 386
Altai Exploration Expedition, 161
Altitude and Weather, Dr. Woeikoff, 223
Aluminium, New Method of Producing, Morris, 183
Amateurs and Astronomical Observation, W. F. Denning, 434
America: American Naturalist, 24, 189, 450; American Jour- | !
| Auerbach, Sound-Vibrations of Solid Bodies (glass cylinders) in
nal of Science, 71, 450, 521; American Journal of Forestry,
89 ; Mathematics in, J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., 193; Ame-
rican Researches on Water Analysis, 211; American Antiqui-
ties, Prof. F. W. Putnam, 277; Ensilage in, Prof. James E.
T. Rogers, Prof. J. Wrightson, 479; Proceedings of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Prof.
T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 501 ; Evolution of the American Trot- |
ting Horse, W. H. Brewer, 609 ; see a/so United States, &c.
Amsterdam, Earthquake at, 517
“Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings,” by Dr. Munro, Sir John
Lubbock, M.P., F.R.S., 145
Ancient Monuments, Worthington G, Smith, 182
Andernach, Discovery of Remains of Prehistoric Animals at, |
445
Anderson (Dr. J., F.R.S.), Catalogue of Mammalia in Calcutta
Museum, 172
Anemometric Observations on the Djighzt, Domojiroff, 445
Animal Intelligence, Dr. Fritz Miiller, 240; J. G. Grenfell,
292; J. Birmingham, 337; Dr. J. Rae, F.R.S., 366; D.
Pidgeon, 366
Animals, Protection of, International Congress for, 444; Bene-
volence in, Oswald Fitch, 580; Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S.,
607 ; on the Sense of Colour amongst some of the Lower,
Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 618
Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 143, 281, 330, 450
Annonay Montgolfier Celebration, 517
‘¢ Another Book of Scraps,” C. M. Adamson, 480
Antarctic Expedition, New Italian, 230
Anthropology, an Urgent Need in, W. L. Distant, ror ; of the
Jews, B. Blechmann, 113; Anthropological Institute, 119,
191, 215, 307, 332, 426, 475; Anthropo-Geographie,. Dr. F.
Ratzel, 125; Notes in the Solomon Islands, H. b, Guppy, 607
Antinori (Marchese O.), Death of, 132
Apatite, on a Fine Specimen of, from Tyrol, lately in the pos-
session of Mr. Samuel Henson, 608
Arabians, Nautical Matters among Medizval, 42
Aradas (Prof. Andrea), Death of, 160
Arc Lamp, Lever’s, 274
Archegosaurus, Indian, R. Lydekker, 411
Archene, Earthquake at, 277
Archibald (E. Douglas) : Shadows after Sunset, 77 ; Increase in
Velocity of Wind with Altitude, 243; Diurnal Variations in
the Velocity of the Wind, 461; Stevenson’s Observations on
Increase of Velocity of the Wind with the Altitude, 506
Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, 93, 143, 306,
473
Arctic Expedition, New Swedish, 400
Arctic Voyaging, Season of 1882 exceptionally adverse to, 372
Argentine, Description Physique ,de la République, d’apres des
Observations Personnelles et Etrangeres, Dr. H. Burmeister,
28
Argyll (Duke of): Mimicry in Moths, 125 ; Transit of Venus,
156; Hovering of Birds, 312, 387; Metamorphic Origin of
Granite—Prehistoric ‘‘ Giants,” 578
Arithmetic, Elementary Chemical, Sidney Lupton, 76
Armour-plate Experiments, Recent, 405
Asia (Central), Dr. Regel’s Explorations in, 446
Asphyxiation in Rapid Falling, 62
Association for Improvement of Geometrical Teaching, 246,
299, 580 ;
Astronomy: Astronomical Column, 20, 43, 161, 210, 248, 300,
324, 348, 374, 400, 424, 445, 497, 517, 540, 567, 589, 617;
Methods employed in Astronomical Physics, M. Wolf, 372;
Amateurs and Astronomical Observation, W. F. Denning,
434; Astronomical Photography, Edward C., Pickering, 556
** Atlantis,” a Search for, with the Microscope, Dr. Arch.
Geikie, F.R.S., 25
Atmosphere, Pollution of the, J. J. Murphy, 241 ;
Phillips, 127, 266
Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, 354
Auden (A. W.), ‘‘ The Vampire Bat,” 411
Wale. wae
Contact with Liquid, 325
Aurora Borealis: Prof. Lemstrém’s Experiments with, 322;
Sophos Tromholt, 394 ; in Sweden, 496
Aurore : C. L. Wragge, 54; Prof. Herbert McLeod, Rey. C.
J. Taylor, Rev. S. H. Saxby, 99; A. Batson, 99; J. Rand
Capron, 149, 413; J. J. Murphy, 434; at Gastemiinde, 374 ;
Swan Lamp Spectrum and the, J. Rand Capron, 149; Swan
Lamp Spectrum and, J. Munro, 173; Aurora of November
17, Admiral Ommanney, F.R.S., Prof. Tacchini, J. R.
Capron, W. M. F. Petrie, H. D. Taylor, E. Pollock, J. F.
Cole, A. Batson, F. R. Clapham, T. W. Backhouse, Prof.
L. G. Carpenter, 138 ¢o 142; T. W. Backhouse, W. M. F.
Petrie, Dr. H. Muirhead, 315 ; Aurore in Sweden, 113; in
Belgium, 160; Aurora and its Spectrum, Hon. R. Aber-
cromby, 173; J. R. Capron, 198; the Heights of Auroras,
T. W. Backhouse, 198; Auroral Meteoric Phenomena of
November 17, 1882, Dr. Groneman, 388; T. W. Backhouse,
412; A. Batson, 412; Auroral Experiments in Finland, S.
Lemstrom, 389; Rowell’s Experiments on Aurore, 443
A2
1v INDEX
Avalanche in ieee Sw itzerland, r8t
Ayrton (Prof. W. E.), Electric Railways, 255
Bacillus of Tuberculosis (Koch), Preliminary Note on the, J.
W. Clark, 492 ; Watson Cheyne’s Report on, 563
Backhouse (Thos. W.), Comet 1882 4, 52, 338; Aurora of
povember 17, 1882, 141, 315, 415; the Heights of Auroras,
19
Baillie-Grohman (W. A.), ‘‘ Camps in the Rockies,” 551
Baird’s Hare and its Habits, 241 ; ‘[. Martyr, 266
Baker (B.), Sir Geo. Airy on the Forth Bridge, 222
Balkan Peninsula, Earthquake in the Northern Part of, 19
Ball (Dr. R. S.), Transit of Venus, 157; Great Tides, 201
Balloons: Centenary of the Discovery of, 277; Tissandier’s
Electromagnetic Engine for directing, 323; Extraordinary
Run of a small Hydrogen, 400; Electricity as a Motive
Power for, Napoli, 517
Baltic, Seals in the, 133
Baluchistan, Wanderings in, Major-General Sir C. M. Mac-
Gregor, Prof. A. H. Keane, 359
Barfoot (W.), the Sea-Serpent, 338
Barkas (T. P.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurore, 87 ; an Extra-
ordinary Lunar Halo, 103
Baro-manometrical Experiments, Kraevit=ch, 324
Barometer, on the Movements of Air in Fissures and the,
A. Strahan, 375, 461
Batson (A.), Auroral ‘‘ Meteoric Phenomena”’
1882, 100, 141, 412
Bavaria, Lower, Discoveries of Gold and Silver in, 399
Baxter College in Dundee, 247
Bear Festival among the Ainos, 19
Bees, Senses of, 46
Beetles, ‘‘ Die Kafer Westfalens,”’ F. Westhoff, 239
Belgrade, Skeleton of Mammoth found at, 63
Bellesme (Prof. J. de), on Claude Bernard, 317
Benevolence in Animals, Oswald Fitch, 580; Geo. J. Romanes,
F.R.S., 607
Ben Nevis, Meteorological Observatory on, 18, 39, 175, 399;
411, 487
Bennett (A. W.), Nesting Habits of the Emu, 530
Berlin: Physical Society of, 95, 143, 216, 236, 284, 380, 403,
476, 571, 620; Physiological Society of, 120, 191, 216, 355,
379, 403, 452, 524, 595; Berlin Agricultural Museum, 180
Bernard (Claude), Prof. J. de Bellesme on, 317
Berson (M.), Magnetisation of Metals, 183
Bertillon (Dr.), Death of, 444
Bhamo, Colquhoun’s Journey to, 63
Bidwell (Shelford), ‘‘ Electrical Resistance of Carbon Coniacts,”
376
Binary Star, ¢ Cancri, 424
Binary Star, # Eridani, 589
Binary Stars, 518
Biology : in Italy, 46 ; Biological Notes, 91, 230; New Lantern
Slides for Illustrating Biology, 276; Deductive Biolog»,
W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., 554
Bird of Paradise, New Species of, 276
Bird-track by Sea-shore, apparent, 91
Birds, a History of British, Part xv., Wm. Yarrell, 98
Birmingham (John), Transit of Venus, 1882, British Expedition ,
180; Intelligence in Animals, 337
Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 587
Bischoff (Dr. T. L. W. von), Death of, 180
Blackheath, ‘‘ Denehole” at, 324
Blanford’s Sheep, 415
Blasius (Dr.), Fossil Souslik in Northern Germany, 247
Blastopore, Prof. F. M. Balfour on the Existence of a, 215
Blackman (B.), Anthropology of the Jews, 113
Bles (E. J.), a ‘‘ Natural” Experiment in Complementary
Colours, 241
Blomfield (Rev. L.): Ticks, 552; Helix pomatia, L., 553
“Blowing Wells,” 375
Bobenhausen Pile Dwellings, 160
Bohdalek (Dr.), Death of, 399
Bohemia, Earthquake in, 400
Bologna, Earthquake at, 445
Bombay, Deaths from Snake-bite in, Sir Joseph Fayrer, F.R.S.,
556
Bonney (Prof. T. G., F.R.S.) : Hornblendic and other Schists of
tthe Lizard District, 71; Proceedings of the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science, 501
Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, Report of the Royal, 114
of November 17,
[Nature, Fune 21, 1883
Botanical Garden, Saharunpur, 588
Botanical Year Book, Pringsheim’s, 502
Botany, Text Book of Morphological and Physiological, Julius
Sachs, Prof, E. P. Wrizht, 263
Botany of the Challenger Expedition, W. Botting Hemsley, 462
Bottomley (J. T.), Thomson’s Mouse: Mill Dynamo, 78 |
Boulger (Prof. G. S.), Epping Forest, 455
Bowditch (Dr. H. P.), Optical Illusions of Motion, 183
Bower (F. 0.), Mr, Grant Allen’s Articles on ‘‘ The Shapes of
Leaves,” 552
Braces or Waistband ? 531, 553, 580
3ranfill (B. R.), an Extraordinary Meteor, 149
Brassey (Sir Thomas), ‘‘ The British Navy; its Strength, Re-
sources, and Administration,” W. H. White, 549
Brault on Zsanemones, 20
Brewer, Distiller, and Wine Manufacturer, 311
Brewer (W. H.), Evolution of the American Trotting Horse,
609
British Association, Proposed Visit to Canada, 41, 88, 299, 398,
535, 546, 587; Protest against Meeting in Canada, 209 ; and
Local Societies, 132
British Birds, a History of, Part xv., Wm. Yarrell, 98
British Circumpolar Expedition, Capt. Daw son, R.A., 484
“British Navy ; its Strength, Resources, ana Administration,’
Sir Thomas Brassey, W. H.W hite, 549
Britten (F. J.), Watch and Clockmaker’s Handbook, H. Dent
Gardner, 76
Brocklehurst (T. U.), ‘‘ Mexico To-day,” 503
Bronze Hatchets Discovered at Salez, 540
Brown (E.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 86; Meteor, 508;
the Zodiacal L ight (2), 605
Brown (J. Campbell), Practical Chemistry, 75
Brunton (Dr. T. Lauder, F.R.S.): on Inhibition (of Structural
Functions) and Ac ion of Drugs thereon, 419, 436, 467, 485 ;
Action of Calcium, &c., on Muscle, 450
Brussels Observatory, 445
Buchan (A.), Diurnal Variation of Wind on Open Sea and nea
and on Land, 413
Buckley (Arabella), Winners in Life’s Race, 51
Buenos Ayres, the Comet 1882 4 at, 62
Bulletin de l’ Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, 71,
281, 47
Bulletin de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Péters-
bourg, 94
Bulletin de la Société d’ Anthropol -gie de Paris, 214
Bulletin de la Suc. Imp. des Naturalistes de Moscou, 47, 189
Burmah, Colquhoun’s Journey to. 92
“*Burman, The,” Shway Yoe, 5; Dr. E. B. Tylor, F.R.S., 6
Burmeister (Dr, H.), ‘‘ Description Prysique de la Republique
Argentine d’aprés des Observations Personnelles et Etran-
geéres,” 28
Burton (Richard F.) and Verney Cameron, ‘‘ To the Gold Coast
for Gold,”’ 335
Burton (F. M.), Sap-flow, 530
Butterflies, Natural Enemies of, Henry Higgins, 338
Butterflies of India, Burmah, and Ceylon, Marshall and Nicé.
ville’s, H. J. Elwes, 50
Cacao: How to Grow and How to Cure it, D. Morris, 566
Cacciatore (Prof.), Transit of Venus, 180
Calcium, Lockyer’s Dissociation Theory of, Hermann W.
Vogel, 233
Calcium, Barium, and Potassium, Action of, on Muscle, Ioctor-
Brunton and Cash, 450
Calcutta: Report of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 114 ; Catalogue
of Mammalia in the Museum, Dr. Anderson, F.R.S., 172
Proposed Exhibition in, 209
Callard (T- K.), Palaeolithic River Gravels, 54
Cambridge : New Professorships at, 469 ; Philosophical Society,
62, 119, 143, 403
Cameron (Verney), Richard Burton and, ‘‘ To the Gold Coas
for Gold,” 335
| Campbell (Lewis, LL.D.), the Life of James Clerk Maxwell, 2¢
“Camps in the Rockies,” W. A. Baillie-Grohman, 551
Canada, Proposed Visit of the British Association to, 41, 88
299, 398, 538, 546, 587; Protest agai st, 209
Candolle (A. de), ‘‘ Origine des Plantes Cultivées,”
Cape Horn, Frenzh Mission to, 344
Cape Sea Lion, 415
Capello (H.) and Ivens (R.), Central and West Africa, 391
429
} Caprifig and Fig, Relations of the, W. B. Ilemsley, 584
-
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
Capron (J. Rand) ; a Lunar Halo, 78 ; the Magnetic Storm and
Aurora, 83 ; Shadows after Sunset, 102 ; Aurora of Novem-
ber 17, 139, 149; Swan Lamp Spectrum and the Aurora,
149, 198; the Weather, 198 ; Foam-balls, 531
Carbo-hydrates in the Animal System, Physiology of, Dr. F. W.
Pavy, F.R.S., 618
Carbon Contacts, Electrical Resistance of, Shelford Bidwell, 376
Carboniferous Vertebrate Palzeontology, Notice of some Dis-
coveries recently made in, T. Stock, 22
Cariamas, Flamingoes and, James Currie, 389
Carlisle (Bishop of), Weather Forecasts, 4, 51
Carlsruhe, Meteor at, 540
Carnivora, Siwalik, Richard Lydekker, 293
Carpathian Club, 162
Carpenter (Prof. L. G.), Aurora of November 17, 141
Cascia, Earthquake at, 63
Cash (Dr.), Action of Calcium, &c., on Muscle, 450
Caspian, Changes of Level of, 541
Cassell’s Encyclopedic Dictionary, 423
Cassell’s Natural History, 367
Cassine, Earthquake at, 299
Cassini Division of Saturn’s King, 374
Cassowary, the One-wattled, 153
Cathodes, Chemical Corrosion of, Dr. Gore, F R.S., 374
Caucasus: Volcanic Eruption in the, 63; Geography of the,
470; Administration of Public Instruction of, 497 ; Geogra-
phical Society of, 424; Bulletin of Society for History and
Archeology, 497
Cecil (Henry): Comet 1882 4, 52; the Transit of Venus, 159;
Hovering of Birds, 388; Meteors, 483
Central Asia, ‘‘ Travels and Adventures East of the Caspian
during the Years 1879-81, including Five Months’ Residence
among the Tekkés of Mery,’ Edmond O’Donovan, Prof.
A. H. Keane, 359
Ceraski’s Variable Star, U Cephei, 424
Cesati (Baron V.), his Botanical Collection, 20
*€Ceylon, Lepidoptera of,” L. Reeve and Co., 150
Challenger Expedition, Botany of the, W. Botting Hemsley,
462
Cha'lenger Reports (Zoology, ii., iii., and iv.), 73
Challis (Prof. James, F.R.S.), Death of, 132
Chambery, Phylloxera in, 133
Chandler (Prof.), the Comet, 81
Changy on Incandescent Lamps, 209
Channel, Mountainous Seas in Calm Weather, 540
Channel Tunnel, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., 338
Chayanne (Dr. J.), ‘‘ Afrika’s Stréme und Fliisse,” 447
Chemistry : the Chemical Society, 47, 118, 191, 234, 306, 402,
426, 522, 570, 595; Recent Chemical Synthesis, 49; Prac-
tical Chemistry, J. Campbell Brown, 75; Elementary Che-
mical Arithmetic, Sidney Lupton, 76; Principles of Che-
mistry, Prof. Mendeléeff, 113; Chemical Notes, 301 ;
Electrolytic Balance of Chemical Corrosion, Dr. Gore,
P.R.S., 326; Properties (Physical and Chemical) of Simple
and Compound Bodies, De Heen, 422; Chemistry of the
Planté and Faure Accumulators, Dr, J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S.,
and Dr. A. Tribe, F.R.S., 583
Chevreul (M.): nominated President of the French Société
Nationale d’Agriculture, 277; his long Scientific Career, 422
Cheyne (Watson), the Bacillus of Tubercle, 563
China: Foreign Education in, 90; Chinese Definition of Death,
160; the Electric Light in, 209; Kk. K. Douglas on, 221 ;
Comets as Portents in, 229; ‘‘Chinarinden in Pharmakcgnos-
tischer Hinsicht dargestellt, Die,’ F. A. Fliickiger, 287 ;
Scientific Heresies in, 342; Chinese Educational Mission,
566; Miss Dr. Howard’s Success in, 567; Lead Ore dis-
covered in, 588; Telegraph Extension in, 588; Waste Paper
in, 588; Coroners’ Science in, Robert K. Douglas, 612
Chlorophyll Corpuscles of Hydra, Prof. E, Ray Lankester,
F.R.S., 87
pie (W. H. M., F.R.S ), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora,
2
pescuena Culture, Handbook of, Karel Wessel van Gorkom,
207
Circle, Medioscribed, 607
Circumpolar Expedition: Notes from Capt. Dawson’s Letters,
103, 242, 484; Dr. Rae, F.R.S., on, 508
Civil Service Examinations, Natural Science in, 321
Clapham (F. R.), Aurora of November 17, 141
Clark (J. E.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, $4
Clarke (C. B.), Equal Temperament of the Scale, 240
| Cumming (Miss Gordon), ‘‘ Fire Fountains,
* Cunningham (Dayid), Hovering of birds, 33¢
INDEX Vv
Clark (J. W.): Condensation of Liquid Films on Wetted Solids,
370; Preliminary Note on the Bacillus of Tuberculosis
(Koch), 492
Clerk-Maxwell on Stress, 314
Clouds, Magnetic Arrangement of: C, H. Romanes, 31; Rev.
W. Clement Ley, 53
Coal Fire, Fiames in, 183
Coal Gas, Lime as a Purifier of Products of Combustion of, Dr.
Joule, F.K.S., 496
Coan (Kev. Titus), Death of, 398
Cobbold (Dr. T. Spencer, F.R.S.): Ticks, 5525 Simondsia
paradoxa, 547
Cold, Unprecedented, in the Riviera—Absence of Sunspots, C.
J. B. Williams, 551
Cole (J. F.), Aurora of Novetaber 17, 141
Colour, on the Sense of, amongst some of the Lower Animals,
Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 618
Colours, Complementary, 78; J. J. Murphy, 8; C. R. Cross,
150; at Niagara Falls, H. G. Madan, 174; ‘‘ Natural” Ex-
periment in, E. J. Bles, 241; Chas. T. Whitmell, 266;
Novel Experiment in, John Gorham, 794
Colquhoun (A. R.) : Journey through Yunnan to Burmah, 92 ;
Journey to Bhamo, 63
Coltsfoot, Early, R. McLachlan, F.R.S., 266
Comets: Schmidt’s Cometary Object, 20; the Great Comet
1882 0, 4, 21, 43, 56, 80, 161, 210, 390, 349, 400, 446, 54°,
589; Major J. Herschel, Geo. M. Seabroke, Arthur Watts,
43 Spectroscopic Observations of, 24, 42 ; C. J. B. Williams,
29; W. J. Millar, 29; W. Higginson and B. Manning, 29 ;
seen at the Paris Observatory, 42; J. P. McEwen, 52; T.
W. Backhouse, 52, 338; G. M. Seabroke, 52; H. Cecil,
52; B. J. Hopkins, 62, 78; at Buenos Ayres, 62;
. K. Rees, Prof. Chandler, 81; ‘‘ Anomalous’ Tail
of, Rev. T. W. Webb, 89; Major J. Herschel, ‘ror ;
Commander Sampson, U.S.N., Dr. C. J. B. Williams,
F.R.S., 108 ; Division of the Nucleus of the, 113; W. C.
Winlock, 128; Dr. Doberck, 128; A. Ainslie Common,
150; F. Stapleton, 150; Photograph of, 180; during last
November and December, C. J. B. Williams, F.R.S., 198;
Elements of, Vice-Admiral Rowan, Prof. E. Frisby, 226 ; J.
P. McEwen on, 247; W. T. Sampson, 266; Dr. B. A.
Gould, 267; E. Ristori, 314; Orbit of, E. Ristori, 388 ;
Ephemeris of, Prof. Frisby, 415; Prof. Schiaparelli on the,
Francis Porro, 533; Comet 1882c, 161, 248; Comets as
Portents in China, 229; Figure of the Nucleus of Comet of
1882 (Gould), Prof. Holden, 246; D’Arrest’s Comet, 324,
567, 589, 618; Repoited Discovery of a Comet, 324;
Denning’s Comet, 348 ; Comet of 1771, 374 ; Comet 18834,
445, 517; Comet of 1812, 498
Common (A. Ainslie), the Comet, 150
Complementary Colours, 78; J. J. Murphy, 8; C. R. Cross,
150; at Niagara Falls, H. G. Madan, 174; a ‘‘ Natural 2
Experiment in, E. J. Bles, 241; Chas. T. Whitmell, 266 ;
Novel Experiment in, John Gorham, 294
Condensation of Liquid Films on Wetted Solids, J. W. Clark,
70
Goheo (Upper), Departure of Belgian Expedition for, 182
Coniferze, Female Flowers in, 231
Conte (Dr. Le), on Darwinism, 275
Cooke (Conrad), &c., ‘‘ Electric Illumination,” 264
“‘Cookery, the Rudiments of,” A. C. M., 323
Cooley (W. Desborough), Death of, 469
Copernicus, Darwin and, Prof. E, du Bois Reymond, 557
Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians, Surgeon-Major H. B.
Guppy, 7; Saville Kent, 433 ; J. G. Grenfell, 508
Cordiner (K.), Age of Dogs, 79
Corona, Photographing the, Dr. W. Huggins, F.R.S., 199
Coroners’ Science in China, Robert K. Douglas, 612
Corpuscles, Red Blood, Prof, Quincke on, 355
Cosmical Dust collected by M.‘Marx, Prof. Lenz, 422
Cothenius Medal, 540
Cowan (Mr. D.), Explorations in Madagascar, 372
Crombie (J. M.), Function of Membrana Flaccida of Tympanic
Membrane, 129
Cross (C. R.), Complementary Colours, 150
Crystal Palace Electricity and Gas Exhibition, 180
Cryptogamic Flora of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Mary
P. Merrifield, 385
Cryptophycez, a New Genus of, 230
» -
525
D
vil INDEX
|
[Nature, Fune 21, 1883
Cunningham (Major Allan), Roorkee Hydraulic Experiments, 1;
the Indian Survey, 97
Cunningham (J. T.), Zoological Station in Naples, 453
Currie (James), Flamingoes and Cariamas, 389
Cutting Tools worked by Hand and Machine, Robert H. Smith,
577 :
Cyprus, Earthquake in, 497
Dachstein Glaciers, Decrease of, 42
Dairy Industry in France, 90
D’Arrest’s Comet, 324, 567, 559, 618
Darwin (Charles), on Tower-like Dejections made by Worms,
20; Enthusiasm in Sweden on the Memorial to, 275 ; Darwin
and Copernicus, Prof. E. du Bois Reymond, 557 ; Hostile
Criticism in Germany of the Address on, 565
Darwin (Prof. G. H., F.R.S.), Numerical Estimate of the
Rigidity of the Earth, 22; Elected Plumian Professor of
Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge, 275 ;
Formation of Mudballs, 507
Darwinism, Dr, Le Conte on, 275
Dary (Georges), on Electric Navigation, 41, 42
Davis Lectures for 1883, 565
Dawkins (Prof. W. Boyd), Channel Tunnel, 338
Dawson (Capt.), Notes on Circumpolar Expedition from Letters
of, 103, 242, 484
De La Rue’s Diaries, &c., 161
De Morgan (Augustus), Memoir of, R. Tucker, 217
Death, Chinese Definition of, 160
Deaths from Snake Bite in Bombay, Sir Joseph Fayrer, F.R.S.,
556
Dechevrens (Father Marc), a Curious Halo, 30
Deductive Biology, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., 554
Deep-Sea Exploration, French, 587
“*Deneholes” at Blackheath, 324
Denmark: Oyster Fisheries of, 346; Glacial Phenomena in,
Prof. Johnstrup, 373
Denning (W. F.): Transit of Venus, 158 ; Markings on Jupiter,
365; Amateurs and Astronomical Observation, 434; the
Large Meteor of March 2, 1883, 461
Denning’s Comet, 348
Deprez’s Electrical Theories, 399
Derby Free Library, Reference Catalogue, 62
Desborde (Col.), on Banks of Niger, 424
Dewar (Prof.) and Prof. Liveing, Origin of Hydrocarbon Flame
Spectrum, 257
Diamond in its Matrix, a, 90
Dickert (Herr Thomas), Death of, 399
Dickson (Dr. Oscar): his liberality in aiding Scientific Research,
444; Account of Swedish Expedition to Greenland, 541
Dier (Prof.), Shadows after Sunset, 150
Dimphna, Search Expedition for the, 64
Diluvial Mammals, Discovery of Remains of, on Wolza, 373
Dip-Cirele, Goolden’s Simple, 127
Direct-Vision Prisms, 182
Distant (W. L.): an Urgent Need in Anthropology, tor ;
““Rhopalocera Malayana,” 444
Diurnal Variation in the Velocity of the Wind, E. Douglas
Archibald, 461
Djighit (the), Domojiroff’s Anemometric Observations on, 445
Doberck (Dr. W.) : the Comet 18824, 129; Transit of Venus,
158 ; appointed to the Hong Kong Observatory, 565
Dobson (J. L.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 87
Doe with Horns, 209
Dogs, Age of, R. Cordiner, 79
Dolmen, Discovery of, at St. Pierre Quiberon, 540
Domojiroff’s Anemometric Observations on board the Djighit, 445
Doradiis, Supposed Variable u, a Spurious Star, 498
Double Stars, Measures of, 182
ae (Robert K.): China, 221 ; Coroners’ Science in China,
12
Draper (Prof. Henry): Death of, 88; Obituary Notice of, 108
Dredging Implement, a New: Prof, A. Milnes Marshall, 11;
W. A. Herman, 54
Dreyer (J. L. E.), Transit of Venus, 158
Dublin: Royal Society of, 235; Experimental Science Associa-
tion, 571; Aurora at, 589
Dumas (J. B. A.) : Peesentation to, 132 ; his Address at the Com-
memoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of his Membership of
the Paris Academy, 174 ; the Dumas Medal, 227; Illness of, 346
Duncan (Prof. P. Martin, F.R.S.), Heroes of Science, 76
Dust Showers in Norway, 496
“Dutton (Capt. C. E.), a Monograph by,”’ Tertiary History of
the Grand Cafion District, Dr, Arch. Geikie, F.R.S., 357
Dyer (W. T. Thiselton, F.R.S.): Influence of ‘‘ Environment ”
on Plants, 82 ; the Sacred Tree of Kum-Bum, 224; Deductive
Biology, 554
Dynamics, Introductory Treatise on Rigid, W. Steadman Aldis,
265
Dynamo, Thomson’s Mouse-Mill, J. T. Bottomley, 78
Dynamo Machine, Elphinstone-Vincent, 516
Dynamo-electric Machine with Continuous Induction, Prof.
Pfaundler the Inventor of, 517 f
Dynamo-electric Machines, Recent, 58
Earth, Numerical Estimate of the Rigidity of the, Prof. G. H.
Darwin, F.R.S., 22
Earth Currents during Magnetical Perturbations, 89
Earth’s Crust, Physics of the, Rev. O. Fisher, 76
Earth’s Surface, Causes of Elevation and Depression of, W. F.
Stanley, 523
Earthquakes: in the Northern part of the Balkan Peninsula, 19 ;
at Cascia, 63; in Perugia, 90; in the Valais, 181; in Greece
and Panama, 248 ; at Murcia, in Spain, at Archena, &c., 277 ;
at Halifax, Prof. Geo. Lawson, 293; Clifton, Geo. F.
Burder, 293; Hastings, R. H. Tiddeman, 293; at Cassine,
299; at Agram, 348; at Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 374; in
Silesia and Bohemia, 400; in Hungary, 423; at Bologna,
445; in Japan, Proposed Study of, 469; in Cyprus, 497 ;
at Amsterdam, 517; in Hungary and Italy, 540; at Pedara
in Sicily, 567
Earthslip in Switzerland, 209
Earthworms in New Zealand, 91
Eastlake (F. W.), Geology of Hong Kong, 177
Eclipse, Total Solar, of May 6, 1883, 111, 248; the English
Observers, 346, 398, 556, 567
Eclipse, Solar, Total, of May 17, 1901, 424
Eclipses, Solar, the Recent Coming and Total, J. Norman
Lockyer, F.R.S., 185
Edinburgh : Royal Society of, 168, 283, 307, 403, 428, 452, 548,
571, 595; Mathematical Society of, 346, 500, 595
Education: Foreign Education in China, 90; of our Industrial
Classes, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 248; A. J. Mundella
on, 276; Prof. Huxley on, 396; Minister of, 495; in Japan, 617
Edwards (E. W. W.) and Higgins (€.), the Electric Lighting
Act, 1882, 410
Eggs, Effect of Railway Transport on, 444
Egyptian Exploration Fund, gor
Elastiche Nachwirkung, M. Hesehus, 183
Electricity : International Electrical Conference, 18; Tricycles
propelled by, 19; Electric Illumination of a Railway Bridge
over the Ticino, 20; Electric Lighting, Sir C. W. Siemens,
F.R.S., 67; Electric Lighting at Society of Arts, 133; Elec-
tric Light in China, 209; ‘‘ Electric Mlumination,” Conrad
Cooke, &c., 264; Priority in Photographing with Electric
Light, 276; Public Electric Lighting, 384; Electric Lighting
Act, 1882, C. Higgins and E. W. W. Edwards, 410; Elec-
tric Light at Savoy Theatre, 418; Electric Lighting in Switz-
erland, 497; in Paris, 516; Some Points in Electric Lighting,
Dr. John. Hopkinson, F.R.S., 592; Electric Navigation,
Georges Dary, 41, 42; M. Tresca’s Papers on Electrical
Measures, 62; Electrical Transmission of Force and Storage
of Power, Sir C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., 67, 518; Electrical
Disturbances in Sweden and Norway, 89; Electrical Exhibi-
tion at the Crystal Palace, 180; Electric Reaction, Prof.
Melde, 183; Electrical Phenomena, 199 ; Electric Railways,
Prof. W. E. Ayrton, 255; ‘‘Electricity,” by Robert M.
Ferguson, 264; Electrical Exhibition at Vienna, 373, 444;
‘* Electricity,” a New Hungarian Journal, 299; Il Potentiale
Elettrico nell’ Insegnamento Elementare della Elettrostatica,
Prof. A. Serpieri, 312; Electric Railways, 338; ‘‘ Electrical
Resistance of Carbon Contacts,”’ Shelford Bidwell, 376; Elec-
_ trical Theories, Deprez’s, 399 ; Light-Phenomena of Electric
Discharges, Dr. Hertz, 403; Influence of Vacuum on Elec-
tricity, A. M. Worthington, 434 ; Electro-technical Society
formed at Vienna, 469; Successful Trial of an Electrically-
moved Tram-car, 470; Electricity as a Motive Power for
Balloons, Napoli, 517; Proposed Electric Railway from
Charing Cross to Waterloo, 566
Electrolytic Balance of Chemical Corrosion, Dr. Gore, F.R.S.,
326
Electromotive Force and Resistance of Batteries, Effects ol
Temperature on, W. H. Reece, F.R.S., 426
,
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
Electromotive Force of Galvanic Combinations, Kittler’s Normal |
Element of, 325
Electronomie Industrie, Manuel d’, R. V. Picou, 146
Electroscope, a Modification of the Gold Leaf, F. J. Smith, 102
Elephant in Italy, Discovery of Fossil, 181; Threatened Ex-
tinction of the, E. E. Prince, 509
Elger (P. G.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 85
Elphinstone- Vincent Dynamo Machine, 516
Elwes (H. J.), Marshall and Nicéville’s Butterflies of India,
Burmah, and Ceylon, 50
Emu, Nesting Habits of, A. W. Bennett, 530
Encyclopzedic Dictionary, 423
Enemies, Natural, of Butterflies, Henry Higgins, 338
Energy in the Spectrum, Distribution of, Lord Rayleigh,
F.R.S., 559
Energy, Transmission of, on Marcel-Deprez System, 372
Engineering Laboratory, University College, 160
“Ensilage in America,” Prof. James E. T. Rogers, Prof.
Wrightson, 479
Entomological Society, 451, 500
“*Environment ” on Plants, Influence on, W. T. Thiselton Dyer,
F.R.S., 82 ; Howard Fox, 315
Eocene Section, the Lower, J. Starkie Gardner, 331
“* Episodes in the Life of an Indian Chaplain,” 99
Epping Forest and the Railway Companies, 399; Prof. G. S.
Boulger, 455 ; Conservation of, from the Naturalist’s Stand-
Point, 447
Equal Temperament of the Scale, C. B. Clarke, 240
Ergot, Poisonous Principle of, 517
Eridani, Binary Star /, 589
Ernst (Dr. A.), Abnormal Fruit of Opuntia Ficus-Indica, 77
Essex County, Mass., Flora of, 173
Essex Field Club, 298, 347
Ether, the, and its Functions: Prof. Oliver Lodge, 304, 328 ;
S. Tolver Preston, 579
Ethnographical Exhibition at Stockholm, Dr. A. B. Meyer, 370
Ethnology, Aino: Dr, J. J. Rein, 365 ; Prof, A. H. Keane, 389
Ethnology of North Africa, Prof. A. H. Keane, 408
Etna (Mount), Eruption of, 422, 496, 515, 539
Evans (C.), Paleolithic River Gravels, 8
Evolution of the American Trotting Horse, W. H. Brewer, 609
Evolution, Hypothesis of Accelerated Development, by Primo-
geniture and its Place in the Theory of, Prof. A. A. W. Hubrecht,
279, 301
Explosive Waves, Berthelot and Vielle on, 301
Eye, Internal Reflections in the, H. Frank Newall, 376
“* Fall Machine,” Poggendorff’s, 300
Falling, Asphyxiation in Rapid, 62
Farr (Dr. W., C.B.), Death of, 587
Fatio (Dr. Victor), Fishes of Switzerland, 220
Fauna, Pelagic, of Freshwater Lakes, 92
** Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse,” Dr. Victor Fatio, 220
Fayrer (Sir Joseph, F.R.S.), Destzuction of Life in India by
Poisonous Snakes, 205, 556; Destruction of Life in India by
Wild Animals, 268 ; Speke and Grant’s Zebra, 604
Feed-Water Heater and Purifier, Geo. Strong, 90
Ferghana Naphtha Well, 445
Ferguson (Robert M.), ‘‘ Electricity,” 264
Fermat, the Statue of, 180
Ferns of Kentucky, John Williamson, 336
Fertilisation of the Speedwell, A. Ransom, 149
“Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes,” 19
Fibre-balls, 580
Fig and the Caprifig, on the Relations of the, W. Botting
Hemsley, 584
Fingal’s Cave, Is, Artificial? F, Cope Whitehouse, 285
Finland, New Lyceums in, 42; Auroral Experiments in, S.
Lemstrom, 389
Finsbury Technical College, 318 ; Opening of, 425
Finsch (Dr. Otto), his Exploration of New Guinea, 43; his
Report of his Travels, 181
‘* Fire-Fountains,” Miss Gordon Cumming, 525
Fires in Russia, Forest, 113
Fish, New Deep-Sea, from Mediterranean, Dr. Giglioli, 198
Fish Culture Association, National, 323
Fisher (Rev. Osmond), Physics of the Earth’s Crust, 76
Fisheries Exhibition, the International, 322, 389, 468, 496, 516,
536
Fisheries, Herring and Salmon, 442
Fishes of Switzerland, Victor Fatio, 220
INDEX
Vil
Fishes, the Skeleton of Marsipobranch, W. K. Parker, F.R.S.,
339
Fissures, on the Movements of Air in, and the Barometer, A.
Strahan, 375, 461
Fitch (Oswald), Benevolence in Animals, 580
Flames in Coal Fire, 103
Flamingoes and Cariamas, James Currie, 389
Flegel (Robert), News of, 230
Fleische (E. von), Wartmann’s Rheolyzer, 127
Flora of Essex County, Massachusetts, John Robinson, 173
Flora, Siberian, 445
Flora, Vernal, Origin of our, J. E. Taylor, 7
Flower (Prof W. H.), Lectures on Anatomy of the Horse, 372
Flower, Two Kinds of Stamens with Different Functions in the
same, Dr. Hermann Miiller, 30; Dr. Fritz Miller, 364
Flowers, Double, Dr. M. T. Masters, 126
Flowers, Insects Visiting, 498
Fliickiger (F. A.), ‘‘Die Chinarinden in Pharmakognostischer
Hinsicht dargestellt,” 287
Foamballs, J. Rand Capron, 531
Fohn, the, A. Irving, 605
Fonvielle (W. de), ‘‘ Les Passages de Venus,” 132
Food Adulteration Act of 1881, 301
Foraminifera in British Museum, Catalogue of Fossil, Prof. T.
Rupert Jones, 173
Forbes (H. O.), Forbes’ Visit to Timor-Laut, 159
Forbes (W. A.), Zoological Expedition up the Niger, 14;
Letters from Shonga, 276; Death of, 614
Force, Transmission of, by :Electricity, Dr. C. W. Siemens,
F.R.S., 67
Forecasts, Weather: Bishop of Carlisle, 4, 51; Rev. W.
Clement Ley, 29 ; C. W. Harding, 79
Forel (Prof), Recent Rhone Glacier Studies, 183
Forest Fires in Russia, 113
Formic and Acetic Acid in Plants, 91
Forms of Leaves, Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 605
Forth Bridge, New, 62, 89; Sir Geo. B. Airy on the, C. S.
Smith, 99, 131 ; Herbert Tomlinson, 147; B. Baker, 222
Fossil Elephant in Italy, Discovery of, 181
Fossil Souslik in Northern Germany, Dr. Blasius, 247
Fountain (J. M.), the Weather, 32
Fox (Howard), Influence of ‘‘ Environment” on Plants, 315
France : Annual Meeting of Institute of, 18; Dairy Industry
in, 90 ; Heavy Rains in, 229; French Mission to Cape Horn,
344; Annual Meeting of French Learned Societies, 539
Frankland (Lr. E., F.R.S.) : Smoke Abatement, 407 ; Chemistry
of Storage Batteries, 568
Freiburg-im- Breisgau, Earthquake at, 374
Freshwater Lakes, Pelagic Fauna of, 92
Friele (Hermann), ‘‘Der Norske nord-hass-expedition, 1876-
1878,” Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., 457
Frisby (Prof. E.) : Elements of the Great Comet 1882 4, 226 ;
Ephemeris of it, 415 ; Transit of Venus, 266
Fritsch (Prof.), On the Torpedo, 403
Fulgurite found near Warmbrunn, 540
Galloway (William), Hovering of Birds, 336
Galton (Francis, F.R.S.), Hydrogen Whistles, 491
Galvanometers, on the Graduation of, for the Measurement of
Currents and Potentials in Absolute Measure, Andrew Gray,
32, 105, 319, 339; New Torsion, 620
Gambetta’s Body, Autopsy of, 247
Gardner (H. Dent), Britten’s Watch and Clockmaker’s Hand-
book, 76
Gardner (J. Starkie), the Lower Eocene Section between Recul-
vers and Herne Bay, 331
Garman (S.): Scream of Young Burrowing Owl like Warning
of Rattlesnake, 174; a Possible Cause of the Extinction of
the Horses of the Post-Tertiary, 313
Garrod (Dr. A. B., F.R.S.), on Uric and Hippuric Acid, 451
Gases, Action of Gravity on, Kraevitsch, 324
Geestemiinde, Aurora at, 374
Geikie (Dr. Arch., F.R.S.): a Search for ‘‘ Atlantis” with the
Microscope, 25; Recent Researches in Metamorphism of
Rocks, 121 ; ‘* Geological Sketches,” G. K. Gilbert, 237, 261 ;
“* Text-Book of Geology,” G. K. Gilbert, 237, 261 ; Tertiary
History of the Grand Cajion District, 357
Geikie (Prof. James, F.R.S.), Aims and Method of Geological
Inquiry, 44, 64
Geodetical Operations, Norwegian, 224, 341
Geographentag, Third German, 447
viii
INDEX
[Nature, Fume 21, 1883
Geographical Notes, 21, 43, 63, 92, 161, 400, 424, 541, 589
Geography in Schools, 209
Geography of the Caucasus, 470
Geology : Railway Geology—a Hint, 8; Aims and Method of
Geological Inquiry, Prof. James Geikie, F.R.S, 44, 64;
Geological Society, 71, 118, 215, 282, 331, 355, 426, 474,
5c0, 547; Distribution of Medals, 427; Geology, Part 1,
A. H. Green, 98 ; Geology of Hong Kong, F. W. Eastlake,
177; ‘‘ Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad,” Arch.
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., G. K. Gilbert, 237, 261 ; ‘‘ Text-
Book of Geology,” Arch. Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., G. K.
Gilbert, 237, 261; New Appointments for the Geological
Survey of Scotland, 246; Geologists’ Association, 523
Geometrical Teaching, the Association for the Improvement of,
246, 299, 580
German Aێronautical Society, Meeting of, 348
Geran African Expedition, Drs. Wissmann and Pogge, 92
German African Society, Report of, 92
German Fishery Society, 276
German North Polar Expedition, 43
German Ornithological Society, Annual Meeting at Berlin, 19
German Society for Prevention of Pollution of Rivers, &c., 89
Gibney (Robert Dwarris), the Zodiacal Light (?), 605
Giglioli (Dr.), New Deep-Sea Fish from Mediterranean, 198
Gilbert (G. K.), Arch. Geikie’s “*Geological Sketches at
Home and Abroad,” and ‘‘ Text-Book of Geology,” 237, 261
Gill (H. C.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 85
Glacial Formations of Russia, 497
Glacial Phenomena in Denmark, Prof. Johnstrup, 373
Glacier Motion, Solar Radiation and, Rey. A. Irving, 553
Glacier Studies, Prof. Forel on Recent Rhone, 183
Glaciers, Decrease of the Dachstein, 42
Gladstone (Dr. J. H., F.R.S.), Chemistry of the Planté and
Faure Accumulators, 583
Glaisher (J. W. L., F.R.S.), Mathematics in America, 193
Glazebrook (R. T., F.R.S.): a Common Defect of Lenses, 198 ;
“ Physical Optics,” 361
Goddard (A. F.), Intra-Mercurial Planets, 148
Gold-leaf Electroscope, a Modification of the, F. J. Smith, 102
‘*Gold Coast, to the, for Gold,” Richard F. Burton and Verney
L. Cameron, 335 :
Good (S. A.), Extraordinary Lunar Halo, 150
Goolden’s Simple Dip Circle, 127
Gore (Dr., F.R.S.) : Electrolytic Balance of Chemical Corro-
sion, 326; Chemical Corrosion of Cathodes, 374
Gorham (John), Novel Experiment in Complementary Colours,
294
poem (Karel Wessel van), Handbook of Cinchona Culture,
287
Gottingen, Royal Society of Sciences of, 48, 452
Gould (Dr. B. A.), Comet 1882 4, 267
Gout and Rheumatic Patients, an Algerian Winter Resort fir, 113
Govi (Prof.), Expansion of Bulbs of Liquid Thermometers, 209
Granite, Metamorphic Origin of, Duke of Argyll, 578
Gratings, Concave, Prof. Rowland’s, 95
Gravels, Palolithic River: C. Evans, 8; Wm. White, 53;
T. K. Callard, 54; Worthington G. Smith, 102
Gray (Andrew), on the Graduation of Galvanometers for the
Measurement of Currents and Potentials in Absolute Measure,
32, 105, 319, 339
Gray (Prof, Asa), Natural Selection and Natural Theology, 291,
527
Gray and Milne’s Seismographic Apparatus, 5.
Greece, Earthquake in, 248 a oe.
Greek Archipelago, Volcanic Phenomena in, 445
Green (A. H.), Geology, Part i., 95
Green (John Richard), Obituary Notice of, 462
Greenland, New Danish Expedition to, 446; Nordenskjéld’s
Expedition, 424, 496; Dr. O. Dickson on, 541
Grenfell (J. G.), Geological Traces of Great Vides, 222; ‘In-
telligence in Animals, 292 ; Holothurians, 508
Gresham Funds, the, 292
Grey, (F. W.), Snow Rollers, 507
Griffith (J. W.) and A. Henfrey, Micrographic Dictionary, 603
Griffith (R. W. S.), a Meteor, 434
Grocers’ Company, the Scheme of the, for the Encouragement
of Original Research in Sanitary Science, 574
Groneman (Dr. H.
the Meteoric Auroral Phenomenon of November 17, 1882,
296; the Auroral Meteoric Phenomena of November 27,
1882, 388
J. H.): Remarks on and Ob-ervations of |
Ground, Observations of Periodic Movements of the, 300
Gudvangsoren, Landslip at, 423
Guns, Wire, James A. Longridge, 11, 35, 53
Guppy (Surgeon-Major H. B.): Coral-eating Habits of Holo-
thurians, 7; Habits of Scypho-Medusz, 31 ; Anthropological
Notes in the Solomon Islands, 607
Gwynne (Bertram), Curious Case of Ignition, 580
Gyrostatics, Sir William Thomson, 548
Hagen (Dr, H. A.), Invertebrate Casts, 173
Hakonson-Hansen’s (Herr), Observations of the November
Auroral Displays, 347
Halo, a Curious, Father Mare Dechevrens, 30; Rev. W.
Clement Ley, 53; Kev. Gerard Hopkins, 53 ; a Lunar Halo,
J. Rand Capron, 78; T. P. Barkas, 103 ; S. A. Good, 180
Hammam k’Irha, an Algerian Winter Resort for Gout and
Rheumatic Patients, 113 $
szammond, Kinetic Theory of Chemical Actions, 183
Hannay (J. B., F.R.S.), Natural Selection and Natural Theo-
logy, 362
Harding (C. W.), ‘* Weather Forecasts,” 79
Hare, Baird’s, and its Habits, 241 ; T. Martyr, 266
Harkness (Prof.), on the Transits of Venus, 114
Harnett (W. L.), Meteor, 103
Harrison (J. Park), Projection of the Nasal Bones in Man and
the Ape, 266, 294
Hart (Samuel): the Late Transit of Venus, 483; a Remarkable
Phenomenon—Natural Snowballs, 483
Harting (J. E.), Incubation of the Ostrich, 480
Hatton (Frank), Death of, 515
Hawk Moth Larva, Surgeon-Major Johnson, 126
Heating by Acetate of Soda, 344
Heen (De), Relations between Physical and Chemical Properties
of Simple and Compound Bodies, 422
Heilprin (Prof. Angelo), on the Value of the “ Nearctic” as
one of the Primary Zoological Regions, 606
Helix pomatia, L., Rev. L. Blomefield, 553
Heloderm, the Sonoran, 153
Hemsley (W. Botting): Botany of the Chad/enger Expedition,
462 ; on the Relations of the Fig and the Caprifig, 584
Henfrey (A.), J. W. Griffith and, Micrographic Dictionary, 603
Henson (Samuel), on a Fine Specimen of Apatite froma Tyrol,
lately in the possession of, 608
Herdman (W. A.), a Dredging Implement, 54
Heresies, Scientific, in China, 342
Heroes of Science, Prof. P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S., 76
Herring and Salmon Fisheries, 442
Herschel (Prof. A. S.), The Matter of Space, 458, 504
Herschel (Major J.): the Comet 1882 4, 4, 101; Soda Flames
in Coal Fires, 78; the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 87;
Ignition by Sunlight, 531
Hertz (Dr.): Pressure of Saturating Vapour of Mercury, 183;
Light-Phenomena of Electric Discharges, 403
Hesehus (N.): Zlastische Nachwirkung, 183;
Russia during the last ten years, 567
Hicks (Henry), Metamorphic Rocks of Ross and Inverness, 474
Hickson (Sydney J.), ‘‘ Zoological Record,” 366 epee) t
Higgins (C.) and E. W. W. Edwards, ‘‘ The Electric Lighting
Act 1882,” 410
Higgins (Henry), Natural Enemies of Butterflies, 338
Higginson (Walter), the Comet 1882 4, 29
High Tides, Abnormal, River Thames, J. B. Redman, 6
Hildebrandsson (Prof.), on the Ben Nevis Observatory, 18
Hippopotamus, Death of the old kemale, 247
Histology, Vegetable, Tables of D. P. Penhallow, 458
Hofmann (Prof.), Lecture Experiments, 301
Holden (Prof.), Figure of Nucleus of Comet of 1882 (Gould), 246
Holley (G. W.), ‘* Niagara and other famous Cataracts,” 146
Holothurians, Coral-eating Habits of, Surgeon Major H. B.
Guppy, 7; W. Saville Kent, 433; J. G. Grenfell, 508
Holub’s (Dr. Emil), New African Expedition, 542
Home (D. M.), Ben Nevis Observatory, 411
Hong Kong, Geology of, F. WW. Eastlake, 177 ; Observatory
Scheme, 565
Hopkins (B. J.), the Comet 18824, 62, 78
Hopkins (Rey. Gerard), a Curiou. Halo, ne : ,
Hopkinson (Dr. John, F.R.S.), Some Points in Electric Light-
ing, 592 ae E
Hornblendic and other Schists of the | izard District, Prof. T. G.
Bonney, F.R.S., 71
Physics in
| Hornstein (Dr. Carl), Death of, 247
a
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
INDEX 1X
Horse, Anatomy of the, Prof. Flower’s Lecture on, 372
Hosack (James), Waterspout on Land, 79
Houghton (Rev. W.), “ The Microscope,” 173
Hovering of Birds, 366 ; Dr. Hubert Airy, 294, 336, 388, 412;
Rev. W. C. Ley, 412; Duke of Argyll, 312, 387; H. T.
Wharton, 312; Henry Cecil, 388; David Cunningham, 336;
Dr. J. Rae, F.R.S., 337, 4343; William Galloway, 337;
C. T. Middlemiss, 337; W. Larden, 337; the Soaring of
Birds, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 534; Dr. Hubert Airy, 590
Habrecht (Prof. A. A.), Hypothesis of Accelerated Devel p-
ment by Primogeniture and its Place in the Theory of Evolu-
tion, 279, 301
Huggins, (Dr. William, F.R.S.), Photographing the Corona,
199
Human Morphology, vol. i., H. A. Reeves, 124
Hungary: Silk Culture in, 2cg ; Earthquake in, 423, 540
Hunterian Oration, the Biennial, 298
Hutton (F. W.), ‘‘ Catalogues of New Zealand Diptera, Orthop-
tera, and Hymenoptera,” 399
Huxley (Prof. T. H., F.R.S.), on Education, 396
Hydraulic Experiments, Major Allan Cunningham, 1
Hydra, Chlorophyll Corpuscles of, Prof. E. Ray Lankester,
F.R.S., 87
Hydrocarbon Flame Spectrum, Origin of, Profs. Liveing and
Dewar, 257
Hydrocarbons, Pollution of the Atmosphere by, J. J. Murphy,
241
Hydrogen Whistles, Frascis Galton, F.R.S., 491
Hygienic Dress, &c., Exhibition, 443
Hygrometer of Saussure, 616
Hypophysis in Petromyzon Planeri, Genesis of, 91
Ignition, a Curious Case of, 509 ; Bertram Gwynne, 580
“Im Fernen Osten,” A. H. Keane, 170
Implements, Palzolithic, of North-East London, Worthington
G. Smith, 270
Incandescent Lamp, Changy, 209
Incandescent Electric Light, the Inventor of, W. M. Williams,
240
eyeestion of the Ostrich, J. E. Harting, 480 ; Geo. J]. Romanes,
480
India: The Indian Survey, Major Allan Cunningham, 97;
Episodes in the Life of an Indian Chaplain, 99; Destruction
of Life by Poisonous Snakes in, Sir J. Fayrer, F.R.S., 205 ;
Destruction of Life by Wild Animals in, Sir J. Fayrer, F.R.S ,
268 ; Indian Archegosaurus, R. Lydekker, 411
Indiarubber, Action of Light on, Prof. H. McLeod, F.R.S., 312
Industrial Education, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 248
Industrial Society of Berlin, Prizes offered by, 346
Infra-Red of the Spectrum, Work in the, Capt. W. de W.
Abney, F.R.S., 15
Intusoria, a Manual of the, &c., W. Saville Kent, Prof. E. Ray
Lankester, F.R.S., 601
Ingersoll (Ernest), Oyster Industry of the United States, 39
Ingleby (Miss C. R.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, $6
Ingram (William), the Recent Cold Weather, 530
Inhibition (of Structural Functions) and Action of Drugs thereon,
Dr. T. L. Brunton, F.R.S., 419, 436, 467, 485
Inland Sea Canal, Lessep’s Surveying Expedition for, 516
Insects, Common British, Rey. J. G. Wood, 124
Insects Injurious to Field Crops, Diagrams of, Miss E. A.
Ormerod, 146
Insects Visiting Flowers, 498
*Insekten nach ihren Schaden und Nutzen,
Taschenberg, 172
Institution of Civil Engineers, 95, 143, 168, 355, 403, 428, 475,
Die,” Prof.
5
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 247, 351, 611
Institution of Naval Architect, 469
Intelligence in Animals: J. G. Grenfell, 292; J. Birminghim,
337; Dr. J. Rae, F.R.S., 366; D. Pidgeon, 366 i
Intermittent Spring in the Jachére, 63
International Electrical Conference, 18
International Fisheries Exhibition, 322, 389, 468, 496, 516, 536
Invertebrate Casts versus Alge in Paleozoic Strata, 46; Dr. H
A. Hagen, 173
Trish Antiquities, Forged, W. J. Knowles, 54
Tron, Schirmwirkung of, Prof. Stephan, 325
Tron and Steel Institute, Annual Meeting of, 587
Irving (Rev. A.): Solar Radiation and Glacier Motion, 553 ;
the Fohn, 605
Iserlohn, Fall of Meteorite at, 423
Isomerisi of Albuminous Bodies, on the, Shigetaké Sagiura, 103
Isomerism, Physical, 301
Isanemones, 20
Italy : Exploration of the Mediterranean, Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys,
F.R.S., 35; Biology in, 46; Earthquake in, 540
Ivens (R.) and H. Capello, Central and West Africa, 391
Izvestia, Caucasian, 517
Jablochkoff’s New Element for Electro positive Plate, 114
jachere, Intermittent Spring in the, 63
jackson (B. Daydon), Translation of Gorkom’s ‘* Cinchona
Culture,” 287
Jamaica, Annual Report of Public Gardens and Plantations of,
go
Janssen (M.): Papers at the Academy of Science, 62; sent to
Oran to observe the Transit of Venus, 89
Japan: Report on the Mint for 1882, 323; Japanese Students,
565; Education in, 617
Jeffreys (Dr. J. Gwyn, F.R.S.): Italian Explorations of the
Mediterranean, 35; ‘Der Norske nord-hass-expedition,”
1876-78, Hermann Friele, 457
Jevons Memorial, 113
Jews, Anthropology of the, B. Blechmann, 113
Jobns Hopkins University Circulars, 180
Jobnson (Surgeon-Major), Hawk Moth Larva, 126
Johnstrup (Prof.), Glacial Phenomena in Denmark, 373
Jones (Prof. T. Rupert), Catalogue of Fossil Foraminifera in
British Museum, 173
Jones (W. M.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 87
Joule (Dr., F.R.S.), Lime as a Purifier of Products of Com-
bustion of Coal Gas, 496
Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 93, 426
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 71, 473
Journal of the Franklin Institute, 143, 281, 306, 473
Journal of Physiology, 23
Journal de Physique, 24, 143, 282, 353
Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 47, 426
Journal of Royal Society of New South Wales, 93
Journal of the Russian Chemical and Physical society, 143, 521
Jupiter: Herr Kortazzi’s Observations on, 209; Markings on,
W. F. Denning, 365
Kafer Westfalens, Die, F. Westhoff, 239
Kayer (Dr.), Death of, 447
Keane (Prof. A. H.): Kreitner’s ‘‘Im Fernen Osten,” 170 ;
Krao, the ‘‘ Human Monkey,” 245 ; ‘‘ Wanderings in Balu-
chistan,’” Major-General Sir C. M. MacGregor, K.C.B., 359 5
“Travels and Adventures East of the Caspian during the
years 1879-81,” Edmond O’Donovan, 359; Aino Ethnology,
389 ; Dr. G. Nachtigal’s “ Sahara und Sudan,” 408
Keller (Prof.), Animal Migrations due to Suez Canal, 181
Kenia (Mt.), Expedition, Departure of Geographical Society’s,
161
Kent (W. Saville), Supposed Coral-eating Habits of Holothu-
rians, 433; ‘‘A Manual of the Infusoria,” &c., Prof. E.
Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 601
Kentucky, Ferns of, John Williamson, 336
Kew Garden-, Visitors to, 230; Report for 1881, 322
Kharkoff, Science at, 213
Kiel Observatory, the Centre for Astronomical Telegrams, 276
Kinematics, Prof. G. M. Minchin, 239
Kinetic Theory of Chemical Actions, Hammond, 183
Kittler, ‘‘ Normal Element” of Electromotive Force of Galvanic
Combination, 325
Knorlein (Josef), Death of, 422
Knowles (W. J.), Forged Irish Antiquitie-, 54
Kobell (Dr. F. Ritter von), Death ot, 88
Koenig (Dr.), on the Leukoscope, 95
Kohlrausch (Prof.), Electr e Conductivity of Salts of Silver
Haloid, 182
Kortazzi (Herr), Observations of Jupiter, 209
Kraevitch (M.) : Electricity of Air, 183 ; Action of Gravity on
Gases, 324
Krao, the ‘‘ Human Monkey,” 579; A. H, Keane, 245
Kvause (Drs. Arthur and Aurel), Keturn of, 92
Kreitner’s ‘‘Im Fernen Osten,” A. H. Keane, 170
Kum-bum, the Sacred Tree of, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S.
224
Lakes, Pelagic Fau: a of Freshwater, 92
x INDEX
ae
[Wature, Fune 21, 1883
Lake Dwellings, Ancient Scottish, by Dr. Munro, Sir John
Lubbock, F.R.S., 145
Lambeth Field Club, Report of, 90
Lamp, Lever’s Arc, 27.
Lamprey, the Skeleton of the, Prof. W. K. Parker, F.R.S., 330
Lampridz, the Trachez in, 231
Landslip at Gudvangs6ren, 423
Langdon (Prof, R.), Transit of Venus, 159; Transit of Venus,
1882, British Expeditions, 179
Lankester (Prof. E. Ray, F.R.S.): Chlorophyll Corpuscles in
Hydra, 87; ‘‘ A Manual of the Infusoria,” W. Saville Kent,
601
Larden (W.), Hovering of Birds, 337
Latent Heats, Specific Heats, and Relative Volumes of Volatile
Bodies, on a Relation existing between, F. Trouton, 292
Lavoisier, Priestley, and the Discovery of Oxygen, G. F. Rodwell,
8, 100 ; C. Tomlinson, F.R.S., 53, 147
Layard (Consul E. L.), a Correction, 78 ; a Blue Meteor, 531 ;
Lead Ore discovered in China, 588
Leaves, the Shapes of, Grant Allen, 439, 464, 492, 511, 552;
F. O. Bower, 552
Leaves and their Environment, Grant Allen, 604
Leaves, Forms of, Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 605
Ledger (Rey. E.), the Sun, its Planets, and their Satellites, 309
Lecky (James), Singing, Speaking, and Stammering, 580
Lemstrom (Prof.), Experiments with Aurora Borealis, 322 ;
Auroral Experiments, 389
Lena, Meteorological Expedition to the Mouth of the, 43, 372,
423, 496
Lenz (Prof. R.) : Electric resistance of Mercury, 182; on Cos-
mical Dust collected by Marx, 422
“Lepidoptera of Ceylon,” L. Reeve and Co., 150
Lepidoptera, Porritt’s Yorkshire List of, 540
Leprosy in Norway, 423
Lessep’s Surveying Expedition for Inland Sea Canal, 516
Leukoscope, Dr. Koenig on the, 95 ; Prof. Helmholtz’s, 277
Lever’s Arc Lamp, 274
Ley (Rey. W. Clement): ‘‘ Weather Forecasts,” 29; Magnetic
Arrangement of Clouds, 53 ; A Curious Halo, 53 ; Hovering
of Birds, 412
Libraries, Reference Catalogue of Derby Free, 62
‘*Light,” Lewis Wright, 75
Lighting, Electric, Sir C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., 67
Lightning Conductors, the Efficacy of, 48
Liquid Films, Condensation of, on Wetted Soliis, J. W. Clark,
370
Liquids, Arrangement for Measuring the Refractive Index of,
Pittschikoff, 325
Lime as a Purifier of Products of Combustion of Coal Gas, Dr.
Joule, F.R.S., 496
Lime-water, Protection of Oxygen, &c., from Admixture of
Acid Vapour by, Dr. Loewe, 373
Linnean Society, 94, 118, 167, 259, 354, 379, 451, 523, 547, 619
Linnean Society of New South Wales, Proceedings of, 93, 215
Lion at Rest, 584
Listing (Prof. Johann Benedict): Death of, 228; Obituary
Notice of, 316
Lithium Lines, on the Reversibility of, Profs. Liveing and
Dewar, 499
Liveing (Prof.) and Prof. Dewar on the Origin of the Hydro-
carbon Flame Spectrum, 257; on the Reversibility of the
Lithium Lines, 499; Absorption of Ultra-Violet Rays by
Various Substances, 521
Lockyer (J. Norman, F.R.S.), Recent and Coming Total Solar
Eclipses, 185; Hermann W. Vogel on Lockyer’s ‘‘ Dissocia-
tion Theory,” 233 ; the Education of our Industrial Classes, 248
Lodes, Origin of Metalliferous, Prof. Sandberger, 90
Lodge (Prof. Oliver), the Ether and its Functions, 304, 328
Loewe (Dr.), Protection of Oxygen, &c., from Admixture of
Acid Vapour by Lime-water, 373
London Mathematical Society (see Mathematical Society)
London, Palolithic Implements of North-East, Worthington
G. Smith, 270
London School Board, 346
Longridge (James A.), Wire Guns, 11, 35
Lovett, Lieut.-Col. Beresford, Itinerary Map from Teheran to
Astrabad, &c., 323
Lubbock (Sir John, F.R.S.), The Senses of Bees, 46 ; Munro’s
“Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings,” 145; Forms of Leaves,
605 ; on the Sense of Colour amongst some of the Lower
Animals, 618
Lunar Halo, A, J. Rand Capron, 78; T. P. Barkas, 103; S. A.
Good, 150
Lupton (Sidney), Elementary Chemical Arithmetic, 76
Lydekker (Richard): Siwalik Carnivora, 293; Indian Arche-
gosaurus, 411
Macdonald (Rey. D.), ‘* Africana,” 526
McEwen (J. P. M.), Comet 1882 2, 52
MacGregor (General Sir C. M.), ‘‘ Wanderings in Baluchistan,”
Prof. A. H. Keane, 359
McIntosh (J. G.), Waterspouts on Land, 103
McKendrick (Prof. J. G.), Lectures on Physiological Discovery,
496
McLachlan (R., F.R.S.) : Early Coltsfoot, 266 ; Obituary Notice
of Prof. P. C. Zeller, 535
McLeod (Prof. H., F.R.S.), the Aurora, 99; Action of Light
on Indiarubber, 312 :
Madan (H. G.), Complementary Colours at Niagara Falls, 174
Madras, Agriculture in, 607
Madrid, Snow in, 161, 229
Magnetic Arrangement of Clouds, C. H. Romanes, 31
Magnetic Storm and Aurora: W. H. M. Christie, F.R.S.
Prof. C. P. Smythe, G. M. Whipple, J. R. Capron, R. H.
Tiddeman, J. E. Clark, H. C. Gill, H. Robinson, A. M.
Worthington, T. G. Elger, Miss C. R. Ingleby, C. H.
Romanes, E. Brown, F. Stapleton, Rev. S. H. Saxby, Dr.
H. Airy, Major J. Herschel, A.S.P., H. D. Taylor, T. P.
Barkas, W. M. Jones, G. R. Vicars, Prof. O'Reilly, J. L.
Dobson, 82 to 87
Magnetical Perturbations, Earth Currents during, 89
Magnetisation of Metals, M. Berson, 183
Main (Dr, J. F.), Practical Mechanics, John Perry, 456
Maklay (M. Mikluho), Russian Imperial Grant to, 92
Malay Archipelago, Meteorology of the, 79
Mammoth Skeleton found at Belgrade, 63
Man, Primitive, Prof. Owen on, Giant Allen, 31
Man and the Ape, Projection of Nasal Bones in, J. Park
Harrison, 266, 294
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 234, 524
Manilla, Hurricane at, 63
Manning (B.), the Comet, 29
Manures, Inquiry into Degree of Solubility requisite in, 325
Marcel-Deprez System, Transmission of Energy on, 372
Marcet (Prof, Francis), Death of, 587
Marine Surveying, a Treatise on, Key. J. L. Robinson, 289
Mars, Rev. T. W. Webb, 203
Marshall (A. Milnes), New Dredging Implement, 11
Marshall (Major) and Nicéville (L. A.), Butterflies of India,
Burmah, and Ceylon, 50
Marsipobranch Fishes, the Skeleton, W. K. Parker, F.R.S., 330
Martin (H. Newell) and W. A. Moule, Handbook of Verte-
brate Dissections, 335
Martini (Signor), Sound produced by Outflow of Water, 183
Martyr (J.), Baird’s Hare, 266
Marx, on Cosmical Dust Collected by, 422
Masheder (Thomas), Meteors, 483
Masters (Dr. M. T.), Double Flowers, 126
Mathematical Society, 71, 190. 282, 379, 499, 595; Annual
Meeting, 19
Mathematical Society of Edinburgh, 346, 500, 595
Mathematics in America, J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., 193
Mathematics in Scandinavia, 343
Matter of Space: Charles Morris, 349 ; Prof. A. S. Herschel,
458, 504 :
Maxwell (J. Clerk), the Life of, with a Selection from his Cor-
respondence and Occasional Writings, and a Sketch of his
Contributions to Science, Lewis Campbell, LL.D., 26
Mechanical Subjects, Papers on, Sir J. Whitworth, 208
Mechanics, Practical, John Perry, Dr. J. F. Main, 456
Mechanics, Teaching of Elementary, 580
Medicine in Russia, Popular, Dr. Slunin, 62
Medioscribed Circle, 607
Mediterranean, Italian Exploration of, Dr, J. Gwyn Jeffreys,
F.R.S., 35 ; New Deep-Sea Fish from, Dr. Giglioli, 198
Megalania prisca, Prof. Owen, F.R.S., 118
Melbourne, Observatory at, 497
Melde (Prof.), Electric Reaction, 183
Meldola (R.), Difficult Cases of Mimicry, 481
Meliola, on the Genus, H. Marshall Ward, 234
Mémoires de la Société des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles de
Bordeaux, 362
Zz
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
INDEX X1
Memory, Diseases of, R. Ribot, Dr. G. J. Romanes, 169
Mendeléeff (Prof.), ‘‘ Principles of Chemistry,” 113
Mensuration, Useful Rules and Tables, W. J. M. Rankine,
F.R.S., 431, 483
Mercury, Electric Resistance of, R. Lenz, 182
Mercury, Pressure of Saturating Vapour of, Herr Hertz, 183
Merian (Prof. Peter), Death of, 372
Meridian, Universal, 247, 516
Merrifield (Mary P.), Rabenhorst’s ‘‘ Kryptogamen-Flora von
Deutschland, Oesterreich, und der Schweiz,” 385
Metalliferous Lodes, OriginZof, Prof. Sandberger, 90
Metals, Magnetisation of, M. Berson, 183
Metamorphic Rocks of Ross and Inverness, Henry Hicks, 474
Metamorphic Origin of Granite—Prehistoric ‘‘ Giants,” Duke
of Argyll, 578 te
Metamorphism of Rocks, Recent Researches in, Dr. A. Geikie,
ESRS,, 121
Meteorite: Fall of, at Iserlohn, 423; near Brescia, 469; the
Alfianello, 511
Meteorology : the Observatory on Ben Nevis, 18, 39, 175, 399,
411, 487 ; Meteorology of the Malay Archipelago, 79 ; Meteo-
rological Society, 95, 234, 307, 452, 570, 619; Proposed
Exhibition of Meteorological Instruments, 373 ; Congress of
Meteorologists, 539; Meteorological Observations at Mouth
of Lena, Yurgens, 423; Metecrological Society of France,
497; Elementary Meteorology, R. H. Scott, F.R.S., 575
Meteors : the November, 43; W. L. Harnett on a, 103; an
Extraordinary, B. R. Branfill, 149; Meteoric Auroral Pheno-
menon of November 17, 1882, 173; Remarks on and Ob.
servations of the, Dr. H. J. H. Groneman, 296; Rev-
Stephen H. Saxby, 338; H. Dennis Taylor, 365; T. W.
Backhouse, 412; A. Batson, 412; H. D. Tayler, 434; Great
Meteor in Sweden, 423 ; a Meteor, R. W. S. Griffith, 434;
the Large Meteor of March 2, 1883, W. F. Denning, 461;
Meteors, Thos. Masheder, 483; Henry Cecil, 483 ; Meteor,
E. Brown, 508; in Sweden, 517; a Blue, Consul E. L.
Layard, 531 ; at Carlsruhe, 540 ; Instructions for Observing,
615; Number of, observed at Prossnitz, 617
“* Mexico to-day,” T. U. Brocklehurst, 503
Meyer (Dr. A. B.), Stockholm Ethnographical Exhibition, 371
“‘Micrographic Dictionary,” J. W. Griffith and A. Henfrey,
160, 603
Microphone, the, 588
Microscope, a Search for ‘‘Atlantis” with the, Dr. Arch, Geikie,
F.R.S., 25
“* Microscope, the,” Rey. W. Houghton, 173
Middlemiss (C. S.), Hovering of Birds, 337
Midland Boulders, Rev. W. Tuckwell on the, 346
Mikluho-Maclay (Baron) on New Guinea, 137, 184, 371
Milan, Intemperance in, Prof. Verga on, 347
Millar (W. J.) : the Comet, 29 ; Rankine’s ‘‘ Rules and Tables,”
493
Milne (Mr.), Proposed Study of Earthquakes in Japan, 463
Mimicry in Moths : Duke of Argyll, 125 ; Comm. D. Stewart,
314
Mimicry, Difficult Cases of: Alf. R. Wallace, 481 ; R. Meldola,
481 ; Dr. P. H. Stokoe, 508 ; H. J. Morgan, 531
Minchin (Prof. G. M.), Kinematics, 239
Mineralogical Society, 24, 451
Minor Planets, 148
Mint, Japanese, Report for 1882, 323
Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 615
** Mittheilungen der deutschen Gesellschaft,” of Yokohama, 41
Mollusks, Edible, Acclimatisation of, Dr. J. G. Jeffreys, F.R.S.,
SII
Montgolfier Anniversary, 90, 517
Monuments, Ancient, Worthington G, Smith, 102
Moons, Mock, F. T. Mott, 606
Morgan (Augustus de), Memoir of, R. Tucker, 217
Morgan (C. L.), Suicide of Scorpions, 313, 530
Morgan (H. J.), Mimicry, 531
“ Morphologisches Jahrbuch,” 94, 473
Morphology Human, vol. i., H. A. Reeves, 124
Morris, New Method of Producing Aluminium, 183
Morris (Chas.), the Matter of Space, 349
Morse, Memorial in Rome, 445
Moseley (Prof. H. N., F.R.S.): Von Graff’s Monograph on
the Turbellarians, 227 ; Incubation of Ostrich, 507
Moths, Mimicry in: Duke of Argyll, 125 ; Commander Duncan
Stewart, 314
Motion, Optical Illusions of, Dr. Bowditch, 183
Motion, Laws of, Prof. P. G, Tait, 283
Mott (F. T.) : the Sea Serpent, 293 ; Mock Moons, 606
Moule (W. A.) and H. Newell Martin, Handbook of Verte-
brate Dissection, 335
Mouse-Mill Dynamo (Thomson’s), J. T. Bottomley, 78
Mudballs, Formation of, Prof. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., 507
Muirhead (Dr. H.), Aurora of Noy. 17, 1882, 315
Miiller (Dr. Fritz): Animal Intelligence, 240; Two Kinds of
Stamens with Different Functions in the same Flower, 364
Miiller (Dr. Hermann), Two Kinds of Stamens with Different
Functions in the same Flower, 30
Mundella (A. J., M.P.), on Education, 276
Munro (Dr.), “ Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings,” by Sir John
Lubbock, M.P., F.R.S., 145
Munro (J.), Swan Lamp Spectrum and Aurora, 173
Murcia, Earthquake at, 277
Murphy (J. J.): Complementary Colours, 8; Pollution of the
Atmosphere, 241 ; Aurora, 434
Museum, New Natural History, 54
Museum, Warwick, 539
Muybridge’s Zoetrope Pictures of Animals in Motion, 42; New
Work on Motion in Man and Animals, 539
Myxinoids, the Skeleton of, Prof. W. K. Parkes, F.R.S., 330
Nachtigal (Dr. G.), ‘‘Sahara und Sudan,” A. H. Keane, 408
Naphtha Wells at Ferghana, 445
Naples, Zoological Station in, J. T. Cunningham, 453
Napoli on Electricity as a Motive Power for Balloons, 517
Nasal Bones in Man and the Ape, Projection of, J. Park
Harrison, 266, 294
Natural History Museum, The New, 54; Removal of Collec-
tions, 538
“Natural History, Another Book of Scraps principally relating
to,” Chas. Murray Adamson, 480
“Natural” Experiment in Complementary Colours, Chas. T.
Whitmell, 266
Natural Selection and Natural Theology, Prof. Asa Gray, 291,
529 ; Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 362, 528 ; J. B. Hannay,
F.R.S., 364
Natural Science in Civil Service Examinations, 321
Nayy, The British, Sir Thomas Brassey, 549
“Nearctic” as one of the Primary Zoological Regions, on the
Value of the, Alfred R. Wallace, 482 ; Prof. Angelo Heil-
prin, 606
Nebulz, Meridian Observation of, 324 ; New, 400, 446
Nervous System, Influence of, on the Kegulation of Tempera-
ture in Warm-blooded Animals, 469
** Neurologie, Lehrbuch der,” Dr. Schwalbe, 196
‘Newall (H. Frank), Internal Reflections in the Eye, 376
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Free Library, 615
Newcomb (Prof.), ‘‘ Popular Astronomy,” 373
New Guinea, Dr. Otto Finsch’s Expedition to, 43; Baron
Mikluho-Maclay on, 137, 184
New South Wales, Linnean Society of, 215
New Zealand: Earthworm in, 91 ; Pott’s ‘‘ Out in the Open,”
172 ; Astronomy in, 276 ; Catalogues of New Zealand Diptera,
Orthoptera, and Hymenoptera, F, W. Hutton, 399
“‘ Niagara and other Famous Cataracts,” G. W. Holley, 146
Niagara Falls, Complementary Colours at, H. G. Madan, 174
Niceville (L. de) and Major Marshall, Butterflies of India,
Burmah, and Ceylon, 50
Nicols (Arthur), Zoological Notes on the Structure, Affinities,
Habits, and Mental Faculties of Wild and Domestic Animals,
Dr. Geo, J. Romanes, F.R.S., 333
Niger: W. A. Forbes’s Zoological Expedition up the, 14; Col.
Desbordes on Banks of, 424
Nilson, Thorium, 184
** Nomenclator Zoologicus,” Sam. H. Scudder, 28
Nordenskjold (Baron) : Discovery of North-East Passage, 422;
his Proposed Greenland Expedition, 446, 496
Nordland, ‘‘ Naturen” on the Old Silver Mines of, 347
“*Normal Element” of Electromotive Force of Galvanic Com-
bination, Kittler, 325
Norske nord-hass-expedition, 1876-78, Herman Friele, Dr. J.
Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., 457
North-East Passage, Discovery of, Baron Nordenskjéld, 422
Norway: Leprosy in, 423; Dust Showers, 496; Norwegian
Geodetical Operations, 224, 341 ; Norwegian Science Grants,
444
Nouveaux Mémoires de la Société Helvetique des Sciences
Naturelles, 282
Xi
INDEX
[Nature, Fure 21, 1883
November Meteors, 43
Numbers, Theory of, Prof. H. J. S. Smith on, 564
Numerical Estimate of the Rigidity of the Earth, G. H. Darwin,
FE.R.S., 22
Observatories : Meteorological Observatory on Ben Nevis, 18, 39,
175, 399, 411, 487; Brussels, 445 ; Melbourne, 497
O’Donovan (Edmond), ‘‘ Travels and Adventures East of the
Caspian,” Prof. A. H. Keane, 359
Olsta, Remarkable Mirage seen at, 616
Ommanney (Admiral), Aurora of Nov. 17, 139
Optical Mlusions of Motion, Dr. Bowditch, 183
Optics, Physical, R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., 361
Opuntia Ficus-Indica, Abnormal Fruit of, Dr. A. Ernst, 77 ;
Dr. M. T. Masters, 126
Ordnance Survey of Scotland, Completion of, 92
O’Reilly (Prof.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 87
Orientalists, ( ongress of, 565
Ormerod (Miss E. A.), ‘‘ Diagrams of Insects injurious to Field
Crops,” 146
Ornithologist in Siberia, 560
‘‘Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche,”
Salvadori, 577
Ostrich, Incubation of the: J. E. Harting, 480; George J.
Romanes, 480 ; Prof. Moseley, F.R.S., 507
Oswald (Felix L.), ‘‘ Zoological Sketches,” Dr. Geo. J.
Romanes, F.R.S., 333
“Out in the Open,” T. H. Potts, 172
Owen (Prof. R., F.R.S.), on Primitive Man, Grant Allen, 31 ;
Megalania Prisca, 118 ; on the Affinities of Thylacoleo, 354
Owl, Scream of Young Burrowing, S. Garman, 174
Oxygen, Discovery of, Lavoisier, Priestley, and the, G. F. Rod-
well, 8, 100
Oyster Culture, 180
Oyster Fisheries of Denmark, Decline of, 346
Oyster Industry of the United States, 39
Tommaso
Paleolithic Implements of North-East London, Worthington
G. Smith, 270
Palzolithic River Gravels: C. Evans, 8; William White, 53 ;
T. K. Callard, 54 ; Worthington G. Smith, 102
Palzontology, Carboniferous Vertebrate, Notice of some Dis-
coveries recently made in, T. Stock, 22
Palzozoic Strata, Invertebrate Casts versus Algee in, 46
Palestine, Physical History of, Prof. Hull, F.K.S.,520
Palmieri (Prof. Marino), Death of, 41
Panama, Earthquake at, 248
Papuan Ornithology, Tommaso Salvadori, 577
Parallax, Stellar, 210
Paris: Academy of Sciences, 24, 48, 72, 95, 119, 144,r168, 102,
229, 235, 260, 283, 308, 332, 356, 386, 404, 428, 475, 548,
572, 596, 620; Annual Meeting of, 538; Disposal of the
Sewage of Paris, 133; Second Inundation at, 247; Compte
Rendus of the Geographical Society, 401; Bulletin of, 424 ;
Electric Lighting in, 516
Parker (Rev. Dr. G. W.), Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand, 7
Parker (W. K., F.R.S.), The Skeleton of Marsipobranch
Fishes, 330
Parkes Museum, First General Meeting, 19
Parrakeet, The Uvzan, 417
“Pathological Anatomy and Pathogenesis, a Text-Book of,”
Ernst Ziegler, 477
Patent Bill, the New, 587
Pavy (Dr. F. W., F.R.S.), Physiology of the Carbo-hydrates in
the Animal System, 618
Pedara in Sicily, Earthquake at, 567
Pelagic Fauna of Freshwater Lakes, 92
Perigatus Cagensis, Prof. F. M. Balfour on, 215
Peronostore, New Vine Parasite, 13
Perry (John), Practical Mechanics, Dr. J. F. Main, 456
Persia, Colonel Lovett’s Itinerary Map from Teheran to
Astrabad, 323
Perugia, Earthquake in, 90
Petermann’s ‘‘ Mittheilungen,” 92, gor, 541
Petrie (W. M. F.), Aurora of Noy. 17th, 1882, 139, 315
Petromyzon Planeri, Genesis of Hypophysis in, 91
Pfaundler (Prof.), The Inventor of Continuous-Induction
Dynamo-Electric Machine, 517
Philippine Islands, Typhoon in, 181
Phillips (H. A.), Pollution of the Atmosphere, 127, 2669
Phosphorus, the Glowing of, 301
Photographing with the Electric Light, Priority in, 276
Photography, Astronomical, Edward C, Pickering, 556
Photometer, Wedge and Diaphragm, 201
Photometric Measurements of Sun, Moon, Cloudy Sky, and
Electric and other Artificial Lights, Sir William Thon son, 277
Phylloxera Destruction, Commission of the French Academy, 89
Phylloxera in Chambery, 133
Physical Notes, 324
“* Physical Optics,” R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.5S., 361
Physical Society, 95, 143, 215, 354; 427, 452, 500
Physical and Chemical Properties of Simple and Compound
Bodies, Relation between, De Heen, 422
‘¢ Physics of the Earth’s Crust,” Rev. O. Fisher, 76
‘* Physics in Pictures,” &c., 551
Physics in Russia during the last Ten Years, N. Hesehus, 567
Physiological Discovery, McKendrick Lectures on, 496
Pickering (Edward C.), Astronomical Photography, 556
Picou (R. W.), ‘‘ Manuel d’Electronomie Industrielle,” 146
Pictet (Raoul), his ‘‘ Rapid Vessel,” 398
Pidgeon (D.), Intelligence in Animals, 366
Pile-dwellings, Bobenhausen, 160
Piltschikoff, Arrangement for Measuring the Refractive Index
of Liquids, 325
Pitt-Rivers Collection, the, 346, 461,
Planet, Inter-Mercurial, A. F. Goddard, 148
Planets, Minor, 248; No. 228, 518
Planté and Faure Accumulators, Chemistry of the, Dr. J. H.
Gladstone, F.R.S., and Dr. A. Tribe, F.R.S., 583
Plants, Influence of ‘‘ Environment” on, W. T. Thiselton Dyer,
F.R.S., 82; Howard Fox, 315
Plants, Formic and Acetic Acid in, 91
Plants, Cultivated, Origin of, A. de Candolle, 429; Vilmorin
Andrieux, 429
Pogge (Dr.), German African Expedition, 92
Poggendorff’s ‘‘ Fall Machine,” 300
Polakoff’s Explorations, 424
Polar Exploration, Swedish and Dutch Expeditions, 299
Pollock (E.), Aurora of Noy. 17, 141
Pollution of Rivers, &c., German Society for Prevention of, 89
Pollution of the Atmosphere, H. A. Phillips, 127
Porritt’s Yorkshire List of Lepidoptera, 540
Porro (Francis), Professor Schiaparelli on the Great Comet
1882 6, 533
Port (Dr. Arnold Dedel-), ‘‘ Atlas der Physiologischen Botanik,”
61
Post Testiagy, a Possible Cause of the Extinction of the Bones of
the, S. Garman, 313
Potato Disease, A. S. Wilson, 523
Potts (T. H.), ‘‘ Out in the Open,” 172
Praxinescope, Reynaud’s New Projection, 60
Preece (W. H., F.R.S.), the Progress of Telegraphy, 390:
“‘Fffects of Temperature on Electromotive Force and Resist-
ance of Batteries,” 426
Prehistoric Animals, Remains of, discovered at Andernach, 445
Prehistoric ‘‘ Giants ’””—Metamorphic Origin of Granite, Duke of
Argyll, 578
Prejevalsky (Colonel), Exploration of Central Asia, 133
Preston (S. Tolver), ‘‘ Ether and its Functions,” 579
Priestley, Lavoisier, and the Discovery of Oxygen, G. F. Red-
well, 8, 100; C. Tomlinson, F.R.S., 53, 147
Primitive Man, Professor Owen on, Grant Allen, 31
Primogeniture, the Hypothesis of Accelerated Development by,
and its Place in the Theory of Evolution, Prof. A. A, Hubrecht,
270, 301
Bagee ir. E.), Threatened Extinction of the Elephant, 509
Princeton Schocl of Science, Longitude of, 248
Princeton Scientific Expedition (No. 3), 323
Pringsheim (Dr. N.), ‘“‘Jahrbiicher fir
Botanik,” Prof. W. R. McNab, 502
Prisms, Direct-vision, 182
Projection Praxinoscope, Reynaud’s New, 60
Prossnitz, Number of Meteors observed at, 617
Putnam (Prof. F. W.), on American Antiquities, 277
wissenschaftlich
Quain’s Elements of Anatomy, 196
Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 47, 353
Quiberon, Discovery of Dolmen at, 540
Rabenhoist’s ‘‘Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Oester-
reich, und der Schweiz,” Mary P. Merrifield, 385
Rabies, New Facts concerning, 192
=
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
Radiation, Terrestrial, Prof, Tyndall’s Observations, Dr, A,
Woeikof, 460
Radiometer, Prof. Ravelli on Educational Uses of, 444
Rae (Dr. J., F.R.S.): Hovering of Birds, 336 ; Intelligence in
Animals, 366; the Sea Serpent, 366; British Circumpolar
Expedition, 508
Railway Geology—a Hint, 8
Railways, Electric, 338; Prof. W. E. Ayrton, 255
Rainfall, British, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 149
Rains, Heavy, in France and Algeria, 229
Rankine (W. J. M.), Useful Rules and Tables Relating to
Mensuration, 431; W. J. Miller, 483
Ransome (Arthur), Fertilisation of the Speedwell, 149, 223
“ Rapid Vessel,” Pictet’s, 398
Rattlesnake, Scream of Young Burrowing Owl like Warning of,
S. Garman, 174
Ratzel (Dr. F.), Anthropo-Geographie, 125
Ravelli (Prof.), Educational Uses of Radiometer, 444
Rayleigh (Lord, F,R.S.): the Soaring of Birds, 534; Distri!u-
tion of Energy in the Spectrum, 559
Rays, Ultra-Violet, Absorption of, by various Substances, Pro-
fessors Liveing and Dewar, 521
Reaction, Electric, Prof. Melde, 183
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, 282, 354, 473, 521
Redman (J. B.), River Thames Abnormal High Tides, 6
Reeve and Co, (L.), ‘‘ Lepidoptera of Ceylon,” 150
Reeves (H. A.), Human Morphology, vol. i., 124
“Réforme” Telegraphic Communication with London, 469
Refractive Index of Liquids, Arrangement for Measuring, Pilt-
schikoff, 325
Regel (Dr. L. E.), Central Asian Exploration, 446
Rein (Dr. J. J.), Aino Ethnolozy, 365
Reinhardt (Prof. J. R.), Death of, 41, 61
Rendiconto dell’ Accademia delle Scienze di Bologna, 189
Riviera, Unprecedented Cold in the —Absence of Sunspots, C.
J. B. Williams, 551
Revue Internationale des Sciences, 426
Reyue Internationale des Sciences Biologiques, 189
Reymond (Prof. E. du Bois), Darwin and Copernicus, 557
Reynaud’s New Projection Praxinoscope, 60
Rheolyzer, Wartmann’s, E. von Fleische, 127
Rhone Glacier Studies, Prof. Forel on Recent, 183
Rhytina Stelleri, Crania of, 347
Ribot’s Diseases of Memory, Dr. G. J. Romanes, F.R.S,, 169
Rigidity of the Earth, Numerical Estimate of the, G. H.
Darwin, F.R.S., 22
Riley (Dr. C, S.), Hibernations of Aletia xylina in United
States, 214
Rip van Winkle, a Modern, Saltburne, 127
Ristori (E,), Orbit of Comet 1882 2, 388
River Gravels, Paleolithic, C. Evans, 8
Rivista Scientifico-Industriale e Giornale del Naturalista, 94,
282, 521
Robert’s Tide Tables, 230
Roberts (Prof. W. Chandler, F.R.S.), Hardening and Temper-
ing Steel, 594
Robinson (H.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 85
Robinson (Dr.), Memorial of, 112
Robinson (John), Flora of Essex County, Massachusetts, 173
Robinson (Rev. J. L.), a Treatise on Marine Surveying, 289
Robinson (W. H.), the Zodiacal Light (?), 605
Rocks, Recent Researches in Metamorphism of, Dr. A. Geikie,
F.R.S., 121
“Rockies, Camps in the,” W. A. Baillie-Grohman, 551
Rodwell (G. F.): Lavoisier, Priestley, and the Discovery of
Oxygen, 8, 100; Notes cf Travel in Sardinia, 342
Rogers (Prof. James E. T.), Ensilage in America, Prof. J.
Wrightson, 479
Romanes (C. H.): Magnetic Arrangement of Clouds, 31 ; the
Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 86
Romanes (Dr. G. J., F.R.S.), Ribot’s Diseaves of Memory,
169 ; on Natural Selection and Natural Theology, Prof. Asa
Gray, 291, 362, 528; ‘‘ Zoological Sketches,” Felix L. Os-
wald, 333; ‘‘ Zoological Notes on the Structure, Affinities,
Habits, end Mental Faculties of Wild and Domestic Animals,”
Arthur Nicols, 333; ‘‘The Vampire Bat,” 412; Incubation
of the Ostrich, 480 ; Benevolence in Animals, 607
Roorkee Hydraulic Experiments, Major Allan Cunningham, 1
Rowan (Vice-Admiral), Elements of the Great Comet 18824, 226
Rowan (D. J.), the Zodiacal Light(?), 605
Rowell (G, A.), Experiments on Aurora, 443
INDEX xiii
Rowland (Prof.), Concave Gratings for giving a Diffraction
Spectrum, 95
Royal Asiatic Society (North China Branch), Journal of, 161
Royal Commissioners for Technical Education, visit to birming-
ham, 469
Royal Geographical Society, 323
Royal Horticultural Society, 119, 523, 570
Royal Institution, Lecture Arrangements, 112, 495
Royal Society, 118, 143, 189, 215, 234, 257, 330, 354, 376,
426, 450, 473, 499, 521, 568, 618 ; Names Nominated for the
Council, 40 ; Award of Medals, 61 ; Address of the President,
134, 162; New Fellows, 615
“Rules and Tables,”’ Rankine’s, 431; W. J. Millar, 483
Russell, H. C., the Comet 1882 4, 56
Russia, Popular Medicine in, Dr. Slunin, 62; Forest Fires in,
113 ; Russian Chemical and Physical Society, 444; Russian
Geographical Society, 424; Glacial Formations of, 497 ;
Physics in, during the last ten years, N. Hesehus, 567
Russow (E.), on Sieve-Tubes, 366
Rye, E. C., ‘The Zoological Record” for 1881, 310
Sabine’s New Wedge and Diaphragm Photometer, 201
Sachs (Julius), ‘‘Text-Book of Botany, Morphological and
Physiological,” Prof. E, P. Wright, 263
Safety Lamp, Prize offered for New, 496
Sagiura (Shigetaké), on the Isomerism of Albutwinous Bodies,
103
‘*Sahara und Sudan,” by Dr. G. Nachtigal, Prof. A. H.
Keane, 408
Saharunpur Botanical Gardens, Report, 588
St. Petersburg Society of Gardening, 19
Salez, Discovery of Bronze Hatchet at, 540
Salmon and Herring Fisheries, 442
Salvadori (Tommaso), ‘‘Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle
Molluche,” 577
Sampson (Commander), the Comet 1882 4, 108, 266
Sandberger (Prof.), Origin of Metalliferous Lodes, 90
Sanitary Associations, Reports of, 423
Sanitary Research, Grocers’ Company Scheme, 495, 515
Sanitary Science, the Scheme of the Grocers’ Company for
the Encouragement of Original Research in, 574
Sap-flow, F. M. Burton, 530
Saporta (Marquis de), Fossil Algze, 514
Sardinia, Notes of Travelin, G. F. Rodwell, 342
Sarepta, the Stones of, 231
Saturn’s Ring, Cassini Division of, 374
Saxby (Rev. S. H.): the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 86; the
Aurora, 100 ; Meteor of November 17, 338
Scale, Equal Temperament of the, C. B. Clarke, 240
Scandinavia, Mathematics in, 343
Schliemann (Dr.), Proposed Excavations at Athens, 276
Schaeberle (Prof.), Method for Observing Artificial Transits, 67
Schiaparelli (Prof.), on the Great Comet 1882 6, Francis Porro,
533
Schirmwirkung of Iron, Prof. Stephan, 325
Schmidt’s Cometary Object, 20; Variable Star near Spica, 617
Schriften der Physicalisch-Okonomischen Ge-ell-chaft zu KGnigs-
berg, 521
Schwalbe (Dr.) ‘‘ Lehrbuch der Neurologie,” 196
Schwarz (Herr), Action of Zinc on Sulphur, 184
Science and Theology, 337
Scientific Heresies in China, 342
Scientific Renown, the Thirst for, 285
SCIENTIFIC WORTHIES :—William Spottiswoode, P.R.S. (with
a Portrait), 597
Sclater (P. L., F.R.S.), the High Springs of 1883, 529
Scorpions, Suicide of, C. L. Morgan, 313, 530
Scotch Universities Bill, 565, 573
Scotland : Completion of Ordnance Survey of, 92; New Ap-
pointments of Geological Survey, 246
Scott (R. H., F.R.S.), ‘* Elementary Meteorology,” 575
Scott (Major-Gen. H. G. D., I7.R.S.), Death of, 587
Scottish Lake Dwellings, Ancient, by Dr. Munro, Sir John
Lubbock, F.R.S., 145
Scottish Review, 399
Scottish Meteorological Society, Half-yearly General Meeting,
469
Scudder (Sam. H.), ‘‘ Nomenclator Zoologicus,” 28
Scypho-Medusz, Habits of, Surgeon-Major H. B. Guppy, 31
Sea Lion, the Cape, 415
Seabroke (Geo. M.), Comet 1882 4, 4, 52
xiv
Sea Serpent, the, F. T. Mott, 293; Joseph Sidebotham, 315 ;
W. Barfoot, 338; Prof. W. Steadman Aldis, 338; Dr. J.
Rae, F.R.S., 366
Seals in the Baltic, 133
Sea-shore, Apparent Lird Tracks by, 91
Secchi (Father), Monument to, 298
Seebohm (Henry), Ornithologist in Siberia, 560
Seismographic Apparatus, Gray and Milne’s, 547
Selenka (Prof. E.), Sipunculacea, 133
Serpieri (Prof. A.), ‘‘ I] Potentiale Elettrico nell’ Insegnamento
dell’ Elettrostatica,” 312
Serravallo, Double Action Mercury Air-pump, 324
Sextants, New Apparatus for Testing, 473
Shadows after Sunset, E. D. Archibald, 77; Prof. Dier, 150;
J. Rand Capron, 182
Sheep, Blanford’s, 415
Sheffield Free Libraries Report, 19
Shetland, Severe Weather in, 443
Shulachenko’s Experiments with Telephones, 445
Siberia, Proposal for Publication of General Description of, 182
Siberian Aborigines, Yadrintseff, 541
Siberian Flora, 445
Siberia in Europe, Henry Seebohm, 560
Sidebotham (Joseph), the Sea Serpent, 315
Siemens (Sir Charles W.), Electric Lighting, the Transmission of
Force by Electricity, 67 ; and Dr. Percy, Presented with the
Freedom of the Company of Turners, 276; Electrical Trans-
mission of Force and Storage of Power, 518
Sieve Tubes, E. Russow, 366
Silesia, Earthquake in, 400
Silk Culture in Hungary, 209
Silver, Electric Conductivity of Haloid Salts of, Prof. Kohl-
rausch, 182
Simondsia paradoxa, Dr. Cobbold, 547
Singing, Speaking, and Stammering, W. H. Stone, 509, 531,
558, 580; James Lecky, 580
Sipunculacea, Prof. E. Selenka, 133
Siwalik Carnivora, Richard Lydekker, 293.
**Skin-vision ”” of Animals, 399
Skobeleff (General), the Weight of his Brain, 347
Slunin (Dr.), Popular Medicine in Russia, 62
Smith (C. S.), Sir G. B. Airy on the Forth Bridge, 99
Smith (F. S.): a Modification of the Gold Leaf Electroscope,
102
Smith (Prof. H. J. S.)’: Death of, 371 ; Obituary Notice of, Dr.
W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., 381; his Mathematical Papers
and Memoirs, 443; and the Representation of a Number asa
Sum of Five Squares, 538, 564, 565, 587
Smith (Leigh), Gift to the Royal Geographical Society, 323
Smith (Robert H.), ‘‘ Cutting Tools Worked by Hand and
Machine,” 577
Smith (Worthington G.), Ancient Monuments, 102; Palao-
lithic Gravels, 102; Palzolithic Implements of North-East
London, 270
Smoke Abatement, Dr. E. Frankland, F.R.S., 407
Smoke Abatement Institution, National, 443
Smyth (Prof. C. Piazzi), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 83;
the Peak of Teneriffe Active again, 315
Snake Bite, Death from, in Bombay, Sir Joseph Fayrer, F.R.S.,
6
anne Destruction of Life in India by Poisonous, Str J. Fayrer,
F.R.S., 205
Snowballs, Natural, a Remarkable Phenomenon, S. Hart, 483
Snow Rollers, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 507 ; F. W. Grey, 507
Soda Flames in Coal Fires, Major J. Herschel, 78
Soda, Heating by Acetate of, 344
Soda Industry, Present Condition of, Walter Weldon, F.R.S.,
or
Sodium as New Element for Electro-positive Plate, Jablochkoff,
114 y
Solar Corona, on Photographing
F.R.S., 199 :
Solar Eclipses, Recent and Coming Total, J. Norman Lockyer,
F.R.S., 185 : x f
Solar Eclipse on May 6, Total, 248; English Expedition, 398,
the, Dr. Wm. Huggins,
507 a F :
Solar Radiation and Glacier Motion, Rev. A. Irving, 553
Solomon Islands, Anthropological Notes in the, H. B. Guppy,
607
Sound-vibrations of Solid Bodies (glass cylinders) in Contact
with Liquids, Auerbach, 325
“INDEX
[Wature, Fune 21, 1883
Space, the Matter of, Charles Morris, 349; Prof. A. S. Hers-
chel, 458, 504
Spatzier (Johann), Death of, 422
Speaking, Singing, and Stammering, W. H. Stone, 509, 531,
558, 580; James Lecky, 580
Spectrum Analysis: Work in the Infra-Red of the Spectrum,
Capt. Abney, F.R.S., 15 ; Prof. Rowland’s Concave Gratings
for giving a Diffraction Spectrum, 95; Profs. Liveing and
Dewar on the Origin of the Hydrocarbon Flame Spectrum,
257; Distribution of Energy in the Spectrum, Lord Rayleigh,
F.R.S., 559
Speedwell, Fertilisation of, A. M. Stanley, 127, 174; A.
Ransom, 149, 223:
Speke and Grant’s Zebra, Sir J. Fayrer, F.R.S., 604
Spencer’s (Herbert) Philosophy, Section founded for Study of,
at Birmingham, 587
Spica, Schmidt’s Variable Star near, 617
Spider, New Species of African, 348
Spitzbergen, Swedish Expedition to, 243
Spitzbergen Geological and Palzontological Collections, 588
Sponges, Australian Freshwater, 91
Sporer (Prof.) on the Transit of Venus, 284
Sportsman’s Handbook to Practical Collecting, &c., Rowland
Ward, 146
Spottiswoode (Dr. W., P.R.S.): Address to Royal Society,
134, 162; Obituary Notice of Prof. Henry Smith, 381;
** Scientific Worthies,” 597
Spring in the Jachére, Intermittent, 63
Spring (M. W.), Thunderstorms, 133
Springs, High, of 1883, P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., 529
Squares, Prof. H. J. S. Smith and the Representation of a
Number as a Sum of Five, 538, 564, 565, 587
Stamens, Two Kinds of, with Different Functions in the same
Flower, Dr. Hermann Miiller, 30 ; Dr. Fritz Miiller, 364
Stammering, Singing, Speaking and: W. H. Stone, 509,
531, 558, 580; James Lecky, 580
Stanley (A. M.), Fertilisation of Speedwell, 127
Stanley (W. F.), Causes of Elevation and Subsidence of Earth’s
Surface, 523
Stapleton (F.): the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 86; the
Comet, 151
Stapley (A. M.), Fertilisation of Speedwell, 174
Stars : Star Maps in Glasgow Evening Times, 80; Measures of
Double, 182; Binary, 518; ¢ Cancri, 424; Eridani, 589 ;
Variable, 324, 400, 540; S Virginis, 424; U Cephei,
Ceraski’s, 424, 445; Supposed Variable « Doradtis, 498;
Schmidt’s Variable near Spica, 617
Steel Plate Manufacture, 405
Steel, Hardening and Tempering, Prof. W. Chandler Roberts,
F.R.S., 594
Stellar Parallax, 210
Stephan (Prof.), Schirmwirkung of Iron, 325
Stevenson (Thos.), Observations of Increase of Velocity ot
Wind with Altitude, 432; E. D. Archibald, 506
Stewart (Comm. D.), Mimicry in Moths, 314
Stock (T.), Notice of some Discoveries recently made in
Carboniferous Vertebrate Palzontology, 22
Stockholm Ethnographical Exhibition, Dr. A. B. Meyer, 371
Stokoe (Dr. P. H.), Mimicry, 508
Stone Age in Japan, Weapons and Implements from the, 616
Stone (Prof. E. J.), Transit of Venus, 1882, British Expedi-
tions, 177
Stone (W. H.), Singing, Speaking, and Stammering, 509, 531,
558, 580
Storage Batteries, Chemistry of, Dr. E. Frankland, F.R.S., 568
Strahan (A.), Movements of Air in Fissures and the Barometer
375) 461
Stress, Clerk Maxwell on, 314
Strong (George), Improved Feed-water Heater and Purifier, 90
Suez Canal, Animal Migrations due to, Prof. Keller, 181
Sulphur, Action of Zinc on, Schwarz, 184
“Sun: its Planets and their Satellites,” Rev. E. Ledger, 309 ;
Eclipse of the, 346; Ignition by Sunlight, Major Herschel ;
E. H. Verney, 531; Shadows after Sunset, E. D. Archi-
bald, 77; J. Rand Capron, 102; Prof. Dier, 150; a Mock
Sunset, 78; Wolf and Faye on Periodicity of Sunspots,
235; Absence of Sunspots— Unprecedented Cold in the
Riviera, C. J. B. Williams, 551
Sunflowers at Night, the Reversion of, C. A. White, 241
Surveying, Marine, a Treatise on, Rey. J. L. Robinson, 289
Svanhberg (Dr, Gustav), Death of, 132
= sail
Nature, Fune 21, 1883]
INDEX
XV
‘Swan Lamp Spectrum and the Aurora, J. Rand Capron, 149 ;
J. Munro, 173
Sweden, Aurorze in, 113, 496; Darwin Memorial and the
People of, 275 ; Great Meteor in, 423, 517; Swedish Expe-
dition to Spitzbergen, 1882, 243; New Swedish Arctic
Expedition, 400
Sweden and Norway, Electrical Disturbances in, 89
Switzerland: Swiss Geological Society, 132; Avalanche in
Western, 181 ; Earthslip in, 209 ; Heavy Rain in, 209 ; Fishes
of Switzerland, Dr. Victor Fatio, 220; Electric Lighting in,
97
Eytiney : Linnean Society of New South Wales, 308, 355, 475,
I, 619
Bes (G. J., F.R.S.), British Rainfall, 149 ; Snow Rollers,
507
Szechenyi’s Travels, A. H. Keane, 170
Tacchini (Prof.), Aurora of November 17, 139
Tait (Prof. P. G.), Paper on the Laws of Motion, 283
Talisman Deep-Sea Expedition, 587
Tapetum, the, in the Retina of Mammals, 216
Tapir, the Malayan, 151
Taschenberg (Prof.), ‘‘ Die Insekten nach ihren Schaden und
Nutzen,’’ 172
Tashkend, Earthquake at, 617
Tawney (E. B.): Death of, 247 ; Obituary Notice of, 295
Taylor (Rev. C. J.), the Aurora, 99
Taylor (H. D.): the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 87 ; Aurora
of November 17, 140; Meteor of November 17, 365
Taylor (J. E.), Origin of our Vernal Flora, 7
Teaching of Elementary Mechanics, 580
Technical College, the Finsbury, 181, 318, 425, 495
Technical Education Commission, 51
Telegraph Extension in China, 588
Telegraphy, Advance in Use of, for French Newspapers, 372 ;
the Progress of, W. H. Preece, F.R.S., 390
Telephones, Shulachenko’s Experiments with, 445
Telephonic Communication, Novelty in, 515
Temperament, Equal, of the Scale, C. B. Clarke, 240
Teneriffe, the Peak of, active again, Prof. C. Piazzi Smyth, 315
Terrestrial Radiation, Note on, John Tyndall, F.R.S., 377;
Dr. A. Woeikof, 460
Tertiary History of the Grand Cafion District, Dr. Arch. Geikie,
F.R.S., 357
Thames, River—Abnormal High Tides, J. B. Redman, 6
Thames, Monthly Means of the Temperature of the Water of,
Sir G. B. Airy, F.R.S., 189
Theology, Natural Selection and Natural, Prof. Asa Gray, 291,
529; Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 362; J. B. Hannay,
F.R.S., 364
Theology, Science and, 337
Thermometer, an Improved Air, 43
Thermometers, Liquid, Expansion of Bulbs of, Prof. Govi, 209
Thibet, Native Exploration of, Sir H. Rawlinson, 323
Thomson’s Mouse-Mill Dynamo, J. T. Bottomley, 78
Thomson (Sir William, F.R.S.): Photometric Measurements of
Sun, Moon, Cloudy Sky, and Electric and other Artificial
Lights, 277; Gyrostatics, 548
Thorium, Nilson, 184
Thunderstorms, M. W. Spring, 133
Thylacoleo, on the Affinities of, Prof. Owen, F.R.S., 354
Ticks, 531 ; Dr. T. Spencer Cobbold, F.R.S., 552; Rev. L.
Blomefield, 552
Tiddeman (R. H.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 84
Tides, Abnormal High—in the Thames, J. B. Redman, 6
Tides, Great, Prof. R. S. Ball, F.R.S., 201
Tides, Geological Traces of Great, J. G. Grenfell, 222
Timehri, 539
Times, the, on Science, 566
Timor-Laut, H. O. Forbes’s Visit to, 159
Tissandier’s Electromagnetic Engine for directing Balloons, 343
Tomlinson (C., F.R.S.), Priestley and Lavoisier, 53, 147
Torpedo, Prof. Fritsch on the, 453
Traill (D.), Transit of Venus, 159
Tram-car, Electrically moved, Successful Trial of a, 470
Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 330
Transit of Venus, 112, 154, 253, 540; Prof. Harkness on the,
114; British Expeditions, E. J. Stone, F.R.S., Prof.
Langley, John Birmingham, 177; C. J. B. Williams, F.R.S.,
197; in Algiers, 208; French Expedition, 208; German
Expedition, 208 ; Prof. Edgar Frisby, 266 ; Samuel Hart, 483
Transits, Method for Observing Artificial, Prof. Schaeberle, 67
Transmission of Energy on the Marcel-Deprez System, 372
“Travels in India,” 21
Tresca (M.), Papers on Electrical Measures, 62
Tribe (Dr. A., F.R.S.), Chemistry of the Planté and Faure
Accumulators, 583
Tricycles propelled by Electricity, 19
Tromholt (Sophus), on the Aurora Borealis, 394
Trotting Horse, Evolution of the American, W. H. Brewer, 609
Trouton (F.), on a Relation existing between the Latent
Heats, Specific Heats, and Relative Volumes of Volatile
Bodies, 292
Trouve’s Batteries, 41, 42
Tubercle, Bacillus of, 492, 563
Tucker (R.), Memoir of Augustus de Morgan, 217
Tuckwell (Rev. W.), on the Midland Boulders, 346
Tunnel, Channel, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., 338
Turbellarians, Prof. von Graff’s Monograph on the, Prof. H.
N. Moseley, F.R.S., 227
Tylor (Dr. E. B., 7.R.S.), “ The Burman,” 6
Tympanic Membrane, Function of Membrana Flaccida of, J
M. Crombie, 129
Tyndall (Prof. John, F.R.S.), ‘‘ Note on Terrestrial Radiation,”
377; Dr. A. Woeikof on, 460
Typhoon in Philippine Islands, 181
Ultra-Violet Rays, Absorption of, by various Substances, Pro-
fessors Liveing and Dewar, 521
Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., 7;
Rev. Dr. G, W. Parker, 7, 32
United States, Oyster Industry of the, 39 ; New Aquarium at
Wood’s Hole, 347
Universities Bill, Scotch, 565, 573
University and Educational Intelligence, 47, 71, 93, 117, 142,
167, 214, 233, 281, 306, 330, 353, 492, 449, 472, 498, 547,
594, 618
Ural Mountains, Russian Exploration of, 446 ; Severe Weather
In, 539
Uric and Hippuric Acid, Dr. A. B. Garrod, F.R.S., 451
Uveean Parrakeet, 417
Valais, Earthquake in the, 181
“‘Vampire Bat”: Thos. Workman, 411; A. W. Auden, 411 ;
G. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 412
Variable Stars, 324, 400, 540;S Virginis, 424; U Cephei,
Ceraski’s, 424, 446; Supposed Variable « Doradtis—a
Spurious Star, 498 ; Schmidt’s Variable Star near Spica, 617
Varna, Alleged Wreck of the, 114
Vega Expedition, the Fossil Plants collected by, 347
Vega Gold Medal conferred on Mr. Stanley, 422
Vegetable History, Tables of, D. P. Penhallow, 458
Velocity of the Wind, Diurnal Variations in the, E. Douglas
Archibald, 461
Venus, Transit of, 112, 154, 253, 541; Observations in Paris of
the, 113; Prof. Harkness, 114; W. de Fonvielle’s ‘‘ Perio-
dical,” 132; Duke of Argyll, Dr. R. S. Ball, F.R.S., Dr. W.
Doberck, J. L. E. Dreyer, C. L. Wragge, W. F. Denning,
D. Traill, H. Cecil, R. Langdon, 154 to 159; British Expe-
dition, E. J. Stone, F.R.S., 177; Prof. Langley, 179; John
Birmingham, 180 ; Prof. Cacciatore, 180; C. J. B. Williams,
197; German Expedition, 208; French Expedition, 208;
United States Expedition, 246, 539; Prof. Edgar Frisby,
266; Prof. Sporer on the, 284 ; Samuel Hart, 483
Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel, 71
Verhandlungen der Naturhistorischen Vereines der Preussischen
Rheinlande und Westfalens, 521
Vernal Flora, Origin of our, J. E. Taylor, 7
Verney (E. H.), Ignition by Sunlight, 531
Vertebrate Dissection, Handbook of, H. Newell Martin and
William A. Moule, 335
Vertebrate Paleontology, Carboniferous, Notice of some Dis-
coveries recently made in, T. Stock, 22
Vicars (G. Rayleigh), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 87
Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, 143, 260, 283
Vienna Geographical Society, 229, 401
Vienna Imperial Academy of Sciences,
524, 572
Vienna International Electrical Exhibition, 373, 444
Vilmorin-Andrieux, ‘‘ Les Plantes Potageres,” 429
Vine Parasite, New, 133
Vivisection, Facts and Considerations relating to, 542
2, 95, 120, 260, 284,
XVi
INDEX
[Naave, Fune 21, 1883
Vivisection Bill, 549
Vogel (Hermann W.), Lockyer’s Dissociation Theory, 233
Volatile Bodies, on a Relation existing between the Latent
Heats, Specific Heats, and Relative Volumes of, F, Trouton,
292
Volcanic Ashes, Showers of, 516
Volta Prize, 89
Von Graff's Monograph on the Turbellarians, Prof. H. N.
Moseley, F.R.S., 227
Volcanic Ernption in the Caucasus, 63
Volcanic Phenomena in Greek Archipelago, 445
Von Siebold, Memorial to, 41
Walker (C. V., F.R.S.), Death of, 228
Wallace (A. R.) : Difficult Cases of Mimicry, 481; on the Value
ee “Nearctic ” as one of the Primary ‘Zoological Regions,
482
Ward (H. Marshall), on the Genus AMeliola, 234
Ward (Rowland), the Sportsman’s Handbook to Practical Col-
lecting, &c., 146
Warmbrunn, Fulgurite found near, 540
Wartmann’s Rheolyzer, E. von Fleische, 127
Warwick Museum, 539
Washington Observatory, U.S., 300
Waste Paper in China, 588
Watch and Clockmaker’s Handbook F. J. Britten, H. Dent
Gardner, 76
Water, Sounds produced by Outflow of, Signor Martini, 183
Water-Analysis, American Researches on, 211, 231
Waterspouts on Land: James Hosack, 79; J. G. McIntosh, 103
Watson (Sir Thos.), Death of, 160
Watts (Arthur), the Comet, 5
Waves, Mountainous, in Channel in Calm Weather, 540
Weather, the: J. M. Fountain, 32; J. R. Capron, 198; Alti-
tude and, Dr. Woeikoff, 223 ; the Recent Cold Weather, W.
Ingram, 530 ; ‘‘ Weather Forecasts,” the Bishop of Carlisle,
4, 51; Rev. W. Clement Ley, 29 ; C. W. Harding, 79
Webb (Rey. T. W.), “‘ Anomalous” Tail to the Comet 1882 4,
89 ; Mars, 203
Weights and Measures, 131
Weldon (Walter, F.R.S.), Present Condition of Soda Industry,
401
Westhoff (F.), ‘‘ Die Kafer Westfalens,” 239
Wetted Solids, Condensation of Liquid Films on, J. W. Clark,
70
Winaeion (H. J.), Hovering of Birds, 312
Whipple (G. M.): the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 83; New
Apparatus for Testing Sextants, 473
Whistles, Hydrogen, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 491
White (Wm.), Paleolithic River Gravels, 53
White (W. H.), ‘‘ The British Navy : its Strength, Resources,
and Administrati n,” Sir Thomas Brassey, 549
Whitehouse (F. Cope), ‘‘ Is Fingal’s Cave Artificial ?”’ 285
Whitmell (Chas. T.),
ary Colours, 266
Whitworth (Sir Joseph), Papers on Mechanical Subjects, 208
Whitworth (W. A.),
Centuries, 386
Wiedmann (E.), Pre-fusional Chemical
Heated Water containing Salts, 183
Williams (Dr. C. J. B.):the Comet, 29, 110 ; Transit of Venus,
197; the Comet 1882 4 during last Month, 197 ; Unprece-
dented Cold in the Riviera—Absence of Sunspots, 551
Williams (W. M.), the Inventor of the Incandescent Electric
Light, 240
Williamson (John), Ferns of Kentucky, 336
‘Transposition of
‘* Natural” Experiment in Complement- |
the Churchman’s Almanac for Eight |
Wilson (A. S.), Potato Disease, 523
Wind, Increase in Velocity of, with Altitude, E. D. Archibald,
243, 506; Thos. Stevenson, 432; Diurnal Variation of, on
Open Seas and near and on Land, A. Buchan, 413; E.
Donglas Archibald, 461
Winlock (W. C.), t e Comet, 128
“* Winners in Life’s Race,” Arabella Buckley, 51
Winter (Karl), Death of, 229
Wire Guns, James A. Longridge, 11, 35, 53
Wissmann and Pogge’s African Expedition, 92, 341, 401
Woeikoff (Dr.) : Altitude and Weather, 223 ; Terrestrial Radia-
tion and Prof. Tyndall’s Observations, 460
Wolf on Methods employed in Astronomical Physics, 372
Wolga, Discovery of Remains of Diluvial Mammals on, 373
Women Students, College Hall and Residence for, 229
Wood (Rev. J. G.), Common British Insects, 124
Workman (Thos.), The ‘‘ Vampire Bat,” 411
Worms, Charles Darwin on, 20
Worthington (A. M.), the Magnetic Storm and Aurora, 85;
Influence of Vacuum on Electricity, 434
Wragge (Clement L.) : Ben Nevis Observatory, 39, 487 ; Aurora,
54; Transit of Venus, 158
Wright (Prof. E. P.), ‘‘Text-Book of Botany, Morphological
and Physiological,’’ Julius Sachs, 263
Wright (Lewis), ‘* Light,” 75
Wrightson (Prof, J.), Ensilage in America, Prof. James E. T.
Rogers, 479
Yadrintseff, Siberian Aborigines, 541
Yarrell (Wm.), A History of British Birds, Part xv., 98
Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1882, 361
Yoe (Shway), ‘The Burman,” 5
Yorkshire College Students’ Association, 19
Yorkshire List of Lepidoptera, Porritt’s, 540
Yurgens’ Meteorological Observations at Mouth of Lena, 423.
Zebra, Speke and Grant’s, Sir J. Fayrer, F.R.S., 604
Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 94, 189, 426
Zeller (Philip Christoph), Obituary Notice of, R. McLachlan,
F.R.S., 535
Ziegler (Ernst), ‘‘A Text-Book of Pathological Anatomy and
Pathogenesis,” 477 ; Death of, 566
Zine on Sulphur, Action of, Schwarz, 184
| Zodiacal Light (?), 580; W. H. Robinson, 605: Robert Dwarris
Gibney, 605; E. Brown, 605 ; D. J. Rowan, 605
Zoological Expedition up the Niger, W. A. Forbes’s, 14
| Zoological Gardens, Additions to, 20, 63, 78, 91, 114, 133, 161,
182, 210, 230, 248, 277, 300, 324, 348, 374, 400, 424, 445, 470,
497 517, 540, 589, 617 2 .
“Zoological Notes on the Structure, Affinities, Habits, and
Mental Faculties of Wild and Domestic Animals,” Arthur
Nicols, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 333
**Zoological Record for 1881,” the, E. C. Rye, 310 ; Sydney J.
Hickson, 366
Zoological Regions, Primary, on the Value of the “ Nearctic”
as one of the, Prof. Angelo Heilprin, 606
‘* Zoological Sketches,” Felix L. Oswald, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes,
F.R.S., 333
Zoological Society, 94, 190, 282, 307, 379, 451, 499, 570, 619
Zoological Society’s Living Collection, Illustrations of New
and Rare Animals of, 151, 415
Zoological Station in Naples, J. IT. Cunningham, 453
Zoology in Japan, 614
Zululand, Umdblebi Tree of, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S.,
| 73 Rev. G. W. Parker, 7, 32
A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
“* To the solid ground
Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1882
HVDRAULIC EXPERIMENTS
By Major Allan Cun-
(Roorkee : Thomasen
Roorkee Hydraulic Experiments.
ningham, R.E. Three vols.
College Press, 1880-81.)
J JNDER the direction of the Indian Government there
have been constructed a number of canals, which,
while reaching in transverse dimensions a size not much
inferior to the Suez or North Sea Canal, have a far greater
length and ramify into smaller channels of enormous
total extent. Besides these, reservoir and river works
have been carried out of the greatest magnitude. Hence
the Indian Government has a most direct interest in the
‘advancement of the knowledge of hydraulics. Not only
must hydraulic formule be used in the design of hydraulic
works, but also in regulating the distribution of a valuable
\commodity—irrigation water—on which large revenues
‘depend. Yet down to a recent period the Indian Govern-
ment has been content to avail itself of researches car-
ried out in Europe, and chiefly in France, and has made
no use of its splendid opportunities for scientific hydraulic
jexperiments. When at last hydraulic experiments on a
‘large scale were sanctioned, involving a large expenditure
jit wasvery fortunate that the direction of them was intrusted
to so very competent an officer as Major Cunningham.
“Beaucoup de personnes croient que tout homme intelli-
gent et instruit peut faire, sans grand travail de bonnes
Jexpériences c’est une erreur qui a fait perdre beaucoup
de temps et d’argent.’? So says M. Boileau, who is him-
‘self one of the most careful of hydraulic experimenters.
Major Cunningham certainly does not think lightly of his
work. He has enormous industry ; he repeats his obser-
‘vations again and again; he studies every detail of his
methods; he notes the opinions of all his predecessors
in work of a similar kind, and discusses his results with
great lucidity. If his experiments have furnished no
|strikingly novel laws, the fault is not his.
! “The general result of this work may perhaps be con-
)sidered in some ways disappointing, in that there are no
brilliant results, no simple laws of fluid motion disco-
i VoL. Xxvi1.—No. 679
vered, not even a new formula for mean velocity pro-
posed ”’ (p. 4).
It is certainly true that when Major Cunningham passes
from discussing the details of practical methods, where
he is always instructive, to purely scientific questions, to
generalising laws from the results obtained on verifying
accepted rules, he has a rather exceptional number of
purely negative conclusions to state. It is almost amus-
ing to find caution carried to the extent involved in
printing as a general result of a considerable discussion
that the value of the coefficient in the formula for the
discharge of a stream “depends p~rodably on the nature
of the banks and bed, as well as on the hydraulic mean
depth and slope.” But nevertheless we believe the prac-
tical objects of the experiments have been obtained, and
the outlay usefully incurred. Less of thoroughness at
all events would have rendered the experiments useless,
and although considering the scale of the experiments
they seem at present rather less fruitful of definite results
than might have been expected, yet it may be hoped that
Major Cunningham has not made the most that can be
made of his results. In time the new suggestion will
come which will reduce to order the discordant observa-
tions. In the establishment of any new general conclu-
sions or formule in the hydraulics of streams, this store
of data will certainly be of the greatest value.
Of the magnitude of the work undertaken by Major
Cunningham, it is difficult to give an adequate idea. It
lasted over four years. The results include 565 sets of
vertical velocity curve observations, each set including
velocities taken three times at each foot of depth ; 545
sets of rod float observations, each including six mea-
surements of velocity ; 581 sets of mean velocity obser-
vations, each including three measurements of velocity at
ten to twenty points ; 440 measurements of surface slope;
besides many others. In addition to all this, the tabula-
tion and computation of the results involved enormous
labour. The printing of the results at Roorkee, whilst it
must have involved greater trouble and responsibility
than similar work in this country, seems to have been
most efficiently and accurately done.
From the practical point of view Major Cunningham’s
book may be regarded as an exhaustive treatise on Float
Gauging. All the more important observations
B
were
2
NATURE
[Wov. 2, 1882
made by floats, and he has used these simple instruments
in all their known forms, as surface floats, sub-surface
floats, twin floats, and rod-floats. Every detail of the
construction and use of these floats has been studied,
their form, the length of run, the mode of marking the
sections and float paths, and the precautions in taking
the time. The sources of error are weighed, and in some
degree the limits assigned beyond which the methods
become unreliable. There will always be cases where
the methods of float-gauging must be used, and no one
who has work of this kind to do can afford to neglect
Major, Cunningham’s directions. A few observations
were, in fact, made with current meters. But the instru-
ments used were of a type which must now be regarded
as antiquated, and as to these Major Cunningham suggests
no improvement which has not already been tried by the
German engineers, who have, in fact, converted the
current meter into a new instrument of precision.
It is not at all to be regretted that Major Cunningham
adopted floats in his experiments. Even from the scien-
tific point of view, if floats are at best a rough means of
determining velocities, yet they are not liable as more
complicated instruments are, if used without sufficient |
care or knowledge, to large and concealed errors. Hence
float observations may always be used advantageously to
check observations made in other ways. ‘The progress of
hydraulics suggests questions, for the solution of which
float methods are inadequate, and the results obtained
by Harlacher and Wagner seem to show that floats will
ke superseded by instrumental means of greater compli-
cation, but of far greater delicacy. But in truth in
hydraulics no one method is free from objections and
researches carried out by all methods, when sufficient
care is exercised, will prove useful.
We may now pass to consider briefly the bearing of |
these experiments on some points of theory. Major
Cunningham devotes Chapter VI. to a discussion of the
unsteadiness of the motion of the water in ordinary
streams. At each point the velocity varies in direction,
and magnitude from instant to instant. The float-veloci-
ties taken on 50-feet runs, which are themselves mean |
velocities for a certain time and distance, vary from 10
to 30 per cent., so that to obtain the true mean velocity
over any given float-path, something like fifty float obser- |
vations are necessary. Recent current-meter observa-
tions show this variation of velocity still more clearly.
The essential unsteadiness of the motion of water in
streams was pointed out with the greatest clearness by
M. St. Venant (1872), and the still more important fact
that the motion is periodically unsteady, that is, that the
variations occur periodically about a constant mean value,
so that the average velocity for a sufficient but not very
great length of time is sensibly constant. It is only this
last fact which has rendered it possible, to apply the
equations for steady motion to the actual motion of
streams, and it is a pity that Major Cunningham has not
adopted St. Venant’s convenient term, mean local velo-
city, for the sensibly constant average velocity at each
point of a stream. It is not the “interlacing of the
stream lines” (p. 07), but the destruction of stream-line
motion by eddying motions of quite another character, to
which the unsteadiness seems to be due.
In Chapter VII. the observations of the surface-slope | large-scale experiments hitherto carried out.
at different periods of the experiments are discussed, and
it is here that we think may be discovered the one matter
in which the conditions of the experiments were unsatis-
factory, and in which they are markedly inferior to
Bazin’s small-scale experiments. Taking the Solani
embankment and Solani aqueduct sites, at which the
largest amount of work was done, we find that the experi-
ments were made at about the centre of a ten-mile
reach, terminated at the upper end by a regulator con-
trolling the water-supply, and at the lower end by a fall
where, by artificial means, the water-level was kept up to
any desired height. The bed of the canal between these
limits had originally the uniform slope of about a foot
per mile. This original level is maintained at five points
by masonry works, but between these the bed is irregu-
larly scoured out to an extent which must have made
very sensible variations of velocity within distances of
a mile. At the tail of the reach is a weir standing
five feet above the level of the bed, the crest of which
was further raised by temporary obstructions of a
height sometimes reaching five feet more. Hence the
whole height of obstruction was often greater than
the whole depth of water at the site of the gaugings.
Under these circumstances the slope of the water surface
varied, being generally quite different in the part of the
reach above the site of the experiments from that in the
part below, where the influence of the tail weir was felt.
Further, the difference of slope in the parts of the reach
above and below the site of the experiments differed
widely in different conditions of the water supply. The
local surface slope, that is the slope of the water surface
in the neighbourhood of the gauging site, varied irregu-
larly with the variation of the slopes above and below,
being apparently, as might be expected, most affected by
the obstruction at the tail of the reach, Now as the
velocity at a given site does not exclusively depend on the
| surface slope at the site, but to a certain extent on the slope
above and below, the conditions of the site were initially
to some extent unfavourable, and that in a degree which,
although it may be small, is difficult to appreciate. The
local surface slope itself can only be measured on a con-
siderable length of stream (1000 to 4000 feet). But in
that length the surface slope appeared to vary, the slope
in 2000 feet being as much as 25 per cent. different from
that in 4ooo feet, and the slope at one bank being 50 per
cent. different from the slope at the other. It is obvious,
therefore, that the local surface slope is a quantity which,
under the conditions of these experiments, was not
ascertainable with any great accuracy. But the whole
comparison of the experimental results with formule of
discharge involves the accurate knowledge of this quantity.
All inferences from these experiments as to the reliability
of formulae must be weakened in proportion as the slope
measurement is doubtful.
It is not in Major Cunningham’s experiments alone
that this difficulty in determining the surface slope has
been found. It is to the uncertainty of this quantity
mainly, to this fos et ovigo malorum, that the discord-
ances of large-scale experiments are due. The roughest
small-scale experiments, those, for instance, discussed by
Eytelwein and Prony, have furnished coefficients more
useful in practice and more generally applied than any
The advan-
Nov. 2, 1882]
NATURE 3
tage of regular canals over natural rivers for hydraulic
experiments almost disappears when the canal bed is
scoured out to an irregularity similar to that of a natural
stream, and the canals are at a disadvantage when arti-
ficial control at the tail of the reach modifies the condi-
tions of flow to an extent sensibly felt at the site of the
experiments. It is, of course, in the lower states of the
water in the canal in the Roorkee aqueduct reach, that
the effect of the tail control is most sensible, but then
experiments made in these conditions are an essential
part of the data necessary for generalisation.
Major Cunningham spent a good deal of time in verify-
ing a supposed theorythat the surface of a stream should be
convex. The theory is probably a capital instance of the
frequent mistake of importing the principles of theoretical
hydrodynamics into practical hydraulics, Ina stream
flowing from a reservoir, in such a way that the tangential
forces on the surface of the elementary streams are absent
or negligible, the energy per pound of fluid is uniformly
distributed. It follows that in parts where the velocity
is greater, the pressure is less. A stream may be re-
garded as a bundle of horizontal filaments coming from a
common reservoir. If in sucha stream the central fila-
ments have a greater velocity than those nearer the sides,
their pressure will be less. Consequently, for equilibrium
there must be a greater depth of stream towards the
centre, and the transverse water-line will be convex up-
wards. Such is the theory which Major Cunningham has
taken a great deal of trouble to test, and to which he
attaches weight in spite of his observations. From pre-
liminary calculations he shows that the known differences
of velocity would give a difference of level, between the
centre and sides of the Ganges Canal,,of 3 inches. After
the most careful measurements, it was found that the dif-
ference of level varied from +-o'018 foot to —0’095 foot,
the average difference being almost exactly zero. Ob-
viously the theory is outrageously wide of the truth, and
the reason is not far to seek. The differences of velocity
to which the supposed differences of pressure are due, are
created by exactly those tangential actions of the fila-
ments which the theory neglects. ‘There is no reason for
assuming equal distribution of energy along a filament,
part of the energy of which is being destroyed by lateral
frictional actions between the filaments. As to the obser-
vations in Chapter V., with a guage giving still water-
level, it is not clear that the small difference of level
observed was not due to the position of the mouth of the
tube which communicated with the canal.
_ The discussion of the vertical velocity parabolas in
Chapter XI. is extremely interesting, and the method
ere for finding the most probable curve by the method
of least squares, is laborious and conscientious. The
method of weighting the observations seems, it is true,
rather artificial, especially as the observations at great
(depth best define the form of the parabola. The general
conclusion arrived at is, that while all the observations can
e fairly well expressed by parabolic curves, no formula
can be found expressing the dependence of the variation
‘of velocity on the slope, and dimensions of the channel.
jit would be interesting to see if a parabola with axis on
he water-line would not agree better with the results, the
bservations above the line of maximum velocity being
f course discarded. So far as there is any theory of the
mutual action of the filaments, it leads to the result that
the parabolic axis should be at the surface ; and that is
not inconsistent with one possible explanation of the
reduction of velocity near the surface.
In ordinary streams, the velocity is greater towards the
surface and centre, and less towards the bottom and
sides. But the greatest velocity is not found at the sur-
face, but at a variable depth below it, amounting very
often to one-fourth of the whole depth. The Mississippi
observers attributed this to the friction of the water
against the air. In accordance with this they found the
depression of the line of maximum velocity to depend
quite directly on the direction of the wind, and they logi-
cally introduced into their formule of flow, the free surface,
as forming part of the frictional wetted border. Major
Cunningham retains the Mississippi observers’ explana-
tion, while his experiments disagree with theirs on all the
points which directly support the explanation. He finds,
for instance, that the depression of the line of maximum
velocity is entirely independent of the direction and force
of the wind. Now excepting one suggestion to be
referred to presently, no kind of retarding action between
the air and water has been stated which is not of the
nature of a frictional resistance. The Mississippi ob-
servers and some others who adopt the explanation of the
depression of the line of maximum velocity we are now
criticising, state explicitly that they consider the resist-
ance between the air and water to be of the same nature
as the resistance between the water and its solid bed. If
so, since the line of maximum velocity is ordinarily de-
pressed to one-fourth the depth at the centre, and gene-
rally still more towards the sides, the friction between the
water and air must be something like one fourth as great
as the friction between the water and solid bed. But is
it conceivable that the friction between the level water
surface and mobile air should have anything like one-
fourth the value of the resistance of the water impinging
on all the immovable roughnesses of the stream bed?
Further, any resistance of this kind must depend on the
relative velocity of the water and air. But the air is
most commonly in motion, and on the average must as
often and as long blow down stream as up stream,
Blowing down stream, it should accelerate the stream to
the same extent as blowing up stream it retards it. But
it is known from Boileau’s experiments and others that the
depression is still persistent with a wind blowing down
stream at a velocity greater than that of the water. To
this Major Cunningham’s only answer is that “the time
required for the penetration of change of velocity of the
surface current caused by wind to any considerable
depth appears to be very great. It has been estimated
that it would take one week for half change of surface
velocity to penetrate three feet.”” The evidence for this
is not given, but if it is so, is it not because the friction
between air and water is extremely small, and it is only
in those cases where the persistence of the wind action
fora long time allows an accumulation of effect, that that
effect is sensible.
A wind blowing on the surface of a lake is long in pro-
ducing a current merely because the friction is small, but
it does produce a current in time, because the action is
cumulative. On a river it produces no sensible effect at
all, as Major Cunningham’s experiments show. But if
4
NATURE
~~ te ee ee ne
| Nov. 2, 1882
the friction between air and water is as great as he
supposes, it ought to produce a sensible effect, and since
winds blow as often and as long down-stream as up-
stream, the water-surface should as often be accelerated
as retarded, and the vertical velocity parabola should as
often have its axis above the water-surface as below it.
Boileau does indeed suggest that the absorption of air
by the water and the evaporation of the water cause a
loss of energy near the surface, but here again the cause
seems as inadequate as air-friction. The experiment of
Francis, quoted on p. 107, is admitted by Major Cunning-
ham, to prove that ‘‘there is a continual transfer of water
from the bed towards the surface, even in water in ap-
parently tranquil motion,” and his own float-observations
(p. 269) show that “‘near the edge of a stream there is a
persistent flow of the water at and near the surface from
the edge towards the centre.” Now the flow from the
bottom and sides towards the top and centre brings
water, stilled by impinging on roughnesses of the bed, to
replace the quick moving surface-water. It is not true
that the water so rising must acquire the velocity of the
layers through which it passes, for it may rise in eddying
masses, which are but little affected by the friction on
their surface, or the motion of the water may be in hori-
zontal spiral paths, which allow the bottom water to reach
the surface without passing through the quicker moving
central parts of the stream. At all events the transfer of
the bottom water to the surface is a known phenomenon,
and it is adequate as an explanation of the diminution of
surface velocity.
In Chapter XVI. is given a somewhat elaborate theory
of the motion of a rod-float, which leads to the result
that the rod-velocity is slightly less than the true mean
velocity of the water past the immersed portion of the
rod. Quite apart from the question of the general un-
steadiness of the motion of the water, it may be pointed
out that the relative velocity ~—w of the streams im-
pinging on the rod must for the most part fall below the
limit for which the pressure due to impact or friction can
be assumed to vary as the square of the velocity. Hence
the calculation that the rod-length should be o0’94 of the
depth of the water to give a true mean velocity, seems an
extremely doubtful one.
In criticising thus two or three points of theory, it must
be pointed out that these matters do in fact lie somewhat
outside the main objects of the experiments, and an error
on these points detracts nothing from the practical value
of Major Cunningham’s work. W.C. U.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents, Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.)
“Weather Forecasts ”
WILL you permit me to call attention to the apparently com-
plete failure of the Forecasts of Weather given in the daily
papers with respect to the storm of Tuesday, October 24? The
matter seems to me to be one of much practical moment. Here
is an extract from the *‘ Weather” article in the Zzmes, which I
presume agrees with that given in each of the daily papers :—
4
Forecasts of Weather for Tuesday, October 24 (issued at 8.30 p.m.
on the previous day).
o. SCOTLAND, N.—South-westerly breezes, fresh or moderate ;
showery.
SCOTLAND, E.—South-westerly breezes, moderate; some
showers, with bright intervals.
. ENGLAND, N.E.—Same as No. 1.
. ENGLAND, E.—Same as No. 5.
. MIDLAND CounTies.—Same as No. 1.
. ENGLAND, S. (London and Channel).— Westerly and south-
westerly breezes, light to fresh ; fine and cold at first, some
local showers later,
. SCOTLAND, W.-—Same as No, 0,
. ENGLAND, N.W. (and N. Wales).—Same as No. o.
. ENGLAND, S.W. (and S. Wales).—South-westerly winds,
fresh to strong ; showery.
9. IRELAND, N.—Wind returning to south-west, and freshen-
ing ; weather showery.
Io. IRELAND, S.—Same as No. 9.
Warnings.—None issued.
UpbWN
cow CV
By order,
Rosert H. Scort, Secretary.
Notice particularly the concluding words : ‘‘ Warnings ; none
issued ;” and then remember what took place. It is curious to
compare in this respect the 7zmes of October 24 with that of
October 25. In the latter issue we read as follows :—
“*Vesterday morning a violent gale of wind, accompanied by
a heavy downpour of rain, visited London. The previous
night was beautiful, but at three o’clock yesterday morning the
sky became overcast, and from half-past four o’clock up to ten
o'clock there was an incessant downpour of rain. At half-past
nine o’clock the upper part of 19, Windmill Street, King Street,
New Cut, was stripped off, and the occupiers of the upper floors
had a narrow escape. At ten o'clock a sign-board was carried
away from the frontage of a house in Jewry Street, Aldersgate
Street, Although the street was crowded, no one was reported
hurt. At Five Fields, Dulwich, the grass was strewn with
broken arms from the trees, and a large elm at Norwood was |
blown down. A portion of a large shed situated near the.
Surrey Gardens Estate was unroofed. The trees in the various |
metropolitan parks have suffered severely from the gale. The
River Thames at ten o’clock resembled a small sea, and much |
damage was done to the shipping below London Bridge.”
And much more to the same purpose.
T feel desirous of knowing, both on general and scientific
grounds, and also for obvious practical reasons, whether any
explanation can be given of this absolute breakdown of weather |
science. It would seem to be possible that a storm can visit our |
coasts, and do immense destruction both by sea and land, and
yet not give the faintest notice to our weather prophets of the
impending danger ; and it really almost makes one smile to per-
ceive that on the day of the storm no warnings were issued,’and _
that on the day after ‘‘the South Cone was hoisted this morning
in Nos. 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8.”
If no mistake has been made in the observations, and a mis-)
take seems scarcely possible, we seem to be driven to the con-)
clusion that a storm of the first magnitude can come upon us
unawares ; and if this be so, the conclusion is discouraging and)
very strange as regards science, and it is very serious as)
affecting the value of forecasts of the weather to fishermen and
others.
I write this letter with the hope that some light may be
thrown upon the subject to which it refers. H. CARLISLE |
Rose Castle, Carlisle, October 26
The Comet |
I BEG that you will allow me space for a few lines of comment
upon the letters and drawings of the comet in your last issue,
my own included. While thanking the engraver for the gene-
rally accurate reproduction of my sketch, it is clear that wood4
engraving scarcely admits of a perfect rendering of stumped!
shading. A few words of correction will serve all the purpos
of preserving for possible future use the evidence which I wished
to put on record. The chief defect is in the zso/ation given tq
the ‘‘ wisp,” described by another correspondent as a ‘‘ horn.”
It seemed rather to be an inclined elongation of the brightest
part. The inclination too is exaggerated: its prolongation
should have passed within the star on the northern! border, but
» The tail lies nearly along a parallel of declination.
Nov. 2, 1882 |
NATURE 5
clear of the head. The only other alteration I should desire
would be the strengthening of the brightness all along the
middle or axis of the tail, and the smoothing away of all other
features such as now seem indicated in the body of it. Trivial
as these changes may seem, the ultimate value of the drawing,
if it should ever have any, must depend on its accuracy. The
feebleness of the feature which attracted my attention may at
the same time be inferred from its absence in the adjoining con-
temporaneous sketch accompanying Mr. Seabroke’s letter,
while its reality is proved by the descriptions in the two letters
which follow. As regards the ‘‘rift ”’ or ‘‘shadow,” on which
stress is laid by Mr. Williams at Cannes, one cannot help sus-
pecting that this impression was the effect of contrast ody—
contrast -etween the complete absence of tail in that quarter,
and the unrecognised presence of exceedingly feeble luminosity
due to the extension and diffusion of cometic matter roundabout.
It would require very strong evidence indeed to establish the
real presence of shadow in the ordinary sense of that term.
One other point deserves notice, You have three contempo-
raneous accounts, from Rugby, Hawkhurst (Kent), and Chelten-
ham, all referring to the morning of October 23. Considering
how rude and unsettled the weather has been for weeks past,
so extensive a clearance was rather remarkable.
The brightness of this comet’s tail may be inferred from an
observation which I made during the current week, and which
will perhaps excite as much surprise, if not incredulity, in
others as it did inme. Sunday night was clear and bright, with
a moon four days past the full. I was at an hotel in London,
and on the stroke of three I stole into a vacant room in the third
floor, the window of which looked south-east. Here I stood
for a full hour looking for the comet, scarcely able to credit my
senses, as the morning drew on without my seeing it. With
the naked eye I could see stars of the 5th, and with a bino-
cular, stars in Hydra of the 7th or even 8th magnitude ; but
no comet. At first I was uncertain, for this very reason, as to
the identity of a Hydre, although if I had not been seeing the
comet flaring below it so frequently during the last three or four
weeks, no such doubt would have occurred to me. At last, as
all the small stars of Hydra gradually settled themselves in my
recollection in their right places, and I knew exactly where the
whole length of the comet mws¢ be, and the whole being then
well above the opposite roof, I fancied at times that I could
make out a faint illumination in the proper place ; but not even
then, with the binocular, could I find the head; nor eculd J,
without previous knowledge, have been able to testify confidently
to the presence of the tail.
I regret that I cannot condense this account without sacri-
ficing some of the conditions which help to make so strange a
disappearance credible. If anyone had told me on the 23rd
that the object I was then drawing would be invisible to me a
week later, in London, Ay reason of moonlight only—for the
visibility of small stars proves the clearness of the atmosphere—
how could I have credited it? I feel, therefore, that I cannot
expect to be, believed unless the whole circumstances are told,
even though they betray my uncertainty about stel.ar conSgura-
tions when deprived of the aid of a map. J. HERSCHEL
On Wednesday, the 25th instant, at 6.10 a.m., Mr. Hodges
and I again obtained two measures of position of the nucleus
with the equatorial, after correcting for instrumental errors and
refraction, the mean of the readings comes out R.A. 10h, 6m,
48s., Dec. 17° 2’ 55’. But owing to flexwe of the instrument
and to the fact that the circles read only to 20’ and 2s. respec-
tively, these figures are open to correction. Daylight, with a
little haze, had so far advanced when the measures were com
pleted, that only the nucleus was distinguishable in the tele-
scope; but with the filar micrometer I measured its length ; the
mean of two readings came out to 41’°5, but owing to the gradual
shading off of the nucleus, one’s readings might vary is!
according fo its assumed limits, The width I made about 10”,
I was rather surprised at these results, as I had estimated its
length two days before at about 10” only ; but 1 had then used
‘an eye-piece to which I am not accustomed, and my estimate
was probably anerror. The position angle of the major axis of
the nucleus was 108° 7’.
Though the comet was fainter by reason of the bright moon,
still we could trace the tail as far as on Monday, the 23rd.
We viewed the comet at 5 a.m., but owing to buildings in the
line of sight, we got no reliable readings until 6 a.m.
In my sketch of the nucleus in your last issue, the engraver
has made it round, with a fainter elongation, It appeared of
nearly the same brightness throughout. Gro, M. SEABROKE
Temple Observatory, Rugby, October 30
I sEND herewith two sketches of the comet made by me on
the mornings of October 23 and 31, and a few brief particulars
which may be of some value.
October 23, 1882, at 4.30 a.m., the first sketch was made,
At 4 0’clock the atmosphere was exceptionally clear, and the
sky continued cloudless until 5 o'clock, when a few light clouds
appeared. The comet was not brilliant, although clearly seen.
Nucleus with coma presented an indistinctly outlined disc a few
de rees above the horizon, and obliquely upwards was a tail
which stretched more than 15° across the sky. I compared the
extent of tail at the time with the distance between a and B
Orionis, and the tail had decidedly the best of it. Wailst
glancing from the comet to Orion, I saw in the intervening sky-
space, in little over three minutes, no less than five meteors, one
of which left a long luminous trail visible several seconds. The
extremity of the tail was broad. Its wsder boundary was a well-
defmed line about 40° from the horizontal, and was slightly
convex downwards, The wffer boundary was about 45° from
the horizontal, was nearly straight, but very ill-defined, the light +
fading away into darkness very gradually upwards. The fan-
ning cut of the tail was very rapid towards the far end. The
termination was somewhat fishtail shaped, since there was cen-
trally a deepish concavity between the extreme limits, whick
projected horn-like. The light of the tail was broken into two
unequal areas by an obscure streak. The inclosed lower area
was the smaller and decidedly brighter, and on its lower side
contained a still brighter area, that, starting from the upper
part of the coma, gradually passed into the lower boundary.
October 31, 1882, at 5.30 a.m., the second sketch was made.
The atmosphere was again very clear, but the moon’s light
dimmed the comet greatly, and exactly at 6 o’clock it and the
coming dawn rendered it indistinguishable. The naked eye
could distinguish none of the features observed on the 23rd, but
the general outline had somewhat changed, and the comet had
changed its position relatively to the stars, ARTHUR WATTS
Manor House, Shincliffe, Durham, October 31
May I beg the readers of NATURE, who possess good 1rea-~
sures of the course of the great comet, kindly to publish them
in NaruRE? I would also be very much obliged for good
measures of the distances of different envelopes of the head
from the nucleus. The measures are desirable in two directions
—towards the sun, and perpendicularly to this direction. Of the
greatest scientific interest wou'd be a complete series of measures
during the whole period of visibility of the comet, and especially
in the first and last days of this pericd. B.
“The Burman”
Mr. E. B. Tytor, in his review of ‘‘The Burman” in
NATURE (vol. xxvi. p. 593), has fallen into an error which it
may be well to correct. says that the tattooing on the body
of the ‘‘ Greek nobleman,” Georgios Konstantinos, ‘‘ was evi-
dently done by Burmese tattooers, and is a masterpiece of their
unpleasant craft.” ‘This is a mistake into which even a man
who had seen many specimens of Burmese tattooing, might fall.
But it could never be made by a Burman. ‘The general resem-
blance to the decorations on the Burman’s thighs is close enough,
but each separate figure, when done by the Burmese Sayah, is
surrounded by a border of Burmese letters, in many cases as a
mere ornament, but in not a few with a special cabalistic mean-
ing. Still, however blurred with age, they can always be recog-
ni:ed as Burmese characters. I went down and examined the
“tattooed nobleman,” which he was good-natured enough to
allow me to do very closely, and the result was to convince me
that it was no native of Burma who so cruelly victimised the
poor man, ‘The frames of the figures might have been letter=,
but if so, they were of some language with which I am unac-
quainted. Moreover, many of the figures themselves were such
as a Burman Sayah never uses ; such as especially the birds and
serpentine creatures, while the elephants were of a very inferior
character. The Beeloos (ogres) and Kyah-Beeloos (tiger-ogres),
moreover, which appear on every Burman’s legs, were absent,
and, most conclusive of all, there was not a single inn, not one
cabalistic square. No Say-Sayah I ever knew would have had
self-control enough to have omitted thee signs of his wisdom
in magic. Mr. Tylor says the story of Konstantinos is ‘‘ mostly
6 NATURE
[Wov. 2, 1882
fictitious.” That may be, but if he was not tattooed in Gren
Asia, it is difficult to say where it could have been done. I may
also mention that the ‘‘ nobleman” did not understand a single
word of Burmese, and did not recognise a Burman, which
could hardly have been the case if he had suffered his ‘* punish-
ment” in Burma, ‘The pain, by the way, is not nearly so great
as it is represented to be, and even when a man is tattooed all
over the head, I cannot understand his dying or going mad, as
Konstantinos’s companions are said to have done. When I was
tattooed, I had nearly twenty figures done at a sitting, and felt
no particular inconvenience, though the actual operation is no
doubt “ unpleasant.” Suway Yor
THE opinion that the ‘‘tattooed man” was decorated in
Burma has been generally received by anthropologists, and so
far as I know, not hitherto contradicted. In addition to Mr.
Franks’ paper I may now refer to the Zvansactions of the
Berlin Anthropological Society, in the Z:z¢schrift fiir Ethnologie,
vol .iv. 1872 p. 201, for an account of an examination of him
by Prof. Bastian, who, as an authority on Burmese matters, has
been already mentioned in connection with ‘*Shway Yoe’s”’
book. Prof. Bistian says, ‘‘as to the Burmese character of the
tattooing there can beno doubt. ‘The letters rather point to the
Shans, to whose district many treasure-diggers resorted,” &c.
It appears, also, that Konstantinos, when questioned as to the
mode in which he was operated on, described the instrument as
a split point carried in a heavy metal handle, which agrees with
the Burmese method.
As the “‘tattooed man” is in’part inscribed with actual letters,
a copy of these would probably settle the question at once. It
is a pity that for some reason photographs of him, which one |
would think were profitable articles from the exhibitor’s point of |
view, are not (or lately were not) to be had. E. B. TyLor
River Thames—Abnormal High Tides
THE normal high water in the Pool, or the average of all the
tides of the year, is a constant quantity, and is the same now as
half a century back, the mean level being 12 inches below the
Metropolitan datum of high water of spring tides called
“*Trinity standard.” High water of spring tides averages 12
inches above, and high water of neaps 3 feet 6 inches below
that datum. Whilst, however, the ordinary high water is a
constant quantity, exceptional tides rise now very much higher
than they did a quarter of a century back ; on October 18, 1841,
a tide occurred which rose 3 feet 6 inches above Trinity, and it
was the highest recorded for half a century ; eleven years after-
wards, on November 12, 1852, 3 feet 7 inches were marked.
The land flood of that year is popularly known as the Duke of
Wellington’s flood, from the demise of the great captain having
occurred at that period; no such tide recurred for seventeen
years nearly, until March 28, 1869, when 3 feet 7 inches was
again reached. Five years afterwards the tide rose, on March
20, 1874, higher than ever before recorded, reaching an excess
of 4 feet 4 inches.
These exceptional metropolitan tides arise from the rare
concurrence of three causes, viz. an exceptionally heavy land
flood meeting an equinoctial spring tide, and these accom-
panied by a great westerly gale heaping up the Channel sea,
suddenly veering to north-west, and driving the tidal wave before
it from the North Sea up the Thames estuary, Four reasons
may be specified for these results. The first is the greatly in-
creased rate of discharge of floods from the catchment basin.
This, however, is questioned by many; but we find Stevenson
giving the ordinary discharge as 102,000 cubic feet per minute ;
Beardmore 100,coo as the annual mean at Staines, and 400,000
as the maximum, whilst O’Connel, in the ‘‘ Encyclopedia
Metropolitana,” states it at from 475,000 to 600,000 and Prof.
Unwin, of Cooper’s Hill College, obtained results during the
winter of 1875, at the Albert Bridge, Windsor Home Park,
equivalent to from 701,280 to 845,640, or one-third more than
any previous estimate,
Secondly, the low-water rég?me of the river has been greatly
developed by increased scour and removal of shoals by dredging,
so that the head of the low-water prism ascending from seaward,
with 20 feet minimum depth, which a quarter of a century back
was below the Arsenalat Woolwich, is now above the Dock Yard,
two miles higher. Thirdly, the removal of old London, Blackfriars,
and Westminster bridges, by raising high water above-bridge 6 to
12 inches, and lowering low water 3 to 4 feet, brings up about 33
per cent. m retidal water above-bridge than half a century back.
Fourthly, the Thames Embankments have added a few inches
to the range, by narrowing, straightening, and regulating the
channel by which the tidal momentum has been increased.
Now, assuming that the high water of a spring tide is raised
from 4 to 6 inches, this, from London Bridge to Twickenham,
would amount to 700,000 tons of water, but the additional
quantity, due to the removal of the old bridges within the same
limits, would amount to six times that quantity, or to 4,200,000
tons,
In an essay by me, recently published by the Institution of
Civil Engineers, the proportion of land water as compared with
tidal water was estimated at 1-18th of the Jatter, and that of the
14 inches excess of range over any previously recorded tide in
November, 1875, only from 3 to 34 inches might be due to land
water. The Embankment Commissioners of 1861 took the
hitherto standard maximum height for quays of 4 feet above
Trinity, and this proved a safe elevation until March, 1874 ; but
the tide on November 15, 1875, was 6 inches higher, and
forcibly directed public attention to the question, and again on
January 2, 1877, the tide rose as high as in March, 1874, and in
January, 1881, reached a height of 4 feet $ inches at the London
Docks, and 5 feet here in Westminster, the maximum yet
experienced.
The Admiralty Tide Tables of the last twenty years show that
2 feet and 2 feet 1 inch are the maxima to be expected during the
equinoxes, but the computors direct attention to the fact that
gales of wind will add at times materially to the estimated
heights ; indeed north-north-west gales will add 1 yard vertically
to the computed heights in the Port of London, as the surface of
the water at high water will be at times 5 feet higher than at
sea with a good spring tide, the tidal column rising upwards at
a tolerably uniform rate of 14 inch per mile in the forty-eight
miles from Sheerness to London.
From 1860 to 1863, 6 inches was the calculated maximum
above Trinity standard and that observed 3 feet and 6 inches in
December 1863.
From 1864 to 1866, 6 inches was again the estimated excess,
and 3 feet and 6 inches again the actual result in November 1866.
For 1867-1868 they were relatively 4 inches and 3 feet, the
last in February 1868.
After this due to the altered condition of the river brought
about by the causes just referred to, we have the following results
as regards maxima, viz. :—
Estimated height Observed height
above Trinity. above Trinity.
‘ “ ‘ “
1869—Marech’ “09 2 9 ees ess, UT,
Octoberiey eek eto) eee ee
1870—February Gotu Wis otha, ras aishy 49)
March ":.0)---, 2) 70 =
1871—April ee ALS ee ee
1S72—A pr eae ee — ere a
September’ ... 1 7 © —
1873—February — = Baus
Octoberee-y =. 2) 10 _
1874—March ... ... 2 I -.. 4 4 Westminster,
1875—April a etero) =
November... — 4 9 “5
1876— september!) ehh 5) ee
Jude Decree ee eee keene
1877—Januarysc. ee eee ee “4
Merch—Septness el cULan.. es)
1978 —March ss ees Zen ee ee
INovember™ =.5) =) ee an
T879O—Marche sec) een el LO) eet ecu e——
April ee rear ees LO.
1880—March 2. 5. 1 6) w.
November: “S050 Gea ec ey 4A
1881—January ... ... — .. .«. 5 O oH
September. =. i 1 —
1882—February a te. © ea nO on
JAMES» cg, ede 1h Bees —
During the recent springs we have the following results (at
Westminster) :—
Estimated Actual
1882. Sane Sas Excess. Wind.
Tuesday, Sept. 26, p.m. 0 tO 12% 10 07 ce BeGeEs
Wednesdays 78 27,7) s: ot to oun) sh nce
Thursday, 5p 28) s)) Oh UL nese. (Oe. (On aarcmy oN Rig
Friday, Pe ho ee Oe LO as OP aN
Nov. 2, 1882 |
The early morning tide marked about 2 inches higher. During
the past springs we have
Tuesday, Oct. 10, p.m. 11 below ... 6 below ... 5 Sol wBs
Wednesday... IT, y, 5 45 Giabove'... 11 ... 9.914.
Sansa yee gL onyes Ls enD2 ys c+. 13’... WNL W.
Friday on Sip op Gee Gers Che aty 6... N.N.W.
The comparatively quiet autumnal weather sufficiently accounts
for the slight variations.
The tide ebbed as low as 23 feet 6 inches below Trinity in
October last year at the London Docks Shadwell entrance,
yielding a total tidal vertical oscillation of fully 28 feet in the
Port of London. J. B. REDMAN
6, Queen Anne’s Gate, Westminster, S.W., October 19
P.S.—The springs succeeding those described in my letter
show a greater difference, influenced doubtless by the great gale
of Tuesday, October 24, when the barometer fell as low as in
‘the gales of October 28 and November 16, 1880, on these three
occasions reading a tenth under 29 inches. The tide of October
28, 1880, was a low neap, but on November 19, 1880, at the top
of the springs estimated at 6 inches under Trinity high water
it was 2 feet 9 inches above, or 3 feet 3 inches excess three days
after the gale.
The excessive amount of land water now meeting the tide adds
to the increase, together with the northerly gales,
Estimated. Observed. Excess.
a4 ‘ “ -u4(S.S.W.
Tues. Oct. 24, noon 0 g below...o 6 below... 0 3 gale
Wed. ,, 25, p.m. 0 5 above...o0 12above...0 7 W.S.W.
Thurs, Pes 20y eer STATUS. By 2h Oh 35 Kor) ets} S:
Fri. cy PAE. ore Goh meen Py Aes) ges) oe 20 ING Bee
Rintementys) (29, 7 To 7%, 5 .3 5 N.N.E.}
tia ee
In effect the last with that of January 18,
1881.—J. B. R.
Note.—The estimate of excess due to wind over and above the
forecasts is somewhat overstated in this letter, as the Admiralty
heights are for London Bridge and those observed are for West-
minster, where the reading will be quite 2 inches higher.
=
tide is identica
Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand
THE following note has been communicated to us by the Rey.
Dr. Parker, a well-known missionary in Madagascar. ‘The
story reminds one of the old myth about the Upas in Java. No
light can be thrown upon it at Kew, but perhaps in the pages of
NATURE it might meet the eye of some person who could give
some more information about it. W. T. THISELTON DYER
There are two species, in both the leaf is lanceolate, dark
green, glossy, hard, and brittle, and from both a thick milky
juice exudes, while the fruit is like a long black pod, red at the
end. One species is a tree with large leaves, and peculiar
looking stem, the bark hanging down in large flakes, showing a
fresh growth of bark underneath: in the words of my in-
formant, ‘‘ What a villainous-looking tree! nasty, rough, ugly ! ”
The other species is a shrub, with smaller leaves, and the bark
not peeling off the stem. Both species are said to possess the
power of poisoning any living creature which approaches it ; the
symptoms of poisoning by it being severe headache, blood-shot
eyes, and delirium, ending in death. The person affected dies
either in delirium, or ins‘antaneously without any delirium. A
superstition is connected with this plant. Only a few persons in
Zululand are supposed to be able to collect the fruits of the
Umdhlebi, and these dare not approach the tree except from the
windward side. ‘They also sacrifice a goat ora sheep to the
demon of the tree, tying the animal to, or near the tree. The
fruit is collected for the purpose of being used as the antidote to
the poisonous effectsof the tree from which they fall—for only
the fallen fruit may be collected. As regards habitat, these
trees grow on all kinds of soil, not specially on that which ,
exudes carbonic acid gas, but the tree-like species prefers barren
and rocky ground. In consequence of this superstition, the
often fertile. G. W. PARKER
The Origin of our Vernal Flora
Ir is usual to assign an Arctic origin to our mountain flora,
and floral comparisons and statistics fully bear out this brilliant
generalisation. It is formulated that height above the sea-level
is climatally equivalent to northern latitude. This is an
* Gales.
NAGRORE
7
assumption that flowering plants are largely conditioned by heat.
Thus latitude and oreographical habitats are more or less equal.
Might I introduce another element into this question? Seeing
that temperature is so largely influential in explaining the distri-
bution of flowering plants, it occurs to me that not only may
height above the sea-level answer to northern distribution, but
seasonal occurrence as well.
All botanists must have been struck by the fact that the
earliest plants to bloom among our vernal flora are genera pecu-
liarly Arctic and Alpine. In some instances (as with Chrysosple-
nium oppositifolium and C. a'ternifolium) the species are identi-
cal. These latter plants blossom with us in March or April;
within the Arctic circle not until June and July, and even so late
as August. Thus, with them, seasonal blossoming is equivalent
to northern latitude, as regards the thermal conditions under
which they flower. The generic names of all our early flower-
ing plants are those pre-eminently Alpine and Arctic in their
distribution—Potentilla, Stellavia, Saxifraga, Chrysosplenium,
Draba, Ranunculus, Cardamine, Alsine, &c. I contend,
therefore, that our vernal flora is explained by the fact that
their seasonal occurrence, as regards temperature, is equivalent
both to height above the sea-level and northern latitude. In
every instance it will be found that the blossoming of the species
of the above genera necessarily takes place in Great Britain two
or three months earlier than within the polar circle. May we
not therefore contend that we owe our English vernal flora to
the same causes as distributed our English Alpine plants ; and
that they are as much protected by being able to flower earlier
in the year, as if they had been located on the tops of high hills
and mountains ?
The power to endure cold and wet displayed by many mem-
bers of our vernal flora is very remarkable. Thus Ranznculus
bulbosus and R. acris, Stellaria media, &c., are frequently found
in flower all through the winter, unless the season be extra cold.
Many other early bloomers among our common flowers are also
remarkable for their durability, whilst the late flowering plants
are equally noticeable for the short space during which they
bloom, ‘This indicates a hardihood on the part of our vernal
flora which cannot be explained except by reference to the cli-
matal experience of the species. Some of them, as the groundsel
and chickweed, may have exchanged an entomophilous for an
anemophilous habit, or have become self-fertilised by the change.
Again, it must have been observed that many of our early
flowering plants display a tendency towards a seasonal division
of labour, All of them either flower before they leaf, or show a
tendency to do so, as with the Coltsfoot (Zusstlago farfara), the
Crocus (C. vernus), the Snow-drop (Galanthus nivalis), &c.
Eyen the violets (Viola odorata and V. canina), the Daffodil,
Primrose, Cowslip, &c., although they in part leaf when they
flower, develop leaves much more abundantly after flowering
than before, thus showing an inclination towards dividing the
period of active life into two distinct stages—the reproductive
and the vegetative. Everyone knows how completely this has
been effected by the Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnaile).
My impression is that this early flowering tendency is a survival
of the habit these plants had to blossom under more rigorous
climatal conditions. In short, that our vernal flora must have
the same origin assigned to it as an Alpine; that it has sur-
vived through being able to bloom at an early period of the year
at low levels, instead of flowering at a later season higher up,
above the sea-level ; protection and advantage being secured in
both instances. J. E. TAYLor
Ipswich
On Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians
BEING struck with a remark of Mr. Darwin in his work on
“Coral Reefs,” where it is stated on the authority of Dr. J.
AJlan, of Forres, that the Holothurize subsist on living coral,
and that by these and other creatures which swarm on coral
reefs, an immense amount of coral must be yearly consumed and
ground down into mud (p. 14), I determined to commence a
country around one of these trees is always uninhabited, although , series of observations on this subject, in order to ascertain the
rate at which these animals void the coral sand from their intes-
tinal canal, and “ ergo” the amount of coral an individual would
yearly transform into sand,
I have by no means satisfied myself that the Holothurie do
subsist on living coral. This may be due, however, to my field
of observation being confined to the fringing reefs around Santa
Anna, and the neighbouring coast of the large island of St.
Christoval— where living coral occurs only in scanty patches, the
greater portion ofthe coral ‘‘ flats” being formed of coral detritu
8 NATURE
[Wov. 2, 1882
cemented into a more compact rock. I care‘ully watched the
habits of the two species most numerous on the ‘‘ flats,” and in
no case did I observe a single individual browsing on the patches
of living coral. In truth it was on the dead coral rock f rming
the ‘‘flats” of these reefs that these two species of Holothuriz
subsisted ; and it appeared to me that they selected those feeding-
grounds where the attachment of molluscs, zoophytes, and stony
algze had to some degree loosened the surface of the rock.
The particular species, on which my observations were made
to determine the amount of coral sand daily discharged, pos-
sessed a bluish-black body, from 12 to 15 inches in length when
undisturbed, and with a circle of 20 pelate tentacles around the
mouth, Without going into all the details of my methods of in-
vestigation, it will be sufficient to state that from three inde-
pendent observations on this species of Holothuria I have placed
the amount of coral sand daily voided by each individual at not
less than two-fifths of a pound (avoirdupois). At this rate some
fifteen or sixteen of these animals would discharge aton of sand
fron their intestinal canals in the course of a year, which repre-
sents about 18 cubic feet of the coral rock forming the ‘‘ flat ”
on which these creatures live. In order to illustrate this point
more clearly, I will assume that every rood of the surface of the
“flat” supports some fifteen or sixteen Holothuriz, a number
which errs rather on the side of deficiency than of excess. In
the course of a year 18 cubic feet of coral rock will be removed
in the form of sand from the surface of each rood, which is
equal to the removal of 1-605th of a foot per annum, or 1 foot
in about 600 years.
Although this estimate can be only regarded as of a tentative
character and as applicable to but one species of the Holothuriz,
it nevertheless throws some light on what I may term the
““ organic denudation ” of coral reefs, and it is not unreasonable
to suppose that where a fringing reef is undergoing a very
gradual up-heaval, the combined operation of the fish, the
mollusc, the annelid, and the echinoderm, may prevent it from
ever attaining an elevation above the level of the sea at high
water. i. B. Guppy
H.M.S. Lark, St. Christoval, Solomon I-lands, June 30
Railway Geology—a Hint
Ir must often have occurred to others as well as to myself
when making a long journey hy rail, and being whirled along
all too fast through section after section of the greatest interest
to the eye that can see in them something more than mere rail-
way ‘‘cuttings,” how valuable would be some handbook giving
the geolozical features of the country traversed by the principal
railway lines, and illustrated by clearly drawn maps and
sections.
To give an instance—I have occa.ion pretty often to travel by
the South Western line from Waterloo Station to Exeter, a
route along which my untrained eye can take note of a succes-
sion of instructive pictures, in the course of a five hours’ journey
—the recent gravels, &c., covered by pine wood in the neigh-
bourhood of Woking, broken abruptly at Basingstoke station
by a section of the chalk, to be succeeded from here onwards to
Salisbury by undulating downs of the same formation, bare of
trees, and but-sparsely inhabited ; next, at the Yeovil junction,
a sandstone quarry, riddled by martin’s nests, presumably of
oolitic age ; then, between Axmi.uster and Honiton the greyish
blue of a cutting through the lias ; to be final y succeeded, as I
approach the term of my journey, by the rich red earths and
loams of the new red sandst ne.
Any other line, for instance, the Great Western, whi-b runs
pare rllel to that just instanced, would give equally varied pictures ;
and a copiously illustrated handb 90k, with notes explanatory,
but as brief as possible —not only of the ground immediately
bordering the line of rail, but of the general features of the
nei-hbouring country within tne range of the eye of the tra-
vel'er, should surely, I venture to think, have a large circulation.
Will no geologist—a member of tae Government Survey, for
instance—undertak+ the task ? 15 Cokes
New University Club, Oct ber 27
[We noticed a Guide of this kind for American railways in
vol. xix. p. 287, and then suzgested the utility of a similar hand-
boo < for England.—ED.]
Complementary Colours
of the bluish-green waters of Alpine rivers. The waters of the
| mena which had been already shown ?
I HAVE often noticed the complementary purple on the foam | Omission of all mention of Dr. Priestley’s name?
Lake of Geneva, and of the Rhone at Geneva, as is well known,
are not bluish-green, but greenish-blue ; but there also I have
noticed what to my eye is exactly the same tint of purple on the
foam. JosErH JOHN MurPHY
Old Forge, Dunmurry, co. Antrim, October 28
Palzolithic River Gravels
THE recent articles and reports in your columns on the subject
of Paleolithic river gravels bring three poiuts strongly forward,
viz. :—
1. The greit number of ‘‘ flint implements”
flakes” found in the river gravels.
2. The presence in the same deposits of bones of recent and
extinct Mammalia.
3- The entire absence of the bones of man.
Such being the uniform results of persevering researches ex
tending now for more than twenty-four years, it is surely time
to request anthropologists to give (I) some explanation of the
remarkable absence of human remains in deposits containing so
many objects considered to be of human manufacture, and (2)
some proof that it is absolutely impossible for these so-called
“*flint implements ’’ and ‘‘ flint flakes” to have been formed by
natural causes. C, Evans
Hampstead, October 18
and ‘° flint
LAVOISIER, PRIESTLEY, AND THE
DISCOVERY OF OXYGEN
] T is a matter of very little importance whether Lavoisier
actually obtained oxygen gas a few weeks or days
before Priesdey. The bare bald discovery of the gas is
a very minor matter when placed in juxtaposition with
the astounding revolution produced in chemistry by La-
voisier ; with the admirable series of experiments, the
acute reasoning, the elegant logical penetration, which
enabled him to overthrow the theory of Phlogiston when
literally all Europe supported it. The discovery of oxygen
dims and pales before the development of the theory of
combustion, the theories of acidification, of calcination,
of respiration, and the introduction of exact quantitative
processes and instruments of precision into chemistry.
But it matters much whether the fair fame of one of the
noblest and wisest men in the long roll of illustrious
natural philosophers is to remain with a grievous slur cast
upon it. It matters much whether his reputation is to be
blasted by the reproach that he claimed the discovery of
oxygen, knowing well that Priestley had preceded him.
It is with a view of removing this slur upon the memory
of the founder of modern chemistry, and certainly not
with any thought of adding one iota to his long list of
greater triumphs, that we have examined into the true
bearings of the question.
First as to the accusations. Dr. Thomas Thomson, in
his “ History of Chemistry,’’ 2nd edit., 1830, vol. ii. p. 19,
writes : ‘ Lavoisier, likewise, laid claim to the discovery
of oxygen gas, but his claim is entitled to no attention
whatever, as Dr. Priestley informs us that he prepared
this gas in M. Lavoisier’s house in Paris, and showed
him the method of procuring it in the year 1774, which is
a considerable time before the date assigned by Lavoisier
for his pretended discovery.’’ Again, p. 106: ‘‘ Yet in the
whole of this paper the name of Dr. Priestley never occurs,
nor is the Jeast hint given that he had already obtained
oxygen gas by heating red oxide of mercury. So far from
| it, that it is obviously the intention of the author of the
paper to induce his readers to infer that he himself was
the discoverer of oxygen gas. For after describing the
process by which oxygen gas was obtained by him, he
says nothing further remained but to determine its
nature, and ‘I discovered with such surprise that it was
not capable of combination with water by agitation,’ &c.
Now why the expression of surprise in describing pheno-
And why the
1 con-
fess that this seems to me capable of no other explanation
J
|
Nov. 2, 1882]
NATURE 5
than a wish to claim for himself the discovery of oxygen
gas, though he knew well that that discovery had been
previously made by another.”
Had Dr. Thomson been better acquainted with the
character of Lavoisier; had he known what manner of
man he was in all his dealings with his contemporaries and
with the work of those who had gone before, he would
never have made such an assertion as the above.
Prof. Liuxley in his Birmingham address on Priestley
(August 1, 1874) also accuses Lavoisier of unfairness :
“though Lavoisier,’ he writes, “undoubtedly treated
Priestley very ill, and pretended to have discovered
dephlogisticated air, or oxygen, as he called it, inde-
pendently, we can almost forgive him, when we reflect
how different were the ideas which the great French
chemist attached to the body which Priestley discovered.”
Starting, as we confess, with the complete belief that
Lavoisier did not discover oxygen, we are compelled to
assert that a careful perusal of the various memoirs
bearing upon the subject and the consistent attitude of
Lavoisier throughout, has led us to the firm conviction
that he has as much right to be regarded as the discoverer
as either Priestley or Scheele.
Let us examine Dr. Thomson’s statements. The year
1774 he asserts “‘is a considerable time before the date
assigned by Lavoisier to his pretended discovery.”
Lavoisier (‘‘ Traité élémentaire de Chimie,” 1789, part
1, Chap. III.) says in speaking of oxygen : “ Cette air que
nous avons découvert presque en méme temps, M. Priest-
ley, M. Scheele, et moi, a été nommé, par le premier air
déphlogistiqué; par le second, air empyréal. Je lui
avais d’abord donné lenom d’air éminemment respirable ;
depuis on y a substitué celui dazy vital.’ Evidently
“presque en méme temps’’ is a very loose statement.
Scheele’s treatise, “Chemische Abhandlungen von der
Luft und TFeuer,’’ was published in Upsala in 1777, and
he certainly did not discover oxygen before 1775.
Lavoisier is therefore speaking in quite general terms
when he says that oxygen was discovered almost at the
same time by Priestley, Scheele, and himself. He at
least puts himself on a level with Scheele as to date, and
it is universally admitted that Scheele procured the gas
after Priestley. And this general expression is the only
claim to the discovery we can anywhere find in the
writings of Lavoisier.
Now what are the facts in favour of Lavoisier?
On November 1, 1772, he deposited with the secre-
tary of the Academy a note, which was opened on
May 1 following, in which he stated that he had dis-
covered that sulphur and phosphorus, instead of losing
weight when burnt, actually gained it, without taking into
account the humidity of the atmosphere. He traced this
to the fixation of air during the combustion, and surmised
that the gain of weight by metals during calcination was
due to the same cause. He reduced litharge in close
vessels ‘‘avec lappareil de Hales,’’ and observed the
disengagement of a great quantity of air. ‘‘This note
leaves no doubt,’’ says Dr. Thomson, ‘‘that Lavoisier
had conceived his theory, and confirmed it by experi-
ment, at least as early as November, 1772. . . . “ [Il est
aisé de voir,” writes Lavoisier, just before his death, “ que
Javais concu, dés 1772, tout ’ensemble du systéme que
J'ai publié depuis sur le combustion.’’
Early in 1774 he published experiments in his “ Opus-
cules physiques et chimiques,” to prove that lead and
tin, when heated in closed vessels, gain weight, and
cause a diminution in the volume of air. ‘‘J’ai cru pou-
voir conclure,” he writes, “de ces expériences, qu’une
portion de lair lui-méme, ou d’une matiére quelconque,
contenue dans l’air, et qui y existe dans un état d’élasticité,
se combinait avec les metaux pendant leur calcination, et
que c’etait 4 cette cause qu’était due l’augmentation
de poids des chaux métalliques.’’ Later in the year he
read before the Academy (‘a la rentrée publique de la
Saint Martin, 1774”); a memoir ‘‘On the calcination of
tin in closed vessels,” in which he proved that when tin
was calcined in hermetically sealed vessels, it absorbed a
portion of the air equal in weight to that which entered
the retort when it was unsealed, so as to admit air.
He states as his conclusion that only a part of the air
can combine with metals or be used for purposes of
respiration, and that hence the air is not a simple body as
generally believed, but composed of different substances ;
and he adds that his experiments on the calcination of
mercury, and the revivification of the calx, singularly con-
firm him in this opinion.
At the Easter Meeting of the Academy in 1775,
Lavoisier read a memoir, “Sur la nature du principe qui
se combine avec les métaux pendant leur calcination et
qui en augmente en poids.” Ina footnote we are informed
that the first experiments described in the memoir were
made more than a year previously, while those relating tothe
mercury precip~itatus per se,“ ont dabord été tentées au
verre ardent dans le mois de Novembre, 1774.’ Having
heated calx of mercury with carbon, he found that fixed
air soluble in water was given off, while when he heated
it alone he observed avec beaucoup de surprise that an air
was produced insoluble in water, readily supporting com-
bustion, serving for the calcination of metals; incapable of
precipitating lime water, and incapable of being absorbed
by alkalies,
Priestley obtained a gas from mercury, calcinatus per
se,on August I, 1774, and finding it insoluble in water,
and capable of readily supporting combustion, concluded
that the mercury during calcination had absorbed wztrvous
particles from the air. He did not discover the real
nature of the gas till March, 1775. In October, 1774,
Priestley visited Paris, and mentioned to Lavoisier,
Leroy, and others the prodction of gas from the mercury
calcinatus per se. Probably the properties were not
demonstrated. Lavoisier says he observed “with much
surprise” that the gas was not absorbed by water, &c.,
was not in fact fixed air. He had expected to find the
air given off by calx of mercury when heated alone, the
same as that evolved when he tested it with charcoal, and
was surprised to find it a different air. He enumerates
the principal properties of the new gas as we know it.
He burns it in a candle, charcoal, and phosphorus. He
calls it air emdnemment respirable, and atr pur; and says
it alone is concerned in respiration, combustion, and the
calcination of metals.
Lavoisier constantly quotes Priestley and Scheele in
connection with oxygen ; again and again he speaks ot
that air which Mr. Priestley calls dephlogisticated, M.
Scheele emfyreal, and 1 highly-respirable,’” but we can
find no distinct claim to its discovery save the sentence
quoted above, in which he states that it was discovered
almost at this same time by Priestley, Scheele, and
himself.
In his next memoir, ‘On the Existence of Air in
Nitrous Acid” (read April 20, 1776), he says: “Je com-
mencerai, avant d’entrer en matiére, par prévenir le public
qwune partie des expériences contenues dans ce mémoire
ne m’appartiennent point en propre; peut-Ctre méme,
rigoureusement parlant, n’en est-il aucune dont M.
Priestley ne puisse réclamer la prémiére idée.” And again :
“Je terminerai ce mémoire comme je ]’ai commencé, en
rendant hommage & M. Priestley de la plus grande partie
de ce qu’il peut contenir d’interessant.’’ Moreover, in
giving an account of ammonia, sulphurous acid, and
several other gases, he writes: “ Les expériences dont je
vais rendre compte appartiennent presque toutes au doc-
teur Priestley; je n’ai d’autre mérite que de les avoir
répétées avec soin, et surtout de les avoir rangées dans
un ordre propre & presenter des consequences.”’ Thus
it must be admitted that Lavoisier was always ready to
acknowledge the merits of Priestley.
Even supposing that Priestley had demonstrated the
1G
production of oxygen to Lavoisier before he had himself
obtained it, which, however, does not appear probable,
Lavoisier investigated its chief properties before Priest-
ley knew any more of it, than it was a gas containing
nitrous particles. ‘‘ Till this first of March, 1775,” writes
Priestley, “‘ I had so little suspicion of the air from mer-
curius calcinatus being wholesome, that I had not even
thought of applying to it the test of nitrous air.” Again,
in speaking of an experiment made on March 8, 1775, he
says: “ By this I was confirmed in my conclusion that
the air extracted from mercurius calcinatus, &c., was at
least as good as common air ; but I did not certainly con-
clude that it was any defter.” At this time Lavcisier had
proved the principal properties of the new gas, as we
now know them. No wonder he expresses surprise.
Did Paracelsus discover hydrogen? or did Boyle? or
Mayow? or Cavendish? Lavoisier saw with much sur-
prise, not that a gas was produced by heating calx of
mercury, but that the gas was different from fixed air.
Let us finally examine Dr. Thomson’s criticism of the
“ Opuscules Physiques et Chimiques” :—
“ Nothing in these essays,” he writes, “indicates the
smallest suspicion that air was a mixture of two distinct
fluids, and that only one of them was concerned in com-
bustion and calcination ; although this had been already
deduced by Scheele from his own experiments, and
though Priestley had already discovered the existence
and peculiar properties of oxygen gas. It is obvious,
however, that Lavoisier was on the way to make these
discoveries, and had neither Scheele nor Priestley been
fortunate enough to hit upon oxygen gas, it is exceedingly
likely that he would himself have been able to have made
that discovery.”
Now these essays were published “az commencement
de 1774,” at which time we have abundant evidence from
other memoirs that Lavoisier 4ad more than suspicion
“that air was a mixture of two distinct fluids, and that
only one of them was concerned in combination and calci-
nation.” Moreover, this had wot “been already deduced
by Scheele from his own experiments; neither had
Priestley ‘already discovered the existence and peculiar
properties of oxygen gas.”
We do not the least press the following point. We
trust we have made out our case without the necessity of
resorting to it ; but we venture toask upon what authority
Dr. Thomson asserts that “ Dr. Priestley informs us that
he prepared this gas in M. Lavoisier’s house in Paris,
and showed him the method of procuring it in the year
1774.” In our edition of Priestley’s works (3 vols. 8vo.
“ Being the former six volumes abridged and methodised
with many additions.” Birmingham: Thomas Pearson,
1790), Priestley, after telling us that he visited Paris in
Cctober, 1774, says, ‘‘I frequently mentioned my surprise
at the kind of air which I had got from this preparation
to M. Lavoisier, Mr. Le Roy, and several other philo-
sophers, who honoured me with their notice in that city”
(p. 109). And again, ‘“‘as I never make the least secret
of anything I observe, I mentioned this experiment also,
as well as those with the mercurius calcinatus, and the
red precipitate to all my philosophical acquaintances at
Paris and elsewhere; having no ideaat that time, to what
these remarkable facts would lead.” It is of course a
very different thing to mention an experiment to an ac-
quaintance, and to actually perform it before him. But
suppose, as Dr. Thomson asserts, that Priestley had pre-
par.d the gas from mercurius calcinatus in Lavoisier’s
house in October 1774, it is abundantly manifest by his
own confession that he had no idea at that time of the
nature of the gas; and more than five months afterwards
that he had “so little suspicion of the air from mercurius
calcinatus being wholesome, that I had not even thought
ot applying to it the test of nitrous gas”; and even so late
as March 8, 1775, he did not conclude that the new gas
was any better than common air!
NATURE
[| Wov. 2, 132
Who is the discoverer? Is it the man who obtains a
new body for the first time without recognising that it is
different from anything else, or is it the man who demon-
strates its true nature and properties? If the former
Eck de Sulzbach discovered oxygen in 1489, and Boyle in
1672 not only procured hydrogen but proved its inflamma-
bility. If the latter, assuredly Lavoisier discovered
oxygen.
But whatever the verdict may be, the memory of
Lavoisier shall be saved from any imputation of unfair-
ness. He was the most generous of men. His noble
character stands out clearly and luminously in all his
actions. He was incapable of any meanness.
We cannot for one moment compare the work of
Priestley with that of Lavoisier. The elegant methods
and admirable diction of the latter contrast strangely with
the clumsy manipulation and prosy phlogistianism of the
former. “From an ounce of red lead,’’ writes Priestley,
“heated in a gun-barrel, I got about an ounce measure
of air, which altogether was worse than common air, an
effect which I attribute in great measure to phlogiston
discharged from the iron. The production of air in this
case was very slow.” Then he heated. without method
or reason, as Hales had done before him, “flowers of
zinc, chalk, quicklime, slacked lime, tobacco-pipe clay,
flint, and muscovy talck, with other similar substances,
which will be found to comprise almost all the kinds of
earth that are essentially distinct from each other,
according to their chemical properties,’ in the hope of
getting some phlogisticated air from them. What a
farrago! John Mayow, a century earlier, wrote more
scientifically ; ‘‘ Si ad flammz naturam serio attendamus,
et nobiscum cogitemus, qualem demum mutationem
particule igneze subeunt, dum eadem accenduntur:
nihil aliud certe concipere possumus, quam _particu-
larum ignearum accensionem in motu earum perni-
cissimo consistere. Quidni ergo arbitremur, particulas
salinas ad ignem constandum pracipue idoneas esse?
Quze cum maxime solide, subtiles, agilesque sint, motui
velocissimo, igneoque obeundo multo aptiores esse
videntur, quam particule sulphurez, crassiores mollissi-
meeque.”’
Priestley’s observations read like the writings of the
seventeenth century, Lavoisier’s like those of the nine-
teenth. Compare with the extract given above about the
“phlogiston discharged from the iron” the following, “I
have,” writes Lavoisier, “a salt of unknown composition: I
put a known weight ina retort, add vitriolic acid and distil.
I obtain acid of nitre in the receiver, and find vitriolated
tartar in the retort, and I conclude that the substance
was nitre. I am obliged in this reasoning to suppose
that the weight of the bodies employed was the same
after the operation as before, and that the operation has
only effected a change.” ‘‘J’ai donc fait mentalement une
équation dans laquelle les matiéres existantes avant
Vopération formaient le premier membre, et celles obtenues
apres l’opération formarent le second, et c’est réellement
par la résolution de cette équation que je suis parvenu au
résultat. Ainsi, dans l’exemple cité, l’acide du sel que je
me proposais d’examiner était une inconnue, et je pouvais
appeler x Sa base m’était egalement inconnue, et je
pourvais l’appeler y; et puisque la quantité de matiére a
du étre la méme avant et aprés l’opération, j'ai pu dire
x+y - acide vitriolique = acide nitreux + tartre vitriolé
= acide nitreux + acide vitriolique + alcali fixe ; d’ou je
conclus que + = acide nitreux, y = acide fixe, et que le
sel en question est du nitre.”’
There is nothing in Priestley’s scientific writings which
exhibits so masterly a treatment as this. Priestley
ignored Lavoisier’s brilliant conclusions. He died de-
fending the theory of Phlogiston. He denied the de-
composition of water. He worked without method or
order ; and without the balance; and reasoned upon
facts which lacked verification by quantitative means.
———
-
Nov. 2, 1882 |
NATURE If
His conclusions were frequently hasty and ill founded. The instrument yielded excellent results: a large
Lavoisier’s work requires no praise in this place. Priestley’s
discoveries may be compared to the mingled chaos of
Gpotomepetae of Anaxagoras; Lavoisier was the Novs, the
designing intelligence which set them in order, and put
each in its appointed place. Not without reason, said
M. Wurtz, “‘La Chimie est une science francaise. Elle
fut instituée par La voisier d’immortelle mémoire.”
G, F. RODWELL
A NEW DREDGING IMPLEMENT
eG recently visited Oban, in company with a
friend for the express purpose of obtaining living
specimens of Pennatulida, and of testing the powers of
an instrument devised for their capture, I send you a
note of our experiences which may perhaps be of interest
to your readers.
The ordinary dredge, though well adapted to obtaining
most animals that dwell on the sea-bottom, will clearly not
do for all, and for no animal form is it less suited than
for the one we were most anxious to obtain—/wniculina
quadrangiularis. This giant Pennatulid consists of a
tall fleshy rod-like axis, three to five feet or more in
length, and about half an inch in diameter, which bears
along its sides the individual polypes of the colony, and is
traversed throughout its entire length by a flexible calci-
fied stem. /xnzculina lives erect, with the lowermost
six or eight inches planted as a stalk in the mud of the
sea-bottom, and the major portion of its length projecting
up freely into the water.
For such a form the dredge is clearly very unsuitable.
Indeed unless the dredge be of very great size it must be
a pure accident if specimens ever get into it at all. The
tangles give a better chance, and yet for such a purpose
they are but a clumsy and haphazard contrivance ; and
even should they by chance entangle and draw out a
Funiculina there is a danger, amounting almost to
certainty that it will drop off again during the process of
hauling in.
The instrument we employed was a modification of one
originally devised by Dr. Malm of Goteborg, and used
by him with considerable success in dredging for Fumzcz-
Zina in Gullmarn Fiord, Bohuslain. Dr. Malm’s apparatus,
of which he has kindly furnished us with a description
and drawings, consisted of three poles, each nine feet
long, connected together at their ends, so as to form a
triangle; the poles were armed with large-sized fish-
hooks, and the dredging-rope attached at one angle, the
whole apparatus strongly resembling that used by the
Philippine Islanders for dredging Luflectella, as de-
scribed and figured by Moseley (Naturalist on the
Challenger, p. 407).
Our instrument, as we first used it, consisted of two
poles six feet long, connected together in the form of a
letter A by a cross-bar four feet long. The rope was
fastened to the apex of the A, and lead weights to the
lower ends of the side poles. Attached along the cross-
bar at intervals of six inches were cords four feet in
length, each armed with five or six fish-hooks and having
a small lead weight tied to its lower end. The theory of
the machine was that the whole instrument would be
dragged along at an angle of about 30° to the sea-bottom,
steadied by the weights at the ends of the side poles; the
cross-bar being a foot or so above the ground, and the
cords armed with fish-hooks trailing behind, with their
ends kept on the bottom by the small weights attached to
them.
The machine was subsequently modified by lengthening
the cross-bar to nine feet, and attaching the fish-hooks not
singly, but in threes, like grappling irons. We also con-
nected the cords together by horizontal strings, in order
to obviate their tendency to become entangled with one
another.
number of specimens of /uniculina guadrangularts were
obtained, four or five, and in one case as many as seven
being brought up at a single haul; the specimens were
also in perfect condition, the injury inflicted by the
hook being quite imperceptible. Several of the specimens
were of large size; and one dredged in Ardmucknish
Bay, and measuring no less than sixty-five inches in
length, appears to be the largest specimen hitherto ob-
tained alive from any locality, being a foot longer than
the largest recorded by Kélliker in his monograph on the
the Pennatulida. Even this, however, does not appear
to be the limit of growth, for a dead stem obtained at
Glaesvae, in the Bergen Fiord, and now in the Hamburg
Museum, is more than seven feet in length.
Funiculina quadrangularis is generally considered a
rare species. It is certainly a very local one; but our
Oban experience would lead us to infer that where it does
occur it 1s to be found in quantity, an inference borne out
by Sir Wyville Thomson, who speaks of passing over a
“forest of /uniculina” when dredging in Raasay Sound
during the Porcupine expedition. It appears to have
been hitherto obtained at Oban only in small numbers, a
result we believe to be due entirely to the use of instru-
ments ill-adapted to its capture.
Four or five specimens of Pennatula phosphorea were
obtained with the same instrument, which further proved
its utility by bringing up several fine specimens of
Hydrozoa. The instrument in its present form is clearly
capable of improvement ; still the results of a first trial
have been so good, that we may possibly be rendering a
service to other naturalists by making them known through
your columns. A. MILNES MARSHALL
Cwens College, October 27
WIRE GUNS
pe will no doubt surprise many of our readers to be told
that after nearly a quarter of a century of experiment
and investigation, and the expenditure of millions upon
millions of money, the nation is so imperfectly armed
that we are again entering upon a period of reconstruction
of our heavy ordnance, the outcome of which it is not
easy to foresee. From the old cast-iron 68 pounder,
weighing from 4 to 5 tons, we have arrived at the 80 ton
gun of Woolwich, but only to learn that such guns are
already obsolete, and must give place to others of a new
type developing greater power with less weight. Till
very recently we have been constantly told by the highest
authorities in this department of the Government that the
English guns were the finest, the strongest, and the most
powerful in the world, and it is no doubt somewhat
startling to learn that all this has been a delusion.
It is not our intention to dwell upon the causes of this,
nor to inquire whether it has been due to departmental
conservatism or to the uncertainty incidental to the pro-
gress of an art carried on by a tentative method, and
modified from time to time by new discoveries in physical
science. Our purpose is rather to give some information
about a system of gun making, which is at last obtaining
the attention of gunmakers, we allude to what is termed
the wire system of construction.
Twenty-seven years ago this system was brought before
the then existing Ordnance Committee by the writer
who has from that time to this persistently advocated its
merits, proving, not only by the construction of guns but
also by mathematical analysis, its great advantage over
other systems ; but it is only within the last two or three
years that it has been regarded with tolerance by practical
gun makers.
In France the system has been applied under the
superintendence of Capt. Schultz, of the Ecole Poly-
technique, and in this country Sir Wm. Armstrong and
Co. have made one or two guns, the latest and largest of
2
which is now under trial at Woolwich. So far as these
guns have been tricd they have given very exceptionally
good results, both in France and England, and they
promise to excel all others in strength, facility of con-
struction, and economy as regards cost. Let us then
attempt to explain in a popular manner the principles
and methods of this system of construction.
A gun is a machine the object of which is to send
heavy bodies to a great distance at a very high velocity.
The motive power acts on the body for a very short time,
a fraction of a second only, it must therefore be of great |
intensity, and consequently the machine must have very
great strength. Formerly all guns were made of cast-iron
or bronze ; after this wrought iron and steel came into
use or a combination of the two, Krupp and Whitworth
adopted steel, Armstrong and Woolwich a combination
of wrought-iron and steel, Palliser again, a combination
of cast and wrought-iron.
In making a vessel to resist great internal pressure, it
was natural to conclude that by increasing the thickness
of the vessel, its resisting strength could be proportionately
increased, but as was first pointed out by the late Prof.
Barlow, it was found that the limit in this direction was
very soon reached, and that no vessel, whatever the
thickness, could resist an internal pressure greater than
the tensile strength of the material of which it was made.
If the cylinder be composed of a material whose tensile
strength is 10 tons per square inch, and if the internal
pressure be Io tons per square inch, and if the cylinder
be conceived as to be divided into a great number of
30 TONS PER SQ.INCH.
és
20
<a Ss 67 SB we Tie Td narimenEs
successive indefinitely thin layers, then, whatever be its
thickness, the first of these layers will be strained to 10
tons, its maximum strength, the next Jayer will be strained
less, and the strains will go on decreasing according to a
fixed law as we proceed outwards. Now these outer
layers cannot exert any more force, except it be trans-
mitted from the innermost one, and consequently any
further assistance can only be got from them by increasing
the strain of the innermost layer, which, being already
strained to its maximum strength, must necessarily give
way.
In order to meet this radical defect in all homogeneous
cylinders the principle of initial tension was adopted.
This was done by building up the cylinder of several
concentric rings, or hoops, each of which was put on the
one below it with an initial strain, thus compressing all
NATURE
those below. If now, by this method, the innermost hoop
or tube be put into a state of compression of, say, 5 tons |
per square inch, it is evident that the first thing the
internal pressure has to do, is to remove this compression |
to zero.
sure. It has then to overcome the tensile strength of the
material, or 10 tons per square inch, which requires an
additional pressure of 10 tons per square inch. Thus the
This will absorb 5 tons per square inch of pres- |
resisting force of the cylinder has been increased from 10 |
| use of wire.
to 15 tons per square inch.
Now the greater the number of the hoops in a given
thickness of cylinder, the greater is the additional strength
[Wov. 2, 1882
proper initial strain, and if the hoops were infinite in
number and therefore infinitely small in thickness, we ©
could obtain the maximum strength for the thickness of .
cylinder, and each ring would, at the moment of rupture,
be strained to its maximum tensile force. In such a
cylinder the strength would increase in the exact ratio of
the increase of thickness, and when it burst every layer
would give way at the same time, but as there is no limit
to the possible increase of thickness, there is also no limit
to the possible increase of the internal pressure. Of
course this theoretical construction is practically impos-
sible, but we can approach to it very closely by making
the hoops very numerous and very thin. The limit of the
number of hoops is however very soon reached in the
system of hoop construction.
Sir Wm. Armstrong’s roo-ton gun is built up of a steel
tube and three wrought-iron hoops on it. The Woolwich
81-ton gun has a steel tube and two wrought-iron hoops.
Sir Wm. Armstrong’s gun is therefore a better gun than
ISp TONS PER SQ. INCH.
By
str TONS FER 5Q.INCH.
20 rT TONS PER SQ.INCH.
iby
anal
: i
10, i i
: H
:
H
5 Xi
is : 10 1S 120 INCIIES, Bo
Sm 7 =
el
{
!
fF UONT FER SQ.Inss.
the Woolwich, assuming in both cases that the initia}
tensions are correctly adjusted, but if in either case the
number of hoops had been doubled, the total thickness
remaining the same, both guns would have been greatly
increased in strength. The practical difficulties of in-
creasing the number of rings are, however, very great,
and the expense would be enormous. The proper initial
tension, or sirinkage as it is called, depending on ex-
treme accuracy of workmanship, would be extremely
difficult of attainment, and Sir Wm. Armstrong has
probably gone nearly as far as is practically possible in
this direction.
“The regulation of the initial tension in guns of the
hoop construction is so important that it is necessary to
go somewhat more into detail, in order that our readers
may thoroughly understand its importance, and be in a
position to appreciate the advantages attendant on the
We therefore introduce to their notice a series of
t | diagrams showing the distribution of the strains through-
imparted, provided that each hoop is put on with the | out the thickness of a gun. The first is the case of a -
Nov. 2, 1882 |
NATURE Ae
homogeneous gun, such for instance as a solid cast-steel
gun as formerly made by Krupp, and we will assume it
to beg inches calibre, and 15 inches thick at the breech
end, and that it is subjected to an internal pressure of 24
tons per square inch. Now it is evident that the total
strain to be resisted is 9 times 24 tons, or 216 tons, one
half of which, or 108 tons must be borne by each side of
the gun, or by a thickness of 15 inches of steel. If there-
fore the strain could be uniformly distributed, it would
not exceed = or 7'2 tons per square inch, but in reality
I
the strain at the inside circumference would be nearly 27
tons per square inch, whilst at the exterior of the gun it
would be only 24 tons per square inch.
The subjoined diagram (A) represents the condition of
30
10 | C,
25
20
16
strain of such a gun under these circumstances. The
abscissze denote the distances from the centre of the bore,
whilst the corresponding ordinates denote the strains in
tons per square inch at these distances.
In the next place let us examine the condition of strain
of a gun of the same calibre, but composed of an internal
steel tube 33 inches thick upon which is shrunk a wrought-
iron hoop 122 inches thick with a shrinking of 1 in a thou-
sand, This was the Woolwich construction for all guns
up to 9-inch calibre up to 1869.
Subjected to an internal pressure of 24 tons per
square inch, the diagram B, shows the induced strains.
Previous to the internal pressure being applied, diagram
B, shows that the steel tube would be compressed by
the outer wrought-iron hoop. The compression would
be 11°7 tons per square inch at the inner and 7°86 tons at
the outer circumference ; on the other hand the wrought-
iron hoop would be in a state of tension, 5°19 tons per
square inch at the inner and 1°38 tons at the outer cir-
cumference. When the internal pressure of 24 tons per
square inch is applied, the diagram B, shows the con-
dition of strain. The steel tube would be strained to
15°53 tons per square inch at the inner, but only to 2°67
tons at the outer circumference, whilst for the wrought
iron hoop the strains would be 15'09 and 4 tons respec-
tively per square inch. Thus it appears that comparing
this gun with the homogeneous gun of the same size and
under the same conditions the maximum strain has been
reduced from 27 tons to 15°83 tons per square inch.
Pursuing the matter further let us examine the con-
ditions of Sir Joseph Whitworth’s 12-inch gun, built up of
a steel tube 4°35 inches thick, on which are placed four
successive steel hoops, each of 5°55 inches thick, the
TONS PER SQ. INCH, TENSION.
10" TONS PER SQ.INCH, COMPRESSION
(S ;-TONS PER SQ.INCH. TENSION.
ee IN eis.
15 —TONS PER SQ.INCH. TENSION
total thickness of the gun being thus 223 inches. Before
proceeding to the examination of the strains in this gun,
it is desirable to devote a moment or two to the very
important question of the amount of initial strains with
which hoops should be put on. The Woolwich practice
is to adopt a uniform shrinkage of 1 in a 1000, that is to
say, the internal diameter of each hoop is 999/1000ths of
the external diameter of the hoop below it. The outer
hoop is expanded by heat, placed over the inner one, and
then in cooling grips it with the force due toa contraction
of 1/1oooth of its size. This is a fundamental error in
the Woolwich practice, and it is mainly from their per-
sistence in this error that so many Woolwich guns have
failed. The proper amount of shrinkage is not a fixed
amount. It depends on the thickness of the rings, their
position in the structure, and the modulus of elasticity of
the material, and it is only by a due regard to these
14
NATURE
[Vov. 2, 1882
elements of the problem that the advantages of the hoop
system can be properly developed.
In illustration of this we refer to three diagrams of Sir
Joseph Whitworth’s 12-inch steel gun. The first, c,, shows
the strains, if the hoops are put in with no initial strain,
that is to say, if each hoopisan exact fit to the one below
it, which is Sir Joseph’s present practice. The gun in
this state is in the same condition under internal pressure
as a homogeneous or solid gun of steel. The tensions
with an initial pressure of 24 tons per square inch would
be 28°18 tons and 2°3 tons per square inch at the inner
and outer circumference respectively. The second dia-
gram, C,, would be the state of the strains, if the Woolwich
rule of a uniform shrinkage of 1 in 1000 were adopted.
The inner tube and the first hoop would never be out of
compression, the second hoop would be strained to 8-44
tons and 3°85 tons, the third ring to 17"40 tons and 12°84
tons, and the fourth ring to 27°64 tons and 22°82 tons at
the inner and outer circumferences respectively.
The third diagram, C,, shows the gun as it would be
strained if the initial shrinkages had been properly calcu-
lated and applied. For every hoop the tension of the
inner circumference would be 10 tons per square inch,
whilst that of the outer circumferences would be 1 ton
compression for the tube, 4°11 tons, 6°51 tons, 7°72 tons,
and 8°82 tons for the hoops respectively.
Thus it is seen that by a multiplication of hoops with
initial strains properly applied the maximum strain is
reduced from 28 tons to 10 tons per square inch. But on
the other hand, by the Woolwich rule of a uniform
shrinkage of 1 in 1000, some of the hoops would be always
under compression, whilst others would be more or less
strained, and the maximum would attain nearly the same
as in the homogeneous gun—28 tons per square inch.
Another remark must here be made. Referring to dia-
gram C; it is seen that in the case of each hoop the strain
decreases rapidly from the inner to the outer circum-
ference. Thus in the first hoop the strain decreases from
Io tons to 4 tons, in the next from Io tons to 6$ tons, and
so on. Now by greatly increasing the number of hoops and
consequently decreasing the thickness of each, the strains
on the outer circumference may be brought very nearly up
to the same strain as the inner circumference, and this is
what is attained by the use of wire. A coil of wire is but
a very thin hoop, and if, instead of a hoop of 4% inches of
steel, 36 coils of wire of }th inch had been used, the dif-
ference of strain between the inner and outer circum-
ference of each coil would be inappreciable, and the whole
thickness of the gun would have been uniformly strained,
and the maximum strain would not have exceeded 6 tons
per square inch, or if the wire were strained to 10 tons
per square inch the thickness of the gun might be reduced
from 22? to 133 inches.
But this is not all the advantage of the use of wire.
Wire of small section is greatly stronger than the same
material in mass. It is within the truth to say that steel
which in mass might be safely strained to 15 tons per
Square inch, might in the form of wire be strained to 30
fons per square inch. Consequently the wire gun would
be as safe under a strain of 20 tons as the hoops under
fo tons, and therefore the thickness of a wire gun of
equivalent strength to that represented in diagram C,
might be reduced to 6] inches instead of 223 inches.
From the preceding remarks and the diagram of Whit-
worth’s 12-inch gun, it will be seen how very important
is the question of the degree of shrinkage in built up guns.
It is worth while to dwell a little longer upon this ques-
tion, and to illustrate it we now give diagrams showing
how the strength of a gun may be reduced by a small
difference in the shrinking such as would be caused bya
slight error in the dimensions of one of the hoops, due
either to miscalculation, imperfect workmanship, or irre-
gular contraction in cooling. The diagrams D, and D,
represent the strains on the hoops of an 8-inch gun, built
up of an inner tube and three concentric hoops of iron
having an elastic limit of 12 tons per square inch. D,
shows the strains when the gun is completed and free
from internal pressure, on the hypothesis that the shrink-
ages are correctly calculated and accurately worked too.
The tube and first hoop are in compression, the two outer
rings in tension. D, represents the strain when subjected
to internal pressure, so as to make the maximum strain
12 tons per square inch, and it is seen that all the hoops
are equally strained up to the elastic limit. D, shows the
strain in the same gun on the hypothesis that either from
miscalculation or inaccurate workmanship the outer hoop
has been made 1/5o0o0th of an inch too small, and when
by internal pressure the maximum strain reaches 12 tons
per square inch. . :
It is apparent at a glance what a great difference this
error has made in the distribution of the strains. Without
going into detail, it may be stated that the strength of the
gun has been reduced 4o per cent. by the small error of
1/50oth of an inch in one of the hoops. Accurate work-
manship is, however, only one of the difficulties to be
encountered in shrinking on hoops. Different qualities
of iron shrink differently in cooling from the same tem-
perature ; moreover they do not shrink back in all cases
to the size from which they were expanded, but to a some-
what smaller size. This depends on the temperature to
which they have been heated. Moreover the shrinkage
varies according to the number of times they have been
heated. For instance, a wheel tier 7 feet diameter was
heated red-hot, and cooled thirteen times in succession
with the following results :—
Ist time it contracted % in. in length.
2nd ” ” it ” ”
3rd ” ” 1s ” ”
4th ” ” 3 ” ”
Sth ” ” 3 ” ”
6th ” ” z ” ”
7th ” ” t ” ”
8th ” ” 3 ” ”
oth ” ” + ” ”
Toth ” ” $ ” ”
11th ” ” 2 ” ”
ES 12th ” ” re ” ”)
13th ” ” 3 ” ”?
Thus altogether it contracted 53 inches from its original
length of 22 inches.
It is clear therefore that however accurate the calcula-
tion and workmanship, there must be great difficulty in
ensuring the exact amount of tension in this system of
gun construction, and if guns are made without regard to
calculation, without regard to the peculiar idiosyncracy of
the iron, and without regard to the temperature from
which the shrinking is made (and such is pretty much
the case at Woolwich), it is no wonder that they split their
tubes or shift their hoops in action. Many Woolwich
guns have done this even under trial, and it is not im-
probable that in the late operations at Alexandria two of
the guns of the A/exandra were injured in this way.
Another objection to this method of gunmaking is the
possibility of latent defects in the hoops. It is impossible
always to detect a flaw, even of considerable magnitude,
ina hoop of iron or steel 10 to 18 inches thick such as
are used in the large Woolwich guns, and such latent
flaws may prove fatal to the gun even if in other respects
it were properly constructed.
JAMEs A. LONGRIDGE
( To be continued.)
Mk. FORBES’ ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION UP
THE NIGER
R. W. A. FORBES writes from Lokoja, on the
Niger, at the confluence with the Binué (Sep-
tember 9) as follows:—I have been here on and off
Nov. 2, 1882}
NATURE
15
about a fortnight, and have been up the Binué as far as
Loko, about 100 miles, where I got some birds. Alto-
gether up to the present I have seen or got about 80
species of birds, including Scopus, Plotus, Indicator, and
Rynchops ; as yet no Podica, Irrisor, or Musephagide.
Of Hornbill I have seen 3 or 4 species, but they are very
shy, and as yet I have not shot one. Ploseine birds are
the feature here; about 1-3rd of the species are of that
family, and some I have are good ones, especially stre/da
nigricollis and E. rara, both of them discovered by
Heuglin. These and other things make me fancy that
we are out of the true West African region here; the
antelopes seem also eastern. There are 4—5 here, in-
cluding a brown Aippotragus, and what I fancy is Aéce-
laphus tora. \ have skins and horns of these, and shall
get others. Bos brachyceros is common here, but as yet
I have only seen spoor, not the beast itself. We saw lots
of Hippopotamuses coming up, and I killed the second I
shot at, but could not recover the body.
I have also killed a large crocodile, 15 feet long, ap-
parently C. acutus. I have also a few fishes and reptiles,
and shall get more I hope. Butterflies are not very
numerous at present, and the country is too open for
them, being, generally speaking, a large grassy plain,
with lots of isolated trees, not very big, and bushes. There
is no regular thick forest up here at all, and even in the
lower river, in the delta, it is nothing like the Neotropical
forests. The weather has been very dry, and the river is
still rising. After leaving Bidda our plans are uncertain.
Mr. M. talks of going on to Sokoto, if he can get away
from his stock-taking, and if he goes I shali probably go
too. If not, I shall try and stay some time at Ischunga,
a station a little off the river above Egga.~
We are happy to be able to add that Mr. Forbes was
in excellent health at the date of his letter.
THE INFRA-RED OF THE
SPECTRUM
T is with a certain amount of dread of boring the
readers of NATURE, that I have taken up my pen
to write on the method of photographing with rays
of very low refrangibility, since it ought to have passed
the limits of novelty. And yet I suppose it has not alto-
gether done so, since almost weekly, I have inquiries
made as to where the method is described, and am
questioned as to how to succeed with it, when my corre-
spondents know where to find its description. The
Editor, also, has asked me to write on the subject, so I
propose to put as concisely as I can what plan to adopt.
It is almost too well worn a scientific adage to repeat that
unless you can obtain a sensitive salt which will absorb
the rays to be used photographically, you cannot hope
for success; and the method which I shall describe pre-
sently fully secures this desideratum. To photograph the
red and dark rays then a sensitive salt must be procured
which shall absorb the red and ultra-red rays. The colour
of the salt to aim at then is a bluish green, which gives a
continuous absorption at the least refrangible end of the
spectrum. The salt employed is bromide of silver ina
modified molecular state, a state I may say which is very
easy to obtain when the formula below is strictly carried
out, but very easily missed if the experimenter is self-
inspired to make improvements in the method of pro-
cedure. I don’t know whether it is something peculiar to
photographic minds that there is in them such a large
amount of self-assurance, but my frequent experience is
that those who try a formula for a photographic prepara-
tion invariabiy try to improve on it before giving the
original one a chance of success: and then when failure
occurs they blame everything and everybody except their
own conceptions. May I ask those who read this and
endeavour to prepare the sensitive compound alluded to,
WORK IN
to follow out strictly the directions as I described them
in the Bakerian Lecture for 1880.
The following is the mode of preparation. A normal
collodion is first made according to the formula below :—
Pyroxyline (any ordinary kind) 16 grains
IDRIS YAS Sey)! a a la) ig ae 4 02.
Alcoholl(G820)hiemwernen fey 2 OZ.
This is mixed some days before it is required for use, and
any undissolved particles are allowed to settle, and the
top portion is decanted off. 320 grains of pure zinc
bromide are dissolved in } 07. to 1 oz. of alcohol (*820)
together with 1 drachm of nitric acid. This is added to
3, ozs of the above normal collodion, which is subsequently
filtered. 500 grains of silver nitrate are next dissolved in
the smallest quantity of hot distilled water, and 1 oz. of
boiling alcohol ‘$20 added. This solution is gradually
poured into the bromized collodion, stirring briskly while
the addition is being made. Silver bromide is now
partially suspended in a fine state of division in the collo-
dion, and if a drop of the fluid be examined by transmitted
light it will be found to be of an orange colour. ;
Besides the suspended silver bromide, the collodion
contains zinc nitrate, a little silver nitrate, and nitric acid,
and these have to be eliminated. The collodion emulsion
is turned out into a glass flask, and the solvents carefully
distilled over with the aid of a water bath, stopping the
operation when the whole solids deposit at the bottom of
the flask. Any liquid remaining is carefully drained off,
and tke flask filled with distilled water. After remaining
a quarter-of-an-hour the contents of the fla k are poured
into a well-washed linen bag, and the solids squeezed as
dry as possible. The bag with the solids is again im-
mersed in water, all lumps being crushed previously, and
after half-an-hour the squeezing is repeated. ‘Chis opera-
tion is continued till the wash water contains no trace of
acid when tested by litmus paper. The squeezed solids
are then immersed in alcohol ‘820 for half-an-hour to
eliminate almost every trace of water, when after wringing
out as much of the alcohol as possible the contents of the
bag are transferred to a bottle, and 2 ozs. of ether (720)
and 2 ozs. of alcohol (*805) are added. This dissolves the
pyroxyline and leaves an emulsion of silver bromide,
which when viewed in a film is essentially green-blue
by transmitted light.
All these operations must be conducted in very weak
red light—such a light, for instance, as is thrown by a
candle shaded by ruby glass, at a distance of twenty feet.
If a green light of the refrangibility of about half way
between E and D could be obtained it would be better
than the faint red light transmitted by ruby glass, since
the bromide is less sensitive to it than to the latter. The
light coming through green glass after being filtered
through stained red glass is almost the best light to use.
It is most important that the final washing should be
conducted almost in darkness. It is also essential to
eliminate all traces of nitric acid, as it retards the action
of light on the bromide, and may destroy it if present in
any appreciable quantities. To prepare the plate with
this silver bromide emulsion all that is necessary 1s to
pour it over a clean glass plate, as in ordinary photo-
graphic processes, and to allow it to dry in a dark
cupboard. ;
It has been found advantageous to coat the plate in yed
light, and then to wash the plate and immerse it ina
dilute solution of HCl, and again wash, and finally dry.
These last operations can be done in dishes in absolute
darkness ; the hydrochloric acid renders innocuous any
silver sub-bromide which may have been formed by the
action of the red light, and which would otherwise cause
a heated image. :
Let me here give warning, that the emulsion formed
will be very grainy in appearance, and requires vigorous
shaking to cause it to emulsify proper. If it requires a
little plain pyroxyline, say about two grains to the
16
NATURE
[Voo. 2, 1882
fluid ounce should be added to give greater consist-
ency. One thing is certain, if it be not coarse-grained
under the microscope it will not be sensitive to the re-
quired region, and moreover it will be found that on an
average it should be about twice as coarse as the average
form of bromide which is generally obtained in collodion
emulsion. Here let me interpolate a remark. It has
been assumed that because an emulsion in gelatine has a
bluish colour after it has been boiled, that in this case we
have the same form of bromide as that described above.
It is a very different form : let me show how. Suppose
we throw a spectrum on a gelatine plate it will be found
that G requires about + of a second with a very narrow
slit, whereas to obtain B it will require the best part of a
minute, and to obtain rays of lower refrangibility very
much more ; and that any amount of exposure will not
make an impression much below A. With the blue-green
bromide in collodion to obtain an impression about G will
take some eight or ten seconds, and it will be found that
at the same time we have an impression of B. A minute’s
exposure to the prismatic spectrum will under similar
circumstances give an impression as much below A as D
is above it, measured not in wave-lengths but along the
photograph. I point out this because a leading conti-
nental photographic experimentalist has expressed himself
satisfied as to the identity of the two forms of sensitive
salt. They are totally distinct as if he tried to work
with a gelatine plate in the infra-red region he will
soon own. Now in reference to the coarseness of
grain it is right to call attention to its disadvantages. Its
advantage we know. In spectrum work we often come
across close pairs of lines. Now suppose each pair
happened not to be separated by a larger interval than
the grain of the sensitive salt, we shall be unable to
resolve such a pair, for the action of either component of
the pair, and much more both, if they fell on it would be
to cause, on development, a reduction to metallic silver of
the whole grain. Thus evidently such a close pair would
be unresolved.
When a photograph of the spectrum on the finest
grained plate is examined under the microscope it will be
found that the metallic image is composed of grains of
silver and nothing else; and that instead of the lines
having sharp edges as seen by the eye that they shade.
Part of this shading is due to the grain, though the greater
part is due to proper absorption, which the eye is incap-
——= 1S i - : ———
| esl |
| |
ee Tea
= et : —
iF | aes al (on | |
| I ee eal heal if ke
8200 2300 9500 a609 e700
Fees = = ! = a
| | | | | iT
| | | 3 | WLLL
6800 &500 9/00 $200 9300
= = = =
| wil
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9000
8700 5300
Fic. 1.
able of distinguishing. The fineness of grain given by
the different processes we may class as follows, in the
order of coarseness, the coarsest grain being first :—
1. Wet plate developed by iron.
2. Special bromide emulsion, as before described.
§ Ordinary collodion emulsion.
3 1 Wet plate developed by pyrogalic acid.
4. Gelatino-bromide plates.
It will thus be seen that for delicate work the dispersion |
with the wet plate process and the special bromide emul-
sion must be larger than when using a gelatine plate if
equal resolving power be wished for. The above plate
is an instance of this. In it we have the solar spectrum
in approximate wave-lengths from Ad (7,600) to about |
A 10,500. The general impression to the eye is the
extraordinary width of the lines compared with those in
the visible spectrum. No doubt they are as a rule
broader, but their breadth is also to be accounted for in
other ways.
Secondly, the dispersion used was the first order of a
Rutherford grating 17,200 lines (about) to the inch, and a
camera lens of a focus of about fifteen inches. In later pho- |
tographs nearly all the broad lines have been resolved into
pairs or triplets,as have also some of the lines of medium
breadth. There are lines, however, like the 3 broad lines
between 8500 and 8700 which remain unchanged whatever
dispersion was used. This resolution was effected by using
| a finer slit and dispersion of the second order, the fine slit
|
|
|
|
alone will not giveit. If we take an example in the visible
spectrum, and examine the B line with the eye. it will be
found to be made up of a series of doublet flutings, each
component being apparently of equal intensity. These
pairs it is impossible to secure on the photographic plate,
unless the second order of the grating spectrum is used ;
but when secured it will be found that the more refrangible
component is more intense, as is the case in certain
hydro-carbon flutings. The sole reason why the first
order is useless to cause resolution is that the pairs are so
close they can both fall on the diameter of the grain of the
sensitive compound. On the other hand, with a gelatine
| plate 1 have been able to see on one inch and a half every
| line and more than given in Angstrém’s map from G to
First, the slit used was not quite as fine as |
might have been when the photographs were taken. |
F. In this case the grain is almost invisible.
The development of the plate is greatly more difficult
than the preparation of the emulsion. A strong developer
it will not stand, and I may say also that a very new one
is also inadmissible when using the ferrous oxalate de-
velopment. To make the developer a saturated solution
of neutral oxalate of potash is saturated in the cold, with
Nov. 2, 1882 |
NALORE
17
ferrous oxalate : and then the deep red solution decanted
off. When freshly prepared it is useless to attempt to
develop a plate with it unless the precaution be taken
of adding to it an equal part of a saturated solution of
ferric oxalate in the oxalate of potash. Such a mixture
may be employed by adding to it immediately before all
an equal volume of a solution of potassium bromide
(twenty grains of the salt to thirteen of water). The
plate may then develop without fog or it may not : if it
does fog, the developer must have more bromide solution
added to it, and another trial made. On some daysa
clean picture seems ar impossibility, whilst on others,
every one will be perfect. It is not the emulsion that is
in fault, since, on a ‘‘clear day” and ona “foggy day ”’
the identical emulsion may be used, showing that the
developer is at fault. This year this trouble seems to
have increased, and I can only lay it down to the different
preparations of the oxalates. Of one thing care should be
taken, viz., that the developer never shows alkalinity ; a
drop cf dilute sulphuric acid or nitric acid may be added
to the developing cup just before development with |
advantage.
With prisms the photography with the rays of low |
refrangibility is simple, with one great drawback, and that |
is the difficulty of obtaining a true focus for the plate.
This must all be done by guess-work, and plates exposed
till the focus is obtained. When once obtained it is a
good plan to mark the camera to show the focus, and at
“the same time accurately to mark the table on which it
stands, so that the same portion of the lens recetves the
same rays. This is more particularly necessary to attend
‘to when using an achromatic lens. I believe it to be
easier to use the uncorrected lens than a corrected one,
provided always that the camera has a propery horizontal
swing back, which can be shifted through a very large
angle at least 30° when using three prisms. If a spherical
mirror be used in the collimator and in the camera instead
of the lenses, the same difficulties of focusing do not pre-
sent themselves. The disadvantage of this method is that
the edges of the spectrum based are diffused and not
straight, and this is awkward when making comparison
of different spectra. With a grating nearly the same
difficulty arises when using lenses, but not quite to sucha
degree. If “a” and A be got in focus at the end of the
plate, the swing back being used till this results, and if
the lens be placed close to the grating, the whole of the
infra-red region will be fairly in focus. This of course
only applies to my own grating which may havea slight
curvature. In using the grating we must not forget that the
second order overlaps the first order, and the third order
the second order and so on: and if a plate were exposed
without any artifice being adopted to get rid of this over-
lap the plate would show two or three spectra. There
are several methods of accomplishing this separation, the
simplest being to use the absorbing medium in front of
the slit. At first I used stained red. glass which cuts off
all radiation above the green, leaving thus the tails of the
different spectra intact. ‘At present, when wishing to go no
further down the scale than A 30,000, I have found that a
deep coloured solution of iodine of potassium in water about
one-tenth of an inch in thickness is very excellent. The
objection to the red glass is that it exercises a certain
amount of general absorption in the infra-red region,
but with the “white glass of the cell holding the solu ion,
and the solution itself, this general absorption is mini-
mized. To get down still further, very thin stratum of
a blue dye in tetrachloride of carbon is efficacious in
conjunction with the iodine solution. With the above
solutions \ 13,000 can be reached. Beyond this limit it is
necessary to. use other means of eliminating the higher
orders of the spectrum. The simplest plan is to place
behind the collimator a couple of prisms, and some
two feet from the prisms, the grating so that it only
receives those rays which it_ may be desired to
im-
press. Thus one side of the grating may catch the
limit of the red whilst the rest will be filled with the dark
rays. The most difficult planis to place a prism according
(as Frauenhofer did) in front of the grating, in such a
way that the axis of the prism is at right angles to the
ruling and parallel to the plane of the grating ; this causes
a complete separation of all the different orders of spectra.
But the resulting photographs are inconvenient to
measure, since they are curved, and the position of the
camera is also ewkward. Another plan is to use a prism
in front of the slit, but this too, I have found incorvenient
for the same reasons as given above. For ordinary work
the absorption method is decidedly the most elegant, but
then it limits the operations with the spectrum. It was
from photographs obtained in this manner that the above
map of the solar spectrum was obtained, and as it is before
us, it may be well to make afew remarks onit. As to
CARBON: DISULRAIDE-
00a
CHLOROFORM
= ee | ime ne
METHYL» 10D1DE
Om NOON UNTNRC2
ETHYL GID DE
- BENZING
a
AMYLENE
what the lines are due to we are at present absolutely unin-
formed, except as to some very few. A notable exception
to this is the line lettered about 8600, which is one of the
strongest lines in this part of the spectrum. Colonel
Festing and myself found that this line coincided abso-
lutely in position with what we call the radical absorption
band of benzene, that is to say, that by diminishing a
thin layer of benzene placed between the slit of the spec-
troscope and a source of light giving a continuous spec-
| trum, this absorption-band, amongst many others, was
the last to disappear, and that it also was the key-note as
it were of the absorptions of all benzene derivatives.
A coincidence of this kind would not be fortuitous any
more than that the vapour of sodium gives lines coin-
cident with the D lines ; and hence we were forced to
ascribe this line to benzene or some of its derivations.
When first we made this announcement it was facetiously
18
NATURE
[Mov. 2, 1882
remarked that we had been photographing London
smoke ; and no doubt had not other localities for photo-
graphing the spectrum been chosen, the reproach (for
such it was) might have been just. My visit last June to the
Riffel, 8,500 feet high, showed that not only was this said
line present, but that it was more intense even than at the
level of the sea. There was more unfolding of the
spectrum at that high altitude, and lines faint indeed,
which had almost escaped registration below, were well
marked on the photographs obtained there. The bril-
liancy of this infra-red spectrum can scarcely be surpassed.
When examined at an elevation of 10,000 feet, the general
absorption due to water almost vanishes, and with the
exception of two congeries of lines which lie beyond
those given in the diagram, the whole of the lines shown
are stronger than I have ever had them before.
Colonel Festing and myself have also shown the pre-
sence of some alcohol derivative, somewhere between
ourselves and the sun, and the presence of the absorption
lines at a high altitude place it outside our atmosphere.
This I was not wholly prepared for, since lately we have
been told that alcohol exists in rain water, and rain water
can only derive it from the air. The fact, however, remains
that it probably exists beyond the limits of our atmo-
sphere. The region disclosed by photography has by no
means been exhausted; beyond the region given in the
diagram lies one in which we have a breadth of continuous
spectrum, and beyond that again beautiful groups of lines,
all of which require and deserve careful study. Of one
thing we may be fairly certain, that none of them are due
to metallic vapours, but are probably due to vapours of
non-metallic compounds in some form or another, and |
these at a comparatively low temperature. It is not
unlikely that amongst these will be found oxygen com-
pounds, and if so it would be interesting in more ways
than one.
Asa suggestion in which direction to look, I have annexed
a diagram of the absorptions (Fig. 2), in the infra-red of
a few liquids, by which it will be seen, that by a study of
these we may perhaps throw some light on the solar
spectrum. The bands in some instances where the liquid
is vaporized are split up into lines and flutings, whilst the
radical bands, to which I have already drawn attention,
seem to remain constant. When it is remembered that
one-tenth of an inch of a liquid, such as benzene, will
give a definite absorption, it will be seen that a manage-
able length of vapour may be placed between the slit and
the source of light, for its proper investigation. Colonel
Festing and myself are at work at it at the present, but
the field of investigation is so large that it requires more
workers before any general theory can be brought to
bear on the subject. It is partly to aid such would-be
workers that I have penned the above, and shall be glad
if it stirs up some few to aid in this research, which
not only has a bearing on solar physics, but even still
more largely on physical chemistry.
W. DE W. ABNEY
NOTES
WE have received a communication from Prof, Hildebrands-
son, director of the Meteorological Observatory, Upsala, so
well known for bis researches into the upper currents of the
atmosphere, in which, with reference to the proposed observa-
tory on Ben Nevis, he remarks that ‘‘ the erection on Ben Nevis
of a permanent meteorological observatory is of the utmost im-
portance for the development of modern meteorology. No better
situation for a mountain observatory can be imagined. I have for
a special purpose discussed the few observations published from
Puy de Dome. They are of great importance, but unfortunately
this mountain, as well as the station of Gen. Nansouty on the
Pic-du-Midi, has a bad situation in relation to storm tracks, being
almost constantly placed on the north-westerly or south-easterly
slope of a high pressure. On the contrary, Ben Neyis is situ-
ated almost in the middle track of the depressions or storms of
north-western Europe. Hence observations made there must be
of far greater importance in their relation to the theory of
cyclones than the mountain observations in the south of France.
I hope the Scottish Meteorological Society will find the means
of carrying on this work.” With these views of Prof. Hilde-
brandsson we heartily concur, and hope that the Council of the
Scottish Meteorological Society will succeed in the patriotic
effort we understand that they are now making to raise the
necessary funds, viz. 5000/., for the erection and partial endow-
ment of this truly national observatory.
WE are glad to learn that Sir Edward Reed is so far re-
covered that he may be able in the course of a few days to give’
occasional attendance in Parliament.
Tue International Electrical Conference which has been sitting
in Paris for the last fortnight, has, after passing several resolu-
tions, adjourned to the first Monday of October, 1883. In
regard to electrical units it was resolved that at present there is
not a sufficient concord of view to enable the numerical value of
the ‘‘ohm” in the mercurial column to be definitely fixed, and
that all governments be appealed to by France to encourage
further research on the subject. The section for “ Earth
Currents and Lightning Conductors” resolved that Government
should be requested to favour regular and systematic observations
of atmospheric electricity upon their telegraphic systems ; that it
is important for the study of storms to be extended to every
country ; that wires independent of the telegraphic system
should be provided for the special study of earth currents ; and
that, so far as possible, the great subterranean telegraphic lines,
particularly those running north and west, should be utilised for
the same purpose, observations being instituted on the same day
in the various countries. The section for fixing a standard of
light expressed the opinion that the light emitted by a square
centimetre of melting platinum would furnish an absolute
standard. In closing the Conference M. Cochery, the Postal
Minister, assured the Members that the French Government
would endeavour to give effect to their Resolutions by repre-
sentations to the various Governments concerned. It is hoped
that the twelve months for which the Conference is adjourned
will be sufficient for the searches in the various departments in
question to be completed. England is indebted solely to the
private enterprise and spirit of Sir William Thomson for being
represented at all. Between the French Government, the Foreign
Office, and the Science and Ait Department a sad mess has been
made. The Post Office Telegraph Department was never asked
to send a representative, nor have any of those who took such an
active part in the Conference last year been asked to take any
part in this. A more disgraceful muddle has never previously
distinguished our ‘‘ how not to do it” system.
M. MiGNET, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Moral
Sciences, has just resigned the office held by him from the
reorganisation of the Academy in 1835, up to the present time,
Having been born at the end of the last century, his plea of old
age may be said to be fully justified. It is stated on good
authority that he will be succeeded by M. Jules Simon, who is
now temporarily filling the office of secrétaire perpetuel.
THE annual meeting of the five French Academies, sitting
as one body in the capacity of the French Institute, was
held on October 25. M. Dumas, as director of the Académie
Francaise, was in the chair. He opened the proceedings by an
address, which quite fulfilled the expectations that had been
raised. M. Dumas gave an elaborate history of the several
academies of Paris, of their suppression in 1793, and their re-
opening in 1795 as the five classes of the Institute. The regu-
Zz
Nov. 2, 1882]
NATURE
19
lations adopted at the time were altered by the several monarchical
governments, but have gradually resumed their former provisions,
so that the present Institute may be said practically to exist as it
was at the end of the last century. The subject was treated with
wonderful eloquence and expression. M. Dumas derived the
origin of modern scientific societies from the Academia di Lincei ;
he showed that the Academy of Sciences of Paris and the Royal
Society of London came into existence about the same period,
their meetings having been foreshadowed or instigated by
the conversazioni held by the friends or followers of
Descartes. M. Dumas insisted most on the grand spectacle
exhibited by these institutions surviving monarchy, nobility,
established churches, and finding in political revolutions a new
field for their activity. He might have added, that even under the
disorderly reign of the Commune, the sittings of the Academy
“were unmolested, and the editor of the ¥ournal Officiel de la Com-
mune did bis best to report the sittings. The Academy of
Sciences was represented in the addresses delivered by M.
Alphonse Milne-Edwards, who gave a graphic account of the
really good work done by the 7vavai//eur in the Mediterranean
and Atlantic. The large hall was crowded, and the whole
proceedings were of high interest.
THE anniversary meeting of the London Mathematical Society
will be held on the evening of Thursday, November 9, at 8 p.m.,
at 22, Albemarle Street. Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S., has chosen
as the subject of his valedictory address, ‘‘Some Remarks on
Mathematical Terminology and the Philosophical Bearing of
Recent Mathematical Speculations concerning the Realities of
Space” ; his principal aim will be to show that mathematics are
neutral in philosophy. fer alia he will report to the Society
the fact of the establishment of the De Morgan memorial medal
and the conditions of its being awarded. The following changes
are proposed to be made in the Council for the ensuing session :
Prof. Henrici, F.R.S., President, Sir J. Cockle, F.R.S., and
Mr. Roberts, F.R.S., Vice-Presidents, and Messrs. E. B. Elliott
and Dr. J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., to be new members in the place
of Prof. Rowe and Mr. H. W. Lloyd Tanner, who retire.
THE Fapan Gazette of August 21 contains a long and curious
description of a bear festival among the Ainos. The writer,
Dr. B. Scheube, is, we believe, the only European who has ever
been actually present at this ceremony, the descriptions of it
given by Miss Bird and other writers being derived from hearsay.
The bear receives the title of Ximui-Kamui, The true deriva-
tion of this latter title—which is generally and incorrectly said
to come from the Japanese Xavi, a divinity—has been explained
by Mr. Keane in NATURE (vol. xxvi. p. 525). The festival is
now rarely held, and there is small reason to regret this, as it
has degenerated to a brutal orgy. It commences with drink,
every change in ceremony begins and concludes with drink, until
finally every one in the village is intoxicated, while their hands,
faces, and clothes are smeared with the gore of the sacrifice.
Dr. Scheube says: ‘‘I had much difficulty in keeping off the
drunken crowd that wanted me to partake of the blood and liver
(the latter is eaten raw) ; and I can say that though hardened in
these things by the practice of my profession, the sight of these
drunken people with their bodies smeared over with blood filled
me with a loathing that made me feel glad that the day and the
feast were coming to an end together.” Dances, many of them
of an obscene nature, also form part of the ceremony.
A very business-like Annual Report from the Sheffield Free
Libraries and Mu-eum Committee has been sent us.
complaint is made of the heavy cost of two of the branches, it is
satisfactory to find that one of these rivals the Central Library
in its number of volumes circulated. A new catalogue of the
Central Library, which has been issued lately, we shall hope to
notice more fully shortly. Besides the new branch of a mu-ical
department we may call attention also to the Observatory and
Though |
the Museum of Natural History, with the hope that, in all our
large towns eventually, the Free Library will become the centre
of instruction in all knowledge.
THE £éectrician learns that the improvements in the storage
of electric energy and in electromotors have so far advanced,
that tricycles can not only be lighted, but also propelled solely
by electricity, as was seen from the tricycle ridden last week by
Prof. Ayrton in the city. The Faure accumulators in which the
energy was stored for the lighting and drawing, were placed on
the footboard of the tricycle, and the motion was produced by
one of Professors Ayrton and Perry’s newly-patented electro-
motors placed under the seat of the rider. Using one of these
specially-made tricycle electromotors and the newest type of the
Faure accumulators, the total dead weight to be added to a
tricycle to light and propel it electrically, is only one and a
half hundredweight, a little more than that of one additional
person.
WE wish to call the attention of our readers to the “‘ Feuille
des Jeunes Naturalistes,” published monthly in Paris, with a
London agency at 110, Leadenhall Street. Founded at Mulhou-e
in Alsace in 1870, the young journal was hardly launched before
the national troubles began; the publication was removed
to Paris, where the two first editors both perished during the
war at the age of about twenty. The object of the journal is to
establish a medium of communication between young nataralists,
to encourage them to publish their earliest essays in a serial
where they will be sure to find readers to be instructed and com-
petent judges to guide them in their future studies. Every kind
of trustworthy observation is welcomed ; and the editors under-
take to translate communications sent to them in English. The
Journal is believed to have been instrumental in the formation of
several local natural history societies.
THE St. Petersburg Society of Gardening is taking the neces-
sary steps to prepare the International Botanical and Gardening
Exhibition and Congress, which wiil take place in the Russian
capital. Professors Beketoff, Borodin, Famintzin, Marklin, and
Maximowitsch, and Messrs. Annenkoff, Gobi, Iversen, Semenoff,
and Wolkenstein are elected members of the scientific committee ;
three other committees—for the Exhibition, for the erection of
buildings, and for the reception of guests—were appointed at
the last meeting of the Society.
WE have received a copy of the syllabus of the Yorkshire
College Students’ Association. The society was founded in
1877, and is now in its sixth session. The number of members
is large, and the meetings have hitherto been very successful
Attention is devoted to literature as well as to science. An
excellent programme of papers is down for the present session
which began on October 24 with an address by the president,
Prof. Thorpe, on ‘‘The Story of the Origin of the Metric
System.”
THE German Ornithological Society held its annual meeting
at Berlin recently under the presidency of Baron Homeyer.
Mr. Schalow (Berlin) read a paper on the progress of ornithology
during the last five years ; Prof. Landois (Miinster) on egg shells
considered from a histological and a genetic point of view ; Mr.
Miitzel (Berlin) on the call of the Tragopan ; and Prof. Blasius
the report of the stations for observing the migrations of birds in
Germany.
TELEGRAMS frem the south-east of Europe report that there
was an earthquake in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula
on October 25. At 1.26 p.m. the shocks were felt severely at
Preboi, in Bosnia. They lasted fully three seconds, the direction
| of the vibrations being from west to east.
| THE first General Meeting of the Members of the Parkes
Museum, since the incorporation of the Museum, was held on
\
NATURE
[ Mov. 2, 1882
Saturday Jast. Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B., was voted to the
chair, It was unanimously resolved that H.R.H. Prince
Leopold, Duke of Albany, who had graciously consented to
accept the presidency, be formally elected to that office. Capt.
Douglas Galton, in replying to a vote of thanks for presiding,
said that the Museum had now entered on a fresh phase of
existence, and had established itself as an independent institu-
tim in premises which, after nece:sary alterations had been
completed, bid fair to serve its purpose, for the present at least,
admirably. The Council contemplated making the sanitary
arrangements necessary for the Museum itself as perfect as
possible, and it was intended that all such arrangements should
be useful for teaching purposes; the drainage, for instance, had
heen carefully considered by Prof. Corfield and Mr. Rogers
Field, M. Inst. C.E , and the latter gentleman had generously
undertaken to bear the whole expense of carrying it out. Mr,
Twining had undertaken the whole trouble and cost of arranging,
and for the most part of providing the Food Collection ; the
Warming, Lighting, and Ventilating have been referred to a
Special Committee, whose endeavour it would be to insure that
every appliance was the best of its kind. The general collection
was to be carefully weeded and re arranged, and it was hoped
that the Museum would be opened to the public soon after
Christmas.
THE name zsanemones has been recently applied by M. Brault
to curves of equal velocity of wind, and he has made a drawing
of such curves for the North Atlantic in summer, using for the
purpose 240,000 ob ervations on board ship. It is shown that
an approximate namerical value may be attached to each of the
ordinary terms used in ship’s I-gs to denote the wind’s force.
M. Brault’s map, which appears in Comptes Kendus, is remark-
able in that it reproduces almost exactly the map of mean isobars.
Thus, during summer, that is to say, when the atmosphere is
most stable over the great North Atlantic hasin, the mean zsaze-
mones and the mean zsosars are the same, presenting only difler-
ences that are nearly equal to pessible errors of observation and
of construction. It remains to be seen in what meacure this
important law is general ; M. Brault believes it to be so for
every surface of the globe which is under what he calls funda-
mental maxima and minima (such as the maximum and minimum
of Asta, the maximum of the Azores), the fixity and permanence
of which are such that they form together, and at six months?
interval two distinct systems which suffice to define the two great
phases of the annual circulation (Ephemeral maxima and
minima are such as appear and disappear daily in.our latitudes ;
while sodile or tempestuous minima such as cyclones or squalls,
are grouped as a third cla‘s.)
In his work on worms, Darwin has described some tower-
like dejections which he never saw constructed in England, but
which are artributed to an exotic s;ecies of Perrcheta, from
Eastern Asia, naturalised in the environs of Nice, M. Trouessart
has lately observed sin ilar dejections in gardens near Angers.
faving collected a large number of worms from where the towers
were made, he found no species of Pericheta, nor of any other
exotic genus. In two or three cases he surprised the worms at
work, and they were Lausmbricus agricola. \t was the anterior
part of the body that was lodged in the tower. After the rainy
period at the end of September all the tubular interior of each
tower (forming a continuation of the subterranean gallery) was
quite free ; but a few days later it was obstructed by recent
dejections. M. Trouessart supposes that the caljtie or cap of
the tower, getting hard in air, a time comes whe. the worm can
no longer burst the upper wall as before, to place its dejections
outside (so increasing the height of the tower), but deposits them
within. Thus a long period of rain is necessary for these towers
to rise regularly. The towers probably serve to protect the
galleries from rain, and to afford a breathing place for the
worms, where they are not seen by birds.
WE learn from the Rivista Sctentifico-Industria‘e that Baron
V. Cesati has resolved to sell his botanical collection. This
consists of a herbarium of about 32,000 phanerogamic species,
also a special cryptogamic herbarium containing at least 17,000
species ; altogether more than 350,000 plants. There is also a
collection of autographs of 2500 botanists. Any one wishing to
purchase is desired to apply to the owner, at the Botanical
Gardens of Naples. Full particulars of the herbaria will be
given.
In the construction of a railway bridge recently over the
Ticino, electric illumination has been used instead of that with
stearine candles (previously preferred for the compressed air
caissons). The hygienic conditions of the workmen in the’
caissons is thus greatly improved ; as stearine candles impregnate
the atmosphere wih smoke. Eight lamps of the small Swan
type are used to light the working chamber ; a Siethens’ dynamo
of abcut 30 lamp-power supplying the current. A second
dynamo is kept in reserve, to be used in case of breakdown cr
excessive heating. The additional cost of the system is regarded
as Jargely compensated by the increased comfort in working.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandit & )
from South Africa, presented by Mr. G. H. Jones; nine Hairy-
footed Jerboas (Dipus hirtipfes), twenty-four Gerbilles
(Gerbillus ) from Arabia, presented by Lieutenant Paget,
R.N.; a Laughing Kingfisher (Dacelo gigantea) from Australia,
presented by Mr, H. G, Austin ; a Ceylon Jungle Fowl (Ga//zs
stanleyi 8) from Ceylon, presented by Mrs. Dick Lauder ; a
Spinose Land Emys (Geomyda spinosa) from Borneo, presented
by Miss C. G. Robson; two Sharp-headed Lizards (Lacerta
oxycephala) from Madeira, presented by Mr. H. J. Clements ;
three European Tree Frogs (/y/a ardorea), European, presented
by Miss L. Burness ; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus erythreus $)
from India, a Malbrouck Monkey (Cercopithecus cynosurus) from
East Africa, deposited ; two Canadian Beavers (Caster cana-
densis) from Canada, an Eyra (felis eyra 3), two Sun Bitterns
(Zurypyga helias), a Brown Gannet (Sw/a /eucogastra) from
South America, two Globose Curassows (Crax globicera $ 2)
from Central America, a Razor-billed Curassow (JWZitua lomen-
zosa) from Guiana, a Greater Shearwater (Pufiinus cinercus) from
Lincolnshire, six Knots (Z7inga canutus), a Lapwing (Vanellus
cristatus), British, a Matamata Terrapin (Chelys matamata) from
the Amazons, purchased ; a Muscovy Duck (Cazrinxa moschata)
from South America, received in exchange.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
ScHMIptT’s COMETARY Onyecr.—We have received a circular
(No. 48) of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna, con-
taining a letter from Dr. Julius Schmidt, dated Athens, October
14, in which he notifies his discovery of a nebulous object not
far from the head of the great comet, which will be best given
in his exact words. He writzs :—‘‘Seit October 9, 16°5h. liegt
in S.W. neben dem Kometen eine der Form nach stark variable
cosmische Nebelmaterie, welche die scheinbare Geschw indigkeit
des grossen Kometen zwar etwas iibertrifft, doch im Ganzen der
Bewegung desselben entspricht.” Dr. Schmidt appends the
following places, the first and last being from measures, the
second deduced from a star-chart —
Dist. from nu-
1882. M.T. Apparen 5. ee
at Athens. RA. ; Be ay pens sees
h. m. bh. am. 5: S40) a fe
Oct, (O)-. 16 64) <2. TO) 15/53). = zSS ee waned
TO}. .<) 101-30) ..-) LO) 00) 20ne ato eee
IT ee 10°37 cc LO) HO Tere eso a ese rh ee
On submitting these positions to calculation by the ordinary
method of Olbers for a parabolic orbit, Mr, Hind has found the
—
Nov. 2, 1882 |
NATURE 2y
following elements, the second set being the result of the cor-
rected value for the ratio of the curtate distances at the extreme
observations, though the representation of the middle place is
not sensibly improved thereby :—
Perihelion passage, Sept. 24°2778 G.M.T. | Sept. 240912
Long. of perihelion... 234 42°6 232 21°5
re ascending node 350 2°4 354 50°9
Inclination sce 29 II'5 29 41'9
Log. perihelion distance 811394 8-26678
Motion—retrograde, Retrograde.
The general resemblance of these elements to those of the
great comet, will excite remark. The middle observation shows
a difference from computation of — 6''2 in right ascension, and
— 3''2 in declination by the second orbit ; perhaps unavoidable
error in an estimated place, or vagueness of the nebulosity may
account for the differences, yet Dr. Schmidt speaks of having
observed ‘‘Die Positionen des eines Kernes des seitlichen
Neb:ls.” Further, it may be observed that the orhit in which
the great comet is now moving does not accord with the positions
given by Dr. Schmidt : thus with the last elements published in
NatTuRE, the observed and computed right ascension on Octo-
ber 9 will agree if the perihelion passage be assumed to have
occurred September 13°732, but the calculated declination is
north of that observed by 1° 39’, and for the observation on
October 11, the calculation is in error +1° 56’ in right ascension
and +2° 31’ in declination, Nevertheless the general similarity
in the arrangement of the elements suggests a past connection of
the two bodies, and it may be hoped that further light will be
thrown upon the question, if either earlier or later observations
of Dr. Schmidt’s object are forthcoming.
Comet 1882 4.,—In an unusually clear sky for the season on
the {morning of October 23, a fine view of this comet was
obtained in the vicinity of London; the length of the more
definite portion of the tail was about 164°. At 5 a.m. on
October 30, with strong moonlight and a somewhat vaporous
sky, it was still conspicuous, notwithstanding the material
diminution in the theoretical intensity of light. If the tail
extended in the same direction from the nucleus on both dates,
there was a large increase in its real dimensions in the course of
the week. In fact, on October 30, if we assume the tail to have
been a prolongation of the radius-vector, it would cover a space
considerably greater than the mean distance of the earth from
the sun, and with any reasonable assumption as to deviation
from that line, its true length could hardly have been less than
70,000,000 miles,
The place given by M. Cruls for the comet he found at Rio
Janeiro on September 12 a.m., differs 5° 43’ in right ascension,
and 1° 25’ in declination from that occupied by the great comet
at the time.
From an observation at the Collegio Romano, in Rome, on
the morning of October 25, kindly communicated by Prof,
Millosevich, it appears that the elements last published in this
column were in error —2''4 in right ascension and —o':3 in
declination, small differences, considering that the last observa-
tion used in their determination was made on October 1, and a
proof of the precision of the observations issued from the
Collegio Romano.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
THE Council of the Geographical Society have made the final
arrangements for their new African expedition under Mr.
Joseph Thomson, Mr. Thomson hopes to leave England in
the end of November for Zanzibar, where he will stay some
months getting together his retinue and goods, and making
other provisions for his hazardous journey. He will probably
leave the coast in April or May next. The field of the new
expedition lies to the east and north-east of Lake Victoria
Nyanza, and may include a running survey of the eastern shore
of the lake. The expedition will probably start from Pangani,
and ascend the river of that name as far as Kilima Nyaro,
whence they wiil proceed direct to Victoria Nyanza. The
route after that will depend much on circumstances, but Mr.
Thomson hopes to visit the reputed Lakes Bahringo and Sam-
buru, as also Mount Kenia. Probably Mounts Kenia and
Kilima Nyaro will be more carefully examined than they have
been, and beyond them the country to be traversed by the
expedition is almost totally unexplored.
meet with the names of such travetlers as Denhardt, Krapf,
New, Wakefeld; but the field is practically virgin, A great
part of the region is a wilderness, rendered so by roving Masai,
whose depredations have scattered the population and rendered
culture impossible. Besides the danger from these roving free-
booters, the expedition will be compelled to carry its own pro-
visions to a large extent, as there is no likelihood of getting a
regular supply on the spot. Water, too, it is feared, will be
scarce, so that on the whole Mr. Thomson will have a trying
task before him, The expedition will be purely geographical,
but it is almost certain that a naturalist will accompany Mr.
Thomson as far as Kilima Nyaro, partly at the expense of the
British Association. Mr. Thomson will, however, be in no
way responsible for the safety or the conduct of the naturalist’s
party. Itis probable that Dr. Aitchison, who did good work in
natural history during the Afghan war, will be selected for this
work, and his retinue and all his arrangements will be quite
independent of those of Mr, Thomson; the two parties will
simply go together so far as their route is in common.
Mr. STANLEY has published separately a full report of the
address he recently gave in Paris. From this we glean one
interesting item of exploration. After he had launched his
steamer on the upper waters of the Congo, above the cataracts,
he proceeded up the river and entered the Kwango, the great
southern tributary. One hundred miles from its mouth he came
to where two large streams united to form the main river ; a
greyish-white stream from south by east, the other, of an inky
colour, from east by south, Ascending the latter, much less
rapid than the former, Mr. Stanley came, after steaming another
120 miles, to a large lake, into which the river widened, On
circumnavigating it, he found it about seventy miles in length,
and with a breadth varying from six to thirty-eight miles.
The natives he found very wild, and vaturally astonished at the
puffing monster. A splendid country the shore seemed to be
—dense, impenetrable—lofty forests, alternating with undu-
lating grass lands. Mr, Stanley was altogether three years away
from Vivi, and doubtless he has collected much information in
the country around the Congo. If the five stations established
on the banks—one at the mouth of the Kwango—are left unmo-
lested, much material of value to science may be collected ;
they are superintended by Europeans, who haye all the apparatus
for taking meteorological and other observations.
ON Sunday, October 29, the Paris Society of Topography distri-
buted its medals in the large Hall of the Sorbonne. M. de Lesseps
was in the chair. The three great medals were awarded to M.
D. Brazza, M. Roudaire, and Commander Perier. One of the
others to M. Triboulet, treasurer of the Academy of Aérostation
Metéorologique, for his continuous efforts in aérial photography
and the success obtained nineteen days ago in photographing the
horizon visible from a captive balloon, with an apparatus put in
operation from the ground.
ArT the last meeting of the Section of Physical Geography of
the Russian Geographical Society, M. Grigorieff made a report on
the results of Arctic exploration during last summer ; W. E. Fuss
read a communication on his visit to Novaya Zemlya, which
was made to determine accurately the position of the new
meteorological station ; and M. Rykatcheff a communication on
meteorological observations he made during an ascent in a
balloon.
THE students of the Physical and Mathematical Faculty of
St. Petersburg have presented M. Miklukho Maclay with an
address of thanks for his valuable researches, and express the
wish that the results may soon be given to the world.
A RECENT issue of the Worth China Herald, published ai
Shanghai, contains an article on a Chinese work entitled
‘* Travels in India.” The work is ef interest as exhibiting the
impression made on an intelligent Chinese traveller by the
results of Western civilisation, The author, Huang Mao-ts’ai,
is, it appears, a literary graduate of Kiangsi, who became im-
pressed with the importance to China of knowing what is going
on in neighbouring countries, and accordingly obtained, in 1878,
a commission from the Governor of Szechuen to pass through
Thibet to India. Arriving at Patang he was deterred by the
hostility of the hill tribes from proceeding further in that direc-
tion, and he therefore retraced his steps, turning southward into
Yunnan, whence he crossed into Burmah, and descending the
Irawaddy to Rangoon, he took passage for Caleutta. He spent
On its borders we | six months in India, returning to China by Singapore and Saigon
22
NAT OURE
[WVov. 2, 1882
His four volumes and maps were laid before the throne, and he was
rewarded with an appointment in Yunnan. Around China he sees
on all hands powerful and aggressive neighbours. To the ambi- |
tious schemes of these powerful neighbours and the means of check-
mating them he devotes many pages. He dreams even of con-
quest, and suggests that by encouraging emigration to the
southern seas, establishing consuls to look after the emigrants,
opening schools to enlighten them in foreign science, and at the
same time kee ing up the knowledge of their native language,
the great islands of that region could be made to fall like ripe
fruit into the lap of China. In the territorial acquisitions of
other countries Mr. Huang finds three degrees of villainy,
which he describes respectively as “‘stealthily beguiling,” en-
croaching by degrees,” and finally ‘‘swallowing up.” Notwith-
standing the offensive discrimination of these terms, he exhibits
a high appreciation of English rule in India. In the latter
country, he says, there are no idle officers ; each has his sphere,
into which no other intrudes. The will of each high functionary
is limited by his council. Salaries are sufficiently liberal to
prevent extortion. All are animated by a regard for their own
good name. The law is faithfully executed and public spirit
prompts to efforts for the general good. He is struck by the
magnificence of Calcutta and its great public works. On the
subject of taxes, he says: ‘‘The ground is taxed, houses are
taxed, shop-signs are taxed, all manner of beasts are taxed, all
handicrafts are taxed, and even fire and water are taxed. There
are other taxes more than I can mention ; yet you do not hear
one murmuring word from the people. Why is this? It is
owing to two causes: Firstly, they regard the humane Goyern-
ment of the English as a great improvement on the oppressive
cruelty of their native rulers: and secondly, they are aware
that the revenue thus collected is expended for the good of the
country—in making roads, founding schools, and so on.” The
author is so impressed by the railway system of India that he
is extravagant in his advocacy of something similar in China. He
wants a railway from the north-western frontier of China
proper into Ili, as the only means of retaining that province
and Kashgaria. In reply to objections on the score of the
enormous expense of this undertaking, he exclaims with true
Chinese vanity: ‘‘ What other countries can do, China can do,
as she is ten times richer, and a hnndred times more populous.”
NOTICE OF SOME DISCOVERIES RECENTLY
MADE IN CARBONIFEROUS VERTEBRATE
PALA ONTOLOGY
[NX the course of my work upon the carboniferous rocks of the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh, I have succeeded in obtaining
several specimens which throw some additional light upon the
little known Selachians of the Paleozoic age. It was considered
a great step in advance when Prof. Kner, in Germany, and Sir
P. Egerton in England, proved that the spine of the tooth
known as Diflodus, which occurs frequently in Carboniferous
rocks, was the equally well-known Pleuracanthus, a geuns of not
infrequent occurrence in the same beds. A very interesting
slab from the ironstone of Burghdee, near Edinburgh, in the
Carboniferous Limestone series, advances our knowledge another
important stage. Upon it there are several teeth of the species
Diplodus parvulus, Vraq., associated with cranial cartilage, and
a spine which is certainly not /Vewracanthus, but is totally unlike
it, and one which does not appear to have been ever described.
Upon showing it to my friend, Dr. Traquair, he said it con-
firmed an opinion at which he had long since arrived, that the
Diplodus tooth would be found common to several genera of
Selachian fishes. It certainly was a sivgular fact, and one
which must have struck those paleontolovists who have most
carefully examined the fish-faunas of particular beds and horizons,
that the number of the species of spines usually exceed those of
teeth. Another important conclusion may be drawn from this
discovery, viz. that spines are of very little value in relation to
the affinities of sharks. Nothing can be more different than
the spine of /Vlewracanthus and that of Dipflodus parvulus, Traq.
These conclusions are supported by another specimen in a
nodule obtained from a much lower horizon, viz. on that of the
Wardic Shales at Hailes Quarry, near Edinburgh. Here we
have a //ybodont tooth associated with the spine known as
Tristychius. The tooth, indeed, cannot he distinguished from
LHybodus ; itis deeply furrowed as in many of the Mesozoic species,
and has the two depressed lateral cusps, This form of tooth is
very persistent, extending from the Lower Carboniferous to the
Chalk. Germar was the first, I think, to point out the existence of
a Hybodont tooth in rocks of Carboniferous age, but (though I
have not yet carefully examined his figures and description) the
spines appear to be different from those I find associated with
the Hailes specimen, though they appear to me to be of the same
general type. That a 7y7s/ychine spine, with its smooth surface
| and strengly arcuate shape, should be associated with a Wydodvs
tooth is certainly unexpected, and shows again the necessity ot
caution in dealing with spines, for the Mesozoic spines associate-
with Hybodns are very different from Z7istychius. Hybodus
and Diplodus are therefore generalised forms of teeth associated
with spines known as 77ristychius, Pleuracanthus, with one unde-
scribed genus, probably with many others. Messrs. Hancock
and Atthey, to whom British science is indebted for some of
the most important ichthyological observations made since
Agassiz’ time suggested the possibility of C/ladodus being the
tooth of Gyracanthus. I have seen nothing to confirm or refute
this suggestion. They also referred certain small tooth-like
bodies with success to the dermal skeleton of that genus. I have
obtained a nodule from the Wardic shales, which has these in a
remarkably good state of preservation in connection with a large
fragment of the fin of that powerful shark. These dermal
denticles are so closely approximated to each other that they
form a dense covering, through which however appear distinctly
traces of the skeleton of the fin. The occurrence of the genus
at so low a horizon is of itself deserving of record, and in addi-
tion to this fragment, I have found imperfectly preserved speci-
of spines of the same genus at the same place.
The remains of Labyrinthodonts are exceedingly scarce below
the Burdichoun horizon. I am not aware of more than one having
been discovered, and that proves to be Ophiderfeton, ora closely
allied genus. This specimen was discovered in the Wardic
shales, low down in the Calciferous sandstone series. The
position of the Wardic shales in the Carboniferous series has
not yet been exactly defined. Owing to the confused nature of
the rocks, and the fact that they are so deeply covered with drift
in a good deal of the Edinburgh area, it has not been found
possible to settle quite clearly the relative position of the dif-
ferent members of the Carboniferous series. Nevertheless the
opinion appears to be universal that the shales along the shore
between Seafield and Granton are very low in the Carboniferous
system. All that I have seen confirms this conclusion. I was
amused, indeed, to see them in an otherwise well got up map,
lately published, coloured as the Millstone grit! Antiquated,
surely! The fossils are generally identifiable with those which
are everywhere found to underlie the marine limestones (in the
Scotch beds, at any rate), and from all that the drift will let
one see, there must be several thou ands of feet of such rocks
with the Wardic and Granton beds near the base. This being
so, the occurrence of this vertebrate {so low down is of interest
and importance, and helps to confirm Prof. Fritsh’s view, arrived
at in his case from anatomical considerations, that OpAzderpeton
and its allies are the rocts of the Amphibian genetic tree.
T. Stock
A NUMERICAL ESTIMATE OF THE RIGIDITY
OF THE EARTH?
AxzouT fifteen years ago Sir William Thomson pointed out
that, however it be constituted, the body of the earth must
of necessity yield to the tidal forces due to the attraction of the
sun and moon, and he aiscussed the rigidity of the earth on the
hypothesis that it is an elastic body.
If the solid earth were to yield as much as a perfect fluid to
these forces, the tides in an ocean on its surface would necessarily
be evanescent, and if the yielding be of smaller amount, but
still sensible, there must be a sensible reduction in the height of
the oceanic tides.
Sir William Thomson appealed to the universal existence of
oceanic tides of considerable height as a proof that the earth, as
a whole, possesses a high degree of rigidity, and maintained that
the previously received geological hypothesis of a fluid interior
was untenable. At the same time he suggested that careful
observation would afford a means of arriving at a numerical
estimate of the average modulus of the rigidity of the earth’s
mass as a whole. The semi-diurnal and diurnal tides present
phenomena of such complexity, that it is quite beyond the power
1 Paper read by G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., at the British Association South-
ampton meeting.
) Nov. 2, 1882 }
NATURE
3
of mathematics to calculate what these heigh ~ - ould be, if the
earth’s mass were absolutely unyielding. But the tides of long
period are nearly free from the dynamical influences which
render those of short period so intractable to calculation, and
must in fact nearly follow the laws of the ‘‘ equilibrium theory.”
In 1867 it was not, however, even definitely known whether
or not the tides of long period were of sensible height at any
station. Although there has been a continual advance in the
knowledge of tidal phenomena since that time, it is only within
the last year that there is a sufficient accumulation of tidal obser-
vations, properly reduced by harmonic analysis, to make it
possible to carry out Sir William Thomson’s suggestion. The
great advances in knowledve that have been recently made are
principally due to the adoption of systematic tidal observation at
a great number of stations by the India) Government. The
results of these observations are now being issued yearly by the
Secretary of State for India in the form of tide-tables for the
principal Indian ports. I have had the pleasure of carrying out
the examination of the tidal records, and a detailed account of
the work will appear at § 848 of the new edition of Thomson
and Tait’s ‘* Natural Philosophy,” now in the press.
The tides chosen for discussion were the lunar fortnightly
declinational tide, and the lunar montbly elliptic tide. These
tides must be free from the meteorological disturbances which
make the heights of all the solar tides quite beyond prediction.
The fortnightly and monthly tides consist in an alternate increase
and diminution of the ellipticity of the ellivtic spheroid of which
the sea level (after elimination of the tidal oscillations of short
period) formsa part. There are two parallels of iatitude respec-
tively north and south of the equator which are nodal lines, along
which thewater neither rises nor falls. When, in the northern
hemisphere, the water is highest to the north of the nodal line of
eyanescent tide, it is lowest to the south of it, and wice versd ;
and the like is true of the southern hemisphere. If the ocean
covered the whole earth, the nodal lines would be in latitudes
35 16’ N. and S. (at which latitudes }—sin? /a¢. vanishes) ; but
when the existence of land is taken into consideration, the nodal
latitudes are shifted. Now according to Sir William Thomson’s
amended equilibrium theory of the tides, the shifting of the
nodal latitudes depends on a certain definite integral, whose
limits are determined by the distribution of land on the earth’s
surface.
For the purpose of examining the tidal records, it was there-
fore first necessary to evaluate this integral. Approximation is
of course unavoidable, and for that end the irregular contours
of the continerts were replaced by meridians and parallels of
latitude, and the integral evaluated by quadrature. This pro-
cedure will give results quite accurate enouzh for practical
purposes. It appeared as the result of the quadrature that, if
we assume the existence of a large Antarctic continent, the lati-
tude of evanescent tide is 34° 40’, and if there is no such
continent it is 34°57’. Hence the displacement of the nodal
latitudes due to the existence of land is very small.
This point having been settled, the mathematical expressions
for the fortnightly and monthly tides are completely determinate,
according to the equilibrium theory, with no yielding of the
earth’s mass,
If there is yielding of the earth, either with perfect or imper-
fect elasticity, and with frictional resistance to the motion of the
water, the height of tide and the time of high water must depart
from the laws assigned by the equilibrium theory. This conclu-
sion may also be stated in another way, which is more conve-
nient for practical purposes; for we may say that at any station
there must actually be a tide with a height equal to some fraction
of the full equilibrium height, and with high water exactly at the
theoretical time, and a second tide, of exactly the same nature,
with a height equal to some other fraction of the equilibrium
height, but differing in the time of high water by a quarter-
period from the the retical time, viz. ahout three-and-a-half-
days for the fortnightly, and a week for the monthly tide. These
two tides may, according to geometrical a: alogy, be called per-
pendicular component tides. According to the theory of the
composition of harmonic motions, the two components may be
compounded into a single tide, with time of hivh water occurring
within a half-period of the theoretical time ; and this is the way
in which the results of elastic yielding and frictional resistance
were first stated above. ‘Thus the actual tide at any station
involves two unknown fractions, x and y, being the factors by
which two components, each of the full theoretical height, are
to be multiplied in order to give the two components in proper
amount to represent the reality.
If the equilibrium theory is fulfilled without sensible elastic
yielding of the earth, the first component has its full value, or
x is equal to one, and the second component vanishes, or y is
zero. If fluid friction exercises a sensible influence, y will have
a sensible value ; and if the solid earth yields tidally, x will be
less than unity. The amount of elastic yielding, and hence the
average modulus of elasticity of the whole earth may be com-
puted from the value of x. After rejecting the observations
made at certain stations for sufficient reasons, I obtained from
the Tidal Reports of the British Association and from the Indian
Tide Tables, the results of thirty-three years of observation,
made at fourteen different ports in England, France, and India.
These results, when properly reduced, gave thirty-three equa-
tions for the « and thirty-three for the y of the fortnightly tide,
and similarly thirty-three for the x and thirty-three for the y of
the monthly tide ; in all 132 equations for four unknowns.
The x and y of the two classes of tide were in the first instance
regarded as distinct, but the manner in which they arise shows
that it is legitimate to regard them as identical, and thus we
have sixty-six equations for x and sixty-six for .
The equations were then reduced by the methods of least
squares, with the following results :—-
For the fortnightly tide—
% =—6176) )056, 07, = 020055.
And for the monthly tide—
x = ‘680 + 258, y = ‘ogo + ‘218.
The numbers given with alternative signs are the probable
errors.
The very close agreement between the x and y for the two
tides is probably somewhat due to chance.
The smallness of the two ’s is satisfactory; for, as above
stated, if the equilibrium theory were true, they should vanish,
Moreover, the signs are in agreement with what they should be,
if friction is a sensible cawe of tidal retardation, But consi-
dering the magnitude of the probable errors, it is of course more
likely that the non-evanescence of the y’s is due to errors of
observation or to the method of reduction,
I haye already submitted to the British Association at this
meeting a paper on a misprint, discovered by Prof. Adams, in
the tidal report for 1872. This report forms the basis of the
method of harmonic analysis which has been employed in the
reduction of the tidal ohservations, and it appears that the
erroneous formula has been systematically used. The large
probable error in the value of the monthly tide may most
probably be reduced by a correct treatment of the original tidal
records,
It has been already remarked that it is legitimate to combine
all the observations together, for both sorts of tide, and thus to
obtain a single x and y from sixty-six years of observation.
Carrying out this idea, I find:
x ='676 + ‘076, y="029+'065.
These results really seem to present evidence of a tidal yield-
ing of the earth’s mass, and the value of the x is such as to show
that the effective rigidity of the whole earth is about equal to
that of steel.
But this result is open to some doubt for the following
reason : —
Taking only the Indian results (forty-eight years in all),
which are much more consistent than the English ones, I find
aw = -931 £'056, y = "155 + “068.
We thus see that the more consistent observations seem to
bring out the tides more nearly to their theoretical equilibrium
values with no elastic yielding of the solid.
Tt is to be observed however that the Indian results being
confined within a narrow range of latitude give (especially when
we consider the absence of minute accuracy in my evaluation of
the definite integral) a less searching test for the elastic yielding
than a combination of results from al! latitudes. : .
On the whole we may fairly conclude that, whilst there is
some evidence of a tidal yielding of the earth’s mass, that yielding
is certainly small, and that the effective rigidity is at least as
great as that of steel.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
The Yournal of Physiology, vol. iii. Nos. 5 and 6, August,
1882, with Supplement number. No. 11 contains :—Optical
illusions of motion, by H, P. Bowditch and G, S. Hall,—On
24
NATCUKE =
[Wov, 2, 1882 —
reflex movements of the frog under the influence of strychnia,
by G, L. Walton.—A contribution to our knowledge of the
action of certain drugs upon bodily temperature, by H. C. Wood
and E. T. Reichert.—Influence of Peptones and certain iu-
organic salts on the diastatic action of saliva, by R. H. Chittenden
and J. S. Ely.—On cerebral localisation, by S. Exner.—The
physiological action of methylkyanethine, by G. L. Walton. —
On the influence of variations of intra-cardize pressure upon the
inhibitory action of the vagus nerve, by H. Sewell and F.
Donaldson.—Preliminary observations on the innervation of the
heart of the tortoise, by W. H. Gaskell.—Concerniug the in-
fluence exerted by each of the constituents of the blood on the
contraction of the ventricle, by S. Ringer (plate xix.).—The
Supplement contains a li-t of works and papers on physiology
published in 1881.
The American Naturalist for October, 1882, contains :—
Sketch of the progress of North American Ichthyology in the
year 1880-81, |y W. N. Lockington.—On the methods of
microscopical research in the zoological station at Naples, by
C. O. Whitman.—On tle homologies of the crustacean ] mb,
hy A. S. Packard, jun.—On the idols and idol worship of the
Delaware Indians, by C. C. Abbott.
Journal de Physique, September.—Dynamo-electric machines
with continuous currents, by M. Potier.—Influence of a metal
on the nature of the surface of another metal placed at a very
small distance, by M. Pellat.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Mineralogical Society, October 24.—Anniversary Meeting.
W. H. Huddleston, F.G.S., president, in the chair.—Nine new
Members were elected.—The officers and Council were elected
for the ensuing year, the only changes being the election of
Messrs. T. D. Gibb, T. M. Hall, Jas. PAnson, and H. M.
Plattnault, on the Council in place of Dr. Aitken, Professors
Crum Brown and Hughes, and Mr. Louis, who retired in rota-
tion.—It was resolved to hold the meetings of the Society at
fixed dates for the ensuing year, viz, on December 13, 1882,
February 15, May 15, and October 23 (Anniversary), the
meeting for May to be held in Scotland.—The Report of the
Council was read and adopted.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, October 25.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—Herr Wiedemann presented the first volume of a new
work by him, ‘‘ Die Lehre von der Electricitaét.”—On the effect
of a stroke of an inclined cue on a billiard ball, by M. Résal.—
Separation of gallium (continued), by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran.
—Contribution to the study of typhoid fever in Paris ; the pre-
sent epidemic, from September 22 to October 19, 1882, by M.
de Pietra Santa. There have been 2225 deaths this year (up to
the latter date), more than during the whole of last year 2130),
(628 in the last four weeks). All the twenty arrondissements
have been affected, and all the eighty quarters, except the four
American and that of St. Fargeau in the west and Salpétriére
and Petit-Montrouge in the south. The seventh arrondissement
has suffered most. M. Santa notics the unwholesome state
of the houses. —On a bed of coal discovered in the province of
Algiers, and on layers of white sand accompanying it, by M.
Pinard. ‘This is near Bou Saada. The coal is at least equiva-
lent in illuminating power and yield of gas to the best French
and English coal, ‘The yield of coke varies between 62 and 66
percent. The sand, which might be used for the finest glass,
and is very abundant, is the product of disaggregation of im-
mense banks of grit.—Results of modes of treatment adopted in
1881-82, in the Alpes-Maritimes, for destruction of phylloxera,
by M. Laugier. More than 200 hectares have been treated with
sulphide of carbon and sulphocarbonate of potassium, and the
results are very satisfactory.—Observations of the great comet
(Cruls) at the Observatory of Marseilles, by M. Borrelly.—
Spectroscopic observations on the same comet, by MM. Thollon
and Gouy. On October 9, the sodium lines seen on September
11, had disappeared ; the four ordinary carbon bands were pre-
sent; the nucleus gave a narrow continuous spectrum with
many dark and bright lines. On the 16th the violet band
was almost gone, and the continuous spectrum considerably
weakened. The disappearance of the sodium lines and others
observed by M. Lohse shows that under ordinary conditions
the spectroscope cannot give us.a complete analysis of cometary
matter. If the temperature is sufficient to produce the emission
spectrum of carbon compounds, it should be sufficient to pro-
duce that of sodium ; but the facts are contrary. The authors
incline to the electric theory of comets; in the case of a gaseous
carburet traversed by the effluve from a Holtz machine, and
holding fine metallic dust in suspension, tke carbon bands
appear, but not the metallic lines.—Relations between the
residues of a function of an analytic point (x, y), which is re-
produced, multiplied by a constant, when the point (x, 7) describes
a cycle, by M. Appell.—On the hyper-geometric functions of two
variables, by M. Goursat.—Decomposition of a whole number —
N into its maximum zth powers, by M, Lemoine.—Lunar in-
ductien and its periods, by M. Quet.—On the automatic trans-
mission and registration of messages of optic telegraphy, by
M. de Brettes. A claim of priority.—On metallic thorium, by
M. Nilson. He has reduced thorium by heating with odium,
the anhydrous double chloride of thorium and potassium, and
adding to the mixture chloride of sodium; all in an iron
crucible. The specific gravity of the pure metal is about 11°00;
the substance, as prepared by Chydenius (density 7°657-7°795),
was probably impure. For atomic volume, M. Nilson gets the
value 21°1 (coinciding with the atomic volumes of zirconium
(21°7), cerium (21°1), lanthanum (22°6), and didymium (21°5)).
—Determination of the equivalent of thorium, by the same.
The equivalent is equal to 58°10, if that of oxygen =8 and that
of sulphur = 16.—On_benzylene orthotoluidine and methyl
phenanthridine, by M. Etard.—On the reduction of nitrates in
arable land, by MM, Deherain and Maquenne. _ An earth loses
the property of reducing nitrates when it has been heated or
submitted to chloroform vapours. Earth that has lost the pro-
perty through heat, reduces anew when a little normal earth is
added.—On the convulsing action of curare, by M. Conty.
Curare is not only a paralysing poison, but also in the first place,
slightly convulsing ; nor merely a peripheric poison, but also, in
certain measure, a poion of the nerve-centres.—On para-
sites of the blood in impaludism, by M. Laveran. He has
observed them in 300 cases.—Isanemones of summer in the
North Atlantic, by M. Brault. These curves of equal velocity
of wind coincide with the isobars.—On turriform constructions
of earth-worms in France, by M. Trouessart. He observed
them in gardens in Angiers, and found they were produced by
Lumbricus Agricola. Darwin knew only of this production by
a Perichaeta naturalised at Nice, from the east. M. Gautrelat,
in a note, affirmed that M. Le Bon’s glyceroborate of soda is not
a definite salt, but a mixture of monoborine (monoboric ether of
glycerine), sub-borate of soda, and glycerine.—A map, by M.
Durand Claye was presented, showing the increase of popula-
tion in the department of the Seine, and adjacent parts of the
department of Seine-et-Oise. The variations of growth are in-
dicated by means of curves called zsof/éthes.—Some documents
from M. de Lesseps, relating to construction of the hospital of
Panama, by the Canal Company, were presented.
CONTENTS Pick
Hyprauiic EXPERIMENTS . - . © 6 2 © © ©» © we ew ee we CO
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR :—
“« Weather Forecasts.’,—The BisHop of CARLISLE . « « + » «© 4
The Comet.—Major J. HERSCHEL ; Geo. M. SEABROKE ; ARTHUR
WATTS. 60 ae senics egl sile ste (os) te 0) ato ee
The Burman.—Suway Yor; Dr. E. IBS DyvEor il. RAS) ces
River ‘Thames—Abnormal High Tides —J. B. RepbmMaN . . .. 6
Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand.—W. T. THisELtron Dyer, C.M.G..
F.R.S.; Rev. Dr. G. W. PARKER : Seo so Oe
The Origin of our Vernal Flora.—J. E. Taytor .- ee
On Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians.—Surgeon-Major H. B.
GUPPY 6) i/o. so finns Rigi PD om met E
Railway Geology—a Hint.—J. C. G. . An See
Complementary Colours.—JosErH Jounn Murpny
Paleolithic River Gravels.—C. EVANS + « . 2 e+ + © sw
Lavoisier, PRIESTLEY, AND THE DiscoveRY OF OxyGEN. By G. F.
RopWELE ae Jie see ec re eee te iss a ea
A New DrepcinG ImpLEMENT. By A. Mitnes MARSHALL. . - + 12
Wire Guns. By James A. Loncripcs. C.E. (With Diagrams) . . 11
ew aN
Mr. Forses’ ZooLOGICAL EXPEDITION UP THE NIGER. « + + + . Id
Work IN THE INFRa-RED OF THE SPECTRUM. By Capt. W. DE Ww.
Apnry, R.E., F.R.S. (With Diagrams) eer ere hits
NOTES: ite) me edie ee enuted i tea karhs . I
Our AsTRONOMICAL COLUMN :—
Schmidt’s Cometary Object . . . © + + «© + « 20
Comet neba@- Ai; dc). ele eae oy eae ae ed 21
GeoGraPHIcaL Nores a te. eons! cio Sree vis aerials) aobse Fone aeeamne
NorTIcE OF SOMK DISCOVERIES RECENTLY MADE IN CARBONIFEROUS
VeRTEBRATE Patf#onTotocy. By T. Stock as: at ohio
A Numericat EsTiMaTE OF THE RicipiTy OF THE Eartu. By G.
HI. DARWIN: ESRsos) fs) bol jel) eee) Gaetan) fea enol) oli 22
ScrentiFic SERIALS . - - © + - = « = © © = Se in te Peete se
SociaTiEs AND ACADEMIES. . «+ + + + © +
SEARCH FOR “ ATILANTIS”
MICROSCOPE
HE revival of the idea of a former “ Atlantis” has
- given rise in recent years to much ingenious
argument. The presence of so many widely separated
islands or groups of islets along the depression filled by
the Atlantic Ocean has to some writers been in itself
sufficient proof of a submerged continent, the islands
aining still above water as the last visible relics of
e foundered land. The same conclusion has been
awn from the Atlantic soundings, which have undoubt-
‘edly shown the existence of a long ridge running down
the length of the Atlantic at an average depth of some
_2co0 fathoms from the surface. From this ridge rise the
oceanic islands of Tristan d’Acunha, Ascension, St. Paul,
the Azores, and Iceland. Other writers have invoked
the former presence of land over the Atlantic area, from
the difficulty of otherwise accounting for the resemblance
‘peck flora in North America and Europe during later
WITH THE
geological times. On the other hand, it has been forcibly
argued that in every case the peaks of the supposed sub-
merged land are of volcanic origin, that not a single
fragment of any truly continental rock has been detected
_on any of these islands, and therefore that no evidence
“can be adduced save of a submarine ridge on which
volcanic cones have gradually been built up above the
sea-level. Reasoning based on similar data furnished
_by the other great oceans, and also upon the evidence
‘supplied by the stratified rocks as to the permanence
of the continental areas, has led many thoughtful geolo-
_ gists to regard the ocean-basins as primeval depressions
of the globe’s surface, and consequently to reject the
tempting hypothesis of a lost Atlantis.
This vexed question was one on which it was hoped
that the Challenger Expedition might cast new light.
The careful surveys of the ocean-floor made by that Ex-
_pedition, and the attention it paid to the nature of the
emergent peaks were precisely the kinds of direct obser-
vation needed to supply facts in place of previous mere
speculation. We must patiently await the completed
Reports before the final answer of the Challenger observers
is given. But an interesting and important instalment of
evidence and argument has just been published in the
form of a “ Report on the Petrology of St. Paul’s Rocks,”
by M. Renard of Brussels, whose name is itself a
guarantee for the accuracy and exhaustiveness of the
‘memoir. Sent in to the Challenger authorities as far back
as October, 1879, it is now issued as Appendix B in
_ volume ii. of the Warrative of the Expedition.
No more typically oceanic an island anywhere rises out
of the deep than the lonely wave-washed rocks of St.
Paul. Lying nearly on the equator and between 500 and
600 miles to the east of the South American coast, these
rocks consist of four principal rugged horse-shoe-shaped
Masses not a quarter of a mile in their greatest length,
and mounting into five peaks, the highest of which does
not exceed 60 feet in height. Their bare rough summits
have a yellowish tint that deepens into black towards sea-
level. So utterly barren are they that not a plant of any
VoL. xxviL—No. 680
4a
ee OOOEEOEEOEOEOoOEOEeEeEEeEeEeEeEeEeE—EeEEE—e—EEeEeEee————————————————Ee——EEEE—E—EE——————EEEEE&£ES|T
i
25
kind—not even a lowly lichen—clings to their sterile
surface. Are these rocks the last enduring remnants of
a continent that has otherwise disappeared, or are they
portions of a volcanic mass like the other islands of the
same ocean?
To those who have not noted the modern progress of
geological inquiry it may seem incredible that any one
should propose to solve this problem with the microscope.
To seek for a supposed lost continent with the help of a
microscope may seem to be as sane a proceeding as to
attempt to revive an extinct Ichthyosaurus with a box of
lucifer matches. Yet in truth the answer to the question
whether the St. Paul’s rocks are portions of a once more
extensive land depends upon the ascertained origin of
the materials of these rocks, and this origin can only be
properly inferred from the detailed structure of the mate-
rials, as revealed by the microscope. The importance
of microscopic examination in geological research, so
urgently pressed upon the notice of geologists for some
years past, has sometimes been spoken of disparagingly
as if the conclusions to which it led were uncertain and
hardly worth the labour of arriving at them. We occa-
sionally hear taunts levelled at the “ waistcoat-pocket
geologists,” who carry home little chips of rock, slice
them, look at them with their microscopes, and straight-
way reveal to their admiring friends the true structure
and history of a whole mountain-range or region. That
the sarcasm is often well-deserved must be frankly con-
ceded. Some observers with the microscope have been
so captivated by their new toy as to persuade themselves
that with its aid they may dispense with the old-fashioned
methods of observation in the field. But there could not
be a more fatal mistake. The fundamental questions of
geological structure must be determined on the ground.
The microscope becomes an invaluable help in widening,
and correcting the insight so obtained; but its verdict is
sometimes as ambiguous as that of any oracle. In any
case it must remain the servant not the master of the
field-geologist.
Perhaps no more suggestive example could be cited of
the use of the microscopic study of rocks even in the
larger questions of geological speculation than that which
is presented by an examination of the material composing
the islets of St. Paul. These rocks were described many
years ago by Mr. Darwin as unlike anything he had ever
seen elsewhere, and which he could not characterise by
any name. He found veins, of what he believed to te
serpentine, running through the whole mass. The ob-
servers of the Challenger Expedition looked upon the
St. Paul’s Rocks as composed of serpentine. But these
remote islets have never until now been subjected to
modern methods of petrographical investigation. M.
Renard has studied them chemically and microscopically,
and finds them to be composed of a granular olivine-rock,
containing chromite, actinolite, and enstatite. A remark-
able structure is presented in the thin sections when seen
under the microscope. The large crystals or grains of
olivine and enstatite are arranged with their vertical axes
parallel to the lines of certain bands in which the minuter
constituents are grouped, the whole aspect of the section
suggesting at once a movement of the component par-
ticles in the direction of the bands. When the rock was
first sliced and examined by the naturalists of the
e
26
Challenger some years ago this minute structure was looked
upon as what is known to petrographers by the name of
“fluxion-structure,”” such as may be seen in obsidian and
other volcanic rocks, the ingredients of which have
arranged themselves in layers or planes according to the
direction in which the mass while still molten was moving.
The same view was at first adopted and published by M.
Renard. He now, however, expresses himself more
doubtfully on the subject, and indeed is rather inclined
to class the rock among the crystalline schists.
Now the importance of the point in question will be at
once perceived when it is stated that if St. Paul’s Rocks
belong to the series of schists, they must once have lain
deeply buried beneath overlying masses, by the removal
of which they have been revealed. They would thus go
far to prove the former existence of much higher and
more extensive land in that region of the Atlantic; land
too, not formed of mere volcanic protrusions, but built up
of solid rock-masses, such as compose the framework of
the continents. If, on the other hand, the rock is vol-
canic, then the islets of St. Paul belong to the same order
as the oceanic islands all over the globe.
M. Renard reviews the arguments so cautiously that
only towards the end do we discover him rather inclining
to the side of the crystalline schists. With all deference
to so competent an authority, however, we venture to
maintain that the balance of proof is decidedly in favour
of the volcanic origin of the rock. In the first place, as
the distinguished Belgian petrographer himself admits,
the law of analogy would lead us to expect the peridotite
of St. Paul to be a volcanic protrusion. So cogent,
indeed, is the argument on this head that. unless some
irrefragable evidence against it is furnished by the rock
itself, it must be allowed to decide the question. When
the rock is studied under the microscope it presents
precisely the banded fluxion-structure of true lavas,
thus corroborating the inference of a volcanic origin for
the mass. To say that this structure also resembles the
“foliation of true schists is to repeat what may be remarked
of hundreds of examples of undoubtedly eruptive rocks.
Unless some peculiarity can be shown to exist in the St.
Paul’s rock inconsistent with the idea of its being a
volcanic extravasation, we are surely bound to regard it
as no exception to the general rule that all oceanic
islands are fundamentally of volcanic origin. M. Renard,
however, fails to adduce any such peculiarity. He
appears to have been led to doubt the validity of his first
conclusions, and, be it also remarked, those of other
observers, by finding so many published instances of
peridotic rocks among the crystalline schists. A bed of
peridotite among a group of schists, however, need not
be of contemporaneous origin, any more than an intrusive
sheet of basalt can be supposed to have been deposited
at the same time and by the same processes that produced
its associated sandstones and shales. Synchronism is
not necessarily to be inferred from juxtaposition. We do
not mean to dispute the assertion that some peridotites
belong to the series of crystalline schists. But others are
most assuredly eruptive rocks. It is among these that
we should naturally seek for analogies with the rock of
St. Paul.
To sum up the reasoning we may infer that, judging
from the structure of other oceanic islands, the ma-
“NATURE
[Mov. 9, 1882
terial comprising the rock of St. Paul should be of —
volcanic origin; this inference is confirmed by chemical
and microscopical analysis, and especially by the dis-
covery of a minute structure in the rock identical with
that of many lavas, though a similar structure can be
recognised in some schists ; the islets of St. Paul furnish
therefore no evidence of an ancient land having formerly ~
existed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, on the con-
trary they have probably been built up on the submarine
Atlantic ridge by long continued volcanic eruption like
the other islands of the same. Ocean. ;
The exhaustive methods of research employed by M.
Renard in the study of the rock of St. Paul furnish an
excellent illustration of the great strides made in recent
years by petrography. The other rocks collected by the
Challenger Expedition are to be treated in the same
manner, but it is understood that instead of being thrown
into separate Reports the petrographical details will be
interspersed through the ‘‘ Narrative’ at the places
where the localities are described. These contributions
will form not the least important parts of this great work,
the advent of which has been so long and so patiently
waited for. ARCH. GEIKIE
THE LIFE OF CLERK MAXWELL
The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, with a Selection from
his Correspondence and Occasional Writings, and a
Sketch of his Contributions to Science. By Lewis
Campbell, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Greek in the
University of St. Andrews, and William Garnett, M.A.,
Late Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, Professor
of Natural Philosophy in University College, Notting-
ham.
Te volume will be heartily welcomed by all who
knew Clerk Maxwell, and who cherish his memory,
and by the still wider circle of those who derive pleasure
and new vigour from the study of the lives and work of
the great men that have gone before them.
The work consists of three parts, a biography with
selections from Maxwell’s correspondence, a popular
account of his scientific work, and a selection from his
poetry, both juvenile and of later years, including the
serio-comic verses on scientific subjects, some of which
are already so well known.
The biography is mainly the work of Prof. Lewis
Campbell, whose schoolboy friendship and life-long inti-
macy with Maxwell amply qualified him for the task.
As far as vicissitudes of fortune are concerned, the life
of Clerk Maxwell was absolutely uneventful. Worldly
struggles he had none ; from the very first he was warmly,
if not always quite fully, appreciated by all whose good
opinion he could have valued; promotion such as he
cared for came almost unsought, and scientific distinction
of the honorary kind was conferred upon him unstintedly
while he lived to enjoy it. But in truth all these things
moved his serene spirit as little as they disturbed his
outward life; the interest of his biography lies in tracing
the growth of a mind which was dedicated, literally from
infancy, to the pursuit of science, and which nevertheless
neglected nothing becoming a man to know. For unity
of aim and singleness of heart, for high-minded neglect
of the worldly strife that is begotten of vanity, ambition,
— Wov. 9, 1882]
\
‘or love of gain, for the steadfast pursuing of a path
remote from the ways of ordinary men, the life of
Maxwell stands in our mind associated with the lives of
Gauss and Faraday. Nevertheless, without seeking to
- compare him with either of these great men in respect of
intensity of genius, we may safely assert that he was
superior to both in universality and many-sidedness. The
mere objective circumstances of the career of such a man
count for little, and the biographer tells his tale so far as
these are concerned, with an artless grace that befits the
subject. It is needless to dwell upon them here, for our
readers have already been furnished with a summary of
the outward events of Maxwell’s life (NATURE, vol. xxi.
p- 317). The interest and freshness of Prof. Campbell’s
story lie in the light it throws on the subjective influences
that moulded the character of the gentle physicist, a cha-
racter which was the most extraordinary combination,
that this generation has seen, of practical wisdom, child-
like faith, goodness of heart, metaphysical subtlety, and
discursive oddity, with wonderful critical sagacity and
penetrating scientific genius.
Intellectual power, and to some extent also eccentricity,
appear to have been hereditary with Maxwell, as will be
_ seen from the racy notes at the end of the first chapter
| on the Clerks of Penicuik and the Maxwells of Middlebie.
After the early loss of his mother, he became the constant
companion and confidant of his father, who initiated him
into all his economic mysteries, interested him in applied
sciences of every kind, encouraged his boyish essays in
physical experimenting, and anxiously patronised his
earliest memoir, on Cartesian Ovals and kindred curves,
read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh by Forbes when
its author was a boy of fourteen. This sympathy between
father and son continued unbroken to the end, and
| had undoubtedly the happiest effect on Maxwell’s
| destiny.
| The chapters on the student life at Edinburgh and
Cambridge are deeply interesting, and we earnestly com-
‘mend them to the young men of our time who wish not
' to seem, but to be indeed, men of science.
_ With his appointment to the chair in the Marischal
College, Aberdeen, begins his career as a recognised
authority in scientific matters. Henceforth the biography
is mainly an account of Maxwell’s contributions to the
advancement of physical science; the purely personal
interest revives in the sad chapter that recounts his last
illness and death.
' Glimpses into his mental history during the later period
| of his life are afforded us by means of extracts from his
intimate correspondence, and from essays, some read at
Cambridge to a select circle of friends, others, not in-
tended for publication even to that limited extent, but
merely written as records of the author’s communion
with his own soul. We thus learn how the great physi-
| cist dealt with the grand problem of man’s relation to
that which went before, and that which shall be here-
after. It cannot but be profoundly interesting to read
what was thought on such a subject by one of the
greatest scientific minds of our day. We are left in no
doubt as to the solution in which Maxwell ultimately
|reposed, and it is instructive to note how in this re-
| spect, as in so many others, he was akin to Faraday.
| Some will doubtless think that needless emphasis is
NATURE
27
laid upon the exact form of the final solution, and upon
the precise methods by which it was reached. It must
be remembered that the difficulties of the man of action
and of the scientific man or professed thinker, are widely
different. The former rests naturally in the arms of pre-
cept and dogma; he is distracted merely by the choice
of preceptor and authority. The thinker by profession
must examine for himself ; it is a necessity of his nature
so to do; and his difficulties arise from having to deal
with matters in which the best of his scientific methods
fail. Thus it happens that the example of a scientific
mind is little likely to profit the unscientific ; and that
one scientific mind is scarcely in such matters to be led
by the experience of another. The solutions of the great
problem by different minds of the highest order have, as
we know, differed, in outward appearance at least, very
widely. But is it well to dwell on these differences? seeing
that no man of finite intellect can tell how little or how
great after all the distances may be that separate the
resting places in the infinite of good men and true.
With regard to the selections from the correspondence
it might have been better perhaps, in the interest of
science, to have given more of the scientific correspond-
ence. It must be known to many of our readers from
pleasant experience that Maxwell was indefatigable in
writing and answering letters on scientific subjects. His
letters rarely failed to contain some sagacious criticism,
some ingenious thought, or some valuable suggestion.
Most possessors of such letters would we imagine be glad
to put them at the disposal of a competent editor for
publication, or at all events to take some steps to prevent
the ultimate loss of matter so full of interest for all scien-
tificmen. Those that have read the volumes containing
the correspondence of Gauss with Bessel and Schumacher
will understand how instructive such collections can be.
Not the least interesting parts of the biography are the
chapters containing extracts from the occasional essays
already referred to. Maxwell when a student at Edin-
burgh had attended the lectures of Hamilton, and had
been greatly impressed by that distinguished philosopher
and accomplished enemy of the exact sciences. Accord-
ingly, we find that among the studies of his earlier years
mental and moral science had no small share. He
resolves, for instance, at one period to read Kant and to
make him agree with Hamilton, and, at the same time, he
criticises in a somewhat unflattering strain the flaccid
morality embodied in the lectures of Christopher North.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the subjects of these
occasional essays are mainly metaphysical or psychologi-
cal, They are mostly very discursive, and their graver
meaning is often veiled in a cloud of that humorous irony
which figured so much in his familiar conversation. The
general tendency is, however, sufficiently plain: in the
essay on Psychophysik, for example, he thus delivers his
opinion on the theory of “ Plastidule Souls,” which played
sO prominent a part lately in the classic duel between
Virchow and Haeckel, and in sundry ultra-physical dis-
cussions nearer home :—
“To attribute life, sensation, and thought to objects in
which these attributes are not established by sufficient
evidence, is nothing more than the good old figure of
personification.”
At the end of the same essay he thus sums up the
28
NATURE
answers that have been given to the great ontological
problem “ What am 1?” :—
“Tn this search for information about myself from
eminent thinkers of different types, I seem to have learnt
one lesson, that all science and philosophy, and every
form of human speech, is about objects capable of being
perceived by the speaker and the hearer; and that when
our thought pretends to deal with the Subject, it is really
only dealing with an Object under a false name. The
only proposition about the subject, namely, ‘I am,’ can-
not be used in the same sense by any two of us, and,
therefore, it can never become science at all.”
Prof. Campbell has succeeded in presenting to us a
most vivid picture of Maxwell’s character. The view
which he gives will be fresh, and partly strange, to many
even of those who knew Maxwell well. It is no reproach
to him to say that, in our opinion, he has by no means
exhausted the different aspects of his subject. So many-
sided was Maxwell’s character, that it would have re-
quired the united efforts of several biographers to do it
the fullest justice.
In the second part of the book will be found a good
account by Mr. Garnett, of Maxwell’s scientific work. Of
this nothing further need be said, for an excellent sum-
mary has already been given in the pages of NATURE by
Prof. Tait (vol. xxi. p. 317).
It may be questioned whether the literary merit of
many of the pieces of occasional poetry in the third part
will be sufficient to secure for them the interest of the
general reader ; but many will greet with pleasure the
reappearance of old friends among the serio-comic verses.
We are glad to find among them our favourite, “To the
Committee of the Cayley Portrait Fund” ; finer compli-
ment to a mathematician surely never was penned.
Among those hitherto unpublished may be mentioned the
Paradoxical Ode to Hermann Stoffkraft, beginning as
follows :—
My soul’s an amphicheiral knot,
Upon a liquid vortex wrought
By Intellect, in the Unseen residing.
And thine doth like a convict sit,
With marlinspike untwisting it,
Only to find its kmottiness abiding ;
>?
Since all the tools for its untying
In four-dimensioned space are lying,
Wherein thy fancy intersperses
Long avenues of universes,
While Klein and Clifford fill the void
With one finite, unbounded homaloid,!
And think the Infinite is now at last destroyed.
We ought to mention in conclusion that the book is
beautifully illustrated; there are vignettes of Maxwell
and of his father and mother ; some quaint and suggestive
illustrations of scenes from his early life, after originals
by Mrs. Blackburn; and a variety of diagrams, several of
them beautifully coloured, reproduced from originals—by
Maxwell’s own hand—in illustration of his researches on
light and colour. GoG.
OUR BOOK SHELF
Description Physique dela République Argentine d apres
des Observations Personelles et Etrangéres. Par le
Dr. Ii. Burmeister. (Buenos Ayres, 1876-82.)
SOME account of the progress of this extensive work, in
which the veteran naturalist, Dr. H. Burmeister, formerly
* Here the author takes a poetic licence.
of Halle, proposes to give a complete physical history of
his adopted country, may not be unacceptable. Of the
octavo text, which is accompanied by folio atlases, in
order to give the illustrations on a large scale, we have
seen four volumes, numbered 1, 2, 3, and 5. The fourth
volume, which we suppose will contain the birds, is not
yet issued, and the atlases in some cases do not appear
to be complete.
The first volume (issued in 1876) is devoted to the
history of the discovery and general geographical features —
of the Argentine Republic ; and the second, published in
the same year, to its climate and geological conformation. —
The third volume, of which the text was issued in 1879,
has been already noticed in our columns (NATURE, vol.
xxiv. p. 209). It contains an account of the Mammal-
fauna both recent and extinct. We have now just re-
ceived the first /¢vvazson of the folio atlas to this volume,
containing a series of plates illustrating the whales of the
Argentine coasts, a subject to which Dr. Burmeister has
devoted special attention for many years. Of the fifth
volume, devoted to the Lepidoptera of Buenos Ayres, we
have already likewise spoken (see NATURE, vol. xx. p.
358).
It remains, therefore, for us only to wish the venerable
author, who, for fifty years at least, has been a most
energetic worker in many branches of zoology, health and
strength to bring this important work to a conclusion.
Nomenclator Zoologicus. An Alphabetical list of all
Generic names that have been employed by Naturalists
for Recent and Fossil Animals, from the earliest Times
to the close of the Year 1879. Intwo parts. I. Supple-
mental List. By Samuel H. Scudder. (Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1882.)
EverRY working naturalist must be acquainted with
Agassiz’s “ Nomenclator Zoologicus,’’ published at
Solothurn in 1846, which is, in fact, a dictionary of
generic terms used in zoology. Without its valuable aid
it is almost a fruitless task to endeavour to ascertain
where or by what author any particular generic term has
been instituted, or whether a generic term has been
already used in zoology or not. Agassiz’s work, in the
preparation of which he was assisted by some of the best
zoologists of the day, though by no means perfect in its
manner of execution or free from occasional errors,
answers very well for all practical purposes for genera
established prior to the date of its preparation, and
affords an excellent basis to work upon. It contains up-
wards of 32,000 entries of names of generic terms and of
names of higher groups. In 1873 Graf A.v. Marschall, of
Vienna, prepared and issued for the Imperial and Royal
Zoological and Botanical Society of Austria, a supple-
mentary volume, on something of the same plan. But to
Marschall’s “ Nomenclator” no general index was attached,
and, as those who have used the volume know full well,
it is neither so accurate nor so complete as the work
which it purports to supplement.
A new “ Nomenclator Zoologicus,” carrying the sub-
ject up to the present day, and correcting the errors and
omissions of its two predecessors, has therefore long been
a work of paramount importance to working naturalists.
The question was who would undertake the ungrateful
task, which was likely to confer neither fame nor fortune
on the performer, and would be, above all others, long
and laborious. Mr. Samuel H. Scudder of Boston, a
well-known American entomologist, in response to ap-
; peals from his friends, has consented to devote his
energies to the subject, and the first portion of his work
| is now before us.
The present part of the new Nomenclator is of a sup-
plemental character, as is explained by Mr. Scudder in
his preface, and contains “ 15,369 entries of genera esta-
blished previous to 1880, not recorded, or erroneously
given in the nomenclators of Agassiz and Marschall.’
- [Nov. 9, 1882 :
;
?
Nov. 9, 1882 |
The second part, which will be of still greater conse-
quence to naturalists will be a universal index to the first
part and to the previous nomenclators and will contain
altogether about 80,000 references. We shall thus shortly
have, it is to be hoped, a most useful general work upon
this important though technical subject brought up nearly
to the present date.
SS
\ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts,
_ Wo notice ts taken of anonymous communications,
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
“Weather Forecasts”
Hap the Bishop of Carlisle, in his letter in NATURE (vol.
xxvii. p. 4), instead of extracting from the Z%mes a description
of some results of the storm of October 24 last, quoted the
statements as to the passage of this storm, issued in the reports
of the Meteorological Office on October 24 and 25, his query
concerning the failure of the weather forecasts would scarcely
have needed reply.
A system of six pickets is established on our extreme western
coasts, along a line which may be roughly regarded as describing
the third of a circle, from Stornoway in the north-west, to Brest
in the south-west. The enemy whose movements these outposts
are to watch, pours in upon us a series of attacks in the form of
cyclonic disturbances, by which the weather experienced in our
islands is affected on 63 per cent. of our days. These circula-
tions vary indefinitely in intensity. This element, and also their
size, figure, direction, and velocity of propagation, are in great
measure dependent on the distributions of atmospheric pressures
ind temperatures over a larger area than that occupied by our
etwork of telegraphic stations. It will be enough to mention
ere that the velocity of advance of the cyclonic centres, as also
pf the front ares of those exterior isobars which form closed
turves, varies from zero to about 70 English miles per hour. In
\tormy periods like the present, the number and variability of
he cyclonic circulations which attack us is extremely great, more
han one per diem passing over some part of the British Isles.
ler let it be remembered that our pickets sleep through the
ight, or that however wakeful they may be, they have, during
lhe night hours, no means of communication with their com-
anding officers, Flow often a phalanx of the enemy will pass
hese outposts so as to occupy a position fairly within our area
im a.m., no instrumental indications having been given at 6
.m. of the previous day—this, if treated as a question of pro-
bilities, may be left to the Bishop of Carlisle. It is certainly
vious that such an advance, instead of being ‘‘very strange,”
wst at times occur, if there be no miraculous interference in
ehalf of the Meteorological Office. At 8 a.m. on October 24,
centre of the disturbance referred to lay over Dorset, and was
pen moving to north-east at the rate of thirty-five miles per
ur. Supposing the direction and velocity to have been uniform,
ie position occupied by the centre at 6 p.m. on the 23rd would
ve been about 180 miles north of Cape Finisterre, and, sup-
sing the extent of the storm to have been also uniform, our out-
sts at that hour could have received no instrumental indication
the storm’s progress, of a character distinct enough to justify
e Meteorological Office in the issue of warnings. As a matter
fact the 6 p.m. observations telegraphed to the Office on the
rd did show, as I think, no indications whatever of the
cistence of the storm.
|It is obvicus that the extreme velocity of the propagation of
me of our severest storms is the element that especially renders
Possible *‘that a storm of the first magnitude” may ‘‘come
on us unawares.” Asa matter of fact, the velocity of propa-
tion on October 24 was considerably above the average. But
we refer to the charts for March 12 and 13, 1876, we find, at
-m. on the former morning, a cyclone-centre occupying the
cise position of that of the 24th ult., and that this disturbance
feo to east-north-eact with a mean velocity of 62°5 miles
r hour.
\
There is a further risk, against which our system of telegraphy
mot protect us, viz., that of a storm centre being primarily
NATURE | 29
developed within our area of observation during the hours when
there is no telegraphic communication, and storms in their first stage
of development are often the most dangerously rapid and intense.
The telegraphic observations transmitted at 6 p.m. on October
23 and at 8 a.m. on October 24, afford no materials for deciding
whether this may not have been the case in the instance under
consideration, although this question can be decided from data
since received. On the whole, to the minds of many students of
the subject it will appear rather ‘‘ strange” that the Office, zwzt/
the materials at its disposal, does not more often fail to furnish
satisfactory warnings of the more serious of our gales. It is easy
to say, in view of occasional failures, ‘‘ the system itself must be
at fault :” itis stilleasier toreply, ‘‘better it!” If the country
cares enough for the welfare of ‘‘ fishermen and others” to do
so, let it provide the necessary funds for a system of night tele-
grams, and if possible for a series of oceanic stations. If it does
not, it must be content with things as they are.
IT have been careful to speak of instrumental observations only.
It is already well known that observations of the movements of
the higher clouds commonly give indications of the position and
advance of distant cyclonic systems. But it has hitherto been
found impossible to train our observers in the difficult art of
taking these observations. To the accomplishment of this task,
which would greatly add to the utility of our weather-forecasts,
some of us are now devoting ourselves with every prospect of
success. W. CLEMENT LrEy
Ashby Parva, Lutterworth, November 3
P.S.—Since the above was sent to press a storm-centre has
crossed Scotland witha velocity of about 45 miles per hour.
Indications of its pregress were however afforded by cloud obser-
vations at a distance of more than 800 miles in advance of the
centre, the velocity of propagation being supposed uniform.—
W. C. L.
The Comet
Your engraver has missed what I thought the most im-
portant feature in the drawings which I made of the comet on
the 21st inst., viz. the shadow beyond the end of the tail, of the
length of 3 or 4 degrees, very obviously darker than the sur-
rounding space, in which it was lost, without demarcation,
This was expressed in my sketch by a shade of lampblack, very
slight, to avoid exaggeration, and perhaps just sufficient to escape
the engraver’s notice. The comet, as seen this morning, is
diminished much in size, and still more in brightness, and the
present moonlight much impairs its beauty and distinctness.
C. J. B. WILLIAMS
Villa du Rocher, Cannes, France, October 30
NoricinG Major J. Herschel’s remark in NATURE, vol. xxvii.
p- 5, as to the difficulty he experienced in London of observing
the comet, apparently owing to the moonlight, I may state that
on the morning of the same Surday to which he refers, I saw
the comet very plainly when at Rothsay, Isle of Bute, Scotland.
The time was between 5 and 6 a.m., and therefore before sun-
rise. The moon was brilliant, and the whole sky wonderfully
clear, and but few stars noticeable, on account of the moonlight,
nevertheless, the comet showed well, extending about 20° across
the sky due south, magnetic ; the nucleus was well defined, and
about as bright as the stars then visible. The tail was straight,
spreading outwards to the extremity. No glass was used in the
observation recorded. W. J. MILLER
Glasgow, November 3
Ir might be interesting to some of the readers of your paper
to know that this morning, at 5 a.m., Mr. Manning, the agent
here for Messrs. F. and A. Swanzy, merchants, and myself, saw
a very fine comet bearing south-east, and the tail of which was
as long as my first finger, from tip to last joint; its head,
bearing a little to the east, was pointing into the sea, and was
about the height from the sea of my four fingers held at arm’s
length ; it was very brilliant, and we seem to have seen it to
great advantage. Unfortunately we had only a field glass to
view it through, end being also without instruments, were unable
to take its proper <Ititade or bearings. We were standing on
the verandah of the house at the time, which is on the beach,
and about forty feet above the level of the sea.
We should be glad to know if the comet has been seen further
39
NATURE
ee
[Vov. 9, 1882
north by anyone else.
E. longitude.
Quitta is situated 5° N. latitude, and 1°
WALTER HIGGINSON
B. MANNING
Quitta, West Coast Africa, September 25
Two Kinds of Stamens with Different Functions in the
same Flower
Ir may be worth mentioning that cases strongly analogous to
those described in NATURE (vol. xxiv. p. 307, and vol. xxvi.
p- 386, are also to be observed among the Monocotyledons in
the family ef Commelynacez, ani that these cases offer some
graduations.
In Zyradescantia virginica, L., the flowers, as is generally
known, are turned upwards and quite regular, the leafy organs
of each whorl (3 sepals, 3 petals, 3 outer, 3 inner stamens, 3 united
carpels) being alike and equal in size, As Delpino has clearly
shown (U/teriori osservazioni, parte il. fascic. 2, p. 297) these
flowers are adapted to Apidz, which in order to collect pollen
take hold of the articulated hairs of the filaments, In some
other species here to be considered the adaptation to pollen-
collecting bees has remained, but the flowers have turned late-
rally, and thus not only has their form become irregular (bi-laterally
symmetrical or zygomorphous), but also the function of the
stamens has gradually changed.
In ZYinnantia undata, Schlecht. (Fig. 1), sepals and petals
are still almost unaltered in form and size, only stamens and
pistil have become markedly irregular. The broad roundi-h
petals, which are light purple, spread in a perpendicular plane.
The 3 upper stamens, with shorter filaments projectiig from
Fic. 1.
Fic. 2.
Fic. 1.—Front view of the flower of Timnantia undata, Schlecht. Fic. 2.—
Front view of the androeceum and gynecium of Commelyna celestis,
Willd. s,s, s’, sepals; ~, Z, 2 petals; a, a, a’, outer whorl of anthers;
a, a, a’, inner whorl of anthers, or ovary ; g7, style (“‘Gr-fiel’’); s¢,
stigma.
the middle of the flower, are highly conspicuous by a diverging
tuft of bright yellow articulated hairs, which on the last third of
the light-purple filaments surround the golden yellow anthers
like a cone of golden rays. At the tips of these filaments golden
yellow pollen-grains are presented by the whole front side of
the three upper anthers.
The three lower stamens are much longer, directed obliquely
downwards and forwards, with only their tips bending upwards,
a little overtopped by the pistil, which has the same direction
and incurvation. These parts, like the same parts in the de-
scribed Melastomacez, will hardly be perceived by anadvancing in-
sect, ‘‘ owing to their projection against the broad-petalled corolla
of the same colour in the background,” fornot only the style and the
filaments, but also the hairs on the base on the two Jateral lower
filaments are of the same purple colour as the petals, and even
the bluish lower anthers with their yellowish pollen are but
feebly conspicuous. Any one of the Apidz or Syrphidz of
suitable size, however, when making for the upper yellow
stamens in order to collect their pollen (I have only once ob-
served the honey-bee doing so), will involuntarily repose on the
projecting part-, and at first bring the stigma and then the two
lateral of the lower anthers into contact with the under-side of
its abdomen, and thus regularly effect cross fertilisation.
Here, then, as in Heeria, &c., the anthers have differentiated
into upper ones, which attract insects and afford food to them,
and lower ones which attach their pollen to the visitors, and
cause it to be transported by them to the stigma of the next
visited flowers. Also differentiation in the pollen of the two
kinds of anthers in our Tinnantia has begun to take place, but
contrary to Melastoma, the pollen-grains of the short stamens
here are smaller than those of the longer ones. I measured
numerous pollen-grains of two individuals in a moistened state
(where they are of elliptical form), and found in the one stem
the pollen- grains of the short stamens (in I-1000 m.m.) 62-75
long, 31-38 broad, those of the longer ones 68-94 long, 38-44
broad ; in the other stem, those of the short stamens 53-69
long, 28-37 broad ; those of the longer ones 59-78 long, 31-40
broad. Both kinds of pollen proved to be quite fertile.
Commelyna coelestis, Willd. (Fig. 2) possesses in general the
same contrivances for cross-fertilisation, but has gone a step
further in differentiation. Its upper sepal is plainly smaller, its
lower petal plainly larger than the two other ones; its upper
anthers (a, a’ a) have differentiated -in themselves ; two small
lateral portions of each of them (go) produce a little pollen and
four cross-like diverging flaps (j7), which are much larger,
actract insects by their bright yellow colour strikingly contrasting
with the azure corolla, and perhaps at the same time serve as
food to the visitors. The articulated hairs of the filaments thus
having lost not only their original function (which they have in
all stamens of Tradescantia) as supports for the feet of pollen-
collecting bees, but also their secondary function (which they
have in the upper stamens of Tinnantia) of attracting insects, have
disappeared altogether. The middlemost of the lower anthers,
which in Tinnantia is nearly useless from its position behind the
style here, has erected and become much larger than the two
lateral ones, so as to be eminently useful.
The pollen-production of the upper anthers appears to be
vanishing, not only from the diminution of the quantity of pro-
duced pollen, but also from the great variability of the size of
the pollen grains. For whilst the pollen grains of the two lateral
lower anthers only differ in length from 75 to 90, in breadth
from 45 to 68, and those of the middlemost lower anther in
length from 56 to 82, in breadth from 37 to 56, those of the
three upper anthers fluctuate from 50 to 87 length, and from
31 to 56 breadth.
In Cummelyna communis, differentiation has gone still further ;
the upper sepal and the lower petal are relatively very small ;
the upper filaments, like the upper petals, are blue-coloured ;
the lower filaments, like the pistil and the lower petal, are
colourless. The upper anthers, as far as I have seen (without
microscope) produce no nore pollen
The examinati »n of other species aad genera of Commelynacezx
probably would show a longer scale of gradations.
Lippstadt, October 25 HERMANN MULLER
A Curious Halo
THERE appeared in NATURE, vol. xxvi. pp. 268, 293, two
articles headed ‘‘ A Curious Halo,” which reminded me of an
analogous and still more curious phenomenon occurring some-
times here in China, during the hot season. I beg to hand you
a few lines on that subject, from the Monthly Bulletin of
the Zi-ka-wei Observatory for August, 1877 :—
“*A phenomenon to which I wish to call the attention of
meteorologists was observed many times duriog that month
(August), as also in July. It does not seem to take place in
Europe, and I am inclined to think that it cannot occur except
with an atmosphere over-charged with aqueous vapour, as it
is the case with us in July and August. In the evening, just
after sunset, or in the morning even long before sunrise, no
matter what the direction of the wind and the barometric
pressure may be, provided the day or night were very warm,
éands of a tint varying from the faintest 1o the deepest d/ue are
seen to appear upon the whitish or roseate vault of heaven.
They usually are first seen in the east at evening and in the west
at morning time, seemingly radiating from a common centre
diametiically opposite the sun’s position. At other times they
emerge from the very position of the sun, or from both points at
_once, the interval being either free from bands or compleiely
encircled by them.
“Last year (1876), on the morning of September 4, I en-
joyed a most interesting sight. It was about 5 a.m., the moon,
then on her nineteenth day, was above the western horizon, and
ju-t being partially eclipsed ; now from ber bright disc, as from
a radiating ceutre, shot out a number of those bands or blue
beams; they traversed the whole expanse of the sky, and
seemed to converge towards a point whose situation in the east
Vou. 9, 1882]
NATORE 31
below the horizon corresponded with that of the moon in the
west above the horizon,
““These bands or shoots are more or less numerous, bright,
and persistent ; some have been observed in the evening, forty-
five minutes after sunset, and in September, 1876, I saw them
appear with the first break of day. They are evidently movable
in the sky, and there is no doubt that they are due to cunuli
floating about the horizon, below or above, through which the
light of the sun is sifted and split ; they are, in fact, nothing
else than the shadows of the clouds in the faint white or rosy
tint of the twilight. According as the clouds before the sun are
more or less compact or loose, the bands may be blue, white, or
red. More than once also have I seen the sky half white and
half blue, the separa'ion of the two colours being plainly per-
ceivable, and Venus shining brilliantly in the blue sky close to
that limit, whilst it would probably have been almost invisible
through the milky sky hard by.”
Any one who gazes for the first time at this beautiful pheno-
menon cannot help wondering and acknowledging it to ve
greatly different from anything to be seen elsewhere. The cele-
brated Jesuit, Father Bouvet, an old missionary to China, wit-
nessed the phenomenon when on his way from China to Europe
as envoy of the great Emperor Kang-hi, in the year 1693; the
relation of the voyage (du Halde, vol. i., 1755) gives the fol-
lowing account of his observations :—
*€25 Juillet, 1693.—Ce jour-]a, environ un quart d’heure avant
le lever du soleil, je vis dans le ciel un phénoméne que je n’ai
jamais vu et dont je n’ai point oui parler en France, quoiqwil
soit fort ordinaire en O,ient, surtout 4 Siam et a la Chine ; car
je l’ai observe distinctement plus de vingt fois, tantét le matin,
tantot le soir, dans chacun de ces deux Royaumes, sur mer et
sur terre, et méme a Peking.
“Ce phenoméne n’est autre chose que certains demi-cercles
dombre et de lumiére que paraixsent se terminer et s’unir dans
deux points opposés du Ciel, savoir d’un c6%é dans le centre du
Soleil, et de l’autre dans le point qui est diamétralement opposé
a celui-la. Comme ces demi-cercles sont tous terminés en
pointe, tant en Orient qu’en Occident, c’est-a-dire vers les points
opposes de leur reunion et qu’ils vont en s’élargissant uniformé-
ment vers le milieu du Ciel a mesure quils s’éloignent de
Yhorizon, ils ne ressemblent pas mal pour leur figure aux
Maisons Célestes, de 1a maniére dont on les trace sur les Globes,
a cela prés seulement que ces Zones d’ombre et de lumiere sont
ordinairement fort inégales pour la largeur et qu’il arrive souvent
quwil y ade Vinterruption entr’elles, surtout lorsque le phéno-
mene n’est pas bien formé.
‘Toutes les fois que je l’ai observé, et je l’ai vu quatre fois
différentes dans ce voyage en moins de quinze jours, j’ai toujours
remarqueé que le temps était extrémement chaud, le ciel chargé
de vapeurs, avec une disposition au tonnerre et qu’un gros nuage
€pais entr’ouvert était vis-a-vis du Soleil. Ce phenoméne semble
pour la figure fort différent de ces longues traces d’ombre et de
lumiére qu'on voit souvent le soir et le matin dans le ciel aussi
bien en Europe qu’ailleurs et auxquelles leur figure pyramidale a
fait donner le nom de verge’. Si l’on demande pour quelle
raison ce phénoméne parait plutét en Asie qu’en Europe et en
été que dans les autres saisons, il me semble qu’on pourrait en
attribuer la cause a la nature des terres de l’Asie, qui étant pour
Ja plupart beaucoup plus chargées de mitre que celles d’Europe,
remplissent l’atmosphére, surtout en été, et lorsque le soleil a
plus de force pour les élever, d’exhalaisons nitreuses, lesquelles
étant répandues également dans V’air, les rendent plus propres a
réfléchir la lumiére et par conséquent a former le météore.”
The phenomenon described by the old Jesuit astronomer is
undoubtedly the same I have witnessed hundreds of times at
Zi-ka-Wei. He evidently considers it as different from any
hitherto observed atmospheric phenomenon ; but his explanation
is tainted with the false science of his time. It is quite certain
that the phenomenon is due to the atmospheric vapour, but I
am rather at a loss to give a more satisfactory explanation. The
dispersion of the direct rays of the sun z#éo the minute drops
resulting from a partial but wide-spreading condensation of the
aqueous vapour in the upper strata of the air, might account for
the milky or roseate appearance of the sky at morning and
evening time. Besides, the interposition of a lizht cloud in the
Way of the sun’s rays does not impair the transparency of the
drops, and the blue sky may be visible. Now, in the morning
and evening the rays of the sun are almost parallel with the
horizon ; they traverse the whole expanse of the sky, and their
apparent convergence on the both sides is only due to the same
optical illusion which shows us the two rails of a railway track
or the walls of a tunnel as converging.
Let this explanation be worth what it may, the fact in incelf is
interesting, and I would beg you, Sir, to notice it in NATURE,
dealing, however, with this long communication as you may
deem proper. Marc DECHEVRENS
Zi-ka-Wei Observatory, near Shanghai, (China), August 28
Habits of Scypho-Medusz
THE communications to NATURE of Mr. Archer (vol. xxiv.
p- 307), and of Mr. Alexander Agassiz (vol. xxiv. p. 509), on
the subject of Medusee lying upon the bottom with their ten-
tacles upward, lead me to forward some observations which I
made on a similar habit of Medusz in the island of Simbo, one
of the Solomon Islands. The Medusa in question frequents a
swall mangrove swamp, which lies inclo-ed in the low point
that forms the south shore of the anchorage. Numbers of these
annals of a large and dirty-white colour were lying lazily on
the mud at the bottom of the water, which varied in depth from
one to three feet, with their umbrellas lowermost, and a mag-
nificent mass of arborescent tentacles well displayed. When
one of them was disturbed and turned over with a stick, it
immediately began to contract the umbrella, until, after swim-
ming a short distance, it resumed its former position on the
bottom, of tentacles upward. The dark mud which formed the
bottom of the swamp was composed of decayed vegetable mat-
ter—low confervoid growths, and a few infusoria and living
diatoms. but I invariably observed, after raising several of
these Medusze from the bottom, that a layer of white sand
covered over the place where each had lam, its light colour
forming a marked contrast wih the dark mud around. The
form of these patches of sand corresponded with the outline of
the animal ; but when the Medusa lay in its usual position, the
umbrella completely concealed them from view. The sand was
sometimes fine, at other times coarse, and was derived from the
coral and trachytic rocks in the vicinity, with occasionally frag-
ments of shells intermingled. ‘The sand did not adhere to the
surface of the umbrella.
The Medusze measured generally some eight or nine inches
across the umbrella, and appeared to belong to the Rhizosto-
mide. H. Bb. Guppy
H.M.S. Lark, St. Christoval, Solomon Islands, June 29
Prof. Owen on Primitive Man
IN the first number of Zongman’s Magazine Prof. Owen
criticises an article of mine on Primitive Man, in the Zortnightly
Review. In doing so, he quotes some words from my article,
which are there given as a quotation from Prof. Schaafhausen.
He proceeds to make them the text of his paper, as though the
opinions expressed in them were my own. On the question at
issue—the Neanderthal skulI—I am not competent to form
any personal opinion; I merely abstracted the opinions of
Rolleston and Schaafhausen. Prof. Owen would hardly have
spoken in the same lofty magisterial tone had he attributed those
opinions to their real authors, whose reputation can take care of
itself. The respect I feel for Prof. Owen’s work makes me
deeply regret the necessity for this explanation; but I cannot
allow him to quote as mine words which I placed between
inverted commas, attributing them at the same time to their real
author. GRANT ALLEN
Magnetic Arrangement of Clouds
THERE is a curious arrangement of clouds which, though
seen my-elf for the first time this year, may doubtless have been
observed by others, though I have never seen it referred to any-
where. Light clouds of the cirrus formation apparently at great
elevations range themselves round two poles—one about in the
direction of the magnetic north pole, and the other in that of the
south. ‘The space between the two poles is filled more or less
completely by wispy cirri. The exact point where the various
threads or wisps should form themselves into a pole I have
never been able to clearly see, owing to the dense stratum of
vapour which even on the clearest day accumulates at the horizon,
On Sunday, October 29, the arrangement above noticed was
remarkably distinct in the afternoon. C. H. ROMANES
Worthing
NATURE
| Vov. 9, 18382
The Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand
THE word ‘‘umdhlebi” does not, I think, appear in Déhne’s
** Zulu-Kaffir Dictionary.” I presume it to be a derivative from
the root 4/asa, which Dohne interprets as denoting, among other
things, the giving of pain. Some native tales of the tree will
be found in part iv. of Bishop Callaway’s ‘‘ Religious System
of the Amazulu,” in which it is asserted that ‘‘ there are several
kinds, not one kind only of umhlebe; some are small.” I
should be disposed to think the kernel of fact will be found to
lie in native observation of the deleterious properties and weird
aspects of certain Zzphorbiacee. H. M. C.
Charlton, November 4
The Weather
THE past month has probably been one of the wettest on
record. I have registered here 5°14 inches of rain during the
month ; only on seven days out of the thirty-one has the gauge
shown less than 0°1; and on three days out of the seven rain
has been recorded, J. M. Fountain
Hillingdon, Uxbridge, November 2
ON THE GRADUATION OF GALVANOMETERS
FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF CURRENTS
AND POTENTIALS IN ABSOLUTE MEASURE
HERE are several methods by which galvanometers
may be graduated so as to measure currents and
potentials in absolute measure, but they all involve,
directly or indirectly, a comparison of the indications of
the instrument to be graduated with those of a standard
instrument, of which the constants are fully known for
the place at which the comparison is made. There are
various forms of such standard instruments, as, for example,
the tangent galvanometer which J oule made, consisting of
a single coil of large radius, and a small needle hung at its
centre, or the Helmholtz modification of the same instru-
ment with two large equal coils placed side by side at a
distance apart equal to the radius of either; or some form
of “dynamometer,” or instrument in which the needle of the
galvanometer is replaced by a movable coil, in which the
whole or a known portion of the current in the fixed coil
flows. The measurement consists essentially in deter-
mining the couple which must be exerted by the earth’s
magnetic force on the needle or suspended coil, in order
to equilibrate that exerted by the current. But the former
depends on the value, usually denoted by 4, of the hori-
zontal component of the earth’s magnetic force, and it is
necessary therefore, except when some such method as
that of Kohlrausch, described below, is used, to know the
value of that quantity in absolute units.
The value of may be determined in various ways,
and I shall here content myself with describing one
or two of the most convenient in practice. The easiest
method is by finding (1) the angle through which the
needle of a magnetometer is deflected by a magnet placed
in a given position at a given distance, (2) the period of
vibration of the magnet when suspended horizontally in
the earth’s field, so as to be free to turn round a vertical
axis. The first operation gives an equation involving the
ratio of the magnetic moment of the magnet to the hori-
zontal component // of the terrestrial magnetic force, the
second an equation involvinz the product of the same
two quantities. I shall describe this method somewhat
in detail.
A very convenient form of magnetometer is that devised
by Mr. J. T. Bottomley, and made by hanging within
a closed chamber, by a silk fibre from 6 to 10 cms.
long, one of the little mirrors with attached magnets
used in Thomson’s reflecting galvanometers. The fibre
is carefully attached to the back of the mirror, so that
the magnets hang horizontally and the front of the
mirror is vertical. The closed chamber for the fibre
and mirror is very readily made by cutting a narrow
groove to within a short distance of each end, along a
. fire.
piece of mahogany about 10 cms. long. This groove is
widened at one end toa circular space a little greater in
diameter than the diameter of the mirror. The piece of
wood is then fixed with that end down in a horizontal base-
piece of wood furnished with three levelling screws. The
groove is thus placed vertical; and the fibre carrying the
mirror is suspended within it by passing the free end of
the fibre through a small hole at the upper end of the
groove, adjusting the length so that the mirror hangs
within the circular space at the bottom, and fixing the
fibre at the top with wax. When this has been done, the
chamber is closed by covering the face of the piece of
wood with a strip of glass, which may be either kept in
its place by cement, or by proper fastenings which hold it
tightly against the wood. By making the distance be-
tween the back and front of the circular space small, and
its diameter very little greater than that of the mirror,
the instrument can be made very nearly “dead beat,”
that is to say, the needle when deflected through any
angle comes to rest at once, almost without oscillation
about its position of equilibrium. A magnetometer can
be thus constructed at a trifling cost, and it is much more
accurate and convenient than the magnetometers fur-
nished with long magnets frequently used for the deter-
mination of 47; and as the poles of the needle may always
in practice be taken at the centre of the mirror, the calcu-
lations of results are much simplified.
The instrument is set up with its glass front in the
magnetic meridian, and levelled so that the mirror hangs
freely inside its chamber. The foot of one of the levelling
screws should rest ina small conical hollow cut in the
table or platform, of another in a V-groove the axis of
which is in line with the hollow, and the third on the
plane surface of the table or platform. When thus set up
the instrument is perfectly steady, and if disturbed can in
an instant be replaced in exactly the same position. A
beam of light passing through a slit, in which a thin ver-
tical cross-wire is fixed, from a lamp placed in front of
the magnetometer is reflected, as in Thomson's reflecting
galvanometer, from the mirror to a scale attached to a
lamp-stand, and facing the mirror. The lamp and scale
are moved nearer to or farther from the mirror, until the
position at which the image of the cross-wire of the slit
is most distinct is obtained. It is convenient to make
the horizontal distance of the mirror from the scale for
this position if possible one metre. The lamp-stand
should also have three levelling screws, for which the
arrangement of conical hollow V groove and plane
should be adopted. The scale should be straight, and
placed with its length in the magnetic north and south
line, and the lamp should be so placed that the incident
and reflected rays of light are in an east and west vertical
plane, and that the spot of light falis near the middle
of the scale. To avoid errors due to variations of
length in the scale, it should be glued to the wooden
backing which carries it, not simply fastened with drawing
pins as is often the case.
The magnetometer having been thus set up, four or
five magnets, each about 1ocms. long and ‘1 cm. thick,
and tempered glass-hard, are made from steel wire. This
is best done as follows. From ten to twenty pieces of
steel wire, each perfectly straight and having its ends
carefully filed so that they are at right angles to its length,
are prepared. These are tied tightly into a bundle with
a binding of iron wire and heated to redness in a bright
The bundle is then quickly removed from the fire,
and plunged with its length vertical into cold water. The
wires are thus tempered glass-hard without being seriously -
warped. They are then magnetised to saturation in a
helix by a strong current of electricity. A horizontal
magnetic east and west line passing through the mirror is
now laid down on a convenient platform (made of wood
put together without iron and extending on both sides
of the magnetometer) by drawing a line through that —
|
Nov. 9, 1882 |
NATURE
22
Pere)
point at right angles to the direction in which a long thin
magnet hung by a single silk fibre there places itself.
One of these magnets is placed, as shown in Fig. 1, with
its length in that line, and at such a distance that a
convenient deflection of the needle is produced. This
deflection is noted and the deflecting magnet turned end
for end, and the deflection again noted. Make in the
same way a pair of observations with the magnet at the
same distance on the opposite side of the magnetometer,
and take the mean of all the observations. These de-
flections from zero ought to be as nearly as may be the
same, and if the magnet is properly placed, they will
exactly agree ; but the effect of a slight error in placing
the magnet will be nearly eliminated by taking the mean
of all the deflections as the deflection of the magnet for
that position. The exact distance in cms. of the centre
of the deflecting magnet from the mirror is also noted.
The same operation is gone through for each of the
magnets, which are carefully kept apart from one another
during the experiments. The results of each of these
experiments give an equation involving the ratio of the
magnetic moment of the magnet to the value of H. Thus
if #z denote the magnetic moment of the magnet, 7’ the
magnetic moment of the needle, 27 the distance of the
centre of the magnet from the centre of the needle, 27 the
distance between the poles of the magnet which, for a
uniformly magnetised magnet of the dimensions stated
Fic. 1.
above is nearly enough equal to its length, and 2/7’ the
distance between the poles of the needle, 7, /, and /’
being all measured in cms., we have for the repulsive force
(denoted by F in Fig. 1) exerted on the blue’ pole of the
needle by the blue pole of the magnet, supposed nearest to
the needle, as in Fig. 1, the value of = te !
21° 21 (r—ly*
since the value of 7’ is small compared with 2 Similarly
for the attraction exerted on the same pole of the needle
by the red pole of the magnet, we have the expression
m m' I
2l° 20° (r+ly
by the magnet on the blue pole of the needle is
Hence the total repulsive force exerted
,
= els 2 8= A) Us ete De
all ((r—22 +225 i CTD
Proceeding in a precisely similar manner, we find
that the magnet 7 exerts an attractive force equal to
ip ee The needle
i CD
is therefore acted on by a couple which tends to turn it
round the suspending fibre as an axis, and the amount of
this couple, when the angle of deflection is 9, is plainly
or 72
m on the red pole of the magnet.
equal to 22m’ cos 6. But for equilibrium this
q q
2a
Cay
couple must be balanced by mH sin 8; hence we have
the equation :—
m _ (7 — ~)?
ese ()
HT 27
The angle 6 is to be measured thus :—The number of
divisions of the scale which measures the deflection
divided by the number of such divisions in the distance
of the scale from the mirror, is, if the scale is placed
. tan 6
© The convention according to which magnetic polarity of the same kind
as that of the earth’s northern regions is called blue, and magnetic polarity
of the same kind as that of the earth’s southern regions is called red, is here
dopted. ‘he letters B, R, 4, vin the diagrams denote blue and red.
as described above in the magnetic north and south line,
equal to tan 26.
Instead of in the east and west horizontal line through
the centre of the needle, the magnet may be placed, as
represented in Fig. 2, with its length east and west, and its
centre in the horizontal north and south line through the
centre of the needle. If we take 7, 7’, /,/, and r to have
the same meaning as before, we have for the distance of
either pole of the magnet from the needle, the expression
72 +2. Let us consider the force acting on one pole,
say the red pole of the needle. The red pole of the
magnet exerts on it a repulsive force, and the blue pole an
attractive force. Each of these forces has the value
m nm I
22 2l PAP
equivalent toa single force, F, ina line parallel to the mag-
net, tending to pull the red pole of the needle towards the
left. The magnitude of this resultant force is plainly
5 i dice mm d
a2) Pt ers ey
it can be shown that the action of the magnet on the
red pole of the needle is a force of the same amount
tending to pull the blue pole of the needle towards the right.
The needle is, therefore, subject to no force tending to
produce motion of translation, but simply to a “couple”
tending to produce rotation. The magnitude of this
couple when the needle has been turned through an angle
ee 2iscosd a If there be
meee cae
equilibrium for the deflection @, this couple must be
balanced by that due to the earth’s horizontal force,
But the diagram shows that they are
In the same way
cos 6.
which, as before, has the value #’H sin 6. Hence
equating these two couples we have—
m F
— = (r?2-+ /*)? tan 0. 2
Mm (2+ 2) @)
Still another position of the deflecting magnet relatively
to the needle may be found a convenient one to adopt.
The magnet may be placed still in the east and west line,
but with its centre vertically above the centre of the needle.
The couple in this case also is given by the formula just
found, in which the symbols have the same meaning as
before.
The greatest care should be taken in all these experi-
ments, as well as in those which rollow, to make sure that
there is no movable iron in the vicinity, and the instru-
ments and magnets should bekept at a distance from any
iron nails or bolts there may be in the tables on which
they are placed.
We come now to the second operation, the determina-
tion of the period of oscillation of the deflecting magnet
when under the influence of the earth’s horizontal force
alone. The magnet is hung in a horizontal position in a
double loop formed at the lower end of a single fibre of
unspun silk, attached by its upper end to the roof of a
closed chamber. A box about 30 cms. high and 15 cms.
wide, having one pair of opposite sides, the bottom and the
roof made of wood, and the remaining two sides made of
plates of glass, one of which can be slided out to give access
to the inside of the chamber, answers very well. The fibre
may be attached at the top to a horizontal wire which can
be turned round from the outside so as to wind up or let
down the fibre when necessary. The suspension-fibre
is so placed that two vertical scratches, made along the
glass sides of the box, are in the same plane with the
magnet when the magnet is placed in its sling, and the
box is turned round until the magnet is at right angles to
the glass sides. A paper screen with a small hole in it is
then set up at a little distance in such a position that the
hole is in line with the magnet, and therefore in the
same plane as the scratches. The magnetometer
should be removed from its stand and this box and sus-
pended needle put in its place. If the magnet be now
34
deflected from its position of equilibrium and then allowed
to vibrate round a vertical axis, it will be seen through
the small hole to pass and re-pass the nearer scratch,
and an observer keeping his eye in the same plane as
the scratches can easily tell without sensible error the
instant, when the magnet passes through the position of
equilittium. Or, a line may be drawn across the bottom
of the box so as to join the two scratches, and the ob-
server keeping his eye above the magnet and in the piane
of the scratches notes the instant when the magnet going
in the proper direction is just parallel to the horizontal
line. The operator should deflect the magnet by bring-
ing a small magnet near to it, taking care to keep the small
deflecting magnet always as nearly as may be with its length
in an east and west line passing through the centre of
the suspended magnet. If this precaution be neglected
the magnet may acquire a pendulum motion about the
point of suspension, which will interfere with the vibra-
tory motion in the horizontal plane. When the magnet
has been properly deflected and left to itself, its range
of motion should be allowed to diminish to about
3° on either side of the position of equilibrium be-
fore observation of its period is begun. When the
amplitude has become sufficiently small, the person ob-
serving the magnet says sharply the word “Now,” when
Fic. 2.
the nearer pole of the magnet is seen to pass the plane
of the scratches in either direction, and another ob-
server notes the time on a watch having a seconds
hand. With a good watch having a centre seconds
hand moving round a dial divided into quarter-seconds,
the instant of time can be determined with greater accu-
racy in this way than by means of any of the usual
appliances for starting and stopping watches, or for regis-
tering on a dial the position of a seconds hand when a
spring is pressed by the observer. The person observing
the magnet again calls out “ Now” when the magnet has
just made ten complete to and fro vibrations, again after
twenty complete vibrations, and, if the amplitude of vibra-
tion has not become two small, again after thirty ; and the
other observer at each instant notes the time by the watch.
By a complete vibration is here meant the motion of the
magnet from the instant when it passes through the position
of equilibrium in either direction, until it next passes through
the position of equilibrium going in the same direction.
The observers then change places and repeat the same
operations. In this way a very near approach to the true
period is obtained by taking the mean of the results of a
sufficient number of observations, and from this the value
of the product of # and H can be calculated.
NATURE
[Wov. 9, 1882
For a small angular deflection @ of the vibrating
magnet from the position of the equilibrium the equation
of motion is
MER GS,
2 x
where » is the moment of sits of the vibrating magnet
round an axis through its centre at right angles to its
length. The solution of this equation is
6=Asin$ af 2H — Bh
fod
and therefore for the period of oscillation 7 we havé
iS ay yn
m LH
Hence we have
Ele le
T?
Now, since the thickness of the magnet is small compared
2
with its length, if WV” be the mass of the magnet p is W,
and therefore
an PW
mH = re (3)
combining this with the equation (1) already found we
get for the arrangement shown in Fig. 1.
2 n*(° — 1°)? Wtan 6
3
Mm = :
LP
(4)
and
8 mlrW
3° T?(72= Fy tan 0 - G)
If either of the other two arrangements be chosen we
have from equations Sloss and (3)
P+ ?)i Wtand. .
H2=
aC 6)
and :
cages wl Ww (7)
3 (7? +/)i T* tan 6
Various Een which are not here made ure of
course necessary in a very exact determination of H/.
The virtual length of the magnet, that is, the distance
between its poles or ‘‘centres of gravity” of magnetic
polarity, should be determined by experiment: and allow-
ances should be made for the magnitude of the arc of
vibration ; the torsional rigidity of the suspension fibre
of cocoon silk of the magnetometer in the deflection ex-
periments, and of the suspension fibre of the magnet in
the osciJlation experiments ; the frictional resistance of
the air to the motion of the magnet ; the virtual increase
of inertia of the magnet due to motion of the air in the
chamber ; and the effect of induction in altering the mo-
ment of the magnet. The correction for an arc of oscil-
lation of 6° is a diminution of the observed value of 7 of
only gy per cent., and for an arc of 10° of 3}, per cent.
Of the other corrections the last is no doubt the most
important; but even its amount for a magnet of glass-
hard steel, nearly saturated with magnetism, and in a
field so feeble as that of the earth, must be very small.
The deflection-experiments are, as stated above, to be
performed with several magnets, and when the period of
oscillation of each of these has been determined, the magne-
tometer should be replaced on its stand, and the deflection
experiments repeated, to make sure that the magnets have
not changed in strengthin the mean time. The length of
each magnet is then to be accurately determined in centi-
metres, and its weight in grammes; and from these data
and the results of the experiments, the values of #7 and of
#1 can be found for each magnet by the formulas investi-
gated above. Equation (5) is to be used in the calcula-
tion of 7 when the arrangements of magnetometer and
deflecting magnet, shown in Fig. 1, is adopted, equation
(7), when that shown in Fig. 2 is adopted.
H?
Nov. 9, 1882]
DATE
anc
rope)
The object of performing the experiments with several
_magnets, is to eliminate as far as possible, errors in the
determination of weight and length. The mean of the
values of H, found for the several magnets, is to be taken
as the value of # at the place of the magnetometer. We
have now to apply this value to the measurement of
currents. ANDREW GRAY
(To be continued.)
THE ITALIAN EXPLORATION OF THE
MEDITERRANEAN
BELIEVE it will interest the numerous readers of
NATURE, especially those who have studied the
important subject of the deep-sea fauna, or who are
geologists, to learn that the further exploration of the
Mediterranean this year, on the part of the Italian
Government, has not been fruitless, although it has been
short. I have just received a letter from Prof. Giglioli,
of Florence, the purport of which I will, with his permis-
sion, now give :—
It seems that this summer the surveying-vessel, Wash-
tngtow, had to undertake a search (which proved unsuc-
cessful) for some imaginary coral-banks in the shallow
sea between Sicily and Africa, besides her usual hydro-
graphical work, and that consequently very little time
could be devoted to deep-sea exploration. However,
Prof. Giglioli was allowed to accompany the hydrographer,
Capt. Magnaghi, with the chance of taking any favourable
opportunity that might occur. He thus got three deep-
sea hauls: the first near Marittimo, in 718 metres, or
about 389 fathoms ; the second, half-way between Sicily
and Sardinia (lat. 38° 38’ N., long. 10° go’ E.), at a depth
of 1583 metres, or about 857 fathoms, when a very rare
and peculiar abyssal fish (Paralepis cuviert), was obtained.
That day (August 15) was also appropriated to hydro-
graphical researches, and particularly to the successful
trial of Capt. Magnaghi’s new water-bottle, as well as to
the marvellous work of his new currentometer, a most
valuable discovery, by means of which the direction and
force of sub-marine currents can be accurately determined
at any depth. A large new trawl was used, and brought
up a block of newly-formed limestone, which had been
hardened with recent shells of Pteropods embedded in
its mass. The third and last deep-sea dredging was
made on September 1, between Tavolara in Sardinia,
and Montecristo, in 904 metres, or about 490 fathoms,
with indifferent results. He will send me the shells for
examination. The Italian Ministry have promised him
that a whole month next year will be allowed for deep-
sea exploration. J. CWyYN JEFFREYS
WIRE GUNS}
Il.
iz has been necessary to dwell thus at length on the
hoop method of construction in order to contrast it
with the wire system, which we now proceed to describe.
A wire gun consists first of an internal tube, the function
of which is to contain the rifling, and to transmit the
internal pressure to the wire which is coiled upon it, and
which gives the strength. This tube no doubt has a
certain amount of strength of its own, but this is not its
real function. The gun may be so designed and con-
structed that the tube is never in a state of tension. It |
may therefore be made, and possibly with advantage, of
hard cast iron. In the 3 inch breech-loading gun made
by the writer in 1860, the tube was of cast-iron } inch
thick, and this gun has been severely tested without
injury. Hard cast-iron possesses many advantages, and
amongst others that of great economy as compared with
the steel tubes now generally used ; but whatever be the
* Continued from p. 14
material of the tube, its principal function is to contain
the rifling and transmit the strain to the wires coiled
around it.
Upon the inner tube is wound steel wire, square or
rectangular in section. The tube is mounted in a machine
similar to a lathe, and the wire is coiled upon one or more
cylindrical drums, which are fixed horizontally on axes
parallel to the tube and provided with proper apparatus
tor regulating the feed andtension. The tensions having
been first calculated, the coiling begins from the breech-
end where the end of the wire is made fast. When the
muzzle end is reached the wire is coiled back again to the
breech, and this process goes on till the whole of the coils
are in place. The end of the wire is then made fast, and
the gun, so far as strength to resist a bursting strain,
which is called circumferential strength, is concerned, is
complete.
Before proceeding to show how the longitudinal strength
is provided for, it will be well to devote a little time to
the substitution of coils of wire for the hoops above
described, pointing out as we go along the superiority of
the wire system. It has already been shown how im-
portant it is in the hoop system that the initial tensions
20 TONS PER SQ.INCH. TENTION,
F
6 INCHES.
of each hoop should be accurately calculated and applied.
This is no less necessary with the wire coils, and it would
at first appear that this must involve very intricate and
tedious calculation. In the case of the gun represented
in Diagram C, it was stated that the same strength which
was given by 4 coils of steel, making with the tube a total
thickness of 22} inches, might be obtained by 63 inches
of wire, but supposing the wire to be ,/5th inch square in
section there would be required no less than 67 differen:
coils and tensions, and as it is desirable to use even smaller
wire for the first portion of the cc ils, there would probably
be not less than 80 or go coils and the same number of
tensions to be calculated. A formula has, however, been
found which makes these calculations comparatively
simple. In order to make this intelligible we must resort
to another diagram, E, which represents the state of
strain of the interior of a wire gun, or rather of the wire
portion of it, on which alone we depend for circumferential
strength. Assuming the wire to be very small, say jth
of an inch square in section, the strains are represented
very nearly by the curved line BNM. The coils between
the inner circumference, z.¢ the first coil, and the point N
are all in compression, the maximum being at C; at N is
the neutral point, when the wire is neither in compression
nor tension ; and from N to F all the coils are in tension,
the maximum being at F. ;
36
NATURE
| Vou. 9, 1882
a a ee eee eee
Now if we consider the case of any one coil, such as
that at the position K, we see that when the gun is com-
pleted it is under considerable compression, but whilst the
construction is proceeding, when the coil at this point is
being laid on, it is laid on under ¢exszon, which tension is
reduced by every successive additional coil until it
attains the state of compression shown in the diagram of |
the finished structure. The question therefore to be
solved is this, What is the proper tension for putting on
the coil at K, so that when all the other coils are put on, it
may be in the required state of compression? This
problem must be solved for every individual coil. This |
having been done, each coil is laid on by automatic
machinery with its proper tension, and the final result is
that shown in the diagram.
When the full internal pressure of the explosion
operates, the result is as follows :—Every coil is brought
up to the same tension simultaneously and exerts the |
same resistance per square inch of section throughout the
whole thickness of the gun as denoted by the line Ho.
Fic.
The ultimate strength therefore of such a gun increases
in the simple ratio of the number of coils, a result not
attainable by any other mode of construction, and this is
the first advantage over the hoop system. The second
is, that there is no fear of error through inaccurate work-
manship or unequal shrinkage. The tensions of the wire
coils are actually measured by the machine by which they
are laid on, instead of being zxferred from presumed
accuracy of workmanship or uniform shrinking power of
the material. In the next place there is no danger from
| latent defects. The wire is not subject to such defects as
thick hoops are, and can moreover be easily tested before
it isapplied. Then again the process of construction is
simple and expeditious, it is the substitution of accurate
| automatic machinery for very highly skilled labour.
Beyond this it is much less costly, for although the wire
itself costs a high price per ton as compared with the
raw material used in the hoops of the Woolwich guns, yet
when the labour and work in the latter is taken into
account, it will be found that it largely exceeds that of
I.
the wire gun ton for ton, and as was before pointed out, |
the wire gun of equal strength can be made very much
lighter.
In a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers
in 1879 the writer estimated the cost of a muzzle-
loading 20-inch gun weighing 150 tons, constructed on
the wire principle, at £5,041, or £33 16s. per ton. We
believe that the price paid by Government to Sir Wm. |
Armstrong for the 1o00-ton guns produced from his firm
was £16,000 each, or £160 per ton.
We now proceed to the question of longitudinal strength.
In the old guns, as well as the present Woolwich guns,
the Armstrong, Whitworth, and Krupp guns, the longi-
tudinal strain between the breech and the trunnions is |
borne by the chase of the gun itself, that is to say, that
the same material which kas to resist the enormous cir-
cumferential strain has at the same time to resist a very |
intense longitudinal strain. Now it has been generaily |
maintained that although this is very large in the gross, |
yet when it is divided by the sectional arm of the chase, |
it is comparatively small per square inch of section. This |
is a very great mistake as was pointed out several years
ago by the late Sir William Palliser. The fact is, that
this strain is no more uniformly divided over the sectional
area of the chase than is the circumferential strain between
the inner and outer circumferences.
Sir Wm. Palliser devised a method of breech construc-
tion which has since been adopted at Woolwich, by means
of which the longitudinal strain is much more equally
distributed, and since then the accident of a breech blow-
| ing out has been comparatively rare, and we believe has
| never occurred in Sir Wm. Palliser’s own guns.
It has
always been a difficulty with many people to understand
how the breech is to be secured in a wire gun. It is
obvious that the coils of wire afford no longitudinal
strength, and the general idea has been that it was there-
fore necessary to resist the whole longitudinal strain by
the inner tube. .
The writer has always maintained that no real diffi-
culty exists, and that the connection between the breech
and the trunnions should be by means of material quite
independent of and placed outside of the coils of wire.
r ry
Nov. 9, 1882 |
NATURE
oF,
It was in this way that his gun made in 1860 was con-
structed, and we believe the same principle has been
adopted by Capt. Schultz in the wire guns built under his
directions by the French Government. Thus the circum-
ferential strain is provided for by one portion of material,
and the longitudinal strain by another, and it does not
admit of a doubt that this is far preferable to subjecting
the same material to two strains at right angles to each
other at one and the same time.
Another objection has been taken to wire guns, and it
is this. It is well known that guns become heated by
firing, and it is thought that this heating would disturb
Fic: 3.
the tensions to such an extent as to_render all the calcu-
lations of strain useless. Now if this be an objection, it
applies with far greater force to the system of hoop con-
struction than to that of wire, but as there is much mis-
conception on this point it is desirable to say a few words
about it.
In the first place, it is a mistake to suppose that the
heating ot guns depends chiefly on the heat absorbed by
the metal from the powder gases. Though this heat is
very intense, its application is for a very small fraction of
a second, and it may be shown that in this very short
time only a small amount of heat can be absorbed by
the surface of the gun exposed to it. It may further
be shown, that during the very short time the heat is
Fic 4.
Fic. 5
applied, it can only be transmitted by internal conduction
to a very small depth into the metal of the gun. But as
guns do heat by firing, how is this to be accounted for ?
The reason seems to be the following. By the explosion
of the powder, a considerable amount of mechanical
energy is absorbed in expanding the gun against the
elastic form of the material. When the projectile leaves
the gun, the internal pressure is removed, the mechanical
energy is thus given back, but as it does no external work,
it appears in the form of heat, which remains in the metal
of the gun, until it is dissipated by convection through the
surrounding air.
We are-quite aware that this explanation does mot
agree with the views of some physicists of great reputa-
38
NATURE
[Wov. 9, 1882
tion. For instance, in a recent discussion at the Institu-
tion of Civil Engineers, Dr. Siemens asserted that not a
single unit of heat would be set up in the body of the gun
by compressive action, and maintained that the whole
heat produced was due to the heated products of com-
bustion of the powder. But an experiment recorded by
Hirn in his Treatise on Thermodynamics seems to sup-
port the view we have above set forth. He found that if
an elastic bar of india-rubber was extended by tension it
grew sensibly warmer, if then it was allowed to contract
by the gradual decrease of the extending force, it cooled
again to its original temperature ; but if on the contrary
it was let go suddenly, it did not cool, but remained at its
higher temperature. In the one case the mechanical
€nergy was given out in work done in the extending force,
whilst in the other no external work was done. This is
exactly what happens in the gun.
There is moreover another cause which operates in
heating the body of agun. The explosion of powder is
an impact. Now in the impact of two elastic bodies one
portion of the vs viva is expended in overcoming the
elastic force of the material ; another portion is converted
into heat, and this portion remains in the body after the
elastic force has restored it to its original form, and can
only be got rid of by convection.
Thus there are two causes operating in heating a gun
exclusive of the very small effect due to the heated pro-
ducts of combustion. Let us now examine what would
be the result of this heating upon the various constructions
of guns.
Take first the homogeneous gun, of which the state of
strain is represented by diagram A, page 12. The strain
at the inner surface of the gun during explosion is about
27 tons, whilst at the outer circumference it is only 3 tons
per square inch. Now when the internal pressure is re-
moved, the energy stored up in this strained mass is con-
verted into heat, and we may suppose the amount of heating
to be directly as the amount of energy so converted and
inversely as the quantity of material heated. This being
so, it follows that the inner layer of the gun would be
heated nine times as much as the extreme outer layer by
reason of conversion of energy, but the mass heated in
each layer being in proportion to its length, and the
lengths being as 43 to 19, or as I to 4°3 nearly, the rise
of temperature would be as 4°3 X 9 to 1, ze. thirty-nine
times greater in the innermost than in the outermost
layer, and it is easy to see how this inequality of tempera-
ture must cause great internal strain by expansion, and
thus weaken the gun.
Let us now consider the case of the g-inch gun, the
strains of which are shown by diagrams B, and By. As
regards the steel tube, the result of the explosion is to
change the inner surface from a state of compression of
II tons to a state of tension of 12 tors per square inch,
and the outer layer from about 7 tons compression to
about 2} tons tension. Whilst this is going on the tube
is giving out work in aid of the powder guns until it
arrives at the neutral state, after which it is absorbing
work ; the whole tube is therefore cooling. Now let us
take the outer hoop. The effect of the explosion here is
to increase the initial tension of 6 tons to 17 tons at the
inner, and from 2 tons to 4} tons at the outer surface.
Now when the internal pressure is removed the energy
given out is expended, first in the compression of the
tube, and this part of the energy gives rise to no change
of temperature, but the whole of the rest of the energy
represented by 11 tons at the inner and 2} tons at the
outer surface is converted into heat, and taking into con-
sideration the masses the relative rise of temperature will
1 :
beas 1! is to ai, or as 113 to 1 nearly. Thus it ap-
7 193
pears that whilst from this cause the tube is cooled, the
hoop is heated and expanded, which is equivalent to
reducing the initial shrinkage of the hoop.
But we have still to deal with the heat set up by the
percussive force of the explosion. This we may assume
to be some direct function of the induced strain. It will
therefore, as regards the tube, be a maximum at the
inner and will be zero at the outer surface, whilst it will
be greater at the inner surface of the hoop as compared
with the outer in the proportion of 11 to 2} (assuming it
to vary directly with strain).
Lastly, as regards the heat imparted from the powder
gases. It may be shown that in the very short time of
the operation this is confined to a very thin layer of the
inner surface of the tube. The final result then is, thar
the inner surface of the tube is heated, whilst the outer
surface is probably actually cooled, at the same time the
inner surface of the hoop is considerably heated, and the
outer surface also heated, though to a much less degree.
The effect of the changes must therefore be to weaken
the gun, though in a very different manner from the case
of the homogeneous gun.
We come now to the wire gun, diagram E. Here the
work done by the powder gases is represented by the
arm BHOMNB, less the area BCN, that is, by the area
CHOMNC. When the internal pressure is removed, the
whole of this is converted into heat, but a portion of this
between C and N would be neutralised by the cooling
effect of the wires whilst converted into mechanical energy
in passing from the compressive to the neutral state, and
consequertly the heating of the gun, though not abso-
lutely uniform throughout, would be very nearly so. The
heating from the percussive action would also be nearly
uniform, being rather greater towards the inner surface.
Now it can be shown that if a gun properly constructel
either with hoops or wire be uniformly heated, the strains
are not affected, and it therefore follows that in the wire
gun the effect of heating is very slightly to alter the condi-
tions and strength of the gun, and the wire gun, there-
fore, is in this respect far superior to the hooped systems.
We have now pointed out the difference in the mode of
construction with hoop and with wire, we have compare |
the two systems and shown that for strength, facility,
and economy of construction, the wire system has greatly
the advantage; we have refuted the objections which
have been taken to it, and the task which we undertook
is completed. Doubtless it will occur to our readers to
ask how it is that a system which promises so fair, and
which was brought prominently forward upwards of a
quarter of a century ago, has never till quite recently
been tried by the gun-makers. How is it that millions
upon millions have been spent at Woolwich on hoop guns
and that this system has been persistently neglected ?
We know that not only was it brought before the
Ordnance Select Committee, twenty-seven years ago, and
that not as a mere idea, but accompanied with experi-
mental facts, which, as the late Mr. Bidder, then (1860)
President of the Institute of Civil Engineers, stated
publicly, established such a Arima facie case as should
have received the attention of Government, but we know
further that at various times since it has been fruitlessly
urged that trials of the system should be made.
We presume that those who had the decision of such
matters were so satisfied with what they were doing, and
had so much confidence in their own system.that they
never gave their serious attention to what they thought to
be the dream of a theorist. The inexorable logic of facts
seems, however, at last to have come into play, and we
believe that the recently-constituted Crdnance Committee
is at present seriously engaged in the reconsideration of
the-whole subject of gun construction, and that wire guns
will be admitted to be within the region of practical gun-
making.
We trust it may be so, and that the system may be
fairly tried, but in order that the trial may be fair, it is
essential that it be conducted with due regard to those
principles which it has been our object to explain—that
Nov. 9, 1882 |
NATURE
39
the initial tensions of the wire coils be duly calculated
and applied © We insist specially on this, because not
only has the Woolwich practice hitherto been to treat the
shrinkage question in ahap-hasard rule of thumb method,
but also Sir William Armstrong, in his late address as
President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, made
light of the precise degree of initial tension, and spoke of
the tendency of the explosive force to effect an adjust-
ment of the strains.
We cannot too strongly protest against such a view, as
crude and unscientific, and any results which may be
obtained from guns so const:ucted must be inconclusive
as regards the principle of wire construction.
In concluding this article we bring before our readers
sketches of three types of wire guns showing the applica-
tion of the principle. The first is a heavy muzzle-loading
gun, designed by the writer for land defences (Figs.
I and 2). The gun is furnished with rollers on the
trunnions at G,and recoils upa curved inclined plane, I 11,
which is mounted on a turnable, so as to be capable of
training in any direction in azimuth. The elevation is
given bya hydraulic lift at K. The construction of the
gun is shown in Fig. 1, in section. AA is the inner tube;
BB the wire coiled on it; C the breech plug; EE is a
heavy casting of cast iron, against which the breech plug
rests, and which also forms the trunnions, GG; KK is a
cast-iron casing covering the chase of the gun, and
attached to the casting EE by strong iron bolts, FF. In
this gun there is no longitudinal strain on the chase; the
recoil being taken up by the insertion of the heavy mass
behind the breech plug and by the force of gravity on the
ascending planes of the carriage, aided by compressors.
The second type, Fig. 3, is a muzzle-loading gun
mounted on an ordinary Carriage. The main trunnions
are behind the breech and are connected to the carriage
trunnions B by side links C, so that the longitudinal strain
is transmitted direct from the breech to the carriage with-
out the intervention of the chase of the gun.
_ Figs. 4 and 5 represent the type for heavy breech-load-
ing guns. In this case the breech plug is fixed in a
massive block, A A, which slides backwards and forwards
along the side rods, BB. Through this block passes an
eccentric shaft, C, which terminates on each side in the
side rods BB. When the eccentric is in its forward posi-
tion the sliding block closes the breech. Inthe backward
position the breech is open and the gun tops up on the
forward trunnions E£, so as to allow of the introduction of
the charge as shown in Fig. 5. When the charge is in-
troduced the preponderance is restored to the breech end,
the gun falls back to its normal position, the eccentric is
removed, the breech closed, and the gun is ready for
firing.
In all these cases it is obvious that there is no longi-
tudinal strain on the chase of the gun, and it is obvious
that so far as construction is concerned there is no limit
to the possible size of the gun.
James A. LONGRIDGE
BEN NEVIS OBSERVATORY
HE conditions of weather on Ben Nevis are now such
as to render it impracticable and hazardous to con-
tinue the daily observations satisfactorily. I have there-
fore judged it best to discontinue them, after a very
successful season, under the auspices of the Scottish
Meteorological Society, of five months from June 1, with-
out the break of a single day. The work at the six
intermediate fixed stations has, I am very pleased to say,
been well and generally punctually kept up throughout,
and I trust that much good will result. Simultaneous
observations were of course made at the observatory at
Achintore, Fort William. The Stevenson’s screens at
these stations have now been made firm by wire
stays to withstand the storms of winter. Yesterday
Colin Cameron, the guide, accompanied me. The track
was snowed up, and it was necessary to force a way
through great banks and drifts of snow. The average
depth was two feet ; once we got off our course in the
blankness of thick cloud-fog and trackless snow. To-day
the weather was very bad on the summit, the hut was
partly filled by drift, and the south-east gale was so
violent at times that I could hardly make way. Possibly
I shall attempt weekly or periodical ascents during the
winter to keep up the registrations of the rain-gauges and
self-recording thermometers.
I have to-day commenced provisionally a three-hourly
system of observation at Fort William (including 3 a.m.).
The special features are sea temperature, ozone, and the
reading and setting of the self-registering instruments on
each occasion. Of course all the other usual elements
are three-hourly observed also. Further particulars are
reserved for a future number. CLEMENT R. WRAGGE
Fort William, November 1
THE OYSTER INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED
STATES
A VERY complete account of the history and present
condition of the oyster industry of the United
States has been recently prepared by Ernest Ingersoll,
under the direction of Prof. Baird, United States Com-
missioner of Fisheries. The importance of this industry
it is not easy to over-estimate, and the United States
Government deserve every credit for their efforts to pre-
serve and extend it.
As having an important bearing on the question, the
oyster-beds of the maritime provinces of Canada are
briefly referred to. The eastern coast of the province of
New Brunswick is washed by the Gulf of St. Lawrence ;
down in the bottom of the Gulf lies the long, irregularly
shaped Prince Edward’s Island, between which and the
mainland flow the shallow but troublesome currents of
Northumberland Strait. The shores on either side of this
Strait are for the most part low bluffs of reddish soil and
sloping meadows ; there is little solid rock, few prominent
headlands, but a continuous line of shore, shelving very
gradually into water, nowhere deep; many rivers come
down along the coast of the Gulf, and at the mouth of
each there is an estuary proportionate to the size of the
stream, from the mighty channel of the St. Lawrence to
the miniature bay of Bedeque. Most of these estuaries
are shallow, and most of them are protected from
gales. This condition of affairs seems well suited for
oyster growth, since nearly all of these estuaries either
contain or contained large colonies of these mollusks.
Except at its western end, Prince Edward Island is
engirdled with oysters. That most beautiful salt-water
lake in the world, the Bras d’Or, which occupies the
whole interior of Cape Breton Island, fattens multitudes
of oysters. These Canadian oysters are of large size, and
have thick, strong shells; oysters with shells trom eight
to ten inches in length are not extraordinary. The best
are not the longest, but those with straight and narrow, or
evenly-rounded shells. All the oysters on the eastern
shores of North America, belong to the species known as
Ostrea virginiana, which embraces many varieties, of
which O. dorealis is perhaps the best marked. Except at
wholly unsuitable places, it is to be found almost without
interruption from the northern shores of the Gulf of
Mexico and the coast of Florida to the Canadian districts
just referred to. It is, however, said not to be found
along the eastern shores of Maine, nor in the Bay of
Fundy, though the shells, in a semi-fossil state, are dug
up in quantities from the deep mud in the harbour of
Portland, Maine.
Mr. Ingersoll gives a very interesting account of the
former extent and condition of the native beds in the
Gulf of Maine, and of the evidence of the immense con-
40
NATURE
| Nov. 9, 1882
sumption of the oyster by the Indian tribes. The shell
mounds discovered are of immense size, and the shells
themselves reached a quite menstrous dimension; the
animals were killed either by fire, or by smashing in
the shell at the attachment of the adductor muscles, and
possibly even by the opening of the shell by stone knives.
In many localities north of Cape Cod, the disappearance
of the oyster has been comparatively recent. Some
ascribe this to the pollution of the water by mills, but
Prof. Verrill thinks a change of climate may have had
something to do with it. Oyster culture has been tried,
but unsuccessfully, on this coast; a great business in
“laying down” oysters is still carried on at Wellfleet.
Coming south of Cape Cod, we find Buzzard Bay and
Vineyard Sound, early known for their fine beds of
natural oysters. More than a century ago, strict regula-
tions were made about their take and export, but these
beds would seem to be nearly worked out.
The charter of Charles II. gave the colony of Rhode
Island (1683) free fishing in every form. At one period
large quantities of oysters were destroyed for the sake of
the lime in their shells. Now statutes are in force
specially guarding the mollusc, and the oysters are now
yearly increasing in quantity and lessening in price, and
over 960 acres of oyster-ground were let in Rhode Island
in 1879. About one-half of the oysters raised are natives,
and the other half are Virginia oysters brought to the
grounds to be fattened. The probable amount of capital
invested in this district may be about 1,000,000 dollars,
and the yield and value as against this is about 600,000
dollars at wholesale prices.
The Virginia trade began some fifty years ago, when
Capt Farran gathered a sloop-load of some 600 bushels.
Now the profits of a single firm in 1856 were 25,000 dollars
a year, When the native supply grew slack, very successful
efforts at cultivation were made. Out of seven to eight
thousand acres marked for oyster-culture in New Haven
Harbour, only one-half are in use. One _ proprietor
Operates on 1500 acres, and full details of the various
methods of culture adopted are given in this report.
Coming further south, the southern shore of Long
Island was early famous for its oysters, and we know
how the old blue point oysters were relished by the
Dutch settlers. In 1853 they were sold for an average of
ten shillings a hundred from the beds. In 1873 Count
Pourtales called attention to their getting scarce, and
since 1879 it has required an importation of 100,000
bushels of seed to keep up thesupply. This seed then had
only to be gathered, or was worth but little, now its price
has increased threefold. The principal market now-a-
days for these Blue Points is Europe. In the markets of
London they commanded a high price, retaining their
supremacy over all other sorts, until in 1879 when the
season being a bad one, the oysters grown in Staten Island
Sound surpassed them. Not only are they of a superior
flavour, but they have a round thin shell, and are of a
medium size. The Rockaway district supplies an immense
quantity of oysters; it is but the western end of the south
shore of Long Island. While most of the stock finds its
way to New York, lately the oysters from this district have
found their way into the European market, selling as
“French” stock. In New York Bay the growth of trans-
planted oysters is fairly rapid, and a great many are sent
from there to Europe. In New York City the oyster trade
is of very considerable importance, which centres itself
in two localities at the foot of Broome Street, East River,
and of West Tenth Street, North River. The quantities
handled each year in the city has been approximately
estimated as about 765,000,000 oysters. A large number
go to England, where the “Blue Points’’ having lost
favour, the “ East Rivers” and “ Sounds”’ have taken, in
a measure, their place. Between October 9, 1880, and
May 14, 1881, being one season, there was exported from
New York to Europe a total of 70,768 barrels, of which
68,140 barrels went to Liverpool. Each barrel contained
on an average 1200 oysters.
Along the New Jersey shore a large quantity of oysters
are raised, and the western shore of Delaware Bay is the
scene of planting the southern oysters, which are brought
annually from the Chesapeake, and are fattened for the
markets of Philadelphia. This city is credited with an
intake of oysters, amounting in 1880 to about 800,000,000,
but then, unlike New York, this quantity is not wholly
consumed in Philadelphia, but is in part distributed to
the surrounding regions, but the calculation has been
made that this million-peopled city consumes on an
average during half the year, 300,000,000. The retail
trade gives employment to over 3500 people.
The oyster fisheries of Maryland are among the most
important in America, and it is claimed that the beds of
Chesapeake Bay, about equally divided between the two
States of Maryland and Virginia, contain the best oysters
inthe world. The oyster trade of this region is immense,
giving employment to thousands. A body of police, with
a steamer and two tenders, with eight sloops, watch hourly
over the grounds, but the territory to be watched is so
vast—the beds of Maryland extend for a distance of 125
miles—that the police sometimes fail to catch illegal
dredgers, and serious encounters, as in the winter of 1879-
80, have occurred.
It cannot be too often asserted that even the splendid
beds of this district may, by unrestricted dredging, become
exhausted. Properly protected and cared for, this wealth
might be increased manyfold. Thirty years ago we read,
the depletion of the beds at Pocomoke Sound and in
Tangier seemed a thing impossible, now from want of a
period of rest they have fallen off in their produce, the
former by four-fifths, the latter by two-thirds. The
statistics of this great fishery extends over many pages.
It was at Baltimore the “steamed” oyster trade began,
and this city, the great oyster market of the United States,
backs more of this mollusc than any other city in the
world.
In North Carolina the business in oysters and their
culture is of small proportions, and not much is known of
the fisheries of Georgia. Of the oyster interests in
Florida there is little to be said. Coming to the Gulf of
Mexico, the Mobile supply must be noted, as they have a
high reputation for excellence. The New Orleans
market is supplied from an extent of coast comprising
the whole water front of North Mississippiand Louisiana.
Appended to this report there is a condensed account
of the anatomy and development of the oyster, taken
from the memoir of Dr. W. K. Brooks, of the John Hopkins
University of Baltimore, and accompanied by a full
series of drawings of the growth of the young oyster.
NOTES
THE following is the list of names nominated for the Council
of the Royal Society to be balloted for on November 30 :—
President, William Spottiswoode, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D.
Treasurer, Johu Evans, D.C.L., LL.D. Secretaries: Prof.
George Gabriel Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., Prof. Michael
Foster, M.A., M.D. Foreign Secretary, Prof. Alexander
William Williamson, LL.D. Other Members of the Council:
Prof. W. Grylls Adams, M.A., F.C.P.S., John Ball, M.A.
F,R.A.S., Thomas Lauder Brunton, M.D., Sc.D., Prof. Hein-
rich Debus, Ph.D., F.C.S., Francis Galton, M.A., F.G.S.,
Prof. Olaus Henrici, Ph.D., Prof. Thomas Heary Huxley,
LL.D., Prof. E. Ray Lankester, M.A., Prof. Joseph Lister,
M.D., Prof. Joseph Prestwich, M.A., F.G.S., Prof. Osborne
Reynolds, M.A., Prof. Henry Enfield Roscoe, B.A., LL.D.,
Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., M.A., Osbert Salvin, M.A.,
F.L.S., Warington W. Smyth, M.A., F.G.S., Edward James
Stone, M.A., F.R.A.S.
Nov. 9, 1882]
Tue death is announced, at the early age of thirty-two years,
of Prof. Marino Palmieri, Professor of Physics at Naples Uni-
versity, and so well known for his seismological researches. We
hope to refer to Palmieri’s work in an early number.
We also regret to announce the death of Prof. J. Th. Rein-
hardt, Professor of Zoology at Copenhagen University and
Tuspector of the Natural History Museum of that city, an orni-
thologist of great merit ; he died at Copenhagen on October 23,
aged sixty-six. The death is also announced of Dr, F. H.
Troschel, Professor of Zoology at Bonn, and of Dr. Julius
Vriedlander, the head of the well-known Berlin publishing
house and scientific agency of that name.
Pror. Vircuow has had a serious attack of illness, but we
are glad to learn from the latest intelligence that he is slightly
better.
WE see from Zhe Gazette of Montreal that the meeting held
in that city on October 26, in connection with the proposed
visit of the Lritish Association to Canada in 1884, was large
and influential. Much enthusiasm was displayed at the prospect
of the Association’s visit, and several resolutions were passed
guaranteeing a hearty welcome and every provision for the
success of the meeting, and the comfort and entertainment of
the visitors. A large committee was appointed to carry out
arrangements, and at the close of the meeting a considerable
sum was subscribed as a guarantee fund, Dr. Sterry Hunt
stated that in 1884 the American Association would probably
meet at Newhaven, at such a time as to admit of the English
visitors attending both meetings.
On October 9 was unveiled, at the University town of Wiirz-
burg, a memorial to Von Siebold, the celebrated Oriental savant.
For some years past the Horticultural Society of Vienna has
collected subscriptions for this purpose, and it is interesting to
note that a considerable sum was subscribed amongst the
Japanese, although they have already erected a colossal stone to
his memory at Nagasaki. Siebold was the greatest of all the
students of Japan during what may be called the Dutch period,
that is, from about 1620, when all Europeans except the Dutch
were expelled from Japan, down to 1854, when Perry succeeded
in making the first of the recent treaties with that country.
During this time the facilities for the foreign student were few.
The members of the Dutch factory were confined to the settle-
mient at Deshima, which was about the size of a small London
square ; all egress, except on certain rare occasions, was denied
to them, and this intercourse with the people was confined to
the few interpreters and officials employed to watch their
movements, Oncea year the head of the factory, with a small
suite, journeyed overland to Yedo with presents to the Shogun ;
but while on the road the foreigners were as closely guarded as
prisoners, and all opportunity of conversation or intercourse
with the people was denied them, Notwithstanding these
unpromising circumstances, however, Kaempfer, Titsingh, Thun-
berg, and especially Siebold, succeeded in obtaining the materials
for works which will for years to come retain their position as
the very best works in the country. About 1820 Siebold was
appointed surgeon tothe Dutch forces in Java, and in 1826 made
his first voyage to Japan, where he became physician to the
factory at Deshima. He seems first to have acquired a sound
knowledge of the language, and then, through the native
employés, to have procured books as he required them. For
eizbt or ten years he remained quietly in Japan, accumu-
lating vast stores of information for subsequent use, and
journeying occasionally with the annual mi-sion to Yedo.
On his return to Europe he proceeded to publish his
great works, ‘‘ Fauna Japonica,” and ‘‘Flora Japonica,”
the expenses of which were defrayed, we believe, by the
King of the Netherlands. We again returned to Japan, and
NATURE
41
was there during the signing of the American and other treaties,
and was even in this early time constantly employed by the
Japanese Government in advising them how to thread their way
through the difficulties of their new position. On one of his pre-
vivus journeys to Yedo he had received permission to reside there
for a period, provided he taught western medicine to a number of
Japanese students. He got into serious danger through having
in his possession a complete native map of Japan, which one of
his pupils had succeeded in conveying to him. ‘The latter is said
to have lost his life, and Siebold returned to Deshima. On his
second return to Europe with his large collection of Japanese
books, maps, specimens of the artistic productions of the country,
of the fauna, flora, &c., he was received with honour by the
Emperor of Russia and other European potentates. He then
commenced the publication in parts of his Magnum opus Nippon,
which he never lived to complete. This work might with much
justice be styled the Encyclopadia Japonica. Besides native
works, every book published in the East in European language
was consulted. Whatever the labours of subsequent students,
large sections of this book, such as the history of European dis-
coveries in the Eastern seas, will always retain their value.
After his death his vast collections were distributed among
various museums on the Continent. The larger share, as was
only natural, went to Leyden; but the British Museum suc-
ceeded in obtaining his splendid library of Japanese books and
maps.
Tue August nunber of the AZittheilungen der deutschen Gesell-
schaft of Yokohama contains several papers of much interest.
The numerous and curious New Year's customs of Japan are
described by Mr. Sataro Hirose, a native medical student, while
Mr. Schiilt gives a topographical sketch of Mount Fugi and its
neighbourhood. Dr. Scheube contributes a long paper on the
food of the Japanese. He wus enabled, in the college with
which he is connected, to examine the food of various classes,
and from his statistics, meat appears to play but a small part in
the nourishment of the people. Rice occupies about 50 per
cent. of their total diet. Dr. Baelz describes the various
infectious diseases of Japan, and Mr. Leysner furnishes statistics
for the past ten years of the climate of Niigata, the principal
town on the West Coast. The number and value of the contri-
butions of this small society—it numbers only forty-nine resident
members—would be little short of astounding, did we not recol-
lect that most of the Germans employed by the Japanese Go-
vernment are mea of scientific attainments, and devote much
study to the country in which they live.
We have received from M. Georges Dary, of Paris, a note
commenting on Prof. S. Thompson’s article upon Electric
Navigation. M. Dary informs us that the source of power upon
which M. Trouvé has fallen back is a bichromate (primary)
battery weighing only 120 kilogrammes, or less than one-tenth
of the accumulators used by Mr. Volckmar in the iron launch
Electricity. Vhis battery, M. Dary states, has an electromotive
force of 96 volts—equal to that of the 45 accumulators—but he
does not state what strength of current it will furnish, nor for how
many hours. M. Dary adds that 500 similar apparatuses—he
does not say whether this means 500 boats, or 500 batteries, or
500 motors—like that used by M. Trouvé in navigating the Seine
in his skiff, have already been exported from Paris. This
bichromate battery, it appears, has enabled M, Trouvé to under-
take journeys which with little exaggeration may be called long
voyayes, as, for example, from Havre to Rouen ; and there are
numerous owners of electrical boats who run every day between
places twelve or fourteen miles apart, using two sets of cells for
the run, We are glad to be able to do to so ingenious an
inventor as M. Trouvé the justice of making more widely known
the real progress which he has made in this matter.
~ 42 :
A COLOSSAL statue of George Stephenson, and another of
James Watt, both after models by Prof. Keil, are now being
completed in the studio of the eminent German sculptor, Herr
Bock, and are intended for the new Poly echnic at Charlotten-
burg, near Berlin.
THE comet was seen at the Paris Observatory by M.
Bigourden, one of the astronomers, on October 23. It was
found to be very brilliant, The observation was presented by
M, Mouchez, with two others done by M. Thollon at the Nice
Observatory. The sodium lines, which were very brilliant on
September 18, had wholly disappeared on October 9, when the
comet was seen for the first time after a very long observation
of the sky,
TRE first meeting of the One Hundredth and Twenty-Ninth
Session of the Society of Arts will be held on Wednesday,
November 15, when the Opening Address will be delivered by
Charles William Siemens, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S,, Chairman
of the Council, The following papers are announced for read-
ing at the meetings before Christmas —J. Hopkinson, D.Se.,
F.R.S., Ice-making and Refrigerating ; W. H. Preece, FLR.S.,
of Crops; P. L. Simmonds, the Utilisation of Waste; W. K.
Burton, the Sanitary Inspection of Houses, For meetings after
Christmas :—J. H, Evans, the Mcdern Lathe; Capt. J. H.
Colomb, R.N., Collisions at Sea; A. ]. Hipkins, the History
of the rPianoforte ;, J. Donaldson, the Construction of Torpedo
Boats ; C. F, Cross. FLC\S., Technical Aspects of Lignification ;
W. N, Hartley, FLR.S.E., Self:purification of River Waters ;
James J. Dobbie, D.Sc., and John Hutchinson, the Application
of Electrolysis to Bleaching and Printing”? Arrangements have
been made for Five Courses of Cantor Lectures :—On Dynamo-
Electric Machinery, by Prof. Silvanus P. Thomson, D.Se. ; on
Solid and Liquid Mluminating Agents, by Leopold Field; on
the Decorative Treatment of Metal in Architecture, by G. H.
Birch; on the Transmission of Energy, by Prof. Osborne
Reynolds, M.A., F.LR.S.; on Secondary Batteries, by Prof.
Oliver J. Lodge, M.A., D.Sc. The usual short Course of
Juvenile Lectures will be given during the Christma; holidays
by Prof. Henry Nottidge Moseley, M.A., F.R.S., on the
Inhabitants of the Ocean.
Pror, GrorGs M. MINCHIN will publish very shortly, at the
Clarendon Press, a work on ‘* Uniplanar Kinematics of Solids
and Fluids, with Applications to the Distribution and Flow of
Electricity.” It aims at supplying a deficiency in the course of
mathematical physics usually pursued by the higher-class students
in our colleges and universities, by enabling them to enter into
the study of kinetics with clear notions of acceleration and other
leading conceptions which belong to the province of kinematics,
NATURE
THE delegates of the Clarendon Press have determined to |
| graphs, and in their faithfulness to reality are a great improve-
issue a series of translations of important original papers in
foreign languages on biological subjects, and have committed
the editing of these memoirs to Dr. Michael Foster, Dr. Pye-
Smith, and Dr. Burdon Sanderson, It is proposed that the
series should begin with a single volume of about 750 pages, to
be divided into three parts ; the first to comprise the treatise of
Prof. Heidenhain on ‘‘ The Physiology of the Process of Secre-
tion” ; the second a series of four papers by Prof. Goltz oa
“The Functions of the Brain,” and a memoir by N. Bubnoff
and Prof, Heidenhain on *‘ Excitatory and Inhibitory Processes
in the Motor Centres of the Brain” ; and the third a series of
memoirs by Prof. Engelmann on “ The Structure and Physiology
of the Elementary Contractile Tissues.” It is intended that
each part should be complete in itself, and should be published
separately.
THE medical faculty of the Gdttingen University has
announced as a subject of prize competition, for 1833, a
| a fish a little under the water, and uses only his ear.
. eH reo
(Vow. 9, 1882
thorough investigation with the more recent aids of microscopical
art, of the mucous membrane of the bladder and urethra of both
sexes, especially with reference to their gland-contents, and the
varying forms of the epithelial cells in expansion of the ducts,
The philosophical faculty propounds two subjects, one of which
is an investigation and setting forth of the mode of development
of the flower of our common mistletoe (Viscum album), with
critical consideration of the literature of the subject.
Mount Erna has for some days been showing great and
increasing activity, emitting flashes of fire and dense volumes
of smoke,
AN Arabic manuscript of the year 1365, from which Herr
Gildemeister has translated several extracts for the Gottingen
Society of Sciences, affords an interesting peep at nautical matters
among the Arabians of those times. The author deals separately
with the ships of the Mediterranean, of the Indian Ocean, and
Red Sea, and of the Nile and other rivers. /nver alfa, he describes
a mariner’s compass ; and this is noteworthy, inasmuch as only
one description of the instrument in an Arabian work has hitherto
8 ae aaa , ee } snown (it is ‘ art ying is a curious
Electrical Exhibitions ; William A. Gibbs, the Artificial Drying | been Known (it is of date raga). ‘The following eS
picture :—‘* A ship [of the Indian Ocean] carries generally four
divers, whose only duty is, when the water rises in the ship, to
smear themselves with sesame oil, stop their nostrils with wax,
and, while the ship is sailing, jump into the sea, Each has two
hooks connected with a thin line; one of these he fixes in the
wood of the ship, and with the othee he dives. He swims like
Where he
hears the trickling of waterhe stops with wax w here there are hcles,
stopped with pala stems, and where there is sewing, he often
passes a piece of cocoa fibre through the fixed palm stem, The
thing is easy to him; in a day he stops over twenty or thirty
leaks, The diver comes up, without inconvenience, whether
there is wind or calm,”
THREE new Lyceums, in which instruction will be given in
Finnish, will be opened in a few weeks in Finland, at “Abo,
Uleaborg, and Bjérneborg, thrs raising the number of Finnish
Lyceums to eight. In the Helsingfors University, lectures in
| Finnish are delivered on all subjects in connection with the
Archeology and History of the north, as also in Botany by
Prof. Wainio.
M. W, DE FONVIELLE has just published (Hachette and Co.)
a little volume on “La Pose du Premier Cable,” in which the
principal incidents connected with this great undertaking are
told in a dramatic and popular manner,
Mr, Muysrince has issued a series of his well-known instan-
taneous pictures of animals in motion, adapted for the zoetrope.
Those sent to us include the horse under various conditions, the
deer, and the dog. They are exact reproductions of the photo-
ment on the existing zoetrope pictures. Mr. Muybridge is
preparing for publication a complete series of his original
photographs, adapted for his zoopraxiseope.
Unber the tide of ‘La Navigation Electrique” (Paris,
Baudry), M. Georges Dary gives some interesting notes on
electric navigation, with special reference to the experiments of
M. Trouvé. Bemrose and Son have issued a little handbook,
** The Electric Light Popularly Explained,” by Mr. A. Bromley
Holmes ; and Macmillan and Co. a useful manual of “ Electric
Light Arithmetic,” by Mr. R. E. Day, M.A.
Tue Austrian Archeological Expedition to Asia Minor has
returned to Vienna, and the objeets found in the excavations
made and packed in 167 cases have arrived there.
Pror. Srarony has recently ascended the Dachstein in order
to make some exact measurements concerning the decrease of
Now.9 1882)
4
the Dachstein glaciers, He found that the so-called Karlseisfeld
has panes lost about 50-60 metres in thickness, the middle
portion 40-50 metres, The decrease in the thickness of
the ice is most noticeable in the high and steep devcent from the
middle to the lower portion of this glacier, Here a piece of the
glacier-bed—a rock of about 30 metres in height and 60 broad—
has been laid quite bare, Up to 1856 the glaciers were steadily
increasing, but since then the decrease has been equally
inceswant,
Im the ordinary air thermometer the pressure of the air in the
thermometric bulb is generally mea-ured by means of a mercury
manometer. M. Schneebeli, of Zurich (Archives des Sciences),
employs, instead of the latter, a metallic manometer, of the
Hottinger-Goldschmidt system. The bulb of the thermometer
terminates in a capillary tube, to which the manometer is con.
nected by means of another capillary tube of lead, The space
between the latter and the elastic memb:ane of the manometer is
filled with glycerine. M. Schneebeli believes the arrangement
capable of being really serviceable to industry, because of the
simplicity of is construction and of the manipulations required,
A mere reading of the position of the manometric pointer gives
the temperature,
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
Comet 1882, b.—In consequence of cloudy mornings, it is
stated that this comet was not seen at Melbourne until 5 a.m. on
September 10; it was visible with the telescope till within one
minute of sunrise, and its intrinsic brightness was estimated
equal to that of the planet Jupiter. The tail was well defined
and bright, but extending only over 3° or 4° at most. At 5h.
24m. 519. a.m. its right ascension was gh. 45m. 46°61s., with
0° 53' 36” south declination.
At Adelaide the comet was remarked from the observatory on
the morning of September 9, but Mr. Todd reports that a police-
constable had seen it a few mornings previously.
Prof. Kiced observed it at 11 a.m. on S-ptember 22, with the
Valermo refractor of 0°25 m. ayerture; there was a trace of a
tail towards the south-west. At the same hour on September
23 Prof. Millosevich saw it at Rome, and describes it as ‘un
fiocchetto di lana diseyualmente illuminato.”
It appears by no means improbable that with our larger tele-
scopes the comet may be visible till the end of the year, or later,
About the time of new moon, or at midnight on Jaruary 8, its
place will be in R.A. 6h. 53m., with 23° soath declination,
distant from the earth 2°21, and from the sun 257, so that it
will be upon the meridian at 11h. 40m. p.m., with an altitude
of more than 15° at Greenwich.
With regard to the distinguishing letter which has been
attached to the comet in this column, Mr. T. W. Vackhouse
writes from Sunderland :—‘‘ Surely it is a mistake to call the
present comet ‘Comet 4 1882.’ Is not Well’s comet a; the
comet seen in the eclipse, 6; the great comet,c; Barnard’s
comet, d; and Schmidt's, ¢7” On this point we should reply
that the main or indeed only reason for attaching letters to
comets as they are discovered is to afford a ready means of dis-
tinguishing them while they are under observation: when the
orbits are catalogued the comets appear as I., II., III., &c., of
a particular year. The comet of May 18 was only seen for a
minute during the totality of the eclipse, having been looked for
unsuccessfully morning and evening subsequently, at least by M.
Trepied. It is not likely to be mentioned except in connection
with the eclipse, and there is, consequently, no apparent utility
in assigning a letter to it. We may take the opportunity to
remark that M. Trepied, who did not regard this object as a
comet while he had it in view, has informed us in conversation
within the last fortnight that he is now quite convinced of its
cometary nature,
Tue Novemurr Mereors.—The first comet of 1866, in the
track of which the periodical meteors of November are found to
— wove, has probably just passed the aphelion point of its orbit,
which is distant from the sun 19°673, the earth’s mean distance
being taken as unity. It may be interesting to note the cha-
racter of the shower under this condition, should it be repeated
NATURE
43
when the earth arrives at the descending node of the comet’s
orbit on the evening of November 13.
On the morning of October 23, when the great comet was so
favourably viewed in the vicinity of London, 4 number of bright
meteors diverged from a point not far from the radiant of the
November shower.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
ACCORDING to the Russian newspaper Sidir, the meteorologi-
cal expedition to the mouth of the has started on board
large boats provided with all nece-saries for buildiog 2 house,
and for successful wintering. The station will be erected on
the Tumanskaya branch of the Lena, if ithe water is deep
enough in this branch to allow the ¢ of the boats. It is
hoped that, with the a of the three summer month«, the
reports of the station will reach Yakutsk regularly. They will
be sent, first, by M. Jurgens to Bulan ; thence they will be for-
warded to Nerkhoyansk, where they will be taken up by the
post, which will run twice a month instead of once every four
months as before. In the summer, the tundra being covered
with water, messages can be sent only wd the Lena ; they will
be taken by the merchants who leave Bulun for Yakutsk, as
soon as the ice ig melted, and reach Yakutsk in the end of July;
another message can be sent with the returning fishermen, who
reach Yakutsk in September.
Tue Germania, which conveyed the German North Polar Ex-
pedition to Kinzawa in Cum nd Sound, bas returned to
Hamburg. When the German‘a left Kinzawa on September 6,
the observatory was completed, so that observations had already
begun. Besides the two larger expeditions sent out by the
Germin Government, Dr. Koch has also been sent to Labrador
in order to establish metevrological observatorics among the
missionary settlements of the Moravian brotherhood. Dr. Koch
arrived at Hoffenthal Port on August 10, and was liberally sup-
ported by the missionaries. All the stations set down in
programme, viz.: Hoffenthal, Zoar, Nain, Ramah, Hebron, _
and Obak have now been established. A meteorological station
has also been established on the Falkland Islands. It is to form
an intermedisry between the stations on the South American
continent and that on South Georgia, and also to help in render-
ing more valuable the observations made on board of vessels
passing through the neighbouring seas. Capt. Seemann, who
was sent to the Falkland Islands by the Deutsche Seewarte,
reports that work has begun.
A pesparcu, dated September 19, has been received in
Stockholm from the Swedish Meteorological Expedition at
Smith’s Observatory, Spitzbergen. It states that observations
are being regularly made, and that all was well with the
members,
Tue November part of Hartleben’s “ Deutsche Rundschau
fiir Geographie und Statistik” contains articles on land forma-
tions in the Sunda dis rict, by Jos. v. Lehnert ; on the position
of women in the life of peoples, by Dr. M. Geistbeck; on the
North Sea according to the investigations of the Norwegian
Expedition during the years 1876 to 1878, by Dr. J. Chavanne;
on the ethnography oF Central Asia, by Prof. Ujialvy ; on the
transit of Veous and the solar parallax, by Dr. J. Holetschek;
on the hydrography of Africa and the Welle problem, by J.
Chavanne. ‘There is a good ethnographical map of Central
Asia.
A CATALOGUE of the fine commercial collections in the
Oriental Museum in Vienna has been issued, as also a small
volume of ‘* Neue Volkwirthschaftliche Studien iiber Constani-
nopel und das anliegende Gebiet.” In the latter, especially,
the ornithologist will find several things to instruct him.
THE ene pe as Council of Paris bas granted unanimously a
gold medal of 120/, toM. Savorgnan de brazza, for his dis-
coveries in Tropical Africa,
Lizut. Bove, together with the Italians of the Antarctic Ex-
pédition scientific staff, arrived at Genoa all well.
Tue well-known Bremen naturalist, Dr. Otto Finsch, to
whose travels in Polynesia we recently referred, has just
retuned to Berlin, During the last six months the traveller
was in New Guinea, and instituted anthropological comparisons
between the Papuans and the Eastern Melanesians. He is
accompanied by a native of New Britain, aged fifteen, His
NATURE
[Nov. 9, 1882
sketches of New Zealand, New Britain, New Guinea, and the
Caroline Archipelago are exceedingly well drawn and valuable.
He brings about Ico cases of ethnographical specimens intended
for the new Ethnological Museum at Berlin.
THE AIMS AND METHOD OF GEOLOGICAL
INQUIRY?
N entering upon the duties of this Chair I can hardly do
better, perhaps, than try to set before you what are the
primary aims and general bearings of that branch of natural
science which we are about to study, and to indicate the nature
of the problems with which it deals. In doing so I will endea-
your at the same time to point out the method of research and
the mode of reasoning which we must pursue if we are to be
‘successful investigators. Geology (in which comprehensive
term I include mineralogy and paleontology), is concerned in
the first place with observations of minerals, rocks, ard fossil
organic remains, and in the second place with the inferences
which may be drawn from those observations. Its object is
thus not only to note the nature and position of the various
materials which constitute the solid crust of our globe, but by
processes of inductive and deductive reasoning to ascertain how
minerals and rocks have been formed and caused to assume the
different appearances which they now present. In few words,
then, our science might be defined as an inquiry into the history
or development of the earth’s crust, and of the several floras
and faunas which have clothed and peopled its surface. It thus
treats of the genesis of oceanic and continental areas—of muta-
tions of climate—of the appearance and disappearance of suc-
cessive tribes of plants and animals. More than this, in reveal-
ing the past it throws strong light upon the present, and has,
perhaps, more than any of the cognate sciences, tended to revo-
lutionise our conceptions of nature, ard to lead zoologists and
‘botanists iato fruitful fields of inquiry which their own proper
studies, no matter how assiduously prosecuted, could never have
enabled them to reach.
Dealing, as geology does, with the operations of Nature in the
past, it is obvious that before we proceed to interpret the record
of the rocks we ought to have a clear knowledge of the mode in
which Nature works at present Without this preliminary
knowledge, it is just as hopeless to attempt to decipher that
record as it would be to endeavour to understand a page of
Greek without having first mastered the grammar and rudiments
of that language. We must turn our attention then, at the very
outset, to a study of those great forces by the action of which
the crust of our globe is being continually modified. It is
essential that we learn to appreciate the work done by the atmo-
sphere, by frost and snow and ice, by rain and underground
water, by rivers and lakes, by the sea, by plants and animals,
and by the subterranean forces, before we can hope to recognise
the different parts which those various agents of change have
performed in the past. All geologists are agreed upon this, and
are ready to acknowledge it as the chief article of their faith.
Nevertheless, this obligatory article has received different inter-
pretations. Some, for example, have held that the present
condition of things must be taken as the exact type of all the
phases through which the earth’s surface has passed, during the
different stages of which we have any recognisable records pre-
served to us in the stratified rocks of the globe. They admit
that countless modifications of land and sea have taken place—
that the climate of particular areas has varied again ard again—
that the subterranean and volcanic forces have manifested them-
selves with unvarying intensity, now in one place, now in
another—but they hold that all these changes have been accom-
plished upon the same scale and at the same rate as at present, and
that, as a consequence, the development of floras and faunas, so
far as that is dependent upon physical conditions, has proceeded
no more rapidly in former times than in our own day. They do
not, indeed, deny that in the very earlicst stages of the earth’s
history the agents of geological change must have acted with
greater intensity than now, but of such a period, they tell us,
we have no certain evidence treasured up in the sedimentary
rocks, or at least such evidence, if it should exist, has not yet
been detected. Only allow time, they say, and the constant
drop will wear away the hardest stone. The gradual elevation
* The Inaugural Lecture at the opening of the Class of Geology and
Mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh, October 27, 1882, by james
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. L. and E., Regius Professor of Geology and
Mineralogy in the University.
of land, which is now going on in certain parts of the globe at
so slow a rate that some have been inclined to doubt whether
there is any movement at all, would nevertheless suffice in time
to lift tracts now within tide-wash into stupendous table-lands
and mountains, Nor is it necessary, we are assured, to suppose
that the apparent evidence of convulsive rending and displace-
ment of strata, which is often so conspicuous in the heart of
great mountain-chains and munges, is really any proof of par-
oxysmal action, All the rupturing and confusion which we may
note among the Alps and not a few mountain-regions, may
quite well have been brought about, we are informed, in the
most gentle and gradual manner.
Other theorists, again, are of opinion that, while the agents of
change have necessarily been through all time the same in kind,
they have yet varied again and again in d , and that the
present moderate condition of things cannot therefore be taken
| as an exact type and pattern of all preceding phases in the
world’s history. They cannot allow that the elevation of moun-
tain-chains and the larger fractures and displacements of strata
are the result of the repetition of such small movements of the
crust as are taking place now. Admitting that considerable
areas of the earth’s surface are rising at the rate of a yard or
more in a century, they yet cannot agree that this is a criterion by
which to estimate the time required for the elevation of all
protuberant parts of the earth’s crust. They remind us that in
our own day we have had experience of paroxysmal changes of
level, nor can they doubt that similar sudden catastrephes must
have happened cftentimes in the lapse of ages. They point to
the appearance of ruin and confusion which may be traced along
a line of mountain-elevation, and maintain that the broken and
shattered strata are proofs of a more or less sudden yielding to
enormous strain ortension. They do not deny that upheaval may
have been going on over a given area at an extremely slow rate
during long periods of time, but they argue that a point would
at last be reached when the tension to which the strata were
subjected could no longer be resisted. A sudden fracturing
would at last take place—the strata would be violently dislo-
cated, thrust forward, crumpled, and heaped, as it were, in
confused and steeply-inclined masses along the main line of
dislocation. Again, itis objected to uniformitarian views that
these do not explain and cannot account for certain remarkable
mutations of climate which are known to have occurred. It is
not denied that the earth has been receiving for untold ages the
same annual amcunt of heat from the sun, but it is maintained
that, owing to certain astronomical changes, and the modifica-
tions induced thereby, that heat must have been very differently
distributed over the globe at various epochs in the past. It is
held, in short, that the climate both of the northern and the
southern hemispheres has thus been frequently modified, and
that in consequence of this the action of the geological agents
has been influenced again and again—the decay and reconstruc-
tion of recks the oscillations of the land—and the development
of floras and faunas having been alternately accelerated and
retarded according as extreme or moderate conditions prevailed.
Thus each sehool has its own method of interpreting the
| fundamental axiom of our science—that the Present is the key to
the Past. And as the primary aim of geology is to interpret
the stony record with a view to the reconstruction of our earth’s
history, itis obviously important that we should be able to satisfy
ourselves as to which of these rival conceptions is most consonant
with truth. In other words, we must do our utmost to ascertain
which givcs the most reasonable interpretation of geological
phenomena. Each view must in its turn be tested by an appeal
to facts, and a rigorous application of logicalanalysis. Probably
we shall find that while there is much to be said on both sides,
we can agree entirely neither with the one school nor the other.
Before we are in a position, however, to discuss such questions,
we must first have ranged over a very wide field of inquiry, and
obtained a thorough grasp of the principles of our science.
Meanwhile, our chief concern in beginning our studies must
necessarily be to detect resemblances between the present and
the past. For every observation we make we must endeavour
to discover a correlative phenomenon in the present order of
things. And so long as we confine our attention to the facts
before our eyes and to the more obvious interpretations of these
which are suggested by forces now in action, we shall not fail to
be impressed with the uniformity of nature.
We examine, let us suppose, a section of strata exposed upon
the sea-shore or along the banks of a river. Our knowledge of
the different kinds of sediment in course of transportation and
Nov. 9, 1882 |
NATURE |
45
accumulation at the present day enables us at once to recognise,
in the conglomerate sandstone and shale of our section, simply
the consolidated sediments of earlier times. The occurrence of
fossils in the strata determines whether the deposits were formed
in fresh water, brackish water, or the sea—whether near to a
coast-land, or at a greater distance from the shore, and so forth.
If some of the fossils be of terrestrial origin, while others are
brackish- water and marine, we gain not only certain knowledge
of the life of the period, but, if the evidence be full enough, we
may even form more or less reliable conclusions as to the physical
and climatic conditions which at one time existed in the locality
under our examination, In short there are many almost obvious
conclusions, as we may term them, which the appearances pre-
sented by an individual exposure of rocks must suggest to any
observer who has previously become familiar with the operation
of the natural forces in the world around us, He simply com-
pares the facts with what is now taking place, and is thus led to
conclude that effects the same in kind have been produced in the
same way.
Sometimes, however, the rocks present appearances which are
harder to interpret in this obvious and ready manner. We en-
counter, for example, a rock-mass having none of the features
presented by ordinary sedimentary strata. Instead of being
made up, like conglomerate and sandstone, of rounded stones or
grains, arranged in layers, it is entirely composed of Jarger and
smaller crystalline particles, not lying in lines and layers, but
scattered indiscriminately through the whole mass. It does not
occur in beds like ordinary sedimentary strata, but on the con-
trary we see it cutting, as it were, across other rocks, and sending
ont veins which penetrate the latter in all directions. The ob-
server immediately concludes that the crystalline rock is of
younger age than the beds traversed by it ; and not only so, but
that the whole mass with all its veins was injected into its
present position in a liquid, semi-liquid, or pasty, and probably
heated condition. And in confirmation of this last conclusion
he may perhaps note that the rocks immediately adjoining the
dykes and veins betray the appearance of having been subjected
to the action of heat. The grits, we shall suppose, are hardened
and much cracked and shattered, and the shales baked and por-
cellanised ; both rocks, when closely examined, showing traces
of an incipient fusion along the line of contact with the intrusive
rock, They may even lose their original granular texture, and
assume a more or less crystalline aspect for some distance away
from the dykes and veins that intersect them. All these features
the observer may have seen exemplified in a modern volcanic
district, and he may therefore feel justified in the opinion he has
formed as to the formerly molten state and therefore igneous
origin of our crystalline rock. His induction, however, is not
complete. He compares his supposed igneous rock with the
undoubted products of existing volcanoes, and although many
of these last send out dykes and veins, and have a crystalline
texture, yet not a single one may have any further resemblance
to the crystalline rock of his section. He cannot, therefore, be
any longer certain that his dykes and veins have originated in
the same way as those of Etna and Vesuvius. ‘The origin of
such a crystalline rock as I am speaking of (which we may sup-
pose is granite), cannot be determined, like that of conglomerate
or sandstone, by direct comparison with similar rocks in process
of formation. Exhaustive examination of the granite itself, an
intimate knowledge of its ingredients, and the conditions of
formation which these imply, combined with careful observation
of the mode in which this rock occurs wherever it is met with—
these and other studies must be prosecuted before any assurance
can be obtained as to the precise mode in which granitic dykes
and veins have originated. The observer then learns that these
are really of igneous origin, as he at first inferred, but his notion
that they have been injected into strata at or near the surface
like the dykes of modern volcanoes, cannot, he finds, be main-
tained. All the evidence supplied by careful microscopical ex-
amination and physical considerations, leads to the conclusion
that granite has been formed and consolidated at considerable
depths. Having satisfied himself upon this point, the observer
will readily conclude that the dykes and veins that now appear
at the surface were formerly buried under great masses of rock,
which have since been removed. Of course there are many
other facts connected with the history of granite which I do not
touch upon at present. By and by we shall learn that all masses
of granite are not intrusive, but that certain considerable areas
of this rock, although agreeing in composition with the granite
of dykes and veins, are nevertheless not irruptive.
The conclusion that granite is of deep-seated origin is not, you
will observe, contrary to our canon that the past is to be inter-
preted by the present. Molten rock, as we know, is forced into
fissures in the neighbourhood of active volcanoes, and there
consolidated, and chemical analyses show that some volcanic
rocks have the same ultimate composition as granite. Partly by
observation and partly by experiment we detect in granite eyi-
dence to prove that it has consolidated under pressure, and that,
had the original molten mass cooled more rapidly and under
moderate pres-ure, the resulting rock would have presented a
very different appearance. Had injection taken place at or near
the surface, or had the melted matter flowed out of a volcanic
orifice, it might well have resembled some of the products of
modern volcanoes,
Let us now take another sample of the mode of interpreting
geological phenomena. We shall go back to our section of
conglomerate, sandstone, and shale—and these deposits we shall
suppose belong to a comparatively recent date—to the Tertiary
period, let us say. Suppose, moreover, that the fossils are
numerous, and so well preserved that we are enabled to compare
them with living forms. A few, we find, belong to existing
species, others are closely related to these, while yet others,
although without doubt extinct, can nevertheless be referred with
confidence to living genera, ‘These facts enable us to come to
a trustworthy conclusion as to former climatic conditions, for
all we have to do is to examine the conditions under which the
existing species presently flourish, and draw the obvious inference.
Of course the larger the number of living species, and the more
highly organised these are, the more reliable our theoretical
results will be. But suppose our fossils indicate a warm and
genial climate, and that the locality in which we discover our
section lies far within the Arctic Cirele—what must our conclu-
sion be? Simply this: that the climate of those high Jatitudes
was formerly much warmer than it is now. We appeal to the
present, and that is the reply we get. But the next question
arises: How could such a climate obtain within the Arctic
Circle? Thisis one of those crucial cases which must eventually
determine whether Uniformitarians are justified in maintaining
that the present is the exact type of all that has gone before,
within known geological periods. According to them it is not
necessary to look beyond this earth itself for an explanation ot
such an apparent anomaly as the occurrence of southern faunas
and floras in the Arctic regions. All we have to assume, they
tell us, is a former very different distribution of land and water.
They refer us to the well-proved fact that there have been fre-
qnent considerable elevations and depressions of the land, which
must have indirectly affected the climate of wide areas by modi-
fying the course of oceanic and aérial currents, They argue
that were the larger land-areas of the globe to be grouped about
the equator, with oceanic islands scattered over the higher
latitudes, this arrangement of land would induce all the condi-
tions that are neccssary to account for the former growth of
walnuts and oaks and beeches within the Arctic Circle.
This hypothesis is opposed by others who maintain that no
such distribution of land and water existed at the epoch in
question. According to them, the position of the main con-
tinental ridges and oceanic depressions was established at a very
early period in the earth’s history. The persistence of these
main features, however, does not imply a total invariability of
outline. On the contrary, the protuberant areas, it is admitted,
have been modified again and again all through the geological
ages—considerable portions having been alternately depressed
below and lifted above the sea-level. But as the relative posi-
tions of the more important ridges and depressions of the earth’s
surface—the continental areas and oceanic basins—were deter-
mined long anterior to the deposition of the Tertiary strata, and
probably date back to azoic times—such a re-arrangement of
land and sea as the Uniformitarian view requires cannot have
taken place. It is further maintained that, even could such a
re-arragement be substituted for the present, it would not bring
about a genial climate in the Arctic regions. We must look
beyond our globe itself, we are told, if we wish to find the key
to those greater revolutions of climate of which we have evi-
dence in such a case as the occurrence of a southern flora within
the Arctic Circle. The greater climatic revolutions of the past
are due, we are assured, to periodical changes in the eccentricity
of the earth’s orbit, combined with the precession of the equi-
noxes, and the influence which such mutations must have exerted
upon the ordinary agents of geological change.
The soundness of these opposing views must of course be
vt) 7 / “et.
NATURE
[oz. 9, 1882
tested by an appeal to facts, and it will be our duty in the course
of our investigations to examine all the data which have been
adduced in their support. I have referred to them on this occa-
sion merely to show you that above and beyond the more or le<s
obvious interpretation of geological phenomena, larger questions
arise, the consideration of which demands not only laborious
and far-extended observation, but must call into exercise all the
varied powers of the human mind.
In the initial stages of our geological investigations we are
occupied in detecting the more apparent resemblances and
correspondences between the present and the past. We readily
discover in sedimentary strata the evidence of their accumula-
tion by the action of water, nor do we experience much difii-
culty in discovering the igneous origin of many rock-masses in
regions now far removed from scenes of volcanic activity. But
each observation we make and every well-founded correspond-
ence we establish between the present end the past leads on to
larger and larger deductions, until, as in the case of our granitic
dykes and veins, we eventual'y find that geological investigations |
frequently increase our acquaintance with forces now in action |
and give us some insight into the hidden operations of nature.
It is not indeed too much to say that in many cases our know-
ledge of such operations is derived in large measure from a study
of the effects produced by the work of nature in past ages. The
examination, for example, of the fragmentary relics of ancient
volcanoes, in this and other countries where volcanic action has
long been extinct, has enabled us to picture to ourselves many
details of the structure of those interior and basement parts of a
voleanic mountain, which otherwi:e must ever have remained
unknown. The long-continued action of the agents of denuda-
tion has often removed those superficial rock-masses which
gather around volcanic orifices, so as to lay bare, as in a dissec-
tion, the interior and basal portions—showing us the fractured
and baked strata through which the heated gases, molten matter,
and loose ejectamenta were erupted, and the dykes and veins of
crystalline rock which were injected into the cracks and fissures
of the shattered strata. Nay, a study of those vast masses and
sheets of granitic, gneissose, and schistose rocks, of which large
portions of the Scottish Highlands, Scandinavia, and other
countries are composed, induces the belief that these rocks ori-
ginally existed as ordinary sedimentary strata, and that their
present crystalline condition has been assumed at a time when
they were deeply buried underneath other and of course younger
strata. And thus we have hints given us as to what may be
taking place now throughout extensive areas underneath the sur-
face of the earth, where other sandstones and shales may be
undergoing a gradual metamorphism and conversion into crys-
talline rocks,
(Zo be continued.)
THE SENSES OF BEES
At the meeting of the Linnean Society on Thursday last, Sir
John Lubbock read an account of his further observations
on the habits of insects, made during the past year. The two
queen ants which have lived with him since 1874, and which
are now, therefore, no less than eight years old, are still alive,
and laid eggs last summer as usual. His oldest workers are
seven years old. Dr. Miiller, in a recent review, had courteously
criticised his experiments on the colour sense of bees, but Sir
John I.utybock pointed out that he had anticipated the objections
suggesied by Dr. Miiller, and had guarded against the supposed
source of error. The difference was, moreover, not one of
principle, nor does Dr. Miiller question the main conclusions
arrived at, or doubt the preference of bees for blue, which
indeed is strongly indicated by his own observations on flowers.
Sir John also recorded some further experiments with a reference
to the power of hearing. Some bees were trainel to come to
honey which was placed on a musical box on the lawn close to a
window. The musical box was kept going for several hours a
day for a fortnight. It was then brought into the house and
placed out of sight, but at the open window and only about
seven yards from where it had been before. The bees, however,
did not find the honey, though when it was once shown them,
they came to it readily enough. Other experiments with a
microphone were without results. Every one knows that bees
when swarming are popularly, and have been ever since the time
of Aristotle, supposed to be influenced by clanging kettles, &c.
Experienced apiarists are now disposed to doubt whether the
noise has really any effect, but Sir John suggests that even if it
has, with reference to which he expressed no opinion, it is
possible that what the bees hear are not the loud low sounds, but
the higher overtones at the verge of, or beyond our range of
hearing. As regards the industry of wasps, he timed a bee and
a wasp, for each of which he provided a store of honey, and he
found that the wasp began earlier in the morning (at 4 a.m.),
worked on later in the day. He did not, however, quote this as
proving greater industry on the part of the wasp, as it might be
that they are Jess sensitive to cold.. Moreover, though the bee’s
proboscis is admirably adapted to extract honey from tubular
flowers, when the honey is exposed, as in this case, the wasp
appears able to swallow it more rapidly, This particular wasp
began work at four in the morning, and went on without any rest
or intermission till a quarter to eight in the evening, during
which time she paid Sir John 116 visits.
INVERTEBRATE CASTS VERSUS ALG IN
PAL#ZOZOIC STRATA
HE distinguished Swedish geologist, Dr. A. Nathorst,
having made numerous experiments, has come to the con-
clusion that invertebrate animals, when creeping over a soft sea-
bottom, will leave imprints which are identical with the markings
which have hitherto been considered those of fossil Alge. If
these Algee are examined, it will be found, he states, that the
appearance of a great many of them indicate that they have not
been organisms at all, but formed in some mechanical way, and
that analogous forms may even be found in existing species.
Dr, Nathorst considers that with the exception of three
groups, the greatest number of Algz enumerated in Mr.
Schimper-Zittel’s work on Palzontology as ‘ undefined,” are
merely imprints of invertebrate animals.
Some time ago Prof. Martens of Berlin demonstrated that
ichthyological members of the genus eriophialmus which he
had watched on the coast of Borneo when creeping over a clay
bottom, left regular and defined impressions from their body
and fins on the surface which would, if preserved, easily be mis-
taken for cryptogamic fossils, and in a paper on casts of Medusz
in the Cambrian strata of Sweden, Dr. Nathorst further shows
that the so-called Zophyton spatangopsis, &c., which have been
considered imprints of certain zoophytes and mollusks, are traces
of Meduse. These ‘‘ fossils” are, according to his theory,
either traces which Medusz leave when carried by the motion ot
the water over a soft bottom (Zof/y/on), or imprints of their
belly and adjacent organs when at rest. He further shows, that
a more solid kind of Medusze than the common have left traces
in the calcareous slate of Central Germany, which makes it
possible, in some measure, to define their relation to existing
species.
Hitherto, Medusz have only been traced back to the Jurassic
period, but Dr, Nathorst shows that these organisms have existed
from at least Cambrian times. The imprints which the lower
organisms leave on mud or sand vary in appearance with the
creeping or swimming habits of the animals, as well as with the
nature of the bottom, whilst it is particularly interesting to note
that certain worms produce imprints and vermiculated holes,
which are exactly like the radiant Algz, and which would not
be supposed to be the work of invertebrata, if their formation
had not been clearly demonstrated.
In connection herewith it should be mentioned, that imprints
may also be made in a soft sea-bottom by stones, which are
carried along with the tide by floating sea-weeds, regarding
which observations have recently been made by the Scottish
naturalist, Mr. Symington Grieve. Cc. S.
RIOLOGY IN ITALY
[NX welcoming the appearance of this new journal under the
editorship of Prof. Emery, of Bologna, and Prof, Mosso of
Turin, it may not be amiss to mention briefly the programme of
its originators, They will endeavour each year to give a classi-
fied list of all works published in Italy on biology, in its widest
sense, The list for 1881, with an index of the names of authors,
appears in volume I, They will try and bring together and illus-
trate original memoirs on subjects which treat of life in every
form. In addition to these there will from time to time appear
résumés and notices of memoirs appearing in other Italian
journals ; and as far as practicable the résumés will be drawn up
by the authors of the papers abstracted. The archives will be
1 “Archives Italiennes de Biologie.” tome i., 1882. Tome ii. fase. i.,
October x5, 1882. (Rome, Florence, Turin: H. Loescher.)
Nov. 9, 1882]
NATURE
47
published in French, ‘because this language is, without the pos”
sibility of contradiction, that one the most universally known
among all the living languages.”
Most heartily do we echo the following words of the editors :—
“TL Italie a été jadis le berceau de la renaissance des arts et
des sciences. D’autres nations nous ont depuis lors dépassés ;
mais V’unité de la patrie est venue rallumer le foyer du travail,
et donner un nouvel essor aux études scientifiques, dont nous
constatons chaque année les rapides progrés. Les travaux qui
verront le jour dans les Archives Italiennes de Biologie seront,
pour notre pays, nous l’espérons, un nouveau titre 4 l’estime de
tous ceux qui prennent intérét 4 l’avancement des sciences de la
vie.”
Among the chief articles in volume I. are the follow-
ing :—Physiology : On a new element in the blood of mam-
mals, and its importance in thrombosis and in coagulation ;
on the production of the red globules in extra uterine life; and
on small blood discs in mammals, by G. Bizzozero; on the
reproduction of the marrow in long bones ; and on the regeneration
of articular extremities in sub-capsular periosteal resections, by
D. Bajardi; on the hematopoetic function:, and on the com-
plete reproduction of the spleen, by G. Tizzoni; on hepatic
glycogenesis, by Ph. Lussana; on the functions of the bladder,
by A. Mosso and A. Pellacani; on the structure of the spinal
cord, by J. B. Laura ; on varietes in the cerebral circumyolutions
in man, by C. Giacomini; critical experimental study of the
cortical motor centres, by A. Marcacci ; on the caducousness of
the ovarial parenchyma and its total rehabilitation, by J. Pala-
dino; origin of the olfactory tract, &c., in mammals, by C.
Golgi. Pathology: Contribution to the pathology of the muscu-
lar tissue, by E. Perroncito; contribution to the study of endo-
cartitis, by V. Colomiatti ; contribution to the subject of intestinal
cysts, by H. Marchiafava ; on the discovery of the specific ferment
of malariain the blood, by the Editors. Zoology: On the origin
of the central nervous system in annelids, by N. Kleinenberg, of
Messina ; on the nervous system and sense organs of Spheroma
serratum, by J. Bellonci; on a new genus (Distaplia) of
Synascidians, by A. Della Valle; on the metamorphoses of
some Insecticole Acari, by Ant. Berlese, Botany: On the
action of ether and chloroform on the sensitive organs of plants,
by C. Cugini; on the active principle of Adonis vernalis, by
V. Cervello ; contribution to the study of the genus Cora, Fr.,
ioe Mattirolo ; researches on the anatomy of leaves, by I.
riosi.
Vol. ii. part 1, contains: On the early phenomena of deve-
lopment in Salpa, by F. Todaro ; on the anatomy of the com-
pound Ascidians; and on budding in the Didemnide and
Botryllidz, and on the enteroccetlic type in the Ascidia, by A.
Della Vallee ; polymorphism and parthenogenesis in some Acari
(Gamasidz), by A. Berlese ; on an unobserved organ in some
vegetable embryos, by S. Briosi; experimental study of the
cortical motor centres, by A. Marcacci; experiments on the
formation of uric acid, by J. Colasanti ; on the action of oxy-
genated water (H*O*) on animal organisms, by J. Colasanti and
at on the toxic action of human saliva, by L.
riffini.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
OxrorpD.—In addition to the Scholarships in Natural Science
offered by Balliol and Christ Church this term, of which details
haye been published in Nature, a scholarship in Natural
Science will be offered for competition next term by Queen’s
College. Papers will be set in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology.
No candidate will be expected to offer more than two of these
subjects. Candidates are requested to signify their intention of
standing by letter to the Provost, not later than February 1, and
to state the subjects they propose to offer.
The Natural Science Scholarship at Exeter College has not
been awarded. Mr. H. O. Minty, of tke Royal College of
Science, Dublin, has been elected to an Exhibition. Mr. Minty
was proxime at the late examination for the Trinity Natural
Science Scholarship, but being over the statutable age, was not
eligible for a scholarship at Exeter College.
CAMBRIDGE.—Prof. C. C. Babington, F.R.S., Professor of
Botany in the University of Cambridge, has been elected to a
Professorial Fellowship at St. John’s College. Prof. W. J.
Sollas, F.G.S , Professor of Geology at University College,
Bristol, has also been elected Fellow of St. John’s College.
THE number of students at Dorpat University is vastly
increasing from year to year. While in 1867 the number was
only 573, it reached 728 in 1872, 858 in 1877, 1105 in 1880,
and now stands at 1367 students.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Fournal of the Royal Microscopical Sociely for August, 1882,
contains : On some micro-organisms from rain-water, ice, and
hail, by Dr. R. L. Maddox.—On the relation of aperture and
power in the microscope, by Prof Abbe.—Description of a
simple plan of imbedding tissues for microtome cutting in semi-
pulped unglazed printing paper, by B. W. M. Kichardson.—
Note on Rey. G. L. Mills’ paper on diatoms in Peruvian guano,
by F. Kitton.—The usual summary of current researches relat-
ing to zoology and botany (principally invertebrate and crypto-
gamia), microscopy, &c., including original communications from
Fellows and others. —Proceedings of the Society.
Tue same journal for October, 1882, contains: On plant
crystals, by Dr. Aser Poli (plate 6), and the summary of current
researches relating to zoology and botany (principally inverte-
brata and cryptogamia), microscopy, &c., including original
communications from Fellows and others.
The Quarterly Fournal of Microscopical Science, No. 87, for
July, 1882, contains :—Note on the formation of fibrine, by
Mrs. Ernest Hart (plate 21).—On the genesis of the egg in
Triton, by T. Iwakawa (plates 22-24).—On the germination and
embryogeny of Gnetum gnemon, by F. O. Bower (plate 25).—
The organ of Jacobson in the dog, by Dr. E. Klein (plate 26).
—On Saprolegnia in relation to the salmon disease, by Prof.
Huxley.—Notes on certain methods of cutting and mount-
ing microscopical sections, and on the central duct of the
Nephridium of the leech.
No. 88, for October, 1882, contains : On the development of
Ostrea edulis, by Dr. RK, Horst (plate 27).—The morphology and
life-history of a tropical Pyrenomycete, by H. Marshall Ward
(plates 28 and 29).—The thread cells and epidermis of Myxine,
by R. Blomfield (plate 30).—The eye of Spondylus, by Sydney
J. Hickson. —Note on open communication between the cells in
the pulvinus of Mimesa pudica, by W. Gardiner.—Notes on the
development of Mollusca, by Prof. Haddon.—Note on Echino-
derm morphology, by P. Herbert Carpenter (woodcuts).—On the
vertebration of the tail of Appendiculariz, by Prof. Lankester.—
Notes on the structure of Seriatopora, Pocillopora, Corallium, and
Tubipora, by Prof. Moseley (woodcut).—Note on pacinian cor-
puscles, by Dr. V. Harris.—Reviews of Strasburger’s structure
and growth of the cell wall, and of Bergh’s researches on the
cilio-flagellata.
Proceeaings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for 1880, con-
tains :—Algz of the New Hebrides, by Dr. Sonder, contains
new species of Sarcodia, Caulerpa, and Chztomorpha.—On
some Australian slugs, by Prof. R. Tate.—On the Unios of the
Launceston Tertiary ba:in, by R. Etheridge, jun. (with a plate).
—On a fossil helix, by R. M. Johnston (with a plate).—The
lichens of Queensland, by F. M. Bailey.—On some fossil leaves
and fruits, by Dr. C. E. Bernard.—On some introduced plants,
by Rey. G. E. Tenison Woods.—On some new species of fish,
by R. M. Johnston,—On oyster culture, by Capt. Stanley, R.N.
Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1881,
No. 4, contains: On new species of European Mints, by M.
Gandoger.—On the Amphibia and Reptiles of Greece, by Dr.
J. v. Bedriaga.—On new species of Hemiptera from the Aral
and Caspian districts, by V. Jakovlev (in Russian, but the
diagnoses of the new genera and species are given in German).
—Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the Moscow district, by L.
Albrecht (Supplements Dr. E, Assmus’s catalogue of 1858, and
raising the number of species from 675 to 1172.—On new Lepi-
doptera from the Amur Land, by H. Christoph.—Meteorological
observations (Moscow) for 1881, by J. Weinberg.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Chemical Society, November 2.—F. A. Abel, F'.R.5.,
vice-president, in the chair.—It was announced that a ballot for
the election of Fellows would take place at the next meeting
(November 16).—The following papers were read :—On dihy-
48
NATURE
- < . ae |
_ [NMov. 9, 1882
droxybenzoic acids and iodosalicylic acids, by Dr. A. K. Miller.
The author has succeeded in preparing the sixth dihydroxyben-
zoic acid ; five being already known. It was obtained by heat-
ing salicylic acid and iodine in alcoholic solution, two iodo-
salicylic acids were formed, which yielded two distinct dihy-
droxybenzoic acids when heated with potash.—On crystalline
molecular compounds of naphthalene and benzene with antimony
trichloride, by Watson Smith and G. W. Davis. By melting
three parts by weight of antimony trichloride with two of
naphthalene, minute crystals were obtained, 3SbCl,, 2C,,H, ;
similarly with benzene, a body, 3SbCl;, 2CgH., was prepared.—
Additional evidence, by an analysis of the quinoline molecule,
that this base belongs to the aromatic series of organic substances,
by Watson Smith and G. W. Davis. The authors have studied
the effect of exhaustive percblorination (by heating with antimony
pentachloride) on quinolin ; perchlorethane, peichlorbenzene, and
nitrogen were obtained.—On orcin and some of the other dioxy-
toluols, by R. H. C. Nevile and Dr, A. Winther. The authors
have prepared the dioxytoluol 1. 3. 5, starting from the dinitro-
toluol 1. 3. 5, and have found it to be identical in all its reac-
tions and physical properties with orcin. They have also
prepared the dioxytoluols 1. 2. 4 and 1. 2. 5, and have inves-
tigated the preparation of the body 1. 3. 4.—On the varying
quantities of malt albumenoids extracted by waters of different
types, by E. R. Moritz and A. Hartley.—On the derivatives of
ethylene-chlor-bromide, by J. W. James. The author gives
details as to the preparation of this body, and has studied the
action of sodium sulphite upon ethylene chlorobromide, ethylene
dibromide, and ethylene chlorothiocyanate ; also the action of
ammonia upon an ethereal solution of chlorethylsulphonic
chloride.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, October 30.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—Remarks on the
theory of shocks, by M. Resal.—Results of experiments made
at the Exhibition of Electricity on machines and regulators with
continuous current, by MM. Allard, Joubert, Le Blanc, Potier,
and Tresca. Thirteen different combinations are dealt with, and
data regarding mechanical work, electric resistance, intensity,
luminous power, economical efficiency, &c., tabulated. Another
paper, to appear soon, will treat of other systems. In nearly all
the experiments the total motor work is very well represented
by the corre-ponding electric work.—Rational conception of the
nature and propagation of electricity (continued), by M. Ledieu,
Electricity is, no more than heat or light, to be regarded as a
special agent under particular mechanical laws. As to the
phenomenal cause, it is simply the potential energy of the ether
associated with the ponderable matter, especially in the form of
atmospheres round the molecules. It has for counterpart the
portion of potential energy of the ponderable matter, which
constitutes chiefly Zatent heat.—On the efficacy of lightning con-
ductors, by M. Hirn. A very faulty conductor may sometimes
protect a house. One such near Colmar, on a house 15m. high,
consisted (in descending order) of a conical brass point, an iron
rod about 8m. long, on which this was screwed, and a wire,
hardly o-co7m. diameter, in pieces with terminal rings, passing
down to a piece of iron o’5m. long in a hole in the moist ground.
In a violent storm (the thunder of which brought down plaster
from ceilings), the rod was struck, and the brass cone fused, but
no part of the current left the conductor. During over forty
years’ observations, M. Hirn has never seen lightning strike any
of the forty or fifty lightning rods on the works of Logelbach.
Yet, during a thunderstorm, these rods work actively ; as he
has proved by means of derived circuits from the uninterrupted
conductors, yielding currents with magnetising power. He has
even drawn currents from a conductor separated by a thin leaf
of caoutchouc ; the thin copper wire was never fused.—Appli-
cation of the law of complementary colours to temporary de-
coloration of diamonds tinted yellow, by MM. Chatrian and
Jacobs. The yellow diamond is merely put in a solu-
tion of the complementary colour (violet), and it comes out
white ; but mere washing brings back the yellow.—Chemical
studies on the sugar beet called the white beet of Silesia, by M.
Leplay.—On certain quadratic forms, and on some discontinuous
groups, by M. Picard.—On trigonometric series, by M. Poincaré.
—Reply to M. Faye’s objections to Dr. Siemens’ theory of the
sun, by Dr. Siemens.—On an extension of the principles of areas
and of movement of the centre of gravity, by M. Levy.—On
the longitudinal vibrations of elastic rods, and the motion of a
rod carrying at its end an additional mass, by MM. Sébert and
Hugoniot.—New expressions of the work and economic efficiency
of electric motors, by M. Deprez.—On a modification required
in enunciation of the law of isomorphism, by M. Klein. In the
second part of the law, stating that isomorphous bodies have a
similar chemical composition, it is necessary to say, instead, that
they have either a similar chemical composition, or present
a centesimal composition slightly different, while containing
a group of elements that are common or of identical chemical
functions, and whch form much the largest part of them by
weight.—Researches on the thorite of Arendal, by M. Nilson.—
Rapid process of determination of salicylic acid in beverages, by
M. Rémont.—Distribution of ammonia in the air and aqueous
meteors at great altitudes, by MM. Muntz and Aubin. On the
Pic du Midi (2877 m.), the quantity of ammonia in the air was
much the same as on low ground (or 1°35 mgr. per 100 cub. m.) ;
that in rain water considerably less ; also that in snow and in
mist.—New chemical and physiological researches on some
organic liquids (water of sea-urchins, water of hydatic cysts and
cysticerci, amniotic liquid), by MM. Mourson and Schlagden-
hauffen.—On the evolution of Peridinians and the peculiarities
of organisation connecting them with Noctiluce, by M. Pouchet.
—Hypsometric map of Turkey in Asia, published at Tiflis,
under direction of General Stebnitzky. Previous maps are
shown to need correction in orography.—Action of oil on sea-
waves, by M. Virlet d’Aoust. An experience of his in Greece
in 1830 shows that the method was practised by seamen there.
He also notes the calming effect of petroleum rising ‘in the bed
of a Mexican river, and carried into the sea.—On the cultivation
of opium in Zambesia, by M. Guyot. This was begun in 1879
at Chaima, near Niopea, about 6 km, from the Zambesi. In
1881 it engaged 300 workers, 250 of whom were blacks and
50 natives of India. In India the opium sells for 50 to 60
francs the kilogramme.
GOTTINGEN
Royal Society of Sciences, June 10.—On the occurrence
of cleistogamous flowers in the family of the Pontederacee, H.
Grafen zu Solms-Laubach.—On Arabian navigation, by S.
Gildemeister.— On gradually developing contact-electricity with
co-operation of air, by W. Holtz.—Optical studies on garnet,
by C. Klein.
August 1.—On the measurement of the winding surface of a
wire-coil by the galvanic method, and on the absolute resistance
of the mercury-unit, by F. Kohlrausch.—On triazo compounds,
by H. Hubner.—On the method proposed by M. Guebhard for
representation of equipotential lines, by H. Meyer.—On the
neurology of the Petromyzonts, by F. Ahlborn.
CONTENTS Pace
A SearcH FoR “‘ATLANTIS’” WITH THE Microscope. By Dr.
PN oe eV) UGE GS LOM o Olialomo ws coc on 2 2D
THE LIFE OF Crere (MAXWELE <) 2) je) fe) 8 = ceiiie) (> Sey fo oie
Our Book SHELF :—
Burmeister’s ‘Description Physique de la République Argentine
d’aprés des Observations Personelles et Etrangéres’”’ . . . . 28
Scudder’s ‘‘ Nomenclator Zoologicus” . ........ .- 28
LRTTERS TO THE EpITroR:—
‘© Weather Forecasts.’’—Rev. W. ClemenT Ley. . . . . » « 29
The Comet.—C. J. B. Wittiams; W. J. MILLER; WALTER
HiftGGInson‘and|B) MANNING ©) 0 =~ je) pil = te el eee
Two Kinds of Stamens with Different Functions in the same
Flower.—Dr. HERMANN MULLER (W2th Illustrations). . . » 30°
A Curious Halo.—Father Marc DECHEVRENS . . = pene.
Habits of Scypho-Meduse.—Surgeon-Major H. B.Gupry . . . 31
Prof. Owen on Primitive Man.—GranT ALLEN . . . . + + « 3%
Magnetic Arrangement of Clouds.—C. H. RomMaAnES . . . + ~ 3%
The Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand.—H. M.C. . .. . . « « « 32
The Weather: —J- Mi ROUNTAING =) (=: >| «oi elel (aleiile) Games mnae
ON THE GRADUATION OF GALVANOMBTERS FOR THE MEASUREMENT
oF CURRENTS AND PoTENTIALS IN ABSOLUTE Measure. By
Anprew Gray (With Diagrams) 32
Tue ITALIAN EXPLORATION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. | By Dr. Te
Gwyn JEFFREYS, F-R'S.- 20. 2 es ew ee ee 8 ee GF
Wire Guns, II. By James A. Loncripce. C.E. (With Diagrams) . 35
Ben Nevis OpseRvATORY. By Crement R. WRAGGE. 539
Tue Oyster INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. . . « « «© + + 39
NOTES: )) sec, etoile ee it ce feo Serle. a) ‘s! (0) fie] pao ORG
Our AstTrRonomicaL CoLtumMN:—
Comet x88aiO0 octet eh ot ier col st we) ie i ger Sof SS
‘The November Meteors . . + « © = 3 © © © 5 «© © « ©) 49)
GEOGRAPHICAI;NOTES ~ 2 = 2 2 s+ «= «5 0 ore = ss hee 48
Tue Aims AND METHop oF Grotocicat Inquiry. By Prof. JAMES
Gerkir, LL.D., F.R.S. L.andE.. Pate en, Oia ony ore
THE SENSES OF BEES «i, a1) syselae) ss =) lap ae UE nies el Sn oa
INVERTEBRATE CASTS VERSUS ALG# IN PaL#ozorc STRATA. . . . 46
BioLOGY INTIAL Y. co Woh: TEND OLS cee y Renmin, Wiel may ccna th eee rag
UNIVERSITY AND EpDUCATIONALINTELLIGENCE «© ». + + + + + + 47
SCTENTIFIC SRRIAES =. 95 0 Ye 4 dais) el gs s 5 ye 47
SocigstTIEs AND ACADEMIES. . . « + - © © «© + *© © © © « 47
NATURE
49
THURSDAY, NCVEMBER 16, 1882
RECENT CHEMICAL SYNTHESES
URING the Exhibition of Scientific Apparatus
at South Kensington a few years ago one of the
employed, of which the details have been sent to us by
' Dr. Horbaczewski, is by heating urea with glycocoll at a
most interesting exhibits was the first specimen of Urea |
from Prof. Wohler.
This substance and specimen may be said to be the
; ae ||
first organic compound, or product of a living organism
built up from its mineral elementary constituents, not
certainly directly, but very nearly, by an ordinary chemical
operation.
The importance of this discuvery, made in 1828, was
not, however, recognised for many years.
and signification in a physiological sense were first per-
ceived, but its formation is the earliest and best example ~
of an action that plays an important part, and is probably
the most interesting question in modern organic che-
mistry, namely, what the Germans call the “ Umlagerung”
of the atoms in a molecule or “ intermolecular change.”
Urea was obtained by Wohler by simply heating the |
compound ammonium cyanate, NH,CNO, in contact |
with water, whereby the arrangement of the atoms is so
changed that the two nitrogen atoms become directly
combined to hydrogen and only indirectly to the oxygen
as shown in the chemical formula :
\NH,
So long ago as 1773 this substance was discovered as a
constituent of urine, and since then its importance as a
final stage in the retrogressive metamorphosis of the
animal tissues, or of albumenoids, has been pretty fully
worked out and recognised.
Although albumin has not yet been directly oxidised to
urea in the laboratory, the descent takes place in the
animal economy through several stages, as for instance,
Its importance |
tyrosin, kreatin, xanthin, allantoin, uric acid, &c., probably
by a simultaneous oxidation and hydration, or even re-
duction.
Several of these intermediate substances yield, |
however, urea as a direct product of oxidation not only |
when taken into the organism but when submitted to
ordinary oxidising agents. Even substances like aspara-
gine, leucine, and glycine, which are very near to albumin
as products of retrogressive metamorphosis, may be con-
sidered as preliminary stages in the splitting up and
oxidation of the tissue substance into more simple com-
pounds until a truly 7zeva/ character is arrived at.
Although urea was synthesized from its mineral elements
so long ago, it has until quite recently contributed com-
paratively little to the syntheses of the more complex
members of the class of bodies of which it is almost the
final oxidation product. A great number of bodies have,
however, been derived from urea by substitution. Pro-
bably the most important synthesis obtained by the aid
of this body since Wéhler prepared it from its mineral
constituents, is the one just announced as having been
made by Dr. Horbaczewski in the Vienna Chemical
Institute.
This chemist has succeeded in proceeding a step back-
wards from urea to uric or lithic acid. The method
VOL. XXVII.—No. 681
temperature of 200°-230° C. in a metallic bath until the
mass fuses and becomes brown and friable.
Glycoco!l is amido acetic acid, CH,. NH,. COOH, and
the reaction which takes place may perhaps be repre-
sented :—
CON H? + (CH, N Hy COOH),=C,N,H,O,+-OH +H,
2
The action as represented by this equation indicating
conditions the reverse of those supposed to exist when
uric acid is converted to urea. As to the structure of the
group C;H,N,O, the simplest view is that of Medicus—
It is somewhat remarkable that this reaction and synthesis
has not been attempted or attained earlier, for the con-
verse reaction, represented by the equation—
| C;H,N,O, + 50H, = CH,.NH,. COOH + 3CO,+3NH,
has been known for a considerable time.
The same two substances have previously served as
materials for an important synthesis, namely, that of
hydantoin or hydantoic acid (Ber. Ber., p. 36).
This synthesis is mostly important as giving a step
| backwards towards that very complicated atomic group
termed albumen.
‘That this will eventually be arrived at is exceedingly
probable, and in the near future, for an even more com-
plicated substance than uric acid has also been built up
and its structure or intermolecular constitution settled
very conclusively by the method of synthesis employed
by Erlenmeyer and Lipp. This substance is tyrosine, a
product of the decomposition of albumen in the animal
system, and also by putrefactive decomposition and by
heating with alkalies or acids.
The method is somewhat more complicated than the
one employed by Dr. Horbaczewski. Starting with phen-
ethyl-aldehyde they proceeded by conversion into phenyl-
alanin and nitration to the amide compound—
GH Mee
6 4\.CH,—CH(NH,). COOH
paranitrophenylalanine, a substance very similar, as will
be seen on comparison of formulz in its nature to the
amido acetic acid or glycocoll employed in the uric acid
synthesis. On treating this body with nitrous acid the
following reaction takes place :—
NH, + NO?H
COOH Sah Gap as
CeHicy, : CH. NH).
4OH
+ CoHs\CH,. CH ..NH,.COOH.
According to this method of building up, tyrosine is a
para-hydroxy pheny] a alanine.
Both reactions are similar in this respect: the end is
attained by the splitting away of hydrogen from nitrogen
groups N H, partly in the form of water.
All these syntheses are really approaches to that of
albumen, and in this connection some work lately done
and published in brochure form by MM. Loew and
Bokorny of Munich gains in importance.
These investigators have proved the presence of alde-
D
50
NATURE
| Mov. 16, 1882
hyde groups in living plasma, and are of opinion that
albumen is a product of the condensation of a relatively
simply-constituted molecular group.
These simple groups are what are termed aldehydic
groups and ammonia or amide groups.
Their idea is that a group CHOH, which, however, has
not yet been isolated, combines and condenses somewhat
as shown :—
4CHOH + NH, = H,N.CH .COH
| + (OH,),
CGH, CO
‘This more complex group acting again as an independent
individual and yielding a still more complex body,
C,.H,;N.04; with expulsion of water.
H,NCH COH
| ; | |- CyoHy;0,N, + °H,0.
CH,COH
A further similar condensation under conditions where
it could take up additional hydrogen and some sulphur,
conditions easily attainable in living organisms, yield
albumen direct :—
6 « (CyoHy;N3Qy) + SH, + °H, =
CrafyMe5 « Oo + “20.
This is the formula for albumen, assuming sulphur as an
essential constituent. A simpler would be C;.Hy,yNygOo,,
and would be a direct product of such condensation.
Both in the fall of this complicated molecule through
less and less complicated groupings of atoms to the so-
called mineral groups into which they are finally resolved,
and in the so far only partial building-up process, the
peculiar aptitude of certain elementary substances to
combine into very stable groups or individuals is well
shown. Carbon and nitrogen compounds exhibit this
par excellence, but there is no reason to suppose that such
a property is confined to them alone. It may be that
the range of existence of these compounds are more
within our reach than in the case of other so-called
elements.
As elements imprint generally their most characteristic
property on the compounds they form, it is perhaps not
unreasonable to suppose that these elements whose com-
pounds we see so readily group up or polymerise, may
themselves be also, in the condition in which we take
them to be elementary, in a state of great atomic
complexity.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF INDIA
The Butterflies of India, Burmah, an@ Ceylon. A de-
scriptive Handbook of all the known Species of
Rhopalocerous Lepidoptera inhabiting that Region,
with Notices of Allied Species occurring in the Neigh-
bouring Countries along the Border ; with Numerous
Illustrations. By Major G. F. L. Marshall, R.E., and
L, de Nicéville. Part I. Royal 8vo. (Calcutta, 1882.)
“T°HE first part of this anxiously-expected book, by
Major Marshall and Mr. de Nicéville, has just
arrived, and will, I am sure, be gladly welcomed, not
only by the naturalists zz esse of Europe, but by a great
number of naturalists 7 fosse of our Indian Empire.
For though, thanks to the labours of Hodgson, Blyth,
Jerdon, Hume, Blanford, Godwin-Austen, Day, Theo-
bald, and many others, we have excellent handbooks,
and a very fairly complete knowledge of the mammals,
birds, reptiles, fishes, and land shells of India, we have
absolutely nothing to assist the entomologist or collector
in identifying and studying the lepidoptera. How many
weary hours of hot weather on the plains, how many
dreary evenings in camp, and tedious marches in moun-
tains and forests will be made interesting and profitable
by this book no one but residents in India have any idea,
but I feel sure that its appearance will give such an im-
pulse to the collection and study of the lepidoptera of
India that in ten years we shall have as many working
entomologists in India as we have had ornithologists,
since the publication of Jerdon’s Birds of India.
Considering the magnitude of the work, and the many
risks and chances of life in India, it is specially fortunate
that the work has been undertaken by two gentlemen, of
whom one is already known as an ornithologist of repute,
and both of whom have excellent opportunities for
bringing together the immense amount of material neces-
sary to bring the work to a conclusion.
The little we know at present of the butterflies of India
is gathered from the scattered descriptions of Indian
species by old authors and from the numerous papers
and descriptions in various publications by a few modern
entomologists, of whom Mr. F. Moore holds by far the
most distinguished place. Unfortunately, however, many
of these papers are of a bare and misleading character,
and so far from making the work of discriminating the
species easier, only confuse it.
The carelessness which has been shown by some
writers about the habitat and distribution of species, and
about their allied forms, is deplorable in many ways, and
shows an entire want of appreciation of the physical
geography of India, and of the vastly different zoologi-
cal regions which it includes ; but new light is sure to be
thrown on the subject by men who understand and appre-
ciate these facts, and who have personal and local know-
ledge of the country whose insects they describe. The
form of the work, which is printed and published by the
Calcutta Central Press Company, 5, Council House Street,
Calcutta, is a large octavo; both print and paper are
good, and likely to stand the hard wear to which no
doubt the work will be subjected. The price is not men-
tioned in the first part, but will no doubt depend on the
number of illustrations which are found necessary. These
are of three kinds, viz. chromolithographs, of new and
remarkable species by West, Newman, and Co., London,
of which one appears as frontispiece, and is very superior
to some illustrations of a similar character ; autotypes,
by the Autotype Company of London, of which nine are
given in the first part, illustrating dissections, typical
larvee, and pupa, and fifteen species of Danainz; these
are well executed, and suitable to their purpose, though
perhaps they will hardly be suitable to illustrate the
Lycenide, The woodcuts, by George Pearson, of which
three “are given with the text, are not quite so good, but
will serve their purpose very fairly. The illustrations are
drawn by Babu Behari Lall Dass, and Babu Cris Chun-
der Chuckerbutty, of Calcutta, under ihe superintendence
of Mr. Wood Mason, and seem to be faithful to nature,
as the drawings of good native artists generally are.
Nov. 16, 1882]
The preface and introduction show that the authors
thoroughly appreciate the difficulties before them, and are
determined to spare no pains to make their work as useful
as possible ; and though they have, from their inability to
examine the types, been obliged temporarily to adopt
many species about which they evidently have grave
doubts, yet a new edition will no doubt enable these
supposed species to be relegated to their proper position:
The authors’ opinion on this important question may be
quoted as follows :—
“With regard to species and varieties we have found it
convenient to describe where there is any room for
doubt under its own distinctive name, every form that has
been separately characterised, the question whether any
particular form represents a species or a variety of a species
can at present be decided in this country only as a matter
of conjecture ; for a knowledge of the life-history in all
its stages is essential to the authoritative settlement of
such questions; at the same time the evidently or ap-
parently allied species are carefully grouped together, and
the nature of the variety is indicated as closely as our
present knowledge will allow.”
With regard to the scope of the work we may again
quote the preface as follows : —
“This book does not attempt a life-history of each or
any of the insects. The time has not arrived for such
a work. The details required for a life-history cannot be
gathered until a knowledge of the nomenclature is far
more widely diffused. It is simply designed as a hand-
book of reference, as complete as possible in itself, for
the convenience of naturalists in the field, who have no
access to libraries. Where necessary full extracts from
the works not generally available are given, and where
possible and advisable the description of the species are
given in the words of the original describers, supple-
mented by any further details necessary to complete
them. For the genera the admirable descriptions by
Westwood in,the ‘Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera’
have been followed as closely as possible.
“The book will comprise detailed descriptions of every
genus and species known to occur within the limits of
India, British Burmah, and Ceylon, and short descrip-
tions will be added in smaller type of species from neigh-
bouring countries on the border, such as Malacca, Siam,
Yunnan, Tibet, South Turkestan, Afghanistan, and
Beluchistan, which, though not yet recorded from within
Indian limits, may very probably subsequently be found
to occur within our border.”
If the authors mean to follow out this course it is to be
hoped that their descriptions will be of a comparative and
not of a general nature. Nothing can be more laborious,
more unsatisfactory, and often more useless than wading
through long descriptions, when a few words indicating
in what character the species in question differs from its
nearest allies, are often far more useful. It is just be-
cause authors have in many cases been unwilling or un-
able to make this comparison that they have described
species without good cause, and it is frequently found
that when such comparison is attempted, the want of
distinctive characters is shown at once, whereas in a long
wordy description it may easily beconcealed. In conclu-
sion, we wish the book success and plenty of supporters,
so that it may be completed quickly, and mark the com-
mencement of a new era in Indian entomology.
H. J. ELWES
NATURE
51
OUR BOOK SHELF
Winners in Life's Race ; or the Great Backboned Family,
By Arabella Buckley, Author of Zife and her Children,
&c. With Numerous Illustrations. (London: Edward
Stanford, 1882.)
Lire, the title of Miss Buckley's thoughtful work now
before us would suggest, once it became materially
existent, went ever forward, striving after diverse fashions .
to adapt her children to the best methods of fighting and
winning. She felt her way onward in several directions, and
in several of these she attained to a fair share of perfec-
tion, from shapelessness to symmetry, from a simpleness
in structure to a wonderful differentiation thereof ; from a
mere manifestation of vitality to a high state of instinct, al-
most of intellect ; but there was to all of these a limit all too
speedily attained—and it is now plain that no arrange-
ment of epidermis, or muscle, or nerve, no alteration of
blood, or alimentary system could get the uppermost in
the struggle. It was only with the appearance of a quite
new structure—the back-bone of this volume—that Life
felt she had acquired a new power, and those of her
children who were thus endowed went on gallantly until,
Winners in the race, they were left without a rival. The
record of their humble beginning was still very incomplete
but a few years ago, and there was no clue thereto. Now
as the reader will learn in the clearest manner from
chapter I., we know of such forms as the Lancelet, and
those strange Ascidia who ‘‘once tried to be back-
boned, and yet as they grew fell back into the lap of
Invertebrates.’
Commencing with these Ascidia, this new volume of
Miss Buckley proceeds to tell of those “‘ Winners in Life’s
Race,” which are supposed to culminate in our very selves.
It does this in a way that most young people and every
fairly educated person can understand as well as with a
carefulness in detail and a caution in the statement of
facts, most pleasing and grateful to the advanced student
of Nature. Ably as this little volume is written, and
admirable as, in our mind, is the judgment shown in the
selection of details, yet it hardly comes to us with that
captivating freshness that made the author’s story of
“Life and Her Children” so welcome. Why this is so,
we can scarcely suggest ; but this record of the battle
over, of the fight won, seems to have been the result of a
more tiresome labour than the author’s previously pub-
lished records of those other legions which led on so
steadily to what was but a forlorn hope. Perhaps this is
because there is a wondrous charm surrounding the mys-
terious beginnings of life which is not felt in the same de-
gree as we approach the consideration of those beings
who would seem to be the final product of life’s genesis.
Still, nothing that we thus write about the contrast be-
tween these volumes can lead us for amoment to overlook
the fact that we know of no book in our language, which
for the general reader approaches this, as an intro-
duction to those animals (fish, reptiles, birds, and mam-
mals) to whom the victory in life’s race has been vouch-
safed. 1D 385 MiNi
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Nether can he unaertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space ts so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel jacts.]
Weather Forecasts
I AM glad that my letter on this subject has been the means
of eliciting the letter of the Rev. W. Clement Ley, printed in
your number of November 9, I have also received more than
52
NATURE
[Wov. 16, 1882
one private communication ; and by the courtesy of Mr. Scott
I have been permitted to see all the evidence received at the
Meteorological Office on the day preceding the great storm of
October 24.
The painful conclusion is forced upon my mind that some of
the difficulties which lie in the way of a surer and safer forecast
of dangerous storms might be removed by a simple increase of
expenditure upon the machinery available for meteorological |
purposes.
Mr. Ley writes: ‘‘On the whole, to the minds of many stu-
dents of the subject it will appear rather strange that the Office,
with the materials at its disposal [the italics are used by Mr. Ley]
does not more often fail to furnish satisfactory warnings of the
more serious of our gales. It is easy to say, in view of occa-
sional failures, ‘the system itself must be at fault ;’ it is still
easier to reply ‘Better it!’ If the country cares enough for
the welfare of ‘fishermen and others’ to do so, let it provide
the necessary funds for a system of night telegrams, and, if pos-
sible, for a system of oceanic stations. If it does not, it must
be content with things as they are.”
Again, a private correspondent writes to me :—‘‘ The weather
cannot be treated as though it went to bed at night and tucked
itself in under a blanket of cumulus. It upfortunately does
nothing of the kind ; and while the director and his subordinates
are quietly sleeping, atmospheric changes are going on with a
rapidity which a constant influx of telesrams must afford the
only means of meeting. Yet still in spite of all these we go on,
satished with having only ¢wo reports sent in every twenty-four
hours. The result is that every now and then a disastrous
failure such as that of Tuesday mus? occur.””
Tt must seem, therefore, that without the important assistance
of a new class of observations, dependent upon the motions of
the higher clouds, much might be done by such an extension of
an existing system as common sense seems to demand. At
present we appear to be acting upon a method somewhat parallel
to that which would be adopted upon our railways, if the com-
panies should send their signalmen to bed at 8 p.m., but with
the night-traffic all the same. Collisions of the first magnitude
would probably abound under such a system.
I write not as a meteorologist, but as a citizen. Surely if the
position of things be such as has been described, and if an im-
portant improvement in the forecasting of storms could be
ensured by the expenditure of a somewhat larger sum of public
money, there could be no difficulty in bringing the matter in
such a way under the notice of the Government as to secure the
necessary funds. H. CARLISLE
Rose Castle, November 13
The Comet
Ir may perhaps interest you to know that a most brilliant
comet has been visible here for about three weeks. I saw it for
the first time on the morning of September 29 ; at 4.40 a.m. of
that day it bore from a house on the ridge overlooking Victoria
E. } N. true (nearly), the nucleus being then about three degrees
above the horizon ; an imaginary line drawn from Rigel through
Sirius met the nucleus.
The approximate length of the tail was nearly equal to the
distance between Rigel and Betilguex, and its greatest breadth
nearly equal to the distance between the two outer stars in the
belt of Orion. The tail appeared brighter on the southern than
on the northern side.
The following particulars, which may also prove of interest,
were communicated to me by Capt. Metcalf, of the White Star
Company’s steam ship Oceanic.
** Monday, September 25—observed a large comet rise about
4.30 a.m., position at the time lat. 30° 18’ N., long. 128° 40’ E.
September 26, at 5h. 17m. a.m., apparent time at ship (Sep-
tember 25, 9h. orm. 13s. G.M.T.), altitude of comet, 7° 20’,
distance from Sirius 63° 21’, tail extending nearly in a line from
stm to Orion’s belt., lat. 27° 52’ N., long. 124° 10’E. Sep-
tember 27 (at 9h. o2m. G.M.T. September 26), comet’s distance
from Sirius 62° 32’. At 5h. 32 a.m., altitude of comet 13° 22’,
bearing true S. 80° E., lat. 25° 16’ N., long. 119° 56’ E., tail
about 7° to 8° long. Comet rose bearing S. 86° E. (true). Sep-
tember 28—distance from Sirius 61° 49’. October 3 (in the
Victoria Harbour)—distance of comet from Sirius 58° 43'.”
As the comet is still visible I may possibly be able to give
you some further information about it by next mail.
The following extract is from the China Mail of the 7th
Us eS
A Melbourne despatch, dated September 16, says—‘ The
comet is now extremely bright, being visible through the tele-
scope at noon, a circumstance unprecedented in the experience
of the officers of the observatory.”’
If it is not trespassing too much on your time I should be very
much obliged if you would kindly inform me what observations
would be useful (which could be taken by an ordinary sextant)
should we be visited by another comet.
In conclusion I may add that for the past week the weather
has been unusually hot, and although the barometer has fluc-
tuated considerably, no atmospheric aisturbance has taken place.
According to M. Dechevrens, S.J., Director of the Zi-ka-wei
Observatory, no less than éwventy typhoons visited the China and
Japan seas last year, but up to date of the present year only ¢hree
have been reported. J. P. McEwen, R.N.,
Hong Kong, October 9 Assistant Harbour Master
I THINK there must have been some mistake about Major J.
Herschel’s observation, as recorded in NATURE, vol. xxvii.
p.5- As other observers have shown, the comet appears quite
bright in moonlight. On the morning following his observation
I was perhaps as much astonished as he was, only in the opposite
direction ; for I was very much surprised to find then (the 31st
ult., at 5 a.m.), that the tail was longer than on any other occasion
when I have seen it, viz. 33°. The following observations will
also show the brightness of the comet in moonlight and twilight.
On the 26th, at 5.25 a.m., nine hours before full moon, and in
brightish twilight, the tail was visible through fog and thin cloud
toa distance of 134°. On the 2gth, at 5.37 a.m., it was fully
23° long. This morning, at 6.9 a.m., in bright twilight, it was
very faint, but still above 18°long. I think Major Herschel can-
not have looked low enough down, or his view must have been
otherwise obstructed.
The wisp, or horn, that he represents on the 23rd, was cer-
tainly a very striking feature at thattime. Though not exactly like
the drawing in vol. xxvi. p. 622, it was nevertheless very definite,
and part of it was brighter than the adjacent part of the comet
between it and the head. There appeared that morning to be
also two other knots of light, much less conspicuous—one almost
a continuation of the ‘‘horn,’’ following it, and a little further
north ; the other, in the # branch of the ‘‘ fish-tail.”
Sunderiand, November 7 T. W. BACKHOUSE
P.S. November 8.—The “horn” was this morning still a
marked feature of the comet, though much less definite than
formerly. Its origin (at the point where it begins from the
northern branch) is still brighter than the neighbouring portions
of the tail fora considerable distance in all directions. It occurs
to me that this comet offersa very favourable opportunity of
testing theories of the motions of tails; its features are so defi-
nite that if careful observations are, and have been, made of the
positions of different points, they must throw much light on the
subject. aL. Wade
ON the roth inst., at 5 a.m., the length of the nucleus was
IIo", its breadth 12”, and its position angle 112°°5. The length
seems fast increasing judging from previous measures. The
tail was still about 15° long, but the first glimpse of daylight
completely masked it. Gero, M. SEABROKE
Temple Observatory, Rugby, November 14
THE great comet was again a magnificent object in our south-
eastern sky, at 5.10 this morning. The startlingly sharp defini-
tion of October 23 had given place to a softer outline ; but the
apparent length of the tail was at least as great, and the
nucleus surprisingly bright, with a distinct scintillation, even in
comparison with two near stars. Major J. Herschel’s experience
of finding himself gazing at the comet without seeing it, ina
clear sky, differs from mine, as I have on two occasions, since
October 23, seen it perfectly visible, though wan, in bright
moonlight, and when the sky at that elevation above the horizon
was not free from haze. On October 23 I saw the strong appa-
| rent shadow spoken of by one of your correspondents, but here
| it was much blacker below the bright convex line of the tail
than between the cleft at the end of clear definition. It did not
seem to me the effect of contrast merely; but like that blackness
through which the stars shone darkly in the recent southward
display of aurora borealis. HENRY CECIL
Bregner, Bournemouth, November Ifo
Nov. 16, 1882 |
NATURE 53
Magnetic Arrangement of Clouds
THERE is a small literature on the above subject (dating back
to the time of the publica'ion of Humboldt’s Cosmos) which seems
to have escaped the attention of Mr, Romanes. He will find a large
number of observations similar to those mentioned in NATURE,
vol. xxvii. p. 31, recorded in a paper in the P/:/. Mag. for July,
1853, by Mr. W. Stevenson, of Dunse. Similar observations
have been made by Mr. Birt, Ae’. Wag. January, 1876, and by
several others in this country. M. André Poéy also deals with,
the subject at some length in his work, ‘‘ Comment on observe
les Nuages,”’ chap. iv.
Theapparent arrangement of cirri-form clouds “round two oppo-
site poles” is simply the optical effect of the parallelism of the belts
of ice-cloud, or ‘‘ cirrus-band:,” as Humboldt designated them.
These belts are coincident in direction with what were, at the
time of the formation of the clouds, lines of eqnal pressure in
that horizontal plane in which the clouds float; or, in other
words, their direction is normal to that of the atmospheric gra-
dient at the cirrus-level, Their position, and therefore that of
their vanishing points, has never been proved to have any rela-
tion to the position of the magnetic poles. It is true that in
Europe a direction coincident with the magnetic meridian is
slightly more common than a direction transverse thereto. But
this is explained hy the fact that the formation of the bands
requires somewhat steep gradients in the regions of the cirrus, and
that, with us, the steepest gradients in those regions are commonly
the north-eastward, being those which prevail in front of and
between the cyclonic disturbances at the earth’s surface, which
travel towards north-east. Thus, the best defined cirrus-bands
most commonly stretch from north-west to south-east.
A detailed explanation of the formation of the belts, which
bears some similarity to that given by Lamarck, and which is in
many, but perhaps not in all points satisfactory, will be found in
a paper by Max Moller in the ‘‘ Annalen der Hydrographie und
Maritimen Meteorologie. Organ des Hydrographischen Amtes
und der Deutschen Seewarte,’’ 1882, heft iv. pp. 212-226.
The attem) ts which have been frequently nade to apply the
terms ‘‘ polarisation,” ‘‘ polar bands,” &c , to the cirrus belts
have proved unsuccessful, and will not, it is to be hoped, be
renewed. W. CLEMENT LEY
November 11
*©A Curious Halo”
THE phenomenon described in Nature (vol. xxvi. pp. 268,
293, xxvii. p. 30) is far from being unknown in Europe, where
it generally receives the title of ‘‘ Rayons du Crépuscule” ;
although I do not think that it ever presents the brilliant appear-
ance described by Father Mare Dechevrens as noticeable ia
China. In England it is more common in the winter than in
the summer months, and does not appear to occur especially in
warm weather, although I do not know tbat it has been noticed
during frost. The furrows between the bands of light are not, so
far as I have observed, rapidly movable in the sky in England,
and they seem to be traceable to hills beneath the horizon, rather
than to cumuli. I have never noticed them where the sun sets
beneath a sea horizon. W. CLEMENT LEY
The phenomenon described by M. Dechevrens as often wit-
nessed in China, I have several times seen in this country,
namely, beams or spokes in the eastern sky about sunset, spring-
ing from a point due opposite to the sun, The appearance is
not very strongly marked, and I used to think I must have been
mistaken, till I came to see the true explanation, which was the
same as that furnished by your correspondent.
There seems no reason why the phenomenon should not be
common, and perhaps if looked out for it would be found to be.
But who looks east at sunset? Something in the same way
everybody has seen the rainbow; but the solar halo, which is
really commoner, few people, not readers of scientific works,
have ever seen at all, The appearance in question is due to
cloud-shadows in an unusual perspective and in a clear sky;
now shadow may not only be seen carried by misty, mealy,
dusty, or smoky air near the ground, but even on almost every
bright day, by seemingly clear air high overhead. Therefore, if
this sunset phenomenon is much commoner in China, there must
one would think, be some other reason for it than that the sky
of England is not heavily charged enough with vapour to carry
shadow. Rather it is too much charged, and the edge of the
shadow becomes lost with distance and with the thickening of
the air towards the horizon before the convergence of the beams
eastwards is marked enough to catch the eye.
I may remark that things common at home have sometimes
first been remarked abroad. ‘The stars in snow were first ob-
served in the polar regions ; it was thought that they only aro:e
there, but now everyone sees them with the naked eye on his
coatsleeve, GERARD Hopkins
Stonyhurst College
Priestley and Lavoisier
I AM sorry that Mr. Rodwell should have thought it necessary
to revive the old oxygen quarrel, and the more so, as he has
taken an unpatriotic part against Priestley, and indor ed the
complacent statement of Wurtz, that chemistry is a French
science founded by Lavoisier ; forgetting, perhaps, that the title,
“*La Chimie Frangaise,” was invented by Fourcroy, and objected
to by Lavoisier.
The fact is, that chemistry has no nationality. It belongs to
the universal republic of Nature, and had no proper existence
for us until Dalton discovered its laws.
In the scientific democracy, to ue Lord Bacon’s expression,
discoverers are mutually dependent, and it would perhaps be
impossible to find any o.e capable of standing alone. It has
even been charged against our great Newton that his astrono-
mical discoveries are to be found in Kepler; but, as Dr.
Whewell well remarks, it required a Newton to find them there.
That the compound is always equal to the sum of its elements,
was known long before Lavoisier, and so early as 1630 Rey gave
the true explanation of the increase of the weight of metals by
calcination. Lavoisier’s note of 1772 was, as he admitted,
based upon Priestley’s earlier experiments, begun in 1744 ; while
the acceptance of Lavoisier’s doctrine was mainly due to the
capital discovery of the composition of water by Cavendish, iu
1734.
If at this advanced period we are required to put in national
claims, then surely our own countrymen must share largely in
the honours which Mr. Rodwell reserves for Lavoisier alone.
Black, Priestley, and Cavendish are the founders of pneumatic
chemistry. Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774, Cavendi-h
discovered hydrogen in 1784, while Davy abjured La voisier’s
principe oxygene, and by his numerous discoveries gave the che-
mical edifice so rude a shake, that it had to be taken down and
rebuilt. C. TOMLINSON
Highgate, N., November 4
Wire Guns
IN the last number of NATURE there is an interesting paper
on ‘* Wire Guns,” and incidentally various methods of manu-
facturing guns is mentioned. <Afrofos of this permit me to
relate a curious fact regarding gunmaking which came under
my notice many years ago, and which supports the adage that
there is nothing new under the sun. In the autumn of 1841 Sir
H. Gough took the batteries of Chusan by a turning movement
and thus spoiled the Chinese preparations. The force captured
a large number of gans, some very fine bronze ones, but there
were also a good many smaller iron ones, and as these were of
no value they were ordered to be destroyed. The Royal Artil-
lery tried to burst these without success at first, and only after
sinking the muzzles in the ground did they succeed. {ft was
then ascertained that the reason of the extreme strength of the
gun arose from its strange manufacture. It had an inner tube
of wrought iron, over which the gun was cast, anticipating by
many years a somewhat similar plan by Palliser.
Cheltenham, November 3 Wi, EL, (©. B:
Paleolithic River Gravels
Mr. C. Evans, in NATuRE, vol. xxvii. p. 8, wishes our
anthropologists to furnish an explanation why the mortalremains
of paleeolithic man are not to be found amongst his ‘‘ so-called
* flint implements.’ ”
The question is one that naturally occurs to any one whose
practical acquaintance with anthropological ‘‘finds” is of a
limited character; and it may fairly be presumed that the
inquirer has not himself seen and handled such relics, else he
would scarce“y have imagined it within the range of possibility
that they could have been ‘‘ formed by natural causes,” by
which, I suppose, he wishes to infer that they were not made
Ty man,
54
NATURE
[ov. 16, 1882
As Iam a mere tyro myself, and therefore unbiassed in the
matter, I beg leave to state, for the benefit of any whoce
acquaintance with the subject is of only a rudimentary nature—
or less—what appears to be a reasonable explanation of the
case,
1, The implements of foremost scientific interest are probably
those which are found in the various well-known caves, in that
they retain in the highest degree all the oriyinal sharpness of
edge possible only under the slow and undisturbed circumstances
of the formation of the stalagmitic rock, or silt deposit, in which
they have become embedded above the surface of the ancient
floor, All such specimens bear clear and unmistakable testimony
to their nature and use as weapons.
2. The alternative hu iting-grounds for flint implements are
the wide-spread gravels which formed the beds and older banks
of the ancient rivers, and which have been of late so thoroughly
explored by Mr. Worthington Smith, as recorded by him in this
journal, in so many interesting and valuable communications.
Respecting these it is only natural that in some cases the speci-
mens have been subjected to much detrition ; but then a special
value attaches to them on that very account, Of the river
gravels as localities from which such evidences are obtainable it
is quite unnecessary for me to use space in emphasising the
importance of river-sides as a habitat of primitive man.
3. ‘‘The entire absence of the bones of man,” is simply due
to the rapid decomposition of the osseous frames of small-boned
animals, and the speedy annihilation of which in the case of
man—cremation and other means of disposal apart—is parti-
cularly noticeable.
Perhaps the position will be best understood by suggesting the
question, ‘Do youimagine it at all probable that you could un-
earth any trace of a single bone of one of your pedigree an-
cestors, say only your great-great-grandfather?” Ifany of you
should doubt the impossibility of such a thing, let proof be given
by employing the first grave-digger—out of ‘‘ Hamlet ”—to bring
the treasures to the light of day, and let the facts of the case be
placed on careful record.
4. Any connoisseur can at once tell by the touch of a flint
flake whether it has been worked or not, and the fracture always
bears certain signs by which the operation may be known to
have been performed.
It is somewhat remarkable that there should be any so faith-
less as to seek after signs so easily to be discerned, in opposition
to the testimony of reliable authorities ; and 7¢ zs surely time that
surrounded as we are with national museums and libraries full of
patent facts appealing to all who cannot work for themselves,
we should cease to throw discredit upon the evidence of many
careful observers and honourable truth-seekers.
Highbury Wo. WHITE
Your correspondent, Mr. C. Evans, raises the question, in
your issue of November 2, whether the peculiarly-cbipped flint
found in the palzolithic gravels, and accepted as the work of
man, may not be the result of natural causes.
Mr. Evans mentions ‘‘ the presence of bones of recent and ex-
tinct Mammalia.” If your correspondent has clear evidence of
the presence of bones of vecez¢ mammalia with the chipped flints
that evidence would prove that the flints in question have not
been so chipped by Paleolithic man, but are either nature’s work,
or the product of man of more recent times, and the gravels in
such case should not be called Palzolithic gravels.
St. John’s Wood, November 7 T. KARR CALLARD
Aurora
A MAGNIFICENT aurora was observed here last night. I first
detected quivering sheaves on the northern horizon about 5.40
G.M.T. About 5.47 a dull indigo base, on or against which
**sheaves” and ‘‘streamers”’ were playing with great beauty,
was noted, surmounted by an arch of light. Soon afterwards,
sharply-defined ‘‘ spines” and ‘‘spikes” of great brilliancy and
in patches became developed, followed by five great tongues of
light stretching towards the zenith. I especially noted streamers
reaching towards Vega, and passing over Mizar in Ursa Major,
and some of exceptional brilliancy to north-north-east. At 6.50
irregular horizontal belts of a dull indigo tint, alternated with
horizontal tongues of light, the streamers having generally dis-
appeared, except to north-north-east. At 8.6 p.m. a low indigo
belt, surmounted by a bright golden band, fringed the horizon,
o’ertopped again by belts of paler tints respectively, while 32-
tached brilliant streamers shot up fitfully towards Cassiopeia.
At If p.m. auroral lights were still seen.
To-day I intend to examine the sun’s disc, and expect to see
signs of disturbance,
Fort William, November 14 CLEMENT L. WRAGGE
A Dredging Implement
I wAs much interested in reading, in the last number of
Nature, Prof. Milnes Marshall’s account of his successful trial
of a new dredging implement.
A few summers ago I constructed and used in Lamlash Bay,
Arran, a somewhat similar machine, suggested, like Prof.
Marshall’s, by the Philippine Islander’s dredge used in the
Euplectella fishery. My implement was a rough copy of one
brought from Cebu which I had seen at the Challenger office in
Edinburgh, It had two slight wooden bars, 5 or 6 feet each in
length, meeting at about a right angle to form the front of the
apparatus, and having several cross-pieces connecting them
further back. I attached large fish-hooks, not to cords hanging
from the frame, as in Prof. Marshall’s instrument, but to the
long bars themselves (as in the Philippine Islanders’ machine),
and al-o to the cross-pieces. One weight was tied to a cross-
piece near the centre of the frame-work, and a second was
attached to the rope a few feet from the front of the instrument,
so as to make the pull more horizontal, and so prevent the front
end from tilting upwards.
The apparatus worked well and brought up quantities of
Hydroids and Polyzoa; but as I was not dredging for Giant
Pennatulids, afrer a few trials I gave it up and returned to the
ordinary naturalist’s dredge. In one case, however, I found my
fish-hook apparatus serviceable. I wished to search a remarkably
sea-weedy region, in a few fathoms of water, chiefly for Ascidians
attached to the sea-weeds. The ordinary dredge I found almost
invariably soon after reaching the bottom, got foul of a large
Laminaria or some other Algz, which stretched across the
mouth and prevented anything entering. The frame-work with
hooks, on the other hand, always brought up encrmous masses
of stuff, in many cases dragging the Laminaria up by the
“roots,” and hoisting also sometimes stones and shells to which
the Algze were attached; and on which were very frequently the
Ascidians I was in quest of.
I should think this kind of apparatus would be most useful for
obtaining Algz on rocky ground, and its value in dredging
Pennatulids is sufficiently shown by Prof, Marshall’s experience
at Oban. W. A. HERDMAN
University College, Liverpool
Forged Irish Antiquities
Up to the present we have had little reason to complain of
forgeries among Irish antiquities. Shams have frequently been
offered for sale, but they could scarcely be called forgeries, as
they were so unlike genuine articles that persons of ordinary
experience could scarcely be deceived by them, Lately, however,
some very clever imitations have come under my notice. The
objects imitated are those known as oval tool-stones, which were
formerly very rare but are now offered in lots of two or three
together. I believe the fabricated articles are produced some-
where about the Giant’s Causeway, the ordinary black shore
pebbles being used for the purpose. W. J. KNOWLES
Flixton Place, Ballymena, November 11
THE NEW NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Saye our previous notice of the great building which
has been erected at South Kensington for the recep-
tion of the Natural History Collections of the British
Museum (NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 549, April 14, 1881),
eighteen months have elapsed, and during that period
great progress has been made in the transfer and arrange-
ment of specimens. It may not be uninteresting to the
| readers of NATURE to receive some information con-
cerning the present condition of affairs and the prospec-
tive arrangements in connection with the housing and
exhibition of the priceless treasures of the national
collections.
The first point which strikes a visitor at the present
time is that a serious mistake has been made in the erec-
Nov. 16, 1882 |
NATURE
a0
tion of a building with such elaborate and ornate internal
decorations for museum purposes. Now that the cases
are nearly all in position and the specimens are gradually
being arranged in them, this incongruity between the
style and objects of the building becomes more and more
apparent. On the one hand, it is clear that the form,
position, and illumination of the cases has in many
instances been sacrificed to a fear of interfering with the
general architectural effect ; and on the other hand it is
equally manifest that it will be impossible to make full
use of the floor space, and especially the best-lighted por-
tion of it, without seriously detracting from the artistic
effects designed by the architect.
Thus we find the beautiful arcade formed by a: series
of pierced wall-cases in the Coral-gallery has its effect
totally destroyed by the floor-cases, which it has been
found necessary to place along the central line ; and in
the British gallery the vistas designed by the architect
have been completely marred by the insertion of large
cases in some of the arches. Again and again we find
massive columns, beautiful in themselves perhaps, break-
ing up a line of cases, or throwing their contents into
deep shade. The peculiar tint of the terra-cotta, too, is
far from being suitable for making the objects of the
Museum stand out in relief, and this is particularly
manifest in the case of the paleontological collections,
where a great majority of the specimens have a very
similar colouring. When an attempt has been made to
remedy this by giving the walls near the objects other
tints ; it is found that such tints do not harmonize well
with the general colouring of the building. Nor is the
wisdom apparent of bringing into close proximity natural-
history objects with the conventional representations of
them adopted by architects. The crowding together, on
the same column or moulding, of representations on the
same scale of microscopic and gigantic organisms, of
inhabitants of the sea and of the land, and of the forms
of life belonging to present and those of former periods
of the earth’s history, seems to be scarcely warrantable
in a building designed for educational purposes.
Greatly as we admire the spacious hall, the grand stair-
case, the long colonnades, and the picturesque colouring of
the whole building, we cannot but feel that the adoption of
sucha semi-ecclesiastical style was a mistake. Wefearthat
in the future there will be a perpetual conflict between the
views of the keepers of the Museum-collections and those
of the architect of the building ; for the erection of cases as
they may be required in the most convenient and best-
lighted situations cannot fail to detract from the striking
and pleasing effects of the architecture.
Apart from this fundamental objection, however, we
find nothing but what is praiseworthy in the arrange-
ments which are being made to worthily exhibit to the
public these grand collections, of which such large portions
have been long buried at Bloomsbury. In a few months
the whole of them will have been removed from their old
places of exhibition (or more often of sepulture) to the
new galleries, where the space available for their arrange-
ment is so much greater. The cases in the Zoological
Galleries are now almost completed and fitted, and the
collections of osteology and shells with some of the
stuffed animals, have been already removed to their new
home—so that the public may hope to see the transfer of
the whole of the specimens completed by next spring.
The keepers of the geological, mineralogical, and
botanical collections, which are housed in the eastern
wing and annexes of the building, have had a very diffi-
cult task to perform. They were called upon to remove
these collections before the fitting of cases in the new
buildings was completed, and in consequence of this the
re-arrangement of the specimens, with the incorporation
of the valuable material long packed away in the cellars
at Bloomsbury owing to want of space, was rendered
additionally laborious and troublesome. These diffi-
culties have now, for the most part, however, been
happily overcome.
The Geological collections, in spite of their vastness
have been to a great extent arranged. The Mammalian
and Reptilian Galleries are indeed almost completed,
and much progress has been made with the Fish Gallery
and the several rooms devoted to the exhibition of the
invertebrata and the stratigraphical collections. The
trustees have been fortunate in securing the services of
such an experienced paleontologist as Mr. Etheridge to
second the energetic efforts of Dr. Woodward in this
department. By the insertion of drawings and tables,
illustrative of the structure and classification of the fossil
forms, the value of this part of the collection to students
has been greatly enhanced.
In the Mineralogical Gallery everyone must be struck
by the improvement in the cases, now that the specimens
are no longer crowded together, as was the case in the
old museum. At the end of the general gallery, and in
the adjoining pavilion, there are a number of interesting
special collections. First and foremost among these is
the unrivalled series of meteorites, which is now displayed
to much greater advantage than at Bloomsbury; with
these are collections of crystals, both artificial and
natural, of pseudomorphs and of rocks, or mineral aggre-
gates—the latter being an entirely new feature in this
department. Large specimens, illustrating the abnormal
development, the mode of association, and the economic
uses of minerals are here being arranged, and they make
avery fine display. Working mineralogists will be thank-
ful to Mr. Fletcher for his capital design of setting apart
a case, in which new acquisitions to the collection are
exhibited for awhile, before being incoporated with the
general series.
The portion of the Botanical collection available for
public exhibition is small, but Mr. Carruthers, the keeper,
has brought together a capital series of examples of all
the great divisions of the vegetable kingdom—illustrating
the dried specimens, where necessary, by drawings and
models.
There are two points, however, in connection with the
establishment concerning which the readers of NATURE
will naturally be especially desirous of information—first,
as to the facilities to be afforded to students for examin-
ing the valuable types and rare specimens in which the
collections are so rich, and secondly, with respect to the
improvements which are sought to be made in the
Museum, regarded from the point of view of an educa-
tional institution. The surest test of the efficiency of the
administration of such a museum as this will be found in
the manner in which these two great objects are attained
by its keepers.
Close days for students having been now entirely
abolished, the trustees of the Museum have provided
galleries in each of the departments where scientific
workers can pursue their studies undisturbed. We
cannot help thinking that this plan is far better than
the old one, which required original investigators to
attend on those days of the week when the public were
not admitted to the galleries—a restriction keenly felt by
busy men in this country, and more especially by
foreigners, who had perhaps come to this country with
the sole object of devoting their time to the study of our
national collections. As there are valuable reference
libraries in each of the departments, and a general library
of scientific journals for the whole establishment, the stu-
dent has much greater facilities than formerly for carrying
on his work, and nothing can exceed the courtesy with
which persons actually engaged in scientific research are
received and aided by the keepers and their assistants.
The publication of the series of well-known and
valuable scientific catalogues is still proceeding. During
the pressure of work caused by the removal of these vast
collections, the trustees of the Museum have done wisely
6
NATURE
[Vov. 16, 1882
to avail themselves of the aid of specialists from outside,
in connection with certain of the collections. Thus the
collection of the fossil foraminifera has been arranged by
Prof. T. Rupert Jones, whose catalogue of the same has
been recently published. Dr. Hinde has in the same
way dealt with the grand collection of fossil sponges ; and
his illustrated catalogue of them is now in the press.
But while the purely scientific objects of the Museum
are not being lost sight of, we are glad to find that the
greatest efforts are being directed by the keepers to the
development of the institution as a means of popular edu-
cation. In addition to the three admirable guides, pub-
lished at the low price of one penny each, other popular
works in illustration of the collection are being prepared.
Thus Mr. Fletcher has written a penny guide to the
collection of meteorites, in which he has drawn up one of
the best statements concerning the nature of these bodies,
and of the grounds on which they are so greatly valued by
scientific inquirers, that we ever remember to have read.
‘Simple in its language and mode of treatment of the
subject, this little guide is replete with the most valuable
information—information which the student of the collec-
«tion might ransack a library in vain to find.
Still more interesting is Dr. Woodward’s venture in
the same direction—an illustrated guide for the depart-
ment of Geology and Palzontology. The woodcut illus-
trations of this work are in part original, and in part
borrowed from various scientific manuals, the publishers
of which have generously granted the use of them to the
Museum authorities. By the aid of these woodcuts Dr.
Woodward is able to call attention to the chief facts con-
cerning the structure of some of the most remarkable fossils
an the collection, and the guide forms an excellent intro-
duction to the study of palzontology. At present the only
part of this guide which is illustrated by woodcuts is that
which deals with the fossil vertebrates, for these only are
as yet fully arranged; but in subsequent editions, no
doubt, Dr. Woodward will give equal attention to the
description of the most important forms, among the
invertebrates. The design is an excellent one, and there
is every promise in the present instalment of the work of
its being admirably carried out. Such work cannot fail
to be the means of diffusing in the widest possible manner
accurate notions on the subject of natural history among
the people. We hope that its circulation may be as
large as that of Prof. Oliver’s admirably illustrated guide
to Kew Gardens, which we are glad to see has passed |
through twenty-nine editions.
While on the subject of the means adopted by the
Museum authorities to make the collections a means of
diffusing correct ideas among the people, we cannot
avoid referring to Prof. Owen’s design of surrounding the
-great central hall of the building with an “ Index
Museum.”’
execution will, we fear, be attended with serious diffi-
culties. Prof. Owen proposes to devote the first of the
six recesses on the western side of the central hall to the
illustration of man, the two next to the other mammalia,
the fourth to birds, the fifth to reptiles, and the sixth to
fishes. On the other side three recesses are to be devoted
to the invertebrata, and one each to botany, mineralogy,
and geology. Few naturalists will agree with Prof. Owen
that the points which distinguish man from the rest of
the animal kingdom, are to the zoologist, of such import-
ance as to necessitate the setting apart of a division of the
Index Museum for their illustration ; andthe limited por-
tion of the available space assigned to botany and
geology will occasion much surprise. As_ structural
alterations have interfered with the use of two of these
recesses, and the lighting of some of them is far from
being satisfactory, the project may perhaps have to be
greatly modified. One of the recesses, that devoted to
the birds, has been already arranged with instructive
diagrams and well-selected specimens, and a penny guide
The idea is most praiseworthy, but its |
| tively.
to it, written by Prof. Owen in his well-known clear and
attractive style, has been published. If the design is
carried further, we hope the greatest care will be taken to
make the classification and arrangement adopted in the
Index Museum harmonise with that employed in the
several galleries, for otherwise such a museum will not
serve as an index to the great collection, but will
be a source of confusion rather than of assistance to
students.
Of the zoological collections we can say little at pre-
sent. The birds will occupy the ground floor of the
western wing of the building, and the mammals the floor
above. The osteological collections belonging to these
two departments are already arranged in the upper floor,
and form a new and most valuable feature of the
Museum. The articulated skeletons are exhibited on
the floor and in glass cases, behind which cupboards are
constructed for the reception of unarticulated skeletons.
The Pavilion contains a special series of bones, which are
reserved for purposes of study. The skeletons of whales
are to be housed in the basement of the building.
Generally we find that the convenience of the public has
been fully consulted in the arrangements of the building.
The lavatories and cloak-rooms are all that can be
desired, but we suspect that much disappointment will be
felt with regard to the refreshment department as at
present constituted. Small and inconvenient counters
are being erected on the highest story of the building,
outside the Botanical and Osteological Galleries respec-
The obstacle thus created to the ingress and
egress of visitors to those departments, and the fact that
mice will infallibly be brought to them, is enough to
ensure condemnation of sucha plan. We hope that the
trustees may yet reconsider the question, and find them-
selves able to devote to the purpose of refreshment, a
room in the building which is centrally situated, and at
the same time entirely cut off from the collections.
THE COMET
\ X ] E take the following from the Sydney Morning Herald
of September 19 :—
Mr. H. C. Russell, Government Astronomer, sends us
the following inte1esting particulars respecting the comet,
| under yesterday’s date :—
The comet discovered on the 7th has developed in
brilliance rapidly. When I first saw it on the 8th, the
nucleus was equal to a bright star of the second magni-
tude; by the 11th it was brighter than a first magnitude
star, and I was able to seeit for eight minutes after sunrise
on that day. Subsequently, the mornings were cloudy,
and I could not see the comet either then or during the
daylight, probably because of the sea haze, which is more
or less part of the N.E. wind. The comet has, however,
increased in brilliance so rapidly that Mr. Ellery was able
to see the comet at noon, and telegraphed to me to that
effect, and the air being clear it was found at once. I had
not anticipated such a wonderful increase in its light, for
now it is easily seen in the full glare of the sunshine, like
a star of the first magnitude, even when viewed without a
telescope, and it must be many times more brilliant than
Venus when at maximum. In the large telescope the
nucleus appears round and well defined, and measured
three seconds in diameter ; from it, extended on each
side, the first branches of the coma, like two little cherub
wings, and in front, the great body of the coma, forming
a brilliant and symmetrical head, and thence turning to
form the tail six minutes long. Under close scrutiny it
was evident that the coma had one or more dark bands,
curved like the outline, which made the form very inte-
resting, but the glare of the sunlight made it very trying
to the eyes. It is a splendid object, and it is to be re-
gretted that no stars can be seen by means of which to fix
Nov. 16, 1882]
NATORE
57
accurately the comet’s position ; but should the weather
continue fine, it will be possible to do this with the transit
instrument. My observations this afternoon show that
the comet was moving away from the sun again, and
should this be maintained, it will become a morning, not
an evening object. At 1.15 p.m. to-day the comet was
only 9m. 45s. west from the centre of the sun, and 7m. of
declination south ; by 5 p.m. the distance in right ascen-
sion had increased three minutes; the declination was
slightly less. Unless some rapid change in the direction
of the motion takes place before to-morrow (and now that
the comet is so near the sun this may result), the comet
will be seen without the aid of a telescope, about seven
degrees west of the sun. History tells us of wonderful
comets which outshone the sun; but it is usual to receive
these statements after liberal discount. Nevertheless the
great comet of 1843 was easily seen by spectators when
it was only 1° 23! from the sun (that is, about half the dis-
tance between the comet and sun to-day at 1 p.m.); and
at Parma the observers standing in the shade of a wall
saw the comet with a tail four or five degrees in length,
In Mexico, also, the comet was seen near the sun like a
star of the first magnitude. It is probable, therefore, that
the comet of 1843, the brightest of this century, was
brighter than the present one.
We are indebted to Mr. John Tebbutt, of the Private
Observatory, Windsor, for the following communications
respecting the comet :—
September 16.—I succeeded in obtaining pretty good
observations of the comet on the mornings of the 9th and
10th instant, but since the latter date fog and cloud have
prevented observation. The following are the positions
secured :—September 8d. 17h. 54m. 52s., R.A.=gh. 37m.
7°50s., Declination S. =o° 57’ 46’"4 ; September 9d. 17h.
49m. 45s., R.A. gh. 45m. 47°81s., Declination S. = 0° 53’
362. A third position will, of course be necessary for
the approximate determination of the orbit. In the ab-
sence, however, of such a determination it may safely be
stated that the comet is rapidly coming into conjunction
with the sun, and near its ascending node. It is not at
all improbable that the comet is passing between us and
the sun, and that in consequence its tail will be pointed
approximately towards the earth. As we do not at pre-
sent know the exact apparent track of the stranger, it
would be advisable to watch the sun’s disc at intervals
during the next few days for a possible transit, and to
look out at night for any indications of the aurora conse-
quent on a possible near approach of the earth to the
tail. It will be remembered that our passage through the
tail of the great comet of 1861 was marked by a general
exhibition of auroral phenomena. It is highly probable
that the comet will, towards the close of next week, be-
come an imposing object in the west during the evenings.
Like the recent Wells comet, this body will doubtless be
well observed with the transit circle in full sunlight.
September 18.—The extraordinary interest which at-
taches to the comet now visible will, I trust, afford a
sufficient apology for my again trespassing so soon on
your valuable space. Supposing, from the rapid increase
in the brilliancy of the comet that it would probably be
seen in full daylight, I turned my attention to the im-
mediate neighbourhood of the sun about 1oh. a.m. yester-
day. lat once found the comet without a telescope; it
was visible about four or five degrees west of that
luminary as a brilliant white dagger-like object. The
head was beautifully distinct, and the tail could be
readily traced for about twenty minutes of arc. I
succeeded in obtaining eleven absolute determina-
tions of position with the equatorial, the approximate
right ascension and declination of the last observation,
1th. 25m. a.m., being respectively 1th. 22m. and 1° 10’
north. I attempted to observe with the transit instru-
ment. The comet entered the field of the telescope and
was at once bisected by the declination wire; but, un-
fortunately, just before it reached the first transit wire it
was obscured by a passing cloud and remained so till just
previously to its quitting the field, when it was still found
to be bisected. I trust the Melbourne observers will not
fail to avail themselves of every opportunity to observe
with the transit circle. If my memory serves me well I
believe the history of astronomy does not furnish any
previous instance of a comet being seen near the
sun with the unassisted eye since the appearance of
the extraordinary and well-known comet of 1843. That
body was seenat 3h. 6m. p.m. at Portland, U.S., by a Mr.
Clark, and consequently in full sunlight, and its distance
from the sun measured by him with an ordinary sextant.
The present comet was still plainly to be seen without the
telescope at 5h. p.m. yesterday. To-day it will probably be
too nearly in a line with the sun to be seen ; but on Tuesday
and Wednesday it will, I think, again be visible. In the
absence of any calculation I will here venture to offer one
ortwo remarks. The comet appears, from a rough inspec-
tion of its apparent path, to be moving in a track some-
what resembling that which would be followed at this
time of the year by the great comet of 1843 on its way to
perihelion, and it is a significant fact that the earth is
to-day almost exactly on the line of the comet’s nodes,
and on the ascending side of the sun. At Greenwich
mean noon to-day the longitude of the earth will be 3554°,
while that of the ascending node of the great comet of
1843 is about 358°. It will be remembered that at the
time of the appearance of the great comet of 7880 the
parabolic elements of that body were found to be almost
precisely those of the great comet of 1843 (see my paper
read before the Royal Society of New South Wales in
July, 1880)—and it was therefore considered that the two
bodies were identical. It will be remembered, too, that
at a discussion at one of the Royal Astronomical Society’s
meetings it was suggested that although the period
between the returns of the comet in 1843 and 1880 was
37 years, the time of revolution might be greatly
shortened by the comet’s passage through the sun’s
coronal atmosphere. The question therefore arises—Is
the appearance of the present comet a return of the same
body? Should the comet make its appearance in the
west after sunset, it is quite certain that it cannot be
identical with that of 1843 and 1880; but if it should now
rapidly revolve round the sun, and make its appearance
again west of that luminary, it must certainly be a comet
of very small perihelion distance. Whether it is the comet
of 1843 and 1880 time alone will decide. I daresay your
readers will callto mind the speculation of Mr. Proctor
on the probable return of the comet of 1843 and 1880.
P.S.—At 11h. 35m. a.m. to-day (September 18) I again
detected the comet with the unassisted eye. It was then
about three-quarters of a degree west of the sun’s west-
ern limb, and apparently moving west. In this case the
comet in a few days must be again looked for in the
morning sky.
The Herald writes:—The comet discovered on the 7th
instant has increased so greatly in brilliancy that it can
be discerned in daylight with the naked eye. The fact
was discovered by Mr. Ellery, Government Astronomer
in Melbourne, at noon, and by him co nmunicated to Mr.
Russell; but the unusual phenomenon was observed by
Mr. Tebbutt, of the private observatory, Windsor, at
about to o'clock. The authorities seem to agree that the
history of astronomy does not furnish any previous
instance of a comet being seen near the sun, as this is,
since the extraordinary and well-known visitant of 1843.
It is probable, Mr. Russell states, that the comet may be
seen about seven degrees west of the sun, from which
luminary it is apparently, however, moving away ; and,
should this movement be maintained, it will become a
morning and not an evening object.
So far the Sydney journal.
We are indebted to Sir H. Lefroy for an extract from
58
NATURE
[Mov. 16, 1882
the Eastern Star, published at Grahamstown, Cape
Colony, in which Mr. L, A. Eddie, F.R.A.S., draws atten-
tion to the duplication of the nucleus which appears to
have been first remarked at the Royal Observatory, Cape
of Good Hope, on September 30, and on the same date
in the United States: a day or so later European obser-
vers very generally perceived it. On the morning of
September 24, at 4h. 30m., Mr. Eddie, says: “ A most
glorious sight presented itself. The head of the comet
had not yet risen, but a broad belt of golden light, about
two degrees in breadth, streamed upwards from the hori-
zon to about ten degrees ; and from the northern margin
of this again, a thin streak of less brilliant light extended
upwards to about another twelve degrees, and when the
head had fully risen above the horizon at 4h. 43m. a.m.,
there were about twenty-five degrees in length of intensely
luminous matter, stretching upwards from a still more
luminous head, and inclined to the horizon at an angle of
70°. , . . The head appeared as before, to consist of an
apparently very solid though not very large nucleus, sur-
rounded by a dense coma of no great extent, especially
preceding the nucleus, and possessing no dark intervals,
&c.’? The weather prevented further observation at
Grahamstown till the morning of October 3, when, on
directing his 9}-inch Calver upon the nucleus, Mr. Eddie
saw not one round planetary disc, as he had last seen it,
but “two distinct ellipsoidal nuclei in juxtaposition, each
of them brighter on the interior edge, and drawn out, as
it were, towards the comet’s ulterior boundary, so that
their conjugate axes were about double the transverse.
They closely resembled, in the inverting telescope, the
flames of two candles placed the one above the other, so
that the uppermost part of the lower flame almost over-
lapped the lower portion of the other. There was a dark
rift the breadth of the transverse axes of these nuclei,
extending from the hindermost one into the tail. These
two nuclei were not parallel with the axis of the comet,
but the foremost was drawn, as it were, to the south, or
nearer to the direction in which the comet is moving.”
Mr. Eddie further compares the two nuclei to the double-
star a Centauri when viexed through a clo1d with a low
power. When daylight had advanced, they co 11d be seen in
the telescope perfectly free from the light of the surround-
ing coma. Onthe following morning the nuclei were dis-
tinctly divided with powers of 60and 100 on the reflector:
the preceding nucleus was larger and brighter than the
other, but both were, if anything, smaller than previously.
The Natal Mercury of October 6 describes the im-
posing spectacle which the comet presented as it rose
apparently from the Indian Ocean. The nucleus shone
with a brilliancy rivalling Sirius, or even Venus, and the
tail was slightly curved, and though, as dawn approached,
a little diminished in length, appeared more concentrated
and magnificent.
Observers who remember the great comet of 1843, as
it presented itself in the southern hemisphere, are some-
what divided in opinion as to which body to give the
palm on the score of brilliancy, though most of them
appear inclined to favour the former. The Emperor of
Brazil, who observed the comet of 1843 close to the sun
on February 28, ani on the following evenings, considers
it was not so remarkable for the brightness of the nucleus
as the present comet, but that the tail had a much greater
extent.
At Santiago, Chile, the comet was visible on September
17, some minutes before sunrise, and on the next
morning could be followed until 11h. 30m. with the
greatest facility without the telescope ; part of the tail
near the nucleus was also visible, the northern border
being much brighter than the other. On September 20,
though the light of the comet had somewhat diminished,
it was seen with the naked eye till 1oh. 30m. M. Niesten,
Chief of the Belgian expedition for the observation of
the transit of Venus, observed the comet in Chile: he
found the length of the tail (northern branch) 25° on
September 22, and 22° on the following morning.
By the kindness of the Astronomer Royal, we learn that
the comet was observed on the meridian at Melbourne on
September 15, 16, and 17 civil reckoning; equatorial
observations commenced on the morning of September
10: Mr. John Tebbutt observed the comet the previous
morning at his private observatory, Windsor, N.S.W.
The Melbourne meridian observations will be of great
value in the determination of the elements of the orbit
prior to the comet’s rush through the solar coronal
region, the last one having been made only fifteen hours
before the perihelion passage.
Subjoined is an ephemeris of the comet for 18h. M.T,
at Greenwich. It will be seen that it is now well obser-
vable on the meridian.
Distance from
Fight Ascension. Declination. Earth. aa
Inept S. F ‘ ‘
Noy. 16.--. 925 58 &.-—125 351... 1406)... MEG8e
TSO RSIM2h) --, eeee Ses Ones
20). ONO 40)9..ni 2010305 ee SOON, pa mn fOz
22). 2 OMULGAS ecygee20 40-4 a.
QA cen ORS 5 kes 27 7:0) 5.5 Ts5 10... ross
AAD) saoh i Tee SGP ATS). 530
28)... S555 47 2. = 26 81 4s2N... ESTA”... cQ00
The latest investigations on the motion of this comet
tend to indicate, contrary to the expectation that was at
first entertained by many astronomers, that it is not
identical either with the great comet of 1843, nor with
that which appeared with so great a resemblance in the
elements of the orbit in 1880. Calculations by Messrs.
Chandler, Wendell, and Hind, are so far in accord upon
this point.
RECENT DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
LECTRICAL inventions of innumerable kinds have
of late followed one another with bewildering
rapidity; and the impetus to invention afforded by the
present development of electric lighting, and by recent
electrical exhibitions, is making itself felt in many ways.
Most important, perhaps, of these is the production of
improved types of machines for generating electric cur-
Z
#ug7
Le Z
—S S ~-&
SRS
SSS
S
‘
At £
3 i
Fic. 1.—Sir W. Thomson’s Roller Dynamo.
rents. Dynamo-electric machines, in fact, appear to be
undergoing the same kind of evolution which the steam-
engine has undergone; and just at present the tendency
appears to be in the direction of producing larger and
heavier machines than heretofore.
The readers of NATURE will be familiar with the de-
scription of Edison’s large steam-dynamo, which first
made its appearance in Paris in 1881, and of which two
examples are now at work in the Edison installation at
Holborn Viaduct. These monster dynamos, each requir-
Nov. 16, 1882]
NATURE
ing from 120 to 150 horse-power to drive it, are capable
of lighting from 1000 to 1300 incandescent electric lamps.
Six such machines have been also erected in New York
to supply the central station of the Edison Light Com-
Fics. 2-5.—Sir W, Thomson’s Disk-Dynamo
pany. Here the unexpected difficulty has arisen that if
one of the machines drops in speed the currents from the
other machines short-circuit themselves through the one,
and overpower the steam-engine that is driving it ; a fault
59
| which \. ill probably be remedied by a rearrangement of
the governors supplying the steam to the engines.
New forms of dynamo-electric machine have been
designed by Sir William Thomson, some of these being
for direct currents, others for alternate, but all of them of
peculiar construction. The first of them, shown in Fig. 1,
may be described as a modification of Siemens’ well-known
machine, the drum-armature being, however, made up like
a hollow barrel, of which BB is a sectional view, the sepa-
rate staves being copper conductors insulated from one
another. They resemble the longitudinal bars used by
Siemens in the armatures of his electro-plating machines,
and by Edison in his steam-dynamo. At one end of the
hollow drum these copper bars are united to each other in
pairs, each to the one opposite it. At the other end their pro-
longations serve as commutator bars. A similar mode of
connecting to that adopted by Edison, is also possible.
Inside this hollow drum armature is an internal stationary
electro-magnet, KM’K, whose poles face those of the
external field magnets. This internal magnet answers
the purpose of intensifying the magnetic field, and making
the magnetic system a “closed” one, as suggested long
before by Lord Elphinstone and Mr. Vincent. This
hollow armature Sir W. Thomson proposes to support on
external antifriction rollers A A’ CC’, the lower pair AA
being of non-conducting material, the upper pair being
made up of conical cups of copper split radially, and
serving, instead of the usual commutator “ brushes” to
lead away the current. The hollow armature may be
driven either by the tangential force of one of the
bearing rollers, or by an aale fixed into the closed end
of it.
Another machine devised by Sir W. Thomson, and illus-
Fic. 6.—Elevation of Gordon’s Dynamo, showing the rotating coils. The “taking-off” coi s are shown in the top right hendc rn >.
trated in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, is a disk-dynamo for generating
alternate currents, and is therefore allied in certain aspects
to Mr. Gordon’s machine, described below. The rotating
armature has no iron in it ; it consists of a disk of wood
having upon its sides projecting wooden teeth, as shown
in Figs. 2 and 3, between which a wire or strip of copper
is bent backwards and forwards, and finally carried to
the axle B. This disk is rotated between field-magnets
60
NATURE
[WVov. 16, 1882
having poles set alternately all round a circular frame.
Figs. 4 and 5 show how this is carried out. A cast-iron
ring having projecting iron pieces screwed into it is sur-
rounded by zig-zag conductors which carry into it the
current from a separate exciter. These currents pass up
and down between the projecting cheeks, and excite
those on both sides of them.
A still more recent, and still larger generator, is that de-
signed by Mr. J. E. H. Gordon, whose “ Physical Treatise
on Electricity and Magnetism”’ is known to most of our
readers. This machine, which is given in elevation in Fig. 6,
and in end-elevation in Fig. 7, is more than 9 feet in height,
and weighs 18 tons. It possesses several points of interest.
The rotating armature differs from those of the well-known
Gramme or Siemens’ armatures, being in form a dsc,
constructed of boiler-plate, upon which the coils are
carried. The machine, therefore, resembles in some
respects the Siemens’ alternate-current machine, though
there are notable points of difference, the most important
——
Gordon’s Dynamo.
being, that whereas in most dynamo-machines the in-
ducing field-magnets are fixed, and the induced coils
rotating, in Mr. Gordon’s new machine the rotating coils
are those which act inductively upon the fixed coils
between which they revolve. The machine furnishes
alternate currents, and therefore requires separate exciters.
These exciters, two Biirgin machines, send currents which
enter and leave the revolving armature by brushes press-
ing upon rings of phosphor bronze placed upon the axis
at either side. There are 64 coils upon the rotating
disc, and double that number upon the fixed frame-
work. These 128 “taking-off” coils, the form of which
is shown in Fig. 8, are alternately connected to two
circuits, there being 32 groups in parallel arc, each
parallel containing 4 coils in series; thus bringing the
total electromotive force to 105 volts when the machine is
driven at 140 revolutions per minute. At this speed it
actuates 1300 Swan lamps, but is calculated to actuate |
from 5000 to 7000 if the driving power is proportionately
increased, The machine is now in operation at the
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company’s
Works, East Greenwich.
A great deal has been said in certain quarters of late
about another new dynamo, the invention of Mr.
Ferranti, which, with one of those unscientific exag-
gerations which cannot be too strongly condemned, was
pronounced to have an efficiency five times as great as
that of existing dynamos. The construction of this ma-
chine has not yet been made known, but it is understood
that it has no iron in the rotating armature. This is,
however, no novelty in dynamos. It appears, also, that
Mr. Ferranti has invented an alternate-current machine
almost identical with that of Sir William Thomson
described above.
Lastly, M. Gravier claims to have designed a form of
dynamo in which there are neither commutators nor
separate exciters, but in which continuous currents of
electricity are produced in stationary coils by the passage
near them of a rotating series of iron bars whose mag-
Fic. 8.—The Fixed Coils of Gordon’s Dynamo.
netism is changed, during their passage, by the reaction
of the cores of the stationary coils themselves. M. Gravier
has also designed a machine in which a Gramme-ring is
wound with two sets of coils, a primary and a secondary,
each set having its own commutator on opposite ends of
the axis. A current from a separate exciting machine
passes into the primary coils of the ring by one pair of
brushes, and the secondary current is taken off by a
second pair of brushes at the other commutator placed at
right angles to the first pair. We are not aware that any
practical machine thus constructed has yet been shown
in action.
It is certain that there is yet abundant room for great
improvement in the construction of dynamo-electric
machines. But the inducements to improvement at the
present time are so great that rapid progress toward the
desired goal of perfect efficiency and simplicity of structure
is more than assured.
THE PROJECTION PRAXINOSCOPE
GASTON TISSANDIER describes in La Nature
* an ingenious adaptation of the praxinoscope, under
the above name, by means of which the images are pro-
jected on a screen, and are visible to a large assembly.
Nov. 16, 1882 |
NATURE
61
Our engraving will give an idea‘of the arrangement and
the effect produced. By a modification of the “lampa-
scope,” M. Reynaud, the inventor, obtains by means of
an ordinary lamp, at once the projection of the scene or
background—by the object-glass which is seen at the side
of the lantern—and of the subject, by another object-
glass which is shown in front of and alittle above the same
Jantern,
subject are drawn and coloured on glass, and are con-
nected in a continuous band by means of any suit-
able material. One of these flexible bands is placed in
the wide crown of the praxinoscope, which is pierced
with openings corresponding to the phases of the subject.
To understand the course of the luminous rays which go
to form the image, it is necessary to bear in mind the
For this, the positions or phases which form a | condensing lens which, placed near the flame of the lamp,
“i LWA
Daly
M. Reynauc’s new projection-praxinoscope.
is not visible in the figure ; then a plane mirror inclined
45°, which reflects the rays and causes them to traverse
the figures filling the openings of the crown. These rays,
reflected once more by the facets of the prism of mirrors,
finally enter the object-glass, which transforms the verti-
cal central image into a real image magnified on the
screen. In making the two parts of the apparatus con-
verge slightly, the animated subject is brought into the
middle of the background, where it then appears to
gambol. A hand-lever on the foot of the instrument
allows a moderate and regular rotation to be communi-
cated. This apparatus, with an ordinary moderator lamp,
supplies well-lighted pictures and curious effects. It
enables us to obtain, with the greatest ease, animated
projections, without requiring any special source of light,
by simply utilising the lamp in daily use.
NOTES
We take the following from the 7imes :—The council of the
Royal Society have awarded the medals in their gift for the
present year as follows: The Copley Medal to Prof. Cayley,
F.R.S., for his researches in pure mathematics ; the Rumford |
Medal to Capt. Abney, F.R.S., for his photographic researches
and his discovery of the method of photographing the less
refrangible part of the spectrum, especially the infra-red region ;
a royal medal to Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., for his contribu-
tions to the morphology and classification of the mammalia and
to anthropology ; and a royal medal to Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S.,
for his papers in mathematical and experimental physics; the
Davy Medal (in duplicate) to D. Mendelejeff and Lothar Meyer
for their discovery of the periodic relations of the atomic weights.
These medals will be presented at the anniversary meeting of
the society on St. Andrew’s Day.
THE President and Council of the Geological Society hold a
| conversazione in the Society’s rooms on Wednesday, the 29th
inst. Fellows of the Society who have objects of interest suitable
for exhibition are asked kindly to lend them for the occasion,
Ir is announced that General Pitt Rivers will be appointed
Inspector of Ancient Monuments under the recent Act.
WE announced last week the death, at the age of sixty-
six years, of Prof. Johannes Theodor Reinhardt, Inspector
of the Zoological Museum of the University of Copen-
hagen. Prof, Reinhardt was a well-known zoologist, author
of an excellent memoir on the Birds of the Campos of
Brazil, and of numerous papers in the scientific periodicals of
Copenhagen, and will be regretted by many friends and corre-
spondents in this country.
Ar the sitting of the Paris Academy of Sciences on November
13, M. Faye read letters from the captain of the Miger, French
62
NATURE
[Vov. 16, 1882
war steamer, on the comet, stating that it was seen at Buenos
Ayres, in the streets, on November 18, in close vicinity to the
sun, and that the tail was seen for the first time on board the
JV'ger on September 26. The expanse of the tail was then 28°,
and its transversal dimension 26°. The quantity of light was so
great that when the end of the tail began to become visible the
officers and sailors witnessing the phenomenon were quite unable
to understand the real nature of this splendid illumination,
Mr. B. J. Hopkins, of Dalston, sends us a drawing of the
head of the comet, which he saw on November 8, 16h. 50m.
Viewed with the naked eye, Mr. Hopkins states, the nucleus
appeared equal to a second-magnitude star; the tail was dis-
tinctly visible, having a length of about 19°; it was straight fcr
four-fifths its length ; it then abruptly curved upwards and spread
itself out in the shape of a fan, with a breadth of 4°. It was
still brightest on the southern side. Observing at 17h. 30m. the
nucleus—as seen with a 5-inch refractor—had the appearance of
being double, there being two portions of equal brightness
separated by a narrow space of less brightness, the whole being
surrounded by a circular nebulosity. The line joining the two
brigkt portions of the nucleus formed an angle with the axis of
the tail; and the tail immediately following the nucleus was
most clearly and sharply divided into two portions of unequal
brightness, the southern, as before mentioned, being by far the
most brilliant. The dark rift in the tail was not so conspicuous
as on the 5th inst.
M. TRESCA presented to the Academy of Sciences on
Monday the third part of his great work on measures
taken during the Paris Electrical Exhibition. It relates to the
analysis of electric candles, and will be followed by a similar
work on incandescent lights. M. Mascart sent a paper on mea-
sures taken with the registering electrometer in compliance with
the wish expressed by Sir William Thomson to test the relations
of the state of the weather and the electrical properties of the
air.
AT the same meeting M. Janssen read in the name of the
Bureau des Longitudes a report on the observations which will be
made during the total eclipse of the sun of May 6, 1883, which
will be observed in the Pacific Ocean. He also read a paper
on his work on solar spectroscopy, and on the observation
of telluric rays. Admiral Mouchez read a letter from M.
Henry, who has been sent to the Pic-du-Midi to observe the
forthcoming transit of Venus and determine the possibility of
establishing an astronomical observatory on the top of the
mountain.
THE French Journal Offciel has published a decree of the
President establishing a council for the Observatory of Mentone.
Weare informed that the contract for the construction and
erection of the Forth Bridge has been let to Sir Thomas Tan-
cred, Bart., Mr. J. H. Falkiner, and Mr. Joseph Phillips, Civil
Engineers and Contractors, of Westminster, and Messrs. Arrol
and Co. of the Dalmarnock Iron Works, Glasgow. Messrs.
Tancred and Falkiner have already carried out about seventy
miles of railway for Mr. Fowler, and are at present constructing
the new line to Southampton. Mr. Phillips has had a very wide
practical experience in bridge construction and erection, and
Messrs, Arrol and Co, are contractors for the new Tay Bridge,
so the works arein good hands. The contract sum is 1,600, 000/.,
which is within 5000/, of the engineer’s parliamentary estimate.
The tenders received ranged from 1,485,000/. to 2,300,000/.,
most of the leading firms being represented.
AT the annual general meeting of the Cambridge Philoscphica]
Society, a resolution recording the deep regret of the Society at
the lamentable event which deprived them of their late president,
Prof. F. M. Balfour, was carried unanimously, and a letter ex-
pre-sive of their feelings was directed to be sent to Mrs, Henry
Sidgwick (Prof. Balfour’s sister). The officers for the ensuing
year were appointed as follows:—President, Mr. J. W. L.
Glaisher, F.R.S, ; Vice-Presidents ; Profs. Babington, Newton, .
and Cayley; Treasurer, Dr. Pearson; Secretaries: Mr. J. W.
Clark, Mr, Trotter, and Mr, W. M, Hicks; new Members of
Council; Dr, Campion, Mr, E, Hill, and Mr. J. N. Langley.
WitH regard to the recent sad suicide of a girl by leaping
fron one of the towers of Notre Dame, Dr. Bionardeli’s ex-
pre-sed view that asphyxiation in the rapid fall may have been
the cause of death, has given rise to some correspondence in Za
Nature, M. Bontemps points out that the depth of fall havins
been about 66 metres, the velocity acquired in the time (less than
four seconds) cannot have been so great as that sometimes
attained on railways, e.g. 33 metres per second on the line
between Chalons and Paris, where the effect should be the same ;
yet we never hear of asphyxiation of engine drivers and stokers.
He considers it desirable that the idea in question should be
exploded, as unhappy persons may be led to choose suicide by
fall from a height, under the notion that they will die before
reaching the ground. Again, M. Gossin mentions that a few
years aso a man threw himself from the top of the.Column of
July, and fell on an awning which sheltered workmen at the
pedestal; he suffered only a few slight contusions. M. Remy
says he has often seen an Englishman leap from a height of
31 metres (say 103 feet) into a deep river ; and he was shown in
1852, in the island of Oahu, by missionaries, a native who had
fallen from a verified height of more than 300 metres (say 1000
feet) His fall was broken near the end by a growth of ferns
and other plants, and he had only a few wounds. Asked as to
his sensations in falling, he said he only felt dazzled,
Dr. SLUNIN has published in Russian a work—‘ Materials
for the Knowledge of Popular Medicine in Russia ’—which will
be received with interest, not only by medical men but also by
ethnographers, Dr. Slunin gives a detailed account of all
plants and drugs used not only in Russian popular medicine ia
the governments of Saratoff and Astrakhan, which he knows
from many years’ residence, but also in all Persian, Tartar, and
Central Asian medicines (with their Arabian names) that have
come to his knowledge. His remarks on popular pharmacies
and on the popular medical literature which goes as far back as
the epoch of the flourishing times of Arabian civilisation are of
great interest.
THE Catalogue of the Reference Department of the Derby
Free Library is of a handy size and excellent type. We are told
it contains 60,000 references to works upon the library shelves ;
and, upon dipping into it, the minuteness of connection which
will lead to a reference to publications of scarcely higher stand-
ing than a newspaper, is imposing. We grieve to add, however,
that this holds good in both senses of the word. For looking
more closely we find most important references are absent. As
a sample, eight references are given to the name of Garrick, but
neither is his life by Murphy or Davies quoted, nor is any refer-
ence made to Boswell’s ‘‘ Johnson,” or Goldsmith’s Poems ; and
the extraordinary explanation of this is found in the fact that
neither of these works is in the library! And this absence of
important works seems to be the rule rather than the exception,
carried out also with the most even-handed fairness to all sub-
jects; Looking through the letter B as a sample, we find no
works of Babbage, Back, Barbauld, Barry (Sir C.), Baxter, Beale,
Baden Powell, Brewster, Barrow (Isaac or Sir Jno.), Bayne,
Beckmann, Blackie, Blackstone, Borrow, Boswell, Bowring,
Bridgewater Treatises, Browning (Mrs.), Buckmaster, Buxton,
Butler (Bp.), or Butler (S.). Among Dictionaries neither
the Penny nor the English Cyclopedia is to be found.
Nov. 16, 1882]
NATURE
63
Nor is it that a selection of certain writers has been
made, for numerous authors of many well-known works are
only credited with one or two in the Derby Library Cata-
logue. The letter B is not a specially unfortunate one.
Ancient Geography refers only to Mature and the Quarterly
Review (one reference each), Gladstone and Hugh Miller are
equally unknown. Less than a column contains all the references
to Geography, while Geology has nine columns allotted to it.
Unler Astronomy the inquirer is referred to numerous papers
where notices may be found of each of the planets and of many
of the planetoids, but only fifteen works on Astronomy are
catalogued. There is no work at all upon the Moon! More-
over, the references to works which are in this library are made
with no discretion. ‘‘ Barbarossa” does not refer the reader to
Gibbon; ‘‘Borgia” only refers him to one article—on Lucrezia —
in the Mineteenth Century | The spelling is not only unscholarly,
but the correcting of proofs is careless. It were endless to point
out the blunders everywhere ; we need only refer to the name of
Prof, Haeckel, spelt in four different ways upon pp. 41, 42 only!
If some little town struggling against the smallness of the
Id. rate wishes to draw as much as possible from its Free
Library with its motley collection of books contributed from
various quarters, we can strongly recommend the sys¢e7z upon
which this catalogue is drawn up. But that a place of the size
and importance of Derby, whose rate also has been so helped
by the munificence of Mr. Bass and others, should think it worth
while to print and distribute a catalogue, displaying a knowledge
and a collection of books in this rudimentary state, is beyond
our comprehension.
THE population of Cascia (Italy) is being constantly disturbed
by repeated subterranean shocks.
A VOLCANIC eruption is reported to have taken place:from a
mountain in the Caucasus, which has not shown any voleanic
phenomena during historic times. It is the Karabetow mountain,
near Temrink, in the government of Jekaterinodar (Caucasia).
The subterranean noi e was heard 4 versts away, the lava flowed
for a distance of half a verst, and a large crater was formed.
News from Belgrade states that some railway workmen have
discovered a nearly perfect mammoth skeleton. It is being
photographed on the spot, and will be handel over to the
National Museum at Belgrade.
A NATURAL intermittent spring has recently formed in
the Jachére (Hameau de l’Argentiére, Hautes Alpes). At
regular intervals of five and seven minutes it yields ro litres of
water each time, It is very remarkable that the first time it consists
of lukewarm and colourless water, but the second of cold but
wine-red water. MM. Chester and Hadley are now studying
the phenomenon.
M, J. OLLER, the proprietor of the St. Germain racing esta-
blishment, is preparing to organise night races. He intends to
build a central lighthouse, of which the rays will be directed on
the contending horses, so that spectators sitting in the centre
may follow the proceedings with as much accuracy as in
open day,
AT the annual meeting for the distribution of prizes in Mason
College, Birmingham, Prof, Tilden gaye a sens ble and interest-
ing address on Technical Education, which has been published
in a separate form,
THE Captsia-General of the Philippines reports another de-
structive hurricane on November 5, and it is worthy of remark
that since the previous hurricane, a few weeks ago, the cholera,
which had been very bad, has nearly disappeared from Manila.
Messrs. SONNENSCHEIN AND Co. announce the forthcoming
publication of Dr. Coppinger’s Notes of the four years’ voyage
from which the A/er¢ has recently returned,
Mr. Murray has issued a cheap elitioa of Dr, Blaikie’s
“Life of David Livingstone.”
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include two Macaque Monkeys (Aacacus cynomolgus
é 6) from India, presented respectively by Mr. J. Knight and
Mrs. Snell ; a Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus fuliginosus $) from
West Africa, presented by Lady Stafford; two Globose Curas-
sows (Crax globicera 6 9) from British Honduras, presented
by Mr. R. W. Ryass; a —— Buzzard ( ) from
Demerara, presented by Mr. G. H. Hawtayne, C.M.Z.S. ;
three Common Chameleons (Chameleon vulgaris) from Egypt,
presented by Mr. W. J. Ford ; a Hawk’s-billed Turtle (Che/one
imbricata) from West Indies, presented by Mr. W. Cross; a
Pig-tailed Monkey (Macacus nemestrinus 6) from Java, a Black
Wallaby (Ha/maturus ualabatus 9) from New South Wales, a
Greek Land Tortoise (Zestudo greca), South European, depo-
sited; an American Bison (Bison americanus 9) from North
America, a Capybara (Hydrocherus capybara 2) from South
America, two Eastern Goldfinches (Carduelis orientalis) from
Afghanistan, two Brent Geese (Bernicla brenta), a Red-throated
Diver (Colymbus seplentrionalis), British, purchased ; three
Capybaras (Hydrocherus capybara § 62), a Bluish Finch
(Spermophile caerulescens) from South America, received in
exchange, ~
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Ar the opening meeting of the Geographical Society on
Monday Mr. A, &. Colquhoun’ gave an account of his recent
adventurous journey, in company with the late Mr. Wahab,
from Canton through Yunnan to Bhamo. Mr. Colquhoun’s
object was mainly to discover trade-routes between Burmah and
China, but he collected some interesting information on Further
Yiinnan, parts of which have not before been visited by Euro-
pean travellers, Mr, Colquhoun describes Yiinnan, which is
the most westerly of the eighteen provinces of China, as a great
uneven plateau, of which the main ranges trend north and
south ; tho e in the north reaching an elevation of from twelve
to seventeen thousand feet, while in the south they sink to seven
or eight thousand feet. In the south, and especially in the
south-west, there are many wide fertile plains and valleys, some
with large lakes in them. These plains are very rich and thickly
populated, the number of towns and villages and the comfort-
able appearance of the peasantry being very remarkable. Fruits
of all kinds—pears, peaches, chestnuts, and even grapes—are
found in abundance, while roses, rhododendrons, and camelias
of several varieties grow untended on the hill-sides, Minerals
are found in great quantities. The travellers constantly passed
caravans laden with silver, lead, copper, and tin in in-
gots; and gold is beaten out into leaf in Tali, and sent
in large quantities to Burma. Coal, iron, silver, tin, and
copper mines were frequently passed. Mr, Colquhoun also
found that the celebrated Puerh tea, the most fancied in
China, is not really a Chinese tea at all, but is grown
in the Shan district of I-bang, some five days south of
Puerh, the nearest prefectural town. In the south the tempera-
ture is moderate, and the rains by no means excessive; but the
farther north the travellers went, the more sparse became the
population, and the more sterile the country, until in the ex-
treme north the hills were enveloped in al nost perpetual fogs,
rain , and mists, and were practically uninhabitable. The people
them elves are mostly the old aboriginal tribes—Lolo, Pai, and
Maio—the Chinese being mostly of the official class, and found
only inthe towns. These aborigines have a much more distinct
physiognomy than the bullet-headed Celestial, and are remark-
able for their frank and genial hospitality. The women do not
crush their feet, and they adopt a picturesque dress not unlike
that worn of old by Tyrolese and Swiss maidens. They have
a novel way of making marriage engagements. On New Year’s
Day the unmarried people range themselves, according to sex,
on either side of a narrow gully. The ladies in turn toss a
coloured ball to the other side, and whoever catches it is the
happy man, It is said they are so skilful in throwing the ball
that the favoured man is always sure to catch it ; which is reas-
suring. Asin Marco Polo’s days, the couvade still prevails in
64
NATURE
[ Woo. 16, 1882
some parts. When a child is born, the husband goes to bed for
thirty days, and the wife looks after the work. At the conclu-
sion of the paper, Lord Northbrook and Col. Yule paid a well
deserved tribute to the late Capt. Gill, Prof. Palmer, and Lieut.
Charrington, Capt. Gill, our readers may remember, had him-
self done some first-rate work on the South-East Chinese
frontier, and described it in his ‘‘ River of Golden Sand ;”
while Prof, Palmer’s loss as an Arabic scholar is almost
irretrievable.
SAMOYEDES report to Archangel that they have recently seen,
south of Waigatz Island, the wreck of a large vessel crushed in
the ice. If the statement be true, and if we remember their
neyer-credited story of the unfortunate Yeammnette, it is more
than probable that the vessel is either the Danish exploring
vessel the Dijmphna, with Lieut. Hovgaard’s expedition, or the
Norwegian steamer /Varna with the Dutch meteorological expe-
dition, bound for Port Dickson, both of which in September last
froze in in the Kara Sea, from which place the ice may subse-
quently have carried the unfortunate vessel to where she now is
stated to be. The last intelligence received from Lieut. Hovgaard
was dated September 22, and addressed t> Herr Aug. Gamil, of
Copenhagen, the principal promoter of the expedition, from
which it appears that all was then well with both vessels, but
that the Dijmphna was, when caught in the ice, some consider-
able distance from shore, in fact in a spot where the whole force
of the polar ice, when in drift, would strike her, Herr Aug.
Gamil having telegraphed to the Russian Admiralty for any con-
firmation of the above report, has reccived a reply that no official
information on the subject has bee: reccived at St. Petersburg ;
but that nevertheless instructions would be at once given to the
officials on the north coast to scour the same, and gather further
particulars, A search party is also being contemplat.d in
Copenhagen, which will, if decided on, be lea by M. Larsen, a
Dane, who accompanied the American expedition in search of
the crew of the Feanwette, as the special artist of the ///austrated
London News.
THE German Government has raised the fund for the scientific
exploration of Central Africa and other countries, which in
1882-83 was fixed at 75,coo marks (3750/.) to 100,000 marks
(5000/.) for the financial year 1883-84.
THE AIMS AND METHOD OF GEOLOGICAL
INQUIRY +
Il.
T will be observed that the results obtained by geologists
could not have been arrived at had they confined themselves
solely to the detection of resemblances and correspondences
between the phenomena of the present and the past. The
natural forces have always been the same in kind, if not in
degree, and we can often watch the gradual development by
their means of products which more or le-s closely resemble the
rocks of our sections. But experimental evidence of this kind
takes us only a short way, and we are sooner or later confronted
by appearances, which are not reproduced by nature before our
eyes. As another example of this I shall adduce one which,
although it has far-reaching issues, has yet the merit of being
readily comprehended without much prelim nary geological
knowledge. It is moreover instructive as showing how the
imaginative faculty works in a mind trained to clear and steady
observation of nature. The fact that a large proportion of the
lakes of the world rest in rocky hollows or basins had been long
known before it occurred to any one to ask how such rocky
hollows had come into existence. The question was first asked
and the answer given by Prof. (now Sir) A. C. Ramsay. He
had pondered over the problem for years before its solution
dawned upon him. None of the ordinary agents of geological
change -eemed capable of producing the phenomena. The
most common of all denuding agents—water—certainly could
not do so, for although it may dig long and deep trenches
through rocks, water could not scoop out a basin like that
occupied by Loch Lomond, or any of our Highland lakes. The
tendency of water is, on the contrary, to silt up and to drain
such hollows, by deepening the points of exit at their lower ends.
Did the hollows in question occupy areas of depression—had
* The Inaugural Lecture at the opening of the Class of Geology and
Mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh, October 27, 1882, by james
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. L. and E., Regis Professor of Geology and
Mineralogy in the University. Continued from p. 46.
they, in short, been formed by unequal subsidences of the
ground? Some considerable inland seas, as for example the
Dead Sea, and doubtless many larger and smaller sheets of
water, owe their origin to local movements of this kind. But it
is incredible that all the numerous lakes and lakelets of Northern
Alpine regions could have originated in this way. In many
cases these lakes are so abundant that it is hard to say of some
countries, such as Finland, and large parts of Sweden, and even
of our own islands, whether it is land or water that predomin-
ates. If all these numerous and closely aggregated rock-basins
represent so many local subsidences, then the hard rocks in
which mst of them appear must have been at the time of their
formation in a condition hardly less yielding than dough or putty.
It was suggested that the lakes of the Alps and other hilly
regions might have been caused, not by local sinkings confined
to the valleys themselves, but by a general depression of the
central high-grounds and water-sheds. The subsidence of the
central mountains wou'd of course entail depression in the upper
reaches of the mountain-valleys, and in this way the inclination
of those valleys would be reversed—each being converted into
an elongated rock-basin. But a little consideration showed that
before the lakes of such a region as the Alps could have been
produced in this manner, those mountains must have been some
15,000 feet higher than at present. Or to put it the other way,
in order to obliterate the Alpine lakes and restore the slopes of
the valleys to what, if this hypothesis were true, must have been
their original inclination, the Alps would need to be pushed up
until they attained tnice their present elevation. Now, we are
hardly prepared to admit that the Swiss mountains were 30,000
feet high before the glacial period. If our Alpine and Northern
lake-basins cannot be attributed to movements of depression,
still less can they be accounted for by any system of fractures ;
—they lie neither in gaping cracks n>r on the down-throw sides
of dislocations. In a word, a study of the structure, inclination,
and distribution of the rock-masses in which our lake-basins
appear throws no light upon the origin of those hollows. We
probably find in many cases that the position and form of a basin
have been inflaenced in some way by the character of the rocks
in which it lies—but we detect no evidence in the rock-masses
themselves to account for its production. It is not necessary,
however, that I should on this occasion mention each and every
cause which has been suggested for the origin of rock-bound
hollows, Some of these suggestions are unquestionably well
founded. Forexample, there can be no doubt that certain lakes
have been produced by the sudden damming-up of a valley in
consequence of a fall of rock from adjoining slopes or cliffs ;
others, again, occupy holes caused by the falling in of the roofs
of caves and subterranean tunnels ; while yet others have been
formed by a current of lava flowing across a valley and thus
ponding back its stream, just as many a temporary sheet of
water has been brouzht into existence in a similar way by the
abnormal advance of a glacier. In these and other ways lakes
have doubtless originated again and again, but the causes just
referred to are all more or less exceptional, and manifestly in-
capable of producing the phenomena so conspicuous in the lake-
regions of Britain, Scandinavia, and the Alps.
Ramsay, to whom the varied phenomena of glacier-regions
had been long familiar, was struck by the remarkable fact that
freshwater lakes predominate in Northern and Alpine countries,
while they are comparatively rare in reyions further south and
outside of mountainous districts. The great development of
lakes in Finland finds no counterpart in the low grounds of
southern latitudes. It is in regions where glacial action formerly
prevailed that rock-basins are most numerous, and this suggested
to Ramsay that in some way or other the lakes of the Alps and
the North were connected with glaciation. The final solution of
the problem flashed upon him while he was studying the glacial
features of Switzerland. His scientific imagination enabled him
to reproduce in his own mind the aspect presented by the Alps
during the glacial period, when the great mountain-valleys were
choked with glacier-ice, which flowed out upon the low grounds
of Germany, France, and Northern Italy, so as to cover all the
sites of the present lakes. He saw that under such conditions
enormous erosion must have been effected by the ice, by means
of the rocky rubbish which it dragged on underneath, and that
this erosion, other things being equal, would be most intense
where the ice was thickest and the ground over which it
advanced had the gentlest inclination. Such conditions, he
inferred, would be met with somewhere in the lower course of a
valley between the steeper descent of its upper reaches and the
Nov. 16, 1882 |
NATURE
65
termination of the glacier. This inference was suggested by the
consideration that pressure and erosion would be least when the
glacier was flowing upon a steep slope, while at the base of
such a slope where the valley flattened ou‘, the ice would tend
to heap up, as it were, and produce the maximum amount of
pressure and erosion. Thereafter, as the ice continued to flow
down its valley, it would become thinner and thinner until it
reached its termination—and pressure and erosion would diminish
with the gradual attenuation of the glacier. Such conditions,
after some time, would necessarily result in the formation of
elongated rock-basins, sloping in gradually from either end, and
attaining their greatest depth at some point above a line drawn
midway between the upper and lower ends of a hollow. There
are many other details connected with this most ingenious theory
which I cannot touch upon at present. It will be sufficient to
say that the observed facts receive from it a simple and satisfac-
tory explanation. Like all other well-based theories, it has
been fruitful in accounting for many other phenomena, a study
of which has developed it in various directions, and enabled us
to understand certain appearances which the theory as at first
propounded seemed hardly adequate to explain, As a proof of
the soundness of Kamsay’s conclusion that ice is capable of ex-
cavating large rock-basins, I may mention that his theory has led
to the prediction of facts which were not previously known to
geologists. He had pointed to the occurrence, in many of the
sea-lochs of Western Scotland, of deep rock-bound hollows,
which he concluded must have been formed by great valley-
glaciers in the same way as the hollows occupied by fresh-water
lakes in this and other similarly glaciated countries. Some years
later, having discovered that the Outer Hebrides had been
glaciate | across from side to side by a mer de glace flowing out-
wards fi. u the mainland, and having been satisfied as to the
truth of the glacial-erosion theory, I was led by it to suppose
that deep rock-basins ought to occur upon the floor of the sea
along the inner margin of most of our Western Islands. This
expectation was suggested by the simple consideration that those
islands, presenting, as they for the most part do, a steep and
abrupt face to the mainland, must have formed powerful ob-
structions to the out-flow of the mez de glace in the direction of
the Atlantic. This being so, great erosion, I inferred, must
have ensued in front of those islands. The lower part of the
mer de glace which overflowed them would be forced down upon
the bed of the sea by theice continually advancing from behind,
and compelled to flow as an under-current along the inner
margin of the islands, until it circumvented the obstruction, and
resumed the same direction as the upper portion of the mer de
glace, A subsequent careful examination of the Admiralty’s
Charts of our western seas, which afford a graphic delineation
of the configuration cf the sea-bottom, proved that the
deduction from Ramsay's theory was perfectly correct.
Were that sea-bed to be elevated for a few hundred feet, so
as to run off the water, and unite the islands to themselves
and the mainland, we should find the surface of the new-
born land plentifully diversfied with lakes—all occupying the
positions which a study of the glaciation of the mainland and
islands would have led us to expect. Among the most consider-
able would be a chain of deep lakes extending along the inner
margin of the Outer Hebrides, while many similar sheets of
water would appear in front of those islands of the Inner Group
that face the deep fiords of our western shores.
The few examples now given of geological methods of inquiry
may suffice to show that the process of reading and interpreting
the past in the light of the present necessitates not only accurate
observation, but an extensive acquaintance with the mode in
which the operations of Nature are carried on. They also serve
to show that just as our knowledge of the past increases, so our
insight into the present becomes more and more extended. For
if it be true that the present is the key to the past. it is not less
certain that without that unfolding of the past which a study of
the rocks has enabled us to accomplish, we should not only miss
the meaning of much that we see going on around us, but we
should also remain in nearly complete ignorance of all that is
taking place within the crust of our globe. Thus, although our
science may be correctly defined as an inquiry into the develop-
ment of the earth’s crust and of the faunas and floras which
have successively clothed and peopled its surface—yet that defi-
nition is somewhat incomplete. For, as we have seen, this in-
quiry into the past helps us to understand existing conditions
better than we should otherwise do. In tbis respect it is with
geology as with human history. The philosophical historian
seeks in the past to discover the germ of the present. He tells
us that we cannot hope to understand the complicated structure
and relations of a society like ours without a full appreciation
of all that has gone before. And so it is in the case of geolo-
gical history. The present has grown out of the past, and bears
myriad marks of its origin, which would either be unobserved
or remain totally meaningless to us, were the past a sealed book.
No student of physical geography, or of zoology and botany,
therefore can afford to neglect the study of geology, if his desire
be to acquire a philosophical comprehension of the bearings of
those sciences. For it is geology which reveals to us the birth
and evolution of our lands and seas—which enables us to follow
the succession of life upon the globe, and to supply many of the
missing links in that chain, which, as we believe, unites the
beginning of life in the far distant past with its latest and highest
expression in man. By its aid we track out the many wander-
ings of living genera and species which have resulted in the
present distribution of plants and animals. But for geology,
indeed, that distribution would be for the most part inexplicable.
How, for example, could we account for the often widely sepa-
rated colonies of arctic-alpine plants which occur upon the
mountains of Middle and Southern Europe? How could these
plants possibly have been transferred from their head-quarters in
the far north to the hills of Britain, and Middle Germany, to
the Alps and the Pyrenees? Not the most prolonged and labo-
rious study of the botanist could ever have solved the problem.
But we learn from the geologist that the apparent anomalous
distribution of the flora in question is quite what his study of
the rocks would have led him to expect. He now, indeed,
appeals to the occurrence of those curious colonies of arctic-
alpine plants as an additional proof in support of his view that
during a comparatively recent period our continent experienced
a climate of more than arctic severity. He tells us that at that
time the reindeer, the glutton, the arctic fox, the musk ox, and
other arctic animals migrated south into France, while a Scandi-
navian flora clothed the low grounds of Middle Europe. By
and by, when the arctic rigour of the climate began to give way,
the northern species of plants and animals slowly returned to
the high latitudes from which they had been driven. Many
plants, however, would meet with similar conditions by ascend-
ing the various mountains that lay in the path of retreat, and
there they would continue to flourish iong after every trace of
an arctic-alpine flora had vanished from the low ground. This
explanation fully meets the requirements of the case. It leaves
none of the facts unaccounted for, but isin perfect harmony with
all. But as if to make assurance doubly sure, Dr. Nathorst, a
well-known Swedish geologist, recently made a search in the
low grounds of Europe for the remains of the arctic-alpine flora,
and succeeded in discovering these in many places. He de-
tected leaves of the arctic willow and several other characteristic
northern species in the glacial and post-glacial deposits of
Southern Sweden, Denmark, England, Germany, and Switzer-
land, and thus supplied the one link which might have been
sidered necessary to complete a chain of evidence already
almost perfect.
From this and many similar instance that might be given we
learn that the reconstruction of the past out of its own ruins is
not mere guess-work and hypothesis. The geologist cannot
only demonstrate that certain events have taken place, but he
can assure us of the order in which they succeeded one after the
other, during ages incalculably more remote than any with which
historians have to deal. The written records out of which are
constructed the early history of a people cannot always be
depended upon—allowance must be made for the influences that
may have swayed the chroniclers, and these are either unknown
or can only be guessed at. It follows therefore that events are
seldom presented to us in a consecutive history exactly as they
occurred. They are always more or less coloured, and that
colouring often depends fully as much upon the idiosyncrasies of
the modern compiler as upon those of the contemporaneous
recorder. The geologist has at least this advantage over the
investigator of human history, that his records, however frag-
mentary they may be, tell nothing more and nothing less than
the truth. Any errors that arise must be due either to insuffi-
cient observation or bad reasoning, or to both, while the pro-
gress of research and the penetrating criticism which every novel
view undergoes must sooner or later discover where the truth
lies. In this way the history of our globe is being gradually
reconstructed—to an extent, indeed, that the earlier cultivators
of the science could not have believed possible. But although
66
NATOKRE.
[Mov. 16, 1882
many blanks in the records have been filled up, and our know-
ledze will doubtless be yet greatly increased, it must nevertheless
be admitted that this knowledge must always bear but a very
small proportion to our ignorance. In this, however, there is
nothing to discourage us, as we may be quite sure that the work
remaining to be done will far exceed all the energies of many
generations to accomplish.
It is sometimes objected to Geology that its results are not
always s> exact as those which are obtained by an experimental
science like chemistry. We are reproached with the fact that
our theoretical conceptions undergo frequent modification, and
are even often abandoned, to be succeeded by others which,
after flourishing for a time, are in like manner overturned and
thrown aside. But the same reproach, if it be one, might be
brought against other sciences. Each advancing science has
its problems and speculations. And we cannot often feel
assured that the solution now given of those problems will in all
cases stand the test of time. Our theoretical conceptions of the
ultimate constitution of matter, for example, have within com-
paratively few years undergone considerable change, and yet no
one values chemistry the less. Let our theories be what they
may, they do not and cannot overturn the results obtained by
verified observation and often repeated and varied experiment. It
remains for ever true that water is composed of oxygen and hy-
drogen, let our views of the atomic theory change as they may.
And so it is not less certain that strata of conglomerate and sand-
stone containing marine or fresh-water fossils are of aqueous
origin, however much our theoretical conce ‘tions may vary as to
the uniformity in degree between the past and present opera-
tions of Nature. It is true we did not see the conglomerate
and sindstone in process of formation, but we know by obser-
vation that these rocks exactly resemble deposits of gravel and
sand which are now being accnmulated in water. Nature in
this case makes the experiment for us, whereas the chemist has
to do this for himself. The latter, havinz well ascertained by
varied experiments the composition of certain samples of water,
henceforth c ncludes that all water is made up of the same two
gases in definite proportions. But this conclusion of his is just
as much an assumption as the inference of the geologist that
strata containing marine or freshwater fossils are aqueous accu-
mulations. It i; when we come to the larger generalisations of
our science that we are more likely to go astray. The problems
we have to solve demand not only an accurate knowledge of
widely scattere1 phenomena, but a ready command of logical
analysis. The facts may be sufficiently abundant, but if we
reason badly we of course miss their meaning. Or, on the other
hand, the evidence may be more or less imperfect. There are
blanks which we fill up with conjecture—which can do no harm
s» long as we do not treat our conjectures asif they were facts.
But when the gaps in the evidence are numerous, each theoriser
will fill them up after his own fashion, and very various results
will thus be obtained. Even in cises of this kind, however, a
rigorous application of logical analysis will enable us to detect
the fallacies which may underlie all the competing theories ; and
we are thus prepared t» frame a new exolanation for ourselves,
and to set about searching for additiona] facts to prove or dis-
prove our notions. In all such investigations it is obviou-ly the
duty of a careful observer and theoriser to see well to his pre-
mises—to be absolutely sure as to his facts, and to distinguish
clearly between what is substantial knowledge, and what is
mere conjecture. He will thus be in a position to judge whether
his conciusions are based on a solid foundation or not. Ina
science of observation like geology, theory is necessarily often
in advance of the facts. Some, indeed, have insisted that all
conjectural explanations are quite a mistake; that it would be
better to avoid theorising altogether, and to wait patiently until
the chain of evidence had completed itself. I am afraid that,
were it possible to follow this advice, we might often have to
wait a very long time. After all, a heap of bricks is only a
potential house: it will not grow up into walls without the aid of
architect and builder. Discoveries in science have no doubt
been made occasionally by isolated and haphazard observations ;
but that is exceptional, and we should not be where we are now
had the examination of Nature been always conducted after such
a fashion. If additional evidence be required, we must first
have some notion where to look for it. In other words, it is
essential to progress that we should have preconceived opinions
or theories, which enable us to arrange the facts we already pos-
sess, and to point out the directions in which further evidence
may be looked for. We cannot be too careful, however, that
our preconceived notions do not lead us to colour the evidence
or to blind us to facts that tell against our views. Every theory
should be considered provisional until its truth has been fully
demonstrated by an overwhelming array of testimony in its
favour. Until this consummation is arrived at we must be con-
stantly testing its truth, and be ready to abandon it at once
whenever the evidence shows it to be erroneous, The failure of
one theory after another need not disconcert or discourage us ;
for each failure, by reducing the number of possible explana-
tions, must necessarily bring us nearer to our goal—the truth. I
cannot but deem it a strong point in favour of geology asa branch
of education that it not only cultivates the faculty of clear and
continuous observation, but abounds in unsolved problems
which are ever suggesting new ideas and thus stimulating that
imagination which is one of the noblest gifts of our race. It is
no reproach that the progress of our science is marked by the
modification and abandonment of numerous hypotheses and
theories. On the contrary, these afford a measure of the rate
at which geol gy advandes—just as this last yields the strongest
testimony to the good results that accrue from having some
provisional view by which to direct the course of our observa-
tions.
It is unavoidable that in the onward march of a science the
facts become at last so numerous as to task all the energies of its
votaries to keep abreast of their time. When a beginner first
surveys the wide field embraced by geological inquiry, he may
not unnaturally experience a feeling akin to despair. How is it
possible, he may think, that I can master all these manifold
details—how can I test the truth of all those numerous inferences
and conclusions—ard yet have sufficient leisure and energy left
to undertake orizinal observation? Well, no one can hope to
advance the science in all its departments. When we reflect
that in order to obtain a complete comprehension and mastery
of the existing condition of things we should require to be
adepts in physics, mechanics, chemistry, and every branch of
natural science, it is obvious that such a perfect knowledge is
beyond attainment. It is needless, therefore, that we should
strive to become ‘‘admirable Crichtons” in this nineteenth
century, and no beginner need be discouraged by jhe greatness
of the science which he desires to cultivate. It is only by divi-
sion of labour that so much has been accomplished ; and the
results are now so systemutised that it is quite possible for any
intelligent inquirer to gain a thorough comprehension of the
principles of the science. But this it is absolutely necessary
to acquire, and the student, therefore, should at first devote all
his energies to learn as much as he can of those principles and
their application. When he has progressed so far, he is then
ready to set out as an explorer in the well-assured hope that if
he be true to the logical methods which have hitherto succeeded
so well, he will not fail to reap his reward in the discovery of
new truths, But to secure success we must be content to be
specialists. In other words, we must concentrate our energies
ulon some particular lines of inquiry, and do our utmost to
work these out in all their details. At the same time we should
make a great mistake if we aid not always keep in mind the
broader bearings of our science, and endeavour to maintain as
wide a knowledge a3 we can of all its branches. Each of these,
we may be sure, has something to tell which will aid us in our
own special inquiries. We cannot, therefore, afford to neglect
the side-lights which are thrown upon our path from the lamps
of others who are working in adjacent fields. One cannot help
thinking that many specialists would have given us more and
better work if they had not allowed themselves to be cramped
and narrowed by continuing too long in one rut or groove. They
dig so deep that they get into a hole out of which it is some-
times difficult to climb, and thus not infrequently the work
being done by fellow-labourers, escapes them, and they miss the
suggestions which a knowledge (of that work might otherwise
have yielded them.
Ihave said nothing as to the practical applications of our
science—that branch of our subject which is termed economic
geology—not because I consider it the less important, but
because its value is generally recognised and need not now be
insisted upon. Many, I do not doubt, enter upon their
geological studies with a distinct view of obtaining from the
science such help as it can afford them in the practical pursuits
of life. To such inquirers it will be my pleasure not less
than my duty to give every assistance that is in my power.
But I would point out to them that there is no short cut to the
attainment of the knowledge they are in quest of. The study
Nov. 16, 1882}
NATURE
67
_of economic geology cannot be separated from that of the recog-
_nised principles and methods of inquiry which must be followed
by the scientific investigator. On the contrary, the more tho-
roughly we devote ourselves to the prosecution of geology for
its own sake the better able shall we be to appreciate its
economic bearings.
In beginning the duties of this Chair, if I enjoy certain ad-
vautages over my predecessor, I also at the same time labour
under considerable disadvantages. The Class Museum formed
by him, and the other appliances and aids to teaching which he
laboriously gathered together have been generously handed over
_to the Chair—and this, I need not say, has greatly smoothed my
path, But, on the other hand, he has left behind him a reputa-
tion which must bear hard upon me. He has not only sustained
but increased the fame of what has been termed the Scottish
School of Geology, and I feel that it will task all my energies
to emulate the high standard he maintained as a teacher. It is
not without diffidence, therefore, that I commence this course ;
but my hope is that the love of science, which has hitherto
carried me over many years of a laborious occupation, may at
least succeed in warming and sustaining the enthusiasm of those
who come here to study with me what geology has to reveal
concerning the past and present.
A METHOD FOR OBSERVING ARTIFICIAL
TRANSITS*
AS
many astronomers who intend to observe the coming
transit of Venus have neither the time nor means for
making the necessary arrangements to practice o1 artificial
transits, the sim le method here proposed may be advanta-
geously employed. Instead of observing an artificial sun and
planet placed at a distance of several thousand feet from the
observer, I would suggest that the real sun be observed, and the
planet Venus to be represented by a circular disk, held, in the
common focus of the objec’ive and eye-pieee, by means of a
narrow metallic arm fastened to the eye-piece.
The relative motion of the sun and Ve.us can then be pro-
duced by so adjusting the rate of the driving-clock that the
angular motion of the telescope on the hour-axis shall exceed the
diurnal motion of the sun hy seventeen seconds of time per
hour. In this way, as the atmospheric disturbances of the sun’s
limb are real, a nearap) roach t) the phenomena observed during
an actual transit will result. If a light shade glass is employed,
the opaque disk will be seen before it comes into apparent con-
tact with the sun. The observer can, however, by an exercise
of the will, confine his whole attention to the sun’s limb.
By using a heavier shade-glass the disk will not be seen until it
is projected against the imageof the sun. The angular diameter
of Venus at the time of transit being about 65”, the diameter of
the opaque disk should be 65:/‘sin 1”= 0'00031 77, / being the
focal length of the telescope used. The position angle of the
point of contact can be changed at will by simply moving the
telescope in declination.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING, THE TRANSMISSION
OF FORCE BY ELECTRICITY?
HAVING received the honour of being elected Chairman of
the Council of the Society of Arts for the ensuing year,
the duty devolves upon me of opening the coming Session with
some introductory remarks. Only a few months have elapsed
since I was called upon to deliver a pre-idential address to the
British Association at Southampton, and it may be reasonably
supposed that I then exhausted my stock of accumulated thought
and observation regarding the present development of science,
both abstract and applied ; that, in fact, I come before you, to
use a popular phrase, pretty well pumped dry. And yet so large
is the field of modern science and industry, that, notwithstanding
the good opportunity given me at Southampton, I could there do
only scanty justice to comparatively few of the branches of
modern progress, and had to curtail, or entirely omit, reference
to others, upon which I should otherwise have wished to dwell.
There is this essential difference between the British Association
and the Society of Arts, that the former can only take an annual
suryey of the progress of science, and must then confide to indi-
« By Prof. J. M. Schaeberle, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Journal of Science.
2 Address by Dr. C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., Chairman of the Society of
Arts, November 15.
From the American
viduals, or to committee*, specific inquiries, to be reported upon
to the different sections at subsequent meetings ; whereas the
Society of Arts, with its 3,450 permanent members, its ninety-
five associated societies, spread throughout the length and breadth
of the country, its permanent building, its well-conducted
Fournal, its almost daily meetings and lectures, extending over
six months of the year, possesses exceptionally favourable oppor-
tunities of following up questions of indus'rial progress to the
point of their practical accomplishment, In glancing back upon
its history during the 128 years of its existence, we discover that
tha Society of Arts was the first institution to introduce science
into the indu trial arts; it was through the Society of Arts and
its illustrious Past President, the late Prince Consort, that the
first Universal Exhibition was proposed, and brought to a suc
cessful issue in 1851 ; and it is due to the same Society, supported
on all important occa ions by its actual President, the Prince of
Wales, that so many important changes in our educational and
industrial institutions have been inaugurated, too numerous to be
referred to specifically on the present occasion. \
Amongst the practical questions that now chiefly occupy public
attention are those of Electric Lighting, and of the transmission
of force by electricity. These together form a subject which has
occupied my attention and that of my brothers for a great num-
ber of years, and upon which I may consequently be expected to
dwell on the present occasion, considering that at Southampton
I could deal only with some purely scientific consilerations in-
volved in this important subject. I need hardly remind you that
electric lighting, viewed as a physical experiment, has been
known to us since the early part of the present century, and that
many attempts have, from time to time, been made to promote
its application. Two principal difficulties have stood in the way
of its practical introduction, viz, the great cost of producing an
electric current so long as chemical means had to be resorted to,
and the mechanical difficulty of constructing electric lamps
capable of sustaining, with steadiness, prolonged effects. The
dynamo-machine, which enables us to convert mechanical into
electrical force, purely and simply, has very effectually disposed
of the former difficulty, inasmuch as a properly conceived and
well constructed machine of this character converts more than
ninety per cent. of the mechanical force imparted to it into elec-
tricity, ninety per cent. again of which may be re-converted into
mechanical force at a moderate distance. The margin of loss,
therefore, does not exceed twenty per cent., excluiing purely
mechanical losses, and this is quite capable of being further
reduced to some extent by improved modes of construction ; but
it results from these figures that no great step in advance can be
looked for in this direction. The dynamo-machine presents the
great advantage of simplicity over steam or other power-trans-
mitting engines; it has but one working part, namely, a shaft
which, revolving in a pair of bearings, carries a coil or coils of
wire admitting of perfect balancing. Frictional resistance is
thus reduced to an absolute minimum, and no allowance has to
be made for loss by condensation, or badly fitting pistons,
stuffing boxes, or valves, or for the jerking action due to oscll-
lating weights. The materials composing the machine, namely,
soft iron and copper wire, undergo no deterioration or change by
continuous working, and the depreciation of value is therefore a
minimum, except where currents of exceptionally high potential
are used, which appear to render the copper wire brittle.
The essential points to be attended to in the conception of the
dynamo-machine, are the prevention of induced currrents in the
iron, and the placing of the wire in such position as to make
the whole of it effective for the production of outward current.
These principles, which have been clearly established by the
labours of comparative few workers in applied science, admit of
being carried out in an almost infinite variety of constructive
forms, for each of which may be claimed some real or imaginary
merits regarding questions of convenience or cost of production.
For many years after the principles involved in the construc-
tion of dynamo-machines had been made known, little general
interest was manifested in their favour, and few were the forms
of construction offered for public use. The essential features
involved in the dynamo-machine, the Siemens armature (1856),
the Pacinotti ring (1861), and the self-exciting principle (1867),
were published by their authors for the pure scientific interest
attached to ther, without being made subject matter of letters
patent, which circumstance appears to have had the contrary
effect of what might have been expected, in that it has retarded
the introduction of this class of electrical machine, because no
person or firm had a sufficient commercial interest to undertake
68
NATURE
Vou. 16, 1882
the large expenditure which must necessarily be incurred in
reducing a first conception into a practical shape. Great credit
is due to Monsieur Gramme for taking the initiative in the
practical introduction of dynamo-machines embodying those
principles, but when five years ago I ventured to predict for the
dynamo-electric current a great practical future, as a means of
transmitting power to a distance, those views were still looked
upon as more or less chimerical. A few striking examples of
what could be practically effected by the dynamo-electric current
such as the illumination of the Place de I’Opera, Paris, the
occasional exhibition of powerful arc lights, and t'eir adoption
for military and lighthouse purposes, but especially the gradual
accomplishment of the much desired lamp by incandescence in
vacuum, gave rise to a somewhat sudden reversion of public
feeling ; and you may remember the scare at the Stock Exchange
affecting the? value of gas shares, which ensued in 1878, when
the accomplishment of the sub-division of the electric light by
incandescent wire was first announced, somewhat prematurely,
through the Atlantic cable.
From this time forward electric lighting has been attracting
more and more public attention, until the brilliant displays at
the exhibition of Paris, and at the Crystal Palace last year,
served to excite public interest, to an extraordinary degree.
New companies for the purpose of introducing electric light and
power have been announced almost daily, whose claims to
public attention as investments were based in some cases upon
only very slight modifications of well-known forms of dynamo-
machines, of are regulators, or of incandescent carbon lights,
the merits of which rested rather upon anticipations than upon
any scientific or practical proof, These arrangements were sup-
posed to be of such superlative merit that gas and other illumi-
nants must soon be matters simply of history, and hence arose
great speculative excitement. It should be borne in mind,
however, that any great technical advance is necessarily the
work of time and serious labour, and that when accomplished,
it is generally found that so far from injuring existing industries,
it calls additional ones into existence, to supply new demands,
and thus gives rise to an increase in the sum total of our re-
sources. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that side by side
with the introduction of the new illuminant, gas lighting will go
on improving and extending, although the advantage of electric
light for many applications, such as the lighting of public halls
and warehouses, of our drawing-rooms and dining-rooms, our
passenger steamers, our docks and harbours, are so evident, that
its advent may be looked upon as a matter of certainty.
Our Legislature has not been slow in recognising the import-
ance of the new illuminant. In 1879, a Select Committee in
the House of Commons instituted a careful inquiry into its
nature and probable cost, with a view to legislation, and the
conclusions at which they arrived were, I consider, the best that
could haye been laid down. ‘They advised that applications
should be encouraged tentatively by the granting of permissive
Bills, and this policy has given rise to the Electric Lighting
Bill, 1882, promoted by Mr. Chamberlain, the President of the
Board of Trade, regarding which much controversy has arisen.
It could, indeed, hardly be expected that any act of legislation
upon this subject could give universal satisfaction, because while
there are many believers in gas who would gladly oppose any
measure likely to favour the progress of the rival illuminant, and
others who wish to see it monopolised, either by local authorities,
or by large financial corporations, there are others again who
would throw the doors open so wide as to enable almost all
comers to interfere with the public thoroughfares, for the estab-
lishment of conducting wires, without let or hindrance.
The law as now established takes, I consider, a medium course
between these diverging opinions, and, if properly interpreted,
will protect, I believe, all legitimate interests, without impeding
the healthy growth of establishments for the distribution of
electric energy for lighting and for the transmission of power.
Any firm or lighting company may, by application to the local
authorities, obtain leave to place electric conductors below public
thoroughfares, subject to such conditions as may be mutually agreed
upon, the terms of such license being limited to seven years ; or an
application may be made to the Board of Trade for a provisional
order to the same effect, which, when sanctioned by Parliament,
secures a right of occupation for twenty-one years. The license
offers the advantage of cheapness, and may be regarded as a
purely tentative measure, to enable the firm or company to prove
the value of their plant. If this is fairly established, the license
would in all probability be affirmed, either by an engagement
for its prolongation from time to time, or by a provisional order
which would, in that case, be obtained by joint application of the
contractor and the local authority. At the time of expiration of
the provisional order, a pre-emption of purchase is accorded to the
local authority, against which it has been objected with much
force by so competent an authority as Sir Frederick Bramwell,
that the conditions of purchase laid down are not such as fairly
to remunerate the contracting companies for their expenditure
and risk, and that the power of purchase would inevitably
induce the parochial bodies to become mere trading associations,
But while admitting the undesirability of such a consummation,
I cannot help thinking that it was necessary to put some term to
contracts entered into with speculative bodies at atime when the
true value of electric energy, and the best_conditions under which
it should be applied, are still very impertectly understood. The
supply of electric energy, particularly in its application to trans-
mission of power, is a matter simply of commercial demand and
supply, which need not partake of the character of a large
monopoly similar to gas and water supply, and which may there-
fore be safely left in the hands of individuals, or of local
associations, subject to a certain control for the protection of
public interests. At the termination of the period of the pro-
vi-ional order, the contract may be renewed upon such terms and
conditions as may at that time appear ju:t and reasonable to
Parliament, under whose authority the Board of Trade will be
empowered to effect such renewal.
Complaints appear almost daily in the public papers to the
effect that townships refuse their assent to applications by electric
light companies for provisional orders; but it may be surmised
that many of these applications are of a more or less speculative
character, the object being to secure monopolies for eventual use or
sale, under which circumstances the authorities are clearly justified
in withholding their a sent ; and no licenses or provisional orders
should, indeed, be granted, I consider, unless the applicants can
give assurance of being eble and willing to carry out the work
within a reasonable time. But there are technical questions in-
volved which are not yet sufficiently well understood to admit of
immediate operations upon a large scale.
Attention has been very properly called to the great
divergence in the opinions expressed by scientific men re-
garding the area that each lighting district should comprise,
the capital required to light such an area, and the amount of
electric tension that should be allowed in the conductors. In the
case of gas supply, the works are necessarily situated in the out-
skirts of the town, on account of the nuisance this manufacture
occasions tothe immediate neighbourhood ; and, therefcre, gas
supply must range over a large area, It would be possible, no
doubt, to deal with electricity on a similar basis, to establish
electrical mains in the shape of copper rods of great thickness,
with branches diverging from it in all directions; but the
question to be considered is, whether such an imitative course is
desirable on account either of relative expense or of facility of
working. My own opinion, based upon considerable practical
experience and thought devoted to the subject, is decidedly ad-
verse to such a plan. In my evidence before the Parliamentary
Committee, I limited the desirable area of an electric district
in densely populated towns to a quarter of a square mile, and
estimated the cost of the necessary establishment of engines,
dynamo-machines, and conductors, at 100,000/, while other
witnesses held that areas from one to four square miles
could be worked advantageously from one centre, and at a cost
not exceeding materially the figure I had given. These discrep-
ancies do notj necessarily imply wide differences inthe estimated
cost of each machine or electric light, inasmuch as such esti-
mates are necessarily based upon various assumptions regarding
the number of houses and of public buildings comprised in such
a district, and the amount of light to be apportioned to each,
but I still maintain my preference for small districts.
By way of illustration, let us take the parish of St. James’s,
near at hand, a district not more densely populated than other
equal areas within the metropolis, although comprising, perhaps,
a greater number of public buildings. Its population, according
to the preliminary report of the census taken on the 4th April,
1881, was 29,865, it contains 3,018 inhabited houses, and its
area is 784,000 square yards, or slightly above a quarter of a
square mile. :
To light a comfortable house of moderate dimensions in all its
parts, to the exclusion of gas, oil, or candles, would require
about 100 incandescent lights of from 15 to 18-candle power
each, that being, for instance, the number of Swan lights em-
Nov. 16, 1882]
NATORE
69
“ployed by Sir William Thomson in lighting his house at
Glasgow University. Eleven-horse power would be required to
excite this number of incandescent lights, and at this rate the
parish of St. James’s would require 3,018 & I1 = 33,200-horse
power to work it. It may be fairly objected, however, that
there are many houses in the parish much below the standard
here referred to, but on the other hand, there are 6co of them
with shops on the ground floor, involving larger requirements.
Nor does this estimate provide for the large consumption of
electric energy that would take place in lighting the eleven
churches, eighteen club-houses, nine concert halls, three
theatres, besides numerous hotels, restaurants, and lecture halls.
A theatre of moderate dimensions, such as the Savoy Theatre,
has fbeen proved by experience to require 1,200 incandescent
lights, representing an expenditure of 133 horse power; and
about one-half that power would have to be set aside for each of
the other public buildings here mentioned, constituting an
aggregate of 2,926-horse power ; nor does this general estimate
comprise street lighting, and to light the six and a half miles of
principal streets of the parish with electric light, would require
per mile, thirty-five are lights of 350-candle power each, or a
total of 227 lights. ‘This, taken at the rate of o 8-horse power
per light, represents a further requirement of 182-horse power,
making a total of 3,108-horse power, for purposes independent
of house lighting, being equivalent to one-horse power per
inhabited house, and bringing the total requirements up to 109
lights = 12-horse power per house.
I do not, however, agree with those who expect that gas
lighting will be entirely superseded, but have, on the contrary,
always maintained that the electric light, while possessing great
and peculiar advantages for lighting our principal rooms, halls,
warehouses, &c., owing to its brilliancy, and more particularly to
its non-interference with the healthful condition {of the atmo-
sphere, will leave ample room for the development of the former,
which is susceptible of great improvement, and is likely to hold
its own for the ordinary lighting up of our streets and
dwellings.
Assuming, therefore, that the bulk of domestic lighting
remains to the gas companies, and that the electric light is intro-
duced into private houses, only, at the rate of, say twelve
incandescent lights per house, the parish of St. James’s would
have to be provided with electric energy sufficient to work (9
+ 12) 3,018 = 63,378 lights = 7,042-horse power effective ;
this is equal to about one-fourth the total lighting power re-
quired, taking into account that the total number of lights that
have to be provided for a house are not all used at one and the
same time. No allowance is made in this estimate for the
transmission of power, which, in course of time, will form a
very large application of electric energy; but considering that
power will be required mostly in the. day time, when light
is not needed, a material increase in plant will not be necessary
for that purpose.
In order to minimise the length and thickness of the electric
conductor, itwould be important to establish the source of power,
as nearly as may be, in the centre of the parish, and the position
that suggests itself to my mind is that of Golden-square. If the
unoccupied area of this square, representing 2,500 square yards,
was fexcavated: to a depth of twenty-five feet, and then
arched over so as to re-establish the present ground level, a
suitable covered space wonld be provided for the boilers,
engines, and dynamo-machines, without causing obstruction or
public annoyance ; the only erection above the surface would
be the chimney, which, if made monumental in form,
might be placed in the centre of the square, and be combined
with shafts tor ventilating the subterranean chamber, care being
taken of course to avoid smoke by insuring perfect combustion
of the fuel used. The cost of such a chamber, of engine power,
and of dynamo-machines, capable of converting that power
into electric energy, I*estimate at 140,000/. To this expense
would have to be added that of providing and laying the con-
ductors, together with the switches, current regulators, and
arrangements for testing the insulation of the wire.
The cost and dimensions of the conductors would depend
upon their length, and the electromotive force to be allowed.
The latter would no doubt be limited, by the authorities, to the
point at which contact of the two conductors with the human
frame would not produce injurious effects, or say to 200 volts,
except for street lighting, for which purpose a higher tension is
admissible. In considering the proper size of conductor to be
used in any given installation, two principal factors have to be
taken into account ; first, the charge for interest and deprecia-
tion on the original cost of a unit length of the conductor ; and,
secondly, the cost of the electrical energy lost through the resis-
tance of a unit of length. The sum of these two, which may
be regarded as the cost of conveyance of electricity, is clearly
least, as Sir William Thomson pointed out some time ago,
when the two components are equal. This, then, is the princi-
ple on which the size of a conductor should be determined.
From the experience of large installations, I consider that
electricity can, roughly speaking, be produced in London at a
cost of about one shilling per 10,000 Ampére-Volts or Watts
(746 Watts being equal to one horse-power) for an hour. Hence,
assuming that each set of four incandescent lamps in series
(such as Swan’s, but for which may be substituted a smaller
number of higher resistance and higher luminosity) requires 200
volts electromotive force, and 60 Watts for their efficient work-
ing, the total current required for 64,000 such lights is 19,200
amperes, and the cost of the electric energy lost by this current
in passing through ot-rooth of an ohm resistance, is 16/, per
hour.
The resi-tance of a copper bar one quartcr of a mile in
length, and one square inch in section, is very nearly 1-100th of
an ohm, and the weight is about 2} tons. Assuming, then, the
price of insulated copper conductor at 9o/. per ton, and the rate of
interest and depreciation at 7% per cent., the charge per hour
of the above conductor, when used eight hours per day, is 14d.
Hence, following the principle I have stated above, the proper
size of conductor to use for an installation of the magnitude I
have supposed, would be one of 48-29 inches section, or a round
rod eight inches diameter.
If the mean distance of the lamps from the station be assumed
as 350 yards, the weight of copper used in the complete system
of conductors would be nearly 168 tons, and its cost 15, 120/.
To this must be added the cost of iron pipes, for carrying the con-
ductors underground, and of testing boxes, and labour in placing
them. Four pipes of 10 inch diameter each, would have to pro-
ceed in different directions from the central station, each containing
sixteen separate conductors of one inch diameter, and separately
insulated, each of them supplying a sub-district of 1,000 lights.
The total cost of establishing these conductors may be taken at
37,000/,, which brings up the total expenditure for central station
and leads to 177,000/. I assume the conductors to be placed
underground, as I consider it quite inadmissible, both as regards
permanency and public safety and convenience, to place them
above ground, within the precincts of towns. With this expen-
diture, the parish of St. James’s would be supplied with the
electric light to the extent of about 25 per cent, of the total
illuminating power required. To provide a larger percentage of
electric energy would increase the cost of establishment propor-
tionately ; and that of conductors, nearly in the square ratio of
the increase of the district, unless the loss of energy by resist-
ance is allowed to augment instead.
It may surprise uninitiated persons to be told that to supply a
single parish with electric energy necessitates copper conductors
of a collective area equal to a rod of eight inches in diameter ;
and how, it may be asked, will it be possible under such con-
ditions to transmit the energy of waterfalls to distances of twenty
or thirty miles, as has been suggested ? It must indeed be ad-
mitted that the transmission of electric energy of such potential
(200 volts) as is admissible in private dwellings would involve
conductors of impracticable dimensions, and in order to transmit
electrical energy to such distances, it is necessary to resort in the
first place to an electric current of high tension. By increasing
the tension from 200 to 1,200 volts the conductors may be re-
duced to one-sixth their area, and if we are content to lose a
larger proportion of the energy obtained cheaply from a water-
fall, we may effect a still greater reduction. A current of such
high potential could not be introduced into houses for lighting
purposes, but it could be passed through the coils of a secondary
dynamo-machine, to give motion to another primary machine,
producing currents of low potential to be distributed for general
consumption. Or secondary batteries may be used to effect the
conversion of currents of high into those of low potential, which-
ever means may be found the cheaper in first cost, in maintenance,
and most economical of energy. It may be advisable to have
several such relays of energy for great distances, the result of
which would be a reduction of the size and cost of conductor at
the expense of final effect, and the policy of the electrical engi-
neer will, in such cases, have to be governed by the relative cost
of the conductor, and of the power at its original source. If
70
NATURE
[Mov. 16, 1882.
secondary batteries should become more permanent in their action
than they are at the present time, they may be largely resorted
to by consumers, to receive a charge of electrical energy during
the dey time, or the small hours of the night, when the central
engine would otherwise be unemployed, and the advantage of
resorting to these means will depend upon the relative first cost,
and cost of working the secondary battery and the engine respec-
tively. These questions are, however, outside the range of our
present consideration.
The large aggregate of dwellings comprising the metropolis of
London covers about seventy square miles, thirty of which may
be taken to consist of parks, squares, and sparsely inhabited
areas, which are not to be considered for our present purpose.
The remaining forty square miles could be divided into say 140
districts, slightly exceeding a quarter of a square mile on the
average, but containing each fully 3,000 houses, and a population
similar to that of St. James’s.
Assuming twenty of these districts to rank with the parish of
St. |ames’s (after deducting the 600 shops which I did not in-
clude in my estimate) as central districts, sixty to be residential
districts, and sixty to be comparatively poor neighbourhoods,
and estimating the illuminating power required for these three
classes in the proportion of 1 to % to 4, we should find that the
total capital expenditure for supplying the metropolis with
electric energy to the extent of 25 per cent. of the total lighting
requirements would be—
20 x 177,000 = 3,540,000/.
60 x % x 177,000 = 7,080,000/.
60 x 4 x 177,000 = 3,540,000/.
14, 160,000/,
and making an average capital expenditure of 100,000/. per
district.
To extend the same system over the towns of Great Britain,
and Ireland would absorb a capital exceeding certainly
64,000,000/., to which must be added 16,co0,000/. for lamps
and internal fittings, making a total capital expenditure of
80,000,000/, Some of us may live to see this capital realised,
but to find such an amount of capital, and, what is more im-
portant, to find the manufacturing appliances to produce work
representing this value of machinery and wire, must necessarily
be the result of many years of technical development. If,
therefore, we see that electric companies apply for provi-ional
orders to supply electric energy, not only for every town through-
out the country, but also for the colonies, and for foreign parts,
we are forced to the conclusion that their ambition is somewhat
in excess of their power of performance ; and that no provisional
order should be granted except conditionally on the work being
executed within a reasonable time, as without such a provision
the powers granted may have the effect of retarding instcad of
advancing electric lighting, and of providing an undue en-
couragement to purely speculative operations,
The extension of a district beyond the quarter of a square mile
limit, would necessitate an establishment of unwieldy dimen-
sions, and the total cost of electric conductors per unit area
would be materially increased ; but independently of the consider-
ation of cost, great public inconvenience would arise in
consequence of the number and dimensions of the electric
conductors, which could no longer be accommodated in narrow
channels placed below the kerb stones, but would necessitate
the construction of costly subways—veritable cava electrica.
The amount of the working charges of an establishnient com-
prising the parish of St. James’s would depend on the number
of working hours in the day, and on the price of fuel per ton.
Assuming the 64,000 lights to incandesce for six hours a day,
the price of coal to be 20s. a ton, and the consumption 2lbs. per
effective horse power per hour, the annual charge under this
head, taking eight hours’ firing, would amount to about 18, 300/.,
to which would have to be added for wages, repairs, and sundries,
about 6,000/., for interest with depreciation at seven-and-a-half
per cent., 13,300/., and for general management say, 3,400/.,
making a total annual charge of 41,000/., or at the rate of
12s. 94d. per incandescent lamp per annum. To this has to be
added the cost of renewal ot lamps, which may be taken at 55.
per lamp of sixteen candles, lasting 1,200 hours, or to 9s. per
annum, making a total of 21s. 94d. per lamp for a year.
In comparing these results with the cost of gas-lighting, we
shall find that it takes 5 cubic feet of gas, in a good argand
burner, to produce the same luminous effect as one incandescent |
light of 16-candle power. In lighting such a burner every day
for six hours on the average, we obtain an annual gas consump-
tion of 10,950 cubic feet, the value of which, taken at the rate
of 2s. 8d. per thousand, represents an annual charge of 29s.,
showing that electric light by incandescence, when carried out
ona large scale, is decidedly cheaper than gas-lighting at present
prices, and with the ordinary gas-burners.
On the other hand, the cost of establishing gas-works and
mains of a capacity equal to 64,000 argand burners would
involve an expenditure not exceeding 80,000/, as compared with
177,000/, in the case of electricity ; and it is thus shown that
although it is more costly to establish a given supply of illu-
minating power by electricity than gas, the former has the
advantage as regards current cost of production.
It would not be safe, however, for the advocates of electric
lighting to rely upon these figures as representing a permanent
state of things. In calculating the cost of electric light, I have
only allowed for depreciation and 5 per cent. interest upon
capital expenditure, whereas gas companies are in the habit of
dividing large dividends, and can afford to supply gas at a
cheaper rate, by taking advantage of recent improvements in
manufacturing operations, and of the ever-increasing value of
their by-products, including tar, coke, and ammoniacal liquor.
Burners have, moreover, been recently devised by which the
luminous effect for a given expenditure of gas can be nearly
doubled by purely mechanical arrangements, and the brillianey
of the light can be greatly improved.
On the other hand, electric lighting also may certainly be
cheapened by resorting, to a greater extent than has been
assumed, to are lighting, which though less agreeable than the
' incandescent light for domestic purposes, can be produced at
or say 14,000, 000/., without including lamps and internal fittings, |
less than half the cost, and deserves on that account the prefer-
ence for street lighting, and for large halls, in combination with
incandescent lights. Lamps by incandescence may be produced
hereafter at a lower cost, and of a more enduring character.
Considering the increasing public demand for improved illu-
mination, it is not unrezsonable to expect that the introduction
of the electric light to the full extent here contemplated, would
go hand in hand with an increasing consumption of gas for
illuminating and for heating purposes, and the neck-to-neck
competition between the representatives of the two systems of
illumination, which is hkely to ensue, cannot fail to improve the
quality, and to cheapen the supply of both, a competition which
the consuming public can affurd to watch with complacent self-
satisfaction. Electricity must win the day, as the light of
luxury ; but gas will, at the same time, find an ever-increasing
application for the more humble purposes of diffusing light.
In my address to the British Association I dwelt upon the
capabilities and prospects of gas, both us an illuminant and asa
heating agent, ani I do not think that I was over-sanguine in
predicting for this combustible a future exceeding all present
anticipations.
T also called attention to the advantages of gas as a heating
agent, showing that if supplied specially for the purpose, it
would become not only the most convenient, but by far the
cheapest form of fuel that can be supplied to our towns. Such
a general supply of heating separately from illuminating gas, by
collecting the two gases into separate holders during the process
of distillation, woulda have the beneficial effects—
I. Of giving to lighting gas a higher illuminating power.
2. Of relieving our towns of their most objectionable traffic—
that in coal and ashes.
3. Of effecting the perfect cure of that bugbear of our winter
existence—the smoke nuisance.
4. Of largely increasing the production of those valuable by-
products, tar, coke, and ammonia, the annual value of which
already exceeds by nearly 3,000,000/, that of the coal consumed
in the gas-works,
The late exhibitions have been beneficial in arousing public
interest in favour of smoke abatement, and it is satisfactory to
find that many persons, without being compelled to do so, are
now introducing perfectly smokeless arrangements for their
domestic and kitchen fires,
The Society of Arts, which for more than Ioo years has given
its attention to important questions regarding public health,
comfort, and instruction, would, in my opinion be the proper
body to examine thoroughly into the question of the supply and
economical application of gas and electricity for the purposes
of lighting, of power production, and of heating, They would
ov. 16, 1882 |
fia: pave the way to such legislative reform as may be neces-
‘sary to facilitate the introduction of a national system.
__ If I can be instrumental in engaging the interest of the
Society in these important questions, especially that of smoke
prevention, I shall vacate this chair next year with the pleasing
consciousness that my term of office has not been devoid of a
practical result.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—In the Higher Local Examination, in which
the majority of the candidates are women, there was a notable
falling off this year in the number of candidates in the Natural
‘Science group of subjects. In 1880 there were 99, and 26
failed ; in 1881 there were 89, and 17 failed ; in 1882, only 39,
and 9 failed. The total number of candidates increased from
882 in 1881 to 961 in 1882. The examiners’ reports do not in-
‘dicate any special falling off in the attainments shown by the
‘candidates. In the elementary paper (including Physics, aid
Biology) the results were not particularly satisfactory. Confu-
sion in the use of terms was common, and the inability to use
chemical formulze was very marked in some cases. In Physio-
logy mistakes were made with regard to subjects of great prac-
tical interest, and many of them might have been avoided by
reference to every-day experience. In Chemistry the theory was
‘better understood than practical laboratory details.
A supplementary local examination was held in September,
for the benefit of candidates seeking exemption from the Pre-
vious Examination, and of others desiring to become medical
students, &c. Nineteen intending medical students entered,
none of whom satisfied the requirements of the General Medical
Council. :
The Fellows elected at St. John’s College last week included
Prof. W. J. Sollas, 1st class in the Natural Science Tripos,
1873, Professor of Geology in University College, Bristol, and
author of many valuable geological and paleontological me-
moirs; Mr. J. S. Yeo, Second Wrangler and Second Smith’s
Prizeman, 1882.
Dr. Hans Gadow will conduct an advanced class in the
Morphology of the Vertebrata at the New Museums during the
remainder of the pre:ent term.
The Members appointed by the Senate on the General Board of
Studies, on which much important work will henceforth devolve,
are Messrs. Bradshaw (University Librarian), J. Peile, Prof.
Cayley, Aldis Wright, Dr. Parkinson, Coutts Trotter, Dr.
Phear (Master of Emmanuel College), and Prof, Stuart.
‘The special Boards of Studies relating to Natural Sciences
have selected the following representatives on the General Board
of Studies :—Medicine, Prof. Paget ; Mathematics, Dr. Ferrers ;
Physics and Chemistry, Prof. Liveing; Biology and Geology;
Music, Mr. Sedley Taylor.
Prof. Stuart has issued his address as the liberal candidate
for the University, in succession to the Right Hon. Sir H.
Walpole, who proposes to resign.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
The American Fournal of Science, October. —Notes on physio-
logical optics, No. 5.—Vision by the light of the electric spark,
by W. L. Stevens.—Crystals of monazite from Alexander
county, North Carolina, by E. S. Dana.—Occurrence and com-
position of some American yarieties of monazite, by S. L.
Penfield.—Irregularities in the amplitude of oscillation of pen-
dulums, by C. S. Peirce.—The Deerfield dyke and its minerals,
by B. K. Emerson.—Occurrence of Sihonotreta scotica in the
Utica formation near Ottawa, Ontario, by J, F. Whiteaves.—
A recent species of Hetevopora, from the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
by the same.—Notes on interesting minerals occurring near
Pike’s Peak, Colorado, by W. Cross and W. F, Hillebrand.
Fournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 4, part 2, No. 1
(August 31, 1882), contains: Ona collection of Japanese Clau-
sili made by Surgeon R. Hungerford in 1881, by Dr. O. F,
von Mollendorff (plate 1); out of 21 species, 10 are described
as new. Also, by the same author, on Clausilia nevilliana, a
new species from the Nicobars, and descriptions of three new
Asiatic Clausilize.—Second list of Diurnal Lepidoptera from the
Nicobars, by J. Wood-Mason and L. de Nicéville (plate 3).—
On some new or little-known Mantodea, by J. Wood-Mason
NATURE
71
Bulletin del’ Academie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, No. 8.
—On the new note of M. Dupont concerning his re-vindication
of priority of M. Dewalque.—On the means proposed for calm-
ing the waves of the sea, by M. Van der Mensbrugghe. —On the
dilatation of some isomorphous salts, by M. Spring,—Notes of
comparative physiology, by M. Fredericq.—On some bromi-
nated derivatives of camphor, by M. de la Royére.—On the cen-
tral bone of the carpus in mammalia, by M. Lebourcq.—Action
of chlorine on sulphonic combinations, and on organic oxy-
sulphides, by MM. Spring and Wissinger.
Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel,
Theil 7, Heft 1, 1882, contains: Studies on the history of the
deer family, No. 1.—The skull structure, by L. Riitimeyer,—
Studies on Za/pa europea, by Dr. J. Kober. The literature is
given in detail, followed by notes on the mole’s place in the order,
its local names and habits, and on its anatomy and development
(plates 1 and 2, chiefly relating to dentition and embryos).—
First supplement to the Catalogue of the Collection of Keptiles
in the Basle Museum, by F. Miller. Notes are appended to
some of the rarer species, and a new genus and species ( Zvopido-
cephalus azureus) are indicated for a form allied to Leodera
chilensis, Gray, taken in Uruguay ; it is figured on plate 3. The
register of the collection to December, 1881 indicates 933
species.—On the hail-storm of June 29, 1879, by E. Haigen-
bach-Bischoff and others.—On the explosiye powers of ice and
on the Gletscherkorn, by E. H._ Bischoff.—Meteorological
Report for 1881, with reports by L. Riitimeyer on the compara-
tive anatomy collections, and by F. Burckhardt and R, Holtz,
on the map collection of the Society.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LoNDON
Mathematical Society, November 9.—Mr. S. Roberts,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—After the reading of the Trea-
surer’s and Secretaries’ reports, the Chairman briefly touched
upon the loss the Society had sustained during the recess, by the
death of Prof. W. Stanley Jevons, F.R.S.— After the ballot for
the Council of the ensuing session had been taken, Prof. Hen-
rici, F,.R.S., the newly elected president, took the chair, and
called upon Mr. Roberts to read his address, which was entitled,
“*Remarks on Mathematical Terminology and the Philosophical
Bearing of Recent Mathematical Speculations concerning the
Realities of Space.”—Mr. W. M. Hicks was admitted into the
Society.—The following communications were made :—On in-
and circumscribed polyhedra, Prof. Forsyth.—Note on quartic
curves in space, Dr. Spottiswoode, P.R.S.—Note on the deriva-
tion of elliptic function formule from confocal conics, Mr. J.
Griffiths. —On the explicit integration of certain differential re-
solvents, Sir J. Cockle, F.R.S.—On compound determinants,
Mr. R. F. Scott.—On unicursal twisted quartics, Mr. R. A.
Roberts.
Geological Society, Noyember 1.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—Prof. Louis Lartet, of Toulouse, was
elected a Foreign Correspondent of the Society.—The following
communications were read :—The Hornblendic and other schists
of the Lizard District, with some additional notes on the Ser-
pentine, by Prof. T. G. Bonney, M.A., F.R.S., Sec. G.S. The
author described the metamorphic series, chiefly characterised
by hornblendic schist, which oceupies the southern portion of
the Lizard and an extensive tract to the north of the serpentine
region, besides some more limited areas. He found that this
series was separable into a lower or micaceous group—schists
with various green minerals (often a variety of hornblende), or
with brownish m'ca; a middle or hornblendic group, character-
ised by black hornblende; and an upper or granulitic group,
characterised by bands of quartz-felspar rock, ofien resembling
in appearance a vein-granite. These are all highly metamor-
phosed ; yet the second and third occasionally retain to a re-
markable extent indications of the minuter bedding structures,
such as alternating lamination and current bedding of various
kinds, They form, in the author’s opinion, one continuous
‘eries, of which the uppermost is the thinnest. The general
strike of the series, though there are many variations, is either
north-west or west-north-west. The junctions of the Palaeozoic
with the metamorphic series at Polurrian and at Porthalla were
described. These are undoubtedly faulied; and the two rocks
differ greatly, the former being a slate like any ordinary Palzo-
zoic rock, the other a highly metamorphosed schist. Mor over,
72
NATURE
et
[Vov. 16, 1882
fragments of the hornblende schist and a kind of gneiss occur in
a conglomerate in the former, south of Nare Point. The author
considers the metamorphic series (the microscopic structure of
which was fully described) undoubtedly Archean, and probabiy
rather early in that division. The rocks of the micaceous group
have considerable resemblance in the greenish and lead-coloured
schists of Holyhead Island and the adjoining mainland of Angle-
sey, and of the Menai Strait. Two outlying areas of serpentine,
omitted in his former paper, were described—one at Polkerris,
the other at Porthalla. The latter shows excellent junctions,
and is clearly intrusive in the schist. The author stated that he
had re-examined a large part of the district described in his
former paper, and had obtained additional evidence of the in-
trusion of the serpentine into the sedimentary rock with which
it is associated. This evidence is of sc strong a nature that he
could not conceive the possibility of any one who would care-
fully examine the district for himself, entertaining a doubt upon
the matter.—Notes on some Upper Jurassic Astrorhizidee and
Lituolide, by Dr. Rudolf Hausler, F.G.S.
Paris
Academy of Sciences, November 6.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—On the comparative
observation of telluric and metallic lines as a means of esti-
mating the absorbent powers of the atmosphere, by M. Cornu.
He selects telluric lines (caused by aqueous vapour, and varying
in intensity with the amount of it) near D, the scale being four
times as large as Angstrém’s. Metallic lines, for comparison,
are indicated ; also a method of deducing the total quantity of
vapour.—Results of experiments made at the exhibition of elec-
tricity, &c. (continued), by M. Allard and others, Three more
systems are here discussed.—On M. Siemens’ new theory of the
sun, by M. Him. The recombination of the elements dissociated
in space could occur only at a notable distance from the sun’s
photosphere, and on falling into this they must be anew entirely
dissociated, an action which would cost the heat developed by
combination. Again, the work done by solar radiation in dis-
sociation must reduce the intensity of radiation; so that the
brightness of the sun. stars, and planets should diminish
much more rapidly than inversely as the square of the
distances. M. Hirn also supports M. Faye’s objections by
numerical examples.—On the functions of seven letters,
by M. Brioschi—The earthquake of the Isthmus of Panama,
by M. de Lesseps. The phenomena (of which he gives a scien-
tific account) seem to have been much exaggerated. The cha-
racter of comparative immunity of the isthmus (as compared
with regions near) is not seriously affected ; and in any case, the
construction of a maritime canal without locks is justified. There
is no ground for apprehension as to the banks of the canal.—M.
Peligot presented a ‘‘ Treatise of Analytical Chemistry applied
to Agriculture,” and indicated its scope.—MM. de la Tour
du Breuil addressed a further note regarding their process for
separation of sulphur ; they have modified the process so that
it is applicable either to resistant or to pulverulent ores.—On the
comet observed in Chili in September, by M. de Bernardiéres.—
On the great southern comet observed at the Imperial Observa-
tory of Rio de Janeiro, by M. Cruls. JZnter alza, he refers to
the aspect of the tail as of a current of extremely bright light,
in which were distinct bright lines, Behind the nucleus was a
dark space, and one was reminded of a bridge-pile in a strong
current. The tail extending a length of 12°, seemed sud-
denly interrupted, and the extension for 15° beyond was
of much less width and brightness, Sodium and carbon
lines were observed in the spectrum.—On the functions
of the genus zero and of genus one, by M. Laguerre.
—On a result of calculation obtained by M. Allégret, by
M. MacMahon.—On the relation between the electromotive
force of a dynamo-electric machine and its velocity of rotation,
by M. Levy.—Spectrophotometric measurements of different
points of the solar disc, by MM. Gouy and Thollon. They
could measure separately the 200,oooth part of the solar disc,
and the thousandth part of the spectrum. The figures obtained
show the decrease of radiation on approaching the limb (greater
the more refrangible the rays). The method is also applied to
spots.—On the comparison of mercury thermometers with the
hydrogen thermometer, by M. Crafts. Fifteen Paris thermo-
meters examined (the crystal containing 18 per cent. lead oxide)
behaved like the thermometers of ordinary glass studied by Reg-
nault, but very unlike those of Choisy-le-Roy crystal (with
nearly twice as much oxide). A German thermometer of soda-
glass gave a curve much nearer the mean than many others of
Paris crystal.—On a hydrate of molybdic acid, MoOQ,2HO, by
M. Parmentier.—On the transformation, in cold, of the blood
of animals into solid and inodorous manure, by a new ferric’
sulphate, by M. Marguerite-Delacharlonny. This sulphate has
the formula Fe,O0,4SO3. With it the elimination of the water
attains nearly one-half. It forms a hydrate which crystallises
easily, and dissolves readily in heat. On adding a solution of
the sulphate to fresh blood, the latter forms in a few seconds a
firm elastic paste, It is then treated in a hydraulic press, and forms
a sort of cake.—Researches on the passage of alcoholic liquor
through porous bodies, by M. Gal. His experiments show the
influence of the surrounding atmosphere on the alc /holic strength
of liquids in bladders (an influence that has been too much over-
looked),—On the reduction of sulphates by living beings, by
MM. Etard and Olivier. The authors proved experimentally
the reduction of sulphates, by Beggiatoa, and found at least three
other alga capable of the same action.—On mono-chlorised
allylic alcohol and CHz,=CClI—CH, (OH) and its derivatives,
by M. Henry.—Chemical studies on white beet of Silesia (con-
tinued), by M. Leplay.—On the reduction of nitrates in arable
land (continued), by MM. Deheraine and Maquenne. Bacillus
amylobacter is probably the reducing agent, — Direct fermentation
of starch; mechanism of this metamorphosis, by M. Mercano.
Diastase isa product of the vital activity of the microbe of
maize, which produces it incessantly as it traverses the envelopes
of the starch grains, thus favouring its action on the stratified
granulose. The microbe is that which causes the fermentation
of sugar-cane juice. —On the 7é/e of earthworms in propagation
of charbon, and on the attenuation of the virus, by M. Feltz.
His experiments confirm the views of M. Pasteur as against
those of M. Koch.—On the disinfectant and antiseptic action of
copper, by M. Burcq. He suggests treatment of infectious dis-
eases with salts of copper, injection of the wood of huts
with copper sulphate, also applications of copper to infected
furniture, clothing, &c.—Analysis of the reflex of C. Loven, by
M. Laffont.—On the venomous apparatus and the poison of the
scorpion, M. Joyeux-Laffuie. The poison should be placed
among poisons of the nervous system (Bert) and not among
blood-poisons (Jousset de Bellesme).—Researches on the genital
organ of oysters, by M. Hoek.
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, October 5.—E. vy.
Bruecke, vice-president, in the chair.—The following papers
were read :—L. Ditscheiner, on Guebhard’s rings.—L. Pebal,
note on the mechanical separation of minerals.—H. Schwarz, on
new bodies obtained from coal-tar, isomerides of pyrocresso].—
F. Schroeckenstein, geological leisure hours ; a contribution to
the petrography of crystalline rocks.
CONTENTS Pace
Recent CHEMICAL SYNTHESES . - + « «© © «© © © «© © © « «© 49
Tue BurrerFuies or INDIA. By H. J.Etwes ....-.. . + 50
Our Book SHELF :—
Buckley's ‘* Winners in Life’s Race”. . . . . . - += « + + SI
LETTERS TO THE EpDITOR:—
‘Weather Forecasts.’"—The BisHorp of CARLISLE . . . . - «
The Comet.—J. P. McEwen, R.N., Assistant Harbour Master ;
T. W. Bacxuouse; Geo. M. SeaprokeE; Henry Cecit. . « 52
Magnetic Arrangement of Clouds.—Rev. W. CLement Ley. . . 53
“A Curious Halo.’”’—Rev. W. Crement Ley; Rev. GeRARD
Pete oh Goe sy th eg Oo ty Jo, seo oA a> ees
Priestley and Lavoisier.—C. Tomutnson, F.R.S. . . . . . + 53
Ware '(Guns!—WUH CoB es Sons fa fe om) hm ce ula pret Sun aS TnSeS
Paleolithic River Gravels. —Wm Wuite; T. Karr CALLARD . + 53
Aurora.—CuEMENT L. WRAGGE. . 2 6 + 2 « 2 © 6 8 8 sw 5H
A Dredging Implement.—W. A. HErpMAN . . «©. + + « + 54
Forged Irish Antiquities. —-W. J. KNowLEs. . . - » +. « « + 54
Tue New Naturat History MusEuM .....- - += 5 « « « 54
Sine: COMET. so feria) ues ics: ieee te) 1s) ean sie 56
Recent Dynamo-Evecrric Macnuines (With Illustrations) . . . 58
THE ProjecTION PRAXINOSCOPE (With Illustration) . .. . * 60
NOTES’, Soma he oh oh Pas av. Sy elec Maine ae Nom (a nO
GroGRABBIGALANOTES) (6 canis) «> Gale j dude eee com eke ee eS
Tue Aims AND METHOD oF Ggotocicat Inquiry, II. By Prof. JaMEs
Garin) .D:, BORIS SL sandiEs 5 sc) gel pore i- ns) ae! f-)eaee
A METHOD FOR OBSERVING ARTIFICIAL TRANSITS « « + - ea
Evectrric LIGHTING, THE TRANSMISSION OF ForRCE BY ELECTRICITY.
By Dric, W. SmweEns, FOROS 0 8c os in ce = aso
UNIVERSITY AND EpUCATIONALINTELLIGENCE «© » + - - + + + JE
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS’ |.) =] es) a) ssl) ce = 5 Sot qx
SecreTIES AND ACADEMIES. . . «© - - + «+ «© + * = PR echia’ f
NATURE
758)
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1882
THE CHALLENGER REPORTS
eports on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S.
“ Challenger” during the years 1873-1876, under the
Command of Capt. Sir George Nares, R.N., F.R.S.,
and Capt. F. T. Thomson, R.N. Prepared under the
Superintendence of Sir C. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S.,
and John Murray. Zoology—Vols. II., III., and IV.
(Published by Order of Her Majesty’s Government,
1881-1882.)
Sag our last notice of these Reports, three more
volumes of the zoological series have made their
appearance. In vol. ii. published in 1881, and prepared
under the superintendence of the late Sir C. Wyville
Thomson, the first Report is by Prof. Moseley: On
Certain Hydroid, Alcyonarian and Madreporian Corals
procured during the Voyage. The great interest and im-
portance of Mr. Moseley’s investigations into the struc-
ture of the Hydrocoralline, and on the Helioporide and
their allies, justified a previous publication, chiefly in the
Philosophical Transactions, of the chief results of the
author’s work. The third part, describing the Deep Sea
Madreporaria appears now for the first time. It ought
to be noted that the memoirs forming the first two parts
have been recast, and contain both additions and altera-
tions. Mr. Moseley’s history of (/zl/efora nodosa will be
acknowledged by all capable of judging, as a most solid
contribution to our knowledge of the Hydrocoralline. So
long ago as 1859, Agassiz announced that the structure of
the polyps of Millepora showed that they belonged not
to the corals, but to the Hydroids; but although this
view was confirmed by others, especially by Pourtales,
who once got an imperfect view of the expanded dactylo-
zooids, still it remained for Prof. Moseley to settle this
question of affinity beyond a doubt, which he has done
by his painstaking dissections. He acknowledges his
indebtedness to his colleague, Mr. Murray, who saw the
zooids of Millepora nodosa in a living and expanded
state upon the reefs of Tahiti. This species forms tuber-
cular and irregular masses, often encrusting and over-
growing the dead fronds of Lophoseris cactus, which is a
principal component of the Tahitian reefs. While fresh,
the growing tips of the lobes have a bright gamboge yellow
colour, fading off into a yellowish brown; the expanded
zooids have the appearance of a close-set pearly white
down upon the surface of the mass. Sometimes the
encrusting film is very thin. When, as at Bermuda, JZ.
alcicornis is found attached to glass bottles thrown into
the harbour, this film will not be more than from }th
to 3th of a millimetre in thickness, and no doubt,
now that attention is called to such specimens, they will
be studied with the object of telling us more of the life
history of these forms.
The Stylasteride, now definitely determined to be
Hydroids, as was first strongly suggested by G. O.
Sars, are described in great detail, and this portion of the
report is accompanied by many splendid plates, and a
list of all the species of Stylasteridz at present known is
given. Mosely places the group as a separate family,
along side of the Milleporidz, in the sub-order Hydro-
corallinz.
VOL, XXVII.—No. 682
The second part of the report is on Helioporidz and
their allies, in which He/iopora coerulea is described
from living specimens, and a detailed account of its
structure and mode of growth is given. We have also an
extremely valuable description of a species of Sarco-
phyton, almost certainly S. Zobatum, from the Admiralty
Islands, and the conclusion now so well known is come
to that Heliopora is without doubt an Alcyonarian.
The third part comes as a quite fresh work, for the
preliminary catalogue of the deep-sea Madrepores, was
necessarily most imperfect. But here we have extended
descriptions of the entire series of species dredged during
the voyage, with sixteen plates and also numerous wood-
cuts intercalated throughout the text. No less than
thirty-three species are described for the first time.
These deep-sea Madrepores would appear to be very
widely distributed, some, as for example, Bathyactis
symmetrica, having a world-wide range. At present the
only genera which seem restricted in range are Stephano-
phyltia and Sphenotrochus, which have as yet only been
obtained from the seas of the Malay Archipelago, and in
comparatively shallower water, and the genus Leptopenus,
which has been dredged throughout all the great oceans, but
only south of the equator. The wide range of the species
in depth has now become a well-known fact, though none
the less interesting for that, the world distributed species
above-mentioned ranging in depth from 70 to 2900
fathoms. The occurrence of the genera as fossils in
Secondary and Tertiary deposits is also not without
interest, but the deep-sea forms are not to be regarded as
of greater geological antiquity than those found in shallow
water.
The report on the birds collected during the voyage is
by Dr. P. L. Sclater. The collection embraced about 900
specimens in skins, besides which there was a consider-
able series of sea-birds in salt and spirits, and a collection
of eggs. The collection was formed under the superin-
tendence of Mr. John Murray, who placed at Dr. Sclater’s
disposal his ornithological note-book, which contained
the history of every individual specimen. It will be re-
membered that the main object of the expedition was the
exploration of the depths of the ocean, and that the col-
lecting of land birds formed no part of the original plan,
so that the comparative smallness of the collection is not
surprising. The author of the report expresses his in-
debtedness to his friends, the late Marquis of Tweeddale,
Dr. Otto Finsch, Prof. Salvadori, Mr. Howard Saunders,
Mr. W. A. Forbes, and Mr. Osbert Salvin, for the
assistance they gave him in preparing this report, which
is accompanied by thirty coloured plates. Many of the
notes appended to the description of the penguins are
taken from Mr. Moseley’s published accounts of the
voyage, and are doubtless already well known to our
readers.
Vol. iii., published towards the close of 1881, opens with
a most elaborated and magnificently illustrated report by
Prof. Alexander Agassiz, on the Echinoidea. The im-
portance of this report has already been called attention
to ina special notice (vide NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 41).
The second and concluding report in the volume is on
the Pycnogonida, by Dr. P. P.C. Hoeck. The collection
of these forms was very rich in species. Of the 120
specimens dredged during the voyage, there were no less
E
74
NATURE
[Mov. 23, 1882
than 36 species, and of these 33 are describe1 as new to
science. Five other species found during the cruise of
the Knight Errant are also included inthe report. These
species are referred to 9 genera, of which three are
described as new. ‘Those genera which range over
the widest area, are also those which range most in
depth—while there are some species peculiar to deep-sea
areas. No truly generic types seem to be thus charac-
terised. Dr. Hoeck considers that the Pycnogonide
form a distinct and very natural group or class of Arthro-
pods. Their common progenitor must have been a form
with three jointed mandibles—multi-jointed palpi and
ovigerous legs, with numerous rows of denticulate spines
on the last joints. In the most primitive condition the
eye of the Pycnogonid consists of a rounded transparent
part of the integument, the inner surface of which is fur-
nished with some small ganglia and nerve-fibres issuing
from the integumentary nerve-bundle. The highly-deve-
loped eye of the shallow-water species show ganglionic
cells, distinct retinal rods, and a lens consisting of a
thickened part of the chitinous skin of the animal.
Those eyes which have lost their pigment and their
retinal rods are rudimentary. Dr. Hoeck, treating of
the affinities of this class writes: “about the relation in
which the Pycnogonida stand to either the Crustacea or
the Arachnida, we know as much or as little as we do
about the relation in which these two classes of Arthro-
poda stand to each other.”
Vol. iv. opens with an important contribution to ana-
tomical science in the Report on the Anatomy of the
Petrels (Tubinares) collected during the voyage. It is
from the pen of Mr. W. A. Forbes, Fellow of St. John’s,
Cambridge.
The group of Petrels is one that up to the present
date can scarcely be said to have been anatomically in-
vestigated. It is difficult at all times to procure speci-
mens in the flesh—and some of the species are so large
as to render their preservation a matter of considerable
trouble. At the suggestion of the late A. H. Garrod,
the naturalist staff of the Cha//enger made a fine collec-
tion of these oceanic birds in spirits, which contained 74
specimens belonging to 31 species and 22 genera. Prof.
Garrod had scarcely commenced to work at this series
before he was struck by the lingering illness which ended
in his lamented and premature death, and his friend, Mr.
W. A. Forbes, undertook to draw up the report which
here appears. This report is of a very thorough charac-
ter. Commencing with an account of the previous litera-
ture on the anatomy and classification of the group; we
then have a complete sketch of the comparative anatomy
of the group--the external characters, pterylosis and
visceral anatomy are first described—these are succeeded
by an account of the myology—to which follows a descrip-
tion of the tracheal structures and of certain other points
in the anatomy of the soft parts, while an account of the
osteology concludes the report. Some of the modifica-
tions, described by the author, “are of great physiologi-
cal and morphological interest, whilst the numerous
differences in points of detail displayed in the different
sections and genera of the Petrels, lead one to expect that
the future study of systematic ornithology will be not a
little elucidated by the labours of the anatomist wherever
he has material, as in the present case, at his comm and,
sufficient for an adequate study of a natural group on the
basis of structural differences more important than those
that can be discerned from the superficial inspection of
an ordinary skin.” This report is illustrated by very
numerous woodcuts and seven plates of anatomical de-
tails. In treating of the affinities of the group, Mr.
Forbes declares it to be a difficult task to assign to it any
satisfactory position in any arrangement of the class of
birds.
The second report in the volume is on the Deep-sea
Meduse, by Prof. Ernst Haeckel. They form one of the
smallest and least important groups of the rich and re-
markable deep-sea fauna discovered during the voyage of
the Challenger. The number of species described does
not exceed eighteen, of which half are Crasfedote and
half Acraspede. These new species were briefly diagnosed
in the “‘ System der Medusen, 1879,’’ but they are here de-
scribed at great length and with a most splendid series of
illustrations. The descriptive portion of the memoir is
prefaced by a very elaborate sketch of the comparative
morphology of the medusz, which is illustrated by many
woodcuts.
It would seem by no means certain that all the eighteen
species of deep-sea medusz here described are constant
inhabitants of the deep sea. The method of capture by
the tow-net by which such delicate and fragile organisms
are brought from great depths is still imperfect, and it
seems probable that the greater number of medusze
brought up apparently from the greater depths really
swim in shallower water, and are only taken in during the
“hauling-in” of the net. But Prof. Haeckel counts that
those medusz which have either adapted themselves by
special modifications of organisation to a deep-sea habit of
life, or which give evidence by their primitive structure of
a remote phylogenetic origin, may with great probability
be regarded as permanent and characteristic inhabitants
of the depths of the sea ; and as such he regards fourteen
out of the eighteen described. With regard to the mag-
nificent illustrations the author states: ‘‘It is of course
impossible, from the imperfect state of preservation of
the spirit specimens, to expect that they should be abso-
lutely true to nature. I rather considered it my duty
here, as in those figures in my ‘System der Medusen,’
which were drawn from spirit specimens, to take advantage
of my knowledge of the forms of the living Medusz to
reconstruct the most probable approximate image of the
living forms, I was greatly assisted in my efforts in this
direction by the skilful hand of my lithographer, Adolf
Giltsch.’? It seems hardly necessary to make any scien-
tific criticisms on this straightforward statement.
The third and concluding memoir is by Hjalmar Théel,
and contains the first part of his report on the Holo-
thuroidea. It is altogether devoted to the holothuroids
of the new order Elasipoda, which name has been with
advantage substituted for that of Elasmopoda used in the
Preliminary Report. Seven years have scarcely elapsed
since the discovery in the Kara Sea of the form for which
this family was established, and now over fifty species
are known. These species of Elasipods are true deep
water forms, and they may with all the more reason be
said to characterise the abyssal fauna, as no single repre-
sentative as far as is at present known has been found to
exist at a depth less than 58 fathoms, Only one form,
;
Nov. 23, 1882]
NATORE
a3
Elpidia glacialis, has been dredged at this inconsiderable
depth, and even this was dredged in the Arctic Ocean,
where true abyssal forms are to be met with at compara-
tively shallow depths. This species too can exist at
immense depths, one from Station 160 having been
dredged at a depth of 2600 fathoms, the greatest depth
at which any Holothuroid has to this been dredged being
2900 fathoms. Among the more remarkable and dis-
tinguishing characteristics of this order Mr. Théel men-
tions the agreement in several important details—both in
their internal anatomy and outer forms—of the adult and
larval forms, an agreement more close than occurs in any
previously known Holothuroid. He does not agree with
Danielssen and Korren in placing the Elasipods low in
the series of the Holothuroids ; nay in some respects he
regards them as having attained to a higher development
than all the other Echinoderms, because, among other
facts, their bodies are distinctly bilaterally symmetrical,
with the dorsal and ventral surfaces distinct and often
with a cephalic region well marked. Only the ventral
ambulacre are subservient to locomotion; these latter
show a tendency to appear both definite as to place and
number. The dorsal appendages are so modified as to
perform functions different from the ventral ones. This
memoir contains forty-six plates, which give full details
of the forms and structure of all the new species.
LIGHT
Light: A Course of Experimental Optics chiefly with the
Lantern. By Lewis Wright. (London: Macmillan
and Co., 1882.)
HIS is a book by a worker whose work in his own
line is of a very high order, and whose experience
will be of correspondingly high value to others who are
working at the same subject. In all those departments
of experimental optics in which the lantern is employed
for the demonstration of actual experiments to an audi-
ence, Mr. Wright is a master hand: and his book, as
might be expected, is consequently a valuable repertory
of useful information and of suggestive hints. Of books
on Light there are already enough and to spare. Of
standard treatises and text-books in the department of
Geometrical Optics the supply is more than could be
desired. In Physical Optics there is still room for a good
elementary mathematical text-book. In Physiological
Optics also there is, save for the great treatise of Helm-
holtz, a void. But the work before us stands apart from
all these, both in aim and in character. Indeed so well
does it carry out the ideal of a work “on experimental
optics chiefly with the lantern,’’ that there was really no
need to prefix to the title the word ‘‘ Light.” True it is
that Mr. Wright does not confine himself to the mere
working of lanterns and their accessories. He deals ina
simple and practical way with the laws of reflexion and
refraction, and with ordinary optical instruments : but he
always adds something of practical interest to the teacher
of optics. To illustrate the laws of reflexion and refrac-
tion he describes a simplified form of the apparatus so
well known in Prof. Tyndall’s lectures on Light; and the
mechanical illustrations of wave-motion, &c., are also
new in several respects. The chapter on Spectrum
Analysis is brief and sketchy, but includes almost all the
experiments which can be projected on to the screen with
the lantern. Amongst these we notice very careful in-
structions for exhibiting the spectrum of Newton’s rings
and of other interference phenomena,
Nearly one-half of the book is devoted, and well
devoted, to experimental work on Double-Refraction and
Polarisation. In this section there are a number of
beautiful experiments described which we do not remem-
ber having seen before in any treatise in the English
language. Amongst these are some with compound mica
plates built up of a series of films of definite thickness
and united by Canada balsam. A series of twenty-four
superposed mica films, each producing a retardation of
one-eighth of a wave-length and each one-sixteenth of an
inch shorter than the one beneath it, is in this way made
to reproduce exactly the first three orders of colours of
Newton’s rings, but divided into the precise tints over
narrow strips. A detailed account is also given of the
combinations devised by Norremberg and Reusch for
reproducing the phenomena of uniaxial crystals and of
quartz by the superposition of thin films of mica crossed
in various ways. Plates illustrative of these combinations
contribute much to the value of the descriptions and
explanations of the text. Mr. Wright also gives some
account of his own researches upon the spiral figures
produced by the introduction of quarter-undulation plates
into the polariscope in which crystal sections are being
examined by convergent light. There is a penultimate
chapter on the polarisation of the sky and of minute par-
ticles, followed by a final chapter—wholly out of place in
such a work—in which, so far as it is intelligible, there
appears to be an attempt made to connect the undulatory
theory of light with the trinitarian theory of theology.
With the exception of this last, and with a few occasiona
inelegancies of style, there is little fault to find with the
book. The mathematical student of optics will without
doubt grumble when he takes up the work, because the
mathematical aspect of the subject is conspicuous by its
absence. The author does not profess to be a mathe-
matician : or he would hardly have pronounced in favour
of Brewster’s views on the theoretical polarising angle,
as he does on p. 223. This, however, is a minor matter
in a book whose great aim is to assist manipulation.
The numerous illustrations, a large proportion of which
are original, add greatly to its value. The coloured
plates of polariscopic phenomena are, it should be added,
of singular excellence. Sobol
OUR BOOK SHELF
Practical Chemistry, Analytical Tables, &c. By J
Campbell Brown, D.Sc. (London: Churchill, 1882.)
NOTHING perhaps is more remarkable than the great
increase during the past few years in the number of books
on practical chemistry and analysis. This has no doubt
to some extent been caused by the prominence given
generally to the teaching of chemistry in the laboratory.
The books to which we refer consist with few excep-
tions of tabular statements of reactions of acids and bases
and methods of detection of the same in simple salts or
mixtures. They all appear to be on the same “type”
and with the same intention of putting students through
a course of drudgery in qualitative analysis according to
a fixed “table.” The book before us is no worse than
others of its class, but attempts rather too much by giving
76
condensed tables for alkaloids and gases, which are,
however, in themselves very good ones. It is to be
feared that these practical books tend to make students
mere analytical machines in a small way, without giving
them much real practical notion of chemistry. It is
questionable whether a student who has worked through
the modern tabular system of practical chemistry would
be able, for instance, to state the reason for the employ-
ment of bricks in preference to chalk for the back of an
ordinary fireplace or some equally simple practical
question,
Elementary Chemical Arithmetic. By Sidney Lupton:
(London: Macmillan and Co., 1882.)
THIS little book with its modest preface will be recognised
by all teachers of chemistry, especially in large laboratory
classes, and also by students as a really useful adjunct.
Unfortunately in large public laboratories a consider-
able proportion of the studerfts have been very much
neglected in the matter of their elementary mathematical
education, or it has been of such a nature that they are
not able to apply it to the solution of ordinary chemical
problems, thus entailing, in many cases, a large amount
of extra work and loss of time on the part of the teacher
in giving instruction in elementary arithmetic. This
book fits into its place exactly. It is divided into two
main portions: an introduction, consisting of short but
very understandable explanations of arithmetical pro-
cesses in common demand in chemistry and physical
chemistry of a practical and elementary nature, the
second portion being problems divided under the headings
of the different elements. Regarding these it may perhaps
be said that they do not err on the side of being too
chemical, and in one or two cases more attention has
been given to the question as a question than to its abso-
lute chemical correctness, but these are mere details that
in no way detract from the utility of the book for its
purpose. :
What is required of the mass of chemical students is
that they should be able to apply methods of reasoning
founded on experimental facts in the science to the solution
of concrete and abstract problems ; and working through
this book will certainly conduce to bring about an
improvement in that direction.
The Watch and Clockmaker’s Handbook. By F. J.
Britten. (London: Kent and Co., 1881.)
THis little book has been written, we are informed, chiefly
for the instruction of country watchmakers. It cannot
fail to be agreeable to them: it contains a great deal of
useful practical information, and some is given of a higher
quality, such as workmen are, to their credit, eager for
now-a-days. To another and wider circle there is also
much of a character to be interesting. The book is a
proper supplement to the more popular horological trea-
tises. There are good descriptions and pleasing diagrams
of the various watch escapements; there is a chapter
upon the art of springing; the mechanism of chrono-
graphs, repeating watches, and calendars is shown, but
almost too briefly. Lastly, we find pictures and a short
reference to the various tools which watchmakers employ,
and some serviceable memoranda are added. Upon the
whole the author has and deserves our praise.
H. DENT GARDNER
fTeroes of Science. Botanists, Zoologists, and Geologists.
3y Prof. P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S.,F.L.S. (London:
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1882.)
THIS little volume contains brief sketches of the lives of
a few botanists, zoologists, and geologists, for the most
part acknowledged compilations from well-known sources.
No doubt the work will serve the purpose for which it is
evidently intended—that of interesting young people in
science.
NATURE
ies |
| Mov. 23, 1882
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Physics of the Earth’s Crust
ON March 23 last Prof. Green sent to NATURE some remarks
upon Mr. Hill’s review of my ‘‘ Physics of the Earth’s Crust.”
More lately the third edition of his ‘‘ Physical Geology” has
appeared, in which he has repeated the substance of a part of
what he then wrote. On account of the great weight which his
authority will carry, I think I should offer some reply.
He truly says at p. 674, that I claim to have proved that the
contraction of the earth through cooling cannot have caused the
amount of squeezing and elevation which has taken place, and
that the hypothesis is therefore insufficient to explain the facts
which it professes to account for ; but he then adds: ‘‘ What
Mr. Fisher has really done is this. His calculations go far to
prove that, provided the earth cooled in the way assumed by Sir
Wm. Thomson, contraction would not suffice to produce any-
thing like the compression and elevation that has actually
occurred, But this is quite another thing from disproving the
contraction hypothesis. Mr. Fisher’s investigations tend rather
to establish a strong probability that the earth did not cool in
the way supposed by Sir Wm. Thomson,’—that is, that it be-
came solid throughout in a comparatively short space of time.
But of course my calculations do not establish any probability
against this way of cooling, unless we begin by assuming that
contraction through cooling has been the cause of the elevations.
And that seems to be begging the question. What they do
prove is that the contraction hypothesis will not account for the
elevations if the earth has cooled as a solid.
But there may have been another way of cooling which, on
geological grounds, I believe to have beeen the true one. The
earth may not have become solid throughout in a short space of
time, and may not be solid even now. In that case the crust,
whose corrugations we have to account for, must have floated on
a denser liquid substratum. Under these circumstances every
elevation above the mean level must have had a corresponding
protuberance answering to it below. This is necessary, as was
long ago pointed out by Sir G. B. Airy. I have, then, proved
that, this being so, if the crust beneath the ocean is of the same
density as beneath the continents, on what I conceive to be
reasonable assumptions regarding the thickness and density of
the crust and the density of the substratum, a shortening of the
earth’s radius by less than 700 miles would not have sufficed to
produce the existing inequalities. I can imagine no theory of
the constitution of the interior that would admit of so large an
amount of contraction taking place, after the whole had become
sufficiently cool fora crust to have begun to be formed, as to
cause such an amount of shortening as this.
If, however, we suppose that the crust beneath the oceans is
denser than that which forms the continents (and I have given
several reasons for believing such to be the case), then a much
smaller amount of radial shortening would suffice. I have esti-
mated it at about forty-two miles. Still, anything near this
shortening is far beyond what any reasonable amount of contrac-
tion from cooling could produce. For if there bea liquid sub-
stratum this must be of nearly equable temperature throughout,
and that cannot be much above the temperature of solidification ;
so that it does not appear how a much greater contraction can
be got out of the gradual solidification, and incorporation of the
upper parts of the liquid layer with the crust, than could be
obtained on the former supposition of a cooling solid globe; and
I have shown that, in that case, the ‘radial shortening would be
less than two miles.
- Thus, then, I claim to have disproved the contraction-hypo-
thesis under the two alternative hypotheses (1) of a solid globe,
and (2) of a liquid substratum,
Capt. Dutton, of the United States Geological Survey, has
said of this part of my work, ‘“‘ First and foremost he has
rendered most effectual service in utterly destroying the hypo-
thesis, which attributes the deformations of the strata and earth’s
crust to interior contraction by secular cooling. No person, it
seems to me, can sufficiently master the cardinal points of his
Nov. 23, 1882 |
NATURE
77
analysis, without being convinced that this hypothesis is nothing
but a delusion and a snare, and that the quicker it is thrown
aside and abandoned the better it will be for geological science”
(American Fournal of Science, vol. xxiii. p. 287).
I take this opportunity of pointing out a mistake in my book.
At page 156 the number 1127 ought to be 1734; and consequently
the number 0996 ought to be 0'965, The argument will still
hold. O, FISHER
Harlton, Cambridge, November 9
P.S.—Since forwarding the above I have observed a note at
p. 912 of Dr. Geikie’s ‘Text Book of Geology,” in which he
says that I have ‘‘endeavoured” to show that the secular
contraction of a solid globe through mere cooling will not
account for the phenomena. ‘The word ‘‘endeavoured,” does
not express the attitude of my mind upon the question.
Forty-twoyears ago the contraction theory occurred to myself inde-
pendently. Iremember that in my youthful joy at what I thought
thought a discovery, I forthwith vaulted over a gate! In 1868
I read my paper on ‘‘The Elevation of Mountains by lateral
Pressure,” fully believing that I was elucidating the cause which
had prodaced them in the contraction through secular cooling.
In 1873 I began my paper on ‘The Inequalities of the earth’s
Surface viewed in connection with the Secular Cooling,” while
still under the same impression. I first of all estimated the
actual elevations, and, this done, I calculated the amount of those
which would be formed upon Sir William Thomson’s view of
the mode of solidification. To my excessive surprise, the
reult showed the utter inadequacy of the contraction hypo-
thesis. I thought I must have made some error in the
calculations, but could find none. I still, however, adhered
to the original idea of contraction, and suggested, towards the
end of that paper, a fluid condition of the interior at some for-
mer period, thinking that sufficient contraction might be perhaps
obtained by that means; for I had not yet dared to question
Sir Wm, Thomson’s dictum of the fresen¢ complete solidity of
the earth. It was not until about a year ago, when I wrote the
chapter in my book about the ‘‘ Amount of Compression,” that I
perceived that even the condition of a liquid substratum would
not give the necessary degree of contraction to produce the com-
pression. I have thus been driven from the contraction hypo-
thesis step by step, and have by no means been endeavouring to
support a preconceived opinion against it.—O, F.
Shadows after Sunset
HAPPENING by chance to look into ‘‘ Loomis’s Meteorology,”
after reading M. Dechevren’s account of the blue, white, and red
bands visible before sunrise and after sunset at Zikawei, I noticed
under the above heading the following account of shadow-bands,
which not only appear to be very similar to those observed by
Dechevrens, but are explained in identically the same way
(‘* Loomis’s Meteorology,” p. 107): ‘A similar phenomenon [to
the water-bands described in the preceding paragraph] is fre-
quently noticed about fifteen minutes after sunset, when the
shadows of clouds near the horizon are projected upon the
western sky in the form of radiant beams diverging from the sun.
These beams are parallel lines of indefinite length, but from the
effect of perspective they seem to diverge from the sun, and if
they could be traced entirely across the sky, they would for the
same reason converge to a point directly opposite to the sun.
Such cases are sometimes, though not very frequently noticed.
Similar shadows are sometimes seen in the morning before sun-
rise, and form a conspicuous feature of the morning twilight.
This effect is sometimes noticed in nearly every part of the
world. It must have attracted the attention of the ancient Greeks,
and is thought to explain that poetic expression ‘‘the rosy-
fingered dawn.”
M. Dechevrens appears to think the phenomenon does not
occur in Europe or temperate latitudes generally, but from what
Loomis says, one would infer that he may be mistaken in this,
and that to a modified extent it may be visible in Europe and
America, Perhaps some of your readers who are in the habit
of observing the face of the sky will be able to verify this sup-
position. For my own part I have not remarked it in England,
but have occasionally witnessed it in Bengal during the rains,
very markedly. ‘The explanation offered by M. Dechevrens
seems the only reasonable one under the circumstances, but he
hardly seems to lay sufficient stress upon the fact that when the
sunis below the horizon his rays can only illuminate a shallow
stratum of partially condensed vapour in the upper atmosphere.
Any obstruction of his rays will consequently shut off the whole
of the reflected light from this stratum, and cause the blue sky
to appear through the shadow, all the more cerulean by contact
with the whitish or rosy colour of the adjacent portions which
still bask in the solar rays. E. DouGLaAs ARCHIBALD
An Abnormal Fruit of Opuntia Ficus-Indica
THE accompanying figure represents a fruit of Opuntia Ficus-
Indica, which is wholly inclosed in one of the well-known
flat branches of this plant; normally the fruits appear as
exserted obovate bodies on the margin, or on either side, of the
branches. The figure is exactly half natural size ; the fruit is
therefore full grown. There is no interruption in the ascending
curves of spinous tubercles, only they are somewhat smaller on
the fruit, which has also a less wrinkled skin than the remainder
of the branch. It is of rather uncommon occurrence, nobody
having seen here anything alike in the extensive ¢uma/les or
Indian fig-plantations of our neighbourhood ; nor have I been
able to find any mention of such a case in the books at my dis-
posal, It is evidently an instance of non-development of
peduncle, a special case of suppression of axile organs (Masters,
‘¢Teratology,” p. 393). But I think it throws also some light
on the nature of what generally is taken to be the pericarp of
the Opuntia fruit, which, after all, seems to be a slightly modi-
fied branch, bearing the ovary of the flower in a cavity on its
- Abnormal Fruit of Opuntia Ficus-Indica from Caracas.
upper end. A similar view is held forth by Dr. Noll ina paper
published in the Aznaal Report of the Senkenbergische Gesell-
schaft (Frankfurt, 1872, pp. 118-121, with two plates), where he
describes and figures two abnormal fruits of Opuntia coccinelli-
fera from the Cavary Islands, with branches growing from the
exterior part of the fruits. Their apparent pericarp is therefore
an axile organ of a certain order, say of the order 7, whilst the
additional branch is of the next order, +1. The case which
forms the object of the present note is quite the reverse of those
mentioned by Dr. Noll, as the branch of order #, or the exterior
part of the normal fruit, is not developed independently, being
represented by its parent-branch of order, 7 —I.
If this view be correct, there can no longer be any reason for
speaking of an exserted ovary in Opuntia (Hooker and Bentham,
“Genera plantarum,” I., $51), as this organ is wholly sunk in
the interior of a branch, just as it happens in other Cacteze with
an ovarium immersum. A, ERNST
Caracas, October 4
78
NATURE
[\ov. 23, 1882
The Comet
THANKS to the entire absence of twilight, and to a beautifully
clear sky, I obtained a splendid view of the comet on November
14, 15h. 45m. The tail had a length of 30°, and was divided
into two portions at the extreme end, the northern extremity
curving very sharply upwards, and separated from the southern
branch by a semi-circular space. The general form of the tail
being very similar to the Greek character y, The southern side
still remained brighter than the northern. The nucleus was
much more elongated than when I observed it on November 8.
The two concentrations of light which were very noticeable on
that date, were not now so conspicuous, being smaller and much
closer together, so much so, that had the definition been other-
wise than perfect the division between them could not have been
seen. As showing the necessity of observing this interesting
object in the absence of twilight I may mention that by 17h. 45m.
G.M.T., the apparent length of the tail was reduced to 20°.
B. J. Hopkins
79, Marlborough Road, Dalston, E., November 20
Soda Flames in Coal Fires
IF a coal-fire be looked into with some attention after a fresh
supply of coals has nearly ceased to give out its gases, there will
b2 seen here and therein the hottest parts, and coming out of
them through crannies and round dark corners, a pale translucent
yellow flame, which one soon gets to recognise easily. What
does it consist of ? If looked at through a prism, without any
slit screen, this flame is at once seen to be monochromatic.
Neither its shape nor brilliancy (in which it is deficient) are at
all altered or impaired ; and it is especially interesting on this
account, as there is something uncanny in the appearance of this
pale flame defying the power of the prism, as it flickers aad plays
about the brilliant spectrum representing the red-hot coals.
Coals vary much in their possession of the source of this flame.
In some it seems scarcely present at all, while in others it is
abundant, being recognisable even in the large surface-flames.
The coal in which I have seen it best, is a close hard coal, with
a slaty cleavage and rectangular fracture, known, I am told, as
“Anchor Brights” (?) The yellow flame appears frequently
even in the largest surface ones, when the gaseous products first
disengaged have disappeared. Some of them seem, then, to
consist entirely of this, giving little or no continuous spectrum.
But it is in the body of the fire that it is most fascinating, impart-
ing a reality to the otherwise confused forms, which is more than
pretty. Iam strongly reminded by this appearance, when, for
instance, a black mass is seen to stand out with a clear out-
line against the pale yellow background of light, of the
picture which was mentally present in the days before the solar
eclipse of 1868—the first upon which the prism was brought to
bear. I have fortunately found a copy of some ‘‘ Instructions ”
issued on the occasion of distributing the ‘‘ hand-spectroscopes ”
provided by the Royal Society for the study of that eclipse ; in
which this prognostication is indicated with quite as much pre-
cision as the known facts at that time warranted, That it was
not fully understood was the only reason why the moon was ot
seen, as it might have been seen, on that memorable occasion,
sharply outlined upon the coronal light, just as I now see the
coal, This was long before the time when the same arrangement
on a larger scale—a prism in front of the object-glass of a tele-
scope—obtained such success in other hands. However that
may be, the coal-fire experiment is a very pretty one, and might
be made very instructive too as a drawing-room illustration—the
ordinary prismatic pendants of a chandelier being quite equal to
the oceasion, if a direct-vision combination is not immediately
available. J. HERSCHEL
30, Sackville Street, W.
P.S.—As the monochromatic light—of sodium, of course—is
plentiful in the large flames, it will be well seen as a Zine, straight
or curved, if the light of the fire on a cylindrical or curved
metallic or other reflecting surface be looked at, especially if
dark coloured ; such as an ebonite ruler, for instance. Of
course a direct-vision pocket spectroscope is better than the pen-
dant of a chandelier ; but the lenses must be taken off, as well as
the slit-screen.
Complementary Colours —A Mock Sunset
INSTANCES of two phenomena recently noticed in NATURE
have chanced to come under my observation, and in each case
impressed me much with their beauty and distinctness ; the first,
an effect of contrast of colour on the surface of clear water.
Standing looking up stream on a bridge over the Ary, where it
flows through meadows close to Inverary Castle, and admiring
the transparent brown hue so often seen in the peat-stained
waters of Scotch streams, my attention was attracted by a series
of wavelets forming a ridge, somewhat spiral in appearance,
across the stream, along the top of a low weir over which the
water falls. Every single wave presented on its further surface
(that seen foreshortened by the spectator) a nearly level space of
pure full-toned amethyst colour, while its advancing front showed
with crystalline transparency the deep ‘‘cairn-gorm” or burnt
sienni tint proper to the water. The regular alternation of
these patches of rich and brilliantly-contrasted colours, together
with their permanency and apparent independence of anything
peculiar in the state of the atmosphere, produced a striking and
very beautiful effect.
The jhenomenon of a mock sunset in the east I witnessed in
great perfection on the Lake of Lucerne, when the whole eastern
sky was traversed by broad rose-coloured bands converging from
the north, south, and zenith towards a point opposite pe
A Lunar Halo
LAST evening, about 7.15 p.m., a lunar halo of a peculiar
character was seen here. It was at some distance from the
moon, and instead of being, as usual, concentric with this body,
was of an oval, or, more strictly speaking, a horse-shoe shape,
the lower part of the halo not being complete. The moon, too,
was not in the approximate centre of the horse-shoe. Suppos-
ing its distance from the vertex to be represented by the quantity
I, 24 would represent its distance to the lower part of the halo.
Some heavy mist-clouds lay under the moon, which thinned out
and became more transparent upwards, and refraction from the
dense parts of these may have been the cau-e of the curious
distortion of the circle in this case. J. RAND CAPRON
Guildown, November 21
A Correction
PERMIT me to correct an error which appears in your report
of “The Additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens ”
(NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 232). Your reporter states that one of
the parrots presented by me is a ‘New Zealand parakeet
(Cyanorhamphus nove-zealandie”). The bird I sent is Cyano-
saissett, Verr., from hence (New Caledonia), and, according to
Dr, Sclater’s published catalozue, has never been in the Gardens.
It differs—as I have already pointed out—from C. xove-
zealandi@ in size, extent of markings, but especially in the shape
of the tail feathers (Cf. /ds, vol. 1879, pp. 109 110). It is one
of a small group of parrakeets that is found in New Zealand,
Chatham Island, Norfolk Island, and here, closely resembling
each other, but at once separable when seen together. Neither
this, nor Vymphicus uv@ensis, Layard, which is a new species
just described by me, has ever been seen in Europe before, that I
can learn. E, L. LAYARD
British Consulate, Noumea, September 7
[The Secretary of the Zoolozical Society informs us that Mr.
Layard is quite right in his remark, but that the bird has been
long since correctly named, and will be shortly figured in the
Zoological Society’s Proceedings under its proper nane.—ED.]
Thomson’s Mouse-Mill Dynamo
ALLOW me to make a slizht but important correction on your
description, in last week’s NATURE, of Sir William Thomson’s
mouse-mall dynamo. In your description it is said that ‘‘at one
end of the hollow drum these copper bars [the mouse-mill bars]
are united to each other in pairs, each to the one opposite it.”
This is not so. At one end of the hollow drum the ends of the
copper bars are all united together, ‘ metallically connected by
soldering or otherwise.” The effect is electrically the same as
that of the arrangement described in your article; but, in the
construction of the machine, the uniting of all the bars together
at one end, instead of joining them in pairs, is so much more
simple and ea-y that the correction seems of importance.
J. T. BoTToMLEy
The University, Glasgow, November 18
Nov. 23, 1882]
‘Weather Forecasts ”
I HAVE recently designed and patented ‘‘ An improved floating
vessel for automatically compressing air by the action of the
waves of the sea, and also for the generation of electricity by
the agency of this compressed air.” This vessel is capable of
being moored in roco fathoms, and can be connected with the
shore by means of an insulated electric cable. Such a vessel
moored in the mid-Atlantic in the usual track of the cyclones
which approach these islands from the west, would be of immense
advantage to the Meteorological Office in determining the yelocity
of advance and direction taken by these cyclonic centres. I
purpose exhibiting a model and drawings of the vessel at the
Winter Electric Exhibition, to be held at the Westminster
Aquarium next month. CHARLES W, HARDING
King’s Lynn, November 14
Age of Dogs
TAM acquainted with a black retriever dog aged thirty-one
years, and should like to know whether this age is often atiained
by dogs. RK, CORDINER
Oxford, November 15
Waterspouts on Land
WHEN on a fishing expedition this year, in the mountainous
district of Minnigaff, in this country, my attention was-drawn
to the effects of two waterspouts, which had taken place,
one in July last, and the other some six months previously.
The effects of both are to be seen in the faces of two moun-
tains a mile apart. One is on a hill-farm called Blac Klaggan,
about 100 yards above a mountain-stream, where an exca-
vation, by the force of the spout, had been made to the
depth of ten or twelve feet, and about twenty yards wide.
Stones—boulder-stones from 10 cwt. to 3 tons, were spread out,
in the course of the torrent, down to the ‘‘burn,” which runs
below—one boulder, lying in the bed, being quite 3 tons weight.
The other waterspout had struck on White Laggan, ona steep
mountain side, facing the upper part of Loch Dee. It was
higher up on the hill, and had cut to the depth of about 15 feet,
and was Io yards wide, scattering the earth and boulders before
it, to a distance of 150 yards below, and spreading out the
smaller stones and grayel over a flat moor, in varied tracks,
more than 100 yards further. I have not heard of anyone who
saw either waterspout, and both are supposed to have taken
place at night. All the otber parts of both mountains are
covered with heather and grass, above, cn each side, and below,
except in the direct course cut by the torrent from each water-
spout. No one remembers any previous case of the sort in the
district. Perhaps some of your readers can give other instances
of this kind, and some information that may prove interesting
and useful, James Hosack
Ellerslie, Kirkcudbright, N.B., November 13
METEOROLOGY OF THE MALAY
ARCHIPELAGO*
ale two systems of meteorological observations carried
on under the direction of the late Dr. Bergsma pre-
sent us, in these two serial publications, with what must
be classed among the most remarkable contributions
made in recent years to observational science, and they
are all the more valuable on account of the new and exact
information they give as to the different climates of the
Malay Archipelago, about which so little was previously
known.
The first and longest continued series of observations
made at the observatory at Batavia take rank among the
very best yet made. They embrace hourly observations
for the fifteen years ending with 1880, of atmospheric
pressure, temperature, humidity, rain, wind, cloud, &c.,
which have been published 77 extenso. During the first
thirteen years the recoids consisted wholly of eye-obser-
vations, but from the beginning of 1879 the observations
were made by photographically and other self-recording
* Observations made at the Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory
at Batavia, 1866 to 1880. Regenwaarnemingen in Nederlandsch-Indie,
1879-80-81. Door Dr. P. A. Bergsma, D.recteur van het Observatorium te
Batavia.
NATURE
79
instruments. In vol. v., in addition to the hourly obser-
vations for 1579 and 1880, there is given a discussion of
the fifteen years’ observations, which fiom the excellence
of its design and execution, represents the meteorology
of Batavia with a fulness and completeness at least equal
to what has yet been done for any other place on the
globe.
Among the more interesting results, those of the rain-
fall may be pointed to, particularly the tables showing
the mean amounts for the different hours of the day.
These reveal two daily maxima and two minima. The
larger maximum occurs from 2 to 7 p.m., when 32 per
cent. of the whole daily fall takes place, and the larger
minimum from 6 to 11 a.m., when only 13 per cent. of
the daily amount falls. The smaller maximum is from
10 p.m. to 2 a.m., when 17 per cent. falls, and the smaller
minimum during the two hours from 8 to 10 p.m., when
7 per cent falls.
The most remarkable, if not the most important of the
results arrived at are perbaps those referring to the influ-
ence of the moon on the pressure and temperature of the
atmosphere and the rainfall, which establish the fact of a
distinct lunar atmospheric tide. Assuming the lunar day
to commence with the time of the upper transit of the
moon, the following are the phases above or below the
mean expressed in millimetres :—
mm.
Ist max. +0°057 at lunar hour 1
», Min. —0*053 at oD 7
2nd max. +0°064 at 55 13
>» Win, —o'060 at n 19
The lunar tide has been determined for each of the four
quarters, and also at perigee and apogee, and the results
show differences of great interest. As regards the rain-
fall, while the mean amount in 24 hours during the 17
years ending with 1880 was 5:19 mm., at the time of
new moon there was a mean excess of 0794 mm., and at
full moon also an excess of o'19mm., but on the other
hand, at the third octant there was a deficiency of o'61
mm., and at the fifth octant also a deficiency amounting
to 0°55 mm.
The result is that the atmospheric pressure at Batavia
has a lunar daily tide quite as distinctly marked as the
ordinary diurnal barometer tide, except that its amplitude
is much less, the lunar daily tide being as compared
with the mean solar daily tide nearly in the proportion of
a millimetre to an English inch. The lunar tide has also
the important difference in that its phases follow the
moon’s apparent course much more closely than the diur-
nal barometric fluctuations follow that of sun. The two
maxima occur about the Ist and 13th, and the two minima
about the 7th and 19th lunar hours, whereas these four
daily phases of the diurnal barometric fluctuation occur
with respect to the sun’s apparent course from one to six
hours later, The influence of the moon’s phases on the
rainfall is quite decided ; for while the mean daily rain-
fall is 0'205 inches, it rises at full moon to 0°248 inch,
from which time it gradually falls to o-181 inch at the
third octant, rises to 0°212 inch at the fourth octant, then
falls to 0184 inch at the fifth octant, and finally rises
gradually to the maximum at the time of new moon. The
important conclusion follows that the attractive influence
of the moon, and consequently that of the sun, must be
taken into account as factors concerned in bringing about
oscillations of the barometer. In this connection it is
interesting to note that in the higher latitudes in inland
situations during winter, or at times and situations where
the disturbing influences of temperature and humidity
tend towards a minimum, the times of occurrence of the
four phases of the daily oscillation of barometer approxi-
mate to those of the daily lunar atmospheric tide.
The second series of observations, giving the rainfall
for the three years 1879, 1880, and 1881, form an extremely
valuable contribution to our knowledge of the climates of
80
the Malay Archipelago. This network of rainfall observa-
tion now includes 150 stations scattered over the islands
at heights varying from near sea-level up to 6404 feet.
The averages of the three years show that the mean
annual rainfall over the archipelago varies from about
60 inches in Timor to upwards of 200 inches at some
spots among the western slopes of Sumatra. But the de-
termining character of the rainfall, as regards the climates
is not the absolute amount that falls annually but rather
the manner of its distribution through the months of the
year. Over the larger proportion of the islands rain falls
copiously every month of the year; but as regards some
of the islands, the year is divided into dry and wet
seasons as markedly as is seen in the climates of India.
The reason of this difference is readily seen on exa-
mining the distribution of atmospheric pressure during
the months from Australia to China with the prevailing
winds resulting therefrom. During the winter months
pressure is high in China and low in the interior of
Australia, the mean difference being nearly three-quarters
of aninch. Between the two regions the fall is practi-
cally uninterrupted, and the Malay Archipelago lying
between them is swept by northerly winds. Since these
winds have traversed no inconsiderable breadth of ocean,
they deposit a copious rainfall particularly on the northern
slopes of the higher islands, and consequently the rainfall
of these months is large over all the islands without ex-
ception, the mean monthly amount in some places exceed-
ing 30 inches. It is to these same winds that the north
of Australia owes its rainfall ; and it is their strength in
any particular year which determines the distance to which
the annual rains penetrate southwards into the interior
of that continent.
On the other hand, during the summer of the northern
hemisphere, atmospheric pressure is high in the interior
of Australia, and low in China, the mean difference being
aboot half an inch, and between the two regions the fall
in the mean pressure is continuous and uninterrupted,
and consequently southerly winds prevail over the inter-
vening region. These winds are dry and absolutely
rainless over the north of Australia, and over Timor and
the other Malay islands, which are separated from Aus-
tralia but by a comparatively narrow belt of sea. During
the three years no rain whatever fell at Timor during
July and August, and the fall was small during June, Sep-
tember, and October. As the winds pursue their course
to northward, they eagerly lick up moisture from the sea,
so that by the time they arrive at Amboyna they have be-
come so saturated with moisture that the monthly rain-
fall of that place rises at this time of the year to nearly
30 inches. At some distance to the west of Timor rain
falls at this season more or less regularly every year, the
amount increasing in proportion to the extent of ocean
traversed by the south-east winds, which blow towards
the islands from the direction of Australia. These
marked and vital differences of the climates of the Malay
Archipelago, which, as they depend essentially on the
geographical distribution of the land and sea of this
part of the globe may be regarded as permanent, have
played no inconspicuous part in the remarkable distri-
bution of animal and vegetable life which characterises
the archipelago.
THE COMET
{02 receipt of observations from Australia, made
between September 8 and 16, has allowed of the
determination of the orbit of the present comet exclu-
sively from positions obtained before the perihelion
passage when it made so close an approach to the sun.
From a mean of the Melbourne and Windsor N.S.W.
observations on September’ 9, and the Melbourne meri-
dian observations on September 14 and 16, Mr. Hind
has deduced the following orbit :—
NATURE
[Mov. 23, 1882
Perihelion passage, Greenwich M.T., Sept. 17°21897
tal,
Longitude of perihelion 275 50 20
Ascending node ... 345 53. 2
Tnclinationt eee: 38 017
Log. perihelion dist. ... 7°8501274
Retrograde. i
The longitudes are reckoned from the apparent equinox
of September 17, and it should be mentioned that the
small corrections have been neglected. On comparing
the observed places with those calculated from the ele-
ments founded upon observations before perihelion, the
following differences remain :—
Aa. cos 6 (¢ — 0) ab
Tebbutt ... Sept. 8 - 25 - 3
Tebbutt and
Melbourne Dili Niche 82. fie 2 )
Melbne. merid. ry we + 21 +7
” ” 15 AE a8 5
“A op to) Sp BW soto sce °
Aq. Commone een iss ek) <b O02) Sc see
When however we compare with the meridian obser-
vations at Dunecht and Coimbra on September 18, or the
day after the comet’s close approach to the sun, the com-
puted place is found to differ by several minutes of
arc from that observed, and at the time when Mr, Gill
noted the comet’s ingress upon the sun’s disc, calculation
places it 2’ 30” within his limb. These differences
appear to point to sensible perturbation about the peri-
helion passage, but a stricter discussion of observations
before and after the time when the comet attained that
position in its orbit, will be needed before any re-
liable judgment on this important question can be
formed. It may be noted also that a very small change
in the time of perihelion passage has a comparatively
large effect upon the geocentric positions about that
epoch.
Mr. W. F. Denning communicates the following esti-
mates of the length of the tail of this comet made by
him at Asbley-down, Bristol; the dates are astro-
nomical :—
Octo -2 210) /Oct.. 30" 122 22)|NoviSieeaes
FL Ge INOVERNG) | ceases) 59 De ee
Ap. ae eso HC Ape On, 22S
To form an idea of the real extent of the tail, assume
it first to be situate in the direction of the radius-vector,
as is most frequently the case. At 6 a.m. on November
7, by the orbit last published in NATURE, the distance of
the comet's nucleus from the earth (expressed in parts of
the earth’s mean distance from the sun) was 174844, and
its distance from the sun was 1°4958, the earth’s radius-
vector being o'9005. Hence we find the angle at the
comet between lines supposed to be drawn to the earth
and sun respectively was 38° 49’, from which it appears
that an angular extent of 23° would give a real length,
as a prolongation of the radius-vector of rather over
196,000,000 miles. But this must be an outside estimate
of the linear distance of the extremity of the tail from
the nucleus, as there was sensible curvature of the tail,
the effect of which may be readily seen by a graphical
process upon the above data.
We subjoin the Melbourne meridian-observations, to
which reference has been made :—
Melbourne M.T. Apparent R.A. Apparent N.P.D.
h
eet Ss Stee Se x: Sy i,
Sept. 14...23 10 13°7 10 45 53°34 89 55 471
Ti5.23) 22-3050 -.3) eT) 2 rAeSO 89 29 39°2
16...23 39 0°73 Miz avons 88 47 55'2
The observation of September 15 was made with great
difficulty, the comet being obscured by cloud.
Nov. 23, 1882]
NATURE
81
THE following communications speak for themselves :—
Columbia College, New Vork, November 4
DEAR SIR,—I have received the inclosed communica-
tion from Prof. Chandler, of Boston. The letter may
interest your readers. J. K. KEES
Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, October 28
DEAR S1R,—Your note of the 26th inst. was duly re-
ceived. I respond cheerfully to your request, although as
I have but a quarter of an hour at my disposal, I trust
you will regard my answer as furnishing in a disconnected
form the principal points in the results so far reached by
me, and will bear in mind that I have not had an oppor-
tunity to arrange them in a more formal shape. Of
course the most interesting point in connection with this
comet, astronomically, is the opportunity afforded to
decide the question of the disturbance which a comet will
experience in passing through the coronal regions in the
close vicinity of the sun. Of all the comets which have
passed near enough to be disturbed by this cause, this is
the only one which has been observed on both sides of peri-
helion. Not to mention others, the comets of 1680, 1843,
and 1880, all of which present such close resemblance to
Ingress of Gould’s Comet upon Sun, September 17, 1382.
the present comet, as to have raised in some quarters the
question whether they are not, in fact, returns of the same
body, were observed, either insufficiently to decide this
question of disturbance in the sun’s upper atmosphere, or
were observed only on one side of perihelion.
In the case of this comet, however, there will be avail-
able a very extensive series of accurate observations at
the Cape of Good Hope from September 8; almost
* continuously up to within two hours of perihelion pas-
sage, ceasing only with the ingress of the comet upon the
sun’s disc, the instant of disappearance being accurately
observed; an observation unparalleled in astronomical
history, and of the greatest value. The comet was also
observed at Rio Janeiro on September 11, and probably
followed up to perihelion.
I have also received from Dr. Gould a private letter
dated September 15, on other astronomical matters, at
the end of which he states incidentally that a brilliant
comet had been visib!e there ‘‘ for more than a week, of
which he had two observations, and was awaiting clear
weather, in order to observe it in the meridian.” Thus
in all probability he was the first to descry the comet, as,
by a curious coincidence, he was the first to see the one,
which so closely resembled it in 1880.
After perihelion of course there exists, and will be
accumulated hereafter, an abundant body of data to fix
its orbit, after emergence from the coronal regions. Of
all the observations before perihelion, we are in posses-
sion as yet only of a position on September 8 at the Cape
of Good Hope, the time of ingress upon the sun’s disc
on September 17, and Mr. Common’s observations on
September 17. The last, Mr. Common’s, I have not yet
examined ; but from the others I have been led to con-
clude that little if any disturbance could have been caused
by resistance experienced in the sun’s atmosphere, so to
call it, for the sake of convenience.
The grounds of this conclusion are the following :—
Taking all the observations available about a week ago,
others have come to hand since, and verify the calcula-
tion, although they could not be used in it, which were
made since perihelion passage, z.c. from September 18 to
October 20, I first computed an orbit from normal places,
assuming the orbit to be a parabola, with the following
results :—
1882.
7 = Sept. 17°22013 Greenwich M.T.
m= 55 22 26'8
=) CONES 882%
2 = 345 53 404
Za— TAT 5505.0
log. g = 7°8915778
The deviation of the middle place (c— 0) was +18'°8 in
longitude and +8’°8 in latitude. It was very plain that
the observations could not be satisfied better than this by
any parabolic hypothesis. I accordingly computed an
elliptical orbit as follows :—
T = Sept. 17'2304 Greenwich M.T.
T= 55 12 aua))
o= Q 22 72 See
8 = 345 50 34°0( eee
7) TA team O32
log. g = 7°8835636
@ = 0°9999700
Notwithstanding the nearness to unity of the value of
the eccentricity thus obtained, I believe that the ellipticity
of the orbit is real, although the corresponding period is
very long, something about 4000 years. Whether this is
sO or not is not of great importance as regards my present
purpose. If now we take the observation of September 8,
nine days before perihelion, and compare it with the
places which are assigned by these orbits, we find that
the difference is only 2} seconds in right ascension and
something over 1’ in declination. Thus the differences
(Computation—Observation) are for the
4a. Ad.
Ellipse ... —2°5s. “pat
Parabola +2°5s. +95"
quantities which are certainly not larger than the un-
certainty of the calculation, that is, not greater than we
ought to expect even if the comet had been subjected to
no chance of disturbance.
Again, if we compute the place which would be assigned
by the two orbits for the instant of ingress of the comet
upon the sun on September 17, as observed at the
Cape of Good Hope, and also the place of the
sun, we have their relative positions as shown in
the inclosed diagram, where the calculated places
of the comet are indicated by the sign CG for the
ellipse and parabola in red and black respectively, and
the arrows indicate the direction and amount of the comet's
motion in a quarter of an hour, as calculated by the
orbits. It is significant that it would be necessary to
assume a correction of only five or six minutes in either
time of perihelion passage to bring the comet exactly upon
82
WNATORE
| Mov. 23, 1882
the sun’s limb, where observations indicated it should be.
As it cannot be considered that from present data we are
certain as to the true time of perihelion passage within
this amount, it seems that we have no reason to suppose
that there has been any effect of retardation experienced.
In fact the deviation shown by the ellipse is opposite to
that which would have been the result of such retar-
dation.
It should be remarked (as being of interest) that at the
instant of entry upon the sun, the comet was about
1,600,00c miles from its surface (the true anomaly being
about 90°).
The perihelion passage took place less than two hours
after. The whole half circuit of the sun (from v= —go°
to v=+90°) occupied but 35 hours. It is certainly an
interesting fact to consider, that an object of such limited
dimensions and small gravity can pass at such an enor-
mous velocity for hours through the sun’s upper atmo-
sphere, and emerge with so slight an effect on its motion
as this body has apparently experienced.
An additional argument in support of my conclusion
that little or no disturbance was suffered can be drawn
from the fact that the comet, after passing this ordeal, is
departing with nearly parabolic velocity, as the slight
variation of the eccentricity from unity in the above
elements proves.
Another interesting point which I would simply indi-
cate, without discussing, is the bearing of the visibility of
the comet clear up to the sun’s edge. Prof. Pickering has
sugzested that the light which rendered it visible in this
position must have been nearly all from the comet’s own
incandescence, scarcely any of it from reflection of the
sun’s light.
I think that the orbits which I have given may be con-
sidered as setting at rest completely the idea of identity
of the present comet with those of 1668 and 1843. I say
nothing of that of 1880, since there, although the hypo-
thesis of its identity has been entertained in some
quarters, it cannot for a moment be regarded as tenable.
I have elsewhere shown that the deviations between the
observations in 1880 and any hypothesis involving an
ellipse of less than ten years’ period for that comet, are
too large to be considered for an instant as probable.
The hypothesis of identity with comet 1880, I., may there-
fore be left to the sensation-mongers.
I inclose a copy of the Sczence Observer Circular, the
regular issue of which will be out in a few days. The
figures I have here given differ very slightly from those in
the printed circular, but you may regard what I give in
this letter as the latest. The elliptical orbit will dispose
of the systematic deviations in the table (columns v0 —c)
completely, and leave only the unavoidable observation
errors.
You may make what use you please of this, except to
treat it as a formally-prepared paper.
S. C. CHANDLER, Jun.
INFLUENCE OF “ENVIRONMENT” UPON
PLANTS
i the /udian Forester for July, 1882, Dr. Brandis,
Director of the India Forest Department, has given
the following interesting particulars as to the change in
the season of flowering of the Australian acacias intro-
duced in the Nilgiris :—
“ Acacia dealbata was introduced on the Nilgiris before
the year 1845. Col. Dun, the owner of many houses in
Ootacamund, had planted several trees in his compounds,
probably several years before 1545, but the tree was by no
means common, and as late as 1855 was sold at the
Government gardens, at two annasa plant. A curious
fact regarding the flowering of this tree has been ob-
served :—In 1845, and up to about 1850, the trees
flowered in October, which corresponded with the Aus-
tralian flowering time ; but about 1860 they were observed
to flower in September ; in 1870 they flowered in August ;
in 1878 in July, and here, this year, 1882, they have
begun to flower in June, this being the spring month here,
corresponding with October in Australia. All the trees
do not flower so early, because at various times seeds
have been imported from Australia, and the produce of
these would of course flower at the same time as the
parent trees in Australia, until acclimatised here.
“Having watched the flowering of these trees for
nearly forty years, there cannot be any doubt in the
matter; and it is a curious fact that it should have taken
the trees nearly forty years to regain their habit of flower-
ing in the spring. Commencing in October, our autumn,
it has gradually worked its way back to summer, and
finally to spring; probably it will remain at this point.’’
I have tried to see whether any similar change of
season could be traced at Kew.
Acacia dealbata can only be grown under glass with
us. It forms a small tree in the Temperate House, and
is a splendid object when in full flower. This usually
takes place in early spring or towards the end of winter,
say about February. Sir Joseph Hooker observed that
A. dealbata and A. decurrens, var. mollis (which are
closely allied species), flowered at the same time in
Tasmania. In Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis (1813, A. de-
currens) is said to have been introduced in 1790 by Sir
Joseph Banks, and to flower in May-July. The evidence,
then, as far as it goes, would seem to indicate that the
flowering time had also progressively worked back in
England, though under more artificial conditions.
W. T. THISELTON DYER
THE MAGNETIC STORM AND AURORA
qr ee telegraphic system of this country has, since
Friday morning last, been disturbed in a way that
far exceeds anything of the kind that has ever happened
before. Very powerful electric currents have been sway-
ing backwards and forwards through the crust of the
earth, taking all telegraphic circuits in their progress, and
entirely stopping communization. Communication has
been maintained only where it was possible to loop toge-
ther two wires, so as to avoid the use of the earth alto-
gether. The electric storm commenced on Thursday, but
it reached its climax on Friday morning (November 17)
between 10 and 11 a.m. The currents measured over
50 milliampéres, which is five times greater than the
ordinary working currents. They have repeated them-
selves at intervals ever since, but have scarcely attained
such an intensity as on Friday morning.
Mr. Preece, whose experience in examining earth cur-
rents now extends over a period cf thirty years, asserts
that this storm was the most terrific he has ever observed.
It was characterised on Friday by a rapid succession of
alternate waves of great strength.
Both the storm and the aurora seem to have extended
to America; the Philadelphia correspondent of the
Times telegraphs under date November 19 :—
“The electrical storm which began to derange the
telegraph wires on Friday last still continues, though
with less intensity. It spread through Canada and the
greater part of the United States, as far west as Utah.
The electricians say that the disturbance was unlike any
heretofore known, acting upon the wires in strong waves,
which produced constant changes in the polarity of the
current. A magnificent aurora appeared on Friday night
and was visible at all points, except where clouds ob-
scured it. Cold weather, with snow, accompanied the
storm in many places.”
We have received many letters on the auroral pheno-
menon of Friday last ; as introductory to these we give
the following communication from Mr, W. H. M. Christie,
Nov. 23, 1882 |
Nad POE
83
the Astronomer Royal, under the title of ‘ Magnetic
Storm, Aurora and Sunspot” .—
A REMARKABLE magnetic storm, preceded by several
days of considerable magnetic disturbance, was observed
here on November 17. It commenced suddenly —No-
vember 16, 22h. 15m. G.M.T.—with a great decrease in
all the magnetic elements, the declination being dimi-
nished by more than 1°, the horizontal force by more
than 1-1ooth part, and the vertical force by nearly 1-100th
part. From 4h, to 7h., and also from rth. to 17h., the
motions were large and violent, the range exceeding 2°
for the declination, and 1-5oth part for the horizontal and
vertical force. Earth-current disturbances were also re-
corded, corresponding both in time and magnitude with
the magnetic changes.
In the evening, as soon as it was dark, a brilliant
aurora was seen, commencing with a bright glow of red
light extending from the north and west beyond the
zenith, interspersed with pale green phosphorescent light
and streamers. At 6h. 4m. a very brilliant streak of
greenish light about 20° long appeared in the east-north-
east, and, rising slowly, passed nearly along a parallel of
declination, a little above the moon, disappearing at
6h, 5m. 59s. in the west, about two minutes after it was
first seen. The whole aurora had faded away by about
7b., but it burst out again at 11h. 45m., when an auroral
arch, with brilliant streamers reaching nearly to the
zenith, was seen from north-north-east to north-west. It
faded away about 12h. 1om.
A remarkable sun-spot, visible to the naked eye, was
seen on the sun on November 17 and following days,
photographs being obtained on November 18, 19, and 20.
Its dimensions on November 18, when it was near the
central meridian, were: Length 194”, breadth 130”, area
of umbra 735, of whole spot 2470 (expressed in milliontns
of the sun’s visible surface), and its position : Heliographic
latitude 19° N., longitude 121°. Its spectrum showed
C, F, D3, and the D lines reversed over the principal
nucleus, C and F being extremely bright, and D,, D,, D,
doubly reversed. It slightly diminished in size on the
two following days. This is the largest spot that has yet
been photographed at Greenwich.
Another very active magnetic disturbance commenced
on November 19, soon after midnight, and at noon to-day
(November 20) it is still in progress, all the elements
being greatly disturbed. W. H. M. CHRISTIE
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, November 20
AN extensive aurora occurred la-t night, though I cannot pre-
tend it was well seen here, both clouds and smoke preventing
that. About sunset, and before any aurora had manifested it-
self, the smoke of the city was simply fearful on every side, rising
in enormous volumes, through the calm air from a general bed or
bank of it, blue gray below, brown above, that stood ten degrees
high on every side in impervious thickness, as seen from the top
of the Calton Hill. And no wonder that we neither imprison,
nor even fine, those who wilfully thus besmirch the skies and
poison the air of the people, when the chief offender was a
chimney in the prison establishment itself ; a chimney built like
an oroamental watch-tower on a medieval Norman castle, but
now sending up the most atrociously black column of pitchy
coal smoke of all the chimneys around, and in vortex whirls that
rose up to and fouled the very zenith sky ; leaving in fact no por-
tion whatever of the celestial hemisphere where a pure, unadul-
terated, and irreproachable optical observation of any astronomi-
cal phenomenon could be made, to compare with one through a
natural, clear atmosphere of oxygen, nitrogen, and water gases,
About § or 9 o’clock aurora bezan to forcibly manifest itself,
chiefly at heights of above 15° or 20°, smoke forbidding direct
view lower down. Yet the aurora there must have been exceed-
ingly bri;ht, for the cirro-cumulus clouds above that elevation
were often brilliantly illuminated from below, as by a morning
dawn. The brightest displays occurred about midnight, and
more in the north-east than the usual north-west direction,
They seemed all to be of the usual monochrome, c'tron colour,
and mostly took the form of needle-shape jets shooting upwards
from a low, but broad circular are, which they themselves
assisted in forming; with this peculiarity too, that while no
dark space was seen de/ow the arc, as so often occurs, such a
space, eminently and distinctly aurorally dark, was formed near
the middle of the north-east arc itself, in the shape of 2 black
break in that arch, of about five or six degrees wide, and sharply
terminated on either side, while no other part of the sky, whether
clear, cloudy, or smoky, could be called more than gray in its
cegree of darkness,
Auroras of one kind or another have been so frequent here for
several weeks past, that, taken in connection with the many
large sun-spots, I trust Prof. Simon Newcomb will be now quite
satisfied touching the philosophic doubt he expressed a few years
ago in his ‘‘ Popular Astronomy,” published during the dark,
aurora-less nights of 1876-7. For he, at that time, hesitated to
consider the past auroras of, and about, 1870 a consequence of,
or anything more than a coincidence with, that maximum period
of sun-spots; but showed his kindly feeling for the hypothesis
by saying, that if the auroras became numerous again at the next
maximum of sun-spots, the connection of the two phenomena
would stand on a much surer basis.
Now sun-spots have been of late so large and frequent that I
have had not a few lettersand communications about them. The
last such party was a brace of newspaper reporters, who came
together, open-mouthed ; for haying heard from country corre-
spondents that spots had been discovered by them with the
naked eye on the sun, they came to ask me whether it could be
true !
Wherefore I could only tell them that it was exactly what
should be at this time ; and I pointed their attention to a framed
and glazed copy of my map of the temperatures, and rise and
fall of the :un-spot numbers from 1826 to 1878, its date of pub-
lication ; but with the sun-spot curve carried foraard in outline,
and marked with a future maximum for 1882.
C. Piazzt SMyTH,
Astronomer Royal for Scotland
15, Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, November 18
OTHER correspondents will doubtless communicate to you
their observations upon the encrmous sunspot now visible, and
the magnificent aurora witnessed on Friday night, the 17th inst,
My object in writing is to contribute a few notes respecting the
grand magnetic storm registered by the Kew magnetographs.
The disturbance commenced about 8°30 p.m. on the night of
Saturday, the 11th inst. Throughout the whole of Sunday,
Monday, and Tuesday the magnet continued slowly oscillating
through arcs of about 20’ on either side of its normal position.
Oa Wednesday and Thursday the vibrations were frequent, but
very small, partaking rather of the nature of tremors. About
10.30 a.m, on Friday the storm became violent, and from that
hour up to 5.30 a.m. of Saturday, the oscillations of the magnet
and the changes of force were incessant and frequently enor-
mous, the declination needle ranging at times through almost 2°.
Correspondingly large variations were also exhibited by the bifilar
aad balance magnetometer. The largest deflections were be-
tween midnight and 5 a.m. of Saturday. Through that day the
movements were somewhat more sluggish, and from 2 a.m. of
yesterday up to I am. this morning (Monday) the disturbance
was but trivial ; it has now beccm: again intense, and at the time
of writing (noon) it is found that the needles are moving in ares
extending beyond their limits of registration, Observing the
large sun-spot yesterlay, it was seen that the image projected
upon a screen exhibited traces of coloration, yellow and red, in
parts of the penumbra ; this was noticed both with the photo-
heliograph and a Dollond refractor by two observers ; probably
it will not have escaped the notice of other correspondents. The
electrograph does not show any particular disturbance of atmo-
spheric electricity during Friday night’s aurora. The tension was
much higher and more variable during the dense fog of the suc-
ceeding morning. G. M. WHIPPLE
Kew Observatory, November 20
AN aurora was seen here last night. At about 5 o’clock p.m.
I was told the ‘northern lights” were visible, and found that
patches of rose-coloured clouds were forming in both the east and
west, the larger and brighter portion being in the latter part of
the sky. At times these were varied by a white glow, and
occasionally there seemed a disposition on the part of the red
patches to form into columns or beams. This, however, was
never perfected, and no corona actually formed. At a little
before 6 o’c!ock a strange and most unusual phenomenon was
84 :
NATURE
Rie a
*
| Mov. 23, 1882
seen. I happened to turn to the south, where the moon (with a
very pronounced lumiére cendrée on its dark part) was nearly
on the meridian, when I saw a spindle-shaped beam of glowing
white light, quite unlike an auroral ray, had formed in the east.
As I looked this slowly mounted from its position, rose to the
zenith, and passed it, gradually crossing apparently above the
moon, and then sank into the west, slowly lessening in size and
brilliancy as it did so, and fading away as it reached the horizon.
The peculiar long spindle shape, slow gliding motion and glowing
silver light, and the marked isolation of this cloud from the
other portions of the aurora made it a most remarkable object,
and I do not recollect in any former aurora to have seen anything
similar. About 6 o’clock the aurora gradually died away, to
revive again at 9 in the shape of a white semicircle of light in a
point north by west, which did not last long. Owing to moon-
light, but little could be done with the spectroscope with a wide
slit on the most glowing parts of the red patches only the usual
green line, with a faint continuous spectrum towards the violet
could be made out. At times I thought I caught traces of other
lines, but with no certainty at all. Thespindle-shaped beam was
also examined with the spectroscope, but only gave the green
line. Even in the brightest parts of the red glow, the red line
could not be made out. The peculiarity of the moving beam
of light was its absolute southern position. Its apparent
passage across the sky was only a few degrees above the moon,
then at a comparatively low altitude. J. RAND CAPRON
Guildown, Guildford, November 18
P.S.—In connection with the aurora of last week, it is interest-
ing to notice the great disturbance of the telegraphic needles which
has taken place, as I understand, all over the country. At the
local post-office here all the longer lines were much affected
during Friday and Saturday, sometimes to an extent interfering
with ordinary messages. On Sunday morning my own time
signal needle, though connected only with a short (mile and a
half) wire, showed continuous disturbance ; and this morning I
have been watching a needle at the post-office which was working
independently of any message or induced current from other
wires. The effect upon the needle was not violent, but it
gradually drew them over to one side or the other, where they
remained a short time, and then steadily returned ; and by ro-
tating the disc containing the stop-studs, it was easy to follow
the considerable deflection which took place. I saw a message
sent during one of these deflections. Of course the needle was
violently disturbed for the time, but returned to its deflected
position afterwards. From inquiries I made, the deflections,
whether to right or left, varied considerably, both as to occa-
sions and length of time during which the needle was drawn
aside, and there was no special tendency as to direction of the
current. From these observations it would seem we have just
now aurorz in active -play around us, though from daylight and
other circumstances, not always visible as on Friday night.
Saturday and last night I saw no actual aurorze, but my assistant
thought there was a red glow in the clouded sky of Saturday,
and last night there seemed to be a white glow in the east not
accounted for by the moonlight.
Since writing the above I learn that the currents have been
very strong to-day between 1.30 and 2, and working with
London intercepted. The needle geherally vibrated to and fro,
showing a twisted direction of current.—J. R. C.
Guildown, Guildford, November 20
A MAGNIFICENT aurora was visible here on Friday night, 17th
inst., which was remarkable not only for its brillancy but for the
successive changes in its character as the night advanced. At
about 4.45 my attention was arrested by a splendid rosy light as
from a cloud over-head, though the sun had withdrawn its light
from the hill tops at 4 o’clock. It looked like a broad irregular
band of cloud stretching across from west to east, but crossing
south of the zenith. A little later bundles of rays of light formed
in it, slowly waxing and waning; they appeared in the mass
much as crystals forming in a concentrated solution, and without,
so far as I could see, any parallelism or harmony of direction.
Some of them were visible also in the N.E. away from the
general mass. At 5.30 the lights were not so bright and by
7 o'clock nothing could be seen. At 8.30 a splendid display
occurred. There was still some red light coming up from the
west and stretching towards the zenith, but alow corona was
displayed in the northern skies. The crown of the arch was
magnetic north. Its lower border was a jagged edge upon the
dark space below it, formed by broad and narrow bundles of
rays of slighty yellow light all extending radially from the
corona very high up over-head.
different times and seemed to be travelling now east, now west;
but the greatest display was at the corona. A band of light
similar in character and movement appeared. below the corona
in the N.N.E., but was not continuous beyond or up to the
middle of the arch. Up to this time there had been no rapid
flashing of light from the horizon zenithwards. But at 12 o’clock
the display was totally changed ; waves of light travelling with
tremendous velocity upwards from the horizon all round, along
certain straight paths momentarily, but repeatedly illumined by
them all centreing in a point about Io degrees south of the zenith
formed a magnificient spectacle. It was in plan like an umbrella
over one’s head, but at the point where the ‘ribs’ shculd meet
the ‘stick ” there was an irregular vortex which looked as if it
might be made of clouds, but was not, for it was illumined by
the flashes in the same way. At 12.30 it was fading away and
when the comet was rising at 3.15, I could see nothing more of
it in the east and south, the only directions in which I could see.
R. H, TIDDEMAN
H.M. Geological Survey, Kirkby Stephen,
Westmoreland, November 19
AURORAS of varying brilliancy were seen at York on the 12 h,
13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, and 18th (Morning of 19th) November,
the 16th and evening of 18th being too cloudy for observation ;
the 17th giving an exhibition of exceptional brilliancy. On the
13th, 14th, and 17th a low arch was visible (5° to 15° altitude),
above which a green light was very evenly diffused for 10° to 20°,
then shading off in a more or less patchy manner. Streamers
were rare and transient, always of the green light. At 10.15 on
the 14th two appeared just west of north, broad, short, but very
intense, starting from about 4° de/ow the arch. At 12 0n the
17th similar streamers reached 40° to 50° up, the bases being
fog-hidden. Each night the display was observed soon after
dusk, and was seen to last, on three occasions, till after mid-
night. On the 7th, at York, it seems to have begun, suddenly,
at 5 precisely; the same hour is also given me from Street,
Somerset, by Joseph Clark. Seen by me at Leeds from 5.15 to
6 o'clock, masses of an exquisite rose-crimson spanned the
heavens, rising from near Arcturus, having Vega near the centre,
and reaching down south, at times a few degrees beyond Atair,
and northwaids to and even beyond Polaris. Hence the illumi-
nation passed on to the east and south-east, changing impercep-
tibly to green near the horizon, the same colour, as on previous
evenings filling the northern sky, the arch centre almost due
north-north-we-t (magnetic north). The light was evenly spread,
fading gradually into the green (which was faint) on the north,
over Headingley, into a very clear sky, brightly lit by the moon
on the south, and over Leeds. There were at this time no
streamers, no scintillations. The bright areas expanded and
contracted rapidly, but yet imperceptibly. At 5.25 a green arch
suddenly shot across south of the crimson areas, very defined
14° to 2° broad, from west-south-west to east-south-east, passing
just ever the moon. It lasted hardly a minute; the crimson
cloud was then bright. Just sucha ‘‘ bar” ‘‘shot out” from the
south-east at Street, soon after 6, ‘‘of yellowish light; it
quickly increased in size and brilliancy, and went right across
the heavens to the south-west,’’ passing across in less than four
minutes. It passed south of the moon (z.e. apparent altitude
really the same as that at 5.25, Leeds being nearly 3°,
6 diameters of the moon, north of Street). My cousin
continued :—‘‘ There seemed to be a dark something be-
fore the bright bar, which showed the path it would take,
also a dark streak where it passed. The postmaster tells
me that the telegraph-needle worked very badly this after-
noon, turning to the right hand constantly.” (The wire runs
about north and southt for two miles of Street at the south end).
The following suggestions arise in connection with this series
of auroral displays. Except the brilliant crimson cloud of the
17th, the phenomena on the various nights were very similar ;
z.é. the green glare very uniform, streamers rare, and unusually
thick ; the low arch over a dark, hazy, apparently cloudy space.
It is.said that clouds always lie near the north horizon during
auroras in Great Britain. Is it certain that these in some cases
may not be part of the special phenomenon? Certainly, I have
always found it /oeé cloudy. If such were the case 100 miles
or more south of Leeds on the 17th, sueh ‘‘clouds” must have
been where, from Leeds, the south to south-west horizon looked
specially clear. Again, is the apparent shadow before an ad-
va..cing ray or bar only an illusion ? It certainly is a not ut.asual
These varied in intensity at-
u
=.’
Nov. 23, 1882 |
WA Tier
85
impression. That the bars of bright light seen at Leeds and
Street occupied the same relative elevation is striking. If such
phenomena are produced at heights of about 50 miles, and sup-
posing the moon’s altitude were 25°, the bar seen at Leeds about
5.25 should have passed a little south of the zenith at Birmingham,
a few degrees below the Pole Starnear Gloucester, and 30° from the
north horizon at Street. Again, do we view an actual odject in
auroral displays, and not, as the rainbow, a subjective impression
only ? If we do, and the display were 50 miles high, the altitude of
Atair being, then, about 40°, this southern limit of the red cloud
would be about 40° orth of the zenith at Birmingham, 30° at
Gloucester, under 20° at Street. If it was more extended, then
either the display must exist at a much greater altitude, or it
must be in some way subjective in nature. If it were 100 miles
above us, or far higher than is now usually supposed, still the
limit of the display would have been 10° south of the zenith at
Birmingham, 10° and 35° north of it at Gloucester and Street
respectively. For at Leeds, from 5.15 to 60’clock, the southern
limit reached rarely and only a few degrees below Atair. Finally,
since auroras are likely to be frequent at present, could not a
regular corps of observers be organised over the United King-
dom, as has been done in the case of meteors? A few data
accurately recorded for time and position at two or three
localities, would settle definitely the above question, and if
auroras are actual objects, the height of the display. The ower,
well-defined edge of arches, angular height, and point of the
compass of streamers, and limits of the coloured clouds might all
be determined with comparative ease by star reference.
Bootham, York, November 18 J. EDMUND CLARK
P.S.—November 19. A sixth aurora last night, seen at 5.45
a.m. ; the comet as well defined as a month ago, except the
nucleus,
LAsT evening there was a very fine display of the aurora
borealis visible in York. I noticed it first at 5h. 15m. in the
west : a large patch of brilliant rose-coloured light sprang from
the western horizon, and extended some 30° or 40° towards the
zenith, tipped by a fringe of pale yellowish-green light; so
bright was the colour, as to be suggestive of an extensive con-
flagration in the neighbourhood. ‘This bank of coloured light
gradually extended northward in the form of an ill-defined arch,
when suddenly, about 5.45 p.m., another brilliant bank of rose-
coloured light sprang up due east, and was joined by the arch
extending from the westerly bank of light. Above this arch
were extensive streamers of greenish-yellow light extending past
the constellations Taurus, Ursa Major, Cygnus, Lyra, Aquila,
A second arch of greenish light subtended the eastern and
south-western sky, and stretched from Taurus beyond to the
south of Aquila to the horizon. The effect was very splendid,
for inside this arch of light the moon was shining brilliantly. I
have rarely seen so grand a display in these latitudes, and never
where the colour was so brilliant. It gradually faded away,
and was very feeble when I last saw it, at 7.15 p.m. I watched
the ever-changing scene for about an hour. During the month
there have been several large spots on the sun, which I have
observed each day that it was possible to make an observation,
with a 4}-inch refractor by Cooke. H. CLIFFORD GILL
Bootham, York, November 18
P.S.—I see in this morning’s paper that the telegraphs have
been seriously affected by the magnetic storm, not only in
England, but on the Continent.
A FINE aurora was visible from here last evening. When
my attention was first called to it a few minutes after 5, the
whole northern half of the heavens was suffused with a ruddy
glow, as though there was a fire in the neighbourhood. With-
out paying further attention to its general appearance to the eye,
I at once proceeded to examine it with a spectroscope, and
found a distinct and sometimes quite bright green band. By
the aid of a micrometer scale attached to the spectroscope I
took about half a dozen realings of the position of the green
band, and successively compared its position with that of one of
the bands in the spectrum of the flame at the base of a Bunsen
burner. My readings were necessarily taken hastily, but they
uniformly agreed in being nearly coincident with, but slightly
more refrangible than, the band of wave-length 5581, in the
flame of the Bunsen burner. The green band was certainly
nearer the hydrocarbon band of wave-length 5581, than to the
next one in the same group, on the more_refrangible side of
wave-length 5542, and so agrees well with Angstrém’s measure-
ment 5567. The ruddy colour varied in intensity and position
for about an hour, and soon after six disappeared. I found the
green band was easily seen by directing the spectroscope to
parts of the sky, on the northern side, even when without it, one
would not have noticed any unusual appearance, I also thought
I saw indications of blue or indigo bands, but I could not identify
any with certainty. Later on in the evening, from about half-
past seven till a quarter to nine, when the sky was much clearer
and the stars and moon were bright, now and then the aurora
was very brilliant; but the light was green except just once
towards the last, when at about 60° or 70° from the horizon, the
ruddy glow appeared for a few moments. About half-past eight
the sky from the horizon to about 30° was suddenly so brightly
green, that had I not known of the aurora, I should have
imagined the appearance was due to green fire, About this
time fine green streamers frequently shot upwards to a great
height. Unfortunately during the latter part of the display I
had no spectroscope with me to make further observations.
HENRY ROBINSON
University Chemical Laboratory, Cambridge,
November 18
May I ask space for the record of an observation made during
the fine auroral display of Friday evening, which if compared
with similar observations made at other stations may serve to
determine with considerable accuracy the height above the earth
at which the display took place? For the sake of better obser-
vation of the aurora I had gone up to the Durdham Downs by
which Clifton is bordered to the north, and from which one has
an almost uninterrupted horizon in all directions. The sky was
every where very clear, even close to the horizon, and the auroral
arch was very conspicuous in the north ; its summit lying between
the stars Delta and Epsilon in the Great Bear, At 3 minutes
past six o’clock a brilliant elongated patch of greenish white
light appeared suddenly in the east, below Saturn and to the
right of it, the centre of the patch being about 8 degrees from
Saturn on a line drawn through the planet at an angle of 45°
with the horizon. When first seen the patch was about 6 degrees
in length and half a degree in widih and the end; had a rough
splintered appearance. It rapidly increased in length and less
rapidly in thickness, till it closely resembled in general appear-
ance the great Nebula in Andromeda as seen with a good
telescope, and the length of the conspicuously luminous portion
was apparently about as great as the distance between the stars
Alpha Pegasi and Delta Andromedae, i.e., about 27 degrees.
The breadth at the centre seemed about equal to twice the
moon’s diameter. I expected it to lengthen out into an arch
across the sky like other fainter ones, which were visible at the
time between it and the arch to which I have already referred,
but instead of doing so the patch began to shift rapidly across
the sky end foremost, as if ascending the eastern slope of the
arch which I had expected it to form, then after reaching the
summit where its length was horizontal, it rapidly descended the
western slope and disappeared near the horizon, passing close
under the moon at a distance which I estimated immediately
afterwards as rather less than three times the moon’s diameter,
(measuring from the centre of the luminosity to the moon’s
lower cusp). The duration of the phenomenon was hardly a
minute and its brilliance far exceeded that of any other portion
of the display. My colleague Mr. Jupp, who observed a portion
of the phenomenon from another place estimated the distance
from the moon’s cusp as four moon’s diameters. The width at
the centre we agree in estimating at two moon's diameters. It
is not, I believe, often that any portion of an auroral display 1s
so easily distinguished from the rest and localized as was this.
A. M. WORTHINGTON
Clifton College, Bristol, November 19
AN auroral display of unusual magnificence, and lasting up-
wards of four hours, was observed here last evening. At about
5h. the northern quarter of the sky from the horizon to the
zenith, was covered with a delicate crimson glow of surpassing
beauty, which included evanescent streamers of a deeper tint.
These were succeeded by others of a creamy-white colour, which
were more persistent, but did not attain so great an altitude.
At 6b. 5m., when the display was at its maximum, a remark-
able phenomenon was seen—a bright greenish-white band of a
lenticular form, about 20° in length and 5° broad (its axis being
parallel to the horizon in the south), passed from the south-east
to the south-west horizon, attaining an altitude, when due south,
of about 20°. It occupied about six seconds in passing from
horizon to horizon, and its brightness seemed to be but slightly
86
NATURE
[Mov. 23, 1882
affected by the light of the moon, which was shining in the
south, and below which it moved. The light of the rosy
streamers, when first examined at 5h. 15m. with a small direct-
vision spectroscope, gave two very distinct bright lines, one in
the red (presumably near C), and the other in the green. There
was a faint continuous spectrum towards the more refrangible
end, but no traces of other lines. Afterwards, when the display
was at its best, only the bright line in the green was observed, but
it was much more brilliant than before, and could be traced in
every part of the sky except in the south. It was weak in the
zenith, but towards the north horizon it stood out with extraor-
dinary distinctness, and was especially strong in the lenticular
band seen at 6h. 5m. This line could be easily seen in the
northern sky when all signs of the aurora had apparently passed
away. At 7h. 45m. the glow assumed the form of a well-defined
arch, extending from the north-east to the north-west horizon,
and reaching an altitude of about 30°. It remained more or less
distinct till Sh. 30m., after which time the light gradually dimin-
ished, till at gh. the sky assumed its usual appearance. During
the greater portion of the evening the sky was perfectly cloud-
less. This display was certainly finer than that seen on October
25, 1870, and though fewer bright lines were observed in its
spectrum than on that occasion, the two which were seen were
far better defined, and much more brilliant.
Kempston, Bedford, November 18 THOs. GwyN ELGER
On last Friday afternoon at 5.15 I observed in the north a
magnificent auroral display. The moonlight mixed with the
fading twilight was of course unfavourable to the brilliancy of
such a }henomenon : notwithstanding which the auroral glare —
suggestive of rose-coloured clouds, alternately intensifying and
fading—was a very remarkable spectacle. A sharp frost
supervened, C, RosE INGLEBY
Valentines, Ilford, November 20
A BRILLIANT auroral display was observed here last night.
I first noticed the pale auroral arc at 5h. 30m., the top of the
arc at that tine being just below Merak and Phecta in Ursa
Major. At 5h. 4om. red streamers were seen in the north-west
and shortly afterwards in the north-east, and then at intervals
pale streamers were observed allalong the arc. For about five
minutes a double are was visible, a band of dark sky intervening
between the two, which combined to form one broad are, and
remained so to the end of the display. At 6h. there was a very
apparent waning of the streamers, and at 6h. 30m. they had
entirely disappeared. The auroral-arc remained until about
gh. 30m. With a Browning’s miniature spectroscope I saw the
green line very distinctly, while the red streamers appeared to
show a very faint red band. Perhaps it is worthy of notice that
the sky, which to the naked eye was dark, showed on examina-
tion the characteristic spectrum. C. H. ROMANES
Worthing, November 18
ANOTHER splendid display of aurora was seen here last
evening, commencing at 5.10 with a column of rose-coloured
light in the north-west, which, rapidly becoming diffused, spread
upwards to the zenith, a similar glow being visible in the ea-t.
In the northern horizon a double arch of white light extended
from beyond Capella to the north-west, from time to time shift-
ing its position and increasing in altitude till the two arches had
melted into one, from which rosy streamers went upwards. But
lovelier and more wonderful even than this display was a shaft of
intense whice light, which, just as the chimes of the old church
clock were dying away at 6, passed rapidly like a flying arch
across the heavens at an altitude of about 30 degrees, and
vanished below the southern horizon. After 6.45 the rosy tin’s
had gradually subsided, and at 8 a pale light in the north was all
that remained, but I have been told that at 12 and 3 a.m. coloured
streamers were again visible. E. BROWN
Further Barton, Cirencester, November 18
THE fine display of the aurora borealis was seen here Friday
evening from a little before 6 o’clock, The sky was clear, and
the moon, seven days old, was well up. The chief features of
the aurora were the two patches of deep pink light, one in the
west, in the constellation Hercules, and the other in the east,
betweeno Capella and the Pleiades ; connecting these two patches
was an arc of lighter tint passing between the two Bears. At
6.10 a beam extended from this arc to the left of Cassiopea,
towards the zenith; at 6.20 this had disappeared, and another
very distinct lay through the body of Ursa Minor, right to the
zenith, more over the concentration, as it were, of pink light
near Perseus in the east had disappeared, and the light ended at
Capella. At 6.40 Capelia and B Aurigz were clear of it. The ~
patch in the west did not disappear, but grew fainter. At 6.50,
while watching the display, a magnificent meteor fell slowly
from the body of the Little to the tail of the Biz Bear, leaving a
short red tail there, At 7 the pink tint of the auroral arc-had almost
disappeared, giving place to one of phosphorescent light, extend-
ing from near where Jupiter was rising in the east, through the
body of Ursa Major, to below Hercules in the west. This grew
fainter, till at 7.30 it was scarcely noticeable. But at a little
before 11 p.m. there extended a narrower and brighter line of
phosphorescent light, slightly arched from 10° to 15° above the
horizon, From this, at 11.20, the streamers began to radiate
towards the zenith, alternately forming and disappearing, some
stretching to the zenith, some only half way. At 11.45 repeated
flashes of light swept up along the streamers, happily likened by
one of your correspondents to the flapping of a flag in a breeze.
At times a long streamer would appear broken off from the arc
of light, and fade away. At 12 the streamers had vanished,
leaving only the phosphorescent light near the horizon, though
now and then a streamer would form. At 12.30 a pink tint
appeared in the north-east, and more streamers formed till 12.45,
when the light began gradually to fade away, till at 1 a.m.
nothing of the display was to be seen, The day had been over-
cast, wind north, but towards evening it had cleared ; during the
night it was freezing ; the barometer, at 29°6, was rising ; the
moon had set at 11 p.m., and the sky, free from clouds, was all
that could be desired in which to witness this splendid display
of northern iights. FRANK STAPLETON
Oxford, November 19
I BEG to hand you an account of the extraordinary apparition
of Friday evening la-t, November 17, as seen at Clevedon,
during a brilliant rose-coloured aurora. The time was about
6.15 p.m. There rose suddenly, through the haze in the east, a
beam of light, at an angle of some 60° with the horizon. It
crossed the cloudless sky rather below the moon, and sank in the
west, occupying about eighty seconds in the transit. The trajec-
tory was much flatter than that of the stars, &c., but was at
right angles to the meridian, which was crossed at an approxi-
mate altitude of 22°. 1 e.timated the length of the beam at
35°, and the breadth at the middle to be 3°; from whence it
tapered gadually to a point at each end. The colour was uni-
form throughout—a very pale yellowish white, without corusca-
tion or change ; and there was no indication of a trail, or of any
sort of atmospheric disturbance. The impression conveyed to
me was that the beam was stationary in space, and comparatively
near, and that we were being carried past it by the rotation of
the earth. The major axis lay on the apparent path, but in the
earlier and latter parts of the course it was much foreshortened ;
and as the western horizon was approached, a formation of a
similar character, perhaps 7° northward, and running on a
parallel track, was visible for several seconds before both were
lost i1 the trees. This second object was also noticed by others
whose view westward was less interrupted. I watched the whole
evening without seeing any tendency to a repetition of the phe-
nomenon, The sky remained cloudless, with the temperature at
the freezing point. ‘There was no wind ; and the aurora, which
centinued off and on until past eleven o’clock, at no time threw
out any considerable rays or streamers. The strange visitor
caused great commotion among the many who were out of doors
looking at the aurora, some of them fearing that the supposed
runaway comet was coming into co!lision with the moon, then
half an hour past the meridian, and relieved when it passed
below it. I had, however, a much better corroboration of the
altitude above given, a careful observer who was with me
placing a rod in the direction of the suppo-ed meridian passage.
The angle closely agreed with my estimate. We now require to
know at what place south of this the beam was seen to cross the
moon’s disc, for computing the actual distance and position.
Many of your readers will not have failed to note that a splendid
aurora again coincides with rapid and striking changes in the
configuration of a gigantic spot in the sun, With a 39-inch
achromatic, I was able oa the same afternoon to observe those
changes from hour to hour, on a scale I never before witnessed.
STEPHEN H, SAXBY
East Clevedon Vicarage, Somerset, November 20
“- WHILE watching the grand display of aurora on Friday night
from our roof, at about 6h. 7m., my wife and I saw a strange
gleam of light rising above a bank of cloud on the eastern
Nov. 23, 1882 |
horizon, nearly vertically below the Pleiades, like the gleam of
another moon rising in a haze. It grew out slowly, as we
watched it, into a strong beam of white light slanting towards
the south, ard we stood in wonderment as it Jengthened out
making straight towards the moon. Presently its tail was dis-
engaged from the cloud, and it stole through the sky like a long
luminous nebulous ‘‘cigar ship” exactly across the moon, and
away down into the west, sinking as slowly as it had risen, In
the middle of its course it was, as well as I could estimate, about
40° in length and about 5° in width. The ends were, | think,
slightly tapering and hazy ; the sides pretty well defined. I did
not notice if the moon’s crescent was at all blurred during the
passage ; my wife is under the impression that it was. The
time occupied from first appearance to final disappearance was
about one minute. You will probably receive many accounts of
this strange apparition. It will be interesting to know the posi-
tion relative to the moon in which it was seen by different ob-
servers. Was it clear of the earth’s atmosphere or not?
Woodbridge, November 19 Husert AIRY
You will no doubt have abundant accounts of Friday’s aurora.
I have received the following from a correspondent in North
Devon, dated Friday 6.5 p.m..... “‘As we watched, a
brilliant comet (apparently) appeared near Saturn ” [which must
have been low down, a little N. of E.] ‘fand in a direct line
lietween Saturn and the moon” [at that hour nearly in the
meridan and 28° in altitude]. ‘It was about twice as big as
the comet.” [Here follows a sketch, which the above ‘asides’
render it unnecessary to copy.] ‘‘It travelled stern foremost
towards the moon, and was in sight a full minute. As it dis-
appeared it seemed to leave a black cloud of its own shape which
also disappeared in a few seconds (an optical delusion perhaps).”
It does not appear to have occurred to the writer that this
appearance was itself auroral. J. HERSCHEL
30, Sackville Street, November 18
I aM unable to explain the following occurrence which I
observed this evening at 6h. 5m. p.m. It appeared to be a
well-defined spindle-shaped body of a cloudy consistency, having
a brilliant white colour. It subtended a visual angle of about
20 degrees. I first observed it due east, and immediately
noticed that it was moving with very great rapidity, as in less
than one minute it had disappeared below the horizon in the
south-south-west. There was a rosy aurora visible at the time
in the north, which, however, was in no way connected with it.
The atmosphere was perfectly clear in that part of the heavens
traversed by the phenomenon, though in other parts of the sky
there were a few stationary clouds visible. A friend who was
with me atthe time will corroborate all my statements. As I
am utterly at a loss to explain this phenomenon, I would be
much obliged for any suggestions or explanations from your
readers. Aw Ss) Ee
Cambridge, November 17
I THOUGHT that many of the readers of NATURE would be
interested in a curious pheaomenon which appeared during the
beautiful coloured aurora on the evening of the 17th. I was
watching it from a position commanding a large view of the sky,
when, as I was looking south-east, a long patch of white light
appeared about 10° above the horizon, This was commonplace
at first, but then it quickly developed into a long, gleaming, and
well-defined streak. It looked very like two brilliant comets
joined end to end by the tip of the tail. This took about a
minute to form, and when complete, it started off in the direc-
tion of its length in a curved path which gradually rose above
the horizon until it culminated at an elevation of 30° on the
magnetic meridian ; after which the west end inclined down-
wards, and it continued its journey in inverse order to the south-
west, keeping its symmetry and shape like a rigid body all the
way, until it reached a position in the south-west, corresponding
to its place when forming, and here it halted and dissolved away.
The band of light was about 30° long, and beautifully curved
along its path. It took about three-quarters of a minute in its
transit, which occurred at 6 p.m. It was an extraordinary sight,
and I hope some one else has observed it. During the pheno-
menon, the aurora in the north-east and north-west (magnetic)
was very fine, showing rich red and apple-green streamers ;
these were very steady all the time. I have made a sketch of
the band of light, as nearly as I can remember it. It was very
bright, even when under the moon. I think this sketch gives a
govd idea of it, and I inclose it in case it be wanted. The
southern sky was quite c/eay at the time. H. D. TAYLOR
Haworth, York, November 19
NATURE
87
On Friday, November 17, we had a great auroral displiy
at 4.30 before sunset, and continuing till 5.30, the heavens were
aglow with auroral light of a rosy tint, changing occasionally
into silver grey. A haze overspread the sky until 10 o’clock,
from which hour till 2 a.m. Saturday the sky was brilliant with
aurora. The streams of light culminated near the zenith, and
at midnight the magnetic storm appeared to reach its maximum.
The magnetic disturbance must have been great for several
hours, as nearly all telegraphic operations had to be suspended.
Newcastle-on-Tyne, November 19 T. P. BARKAS
Axour 5.20 p.m. on Friday last I witnessed the most remark-
able auroral display I have ever seen, and as it only lasted a few
minutes, may have escaped the a'tention of many. My attention
was first attracted by a broad crimson band stretching quite
across the sky, and almost coinciding with the Milky Way.
Some of the bright stars could be seen through it, but gradually
it became opaque at the zenith and appeared to concentrate
around an opening, forming a complete corona, out of which the
rays seemed to boil over and dart out in every direction, but
chiefly northwards. It was a most weird-looking sight, and
reminded me of ‘The Glory,” as shown in pictures of Saints.
Overhead it rapidly faded away, but bright streamers were
visible up till 9 p.m., when a thick fog came on.
W. MAKEIG JONES
Wath-on-Dearne, Rotherham, November 20
In connection with the recent appearance of the aurora
borealis, a remarkably large sun-spot was visible to-day, occu-
pying a position in about the middle of the disc. The spot
might be called an aggregation of spots, from its area, Several
minor spots were also visible, which were discrete.
Rugby, November 19 GrorGE RAYLEIGH VICARS
THERE was visible here on Friday, the 17th, between 5.30
and 6 p.m., a display of aurora. My attention was called to it
by the ruddiness of the sky towards the north, and I continued
watching it till near 6 o’clock. The sky was clouded with
cumulo stratus, and the stars only visible here and there through
the intervals of these clouds. The centre of the ruddiness or
glow appeared to be over Auriga, the most brilliant star of
which group was just visible. It extended to the east so as to
cover Gemini, and about an equal distance west. It shifted and
varied very rapidly, maintaining its ruddy colour, ani this very
rapidity of shift assured me that it was really an aurora, After
6 o'clock p.m. the clouds nearly completely covered the sky,
and neither at 7 o’clock nor at 8 o’clock did I see any further
sign of the appearance, I could not distinguish any beams
whatever. J. P. O’REILLY
Royal College of Science for Ireland, Stephen’s Green,
Dublin, November 18
P.S.—I was informed that on the evening of Thursday a
similar display had been noticed.
AT about 6.5 p.m. on Friday a bright, white, cloud-like object,
in shape like a fish-torpedo or a weaver’s shuttle, was observed
to cross the heavens from east to we-t. _ Its length was roughly
about 30°, and its breadth atout 4°. I noted it first shoot up,
like a strong eleciric ray ina fog, a little south of Aldebaran,
and slowly, as it were, slide along at the same N.P.D, across
the face of the moon (which was shining brightly at the time),
and disappear !n the west under Atair. Its surface had a
mottled appearance; its colour wie ; its motion was slow,
being visible, from horizon to horizon, upwards of 50 seconds ;
its brightness was strong, and did not seem to fade, even when
crossing the moon, and it seemed preceded and followed by a
strong black margin; though this [ suppose was the effect of
contrast and subjective only. The aurora was noted here from
4.30 on Friday till about 5 a.m. on Saturday.
Joun L. Dosson
Beaumont College, Old Windsor, November 21
THE CHLOROPHYLL CORPUSCLES OF
HYDRA
i the last number of the Zedtschrift fur wiss. Zoologze
is an article by Mr. Hamann, assistant in the
Zoological Institute of Jena, on the “Origin and De-
velopment of the Green Cells in Hydra.” I cannot allow
88
NATURE
[Mov. 23, 1882
this article to pass in silence, and think that the pages of
NATURE, in which already there has appeared a good
deal relative to the supposed infection of animal tissues
by green unicellular Algae, offer the most fitting place in
which to lodge a protest against the reception of Mr.
Hamann’s conclusions as reasonable,
In the first place, Mr. Hamann has not made himself
acquainted with previous writings on this subject. He
briefly states that “ R. Lankester disputes ” the algal nature
of the green corpuscles suggested by Brandt, and the
existence of a cell-nucleus in them, and refers the reader
to a paper by me on “‘ Symbiosis of Animals with Plants,”
which has no existence. Mr. Hamann has not read
the article to which he refers, which appeared in the
Quart. Journ. Microsc. Sci. April, 1882, and was entitled
“On the Chlorophyll Corpuscles and Amyloid Deposits of
Spongilla and Hydra.” Mr. Hamann has accordingly
failed altogether to take up the points of importance in
the discussion. These seem to me to stand somewhat as
follows : It had already been urged (1) that the green
corpuscles of Hydra multiply by fission ; (2) that they
possess each one or more cell-nuclei ; (3) that they possess
a cell-wall comparable to the cellulose wall of a unicellular
Alga ; (4) that starch is developed within them even after
their removal from the living Hydra. It had been in-
ferred (by Semper, and later by Brandt) that consequently
these corpuscles must be considered as unicellular Algz.
To these considerations I had replied in the article
above named, by describing carefully the nature of the
“ fragmentation,” or division of the chlorophyll corpuscles
of both Hydra and Spongilla. I cited the notorious fact
with regard to the chlorophyll corpuscles of plants,
namely, that they multiply by fission. I showed further,
by description and figures, that ¢here ts not any structure
present in the chlorophyll corpuscles of either Hydra or
Spongilla which ts comparable to a cell-nucteus or to a cell-
wall, and that the ascribing of such parts to the chloro-
phyll corpuscles of Hydra is totally erroneous.
I further insisted that we are not acquainted with any
unicellular Algz at all resembling the chlorophyll cor-
puscles of Hydra, whilst the chlorophyll corpuscles of
plants closely resemble them,—and finally I pointed out
that there is as much reason to regard the chlorophyll
corpuscles inthe leaf of a buttercup as unicellular Algee as
there is so to regard those of Hydra viridis.
Mr. Hamann does not in any way deal with these
observations, but naively remarks, after describing his
observation of the already-known multiplication by divi-
sion of the chlorophyll corpuscles of Hydra, “‘ after these
observations the nature of our green corpuscles as Algz
seems to me to be firmly established.” This seeming can
only arise from the fact that Mr. Hamann is not acquainted
with the characteristics either of Algze or of the chloro-
phyll corpuscles of plants.
A simple assertion that a nucleus and a cell-wall are
present in the chlorophyll corpuscles of Hydra is all that
Mr. Hamann gives us on this head; although his paper is
illustrated by a plate, no nucleus and no cell-wall are
figured by him. Were he able to adduce good evidence
of the existence of either of these structures, the view
which he has advocated would be materially advanced, |
But this he is unable to do, because such structures do not
exist.
Mr. Hamann offers some observations on the occurrence
of chlorophyll-corpuscles in the egg-cell of Hydra which
lead him to assume that these corpuscles enter the egg-
cell by “wandering” from the endoderm-cells. The
figures and statements which he makes do not, in my
opinion, tend necessarily to that conclusion. :
Lastly, I would point out that the exceedingly variable
form of the chlorophyll-corpuscles of Hydra and Spongilla
which I have illustrated by figures in my memoir above
cited, is not noticed by Mr. Hamann. This variability is
quite inconsistent with the view that they are parasitic
Alge. So also is the fact that these corpuscles are repre-
sented by colourless corpuscles in the colourless varieties
of Spongilla and Hydra which turn green when treated
with sulphuric acid.
It should be distinctly borne in mind that it is by no
means necessary, supposing that the green corpuscles of
Hydra are parasitic Algze, that a nucleus should be present
in them, nor indeed a well defined cell wall. But when
the presence of snch structures is asserted as evidence
that these corpuscles are different in nature from the other-
wise Closely similar corpuscles formed in the protoplasm
of green plants, the question of the actual presence or
absence of the nucleus and cell-wall becomes important,
and must be definitely decided upon thorough histological
evidence.
So far it appears to me, as I have previously maintained,
that there is no more and no less evidence for considering
the green corpuscles of Hydra viridis as parasitic Alge,
than there is for taking a similar view with regard to the
green corpuscles in the leaf of an ordinary green plant.
E. Ray LANKESTER
NOTES
WeEregret to notice that in Tuesday’s papers the death of Prof.
Henry Draper of New York is telegraphed. We hope to be
able to refer to his work in an early issue.
THE Council of the British Association have nominated Mr.
A. G. Vernon Harcourt, M.A., F..S., to the office of General
Secretary of the Association, in the room of the late Prof. F. M.
Balfour,
MARINO PALMIERI, whose death we announced a fortnight
ago, must not be confounded with his father, Luigi, the eminent
director of the Vesuvius Observatory, who we are glad to be
able to say is alive and well.
THE death is announced, on November 11, of Dr. Franz
Ritter von Kobell, Professor of Mineralogy and keeper of the
mineralogical State collections at Munich, well known through
his numerous mineralogical publications. He died at the
age of seventy-nine years.
M. JANSSEN has been sent to Oran to observe the transit of
Venus from a physical point of view.
WE have received a circular in reference* to the visit of the
British Association in Montreal, containing the results of the
recent meeting in that city, to which we have already referred.
It is evident that the Canadians are determined to do all in their
power to make the visit of the Association a success. ‘* The
city of Montreal, which has a population of about 150,000 souls
has,” the circular states, ‘‘twice entertained the American
Association for the Advancement of Science; for the second
time in August, 1882, when an attendance of more than 900
members and Associates was registered, and the Association,
with its nine sections, found ample accommodation in the build-
ings of McGill University. The ordinary summer-passage is made
in eight or nine days from Liverpool to Quebec, which city is
connected with Montreal by two lines of rail, making the journey
in six hours, and by river-steamers. From Montreal to Ottawa,
the capital of the Dominion, is four hours by rail ; from Mon-
treal to Toronto, thirteen hours; and to Niagara Falls, sixteen
hours by rail. Montreal is in direct connection with Boston by
two lines of rail, by which the journey is made in ten hours.
There are also two lines connecting Montreal with New York
city in thirteen hours, and one with New Haven in sixteen hours.
It is expected that the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science will hold its meeting in 1884 in New Haven,
or some other eastern city of the United States, at such a time
Nov. 23, 1882]
NATURE
89
as may permit the attendance of members of the British Asso-
ciation, either before or after their gathering at Montreal. We
have assurances that the Government of the Dominion of
Canada will make a liberal grant of money to defray the
expenses of members of the British Association in crossing the
ocean, and that the various railroad and steamboat lines in
Canada and in the United States will offer most liberal arrange-
ments to our guests. The Grand Trunk Railway will arrange
for an excursion of members of the Association to the Great
Lakes and Chicago, while the Canadian Pacifie Railroad wil]
give an excursion to the provinces of the North-West, as far as
the Rocky Mountains. It is believed that the British Associa-
tion may count upon a large attendance of local members and
associates both from the provinces of the Dominion and the
United States. In any case, the Finance Committee are pre-
pared to guarantee that the revenue from this source shall not
fall below that ordinarily received by the Association. Members
of the British Association in coming to Canada may be assured
of a most cordial welcome and generous hospitality, not only
from the citizens of Montreal, where every facility will be fur-
nished for their meeting, but from the people throughout the
country. It is hoped by the Invitation Committee that these
assurances, and the above statement of the advantages and facili-
ties offered them, may secure a large attendance of the members
of the British Association at Montreal in 1884,”
IN the sitting of the Academy of Sciences of November 20,
M. Dumas read an arrété from the Minister of Public Instruction,
regulating the competition for the Volta Prize, which will be
delivered in 1887. It is expressly decreed that the competition
be open to every nation. A report will be made by the Com-
mission ad hoc, and published 7 extenso in the Fournal Officiel.
At the meeting of the Paris Academy on Monday M. Dumas
stated that at the very beginning of its work, the Academical
Commission for the destruction of the Phylloxera proposed to
arrange for the immediate destruction by fire of each plant
proved to be infested. Objections were made to this scheme
grounded on the state of French legislation on rural property,
and the Academical Commission desisted. M. Dumas states
that he has in hand an official report from Switzerland esta-
blishing the soundness of the views taken by the Academy
on this important question. The cantons of Geneva, Vaud, and
Lucerne having resorted to the destroying process, all the vines,
of which the value exceeds 40,000,000/., had been saved at the
expense of a few thousand pounds. A special tax had been
imposed on the proprietors of vines for compensation to the
owners of the destroyed plants.
A FIRST application has been made of the resolutions of the
last Congress of Electricians proposing that regular observations
should be made on earth currents during magnetical perturba-
tion. The perturbations of November 17 have been accompanied
in France by strong earth currents principally in the south-north
direction. We may state, moreover, that others were observed
on November 20, exhibiting a very great force.
LarGE electrical disturbances have been observed in Sweden
and Norway during last week. On Friday last all tele-
graphic communication became for a time suspended, and at
Stockholm and Jonk6ping central telegraph stations several
instruments were destroyed. In Norway the electric storm was
accompanied by thunder, a phenomenon almost unknown at
this time of the year.
A LARGE and enthusiastic meeting was held on Saturday
evening last, in Trinity College, Prof. Moseley, F.R.S., in the
chair, when the following resolution was carried unanimously :—
‘* That it is desirable that a society should be formed for the
purpose of bringing together the Undergraduates and Bachelors
of Arts of the University, who are engaged in the study of
Natural Science, for the frienaly discussion of scientific and
other topics.” The officers and members of the new club were
elected, Mr. Bond, B.A., being elected president, and the first
meeting will be held in the course of next week.
Tue Rey. T. W. Webb writes to the Zimes as follows on the
comet :—‘‘ As it must be universally admitted that the magnifi-
cent comet now receding from our sight is the most interesting,
in a popular as well as scientific point of view, of any that have
appeared for many years, will you allow me to add the record of
a very remarkable phenomenon to the somewhat scanty details
respecting ils aspect which have as yet been laid before the
public? In an extremely valuable letter received by me this
morning from a very able and careful observer, Mr. J. T. Ste-
venson, of Auckland, it is stated that on October 6 and ro an
‘anomalous’ tail was feebly but distinctly visible, pointing
towards the sun. Your astronomical readers will remember that
a similar ‘glowing wake’ attended the returning course of New-
ton’s great comet in 1680, distinguished, like the present, by its
close approach to the surface of the sun, and a few more cases
might be cited. It is, however, of such infrequent occurrence,
that another instance forms a valuable addition to our stock of
information as to these mysterious bodies. 1 ought to mention
that Mr. Stevenson’s letter was despatched immediately after his
last observation, so that we may hope that, with a climate and
position of the comet giving him great advantage over northern
astronomers, he may have been able to trace this singular
appendage on subsequent occasions.”
Tue German Society for the Prevention of the Pollution of
Rivers, the Soil, and the Atmosphere, held their fifth annual
meeting at Brunswick on October 19 and 20 last, under the
presidency of Prof. Reclam (Leipzig). The number of papers
read was considerable and the attendance very large. Among
the speakers were Burgomaster Kittmeyer (Branswick), Prof.
Miiller (Berlin), Dr. Blasius (Brunswick), Dr. Engler (Stuttgart),
Herr Knauff (Berlin), Dr. Gerson (Hamburg), Dr. Petri (Berlin),
and Dr. Beckurts (Brunswick).
WE have received from Mr, J. P. Walker, C.E., Stirling, a
communication on the Forth Bridge, but we can hardly venture
to insert in our columns the descriptions of Mr. Walker’s and
other plans for such a bridge. The peculiarities of the plan
drawn by Messrs. Fowler (chief engineer) and Baker, and the
circumstance that it had been accepted by Commissions of Par-
liament and of the Board of Trade, gave it great claims on our
attention, which can scarcely be recognised as applying to any
other proposal.
THE Glasgow Evening Times has the credit of being the first
daily paper, so far as we know, to introduce into its pages star-
maps showing the aspect of the heavens at stated times. On
November 11 it started with four such maps, and the series will
be continued. There are full instructions as to the meaning and
use of the maps, and we have no doubt they will be the me uns
of leading many people to form a practical acquaintance with
astronomy,
Tue first number of the American Fournal of Forestry bearing
date October last has just reached us. It is edited by Franklin
B. Hough, Ph.D., Chief of Forestry Division U.S. Department
of Agriculture, and has as contributors an array of well known
names connected with forestry matters in America, The journal
in size and shape corresponds with the Fournal of Forestry pub-
lished in this country, and edited by Mr. F. G. Heath. It is
not, however, so tastefully got up, though the printing and the
character of the art cles are very similar. The contents of the
number before us, for instance, are, after the Editorial
“ Announcement,” a paper on ‘‘ Forestry in Michigan,”’ one on
“Larch Wood,” one on the ** Forestry of the Future,” by the
Editor, on ‘‘ Forest Fires,” on the ‘‘ American Forest Congress,
and the usual ‘ Miscellany.” The forests in America are so
9O
NA TORE
[ Mov. 23, 1882
extensive and there is so much connected with them that belongs
legitimately to the subject of forestry that we have no doubt the
journal will meet with a wide circulation.
THE Annual Report of the Public Gardens and Plantations in
Jamaica for the year ending September 30, 1881, has just reached
us, and from it we gain some idea of the work that is being
carried on in the island under Mr, Morris’s care in the dissemina-
tion of useful plants. It is satisfactory to find that of late years
a considerable amount of attention has been directed to the ex-
tended cultivation of economic plants in all our Colonies, a
branch of culture that must in the end prove of more lasting
value to mankind generally than the growth of any mere horti-
cultural novelty or scientific rarity. Mr. Morris’s Report from
beginning to end is a record of what can be done by a single
establi-hment in the introduction of new plants and their distri-
bution amongst planters in the several colon’es. As an illustra-
tion of this Mr. Morris says ‘‘there is much activity displayed
even by the poorest peasants in obtaining and cultivating new
and important plants, and I cannot but hope, that before many
years have elapsed this activity will result in the greater pros-
perity and wealth of the island, and in placing it in the first rank
as exporter of fruit and raw materials to the markets of England
and America.” Regarding Jamaica in particular, Mr. Morris
says: ‘‘It is evident that Jamaica must depend for its prosperity
and success almost entirely on the resources and products of an
azricultural character. We have no large stores of timber, we
have no minerals, we have no manufacturing industries, and we
cannot hope to struggle successfully with other countries in the
more advanced arts and sciences. We nevertheless possess a
rich and productive soil, a salubrious climate, abundant springs,
and a vast extent of uncleared mountain land ; and it is mainly
on the due utilisation of these valuable natural resoarces that
our prosperity must ultimately depend. Under these circum-
stances the chief aim of the Department has been directed
towards bringing into notice the nature and character of such
resources, and to fostering and promoting any well directed
efforts for their utilisation, The position and prospects of
several new industries, such as Liberian coffee, cacao, tobacco,
oranges, mangoes, pine-apples, spices, india-rubbers, fibre-
yielding plants, &c., are carefully noticed with this view, and
the success which has already attended these comparatively
recent efforts would indicate that capital and energy are alone
wanting to place the island in an important position as to the
source of most tropical productions.” Naturally a good deal of
attention has been paid to cinchona cultivation, and a large
number of plants of the best varieties have been raised, seeds
and plants having been distributed to private plantations, and
sold in considerable quantities during the year. The cultivation
of the jalap plant promises also to become one of considerable
importance in Jamaica,
To give an idea of the dairy-industry in France, M. Hervé
Mangon recently stated (at an agricultural gathering) that the
milk produced in the country would, if collected, form a stream
about I metre in width and 33 centimetres in depth (say 3 feet
4 inches and 1 foot 1 inch), flowing night and day all the year,
with a mean velocity of a metre per second. Young animals
drink a part of this enormous volume of milk, man takes a good
part of it, and the rest is transformed into cheese and butter.
No branch of agricultural industry has so progressed during the
last fifty years as the making of butter. In 1833 France bought
abroad 1,200,000 kgr. of butter, and sold to foreigners only
1,100,000 kgr, She now exports 34 to 35 million kgr. of butter
annually, and receives in return from abroad (especially from
England) a sum of more than 100 million francs. La Manche
alone furnishes more than one-third of the total exportation.
A VALUABLE investigation of the origin of metalliferous lodes,
by Prof. Sandberger, of Wiirzburg, has recently been published
at Wiesbaden. The various theories are discussed, more espe-
cially those of ascension, and of lateral secretion or levigation.
Till 1873 the author was a partisan of the former, but he was
led to make a chemical study of the gangues and lodes in the
Black Forest, and by 1877 he had got so far as to obtain proof,
for the greater part of the mining districts in Germany, that the
lodes had been formed by levigation of the encasing rock. The
second part of the work is elevated to a special study of the
environs of Wild Schapbach in the Blick Forest, as illustrating
the theory of levigation, (An outline of these researches appears
in Archives des Sciences, October 15.)
AN improved feed-water heater and purifier has been recently
described to the Franklin Institute by Mr. George Strong. It
is said to effect a saving in coal of 22 per cent., and an increase
of evaporation of 1°09 pounds of water per pound of coal. Con-
sidering that all substances likely to give trouble by deposition
would be precipitated at about 250° F., he obtains this in the
heater by action of exhaust steam, aided by a coil of live steam
from the boiler. He also uses a filter formed of wood-charcoal,
and-bone black firmly held between two perforated plates.
(Further details will be found in the Yournal of the Institute
for November.)
Ir appears from the Shen-fao, a Chinese newspaper published
at Shanghai, that the Chinese are taking practical steps in the
matter of foreign education. A school for the education of
Chinese boys in foreign matters has been established in the
Pun-yen district of Canton, and it has already fifty scholars.
So far the school has been a success, and to meet the require-
ments of the scholars it is proposed at the next Chinese New
Year to solicit subscriptions to enlarge the school premises.
The teachers are Chinese well versed in English, and the school
bids fair to be followed by many others of a similar kind. A
satisfactory circumstance about it is that the institution has been
founded by the people themselves with official countenance or
assistance, and that Chinese gentlemen competent to teach these
schools are now to be found. European teachers and professors
are of course absolutely necessary for a time; but their want of
knowledge or imperfect knowledge of the language of the
country must cause them to be make-shifts at the best.
UNDER the title of ‘‘ Les Grandes Ascensions Maritimes.” M.
W. de Fonvielle has published (Paris, Ghio) a brochure giving
an account of several balloon ascents over the ocean, including
some, such as the late Mr. Powell’s, which have come to griet
by being driven into the sea.
Tue Tenth Annual Report of the Lambeth Field Club speaks
hopefully of its condition ; it seems to be doing good work.
THE public dinner in celebration of the 1ooth anniversary of
the first experiment at Annonay by Joseph Mongolfier was given
on Saturday at Paris by the Académie d’Aérostation Météoro-
logique. Three members of the Mongolfier family were present.
Several speeches were given, and a general committee was
appointed to organise a national celebration on June 5, 1883,
the anniversary of the first public experiment at Annonay before
the Etats Généraux du Forez.
THE Yournal Officiel states that the director of the Compagnie
du Cap has given to the Paris Museum of Natural History a
diamond weighing 43 carats, enveloped in its native rock. It is
supposed that this generous donation will determine the public
authorities to send to the museum a part of the jewels of the
French Crown, which are now kept in the Bank. The question
of their sale has not yet been settled, in spite of several parlia-
mentary and extra-parliamentary reports.
NeEws from Perugia now states that the earthquake began on
October 28 at 6 p.m., and with short interruptions lasted until
Nov. 23, 1882]
NATORE
gi
October 29 at midnight. A real panic is reigning among the
population of Cascia. The extent of the zone of the phenomena
cannot yet be ascertained, but it seems that the eruption of
Mount Etna is closely connected with it. Several old houses
fell at the first shock.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Bonnet Monkey (M@acacus radiatus) from
India, presented by Mr, A. S. Gissing ; two Common Herons
(Ardea cinerea), British, presented by Mr. R. H. Rabbetts ; a
Common Barn Owl (Strix flammea), British, presented by Mrs.
A. Wright ; a Slender-billed Cockatoo (Zicmetis ‘enutrostris)
from South Au-tralia, deposited ; two Red-billed Tree Ducks
(Dendvocygna autumnalis) from America, a Zenaida Dove
(Zenaida amabilis) from the West Indies, purchased ; a Hairy-
rumped Agouti (Dasyprocta prymnolopha) from Guiana, received
on approval,
BIOLOGICAL NOTES
APPARENT BIRD-TRACKS BY THE SEA-SHORE,—At a recent
meeting (October 3) of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia, Mr. Thomas Meehan called attention to what
appeared to be the tracks of a three-toed bird in the sand near
low water-mark, at Atlantic City. These tracks were of a nature
that would be readily recognised by observers as bird-tracks ;
but while thinking of what bird could have cansed them, and
reflecting on the phenomenon of their being only found on the
sand near low water-mark, Mr. Meehan noted on the face of the
smooth, recedins waves, spots where the water sparkled in the
light, and he found this was caused by little riplets as the wavelets
passed down over the half-exposed bodies of a small crustacean
(Hippa talpoidea), and that the water, in passing over the bodies
made the trifid marks which had been taken for impressions of
bird’s feet. These little crustacea take shelter in the sand near
low water-mark, and enter head foremost in a perpendicular
direction downwards, resting just beneath the surface. The
returning wave took some of the surface sand with it, and then
the looser portions of the bodies uppermost in the sand were
expose !. Often the little creatures would be quite washed out ;
when recovering themselves, they would rapidly advance in a
direction contrary to the retreat of the wave, and would enter the
wet sand again as before, their sides being parallel with the
shore. Their bodies terminate ia a caruncular point which, witb
the position of the two hind-legs, offer a tridentate obstruction
to the sand brought down by the retreating wave, and the water
passing round the points made the three toe-like grooves, which
resembled a bird’s foot from one and a half to two inches long.
The crustacea, in their scrambles for protection beneath the sand,
imanaged to keep at fairly regular distances from each other,
and hence there was considerable regularity in the tracks, as if
they had really been produced by birds. Although the author
of these notes presented them as a trifle, yet it will be at once
apparent that they are of great interest. Tr.fid impressions
like the-e, filled with mud and the deposit then to become solid
rock, would puzzle, if not altogether mislead, future observer:.
AUSTRALIAN FRESHWATER SPONGES.—Up to this date, but
one species of freshwater sponge has been described from Aus-
tralia, Spongilla capewelli of Bowerbank ; but Mr. W. A. Has-
well, at a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
(May 31, 1882) describes two new species from a pond near
Brisbane, and one from the River Bell at Wellington. Spongilla
sceptroides is a green, smooth, encrusting species, with the skeletal
spicules very slightly curved, acute at both ends, ornamented
with very minute projecting points. The statoblasts are spheri-
cal, defended by long, slender, straight, cylindrical spicules,
which are armed with numerous acute spinules, chiefly collected
around the extremities, forming heads; it is found growing on
submerged twigs. 5S. dotryotdes is a yellowish flat-encrusting
species, with curved skeletal spicules, fusiform, acute, with scat-
tered, extremely minute, projecting points. Statoblasts protected
by a crust of short, strongly-curved spicules, with heads at each
end of numerous short, blunt, or sub-acute spines, somewhat
botryoidal-like, the shaft smooth. This species was found with
the first: another species fonnd by Mr. E. P. Ramsay in the
Bell River, growing on masses attached to submerged timber
seems nearly related to S. AMeyent, from Bombay. In colour it
varies from a grass green toa yellow. It is massive, lobulated,
with oscula between the projections. The skeleton spicules are
perfectly smooth, and the amphidiscs are provided with from
one to ten acute and prominent spines. Another species from
somewhat deep water is indicated by Mr. Haswell.
EaRTH-worms In NEw ZEALAND.—The following inter-
esting observations form part of a communication from Mr. A.
T. Urquhart, to the editor of the Mew Zealand Fournal of
Science, and appear in the September number of that periodical.
In October, 1875, I duz a trench on some newly-cleared land—
a raised beach at Manukau Harbour. The section then showed
about 44 inches of black mould and a horizontal layer, 1 inch
thick, of burnt clay, wood-ashes, small stones, and pumice lying
ona brownish-green arenaceous clay. The vegetation cleared was
the growth of come thirty years. A portion of the land was
left undisturbed. Measurements again taken a few days ago
gave an average depth of 1} inches of turf, 53 inches of black
mould, and there was no percepiible difference in the layer of
ash. An angular block of Trachyte—about twenty-five pounds
in weight—placed in May, 1875, had sunk 1 inch, allowing
for the turf. As the results of some accurate calculations, as to
the number of worms per acre, Mr. Urquhart gives results so
considerably higher than Henson’s, that he would have hesitated
to publish them, were he not in a position to prove them.
Henson, it will be remembered by the ‘readers of Darwin on
‘Vegetable Mould,” calculates that there are 53,767 worms per
acre in garden mould, and above half that number in corn-fields.
Mr. Urquhart’s estimates, founded on digging about a quarter
of an acre, as well as by a large number of tests on various parts
of the fields, some that were under pasture for over sixteen
years, gave from four to twenty-six earth-worms per each square
foot. The alluvial flats, slopes, and richer portions of the upper
lands would average eight to the square foot or say 348,480 per
acre. In the uncultivated fern lands worms are scarce, In
New Zealand worms not only leave their burrows, but climb up
trees; in search of food, this chiefly in the night time, though
often until a late hour on damp warm mornings.
THE GENESIS OF THE HyPOPHYSIS IN PETROMYZON
PLANERI.—Prof. Anton Dohrn, of Naples, writes:—‘‘ In his
contributions to the history of development of the Pertromyzons
(Morphol. Fahrbuch, vol, vii. p. 158), Mr. W. B. Scott says:
©The organ of smell is one of the most peculiar parts of the
whole organisation of the Cyclostoms. . . .. The position of
the organ is a symmetrical from the very beginning. It first
begins to manifest itself as a shallow depression above the
mouth, which we may regard as a common depression for the
nasal cavity and the hypophysis. The ectoderm covering the
head becomes suddenly thickened at one spot, in order to form
the special smell sense epithelia which lie close to the front
extremity of the brain. The cells at the bottom of the depression
decrease in depth, while the cells that cover the opposite wall
of the depression (z.e. the continuation of the upper lip) are very
low.’ Balfour (‘* Comp. Embryology,” vol. ii. p. 358) makes
the following criticism upon this statement :—‘‘ I have not myself
completely followed the development of the pituitary body in
Petromyzon, but I have observed a slight diverticulum of the
stomodaeum, which I believe gives origin to it. Fuller details
are in any case required before we can admit so great a diver-
gence from the normal development as is indicated by Scotts
statements.” According to researches which I made this summer,
the question is solved, butin a way different from either Balfour’s
or Scott’s suggestions. The hypophysis arises rather as an inde-
pendent depression of the ectoderm between the depre-sions for the
nose and the mouth. Its connection with the nasal depression
is only secondary, and is caused by the strong and early deve-
lopment of the upper lip. It has no connection with the mouth
depression, because the upper lip develops between the mouth
depression and the hypophysis. The particulars of these rela-
tions will appear in the next number of the ‘‘ Studies in the
Early Development of Vertebrates” in the Proceedings of the
Zoological Station at Naples (Zoo/. Anzeige, November 6, 1882).
Formic anp AceTIc AcID IN PLANTs.—Dr. Bergmana
sums up the results of his investigations as to the occur-
rence and import of formic end acetic acids in plants as
follows:—1. Formic and acetic acids are met with as con-
stituents of protoplasm throughout the whole of the vegetable
kingdom in the most yarious portions of the plant-organism,
and both in chlorophyllacesus and non-chlorophyllaceous forms.
=
92
NATURE
Ss «ais
.
[Wov. 23, 1882
2. Formicand acetic acids are to be regarded as constant pro-
ducts of metastasis in vegetable protoplasm. 3. It is probable
that other members also of the unstable group of fatty acids, as
for instance, proprionic acid, butyric acid, caproic acid, or even
the whole group, are universally distributed in the vegetable
kingdom. 4. An increase of the amount of unstable acids takes
place in a plant-organism when its assimilation is interfered with
by deprivation of light, ze. when put into a state of starvation
(inanition). 5. Formicand acetic acids accordingly belong to the
constituents of regressive ti:sue-metamorphosis. It has been
premised that the homologous, unstable fatty acids have a simi-
lar import in-vegetable tissue-metamorphosis, 6. No increase in
the amount of unstable acids takes place in a plant-organism,
which is withdrawn for a period from the light, under the
minimum-temperature required for growth. 7. Accordingly
the formation of formic and acetic acids in a plant seems to take
place -to a certain degree independently of respiration. 8.
Acetic and formic acids are mainly to be regarded as decom-
position products of the constituents of vegetable protoplasm.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Dr. WISSMANN, of the German African Society has, it
is stated, just arrived at Zanzibar, having left Loando in
April, 1881, in company with Dr. Pogge. Striking in-
wards across the numerous streams that take their origin in
the great watershed which separates the Congo and Zambesi
basins, the travellers were at Mukenge, about 6° S. and 22° E.,
in November last year, Shortly after they set oui for Nyangwe
on the Lualaba, whence Wissmann proceeded eastwards to Zan-
zibar, while Pogge turned back to Mukenge, there to plant a
station. The details of this journey will doubtless be full of
novelty and interest.
THe German African Society has recently issued a report
upon its latest undertakings. There are now four German ex-
peditions in Africa, two proceeding from the east, and two
from the west. In the east there is Dr. Stecker, who as the
companion of Dr. Rohlfs, paid a visit to King John of
Abyssinia, and then continued his journey through the Soudan.
His last letter is dated February 15. Dr. Béhrn aud Dr.
Kayser, who belong to Capt. von Schéler’s expedition, report
upon a three months’ journey to Lake Tanganyika, from which
they returned to the station at the end of 1881.
Gondo Station itself Herr Paul Reichard, who remained there,
sends a report; Capt. v. Scholer, after founding a station at
Kakama, proceeded to Zanzibar. News has also been received
regarding the exploration of the Wala River, to the west of
Gondo, as far as its mouth, by Dr. BGhrnand Herr Reichard. On
the other hand, Robert Flegel is busily at work. He has taken
a minute cartographical survey of the hitherto unknown part of
the Niger, between Inuri and Shay. In the spring of 1881 he
prepared for a journey to Southern Adanana.
Keffi at the beginning of December; thence he intended to
proceed by way of Schiber, on the Binne River, through the
‘heathen lands” to Kantscha and Yola, south of the Binne,
then winter there, and thence proceed by water from Meo Kebbi
to the Tubori Marsh to Kuka.
AT the beginning of November, Dr. Arthur Krause returned
to Germany from his journey to the Chukchi Peninsula and
Alaska, which he undertook, partly in company with his brother,
Dr. Aurel Krause, and partly alone, at the instance of the Bre-
men Geographical Society. Dr. Aurel Krause returned to
Germany last summer by way of Panama, while his brother
remained in Alaska until the autumn. The two brothers have
made copious collections of natural history and ethnographical
specimens.
THE November number of Petermann’s Mittheilungen contains
an account by Dr. Gerhard Rholfs of the results of his recent
journey in Abyssinia. Dr. Ferd. Léwl, of Prag, has a long and
able paper on the origin of transverse-valleys ; Lieut. Kreitner
describes the route from Ansifan through the Gobi desert to
Hami; while there are interesting letters from Emin-Bey,
Lupton-Bey, and Dr. Junker, mainly referring to the work of
the Russian explorer in the Welle region. He has been doing
much to clear up the hydrography of the region, and has come to
the conclusion that the Welle is really the upper course of the
From the |
|
A SPECIAL supplement to the Chaméer of Commerce Fournal
contains an account by Mr. Colquhoun of his recent journey
through Yunnan to Burmah, accompanied by an excellent map.
Under the title of ‘f Across Chrysé,” Messrs. Sampson Low and
Co. will shortly publish a detailed narrative, with many illus-
trations, of Mr. Colquhoun’s journey.
THE ordnance survey of Scotland, a work which has been
going on for thirty-seven years, has been completed, and the
surveying staff will be withdrawn from Scotland next week.
During the la:t few years nearly a hundred men have been
employed in the work.
THE Emperor of Russia has ordered 22c0/. to be allotted
from the Imperial Treasury to the Russian traveller in New
Guinea and the Malay Archipelago, M. Miklucho Maklay, in
order to enable him to work up the results of his explorations.
His Majesty has also ordered M. Maklay to be informed that
the cost of the publication of his book of travels will be defrayed
by the privy purse.
THE PELAGIC FAUNA OF FRESHWATER
LAKES
SEVERAL naturalists have within recent years made the
pelagic fauna of freshwater lakes in various regions a sub-
ject of study. In the Archives des Sciences for September, Prof.
| Forel gives a list of those researches, with a résumé of the
results they have yielded.
This fauna has but few species; but the number of indi-
viduals of each species is, on the otber hand, enormous. The
following is an enumeration of the species observed :—
OsTRACODA: Cyfris cvum. CLADOCERA: Sida crystallina,
Daphnella brachyura, D. pulex, D. magna, D. longispina, D.
hyalina, D. cristata, D. galeata, D. quadranguia, D. mucronata,
Bosmina longirostris, B. longispina, B. longicornis, Bythotrephes
longmanus, Leptodora hyalina, COPEPODA: Cyclops coronatus,
C. quadricornis, C. serrulatus, C. tenuicornis, C. brevicornis,
C. minutus, Heterocope robusta, Diaptomus castor, D. gracilis,
The author excludes from consideration those animals that
enter into the pelagic fauna in an accidental and accessory way,
such as fishes (especiaily Coregonus), preying on the entomos-
traca, and other fishes which prey on those, also infusoria living
on pelagic alge, and animals coming occasionally from the
border or the bottom of a lake.
The pelagic fauna is, in its general /vazts, very much the same
in all European lakes where it has been examined, from the
plains to the Alps, from Scandinavia to Italy. But it is rarely
represented in one lake by all animals of the fauna. Pavesi has
made a very complete study, in this respect, of the Italian Jakes,
| giving, for each, a complete list of the species found. But an
observation by Weissmann has to be remembered here. He
| found that the different species of Cladocera presented an annual
He reached |
periodicity ; they disappear at certain seasons (different for
different species), when they are represented only by eggs. Thus
| the list of pelagic animals of a lake, to be complete, must be
based on numerous takes in different seasons.
The common characters of the fauna accord with the mode of
life, which involves constant swimming ; thus the animals have
no organ of fixation, but a well-developed organ of natation.
Their density, nearly equal to that of water, enables them to
float between two waters without exerting themselves much.
Their movements are slow, and they escape enemies rather by
their transparence than by agility. This transparence is, indeed,
their essential character; they do not generally show a visible
| point, except that of their eye, which is strongly pigmented with
Shari, while the Aruwimi, the great tributary of the Congo, |
rises further to the east.
black, brown, or red. The quality of transparence may be
interpreted as a case of mimicry.
The food of the fauna is vegetable or animal. Some feed on
pelagic alge, few in species, dnatana circinalis, Pleurococcus
angulosus, Pl. palustris, Tetraspora virescens, Palmelia Ralfsiz,
but very abundant in individuals; others pursue and eat the
smallest animal species living in the same waters.
The. pelagic animals present daily migrations ; swimming near
the surface at night, and remaining in the depths by day. Fric
thought he found, in the Bokemian lakes, each species select a
determinate depth; neither Pavesi nor the author have observed
such constancy. The different species form groups, or troops,
where the net makes rich captures, but these banks of animals
of the same species, have not, at least in the large Swiss lakes,
a determinate fixed position,
— oo.
Nov. 23, 1882 |
NATORE
93
As to the maximum depth at which they are found, Prof.
Forel has taken them in Lake Leman as deep as 100 and even
150 metres; at the greatest depths only Diaptomus.
The optic nerve of those animals probably suffers from too
bright light, and so they descend whenever the light of sun or
moon becomes too strong ; still, they require some light to seek
their prey. In their migrations they traverse a considerable
thickness of water. What is the limit of light in freshwater
lakes? The author showed in 1877, that the transparence varied
with the season; it is much greater in winter than in summer,
Under the most favourable conditions, a bright object sinking in
the water of Lake Leman disappears at about 16 or 17m. depth.
Paper sensitised with chloride of silver gave as light-limit in
Lake Leman 45 m. in summer, and 100 m. in winter. Asper,
using more sensitive plates (prepared with bremide of silver
emulsion), found the actinic rays still active in the Lake of
Zurich at 90m. and more. All this, however, does not deter-
mine the limit of absolute obscurity for the retina, and especially
for the optic nerve of lower animals.
With regard to the origin of this pelagic fauna, Prof. Forel
confidently rejects the idea of local differentiation of litttoral
species in each lake, producing the pelagic fauna of the Jake.
The very remarkable character of generality, the almost absolute
identity of the pelagic entomostraca in all European lakes point
to dissemination and mixture,
How has this dissemination occurred? Active migration
from one lake to another is inadmissible, considering obstacles
and power of locomotion. On the other hand, a passive migra-
tioa in the state of winter eggs, attached to the feathers of birds
of passage, ducks, grebes, gulls, &c., explains the transport
sufficiently. Pavesi has argued against this common origin and
mode of dissemination, on account of irregularity in the pelagic
population of different Italian lakes, certain species being absent
in certain lakes, while they are represented in neighbouring
lakes. But this irregularity seems to the author to correspond
perfectly with the accidental and fortuitous character of the
mode of dissemination referred to. ‘‘If this mode of transport
be adiritted, the differentiation of pelagic species is no longer
necessarily localised in the lake in which we find the animals,
any more than inthe present geological epoch. This factis very
important for explanation of the pelagic fauna of certain lakes
the origin of which is comparatively modern ; for our Swiss
lakes, the glacial epoch forms an absolute limit which prevents
our supposing a local differentiation of ancient tertiary species,
and their transformation into our present species ; the origin of
the pelagic faunas of certain Italian lakes of volcanic nature, is
still more modern. But since we are no longer limited to a
local differentiation of autochthonous species, we find more time
and more space for this process of differentiation.”
Prof. Forel believes the cause of differentiation of pelagic
fauna will be found in a combination of two facts, viz., the daily
migrations of entomostraca, and the regular local breezes on
large lakes. There are two such breezes in calm weather, one
blowing from the land at night, the other from the water by
day. Crepuscular animals of the shore region, which come to
swim on the surface at night, are carried out ito the lake by
the surface-current of the land breeze. Ly day the light sends
them down, and thus they escape the surface current of the
breeze that would bring them back to the shore. Carried each
night further out, they become finally relegated to the pelagic
region, Differentiation by natural selection then operates, and
after a few generations, there remain only the admirably trans-
parent animals and excellent swimmers we know. This differ-
entiation once effected, the pelagic species is transported by the
migratory birds from one country to another, from one lake to
another, where it is multiplied, if the conditions are favourable.
Thus we may find, even in lakes too small to po'sess an alternda-
tion of breezes, true pelagic Entomostraca that have been
differentiated in other larger lakes by the play of such breezes.
The differentiation of most pelagic species may thus be easily
accounted for.
There are two species, however, the author points out, whose
origin is not so explained ; these are the most beautiful and
interesting of pelagic Entomostraca: Leftodora hyalina and
Bythotrephes longimanus, These two Cladocera have no known
parentage in the freshwater species forming either the shore
fauna of lakes or the marsh or river fauna, We must, with
Pavesi, seek a marine origin for them. Aythotrephes probably
descended from a common ancestor with Podon, its nearest
parent, and the Zef/odora from a primitive Daphnis.
How did the passage from salt to fresh water take place?
Pavesi supposes closure of a fjord and gradual transformation
of the lake water in conseqnence. Prof. Forel further suggests
as possible, passive migration and successive transport to lagoons
less and less salt ; and there may have been other ways. We
have not the elements for settling the question. ‘But the
adaptation to fresh water once accomplished, the dissemination
of these forms of marine origin has certainly taken place like
that of other pelagic fresh-water forms, and those two species
have so been transported into lakes which have never had direct
communication with the sea.”
There are evident analogies, Prof. Forel remarks in closing,
between the lacustrian and the marine pelagic fauna ; the differ-
ences appear chiefly in relative size and proportions. In the sea
all is on a large scale; in lakes, on a small; the number of
species and of individuals, the size, the extent of the migrations,
the area of extension. But, with this exception, the general
laws are the same in the two analogous faunas.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Four chairs in the University College, Dundee, have been
filied up as follows :—Mr. Steggall, Fielden Lecturer in Mathe-
matics, in Owens College, Manchester, was appointed Professor
of Mathematics; Mr. Carnelly, Professor of Chemistry in Firth
College, Sheffield, was appointed Professor of Chemistry ; Mr.
Ewing, Professor of Engineering in the University of Tokio,
Japan, was appointed to the Chair of Engineering; and Mr.
Thomas Gilray, M.A., Head Master in English at Glasgow
Academy, to tue Chair of English Literature and Modern His-
tory. The salary guaranteed to each professor is 500/.
+ THE University of Ziirich will, at the end of the current
winter term, celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation,
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
The Fournal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol.-xvii. Part 1,
October, 1882, contains -—On the lymphatics of the walls of the
larger blood-vessels, and lymphatics, by Drs. George and Eliza-
beth Hoggan.—On micrococcus poisoning, by Dr. A. Ogston.
—On omphalo-mesenteric remains in mammals, by Dr, W.
Allen.—On the action of saline cathartics, by Dr. M. Hay.—On
a hitherto undescribed fracture of the Astragalus, by Dr. F. J.
Shepherd.—On a secondary astragalus in the human foot, by
Prof. W. Turner.—Note on the rectus abdominalis et sternalis
muscle, by Dr. G. E. Dobson.—On a case of ectopia vesice,
&e., ina newly-born infant, by Dr. F. Ogston.—On nickel and
cobalt ; their physiological action on the animal organism. Part
i., Toxicology, by Dr. T. P. A. Stuart.—A kerato-thyro-hyoid-
muscle as a variation in human anatomy, by S. G. Shattock.—
On Cesalpino and Harvey, by Prof. Humphry.
The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
vol, vii. part 1 (Sydney, 1882), contains: Wm. A. Haswell, on
the structure of the paired fins of Ceratodus (plate 1).— Notes on
the anatomy of 4airhinus insolitus and Turacena crassirostris.
—Wnm. Macleay, on Port Jackson Pleuronectidz, with descrip-
tions of new species; on the fishes of Palmer River; on an
Alpine species of Galaxias.—E. P. Ramsay, the zoology of the
Solomons, Part IV. ; on a new species of Mus from Ugi Island;
contributions to Australasian oology (plates 3-5) ; on the zoology
of Lord Howes Island ; on Afogon guntheri of Castelnau ; on
some Fijian bird’s eggs. —Alex. Morton, notes of a cruise to the
Solomons.—Prof. F, W. Hutton, note on Sossarina petterdt ;
list of New Zealand freshwater shells.—Rev. Dr. Wools, the
plants of New South Wales, No. 8.—Rev. J. E. T. Woods,
botanical notes on Queensland; on a new species of Stomo-
pneustes, and a new variety of Aipponce variegata ; on fossil
plants of Queensland.—J. Brazier, fluviatile shells of New
South Wales ; a list of Cypraeidee of the Victorian coast.—Wm.
Mitten, on some Polynesian mosses.—Rey. C. Kalchbrenner,
new Australian fungi.—Dr. J. C. Cox, on the edible oysters of
Australia.
Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South
Wales, vol. 15, 1882, contains: On the climate of Mackay, by
H. L. Roth.—Notes of a journey on the Darling, by W. E.
Abbott.—The astronomy of the Australian aborigines, by Rev.
P. MacPherson.—On the spectrum of the recent comet; on
94
NATURE
[Mov. 23, 1882
new double-stars ; on the transit of Mercury, November 8, 1881,
by H. C. Russell.—On the inorganic constituents from epiphytic
ferns, by W. A. Dixon.—A census of the genera of plants
native to Australia, by Baron Ferd. von Mueller.—On water
storage and canalisation for the colony, by F-. B, Gipps.
Rivista Scientifico-Industriale e Fournale del Naturalista,
September 15.—Luni-solar influence on earthquakes, by F. L.
Bombicci.—On the transformation of electricity into voltaic cur-
rents, and the application of these currents, by G. Govo.—
Doderlein’s ichthyological manual of the Mediterranean, by E.
Riggio. .
Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, September 15.
—On the rotatory polarisation of quartz (third part), by MM.
Soret and Sarasin.—The pelagic fauna of freshwater lakes, by
F. A. Forel.—Researches on the quantity of carbonic acid con-
tained in the atmospheric air, by E. Risler.—The air thermo-
meter arranged with a view to a determination of high tempera
tures in practice, by H. Schneebeli.—Remarks on M. Louis
Lossier’s work, entitled ‘‘ Electrolytic Calculations,’ by C. E.
Guillaume.—Geometric proof of the theorem of Wheatstone’s
bridge. by the same.—Emile Plantamour,
Bulletin deV Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Petershourg,
Part xxviii.; No. 2.—New researches on artificial double stars,
by O. Struve.—Topographical observations of Jupiter, by J.
Kalazzi.—On the oxidation of isodibutylene by hypermanganate
of potash, by A. Boutlerov.—Observations of the planets
Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune in their oppositions in 1881, by A.
Sowitsch.—Determination of the mass of Jupiter by means of
observations of the reciprocal distances and the directions of his
satellites, by O. Backland.—Action of zinc-methyl on chloral,
by B. Rizza.—De Marci Antonini Commentariis, by A. Nauck.
—Hydrological researches (continued), by C. Schmidt.
Zatschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Bi. 37, Heft. 2,
September 27, 1882, contains : Contributions to the anatomy of
Ankylostoma auodenale (Dubini) = Dochmius duodenalis (Leuck-
art), by Wm. Schulthess (plates 11 and 12).—On the ontogeny
of Keniera filigrana (O. Schmidt), by Wm. Marshall (plates 13
ani 14).—Contribution to a knowledge of the structure and
functions of the heart in osseous fishes, by Kasem-Beck and
J. Dogiel, of Kasan (plates 15 and 16). —Contribution to a
knowledge of the cestoid worms, by Dr. Z. von Roboz (plates
17 and 18).—Comparative embryological studies of Elias
Metschnikoff, No. 3, on the gastrula of some Metazoa (Zchinus
miliotuberculatus, Lineus lacteus, Phoronis hippocrepina, Poly-
gordius flavocapitatus, Ascidia mentula, and Discoporella radiata
(plates 19 and 20).
Morphologisches Fahrbuch eine Zeitschrift fir Anatomie und
Entwichelungsgeschichte, bd, viii. heft 2, 1882, contains :—Con-
tribution to the Angiology of the Amphibia, by Dr. J. E. V.
Boas (with plates 6 to 8).—On the nasal cavities and the
lachrymo-nasal canals in the amniotic vertebrata, by Dr. G.
Born (with plates 9 and 10).—New foundations for a knowledge
of cells, by Dr. A. Rauber (with plates 11-14).—Observations
on the development of the crown of tentacles in Hydra, by H.
Jung. -
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Linnean Society, November 2.—Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., in
the chair.—Prof. J. C. Ewart, G. Fry, and Lord Walsingham
were elected Fellows of the Society.—Mr. A. P. W. Thomas
drew attention to a series of specimens under the microscope,
and diagrams illustrative of the life history of the Liver Fluke
(Fasctola hepatica). His experiments show that the embryos of
the Fluke, as free Cercariz, burrow into and develop within
the body of Zinneus truncatulus, and thereafter pass with the
herbage into the stomach, and ultimately liver of the sheep.
Salt added to the sheep’s diet is found to act as a prophylactic.
—Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer exhibited specimens and made
remarks on the plant producing Cassta dignea, and on the native
implements used in the collection and preparation of the Cassia
bark in Southern China.—Mr, C. T. Druery showed two proli-
ferous forms of Athyrium filix femina, a family hitherto re-
markable for its unproliferous nature. Both examples appeared
simultaneously ; not the least significant feature being their
extreme precocity, since bulbil-bearing ferns are proliferous-
usually only on their mature fronds.—Mr. F. Crisp ex-
hibited preparations in illustration of the views of Drs.
Loew and Bokormy on the difference between dead and
living protoplasm, viz. the power of the living organism to
reduce silver salts in a very dilute alkaline solution.—Prof. E.
Ray Lankester exhibited and made remarks on a series of
marine organisms dredged by him, last summer, in the fjords
of Norway. Of these may be mentioned a branch of Paragorgia
arborea, three feet across, specimens of the same in spirit, as
also of Lophelia prolifera, Amphiheria ramea, Stylaster nor-
vegicus, Primnoa lepadifera, and Paramuricia ramosa, both
dried, and also with the polyps preserved in spirit. The collec-
tion also included some very large new forms of Foraminifera
specimens of Rhizocrinus Lofotensis, of the aberrant mollusca
Neomenia and Chetoderma, and of Rhabdopleura Normani, be-
sides a large series of sponges and Asteroidea.—Mr. T. Christy
exhibited a living specimen of the Japanese peppermint plant,
which yields the Menthol of commerce, this being the first plant
grown in this country. Mr. Holmes mentioned that although
this mint did not differ in botanical characters from J/entha
arvensis, it had a strong peppermint odour and flavour,
which were not found in the specimens growing either
in Europe or India. He therefore proposed that the plant
should be named J/. arvensis, var. piperaneus by way of
distinction,—Mr. J. G. Baker showed a specimen of Lyco-
podium complanatum collected in Skye by Prof. Lawson.—
Sir J. Lubbock then read his tenth communication on the
habits of ants, bees, and wasps, a notice of which ap-
peared in our last issue, p. 46.—A paper was read on
medicinal plants of North-West Queensland, by W. E.
Armit. Among these is a species of Aristolochia and a
Croton; also Grewia jolygama, a specific for dysentery ;
Careya arborescens, used for poultices; Lxythree australis, and
Andropogon citriodora, tonics in febrile complaints; and £x-
Phorbia pilulifera and Datura australis, valuable in cases of
asthma.—A remarkable malformation of the leaves of Beyeria
opaca, var. linearis, from Yorkes Peninsula, South Australia,
was described by Mr. Otto Tepper.—Dr. F. Day exhibited
specimens in illustration of a paper read by him, on variation
in form and hybridism in Salmo fontanalis.—Mr. H. N. Ridley
afterwards read some teratological notes on a Carex, a Grass,
and an Equisetum
Zoological Society, November 14.—Prof. W. H. Flower,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—A letter was read from Mr.
E. L. Layard respecting a specimen of Schenicola p/atyura re-
ceived by the british Museum from the late Mr. Cuming.—
Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell exhibited some examples of Lymnaus trun-
catulus, lately discovered to be the chief host of the larvee of the
sheep-fluke.—Prof. Flower exhibited and made remarks upon
the skull of a young chimpanzee from Lado, in the Soudan, sent
to him by Dr. Emin Bey, which exhibited the deformity called
** Acrocephaly,” associated with the premature closure of the
fronto-parietal suture.—Mr. H. E. Dresser exhibited and made
remarks on specimens of JZédlittophagus boehmi, Reichenow,
and Merops dressert, Shelley, which he showed to be identical. —
A communication was read from Mr. W. A. Forbes containing
some supplementary notes on the anatomy of the Chinese Water
Deer (Aydropites inermis),—A communication was read from
the Rev. L. Baron, containing notes on the habits of the Aye-
Aye of Madagascar in its native state—Mr. G. E. Dobson read
a paper on the natural position of the family Dipodidz, which
he maintained to be with Hystricine, and not, as generally sup-
posed, with the Murine Rodents, and to be most nearly allied to
the Chinchillidze.—Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell read a paper on the
genus Pso/us, relating its literary history, and giving an enume-
ration of the described species. Attention was cirected to the
extensive distribution of P. faériciz, and to the variations during
growth, After the description of other known forms, two new
species (P. feronti and P. ambulata) were described; for the
latter a new sub-genus was suggested, and the genus itself was
divided into three sub-generic groups. —A second paper from
Prof Bell contained an account of a Crinoid from the Straits of
Magellan, obtained by Dr. Coppinger during the voyage of
H.M.S, Aéert, which was referred to a new variety of Antedon
eschrichti of the Arctic seas—Mr. W. H. Neale read some notes
on the natural history of Franz-Josef Land, as observed in
1881-82, during the stay of the Azra expedition in that land.—
Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys read the fifth part of his list of the Mollusca
procured during the expeditions of H.M.S. Lighining and
Nov. 23, 1882]
NATURE
25
Porcupine. This part, which embraced the species from the
Solenoconchia to the Calyptracidz, comprised sixty-nine species,
of which twenty two were now for the first time described or
figured. The geographical, hydrographical, and geological
range of all these species was given, as in his former papers ;
and the author especially noti.ed the points of agreement
between the deep-water Mollusca from the American and
European expeditions.
Physical Society, November 1i1.—Prof. Clifton, president,
in the chair.—Prof. Rowland, of Baltimore, exhibited a number
of his new concave gratings for giving a diffraction spectrum.
He explained the theory of their action. Gratings can be rnled
on any surface if the lines are at a proper distance apart and of
the proper form. The best surface, however, is a cylindrical or
spherical one. The gratings are solid slabs of polished speculum
metal ruled with lines equidistant by a special machine of Prof.
Rowland’s invention. An account of this machine will be published
shortly. The number of lines perinch varied inthe specimens shown
fro n 5000 to 42,000, but higher numbers can be engraved by the
cutting diamond, One great advantage of their use is that the rela-
tive wave-lengths can be measured by the micrometer with great
accuracy. Theauthor has designed an ingenious mechanical arrange-
ment for keeping the photographic plates in focus. In this way
photographs of great distinctness can be obtained. Prof. Rowland
exhibited some Io inches long, which showed the E-line doubled,
and the large B groups very clearly. Lines are divided by this
method which have never been divided before ; and the work of
photographing takes a mere fraction of the time formerly re-
quired. A photographic plate sensitive throughout its length is
got by means of a mixture of eocene, iodised collodion, and
bromised collodes. Prof. Rowland and Capt. Abney, R.E.,
are at present engaged in preparing a new map of the whole
spectrum with a focus of 18 feet. In reply to Mr. Hilgar, F.R.A.S.,
he stated that if the metal is the true speculum metal used by
Lord Rosse, it would stand the effects of climate he thought ;
but if too much copper were put in it might not. In reply to
Mr. Warren de la Rue he said that 42,coo was the largest
number of lines he had yet required to engrave on the metal.—
Prof. Guthrie read a letter from Capt. Abney, pointing out
Prof. Rowland’s plates gave clearer spectra than any others ;
they were free from ‘‘ghosts” caused by periodicity in the
ruling ; and the speculum metal had no particular absorption.—
Prof, Dewar, F.R.$., observed that Professor Liveing and he
had been engaged for three years past in preparing a map of the
ultra-violet spectrum, which would soon be puolished. He con
sidered the concave gratings to make a new departure in the
subject, and they would have greatly facilitated the,preparation of
his map.—Mr. W. R. Browne then read a paper on the conser-
vation of energy and central forces. He showed that the doctrine
of the conservation of energy necessarily involved central forces
and could not be proved unless on the assumption of a system of
central forces. This involved the hypothesis of Boscovich that
matter consists of a collection of centres of force, and the author
criticised the objections of Clerk Maxwell, Tait, and others to
Boscovich’s theory. The paper will appear in the 7vamsactions
of the Society.—Prof. S. P. Thompson read some historical
notes on physics, in which he showed that the voltaic arc between
carbon points was produced by a Mr. Etienne Gaspar Robertson
(whose name indicates a Scotch origin) at Paris in 1802. This
-reference is found in the Yournal de Paris for that year. Lako-
ratory note-books at the Royal Institution, however, are said to
show that Davy experimented with the arc quite as early. The
experiment usually attributed to Franklin of exhausting air from
a vessel of water ‘‘off the boil” and causing it to boil afresh, is
found in Boyle’s ‘‘ New Experiments touching the Spring of the
air. Prof. Thompson also exhibited an early Reis’s telephone,
made by Philip Reis in 1861 at Frankfort, and designed to
transmit speech. It was modelled on the human ear, one form
of transmitter being a rudely-carved wooden ear, with a tympan,
haxing a platinum wire behind, hard pressed against a platinum-
tipped adjustible spring. Prof. Thompson showed by various |
proofs that words were actually sent by that and similar
apparatus,
Meteorological Society, November 15.—Mr. J. K. Laughton,
F.R.A.S., president, in the chair.—Eleven new Fellows were
elected, viz. Rev. J. Brunskill, F. B. Buckland, C. F. Casella,
W. H.M. Christie, F.R.S., A. Cresswell, R. S. Culley, C.
Morris, O. L. O’Connor, H. Parker, F.Z.S., A. Rowntree, and
D. R. Sharpe.—The yapers read were: On certain types of |
British weather, by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, F.M.S. The
author shows that there is a tendency of the weather all over the
Temperate Zone to occur in spells associated with certain types
of pressure distribution. In Great Britain there are at least four
persistent types—the southerly, the westerly, the northerly, and
the easterly. In spite of much fluctuation, one or other of these
types will often continue for weeks together, and tend to recur
at the same date every year. The value of the recognition of
type groups is shown in the following ways :—(1) They explain
many phenomena of weather and many popular prognostics ;
(2) in some cases they enable forecasts to be issued with greater
certainty and fora longer time ahead ; (3) we can by their means
correct Statistical results by giving the real test of identity of
recurrent weather which no single item such as heat, cold, rain,
&c., can do; (4) they enable us to treat such geological questions
as the influence of changing distribution of land and sea on cli-
mate in a more satisfactory manner than any other method.—On
the use of kites for meteorological observation, by Prof. E.
Douglas Archibald, M.A., F.R.S. In this paper the author
advocates the use of kites for meteorological observation, and
describes the mode in which they may be best flown so as not to
be mere toys, but scientific instruments, capable of ascending
to great heights, remaining steady in currents of varying velocity,
and of being manipulated with ease and rapidity by the observer,
—The meteorology of Mozufferpore, Tirhoot, 1881, by Charles
N. Pearson, F.M.S.
Institution of Civil Engineers, November 14.—The pre-
sident, Sir W. G. Armstrong, C.B., F.R.S., in the chair.—The
paper read was on ‘Recent Hydraulic Experiments,” by Major
Allan Cunningham, R.E., Honorary Fellow of King’s College,
London.
BERLIN
Physical Society, October 3.—Prof. Rceber in the chair.—
Dr. Kcenig had already reported in a previous session on the
Leukoscope, designed and constructed by Prof. Helmholtz, and
communicated now the results of his further experiments with
this instrument. It consists essentially of a calc-spar-rhomboid,
a plate of quartz, and a Nicol’s prism. A luminous pencil
entering the calc-spar is split up into two rays polarised at right
angles which traverse the quartz-plate and the Nicol. When
spectroscopically analysed, these rays show two spectra of
absorption-bands, in the spectrum of the one pencil at points
where in the spectrum of the other pencil the intensity is
undiminished, and vice versa, so that the two spectra super-
posed would give a continuous spectrum. The number of
bands increases with the thickness of the quartz, and they are
shifted by rotating the Nicol. The modus operandi then is to
put ina quartz plate of such a thickness, and to rotate the Nicol
so much that in each of the spectra the colours tkat are not
blotted produce together white light. When different sources
of light are examined with the leukoscope, the different amounts
of rotation of the Nicol are required for effecting a conformity
of the two images, the relative quantity of certain rays being
different in every different light, the prevailing tint belonging
therefore to the one, and not to the other spectrum, Further
experiments having proved that the plate of quartz could remain
unaltered, the rotation angles of the Nicol were a gauge of the
quality of colours of the light examined. Dr, Keenig has tried
in this way a series of sources of light, and found the angles
wanted for homogeneity of the white images to be as follows :—
With stearin candles = 71°°20 ; with gaslight = 71°°5 ; with
electric arc light = 79°; with magnesium light = 86° ; with
solar light = 90°°5; with burning phosphorus and Drummond
lime-light the angles were between gas and electric-are light.
The succession of the sources of light thus stated coincides
strikingly with the results of spectro-photometric measurements
of Prof. Pickering. The fact that the magnesium light is more
like the solar light than the electric are light quite corresponds
with the known fact that of the aniline dyes, scarcely distin-
guishable by gas-light, the greatest part can be perceived by
electric light, but not all, viz. the so-called bronze hues ; whereas
by the magnesium light they are all as well distinguished as by
solar light. Furthermore Dr. Koenig has made many measure-
ments with the leukoscope on different electric incandescent
lights ; with Swan’s lamp and Edison’s lamp he gave the results
of his experiments in tables in which the strength of the current,
the intensity of ligbt, and the angles of the leukoscope were
indicated. From these numbers it follows that luminosity aug-
ments at first at a much greater rate with increasing st rength of
current than the latter ; by doubling the strength of the current
96
the illuminating power was increased about sixty-fold. The
angles of the leukoscope became likewise greater with the rising
intensity of the light in such a manner that a curve traced with
the light intensities as abscissee and the angles as ordinates is
concave to the abscissze and approaches assymptotically a
maximum near 78°, an angle approximately equal to the angle
(79°) of the glowing carbons of the electric are light. The
measurements with a Siemens’ incandescent lamp gave also
numbers which could be represented by a similar curve.
Paris =
Academy of Sciences, November 13.—M. Jamin in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—Results of experi-
ments made with electric candles at the Exhibition of Electri-
city, by M. Allard and others. The systems examined, those of
Jablochkoff, Jamin, and Debrun, now produce nearly the same
economical results.—On the reproduction of osmides of iridium,
by M. Debray. Osmium and iridium may crystallise together
in all proportions, without the form of their combination being
altered. They are then isomorphous. And natural osmides
may be true isomorphous mixtures, belonging to the cubic sys-
tem, notwithstanding the hexagonal appearance of certain varie-
ties (but this view is given with reserve, natural osmides being
of complex composition).—Report to the Bureau des Longitudes
on the approaching eclipse of May 6, 1883, by M. Janssen.
—Note on the telluric lines and the spectrum of aqueous
vapour, by M. Janssen, He recalls his own method, based on
study of the spectrum cf water vapour in a tube; he is now
working at it. The ¢e//uric lines (so called by him) are histori-
cally quite different from the dads of Brewster ; (an expres-
sion of M. Cornu’s seemed to affirm their equivalence.)
—On the currents produced by nitrates in igneous fusion,
in contact with red hot carbon, by M. Brard. Owing
to the tendency of fused nitrates to spread in heated
bodies, a current may be had if a short carbon rod with
one end put in the nitrate has only the other end incan-
descent ; also if fused nitrate in a metal capsule is placed on
burning carbon (the nitrate soaks through, so that the outer
surface of the capsule becomes quite moist) ; indeed, such a
capsule merely hung over a centre of combustion gives a current
(from the nitrate bath to the outer surface of the capsule). The
effect is improved by putting plumbago, or lampblack, on the
outside, and covering all with metallic foil. Nitrates kept in
fusion have great fixity—Chemical studies on the white beet of
Silesia (continued), by M. Leplay.—Observations made during
the total eclipse of the sun of May 17, 1882, by M. Tacchini.
He gives a vésemé of his memoir, which will shortly appear.—
On Abelian differential equations in the case of reduction of the
number of periods, by M. Picard. —On a theorem of M. Tisserand,
by M. Stieltjes. —Extension of the problem of Riemann to hyper-
geometric functions of two variables, by M. Goursat.—On the
development of functions in series of other functions, by M.
Hugoniot.—On the exactness of measurements made with the
mercury thermometer, by M. Crafts. The pressure (of the air)
has little influence. Permanent elevation of the fixed points,
produced at a high temperature, preserves the thermometer against
the influence of heat, in this respect, at lower temperatures.—Con-
clusions of hydrodynamic experiments in imitation of phenomena
of electricity and magnetism ; reply to a note of M. Ledieu, by
M. Decharme. ‘The theory of waves seems to him to be ‘‘ the
secret cf nature,” and he places the results of his experiments
against the unverified ideas of M. Ledieu.—Electric deforma-
tions of quartz, by MM. Jacques and Curie. With delicate
apparatus, they observed and measured such deformation when
a charge was given to two pieces of tin at the opposite ends of
the electric axis. The dilatations measured agreed satisfactorily
with those calculated from the electricity liberated.—On the
electrification of air, by M. Mascart. In the Amphitheatre of
the College of France he electrified the air by discharging a
Leyden jar with a flame, during ten seconds; another flame,
8m. off, communicated with an electrometer in an adjoining
hall. The maximum deflection in the latter was reached in
about a quarter of an hour ; then there was slow diminution, but
after two hours 1-20th of the maximum still remained. The
electrified gas probably rises and is diffused like smoke. To
study the lower atmospheric layers, the potential should be de-
termined ina large inclosure formed of metallic netting, con-
nected with the ground.—On atmospheric nitrification, by MM.
Muntz and Aubin. A constant absence of nitrates in meteoric
waters was observed at the top of the Pic du Midi (nearly
WA TURE
| Mov. 23, 1882
3000m.). A comparison of thunderstorms shows the summit
to be generally above them. Atmospheric nitrification is
probably produced in the lower regions of the air.—On the de-
composition of phosphates at a high temperature by sulphate of
potash, by M. Grandeau.—Point of solidification of various
mixtures of naphthaline and stearic acid, by M. Courtonne.—
On cenocyanine, by M. Maumené.—On the cause of liberation
of oxygen from oxygenated water by fibrine; influence of hydro-
cyanic acid exhausting the activity of fibrine, by M. Béchamp.
He shows that the fibrine loses somewhat ; and that it no longer
decomposes oxygenated water nor fluidifies starch, nor gives
bacteria.—On the signification of the polar cells of insects, by
M. Balbiani.—On the vaso-dilator reflex of the ear, by MM.
Dastre and Morat.—Phenomena of death from cold in Mam-
malia, by MM, Richet and Rondeau. The respiratory and
cardiac functions may be suspended for half an hour, without
death certainly ensuing. (Rabbits, shaved (vas¢s), were inclosed
in flexible tin tubes, through which flowed salt water cooled to
—7° C.).—Analogies and differences between curare and strych-
nine, as regards their physiological action, by M. Couty.x—On
the causes of migration of sardines, by M. Launette. Each
migration is normally under the two conditions of food and
temperature combined.—Contribution to the geological history
of the iron of Pallas, by M. Meunier.
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, October 12.—V. Oppol-
zer, finding the reduction to infinitesimal arcs of vibration at
pendulum-observations. —H. Kreuter, computation of the trajec-
tory of the comet 1771.—V. Barth and T. Schreder, on the
behaviour of benzoic acid if dissolved in caustic potash.—N.
Tierz, the theory of computations of the trajectory of a comet.
Ociober 19.—R. v. Lendenfeld, on a new self-registrating
thermometer.—V. Oppolzer, on an eclipse of the sun men-
tioned by Archilochos.—W. Demel, on the Dopyrlerite of
Ausser (Styria).—W. Gintl and F. Reinitzer, on the constituents
of the leaves of Fraxinus excelsior, L.
CONTENTS Pacg
THE. CHALLENGER REPORTS 0\ fay (el) che) Kopin sere anesthe) NomCMT EE
TIGHT wees en ROP OT rca os err on an AS
Our Book SHELF:—
Brown’s “ Practical Chemistry ”’ Cera ce ci
Lupton’s ‘* Elementary Chemical Arithmetic’ . . ... .. 76
Britten’s “‘ Watch and Clockmaker’s Handbook,”—H. Denr
(ON PL ee lo att ideo! Bases! Go 4 0 40
Duncanss sy eraesiof oclence, gic ie eaten one te meee! tena ennny
LxTTERS To THE Eprror:—
Physics of the Earth’s Crust.—Rev. O. FisHzeR . . . . . «. . 76
Shadows after Sunset.—E. DouGLas ARCHIBALD _. . +. . . 77
An Abnormal Fruit of Opuntia Ficus-Indica.—Dr, A. Ernst (With
Illustration) eo Noe. is av Feney qaaerete oe
pre ated
The Comet.—B. J. Hopkins . ho oo BOO
Soda Flames in Coal Fires.—Major J. HeRscHEL . . - . . - 78
Complementary Colours—A Mock Sunset.—I. H. . ... . . 78
A Lunar Halo.—J. Ranp Capron . PAN en fab OH (Chenin - 78
A Correction.—E. L. LAyARD . . . . » - «
Thomson’s Mouse-Mill Dynamo,—J. T. BorromLey
“Weather Forecasts.”",-—CHARLES W. HARDING. . .
Age of Dogs.—R. CORDINER. . « » + « « + « «
Waterspouts on Land.—James Hosack. . »« - « + « «= = += 79
METEOROLOGY OF THE MALay ARCHIPELAGO . . - +s. - + s .
Tue Comer. By J. K. Rees; Prof. S. C. CHANDLER, Jun. (With
VO} Tod 5) eR Pe OMe on Os te Cte Deri ace ch Omge co
INFLUENCE OF ‘f ENVIRONMENT” UPON Pants. By W. T. THISELTON
Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S. a Wal tig | 0 te eles ee are BE eee
Tue MacGnetic Storm anp Aurora. By W. H. M. Curistie;
F.R.S. ; Prof.C. Prazzt Smyru, Astronomer Royal for Scotland;
G. M. Wuirete; J. Ranp Capron; R. H. Tippeman; J. EpMuND
CrarK; H. Crirrorp Girt; Henry Roginson; A. M. WorTHING-
ton; THos. Gwyn Excer; Miss C. Rose Inciesy; C. H.
Romanes; E. Brown; FRANK STAPLETON; Rev. STEPHEN H.
Saxsy; Dr. Hupert Airy: Major J. HerscHet; A. S. P.; H. D.
Taytor; T. P. BarKas: W. Maxgic Jones ; GEORGE RAYLEIGH
Vicars ; Prof. J. P. O’Remtty; JonnL. Donson . . ... »
Tue CHLOROPHYLL CorpuscLtes oF Hypra. By Prof. E. Ray
PO ais SLC ChO Le Gibae ed Io Une Gk OMG lol aed Soo fy
NOTES: sy cstle Rome yada Te cin oc Se) cole c tek co clare) MORE Eom
BiotocicaLt NorTes:—
Apparent Bird-tracks by the Sea-Shore . . . - « + «© + + «= OF
nite ate) s
)
ve)
82
Australian Freshwater Sponges . ». © «© © + + © © «© + «© + OF
Earth-worms in New Zealand . . - + 2 + + © + + + «© « OF
The Genesis of the Hypophysis in Petromyzon Planeri. - - . - Qt
Formic and Acetic Acid in Plants . . . «+ «+ «© + + + + + «© QF
'GEOGRAPHICAESNOTES | © SLs ich te Foe luiet te ete at fe) = int Ca
Tue Peracic FAUNA OF FRESHWATER LAKES . + «~~ + + - + Q2
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONALINTELLIGENCE + + + - + + + = 93
ScrenTiFic SERIALS . 2. - © © + © © © e @ 2 age ee
| Sears eit ck cm Lcd 04
na
NABER FE
97
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1882
THE INDIAN SURVEY
General Report on the Operations of the Survey of India
during 1880-81. 61 pp. Report, 93 pp. Appendix, and
22 Plates. (Calcutta, 1882.)
HIS Report for 1880-81 (the fourth since the various
branches of the Indian Survey were amalgamated)
shows as usual a good amount of useful work done in the
year, and contains also many points of general interest.
There were in all twenty-nine field-parties and six large
head-quarters’ offices. The whole out-turn of work cannot
be shortly stated, and the total cost is not given; but it
appears that there were 22,765 square miles surveyed
topographically, 6141 square miles in great detail, besides
much minor and special work, also that eleven Revenue
Branch parties surveyed 11,326 square miles at a cost of
about 81,000/.
The principal triangulation of India proper as designed
by Col. Everest, has now been finished. The result is
shown on a skeleton map, which is itself a wonderful
sight. There is a continuous “chain” of triangles right
round India proper, connected across by zazy meridional
and east to west “chains,” the longest being from
Mussoorie to Cape Comorin (say 1600 miles north to
south), and from Chittagong to Kurrachee (say 1800
miles east to west). Outside India proper there are five
important extensions, viz. (1) to Kandahar and Khelat ;
(2) over Kdshmir ; (3) up the Indus beyond Leh ; (4) up
the Brahmaputra to Sudya; and (5) a coast ‘‘chain”
from Chittagong to Tenasserim. This great work, now
finished, is one of which India may well be proud.
Certain important changes of procedure are being in-
troduced in the general survey work, viz.: (1) All the
topographical work is being brought to a uniform system ;
(2) Fieldbooks are gradually giving way to direct plotting
of detail in the field with advantage in speed of work and
economy ; (3) Special riverain surveys will in future be
made; (4) Local agency is being tried for detail work ;
this last measure is expected to effect great economy in
the survey of Burma, for which at present a staff of 2500
men is taken from Calcutta and back again each season.
Great difficulties often beset the parties in the wilder
parts of the country. Many parts are extremely un-
healthy, and the parties often suffer severely from fever,
&c. In a few parts the roughness of the country, in
others climatic conditions, render travelling exceptionally
difficult, e.g. travelling in the hot wind across the
“Rann” (great salt desert) of Katch is dangerous to
both man and beast. In a few parts even in India
proper, ¢.g. among the wild Bhils, the surveyors are
looked on with suspicion and sometimes attacked. The
greatest praise is due to men who carry out their field-
work through such difficulties as these.
In general a survey party now accompanies every
military expedition ; thus some extension of geographical
and. trigonometrical work was done in 1881 by parties
sent with the Mahstid Wazirf expedition and with the
troops at Kandahar. A curious difficulty has arisen in
that the modern use of the heliostat in military signalling
almost precludes its use for survey stations along with
an army.
VOL. XXvII.—No. 683
Self-registering tide-gauges with 5 feet barrels have
been set up at fourteen places, and have worked well as
a whole. Tide registrations (mostly from older instru-
ments) for twenty-three years in all have been analysed
by the harmonic analysis at enormous labour. The dis-
cussion shows (for the first time) the existence of a
“lunar fortnightly tide” as had been expected from the
tidal theory. Tide-tables for 1882 were published for
fifteen ports.
The tidal stations of Madras and Bombay have been
connected by “levelling” right across the peninsula with
the curious result that the mean sea-level at Madras
appears to be 3 feet above that of Bombay. The cause
of this is still a subject of inquiry. It is really a very
curious question. Thus, it is said that “there can be no
sensible differences of level,” ze. as determined by
levelling, ““ because the causes by which they would be
produced must equally affect the spirit-levels of the in-
struments and the water-levels of the ocean,” so that had
the “levels been carried, without error, along the coast
line from Bombay . . . to Madras, they must have shown
identity of sea-level, &c.” On the other hand it is also
said that “the Western Ghats are a source of attrac-
tion, which, if not counteracted, must raise the sea-level
at Bombay no less than 31 feet above the mean sea-level
at Madras.” The difference (which should be zero?) is
attributed to observation-error, and chiefly to the effect
of the oblique sunlight illuminating the two ends of the
instrument-bubble unequally : thus it is said that an error
of only 1°2 seconds in levelment (a very minute quantity)
at even one-fourth of the instrumental stations would
produce the total error in question.
An interesting improvement has been introduced in the
engraving branch, viz. in steel-facing the copper-plates,
and is said to be very successful. Apparently engraving
on copper is still largely used (as also in the British
Ordnance Survey), but it would seem that this tedious
and costly process must give way to some of the rapid
and cheap photographic processes. The Indian Survey
is also utilising the latter very largely, with the wonderful
result that ‘‘at present publication may, and frequently
does, follow the survey in a few days.” There is a curious
instance of the possible saving in departmental manufac-
ture, in that about 334/. has been saved by making up
collodion in the office instead of purchasing it.
Of underground temperatures it is noted that at Dehra
the maxima occurred at the three depths, 674, 12°8, 25°6
feet, about September 20, October 15, and November 15
respectively (the maximum in the air being probably in
June ?).
An extraordinary outburst of solar spots, covering 630
million square miles, was observed to take place on July
25, 1881, within a period of thirty-seven minutes ; it is
rare that so grand an outburst is so closely located
in time.
The Indian Survey was well represented at the Venice
Geographical Exhibition. The whole collection sent
seems to have excited great interest, especially the tidal
instruments which were connected with the Main Canal
so as to be shown in actual work. This exhibition brought
to light a striking difference in recent practice of con-
struction of instruments in England and on the Continent
in that recent improvements in graduating circles are so
F
98
great as to lead to the general adoption (by continental
makers) of small circles with powerful reading micro-
meters in place of large circles with verniers.
A very simple process of making relief maps in Germany
is described, viz. by cutting out contour strips from a con-
toured map, and pasting each on to cardboard cut to
same outline. Altogether the Report is a very interesting
one. ALLAN CUNNINGHAM
GREEN’S “GEOLOGY”
Geology. By A. H. Green. Part I. Physical Geology.
Third and Enlarged Edition. (London: Rivingtons,
1882.)
— TUDENTS of Geology will welcome this third and
- much enlarged edition of Prof. Green's excellent
text-book, though they may at first sight regret the
exchange of the old convenient manual form of the book
for that of the present handsome and well-printed octavo.
One of the first features that strikes the reader in this
new issue of the work is the large augmentations made
to the lithological sections. In fact this part of the
treatise may be said to have been re-cast and almost
wholly re-written. The author devotes 150 closely printed
pages to crystallography and the description of minerals.
It may be open to question whether the full details which
he gives to the crystallographic characters of minerals are
not rather out of place in a geological treatise. They are
not ample enough for the mineralogical student, and the
geologist who takes up the subject must necessarily study
text-books of mineralogy, where they are given at much
greater length. Prof. Green, however, has put them so
clearly and succinctly that this portion of his book cannot
fail to be of use.
Some changes have been made in the arrangement of
rocks. The non-crystalline or derivative rocks now come
first—a grouping which no doubt has its advantages in
teaching, particularly in elementary classes, but which is
not that usually employed in petrographical works After
briefly describing the lithological character of the non-
crystalline rocks, the author, following his original plan,
proceeds to discuss the mode of formation of these rocks,
dealing first with denuding agents and their work, and
then considering the manner in which the denuded mate-
rial is aggregated into rock-masses. In these sections he
brings his subject abreast of the onward march of the
science. Another change in the original treatment of his
subject occurs in the author’s chapter on the “‘ confusedly
crystalline rocks.’’ He has not been so happy in his
choice of a title for them as he has been in his descrip-
tion of their general characters. After giving an account
of the lithological features he proceeds to discuss their
modes of origin, dealing first with volcanoes recent and
extinct, then with earthquakes (though one wonders what
these have to do with a description of crystalline rocks),
next with plutonic rocks which, however, are rather in-
adequately discussed. The chapter on metamorphic
rocks has been carefully revised,'and may be commended
to the student as an admirable summary of what is at
present known on this subject. The chapter upon the way
in which rocks came into their present positions was one
of the best in the first edition of the book. Its excellence
has now been increased by a thorough revision. For
NATURE
[Mov. 30, 1882
practical insight into the structure of the earth’s crust it
is unsurpassed in any treatise known to us.
Prof. Green more than makes up for the curious omis-
sion in the first edition of any mention of mineral veins.
We doubt, however, the advantage of inserting minute
descriptions of metallic ores in a general geological text-
book. The author would do well in his next edition to
give references to the Continental works on mining, par-
ticularly to some of the numerous treatises which have
been published in Germany. Chapter XIII. retains its
place as a valuable account of how the present surface of
the ground has been produced. The last two chapters
discuss the former fluidity and present condition of the
earth’s interior, the cause of upheaval, contortion, and
metamorphism, and the origin of the changes of climate
which have taken place during geological time. These
parts of the book are exceedingly well done. The author
has held the balance fairly between contending disputants,
and sums up the evidence with conspicuous and judicial
impartiality. Altogether, he may be congratulated on the
appearance of this edition of his text-book, which sustains
and extends his reputation as an exponent of his favourite
science.
OUR BOOK SHELF
A History of British Birds. By the late William Yarrell.
Fourth Edition, Revised to the end of the Wryneck, by
Alfred Newton, M.A., F.R.S., continued by Howard
Saunders, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Part XV. (London: John
Van Voorst, November, 1882.)
THE fifteenth part of the new edition of what the
British ornithologist fondly calls his ‘ Yarrell” con-
tains the final contribution of Prof. Newton to this
work, and the first pages of the portion which Mr.
Howard Saunders, his successor in the editorship, has
undertaken. Few of the subscribers, we believe, will be
much pleased with the change of authorship of their
favourite work of reference. No living writer, it may be
confidently asserted, is so competent to prepare a new
edition of “ Yarrell’s British Birds’’ as Prof. Newton,
and the conscientious care with which he has laboured
upon the two volumes now completed must be patent to
all who consult them. At the same time it should not be
forgotten that time is an element in all human matters
not even excepting books on British birds. When, there-
fore it is considered that nearly eleven years have elapsed
since Prof. Newton commenced his new edition, and that
only the first half of the work is now completed, it is
obvious that the Professor has not acted unwisely in sur-
rendering the second half to an editor who is able to
devote more time to the undertaking.
Mr. Howard Saunders, it is generally understood,
intends to issue the two final volumes of the new edition
in two years, and if his health and strength permit, will
doubtless accomplish his task within the allotted period.
In this his large practical knowledge of the bird-life of
Southern Europe, as well as his well-known familiarity
with modern ornithological literature, are likely to be of
the greatest assistance.
Mr. Saunders commences his second volume with the
pigeons, and gives us an excellent account of the four
British species, as also of the American passenger pigeon,
which can only be looked upon as one of our rarest
stragglers from the New World. When, however, he
says that all true pigeons lay two eggs he must have for-
gotten that the crowned pigeons, and the numerous forms
of fruit-pigeons are, so far as is known, content to lay but
one. There is therefore no good reason for calling the
Nov. 30, 1882 |
Columbz “ Bipositores,” as one of our systematists has
proposed todo! After the pigeons Mr. Saunders places
the sand-grouse as an intermediate order between the
Columbez and Gallinz. This is certainly a better plan
than that adopted by some of the more ardent reformers
of the ornithic system—of uniting the sand-grouse in the
same group with the pigeons, and thus spoiling the
symmetry of the order Columbz. In this and in other
particulars the new Editor of “ Yarrell’s Birds” show a
judicious spirit, which cannot fail to make the results of
his labours generally acceptable.
Episodes in the Life of an Indian Chaplain. By a
Retired Chaplain. (London: Sampson Low, Marston,
Searle, and Rivington, 1882.)
THISs interesting narrative of the adventures and vicissi-
tudes of a devoted and single-minded Indian Chaplain,
appears to be addressed to two classes of readers. A
considerable portion must be considered more or less
theological, and hence not applicable to the columns of
NATURE; but running throughout the unambitious work
is a considerable residue of facts and observations relating
to zoology, which are never tiresome and sometimes
original. In the days of his boyhood our author’s
leisure time was given to his “different collections of
natural history and antiquities,’ and after many years’
official duties he seems to have once more resumed his
early tastes, on his appointment to the curatorship of the
museum and secretaryship of the public gardens belonging
to the Maharajah of Travancore. It is whilst employing
his leisure in this vocation that the reader experiences
more of the naturalist and less of the chaplain, but both
phases are so kindly and modestly described, as to disarm
criticism and at the same time promote an amiable
impression of the writer.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Nether can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications,
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Sir George Airy on the Forth Bridge
Sir GrorGE Arry’s letter (v7de NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 598)
criticising Messrs. Fowler and Baker’s design for the Forth
Bridge is so important, that I think it but right, as Iam not
without experience on the subject, to make some remarks on the
subject of it. Sir George Airy states :—
1. ‘‘ That the proposed construction is, as applied to railway
bridges, entirely novel.” This is not quite exact. There are a
number of cantilever bridges in America; and I have, myself,
used practically similar principles of construction and erection,
on a largescale, with entire success, and find them so satisfactory
that, for a very long span, I would not think of using any other,
2. ‘‘The magnitude of its parts is enormous.” Undoubtedly
they are—and all the more credit to the men who had the nerve
to design them,
3. ‘‘ There has been no succession of instances of the con-
struction with rising degrees of magnitude which might furnish
experimental knowledge of some of the risks of construction.”
If this reason were sound, the same objection would have pre-
vented the construction of the Conway, Britannia, and Saltash
bridges, and Great Eastern steamer ; but so far from the state-
ment being correct, the engineering profession has gained ample
experience in the erection of the St. Louis, Kentucky River,
Douro and Minnehaha bridges to give assurance that the Forth
Bridge can be made a perfect success.
4. ‘The safety of the bridge depends entirely on a system of
end thrusts upon very long rods.” This is a very singular state-
ment. What would become of the safety of the bridge in case
there was no answering and complementary tension system
equally exposed to danger from a ‘‘system of end pulls upon
NATURE
99
very long rods” does not appear from Sir George’s letter ; nor
does he seem to remember that the tests of the last few years
show conclusively, that iron exposed to compression within its
buckling limit is compacted in texture and strengthened by such
use while, if subjected to continuous tension beyond two-thirds
of its elastic limit, it is attenuated and weakened.
5. ‘‘No reference is made t» theory applied to the buckling
of rods under end thrusts.” None was necessary. Mr. Baker
has designed struts, or columns—not rods, These members in
the Forth Bridge are presumed to have stich a proportion of
diameter to length that the question of buckling does not come
into consideration. In America, columns of many shapes—in
full-sized sectiois—have been tested in lengths of from 10 to 70
diameters, and the value of these shapes, in pounds of resistance
length
diameter
These results are now the common property of all English-
speaking engineers. Sir George Airy’s remarks on long struts are
the more extraordinary, as there isin England, in the upper chord
of the Saltash Bridge, an example of a long strut without lateral
support which is greater in its ratio of length to diameter than
any member that I know of in the Forth design. Moreover, it
is 455 feet long, near enouzh to the length of St. Paul’s Cathedral
for him to contemplate in connection with that edifice, in pre-
senting a picture to the people of London.
6. ‘* The liability to ruinous disturbance by the lateral power
of the wind acting with the leverage of the long brackets appears
to be alarmingly vreat.”’ This liability to destruction by wind is
common to all large spans ; but the danger is greater in the case
of a suspension bridge than in any other (I speak with some
knowledge on this point, having made the effects of tornadoes a
special study for a number of years past, and having visited
most of the bridge wrecks which have occurred in the States,
from this cause, since 1858). So far as destruction by wind can
be guarded against in the Forth design, it has afparently been
done ; and the bridge will be vastly stronger in this regard than
many other bridges in England which can be easily named, and
about the stresgth of which there is supposed to be no question.
To conclude:—The opinion of those American engineers
with whom I have conversed on the subject, and whose expe-
rience in building long-span bridges makes that opinion valuable,
is uniformly to the effect that the design of Messrs. Fowler and
Baker is well digested, perfectly practicable as to execution,
and thoroughly permanent in character when finished.
I may also add that three years since, when called on to de-
sign a railway bridge for the crossing of the Great Colorado
cafion, which was to be goo feet span and 750 feet above the river,
linvestigated the relative merits and cost of the various systems—
arch-suspension and cantilever with mid-span, Working draw-
ings were made of each, and the result was, that the cantilever
was adopted as being equally strong and stable—less liable to be
affected by wind and thermal changes, aud decidedly more eco-
nomical in first cost and easier of erection than either of the
others. Iam, therefore, not surprised that the engineers of the
Forth Bridge should have reached the same conclusion.
CHARLES SHALER SMITH
per square inch of section for each is definitely known.
St. Louis, Mo., November rr
The Aurora
I HAD not the good fortune to see the very unusual phenomena
which took place during the aurora of Noy. 17. It was, how-
ever, well seen by four of the students of this College, Messrs.
Sykes, Wildeblood, Thornhill and Wackrill. Although you are
doubtless inundated with letters on the subject, I send a short
account of the observation, as such an opportunity of determin-
ing the height of an auroral light very rarely occurs. The
commencement of the movement of the ‘* Whitehead-torpedo-
shaped” streak of light does not appear to have been noticed by
them; it passed however just below the moon, one observer
thinks that its upper edge just grazed the lower edge of the
moon. The light when close to the horizon bore due south-
west, a position which has since been verified by bearings taken
by a prismatic compass, The spot where the observers stood is,
by the new ordnance map in lat. 51° 25’ 57” N., and long.
oO 34/5” W. HERBERT MCLEOD
Koyal Indian Engineering College, Cooper’s Hill, Nov. 24
AT Ilford, Essex, on the 17th instant, at 6h. 4m. p.m. by a
watch which was within 2m. of G, M. T., I witnessed, during
100
NATURE
vJ
[| Mov. 30, 1882
the auroral display, the extremely singular phenomenon which
has been described by several of your correspondents. It
looked exactly like a white cloud, about 20° long and 2° wide,
tapered somewhat from the middle to each end ; but it was more
luminous thana cloud could well have been at that time. When
first seen, its nearest end may have been 30° east of the moon.
Its length was nearly parallel to the horizon, and continued so till
lost sight of about as much to the west of the moon; and its
passage over an area of some 80° occupied probably less than a
minute. It passed very near to the moon, but I cannot say
whether over it or not. CHARLEs J. TAYLOR
Toppesfield Rectory, Halstead, Essex, Nov, 25
FOLLOWING up my last week’s letter concerning the electric
meteoroid, if one may so term it, of the 17th inst., I have sifted
all the testimony within my knowledge, assigning a numerical
weight to each report from internal evidence of its probable
value, and correcting for latitude where the altitude of the moon
was made the standard of comparison. With dataso precarious,
and triangles so ill-conditioned, the results can of course only be
regarded as a very rough approximation to the truth ; for what
they are worth, however, they are as follows :—1. That the
course of the meteoroid was about S. 70° W. Probably it was
71° 45’, the complement of the magnetic declination. 2. That
there was a proper motion of a little more than a mile a minute.
3. That the path was vertically over a line upon the earth’s sur-
face, whose least distance from Greenwich was 72 miles. 4.
That the actual elevation was 44 miles. On this reckoning the
body would seem to have crossed in the zenith in North Bel-
gium, the Boulogne district, Cherbourg, and the north coasts of
Brittany. STEPHEN H. SAxBy
East Clevedon Vicarage, Somerset, November 28
My observation at Ramsbury, near Hungerford, was to the
effect that while watching the northern aurora, my attention was
called, at ten minutes past six, to this monster meteor, then
slowly approaching in a direct line to the moon, which was
shining most brilliantiy. It seemed to pass exactly over the
disc, and reappeared on the side, much reduced in size, as if
going away from us; and at a distance of about 6° from the
moon, scarcely seemed to measure more than 5° in length, it
being then about 6h. 8m., which corresponds with the position
over Sidmouth at that time. It was very definite In form, like
a torpedo. I estimated its length at 15°, and 3° in breadth. I
hope to have a hand-made photograph of its appearance ready
for publication, by the Autotype Company, in a few days, and
on the same sheet is a hand-delineation of the great comet to the
same scale. ALFRED BATSON
The Rookery, Ramsbury
Lavoisier, Priestley, and the Discovery of Oxygen
In the‘last number of this journal my friend Mr. Tomlinson
has criticised my observations on the respective claims of
Lavoisier and Priestley to the discovery of oxygen. Without
examining, or attempting to refute one of my arguments, and
without the citation of any warrant, or authority, he has stated
his opinions with an asseveration worthy of a 15th century
Professor of Dogmatic Theology, His letter consists of five
general statements, and zie dogmatic assertions. I have
endeavoured to show that of the former, ‘wo are self-evident
truths, or at least universally-admitted conclusions, while the
remaining ¢hree are misstatements; and that of the latter five
are completely erroneous,’ while ¢ivee are open to question, and
onz is correct.
1. The universally admitted conclusions are:—(a) that
“*chemistry has no nationality,” and that ‘‘discoverers are
mutually dependent.” Nothing that I have said can possibly
be construed into the expression of a shadow of doubt con-
cerning the truth of either of these statements.
2. The three misstatements are that (a2) I have “thought it
necessary to revive the old oxygen quarrel,” (¢) that I have
‘*taken an unpatriotic part against Priestley,” and (c) *‘ endorsed
the complacent statement of Wurtz, that chemistry is a French
science founded by Lavoisier.” If it be reviving a quarrel and
acting an unpatriotic part against a man, to show that by the
light of evidence hitherto overlooked one of the greatest scien-
tific men of the last century has been unfairly accused of dis-
honesty, I am quite willing to be considered unpatriotic and a
quarrel-monger. As to endorsing the statement of M. Wurtz,
all I say is that he did not say it ‘‘ without reason.” Many
people regard the assertion as quite unreasonable. I confess I
co not, but at the same time I do not mean to say that I fully
accept it.
[As to my ‘‘forgetting, perhaps, that the title ‘La Chimie
Francaise’ was invented by Fourcroy, and objected to by
Lavoisier,” I may say that I do not see that this bears the least
upon the question. Lavoisier’s own words are ‘‘Cette théorie
n’est done pas, comme je l’entends dire la theorie des chimistes
francais, elle est Ja mienne, et c’est une propriété que je réclame
aupres de mes contemporains et de la postérité.” (uvres de
Lavoisier, tome 2, 1862, p. 104.) Dr. Thomas Thomson
(Aist. of Chem. p. 101, vol. ii.) says, ‘‘ Lavoisier’s objection,
then, to the phrase Za Chimie Francaise, is not without reason,
the term Lavoisterian Chemistry should undoubtedly be substi-
tuted for it.” But this does not affect the question whether or
no chemistry is a French science as M. Wurtz puts it, for surely
Lavoisier was a, Frenchman of the French. I say nothing,
however, as to the justification of the remark that chemistry zs
a French science.]
3. ‘‘ That the compound is always equal to the sum of its
elements was known long before Lavoisier” remarks Mr. Tom-
linson, I have nowhere asserted that it was not, but the state-
ment is new to me, and I should like to have references.
4... . ‘So early as 1630 Rey gave the true explanation of
the increase of the weight of metals by calcination.” Any one
who will take the trouble to read through Rey’s essay “‘ sur da
recherche dela cause pour laquelle Vestain et le plomb augmentent
de poids quand on les calcine,” cannot fail to observe how very
vague his ideas on the subject were. He indeed attributed the
increase of weight to thickened air (7azr espessi), but the fol-
lowing, as I have elsewhere stated, seems to have been his mode
of reasoning :—Air possesses weight ; it may be produced by
heating water, which during distillation separates into a heavier
and a lighter part ; hence as air approximates to a liquid nature,
it may be supposed to be separated into a heavier and a lighter
part by the action of heat ; now the heavier part (the ‘‘ dregs ”)
of air is more nearly allied to a liquid than air, for it has as-
sumed a ‘‘ viscid grossness,” and this part attaches itself to calces
during the process of calcination, and causes such of them as
possess much ash to be heavier than before calcination. If we
calcine a vegetable or animal substance there is no gain of
weight, because the assimilated thickened air weighs less than
the volatile matter expelled by heat; but in the case of a metal
the assimilated air weighs more than the volatile matter expelled,
hence there is a gain of weight. Thus he imagined that all
calces, from a vegetable ash to a metallic calx, attract this thick-
ened air. It can scarcely be said that a man with these ex-
tremely crude notions ‘‘ gave the true explanation of the increase
of weight of metals by calcination.”
5 and 6. ‘‘ Lavoisier’s note of 1772 was, as he admitted,
based upon Priestley’s earlier experiments, begun in 1744.” I
can nowhere find in Layoisier’s writings any admission of the
kind alluded to. (Will Mr. Tomlinson give references ?). On
the other hand, I do finda note by Lavoisier at the end of Chap.
VI. De la calcination des metaux, published in the Opuscules
Physiqgues et Chimigques (1774), (Geuvres, Vol. I., p. 621), in
which he says, ‘‘ Je n’avais point connaissance des experiences
de M. Priestley, lorsque je me suis occupé de celles rapportées
dans ce chapitre. Ila observé, comme moi et avant moi, .. .
&c., &c.’’ This would seem to sufficiently disprove the former
statement.
Mr. Tomlinson speaks of Priestley’s ‘‘ earlier experiments
begun in 1744.” Now Priestley was born in 1733, and although
no doubt a clever fellow he certainly did not begin to experi-
ment at e/even years of age! His first paper on gases was pub-
lished thirty-nine years later, viz. in 1772.
7. That ‘*the acceptance of Lavoisier’s doctrine was mainly
due to the capital discovery of the composition of water by
Cavendish in 1784,” I utterly deny ; and if desirable will shou
cause why. Nevertheless, as it has been so asserted, we may,
for the present at least, regard it as an open question,
8. Mr. Tomlinson calls Black, Priestley, and Cavendish, ‘‘the
founders of pneumatic chemistry.”’ Surely John Mayor and Stephen
Hales have a better right to the title.
g. ‘‘ Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774.” This, no doubt, is
true in a sense because everybody says so. If it means that he
got a gas from red oxide of mercury it is true. But let us not for-
get :—(a) that he discovered it by a random experiment, ‘‘ by
Nov. 30, 1882]
NATURE
IoOl
accident” as he confesses ; (4) that he regarded it as air contain-
ing nitrous particles ; (c) that he remained in complete ignorance
of its nature till March,1775, before which time Lavoisier was well
acquainted with its principal properties, and had recognised many
of its functions,
to, ‘* Cavendish discovered hydrogen in 1784.”’. On the con-
trary, he described it in his ‘‘ Experiments on Fictitious Air,”
published in 1766,
11. ‘* Davy abjured Lavoisier’s principe oxygene, and by his
numerous discoveries gave the chemical edifice so rude a shake
that it had to be taken down and rebuilt.” From our point of
view, iz spite of the numerous discoveries of Davy, the edifice
erected by Lavoisier,and which is still standing, had not to be taken
down and rebuilt, except in one small part. The theory of
acidification was a small part of Lavoisier’s labours, and it was
Berthollet who‘called chlorine 0x) muriatic acid, and who thought
that he had proved it to be a compourd of muriatic acid and
oxygen.
12. Mr. «Tomlinson after asserting that ‘chemistry has no
nationality,” and ‘‘that discoverers are mutually dependent,”
goes on to say with strange inconsistency that chemistry ‘‘ had no
proper existence for us until Dalton discovered its laws.” Surely
this is almost as if he slightly altered the ‘‘ complacent statement
of Wurz,” and said, ‘‘Chemistry is an English science ; it was
founded by Dalton of immortal memory.” We do not think that
many will differ from us when we say that chemistry was a science
long before the time of Dalton.
Thus we have endeavoured to show that of the nine dogmatic
assertions given above (numbered 4-12) :—ove, viz. 9, is correct ;
three, viz. 7, 8, and 11, are open to grave question; while five,
viz. 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, are altogether erroneous.
There is no possible excuse for us to remain any longer in ig-
norance of the mighty works done by Lavoisier. The fine quarto
volumes, 1862-1868, published by the French government, are a
fitting monument to the genius of the man. The petty jealousies
which disfigure the history of science during the end of the last,
and commencement of the present century, ought to find no place
in our minds. The Republic of Science is large enough for every
man to receive his due. G, F. RODWELL
The Comet
Ir would scarcely perhaps be civil to take no notice of Mr-
Back house’s letter in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 52, the object of which
seems to be principally to discredit my account of the disappear-
ance of the comet ina moonlit sky. Still less, however, would it
be reasonable to take offence at it—albeit, Mr. Backhouse is
wrong. Indeed, a little more reflection might have shown him
that ample time haying elapsed without any correction from me
appearing in your columns, the presumption must have been
strong that I had nothing to correct. I have in fact seen the
comet frequently since—as well as many times before—and am
moreover really experienced enough not to haye made quite so
gross a blunder ; or at least to have found it out, if I did make
it, when so many subsequent opportunities permitted. Besides
that, I have fortunately the following testimony in corroboration.
One of my sisters wrote, ‘‘ What you did not see of the comet
agrees exactly with F.’s experience. She looked out at Court-
Lodge: splendid night ; many, even small, stars, though moon
shining bright ; but the comet wasn’t to be seen, thouzh she and
Miss B, scanned the whole fine expanse of east and southeast
sky.”? Another wrote about the same time that though visible
two days later, it was so pale that she did not wake a nephew
who wished to see it. My drawing of the 23rd October has
two stars above the nucleus, with one of which it made the base
of an isosceles triangle, the other being at the vertex. These two
stars were plainly visible all the morning of the 3oth, hut not so
high above the roof across the way, but what the motion of the
comet since I last saw it (23rd) may have lewered it enough to
conceal the nucleus. In fact, either I am wholly right as to the
disappearance, nucleus and all, under moonlight, or at least the
nucleus must have been concealed. There isno other alternative.
As to the great sweep of tail—let us be reasonable in our guesses
as to the fallibilty of others however improbable their evidence,
May not something for instance be ascribed to the London
atmosphere as likely to increase the amount of moonlight re-
flected? It was for this that I wished the observation made
public, viz. asa real phenomenon having a real cause; all the
more interesting that it was so surprising—nay, as it seems, so
ineredible. My only regret is that I have been now tempted
into so Jong a reply.
Before I leave: the comet, may I presume to express my sur-
prise that the question as to this comet’s return is stil] sab judice,
It is said that three well observed places are enough to determine
the elements of a comet’s orbit. But this one has surely furnished
more nearly a score since its peribelion, to say nothing of those
before—which no doubt belong to a previous orbit, It is not
without fear that I may be misunderstood, that I ask of those
who are skilled in such things for an explanation, knowing that
of al] men they are most deeply interested in the early solution
of such a question, It may be said that the observations at and
about the time of perihelion have scarcely yet reached this country ;
but is not the fact that the comet was at one time, which I
imagine is known with some certainty, behind the sun’s disc,
equivalent to an observation of its place sufficiently exact to rank
with others in calculating the orbit? I do not presume to say
that itis so. I merely formulate a question which, inits general
bearing, must surely be agitating the miads of many be-ides
myself, after all we have read about the possible past history and
future fate of this remarkable comet. It has now been under
observation during two months, in which time it must have
traversed nearly one quarter of its entire orbit, if an elliptical
one of moderate exten-ion. Its present path in space must be
so nearly straight that continued observation can hardly be
expected to furnish improved data until, if ever, departure from
that shal] settle the question decisively in favour of an elliptical
path. But is it for this that we must wait? Ican hardly think
so, for surely no comet has ever yet been seez in the neigbour-
hocd of aphelion. J. HERSCHEL
30, Sackville Street, November 18
An Urgent Need in Anthropology
BoTH zoology and geology possess a yearly ‘‘record” of the
work achieved in their respective domains, but anthropology still
remains without that aid to its proper advancement. All workers
are of course cognisant of the current bibliography given in the
German anthropolozical publications, and the supplemental in-
formation on the same subject contributed by Dr, O, Mason in
the American Naturalist, and are not unappreciative of the
same ; but these lists are but partial, and necessarily incomplete,
as must be evident when the peculiar nature and wide scope of
the study of man is taken into consideration.
Compared with anthropology, the record of zoological work is
simple in the extreme. Zoology possesses its accredited organs and
regular channels of publication, and with trifling exceptions, its
yearly work can be gleaned from these sources, But what is
anthropology? It may be described as the very Talmud of
humanity with its ‘‘ Mivhnah” of ethnological facts, and its
*¢Gemara” of anthropological conclusions. Scattered up and
down the bye-ways of literature, here and there recorded by the
traveller, illustrated by the historian or accentuated by the
essayist, hidden in blue-books, and awaiting extraction from
medical reports, existing in the papers of the missionary and the
publications of the statisticians are the unaccumulated and un-
recorded facts and observations which form the foundation on
which to rear a complete science of man. Our own savages
afford as excellent illustrations of the comparative in civilisation
as do the primitive peoples of the jungle or the swamp, and
hence a large fund of information is still to be supplied and
tabulated from our city alleys, prisons, and lunatic asylums, To
the question, Is such a record needed ? must be added, How is
such a record possible ?
It seems at once clearly impossible that such a work could be
either intrusted to the care of one man, or to the men of one
nationality. No individual can be expected to have perused the
whole current literature of his country, and could such a pheno-
menon be discovered, it is still more unlikely that he would
combine in himself those qualities which are necessary to
detect the varied data that make for anthropology. An alterna-
tive course, however, is present, which is possible, and not too
exhaustive as regards t me and labour. In each country where
anthropology is cultivated as a science, a few of its votaries
could form an association for the purpose of abstracting from
its literature such facts, arguments, and observations as appertain
to the study cf man, and these might, in a condensed and tabu-
lated form, appear as a regular yearly contribution in the pages
of the different publications of the varied ethnological and
anthropological societies which now embrace so many nationali-
ties. It is perhaps not presumptuous to say that these papers
would not be the least valuable in the volumes in which they
appeared. It seems work that anthropological societies might
T02
NATURE
[Vov. 30, 1882
justly undertake, and we might then expect to hear less
of the little interest felt in the science by the general public.
When we have an ‘‘applied anthropology” to our daily life,
and a system of anthropology taught in our public schools, we
shall wonder how it was that the science so long remained in
the esoteric stage. However, paradoxical as it may seem for
the writer to admit, no science has been illustrated by so many
excellent handbooks and compendiums as anthropology. From
the time of Prichard to the works of Lubbock, Peschel, and
Tylor, there have always been competent workers and writers,
and the last-named works represent the very essence of our
knowledge on the subject. In the face of this there is still a vast
and unrecognised mass of material waiting extraction from the
total annual literature of each country.
One other work requires compilation, and refers to the past.
How frequently a traveller or missionary, anxious to write fully
on thé people he has visited, and wishing at the same time to
have his views enlarged by the opinions of others, inquires for
the list of authors and authorities who have written on the same
subject. With very tew exceptions such a desideratum is un-
procurable, and yet if we would at present understand the social
position of any tribe, however degraded or improved, the records
of their earliest visitors must be compared with the narratives of
their latest describers. This again can only be the work of a
specialist, who, having carefully searched for and studied the
literature relating to some particular tribe or race, would volun-
tarily present his ‘‘ bibliography ” to students at large, and for
that purpose endeavour to have the same published by his local
or some other anthropological society. These lists, if once
begun, would slowly accumulate, and would not only confer
lasting fame 0. their compilers, but also, by their publication in
the Zramnsactions of the societies devoted to the study of man,
make the contents of those works more valuable by their pre-
sence, and at the same time promote the absence of some
memoirs which a further knowledge of the subject would render
somewhat unnecessary.
It is, however, only in the hope of further suggestions from
other workers, that I have ventured to obtrude these remarks in
the columns of NATURE, W. L. DIsTANT
A Modification of the Goid-leaf Electroscope and a
Mode of Regulating its Charge
THOosE who experimentalise with the usual form of gold-leaf
electroscope must know well that the instrument requires a vast
amount of preparation and drying before it is ready for use, and
also that in wet weather it keeps its charge but a little while.
At the same time the electroscope when in good order is a beau-
tifully sensitive instrument and of great value in demonstration.
I have made a slight addition to the present form of instrument,
which makes it useful in all states of the weather. A flat spiral
is cut out of sheet ebonite with a fret saw, about 8 mm. wide,
and 4mm. thick ; the diameter of the spiral is the same as the
internal diameter of the glass shade; the spiral is cemented to
the shade just below the line at which its dome begins; the
centre of the spiral carries the brass rod t> which the gold leaves
are attached ; the rod comes up through the top of the shade
without touching it; thus a very long insulator is placed between
the charged leaves and the surface of the shade ; on adamp day
the leaves are powerfully divergent two to three hours after being
charged. If instead of the spiral a little tube of ebonite takes
the place of the usual varnish glass tube, the charge will be kept
a fairly long while.
If the same angle of divergence of the gold leaves be required
in two similar electroscopes, charged, say, with electricity of
opposite sign, this can be effected by fully charging each instru-
ment, and then bringing a lighted candle about ten centimetres
above the brass disc or knob of each ; by lowering or raising the
candle, the charge can be drawn off as slowly as youplease. It
is well known that a flame has been used ATTACHED to an elec-
trometer in testing atmospheric electricity. Volta used a flame
connected to an exploring rod, and in Sir W. Thomson’s elec-
trometer a slow-burning match is used ; but it will be noticed
that in the experiment I have described for regulating the charge,
the flame is only held near the disc or knob, but is NoT allowed
to TOUCH 1T. J also find, and it is very remarkable, that elec-
troscopes can be fully charged by placing them about a metre
from a charged jar, if a taper be now placed on the top of the
jar, by means of an insulator the leaves instantly diverge and the
electroscopes remain charged. FREDERICK JOHN SMITH
Taunton, November 18
Paleolithic Gravels
THE subject of the preservation of human remains in drift
beds has been so fully discussed by every author who has written
on the antiquity of man, that it would be mere waste of space to
reprint what has been so many times printed before. No doubt the
day will one day arrive when we shall have plenty of examples of
the osseous framework of paleolithic man; at tpresent but few
of his bones have been found for study. Human bones are
extremely liable to decay, but no doubt some of our palzolithic
precursors are preserved somewhere ; they wiil be lighted on
some day.
In 1878 I had an opportunity of removing the stones from
several cairns at Cynwil Gaio, in Carmarthenshire ; the kist-
vaens or stone graves were then exposed. On carefully re-
moving the covering stones from each kist, the place in which
the human body was originally deposited was laid bare. ~ The
soft, smooth bed of fine clay (brought from a distance) was there
on which the body was placed at the time of burial, but not in
a sinzle instance was there a trace of a bone, a tooth, or any
relic whatever of the body; it had entirely vanished. Now if
we can find nothinz in a grave that is only a very few thousands
of years old, what can we expect from one that is tens or possibly
hundreds of thousands ?
When Prof. T. McK. Hughes lectured on the Antiquity of
Man before the Victoria Institute he said (reprint p. 8): ‘*I will
not waste time to discuss whether the objects we refer to man,
now found in numbers in post-glacial river-gravels, are really of
human work.” The Professor was quite right, for any one who
can see any art in the Parthenon, or any human work in Raphael’s
Cartoons, ought to see art in paleolithic implements; and, of
its class, uncommonly good art too. But none are so blind as
those who won’t see, and many persons have not strength of
mind or courage enough to accept the teachings of their own
reason. WORTHINGTON G, SMITH
125, Grosvenor Road, Highbury, North
Ancient Monuments
WHILST in North Wales last autumn, I visited the famous
Kist-Vaen, on Tynycoed Farm, Capel Garmon, not far from
Bettws-y-coed. This is a sort of double subterranean cromlech,
the single cap-stone now remaining being on a level with the
ground. On two of the large upright supporting stones, two
blockheads had painted their names in green oil-paint from top
to bottom of the stones. The trouble of taking the green paint
and brushes to this place must have been considerable, and I
hope now that General Pitt-Rivers is appointed Inspector of
Ancient Monuments, he will find these parties out, and make
them take a pailful of turpentine, and rub out the offensive
inscriptions,
I also visited the two circles of stones, termed on the Ordnance
Map Maenan-hirion, by Penmaenmawr, and looked out for the
two outlying stones stated to be on the north-east side of the
larger circle. I could not see them; there is a large naturally-
imbedded boulder on the east-south-east side, but the inter-
mediate one has been removed. Whilst I was at the smaller
circle, I noticed that one of the stones had recently been pulled
out of its setting, and was lying beside the hole.
The great camp on Penmaenmawr was plentifully bestrewn
with sandwich papers and empty bottles, but the immense walls
and hut circles of our forefathers defy the efforts of excursionists to
agreatextent. I, however, saw several of these terrible persons
on the top, taking off the stones from the ancient walls and
throwing them down beiow.
I noticed several other stones in the neighbourhood of the
circles that had recently been thrown over.
In some of the more romantic and rocky situations in Wales—
places visited by ‘‘ cheap trips” (as near Bettws)—the rocks and
even highly-esteemed antiquities—as the elaborately carved road-
side cross at Carew, Pembrokeshire—are plastered over with
printe1 bills about auctions, tea-meetings, sermons, and quack
medicine. WORTHINGTON G. SMITH
125, Grosvenor Road, Highbury, N.
Shadows after Sunset
In reference to Mr. Douglas Archibald’s letter, I may say
that in 1873 I made three drawings of the ‘‘Sheaf rays”
at the Isle of Wight. In these they are marked as ‘‘con-
EE
Nov. 30, 1882 |
verging in the east,” but the point is apparently below the visible
horizon. Shortly after I had, however, the opportunity of
seeing the true convergence, as we were crossing the Peasemarsh,
a largecommon near here. It was afier rain, and there appeared
a very bright spot in the east opposite the true sun, which to the
best of my recollection was setting and not set, for I momentarily
took the appearance to be some form of reflection of the sun
itself. The rays were quite strong in the east and west, and
though fainter could be distinctly traced across the sky. I
believe that there were no clouds and that the ray intervals were
equidistant, though I will not be certain on this point. I notice
that one of my drawings also shows this peculi rity, though I
confesss my impression has been hitherto that these rays were
due to the interference of clouds. J. RanD CAPRON
Guildown, Guildford, Nov. 24
On the Isomerism of Albuminous Bodies
AMONG organi> compounds there are large number of bodies
hoving the same composition, but different constitution. They
are called isomerides. The number of these isomerides increases
in proportion as the number of atoms which they contain
increases.
Prof. Cayley has already calculated the possible number of
i-omerides of hydrccarbons. From his result it can be easily
seen that the increase of isomerides in proportion to the com-
plexity of the composition is an exceedingly rapid one.
Now the number of atoms which the so-called albuminous
bodies contain are very large. The number of isomerides which
they can give therefore must be exceedingly large, in fact almost
innumerable.
Prof, Schorlemmer, in his ‘‘ Rise and Development of Organic
Chemistry,” says: ‘‘ The enigma of life can only be solved by
the synthesis of albuminous compounds.” If then these albu-
minous bodies are really the basis of life, the different species of
living beiags must come from innumerable sources, for albu-
minous bodies have innumerable isomerides. According to this
theory, we can say that the different species of living beings,
whether animals or plants, were developed out of the chemical
compounds haying the same composition, but different constitu-
tion, but cannot assert, as some do, that they were developed
out of the same source, or a few sources
Tokio, Japan, October 12 SHIGETAKE SAGIURA
An Extraordinary Lunar Halo
On Monday evening, November 20, an unusual halo sur-
rounded the moon from 6.15 to 6.25. The moon was not quite
full, and the halo to some extent assumed the form of the moon,
The halo consisted of a succession of concentric rings. The
ring next the moon was equal to four diameters of the moon, and
had a soft yellow-white radiance, almost equalling the moon in
brillianey ; it was surrounded by a succession of prismatic rings,
red commencement, and proceeding outward orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, and violet. At 6.15 the chromatic rings
were pretty sharply defined, with the exception of the outer one,
which was faint and evanescent. Outside of the ring was a
corona-like envelope. This aspect continued about five minutes,
and during the next five minutes rapidly changed ; the edges of
the rings became irregular, radii shot from the rings towards
the moon, and at 6.25 the phenomenon disappeared.
Newcastle-on-Tyne, November 24 J. P. BARKAS
Meteor
A BRIGHT meteor was seen here about 4.30 p.m. in the east.
It did not explode, but dissipated itself with scintillations. It
reached a very low level before it disappeared.
Oxford, November 27 W. L. HARNETT
Flame in Coal Fire
THE flame referred to by Major Herschel (NATURE, vol. xxvii.
p- 78) is simply that of carbon monoxide, which may be
observed in most coal fires, after the hydrocarbons are con-
sumed, burning with a pale blue flame. Any yellow tint is of
course due to sodium present in the coal. The production of
carbon monoxide depends more upon the arrangement of, than
the quality of, the coal, Major Herschel will find the reason of
its presence give in any text-book on chemistry,
NATURE
103
I cannot understand what advantage is obtained by removing
the slit of the spectroscope, especially if one wishes to show
that a flameis mono-chromatic. When burnt at ordinary pres-
sure, carbon-monoxide has no definite spectrum, SM.
Rugby, November 24
Waterspouts on Land
I AM of opinion that the phenomena referred to by Mr. Hos-
sack are not the effect of waterspouts, but are rather to be
attributed to landslips. I may mention a case which may throw
some light on the matter. About 1872 (I cannot give the exact
date) a landslip occurred on the banks of the Tay, about seven
miles north of Dunkeld, close to Guay Station on the Highland
Railway, and on the east side of that line. I lived close by at
the time, and shortly afterwards saw the effects. Local opinion
attributed it to the following causes :—Along the top of the
gravelly slope planted with oak and other trees, ran a brook.
Immediately above the place where the landslip occurred, the
banks of the brook had been burrowed by rabbits. When the
sudden flood occurred which caused the landslip, the water of
the brook entered these holes, undermined the gravelly slope or
teriaced beach, and precipitated it across the highway into the
field below, devastating fully an acre of it. ‘The trees, turf,
&c,, were deposited in the field much as they grew upon the
slope. I was surprised that they had not been overturned, but
it would appear that they had slid down. The effects are still
quite visible to passengers on the railway. Had they been pho-
tographed at the time, they would have formed a capital illus-
tration for a geological text-book.
Guildhall Offices, Carlisle Joun GEepDEs McINTOSH
NOTES FROM THE LETTERS OF CAPTAIN
DAWSON, R.A. IN COMMAND OF THE
BRITISH CIRCUMPOLAR EXPEDITION
AY 21. Onboard the s.s.“Nova Scotian.” —A grey sky,
a grey foam-flecked sea, floating ice-floes, fog and
rain, with a thermometer a few degrees above freezing—
such are the features of the Gulf of St. Lawrence this
morning, and a cheerful welcome to the New World.
Our course has been a long way to the south of New-
foundland on account of the ice, consequently our passage
has been a long one. Yesterday was quite lovely, several
icebergs were in sight eight or ten miles off, looking like
peaks of snow mountains at a distance; now we are in
the midst of ice fields delaying us a good deal, as at times
it is difficult to fin. a ~ssage.
May 22. Quebec—We sighted land last night, and saw
such a lovely sunset as we went up the St. Lawrence. We
have been steaming up the river eighteen hours, but we
cannot yet see the land on both sides. We have just
passed the Peruvian, which left Liverpool a fortnight
before us, but she got among the ice and broke her screw,
and has been twenty-seven days on the voyage. Another
of the Allan line steamers ran into an iceberg. So we
feel lucky in getting across without mishap. At the end
of the week I start for Winnipeg—2,500 miles by rail—a
long journey of five days and four nights.
I find Quebec quite wintry after England; indeed, the
snow is still lying in sheltered places where it has drifted,
and no trees are in leaf.
Fune 3. On Lake Huron.—On reaching Toronto we
went back again into summer—everything was green and
spring-like, and the air was quite soft and balmy.
We left Toronto for Sarnia, where we embarked for
Duluth, on the west end of Lake Superior—thence it is
about twenty-four hours’ journey to Winnipeg. Toronto
was looking very well. ‘There are groves of horse-chest-
nut trees in the principal streets, which have a very good
effect. At Toronto 1 was introduced to the Canadian
Premier, who took a great interest in my expedition. I
also dined with the chief of the observatory there, and
they gave me some wine at dinner which was made from
their own vines in the suburbs. To Sarnia is about six
hours—a most fertile country. The weather, however, is
very rainy at present—this is the wet time of the year.
104
NATURE
[ Vow. 30. 1882
Every train and steamer is full of young Englishmen
on their way out to Winnipeg, where they expect to make
their fortunes, and no doubt it is a great place to make
money just now.
We were two days running up Lake Huron, for the most
part out of sight of land, and the land we did see was
flat and ugly, till in the evening of the second day we
reached the river joining the two lakes (Lake Huron and
Lake Superior), and anchored at Sault St. Marie for the
night. The river runs between rocky pine-covered shores,
and in the evening we had one of those sunsets one only
seems to see in this country—a blood-red sky overhead,
orange at the horizon, with the pine woods rising black
against it, and the broad reaches of the river winding
away westward, alla blaze of golden light—just the subject
for Turner.
The next morning we went through a lock into Lake
Superior, and twenty-six hours’ run took us to Thunder
Bay, a barren looking place. Hard by is Thunder Cape,
a bold headland 1,300 feet high. The water of Lake
Superior never rises more than two or three degrees above
freezing-point, and in old days it would certainly have
been thought an enchanted lake, so strange are the effects
of the mirage. At one moment you see a long line of
cliffs, a minute later they have turned into a reef of rocks
hardly above the water, or a little table-topped mountain
on the horizon suddenly splits into two sharp peaks, and
anon takes the shape of an hour-glass.
Funes. Winnifeg.—When we awoke this morning we
were on the prairies—just like the sea, only grass instead
of water—a green plain losing itself in the far horizon.
The journey along the Northern Pacific Railway, from
Duluth, by the side of the rapid river St. Louis was
lovely.
Winnipeg is a flourishing place with 20,000 inhabitants,
where a few years ago there was nothing but a few huts.
It stands on the Red River of the north—a fine river about
the size of the Rhine. All the people here are Cree
Indians, who speak their language and don't understand
English, but they are dressed in European dress, so they
look more like gipsies than anything else.
Fune 27. Lort Carlton.—We arrived here yesterday,
such lovely country, like an English park, with wild roses
and other flowers growing in great profusion. The river
rather reminds me of the Thames at Richmond. The
Saskatchewan is a magnificent stream, far larger than the
Red River, flowing between pine forests. The weather is
simply perfect, except that the sun is rather hot in the
middle of the day. The fare is rather rough. No milk
or fresh breal—chiefly fish, biscuit, and salt meat. It was
slow work getting up the rapids. A boat with a crew of
Indians takes out a hawser a mile long, which is made
fast to a tree above the rapids, then the other end is
brought down to the steamer, and fastened to the capstan,
and we slowly drag ourselves up. The steamer is pro-
pelled by an enormous paddie wheel at her stern, and at
the bow is a great arrangement of spars for lifting her
off sandbanks, should she run aground ; and though she
carried 150 tons of cargo she only drew three feet of
water.
On the 23rd we reached the Forks of the Saskatchewan,
where-the river divides ; we took the northern branch and
warped up the rapids to the settlement of “ Prince Albert,”
where the country looks quite like England. Land is to be
had here for 2 dollars or 8s. an acre,and it seems wonder-
fully fertile—the soil looks so rich. It is certainly the place
I should recommend any enterprising emigrant to come to
if he only has a little capital to start with—3o0o/. would be
plenty. The soil wants no clearing ; you have only to
build a house and plough and sow yourland. The climate
is one of the finest in the world. I was talking toa retired
officer of the 50th who has been here seven years, who
says he has never had an hour’s illness, and feels as though
he were growing younger every year.
Fort Carlton is the deau zdéal of a Hudson’s Bay fort,
with a stockade twenty feet high and towers at the corners.
But the days when the Blackfeet made their raids are over,
and the Cree or Ojibbeway Indians, whose “lodges” one
sees all around, are very pacific. A great many speak a
little French, but no English.
Fuly 14. [le a la Crosse.—We left Carlton on the 30th,
z.é. My own party and two missionaries. I had a train of
ten Red River carts drawn by horses and oxen. I drove
in a light American waggon. The scenery was at first like
English country, only without hedges. There was plenty
of deep grass and vetches, which afforded splendid fodder
for the animals. There were quantities of snipe, duck,
and prairie chicken. The land was gay with wild flowers ;
orange-lilles were most conspicuous, and lots of wild
strawberries. The mosquitoes were the only drawback, at
times forcing us to wear veils and gloves, and to eat our
meals in the smoke of our camp fires. After three days
we reached a hill, from whence we saw the great sub-arctic
forest stretching away like a sea to the north. It extends
nearly to the Arctic Circle, and from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.
On the oth we reached Green Lake, but it blew so hard
that we did not start till the 11th. Our conveyance was
a Hudson’s Bay Company’s inland boat ; our crew was of
Crees and Chipewyans, The latter speak a language like
the ancient Mexicans, quite unlike any other I have heard ;
it is like the noise of a person choking. It takes years to
learn even a smattering of it. We drifted down the stream
all night, our boats being lashed together, and we slept as
best we could in the bottom of them.
Ile a la Crosse is on an island in the middle of a lake,
and is comparatively free from mosquitoes. I had a splen-
did boat’s crew—seven oars and a steersman; we pulled
nearly fifty miles the first day. We rested on Sunday, and the
day after crossed Buffalo Lake most fortunately—a fair
wind sprang up just in time to take us across, as it cannot
be crossed against the wind. Then we began to ascend
the Riviére la Loche, which took us all the next day, there
being two portages or places where the contents of the
boats and sometimes the boats themselves have to be
taken overland. Thence we entered Methy Lake, about
thirty miles long at the north, and a narrow creek took
us to the beginning of Portage la Loche, or the Long
Portage, which is a road some twelve or fourteen miles
long, leading to the Clear Water River which flows into
the Athabasca and ultimately into the Mackenzie, so we
are on the Arctic Slope at last.
Fuly 22. Portage la Loche.—\ rode over last night in
company with the|Hudson’s Bay Company’s officer in charge
of the post. The road leads through pine woods, and
passes a pretty lake, and ultimately descends a hill of
about 400 feet into this valley. I am writing this in my
tent, pitched on the bank of the Clear Water River, which
flows past about three yards off. Across the river are
wooded hills 600 feet high ; to the left the river disappears
among the pine woods in a dark ravine; to the right it
winds away in the distance among blue hills. It is
all so green and pretty that it is difficult to believe that in
a few months all will be ice and snow. All the last week
the heat has been intense, the thermometer over 86° in
the shade all day. This morning we saw a bear prowling
about opposite. We are now among the Chipewyan
Indians ; they are very different from the Crees ; in ap-
pearance they remind me alittle of drawings of the Esqui-
maux, with round greasy faces. About here they are
mo-tly Roman Catholics, as there is a large mission at
Ile a la Crosse.
The best description of this country in general is by
saying that it is like Switzerland without mountains, but
with big rivers and lakes. The plants are much the same,
and the climate is much the same. The trees are very
fine, and, as elsewhere, strawberries, raspberries, cran-
berries, black and red currants, and gooseberries grow wild.
’
Nov. 30, 1882 |
NATURE ©
105
There is a fine view down the valley from the top of the
hill; it was mentioned by Sir J. Frankland, who has been
through all this country.
Fuly 24.—The Athabasca boats arrived last night, so
we are off this morning.
ON THE GRADUATION OF GALVANOMETERS
FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF CURRENTS
AND POTENTIALSIN ABSOLUTE MEASURE}
Il.
ie the preceding investigation nothing has been said as
measured.
to the units in which the quantities 72 and #H are
It will be convenient, before proceeding
further, to consider shortly the measurement of magnetic
and electrical quantities in absolute units, and particu-
larly the centimetre, gramme, second (c.g s.) system now
generally adopted.
According to what is called the electro-magnetic system,
all magnetic and electrical quantities are measured by
units which are derived from a magnetic pole chosen as
the pole of unit strength. This pole might be defined in
many ways; but in order to avoid the fluctuations to
which most arbitrary standards would .be subject, and to
give a convenient system in which work done in the dis-
placements of magnets or conductors, relatively to mag-
nets or to conductors carrying currents, may be estimated
without the introduction of arbitrary and inconvenient
numerical factors, it is connected by definition with the
absolute unit of force. It is defined as ‘hat pole which, tf
placed at unit distance from an equal and similar pole,
would be repelled with unit force. The poles referred to
in this definition are purely ideal, for we cannot separate
one pole of a magnet from the opposite pole of the same
magnet : but we can by proper arrangements obtain an
approximate realisation of the definition. Suppose we have
two long, thin, straight, steel bars, which are uniformly and
longitudinally magnetised ; their poles may be taken as at
their extremities ; in fact, the distribution of magnetism
in them is such that the magnetic effect of either bar, at
all points external to its own substance, wou!d be perfectly
represented by a certain quantity of one kind of imagin-
ary magnetic matter placed at one extremity of the bar,
and an equal quantity of the opposite kind of matter
placed at the other extremity. We may imagine, then,
these two bars placed with their lengths in one line, and
their blue poles turned towards one another, and at unit
distance apart. If their lengths be very great compared
with this unit distance, say 100 or 1000 times as great,
their red poles will have no effect on the blue poles com-
parable with the repulsive action of these on one
another. But there will be an inductive action between
the two blue poles which will tend to diminish their
mutual repulsive force, and this we cannot in practice get
rid of. The magnitude of this inductive effect is, how-
ever, less for hard steel than for soft steel, and we
may therefore imagine the steel of our magnets so hard
that the action of one on the other does not appreciably
affect the distribution of magnetism in either. If, then,
the two blue poles repel one another with a unit of force,
each according to the definition has unit strength.
The magnitude of unit pole is by the above definition
made to depend on unit force. Now unit force is defined,
according to the system of measurement of forces founded
on Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the most convenient
system, as that force which, acting for unit of time on
unit of mass, will give to that mass unit of velocity.
Our unit pole is thus based on the three fundamental
units of length, mass, and time. According to the recom-
mendations of the B.A. Committee, and the resolutions
of the Paris Congress, it has been resolved to adopt
generally the three fundamental units already in very
extended use for the expression of dynamical, electrical,
* Continued from p. 35.
and magnetic quantities, namely, the centimetre as unit
of length, the gramme as unit of mass, and the second
as unit of time. With these units, therefore, the unit
force is that force which, acting for one second on a
gramme of matter, generates a velocity of one centi-
metre per second. This unit of force has been called a
dyne. The unit magnetic pole, therefore, in the c.g-s.
system of units is that pole which, placed at a distance
of 1 centimetre from an equal and similar pole, is repelled
with a force of 1 dyne. Each of the poles of the long thin
magnets of our example above is therefore a pole of
strength equal to one c.g.s. unit, if the mutual force
between the poles is 1 dyne.
The magnetic moment 7 of anyone of the deflecting
magnets is equal to the strength of either pole multiplied
into the distance between them, which for magnets of
such great length in comparison with their thickness is
nearly enough the actual length of the magnet. There-
fore either pole has a strength of ee units. If y and /are
2
measured in centimetres, and W in grammes, the strengths
of the magnetic poles deduced from equation (4) or (6)
will be in c.g.s. units.
A magnetic field is the space surrounding a magnet or
a system of magnets, or a system of conductors carrying
currents, at any point of which, if a magnetic pole were
placed, it would be acted on by force. From the
definition of unit magnetic pole we get at once the defini-
tion of magnetic field of unit intensity. Uv? magnetic
field ts that field in which unit magnetic pole ts acted
on by unit force, and in the c.g.s. system, therefore, it
is that field in which unit magnetic pole is acted on by
a force of one dyne. In the theory of the determination
of H, given above, the horizontal force on either pole of
the needle due to the horizontal component of the earth’s
field is taken as ope and again the horizontal force
on either pole of the deflecting magnet as = neh als,
Z
therefore, the strength in units of magnetic field inten-
sity of the horizontal component of the earth’s field. By
formula (5) or (7), when v and / are taken in centimetres,
and Win grammes, //is given in dynes; that is, it is
the number of dynes with which a unit red pole would be
pulled towards the north, and a unit blue pole towards
the south if acted on only by the earth’s magnetic field.
We can now go on to the measurement of currents.
According to the theory of electro-magnetic action
given by Ampére, every element of a conductor in which
acurrent is flowing acts upon a magnetic pole with a
force which varies inversely as the square of the length
of the line joining the centre of the element with the
pole, and directly as the strength of the current
and as the length of the projection of the element on
a plane at right angles to that line. The direction of
this force is at right angles to a plane drawn through the
pole and the element, and acts towards one side or the
other of that plane, according as the current in the ele-
ment is in one or the opposite direction, and according as
the magnetism of the pole is red or blue. From this it is
easy to obtain a definition of unit current in the electro-
magnetic system. It is that current which, flowing in a
wire of unit length bent into an arc of a circle of unit
radius, acts on a unit magnetic pole placed at the centre
of the circle with unit force. Thus the current of unit
strength in the complete circle of unit radius would act
on a unit pole at the centre with 27 units of force, in the
c.g.s. system with 2m dynes. This force acts towards one
side or the other of the plane of the circle, according to
the nature of the pole and the direction of the current.
If the current, considered as flowing from the copper
plate to the zinc plate of a Daniell’s cell, were made to
circulate round the face of a watch in the direction oppo-
site to that in which the hands move, a red pole placed at
106
NATURE
[Mov. 30, 1882
ee
the centre would be moved out through the face of the
watch, and a blue pole in the opposite direction ; and the
opposite would be the case if the current were reversed.
This is easily remembered by those familiar with the re-
presentation of couples in dynamics, by observing that
when the direction of the current is the same as that in
which a positive couple tends to turna body, the direction
in which a red pole is urged is that in which the axis of
the couple is drawn, Or, the direction of the force may
be found at anv time, by remembering that the earth
may be imagined to be a magnet turned into position by
the action of a current flowing round the magnetic equator
in the direction of the sun’s apparent motion.
From the definition of a magnetic field we see that unit
current may also be defined as that current which, flowing
in a wire of unit length bent into an arc of a circle of unit
radius, produces at the centre of the circle a magnetic
field of unit intensity. The direction of the resultant
magnetic force at that point is by Ampére’s law at right
angles to the plane of the circle, and the side towards
which it acts in any particular case may be found as
stated above.
If we take then the simple case of a single wire
bent round into a circle and fixed in the magnetic
meridian, with a magnet, whose dimensions are very
small in comparison with the radius of the wire, hung
by a torsionless fibre so as to rest horizontally with its
centre at the centre of the circle, we may suppose that
each pole of the magnet is at the same distance from all
the elements of the wire. A current flowing in the wire
acts, by Ampére’s theory, with a force on one pole of the
needle towards one side of the plane of the circle, and
on the other pole with an equal force toward the other side
of that plane. The needle is thus acted on by a couple
tending to turn it round, and it is deflected from its
position of equilibrium until this couple is balanced by
the return couple due to 7. Let us suppose the strength
of each pole of the needle to be 7 units, 7 the radius of
the circle, and C the strength of the current in it. Then
by Ampére’s law we have for the whole force without
regard to sign, exerted on either pole of the needle by the
current, the value C7 77” or Cm *™, If 7 be the length of
2
the needle the couple is C7 /, before any deflection
iP
has taken place. After the needle has been deflected
through the angle @ the arm / of the couple has become
7 cos 6, and therefore the couple C m2 7 cos 6; and
aa
the return couple due to #7 is #H/ sin 6. Hence we
have equilibrium when
Cm7=1cos6=mH isin 6
fo
and therefore
nr (8)
27
if @be the observed angle at which the needle rests in
equilibrium when deflected as described trom the mag-
netic meridian. If instead of a single circular turn of
wire we had JV turns occupying an annular space of mean
radius 7, and of dimensions of cross-section small com-
pared with » we should have
eee EE, (9)
2a
In practice the turns of wire of the tangent galvano-
meter may not be all contained within such an annular
space. It is necessary then to allow for the dimen-
sions of the space occupied by the wire. For a coil
made of wire of small section we may suppose that
the actual current flowing across a unit of area is every-
where the same. Hence if C be the current strength in
each turn, and 7 the number of turns in unit area, we
SEW Gg o Oo 6
have for the current crossing the area 4 of an element &
the value 27”C A. Taking a section of the coil
through the centre, let &C be a radius drawn from
the centre C in the plane cutting the coil into two
equal and similar coils, and taking CD(= 2x) and
DE(=y) at right angles to one another, we have
A=dxdyand C E*= x?+y%. Hence the force exerted
on a unit magnetic pole at the centre C by the ring sup-
posed at right angles to the plane of the paper, of which
this element is the section, will be 2 in the
a 2
direction at right angles to CZ and in the plane of the
paper. If we call the component of this force at right
angles to BC, dF, we have
adFa27™ Cy dxdy
+
Hence for the whole force at right angles to B C we have
é rte
/2
Pazexc| [| none
by bed (2? + y?)3
- r—C.
where 7 is the mean radius of the coil, 24 its breadth,
and 2c its depth in the plane of the circle.
Integrating, and putting V for the whole number of
turns 47 6c, we get
“ / j2 2
FarNC lg or
r—c+n(7 —- cf +6
If 6 be the angle at which the deflecting couple is equili-
brated by the return couple due to H, we have as before
the equation
. (10)
va —eatanngs
Hence, substituting the above value for / and solving for
C, we have finally :
cz {tan 6
aN log rteot Vir + c) + 6°
6 r—ct+ V7 — cf +e
When the value of 7 is great in comparison with 6 and ¢
this reduces to the equation
Caf riane (12)
2aiNV
which we found before by assuming all the turns to be
contained in a small annular space of radius 7 In
practice, in galvanometers used as standards for absolute
ineasurements, generally neither 6 nor cis so great as 79
of 7, and in these cases the difference between the values
given by equations (11) and (12) is well within the limits
of errors of observation, and the correction need not be
made. The value of C given by (12) is then to be used.
In this investigation the suspension fibre has been sup-
posed torsionless. Ifa single fibre ot unspun silk is used
as described below for this purpose, its torsion may for
most practical purposes be sately neglected. The error
produced by it may however be easily determined and
atlowed for by turning the needle, supposed initially in
the magnetic meridian, once or more times completely
round, and noting its deviation from the magnetic meri-
dian in its new position of equilibrium. The amount of
this deviation, if any, may be easily observed by means
of the attached index and divided circle, or reflected
beam of light and scale, used as described below, to
measure the deflections of the needle. From the result
of this experiment the effect of torsion for any deflection
may be calculated in the following manner.
Let a be the angular deflection, in radian! measure, of
the magnet from the magnetic meridian produced by
turning the magnet once round, then the angle through
which the thread has been twisted is 27— a, The couple
produced by this torsion has for moment // /7 sin a.
* A radian is the angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc equal
in length to the radius. It has generally been called in bocks on trigono-
metry hitherto by the ambiguous name wit angle in circular measure.
(11)
Lov. 30, 1882]
Hence, by Coulomb’s law of the proportionality of the
force of torsion to the twist given, we have for the
couple corresponding to a deflection @ the value
6
27 —a
If then under the action of a current in the coil the deflec-
tion of the needle is 9, the equation of equilibrium is
Homi sin a.
Cm2™1 cos 0= mH 1 (sin Oo+ ware sin a)
ee 27 —a
and therefore instead of (g) we have
C=(1+- LEE
27 — 20 IN
tan 6.
. (13)
a sin 0
6 sin 4)
If a be an angle of say 1°, and @ be 45°, pill Poms very
2 —a
Sinaia) 0 I I
nearly T and s— X or ——. Hence
8 SUING enibi75 eel One AO OMe as
OS (: ee) a
The error therefore is somewhat less than 4 per cent.
The accuracy of the measurements of currents, made
according to the method of which I have just given the
theory, of course altogether depends on the careful adjust-
ment of the standard galvanometer, and the care and
skill of the observer. The standard galvanometer should
be of such a form that the values of its indications can be
easily calculated from the dimensions and number of
turns of wire in the coil. Such a galvanometer can be
made by any one who can turn or can get turneda wooden,
or, preferably, brass ring with a rectangular groove round
its outer edge to receive the wire. It is indeed to be pre-
ferred that the experimenter should at least perform the
winding of the coil and the adjustments of the needle, &c.,
himself, to make sure that errors in counting the number
of turns or in determining the length of the wire, or in
placing the needle at the centre of the coil, are not made.
The breadth and depth of this groove ought to be small
in comparison with its radius, and each should not be
greater than ;/5 of the mean radius of the coil. which
should be at least 15 cms. The size of the wire with
which the coil is to be wound must be conditioned
of course by the purposes to which the instrument is
to be applied, but it should be good well insulated
copper wire of high conductivity, and not so thin as
to run any risk of being injured by the strongest cur-
rents likely to be sent through the instrument. For
the exact graduation of current as well as potential gal-
vanometers directly by means of the standard instrument,
it is convenient sometimes to have two coils—one of
comparatively high, the other of low resistance. The
latter may very conveniently be a simple hoop of say 15
cms. radius, made of copper strip 1 cm. broad and £ mm.
thick. To form electrodes to which wires can be attached
the ends of the strip are brought out side by side in the
plane of the ring with a piece of thin vulcanite or paper
between for insulator. Insulated wires are soldered to the
ends of the circle thus arranged, and are twisted together
for a sufficient distance to prevent any direct efiect on the
needle from being produced by a current flowing in them.
In constructing a coil the operator should first subject the
wire to a considerable stretching force, and then carefully
measure its electrical resistance and its length. He should
then wind it on a moderately large bobbin, and again
measure its resistance. If the second measurement differs
materially from the first the wire is faulty and should be
carefully examined. If no evident fault can be found on
the removal of which the discrepance disappears, the wire
must be laid aside and another substituted. When the
two measurements are found to agree the wire may then
be wound on the coil. For this purpose the ring may
either be turned slowly round in a lathe or on a spindle
NATURE
107
so as to draw off the wire from the bobbin, also mounted
so as to be free to turn round. The wire must be laid on
evenly in layers in the groove, and the winding ended
with the completion of a layer. Great care must be taken
to count accurately the number of turns laid on, The
resistance should now be again tested, and if it agrees
nearly with the former measurements the coil may be
relied on. The ring carrying the coil thus made should
now be fixed to a convenient stand in such a manner that
if necessary it can be easily removed. The stand should
be fitted with levelling screws so that the plane of the coil
may be made accurately vertical. A shallow horizontal
box witha glass cover and mirror bottom should be carried
by the stand at the level of its centre. Within this the
needle and attached index are to be suspended. The
needle should be a single small magnet about a cen-
timetre long, hung by a single fibre of unspun silk
about 10 cms. long from the top of a tube fixed to the
cover of the shallow box, so that the centre of the needle
when the coil is vertical is exactly at the centre of the
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coil. To allow of the exact adjustment of the height of
the needle, the fibre should be attached to the lower end
of a small screw spindle, made so as to be raised or
lowered, without being turned round, by a nut working
round it above the cap of the tube. The needle should
carry a thin glass index, about 6 inches long, made by
drawing out a bit of thin glass tube at the blowpipe. In
order that the zero position of the index may not be
under the coil, the index should be fixed horizontally
with its length at right angles to the needle, so as to
project to an equal distance in both sides of it. To
test that this adjustment is accurately made, draw a
couple of lines accurately at right angles to one another
on a sheet of paper. Then suspend a long thin straight
magnet over the paper, and bring one of the lines into
accurate parallelism with it. Remove then the magnet,
and put in its place the little needle and attached index.
If the index is parallel to the other line the adjustment
has been carefully made. The needle may then be sus-
pended in position and the box within which it hangs
closed to prevent disturbance from currents of air.
108
NATURE
[Vov. 30, 1882
A circular scale graduated to degrees, with its centre
just below the centre of the coil and its plane horizontal,
is placed with its zero point on a line drawn on the mirror
bottom of the box at right angles to the plane of the
coil, so that when the needle and coil are in the magnetic
meridian the index may point to zero, The accuracy of
the adjustment of the zero point is to be tested by finding
whether the same current produces equal deflections on
the two sides of zero. To test whether tie centre of this
divided circle is accurately under the centre of the needle
supposed at the centre of the coil, draw from the point
immediately under the centre of the needle two radial
lines on the mirror bottom, one on each side of the zero
point and 45° from it, and turn the needle round without
giving it any motion of translation. If the index lies
along these two radial lines when its point is at the corre-
sponding division on the circle the adjustment is correct.
When taking readings the observer places his eye so as
to see the index iust cover its image in the mirror bottom
of the box, and reads off the number of degrees and frac-
tion of a degree, indicated on the scale by the position of
the index. Error from parallax is thus avoided.
A mirror with attached magnets may be used, as in the
magnetometer, instead of the needle and index. When
this arrangement is employed the coil is in the magnetic
meridian, when equal deflections of the spot of light on
the scale on the two sides of zero are observed. These
scales, as has been already remarked, should always be
carefully glued toa wooden, piece instead of being, as they
frequently are, fixed with drawing pins.!
ANDREW GRAY
(To be continued.)
PROFESSOR HENRY DRAPER, M.D.
pee late Professor Henry Draper, whose death we
announced last week, was born in Virginia in
1837, but three years later removed to New York, at the
time when his father, Prof. J. W. Draper, was appointed
to the Chair of Chemistry in New York University. At
this University Dr. Draper was educated, graduating
in Medicine in 1858, after which he travelled abroad. In
1860 he was elected to a professorship in his own Uni-
versity, which he retained till his death the other day. In
1866 he was elected Professor of Physiology in the
Medical Department of the University and managing
officer of the institution, a position he resigned in 1873.
Dr. Draper's scientific work began with a series of expe-
riments in 1857 on the function of the spleen, carried out
by the aid of microscopic photography, an art then in its
infancy. On his return from Europe, stimulated by a
visit paid to Lord Rosse’s 6-foot reflector, he began the
construction of a 154-inch reflecting telescope, and with
this, when completed, he took photographs of the moon.
A full account of the methods of grinding and polishing
reflecting mirrors and the system of testing them was
printed in 1864 in the Smithsonian “ Contributions to
Science.”’
Dr. Henry Draper subsequently constructed an equa-
torial reflecting telescope of 28 inches aperture, making
both the mounting and the silvered glass speculum him-
self. The object for which this instrument was intended,
and which it succeeded in accomplishing in 1872, was
photographing the spectra of the stars. a work which has
been carried on with such success by Dr. Huggins in this
country. Since the invention of the gelatino-bromide
dry process the difficulties of this research have much
decreased ; all the more credit is therefore due to Draper
and the other pioneers in this branch of inquiry ; he had
taken more than a hundred spectra of various stars.
In 1872 Dr. Draper produced a photograph of the dif-
fraction spectrum of great excellence. It comprised the
2 ERRATUM.—In the preceding yart of this art cle, p. zo, col. x, line 24 |
from top, fcr 27 read >.
region from below G, wave length 4350, to O, wave length
3440, on one plate.
In 1874 Draper was appointed by the United States
Transit of Venus Commission, Superintendent of its
Photographic Department, and his duties in this con-
nection were so satisfactorily performed, that in the fall
of that year the United States Government caused a
special gold medal to be struck in his honour at the Mint
in Philadelphia, bearing the inscription, ‘‘ Decori becus
Addit Avito.” This was the first time that such a public
recognition had ever been accorded to a scientific man in
the United States by the Government.
In 1877 Dr. Draper printed his paper on the ‘ Dis-
covery of Oxygen in the Sun and a New Theory of the
Solar Spectrum.” This research has given rise to
as much interest as any in recent times ; whatever
the future verdict may be upon it, it was the result
of several years’ work and most costly and elaborate
apparatus. In 1877 Dr. Draper went to the Rocky
Mountains, and made experiments on the transparency
and steadiness of the atmosphere at elevations up to
11,000 feet. In the succeeding summer he took a party
into the same region to observe the total eclipse
of the sun, and was fortunate enough to photograph the
diffraction spectrum of the solar corona, which on this
occasion was shown to be continuous.
During the last autumnand winter he took photographs
of the nebula in Orion. These were the first he ever made,
and required an exposure in the telescope up to 140
minutes, even when the most sensitive of Eastman’s
gelatine plates were used.
Dr. Draper's work has been done mainly at his obser-
vatory at Hastings-on-Hudson, and at his laboratory in
New York. In the former he had three large telescopes,
Dr. Draper’s genial nature won him many friends
and many English men of science well know the hos-
pitable home at Dobb’s Ferry. These and many more
will sympathise with Mrs. Draper in the loss which not
only she but science has sustained in the death of so
earnest a seeker after truth.
THE COMET
WE have received the following communications on
this subject :—
The latest information indicates that the September
comet was first seen on the 3rd of that month at
Auckland.
The sketch, No. 1, represents the appearance of the
spectrum of this comet on October 15 and 16, and sub-
sequent mornings. The spectroscope used was one of
Browning’s direct-vision, with five prisms. It was at-
tached to the comet-seeker, which has a 4-inch object-
glass, the focal length of the instrument making a distinct
general view of the spectrum easy. As the spectroscope
was not furnished with any means of comparing spectra,
the positions of the bands, as shown in the sketch, were
obtained by adjusting the viewing telescope so that each
band was, in succession, just in the edge of the field,
clamping the telescope, and then viewing the spectrum of
acandle. This operation was repeated several times on
October 16, and subsequently on the 25th. The position of
the band in the orange-yellow was referred directly to the
sodium line in the candle-flame. The band inthe middle
of the green was much the brightest, and on the least
refrangible side was sharply defined ; but, in the other
direction, gradually diminished in brightness. When the
slit of the spectroscope was gradually closed, the light
was gradually diminished, but no separate line made its
appearance, as the well-defined edge of the band would
have led one to expect.
The other two bands were of about equal brightness ;
both of thera fading rapidly on the more refrangible side,
but much more slowly in the other direction.
Nov. 30, 1882]
NATURE
109
It will be remembered that the first spectroscopic ob-
servations, by M. Thollon, at Nice, reported the spectrum
of the nucleus as continuous, very brilliant, and much
extended toward the violet. The head gave the sodium
lines very brilliant, clearly double, and appearing dis-
placed toward the red. This report was confirmed on the
same day by a similar one from Mr. Lohse, with the
additional remark, that he saw many bright lines, the
sodium being the brightest, and all apparently displaced
toward the red.
October 15. This state of things had entirely changed.
The change had probably been gradual, and was de-
pendent upon the distance of the comet from the sun.
G
|
No. 1.—Spectrum of Crul’s Comet, October 15 and 16.
The first observation made on September 18, when the
comet was near the sun, gave a continuous spectrum,
hich was due to the strong reflected light, while the
bright lines were due to the vapours developed by the
intense heat of the sun.
On October 15 the spectrum resembled the spectra of
the comets of 1868; of the sodium line there was no
trace, although the spectrum contained light of about the
same refrangibility. The tail of the comet gave a faint
but apparently continuous spectrum brightest in the
green.
A somewhat similar change was observed, I believe, in
the spectrum of the Comet Wells as it approached the
sun, except that its nucleus gave always a continuous
spectrum, to which was added the sodium line as the
comet neared the sun. If we are soon to witness a
return of the September comet, it is desirable that many
observers should be prepared to watch the changes as
the comet approaches the sun.
Sketch No. 2 represents the comet as it appeared in
the comet-seeker on the morning of October 10, which
No. 2.—October ro, 1882,
was particularly clear. This outer envelope I first
noticed on the morning of the 8th, when I traced it far
beyond the head of the comet in the direction of the sun,
but only on the east side. On the 1oth it appeared as
represented in the sketch. The outer edges were per-
fectly sharp and parallel to the axis of the comet, thus
forming a cylinder whose diameter was about four times
the diameter the tail measured several degrees from the
head.
When I again looked for this envelope on the |
25th, it could be traced only on the east side, but retained
the same relation to the tail. The greatest length to
ee this attained was about four degrees beyond the
head.
Sketch No. 3 represents the head of the comet as it
appeared on October 25 in the 26-inch equatorial. Owing
to the low altitude of the comet, this instrument had not
been used before. The head appeared more elongated
than at any time before but instead of the uncertain,
delusive appearance which it presented in the ro-inch
equatorial, the image brought out the peculiarities of each
portion of the head, and left little doubt that there was,
at that time, an essential difference between the central
portion or nucleus proper, and the other two portions.
The central part was circular, of considerable apparent
No. 3.—Nucleus of Comet, October 25, as seen in 26-inch Equatorial.
diameter, and of quite uniform brightness throughout.
The other two portions were irregular in shape, much less
bright than the nucleus, and their brightest parts were
also irregular in shape. Both were apparently separated
from the nucleus, though on its side they were joined to
each other. The portion extending in the direction of
the tai] was the longest and brightest.
The next opportunity to examine the comet was op
November 3, when it had decidedly changed in appear-
ance, as represented in No. 4. The nucleus remained as
when last seen, as did also the portion of the coma
nearest the sun. The other portion showed a circular
No. 4.—Nucleus of Comet, Nov. 5, 1882, as seen in 26-inch Equatorial.
condensation almost as distinct as the original nucleus,
and about two-thirds its size ; still further in the direction
of the tail was another condensation, smaller and less
distinct than the second. On November 6 these con-
densations were still more pronounced, and shone with a
much stronger light than the coma in which they were
enveloped.
The following micrometric measurements were made
on the 3rd and 6th, using the 26 in, equatorial :—
NATURE
| Mov. 30, 1882
110
Distance a = 0°66 I
as = 1°70 > November 3.
” c= 084
Distance a = 0°74 }
3 = 1°66 » November 6.
rr ¢ = 1°03 \
Assuming 0°1705 and 0'1714 to be log. A on those days
respectively, the distance a would be about 4000 miles,
the distance 4 about 10000 miles, and the distance c about
5500 miles.
It would not be surprising, judging from the history of
this comet, if another condensation developed in the por-
tion of the coma nearest the sun, thus forming four
nucleuses. W. T. SAMPSON,
Commander U.S.N.
Naval Observatory, Washington, November 11
Since my first communication, with sketch of the comet,
on October 21, which appeared in NATURE, vol. xxvi. p.
622, I have had good views on 21 out of 31 days. The
fine weather and clear atmosphere of this place give
exceptional facilities for the continued and frequent ob-
servations which are needed to obtain a knowledge of so
anomalous and surprising an object. Some windows of
my villa command an extensive sky and sea view (includ-
ing at times the mountains of Corsica, 120 mules distant),
and from my tbedroom—sometimes even from my bed—I
have been able to watch the comet with ease for from a
quarter of an hour to an hour, on each of those twenty-
one days ; using only a good field binocular in occasional
aid of a strong natural sight. I have more powerful
telescopes, but for this object they give no help; and I
am not astronomer enough to avail myself of other
instruments.
The comet was seen in all its brightness on October
20, 21, 23, and 24, with its nucleus like a star of first
magnitude, but elongated and nebulous—its tail beginning
with slender stem, slightly curved, with downward con- | strikes one as showing how much more it has lost in
vexity, and gradually expanding to its extremity, the
diameter of which was about five times that of the head.
The lower, slightly convex margin, was brighter, and
more defined ; but a strong nedulous light pervaded the
length and breadth of the tail, shaded along the upper
margin in gradually diminishing haze.
an elongated crescent, the lower or eastern horn of which
was longer than the other.
in faint lines, hardly perceptible, a few degrees further
(as noticed by your correspondent, Mr. Larden). No such
prolongation could be seen from the hollow of the cres-
cent, which terminated by a narrow fringe of diminishing
light, beyond which was an oval patch of shade, oéviously
darker than any other portion of the visible sky. This
appeared to me nothing else than a shadow projected by
the comet on the space beyond the end of its tail. I
cannot admit the correctness of Major Herschel’s szs-
pictons, “that this impression was produced by contrast
only” (NATURE, vol. xxvil. p. 4). The still greater
contrast between the brightness of the lower margin and
the adjoining sky produced no such shade there a¢ that
time; \ater I shall allude to such a shade appearing there
also.
experience in landscape painting has given me some skill
in appreciating lights and shades.
the difficulty of physically explaining the existence of
light and shadow in the vacuity of space, but this is a
question of pure observation, to which I invite further
attention.
Cheltenham, and Mr. Cecil of Bournemouth, describe
“a black rift in the sky,” and “a strong apparent
shadow”’ behind the comet—seemingly in confirmation
of my observation.
When the comet was next seen, after an interval of
bad weather, on the 2gth it had lost in dimensions, but
still more in brightness, and its form was changed. The
The tail ended in |
Both horns were prolonged |
The ultra-caudal patch was obviously darker than |
any other spot of the sky : so it appeared to me, and my |
1 am quite aware of |
Two of your correspondents, Mr. Larden of |
upper margin from the head upwards had expanded and
become more feathery ; so had the end of the tail, which
had lost its crescentic form; the shadow beyond had
quite disappeared, and was replaced by an ill-defined
luminosity, losing itself in the darkness of the sky. The
lower margin of the tail had lost less of its brightness and
‘definition ; and now if there was a shadow anywhere, it
was along this edge, down even to the head of the comet ;
but the shade was much less marked than had been that
beyond the tail, and I might have ascribed it to contrast
but that it was not present when this margin was brighter
and the contrast greater. This shadow is noticed by Mr.
Cecil in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 52.
The comet was well seen on October 30 and 31, and
November 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, gradually diminishing in
brightness and in the definition of its outline, its light
being now further paled by moonlight. So faint was it
that I am not surprised at Major Herschel’s description®
of its non-appearance in the London sky of November
5; but I cannot help “ suspecting ” that this was due not
to moonlight only (as the testimony of others proves), but
also to the gas-lit haze of the London atmosphere, which
from fiftv years’ experience I know to be, at its clearest,
quite sufficient to mask a faded comet, even although the
brighter light of stars may still remain visible. On the
8th the comet was seen before moonrise, more distinct,
although pale and hazy in outline; lower margin still the
brightest, with a slight attendant shade. It was seen
every day (except the 13th, r4th, and 15th) until the 22nd,
with little other changes than that it was gradually be-
coming fainter, although still a conspicuous object-in the
dark sky from 2 to 5.30a.m. On the 21st I made a
careful portrait of it in oils, with its attendant stars, by
the side of one that I had painted from the sketch taken
October 21, when it was in its glory. The alteration
which has taken place in the month is such that it now
seems the mere ghost of its former self. The comparison
brightness and compactness, than in length and breadth.
Is not this in exact conformity with what has been ascer-
tained (see NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 58) that the comet has
been receding more rapidly from the sun than from the
earth. C. J. B. WILLIAMS
Cannes, November 23
THE APPROACHING ECLIPSE OF MAY 6, 1883*
(C2 sixth of May next year will witness, in the distant
regions of Oceania, one of the rarest and most
important astronomical phenomera of the century, viz. a
total eclipse of the sun, which, owing to the respective
| positions, but rarely realised, of the sun and the moon,
will have a duration quite extraordinary.
Now, in the present state of science, when the most
important questions as to the constitution of the sun and
that of the unexplored spaces near him, and the existence
| of those hypothetical planets which Le Verrier’s analysis
indicated within the orbit of Mercury, are still pending, a
phenomenon which presents to us, for long minutes, all
those regions, with the sun’s dazzling brilliancy with-
drawn, and renders them accessible to observation, is one
of the first order.
We shall presently examine the conditions under which
this rare solar occultation will be produced ; let us first
see what is the state of the questions which have to be
considered on this occasion. One of the most important
is thatregarding the constitution of the space immediately
bordering on the envelopes of the sun at present known.
The great Asiatic eclipse of 1868, came wonder-
fully @ propos, both by its lung duration and by the
maturity of the problems that hac to be attacked, enabled
us in some sort to tear the veil which hid from us the
t Report to the Bureau des Longitudes, by a Commissirn cors sting of
MM. Fizeau, Admiral Clou¢, Lewy, and Janssen (reporter).
Nov. 30, 1882]
NATURE
Moe
phenomena existing beyond the visible surface of the sun.
It was then that was solved the enigma so long pondered
over regarding the nature of those roseate protuberances
which surround in such a singular way the limb of the
eclipsed sun.
Spectral analysis taught us that they were immense
appendages belonging to the sun, and formed almost
exclusively of incandescent hydrogen gas. Almost im-
mediately, the method suggested by this same eclipse,
and which allows of a daily study of those phenomena,
revealed the relations of those protuberances to the solar
globe. It was perceived that the protuberances are
merely jets, expansions of a layer of gas and vapours,
8” to 12” in thickness, where the hydrogen preponderates,
and which is at a very high temperature, by reason of its
contact with the surface of the sun. This low atmosphere
is the seat of frequent eruptions of vapours coming from
the solar globe, and among which one chiefly observes
sodium, magnesium, and calcium. We may even sup-
pose that, in the lowest part of this chromosphere, as it
has been called, most of the vapours, which in the solar
spectrum, produce the dark lines it presents, exist in the |
state of high incandescence.
The eclipse of 1869, which was visible in America,
allowed indeed of the important observation (always con-
firmed since) of the reversal ot the solar spectrum at the
extreme border of the disc, that is to say, at the points
where the photosphere is immediately in contact with
the chromosphere ; a phenomenon which does not signify
that the photosphere itself may not contain the same
vapours and concur in the production of the solar spectral
lines.
Thus the discovery of a new solar envelope, the recog-
nised nature of the protuberances, and the knowledge of
their relation to the sun; lastly, the conquest of a method
for the daily study of those phenomena ; such were the
fruits of spectrum analysis applied to the study of this
long eclipse of 1868.
But a total eclipse presents other manifestations com-
pletely unexplained up to the time of which we speak.
There is seen, beyond the protuberances and the chromo-
spheric ring, a magnificent aureole, or luminous corona,
of soft brightness and silvery tint, which may reach as
far as an entre radius of the dark limb of the moon.
The study of this beautiful phenomenon, by methods
which had given such magnificent results, was imme-
diately undertaken, and occupied the astronomers during
the eclipses ot 1869, 1870, and 1871.
But the aureole or corona, though constituting a
brilliant phenomenon, has in reality but weak luminous
power. Hence the difficulty of obtaining its spectrum
with its true characters. “hus the astronomers differed
at first as to the real nature of the phenomenon. In 1871,
and bythe use of an extremely luminous instrument, it
was definitively proved that the spectrum of the corona con-
tains the bright lines of hydrogen, and the green line
called 1474 of Kirchhoff’s maps, an observation which
demonstrates that the corona is a real object constituted
of luminous gases forming a third envelope round the
solar globe.
If indeed the phenomenon of the corona were a simple
phenomenon of reflection or of diffraction, the coronal
spectrum would merely be a weakened solar spectrum.
On the other hand, the characters of the solar spectrum
are here quite subordinate, and the spectrum is that of
protuberantial gases and of matter still unknown, indicated
by the line 1474.1
The subsequent eclipses of 1875 and 1878, and that
* One of us has expressed the idea (Notice du Bureau des Longitudes,
1879) that the coronal atmosphere whicn is in dependence on the chromo-
sphere and photosphere must present a much more agitated appearance at
the epoch uf maximum or spots and protuberances, since the jets of hydrogen
which then penetrate it are much more numerous and rich Ulterior Ubserva-
tions, and especially those which have been made during the last eclipse at
the moment when the sular eruptions were abundant, have confirmed this
previsiun.
recently observed in Egypt, have yielded confirmation of
these results.
But if the constitution of the sun is being thus rapidly
unveiled, there still remain great problems to be solved,
both as to this last solar envelope, and as to the region
near it.
First of all, have the immense appendices which the
corona has presented during some eclipses, an objective
reality, and are they a dependance of this immense
coronal atmosphere, or might they rather be streams of
meteorites circulating round the sun (as one of the
members of the Bureau has suggested) ?
We do not forget the zodiacal light, the relations of
which to those dependances of the sun remains to be
determined.
But these problems are not the only ones we have now
to attack, during the occultations of the solar globe. Do
the regions with which we are occupied contain one or
several planets, which the illumination of our atmosphere,
so bright in the neighbourhood of the sun, may have
always concealed from us? Leverrier long studied this
question, and his analytical researches led him to suppose
their existence.
On the other hand, several observers have alleged that
they have observed transits of round and dark bodies in
front of the sun; but these observations are far from
being certain. The surface of the sun is often the seat
of small, very round spots, which appear and disappear in
a time often short enough to simulate the passage of
round bodies before that star.
The question is of capital importance; hence it at
present justly engages the thoughts of all astronomers.
May the analysis of Leverrier enrich the solar world
towards its central regions, as it has done with such a
magnificent s.ccess in the most distant regions ?
We have but two means of solving the problem, whose
solution is more particularly incumbent on French astro-
nomy; the attentive study of the solar surface, or the
examination of the circumsolar region when an eclipse
renders their exploration possible to us. This last means
seems the most efficacious, but on the condition that the
occultation is long enough to allow of a minute exploration
of all the regions where the smail star may be met with.
This gives a capital importance to the eclipse of May 6
next, one of the longest of the century.
We will now examine the circumstances of this great
eclipse, and the means that it would be well to employ
for observation of it.
The total eclipse of May 6 next will have a duration of
6 minutes at the point where the phase is maximum
(5m. 59s.) ; a time triple that of ordinary eclipses.
The central line is wholly comprised in the South
Pacific Ocean, and we can only hope to observe it in the
islands of that ocean.
After an attentive study of the question, it has appeared
to us that two islands would do about equally well for
observation ; those of Flint and Caroline.
Flint Island (lat. 11° 30’ S., and long. 151° 48’ W. of
Greenwich) is the nearest to the central line. Calculation
gives for the duration of totality in this island 5m. 33s.
Caroline Island is 150° 6’ W., and 9° 50’ S.; the duration
of the totality there will{be 5m, 20s.; that is, only 13
seconds less than in Flint Island.
It will be seen that the astronomical conditions of the
phenomenon are extremely favourable in these islands,
and it is to these stations we should propose to the
Bureau to send an expedition.
This expedition should start from Paris, go to New
York, traverse the American Continent by the railway to
San Francisco, and there find a steamer (of a French
service about to be established), which should carry it to
the Marquesas Islands. There a man-of-war of the
French station should take it up, and deposit one portion
at Caroline Island, the other at Flint Island. This ship
EL2
NATURE
| Mov. 30, 1882
which, further, should be provided with all that is neces-
sary for the establishment of the stations, the safety and
the subsistence of the observers, should not leave those
regions before bringing the mission to Tahiti, where our
envoyés would find means of transport for their return,
either by the way they went, or (which would seem prefer-
able), by way of Australia.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS ON WEDNESDAY,
DECEMBER 6
T the Transit of Venus in 1874 the tables of the
planet prepared by Prof. Hill appeared to have a
decided advantage over those of Leverrier. The correc-
tion to the tabular place deduced from the observations.
of the transit is in close accordance with that shown by a
meridian observation at Washington on the day preceding
the phenomenon. Although the entire discordance was not
negatived by the tables of Prof. Hill, they went far towards
removing it in 1874,and as the coming transit (December 6)
will take place in nearly the same point in the planet’s
orbit, we shall assume in what follows, that the tables of
the American astronomer will again be fairly correct.
Prof. Newcomb assumes and probably with much reason,
that the error of Leverrier’s tables will prove to be an
increasing one, and is therefore inclined to apply a still
larger correction to the place deduced from them. It
may be mentioned that the calculations of the transit in
the Nautical Almanac, the Connaissance des Temps, and
the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch, depend upon
Leverrier’s tables. For the diameter of the planet we
adopt that found by Prof. Auwers from heliometric
measures in Egypt during the last transit, combining it
with the diameter of the sun, inferred by Leverrier from
his discussion of the transits of Mercury.
Direct calculations for Greenwich, Edinburgh, and
Dublin give with the elements so obtained the following
Greenwich mean times of the first external contact, and the
respective angles from the sun’s vertex for direct image :—
newest, ER ° D
Greenwich ~....°-... 2 ‘o)42°2 126 59°4
dinburote ss ss. 92) 4727 130 49°3
Dublin S65, Soh A OHS) 131 21°2
For a limited area like that of these islands we may apply
to these times and angles, the method of distribution of
predictions given by Littrow, and subsequently by Wool-
house. Putting the latitude of any place within the above
area= 50 +L, and its longitude in minutes of time
= M, + if east of Greenwich, — if west, we get the fol-
lowing equations :—
oatt. eet a } = 2h. 0°62m. + [$°7453] L — [8 1402] M.
Ae ee age | = 1253 + 66 L ~ [0136]
The quantities within the square brackets are logarithms,
but of course if preferred the factors for L and M may
be expressed asnumbers. As an example of the applica-
tion of these formule, suppose the time of first contact
and the corresponding angle are required for Norwich,
the position of which place may be taken in latitude
+ 52° 38’, longitude 1° 18’ or + 5m. I2s., we have then
L= + 2633 M= +5:20m.
+ 8°7453 | — 81402
|
|
Log. L Log. M + 0°7160
— 88562
Nov i. — 0072
m. s
20°69 or 2 0 41 G.M.T.
Longitude E 5 12
25 53
Norwich M.T.
: :
much valuable and interesting work could be done.
For the angle—
+ 9°669 = 9°136 | + 1°23
Log. L + o'421 | Log. M+0'716 | — o'71
——_ | ——— | 126°3
+ 10090 | — 9852
126°8 ... angle from vertex.
So that according to the calculation the limb of the planet
comes into first contact with that of the sun at 53° from
his lowermost point towards the left, as we view the
phenomenon with the naked eye. It will be remarked
that there is less than a half minute difference in absolute
time between Greenwich and Dublin, and considering
the possibility of error of many seconds in any prediction
that can be made for geometrical contact and the difficulty
of always determining what is geometrical contact in the
observations, our formula for time of first contact is more
than a sufficient one.
For first zferza/ contact, it may be assumed that 21
minutes have to be added to the time of external contact
at any place in these islands; while for the angle from
N. point of first external contact may be taken in all
cases 147°.
In the national ephemerides the times of the contacts
are given for a particular meridian as they would be noted
at the centre of the earth, and formula are appended to
reduce these geocentric times to any point upon the
earth’s surface. It is obvious that where, as in a transit
of Venus, predictions are required for such widely distant
stations, this method possesses the greatest convenience.
NOTES
THE following are the Lecture arrangements at the Royal Institu.
tion for theensuing Session :—The Christmas Lectures will be given
by Prof. Tyndall, on Light and the Eye. Lefore Easter—Prof. W.
C. Williamson on the Primeval Ancestors of Existing Vegetation,
and their Bearing upon the Doctrine of Evolution; Prof. R. S.
Ball, four lectures on the Supreme Discoveries in Astronomy ;
Prof. Dewar, nine lectures on the Spectroscope and its Applica-
tions ; Mr. R. Bosworth Smith, four lectures on Episodes in
the Life of Lord Lawrence ; Dr. W. H. Stone, three lectures on
Singing, Speakinz, and Stammering; Mr. H. H. Statham,
two lectures on Music as a Form of Artistic Expression. After
Ea-ter—Courses will be given by Professors Tyndall, McKen-
drick, A. Geikie, and Turner (of St. Petersburg). The Friday
Evening Discourses will probably be given, among others, by
Mr. R. B. Smith, Dr. G, J. Romanes, Sir W. Thomson, Mr.
M. D. Conway, Prof. W. C: Williamson, Mr. W. H. Pollock,
and Prof. Tyndall.
A COMMITTEE, consisting of the Right Hon. J. T. Ball,
LL.D., D.C.L., the Very Rev. W. Reeves, D.D., Dean of
Armagh, J. L. E. Dreyer, Ph.D., Astronomer of Armagh Ob-
servatory, has been appointed by the Governors of the Armagh
Obs-rvatory to raise a fund for the purpose of erecting a memo-
rial instrument in the observatory at Armagh, where the late
Rey. Dr. Robinson spent fifty-eight years, engaged in those
scientific investigations with which his name will be for ever
associated. The Committee addresses its appeal not only to the
inhabitants of Ulster, or of Dublin, but to Robinson’s friends and
adwirers all over the United Kingdom. The services rendered
| to astronomy by Dr. Robinson are well known, and doubtless
many of our readers will be glad to aid in paying a tribute to
his memory. It is proposed that the memorial take the form of
an equatoreal refractor, say of eight or nine inches aperture,
which could be had for about 500/., and could find room in one
of the existing domes at Armagh. With such an instrument,
Subserip-
tions should be sent to Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer, Observatory,
Armagh.
Now. 30, 1882 |
NATURE
113;
WE regret to announce the death, on November 24, of Mr.
Andrew Pritchard, M.R.I., F.R.S. Edin., &c., of Highbury,
London, whose name will be best remembered in connection
with several improvements of the microscope, the use of ‘test
objects,” and as being the author of “ A History of Infusoria,”
the fourth edition of which, enlarged to nearly 1000 pages, was
published in 1861. Bom in London in December, 1804,
he was almost entirely brought up by his grandfather, one
of the chief cashiers in the Bank of England. On the
foundation of the Mechanics’ Institution in Southampton Build-
ings, by Dr. Birkbeck, Mr. Pritchard entered as a student. The
microscope was then a very imperfect instrument, and Mr,
Pritchard worked hard at the achromatisation of lense:, and was
the first to propose to take advantage of the high refracting
power of the diamond, ruby, and sapphire for the manufacture of
single lenses, these giving good definition without the coloured
borders incidental to ordinary flint glass. Between the
years 1829 and 1837 he published several works on the micro-
scope, in which he was aided by Dr. Goring, particularly the
«Microscopic Illustrations,” ‘* Micrographia,” and the ‘‘ Micro-
scopic Cabinet,” for which several good plates were prepared.
In the year 1836 Mr. Pritchard was elected a Member of the
Royal Institution, being proposed by Faraday, and in the pre-
vious year joined the British Association at Dublin, taking part
in the deliberations of this body until comparatively recent times.
In 1873 the Royal Society of Edinburgh -conferred upon him
their fellowship, in recognition of his scientific attainments, as
evidenced by his great work, the ‘‘ History of Infusoria,” a
memorial of patient industry and biological research,
THE Lancashire friends of the late Prof. Jevons are to hold a
meeting at the Manchester and Salford Bank on Thursday next,
to consider a proposal for a Jevons memorial. It has been
suggested that an appropriate form of the memorial would be
the establishment of a Professorship of Political Economy at
the Victoria University, Manchester. Prof. Jevons was a
Lancashire man, and was associated for many years with the
Owens College and with the Manchester Statistical Society.
Mr. BARNARD, of Nashville, Tennessee, and Prof. Wilson,
of the Cincinnati Observatory, both noticed that the nucleus of
the comet had separated into three fragments on the morning of
October 5. While this separation was not observed at other
oservatories, probably owing to cloudy weather, we learn by
the last steamer from Central America, that on the same morning
the comet, as visible to the naked eye, at Escuintla, Guatemala,
was divided into five distinct bodies, thus leading many to
suppose that a whole family of celestial visitants had suddenly
appeared. Subsequent observations in different parts of the
world have led to the belief that the fragments were re-united.
This statement appears in the Paxama Star and Herald,
THE transit of Venus, on December 6, will be observed at Paris
with the helio stat in several places, to exhibit the phenomenon to a
large audience. M. Joubert, director of the Ob ervatoire Populaire
of the Trocadero, is taking steps for that purpose, and will send
out special invitations. Lectures will be delivered during the
transit. M. Janssen, before leaving for Oran, left instructions
for similar observations to be exhibited before a number of
visitors at Meudon Observatory. A requisition has been sent to
M. Bouteiller, the president of the Municipal Council, asking
him to order that the leading pupils of public schools and their
principal teachers should be invited to Montsouris Observatory
in order to witness the transit.
Weare glad to learn that Prof. Mendeleeff has published a
new edition (the fourth) of his ‘‘ Principles of Chemistry.”” The
new edition is thoroughly revised, and contains many important
additions and modifications, bringing it up to the latest data of
science. ‘Lhe chigh standard of this book is well known. The
aims the author has pursued may be seen in the following
words of his preface: ‘‘ By comparing the past of the science
with the future, the particulars with the generalisations, and our
necessarily limited experience with our natural tendency towards
theinfinite, and by refraining from asking the student to accept
without test any doctrine, however attractive, I tried to
develop in the reader the faculty of independent judgment on
scientific subjects which is necessary for a true use of science,
and for acquiring the possibility of working for its further
development.” The work may be regarded as not merely a
text-book of chemistry, but an exposition of the methods of
natural science altogether.
ALGERIA is becoming increasingly popular as a winter resort
for invalids affected with chest disease ; but probably not many
of our readers are aware that in the same easily accessible country
gout and rheumatic patients may find what is scarcely to be met
with in Europe, a comfortable residence with abundance of
waters adapted to their special complaints. At Hammam R’Irha,
about sixty miles south-west of Algiers and fifteen miles in a
direct line from the coast, such patients will find waters both for
bathing and drinking comparable with those of the best European
resorts, and in addition a climate which renders outdoor exercise
a pleasure all the winter through. Hammam R’Irha is beauti-
fully situated among the hills of an outlying spur of the Lesser
Atlas, and we understand has every possible convenience and
comfort that invalids can require. Naturally enough the people
of Algiers look with some jealousy on this pleasant spot as a
rival, and attempt we believe to ignore it ; but in the opinion of
the highest authorities on the subject of climate and waters, no
place can equal Hammam R’Irha as a winter resort for gout and
rheumatic patients. As it becomes better known we are sure it
will grow in favour, especially with Engli-h and Americans, who
will find on the spot competent medical advice. The station
is within three or four hours’ rail of Algiers.
THE remarkable phenomenon which was seen on Friday week
in several parts of this country, was also seen in Sweden. At Eskib-
stuna, 54 miles south of Stockholm, it was observed three hours after
sunset in the western heavens, it being dark at the time, about
45° above the horizon, and was then hidden ina lurid cloud of
purple colour. When approaching the zenith an oblong object,
somewhat resembling a bow, became distinctly visible, which
gradually passed out of sight. The stars were visible through
the object. The moon in her first quarter shone faintly in the
south, 45° elevation above the horizon, while heavy clouds
covered the eastern and northern skies. Aurorz were frequent
and intense all over Scandinavia during the week.
Herr BERNHARD BLECHMANN, a pupil of Prof. Stieda, of
Dorpat, has been making researches on the anthropology of the
Jews. He took 100 Jews of West Russia and the Baltic Pro-
vinces, and as a result of his observations, he finds that there are
both blonde and dark Jews of the primitive type, that Jews have
narrower chests than Europeans under similar conditions ; that
there are two types, Spanish and Germano-Polish ; and that
they appear to be brachycephalic.
Tue third German ‘‘ Geographentag” will be held at Frank-
fort on March 29-31, 1883. As at former meetings, both the
scientific and educational aspects of geography will receive atten-
tion, and intending contributors of papers should communicate
with Prof, Rein, Marburg, before the end of January. There
will, as usual, be an exhibition of teaching »atérzel in geography,
which will be open for two or three weeks.
IMMENSE forest fires are reported from the neighbourhood of
St. Petersburg. Near Pawlowsk and the villages Skolpino,
Stepanowka, and Podberesche near Gatchina, then along the
114
NATURE
[Mov. 30, 1882
Warsow railway line between Pljusse and Pleskau, also along
the Moscow Railway line the forest was on fire. Thousands of
people had been ordered out to try and extinguish the Hames,
but all attempts in this direction proved futile, the only thing
that could be done was to confine the limits of the fires.
Dr. KING, the Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Calcutta, has recently issued his report for the year 1881-82.
The Calcutta Garden may be said to be the centre of botanical
work in India, and none can probably claim a greater antiquiiy,
as the report before us is stated to be the nine‘y-fifth annual
report of these Gardens, Like its predecessors the report opens
with a description of the changes and improvements in the
Garden itself, points which are, of course, only of local interest.
On the subject of india-rubber yielding plants—a subject of very
great importance—Dr. King says: ‘‘Clara rubber (Manihot
Glazioviz) continues to grow well here ; our trees are beginning
to seed, and from their produce I was able to distribute during
the year a good many seedlings to tea-planters in Assam, Chitta-
gong, and elsewhere. A species of Landolphia, which is one of
the sources of the rubber collected in Eastern Africa, has (thanks
to the exertions of Sir John Kirk, Her Majesty’s Consul-General
at Zanzibar) been introduced to the Garden. From the seeds
sent by Sir John Kirk a number of young plants have been
raised, and these at present look very healthy. The cultivation of
the plant yielding Para rubber (Hevea braszliensis) has been aban-
doned, as the Bengal climate proves quite unsuitable for it. Of
Castilloa, another South American rubber-yielder, we have as
yet only eight plants, but it is being propagated as fast as
possible,” Another important subject is that of the production
of material; for paper-making, and of these plantain fibre
seems to have occupied some attention. It seems that during
the dry months, simple exposure of the sliced stems to the sun
is a sufficient preparation for the paper-maker, provided the
paper-mill be on the spot. What is still wanted is some cheap
mode of removing the useless cellular tissue, so that the fibre
may be shipped to England without the risk of fermentation
during the voyage. The cultivation of the plantain for its fruit
is so universal over the warmer and damper parts of India, and
its growth is so rapid, that the conversion into a marketable
commodity of the stems at present thrown away as useless would
be an appreciable addition to the wealth of the country. The
paper mulberry of China and Japan (Lroussonetia papyrifera) is
being tried in the Garden, as well as in the Cinchona plantations
in Sikkim, as it is well known that the bark yields a splendid
paper material, A plant which appears to be at present un-
known, but which Dr. King thinks will prove a species of
Eriophorum, is also favourably reported upon. Under the head
of ‘*Other Economic Plants,” mahogany, the rain-tree, and the
Divi Divi, are said to be in considerable demand. A large in-
terchange of seeds and plants has been effected during the year,
with other parts of India, as well as with England and the
Colonies.
No further news of the wreck alleged to have been seen near
the Island of Waigatz has come to hand. Capt. Burmeister, of
the Louise, who parted from the Dijmphna and the Varna in
September last, is of opinion that the vessel seen is the Varna
in her winter-quarters, simply with masts and yards lowered,
which seem to be corroborated by the recent discovery, that the
original message says west of Waigatz Island, where the wreck
could not have drifted.
PAkTS 11 to 16 of Dr. Chavanne’s edition of Balbi’s Geo-
graphy (Vienna, Hartleben) have appeared ; they are largely
devoted to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
WE need scarcely mention that Oxford is the seat of the New
Science Club, to the meeting at Trinity College in connection
with which we referred last week.
IN the last sitting of the Syndicat d’Electricité M. Jablochkoff
described a new element which he has invented, and which
consists of sodium for the electro-positive plate, the ne-
gative being, as usual, carbon, M. Jablochkoff does not
use any exciting liquid but merely sends into his elements
by the instrumentality of an aspirator, a current of air
saturated with moisture. He says that soda is dissolved and
falls to the bottom of the box where his elements are kept so
that it may be easily collected and sold at a high price, being
pure except for a smali quantity of carbonate and of nitrate.
According to his statement the electromotive force of this element
is about 4 volts.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Green Monkey (Cercopithecus call:trichus @ )
from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Gretton ; a Northern Lynx
(Felis lynx) from the Carpathian Mountains, presented by the
Count Constantin Branicki ; an I:abelline Lynx (Fé/is isabellina)
from Tibet, presented by Capt. Baldock; a Forster’s Milvago
(Afilvago australis) from Falkland Islands, presented by Dr. A.
M. McAldonie ; an Annulated Snake (Leplodira annulata) from
Honduras, presented by Mr. R. E. Seabrooke; a Short-tailed
Wallaby (Halmaturus brachyurus 2) from West Australia, three
Blue-crowned Hanging Parrakeets (Loriculus galgulus) from
Ceylon, deposited; a Moloch Monkey (Cad/ithrix moloch) from
Brazil, two Snowy Owls (Wyctea nivea 8 ? ), European, a Shore
Lark (Zremophila alpestris), British, purcbased ; a Great Bustard
(Otis tarda), European, received in exchange.
ON THE TRANSITS OF VENUS.
“TRANSITS of Venus usually occur in pairs ; the two transits
of a pair being separated by only eight years, but between
the nearest transits of consecutive pairs more than a century
elapses. We are now on the eve of the second transit of a pair,
after which there will be no other till the twenty-first century ot
our era has dawned upon the earth, and the June flowers are
blooming in 2004, When the last transit season occurred the
intellectual world was awakening from the slumber of ages, anda
that wonderous scientific activity which led to our present
advanced knowledge was just beginning. What will be the state
of science when the next transit season arrives God only knows,
Not even our children’s children will live to take part in the
astronomy of that day. As for ourselves, we have to do with
the present, and it seems a fitting occasion for noticing briefly
the scientific history of past transits, and the plans for observing
the one soon to happen.
When the Ptolemaic theory of -the solar system was in vogue,
astronomers correctly believed Venus and Mercury to be
situated between the Earth and the Sun, but as these planets
were supposed to shine by their own light, there was no reason
to anticipate that they would be visible during a transit, if indeed
a transit should occur. Yet, singularly enough, so far back as
April, 807, Mercury is recorded to have been seen as a dark spot
upon the face of the Sun. We now know that it is much too
small to be visible to the naked eye in that position, and the
object observed could have been nothing else than a large sun-
spot. Upon the establishment of the Copernican theory it was
immediately perceived that transits of the inferior planets across
the face of the Sun must occur, and the recognition of the value
of transits of Venus for determining the solar parallax was not
long in following. The idea of utilizing such transits for this
purpose seems to have been vaguely conceived by James Gregory,
or perhaps even by Horrocks; but Halley was first to work it
out completely, and to him is usually assigned the honour of the
invention. His paper, published in 1716, was mainly instru-
mental in inducing the governments of Europe to undertake the
observations of the transits of Venus of 1761 and 1769, from
which our first accurate knowledge of the Sun’s distance was
obtained.
When Kepler had finished his Rudolphine tables they
furnished the means of predicting the places of the planets with
some approach to accuracy; and in 1627 he announced that
* An address delivered before Section A of the Am‘rican Association for
the Advancement of Science, on August 23, 1882, by Prof. Wm. Harkness,
Chairman of the Sectiou, and Vice President of the Asscciation.
Nov. 30, 1882 |
Mercury would cross the face of the Sun on Novembe2r 7, 1631,
and Venus on December 6 of the same year. The intense
interest with which Gassendi prepared to observe these transits
can be imagined when it is remembered that hitherto no such
phenomena had ever greeted mortal eyes. He was destitute of
what would now be regarded as the commonest instruments.
The invention of telescopes was only twenty years old, and a
reasonably good clock had never been constructed. His
observatory was situated in Paris, and its appliances were of the
most primitive kind. By admitting the solar rays into a darkened
room through a small round hole, an image of the Sun nine or
ten inches in diameter was obtained upon a white screen, For
the measurement of position angles a carefully divided circle
was traced upon this screen, and the whole was so arranged that
the circle could be made to coincide accurately with the image of
the Sun. To determine the times of ingress and egress, an
assistant was stationed outside with a large quadrant, and he was
instructed to observe the altitude of the sun whenever Gassendi
stamped upon the floor. Modern astronomical predictions can
be trusted within a minute or two, but so great did the uncertainty
of Kepler’s tables seem to Gassendi that he began to watch for
the expected transit of Mercury two whole days before the time
set for its occurrence. On the 5th of November it rained, and
on the 6th clouds covered the sky almost all day, The morning
of the 7th broke, and yet there was no respite from the gloomy
pall. Gassendi continued his weary watch with sickening dread
that the transit might already be over. A little before eight
o’clock the sun began to struggle through the clouds, but mist
prevented any satisfactory ob-ervation for nearly another hour.
Towards nine the sun b came distinctly vi-ible, and turning to
its image on the screen, the astronomer observed a small black
spot upon it. It was not half as large as he expected, and he
could not believe it was Mercury. He took it fora sun-spot,
and carefully estimated its position at nine o’clock, so that he
might use it as a point of reference for the planet, if indeed he
should be fortunate enough to witness the transit. A little later
he was surprised to see the spot had moved. Although the
motion was too rapid for an ordinary sun-spot, the small size of
the object seemed to forbid the idea that it was Mercury.
Besides, the predicted time of the transit had not yet arrived,
Gassendi was still uncertain respecting the true nature of the
phenomenon when the sun again burst through the clouds and it
was apparent that the spot was steadily moving from its original
position. All doubt vanished, and recognizing that the transit,
so patiently watched for, was actually in progress, he stamped
upon the floor as a signal for his assistant to note the sun’s
altitude. That faithless man, whose name has been forgotten
by history, had deserted his post, and Gassendi continued his
observations alone. Fortunately the assistant returned soon
enough to aid in determining the instant of egress, and thus an
important addition was made to our knowledge of the motions
of the innermost planet of the solar system.
After this success in observing Mercury, Gassendi hoped he
might be equally fortunate in observing the transit of Venus on
December 6, 1631. He knew that Kepler had assigned a time
near sunset for first contact, but the tables were not sufficiently
exact to forbid the possibility of the whole transit being visible
at Paris. Alas, alas! these hopes were doomed to disappoint-
ment. A severe storm of wind and rain prevailed on December
4th and 5th, and although the sun was visible at intervals on the
6th and 7th, not a trace of the planet could be seen. We now
know that the transit happened in the night between the 6th and
7th, and was wholly invisible at Paris.
Transits of Venus can occur only in June and December, and
as the two transits of a pair always happen in the same month,
if we start from a June transit the intervals between consecutive
transits will be 8 years, 1054 years, 8 years, 1214 years, 8 years,
1054 years, andso on. ‘This is the order which exists now, and
will continne for many centuries to come, but it is not always so.
The path of Venus across the sun is not the same in the two
transits of a pair. Fora pair of June transits, the path at the
second one is sensibly parallel to, and about twenty minutes
north of, that at the first; wh'le for a pair of December transits
the parallelism still holds, but the path at the second one is about
twenty-five minutes south of that at the first. Hence it happens
that whenever Venus passes within about four minutes of the
sun’s centre ata June transit, or within about eight minutes at
a Decemher transit, she will pa-s ju-t outside the sun’s disk at
the other transit of the pair, and it will fail. Thus the intervals
between consecutive transits may be modified in various ways,
NATURE
115
If the first transit of a June pair fails, they will become 1294
years, 1054 years, S years, 1294 years, etc. If the second transit
of a June pair fails, they will become 1134 years, 8 years, 121}
years, 1134 years, etc. If the first transit of a December pair
fails, they will become 8 years, 1134 years, 1214 years, 8 years,
etc. Ifthe the second transit of a December pair fails, they will
become 8 years, 1054 years, 129} years, 8 years, etc. And
finally, if either the first or second transit of a pair fails both in
June and December, they will become 113} years, 1294 years,
1134 years, 1294 years, etc.
When Kepler predicted the transit of 1631, he found from
his tables that at her inferior conjunction on December 4, 1639,
Venus would pa-s just south of the sun, and therefore he
believed the second transit of the pair would fail. On the other
hand, the tables of the Belgian astronomer, Lansberg, indicated
that the northern part of the sun’s disk would be traversed by
the planet. In the fall of 1639 this discrepancy was investigated
by Jeremiah Horrocks, a young curate only twenty years old,
living in the obscure village of Hoole, fifteen miles north of
Liverpool, and he found, apparently from his own observations,
that although Kepler’s tables were far more accurate than
Lansberg’s, the path of the planet would really be a little north
of that assigned by Kepler, avd a transit over the southern
portion of the sun would occur. He communicated this dis-
covery to his friend William Crabtree, and these two ardent
astronomers were the only ones who had the good fortune to
witness this, the first recorded transit of Venus.
Horrocks had great confidence in his corrected ephemeris of
Venus, and it forbade him to expect the ingress of the planet
upon the sun before three o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday,
November 24, old style (December 4, new style) ; but as other
astronomers assigned a date some hours earlier, he took the pre-
caution to begin his observations on the 23rd. The 24th seems
to have been partially cloudy, but he watched carefully from
sunrise to nine o’clock ; from a little before ten until noon ; and
at one o’clock in the afternoon; having been called away in the
interval by business of the highest importance—persumably the
celebration of divine service. About fifteen minutes past three
he was again at liberty, and as the clouds had dispersed, he
returned to his telescope and was rejoiced to find Venus upon
the sun’s disk, second contact having just happened. Only
thirty-five minutes remained before sunset, but during these
precious moments he made determinations of the position of
Venus which are even yet of the highest value. Crabtree was
less fortunate. At his station, near Manchester, there was but a
momentary break in the clouds a quarter of an hour before sun-
set. This sufficed to give him a glimpse of the transit, and he
afterwards made a sketch from memory.
The years sped swiftly by, and as the transit of 1761
approached, Halley’s paper of 1716 was not forgotten, although
he himself had long been gathered to his fathers. In deciding
to what extent his plans could be followed, it was first of all
necessary to know how nearly thz real conditions would
approximate to those he had anticipated. Passing over a paper
by Trébucket calling attention to errors in Halley’s data, Delisle
was first to point out the exact conditions of the transit, and the
circumstances upon which tne sucess of the observations would
depend. In August, 1760, less than a year before the event, he
published a chart showing that inaccurate tables of Venus had
misled Halley, both as to the availability of his method, and in
the selections of stations. The occasion could be more effectively
utilized by a change of plan, and Delisle considered it best to
observe at suitably selected localities from many of which only
the ingress, or only the egress, would be visible. Ferguson,
in England, seems to have arrived independently at similar
conclusions.
The two methods proposed respectively by Halley and
Delisle have played so important a part in the history of physical
astronomy that it will not be amiss to state briefly the distinction
between them. The sun causes Venus to cast a shadow which
has the form of a gigantic cone, its apex resting upon the planet,
and its diameter continually increasing as it recedes into space.
All the phenomena of transits are produced by the passage of
this shadow cone over the earth, and as each point of the cone
corresponds to a particular phase of a transit, any given phase
will encounter the earth, and first become visible, at some point
where the sun is just setting ; and will leave the earth, and there-
fore be last visible, at some point where the sun is just rising.
Between these two points it will traverse nearly half the earth’s
circumference and in so doing will consume about twenty minutes.
116
NATURE
[Wov. 30, 1882
The only phases dealt with by either Halley's or Delisle’s method
are the external and internal contacts, both at ingress and at
egress. Delisle’s method consists in observing the times of
contact at stations grouped about the regions where either ingress
or egress is soonest and latest visible. The longitudes of the
stations must be well determined, and then by combining them
with the observed times of contact the rate at which the shadow
cone sweeps over the earth becomes known, and from it the
solar parallax results. At many of the sta'ions best suited for
Delisle’s method, only the beginning or only the ending of the
transit will be visible; but for the application of Halley’s
method, both the beginning and the ending must be seen. The
theory of the latter method is so complicated that it is difficult
to explain it briefly and at the same time accurately ; but the
the following considerations will :urfice to indicate its nature.
The duration of a transit at any point on the earth’s surface
depends partly upon the length of path, and partly upon the
velocity, of that point while within the shadow cone, The
length of path is affected by the latitude of the point, and the
velocity by the earth’s diurnal motion, which in some regions
accelerates, and in others retards, the progress of the shadow.
The result is that throughout one-half the earth’s surface the
duration of the transit is lengthened, while throughout the other
half it is shortened ; the maximum lengthening and shi rtening
occurring at the respective pr les of the hemispheres in questicn.
Although these poles are not situcted at the extremities of the
earth’s axis, it usually happens that one of them is shrouded in
night ; but upon the sunlit side of the earth, from which alone
observations can be made, localities may exist at some of which
the duration of the transit will be twenty minutes or more
greater than at others. This inequality is the condition upon
which Halley’s method depends, and when such localities are
accessible it may be advantageously applied. Briefly then,
Halley’s method consists in observing the duration of a transit
at two or more stations so selected as to give durations of
widely different lengths; while Delisle’s method consists in
emplcying a common standard time to note the instant when
the transit begins, or ends, at two or more stations so chosen
as to give very different values for that instant.
The transit of 1761 was visible throughout Europe and was
well observed by astronomers in all parts of that continent.
Besides this, England sent expeditions to St. Helena and to the
Cape of Good Hope; and English astronomers ob:erved at
Madras and Calcutta; French astronomers were sent to Tobolsk,
Rodriguez, and Pondicherry ; Russians to the confines of Tartary
and China ; and Swedes to Lapland. No Jess than 117 stations
were occupied by 176 observers ; and of these, 137 published
their observations. When this mass of data was submitted to
computation, the result was far from satisfactory. Values of
the solar parallax were obtained ranging from 8.49 seconds to
10,10 seconds ; and in their disappointment the astronomers of
the eighteenth century concluded that too much reliance had been
placed upon Delisle’s method.
The transit of 1769 drew on apace ; and, to avoida repetition
of the fancied mistake of 1761, attention was directed almost
exclusively to Halley’s method. The conditicns of the transit
were carefully discussed by Hornsby in England, and by Lalande
and Pingré in France ; and it was fcund that its duration would
be greatest in Lapland and Kamschatka, and least in the Pacific
Ocean, California and Mexico. Astronomers were dispatched
to all these regions. England sent the famous Capt. Cook to
Otaheite, France sent Chappe to California; the King of
Denmark sent Father Hell to Lapiand; and in addition
numerous observations were made in Europe, North America,
China, and the East Indies. The preparations were most
elaborate, and the result better than in 1761, but still not
satisfactory. The black drop and other distortions disturbed
the contacts in this transit as they had done in the previous one,
and the values of the parallax deduced by the best computers
ranged from 8.43 seconds to 8.85 seconds.
Thus the matter rested till 1825 and 1827 when Encke
published abstracts of his discussion of the transits of 1761 and
1769, from Which he deduced a parallax of 8.58 seconds. This
discussion was not printed in full till 1835, when it immediately
commanded the attention of astronomers, and its result, which
Encke had modified to 8.57 seconds, was universally accepted
for more thana quarter of a century. As time wore on, certain
gravitational investigations led to a strong suspicion that the
san’s distance had been over-estimated by at least three million
miles, and the observations of Mars at its opposition in 1862
converted this suspicion into a conviction, The eighteenth
century transits were again rediscussed and a parallax of 8.83
seconds was found from them by Powalky in 1865, and 8.91
seconds by Mr. E. J. Stone in 1868. Newcomb’s paper, in
1867, also produced a marked impression.
The transit of 1874 was then approaching, and in the dis-
cussion as to how it should be utilized Halley’s and Delisle’s
methods once more played a trominent part. It was recognized
that the uncertainty in the observed times of ¢ ntact of the
eighteenth century transits was largely due to the black drop,
and the causes of that phenomenon were carefully considered.
Among them, most astronomers believed that irradiation played
an important, if not the principal, part; but at the same time
there was a general feeling that the telescopes of a century ago
were bad, and that the magnificent instruments of the present
day would give better results. In view of all the circumstances
it was determined that the contacts should be observed with
equatorially-mounted achromatic telescopes of from 4 to 6 inches”
aperture or with reflectors of not less than 7 inches’ aperture,
and that magnifying powers of from 150 to 200 diameters should
be employed. The Germans and Russians adopted heliometers
of about three inches’ aperture for making exact determinations
of the positions of Venus during transit, but other nations did
not follow thar example.
Photography, an agency undreamed of in the eighteenth
century, was also availabl*, and all saw the desirability of
employing it ; but there was much difference of opinion as to
how should this be done. The European astronomers preferred
instruments modelled upon the Kew photoheliograph, whose
objective has 3.4 inches aperture and 50 inches focus, giving an
image of the sun 0.482 of an inch in diameter, which is enlarged
by a secondary magnifier to 3 93 inches. On the other hand,
the American astronomers contended that photographs taken
with such instruments would be affected by troublesome errors
due to the secondary magnifier, that position angles could not be
measured from them accurately enough to be of any use, and
that it would be exceedingly difficult to determine the exact
linear value of a second of arc. They advocated the use of
horizental photoheliographs, which are free from all these dis-
advantages ; and the instruments which they adopted had
apertures of 5 inches, and focal distances of 384 feet, giving
images of the sun slightly more than 4 inches in diameter,
Notwithstanding this rad cal difference of opinion respecting
the best form of photoheliograph, the astronomers of the old
and new worlds were in perfect accord as to how the instruments
should be employed. Between the first and second contacts,
and again between the third and fourth contacts, photographs
about five minutes square, sh wing the indentation cut by the
planet into the sun’s limb, were to be taken at intervals of a
few seconds ; and from these it was hoped the true times of
contact could be deduced with great accuracy. Between the
second and third contacts, pictures of the entire sun were to be
taken at short intervals, and the positions of Venus relatively to
the sun’s centre were to be obtained from them hy subsequent
measurements. In the latter case, the photoheliograph took the
place of a heliometer, and was superior to that instrument in its
power of rapidly accumulating data.
The question of instrumental outfit having becn disposed of,
stations were selected, and parties dispatched to almost every
available point. The United States, Enzland, France, Germany,
Rusia, Holland,—in short, nearly all the nations of the
civilized world,—took part in the operations. The weather
was not altogether propitious on the day of the transit, but
nevertheless a mass of data was accumulated which will require
years for its thorough di-cussion. When the parties returned
home the contact observations were firstattacked, but it was soon
found that they were little better than those of the eighteenth
century. The black drop, and the atmospheres of Venus and
the Earth, had again produced a series of complicated
phenomena, extending over many seconds of time, from
among which it was extremely difficult to pick out the true
contact. It was uncertain whether or not different observers
had really recorded the same phase, and in every case that
que-tion had to be decided before the observations could be
used. Thus it came about that within certain rather wide
limits the resulting parallax was unavoidably dependent upon
the judgment of the computer, and to that extent was mere
guesswork. Attention was next directed to the photographs,
and soon it began to be whispered about that those taken by
European astronomers were a failure. Even yet I am not aware
Nov. 30, 1882 |
NATURE
117
that the Germans have published anything official on the subject;
but the English official report has appeared, and it frankly
declares that ‘‘ after laborious measures and calculations it was
thought best to abstain from publishing the results of the
photographic measures as comparable with those deduced from
telescopic view.” From the way in which these photographs
were taken, Sir George Airy saw that they could not yield
position angles of any value, and therefore differences of rizht
ascension and declination could not be determined from them ;
but they did seem capable of giving the distance between the
centres of Venus and the sun with considerable accuracy. Upon
trial this proved not to be the case. No two persons could
measure them alike, because ‘‘ however well the sun’s limb on
the photograph appeared to the naked eye to be defined, yet on
applying to it a microscope it became indistinct and untraceable,
and when the sharp wire of the micrometer was placed on it, it
entirely disappeared.” In short, the British photographs aro
useless for the present, but Sir George Airy hopes that in the
future some astronomer may be found who will be capable of
dealing with them.
We turn now to the American photographs, They present a
well defined image of the sun about 4.4 inches in diameter, and
are intended to give both the position angle and distance of
Venus from the sun’s centre. A special engine was at hand for
measuring them, but when they were placed under the microscope
only an indistinct blur could be seen, Here again was the sa ue
difficulty which had baffled the English, but fortunately its
cause was soon discovered. The magnifying power of the
microscope was only 374 diameters, which seemed moderate
enough, but was it really so? The photographic image of
the sun was about 4.4 inches in diameter, and this was magnified
3.31 times by the objective of the microscope, thus giving an
image 14.56 inchesin diameter. To yield an image of the same
size, a telescopic objective would require a focus of about 1563
inches, and if the eye-piece of the microscope, which had an
equivalent focus of 0.886 of an inch, were applied to it, a power
of 1764 diameters would be produced. This then was the
utterly preposterous power under which the image of the sun
was seen when the photograph was viewed through the micros-
cope, and no useful result could be expected from it. Means
were immediately provided for reducing the power of the
microscope to 5.41 diameters, and then the photograph seen
through it appeared as the sun does when viewed through a
telescope magnifying 255 diameters. After this change all
difficulty vanished, and the photographs yielded excellent results.
The measurements made upon them seem free from both constant
and systematic errors, and the probable accidental error of a
position of Venus depending upon two sets of readings made
upon a single photograph is only 0.553 of a second of arc. To
prevent misunderstanding it should be remarked that this state-
ment applies only to pictures taken between second and third
contact, and showing the entire sun, The small photographs
taken between first and second contact and again between third
and fourth contact, proved of no value.
These investigations consumed much time, and before the
result from the American photographs was generally known, an
international convention of astronomers was held in Paris to
consider how the transit of 1882 should be observed. The
United States was not represented at this conference, and
guided only by their own experience, the European astronomers
declared that photography was a failure and should not be tried
again. They knew that the contact methods are attended by
difficulties which have hitherto proved insurmountable, but under
the merciless pressure of necessity, they decided to try them
once more. Unfettered by the action of the Paris Conference,
the United States Transit of Venus Commission took a very
different view of the case. Its members knew that the probable
error of a contact observation is 0.15 of a second of arc, that
there may always be a doubt as to the phase observed, and that
a passing cloud may cause the loss of the transit. They also
knew that the photographic method cannot be defeated by
passing clouds, is not liable to any uncertainty of interpretation,
seems to be free from systematic errors, and is so accurate that
the result from a single negative has a probable error of only
0.55 of a second of arc. If the sun is visible for so much as
six minutes between the second and third contacts, by using dry
plates thirty-six negatives can be taken, and they will give as
accurate a result as the observation of both internal contacts.
These were the reasons which led the American Commission to
regard photography as the most hopeful means of observation,
_of the most important astronomical events of the century.
and thas it happens that the astronomers of the old and new
worlds differ radicaliy respecting the best means of utilizing one
The
Europeans condemn photography, and trust only to contacts and
heliometers ; the Americans observe contacts because it costs
nothing to do s», but look to photography for the most valuable
results
In 1716, Halley thought that by the application of his method
to the transit of 1761, the solar parallax could certainly be a
de‘ermined within the five hundredth part of its whole amount.
Since then, three transits have come and gone, and the contact
methods have failed to give half that accuracy. From the
photographic method, as developed by the U. S. Transit of
Venus Commission, we hope better things, and perhaps fifty
years hence its results may be ‘regarded as the most valuable
of the present transit season. In 1874, as in 1761, exaggerated
views prevailed respecting the value of transits of Venus, but
no competent authority now supposes that the solar parallax can
be settled by them alone. The masses of the Earth and Moon,
the moon’s parallactic inequality, the lunar equation of the earth,
the constants of nutationand aberration, the velocity of light,
and the light equation, must all be taken into account in
determining the solar parallax, and it cannot be regarded as
exactly known until the results obtained from trigonometrical,
gravitational, and phototachymetrical methods are in perfect
harmony. It may be be many years before this is attained, but
meanwhile practical astronomy is not suffering. Its use of the
solar parallax is mainly confined to the reduction of observations
made at the surface of the earth to what they would have been
if made at the Earth’s centre ; and for that, our present know-
ledgesuffices. The real argument for expending so much money
upon transits of Venus is that being an important factor in
determining the solar parallax, their extreme rarity renders it
unpardonable to neglect any opportunity of observing them,
Let us do our whole duty in this matter that posterity may
benefit by it, even as we have benefited by the labours of our
predecessors.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
OxrorD.—The professoriate has been strengthened by the
election of Dr. Burdon Sanderson to the new Chair of Physio-
logy on the Waynflete foundation in connection with Magdalen
College. The Biological side of ithe Museum will now be
divided into two departments,
The Brakenbury Natural Science Scholarship at Balliol Col-
lege has been awarded by the Examiners to Mr. Walker
Overend, of the Yorkshire College of Science and St. Bar-
tholomew’s Hospital.
CAMBRIDGE.—Messrs. J. W. Hicks and F. Darwin are
appointed members of the Botanic Garden Syndicate; Dr.
Ferrers (Master of Caius), and Prof. Stuart, of the Museums
and Lecture-Rooms Syn licate ; Prof. Stuart is also specially re-
appointed to the Local Examinations and Lectures Syndicate ;
Dr. Ferrers and Mr, Routh are appointed on the Observatory
Syndicate ; Prof. Humphry and Mr. Vines, on the State Medi-
cine Syndicate; Mr. Trotter, on the Special Board for Medi-
cine; Mr. Besant, on the Special Board for Mathematics; Mr.
Shaw, on the Special Board for Physics and Chemistry; Mr.
Vines, on the Special Board for Biology and Geology.
Messrs. J. C. Saunders and J. W. Hicks are approved as
Teachers of Botany and Chemistry respectively for the purpose
of certificates for Medical Students.
The following colleges have offered open exhibitions or
scholarships for natural science, with examinations in December
or January next: ‘Trinity, examination, December 12, one
exhibition of 50/. for two years; candidates to be under nine-
teen on March 25 next. St, Johns, one exhibition, 50/., for
three years, examination December 12 ; Caius, Jan. 8; Christ’s,
Emmanuel, and Sidney, January 12, a joint examination; candi-
dates for all these must be under nineteen years of age. Parti-
culars may be obtained from the tutors of the respective colleges.
GLAsGow,—The following appointments to Scholarships, &c.,
have been made in accordance with the results of the Competi-
tive Examinations :—George A. Clark Scholarship in Mental
Philosophy (£200 for four years), John S. McKenzie, M.A. ;
William Ewing Fellowship in Mental Philosophy (£80 for three
years), James A. McCallum, M.A. ; Eglinton Fellowship in
118
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (£100 for three years),
John Weir ; James Ferguson Bursary in Mathematics (£70 for
two years), William Weir ; Breadalbane Scholarship in Mathe-
matics (£50 for three years), James Hamilton, M.A.; John
Clark (Mileend) Scholarship in Natural Science (£50 for four
years), William Huntly, M.A. ; John Clark (Mileend) Scholar-
ship in Classics (£50 for four years), James McMillan.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, November 16.—On Megalania prisca, part
4, by Prof. Owen, F.R.S.—The author, referring to a remark
during a discussion following a previous communication (April,
1850), on the great horned Saurian of Australia, viz. that the
skull then described might have belonged to a Chelonian, not to
the genus and species founded on fossil vertebrze from localities
remote from the formation yielding the cranial evidence, pro-
ceeded to describe his latest received fossils from the river-bed
in Darling Downs, which included, besides evidences of the
pelvis and limbs of A/ega/aniza, also dorsal vertebre identical
in size and character with those on which the former existence
of such Jarge Saurian had been predicted (1858). The contiguity
of the last discovered vertebra, by Mr. G. F. Bennett, to the
cranial and caudal fossils previously found and transmitted by
him to the author, and the absence of any remains of a
Chelonian reptile in the whole extent of the dried up bed of the
river so perseveringly explored by that gentleman, would permit
no doubr, the author believed, as to the conclusions which had
been admitted in the previous volumes of the Phzlosophical
Transactions.
Linnean Society, November 16.—F. Crisp, LL.B., Trea-
surer, in the chair.—Mr. O. T. Olsen and Surgeon J. N. Stone,
R.N., were elected Fellows.—Dr. W. C. Ondaatje exhibited
and made remarks on some Ceylon plants, among these, the
fruit of Randia dumetorum, a remedy for dysentery ; the leaves
of Sethia acuminata, anthelmintic, and the resin of Semecarpus
gardnert, from which a black varnish is prepared.—Mr. W. T.
Thiselton Dyer called attention to a specimen of Cycas beddomet,
a new species from Southern India,—Mr. F. P. Balkwill ex-
hibited a series of British Foraminifera under the microscope,
and said a few words on the special mode of mounting the
same,—Mr. F. J. Hanbury showed a large fungus grown in a
City wharf cellar, and which Mr. G. Murray pronounced to be
a species of Levtinus.—Mr. C, Stewart exhibited a specimen of
Pilobolus, explaining his observations on the projection of its
sporangia.—Mr. J. G, Baker read a paper on the flora of Mada-
gascar. It contains descriptions of 140 new species of poly
petalous dicotyledons, obtained by the Rey. R. Baron and Dr.
G. W. Parker. Some are of widely-diffused tropical genera,
such as Hugenia, Crotalaria, &c. ; others are of more familiar
temperate types—A/chemilla, Clematis, and Polygala. Still
others are characteristic of the Cape flora now noted for the
first time from Madagascar, such as Sphedammnocarpus and Spar-
mannia, There is an interesting new genus of Malphigiacez
(Microsteira) allied to the American Hzv@a. Representatives
of LHibbertia and Rulingia are interesting, from their being
characteristically Australian genera. Mr. Baron has redis-
covered Rhodolena alterola, a showy plant, originally found
byg Du Petit Thouars a century ago. Dr. Parker has
paid special attention to the drugs, esculents, and timber trees
of the island, and catalogued 300 native names of the same.—A
note by Mr. E, P. Ramsay, on the type specimen of Finsch’s
Fruit Pigeon was read.—Dr. Maxwell Masters read a communi-
cation on the Passiflorze collected in Ecuador and New Granada
by M. Ed. André. Of Zacsonia g species are mentioned ; of
Passiflora 29 species, four being new. Some are of special
interest structurally, the excellence of the specimens enabling
ample examination of the curious flower structure to be made.—A
paper was read on cerebral homologies, by Prof. Owen. He com-
pares the brain of the locust and the cuttle-fish with that of the
fish, and uther higher forms, and summarises as follows :—That the
homologies of the primary divisions of the brain in molluscs are
the parts known in Articulates as the supra- and sub-cesophageal
ganglions, with their commissural cords. That the topical rela-
tions of these parts to the gullet are the same in both great divi-
sions of invertebrates ; and that the homologies of the aforesaid
parts with the primary divisions of the vertebrate brain are
affected solely by the altered relation thereto of the gullet and
NATURE
[Vov. 30, 1882
mouth.—A paper was read on Cassia lignea, by W. T. Thisel-
ton Dyer.—Thereafter, the sixteenth contribution to the mol-
lusca of the Challenger Expedition by the Kev. R. Boog
Watson, was read, in which were described the families
Fissurellidz and Cocculinide,
Chemical Society, November 16.—Prof. Dewar, vice-
president, in the chair.—It was announced that a ballot for the
election of Fellows would take place at the next meeting (De-
cember 7).—The following communications were made :—Con-
tributions to the chemistry of tartaric and citric acids, by the Jate
B, J. Grosjean. This paper has been compiled by Mr. Waring-
ton from the laboratory note-books left by the author. It
contains investigations as to the loss of water by different speci-
mens of citric acid, the determinaticn: of citric acid in lemon,
bergamot, lime, and orange juices, the influence of heat on
solutions of a totartaric acid, influence of sulphuric acid on the
crystallisation of tartaric acid, action of solutions of : potassium
and sodium sulphates on calcium tartrate, determination of free
sulphuric acid in tartaric acid liquors, determination of tartaric
acid by precipitation as bitartrate, &c.—Contributions to the
chemistry of bass fibres, by C. F. Cross and E. J. Bevan, The
authors detail further experiments, showi g that lignified fibres
are to be regarded as a chemical whole rather than the mixture
which was necessitated, viz. the incrustation theory.—On the
oxidation of cellulose, by C. F, Cro:s and E. J. Bevan. By the
action of boiling 60 per cent. nitric acid, cellulose is converted
into an amorphous substance C,,H.0,,, oxycellulose.—On
the analysis of certain vegetable fibres, Axnanassa, Musa,
Phormium, Linum, Urtica, &c., by C. S. Webster.—On the
constitution of some bromine derivatives of naphthalene (third
notice), by R. Meldola. The author concludes that Glaser’s a
dibromnaphthalene and Meldola’s metadibromnaphthalen are
isomeric, and not identical. The author has also obtained by
the diazo reaction 8 dibromnaphthalene, m.p. 81°, a new tribrom-
naphthalen, m.p. 113-114, a second melting at 63°, &c.—On
the constitution of lopbin (second notice), by F. R. Japp. The
author brings forward fresh proofs that this body has the consti-
tution ofan anhydrobase, and not that ascribed to it by Radzis-
zewski.
Geological Society, November 15.—Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys,
F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.—John Edmund Thomas
and Joseph Williams were elected Fellows of the Society.—The
following communications were read :—The drift-beds of the
North-west of England and North Wales ; part 2, their nature,
stratigraphy, and distribution, by T. Mellard Reade, C.E.,
F.G.S. The auther stated that the first part of this paper, read
in 1873, treated of the low-level boulder clay and sands,
special'y in relation to the contained shells. Since that time he
has been diligently collecting information to enable him to treat
of the nature, origin, and stratigraphy of the drift lying between
Liverpool and St. Bees and Liverpool and Carnarvonshire. The
author’s conclusions are that an ice-sheet, radiating from the
mountain district of the English lakes and the south of Scot-
land, produced the planing and grooving of the rock and the
red sand and rubble déér7s ; then the ice melted back into local
glaciers, and the submergence began. The low-level boulder-
clay and sands were, during a slow submergence, laid down
probably at depths of from 200 to 300 feet, and the author con-
siders that all the phenomena can be satisfactorily accounted for
by ordinary river-action and fraying of the coasts by the sea,
combined with frost and ice due to a severer climate bringing
down the materials of such river-basins to the sea, while icebergs
and coast-ice sailed over, dropping on the sea-bottom their
burdens of erratic stones and other materials from the mountain-
districts of the north. He pointed out, also, that the great
majority of the well-glaciated rocks were specially those that
could be traced tothe high lands, This fact was forced upon his
notice after making a lurge collection of glaciated boulders and
pebbles Among the rocks he had been able to identify, with the
help of Prof. Bonney and Mr. P. Dudgeon, of Dumfries, Scaw-
fell granite (Eskdale, of Mackintosh) was the most abundant
granite; then came grey granites from Dumfries, syenite from
Buttermere, which occurred all over the area described, and up
to 1200 feet on the Macclesfield Hills, and syenite from Can-
nockfell, Other probable identifications were also named. The
whole series of rocks from the Silurian to the New Red Marl
were represented in the low-level boulder-clay ; a few flints also
occurred, and one piece of what was believed to bechalk. The
paper concluded with an appendix by Mr. David Robertson,
Nov. 30, 1882 |
giving a list of the Foraminifera and other organisms found in
the various beds of boulder-clay in the Atlantic Docks, Liver-
pool.—On the evidences of glacial action in South Brecknock-
shire and East Glamorganshire, by Mr. T. W. Edgeworth
Davy. Communicated by Prof. J. Prestwich, F.R.S. The
area which is included in this paper is about 200 square miles,
extending north and south from the Brecknockshire Beacons toa
line between Cowbridge and the mouth of the Rhymney, of
which the Cly valley has been more particularly studied. Most
of the rocks in this district, and particularly the Millstone Grit,
retain traces of glacial markings, The whole area has a mou-
tonnée aspect.
Anthropological Institute, November 14.—Mr. Hyde
Clarke, vice-president, in the chair.—Mr. R. W. Felkin ex-
hibited a Darfur boy who was rescued from slavery and brought
to England by him in 1879.—Mr. Francis Galton exhibited a
box about the size of a backgammon board, containing a geo-
metric series of test weights for comparing the sensitivity of
different persons. The test lay in ascertaining the smallest
difference that could be perceived when handling them. The
lowest weight was 1000 grains, which gives no uncertain sense of
heaviness, and the highest weight was far short of what would
fatigue the hand. Consequently, by Weber’s law, the difference in
the sense of heaviness produced by handling any two of the weights
is the same, or nearly so, whenever those weights are separated
by the same number of terms. For example, a person who could
just and only just distinguish between the 4th and the 8th weight
would do the same as regards the 2nd and the 6th, and the 6th
and the toth, the number of terms interval being 4 in each case.
Again, as the only interpretation possible to the phrase that ‘‘ the
sensitivity of A is7 times as great as that of B,” is that A can
perceive 7 grades of difference when B can only perceive one, it
follows that the relative sensitivity of two persons is inversely
proportionate to the number of terms between any pair of
weights that they can respectively just discriminate. The
unit of ratio was 2 per cent., but in the earlier terms
there was a sequence of half units. The weights were
made exactly alike in outward appearance; they were com-
mon gun-cartridges, stuffed equably with shot and wads and
closed in the usual way. The term in the series to which
each weight belonged was written on the wad that closed it. It
was shown that the best economy of time was to present the
weights in threes, to be sorted in their proper order. By making
a proper selection, a wide range of testing power could be
obtained by 30 cartridges ranged in 10 trays. The same prin-
ciple admits of being extended to testing the delicacy of other
senses, as taste and smell. Some provisional results were men-
tioned : (1) that intellectually able men had, on the whole, high
powers of discrimination ; (2) that men had more discriminating
power than women ; (3) that highly sensitive women did not
seem able to discriminate more grades than others, though both
sensation and pain were induced in them by lower stimuli; (4)
that the blind, as a whole, were not peculiarly sensitive to this
test, but rather the reverse. A discussion followed, in which
Prof. Croom Robertson, Dr. Camps, Mr. Sully, 1. Mortimer
Granville, Dr. Mahomed, Mr. C. Roberts, Prof. Thane, and
others took part.
Royal Horticultural Society, November 14.—Dr. M. T.
Masters in the chair.—Proliferous Flowers: The Rev. G. Hens-
low exhibited a Rhododendron balsamiflorum aureum, with
flowers arising from the centre of the pistil. The latter organ
had dehisced longitudinally, and a cluster of malformed orange-
coloured petals protruded from the orifice. He observed that
every flower on one bush in his garden, of a common pink kind,
had, during the last season, formed a blossom within the pistil,
though in the latter case the flowers so formed had perfect as
well as petaloid stamens. In every case the flower sprang from
the axis at the base of the ovary. Carnation: a blossom with
a secondary flower arising from within the calyx. Blue-bell :
Each flower was borne on a pedicel of about two inches in
length, and produced a secondary flower from the axil of a
perianth leaf. In the place of one flower a complete raceme
had grown,.—Solomon’s Seal ; Leafy racemes occupied the posi-
tions of normal flowers.—Monstrous Flowers: He also showed
the following :—/is/z/lody of calyx in Violets, in which the
organs were in part or entirely virescent and malformed, having
the sepals abortively ovuliferous, and the petals often laciniated,
The sepals bore papiliform structures on the margins and mid-
NATURE
119
ribs, resembling rudimentary ovules. The only recorded instance
of ovuliferous sepals was that of the garden pea, figured and
described in the Gard. Chron. 1866, p. 897. istillody of sta-
mens: He showed drawings illustrating various stages of ovu-
liferous stamens of the Alpine poppy. Syzgenes sm in Diplotaxis
tenyifolia: The anthers of every flower cohcred laterally, so
that the pollen could not escape ; the consequence being that in
no case did a flower set seed. Placental protrusion in Begonia :
Portions of the placentas covered with ovules had protruded ex-
ternally from the summit of the ovary, apparently being due to
hypertrophy.—Czrysaxthemum : Dr. Masters showed a blossom,
half the florets being white, the other half yellow, a diameter
separating the two kinds.
CAMBRIDGE
Philosophical Society, November 13.—On the structure of
the spleen, by Mr. J. N. Langley.—On the continuity of the
protoplasm in the motile organs of leaves.—Dr. W. H. Gaskell
exhibited two pieces of muscular tissue from the ventricle of a
tortoise, one of which had been taught to execute rhythmical
contractions,
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, November 20.—M. Jamin in the
chair.—A letter was read from the Minister of Public Instruc-
tion, giving an arvéé which fixes the conditions of the next Volta
prize, to be awarded in 1887 (see p. $9).—Results of experi-
ments made at the Exhibition of Electricity on incandescent
lamps, ty MM, Allard and others. In general and for the
spherical mean intensity of 1°20 Carcel, only about 12 to 13
Carcels per h.p. of arc, or 10 Carcels per h.p. of mechanical
work, can be counted on, from incandescent lamps. Electric
candles give 40 Carcels per h.p. of are, regulators nearly 100,
so that, generally, the economic values of the three systems are
nearly as I, 3, and 7.—Researches on the iodide of lead, by M.
Berthelot.—On the decomposition of cyanogen, by the same.—
Researches relative to the vision of colour, by M. Chevreul.
—On the relation of lunar to solar action in the pheno-
mena of the tides, by M. Hall.—Chemical studies on Sile-
sian beet (continued), by M. Leplay.—Electro-chemical de-
posits of various colours, produced on precious metals, for
jewellery, by M. Weil. He presented pieces of gold and silver
jewellery, polychromised industrially with oxides of copper, by
his processes. The colours resist friction, dry or moist air, air
vitiated by sulphuretted hydrogen or coal gas, and light. M.
Edm. Becquerel recalled the colorations obtained by his father
with oxides of lead and iron.—Ona sulphocarbometer for deter-
mining the quantities of sulphide of carbon contained in alkaline
sulphocarbonates, by MM. Gélis. A glass flask filled with a
solution of bisulphite of soda or potash, has on its neck a
metallic sleeve with internal screw-thread ; into this is screwed a
corresponding metallic tube with stopcock under the terminal
bulb of a graduated and closed glass tube holding the sulpho-
carbonate to be examined. On opening the cock, the liquids
mix. The reaction is completed when the sulphocarbonat= be-
comes quite colourless ; then the height of the column of sulphide
of carbon is noted, and the weight of the sulphide of carbon th: t
was in the sulphocarbonate may be deduced.—Results of treat-
ment adopted in Switzerland with a view to destruction of Phy!-
loxera, by M. Mayet (see p. 89).—On two standards of the
aune and the pied de Rot recently found by M. Wolf. He found
them in the maritime arsenal of Cherbourg. They are at present
the scle representatives of an attempt at ‘unification of French
measures long before the birth of the metric system, and
the only models of ancient measures preserved in their
integrity.—Observations of the planet (216) Cleopatra, and
of the great comet of 1882, at Paris Observatory (equa-
torial of the western tower), by M. Bigourdan.—Observa-
tions of the same comet at Algiers Observatory, by M. Trepied.
—On the same, by M.-Jaubert. He notes (from the Popular
Observatory) that the central part, or true tail, had a paler enve-
lope, which nearly ceased to be visible as the comet rose above
the horizon and the tail shortened—except a part nearest a
Hydre, which seemed brighter than at first.—On the solar
energy, by M. Rey de Morande. The great uniformity of ter-
restrial vegetation till the Cenomanian epoch, and gradual differ-
entiation since, according to latitude, the gradual invasion of
southern regions by trees with caducous leaves, and disappear-
ance of all vegetation in Polar regions, are phenomena explicable
by gradual contraction of the sun, but inexplicable by gradual
cooling of the earth.—On the works of Frederic Houtman, by
120
NATURE
[ Mov. 30, 1882
M. Veth.—On the functions of a single variable similar to the
polynémes of Legendre, by M. Hugoniot.—On the motion of a
system of two electrified particles of ponderable matter, and on
the integration of a class of equations with partial derivatives,
by M. Lévy.—Production by the dry way of some crystallised
uranates, by M. Ditte.—On the second anhydride of mannite,
by M. Fouconnier.—Action of tri-ethylamine on symmetrical
trichlorhydrine, and on the two isomeric dichlorhydric glycides,
by M. Reboul.—Note on the study of /ongrain, and the
measures of schistosity in schistous rocks by means of their
thermic properties, by M. Jannettaz. The large axis of the iso-
thermal surface is parallel to the /omgrain or second cleavage,
and the small axis is perpendicular to the first cleavage or plane
of schistosity.—Lithine, strontian, and boric acid in the mineral
waters of Contrexeville and of Schinzmark (Switzerland), by M.
Dieulafait.—Experiments on the calcination of alunite in
powder, for manufacture of alum and sulphate of alumina, by
M. Guyot.—On the anastomoses of striated muscular fibres in
invertebrates, by M. Jousset de Bellesme. They insure simultaneous
contraction (e.g. in gastric glands).— On the functions of the digiti-
form or superanal gland of Plagiostomes, by M. Blanchard, It
appears to be a true pancreas.—Evolution of the epithelium of
poison glands in the toad, by M. Calmels.—On two tertiary
Plagiaulax, obtained in the neighbourhood of Rheims, by M.
Lemoine.—On the 7imgis of the pear-tree, by M. Carlet.—Some
letters on the recent aurora were communicated,
BERLIN
Physiological Society, November 10,—Prof, Du Bois-
Reymond in the chair.—Dr. J. Geppert gave an account of
some experiments which he and Dr. A. Fraenkel had made on
the effect of rarefied air on the organism, in order to test the
statements which [rof, Paul Bert had made on respiration in
rarefied air, and the accompanying deficiency of oxygen in the
blood. ‘The animal experimented on—a dog—was unfettered
in a box of sheet iron, with a glass window, in which it was
possible to produce every desirable pressure with an air-pump,
and the ventilation could easily be accomplished during the
attained rarefaction. Ifthe gas pressure in the box was sinking,
by degrees, the animal did not show any change in its behaviour
or its functions until the pressure was reduced to 38cm. Then
and at a further lessening of the pressure, the animal became
restless, the respiration grew deeper and faster; again, at a
further rarefaction of air, the movements became uncertain and
giddy; at a pressure of 25 cm., one-third atmosphere, the
animal fell asleep like a normal sleeping animal, and could
remain so six or seven hours without any hindrance to his later
complete restoration; occasionally awakened, the animal had
severe paroxysms of dyspnoea, which, however, soon passed,
and it fell again fast asleep. By further rarefaction, nearly to
15 cm., severe paroxysms of dyspnoea and convulsions very
soon caused the death. Nearly the same appearance and the
same succession of phenomena aéronauts have described during
balloon ascensions: in the first stage a quite normal feeling,
then accelerated and deeper respiration, faintness of the limbs,
which increased to paralysis ; during the increasing inability of
moving the voluntary muscles, drowsiness begins, from which
there was no awakening if the balloon still rises to more rarefied
regions, as was the case with the unhappy aéronauts Crave,
Spinelli, and Sivel. These symptoms differ in no way from the
phenomena described in these experiments, but the stages begin
much sooner, and the 25cm, pressure at which the dog only fell
into a deep sleep is the extreme limit of available rarefaction for
the aéronaut. The cause of this more early beginning of the
stages of disease may be first the low temperature of the higher
regions which Mr. Glaisher showed to sink till — 20°, and other-
wise the continuous muscular activity causing stronger effects of
the lower degree of rarefaction. Quite another appearance is
presented by the mountain disease which is characterised by
nausea, choking, and vomiting, besides the strong respiratory
movements and increased heart’s action. Dr. Geppert supposes
that neither the often but moderate degree of rarefaction
(60 cm. pressure) nor the trifling want of oxygen is the vera
causa, but, as Mr. Dufour has already asserted, the extreme weari-
ness of the body. (In the discussion which followed Dr.
Geppert’s communication, Prof. Du Bois-Reymond observed
that some years ago he had advanced and proved the theory that
the mountain disease, especially the vomiting on ascending high
mountains, was a reflex phenomenon due to’the very strong
dazzling of the eyes by the vast intensely white and brightly
insolated snow-fields.) Again, Dr. Geppert has] made many
measurements on the absorption of the oxygen by the arterial
blood at varying gas teusions, The manner of blood-letting, the
measuring of its volume, and the gas analysis, were much exacter
and less objectionable than in the corresponding experimentst
of Mr. Bert, particularly for the measuring of the blood volume,
an ingenious apparatus was used. The results of these experi-
ments were that the proportion of oxygen in the arterial bluod
remained normal with decreasing oxygen tension, till the gas
pressure was sunk to 4ocm, At further sinking of gas-pressure
the proportion of oxygen in the blood decreased, and the de-
ficiency of oxygen grew very considerable. Finally Dr. Gepper
concluded that in the action of rarefied air on the proportion of
the oxygen in the blood the physical absorption plays not so
much a part as rather the chemical affinity for haemoglobin for the
oxygen.—i’rof. Munk then reported briefly on experiments
executed by Mr. Orshansky in his laboratory on the influence of
anemia on the electric excitability of the brain ; the anemia was
produced by pouring the blood out of the femoral artery, and
the excitability was tested in that part of the brain-surface which
is tbe centre of motion of the fore and hinder legs, partly with
the constant, partly with the inductive stream. In the first
stages of the ble ding there was no change of excitability, then
it increased, till avout one-seventh of the total blood volume was
poured out, then any further loss of blood continuously decreased
the excitability, ull finally, when about two-thirds of the
blood was gone it sunk to zero. In every stage of anemia the
maximum of corresponding change of excitability never ap-
peared immediately, but some time after bleeding. Through all
the changiig of stages of excitability, except when the irritability
was sunk to zero, re-creation and return to the normal state took
place after an interv:l. No certain relation between the blood-
pressure after the bleeding, and the rate of irritability corres-
ponding to that state of anemia could be established. ,
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, November 2.—T. Hor-
baczewski, on the synthesis of uric acid.—V. Patelt, on the
development of the ucous membrane of the large intestine.
—A. Taroliniek, on the relation between tension and tempera-
ture of saturated vapours and saturated carbonic acid.—E.
Weiss, computations of the positions of the cometary nebulz
discovered by T. J]. Schinidt, of Athens, on October 9.—Hr,.
Weidel and Kk. Hazura, on cinchonine.-—R. Wegacheider, on
isovanilline.—T’. y. Oppolzer, on the criterion relating to the
existence of thy utions of the cometic problem.—T. Wies-
ner, studies on witheriog leaves and leaf-shoot, a contribution to
the knowledge of the transplantation of plants.
CONTENTS Pacr
Tue Inpian SURVEY By Major ALLaN CuNNINGHAM,R.E. . « 07
GREEN’S “‘ GEOLOGY * 5 Sy OC mt eRe cam cho see
Our Boox SHEL
Yarrell’s ** History of British Birds ”” rer oeire Came <0)
“ Episodes in he Life fan Indian Chaplain” 2) 69
LETTERS T? THE
Sir George Airy on the Forth Bridge.—Cuar tes SHaALER SMITH. 99
The Aurora.—Prof. EBERT McLeop; Rev. CwHartes J.
Tayitor; | ErHEN H Saxpy.; ALFRED BATSON . . . 09
Lavoisier. Pr and the Discovery of Oxygen—G. F.
RODWELL 5 eo cae Oates : - 100
The Comet. —M HIB RSGHETAg so fe bet ote Se! oe FeO RLOS
An Urgent Ne nthrop-logy.—W. L. Distant . . . . Ior
A Modifica old-leaf Mlectroscope and a Mode of Regis-
tering its Che FREDERICK JOHNSMITH . ... . « «= I02
Pala lithic Gr VorTHINGTON,G. SMitH. . . % 1 . 5 zoe2
Ancient Monu s.—WorTHINGTON G. SMITH . . . » « « 02
Shadows after Sunse!.—J. Ranp Carron a wie’. segue areiigde It aaa MaRKEES
On the Isomeri \lhuminous Bodies. —SHIGETAKE SAGIURA - 103
An Extraordin nar Haio.—J. P. BarkKas : 103
Meteor.—W I ei) one pea oe me setey aete! Lobuts 103
Flames in Coal —SM. . os * “5 nf oAl pistons By Gk
Waterspouts on —foun Greppes McInTosu * a 6 13k
Nores FROM THE Li oF Cart,1s Dawson, R.A., In Com-
MAND OF THE k IRCUMPOLAR EX®EDITION . . . . «© « 103
On THE Geabu LVANOMA1l FoR THE MEASUREMENT
OF Curr rs IALS IN ABSOLUTE Measure, IJ. By
Anprew Gray ( Yagram) . .. oy ae 6. dats) DOA
PRoFEssor Lik ) RESVEUOL) eh. Te is eon eaten ee TOD
THE Comer. B er W. T. Sampson, U.S.N.; Dr. C. J. B.
WILLIAMS Diagrams) PP 5G. ame Tes
THE APPRO EF May'6, 2883) ct icuee sues je) #) 0) re KO
THe TRANS! WepNeSDAY, DECEMBER6 . .. . « ZI2
Noves : 5.6 : ot mo . 112
On THE Tr s. By Prof. Wat. HARKNESS 114
UNIVERSITY f ~NAL INTELLIGENCE . . 2.6 117
SocieTIEs AND A eel te) <s 5 AG wcrc do. 1 Ly
NADLORE
12!
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1882
RECENT RESEARCHES IN THE META-
MORPHISM OF ROCKS
N the heart of many mountain-ranges, and likewise
spreading over wide hilly areas of the northern part
of our hemisphere, lies the strikingly distinct series
of rocks to which the name of The Crystalline Schists
has been given. The passing traveller who knows nothing
of geology cannot fail to be struck with their strange,
crumpled and gnarled beds, through which streaks of
white quartz wind and twist in a network of interlacing
veins. Sheets of the naked rock often present a silvery
sheen as sunlight falls across them, and this glistening
aspect may be traced down in the minutest flakes of
silvery mica that lie packed in parallel leaves throughout
the mass.
No group of rocks has given rise to more discussion
than the Schists. An account of the oscillations of
opinion regarding their origin would form a curious and
interesting chapter in the history of geological speculation.
They have been looked upon as parts of the aboriginal
crust of the planet—traces of the first solid film that
formed upon its fiery surface. By one school of writers
they are believed to be original chemical precipitates
from the waters of the primeval ocean. By another they
are treated as masses of sedimentary or other material
which have been crystallised and altered into their present
condition by a process to which the name Metamorphism
has been given. Between these two doctrines, with their
various modifications, the pendulum of geological opinion
has vibrated for somewhere about a century, and vibrates
still. In England and America indeed, owing mainly to
the commanding influence of Lyell, the metamorphic
theery has so entirely prevailed that most English-speak-
ing geologists have come to accept it as a demonstrated
truth, and to look back upon the Wernerian doctrine of
chemical precipitates as a singular and happily obsolete
vagary of the geological imagination. They have written
text-books in which that doctrine is not even so much as
honoured with an allusion to its ever having existed,
though here and there a solitary protest has now and then
been raised among us in favour of the other view, like
that uttered by De la Beche as far back as 1834, and
those of Dr. Sterry Hunt in later years. In Germany, on
the other hand, the old Wernerian dogma has always had
its staunch adherents, but in gradually diminishing num-
bers, the theory of the metamorphic origin of the crystal-
line schists having been warmly espoused there also by
an ever-increasing body of observers.
For some years past what has been called the orthodox
metamorphic doctrine has been called in question by
various writers who have cast doubts on the observations
which were believed to prove the fact that wide areas of
rock, originally of fragmentary or detrital composition,
had undergone a conversion into crystalline schists. The
time-honoured doctrine of chemical precipitates, tricked
out in the finery of modern chemical analysis, has been
resusciiated and defended with the warmth of the most
devoted partisanship. Within the present year, however,
several memoirs have appeared which powerfully support
VOL, XXVII.—No. 684
the doctrine of metamorphism, and as effectively oppose
the rival hypothesis. The aid of the microscope, as well
as of chemical analysis, has been invoked : new facts and
arguments have been adduced, and the nature of the
changes involved in metamorphism have been more
clearly made known. Whether or not there may be any
crystalline schists in the earliest or Archzean rocks of the
earth’s crust, which had their origin in the chemical
precipitates of a primeval ocean, may remain a question
for future discussion. But recent researches with all the
manifold appliances of modern petrography demonstrate
beyond the possibility of all further cavil, that ancient
sedimentary strata have undergone such an alteration as
to have assumed a more or less completely crystalline
condition, that numerous silicates have been developed in
them, often also with foliation, that these changes are
seen round bosses of granite and other eruptive masses
(contact metamorphism), but also far more strikingly
over wide regions where eruptive rocks cannot have
induced them (regional metamorphism), and that in the
latter case the alteration is always connected with evi-
dence of enormous mechanical pressure of the strata. To
one or two of the more important recent papers, brief
reference may here be made.
The Silurian schists, with their fossils and remarkably
compressed conglomerates in the Bergen district, have
been made the subject of a remarkable memoir by Mr.
Hans Reusch.! In this essay the author traces the
passege from ordinary shales into fine phyllite-schists
and mica-schists, in which crystalline aggregates of mica
have been porphyritically developed. In some of the
altered fossiliferous beds microscopic crystals of rutile
and tourmaline have appeared. The fossiliferous lime-
stones have been converted into marble, wherein, how-
ever, the organic forms can still be detected. The fossils
which occur in certain mica-schists, and have been speci-
fically determined, leave no doubt that the whole series
of rocks belongs to the lower part of the upper Silurian
system. Yet they include intercalated bands of gneiss,
hornblende-schist, talc-schist, and other foliated rocks.
The author connects the crystalline condition of these
masses with the effects of the enormous mechanical
pressure which they have undergone, as shown, for
example, by the extreme flattening of the pebbles in
some of the associated conglomerates.
The Silurian rocks of the Christiania district have
long been famous for the illustrations they afford
of the phenomena of contact-metamorphism. They
have been subjected to a detailed investigation by
Mr. W. C. Brégger, lately of the Geological Survey
of Norway, and now Professor of Geology in the Uni-
versity of Stockholm. He kas lately published what
we hope is only an earnest of the valuable work we
have yet to expect from him.* His monograph embraces
the stratigraphy, paleontology, structure, eruptive rocks,
and contact-metamorphism of the district. This last-
named feature is more minutely traced out than has yet
been attempted for that region, though only a beginning
in the study has been made, Mr. Brégger deeming it
* «Gilurfossiler og Pressede Konglomerater i Bergensskifrene.” (Chris-
tiania: Universitets programm, 1882). This memoir was recently noticed in
these columns (NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 567).
2 «Die Silurischen Etagen 2 and 3 im Kristianiagebiet und auf Eker.’
(Christiania: Universitétsprogramm, 1882).
G
122
NATURE
| Dec. 7, 1882
better to publish his first results now than to wait for
leisure to extend and complete them. He points out, as
had already been done by Kjerulf and others, that while
there isa general alteration as the rocks approach the
eruptive masses of granite and syenite, the special type
of alteration depends in each case upon the original
capacity of the rock for metamorphism. He has traced
the Silurian zones from their ordinary unaltered condition
until they assume their most metamorphosed character
against the granite, and he compares the chemical com-
position and microscopic structure of the unaltered and
altered strata. He points out that certain bands of rock
appear to be endowed with a remarkable capacity for
withstanding the effects of metamorphism.
Dictyograptus-shales may be observed close to the granite
and in the midst of the most intensely-metamorphosed
beds, yet comparatively little changed. They become
paler in colour and perhaps somewhat harder and more
compact, but their graptolites are as well preserved, down
even to the minutest details, as they are at a distance from
the contact-zone. The dark alum-shales are converted
into hard compact bluish “ Knotenschiefer’’ and chias-
tolite-slates, still retaining their fossils. The chiastolite
crystals may even be seen traversing the graptolite-stems,
which are otherwise as well preserved in these as in the
ordinary unaltered shales. The remarkable development
of silicates in the Christiania limestones, where these
rocks have been converted into marble near the granite,
has long been a classical instance of contact-meta-
morphism. Mr. Brogger gives some interesting observa-
tions of his own among these rocks. He notes the
occurrence of recognisable fossils even in those parts of
the marble where the silicates have been abundantly de-
veloped, and he points to the suggestive fact that where
a fourth or fifth part of the marble is made up of red
garnet, the latter mineral, in well crystallised rhombic
dodecahedra, may be found inclosing the valve of an
Orthis calligramma.
The alternation of comparatively little-changed grapto-
lite shales with fine crystalline schists and forms of horn-
fels, which Prof. Brégger reports from so many localities,
is a fact of great significance in relation to the problem
of the origin of the crystalline schists. That the crystal-
line character has been superinduced upon what were
once ordinary marine mechanical sediments admits now
of no doubt. The extent of the change appears on the
whole to depend on the one hand upon the liability of
the rock to metamorphism, and on the other upon relative
proximity to the eruptive rock. The preservation of
organic remains in the altered bands is exceptional, and
depends, according to our author, Ist, upon the greater
permanence of the substance of the organisms, the chitin
of the graptolites, for example, being apparently undis-
tingu shable in the altered beds from the same substance
in the ordinary shales ; 2nd, upon the replacement of the
hard parts of the organisms by mineral matter, either
before or during the process of metamorphism ; and 3rd,
upon the filling up of the original cavities of the fossils
by some mineral, as graptolites by pyrites, and the interior
of brachiopods by wollastonite, or upon the inclosing of
the organisms in a crystalline matrix as in the case of the
impressions of shells in garnet, just referred to. But, asa
rule, fossils disappear even from the most richly fossiliferous
Thus the |
bands as these are traced across the altered zone. Mr.
Brogger modestly regards his observations as still too
limited to warrant him in theorising on the phenomena of
contact metamorphism. But the admirable methods he
has followed, connecting in one broad microscopical and
chemical research both the altered and unaltered con-
dition of the same rock, mark a new starting-point for
the further study of that "great geological problem—
metamorphism.
There is one further incidental but pregnant statement
in this Memoir to which reference must here be made.
So far back as the years 1875 and 1877 Prof. Broégger, in
the course of his field-work in the Geological Survey of
Norway, established the existence of graptolite-bearing
beds among the crystalline schists of the Hardanger
region. He now publishes some details of the section
there visible, from which we learn that the graptolite band
(Dictyograptus-schiefer) occurs among some Dlack little
altered alum-slates lying at the very base of the enormous
series of crystalline schists forming the Norwegian high-
lands! The alum slates pass under some bluish quartzose
sandstone, overlaid by a white impure marble (possibly
the Orthoceratite limestone), which in turn is covered by
greenish micaceous clay-slates (phyllites). Above these
basement strata come more and more crystalline schists,
comprising diorite-schists, hormblende-schists, garneti-
ferous mica-schists, foliated rocks of many varieties, and
true gneisses—the two last mentioned rocks sometimes
several thousand feet thick. We learn further that in
1877 the same observer, in harmony with Naumann’s
observations, established the fact that the enormous
series of crystalline schists of the Norwegian mountains
is younger than the second stage of the Silurian (or Cam-
brian) rocks of the Christiania district. He refers to his
friend Mr. Reusch’s discovery of Upper Silurian fossils
from the crystalline schists of Bergen, asa confirmation of
his former supposition that the whole of the vast succession
of crystalline schists in the Norwegian mountains is a
metamorphic series.
When we remember that on the- opposite side of the
peninsula similar primordial fossiliferous strata emerge
from underneath the vast overlying schists and crystalline
rocks of the Swedish uplands,* it is evident that an
enormous area of regional metamorphism extends across
Scandinavia. The close parallel between the structure of
this region and that of the Scottish Highlands is one of
the most striking facts in the geology of North-Western
Europe. In both areas recognisable Silurian fossils occur
at the very base of the vast metamorphic series, and the
rocks become progressively more and more crystalline as
they are traced from bottom to top.
A third remarkable paper by Pére Renard, of the Royal
Museum, Brussels, must be cordially welcomed as one of
the most important contributions of modern petrography
to the study of metamorphism.’ It deals with a portion
of the singular belt of crystalline schists which runs
through the French and Belgian Ardennes. Dumont as,
far back as the year 1848, published an account of these
rocks, the significance of which that accurate observer
fully perceived. He showed that they occur in his
I x See A. E. Térnebohm, Bihang till Svensk. Akad. Handl., 1873.
“Les Roches Grenatiféres et Amphiboliques de la region de Bastogne,’
par A. Renard, Budletin du Musée Royald' Histoire Naturel de Belgique,
tome i. 1882.
Dec. 7, 1882 |
NAGOGRE
123
Coblentzian division of the Lower Devonian rocks of that
region, that they pass insensibly into ordinary sedimentary
rocks, but towards their axis have been metamorphosed
into more or less crystalline compounds in which various
silicates (garnet, hornblende, mica, &c.) have been deve-
loped. He observed fossil ,lants and animals in some
parts of these altered rocks. In cne of his specimens of
a rock full of garnet, Sandberger determined the presence
of the characteristic Devonian shells, Spz7zfer macropterts
and Chonetes sarcinulatus. Nothing can be more em-
phatic than the testimony borne by Dumont to the age of
these rocks and the fact of their metamorphism. His
essay upon them is hardly known to geologists generally,
but it deserves to rank as one of the most precise and
detailed contributions ever made by a field-geologist to
the study of the phenomena of metamorphism,’ His
observations have been singularly confirmed_by those of
M. Renard. The metamorphic phenomena of the Ar-
dennes are repeated on a greater scale in the extension
of the Devonian rocks eastward into the basin of the
Rhine, where they have been admirably described by
Lossen,? whose pregnant memoirs on this and other geo-
logical problems deserve the closest study of the student.
Bringing all the assistance which chemical analysis and
microscopical investigation now supply to the study of
the origin of rocks, M. Renard, in the present communi-
cation, which fitly opens tke first number of the newly-
organised Bulletin au Musée Royal de Belgique, presents
us with a detailed description of the garnetiferous and
hornblendic rocks of Bastogne in the south-eastern por-
tion of the Belgian Ardennes. It is impossible to give
any adequate 7éswmé of this memoir within the space
here available. But attention may be directed to one or
two of its more interesting features.
At the outset it should be noted that the band of
metamorphosed strata here referred to occurs along a
line of plication running in a general east-north-east and
west-south-west direction; that it is not associated with
any visible eruptive rocks, that it dies away into ordinary
unaltered greywacke and shale on the outside, and be-
comes more and more crystalline towards the axis, until
it presents the most intense metamorphism anywhere to
be found in Belgium.
In subjecting to microscopic examination thin slices of
some of these altered rocks, M. Renard noticed that the
quartz-granules, presumably of clastic origin, have lost
the liquid inclusions so generally found in the quartz-
granules of old sedimentary strata. This fact (already
observed by Sorby in the case of sandstone invaded by
dolerite) seems to indicate that the sand-grains have not
escaped the influence of the changes which have so pro-
foundly affected ihe other constituents of the rormer
sediment. ‘The original carbonaceous matter of the
rocks, now altered into graphite, is spread as a fine dust
among the other constituents, generally coating the
minerals, scmetimes inclosed within them, frequently
accumulated at certain points into black, brilliant irre-
gular bands, occasionally as hexagonal flakes. This
aggregation of the carbon recalls the way in which the
graphite occurs in Archean limestones. The garnet
Xt «« Memoire sur les terrains Ardennais et Rhénan.’’? Mem. Acad. Roy.
de Belgique, 1848.
2 “*Geognostische Beschreibung des Taunus,” &e.
Deutsch, Geor, Gesell., 1867, p. 509-
Zeitschrift der
crystals are marked by a singularly interesting arrange-
ment of lines of crystalline inclusions disposed along the
crystallographic axes of the inclosing crystals. In certain
rocks the garnets (about three millimetres in diameter)
are traversed bya series of paralleled joints or fissures
which run in a given direction through all the crystals.
These cannot, of course, be cleavage lines. They are
attributed by M. Renard to fracture produced by mecha-
nical pressure, and he remarks that the minute flakes
interspersed through the ground-mass of the rock are
oriented in the same direction.
Taking a general view of the microscopic structure of
these rocks the author divides the constituent minerals
into two groups: those which represent more or less
distinctly the original sediment of which the rocks
were formed, and those which have been subsequently
developed by metamorphism. The quartz grains, for
example, have preserved the closest resemblance to
those of the ordinary normal arenaceous rocks of the
lower Devonian series. The presence of graphite and
anthracite likewise connects these crystalline masses with
the sandy strata containing diffused carbonised vegetable
matter. But on the other hand the crystalline structure
and the presence of such minerals as garnet, hornblende,
mica, titanite, and others connects these undoubtedly
Devonian rocks with the crystalline schists of the Archzean
series, as possibly both referable to the like series of
physical and chemical changes.
M. Renard unhesitatingly discards the doctrine of
direct chemical precipitation. He admits that the evi-
dence of the physical structure of the country, as Dumont
so well enforced, demonstrates that these crystalline rocks
lie in the Devonian system and pass laterally into ordinary
sedimentary accumulations. He further insists that the
study of the minute structure of the rocks under the
microscope confirms, in the most satisfactory manner,
the view of that geologist that the actual condition of the
masses has been produced by metamorphic action, in
what way soever this action may have been induced. He
connects the metamorphism with the proofs of great
plication traceable through the altered Devonian rocks of
the Ardennes. The mechanical action involved in the
process would, he believes, predispose the sedimentary
materials to a more or less complete recrystallisation.
As it crushed them under the enormous pressure and
partly was itself transformed into heat, it would set into
active motion the chemical affinities of the various
mineral substances. In this way sand might finally pass
into quartzite, argillaceous mud into phyllade or phyllite-
schist, sandy clay into more or less schistose micaceous
quartzites ; the calcareous matter would enter into com-
bination to form the various lime-silicates so characteristic
of these garnetiferous and hornblendic rocks ; while the
carbonaceous ingredient, losing some of its constituent
elements, would separate out as graphite.
M. Renard’s testimony to the theory of metamorphism
is all the more valuable, as it has been extorted from him
by the irresistible logic of facts against his own previous
convictions. He has now furnished to this theory fresh
€vidence in its support, showing how well the observa-
tions by which it is established in the field are sustained
by minute petrographical analysis. Every one intere sted
in geological research will hope that the paper he has
124
NATURE
[ Dec. 7, 1882
now published is only the first of a series on the same
subject with which he will enrich the literature of the
science. ARCH. GEIKIE
HUMAN MORPHOLOGY
Human Morphology ; a Treatise on Practical and Applied
Anatomy. By Henry Albert Reeves. Vol. I. The
Limbs and Perinzum., (London: Smith, Elder, and
Co., 1882.)
HE author of this work is evidently very ambitious.
In his preface he tells us that his primary wish was
to produce a treatise in which he would deal thoroughly
with the anatomy of man, and then compare his structure
with that of other vertebrates, giving directions as to
the dissection of the type-forms chosen in illustration.
Further, being dissatisfied with anatomical nomenclature
and classification generally, more especially with the
terms at present in use in myology, he attempted a
revision in this department.
As he proceeded with his task, however, he found that
the labour, time, and knowledge necessary for carrying
out so extensive a piece of work was too great, and that
he had better relinquish his original idea and leave it for
execution to more competent labourers.
But even ‘after departing so far, and wisely as we think,
from his first conception of what a student’s text-book
should be, he has found it necessary still further to with-
draw from his original plan, and to excise much that he
had written on anomalies of arrangement, various para-
graphs on dissections which are out of the student’s usual
course to perform, and to reduce in quantity the sections
on the practical applications of anatomy.
Had the author carried out his original idea of what a
handbook for students and practitioners should be, he }
would have produced an encyclopedia of anatomy, and
not a text-book for daily use.
But after all this renunciation of so much of the
author’s primary conception of what is required in a
practical work on anatomy, sufficient is left to form a
most voluminous treatise.
The volume before us extends to 719 large octavo pages.
It comprises only the anatomy of the limbs and perineum,
and we are promised two additional volumes, each of
between sixand seven hundred pages, in order to complete
the work.
It seems to us that the author even yet has not attained
a proper idea of what the contents of a book should be,
which, to use his own words, “‘is to be chiefly used w/z/e
the student ts dissecting.’ Ue has not sufficiently dis-
criminated between the material that should find a place
in a text-book of systematic anatomy and that which
properly belongs to a practical treatise. We are quite in
unison with him in the propriety of omitting all illustra-
tions and detailed description of minute or microscopic
anatomy. But we should have gone still further and cut
out the historical sketch, the bibliography, the chapter on
anatomical technics, which together would have sub-
tracted between 60 and 70 pages from the volume. Also
we should have condensed the descriptions and reduced
in amount the sections on variations in the arrangements
of the bones, muscles, and other soft parts.
A sketch of the rise and progress of anatomy, and a
copious bibliography are not required by the student at
the dissecting table. On the other hand they are both
interesting and useful in a systematic treatise. The
variations in arrangement, more especially in the mus-
cular and vascular systems, which have been observed
and recorded, are so multitudinous, that they would re-
quire a special treatise for their description. What the
student has to deal with in his ordinary work, are the
commoner departures from the usually described arrange-
ments, such as a third head to the biceps muscle, the
high division of the brachial artery, the variations in the
place of origin of the obturator, the profunda, the circum-
flex arteries, and so on. These and such like ought to
find a place in all works on practical anatomy, but the
more unusual forms are best reserved for such special
treatises as Macalister’s Catalogue of Muscular Anoma-
lies, or Quain’s description of the Arterial System, to
which the student, who is desirous of obtaining a more
intimate acquaintance with variations in structure, ought
to be referred.
A knowledge of anatomical technics also is undoubtedly
of primary importance to professed anatomists. But is
one student in five hundred ever called upon to inject a
body, either with a preservative fluid, or with a coloured
arterial or venous injection? This work is done for him
either by the demonstrator, or by the practical assistant
in charge of the rooms. To introduce therefore into a
work intended for medical students generally an account
of methods, which they are never required to carry out,
seems to us to be uncalled for.
The author directs especial attention to the number
and quality of the illustrations. As regards their quality,
with a few exceptions they are artistically rendered. But
we think they are far too numerous, and by their number,
and the size of many of the cuts, they have largely con-
tributed to the unwieldy bulk of this treatise. Too many
illustrations in a book to be used at the dissecting table
| are apt to draw the student’s attention away from his
part, and to make him rely upon the pictorial representa-
tion rather than on his own efforts to display the organ
or region in the subject itself.
In our judgment a handbook of practical anatomy ought
to be of such a size, that the student can without incon-
venience carry it to and from his work. The instructions
for the order of the dissections should be clear and con-
cise. The descriptions of the parts should not be too
elaborate. The illustrations should be well selected, with
a view to guide the student in the method of his work,
and to show him what he has to look for, and where it
has to be seen. This treatise fails to comply in many
respects with these conditions, and much as we may
commend the author for his industry and good intentions,
we are afraid that he has produced a work which will
have only a restricted field of usefulness.
OUR BOOK SHELF
Common British Insects. Selected from the Typical
Beetles, Moths, and Butterflies of Great Britain. By
the Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A., &c. Pp. i.-284. 8vo.
(London ; Longmans, Green, and Co., 1882.)
AFTER glancing through this book the question upper-
most in our mind is: Why does it exist? The highly-
ornamented cover, and the repeated title thereon, lead one
Dec. 7, 1882]
NATURE
125
to expect a popular treatise on all orders of insects, an
idea at once dissipated-by the title-page. There are
other books covering the same ground that would answer
the young student’s purpose as well as this. Judging
it in comparison with the multitudinous other compila-
tions from the same pen, we have no very particular fault
to find. It is sketchy, but in some respects it compares
favourably, especially in some of the explanations con-
cerning the Co/eoftera. Some of the illustrations are
good, others wretchedly bad, and unrecognisable without
the explanations. When comparing the ‘“‘nervures” in
the wings of a butterfly with the “rays” in the fins of a
fish (p. 178), the writer should have explained the minute
structure of both.
The real point at issue in connection with books of this
nature is their effect. ‘They are eminently rudimentary,
and not elevating. Let us take instances from the
book now under review. At p. 14, after an explanation
of the terminology of the external skeleton of a beetle,
we read :—“ At first some of these terms may appear to
be harsh, repulsive, and difficult to master. In reality
they are not so, and a knowledge of them is absolutely
necessary to any one who wishes to understand the de-
scription of an insect.” This is a very sensible remark.
Yet throughout the book the utmost favour is bestowed
upon absurd meaningless “ English’? names. The cul-
minating point of absurdity is reached at p. 276. Amongst
the small moths the author “figures” one (under a mis-
spelt generic name), and because it (out of several hun-
dred other fortunate little moths) has received no
“ popular ” name, he terms it the “ Brown Dolly”!
Anthropo-Geographie oder Grundziige der Anwendung
der Erdkunde auf die Geschichte. Von Dr. Friedrich
Ratzel. (Stuttgart : Englehorn, 1882.)
WE have had occasion to speak of the wide extension
which geographical science has taken in Germany, and of
the broad and intricate field which it covers. The work
before us is a good example of this. It is the first of a
series of geographical handbooks, which is to include
“General Geology,” by Prof. von Fritsch; “ Oceano-
graphy,” by Dr. von Boguslawski; “ Geographical Dis-
tribution of Animals,” by Prof. L. von Graff; “ Clima-
tology,’ by Dr. Hann; “Glaciers,” by Prof. Heim;
“Volcanoes and Earthquakes,” by Prof. von Fritsch ;
and “ Botanical Geography,” by Dr. Oskar Drude, Dr.
Ratzel’s volume must not be mistaken for a treatise
on Anthropology. That subject it only incidentally
includes, its main purpose being to point out in
detail the light which geography sheds upon _his-
tory and the development of social and political eco-
nomy. The author discusses the various conceptions
of geography, its place among the sciences, the human
element in geography, and the relations between geo-
graphy and history. After a brief introduction on these
points, the author proceeds to consider, in the second
part, natural conditions, and their influence on mankind,
Under the head of position and aspect of the dwelling-
places of man, pointing out the parts which continents,
islands, and peninsulas have played in the distribution of
the human species and in history, he devotes a chapter to
states and the various conditions which determine their
boundaries, and in another discusses the distribution of
centres of population. In a chapter on conditions of
space he discusses the subject of great and small
states, and the connection between the extent and
power of states, and has some spe tally interesting
remarks on what he calls the continental type of history.
In a section on surface-forms, the author treats of such
subjects as the inequalities of the earth’s surface and of
the contrast, ethnologically and historically, between
mountainous and flat countries—of plains, steppes, and
deserts. To the important subject of coast-lines, and the
dependence of a country’s development on their form, a
chapter is devoted, and two to the historical importance
of water, in its various forms of sea, lakes, rivers, and
marshes. Considerable space is, of course, given to
climate and to the animal and plant world. One of the
most interesting chapters is that on ‘“ Natur und Geist,”
in which Dr. Ratzel attempts to show the great influence of
a people’s surroundings on their mental and moral deve-
lopment. In two concluding chapters the author gathers.
up the lines of discussion, referring especially to the
subject of human migration, its influence on history, and
its effect on the mixture of races; and finally points out
the practical bearings of his subject. Thus it will be seen
that, whether the subject comes legitimately under the
conception of geography or not, Dr. Ratzel has written a
work of great interest and of much utility to the historian
who wishes to treat history in a scientific spirit. It is
both instructive and attractive reading.
LETTERS LOVEE ED LROR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressia
by his correspondents. Neither can he unaertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.\
Mimicry in Moths
I OBSERVED here, a few days ago, a case of mimicry which
interested me much, and may deserve mention. The weather
has been such as is usual on this part of the Riviera at this
season. There has been a very hot sun, with sometimes a very
cold ‘‘ mistral’? wind. Insect life is a! undant, and not a few
of our summer .5j/vdad@ seem to secure a very good living. Flies
are a plague. Mosquitos are not wanting. Bees are busy, and
large dragonflies hunt continually. But there is one order of
insects ‘‘ccnspicuous by its absence,” and that is the Zefé-
doptera. Neither the diurnal nor the nocturnal species have been
visible.
Iwas much surprised, therefore, one day last week to see a
large insect of this order come from above the olive trees over-
| head, with the wild dashing flight of the larger moths. Attracted
| apparently by the sheltered and sunny recess in which I was
sitting and by the scarlet geraniums and | ignonias which were in
full flower in it, the moth darted downwards, and after a little
hovering, settled suddenly on the bare ground underneath a
geranium plant. I then saw that it was a very handsome syecies,
with an elaborate pattern of light and dark chocolate browns. But
the margins of the wings, which were deeply waved or dentated,
had a lustrous yellow colour, like a brilliant vleam of light. In this.
position the moth was a conspicuous object. After resting for a
few seconds <pparently enjoying the sun, it seemed to notice
some movement which gave it alarm. It then turned slightly
round, gave.a violent jerk to its wings, and instantly became
invisible. 1f it had subsided into a hole in the ground, it could
not have more completely disappeared. As, however, my eyes
were fixed upon the spot, I soon came to observe that all the
interstices among the little clods around it were full of withered.
and crumpled leaves of a deep blackish brown, I then further
noticed that the spot where the moth had sat was apparently
occupied by one of these, and it flashed upon me in a moment
that I had before me one of the great wonders, and one of the
great mysteries of nature. There are some forms of mimicry
which are wholly independent of the animals themselves. They
are made of the colour and of the shape which are like those of
the surrounding objects of their habitat. They have nothing to.
do except to sit still, or perhaps to crouch. but there are some
other forms of mimicry in which the completeness of the decep-
tion depends on some co-operation of the animal’s own will.
This was one of these. The sple1.did margins of the fore-wings,
with the peculiar shape and their shining colour had to be con-
cealed ; and so, by an effort which evidently required the exer-
tion of special uuscles, these margins were folded down—
covered up—and hidden out of sight. ‘Ihe remainder of the
wings were so crumpled up that they imitated exactly the dried
and withered leaves around.
126
WNATORE
[ Dec. 7, 1882
Knowing the implicit confidence in the effec.iveuess of this
kind of co iceal nent, which is instructive iu all creatures fur-
nished with the nece,sary apparatus, I proceeded to try and test
this very curious psychological acc mpanime.t of the physical
machiuvery. I advauced in the full sualight close up to the moth
—so close that I could see the prominent ‘‘ beaded eyes” with
the watchfal look—and the roughened outlines of the thorax,
which served to complete the illusion. So perfect was the
deception that I really could not fe 1 confident that the black
spot I was examining was whatI believed it to be. Only one
little circumstance reassurel me. There was some hole or inter-
stice ia the outer covering, through which one spot of the inner
brilliant margin could be seen shining like astar. Certain now
as to the identity of the motn, I advanced still nearer, and
fiially I found that it was not till the point of a stick was used
to move and shake the earth on which it lay, that the creature
could believe that it was in danger. Then, in an iustant the
crumpled leaf became a living moth with powers of flight, which
would have defied capture.
I recollect that many years ago Mr. Wallace kindly showed
mea butterfly from the Ea tern Archipelago whose upper wings
were of a brilliant colour, but which, by the simple act of alight-
ing oa a branch, and of folding or closing its wings, became
transformed into the perfect likeness of a growing leaf—a like-
ness so perfect that even the closest inspection only discovered
new items of resemblance—inasmuch as the leaf-stalk, as well as
the venation of the leaf, were all perfectly represented both in
the structure and in the colouring of the uader-surface of the
wings.
I confess that the number and intricacy of the correlated
growth and instincts which are involved in the e phenome.a
strike me more and more as wholly outside the sphere of mere
physical ciusation—by which I do not mean that physical causa-
tion has not had its own share of instrumentality in the matter,
but that it affords no satisfy ng explanation of all the elements
involved. The ordinary phrases of the Natural Selection Theory
appear in the light of such facts to be little better than lean and
empty formulze. ARGYLL
Cannes, November 29
Double Flowers
1 AM indebted to Baron von Mueller for the communication
of double flowers of Zetvathkeca ciliata, which possess interest on
several grounds, although the changed appearances they present
are not infrequent. It may be well to premise (1) that the plant,
like all its f llows of the same order (Tremandracez), is native to
extra-tropical Australia ; (2) that, under ordinary circumstances,
it has 4 free sepals, 4 free petal , 8 free stunens in a single
row, ani a two-celled ovary; (3) that ‘‘ doubling,” in a strict
sense, is brought about by the multiplication of petals, or by
the more or less complete substitution of petals for stamen-, or
pistils, or bo_h.
The Australian origin of the plant in question’ is so far of
interest, in this connection, that it affords one more illustration
of the occurrence, under natural conditions, of double floweis in
a division of the globe where, according to the late Dr. Seemann,
such forms are rare. The rarity, however, I believe, is not so much
in the existence of such flowers, as in the number pf obse: vers,
at any rate we now know of several case; of the kind.
Some of the flowers sent by Baron von Mueller were double
by multiplication of petals, ze. there was a second row of petals
inside the first, others were double not only by multiplication of
petals, but also by the partial substitution of petals fur stamens ;
thus in one of these last-mentioned flswers, there were four
sepals, three rows of petals, oue of the in.ermost row being
partly staminoid, and eight stamens in a single row. Of these
eight stamens, six were perfect and the remaining two partially
petaloid, one lobe of the ordinarily 4-celled anther being desti-
tute of pollen, but enlarged into a relatively large petal-like
lobe with inflected margins. So that according to the old
notion, this flower affords 2n instance both of progressive and
of retrogressive metamorphosis, of enhanced and of arrested
development as-ociated with coupensatory changes. On the
hypothesis revived by Mr. Grant Allen—for it is no new notion
—the two outer rows of petals would be stamens flattened out
of all knowledge, while the inner row and the staminal whorl
would, I presume, al:o afford him evidence of the truth of his
opinion. For my own part I prefer to adhere to the established
order of things, in which the horse precedes, rather than follows
the cart, and I do so because to do otherwise would be to run
counter to what we know of the homologies of the foliar and
floral organs, of Jeaf-buds and flower-buds, and to ignore or
rather to reverse what we know of the mod: and order of deve-
lopment of flo vers in general.
Not being aware of the precise order of evolution in the
flower in question, I cau only reason from analogy wheu I
express my 0,inion that the changes it presents and the order of
arrangements of its parts from the leaves on the flower-stems up
to the pistil are more consistent with the venerally adopted views
of morphology thaa they are with Mr. Grant Allen's. Accord-
ing to his views, so far as I understand them, I can see no reason
why the sepals as well as the petals should not be flattened
stamens, and if the sepals why not the bracts? if the bracts why
not the leaves? The theory would thus do away with the possi-
bility of indigestion in plants, or at least the primordial plant,
could not have been troubled in this way, for it would have had
no digestive org:ns.
I have only to add that the flowers in question offered no
explanation of the great peculiarity presented by the existence
of a single row of stamens in number double that of the petals.
Possibly this may be the result of bifurcation at a very early
stage of development. It was hardly to be expected that they
would throw any light on the equally curious ‘‘ obdiplostemo-
nous ” arrangement.in the nearly-allied genus Platytheca, in which
there are two rows of stamens, the outermost being superposed
or Opposite to the petals, instead of being alternate with
them, as is usually the case in stamens so placed. A _ possible
explanation of this in a sense partly consistent with Mr. Allen’s
views would be to consider the petal as in this case an out-
growth from the stamen, and not a separate organ, a view that
has been propounded in the case of Primulaceze and some
Malvacez, MAXWELL T, MASTERS
Fruit of Opuntia
Dr. Ernst’s abnormal fruit of Opuntia, as figured at p. 77,
appears to be -imilar to one described and illustrated by Zucca-
rini (Adhandl. d. math. phys. Class., B. iv., Abth. 1., tab. ii.)
in the case of Cereus serpentinus, but as Dr. Ernst gives no
details as to the arrangement of the vascular bundles, it is im-
possible to say that the two cases are exactly parallel. The
resem jlance to certain gourds (Cucurbits), wherein the upper
part of the fruit protrudes beyond the dilated end of the flower-
stalk, may also be pointe out. MAXwW-e Li T. MASTERS
Hawk Moth Larva
I FORWARD a sketch of the larva of a hawk moth found in the
Khasi Hills, Assam, in the po ition it assumes when disturbed.
Its resemblance to a snake will 5e at once evident.
The head (just visible in the sketch) and two first segments of
the body are retracted, and the third pair of legs
w k.ch
pale horn colour have a rough rese.ablance to lower jaw or teeth.
Small imperfect ocelli in the third segment might be taken for
nostrils. The ocellus on the 5th sezment, which however, is
not so conspicucus as that on the 4th, rather spoils the general
effect.
The colour is olive brown reticulated with black and imitates
a reptile’s scales very perfectly. The lower parts are black,
Dec. 7, 1882 |
NATURE
127
and a portion of the anterior “segments dirty ‘yellowish white.
I do rot yet know the perfect insect. ‘The larva feeds on the
wild balsam. The general colour of this larva at once reminded
me of two abnormally coloured larvz of the common death’s-
head moth that I had brought to me from a potato field in Jersey
some years ago, together with otkers of the ordinary colour,
One was full grown and another half grown, The general
colour of these was brown with fine black markings and without
a trace of green. The anterior segments were a pale dirty
cream colour. There were no ocelli or diagonal stripes on the
sides.
I have not seen recorded any similar case of abnormal colsuring
in the larva of the death’s-head moth, but the fact is intere-ting
as indicating a common ancestry in two moths which are pro-
bably now classed in different genera.
E. R. JOHNSON
Surgeon Major, Bengal Medical Department
Shillong, October 16
[The form of death’s-head larva alluded to is not uncommon ;
it is a dimorphic condition and finds its parallel in many larvee
of Sphingide. Ep.]
The Fertilisation of the Common Speedwell
ALTHOUGH it is the wrong time of the year for observing
flowers, it will perhaps not seem out of place to draw the atten-
tion of your readers to the fertilisation of the common Speedwell
( Veronica officinalis), ‘he flowers in the plant hang downwards,
so as to bring the nearly flat corolla a little under the perpendi-
cular. The two stamens project outwards and downwards on
each side of the pistil, which also hangs down, but not so much
as the stamens. ‘These latter are very much narrowed at the
base. The flower is in this species, proterandrous, and the
corolla, as soon as the stamens have shed their pollen, becomes
slightly loose.
It at first sight seems quite impossible for either cross or self-
fertilisation to take place, as the stamens are quite away from
the pistil, and, owing to the position of the flower, insects are
compelled to alight in front.
One morning last summer, however, in considering the struc-
ture of the flower, &c., I was led to conclude that the explana-
tion must lie in the insect’s mode of settling up nit, and accord-
ingly watched two or three plants. In about half an hour’s
time I had the pleasure of seeing a large fly in the act of ferti-
lisation. As the corolla was flat, and the flower hung down,
there was no foothold there, so the insect clasped each of the
stamens with its forefeet. Being thin at the base, they were
drawn together, and the anthers meeting just below the pistil,
dusted the front of its head with the pollen.
On comparing a large number of flowers, I found that when
just open, the pistil stocd up above the point at which the two
anthers would meet, but that in older flowers, especially after
the anthers had shed their pollen, it was inclined downwards,
If this observation is verified, it will show a most striking adap-
tation for preventing celf-fertilisation.
I may add that in one of the smaller flowered species, V.
hede efolia, the stamens and pistil are quite close to each other,
so that self-fertili ation must here be the rule. ‘The corolla is
also not so easily detached. A, MACKENZIE STAPLEY
The Owens College, Manchester, November 20
Wartmann’s Rheolyzer
You gave in NATURE a report on ‘‘ Wartmann’s Kheolyzer.”
I beg to say that I invented and constructed the same appa-
ratus long ago, and described it in the ‘‘Sitzungsberichte d.
Wiener ka:t Akademie d. Wissenschaften,” July, 1877, under
the name of ‘‘Rheonom.” Some months after that a tair report
of my paper appeared in ‘‘ Beiblatter zu Wiedemann’s Annalen.”
My instrument was for some years in the hands of several physi-
ologi-ts. Prof, Yeo was present when I made experiments
with it in Prof. I udwig’s laboratory in Leipzig in the year 1878,
and Prof. I, du Bois-Reymond has it also in his collection of
physiological and physical instruments fer more than five years.
There is no doubt that Prof, Wartmenn was not acquainted with
my apparatus when he described his, but I cannt be expec’ed
to see my invention ascribed to another and keep silent. So
you will oblige me very much in correcting the above-mentioned
mistake in your paper. ERNST VON FLEISCHE
Vienna, Wahringerstrasse 11, November 30
Pollution of the Atmosphere
THERE was a letter in NATURE some time since, calling
attention to the pollution of the atmosphere by the burning of
coal ; and it was calculated that in the year 1900, all animal life
would cease, from the amount of carbonic dioxide; but the
author had overlooked the fact that the rain is continually
cleansing the atmosphere of this, and the fall of this rain on the
grcund, and the combination of this with various salts ; besides,
the oceans alone would absorb their own Fulk at normal pres-
sure, but at an increased pressure of, say half a mile deep,
vould dis:olve more than we are likely to need for hundreds of
years.
But there are other products of combustion, or rather of in-
complete combustion, that are not brought down in this manner
by rain, as hydrogen and the hydrcecarhons, chiefly marsh-gas
and ethylene. The latter has, I believe, been observed by the
spectroscope on the Alps, and was supposed to have come from
space,
Since the year 1854 (as near as I can estimate) there has been
buri.t 10,000 million tons of coal ; and if we say (in its con-
sum tion by household grates, leakage by gas-pipes, &c.) 1-100th
escapes, then 100 million tons of hydrogen and hydrocarbons
are floating in the atmosphere, or 1-10,000,00oth part in bulk ;
if we say the average proportion of hydrogen to be ‘45, end of
marsh gas *35, and of ethylene ‘4, we have °84 per cent. of
gases that are lighter than air, and it is more than probable that
the law of diffusion of gases, asdemonstrated with jars, does not
apply to the atmosphere. The cases are not parallel: in the air
we have unconfined space, pre‘sure, and temperature diminishing
infinitely, conditions favourable to the lighter and the gas with
the greater amount of specific heat rising and maintaining its
elevation, especially as we know that in /avge halls carbonic
dioxide is found in larger quantities on the floor. According to
Prof. Tyndall’s researches, hydrogen, marsh gas, and ethylene
have the property in a very high degree of absorbing and radiat-
ing heat, and so much so that a very small proportion, of only
say ore thousandth part, had very great effect. From this we
may conclude that the increasing pollution of the atmosphere
will have a marked influence on the climate of the world. The
mountainous regions will be colder, the Arctic regions will be
colder, the tropics will be warmer, and throughout the world
the nights will be colder, and the days warmer. In the Tem-
perate Zone winter will be colder, and generally differences will
be greater, winds, storms, rainfall greater. H, A. PHILLIPS
Tanton Houre, Stokesley, November 23
A Modern Rip Van Winkle
WHEN Mr, Evans asks whether it is impossible for ‘‘the so-
called flint implements and flint flakes to have been formed by
natiral causes’” he surely must have had a scientific nap of furty
or fifty years. He can answer his question by going to any good
museum and inspecting the beautifully and clearly manufactured
implements which the Curator will show him.
November 28
SALTBURN
GOOLDEN’S SIMPLE DIP-CIRCLE
DIPPING-NEEDLE suitable for the requirements
« of schools and science classes has long been a
desideratum, there having been no instrument obtainable
hitherto which would at a moderate cost afford results of
sufficient accuracy. Between the mere needle sus-
pended in a simple stirrup of brass, and the delicate
and complicated dip circles of standard pattern there
has been no intermediate form of instrument. This de-
ficiency, has, however, been remedied by Mr. Walter
Goolden, M.A., Science Master in Tonbridge School,
who, in conjunction with Mr. C. Casella, has designed the
form of portable dip-circle depicted in the figure, which
possesses several novel points. The needle, which is 33
inches in length, is poised upon an accurate axis working
in sapphire centres, and magnetised once for all. In
order to ensure the coincidence of the centre of gravity
with the centre of suspension, two very light adjustible
counterpoises are fixed to the needle, one of them being
capable of being moved parallel to the length of the
needle, the other lying at right angles to the first, and
128
NATURE
[Dec. 7, 1882
adjustible in a direction to the right or to the left. The
metallic circle within which the needle revolves is gra-
duated on both faces, and is inclosed within an air-right
case. The instrument turns upon a vertical support
above a solid metal plate standing on three levelling-
screws. A small loose level, which can be placed upon
this levelling-plate, accompanies the instrument. The
main novelty in Mr. Goolden’s instrument, consists, how-
ever, in the arrangements by which the angle of dip may
be determined without having either a horizontal gradua-
tion or a horizontal compass needle upon the apparatus.
It will be seen by reference to the figure that the vertical
axis of the instrument is furnished witha spring-arm, which
can be clamped to it by turning a screw, and that there
are four metal studs affixed to the stand at equal
distances apart, into any one of which the pin at the
end of the spring arm can be pressed down. These
arrangements serve to facilitate the following adjustments.
Having levelled the instrument the spring-arm must be
unclamped and the pin at the end of it- pressed down into
the conical hole in one of the studs. While this is so
held with one hand the vertical circle is turned upon its
axis with the other hand wmtz/ the needle points directly
Goolden’s simple dip-circle.
vertically downwards to 90°. In this position, which is
of course exactly magnetically East-and- West, the vertical
circle is clamped by a turn of the screw. The position is
verified by turning the whole circle and spring arm to-
gether upon the axis until the pin meets the opposite
stud, when the needle will again point vertically down-
wards. The East-and-West position being thus verified,
it is clear that the magnetic meridian will lie in a plane
at right angles to this. Hence the next process is to turn
the circle round and press the pin into one of the two
studs which lie at right angles to the pair already em-
ployed. The position of the needle in the circle is then
read off. The circle is once more turned through a com-
plete semicircle, the pin pressed into the opposite stud,
and another reading is taken: the mean of these two
being accepted as the true angle of dip. It will be seen
that the usual elaborate processes of eliminating possible
errors by reversing the needle-axis upon its bearings and
reversing the magnetism of the needle itself are not
attempted. Everything will therefore depend upon the
accuracy of the adjustments of the instrument before it
leaves the maker’s hands.
readings are correct to within 10 minutes of arc.
THE “COMET
CHANDLER has made another approximation
i\Y R
I to the orbit of this comet, and now finds the fol-
lowing ellipse (Sczence Observer) :
As it is, it is claimed that the }
Perihelion Passage September 17'2304 Greenwich M.T.
Longitude of perihelion ... : 276 28 26'8
e ascending node ... - 345 50 34°0 ae
Inclination Sen ced ee aS. hs78 ED
Loz. perihelion distance ... .-- 778835636
Eccentricity . 0°9999700
Retrograde.
The period of revolution corresponding to this ellipse
is about 4070 years ; in the middle of November there
was a decided difference between the calculated and
observed positions, part of which may be due to a cause
to which Mr. Chandler has already drawn attention, viz.
that the same point in the head of the comet may not
have been always observed. We may now say pretty
confidently that a short period of revolution is incon-
sistent with the motion of this comet, and consequently
that it is not identical either with the great comet of 1880
or with that of 1843. Nevertheless we must repeat that
there are indications of sensible perturbation during the
flight through the coronal regions of the sun.
Mr. Gill sends us some particulars relating to the early
Cape observations of this comet. It was first detected
by Mr. Finlay at five o’clock on the morning of Septem-
ber 8, as he was returning to his house from the observa-
tory. He went back and compared the nucleus with a
small star in its immediate neighbourhood. On the fol- |
lowing morning the comet was observed again, and the
same day Mr. Gill sent the following telegram to Sir
James Anderson, Chairman of the Eastern Telegraph
Company :—“ Kindly tell Astronomer Royal, Greenwich,
that bright comet was observed here yesterday morning
by Finlay. Right Ascension this morning nine hours
forty minutes, increasing daily nine minutes, Declination
one degree south, increasing half degree south daily.” Mr.
Gill acknowledges his indebtedness to the courtesy and
liberality of Sir James Anderson for the free transmission
of many previous messages. Unfortunately this one
notifying the discovery of the comet in some way mis-
carried, and did not reach Mr. Christie’s hands, so that
the first intimation of the visibility of the comet came
from Mr. Cruls at Rio de Janeiro, who, however, so far
from being a discoverer, has informed the Academy of
Sciences of Paris, through M. Faye, that he received
notice of the comet’s presence from another quarter on
September 10; it was not seen at the observatory of Rio
till 5h. 15m. a.m. on September 12.
Cloudy weather prevailed at the Cape between Sep-
tember 10 and 17, and very few observations could be
procured, and those had to be made by measuring the
difference of altitude and azimuth from bright stars. On
Sunday, September 17, the comet was easily visible with
the telescope in full sunshine, and in close proximity to
the sun. It was followed during the day by Mr. Finlay
and Dr. Elkin, and towards afternoon was found to be
rapidly approaching the sun. As the distance diminished
“all appearance of tail was obliterated, only a round disc
about 4” in diameter remained visible, but this was in-
trinsically as brilliant as the surface of the sun, if not
more so. Still closer this disc approached to the sun’s
edge, and its disappearance there was observed just like
that of a star when it was occulted by the bright limb
of the moon.’’ Both Mr. Finlay and Dr. Elkin ob-
served the disappearance, but though the former was
using much the more powerful telescope, he only saw the
nucleus five seconds longer than Dr. Elkin ; the comet
| had passed on to the sun’s disc (not behind it, as
Major Herschel erroneously assumes in NATURE last
| week), but no appearance whatever of its presence there
could be perceived. Mr. Gill himself was not able to
arrive at this unique observation, having proceeded to
| Simon’s Bay to meet Capt. Morris, R.E., on his way in
the Zzewria to Brisbane to observe the transit of Venus,
| who returns to South Africa as chief Executive Officer of
| the Geodetic Survey of the Cape Colony and Natal; but
Dec. 7, 1882]
NATURE 1
29
on the morning of the following day he observed the
comet rise just before the sun at Simon’s Bay, and says
he will never forget the beauty of the scene. Many
drawings of the comet were made at the Cape Observa-
tory, and some photographic pictures were obtained with
the assistance of Mr. Allis, of Mowbray. To obtain a
perfect picture of the inore delicate details of the comet,
in exposure of not less than half an hour was found to be
necessary.
The following places are abbreviated from an ephemeris
calculated by Mr. Chandler from his last elliptical
«<Jements :—
At Greenwich mean noon.
Log. distance from
Right Ascension. Declination.
h.m. s. Earth Sun.
Wecember 7 ... 8 31 41 ... —29 42°7 ... 01868 ... 073110
Ohe-7 O25) 25%. 29 57°6
Hilpy-.) OmLO PLO, 30 9°8 ... O-I9I7 ... 0°3250
Mey cea we) HOY ee, Byey Veer ’
Eipccs OMON24 ene s SOb25E5 cy ODO 7S)... O° 3304)
7a 595 ois ONZOi9
HG) cag PG) BR ceo SFe SONS) aes OHO Hs OIG
Pie A Om. JO 20.8
23 7 40 49 ... —30 21°4 ... 0°2137 ... 0°3635
Up to Nov. 6 the comet discovered by Mr. Barnard had
been sought for unsuccessfully at the Cape Observatory.
We have received the following communications on the
comet :—
WITH the permission of Vice Admiral Stephen C.
Rowan, U.S.N., Superintendent of the Observatory, I
send you a sketch made at 17h. Washington Mean
‘Time, November 15, with the 26-inch Washington equa-
torial. At the time of observation the head of the
comet was about 45 minutes east of the meridian.
As it is extremely difficult to represent such an object
faithfully in a woodcut, I will call attention to the fol-
Comet 4, 1882, November 15°7, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington.
lowing points:—The nucleus presents a very woolly,
nebulous appearance, with a main point of condensation,
almost circular; near its following end, and about 18”
from this towards the tail, a second point of condensa- |
tion, prolonged about 54” in the direction of the tail in a
narrow ridge of light. This ridge which has heretofore
appeared broken up into four or five beads, is now a con-
tinuous line of light with, perhaps, in one or two places, |
faint indications of condensation. The nucleus is de-
cidedly eccentric with regard to the general direction of the
head, and the head is flattened on the zorth-fol/owing side.
The position-angle of the major axis of the nucleus
was 30974. The distance between the centre of the two
main points of condensation, from a series of measures
with the filar micrometer was 18”. A magnifying power
of about 200 diameters was used. On November 17'7
the extreme length of the nucleus was found by Com-
mander Sampson to be 74”.
The following meridian observation for position was
obtained on November 157 with the transit circle ;—
1882 November 15°74 (Washington M.T.)
aA wyesc) «cap mets cee eee gh. 27m. 50s.°72
N.P.D. Pataca! the 114° 40! 18""9
The part observed was the main point of condensation
near the following end of the nucleus. The observation
is corrected for refraction, but not for parallax.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD WINLOCK,
Assistant Astronomer, U.S. Naval Observatory
THE drawing represents the appearance of the great
comet at 5 a.m. on the morning of October 12 this year.
I delayed the publication of my observations on this
morning in the hope of securing some more views, but
the bad weather prevented any further observations of
this object here. The drawing shows distinctly four con-
densations in the nucleus, whose angle of position on the
12th was about 102°. Its length was 40’*3, as measured
with the filar micrometer on the great refractor. The
visible length of the tail was estimated at 21°. No doubt
The Great Comet seen in the Markree Refractor, October 12, 1882, 5 a.m..
by W. Do ercx
it was really much greater. Its southern side was well
defined. As seen with the naked eye the nucleus shone
as brightly as a star of between the first and the second
magnitude. On the morning of the 6th I had seen the
end of the tail, which was then apparently 15° long, pre-
| sent a feature very like that indicated in Major Herschel’s
drawing (NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 622), but I am not sure
of this, as the sky was partly covered with cirro-cumulus
clouds.
On October 28, at 5h. 45m. a.m., the angle of position
of the nucleus was about 113°, and its length amounted
then to 67”. The tail was less curved than on the 12th.
Markree Observatory, December 2 W. DoBERCK
FUNCTION OF THE MEMBRANA FLACCIDA
OF THE TYMPANIC MEMBRANE
W HY should a smart blow, as, for instance, with the
palm of the hand on the side of the head, or on
the wing of the ear, cause rupture of the membrana
tympani ?
130
NATURE
| Dec. 7, 1882
It was in endeavouring to trace the co: nection between
these events, of no very uncommon occurrence, that I
was led to the discovery of a most important factor in the
physiology of the ear, and one which gives a rew and
more rational significance to the mechanism of the ossi-
cles and membrane. In the shape of anatomical details
I have nothing new to adduce, but in exhibiting the re-
lationship of a series of minute particulars hitherto
enigmatical and glanced at separately and only casually
by anatomy, I have obtained a valuable result for otology.
I must here present those details in the order most con-
venient for a brief demonstration, giving only the main
features.
The membrana tympani, though but a single mem-
brane, consists of two portions. The lower is firm and
transparent, and of conical shape, being attached along
its centre to the handle of the malleus, and fixed round
its whole circumference to the sulcus tympanicus. The
upper is comparatively loose, and much less transparent,
and being in reality mainly fastened to the skin of the
upper wall and only slightly to the bone, there being here
no sulcus, but only a smooth margin (margo tympan‘cus),
is easily displaced with a little gentle pressure outwards
or inwards. Between the two there is a line of dense
fibres forming a ligament, called by Helmholtz the ante-
rior ligament of the membrane, and towards the anterior
border of which the short process of the malleus is in-
serted. With this marked limiting line there is thus a
striking difference in the character and mode of attach-
ment of the two portions of membrane, and this reaches
to the very foundations of the structures, and is the most
remarkable feature in their development. It is to be
remembered that the superior arch of bone, forming at
its inner end the tympanic margin alluded to, is part of
the squamous bone, which is characterised by the general
smoothness of its surface—a character it preserves along
the whole upper wall of the osseus meatus, not excepting
its termination at the porus acousticus externus, where it
presents a smooth bevelled edge. But the os tympanicum
which forms the inferior arch of bone is contradistin-
guished by the general unevenness or asperity of its sur-
face, nct only being hollowed out by the sulcus at its inner
end, but along the whole floor, maintaining a roughness
which culminates in its rugged edge at the porus externus.
Nature, in constructing the meatus, selects one bone for
its smoothness, another for its roughness, and the evi-
dent intention is, that what is laid on the one surface
shall adhere, what is laid on the other shall ylide over it.
While, therefore, the lower portion of the drum of this
ear is fixed by its connection with the os tympanicum, the
upper portion is loosely connected with the os squamo-
sum, which affords it a movable surface. Helmholtz
believes that the lower firm portion is alone concerned
with sound-waves, the upper lying above the handle of the
malleus, and having therefore no direct connection with
the chain of ossicles. (Cn this ground, in his treatise on
the mechanism of the membrane and ossicles, he leaves
the membrana flaccida out of consideration altogether, and
no physiologist, as far as I am aware, has ever hinted at
its function. Having from the foregoing description ob-
tained an insight into its relation with the bone, it must
now be viewed in connection with the skin lining the
upper wall of the pzssage, which is quite distinct in
character from that covering the rest of the osseous
passage, and next needs to be specially noticed.
Prof. Henle says : “ The skin which covers the external
meatus has originally the appearance and structure of the
cutis, and retains this character along the upper wall
beyond the vownded rim of the squamous bone which
helps to complete the porus acousticus externus up to the
site of the membrane, whereas in the rest of the circum-
ference the skin, in passing from the cartilaginous to the
osseous meatus, abruptly changes its character, decreas-
ing in thickness and assuming the peculiar silvery glance
of a fibrous skin.” Thus along the whole passage the
skin on the upper wall retains its ordinary character,
being elastic and movable, and having, as noticed by
Von Fréitsch, the same kind of loose connective tissue
glands and hair cysts as any other part, whereas the
movability of the remaining portion ceases with the carti-
laginous meatus, as beyond that it ceases to be true
cskin.? Add to this that the one lies on a roughened, the
other on a smooth surface, and this singular deviation in
apparently so simple a matter and in so minute a particu-
lar, must strike the examiner as significant of purpose. If
we next turn to the arrangements at the porus acousticus
externus, it becomes manifest.
What is noticeable in regard to the rim of bone consti-
tuting the porus is simply corroborative of what has
already been said. Thus, whereas the under semicircle
is comparatively rough and uneven, and projects slightly
beyond the upper semicircle, the latter has a smooth-
rounded edge bevelled in the manner of bone over whose
margin a tendon plays. It is to the curved uneven
lamella of the under circumference known as the auditory
process that the cartilaginous meatus is principally
attached. This is effected by means of strong, slightly
movable ligamentous tissue, or rather, as Henle puts it,
“by means of a compact cartilaginous substance richly
interspersed with elastic ligamentous tissue, which fills
up the rough interspaces of the lamella and extends the
lower portion of the osseous canal about two milli-
meters.’ The upper semicircle, on the contrary, is
closed simply by a dense fibrous membrane, there being
here a large deficiency of cartilage (Quain). The differ-
ence is that while below the osseous canal blends in-
sensibly into the cartilaginous with only dawning facility
for movement, above it terminates abruptly, admitting
there and then a large measure of movement.
Thus then it appears that from the membrana flaccida
of the membrane, which is easily movable at its margin,
we have a piece of movable skin running over a smooth
folished surface along the whole upper meatus of
the bone, which is here bevelled off, and is immediately
continuous with the movable membranous roof of the
cartilaginous portion of the external passage. The
movable piece of skin serves, after its manner, the pur-
pose of a tendon, and the muscle which mainly plays
upon it is attached to this upper membranous wall at its
point of junction with the osseous meatus.
Cf this muscle Henle gives the following account :—
‘Of the lateral portion of the musculus epicranius (occi-
pito-frontalis), the musculus epicranius temporalis is a
very thin bundle of fibres, and is anterior to and smaller
than the attollens auriculam, which forms the remainder
of the lateral portion. It has its tendinous origin below
the root of the zigoma, near the rim of the osseous canal,
to the capsule of the inter-articular cartilage (operculum
cartilagineum), and to a tendinous arch through which
the vasa tempora'ia pass into the deep structures. Its
muscular fibres spread out in parallel lines forwards and
upwards, some of them stretching to the border of the
frontalis, and of the orbicularis oculi, and so partly curving
upwards around the lateral border of the frontalis, and
intérmixing with the uf per fibres of the orbicularis, they
are finally inserted into the glabella.” +
It will thus be observed that, when the muscle con-
tracts, it raises the membranous roof of the canal up-
wards and slightly forwards, making the movable patch
of skin glide outwards, and so telling upon the membrana
flaccida, which is, even in the adult, almost in a line with
the upper wall, and is therefore so much the more easily
influenced by such a movement. When the delicacy of
the parts concerned are borne in mind, it will be obvious
that no extensive movement is thus indicated, and in a
«« Anatomie des Menschen,”’ Z, B. s. 7
x 2.
2 ** Diseases of the Ear,’’ Roosa’s Teanlation; Dp. 53-
3 Loc. cit. p. 722. 4 Loc. ctt., s. 136.
—_
ca ile
De. 7, 1882 |
NATURE
13a
more complete demonstration a good deal further illus-
trating the actual movement, has to be said on that head.
Here we have space only for a general outline.
The muscle, of course, has no isolated voluntary
action, but its effect is brought into play when the eye-
brows are forcibly raised by the contraction of the occi-
pito frontalis. Indeed, although itseif really a muscle as
described, much of its effect is derived after the fashion
of an elastic tendon connected with the great epicranial
muscle. It is further assiste1 by the consentaneous
action of certain small muscles of the auricle, notably the
attollens auriculam. Its movement is quite perceptible
to the finger placed in the sulcus, between the pinna and
side of the head, and to an experienced eye its effect on
the membrane is distinctly visible through the speculu n
when the occipito-frontalis is mide to contract.
It would be beyond the scope ofa single paper to enter
into a demonstration of the effect of this movement of
the membrana flaccida on the membrane and ossicles—
but it can be shown that, in opposition to the so-called
tensor tympani muscle, it helps to bring the umbo or
deepest part of the membrane outwards, thus tending to
reverse the cone, and bring the membrane generally into
a more vertical position, relatively to the lower wall of
the meatus. This is beyond all question its position for
acutest hearing, and it is thus important to observe that
by the single contraction of the occipito frontalis muscle,
both eyes and ears are brought simultaneously into the
attitudes of strained attention. Hence, in endeavouring
to hear as well as to see intently, we involuntarily raise
the eyebrows in order t> tell upon the drum of the ear.
A smart blow administered on the side of the head, as
is too often thoushtlessly done by schoolmasters and
parents in correcting children, may cause sudden spas-
modic action of the muscle, and thus, through the action
of the mechanism described, serious injury or even
rupture of the drum. JOHN M. CROMBIE
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
oe Board of Trade lay before Parliament an Annual
Report of their proceedings and business under the
Weights and Measures Acts, &c., and their Report for
the current year has just been issued.
It is required by law that the three Parliamentary
copies of the Imperial Standards of measure and weight,
which are deposited at the Royal Mint with the Royal
Society, and in the Royal Observatory, respectively,
should be compared with each other once in every ten
years. The period for such decennial comparisons
having recently arrived the Board took the necessary
steps for the removal of these Standards to their office.
The methods of comparison adopted and the actual dif-
ferences between the Standards are shown in a memo-
randum by Mr. H. J. Chaney, which is attached to the
Report. It appears that the comparing apparatus in use
at the Standards Office is found to require alteration, a «|
that in considering the changes necessary to be made the
Board have hai the valuable assistance of a Committee
of the Royal Society, composed of Sir G. Airy, Major-Gen.
A. R. Clarke, and Prof. Stokes. It is really important
that a department which is charged with the care and
use of our national standards, should have the best appa-
ratus, and we trust, therefore, that the Report of the
Committee may be speedily and fully carried out.
Reference is also made to the papers issued by the
Comité International des Poids et Measures, Paris, aud
the Report acknowledges the assistance the Standards
Department has received from these papers, particularly
with reference to the measurement of heat and the deter-
mination of volume and weight. This country is the only
civilised country which has not joined the Comité Inter-
national, and taken part officially in their proceedings,
although it would appear that it has not failed to avail
itself of their labours.
The two ancient standards of the metric system, the
Toise du Perou and the Toise du Nord, are stated to be
still at the Paris Observatory, in a good state of preser-
vation, as also are the measures used by Borda, Brisson,
and Lavoisier. By a decree of the Sultan, the metric
system came into force in Turkey on March Ist last, and
the equivalents of the old and new Turkish weights and
measures are stated ia this Report.
The Board have had their attention cirected to the
question of a uniform system of screw threads, as well as
to that of a standard wire gauge. Reference is made to the
want of uniformity in the system of screw threads used
in the construction of scientific and optical instruments.
It is hoped that the attention which is now being given to
this question may result in the adoption of a standard
syst-m of screw threads. Any step which tends to lessen
the high cust of construction and of repair of scientific
apparatus is to be welcomed.
From time to time, as science advances and commerce
extends, it is found that new kinds of standards are
needed, and the attention of the Department has there-
fore been this year called to the expediency of adopting
new photometric tests for gas, and also as to possible
means of measuring electrical energy. In the proposed
Bill for amending the enactments for regulating the sale
of gas, and of dealing with the mode of testing the illu-
minating power of gas, we trust that Mr. Vernon Har-
cour’s new air gas-flame test, on which Dr. Williamson
and Dr. Odling have reported, may receive favourable
consideration.
Under the Petroleum Acts rules are laid down for
determining the “flashing-point’’ of oils, or the tem-
perature at which they begin to give off inflammable
vapours, but it appears by the Report that Dr. Foerster
has lately called attention to the omission in these rules
of any allowance for variations of atmospheric pressure.
The rules in this respect evidently, therefore, require
some amendment.
The Report also contains much information valuable
to local inspectors and others practically interested in
weighing and measuring.
ON THE PROPOSED FORTH BRIDGE
\2 offering some remarks (which I trust may be final)
merely explanatory of preceding notes on this pro-
posed structure, I shall refer generally to my letter of
October 19 (NATURE, vol. xxvi. pp. 598-601).
First, I have to modify the force of my expressions re-
lating to the danger arising from the use of certain long
struts to support very heavy end-pressures. My remarks
were the consequence of error in the engraved longi-
tudinal vertical plain, circulated (I understood) under the
authority of the Official Board. In this plan, by the in-
discretion of the engraver, the tubular struts of 340 feet
| length and 240 feet length respectively, are drawn clearly
vnd distinctly as unconnected in their entire length with
auy other braces. In other parts of the plan, each con-
nection of that class is indicated by a rose ; but there is
no such mark upon these rods. A person scrutinising
the plan m‘ght well feel alarm at the prospect of unbraced
rods 340 feet long, intended to support end-pressures ex-
cezding 600 tons. But Mr. Fowler has kindly informed
me that the plan is erroaeous, and that there is connection
at each place where the strut crosses a brace, and that
the flexible length of the strut is thus reduced to 170 feet.
This diminishes the danger of buckling in a vertical
plane so greatly that I imagine it may be passed without
further notice. Still I remark that the danger of buckling
in a horizontal direction, with a length of 340 feet, re-
mains undiminished, unless it is counteracted by bracing
not known to me.
In regard to some effects of the wind, the following
comparison between the proposed Forth Bridge and the
132
NATURE
| Dec. 7, 1882
late Tay Bridge may be interesting. I suppose that
equal trains are upon the two bridges; and I assume
that the force of the wind on the Tay Bridge train tore
one pier from its foundation-attachment. (I imagine
that the ruin of the bridge commenced thus). The
height of the centre of the Tay Bridge train was about
92 feet, and the momentum of the wind was, therefore,
wind X train X 92 feet. (The reader will easily interpret
my brief notation). To resist this there were three pairs of
attachments to the foundation, with lever-widths of 10
feet, 22 feet, 10 feet, respectively. So that, supposing
the holding powers of each attachment the same, we
must have had for momentum of resistance, one Tay-
attachment X (10 + 22 + 10) feet. At the instant of
breakage, this was equal to the momentum of the wind,
orto wind X train X 92 feet. So that one Tay-attach-
92
42
we treat the proposed Forth Bridge in the same manner,
we must use, length of lever about 660 feet, and two pairs
of attachments of the cantilever to the pier (if I read the
plan correctly), at distances of 30 and 120 feet. And
thus we shall have the equation at a moment of breakage.
One Forth-attachment X (30+ 120)= wind X train X
660 ; or one Forth-attachment must = 4°4 X wind train,
or double that required for the Tay Bridge.
A nunierical value (possibly subject to modification)
may be given thus:—Suppose the surface of a train to
= 3000 square feet. With the Government scale of 56 lbs.
for high wind, the lateral pressure =75 tons ; and, using
leverage numbers as above, one Forth-attachment = 330
tons. And this is the strain which each attachment must
be able to sustain in respect of resistance to the effect of
wind upon a train. I imagine that this has been pro-
vided, at least in great measure ; but I think it desirable
that attention should be called to the magnitude of the
forces here concerned.
The able and experienced engineer who has under-
taken the prosecution of this great work, will, I am con-
fident, recognise the possibility of serious inconvenience
(yet unforeseen) arising from the points to which I have
alluded in NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 599—the novelty of
plan, at least in this country —the magnitude of plan—the
want of experience in a rising scale of magnitude. Should
the bridge be erected successfully, I can imagine that
many difficulties on small points might arise. For in-
stance :—all matter yields to force; the brackets of fur-
long-length, could not strictly preserve their form under
the passage of a train; the connection of the end of one
bracket with the beginning of the next is not very perfect,
and I can hardly imagine that trains could be run through
at speed (which, as I understood, is one of the conditions
to be secured).
I still prefer the principle of suspension. I would
propose for further consideration the modifications which
I have suggested in NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 600, for
giving enlarged width with diminished height to the top
of the piers, and for use of wire in forming the suspen-
sion-chains. G. B. AIRY
The White House, Greenwich, December 4
ment = X wind X train = 2719 X wind X train. If
NOTES
Monpay’s sitting of the Paris Academy of Sciences was one
of unusual interest. M. Jamin, who was in the chair, delivered
an eloquent address on the services rendered to science and to the
Academy by M. Dumas, and presented to the illustrious Per.
petual Secretary the medal subscribed for by his admirers as a
testimonial on the occasion of the fiftieth year of his nomination
as an academician, The medal is accompanied by silver and
bronze replicas.
numerous, broke into enthusiastic plaudits.
The whole of the audience, which was very |
When the enthu-
siasm subsided, M. Dumas returned thanks, which he did with
masterly eloquence,
WE regret to announce the death of the Rey. James Challis,
M.A., F.R.S., Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of
Trinity College, which took place on Sunday morning at his
residence in Cambridge, after a long illness. The late Professor
was born in 1803, and educated at Trinity College, where he
graduated B.A. in 1825 as {Senior Wrangler and first Smith’s
prizeman. In 1836 he was elected Plumian Professor of Astro-
nomy in succession to Mr. (now Sir) G. B. Airy, and also held
the important post of Director of the Cambridge Observatory.
The latter post he resigned in 1861, and was succeeded by Prof.
Adams. He was at the time of his death the Senior of the
Professors at Cambridge, and until about two years ago person-
ally discharged the duties of his professorship, when increas-
ing age and infirmities compelled him to appoint a deputy.
Prof. Challis has published a considerable number of scientific
works, including twelve volumes of astronomical observations.
THE death is announced of Dr. Gustave Svanberg, formerly
Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory of
Upsala University. He died on November 21, in his eighty-
first year,
News from Aden reports the death of Marchese Orazio
Antinori, the well-known zoologist and African traveller, whe
had recently started on a new expedition to the Upper Nile.
He was seventy-one years of age,
ELABORATE preparations were made in variows parts of
America to observe the transit of Venus yesterday. The Western
Union Telegraph, to facilitate observations, arranged to transmit
Washington time wherever desired, in order to secure accuracy
in recording results. Some enthusiastic astronomers had pro-
posed general prayer in the churches on Sunday last for clear
weather.
M. W. DE FONVIELLE has published the first number of a
new astronomical journal, called ‘‘Les Passages de Venus,”
which explains the great astronomical event, and is being sold
in the streets of Paris at 1 sou, with illustrations indicating
the phase, and giving instructions for their observation in
France. ‘The editor states that he trusts that the sec: nd number
will appear at the right date, June 8, 2004, and the third in
June, 2012, and so on, as long as there will be on the earth
rational beings intelligent enough to take an interest in the
transit of Venus. He congratulates himself on haying esta-
blished a ‘‘ periodical”? which will be perhaps the most durable
foundation of his age.
A Swiss Geological Society has lately been formed. It is an
offshoot from the Helvetic Society of Natural Sciences. While
a permanent section of this, it will have its own life, its com-
mittee, i's funds, its distinct séaz-es, and its publications if
thought desirable. It will have members who do not belong to
the mother society; will send a delegate to the preparatory
assembly of the latter, and will have the right of presentation of
members. The number of adhereits of the new scciety is
already over sixty. It has absorbed the Congress der Feld
Geologen and the Comité d’ Unification géologique. Among other
things it will encourage excursions along with discussion on the
ground, and will represent Switzerland in the International Geo-
logical Congresses. The Society has testified its respect for
MM. Studen, Heer, and Merian, by (exceptionally) giving them
the title of Honorary Members.
TuHeE Council of the British Association, acting under the
powers conferred upon them by the General Committee, in
accordance with their Report, have appointed the following to
be a Committee, ‘‘to draw up suggestions upon methcds of more
) a teeeaieall
Dec. 7, 1882]
NATURE
133
systematic observations, and plans of operation for local societies,
together with a more uniform mode of publication of the results
of their work,” and to ‘* draw up a list of local societies which
publish their proceedings,” Mr. H. G, Fordham (Secretary),
Rey. Dr. Crosskey, Mr. C. E. De Rance, Sir Walter Elliot,
Mr. Francis Galton, Mr. John Hopkinson, Mr. R. Meldola,
Mr. A. Ramsay, Prof. W. J. Sollas, Mr. G. J. Syisons, Mr. W.
Whitaker.
COLONEL PREJEVALSKY, the distinguished traveller, intends
to resume his explorations in Central Asia in the spring, and to
make another attempt to penetrate to the capital of Thibet. He
is now suffering slightly from weakness of sight.
PROFESSORS have been appointed to give courses of lectures
at the Louvre upon its collections, and the school opens this
week. Gaulish antiquities will be expounded by M. Bertrand,
curator of St. Germain Museum; Egyptian remains by MM.
Pierret and Revillout ; Semitic epigraphy and archzology by
M. Ledrain ; and ancient art by M. Ravaisscn.
A “Projet de Mer Intérieure dans le sud de l’Algérie et de
la Tunisse” (occupying the space usually known as ‘‘ The
Schots” or ‘‘Les Chotts,” which is lower by several feet than
the Mediterranean Sea), suggested by M. le Commandant
Roudaire, was communicated some time since to the French
Government, and was in May last laid by M. de Freycinet
before a ‘*Commission Supérieure.” This Commission has
examined the question under every point of view, antiquarian,
political, practical, and commercial, and their labours are re-
corded in a quarto volume of 546 pages, illustrated by a map.
On July 7, 1882, the Commission made the following Report :—
**La Commission,
Considérant que les dépenses de 1'établissement de la mer
intérieure seraient hors de proportion avec les résultats qu’on
peut en espeérer,
Est d’avis qu’il n’y a pas lieu pour le Gouvernement Frangais
d@encourager cette enterprise.”
IN the course of the coming winter Prof. Emil Selenka hopes
to publish a Monograph of the Sipunculacea, in which he will
be assisted by Doctors J. G. de Man and C, Biilow. The volume
will contain the descriptions of 81 distinct species placed in 10
genera. Some of the species are new. The Monograph will
form vol. iv. of Semper’s ‘* Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen,”
and will contain the forms collected by Semper ; but in order to
make it a more or less complete revision of the group, Dr.
Selenka also describes in it the species collected at the Mauritius
by Dr. Mobius, those in the Berlin Museum throuyzh the good-
ness of Prof. Peters (this collection contains the types of Grube),
those from Stuttgart containing Dr, Klunzinger’s Red Sca col-
lection (through Dr. Krauss), those from the British Museum
(through Dr, Giinther), and those from Gottingen, the types of
Keferstein (through Dr. Ehlers). In addition. Dr. Selenka has
been indebted for specimens to the liberality of Dr. von Martens,
Dr. Hilgendorff, Dr, Krapelin, and Dr. Lang. Dr. Groeffe was
able to forward living examples of Asfidosiphon miilleri. Besides
a general introduction and description of the genera and species,
there will be dissertations on the ten acular and blood systems,
while special care has been taken about the subjects of the geo-
graphical distribution, anatomic:] relations, and synonymy of
the species. The volume will be accompanied by 15 plates with
more than 200 partly coloured drawings.
SINCE the commencement of the present Session the Society
of Arts meeting room has been lighted by means of electricity.
A Siemens dynamo is employed driven by an 8 horse-power
Crossley gas engine. Nearly the whole cost of these was
defrayed by subscriptions from a few past and present members
of the Society’s Council. The lamps used are those of Edison,
and there are at present fifty of them in the room. ‘The chan-
deliers now in use have been lent by Messrs. Verity, who are
constructing chandeliers to be permanently fitted, now that the
number of lights to be used has been decided upon. Temporary
fittings have been put up in the council room, and the result
having been proved satisfactory, it is in contemplation to arrange
for the lighting by electricity of this and other parts of the
building.
AN unusually large number of seals have made their appear-
ance in the Baltic, a few miles north of the Samland coast,
Should these animals make that spot their permanent residence,
the salmon fisheries would be ina sad plight. On the Pomeranian
coast the damage to salmon fisheries done by seals is very con-
siderable.
No less than thirty-four communes in the district of Chambery
(Savoie) are now infected by Phylloxera,
A ComMissIoN has been appointed by the Prefect of the
Seine to reconsider the disposal of the Paris sewage. A depu-
tation will be sent, at the expense of the Municipal Council, to
Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Berlin, and London to report
on the matter.
A BRUSSELS paper, Z’Athenaum Belge, reports some interest-
ing observations made by M. W. Spring regarding the seat and
origin cf thunderstorms. During the summer 1881 M. Spring
ascended the Schnzhorn in the Bernese Oberland during a
thunderstorm. He then noticed that for a considerable time no
rain fell, but that a vivid formation of hail took place. From
time to time the hail fell very much thicker, and in such moments
came a bright fla-h of lightning followed by a tremendous clap
ofthunder. After a pause rain-drops mixed with the hail. The
same observations were made on the summit of S. Giacomo,
where he again observed a thunderstorm. He concludes from
his observations that the actual seat of thunderstorms, 2.2. of the
aérial electricity is not in moist regions of the atmosphere but in
the dry and cold region of hail.
Pror, HEULE, the eminent anatomist, has been elected, in
the place of the late Prof. Wohler, as permanent secretary of the
Royal Academy of Sciences at Gottingen.
News from Champagne states that a new enemy to the
vine has made his appearance in the shape of a minute fungus, 2
kind of Peronosporve, the dangers of which are said to be far
more serious even than those of Phylloxera,
Dr. C. W. SIEMENS, F.R.S., has consented to distribute the
prizes and certificates gained by the successful candidates of the
metropolitan centres at the recent technological examinations, as.
well as by the students of the City and Guilds of London Tech-
nical College, Finsbury, and of the City and Guilds of London
Technical Art School, Kennington. The distribution will take
place on Thursday evening, December 14, at 7 o’clock, at Gold-
smiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, E.C.
TELEGRAMS from General Nansouty to Admiral Mouchez
announce that an avalanche of fresh fallen snow had swept away
five labourers who were trying to carry victuals to the Pic du
Midi for MM. Henry, who are at that place to observe the transit
of Venus. Two of these poor people lost their lives.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Bonnet Monkey (M@acacus rvadiatus) from
India, presented by Mr. W. Nash; a Capybara (Ajdrocherus
capybara) from Venezuela, presented by Mrs. R. H. Fitz-
Simons; a European Scops Owl (Scofs git), European,
deposited.
NATURE
[ Dec. 7, 1882
THE ROYAL SOCLIE LVS
QO UR anniversary is in one sense the opening of a new year, in
another it is the close of an old one. With one hand we
weclome the coming, with the other we bid farewell to the de-
parting guest. Inthe later parts of my present address I shall have
to speak, as on former occassions, of our prospects and hopes
for the future. At our more festive gathering in the evening we
shall recuunt some of the victories which have been won over
difficulties in the exteusion of knowledge, and shall rejoice at
the gathering of old comrades and friends after our u-ual period
of dispersion. But at the moment of taking my place in the
chair to which you have now for the fourth time elected me, I
must confess that the sadder side of the picture is the most pro-
minent. We seem almost for the moment to euter the Valley of
the Shadow of Death, or, like Dante, to descend to the place of
Departed Spirits, and to commune with them once more after
they have vanished from the upper world. Each year during my
own term of office the numbers lost to us have been greater than
the numbers gained ; but this year, although the li-t of deaths is
long and comprises not a few distinguivhed Fellows, they all
seem overshadowed by two prominent figures. Que of these
died in the fulness of years, of honours, and of world-wide
re, utation ; the other in the strength and bouyancy of youth, a
buoyancy which appears to have even contributed to his end.
Of Darwin and his works it is not for me to speak. Others,
with wider knowledge, after longer intercourse, and with greater
authority, have said what was possible at the moment, and the
full story of his life is now being written by faithfulhands. But I
consider it no common piece of fortune to have lived within easy
distance of his house: to have been able by a short pilgrimage
to enjoy his bright welcome, and his genial conversation, and to
revive from time to timea mental picture of that my ideal of the
philosophic life.
Of Balfour I knew far le.s, and his works are beyond my
range of knowledge. But such was the fascination of his speech
and his demeanour that to have seen him was to desire to know
him better. To have been selected at his age as one of the
Secretaries of the British Association, a post usually reserved
for men of more advanced years and of longer experience, to
have been appointed to a professorship founded almost on the
ba-is of his own work, and thereby to have become the coadjutor
of his own great master in the Physiological School at Cambridge
and all this without one word of cavil or of criticism, was a high
testimony to his scientific eminence. But far wider afield, it will
be remembered of him, not so much that he was brilliant in
intellect, or keen of insight, or varied in his attainments, but
th t he always found himself among friends, whether in college
or in the laboratory, in his own home over the northern border,
or oa the wild mountain side where he breathed his last.
The list of deceased Fellows comprises other eminent names,
many of whom will receive mention in our obituary notices.
The list, moreover, serves again to exemplify the variety of
qualifications which have opened our doors to election. In
Decimus Burton we find an architect of refined taste and culti-
vated mind; in Stanley Jevons and William Newmarch
statisticians of weight, and the former already an authority on
political and other philosophy; in Sir Woodbine Parish a
geographer, and more than a geographer, a man wh» by service
as well as by study in foreign land; had acquired an unusual
amount of first hand and accarate information ; in Scott Russell an
engineer whose brilliant early strokes of work will be remembered
when the difficulties which entangled his later efforts have been
long forgotten ; in Dr. Robinson a veteran and mentor in science,
whose work and whose judgment were alike sound. Of Sir
Wyville Thomson mention will be made el.ewhere.
To this list of names there was well nigh added yet another,
namely, my own. An accident, under circumstances which the
issue of events and more mature reflection have shown that I
was hardly justified in incurring, has for some time past inter-
fered materially with my usual avocations in life, and thereby,
as I fear, with my usefulness to the Society. But the ready and
efficient assistance of the other cfficers has, I doubt not, gone
far to supply the deficiency. For myself, 1 am consoled by the
kind expres-ion of sympathy from many, some even unknown,
friends ; and by the consideration, ever present to my mind,
that, except through a combination of circumstances over which
I had certainly no conscious control, the result to myself might
have been far more serious.
* Address of thel President, William’ Spottiswoode, D.C.L., LL.D.,
delivered at the Anniversary Meeting, November 30, 1882.
The total number of Fellows lost to our ranks during the past
year is twenty-two on the home list (one of whom has withdrawn
on account of growing infirmities), and four on the foreign list ;
a resulr, on the whole, not very different froia that of last year.
Of these two fell young, and by accident. Of the remainder,
two died between the ages of 50 and 60, four between those of
60 and 70, six between those of 70 and 80; and the remaiaing
five aitained ages between four score and go.
In Lioaville we have again losta veteran mathematician ; in
Wohler, a chemist whose years, numbered from the beginning
of the present century, reached to a period almost prehistoric in
the records of his science.
I am happy to report that the sal= of the Acton estate has
been c »wpleted ; and that of the proceeds, amounting to 32,250/.,
17,000/, has been iavested in preference or guaranteed railway
stock ; and the remainder will be expeuded in the purchase of
ground rents, partly in the City of London, and partly in the
western suburbs. The income from the latter source, already
representing a very fair interest on the outlay, may be expected
materially to increase at the expiration of the existing building
leases. Some additioual expense was incurred this year in
painting a portion of the Society’s apartments. A considerable
portion still remains to be painted, either next year, or at some
not very di tant period.
While on the subject of property, I should mention that Her
Majesty has sanctioned ‘‘the continuance of the occupition of
the Royal Observatory at Kew by the Royal Society,” upon
certain conditions, which have beenaccepted. The building will
be devoted, as heretofore, to the use of the Kew Committee,
whose work, it must be remembered, is provided for in the main
by the Gassiot Fund.
Last year the Society accep'ed a portrait of Sir J. D. Hooker,
painted by Mr. John Collier, at the request and at the expense
of a considerable number of Fellows. I trust that the Society
will approve the action of myself and a few others, in this year
offering for our collection a portrait, by the same artist, of Mr.
Joule.
" Mr. A. Le Gros has presentel to the Society a broaze
medallion head, executed by himself, of the late Mr. Darwin.
The Library has received many valuable contributions both
from our Fellows and from others. Among the latter I may
mention the completion of ‘‘ The Lepidoptera of Ceylon,” from
the Government of Ceyloa; G. Retzius’ ‘‘GehGrorgan der
Wirbelthiere,” from the author ; a new edition of Abel’s works,
from the Norwegian Government ; and facsimile lithographs of
some of the late Prof. Clifford’s mathematical fragments, and
the catalogue in two hand-one volumes from the Public Library
of Victoria.
The printing of the general part of our library cata-
logue is in progress; and although, owing to unforeseen
difficulties the hope expre-sed last year, that it would have
been now finished, has not been fulfilled, yet there seems
little doubt that early next year it may be in the hands of the
Fellows.
Ou the completion of this work the Library Committee con-
template resuming another decade, 1874-83, of the great
Catalogue of Scientific papers; and the President and Council»
trust that the success which has attended the publication of the
eight volumes already in existence will justify the Treasury in
undertaking the printing of the second supp!emeat when the
MS. has been prepared.
In the staff of the Society I have happily no change to report.
Of the existing members my own feelinss would impel me to
say much more ; but, while they would probibly wish me to be
silent, I trust they will pardon me in this one remark : that while
recent ehanges make me less apprehensive of any future altera-
tions, they at the same time make me hope that any alteration
may be long postponed.
Although the number of papers presented to the Society
during tbe past year, apart from their contents, does not convey
any very important information, yet in continuation of past
practice I may perhaps carry on the ten years’ table. It is as
follows, showing a slight diminution in the past year :—
1873... ....cccseses ecuse> Q2)papersmeceived.
1874 paeenoesebstote SAE 98 ” ”
1875 wcacveccasacuasyensas 88 ” ”
1876.. . ” ”
1877 ” ”
1878 ” ”
1879
” ”
_
Dec. 7, 1882 |
Nae Char:
135
LS SO: eet ee eee s-perL2on) apersimecelveds
BSS), teensteeaase
eoumesle Tie 55
MOS 2 vs cise teieus
lOO 5 a
Among the parers of this year, I may nvtice the elaborate
research by Dr. Debus on ‘‘ The Chemical Theory of Gun-
powder,” forming the Bakerian lecture ; the careful and long-
continued investigations by Professors Liveing and Dewar on
the spectra of water, and of carbon, and of mixed vapours.
Nor must I omit mention of Dr. C. W. Siemens’ bold and
original theory of the conversation of the solar energy, which
has already given rise toso much discussion. It will be sufficient
for me here to say that upon the questio:s therein raised the last
word has been by no means said ; and that, whether the theory
be ultimately establishid, or whether, like a pbcenix, it shall
hereafter give 1ise to some other cutcome from its own ashes, it
will ever be remembered as having set many active minds at
work, and will always have a place in the’ history of Solar
Physics.
In Mathematics, definite integrals, and elliptic and the higher
transcendents continue to occupy much attention, and in parti-
cular our ‘* Transactions” contain an excellent contribution to
the theta-functions of two variables, by Mr. Forsyth, of Liver-
pool. ‘To the theory of invariants, Prof. Malet, of Cork, has
given a happy extension in the direction of linear differential
equations; but it is unnecessary to speak in detail of papers
which either already are, or will shortly be, in the hands of the
Fellows. I will only add that the ‘‘ Philosophical Transactions ”
for 1882 will probably exceed in bulk, and not yield in interest
to, those of any former year.
Looking outside the circle of our own publications, there has
been one step gained during the past year, which, although in
some sense a matter of detail, is really of great importance ani
interest. I allude to the paper by Lindemann, ‘‘ Ueber die
Zahl w” (‘* Mathematische Annalen,” Band xx, p. 213). It had
long since been shown that both the numbers mand 7 are
irrational ; but hitherto no proof existed of the impossibility of
effecting the quadrature of the circle by means of the straight
line and circle, and ruler and compasses. Regarded from an
algebraical point of view, every such construction must depend
upon the solution of a quadratic equation, or rather of a series of
quadratics whereof the first has for its coefficients rational
numbers, and the succeeding members of the series only such
irrational numbers as occur in the sclution of their predecessors.
This being so, the final equation can always be trai sformed, by
transposition of terms and squaring, into an equation of an even
degree with rational coefficients. And, consequently, if it can
be proved that + cannot be the root of any algebraic equation
whatever with rational coefficients, the impossibility of the
quadrature of the circle will be thereby also proved. Starting
from Hermite’s researches (‘‘ Comptes Rendvs,” 1873), in which
he established the transcendental nature of the nun.ber ¢, Linde-
mann has supplied the proof required with reference to the
uuuiber 7, It must be admitted that the proof is neither very
simple nor very easy to follow ; and it remains only to te hoped
that it may some day assume such a form as may influence the
miids which still exercise themselves upon the hopeless problem
of squaring the circle.
A most important change in the relations between the Society
and the Government in respect of State aid to science has been
made this year. It will be in the recollection of the Fellows that
an experiment was made for a period of five years, during which
the sum of 4,000/. was annually voted to the Science and Art
Department, to be distributed at the recommendation of the
Government Fund Commitee of the Royal Society. That
experimental period terminated, as then mentioned in my address,
last year. The grant to the Science and Art Department has
been discontinued, and in the place of it an addition of 3,000/.
per annum has been made to the Government grant, maki g
4,coo/. in all, In concluding this arrangement the following
stipulations were agreed to. The increased grant is to be
administered by a Committee identical with the late Govern-
ment Fund Committee ; a portion may be devoted to | ersonal
grants, subject, however, to. special recommendations to the
‘Treasury ; and, lastly, unexpended balances may be carried
forward from year to year, as has hitherto been the case with
the old government grant only. To the stipulation that the
increased fund should be administered by the more extended
committee the Society felt that no reasonable objection could be
offered, because upon it the President and Council are repre-
sented in full, and the ex officio members are in the majority of
cases Fellows of the Society. The object of the second stipu-
1. tion was, so far as the Society is concerned, to secure at the
outset for the personal grants the consent and support of the
Treasury, and thereby to preclude the chance of objection being
sub-equently taken to any of our proposals under this head,
The President and Council, however, recognising the importance
of great caution in respect of personal grants, have of their
own motion appointed a special sub-committee (in addition to
the three previously existing), to which all personal applications
recommended by any of the other sub-committees are specially
referred, and without whese recommendation none can come
before the General Committee. To the third mentioned point,
viz., the power of retaining unexpended balances, the President
and Council attach great value, because that power may enable
the Committee to devote more of its funds than heretofore to
some of the larger undertakings in scientific inquiry, leaving
more of the smaller grants to the special funds already in exist-
ence in the hands of the Royal and other societies. The meetings
of this Committee will probably take place twice a year, in May
and November. In the present year it will not be possible to
hold the second meeting before December, but there will be
advantages in holding it hereafter in November, as the entire
annual grants will then be made by the same Committee, and
under the sanction of the same Pre-ident and Council. In
concluding these few remarks on the new arrangements, I cannot
refrain from expressing my sense of the obligation under which
the Society and Science at large are laid by the sympathetic and
intelligent attention bestowed uyjon the subject by the then
Financial Secretary of the Treasury, the late Lord Frederick
Cavendish,
Among other subjects referred to the Royal Society by Public
Departments I may mention a rejue-t from the Board of Trade
for advice upon the question of improving the existing means at
the Standard Office for the purpose of comparisons, At the
request of the President and Council, Sir Ceorge Airy, Colonel
A. Ross Clarke, and Prof. Stokes acted as a Committee, and
drew upa very careful report, the value of which was fully
recognised by the Board of Trade. The report suggested certain
improvements in the present arrangements; but, having reference
to the duties of the Standard Office as defined by Act of Parlia-
ment, it was not considered necessary to insist upon extreme
scientific accuracy, such, ¢.g., as that attained by Colonel Clarke
himself in his ‘‘Comparison of Standards” made at’ the
Ordnance Survey Office at Southampton in 1866.
The arrangements for the observation of the Transit of Venus
have Leen steadily progressing. The parties have now all started
for their stations, after their period of training under the super-
intendence of Mr. Stone at Oxford. An adequate supply of
instruments has been secured at moderate cost, and all the
accessory parts have been procured and applied by the indefa-
tigable care and forethought of our directing Astronomer. __
The English Expeditions for the observation of the approaching
Transit of Venus are-organized as follows :—
ACCELERATED INGRESS.
Madagascar Observers.—Rev. S. J. Perry. Rev. W. Sidgreaves
Mr. Carlisle.
Cape Observatory Ob-ervers.—Mr. Gill and Staff.
Aberdeen Road Observers.—Mr. Finlay, First Assistant of the
Cape Observatory. Mr. Pett, Third Assistant of the
Cape Observatory.
Montagu Roat Observers.—Myr. A. Marth,
Stevens.
Mr. €. MM:
RETARDED INGRESS,
Bermuda Observers.—Mr. J. Plummer.
Capt- Washington, k.E.
Famaica Observers.—Dr. Copeland,
Mr. Maxwell Hall.
Barbadoes Observers.—Mr. C, G. Talmage.
R.A.
Besides the observers at these stations, the Canadian Govern-
ment kas arranged to place three 6-inch and some smaller
telescopes in the field. Lieut. Gordon of Toronto was sent by
the Canadian Government to England to make himself master
of the proposed arrangements, and to secure the necessary
instrumental equipment.
ACCELERATED EGRESS.
The stations for Retarded Ingress are also available for
Accelerated Egress.
Lieut. Neate, R.N.
Capt. Mackinlay, R.A.
Lieut. Thomson,
NATURE
[ Dec. 7, 1882
RETARDED EGRESS.
Brisbane Observers.—Capt. W. G. Morris, R.E. Lieut. H.
Darwin, R.E. Mr. Peek.
New Zealand Observers.—Lieut.-Col. Tupman, R.M.A. Lieut.
Coke, R.N.
Besides these observers sent specially from England, the
Observatories at Melbourne and Sydney are most favourably
situated for observing the Egress. The Directors of these
Observatories, Mr. Ellery and Mr. Russell, have promised their
co-operation, and their Governments have placed funds at their
disposal to cover any necessary expenses.
Unless unfavourable weather should prevent the transit being
seen at some of the stations, we may expect some nine or ten
pairs of corresponding observations, both at Ingress and Egress,
from the British expeditions alone. These observations are
certain to be largely supplemented by those made by the observers
of other nations ; and it is hoped, from close agreement between
the instructions issued to the different observers, that the whole
may ultimately be available for combination in one general
discussion.
The American astronomers, encouraged by the partial success
which attended the plan they adopted in 1874, are relying chiefly
upon the photographic method ; they have sent expediticns to
South America and the Cape of Good Hope.
Austria does not take any active part in oserving the Transit.
France sends out eight well equipped expeditions, full parti-
culars of which have been published in the ‘‘ Comptes Rendus”
for October 2.
From Holland no special expedition will be sent out, but
Lieutenent Heyminz, of the Dutch Navy, will observe the
transit in the West Indies, probably at Curagoa.
Italy will confine its operations to observatories in that country.
Russia, also, has decided to send out no expeditions of its
own, but it has aided the efforts of other countries by lending a
6°5-inch reflector to the Danish Government, and has placed two
excellent 43-inch heliometersin the hands of the French
astronomers, MM, Tisserand and Perrotin. The considerations
which led the Russian Government to this conclusion have been
explained in the following paragraphs of a letter from Mr.
Struve to myself :
“«Experience since 1874 has sufficiently proved that there is no
prospect whatever, even with combined international efforts, of
obtaining by the present transit a geometrical determination of
the parallax of the sun, which would not soon be surpassed in
accuracy by other recent methods (for example, that suggested by
Mr. Gill), methods which are capable of being repeatedly
employed, and that without any costly expeditions.
**Further, although it must be admitted that so rare an
opportunity of studying the atmosphere of the planet ought not
to be neglected, yet it seems certain that so many and such
excellent data will be obtained through the agency of the
United States, as well as by other countries having well pro-
vided observaturies in the southern hemisphere, as well as by
other seafaring nations.” Under these circumstances Russia has
not considered it incumbent on itse!f to organise any observing
parties.
Spain has sent two parties of naval officers, well equipped
with 6-inch equatoreals and other instruments, to the Havana
and Porto Rico.
Last year I expressed a hope that the difference of longitude
between Singapore and Port Darwin in Au tralia would be deter-
mined by Commander Green of the United States’ Navy in
concert with Mr. Todd. ‘This operation, however, in conse-
quence of some incorrect information furnished to Commander
Green as to the intentions of our home authorities in the matter,
was not carried out. After various proposals, extending over a
period of not less than two years, I am happy to say that it now
appears likely that the work will be performed. Through the
liberality of the Secretary of State for War an extension of |
leave has been granted to Lieutenant Darwin, who accompanies
Captain Morris to Brisbane to observe the transit of Venus,
enabling him to undertake the work. He has received instructions
to arrange with Mr. Todd all details of the operation. ‘The
publication of the results obtained by Oudemans and Pogson for
the difference of longitude between Madras and Singapore has
now left only one link wanting, namely, that between Batavia
and Port Darwin, to connect Australia with English longitudes,
Lieutenant Darwin is eminently qualified for the work ; and it
seem; a happy coincidence that it should fall to his lot to connect
| published, making six in all.
astronomically the distant port named after his father with the
furtherest ascertained point in that direction. I should not omit
to add that Mr. Todd has placed all the telegraphic appliances
under his command at the disposal of this service, and it is to be
hoped that the determination will prove as useful to the Austra-
lian colonies;as it will be valuable for the purposes of the transit.
The best thanks of the Committee have already been given, but
I am glad here publicly to recognise the valuable assistance
rendered to the Committee in these long negotiations by the
Great Eastern Telegraph Company.
Iu the course of last year the Treasury made known to the
Society that in conseqnence of Sir Wyville Thomson’s ill health,
their Lordships proposed that his chief assistant, Mr. Murray,
should undertake the general editorship of the Reports of the
Challenger Expedition ; so that Sir Wyville might devote himself
more exclusively to the personal narrative. At the request of
their Lordships a small Committee, with whom Mr. Murray
might consult from time to time, was appointed, consisting of
the President and Officers, Sir Joseph Hookerand Prof. Huxley;
but before the Committee could meet the lamentable death of Sir
Wyville Thomson occurred. They met, however, shortly after-
wards, and having added Prof. Mosely to their number, they
received from Mr. Murray, who attended, a detailed statement
of the existing condition of the whole arrangements conected
with the Report. From this statement it appeared that, in
addition to the original estimate of 20,000/. given by Sir Wyville
Thomson, the work actually in progress and entrusted to the
several authors required a further sum of about 20,000/., and
that if the series should be completed, by describing on the same
scale groups as yet unallotted, an additional expense of about
6,coo/. would be entailed. In forwarding this statement to the
Treasury, the Committee stated that, in their opinion, Mr.
Murray’s estimates were drawn up with great care and judgment,
and that in view of the remaining Reports being carried out on
the same scale as those already published, they were reasonable
and sound. As to the cause of the great discrepancy the
Committee felt themselves unable to offer any explanation ; the
conduct of the whole business having been left in Sir Wyville’s
hands, without reference to the Society. They further were of
opinion that Mr. Murray might safely be entrusted, under the
control and supervision of the Committee, with the entire future
management of the undertaking.
After some further correspondence it was suggested that Mr.
Murray should furnish the Committee with a statement of the
existing condition of the Reports and their management, which
should form a starting point for the responsibility of the Com-
mittee ; and that he should keep the Committee well informed
fromm time to time of the progress of the undertaking. These
suzgestions were cordially accepted bp their Lordships, and with
the general statement which Mr. Murray submitted in October,
the special duties and responsibilities of the Committee have
begun,
Since last year, three more volumes ef the Report have been
The new volumes form volu nes
iv. and vy. of the Zoology, and volume ii. of the Narrative.
The latter volume comprises the magnetic results, the meteoro-
logical observations, the report on the pressure errors of
the thermometers, and the petrologyiof St. Paul’s rocks. Vol. 1.
of this section, containing the narrative proper, is partly in type;
and will, it is hoped, be issued during the summer of 1883.
Other volumes will als» appear from time to time.
In connection with this subject, I may mention that the col-
lection of specimens from the C/allenger Expedition are being
received at the British Museum, as the particular portions are
released by the progress of the publication of the Report.
Those derived from the A/ert Expedition to the South Pacific
Ocean, have been deposited in the Museum by the Admiralty,
and are now being arranged and described. Dr. Giinther hopes
to be able to produce a printed descriptive catalogue of the
collection before the expiration of the present year, And I
desire here to acknowledge the service rendered to science by
the Admiralty in commissioning Dr. Coppinger to accompany
that expedition for scientific purposes.
Iam indebted to Mr. Murray for the following interesting
account of a cruise made last summer to complete some part of
the Challenger work.
H.M.S. Zrifon was engaged, from the 4th of August to the
4th of September, in a re-examination of the physical and
biological conditions of the Faroe Channel.
The chief objects of the cruise were to ascertain by actual
i ee oe ae
|
Dec. 7, 1882 |
NATURE
137
soundings, the character of a ridge running from the north of
Scotland to the Faroe fishing banks, an! separating, at depths
exceeding 300 fathoms, the cold Arctic water with a temperature
about 32° from the so-called Gulf Stream water on the Atlantic
side with a temperature of 47° F. This ridge was traced in
considerable detail by means of cross soundings directly across
the channel, and the top was found to be on an average about
260fathoms, beneath the surface. In the northern half of the ridge,
however, a small saddle-back was found witha depth ofa little over
300 fathoms, through which some of the Arctic water seemed to
flow and to spread itself over the bottom on the Atlantic side of
the ridge. The top of the ridge is entirely composed of gravel
and stones, but mud and clay are found on either side at depths
exceeding 300 fathoms, Many of the stones are rounded, and
some of them have distinct glacial markings. They are fragments
of sandstone, diorite, mica-schist, gneiss, amphibolite, chloritic
rock, micaceous sandstone, limestone, and other minerals. The
ocean currents here appear to be strong enough, at a depth of
between 250 and 300 fathoms, to prevent any fine deposit, such
as mud or clay, being formed on the top of the ridge. All the
indications obtained of the nature of this ridge, seem to imply
that it may be a huge (terminal ?) moraine.
It is worthy of notice that the ‘‘ Wyville Thomson Ridge ’ is
only a little to the east of the position marked out by Croll from
the observations of Geikie, Peach, and others, as the probable
limit of the perpendicular ice cliff formed in North Western
Europe during the period of maximum glaciation.
The dredging captures show the same marked difference as
had previously been pointed out in the fauna of the two areas ;
those in the cold area being of a distinctly Arctic character, and
those in the warm area resembling the universally distributed
deep-sea fauna of the great oceans. A fair proportion of new
Species were also found.
The last trip of the 772/on took place from Oban, on the 11th
September, to the deep water in the Atlantic westward of
Treland. The object of this trip was to get directly a deter-
mination of the pressure unit of the guages employed in testing
the Challenger thermometers. The original determinations were
made indirectly by the help of Amagat’s results as to compression
of air. The observations taken are not yet reduced, but several
successful trials were made at depths of 500, S09, and 1,400
fathoms.
(To be continued.)
M. MIKLUKHO-MACLAVY ON NEW GUINEA
Os October 11 M. Miklukho-Maclay gave, at the Russian
Geographical Society, the first of a series of lectures on his
sojourn in New Guinea, These lectures have attracted great
audiences. His remarkable collections of household articles
and implements of Papuans and of various tribes of the Malacca
Peninsula, and the many drawings reproducing scenes of the life,
dwellings, graves, anthropological types, &c., of the natives,
are exhibited in the rooms of the Geographical Society, and
attract many visitors.
M. Miklukho-Maclay left St. Petersburg in 1872, and went on
board a Russian ship to New Guinea. He expressed the wish
to be left there for at least a year, and it was fifteen months after
his being landed that he was taken up by a ship which brought
him to Batavia. His stay in New Guinea was beset with diffi-
culties. He lived in a small hut, was short of provisions, which
he had to supply by hunting, and his health was quite broken
down. But he entered into very close relations with the natives.
In Batavia he stayed for several years, and published (in
German) the results of his anthropological and ethnological
observations among the Papuans, on the Brachycephaly of the
same, and on the climate of the ‘‘ Maclay-coast” in the Batavian
scientific journal, Watuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch
Indie. A paper (in French) on the Vestiges of Art among the
Papuans appeared in the Bulletin de la Société d’ Anthropologie de
Paris for 1878. In 1876 he undertook a new journey on board
the English schooner Sea Bird, and visited the Yap, Pelau, Ad-
miralty, and Ninigo Islands, and went again to the coast of
New Guinea, to which his name is now attached, An account
of this journey has appeared in the Zzvestia of the Russian Geo-
graphical Society and in Letermann’s Mittheilungen for 1879.
During this second sojourn in New Guinea M. Miklukho-
Maclay was lodged more comfortably, and was enabled to
pursue scientific investigations (anthropological measurements
and anatomical researches) with less difficulty, He also explored
in a canoe, with natives, the coast of New Guinea between
Cape Croaz and Cape Teliata. Having undertaken his adven-
turous journey on his own account with but a little occasional
support from the Geographical Society, M. Miklukho-Maclay
was often in difficult circumstances ; but a few years ago a
public subscription was opened by the Russian papers, and the
Russian Society immediately came to his aid, thus enabling him
to continue his researches,
When in search of a place at which to study the customs and
life of the primitive people at the lowest stage of culture, M.
Maclay chose the north-western coast of New Guinea, close by
Astrolabe Bay, which was never visited before by Europeans.
Neither Dampier nor Dumont D’Urville, who both passed close
by, had landed there. He built his hut between two Papuan
villages, on a promontory that was occupied by nobody, At the
beginning the Papuans wished him to go back whence he came,
and obstinately showed him the sea; sometimes they launched
their arrows close by him, but without wounding. By great
endurance howeyer, by his good nature, and especially by a
continuous self-control and severe watching over his own actions,
M. Maclay soon won the confidence of the natives. He always
strictly kept his word, even in the most insignificant cireum-
stances, and therefore had afterwards the satisfaction of hearing
the natives saying ‘‘ Balan Maclay hoodi” (‘The word of
Maclay is one”), The natives used to call him Aaavam-tamo,
‘*The Moonman,” partly on account of the supernatural capaci-
ties they ascribed to him, and partly on account of his having
once, when searching for something about his hut in the night,
lighted a white signal-fire that was left from the ship which
brought him. The first visits of M. Maclay to the Papuan vil-
lages were a source of great trouble among the natives; the
women were concealed and the men seized their arms. M.
Maclay used then to announce beforehand his arrival by loud
whistling, and the natives concluded he did not wish to do them
harm. By and by he won the confidence of the natives to such
an extent that an attack of a hostile tribe having been expected,
his neighbours brought their women and children to his hut, to
be under his protection. The war was thus prevented, and the
authority of the ‘‘ Moon-man” was sufficient to prevent further
wars.
The natives of this coast are at the lowest stage of culture.
Before M. Maclay’s arrival they did not know the use of metals,
all their implements being made of stone, bones, and wood.
They did not even know how to make fire. If the fire were
extinguished in a hut, it was taken from another; it would be
taken from a neighbouring village if extinguished in al] the huts
of the village at once. ‘Their grandfathers told them of a time
when they had no fire; then they ate their food quite raw, and
a disease of the gums spread among them. ‘They do not bury
their dead. The dead are put in a sitting position, the corpse is
covered with leaves of the cocoa-palm, and the wife must keep a
fire close by him for two or three weeks, until the corpse is
dried. Corpses are buried only if there is nobody to keep the
fire.
M. Maclay left the Papuans with regret, when a passing
schooner took him, in 1878, to Singapore. He expects for his
friends the fate of {he inhabitants of the Melanesian Archipelago,
where the population rapidly diminishes on account of the
“kidnapping” of men and women to sell them into slavery,
which is practised to a great extent by crews of ships of all
nationalities of the civilised world.
In his second lecture, M. Miklukho Maclay gave further in-
formation with regard to the Papuans of New Guinea. Pre-
vious anthropologists had admitted the existence of at least
two different races in New Guinea, and had made a distinc!ion
between the Papuans inhabiting the coast and those of the inte-
rior. After several visits to New Guinea, as well to the
coast, ‘as to the interior, M. Maclay came to the conclusion
that this supposition is not correct. ‘The Papuans of the
interior belong to the same race as those of the coast, and
there is throughout New Guinea but one single Papuan race.
Virchow found it also necessary, on the ground of craniological
measurements, to distinguish the Papuans from the Negritos of
the Philippine I lands, and to admit that the former are dolicho-
cephalic, and the second brachiocephalic. Hundreds of mea-
surements made by M. Maclay brought him to the conclusion
that both types have their representatives even among the purest
Papuans of the Maclay coast, and that the transversal diameter
of the skulls of Papuans varies everywhere within so wide limits
(62 to 86 per cent. of the length of the skull), that no classifica-
tion can rest on this feature. It was stated also that a special
138
feature of the Papuans which distinguishes them from other
curly-haired races, is that their hairs grow in clusters, separated
from one another by sinuous spaces devoid of hair.
researches proved, however, that this cluster-like disposition of
hairs does not exist among Papuans, not even among children.
Finally, several anthropologis's considered the diameter of the
curls of the hairs as a feature that may help to establish a dis-
tinction between the Papuans and the Nezritos; these last have
been supposed to have smaller curls than the former, that is, no
more than one or two millimetres wide. M. Maclay found,
however, that the diameter of the curls of the Papuan also does
not exceed one and a half millimetre, and that it varies very
much in different parts of the head, so that t is feoture cannot
be taken as a basis for anthropological classification’
After having taken some rest at Buitenzorg, M. Maclay left Bata-
via in January, 1873, for a third visit to New Guinea. The Malay-
ans of Celebes have carried on an intercourse with New Guinea
for more than three or four hundred years ; they go there, as
well as the inhabitants of the islands Lant, Seram, and Key, for
the purchase of slaves, turtles, trepang, and pearl shells. To
establish closer relations with the natives, the Malayans of
Celebes bring with them Malayan girls, give them as wives to
the Papuans, and export in exchange Papuan girls who are
married in Celebes. (These relations were described by P. A.
Leupe in the ‘‘ Bijdragen tot de Taal-Land en Volkenkunde van
Nederlandsch-Indie” for 1865.) Therefore it is impossible to
find pure Papuans on the Papua-Onim and Papua-Notan coasts,
and M. Maclay took the resolution to go to the Papua-Koviay
coast. The inhabitants of this coast have a very bad reputation
as robbers and anthropophagi; but still, M. Maclay hired a
Malayan “‘ praw,” or ‘‘urumbay,” that is, a boat thirty feet
long, and, with a crew of two Christians from Amboyna, and
fourteen Malayans and Papuans, he left the is'ands Seram-
Lamut, and reached the Koviay coast. Triton Bay (where the
Dutch had formerly a military settlement) proved to be a beauti-
ful strait, to which M. Maclay gave the name of the Russian
Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna. He discovered also another
bay that separates the island Namatote from the mainland of
New Guinea. He stopped at Aiva, between these two straits,
and his men immediately erected a hut from the “ataps” (a
kind of mat made from leaves of the tapioca palm) that were
brought in the boat. The inhabitants of this coast proved to
belong to the same race as those of the Maclay coast ; however,
it was easy to perceive, especially among children, unmistakable
traces of mixture of Malayan blood The size of the men on
the Maclay coast varies from 1°74 metres to 1°42; the size of
full-grown women was 1°32. On the Papua-Koviay coast the
size of the men was from 1'75 to 1:48 metres, and the size of the
women 1°31. On the Maclay coast the length of the transversal
diameter of the skull was from 64°0 to 86°4 per cent. of the
longitudinal diameter, and from 62 to 80 per cent. on the
Koviay coast,
Leaving ten men at Aiva, M. Maclay went with the remainder
of his crew to explore the interior of the mainland, He landed
opposite Coira Island, and, crossing a range of mountains 1200
feet high, reached Lake Kamaka-Vallar. He found there a
tribe which calls itself Vaasirau, but does not differ from the
inhabitants of the coast. The water of the lake was very warm
(3° Celsius), and contained an interesting new kind of sronge,
belonging to the Wal/ichondrie. The rains in this part of New
Guinea are so copious that Triton Bay is sometimes covered
with a sheet of sweet water that can be taken in vessels and uced
for drinking. As the lake has no outlet, its water rises many
years, sometimes fifteen ad twenty feet, and covers the trees
that grow on its shores ; but after a period of rising, the rocks at
its bottom give way, and the water is discharged through a
temporary outlet, wnich is soon checked by stones and mud.
Returning to the shore, M. Maclay made excursions to the neigh- |
bouring islands (‘iscovering coal on Lakahia Island), as well as
several other excursions to the highlands of New Guinea. In
Telok Bay the boat of M. Maclay was attacked by a number of
pirogues of Papuans, but made his escape by rowing all night.
But his men at Aiva were not so fortunate, They were attacked
hy 200 Papuans, who destroyed the hut and killed an old man
who was interpreter, as well as his wife and child, A further
stay at Aiva was impossible, as the Papuans had poisoned the
springs ; aid so the party went to stay on Aidum Island, where
M. Maclay’s hunter brought him every day plenty of interesting
birds and «ther animals. The New Guinea kangaroo, Dendro-
logus ursinus, is worthy of mention, as it has to adapt itself to
Extensive |
NATURE
[Dec. 7, 1882
local conditions, strong nails, and lost at the same time the
strength of the muscles of the tail ; it has become thus a climbing
animal and lives mostly in trees, After having taken prisoner
the chief of the Papuans who had robbed his but, (M_ Maclay
went one day with a few men to their camp, and simply ordered
them to tie the chief ; the Papuans, terrified by the sudden
appearance of a white, opposed no resistance), the party returned
to the Seram-Lamut Islands, where M. Maclay studied the
mixed race from the crossing of Malayans with Papuans. The
anthroplogical results-of these studies have appeared in the above-
mentioned periodical as an appendix to the paper entitled
“Meine zweite Excursion nach Neue Guinea,” 1874.”
The Papuans of the Koviay coast are a very intere ting race
of -quatic nomads. ‘They were centuries since in relations with
Malayans, who came to New Guinea especially to purchase
slaves, exported to a great extent to the Malayan Islands. The
slaves were formerly purchased among the inhabitants of the
sea-coast; but to have more slaves these last have begun to
make raids on the highlanders, who took revenge by raids them-
selves, so that the inhabitants of the coast were compelled to
abandon all their villages. They are living now in covered
boats, and continually cruise in them along the shore in search
of food, landing only during ‘storms, for in the night, at a few
well-known places, where they are safe from attacks by the
highlanders. The Malayans have introduced among them the
use of gold, opium, and fire-arms, and they are very miserable.
From the Koviag coast, M. Maclay returned to Java, but
soon undertook a fourth jcurney to New Guinea, to the southern
coast, in order to ascertain the existence of a yellow Malayan
race, which was mentioned several times by missicnaries and
travellers. After an eleven mo:.ths’ cruise on board a schooner,
during which he visited the Solomon and Luisiada Islands, M.
Maclay stopped on Teste Island, and thence proceeded on board
a schooner to Port Maresby (Anapuata), on the southern cuast
of New Guinea. During his visits to the neighbouring villages,
he perceived, indeed, a mixture of Polynesian blood among the
Papuans. ‘These metiss have a lighter skin and uncurled hair.
They have also taken fiom the Polynesians the use of tattooing ;
all women tattoo themselves as long as they have children, and
M. Maclay remarks that not only himself, but also many
Earopeans, find that the tattooed Papuan women are really
better looking than the un-tattooed. They cover thems:lves
with tattooing from the forehead to the feet, and often shave the
head to tattoo it. The men are tattooed only to exhibit some of
their exploits; by simply looking at a tattooed man you can say
how many foes he has killed. The south coast is inhabited by
the same Papuans as the other parts of New Guinea. Here
also brachiocephalic skulls are not uncommon; but the skulls
are also distorted, as the women used to bear load; on their
backs, in bags that are attached by a rope to the head. The
transversal depression of the bones at the Satara sagitalis, which
results from this custom, is met with very often, and must be
transmitted by heredity.
M. Maclay made a fifth visit to New Guinea on board an
English man-of-war, to exercise his conciliating influence on the
commander, who was going to burn a whole village and de-troy
the 20co inhabitants, in order to punish them for killing four
missionaries. ‘lhe visit was very short.
M. Maclay concluded his lecture with a few remarks on the
influc nce of the whites on the inhabitants of the south coast of
New Guinea. Whil-t rendering justice to the efforts of the
London Missionary Society, who spread, by means of their
black staff, the Christian religion, and teach the natives to read
and write, M. Maclay pointed out that traders follow imme-
diately the missionaries, and spread among the natives diseases,
drunkenness, and the use of fire arms, which completely counter-
balance the good influence of the very small amount of know-
ledge that might be spread by missionaries. The London Mis-
sionary Society does not allow its members to be at the sume
time the bearers of religion and of the above-said ‘‘ benefits of
civilisation ” ; but several missionaries of other societies appear in
both these qualities. M, Maclay hopes, however, that the climate
of New Guinea will be a good ally of the natives in their struggle
against the white.
THE AURORA
V E have received the following further communications
relating to the electric storm and auroral display of
November 17 :—
Dec. 7, 1882 |
Havinc read in the English journals how very extensively
and simultaneously the remarkable display of aurora borealis
was observed in Europe and the United States, I beg to
forward the inclosed report from Prof. Tacchini (see be-
low), taken from a newspaper in Rome, describing that
splendid pheno.nenon as it appeared in this country on the
evening of the 17th inst , which probably may interest some of
your readers. 1 would merely add that on the evening in ques-
tion I was travelling between Spezzia and this city, when my
observation was absorbed by the brilliancy of the beautiful phe-
nomenon as seen from a railway carriage, and which accords
very closely with the appearance of it in Rome. Soon after
sunset the north-western sky was diffused with richly-coloured
roseate tints blending into crimson at the horizon, which con-
tinued up to 7 p.m. ; the transparency of this apparently roseate
cloud was a’so a very remarkable feature, for the stars of the
Great Bear were seen throug it with little diminution of lustre ;
the sunset was very noticeable, which I remarked before branch-
ing from the coast where I had the sea horizon, and I never saw
a more distinct and clzar disappearance of the sun at sea below
the horizon, even t» the clearness of the atmosphere. Aurora
borealis is so seldom seen in this country that its appearance
cause much public curiosity. ERASMUS OMMANNEY
Florence, 12, Lungarno, November 30
THE following account of aurora borealis, seen on the 17th
ult., atthe Observatory of the Roman College, was sent by Prof.
‘Tacchini to the Roman journals :—
“Yesterday evening (the 17th), a few hours after sunset, a fine
aurora borealis appeared on our horizon. Besides the magui-
ficent rosy arch melting away above, I saw, below, the so-called
dark segment, which had a most lovely azure-greenish colour.
“At 5h. 50m. the red ribband rose more than 30° above the
horizon, but at 5h. 55m. clouds suddenly covered almost the
whole of that part of the sky occupiei by the aurora, and a
storm, with lightning, arose in the north. At 6h. 18m. there
was a slight clearance, and through the aurora, which had
already paled, shone sone of the stars of Ursa Major, The
highest point of the dark segment was precisely between the
stars a and ¢ of that constellation, being about 14° above the
horizon, and 17° from the north towards west, therefore nearly
in the direction of the magnetic meridiin, and with an amplitude
of about 45°. The weather continued bad, and at intervals rainy,
and at 6h. 32m. were seen the last traces of the phenomenon.
From the auroral light ouly a very faint continuous spectrum
could be obtaine’, but I could not make such observations at
the most opportune moment.
“* Several falling stars were oDserved through the aurora. A
magnetic perturbation occurred yesterday, and in the nizht, and
continued also to-day ; and, moreover, there is on the sun a
aie spot, easily vi-ible on using merely a piece of sm>ked
glass.
“The large diameter of this spot is slightly less than the thir-
teeuth part of the apparent diameter of the solar disc. The
spot appeared on November 12, at the eastern limb in the sun’s
boreal hemisphere, and on the 12th and 13’h magnetic perturba-
tions occurred. Yesterday I could not observe it well, because
of the bad weather; but the day before, clouds of hydrogen
were seen on its nuclei, and this morning still the phenomenon
is most brilliant, demonstrating the greater intensity of solar
phenomena over the spots in the atmosphere of the sun, which
may thus be called solar auroras.
_ “‘ Again, the magnetic perturbation of yesterday and last night
is connected with that vast storm depression, which embraced a
great part of Central Europe and especially Italy.
** We will further record here, that in the beginning of last
October another ausora borealis was observed, and that then
also there were strong magnetic perturbations in the earth,
and large spots on the sun, seen on the limb on September 25.
“* The Director of the Telegraphs has announced that very great
perturbations occurred yesterday on all the lines, and from
Belluno, Milan, Turin, Moncalieri, Venice, Porto Maurizio,
Parma, Modena, Genoa, Luveno, and Viesti have come tele-
grams, showing that in the north the phenomena must have
been very splendid From Venice the Director of the Observa-
tory states that yesterday morning at 4 o'clock, gl-ams of auroral
light were observed. “© P. TACCHINI
“Observatory of the Roman College, November 18 ”
I aM afraid you must have been overburdened with auroral
co.nmunicaticns, but perhaps you will kindly allow me on this
N ATURE:
39
occa-ion a little more space. Mr. E. Dowlen witnessed at
Medway, Poynton, Cheshire, but little of thit of the 17th; but
on the 13th saw an auro-al haze with shafts of white light, at
6 p.m. in the north and north-west. This had been preceded
by a rose-red sunset, unlike an ordinary one, and accompanied
by magnetic clouds. He also noticed an auroral glow on several
subsequent nights.
On Friday last (the 24th) the Rev. W. Pearce saw a fine
aurora at West Horsley, about six miles east from here. It
commenced about gh. 15m. bya yellow glow in the north-north-
east and north-north-west, which increased in brightness and
rose upwards, until at 9h. 30m. the Great Bear was hidden by
it. It then changed to a rose lint, and spread laterally ; was at
its greatest brilliancy at gh. 50m., and disappeared at toh. 15m.
Mr. Prince, of Crowborough (who, from the movements of
certain insects and the magnetic di turbances, anticipates a
severe winter), remarks that the ‘* bright beam » must have been
like a row of patches of light he saw on last October 3, south-
ward and nearly parallel with the auroral arch northward. As
some of your correspondents seem to ascribe a meteoric charac-
ter to this beam, I may add I examined it carefully with a large
Browning direct-vision spectroscope designed for auroral o)ser-
vations, and fouid only the well-known citron line, and none
other, Alsoa faint greenish-white continuous spectrum extend-
ing a short way from that line towards the violet. ‘Lhis might
have been auroral or from moon reflection. I had just pre-
viously examined the sky in that direction, and found no auroral
line.
Mr. Saxby’s letter is interesting in fixing approximaiely the
po-ition and height of the beam, especially when read in connec-
tion with Messrs. De la Rue and Miilier’s vacuum experiments
and their table of heights assigned to auroree, and it is still para-
doxical that if such electric displays be within the limits of our
atmosphere the air-spectrum is conspicuous for its absence, while
it is replaced by one the principal line of which is not found in
any other form of matter in the sky or on the earth.
On the other hand this point would not be inexplicable if the
aurora be considered a something fey se, as, for example, phos
phorescence (stronzly marked in the recent aurore), excited by
the electric discharge. That in such case it might wholly or in
great part appropriate the spectrum to itself is shown by the
instances of indium, thaliium, and some other volatile metals
which, when used as electrodes for the c mdensed spark, give
spectra ia which the a r lines are either absent or faint, and wher
burnt in the are have a similar effect on the carbon lines. Ihave
elsewhere pointed out the probability of the aurora being refer-
able to a form of phosphorescence.
The moonlight was unfortunate as regards the masking the
fainter lines of the spectrum. I see one record of a faint red
line, but except this of no other lines. If any of your readers
have fixed the other lines, you will no doubt find space
for so important an observation, for it is curious how little
we know of the exact positions of these. I believe the
measurements of a full set of the auroral lines made by
my friend Prof. Vogel of l’otsdam, in April, 1872, stil
remain the only standard, and as we now seem at an auroral
peri d I would earnestly urge uyon spectroscopists their special
attention to the-e fainter line , with a view to fixing their posi-
tions. This, too, is important, as there is a suspicion they are
not always the same in different displays. The mode of doing
this is not, however, very easy. If the spectroscope. is of very
small dispersion, the lines will be too close for useful measure-
ment. With one of larger dispersion the introduction of a
comparison spectrum or an illuminated micrometer scale will
swamp the lives. A single illuminated point or line working
across the field, the eclipsing the lines successively behind a
diaphragm of tinfoil (as suggested by Mr. Lockyer), and a scale
photographed on thin glass, through which the lines are seen,
and which is itself illuminated by the spectrum, are severally
better methods, and might perhaps yield some available results.
Guildown, Guildford, December 1 J. RAND CAPRON
THE unique nature of this meteor must be the excuse for
adding another letter on the subject. Your correspondents, Mr.
Taylor of Heworth Green, York, and Mr. Elger of Kempton,
have kindly answered queries of mine as to the exact place of
the passage ; these s'ations being the most important, after the
transit stations of Woodbridge and Old Windsor, After Mr.
Saxby’s letter of November 30, any farther notice may seem
superfluous, were it not that the elements he assizns cannot
explain the observations. At York the meteor could not have
140
NALURE
| Dec. 7, 1882
appeared at only 8° altitude, and it is described as 6° under the
moon, or 19° alt. ; and the passage from Woodbridge to Bristol
could not occupy over two hours (at a mile a minute), as the
whole difference of time is certainly only a minute or two. We
must then seek for more consistent elements.
From the York, Bedford, and Old Windsor observations,
meteor was at about 170 miles elevation, allowing the first sta-
tion half the weight of the second. Or, combining York and
Bristol, which were more nearly simultaneous, it was at over 300
miles elevation. Its visible passage of about 200 miles in length
did not occupy two minutes, and was so brief as to be masked
by the watch errors of observers ; it therefore moved more than
100 miles a minute. Again, it was two minutes in view, by
Greenwich ; and ir passed the meridian with at least twice its
mean apparent velocity (as most observers mention its lingering in
both east and west) ; tbis, with the least height of 170 miles, gives
a minimum of fifteen miles per second for its velocity. Another
proof of its height is, that though seen in Sweden, yet it appeared
to form and pause at 10° alt., as seen at Bristol and Heworth,
and did not come up from the horizon.
Can it be supposed that an auroral ray would sweep over 10co
miles from Sweden to Sidmouth, with a velocity of over fifteen
miles a second? This is, however, just the velocity of planetary
matter ; and apparently the most probable explanation of it is
that it was a cloud of meteorites (‘‘ quite unlike an auroral ray,”
says Mr. Capron) which just escaped grazing the earth’s surface.
In this case their velo city would be at least over twenty miles a
second, moving in about the plane of the earth’s orbit, and
crossing the earth’s path at least at 45°, or more radially. Per-
haps some computer will work out the path approximately, a
other meteors have been so discussed.
Such a cloud of meteorites must have been at least 130 x 20 miles
and 20 miles deep if cylindrical, and was apparentiy accompanied
by a smaller cloud, as seen at Clevedon, As it was seen brightly in
the moonlight, and yet scarcely dulled the moon in crossing it,
the visual area of the solid mass might be about a tenth of the
whole area of the cloud ; so that if the particles were as dark as
the moon, the cloud would reflect one-tenth as much sunlight in
an equal visual area. If then the mean diameter of the me
was but I inch, their volume would equal a sphere of 8o«
diameter, and would have thrown down a rain of meteors,
averaging ninety one-inch balls to the square foot, over a district
about twenty miles across.
Falling meteors lo e practically all their velocity by friction in
the atmosphere, before they strike the earth ; since travelling at
even 15 miles a second, they would be heated to over
1,000,000° F,
or by their effects, a sign of a thousandth of this heat. All this
heat then is pr duced in the air ; and if a meteor strike the
earth obliquely, it will be checked and fall within a very few
miles, All the heating of the air must thus take place within a
small area, in whatever way the meteor may strike. The result
then of such a meteor cloud as has been just seen, hitting the
atmosphere (as it only e-caped doing by a quarter of a minute)
would be to heat the air for some twenty miles in each direction
to about 10,000° F., or still more if the arrest occurs entirely in
the upper regions. This hot air would quickly rise, and spread
the
out above the cooler atmosphere, causing a great in-suck along |
the earth from surrounding parts. On the upper surface it
would quickly cool by radiation into space ; and the effects of
such a shower to terrestrials would be a terrible gale, blowing
towards a centre and upwards, with considerable heat radiating
from above. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
Bromley, Kent, December 2
CONCERNING the apparition during the aurora of the 17th,
I ought to have stated the apparent altitude angle between
it and the moon when at nearest approach, but as the
angle was larger here than anywhere south, it was more
difficult to estimate; but I think it was about 12 moon-
breadths, at the very most or 6” (centre to centre). Also
I foolishly forgot to note the exact time, but it was 4 or 5
minutes past 6 p.m. I saw no repetition of the phenomenon for
5 minutes after, and I then went indoors. It is evident that if
it was the same object that was seen to transit the moon’s disc
both at Woodbridge (near Ipswich) and Windsor, that it must
have followed a path from north-east by east to south-west by
west (astronomical) since the intersection of its plane of motion
with the plane containing York, Woodbridge, and Windsor, lies
in that direction. Most of the observers state that it seemed to
appear about east, and disappear south of west. Let Y, WW, and
by arrest, and yet they do not show in them elves |
B represent York, W ns and Woodbridge respectively in
their relative positions. C represents Clifton,
We have Y 8 = 162 miles.
eae 72.
BW= on ,,
CS = FAD" 55
If it be supposed that the object pursued a wearly straigh?
path, keeping at a nearly constant height (and this is not incon-
sistent with the observations), then it ought to have reached its
greatest angle of elevation along lines drawn perpendicular to
line B W from each place of observation (it seemed to do so
at Greenwich, Bedford, and Cambridge, though all the ob-
servers do not state whether they reckoned by magnetic or astro-
nomical bearings). ‘The moon was about 8° past meridian, ard
at York the altitude was about 24°, and at Wocdbridge 26°
(there being 2° of latitude between). If we consider the angles
with respect to the p/awe Y B IW, which simplifies matters, then
elevation at York = 25°, and at Woodbridge the same; and as
angle between duecicus J’ 42 and YP = 36° ‘Then tan of
angle of culmination at York will be equal to
an (25° — 7° ,
(25 : 7) — tan ( Tose sh}
s 36°
and tan angle of culm. at Woodbridge will be equal to
7s ° ,
tan 25” — tan (29° 58’).
cos 30°
I am supposing the angle below the moon to be 7° for the
sake of not exaggerating the height.
York an! Woodbridge are ina line almost at right angles to
BW, Then the parallax of the object when seen along this line
(being the line of culmination) = 29° 58’ — 21° 53’ = 8 5
about.
Thus in diagram No. (2) we have—
Bx = 169 miles x sini(2i 53°)
sin (8° 5’)
and required height « P =
B x sin (29° 58’).
Dec. 7, 1882 |
NATURE
141
This, when worked out, gives the astonishing height of 212
miles above the plaze YWB. Nor can I see how this result
can be lessened in any way, for I have allowed an exaggerated
parallax. Again, if the mysterious object was mof pursuing a
path almost straight and parallel to the plane Y/I’#, as I have
supposed, for the sake of a rough calculation, it must have tra-
velled in a crooked one, for which there will be evidence forth-
coming no doubt. Now Clifton is forty miles off the line B IV,
and as Mr. A. M. Worthington carefully estimated the depression
below the moon from centre to centre to be scarcely 34 moon
diameters, or about 13 degrees, then at York, which is 160
miles off line I” &, the depre-sion ought to he 1}° X 4 nearly
= nearly 7° (but it was not so much). I and Mr. Worthington
would see it beneath the moon nearly at the same time, he a
little later than I. If the height should be anything near 212
miles, then we ought to hear of it being seen vverhead in the
north of Italy and Southern France, and it would be 200 miles
or so in length. I hope that more accurate observations will be
forthcoming to enable some scientific man to calculate the path
of this strange apparition with some accuracy. Of course, if
the thing laid straiglt along its path, it would appear to
observers in England to be curved along its trajectory, as it did
to me. I ought to say that at its apparent formation it was
partly obscured by cloud in the S.E.E. (astronomical).
Heworth, York, November 26 H. DENNIS TAYLOR
P.S.—Might I be allowed a little more space just to state that
my estimate of the meteoroid’s depression below the moon is
considered far too much by my mother, who, happening to look
out at the same time from a window, noticed it beneath the moon.
She described it exactly as I had seen it, but did not notice its
movement, as she only looked for a few seconds. If there had
been two similar appearances at the same time, I do not see how
I could have failed to notice them. Mr. S. H. Saxby estimates
its height to have been 44 miles, but he will see that if that were
so, then I ought to have seen it pass 17° below the moon. One
cannot reasonably suppose that a different object of the same
nature has been seen from the South of England, from the one
that saw. Isee that Mr. A. Batson has observed it crossing
the moon exactly from Hungerford, which place is in almost a
direct line with York and the moon at the time of observation.
Our observations would be simultaneous, and they give a height
of 192 miles. The course of the meteoroid would be 22° south
of west, almost as Mr. S. H. Saxby states. Being very anxious
to obtain more exact data from observers in Yorkshire I sent a
letter asking for information from any such to the York Herald,
but it has not been inserted. Is there anything inherently im-
probable in supposing this phenomenor to have been at a height
of 190 miles, for have not rapid shooting stars now and then
been seen incandescent at nearly that height, indicating the
existence of an attenuated atmosphere.—H. D. T.
December 3
On Friday November 17 last, as I was walking along the
north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, at about 6 p.m, my attention
was attracted to the moon, which was then shining brightly in a
cloudless sky. I observed a broad band of light having some-
what the appearance of a light cloud, only much brighter, moving
across the face of the moon from east to west, which was the
direction of its (the light’s) long diameter. It appeared to me to
extend above and below the moon to about ‘he di-tance of the
moon’s diameter, and to be in length about four times its own
width ; when it had passed about half its own length from the
moon, it seemed to disappear entirely. The time during which
it was visible, I should think, was not more than hal’ a minute,
probably not more than a quarter, and its movenient across the
moon as rapid as that of a cloud when a very hivh wind is
blowing. Epwarp PoLLock
20, York Terrace, Regent’s Park, December 1
A GREAT manifestation of aurora was visible here last
night. It attracted my notice at Ir p.m. At (he time of obser-
vation by me the aurora was very active, p) ojecting white
streamers from a point in the south-west, and these, cros-ing the
zenith, faded in the south-eastern sky. |here was a stiff, cold
north-west wind blowing, and the night wes frosty. No pris-
matic colours were noticeable, only the usual vreen auroral glow
in the north-west sky, where it was crossed by the shooung
streamers. A grand band of vapour rested on the wes'ern,
north-western, and northern horizons. In the east and north-east
was a soft blue sky. The display seemed to me to last through
out the night, and to continue through the day ; as all day long,
at intervals, streamers shot up from a bank of clouds in the
north-west horizon, At 5.30 p.m. this evening there was a
powerful auroral glare in the west and north-west. After that
time a cloud canopy formed and hid thesky. The weather here
in the afternoon of Monday was stormy, with a rising barometer
and a falling thermometer, wind nearly a gale, hail, rain, and
snow falling at intervals, >=
Worcester, November 28
In Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 548-9, and 571, will be found
acco ints of the aurora borealis, as seen by your correspondents
on Monday evening, October 2 last. I wish to draw attention
to the fact that a grand Aurora Australis of magnificent appear-
ance was visible in Australia on Monday evening, also on
October 2, but of course was seen by our Antipodean friends
about twelve hours before the one seen at this eid of the globe.
The reports that I have of the Aurora Australis are from
Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Sandhurst, Ballarat, &c. So
brilliant was it that the firemen turned out, imagining that there
was some enormous conflagration in their neighbourhood. This
concurrence opens up the question, was there any connection
between these two displays ? J. FRANCIS COLE
Westfield, Sutton, Surrey, November 28
By kindness of Astronomer Royal, Greenwich, I am able to
add the exact position of moon at Ramsbury, November 17,
inst., at 6h. 2m, :—
R.A. = 2th, 12m. 56s.
NSP SDS) =) 100. 3507...
At this time the hour angle of the moon was 35m, 49s., or
8° 57’ 15” west of the meridian.
The above is the most accurate observation possible for cal-
culating the real position with regard to the earth.
Ramsbury, Wilts ALFRED BATSON
I bo not know whether you will publish more auroral
accounts, but if you do, the inclosed seems very interesting. The
phenomena, as seen in the north, differed much from ov views
of them. J. RanD CAPRON
Guildown, December 4
“ A singular pinkish light appeared in the western sky between
5 and6 p.m. At the same time I noticed a light of a peculiar
yellowish white rising up from the eastern horizon. The genera'l
appearance was that of two conical-shaped lights about 40° to
50° wide at base, east and west horizon, their apexes meeting at
or about the zenith, z. The whole of the northern sky was more
or less illuminated, but much .more marked in the transverse
streaks extending east and west, or nearly so in the former case,
deepening to a rich crimson pink towards the western horizon,
and to the eastern horizon a bright yellowish white. Its southern
termination was a well-defined sharp outline forming an are
about 30° to 40° from the south horizon, inside which the sky
appeared almost black by contrast, the new moon lending addi-
tional interest to this peculiar atmospheric display,
“ P. R, CLAPHAM
* Austwick Hall, Clapham, Lancaster, December 1”
WiItH reference to J. E. Clark’s remarks on p. 85, I would
remind your readers that Sophus Tromholt, of Bergen, has
organised a system of simultaneous observations on auroras, and
that he will -upply forms for recording them to any observer
who will ap)ly for them. I am not aware whether he has
yet arrived at any definite results as regards the height of
auroras ; nor do I know whether he is making this specially a
subject for inves igation ; nor whether he has enlisted the ser-
vices of many observers in Britain. Surely J. . C. is in error
in saying that a height of roo miles is far greater than is now
usually supposed. In works on auroras, far greater heights are
given, and I am not aware that these have ever been disproved.
It is obvious that the curious spindle-shaped beam seen on the
17th must have been at an enormous height.
Sunderland, December 4 THos. WM. BACKHOUSE
The past week has been one of remarkable electrical disturb-
ances. Auroras were visible Tuesday evening, November 14,
all Friday nizht, Saturday evening, Sunday night, Monday
morning, and Monday evening. It was cloudy in this vicinity
between the 15th and 16th, and if there were aurora: they were
not visible. he aurora of Friday evening, following an intense
magnetic storm, was remarkably brilliant, and lasted all night.
142
NAT ORE
[ Dec. 7, 1882
During the earlier part of the evening all the visible northern
hemisphere was covered by it, but later, about midnight, ail the
visible heavens, to within 20° of the southern horizon, was
covered by straight streamers extending from all points «f the
horizon to the zenith, where they formed a boreal crown of
blood-red colour. The streamers were pulsating towards the
zenith, making the sight a peculiarly magnificent one. Early in
the evening the arc to the north was about 10° in elevation, and
then gradually raised, showing the rich folds bordered by a dark
fringe of a magnificent waving curtain, until it reached nearly to
the altitude of Polaris. The southern boundary, also bordered
on the south by the dark band, seemed to be nearly at rizht
angles to the circle of the northern are. Monday evening, the
2oth, all manifestation was confined to the south. Ina point in
the south-east, near where Foucalhaut then was, rays shot north-
ward past the zenith, but instead of converging, the rays diverged
like the fingers of one’s hand. ‘The herizon, too, im the scuth,
seemed much lighter than in any other direction. Though
moonlight, the rays could be plainly seen to within 5° of the
moon. It may be remarked that of the spots on the sun during
this period of disturbance, one has been visible to the naked eye.
L. G. CARPENTER
Agricultural College, Michigan, Lansing, Mich, U.S.A.
November 21
The electrical storm seems to have been as violent in America
as it was in Europe, as will be seen from Prof. G. L. Car-
penter’s letter above. The American papers of November 15
contain long accounts of the phenomenon. The New York
Times says :-—
“* Vesterday’s storm was accompanied by a more serious elec-
trical disturbance than has heen known for years. It very seri-
ously affected the workings of the telegraph lines both on the
land and in the sea, and for three hours—from 9g a.m. until noon
—telegraph business east of the Mississippi and north of Wash-
ington was at a stand-:till, An aurora borealis was the first
ev dence of the overcharging of the atmosphere with electric
fluid. This appeared at about five o’clock yesterday morning,
and was brilliant in the extreme. At the same hour trouble
began to be experienced in the action of the telegraph wires.
The circuits were broken, and the usual annoyances accompany-
ing such disturbances were manifested. ‘These increased in
intensity until nine o'clock, at which hour it became impossible
to transmit messages over the wires having an earth cireuit—that
is, where the ends of the line were grounded. Such lines as
had a metallic circuit worked all right throughout the day, how-
ever, and so some little business was transacted over isolated
lines. The disturbance continued until 1°50 p.m., when the elec-
tric storm seemed to haveceased, During the electric storm Mr.
Brown, the chief operator, stated it was impossible to work ihe
cables at all, except by cutting off the ground wires and making
a metallic circuit by connecting the land ends of two cables.
This was done, but even then the cables worked ina very un-
satisfactory manner From all the central offices complaints
came to the general office of the failure of the lines to
work. People who attempted to use the telephones heard
a buzzing, ringing noise, rather than any well-defined
sound while attempting communication, and occasional words
only could be distinguished, A singular fact in connection with
the storm was that the wires of the Law Telephone Company
did not seem to beaffected. Engineer Shaw stated that they had
had no more trouble during the day than usual, and attributed
this to the fact their lines are all short ones, and therefore less
liable to be affected than the longer lines, ‘Their wires are
ground circuits, and their freedom from annoyance is a mystery
that he can solve in no other way than the one suggested.
From Chicago, under date November 17, the following details
of the disturbance were sent to the Mew York Times :—“‘ Officers
of the Western Union Telegraph Company there say the elec-
trical disturbance was the most pronounced and wide-spread
experienced for years, if indeed it has been paralleled at any
time. An electric storm of the greatest violence raged in all the
territory from. New York to points beyond Omaha, and from
Kansas City north to the terminus of telegraphic communica-
tion, practically putting a stop to the telegraphic service over the
entire area, It first began to be felt about 4 o’clock this morning
and increased in intensity till 9.45, when communication from
every direction was cut off. This electric storm seemed to go in
successive negative and positive waves, alternately neutralising
the currents on the wires or increasing their intensity to such a
degree as to burn everything up. The switch-hoard here was on
fire a dozen times during the forenoon, and half a dozen keys of
the instruments were melted by the current which continued to
pass through. Thescrews burned up and the points parted to
their furthest limits. The duplex and quadruplex wires were
rendered entirely useless, and at noon only a single wire out of
fifteen between this city and New york was in operation, and it
was frequently interrupted. Word was received from Mil-
waukee that the atmospheric electricity coming in on one of its
wires from the country had such dynamic power as to keep an
electric lamp burning.”
Somewhat similar observations were made at Washington. On
the Chicago and Cincinnati cireuits it was found impossible to
work the quadruplex instruments, and they were taken out. The
chief operator said that the magnetic interference was greatest
on the east and west lines. The officer in charge at the office
of the Signal Service, said that great trouble had been expe-
rienced in collecting the weather reports on account of the
general demoralisation of telegraphic circuits.
Similar reports were sent from Cleveland, Indianopolis,
Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Nashyille, Bangor, Toronto, and other
places. At Cleveland the disturbance was first observed at 4 cr
5 o'clock in the morning, From Milwaukee it was reported
that “‘Strong currents of electricity pervaded the atmosphere
and actually suspended all telegraphic communication from 9
o'clock in the moriing until afternoon. An electric lamp
attached to a St. Paul wire produced a brilliant illumination
without the use of a battery. Business on ’Change was virtually
suspended on account of the lack of telegraphic facilities. At
2 p.m. all the telegraph offices resumed work.”
The Detroit Evening News states that ‘telephone communi-
cation all over the country was greatly improved, the pronuncia-
tion being distinct and much Ieuder than usual, which fact may
suggest to electricians an improvement in telephonic comimuni-
cation, Another unusual thing was that the electrical storm
prevailed during a cl udy sky and murky atmosphere ; hercto-
fore such storms have occurred during a clear atmosphere.
With the approach of night and the clearing away of the clouds
came a inost beautiful spectacle of the electrical agitation of the
atmosphere. A wore magnificent display of aurora borealis
was never seen. It became slightly visible just at dusk, and
increased in brilliancy and variety of form, movement, and
colour, until midnight, when the whole vast heavens was one
grand canopy of dancing flames of every conceivable hue and
shape moving in all directions.”
At Omaha the aurora was very brilliant, the illumination
rendering the night almost as bright as day. At St. Paul the
sky was of blood red colour, the display being grand and fearful.
Cheyenne reports the illumination at that point as bright as day.
At Denver the display in the northern heavens was most brilliant
and ¢azzling. In California the aurora was visible from the
northern part of the State as far south as San Diego, and was
most brilliant. At Olympia, Washington Territory, the aurora
was magnificent, the heavens north and east being brilliantly
illuminated.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Lonpon.—At a meeting of the Council of University College
on Saturday last: 1. Mr, H. F. Morley was authovised to give
a course of advanced lectures on Organic Chemistry. 2. It was
resolved to invie Mr. T. W. Rhys Davids to accept the Pro-
fessorship of Pali and Buddhist Literature, once held by the late
Prof. R. C. Childers. 3. It was resolved to ask Mr. R. H.
Gunion to take the office of Lecturer on Sanskrit. 4. The
resignation of the Chair of Physiology by Prof. Burdon Sander-
son was accepted.
MANCHESTER.—A public meeting was held last week to
inaugurate a movement for the extension of Owens College by
the addition of a museum, which is expected to cost between
50,0007, and 60,0007. It was stated that there were a few
thousand pounds in hand available for the purpose, and it was
resolved to ask the public for 50,000/, to erect and equip the
museum. Fourteen subscriptions of roco/. each and a number
of others ranging from 1oo/. to 500/. each were announced in
the room. Lord Derby, the Duke of Devonshire, Mr. Hugh
Mason, M.P., and Mr. Grafton, M.P., each offered 1ooo/.
Dec. 7, 1882 |
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No, 12.—On the volume-
changes of water containing salts on heating, and the resulting
chemical transpositions, by E. Wiedemann.—On the molecular
refraction of sulpho-carbonic ether, with some remarks on
molecular refraction in general, by the same.—On the dispersion
of colourless transparent media, by A. Willner. -Some remarks
on the pipers of Herren Hasselberg and Goldstein, by the same.
—On galvanie elements supposed to consist only of elements,
and the electromotive useful effect of chemical processes, by F.
Braun.—The electric conductivity of chloride, oromide, and
iodide of silver, by W. Kohlrausch.—On methods of multiplica-
tion and rejection, by E. Dorn.—Contributions to a knowledge
of the relations between fluidity and galvanic conductivity, by
C. Stephan.—On the joint action of traction and torsion in
metallic wires, by F. Himstedt.—On the connection between the
units of magnetism and of electricity, by &. Clausius,—On the
theory of Fresnel’s integrals, by A. Lindstedt.—On the theory of
elastic reaction, by E, J. Micheelis.
Fournal de Physique, November.—On the methods to employ
for determining the ohm, by L. Lorenz.—On the electro-chemical
fivuration of equipotential systems, by A. Guébhard.—On the
liquefaction of ozone, by P. Hautefeuille and J. Chappuis.—
On the absorption spectra of ozone and pernitric acid, by J.
Chappuis.—Application of instantaneous photography to the
study of animal locomotion, by G. Demeny.
Fournal of the Russian Chemical and Physical Society, vol.
xiv. fascicule 7.—On the action of the cyanide of ammonium on
glyoxal, by M. N. Lubavin.—On the decomposition of the
acetate of tertiary amyl by heat, by Prof. Menshutkin.—Analy-
sis of the water which accompanies naphtha in wells, and ejected
by mud-volcanoes, by M. A. Potilitzin.—On new beds of mineral
manure, by M. P. Grigorieff.—Analysis of naphtha coke, by
M. A. Lidoff.—Residual elasticity and analogous physical phe-
nomena, by M. N. Hesehus.—Review of Russian chemical
literature for the year 1881, by M. N. Lubayin.
Archives des Sctences Physiques et Naturelles, October 15.—
On cometary refraction, by G. Cellerier.—On the duration of
excitability of nerves after the separation of their nutritive
centres, by O. Gorlinsky.—Researches on lodes, by F. Sand-
berger.—The grain of the glacier, by E, Hagenbach: Bischoff.
November 15.—Sixty-fifth session of the Helvetic Society of
Natural Sciences, held at Linthhal on September 11, 12, 13,
1882.—The prehistoric antiquity of man, by G. de Mortillet.—
The origin of cultivated plants, by A. de Caudolle.—New re-
searches on the appearances of Jupiter, by E. W. Hough.
Fournal of the Franklin Institute, Noyember.—An improved
feed-water heater and purifier, by G. E. Strong.—Economical
steam power, by W. B. Le Van.—Note on the pendulum, by
J. R. French. —Vision by the light of the electric spark, by W.
Le Conte Stevens.—Notes on water analysis, by Kk. Haines, —
Report on European sewerage systems, &c., by R. Hering.—
Examination of water and air for sanitary «purposes, with
remarks on disinfection, by R. Hitchcock.—Report of Com-
mittee on the Rappleye rheometric governor burner.—The
silver and gas dynanometers, by L. H. Sargent.—The American
iron trade in 1881.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, November 8.—‘‘ Note on the Discovery of
Bacilli in the Condensed Aqueous Vapour of the Breath of
Persons affected with Phthisis.” By Arthur Ransome. Com-
municated by Dr. W. Roberts, F.R.S.
In the year 1869 the author had examined the aqueous vapour
of the breath in health and disease. This vapour was condensed
in a glass globe surrounded by ice and salt, and, in condensing,
it was found to carry down all the organic matter contained in
the breath. It appeared probable that the breath of persons in
advanced stages of phthisis would contain the bacillus of
tubercle, and that this organism could be rendered visible by
Dr. Heneage Gibbes’ method of staining.
The aqueous vapour of the breath of several advanced cases
of phthisis was accordingly condensed by the above-mentioned
method, and each specimen was separately examined,
NALORE
143
In order to carry down the organic matter, and to afford a
basis to attach the material to the microscopic cover glasses,
fresh white of egg, or a little mucus, free from bacilli, was added
to the fluid.
No attempt was made to sterilise the fluids, as the ordinary
bacteria of putrefaction are not stained by the process used.
In the aqueous vapour obtained from two of the cases, speci-
mens of bacillus were found which took the staining in the same
manner as the bacillus found in phthisical sputa and in tubercle.
The organism was not found in several other cases, nor yet
in the aqueous vapour condensed in the waiting-room of the
Manchester Consumption Hospital.
Physical Society, November 25.—Prof. Clifton, president,
in the chair.—A paper by Mr. William Ackroyd, on rainbows
produced by light reflected before entering the rain-drops, was
read by the Secretary. The author investigated mathematically
the rare phenomenon of three bows, and inferred that it would
generally take place about sunrise or sunset. Mr. Lecky thought
the effect had a simple explanation, It might be said to be due
to two suns, one (reflected) appearing to be below the horizon, —
Mr, Shellford Bidwell gave an account of some experiments he
had made to test the theory of Dr. James Moser, that the action
of a selenium cell under light was due to the heat rays making a
closer microphonic contact between the selenium and the metal
electrode , by expanding the material. Jie submitted selenium
cells to dark heat rays, and found their resistance to 7se. Under
light rays, however, their resistance fell. He therefore concluded
that Mr. Moser’s theory was erroneous, and that the fall in re-
sistance due to the light rays is the differential result of
the rise due to heat and the fall due to light. He also
explained the ‘‘ fatigue” of a selenium cell by use, as
caused by its increase of temperature. When the cell cooled
again the fatigue disappeared. Dr. Moser and Prof. G,
C. Foster made remarks on the paper, the former suggesting
experiments to test the reversability of the effects observed by
Mr. Bidwell, and the latter seeking to reconcile Mr. Moser’s
theory with the new data.—Dr. James Moser then read a paper
on a general method of strengthening telephonic currents. This
consists in forming a primary circuit of the telephone traasmitter
or derived circuit, a set of induction bobbins in derived
circuit, and a changed secondary battery, the whole circuit
having a very low resistance. Each primary bobbin has a
secondary wound over it, and these secondaries are connected
in quantity to the telephone line, which has at its remote end a
set of telephones in derived circuit to the earth or return wire.
In this way one line wire serves to supply a large number of separate
telephones, a hundred being employed by Dr. Moser to transmit
music from the Hippodrome in Paris to the Place Vend6éme.
The system is applicable to long lines; and the induction noises
are reduced by subdivision among the separate telephones.
Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, December 4.—A paper
by Dr. Miller was read on the references to the Antediluvian
period in the cuneiform texts.
Institution of Civil Engineers, November 28.—Sir F. J.
Bramwell, vice-president, in the chair.—The paper read was on
‘* American Practice in Warming Buildings by Steam,” by the
late Mr. Robert Briggs, M. Inst. C.E., of Philadelphia, U.S.
CAMBRIDGE
Philosophical Society, November 27.—On complex mul-
tiplication of elliptic functions, by Mr. A. G. Greenhill.—On
certain points in the function of the cardiac muscle, by Dr.
W. H. Gaskell.—On the development of the Pollinium of
Asclepias, by Mr. T. H. Corry.—On some micro-organisms and
their relations to disease, by Mr. G. F. Dowdeswell.
BERLIN
Physical Society, November 17.—Prof. Helmholtz in the
chair.—Herr Hagen has sought to determine the physical pro-
perties, and especially the coefficients of expansion, of metallic
sodium and potassium, and he reported on the methods and
results of this investigation. Both metals, which, in petroleum,
in which they are commonly kept, always present a dull surface
of hydrated oxide, Herr Hagen succeeded in keeping, with
bright metallic surface, without petroleum, any length of time,
in evacuated tubes, after the small amount of oxygen in the
residual air had been fixed by a part of the metal in an ante-
chamber. By melting the metal, drops could be formed, from
whose heights the capillary constants of the two metals were
144
found, viz. 34°23 for sodium, and 14°17 for potassium, The
two metals, mixed in the ratio of their equivalents, gave an
alloy which is liquid at ordinary temperature, and which,
on account of its brilliant metallic surface, might be easily
taken for mercury ; onlyits greater specific gravity distinguishes
the latter at once from the potassium-sodium alloy. This
solidifies at about 4°°5 C., and iis capillary constant is 17°86. Very
careful experiments were made for determination of the co-
efficients of expansion, and their relation to the temperature, in
suitable dilatometers. The linear expansions, deduced from the
volume-expansions, were, for sodium, 0°c00853, and for potas-
sium, 0°000721 ; pretty similar values were had in direct measure-
ment of longitudinal expansion in a metal block. This
coefficient of linear expansion exceeds that of all other metals,
and is about three times the linear expansion of lead.—Prof.
Helmholtz then gave a report of this year’s International Con-
gress in Paris, from which he had just returned. The Congress
having last year come to an understanding on the units occurring in
electrical science and ‘‘technic,” and their designations, the
point now was to determine those units exactly, so that practical
normal units might be prepared. Attention was first given to the
determination of the unit of resistance,—the “ ohm”? (as most
easily practicable) ; that is, the exact measurement in metres of
the column of pure mercury of one square milimetre cross-sec-
tion at o° C., the resistance of which is the ‘‘ohm.” There
were already quite a number cf measurements by methods
which Herr Helmholtz specified in his lecture. The values ob-
tained are: Herr Kohlrausch, 170593; Lord Rayleigh, by the
British Association method, 1°0624; Lord Rayleigh, by
Lorenz’s method, 1'0620; Mr. Glazebrook, in Cambridge,
10624; Herr H. Weber, in Brunswick, 1'0611; Herren W.
Weber and Zollner, 170552 ; Mr. Rowland, in America, 1°0572 ;
Herr Dohrn, 170546. Against these pretty concordant values,
however, stood the mean value obtained by Herr F. Weber, of
Ziirich, by reliable methods, and from experiments agrecing
well together, viz. 1°0471, which came so near the older ohm
of the British Association, that the Congress, on the motion of
Sir William Thomson, refrained meanwhile from forming a
definite conclusion. It was rather agreed to recommend the
experimenters (1) to compare their resistances with the standard
of resistance which the French Government will produce; (2)
to compare the induction coils by the method adopted by Herr
Kohlrausch with the wire-circuit ; (3) in their measurements to
avail themselves of the modified and still further to be improved
method of Lorenz. The respective governments should finally
be urged to support, as much as possible, the national experi-
ments for determination of the ‘‘ ohm.”
Paris
Academy of Sciences, November 27.—M. Jamin in the
chair.—The following papers were read:—Observations of
small planets with the great meridian instrument of Paris Ob-
servatory during the third quarter of 1882, by M. Mouchez.—
Note on the verification and the use of the magnetic maps of
Col. Al. de Tillo, by M. Lalanne. He compares magnetic ob-
servations (of declination) made by him in 1837, in four localities
of the region north of the Sea of Azof, with Col. de Tillo’s
two maps (for Russia), and notes some defects of the latter (the
longitudes of the two do not refer to the same meridian, &c.).—
Reply to the objections of M. Decharme to my rational concep-
tion of the nature of electricity ; proofs of the validity of hypo-
theses serving as the basis of this conception, by M. Ledieu.—
General law of congelation of solvents, by M. Raoult. Every
substance, dissolved in a definite liquid compound capable of
solidifying, lowers its freezing-point. Inall liquids, the molecular
lowerings of congelation with different compounds, approach
two values invariable for each liquid, and one of which is double,
the other (the greater being normal). The normal lowering
varies with the nature of the solvent. A molecule of any com-
pound, dissolvingin roomol. of any liquid, of different nature,
lowers the freezing-point of the latter a quantity nearly constant,
and near 0°°62.—Chemical study on maize at different epochs
of its vegetation, by M. Leplay. Sugar is found in the leaves,
and accumulates in the ste till the moment of formation of
starch in the grains, It then migrates into the spike, first into
the support of the grains, then into the grains themselves, where
it is replaced by starch. This migration continues to be fed by
the leaves till they disappear, then in great part by the stem—
diminishing, however, as the starch is developed. The function
of the sugar, then, is to furnish to the grain the elements of
NATURE
[ Dec. 7, 1882
starch —On the conservation of solar energy ; reply to M. Hirn’s
note, by Dr. C. W. Siemens. He estimates the temperature of
the photosphere as 3000°, not too high to satisfy the conditions
of combustion (M. Hirn’s estimate is 20,000°). The theory of
diminution of light intensity as the square of the distance seems
to be not applicable to the whole of the light of stars. Some
wave-lengths less favourable to decomposition, may on this ac-
count reach further. As to mechanical resistance of gaseous
matter to the planets, he shows reason for thinking it much less
than hitherto supposed.—On a theorem of M. Tisserand, by M.
Stieltjes. —Extension of the problem of Remann to hyper-geo-
metric functions of two variables, by M. Goursat.—On a new
integrometer, by M. Abdank-Abkanowicz. Increased accuracy
is obtained by means of a disc which rolls on a cylinder without
slipping.—On a mode of transformation of figures in space, by
M. Vaneeck.—Equilibrium of elasticity of a solid limited by a
plane, by M. Boussinesq.—Theoretic interpretation of the
calming effect produced by a thin layer of oil spread on
the surface of the sea, by M. Van der Mensbrugeshe.—On
electric motors, by M. Deprez. He describes an experiment
proving that the two laws—that of independence of the
current’s mechanical action, of the state of rest or motion
of the ring, and that of proportionality of the electromotive
forces to the velocities (supposing, of course, the intensity of the
current constant)—hold good within very wide practical limits,—
General expressions of the absolute :emperature, and of Carnot’s
function, by M. Lippmann.—Range of sounds in air, by M.
Allard. Experiments with different instruments yielded the
result that ‘the intensity of sound in air decreases much more
rapidly than according to the law of the square of the dis-
tance. The second cause of enfeeblement is considered to
lie in the non-homogeneous character of the air. A given
sound may have, apart from the influence of wind, very different
ranges, varying, ¢.g. from two to twenty nautical miles. For
small augmentations of range the work required increases very
rapidly. The differences cf range for different pitches within
the octave are little sensible —On the reform of some processes
of analysis used in laboratories of agricultural stations and ob-
servatories of chemical meteorology (fourth memoir) ; volu-
metric determination of alkalino-earthy carbonates in waters, by
M. Houzeau.—Modifications of structure of nerve tubes in passing
from the spinal roots into the spinal cord, by M. Ranvier.—On
the present flood of the Seine, by MM. Lemoine and de
Préaudeau.—Magnetic perturbations from November II to 21,
1882, by M. Renou.—A letter from M. Tarry on the aurora
showed that while the magnetic currents of earth lines render
possible a pre-vision of aurora several hours in advance, those on
submarine lines give a pre-vision of several days in advance. ;
CONTENTS Phen
RecENT RESEARCHES IN THE METAMORPHISM OF Rocks. By Dr.
ARGH, GEIKIE; RARISS 3) 3) ad cr le =) jo) eis (ole gis atc
HuMAN MorPHOLOGY = . 2 >. - 3 6 1) ml es Pe er bes!
Our Boox SHELF:—
Wood's ‘‘Common British Insects”? . . . = AL ee eet
Ratzel’s ‘‘ Anthropo-Geographie oder Grundziige der Anwendung der
Erdkunde auf die Geschichte ”’ SOME tei cs OS
LETTERS TO THE EprroR:—
Mimicry in Moths.—The DyKE OF ARGYLL . . eo wo eS
Double F owers.—Dr. Maxwett T MasTeRS . . .. .. - 126
Fruit of Opuntia.—Dr. Maxwett T. Masters _. . .. . . 126
Hawk Moth Larva.—Surgeon-Major E. R. Jounson (With
Tilustyatony at pier erence Peon nS
The Fertilisation'of Common Speedwell.—A. MACKENZIESTAPLEY 127
Wartmann’s Rheolyzer.— ERNST VON FLEISCHE. . - . . . . 127
Pollution of the Atmosphere.—H. A. PHILLIPS . . . . . . - 127
A Modern Rip Van Winkle.—SatTBuRN aia Jay fe cel, Feeney!
Gootpen’s SimPce Dir-Circie (With Illustration). . . . . » « 128
Tue Comet. By Witttam CrawForp WiNLocK, Assistant Astro-
nomer, U.S. Naval Observatory; Dr. W. Doperck (With
Télustrationsyo 4. te. ee) Oe Pree
FUNCTION OF THE MEMBRANA FLACCIDA OF THE TyMPANiC MEM-
BRANE. By JoHNM.CroMBIE . . - - + + + + = + + + + 329
WEIGHTS AND MkASUREs . . 131
ON THE Prorosep FortH Brivcs, By SirG. B Airy, ERS 131
Nowpes Gee pa ke Mat ieee oe &, ede beave oo RE ARSE o ega
Tue-Royat Society. Anniversary Address by Dr. W1Lt1Am SpoTtis-
WOODE, Eres. R-Sal eu) ee asp ns Se eet ct!
M. MikLuKHo-MaAcLay ON New GUINEA. . - - «© = = «©. + 137
Tue Aurora. By Admiral Erasmus Ommannay, F.RS.; Prof.
Taccuint; J. RAND Capron; W. M. Fiinpers Petrie; H. DENNIS
Tayror; Epwarp Pottock; J. Francis Cote; ALFRED BaTson; J.
Ranp Capron: F. R. CrapHam; Tuos. Wm. BackHouse; Prof.
L. G. CARPENTER (With Diagrams) . . » - «+ + + + + + 138
ONIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONALINTELLIGENCE . «© «© «© + + «© + 42
ScIENTTIFIC/SERIALS#. ene ens) sneer se) = Sip celasighe mma
SocigTIES AND ACADEMIES +» + + « - i De CC Ort ONE
;
_ the presence of the former animal ” (the reindeer).
NA TORE
145
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1882
ANCIENT SCOTTISH LAKE DWELLINGS
Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings. By Dr.
(Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1882.)
HE first account of the Irish crannoges, by Sir W.
k. Wilde, dates back to the year 1839, and the
Lake Dwellings of Switzerland, which have shed so much
light on prehistoric archeology, were discovered in the
year 1853 ; yet the first scientific account of any similar
dwellings in Scotland was inthe paper by Mr. Robertson,
read before the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in the
year 1857.
Dr, Munro has now collected together in an interesting
and well-illustrated volume the substance of what was
previously known, and added to it an account of some
interesting investigations of his own, in a general work
on the ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannoges.
The number of these more or less artificial islands now
known is very considerable. In Wigtownshire we are
told that all the lakes were once literally studded with
these island habitations.
So far as can be judged at present there is no reason
to refer the Scottish Crannoges to so early a period as
the earlier Swiss Lake villages. The objects of stone are
comparatively few, while those of bone, horn, and of wood
are very numerous. None of the animal remains belong
to any extinct species. The horns are mostly those of
the red-deer ; in one case indeed, that of the crannoge at
Lochlee, some fragments have been found which may
possibly have belonged to the reindeer. This however
seems very doubtful. The late Dr. Rolleston, by whom
the remains were examined, says of the fragmentary
pieces of horn : ‘‘I incline to set them down as indicating
“e It
is usually easy,’ he says, “to separate even the frag-
ments” (of reindeer’s horn). ‘‘if the fragment is fresh.
Of course the surfaces of the horns in these two horns”
(z.e. of the reindeer and of the red-deer) “are different,
but here the two fragmentary horns have no brow antler
left and their surfaces have been macerated so long as to
be desquamated.” It is obvious therefore that Dr.
Rolleston felt considerable doubt on the subject.
The majority of the metallic objects are of iron, but
some few gold ornaments have also been discovered, and
in one case, viz. at Buston, a single coin which, curiously
enough, is a forgery. It consists of two thin plates of
gold fastened together by some resinous substance. It
belongs toa class which has hitherto been found almost
exclusively in England, and is probably Saxon, belonging
most likely to the sixth or seventh century. A very
similar coin has been found near Dover.
We will now leave Dr. Munro to speak for himself:
Munro.
“The great and primary object,” he justly observes,
‘of the island builder was the protection afforded by the
surrounding lake or morass, the securing of which has
continued to be a ruling principle in the erection of de-
fensive works down to the Middle Aves, long after the
wooden islands ceased to be constructed. The transition
from an island fort to the massive medizval castle, with
its moat and drawbridge, is but another step in the pro-
gressive march of civilisation” (p. 243).
VOL. XXVII.—No. 685
The objects discovered in the Scottish Crannoges are in
the main of a domestic character :
“Indeed,” says Dr. Munro, “amongst the relics mili-
tary remains are only feebly represented by a few iron
daggers and spearheads, one or two doubtful arrow-
points, and a quantity of so-called pebbles and so-called
sling-stones. On the other hand, a very large percentage
of the articles consists of querns, hammer-stones, polishers,
flint-flakes, and scrapers, stone and clay spindle-whorls,
pins, needles, and bodkins, knife-handles of red-deer horn,
together with many other implements of the same ma-
terial, bowls, ladles, and other vessels of wood, some of
which were turned on the lathe; knives, axes, saws,
hammers, chisels, and gauges of iron ; several crucibles,
lumps of iron slag, and other remains of metals, &c.
From all these, not to mention the great variety of arma-
ments, there can be no ambiguity as to the testimony they
afford of the peaceful prosecution of various arts and
industries by the lake-dwellers”’ (p. 282).
As regards the mode of life of the Scotch Lake-dwellers,
we can, he continues :
“From the respective reports of Professors Owen,
Rolleston, and Cleland, on a selection of osseous remains
taken from the lake dwellings at Dowalton, Lochlee, and
Buston (see pp. 50, 139-143, 236-239), we can form a fair
idea of the food of the occupiers. The Celtic short-horn
(Bos longifrons), the so-called goat-horned sheep (Ouzs
aries, var. brachyura), and a domestic breed of pigs were
largely consumed. The horse was only scantily used.
The number of bones and horns of the red-deer and roe-
buck showed that venison was by no means a rare addi-
tion to the list of their dietary. Among birds only the
goose has been identified, but this is no criterion of the
extent of their encroachment on the feathered tribe, as
only the larger bones werecollected and reported upon.
To this bill of fare the occupiers of Lochspouts Crannog,
being comparatively near the sea, added several kinds of
shell-fish. In all the lake dwellings that have come under
my own observation, the broken shells of hazel nuts were
in profuse abundance’” (p. 283).
It is an interesting fact that the Lake-dwellings as yet
discovered are by no means evenly distributed throughout
Scotland.
“ Though we cannot argue definitely from the present
geographical distribution of the Scottish Lake Dwellings,
the indications are so clearly suggestive of their having
been peculiar to those districts formerly occupied by
Celtic races, that the significance of this generalisation
cannot be overlooked. ‘Thus, adopting Skene’s division
of the four kingdoms into which Scotland was ultimately
divided by the contending nationalities of Picts, Scots,
Angles, and Strathclyde Britons, after the final with-
~ drawal of the Romans, we see that of all the Crannoges
proper none have been found within the territories of the
Angles ; ten and six are respectively within the confines
of the Picts and Scots, while no less than twenty-eight are
situated in the Scottish portion of the ancient kingdom of
Strathclyde. Nor is this generalisation much affected by
an extension of the list, so as to include those stony islets
so frequently met with in the Highland lakes. On the
other hand, that they have not been found in the south-
eastern part of Scotland may suggest the theory that
these districts had been occupied by the Angles before
Celtic civilisation—or rather the warlike necessities of the
times—gave birth to the island dwellings. In that case
we would suppose that their development dates back to
the unsettled events which immediately followed the with-
drawal of the Roman soldiers, to whose protection the
Romano-British population in the south-west of Scotland
had been so long accustomed” (pp. 248 and 249).
In support of this view he also remarks that
146
IVA TOE
[ Dec. 14, 1882
“Fragments of Samian ware, bronze dishes (one with
Roman letters), harp-shaped fibula of peculiar type,
together with a large assortment of beads, bronze and
bone pins, bone combs, jet ornaments, &c., are so similar
to the class of remains found on the excavated sites of
Romano-British towns, that there can hardly be any
doubt that Roman civilisation had come in contact with
the lake-dwellers and partially moulded their habits. The
Celtic element is, however, strongly developed, not only
in the general character of many of the industrial imple-
ments of stone, bone, and iron, but also in the style of
art manifested in some of the ornamental objects included
in the collection.”
We confess that we are disposed to doubt whether the
geographical distribution of the Scottish lake dwellings
at present known is really connected with that of the
ancient Celt, and whether it is not more due to the
activity of the Ayrshire and Wigtonshire Archeological
Association, of Mr. Cochran Patrick, M.P., and of Dr.
Munro himself. Whilst thanking him for what he has
already accomplished, we may express a hope that he
will continue his researches. JOHN LUBBOCK
SHELF
OUR BOOK
The Sportsman's Handbook to Practical Collecting, Pre- |
serving, and Artistic Setting up of Trophies and Speci-
mens. To which is added a Synoptical Guide to the
Hunting Grounds of the World. By Rowland Ward,
F.Z.S. Second Edition. With numerous additional
Illustrations. (London: the Author, and Simpkin,
Marshall, and Co., 1882).
Tuis very useful little book affords all requisite informa-
tion for the traveller who wishes to preserve specimens of
natural history, more especially large animals. The pro-
cess of skinning quadrupeds and birds is so well ex-
plained, and so copiously illustrated by characteristic
woodcuts, that the merest tyro would soon learn the art.
The best modes of preserving reptiles, fishes, and insects
are also given; and then follow instructions for the setting
up of trophies, for mounting birds and fishes, and for
dressing skins of large animals. A sketch of the chief
hunting-fields of the world concludes the book, and in
this part much useful information is given as to the more
important animals characteristic of each region.
The book is especially valuable in that it does not con- |
fuse the reader by a multiplicity of details, or leave him
to choose between a variety of methods. The simplest
and most effective appliances are alone recommended,
and the great experience of the writer in the preservation
and mounting of animals renders his advice on these
points of the greatest value. The introductory chapter
gives good outlines of the bodies and skeletons of the
chief types of large mammalia, with the vital spots
marked on each, so as to guide the sportsman in killing
his game.
We only notice a single point which appears to call for
correction in a future edition. The use of the blow-pipe
is recommended for killing small birds, and it is described
as a tube of metal or wood about 3 feet long and ?-inch
in diameter, through which pellets of clay may be pro-
pelled by the breath. Such an instrument would be of
very little use, and we doubt whether any ordinary person
could propel a ball of clay of this size with sufficient
velocity to kill any bird at ten yards off. For using clay
pellets. the bore should not exceed #, or at utmost, }-inch
diameter, and the length had better be 6 or 8 feet
than 3. The blow-pipes used in South America are usu-
ally 8 or to feet long, and under +-inch bore, and with
these, lizht arrows can be propelled so as to kill birds on
lofty trees, while with clay pellets, humming-birds are
easily ki\led at more moderate distances.
| dynamo-electric generators.
| methods of MM. Pollard and Cabanellas are expounded.
The book is strongly and tastefully bound, and should
be the companion of every sportsman and _ naturalist
about to visit foreign countries. ARO Wee
Diagrams of Insects Injurious to Farm Crops; suttablé
for Elementary Schools. Prepared by Miss E. A.
Ormerod, Honorary Consulting Entomologist to the
Royal Agricultural Society of England.
A SERIES of six large diagrams as follows, issued by the
Society :—Large White Cabbage Butterfly, Turnip Fly,
or Flea (the prospectus writes “Flee’’) Beetle, Beet
Fly, Wire Worm and Click Beetle, Hop Aphis or Green
Fly, with Ladybird, Daddy Long-legs or Crane-fly. These
diagrams seem admirably adopted for the purpose in-
tended, and are accompanied by short explanations, in-
cluding remedial prescriptions. In her scientific names
Miss Crmerod puts the cart before the horse, by reversing
the order of things, and making the lesser include the
greater. When she indicates Agvzotes ( Eater) lineatus,
Phyllotreta (Haltica) nemorum, and Phorodon (Aphis)
kumult, she means that the parenthetical generic term is
the larger and older, and that the preceding one is a later
creation by those dreadful specialists; but she does not
say so,
Manuel ad’Electrometrie Industrielle. Par R. V. Picou
(Paris: G. Masson, 1882.)
THISs is one of the many books which owe their appearance
to the recent rapid growth of the electrical industries ;
and may not be inappropriately termed a treatise on
electric measurements, only a very small section being
however devoted to electro-chemical quantities. The
work begins with the ordinary laboratory processes of
testing resistance, electromotive force, and strength of
currents, &c. The latter half of the book deals with the
practical application of such tests to the measurement of
the electromotive force, resistance, &c., of batteries and
Under the latter head the
The author does not appear to be acquainted with the
| recent testing instruments invented by Professors Ayrton
and Perry, nor those of Sir W. Thomson, which present
many advantages over the instruments described by the
author. There are several glaring defects in the work of
too important a nature to be passed over. The author
| gives instructions for making up resistance coils without
saying a word about the necessity of winding them so as
to avoid self-induction, and as he cautions the reader to
use a simple key in testing with Wheatstone’s bridge he
cannot be aware of the substantial reasons which exist
| for the use of the British Association key with double-
successive contact. As the author professes to follow the
British Association in its system of units he ought not to
write ‘‘dyne = gramme-masse,’’ because that is exactly
what the dyne is not. He ought also to know that the
statement he makes on p. 132 respecting the efficiency of
electromoters, that the useful work isa maximum when
the back-electromotive force is equal to half the electro-
motive force of the generator is not true, and does not
refer to maximum efficiency but to maximum rate of using
up power. Students will find the books on kindred sub-
jects by Kempe and Day of much more use than the
manual of M. Picou.
The Falls of Niagara and other Famous Cataracts. By
G. W. Holley. Illustrations. (London : Hodder and
Stoughton, 1882.)
THE bulk of this volume is devoted to Niagara, concern-
ing which Mr. Holley has brought together a great deal
of information on its history, geology, and local history
and incidents, two-thirds of the space being occupied
with the last section. The information seems to usin the
main correct, though much of the miscellaneous matter
included under local history and incidents is of trivial
——
Dec. 14, 1882]
NATURE
147
importance. The space devoted to the other ‘Cata-
racts” of the world is small, though most of the impor-
tant ones are mentioned. The illustrations are good, and
on the whole the book is interesting.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications,
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Priestley and Lavoisier
Ir Mr. Rodwell had anything new to tell us about Lavoisier,
there would have been a sufficient motive for his writing ; but I
do not see what useful purpose is gained by telling us what was
already known, namely, that a century ago Lavoisier rendered
many important services to science ; or, what was not so well
known, namely, that chemistry is a French science ; or, that
Lavoisier was ‘‘the most generous of men,” ‘‘incapable of any
meanness.” The real question Mr. Rodwell himself asks :—
“Upon what authority does Dr. Thomson assert that Dr.
Priestley informs us that he prepared the gas in M. Lavoisier’s
house in Paris, and showed him the method of procuring it in
the year 1774?”
Mr. Rodwell quotes from Thomson’s notice of Priestley ; had
he turned to that of Lavoisier (p. 105, vol. ii. 1831, not 1830),
he would have found an answer :—‘‘ Dr Priestley discovered
oxygen in August, 1774, and he informs us in his life [this ought
to be ‘Life,’ ze, autobiography] that in the autumn of that
year he went to Paris and exhibited to Lavoisier, in his own
laboratory, the mode of obtaining oxygen gas by heating red
oxide of mercury in a gun-barrel, and the properties by which
this gas is distinguished; indeed, the very properties which
Lavoisier himself enumerates in his paper. [A/em. Acad. 1775,
pub, 1778.] There can therefore be no doubt that Lavoisier
was acquainted with oxygen gas in 1774, and that he owed his
knowledge of it to Dr. Priestley.”
Dr. Black complained of the publication of Lavoisier’s papers
without any allusion whatever to what he himself had previously
done on the same subject. Cavendish complained of something
more than a similar neglect. The facts, as stated in Dr. George
Wilson’s ‘‘ Life of Cavendish,”’ are briefly these :—Blagden went
to Paris in June, 1783, and informed Lavoi-ier of the discovery
of the composition of water. Lavoisier was incredulous, ex-
pressing his opinion that the union of the two gases (O and H)
would produce, not water, but an acid. Nevertheless he re-
peated Cavendish’s experiment on a large scale; and in his
account of it to the Academy on June 25, stated that the con-
clusion as to the compound nature of water was drawn by
Laplace and himself. The charge brought against Lavoisier by
Cavendish, Blagden, and Watt, was summed up by Watt to this
effect, that after Lavoisier had had the theory of the composi-
tion of water explained to him, ‘he invented it himself.”
Mr. Rodwell ‘‘ utterly denies” that the acceptance of Lavoi-
sier’s doctrine was mainly due to Cavendish’s discovery. A
strong objection to the oxygen theory was advanced by Ber-
thollet and others, founded on the observation that in the action
of dilute acids on metals inflammable air is produced. [The
inflammable air of Cavendish, in 1766, was referred not to
water, but to the metals]. Whence came this element? ‘The
discovery of the composition of water answered the objection,
and converted it, as Dr. Whewell remarks, into an argument in
favour of the theory.
My statement that ‘‘the compound is always equal to the sum
of its elements” was already known, was elicited by a remark of
Lavoisier’s, quoted by Mr. Rodwell :—‘‘I am obliged in this
reasoning to suppose that the weight of the bodies employed was
the same after the observation as before.” My statement is new
to Mr. Rodwell, and he calls for references. Many of the old
writers on the idea of substance acknowledged the proposition,
and its best application was Wenzel’s doctrine of definite and
reciprocal proportions, although its full significance did not be-
come apparent until the aeriform elements were also taken into
account.
But to return to Priestley, I am bound to admit that 1744
is a mistake into which I was misled by Whewell (‘‘ His. Ind.
Sci., 1857, iii. 110), who gives that date.
Priestley was presented with the Royal Society’s Copley
medal, as an honourable testimony to his numerous scientific
discoveries, which, considering the crude state of chemistry in
his time, must be regarded as admirable. He was afterwards
driven from the Royal Society and from his country, his house
was pillaged, and his library, manuscripts, and apparatus de-
stroyed, and all this persecution was on account of certain
opinions which happily are now widely spread. The statue at
Birmingham is a less impressive tribute to his memory than the
maintenance of respect for his fame ; andit is with no unfriendly
feeling towards Mr. Rodwell that I express an opinion that this
old quarrel between Lavoisier, Priestley, and Cavendish had
better be left to repose in the history of science, where it has
been discussed with sufficient fulness and fairness by such
writers as Thomson, Brande, Whewell, and George Wilson.
Highgate, N., December 4 C, TOMLINSON
The Forth Bridge
IN some remarks made in NATuRE, vol. xxvii. p. IOI, by
Mr. Charles Shaler Smith, the following passage occurs :—
‘*The tests of the last few years show conclusively, that iron
exposed to compression within its buckling limit is compacted
in texture and strengthened by such use while, if subjected to
continuous tension beyond two-thirds of its elastic limit, it ‘is
attenuated and weakened.” As I think that the words above
quoted may perhaps to a certain extent mislead those who have
not themselves made experiments on the elasticity of iron and
steel, and on the alteration of density which can be produced by
compression or extension, I would observe :—
1. That the increase of density which can be produced by
compressing within the buckling-limit such rods as may be em-
ployed in the construction of bridges, would certainly not
account for the strengthening of iron exposed to continuous
compression. J have examined carefully the alteration of density
which can be effected in iron and steel wires by Jongitudinal
extension, &c., and even in cases where the wire was strained to
breakage, and the permanent extension exceeded 20 per cent.,
there was no diminution of density equal to 1 per cent. Of
course the words ‘‘compacted texture” may not mean that the
density is increased, but the idea seems to be not uncommon
among engineers, that increase of strength mecessarz/y implies
increase of density. Though I cannot at this moment lay hands
upon it, I remember reading an account of some theories ad-
vanced respecting the hardening of steel, from which it was
evident that the author of these theories assumed that the
hardening is attended with zucrease of density, whereas the
density of steel can be more diminished by this process than by
any mechanical means with which I am acquainted.
2. It is quite true that iron, if subjected to continuous tension
beyond two-thirds of its elastic limit, is attenuated, but whether
the attenuation is attended with weakening or not depends
largely upon the manner in which the tension is applied. If the
latter is increased by small amounts at a time, and each amount
allowed to act for a few hours before any increase of stress is
made, not only is there comparatively ‘small permanent exten-
sion, but there may be an actual increase of strength as far as
resistance to extension is concerned. ‘The fact is that whether
we subject iron and steel to domg-continued compression or exten-
sion, we increase the resistance 'to compression and extension
respectively, mainly for the same reason, namely, that we give
time for the molecules of the metal to take up such positions as
will enable them to offer the maximum resistance. Thus I have
proved that the value of ‘‘ Young’s Modulus” is considerably
increased in the case of an iron wire which has suffered per-
manent extension, by allowing the wire to rest for some hours
either loaded or unloaded ; this increase of elasticity is not
attended with any appreciable increase of density.
As I feel that too much precaution cannot be taken in a
question of this kind, where life is at stake, I would venture to
make the following suggestion:—That bars or rods of steel
and iron which run the s/gh/est risk of having at any time to
undergo a considerable extending or compressing stress should
before use be subjected, if possible, to the same kind of stress
gradually increased in amount with intervals of some hours
between each increase until a stress equal toat least three-fourths
of the breaking-stress be reached. Three or four days would
suffice to bring the metal to its maximum strength, both as
regards resistance to permanent and to temporary strain.
148
NATURE
[ Dec. 14, 1882
Should any one be interested in the subject, I would refet
them to the experiments of Mr. J. T. Bottomley (Proc. R. Soc.,
No. 197, 1879), of Prof. Ewing (Proc. #. Soc., 1880, June 10),
and of myself (‘‘ Influence of Stress and Strain on the Action of
Physical Forces, Phil. Trans., 1882, second volume).
HERBERT TOMLINSON
King’s College, Strand, December 4.
Intra-Mercurial Planets—Prof. Stewart's 24o11d, Period,
Leverrier’s and Gaillot’s 24°25d., and Leverrier’s 330225d,
Sidereal Periods Considered
As your regular monthly numbers did not reach our Free
Library from September, 1881, until comparatively recently, and
I was absent from home when they did arrive, it was only quite
lately that I had an ofportunity of seeing Prof. Balfour Stewart's
very interesting paper ‘‘On the Possibility of Intra-Mercurial
Planets,” read at last year’s meeting of the British Association,
and published at length in your issue of September 15, 1881.
<The possibility ” has been almost an admitted fact for over a
century, but Prof. Stewart’s valuable paper discusses the relation
of certain sun-spot periods to a probable sidereal period, ap-
proximately at least, of an intra-Mercurial planet of 24011
days.
On looking through your subsequent numbers, I was rather
surprised that so suggestive a paper had not elicited quite a dis-
cussion, although it is true that Prof. Stewart remarked that ‘‘ the
test was not yet complete,” and many may have waited to see
the final results, which have not yet appeared, but perhaps will
be forthcoming at the next meeting of the British Association.
But the first pomt that struck me, although not referred to by
Prof. Stewart, was the near approximation periods of 24011
days affords to Leverrier’s and Gaillo~’s period of 24°25 days
noticed in your columns of August 22, 1878, which M. Gaillot
endeavoured to fit to Prof, Watson’s observation, in Wyoming
State, of a supposed intra-Mercurial planet at 2° 9/ from the
Sun, during the total eclipse, July 29, 1878. M. Gaillot’s difficulty
seemed to be to reconcile Leverrier’s fora:ula with Prof. Wat-
son’s reasonable belief that he saw the planet in the superior part
of the orbit, while Gaillot made the formula and interval require
it to be in the inferior part of the orbit July 29, 1878. The only
interval that Gaillot referred to was from 1750 (January 1, I
presume) ; it might have been obvious, therefore, that quite a
small fractional difference in eaca of so many revolutions would
suffice to make the period accord with either condition
that Prof. Watson’s observation required; namely, ¢hat she
planet was seen at 2° 9! from superior conjunction, or 2°°9!
past infirior conjunction, For instance, I have obtained these
two result for the synodical periods. The same interval for both
about 469624 days, requiring 18083} revolutions of 25°96825104d.,
each 41 being equal to 11’90211506d.; that accords very
closely with Prof. Watson’s belief, while 1808.4, revolutions of
25 9742355d. each, and 1°08226d. remainder, meet the condi-
tion of its being 2° 9’ past the inferior conjunction. Of course,
as a matter of opinion, I presume it would be impossible to see
the planet so near its inferior conjunction during any total eclipse
of the Sun, the planet’s crescent being altogether too fine. These
results are simply what the conditions require in relation to
approximate 26-day apparent-periods, but we must avoid exactly
26 days, or the interval would put the planet at 7zts elongation,
perhaps apparently 10° from the Sun, and if we tried the Les-
carbault interval, from March 26, 1859, 70654 days, singularly
enough it would put the planet zn the other elongation. Fractional
differences are of course very important therefore. And I do
not find either that M. Gaillot’s figures 24°25d. for the sidereal
time, and 14°°8462 for the diurnal motion exactly accord, and
neither fills the conditions required by Prof. Watson’s observation,
if I am approximately correct, which I think I am. For
instance, 14°°8462 diurnal motion, gives us 24°24862928d. for
the sidereal periods, not 24°25d., and the synodical period would
be 25°9729903466d., and the planet’s position would be about
46° 12' inits orbit past inferior conjunction, or apparently about
$° 24 from the Sun, and 46° 12’ would be about 34 days.
The sidereal period of 24°25 days, makes the diurnal motion
14°'8453608247, and puts the planet at about 6°°8 past inferior
conjunction, or apparently less than 1°, The synodical revolu-
ions would be 25°974562624d. and fractional remainder ‘0188945,
or 1th, 46m. 43s., which of course would be too close to the
sun, But the sidereal period and the diurnal motion should
both agree, instead of producing such a difference as I have here
indicated, of nearly 49° in the revolutions. But although I
| believe we cannot accept the exact published figures, 24°25d., or
14°'8462, still I have shown how near we may make the final
results conform to them,
Adopting the s1me number of synodical revolutions, and prac-
tically making the best use of the formula, obtaining 18084
revolutions, and 1808. The revolution being 25°96825104d.,
or 25°9742355d., and the remainders 11°90211506d., or 1'08226.
Reduced to clock time they stand as follows: 1808}; being
equal to 25d. 23h. 14m. 16°9s. each, and 11d. 23h. 39m. 2°7s.
remainder, and 1808, being equal to 25d. 23h. 22m. 54s. each,
and 1d. th. 58m. 274s. remainder. Zhe latter ts almost abso-
lutely identical with the periods that would fit the Fritsch and
Stark interval from October 10, 1802, to October 9, 1819, 6208
days, or 239 periods of 25d. 23h. 23m. 51s. And from Stark
to Lescarbault makes 14,413 days, which would require 555
periods of 25d. 23h. 15m. 534s., which affords almost exact
rdentity with the general mean, placing Prof. Watson’s observa-
tion in the superior part of the orbit. Thus, then, we have
almost positive assurance that Fritsch, Stark, Lescarbault, and
Prof. Watson’s planet were identical, and that Prof. Watson was
correct about it being 2° 9’ from superior conjunction : these in-
teresting facts, giving a record to Lescarbault’s planet of 80
years from Fritsch’s observance October 10, 1802, to October
next. What other ‘‘myths” will stand such satisfactory
results? I am afraid that Prof. Proctor and some other astro-
nomers have not given the attention to this question that it
deserves. But there are a few exceptions deserving credit: M.
de la Baume, in Paris, was engaged last year in a classification
of reported observed transits, although he did not then draw
any inferences respecting apparent revolutions. He regarded
Fritsch, De Cuppe, Lescarbault, and Lummis’ transits as the
same planets, agreeing relatively with the nodes. While
Lichtenburg, November 19, 1762, Hoffman, about May Io, 1764,
Scott, June 28, 1847, Ritter and Schmidt, June 11, 1855, and
W. G. Wright, of San Bernardino, California, October 24,
1876, whose transit was illustrated in the Scéertific American of
November 18, 1876, he regarded as another larger planet than
Lescarbault’s.
Adopting the same principle with Prof. Stewart's hypothetical
sidereal periods of 24'o11d., I first find what results that gives,
as applied to the same interval from January 1, 1750, and then
take the nearest modification I can to the conditions of Prof.
Watson’s observation. 360 divided by 24*o1Id. gives us
14°°99312818 for the planet’s diurnal motion, which, multiplied
by 46,9624 days, gives us 704114°°78215325, from which, sub-
tracting the earth’s motion, 46288°-463941, leaves a residue ot
657826°°318213, which, divided by 360° gives us 1827°29533
synodical revolutions ; using that to divide the 469623 days, we
obtain the synodical periods of 25°700553d. ‘The fractional
revolution *29533 is equal to 106° 19’ 17”, or 7d. 14h, Lom.
Now while that would put the planet in the superior part of the
orbit, it would still be nearly 60° from where Prof. Watson
observed it. I ought to have explained before that 2° 9, or
2° 10' apparently, is about equivalent to 15° from swfertor con-
junction, or, 15° past 7fertor conjunction in the planet's orbit ;
15° from 180°, therefore, leaves 165° as the required position,
instead of 106° 19’ 17”. Perhaps I am only approximately
correct, but sufficient for illustration. It is very evident, how-
ever, that a very slight modification of Prof. Stewart's infer-
ential sidereal periods, 24’011d., would give us the 60° more
required, or exact accord with Prof. Watson’s observation, and
the evidence would te rather in favour of 18274} revolutions,
obtained from such a solar analogy, and may still have an inci-
dental bearing or relation to the Leverrier-Gaillot formula I
have construed to require 18083} or 1808; revolutions. 182754
revolutions would give us 25°698260334253d. for the synodical
periods, and a remainder of 11°77836931986d. Reduced to
clock time, that would give us 25d. 16h. 45m. 29°7s. for each
apparent revolution, and 11d. 18h, gom. 5111s. for the re-
mainder. It must be understood that these definitions, 180834
and 182744, with their results, are intended only to express
possible general mean periods of apparent revolutions, and may
not exactly apply to any of the intervals between the long list of
recorded observations of supposed transits. When Leverrier,
October 1876, had strong faith in sidereal periods of 33°0225d.,
it was probably a general mean from January I, 1759, to Lesear-
bault, March 26, 1859, and only approximately fitted Lummis,
De Cuppis, Stark, Fritsch, and others, but still in a general
sense applied to some of them, while Leverrier was led to predi-
‘s'e= 7 BF, ati <i =—- ae
Dec. 14, 1882]
NATURE
149
cate a transit, March 22, 1877, which probably did not occur.
And yet, viewed in connection with a reported transit, October
24, 1876, seen by Mr. W. G. Wright at San Bernardino, Cali-
fornia, and illustrated and fully reported in the Sczentific Ameri-
can of November 18, 1876, which circumstance Leverrier
probably had no knowledge of, was by no means as unsatisfactory
as the public imagined ; for practically Wrisht’s transit and
Leverrier’s hypothetical period mutually confirmed each other.
The Scientific American Supplement of August 27, 1881,
pw lished some remarks I sent them, which may have reached
England. One point I directed attention to was that Le-
verrier indicated that a conjunction was due September 21,
1876, and I found that there were thirty-three days be-
tween that and October 24, 1876, so if Leverrier took 176
synodical periods from Lescarbault to September 21, it was
nearly the same thing to take 177 to October 24; but extending
the interval to January 1, 1750, there would be much nearer
similarity in the synodical periods to accord with Wright’s
transit, October 24, 1876. I also noticed that the ratio of dis-
placement of the node from Lescarbault and Lumwis was 7 days
retrograde in 3 years’ advance, and on that data, applied to
Wright’s transit, another transit would be due 113 days earlier
in 1881, while Leverrier, in October, 1876, remarke1 that for a
transit at this node we must wait till about 1881.” My computa-
tion made it fall due, therefore, October 12 or 13, 1881, and I
was anxious that it might be looked for. The computation made
the Hawaiian Islands the most favourable place ; but although I
believe it was not seen there, nor was it observed from Sacra-
mento or Salt Lake City, where Mr. W. R. Frink looked for it
with a 4-inch aperture achromatic telescope, we have no evi-
dence to show whether it might not have occurred in Europe
or elsewhere, and been noticed if it had been looked for.
Sacramento, California A. F, GODDARD
[The subject of this communication is a very interesting one,
as relating to the possibility of changes on the sun’s surface
being due in some way to the positions of the various planets of
the system. But before this relation can be considered as esta-
blished, it will be necessary to increase the accuracy of our solar
information by collecting our past observations, as well as by
securing a set of daily observations for the future.—ED.]
An Extraordinary Meteor
I BEG to send you the following, in case you consider it worth
inserting :—At about I.10 a.m. on the night between November
18 and 19, whilst going in the s.s. Bokhara in the Red Sea,
about midway from Aden to Suez, the quarter-master on duty
called me, saying he had just seen a new comet, or shooting star,
which was still visible many minutes after its first appearance.
He said that whilst he was looking out ahead, or in a northerly
direction, he suddenly noticed the effect of a bright light shining
from astern, and on turning round saw a very bright shooting
star still moving from left to right, and slightly downwards, in
the south, at.an altitude of about 40°. The star speedily disap-
peared, but left a bright train of light behind it, which continued
so long (from five to ten minutes he gue-sed) that he thought I
might like to see it. I came on deck a little before a quarter
past one by the ship’s clock, and found a streak of light which I
estimated as 8° or 10° in length, and rather less than half a
degree in width, apparently stationary, midway between Sirius
and Canopus, and nearly as bright as ¢he comet, the head of
which must have risen half an hour or more previously. I
watched the streak till half-past one o’clock, when it seemed
sensibly fainter, though still a conspicuous object, notwith-
standing the presence of the moon, the comet, and a number of
bright stars. Whilst watching I noticed two small meteors
shooting from left to right across the southern sky, which struck
me as probably belonging to the same group as the large one
whose train I was watching.
At half-past one o’clock I went below, and did not return on
deck till 5 o’clock, when the apparition had disappeared. The
quarter-master told me afterwards that it had faded away soon
after I left the deck, but he believed that from first to last it
had remained conspicuously bright for more than half an hour.
Clewer, December 6 B. R. BRANFILL
British Rainfall
I AM just preparing to issue to all the observers ot rainfall
known to me, blank forms for the entry of their records for the
year shortly about to close. This staff now exceeds 2000, but
still as they are not unfrequently rather clustered there are many
parts of the country where additional records are needed. I
have no doubt that records are already kept in many places
unknown to me, and I shall be glad if you will allow me to
invite communications from any one who has kept an accurate
record, and to supply either those already observing or contem-
plating doing so with a copy of the rules adopted by British
observers, and with all necessary blank forms—all, I may perhaps
as well add, free of charge, as our greatest requirements are
ample and accurate records. G. J. Symons
62, Camden Square, London, N. W.
Swan Lamp Spectrum and the Aurora
In Nature, vol. xxv. p. 347, is a description of the spec-
trum of carbon as found by Professors Liveing and Dewar in a
Swan lamp rendered incandescent in the ordinary way. Finding
one of these lamps only feebly lighted by ten pint Grove cells, it
occurred to me to test it by the secondary current. The coil
was nominally a 6-inch spark one, but little battery power was
used, and the spark considerably reduced. One wire was con-
nected with the filament holders, the one made into a little coil
and laid on the top of the lamp.
The first effect was a fine silver glow filling the lamp, and:
showing Pliicker tube changes when the circuit was reversed.
This gave a carbon spectrum of bright lines, Soon, however,
the colour of the discharge changed to pink, and the carbon
spectrum gave way to a nitrogen banded one. A yellow spark
had been noticed where the wire lay on the top of the lamp,
and it was evident air had found its way into it.
At one point perforation had taken place bya single spark,
while near this the glass was pounded into a sponge-like mass
by a series of these.
The sodium lines due to disintegration of the glass were
observed in the spark and glow. I was much struck by the
rapidity with which, as what was probably only a small quantity
of air found its way into the lamp, the nitrozen-spectrum swept
away and took the place of the carbon one, a matter which
seems to present another difficulty to the favourite theory which
makes the aurora, with its bright, sharp unrecognized lines, an
electric discharge in rarified air. J. RAND CAPRON
Guildown, November 30
The Aurora
ALREADY we have for the height of the ‘‘auroral beam” the
varying estimates of 44, 170, 209, and 212 miles, and assuming
the correctness of any one of the three last figures, we ‘seem
drifting from the improbable to the impossible, for are we not
told by Messrs. De la Rue and Miiller (NATURE, vol, xxii.
p- 24) that while at 81°47 miles’ height, the discharge is ‘‘ pale
and faint, at 12415” 20 discharge could pass? Lest this addi-
tion to the aurora’s mysteries be for want of definite particulars
in the observations, I add mine as nearly as I can—Time 6h.
G.M.T. and a few minutes? Altitude of moon above horizon
28°, Distance from moon’s centre to centre of beam as it
floated adove 2°, direction east to west (nearly), Lat. 51° 13' 46”
N., Long. 0° 28’ 47" W. (observatory).
Cuildown, Guildford, December 11 J. RAND CAPRON
Fertilisation of, the Speedwell
Ir Mr. Stapley, who wrote on this subject in last week’s
NaTuR#, can refer to Dr, H. Miiller’s treatise on the relations
between flowers and insects, in the first volume of Shenk’s
Handbuch der Botanik (now publishing as part of Trewendt’s
Encyclopedie der Naturwissenschaften), he will see that his own
observations are very similar to those of Dr. Miller. The latter,
however, refers to and figures the Germander, not the Common,
Speedwell. Is it possible that Mr. Stapley—who speaks of the
Veronica officinalis as having larger flowers than the V. hedere-
folia, whereas they have flowers of about the same size—mistakes
the V. chamedrys for the V. officinalis ?
The insects which Dr. Miiller found bending down the
stamens, as Mr. Stapley describes, were small Diptera chiefly of
the genera Ascia and AZelanostoma. He mentions this also in
Kosmos, iii. p. 497, and a few pages earlier (74, p. 493) he gives
a large drawing of V, urticefolia,
150
NATURE
| Dec. 14, 1882
I have not Darwin’s book at hand while I write, but does he
not mention the Germander Speedwell ?
Bedford, December 9 ARTHUR RANSOM
Shadows after Sunset
FIVE years ago my attention was attracted to the phenomenon
now under discussion. I was then at San Fernando, and could
perceive almost every evening the rosy and blue or black and
white rays converging to a point apparently below the horizon.
I was able to trace the rays from west to east many times, and
frequently also to trace the black or blue spaces to visible pro-
minences in the cumuli in the western horizon, to whose shadows
there is no doubt the rays were due, as they swept the sky with
such a rapidity ; and they were so persistently traceable to the
bright bordered cumuli, that even though there were any hills in
the direction of theJsetting sun (which there were not), the phe-
nomenon could not be attributed to them. Besides, I have
observed it when off the coast of Portugal, which leaves the
hill shadows out of the question, as the observations were made
in the (two consecutive) evenings. Though the sky is too cloudy
in this part of Spain, by lookiny at the right place at the right
time I have been able to see it many times. The mock sun
described by Mr. Rand Capron in the last number of NATURE
(p. 102) was seen once by me, but the phenomenon was but
little conspicuous. The rays are seldom equidistant.
Naval School, Ferrol, Spain, December 5 Pror, DiER
Complementary Colours
IN connection with recent correspondence in NATURE it may
be worthy of remark that I have often noticed the appearance of
strong complementary colours in water from contrast-effects, in
the case of a wave, breaking on the shore. If the water is pro-
perly illuminated so as to be of a decidedly green tinge, the crest
of the wave often appears of a delicate pink, and this even in
strong sunlight. The purplish bue of cloud-shadows on the
ocean is also a familiar example of the phenomenon under dis-
cussion, CuHas. R. Cross
Mass, Institute of Technology, Boston, November 23
An Extraordinary Lunar Halo
I PURCHASED a copy of NaTuRE of November 30 in the
hopes of finding some account of a lunar halo observed by myself
and several friends on Saturday night, November 18, about 10.30,
Instead of which I find that Mr. Barkas has sent you an account
of one seen by him on the following Monday. His description
tallies almost exactly with the one seen by me, with the exception
of date and hour, Can any of your readers give any information
respecting them ? S. A. Goop
751, Wandsworth Road, S.W.
“Lepidoptera of Ceylon”
ALLOw us to correct a slight error in the address of the Presi-
dent of the Royal Society, as reported in NaTuRE last week.
He speaks of the ‘‘ completion” of the “ Lepidoptera of Ceylon”
having been presented to the Library, whereas it is only the first
of the three volumes of that work which is as yet complete,
Part vi., being the second part of the second volume, will be
ready next week, and the succeeding parts will follow in due
course. The error is not very important, but might mislead
subscribers and others interested in the work,
L. REEVE AND Co.
5, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.,
December 11
THE COMET
V HEN the comet was first seen on September 16 at 22h.
45m. its appearance was most symmetrical, in colour
a most intense white. The sketch shows the appearance
on such a scale that the nucleus would havea diameter of
about 45", by a comparison made at the time with a sun-
spot, the exact size of which has since been kindly fur-
nished by the Astronomer Royal from the Greenwich
phctographs of the sun. The direction of the comet was
to the centre of the sun, as far as could be estimated. On
p. 81 of this volume there is a diagram of the sun and the
comet ; the size of the comet as there given compared
with the sun is about as it appeared ; and if one imagines
the sketch I give, reduced to the length of the sign for
the comet on the diagram, and placed some two diameters
of the sun to the south-west and radial, he will have a
good idea of the appearance on the morning of Sep-
tember 17.
The general appearance of the comet has been so fully
described that I will confine myself to some points that I
have observed with the three-foot reflector, which I did
not get to bear, however, till October 29 at 16h. 4om.
September 16, 22h. 45m.
Although the moon was very bright the comet was well
seen, the nucleus appearing as an oval bright spot fading
into the head gradually (this is called the nucleus in my
note-book, but subsequent observations show it ought to
be called the bright part of the head). The most notice-
able feature of this morning’s observation is the peculiar
termination to the head ; at the n.f. side of head (see
sketch for October 30), there was noted an absence of light,
while the extension on the south side was particularly
noticed, there may have been some extension on the
corresponding north side, but I have not recorded Tbs
so the appearance would then be similar to that in sketch
No. 2 (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 109). This oblique termi-
October 30, 16h, 50m.
nation appears in all my sketches made at the telescope.
The length of this nucleus or bright part of head was
measured as 55”. An absence of stripes in the tail was
particularly noticed, if there was a difference the south
side was a little the brightest.
On this morning the brightness of the moonlight had a
marked effect on the visibility of the broader part of the
tail, so much so that it was easier to trace it in the sky
with the naked eye, than with either a binocular, a 3-inch
achromatic, or a 3-foot reflector.
The following morning, October 30, 16h. 50m., the
appearance of the comet was so altered that either a
_ Dec. 14, 1882 |
NALORL
151
remarkable change had taken place, or the details had
not been properly made out on the previous morning—
the head had become brighter, narrower, and longer,
with a decided nucleus, situated a little less than half way
from the following end; further examination showed a
break in the line of light forming the head, a compara-
tively dark space splitting it in two, the nucleus being on
the border of this space, while a brightening of the head
near the other side of this space gave an appearance
of another nucleus. The sketch for this date shows the
position of these brighter parts or nuclei, and the space
between.
A careful measurement at 17h. 41m. gives the pos. angle
of the line of light forming head as 115° 5’. The distance
of the nuclei was 11"°5, and the width of the head 1c”.
On November 1, 17h. 18m., the pos. angle of head was
117° 5’, the breadth of the head 11”, and the length 100’,
the general appearance being as that given for October
30, excepting that on this morning a brightening is re-
corded as observed at the extremity of the /o//owzng part
of the head, giving a tri-nuclear appearance. Subsequent
observations made at intervals (on November 5, 8, 9, 10,
and 17) show little deviation from the last sketch. Par-
ticular attention has not since been given to eye-observa-
tions, as the 3-foot has been used on these dates for pho-
tography (with doubtful advantage). The brightness of
this comet is, as far as can be judged from a comparison
of similar exposures, about the same as the great comet
of 1881. One minute gives an image faint, but certain,
about 25 minutes’ exposure gives an intense image of the
head and a trace of the tail; but the result is not at
present worth the great trouble it causes. One of the
November 9 plates shows the dark space in the head, and
this is all that can be said for it ; longer exposures with-
out a proper means of following the motion of the comet
give only a trail. This however I propose to get over by
having motions adapted to the plate-holder and an eye-
piece attached to the holder for the purpose of running a
second image of the comet, taken out of the cone of rays
from the speculum by another diagonal mirror properly
placed for the purpose. A. AINSLIE COMMON
Ealing, December 4
IN a ciear sky at 4.50 a.m. November 26, not a vestige
of the comet was to be seen by the naked eye, though its
position was known exactly. On applying a telescope to
the spot the nucleus appeared as a round nebula, with
four small stars near it; as for the comet’s tail, I presume
it was “left behind,” for no trace of it could be discerned,
except by tie eyes of the imagination. This is singularly
corroborative of the statement that has appeared in these
columns, viz. that the moonlight obscures the comet,
although it seems to be doubted. ;
Oxford, December 5 FRANK STAPLETON
ILLUSTRATIONS OF NEW OR RARE ANIMALS
IN THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S LIVING
COLLECTION 1
X.
26. HE MALAYAN TAPIR (Zapiris indicus).—In
the present condition of zoological life on the
world’s surface there is no better instance of discontinuous
distribution than that of the Tapirs. While Tropical
America contains several species of Zwpzvus, and may be
regarded as the focus of the genus, a single well-marked
species—not, however, sufficiently distinct, even in the
eyes of those most fond of inventing new names, for
generic separation—occurs in Tropical Asia. This is the
Malayan or Indian Tapir, Zafirus indicus (sive malay-
anus) of systematists.
The discovery of this Tapir in Sumatra, where it was
first met with, though claimed by Cuvier for French natu-
7 Continued from vol. xxvi. p, 606.
ralists, is undoubtedly due to those of our own country.
Marsden described the animal in his work on Sumatra as
long ago as 1785, and Raffles obtained a knowledge of it
in 1805. In 1818 a living example, captured near Ben-
coolen, was sent to the menagerie at Barrackpore, and
was the subject of a drawing, forwarded: to Cuvier by
Diard and Duvaneel, which first made the great French
philosopher acquainted with the existence of this animal.
The first example of the Malayan Tapir sent to Europe
likewise came to this country. It was received in Sep-
tember, 1820, from Sir Stamford Raffles, and was the
subject of an excellent memoir by the great surgeon and
anatomist, Sir Everard Home, which was published in
the Philosophical Transactions for 1821.
The Zoological Society of London acquired their first
living specimen of this animal by purchase of Capt.
Miland in September, 1840. This example died on April
17 in the following year. Although one or two specimens
of the Indian Tapir passed through this country at sub-
sequent intervals, it was not until the present year that
the Society succeeded in obtaining possession of a second
specimen. This was a young individual of the male sex,
from which our illustration (Fig. 26) was taken by Mr.
Smit in August last. It will be observed that although
the large white area which covers the hinder quarters
like a sheet, and renders the Indian Tapir so readily dis-
tinguishable from all its American brethren, is easily
distinguishable in this drawing, the stripes and spots,
which prevail in the younger dress of all the Tapirs, are
still quite distinct. These disappear altogether when the
animal is quite adult, leaving the entire body, with excep-
tion of the white back, of a glossy brownish black. The
Indian ‘Tapir is further distinguishable from all the
American species by the absence of the mane, and by the
minute structure of the teeth. Unfortunately the Zoolo-
gical Society’s second specimen did not live to exhibit its
adult characters, but died in October last in consequence
of a disease of the rectum, which seems often to afflict
these animals in captivity.
Besides Sumatra, where the Dutch naturalist, Salomon
Muller, found it on the west coast up to a height of 2000
feet above the sea-level, the Malayan Tapir inhabits the
interior of Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. There is
also good evidence that a Tapir of some sort is found in
the south-western provinces of China, which is probably
of the same species.
In its native state the Indian Tapir is exclusively an
inhabitant of the forest, keeping principally to the vicinity
of the rivers and treading paths by following the same
routes during its excursions from the banks in search of
food. In captivity it becomes very tame and familiar.
Dr. Cantor gives us the following account of a young
female specimen which was captured in Keddah in 1845,
and lived many months at his station in Malacca : —
“From the first, although fresh from its native wilds,
this young Tapir showed a remarkably gentle disposition.
The daytime it spent in sleeping in a dark recess of the
portico of my house, though it would rouse itself if
noticed. Towards sunset it became lively, would bathe,
feed, saunter abroad, and with its lengthened nose
examine objects in the way. Within a few days after its
arrival it commenced to exhibit a marked partiality to
the society of man, not indeed to its keeper in particular,
whom it scarcely had discrimination enough to distin-
guish, but to anybody who happened to notice or caress
it. Towards sunset it would follow a servant on the
green infront of the house, and punctually imitate his
movements, whether standing, walking, or running. If
the man suddenly hid himself, the Tapir would hasten to
the spot where it had lost sight of its keeper, look about
in all directions, and if unsuccessful in discovering him,
express its disappointment by a peculiar loud whistling.
On the reappearance of the man, it expressed its pleasure
1 Cf. Tomes in Proc. Zool. Soc., 1351, p. 121-
125 NATURE [Dec. 14, 1882
by rubbing its side against his legs, running between | tap the trees, but more sonorous. When of an evening it
them, occasionally giving out a short singular sound, | heard the voices of people in the verandah above the
resembling that produced when the larger woodpeckers | portico, it exhibited strong marks of impatience till let
Fic. 26.—The JMalayan Tapir.
loose,) when ‘of its own accord it would, awkwardly
y | It would then quietly lie down at their feet, and by
enough, ascend a flight of stairs leading to the verandah.
stretching its limbs and shaking its head, express the
{.Fic. 27.—The One-vattled Cassowary.
satisfaction it derived from being caressed, and it was | mangustins, jambu, leaves of /zcus pipu/, sugar-cane, and
only by compulsion that it could be made to leave the | boiled rice, of which latter it was particularly fond, if
company. Its food consisted of plantains, pine-apples | mixed with a little salt. Its drink was water and also
Dec. 14, 1882,
milk and cocoa-nut oil, which latter taste the Tapir pos-
sesses in common with the O’rangutan. It delighted in
bathing, and was otherwise cleanly.
27. THE ONE-WATTLED CASSOWARY (Casuarius unt-
appendiculatus).—The Cassowaries of the Moluccas and
Papuan Islands, together with the Emeu of Australia,
constitute a very well-marked division of the Struthiones,
or ostrich-like order of birds, and occupy a large area of
the Australian region. But while the Emeu (Dromcus)
is spread over the whole of the Australian continent, the
Cassowary is only met with in the northern parts of
Queensland and in the peninsula of Cape York, and we
must cross Torres Straits into New Guinea and its adjoin-
ing islets before we arrive at the true metropolis of the
Cassowaries. Here we shall find them scattered over
the different islands to the number of nine, as indicated
in Count Tommaso Salvadori’s recent essay on the
group, and but one, or at most two species being ever
found exactly within the same area.
A characteristic of the Cassowaries is the large horny
NATORE
Tee
casque which covers the head, and is devoid of feathers.
In one division of the genus this is much elevated and
laterally compressed, in the other the casque is pyramidal
in shape, and flattened cross-ways behind. The One-
wattled Cassowary belongs to the second division, and is
further distinguished by having (in common with its near
ally C. occzpztalis) but a single wattle in the middle of its
throat.
This Cassowary was first made known to science in
1860 by Blyth, from an example brought alive to Cal-
cutta, of which the exact origin was uncertain. It has,
however, since been ascertained that it inhabits the
Island of Salawatty, and adjacent western portions of
New Guinea, where the naturalists Bernstein, v. Rosen-
berg, D’Albertis, and Beccari, who have visited these
districts, have obtained specimens. Like other members
of the group, it is a forest-hunting bird, living principally
on various fruits, but also occasionally indulging in such
animal food as lizards, fishes, and insects.
Our figure of this Cassowary (Fig. 27) is taken from a
Fic. 28.—The Sonoran Heloderm.
nearly adult individual of this fine species, now living in
the Zoological Society’s Gardens, which was obtained by
purchase in July last.
28. THE SONORAN HELODERM (Heloderma suspectum).
—Lizards, as a general rule, are perfectly harmless ani-
mals, whose only object when approached is to get out
of sight as fast as possible. In almost every country, it
is true, some sorts of lizards have a dreadful reputation
amongst the ignorant. The Slowworm, in England, and
the Gecko, in India, are alike reputed to be highly veno-
mous, but naturalists well know that there is not the
slightest foundation for these fancies, and that both these
little creatures are, in fact, quite innocuous. It was, in
fact, until within a comparatively recent period, the gene-
rally received opinion among the best authorities, that no
member of the Lacertilian order was really venomous. It
is only within the last few years that the evil reputation
which certain lizards of Mexico and the adjoining dis-
* “‘Monographia del gen. Casuarius, Briss. Per ‘Tommaso Salvadori.’’
Mem. R, Acc. Sc. di Torino). Ser, ii. tom. xxxiv.
tricts of the United States have long borne among the
natives of those countries, has been confirmed by an
accurate examination of their teeth, and the conclusion
thus forced upon us that atleast one form of lizard is
endowed with the faculty of producing a poisonous bite.
The possesssors of these formidable weapons of defence
are the members of the genus He/oderma of naturalists,
one species of which was long ago described from Mexico
under the appropriate name /eloderma horridum. It
has been shown by MM. Dumeril and Bocourt in France,
and Dr. J. G. Fischer in Germany, that this lizard has
not only grooved teeth, after the manner of many of the
poisonous serpents, but likewise highly developed salivary
glands, which issue at the bases of the teeth with the
evident purpose of carrying the poisonous saliva into the
grooves. It has been likewise shown by the evidence of
careful observers that the bite of the Heloderma horridum
is fatal to small mammals and birds, and highly injurious
to man, although not perhaps under ordinary circum-
stances capable of inflicting a fatal wound.
154
NATURE
[ Dec. 14, 1882
The same seems to be nearly the case with a second
species of He/oderma, H. suspectum of Cope,} a portrait
of which we give (Fig. 28) from a fine specimen recently
added to the Zoological Society’s collection. Experiments
made with this animal have shown that it is sufficiently
yenomous to kill a small guinea-pig, and, as hereafter
shown, there is no doubt that its bite inflicts serious
injury upon any one handling it carelessly.
The Sonoran Heloderm, or “ Gila Monster,’’ as the
inhabitants of Arizona call this reptile, is one of the
largest lizards in North America, and is found all through
New Mexico, Arizona,and Texas. It inhabits the sandy
deserts of that arid land, and is said to be a wonderfully
striking object as it darts about the rocks, and shows its
brilliant armour of jet black and orange scales. In a
recent number of the American Naturalist. Dr. Shufeldt
gives the following account of his experiences with one of
these ‘‘ monsters” :—
On the 18th inst , in company of Prof. Gill, of the Insti-
tution, I examined for the first time Dr. Burr's specimens
of the Heloderm, then in a cage in the Herpétological
Room. It was in capital health, and at first I handled it
with great care, holding it in my left hand, examining
special parts with my right. At the close of this examina-
tion I was about to return the fellow to his temporary
quarters when my left hand slipped slightly, and the now
highly indignant He/oderma made a dart forward, and
seized my right thumb in his mouth, inflicting a severe
lacerated wound, sinking the teeth in his upper maxilla to
the very bone. He loosed his hold immediately, and I
replaced him in his cage with far greater haste perhaps
than I removed him from it. By suction with my mouth
I drew out a little blood from the wound, but the bleeding
soon ceased entirely, to be followed in a few moments by
very severe shooting pains up my arm and down the
corresponding side. The severity of these pains was so
unexpected, that added to the nervous shock already ex-
perienced, and toa rapid swelling of the parts that now
set in, it caused me to become so faint as to fall, and Dr.
Gill’s study was reached with no little difficulty. The
action of the skin was greatly increased and the perspira-
tion flowed profusely. A small quantity of whiskey was
administered. This is about a fair statement of the
immediate symptoms: the same night the pain allowed
of no rest, although the hand was kept in ice and
laudanum, but the swelling was confined to this member
alone, not passing beyond the wrist. Next morning this
was considerably reduced, and further reduction was
assisted by the use of a lead water wash. Ina few days
the wound healed kindly, and in all probability will leave
no scar; all cther symptoms subsided without treatment
beyond the wearing, for about forty-eight hours, so much
of a kid glove as covered the parts involved. After the
bite our specimen was dull and sluggish, simulating the
torpidity of the venomous serpent after it has inflicted its
deadly wound, but it soon resumed its usual action and
appearance, crawling in rather an awkward manner about
its cage.”’
The specimen of the Sonoran Heloderm in the Zoo-
logical Society’s Garden’s Reptile House was presented
to the collection in July last by Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
F.Z.S., by whom it was received from Mr. G. A. Tread-
well, of the Central Arizona Mining Company, of Vulture,
in Arizona territory. There was much difficulty at first
experienced in getting the reptile to take food. After
articles of diet of various kinds had been presented
to it, and successively refused, it was found that small
hen’s eggs were sufficiently attractive to induce it to break
its fast. Since then the Heloderm has grown less dainty,
and has actually condescended to take a small rat, though
it prefers eggs to any other kind of food. It may be
remarked that it is difficult to conjecture of what use
venom can be to an egg-eating lizard.
Described in. Proc. Acad Sc. Phil., 1869, p 5
It may be added in conclusion that Dr. Steindachner,
the well-known herpetologist of Vienna, has recently de-
scribed and figured a new form of lizard from Borneo,!
under the name Lanthanotus borneensis, which is nearly
allied to Heloderma, and has similarly grooved teeth. It
would be of great interest to know whether the Bornean
lizard has 1ikewise venomous qualities.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS
yan VERY fair amount of success appears from the
telegrams to have attended the British expeditions
for the observation of the late transit of Venus. In
Jamaica Dr. Copeland and his colleague secured all four
contacts ; at Barbados Mr. Talmage, though he lost the
first external contact, observed the other three; we have
no intelligence yet from the station at Bermuda, occupied
by Mr. Plummer, nor, of course, from the expedition on
the west coast of Madagascar. At the Cape the observers
were similarly favoured by the weather, and we hear of
very successful observations in New Zealand by Colonel
Tupman. The only regrettable failure was at Brisbane,
whither Capt. Morris, R.E., had proceeded, with Mr. C.
E. Peek. It bad been at first the intention of the Com-
mittee of the Royal Society to send an expedition to the
Falkland Islands, but on learning that other countries
intended to occupy stations in that part of the globe,
Brisbane was substituted with the view to strengthen the
Australian stations, and, so to say, assist in counter-
balancing the great number of observations that might be
expected in the United States. At the Naval Observatory,
Washington, all fcur contacts were observed with the
principal instruments, as also at the Observatory of
Haverford, near Philadelphia, and in due course we shall
doubtless hear of many more American successes.
At the principal observatories in this country little or
nothing was seen of the transit. Dr. Ball, so far as we
are aware, was most successful at Dublin ; though he did
not secure either contact at 2h. 37m. Dublin time he was
able to commence a series of measures of distance of the
outer and inner limb of Venus from the sun’s limb, which
he continued to 3h. 3m. He found by calculation fron
the time observations that at 2h. 43m. 30s. Dublin mean
time, the limb of Venus nearest to the sun’s centre was
188” from the sun’s nearest limb; and also, that at
3h. om. os. the limb of Venus furthest from the sun’s
centre was 162” from the adjacent limb of the sun. The
diameter of Venus resulting from these observations is 64
seconds, corresponding exactly with that deduced by
Prof. Auwers from his heliometer “measures at Luxor,
during the transit of 1874.
On comparing the times calculated from the elements
of the transit which have been adopted in NATURE when
referring to the phenomenon with those telegraphed to
the Zzmes, as having been noted by two observers at
Washington, and one at Haverford, the following differ-
ences between calculation and observation are shown :—
WASHINGTON. HAVERFORD.
Frisby. Sampson.
s. Ss. s.
Contact I. ... —80 ... +16 —4I
as UN Ree Ric ert Be) +33
aa Se oo) et 2T sso —29
mr IV # 80? SO: cece = 88; +19
Mr. Neison observed the first external contact at Dur-
ban at 3h. 54m. 41s. local mean time; if we assume his
longitude to have been 2h. 3m. 30s. east, the difference
of the calculated time would be —15s. The view from
the observatory there was almost perfect. The conditions
were, cloudless sky, but the air was unsteady.
Mr. Marth, writing on November 21, places his
X Denkschr. k. Ak. Wien., xxxviii p. 95 (1878).
ee
Dec. 14, 1882]
NATURE
155
station at Montagu Road, Cape Colony, in longitude
20° 3’ E., with 33° 20’ south latitude. At the date
of his letter he was fearful that one of the whirl-
winds of sand and dust of which he had had much
experience might at the last moment spoil all. The
heat during the day was overpowering, but at night he
was in need of his winter overcoat. The transit obser-
vations, however, were very successful.
The following telegram from Mr. Talmage, chief of
the British party at Barbados, was forwarded to the
Times by Mr. Stone :—“ Internal contact at ingress,
and internal and external contacts at egress were well
observed.” The observers were Mr. Talmage and
Lieutenant Thomson, R.A. On this the Zzmes re-
marks ;—
The observations at ingress will combine with those
made at the Cape and those at egress with the Australian
and New Zealand observations. An official telegram
received from Captain Morris, R.E., confirms that from
Mr. Peek, announcing a complete failure at Brisbane.
Lieutenant Darwin, R.E., who accompanied Captain
Morris, will, before returning to England, determine
the difference of longitude between Point Darwin and
Singapore, thus completing a connection between the
Australian and English longitudes. Information has now
been received from all the British stations with the excep-
tion of Madagascar and Bermuda.
“From tke Paris telegram it will be seen that no news is
expected from the Patagonian stations for about a week,
and it is feared that the Chilian mission has failed. The
Russian, Austrian, and Italian Governments have sent
no parties out for observation of this transit; but the
former have lent two heliometers to MM. Perrotin and
Tisserand, and an equatorial to Dr. Pechtle, who has
been sent to St. Thomas by the Danish Government.
Spain has sent two parties to the Havannah and Porto
Rico ; these are provided with instruments of the same
class as those of the British parties.
‘“« Many observers have noticed the phenomenon known
as the ‘black Crop,’ and in some cases a grayish light,
probably similar to that seen by Winthrop in observing
the transit of 1769 at Cambridge, U.S., the Ameri-
can observers appear to have specially looked for
traces of a satellite of the planet but could see none. A
very Curious phenomenon was seen by Prof. Langley and
others observing at the same station. When half the
planet was on the sun’s disc a small patch of light
appeared near the limb outside the sun; it extended for
about 30 deg. along the limb, and was totally distinct
from the luminous ring Seen surrounding the planet by
Prof. Langley and several other observers at different
places. Spectroscopic observations were taken at several
places in the United States; the spectrum showed some
strange lines, and a watery vapour was suspected in the
atmosphere of the planet. With regard to the observa-
tions made by M. Janssen at Oran, no details have been
received, but it would appear that they are likely to prove
of considerable value, and will add to our knowledge of
the physical condition of the planet.
“The phenomenon of the ‘ black drop’ takes place at
the contacts of the limb of Venus when the planet last
touches the sun’s edge at entry on, and first touches
when about to pass off, the disc ; it has been noticed by
some observers at all preceding transits which have been
observed, while others have noticed a brown or greyish
ligament joining the limbs of the sun and planet. The
atmosphere of Venus was remarked by Hirst, who ob-
served the transit of 1761 at Madras, and subsequently by
other observers. When part of the planet has entered on
or has moved off the sun, a ring of light has been seen
“surrounding Venus ; this arises from the reflection of the
solar light on the atmosphere surrounding the planet.
This ring of light was noticed during the transit of 1761,
and has been seen at all those of 1769, 1874, and on
Wednesday. The phenomenon observed by Prof. Langley
has not been observed at previous transits, and is probably
due to some local causes. This is the only phenomenon
mentioned in the accounts received which has not been
previously noticed.”
Under date December 12, Mr. Stone sends the following
to the 77es -—I have received the following telegram
from Mr. Plummer, at Bermuda :—‘Ingress well ob-
served. Egress observed amid clouds.” The telegram
probably indicates that the.observations at egress are
not of much value. The egress, however, appears to have
been better observed than the ingress at some of the
American stations, and there will be plenty of observations
of accelerated egress to balance the observations which
will be available of retarded egress for New Zealand and
Australia. Reports have now been received from all the
British stations except Madagascar. which is a most impor-
tant ingress station, and from Captain Wharton, H.M.S.
Sylvia. Captain Wharton has two good telescopes, and
will have established his party somewhere on the South
American coast, where he may, if the weather was favour-
able, have observed both the ingress and egress, but with
small factors of parallax. These observations, if secured,
would however be very valuable, as a check upon the
results obtained from the discussion of the observations
at stations where the time is largely affected by parallax.
We are not likely to hear any news of the Madagascar
expedition for some weeks. The British expeditions
have, on the whole, been most successful, and a valuable
result is assured.
Up to the present time the following additional details
have appeared in the Zzwzes as to the observation of the
transit at home and abroad. At home the meteorological
conditions were generally unfavourabie :—
At Greenwich Royal Observatory the Astronomer Royal
had made considerable preparations for observation, and
shortly before two o'clock the whole of the staff were at
their instruments, ready to take advantage of even a
break in the clouds ; but unfortunately the dense stratum
of cloud which lay beyond the occasional rapidly passing
patches of scud prevented even the sun’s position being
discerned. Arrangements were made for taking a num-
ber of photographs, a photoheliograph having been
specially erected to view the sun until it reached the
horizon. At the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, Mr. E.
J. Stone had{made considerable preparations for observa-
tion, but the sun was only visible for about five seconds,
when the planet was seen on the solar disc, well separated
from the limb. At Bath the haze which was prevalent
during the morning cleared away, and the transit was
visible till sunset. In South Wales the sky was clear
until shortly before sunset. At Penzance, Plymouth, and
Cork the sky was cloudless. Mr. J. Burns, at the Castle,
Wemyss Bay, observed the external contact at 2h. 6m.
38s., and internal contact at 2h. 20m. 32s. (Greenwich
mean time). The Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, at Penzance,
saw the transit from the time of contact to sunset ; the
black drop was clearly seen.
The astronomers at Potsdam succeeded in taking
good photographs of the transit. In France, no obser-
vation could be made. At Paris, Bordeaux, Grenoble,
Lyons, and Marseilles it was cloudy. MM. Thollon and
Gouz, in Portugal, could also take no observations. M.
Dumas received telegrams giving the main results of the
observations of the transit in Oran, Martinique, and
Mexico. In Martinique, M. Tisserand detected the first
contact of the planet and the sun, but unfortunately he
had scarcely commenced recording his observations when
a cloud came over and concealed the rest of the pheno-
menon. At Puebla, on the other hand, M. Bouquet dela
Grye had an unmixed success. The entire transit was
visible, and he was able to take observations for deter-
156
NATURE
[ Dec. 14, 1882
mining the parallax. He will now, of course, work out
these calculations, which promise to be amongst the most
important of all the observations. At Oran M. Janssen
was likewise favoured with sunshine. He was not com-
missioned by the Academy, but made spectroscopic ob-
servations on his own account. In this department he
seems to have admirably succeeded, having obtained
capital photographs 30 centimetres in size. He tele-
graphs that he has not only taken excellent photographs,
but that he has further been able to observe atmospheric
phenomena. As to Col. Perrier, who was posted in
Florida, the French Foreign Office have received a tele-
gram reporting full success, but giving no details.
telegrams from the missions in Patagonia, Chili, and
Port-au-Prince have as yet been received. In short, of the
results thus far known only observations in Mexico and
Florida for the calculation of parallax, and those of Oran
with the spectroscope seem to have been successful.
The transit was observed at many places in the United
States. Special observations were made at the Observa-
tory of the Central High School of Philadelphia by Pro-
fessors Snyder and Ritter.
Venus was crossing the sun’s disc.
The sky was cloudy
all day.
All four contacts were observed, and the last
two well observed. The weather was not so favourable |
for the observation of the first two. The planet was
seen off the disc at first, and in the fourth with a ring of
light frequently visible. While the exact time has not
yet been computed, it is known that the first two contacts
were in advance of the ephemeris. Prof. Snyder says
that just at or before the first contact the planet was pro-
jected on the chromosphere. The point where this
occurred was verified by a notch of the advancing planet.
As Venus approached the second contact a bright lumi-
nous horn darted out from the sun round the planet, but |
not encircling it, being only visible on one side. The
same thing was also visible at the third contact. Just
before the second contact the edge still off the sun was
illuminated by a most beautiful hazy ring of light, seem-
ing to havea sensible breadth. During the second con-
tact the ligament phenomenon was visible, but not so
_markedly as it was observed in the case of the transit of
Mercury in 1878. Just preceding and during the second
contact the atmosphere was hazy, but the phenomena
were well observed nevertheless. The weather at the
third contact was much better, and the ligament pheno-
No |
The weather was favourable, |
but clouds obscured the sun during part of the time that |
|
|
menon was not noticed, though a faint obscuration of |
the luminous line existed just before the geometrical
contact, the latter being well observed. After the third
contact the horn appearance again came, there being
several times noticed evidences of a ring of light. At
the last contact, and after the notch had disappeared,
the planet seemed to linger off the edge of the sun. The
Philadelphia observations ofall fourcontacts are considered
to have been successful. A snowstorm prevailed in Canada |
and the Northern portion of the United States, seriously
interfering with the observations elsewhere. But successful
views of at least part of the contacts are reported from
Ottawa, Albany, Howard University, near Boston; the
Naval Observatory, Washington ; and the Johns Hopkins |
University, Baltimore.
Prof. Sharpless, posted at Haverford College Observa-
tory, near Philadelphia, reports the Washington mean
time of the contacts as follows :—First contact, 9h. 56m. 5s.;
second contact, gh. 15m. 49s. ; third contact, 2h. 39m. 435.; |
fourth contact, 2h. 59m. 5Is.
At the Washington Naval Observatory the observers
slightly differ in the times recorded for the contacts. |
Prof. Frisby, who had a six-inch equatorial, reports that
the first contact occurred at 8h. 56m. 45s.; the second con-
tact at gh. 16m. 9s.; the third at 2h. 38m. 57s. ; the fourth
at 2h. 58m. 55s. Prof. Sampson, with a nine-inch equa-
torial, reports the first contact to have happened at
8h. 55m. 9s.; the second at gh. 16m. 19s. ; the third at
2h. 39m. 56s.; the fourth at 2h. 59m. 37s.; the time of
the fourth contact is somewhat uncertain, owing to the
prevalence of clouds. Washington mean time was used.
Fifty-three photographs were taken during the transit.
The professors report that their labours were generally
successful, and that if other stations were equally for-
tunate the result ought to be computed within two years.
Successful observations were made at Yale College,
Newhaven, and also by Professor Draper in New York,
who got good photographs. The French Astronomical
Commission succeeded, at St. Augustine, Florida, in
taking 200 photographs. Partially successful results were
obtained by the Belgian Commission at San Antonio, in
Texas, where 204 photographs were taken of the later
phases, the first two contacts being lost. Fully successful
observations were made at San Francisco, with 48 photo-
graphs ; and partly successful ones at Cedar Keys, Florida,
where the first contact was lost, while the other three
were well observed.
One hundred and eighty photographs were successfully
taken by the German Commission at Hartford, Con-
necticut. They failed to observe the first contact, but
afterwards got eight full sets of heliometric observations,
which made all they desired, and which they consider
very satisfactory. No trace of a satellite was visible.
Partly successful results were further obtained by the
Germans at Aiken, South Carolina, where they lost the
first two contacts, but got three sets of heliometric
measurements in the afternoon.
At the Harvard College .Observatory spectroscopic ob-
servation showed no perceptible absorp-ttion of the sun’s
light by the planet’s atmosphere.
Telegrams announce a complete success in New
Zealand, Panama, New Mexico, Jamaica, and some
parts of Australia. In New Zealand, England was re-
presented by Colonel Tupman and Li: utenant Coke, R.N.,
both observers in 1874. The observations of the transit
are described as very successful, and Colonel Tupman
expected that the observations for determination of the
longitude would be complete by Sunday last. The United
States party, under Mr. Edwin Smith, observed at Wel-
lington, and were successful in taking two hundred and
thirty-six photographs. Of the Australian stations per-
fectly successful observations were secured at Hobart
Town (Tasmania), Wentworth (New South Wales), and
in South Australia At Adelaide the transit was slightly
obscured by clouds, but no information to hand states
whether the contacts were observed or not. In Queens-
land no success was obtained: Mr. Russell at Sydney
arranged to provide about ten observers at lofty stations
| along the east coast ; heavy rain fell in Sydney and Gipps-
land, but it is probable that observations have been secured
by some of the observers, although no success was
obtained at the Sydney Observatory. At Melbourne ob-
servations were secured, and twenty-three photographs
taken. The Government of Victoria provided for two or
three stations respecting which no information has been
received, but judging from the state of the weather in
Melbourne, there is a probability of success. >
We have received the following communications on
this subject :—
IN a communication from the observatory of the Col-
legio Romano we are informed that the observations of
the transit at Rome were quite successful, although the
sky a few minutes before contact was cloudy. Signor
Tacchini observed the contacts with the grating spectro»
scope applied to a Merz refractor of 25 c., and M.
Milloseisch simply used a Cauchoix refractor of 15 c.
in the ordinary way. In the morning, Signor Tacchini,
Dec. 14, 1882 |
NAP RE
157
was able to make his usual spectroscopic observations on
the limb of the sun, and he saw that on that part of the
limb at which the first contact would take place, the
chromosphere was regular, but composed of very active
flames, and two protuberances bounded the section (¢7az/)
of the chromosphere, on which the planet might be
looked for before the first external contact. In fact,
Signor Tacchini, at 2h. 24m. 33°8s. mean Roman time,
saw the edge of the planet on the sharp points of the
chromospheric planes He continued to see very clearly
the planet advance towards the base of the chromosphere,
and he observed the first external contact at 2h. 48m.
5443s. Afterwar!s he watched the complete reappear-
ance of the chromosphere, and then he noted the first
internal contact at 3h. 9m. 34'79s. The image of the
chromosphere was always very well preserved, and the
size of the planet projected upon it always very clear.
Prof. Milloseisch observed the contacts at the follow-
ing times :—First external contact, 2h. 49m. 48"14s. ; first
internal contact, 3h. 9m. 29°34s., for the moment of the
appearance of the black drop, and 3h. tom. 10'14s. for
the moment of the disappearance of the drop. Between
the times noted by the two observers for the first con-
tact, the difference amounts to 94 seconds, which clearly
proves the great advantages of making use of the spectro-
scope. Shortly after the first contact, Prof. Milloseisch
perceived for the first time the presence of the planet's
atmosphere, verified by Signor Tacchini and his assistant.
Signor Tacchini even observed in the spectroscope the
phenomenon of absorption by that atmosphere, as in
Bengal in 1874, and even at Palermo something of the
same kind has been seen. MM. Tacchini and Milloseisch
did not see the entire planet before the first contact.
The atmosphere of the planet was more active near the
edge of the sun. Prof. Milloseisch estimates the height
of the atmosphere of Venus at one-fourteenth of the
planet’s diameter. Signor Tacchini found the diameter
of Venus to be equal to 67°25.
I HAD the advantage of seeing here yesterday the
transit of Venus, under exceptionally favourable circum-
stances, by means of a very simple and ingenious appa-
ratus fitted up by my cousin, Mr. J. Campbell, of Islay.
The image of the sun was thrown from a small telescope,
properly focussed, upon a large sheet of cardboard paper,
ina dark room. The size of this solar image was a little
more than two feet in diameter. Upon this image the solar
spots and some brilliant “‘facule” were very distinctly
visible. As the time approached, Mr. Campbell expected
that we might see the planet whilst yet some little distance
from the illuminated edge of the sun, owing to the atmo-
sphere of the planet catching and reflecting some solar
light before the apparent contact. I believe Mr. Camp-
bell had seen this on the occasion of the transit, in the
clearer atmosphere of Japan. Here, none of the party
could detect the planet before its disc began to impinge
on the edge of the sun. But when the planet’s disc had
advanced about one quarter of its own diameter upon the
solar image, then a faintly luminous ring was distinctly
seen defining the rest of the planet’s disc, in the dark-
ness out of which it was moving. For some time I was
incredulous as to this appearance ; but before one half of
the planet’s disc had crossed the illuminated edge of the
sun, the luminosity of the other side of that disc was too
distinct to be doubted, and the appearance was very
striking and beautiful- I may mention that the size of
the planet’s disc was, as nearly as possible, seven-tenths
of aninch. The time of contact was exactly 2.28 p.m.
Cannes, December 7 ARGYLL
AT th. 48m. 28s. Dunsink mean time, I first saw the
sun through an opening in the clouds. Venus was at
once seen (in the finder of three inches aperture attached
to the south equatorial), and was estimated to be about
one-third of the way on the sun. But the snow and
clouds again intervening, there was nothing more to be
seen until 2h, 37m. 19s., when I was enabled to commence
a series of micrometric measures with the large instru-
ment. I used a polarising eye-piece and a power of 177
with the Piston and Martin filar micrometer. The limb
of the sun was boiling furiously, and Venus was often of
any Shape but a circular disk. The measures were conse-
quently by no means easy. I set one wire tangentiaily
on the sun’s limb, and the other on that of Venus. Alto-
gether I was able to make sixteen of such sets, nine being
made with the limb of Venus nearest the sun’s centre
and the remainder with the other limb. The following
are the results :—
Dunsink mean time. Far limb of Venus. Near limb of Venus.
bss Sy 0 it
2 37 19 171 as cea —
39 24 177 os te 3S
40 42 185 — cae —
2 18 187 site sha --
44 13 I9I te nts —
45 20 190 BA ae _
46 22 198 tt me —
48 17 si 0 196 es a3 —
2 16 oe 8s _— 142
54 16 is tH — 149
55 36 ni os 215 —
58 17 = See _— 161
59 30 sic Ao — 164
30 46 ee AG — 161
I 41 ae Aa — 164.
2 51 tee ee — 170
These results have not been corrected for refraction.
I conclude from the mean of the first series that at 2h.
43m. 30s. the far limb of Venus was 188” from the limb
of the sun, while at 3h. om os. I conclude from the second
series that the near limb of Venus was 162” from the
sun. By a projection of the results it is easy to see that
the diameter of Venus must have been 64”.
My assistant, Mr. Rambant, was observing with the
small equatorial, which is 78 metres from where I was
observing. He reports as follows: ‘At th. 45m. the
clouds, which up to that time had obscured the sun,
cleared away, and I saw the planet with about one-half
of its disc projected on that of the sun, but a snow-shower
coming on almost immediately, I was unable to perceive
any trace of light rouud Venus, or even to follow its out-
line beyond the limb of the sun. By the time the snow
cleared away the internal contact was passed, and Venus
appeared at about twice of its own diameter from the
sun’s limb ; the sun’s light appeared of great brightness
right up to the dark disc of the planet except at the
northern limb, where I suspected a dark brown fringe,
but the boiling was such that I could not be certain of
this. R. S. BALL,
Astronomer Royal of Ireland
Dunsink Observatory, Dublin
THE transit of Venus was well seen at this observatory
owing to the unusually favourable state of the weather.
I observed it in the Markree refractor with an aperture
reduced to five inches. I did not meet with any diffi-
culties and saw no “black drop,’’ perhaps because I had
focussed the eyepiece on double stars the night before.
Owing to the boiling of the sun’s edge, I did not see
Venus till 1h. 27m. 38s., external contact having taken
place previous to this. I then measured the distance
between the cusps micrometrically, and from a provisional
reduction of these observations it appears that Venus was
bisected at 1h. 37m. 53s. The internal contact was first
noticed at th. 46m. 4os., when a fine line of light appeared
at the outer edge of Venus. At th. 47m. 58s. the cusps
158
NATURE
[ Dec. 14, 1882
met for an instant, but did not unite permanently till
th. 48m. 28s. (Markree mean time). Venus was visible
on the sun till sunset. I measured its semi-diameter
=—20 1,07, W. DOBERCK
Markree Observatory, December 7
THE ingress of Venus was observed at the Armagh
Observatory under very favourable circumstarces. I
employed the 15-inch reflector in the Newtonian form
with an unsilvered flat mirror and a negative eyepiece
(power 140) and glass wedge. With an aperture of eleven
inches the sun's limb was “boiling” considerably, so
that I missed the exact moment of external contact; but
having reduced the aperture to seven inches, the internal
contact was very well seen. At 1h. 49m. 31s. local M.T.
-the whole circumference of Venus could be seen; at
th. 54m. 49s. I saw a faint shade-like object between the
cusps, which broke at 1h. 55m. 24s., when a very thin
bright line separated Venus from the sky outside; 27s.
afterwards the interval was very conspicuous. Rev. Ch.
Faris, assistant astronomer, observed with the 4-inch
finder attached to the same instrument, and every care
was taken to make the two observations independent of
oneanother. He observed external contact at 1h. 35m. 34s.,
and saw the cusps meeting at th. 551. ros. without ob-
serving any disturbance of the limb. Good determina-
tions of time were obtained on the previous and following
evenings. J. L -ESDREVER
Armagh Observatory, December 9
THE all-important 6th of December, 1882, will long be
remembered by us in Lochaber, who had eagerly looked
forward to a sight of the transit of Venus. Our hopes
were realised to the full, and considering our somewhat
high latitude, we were privileged indeed. An account of
the meteorological conditions will be of introductory
interest. A barometric depression had two days previously
travelled down from the vicinity of the Faroe Islands,
bringing overcast weather and rain—very discouraging—
but the mercury rapidly rose in its rear on the night of
the 4th, light north-easterly winds set in, the sky cleared
on the 5th, and free radiation, and a hard frost followed
with charming winter weather. At 9 a.m. on the 6th the
barometer, corrected and reduced to 32°F. and mean
sea-level read 29°677, and was steady, dry bulb 27°3, iced
bulb 261, giving a vapour tension of ‘112, relative
humidity 76 per cent., and a dew point of 20°9. Light airs
were noted from north-east by east, and some pieces of
innocent-looking cumulus clouds were observed. Brown-
ing’s spectroscope, soon after 9 a.m., showed an entire
absence of rain-band to the left of the D line, in the
solar spectrum, but a broad telluric band stronger than
usual was observed on the right of D ; this, however, did
not much distress me. The meteorological conditions
generally continued much the same, the weather being
very fine. When the hour for the beginning of the transit
drew nigh, I repaired to a field adjacent, entirely open
to south-west, with telescope and sketching equipment.
Here an uninterrupted view of the sun could be obtained
The instrument employed has a clear aperture of 23
inches, object-glass of first quality by Dancer of Man-
chester, power used 70. A few clouds near the
sun about 1.53 caused anxiety, but they soon cleared
off, and a perfect and continuous view of the sun
was obtained. Two good watches and clock were set
to Greenwich mean time, obtained with all possible
accuracy from post-office signal in the morning. Consi-
dering the sun’s low altitude, the thick stratum of
atmosphere traversed by the oblique rays, tremors of the
air, and effects of atmospheric refraction, the phenomenon
of the ingress was well observed in the telescope. The
external contact, when the dark body of Venus just in-
dented the sun’s limb, south-east by south, took place at
2h. 3m. 15s. Greenwich mean time (see sketch No. 1), by
2h. 13m. os. the half of the planet was upon the sun;
sketch numbered here 2 (several others not now given
were taken) was made just before the internal contact ;
and at 2h. 22m. 4os. I noted the internal contact. At this
time (sketch No. 3) I observed the ligament joining the
edges of Venus and the sun, like the thread between two
drops of water when about to part, and the planet was
much in shape as an apple with the stem joining on to
the edge of the solar orb. At 2h. 23m. 47s. (sketch No. 4)
Venus was as a round black spot upon the sun, and clear
of his edge, and a narrow streak of light intervened. By
this time friends had gathered around, and as the chief
observations had been made they were enabled to take
turn at the instrument and watch the progress of the
planet in its course across the sun’s disc, until a mass of
cumulus cloud at 2.45 put a stop to observation. The
outline of Venus against the sun was very irregular
(sketch No. 5). Mr. Colin Livingston, of the public
schools, also observed the ingress independently, and we
agree to the very second that the internal contact took
place 19m. 25s. after the external contact. The sun's
f 2
&}
4
2ESM ISS 2420" 475 24 22" 405 25 237 475
5 6
Transit between
2.30 and 2.45.
Venus distorted shortty before
sunset, photosphere apparently
bisecting planet.
The Transit of Venus (Ingress) as observed by Clement L. Wragge.
photosphere by the way was almost wholly free from
spots. Just a stippling was observed a little west from
the centre, and a small disturbance was noted in perspec-
tive near the eastern limb—in marked contrast with the
great spot regions well observed here on November 16,
and now probably existing in the opposite hemisphere.
The sun’s edge was very uneven, as I have attempted to
show in the sketches. The highest temperature during
the day, it is worthy of mention, was only 309, and pres-
sure remained fairly steady at a mean of 29 670 at sea-
level. Views of the transit were again obtained before
sunset, but the intensity of refraction near the horizon so
distorted both the sun and Venus—the former being like
an egg in shape, and the latter at times as shown in sketch
No. 6—that I could but wistfully watch them go down
together on a gorgeous sky behind the snow-clad heights
of Beinn na Cille, envy our cousins in the west their sight
of the egress, and wonder under what strange circum-
stances the next transit will be observed in the year of
our Lord, 2004. CLEMENT LINDLEY WRAGGE
Fort William, December 10
THIS rare phenomenon was well observed here on the
6th inst. The few clouds which partially hid the sun
during the first stages of the transit, only served a useful
purpose in moderating the sun’s brilliancy. At about
2 p.m. a dark indentation was observed on thejsouth-east
margin of the sun’s limb, and it was evident the pheno-
menon had commenced. A few minutes later this
indentation had developed into a semicircular notch, and
at about 2.21 p.m. the black and now complete;circle of
Venus had fully entered upon the solar disc. It was
very large and conspicuous, and its effect, even as ob-
served in small telescopes, was very striking. The opaque
and well-defined globe of the planet was projected with
remarkable boldness upon the sun’s bright photosphere.
Protecting the naked eye with deeply tinted glass, the
planet was very plainly seen; indeed, the dark spot was
thus clearly distinguishable before it had entered fully
ee
Dec. 14, 1882 |
NATURE
159
upon the sun, and while it had notched the disc. The
planet appeared to be surrounded by an annulus of
reddish hue, and over the central parts there was diffused
a patch of faint light. The region of the disc just within
the margin was very black. These effects may, however,
have been purely telescopic. I used a reflector of 4-inch
aperture, with which the definition was not all that could
be desired. There were very few of the ordinary sun-spots
visible. A small irregular group lay slightly to the south-
west of the centre, and another with much feculz, near
the eastern limit, but they were of very insignificant cha-
racter, and not at all comparable to some of the fine spots
which have been recently visible on the solar surface.
To an observer accustomed to the appearance of these
objects, the view of Venus now in transit must have been
of extreme interest, and he could not fail to be struck
with the marked difference between the black circular
disc of the planet, and the more irregular and far less
intense forms of the ordinary sun spots. As the transit
progressed, the sky continued clear, so that it could be
watched until near sunset, but the telescopic view be-
came less effective, owing to increasing atmospheric un-
dulation, which, as usual with objects at low altitudes,
greatly impaired the definition. W. F. DENNING
Bristol, December 9
SOME parts of the transit were well seen here. I used
a 34 Merz refractor, power 60. The external contact was
excellently seen. I watched for those peculiar pheno-
mena (black drop, &c.) which have created so much
interest, but was able to see nothing of them. At the
moment of external contact, I had the point of impact in
the centre of my field, and the planet indented the edge
of the sun with a black and perfectly circular segment,
disturbed only by the ‘‘ boiling” appearance characteristic
of the solar edge. I watched the planet advance upon
the sun to within, I guess, a few seconds of internal con-
tact, when unfortunately the sun became obscured by a
small cloud. At the time of observation, so near was
internal contact, that I could every now and then see the
boiling appearance of the solar edge peeping out from
behind the black edge of the planet ; but no other dis-
tortion of the planetary or solar edge was observable,
except what arose from the “ boiling’ appearance
referred to. D. TRAILL
Raleigh Lodge, Exmouth, December 7
THE transit of Venus was perfectly seen here yesterday.
The sky was overcast quarter of an hour before, but the
first and second contacts took place on a clear disk, and
the first was almost instantly apparent with a hand glass.
The sky remained clear till considerably past three.
Considering the total failure in London and Paris, one
could wish that some trained observers had selected our
south coast. HENRY CECIL
Bregner, Bournemouth, December 7
P.S. As a consequence of popular ideas and anticipa-
tions as to celestial phenomena having got “a little
mixed ” lately, my gardener asked me this morning “ zf J
saw the star fall into the sun yesterday.” —H. C.
THE transit was seen here to great advantage, the day
being exceptionally fine, the sun shining brightly from
about 9°30 till sunset, with the exception of a few passing
clouds at noon, and one small cloud obscuring the sun
from 2.30 to 2.35 p.m. According to the times and posi-
tions of the sun and planet, given in the Maztéical
Almanack, 1 had made a diagram as correct as I could of
the sun with the path of Venus across his disc; but if I
had relied entirely upon the diagram I should have
missed the place of external contact, as I found after-
wards I had drawn the position of Venus considerably
too high. To make sure of my object I depressed the
telescope so as to keep as much of the sun as possible
out of the field of view, and only allowing a portion of
his limb to appear, and at 2h. 3m. 11s. I picked up Venus
depicted against the sky, and just coming in contact with
the sun’s limb. Her disc appeared a trifle paler than the
background, and was surrounded with a very thin circle
of light which appeared a little wider on that side
furthest from the sun. It was this light which attracted
my attention, and enabled me to identify the planet. At
2h. 3m. 20s. the first zowch of Venus upon the sun’s limb
took place. I now watched with much interest to see if
it was possible to detect signs of an atmosphere to Venus
—changing the eye-pieces. Sometimes I thought there
were visible signs of it, but I would not say decidedly
that it was so. I noted with some surprise that the
planet appeared much smaller upon the sun than it did
immediately previous to contact. At 2h. 23m. 31s. in-
ternal contact took place. The planet appeared to pass
clear off and away from the sun’s limb, without showing
the least sign of a “‘black drop,” or any appearance of
a lingering connection between her limb and that of the
sun. The telescope used is an equatorial with driving-
clock, silvered glass reflector 8}-inch diameter and 7
feet focal length; eye-pieces ranging from 30 to 170
of magnifying power. I took three photographs between
2h. 35m. and 2.45, but the spring of my instantaneous
shutter did not act as it should, and therefore the photo-
graphs are not so good as I could wish, but Venus can be
readily seen upon the sun’s image in the negative.
Silverton, Devon, December 9 R. LANGDON
NOTES
THE following are the probable arrangements for the Friday
evening meetings before Easter, 1883, at the Royal Institution :—
January 19, R. Bosworth Smith, M.A., The Early Life of Lord
Lawrence in India ; January 26, George J. Romanes, F.R.S.,
Recent Work on Starfishes; February 2, Sir William Thomson,
F.R.S., The Size of Atoms ; February 9, Moncure D. Conway,
M.A., Emerson and his Views of Nature; February 16, Prof.
William C, Williamson, F.R.S., Some of the Anomalous Forms
of Primzeval Vegetation ; February 23, Walter H. Pollock, M.A.,
Sir Francis Drake; March 2, C. Vernon Boys, A.R.S.M.,
Meters for Power and Electricity; March 9, Prof. George D.
Liveing, F.R.S., The Ultra-Violet Spectra of the Elements ;
March 16, Prof. Tyndall, F.R.S.
Mr. H. O. Forses, on his return to Amboina from his first
visit to Timor-laut, writes as follows :—‘‘ Extended movements
were impossible, so that my botanical collections are not very
extensive, but the ornithological and anthropological parts are
very good. Iam now engaged in packing them up for despatch,
and hope to send them off soon. My intention is to return to
Timor-laut in a few days, if my health will permit, by the
Government steamer which leaves for the Tenimber Islands. I
shall settle in some more quiet spot than Ritabel. A full report
on this interesting country shall be sent by next mail. One of
the singular facts I observed is the immense herds of wild buffalo
existing on the mainland of the island. They must have, of
course been introduced, but by whom, and how long ago, is an
interesting question. I wa; unable to get a specimen unfor-
tunately. My wife, who accompanied me, aided me greatly, so
that when I was down with fever (and the fever is of extreme
severity) the work was still able to go on.” Mr. Forbes’ collec-
tions will be consigned to the Committee of the British Associa-
tion for the exploration of Timor-laut, as arranged when the
expedition was determined on.
Tue Accademia delle Scienze dell’ Istituto di Bologna has
lately announced that a gold medal of the value of 1000 lire (say
40/.) will be presented ‘‘to the author of that memoir which,
proceeding on sure data either of Chemistry or of Physics, or of
Applied Mechanics, will indicate new and efficacious practical
systems, or new apparatus for the prevention, or extinction of
fires.”” Memoirs must be written in Italian, Latin, or French,
160
and sent in (in MS. or printed form, and in the usual anonymous
way) before May 30, 1884.
ANOTHER well-known naturalist has passed away. Prof.
Andrea Aradas, of Catania, died on November 1 last, after a
long and laborious life, which was devoted to the study of
marine zoology and paleontology. His publications were very
numerous, and extended over nearly forty years. He was a man
of great amiability as well as learning.
THE death is announced of Sir Thomas Watson, M.D., F.R.S.,
the eminent physician, at the age of ninety years.
On Monday evening the annual dinner of the Professors and
Members of the Royal School of Mines was held in the Victoria
Room of the Criterion, Piccadilly. Mr. E. L. J. Ridsdale, late
of the Royal Mint, presided. It was announced that Major-
General Martin was about to retire, owing to ill-health.
Prof. Huxley made a long and inteiesting speech, in the
course of which he recalled the personal characteristics of the
professors who filled the chairs at the school. Prof. Judd
proposed ‘‘The Geological Survey,” to which Dr. A. Geikie
responded.
ProF, KENNEDY has issued invitations for an inspection of
the experimental engine and other apparatus just completed at
the Engineering Laboratory, University College, London.
Prof. Kennedy draws attention to the fact that the laboratory
was the first of its kind established in England, and was at the
time of its establishment an entirely new departure in technical
education in this country. Since that time (1878), its principle
has been more or less formally adopted by all the recently-esta-
blished technical colleges. A very large number of the leading
engineers of the country have also formally expressed their
approval of the scheme, which, too, came in considerable detail
before the present Royal Commission on Technical Education.
The additions now just finished to the Laboratory render it
already probably the most complete of its kind in Europe.
A RECENT writer in the Chia Review exemplifies the diffi-
culties surrounding interpretation from Chinese into English, or
vice versa, by mentioning that the simple question, Was he (or
she) dead? which occurs so frequently in inquests and other
judical proceedings, admits of a positive or negative reply ac-
cording to whether the European or the Chinese idea as to when
death occurs be followed. We believe that a man is dead when
he has ceased to breathe, and when his blood no longer circu-
lates ; the Chinese consider him still alive whilst a trace of
warmth lingers in the body. The two estimates may thus differ
by several hours. Hence it was that in inquests in Hongkong
the time of death formed a stumbling-block in almost every
Chinese case. The medical evidence would show that the
deceased must have been dead when brought to the hospital,
while the relatives would swear he was alive at the gate. Sub-
sequent inquiry showed that the general view among the Chinese
was that a person is considered to be dead when the body is
cold, and not before. It does not speak very well for the
Chinese scholarship of the officials of Hongkong that it took
about forty years to discover this important distinction.
AN aurora was seen in Belgium on October 2, and one feature
of it was (according to M. Montigny) the formation of a broad
luminous are extending across the sky from east to west, and
passing a little to the south of the zenith. After a little time it
broke up and gradually disappeared. M. Montigny observed
the stars during this aurora, and found his former conclusions
{as to increased scintillation during auroras greater in winter,
and in the northern region, and towards the zenith, &c.)
confirmed, He notes, however, an interesting new phenomenon
NATURE
[ Dec. 14, 1882
of scintillation, For more than a year, when a magnetic
perturbation has been observed to occur at Brussels Observatory,
he has very often observed a simultaneous sudden increase in the
scintillation, No auroral phenomena were reported at those
times, as during aurora the increase is more marked for the
north and west, and the circular line in the scintillometer
becomes irregular. M. Montigny is prosecuting his study of the
phenomena,
IN the same Aulletin of the Belgian Academy, with M. Mon-
tigny’s paper (November 9-10) is a full description, by M.
Tarby, of the aurora of October 2, as observed at Louvain.
Besides the luminous arc referred to above (which moved
towards the south), he notes that the aurora had not the pro-
nounced red tint characteristic of large phenomena of this class ;
white streamers coastantly predominated. The successive dis-
placement of the manifestations was from east to west, by north,
a direction presented in certain previous auroras (which he speci-
fies) ; while the opposite direction was observed in others. M.
Tarby tabulates several years’ observations of aurora in Belgium,
and finds striking confirmation of an observation of M. Quete-
let’s in 1870, that auroras (through some unknown periodic
influence) tend to appear at about monthly intervals,
In the pile-dwellings near Bobenhausen (Ziirich), a hatchet
made of pure copper has been discovered. Special importance
is attached to this discovery by students of prehistoric archzeo-
logy.
‘THE fourth edition of the Micrographic Dictionary is now
more than two-thirds completed. The book will always be an
indispensable work of reference to the student of the lower
forms of animal and vegetable life. Very little attempt appears,
however, to have been made by the editors to keep pace with
the advance of biological science during the eight years that have
elapsed since the publication of the last edition ; notwithstanding
the number of new forms that have been discovered during that
period, the work so far occupies rather less space than before.
In order to test the extent to which recent knowledge has been
incorporated, we turned to two or three of the cryptogamic
articles. Under ‘‘ Fungi,” we find it still stated that ‘‘the
| structure of all fungi exhibits a well-defined separation into two
parts, namely: (1) a mycelium... and (2) the reproductive
structure, or fruit” ; and this although Schizomycetes are yiven
as one of the groups of fungi; while the classification of
“‘Fungi” into ‘“‘I. Schizomycetes; II. Phycomycetes ; III.
Hypodermiz ; IV. Basidiomycetes ; V. Ascomycetes ; and VI.
Myxomycetes” is stated to be ‘‘that of Sachs (!) slightly modi-
fied.” Under ‘‘ Lichens,” the theory of the symbiosis of algz
and fungi is dismissed in a few sentences, without adducing any
of the evidence in its favour, as ‘‘one of the modern natural-
history romances.’’ A new paragraph appears under the head
“* Gongrosira,” which is described as a genus of Cheetophoracez,
without any reference to its genetic connection with Vaucheria.
These and similar deficiencies suggest the question how far the
text can have been revised by the eminent cryptogamist whose
name still appears on the title-page.
THE concluding volume of the new edition of ‘‘ The
Imperial Dictionary,’’ edited by Mr. C. Annandale, has been
issued with praiseworthy promptitude by Messrs. Blackie and
Son. In a supplement Mr. Annandale has added a consi-
derable number of words omitted from their places in the body
of the work, including not a few scientific terms. In the
Appendix are copious lists of classical, scriptural, and geo-
graphical names, foreign words and phrases. In the preface the
editor explains his method, which we think rational and judicious,
and which has led to an excellent result, The list of authors
consulted for quotations contains abou 2000 names,
* 7 .
; a
a
Dec. 14, 1882 |
NATURE
161
THE French official paper publishes an avrété from the Minister
of Public Works requiring that all trains be furnished with
continuous brakes, and if po sible automatic.
THE inundation of the Seine, which had reached a level of
about 64 metres above the summer season, and has caused many
disasters, has terminated abruptly by the cold weather which has
set in with the new moon.
Ar the last meeting of the St Petersburg Society of Natu-
ralists, M. Beketoff reported that the expedition for the explora-
tion of the Altai sent out during last summer was very successful,
MM. Sokoloff, Polenoff, Nikolskiy, and Krasnoff have returned
with very rich botanical, zoological, mineralogical, and geological
collections. He added also that the appeal of the Society for
botanical collections (addressing them to the St. Petersburg
University) had been responded to. No less than eighteen very
good collections had been received, among which one by the
scholars of all Realschulen of ,Western Siberia merits special
attention.
Ir is worthy of note that snow fell on Sunday in Madrid to
the depth of one foot. It is said that no such weather has been
experienced in the Spanish capital for twenty years.
THE diaries, pocket-books, cards, and the other useful and
beautiful things issued by Messrs. De La Rue for the coming
year are in all respects equal to those of which we were able to
speak so highly last year. It would be difficult to imagine any-
thing more beautiful of their kind than the cards, and what with
Japanese beauties, flowers, birds, and insects, they might be
utilised for giving the young ones a liking for natural history.
The astronomical and other useful information contained in the
diaries is as full and accurate as ever, and adds greatly to their
value in our eyes.
AMONG the articles in the Companion to the British Almanac
for 1883 are ‘‘ Halley’s Comet,” by Mr. W. T. Lynn; “Modern
Fish Culture” and “Fishery Exhibitions,” by Mr. J. G,
Bertram ; ‘‘ Insects Injurious to Agriculture,” by Mr. W. E. A.
Axon; ‘‘Electric Lighting,” by Mr. L. T. Thorne; ‘‘ The
British Museum,” by Mr. Charles Makeson ; and a brief sketch
of the Science of the Year, by Mr. J. F. Iselin.
HARTLEBEN, of Vienna, has sent us a catalogue of German
works, some of which might commend themselves to those who
may wish to entice their young friends to the study of German.
A GERMAN translation is announced: of Dr. Ingvald Undset’s
** Study in Comparative Prehistoric Archeology” ; Meissner, of
Hamburg, is the publisher, and the last number (23) of Globus
contains an abstract of Dr. Undset’s researches into the first
appearance of iron in Northern Europe.
THE last number (vol. xvii. part 1) of the Yournal of the
North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society contains a
short article by Dr. Guppy, R.N., on the Geology of the Neigh-
bourhood of Nagasaki, and a few notes on the South Coast of
Saghalin, by Mr. Anderson. The principal paper, occupying
180 pages, is on Annam and its Minor Currency, by M. Toda,
Besides the portion devoted to numismatics, the author gives a
short historical and geographical account of Annam, which
should be valuable at the present time, when public attention is
being strongly drawn by political events to these regions. Of
the remaining papers, one, by Mr. Giles, discusses Chinese
Composition ; the other, by Dr. Hirth, describes a manuscript
work written at the end of the last century, referring to the
manner in which the Customs dues on foreign goods were then
levied at Canton. It is called the ‘‘ Hoppo” book, ‘‘ Hoppo”
being the title popularly given, even now, by foreigners to the
principal native chief, or commissioner, of Customs at Canton,
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Bonnet Monkey (MZacacus radiatus ? ) from
India, presented by Mr. W. Percy Laing ; a Black-headed Lemur
(Lemur brunneus 6), a Black Lemur (Lemur macaco 2?) from
Madagascar, presented by the I Company 3rd Battalion King’s
Royal Rifles; two Leopards (Felis pardus 6 2) from India,
presented by Lady Bras:ey; a North African Jackal (Cavzis
anthus) from Tunis, presented by Capt. W. F. Wardroper ; two
Mexican Sousliks (Spermophilus mexicanus 3 ?) from Mexico,
presented by Mrs. Simmonds ; a Great Kagle Owl (Budo maxi-
mus), European, presented by Mr, R, Leigh Pemberton; a
Martinique Waterhen (Porphyrio martinicus) from Venezuela,
presented by Mr. F. L. Davis; a Common Squirrel (Scizrus
vulgaris), British, presented by the Hon. L. W. H. Powys ; two
Raccoon-like Dogs (Vycterentes procynides) from North-Eastern
Asia, purchased.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
CoMEr 1882 6.—A number of very beautiful photographs of
the great comet have been received from Mr. Gill during the
past week. Several of them are remarkable for the amount of
delicate detail that is brought out. Mr. Gill writes: ‘‘ These
photographs are interesting, not only as pictures of the comet,
but they appear to me to show the possibility of making, with
very little labour, a photographic Durchmusterung of the hea-
venus.” One of them taken on November 8 was exposed two
hours, and shows all the 8th magnitude stars and the curious
envelope extending 4° or 5° beyond the nucleus. This envelope
was barely visible eitber to the naked eye or in the telescope.
Both Mr. Gill and Dr. Elkin had made a careful search for
the cometary body seen within a few degrees from the nucleus of
the great comet, by Prof, Julius Schmidt at Athens.
We have more than once pointed out that calculations based
upon such observations as were available here at the time of
writing, indicated sensible disturbance of the comet’s motion at
the perikelion passage. It is right, therefore, that we should
state at once that this inference is hardly countenanced by calcu-
lations made by Mr. Finlay and Dr. Elkin at the Cape, who
have had the advantage of more numerous, and probably in
general more accurate and uniform series of observations. Mr.
Gill writes: ‘‘ The great comet is a puzzle. The whole question
of its orbit now turns on which point of its nucleus should be
observed. So long as the nucleus was single, z.e. from Septem-
ber 8 to September 28, Dr. Elkin has been able to represent its
motion by parabolic elements within 3” of observation. But
after September 28 matters change; the head begins to break
up. What we took for the principal nucleus is no longer the
centre of gravity. Finlay and Elkin’s original elements are now
nearly 2’ out. Elkin’s subsequent elements founded on observa-
tions September 8 to 28, give a place corresponding nearly with
the end of the elongated nucleus (about 14’ long) furthest from
the head. Now (November 21) the nucleus is getting very ill-
defined. We have done the best we can in the matter, and
shall continue the best observations we can, as long as the comet
is visible.”
Comet 1882 ¢(Barnard, September 10).—From an approxi-
mate orbit calculated by Mr. Hind, and communicated to Mr.
Gill at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, which
reached him on November 11, this comet was found the same
evening, and was observed on the meridian on several days up
to November 19. The first position from a lower transit is as
follows :-—
R.A. Decl.
Noy. II 12h. 53m. 21s.°74 —65° 57’ 28'°3
Mr. Gill’s observations will allow of a much better determina-
tion of the orbit of this comet, than could have been made from
the European observations alone; the comet arrived at peri-
helion on November 13.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Mr. JOSEPH THOMSON sailed yesterday for Zanzibar as leader
of the Geographical Society's Expedition to Mount Kenia and
the East Coast of the Victoria Nyanza. Mr. Thomson expects
to be away for two years.
162
THE new number of the Deutsche Geographische Blatter con-
tinues the interesting account by Dr. Arthur Krause of the
researches of himself and his brother in the Chukchi peninsula
and Alaska; there is, besides, a separate catalogue of the ethno-
logical collections, and a short paper by Dr. Kuntz of the plants
collected. The number contains a useful paper on South New
Guinea from the observations of D’Albertis, Moresby, Mac-
farlane, and others. Inthe Zed¢schrift of the Berlin Geographical
Society are several papers of interest. Major Lovemann gives
the leading results of the new survey of Russia, which is being
carried out ; Dr, Hann examines the data cf Dr. Rholt’s for the
altitudes in the oasis of Kufra; Herr G. A. Krause gives some
account of the Saharan town of Chat, which is followed by an
abstract of the census of Bulgaria ; and a preliminary account of
Prof. Haussnecht’s Oriental travels. Dr. W. Gotz contributes a
valuable paper on asubject which is taking great prominence in
Germany—commercial Geography, while Dr. Reiss contributes
an analysis of recent researches in some tributaries of the
Amazon, Inthe December number of the Deutsche Rundschau
for geography and statistics (Vienna, Hartleben), we have the
conclusion of Baron von Lehnest’s paper on his Land Forma-
tions in the Lunda region, the first of a series of pictures from
East Africa, by Karl Berghoff ; ashort paper on the distribution
of islands, and a biography of Mr. A. R. Wallace, with a good
portrait. The number contains many other short papers and
notes.
THE new quarterly number of the Bu//etin of the Paris Geo-
graphical Society reports at length several important papers :
Commander Gallieni gives an account of his mission to the
Upper Niger and Segou, with a map and several intere-ting
illustrations, some of which show curious formations, suggesting
the buttes of some of the North American rivers. M.
d’Abbadie has a useful paper on the spelling of foreign words ;
M. Jules Garnier an account of his excursion to the country of
the Don Co:sacks; M. M. Biollay, a paper on Finland; M.
Dutreuil de Rhins, on Pere Creuse’s journeys to Southern China ;
M. Romanet du Caillaud, notes on the Ting-King; and M.
Theodore Ber the fir-t part of an elaborate paper on the
Titicacon valley of Tiahuanaco.
THE December number of Petermann's Mittheilungen con-
tains some supplementary information by Dr. Junker on his
Welle explorations, in addition to the letters already referred to.
Herr R. A. Hehl contributes a geographico-geological sketch
of the Brazilian coast-lands between 20° and 23° S. lat. Along
with the chief results of the Hungarian Census is an excellent
series of statistical maps showing the various aspects of the
figures. Signor P. Gialussi contributes an interesting paper on
the changes which have resulted from recent geological action in
an Istrian valley, while Herr Hehl gives a detailed account of
the German colonies in South Brazil.
Tue Carpathian Club, which was formed at Hermannstadt
(Transylvania) after the pattern of the Alpine Club in 1880,
having for its object the study and minute investigation of the
mountains of the country, as well as the endeavour to direct the
attention of tourists tu that region, already numbers no less than
1200 members. Itis divided into nine sections. Quite recently
the second year-book of the Club appeared, which contains a
number of valuaole scientific papers, as well as descriptions of
tours in the Carpathian Mountains.
SCHWEIGER-LERCHENFELD’S interesting work ‘‘ Die Adria,’
has just been completed in twenty-five parts, and published by
Hertleben of Vienna. The fact that the eastern coasts of the
Adriatic are so little known by the general traveller, renders the
book valuable. In an appendix the commerce of the Adriatic,
as well as the fisheries, are spoken of, and an excellent map is
added to the work.
THE ROYAL SOCIETY
UIA
THE subject of the Circumpolar Observations mentioned in
my address last year, was since that time brought more
formally before our Government by that of Russia. At the
7 Address of the President, William Spottiswoode, D.C.L., LL.D.,
delivered at the Anniversary Meeting, November 30, 1882. Con‘inued from
p. 137.
NATURE
; not exceed 2,500/.
[ Dec. 14, 1882
request of the Treasury, the President and Council, after con-
sultation with the Meteorological Office, advised as follows :—
“The object of the undertaking is to throw light on the
influence of the great inaccessible region surrounding the pole on
the meteorology and magnetism of the earth. With this view
it is proposed to take simultaneous observations at a chain of
circumpolar stations for a full year at least.
‘*A chain of not less than eight stations will be occupied
independently of any co-operation by this country. This chain,
however, leaves a gap of go° in longitude in the northern part of
America, the centre of which would be advantageously occupied
by a station in the Dominion of Canada. The value of the
results will be greatly enhanced by the addition of this link to
the chain. Independently of this, such a station would be of
great value as being of a continental character, in contrast with
the other stations, which are in close proximity to the coast. By
choosing for the station one of the forts of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, no great outlay need be involved in its occupation.”
The point first proposed was Fort Good Hope, near the mouth
of the Mackenzie River ; but it was found too late to erect the
necessary huts and to transport the party and its provisions there
during the present season. Fort Simpson, on the same river,
was next suggested. Guided by considerations of facilities of
access and sustentation, the Committee came to the conclusion
that either Fort Rae or Fort Providence, on Great Slave Lake,
is to be preferred to Fort Simpson, with which the former forts
nearly agree in latitude; and accordingly the President and
Council recommended one of these.
“Tn framing an estimate, it was thought well to assume that
the expedition might last a year and eight months, so as to allow
a sufficient margin for travelling to and from the station, and for
possible detention in waiting for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
brigade. It is calculated that the cost might be safely estimated
at 3,000’., which would include salaries of one officer and three
men ; journey of the party from England and back, including
reasonable baggage ; rations, allowances, and al] other expenses.”
To this communication the following reply was received :—
“* My Lords have to thank you, and the Committee whom the
Council appointed to advise them in the matter, for the valuable
information contained in Dr, Michael Foster’s letter of the 16th
ultimo, Acting upon that information and upon the advice of
the Royal Scciety, Her Majesty’s Government have decided that
this is an object on which public money may properly be employed
and they are prepared to ask Parliament to provide a total sum
not exceeding 2,500/. for the purpose. My Lords understand
that there is good reason to hope that the balance required to
make up the total estimated cost of 3,000/. will be forthcoming
from other sources.
**T am to ask whether the Royal Society would be so good as
to take charge of the Expedition under similar conditions to
those under which the Transit of Venus Expedition is being con-
ducted ; accounts of the expenditure chargeable to the Parlia-
mentary grant being rendered to this Department. The choice
of stations, the appointment of observers, and the methods of
procedure would be left entirely to the Society, subject to the
condition that the total amount chargeable on public funds does
My Lords understand that it is expected that
not more than 1,500/. of this amount would come in course of
payment during the present year, and they will present e-timates
to Parliament for 1,500/. and 1,000/. at the proper times.”
The Canadian Government has since promised a contribution
of 4,000 dollars towards the expenses of the expedition.
A committee, consisting of the President, Dr. Rae, Sir George
Richards, Mr. R. H. Scott, and Prof. Stokes, was accordingly
appointed to superintend the expedition, which, comprising
Captain H. P. Dawson, R.A., in command, Sergeants J.
English and F. Cookesley as observers, and W. Wedenby, as
artificer, left England on May 11, for Quebec, was heard of at
Fort Carlton on 27th June, and was about to proceed the next
day for Green Lake, on the way to Portage Loche. It was still
not quite certain whether it might not be necessary to push on to
Fort Simpson, on account of insufficient accommodation, as well
as lack of time and materials for building at Fort Rae.
Two parts of Mittheilung:n der Jnternationalen Polar Com-
mission haye been published, containing full particulars and
instructions relating to the whole circumpolar scheme.
The geological, mineralogical, and botanical collections,
formerly in the Museum in Bloomsbury, have been properly
arranged in the new building in Cromwell Road, and are on
exhibition in their respective galleries. A commencement has
Dec. 14, 1832]
NATURE
163
been made in the transfer of the zoological collections. The
osteological specimens, hitherto packed out of sight in an
obscure vault in the basement of the old Museum, have been
safely removed to the new building, and are now exhibited in a
large and well lighted gallery. The collection of shells, which
occupied the floor space of the long eastern gallery in Blooms-
bury, is now suitably exhibited at South Kensington. Some of
the corals have been removed, in order to clear the way for the
removal of other specimens; and many of the stuffed quad-
rupeds and mammalian skins which had been stowed away in
the old Museum b sement are now in the new repository.
The removal of the general collection of mammalia, of the
birds, of the entomological specimens, and those of British
zoology, will not be undertaken until after the coming winter.
The fittings for the galleries prepared for them are not fully
completed. The detached building designed for the specimens
preserved in spirit cannot be made ready for their reception
before the opening of next spring. It is, however, expected that
the whole of the zoological collections will have been transferred
to the new Museum by the end of June, 1883.
The subject of Technical Education has continued to be pro-
minently under the notice of the country during the past year.
‘The appointment of a Royal Commission on Technical Instruction,
to which I have previously referred, has done much towards
awakening the interest of manufacturers, and exciting curiosity
in regard to the efforis that are being made abroad to improve
the education of artizans. The Commissioners issued in March
last their first Report, which dealt exclusively with primary
education and apprenticeship schools. The Commissioners
expressed an opinion adverse to the establishment of apprentice-
ship schools in this country ; and in this view they are supported
by nearly all our large manufacturers, and by the action of the
City and Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement cf
Technical Education, At the request of the Executive Com-
mittee, I myself gave evidence before the Commission, explaining
generally the objects of the City Guilds and Institute and
describing the progress already made towards their attainment.
As a member of the Executive Committee of this Institute, I
have watched its progress with interest, and have observed with
satisfaction that its scheme of Technical Instruction is being
gradually matured. The general Examinations in Technology
undertaken by this Institute, were held in May last at 147 centres
in 37 subjects. Of the 1,972 candidates who presented them-
selves for examination, 235 passed in Honours, and 987 in the
Ordinary Grade. In 1881, 895 candidates passed, showing an
increase of 307. The Examinations were held this year for the
first time under the revised Regulations, which appear to have
worked very satisfactorily. Two points deserve notice with
respect to these Examinations. In the first place, the Institute
experiences very great difficulty in obtaining properly qualified
teachers. The applicants are either practical men working in the
factory, or at their trade with no scientific knowledge whatever,
or men possessing a very elementary science knowledge, and
little or no practical acquaintance with the details of the industry,
the technology of which they profess to understand. In order
to indicate the kind of qualifications required in an ordinary
technical teacher, the Institute has inserted in its programme a
paragraph to the effect that persons who are engaged in teaching
science under the Science and Art Department, a:.d who at the
same time have acquired a practical knowledge of their subject in
the factory or workshop, may be registered as teachers of the
Institute. The second point calling for consideration is the fact
referred to in the Report of the Directors,—that of the 1,220
candidates who, this year, passed the examinations, most of
whom are workmen or foremen in various branches of industry,
not more than 450 are qualified to receive the full Technological
Certificate, by having previously passed the examinations of the
Science and Art Department in certain science subjects. This
fact clearly indicates that widely beneficial as has been the
action of this Department of State, there is still a large field for
its influence among the population who are engaged in manu-
facturing processes, and desire to receive Technical Instruction.
One of the most satisfactory results of the Examinations of
the City and Guilds of London Institute is the impulse they have
given to the establishment, in different parts of the country, of
properly equipped technical schools. At Manchester, Preston,
Dewsbury, Hawick, Sheffield, Leicester, and other places, efforts
have been made during this year towards organising schools for
the technical instruction of artizans and others in the application
of science and art to specific industr.es. At Nottingham, a
grant of 500/. has been made by the Institute, to be followed by
an annual contribution for a limited period of 300/., towards the
establishment of technical classes in connection with the
University College ; and at Manchester a subscription of 200/. a
year has been promised to assist the funds now being raised for
the conversion of the Mechanics’ Institution into a Technical
Sch ol. The attention of the Couucil has been greatly occupied
of late with arrangements for the opening of the Finsbury
College. Classes in Electrical Engineering and in Technical
Chemistry, have been carried on for nearly three years in
temporary rooms belonging to the Cowper Street Schools. The
attendance at these classes has been eminently satisfactory, much
more so than could have been anticipated. During the past
session 960 class tickets were sold at fees varying from 5s. to 12s.
The staff of the College has recently been doubled by the
appointment cf a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and a
Head Master to the new Department of Applied Art, the
establishment of which, as I stated last year, was then under
the consideration of the Committee. In January next, it is
anticipated that the new building in Tabernacle Row, which is
already nearly completed, will be opened for the reception of
students. The programme of instruction, prepared by the
Director and the Professors of the College. has been for some
ume under the consideration of the Committee, and it is hoped
that in the instruction given in this College will be found the
realization of a very important part of the Institute’s Scheme of
Technical Education.
Grants to the Technical Science Clas es at University College
and King’s College, London, to the Horological Institute, to the
School of Art Wood Carving, and other institutions, have been
continued during the past year.
The Technical Art School in Kennington Park Road, estab-
lished and maintained by the Institute, has been satisfactorily
attended ; and a proposition is to be brought before the Com-
mittee for supplementing the teaching of this school by technical
science classes, with a view of establishing in the south of
London a Technical College for Artizans, simiiar to the one
about to be opened in Finsbury.
The building of the Central Institution or Technical High
School in Exhibition Road, the foundation stone of which was
laid by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, President of the Institnte,
in July, 1882, is rapidly advancing and promises to be completed
within a year. It is not expected, however, that this school will
be ready for the reception of the students before the commence-
ment of the session 1884-5. Meanwhile, the Council and
Cominittee are fully occupied with the development of other
parts of their scheme.
In forwarding the Report of the Meteorological Council to
the Treasury in December last, the President and Council took
occasion to remind their Lordships that the arrangement for the
organisation of the Meteorological Office generally, in May, 1877,
would terminate with the then financial year, The Treasury, in
revly, asked the advice of the Royal Society. After consultation
with the Meteorological Council on various points connected
with the subject, the President and Council reported fully to
the Treasury, and concluded with the following general recom-
mendation: ‘* The President and Council beg leave to express a
hope that the constitution of the Meteorological Council may
remain unchanged, and that the same gentlemen who have
hitherto performed its duties and administered is funds with
such intelligence and judgment may be disposed to continue
their labours.” To this recommendation the Treasury cordially
assented ; deciding at the same time that no period should be
fixed to the Meteorological Council for their tenure of office,
but that it might be terminated by either party at any time on
twelve months’ notice.
The Meteorological Office has completed during the past year
a series of charts of sea-surface temperature, for the three great
oceans of the globe, and for the representative months of
February, May, August and November. The work, which is
now in the course of publication, will consist of twelve large
charts, for the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans respectively;
and of four ona reduced scale, showing, for the four months,
the isothermal lines of sea-surface temperature over the entire
globe. In the preparation of these charts, all the observations
existing in the Log Books of the Meteorological Office, and in
the Remark Books of the ships of Her Majesty’s Navy, have
been employed, as well as the information which has been
already rendered accessible in scientific memoirs, and in the
narratives of the great scientific voyages. The isotherms agree
164
NA Tiree
| Dec. 14, 1882
substantially with those which have been already given for the
months of February and August, in the wind and current charts
published by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty ;
but as the present series is founded on a much larger number of
observations than have ever before been available for a similar
purpose, it may fairly be regarded as a valuable contribution to a
not unimportant part of terrestrial physics. Between the limits
of 50° north and 50° south latitude, the mean annual surface
temperature, so far as it can be deduced from the data now
available, appears to be 74°°9 F. for the Indian, 69°°5 F. for the
Atlantic, and 68°°6 F. for the Pacific Ocean. The North
Atlantic is 4°°6 F. warmer than the South Atlantic Ocean ; the
corresponding difference in the case of the Pacific Ocean is only
TecSebs
Among other contributions to Ocean Meteorology, which the
past year has produced, I may mention (1) the Physical Charts
of the Atlantic Ocean, published by the Deutsche Seewarte, at
Hamburg ; (2) the second volume of the narrative of the voyage
of H.M.S. Challenger, containing the magnetical and meteoro-
logical observations ; and (3) a report by Captain Toynbee,
F.R.A.S., on the Gaies of the Ocean District adjacent to the
Cape of Good Hope, which completes the discussion by the
Meteorological Council of the meteorology of that tempestuous
part of the sea.
The meteorology of our own country has been actively studied
during the year. The Scottish Meteorological Society have
given in their Journal a series of monthly pressure charts for the
British Isles, together with a revised edition of the temperature
charts already published by them in 1871. The charts now
embody the results of observations extending over a period of
twenty-four years; the revised edition, as well as the original
publication, are due to the indefatigable activity of Mr.
Alexander Buchan, F.R.S.E., the Secretary of the Scottish
Meteorological Society. An atlas of convenient size, intended
for the use of observers in the United Kingdom, and conveying
similar information derived from data partly different, and quite
independently discus-ed, has heen already prepared by the
Meteorological Office, and will immediately appear.
It is a fact now universally recognised that the greater part of
the changes of weather which are experienced in the British Isles
are occasioned by travelling areas of excessive or defective
atmospherie pressure, which arrive at our shores from the
Atlantic Ocean. The importance of a systematic study of the
weather of the North Atlantic being thus indicated, the Meteoro-
logical Council have resolved to undertake the preparation of
synoptic weather charts for the thirteen months beginning Ist
August, 1882, and ending 31st August, 1883, and have issued a
special appeal to the British shipping interest for active co-
operation during that period. It is satisfactory to know that this
appeal has not been fruitless, and that there is every prospect
that the number of observations available for the discussion will
exceed 200 per day.
This is, perhaps, the proper place to make mention of some
results having an important bearing on meteorology, obtained hy
Prof, Tyndall in the course of a larger research on the action of
radiant heat on gases.
By methods which he has applied to gases and vapours
generally, Tyndall has established anew the action of aqueous
vapour upon radiant heat, and the sensibly perfect diathermancy
of dry atmospheric air. The phenomena of solar and terrestrial
radiation are profoundly modified by the presence of aqueous
vapour in the earth’s atmosphere, the temperature of our planet
being thereby rendered very different from what it would
otherwise be.
The celebrated experiments of Patrick Wilson, wherein were
observed a rapidity of radiation and a refrigeration of the
earth’s surface previously unknown, are explained by the fact
that when they were made, the amount of aquecus vapour in the
air was infinitesimal, the unhindered outflow of heat towards
space beng correspondingly great. The sagacious observation of
Six and Wells, that the difference between the surface tempera-
ture and that of the air a few feet above the surface, on equally
serene nights, is greatest in cold weather, is explained by the
fact that, when the temperature is low, the agent which arrests
the surface radiation is diminished in quantity. Wells, more-
over, found that the heaviest dews were deposited on nights
when the difference between air temperature and surface tempera-
ture was small; while the greatest difference between the two
temperatures was observed on nights when the deposition of
dew was scanty. The explanation offered by Tyndall is this :—-
copious dew indicates abundant vapour ; and abundant vapour,
by arresting the terrestrial rays, prevents the refrigeration
observed indrierair, Strachey’s able discussion of observations
made at Madras, point di-tinctly to the action of aqueous vapour
on the radiation both of the sun and of the earth; while the
experiments of Leslie, Hennessey, Hill, and other distinguished
men, which were long. considered enigmatical, are readily
explained by a reference to the varying quantities of vapour with
which the atmosphere is charged, on days of equal optica}
transparency. The interesting observations of Desains and
Branley, made sia ultaneously on the Rigi and at Lucerne, are
well worthy of mention here. The difference of level between
the two stations is 4,756 feet, and within this stratum 17°1 per
cent. of solar heat was proved to be absorbed. This absorption
being due to aqueous vapour, is tantamount to the transmission
of the sun’s rays through a layer of water of a definite thickness.
A sifting of the rays woulda be the consequence, and on @ priori
grounds we should iv fer that the percentage transmission through
water at Lucerne must be greater than on the summit of the
Rigi. This was the exact result established experimentally by
Desains and Branley. H. Wild, the distinguished Imperial
Astronomer cf St. Petersburg, basing his statement on experi-
ments made by himself according to Tyndall’s method, has
expressed the opinion ‘‘that meteorologists may, without
hesitation, accept this new fact in their endeavours to explain
phenomena which hitherto have remained more or less enig-
matical.” The correctness of this statement is illustrated by the
foregoing examples, to which, if necessary, many more might
be added.
At the recommendation of the Committee on Solar Physics of
the Science and Art Department, a grant of 3507. was made from
the Society’s Donation Fund to Captain Abney and Mr, Lockyer
in aid of their proposed observations of the total eclipse of the
sun at Thebes in May last. Unfortunately the state of Captain
Abney’s health precluded his taking part in the expedition ; but
Dr. Schuster generously undertook the conduct of his observa-
tions, and, notwithstanding the short time remaining for
preparation, he carried them out in the most satisfactory manner.
Three photographs of the corona itself were obtained during
the eclipse. They show that the corona had the characteristic
features observed during the time of the maxima of sun-spots.
The long streamers in the plane of the ecliptic seen during sun-
spot minima were absent, and the corona showed much disturb-
ance. A bright comet appeared in all the photographs at a
distance slightly less than a solar diameter.
A complete photograph of the spectrum of the prominences
and the corona was for the first time obtained. The prominences:
give a spectrum in which the lines of calcium bear a conspicuous
part by their intensity. The ultra-violet hydrogen lines, photo-
graphed in star spectra by Dr. Huggins, were seen, as well as a
number of unknown lines.
The corona gives a very complicated spectrum. Close to the
limb of the sun the spectrum was so nearly continuous and so
strong as to hide any lines which might have been present.
Further away the continuous spectrum fades off, the solar group.
G appears as an absorption line, and a large number of ccrona}
lines hitherto unobserved appear in the ultra-violet.
In addition to these photographs one was obtained in a camera,
in front of whose lens a prism was placed without a collimator.
This photograph allows us to study the spectra of different pro-
minences. As the picture was produced on one of Captain
Abney’s infra-red plates, all the tints of the prominences ranging
from the ultra-red to the ultra-violet made their impressions,
and some interesting differences in the spectra of different pro-
minences can be noticed.
But, beside taking part in this expedition, Mr. Lockyer has.
continued with unwearied perseverance his observations on the
spectra of solar prominences and spots, and has recently com-
bined with these the results obtained by him during the late
eclipse. During this eclipse he made naked eye observations,
which he considers to be of a crucial character between the two
rival hypotheses regarding the nature of the sun’s atmosphere.
The results of this investigation have in his opinion considerably
strengthened the views which he first put forward in 1873 on the
constitution of the solar atmosphere. A statement of these views
will be found in a paper by him recently resd before the Society.
In the present state of the que-tions there raised, it must I think
be admitted that, after giving all due weight to the facts and
reasonings adduced by Mr. Lockyer, additional and varied
observations are greatly to be desired ; and that no opportunity
—
Dec. 14, 1882]
NATURE
165
reasonably available, for adding to our knowledge of the subject,
should be neglected. And, therefore, without committing
myself or the Society to the support of any particular proposal
or expedition, I think it may be fairly claimed as a prim facie
duty on the part of the present generation to obtain as many
faithful records of the various phenomena occurring daring solar
eclipses as possible.
From a discussion of the meridian observations of Mars made
during the favourable opposition of 1877, at Washington,
Leiden, Melbourne, Sydney, and the Cape, Prof, Eastman has
deduced the value 8”°953 for the solar parallax—a value which,
though considerably larger than any of those found by other
methods, agrees closely with that obtained by Mr. Downing, in
1879, from the meridian observations of Mars at Leiden and
Melbourne, as well as with the values found from similar observa-
tions in 1862. In this investigation, Prof. Eastman rejects the
observations at Cambridge, United States, as they were made in
a slightly different manner, and gives (in combination with
Melbourne) a very large value for the solar parallax, viz., 9"138.
The detailed account of the British Observations of the Transit
of Venus, 1874, was published at the beginning of the year, and
the observations of the transit made at colonial observatories
have been recently printed in the Memoirs of the Royal
Astronomical Society.
The Transit of Mercury last November was well observed in
Australia and other places, and the results are of speciai interest
in connection with the late Transit of Venus. The discord-
ances in the times of internal contact recorded by different
observers seem to show that such observations are subject to
much uncertainty.
An important memoir on astronomical refraction has been
lately published by M, Radau, who, afver a di-cussion and com-
parison of previous theories, gives formule and tables for
refraction, in which allowance may be made for difference in the
rate of decrease of temperature with the height above the earth’s
surface at different seasons of the year. M. Radau also dis-
cusses the case in which the surfaces of equal temperature in the
atmosphere are inclined to the earth’s surface.
A new map of the solar spectrum, containing a much: larger
number of lines than are shown in Angstrom’s classical normal
spectrum, has been published by Prof. Vogel in the publications
of the new Astrophysical Observatory at Potsdam. In this
work Prof, Vogel has bestowed great care on estimates of the !
breadth and intensity of each line. In the same volumes are
given the results of Prof. Spdrer’s sun-spot observations at
Auclam from 1871 to 1879, in continuation of those for the
years 1861 to 1870, previously published. From a comparison
of the rotation-angles for 78 spots with the formula, Prof,
Sporer finds that the larger deviations are always towards the
west, indicating that a descending current has brought down with
it the larger velocity of the higher regions of the sun’s atmos-
phere. The law previously deduced by Prof. Spérer, that,
about the time of minimum, spots commence to break out in
high latitudes, and that the zone of disturbance gradually
approaches the equator till at the minimun it coincides with it
and dies away, to be replaced by a new zone in hizh latitudes, is
confirmed by the recently published Auclam results, comprising
(with Carrington’s series) two complete spot-cycles.
In astronomical photography an important advance has been
made by the successful application of the new processes to the
nebulz as well as to the comets. Prof. Henry Draper and Mr,
Common have obtained photographs of the great nebula in
Orion, showing considerable detail, and Mr. Huggins and Prof.
Henry Draper have succeeded in photographing its spectrum,
Mr. Huggins finds in his photograph a very strong bright line in
the ultra-violet at wave-length 3730, in addition to the four
nebular lines previously discovered by hi nin the visible portion.
Prof. H. Draper’s photographs do not show this brizht line,
though they have faint traces of other lines in the violet, and he
thinks that"this may be due either to thie circu stance that he had
placed himself on a different part of the nebula or to his use of
a refractor with glass prism, while Mr. [{ug ins used a reflector
and Iceland spar prism. The mo-t strivinz feature of Prof,
Draper’s photographs is perhaps the discovery of two condensed
portions of the nebula (just preceding the Trapezium) which give
a continuous spectrum.
Prof. Schiaparelli has recently called attention to a peculiar
feature on the planet Mars. In 1877 he remarked a number of
narrow dark lines, which he called ‘‘canals,” connecting the
dark spots or so-called ‘‘seas” of the southern and northern hemi-
spheres. He now finds that these lines are each doubled, so that
according to his view the equatorial regions of Mars are covered
by a network of pairs of parallel straight lines. It is to be
remarked that though the appearance of Mars as depicted by
Prof. Schiaparelli differs greatly from previous representations,
indications of these double ‘* canals” are to be found in the
sketches of other observers.
The two bright comets of this year possess more than usual
interest. The bright comet discovered at Boston by Wells, on
March 18th, was the first comet since the spectroscope was
applied to these objects, which presented a spectrum unlike the
hydrocarbon type common to all other comets which appeared
since 1864. The eye observations, as well as its photographic
spectrum (!aken by Mr. Huggins), showed an absence of the
hydrocarbon spectrum, which was replaced by a_ brilliant
continuous spectrum and bright lines, including those of sodium.
In September, a very brilliant comet appeared near the sun.
It seems to have been discovered independently by Ellery, at
Melbourne, Finlay at the Cape. Mr. Common in this country,
and also by Thollon and Cruls. This great comet has been
a brilliant object in the early mornings during the past two
months. On September 17th, an observation, apparently
unique in the history of astronomy, was made by Mr. Gill at the
Cape, who watched the comet right up to the sun’s limb. It
could not, however, be detected inthe sun, and this circumstance
of appearing neither bright nor dark when in front of the sun,
appears to sugyest a very small substantiality, or great separation
of the cometary matter. After perihelion it presented a magni-
ficent appearance, having a tail 30° long, and even on October
30th the tail covered a space greater than the mean distance of
the earth from the sun.
On October 9th, Prof. Schmidt discovered a nebulous object
not far from the great comet, the orbit of which strongly suggests
a connection in the past with the great comet. This fact is of
more interest when the orbits of the great comet of this year, of
Comet I, 1880, and of the well-known comet of 1843 are com-
pared. The very near approach of the great comet to the sun
will lead astronomers to watch with great interest for its return
to our system, whatever may be its destiny, to fall ultimately
into the sun, or to disappear throngh a process of gradual dis-
integration. In the Astronomische Nachrichten, just published,
Prof. Pickering, who has computed the elements of the orbit of
this comet, states, ‘‘ I believe the deviation from a parabola to
be real, although the corresponding period may be very long.
These differences seem to indicate that the disturbance suffered
by the comet in passing through the coronal region could not
have been great.”
This comet presented a spectrum similar to that of Comet
Wells, but while receding from the sun, the bright lines of its
spectrum became fainter, and then the usual hydrocarbon
spectrum made its appearance. This observation, taken in
connection with those of the previous comet, suggests a modified
condition of an essentially similar chemical constitution. The
phenomena would admit more easily of explanation if the
cometary light is supposed to be due to electric discharge as it is
well known how preferential is the electric discharge when
several substances are present together in the gaseous form.
Before leaving this subject, I venture to quote the following
passage from the Odservatory, which puts in a very clear form
the speculations now current, on the relation of the present
great comet to that of 1880, 1843, and possibly 1668.
“‘The physical appearance of the comet, which like that of
1843, and unlike that of 1880, showed at first 2 decided nucleus,
together with the intimation of a period very considerably greater
than that of the interval from 1880, January 27, the date of peri-
helion of the 18S0 comet, suggest that perhaps the 1843 comet
suffered disintegration when at its nearest approach, and that the
1880 comet was a portion of its less condensed material, whilst
the body of the comet with the principal nucleus, suffering less
retardation than the separated part, has taken two and a-half
years longer to perform a revolution. The remarkable discovery
made by Prof. Schmidt, of Athens, on October 8, of a second
comet only 4° S. W. of the great comet, and having the same
motion, would seem to confirm this view.”
The scientific year now concluded has not been so fertile as its
predecessor in the initiation of great national and international
undertakings, neither have any of those larger enterprises which
I took occasion to mention last year, such as the circumpolar
observations, or the Transit of Venus Expeditions, as yet been
brought to their final issue. Nevertheless, in some of them we
166
NATURE
| Dec. 14, 1882
have evidence that good work is already being done, and in
the others, of which we have as yet no information, there is no
reason to doubt that the same is the case. Nor again, in the
border-land betweeen science proper and its applications, have I
to record anything so important as the Paris Electrical Exhibition.
That Exhibition, however, bore legitimate fruit in the Electric
Lighting Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, and in the technical
experiments lately carried out on a large scale at Munich.
Perhaps the most prominent feature of the Crystal Palace Show
was the incandescent light. At Paris that mode of illumination
appeared to be little more than a possibility, in London it had
beeome an accomplished fact. The importance attaching to this
advance in electric lighting may be measured both by the rapid
extension of its use, and also by the fact that not a few of our
leading minds consider that the incandescent lamp is the lamp
of the future, not merely for domestic, but even for many other
public purposes.
But in another way the present year has witnessed the most
important step which could have been taken for the promotion of
electric lighting in this country. The Legislature has passed the
Electric Lighting Bill, and, so far as legislation can effect the
object, it has brought electricity to our doors. Up to this time
installations of greater or less magnitude had sprung up sporadi-
cally in many parts of country, in railway stations, manufacturing
works, and occasionally in private houses. But, compared with
the lighting of a whole town, or even of separate districts of a
large city, even the most important of these must be confessed
still to partake of the nature of experiments ; experiments, it is
true, on a large scale, and, as I believe, conclusive as to the
ultimate issue. Indeed,+by multiplication of machines it is
certainly, even now, possible to increase the lighting power to
any required extent ; but this can hardly be regarded as the final
form of solution of the problem, inasmucli as such a method
would be as uneconomical as it would be to use a number of small
steam-engines instead of a large one. And when we consider
that at the time of the passing of the Act in question, there was
but one machine actually constructed which was capable of
illuminating even one thousand incandescent lamps (I mean that
of Edison), we cannot but feel that much remained to be done
before the requirements of the public could be fully met. Ido
not mean thereby to imply that the Act was passed at all too
soon; on the contrary, it has already given just that impetus
which was necessary for producing installations on a larger scale.
In illustration of this, I cannot help mentioning, as the first fruit
of the impetus, a remarkable machine, by our countryman Mr.
J. E. H. Gordon, which appears capable of feeding from five
to six thousand lamps.
But beside the impulse above described, the Bill will have a
scientific influence perhaps not contemplated by its original pro-
moters. Under this Act, for the first time in the history of the
world, energy will come under the grasp of the law, will become
the subject of commercial contracts, and be bought and sold as
a commodity of everyday use. It is, in fact, far from improbable
that the public supply of electricity will be reckoned and charged
for in terms of energy itself. But whether this be literally the
case or not, a measurement of energy must lie at the root of
every scale of charge.
And, further, since the Act allows no restriction to be placed
upon the use of the electricity so supplied, it follows that it may
be used, and undoubtedly will be used, at the pleasure and con-
venience of the customer, either for lighting, or for heating, or
for mechanical, or for chemical purposes. ‘This being so, it is
clear that the public must by this process become, practically at
least, familiar with the various modes of the transformation of
force ; and the Act in question might, from this point of view,
have been entitled An Act for the better Appreciation of the
Transformation of Force.
While offering to the public this new commodity, electricians
may, in one respect, especially congratulate themselves, namely,
that their article is incapable of adulteration. An electric current
of a given strength and given electro-motive force is perfectly
defined, and is identically the same whether it comes from a
Siemens or a Gramme, from a magneto- or from a dynamo-
machine, or as suggested by an eminent counsel before the Select
Committee of the House of Commons, from one machine
painted red or from another painted blue
It has been said, and perhaps with truth, that the electric
light will be the light of the rich rather than that of the poor.
But in more ways than one electricity may now become the poor
man’s friend. The advantages in avoidance of heat and of
vitiated atmosphere in workshops and factories have often been !
pointed out, and may ultimately become an important factor in
the physical growth and prosperity of our population. But
besides this, when electricity is literally brought to our doors, it
will become possible, by converting it into motive power of
limited extent, to revive some of the small industries which during
the last half century have been crushed by the great manufac-
turing establishments of the country. There are operations
which are capable of being carried out by the wives and families
of workmen; there are works of small extent which can be
performed more advantageously in a small establishment than in
a large one, and it can hardly fail to be a gain to the community
if this new departure should give fresh opportunities for the
development of our industry in these directions.
The Copley Medal his been awarded to Prof, Arthur Cayley,
F.R.S., for his numerous profound and comprehensive researches
in Pure Mathematics.
One Royal Medal has been awarded to Prof. William Henry
Flower, F.R.S. During the last thirty years Prof. Flower has
been actively engaged in extending our knowledge of Com-
parative Anatomy and Zoology in general and of the Mammalia
in particular.
His Memoirs on the Brain and Dentition of the Marsupialia
published in the PAz/. Trans. for 1865 and 1867, established
several very important points in morphology, and finally disposed
of sundry long-accepted errors.
His paper ‘*On the Value of the Characters of the Base of
the Cranium in the Carnivora” (1869), and numerous memoirs
on the Cetacea, are hardly less valuable additions to zoological
literature.
Prof. Flower has been for more than twenty years Curator of
the Museum of the Royai College of Surgeons, and it is very
largely due to his incessant and well-directed labours that the
museun at present contains the most complete, the best ordered,
and the most accessible collection of materials for the study of
vertebrate structure extant.
The publication of the first volume of the new Osteological
Catalogue in 1879, affords an opportunity for the recognition of
Prof. Flower’s services in this direction. It contains carefully
verified measurements of between 1300 and 1400 human skulls,
and renders accessible to every anthropologist a rich mine of
craniological d+ta.
The other Royal Medal has been awarded to Lord Rayleigh,
M.A., F.R.S.
The researches of Lord Rayleigh have been numerous, and
extend over many different subjects; and they are all charac-
terised by a rare combination of experimental skill with mathe-
matical attainments of the highest order.
One class of investigations to which Lord Rayleigh has paid
much attention is that of vibrations, both of gases and of elastic
sol ds. The results of most of these researches are now em-
bodied in Lord Rayleigh’s important work on the ‘‘ Theory of
Sound,” a work which not only presents the labours of others
up to the time of writing in a digested and accessible form, but
is full of original matter.
The subject of vibration naturally leads on to a mention of
other hydro-dynamical researches. Lord Rayleigh has investi-
gated the motion of waves of finite height, and in particular has
shown that the ‘‘great solitary wave” of our late Fellow, Mr.
Scott Russell, has a determinate character ; and he has investi-
gated the circumstances of its motion to an order of approxima-
tion sufficient to apply to waves of considerable height.
Lord Rayleigh has examined more fully than had previously
been done the theory of diffraction gratings, and the effects of
irregularities ; and also investigated the defining power of opti-
cal combinations, and its limitation by diffraction and spherical
aberration.
He has lately been engaged in the elaborate re-determination
of the B.A. unit of electrical resistance.
The Rumford Medal has been awarded to Capt. W. de W.
Abney, R.E., F.R.S. Capt. Abney has contributed largely to
the advancement of the theory and practice of photography by
numerous investigations. In the Bakerian Lecture for 1880 he
has given an account of a method by which photography can he
extended to the invisible region below A, which had been
hitherto but very imperfectly examined by means of the thermo-
ile.
: Making use of plates prepared with silver bromide in a par-
ticular molecular condition, Capt. Abney, by means of a diffrac-
tion grating containing 17,600 lines to the inch, constructed a
detailed map of the intra-red region of the solar spectrum ex-
tending from A down to A 10,650 (Plate XXXI. Phil, Trans.,
‘io :
Dec. 14, 1882]
NATURE
167
1880). The lowest limit of this map was fixed by conditions
of the diffraction-apparatus, and not by a falling-off of the sen-
sitiveness of the plates at this low point; for, when a prismatic
apparatus was used, photographs were obtained which show a
continuous spectrum down as far as A 12,000.
In a subsequent paper (PAz/. Zrans., 1881, p. 887), Capt.
Abney, working with Lieut.-Col, Festing, R.E., applied this
new extension of photography to a research on the influence of
the atomic grouping in the molecules of the organic bodies on
their absorption in the infra-red region of the spectrum. The
authors believe that their results indicate, without much doubt,
that the complex substances they examined can be grouped
according to their absorption spectra, and that such grouping,
as far as their experiments go, agrees on the whole with that
adopted by chemists. They have more confidence in their
results, as they were careful to select such bodies as might be
regarded as typical; but, of course, much patient labour of
many, for a long period, will be necéssary before this new branch
of physico-chemical research can be regarded as fully established
in any complete form.
Capt. Abney has since carried on his work in this new region
of the spectrum at different elevations during a recent visit to
Switzerland.
The Davy Medal has been awarded to D. Mendeleeff and
Lothar Meyer.
The attention of chemists had for many yeats past been
directed to the relations between the atomic weights of the
elements and their respective physical and chemical properties ;
and a considerable number of remarkable facts had been esta-
- blished by previous workers in this field of inquiry.
The labours of Mendeleeff and Lothar Meyer have generalised
and extended our knowledge of those relations, and have laid
the foundation of a general system of classification of the ele-
ments. They arrange the elements in the empirical order of
their atomic weights, beginning with the lightest and proceeding
step by step to the heaviest known elementary atom. After
hydrogen the first fifteen terms of the series are the following,
viz. :—
Lyla ay egw oY/ jeersodiume fea ec.) 23
Berylium 9°4 Magnesium ... 24
Boron... coe merit Aluminium See ee!
Carbone ss) , 02 Suconieey essen)
INVECOSEM sce se D4! Phosphorus... 31
@Oxyeen i c-. 16 Sulphur <7) 2. 32
Mlworine) i. -.-. + 19 ‘Chionine™ =. |...) 35
| Potas:ium ... 2
No one who is acquainted with the most fundamental pro-
perties of these elements can fail to recognise the marvellous
regularity with which the differences of property, distinguishing
each of the first seven terms of this series from the next term,
are reproduced in the next seven terms.
Such periodic reappearance of analogous properties in the
series of elements has been graphically illustrated in a very
striking manner with respect to their physical properties, such as
melting-points and atomic volumes. In the curve which repre-
sents the relations of atomic volumes and atomic weights analo-
gous elements occupy very similar positions, and the same thing
holds good in a striking manner with respect to the curve repre-
senting the relations of melting-points and atomic weights.
Like every great step in our knowledge of the order ofnature,
this periodic series not only enables us to see clearly much that
we could not see before, it also raises new difficulties, and points
to many problems which need investigation. It is certainly a
most important extension of the science of chemistry.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—The examiners for the Natural Science Tripos
in 1883 are Lord Rayleigh, Mr. Vernon Harcourt (Oxford), Dr.
A, M. Marshall (Owens College), Dr. R. D. Roberts, Mr. J. N.
Langley, Mr. L. Fletcher (Oxford) of the British Museum, Mr.
A, Hill, and Dr. Vines.
The time for the presentation of the report of the Syndicate
appointed to frame regulations for the Doctorates of Science and
of Letters is extended to the end of next term.
The increased work of the museums and the larger number of
departments has caused an excess of expenditure over the ordi-
nary income 30co/. allowed by the University, during the
past year. The expenditure -has included a provision of micro-
scopes for the morphological and physiological laboratories at a
cost of nearly 150/., and a Bianchi air-pump for the chemical
laboratory, costing 83/. The balance which has accrued is 804/,
which is asked for as a special grant from the chest.
Mr. A. S. Shipley, of Christ’s College, has been nominated
to study at the Zoological Station at Naples for the first six
months of 1883.
A Clothworkers’ Exhibition of 52/. 10s., tenable for three
years, will be awarded by means of the examination of the
Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board in July
next, The successful candidate must be or become a non-colle-
giate student at Oxford or Cambridge.
There will be an examination at Gonville and Caius College,
beginning on March 9, 1883, for one Shuttleworth Scholarship,
value 60/. per annum, tenable for three years, open to:medical
students of the University, who are of at least eight terms’
standing. The subjects are Botany and Comparative Anatomy ;
practical work will be given as part of the examination. The
scholarship may be held with any other scholarship at the Col-
lege, and a candidate may be recommended at the same time for
a foundation scholarship. Particulars may be obtained from the
Rey. A. W. W. Steel, Tutor of the College.
The following numinations have been made to the Electoral
Board of the under-mentioned professorships, with varying
tenure of office to secure due rotation :—Plumian of Astronomy :
Prof. Stephen Smith (Oxford), the Astronomer Royal, Prof,
Adams, Mr. Spottiswoode, P.R.S., Prof. Stokes, the Master of
Caius (Dr. Ferrers), Prof. Cayley, and Mr. Todhunter. Me-
chanism and Applied Mechanics: Sir John Hawkshaw, Lord
Rayleigh, Messrs. R. F. Martin, W. Airy, and Coutts Trotter
(Trinity), the Master of Emmanuel (Dr. Phear), Mr. W. H.
Besant, and Prof, Cayley. Physiology: Prof. Humphry, Prof.
Huxley, Mr. |. N. Langley, Prof. Burdon-Sanderson, Dr,
Vines, Dr. Pye-Smith, Prof. Paget, Prof. Stokes. Knight-
bridge of Moral Philosophy, Prof. Caird (Glasgow), Mr. Leslie
Stephen, Mr. J. Venn, Prof. Fowler (Oxford), Prof. Hort, Prof.
Seeley, Mr. Todhunter, and Dr. Campion. The Boards of
Physics and Chemistry and of Biology and Geology hape con-
curred in recommending that students who have passed in the
Mathematical Tripos may be permitted to enter the second part
of the Natural Science Tripos without passing in the first part.
Itis thought desirable to encourage mathematical students thus
to take up the practical and experimental work in physics re-
quired of the Natural Science students ; at present they have
not time for studying the elementary parts subjects required of
the latter.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Linnean Society, December 7.—Sir J. Lubbock, Bart.,
president, in the chair.—The following gentlemen were elected
Fellows of the Society:—The Rev. R. Baron, F. O. Bower,
T. H. Corry, O. L. Fraser, D. Houston, A. W. Howitt, H.
McCallum, E. A. Petherick, S. Rous, and H. C. Stone.—The
Rev. Rk. T. Murray showed specimens of A/thwa_ hirsuta, Vicia
Orobus, and Phlomis fruticosa, obtained by him last summer in
Somerset.—Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer exhibited and explained
mapsillustrative of the rapid spread of Phylloxera in Spain and
Portugal, observing that within the last year quite a wide area
of the wine-growing districts therein were affected. He also exhi-
bited phot: graphs and made remarks on the Cinchona cultivation
in Ceylon.—Mr. W. B. Espeut drew attention to some Kola nuts,
and mentioned their remarkable sobering effects after intoxica-
tion by spirituous liquors.x—Mr. G. Brook read notes on some
little known Collembola and the British species of the genus
Towocerus. Tullberg refers to their occurrence in Sweden, but
the four species in question have not hitherto been accorded a
British habitat.—A paper by J. G. Otto Tepper was read on the
discovery of above ninety species of Tasmanian plants near
Adelaide, South Australia.—A contribution by Dr. W. Ny-
lander and the Rey. J. M. Crombie was read, viz. ona collection
of exotic lichens made in Eastern Asia by the late Dr. A. C.
Maingay. ‘Those enumerated were from British Burmah, China,
and Japan ; some are interesting as illustrative of lichen distri-
bution, and others as new species and varieties.—Remarks on
the genera of sub-family Chalcidinze with synonymic notes and
descriptions of new species of Leucospidinee and Chalcidinze was
a paper by Mr. F. Kirby.—The Rev. R. P. Murray afterwards
168
NATURE
made some remarks on cleistogamic flowers of Hoya carnosa,
producing fertile seed.
Institution of Civil Engineers, December 5.—Sir W. G.
Armstrong, C.B., F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The paper
read was “On the Sinking of two Shafts at Marsden, for the
Whitburn Coal Company,” “by Mr. John Daglish, M. Inst. C.E.
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, December 4.—The Right Hon. Lord Mon-
i i i i i , In opening the
tooth session of the Society, gave a brief historical statement of
its origin.—Obituary notices were read of Mr. Darwin, Prof.
Emile Plantamour of Geneva, Mr. Charles D. Bell, Dr. Wm
Robertson, Sir Daniel Macnee, Mr. David Anderson of Morton,
Mr. John M’Cull ch, Mr. Samuel Rayleigh, and Prof. Spence.
—The Rev. Dr. W. R. Smith exhibited specimens of Dr. A.
Gueébbardt’s electro-chemical method of figuring equipotential
lines, which had been sent him by the author. —The Astronomer
Royal for Scotland communicated a telegram from J. R. Hind,
of the Wautical Almanac, correcting the time of ingress of Venus
upon the sun’s disc,
PaRIs
Academy of Sciences, December 4.—M. Jamin in the
chair.—The President presented to M. Dumas the medal struck
in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of his election tothe Academy,
and M. Dumas spoke in acknowledgment-—Presentation of
tome iii. of the third part of the ‘‘ Recueil des Memoires, Rap-
ports et Documents relatifs 4 Observation du Passage de Venus
sur le Soleil, en 1874,” by M. Dumas.—Résumé of measurements
of the Daguerrian photographs of the Venus transit in 1874 by
the French Commission, by MM. Fizeau and Cornu. About
fifty selectep photographs from the four stations were measured
by two observers or controlled by an equivalent operation.
The 94 results represent 33,840 independent points. In a
table are shown the values of the ratio of the distance between
the centres to the sum and the radii for all the photographs
measured.—Memoir on the vision of material colours in motion
of rotation, and on the respective velocities, estimated in figures,
of circles, one diametrical half of which is coloured and the
other half white; velocities corresponding to three periods of
their motion, from the extreme velocity to rest, by M. Chevreul.
—On a letter of M. Spcerers relative to a peculiarity of solar
mechanics, by M. Faye. If there were surface currents from the
solar poles to the equator (as Dr. Siemens’ theory requires), the
spots should be carried in the same direction. But M. Spcerer’s
observations for twenty years, and those of Laugier, Carrington,
and others, agree in showing displacement of spots in latitudes to
be either #i/ or insignificant ; ; and if there is any such tendency
in spots far from the equator, it is rather towards than from the
poles. The retardation observed in surface rotation towards the
poles, M. Faye attributes to ascending and descending movements
in the internal mass.—Notice on a new optical apparatus for the
study of iter by MM. Tcewy and Tresca. It consists of
three parts (1) at the observer’s end a reticule of horizontal wires
viewed by a lens, before which is a total reflection prism
throwing lateral light along the optic axis ; the eyepiece has also
movable wires for measurement ; (2) at the opposite end, an ob-
ject holder, with stretched horizontal wires, illuminated ; (3) in
the middle, a lens with silvered surface, but transparent at the
centre. and of such a focus that it reproduces in’ the plane of
the reticule before the eyepiece, "either. the image of one set of
wires by reflection, or that of the other by transparence.—On
rouge’ or ma! rouge of pigs, by M. Pasteur. This disease, called
by Dr. Klein (L Satan 1878) prxeumo-enteritis of the pig, has de-
stroyed more than 20,000 pigs this year in the Rhone Valley.
M. Pasteur considers Dr. Klein quite mistaken as to the nature and
properties of the parasite, which is of figure $ form, and like the
microbe of chicken cholera, but finer, less visible, and quite
different physiologically. He has founda method or protective
inoculation.—Researches on the presence of nitric acid and am-
monia in water and snow obtained in Alpine glaciers by M.
Civiale, hy M. Boussingault.—Order of appearance of first vessels
in the leaves of Cruciferee ; demonstration of the distinctly basi-
petal ramification in these leaves, by M. Trécul.—On the con-
nections (enchainements) of the animal world in primzeval times,
by M. Gaudry. He gives a sketch of the first part of a pro-
jected w rork on this subject. —Chemical studies on maize (con-
tinued), hy M. Leplay. This relates to potash and lime-base
in organic combination with vegetal acids or tissues of maize,
= oe ae
>
[Dec. 14, 1882
—On the gallicolar Phylloxera, by M. Henneguy.—On the pen-
dulum, by M. Lipschitz.—Formula for determining how many
prime numbers there are not exceeding a given number, by M. de
Jonquiéres.—On a mode of transformation of figures in space
(continued), by M. Vanecek.—On the transmission of an oblique
pressure, from surface to interior, in an isotropic and homogeneous
solid in equilibrium, by M. Boussinesq.—On the effect of oil
calming the agitation of the sea, by M. Bourgois. Oil affects the
breaking of the waves, but not sensibly the undulations them-
selves.—-Method for determination of the ohn, based on the in-
duction by displacement of a magnet, by M. Lippmann.—On
the terrestrial induction of planets, and particularly on that of
Jupiter, by M. Quet. The planets probably contain iron. With
equality of magnetic powers, Jupiter would (next to the sun)
exercise the greatest induction onthe earth, because of its great
volume and rapid rotation ; but if its magnetic power were, ¢.¢.,
ten times that of the sun, variations of the compass might reveal
some of the principal periods of that planet. The compass
might, within certain limits, show to what point a planet is rich
in iron or magnetic substances. —On the currents produced by
nitrates in igneous fusion, &c. (second note), by M. Brard. He
describes an electrogenerative fuel, which, in any hearth, yields
both heat and electricity ; and an electrogenerative hearth in
which these agents may be generated with any fuel_—On a
method of transformation of tricaleic phosphate into chlorinated
compounds of phosphorus, by M. Riban.—On a new hydro-
carbon, by M. Louise. ‘This is named benzyleme sitylene, CgHy
(C,H,) (C. H)3. It is got by making benzyl act on mesitylene in
presence of anhydrous chloride of aluminium.—On an unalter-
able linseed powder prepared for poultices, by M. Lailles. The
oil is eliminated.—On cerebro-spinal ganglions, by M. Ranvier.
—On the microsporidia or porospermida of Articulata, by M.
Balbianii—The migrations of the puceron of red galls of the
country elm, by M. Lichtenstein.—Researches on digestion in
cephalepod molluscs, by M. Bourquelot.—Geological history of
the syssidere of Lodran, by M. Meunier.—Reply to a note of
M. Musset, concerning the simultaneous existence of flowers and
insects on the mountains of Dauphine, by M. Heckel.
CONTENTS
Ancient Scottish Lake Dwe tines. By Sir Joun Lupsock,
WIS 6 ool a a oO 0 Go GO Gb a loe0 4
Our Boox SHELF :—
Ward’s ‘‘Sportsman’s Handbook to Practical Collecting, Pre-
serving, and Artistic Setting up of Trophies and Specimens ”
Miss Ormerod’s “‘ Diagrams of Insects Injurious to Farm Crops”
Picou’s ‘“‘ Manuel d’Electrometrie Industrielle” . . . . «
Holley’s ‘ Falls of Niagara and other Famous Cataracts ”” .- .
LETTERS TO THE EpiroR:—
Priestley and Lavoisier.—C. Tomitnson, F’/R.S. . rch” /
The Forth Bridge.—HerBertT TOMLINSON . . . + = + + «© I47
Intra-Mercurial Planets—Prof. Stewart’s 24*orrd. Period, Le-
verrier’s and Gaillot’s 24°25d., and Leverrier’s 33°0225d. Sidereal
Periods Considered.—A. F. GoppaRD . . . . . + ws «
An Extraordinary Meteor.—B. R. BRANFILL. . . . «+ + «
British Rainfall.—G. J. Symons, F.R.S. . we
Swan Lamp Spectrum and the Aurora, —J. Ranp Garon Yip o
The Aurorax—J. RanD CaPRON . ~ «= + « «+ « « «
Fertilisation of the Speedwell—ArTHUR RANSOM .
Shadows after Sunset.—Prof. DIER «. . - - + + «+ « + «
Complementary Colours.—CHas. R. Cross . . . .... -
An Extraordinary Lunar Halo.—S. A.Goop. . ......,
“Lepidoptera of Ceylon.”,—L. RrgevEaANDCo.. . . ... -
Tue Comer. By A. Ainstte Common; FRANK StaPLeton (With
Tilustrations) . . rae = Rstlgg
ILLUSTRATIONS OF New AND RARE Dans IN THE Zoonocich
Socrety’s Livinc Cottection, X. . 151
Tue Transit oF VENUS. By the DuKE eaeeeee Dr. R S. Bare,
F.R S., Astronomer Royal of Ireland; Dr. W. Donerck; J. L. E,
DREYER; CLEMENT LINDLEY WraGGE; W, F. Denninc; D.
Tram; Henry Cecit; R. LAncpon (With sii te
Norges. .. 0) focile. sig Bin. 0; gn) de), Xs) Vick ta Re ROMS)
Our Kerroncmcen Conn MNi—
‘Gomet 682/205) si.) fe (ect otietal eS Cen canta -OMts? Dn) Miele tenn
Cometsr8B2e) oy ice et ye, cent eet ot SRI nde, =o Yo, a EY
Ol YUNA oe Db oO Oo oo 5 0 5 8 a6 6 6 pee
Tue Roya. Sociery, II. Anniversary Address by Dr. WILt1AmM
SPoTTISWOODE, Pres.R.S. 55 hee 162
ONIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OIC TES cu ary/
SocteTres AND ACADEMIES .. .- « - eee a) eres + 167
148
149
149
149
149
149
150
150
150
150
150
154
159
NATORE
169
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1882
DISEASES OF MEMORY
Diseases of Memory ; an Essay in the Positive Psychology.
By Th. Ribot. International Scientific Series, Vol.
XLIII. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.,
1882.)
DN. WORK on such a subject as this from the pen of
M. Ribot, cannot fail to be a good work, and
although in the one which he has published there is not
much originality either in respect of facts or of theories, it is
of value as a clearly arranged account of what we know
concerning the psychology of memory, united with philo-
sophically wholesome views of interpretation.
It is first shown that the word memory, as ordinarily
used, has a triple meaning : ‘‘the conservation of certain
conditions, their reproduction, and their localisation in
the past” (recollection). The third element here, which
is most purely a part of consciousness, appears to be an
element superadded to the other two. Neglecting it
therefore in the first instance, the author seeks to “reduce
the problem to its simplest terms, and try to discover
how, without the aid of consciousness, a new condition is
implanted in the organism, is conserved and reproduced ;
in other words, how memory is formed independently of
all cognition.” Here it is well shown that all analogies
drawn from inorganic sources are misleading—such as
the facts of insolation, photography, &c. ‘ Conservation,
the first condition of recollection, is found, but that alone;
for in these instances reproduction is so passive, so de-
pendent upon the intervention of a foreign agent, that
there is no resemblance to the natural reproduction of
the memory. Hence, in studying our subject, it must
never be forgotten that we have to do with vital laws, not
with physical laws ; and that the bases of memory must
be looked for in the properties of organic (? organised)
matter, and nowhere else.”
The first true analogy to be found is that of muscular
fibre responding more feebly at first to the excitation
transmitted by a motor nerve than it afterwards does
when it has frequently been stimulated, allowing natural
periods of repose. This is taken to be a true analogy,
because in nerve as in muscle, “everywhere we perceive,
with an increase of activity and proper intervals of repose,
an increased power of organic functions.” But even here,
we think, the objection might fairly be made that the
analogy is scarcely sound, inasmuch as there is no
evidence to prove that the increase of power in a muscle
due to use, is due to an increase in the power of the
individual fibres. We think some better parallels might
have been chosen from the region of muscle physiology
—such, for instance, as the effect of the constant current
in leaving behind it for several minutes after it has ceased
to pass through a muscle a change in the excitability of
the fibres, so that they are less responsive to a renewal of
the current in the same direction, and more so to its pas-
sage in the opposite direction. The following paragraph,
however, is in our opinion above all criticism, and should
be well burnt into the memory of all who write about
memory.
VOL. XXviI.—No. 686
“‘The true type of organic memory—and here we enter
the heart of our subject—must be sought in the group of
facts to which Hartley has given the appropriate title of
secondary automatic actions, as opposed to those auto-
matic functions which are primitive or innate. These
secondary automatic actions, or acquired movements, are
the very basis of our every-day existence. ...In a
general way it may be said that the limbs and other
sensorial organs of the adult act with facility only because
of the sum of acquired and co-ordinated movements
which forms for such part of the body its special memory,
the accumulated capital on which it lives, and through
which it acts—just as the mind lives and acts in the
medium of past experience. To the same category
belong those groups of movements of a more.artificial
character which constitute the apprenticeship of the
manual labourer, and are called into action in games of
skill, bodily exercise, &c.” :
The first requisite to the formation of these automatic
movements is association, the original material being
provided by primitive reflex actions, which require by
frequent repetition or practice to be properly grouped,
some combined and others excluded. Such organic
memory resembles psychological memory in all but one
point—the absence of consciousness. Thus all the fol-
lowing features are common to both: “acquisition, some-
times immediate, sometimes gradual; repetition of the
act necessary in some cases, useless in others; an in-
equality of the organic memory according to individuals
—it is rapid with some, slow, or totally refractory with
others (awkwardness is the result of a deficient organic
memory). With some, associations once formed are
permanent ; with others, they are easily lost or forgotten.
We observe the arrangement of actions in simultaneous
or successive series, as if for conscious recollection, and
here is a fact worthy of careful notice; each member of
the series swggests what is to follow.’’
Touching the changes produced in nerve-tissue, which
constitute the objective side of memory, M. Ribot properly
observes that it is scarcely safe to speculate, as they are
beyond the reach of histology or of histo-chemistry, though
facts in abundance prove that some such changes take
place, and the probability is, as expressed in a quotation
from Maudsley, that ‘‘ every impression leaves a certain
ineffaceable trace; that is to say, molecules once dis-
arranged and forced to vibrate in a different way, cannot
return exactly to their primitive state.’? But over and
above this particular modification, which may be sup-
posed to be impressed upon the molecular constitution of
the nervous elements concerned in an act of memory,
M. Ribot points out that there must be a “‘second con-
dition, which consists in the establishment of stable
associations between different groups of nervous ele-
ments.” This, we think, is a most important point, and
one which, in our author’s opinion, has not hitherto
received the attention thatit deserves. In his own words,
“Tt is of the highest importance that attention should be
given to this point, viz. that organic memory supposes
not only a modification of nervous elements, du¢ the
formation among them of determinate associations for
each particular act, the establishment of certain dynamic
affinities, which, by repetition, become as stable as the
primitive anatomical connections. In our opinion, the
important feature with regard to the basis of memory is
not only the modification impressed upon each element,
I
17C
NATURE
| Dec. 21, 1882
but the manner in which a number of elements group
themselves together and form a complexus.” Thus it
follows that “a rich and extensive memory is not [merely]
a collection of impressions, but [also] an accumulation of
dynamical associations, very stable and very responsive
to proper stimuli.”
The essay then proceeds to consider more especially
the case of conscious as distinguished from organic
memory :—‘‘ The brain is like a laboratory full of move-
ment, where thousands of occupations are going on at
once. Unconscious cerebration, not being subject to
restrictions of time, operating, so to speak, only in space,
may act in several directions at the same moment. Con-
sciousness is the narrow gate through which a very small
part of all this work is able to reach us. . . . What has
been said of physiological memory applies in a general
way to conscious memory ; only a single factor has been
added.”’ But “dynamical associations have a much
more important part to play in conscious memory than in
unconscious memory.”
These we think are the more important of M. Ribot’s
preliminary considerations. We have no space to con-
sider others which follow, or to enter into the details of
-those diseases of memory which constitute the main
subject of his work. These diseases are classified under
the divisions of General Amnesia, Partial Amnesia, and
Exaltations of Memory. Each of these divisions is
abundantly illustrated by examples, which, while being
adduced in corroboration of philosophical views on the
mechanism of memory, furnish in themselves reading of
a curiously entertaining kind. We may conclude by
rendering, in the words of the author’s own summary, the
general conclusions which he deems his study of the
diseases of memory to have established :—
“7, In cases of general dissolution of the memory, loss
of recollections follow an invariable path; recent events,
ideas in general, feelings, and acts.
“©9. In the best-known case of partial dissolution (for-
getfulness of signs), loss of recollection follows an invari-
able path ; proper names, common nouns, adjectives and
verbs, interjections, gestures.
“3. In each of these classes the destructive process is
identical. It is a regression from the new to the old,
from the complex to the simple, from the voluntary
to the automatic, from the least organised to the best
organised.
“4. The exactitude of the daw of regression is veri-
fied in those rare cases where progressive dissolution
of the memory is followed by recovery; recollections
return in an inverse order to that in which they dis-
appear.
“5. This law of regression provides us with an
explanation for extraordinary revivification of certain
recollections when the mind turns backwards to condi-
tions of existence that had apparently disappeared for
ever.
“6. We have founded this law upon this physiological
principle : Degeneration first affects what has been most
recently formed ; and upon this psychological principle :
the complex disappears before the simple, because it has
not been so often repeated in experience.
Finally our pathological study has led us to this general
conclusion: Memory consists of a process of registration
of variable stages between two extreme limits, the new
state, the organic registration.”
GEORGE J. ROMANES
EASTERN ASIA
Im Fernen Osten, Reisen des Grafen Bela Szechenyi in
den Jahren 1877-1880. Von Gustav Kreitner, Mitglied
der Expedition. Two Vols. (Vienna, 1881.)
Pa ocinee rambling for more than three years over a
great part of Japan and China, the forerunners of
Count Szechenyi’s party reached the Irawadi delta in
March, 1880, in such a plight that they were actually
refused admission to Jordan's Hotel in Rangoon. The
expedition was undertaken, not to seek the cradle of the
Magyar race in Central Asia, as was given out at the
time, but simply to seek distraction from a heavy
domestic affliction experienced by the Count in 1876.
It was organised with the disregard of economic conside-
rations so characteristic of the open-handed Hungarian
nobility, and consisted originally of four members—the
Count, Balint de Szent Kotolna, philologist, Ludwig von
Loczy, geologist and Gustav Kreitner, geographer. Un-
fortunately Balint got no further than Shanghai, where
his health completely broke down. Hence the linguistic
results were zz/, notwithstanding the sensational story
circulated in some American papers regarding a Magyar-
speaking nomad tribe said to have been discovered in
the Gobi desert. These marauders were stated to have
captured and condemned the whole party to death. But
on overhearing them casually exchange a few words in
Hungarian, the nomad chief, overcome with emotion, fel!
on his knees, and addressed Count Bela “in the purest
Magyar,” acknowledging him and his associates as their
long-lost brethren, descendants of the warlike hordes,
who migrated westwards ages ago, but whose memory
was still kept alive in the yurts of their Asiatic kinsmen.
This story throws a curious light on the analogous state-
ments long current in popular writings touching the Irish,
Welsh, and Basque-speaking Delawares, Algonquins,
Guaranis, and other American aborigines. The only
difference is that in these critical times such veracious
accounts have no longer much chance of surviving their
authors.
The expedition has found a competent historian in its
geographer, Gustav Kreitner, whose chief fault is perhaps
an excessive Teutonic conscientiousness, which omits
nothing, and leaves little to the imagination of the reader.
Hence these bulky volumes, mostly going over tolerably
beaten ground, are apt to grow all the more tedious that
the journey was on the whole singularly free from stirring
adventures. The camp was broken into and looted
during the night by some prowling Tanguts in Mongolian
Kansu; a terrific sandstorm nearly overwhelmed the
caravan on the skirt of the Gobi; Herr Kreitner on one
occasion got entangled in the intricacies of the loess
region in North China ; an attempt to penetrate into the
precincts of a Buddhist monastery at Batang was met by
a shower of stones from the doughty but inhospitable
Hamas; lastly the train conveying the explorers from
Prome to Rangoon narrowly escaped the flames of a
burning jungle in Pegu. But there was little else to
record of an exciting character, beyond the ordinary
incidents, mishaps, and hardships of eastern travel.
On the other hand many opportunities were afforded
for original observations on the lands and peoples visited
by the expedition, which has certainly materially increased
Dec. 21, 1882]
the stock of our information on oriental matters. In
Yesso the Ainos were carefully studied by Herr Kreitner,
whose independent testimony fully confirms this writer's
views regarding the Caucasic affinities of those aborigines.
“That the Ainos have nothing in common with the
Japanese and Chinese is evident even from a cursory
glance. The cranial formation is nobler, the forehead
higher and broader, the prominent nose firmer. But it is
the horizontal position of their large brown eyes that
more especially assimilates them to the Caucasic type”’
(p. 318). A minute examination of the hair resulted in
the curious discovery that its seeming abundance is due
rather to its coarse texture than to its denser growth on a
given square surface. In this respect it appears to be
inferior even to that of the Japanese, at least on the scalp,
while the body is on the other hand covered with a fur
coat averaging 40 millimetres in length, and in the ratio
of about 30 hairs to the square centimetre. The contra-
dictory statements regarding the Aino complexion were
shown by a practical experiment to be due to the more
or less grimy state of the subjects examined. “The
more I rubbed the lighter became the dark colour of the
Aino, and the browner grew my hand. How often has
the complexion of this race been described as darker
than that of the Japanese, by those who forget to apply
the test of soap and water !’’ (p. 296).
In this thoroughly practical spirit many other contro-
versial points, doubts, and mystifications were cleared up.
The colour of the “button” on the Mandarin’s cap is
commonly supposed to indicate official rank. But “such
is not the case. It is a mere decoration or order. Very
frequently we noticed Mandarins with the red button
(first and second mark of distinction) taking his place
after others decorated with the blue (third) or even with
the gold (eighth) button” (p. 190). In the same way by
a series of shrewd calculations based on a few given data
it is plausibly shown that the population of China has
been enormously over-estimated, and that instead of 300
or 400 millions it does not probably exceed 150,000,000,
or 100,000,000 less than that of British India ! (p. 556).
In connection with this point, the opium question raised
by over-zealous missionaries and political free-lances, is
demonstrated to be a pure bogus. The practice, not
always injurious, and in certain fever-stricken districts
positively beneficial when kept within moderate bounds,
would seem to be indulged in by not more than 850,000-—
go0,00o altogether. The inveterate opium smokers are
reduced to abcut 700,000, or not much more than 4 per
cent. of the whole population, taking it even at its lowest
estimate.
Archzologists will rejoice to hear that the famous
Nestorian monument of Signan-fu, hitherto reported as
“lost or missing’’ since the Panthay rebellion, has been
re-discovered by our explorers. For a time neglected
and overlooked during those terrible times, it has been
recently set up ina place of honour within the precincts
of a Buddhist monastery to the west of the city. Three
impressions of the well-known inscription were taken,
together with a copy of ancther which has lately been
added to the reverse side of the slab, and which runs
thus : “A pious Mandarin caused this stone to be restored
over twenty years ago, and set up where it now stands.”’
In the same neighbourhood a brick inscribed with the
NATURE
171
symbol of the Han dynasty was also obtained from a
pagoda said to be over 2000 years old.
From Sining-fu an excursion was made to the monastery
of Kum-bum, partly for the purpose of testing Huc’s
extraordinary account of the famous tree of Buddha.
The result must be told in the author’s words :—
“ A few steps brought us to the chief temple. Before
it stood, surrounded by arailing, the tree concerning which
the Abbé Huc tells us that its leaves bear the natural
impress of Buddha’s likeness and of the Tibetan alphabet.
We sought in vain for such phenomena. Neither image,
nor letters, but a waggish smile playing about the corner
of the mouth of the elderly priest escorting us. Inanswer
to our inquiries he informed us that @ long time ago, the
tree really produced leaves with Buddha’s image, but
that at present the miracle was of rare occurrence. A
few God-favoured men alone were privileged to discover
such leaves. The last so favoured was a pious Mandarin,
who visited the monastery seven or eight years ago. Next
day Count Szechenyi succeeded in finding a leaf on which
a rude likeness of Buddha had been etched, probably
with some acid. The llamas allow no one to pluck leaves
or blossoms from the tree, and the leaves that fall are
carefully collected and sold to the pilgrims as a specific
against affections of the larynx. The tree belongs to the
Oleacez, and I believe it to be Syringa L. (white lilac),
which in all probability reached Europe originally from
China” (p. 708).
A careful survey was made of the vast region of
“yellow earth,” to which a total area of at least 360,000
square miles is assigned in the Hoang-ho basin. The
origin of this unstratified loess formation is assigned with
Richthofen to the weathering of the rocks on the lofty
Tibetan plateaux, combined with the prevailing west
winds, by which the pulverised particles are wafted east-
wards. From a rough calculation of the rate of the
deposit, which in Shensi was found to attain a thickness
of 1800 feet, a period of at least 260,000 years is supposed
to have been needed to remove the detritus from the
plateaux to the lowlands.
One of the most cherished objects of Count Szechenyi
was to reach Lhassa from the east or north-east. But
like Prejevalsky, Gill, Desgodins, and so many other
recent explorers, he was baffled all along the Tibeto-
Chinese frontier line from Kuku-Nor to Batang. Hence
no new territory was anywhere traversed except a
small district south of Batang on the road to Tali-fu.
Here a fresh route was struck across the Chung-tien
plateau, which occupies the extreme west of Se-chuen,
within the great bend of the Kinsha-kiang. In this Alpine
region several altitudes were taken, some new wild tribes
were visited, but no opportunity was afforded of throwing
any fresh light on the many interesting hydrographic
problems which still await solution in South-East Asia.
At Tatsien-lu these problems formed a chief topic of dis-
cussion with the Abbé Desgodins, who has probably
more practical knowledge of the subject than any living
European. The question was again approached during
the now familiar route from Tali-fu to Bamo across the
narrow, gorge-like valleys of the great Indo-Chinese
rivers. The result of these discussions and observations
is set forth in the accompanying map of China and East
Tibet, which substantially adheres to the lines already
laid down on D’Anville’s map, prepared in 1735 on data
previously collected by the Jesuit missionaries in China.
Here the Sanpu appears as the upper course of the
172
NA TORE
[ Dec. 21, 1882
Brahmaputra ; the Great and Little Irawadi, forming the
two upper branches of the main Burmese artery, are
carried through the unexplored Pomi country as far
as 32° N.; while the Lu-Kiang (Salwen) and Lantsan-
Kiang (Me-Khong) are both traced still higher to 34° N.
92° E. within a short distance of the Murui-ussu (Yangtze-
kiang) valley. Thus the ovasins of five of the great Asiatic
streams are crowded at one point into a narrow space of
less than 280 miles, where the several water partings are
formed merely by a series of lofty ridges following in
rapid succession between Sechuen and East Assam,
Such a hydrographic disposition is of course elsewhere
absolutely unparalleled, and is altogether of such a pheno-
menal character that it can hardly be finally accepted
until the main rivers are actually traced to their respective
sources.
The jealousy with which the Tibetan frontier is every-
where guarded Herr Kreitner is disposed to attribute
rather to the Lhassa than to the Pekin authorities. The
Chinese government is represented as possessing very
little practical power in Tibet, which is gradually becoming
a sort of fee simple of the Sacerdotal class. The Dalai-
lama himself is a mere puppet in the hands of this priestly
caste, which has set up no less than 103 living Buddhas
altogether, and which now embraces two-thirds of the
population of Tibet, grinding the rest to dust, and living
in opulence, idleness, and profligacy on the contributions
of the countless devotees who periodically visit the vast
monastic establishments overshadowing the land. The
whole trade of the country is monopolised by the
llamas, “who buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest
market,’’ and whose efforts are steadily directed against
the intrusion of all foreign competition. These llamas
are the greatest curse that ever afflicted an ignorant and
superstitious people, plundering and oppressing them in
their combined capacity of sorcerers, priests, traders,
money-lenders, serf-owners, and landed proprietors.
“*No Tibetan peasant claims as his own the land he tills,
or the house he builds. All is held at the will of the
llamas, who eject him whenever he dares to brave their
displeasure. And in the power, rapacity, and boundless
authority of these priests must be sought the impassable
barriers which have hitherto encircled the whole land.
By them is Tibet closed to the outer world, and by them
will it long remain hermetically sealed” (p. 855).
The work is abundantly illustrated by original wood-
cuts, which, if not always remarkable for artistic merit,
are at least always to the point. It is also unfortu-
nately disfigured by several mis-statements and inaccu-
racies, some of which are quite unaccountable. Thus the
length of the Suez Canal is given at 80 instead of 100
English miles. The Wahhabis are brought to the west
of Mecca, where they have never been seen since their
overthrow by the Egyptians in 1519. Harakiri and
other customs, legally abolished since the Revolution
of 1868, would appear to be still practised in Japan. The
Shogun is still the “ Tykun,’’ while the Mikado, repre-
senting the oldest monarchy in the world, is said to have
sprung “from the Kubo (Shogun) dynasty, founded in
1603”’! Shintoism is described one place as “a
Buddhist sect,’’ and in another, although rightly called
the original national religion, it is v sly said to be now
mostly superseded by Buddhism an > Confucian moral
system. The upper course of the Yangtze-Kiang, we are
told, is called the ‘‘Murui-ussu” by the Tibetans, who
certainly do not speak Mongolian. The Tibetans them-
selves are stated to be called “ Si-fan”’ by the Chinese,
and at p. 831 the extraordinary statement is made that
Tibet “ist leblos auf Thierwelt,’’ the very opposite being
notoriously the case. A. H. KEANE
OUR BOOK SHELF
Die Insekien nach thren Schaden und Nutzen.
Dr. E. Taschenberg. Mit 70 Abbildungen. Pp. 1-300,
8vo. (Leipzig: G. Freytag, 1882.)
Tuis forms the fourth volume of a German series of
popular works issued under the title ‘‘Das Wissen der
Gegenwart.” It consists of an examination of certain
insects injurious, or otherwise, in field, garden, and
forest. The author is a man of scientific training,
and as a specialist has acquired that practice of
accuracy of statement that necessarily results from the
education of a specialist. Much of the contents will
prove useful to Englishmen who can read German; a
portion, however, concerns insects that happily do not
occur with us. The figures are mostly very good, many
are excellent, a few are indifferent. We recognise most
of them as reproductions, or reductions, from varied
sources. The ‘‘Colorado Beetle” is introduced, and
appears somewhat strangely out of place in a work that
almost exclusively concerns German insects. Possibly
the opportunity for indulging in a little satire (p. 124)
may form sufficient excuse, But the author aims his
satire at the wrong butt. He alludes to newspaper
reports as to Colorado beetles having been sent over by
Irish Americans, in order to spite “ Englanders,’”’ but
omits to suggest that the “scare” existed long before
these newspaper reports.
Outin the Open. A Budget of Scraps of Natural History
gathered in New Zealand. By T. H. Potts, F.L.S.
(Christ Church, 1882.)
Tuis little volume contains a reprint of a number of in-
teresting papers contributed by the author from time to
time to the Mew Zealand Country Fournal. These
chiefly relate-to the ferns and birds of the country, but
comprise also an account of a visit in 1878 to Hikurangi,
where the Maoris were seen at home. In another paper
a good account of the Kia (Nester notabilis) is given.
It would seem that it does not do much damage to the
flocks of sheep except during periods of severe snow,
when the parrots are deprived of their usual food. The
work is evidently the result of a good deal of intelligent
observation carried on over a number of years.
Von Prof.
Catalogue of Mammalia in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.
By John Anderson, M.D., F.R.S. Part I. (Calcutta:
printed by order of the Trustees, 1881.)
THIS part contains the Primates, Prosimidz, Chiroptera,
and Insectivora of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Till
1865 this Museum was the property of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, and a catalogue of the mammalia therein was
drawn up in 1863 by the late Edward Blyth, so well
known to all Indian naturalists of that period. The col-
lection has increased enormously since, from in 1863 150
species of the four orders catalogued by Dr. Anderson to
252 at present existing in the Museum of these same
orders. Extensive and important details are given about
many of the more remarkable species, especially the
Primates. The synonimic lists seem well worked out,
and this part will have a value for the working naturalists
far beyond that of a mere catalogue. We trust the second
part will soon be published, and we congratulate the
Trustees on the excellent work done by their superin-
tendent.
Dec. 21, 1882]
NATURE
173
The Microscope and some of the Wonders it Reveals. By
Rev. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S. Fourth Edition.
(Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.)
IT seems sufficient to notice the appearance of the fourth
edition of this little volume, which, like so many works
issued by the same firm, bears no date of its appearance.
The Flora of Essex County, Massachusetts. By Joun
Robinson. (Salem, 1881.)
THIS enumeration of the plants of Essex county em-
braces, besides the Phanerogams, the Vascular Crypto-
gams, and the alge (marine) and lichens among the
Thallophytes. Essex County would seem to be an attrac-
tive field to the botanist. Besides open country, deep
woods and numerous swamps, the Merrimac furnishes a
fine fertile valley. The freshwater ponds, over fifty in
number, are from four to four hundred acres in extent,
and are rich in water-plants. A sub-alpine flora is to be
met with, while a long sea-coast affords suitable dwelling-
places for a large number of plants peculiar to such
quarters. To this well compiled flora an interesting
series of sketches of the lives of some of the early
botanists of the district— Cutler, Osgood, Oakes, Pickering
—is attached.
Catalogue of the Fossil Foraminifera in the British
Museum (Natural History). By Prof. T. Rupert
Jones, F.R.S. (London; Printed by order of the
Trustees, 1881.)
Tue Foraminifera which are in a living state to be found
widely distributed in the seas of the present day, are also
known to enter as fossils into the composition of several
of the stratified rocks, forming in some places such vast
thickness of limestone, as to command the attention of the
Palzontologists. It is found somewhat difficult to draw
the line between recent and fossil forms; and it would
seem to be equally difficult to be sure what is a foramini-
ferous form and what is not. In this most useful cata-
logue, however, all descriptive details and all contro-
versial questions are omitted. Eozoon appears in the
list, and so also does Orbitoides. The classification
adopted is that of H. B. Brady, and the species are
grouped according to their local occurrence and geological
age.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he unaertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
The Aurora and its Spectrum
In the recent correspondence in your columns on the subject
of the aurora, no notice has been taken of an old observation by
Anjou, in Siberia, that whenever the aurora flasbed up past the
moon, a halo was formed. This, with numerous other observa-
tions, which need not be detailed here, have let me to the con-
clusion that suspended crystals of ice have most probably
something to do with the aurora ; and my object in writing is to
suggest to some of your readers who are well equipped with
suitable apparatus, that if they could contrive to pass a glow or
phosphorescent discharge of electricity through fine-falling or
loosely-compacted snow, they might very possibly be rewarded
by the discovery of the origin of the green and red lines in the
aurora spectrum.
Mr. Capron’s experiments seem to show conclusively that it is
not an air spectrum, and it is also evident that the conditions of
discharge in an atmosphere laden with ice crystals are very
different from those in the clean vacuum tubes usually employed
by experimenters.
While on the subject perhaps I may be permitted to add one
small contribution to the question. I have examined most of
the auroras recorded by the Meteorological Office during the last
four or five years with reference to the synoptic conditions of
pressure with which they are associated. ‘The result is, that
though the larger number may be grouped round a few types of
pressure distribution, it is not easy to see any one constant
condition. RaLPH ABERCROMBY
21, Chapel Street, London, S.W., December 18
Swan Lamp Spectrum and the Aurora
Mr. J. RAND CApron’s experiment with the Swan lamp is
very interesting ; but his infernce that the aurora may not be
an electric discharge in the upper atmosphere because it does
not show nitrogen lines in the spectrum is hardly justified by the
experiment. On the contrary, the true significance of that ex-
periment appears to be that there is a certain degree of rarefac-
tion of the air (or vacuum) at which the nitrogen lines disappear,
Such a vacuum is given by the Swan, and probably other electric
incande:cence Jamps. According to Mr. Capron’s result, when
more air got into the bulb and vitiated this fine vacuum, the
nitrogen lines appeared. We may say, then, that if the aurora
is an electric discharge in the upper air, the rarefaction must be
approximately that of a Swan lamp, if there are -no nitrogen
lines visible in the spectrum of the light. To study this further
some one ought to examine the discharge in vacuum tubes con-
taining air at different degrees of density. J. Munro
West Croydon, December 18
The Meteor of November 17
Mr. CAPRON’s letter (p. 149) gives an interesting confirmation
of the meteoric nature of the light seen on November 17; as
showing that it is physically inpossible that it can be an aurora,
according to accepted theories of that light. Sett ng a:ide the
impossible estimate of forty-four miles, it should be noticed that
the heights assigned are in close agreement, 170 miles being
merely stated, like other elements in my letter, as a minimum.
The oblique direction of the metecr from 10° altitude in due
east to horizon in due south-west, as shown by several observa-
tions, is another evidence of ils extra-terrestrial origin.
Bromley, Kent Vive Rule TRG EK
Invertebrate Casts
THE communication in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 46, induces
me to state the following fact. Engaged this summer in an
economic survey of the North Transcontinental Survey for the
North Pacific Railroad in the camp just opposite Umatilla, near
the Columbia River, Washington Territory, I observed, on June
26, the nympha of a new species of Ophiogomphus, then very
common, emerging out of the water for transformation, The
Columbia River had been very high, the water beginning to
recede, was still more than 30 feet higher than usual. The
country around the camp belonged to the so called sagebrush
desert, but near the river was a bank of wet sand, flat and
smoothed by the receding water. There were no
plants around, and only one willow tree, now about
1co feet distant from the river, for five miles on one
side and twelve on the other side. I had observed
before on the sand a number of traces like the
diagram. In the middle a straight furrow, and on
each side two series of equidistant dots. By chance
I was able to discover that these tracks are made
by the nympha of Ophiogomphbus (family Gomphina
in Odonata). The straight furrow is made by the end
of the abdomen, which is heavy and slides upon the
ground. The forelegs are shorter, and make, with the end of
the tibia, the inner <eries of dots. The other legs are longer,
and make the outer series. More remarkable was it that the
furrows were made in a straight line from the water to tree, as it
is scarcely probable that a nympha so near its transformation
can see well at a distance of about 100 feet. Nevertheless I
caught the nympha just at the end of the track—which I saw
made—in ascending the tree. The two outer series of dots
are one inch distant one from the other. I remember having
seen an account of similar tracks on fossil slabs, but I have not
been able to find the publication. H. A. HAGEN
Cambridge, Mass., November 27
as
Py eo te eT
174
The Scream of the Young Burrowing Owl sounds like
the Warning of the Rattlesnake =
WHILE working upon the tertiary beds of the plains east
of the Rocky Mountains recently, I had numerous op-
portunities of making observations on the habits of those
peculiar creatures the Burrowing Owls (Spfeotyto Aypogwa).
Among others made at the time is one relating to the extra-
ordinary similarity between the sound of the cry of the young
owl when disturbed, and that of the warning of the Rattlesnake
(Crotalus confiuentus), which I do not find to have been noticed
by ornithologists. My attention was first called to the peculiar
likeness by my friend, Dr. V. T. McGillicuddy, who had in his
possession a couple of owlets nearly as large as the adults. The
capture of a number of both snakes and birds enabled me by
experiment to determine to what extent one might be deceived
by the resemblance. At the distance of a few feet the shrill
tremulous scream would deceive persons quite familiar with the
sound of the rattling of the Crotalus. When not noticing or
thinking of the birds, their cry produced on us the same effect as
the sudden springing of the rattle by an angry snake. The ex-
periments left no doubt that the cries produced a similar effect
on other animals which unwittingly disturbed young owls. And
in this way they led to a consideration of the possible benefit of
this close resemblance, or, as it might be called by some,
mimicry. As youknow, the birds are fond of the deserted holes
of different burrowing animals, especially so of those of various
Spermophiles or Prairie Squirrels. They are common in and
about colonies of the so-called ‘‘ Prairie Dogs” (Cynomys
ludowicianus), where they take possession of vacant burrows,
and sometimes even of thosein use, sooner orlater dispossessing the
rightful owners, as the dogs seem disinclined to bring eyesand noses
into contact with the sharp beaks.and claws in the passages how-
ever familiar they may be with the birds around the mouths of the
dwellings. In the same localities the snakes are numerous, and the
squirrels form a considerable portion of their prey. Naturally
enough the rodents—as also the weasels, foxes, and coyotes
{Canis latrans)—dread the fangs and venom, and recognise and
profit by the warning. May it not be that the peculiar protest
or scream of the young owl, by its resemblance to the danger-
signal, insures safety by preventing the approach of the mam-
mals, and, possibly, of the dull-eared snakes themselves? The
scream of the old bird is rather more hoarse and somewhat less
like the shrilling of the serpent. On ordinary occasions, the
note of this owl is a cackling or chuckling chatter or laugh,
varied with what seem very much like imitations of the barking
and squealing of the squirrels. When caught, it gives utterance
to the hoarse, long-drawn, rattling scream.
greedily of fresh meat, stopping to utter their strange cry of alarm
at every attempt to approach them. In behaviour the adults were ||
similar, but much less tractable. One, which had his wing
broken, was allowed the freedom of the camp, and usually he
stowed himself under the waggon. A halt in a ‘‘dog-town”
one day brought him near one of the holes, which after a time
he discovered. At once his soldierly walk quickened; it
became a quick step as he neared the opening, Chuckling to
himself, down into the darkness he plunged, and that was the
last we saw of him. S. GARMAN
Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., December 3
Fertilisation of the Common Speedwell
Ir Mr. Ransom will refer again to my letter, he will see that
it was written in order to draw attention to the adapéation of
the flower for cross-fertilisation, and not especially to the fact
that Diptera in settling upon it, draw down the stamens. ‘This
latter, if we consider the close attention paid of late years to the
commoner European wild flowers, has in all probability been
frequently observed before. As I have not seen Schenck’s hand-
book, I would be gladif Mr. Ransom will quote the passage
to which he refers. On looking at my note-book I find that not
only V. officinalis, but also V. Chamadrys and V. Beccabunga
are shown as fertilised in the same manner. May I suggest
that the separation of the stamens, and the difference of inclina-
tion between stamens and pistil, have been brought about in
order to prevent self-fertilisation? The looseness of the corolla
would then, in such a flower as . Chamadrys, bring the anthers to
a level with the stigma when an insect alighted upon it, and would
thus promote cross-fertilisation, From want of more extended
observations, however, I could not say what would happen in
the case of a proterogynous species, or of sucha flower as V.
The owlets ate |
a en
NATURE
[Dec. 21, 1882.
spicata, In reply to Mr. Ransom, I may add that I have no- |
where stated V. officinalis to possess larger flowers than V.
hedereefolia, and that Mr, Darwin (‘‘ Cross and Self-fertilisation,”
p. 369), in a brief reference to the genus, simply states that
agrestis is self-fertilising, and mentions species of Syrphidze as
visiting the flowers of V. hederefolia and V. officinalis.
» A. MACKENZIE STAPLEY }
The Owens College, Manchester, December 15
Complementary Colours at the Falls of Niagara
Ir Mr. Cross, whose letter on the above subject appears in
Nature (vol. xxvii. p. 150), will make what is for him a very
short excursion from Boston to Niagara, he will see a very
perfect and permanent illustration of contrast-colours. In the
American fall, the pure, green, even sheet of water is “ trimmed,”
as it were, at regular intervals by broad bands of foam, which
although, of course, really white, appear of a delicate rose-pink
hue, I noticed, and ‘‘ made a note of this” ten years ago, and
again this year. The effect heightens the beauty of the beautiful
fall, and I am surprised that no poet has made capital out of it.
I should like to call attention to the rapidity with which the
Canadian fall is deepening its horse-shoe. An immense mass
broke off near the middle of the curve in October, 1874 (many
windows in the adjacent museum were broken by the concus-
sion), and altogether the fall has receded twenty-four feet in ten
years. H. G. MADAN
Eton College, December 15
M. DUMAS
HE following is a translation of the addresses deli-
vered in the Paris Academy of Sciences on the 4th
inst., on occasion of a commemorative medal being pre-
sented to M. Dumas :—
‘The President, M. Jamin, said : Gentlemen and dear
Fellow-Members : The Academy considers it a duty to
celebrate the golden wedding of those fellow-members
who have honoured it during half a century, a duty which
is always dear to us, but to-day is dearer than ever ; for
M. Dumas now completes his fiftieth Academic year. You
have had prepared, by an able artist, a medal which
happily recalls his features, and must perpetuate them ;
it bears on the back this inscription :
A M. DuMas
SES CONFRERES, SES ELEVES, SES AMIS,
SES ADMIRATEURS.
I have nothing to add, except that it is not all his
admirers, all his friends, all his scholars, but only those
who sit here; the Academy has not been willing to
share with any stranger the duty of a homage which it
has exclusively reserved to itself. I have the honour to
offer in your name, with respect, to our illustrious and
venerated fellow-member, this token of our affection and
| of our gratitude.
My dear Teacher : If you will carry back your thoughts
to the commencement of your career, you may well be
content with your lot and with yourself. When twenty-
two years of age, you were at Geneva; you began with
Prevost, by discoveries that are still celebrated in physio-
logy, on the urea, on the blood, and on generation. From
that moment your name was known, and you acquired
confidence in yourself. Then you perceived two things :
the first, that physiology must be built upon chemistry,
that chemistry was not made, and that it was necessary
to make it; the second, that Geneva was not a large
enough theatre for your projects. And so you came to
Paris, having no other wealth than yourself, than your
courage, than a programme resolutely determined, than
the will to fulfil it, than confidence, still unconscious of
the future that was promised you. Now the time has
advanced, your dreams have been realised, your hopes
exceeded, and you have reached the highest degree of
glory a savant can conceive. Like Franklin, you may
:
.
say: If I were to recommence my life, I could not seek
anything rae : - :
It is between that departure and this point of arrival
that the most brilliant ‘phase of your career is placed,
Your discoveries followed one another like improvisations.
_ The composition of ethers was unknown, you analysed
_ them; you enunciated the law of substitutions and of the
conservation of chemical types ; a constant preoccupation
brought you frequently to the atomic theory, that
fundamental base of chemistry ; and you furnished, for
_ measurement of the density of vapours, a method so
simple and so perfect that it is easy to the most unskil-
_ ful; we know what light it has thrown on the study of
‘organic compounds. But it belongs not to me to speak
_ of your innumerable researches. The scholar may not
arrogate to himself, without irreverence, the right of
_ praise or of criticism; in presence of the teacher, he has
only the right of respect.
But it is permitted him to remember, and who does not
remember, the charm and the marvels of your teaching
at the Athénée, at the Ecole Polytechnique, at the Sor-
bonne, at the Ecole de Médicine, at the Collége de
France, at the Ecole Centrale? Everywhere that you
have appeared, and you have appeared everywhere, youth
and ripe age have been drawn, held, charmed, carried
away, to such an extent, that it may be said that you have
even rendered more service by the vocations you have
decided, than by your own proper works.
Fifty years ago, this Academy opened her gates to you;
she has intrusted to you since, and ever congratulates
herself for it, the formidable heritage of her illustrious
perpetual secretaries. The French Academy has seated
_ you in the chair of Guizot, a professor like yourself ; but
we have not been therefore jealous. They honoured you,
and we did not lose you. Then comes the moment when
preoccupations of another order have been imposed by
your very renown ; you have resigned yourself to those
duties which enlarged your 7vé/z, because your authority
was necessary, because science mixes with all, because
chemistry addresses itself to the lighting, sanitation,
hygiene, and all the industrial requirements of a large
city.
Circumstances have now set you free from manifold
cares, and restored you to sciences and to letters. These
possess you wholly ; and whether it be art or industry,
physics or chemistry, electricity or astronomy, it is to you
people apply, it is your authority they seek. They find
you ever ready for work, ever equal to the most difficult
missions. When one recapitulates the work you have
accomplished, the services of every kind you have ren-
dered, the discoveries you have made, the lectures you
have given in all the chairs, the literary works you have
written, the ideas you have sown—all this existence, in
fine, which has never known rest, one is astonished that
you have not taken more than half a century to fulfil so
large a programme; and when one has the happiness of
seeing you and hearing you, one marvels that a half-
century of labour without truce has still left you so much
of youth to expend. It is because, of all human passions,
that of study isthe most healthy, because it leaves to the
organs all their force, to the mind all its serenity—for
it is wisdom.
Enjoy, my dear teacher, enjoy these fruits; all the
good things that come from God have been given you
without stint ; genuine happiness, a health which nothing
has affected, hearty good will towards all, a mental vision
which has not ceased to grow; and all human recom-
penses have come to be superadded ; an authority which
makes itself felt and survives all régimes, a respect which
disconcerts envy, and the affection of your fellow members
which has prompted the gift of this medal : it is merely
a small fragment of gold, but it will be precious to you,
because it is amalgamated with our gratitude.
M. Dumas then spoke as follows :—
Mr. President and my dear Fellow-Members: Since
my earliest steps in the way of science, the Academy has
been to me the object of a reverence so profound that I
cannot receive, without the most lively emotion, the
inestimable present with which she honours the close of
my career.
As far back as sixty years ago she gave a kindly atten-
tion to the work of my youth; half a century ago she
received me into her bosom; and since then she has not
ceased to accord to me marks of her esteem and of her
confidence; nothing had prepared me, however, to think
that among my fellow members many should wish even
now to call themselves my scholars. Of all the testi-
monies to which an old teacher might lay claim, the
secret has been found of offering that one which is dearest
to his heart. Your kindness overwhelms and confounds
me !
Ah, my beloved scholars, I go back often enough to
these thirty years of an apostolate, which has not been
sterile, thanks to the talents of disciples like you ; but I
believed the remembrance of it to be buried in the tomb
of companions in the fight, whom we have lost, or to have
passed from the memory of those who survive them.
These prelections, then, of another time, of a time so happy,
are still not forgotten, since you have wished to recall,
in a durable way, on this medal, impressions that are
ordinarily apt to be soon attenuated or even extinguished.
You are right! The Professoriate must be honoured,
because speech is a power; because from the height of
his public chair the professor fulfils 4 sacred mission.
His loyal and penetrating conviction warms hearts, and
raises minds towards the disinterested regions of the
Ideal. He reflects the present state of science, like a
faithful mirror, he prepares the discoveries of the future,
he revives the grand traditions of fa glorious past. Open-
ing his whole heart and all his thought to his auditors, he
teaches them to love the truth, to respect genius, to
cherish the fatherland, and to serve it well.
Whoever has found himself surrounded by attentive
youth, taking fire at the accents of the teacher, vibrating to
his emotions, hastening full of faith towards the conquests
indicated to its ardour, that man, believe me, has known
the noblest enjoyments of the human soul.
But stay, there is a greater joy still; it is that
experienced in seeing oneself outstripped by those to
whom one formerly showed the way. This joy you have
caused me to taste every day. May you, for the honour
of French science, and for the moral greatness of our
dear country, you who are of more value than I, have in
your turn scholars who surpass you in genius, and equal
you in heart.
Mr. President, and all of you my dear Fellow-Members,
receive once more the profound expression of my grateful
sentiments ; the medal which I receive from your hands
will be piously preserved by my family as the dearest of
souvenirs of my existence, and by my descendants as the
most honourable of titles of nobility.
THE] METEVROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY ON
BEN NEVIS
eae importance of high-level stations in any satisfac-
tory handling of the scientificand practical problems
of meteorology which have now come prominently to the
front, is everywhere recognised, and accordingly in almost
all civilised countries such stations have been established,
and their number is steadily increasing. On the conti-
nent of Europe, many of the more salient positions avail-
able for high-level stations are already occupied in
France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary,
Germany, and Russia ; and as regards other countries,
the United States, Mexico, India, and our Australian
colonies, have also established stations at great elevations,
in an energetic prosecution of this important department
176
NATURE
[Dec. 21, 1882
of meteorology. Singularly enough, Great Britain alone
stands aloof from participation in the general moveinent,
and notwithstanding the heavy responsibility which her
geographical position and vast pecuniary interests and
resources impose upon her, none of the mountains that
rear their heads in the very tracks of the storms which
sweep over Europe from the Atlantic, is yet occupied by
either observatory or station for systematic and continuous
observation of the weather, the highest station in these
islands being Dalnaspidal, which is only 1450 feet above
the level of the sea.
At high-level stations near the equator, where tempera-
‘ture varies but little throughout the year, atmospheric
pressure, which may be regarded as measuring the mass
-of air overhead, is subject also to very small variation.
‘Thus at Bogota, in South America, 8727 feet high, where
the mean temperatures of January and July are respect-
ively 57°°2 and 56°-2, the normal atmospheric pressure is
22°048 inches and 22'058 inches. Let us look now at
the results obtained at Pike’s Peak, where a first-class
meteorological observatory was established by the United
‘States Government about ten years ago, at a height of
14,151 feet above the sea. Mr. Henry A. Hazen, in a
recently published paper on “The Reduction of Air-
pressures to Sea-level at Elevated Stations,’ shows that
the normal pressure on Pike's Peak is 0°632 inch less in
winter than in summer. The difference is mainly due to
the low temperature of winter as compared with that of
summer ; the reason being that the atmosphere in winter
being condensed by the cold, sinks below the summit of
the mountain, thus giving a lower pressure there. Now
since a lowering of the temperature implies a proportion-
ate condensation, or greater massing of the atmosphere
in its lower strata, with a corresponding diminution of
pressure in the upper regions, it necessarily follows that
at considerable heights in the northern hemisphere the
normal pressure is relatively higher in equatorial regions
during the winter months, as compared with any other
season of the year, than in higher latitudes at the same
heights ; and that generally the diminution of the normal
pressure in the upper regions is in proportion to the low-
ness of the temperature of the lower strata. From this
state of things it results that, during the colder months,
the upper atmospheric currents flow northwards in greater
volume, velocity, and persistency, bearing with them the
higher temperature and humidity of lower latitudes. It is
doubtless from the disturbing influences thus called into
play, particularly the disturbing influence of the aqueous
vapour from the Atlantic, that the notoriously stormy
weather of the winters of North-Western Europe is to be
traced.
But the fluctuations of pressure at great heights in the
atmosphere are not merely seasonal changes following
the annual march of temperature through the year ; they
also follow the changes of temperature which occur from
day to day, notably those great and striking changes of
temperature which accompany storms. Now it is the
investigation of these changes, together with changes in
the humidity, cloudiness, and motions of the atmosphere,
in their relations to the cyclones and anticyclones of
Europe, with the stormy and settled weather that respec-
tively accompanies them, which give to meteorological
observations made on Ben Nevis their international
significance.
The observations made during the summer of 1881 on
the top of Ben Nevis, in connection with the Scottish |
Meteorological Society, by Mr. Wragge, with an en- ,
thusiasm, physical endurance, and undaunted devotion to
the work beyond all praise, have now been to some extent |
discussed, with the result that they amply bear out the
strong opinion here advanced of their great value in fore-
casting weather. The time was sufficiently extended for
the determination of the approximate normal differences
between observations at the top of the Ben and at Fort |
William, near sea-level. During the unsettled weather
of the summer of 1881, departures from the normal values,
and these departures often large, were of frequent occur-
rence. Now the remarkable and frequent differences
from the normals thereby disclosed in the vertical distri-
bution of atmospheric temperature, humidity, and pres-
sure in the aérial stratum between the top of Ben Nevis
and sea-level, taken in connection with the weather that
followed, give the strongest grounds for the assurance that
observations made on the top of Ben Nevis would con-
tribute invaluable aid, if directly wired to London, in
framing forecasts of weather for the British Islands and
North-West Europe generally. The observations also
threw no little light on several controverted points
respecting the movements of cirrus clouds, upper currents,
and the time when the centres of storms reach higher and
lower levels respectively.
The observations were resumed last summer on a more
extended scale, the new observations embracing a more
complete investigation into the varying states of the
atmospheric stratum between the top of the mountain and
the sea, by a string of intermediate stations at different
heights, and by a very elaborate and carefully worked
out system of ozone observations. The weather of 1882
differed materially from that of 1881, and when the ob-
servations of 1882 come to be discussed, they will doubt-
less yield new results in the further extension of our
knowledge of weather phenomena. Among the new
results may be mentioned the remarkable observations
with the hygrometer in the second week of August and
at the equinox. The most striking of these were the ob-
servations of September 21, when the dry and wet bulbs
on the top of the mountain read as follows :—
Dry Wet Dry Wet
Qu aim) Snag Eats ora: 10°30 a.m. ... 51°9 ... 390
9°30 5, + 49°5 --. 39°7 | IT 99. Chat SI nes 7EO
10 ” ++ 494 --. 37°99; 11°30 5, v 53°77 + 404
the barometer at Fort William being high at the time
and nearly steady. No such relatively warm and dry air
was recorded at Fort William where during the time the
temperature was only from 1°9 to 4°°6 higher than that
of Ben Nevis, instead of the normal difference 15°°7. It
is instructive to note that these hygrometric states of the
atmosphere were odserved on the top of Ben Nevis,
during, or more strictly speaking, towards the termina-
tion of a rather protracted and heavy storm from the
north, which 1olled huge breakers on the beach of the
Moray Firth, and poured down deluges of rain on the
high northern slopes of the mountain range stretching
from near Foyers to Huntly, which flooded the rivers to
an unusual height. The unwonted warmth and dryness
of the air, and the deluges of rain that fell immediately
to the northward, warrant us in classing the singular
phenomena recorded by Mr. Wraggeon the top of Ben
Nevis on the morning of September 21, as quite analo-
gous to the fohn of Switzerland. If the supposition be a
correct one, the difference between the two classes of
phenomena is, that whilst the fohn of Switzerland has its
origin in a saturated atmosphere discharging its super-
abundant vapour in deluges of rain on the southern
slopes of the Alps, and after crossing these moun-
tains, descending the northern steeps of the mountain-
range as a dry warm wind, the fohn of Ben Nevis
had its origin in the highly saturated air, which, ad-
vancing from the North Sea, discharged its vapour on
the higher slopes looking down on the Moray Firth, and
after ascending to some height, thereafter blew down on
Ben Nevis as a descending wind, characterised by a dry-
ness and relative warmth rarely felt at lower levels. The
value of these observations from their important bearings
on the theory of storms and other atmospheric move-
ments, cannot easily be over-estimated by the meteoro-
logist, and it is important to note that the observations
Dec. 21, 1882]
NATURE
al77
at none of the lower stations gave indications of the
ascensional and descensional movements of the atmo-
sphere to which attention is here directed.
We observe from a circular we have before us, signed
by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, President of the
Scottish Meteorological Society, that the Society has
obtained from Mrs. Cameron Campbell of Monzie, a
suitable site for the proposed observatory on the top of
Ben Nevis, that the grounds and buildings are to be
invested in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and that the
charge and management of the observatory will be in the
Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society, in con-
junction with two representatives of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, and one representative of the Royal Society
of London, the represeutatives of the former Society
being Prof. Tait and Prof. Chrystal, and that of the
latter Sir William Thomson.
It is satisfactory to learn that a good beginning has
been made towards raising the 5000/. required to esta-
blish the observatory, by a number of noblemen and
gentlemen, who have intimated handsome subscriptions
to the fund. Since, however, a large sum remains yet to
be subscribed, we earnestly hope that in the interests of
science the remaining balance of the 5o000/. will soon be
subscribed, so that next summer may see the Ben Nevis
Observatory an accomplished fact.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF HONGKONG
RITING in 1843, Dr. Abel determined the main
structure of the island to be of basaltic trap,
granite, siliceous and schistose rock. Mr. Kingsmill in
1865, in his excellent papers on the Geology of the
Kwangtung Province, was the first to notice the trachytic
porphyry of Victoria Peak (1823), the summit of which
overlooks the town. This trachytic rock has been appa-
rently forced upwards through the granite after the over-
flowing and partial hardening of the trapon the west side
of the island. It was Mr. Kingsmill also who explained
the nature and formation of the pseudo-boulders, with
which the island is so plentifully covered. Towards the
extreme south-east, near Cape d’ Aguilar, these pseudo-
boulders assume very large dimensions, and their weather-
beaten aspect proves that the chemical action of water
and plants, which forced them from the parent rock,
occurred a long time ago. Indeed the island must have
undergone great changes in course of time: the hill
beyond Shekko, for instance, must have been originally
nearly or quite as high as Victoria Peak, whereas its
present elevation is not more than 500 feet. The rapid
action of the heavy rains and rich vegetation is nowhere
more apparent than in the high hill (directly back of the
peak from which the colony takes its name) known as the
Hog’s Back, or High West. Its eastern slope is literally
covered with pseudo-boulders, rendering the ascent from
that side not a little dangerous, and in the rainy season
large masses of rock are borne down into the valley
beneath.
Now that the population of the isl.nd has increased,
amateur geologists and mineralogists have become toler-
"ably plentiful, and frequent excursions are made, hammer
in hand, to the less known and wilder portions of the
island. In this manner traces have been tound of not a
few minerals and several interesting rocks. Silver has
been observed in small quantities, also galena, lead, and
iron pyrites ; slate near Aberdeen, syenite and dolorite
on a cliff overlooking that one-time piratical rendezvous,
Saiwan, feldspar and grey mica abundant.
One of the most interesting finds is that of molybden-
ite, near the village of Sau-ki-van. Molybdenite, molyb-
denum glance MoS,, was not known hitherto to be among
the mineral products of China. Germany, Sweden, and
Cornwales are the chief localities for this rare mineral,
and it has been found in several parts of the United
ee SSS et
States. The South China specimens show all the well-
known characteristics of European molybdenite—colour,
lead-grey, streak the same; thin foliated hexagonal
plates, closely resembling graphite ; flexible, non-elastic
lamine, H.=1-2, G. 4, 5. A local chemist corroborated
the determination by analysis, and found the composition
to be—
Sulphur ... = 40°0
Molybdenum = 60°0
Molybdenum sulphide =100'0
It will be seen from this analysis that there is a slight
decrease in the quantity of sulphur, compared with Euro-
pean molybdenite. Dana gives the composition of
American molybdenum sulphide as follows :—
Sulphur = 410
Molybdenum ="59'9
100°0
The mineral was found in small lumps imbedded in
the granite. F. WARRINGTON EASTLAKE
Hongkong, November
TRANSIT OF VENUS, 1882—B8RITISH
EXPEDITIONS
AS operation which requires for its success the collec
tion of nearly simultaneous astronomical observa-
tions over widely separated portions of the earth’s surface
must always be liable to great risks of failure. These
risks may be diminished bya careful selection of stations,
and an increase in their number; but they can never be
entirely removed.
The telegrams already received show, however, that
the British expeditions have been most fortunate; and
the success of the work is now assured.
This is not the proper place for a technical discussion
of the different methods which may be adopted for the
determination of the sun’s distance from a discussion of
observations of Venus in transit; but it is desirable that
some facts should be stated which may enable the reader
to form some conception of the strength of the method
which has been relied upon in the organisation of the
British expeditions, and the probable accuracy of the
sun’s distance which may be deducible from a careful
discussion of the observations which have been collected.
On December 6, 2h. 20m. G.M.T., the sun was distant
from the earth about 90,620,000 miles, whilst at the same
time Venus was distant only about 24,330,000 miles.
The ratio of these two numbers is very accurately known,
but the expression of either of these two distances in
terms of any unit of length which is directly known to us,
as a mile, is a point of great difficulty on account of the
small dimensions of our earth, of which the diameter is
only about 7912 miles, in comparison with such dis-
tances as those of Venus and the sun.
The greatest possible displacement of Venus, as seen
projected on the sun’s disc from any two places on the
earth’s surface is only about a twenty-ninth part of the
solar diameter. It is from such displacements that the
relation between the distances of Venus and the sun and
the separation of the observers, which is known in miles,
is established ; but the maximum displacement is never
practically available.
These displacements may be measured in many
different ways: we can take photographs of the sun’s
disc at the different stations, and afterwards measure
from the photographs the distances between the centres
of the planet and the sun, as seen at the different sta-
tions; or the distances between the centres may be
directly measured with a heliometer or any equivalent
instrument ; or we may avoid the difficulties and errors
178
which arise from the use of all such measuring instru-
ments, use the sun itself as our circle of reference, and
infer the displacements by observing the differences in
time at which Venus is apparently in contact with the
sun’s limb, as seen from the opposing stations. The last
method is that upon which reliance has been chiefly
placed in the organisation of the British expedition. For
the success of this method, we have to place observers at
two sets of opposed stations, at one of which Venus is
thrown, from the effects of perspective, towards the centre
of the sun at ingress, whilst at the other set of stations
Venus is thrown from the effects of perspective from the
centre. The former stations are called stations of accele-
rated ingress, the latter those of retarded ingress.
The stations of the egress observations are chosen
from similar considerations, and divide themselves into
stations of accelerated egress and retarded egress. In
the selection of stations, the most important points are,
that the effects of the apparent displacements on the dif-
ference in the times of contact should be considerable,
that the climatic conditions should be generally favour-
able, and that the altitude of the sun should be sufficient
to render a good observation possible.
The principal stations selected for the British observa-
tions of accelerated ingress were Madagascar and the
Cape; but it is hoped that good observations may have
been secured by Mr. Meldrum, the director of the
observatory at Mauritius, although the altitude of the sun
is very low for that station at the time of contact. The
observers at Madagascar were the Rev. S. J. Perry and
the Rev. W. Sidgreaves, with Mr. Carlisle as an assistant.
The instruments provided were excellent 6-inch equa-
torials. The expedition was placed under the care of
Commander Aldrich, of H.M.S. Fawz, with instructions
to establish the observers near the coast on the south-
western part of the island. A telegram has been received,
stating that the Fawn had returned to Natal, and that
the observations had been perfectly successful.
The observations at the Cape have also been successful.
At the Observatory there, Mr. Gill reports that seven
observations of contact were made. The instruments
available at this station were a fine 7-inch telescope by
Merz, which belongs to the Observatory, and a new 6-inch |
equatorial by Grubb, sent out by the Committee for the
observation of the transit, and a good Dollond, which
was used at the last transit, with an aperture of nearly
four inches, and Mr. Gill’s heliometer. The goodness of
the contact observations with the latter instrument may
be open to doubt, from the construction of the instrument
with a Civided object-glass. Three of the contacts must,
I fear, have been made with inferior instruments, but at
least three good observations of contacts have been made
at this station alone.
Mr. Marth, who is in charge of the station at Montagu
Road, on the railway between Cape Town and Beaufort
West, reports that two good observations of contact have
been secured. The observers at this station were Mr.
Marth and Mr. C. M. Stevens, with Corporal Thornton
as assistant. The instruments provided were a 6-inch
equatorial by Grubb and the fine Dallmeyer instrument
which was kindly lent by Dr. Warren de la Rue for the
observation of the transit.
At Aberdeen Road, Mr. Finlay, B.A., First Assistant
at the Cape Observatory, and Mr. Pett, Third Assistant,
were the observers. The instruments were 6-inch
equatorials by Simms, provided by the Committee; a
marine artilleryman, Gunner Shean, was sent out from
England with the instruments, and was attached to the
party as an assistant. The observations have been
perfectly successful, and the definition is reported to
have been fine.
Mr. Neison has also observed the contacts at Durban,
Natal, with a fine equatorial provided by the liberality of
the colonists for the observations. Therefore we have at
NATURE
[ Dec. 21, 188
least ten first-rate observations of the internal contact at
the phase accelerated ingress made upon one uniform
plan and with instruments of the same class.
The longitudes of all the Cape stations have been
directly connected with that of the Cape Observatory by
telegraph, and the longitude of that station has recently
been connected by telegraphic determination with Green-
wich. ?
The Greenwich times of the phase of accelerated in-
gress range from about 2h. 11m. os. for Madagascar to
2h, 12m. 8s. for the Cape Observatory. The Greenwich
mean time for the general body of observations known to
have been secured would not differ greatly from 2h.
11m. 48s.
But the observations made of this phase would have
been perfectly useless unless observations for compari-
son with them had been made at stations of retarded
ingress.
The stations selected for the observation of retarded
ingress were Jamaica, Barbadoes, and Bermuda. But
the Canadian Government also provided three 6-inch
telescopes; and one of their observers, Lieut. Gordon,
Director of the Observatory at Toronto, came over to
England to secure the necessary additions to the instru-
mental means, and to Oxford to make himself acquainted
with the arrangements of the other British stations. It
is to be feared that this spirited conduct on the part of
the Canadian Government has not been followed by the
success which could have been wishe1; but no official
reports have yet been received from the Canadian
stations.
The phase of retarded ingress has been successfully
observed by all the observers sent out in the British ex-
peditions, and the observations, from the telegrams
received, appear to have been perfectly satisfactory.
The observers at Jamaica were Dr. Copeland and Capt.
Mackinlay, k.A. Mr. Hall was to have observed the
contact at another part of the island away from telegra-
phic communication, and he has not yet reported.
The observers at Bermuda were Mr. Plummer, Lieut.
Neate, R.N., and Capt. Washington, R.E.
The observers at Barbadoes were Mr. Talmage and
Lieut. Thomson, R.A.
We have therefore, at these stations alone, seven good
observations of retarded ingress.
The Greenwich times of the phase of retarded ingress
range from about 2h. 22m. 35s. at Barbadoes, to 2h. 24m.
25s. at Bermuda. The Greenwich mean time for all the
observations will not differ greatly from 2h. 23m. 33s.,
and the available difference between the opposed stations
of accelerated and retarded ingress will therefore be
about 7oos., and an error of five seconds in the determi-
nation of the difference of the observers would not give
rise to an error of 700,000 miles in the determination of
the sun’s distance, because 5 seconds is only the 140th
part of the available interval. But even if the separate
results at a station should occasionally disagree, 10
seconds of time zw/er se there is no reason whatever why
the mean difference in time between the opposed stations
derived from seven good contacts at one end, and ten at
the other, should have an error of three seconds of time.
So that from the British observations of ingress alone it
should be possible to estimate the sun’s distance within
300,000 miles.
The stations at Bermuda, Jamaica, and Barbadoes,
which served for retarded ingress, are also available for
accelerated egress.
The egress observations at Jamaica and Barbadoes
are reported as satisfactory. Those at Bermuda were
apparently only picked up through clouds. It is possible,
therefore, that the Bermuda observations may not be
available, on this account, for combination with the other
observations ; but with the Jamaica and Barbadoes
observations alone we have at least four good contacts.
Dec. 21, 1882 |
These accelerated egress contacts were made, roughly,
about 7h. 47m. Greenwich mean time.
Corresponding to these, we have for the phase retarded
egress the New Zealand observations and the observa-
tions by Ellery and his staff at Melbourne. The observers
at New Zealand were Lieut.-Col. Tupman, R.M.A., and
Lieut. Coke. The internal contacts must have been
made about 8h. om. 30s. G.M.T.
Observations of this phase which were secured by Mr.
Ellery and his assistants at Melbourne must have been
made about 8h. 1m. 30s. G.M.T.
The failure of the Brisbane observations through clouds
and the partial failure at least of the Bermuda observa-
tions at egress have considerably weakened the weight
of the determination of the sun’s distance from the egress
observations. But the observations secured with the
large available difference of time of about 84os. should
most certainly give a determination of the sun’s distance
from the egress observations alone with an error less than
500,000 miles.
Besides the above observations, Capt. Wharton,
H.M.S. Sy/via, has been provided with two good tele-
scopes; and, if the weather has been favourable, will
have secured observations both of the ingress and egress,
having established himself at some station on the South
American continent, not far from the Falkland Islands.
The Greenwich mean times of internal contact at Capt.
Wharton’s station may be taken at about 2h. 15m. at
ingress, and 7h. 52m. at egress. The computed times for
the contacts at Capt. Wharton’s station would be but
little affected by any error in the assumed mean distance
of the sun, but they are influenced as much as the other
stations by any error in the assumed distance between
the centres of Venus and the sun at which the contacts
take place. Observations, therefore, at such a station
are of importance as a check upon the results obtained
from the comparison of results from stations of greatly
accelerated and retarded phase.
The longitudes of stations in Jamaica and Barbadoes
have already been connected with Greenwich through
Washington by the American observers by means of
telegraphy. Lieut. Neate has determined the longitude
of Bermuda through Washington, by the conveyance of
chronometers between Bermuda and New York, where
Washington time is available. Arrangements have been
definitely made for Lieut. Darwin, R-E., to connect Port
Darwin with Singapore, and thus the telegraphic longi-
tude of the Australian and New Zealand stations, which
have already been connected together, will be deter-
mined.
The longitude of the Madagascar station has been
determined by the conveyance of chronometers between
Durban, in Natal, and Madagascar, the sea rate of the
chronometers being ascertained by their rates during the
voyage between Durban and Cape Town.
It will be seen, therefore, that there will be no difficulty
in the discussion of the observations from the want of
accurate knowledge of the position of the observing
stations.
The observations of the British Expeditions have been
made by observers of skill, with excellent instruments,
under approximately similar conditions of illumination
and with sufficient optical powers. ‘he observers have
all been trained to observe the same kind of contact, and
that one of so distinctive a character that no dou ts about
the time record whick refers to the kind of contact
required for comparison with those made at other stations
should be possible. This point is one of the utmost im-
portance. In all attempts to determine the sun’s distance
from these contact observations we have to assume that
the “contacts observed” took place with the same
angular separation of the centres of Venus and the sun
as seen from the observers’ position on the earth’s sur-
face. There is no reason whatever why this assumption
NATURE
179
should be true unless the “contacts observed” are con-
tacts of the same class. There is an interval of more than
2om. between the “ external contact” at a station and the
“internal contact” at the same station. If, therefore,
any one should combine the time of external contact at
one station with the time of internal contact at another
station, without allowing for the motion of the earth
and Venus, in the interval of about twenty minutes he
would obtain a startling but very erroneous result for the
sun’s distance. The error thus indicated would, how-
ever, differ nothing in kind, but only in degree from those
which have, to some extent, unfortunately, brought this
method of contact into doubt.
The success of the British observations, particularly
at ingress, has, however, been so complete, that the
method of contact will now have a fair trial.
I await the result with perfect confidence. Neither the
method of contact nor any other known method can, with
our present instrumental means, settle the sun’s distance
to a hundred thousand miles. But the extreme range of
possible uncertainty, as shown by the difference between
the results obtained from Mr. Gill’s heliometer measures
of Mars east and west of the meridian at the opposition
of 1877, and those obtained from the differences in North
Polar distances between Mars and stars on the meridian
as observed at our principal northern and southern obser-
vatories at the oppositions of 1862 and 1877, is about
1,700,000 miles. All our other recent determinations,
which have stood the test of examination, fall within
these limits, and do not generally differ much from
92,000,000 miles. The contact observations of the British
expedition will, I feel confident, fix the true distance,
without any greater error than 300,000 miles, and should
settle the question whether either of the extreme values
mentioned can be the true distance, or whether their
mean is not much nearer the truth than either of them.
E. J. STONE
We have received the following additional communica-
tions on the transit :-—
THE observation of the transit of Venus here to-day
was attended with a remarkable, and I think hitherto
unnoticed phenomenon.
When the planet had entered nearly one-half its
diameter on the solar disc, its contour was _ barely trace-
able outside by the faintly luminous line of light noticed
by previous observers. But in addition to this a spot of
light extending through nearly 30° of the planet’s circum-
ference, and from its periphery zzwarvds for about one-
fourth of the radius was distinctly seen. The brightness
appeared greatest at the outside, and faded toward the
centre. This appearance was noted by me through the
great equatorial, by the aid of a polarising eye-piece, and
a magnifying power of 244. The position-angle of the
bright spot was approximately 178°, as estimated by me
(for, owing to the fact that the polarising eye-piece has
no position-circle, only an estimate was possible).
At the same time an assistant (Mr. J. E. Keeler), ob-
serving with a telescope of only 2} inches aperture and a
power of 70, was able to see the same bright spot quite
independently, and estimated its position-angle at 168°.
The position-angle of the planet itself on the solar disc
was approximately 147°. The bright spot was therefore
distinctly on one side of a line passing through the centres
of the sun and Venus.
The observation was repeated at intervals through
passing clouds for seven or eight minutes, and whatever
may be its interpretation, of the fact of observation there
can be no question.
There would seem to be no analogy between this very
peculiarly disposed and definite bright spot upon the
planet’s edge, and the small central spots described by
180
NATURE
[ Dec. 21, 1882
some (and whose existence is denied by others) which
have been seen on Mercury and Venus in transit, when
they have completely passed on to the disc.
S. P. LANGLEY,
Director of the Observatory
Allegheny Observatory, Allegheny, Pennsylvania,
December 6
THE transit was observed here in a cloudless sky
up to sunset, but the low position and great atmo-
spheric disturbance rendered measurements and observa-
tions of contact unreliable.
When Venus was half in on the sun, I distinctly per-
ceived a fine curved thread of subdued light on the
south-eastern edge outside the sun, and not reaching to |
the latter, nor extending far on any side. With three-
fourths on, the thread of light reached round the remain-
ing fourth outside, and completed the periphery. The
segment of light disjoined, as when first observed, would
seem to indicate a superior refractive power of the planet’s
atmosphere in the locality at the time.
A short time before complete ingress, the solar cusps
appeared to project out from the disc in double concave
forms to join the aureole. The aureole disappeared after
complete ingress, but the outer portion of the planet
seemed much less dark than the central, which was per-
fectly black within a dark brown ring of from 5” to 10”
in breadth. I saw no trace of the black drop or ligament,
and, indeed, I should imagine that the aureole crossing
the position of the ligament would prevent its appear-
ance. I found nothing like a satellite. I thought the
micrometer showed a diameter of the planet rather
greater from east to west than from north to south, but
the 4oz/ing of the limbs prevented any measures that
could be depended on. I remarked no distortion of the
planet as recorded by observers of the previous transit.
JOHN BIRMINGHAM
Millbrook, Tuam, December 8
IN a published letter, dated ‘Palermo, December 13,
1882,”’ Signor Cacciatore, Director of the Royal Obser-
vatory there, writes as follows :—‘“ The observations of
the transit of Venus, effected at our Observatory,
present results, both as regards the direct observa-
tions and the spectroscopic, to which the attention
of astronomers and physicists may fairly be invited.
Prof. Ricco, with the spectroscope, when the planet was
on the sun’s disc, and her image entered upon and left
the slit, observed near the spectral line B of the more
refrangible side, a very weak absorption band, and also
near the line C he saw traces of obscuration, but much
more weak and uncertain. The same phenomenon, P.
Tacchini writes me, was observed by him at Rome.
Moreover, my direct observations yielded an indication of
the ingress of the atmosphere of Venus upon the sun, as,
from those of Prof. Millosevich in Rome, this indica-
tion was obtained on the external portion of the planet.
The agreement of such observations made in different
places is of no little importance for determination of the
existence and the constitution of the atmosphere of
Venus.”
NOTES
M. BERTRAND, perpetual secretary of the Paris Academy of
Sciences, intimates that the French Government is anxious to
collect any information relating to Fermat, whose statue will be
unveiled very shortly at Toulouse. Those who pos-ess any
documents relating to Fermat are requested to communicate with
the secretary of the Institute.
amount of important scientific, as well as other information, con-
cerning the work of that institution, which is rapidly developing
| tasteful pattern of 600-candle power.
TuHeE Johns Hopkins University Circulars contain a great |
into one of the most comprehensive and efficient institutions
for research and education anywhere. In the number for
November, for example, we have notes on the papers read by
members of the University at their various societies as well as —
elsewhere, in mathematics, physics, philology, biology, &c.,
synopses of recent American scientific journals (mostly issued
from the University), besides abstracts of lectures, critical notes
on various subjects, and much other information. From the
seventh Annual Report moreover, it is evident that the University
has taken a strong hold on the American people, and that both
in the spirit and the letter it is amply fulfilling the intentions of
the founder. The list of the academical staff alone, professors,
associates, lecturers, instructors and assistants, fills three pages,
while the account of work in the various departments shows
that research has become a part of the everyday life of the
institution,
Pror. TYNDALL will on Thursday next (December 28), at
the Royal Institution, at three o’clock, give the first of a course
of six lectures (adapted to a juvenile auditory) on Light and
the Eye.
THE death is announced of Dr. Theod. Lud. Wilh. von
Bischoff, formerly Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at
Munich University, as well as keeper of the Anatomical Institute
in that city. He died on December 5 last, aged seventy-five.
On December 1 the Agricultural Museum of Berlin was
opened to the public. The curator, Herr Settegast, has arranged
the zootechnical division in a commendable manner. Numerous
paintings and sketches illustrate German domestic animals in
their agricultural aspect. In the zoological division there are a
number of interesting skeletons and skulls, amongst them a
human skull from the shell-tombs at Santos (Brazil).
THE French official journal ; ublishes a report on oyster culture,
which is in favour of the Portuguese oyster. It appears that
100 grammes of the flesh of this mollusc contains about I-roth
gramme of iodine, bromine, and chlorine, just twice as much as
the common oyster.
Messrs, FOSTER AND MARTIN, of Melbourne, have sent us a
graceful photograph of the comet, about which we have had so
much correspondence. The photograph was taken with a 3-inch
euryscope of 24 inch focus on an ordinary camera, not equa-
torially mounted, which doubtles:ly accounts for the elongation
of the nucleus. The paotograph is creditable to Messrs. Foster
and Martin, though it is not the first time a comet has been
photographed ; more than a year ago we reproduced the photo-
graph of the comet of the period, taken by Dr, Janssen of Paris.
Acta Mathematica is the name of a new mathematical journal
which wll appear this month, simultaneously published in
Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris. The editor in chief is Prof, J.
Mittag-Leffler, of Stockholm, and the publication has been
promised the support of the most distinguished mathematicians
of Scandinavia, Germany, and France.
Last week the Crystal Palace Company inaugurated an Exhi-
| bition of Electricity and Gas which gives even greater promise
of succe-s than that in which electricity was the sole object of
attraction. Gas at present occupies the largest display. Exhi-
bitors demonstrate the utilisation of gas, and there are many
practical illustrations going on. The South Nave contains a
great collection of all the best systems of improved gas lighting,
Sugg’s stand being distinguished by an immense standard lamp
of 1000 candle power and a series of suspended lanterns of
There are similar great
gas lights by Bray, Siemens, and others, which are submitted as
competitors against the electric arc lights. In the North Nave
there are numerous stands of electric apparatus and material.
Dec. 21, 1882]
NATURE
18t
THE annual meeting for the distribution of prizes and certi-
ficates in connection with the Institute for the Advancement of
Technical Education was held on Thursday night in the hall of
the Goldsmiths’ Company, Foster Lane. After the presentation
of the prizes, Dr. Siemens said that Sir Frederick Bramwell had
prevailed upon him to present the prizes on this occasion, and
had urged that he wasa fit personto doso. The distinction
made betwen ordinary and honour prizes, marking the addition
of some scientific knowledge to proficiency in applied science,
was worth the attention of all students. It was not sufficient for
after-life to be efficient in a craft or calling. Unless the work-
man also mastered entirely the scientific principles underlying
that calling, he might, in consequence of some invention changing
the modus operandi in an occupation, be left high and dry,
whereas with a knowledge of fundamental principles he could
adapt himself to changed circumstances. With regard to the
school in Cowper Street, he might say, having recently visited
it, that the lecture rooms and the laboratory for physical science
and chemistry were the most perfect he had seen, and he con-
trasted them with those in which he had himself received scien-
tific instruction. He remarked upon a deficiency he had noticed
in the Finsbury School—the indifferent accommodation and pro-
vision for the study of drawing, both artistic and mechanical.
He hoped that art and literature would not be neglected in this
scheme of education. Dr. Siemens said he hoped that through
the dissemination of pure and practical science a higher spirit
would take possession of the artisan, and that he would work
with the object of attaining higher results and higher ends
instead of discussing with his employer questions of hours and
wages.
THE American papers have been devoting con iderable space
to Prof. Henry Draper, whore comparatively early death is
regarded as a great loss to American Science. The 77zdune has
a long and interesting biographical article.
Mr. A. E, GArrop has published, through Parker and Co.,
his able and elaborate paper, re-written, on ‘‘ Nebulz,” which
gained the Johnson Memorial Prize (Oxford) in 1879,
ONE of the largest avalanches ever known in Western
Switzerland fell a few days ago near Ormons Dessus in Canton
Vaud. It carried away several houses, piled up a mass of ice
and snow 200 feet thick, and covered three square kilometres of
ground, Some of the ice blocks were 18 feet long. The
inmates of the houses struck were got out safely.
NEAR Tabiana (Italy) the remains of a fossil elephant have
been discovered. Two enormous tusks, two teeth, and several
bones from the skull were found. The objects found were
submitted to scientific investigation by Prof. Strobel and Dr.
Mariotti of Parma, They declared them to belong to Elephas
(Loxodon) meridionalis, Falconer. The tusks measure 3°2 metres
in length, and 0°28 metres in diameter at the thickest part. The
skull bones were so much decayed that they could not be removed.
It was resolved, therefore, to cover up the remains with earth
until next summer, when it is hoped that warmer weather will
be more favourable to further excavations.
DuRING a stay near the Suez Canal last winter, Prof. Keller
of Zurich made a study of the animal migrations due to the
opening of this means of communication. These are very
positive, though certain causes quite stop some species, or at
least retard their movements, especially (1) the too sandy nature
of the ground; (2) the large lakes; (3) the currents; (4) the
passage of ships, which derange the ova and larve ; (5) the too
great saltness of the canal water. From the Mediterranean to
Suez have passed since 1870, Solen vulgaris, Umbrina cirrhosa,
Labrax lupus, Balanus miser, Ascidia intestinalis, Some Medi-
terranean species are now on their way through (So/ea vagina,
Cardium edule, Spheroma), several fishes (Pristipona stridens,
Crenidens Forskali, &c.), and some molluscs (Cerithium sca-
bridum, Mactya olorina, Mytilus variabilis) have passed from the
Red Sea to the Mediterranean, while quite a numerous ‘‘cara-
van” is now resting in the basins of the great Bitter Lakes.
The fauna of the canal is still too poor for large carnivorous
species to find a living in it; hence rays, cuttlefishes, &c.,
do not migrate, Red Sea corals also have not passed into the
canal.
THE Overland China Mail gives an account, taken from the
Manila papers, of the typhoon which visited the Philippine
Islands on October 20, The typhoon began at eight o’clock in
the morning, and continued with unabated fury until about two
o'clock in the afternoon. Not a house in Manila escaped injury.
During the storm it was utterly impossible to walk in the streets,
owing to the force of the wind, which was rolling carriages
along like playthings, and keeping sheets of iron roofing floating
in the air like pieces of paper. It is said that during the
typhoon several shocks of earthquake were felt. No such de-
structive typhoon has visited the islands since 1831. The record
taken at the Observatory says that the greatest velocity attained
by the anemometers reached 144°4 English miles per hour;
nothing could resist this force of wind, The vortex was
touched at 11°40 a.m., when the minimum barometer reached
727 60 willimetres. The greatest vi.lence of the hurricane
could not be indicated, because all the anemometers were ren-
dered useless before the severest gusts came.
THE eleventh annual soi7ée and exhibition of the Lambeth
Field Club and Scientific Society will take place on Monday
evening, January 1, 1883, at St. Philip’s Schools, Kennington
Road, S.E.
Pror. GUSTAV VON HAYEK, an eminent Vienna naturalist, is
editing a large Atlas of Natural History. Five parts have
appeared, and the work will be complete in fifteen. Each part
contains eight plates folio size. Moritz Perles, of Vienna and
Leipzig, is the publisher.
“MyTHOLOGIE und Civilisation der Nordamerikanischen
Indianer”’ is the title of a little work just completed by Herr
Karl Knortz, and published by Paul Frohberg of Leipzig.
A VIOLENT shock of earthquake was felt at Siders (Canton
Valais) on December 5 at 3.40 p.m. ; the direction of the shock
was from east to west.
THE French Lower House has adopted the project of sub-
terranean telegraphic lines, which had elicited some criticism.
ON the 2nd inst. Dr. Finsch, who recently returned to Berlin,
after an absence of over three and a half-years, reported upon
his travels before the Geographical Society of Berlin. He first
proceeded to Micronesia in order to study the ethnology of the
rapidly disappearing natives of those groups of islands, From
Honolulu he proceeded to Oahu, where he visited the old burial-
grounds. At Maui he succeeded in obtaining a specimen of a
bird that is very nearly extinct, and from the scarlet feathers of
which formerly the royal mantles were made. In March 1880
he accompanied the German Consul, Herr Hernheim, to the
Caroline group, and saw the ruins of the celebrated colcssal
edifices there. In July Dr. Finsch proceeded to New Britain.
He stayed there for eight months, and then went to visit the
Maoris in New Zealand. At the beginning of 1882 he pro-
ceeded to New Guinea, in August he left for Batavia and then
for Europe, having travelled over 30,000 miles. THis collections
comprise 4000 ethnological objects from 43 localities, 290 skulls,
200 samples of hair, 200 casts of faces taken from living
individuals in 66 different places, 6000 vertebrata, 30,000 in-
yertebrata, 1000 plants, numerous minerals, 400 photographs,
and 200 sketches.
182
NATURE
| Dec. 21, 1882
THE Russian Geographical Society has addressed to other
scientific societies of Russia a proposal to collaborate in the
publication of a general description of Siberia. The Geogra-
phical Society undertakes for its part the publication of a
geographical description and of a general bibliographical index
of all works and papers on Siberia.
THE Belgian expedition for the investigation of the Upper
Congo has left Antwerp on board the steamer Yarkaway. The
party consists of Dr. van der Heuvel, Herr Schaumann, an
Austrian officer, and several mechanics. The expedition takes
out large stores of goods, including samples of the seeds of all
nutritious vegetables grown in Belgium. They are to proceed as
quickly as possible to the furthest of Stanley’s stations, and then
penetrate further if possible.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Chacma Baboon (Cynocephalus porcarius ? )
from South Africa, presented by Mr. J. W. Browne ; a Macaque
Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) from India, presented by Lady
Sibyl Tollemache ; a Smooth-headed Capuchin (Cebus monachus)
from South-East Brazil, presented by Mr. A. J. McEwen; a
Squirrel Monkey (Chrysothrix sciurea & ) from Guiana, presented
by Mr. M. Escaré ; 2 Rhesus Monkey (Macacus erythreus é)
from India, presented by Mr. G. V. Sawyer; two Leadbeater’s
Cockatoos (Cacatua leadbeatert) from Australia, presented by
Mr. C. J. Harvey; a Common Barn Owl (Strix flammea),
British, presented by the Rev. A. Reece ; a Ring-hals Snake
(Sepedon hemachetes), a Rhomb-marked Snake (Psammophylax
vhombeatus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. H. Pillans; a
Lesser White-nosed Monkey (Cercopithecus petaurista 6) from
West Africa, deposited ; a Long-eared Owl (Aszo otus), British,
a Marbled Cat (Féis marmorata) from Assam, purchased ;
a Red Kangaroo (Aacropus rufus 6) born in the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
MEASURES OF DouUBLE STARS.—We receive at about the
same time several important series of measures of double stars.
(1) ‘* Results of double star measures made at the Sydney
Observatory, N.S.W., 1871 to 1881,” under the direction of
Mr. H. C. Russell, Government Astronomer for New South
Wales. From 1871 to 1874 the instrument employed was a very
fine 7}-inch refractor by Merz ; after 1874 the 114-inch refractor
by Schréder was substituted, the same method of observation
being followed with both instruments. For the more difficult
objects, a pewer of 330 was applied on the Merz telescope,
and one of 800 on the larger refractor. The objects mea-
sured include about 746 of Herschel’s stars, and it is unneces-
sary to say more than this, to show the importance and value
attaching to the catalogue, no measures of a large number of
the stars having been put upon record since the publication of
Sir John Herschel’s Cape Volume. In addition to these objects,
however, Mr. Russell’s catalogue includes measures of 350 new
double stars detected at Sydney, and he remarks that it would
have been easy to double the number if he had adopted the
same limit of distance as Sir John Herschel, and without making
any very strict examination of the southern heavens, which will
be a hint to future workers in this branch of astronomy in the
other hemisphere. Some of Jierschel’s stars, Mr. Russell says, pre-
sent considerable difficulty, but are probably in motion ; thus +
Lupi, an easy double star in 1836, is now single under the
highest power on his large equatorial ; + Lupi, which Herschel
found ‘‘ excessively difficult,” is now quite an easy object with
the Sydney refractor ; 4 4854 is another star of the same cha-
racter; in June, 1872, it was easily divided with power 230 ; in
June, 1874, it could not be divided with any power; and in
July, 1880, it presented only a round disc with all powers on the
large telescope.
Mr. Russell has made an innovation in the manner of expres-
sing the dates of the separate sets of measures, which appears
an unfortunate one: instead of giving them according to the
u ual method, as fractions of the different years, he has three
columns with ‘‘ Day of the month,’’ ‘‘ Month of the year,”
and ‘* Year in the 19th century,” and this inconvenient expres-
sion of dates is not remedied without some trouble, by means of
the table at p. 68, showing day and fraction of year. The
computer of double-star orbits in taking means of sets of mea-
sures for an epoch to work upon, will hardly appreciate this
innovation.
(2) ‘* Micrometric measurements of double-stars ” in vol. xiii.
part I, of ‘* Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Har-
vard College.” This is a valuable catalogue of measures of
about 350 stars in upwards of one thousand sets, made with the
15-inch refractor at Harvard College, chiefly in the years 1866-
1872, under the direction of Prof. Winlock, but including a few
obtained by the Bonds, and by Mr. Waldo, which have pre-
viously appeared in the Proceedings of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, and in the Astronomische Nachrichten.
The catalogue includes nearly all the more interesting binaries
and many difficult objects. In addition, Prof. Pickering pub-
lishes a list of 179 double stars discovered at Harvard College
Observatory, some of which have been independently detected
by Mr. S. W. Burnham; these were found to a considerable
extent during an exploration of the southern heavens, occasion-
ally instituted in the intervals of other observations. In the
cases of some of the principal revolving doubles as y Virginis.
70 Ophiuchi, &c., the measures extend to the year 1876.
(3) ‘‘ Measures of the principal double stars in rapid orbital
motion,” made in the years 1875-1882, with the Merz refractor
of the Observatory of Brera, Milan by Prof. Schiaparelli; an
important series of results which will be most welcome to those
who are engaged in the investigation of double star orbits, since
in most cases, there are measures later than any others available
at the present moment. We extract a few of the more recent
mean results :—
Position Distance
° “
¢ Cancri (A: B) 1882°247 75°07 07980
@ Leonis eee 1882°363 89°99 O55
& Ursze Majoris 1882386 261°06 1°925
nCoronz Borealis ... 1882°503 135°37 0.594
4” Bootis 1882°521 120°40 0°795
¢ Herculis 1882°602 IOI’55 1°473
7 Ophiuchi 1882°600 252°13 1°860
70 Ophiuchi 1882°609 51°83 2°336
No trace of the companion of yy Coronz Borealis was visible
in the years 1875-1881. In 1882 a prominence was once
suspected at 120°, but at other times the star was single. In
1875-1879, however, this star was single in the Washington
26-inch refractor.
PHYSICAL NOTES
ProF. W. KOHLRAUSCH gives the following as the result
of recent experiments on the electric conductivity of the haloid
salts of silver. Chloride, bromide, and iodide of silver at tempe-
ratures above their melting-points conduct far better than the
best conducting liquids (sulphuric acid, &c.) at ordinary tempe-
ratures do. Chloride of silver conducts best, iodide worst of
the three. The chloride and the iodide of silver change their
resistance very greatly and suddenly on solidifying, the resistance
increasing more than a million-fold by cooling through 20°.
More remarkable still, iodide of silver undergoes absolutely no
change of conductivity at its melting-point (540°), but shows a
rapid decrease at the temperature (145°) at which it passes from
the amorphous to the crystalline state.
NEw combinations to serve for direct-vision prisms have been
suggested recently by several persons. Mr. C. D. Ahrens uses
a bisulphide prism cemented between two flint glass prisms,
giving a wide dispersion with little loss of light. Herr Fuchs
employs a single isosceles glass prism in the position of minimum
deviation, a silver-faced mirror being attached to the basal face
of the prism to rectify the ray after emergence. Signor A.
Riceo- has described a similar combination, a total-reflexion
prism being substituted for the mirror. He has also constructed
the second prism of the combination of a four-sided form, so
that it not only rectifies the ray which has been deflected by the
first prism, but also augments the dispersion of the first prism by
a nearly equal amount.
THE electric resistance of mercury is, according to R. Lenz,
affected by pressure. Between the limits of 2 and 60 atmo-
spheres’ pressure, the resistance of a quicksilver column 1°2
metres long, inclosed in thermometer tubing, diminished *o2 per
cent. for each additional atmosphere.
~~. os
Dec. 21, 1882]
NATURE
183
Pror, MELDE of Marburg proposes to study the force of
electric reaction as exhibited in the rotation of Hamilton’s well-
known ‘‘mill,” by attaching the ‘‘ mill” to a torsion fibre, and
observing the ovgue produced by the electric reaction. As
Tomlinson has shown, the ‘‘mill” will work when surrounded
by turpentine or other insulating liquid ; hence Prof, Melde’s
suggestion promises to prove of some interest.
Dr. H. P. Bowpircu has recently published in the ournal
of Physiology a paper on the optical illusions of motion, in
which he deals chiefly with the peculiar illusions of rotation,
&c., studied a few years ago by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson.
He entirely agrees with the latter experimenter in rejecting the
explanation advanced by R. Addams, and more recently by
Javal, that these illusions are due to muscular slip, and declares
that such an explanation is worthless, being contradicted by the
fact that motor after-effects in opposite directions are possible
for the same retina at the same time. Dr. Bowditch also thinks
that these persistent after-impressions of motion cannot be the
product of experience or association, because experience cannot
overcome, nor volition control or reverse them. He looks for
an explanation in the narrowness of the limits of distinct vision,
M. Berson has contributed to our knowledge of the magnetic
properties of metals by some recent researches on their degree
of magnetisation at different temperatures. The experimental
method followed consisted in comparing the magnetic moments
of different bars by Gauss’s method at different temperatures
while placed in a magnetic field of constant intensity. The fol-
lowing are the results :—With iron the total and temporary
magnetisations both increase up to 260° C., above which the
temporary magnetisation falls off rapidly, but the permanent
slowly. In steel the total magnetisation is also a maximum at
260° C., but the permanent magnetisation attains its maximum
about 240°C. The magnetisation of a steel bar magnetised
while cold is diminished by heating, whilst that of a bar mag-
netised while hot is diminished by cooling. This result appears
to be important, as it would follow that a magnct has its perma-
nent maximum power at that temperature at which it was mag-
netised, With nickel the total magnetisation increases up to
240°, and diminishes above 280° so rapidly as to be zero at
330°. But if magnetised at 280°, the magnetic moment during
the subsequent cooling first increases, then diminishes slightly,
but still remains greater than at the temperature at which it was
magnetised. Cobalt behaves like steel.
M. HEsEHUs publishes in the last volume of the ¥ournal of
the Russian Chemical and Physical Society an interesting paper
on his researches on “ residual elasticity ” (a rather difficult term
to translate), the e/astische Nachwirkung of W. Weber. With-
out attempting to deal with the immense range of phenomena
concerning permanent changes of shape of elastic bodies under
the influence of small but continually acting forces, M. Hesehus
has studied these changes in a few bodies, especially in lead and
caoutchouc, and has made an attempt to bring these changes
into connection with other physical phenomena. He comes to
the conclusion that residual elasticity depends to a great extent
upon the mass of the body, and its surface; that the elastic con-
ductibility depends upon, and increases with, temperature ; and
that the laws of residual elasticity afford close analogies with
those of heating and cooling of solid bodies, as well as with
those of phosphorescence and of residual magnetism and
electricity.
AT a meeting of the Russian Physical Society, M. Kraevitch
made an interesting communication on the results of his re-
searches on the elasticity of air, Narified air does not obey the
Boyle-Mariotte law, that is, in proportion as it becomes more
rarified its elasticity diminishes more rapidly than its density,
and becomes equal to zero, while the density has stiil a measur-
able value. M. Kraevitch observes that it would result from
these experiments: (1) that the atmosphere of the earth is
limited ; and (2) that our weights of gases contain an error, as,
however perfect the pneumatic machine, it cannot pump all air
from a vessel, if this vessel is lower than the pneumatic machine,
or the air is pumped from above. Prof. Mendeleeff, recognising
the importance of these researches, advised M. Kraeyvitch to
continue them on heavy gases.
{In a paper relating to recent studies of the Rhone glacier
(read at last meeting of the Helvetic Society of Sciences), Prof.
Forel formulates these four questions as, in his opinion, the
most urgent for a theoretic knowledge of the phenomena of
glaciers : (1) How and in what measure does the velocity of
flow vary in different layers of the depth of the glacier? (2)
How and in what proportion does the surface-velocity vary if
the glacier increases or diminishes in thickness? (3) What is
the temperature of the internal mass of the glacier? (4) What
are the laws of periodic variations of different glaciers? (For
this study it is desirable to know, in the case of each glacier,
the epochs of commencement of ; periods of elongation or
shortening).
HERR Herz has recently measured with special apparatus,
the pressure of saturating vapour of mercury at different tempe-
ratures, from 0° to 220° (Wied. Ann., No, 10). His numbers
are considerably smaller than those of Regnault ; and with Herr
Hagen’s they agree only between 80° and 100° C., being greater
below, and smaller above these limits. Between o° and 40° he
finds the elastic force of the vapour of mercury to vary from
0'00019 mm. to 00063 mm. It follows that at ordinary atmo-
spheric temperatures it is less than y~;5 mm. This result is
important in reference to barometers, machines, and Geissler
tubes.
S1GNor Martini has studied the sounds produced by outflow
of water through a cylindrical hole in a metal disc at the bottom
of along glass tube filled with the liquid (A/¢i del. R. Lst. Veneto,
5 ser. t. viii. 1882), In such a case one does not hear a series of
sounds of decreasing pitch, though the liquid charge continually
shortens ; but a certain number of distinct sounds. The sound
is due, as Savart proved, to the vibrations of the liquid vein ;
and the author verified Savart’s law, that the numbers of these
are proportional to the liquid charge and inversely as the
diameter of the hole. A pure sound of clear tonality is only
got if the sound of the vein is one of those the liquid column
can yield. The series of sounds from a liquid column of con-
stant length is that of the harmonics of an open pipe. The air
column above the liquid strengthens some of the sounds. The
sound is quenched if the tube is kept from vibrating. These
experiments afford a means of comparing the velocities of sounds
in different liquids. One has only to find what lengths the
columns must have to yield a particular sound (all air-bubbles
must be expelled), The author has tried alcohol, sulphuric
ether, and petroleum, and found numbers agreeing with those by
other methods.
Ir appears from recent experiments by Herr E. Wied-
mann (Wied. Ann., No. 12) that a number of water-contain-
ing salts, when heated, undergo chemical transposition even
before fusion. He has, in this inquiry, found two new modifica-
tions of zinc-sulphate and magnesium-sulphate, and determined
the changes of volume attending their formation. The general
result, he ‘points out, is of interest with reference (1) to deter-
mination of tension, inasmuch as it is necessary, first, to ascer-
tain whether a given salt remains unaltered or not within the
range of temperature considered ; (2) to researches on heat of
solution, &c., of a salt partly deprived of water by heating ; it
should be exactly determined in what form water and anhydride
salt are combined.
CHEMICAL NOTES
A RECENT patent by Mr. Morris, of Uddingston, N.B., claims
to have solved a problem which has long baffled the skill- of
technical chemists. By heating an intimate mixture of alumina
and charcoal, in a current of carbon dioxide, Mr. Morris says
that metallic aluminium is produced ; the metal is purified from
carbon and aluminium by fusion.
WHAT may perhaps be called the kinetic theory of chemical
actions, the theory, namely, that the direction and the amount
of any chemical change is conditioned not only by the affini-
ties, but also by the masses of the reacting substances, by the
temperature, pressure, and other physical circumstances—is
being gradually accepted, and illustrated by experimental results.
Thus Hammond (M@onatsheft fiir Chimie, 3, 149) concludes,
from experiments on the hydration of salts, that when a saline
solution is gradually concentrated various hydrates are formed,
but that the crystallisation of any one of these from the liquid
depends on the relative quantities of the various hydrates, and on
the temperature of the solution, Another example of the esta-
blishment of a state of equilibrium between antagonistic chemical
systems is furnished by the recent observations of L. de Bois-
baudran (Compt. rend., 95, 18) on gallium protochloride. When
gallium is dissolved in cold concentrated hydrochloric acid a
184
NATURE
[ Dec. 21, 1882
stable solution of the protochloride is obtained ; but when water
is added to the solution hydrogen is evolved and gallium
perchloride is produced.
HERR SCHWARZ describes (in Berichte der Deut. Chem, Ges.,
xv. 2505) three lecture experiments illustrative of the action of
zinc on sulphur : 2 parts of fine zinc powder are carefully mixed
with 1 part of flowers of sulphur, and the mixture is ignited by
an ordinary match ; combination occurs with evolution of much
light. Vapour of carbon di-ulphide is passed over zinc powder,
which is gently heated in a piece of glass tubing ; zinc sulphide
is produced, and a considerable quantity of carbon is separated.
Sulphuretted hydrogen is passed through carbon disulphide, and
the mixed gases are then conducted over hot zinc powder ; zinc
sulphide is produced, and a gas, which is passed through potash
and collected in a small gas-holder; this gas burns with a
slightly luminous flame, and explodes when mixed with air; it 1s
marsh gas,
NIson has prepared the rare metal thorium in considerable
quantity, and determined its atomic weight to be 232°35, specific
gravity about 11, and atomic volume about 21 (Berichte, xv.
2519).
M. MIKLUKHO-MACLAY ON NEW GUINEA
AMONG the queries that were submitted to M. Milukho-
Maclay before his departure from Europe, was one of
Karl von Baer, who advised the traveller to visit the Philippine
Islands, and to bring home several skulls of the natives, in order
to ascertain whether the primitive inhabitants of these islands
are brachiocephalic, or not. During a five days’ stay of the
clipper /zumrud at Manila, M. Maclay visited the Mariveles
mountains, and discovered there Negritos who lived in their
Pondos, or small huts made out of palm-tree leaves. Numerous
measurements (favoured by the custom of the men shaving the
back of the head) proved that they really are brachiocephalic,
the index being no less than 87°5 to 90 ‘Their size is altogether
small ; one wo.nan, mother of two children, measured only 1°30
metre. Their faces proved to be very much like those of the
Papuans of New Guinea, while their customs are much akin to
those of the inhabitants of many Melanesian islands. For
instance, when M. Maclay threw some remains of food in the
fire, the Negritos immediately extinguished it, and asked him
not todosoagain. The same prejudice exists with regard to
spitting in the fire (a very widely-spread prejudice, we may
observe, as it exists also in Russia and Siberia). Another in-
teresting custom of the Negcitos is that everybody, before eating,
must loudly shout out several times, an invitation to partake
of his food, to all those who may be in proximity. This custom
is very rigidly observed, and those who do not comply with it
are punished, even by death.
In August, 1874, M. Miklukho-Maclay undertook a journey
into the interior of the Malay peninsula, in order to settle the
question as to the race of its inhabitants—the Orang-Sokays and
the Orang-Semongs—about which question there existed a con-
troversy between Messrs. Logan, Newbold, Crawford, and
Waitz. M. Maclay went, therefore, from Singapore to Johore,
The Maharajah of Johore received him very kiadly, and gave
him the necessary men for the journey, as well as orders to his
subjects to help him in every way during his journey. In ex-
change, M. Maclay was bound to prepare a map of the domi-
nions of the Maharajah. The Russian traveller crossed the
Johore country twice—from west to east and from north to south,
The journey was very difficult, on account of the rainy season ;
the rivers and streams had inundated the couutry, even the
woods, and the party had to walk in water that reached to the
knees, and often to the breasts of the oxen. For seventeen
consecutive day; they were quite wet, as well as their baggage.
Reaching thus the mouth of the Moar river, M. Maclay jour-
neyed up this river in a flat boat, passing by Malayan villages,
reached its confluence with the Pallon, and went up the last
river, At its sources he discovered in the woods the first hats of
the so-called ‘‘orang-utanss.” This name is given by the
Malayans, not to the ape, Pithecus satyrus—they never call apes
by the name of ‘‘orang,” but to ‘“‘forest-men.” ‘* Orang”
signifies ‘‘man,” and ‘‘utang” a forest. Therefore the Malay-
ans say orang-bukit (men of the hills), ovanzg-u/a (men at the
source of a river), orang-dalah, orang-lau¢ (men of the interior
of the sea-shore), and soon. However, the name orang-ulang
* Continued from p. 138.
could be applied also to a Malay who stays ia the woods, but
still it is used to designate a tribe of Malays crossed in various
degrees with Papuans, as also with Melanesians.
Though the different tribes M. Maclay met with during his
journeys in Johore differ from one another, still none of them are
Melanesians. They forget their primitive language, and adopt
that of the Malays. M. Maclay presumes that formerly they
had several languages, and were divided into several tribes ;
some difference still remains in their customs. They are at a
very low stage of human culture. They wander in the woods,
and only occasionally come to stay in their mi.erable huts. The
Malays distinguish two different tribes of orang-outangs: the
orang-outang-dina (or tame, who are in intercourse with them),
and the orang-outang-liar, quite nomadic. These last use a
weapon, sa#mpitan, which deserves to be mentioned. It consists
of a hollow bamboo cylinder, two metres long and two or three
centimetres wide, through which they blow against their enemies
very light poisoned arrows, as large as knitting-needles. The
end of these arrows breaks, and remains in the wound, The
Malays say that the slightest scratch of such an arrow kills a man
in ten or fifteen minutes. M. Maclay purchased quantities of
their poison, which proved always to be made of a condensed
infusion of the bark of the Javan tree, Aztiaris toxicoria, or
Upas, to which different tribes add other poisons, such as the
poison of snakes, of poisonous kinds of strychnis, &c. A small
prick of a poisoned arrow kills a dog or a cat, the death being
accompanied by tetanus or not, according to the secondary
poisons added to the chief one. The Orang-outangs are rapidly
disappearing since they were driven by Chinese and Malayans
from the sea-shore to the woods of the interior. Besides, the
Chinese and Malays purchase their best-looking and healthier
girls, leaving them the feeblest, who leave but a weak progeny.
The children from the Malays and Orang-outang girls are far
more like the former than the latter.
After having crossed the Johore couatry from the mouth of the
Moar River to the entrance of the Indan into the Chinese Sea,
that is, from west to east, M. Maclay crossed the same country
from north to south, that is from the Indan to the Selat-tebran
Strait, which separates Singapore Island from the mainland.
He contracted, of course, a stronz fever during this journey, fifty
days long, and went to Bangkok, There he happened to receive
from the King of Siam a letter to his vassals of the Malay
peninsula, enj ining them to help M. Maclay during his further
travels on the peninsula, Provided with this recommendation,
the Russian traveller undertook a most adventurous journey,
namely, to walk from Johore to Siam. It was considered by all
his acquaintances as quite impossible, but he accomplished it, as
the small rulers of the southern part of the Malay peninsula did
not venture to stop him on his way, and preferred, each of them,
to despatch him to the next ruler. In this way M. Maclay
reached Siam, after a journey that lasted for 176 days.
In the mountains at the sources of the Pakkan River, M.
Maclay finally met with undoubtedly pure Melanesians, Orang-
Sakays, and made on them a few anthropol gical measurements.
They ditfer as much from the Malayans, as the Malayans differ
from the Papuans, and are like the Nesritos of Luzon. The
height of the men varies between 1°46 and 1°62 metres, and
that of the women from 1°35 to 1°48; the skull is nearly
brachiocephalic, that is, the widest is between 74 to 82 for men,
75to $4 for women, and 74 t» 81 for children. ‘The diameter
of the curls of the hairs is the same as with the Papuans, that is,
from 2 to 4 millimetres. The colour of skin is between the
numbers 28 to 42, and 21 to 46 of the table of Broca. The
plica semilunaris, oc the so-cilled palabra tertia, is more deve-
loped than with other races ; its width reiches sometimes 5 and
5°5 millimetres, instead of the 1°5 to 2 millimetres of the
Caucasian race. Finally the Orany-sakays have also a fold of
the skin at the interior corner of the eye which is known, when
pathologically developed, under the name of Zprcanthus. Like
the Orang-utangs they are disappearing; they nomadize in
forests, stopping at a few places to mass collections of camphor
and caoutchoue tree, of rotang and elephant bone, which they
exchange with Malays for tobacco, salt, iron knives, and various
rugs which they use for their dress. The dress of the men
consists of a girdle, a part of which covers the ferinacum: the
women have alsu a girdle of rotang, to which two rugs are
adjusted. The women are tattooed by lines and round spots.
The Orang-sakays, like other Melanesians, put in the partition
of the nose the Aayanmsh, that is, a long stick of bamboo, or a
spike of the //ystria.
on
“7
Dec. 21, 1882]
NATURE
The Orang-sakays are very kind to their womenand daughters,
who can even inherit the title of Patew. Their wedding customs
contain survival of the cu-tom of stealing brides. On a day
agreed to before, the bride, in presence of her parents and
friends, runs away to the forests, and the bridegroom, who
follows her after some time, must find her during a fixed lapse
of time. If she does not wish to marry him she can always
conceal herself in the w. ods so as not to be found. They have
maintained also the communal marriaze, that is, the wife passes
from one man to another fora certain time. They are much
afraid of death, and if a member of the c»mmunity becomes
seriously ill, they abandon him in the forest with a supply of
food, and leave their huts for ever.
In his fourth lecture, M. Miklukho-Maclay gave an account
of his cruise amonz the i lands of the Malayan Archipelago, aud
the islands of Micronesia and Melanesia, as well as of his work
in Australia, The anthropological researches in the Malayan
archipelago were far more successful than in Melanesia or New
Guinea. He had no longer to deal with wild tribes, and the
schools, hospitals, and prisons maintained by the Dutch on
these islands gave him many op, ortunities for anthropological
studies. M. Maclay thus made very numerous measurements
and photographs of Malayans, which will afford the necessary
materials for comparing them with other allied races.
In 1876, when going for a second time to the Maclay coast of
New Guinea, the indefatigable traveller had an opportunity of
visiting the islands of Western Micronesia. He found there
that the Micronesian race is very nearly akin to the Polynesian ;
but still, he thinks it is most probable that it contains a mixture
of Melanesian blood, which appears, especially in the more
curly hair; in several instances (on the Pelan I-lands), the hairs
were purely Melanesian, and the darkness of the skin and seve-
ral distinctive features of the sull showed unmistakable traces
of mixture with Melanesians. On the Lub, or Hermit Islands,
M. Maclay found a mixture of Melanesians with Micronesians,
and on the next group of islands, Escheker, or Eschikie, he
discovered the true border-line of the straight-haired Micronesian
race, The most important results of this },urney were published
in the Sttzungsberichte der Berlina Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie,
&c., meeting of March 3, 1878.
te In 1879 M. Maclay left Sydney on board an American
schooner for a cruise among the islands of Melanesia. He
visited New Caledonia, and journeyed in the interior of it, the
Loyalty Islands, and many islands of the New Hebrides,
making everywhere anthropological measurements and drawings.
Many inhabitants of the New Hebrides proved to be brachio-
cephalic. Thence he proceeded to the Santa Cruz Islands (where
Commodore Goodenough, several sailors, and Bishop Paterson
were killed by poisoned arrows), and made measurements of
those natives who came on board the schooner. Reaching then
the Admiralty Islands, he stayed there for two months, and
was enabled to complete to a great extent the observations
of the Challenger expedition. Visiting further the Lub or
Hermit islands, which are said to have been peopled by a few
natives Janded in a canoe from the Admiralty Islands, and
where the Melanesians are continually crossed with Microne-
sians, as the inhabitants bring every year sJaves and women from
the Ninigo group—M. Maclay proceeded to the Trobrian group
of islands which are very rarely v sited by Europeans, and thence
to the Solomon and the Luisiadea Islands. The journey lasted
for 409 days, out of which 237 were spent on shore. The
results were as numerous as impo.tant, the chief of them
being that brachiocephaly is far more usual in Melanesia than it
was before ; indexes measuring 81, and even 85, being not rare.
Further results of this journey were published in the /zvestia of
the Russian Geographical Society for 1881, and in a letter to
Prof. Virchow, which appeared in the Si/swngsberichte of the
Berlin Society of Anthropology.
M. Miklukho-Maclay concluded his journey by landing at
Somerset, on the northern extremity of Australia, and at several
places of the eastern coast, in order to make acquaintance with
the black Australian race. Jt is: known that several opinions
are current as to the origin of this race. Some anthropoloyists
consider them as Papuans, while others consider them as
Polynesians, and Prof. Huxley has made of them an independent
race of Astraloids. As far as M. Maclay’s observations go, he
1s inclined to consider them, like Huxley, as a race sui generis.
But he intends to retura again to Australia in order further to
study this question.
When staying at Brisbane, M. Maclay undertook an excursion
185
into the interior of the country to see if there really exists an
‘‘unhaired ” race, of which he was told in Europe. Close by
Saint George’s Town, on the Ballon River, he discovered a few
members of one family who really were representatives of the
Atrychia universalis; they had only a dozen hairs on their
eyelids, and said that they were already a third generation of
unhaired people. More details of this occurrence of atrychia,
together with observations on inherited yfertrichosis (hairs cover-
in * all the body and face) were given by M. Maclay in a letter
to Prof. Virchow which appeared in the Verhandlungen of the
Berlin Anthropological Society for 1881, as well as several other
papers on Australians (‘‘ Ueber die Mika Operation in Central
Australien ; Langbeinigkeit der australischen Frauen,” &c.).
At Brisbane M. Maclay had at his disposal very rich anthro-
pological material for the study of the comparative anatomy of
the brain of the Australian, Melanesian, Malayan, and Mon-
golian races, as the authorities had given him all facilities for
having fresh brains of representatives of all these races who died
in the hospitals of the port, or were executed. The Survey
Office of Brisbane offered him the use of its excellent photo-
graphs, which rendered him very great services. This rich
material, left mostly at Sydney, has not yet been worked out by
M. Maclay; but he can already state that the brains of
different races afford substantial differences in the development
of the corpus callosum, the fons varolit, and the cerebellum, as
well as in the relative development of nerves and in the grouping
of the sinuosities of the great brain.
Further interesting studies in comparative anatomy were made
by M. Maclay on the brains of Marsupials, as well as of the
Ornithorhynchus, the Echidna, and others. The chief occupa-
tion of M. Maclay in Australia being thus comparative anatomy,
he proposed to the Linnean Society of New South Wales to
open a biological station where everybody could ‘‘ undisturbed
and undisturbing”’ carry on biological and anatomical studies.
The success which has met his proposal our readers already
know of. The recently-founded ‘‘ Australian Biological Asso-
ciation” will take care of the new station.
The Geographical Society not having at its disposal the
necessary sums for publishing the scientific work which M.
Maclay proposes to publish, the Emperor has allowéd the sum
of 2200/. for covering the expenses of the publication.
THE RECENT AND COMING TOTAL SOLAR
ECLIPSE S *
“THE following note has been drawn up in anticipation of the
detailed accoun s of the work done by me in Egypt on the
eclipsed sun of 1882, May 17. which I am jreparing to lay
before the Royal Society, because as the next total eclipse occurs
next May, there is no time to be lost if any attempt is to be
made to secure observations, and I am of opinion that such
observations are most important.
I have prefaced the statement of the work done by a reference
to the considerations which led me to undertake it, and I have
added a scheme of observations which, in the pre-ent state of
our knowledge is, I think, most likely to produce results of
value.
1. In order to understand the recent change of front in solar
research which has followed the introduction of the view of the
possible dissociation of elemeutary bodies at solar temperatures,
and suggested the later laboratory, and especially the later
eclipse observations with which we are now chiefly concerned,
we must first consider what facts we may expect on the two
hypotheses. In this way we can see which hypothesis fits the
facts best, an] whether there are any inquiries possible during
eclip:es of a nature to throw light on the question.
2. On the old hypothesis the construction of the solar atmo-
sphere was imaged as follows :—
(1.) We have terrestrial elements in the sun’s atmosphere.
(2.) They thin out in the order of vapour den-ity, all being
repre-ented in the lower strata, since the solar atmosphere at the
lower levels is incompetent to dissociate them.
(3.) In the lower strata we have especially those of higher
atomic weight, all together forming a s)-called ‘‘ reversing
layer” by which chiefly the Fraunhofer spectrum is produced,
3. The new hypothesis necessitates a radical change in the
above views. According to it the three main statements made
in paragraph 2 require to be changed as follows :—
ae Paper read at the Royal Society, Nov. 23, by J. Norman Lockyer,
rRS
186
NATURE
| Dec. 21, 1882
(x.) If the terrestrial elements exist at ‘all in the sun’s atmo- |
sphere they are in process of ultimate formation in the cooler
parts of it. |
(2.) The sun’s atmosphere is not composed of strata which
thin out, all substances being represented at the bottom ; but of |
true strata like the skins of an onion, each different in compo-i- |
tion from the one either above or below. ‘Thus, taking the sun
in a state of quiescence and dealing only with a section, we shall
have as shown in (Fig. 1) C say containing neither D nor B,
and B containing neither A nor C,
“FiGe 16
(3.) In the lower strata we have not elementary substances of
high atomic weight, Aut those constituents of all the elementary
bodies which can resist the greater heat of these regions.
4. The conditions under which we observe the phenomena of
the sun’s atmosphere have not, as a rule, been sufficie itly borne
in mind, and it is quite possible that the notion of the strata
thinning out has, to a certain extent, been based more upon the
actual phenomena than upon reasoning upon the phenomena.
5. Take three concentric envelopes of the sun’s atmosphere,
6. Now take three concentric envelopes, A, B, C, so that
only A restson the photosphere. The phenomena will 7 the
main be the same as in the former case, z.e. the line C will still
| appear to rest on the spectrum of the photosphere, for it will be
| fed, so to speak, fron C’ and C”, though absent along the line
CBA at Band A.
7. Thus much having been premised with regard to the
| observations as conditioned by the fact that we are observing a
sphere, we can now proceed to note how the two hypotheses deal
with the facts.
Spectrum
Old Hypothesis.
I. The spectrum of each
element as seen in our labora-
New Hypothesis,
The spectra should xo/ re-
semble each other.
' tories should be exactly repre-
sented in the solar spectrum.
Fact.—There is a very wide difference between the spect-a.
Motion should be unequaily
indicated because the lines are
due to divers constituents which
2. Motion in the iron vapour,
é.g. Ma spot or a prominence,
should be indicated by the con-
tortion of all the iron lines exist in different strata accord-
equally. ing as they can resist the higher
temperatures of the i) terior
regions.
Fact.—The indications show both rest and motion.
A, B, C, so that C extends to the base of A, and B also to the
base of A, that is, in both cases to the photosphere. Then,
whether we deal either with the sphere or a section of it, the
lengths of the lines in the spectrum of the strata C, B, A will
give the heights to which the strata extend from the sun, and
show whether B and A respectively thin out. As the material
is by hypothesis continuous down to the sun, the lines will be
continuous down to the spectrum of the sun seen below as
shown,
The spectrum of iron in a
prominence should be vastly
different from the spectrum of
iron in a sun- spot, because a
spot is cooler than a promin-
ence,
3. The spectrum of iron ina
prominence should be the same
as the spettrum of iron in a
sun-spot,
as dissimilar as those of any two
elements,
Fact,—The spectra are
Dec. 21, 1882]
Old Hypothesis
4. The spectra of spots and
prominences should not vary
with the sun-spot period.
NATURE
187
New Hypothesis
The spectra should vary be-
cause the sun is hotter at
maximum.
Fact.—They do vary.
5. The spectrum of the base
of the solar atmosphere should
most resemble the ordinary
Fraunhofer spectrum.
The spectrum of the base
should least resemble the
Fraunhofer spectrum, because
at the base we only get those
molecules which can resist the
highest temperatures.
Facr.—As a rule the lines seen at the base are either faint
Fraunhofer lives, or are entirely absent from the ordinary
spectrum of the sun.
6. Quad the same element the
lines widest in spots should
always be the same
Qué the same element the
lines widest in spots should
vary enormously, because the
absorbing material is likely to
originate in and to be carried to
different depths.
Fact.—tThere is immense variation.
7. The spectra of promin-
ences should consist of lines
familiar to us in our labora-
tories, because solar and terres-
trial elements are the same.
The spectra of prominences
should be in most cases un-
familiar, because prominences
represent outpourings from a
body hot enough to prevent the
coming together of the atoms
of which our chemical elements
are composed.
Fact.—When we leave H, Mg, Ca, and Na, most of the lines
are el'her of unknown origin or are feeble lines in the spectra
of known elements.
8. From the above sketch, hasty though it be, it is, I think,
easy to gather that the new view includes the facts much better
than the old one, and in truth demands phenomena and simply
and sufficiently explains them, which were stumbling blocks and
paradoxes on the old one.
This being so, then, it is permissible to consider it further.
9. Let us first suppose, to take the simplest case, that the sun
when cold will be a solid mass of one pure element, z.c. that the
evolution brought ebout by reduction of temperatures shall be
along one line only.
Let us take iron as the final product.
(3-) We shall rarely, if ever, see the darkest lines affected in
spots and prominences,
(4.) The germs of iron are distributed among the various
strata according to their heat-re-isting preperties, the most
complex at L, the least complex at A.
(5) Whatever process of evolution be imagined, as the tem-
perature runs down from A to L, whether A, 2A, 4A; or A+
B, 2[2(A+B)], or X+Y+2Z, the formed material or final pro-
duct is the work of the successive associations rendered possible
by the gradually lowering temperature of the successive strata,
and can therefore only exist at L.
10, Now at this point a very importaut consideration comes
Fic. 5.
Then the sun’s atmosphere on the new theory gud this one
element may be represented as follows :—
Assume strata A—L.
tion of all strata from A to L.
Then—
(1.) The Fraunhofer spectrum will integrate for us the absorp- |
(2.) The darkest lines of the Fraunhofer spectrum? will be
those absorbed nearest the outside of the atmosphere.
in. It was stated (in 6) while discussing the conditious of obser-
vation, that whether we were dealing with strata of substances
extending down to the sun or limited to certain heights, the
spectral lines would always appear to rest on the solar spectrum,
and that the phenomena would 27 ¢he maiz be the same
II. This, however, is true in the main only, there mnst be a
| difference, and this supplies us with a test between the rival
188
NATURE
[ Dec. 21, 1882
hypotheses of the greatest stringency. The stratum B, being
further removed from the photosphere than the stratum A, will
be cooler, its lines therefore will be dimmer, and the lines of C
will be dimmer than the lines of B, andso on. So if we could
really observe the strata, the longer a line ts, 7.e., the greater the
height at which the stratum which gives rise to it lies, ‘he dimmer
the line will be.
12. Now our best chance of making such an observation as
this is during a total eclipse. We do not see the lines ordinarily
in consequence of the illumination of our air. As during an
eclipse before totality the intensity of this illumination is rapidly
diminishing, the lines first visible should be short and brighr,
and should remain short while the new lines which become
visible as the darkness increases should be of gradually increas-
ing length, so that the spectrum should become richer in the way
indicated in Fig. 5.
13. Further, the lines in 1 should be lines seen in prominences,
and not in spots, and relatively brighter in the spark than in the
arc, while the longer lines added in 2 and 3 should be lines
affected in spots, and of in prominences.
14. All these phenomena were predicted for the Egyptian
eclipse a year before its occurrence, and were verified to the
letter for the lines of iron over a purposely limited region.
15. The actual observations of the iron lines made at Sohag
are shown in the accompanying map, and these actual observa-
tions are contrasted with the lines thickened in spots, the lines
observed in the prominences by Tacchini, those intensified on
passing from the are to the spark. The Fraunhofer lines are also
given according to Angstrém and Vogel, and the iron spectrum
of the are and spark according to Angstrom and Thalén. The
observations during the eclipse were made 7 minutes, 3 minutes,
and 2 minutes before totality as the air was gradually darkened,
by which darkening, succe sive veils, as it were, were lified so
that the more delicate phenomena could be successively seen.
16. We begin with one short and brilliant line constantly seen
in prominences, never seen in spots. Next, another line appears,
also short and brilliant, constantly seen in prominences, and
now, for the first time, a longer and thinner line appears, occa-
sionally noted as widened in spots, while last of all we get very
long, very delicate relatively, two lines constantly seen widened
in spots, and another line not seen in the spark and neyer yet
recorded as widened in the spots.
17. The procession from the hot to the colder is apparent, and
the simplicity of the spectrum as opposed to the Fraunhofer
spectrum even yet, is eloquent of the gradual approximation
which would be still possible if the darkness could be greater
and our attack more complete.
18. It will be noted over what an excessively small range the
observations extend. We want similar observations over a wider
range during future eclipses, and to do this work properly many
observers armed with similar instruments must divide the whole
or part of the solar spectrum amongst them, preferably that part
between F and D which has been most closely watched in pro-
minences and spots by Tacchini and myself.
19. I next pass to another point on which an observation was
made in Egypt.
20. In Fig. 4 we considered the sun’s atmosphere, taking the
sipplest case, that of one element; but evolution and the
chemistry of our earth teach us that when the sun cools it will
a very complex ma-s chemically. If the laws of evolution hold
we need not expect that this will largely increave the complexity
of the hottest layers A and B, but higher up, say at H—I, t
complexity of chemical forms produced by evolution along t
fittest lines will be very considerable.
21. These strata H-—L may be taken to represent the corona.
Its spectrum, therefore, should not be a continuous one, but
should consist of an integration of all the radiations and atsorp-
tions of these excessively complex layers.
The spectrum of the corona, as I saw it in Egypt exactly
answered to this description. Instead of the gradual smooth
toning seen, say in the spectrum of the limelight, there were
maxima and minima producing an appearance of ribbed structure,
the lines of hydrogen and 1474 being, of course, over all. his
observation, however, requires confirmation, for the look I had
at the corona spectrum was instantaneous only.
23. This observation should certainly be repeated during
future eclipses with the proper ins:rumental conditions, +e.
small intensely bright image on narrow slit and spectroscope of
small disper-ion. I believe that, under these conditions, photo-
graphs could readily be obtained with the new plates.
ye
ne
1€
22
| exhaustive. I
24. Now an eclipse occurs next May at a critical time of the
sun’s activity, for, so far as we can see, we shall be nearly at
sun-spot maximum, and I hold that it will be a disgrace to our
nineteenth century science, if efficient steps are not taken by
those who are regarded as the leaders of science in this and
other civilised countries to secure adequate observations,
oc
25. So far I have only referred to those special observations
undertaken this year to discriminate between two rival hypo-
theses, but both hypotheses may be wrong in many points, so
that we must not limit ourselves to such observations, but collect
facts over the whole field, as has always been the custom in
eclipse expeditions.
26. In my opinion the following scheme shows the observa-
tions which, in the present state of our knowledge, it is most
desirable to secure. The scheme, I am aware, is by no means
give the observations in the order of im-
portance I attach to them, having regard to the present posi-
tion ef solar theory and the conditions of eclipse observations.
(1.) 6-inch equatorial of long focus, perfect clockwork, spectro-
scope with dispersion of at least five prisms of 60°.
Clamp point of disappesrance of sun at base of normal slit,
and record phenomena observed from ten minutes before totality
to actual totality.
a. Order in which lines appear.
é, Brightness and length when first visible.
The spectrum from A 4800 to A 5900 should be distributed
among at least nine observers.
Repeat observations after totality on point of reappearance.
(2.) 6-inch photographic lens of 4-feet focus, perfect clock,
same dispersion as above,
Clamp point of disappearance of sun on centre of tangential
slit and record phenomena observed from ten minutes before
totality to actual totality.
a, Order in which lines appear.
6. Brightness and length when first visible.
Repeat observations after totality on point of reappearance.
Same part of spectrum, same distribution as in (1).
(3.) 6-inch photographic lens as in (2).
Photographic phenomena before and after totality on slowly
ascending or descending or rotating plate, taking care to expose
only narrow strip of plate.
(4.) Ditto. Spectroscope of small dispersion, long slit.
Dec. 21, 1882 |
NATURE
189
Photograph spectrum of corona during totality on buth sides
of dark moon.
(5.) Prismatic camera.
gratin,
Use first order spectrum on one side and second order on the
other.
Commence two minutes before totality. Continue till two
minutes after totality on gradually ascending or descending or
rotating plate.
(6.) 6-inch photo. Jens as in (2), mounted on alt-azimuth.
Fine slit, One prism of 60°. To observe spectrum of corona.
(7.) Photographs of corona of short, m dium, and very long
exposure to determine form and true solar limit of apparent
corona due to the illumination of our air, using for the latter
purpose the photographic intensity of the image of the moon.
Tam aware that because Solar Physics is a new subject, and
one so entirely in the domain of jure science, the above scheme
may appear ridiculous to many, for if carried « ut in its complete-
hess its cost would perhaps amount to the sixtieth part of the
sum expended on the Transit of Venus in 1874. I have, how-
ever, felt myself bound to put it forward as an ideal scheme and
one which, if several civilised Governments do each a little, con-
certed action may help us in part torealise, I am informed that
the French and Italian Governments are already making pre-
parations for observations, and my desire is that we may be
represented on an occasion which, having regard to the duty
which is incumbent upon us to secure ob-ervations for_the use of
those who come after us, is one of high importance.
6-inch photo. lens as in (2), but with
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
The American Naturalist, November, 1882, contains :—On
the ancient man of Calaveras, by W. O. Ayres.—On the grey
rabbit, by S. Lockwood.—On the genus Nebalia and its fossil
allies, representing the order Phyllocarida, by A. S. Packard,
jun.—American work on recent mollusca, 1881, by W. H.
Dall.—Progress of invertebrate paleontology in the United
States in 1881. by C. A. White.—On the number of bones at
present known in the pectoral and pelvic limbs of birds, by R.
W. Shufeldt.—The Editor’s table—Recent l:terature.—General
notes.
Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Zooligie, Bd. 37, Heft 3,
November 1, 1882, contains :—On the structure and develop-
ment of Dinophilus apatris, by Dr. E. Korschelt (plates 21 and
22), The author would place the forms belonging to this genus
in a new family of the Turbellaria.—Studies among the Lampy-
ridz, by H. Ritter v. Wielowiejski (plates 23 and 24).—On the
deposition of bone in the skeleton of bony fishes, by Max Kostler
(plate 25).—On the origin and development of the green cells in
Hydra, by Dr. Otto Hamann (plate 26); see remarks on this
paper by Prof. Lankester, NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 87.
Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes de Moscow, 1d82,
No, 1, contains :—On the geology of the Windimir district, by
H. Trautschold.—New lepidoptera of the Amur land, by H.
Christoph (conclusion).—On the stone-growth of Sarepta—list of
the Staphylinide, and on some new lants of Sarepta, by A.
Becker.—On the geographical distribution of the hop in ancient
times, by Dr. C. O. Cech.—A protest relative to paleontological
nomenclature, by H, Trautschold.—Remarks on some anomalies
found in the form and colour of the plants in the various coun-
tries of the Russian territory, by Dr. A. von Riesenkampff.—
Note on an instrument to measure the intensity of gravity,
by A. Issel.—On crinoids, addenda and corrigenda, by H.
Trautschold.—Materials for a fauna of the Black Sea, fasc. iii,
Vermes, by V. Czerniavsky. In Russian, but the diagnoses of
new genera and species are in Latin.
Revue internationale des Sciences biologigues, October 15,
1882, contains :—Translation of Prof. Pringsheim’s ‘‘ Researches
on Chlorophyll.”—M. Roujon, on the faculty of speech in
mammals.—Prof. Abel, on the dangerous properties of fine coal
dust (translation).—M. Viguier, on orientation and its organs in
animals and in man,—Froceedings of the Academy of Sciences,
Paris.
Rendiconto delle Sessiont dell’ Accademia delle Scienze dell’ lsti-
tuto di Bologna, 1881-82.—We note the following: On the suc-
centuriate spleen of the dog, and on the reproduction of the
spleen by pathological processes that have abolished the function
of that viscus, by S. Tizzoni.—On adaptation of species to
environment ; new researches on the genetic history of Tiema-
todes, by S. Ercolani.—On the craniology of lunatics, by S.
Peli.—On congenital deviations of the vertebral column in
domestic animals, by S. Gottii—Function of the ccecum and
the rest of the large intestine, by S. Vella.—On polydactylia
and polymelia in man and vertebrates, by S. Ercolani.—On the
variations and the course of the river Po, by S. Predieri.—Meteor-
ology applied to the study of botany, with a description of a new
geothermometer, by S. Bertoloni —On some new electric figures,
by S. Villari—On electric shadows, by S. Righi.—On the
minute anatomy of the muscles in insects which move their
wings, by S. Ciaccio.— The elevation of the Bolognese Apen-
nines by direct action of gravity and of lateral pressures, by S.
ec eee researches on nerve-stretching, by S.
XOssl.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, November 23.—‘‘ Monthly Means of the
Highest and Lowest Diurnal Temperatures of the Water of the
Thames, and Comparison with the corresponding Temperatures
of the Air at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.” By Sir
George Biddell Airy, K.C.B., F.R.S., late Astronomer Royal.
The observations were instituted at the suggestion of the
conductors of the Medical Department in the Office of the Regis-
trar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, with the view ot
supplying some knowledge of an element which may possibly
affect the sanitary condition of the metropolis. The plan of
observations was arranged at the Royal Observatory of Green-
wich ; and the instruments were procured and mounted, and
repeired when necessary, under the care successively of James
Glaisher, Esq., and William Ellis, Esq., superintendents of the
Magnetical and Meteorological Department of the Observatory.
The self-recording instruments were attached to the hospital
ships successively anchored in the Thames, nearly opposite to
Greenwich ; and their records were read and registered by the
medical officers of those ships, and these written registers were
transmitted every week to the Royal Observatory.
Ihave been favoured by Mr. Ellis, who, at my request, has
kindly superintended the preparation of the results of observa-
tions of thermometers in the water of the Thames, with the
following remarks on the nature of the observations and the
elements for their reduction.
‘* The thermometers were inclosed in an upright wooden trunk
attached to the side of the ship, its lower portion projecting into
the water; the trunk was closed at the bottom ; the closing
plate, and that portion of the sides which was under water,
being perforated with holes, to allow the water easily to flow
through. The thermometers were suspended in the trunk, so as
to be about two feet below the surface of the water, and one
foot above the bottom of the trunk.
“The instruments employed throughout were, one for highest
temperature, and one for lowest temperature. For highest tem-
perature two constructions have been successively used: the
earlier, in which the mercury, with rising temperature, pushes up
a steel index, leaving it detached when the temperature falls ;
the later, in which the column of mercury becomes divided on
fall of temperature, the principal portion of the column beirg
left in the tube. For lowest temperature, a spirit thermometer
was employed, its index being contained within the column of
spirit. The index-errors of the two thermometers in use were
properly determined, and corrections for them were applied
when necessary.
“<The thermometers were read every morning at 9 a.m.
“*The observations of atmospheric temperature at the Royal
Observatory were made with the thermometers in ordinary use at
the elevation of 4 feet above the ground.”
It will be remarked that the indications of the thermometers
in the Thames were read only once in each day. I could have
wished that a greater number of readings could have been taken,
sufficiently numerous to exhibit the dependence of the tempera-
ture of the Thames-water upon the phase of the tide. But under
the circumstances this was impracticable. To establish a self-
registering apparatus was out of question ; and if ona few occa-
sions we had gone through the labour of making observations at
every hour of day and night, the conclusions deduced from those
few instances might hav2 been vitiated by accidents. But I am
able to assert positively, as a result from the reductions to be
exhibited in the following pages, that nothing has been lost from
the restriction of the plan of observation, It will be seen that
190
the daily change of temperature, produced by the aggregate of
strictly diurnal change (depending on the solar hour) and tidal
change (depending on the moon’s apparent position) is so small
that it is impossible to attach with any certainty a sensible value
to either of these causes.
I now proceed to describe the principal steps in the reduction
of the observations.
In the weekly publication of these observations by the Regis-
trar General, the weekly means of each observed element were
also exhibited. In preparation for a detailed publication of the
whole, I had the entire series of these weekly means collected,
each being accompanied with notes of the principal phases of the
moon, the occurrence of remarkable storms, &c., occurring
within the week. (This vészé exists, and is available for any
discussion which might be suggested ; I propose to offer it for
deposit at the Royal Observatory.) But on general examination
of the collected means, I did not perceive that any result could
bz expected which would justify the labour and expense of
printing the whole. For instance, if there were any re-
markable dependence on the phase of tide, different values
for the ‘‘excess of mean temperature of the water above
mean temperature of the air” would occur in the weeks which
included respectively new moon, first quarter, full moon, third
quarter, and these would recur with little alteration for several
months. But on general examination, I do not see anything
which would justify more technical discussion directed to this
point. Finally I decided on exhibiting only the means of de-
ductions as to temperature for each calendar month, and omitting
all other phenomena. As the succession of weeks and the suc-
cession of entire months do not generally coincide, the rule was
established to adopt the first entire week in each calendar month
as the first of the weeks to be used, in conjunction with three or
four weeks following, to form the monthly mean. Thus, some
months contain four weeks, and some contain five weeks. For
instance, the month of March, 1846, contains the five weeks,
March 1-7, 8-14, 15-21, 21-28, 28-April 4 ; but the next month
contains only the four weeks—April 5-11, 12-18, 19-25, 26-May 2.
By this system, the results, as far as they appear to possess
any value, are brought into the compass of five convenient Tables
of Double Entry, which, with their columnar and lateral means,
appear to give all the information that can be desired. The
contents of the several tables are :—
Table I. Monthly Mean Temperature of the Water of the
Thames.
Monthly Mean Atmospheric Temperature at the
Royal Observatory.
Monthly Mean Excess of Thames Temperature
above Observatory Atmospheric Temperature.
Monthly Mean of Diurnal Kange of Temperature
of the Water of the Thames.
Monthly Mean of Diurnal Range of Atmospheric
Temperature at the Royal Observatory.
The last line only of each of these tables is given in the present
communication to NATURE.
Table II.
Table III.
Table IV.
Table V.
Monthly Means, through a Range of Thirty-five Vears, of the
Principal Elements of the Temperature of the Water of the
Thames
| |
Excess of
Mecn ere Atmo- | tempera- Di ! Diurnal
ae «| SPheric | ture of the eae range of
Mont [Phe water | tempera- | Thames | Tange 0 atmo-
avLonth. © water ture atthe! above at- Renee | spheric
| apne. | Royal Ob-| mospheric "Th, of the | tempera-
MES. | servatory. ais DES AT rare
ure.
° ° ° ° | °
January ... ... 39°4 389 +0°5 1'9 96
February 40°7 40°4 +0°3 2 OM eeule5
Marebir 32.0 43°6 42°8 +0°8 EKO }| si Os)
Aiprile) G20": 50°0 48°7 +1°3 Be 18°5
May 56°3 54°4 +19 2 19°9
June 62°6 60°6 +2°0 232, 5 j|/zo:5
ulyxce, ce ci 65°7 63°9 +18 2%. | 2152
August ... ... 64°4 62°6 +1°8 2'0 19°6
September ...| 59°9 579 +2°0 UGie ieetosk
October... ... | 52°9 507), | +272 Zi0)) Ne Ang
November 44°3 42°3. | +2°0 21 a mS,
December 404 | 393 | +06 2:0 gi dote
|
NATURE
[ Dee. 21, 1882
And the following appear to be the legitimate epitomised
inferences :—
(1). The mean temperature of the Thames-water is higher
than that of the Observatory thermometers by 1°°5. But the
locality of the Observatory thermometers is, in hypsometrical
elevation, about 160 feet above that of the Thames thermo-
meters. It would seem probable therefore that the mean tem-
perature of the water is higher than the climatic temperature by
only a small fraction of a degree.
(2). This difference is not uniform through the year. With
some irregularities, the greatest excess of Thames temperature ©
occurs in September, and the least in February. But the
autumnal difference exceeds the spring difference by only 1°°6.
It seems not improbable that this is the effect of a slight commu-
nication with the sea, whose surface-waters have accumulated in
autumn the effect of solar radiation through the summer; with
contrary effect at the opposite season.
(3). The mean range of temperature through the day is
2°*r, And this expresses the numerical change from the
lowest solar temperature, or the lowest temperature in the
first tide, or the lowest temperature in the second tide (which-
ever may be the lowest), to the highest solar temperature,
or the highest temperature in the first tide, or the highest tem-
perature in the second tide (whichever may be the highest), It
is evident that the change of temperature due to the diurnal
change of solar action, and the change of temperature due to
each of the tides, must each, individually, be very small.
(4). It appears to me that the fundamental inference must be
this: that the material water is very little changed at Greenwich
by the tide. Although a vast body of water rushes up at every
flow, running with great speed, and sometimes raising the sur-
face by 20 feet, yet nearly the same water runs down at ebb,
and is again brought up, with all its contents, at the next flow.
These expressions are to be taken as modified by the descent of
fresh water from the land; but the amount of that water must
be small, in comparison with the mass which it joins in the
Thames at London.
(5). Ido not imagine that the tidal action has any beneficial
effect on the climate of London, except that probably the
agitation of the water produces mechanical agitation of the air,
and thus destroys injurious stagnation.
Mathematical Society, December 14.—Prof. Henrici,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Messrs. T. Woodcock, Hugh
Fraser, Major Allan Cunningham, R.E., and Capt. P. A.
Macmahon, R.A., were elected members.—The chairman
announced that in consequence of ill-health Mr. C. W. Merri-
field, F.R.S., had been obliged to resign the office of treasurer,
and that the council had elected Mr. A. B. Kempe, F.R.S., to
undertake the duties of the office. Dr. Hirst spoke in feeling
terms of the work Mr. Merrifield had done for the Society, and
in accordance with his suggestion a vote of thanks for his
services in the past, and of condolence with him on account of
the reasons which had led him to sever his official connection
with the Society was carried.—The following communications
were made :—On the vibrations of a spherical shell, by Prof. H.
Lamb.—On the absolutely least periods of the elliptic functions,
by Prof. H. Smith, F.R.S.—On certain relations between
volumes of loci of connected points, by Mr. E. B. Elliott.—
Geometrical proof of Griffiths’ extension of Graves’ theorem,
by Mr. J. J. Walker.—On polygons circumscribed about a
tricuspidal quartic, by Mr. R. A. Roberts.—Note on an excep-
tional case in which the fundamental postulate of Prof, Syl-
vester’s theory of Tamisage fails, by Mr. J. Hammond.—On
certain quartic curves, which have a cusp at infinity, whereat
the line at infinity is a tangent, by Mr. H. M. Jeffery, F.R.S.
Zoological Society, November 28.—Prof. W. H. Flower,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier ex-
hibited and made remarks upon the skull of a rhinoceros from
Borneo; also the horns of a buffalo and deer from the same
country.—Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited a specimen of the South
African Eagle-Owl (Budo maculosus), said to have been obtained
many years ago near Waterford in Ireland.—Mr. R. Bowdler
Sharpe exhibited and made remarks on some specimens of
Swifts from the Congo. Mr. Sharpe also exhibited a specimen
of Macherhamphus alcinus which had been obtained in Borneo
by Mr. Everett.—A communication was read from Prof. Owen,
C.B., on the sternum of /Vofornis and on sternal characters.—
A communication was read from Dr. A. B. Meyer, C.M.Z.S.,
in relation to the adoption by naturalists of an international
#7 a?) er
Dec. 21, 1882]
colour-scale in describing the colours of natural objects.—A
communication was read from Dr. W. Blasius, of Brunswick,
containing a description of a small collection of birds made by
Dr. Platen in the island of Ceram. The collection contained 49
specimens referable to 21 different species, one of which was
new to the fauna of Ceram.—A communication was read from
Mr. E. P. Ramsay containing the description of a new species
of Monarcha from the Solomon Islands, proposed to be called
Monarcha (Piezorhynchus) brownt.—Mr. W, Bancroft Espeut
read a paper on the acclimatisation of the Indian Mungoos
(Herpestes griseus) in Jamaica, The author explained that the
object in introducing the Mungoos into Jamaica was the destruc-
tion of the rats, which had committed serious ravages among
the sugar and coffee crops. The first Mungooses were intro-
duced in 1871, and so beneficial was the effect produced, that
the saving to the sugar and coffee planters now was estimated at
least at 100,000/. a year.—Lieut.-Col. Godwin-Austen read a
paper describing specimens (male and female) of Phastanus
fumie, Hume, which had been obtained by Mr. Ogle on the
peak of Shiroifurar in North-East Munipur, upon the Naja
Hills. —A communication was read from Mr. A, Thomson con-
taining the results of some observations made by him during the
rearing of a species of Stick-insect (Baci//us patellifer) in the
Society’s Insect-house.
Chemical Society, December 7.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in
the chair.—The following papers were read :—On the conden-
sation products of oenanthol, by W. H. Perkin, jun. The author
bas endeavoured to obtain evidence as to the constitution of
these bodies. By the action of dilute alcoholic potash on
oenanthol, an acid, C,4H.gO., was formed, boiling at 270°-298°,
and two aldehydes, C,,H.,0, boiling 277°-279°, and C,,H,,O,
boiling 330°-340°. Zine chloride forms with oenanthol princi-
pally C,,H,,0 ; nascent hydrogen converts this last substance
first into an alcohol, Cy,H,gO, and finally into the alcohol,
C,,;H3)0. Alcoholic potash converts C,,H.,O into heptylic
acid and an acid, C,,H.,0,. The author concludes that the
substance C,,H,,0 is hexylpentylacrylic aldehyd.—On the con-
densation products of isobutyl aldehyd, by W. H. Perkin, jun.
Fossek has also recently worked on this subject, but has used
aque us potash, the action of which seems to be very different
from that of alcoholic potash. Thus the latter forms an acid,
C,,H,03, not solidifying at — 10°. Fossek obtained with
aqueous potash an acid, CsH,,03, melting at 75°. The author
prepared an aldehyd, C,,H..O,, and from this, by nascent
hydrogen, analeohol. By the action of strongér potash upon
isobutyl-aldehyde, higher condensation products were obtained.
—On a condensation product of phenanthraquinone with ethylic
acetoacetate, by F. R. Japp and F. W. Streatfield. This sub-
stance has the formula C,,H,,O,, and erystallises from benzene
in white silky needles, fusing at 185°; it is ethylicphenanthroxy-
leneacetoacetate ; by treatment with hydriodic acid it forms
ethylicphenanthroxylenisocrotonate, fusing at 124°. A new acid
and a new compound, which the authors believe to be the
desoxybenzoin of phenanthrene, have also been obtained.—On
the constitution of lophin, by Dr. Armstrong, The author con-
siders that the symmetrical formula proposed by Radziszewski is
to be preferred to that proposed by Dr. Japp.—On the constitu-
tion of basic ferric sulphate, by S. U. Pickering. By the deter-
mination of its molecular weight, this salt has the formula
Fe,(SO,),, 5Fe,:03.—On the chemistry of Hay and ‘‘ Ensilage,”
by F. W, Toms.—On certain brominated carbon compounds
obtained in the manufacture of bromine, by S. Dyson. Ina
bye product the author has detected carbon tetrabromide, brom-
oform, and chlorobromoformi—Note on the preparation of
diphenylenketone ether, by W. II. Perkin.
Anthropological Institute, November 28.—General Pitt-
Rivers, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Dr. W. G. Parker
read a paper on the language and people of Madagascar. The
language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group, being most
nearly allied to the Malay proper. The various dialects,
numbering more than sixteen, are essentially only one language.
It is soft, musical, phonetic, and easily learned by Europeans.
Until the early part of the present century it was a spoken lan-
guage only, but the English missionaries reduced it to its present
form, our own English alphabet being adopted, with the excep-
tion of the letters ¢, 7, #, w, x, which have no equivalent sounds
in Malagasy. The vowels are four in number, and the con-
sonants sixteen, pronounced as in English, with the exception of
g, which is always hard (as in gaée), and 7, which has the sound
of dz (as in adge). There are only two real diphthongs. In
NATURE
191
pronunciation every vowel or diphthong must be clearly sounded,
and the accents properly placed, because often the alteration of
one vowel, or of the place of the accent, is the only means of
distinguishing similar sounding words. The author then gave
the six chief rules of syntax, and explained the grammatical
structure of the language. In the second part of the paper the
peculiar geographical position of Madagascar was first noticed.
Its estimated population (from four to four and a half millions),
and its chief structural features, with a special notice of the
central plateau. There are a great many tribes in Madagascar,
but all are divi-ible into two distinct classes, according to their
race-origin, Malay and African. Their forms of government
are (I) petty absolute monarchies over the greater part of the
island ; (2) among the Hovas tribe it is nominally an absolute
monarchy, really an oligarchy, the head of which has almost
regal power. The office of Prime Minister is not peculiar to
the Hoyas, tribes on the north and west coasts also possessing
the same institution; but only among the Hovas is the Prime
Minister not only the factotum, but also the ‘‘ ex-officio husband
to the queen.” A short sketch of the new code of Hova laws
was next given, this being the only tribe which possesses
a code of laws. An outline of the history of Madagascar
was given, showing the origin of the present form of
government among the Hovas, the tribe which seeks to possess
the entire island. Lastly, reference was made to the French
claims against Madagascar, now being put forward, and their
effect upon British interests. These claims are: (1) the demand
that French subjects should be allowed to buy, sell, and own
land in Madagascar ; (2) the claims of private individuals ; (3)
the establishment of a French Protectorate over a large part of
the island. The French are now acting in accordance with a
preconcerted (and published) plan for invading and conquering
the whole of the island. As affecting the interests of the British
Empire, the possession of Madagascar by France will enable
that Power, if at war with us, to endanger or even stop our lines
of communication with our Indian, Australian, and other
colonies, by the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope route.
In the discussion that followed the Rev. James Sibree, the Rev.
W. C. Picker-gill, Prof. Gustav Oppert, Mr. A. H. Keane, and
others took part.
BERLIN
Physiological Society, November 24.—Prof. Du Bois-
Reymond in the chair.—Dr. A. Fraenkel read a paper upon the
further results of experiments which he had made in conjunction
with Dr. Geppert to determine the influence of a rarefied atmo-
sphere upon the animal organism. Some of the results of these
investigations had been brought before the last meeting of the
Society by Dr. Geppert (aztec, p. 120). Besides the general pheno-
mena and the behaviour of the gases of the blood in animals which
breathe ina rarefied atmosphere, investigations were made as to the
influence of rarefaction upon blood-pressure. The blood-pres-
sure was read off upon a manometer which was outside the box
in which the animal, the subject of experiment, was kept ex-
posed to various degrees of rarefaction. One arm of the mano-
meter communicated through the side of the box with an artery
of the animal, while the other arm was in communication with
the general cavity of the box. When the atmospheric pressure
sank to half the normal amount, the blood-pressure showed no
change; when the pressure sank to a third of an atmosphere, a
small rise took place in the blood-pressure. This rise, how-
ever, passed away during the sleep that occurred under the
influence of this amount of rarefaction, and the pressure became
normal again. When the air was still further rarefied till the
pressure was as low as one quarter of an atmosphere or less, the
pulse became weak and small, the blood pressure went down, and
then if normal quantities of oxygen were not quickly restored, the
heart stopped. The chief aim of the whole investigation was
the definite determination of the influence of a rarefied atmo-
sphere upon metastasis (Stoffwechsel), upon which question, up to
the present, only few, and even these contradictory, data were
existent. The authors agreed in general with M, Paul Bert, in
regarding the effect of a rarefied atmosphere as inducing a chemical
change which was brought about by a diminished supply of
oxygen. The amount of urea secreted in the twenty-four hours
was taken as the measure of metastasis. During a lengthened
period of observation on those days in which the animals thus
experimented on had the same amount of food, the quantity of
urea secreted in the twenty-four hours remained constant. Nor
was there any alteration in the amount of urea when they were
exposed to variations of pressure down to half an atmosphere.
192
NATURE
[ Dec. 21, 1882
On the diminution of the pressure to one third of an atmo-
sphere, at and under which pres ure the amount of oxygen con-
tained in the blood is markedly diminished, and the auimal falls
into a deep sleep, there was, after this clegree of rarefaction had
lasted several hours, a very remarkable increase in the amount
of urea. This increase did not occur till the next day in the
case of animals which had been fed, whereas it occurred on the
day of the experiment in the case of those animals which were
kept hungry, but it in all cases lasted over a couple of days after
the experiment. Dr. Fraenkel’s belief is that the rarefaction
influences the metastasis by depriving the blood and the tis~ues
of some of their necessary oxygen, and that this want of oxygen
entails an excessive destruction of albumen, the constituents of
which are in part deposited as fat, and in part are changed into
urinary products. Besides the increased elimination of urea,
fatty degeneration of tissues (¢.g. of the heart) is observed when
the system is in want of oxygen.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, I’ecember 11.—M. Jamin in the
chair.—M. Faye presented the Connaissance des Temps for
1883, and noted some improvements.—Observation of the
transit of Venus in the Argentine Republic, by M. Mouchez.
Good observations were made at the two stations, by MM. Beuf
and Perrin.—M. Mouchez stated that the weather prevented
observations on the Pic du Midi.— Installation and preliminary
operations of the mission for observation of the transit of Venus,
at Fort-de-France, by M. Tisserand.—Observations of the transit
at Marseilles Observatory, by M. Stephan. There were five
observers. The phenomenon was seen through a veil of vapours,
and M. Stephan does not think this unfavourable ; perhaps,
indeed, it is the best condition possible (the solar intensity being
weakened), if the observer do not lose his sazg-froid, through
fearing too great obscuration. The black drop was not seen.
(Data for the first two contacts are furnished.)—New facts con-
cerning rabies, by M. Pasteur, with MM. Chamberland, Roux and
Thuillier. All forms of rabies come from the same virus, Death
after inoculation with rabid saliva may be either from a
microbe found in the saliva, from formation of much pus, or
from rabies. The virus of rabies is found not only in the
medulla oblongata, but in the brain and spinal cord. Rabies
may be produced certainly and quickly, either by trepanation and
inoculation, or by intravenous injection. The symptoms are
different in the two cases. Animals sometimes recover after the
first symptoms of rabies, never after the acute symptosm. The
authors have now four dogs which cannut take rabies, however
inoculated. Whether this is from having had a mild form of it and
recovered, or from being naturally refractory, he cannot at
present say.—Separation of gallium, by M. Lecoq de Boisbau-
dran.—New studies tending to establi-h the true nature «f
glairine or barégine, and the mode of its formation in the thermal
and sulphurous waters of the Pyrenees, by M. Joly. The con-
crete glairine of chemists, found in all those waters, consists
essentially of detritus of a host of animals and plants, with some
inorganic substances (crystals of sulphur, sulphate of iron, silica,
&c.), and very often Sw/phuraria, a true Oscillator.—On the
conservation of solar energy ; reply to Dr. Siemens, by M. Hirn.
—Examples of black seen as orange red, by M. Trécul. A
lady’s black veil, in full sunlight, seemed orange red at the nodes of
the tissue, while the internal parts remained black. The dye in this
case was a very dark blue; and the orange-red is complementary.—
Effects of lightning on the top of the Puy-de-Déme, by M. Alluard,
The ane. ometer cups (of red copper) at the top of an iron mast
(6 m. high, and having a ladder and stand largely iron; also
connected with earth plates), all show traces of fusion in their
upper parts, and the fused matter is raised as a cone. (St.
Elmo’s frre often appears at the salient points of the mast, &c.)
— Observations made during the viticolar campaign 1881-82, by
M. Boiteau.—Factitious purulent ophthalmia produced by the
liquorice liana, or jequirity, by M. Moura-Brazil—M. de
Lesseps presented a note on M. Wiener’s explorations in the
regions of the Amazon.—The Secretary read telegrams from
Brazil, Washington, Oran, Nice, Bordeaux, &c., regarding the
transit of Venus.—Observation of the transit at Chatsandun, by
M. Lescarbault. He describes a greyish yellow luminous fringe
seen all round the planet when this was three-fourths on the
sun ; it persisted till entrance was completed.—Observations of
the transit at the Roman College, by P. Tacchini. He observed
the contacts successfully with the spectroscope applied to a Merz
refractor ; while Prof, Millosevich observed in the ordinary way.
He verified the absorption by the Venus atmosphere, found the
planet's diameter 67°25, &c.—Observations of solar spots and
facule during the third quarter of 1882, by the same. The
spots show a diminuion, with well-marked secondary mini-
mum in August. The facule had nearly the same ex-
tension as in the preceding quarter. While their size
diminishes, that of the spots increases.—On the great solar
spot of November, 1882, and the magnetic perturbations
that accompanied its appearance, by the same. It showed
maximum activity at the middle of the disc, and afforded the
rare opportunity of distinguishing solar protuberances in the dise
as easily as on the limb, —Observations of the great Southern
Comet, by M. Jacquet. A sketch is furnished, taken on board
the Niger, at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.—On Fourier’s
series, by M. Halphen.—On solids of equal re-istance, by M.
Léauté.—On a communication of M. Deprez, relative to the
transport of force, by M. Lévy.—Displacements and deforma-
tions of sparks by electrostatic actions, by M. Righi.—On the
atomic weight of yttrium, by M. Cleve. He obtains 89°02 and
88-9, with different values for O and S.—On a fish at great
depths in the Atlantic, the Zurypharynx pelecanoides, by M.
Vaillant. This was brought up from a depth of 2300m. off the
coast of Moroce>, during a cruive of the Zravatieur. It is
about a foot and a half long, quite black, and remarkable for its
enormous and disproportionat- mouth (like a pelican’s). It has
no swimming-bladder and few fins, peculiar branchiz, &c. The
genus Malacosteus seems the nearest.—On a new fossil in ect of
the order of Orthoptera, from the coal-mines of Commentry
(Allier), by M. Brongniart. It is of remarkable size, and is
named Zitanophasma Fuyoli. The author canot say whether it
was winged or not.—On the meteorological fauna of the
Varangerfjord, by MM. Pouchet and de Guerne.—The Sucto-
ciliates, a new group of Infusoria, intermediate between the
Ciliates and the Acinetians, by de Merejkowsky.—Influence of
excitability of mu-cle on its mechan:cal work, by M. Mendels-
sohn. Fora certain ten ion the mechanical work of a single
contraction of a more excitable muscle is greater than that of a
muscle of normal excitability. But the number of successive
works the former cin do till exhaustion, and their sum total, is
less ; and the length of time it can perform a series of works
with a given load, till exhaustion, is less.—Vegetation of wheat
by M. Risler.—Conditions of production of Epinastia in leaves,
by M. Mer.
CONTENTS PacE
Diseases oF Memory. By Grorce J. Romanes, F.R.S. . . 169
Eastern Asta. By A. H, KEANE ~- «© - - + © © «© «© = @ 170
Our Book SHELF :—
Taschenberg’s ‘‘ Die Insekten nach ihren Schaden und Nutzen’’. 172
Potts’s *'@utan the Open’... 3. = =; oy ve Cel atl eee
Anderson's ‘‘Catalogue of Mammalia in the Indian Museum,
Galeutta? oO Sai he cuictes Pema re cm 172
Houghton’s Microscope and some of the Wonders it Reveals”. 173
Robinson's ‘* Flora of Essex County, Massachusetts"’ . . . «+ 173
Jones's “Catalogue of the Fossil Foraminifera in the British
Museum (Natural History)”. . . . . «© = « + «© «© = » 173
LuTTERS TO THE Epiror:—
The Aurora and its Spectrum.—Hon. RALPH ABERCROMBY. . 173
Swan Lamp Spectrum and the Aurora.—J. Munro. , oo yet
The Meteor of November 17.—W. M. F.P.. . . . « + + + 173
Invertebrate Casts —Dr. H. A. HaGen (With Diagram) . . « 1373
The Scream of the Young Burrowing Owl sounds like the Warning
of the Rattlesnake.—S. GARMAN « - «© 6 + e «© @ 8 + 174
Fertilisation of the Common Speedwell.—A. MaCKRNZIE STAPLEY 174
Complementary Colours at the Falls of Niagara.—H. G. MADAN. 174
M:=) Dunas) ete ee en cece ete’ At Kal ts 174
Tue MergoROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY ON Ben Nevis «' A locptemeskit
Notes oN THE GEoLtocy oF Honckonc. By F. WarRINGTON
EASTEAKED fe) See fer cl os ee ee Ss RS Ss See) Sot oom a
Transit oF VENUS, 1882—BritisH Exrepirions. By E. J. Strong,
F.R,S.; Prof. S. P. LanGiey; JoHN BirMINGHAM. . «© + + + 177
NODESiares pie) Retetey Comes) co) tele Met re ete = ee 180
Our AsTRONOMICAL CoLuMN:—
Measures of Double Stars . . «© . - « - + = +182
PHYSICAL NOTES:2 (6) Gy «cs Mepast/ lee Se RR ONEE lao) =
CuHEemMicaL NoTES. « - - = «© = = © == 183
M. MiktuKHo-Mactay on New GuINEA . . - - «+ + + «© « «+ 184
Tue Recent aNp CominG Torat Sorar Ectirses. By J. NorMAN
Lockyer, F.R.S. (With [dlustrations). 185
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS) 0: = (ss ein 6 ive ice ius ce Syaletate 189
Socigtigs AND ACADEMIES « «+ «© «© © - © + © # © «@ 189
NATURE
193
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1882
MATHEMATICS IN AMERICA
American Fournal of Mathematics, Pure and Applied.
Published under the Auspices of the Johns Hopkins
University. Vols. III. and IV. (Baltimore: Isaac
Friedenwald.) And other Mathematical Journals.
HE American Fournal of Mathematics was estab-
lished in 1878 under the auspices of the Johns Hop-
kins University at Baltimore, and four handsome quarto
volumes of 400 pages each have now been published.
Prof. Sylvester was editor-in-chief of the first three
volumes, being assisted by Mr. Story as editor-in-charge,
but the last volume bears Sylvester's name alone as
editor.
A notice of the first two volumes of the Journal ap-
peared in NATURE, vol. xxii. p. 73, and the hope was
there expressed that it might have as great a future be-
fore it as awaited Crelle’s Journal half a century before.
A careful examination of the last two volumes shows that
the promise of the earlier volumes has been so far main-
tained, and that the Journal has already acquired a distinc-
tive character of its own. It almost invariably happens that
mathematical journals exhibit marked characteristics, and
that certain branches of the subject occupy a pre-eminent
position. One paper leads to another relating to the
same questions, and the original bias of a journal is gene-
rally due, both directly and indirectly, to its editor, as
authors naturally prefer to send contributions where they
are more likely to be understood and appreciated. That
this is especially the case with the American Journal is
what we should expect, as besides being the principal
contributor, the editor is professor in the institution with
which it is connected, and many of the papers are by his
former pupils and colleagues. Although a very distinct
tendency is thus evident in the direction of the large
group of subjects (and more particularly Higher Algebra
and Higher Arithmetic) with which the name of Prof,
Sylvester is associated, it is not to be supposed that the
Journal has become narrow in its scope. On the con-
trary, the whole range of mathematical subjects is very
fairly represented, as will appear from the following para.
graphs, which contain a list of the papers in vols. iii, and
iv., an attempt being made to group them to some extent
according to subjects.
The arithmological papers are numerous. Prof. Sylvester
gives closer limits for a quantity which occurs in
Tchebycheff’s well-known investigation of the number of
primes inferior to any given prime ; he contributes also a
note on the trisection and quartisection of the roots of unity,
and an instantaneous proof of a theorem of Lagrange’s on
the divisors of a certain quadratic form. In a paper
on a point in the theory of vulgar fractions he gives a
method of developing any vulgar fraction as a sum of cer-
tain special fractions, each having unity as its numerator,
This development he terms a sorites, and he remarks
that it was suggested to him by the chapter in Cantor’s
Geschichte der Mathematik, which gives an account of the
singular method in use among the ancient Egyptians for
working with fractions: it was their curious custom to
resolve every fraction into a sum of simple fractions ac-
VOL. Xxvil.—No. 687
cording to a certain traditional method, which however
only leads in a few simple cases to a sorites. There are
two papers by Mr. O. H. Mitchell, both relating to the
theory of congruences : one of them contains a generalisa-
tion of Fermat’s and Wilson’s theorems. There is also a
short note by Prof. Newcomb on the relative frequency of
the occurrence of the digits as leading figures in logarith-
mic tables.
The contributions to the higher algebra occupy a very
conspicuous place. The important tables of the gene-
rating functions and ground forms of binary quantics
which have been calculated by Prof. Sylvester and Mr,
F. Franklin, with the aid of a grant from the British
Association, are continued. Mr. Franklin is also the
author of a separate paper, in which he gives a consecu-
tive account of the methods, due to Cayley and Sylvester,
of calculating the generating functions for binary quantics
and thence determining the number of fundamental in-
variants and covariants of any order and degree. Prof.
Sylvester gives a determination of the impossibility of
the binary octavic possessing any ground form of de-
gree 10 and order 4. There is a paper on the 34 concomi-
tants of the ternary cubic by Prof. Cayley, who also gives
a specimen of a literal table for binary quantics and cer-
tain tables for the binary sextic ; and there are some notes
on Modern Algebra by M. Faa de Bruno, of Turin. Mr,
Mitchell and Mr. T. Muir, of Glasgow, give theorems
relating to determinants.
Prof. Wm. Woolsey Johnson is the author of a paper
on strophoids. The term strophoid has been applied by
French writers toa cubic curve, the symmetrical form of
which Dr. Booth discussed under the name of the Logo-
cyclic curve. The author gives to the term a more extended
signification, and defines a strophoid as the locus of the
intersection of two straight lines which rotate uniformly
about two fixed points ina plane. Dr. Booth’s curve is
included as a particular case of the class of curves which
Prof. Johnson terms right strophoids. Prof. Sylvester
considers the theory of rational derivation on a cubic, and
Mr. Story is thus led to discuss the subject more fully in
a separate memoir: the points on the curve which are
considered are those whose coordinates can be expressed
as rational functioms of an arbitrary initial point on the
curve. Mr. Samuel Roberts contributes a paper on the
generalisation of local theorems, in which the generating
point divides a variable linear segment in a constant ratio ;
and there is a note by Miss Christine Ladd on segments
made on lines by curves.
There are three papers on solid geometry, all by Mr. T.
Craig: they relate to the orthomorphic projection of an
ellipsoid upon a sphere, to certain metrical properties of
surfaces (in 7 dimensions as well as in three dimensions),
and to the counter-pedal surface of an ellipsoid. The
surface which the author designates the counter-pedal is
the locus of the intersections of central planes parallel to
the tangent planes of the ellipsoid with the normals at
the corresponding points of contact; its equation is worked
out, and is found to be of the tenth order. Mr. E. W.
Hyde contributes {a note on the centre of gravity of
a solid of revolution, and there is a discussion by
Prof. Stringham on the regular figures in #-dimensional
space.
Prof, Cayley gives a note on the analytical forms or
K
194
NATURE
[ Dec. 28, 1882
ramifications which he has termed trees. This is a sub-
ject which has applications to the theory of chemical com-
binations, and it is one to which Prof. Cayley has already
devoted attention, a long memoir of his upon it having
appeared in the Report of the British Association for
1875. Prof. Cayley also is the author of a short paper on
certain imaginaries connected with the product of two |
sums of eight squares. Among papers on general analysis
should also be mentioned a determination by Prof. String-
ham, of the number of possible finite groups of quater-
nions, a group being defined as in the theory of substitu-
tions; and a note by Mr. Story on non-Euclidean
geometry.
A number of papers relate to the differential calculus.
There are two by Prof. Sylvester on the solution of classes
of difference and differential equations. No less than
four relate to development in series by Taylor’s and other
expansion theorems and the forms of the remainder:
these are by Mr. J. C. Glashan of Ottawa, Mr. McClin-
tock, and Mr. A. W. Whitcom. Frof. Crofton gives some
remarkable theorems involving symbols of operation, and
Mr. J. Hammond considers the theory of general differentia-
tion, a subject that received attention from Liouville, Pea-
cock, and others half a century ago, but which has attracted
but little notice in recent times. Mr. Franklin contributes
a short note on Newton’s method of approximating to the
roots of equations, and Mr. Glashan gives certain formulz
relating to the change of the independent variable in
differentiations.
More than one whole number is devoted to a reprint of
the late Prof. Benjamin Peirce’s valuable memoir on
Linear Associative Algebra, of which only a small number
of copies in lithograph were made in the author's life-
time for circulation among his friends. This well-known
paper was read before the National Academy of Sciences
at Washington in 1870: it is here reproduced with notes
and addenda by Mr. C. S. Peirce, the son of the author,
and occupies 133 pages. Mr. C. S. Peirce himself, whc
is known not only by his logical writings but by his stellar
photometric researches, is also the author of two papers,
the one on the algebra of logic and the other on the logic
of number. In connection with this subject a paper by
Miss Ladd on De Morgan’s extension of the algebraical
processes should be noticed.
There is a short bibliographical paper relating to
Alhazen’s problem by Mr. Marcus Baker. The problem
is from two points in the plane of a circle to draw lines
meeting at a point on the circumference, and making
equal angles with the tangent at that point. The
author also gives an extension of the problem to the
sphere.
Only three papers belong to mathematical physics,
One, by Prof. H. A. Rowland, relates to the general equa-
tions of electromagnetic action, with application to a new
theory of magnetic attractions and to the theory of the
magnetic relation of the plane of polarisation of light.
The other two are on hydrodynamics, they are by Prof.
Rowland and Mr. Craig, and relate respectively to the
motion of a perfect incompressible fluid and to certain pos-
sible cases of steady motion in a viscous fluid. There are
some notes on moving axes by Prof. Loudon of Toronto ;
and Prof. Sylvester considers the theory of mechanical
involution, which is the name he has given to the relation
between six lines in space so situated that forces may be
made to act along them whose statical sum is zero.
Linkages form the subject of a paper by Mr. F. T,
Freeland.
Astronomy is represented by two papers: one by Prof,
Newcomb, on a method of developing the perturbative
function of planetary motion; and the other by Mr. G.
W. Hill, on Hansen’s general formule for perturbations,
The object of the former paper is to exhibit a method of
effecting the development in powers of the eccentricities.
The author remarks that in consequence of the complex
character of the series this development has been but
little used even in the cases of nearly circular orbits, when
its application would be most convenient, but that, as the
disturbing force is given as an explicit function of all the
elements, it is of more interest to the mathematician than
any other. In his method of development Prof. Newcomb
directs especial attention to the expression of the co-
efficient of each power of the eccentricity in terms of the
coefficients of lower powers, and to the expression of the
coefficient in each term involving, the perihelia of two
planets as the symbolic product of coefficients involving
the perihelion of one only. Mr. Hill’s paper contains a
transformed form of Hansen’s expression for the pertur-
bation of the mean anomaly, which is more simple and
more convenient for computation. There is also a short
note by Mr. Ormond Stone relating to formule in elliptic
motion.
The titles of the papers speak for themselves, and but
little comment is needed. It will be seen that the two
volumes represent a considerable amount of mathematical
work, a fair proportion of which may have real influence
on the advancement of the science. Some of the papers,
as must evidently be the case, are needlessly pretentious
in form, and the new matter they contain might be
advantageously stated in less space. The effect of Pro-
fessor Cayley’s visit to Baltimore is apparent in the
papers which occur in the last number issued, and
we believe that the lectures which he gave at the Johns
Hopkins University will shortly appear in a future
number.
The dates which the numbers of the Journal bear are
the dates when they ought to have appeared, assuming it
to be published quarterly in March, June, September,
and December, and not the dates when they did actually
appear. Thus the last number issued bears date Decem-
ber, 1881, but in the case of this number the inconvenience
attending so great a discrepancy between the nominal
date and the date of publication is partially remedied by
the words “ Issued July 18, 1882,” at the foot of the last
page. It seems a pity to retain the nominal dates on the
wrappers, as they may be misleading. It will be difficult
to regain the lost time, and there is but little advantage
im stating the time when the number should have ap-
peared. The volume and number and date of publication
are all that need to be given.
On the wrappers of the numbers of vol. iv. appears an
announcement in which a prize of 1500 francs and a per-
petual free subscription to the journal from its commence-
ment are offered to the first person who, before January 1,
1883, discovers and transmits to the Editor a valid proof
or disproof of the proposition that a ground form and a
syzygant of the same degree and order cannot appertain
Dec. 28, 1882]
to the same binary quantic, “provided that the Editor shall
not himself have previously discovered the same, and
given public notice thereof.” The truth of this proposition
has been assumed as a fundamental postulate in the cal-
culation of ground forms, and its importance cannot
be over-estimated. It is, however, somewhat of an
anachronism to draw attention to it by the offer of a
prize. Such prizes exist in Universities and in the older
academies, but by many they are not regarded with much
favour. It seems unlikely that any competent person
would be tempted to investigate the subject by hope of
the reward. Pure mathematics offers no mercenary in-
ducements to its followers, who are attracted to it by the
importance and beauty of the truths it contains; and the
complete absence of any material advantage to be gained
by means of it, adds perhaps even another charm to its
study.
The late Prof. Benjamin Peirce denoted the base of the
Napierian logarithms and the ratio of the circumference to
the diameter of a circle by two special symbols turned oppo-
site ways, somewhat resembling a 6and a6 reversed. The
forms of these symbols would seem to imply that 2°71828...
and 3'14159... were regarded as allied to one another, and
in some reciprocal or inverse manner too, though it is not
easy to see what the author’s point of view was. Two
writers in the American Journal use Prof. Peirce’s
symbols in place of 7 and ¢, and this is to be regretted, as
any departure from the recognised notation in elementary
matters is always unfortunate. Even if the symbols
were happily chosen, which does not appear to be the
case, they would require the cutting of new type, and it is
absolutely certain that there is not the least chance of
their general adoption. If now used by a few prominent
writers in America, they may spread to such an ex-
tent as to make it very difficult for their successors to
get rid of them. The preservation of the international
character of mathematical notation is of paramount im-
portance, and the existence of local notations, especially
when they find their way into text-books, is a calamity.
In England the Cambridge notations, sin-*+, due we
believe to Herschel and Babbage, and the factorial nota-
tion due to the late Prof. Jarrett, are still retained by
many English writers, although it has long been evident
that there is no chance of their adoption by continental
mathematicians. It is always desirable to adhere to an
established notation, if it is generally understood and
accepted, even if it is unsatisfactory, rather than attempt
to replace it bya better one, unless there seems very
good reason to suppose that the attempt will be suc-
cessful.
In the previous article in NATURE reference was made
to the services which Dr. J. E. Hendricks, of Des Moines,
Iowa, has rendered to mathematics in America by the
publication of the Azalyst, which jhe established in 1874,
and has continued to the present time. This journal is
published every two months, and has now completed
its ninth volume. In spite of typographical and other
difficulties the editor has published it regularly, and it
shows no signs of diminished vitality or interest on his
| part. It has been self-supporting, and its success is due
to the genuine love of their subject felt by the editor and
the contributors. A great part of each number is unfor-
| tunately devoted to problems—the lowest form of mathe- |
}
NATURE
195
matics—and the space available for more valuable matter
is thus considerably diminished. One also is tempted to
wish that the editor would show greater strictness in cur-
tailing or excluding the writings of certain contributors,
but nevertheless the Avadys¢ contains not a few useful
papers. It is easy to see the blemishes in such a journal
by merely turning over the pages, but it is not so easy to
estimate the services which it confers upon science by
inducing teachers to look beyond the text-books and
interest themselves in a subject for which a genuine
taste can only be acquired by attempting to do work for
oneself. The large quarto page of the American Journal
and the elaborate nature of some of its papers render it
unsuitable for the short notes and the more unpretentious
class of papers in which the author lays but little claim to
originality. For these the Avalyst is available ; but,
after all, the chief value of such a publication consists in
the interest in mathematics it excites and fosters in those
who could be reached in no other way, and the induce-
ment it affords for those who are unable to devote their
whole time to the subject to nevertheless undertake useful
and profitable work. No previous American mathe-
matical journal has ever been published regularly for nine
years, and Dr. Hendrick has reason to feel proud of the
success of his efforts.
In 1877 Mr. Artemas Martin, of Erie, Pennsylvania,
issued the first number of the Zathematical Visitor, a quarto
journal which was published annually until Jan., 1880, and
since then has appeared semi-annually. The first volume
ended with the number published in January, 1881. The
journal consists entirely of problems and solutions, there
being a senior and a junior department. Several of the
problems relate to probability questions and involve very
complicated and elaborate integrations. As the solution
of a prize question, Mr. E. B. Seitz gives, in the number
for January, 1879, the values of the coefficients obtained
by reverting a general series proceeding by ascending
powers of the variable, as far as the sixteenth order.
The journal is beautifully printed, and is set up by the
editor himself. In the number for January, 1880, he
says: “This number of the Vzsfor has been delayed
some months. in consequence of the sickness of the
editor, who has done all the type-setting with his own
hands. He is not a practical printer, and never had set
up a stickful of type till last May or June.”
At the beginning of the present year Mr. Martin issued,
besides the Vzsttor, a new publication, entitled Zhe
Mathematical Magazine: a Journal of Elementary
Mathematics, of which four numbers have now appeared.
It is of large quarto size, and, like the Vzsztor, is printed
by the editor’s own hands. No mathematical journal, if
it is to contain anything of real value, can be elementary.
Mathematics is an old science, and the really elementary
parts of it must be acquired from text-books and by
means of the examples which the student works out for
himself as exercises. Elementary mathematics is a sub-
ject for the school-room, but is unsuitable for a journal,
and such a publication as Mr. Martin’s, if it continues
elementary, is educational rather than scientific. In
no instance, we believe, has it been found possible to
restrict a mathematical journal really to the elements of
the subject alone, though ‘of course elementary articles,
and articles which are of interest to junior readers, form
196
NATURE
[ Dec. 28, 1882
a considerable portion of each number of some mathe-
matical publications. Mathematical investigations that
are really valuable can never be made elementary, and
the questions that can be treated by elementary mathe-
matics are too trivial to deserve recognition in a scientific
journal.
We may notice a demonstration of Euclid i. 47, by the
late General Garfield, which appears in the first number.
If the figure is completed it is in fact an intuitive seome-
trical proof that (a+ 4)? = c*+2a46, where a and & are
the sides and ¢ the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangte.
The construction is to divide the four sides of a square
each into two parts, @and 4, in the same order, and to
join the points of division, Each of the joining lines is
thus equal to the hypotenuse c, and the whole square,
(a + 6)*, is evidently equal to the inside square, c?, and
the four triangles in the corners, each of which is equal
to}aé. The figure is practically the same as in the well-
known proof in which the squares a” and 4? are placed
side by side and divided by only two lines in such a
manner that the parts may be moved by mere translation
(without rotation) so as to form the square <, but the
special features which give this proof its remarkable
elegance are absent. Garfield’s proof is Indian in its
character, and must have been known to Bhascara, but in
the rather more elegant one given in the Vija Ganita
(1150) the lines are drawn from the angles of the square
¢ parallel to the sides of the triangle, and include a square
(a — 6)’, each of the triangles in the corners being $a as
before, so that the theorem proved is c? = (a — 6)?+2a4.
If the points of division in the figure in § 150 of the Vija
Ganita, in which it is shown that (a+ 4)? — 4ab=(a— 6)?
are joined, the figure includes both Garfield’s and the
Hindoo constructions. The construction given by Garfield
must have been of course discovered over and over again,
and, on its own account, it is so self-evident as only to be
interesting historically in connection with the Indian
proofs.
If therefore we include among journals one published
at such long intervals as half a year there are now no less
than four journals, devoted exclusively to mathematics,
published in the United States.
With reference to fhe list of mathematical journals
given in the previous article in NATURE, it may be men-
tioned that the Belgian journal, the Wouvelle Corréspona-
ance Mathématique, which was edited by M. Catalan, with
the co-operation of MM. Mansion, Brocard, Neuberg, and
others, was discontinued at the end of 1880, It has been
replaced by a new journal, /athes7s, which has since been
published monthly under the editorship of MM. Mansion
and Neuberg, and has now completed its second volume.
In this journal the titles of elementary articles are marked
by across ; there are not on the average more than one
or two so marked in each number.
A new Scandinavian mathematical journal is shortly
to appear under the editorship of Prof. H. G. Zeuthen, of
Copenhagen, and Prof. Mittiag-Leffler, of Stockholm. It
is to be hoped that it has a great scientific career before
it, and assuredly no journal will bear on its title-page the
names of more illustrious mathematicians, or will have
started under more favourable auspices.
J. W. L, GLAISHER
QUAIN’S “ ANATOMY”
Quain’s Elements of Anatomy. Edited by Allen Thom-
son, E, A. Schafer, and G. D. Thane. Two volumes.
Ninth edition. (London: Longmans, Green and Co.,
1882.)
Lehrbuch der Neurologie. Fortsetzung von Hoffmann’s
“Lehrbuch der Anatomie.” Von Dr. G. Schwalbe.
(Erlangen: Eduard Besold, 1880 and 1881.)
HE appearance of a new edition of Quain’s Anatomy
is always regarded with attention and interest by
teachers of anatomy. The high reputation of its succes-
sive editors, Richard Quain, William Sharpey, G. V.
Ellis, Allen Thomson, and John Cleland, and the care
which has been taken to revise each edition and to incor-
porate with it the latest additions to anatomical know-
ledge, have caused this work to be universally regarded
as an authority, and have gained for it the position of a
standard treatise on Human Anatomy.
The new edition, the ninth, which has just appeared,
has been prepared under the editorial supervision of Pro-
fessors Schafer and Thane, and Dr. Allen Thomson,
The first volume, which has been revised by Prof. Thane,
contains the descriptive anatomy of the bones, joints,
muscles, blood-vessels, but not the heart ; cerebro-spinal
and sympathetic nerves, but not the brain and spinal
cord; with a chapter on superficial and topographical
anatomy, in which the editor has been assisted by Mr.
R. J. Godlee. The second volume has been for the most
part revised by Mr. Schafer, and contains the histology,
and the anatomy of the viscera, including the heart and
central organs of the nervous system; whilst a special
chapter on embryology has been written by Dr.
Thomson.
The separation of the anatomy of the heart from that
of the other parts of the vascular system, as well as of the
anatomy of the brain and spinal cord from the nerves which
arise from them, and from the sympathetic system, both of
which are so intimately connected both anatomically and
physiologically with both brain and cord, was first made
in the eighth edition; for prior to that time they had
always been described along with, and as parts of their
respective systems. This arrangement, which is also
carried out in the present edition, is, in our judgment,
most unphilosophical, for it both destroys the continuity
of description, and leads the student to dissociate in his
mind the origin of the nerves and blood-vessels from their
distribution, Such a dissociation might indeed, as re-
gards the nervous system, have been excusable at the
time when both the distributory portions of the cranial and
spinal nerves and the sympathetic system were believed
to be developed quite independently of the cerebro-spinal
axis, and only to become connected with it secondarily.
But now-a-days, since through the researches, more espe-
cially of the much-lamented F. M Balfour, both the
cranial and spinal nerves and the sympathetic have been
shown to be true offshoots of the cerebro-spinal axis, and
like it of epiblastic origin, to dissociate them, even for
descriptive purposes, in a systematic text-book, is, we
believe, injurious to real progress. The editors of
“Quain’’ would, we suppose, scarcely think of de-
scribing in one volume the gangliated cord of the
sympathetic, and in another the nerves which arise
Dec. 28, 1882 |
from it, and yet to do so would not be more illogical
than the course they have pursued of separating the
description of the cranio-spinal nerves from that of the
central nervous axis. If the anatomical description of
the human body is ever to be put on a scientific basis, it
must be founded on the facts of comparative anatomy
and of development, and the great aim of descriptive
writers should be to accommodate their descriptions to
these facts.
After this protest against some features in the general
arrangement of the book, we may now glance at the
manner in which the process of revision has been per-
formed by the different editors. The first volume bears
throughout the mark of careful revision by Prof. Thane.
We have compared many of the descriptions with those
of the corresponding structures in the immediately pre-
ceding edition, and we notice many changes both in the
matter, and in the mode of expression. Various redun-
dancies have been expunged, errors have been corrected,
new facts have been introduced, and to some extent the
descriptions generally have been re-arranged. Several
new woodcuts have been inserted, and those illustrating
the vascular system have been made more diagrammatic
by colouring the arteries red and the veins blue. We
notice, however, that Prof. Thane, as is unfortunately
only too common with some English human anatomists,
does not properly discriminate between the meanirg of
the terms mesial line and mesial plane. In his descrip-
tion, for example, of the recto-vesical portion of the
pelvic fascia, he speaks of its being “continuous from
side to side across the middle line in front of the bladder,”
forgetful apparently of the fact that the descriptive term
“‘middle line” expresses a line on the surface, either
anteriorly or posteriorly, as the case may be; whilst the
imaginary plane between these anterior and posterior
mesial lines is the mesial plane of the organ or region.
The greatest amount of change, however, as was natu-
rally to be expected from the subjects discussed in it, has
been made in the second volume, and more especially in
the chapters edited by Mr. Schafer. The important
section on General Anatomy, or Histology, has been in
some measure re-arranged, and many of its chapters re-
written. The latest investigations into the structure of
the nucleus, the part which it plays in the multiplication
of cells, and the process of maturation of the ovum, have
been explained and illustrated by woodcuts. The de-
scription of the structure of the individual tissues has
obviously been carefully revised, and various changes
both in the way of addition and omission have been
made. Not the least important is the addition to each
‘chapter of the titles of the most recent papers on the
subject-matter of the chapter.
If we were disposed to be very critical, we could un-
doubtedly lay our fingers upon more than one statement
to which objection could be taken. And there is indeed
_ one point that we cannot pass over without notice, as it
illustrates that in the comparatively small matter of
editing a work on anatomy, as in the much larger sub-
ject of administering the finances of Egypt, a Dual
Control has many disadvantages. Mr. Schafer, for
example, in his references to the layers of the embryo, in
which the several tissues take their rise, employs the
terms ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm, to express the
NATURE
197
three layers of the blastoderm, and in this respect adopts
the nomenclature most commonly used by German ana-
tomists; whilst Dr. Thomson, in his references to the
same layers, almost invariably speaks of them as epiblast,
mesoblast, and hypoblast, which, indeed, are the terms
commonly in use amongst British anatomists. The
employment in different sections of the same work of
two distinct words to express the same structure, is
an error in judgment, and certainly not to the edification
of the student.
The chapter on the spinal cord and brain has also
been greatly modified, and in re-arranging it Mr. Schafer
has largely availed himself of the book, the title of which
stands second at the head of this article. The history of
this book is somewhat curious. Originally it appeared
as a German translation of an earlier edition of “ Quain,”
edited by Prof. Hoffmann. Then, somehow or other,
the name of Quain dropped out of the title in the later
German editions, and now, as regards the chapters on the
Nervous System, written by Prof. Schwalbe, it is essen-
tially a new book, and in our opinion contains the best
account of the anatomy of the nervous system in man
which has yet been published.
Of the section on Embryology, prepared by Dr. Thom-
son, we have not space to say more than that it narrates
in a convenient compass the successive series of changes
which result in the formation of the adult human body ;
that the descriptions are clear, well arranged, and em-
brace the latest investigations ; and that on points under
dispute the author expresses himself with reservation andi
caution, in a manner characteristic of the writings of this
anatomist.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
Vo notice ts taken of anonymous communications,
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so gv rat
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|,
Transit of Venus, December 6
In the morning here the sky wasclear, and the sun remarkably
free from spots. I noticed only 4 small ones on the disk : quite
a contrast to the monstrous appearance a month ago.
Being neither equipped nor qualified for technical astronomical
observations, I did not attempt todo more than to give a popular
demonstration of the transit of Venus to between 30 and 40 friends
interested in the phenomenon. My experience of stargazing
was chiefly obtained upwards of 50 years ago, before I became
otherwise occupied ; and then I found for myself, that the best
way of studying solar phenomena, whether eclipses or spots,
was by projecting on white paper or cardboard, the image of the
sun from the telescope, focussed a little beyond the point for
direct vision through the dark eye-glass ; extraneous sunlight
being shut out by a napkin suspended around the telescope. I
presume that this method is well known, and it seems to have
been adopted, (with the additions of a dark chamber) by
Mr. Campbell of Islay, in the exhibition of the transit at
Cannes, so well described by the Duke of Argyll in NATURE
(p. 156). In this way with a small achromatic of 32 inches
focal length, and 2} inches aperture we saw well all the chief
features of the transit, (which I need not describe, as this has
already been done by more competent observers), and this with-
out fatigue to the eyes, and the unnatural colouring, inseparable
from looking through the telescope with darkened glasses.
Further, as the time of sunset approached, at about 3.30 p.m.,
we had in our camera view the additional charm of the colours
193
NATURE ciel
[Dec. 28, 1882
of the objects in view. As, in the Italian sky the golden
orb sank with the dark planet spot on its disk, under brightly
tinted clouds, shaded off in streaks of tender grey into the
azure above, with the blue rose-tipped mountains of the Esterets
beneath,—the scene was one as fascinating in beauty as it was
interesting in science. All these tints appeared distinctly, albeit
aintly, in the telescopic image on the card.
One point was remarkable,—that whilst the shades of the
mountains were all é/ve, the dark round spot of the planet on
the sun was almost d/ack. It was the darkest object in the
field of view. Partly, but I hardly think entirely, this may be
explained by its being higher, and less subjected to the decom-
posing power of the lower atmospheric layers. I have en-
deavoured to represent in water-colours this view of the transit
of Venus. The result, of course, cannot be reproduced in
print, but any of your readers who may be visitors at Cannes
will be welcome to see it, as an original kind of reminiscence of
a very rare event. C. J. B. WrLiiaMs
Cannes, December 21
The Comet during the Last Month
SINCE my last communication (see NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 110)
the weather and the presence of moonshine has been unfavour-
able for views of the comet; but I have seen it, more or less
distinetly, on seven nights, from November 22 to December 21.
I will not take up your space with details, but mention, as the
general result of these observations, that the comet has become
smaller in dimensions, and much fainter in its light. With
moonlight, no trace of a tail is visible; and the nucleus can
only be discerned by telescope as a nebulous star of third mag-
nitude, In absence of moonlight, as on December 6, 8, and 12,
between 2 and 3.30 a.m., the tail was visible to a length of
about 10°, with a breadth expanding from the head, with no
distinguishable outline. My last view of it was on the 2oth, at
3 a.m., when, with a brilliant starlight after moonset, the comet
was in the south-south-east, about 20° above the horizon, with a
tail about 8° long, and a nucleus, a nebulous star of third or
second magnitude. Its position was about as far-to the east-
north-east of Procyon as that star is east-south-east of Sirius.
It seems likely to be visible in clear moonless nights for two or
three weeks longer. C. J. B. WILLIAMS
Cannes, December 21
The Heights of Auroras
THE observations described in your last number as having been
made long since in Siberia, of lunar halos projected on auroras,
have not, I believe, been confirmed by other observers; but if
correct, possibly this phenomenon may be a peculiarity of auro:as
in (Siberia, or in the Arctic regions. There seems reson to
think (see Capron’s ‘‘ Aurore,” pp. 37-40) that auroras may be
lower when near the magnetic pole than further south. If this
is the case, it is so far favourable to the theory (propoundec, I
think, by a German writer) described in NATURE (Vol. xxv.
p- 320), that the auroral zone is a plane, and not part of a sphere
concentric with the earth’s surface. The majority of the obser-
vations in lower latitudes cited in Capron’s ‘‘ Aurore,” place
the phenomenon at a height of 100 miles or upwards.
The height of the spindle-shaped object seen in the aurora of
November 17 is thus no argument against its auroral character,
which I see no reason to doubt. It is true that in my experience
(which, in this northern part of the country is probably much
greater than that of your correspondents), I have never seen
anything resembling it, judging from the descriptions of it ; but
1 do not think this is a reason for supposing such an auroral
phenomenon could not take place. The fact that it moved along
a parallel of magnetic latitude is a very strong argument for its
auroral character. Besides, its spectrum is stated to have ex-
hibited the characteristic auroral line. I hope some one will
collect all possible observations of this beam, especially from the
continent, and undertake a careful investigation into its path
and height, T. W. BACKHOUSE
Sunderland, December 23
The Aurora and its Spectrum
In reference to Mr. Ralph Abercrombie’s letter (NATURE,
vol. xxvii. p. 173), I may mention that his remarks quite accord
with an opinion expressed to me by my friend, H. R. Procter,
that the ‘‘aurora is generally formed in some imperfect mist or
vapour.” Iam intending some experiments on discharges iz
vacuo under such conditions and reduced temperatures, also on
phosphorescence, in connection with which M. Lecoq de Bois-
baudran has shown in his ‘‘ Spectres lumineux,” that we get a
line in the red, brightening as the temperature is reduced. I do
not read the result of my Swan lamp experiment, as Mr.
Munro (same number and page) does, The lamp, when
perfect, gave quite a bright white glow, with a strong
carbon spectrum. I should therefore attribute the absence
of the nitrogen spectrum at this time not so much to a
high spectrum as to the probability that the lamp had been, as
far as possible, exhausted of air, and filled with some form of
carbon gas. Jam not aware of any air-vacuum point at which
the nitrogen bands or lines disappear, except for want of light
in the discharge. With regard to the letter of W. M. F. P. on
the ‘‘ Meteor of November 17th,’ I only assumed the correct-
ness of the figures and heights quoted in mine for the purpose
of showing the complex nature of the auroral questions. I am
not the less perfectly satisfied that the ‘‘beam” was a true
aurora, and not a meteor, my spectroscopic observation of it
putting this beyond a doubt. J. RAND CAPRON
Guildown, December 23
The Weather
IT is curious how the recent auroree have been followed not only
by a cold waye, but by a subsequent warm one, and these respec-
tively of such extremes, that 21° at 9 a.m. on the r1th is this day re-
placed by 48° or 27° of difference. Equally strange have been the
effects on anima] and vegetable life. During the cold, an almost
Arctic season in its ice-bound stillness prevailed, and a flock ot
wild geese crossing in front of the house (the forerunners, in
public opinion, of a hard winter) represented external creature
life. Now all is changed almost to spring. Roses, though
somewhat nipped by the frost, seem ready to blow; flies and
gnats are unthawing, and last night, in goiog up to the observa-
tory, I noticed the phosphorescent glimmer of a luminous centi-
pede under one of the shrubs, a sight I do not remember ever
to have met with in winter before. J. RanD CAPRON
Gu.ldown, December 19
A Common Defect of Lenses
A CHANCE observation a few weeks since led me to the dis-
covery of a serious defect in the object-glass of the collimator
of a spectroscope by Grubb, of Dublin, which 1 have been using
for some time. As further investigation has shown me that the
defect is very common, while at the same time it is a source of
considerable error in all experiments on the plane of polarisa-
tion of polarised light, it seems worth while to cal] the attention
of readers of Nature to it. The object-yglass in question has
been imperfectly annealed. As a consequence, a plane polarised
incident beam is elliptically polarised on emergence from it.
lf it be looked at between crossed Nicols in a pencil of
parallel rays, the field of view becomes bright, and is
crossed by two brushes hyperbolic in form, which for two posi-
tions of the lens became two straight lines. If again plane
polarised light be allowed to pass through the lens while it is
turned round its own axis, there are four positions of the lens
for which the central portion of the emergent beam is plane
polarised, and can be quenched by an analysing Nicol ; for all
other positions of the lens, the emergent beam is elliptically
polarised, and the light cannot be quenched, but reduced to a
minimum. Moreover, as the lens is turned, the position of the
axes of the ellipse varies by nearly half a degree. I have since
examined a large number of lenses, without finding one quite
free from the defect. One well-known London optician declines
to attempt to supply me with a two-inch object-glass which shall
not show it, while another states he has never known any lens
absolutely free from it.
The important bearing of the point on all investigations into
the palarisation of light is obvious. The consequences it pro-
duces in modifying the results of some recently-published ex-
periments of mine (P#z/. Zrans., Part ii., 1882) formed the
subject of a paper read at the last meeting of the Royal Society.
R. T, GLAZEBROOK
Trinity College, Cambridge, December 20
New Deep-Sea Fish fromjthe_Mediterranean
My letter in NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 535, called forth two im-
portant notes from such competent ichthyologists as Mr, J. Y.
— ee . . Lacs
De. 28, 1882 |
NATURE
‘
199
Johnson and Dr. Th. Gill (NATURE, vol. xxvi. pp. 453, 574),
to both of whom a reply is due, and should have been given
sooner had I not been absent from Florence and otherwise
engaged,
Firstly, I must correct my assertion as to the occurrence of
Malacocephalus tevis in the Mediterranean ; after having exa-
mined the type specimen and that mentioned by Mr. Johnson,
both in the British Museum and after a further examination of
my specimens, which I had considered as young MWalaco-ephali,
I have now not the slightest doubt that they are quite distinct.
They are an undeScribed and most interesting form of Macrurids
allied to Coryphenotdes, which I propose calling ymenocephalus
talicus. I have in my possession six specimens, both adult and
young ; in two of the former J have found the ovaries fully deve-
loped with mature ova.
As to the ‘‘singular fish of a deep black colour with small
eyes, a naked skin, and a most abyssal physiognomy,” which I
got at Messina, it has no connection whatever with Cizasmodon
niger, but is, as I before assserted, a Stomiatid, very different
from all the known forms, including Dr, Giinther’s Bathyop his.
It stands apart in many 1espects, and is the type of a new genus
and perhaps of a new section of that singular family. I intend
shortly to describe and figure it under the name of Bathophilus
nigerrimus, along with other strange fish collected during my
deep-sea and ichthyological researches in the Mediterranean.
HENRY HILLYER GIGLIOLI
R. Zoological Museum, Florence, December 17
Electrical Phenomenon
ON retiring to bed shortly after midnight on the 13th inst., I
experienced a phenomenon which, though not of itself uncom-
mon, was, I think, unusually developed. On pulling off a
flannel vest which I wear next my shin, over my head, I became
conscious of a strange sensation in the .a.:es, accompanied by a
distinct crackling noise, and bright sparks which were plainly
visible in the dimly lighted room. ‘To make sure that I was
not the subject of a delusion, I repeated the operation many
times, in each case rubbing the flannel half-a-dozen times—not
more—against my hair. Not only were the same phenomena
observable every time,-but also if, after removing the flannel I
then approached my knuckles to that part of it which had been
in contact with the hair, a whole volley of sparks passed between
the flannel and each knuckle at a distance of not less than /wo
inches. As often as I repeated the experiment, so often did the
phenomena repeat themselves, until I at length retired to bed
not altogether without apprehension, that I might awake in the
night with the bed-clothes on fire, by reason of the discharge of
some extra big spark between my hair and a conyenient
blanket. No such catastrophe, however, occurred, and on
repeating the operations the next morning, I could not repro-
duce the phenomena. The next evening | azain repeated the
experiment, and this time by very violent rubbing could just
get a faint discharge between the flannel and knuckles when
almost in contact. On other nights since these I have not
succeeded in getting any such effect, or at most a very feeble one.
To what, then, am [ to attribute the marked difference of the
first night? Was it due to something peculiar in the condition
of the hair, the air, or the flannel? Perhaps some of your
readers can suggest. As regards the first of these I ought to
state that it had, on the afternoon of the 13th, been subjected to
the operations of cutting, shampooing, and brvshing ‘‘by ma-
chinery,” at the hands of the barter. That was, however, seven
hours earlier in the day, and any electricity developed by the
friction of the last operation ought to have been dissipated long
before twelve o’clock—especially as the night was damp and
misty. IMs Mal I
29, Victoria Road, Finsbury Park, December 19
PHOTOGRAPHING THE CORONA}
(2 SOEs of the highest interest in the physics of
our sun are connected, doubtless, with the varying
forms which the coronal light is known to assume, but
these would seem to admit of solution only on the condi-
tion of its being possible to study the corona continuously,
* “On a method of Photographing the Solar Corcna without an Eclipse.”’
Paper read at the Royal Society by William Huggins, D.C.L., LL.D.,
F.R.S., December 21.
and so to be able to confront its changes with the other
variable phenomena which the sun presents. ‘‘ Unless
some means be found,” says Prof. C. A. Young, “for
bringing out the structures round the sun which are
hidden by the glare of our atmosphere, the progress of
our knowledge must be very slow, for the corona is visible
only about eight days in a century, in the aggregate, and
then only over narrow stripes on the earth’s surface, and
but from one to five minutes at a time by any one ob-
server’ (“The Sun,’’ p. 239).
The spectroscopic method of viewing the solar promi-
nences fails, because a large part of the coronal light gives a
continuous spectrum, The successful photograph of the
spectrum of corona taken in Egypt, with an instrument pro-
vided with a slit, under the superintendence of Prof.
Schuster during the solareclipse of May 17, 1882, shows that
the coronal light as a whole, that is the part which gives a
continuous spectrum, as well as the other part of the light
which may be resolved into bright lines, is very strong in
the region of the spectrum extending from about G to H.
It appeared to me, therefore, very probable that by
making exclusive use of this portion of the spectrum it
might be possible under certain conditions, about to be
described, to photograph the corona without an eclipse.
In the years 1866-68 I tried screens of coloured glasses
and other absorptive media, by which I was able to in-
solate certain portions of the spectrum with the hope of
seeing directly, without the use of the prism, the solar
prominences (Monthly Notices, vol. xxviii. p. 88, and vol.
xxix. p. 4). I was unsuccessful, for the reason that I was
not able by any glasses or other media to isolate so very
restricted a portion of the spectrum as is represented by a
bright line. This cause of unsuitableness of this method
for the prominences which give bright lines only, recom-
mends it as very promising for the corona. If by screens
of coloured glass or other absorptive media the region of
the spectrum between G and H could be isolated, then
the coronal light which is here very strong would have to
contend only with a similar range of refrangibility of the
light scattered from the terrestrial atmosphere. It ap-
peared to me by no means improbable that under these
conditions the corona would be able so far to hold its
own against the atmospheric glare, that the parts of the
sky immediately about the sun where the corona was
present would be ina sensible degree brighter than the
adjoining parts where the atmospheric light alone was
present. It was obvious, however, that in our climate
and low down on the earth’s surface, even with the aid
of suitable screens, the addition of the coronal light
behind would be able to increase, but in a very small
degree, the illumination of the sky at those places where
it was present. There was also a serious drawback from
the circumstance that although this region of the spec-
trum falls just within the range of vision, the sensitiveness
of the eye for very small differences of illumination in
this region near its limit of power is much less than in
more favourable parts of the spectrum, at least such is
the case with my own eyes. There was also another
consideration of importance, the corona is an object ot
very complex form, and full of details depending on small
differences of illumination, so that even if it could be
glimpsed by the eye, it could scarcely be expected that
Observations of a sufficiently precise character could be
made to permit of the detection of the more ordinary
changes which are doubtlessly taking place in it.
These considerations induced me not to attempt eye-
observations, but from the first to use photography, which
possesses extreme sensitiveness in the discrimination of
minute differences of illumination, and also the enormous
advantage of furnishing a permanent record from an
instantaneous exposure of the most complex forms. I
have satisfied myself by some laboratory experiments that
under suitable conditions of exposure and development a
photographic plate can be made to record minute differ-
200
ences of illumination existing in different parts of a bright
object, such as a sheet of drawing paper, which are so
subtle as to be at the very limit of the power of recogni-
tion of a trained eye, and even, as it appeared to me,
those which surpass that limit.
My first attempts at photographing the corona were
made with photographic lenses, but uncertainty as to the
state of correction of their chromatic aberration for this
part of the spectrum, as well as some other probable
sources of error which I wished to avoid, led me to make
use of a reflecting telescope of the Newtonian form. The
telescope is by Short, with speculum of 6 inches diameter,
and about 3} feet focal length. Asmall photographic camera
-was fastened on the side of the telescope tube, and the
image of the sun after reflection by the small plane
speculum was brought to focus on the ground glass. The
absorptive media were placed immediately in front of the
sensitive film, as in that position they would produce the
least optical disturbance. Before the end of the telescope
was fixed a shutter of adjustable rapidity which reduced
the aperture to 2 inches. This was connected with the
telescope tube by a short tube of black velvet for the pur-
pose of preventing vibrations from the moving shutter
reaching the telescope. On account of the shortness of
the exposures it was not necessary to give motion to the
telescope.
It was now necessary to find an absorptive medium
which would limit the light received by the plate to the
portion of the spectrum from about Gto H. There is a
violet (pot) glass made, which practically does this. I
had a number of pieces of this glass ground and polished
on the surfaces. Three or four of these could be used
together, castor-oil being placed between the pieces to
diminish the reflection of light at their surfaces. Some
inconvenience was found from small imperfections within
the glass, and it would be desirable in any future experi-
ments to have a larger supply of this glass, from which
more perfect pieces might be selected.
In my later experiments I used a strong and newly
made solution of potassic permanganate, in a glass cell
with carefully polished sides. This may be considered
as restricting the light to the desired range of wave-length,
since light transmitted by this substance in the less
refrangible parts of the spectrum does not affect the
photographic plates.
Different times of exposure were given, from so short
an exposure that the sun itself was rightly exposed, to
much more prolonged exposures, in which not only the
sun itself was photographically reversed, but also the
part of the plates extending for a little distance from the
sun’s limb.
Gelatine plates were used, which were backed with a
solution of asphaltum in benzole.
After some trials I satisfied myself that an appearance
peculiarly coronal in its outline and character was to be
seen in all the plates. I was, however, very desirous of
trying some modifications of the methods described, with
the hope of obtaining a photographic image of the corona
of greater distinctness, in consequence of being in more
marked contrast with the atmospheric illumination.
Our climate is very unpropitious for such observations,
as very few intervals, even of short duration, occur in
which the atmospheric glare immediately about the sun
is not very great. Under these circumstances I think it
is advisable to describe the results I have obtained, with-
out further delay.
The investigation was commenced at the end of May
of this year, and the photographs were obtained between
June and September 28.
The plates which were successful are twenty in number.
In all these the coronal form appears to be present. This
appearance does not consist simply of increased photo-
graphic action immediately about the sun, but of distinct
coronal forms and rays admitting in the best plates of
NATURE =) ee ee
J ya se ee
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= od . 1 = ’
2 = 7
[Dec. 28, 1882
measurement and drawing from them. This agreement
in plates taken on different days with different absorptive
media interposed, and with the sun in different parts of
the field, together with other necessary precautions ob-
served, makes it evident that we have not to do with any
instrumental effect.
The plates taken with very short exposures show the
inner corona only, but its outline can be distinctly traced
when the plates are examined under suitable illumination.
When the exposure was increased, the inner corona is
lost in the outer corona, which shows the distinctly curved
rays and rifts peculiar to it.
In the plates which were exposed for a longer time. not
only the sun:but the corona also is photographically re-
versed, and in these plates, having the appearance of a
positive, the white reversed portion of the corona is more
readily distinguished and followed in its irregularly sinu-
ous outline than is the case in those plates where the sun
omy, is reversed, and the corona appears, as in a negative,
ark.
Prof. Stokes was kind enough to allow me’to send the
originals to Cambridge for his examination, and I have
his permission to give the following words from a letter I
received from him: “The appearance is certainly very
corona-like, and I am disposed to think it probable that
it is really due to the corona.”
Prof. Stokes’ opinion was formed from the appearance
on the plates alone, without any knowledge of their orien-
tation, and without the means of comparing them with
the eclipse plates taken on May 17.
I have since been allowed, through the kindness of
Capt. Abney, to compare my plates with those taken of
the corona in Egypt during the eclipse of May last.
Though the corona is undergoing doubtless continual
changes, there is reason to believe that the main features
would not have suffered much alteration between May 17
and September 28, when the last of my plates was taken.
This comparison seems to leave no doubt that the object
photographed on my plate is the corona. The more pro-
minent features of the outer corona correspond in form
and general orientation, and the inner corona, which is
more uniform in height and definite in outline, is also very
similar in my plates to its appearance in those taken
during the eclipse.
Measures of the average height of the outer and of the
inner corona in relation to the diameter of the sun’s
image are the same in the eclipse plates as they are in
my plates taken here.
There remains little doubt that by the method described
in this paper, under better conditions of climate, and
especially at considerable elevations, the corona may be
successfully photographed from day to day with a
definiteness which would allow of the study of the
changes which are doubtlessly always going on init. By
an adjustment of the times of exposure, the inner or the
outer corona could be obtained as might be desired. It
may be that by a somewhat greater restriction of the
range of refrangibility of the light which is allowed to
reach the plate, a still better result may be obtained.
Plates might be prepared sensitive to a limited range
of light, but the rapid falling off of the coronal light
about H would make it undesirable to endeavour to do
without an absorptive screen. Lenses properly corrected
might be employed, but my experience shows that
excessive caution would have to be taken in respect of
absolute cleanness of the surfaces and of some other
points. There might be some advantage in intercepting
the direct light of the sun itself by placing an opaque disk
of the size of the sun’s image upon the front surface of
the absorptive screen. Though for the reasons I have
already stated I did not attempt eye-observations, there
seems no reason why, with suitable screens and under
suitable atmospheric conditions, the corona should not be
studied directly by the eye. There might be some
- Dec. 28, 1882 |
NATURE
201
advantages in supplementing the photographic records
by direct eye-observations. I regret that the very few
occasions on which it has been possible to observe the
sun has put it out of my power to make further experi-
ments in these and some other obvious directions.
P.S.—[I have Capt. Abney’s permission to add the
following letter this day received from him ;—“ A careful
examination of your series of sun-photographs, taken with
absorbing media, convinces me that your claim to having
secured photographs of the corona with an uneclipsed
sun is fully established. A comparison of your photo-
graphs with those obtained during the eclipse which took
place in May last, shows not only that the general
features are the same, but also that details, such as rifts
and streamers, have the same position and form. If in
your case, the coronal appearances be due to instrumental
causes, I take it that the eclipse photographs are equally
untrustworthy, and that my lens and your reflector have
the same optical defects. I think that evidence by
means of photography of the existence of a corona at all
is as clearly shown in the one case as in the other.”—
December 15, 1882.]
A WEDGE AND DIAPHRAGM PHOTOMETER
A NEW photometer, shown in perspective in the figure,
has lately been constructed by Mr. Sabine. The
‘stand supports a straight horizontal tube, at one end of
which is a paraffin lamp, and at the other an eyepiece.
The middle portion of the tube is cut away, and has,
slipped over it, a collar to which a frame is attached,
carrying a wedge of neutral-tinted glass, adjustable by
means of a rack and pinion. Inside the collar is fixed a
transverse disc of ground opal glass, which the paraffin
lamp illuminates to a definite degree. This disc consti-
tutes the field of comparison, the illumination of which is
adjustable by means of a series of diaphragms of known
aperture at the end near to the paraffin lamp. At the
side, between the wedge and the collar which carries it,
is a narrow pane of ground opal glass, just behind which
a small mirror is fixed at an angle of 45° to the axis of the
tube. This mirror is supported from the centre of the
transverse opal disc in such a way, that the support is
hidden from the observer by the mirror itself, an arrange-
ment which insures the apparent juxtaposition of the illu-
minated surfaces which have to be compared. The light
to be measured is placed on the right-hand side of the
photometer ; andthe collar is turned so that the light falls
normally upon the face of the wedge, passes through the
wedge, through the pane of opal glass, and is incident
upon the mirror, which reflects a portion of it to the eye
of the observer. The wedge is then shifted, if neces-
sary, to interpose a greater or less thickness of absorbing
medium, until a balance is obtained, that is until the
apparent illumination of the mirror is equal to that of
the field of comparison, in the middle of which it is
seen. Ifthe range of the wedge is insufficient to admit of
this, the degree of illumination of the field is altered, by
means of the diaphragms, and the wedge is then adjusted.
The employment of glass wedges for photometric com-
parisons is not new, having been already used by both
Xavier de Maistre and Quetelet ; but no practical photo-
meter based upon this method has hitherto been con-
structed. The employment of diaphragms for extending
the range of the wedge is found to work well and to
enable the operator to adjust the illumination of the field
with exactitude, the bright part of the paraffin flame
being of course, kept opposite to, and so as to well cover
the diaphragm aperture. A table is constructed giving
for each position of the wedge and for each diaphragm,
the value, in standard candles, of any light placed at a
distance of one metre from the instrument; and if the
light be placed at any other distance, the number in the
table has simply to be multiplied by the square of the
actual distance in metres. For ascertaining approxi-
mately the amount of light which passes through any
given coloured glass, for example, orange glass, the eye-
piece is furnished with a rotary disc containing small
panes of white and different coloured glasses, either of
which can be interpoSed at pleasure.
This photometer is being made by Messrs. Elliott
Bros., in two forms, one for use as a portable photometer,
as shown in the figure, and the other on a more solid
stand, for laboratory purposes.
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF GREAT TIDES
SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE
GEOLOGICAL EPOCH *
T will I daresay be within the recollection of many of
those who are now present that I was honoured by
the invitation to deliver the opening lecture in this hall
last year. In response to that invitation I addressed
to you a discourse which I ventured to call “A Glimpse
through the Corridors of Time.’’ Accounts of it have
appeared in very many quarters, both at home and
abroad. I am myself responsible for the account which
appeared in the columns of NATURE, as well as for the
pamphlet form in which the lecture has since been issued.
The chief reason why I now recur to the subject remains
to be stated. Among the various comments which have
been made upon that address, some are by no means
favourable to the views I ventured to put forward, and
they have been the theme of considerable discussion.
Up to the present I have not made any reply to the criti-
cisms which have appeared ; I postponed doing so until
a suitable opportunity should have arisen for a review of
the whole subject. Your kindness in inviting me once
again to address this great Institute has afforded such an
opportunity, and with your permission I propose to preface
the subject of my lecture this evening by a reply to those
critics who have honoured me with their attention.
Let me recall to you very briefly the subject of that
lecture, so as to enunciate clearly the point as to which
an issue has been raised. You will perhaps recollect that
the lecture treated principally of the tidal relations
between the earth and the moon, of the influence of the
tides during ages past, and of the future which awaits the
earth-moon system during ages to come. I pointed out
that at the present moment the orbit of the moon must
be gradually growing in size, that this gradual increase of
the distance from the earth to the moon is essentially
non-periodic, and thus is totally different to the ordinary
lunar irregularities which are recognised in rigid-body
astronomy. Asa consequence of this incessant growth
in the moon’s distance we see that in past ages the moon
must have been appreciably nearer to the earth than it is
* Extract from a lecture delivered at the Midland Institute, Birmirgham,
on November 20, 1882, by Prof. Robert S. Ball, LL.D., F.R.S. Conmimuni-
cated by the Author.
202
at present, and that if we look far enough back we must
inevitably come to an epoch when the moon would seem
' to have been quite close to the earth; indeed looking
earlier still we are not without reasons for believing that
in primeval times the earth and the moon formed but a
single body.
Wondrous as this narrative may seem, yet on a due
consideration of the mathematical evidence in its favour
we are constrained to admit that it must be substantially
correct. Unless some notable agency at present unknown
to us has intervened in past time, the course of events
must have run along the lines we have indicated. We
make but little pretence to give the date when the moon
seems to have commenced its independent existence, nor
to indicate the chronology of the epochs when its distance
increased by one thousand miles after another. All that
seems certain is that the events we are at present dis-
cussing must have occurred millions, many millions of
years before man placed his foot on this planet.
The cause of these mighty series of changes is still in
hourly operation. The ebb and flow of the tides around
our coasts is only the survival of greater tides with which
in earlier days the ocean must have throbbed. The
earlier we look back the mightier must have been the
daily ebb and flow. I even invited you to look back to
an excessively remote epoch when the moon was only at
a fraction of its present distance, and when the daily rise
and fall, instead of being counted in tens of feet, must
have been reckoned by hundreds. Even up to this point
there has been little or no controversy, there can be none.
I do not know that any one has attempted to deny that
the earth must once have experienced these mighty tides
either in the actual body of the earth, or in the ocean on
its surface. The controversy has arisen on the question
as to whether these great tides had subsided before the
commencement of the geological epoch, or whether they
were contemporaneous therewith.
In my lecture in this hall last year, I made the sug-
gestion that the reign of the mighty tides did perhaps
extend into the commencement of the geological epoch.
I further ventured to suggest that these great tides had
left their traces on the solid crust of the earth. I qucted
eminent geological authority to show that the rocks at the
base of our stratified system are of the most stupendous
volume and thickness. It has always been a difficulty to
determine how the present geological agents could
have manufactured so mighty a mass, and I appealed to
the great tides as a grinding engine competent to aid in
this work. At this point issue has been taken, and it is
now my duty to review the arguments which have been
adduced as bearing on this question.
objections that have been raised.
critics do not seem to have observed that I postulated
the mighty tides for the manufacture of the earliest
primeval rocks, and for these alone. “Take, for ex-
ample,”’ I said (p. 25), ‘‘that earliest and most interesting
epoch when life perhaps commenced on the earth, and
when stratified rocks were deposited five or ten miles
thick, which seem to have contained no living form
higher than the eozoon, if even that were an organised
being.” Again and again I stated that I merely referred
to these primitive strata. Yet this is a point that many
of my critics have ignored. They have been at pains to
prove that colossal tides did not exist in the compara-
tively modern geological epochs, and many interesting
facts have been adduced. But such considerations have
only an infinitesimal bearing on the position I adopted.
Even the coal-measures are a modern formation when
compared with the primeval rocks, for the manufacture of
which I suggested the mighty tides.
The controversy as to the great tides has principally
ranged around the question as to whether the primitive
rocks present any indications of great tidal action. Iam
NATURE
But let me here |
make a single remark which disposes of many of the |
Several of my |
[ Dec. 28, 1882
not a practical geologist, and am most anxious to obtain
the views of those that are. Now these opinions are to
be had. They are to be found in the corresponcence in.
NATURE at the commencement of this year ; yet there
is, as might have been anticipated, considerable differ-
ences of opinion. I first refer to Prof. Hull’s letter
(NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 177), and find that this most com-
petent authority adduces direct evidence of tremendous
denudation in the Palaeozoic ages, such as might have
been produced by mighty tides. On the other hand,
Prof. Newberry (vol. xxv. p. 357) says that there is no
direct evidence whatever to show that the denuding agen-
cies were greater in forrer times than now. In the
following number of NATURE we have letters from Dr.
Callaway and Mr. Hale (p. 385) to show that Prof. New-
berry’s conclusions are not necessarily valid. Mr. S. V-
Wood and Mr. J. Vincent Elsden bring forward facts
which go to support Prof. Newberry’s view, while Dr.
Callaway, though carefully declining to commit himself
to the high tides, controverts Mr. Wood and Mr. Elsden
(p. 409). Now all these gentlemen speak with special
knowledge, but it is not easy to deduce from this corre-
spondence as to which side the balance of skilled opinion
really inclines. It would almost seem as if a very funda-
mental point had escaped attention. Prof. Geikie, in his
great work just published, tells us that these great tides
could not have existed in geological times, because, if
they had done so they must have left certain traces, and
we do not find these traces. The fundamental question
is, What traces of great tides ought we to expect to
find if those great tides had really existed? It would
seem that unless this question be first answered, it is im-
possible to dispose of the question with the brevity
which Prof. Geikie has adopted. {1 apprehend it cannot
be doubted that by the great tides the materials of strati-
fied rocks would be rapidly formed, and that in suitable
localities these materials would be deposited to form
rocks. I can see no necessary difference between a ton
of mud ground up by colossal agents in former days, and
a ton of mud ground up by the more prosaic agents of
modern days. But for each ton of mud now made there
would then have been a great many tons. The strata
would thus have grown more rapidly in early times, and
thus the exceptional thickness of the earliest stratified
rocks could be accounted for. It seems useless to assert
that vestiges of the great tides do not exist, unless we
can form some idea of the sort of vestiges that should be
expected if the great tideshad existed. I believed at the
time I gave my lecture, and I believe still, that we do see
vestiges of vast primzeval tides. I can even count these
vestiges, They are five, or perhaps ten in number ; they
are the five or ten miles of vertical thickness of stratified
rocks which were deposited at the bottom of the ocean
during the earliest stages of the geological epoch.
I have derived so much pleasure and so much in-
struction from the study of Mr. G. H. Darwin’s writings,
that on this ground alone I would be reluctant to have any
difference of opinion with him. Indeed, seeing that the
earth-moon history is one which he has made peculiarly
his own, and illuminated by discoveries which I believe
to be the most important contributions made to physical
astronomy in modern times it would seem presumption in
me to venture to differ from him. Mr. Darwin, writing in
NATURE, vol xxv. p. 213, has asked me to reconsider the
views I had set forth as to the probability of the great
tides being contemporaneous with geological phenomena.
Mr. Darwin shows that at the time when the great tides
supposed in my calculation existed, the earth must have
been spinning round once in seven hours, and that this
would involve trade-winds of 3#times their present velocity
and vertical storms of prodigious violence, and then
he adds :—
“Now if this state of things existed in geological
history, we should expect to find the earlier sedimentary
Dec. 28, 1882]
NATORE
203
rocks of much coarser grain than the modern ones. But
I am not aware that this is the case. Again, to understand
such blasts, the earliest trees should have trunks of
enormous thickness and their leaves must have been very
tough, or they would have been torn to shreds. There
seems to be no reason to suppose that the trees of the
Carboniferous period present marked peculiarities in
these respects.”
“Tt is on these grounds that I venture to dissent from
Mr. Ball in the geological interpretation to be placed on
the tidal theory, and I think we must put these violent
phenomena in pre-geological periods.”
But is it necessarily true that the prodigious tides must
have produced a coarser material as the result of their
grinding than is found in the later rocks? I can imagine
it to be contended that the more powerful mill would
produce the finer flour, but in truth I really do not
see that we have any a@ f7iv7z grounds for deciding
whether the déJris produced by mighty tides should
be fine or coarse. Have we not illustrious authority
for invoking our “Domestic Productions’’ to throw
light on obscure questions removed from actual obser-
vation. Let us look at the biggest tides we know
of, and see whether they are associated with fine
mud or with coarse. I appeal to every one who has
stood on the Clifton Suspension Bridge or walked on the
Beach at Weston-super-Mare to answer this question. In
both cases they will see mud of a fineness and a stickiness
that is proverbial; yet that mud is washed twice every
day by the mightiest tides in the British Islands, I
do not say, nor do I believe, that the fineness of the mud
in the Avon is the consequence of the great tides; but
I think the illustration is a fair reply to an argument
which says the tides in ancient days cannot have been of
great size, because the mud with which those tides are
associated is not coarse.
In the second place, Mr. Darwin urges against me the
trees of the Carboniferous epoch, and his inference that
the tremendous tides cannot have existed in the Carboni-
ferous epoch is probably well founded. But I have not
said that these tides did exist in the Carboniferous epoch.
I can only again repeat that my argument supposed that
the mighty tides may have existed in the times when the
very earliest stratified rocks were deposited. In the
course of ages, as the moon receded, so the tides
gradually dwindled down until in the comparatively
modern time indicated by the Carboniferous epoch, they
may have been small enough to be connected with the
wonderful coal vezetation.
I had, as I was bound to do, most carefully weighed
the words in which I addressed you from this place last
year. Iwas aware that the opinion I advanced would
meet with opposition. This was a reason why I should
consider the subject most carefully before I spoke,
but it was not a reason why I should withhold the
views at which I had arrived. I have again considered
the matter with the results now set forth, and I have
seen no reason to depait in the slightest degree from
the position which I had previously adopted.
MARS*
HE similarity which has long been thought to exist
between our own globe and the planet Mars would
naturally commend itself to careful examination at the
hands of such observers as possess instruments adequate
to the inquiry. The shadowing of large portions of its
surface with patches which easily lend themselves to the
supposition of being collections of water, the occasional
indistinctness of their outlines, so strongly indicative of
* ** Areographische Beitrage zur genauern Kenntniss und Beurtheilung des
Planeten Mars.” Von Dr. J. H. Schroeter: herausgegeben von H.G van
de Sande Bakhuyzen, Director der Leidener Sternwarte. 8vo, 447 pp., with
Atlas. Leiden: E. J. Brill
atmospheric obscuration, the clothing of either pole with
the semblance of a snowy mantle obedient in its extent to
solar action, all this would bespeak of itself a critical
investigation. And the challenge has been taken up from
an early period, and to an extent which would probably
surprise those who are unfamiliar with the subject. Al-
ready in 1873 the number of drawings collected by Dr.
‘Yerby of Louvain, than whom no man is more intimately
conversant with areography, amounted to 1092, and the
nine subsequent years, which have included among others
the celebrated representations of Green and Schiaparelli,
have greatly augmented that imposing number. We
should be mistaken, however, if we were to estimate the
progress of our knowledge by the multiplication of de-
signs. In this case the ancient saying mAéov fir mavrds
would probably express too large a proportion. The
increase, if in some respects not to be regretted, brings
with it additional elements of uncertainty, if not of error.
Many representations might be discarded with positive
advantage to the final conclusion : like numerical observa-
tions whose unworthiness is detected by their wide devia-
tion from the mean of the rest, the result is all the surer
for their exclusion. An unpleasant experience proves
that the most careful observer is not always the most
successful draughtsman, nor in such matters is zeal any
pledge of excellence. Comparison of the results obtained
by different astronomers leads to the conclusion that,
after due allowance has been made for instrumental and
atmospheric differences, all men do not see alike, or
interpret in the same way what they see, or transfer the
image to paper with equal success. Here it is that photo-
graphy, though not exempt from defects and hindrances
of its own, is now beginning to render invaluable aid.
But such an object as the disc of Mars would not lend
itself very readily at present to the camera, and the pencil
and the brush must do the best they can till some further
advance is made to supersede them.
But bowever improved may be our future representa-
tions, and whatever may be the result—on every supposi-
tion most interesting—of the keen scrutiny that is in store
for the next opposition of the planet, it would undoubtedly
be an injudicious course to discard as unworthy of study
and comparison the delineations of earlier days. Less
valuable, if standing alone, they may attain considerable
importance in the elucidation of some otherwise unex-
plained difficulty ; and evidence which, unsupported,
might be of little weight, may acquire especial conse-
quence from its collateral bearing on more direct testi-
mony. The comparatively rude and defective sketches of
a long-passed era, contained in the publication before us,
executed in a spirit of unwearied industry and unimpeach-
able fidelity, but under the influence of a mistaken
impression, form a striking illustration of the previous
remarks.
The history of the “ Areographische Beitrage” is con-
nected with a very lamentable occurrence in the life of
the worthy old Hanoverian observer, Dr. Johann Hier-
onymus Schréter. He had long been settled in a Govern-
ment office at Lilienthal, not far from Bremen, where his
almost innumerable observations on sun, moon, and
planets (with stars he did little) had been carried on with
reflectors of various sizes—two by Sir W. Herschel of
4 and 7 feet focal length, others by Schrader, of Kiel, of
7, 11,15, and 27 (26 English) feet, and a 4 inch object-
glass by Dollond, equatorially mounted. His passion
fer observation would never have allowed so interesting
an object as Mars to escape him, and accordingly we
find that between the years 1785 and 1803 he had accu-
mulated 217 designs, with a corresponding description
marked by all the minute preciseness of detail and in-
ference which characterise his other labours. The work
had been promised for publication at Easter, 1812, but
had been somehow delayed, when an event occurred on
the night of April 20, 1813, in connection with the occu-
204
pation of Bremen by the French, under the rapacious
and unscrupulous Vandamme, the story of which we may
allow the sufferer to relate in his own words.
“Through the most barbarous fury, in consequence of
an equally barbarous sentence, the whole unoffending
soft “vale of lilies’’ (Lilienthal) was, without previous
inquiry, destroyed by fire. Without possibility of suc-
cour, they burnt down also the Royal Government offices ;
I lost the whole of my furniture, and what was most
distressing of all, with a considerable damage also to the
bookshops of Europe, the sole stock of my collected
works and writings laid up in the government buildings.
Even my observatory, preserved by Providence from the
conflagration, was a few days afterwards broken into,
plundered, and through the destruction of the clocks,
breaking off of the finders, and robbery of the smaller
instruments, scandalously ruined. Having been displaced
from my post, my income had been previously by degrees
so very much reduced, that I was compelled to forego
everything but absolutely necessary expenditure, and to
be laid aside in a scientific slumber.” Elsewhere he
says that even his journals had perished; and at the
date of writing the introduction to his ‘‘ Observations and
Remarks upon the Great Comet of 1811” (January 22,
1815), from which the foregoing passage is taken, he
complains that his circumstances were still so reduced,
that his observatory, for want of time and money, re-
mained for the most part in a state of confusion. So
great are even the minor miseries of those ‘‘ wars and
fightings,’’ of which many speak with such apathetic un-
concern. Itis painful to add to these sad details that this
seems to have been Schréter’s final effort, for after a
twelvemonth of bodily and intellectual decay, he expired
August 29, 1816, leaving behind him a worthy memory,
to which, till of late years, our own country has done but
inadequate justice.
The “Areographische Beitrage” remained in MS. at
his death, having escaped the calamitous fire, but so
narrowly, that two out of the sixteen copper plates of
figures had to be engraved again ; no idea seems to have
been entertained of publication, but they were safely pre-
served by the author’s family. Their existence having
been ascertained many years ago, by the present writer,
through the kindness of Dr. Peters of Altona, a negotia-
tion was set on foot for their acquisition by the Royal
Astronomical Society; this proved ineffectual; but, in
consequence of the attention directed to them, they were
allowed to be inspected by Dr. Terby, to whose able and
comprehensive analysis of the MS. as published in the
Memoires of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences in
1873, the present notice is deeply indebted ; and astro-
nomers will be glad to learn tnat they have now been pur-
chased by the University of Leiden for the library of that
observatory, and that, after an obscurity protracted
through seventy years, they have at last been published in
a complete and handsome form, under. the able and
accurate editorship of the director of that institution.
The work, though characterised, like other productions
of the same author, by a needless amount of prolixity, is
well deserving of careful study, as indicating or confirm-
ing some valuable conclusions, and affording material for
suggestive thought. The whole observations are per-
vaded by an impression that the obscurer portions of the
disc are condensations in a vaporous atmosphere. The
author, with a singular misconception of terrestrial
analogy, supposes throughout that such cloudy masses
viewed on their upper or enlightened side would appear
darker rather than lighter than the surface beneath them ;
admitting at the same time that the configuration of that
surface may so modify the superjacent atmosphere, as to
cause a permanence, or, at any rate, recurrence of
vaporous formation, from which the rotation may be, and
has been determined. The occasional invisibility of dark
spots, which has been recorded by too many observers to
NATURE
[ Dec. 28, 1882
be brought in question, would be explained by Schroter
in accordance with this theory, and may possibly be due
to atmospheric causes; though, as Terby has pointed
out, it may often have arisen from the difficulty of tracing
any markings in the neighbourhood of the limb. It is
more difficult to account satisfactorily for the movements
ascribed by Schroter to the action of winds, of which he
has specified in an elaborate table no less than forty-six.
instances, not much differing in velocity from those on
earth, and in the great majority of cases conspiring with
the direction of the rotation. Error may have crept in
with regard to the identification of some of the spots ;
and both from the designs and descriptions a suspicion
arises that some of the minuter details, which now serve
for the recognition of distinct but similar regions, escaped
the observer’s notice. There must have been some cause
for this unfortunate defect which detracts materially from
the value of his work, and the removal of which would
have been the one step in advance which, as Terby
remarks, would have put him in possession of the true
interpretation of what he saw. It would be a ready
explanation to refer it to the imperfect defining power of
his instruments ; and I have somewhere read of a com-
parison instituted after his time between his much-prized
speculum of 93 inches aperture and 123 feet focal length,
and a Fraunhofer object-glass of, I think, about 4 inches,
to the disadvantage of the former. Yet on the other hand
he began his work with telescopes by the elder Herschel :
and his 7-foot instrument by this great maker does not
seem to have been superior to that of the same dimen-
sions by Schrader, the manufacturer of all his larger ones.
This point is therefore not quite clear. We might have
attached some importance to his own admission, in his
work on the moon, that his vision was less microscopic
than that of his assistant, Harding, but for the fact that
the latter occasionally aided him in these observations on
Mars. Whatever may have been the cause, the frequent
absence of minuter detail must have served to confirm
Schréter’s misapprehension of what he saw. And it
must be borne in mind, in estimating his observations in
general, that it was his habit to undertake investigation
with a preconceived idea. In the case of the moon, his
prepossession in favour of changes no doubt occasionally
misled his judgment ; and on Mars he might be prepared
to look out for atmospheric movement by the known
phenomena of Jupiter. An anticipation of this kind may
not be without incidental advantage in directing and
sharpening attention: our search may be aided, and with
perfect fairness and honesty, by the foresight of the
result: but at other times such expectations may be
equally or more prejudicial; and they probably were so
in the instance before us. And it isat any rate a possible
suggestion that, with regard to some of these supposed
changes, Schréter’s ideas may have been unconsciously
biassed by his study of the surface of Jupiter. The per-
spective foreshortening of that great globe having no
effect on the aspect of its more conspicuous and familiar
markings, from their equatorial direction, and being non-
apparent in the transits of the shadows of the satellites,
the eye may come to regard it too much as a flat disc,
and to appreciate too little the extensive changes which
mere foreshortening produces among markings arranged
in any other direction.
But whatever explanation may be attempted of Schréter’s
illusion, which, as his editor remarks, increases the value
of his figures by securing their perfect independence, or
however we may regret an apparent want in some cases
of more distinctive detail, there can be no doubt that the
work is worthy of attentive study. Dr. Terby has pointed
out one curious inference —that at that epoch certain dark
markings bore a relative proportion to each other, too
different from that which obtains at present to be easily
explained away. Nor does this result by any means
stand alone; and it has considerable value as -affording
Dec. 28, 1882]
NATURE
205
collateral testimony to subsequent observations pointing
in the same direction. To say nothing of other authorities,
the accurate designs of the deeply-regretted Burton, and
the latest delineations of Schiaparelli (independent of the
wonderful duplication of the narrow streaks) concur with
the drawings of Schréter in indicating one of two suppo-
sitions as regards the dark patches of Mars; either they
must be liable to long-persistent and very deceptive
alteration of visible outline from atmospheric causes, or:
their own extent must be so variable as to awaken a doubt
whether the right key of the mystery is after all in our
hands. We have long believed that we hold it, and ter-
restrial analogy has been thought sufficient to account for
all we can see. The result of the next opposition in
1884 may be found to confirm the old hypothesis ; but it is
not beyond possibility that it may shake it, even past
recovery.
Besides the conclusion thus briefly indicated, several
other points of varying degrees of interest are touched
upon in this comparatively bulky treatise, some of
which we may refer to, though only with a_ passing
notice. Schr6ter paid considerable attention to the polar
whiteness; but while he admits the probable analogy of
terrestrial snow, he is less confident than some other ob-
servers as to any marked influence of solar radiation.
Terby, however, has pointed out the cause of his misap-
prehension, and his substantial agreement with his com-
peers. He was aware of the irregular outline of the
snowy regions, and thought them slightly different in
colour, the south pole verging towards yellow, the north
blue. On the question of rotation he could obtain no
satisfactory result, as might have been expected from his
idea as to the instability of the markings ; his values
being discordant at different periods: the mean,
24h. 39m. 50°2s., was only about 29s. less than that of
Sir W. Herschel, but very wide of Proctor’s elaborately
deduced value, 24h. 37m. 22°735s.—a fact pointing pro-
bably to the same conclusion as before, that from some
as yet imperfectly explained cause, the exact position in
longitude of some of the features of the planet is not
fully ascertained. The amount of the polar flattening of
Mars is, as is well known, matter of much uncertainty.
Herschel made it as much 1-16 ; Dawes, nothing, or even
negative. Our observer, nearest to the great English
authority, found it less than 1-81, a quantity fairly evan-
escent. The method of measurement which he adopted
throughout all his researches was that of the apparatus
which he calls the “ projection machine.”
In this simple
contrivance both eyes are employed simultaneously, the
one in viewing the telescopic image, the other in bring-
ing to coincidence with it, a squared-out area in the case |
of the moon, a series of discs for the planets, in either |
instance with provision for varying distance and illumin- |
This binocular mode of measurement, if open to |
some sources of error not incidental to the ordinary |
ation.
apparatus, appears hardly deserving of the censure so
freely bestowed upon it by Beer and Madler, who were
not always fair towards the labours of Schréter; and
notwithstanding the perfection to which the wire micro-
meter has been brought, might perhaps be revived for
some purposes with advantage. The diameter of Mars
obtained in this way by Schrdéter, 9°84, does not differ
much from the 9” 8” (a curious instance, by the way, of
notation by ¢hzrds), of Sir W. Herschel, or from more
modern values—some proof, it may be thought, of the
competency of the apparatus to obtain a close approxi-
mation.
Observations included in this volume of a partial
flattening of the limb of Mars and of the abnormal |
breadth and want of symmetry in the phasis, however
improbable they may at first appear, are not without
parallel in the case of other planets, or the experience of |
If, as it must be assumed, these are |
other observers.
nothing more than illusions, the record of them is still
valuable in the probable event of their occasional re-
currence.
To this brief and imperfect notice are appended three
sketches from the Atlas—the two first as specimens of
Schréter’s mode of delineation—the third as bearing so
striking a resemblance to one of my own, shown on a
smaller scale beside it, that it might, in the absence of
more accurate data, serve as the basis of an approximate
value of rotation.
The dates respectively corresponding to these designs
are 1798, Sept. 9d. 8h. 4m.; Oct. 17d. 7h. 39m.; Nov.
13d. 7h. tom. ; 1862, Dec. 1od. 9d. 30m.
T. W. WEBB
DESTRUCTION OF LIFE IN INDIA BY
POISONOUS SNAKES
ji January, 1870, being then in Calcutta, I collected
statistical information which afforded proof that the
loss of human as well as animal life in India from the
bite of venomous snakes was very great; and as it
seemed to me that this ought to be, to a great extent,
preventible, I extended my investigations with the view
of obtaining accurate information as to the characters
and peculiarities of the venomous snakes themselves, the
localities in which they most abound ; the modus operandz
206
NATURE
[ Dec. 28, 1882
of the poison ; the circumstances under which the bites
are inflicted; the value of any known remedies in the
treatment of those bitten, and what measures might pos-
sibly be devised for diminishing this serious evil.
After a long and careful investigation of the whole
subject, I drew up a detailed report, containing the re-
sults of my inquiry, and presented it to the Government
of India, with a request that, when published, it should
be distributed throughout India, among civil and medical
officers, with a view of enabling them to take measures
for the protection of human life, and the destruction of
the creatures which caused such frightful mortality. I
also endeavoured to point out the mode in which the
poison destroys life, and to indicate such rational mea-
sures as might be of service in the treatment of those
bitten.
Iam not aware how far the advice I then tendered has
been acted on, but I am glad to find, by a recent resolu-
tion published in the Gazet¢e of /ndza, that some progress
is being made, and that the mortality of 1881 has been
somewhat less than that of 1880, from this cause, and
that this desirable result is due to the measures that have
been taken by Government to procure the destruction of
the poisonous snakes. .
From the returns furnished to me at the instance of
Government in 1870, for the year 1869, I made out that
the human deaths from snake-bite were as follows in—
Bengal, including Assam and Orissa ... ... 6645
North-West Provinces ... . 1995
Punjab 755
Oude nog Eco . 1205
Central Provinces ... rape een 606
@entraluIndiatee, 6. cy ose. acs OD
British Burmah 120
Total... 11,416
Tnese were the only returns received, and represent
not much more than half of the whole area, but the total,
large as it is, cannot be regarded as the real mortality in
these provinces, as the information from which the re-
cords were framed being probably only partial and imper-
fect, it rather under-rates than exaggerates the mortality.
I expressed a belief that if systematic registration were
adopted, the number recorded would prove to be larger,
whilst, if information were gathered from the whole of
Hindostan, it would be found that not less than 20,000
persons are destroyed annually by snakes.
Certain suggestions were made as to measures for
identification, destruction of venomous snakes, and for
registration of deaths. These would appear, from the
terms of the resolution above referred to, to have been
partially adopted, with the result of causing some dimi-
nution of the evil. I pointed out that the snakes which
are so destructive to life are the cobra, the bungarus or
krait, the echis, and the daboia or Russells’ viper, all of
which are most conspicuous snakes, and easily identified.
There are others, such as Bungarus fasciatus, Ophio-
phagus elaps, which are dangerous, but comparatively
rare, and seldom bite men, whilst the hydrophide being
confined to the sea or estuaries, are, though very poisonous,
not so dangerous to man, and the trimeresuri, which
are both uncommon, and at the same time are not so
deadly as to endanger life. All these are depicted in
coloured figures taken from life, which renders their iden-
tification simple and easy.
I further remarked that, “meanwhile there exists the
obvious necessity of endeavouring to prevent the nume-
rous fatal accidents by making generally known the
appearance and habits of the poisonous snakes, and by
instituting rewards for their destruction. With a plain
description and a faithful representation of each species
in colours, every district, medical or police officer, would
be able at once to distinguish the venomous from the
innocent snakes, and thus knowledge enough, at least
for all practical purposes, might be imparted to intelligent
native subordinates, to enable them to recognise the
poisonous snakes. By offering a larger reward for
these only, their numbers would soon diminish, and the
people would be made acquainted with the characters
that distinguish the venomous from the harmless snakes,
and would learn to avoid them. Thus only, I believe,
can the evil be remedied, so long, at all events, as the
mode of life among the lower and agricultural classes
remain what it now is. I would suggest that magistrates,
district and police officers, and civil surgeons be autho-
rised to give the following rewards for poisonous snakes :—
Annas*
Cobra 253
Bungarus czruleus ...
Bungarus fasciatus ...
Ophiophagus
Russell’s Viper
Echis é
Trimeresurus
RR OMB ASW
The sum disbursed would no doubt be large, but the
results in the saving of life and destruction of snakes would
compensate for the expenditure.”’
Such was the state of things when I left India in 1872.
The Government of India then, at my instance, appointed
acommission to continue the inquiry which I had com-
menced three or four years previously. This resulted in
several valuable reports by Drs. J. Ewart, A. Wall, and Mr.
Vincent Richards, whilst, in conjunction with Dr. Lauder -
Brunton, F.R.S., an investigation into the nature of the
physiological action of the virus was continued here by me,
the results of which have been published in the Proceedings
of the Royal Society in 1873, 1874, and 1875. Meanwhile
the evil continues, and it is probably within the mark to
say that, since the subject came under consideration in
1870, [50,000 to 200,000 human beings, to say nothing of
domestic animals, have been destroyed by snake bites.
The subject has often received the most anxious
consideration of the Indian Government, and a variety
of measures have been resorted to, not without a
certain measure of success ; but it is my belief that not
until a system of organised, determined, and sustained
efforts for the destruction of the snakes is adopted and
carried out on the lines suggested in my report, will the
evil be fairly grappled with and overcome. The present
resolution shows that the matter is again receiving some
consideration, and there is good reason to believe that
if the measures be prosecuted with energy and determina-
tion throughout India, good results will follow. But I
repeat it is only by the destruction of the snakes that the
evil can be mitigated. Something may be expected
from the people themselves as their knowledge of the
subject increases, as they become more familiar with the
appearance or character of the venomous as distinguished
from the harmless snakes, and as they gradually become
convinced of the futility of all antidotes charms or spells
to protect them ; or should they ever alter their present
mode of living in huts which have the floor on the ground
surface, to huts with raised floors—a consummation
devoutly to be wished, not only on account of snakes,
but of malaria—but hardly likely to be realised.
For the purpose of hunting out and destroying the evil
it is absolutely necessary that a fixed system of rewards
should be established, and that in every district there
should be an organised body of men whose duty it would
be, under proper supervision, to seek out and destroy the
snakes, receiving a recompense according to the import-
ance and number of the snakes killed. Such men are to
be found among certain castes, and with the aid of de-
scriptions and coloured drawings, such as now are avail-
able, there need be no great difficulty in carrying out this
much-to-be-desired object. That such a project would
be costly is true, but can that cost be considered excessive
Eight annas represent one shilling.
=
Dec. 28, 1832]
if it save thousands of lives of men and valuable animals?
There can be little doubt that wherever such a system has
been even partially carried out, it has been effective ; it
needs but combined effort to make universal, that which
hitherto would appear to have been but partial success.
From the tenor of the Government resolution referred
to, it seems as though an organised scheme for the de-
struction of venomous snakes, as well as dangerous wild
animals, is now likely to be generally adopted in India,
and should it be so, there is good ground for hope that
the great mortality will decrease—to quote from a former
paper on this subject, I would repeat : “ Rewards should
be offered freely for venomous snakes only. This, if
steadily carried out under some responsible official, would
soon diminish snakes and deaths from snake-bite ; and I
earnestly protest against the opinion expressed by some
Indian authorities, that such rewards are useless—useless
they may have been, and will continue to be, if distributed
without discretion for snakes not poisonous. If this
method of dealing with the matter—and who can deny its
importance—be adopted (but it must be done willingly,
and not with the foregone conclusion that it will fail), I
am certain that, as part of a comprehensive scheme for
the destruction of noxious animals generally, it will
succeed.”
The following is the purport of the resolution of Novem-
ber 8, 1882, which shows that in 1881 the number of
deaths caused by snake-bite, of men and animals, con-
trasted favourably with that of the previous year, 18$o.
The statement appended to this resolution shows in
detail for each province the number of persons and cattle
killed by wild animals and snakes, and the number of
wild animals and snakes destroyed, with the rewards paid
for their destruction during the year 1881, as compared
with the previous year. The figures are summarised in
the following tables :—
Number of Human Beings and Cattle Killed by Snakes
Persons killed. Cattle killed.
1880. 188r. 1880. 1881.
Madras HACKY coms LC eg Pf ee OAR
Bombay ‘ O72 L024 ase. 89 Igt
Benpaligieret esp isi 1050046... 9,208) .... 1,248 154
North-Western Pro-
vinces and Oudh... 4,723 ... §,010 ... 221 ... 317
Punjab Scat 681 744 ... 7 Sie ex 69
Central Provinces ... gol 985 ... S0nnt 26
British Purma... TAO) tee 135 194 150
Coorg Boa | INE Nil ... Nil
PASSA ee Osea) vse Pet Mice 189 ... Ctl cee 16
Hyderabad Assigned
Districts > jeacis § Le yp ie = MELE 836
Ajmere-Merwara ... 49 ... 54 eee Na Nil
Total 19,060 ... 18,610 ... 2,536 ... 2,032
Snakes killed and Rewards Paid
Destroyed. Rewards. Destroyed. Rewards,
1880. 188r.
Ss. a, Rs.
Madras ...... Nil sly ieee Nila aly Ni
Benes, Pens Wf, O7o et 0;022) 340... 2075013)".,6,214. Lolo
engall 0... 235200 vse 35733 6 19,282 ... 3,430 fo}
MAM Provinces” sae - Sig
and Oudh... 1,029 ... IO) 210 RalA2te SON Ses
BanaDiesses sc Oizo). 635 50 22,2708 ale boi) AO
Cent. Provinces 866... 336 60 1,493... 562 80
British Burma. 997 ... 2 00. 2,990... 27 00
Goorg: if. .-c0-c0 58... Nil tes TOs... 4 00
PASSA DI ees sss 2O2F Nil SEang BEI Oe
Hyderabad As-
signed districts 158 ... 231480 ..: BX ote
Ajmere-Merwara 61 ... Nil i ae pe a Ra
Total
The deaths of human beings from snake-bite were, in
1880, 19,060; while in 1881 they were 18,610,
212,776 ... 11,663 2 0... 254,968 ...11,960 143
NATURE
207
In 1880, 212,776 snakes were destroyed at a cost of
Rs 11,663.
In 1881, 254,968 snakes were destroyed at a cost of
Rs 11,961.
Thus with an increased expenditure of Rs 298 in 1881,
42,192 more snakes were destroyed and 450 lives were
preserved, above the expenditure of the previous years.
With regard to the measures adopted for the destruc-
tion of venomous snakes, the following remarks are made
by the Governor-General in Council :—
“As regards the destruction of venomous snakes, special
measures were adopted in some provinces, of which it
appears desirable to give a brief account in case they may
be considered suitable for adoption elsewhere. In Bengal
a scheme has been sanctioned by the local Government
in the case of the Patna Division, under which persons
destroying snakes can obtain certificates from certain
selected planters vouching for the poisonous nature of the
snakes destroyed. The production of such a certificate
entitles the holder to secure from the local authorities the
reward offered whenever he finds an opportunity of ap-
plying for it. As observed by the Government of Bengal,
this concession will probably be found to add much to
the convenience of persons claiming rewards, and to act
as an inducement towards the destruction of poisonous
snakes. The expediency of extending the scheme will be
considered by the Local Government when the result of
the current year’s operations are known. In the North-
Western Provinces and Oudh the Lieutenant-Governor
and Chief Commissioner has sanctioned the entertain-
ment tentatively in each district of those provinces of a
staff of Kanjars, or men of similar caste, who trap and
kill reptiles, for the systematic destruction of venomous
snakes. These men will receive pay at the rate of Rs. 2
per mensem, together with an additional reward of two
annas for every venomous snake in excess of twenty
destroyed by each man during any month. A gang of
snake-hunters is also to be employed at each tahsili, and,
if the measure proves successful, it is proposed that
similar gangs should be eventually appointed to each
police circle of other local area, It appears to the
Governor General in Council that a plan for the destruc-
tion of snakes such as that initiated in the North-Western
Provinces and Oudh, is likely to prove far more efficacious
than the mere offer of rewards, although it is true that
unless such operations are confined to towns and villages
and their neighbourhood, where it is believed that the
largest number of deaths occur from snake-bite, they will
probably be very costly. His Honour the Lieutenant-
Governor of the Punjab has issued a circular to commis-
sioners and superintendents in the Punjab, drawing
attention to the matter with a view to the adoption of
measures for destroying snakes by system of rewards to
be granted by district committees and municipalities.
Casts and lithographed pictures of the more common
species of deadly snakes have already been supplied to
the police stations in some districts, and deputy commis-
sioners have been requested to suggest to municipal and
district committees the desirability of procuring similar
means of reference for the purpose of testing applications
for rewards. In British Burma the Chief Commissioner,
with a view to encourage village snake-hunts in the rice
plains, has arranged to grant sums varying from Rs Io to
Rs 20, according to the number of houses, in aid of a feast
or Jweh at the end of the annual hunt to every village
which successfully carries out such an undertaking.
“On the whole, the results recorded during the year
under review appear to the Government of India to be
more satisfactory than those of the previous year. The
Governor General in Council is glad to notice that the
‘question of taking measures to reduce the lamentable
loss of life which is at present caused by wild animals
and venomous snakes is receiving the earnest considera-
tion of Local Governments and Administrations, and His
208
Excellency in Council will await with interest the reports
showing the results of the ‘special measures which have
been adopted in some provinces. It is clear that much
still remains to be done ; but if sustained efforts are made
and well-considered plans adopted for the extermination
of wild beasts and deadly snakes, His Excellency in
Council believes that the number of deaths from these
causes will in course of time be materially reduced.—
Simla, November 8, 1882.”
From the above it appears that more vigorous mea-
sures than any hitherto adopted have been taken for the
destruction of venomous snakes, and the contrast of the
results of 1881 with those of 1880, warrant the anticipation
of further benefit if these measures are only carried out
with a sustained determination to succeed. It is mainly
a question of perseverance and the expenditure of money,
and one can hardly imagine a more desirable object
on which to expend both energy and rupees. But it
is essential that the system be laid down on some
general principles for the whole of India, to be worked
out in detail, according to the needs or peculiarities of
each district. There should, in short, be a department
with a responsible chief and subordinate agents, for whom
certain rules should be laid down to be carried out steadily
and without hindrance throughout the country, leaving
much of the detail to the discretion of local authorities.
I would insist on the importance of carrying it out on
broad principles everywhere. When such a department
is constituted under a proper head—and there are many
persons well fitted for such a duty—then, I believe, veno- }
mous snakes and other noxious animals will decrease in
numbers, and people will cease to be startled by these
appalling losses of life. J. FAYRER
SIR F. WHITWORTH’S MECHANICAL
PAPERS *
HE fact that, by an order in Council of August 26,
1881, some 300 Whitworth gauges of various dimen-
sions have been adopted as standards by the Board of
Trade, is so important a recognition of the value of the
labours of Sir J. Whitworth in improving mechanical
measurement, that the occasion has been selected for
republishing certain papers which have been long well
known among engineers, but which have not hitherto
been accessible to the public generally.
The first paper in the series is on plane metallic sur-
faces, and the proper mode of preparing them, and con-
tains an account of an invention of great simplicity, but
of the highest practical importance. Such plates, when
worked up to an extreme degree of accuracy and finish,
form an approximation to a plane surface which would
surprise and delight any geometrician who had an oppor-
tunity of critically examining and testing their qualities.
They consist of an assemblage of minute bright surfaces
very evenly distributed over a plate of cast iron, and very
near together.
As to their qualities, there is not space here to de-
scribe them, but they have formed the subject-matter of
an excellent lecture by Prof. Tyndall, at an evening
meeting of the Royal Institution in the year 1875.
Passing from these so-called true planes, we refer to a
step involving an original conception which has led to
the construction of the new standard gauges. The pro-
duction of an approximately true plane surface gave an
increased value and importance to the feeling of contact
between prepared metallic surfaces, and resulted in the
invention of a measuring machine which was made to
depend on the sense of touch instead. of upon optical
contrivances, and was founded entirely on truth of
surface.
* ‘Papers on Mechanical Subjects.’ By Sir Joseph Whitworth, Bart.,
F.R.S., D.C.L, Vol. I. True Planes, Screw Threads, and Standard
Measures. (London: Spon.)
NATURE
[Dec. 28, 1882
The improvement consisted in the substitution of end
for line measure, and inasmuch as these are technical
terms, it may be well to explain them.
As stated in the last paper of the series, the English
standard yard is an example of line measure, being
represented by the interval between two lines drawn
across two gold studs sunk in a bronze bar about 38
inches long, the temperature being at 62° Fahrenheit.
The standard yard, from the subdivisions of which the
s‘andard inch has been obtained on the Whitworth
system, is a rectangular metal bar with plane sides
capable of resting along its whole length in rectangular
V grooves, which are plane surfaces, while the ends of
the bar are planes lying perpendicular to its axis. The
bar is exactly 36 inches long, and the measurement is
complete when the degree of contact between its ends
and two small true planes abutting against them is ascer-
tained. Such a measurement is, of course, end measure,
and its accuracy depends throughout upon truth of sur-
face, and also upon truth of position of surface. The
ends of the bar must be perpendicular to its axis, and
the planes which feel those ends must be truly parallel to
each other, and one at least must be movable to and fro
without deviating at all from the position of parallelism
to its fixed neighbour,
Then comes the question of the amount of shifting ot
the movable plane. That is done by a micrometer screw,
the linear motion for one graduation of the micrometer
head, which can be easily read without a lens, being in
some cases I-10,o00oth of an inch, and in other cases
I-1,000,000th of an inch.
There is not space to discuss the measuring machine,
whether as capable of producing cylindrical gauges
varying by I-10,o00th of an inch, or as capable of repro-
ducing a standard inch or a standard yard to a degree of
| accuracy which leaves the microscope far behind in the
contest.
It must suffice to point out that the reprinted papers
are full of interest, as showing the manner in which Sir J.
Whitworth has thought out and accomplished the work
of improving the construction of machinery, and it is
matter of regret that those who are occupied in teaching
mechanics have not better opportunities than now exist of
becoming practically conversant with the subject-matter
of the collected papers.
NOTES
FroM Punta Arenas, near the extremity of South America,
intelligence has been received that the fourth section of the
German expedition sent out to observe the transit of Venus has
been particularly successful, Professor Auvers having managed
to take exceedingly good photographs and numerous measure-
ments.
A TELEGRAM received from Monte Video states that the
Volage has anchored in these roads from Santa Cruz in Pata-
gonia. Capt. Fleuriais and observers of the transit of Venus
were on board, returning to France with their instruments,
photographs, and other documents.
M. TREPIED, in a communication to the Paris Academy on
his observation of the transit in Algiers, states that clouds
rendered the ordinary observations of little value, but that some
good results were obtained with the spectroscope on the borders
of the planet in the region from A to E; while some photographs
were obtained in the green, the blue, and the violet. The
examination of the spectral lines in the groups A, B, a, in the
regions comprised between a, D, E, did not show, M. Trépied
states, anything which could be attributed to a selective ab-
sorption produced by an atmosphere on the planet. The same
inference is deduced from the photographs.
'
~ Dec. 28, 1882]
NATURE
209
AT a recent conference of members of the British Association,
held in the rooms of the Geographical Society, a protest was
drawn up against the proposed meeting of the Association in-
Canada in 1884.
AT the Conference of Head Masters the other day one of the
subjects discussed was the teaching of geography in schools, in
which many varied and vague opinions were expressed. There
is in this country too great a tendency to treat geography as
mere topography, the mere dry bones of the subject, which can
only be clothed with flesh and endowed with life through the
medium of the physical and natural sciences. We advise those
teachers who desire to make the subject of geography both
interesting and useful to make themselves acquainted with the
programmes of German schools and universities under that
head.
THE Société d’Encouragement has held its annual meeting for
1882, and awarded its gold medal to M. Gaston Plante for his
work in the accumulation of electricity.
IN a recent number of the St. Petersburg Academy’s Budletin
(1882, t. xxviii.-p. 163), Herr Kortazzi reports on his observa- |
tions of Jupiter at Nikolajus from September, 1879, to De-
cember, 1881, giving, in four plates, forty-seven drawings of the
planet. The time of rotation, calculated from the red spot, he
finds to have ¢ontinually diminished, but not according to an
ascertained law ; more recently an increase has appeared. The
spot can hardly (he considers) be regarded as gaseous ; it is more
likely a liquid or even solid mass forming part of the planet’s
surface, In the former case it might be considered a large lake
in an ocean of other liquid, which covers the southern hemi-
sphere of Jupiter, and it might be expected that this lake, owing
to currents flowing over the surface of the planet, would
gradually be diffused and spread over the whole surface, or at
least over the whole parallel. If the spot were a solid projec-
tion from the solid body of the planet (if such a body there be),
it would be impossible to account for the observed changes of
position. The most plausible view is, that it is a solid floating
mass on the surface of an ocean; but even this hypothesis the
author considers bold, since we are not entitled to infer by
analogy from terrestrial phenomena the nature of forms on
Jupiter which may be very different in internal nature from the
earth.
A DOE having horns, which gave it the appearance of the male
animal, was recently killed in the woods of Herr Pénsgen, near
Aix-la-Chapelle. The longer horn was about 19 centimetres in
length, Such acase is rare, though small rudiments of horns
are sometimes met with in old does. A picture of the animal is
given in the Revista Scientifico-[ndustriale, October 31.
To illustrate the effect of expansion of the bulbs of liquid
thermometers on the indications of those instruments, Prof,
Govi connects a capillary tube with a bulb of ebonite, and partly
fills it with mercury. Such a thermometer doesnot indicate
gradual variations of temperature (within certain limits), With
rapid variations, the mercury shows zzzverse movement (descend-
ing with heat and rising with cold), but after some time the
original level is restored, while the excess of heat or cold is lost.
The phenomena are due to the almost perfect equality of the
coefficients of cubical dilatation of ebonite and mercury, at least
between zero and 50° or 60° C. ; and to the fact, that with
sudden changes of temperature, the bulb responds first, and
Leing a bar conductor, transmits slowly to the mercury.
A RECENT report by M. de Bezerédy, Government Commis-
sioner for cultivation of silk in Hungary, shows that the industry
is making considerable progress in that country. In 1881 there
were 2976 producers, who obtained 41,537 kilogrammes of
cocoons in 426 communes, and the produce was sold for 41,816
florins. The corresponding figures for 1880 are: 1059 pro-
_ ducers, 10,132 kgr., 109 communes, and 11,062 florins.
The
Commissioner sold in Italy the produce of 1881 for 63,000
florins, and the profit so realised allowed of the institution
of a model school for silk-cultivation, without exceeding the
eredit voted by the Chamber. This school has received
three primary teachers sent by the Minister of Public Edu
cation, and three from the Minister of Commerce; three
more are maintained at private expense. These nine will
acquire knowledge to be afterwards utilised in their place of
residence. Further, a professor in the Model School of Graz
has given public lectures on the rearing of silkworms in several
villages, and more than 80 ker. of cocoons have been distributed
continuously to cultivators. Lastly, 28,956 mulberry trees have
been planted at Government expense. The report recommends
the establishment of spinning mills in the country, and the plan-
tation of mulberry trees on land belonging to the communes,
and on the Government roads. The climate of certain regions
of Hungary is highly favourable to the production of silk.
THE Zimes Geneva correspondent states that the recent heavy
rains, which recommenced on Friday, with, if possible, greater
violence than before, are producing disastrous consequences in
various parts of Switzerland. A considerable extent of ground,
covered with vines, at Espesses, in Canton Vaud, is slipping
rapidly towards Lake Leman, and, unless the measures taken
by the engineers succeed in arresting its progress, must soon be
engulfed. An earthslip has also taken place near Troistorrents,
and another at Pully, in the same neighbourhood. Up to the
end of November there had been 200 rainy days in that part of
Switzerland since the beginning of the year, and only §0 days of
sunshine,
AN international exhibition will be held in Calcutta next De-
cember. There will be nine principal sections: (1) fine arts ;
(2) apparatus and application of the liberal arts ; (3) furniture
and objects used in dwellings ; (4) clothing, including fabrics ;
(5) products of mining industry, forestry, &c. ; (6) apparatus
and processes in the common arts ; (7) food; (8) artisans’ work-
manship ; and (9) children’s work, An attempt will also be
made to hold an exhibition of live stock, agricultural and horti-
cultural products, and of a loan collection of paintings, sculpture,
and works of art generally. The usual gold, silver, and bronze
medals will be awarded by special juries of experts. The
exhibition will be opened on December 4, 1883, and will close
on February 29, 1884. .
M. GERMER BALLIéRE has published an edition of Father
Secchi’s ‘‘ Les Etoiles” in two volumes, as a part of the Biblio-
theque Scientifique Internationale.
THE Academy of Moral and Political Sciences has announced
the conditions of the competition opened every year for the
prize of 200/. to be deyoted to the author of the work, which is
to ‘faire aimer,” morality and virtue, and ‘‘faire repousser,”
vice and egotism.
M. DE CHANGY, the first electrician who attempted to manu-
facture incandescent lamps 77 vacuo about twenty years ago, has
constructed a small mocel for demonstration. The carbon is
rectilinear, which permits a very small length to be given to it.
It is to be lighted with bichromate of potassium elements. In
his former attempts M. de Changy advocated very small carbons
cut in the graphite from the retorts. Now his fibres are car-
bonised according to the common practice.
THE introduction of western improvements into China by Euro-
peans is evidently a work beset with many difficulties. Some
years ago the only railway in the country was purchased by the
Government from the proprietors and promptly torn up; but
now the officials themselves are laying down railroads from the
mines in North China to the nearest canal. The telegraph also
210
WAT ORE
had to encounter a yigorous opposition from the authorities and
people for many years ; at present, however, the capital is con-
nected by wire with the coast. The electric light is the latest
improvement which has excited the suspicion and dislike of the
Mandarins. The foreign settlement at Shanghai has for some
time been lighted on the Brush system, apparently much to the
comfort and jubilation of the denizens of the ‘‘model settle-
ment,” as the foreign portion of the city is generally called.
The promoters appear, however, to have reckoned without the
Chinese officials, They probably thought that where gas was
permitted, there could be no objection to electricity. The
Chinese Governor of the dis'rict appears to be of a different
opinion. He has addressed a letter to the senior Foreign
Consul requesting the removal of all the electric lamps. He has
read, he says, in translatious from European papers, that terrible
accidents have arisen from electricity, and flatly refuses to permit
the residents of Shanghai t» be exposed to such dreadful risks.
Hundreds of thousands of houses might be destroyed, millions
of lives might be lost; even the walls of the city might be
blown down if anything went wrong with the machines. He
has strictly forbidden his own countrymen to use it, and has
peremptorily ordered those who have already adopted it to dis-
continue it forthwith. Whether this ukase will be immediately
obeyed or not it is impossible to say ; but past experience leads us
to the conclusion that if the Chinese have determined to set their
face against the electric light, no power on earth can get them to
permit it in their territory. Their leading principle in these matters
seems to be a dislike of all innovation until its necessity is
clearly demonstrated by ¢hezy own experience, and a determina-
tion that new inventions or appliances shall not be foisted or
forced on them from outside. The late difficulty with Russia
showed them the imperative necessity of being prepared for
war, and of having their capital in d*rect communication with
the outer world. Ironclad ships and rifled guns are accordingly
being purchased with extraordinary rapidity; forts are being
erected at various points on the seaboard, and a telegraph line
about 800 miles in length was constructed in the course of a few
months. Perhaps, after all, the Chinese policy in this respect is
not so wrong-headed as it sometimes appears. It certainly saves
them from the wiles of speculators and promoters of all sorts.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include two Bonnet Monkeys (M/acacus vadiatus $ ? )
from India, presented by Mr. Nathaniel Cotton; two Slender
Loris (Zorts gracilis) from India, presented by Dr. H. W.
Lentaigne ; a Leopard (Felis pardus) from India, presented by
Capt. Park ; a Crimson-crowned Weaver Bird (Zuplectes flam-
miceps) from Madeira, presented by Mr. E. W. Gain; a
Common Heron (Avdea cinerea} from Scotland, presented by
Mr. W. H. Henderson ; eleven Muscovy Ducks (Cairina
moschata) from South America, presented by Major Finlay ; a
Hoary Snake (Coronella cana), a Crossed Snake (Psammophis
crucifer), a Rhomb-marked Snake Psammophjlax rhombeatus)
from South Africa, presented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk,
C.M.Z.S. ; two Golden-winged Woodpeckers (Colaptes auratus)
from North America, purchased; a Golden-Eye (Clangu/a
glaucion 6), British, on approval; a Molucca Deer Cervus
meluccensts @), born in the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
STELLAR PARALLAX.—The results of a series of observations
with the filar micromerer on the Washington refractor for the
determination of the annual parallax of a Lyra and 61 Cygni
have been printed in advance of the publication of the yearly
volume of observations. The measures were made by Prof.
Asaph Hall, those of a Lyra extending from May 24, 1880, to
July 2, 1881, on seventy-seven nights, and those of 61 Cygni
from October 24, 1880, to December 7, 1881, on sixty-six
nights. The magnifying power employed was 383. Prof. Hall
remarks that since observations of the angle of position made
with the micrometer-circle are less accurate for distances that
enter into the determination of parallax, he observed simply the
difference of declination of @ Lyre and the companion of the
tenth magnitude, and in the case of 61 Cygni the difference of
declination of the smaller component and a star of 9°5 magnitude
about 3'"3 south of the double star, which is D.M. + 38°, No.
4345. a Lyrz was obse ved both with bright and dark wires,
for 61 Cygni only the dark wires were used. It may be noted
that the star measured is the following component of the dcuble
star. The course of observation pursued for each night’s set of
measures is describ d, and except on one occasion the same
programme was followed throughout.
The resulting parallax for a Lyre is, 0’*1797 + 0" 00561 ;
the time required for light to pass from the star to our sun is
thus found to be 18°11 Julian years.
For 61 Cygni the parallax is 0.4783 + o”:01381, and light
requires 6°803 Julian years to traver:e the space that separates
this star from the sun.
The parallaxes it will be seen, are obtained by the differential
method, and are thus relative, or they are the differences of the
parallaxes of the two stars. To get the absolute parallax of the
bright star it is necessary to add the parallax of the small star.
Prof. Hall says that he might have effected this by means of the
parallaxes for stars of different magnitudes given in Struve’s
table in his ‘‘ Etudes d’Astronomie Stellaire,” but as the whole
matter is uncertain, he has omitted this reduction.
Dr. Ball, Astronomer Royal for Ireland, continues hs
researches on stellar parallax, at the Observatory of Dunsink,
Dublin, and has lately published a determination of the parallax
of 6 (Bode) Cygni, which is the well-known double star No.
2486 of Struve. The components are of 6 and 6°5 magnitudes.
The existence of a parallax co a very measurable amount
was suggested during the course of a series of preliminary ob-
servations in 1879 and 1880 for the detection of such proximate
objec's, and a systematic course cf observation was commenced
on October 3, 1880, and continued to December 22, 1881.
6 B. Cygni is No. 196 of Argelander’s list of 250 stars having
large proper motion, given in vol. vii. of the Bonn Observations,
where it has attributed to it an annual motion of 0”°636 on an
angle of 346° 27’ ; Argelander’s positions belong to the preceding
component. Dr. Ball has employed the following one in his
investigation. Measures were obtained on twenty-six nights, the
mean date being 1881°5207 ; they were made from a star 7/0
of the 10°5 magnitude, the adopted mean distance of which is
170"°692.. and position angle 78° 18’ 61”. If this small star is
assumed to be at rest, and Argelander’s proper motion attributed
to the double star, the annual increase of distance is + 0”'02,
and that of angle + 12'°796; thus almost the whole proper
motion applies to change in the position angle. The observa-
tions show that there is no regular increase of distance, and
hence, Dr. Ball observes, there is prima facie evidence that the
comparison star does not participate in the proper motion.
The resulting parallax of = 2486 is—
a“ “
From the disiances 0°5039 + 0'060
From the angles Scie hes eiaees 0°383 £0713
Combining these two values, we have for the parallax 0’"482 +
0-054. It is intended to make another series of observations of
this star, the present result being regarded by Dr. Ball as
merely provisional, though he thinks it can hardly be doubted
that a parallax of very considerable amount really exists, The
place of the star is in right ascension Igh. 8m. 20s., with 49° 35'°3
north declination for 1855°0.
Comer 1882 6.—The following positions of this comet for
midnight at Greenwich, though liable to an error of several
minutes of arc, may serve for finding it in the telescope without
difficulty.
Right Ascension. Declination. Log. distance from
h. m ‘ee arth. Sun.
Dec. 31 ... 7 149 ... —29 28 ... 0°2365 ... 0°3883
TG (28 cba yf as 29 10
yaa le, are 28 49 ... 0°2489 0°39091
OF OURS tA Ls 28 26
iste lee Gee sy 28 2... 0°2622 0°4096
TO}e-. 0) 4 Sao 27 36
12). OeAg One 27) 8) ss. 1052703 0°4196
WAuns. 602 30)die 26 40
TOs ss1O 520. 26 10 ... 0°2912 0°4294
18) i, Ol Sipe ace ee 4O
20 ... 6 27°4 ... —25 9 --. 0°3067 ... 0°4388
[ Dec. 28, 1882
tal
Dec. 28, 1882]
AMERICAN RESEARCHES ON
WATER-ANALYSIS
JE the instance of the U.S. National Board of Health, a
comprehensive investigation relating to analysis of water
has been recently conducted by Prof. J. W. Mallet, F.R.S., of
Virginia, assisted by several chemists and others, It was pro-
posed to examine carefully the chief processes in use for chemi-
cally determining the organic matter or its constituents, in drink-
ing water, to test the absolute and relative accuracy of the
results these processes are capable of yielding, and, as far as
possible, to ascertain the nature and scope of the practical con-
clusions available for sanitary purposes, which might thence be
secured.
A preliminary report of this inquiry has appeared in a recent
supplement (No. 19) of the National Board of Health Bulletin,
put we propose here to give our readers some idea of the nature
of it.
Three chemists took charge severally of the so-called ‘‘ com-
bustion process” of Frankland and Armstrong, the ‘‘ albuminoid
ammonia process” of Wanklyn, Chapman and Smith, and the
permanganate process as advocated by Tidy; they were, Mr. W.
A. Noyes, who worked at Baltimore, Dr. Ch. Smart, U.S.A.,
at Washington, and Dr. J. A. Tanner, U.S.N., at Virginia.
The water-samples were collected and distributed to these three
places by Prof. Mallet, and all three chemists were required to
examine their several samples on the same day. Prof. H. Newell
Martin undertook a simultaneous microscopic examination, and
pathological observations on the effect of injecting the waters,
concentrated by evaporation at a very low temperature, under
the skin of rabbits.
After a large amount of preliminary and special work, nine
classes of waters were obtained or prepared, for the main series
of test analyses, as follows :—
Class I.—Natural waters, believed to he wholesome (including
the water-sup)»ly of some of the principal cities).
Class IJ.—Natural waters which were believed to have actually
caused disease in those who drank them.
Class III.—Natural waters of doubtful, but more or less
suspected character.
Class 1V.—Artificially prepared waters, made by adding to
wholesome water, certain amounts of various infusions of
vegetable organic matter, such as drinking water is lable to be
contaminated with.
Class V.—Waters prepared with various forms of vegetable
refuse, from manufacturing or industrial operations.
Class VI.—Waters prepared with azima/ (or partly animal)
organic matter of natural origin.
Class VII.—Water prepared with azimal refuse from manu-
facturing or industrial operations.
Class VIII.—Water prepared by adding morbid products of
human disease.
Class I1X.—Solutions, in distilled water, of carefully deter-
mined amounts of pure substances of definite chemical com-
positions,
The report first deals with the degree of accuracy of the three
processes examined, a matter which may be looked at in two
ways : first, as to the concordance of the results of each process
in duplicate or triplicate experiments on the same water; and
secondly, as to the agreement of the results with the actual,
quantitatively known, contents of a particular water.
In the case of multiplied experiments on the same water,
then, the author first shows in three successive tables (for the
three processes), the divergence of individual results from the
mean, as fercentaze on the mean. It appears that, on the whole,
the most closely concordant results were furnished by the per-
manganate process, and the least so by the combustion pro-
cess, the albuminoid-ammonia process holding the intermediate
position,
Next, a table is given showing the extent of agreement of
results obtained by the different processes with quantities of
organic constituents known to be actually present. ‘The figures
strikingly indicate certain important defects of the several pro-
cesses, though (it is pointed out) they must be looked at in a
broad, general way, remembering the small number of organic
substances treated and their special characters.
The Report proceeds to deal with the effects on the results by
the different processes of varying the extent of dilution of the
same organic substances in water. Here, as regards the com-
bustion process, distinct confirmation is had of the existence of |
NATURE
On
two forms of constant error affecting evaporation. The weaker
the solution the less is the amount of organic carbon obtained,
and the larger the figure for organic nitrogen. If the usual
interpretation of Frankland’s C : N ratio be applied, the curious
and important result of these sources of error follows, that the
more dilute an organically-polluted water is, the more animal-
like in origin will its polluting material seem to be ; while the
stronger it is, the greater will be the tendency to refer the con-
tamination to a vegetable source—a distortion of conclusions
manifestly in the opposite direction to that commonly assumed
to be safe.
As to the albuminoid ammonia process, the weaker the solu-
tions, the higher are the results obtained, both for free and
albuminoid ammonia, the influence common to both being
probably that of imperfect condensation in the distillation
having a less effect as the quantity of ammonia is stronger. The
lower results from the stronger solutions for albuminoid am-
monia, may be partly due to the fixed charge of alkaline per-
manganate to the quantity of organic matter to be acted upon.
‘The results of the permanganate process are shown to be
much less influenced by varying dilution within the limits of
those experiments than those of the other proces-es.
The following, briefly stated, are the author’s
Special Conclusions as to the Combustion Process
1. The combustion itself, carried out according to Frank-
land’s directions, is a process of great delicacy, and quite satis-
factory in its details, with proper precautions, and in trained
hands, Gaseous volumetric analysis with the aid of the
Sprengel vacuum, is sufficient.
2. The Frankland process is quite within reach of the
manipulative skill of any fairly-trained chemist, but it requires
practice and probably pretty constant practice. It is better
adapted for large public laboratories, where many samples of
water are examined, than for occasional use by a private
individual,
3 The defective point is the failure of the evaporation to
leave a residue representing the original organic matter ; this
(suspected hitherto) is regarded as now established. There are
two constantly present errors (greatest with little organic matter),
viz., loss of carbon, and gain of nitrogen from the atmosphere,
the latter probably partly balanced by loss of that originally
pre-ent in the water.
4. These errors, affecting unequally the carbon and nitrogen,
are liable to alter the statement of the C : N ratio, and so distort
sanitary conclusions.
5. The result for organic nitrogen, by the combustion process,
is also affected indirectly by the errors connected with determina-
tion of the ammonia (‘free ammonia”’), as the nitrogen be-
longing to this has to be subtracted from the gross result.
6. A further, indirectly operative, cause of error as to the
nitrogen arises from tbe varying loss of ammonia by dissociation
of its salts during evaporation, The time occupied in evapora-
tion, as well as the amount of ammoniacal salts present, will
influence the amount of loss. Such error will mostly be very
small, but may affect considerably the result for organic
nitrogen.
7. The presence of nitrates presents a special difficulty in the
combustion method. Mr. W. Williams’s application of the
copper-zine couple deserves more precise quantitative examina-
tion than it has yet had. The simultaneous presence of urea
with nitrites and nitrates, presents a case of pecul:ar difficulty,
with several sources of error.
8. The formation of sulphuric acid during evaporation with
sulphurous acid seems te occur oftener than has been recognised.
It is much to be deprecated, though its effect, at any rate on the
carbon determinations, has not seemed so great as might have
been expected.
9. The combustion process, in its present form, cannot be
considered as determining the carbon and nitrogen in a sense to
justify the claim of ‘‘absolute” value for its results, which has
been denied to those of other methods. It is but a method of
approximation, involving sundry errors, and in part, a balance
of errors.
10. There is, however, good ground for believing, that in
many, perhaps most cases, its results for organic carbon may,
with proper precautions, be made more valuable than the indica-
tions of the permanganate process, and its results for organic
nitrogen more valuable than the indications of the albuminoid
ammonia process.
212
NATURE
| Dec. 28, 1882
Special conclusions as to the Albuminoid-ammonia Process
1. In the determination of both ‘‘free” and ‘‘albuminoid”
ammonia there is a loss, which may be quite considerable, from
imperfect condensation of the ammonia during distillation, This
varies especially with the efficiency of the cooling apparatus and
the time occupied.
2. Where waters contain urea and other amidated bodies,
such as the leucine and tyrosine of putrefactive decay, some
ammonia is so easily formed from these substances by boiling
with sodium carbonate, or even without this addition, that it is
impossible to distinguish sharply between pre-existing ‘‘ free”
ammonia (of ammoniacal salts), and that formed by the action
of alkaline permanganate, the so-called ‘‘albuminoid ” ammonia.
This sourcefof error as to free ammonia reacts (as noticed above),
on the result for organic nitrogen by the combustion process.
3. There is no satisfactory evidence for Wanklyn’s view, that,
in distilling with alkaline permanganate, definite and simple
fractions of the nitrogen of organic matter are given off as
‘‘albuminoid” ammonia. Such results may be varied at plea-
sure for most substances, by modifying the conditions of dis-
tillation.
4. If the distillation with alkaline permanganate be carried
out according to Wanklyn, the nitrogenous organic matter is
often so gradually acted upon, as to make the ending of the
process indefinite ; ammonia is sti]l coming off when the distilla-
tion has to be stopped, the contents of the retort being nearly
dry. Here an unknown fraction of the possible amount of
albuminoid ammonia fails to be collected, and is but vaguely
indicated by + after the figures recorded.
5. There is evidence that in some cases nitrogenous matter is
volatilised during the distillation for free ammonia, which, if it
had been retained, would have yielded up its nitrogen as albu-
minoid ammonia. Not affecting the Nessler reagent, such
matter escapes detection.
6.-The albuminoid-ammonia process proper, z.e. distillation
with alkaline permanganate and determination of the ammonia
evolved, is admittedly simple, and easily carried out with very
little preparatory training.
7. The value of the resu’ts by this process depends more on
watching the Avogress and rate of evolution of the ammonia than
upon determining its total amount.
8. The recorded results by this process show a good deal of
similarity between the figures for albuminoid ammonia and those
for organic nitrogen (by the combustion process), but with fre-
quent discrepancies of varying extent, such as prevent the one
being taken as the accurate measure of the other.
Special Conclusions as to the Permanganate Process
1. The results by the Tidy method (the acidified permanganate
at coulmon temperature) and that of Kubel (operating at boiling
point) differ irregularly from each other, the latter usually giving
much higher figures, as was to be expected, but the ratio between
the results by the two methods varies much in different cases.
2. On the whole, there seems to be a nearer approach to pro-
portionality with the quantities of organic carbon found by the
combustion process on the part of the Kubel process than on
that of the Tidy process, but to this there are some very notable
exceptions.
3. In a good many cases, the Kubel results are, contrary to
the general rule, lower than those by the Tidy method. Thi
seems to be due to loss of organic matter by volatilisation with
the escaping steam from the boiling liquid before time has been
afforded for action on the permanganate. Of course, a similar
loss may have occurred in other cases, but not to the extent of
reversing the general rule; and this may in part explain the
absence of any uniform ratio between the figures yielded by the
two methods.
4. The results by the Tidy process are liable to variation with
the atmospheric temperature at the time of operation.
5. The amount of oxygen consumed by a specimen of water
is probably in all ordinary cases much below that required for
complete oxidation of the organic matter present, and does not
stand in any fixed ratio thereto ; it cannot be taken either as a
measure of the organic carbon or of the total organic matter.
Still a distinct general resemblance may be traced between
strongly marked results, high or low as the case may be, for the
consumption of oxygen on the one hand, and organic carbon (by
the combustion process) on the other, and closer agreement is
observable regarding waters of generally similar character.
6. The permanganate process is capable of giving more valu-
able information in regard to a water by watching the progress
and vaée of the oxidation of organic matter present than by any
single determination of the actual amount of oxygen consumed
in a given time.
7. For such observation of the progress of oxidation, the two
determinations prescribed by Tidy, viz. of oxygen consumed in
one hour and three hours respectively, are not sufficient, nor is
the latter period of three hours long enough to indicate the
general behaviour of the water with the acid permanganate.
As to other chemical determinations, the discrepancies in
those of total solids left on evaporation, of the loss on ignition
of this solid residue, and even of chlorine, are noted as illus-
trating the comparative roughness of the methods with which
those results were obtained when very small quantities have to
be dealt with. A coincidence is often presented between alka-
line reaction of a water and the occurrence of nitrites and
nitrates in considerable quantity, suggesting a recollection of the
conditions under which nitrates are produced on a large scale in
the decay of nitrogenous organic matter. Those salts, how ever,
also occur pretty largely in some cases without alkaline reaction,
and in other cases there was alkaline reaction and also much nitro-
genous matter, but no nitrites nor nitrates. Ammonium nitrates
seem to be rare, the basis-constituent being rather mostly non-vola-
tile—no doubt calcium, magnesium, or one of the alkaline metals ;
this is noticed as in relation to possible reduction to nitrite, and
consequent loss of nitrogen in the combustion process. Exyeri-
ments with tannin showed the utter worthlessness of this gr. up-
reagent of Kammerer for the purpose for which he has advocated
its use. The general series of analyses of dissolved gases ii!us-
trate how the results are influenced by varying condition; of
oxidisability of organic matter present, temperature, extent of
exposure to the atmosphere, and interchange with it, in both
direction, of gaseous constituents.
With regard to the microscopic and pathological results, Prof.
Mallet, feeling himself incompetent to properly discuss these,
prefers leaving them to speak for themselves, and merely
remarks on some of the difficulties of such research, and, at the
same time, on its importance and value when rightly conducted.
Passing now to sanitary conclusions and interpretation of
results, the Report deals with
Chemical and Biological Results as contrasted with the actuas
Sanitary History of the Natural Waters Examined
Now on inspection of the tabulated results it appears that oe
strongly marked generic difference is presented by the results from
any of the processes for estimaticn lof organic matter or tts
elements between the generally wholesonie waters of Class 1. and
the waters of Class II, medically condemned and fairly assumed
as pernicious. ‘This applies equally to the highest, the lowest,
and the average results. No one could, with those figures to
guide him, refer a water of unknown origin to one or other of
the two classes, on the basis of chemical analysis by any or all
of the three methods, Attention is called to the smallness of
the amount of organic matter indicated as present in many of the
most dangerous waters, giving important evidence against any
chemical theory of the production of di-ease from this source (on
the simple assumption that some of the chemical products of
decomposition of organic matter are poisonous or noxious in
their effect on the human system). Thus in the case of two
waters of highly dangerous character, if the whole of the organic
carbon and nitrogen present existed as strychnine, it would be
necessary to drink about half a gallon of the water at once, in
order to swallow an average medicinal dose of the alkaloid. It
is not easy to believe that the ptomaines, or other chemical pro-
ducts of putrefactive change, can be so much more poisonous
than the strongest of recognised poisons, While most of the
mischief in drinking water is probably attributable to living
organisms, the possibility is noted, that indirectly a large amount
of-organic matter in water may be more dangerous than a
smaller quantity, as furnishing on a greater scale the suitable
material and conditions for development of organisms, Whether
variations in the mere quantity of organic matter within such
limits as occur in water likely to be used for drinking are of
much importance in this respect, is a question on which (in the
author’s opinion) depends largely the utility of all attempts to
estimate the quantity of organic matter or its constituents as
such,
A much more conspicuous difference between the waters of
Classes I, and II. is presented by the results for nitrites and
nitrates. These salts are either absent or present in but trifling
Dec. 28, 1882]
- NATURE
212
amount in the wholesome waters of Class I., but almost uni-
versally present, and often in large quantity, in the pernicious
water of Class II. They are very variable as to presence and
amount in the doubtful waters of Class III. This result is
worthy of special attention in view of the different opinions
which have been expressed (by Wanklyn, Angus Smith, Frank-
land, Griess, Ekin, Haines, &c.) as to the sanitary conditions of
nitrites and nitrates in water.
Among the artificially polluted waters were a number of
samples of such general character as to be under the gravest
suspicion on sanitary grounds (suspicion corroborated in sundry
cases by biological tests), in which, nevertheless, nitrites and
nitrates were not found; but these waters had an extraordinarily
large amount of organic matter, generally accompanied by very
large amounts of ammonia.
Looking at the results for Classes I. and II., and bearing in
mind the conclusions reached by Miiller, Schloesing, and Muntz,
Storer, Warrington, and others, as to the process of nitrification
being due to presence of an organised ferment or ferments of
bacterial character, ‘‘the idea suggests itself whether the noxicus
character of waters containing largely nitrates and nitrites—
themselves presumed to be harmless—and but very little organic
matter—which ought to be present, of some sort, to support the
‘previous contamination view—may not be in reality due to the
presence of a special nitrifying ferment, itself to be classed among
the lower organisms capable of propasating disease.’”
Two points are noted as requiring caution in regard to the
above conclusions: first, the samples may have undergone some
chemical change in the interval from their collection to their
reaching the analysts (but such changes could hardly have been
great); secondly, it was necessary to take exaggerated instances
of mischief; and the organic impurities present in the waters
concerned may not be the same as those which would produce
slighter, but, in time, serious ill effects. Slighter forms of
disease, really attributable to drinking water, may perhaps be
numerous, and possibly of various types, but generally the diffi-
culty will be too great of securing, in view of the many factors
concerned, any satisfactory evidence as to their cauce.
In regard to determinations of chlorine, the results are in
many cases of water from shallow wells, significant enough of
contamination by fluid animal excreta. The amount of chlorine
in the case of several wells near the sea, shows the need of thought
as to the natural source of a water in drawing conclusions from
the presence of chlorides. Even where chlorine has come in
with organic matter, this impropriety in too hastily deciding,
as is sometimes done, that a small quantity indicates vegetable,
and a large quantity animal contamination is illustrated by
several cases.
Prof. Martin and Dr. Hartwell were asked to independently
mark waters as ‘‘dangerous”’ and ‘‘ suspicious” on the basis of
the biological observations. The results, as summarised in a
table, prove that these methods will not afford the means of
deciding between a wholesome and an unwholesome natural
water. Several of the waters believed to be fairly wholesome,
and certainly in use on a large scale, are marked ‘‘suspi-
cious,” while not one of the waters believed to have proved
themselves pernicious when used by man, are set down as
“dangerous.” In many cases the waters which affected rabbits
most, contained very Javge amounts of organic matter, so large
as to probably invalidate comparison with natural waters or with
the much more dilute specimens of prepared water. On the
other hand, with three strengths of a solution of organic mate-
rial, it was not the strongest that produced the most marked
effects. The pernicious character of waters containing relatively
but very little organic matter, seemed to be proved by several
cases; probably supporting the idea that it is not mainly the
amount of organic matter, bnt the presence and nature of low
organisms that render drinking-water unwholesome. Much
difficulty in interpretation of the biological results seems to have
arisen from too great differences of absolute strength in the
solutions of organic matter used.
SCIENCE AT KHARKOFF)
THE Society of Naturalists at the Kharkoff University is one
of those which were founded a :few years ago for the
advancement of the natural sciences generally, and especially
* Trudy Obshestva Estestvoispytatelet pri Kharkouskom Universitete
(Transactions of the Society of Naturalists at the Kharkoff University),
vol. xv. 1882.
for the study of the natural history of Russia in the provinces
that surround University towns, and which have already rendered
most valuable services in both these directions, The Kharkoff
Society of Naturalists, which numbers 117 members, has already
published fifteen volumes of their Transactions (Trudy), which
contain many valuable papers. Of those in the earlier volumes we
will only mention, in geology : The chemical researches of rocks
and coal of the Dnieper basin, by A. S. Brio ; geological ex-
plorations in the government of Kharkoff and in the Coal-
measures of the Don, by A. W. Guroff ; and in the basins of the
Dnieper and Kalmius, by M. F. Klemm ; the explorations of the
Delta of the Dnieper, and microscopical analyses of the Dnieper
granites and of the fossil trees of Southern Russia, by M. E. Krend=
ovsky ; the very interesting researches into the formation and
shapes of valleys in Southern Russia ; on the crystalline rocks of
the Dnieper ; on black earth, on the Devonian formation of the
Sosna and Tim river, and on the structure of the mountains of
Taurida, by Prof. S. F. Levakovsky ; and on the hydrography
of the Northern Donets river, by J. T, Morozoff. The attention
of the Kharkoff zoologists was especially attracted during
recent years to the obnoxious insects which destroyed the
crops, and we find in the Zyansactions of the Society several
papers devoted to the subject, such as a complete descrip-
tion of the locusts and other insects inhabiting corn-fields, by
P. W. Ivanoff; on the parasites of the locust and the corn-
beetle, by P. T. Stepanoff ; and on obnoxious insects of the
province of Kharkoff, by W. A. Yaroshevsky. The same
author has published also nearly complete lists of the Hemiptera,
Heteroptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera of the province of
Kharkoff. Among many other contributions in zoology and
physiology we notice physiological researches into the struc-
ture of the eyes of birds, on the movements of protoplasm, on
the air-sacs of birds, and on the mechanism of their breath-
ing; on the movements of Uwio, and of Anguis fragilis (all
with numerous plates), by R. F. Byeletzky ; on water-acarides,
by M. E. Krendovsky ; on the Aythotrephes of the Sea of Azov,
and on a new Polyphemida, by N. P. Pengo; on Infusoriz,
Turbellarize, and Lepidoptera of the province of Kharkoff, by
Madame S. M, Pereyaslavtreff; on the development of Nema-
todes, and on macrobiotus macronyx, Duj., by the late G. M.
Radkevitch ; and on the Aranez fauna of the province of
Kharkoff, by W. W. Reinhard. There are but few papers on
botany in the Zvamsactions. K. S. Gornitsky contributes a
‘© Conspectus plantarum” of the Walki district of the province
of Kharkoft; E. M. Delarme has two contributions on the
anatomy of Coniferze and on the Kirkazon plants; N. F. Kran-
sakoff publishes a list of plants of the neighbourhood of Taganrog,
and Novocherkask ; and L. W. Reinhard, on the conjugation of
zoospores, and on the Characeze of Middle and Southern Russia.
All these papers are profusely illustrated, and sold each sepa-
rately at very low prices.
The recent (fifteenth) volume of the Zransactions (Trudy), con-
tains the work done by the Society in 1881. M. Stepanoff
contributes a paper on the very unsettled question as to the
metamorphosis of Bombylides. He has found larve of Bom-
bylides in cocoons of Stauronotus vastator, Stev.; they sup-
port very well temperatures as low as —20° Cels., and can
remain at life for more than one year. The opinion of M,
Zetterstedt as to the larvee of Bombylides living also freely, non-
parasitically, in the soil, seemed to be confirmed by M. Stepa-
noff, who found them in the autumn and in the spring in the
soil, but they might have already abandoned their former dwel-
lings. M. Stepanoff gives also a complete description (with
coloured drawings) of the larvae of Systoechaus leucophagus, Mg.
—M. Kulchitzky contributes two papers; on the endings and
ramifications of the motor nerves of the lower vertebrata (the
author doubts that the motor nerves necessarily end in small
lamellz under the sarcolemma, as it was observed by Herr
Kiihne) ; and on the origin of the coloured globules of the blood
of Mammalia; these last—the author says—arise, not out of
protoplasm, but from globules of lymphoid elements which
undergo a whole series of very complicated metamorphoses.—
M. Yaroshevsky gives a list of 'Neuroptera and Hymenoptera of
the province of Kharkoff. The Neuroptera of the close neigh-
bourhoods of the Kharkoff city number no less than sixty-one
species. The Hymenoptera number 400 species, of which
no less than 235 are known in the neighbourhood of the
Kharkoff city. The same author, in company with M. Soko-
joff, contributes a paper on the state of larvze of the corn-beetle
Anisoplia) during the winter. The recent ravages of the corn-
pectle in Southern Russia had provoked new researches on this
214
WAT URE
[ Dec. 28, 1882
subject, and a controversy had arisen among Russian entomolo-
gists, some of them being of the opinion that the larvee remain
during the winter in the upper frozen sheet of the soil, and are
in a state of sleep, while others affirmed that they go deeper into
the unfrozen soil, and eat there the roots of plants, but die com-
pletely if exposed to temperatures below the freezing point.
The researches of MM. Yaroshevsky and Sok loff proved that
these larve fell asleep when exposed to temperatures below
zero, but immediately returned to life as soon as exposed to a
warmer temperature. In the frozen soil, whose temperature was
one degree below zero, they found plenty of larvee of Asilus,
Elateride, Heliothis dipsaceus, and whole nests of ants with
their larvae. All returned to life when warmed. M. Byeletsky
contributes a paper on the respiration of the gigantic Salaman-
der, Cryptobranchus japonicus, Hoev., one metre long, and
weighing four kilograms (<everal individuals of the same species
measure, as is known, four feet, and weigh nine kilograms).
Siebold had already ob-erved the very long pauses between the
breathings of this Salamander, sometimes lasting for half an
hour. M. Byeletsky found that at a temperature of water about
15° Celsius, his Salamander remained without breathing some-
times for an hour anda half. Inthe air it breathed more often.
M. W. Reinhard contributes an elaborate paper on the structure
and development of freshwater Bryozoa, Aftera sketch of our
present knowledge of the subject—up to the last works of
Messrs. Nitsche, Hatschek, Hyatt, and Allmann -the author
describes at length the structure of Crystatella mucedo, giving
special attenticn to the development of the statoblasts, and the
sexual multiplication of A/cyonella fungosa, The paper is ac-
companied by seven weli-engraved plates.
THE HIBERNATION
SAY. JN THE
SETTLED FACT}
HAVE already shown in previous remarks before the
Association that there were various theories held by com
petent men, both en'omologi-ts and planters, as to the hibernation
of this A/efia (the common Cotton Worm of the South), some
believing that it hibernated in the chrysalis state, some that it
survived in the moth state, while still others contended that it
did not bibernate at all in the United States. I have always
contended that the moth survives within the limits of the United
States, and in this paper the fact of its hibernation, principally
under the shelter of rank wire-grass, is established from observa-
tions and experiments made during the past winter and spring.
The moth has been taken at Archer, Pla., during every winter
month until the early part of March, when it began to disappear,
but not until eggs were found deposited. The first brood of
worms was found of all sizes during the latter part of the same
month on rattoon cotton, while chrysalides and fresh moths were
obtained during the early part of April.
The fact thus established has this important practical bearing :
‘Whereas upon the theory of animal invasion from some
exotic country, there was no incentive to winter or spring work
looking to the destruction of the moths, there is now every in-
centive to such action as will destroy it either by attracting it
during mild winter weather by sweets, or by burning the grasses
in which it shelters. It should also be a warning to cotton-
growers to abandon the slovenly method of cultivation which
leaves the old cotton-stalks standing either until the next crop is
planted, or long after that event; for many planters have the
habit of planting the seed in a furrow between the old row of
stalks. The most careful recent researches all tend to confirm
the belief that Gossypium is the only plant upon which the
worm can feed, so that, in the light of the facts presented, there is
all the greater incentive to that mode of culture which will pre-
yent the growth of rattoon cotton, since it is very questionable
whether the moth would survive long enough to perpetuate itself
upon newly-sown cotton, except for the intervention of rattoon
cotton,”
OF ALETIA
INITED
XYLINA,
STATES, A
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—The following Boards of Electors have been
thus constituted :—
Professorship of Anatomy: Professors Flower, P.Z.S., Allen
Abstract of a paper read at the Montreal meeting of the Am. Ass. Adv.
Sc., by Dr. C. V. Riley.
Thomson, Paget, Huxley, A. Newton, Liveing, Dr. Michael
Foster, and Mr. J. W. Clark.
Downing Professorship of Medicine: Sir G. Burrows, Bart.,
Drs. Farre, Lauder Brunton, R. Quain, Professors Paget,
Liveing, Humphry, and Mr. Main.
Professorship of Pathology : Professors Burdon Sanderson,
Latham, Humphry, Paget, Sir James Paget, Drs. Michael
Foster, J. F. Payne, and W. H. Gaskell.
Professorship of Political Economy: Messrs. L. H. Courtney,
M.P., A. Marshall, H. S. Foxwell, R. H. Inglis Palgrave, H.
Sidgwick, V. H. Stanton, H. J. Roby, and Prof. James Stuart.
Dr. Michael Foster is appointed an additional member of the
Special Boards for Medicine, and for Biology and Geology.
Candidates for the Plumian Professorship must send in their
names to the Vice-Chancellor on January 6; the election will
take place on January 16.
A report has been issued recommending various modifications
in the Previous and General Examinations; it, however, contains
no indication of any approaching relief from examination in
Greek, or of the introduction of French or German into the
ordinary curriculum, or of any natural science subject. As the
syndicate contains several 1ames of scientific weight, this
appears rather surprising.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Bulletins de la Société d’ Anthropologie de Paris, tome v. fasc.
ili., 1882, contain the concluding part of M. G. D’Hercourt’s
““Tle de Sardaigne.” In this paper the author considers at
length the nature and presumed purpose of the massive conical
structures known as mzr-aghes, of which there are upwards of
3000 on the island of Sardinia, generally on, or near the coast.
Since Diodorus of Sicily, who ascribed their origin to Dedalus,
they have been a puzzle to the learned. The author’s remarks
on the intelligence of the modern Sardi, notwithstanding that
craniometrically they rank among the lowest European races,
gave occasion to various discussions at subsequent meetings. —A
communication from M. Beauregard in regard to a discovery,
made la-t January by M. Crevaux, of an ancient city of the
Incas, at 10 kilom. from Salta, in the Argentine Republic,
whose geographical position the latter was engaged in deter-
mining at the time.—On the various races inhabiting French
Cochin China, by M. G. de Clanbry, who confirms the general
view of the moral and social degradation of the Annamites. He
draws attention to the slight distinctions perceptible between the
men and women of these tribes in voice, length of hair, gait,
features, &c., and supplies interesting details in regard to the
local flora. —M. Topinard, in presenting to the Society Holder’s
craniometer, based on geometric methods, described the cranio-
metric and anthropometric instruments in use from Camper’s time
to our own.—On the merits of M. Beaumanoir’s system of compar-
ing the facial and cranial areas, by M. Corre.—A report by M.
Deniker of the result of the official examinations for the
Society, of an adult ourang-outang, and a young female
chimpanzee, recently brought to Paris. The latter, as in the
case observed by Darwin, showed its temper like a petulant
child, by pouting, kicking, grinding its teeth, and shedding tears.
—A paper by M. Corre, on the craniometric relations of certain
anthropomorphous apes.—Report by M. de Mortillet of the
labours of the Commission appointed to examine and protect
the megalithic monuments of France. By the efforts of the Com-
missioners the remains at Carnac have been secured from further
demolition, and the Locmariaquer group, including in the so-
called ‘*Roi des Menhirs” the largest known monolith, has
passed by purchase under the contro] of the State.—On the
abnormal development of the teeth in a child’s jaw, belonging to
the Stone Age, and found at Erlen, near Colmar, by Dr. Col-
lignon, The general dental system shows a low racial character,
while the large permanent molars had come up before the milk
teeth had been shed.—A communication by M. Hovelacque, on
certain ethnographic survivals in Marne and Berry. In the
former province it is deemed specially unlucky to use the horses
of a deceased person till after his funeral; in the latter the hives
must have a black ribbon attached to them while the family
wears mourning, and to avert evil fortune from the house of a
departed master, one of his nearest relatives must proclaim to
the bees that their former owner is dead.—M. Chervin, on the
census of the French people in 1881, The author shows that
the augmentation since 1876 has been only 20 per 1000 in
France, while in England it was 145, and in Germany as much
Dec. 28, 1882 |
NATURE
2a5
as 574 per 1000! Maine and Normandy, notwithstanding their
natural productiveness, are conspicuous for the regular diminu-
tion of their populations.—On a new form of sclerosis of the
cerebral convolutions, by M. Pozzi, with special reference to the
cerebral lesions common in insanity.—M. Duval’s demand, ia
the name of a large number of his confréres, for the foundation
by the Society of an annual Darwinian Conference, was
opposed by M. Mortillet in as far as the term Darwinian
was concerned, which he proposes to replace by that of
transjormist, arguing that the adoption of the word “ Dar-
winism” is an act of injustice to Lamarck, whose researches
entitle him to be regarded as the father of transformism.
Tbe question has been referred to the Central Committee,
—M. Topinard’s explanation of the funereal objects col-
lected in the Philippines by M. Marche’s mission.—A discus-
sion on the project for a general manual of ethnographic ques-
tions, as drawn up by M. Letourneau for the Society. The plan
followed, which is that adopted by the Florentine Society of
Anthropology, is criticised at great length by M. Dally, who
strongly objects to the phraseology and definitions employed in
the questions, and in consequence of his objections M. Letour-
neau’s proposed ‘‘ Questionnaire ” has been referred to a special
commission for further consideratior.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LoNnDON
Royal Society, December 14.—Note on a discovery, as yet
unpublished, by the late Prof. F. M. Balfour, concerning the
existence of a Blastopore, and on the origin of the Mesoblast in
the embryo of Perifatus capensis, by Prof. Moseley, F.R.S.,
and Adam Sedgwick, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge.
The late Professor Balfour was just before his death engaged
on the preparation of a monograph on the anatomy and develop-
ment of the members of the genus Peripatus, together with an
account of all known species. He left a series of notes, com-
pleted MSS., and drawings, which will be edited by the above
authors, and issued shortly in the Quarterly Fournal of Micro-
scopical Science. His discoveries, however, concerning the early
embryology of ?. capensis are so remarkable that the above pre-
liminary note has been communicated at once to the Royal
Society.
The discovery is shortly as follows :—That a widely open slit-
like blastopore is formed in the early oval embryo of Peripatus,
which blastopore, occupying the median ventral line, becomes
closed in its centre an anterior portion remaining open as the
mouth, whilst a posterior portion apparently becomes the anus.
The mesoblast is formed from the hypoblast at the lips of the
blasotopre, and makes its appearance as a series of paired hollow
outgrowths from the cavity of the archenteron. This most
primitive method of the the formation of the mesoblastic somites
closely similar to that occurring in Amphioxus and other ancestral
forms, is of the greatest morphological significance, and it is
especially interesting to find that it survives in an entirely unmodi-
fied condition in Peripatus, the adult organisation of which proves
that it isa representative of an animal stock of the most remote
antiquity.
Mr. Sedgwick, by examining some embryos in Prof. Balfour’s
collection of material as yet uninvestigated, has been able to con-
form his results, and also by finding earlier stages to verify certain
points in the developmental history which rested at the stage at
which Prof. Balfour's inquiry ceased, mainly on inference. A dis-
cussion took place, in which Prof. Huxley, Prof. Lankester, and
Mr. A.Sedgwick took part. The latter pointed out the close
resemblance of the early embryo Peripatus with open blastopore
to an actinia, the mesoblastic pouches corresponding to inter-
mesenterial cavities, and the blastopore to the mouth, and urged
that the discovery tended to confirm Prof, Balfour’s published
theory as to the origin of the’bilateralia from the elongation trans-
versely of a disc-like ancestor, the ventral nerve-cords having
been formed by the pulling out into long loops of a circum-oral
ring.
Prof. Lankester expressed his opinion that the view that the blas-
topore represented astructure, which in an ancestral form acted as a
mouth, must be abandoned. ‘The blastopore is very probably
merely an aperture necessarily formed in the process of produc-
tion of the hypoblast by invagination, and has never had any
special function. Prof, Huxley pointed out the essential differ-
ence between the peripheral nerve ring of Hydromedusze and
a true circumoral nerve ring.
Geological Society, December 6.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—Charles Bird, Enoch Cartwright, Henry
Eunson, William Johnstone, Henry Liversidge, Henry George
Lyons, Joseph Mawson, Horace W. Monckton, Henry Alexan-
der Miers, John Postlethwaite, and Thomas Viccars, were elected
Fellows of the Society.—The following communications were
read :—Note on a Wealden fern, Oleandridium (Taniopterts)
Beyrichii, Schenk, new to Britain, by John E. H. Peyton,
F.G.S.—On the mechanics of glaciers, more especially with
relation to their supposed power of excava ion, by the Rev. A.
Irving, F.G.S. Generally, the author concluded, from mecha-
nical and physical considerations, that far too much erosive
power has been attributed by some writers to glaciers, and that
it is doubtful if the work of actual excavation has been accom-
plished by them at all. The differential movement of glaciers
he attributed to three causes : (1) cracking and regelation (Tyn-
dall and Helmholtz) ; (2) generation of heat by friction within
the glacier (Helmholtz) ; (3) the penetration of the glacier by
luminous solar energy, the absorption of this by opaque bodies
contained in the ice (stones, earth, organic germs, &c.), and the
transformation of it in this way into eat. To this last he
attributed the greater differential movement of the glacier (a) by
day than by night, (4) in summer than in winter.
Physical Society, December 9.—Prof, Clifton, president,
in the chair.—New members: Mr. H. E. Harrison, B.Sc.,
Mr. S. T. H. Saunders, M.A.—Prof. G. Forbes read a paper
on the velocity of light of different colours. The author con-
cluded from his experiments described to the Society a year ago,
that blue rays travel quicker than red rays. M. Cornu had
endeavoured to explain this result by peculiarities of the appa-
ratus employed ; but this explanation seemed doubtful. It was
suggested that the experiments might be repeated with such
modifications of the apparatus as would set the question at rest.
—Professors Ayrton and Perry read a paper on the resistance of
the voltaic arc, or the opposition electromotive forces set up.
The electromotive force was measured by a voltmeter con-
nected between the terminals of the lamp. Keeping the width
of are coastant the E.M.F. was found to diminish as the current
increased. Keeping the current constant, the E.M.F. increased
rapidly, at first with an increasing width of arc, and afterwards
more slowly. The authors gave a curve representing the change.
About 80 volts are required to produce an arc of one-third
of an inch. For further increase of arc E.M.F. is therefore
proportional to increase of length of arc. The authors also
read a paper on the relative intensities of the magnetic
field produced by electromagnets when the current, iron core,
and length of wire, &c., are constant, but the wire differently
distributed. In a case the wire was wound uniformly from end
to end; in J case it was wound from the middle to one end ; in
¢ case it was wound only at both ends ; ind case it was wound
only at one end, The field was measured along a line running
through the axis of the poles beyond the magnet of the above
plans; a@ gave the strongest field, except at short distances,
when 4 was best.—Professors Ayrton and Perry also exhibited a
set of three Faure accumulators in series feeding twenty Swan
lamps, each lamp giving over 1 candle power. The electro-
motive force of each cell vas about 2 volts.
Anthropological Institute, December 12.—Mr. M, J. Wo!-
house, F.R.A.S., in the chair.—Mr. A. L. Lewis exhibited
some Neolithic flint implements and flakes found by him at
Cape Blanc Nez, near Calais.—A paper by Mr. A. W. Howitt,
F.G.S., on the Australian class systems, was read, in which the
author discussed and explained the various rules with respect to
marriage adopted by several of the native tribes.
SYDNEY
Linnean Society of New South Wales, September 27.—
Dr. James C. Cox, F.L.S., &c., in the chair.—The following
papers were read:—On a resinous plant from the interior, by
K. H. Bennett. Specimens of the gum or resin of this plant,
which Mr. Bennett described as ALyoporum platycarpum, R. Br.,
were exhibited.—On three new fishes from Queensland, by
Charles W. De Vis, B.A. This paper was a description of a
new genus of the family Berycide, and a species of Homalogrystes
and Scolopsis.—Contribution to a knowledge of the fishes of
New Guinea, No. 2, by William Macleay, F.L.S., &c. This
is a continuation of a list of the fishes found at Port Moresby by
216
NATURE
[ Dec. 28, 1882
Mr. Andrew Goldie.—Description of two fishes lately taken in
or near Port Jackson, by William Macleay, F.L.S., &c.—On
the physical structure and geology of Australia, by the Rev. J. E.
Tenison-Woods, F.L.S., &c. This paper dealt at length with
all the physical features of the Continent, viz. :—its mountain
systems, its inland plains, and the portions intervening between
the tableland and the sea, and its river-systems. Secondly the
author enumerated the formations which had been recognised in
Australia from the fundamental granite up to the recent alluvial.
Showing that none of the large groups of rocks which are known
in other parts of the world are absent from this continent. Re-
ferences were made to the character of the fossils found, and the
soils resulting from the rocks.—On a large cretaceous Mytilus,
from the Barcoo, by the Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, F.G.S.,
&c. This paper was descriptive of a very large fossil Mytilus
(JZ. ingens. sp. nov.), which was found in some mesozoic strata
in Queensland, of probably Oolitic age. The paper also con-
tained a brief reference to the collections of Mesozoic fossils
made in Australia.—Notes on the inflorescence and habits of
plants indigenous in the immediate neighbourhoo | of Sydney, by
E. Haviland The author gives an account of his observations
on the mode of fertilisation of two species of rutaceous plants
common in the neighbourhood of Sydney—/PAilotheca australis
and Boronia pinnata. In the former species the arrangement
of the parts of the flower is such as apparently to specially
favour self-fertilisation, but a closer observation shows that this
is rendered physiologically impossible by the maturing and dis-
charge of the pollen of each flower before the stigma comes to
maturity. A similar phenomenon was observed in B. pznnaia,
and the author suggests that the close opposition of the anthers
to the stigma in these species until the pollen is almost ripe, may
be designed in order to prevent, to some extent, the access of
light and heat, and thus retard the maturing of the stigma until
the pollen of its own flower has become discharged.—Note on
some seaweeds from Port Jackson and adjacent coast, by E. P.
Ramsay, F.L.S.—Mr. W. A. Haswell read a note on some
points in the anatomy of the pigeons referred to by Dr. Hans
Gadow ina recent paper on the anatomy of Pterocles.—Prof.
Stephens exhibited a collection of rocks and fossils illustrating
the structure of the Western coal-fields, as explained by Mr.
Wilkinson in his map of Wallerawang (1877).
BERLIN
Physical Society, December 1.—Prof. Kirchhoff in the
chair.—Dr. Hertz described and exhibited an apparatus he had
constructed for demonstration of such weak electric currents as
change their direction very often, several thousand times in a
second. He called attention to the defects of the electro-dyna-
mometers previously employed for the purpose, and showed that
the electric heat-effect could most fitly be used in this case. The
new dynamometer consists of an extremely thin horizontally
stretched silver wire, the extension of which by heat, produced by
the alternating currents, is observed. To this end the wire is, at
its middle, wound round a vertical cylinder of steel capable of
rotation about its axis, by turning of which the wire is stretched.
Each extension of the wire through electric heating turns the cylin-
der the opposite way to his torsion, and its rotation is observed
by means of a mirror and telescope. This dynamometer, as
Herr Hertz showed, is only applicable when the currents are
weak, and the current reversals are very frequent ; that is, pre-
cisely in cases where other measuring instruments fail.—Prof.
Helmholtz then spoke on his thermodynamic investigations of
chemical processes, and their relation to the electromotive force
of galvanic batteries, and fully explained his views both on the
reversibility of chemical processes and the electromotive forces
in batteries ; also the experimental verification of these views in
a ‘Calomel battery” comp-sed of zinc, chloride of zinc solu-
tion, mercurous chloride, and mercury. The results hitherto
obtained in these experiments and considerations, were brought
by the author before the Berlin Academy of Sciences in July,
and he is at present still engaged with the inquiry.
Physiological Society, December 8.—Prof. du Bois Rey-
mond in the chair.—Prof. Munk read a paper upon two investi-
gations which had been carried out in his laboratory. The first
of these was by Mr. M. Preusse, on the Tapetum in the retina
of some mammals. It appeared from this chiefly anatomical
investigation that a tapetum is always present in the eyes of dogs,
horses, and cats ; and further that this tapetum is of an irregu-
arly triangular shape and that the greater part of it is situated in
the outer and upper quadrant of the retinal surface ; so that it
is specially impinged upon by the rays that enter the eye from
beneath ; over the median line and the equator of the
retina the tapetum extends only a little, and this inwards
and under. The point of entrance of the optic nerve always
lies to the inside of the tapetum, which attains its greatest height
above the nerve-papilla. In the case of all the animals that
were examined, the situation of the tapetum corresponds with
the region of most distinct vision. Hence is seen the correctness
of Mr. Briicke’s view that the tapetum acts 2s a mirror at a
plane behind the cones and rods that are sensitive to light, which
sends back a second time through the axes of these cones and
rods the rays of light that have already passed through them.
This arrangement is of particular service to animals when the
illumination is feeble, and it explains how the above-mentioned
animals can distinctly see objects lying on the ground even when
slightly illuminated, and consequently also at night-time, The
second investigation on which Prof. Munk reported was that
made by Dr. Karlin on the vaso-motor nerves. It is well known
that Prof. Goltz has, from experimental evidence, laid down the
doctrine that the blood-vessels have ganglion-cells on or in their
walls, which cause the blood-vessels to contract, and which are
connected with the central organs by means of vaso-motor
nerves which generally dilate but also occasionally contract
the blood-vessels. The well-established fact that a section
of a nerve, ¢.g. of the sciatic nerve, is followed by an expan-
sion of the vessels in its tract was regarded by Prof. Goltz as
the result of the action of the vaso-dilator nerves stimulated by
the section, and the after occurring contraction of the vessels as
the result of the action of the peripheral vaso-motor centres which
in course of time attain the preponderance. This doctrine had
received support from Prof. Bernstein’s experiments, in whicha
great dilatation of the vessels was observed to occur, on stimula-
tion of the divided sciatic nerve, in extremities in which contrac-
tion of the vessels had been induced by a great lowering of the
temperature, and consequently a strong dilatation of the vessels
was caused by direct electrical stimulation of the nerve. Dr.
Karlin repeated the above experiment, and found its results con-
firmed only when very strong currents were employed ; when,
however, weak or moderate stimulation was applied, a contrac-
tion instead of a dilatation of the vessels took place. Accordingly
the dilatation of the vessels on powerful stimulation is to be
regarded as due to a paralysis, and the experimental evidence for
the existence of vaso-dilator nerves as inconclusive.
CONTENTS Pass
MatTHemartics In America. By J. W. L. GratsHer, F.R.'S. . . . 193
Quain’s *“VANATOMY (U5 20 2 6 eb oe Met et oa ie canon CEE
LxTTERS TO THE EDITOR :—
Transit of Venus, December 6.—C. J. B. Witttams, F.R.S. . - 297
The Comet during the Last Month.—C. J. B. Witttams, F.RS . 198
The Heights of Auroras.—T. W. Backhouse . . . . - ~~. ~ 198
The Aurora and its Spectrum.—J. Rawp CapRON . . . . 198
The Weather.—J. Ranp CAPRON. . «+ + - - © - + + «= 198
A Common Defect of Lenses.—R. T. GLAZEBROOK . .« « » 198
New Deep-Sea Fish from the Mediterranean.—Dr. Hexry
HItyer GIGLIOLI 5 6 %: Key io in a). fet Uke, ole ke anSAES
Electrieal Phenomenon.—A. J. K. oe DOP OrS Geno
PHOTOGRAPHING THE Corona. By WiitiAmM Huacerns, D.C.L.,
LL.Dsjf RR Si wis fe wel natetatole eis) fel 6 oka f=) xo) dele PICO
A WEDGE AND DIAPHRAGM PHOTOMETER (With Illustration). . . 201
On THE OccURRENCE OF GREAT TIDES SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT
or THE GEoLoGICAt Erocu. By Prof. Ropert S. Batt, LL.D.,
jah not aii OrmtOnd SDs Oooo 5G Oot See
By Rev. T. W. WEBB (With Illustration). . » -
Mars. ©), (a fey
Destruction oF Lire 1N INDIA BY Potsonous SNAKES. By Sir
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fe a A GO lopaee sal 6 ay ‘se, veh el fol ge Rell co rem
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217
THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1883
AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN
Memoir of Augustus de Morgan. By his Wife, Sophia
Elizabeth de Morgan. With Selections from his
Letters. (London ; Longmans, 1882.)
E MORGAN is certainly no commonplace man.”
Whenever we read this sentence in Crabb
Robinson’s Diary we wonder how so acute an observer
could have penned it. No one who has read the shortest
article by De Morgan, or who has been in his company
for however short a time, but would say that he was the
very opposite of commonplace. Indeed the Diarist him-
self elsewhere records “De Morgan called. He is the
only man whose calls, even when interruptions, are
always acceptable. He has such luminous qualities,
even in his small talk.” This last testimony all who
knew De Morgan will accept as true. Though nearly
twelve years have passed away since the death of this
eminent mathematician and logician, no account, so far
as we know, has been given of his life and writings, save
the appreciative notice by the late Prof. W. Stanley
Jevons—whose writings so amply testify to the influence
De Morgan’s teaching exercised over him—in the present
issue of the Excyclopedia Britannica (vol. vii. pp. 64-67,
1877), and the interesting sketch by Mr. Ranyard in the
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for
February 9, 1872, vol. xxxii. (erroneously cited as vol. xxii.
in Jevons’s article). It was, however, well known that a
“life” was being drawn up by Mrs. De Morgan. This
is the work now before us, in the preface to which the
writer says, “my object has been to supply that part of
my husband’s life, the material for which would not be
within the reach of another biographer.”
Augustus De Morgan was born in the year 1806 (Mrs,
De Morgan is not more explicit, but we learn incidentally
from a letter—p. 394—that the exact date was June 27)
at Madura, in the Madras Presidency.! His father was
Lieut.-Col. De Morgan, who had held staff, and other
appointments at several stations in India. Other mem-
bers of his father’s family also distinguished themselves
in the service of the East India Company. His mother
was the granddaughter of James Dodson, F.R.S., author
of the Azntilogarithmic Canon and other mathematical
works,’ a friend also and pupil of De Moivre; from her
he appears to have inherited his musical talent (‘‘his
delightful flute”) and his mathematical power. From his
mother too we are told that De Morgan inherited his love
of a city life.?
When Augustus was seven months old* the family
* De Morgan was proud of his birth in the sacred city of Madura, and at
one time longed to visit his native country . . . his doing so when young
was prevented by his defect of sight. From his birth both eyes were affected
with the ‘‘sore eye ”’ of India, and the left was saved (pp. 22, s).
? He was also mathematical master at Christ's Hospital, and in connection
with this “blot on the escutcheon,” De Morgan writes that when quite a
boy he asked one of his aunts “‘ who James Dodson was,” and ieceived for
answer, “‘we never cry stinking fish.” He had to wait a few years to find
out that his great-grandfather was the only one of his ancestors whose name
would be held deserving of record.
3 In the ‘‘ Budget of Paradoxes” (p. 82) De Morgan applies to himself
the lines :—
** Ne’er out of town; "tis such a horrid life ;
But duly sends his family and wife.”
The memoir gives frequent illystrations of his dislike for even a short stay in
the country (pp. 79, 94, 234).
4 In the Monthiy Notices “three months old’’ would appear to be
incorrect.
VOL. xxvul.—No. 688
came to England, and first settled at Worcester, but sub-
sequently took up their residence at Barnstaple, and other
towns in the West of England. After two or three
journeys backwards and forwards, the father left Madras
in 1816, having been ordered home ill with liver com-
plaint, and died off St. Helena, leaving his widow with
four surviving children. De Morgan gives in a half
serious, half humorous way the idea ‘‘the victim”
retained of his early schooling. At four years he learnt
“reading and numeration”’ from his father. He always
spoke gratefully of his father, but doubtless what he has
written in his paper “On Teaching Arithmetic,” had its
rise in this early experience, “it is a very common notion
that this subject is easy; that is, a child is called stupid
who does not receive his first notions of number with
facility . . . the subsequent discoveries of the little arith-
metician, such as that six and four make thirteen, eight,
seven, anything but ten, far from giving visions of the
Lucasian or Savilian chairs, are considered tiresome, and
are frequently rewarded by charges of stupidity or inatten-
tion. . . . Irritated or wearied by this failure, little mani-
festations of temper often take the place of the gentle tone
with which the lesson commenced, by which the child,
whose perception of such a change is very acute, is
thoroughly cowed and discouraged, and left to believe
that the fault was his own, when it really was that of his
instructor.”
When about nine years of age the Rey. J. L. Fenner
was for a short time his teacher; from him the boy
“learnt his first—fortunately not his last—notions of
Latin and Greek, with some writing, summing, how to
mend a pen, and the first four verses of Gray’s ‘ Elegy,’
with a wonderful emphasis upon the ‘moping owl. He
thinks, too, that ‘he pitied the sorrows of a poor old man’;
but on this his memory is not so clear.”! At Taunton,
under the Rev. H. Barker, he was taught Latin, Greek,
Euclid, Algebra, and a little Hebrew. Of his last teacher,
the Rev. J. Parsons, of Redland, near Bristol, De Morgan
always spoke with respect. “It was strange that among
so many teachers the germ of mathematical ability should
have been so long unnoticed. It could not be quite
latent or quite unformed in the brain of a boy of
fourteen ; it can only be supposed that the routine of
school teaching smothered and hid it from observation.”
It was whilst at Taunton that a friend, seeing the boy
very busy in making a neat diagram with ruler and com-
passes, asked him what was to be done. He said he was
drawing mathematics. ‘That’s not mathematics,” said
his friend ; “come and I will show you what is.” The
lines and angles were rubbed out, and the future mathe-
matician, greatly surprised by finding that he had missed
the aim of Euclid, was soon intent on the first demonstra-
tion he ever knew the meaning of. De Morgan himself
writes of this time, “On referring to my own experience
I find that I have always had the image of ‘ /engih with-
oul breadth.’ remember when I first opened Euclid, at
thirteen years of age, I am sure I had no bias to admit
any thing which should make mathematics ‘exist as a
science’: for I should have been better pleased if it had
not existed at all, science or no science. I thought I had
studies enough ; and Walkingame, who I understood was
* «*Recollections by Mr. De Morgan,” Appendix to Crabb Robinson’s
Diary, vol. iii. p. 540.
15
218
NATURE
[ Yan. 4, 1883
a cousin of Euclid, had given me no prejudice in favour
of the family. But in the first glance at the book, when I
came to ‘a line is length without breadth,’ I felt that I
had gained expression for an idea which I distinctly
possessed by image, but could not have put into words.
And so, in a small way, I found that geometry dd exist
as a science.”
Before we leave these records of his school-days, we
will cite some further remarks on the modes of instruction
then in vogue—which, by his books, he more than any
other writer helped to improve. When a boy arrives at
school, “he is taught to say the table of numeration, and
then proceeds through a number of rules . . . which, if
he understand, it is well, but if not, nobody cares. ...
As to the reasons for the rules, the pupil cannot trouble
his head (to use a common term for that much-avoided
operation, thinking) about them, not knowing whether
there are any at all, or whether the rules themselves
came from the moon, or are a constituent part of that
wisdom of our ancestors about which he sometimes hears.
Should there be any natural defect in his mind, owing to
which he finds it difficult to produce a correct result,
knowing neither what he is to do, nor how to do it, there
are several approved methods of proceeding. The best
of these, unfortunately now somewhat exploded, is a
flogging ; which works on a principle recommended by
physicians, of curing a disorder in a part which cannot
be got at, by producing one in another which can, Next
to this, comes the method of keeping the patient from all
recreation until he has done what is required of him, it
being considered the same thing in the end, whether he
cannot work for want of means, or will not from want of
application. It has been suggested to teach the principles
involved in the rules, and thus to render the pupil their
master instead of their slave; but to this plan, inde-
pendently of its being an innovation, there are grave
objections.”’?
At the age of sixteen years and a half he entered at
Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1825 gained a Trinity
Scholarship. Devoting much of his time to music and
to a rather wide range of reading (he had always “an
insatiable appetite for novel-reading . . . let it be good
or bad in a literary point of view, almost any work of
fiction was welcome, provided it had plenty of incident
and dialogue, and was not over-sentimental”’ *) he failed
to attain the highest place in the Tripos, but came out
Fourth Wrangler in 1827. Mrs. De Morgan notes that this
failure, in a possibly fallacious test, was his own early,
but unintentional, protest against competitive examina-
tions, for which he felt excessive disapprobation even
before his experience as a teacher showed him not only
their mischievous effect upon mind and health, but their
insufficiency to determine the real worth of a candidate
for Honours (pp. 18, 56, 169). In connection with this
subject we may mention that he had a great objection to
marks in looking over examination papers. He said he
could judge of the merits of the competitor from the whole
t “On Infinity; and on the Sign of Equality.” Camb. Phil. Soc. Trans.,
vo!. xi. Part 1.
2 From a paper “On Mathematical Instruction,’’ which, with four other
parers by De Morgan, is reprinted (from the Quarterly Fournal of Educa-
n) in the Schoolmaster, vol. ii., 1836. The five papers amply repay
perusal even at the present date.
3 In reference to this period of his life, he writes (1869, p. 393), “ I read
n enormous deal of fiction—all I could get hold of—so my amusement was
ot all philosophical.’”
work, but he could not reckon it up by marks, and he
always refused to examine in this way.
Having conscientious scruples about the doctrines of
the Established Church, he was prevented from proceeding
to his M.A. degree and from sitting for a Fellowship, to
which he would doubtless have been elected. “A strong
repugnance to any sectarian restraints upon the freedom
of opinion was one of De Morgan’s characteristics
throughout life.” A further career at the University
being thus closed against him, and having abandoned
the study of medicine, he turned his thoughts to law, and
entered at Lincoln’s Inn. The establishment in 1828 of
the London University—now University College—however
gave him the opportunity of leaving the study of the Law,
“‘ which he did not like,” for the teaching and pursuit of
science. At the age of twenty-two, though much younger
than any of the other thirty-one candidates? for the post,
he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Mathematics.
From this time, with the exception of an interval of five
years,” he devoted himself with the greatest assiduity to
the duties of the post until his final resignation in 1866.
It has been frequently remarked that De Morgan was
unrivalled as a teacher of mathematics, and certainly no
teaching in our University experience ever approached
his in the faintest degree. Mr. Sedley Taylor writes :—
De Morgan regularly delivered four courses of lectures,
each of three hours a week, and lasting throughout the
whole academical year. He thus lectured two hours
every day to his College classes, besides giving a course
addressed to schoolmasters in the evening, during a
portion of the year . . . De Morgan was far from thinking
the duties of his chair adequately performed by lecturing
only. At the close of every lecture in each course he
gave out a number of problems and examples illustrative
of the subject which was then engaging the attention of
the class. His students were expected to bring these to
him worked out. He then looked them over, and returned
them revised before the next lecture. Each example, if
rightly done, was carefully marked with a tick, or if a
mere inaccuracy occurred in the working it was crossed
out, and the proper correction inserted. If, however, a
mistake of Jrincifle was committed, the words ‘show me’
appeared on the exercise.’ The student so summoned
was expected to present himself on the platform at the
close of the lecture, when De Morgan would carefully go
over the point with him privately, and endeavour to clear
up whatever difficulty he experienced. The amount of
labour thus involved was very considerable, as the
number of students in attendance frequently exceeded
one hundred. The claims which University or
College examinations might be supposed to have on the
studies of his pupils were never allowed to influence his
programme in the slightest degree. He laboured to form
sound scientific mathematicians, and, if he succeeded in
this, cared little whether his pupils could reproduce more
or less of their knowledge on paper ina giventime...
all cram he held in the most sovereign contempt. I
remember, during the last week of his course which
preceded an annual College examination, his abruptly
addressing his class as follows: ‘I notice that many of
you have left off working my examples this week. I know
perfectly well what you are doing ; YOU ARE CRAMMING
FOR THE EXAMINATION. But I will set you such a
paper as shall make ALL YOUR CRAM of no use.’ .. . De
« Ina letter to Sir J. Herschel, August 9, 1862 (p. 312), De Morgan says,
“«T was picked out of fifty candidates.”’
2 In consequence of a disagreement with the Council he resigned his Pro-
fessorship, July 24, 1831. On the death of his successor, in October, 1836,
he was requested to resume his office, and did so.
3 The exercises were placed in a case of pigeon-holes hung on the wall
near the entrance to the Mathematical Theatre.
NATURE
219
o 4, 1883]
Morgan’s exposition combined excellences of the most
varied kinds. It was clear, vivid, and succinct—rich too
with abundance of illustration always at the command of
enormously wide reading and an astonishingly retentive
memory. A voice of sonorous sweetness, a grand fore-
head, and a profile of classic beauty, intensified the
impression of commanding power which an almost equally
complete mastery over mathematical truth, and over the
forms of language in which he so attractively arrayed it,
could not fail to make upon his auditors” (pp. 99, 100).
His pupils’ affection, the memoir tells us, was not
gained by any laxity of discipline, for he was strict,
especially as to quietness and punctuality.
Such arduous labours as these would amply suffice for
the generality of teachers, but the remainder of his time
was occupied with other work hardly less exhausting than
these. In May, 1828, he was elected a Fellow of the
Astronomical Society, and in February, 1830, he took his
place on the Council. In 1831 he was elected Honorary
Secretary ; in which position he entered with zeal, we are
told, into every question brought before the Society, and
his place was not a sinecure. “ It is not easy to say how
much of the usefulness and prosperity of the Society .. .
was due to his incessant energy and effort, and to his
steady judgment at difficult junctures.” Though his con-
nection with the Society lasted for some thirty years, he
would never undertake the office of President. “I will
vote for and tolerate no President but a practical astro-
nomer. ... The President must be a man of brass—a
micrometer-monger, a telescope-twiddler, a star-stringer,
a planet-poker, and a nebula-nabber.’’? He was frequently
employed as a consulting actuary,? and bestowed also
much time and labour upon the subject of the decimal
coinage.!
Passing from De Morgan’s public labours we hurriedly
glance at him as a writer, and here we cannot do better
than quote Prof. Jevons: “From the above enumera-
tion” of his mathematical ‘and logical writings, “it will
be apparent that the extent of De Morgan’s literary and
scientific labours was altogether extraordinary ; nor was
quality sacrificed to quantity. On the contrary every
publication was finished with extreme care and accuracy,
* A student, who joined the class in 1859, has put at our disposal some
notes he wrote during the session 1859-60: ‘‘ The class begins at 9 o’clock,
but however early we go the Professor is sure to be there. Only once or
twice have I been early enough to see him coming. He has a large head,
bald at the top, and with a tremendous halo of hair round the crown. He
wears a black cloth suit and a parson’s white neck-cloth. His coat is a
Swallow-tail, and his trousers, with fob pockets, scarcely reach his boots, of
Which the laces are often too long. As he shuffles along he seems to be
counting the flagstones or rails, urged by a sort of centrifugal force to keep
the outside kerb, as Dr. Johnson used to do. In the lecture-room when the
bell has rung, he always goes through the same routine at commencing.
First of all he takes out a large red silk pocket handkerchief, with which he
wipes his spectacles; he then readjusts them with the bridge upside down,
and though he has only one eye he can see as keenly as another man with
both. He then turns back the cuffs of his sleeves, and, after passing his
fingers through his hair, takes his compasses in hand and looks round the
room at his class. He has been talking all the time, and by this is fairly
Taunched on his subject. . . . He often indulges in jokes with manifest
gusto. The other morning he was illustrating a point, when he said, ‘ This
reminds me of an anecdote told me once by my old Cambridge tutor, Prof,
Peacock. He had been for some time striving to instil into the mind of a
rather obtuse student the difference between 4.x and x4. At last he timidly
ventured to remark, “‘T think, now, Mr. A., you clearlysee the dilference,’”
***Ves, I think I do, but between us don’t you think, Professor, it is a need-
less refinement ?”’ I think the part of his lectures I have most enjoyed has
been his treatment of the Theory of Probabilities. In this he seemed to
revel.” Then follow remarks similar to Mr. Taylor’s, and he concludes:
“No Professor takes more pains with his class, and all thr ugh the session
he deposits, in the Library, Tracts written by himself on the particular
branch then in hand.’? We have similar testimony from other quarters.
* A list of the offices he held is given (p. 270).
3 He was never connected with any office, but his advice was sought by
Professionals whenever there arose a “‘ nodus vindice dignus.”’
4 A full account of his work in this direction occupies pp. 235-255 of the
Memoir.
and no writer can be more safely trusted in everything
which he wrote. It is possible that his continual efforts
to attain completeness and absolute correctness injured —
his literary style, which is wanting in grace ; but the esti-
mation in which his books are held is shown by the fact
that they are steadily rising in market price. Apart from
his conspicuous position as a logical and mathematical
discoverer, we may conclude that hardly any man of
science in recent times has had a more extensive, though
it may often be an unfelt influence, upon the progress of
exact and sound knowledge.”
His love of books was intense :! “the most worthless
book of a bygone day is a record worthy of preservation.”
Evidences of his minute acquaintance with all sorts of
out-of-the-way works present themselves in almost all
his writings, but are especially conspicuous in that won-
drous repertory of wit and wisdom, the “ Budget of
Paradoxes.’? De Morgan’s peculiar dislike of conven-
tional titles, ‘which are not what they seem to be,” led
him to decline the honorary degree of LL.D. of the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh, and accounts for his not allowing
his name to be put up for the F.R.S.2. ‘* Whether /
could have been a Fellow, I do not know ; as the gentle-
man said, when asked whether he could play the violin,
‘I never tried.’” In fact, as he writes in the “ Budget,”
he was a man who could not groove.
The last occurrence connected with science which gave
him pleasure was the foundation of the London Mathe-
matical Society.* The idea of having such a society
occurred to his son George and Mr. A, C. Ranyard, and
on their mentioning the matter to Prof. De Morgan, he
at once gave in his adhesion to their proposition, and
with the countenance thus extended by himself and other
leading mathematicians who were got together in reply to
a circular issued by the two founders, the Society started
into existence. Prof. De Morgan was the first president,
and delivered at the first public meeting (January 16,
1865) an interesting and characteristic address. He
continued to take a warm interest in the meetings (being
a vice-president for the last time in the session 1869-70)
until November 26, 1868, after which date severe illness
prevented his further attendance.* The end came on
March 18, 1871, “just after midnight he breathed his
last.” >
In the Vacation of 1837 De Morgan married Sophia
Elizabeth, daughter of William Frend. This gentleman
was a member of the old Mathematical, and subse-
quently of the Astronomical Society, had been Second
Wrangler, and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.
He sacrificed good prospects as a clergyman to his con-
scientious scruples about the doctrines of the Established
Church, and was at this time Actuary of the Rock Life
t He loved to surround himself, as far as his means allowed, with curious
and rare books. He revelled in all the mysteries of watermarks, title-pages,
colophons, catch-words, and the like; yet he treated bibliography as an
important science.
2 Why he did not care to “shine in the dignity of F.R.S.”—See
“Budget of Paradoxes,” p. 18.
3 There is a new Mathematical Socicty, and I am, at this present writing,
its first president. We are very high in the newest developments, and bid
fair to take a place among the scientific establishments.””. Then in contrast
with the old Mathematical Society, “‘ But not a drop of liquor is seen at
our meetings, except a decanter of water: all our heavy is a fermentation
of symbols ; and we do not draw it mild,”—‘‘ Budget of Paradoxes,” p,
ay In the recent Presidential Address it was announced that a ‘‘ De Morgan
Memorial Medal,’’ of the value of £10 would be awarded triennially by
the Society. The first award to be made in November, 1884.
5 Monthly Notices, ‘‘at one o'clock in the afternoon.”
220
NATURE
| Fan. 4, 1883
Assurance Office. The marriage was a most happy one»
and surrounded by a family of seven children, of whom
three at least died before their father, De Morgan
sought his happiness, as we have endeavoured to show,
in his home, amongst his books, and in the earnest dis-
charge of his professorial and other duties.
The Memoir is charmingly written, and abounds in
graphic details, which bring clearly before the reader the
picture of a simple, manly character that was unique in
its idiosyncrasy. A prominent object in its production
has been to tell the story of the Professor’s connection
with University College, and of the events which led to
his leaving it. “After the lapse of sixteen years I trust
that the narrative will provoke no revival of the some-
what acrimonious controversy which ensued.’’
Another feature of the work is the selection from De
Morgan’s extensive correspondence with contemporary
scientific men; these letters are full of interest, and
abound in utterances characteristic of the writer. Always
effective and to the point, they are often very humorous :
the humour, indeed, sometimes borders upon trifling.
Instead of thinking that Mrs. De Morgan has exceeded
due limits in her selection, we would have welcomed a
far larger number of specimens. On p. 333 De Morgan
states that he had corresponded for thirty years with Sir
W. Rowan Hamilton, but no specimens of the correspon-
dence are given. In one or two cases Mrs. De Morgan
has deviated from the general rule she laid down for her-
self, and to this deviation we are indebted for some very
interesting letters from the late Sir Frederick Pollock,
which enlighten one as to what was required to be read
for the Senior Wranglership at the beginning of the
present century. Is it too much to hope that another
volume may be issued containing a further selection from
the correspondence, and also a few of the more valuable
of the early papers, such as those which appeared in the
Fournal of Education, and in the Companion to the
British Almanac? We venture to give the following
extract from a letter we received under date May 15,
1869, as an ordinary specimen of his writing to one who
had no special claim upon the writer:—“... I should
decidedly object to the reference made to Barrow on the
last leaf. ‘Dr. Barrow with an orthodox dislike to give
unnecessary credit to a Moslem author has misled. . . . ”
When was there an orthodox dislike to Mahometans
being discoverers in science? And what possible reason
is there for imputing any such feeling to Barrow, a man
of most unimpeachable fairness, except in this, that when
he had a congregation by the ears he would hold on for
three hours until they prevailed on the organist to ‘ blow
him down.’ He had lived among the Turks at Smyrna
and Constantinople, and was certainly not ill-inclined to
a Mahometan, as such. But this much is enough: the
imputation is quite new, or nearly so, and should not
appear without proof in the odzter dictum of an historical
writer who obviously makes it a theory to explain some-
thing he has found.... P.S.—I think that for one
orthodox man who might be supposed likely to rob a
Mahometan of geometry, I could find three who would
have been more likely to toss it back again with the
remark that such infidel stuff was only fit for Mahound
and his slaves.”
A list of writings is appended. In this we notice the
| following slips :—‘‘ Elements of Arithmetic,’ the dates
should be ‘1st edition, 1830; 3rd, 1835”; on p. 403, in
(18) for “ No. 3” read § 3 of (15) supra”’; p. 404, in (18)
dele “1,” and in (6) for “Trigonometry” read “ Geo-
metry ; p. 405, (5) should, of course, be “ Pdx+ Ody+
Rdz”; p. 406, in 1849, insert “Remarks’’ after ‘f Sup-
plementary”; in (1), (2), we think the dates are inaccu-
rate ; p. 407, read ‘‘ Alfonsine.”
We remark also that no account is taken of communi-
cations to the Mathematical Society. These were ten in
number, not counting the Opening Address, which forms
the first number of the Society’s Proceedings. The only
papers printed are “A Proof that every Function has a
Root” (No. vi., a mere notelet) ; “ Remark on paper by
Mr. Woolhouse ‘on General Numerical Solution’ ” (No.
xiv.); and ‘On the Conic Octagram” (No. x. pp. 26-29).
In this last paper occurs the characteristic note: “ This
presentation of the second hexagon was actually sug-
gested to me by observing that S/ozse Pascal has two
hexagrams, and the jocose inference that there ought to
be two hexagons in the theorem (given in the paper). My
own names are both octagrams ; but though I bow before
the coincidence, I have no suggestion to acknowledge.”
There is a fairly full “Index of Names, &c.,’ but we do
not grasp the principle upon which it is drawn up, as
some names are inserted and others left out. We failed
at first to identify ‘‘ Prof. John Adams” with “ Neptune”
Adams. There are also the following corrections to be
be made :—Read “‘J. Baldwin Brown,” “ Arthur Cayley ”
(both here and in the “Budget of Paradoxes’’ the
famous mathematician is called “ George”), Hanssen (for
Haussen), Encke (for Hencke), Royal Society (insert the
most important reference to p. 172), Sedgwick, Rey. C.
Simeon (not J.), insert John Taylor, p. 122, and dele “p.
124”’ under Sedley Taylor. On p. 306 we presume +
should be *, and on p, 286, for 1866 read 1865; the
present writer succeeded George De Morgan as teacher
in the session 1865-66. R. TUCKER
FISHES OF SWITZERLAND
Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse. Par Victor Fatio, Dr.
Phil. Vol. IV. Histoire naturelle des Poissons.
partie I. Anarthropterygiens. II. Physostomes-Cypri-
nidés. 8°. pp. xiv. et 786, avec 5 planches. (Généve
et Bale: H. Georg, 1882.)
ae an interval of nearly ten years Dr. Fatio has
issued another volume of the series of excellent
monographs, in which he gives the results of his researches
into the vertebrate fauna of Switzerland. The first
volume, published in the year 1869, contained the Mam-
mals ; the third (1872) the Reptiles and Batrachians ; the
second, which will be devoted to Ornithology, being still
in course of preparation. The one now published, which
is the fourth of the series, treats of a part of the Fishes,
which class will be concluded in the fifth.
No one who studies this volume will be surprised at
the long lapse of time which intervened between its
appearance and that of the preceding. The author had
not the advantage of being assisted in his work by collec-
re
tions already formed and available for the purpose, but
had to collect the materials himself; a labour which,
; ven ina small country like Switzerland, takes years to
,
Fan. 4, 1883]
NATURE
221
accomplish ; especially as, for comparison’s sake, he ex-
tended his researches to the fauna of the neighbouring
countries. His descriptions are well elaborated and com-
piled from numerous observations ; they include all the
variations of age, sex, season, locality, &c., and particular
notice is taken of those modifications, by which Swiss |
examples seem to be distinguished from those of Germany, |
France, Italy, &c. Thus, this work rises far above the
level of a local publication, and is of as great a value to
the student of European freshwater fishes, as to the Swiss |
naturalist.
The present volume treats of the Acanthopterygians
and Cyprinoids only, 5 species of the former and 21 of
the latter being admitted as permanent inhabitants of the
country. Besides, the author distinguishes 3 sub-species,
many varieties, and 3 hybrids ; he also refers in shorter
chapters to 13 other species and 6 hybrids, which are
extra-limital, or may sooner or later be found straying
into Switzerland.*. This number of the freshwater fishes
of Switzerland must appear small, when we consider that
it comprises representatives of four of the principal river-
systems of Europe, viz. the Rhine, Rhone, Po, and
Danube ; and there is no doubt that this comparative
poverty is due to the altitude of the country, freshwater
Acanthopterygians and Cyprinoids being generally more
developed in the less rapid waters of warmer low-lying
countries. The Rhine contributes the majority ; 20 out
of the 24 species® which inhabit the middle and lower
sections of the river, ascending beyond the Falls of Schaff-
hausen. The Rhone is inhabited by 24 species, but,
singularly, of these 11 only have been able to establish
themselves above the Perte du Rhone, although the
others freely enter the Saone or penetrate even into the
upper Doubs, a river not included in Swiss territory. Of
the 23 species found in the lower part of the Po, 15 reach
the Swiss frontier ; and this southern portion of the fauna
is in its character so distinct from the northern, that 9
only of these 15 species are identical with Rhine fishes-
Finally the fish-fauna of the Danube, which is stated to
consist of 30 species, is represented in Switzerland by 3
only, the great altitude of the river Inn proving a most
effectual barrier to the dispersal of the remainder. More-
over, these three species are common Central European
types, and not peculiar to the Danube.
The author has taken great pains to ascertain the
extreme limits of altitude, to which the several species
can attain in the Alps. Two only go beyond the height
of 2000 metres, viz. the minnow and miller's thumb,
which are still found at respectively 2400 and 2200m.
The perch, the next in order, reaches an altitude of 2000
m., all the remainder living at, or below, 800m. How-
ever, several have been successfully imported to altitudes
varying between 1000 and 1700 m., thus the carp, tench,
rudd, roach, and chub.
Of the fishes described in this volume, we wish to draw
particular attention to two which, belonging to marine
genera, and evidently being of marine origin, have
acclimatised themselves in the fresh waters of Southern
Europe, and penetrated into, or close to, the confines of
Switzerland, viz. a goby (Gobius fluviatilis or martensit),
The second part of the Ichthyology is estimated to contain about 21
species.
* These and the following numbers refer to the Acanthopterygians and
Cyprinoids only.
which has ascended the Po, and a blenny (Blenniz
cagnata), which occurs in abundance in Lago Maggiore
as well as in the lake of Bourget in Savoy.
Hybrids are comparatively scarce in Switzerland. The
author justly accounts for their scarcity by the physical
peculiarities of his country; snow-fed, rapid rivers are
less adapted for their production, than the slower and
warmer waters of low countries, where a greater variety
of species and a larger number of individuals are mixed
together, sometimes within very narrow limits.
The volume is illustrated by five well executed plates,
three of which are devoted to osteological, dental, and
dermal details.
The author of a thoroughly original work like the
present, cannot fail to differ from his predecessors in
questions of specific distinctions and numerous other
points of detail, but it is our duty to testify to the fair and
calm spirit, in which such questions are discussed and
treated by him; and we hope that, before many years,
we shall have the pleasure of announcing to our readers
the completion of so valuable a work as Dr. Fatio’s
Ichthyology of Switzerland.
OUR BOOK SHELF
By Robert K. Douglas. (Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, 1882.)
IT may be said at once respecting this book that it is
without exception the very best elementary work on
China with which we are acquainted in any European
language. The author has resided for many years in
China, and is in the forefront of the Chinese scholarship.
of our time; his work is, therefore, not only accurate,
but it places the reader abreast of the latest researches.
One of the most remarkable of these is fully explained at
pp- 359-60. The Yzh King, or Book of Changes, is the
work for which the greatest antiquity is claimed by the
Chinese. Some writers have placed it as far back as
between 300 and 4oo B.c. However this may be, the key
to its interpretation has been entirely lost, although the
best native scholars of all ages, including Confucius him-
self, have attempted to explain it. M. Terrien de la
Couperie (assisted, we believe, by Prof. Douglas himself,
though this fact is not mentioned), has succeeded within
the last few years in showing that “instead of being a
mysterious depository of deep divinatory lore, it turns out
to be a collection of syllabaries such as are common in
Accadian literature interspersed with chapters of astro-
logical formula, ephemerides, and others dealing with
ethnological facts relating to the Aboriginal tribes of the
country; but all taking the form of vocabularies, and
therefore as impossible to be translated in the sense in
which every commentator, from Confucius downwards,
has attempted to translate them as ‘Johnson’s Diction-
ary’ would be.” Although we possess innumerable volumes
on subjects connected with China, we have not until
now a thoroughly trustworthy book covering the whole
ground ina simple elementary manner. Some volumes re-
cently published for popular reading on the countries of the
East exhibit such lamentable ignorance, that we can only
“gasp and stare’ at their contents. Notwithstanding
his own intimate knowledge of the subject, Prof. Douglas
has consulted almost all that we have in our literature
relating in any way to China, from Davis’s Chinese poetry
and Oppert’s Susian texts, down to recent numbers of
the English journals published in China. ‘The two last
chapters—that on “ Language’? and “ Literature ”—are
models of clear and simple exposition of complicated
subjects. Another excellence of the book is what we may
call its perspective. The writer does not thrust any par-
ticular branch of his subject into undue prominence, to
China.
222 -
NATURE
| Fan. 4, 1883
the detriment of therest. The first chapter gives a brief
sketch of Chinese history, the second of the system of
administration; various chapters are then devoted to
popular customs, to education, medicine, music, dress
and food, architecture, honours, names, superstitions,
religions, &c. There is also an excellent map. To the
general reader who desires some accurate information
respecting a country which is coming nearer to us every
day, or to the student who wants a vade mecum, no better
volume can be recommended.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Nether can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications,
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|
On the Occurrence of Great Tides since the Commence-
ment of the Geological Epoch
Mr. BALL says very truly that the fundamental question is,
what traces of great tides ought we to expect to find if those
great tides had really existed? Mr. Darwin says, coarse-grained
rocks, and different forms of vegetation calculated to resist the
action of the accompanying great winds. Mr. Ball, in reply,
remarks that high tides in the Avon are accompanied by fine |
sediment. He thinks with others that the high tides would
have produced a vastly greater amount of sediment than is being
formed at present. I quite agree with Mr. Ball about the fine
sediment, but I am not at all clear that high tides mean great
marine denudation. By far the largest portion of the work
done by the sea as a denuding agent is due not to the wearing
action of currents, or to the pounding of materials on a beach at
low water, but to the direct action of the sea on the cliffs. This
force is estimated as about a ton per square foot on the average
in winter, on the west coast of Great Britain. This undermines
the cliff at the sea level, and then the top part falls partly by its
own weight, but still more through the effect of the air com-
pressed in the caves and cracks, which by its elasticity spread
the blow over a very large surface through the crack and joints
of the rock. Now to undermine cliffs with a given force of
wind and wave, it seems clear that the maximum effect would be
produced where the tides are very small, for there the force is
constantly applied at the same spot. Witha rise and fail of
100 feet, each portion of the cliff would be subjected to the force
of the waves for so short a time that in all probability caves
would never be formed at ali, and the height of the tide would
be an actual protection to the land. Asa matter of fact, those
places where the tides are highest show, as far as I know, no
signs of excessive denudation. I spent two days last year on
the Bay of Fundy, where the tides are bigher than anywhere in
the world, and I was very much struck with the absence of any
evidence of great denudation due to the tide. The cliffs at the
Loggins are about high-water mark, with a long beach which |
slopes very gradually, The force of the waves, such as they
are, is spent in hammering this beach and grinding it into fine
sand and mud; the mud is carried about in suspension by the
tide, and the sand is shifted about, but the denuding effect is
exceedingly small. The consequence is that the cliffs are
pounded by the waves for such a short time each tide that they
suffer mainly from atmospheric denudation, the sea doing little
more than keeping their base clear, and in many places not even
doing that.
Similar phenomena are presented by the hizhest tides in Great
Britain—tho-e on the Severn.
the tide rises 30 feet; there are no waves; the banks are
covered with a thick coating o° mud and denudation is nil.
At Aust Cliff, again, on the Severn, where the soft red marls are
peculiarly liable to erosion, the height of the tide is again a pro-
tection. The cliff is about high-water mark, and the force of the
waves is expended on the beach. The case is the same at Watchet,
and a good many other places o1 the Severn. Ido not know
of any part of the Severn remarkable for excessive denudation,
owing to the high tides. There is a strong resemblance between
the Bay of Fuudy and the Severn : there are the cliffs at high-
Here at Clifton on the Avon |
water mark, the same long beaches, the same shifting sands and
mud in suspension ; similar causes have produced similar results.
In narrow inlets like the Bay of Fundy and the estuary of the
Severn, these high tides mean rapid currents and small waves;
but along shores freely exposed t> the ocean, the highest tides
might be accompanied by very feeble currents, But if, as Mr.
Darwin says, the high tides were acrompanied by trade winds
about 3} times as strong as the present ones, the battering power
of the waves and the strength of the currents would be very
greatly increased, and plains of marine denudation, it might be
supposed, would be very rapidly formed. What would be likely
to happen if such winds and waves began now to act on our shores ?
Should we have reason to expect that England would in a com-
paratively short time disappear beneath the waves? A very rapid
destruction of our present cliffs would undoubtedly begin, though,
as I pointed out before, this would be attributable mainly to the
winl, and not to the tide; the cliffs would be driven back to
about the ordinary high water mark, leaving a long shelving
beach extending to a few feet below the low water mark. The
cliffs would then for far the greater portion of each tide be entirely
free from marine denudation, and their rate of wasting would
depend on the power of the sea to tear up the long solid sloping
beach, and restore comparatively deep water at the base of the
cliffs. But this process is an exceedingly slow one, because
there can be no undermining or assistance from compressed air,
and I should anticipate that marine denudation would then be
actually slower than it is at present. There would, of course,
be abundance of very fine sediment formed during the first
wearing back of the cliffs by the grinding of the materials
between tide marks ; but when cnce the cliffs had reached the
high water line, the amount of sediment would depend chiefly on
the amount of atmospheric denudation, supposing that the sea
kept the base of the cliffs clear. We should, in fact, have a
repetition of the phenomena presented to us now by the Bay of
Fundy and the Severn. Thus far, then, it seems to me that no
argument can be drawn from the fineness of the early sediments
against the existence of high tides in the Geologic period ; nor,
on the other hand, does the quantity of seliment seem to me a
strong argument in favour of it. But Mr Darwin’s argument
that the vegetation of the Carboniferous period could not possibly
have held out against the violent winds which necessarily accom-
panied these high tides seems to me unanswerable. One has
only to reflect on the effect produced by our present winds to
feel convinced that if the winds and tides went together they
were certainly Pre-Carboniferous, and almost equally certainly
Pre-Devonian. J. G. GRENFELL
Clifton College, December 29, 1882
Sir George Airy on the Forth Bridge
As Sir George Airy’s last letter may, like his first, provoke
replies from di-tinguished American and continental engineers,
it may save your correspondents’ time and your own valuable
space if I add a few final words in explanation.
1. Sir George says :—‘‘ The danger of buckling in a hori-
zontal direction with a length of 340 feet, remains undiminished
unless it is counteracted by bracing unknown to me.” Now
Sir George evidently has forgotten that some time ago he was
furnished with photogra, hs of a larse model of the bridge taken
with the view of showing the said bracing, and that his attention
was specially directed to the point.
2. Sir George thinks ‘‘it desirable that attention should be
called to the magnitude of the forces concerned,” and speaks of
a wind-pressure of 75 tons, and an end-pressure of 600 tons.
Now he clearly has forgotten that before he wrote his first letter
a ‘‘stress diagram” was sent to him, on which it was noted
that the wind-pres ure provided for was 2207 tons on each
span, and that the estimated end-pressure on the strut referred
to was 2380 tons.
3. Sir George holds the engraver responsible for some of the
alarmist statements in his first letter. I must remark, therefore,
that it was pointed out that the bridge would have been perfectly
safe had the details of the desizn been as he assumed. For
evidence that a 340 feet tubular strut of 12 feet diameter
would not fail in the manner stated by him, he was referred
to Hodgkinson’s experiments as published in the PAdosophi-
cal Tyansactions, and Clark’s work on the Britannia bridge; and
further, he was lent the Z7amsactions of the American Society
of Civil Engineers for last year, containing the most recent
experiments on long wrought iron columns. Any or all of
the-e docunents would have shown him‘ that the Forth bridge
_ .
Fan. 4, 1883]
NATURE
223
struts, even if arranged as he first conceived them to be, could
not have failed by flexure during the wildest hurricane.
4. Sir George finds fault with the connection of the brackets,
and ‘‘can hardly imagine that trains could be run through at
speed.” I should have been pleased to have explained the con-
nection to Sir George, but he has not sought to know anything
about the details of the bridge, and, I am sure, would be much
puzzled to give your readers even the vaguest possible description
of the connection, which he nevertheless stigmatises as ‘‘ not
very perfect.”
In conclusion, as Sir George has not done so himself, I would
warn any young student who may have read the investigation
contained in the appendix to the fir-t letter, that the methods
therein proposed would lead to an over-estimate of the strength
of struts of ordinary proportions by from 200 to 300 per cent.
This warning is the more necessary, as the general tenour of Sir
George Airy’s letter might make a student imagine that he erred,
if anything, in the direction of excess of caution, whereas the
application of the principles laid down by him would, in the
case of the Forth bridge, result in the compression memfers
being made only one-third of the strength considered expedient
by Mr. Fowler and myself. B. BAKER
2, Queen Square Place, Westminster, S.W.
P.S.—It may interest some of your readers to know that the
maximum force recorded during recent storms by our wind
pressure plates at the Forth has been 20 lbs. per square foot,
upon the small and light plate having ian area of 2 square feet,
and 12} lbs. upon the large and heavy one, with an area of
300 square feet. The same ratio holds good down to pressures
of 2 lbs. per square foot, and it appears pretty certain that the
higher blasts are of such momentary duration and of such
unequal distribution, that even a small sized railway bridge
could never experience ordinary anemometer pressures. Other
reasons for a reduced pressure on a large surface have been ad-
vanced by Dr. Siemensin a recent number of the Comptes Rendus.
Nevertheless, in this instance of the Forth bridge we have assumed
that a 56 lbs. hurricane will act simultaneously over the whole
width of the Forth, with a resultant lateral pressure of no less
than 8000 tons upon the main spans. We have further assumed
that the said hurricane might blow down one side of the Forth,
whilst a dead calm prevailed on the other side, and have even
provided for the twisting action upon the piers and superstruc-
ture due toa 56 lbs. hurricane blowing #f the Forth on one
side, and dow7 it on the other. To ascertain what lateral pressure
a 56 lbs. hurricane would cause, we tested, both in air and in
water currents, a large model of the bridge, with cross-bracing
complete, and ascertained its equivalent in square feet of flat
surface. Under any of the conditions of wind pressure enume-
rated above, combined with any distribution of the rolling load,
the resultant stresses upon superstructure, holding down bolts
and piers will be far within the safe working limits as determined
by our experiments upon the respective materials.—B, B.
Altitude and Weather
In NATuRE, vol. xxvii. p. 176, you notice the remarkable
warm and dry weather September 21 last on Ben Nevis, during
an anticyclone, and, as at the foot the air was relatively cold
and humid, you see in the heat and dryness on the mountain an
effect of descending air currents. In this you are quite right, but
I do not think you are right in estimating that this air was
saturated at a certain height above Ben Nevis. The fact is this:
the increase of temperature from a certain height above sea-level
to the latter being ¢e facto much less than the dynamical increase
of a stratum of air, due to compression sinking down, a down-
ward current of air will be generally warm, and relatively dry.
It does not matter if it sinks along the slopes of mountains (as
the foehn), or vertically, as modern meteorology considers it to
be the case in anticyclones. There is only one great difference :
the air currents down a slope may be, and often are, very
violent, and only when they are so, their relative heat and dry-
ness are felt, while the downward currents in an anticyclone are
so gentle that they are seldom felt or directly registered, and
that mostly the thermometer and hygrometer are our only means
of detecting them. On account of their slow motions, the effect
of these downward currents during anticyclones is little felt in
valleys and plains, as (1) they are even more retarded near great
nd surfaces ; (2) in the colder time of the year, especially when
the ground is covered with snow, the radiation from the soil
lowers the temperature of the lower strata. Thus during anti-
cyclones in winter a very low temperature is generally experienced
in plains and valleys, due to radiation, and a very high tempera-
ture and low humidity on isolated mountains, due to descending
currents of air.
These conditions are best realised during protracted and
considerable anticyclones, and it was Prof. Hann’s merit to have
explained this fact.' The exceedingly protracted anticyclone of
December, 1879, in Central Europe, was especially favourable
to the proof of the existence of descending currents, as the cold
was great in the valleys, even in the high ones, like the Engadine
and the Davos, but the air was warm and very dry on isolated
mouvtains, An example from the best mountain observatory
of that time, the Puy de Dome, and the foot of it, will suffice,
uine days, December 20-28, 1879, at 6 a.m.
Relative Amount of
Feet. Temp. F. humidity Cloud
Puy de Dome, 4813 38°38 eto bce gy 35)
Clermont (base) 1273 Soe. | On o7
There is all reason to think that in these days there was no
sa!urated stratum of air even considerably above, say the Puy de
Déme.
I must remark that Prof. Hann, in his last work, “ Der Fohn
in Bludenz,” dces not sustain his former opinion that great
precipitations on the windward side of mountains is necessary to
the appearance of a foehn on the leeward side. His opinion
now is, that a considerable barometric gradient and the drawing
in of air from considerable heights are alone necessary, for even
if the air on the mountains is not abnormally warm, it will come
down warm and relatively dry. A. WOEIKOFF
Ofizerskaja, St. Petersburg, December 15-27, 1882
The Fertilisation of the Speedwell
I FEAR that Dr. H. Miiller’s passage in Schenk’s ‘‘ Hand-
buch ” would occupy too much space to be given here in full ;
but I can condense what he says into a few lines. Dr. Miiller
takes the Veronica chamedrys as representing a type of flowers
in which the anthers have to be brought into a position to strike
the body of the insect by the action of the insect itself. He
finds the same arrangement in the V, ustic@folia. These flowers
are visited by insects of various kinds, but their structure is, he
thinks, explained only by what takes place when they are visited
by Syrphide. When one of these insects visits such a flower,
it hovers for some seconds before it, then settles upon the lower
lobe of the corolla, without noticing the style which is coloured
like the corolla, and which is now under the insect’s body. It
then crawls higher to reach the nectary, and in doing so bends
down the stamens—which are also coloured like the corolla—
until the anthers strike against the under part of the insect’s
body. The pollen thus obtained is carried to another flower,
and brought into contact with the stigma when the insect first
alights ; and fresh pollen is again obtained by the attempts to
reach the nectary. Dr. Miiller either knows from observation
or assumes that in the V, chamedrys anthers and stigma are
mature at the same time. He attaches importance to the fact
that both stamens and style are coloured like the corolla, and
therefore appear to escape the observation of the insect ; and the
thinness of the base of the stamen is also noticed by him as one
feature in the adaptation of the flower to the visits of syrphide.
He does not refer to the looseness of the corolla, Mr. Stapley’s
suggestion that this may play some part in the work of cross-
fertilisation is an ingenious one, and calls for further research.
As to the V.heder@folia, Dr. Miiller mentions it as one of the
plants that have a tendency to keep their flowers half-shut in
cold and rainy weather, and thus to become cleistogamous.
I am sorry that I misunderstood Mr. Stapley’s first letter upon
any point ; but he has misunderstood mine also, if he thinks I
was not aware he wished to call attention ‘‘to the adap/ation of
the flower for cross-fertilisation.” I wrote as briefly as I could,
and naturally assumed that he would understand I was not
thinking merely of the fact that Diptera drew down the
stamens. ARTHUR RANSOM
Bedford, December 23, 1882
THE SACRED TREE OF KUM-BUM
7 ee dissipation of illusions is always a little painful,
even after repeated experience of the process. I
must confess, then, to some feeling of injury at learning
from Mr. Keane’s interesting review in NATURE, vol.
1 Zeitschr. fiir Meteorologie, p. 129, 1876.
224
NATURE
xxvii. p. 171, that Huc’s “tree of ten thousand images” |
is nothing more than a common white lilac. Myths of
this kind I have generally found to have some substratum
of fact at the bottom. They can be rationalised, and
mere explosion does not seem to be a satisfactory way of
getting rid of them.
Now our knowledge of the indigenous vegetation of
China is painfully limited. An immense portion of the
flora is doubtless gone beyond recovery in the cultivated
districts. Remnants of the primitive, wide-spreading
forest remain, however, in the precincts of temples and
monasteries, and these woods have always yielded
novelties to botanists who have examined them. It had
seemed, therefore, little short of certain that the sacred
tree of Kum-bum would be something of considerable
scientific interest if specimens of it could be got hold of.
The only edition of Huc at hand to refer to is Hazlitt’s
translation, published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in
1856, The well-known account of the tree will be found
on pp. 324-6. According to Huc, thename Kum-bum, or
as he spells it, Koun-boum, consists of ‘“‘two Thibetan
words signifying ten thousand images, and having allu-
sion to the tree which, according to the legend, sprang
from Tsong-Kaba’s hair, and bears a Thibetan character
on each of its leaves.” Now, according to Kreitner, as
quoted by Mr. Keane,“ the Abbé Huc tells us that its
leaves bear the natural impress of Buddha's likeness and
of the Thibetan alphabet.’ As a matter of fact, he does
not say anything like this. What he does say is as
follows :—
“There were upon each of the leaves well-formed
. |
Thibetan characters, all of a green colour, some darker, |
some lighter than the leaf itself. Our first impression
was a suspicion of fraud on the part of the Lamas, but,
after a minute examination of every detail, we could not
discover the least deception. The characters all ap-
peared to us portions of the leaf itself, equally with its |
veins and nerves; the position was not the same in all;
in one leaf they would be at the top of the leaf, in another
in the middle, in a third at the base, or at the side; the
younger leaves represented the characters only in a
partial state of formation. The bark of the tree and its
branches, which resemble that of the plane-tree, are also
covered with these characters. When you remove a
piece of old bark, the young bark under it exhibits the
individual outlines of characters in a germinating state,
and, what is very singular, these new characters are not
unfrequently different from those which they replace.”
OF the tree itself as Huc saw it some forty years ago,
he gives the following account :—
“The tree of the Ten Thousand Images seemed to us
of great age. Its trunk, which three men could scarcely
embrace with outstretched arms, is not more than eight
feet high; the branches, instead of shooting up, spread
out in the shape of a plume of feathers, and are extremely
bushy ; few of them are dead. The leaves are always
green, and the wood, which is of a reddish tint, has an
exquisite odour, something like that of cinnamon. The
Lamas informed us that in summer, towards the eighth
moon, the tree produces huge red flowers of an extremely
beautiful character.”
Hazlitt’s translation contains two woodcuts, one (p.
325) of the tree with its canopy, the other (p. 369) of a
leaf with its markings. What the history of these illus-
trations is, there is nothing to show; Huc’s book in the
original French had, I think, none. The leaf with its
markings has a by no means impossible appearance ;
whether the markings are like Thibetan characters, I can-
not say. The outline of the leaf is not unlike that of a
fuchsia, but it would not pass for a lilac.
I suspect, then, that there really was in Huc’s time a
tree with markings on the leaves, which the imagination
of the pious assimilated to Thibetan characters. Perhaps
it was the last local relic of some unknown endemic tree;
in Hongkong I believe many of the endemic species are
represented by but a few individuals. It may well have
died and been replaced by a lilac, and the genuine
markings by the fudged-up image of Budha “etched
with some acid on the leaves.’’
It is disappointing that Szechenyi’s expedition seems
to have done nothing for botany. As Grisebach says,
“We can only guess at the richness of the Chinese flora.”
Every now and then some one is induced to collect a few
plants, and almost invariably they contain something new
to science. A more extended knowledge of Chinese
plants is now essential to a right understanding of
the phyto-geographical facts of the north temperate
flora. Unfortunately, the numerous Europeans who visit
China are occupied with political, religious, or commer-
cial business, with little time for subsidiary pursuits.
But any of them who may chance to read these lines,
may rest assured that they will be really doing a useful
work by collecting and drying even a few wz/d plants in
their respective neighbourhoods.
Kew W. T. THISELTON DYER
NORWEGIAN GEODETICAL OPERATIONS*
ie 1861 an Association was formed, under the auspices
of Lieut.-General von Baeyer, having for its object
the measurement of arcs of meridians, and parallels, in
Europe. Most of the Continental nations joined this
Association, and have carried out triangulations and spirit
levellings of precision to further the objects in view. It
is the intention of the Association to measure an arc
extending from Palermo to Levanger in Norway, which
will, however, probably be extended to the North Cape.
The work before us is the report of the measurement of
two base lines, ud of their connection with the Norwegian
triangulation which is to form part of the measurement of
the above-mentioned arc. It was thought in 1862 that
the existing Norwegian triangulation, supplemented and
verified by some new work, would meet the requirements
of the Association; but it was found, on investigation,
that such was not the case, and moreover that the
verifications could not be carried out, because the old
trigonometrical stations could not be refound with any
certainty. It was therefore decided to commence a new
triangulation extending in a chain from the Swedish
frontier (south of Christiana), where the chain is con-
nected with the Swedish triangulation, to Levanger, where
again a connection is to be made with another portion of
the Swedish triangulation. The two base lines already
mentioned are situated at the extremities of this chain of
triangles, one at Egeberg, near Christiana, and the other
at Rindenleret, near Levanger; both were measured
during the summer of 1864, and Part I. is the report of
these measurements.
The base measuring apparatus used is similar to that
employed by Struve for the measurement of several base
lines in Russia ; it belongs to the Swedish Government,
and was used for the measurement of their base lines.
The apparatus consists of four cast-iron tubes, each ap-
proximately 2 toises* in length, One end of each tube is
fitted with a small highly polished steel stud, and the
other end with a “contact lever.” The short arm of the
contact lever terminates in a steel stud, which is intended
to press against the fixed stud of the adjoining tube ; the
long arm moves ona scale. A measuring rod capable of
varying its length to a slight extent is thus obtained, and
this alteration in length can be measured with great deli-
cacy, since the long arm of the lever greatly exaggerates
it. This arrangement insures that the pressure between
the rods is constant. Each tube is provided with two
t Publications of the Norwegian Committee of the European Association
for the Measurement of Degrees. Geodetical Operations. Published in
Three Parts, (Christiania, 1880 and 1882.)
? Atoise is 2'13151116 yards as determined by Col, A. R. Clarke, C.B.,
R.E., F.R.S., &c.
| Fan, oe 1883
Fan. 4, 1883 |
thermometers, the bulbs of which are bent nearly at right
angles to the stem, and are inserted into small holes in
the tubes. In order to protect the tubes as far as possible
from changes of temperature they are wrapped round
with several thicknesses of cloth, and are further inclosed
in a wooden box, out of which the two ends of the tube
just project. During the measurement of a base line each
rod is supported on two trestles, at one-fourth and three-
fourths of its length, provided with screw arrangements
giving slow motions laterally and in elevation. The rods
are not, however, accurately levelled, and a correction
has to be made for dislevelment. To measure the small
angle of inclination each rod is fitted with avery sensitive
level. One end of the level works on trunnions, the
other is connected to a micrometer screw by means of
which the level can be raised or lowered. The bed of
the level is attached to the top of the box, but in such a
manner that it can be adjusted truly parallel to the tube.
The value of each micrometer division was determined
by means of the meridian circle in the observatory at
Christiana. It will be seen from the above that, as the
measurement of a base line proceeds, the following read-
ings are required for each rod: (1) the contact lever ; (2)
the thermometers; (3) the micrometer for inclination.
These readings were taken and booked independently by
two observers. Both base lines were measured twice,
once in each direction.
Before and after the measurement of each base line
each rod was compared with a standard rod, the exact
length of which was known, namely :
= 1727'96641 (I + 0000011476 (¢ — 16°'25)) + 0.00058
expressed in Paris lines* based on Bessel’s toise, ¢ being
expressed in degrees Centigrade. It was found that the
rods were slightly diminished in length during the mea-
surement of a base line (on an average 0'o05 lines) owing
to abrasion. An allowance was made for this diminution
in length. The apparatus with which these comparisons
were made consists of a massive cast-iron beam, turned
up at both ends, and carrying two supports fitted with
rollers upon which the rod to be measured rests.
One end of this beam is fitted with a fixed steel stud,
against which the contact lever of the rod under com-
parison bears ; the other end carries a sliding scale, con-
nected with a contact lever, and read by means of a
micrometer microscope. A set of readings consisted in
first measuring the standard rod, then each of the four
measuring rods in succession, and lastly the standard rod
again ; the temperature of each rod was carefully noted.
For a complete comparison twelve such sets of readings
were taken.
The time occupied in measuring the Egeberg base was
18 days, and the observations for each measuring rod
occupied 4 minutes ; the Rindenleret base was measured
more rapidly, namely, 2} minutes per rod, due to the site
being more level.
A considerable portion of Part I. is taken up in con-
sidering the errors to which the measurements of these
base lines are liable, in estimating the allowances to be
made to correct these errors, and in computing the
probable errors of the final results. These errors are due:
(1) to errors of observation in the actual measurement of
the base lines ; (2) to the error in the adopted length of
the measuring rods.
Firstly, the errors to which the actual measurement of
a base line is liable are as follows :—
A slight uncertainty attaches to the micrometer read-
ings of the levels measuring the inclination of the rods.
The probable error is computed to be
Egeberg base
+ 0°350 lines
Rindenleret base
=EyOnTS3inny
The errors due to the contact levers are next con-
t A Paris line is defined by 1 Paris line =;4, toise, hence 1 Paris line
=0'088813 English inch.
NATURE
225
2S ee eet ee
sidered. It is shown that the error caused by the small
uncertainty in the value of a degree of the scale over
which the long arm of the lever moves, is too small to be
taken into account, but the error caused by uncertainties
in reading the scale is of sensible amount, and is com-
puted to be
Egeberg base
: + 0°015 lines
Rindenleret base
£o014 ,,
Further, the surface of the steel studs, at the end of the
rods, is a portion of a sphere whose radius is con-
siderably less than the length of a rod. Hence an error
will occur each time a contact lever does not touch at the
centre of the stud, that is if it makes an eccentric contact,
and although every care was taken to obtain accurate
contacts, it is considered that a correction of the following
amounts should be made—
Egeberg base
— 0°351 + 0'175 lines
Rindenleret base...
— 0°314 £0°157 ,,
The next source of error is that due to errors in align-
ment, these errors will always be negative, and are due
to the uncertainty in placing the rods in the line given by
the directing theodolite. This error is computed to
amount to
Egeberg base
¢ ; — 0'294 + o'ror lines
Rindenleret base...
— 0'262 £o0'090 ,,
The computed variation of length of the rods due
to alterations in temperature is vitiated by several
errors. In the first place, the coefficient of expansion
of the rods, as determined by Prof. Lindhagen, is
affected by the small uncertainty, o‘o00000015. Further,
the correction for expansion is computed on the sup-
position that the thermometers do actually indicate
the mean temperature of the rods at the time of taking
the readings ; but this is an assumption, and in fact it is
estimated that the temperature indicated by the thermo-
meters is the temperature the rod had 20°0 + 59 minutes
before taking the reading. This estimate is arrived at as
follows : It will be remembered that each base line was
measured twice ; the difference between the two measure-
ments is due to the various errors under consideration,
and its probable value can therefore be computed ; this
computed value will contain, as an unknown, the time of
which an estimate is required. Hence, by equating the
computed difference to the actual difference the time can
be found. The total error in the allowance made for
expansion is found to be
Egeberg base...
+ 0085 + 0°52
Rindenleret base st
+ 0'071 + 0'250A
where q = 20:0 + 5'9 minutes.
Secondly, the errors due to the uncertainty in the
accepted length of the rods are considered under four
heads, namely : (1) the error in the length of the standard
rod ; (2) the error due to the bending of the beam of the
comparing apparatus (some experiments were made to
obtain data for the calculation of this error) ; (3) the error
in comparing the rods with the standard; (4) the error
due to the assumption that the diminution in length of
the rods by abrasion is proportional to the length of time
in use. The probable error of the accepted length of a
rod during the measurement of the Egeberg base is com-
puted to be + o’o008r lines, and during the measurement
of the Rindenleret base + 0'00071 lines.
Finally, the base lines had to be reduced to the sea-
level; data had been obtained for this purpose by means
of spirit-levelling operations. The reduction in the length
of the base lines due to this cause is
Egeberg base = — 33°89 lines
Rindenleret base so “ae = 0°852.,,
Applying all these various corrections to the measured
lengths of the base lines the final results are as follows:
226
Egeberg base 2025'28316 toises,
with a probable error of 4000129, or of its
I
1,570,000
length.
Rindenleret base ... 1806°3177 toises,
with a probable error of -+ 0'00120, or of its
I
1,500,000
length.
This is a high degree of accuracy as compared with
older base lines (as for instance several base lines
measured in France between 1798 and 1828, of which the
probable errors are
= ; but this accuracy has fre-
0,000
quently been attained of late years, and even surpassed,
as, for instance, the base line of Madridejos, measured
by General Ibafiez in 1858, with a probable error of
I
5,865,800.
Part II.is the account of the connection of the Egeberg
base with the side Toass-Kolsaas, and Part III. that of
the connection of the Rindenleret base with the side
Stokvola-Haarskallen of the principal triangulation. The
observations were made during 1864-66, but owing to an
error at one of the stations, due to the bisection of a
wrong object, further observations were made at that
station in 1877.
complete, and the work is well tied in. The centres of
the trigonometrical stations were very carefully defined |
by letting an iron bolt into the rock, or, into a large block
of stone; the centre of the face of this bolt, marked by a
small hole, was the trigonometrical station. The signals,
to which the observations were taken, consisted of an
upright beam, to which was attached one or two boards
about 0°75 m. square, which were painted white or
black, and occasionally a vertical stripe o'11 m. broad
was painted on the centre of the board. At several of
the stations the theodolite could be placed beneath the
signal, and at such stations the signal was placed over
the bolt, but in several cases, owing to the nature of the
ground, or other causes, the trigonometrical station had
to be placed at some distance from the signal, in one case
as much as 54 Norwegian feet. Insuch cases the correc-
tions to be applied to the observations were obtained by | sues sae
| length of any side is the same by whatever vou/e it is
measuring a short base line, one end of which was the
trigonometrical station, and the direction nearly at right |
Ob- |
angles to the line joining the station and the signal.
servations were taken from the ends of this base to the
various ‘points on the signal, which were bisected from
the other stations, and these, together with the observed
bearings to and from the other stations, enabled the
necessary corrections to be made. The greatest correc-
tion thus required was 10’ 37°34. But even at stations
where the theodolite was placed beneath the signal, correc-
tions were required to reduce the observations to the trigo-
. . . |
The connection in each case is very | :
| taken to each station.
NATURE
nometrical station, because different points on the signal |
were observed from the other stations, and these points
were not vertically over the bolt. In these cases the cor-
rections were computed in the following manner :—A
piece of paper, mounted on a board, was placed horizon-
tally on the ground over the centre of the station, and
this centre marked on it. Then, by means of a small
theodolite, the “traces” of the vertical planes passing
through the various points observed to, were marked in
pencil on the paper. The theodolite was now shifted,
and the corresponding traces marked as before; the in-
tersections of these traces gave a series of points verti-
cally beneath the points on the signal to which observa-
tions had been made. From these points, the correspond-
ing bearings to the various stations were plotted on the
paper ; and, lastly, perpendiculars were dropped, from the
point representing the centre of the station, on to these
bearings ; the length of any one of these perpendiculars
[| Fan. 4, 1883
divided by the approximate distance to the corresponding
station is the tangent of the correction to be applied.
Two instruments were used for measuring the angles ;
a 10" universal instrument by Olsen, read by two micro-
meter microscopes, and a 12” theodolite by Reichenback,
read by four verniers. The errors of graduation of these
instruments were investigated, and are given in a tabu-
lar form in Part II. Although, owing to the numerous
observations taken to each object starting from different
parts of the horizontal limb, the errors of graduation
must have been eliminated to a very large extent, yet it
was thought advisable to apply these corrections to the
observations, in order to obtain a more accurate idea of
the bearings of each station. The errors of the micro-
meter microscopes are also given in a table. The 10”
instrument was used at all, the 12” theodolite appears to
have only been used at two, stations. A third instru-
ment, a 10” universal instrument by Breithaupt and Sons,
was used for the observations of 1877.
When observing, the instrument was first set at 0°, and
a round of angles taken: the telescope was then reversed
and the round taken again. The instrument was then set
at 15° in the case of the triangulation connecting the
Egeberg base, and at 20° (nearly) in the case of the Rin-
denleret base triangulation, and two rounds taken as
before. The instrument was then again moved on 15°
and 20° respectively, and so on. Thus in the first case
forty-eight, and in the second thirty-six observations were
In some few instances even a
greater number were taken. ‘The actual observations are
not given in the Report, only the mean of four observa-
tions—two taken in the same position of the horizontal
limb, and two in that position increased by 180°. The
time occupied at each station averages four days; some
stations were completed in two days.
The observations were compensated by the metho?
enjoined by the Association for the measurement of
degrees in Europe, namely, Bessel’s method. The ob-
served angles at each station are first compensated
amongst themselves. A correction is then applied to
each angle thus found, subject to the condition that the
sum of the squares of these corrections for the whole
triangulation is a minimum, and subject further to the
geometrical conditions that the sum of the three angles
of a triangle = 180+ spherical excess, and that the
calculated. The necessary calculations are very laborious,
and in the case of the Rindenleret base require the solu-
tion of simultaneous equations containing seventy-six
unknowns. It is very questionable whether the result
repays this labour; the method of compensation adopted
for the Ordnance Survey, although perhaps not so rigid,
compares favourably in this respect. The calculations
for compensation are giver very fully in the Report.
The Report is accompanied by plates showing the
base measuring apparatus and the connecting triangula-
tions.
ELEMENTS OF THE GREAT COMET OF 1882
(Communicated by Vice-Admiral Rowan, Superintendent
U.S. Naval Observatory)
HE following elements were computed from three
observations made at the U.S. Naval Observatory ;
the first and last being made with the Transit Circle, and
the middle one compared with a known star which was
afterwards observed on the Transit Circle :—
Wash. M.T. App. a. App. 3.
- m. Ss. © , “
Sept. 19°9697877 11 14 18°94 — 0 34 29°7
Oct. 8°7204303 Io 28 6°63 —10 40 22°6
Nov. 4°7009228 9 6 16°22 —27 21 26°7
From these observations we deduce—
Fan. 4, 1883 |
Perihelion Time = Sept. 17'2228200 Greenwich Mean Time,
Q = 346 1 7°91
™- 2 = 69 36 12°79
Z = 141 59 52°16 A
¢ = 89 7 42°70 1882'0
log a = _ 1°9331366
log g = 7°8904739
period = 793°689 years
SA cosB = — 006 58 =+0'"or
x = r[9°99514IT] sin (170 42 12°72 + v)
¥ = 7 [9°9877234] sin (262 46 57°39 + v)
= r [9°4435130] sin ( 49 20 25°51 + v)
The observations as given were afterwards corrected
for parallax by means of elements previously computed.
These elements bear a considerable resemblance to
Comet I., B.c. 371; and it may possibly be its third
return, a very brilliant comet having been seen in full
daylight A.D. 363. E. FRISBY,
Washington, Dec. 19, 1882 Prof. Math., U.S.N.
a
THE DUMAS MEDAL
WE recently (vol. xxvii. p. 174) gave the addresses
at the Paris Academy of Sciences in connection
with the presentation to M. Dumas of a medal in com-
memoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his election to
the Academy, We are now able, by the courtesy of our
NATURE
227
—
French contemporary, Za Nature, to reproduce an illus-
tration of this medal, which was presented by M. Jamin
in words both eloquent and touching, as a token of the
“love and gratitude” of the distinguished chemists’ con-
Jréres, pupils, and friends. The medal is the work of M.
Alphée Dubois.
PROFESSOR VON GRAFF’S MONOGRAPH
ON THE TURBELLARIANS*
HIS splendid folio monograph consists of two
volumes, the one comprising the text of over 600
pages illustrated by woodcuts, the other twenty as beauti-
fully executed partially coloured plates as have ever been
turned out, all from the author’s own original drawings.
The publication of the work has been assisted by a grant
from the Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences.
Ludwig von Graff is Professor of Zoology at the College
of Forestry at Aschaffenburg, in Bavaria. Hs first
memoir on Turbellarians was published in 1873, at which
time he first made up his mind to work out from his own
observation a revision of the Turbellarians. The present
monograph is, as he tells us in the preface, the result of
almost incessant work during the last five years. He
has made numerous journeys to the Naples and Triest
stations, and has also visited many other parts of the
European coasts north and south, and the fresh waters
in all directions, in order to pursue his investigations on
living Turbellarians. He has thus been able himself to
examine 70 out of the 168 species of Rhabdoccelida which
are known with certainty. The work being thus founded
on so wide a personal acquaintance with the forms of
which it deals, is of especial weight and value; it consti-
tutes a systematic monograph of the Rhabdoccelida,
founded on a sound basis of anatomical structure, and
embracing all species hitherto described by other observers,
together with those discovered by the author himself (thirty
new species).
It is doubtful whether the present work will be fol-
lowed by a second part embracing in a similar manner
all the known Dendroccelida. The matter depends on
the amount of ground which may be covered by Dr, A.
Lang’s forthcoming monograph on Turbellarians, in the
“Fauna and Flora of the Gulf of Naples.” If this mono-
graph proves to be so comprehensive that a further one
would be superfluous, then Prof. Graff will publish a
quantity. of material collected by him concerning the
Dendrocelida, in three smaller memoirs on the Polyclada,
the Triclada, and embryology respectively. The present
work is appropriately dedicated to the memory of O.
F, Miiller and Sir John Dalyell. It is pleasing to find
the great merits of the latter thus recognised by a foreign
naturalist.
The author does not admit Sidonia = Rhodope varanit,
which, in opposition to Dr. R. Bergh, he considers to be
anudibranch, or Dinophilus, which has lately been shown
to lie near the Archiannelids amongst the Turbellarians ;
and in the definition he gives of the group excepts the
Microstomida, which differ from all other Turbellaria in
having a complete pericesophageal nerve ring, in being
dizecious, and in multiplying asexually by budding.
Separating, as is now so usual, the Nemertines alto-
gether from the Turbellarians, he divides the group into
the Rhabdocelida and Dendroceelida. In the definition
given of the two sub-orders, an interesting point of dif-
ference is brought out, namely, that in the former the
yelk glands are always present in the form of a pair of
compact glands, whereas in the latter they are always
divided up into numerous separate follicles.
The Rhabdoceelida are divided by the author into three
groups: I. Acela; 1]. Rhabdoceela; III. Alloiocela,
which are thus defined :-—
1 “Monographie der Turbellarien.”” 1. Rhabdoccelida.
von Graff. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1882.)
Dr. Ludwig
228
NATURE
[ Fan. 4, 1883
1. Accela. With digestive internal substance; without
differentiation of a digestive tract and parenchym tissue.
Without nervous system or excretory organs. All forms
as yet known provided with an otolith.
2. Rhabdoceela. Digestive tract and parenchym tissue
differentiated ; a roomy body cavity usually present in
which the regularly-shaped intestine is suspended by a
small amount of parenchym tissue. With nervous system
and excretory organ. Generative organs hermaphrodite
(except in Microstoma and Stenostoma). Testes, as a
rule, two compact glands. The female glands present as
ovaries only, ovario-vitelligenous glands, or separate
ovaries and yelk glands. Genital glands separated from
the body parenchym by a special tunica propria. Pharynx
always present, and very variously constructed. Otolith
absent in most cases,
3. Alloioccela. Digestive tract and parenchym tissue
differentiated, but the body cavity much reduced by the
abundant development of the latter. With nerve system
and excretory organ. Generative organs hermaphrodite,
with follicular testes and paired female glands, either
ovaries only, or ovario-vitelligenous glands, or separate
ovaries and yelk glands. Yelk glands irregularly lobular,
rarely partially branched. Genital glands almost always
without any tunica propria, lodged in the spaces in the
body parenchym. Penis very uniform, and either without
chilinous copulatory organs, or with these very little
developed. Pharynx a pharynx variabilis or plicatus.
Digestive tract lobular, or irregularly broadened out. All
marine except one, or possibly two species.
Under the Alloioccela come the genera—Plagiostoma,
Vorticeros, Monotus, and others.
The work commences with a complete list of the litera-
ture on Turbellarians from the time of Trembley, who, in
1744, figured a black fresh-water Planarian to that of the
publication of the last of Dr. Arnold Lang’s important
memoirs last year. The list is followed by a general treatise
on the anatomy and physiology of the Rhabdoczelida.
The account of the nematocysts of some forms is very
interesting; their exact resemblance to those of Ccelen-
terata is fully borne out. JZicrostonum lineare appears to
be the only species which, like Hydra and Cordylophora,
possesses two kinds of nematocysts. The author thinks
he has been able to detect on the surface of the cuticle,
trigger hairs in connection with the nematocysts, like those
in Hydroids. He considers the rhabdites or rod-bodies
homologous with nematocysts, and refers, in connection
with this question, to the nematocysts devoid of any
thread which occur inmany Ccelenterates, intermingled with
fully developed ones. The structure of the pharynx is care-
fully gone into, and its different forms being of much use
in classification, receive various names, such as Pharynx
bulbosus, P. plicatilis, &c.
The water vascular system has been studied by von
Graff with considerable success. It may consist of
a single median main canal with a single posterior
opening (Stenostoma) or a pair of laterally-placed canals
with a similar single opening or two separate lateral
canals with each a posterior opening (Derostoma), or
there may be a pair of openings or a single one somewhat
anteriorly placed. Ciliated funnel cells or flame cells
such as exist in Cestodes, Trematodes, and Triclad
Dendrocceles, have been discovered by von Graff also in
the Rhabdoccelida. They do not, however, occur in con-
nection with the tips of the ramifications of the water
vascular canals, but almost entirely on the larger canals
forming the networks. It is impossible here to follow
the work further, through the interesting sections devoted
to the development of Microstoma by budding, the habits
of life and geographical distribution of the Rhabdoceelida.
In connection with the discussion on classification, a table
of the pedigree of Turbellaria is given, with Proporus as
the ancestral starting-point. In this family tree the Den-
drocceles are shown as derived from Acmostoma, a new
genus of Alloioccela, characterised by having a distinctly
marked narrow ambulacral sole, the Polyclada directly,
and the Triclada through Plagiostoma. The ascertained
facts as to the structure of Turbellarians seem to point
even more closely to their connection with the Ccelen-
terata. The presence of two kinds of nematocysts in one
of the Rhabdoccela and possible occurrence in members
of that group of trigger hairs, is a remarkable fact. Dr.
Lang, believing that a part of the nervous system in
Dendrocceles is truly mesenchymatous as in Ctenophora,
and from other grounds concludes with Kowalewsky that
the Polyclada are “creeping Ccelenterates which have
manyspoints of structure in common with the Ctenophora,
some with the Medusee. Such being the case, naturalists
await with great impatience Kowalewsky’s promised
further information as to his extraordinary Cceloplana,
supposed intermediate between Ctenophora and Dendro-
coelida. The peculiar azygos character of the otolith in
so many Dendroccelida may perhaps be explained by the
similar condition of the sense organ in Coeloplana. Prof.
von Graff is much to be congratulated on the completion
of this most important and admirable work.
H. N. MOSELEY
NOTES
WE greatly regret to announce the death of Mr. Charles V.
Walker, F.R.S., at his residence at Tunbridge Wells, on the
morning of December 24, 1882, in the seventy-first year of his
age. Mr, Walker had been Telegraph Engineer to the South-
Eastern Railway, since 1845. He had been a most zealous
worker in the science of electricity, as the many works he leaves
behind will testify. Indeed, he was one of the oldest telegraph
engineers in the country, was the inventor of several usefu
appliances in connection with telegraphy, including the instru-
ments by which the block system on railways is worked. His
name is especially associated with the origin of the distribution of
time by telegraph. On May 10, 1849, Mr. Glaisher wrote to
Mr. Walker that he wished to talk with the latter about the
laying down of a wire from the Observatory to the Lewisham
Station, and on May 23 following, the Astronomer-Royal gave
Mr. Walker a brief sketch of the use to be made of the wire
referred to, his scheme, as he stated, being “ the transmission of
time by galvanic signal to every part of the kingdom in which
there is a galvanic telegraph from London.” It was proposed
to lay four wires underground from the Royal Observatory to
the railway station at Lewisham, and to extend them to London
Bridge. The South-Eastern Railway Company gave every
facility. On September 16, 1852, an electric clock at London
Bridge Station was erected, and connected by wire with an
electric clock at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The first
time-signal sent from the Royal Observatory was received at
London Bridge Station at 4 p.m. on August 5, 1852; and on
August 9, 1852, Dover received a time-signal for the first time
from the Royal Observatory direct, and it was made visible at
certain first-class stations between London and Dover. After
that the system rapidly spread, its success depending greatly on
the scientific skill and enthusiasm of Mr. Walker. For some
account of the subsequent development of the system, the reader
may refer to the articles in NATURE, vol. xiv. pp. 50 and IIo.
Mr. Walker was treasurer of the Royal Astronomical Club for
several years, and at the time of his death was president of the
Society of Telegraph Engineers.
THE death is announced of Prof. Listing of Kénigsberg.
THE honour of Companion of the order of the Indian Empire
has been conferred upon Surgeon-Major George Bidie, Superin-
tendent of the Central Museum at Madras.
Fan. 4, 1883 |
AT the last sitting of the year 1882, the Paris Academy of
Sciences elected M. Bunsen, of Heidelberg, a Foreign Asso-
ciate. M,. Bunsen was already a Correspondent in the Section
of Chemistry, and he will fill the place vacated by the death
of M. Wohler. It should be remembered that, contrary to
the rule for members, who must be French citizens, and
Associates, who must be foreigners, the ‘correspondents of
the Academy can be elected without any qualification of
nationality; but none of them, either French subjects or
foreigners, may live in Paris previous to their nomination. This
rule is so strict that it is stated that an eminent man of science,
wishing to become a candidate, removed his home from Paris
to Versailles; and having been successful, returned to Paris,
where he now lives.
THE Puc d’Aumale has been elected President of the
Académie Francaise. M. Blanchard, the naturalist, will be
President of the Academy of Sciences for 1883; he was vice-
president during the past year. The vice-president for 1883,
and future president for 1884 would be elected on Tuesday from
the Mathematical Section. Before leaving the chair M. Jamin
will, according to precedent, read a list of losses experienced by
the Academy in 1882, and of the nominations made during the
same period ; he will also give a résumé of the progress of the
several publications of the Academy.
On Tuesday January 2, there was a gathering of people inte-
yested in educational progress, at No. 1, Lyng Place, Gordon
Square, to inspect the College Hall of Residence for Women
Students which has lately been established there. Complete as
this hall is in itself, we understand {hat it is only provisional
until sufficient approval and support have been obtained to justify
the opening of a building capable of accommodating a larger
number of ladies. We may, however, regard it as embodying
the idea of its founders, and as supplying in miniature a model
of that comfortable and well-adapted academic residence which.
it is their object to provide for female undergraduates and art-
students in London. The advantages to the members of this
rapidly-increasing class of entering such a hall instead of taking
separate lodgings or rooms in a boarding-house, or even living
at home (in many cases) are not far to seek. Students in
lodgings often suffer from neglect of health and under-feeding,
while those who work at home are subject to interruptions and
the strain of conflicting claims ; and although they might avoid
both these drawbacks in a good boarding house, they would still
find that their residence was not adapted to the needs of student
life. Whichever planis adopted, girls generally lack oppor-
tunities of free intercourse with minds whose training has been
about equal to their own, such as of late years they have been
able to obtain at Oxford and Cambridge, and which is specially
needed in London, the seat of the only English University that
as yet admits them formally to degrees. Hence the three greatest
benefits of the new hall will be: first, to bring the women
students of London into social and intellectual fellowship, and thus
to improve the quality of their work by encouraging conference on
the subjects of study, without which it is hardly possible to
acquire and test accuracy of thought; secondly, to diminish the
causes of failure of health by care and good housekeéping ; and
thirdly, to increase the time at the disposal of students; thus,
on the one hand, affording to the zealous worker opportunities
of relaxation, which in different surroundings would be absorbed
in housekeeping worries or other occupations, and, on the other
hand, enabling the less enthusiastic to add to the quantity of
their acquirements without increase of conscious effort. The
Hall has been established chiefly in the interests of the students
of University College (including the Slade School), but its use-
fulness is much enhanced by proximity to the London School of
Medicine for Women, and the British Museum; for on this
NATURE
229
account we may fairly hope that it will contain numbers of
students in the various departments of Literature, Science, and
Medicine, and the Fine Arts. Liberality of thought and breadth
of sympathy can hardly fail to be promoted, where subjects of
interest are so varied amongst companions united by the com-
mon principle of serious study. Although the Hall was only
opened last term, we notice with pleasure that all the rooms are
already taken ; hence there is reasonable ground for hope that
the larzer scheme of the Committee will before long be realised.
That the interests of students of science will be well looked after
may be gathered from the fact that the presidents of the Royal
Society and of the British Association, Prof, Huxley, Dr. Glad-
stone, Mr. Samuelson, M.P., Prof. Carey Foster, and others
are aiding the scheme. Sir John Lubbock is the treasurer of
the Building Fund.
Dr. von Hocusrerrer, for many years president of the
Vienna Geographical Society has resigned this post and has
been nominated honorary president for life. In his stead Count
Hans Wilczek was elected president.
THE death is announced of Karl Winter, the well-known
electrician. He died at Vienna on December 7 last.
Pror, W. GrRyYLLs ADAMS, F.R.S., will deliver a course of
lectures on voltaic and dynamic electricity aud magnetism, and
their applications to cable-testing, electric lighting, &c., at
King’s College, London, during the ensuing session. A course
of practical work in electrical testing and measurement with
especial reference to electrical engineering will also be carried on
under his direction in the Wheatstone Laboratory. The lectures
will be given once a week on Mondays at 2 p.m., and the labo-
ratory will be open daily (Saturday excepted) from 1to 4, The
work will begin on Monday, January 15.
Tue French Senate has diminished by a million of francs
(40,000/.), the Budget of Public Instruction for 1883. It is
regarded as a warning given to the Lower House, not to spend
with too free a hand the public funds for educational purposes,
THE continual rains are creating serious apprehensions in
Paris, and the Seine has again reached the level of disastrous
inundations. A similar calamity is befalliug other cities in
France, amongst which the foremost is Lyons. The calamity
having been foreseen by the Hydrological Service, all mea-
sures have been taken to diminish as much as possible the
extent of the disaster. A/édar states that heavy rains have been
experienced in Algiers, and even at Laghouat, where it has been
received with a real exultation. The newspapers are full of the
disastrous floods caused by the rise of nearly all the great rivers
in the Central European plain.
WITH reference to a recent note to the effect that snow fell
on November 11 in Madrid to the depth of 1 foot, Mr. Gill-
man writes that snow began to descend early that morning, but
had ceased at midday. He nowhere found it deeper than 6
inches, but this was uniform in the streets and open country.
In the night of 11th-12th, the minimum thermometer marked
—11° cent. ; barometer on Sunday stood at 688 millims.
THE appearance within the last two years of two comets has
been regarded as a most menacing portent by Chinese politicians.
Their resemblance to flaming swords is regarded as emblematical
of the vengeance of heaven on an unwortby nation. It is stated
that in consequence of the last comet, an urgent decree has been
promulgated in the name of the youthful monarch, stating that it
is a clear indication that the officials are lax in making proper
reports to the Throne, and have been keeping the Emperor in
the dark as to pestilences and other calamities among the people.
His Majesty has reason to believe that improper officials have
been appointed ; he has, moreover, subjected his Imperial hear
230
NATURE
[Fan. 4, 1883
to a rigorous examination in the seclusion of his palace, and he
is much disquieted at the result. The people, he finds, are
poverty-stricken, and await relief, and the present is a time of
great anxiety and embarrassment. The crisis must be met with
prompt measures and a reverent heart ; the ministers are accord-
ingly enjoined to exhibit loyalty and justice, and to strenuously
guard themselves against the thraldom of official routine. They
are to discover the real state of the country, and to make such
dispositions as may give rise to all possible advantage, and eradi-
cate all possible evil. If all this be done, we have the Imperial
assurance that the people will live in peace and quietness, till
heaven be in harmony with earth, and all harmful influerces
allayed. If decrees were always obeyed, the comet will have
exercised a beneficent influence on the condition of the Chinese
people.
ALL interested in photography will find much that is useful
and curious in Mr, Baden Pritchard’s Year-Book of Photo-
graphy for 1883.
Mr. E. Roperts has sent us his handy and useful Tide Table
for 1883, containing the times of high water at London Bridge,
and showing the possible overflows; to all Londoners interested
in any way in their river, this table will prove serviceable. We
have also from Mr. Roberts Tide Tables for the Indian ports,
and Tide Tables for the port of Hongkong, in handy little
volumes, containing many carefully compiled tables calculated
to be of great service.
THE total number of visitors to the Royal Gardens, Kew, for
the year 1882, was 1,244,167. This is 407,491 in excess of the
numbers for 1881, which in its turn was greater by 111,254 than
the number of visitors in any previous year. As in 1881 the
Sunday visitors (606,935) were about equal in number to those
on all the other days of the week put together (637,232).
A NEw natural history magazine in the Flemish language is
announced. It is published at Ghent, and the title is Watura
Maandschrift voor Natuurwetenschaffin uitgegeven door het
Natuurwetenschappelijk Genootschap von Ghent. The editors
are J. MacLeod, Ed. Remonchamps, and L. Baeklandt. The
natural sequence is that another Belgian magazine, in Wallon,
will appear. The ‘‘gift of tongues” is daily becoming more
and more a necessity for a working naturalist, and De Can-
dolle’s assertion that English is destined to become the language
of science seems gradually more remote in realisation.
THE December number of the Agricultural Students’ Gazetie,
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, contains an article by
Sir J. B. Lawes on the future of agricultural field experiments,
in which he points out that the time when isolated field experi-
ments were of value has pas-:ed, and that now the questions to
be solved in this way are such as can only be answered by care-
fully conducted experiments lasting over many years. Miss
Ormerod contributes a paper on the Gooseberry Caterpillar, the
larva of Nematus Ribesit, in which she suggests the best mode
of preventing its ravages. A readable summary of the recent
work of Leuckart and Thomas on the life-history of the Fluke
is given by Mr. Ozame. The other papers in the number are
on Contagious Diseases, by Prof. Garside; on the Harvest of
1882, by Prof. Little ; on Butter-making, by Mr. Weber ; besides
much matter of more purely College interest. We notice that
the College has commenced a series of field experiments on corn
crops, in conducting which doubtless the advice of Sir J. B.
Lawes will be followed. This Gazet/e in its new form promises
to become of permanent value, and is exceedingly creditable to
its editors, students of the Royal Agricultural College.
THE third expedition fitted out by the Milan Society for the
commercial exploration of Africa, will leave early this month
for Massana. The leader of the expedition is Signor Bianchi,
who knows Abyssinia thoroughly. Count Salimboni accompanies
him as engineer, and Prof. Licata as naturalist.
ProF, DoMENICO LovisATo and Lieut. Bove, who jointly
undertook the last Italian Antarctic expedition, are about to
undertake ancther Antarctic journey for scientific purposes.
News has been received from the German traveller, Robert
Flegel, who was sent out to explore the Niger-Binue district.
It appears that on April 10 last the traveller crossed the Binue
River to the southern shore, and reached the large town of
Wukari on April 13. By way of Bantadchi he proceeded, in
four days’ journey, to the decaying government city of Bakundi,
in one and a half days more to Beli, and thence he reached
Kontcha in the Adamnua district on May 26, From Kontcha
to Jola is only a seven days’ route. Flegel, whose health has
much improved, strongly advises the establishment of a German
station in that healthy and fertile country.
WE have on our table the following books :—Sydney Obser-
vatory, Double-Star Results, 1871-81 (Sydney) ; Der Electricitat
und der Magnetism, vol. i., Clerk Maxwell (Springer, Berlin) ;
Cutting Tools, R. H. Smith (Cassell, Petter, and Galpin); A
New Theory of Nature, D. Dewar (\W. Reeves); Transactions
of the Sanitary Institute, vol. iii. (Stanford); The Great Pyramid,
R. A. Proctor (Chatto and Windus) ; Microbes in Fermentation,
Putrefaction, and Disease, Ch. Cameron (Bailliére, Tindall,
and Co.); The Nebule, a Fragment of Astronomical Hi-tory,
A. E. Garrod (Parker) ; Relative Mortality of Large and Smalk
Hospitals, H. C. Burdett (Churchills), To the Gold Coast for
Gold, Burton and Cameron (Chatto and Windus); Physicel
Optics, R. T. Glazebrook (Longman) ; Essays in Philosophical
Criticism, Seth and Haldane (Longmans) ; Year-Book of Pho-
tography, 1883, H. B. Pritchard (Piperand Carter) ; Report on
the Oban Pennatulida (A. M. Marshall and W. P. Marshall) ;
Catalogue of Batrachia gradientia, G. A. Boulenger (British
Museum); The Brewer, Distiller, and Wine Manufacturer
(Churchills) ; The Churchmau’s Almanak for Eight Centuries,
W. A. Whitworth (Wells, Gardner, and Co.) ; Celtic Britain,
Prof, J. Rhys (S.P.C.K.) ; Zoological Record, vol. xviii. 1881
(Van Voorst) ; Rankine’s Useful Rules and Tables, sixth edition
(Griffin) ; Madeira Spectroscopic, C. Piazzi Smyth (W. and A.
K. Johnston); Ragnarok, the Age of Fire and Gravel, Ig.
Donnelly (Sampson Low and Co.) ; The Electric Lighting Act,
1882, Clement Higgins and E. W. W. Edwards (W. Clowes).
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Black-eared Marmoset (Hafale penicillata 8)
from South-East Brazil, preseated by Miss Tilleard ; a Grey
Ichneumon (ferfestes griseus) from India, presented by Mr. W.
L. Brodie; a Rose Hill Parrakeet (Platycercus eximius) from
Australia, presented by Mr. Geo. Lawson, F.Z.S.; a Black
Tortoise (Zestudo carbonaria) from St. Thomas’, West Indies,
presented by Viscount Tarbat, F.Z.S. ; an Indian Cobra (Vaze
tripudians) from India, presented by Capt. Braddick ; two
Common Curlews (Mumenius arguata), a Common Lapwing
(Vanellus cristatus), a Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis),
British, purchased.
BIOLOGICAL NOTES
On A NEw GENUS OF CRYPTOPHYCE..—It would appear
that the interesting fresh-water genus of Algz described by
3ornet and Grunow as Mazza (vide NATURE, Vol. xxvi. p. 557)
i; without doubt the same as Nostochopsis of Wood. This
genus of Wood was first briefly described in the Proc. Amer.
Philos, Soc., 1869, and more fully, and with good figures, in the
“‘Fresh-water Alge of the United States,” 1872. The Phila-
delphia species, 1. lobatus, Wood, is referred by its discoverer
to the Rivulacez, and is apparently a different species from that
described by Bornet and Grunow from Brazil.
Fan. 4, 1883 |
NATURE
231
FEMALE FLOWERS IN CONIFER&.—Quite recently Cela-
kovsky has published a very elaborate criticism (on the
structure of the female flowers in Conifer, as detailed in
Eichler’s well-known treatise). To this (‘‘ Zur Kritik der An-
sichten von der Fruchtschuppe der Abietineen,” &c. Prag,
1882), Eichler jhas replied in a paper read before the Gesell-
schaft der Nat. Freunde zu Berlin, in which he re-states the chief
points of his proof and answers seviati the objections brought
against it, Dr. Peters sums these up as follows :—tr. In all the
vegetative buds of the pine, the two front leaves (Vorblatter)
converge forwards towards the bract; it is hence improbable
that in the fruit scale they should be turned backwards. Cela-
koysky, from the fact that in weak buds the former arrangement
is somewhat modified, concludes that on the complete falling
away of the bud from between the front leaves, these latter are
enabled to push themselves backwards and cohere: an opinion
not proved. 2. While in the vegetative bud, the leaf immediately
following the front leaf falls backwards in abnormal fruit-scales,
the portion interpreted as the next leaf falls forwards. To the re-
presentation of Celakovsky’s, that owing to the fact that the front
side being, in the course of development, preferentially assisted, the
leaf of the assisted front side first reaches its development, Eichler
opposes the statement that in the ordinary buds there is not a
trace of such a preferential furtherance. 3. The part that is re-
garded as the third leaf of the bud cannot be a leaf, because it
has its xylem on the dorsal, and its phloém on its ventral
surface. Celakovsky takes a twist of 180° for granted. This
Eichler denounces as an evasion which would bring all serious
scientific discussion to an end. 4. If the fruit-scale were formed
by the growing together of two front leaves upon the hinder end
of their axis, the latter if it developed further, would come to
stand on the front side of the fruit-scale, but de facto it under such
conditions stands behind. As Celakovsky however thinks that
the middle piece of the front scale is half turned round, and is a
leaf on the front side of the bud, to which both front leaves on
the front side of the bud have adhered, by which means the axis
comes to be posterior : therefore this opinion stands irreconcilably
contradicted by his own supposition of the simultaneous pushing
back of the front leaves. 5. The simplest explanation of the
bud-arrangement, and of the bud itself, is got by supposing that
the bract and the fruit-scale form together a single leaf which
has produced an axillary bud. Here Eichler considers himself
compelled to deny the charge of havinz set out with pre-formed
notions. The change in his former opinions was brought about
by a more intimate knowledge of the facts. 6. By pressure and
excitation (Reiz) the axillary bud cau-es further changes in the
fruit-scale, the formation of the keel and wings, while the
central piece which is bounded by them, can separate it-elf from
the side portions and assume the appearance of a special leaf.
To Celakoysky’s objection, that through the pressure of the bud-
axis, only a circumscribed depression, and not a long furrow
would be formed, there is this reply, that such a furrow must
be produced by the growth of the scale past the early developed
bud, and that this furrow can become wider as the scale becomes
broader. 7, These keels (midribs) of the fruit-scale press past
the bud on both sides, and hinder the development of the first
lateral bud-leaves, so that the first bud-leaf now arises upon the
hinder side. This explanation, characterised by Celakovsky as
a forced hypothesis, is supported by the fact that the leaves
could not become formed in a place where there is no room, and
because on the other hand the two lateral bud-leaves show them-
selves if the mid-ribs are wanting or remain feebly developed
(Botan. Zeitung, December 8).
THE TRACHE& IN LAMPYRID®.—Heinrich Ritter v. Wielo-
wiejski publishes in the November number of the Zeitschrift fiir
wissenschaftliche Zoologie a very detailed account of the light-
producing organs in Lampyris splendidula and L. noctiluca,
His invesiigations were carried on at Jena, in Prof. Oscar Hert-
wiy’s laboratory. He sums up the most importaat results as
follows :—1. The tracheal-terminal-cells of M. Schultze, which
become black under osmic acid, are by no means—as their name
would imply—the terminations of the respicatory tubes; for
these branch out further on into brush-like mas-es of much finer
capillaries, which are without the chitine spiral; they are very
attenuated, and, making their way in the peritoneal liyer (peri-
tonealhaut), are numerously distributed to phosphorescent tissue.
2. The tracheal capillaries very rarely end abruptly (blind) in
the phosphorescent crgans, but most frequently anastomose with
one another, forming an irregular meshwork. 3. The capil-
laries do not seem to enter into the structure of the parenchyma-
tous cells, but rather course along their surface, often irregularly
winding around and enveloping these. 4. The tracheal-terminal-
cells are nothing more than the outer elements of the peritoneal
layer at the base of the tracheal capillaries, which radiate in a
brush-like fashion from a chitine-spiral-trachea. Their periph-
eral processes represent the extension of the latter upon the
capillaries, and this relationship is homologous with certain
embryonic stages of the tracheal system. 5. The tracheal-
terminal-cells are not the seat or point of departure of the light-
development. If this appears first in their vicinity, it is only a
consequence of the fact that these structures have, owing to
their affinity for oxygen, stored up in themselves a supply of this
gas, and give it off in greater quantity to the neighbouring tissues.
6. The light-producing function is peculiar to the parenchyma-
cells of the light-producing organs. It results from a slow
oxidation of a substance formed by them under the control of
the nervous system. 7. The ventral light-organ was found to
consist of two layers, the parenchyma-cells of which are quite
similar to one another in their morphological characters, but
they differ from one another in the chemical nature of their
contents. 8. The parenchyma-cells (is this the case with all ?)
seem connected with fine nerve-endings. 9. The light-organs
are the morphological equivalents of the fatty-bodies.
THE STONES OF SAREPTA (ASIATIC RusstIA).—The remark-
able masses of stone found in the white sand of the Ergent
Mounraias at Sarepta have often caused people to inquire how
they were formed. Some of them ‘are found of the size of a
hazel or walnut, and even larger; others are cylindrical, of the
thickness of a half to one werschok (16 werschok = 28 inches),
and a quarter to a half arschin (28 inches) long; others again
target-shaped are more than a half arschin long, and one to
four werschok thick. All the cylindrical ones, which are often
also forked and root-shaped, exhibit, when they are broken
across, a brown kernel with a white spot in its centre. Their
surface is rough, and resembles a number of drops heaped one
upon and beside another. When Alexander vy. Humboldt visited
Sarepta, the then director, Zwick, showed him these stone forma-
tions, Humboldt, while declaring that they were worthless recent
things, was unable to say how they arose. Zwick, on the other
hand, regarded them as very old and very problematical. Gobel
also, who was afterwards shown these stones by Zwick, was
unable to explain how they were formed. When Auerbach, the
secretary of the Moscow Natural History Society, paid Alex Becker
a visit twenty-eight years azo, he was brought to the place where
these stone deposits were. He looked for an explanation of the
formation of these stones and the reason of each stone containing
a brown kernel. He was told that the stones were formed by
roots. Auerbach said that these would form hydrochloric acid
by decomposition. Becker now believes that he can with
certainty a-sert that these formations arise round the roots of
several plants that contain mz/ky juice. Tragopon ruthenicus,
Scorzonera ensifolia, and Euphorbia gerardiana grow plentifully
in the white sand. ‘Their long roots are inhabited and seamed
by insects, and when their surface is once lacerated, their milky
juice keeps perpetually flowing, and as it is sticky, the chalk-
containing sand (the sand’s colour is due only to the presence of
chalk) settles firmly around the root. The rcot gradually dies,
disappears, and there remains in its place a white, often hollow,
kernel, together with the brown colour of the root-cortex. As
the root is white under its cortex, the kernel also appears white,
surrounded with the brown layer of the root-cortex. The round
and target-shaped ones may originate from the milky juice
running away into the sand, and therefore hardly any of them
exhibit a brown kernel. Their guttiform surface can be ex-
plained by the drops of the milky juice. The cylindrical. forked,
and root-shaped stones show clearly the form of the roots.
Euphorbia gerardiana, to which these stone formations are
chiefly ascribed, has very long roots, root-branches and root-fibres
(Alec Becker, Bull. de la Soc. Imp. des Natur. de Moscou, 1882,
No. i. p. 48).
AMERICAN RESEARCHES ON
WATER ANALYSIS?
"THE chemical results as to animal in contrast with vegetable
organic matter in water, support, in general, the conclu-
sions that have been usually drawn as to the source of organic
matter, bised on the more hiyhly nitrogenous character of that
from animal than that from vegetable dérzs. Still the necessity
T Concluded from p. 213.
232
NATURE
[ Fan. 4, 1883
for caution is shown; ¢.g. samples containing the refuse of
canning tomatoes might have been erroneously thought con-
taminated with animal matter; others, containing a watery in-
fusion of human fzces, with vegetable matter, &c.
Of the biological results under the same head, the most note-
worthy is the well-marked pathological effect on rabbits of the
injection of waters contaminated solely by such vegetable matter
as would usually be thought harmless, e.g. peaty water. True,
in the well-marked cases, the amount of organic matter present
was large, but not beyond that in water sometimes used for
drinking purposes. The Dismal Swamp water is an example ;
it has often been chosen for ship-supply, and has been spoken of
as a source of supply for the city of Norfolk. On the theory
(which has much in its favour) of disease caused by drinking
water being due to the presence and action of living organisms,
there might possibly be safety in drinking a peaty water, or
water filtered through dead forest leaves, when fresh; danger,
when, after some exposure, bacteria had been developed ; and
safety, again, perhaps, after the growth of these had fallen off,
and more or less of the available organic matter had been con-
sumed. Ship-captains say the Dismal Swamp water, after a
time, becomes remarkably good and whulesome.
As to the putrescent or non-putrescent character of organic
matter in water, the chemical evidence goes to prove (in opposi-
tion to Tidy’s opinion) that the proportionate consumption of
oxygen from permanganate within the first hour is rather greater
for those waters containing vegetable than for those containing
animal matter. Dr, Smart has expressed the opinion that
gradual evolution of albuminoid ammonia indicates the presence
of organie matter (vegetable or animal) in a fresh or compara-
tively fresh condition, while rapid evolution indicates that it is
putrescent. His interpretations in this respect proved to be
correct in a large proportion of eases, but not always.
The biological results under this head accord, on the whole,
with the general belief that putrescent organic matter is more
dangerous than that in a fresh or but slowly decomposing
condition.
Prof, Mallet proceeds to state some general conclusions with a
view to sanitary application as to the value, separately and collec-
tively, of the different processes of water analysts which have been
under examination,
It is not possible to decide absolutely on the wholesomeness
or unwholesomeness of a drinking water by the mere use of any
of the processes examined for the estimation of orgamtc matter,
or its constituents. Not only must such processes be used in
connection with investigation of other more general evidence, as
to the source and history of a water, but this should even be
deemed of secondary importance in weighing the reasons for
accepting or rejecting a water not manifestly unfit fer drinking
on other grounds,
There are no sound grounds on which to establish such
general ‘‘standards of purity”? as have been proposed, looking
to exact amounts of organic carbon or nitrogen, ‘‘albuminoid
ammonia,” oxygen of permanganate consumed, &c., as permis-
sible or not.
Chemical examination may be quite legitimately applied, first,
to the detection of very ross pollution” (as of a well from crushing
of soil pipes), and secondly, to periodical examination of a water
supply, so that suspicious changes from the ascertained normal
character of the water may be promptly determined and their
cause investigated. ‘In the latter connexion there seems to be no
objection to the establishment of /oca/ ‘‘ standards of purity,”
based on thorough examination of the supply in its normal
condition.
_ A careful determination of the nitrites and nitrates seems very
important.
If he had to watch a large city water supply, the author would
use all the three processes; each gives information which the
others do not. Where only simple means were practicable, the
albuminoid ammonia and permanganate processes might be em-
ployed together ; but in no case should one only of these methods
be resorted to.
Practical Suggestions as to the Use in their present form of the
Chemical Processes Studied,—In general, water samples should
be examined with the least possible delay after collection.
Besides examination of a water in its fresh condition, samples of
it should be set aside in half-filled but closed glass-stoppered
bottles for (say) ten or twelve days, and one of these examined
eyery day or two, to trace changes undergone.
In the case of the combustion process, however skilful the
| analyst, duplicate or even triplicate concordant results should
be insisted on. To avoid the presence of ammonia from coal
gas, in the atmosphere about the water-bath, the bath should be
heated by steam brought in a small closed pipe from a distant
| boiler (preferably in another room), and the waste steam and
condensed water should be carried off to a safe distance.
As to the albuminoid ammonia process, it would be well to
adopt the rule that the distillation be stopped when, and not
before, the last measure of distillate collected contains less than
a certain proportion, say per cent., of the whole quantity of
ammonia already collected. To diminish the loss of amines or
other volatile forms of nitrogenous matter, a separate distillation
should be made with alkaline permanganate added af once,
besides the usual course of treatment prescribed by Wanklyn,
and the results of the two distillations compared. The details
of the evolution of ammonia should always be given.
The Tidy form of the permanganate process is rather to be
recommended than that of Kubel, if but one be used. Thetime
during which the permanganate is allowed to act in the Tidy
process should be increased to at least 12, better to 24 hours,
several determinations, on different samples set aside at the same
time, being made at (say) 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 hours, to trace the
progress of the oxidation.
Suggestions as to possible Improvements on the Processes
examined deserving further Investigation —Combustion Process.—
The author proposes to evaporate the water in a closed vessel
immersed in a water bath, and connected with a good (water
jet) air pump, a condensing worm being provided for the aqueous
vapour, the feed to be managed through a nearly capillary tube
with a glass stop-cock. The evaporation would thus te effected
within a moderate time at a fixed temperature much lower than
the boiling point. The loss of organic matter by simple volati-
lisation or oxidation would be greatly reduced ; much less sul-
phurous acid would be required ; the tendency to formation of
sulphuric acid would be reduced to a minimum, and absorption
of ammonia from the atmosphere about the dish quite prevented.
In te ting this last effect, two bulb tubes containing pure sul-
phuric acid might be interposed between the vacuum chamber
and the pump.
For certain reasons it might be well to evaporate at first with
the addition of a small excess of magnesia (as recommended by
Lechartier), thus removing all ammonia, and then, the water
having been brought down to a small volume, add a moderate
excess only of sulphurous acid with a drop of a solution of
ferrous salt (as directed by Frankland), and complete the evapo-
ration to dryness—the whole in a jet pump vacuum, as suggested.
Further experiments as to the Williams method (copper-zinc
couple) for removal of nitrates, are desirable.
From preliminary experiments, the author thinks nitrates and
nitrites may be completely reduced by evaporating to a small
bulk with no great excess of phosphorous or hypo-phosphorous
acid, guarding against evolution of phosphuretted hydrogen by
use of a low temperature, then adding magnesia in small excess,
and completing the evaporation. The plan deserves to be care-
fully tested.
Albuminoid-ammonia Process, including Determination of free
Ammonia.—To prevent (or at least largely reduce and make
uniform) the loss of ammonia from imperfect condensation, the
author would use a retort in a saline solution kept heated by
steam (at say 102° or 105° C.), and condense in a glass worm
surrounded by ice water, till the distillate should be brought to
a uniform temperature not over (say) 5°C. It might be still
better to distil in a completely closed apparatus, with a fixed
difference of temperature between the retort and the far end of
the condensing tube, with glass stopcock to draw off the distillate
in successive measured portions, and a small safety-valve near
the cold end.
In determination of free ammonia, it might be well to try
a closed distilling apparatus connected with a (water-jet) air-
pump, So as to maintain a partial vacuum within, keeping tke
retort at a fixed temperature much below 100° C., and collecting
all the ammonia in a flask and one or two bulb tubes, with weak
mineral acid placed between condenser and pump. There would
be the disadvantage, however, that the progress of evolution of
ammonia could not be easily traced by its collection in separate
successive measures of the distillate ; and it would be necessary
to ascertain whether the application of the Nessler test would
be at all interfered with by the sodium salts formed from the
acid used.
To overcome, if possible, the most serious difficulty in the
ee
Fan. 4, 1883]
NATURE
233
way, of correct determination of free ammonia, viz. the ready
breaking up of urea (and other amides) when present, on heating
with sodium carbonate, it woul | be well to ascertain if Schloe-
sing’s method for determination of ammonia admits of being
applied to such excessively minute amounts of it as the water
analyst is concerned with,
In conduction of the albuminoid-ammonia process proper, 7.¢.
the distillation with alkaline pe manganate, the author would
keep the original volume of liquid in the retort constant, by
admitting ammonia-free distilled water through a capillary tube.
with a glass stop-cock. When there is so much organic matter
as to reduce, wholly or greatly, the usual charge of alkaline
permanganate, he would first determine at about what a rate the
reagent is used up, then progressively supply its solution, so as
to keep the original strength as nearly as possible unaltered.
Permanganate Process—The principle involved in the last
paragraph applies also to this process. There should be a‘con-
stat excess of permanganate all through the process. The
process should be carried on at a pretty nearly fixed temperature
(say 20° C, if the Tidy method be followed).
In conclusion, the author expresses a wish that more extended
biological experiments should be made as to the effects of water
variously polluted on the lower animals (other animals as well as
rabbits), and that the action of water introduced into the stomach
as well as hypodermically injected, should be tested. It would
be well to have chemical examinations, on uniform plan, from
time to time made of the water supply of the largest cities at
periods when the general assent of medical men indicates unusual
prevalence of, or exemption from, the classes of disease most
probably capable of origination from the organic pollution of
drinking-water. The author would especially suggest a com-
bined chemical and biological inquiry as to the possible effects
upon living animals of the ferment or ferments of nitrification in
different stages of that process. Some minor questions con-
nected with development of nitrites and nitrates from decom-
posing organic matter also deserve further examination.
LOCK VER’S DISSOCIATION-THEORY?
[NX February, 1880, I took occasion, on the ground of my
observations to the spectrum of chemically pure hydrogen,
to take objection, to Lockyer’s view, that calcium, at a very high
temperature, is dissociated.2. From the fact, dfer alia, that of
the two calcium lines, H’ and H”, only the first is present
In the spectra of so-called white stars photographed by
Huggins, Lockyer proceeded to lay down the theory that
calcium at a high temperature is decomposed into two
substances, X and Y, of which the first gives the line
H’, the other the line H”, and that in the stars referred to,
only the first is met with. Against this I urged that hydrogen,
besides the four known and easily visible lines, has a remarkable
line of very intense photographic power, which nearly coin-
cides with Fraunhofer’s H’, and that one is the more warranted
in regarding the supposed calcium-line observed by Huggins as
a fifth hydrogen line, that the hydrogen lines in the spectra of
those stars are developed in a striking manner, and also the
ultra-violet star lines observed by Hugeins, agree with the ultra-
violet hydrogen lines photographically fixed by me.
Lockyer, however, has not given up his idea of dissociation,
but sought new proofs of it by the s ectroscopic method.
He calls attention to the fact, zvfer alia, that in the spectrum
of sun-spots, certain iron-lines appear broadened, and others
not ; that, moreover, many of them, as A 4918 and A 4919°7 do
not occur in the spectrum of protuberances, which show other
iron lines, but do in the spectrum of spots; that in the latter
again, the iron lines are occasionally absent, which the former
contain, and he proceeds to say: ‘‘there is, accordingly, no iron
in the sun, but only its constituents.” 4
This argumentation Liveing and Dewar ° have already opposed,
having proved that certain spectral lines of a substance, ¢.g.
A 5210 magnesium, and various calcium-lines, are only visible
when certain foreign matters are present ; in this case hydrogen
on the one hand, and iron on the other ; that accordingly the
* A paper by Herr Hermann W. Vogel, read to the Berlin Academy on
Noveniber 2, 1882, Communicated by the author.
2 Proc. Roy. Soc., xxviii. 157.
3 Monatsh. der Berliner Acad. der Wiss., 1880, p. 192.
4 Comptes Rendus, t. xcii. 904.
5 Proc. Ray. Soc., 30, 93. Wied. Beibi., iv. 366.
absence of certain iron lines in the spectra of the spots or protube-
rances may not be attributed to a dissociation, buat to the absence
of foreign matters which occasion the appearance of these lines
in force.
Lockyer now takes his stand, however, on another fact, which
is not explained by Liveing and Dewar’s experiments, and which
certainly seems to afford a firmer basis for his theory of dissocia-
tion than the facts referred to above. He says: 1
“The last series of observations relates to the degree of mo-
tion of vapours in the sun-spots, which it is known, is indicated
by changesin the refrangibility of lines. If all lines of iron in
a spot were produced by iron vapour, which moves with a
velocity of 4o km, in a second, this velocity would be indicated
bya change of the refrangibility of a// lines. But we find that
that is z0¢ the case. We find not only different motions, which
are indicated by different lines, but observe in the degree of
motion the same inversions as in the breadth of the lines. This
fact is easily explained, if we suppose dissociation, and Z know
no more simple way of explaining it.”
Lockyer cites as an example that in the spots of December 24,
1880, and January 1 and 6, 1881, a certain number of iron lines
appeared bent, while others remained straight.
Now I believe it is possible to explain these facts on the basis
of numerous observations in spectral analysis of absorption
without needing to have recourse to the hypothesis of dissocia-
tion.
It is known that the position of the absorption-band of a
substance depends very essentially on the dispersion of the
medium in which it is dissolved or incorporated. One often
observes that in strongly dispersive media the absorption-bands
of a substance are displaced towards the red. Now, the remark-
able case often here occurs that certain absorption-bands are dis-
placed with the increase of dispersion of the solvent, while
others are not. Thus Hagenbach observed that, ¢.g., the chloro-
phyll bands I. III. and IV. lie more towards red in alcoholic
than in etheric solution, while the band II. in both solutions
shows exactly the same position. I observed similar cases with
uranian protoxide salts? andjwith cobalt compounds.*
Now Kundt has already called attention to the fact, that for
absorption-spectra of gases the same rule holds good as for,the
absorption-spectra of liquid substances. He adds, indeed: ‘‘ It
is only questionable whether, if, e.g. hyponitrate gas be mixed
with various other transparent gases, the displacements of the
absorption-bands are so considerable, that they can be per-
ceived.” This doubt, however, does not affect the rule sup-
posed, but merely its experimental verification.® The suppo-
sition, then, is permissible that, in the same way as with liquids,
added media also affect the position of absorption-bands in the
case of gases, and that in this case, as in the other, displace-
ments of certain bands occur, while the position of others
remains unaltered.
When, therefore, in sun-spots, certain irorjlines suffer a dis-
placement, and others in the same place do not, the cause is not
motion, but the admixture of a foreign, strongly dispersive gas,
which acts on the displaced lines and not on the others. It
follows from this, further, that curvatures of absorption lines of
the sun-spots need not by any means be always explained as due
to motion of the absorbing gases in the direction of the line of
observation, but only where all lines of a matter participate in
the curvature.
That bright lines of a luminous gas, also, in like circum-
stances, ‘‘ by admixture of another non-luminous vapour, or one
giving a continuous spectrum,” may suffer a displacement,
Kundt has already shown.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Marcus M. Hartoc, D.Sc., M.A., F.L.S.. has been
appointed to the Professorship of Natural History at Queen’s
College, Cork, vacant by the death of Prof. Leith Adams,
* Herr Vogel quotes a translation in Naturforscher.
2 Kundt, ¥ubelband Pogg. Ann., p. 620 ‘i
3 Vogel, “‘ Pract. Spectralanalyse.”’ Nérdlingen bei Beck. P. 248.
4 Monatsh. der Akad. der Wiss. of May 20, 1878.
5 Kundt formerly doubted also the possibility of proof of an anomalous
dispersion in gases and glowing vapours. Recently, however, he has suc-
ceeded in getting such proof in the case of sodium vapours (Wied, Ann. 10,
Pp. 321).
234
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, December 14, 1882.— On the genus
Meliola, by UW. Marshall Ward, B.A., Fellow of Owens
College, Manchester, The author has examined the life-
history and structure of several species cf these epiphytic
fungi. The fungus consists of a much-branched mycelium, on
which appendages and fruit-bodies occur, The Ayphe consti-
tuting the mycelium, consist of cylindrical cells, with hardened,
brown cell-walls and protoplasmic contents ; these are attached
to the epidermis of the leaves, &c., of tropical plants by rudi-
mentary /iawstoria, which do not pierce the ‘cell-walls of the
host, but are firmly adherent to the cuticle. The appendages
consist of simple or branched setaceous outgrowths, which spring
from the mycelium at various points, and are especially deve-
loped around the fruit-bodies from masses of hyphe, which
Bornet considered as forming a special part of the fungus, under
the name of ‘‘receptacle” ; these setee cannot be considered as
subserving any special function, however, and are certainly not
tubes for the outlet of spores, as earlier observers have surmised.
Other appendages occur in the form of small ovoid or flask-
shaped lateral branchlets ; some of these become free and sub-
serve vegetative reproduction as conidia, ‘The fruit-body, or
perithecium, arises by continuous development of one of the
pyriform lateral branchlets, and the author has studied its
development very particularly. The short, ovoid, unicellular
brancblet, after becoming separated from the parent hypha by a
septum, suffers division into two cells by a septum running
obliquely across it; of these two cells one produces the outer
walls of the ferithecium, by continuous cell-multiplication, whilst
the other contributes the central portion, or ascogonium, by
slower division of its contents.
The former cell, dividing up more rapidly, produces a layer
of cells which envelope the latter by a process of ‘‘ epiboly,” and
the outer cell-walls become hard, thick, and dark-coloured.
The latter—ascogenous cell—divides up more slowly into a
“*core” of thin-walled cells, very rich in protoplasm, After
complete envelopment, the cells of the ‘‘core” are recognised in
vertical sections ; certain of them become elongated, and form
the earliest asc?, while others become absorbed—together with
inner cells of the enveloping layer—to provide nutritive material
for the developing ascz and their progeny.
The asci are produced successively, and are delicate clavate
sacs, containing two to eight sfores, each spore being divided
by one, two, or three cross septa. The germination of the
spore is also described and figured ; it throws out an irregular
germinal tube, which soon forms rudimentary Aaustoria, and
grows forth as a mycelium, similar to that from which the Jevi-
theciuwm was produced.
The author examines and criticies the views held by Bornet
and Fries as to the systematic position of A/éliolas ; especially
the opinion that they are to be considered as tropical represen-
tatives of the European Zrysiphee. He shows that the original
cell from which the Zerithecium arises must be regarded as con-
taining in itself the undifferentiated elements of an Archecarpium
and Antheridium-branch (in the sense of De Bary and others),
and that after the primary division into two cells, we must look
upon one of these—the one which becomes more rapidly divided
up—as the homologue of the awtheridium-branch and enve-
loping tissues of the Zvysifie ; the more slowly divided cell—
which produces the ascogenous core—being the equivalent of the
ascogonium, &c., of those fungi. The details of successive
phases of development are amply illustrated by figures and many
peculiarities acquired by the group are carefully examined and
described.
The author concludes that the A/e/io/as must be looked upon
as a group developed along similar lines to those of the Z7y-
siphee, Eurotinm, &e., but in which the sexual process has
suffered still greater reduction or withdrawal, leading to those
forms in which it is entirely suppressed.
With respect to the injurious action of these fungi on their
hosts, the author decides that no direct parasitic action on the
cell-contents takes place, but that injury results indirectly on
ace-unt of the dense black yceliwm, when strongly developed,
depriving the leaves of air, light, &c.
Chemical Society, December 21, 1882.—Dr. Gilbert, presi-
dent, in the chair.—The following papers were read :—On the
condensation products of oenanthol (part ii.), by W. H. Perkin,
jun. The author has studied the action of nascent hydrogen
NATURE
[ Fan. 4, 1883
upon oenanthol ; when this substance is dissolved in acetic acid
and acted upon by sodium amalgam, heptylic alcohol is produced,
also an aldehyde, C,,H,,O, and an alcohol, C,,H.,O; if the
oenanthol is dissolved in ether, heptylic alcohol, a solid aldehyde
melting at 29°°5 (C,,H,,0), and a second substance, C,,H,)O,
are formed. By oxidising the aldehyde C,,H,,O with silver
oxide, a small quantity of an acid, C\yH,,O,, boilirg at 300°
310, was obtained. The author has al:o studied the action of
nascent hydrogen upon the aldehyde C,,H.,O, and discusses the
constitution of these new bodies.—On the behaviour of the
nitrogen of coal during destructive distillation; with some
observations on the estimation of nitrogen in coal and coke, by
W. Foster. It is usually stated in text-books that coal contains
about 2 per cent. of nitrogen, which, during destructive distilla-
tion of the coal, comes off as ammonia. ‘The author finds that
this statement is not true. A Durham coal was used, containing
1°73 per cent. of nitrogen, and giving 74°5 per cent. of coke.
If the total quantity of nitrogen in the coal be taken as 100,
that evolved as ammonia is only 14°5 per cent.; as cyanogen,
1'56 per cent; as nitrogen in the coal-gas, 35°26 per cent. ; left
behind in the coke, 48°68 per cent.—On the absorption of weak
reagents by cotton, silk, and wool, by E. J. Mills and J. Taka-
mine. The reagents are sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, and
caustic soda, This paper chiefly contains tables, with results
calculated to five places of decimals.—On brucine, by W. A.
Shenstone. Various observers have stated that brucine, when
treated with dilute nitric acid, yields either methyl or ethyl,
nitrate or nitrite. The author has studied the action of h)dro-
chloric acid upon brucine quantitatively, and has proved that more
than one molecule of methyl chloride is evolyed from one imole-
cule of brucine ; he conclndes that brucine is strychnia, in which
two atoms of hydrogen are replaced by two methoxyl groups,
and its formula may be written, Co,H»9(CH,0),N,0,.—Re-
searches on the induline group, by O. N. Witt and E. G. P.
Thomas. ‘‘Induline” is a term appled to all coloured com-
pounds formed by the action of amidoazo compounds on the
hydrochlorides of aromatic amines with elimination of ammonia.
The authors have studied in the present paper the formation of
amidoazobenzene, and its action on aromatic hydrochlorides, and
especially on anilin hydrochloride.—Preliminary note on some
diazo derivatives of nitrobenzyleyanide, by W. H. Perkin.
Meteorological Society, December 20, 1882.—Mr. J. K.
Laughton, M.A., F.R.A.S., president, in the chair.—Three new
Fellows were elected, and Capt. J. de Brito Capello and Mr. W.
Ferrel, M.A., were elected honorary members.—The following
papers were read :—Popular weather prognostics, by the Hon.
R. Abercomby, F.M.S., and Mr. W. Marriott, F.M.S. The
authors explain over 100 prognostics, by showing that they
make their appearance in definite positions relative to the areas
of high and low atmospheric pressure shown in synoptic ckarts.
The method adopted not only explains many which have not
hitherte been accounted for, but enables the failure, as well as
the success, of any prognostic to be traced by following the
history of the weather of the day on a synoptic chart. The
forms discussed are :—cyclones, anticyclones, wedge-shaped and
straight isobars. The weather in the last two is now described
for the first time. They also point out (1) that prognostics will
never be superseded for use at sea, and other solitary situations ;
and (2) that prognostics can be usefully combined with charts in
synoptic forecasting, especially in certain classes of showers and
thunderstorms which do not affect the reading of the barometer.
—Report on the phenological observations for the year 1882, by
the Key. T, A. Preston, M.A., F.M.S. The most important
feature of the phenological year was the mild winter. The effect
of this upon vegetation was decidedly favourable ; and had it
not been for the gales—especially that of April 28—the foliage
would have been luxuriant, and therefore free from insect
attacks, but the contrary effect has been produced on insect
life, for-the scarcity of insects, especially butterflies and moths,
has been the general remark of entomologists.—Mr. J. S.
Dyason, F.R.G.S., exhibited a series of typical clouds in
monochrone, and also a series of sketches of clouds in colour,
made in June, July, and August, 1882.
MANCHESTER
Literary and Philosophical Society— Microscopical and
Natural History Section, December 12.—Prof, Roscoe in the
chair.—Mr, James Heelis made some remarks upon the causes
of the movement of the old Rhone Glacier with special refer-
ence to the power of gravity to produce such movement when
Fan. 4, 1383 |
NATURE
ae)
NN Tee
considered in connection with the gradient down which the
glacier has passed.—Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F -R.S., com-
municated and explained an elementary solution of the dynamical
problem of isochronous vibration.—Mr. John Boyd exhibited a
fine living specimen of Argulus foliaceus, a parasite of the carp.
—Mr. Charles Bailey, F.L.S., made some remarks on the
occurrence of Seinum carvifolia in Lincolnshire, and of Pota-
mogeton zizii in Lancashire and Westmoreland, and mentioned the
localities where he had met with them respectively,—Mr. R. D.
Darbishire, F.G.S., gave an account of dredgings made by him
in company with Dr. A. M. Marshall and Mr. Archer at Oban
in September last, and exhibited specimens of a considerable
variety of animals taken.—Prof, A, M. Marshall, M.A., gave a
detailed description of three forms of Pennatulida met with
during the dredging, and suggested the desirability of the sec-
tion undertaking or taking part in similar excursions in future
years.
DUBLIN
Royal Society, November 20, 1882.—Sections I. and III,
Physical and Experimental Science, and Applied Science.—Rev.
Gerald Molloy, D.D., in the chair.—The following communica-
tions were received :—Rev. H. M. Close, M.A., on the definition
of force as the cause of motion, with some of the inconveniences
connected therewith.—G. Johnston Stoney, D.Sc., F.R.S., and
G. Gerald Stoney, on the energy expended in propelling a
bycicle, parts 2 and 3.—Prof. W. F. Barrett, F.R.S.E., physical
apparatus for class-teaching.—A. H. Curtis, LL.D., improved
apparatus for exhibiting double reflection in the interior of a
crystal. —Prof, G. F. Fitzgerald, F.T.C.D., recent advances in
physical science, an account of Prof. Rowland’s curved gratings
for spectrum analysis.—Prof. Fitzgerald exhibited photographs
of the solar spectrum taken by Prof. Rowland.
Section II. Natural Science.—Rev. A. H. Close, M.A., in
the chair.—The following communications were received :—
Prof. V. Ball, M.A., F.R.S., on some effects produced by
landslips and movements of the soil cap, and their resemblance
to phenomena which are generally attributed to other agencies.
—Prof, A. C. Haddon, M.A., exhibition of marine inverte-
brates, belonging to the Natural History Museum, prepared at
the Zoological Station, Naples, with remarks upon the various
methods for the preparation of zoological specimens,—G, A.
Kinahan, on the geolo.y of Bray Head.
December 18, 1882.—Sections I. and III. Physical and
Experimental Science, and Applied Science.—A. H. Curtis,
LL.D.; in the chair.—The following communications were
received :—G. F, Fitzgerald, F.T.C.D., on Dr. Eddy’s hypo-
thesis that radiant heat is an exception to the sccond law of
thermodynamics. Communicated by Howard Grubb, M.E.,
F.R.A.S.: (a) Notes on the transit of Venus, as observed at
Armagh Observatory by Dr. Dreyer; (4) Notes on the transit
of Venus, as observed at Cork Observatory by Prof. England ;
(c) Notes of the transit of Venus, as observed at Rathowea, Co.
Westmeath, by Mr. W. E. Wilson.—G. Johnstone Stoney,
D.Sc., F.R.S., on means of neutralising echves in rooms.—G,
Johnstone Stoney and G. Gerald Stoney, on geared bicycles and
tricycles.—Dr, Otto Boeddicker, on the influence of magnetism
on the rate of a chronometer (communicated by the Right Hon.
the Earl of Rosse, F.R.S.)—Mr. Grubb informed the Society
that Dr. Huggins had authorised him to announce that he had
succeeded in photographing the corona of the uneclipsed sun by
employing absorbing media.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, December 18.—M. Jamin in the
chair.—The' following papers were read :—On‘a recent memoir,
by M. Wolf, of Zurich, on the periodicity of sun-spots, by M.
Faye. From further careful study (by amethod described) of
data for the last 120 years, M. Wolf concludes (1) that there is
a period of Io years ; also (2) a period of 11 years, 4 months;
and (3) that there is not a period of 12 years, imputable to the
action of Jupiter. Spite of the great difference of the two
periods, the interval between a minimum and the next maximum
is the same in both, viz. 44 years. After 170 years the pheno-
mena recur in the same order, and with the same numerical
values. M. Faye added some remarks by way of theory.—
Statistics of preventive vaccination against chardon relating to
85,000 animals, by M. Pasteur. The figures (for Eure-et-Loire,
where the ravages have been worst) show a marked reduction of
the mortality from chardon ; thus, of the 80,000 sheep vacci-
nated, only 0°65 per cent. died, whereas the average mortality
of the past 10 years is g’oI per cent.—Contribution to the study
of rabies, by M. Bert. He gives results published a few years
ago, but little known. Jer alza, inoculation with mucus from
the respiratory passages of a mad dog caused rabies, but that
with the salivary liquids did not. Reciprocal transfusion of
blood between a healthy and a mad dog did not cause rabies in
the former. The slaver of a mad dog, after filtering through
plaster, was harmless, but the portion caught on the plaster
caused rabies (which is thus probably due to a microbe).—On the
functions of seven letters, by M. Brioschi.—Experiments with a
new arrangement of the automotor elevating apparatus with
oscillating tube, by M. de Caligny.—M. Faye presented the
second and last volume of his ‘‘ Cours d’Astronomie.”—M., de
Quatrefages announced the formation of a committee, headed by
M. Milne-Edwards (who is now convalescent) for a monument
to Darwin, as proposed in England.—On maize at different
periods of its vegetation (continued), by M. Leplay.—M.
Ladureau (in a memoir) stated that he has found, on an average,
1°8oce. of sulphurous acid (free and combined) per cubic metre
of air in the atmosphere of Lille.-—The Secretary called atten-
tion toa new work on Galileo, by Sigaor Favaro, asked to be
informed of any documents relative to Fermat (whose works
are to be published by the Minister of Public Instruction), and
read some telegrams on the transit of Venus.—Observations of
the transit of Venus at Algiers Observatory, by M. Trépied.
Bad weather marred the work. The spectrum, and photographs
taken in the green, blue, and violet, showed no absorption by
an atmosphere round Venus.—On the transit as observed at
Rome, by M. Millosevich. He thinks the spectroscopic method
the only one capable of giving good results, which admit of
being tested, for the first contaci.—On the great southern comet,
as observed at the Imperial Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, by
M. Cruls. On October 15 there were two nuclei, and he thinks
the appearance of the tail due to two tails (corresponding to the
nuclei).—On solar photometry, by M. Crova. By a method
described, and by Bougner’s method, he arrives at about 60,000
carcels for the intensity of the solar light on a clear day (at Mont
pellier), an estimate ten times those of Bougner and Wollaston.
—Reply to M. Ledieu, &c., by M. Decharme.—On the sensation
of white and complementary colours, by M. Rosenstiehl. The
introduction of a coloured object in an illumination apparently
homogeneous and colourless, at once shows the real lack of
homogeneity in the combination of lights. There is often con-
fusion between mixture of lights and mixture of sensations.—
Researches on the duration of solidification of surfused substances,
by M. Gernez. He worked with U tubes holdimg phosphorus.
The course of the phenomenon is uniform. Przvious heating of
the phosphorus to different temperatures did not sensibly affect
the velocity of solidification. M. Gernez studies the curve for
velocity of solidification at different temperatures (43°'S to 24°"9).
—On the measurement of pressures developed in a closed vessel
by explosive gaseous mixtures, by M. Vieille. The method
(described) was to register the law of displacement of a piston of
known section and mass ; (results shortly). —On the crystallisation
of hydrate of chlorine, by M. Dittee—On chloride of pyrosul-
phuryl, by M. Konovaloff.—On the products of distillation of
colophanry, by M. Renard.—Production of surgical anzesthesia,
by combined action of protoxide of nitrogen and chloroform, by
M. de Saint Martin. With protoxide of nitrogen (85 vol.), and
oxygen (15 vol.) M. Bert got anzesthesia by operating under
pressure. If 6 or 7 gr. chloroform be added per hectolitre, the
effect is had quickly at ordinary pressure.—Passage of the
bacterium of charéon from mother to fcetns, by MM. Strauss
and Chamberland.—Physiological properties of oxethylquino-
leine-ammonia, by M. Bochefontaine. Like curare, it prevents
passage of excitation from nerve to muscle, but, unlike curare, it
makes the heart beat more slowly.—Experimental researches on
spontaneous contractions of the uterus in certain mammalia, by
M. Dembo.—On the formation of embryonal layers in the
trout, by M. Hennegny.—Remarks on M., Lichtenstein’s paper
on pucerons, by M. Balbani.—Orographic note on the region
of the Jura between Geneva and Poligny, by M. Bourgeat.—On
a phenomenon of molecular mechanics, by M. Treve. He
covers the tops of ivory balls, hung in a row, with metallic
powder ; when one end ball (say the left) is drawn back and
let fall on its neighbour, the powder on the right half of the balls
is thrown in the direction of the shock ; but that on the last
ball is thrown from the side opposite to the direction o the
shock.
236
WATORLE
[ Fan. 4, 1883
December 26.—M. Jamin in the chair.—The following papers
were read :—Observations of the transit of Venus at the Naval
Observatory of Toulon, by M. Mouchez. M, Rozet observed
the black drop at second contact.—On two objections of Prof.
Young of New Jersey, to the cyclonic theory of sunspots, by M.
Faye. These are, the absence of visible traces of rotation in
most spots, and the small difference of angular velocity in succes-
sive zones of the photosphere. M. Faye holds the unequal
velocity sufficient to cause vortical movements of any calibre ;
and the general absence of agitation at the border of spots he
attributes to the slowness of gyration there (our cyclones seen
from above would show the same), He cites a number of
positive indices of gyration.—Theory of the resistance of woven
materials to extension, by M. Tresca. Such stuffs suffer elonga-
tions which increase less rapidly than the weights; and with
equal weight, they show much greater elongation than those of
the warp-threads composing them. The mode of interlacing of
the threads explains these differences.—On the necessity of
introducing certain modifications into the teaching of mecha-
nies, and of banishing certain problems ; ¢.g. the motion of the
solid body of geometers, by M. Villarceau.—Considerations on
the general theory of units, by M. Ledieu.—Separation of
gallium (continued), by M. Lecoq-de-Boisbaudran. — Herr
Bunsen was elected Foreign Associate in room of Wohler,
deceased.—Chemical studies on maize, &c. (continued), by
M. Leplay.—Evolution of microscopic organisms in the living
being, and in the dead body and morbid products, by M. Colin.
Microbes are nowhere absent in the respiratory and digestive
apparatus, and at many points they are prodigiously numerous.
In normal conditions the liquids holding them are harmless, but
they become dangerous after putrid alteration. —The first number
of a new mathematical journal, Acta Mathematica, published at
Stockholm (M.Mittag-Leffler, editor), was presented.—A telegram
from Montevideo announced success of the transit observations
at Santa Cruz.—Observation of the transit of Venus at Nice
Observatory, by M. Mouchez. Five photographs were had,
under difficult conditions.—Observation of the transit at Avila
(Spain), by M. Thollon. They sought to observe Venus’s
atmosphere spectroscopically at a height of 1200m., but bad
weather prevented their getting any satisfactory results.—Photo-
graphs of the great comet of 1882 taken at the Observatory of
the Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. Gill. Spite of long exposure
(140 minutes for the sixth and last photograph), the stars at the
centre of the image are remarkably distinct. More than fifty
stars are seen through the tail, Mr. Gill does not doubt that
stellar maps might be produced by direct photography of the
heayens,—On the formula recently communicated to the Academy
regarding prime numbers, by M. de Jonquiéres.—On the same,
by M. Lipschitz.—Reply to a recent note by M. Lalanne on the
verification and use of magnetic maps, by M. de Tillo.—Electro-
dynamic method for determination of the ohm ; experimental
measurement of the constant of a long coil, by M. Lippmann.
—Measurement of the photometric intensity of spectral lines of
hydrogen, by M. Lagarde. The curves from the values obtained
show the inequality of intensity of the three lines, inequality
variable with the induced discharge. With diminution of pres-
sure, the curve straightens ; at 6°5 mm., that for red isa straight
line.—On the instantaneous pressure produced during combus-
tion of gaseous mixtures, by MM. Mallard and Le Chatelier.
With mixtures of H and O, the interior pressure exceeded by
more than 2 atm, that corresponding really to the temperature
of combustion ; and this occurred in less than a ten-thousandth
of asecond. An explanation is offered.—On bisulphhydrate of
ammonia, by M. Isambert.—On a case of physical isomerism of
monochlorinated camphor, by M. Cazeneuve.—Biological re-
searches on beet, by M. Corenwinder.—On the reduction of
sulphates by sulphuraria, and on the formation of natural
metallic sulphates, by M. Plauchud.—On the transformation of
nitrates into nitrites, by MM. Gayon and Dupetit. They have
isolated four distinct microbes capable of the action; one can
live in chicke broth even when this is saturated with nitrate of
poten, and decompose 10gr. of the nitrate per litre daily.
he microbes of chicken cholera, the bacterium of charbon,
and the septic vibrion, effect denitrification much less easily.
—On the poisonous principles of edible fungi, by M. Du-
petit. Injecting, subcutaneously, the fresh juice of several
such fungi into rabbits, &c., he observed symptoms of poisoning,
followed by death, The chemical properties of the active prin-
ciple recall those of soluble ferments, rather than of known
alkaloids. A temperature of 100° renders the juice harmless.—
| tone.”
Researches on the production of a general anzesthesia or a spe-
cially unilateral anzesthesia by a simple peripheric excitation, by
M. Brown-Séquard. Irritation of the laryngeal mucous mem-
brane with a current of carbonic acid will produce anzsthesia in
all parts of the body, without passage of this gas into the
blood.—On the physiological action of coffee, by M.
Guimaraeo. The experiments (made on dogs at Rio) prove
that coffee is at once a stimulant and a repairer. By per-
mitting a greater expenditure and consumption of argotised
substances, it evidently increases the power of work.—On
the structure of cells of the mucous bodies of Malpighi, by
M. Ranvier.—On the foetal envelopes of Chiroptera of the
family of Phyllostomides, by M. Robin.—On an usteria from
great depths of the Atlantic, provided with a dorsal peduncle,
by M. Perrier. This is a ‘‘ find” of the Zravai/leur cruise,
and is named cazlaster pedunculus.—On the suctocitiates of M.
de Merejkovsky, Fy M. Maupas. The type deseribed, he says,
has been long known,—Mineralogical analysis of the rock
impasted in the meteorite of Atacama, by M. Meunier.
BERLIN
Physical Society, December 15, 1882.—Prof. Helmholtz
in the chair.—Prof. Christiani demonstrated some acoustic
experiments which he had incidentally made, In renovation of
the Koenig tuning-forks injured by the fire in the Physiological
Institute, and which had to be freed from their coating of rust,
and mounted on new resonance cases, one fork of the series, the
fork m7,, showed after tuning and sounding, when one side of it
was turned towards the closed end of the case, a maximum of
tone; it did not matter in which direction (right or left) the
fork was turned round into the position referred to. Another
fork mz, of the physical Institute in unison with the first, did
not present the phenomenon, and when the forks and cases were
exchanged, it appeared that the effect was connected with the
new case. It was not explained. A second experiment, made
by Prof. Christiani, was named by him ‘‘total absorption of
Aj singing flame was tuned approximately to the tone
mis, and the resonance case bearing the tuning-fork mz, was
held with its open end horizontal near the upper end of the
chemical harmonica. The tone was unaffected. When, how-
ever, the same case, without tuning-fork, was brought to the
same position relatively to the sounding chemical harmonica,
the sound immediately ceased, and the flame burned quietly in
the tube. Each time the tone of the flame ceased, when the
mouth of a resonator adapted to the pitch was brought to the
upper end of the tube, whereas the flame sounded again when
the resonator was tuned to a different tone, or was loaded with
a tuning-fork. Prof. Christiani means to investigate the
phenomenon further.
CONTENTS Pace
AuGusTus DE Morcan. By R. TucKER . . ~. + «© «© - « « « 227
FisHes OF SWITZERLAND . a!) "e, quf trey ye, ake coat, os jo > oe eee
Our Boox SHELF :—
Douglas’s “S@hina??. 2 <.45) fal (efi) fe sue! “ey Gwe) atte) oa
LETTERS TO THE EpITOR :—
On the Occurrence of Great Tides since the Commencement of the
Geological Epoch-—J. G. GRENFELL. . + + + 6 « + + + 222
Sir George Airy on the Forth Bridge.—B. BAKER. . . . . + 222
Altitude and Weather.—Dr. A. WoEIKOFF . . +. - «© + « 223
The Fertilisation of the Speedwell—ArTHUR RANSOM . =. « . 223
Tue SacrEp TrEE oF Kum-Bum. By W. T. TuisetTon Dyer,
F.R.S;5' CMG a, seytyey, so) eo) bwigiesis han snl pianae ane aaa ae
NorwecIan GEODETICAL OPERATIONS » « + © «© + © © «© « «© 224
ELEMENTS OF THE GREAT CoMET OF 1882. By Prof. E. Frispy . . 226
Tue Dumas Mepat (With Illustrations) . . + » «© «© © + « = 227
Prorgssor VON GRAFF’S MONOGRAPH ON THE TURBELLARIANS. By
Prof..H. N. Mosetey, F.R.S. - 2. - - = + + © = @ ies
IN yn Le CI SMM CEAQe OMrOmer i Gn 225
Brorocicat NoTrEes:—
On a New Genus of Cryptophycew . . + + © + + «© + © + 230
Female Flowers in Conifere . . +. + + + + © + 231
The Tracheez in Lampyride . +... ~« 5 . 231
The Stones of Sarepta (Asiatic Russia) . + - + + + «© + + + 23%
AMERICAN RESEARCHES ON WATER ANALYSIS + + + + 6 © + =
Lockyer’s DissoctaTIoN-THEORY. By Herr HERMANN W. VOGEL. 233
ONIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE Sa elem oi es eee
SocreTigs AND ACADEMIES . «+ + ger emget ce Yoyo" /e
NARRO RL:
290
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1883
GEIKTE’S GEOLOGY
Geological Sketches at Home and Abroaa.
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. With fllustrations.
and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1882.)
Text-Book of Geology. By Archibald Geikie, LL.D.,
F.R.S. With Illustrations. (London: Macmillan and
Co., 1882.)
HESE two works, by the same author, are presented
to the public at nearly the same time, but there is
no other reason why they should be described together.
The first is a collection of short papers, each presenting
some matter of personal observation or some contribution
to geological philosophy. The second exhibits the science
of geology in a systematic way, and of necessity deals
chiefly with the results of the work of others. The first
is addressed to the general reader, and in part to the
geologist ; the second is addressed specifically to the
student.
The sketches of the first volume are not new, but are
here collected for the first time. Several of them received
their first publication as magazine articles, others have
been presented to scientific societies, and a few have
taken the form of lectures. They constitute but a small
portion of the author’s voluminous contributions to scien-
tific literature, and have evidently been selected because
of their popular interest. A few are addressed to the
popular audience only, and merely present some of the
elements of stratigraphical and dynamical geology, with
familiar Scottish scenes as texts ; but the majority embody
original contributions to knowledge, couched in so simple
language that the layman reads them without being fully
aware that they belong to the frontier of geological thought.
Prof. Geikie possesses the happy faculty of addressing
himself simultaneously to a professional and an unpro-
fessional audience in such way that the former do not
find his science too dilute nor the latter too condensed.
One of the sketches describes a journey to central
France, undertaken for the purpose of studying the ex-
tinct volcanoes of that region as an aid to the imagination
in restoring the condition of Scotland during the Car-
boniferous period ; and another describes a journey to
Norway with the parallel purpose of rendering vivid the
mental restoration of Scotland in Glacial times. These
two are perhaps the most instructive of the collection, for
besides making definite additions to the geological] history
of Scotland, they present admirable illustrations of one of
the most valuable methods of scientific investigation.
The principles which distinguish modern scientific re-
search are not easily communicated by precept, and it is
by no means certain that they have yet been correctly
formulated. However it may be in the future it is certain
that in the past they have been imparted, and for the
present they must be imparted, from master to pupil
chiefly by example ; and whoever in publishing the result
of a scientific inquiry sets forth at the same time the pro-
cess by which it was attained, contributes doubly to the
cause of science.
Two chapters are devoted to a journey in the United
States; a journey undertaken, like the others, for a
VOL. Xxvil.—No. 689
By Archibald
(London
definite purpose—that of enabling the author to see
with his own eyes the monuments of erosion for which
the Rocky Mountain region is soillustrious. His account
deals also with a variety of geological topics, as well as
with the peculiar aspects of American frontier life. He
describes the geysers of the Yellowstone country, some of
the extinct glaciers of the head-waters of the Missouri,
the parallel shore-lines of the great extinct lake of Utah,
and the great lava field of the Snake River Plain. In
another chapter he appears as the apostle of massive
eruptions, first recognised by Richthofen, and afterwards
by many American geologists, but so foreign to European
experience, that the accounts of them had seemed to
many English geologists to border on the marvellous.
and had even thrown discredit upon American science,
Perhaps the most important paper of all is that upon
geographical evolution. It was originally read to the
Royal Geographical Society, and has received in various
ways so wide a publication, that it is probably accessible
already to the majority of the readers of NATURE. The
lecture on the weathering of rocks, as illustrated by tomb-
stones, is also included, and a lecture on the geological
influences which have affected the course of British
history.
In the whole collection there is nothing polemic, nor
anything that could even be called controversial. Atten-
tion is never directed to an error, exceptas the merest
incident to pointing out that which is true. No words
are given to the censure of others, but many to their
praise, and one of the chapters has for its theme a eulogy
on the work of the early Scottish school of geology.
The style is peculiarly genial and entertaining—a merit
unfortunately rare in the writings of modern geologists ;
but accuracy of statement is not sacrificed to vivacity.
As in all his writings, there is nothing sensational, either
in description or in speculation. His inductions are not
expanded into brilliant, universal theories, but are niodestly
advanced with all those limitations which impress them-
selves on the mind of one who constantly questions
nature.
Turning now to the text-book, we come to consider a
work of greater importance, and one especially deserving
of careful criticism by reason of its relation to education.
The text-books of this generation must furnish to the
geologists of the next their fundamental principles, so
that those who prepare them and those who commend
them are responsible, not merely to the youth of to-day,
but to the science of the future. z
There are four features in regard to which a work
designed for geological instruction should be scrutinised :
Its scope, the arrangement of its matter, the quality of
its matter, the manner of presentation.
In the scope of geological text-books, on the range o
subjects considered and the relative space allotted to
each, there has been a progressive development, parallel
with and dependent upon the evolution of geology and
cognate sciences. Our knowledge of the earth’s history
is so dependent upon and interwoven with other depart-
ments of knowledge, that a clear presentation of it cannot
be made without either reciting the elements of other
sciences or assuming them to be known. In the early
history of the subject, when the volume of geological ma-
terial was smiall, and when the elements of zoology,
M
238
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
botany, and chemistry were not so widely diffused as now,
it appeared to most writers necessary to devote some
space, either in a prefatory or in an incidental way, to
these sciences. Mineralogy and palzontology, growing
with the growth of geology, were likewise treated with it.
But owing to the rapid development of geology, its own
subject matter has now become so voluminous that it can
only with difficulty be outlined in the compass of a text-
book, and step by step it has displaced everything of
which a sufficient knowledge could be assumed.
While mineralogy and paleontology have by their growth
become more and more differentiated from geology,
astronomy has been affiliated in a degree that was not
anticipated. Previous to the revelations of the spectro-
scope, our earth was regarded indeed in origin, composi-
tion, and career as analogous to other planets, but only in
a hypothetic and speculative way ; but now that there is
a large body of evidence pointing to identity of composi-
tion throughout the solar system, there is no longer any
question of a common history, and every advance in
celestial physics is now regarded as a contribution to the
early history of the earth. A department of astronomical
geology has thus arisen.
In the work under consideration no space whatever is
permitted to zoology and botany; chemistry is barely
mentioned ; mineralogy (chiefly descriptive) is accorded
only 25 pages ; paleontology proper is omitted, but 28
pages are devoted to the principles of palzontological
geology—a department of science clearly distinguishable
if not distinct from paleontology, and inseparable from
stratigraphy ; mythological cosmogony is not even men-
tioned, but the space it has too often occupied is given to
physiographical geology—a discussion of the origin of the
physical features of the land. Astronomical geology is
accorded 23 pages. The bulk of the volume—57o pages
out of gto—is devoted to geognosy, and dynamical and
structural geology that is, to rocks and rock structures, |
and to the physical changes whereby rocks originate.
Stratigraphy, which until very recently has arrogated the |
lion’s share of space, is here reduced to less than one-third
of the total.
The distribution of space thus outlined is eminently
judicious, and it may be doubted whether any could be |
better adapted to the present status of the science and
the present demands of instruction. If it has a fault it is
in the amount it concedes to the demands of the geologist
in the matter of stratigraphy. The student’s text-book
has not yet been clearly differentiated from the geologist’s
handbook, and there is certainly an open field to-day for
a manual specially adapted to the use of the working
geologist, and not primarily arranged for instruction,
All of the larger text-books have been partially adjusted
to this need, and Prof. Geikie’s is not an exception ; but
in his work the adjustment appears only in the strati-
graphical chapter, which embodies a mass of detail that
can serve only to bewilder if the student undertakes to
master it. If the 275 pages of descriptive stratigraphy
were reduced to 50, and a portion of the space thus saved
were devoted to a rapid review of the salient points of
the geological history of some limited region, as Great
Britain, for example, I am prone to believe that the
student would be afforded a better insight into the aims
and results of geological inquiry.
In the classification and arrangement of the subject-
matter of geological text-books, there has been as marked
a development as in the scope. The number of different
manners in which a congeries of allied topics can be
grouped is practically limitless, for the bases of possible
groupings are as numerous as the relations sustained by
the topics ; but not all classifications are of equal utility,
and at each stage in the progress of a science there is
usually some one which commends itself as of superior
advantage. As, in the progress of knowledge, new rela-
tions are discovered, and the importance of relations
previously known comes to be differently estimated, new
classifications are adopted, in comparison with which the
old appear crude. Geology is so young a science, that a
single generation has witnessed a complete revolution in
this regard. The primary classifications of the modern
text-books have nothing in common with the earlier
editions of Lyell’s manual. In the division and arrange-
ment adopted by Geikie, only a single feature is original,
but the order of presentation as a whole is new.
The theme of geology is the history of the earth. In
its study there are two lines of inquiry, which are so
nearly independent that they form co-ordinate branches
of the general theme: the one is cosmic, the other
terrestrial.
Cosmically considered, the earth is one ot a group of
worlds believed to have a common origin, and to be pur-
suing parallel courses of development, in which they have
reached various different stages. Assuming this to be
true, the less developed worlds present phases, through
which the earth has already passed, and by studying
them we may learn something of the youth of our planet.
The terrestrial branch of inquiry is concerned chiefly
with rocks. The changes of the crust have led to the
formation of rocks, and have given to them great variety
of composition and structure. It is known, moreover,
that rock formation is still in progress, and that agencies
whose operations can be witnessed are now forming many
varieties of rocks, and are initiating many peculiarities of
rock structure. It is possible, therefore, to associate
certain rocks and rock structures with certain processes
of change, and by this means to derive from a study of
the rocks of the crust a history of the changes which led
to their formation. This inquiry is greatly facilitated by
the fact that rocks have been partly formed from animal
and vegetable remains, and by the additional fact that
there has been a progressive development of life; so that,
the key once obtained, the chronological order of rocks can
be deduced from their organic contents.
In presenting the second line of inquiry as to the earth’s
history it is therefore proper to treat: of the composition
of rocks and other materials of the earth’s crust (geognosy) ;
of.the forms in which rocks are aggregated, or the struc-
ture of rock masses (structural geology) ; of the agencies
which in modern times are observed to produce changes
of the earth’s crust (dynamical geology) ; of the relation of
organic remains to geological formations (palzontological
geology) ; and finally, of the actual order in which the
various kinds and groups of rocks succeed each other,
and the deduced series of changes the earth has undergone
(stratigraphical or historical geology). The first and last
of these categories claim their respective positions without
question: geognosy constitutes the alphabet of the sub-
_e,
Fan. 11, 1883]
NATURE
239
ject, and must precede all else, while stratigraphical geology
depends upon all the other divisions, and must follow
them. Palzontological geology is in some sense co-ordinate
with dynamical and structural geology taken together, but
finds place after them because its use cannot be explained
before their principles are known. Whether dynamical
geology should precede or follow structural, is a question
admitting of discussion. They are to a large extent cor-
relatives, and either is more intelligible if preceded by
the other. To give precedence to structural geology is to
describe phenomena in advance of their explanation. If
dynamical geology precedes, a variety of natural agents are
described which have no apparent connection with the
general subject. The majority of writers have selected
the former alternative ; but a few have preferred the
latter, and among them our author. All things considered,
he appears to have chosen the lesser evil.
The single new departure of the volume consists in the
elevation of physiographical geology to the rank of a major
division. The same title it is true has been placed by
Dana at the head of a primary division of the subject, but
it was used by him ina different sense. With Dana it
is a synonym for physical geography ; with Geikie it is
that ‘‘ branch of geological inquiry which deals with the
evolution of the existing contours of the dry land.’’ So
far as the subject has had place in earlier treatises it has
been regarded as a subdivision of dynamical geology, and
the classification which placed it there was certainly
logical. In dynamical geology, as formulated by Geikie,
the changes which have their origin beneath the surface
of the earth (volcanic action, upheaval, and meta-
morphism), and the changes which belong exclusively
_ to the surface (denudation and deposition) are separately
_ treated. In physiographical geology the conjoint action
of these factors of change is considered with reference to
| its topographical results. Starting from geological agencies
| as data we may proceed in one direction to the develop-
ment of geological history, or in another direction to the
| explanation of terrestrial scenery and topography, and if
| the development of the earth’s history is the peculiar
| theme of geology, it follows that the explanation of topo-
graphy, or physiographical geology, is of the nature of an
incidental result—a sort of corollary to dynamical geology.
| The systematic rank assigned to it by Geikie is an
! explicit recognition of what has long been implicitly
| admitted: that geology is concerned quite as. really with
the explanation of the existing features of the earth as
with its past history. The separation initiated by our
author is an indication of the growing importance of the
subject, and it is safe to predict that in the future it will
not merely retain its new position, but will even demand
| a larger share of space.
The following scheme exhibits the general plan of the
volume :—
Book 1.—Cosmical aspects of geology.
Book 2.—Geognosy : an investigation of the materials
of the earth’s substance.
Book 3.—Dynamical geology.
Book 4.—Geotectonic geology ; or the architecture of
the earth’s crust. (Geotectonic is a new term proposed as
a substitute for structural).
Book 5.—Palzontological geology.
Book 6,—Stratigraphical geology.
|
|
|
Book 7.—Physiographical geology.
Comparing this classification with that of other authors,
and viewing it with reference to the present condition of
the science, we may say without hesitation that it has no
superior, and that it is well adapted to existing needs.
G. K. GILBERT,
U.S. Geological Survey
(To be continued.)
OUR BOOK SHELF
Uniplanar Kinematics of Solids and Fluids; with A Dpli-
cations to the Distribution and Flow of Electricity. By
George M. Minchin, M.A. Pp. viii. + 266. (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1882.)
IN subject-matter this book is almost unique among our
mathematical manuals. The only fellow to it is Clifford’s
“Kinematic.” It consists of six chapters, the first deal-
ing with Displacement and Velocity, the second with
Acceleration, the third with Epicycloidal Motion, the
fourth with the Mass-Kinematics of Solids, the fifth with
the Analysis of Small Strains, and the sixth almost as
long as the others put together, with the Kinematics of
Fluids. The subdivisions of the last chapter are headed
—General Properties: Multiply Connected Spaces ;
Motions due to Sources and Vortices, Electrical Flow;
Conjugate Functions. There is also a short appendix,
with notes on such subjects as Vectors and their Deriva-
tives, Current-Power, and Routh’s Use of Conjugate
Functions.
It is impossible, without occupying considerable space,
to give an adequate idea of the freshness and originality
which mark Prof. Minchin’s work. These are notable in
the exceedingly valuable sixth chapter, but even on such
well-worn subjects as velocity and acceleration, he treats
us to many pleasant little surprises. Nor is this accom-
plished at the expense of the student; the clearness,
fulness, and good arrangement specially requisite in a
college text-book are all of them conspicuous ; and valu-
able collections of exercises, worked and unworked, and
given at intervals. The book is altogether one for which
success may be cordially wished, not merely as a reward
to the author, but in order that the science of which he
treats may go on as steadily and rapidly advancing as
it has of recent years been doing.
Die Kifer Westfalens. Zusammengestelt von F. West-
hoff. Abtheilung ii. (Supplement zu den Verhand-
lungen des naturhistorischen Vereins der preussischen
Rheinlande und Westfalens, Jahrgang 38, pp. 141-323.)
(Bonn, 1882.)
WE have already noticed the first part of this work in
NATURE. The second and concluding portion is now
before us. It forms one of the most useful local Beetle
catalogues that we have seen, nicely printed (the names
being in bold black type), with copious local and other
information. The district comprises about 450 square
(German) miles, and is varied in its physical conditions.
In all, 3221 species are enumerated, in 59 families. The
Staphylinide comprise 667 species, Curculionide 471,
Carabide 321, Chrysomelide 265, and Dytiscid@ 115. All
the other families have each less than Ioo representatives,
and Io of them less than 5. The nomenclature followed
is that of the newest “ Stein-Weise”’ German list, which,
as is well known, has introduced a great multitude of
changes and innovations ; but other generally received
names are indicated in brackets, thus avoiding confusion.
Westhoff describes no new species in Part ii., but indi-
cates and names a good many new (chiefly colour) varie-
ties. Probably the rage for naming colour-varieties, so
wide-spread at the present day, should be deprecated.
For instance, in this catalogue we find a list of 27 named
240
NATURE
[| Fan. 11, 1883
varieties following the indication of Coccinella 10-functata,
L., and 6 or 8 analogous varieties are appended to many
other species of Ladybirds. Taking it as a whole, this
excellent catalogue may serve as a model for compilers of.
lists of the Beetle (or other entomological) fauna of other
districts.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
(The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.)
Equal Temperament of the Scale
In your number of November 8, 1877, p. 34, Mr. Chappell,
F.S.A., has intimated that mathematicians who propose to divide
the octave into twelve equal semitones instead of ‘‘ equally tem-
pered semitones,” are deficient in musical ear. I have not
noticed that any mathematician has replied to him.
Representing (with Mr. Chappell) the number of vibrations in
the C of my piano by 1, and the octave ¢ therefore by 2, and
dividing the octave into 12 equal intervals, I obtain for the
vibration-numbers—
ot G = 1'4983 = 27*
cz = 1105904 = © | Gg = 15874 = 912
D = 1'1224 = N S028 = oe
Dg = 1'1892 = Bb = 1°7818 = gt
T2599 a B = 1'8877 = 21?
F = 1°3348 =: ¢ =2
Fg = 1°4142 =
In these equal semitones each is equidistant from the preceding
and following: as F is to Fg, so is Fg to G, &c. Hence in
whatever key I play a passage on my piano, the divergence from
harizonic intervals will be alike at every point ; the keys on my
piano will have no distinctive character, the key of 3 sharps will
not be more ‘‘ brilliant ’’ or less ‘‘ plaintive” than that of 4 flats.
In the key of C, the harmonic third, fifth, and seventh will
be, according to the above notation, 1°25, 1°5, and 1°75 respec-
tively. As regards the fifth G it is a remarkable numerical
coincidence that 21? only differs from 1°5 by sty, z.e. the equal
temperament G only differs from the harmonic by its $y part,
a difference so slight that it may be neglected. We tune fiddles
by fifths therefore. This coincidence is the fundamental fact which
enables us to modulate into various keys on a piano, and it is the
reason why the scale must be divided into 12 (and not any other
number of) semitones ; for it will be found that, until you get to
the unmanageably high number of 53, no other equal division of
the seale has any note so near the harmonic G.
The crucial point of tempering arises on the third. The E of
1
my piano is 25 = 32%, whereas the harmonic E is = 333 ;
E is therefore by its 4 part too sharp, zz che key of C, a per-
ceptible degree of error, unpleasant to many musicians. In
ordinary pianoforte tuning, the E (by the plan in Hamilton’s
pianoforte tuner or some similar compromise) is tuned somewhere
; my
between 325 and 44%, say at, and the wolf between this E and
the upper ¢ is distributed.
This is all very simple so long as we remain in the key of C;
indeed if we remain there, we want no tempering. But Gg is
the third to E, and cis the third to Ah; on the piano Gg and
Abare one. On my equal-semitone piano I have
L
c=1; E= 2° (= 75 nearly;
Gh = Ab = 25 (= 485 nearly); ¢=2.
I now ask the champion of ‘‘ equally tempered semitones ” what
is the numerical value of his E and what of his Ge. If he gives
j 3 ovted
bem any other values than 2° and 2° respectively, it is clear
hat a greater error will be introduced in one part of the scale
than is saved in another. Instead of algebraic proof I take an
instance—suppose that Mr. Chappell tunes his E at 125) if he
100 ”
equally tempers his Ge in the scale of E, it will be em = ah
very nearly. Then when he puts down the common chord in
the key of Ab, his third the c will be by its j; part to» sharp,
whereas on my equal temperament piano it would only be by its
3) part too sharp. In other words, though the keys of C and
E may be somewhat better on Mr. Chappell’s piano than on
mine, the key of Ah will be very much worse. This is pretty
nearly what occurs in practice. The point of my argument is
that Mr. Chappell cannot move his E ever so little from the
1
value 2% without introducing a greater error somewhere else.
The term ‘‘ equally tempered semitone’’ is inaccurate ; the semi-
tones on my piano are all equal; and no one of them can be
altered by a disciple of the ‘‘ equally-tempered semitone” with-
out making them unequal, The ‘‘equally-tempered semitones ”
are mot equally tempered. Moreover if you ‘‘ temper” at all
en lose the effect of the harmonics ; by moving E from 33% to
125
100
The simple reason that unequal tempering is ‘practised is
because all keys are not used equally often. A piano is un-
equally tempered so that the keys C, G, A, F are fair, E, Bp, Eb
tolerable, the other keys being very much worse than on my
equal-semitone piano. On most church organs, being unequally
tempered, if you modulate even transiently into 4 or 5 flats, the
effect is unendurable.
The crucial question in tuning is the question, if your E is not
1 2
2° and your Ge 28, what values do you put them at? The
question of the seventh is more complex ; I may observe that
though my equal-semitone seventh (1°7818) appears far away
from the harmonic seventh (1°75), yet that the Bp of tuners on
the ‘ equally-tempered semitone ” system is not much nearer it.
Their Bb is 4° or thereabout, or in other words, the sub-sub-
dominant of C. Therefore, on the piano, you have not got the
‘‘harmonic-seventh ” at all; the note which replaces it is one
that suggests overpoweringly the key of F. This is the secret
which underlies several of our rules in harmony. It is also the
reason why valve-horn players play Bb (though an open note)
with valve 7.2, or if they play without a key “‘lip it up” very
carefully.
It is often supposed that the ‘‘ wolf” has been introduced into
music by that most useful though imperfect instrument the piano,
and that the noble violin or human voice knows it not, except in
so far as our natural good ear for harmonic intervals has been
debauched by continually hearing tempered intervals. This is
not so ; the ‘‘ wolf” is not only in the piano but in the scale.
It is true that a violin can play in harmonic tune so long as the
melody runs in one key, or if it modulates into a closely allied
key, and dack again the same way. But suppose my violin begins
by rising from C to E harmonically, ze. to 42%; then after
playing awhile there proceeds to Gz (335)? harmonically, being
then in 8 sharps; and then, after playing awhile in 8 sharps,
proceeds to c; the c of the fiddle will then be (33%)? instead of
2, z.e. it will be ;3< out of tune. In this simple case the fiddle
is supposed to play alone, unfettered by any harmonics but its
own; in the case of a string-band, the agreeableness of many
modulations actually depends upon some chords being harmonic-
ally out of tune, the note in the chord which performs the duty
of Ge to its preceding chord, performing the duty of Ab to its
succeeding chord.
The practical conclusion is that the best plan of tuning a
piano for vulgar music and vulgar players is that now ordinarily
practised by the tuners, and recommended by Mr. Chappell ;
but if the piano is to be used equally in all keys (or even fre-
quently in 4 or 5 flats, 5 or 6 sharps) the best plan is to tune it
in 12 mathematically equal semitones. C, B. CLARKE
you sacrifice harmonic coincidence.
Animal Intelligence
In an excellent paper on “Animal Intelligence” (NATURE,
vol, xxvi. p. 523), Mr. C. Lloyd Morgan says that ‘‘’The brute
has to be contented with the experience he inherits or indivi-
dually acquires. Man, through language spoken or written,
profits by the experience of his fellows. Even the most savage
tribe has traditions extending back to the father’s father. May
there not be, in social animals also, traditions from generation
*~
Fan. 11, 1883 |
to generation, certain habits prevailing in certain communities in
consequence neither of inherited instincts nor of individual
experience, but simply because the young ones imitate what they
see in their elder fellows?
As is well known, the stingless honey-bees (J/e/ifona and
Trigona) build horizontal combs consisting of a single layer of
cells, which, if there is plenty of space, are of rather regular
shape, the peripheral cells being all at about the same distance
from the first built central one. Now, on February 4, 1874, I
met with a nest of a small Trigona (‘‘ Abelha preguicosa”’) ina
very narrow hole of an old canella-tree, where, from want of
space they were obliged to give to their combs a very irregular
shape, corresponding to the transversal section of the hole.
These bees lived with me, in a spacious box, about a year (till
February 10, 1875), when perhaps not a single bee survived of
those which had come from the canella-tree; but notwithstanding
they yet continued to build irregular combs, while quite re-
gular ones were built by several other communities of the same
species, which I have had.
The following case is still more striking. In the construction
of the combs for the raising of the young, as well as of the large
cells for guarding honey and pollen, our Afedi~one and Trigone
do not use pure wax, but mix it with various resinous and other
substances, which give to the wax a peculiar colour and smell,
Now I had brought home from two different and distant locali-
ties two communities of our most common JZé/ifona (allied to
MM. marginata), of which one had dark reddish-brown, and the
other pale yellowish-brown wax, they evidently employing resin
from different trees. They lived with me for many years, and
either community continued, in their new home, to gather the
same resins as before, though now, when they stood close
together, any tree was equally accessible to the bees of either
community. This can hardly be attributed to inherited instinct,
as both belonged to the same species, nor to individual expe-
rience about the usefulness of the several resins (which seemed
to serve equally well), but only, as far as I can judge, to tradi-
tion, each subsequent generation of young bees following the
habits of their elder sisters. Fritz MUELLER
Blumenau, St. Catharina, Brazil, November 14, 1882
The Inventor of the Incandescent Electric Light
In the ‘‘ Notes” of Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 209, M. de
Chagny is described as ‘‘the first electrician who attempted to
manufacture incandescent lamps zz vacuo about twenty years
ago.” This invention and its successful practical application
(irrespective of cost) was made by a young American, Mr. Starr,
and patented by King in 1845. A short stick of gas-retort car-
bon was used, and the vacuum obtained by connecting one end
of this with a wire sealed through the top of a barometer tube
blown out at the upper part, and the other end with a wire
dipping into the mercury. The tube was about thirty-six
inches long, and thus the enlarged upper portion became a
torrecellian yacuum when the tube was filled and inverted.
I had a share of one-eighth in the venture, assisted in
making the apparatus and some of the experiments, and after
the death of Mr. Starr all the apparatus was assigned tome. I
showed this light (in the original lamp) publicly many times at
the Midland Institute, Birmingham, and on two occasions in the
Town Hall, all of them more than twenty years ago. The light
was far more brilliant, and the carbon-stick more durable, than
the flimsy threads of the incandescent lamps now in use. It was
abandoned solely on account of the cost of supplying the power.
As a steady, reliable, and beautiful light, its success was com-
plete. In ‘‘ A Contribution to the History of Electric Lighting,”
published in the Yournal of Science, November 5, 1879, and
reprinted lately in my ‘Science in Short Chapters,” may be
found further particulars concerning this invention and_ its
inventor, W. MAttTisev WILLIAMS
Stonebridge Park, N.W.
The Reversion of Sunflowers at Night
WHILE the fact that sunflowers turn their faces toward the
sun in its course during the day is as old as our knowledge of
the plant, I am not aware that any record has been made as to
the time of night that they turn fo the east again after their
obeisance to the setting sun.
One evening during a short stay at a village in Colorado, in
the summer of 1881, I took a walk along the banks of a large
NATURE
|
241
irrigating ditch just as the sun was setting. The wild variety of
Helianthus annuus, Lin. (=H. lenticularis, Douglass) grew abun-
dantly there, and I observed that the broad faces of all the
flowers were, as is usual in the clear sunset, turned to the west.
Returning by the same path less than an hour afterwards, and
immediately after the daylight was gone, I found, to my sur-
prise, that much the greater part of those flowers had already
turned their faces full to the east in an icipation, as it were, of
the sun’s rising,
They had in that short time retraced the semi-circle, in the
traversing of which with the sun they had spent the whole day.
Both the day and night were cloudless, and apparently no un-
usual conditions existed that might have exceptionally affected
the movements of the flowers.
Idoubt not that many persons like myself havesupposed that sun-
flowers remain all night with their faces to the west, as they are
when the sunlight leaves them, and until they are constrained by
the light of the rising sun, to turn to the east again. It is not my
purpose to offer any explanation of the cause of the phenomenon
here recorded, but it seems to me improbable that it could have
been an exceptional instance; and I only regret that no oppor-
tunity has since occurred to me to repeat the observation.
Washington, December 26 C, A. WHITE
Pollution of the Atmosphere
Mr, H. A. PHILLIPS, in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 127, thinks
that the effect of the increasing quantity of hydrocarbons in the
air from the combustion of coal will be to make climates more
extreme. It seems to me the effect will be the direct contrary.
Gaseous and vaporous hydrocarbons absorb heat much more
powerfully than air, and whatever makes the atmosphere absorb
and retain more solar heat than at present will tend to equalise
temperatures between day and night, and also between different
latitudes. I think, however, that any possible effect of hydro-
carbons will be quite insignificant in comparison with the effect
of the watery vapour of the atmosphere, which, as Tyndall has
shown, moderates climates by its power of absorbing solar
heat, JOSEPH JOHN MuRPHY
Old Forge, Dunmurry, Co, Antrim, December 28, 1882
A “Natural” Experiment in Complementary Colours
ON page 79 of vol. i. of the “f Life, Letters and Journal of Sir
Charles Lyell,” his visit to the Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen
is described, and he notes that ‘fas the sun shone on the foam it
took very much the rose-coloured tint so remarkable on the snow
in the Alps.”
His experience as regards the colour being observed in the
full sunlight seems to differ from that of Mr. Chas. T. Whitmell,
which you published in NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 573.
E, J. BLEs
Moor End, Kersal, near Manchester, January 8
BAIRDS’ HARE AND ITS HABITS
EVERAL instances have been recorded in which indi-
vidua] male mammals have produced milk from their
mammary glands for the nutriment of their young. But
that the young of a mammal should be ordinarily suckled
by the male parent is such an extraordinary anomaly that
it is very hard to believe it. Yet that such is the case in
an American species of hare (Lefus bairdizZ) would seem
to be highly probable from observations made by Dr.
Hayden and his party during one of their expeditions in
the Yellowstone Mountains. In the last number of the
American Naturalist, Mr. Lockwood gives the following
details on this curious subject :—
“In the months of May and June, 1860, Prof. F. V.
Hayden and his party of United States explorers found
themselves up in the Alpine snows of the Wind River
Mountains, where they were detained several days in an
attempt to feel their way to the Yellowstone. On May
31 Dr. Hayden declared that a new species of hare was
around, as he had observed unusually large hare-tracks
in the snow. As the Doctor expressed himself to us :—
The tracks were very large, the feet being wide-spread,
and the hair thick between the toes, thus really furnishing
242
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
the animal with snow shoes.” In June, one was cap-
tured, and the Doctor named the species Lepus bairdii.
The animal seemed limited to that small Alpine territory.
But one specimen was secured, and no more was heard
of this hare until 1872, when Dr. Hayden and party were
in that region in the months of August and September.
At this time five specimens of Baird’s hare were obtained
by Mr. C. Hart Merriam, the naturalist to the Hayden
Survey. Of these four were adult males, and all had
large teats and udders full of milk. The hair round the
nipples was wet, and stuck to them, showing that they
had just been suckling their young. To make all certain,
resort was had to dissection, when the sex was demon-
strated. Not only did Mr. Merriam make dissection,
but also Dr. Josiah Curtis, a naturalist of the United
States Geological Survey, with the same result. In the
face of such testimony disbelief would seem discourtesy.”’
NOTES FROM THE LETTERS OF CAP1AIN
DAWSON, R.A. IN COMMAND OF THE
BRITISH CIRCUMPOLAR EXPEDITION‘
Fuly 30, Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athabasca
ates practically incessant travel since leaving Eng-
land, at last I find myself condemned to a week’s
rest, as there are no boats going to Port Rae until the
Mackenzie River boats return. But here we are in the
lap of luxury ; we get bread, butter, and milk, which we
have not tasted for ages, to say nothing of the novel
experience of sleeping under a roof and on a bed. I
have had a most delightful journey, but it all seems like
a dream to look back to: my memory is a kaleidoscope of
pine trees, rapids, lakes, and golden sunrises and sunsets.
Down stream we travel day and night. At sunset the
boats are lashed together, and then the crew go to sleep.
It is very nice drifting down in the silence amongst the
pines, but-bed-time comes at last. I then roll myself in a
blanket, lie down, and look at the stars till I fall asleep.
At sunrise I wake to find the crew on the shore, boiling
their kettle, and a cup of tea is very refreshing. My
blanket and my hair, too, I find dripping wet with dew
when I wake.
At noon or so we land, and cook more tea, and make
breakfast usually off pemmican, which is composed of
buffalo flesh dried and pounded, and put in a leather bag
with grease poured over it. It is not nice, but it supports
life. When we have such a luxury as flour, it is baked
into cakes in a frying-pan. We get into the boat again,
and eat our breakfast whiist drifting down stream. Bye-
and-bye the current becomes more rapid, and at last we
see the river disappearing in a cloud ofspray. Here isa
Portage, so the boats pull to shore and the cargo is
landed. Thecrew then return. I take my place in the
boat, and after each man has laid aside his pipe, settled
himself in his seat, and got a good grip of his oar, we
shove off and dash into the rapid as fast as twelve oars
can take us, with shouts of “ Hurrah! boys!” (the only
English words the Indians know) and “ekwa,” a Cree
word, meaning “Come on.” The guide or steersman stands
on a seat in the stern steering the boat with a long oar—
a picturesque figure, with his long black hair waving
behind him. In a moment we are among the rapids,
and seem to sink into a mass of foam, from which we
emerge sideways, and are carried towards a projecting
rock. Wild exclamations in French from the guide!
the bow oarsman seizes a pole, and sends the boat off,
and then we spin down the tail of the rapids, not without
one or two bumps that make the whole frame of the boat
quiver. The whole distance, a mile or two, is done in
two or three minutes, and it is not bad fun. After the
boats have run the rapids it is dinner-time, and then the
crew set to work to carry the cargo over the portage—a
work of two or three hours. In some places the boats
* Continued from p. 105.
themselves have to be hauled across on rollers, which is
pretty hard work. We continue our way down stream,
stopping about 4 o’clock for tea, and at sunset reach another
Portage. Here we camp, and in a very skort time the
tents are pitched, a tree felled to make a camp-fire, and
kettles singing thereon. Supper and bed-time make up
the day. Such is a fair specimen of a day’s river travel-
ling. With a fair wind we sail, especially on the lakes.
The crews are Chipewyans ; their language is chiefly
made up of clicks and gurglings in the throat, and differs
altogether from Sioux, Cree, and the other languages
spoken further south.
A Roman Catholic priest here showed me a Chipewyan
grammar and dictionary that they have composed. There
are over sixty sounds in the language, so they have to
invent additional letters. There is something Asiatic in
the appearance of these Indians, with their small mous-
tache and tufts of hair on their chin, quite unlike the
Indian of the plain. They are Roman Catholic.
After leaving Portage la Loche, on July 24, the first
day’s journey took us down to the Terre Blanche falls ;
here we had to haul the boats over a small hill, as the
river is a succession of falls and rapids for about half a
mile; a very pretty place, the river runs between lime-
stone cliffs, crowned with pine trees, and all stained
bright orange colour with lichen.
On the 28th we reached the Athabasca, a splendid
river, usually half a mile in width, sometimes more. Its
course is pretty straight to the north, so we often had a
view of some fifteen miles or so down the valley.
On the 29th, having a fair wind, we made a hundred
miles. We met two lots of Indians ; from the first we got
some moose, the first fresh meat we had tasted for a long
time, and from the others we got some raspberries and
asketoon berries, which were very refreshing.
As we drifted down the river, the pines began to give
place to poplar, the poplar to willow, and the willow to
reeds, till at last we saw Lake Athabasca before us, a
rocky coast to the north, and to the east water as far as
the eye could reach,
A fresh breez> took us across the lake in two hours,
and we received a hospitable welcome at this place,
together with all sorts of luxuries that had become quite
strange to us.
This is quite a large place ; there are about a dozen
houses, two churches, two bishops, a sisterhood, and
some missionaries. The country is rocky, and most
desolate. To the south and west the great lake stretches
away to the horizon, and the land view is composed of
hills of reddish granite, no soil, plants growing here and
there out of occasional crevices, and a few stunted firs
scatiered about. There are woods in the valleys, but the
trees are of no size. No sound breaks the stillness but
the weird cry of the loon, a sort of maniacal laugh that
is almost a wail; and the solitude is heightened by the
reflection, that for 1000 miles north, south, east, and west
all is wilderness.
Towards the lake the view is pretty, as there are many
islands covered with pines.
The weather is cooler than it has been, I am glad to
say. For days we had the thermometer at 85° and 86°,
and even higher ; but though hot, the summers are short,
and I think that of this year is over. The mosquitos, at
any rate, are beginning to disappear, and now the climate
is nearly perfect, like the best English summer weather.
August 5.—There was a fine aurora last night: a cur-
tain of flame seemed to descend from the sky nearly
overhead and right across the sky, and after waving about
for a few moments, died away again. Yesterday I went
to see the Roman Catholic Mission; they have quite a
pretty church, which has been built some thirty years. I
was also taken to see the sisters, of whom there are six.
They all seemed very flourishing, and have a very nice
| house.
Fan. 11, 1883]
NATURE
243
August 6, Sunday—I was at the English church
this morning. It is a nice little church, and there was a
congregation composed of the Hudson’s Bay people,
twenty or thirty. Most of the Hudson’s Bay people are
Scotch, many coming from the Orkneys. -The Bishop
Bompas is very pleasant, he is a great traveller, and has
lived amongst the Esquimaux at the mouth of the Mack-
enzie River, and he works very hard.
August 9.—The weather has been stifling hot, 89° in-
doors, for the last three days, quite like the West Indies.
Yesterday I went over to see a performance at the Roman
Catholic Mission of the school children, got up by the
sisters in our honour. They sang,and acted, and danced
remarkably well. They have very good memories I am
told.
It is curious living together without money, as one does
in this country, Everything is done by barter, the unit
of value being a skin ; the average value of a beaver skin
is said to be worth twenty ducks, or forty white fish, or
twenty plugs of tobacco, so that fora plug of tobacco (about
an } 0z.) one can get a duck or two white fish, a large fish
about two feet long, and very good eating. This place,
like all other habitations in the north-west, swarms with
large wolf-like dogs. These are used in winter for draw-
ing carrioles, and a team of four dogs will draw 500 lbs.
or more. The Indians use them too, in summer, as pack
animals.
The boats have just made their appearance, four black
specks on the horizon to the north, so we shall be off in a
few hours.
THE SWEDISH EXPEDITION TO
SPITZBERGEN, 1882
HE results of the researches of the expedition de-
spatched to Spitzbergen last summer by the Swedish
Academy of Sciences, under the eminent savan¢s Baron
G. de Geer and Dr. Nathorst, for the study of the geolo-
gical and geographical features of the island, are very
interesting. In the first instance, these gentlemen have
drawn two maps, showing the exact geographical features
of the island, as compared with those prepared by two
previous expeditions. Of these, one shows the outlines
of the fjords and valleys in the southern part of the
island, with the boundary of the inland ice, and the other
the relative depth of the seas around Spitzbergen and
Scandinavia. From the latter it appears, that these two
land-formations are really elevated ridges on a compara-
tively level plateau, which sinks abruptly in the ocean
west of Spitzbergen. In the second instance, the expe-
dition has ascertained that the deep fjords and narrow
valleys of the island have not been formed by upheaval
of the terrestrial crust or by strong water-courses, but are
due to the action of glaciers during the Glacial period,
while from the marks on the rocks of the Beeren Island,
it may be assumed that the Spitzbergen glaciers extended
even so far.
At the close of the Glacial period a sudden subsidence,
followed by a still greater rising of the shores, both of
Spitzbergen and Scandinavia, most provably took place,
which is demonstrated by the discovery, in Scandinavia as
well as Spitzbergen of old gravel beaches and the shells
of salt-water mussels far inland. The existence in Spitz-
bergen of some of the most characteristic species of the
Scandinavian flora and fauna, may perhaps be ex-
plicable by migration from Scandinavia, at a period
when the plateau between the two ridges was above the
level of the sea, we may assume, shortly after the close of
the Glacial period. It seems impossible to explain other-
wise how, for instance, birds, particularly those living on
land, could have found their way to this island, some
700 miles distant from the Scandinavian peninsula.
At the same period, the common Scandinavian “ Blaa-
musling,” Mytilus edulis, and a few other species
1
have, no doubt, also migrated into the island.
This
species is now, however, extinct, but the large quan-
tities of shells found on the shores indicate that at one
time it must have been common enough. The latter circum-
stance seems to prove that the climate of Spitzbergen at an
earlier period was muchmilder thanat present, and corrobo-
rates alsothe theory of a connection having existed between
Spitzbergen and Scandinavia about the Glacial period, as
such a land-barrier would have caused the eastern arm of
the Gulf Stream, which now flows by the North Cape, to
have taken a more northerly direction, and thus carried
the softening elements of a southern clime to the now
desolate rocks in the Arctic Ccean. Cc. S.
THE INCREASE IN THE VELOCITY OF THE
WIND WITH THE ALTITUDE
(es fact that the upper strata of the atmosphere as a
rule move more rapidly than those near the earth’s
surface, has long been inferred on theoretical grounds,
though little direct evidence beyond the marvellous and
often unexpected voyages of aéronauts, or casual obser-
vation of the clouds, has hitherto been furnished in its
favour. The practical value of this fact is beginning to
be felt by engineers since the investigations undertaken by
Mr. T. Stevenson in 1876, and more recently (see Journal
of Scottish Meteorological Society, vol. v. pp. 103 and
348), showed that even for moderate heights the old
notion of assuming the wind to be of uniform velocity at
all altitudes was seriously in error, and that to rely upon
it in the case of lofty structures might entail disastrous
consequences.
While Mr. Stevenson’s experiments have shown that
the wind’s velocity increases very considerably, especially
near the surface, they do not touch the question of the
increase noticed at great heights, nor can the formulz or
conclusions derived from them be said to throw any light
on a matter which evidently contains the germs of many
important truths for the meteorologist.
Where the engineer ends in fact the meteorologist may
be said to begin ; but in this case the engineer ends a
little too soon, since Mr. Stevenson’s latest experiments
terminate at the top of a pole only 50 feet high, where he
leaves us with a formula ‘‘believed to be sufficiently
accurate for practical purposes,’ and which is said to
give the velocity for ‘‘eveat heights above sea-level.”
Whence Mr. Stevenson obtains this formula, or on what
data he believes it to be approximately correct, we are
not told, and here the question is left in a state of uncer-
tainty for greater heights, in which we trust neither
engineers nor meteorologists will allow it long to remain.
It might even be advantageous to the former, if instead
of trusting to a few empirical formule, they would ask
the meteorologists what they knew about the matter, and
joined with them in endeavouring to discover a rational
formula which would yield satisfactory results at all
elevations.
Theoretically the main factor at small elevations in
determining the increase of velocity, would appear to be
the diminution of friction as we rise above the surface,
and as this must occur most decidedly near the surface,
so the velocity must increase in the first few feet “ per
saltum.” Mr. Stevenson’s experiments and curves show
this very clearly. Indeed up to a height of 15 feet the
increase is so sudden, so irregular, and so clearly de-
pendent on the nature of the surface, that no attempt has
been made to include this space within a formula.
There is, however, another factor which acts Positively
in the same direction, and which, while operating for the
most part at great heights, where its influence ultimately
predominates to the exclusion of the friction factor, must
be felt to some extent at comparatively moderate
elevations. A } ‘
I allude to the general increase in the barometric
244
NATORD
[ Fan. 11, 1883
gradient with the height above the earth’s surface, due to
the general temperature gradient between the equator
and the poles, in conjunction with the earth’s rotation.
This fact has been thoroughly investigated by Mr. Ferrel
of the U.S. Coast Survey, and the results given in his
“ Meteorological Researches,’”’ vol. i. In this work he
has given on p. 45 the mean west-easterly component of
the velocity at the surface due to the causes just men-
tioned, and the term by which this increases with the
height (in metres) for every fifth degree of latitude on the
mean of all longitudes, for the months of January and
July, and for mean annual temperatures, calculated from
the observed barometric pressures and temperatures in
every part of the world.
For latitude 50° the eastward velocities at the surface
and increment terms for the elevation are as follows in
two different measures.
Mean temperatures. January. July.
Miles per hour 3°35+8°6% ... 3°97+12°IA ... 2°73+5°1%
Feet per second 4°91 + ‘0024... 5°82+'0033% ... 4700+ 0014h
where / represents the height in miles and feet respec-
tively.t
Owing to ¢hzs cause alone therefore the eastward (and
therefore in our latitudes the prevailing) motion of the
atmosphere will be increased on the mean of the year by
83 miles per hour at a height of 5280 feet, or by 2} miles
per hour at a height of about 1300 feet.
The increase in the horizontal velocity which results
from the joint action of these two factors, is thus probably
very different from that which would arise from a mere
diminution of friction alone, since at great heights this
would theoretically become almost insensible.
For a thoroughly satisfactory solution of the matter,
nothing will avail except anemometrical observations
made at every possible elevation (preferably, as I lately
suggested in a paper read before the Meteorological
Society, with instruments attached to kite-strings), but in
the absence of these at present, it may be worth while to
use some excellent observations on the velocity of differ-
ent cloud-layers recently communicated to the Austrian
Zeitschrift fiir Meteorologie, by Dr. Vettin,? for the pur-
pose of showing the complete breakdown of Mr. Steven-
son’s formula when applied to “great heights above sea-
level.”
The following table, which is taken from Dr. Vettin’s
paper, gives the mean velocity of the clouds from all
directions, at five altitudes to which they respectively
belong, and which, together with their velocities, have
been measured by methods described in detail in the |
paper from which it is extracted :—
TABLE I.
Name of Barometric Height Numbes To eee
SENS Preaek: feet. observations. second
In.
Upper cirrus . 11°968 ... 23,000 879 59°5
Under cirrus el 7kOS Steel, SOO) eens 1047 51°8
G@loudlets4 .. |... 22°441.... (7200 —... 1588 350
Cloud nee 25 7 38n et SROO! na LOT 30°4
Under cloud ... 287127 ... 1600 ... 1292 374
Wind (sea-level) ... 29°922 ... oO ... 4168 19°8
It will be seen from this table that while there is a
rapid increase in the velocity of the wind through the first
1600 feet, an abrupt diminution occurs between this
height and 3800 feet, after which the motion again
increases at a more moderate rate.
Now Mr. Stevenson’s formula for heights above 50 feet
H where V7, v, H, /, are the velocities and heights
x It must be noted that the surface velocities given in this table are some-
what in excess of the truth, owing to the neglect of surface friction, but this
does not affect the increment terms to any large extent.
2 Zeitschrift fiir Meteorologie, Band xvil., July and September Heft ;
«Die Luftstrémungen tiber Berlin.”’
> Reduced from the original figures in millimetres, 4 Wolkchen.
at the upper and lower stations respectively. If we apply
this formula to the preceding table and calculate the
heights at the higher levels from those at the lower ones,
we get for the most favourable cases the following
values :—
_ Observed — Calculated
Velocity. Height. Velocity. Height.
37°4 1,600 =; a 259'2 12,800
518 12,800 113°I 23,000
which are so absurdly in excess of those observed at the
same levels, and so far beyond what we might reasonably
expect as to render it doubtful whether this formula is
true for any height above the first 100 feet. Even the
formula which is supposed by Mr. Stevenson to fail above
ae feet gives better results than this one at the higher
evels.
ff +72
h +72
observed values as those used above gives the following
calculated values :—
This formula is— = , and from the same
uv
Height. Velocity.
12,800 103°7
23,000 69°3
but even these are far in excess of those observed. Both
formulze moreover fail lamentably up to 1600 feet, for
even if we assume that 19°8 represents the velocity, not at
sea-level, but at an elevation of 100 feet above it (an ex-
ceedingly favourable assumption since the velocity at this
height would considerably exceed that at sea-level), the
first formula would make the velocity at 1600 feet four
times, and the second more than ¢hvee times that actually
observed by Dr. Vettin.
It is plain, therefore, that both formulze must fail con-
siderably below 1600 feet, and until further evidence is
furnished it would seem probable that neither of them
give correct results much above 100 feet or so.
For practical engineering purposes no doubt they would
succeed only too well, since they would probably give a
maximum velocity far in excess of the truth, and this,
judging from examples such as the Tay Bridge, would be
no disadvantage when the force of the wind enters into
engineering calculations.
It would surely be better, however, if we could arrive
at a somewhat closer approximation to the truth, and
better still if we could arrive at the truth itself. This, as
I have already pointed out, will be only accomplished for
the lower strata by further experiment in the same direc-
tion as that already followed by Mr. Stevenson, modified
by attaching anemometers to kite strings, and for the
upper strata, which chiefly concern the meteorologist by
observations of the clouds similar to those made by Dr.
Vettin.
Meanwhile, however, I have found a formula which
gives very much more satisfactory values at the higher
levels than those furnished by Mr. Stevenson. ‘This
formula is—
4
ex
u h
And although I do not expect it will be found to hold
very near the surface, it certainly accords, omitting the
anomalous case at 3800 feet, from 1600 feet to 23,000 feet,
or through a range of 21,400 feet, very closely with the
values observed by Vettin.
The figures observed and those calculated from this
formula are as follows :—
TABLE II.
Height of lower Height of upper Velocity
Sania” Seni Observed. Calculated.
3,800 7,200 35 356
1,600 F rel
7,200 12,800 518 515
12,500 23,000 59°9 59°5
23,000 41,000 672 68°7
1 The mean of the two. ? Calculated by Vettin.
lel patie
|
Fan. 11, 1883]
Moreover, if we assume that 19°8 is the velocity at 100
feet, the velocity at 1,600 feet calculated from it by this
formula would be almost exactly egwa/ to that observed,
instead of four times as much as it was when calculated
= 2. The empirical formula v = 281+ 0°2 J h,
where z is the velocity in feet per second, and / is the
corresponding height in feet, gives for the four elevations
above, results in close agreement with those observed, but
it would probably fail below 1,600 feet.
Mr. Stevenson in his first paper uses a formula
—_ A where Ff are the forces (“ pressures ” I sup-
BoM
V
fon ==
pose is meant by this objectionable word) at the two
levels corresponding to H and /.
In his second paper he says he prefers the formula
- = where P and # are the pressures at the
—=>—_ = —;
u h
two levels to the formula = _ = from which and some
h
other remarks it would appear that pressure and velocity
are considered to vary directly with each other. This is
a notion which is certainly at variance not only with the
hitherto generally accepted empirical formule, but is dis-
tinctly contrary to the results lately deduced by Mr.
Ferrel from the hydrodynamical theory (see Van Nos-
trand’s Engineering Magazine, vol. xxvii. p. 141). The
formula usually found in the text-books is # = ‘00492 v",
and the one deduced by Ferrel is
"0027 =
Da 1+ :0036657 P’ ”
where P P’ are the barometric pressures at the level under
consideration and at sea-level respectively, and 7 is the
temperature in degrees Centigrade ; and though from the
latter formula it is evident that the pressure at the higher
levels will be less for the same velocity than below (at the
height of Mont Blanc, for example, it would be reduced
by about one-half) there is nothing to lead us to infer that
ba PP
vo p
F H
If in the formula = - \/ =
Mr. Stevenson, we make the ordinary assumption that
FE
a
which was discarded by
2
- we get the formula which I have already shown
ap
gives results which agree closely with the values observed
by Vettin above 1,600 feet, and which even below this
height is much nearer the truth so far as can be inferred
from the slender data employed, than the formula pre-
ferred by Mr. Stevenson.
If we take the heights as abscissze, the curve traced out
by the velocity-ordinates will be much flatter than the ordi-
nary conical parabola, and at great heights will approxi-
mate very nearly to a straight line parallel to the axis.
Ferrel’s increment-term makes it a straight line all through,
but his formula assumes that the temperature gradient
between the pole and the equator is the same above as at
the earth’s surface, it leaves out friction altogether, and
also supposes the velocity for the same gradient to be the
same at all heights, whereas according to theory it should
cos Zz
increase with the height in the ratio , Where z is the
angle the wind makes with the isobar, and P is the baro-
metric pressure at the level under consideration. Not-
withstanding these omitted factors, of which the first and
last probably tend to destroy each other, it will be found
that the addition of the increment corresponding to each
altitude to the velocity at the surface observed by Vettin
gives us the following fair approximation to the values
actually observed, though the calculated values are too
NATURE
a
245
| small at 1600 feet and too large at 23,000 feet by just
about the same amount :—
. Velocity Calculated from
ates ht- observed, Ferrel’s Formula.
23,000 59°5 750
12,800 518 505
7,200 35 3/50)
3,800 30°4 28°9
1,600 374 23°6
fo) 19°8
In conclusion, it is evident that, quite apart from the
meteorological side of the question, more investigations
like those undertaken by Mr. Stevenson, are urgently
required to determine the actual rate of increase of the
velocity at moderate heights, from which a formula like
the one I have recommended may be deduced, which
will yield values more within the range of probability than
those furnished by the one which is apparently supposed
to suffice for the rest of the atmosphere after we have
reached the top of the fifty-foot pole.
E. DouGLas ARCHIBALD
KRAO, THE “HUMAN MONKEY”
HROUGH the courtesy of Mr. Farini, I have had a
private interview with this curious little waif, which
he is now exhibiting at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster,
and for which he claims the distinction of being the long-
sought-for “ missing link’”” between man and the Anthro-
poid apes. Krao certainly presents some abnormal
peculiarities, but they are scarcely of a sufficiently pro-
nounced type to justify the claim. She is, in fact, a
distinctly human child, apparently about seven years old,
endowed with an average share of intelligence, and
possessing the faculty of articulate speech. Since her
arrival about ten weeks ago in London, she has acquired
several English words, which she uses intelligently, and
not merely parrot-fashion, as has been stated. Thus, on
my suddenly producing my watch at the interview, she
was attracted by the glitter, and cried out c’ock, c’ock,
that is, clock, clock! This showed considerable powers
of generalisation, accompanied by a somewhat defective
articulation, and it appears that her phonetic system does
not yet embrace the liquids 7 and » But in this and
other respects her education is progressing favourably,
and she has already so far adapted herself to civilised
ways, that the mere threat to be sent back to her own
people is always sufficient to suppress any symptoms of
unruly conduct.
Physically Krao presents several peculiar features.
The head and low forehead are covered down to the
bushy eyebrows with the deep black, lank, and lustreless
hair, characteristic of the Mongoloid races. The whole
body is also overgrown with a far less dense coating of
soft, black hair about a quarter of an inch long, but no-
where close enough to conceal the colour of the skin,
which may be described as of a dark olive-brown shade.
The nose is extremely short and low, with excessively
broad nostrils, merging in the full, pouched cheeks, into
which she appears to have the habit of stuffing her food,
monkey-fashion. Like those of the anthropoids her feet
are also prehensile, and the hands so flexible that they
bend quite back over the wrists. Thethumb also doubles
completely back, and of the four fingers, all the top joints
bend at pleasure independently inwards. Prognathism
seems to be very slightly developed, and the beautiful
round black eyes are very large and perfectly horizontal.
Hence the expression is on the whole far from unpleasing,
and not nearly so ape-like as that of many Negritos, and
especiaily of the Javanese “Ardi,’ figured by me in
NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 200. But it should be mentioned
that when in a pet, Krao’s lips are said to protrude so
far as to give her “ quite a chimpanzee look.’’
Apart from her history one might feel disposed to
246
NATURE
_ Dian. ae 1883
regard this specimen merely as a “sport” or /usus nature,
possessed rather of a pathological than of a strictly an-
thropological interest. Certainly isolated cases of hairy
persons, and even of hairy families, are not unknown to
science. Several were figured in a recent number of the
Berlin Zectschrift fiir Ethnologie, and, if I remember,
both Crawfur1 (“Journal of an Embassy to Ava”) and
Col. Yule (“* Mission to the Court of Ava”) speak of a
hairy family resident for two or three generations at the
Burmese capital. This family is reported to have come
originally from the interior of the Lao country, and in the
same region we are now told that little Krao and her
parents, also hairy people, were found last year by the
well-known eastern explorer, Mr. Carl Bock. Soon after
their capture, the father appears to have died of cholera,
while the mother was detained at Bangkok by the Siamese
Government, so that Krao alone could be brought to
England. But before his death a photograph of the
father was taken by Mr. Bock, who describes him as
“completely covered with a thick hairy coat, exactly like
that of the anthropoid apes. On his face not only had he
a heavy, bushy beard and whiskers, similar in every
respect to the hairy family at the court of the King
of Burmah, who also came from the same region
as that in which Krao and her father were found ;
but every part was thoroughly enveloped in hair. The
long arms and the rounded stomach also proclaimed
his close alliance to the monkey-form, while his power of
speech and his intelligence were so far developed that
before his death he was able to utter a few words in
Malay.”
Assuming the accuracy of these statements, and of
this description, little Krao, of course, at once acquires
exceptional scientific importance. She would at all
events be a living proof of the presence of a hairy race in
Further India, a region at present mainly occupied by
almost hairless Mongoloid peoples. From these races
the large straight eyes would also detach the Krao type,
and point toa possible connection with the hairy, straight-
eyed Aino tribes still surviving in Yesso and Sakhalin,
and formerly widely diffused over Japan and the opposite
mainland.} A. H. KEANE
IGURE OF THE NUCLEUS OF THE BRIGHT
COMET OF 1882 (GOULD)*
LTHOUGH this comet presented a beautiful spec-
tacle, when seen with the naked eye, I have been dis-
appointed at the small amount of work which I have
been able to do in the way of accurate observation. I
give herewith the only two good sketches which I have
been able to make. The aperture employed was 15 inches,
and the power was 145 diameters.
82, October 13
188 2; October 13.—(See the fi
curved as in the drawing. It consists of three masses.
I am sure of a break at a, tolerably sure of the break
ae 6, and I suspect a break at ¢, but I am not certain
of it.
figure.) The nucleus is
* See my paper on ‘' Aino Ethnology”’ in NaTuRE, vol. xxvi. p. 524.
? Paper by Prof. Edward S, Holden, in the Asieriran Woot Sctenice
and Arts.
1882, October 14.—The night is very poor. (In genera
the z appearances of last night are confirmed.) The nucleus
is about 1’ long. #
1882, October 17 —(See the figure.) There are three
masses, plainly separated. J is farther north than the
line A—C by 3—4”. There is a dark division between
each pair of masses. & and C are nearly in the parallel.
1882, October 17.
The brush of light from the mass 4 toward the east,
comes from the south side of A, as it is drawn. From
the W. end of 4 to the E. end of the brush of light, is
about 15”.
1882, October 18.—The dark space between 4 and JZ is
about 10” ; it is as wide as 4 itself, and wider than on
October 17. C is certainly seen as a separate mass ;
A and # are bright and stellar in appearance, more so
than on October 17. C is, however, fainter than then.
The dark axis of the tail extends quite up to the coma.
1882, October 19.—Cloudy. The nucleus is seen as
before. A and Z are s-en, as also the dark space between
them. C is not seen, but this is probably on account of
the unsteady air.
I regret that my opportunity did not allow me to make
any further sketches of value.
Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, November 3, 1882
NOTES
THE office of Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland,
vacant by the promotion of Mr. Geikie to be Director-General,
has been filled up by the appointment of Mr. H. H. Howell,
District Surveyor of the Geological Survey of Scotland during
the earlier years of its progress, but who since the separation of the
Scottish branch of the establishment in 1867, has been con-
tinuously employed in England, where he has personally sur-
veyed large tracts of the northern counties, and where for some
years past he has had the direct personal supervision of the
whole of the field-work in that district. He will not be able to
enter fully on his duties in Scotland until the area now under
his charge in the north of England has been completely sur-
veyed. The promotion of Mr. Howell having caused a vacancy
in the rank of District Surveyor, Mr. W. Whitaker has been
appointed to the post. This geologist is well known for his
detailed surveys of the Tertiary deposits of the London basin.
He is at present engaged in the survey of Norf sk.
THE United States Transit of Venus expedition, under Prof.
Newcomb, arrived at Plymouth on Sunday as passengers by the
Union Steamship Company’s steamer Moor, from Cape Town.
They report that their observations were made at Wellington,
fifty-eight miles from Cape Town, under extremely favourable
conditions, two good observations of internal contact and 236
photographs being obtained, of which more than 200 can be
measured.
THE annual general meeting of the Association for the
Improvement of Geometrical Teaching will be held, through
the kindness of the Council, at University College, Gower Street,
on Wednesday, the 17th instant, at 11 a.m. In addition to the
usual routine business, the president (R. B, Hayward, F.R.S.)
—---
Fan. 1, 1883]
NAT ORE
will propose ‘‘that the Committee for Elementary Plane Geo-
metry be instructed to publish Part 1 of the Plane Geometry,
and to take such steps as they may deem advisable to secure its
recognition as a basis of instruction and examination in geo-
metry.” It will be in the recollection of some of our readers
that the object of the Association was extended at the last annual
meeting, so as to include the effecting of improvements in the
teaching of elementary mathematics and mathematical physics.
This extension has met with great approval, and the novelty of
this year’s meeting will be the reading of three papers : (1) ‘‘ The
Teaching of Elementary Mechanics,” by W. H. Besant, F.R.S.
(2) ‘‘ The Basis of Statics,” by Prof. H. Lamb, of the Adelaide
University. (Prof. Lamb is of the opinion that the true and
proper basis of statics is to be sought for in the principles of
linear and angular momentum). (3) ‘‘ Notes on the Teachings
of Dynamics,’’ by Prof. Minchin. The reading of the papers will
be followed by a discussion, in which it is hoped that Prof. G.
Carey Foster, F.R.S., Prof. Minchin, and others will take part. The
papers will be read at the afternoon meeting which begins at 2 p.m.
The two present honorary secretaries will resign office; Mr.
Levett, in consequence of the pressing necessity of his other
duties, and Mr. Tucker, in consequence of the state of his
health, which compels him to withdraw from some of his
engazements ; both gentlemen, however, hope to remain on the
council and act as amici curi@ to their successors in office.
THE well-deserved honour of C.1.E. has been conferred upon
Surgeon-Major James Edward Tierney Aitchison (Bengal Army),
F.L.S., who did such excellent botanical work with Sir
Frederick Roberts’s force in the Kuram Valley during the
Afghan war.
GEOoLoGiIsTs will regret to hear that one of the most promising
of the younger members of their number, Mr. E. B. Tawney,
of the Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge, died suddenly at
Mentone on the 3oth ult.
THE death is announced, on December 22 last, of Dr. Carl
Hornstein, professor of theoretical and practical astronomy, and
director of the observatory in the Carl Ferdinands University,
Prag, at the age of fifty-eight years.
‘THE thirty-sixth annual general meeting of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers will be held on Thursday, January 25,
and Friday, January 26, at 25, Great George Street, Westmins-
ter. The chair will be taken by the president, Perey G. B.
Westmacott, Esq., at half-past seven p.m. on each evening.
The following papers will be read and discussed :—Report on
the hardening of steel, by Prof. F. A. Abel, C.B., F.R.S, of
Woolwich ; on the molecular rigidity of tempered steel, by
Prof. D. E. Hughes, F.R.S., of London; on the working of
blast furnaces, with special reference to the analysis of the
escaping gases, by Mr. Charles Cochrane, of Stourbridge, vice-
president ; on the St. Gothard tunnel, by Herr E. Wendelstein,
of Lucerne ; on the strength of shafting when exposed both to
torsion and end-thrust, by Prof. A. G. Greenhill, of Woolwich.
Tue old female Hippopotamus (Adfela) presented to the
Zoological Society in 1853 by the then Viceroy of Egypt, died
in the Gardens on the 16th ult., after having for some time past
exhibited manifest signs of old age. Her mate (Odaysch) died
in 1877, after having lived twenty-seven years in the Gardens.
It is thus evident that about thirty years is the extreme limit of
Hippopotamine existence, as it is not at all likely (judging from
the state of the teeth and bones) that either of these animals
would have been able to support existence so long in its native
wilds, as under the favourable circumstances in which it lived
in the RKegent’s Park.
Dr. Buastus of Brunswick has recently shown that the fossil
remains of a species of Souslik, found in various parts of
247
Northern Germany, which are usually attributed to Spermophilus
altaicus, really belong to S. rufescens, Keys. et Bl. It is
probable that the cave-bones from the Mendip Hills, upon which
Dr, Falconer established his SP, exythrogunoides (Pal. Mem., ii.,
P- 453), are really of the same species, and that this Rodent,
now driven far east into the steppes of Orenburgh (like other
members of the Steppe-fauna), formerly extended all over
Northern Europe, and even into the British Islands.
RECENTLY, our readers may remember, Miss Baxter of Bal-
gavies, sister of Sir David Baxter, and aunt of the Right Hon.
W. E. Baxter, and the late Dr. Baxter, Procurator-Fiscal of
Dundee, gave jointly 150,000/. for the endowment and erection
of a college in Dundee. Buildings have been acquired, profes-
sors appointed, and the work of the college will soon be begun,
Miss Baxter has just given another 10,000/. to provide a labora-
tory, and the trustees of the late Dr. Baxter also 10,000/. to
found a Chair of Law.
As the late M. Gambetta was a member of the Society of
Dissection, an autopsy of his body was made, The weight of
his brain was found to be 1100 grams; M. Mathias Duval,
Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, found the structure of
the brain to be very fine, and the third convolution, which M,
Broca assuciates with the speechifying faculty, to be remarkably
developed.
THE project of the United States for establishing an
universal meridian has been sent to the Paris Academy of
Sciences for approval. It is expected that Great Britain may
object to this measure, and it has been proposed that, in con-
sideration of the services rendered to geography by England, tha!
the Greeawich meridian should be selected as the start-poin
for time and longitude.
Our Paris Correspondent writes that the second Paris inun
dation is developing its ravages with peculiarities which proy«
that modern engineers do not pay sufficient attention to the
effects of their works on the 7¢yzme of the stream they profess tc
regulate. The level of the Seine is just as high at Charenton as
it was in 1876, although it is 20 centimetres less elevated at Pont
Royal, where it reaches only 7 metres. The reason of this dif-
ference is that an ignorant Municipal Council authorised the
building of a bridge which crosses the river obliquely, and a
new quay at Bercy, where in som: places the dimensions of
the bed of the stream have been diminished by not less
than 55 metres. If the rains continue it is feared that one of
the Paris bridges, the Invalides, will be carried away, which will
produce real disaster.
Pror. BORNSTEIN, of Berlin, has brought out a small work
on meteorology under the title of ‘‘ Regen oder Sonnenschein.”
In conjunction with Prof. Laudolt he has also nearly completed
an important work (‘** Physikalisch-Chemische Vabellen”) con-
taining all the most reliable determination of constants sequired
in chemical and physical work, some of which will be published
in a collected form for the first time.
Mr. J. P. McEWEN, of Hong Kong, under date November
28, 1882, sends us some observations of the comet, taken on the
morning of the 27th :—26d. 15h. 43m. 17s. wean time at place,
the distance from Sirius measured by sextant was 34° 32’; 26d.
15h. 50m. 30s. mean time at place, the distance from Procyon
was 39° 31’; longitude in time, 7h. 36m. 40s. A line drawn
from the small brightest star in the lower part of the sword-
scabbard of Orion through Sirius almost exactly passed through
the nucleus of the comet ; the apparent length of the tail was
about twice that of Orion’s belt. It was getting very indistinct,
and on the 27th, owing to the bright moonlight, was more so
than if the night had been dark and clear. Mr. McEwen has
seen the comet several times, an] when at its greatest brilliancy,
248
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
stars of the 4th or 5th magnitude could be distinctly seen through
the tail. The tail pointed in a direction about midway between
Sirius and Procyon. M. Dechevrens, the director of the Zi-ka-
Wei Observatory (near Shanghai) has devoted a good deal of
attention to this comet, the result of which will directly be
published.
Amateur Mechanics is the name of a new illustrated monthly
Magazine, conducted by Mr. P. N. Hasluck, and published by
Triibner and Co.
WE have received from the U.S. Naval Observatory the
results of the observations made to determine the longitude of
the observatory of the J. C. Green School of Science, Princeton,
N.J. The final result is that the latter is oh. gm. 34s.°538
east of the central dome of the observatory.
THE earthquake in Panama on November 7 was followed by
a violent shock on November 13 at 2.30 a.m. It was observed
also at Taboga and Colon, It is remarkable that all the Central
American earthquakes since August last have occurred between
midnight and daybreak, Their general direction was invariably
from north to south, and it is supposed that they proceeded from
one and the same cause. The West Indian cable broke, at a
point about thirty miles from land, during a violent shock. The
centre of the disturbance seems to lie near the West Indian Isles-
During the second week of December seven shocks were felt in
the Spanish province of Almeria. On December 8 at 10.1 p.m.
a fearful shock lasting four seconds was felt at Tecuci (Roumania).
Its direction was from south-east to north-west. Another earth-
quake is reported from Hermagor (Carinthia). It occurred on
December Io at 2 a.m., and was preceded by a terrible thunder-
storm.
AN “‘Illustrirte Bienenzeitung,” organ for the propagation of
rational apiculture, will be edited by Prof. Adolphson of Ziirich.
beginning on the Ist inst.
In the Pelion district a moderately violent earthquake occurred
on December 11, but no damage was done. Upon the island
of Santorin new yolcanic activity has recently been noticed ;
also in the subterranean volcano which formed near Missolunghi.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Himalayan Bear (Uysus t2detanus) from
Burmah, presented by Capt. Connor ; two Bronze Fruit Pigeons
(Carpophaga enea) from India, presented by Mrs. A. H, Jam-
rach ; four Barred-shouldered Doves (Geofelia humeralis) from
Australia, presented by Mr. Ernest L. Bentley ; a Lesser Sulphur-
crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) from Moluccas, presented
by Mr, K. Digby ; a Gannet (Sw/a Zassana), British, presented
by Mr. Thomas Keen ; a Cape Bucephalus (Bucephalus capensis)
from South Africa, presented by Mr. H. Pillans; a White-
fronted Lemur (Lemur albifrons @ ) fromm Madagascar, four Wood
Thrushes (Zurdus mustelinus), a Golden-winged Woodpecker
(Colaptes auratus) from North America, two Cirl Buntings
(Emberiza cirlus), two Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristalus), a
Razorbill (A/ca torda), a Bar-tailed Godwit (Zimosa latponica),
a Red-throated Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis), British, pur-
chased.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE ON May 6.—The right ascensions
and declinations of the moon for 1883, both in the Navz‘ical |
Almanac and the American Ephemeris, depend upon Hansen’s
Tables, with the recent corrections of Prof. Newcomb. They
furnish as accurate positions as are obtainable from existing
tabular data, and it will be of intere t to trace their bearing upon
the circumstances of the total eclipse of the sun which cro ses
the Pacific on May 6. On laying down the belt of totality upon
the Admiralty chart of this ocean, it appears that the following |
islands are included within it, viz. —Rance, Buffon, Beveridge,
Flint, Caroline, and Chanel Island (in the Marquesas) ; the
positions read off from the general chart or for Flint, Caroline,
and Chanel Island, from the enlarged Admiralty charts are as
follow :—
Rance Island, Long. 176 22 West. Lat. 24 20 South,
Buffon bed oD 170 ° 39 ” 20 39 7
Beveridge,, 3 AO75O |, a5) (2DE LORY 35
Flint , ” » 51 50 4, sg WAGZ5e “saa,
Caroline ,, Pe ui) Os » 9 54 9
Chanel 9 ” 140 31 32 ” 7 55 ”
From direct calculation for each of these points the following
local mean times of beginning of totality, the duration of the —
same, and the sun’s approximate altitude at the time, result :—
Totali i - x
eae? S Dantes | gree
h. m. s. m. s. a
Rance Island, 8 47 36a.m. S27 29
Buffon ,, 2218 5 4 20 38
Beveridge,, 9 34 48 ,, quTE 41
Flint = Dl) 19/43) %5 5 26 61
Caroline ,, a eae ee i ee 5 fe eda
Chanel ,, O 43 32 p.m AT ee ae
It should be mentioned that the semi-diameter of the sun has
been taken from the Mautical Almanac ; that of the moon was
obtained from her horizontal parallax, using the factor 0°2725.
The duration of totality at Sohag in Egypt in the eclipse of last
May was exactly given by this arrangement,
THE MINOR PLANETS.—The part of the Berliner Astrono-
misches Fahrbuch for 1885, containing ephemerides of the minor
planets for 1883, has been issued to the various observatories in ad-
yance of the publication of the annual volume. It contains approxi-
mate places for every twentieth day of 224 of these bodies, the
latest being No. 225, with accurately calculated opposition
ephemerides of 43, each extending over about five weeks ; this
division of: the Jahrbuch occupies upwards of one hundred
ages,
; There are six cases during the year where the planets
approach the earth about opposition, within her mean
distance from the sun. On June 22 FPhocea is at a dist-
ance of 0°93, declination + 16°; on July 12 the distance of
Clio is 0°96, declination —354°; on August 1 that of Js%s is
0°90, declination —28°; on October 1 that of Folyhymnia is
0°98, declination +84° ; on October 20 that of Virginia is 0°98,
declination +13°, and on December 11 Fora in perigee is ata
distance of 0°97, with declination +18°. Galle’s method of
determining the solar parallax, so strongly advocated and ably
applied by Mr. Gill, is not likely to fail for want of opportuni-
ties of applying it. As regards the magnitude near opposition
we have in the case of Phocea 9:0; Clio, 10°2; JLsis, 8°85
Polyhymnia, 9°7 ; Virginia, 9°9 ; and Flora, 8-2.
During the year 1883 four of these planets descend below
I4m., from coming into oppo:ition not far from aphelion.
Comet 1882 c.—Mr. Gill has secured five complete obser-
vations of this comet (discovered by Mr. Barnard in September)
on the meridian S.P., with the transit-circle at the Cape of
Good Hope, between November 11 and 30, so that places for
upwards of a fortnight after the perihelion passage will be
available for calculation.
THE EDUCATION OF OUR INDUSTRIAL
CLASSES |!
T is, I believe, according to precedent, now that another
year’s work of the Science Classes here has been crowned
by the award of prizes, that I should address you on some topic
allied to the matters which have brought us together to-night.
I need not search long for a subject, for the scientific education
of those engaged in our national industries—upon the success or
failure of which, in the struggle for existence, the welfare of our
country so largely depends—is now one of the questions of the
day. I propose, therefore, to lay before you some facts and
figures bearing upon the education of our industrial classes, and
| shall attempt to make what I have to say on that special point
clearer, by touching upon some preliminary matters, which will
show how it is that such a question as this has not been settled
long ago ; and further, that we can, if we wish, settle it now in
t An address delivered in presenting the prizes at the Coventry Science
| Classes, by J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.
Fan. it, 1883]
NATURE
249
the full light of the experience gained elsewhere, instead of
wasting let us say a quarter of a century in costly experiments
which may perhaps leave us in confusion more confounded. To
begin, then, why is this question being discussed now? ‘There
is a, great fact embodied in the most concrete fashion in the way
in which our Government is now compelled to deal with our
national education. Side by side of the Education Department
by which our Minister controls in the main that book learning
which has been given time out of mind, there has sprung up
during the last thirty years another department—the Science and
Art Department— by which he controls a new kind of national -
learning altogether. We have added to the old study of books
a new study of things. This new learning was, we may say,
only introduced in 1852, in which year the Queen in her speech
on opening Parliament said: ‘‘ The advancement of the fine arts
and of practical science will be readily recognised by you as
worthy the attention of a great and enlightened nation.” We
have since found out that they are indeed worthy the attention of
a great nation, and more than this, that no nation can be called
enlightened whose citizens are not skilled in both; in fact, that
they are to peace what cannon and swords are to war. But for
a nation to foster them is one thing, to include them in a national
scheme of education is another. Ought they to be so included ?
Let us see. What do we mean by education ? Roughly speaking,
we may say that there are two distinct schools of thought on this
subject, although the existence of these two schools is not so
generally recognised as it should be. According to one view, the
human mind is an elastic bag into which facts are to be crammed
for future use. A variation of the view is that the mind is
inelastic, and then the stuffing -process becomes more serious,
and instead of depending upon a natural expansion, a process
like that in use by the manufacturers of soda-water is employed.
It is not to be wondered at that the youthful mind likes neither
of these methods ; what ought to be a true delight becomes a
real agony, and hence it is, as a Warwickshire man wrote many
years ago—
““ Love goes toward love
As schoolboys from their books ;
But love from love
Toward school with heavy looks.”
—The mind on this view resembles a store Where, as our
American cousins say, everything, from a frying-pan to a
frigate, which shall be useful to the owner in after life, is to be
found. Hence such terms as Grammar School, Trade School,
Science School, Commercial Academy, and hence I am sorry to
say, systems of examination which too often only serve to show
what a boy can remember, and little care about either what a boy
can do, or whether he can think. So much for one view. Now
for the other. It is more difficult to image it, but in the absence
of a better illustration, the mind may be likened to the body—a
thing to be trained so that its grace, its freedom, its strength, its
grasp, indeed all its powers in all directions and in all ways may
be brought out by proper training. If the training is one-sided
its power cannot be many-sided, but it is most useful when
many-sided. Therefore, as each muscle of the body has to be
properly trained to make a perfect man, so must the educational
system brought into play be such as to train to its uttermost and
bring out each quality of the mind. Each faculty of it when
called into play becomes as a two-edged sword in the arms of a
strong man. In this, or some such way, then, may we picture
to ourselves the difference between instruction in its real sense,
and education in its real sense. Now, which of these systems
is the better one? We shall see at once that the first may give
us a mind stored with facts covering a large or a small area ; it
may be bookkeeping, or it may be Latin, or anything else. But
will the mind be able to use this store in all cases? We grant
knowledge, but may not wisdom linger? Those of us who have
got to Voltaire’s second stage, and who have studied men, know
that this too often happens, and that much knowledge does not
prevent the owner from being absolutely unfitted to grapple
with the problems which each rising sun brings to him for solu-
tion, The other system, on the other hand, if the training is not
thoroughly all-round, may give us a man who finds that the
questions presented to him on his entrance to active life are
precisely those which require the application of that quality of
mind, whichever it may be, which was least trained at school.
He may find himself face to face with problems of the existence
of which he never dreamed, and so far removed from his
experience that his mind, however powerful in some directions,
fails to grapple with them. We seem, then, on the horns of a
dilemma. Instruction may provide us with a store of facts,
which the mind does not know how to use. Education may
provide us with a mind which has been trained in a world utterly
different from the real one. How can we escape from this
dilemma. Ve must use the materials of that instruction which is
most useful to us in our progress through life as a basis for the
complete education of the mind. Which instruction is the most
useful tous? The poet tells us, that ‘‘the proper study of man-
kind is man”; but when we come to prose and read the views
of those who best know the needs of modern society, and espe-
cially industrial society, we read something like this which I
quote from the report on elementary and middle class instruction,
published by the Royal Commission of the Netherlands : ‘‘ The
idea of Zudustrial Society not limited to agriculture, manufactures,
and trade or commerce, but understoud in its widest significa-
tion, points plainly to the acquiring of the knowledge of the
present world, and to its application to economical and technical
pursuits.” Now, here is a subject on which a volume might be
written, but I shall only point out to you the obviousness of the
importance of the study, not merely of ourselves, ov of the world
around us, but of ourselves, azd of the world around us. This
lands us in the necessity of training our minds in literature or
humanities, and science and art—the study of the humanities
enables us to know the best thoughts, and the most stable con-
clusions on vital questicns, arrived at by our forerunners and
those who are fighting the same battles in other lands. The
study of science enables us, on the other hand, to get a true idea
of the beautiful universe around us, of our real work in the
world, and of the best manner in which we can do that work in
closest harmony with the laws of Nature. Did we study the
external world alone we should not profit by the experience of
those that preceded us. Did we study humanities alone we
should be shorn of half our natural strength in face of many
of the problems placed before us by the conditions of modern
life ; and, more than this, all the glories of the beautiful world
on which our lot is cast, and the majesty of the universe of which
that world forms part would hardly exist for us, or give rise only
to dumb wonder. Here let me tell you alittle story. Three years
ago when travelling in America, one morning, at a little station
—we were approaching the Rocky Mountains—I was astonished
to see a very old and venerable French curé in his usual garb
enter the car, and as he was evidently in some distress of mind,
and as evidently had little command of English, I asked him in
his native language if I could be of any service to him, There
was a difficulty about a box which I soon settled, and then we
sat down and entered into conversation. He soon found out
that I was very astonished to see him there and told meso, [
acknowledged it. ‘‘It is very simple,” he said, ‘‘ 1 am very
old, and six months ago I was like to die and I was doing my
best to prepare myself for the long journey. In my fancies I
imagined myself already in the presence of /e dom Dieu, and I
fancied this question addressed to me, ‘M. le curé, how did ycu
like the beautiful world you have left’? I rose in my bed as
this thought came into my head for I—I who—figure to yourself
—had dared to preach of a better world for fifty years, was, oh!
so ignorant of this, And I registered a vow that if /e bom Diew
allowed me to rise from that bed of sickness I would spend the
rest of my life in admiring his works—et me voici! I am only
on my journey round the world; I am going now to stop at the
Yosemite Valley a few days ex route for San Francisco and
Japan, and the box, Monsieur, which your kindness has rescued
for me contains a little scientific library, now my constant com-
panion in my delicious wanderings.” Our general scheme of
education, therefore, unless it is to be one-sided, must combine
science with the humanities. But, so far, I have said nothing
about art. Now, from the educational point of view, science
and art are very closely connected, inasmuch as in the early
stages of both studies the student’s powers of observation are
brought out and trained in the most perfect way, while in the
later stages, to succeed in either, he must have learned that very
important thing—how to use his hands—and at whatever age you
put it that a boy ora girlshould use the hand neatly and skilfully,
beforethatage youshould take care that some elementary grounding
at all events, in the only training which can do this, shall have been
given. No amount of Greek, or of useful or of useless geography,
or even of rule of three, can prevent the fingers being all thumbs,
unless some such training has been given, and for the very
earliest training drawing is undoubtedly the best. But this is by
no means the only advantage of the combination. Anyone who
has to go over thousands of examination papers finds in nineteen
250
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
cases out of twenty that an orderly drawing or diagram is gene-
rally associated with an orderly mind. In fact, a diagram may
be regarded as an index of the amount and accuracy of the
knowledge possessed by the student. The text of the student
who faiJs in the diagram is generally a more awkward jumble
than the diagram itself. Hence the facts show that this training
of the hand is accompanied by much good mental results. ‘This
is now so generally recognised, that in a not distant period, no
professor of biology, for instance, will attempt to demonstrate
practically microscopic structure to students who have had no
preliminary training in drawing. This is one example out of
many which might be given, for as natural science is the study
of nature, and as we can only study her by phenomena, the eye,
and the hand, and the mind, must work together to achieve
success, and he who attempts to describe the geology of a dis-
trict, the minute structure of a frog’s foot, an eclipse of the sun,
or the rings of Saturn, in words, and words only, has only done
half his work ; to complete it he must appeal to art for aid.
Now, many of you may be prepared to concede, without any
further insistance on my part, that an elementary acquaintance
with art is of great, nay, of even essential importance, not only
for its own sake, but because of its aid in natural studies. We
must then add art to science and literature in order to form a
complete curriculum. Here pardon me one moment’s digression
from the direct line of my argument. Many will agree that
science is aided by art who deny that art is aided by science to
the same extent. Indeed, some are prepared to urge that one
who proposes to devote himself to art can derive no possible
benefit from the study of science. Let us inquire into this a
little. If we wish to excel in the art of figure-painting, we must
know anatomy, a most important branch of science ; and as a
matter of fact, many artists study anatomy as minutely as many
surgeons do; and in the old days, when the artist and the poet
were more saturated with the knowledge of the time than they
are now, we find the great Leonardo at once professor of
anatomy and founder of a school of painting as yet unsurpassed.
If we pass from the figure to ornamental design, or if we wish
to show objects in perspective, is not every line, whether straight
or curved, dominated by an appeal to geometry? Again, sup-
pose we take landscape. Here we meet with phenomena of
colour as much regulated by law as are the phenomena of form,
and an anatomy of colour is fast being formulated, which to the
artist of the future will be as precious as the anatomy
of form has been in the past, and will ever continue to
be. Let us take, for instance, an artist who wishes to
paint a sunset, one of the most magnificent sights which it is
given to man to witness. The sky is covered with clouds here
and there, and not only do the colours of the clouds vary,
almost from moment to moment, but in all cases they present
the strongest contrast to the colour of the sky itself. The artist
is bewildered, and finds each effect that he would seize to be so
transient that at last he gives up in despair the attempt to note
down the various tints. But the possession of a knowledge of
the part played by the lower strata of our atmosphere in absorb-
ing now one and now another of the components of the light of
the setting sun, would change this despair into a joy almost
beyond expression. For the bewildering changes of colour are
then discovered to be bound together by a law as beautiful as
the effects themselves. There is another pint of view. One is
frequently pained in seeing in an otherwise noble work of art,
evidences that the artist was crassly ignorant of the phenomena
he attempted to represent, and in his attempts to transcend
nature had only succeeded in caricaturing her, painting, for
example, a rainbow in perspective, or a moon with its dark side
turned towards the setting sun. Yet these are almost trifles,
and, in fact, here we have the excuse of the ignorant artist—
now, I am thankful to say, the representative of a class that is
fast disappearing—for his defence is, that he has nothing to do
with such small matters, and that accuracy of this kind may
quite properly be sacrificed to secure the balance of his picture.
Now, to return to the main drift of my address, we have seen
that in any complete system of education neither science nor act
must be neglected by the side of the old humanities—the old
more purely literary studies; and it is indeed fortunate for us
that we live in an age in which the laws and the phenomena of
the external world have been studied and formulated with such
diligence and success that it is as easy now to teach science, in
the best possible way, as it is to teach classics in the best possible
way. It is half a century since the Germans found out the im-
portance of the new studies from a national point of view. We
are now finding it out for ourselves, and finding it out not a
moment too soon, and it is not needful for me to tell you that
the transformation which is going on is aeknowledged to be one
of the highest national importance. It is no longer an abstract
question of a method of education ; it is a question of the life or
death of many of our national industries, for, in a struggle for
existence, how can a man who wins his bread by the application
of national laws to some branch of industry, if he be ignorant of
those laws, compete with the man who is acquainted with them ?
If for man we read nation, you see our present position. How
far then have we got with our transformation, limiting our
inquiry to primary and secondary instruction? First, as to ele-
mentary education. The idea of the education—the compulsory
education, if necessary, of all the citizens in a state—dates from
the time of Luther. It is a horrible thing that we should have
had to wait three and a half centuries since his time for such a
measure, which is an act of simple justice to each child that is
brought into the world. In 1524 Luther addressed a letter to
the Councils of all the towns in Germany begging them to vote
money, not merely for roads, dykes, guns, and the like, but for
schoolmasters, so that the poor children might be taught, on the
ground that if it be the duty of a State to compel its able-bodied
citizens to take up arms to defend the fatherland, it is a fortiori
its duty to compel them to send their children to school, and to
provide schools for those who, without such aid, would remain
uninstructed. Thanks to our present system, now about ten
years old, out of an estimated population of 8,000,000 children
between the ages of two and fifteen, we had last year nearly four
millions at school, and out of an estimated population of
4,700,000 between five and thirteen, we had 3,300,000 at school,
Among this school population elementary science is at last to be
made a class subject, and we find mechanics, mathematics,
animal physiology, and botany among the specific subjects in
addition to the three R’s. 120,000 children received education
in these specific subjects last year, and if we are justified in
assuming that as many will learn science when it becomes a class
subject as now already learn drawing, we may expect ina year
or two to have this 120,000 swelled into three-quarters of a
million. I must again insist upon the fact that practical teaching
in science is the only thing that can be tolerated. Of course,
with a new subject the great difficulty is the difficulty of the
teacher. Any system, therefore, of economising teaching power
is of the highest importance. I am glad to know that a system
suggested by Col. Donnelly, which uses the utmost economy of
teaching power, has been carried into admirable practical effect
at Birmingham, and I believe also at Liverpool, and other large
towns. So that in the most important centres we may be certain
that science will be taught in the best manner. It is worth whie
to dwell on this system for a moment. Under it practical
teaching is given to boys and girls of the fifth and higher
standards, and also to the pupil teachers. The subject chosen
for the boys is mechanics, that for the girls domestic economy,
giving each of these subjects a wide range of meaning. There
is a central laboratory in which the experiments are prepared,
and from which the apparatus ready for use is conveyed
in a light hand-cart to the various schools—twenty-six in
number in Birmingham—bzlonging to the Board. In this
way it is possible to give twenty lessons a week, and the
circuit of the schoolscan be made ina fortnight. In the intervals
between the visits of the demonstrator the class teachers re-
capitulate his lessons and give the children written examinations,
About 1200 children are now being instructed in this way. To
make the instruction as real as possible, children are brought out
to aid in performing the experiments, objects are passed round,
and questioning at the end of the lecture is encouraged. In the
education, then, of our children, from the ages of five to thirteen,
we may rea-onably expect to find that science teaching will in
the future be carefully looked after. We now come to the secon-
dary education. Here, again, great progress has been made
during the last few years. The real difficulties against its intro-
duction have been the overcrowded state of the old curriculum,
the scarcity of teachers, the want of sympathy with it, and the
ignorance of its importance on the part of some headmasters.
but to those headmasters who held the view that no real training
could he got out of a subject which boys studied without positive
pleasure, parents began to reply that whether the boy liked it or
not he must get that knowledge somewhere. But where the
experiment was really tried under good conditions it was soon
found not only that the boys were willing to give three or four
hours a week of their playtime to scientific subjects, but that the
Fan, 11, 1883]
NATURE
251
one or two hours filched from the curriculum were more than
made up for by the greater ease with which the other subjects
could be learnt, in consequence of the additional training of the
mind which the new subjects gave. We may hope, then, that
in the course of time our secondary education may be much
improved in the direction indicated. What we may expect,
taking the principle of natural selection as our guide will be this.
First, the head-masters will themselves be men chosen among
other grounds for their knowledge of science, they will become
more and moreall round men. Next, the curriculum will be
arranged not for the few who go to the University, but for the
many who do not. We shall have more science and less Greek
in the early years of the school course. We shall have labora-
tories, and drawing rooms, and workshops. In some schools
we may find modern living languages taught in a living way re-
placing the dead languages altogether. Now, here our difficul-
ties begin. We are face to face indeed with the same difficulties
which the Continental nations, our precursors in educational
matters, have experienced. Our secondary education is at the
present moment all but absolutely separated from the primary
one. Of the 4,000,c00 scholars on the books of elementary
schools last year there were only 44,000 over the age of fourteen,
and it is to be feared that the remainder left school at that age,
most of them, the best as well as the worst of them, to fight the
battle of life with such an education as they had got up to that
time. Germany, again, was the first to find out that this would
never do, even though in that country science and art was taught
in the Primary School. And for the reason that though such a
meagre education might possibly do for ordinary workers in their
hives of industry, it was totally insufficient for the future fore-
men, overseers, and the like, and special schools were established
to carry their education further. Quite of late years this ques-
tion has been studied in the most interesting way in the Nether-
lands, under the advice of a wise minister, whose example will
be followed some day in our own country. Let me briefly refer
to it. This work began in 1863. In that year in Holland there
were no middle class or secondary schools for artisans, but there
were evening schools for drawing which dated from 1827.
“‘Burgher Schools” were established to provide the secondary
instruction still felt to be needed by those who otherwise would
have to content themselves with the primary instruction (although
in its more extended form it contained natural philosophy,
mathematics, and modern languages). In these schools—some
day, some night schools (in these the lessons went on from
September to May), with a course of two or three years, we find
mathematics, theoretical and applied mechanics, and mechanism,
physics, chemistry, natural hist ry, either technology or agricul-
ture, drawing, gymnastics, and other subjects among the fixed
subjects, modelling and foreign languages being permissive.
These burgher schools were compulsory in all parishes of 10,000
inhabitants. The evenimg burgher schools especially were at
once seized on with avidity, chiefly by apprentices and the like.
Here let me give you some statistics which will show you how
these schools were working even ten years ago. They are much
more flourishing now, but I have not the figures. I will show
how the Dutch (of whom it cannot be said, to vary an old
rhyme,
In matters of /earning the fault of the Dutch,
Is giving too little and asking too much.
for the instruction is yractically free), who are already learning
a trade or working at one, use the evening hours for the further
cultivation of their minds,
Number of students in
Population. Burgher Schools.
Delft... 23,000 171
Utrecht 64,000 283
Deventer 81,000 285
Dordrecht 26,000 146
Among the students at these schools in 1874 were 1582 car-
penters and joiners, 472 smiths, &c., 236 plumbers and masons,
170 goldsmiths, engravers, &c., 320 painters, to give examples.
Higher burghar schools were also established in the chief towns.
In these schools still more advanced instruction was given: and
here the course was for five years. In all these schools there
was a considerable state endowment, and an endowment on the
part of the town, so that the fees were almost nominal, and in
some cases even the instruction was gratuitous. When I was
inspecting these schools in Holland with an eminent man of
science, whose advice had helped largely to make them such a
success, and when I expressed to him my astonishment at the
smallness of the fees—only a very few shillings a year—he put
before me the question of State aid to schools in a way which
had never struck me before. Hesaid: ‘‘ We regard it as a sort
of education insurance. A small tax is paid by everybody during
the whole of his life, and in this way a man who brings up
children for the service of the State is helped by him who shirks
that responsibility ; and the payment which each citizen is called
upon to make towards this instruction is spread over his whole
life, and does not come upon him when he is probably most
pinched in other ways. Now for one practical result of the
establishment of these schools, The year 1863 found Holland
full of the notion that every hour a child spent away from the
desk or the bench after thirteen was time wasted ; but after
these burgher schools were instituted a change came over
the spirit of that dream, and now no employer of labour except
of the lowest and most manual kind in Holland, will look at a
boy who cannot produce a certificate from his burgher school.
Another very remarkable thing was soon observed, with a most
important moral for us. The great difference between their
burgher schools and the old gymnasia, the equivalents of our
grammar schools, was a greater infusion of science into the
teaching, and the introduction of three modern languages in
addition to Dutch, Latin and Greek being omitted altogether
from the curriculum. After four years of this training, many of
the boys showed such high promice that all connected with them
thought it a pity that they should not enter a university. They
were therefore allowed six months as an experiment to take up
Latin and Greek, and the result was that in a great number of
cases they beat the gymnasia boysin their own subjects, and
passed with flying colours, The Real Schul in Germany and
the modern sides of our own secondary schools are almost the
exact equivalents of the higher burgher schools to which I have
especially called your attention. What, then, is the experience
which has been gained in these gigantic educational experiments,
experiments by which we may profit, as we are so late in the
race, if we care todoso. One point is that if a chance is put
before those who have passed through the elementary schools of
further culturing their minds, they seize upon it with avidity.
Another is that the employers of labour appreciate the value of
the greater intelligence thus brought about. It is better to have
to instruct in a trade men who have shown themselves anxious to
learn, than to have to do with blockheads. Another, I think, is
this: Your best secondary school is best for everybody; a
secondary school with a properly mixed curriculum of literature,
science, and art, is best for him who proceeds either to the
University or to the workshop. A second-rate education in a
second-rate school, gives us a second rate man, and we do not
want our national industries to be worked entirely by second-rate
men. On this point I am glad to fortify what I have said by a
reference to Dr. Siemens’ important address at the Midland
Institute the week before last. He says: ‘‘It is a significant
fact that while the thirty universities of Germany (you see they
do not educate by halves in Germany ; they have seven times as
many universities as we have in England) continued to increase,
both as regards number of students and high state of efficiency 5
the purely technical colleges, almost without exception, have
during the last ten years been steadily receding, whereas the pro-
vincial Gewerbe Schuls have, under the progressive minister, von
Falke, been modified so as to approximate curriculum to that
of the gymnasium or grammar school. ‘‘ As regards middle-
class education, it must be borne in mind that at the age of six-
teen, the lad is expected to enter upon practical life, and it has
been held that under these circumstances at any rate it is best to
confine the teaching to as many subjects only as can be followed
up to a point of efficiency and have reference to future applica-
tion. Itis thus that the distinction between the German gym-
nasium or grammar school and the real Schule or technical school
has arisen, a distinction which, though sanctioned to some extent
in this country, also by the institution of the modern side, I
should much like to see abolished.” We see then the gradually
increasing weight of opinion, and the result of the experiments
both in Germany and Holland, and I may add France, point to
these conclusions. Some kind of secondary education must be pro-
vided for the best students when they leave the elementary school,
either before they begin work or while they are at work. Our
secondary education should go practically along one line, how far
soever the student goes along that line, some, of course, will go
further than others; provided always that our secondary educa-
tion is the best possible, that is, having the broadest base.
Now, if this be generally conceded our problem in England, at
252
NATURE
I Fan. 11, 1883
the present moment, is simpler than we thought it. We are
face to face with the fact that it is for the good of the nation
that those who have passed most successfully through the ele-
mentary education must continue that education in a secondary
school, whether for two, or for three, or for six years, matters
little for the argument. Are we then to build technical schools
for such students? Thirty years ago the answer would have
been yes. To-day we may say firmly, no. If a town has a
grammar-school, let the town see that the curriculum of that
school is based upon our best secondary models. If the town
has no such school, then let it build one. If one school is not
sufficient, then build two. That town will be the best off in the
long run which gives the greatest number of free exhibitions
from the elementary schools into such a school as this, and that
town will be the wisest which holds out such inducements at the
earliest possible moment. I have lately read with much interest
a copy of resolutions and suggestions, passed at a meeting of an
Association of Elementary Teachers in the north of England.
From these we may gather that this question is already one of
practical politics. It is agreed that the secondary education of
the best boys leaving the elementary schools must also on,
It is also taken for granted that the question lies between build-
ing a technical school or utilising the grammar school. One
argument used in favour of the latter cause is, that the grammar
school will be strengthened by drawing to itself the best boys
from the elementary schools, The present proposals are that a
number of free scholarships should be competed for annually,
that these free scholarships shall, if need be, be supplemented
by exhibitions from the fund at the disposal of the Governors (I
should not accept this at once. Why should not the town pay
them ?), and the length of time for which these scholarships shall
be tenable is not to be less than three years. You see, then,
that in the north of England, at all events, it is conceded that
the best children in our elementary schools should have a three
years’ course in a school of higher grade in which, of course, all
the class subjects in the Elementary Code will be expanded, and
all the linguistic studies of the grammar school taken in hand.
When thi system is at work, as it is bound to be in a few years,
two things will happen, and it is as well we should be prepared
forthem. In the first place, our secondary schools—all of one
model, the best model, be it understood—must so arrange its
curriculum, that the students can leave after a three years’ course,
if need be, for the workshop or the office, or after a longer
course for the University. That is the first point. The second
one is this. The present system of apprenticeship will be called
in question. A boy who has been educated to the age of sixteen
will learn very much more in three or four years, and will be
very much more valuable to his master during that time than he
who was formerly bound apprentice at the age of thirteen or
fourteen, with his fingers all thumbs, and no mind to speak of,
It seems to me as it does to a daily increasing number, that the
present mode of dealing with those matters which were formerly
regarded as arts and mysteries known only to a few, and
carried on on a small scale under the eye of the master,
is dead against the system of apprenticeship as it has come
down to us. Now the master does not teach, and the
boy in nine cases out of ten has no opportunity of grasping
the whole of the art or mystery at all. Many of you will
begin to think that you are listening to the play of Hamlet with
the part of the Prince of Denmark omitted, for so far I have said
nothing whatever about technical education. I have said nothing
about it for the reason that I believe the less said to a boy about
technical education before he is sixteen years old the better. I
now proceed to discuss this question, which is far more impor-
tant, far more a national question, than you would gather from
the debates in Parliament. What is technical education? It is
the application of the principles of science to the industrial arts.
And the rock ahead against which I am anxious to join Dr, Sie-
mens in warning you is this: Under the influence of the present
scare—for it is a scare, and a real one—there is a chance that
attempts may be made to teach the applications to those who are
ignorant of principles, whereas we have to fight those who study
applications with a full knowledge of the principles which
underlie them. We may congratulate ourselves on the fact that
when we have once made up our minds as to the right place of
technical instruction in our scheme of education, we have much
of the necessary machinery already at our disposal; and the
recent action of the City Guilds and of the Government is enor-
mously increasing the quantity and improving the quality of this
machinery. Let us first consider the classes now formed all over
the country under the auspices of the Science and Art Depart-
ment. Their development in -the last thirty years has been
something truly marvellous. When the Queen, in 1852, opened
Parliament, there were already 35,000 students of art, but
practically no students of science, in this country, amongst the
industrial classes. That 35,000 will, if the present progress goes
on, give us nearly 1,000,000 students of art at the end of this
year ; while the science schools have increased from $2 in 1860
to 1400 in 1880, with 69,000 students. The system which has
thus developed so enormously has dealt chiefly with pure science,
but for the future we shall have side by side with it, and built
upon the same lines, a system of teaching the applications of this
pure science to each of our national industries. He who wishes
in the future to have to do in any way with the manufacture of
alkali, gas, iron, paper, or glass, to take instances, or in the
dyeing of a piece of silk, or the making of a watch, to take
others, will find the teaching brought to his door, and obtainable
almost for the asking. Here, again, we may congratulate our-
selves, for while those who know most about the subject tell us
that the more ambitious attempts at technical instruction in
Germany and elsewhere have failed, because the teaching is not
in sufficiently close contact with the works in which the processes
are actually carried on, the system to which I have drawn your
attention will enable the instruction to be given at night to those
who have already begun practical work during the day. We
have, then, come to this: that putting together what is most
desirable in the abstract, and what has been practically proved
to be the best, the education of our industrial classes should be,
and can easily be, something like this. The boy will go to an
elementary school till he is thirteen. He will then pass with an
exhibition, if necessary, to a secondary school till he is sixteen.
He will there go on with his science—now a class subject in the
elementary school—and begin the study of languages. At six-
teen he will leave school and begin the battle of life, and can
still in the evening proceed further with his studies in pure
science, if the secondary education has left him too ill-equipped
in that direction. Having thus got the principles of pure science
into his mind he will be able to take up the technical instruction
in the particular industrial art to which he is devoting himself.
But be the number of our future foremen and managers who
who have had this extra three years of secondary instruction,
large or small, if there be in Coventry let us say out of your
population of 45,000, one thousand boys, or girls, or men, who
are anxious not only to learn science, but its application to: their
particular industries, then the Government is ready to endow
Coventry with a sum varying from two thousand to six thousand
pounds a year, according to the results of the examinations,
if two subjects of pure science are taken up, and the students
pass. The City Guilds are prepared to endow the town with
from 1000/. to 2000/. a year additional, provided some applica-
tion of the principles of science to the industrial arts is taken up,
and evidence forthcoming that the principles themselves have
been studied. Now if among your 45,000 there is not 1000 who
care for these things which are vital to your trades, seeing that
abroad these things are cared for, how can your trades stand
against foreign competition? Let sucha system as this go on for
twenty years, and we shall hear nothing more of the decay of our
national industries. Now here I am bound to point out a
distinct gap in the present system. We have classes for art,
classes for pure science, classes for applied science, but where
are the classes for languages? The modern languages are
taught so badly in our secondary schools, that it is hopeless to
expect that sufficient knowledge, either of French or German
can be acquired in the three years’ course to enable the student
to find out what his French aud German rivals are doing in the
branch of industry which he takes up; and we must, moreover,
consider those who may wake up to the importance of studying
science and its technical applications after the chance of a
secondary education is lost. Such classes then are a real want.
But I willnot end my address by a reference to what I regard
as an unfortunate gap, but would rather conclude what I have
to say by pointing out that the scheme I have sketched out need
be no Utopia, so far, at all events, as a supply of well-trained
teachers is concerned. This, up to the present time, has been
the real difficulty. But now that the authorities at South Ken-
sington have started sammer courses of lectures to teachers, and
that they actually pay the teachers for going to learn, the
methods of teaching, both in the elementary and secondary
schools, and evening classes, cannot fail to improve. Quite
recently, too, we have seen the inauguration of a Normal
: Fan. 11, 1883 |
School, where Royal Exhibitioners and other free students
are admitted without payment; where the teacher has
the first claim, and where he can attend any single course for a
nominal fee. Now every town of importance in the country
should associate itself with the Government in this attempt, and
should have one, at least, of its citizens always in training there,
so that the scientific instruction in that town, whether primary,
secondary, or tertiary, should always be at its highest level. On the
other side of the road, too, at South Kensington, is rapidly rising
another institution where we may hope the teachers of our technical
instruction will receive an equally careful training. So that you
see, to bring what 1 have to say to a conclusion, that though we
are late in the day, though many people have not yet made up
their minds as to what is best to be done—and I acknowledge
that the question is hedged in with difficulties on all sides—
there is an easy solution of the difficulty based on the experience
of other countries, which is at the same time an act of simple
justice ; that this solution requires no dislocation if we adopt it,
but simply a natural growth of our existing means, and that all
the newest developments of our educational machinery will all
fall naturally into place.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS *
The Observations at the Cape
“THE long looked-forward-to transit of Venus occurred yester-
day afternoon, causing, we may be sure, a flutter of ex-
citement amongst astronomers throughout the whole of the
world. To some the special duty was entrusted of carefully
noting everything connected with the ingress of this familiar
planet, and after they had concluded their labours at the setting
of the sun, it fell to astronomers in other portions of the globe
to pay equally minute attention to the planet’s egress. By and
bye we may expect columns of thoughtfully worked-out details in
connection with this peculiar and interesting astronomical event,
all of which will tend to still further solve the problem of the exact
distance of the sun from the earth, We need not remind our
readers that herein consists the whole scientific value of the
transit. _When crossing the sun’s disc the planet is at its nearest
distance from the earth—estimated at about 25,000,000 miles—and
through the peculiar facilities thus afforded of directly measuring
its parallax, observers are enabled to calculate the parallax
of the sun, which to astronomers is a matter of very considerable
importance. The credit of the suggestion of this particular
method of calculation is due to Dr. Halley, and it is still popu-
larly held to be the best for the purpose. But accompanying
the rapid strides astronomic science has taken in its development
since the days of Halley, instrumental means have been invented
and accepted by modern astronomers, which appear to afford
methods, perhaps even more exact, of arriving at the desired
result. For all this, however, the transit of Venus retains a
powerful hold upon the popular mind, and, indeed, upon the
minds of many astronomers, as the best method. There is, too,
one specially strong argument why a particular interest should
be taken in this planet’s transit. No one who witnessed the
phenomenon yesterday will live to see it again—unless, indeed,
he fairly outrivals old Parrand other gentlemen famed for long-
evity. Occurring as these transits do at the unequal but regular
recurring intervals of 8, 122, 8, and 105 years, no one could well
expect to see more than two in a lifetime. ‘The last took place
in 1874, while the next will occur in December, 2007. It need,
therefore, be no longer surprising why, both popularly and
scientifically, the event is regarded as one of such special in-
terest, and why the most eminent scientific observers are selected
to note everything that takes place.
Before proceeding to refer to the observations which were
taken yesterday at the Royal Observatory we may mention that,
acting under the advice of the Astronomer-Royal of the Cape
of Good Hope (Dr. Gill), the British Transit of Venus Com-
mittee decided upon establishing stations at Aberdeen Road and
Montagu Road as auxiliary places of observation to the principal
Station here at the Observatory itself. And before proceeding
further it may be added that Natal has come forward very
pluckily in this matter, exhibiting an amount of interest in
astronomic science which does great credit to that colony. Mr.
Escombe himself contributed a sum of between 4oo/, and soo/.
for the purpose of providing a proper telescope; while two
merchants subscribed 50/7. each, the Corporation of Durban
giving 300/,, and the Natal Government voting 500/. towards
* From the Cage Times, December 7, 1882.
NATURE
\
298
founding an observatory for the colony, and the defraying of
expenses connected with taking observations of the present
transit. Asa pleasant sequel to this, we are glad to learn by
telegraph, that Mr. Neison, who was in charge of the party of
observation there, most successfully observed the internal con-
tact at Durban, the enterprise of Natal thus meeting with a
well-merited reward. As announced by us some time since,
South Africa was selected by the Americans as a station for one
of their photographic transit of Venus expeditions under the
charge of Prof. Newcomb, who has the reputation of being one
of the most celebrated of living astronomers. On arrival here
Prof. Newcomb, after consultation with the best authorities as to |
atmospheric conditions, &c., finally decided, with the kind
consent of the trustees ofthe Huguenot Seminary to take his
observations from the foot of the gardens of that institution at
Wellington. We hope to shortly hear of the entire success of
the labours of the party, and perhaps to see some specimens of
their photographic skill.
At the Observatory itself it need scarcely be said that for
some weeks past great preparations had been made for the event.
There are few living astronomers who have more carefully
studied the subject of the transit of Venus than the present
Astronomer-Royal here, Dr. Gill, and few are more thoroughly
posted up 1n all the details of the rare occurrence. In 1574 Dr.
Gill was Chief Astronomer to Lord Lindsay’s Transit of Venus
Expedition to the Mauritius, where he not only took most valu-
able observations, but evinced a very intimate acquaintance with
the entire subject. It was only to be expected, therefore, that
in this instance no detail in connection with the arrangements
for a proper observation in Cape Colony would be lost sight of
by the Astronomer-Royal. The few visitors who received invi-
tations to the Observatory yesterday found Dr. Gill courteous
and affable as ever, but wholly absorbed in the important work
onhand. ‘‘ You may go here and go there, look through that
glass and have a peep through the other one,” were his remarks
just before commencing operations, ‘‘ but whatever yon do,
please don’t speak to me or any of the observers until the internal
contact has been made.” No injunction not to speak to the
“‘man at the wheel’? could have been more respected than this,
and from that moment until a couple of hours later Dr. Gill and
his assistants became objects of almost reverential awe to those
outside the pale of strict astronomic science.
One of the principal instruments employed was a new equa-
torial telescope by Grubb of Dublin, made and sent out here
specially for the transit of Venus, the old wind tower in which
it is now mounted having been prepared as an observatory for
itsreception. There was also aheliometer which had been used
at the last transit by Dr. Gill at the Mauritius, and was after-
wards borrowed by him from Lord Lindsay for use on the Isle
of Ascension, where he made a determination of the sun’s dis-
tance from the planet Mars. Subsequently this fine instrument
was purchased by Dr. Gill and was brought out here as his
private property on his being appointed Astronomer-Royal at
the Cape. Another noticeable instrument employed yesterday
was the great theodolite intended for the trigonometrical survey
of India. The designs of Col. Strange, however, from which it
was constructed, were so long in being carried out in manufac-
ture that General Walker, the Director of Survey, decided not
to bring it into use, especially as it was somewhat too heavy
for service in the field, Upon the apolication of Dr. Gill, it
was lent by the Indian Government, for the purpose of some
special researches in which that gentleman was engaged at the
time, and it was successfully employed the other day in taking
observations of the great comet. The other instruments included
a small equatorial telescope of 34 inches aperture, which was
used by Mr. Stone on the occasion of the last transit of Venus ;
an equatorial telescope of 7 inches aperture, which has also been
for some time at the Observatory, and a telescope of 2% inches
aperture belonging to Capt. Jurisch, examiner of diagrams in
the Surveyor-General’s department. Having mentioned the
several instruments, we must go on to state by whom they were
used. Dr. Gill himself observed the contact of Venus with the
sun’s limb, with the new 6-inch aperture equatorial, a similar
observation being taken by Mr. Maclear with the 7-inch equa-
torial. Dr. Elkin, a scientific friend and guest of the Astrono-
mer-Royal, took observations with the heliometer; Mr. Free-
man, with the great theodolite; Mr. Pillans, with the small
equatorial ; and Capt. Jurisch with his own equatorial. Several
important measures were also taken at the heliometer by Dr.
Gill and Dr. Elkin,
254
With regard to the weather, which of course was a very im-
portant element, the sky was perfectly clear, and altogether
suitable for the purpose of observation. There was a light
south-east wind blowing, and this prevented the definition being
so steady as might have been wished. We are ‘ officially”
assured, however, that on the whole the observations made at
the Cape of Good Hope may be regarded as perfectly satisfac-
tory, and that they will add considerably towards the solution of
the problem of the sun’s exact distance from the earth. We
have already intimated that at the suggestion of Dr. Gill, other
stations than that of the Observatory had been selected. At
Aberdeen Road, Mr. Finlay (of comet fame), the first Assistant
at the Cape Observatory, and Mr. Pette, third Assistant, were
provided with an equatorial of six inches aperture, and the
report received last evening by telegraph, was that complete
success had attended their labours. Mr. Marth, the well-known
astronomer, was detailed at Montagu Road in charge of one of
the British Transit of Venus Expeditions, and was provided
with a 6-inch aperture equatorial, his assistant, Mr. Stephen,
formerly of the Observatory, and now of the Treasury Depart-
ment, Cape Town, being provided with a 44-inch equatorial.
In his report last evening, Mr. Marth states that the sky was
cloudless, but a heavy dust-storm prevailed during the day. He
reported, however, that the important internal contact was
observed satisfactorily both by himself and Mr. Stephen. A
report from Capt. Skead, in conjunction with Mr. Spindler,
of Port Elizabetb, states that they also obtained satisfactory
observations,
We fear that the courtesy of the General Manager of Tele-
graphs, Mr. Sivewright, must have been sorely tested by the
frequent demand upon his staff for signals for the purpoce of
determining longitudes, &c. The telegraphic department, we
ought to state, has given the utmost facilities in connection with
these operations, and thanks to the co-operation of the General
Manager, everything connected with his department was accom-
plished without a hitch. The transit of Venus expedition will
indeed be indebted to Mr. Sivewright for his energy and devo-
tion in their interests. This additional work has necessarily
fallen heavily upon the shoulders of the staff at the Observatory.
Not only has the normal work of that establi-hment been
carried on as diligently as heretofore, but there has been the
additional task of taking observations of the great comet, which
with other things has told severely upon the endurance of Dr,
Gill and his assistants, Judging, though, from what we saw
there yesterday, there is no sign of anyone breaking down under
the strain of extra work,
The signals for time comparison were sent to the observers
engaged in the transit about aine o’clock on Tuesday evening
The night is described as having been beautifully clear, aud the
occultation of the bright star Spica Virginus was observed in
the early morning. Signals were also sent to Mr. Eddie,
Graham’s Town.
We have thus far briefly sketched the manner in which the
observations were taken yesterday—excepting the somewhat
primitive methoi of smoked glass adopted by a good many of
the general public, to whom the transit of Venus was not quite
such a matter of exquisite nicety as to such gentlemen as those
to whom we have just alluded. From a non-astronomic point
of view there was even with the aid of the proper instruments,
only to be seen a dark spot crossing the sun, resembling very
much a Wimbledon bull’s eye. Roughly speaking, the planet
made its external contact at five minutes past three o’clock,
when through a proper instrument it might have been seen
minutely notching into the sun’s edge. At twenty-five minutes
past the hour—still roughly speaking, for when the calculations
are worked out there might be a fractional part of a second one
way or the other—the internal contact occurred.
The sun set long before the transit had been completed. It
consequently fell to the lot of other astronomers to observe its
egress, which of course was as eagerly watched for as had been
that of the ingress. The ingress, it might be interesting to men-
tion, was visible in North and South America ; Europe, except-
ing the west of Russia and the north of Norway and Sweden ;
the whole of Africa, Madagascar, Seychelles, and the Mauritius.
The egress was visible in North and South America, Australia,
New Zealand, and nearly the whole of the South Pacific. This
egress will have heen completed by about eight o’clock this
morning, and then all interested in the subject of Venus may
look forward to another 122 years before the interesting occur-
rence again takes place.
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS?
E have grown so accustomed to the regular announcement—
““serlous—accident on such and such a railway, several
passengers injured”’ that we have almost come to regard railway
accidents as inevitable, just as parents mistakingly think the
measles and whooping cough necessary accompaniments of child-
hood. But speed no more means disaster than a densely
crowded city means disease. The first effect of overcrowding
is undoubtedly to produce fever and othercomplaints. If, how-
ever, the knowledge and practice of the laws of hygiene increase
more rapidly than the population of a town, the death-rate, as
we have seen, diminishes, instead of augmenting. And so it is
with locomotion ; the stage-coach journeys of our ancestors were
slow enough for the most staunch conservative, and yet the per-
centage of the pas-engers injured on their journeys was far
greater than even now with our harum-scarum railway travelling.
The number of passengers has increased enormously, but the
safety has increased in an even greater rate. If then we can
devise methods introducing still greater security, a far larger
number of passengers may travel at a far greater speed and with
less fear of danger than at present.
Accidents constitute one charge against railway conveyance,
but there is another, and that is the cost. Cheap as railway
travelling now is, compared with the departed stage-coach loco-
motion, the price of the tickets is still far too high for railways
to fulfil, even in a small degree, one of their must important
functions, and that is transporting labourers from parts of the
coun'ry where labour is scarce, to others where it is abundant
and labourers in demand.
But how is a happier state of things to te realised? We
cannot expect the railway companies to lower their fares merely
to benefit humanity. If, h :wever, we can prove to them that
the present system of railways is neither the most remunerative
to themselves nor the most beneficial to the community at large,
we may hope to win the attention of railway directors, whose
stock question is, and quite rightly, ‘‘ Will it pay ?”
Those of you who have read the life of Stephenson know
what a protracted fight he had to carry one of his most cherished
ideas, and that was the employment of a locomotive engine to
draw the train, instead of a stationary engine to pull it with
ropes or chains. His adversaries saw the disadvantage of ad ling
the weight of the locomotive to the weight of the train, whereas
Stephenson was especially struck with the enormous waste of
power in the friction of ropes or chains passing over pulleys.
[Experiments were then shown proving, frst, that the mass of
the locomotive necessitated the engine having a greater horse-
power to get up the speed of the train quickly as well as a
greater horse-power to keep up the speed; secondly, that the
friction and wear and tear of ropes, such as were employed
on the London and Blackwall Railway, would have been an
insuperable hindrance to the development of railways.] From
this was deduced that, since in Stephenson’s day the only feasible
mode of communicating the power of a stationary engine to a
moving train was by means of ropes, his decision to adopt the
locomotive was perfectly correct at the time it was made.
Attempts have heen made to propel trains by blowing them
through tubes, or by blowing a piston attached to the train
through a tube, but such attempts at pneumatic railways have
nearly all been abandcned. The employment of air compressed
into a receiver on the train by fixed pumping engines stationed at
various points along the line, and employed to work compressed
air engines on the carriages has been effected with considerable
suecess by Col. Beaumont, especially for tram-lines. The
weight of the compressed air-engine is, however, still very con-
siderable. Any system of pumping water through a pipe and
employing the water to work a hydraulic engine on the train is
hardly worth considering, seeing that the mechanical difficulties
of keeping up a continuous connection between the moving
train and the main through which the water is pumped seem
insuperable. Gas-engines worked with ordin.ry coal-gas, stored
perhaps under pressure, might be employed on the moving train,
but the advantage arising from the absence of bviler and coal
would be more than compensated for by the fact, that the weight
of a gas-engine per horse-power developed is so much greater
than that of a steam-engine. None of these systems, then, of
dispensing with a locomotive is by any means perfect, and the
success of the recent experiments on the electric transmission of
* Abstract of a lecture at the Royal Institution by Prof W. E. Ayrton,
F.R.S.
Fan. 11, 1883]
NATURE
255
power has turned the attention of engineers to the consideration,
whether electricity could not successfully supplant steam for the
propulsion of trains and tram-cars; whether it could not, in fact,
supply an efficient means of transmitting power, the absence of
which caused Stephenson to abandon ropes in favour of a heavy
locomotive engine.
The whole question, like every similar one, is mainly a ques-
tion of expense; and what we have to consider is, whether
electric transmission on the whole leads to greater economy than
can possibly be obtained by the employment of any kind of
locomotive. The average weight of a locomotive is about that
of six carriages fullof people ; ten carriages compose an ordinary
train, hence the presence of the mass of the locomotive adds at
least 50 per cent. to the horse-power absolutely necessary to
propel the carriages alone, and therefore at least 50 per cent to
the amount of coal burned. But there is another most serious
objection to the engines, perhaps even more important than the
preceding. The heavy engine passing over every part of the
line necessitates the whole line and all the bridges being made
many times as strong, and therefore many times as costly, and
the expense of maintenance consequently also far greater, than
if there were no locomotive. And it is not possible to make the
enyine much lighter ; for it would not have then sufficient ad-
hesion with the rails to be able to draw the train; in fact, you
cannot diminish the weight as long as the train is propelled with
only one or two pair of driving wheels as at present. The em-
ployment of electricity, however, will enable a train to be driven
with every pair of wheels, just as the employment of compressed
air enables every pair of wheels to brake the train.
To propel a train, we must either utilise the energy of coal
by burning it, or use the energy possessed by a mountain
stream, or the energy stored up in chemicals, and which is given
out when the chemicals are allowed to combine, or we must
employ the energy of the wind. Practically we employ at
present only the first store for propelling railway trains—the
potential energy of coal; and that is to a great extent the store
on which we shall still draw, even when we employ electric
railways. For experience shows that, with the modern steam-
engine and dynamo, at least one-twentieth of the energy in coal
can be converted into electric energy ; and that this is at least
twenty times as economical as the direct conversion of the
energy of zinc into electric energy by burning it in a galvanic
battery.
But it may be asked, did not Faraday’s discovery, in 1831,
that a current could be produced by the relative motion of a
magnet and a coil of wire, settle this point half a century ago?
Theoretically—yes ; practically, however, the problem was very
far from being solved, because the dynamo machine was very
unsatisfactory, and it was not until Pacinotti, in 1860, suggested
the solution of the problem of obtaining a practically continuous
current from a number of intermittent currents, and until
Gramme, about 1870, carried out Pacinotti’s suggestion in the
actual construction of large working machines, that the me-
chanical production of currents became commercially possible.
[Experiments were then shown illustrating the complete electric
tran-mission of power, a gas-engine on the platform giving
rapid motion to a magneto-clectric machine, and the current
thereby produced sent through an electro-motor at the other end
of the room, which worked an ordinary lathe. ]
In electric transmission of power there is not only waste of
power from mechanical friction, but also from electric friction
arising from the electric current heating the wire, through which
it passes.
It was then explained and demonstrated experimentally that
this latter waste could be made extremely small by placing so
light a load on the electro-motor, that it ran nearly as fast as the
generator or dynamo, which converted the mechanical energy
into electric energy; actual experiments leading to the result
that for every foot-pound of work done by the steam-engine on
the generator, quite seven-tenths of a foot-pound of work can be
done by the distant motor.
One reason why electric transmi sion of power can be effected
with so little waste is because electricity has apparently no mass,
and consequently no inertia; there is, therefore, no waste of
power in making it go round a corner, as there is with water or
with any hind of material fluid. Another reason why electro-
motors are so valuable for travelling machinery is on account of
the light weight of the motor. Experiment shows that one
horse-power can be developed with 56 Ibs. of dead weight of
electro-motor, and that for large electro-motors of several horse-
power the weight per horse is even much less; a result im-
mensely more favourable than can be obtained with steam, gas,
or compressed-air-engines.
In addition to the loss of power arising from the heating of
the wires by the passage of the current, there is another kind of
loss that may be most serious inthe case of a long electric rail-
way, viz., that arising from actual leakage of the electricity due
to defective insulation. To send an electric current through a
distant motor, two wires, a ‘‘ going” and ‘‘ return” wire mnst
be employed, insulated from one another by silk, guttapercha,
or some insulating substance ; and if the motor be on a moving
train, there must be some means of keeping up continuous con-
nection between the two ends of the moving electro-motor and the
going and return wire. The simplest plan is to use the two rails as
the two wires, and make connection with the motor through the
wheels of the train ; those on one side being well insulated from
those of the other, otherwise the current would pass through
the axles of the wheels, instead of through the motor. It is this
simple plan that is employed in Siemens’ Lichterfelde Electric
Railway, now running at Berlin; the insulation arising from the
rails being merely laid on wooden sleepers having been found
sufficient for the short length, 14 mile. The car is similar to an
ordinary tram-car, and holds twenty passengers. [Photographs
were then projected on the screen of this and of the original
electric railway laid by Siemens in the grouuds of the Berlin
Exhibition of 1879, and exhibited in 1881 at the Crystal Palace,
Sydenham.] It was explained that on this latter railway, which
was goo yards long, both the ordinary rails were used as the
return wire, and that the going wire was a third insnlated rail
rubbed by the passing train. [Photographs were then projected
oa the screen of Siemens’ electric tram-car at Paris, used to
carry fifty passengers backwards and forwards last year to the
Electrica] Exhibition.] In this the going and return wires were
overhead and insulated, connection being maintained between
them and the moving car by two light wires attached to the car,
and which pulled along two little carriages running on the over-
head insulated wires, and making electric contact with them,
[Experiments followed, proving that although two bare wires lying
on the ground could be quite efficiently employed as the going
and return wire, if the wires were short and the ground dry,
the leakage that occurred if the wires were long and the ground
moist was so great, as to more than compensate for the absence
of the locomotive. ] Consequently Prof. Perry and myself have
for some time past been working out practical means for over-
coming these difficulties, and we have arrived at what we hope
is an extremely satisfactory solution. Instead of supplying
electricity to one very long, not very well insulated rail, we lay
by the side of our railway line a well insulated cable, which
conveys the main current. The rail, which is rubbed by the
moving train, and which supplies it with electric energy, we
subdivide into a number of sections, each fairly well insulated
from its neighbour and from the ground ; and we arrange that
at any moment only that section or sections, which is in the
immediate neighbourhood of the train, is connected with the
main cable; the connection being of course made automatically
by the moving train. As then leakage to the earth of the
strong propelling electric current can only take place from that
section or sections of the rail, which is in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the train, the loss of power by leakage is very much
less than in the case of a single imperfectly insulated rail such
as has been hitherto employed, and which being of great length,
with its correspondingly large number of points of support,
would offer endless points of escape to the motive current.
Dr. Siemens has experimentally demonstrated that an electric
railway can be used fora mile or two; Prof, Perry and myself,
by keeping in mind the two essentials of success, viz. attention
to both the mechanical and electrical details, have, we venture to
think, devised means for reducing the leakage on the longest
railway to less than what it would be on the shortest.
For the purpose of automatically making connection between
the main well-insulated cable and the rubbed rail in the neigh-
bourhood of the moving train we have devised various means,
one of which is seen from the following figures.
AB (Fig. 1) is a copper or other metallic rod resting on the top
of and fastened to a corrugated tempered steel disc DD (of the
nature of, but of course immensely stronger than the corru-
gated top of the vacuum box of an aneroid barometer), and
which is carried by and fastened to a thick ring EE made of
ebonite or other insulating material. The ebonite ring is itself
screwed to the circular cast-iron box, which latter is fastened to
256
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
the ordinary railway sleepers. The auxiliary rail AB and the
corrugated steel discs DD have sufficient flexibility that two or |
more of the latter are simultaneously depressed by an insulating |
collecting brush or roller carried by one or by all of the car-
riages. Depressing any of the corrugated steel discs brings the |
stud F, which is electrically connected with the rod AB, into
contact with the stud G electrically connected with the well-
insulated cable.
As only a short piece of the auxiliary rail AB is at any
moment in connection with the main cable, the insulation cf the
ebonite ring EE will be sufficient even in wet weather, and the |
cast-iron box is sufficiently bigh that the flooding of the line or |
the depositjof snow does not affect the insulation, The insula-
Muu
\\
“Fic. 2.
tion, however, of G, which is permanently in connection with
the main cable, must be far better. For this purpose we lead
the gutta-percha, or india-rubber, covered wire coming from the
main cable through the centre of a specially formed telegraph
insulator, and cause it to adhere to the inside of the earthenware
tube forming the stalk, Andas, in addition, the inside of each
contact box is dry, a very perfect insulation is maintained for
the lead coming from the main cable. Consequently as all
leakage is eliminated except in the immediate neighbourhood of |
the train, this system can be employed for the very longest |
electric railways. Fig. 2 shows a modification of the contact |
box when the insulated rail L, instead of extending all along the |
line, is quite short and is carried by the train, and by its motion |
presses forwards and downwards a metallic fork on the contac s
box, thus making contact between F and G. [Other diagram,
were explained, illustrating modifications of the contact-boxes
in one case the well-insulated cable is carried inside the flexible
rail, which then takes the form of a tube, shown in Fig. 3; in
another case the cable is insulated with paraffin oil instead of
with gutta-percha or india-rubber, shown in Fig. 4, &c.]
The existence of there con‘act-boxes at every 20 to 50 feet
also enables the train to graphically record its position at
any moment on amap hanging up at the terminus, orin a signal-
box or elsewhere, by a shadow which creeps along the map of the
line as the train advances, stops when the train stops, and backs
when the train backs. This is effected thus:—As the train
Fic. 2.
passes along, not only is the main contact between F and G auto-
matically made, as already described, but an auxiliary contact is
also completed by the depression of the lid of the contact-box, and
which has the effect of putting, at each contact-box in succes-
sion, an earth fault on an insulated thin auxiliary wire running
by the side of the line. And just as the position of an earth
fault can Le accurately determined by electrical testing at the end
of the line, so we arrange that the moving position of the earth
fault, that is the position of the train itself, is automatically
recorded by the pointer of a galvanometer moving behind a
screen or map, in which is cut out a slit representing by its shape
and length the section of the line on which the train is, as shown
in Fig. 5. In addition, then, to the small sections of 20 feet or
more into which our auxiliary rubbed rail is electrically divided,
there would be certain long blocked sections one mile or several
miles in length, foreach of which onthe map a separate galvano-
meter and pointer would be provided. [Experiments were
shown of the system of graphically automatically recording the
progress of a train.]
In the preceding systems there are several contact-boxes in
each section of the insulated rubbed rail, and several sections of
the insulated rail in each section of the line blocked, but in the
next system the rubbed rail is simply divided electrically into
long sections each of as great a length as the particular system
employed to insulate the rubbed rail will allow. In thiscase we
arrange that the electric connection between the main cable and
the rubbed conductor shall be automatically made by the train
Fic. 4.
as it enters a section, and automatically broken as the train
leaves a section. The model before you is divided into four
sections, each about 11 feet in length, and you see from the
current-detectors that as the train runs either way, it puts
current into the section just entered, and takes off current from
the section just left.
[Experiments were then shown of the ease with which an
electric train could be made to back instead of going forwards,
by reversing the connections between the revolving armatures
and the fixed electro-magnets of the motor; also that the acci-
dental reversal of the field magnets of the main stationary gene-
rator, although it had the effect of reversing the main current,
produced no change in the direction of motion of an electric
engine, the direction of motion being solely under the control of
the driver. ]
Fan. 11, 1883 |
But more than this, not only does the train take off current
from the section 1 when it is just leaving it, and entering section
2, but no following train entering section I can receive current
or motive power until the preceding train has entered section 3.
[Experiments were then shown proving that with this system a
following train could not possibly run into a preceding train even
if the preceding train stopped or kacked.] Now why does the
following train when it runs on to a blocked section pull up so
quickly? The reason is because it is not only deprived of all
motive power, but is powerfully braked, since when electricity
is cut off from a section, the insulated and non-insulated rail of
that section are automatically connected together, so that when
NATURE,
257
a generator short circuited on itself, producing, therefore, a
powerful current which rapidly pulls up the engine. [Experi-
ments were then shown of the speed with which an electromotor,
which had been set in rapid rotation and then deprived of its
motive current, pulled up when its two terminals were short-
circuited. ]
Whenever, then, a train, it may be even a runaway engine,
enters on a blocked section, not only is all motive power with-
drawn from it, but it is automatically powerfully braked, quite
independently of the action of the engine-driver, guard, or
signalman, No fog, nor colour-blindness, nor different codes of
the train runs on to a blocked section the electromotor becomes
signals on different lines, nor mistakes arising from the exhausted
nervous condition of overworked signal-men, can with this system
—
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.
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PETERBOROUGH
Fic.
produce a collision. The English system of blocking is merely
giving an order to stop a train; but whether this is understood
or intelligently carried out is only settled by the happening or
non-happening of a subsequent collision. Our Absolute Auto-
matic Block acts as if the steam were automatically shut off and
the brake put on whenever the train is running into danger ;
nay, it does more than this—it acts as if the fires were pnt out
and all the coal taken away, since it is quite out of the power of
the engine-driver to re-start his train until the one in front is at
a safe distance ahead. i bes
But all trains will undoubtedly be lighted with electricity ;
must, then, the train"be plunged into darkness when it runs on
to a blocked section?to which no electric energy is being sup-
5S
plied? No! Ifsome of the electric energy supplied to a train
when it is on an unblocked section be stored up in Faure’s
accumulators, such as are at present used on the Brighton
Pulman train, the lamps will continue burning even when the
train has ceased to receive electric energy from the rubbed rail.
When, then, we commit the carrying of our power to that
fleet messenger to which we have been accustomed to entrust the
carrying of our thoughts, then shall we have railways that will
combine speed, economy and safety ; and last, but not least to
us Londoners, we shall have the entire absence of smoke, the
presence of which nearly causes the convenience of the Under-
ground Railway to be balanced by the pernicious character of its
atmosphere.
SOC ETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
F* RoyalfSociety, December 21, 1882.—‘‘ On the Origin of
the Hydrocarbon Flame Spectrum.” By G. D, Liveing, M.A.,
F.R.S., Prof. of Chemistry, and J. Dewar, M.A., F-R.S.,
Jacksonian Prof., University of Cambridge. }
In previous communications! to the Society we have described
the spectra of what we believe to be three compound substances,
viz., cyanogen, magnesium-hydrogen, and water. :
In these investigations our chief aim has been to ascertain
facts, and to avoid as far as possible adopting any special theory
regarding the genesis of the spectra in question.
Specific spectra have been satisfactorily proved to emanate
from the compound molecules of cyanogen, water, and magnesium-
hydrogen, so far as we can interpret in the simplest way the many
observations previously detailed. The fact that a fluted spectrum
is produced under certain conditions, by a substance which does
not give such a spectrum under other conditions, is of itself a
proof that the body has either passed into an isomeric state or
has formed some new compound ; but we are not entitled to
assert, without investigation, which of these two reasonable
explanations of the phenomena is the true one. There is, how-
ever, a spectrum to which we have had occasion to refer in the
papers on the spectra of the compounds of carbon, which closely
resembles that of a compound substance, and which we, in
common with some other spectroscopists, have been led to
attribute ito the hydrocarbon acetylene, without, however, being
1 ‘*On the spectra of the Compounds of Carbon with Hydrogen and
Nitrogen.” Iand II. Proc. Roy, Soc., vol. 30, pp. 152, 494. “On the
Spectrum of Carbon,” 7., vol. 33, p. 403. ‘‘General Observations on the
Spectrum of Carbon and its Compounds,” 7d, vol. 34, p. 123. ‘‘On the
Spectrum of Water,”’ 7d., vol. 30, p. 480. and vol. 33, p. 274. ‘‘ Investiga-
ions on the Spectrum of Magnesium,”’ 2., vol. 32, p. 189.
f
s'
t
able to bring forward such rigid experimental proofs of its origin
as we have adduced in the case of the three substances above
referred to.
hydrocarbon flame spectrum is really due to a hydrocarbon was
always indirect.
carbon, such as those of hydrogen mixed with bisulphide of
carbon or carbonic oxide, and the flame of cyanogen in air, did
not give this spectrum, and these particular flames are known,
from the investigations of Berthelot, to be incapable of generating
acetylene under conditions producing incomplete combustion.
On the other hand, we found that a flame of hydrogen mixed
with chloroform, which easily generates acetylene, gives the
hydrocarbon flame spectrum in a very marked manner, and it is
known that the ordinary blow-pipe flame, in which the same
spectrum is well developed, contains this hydrocarbon.
In other words, the experimental evidence that the
Thus, we showed that many flames containing
These and other experiments point to the intimate relation of
hydrogen and carbon in the combined form of acetylene to the
production of this spectrum during combustion.
observations on the spectrum of the electric arc taken in
different gases, the flame spectrum was always noticed, and
seemed to be independent of the surrounding atmostphere.
the mode in which those experiments were conducted, it was
easily shown that the carbons were never free from hydrogen,
and that the gases always contained traces of aqueous vapour.
Under these conditions acetylene is formed synthetically during
in our various
In
he electric discharge, the line spectrum of hydrogen being absent;
o that we were never convinced that the spectrum was not due
o the former substance,
It is well to remark in passing, that our previous work on the
spectrum of the carbon compounds was mainly directed to that
particular spectrum which is characteristic of the flame of
cyanogen, and only indirectly to the flame spectrum of hydro-
carbon.
We were further supported in connecting the latter
258
NATURE
[| Fan. 11, 1883
spectrum with acetylene, by observing that cyanogen compounds
are continously formed when the are discharge takes place in
gases containing nitrogen, and that in all probability their forma-
tion is due, as Berthelot has shown, to a reaction taking place
between acetylene and nitrogen. Berthelot is positive in his
assertions that cyanogen is never formed by a direct combination
between carbon and nitrogen, and any such apparent combination
is due to impure carbon, and the presence of an imperfectly
dried gas ; in other words, hydrogen is essential to the production
of cyanogen under such conditions according to the views of
Berthelot.
The fact that carbonic oxide, which is one of the most stable
binary compounds of carbon, forms a distinct spectrum of a
character similar to that of the flame spectrum, tended to support
the view that the flame spectrum might originate with acetylene.
The similarity in the character of the magnesium-hydrogen
spectrum to that of the hydro-carbon flame spectrum induced us
to believe that they were due to similarly constituted compounds,
and seeing we felt sure about the accuracy of the view, which
assigns the former spectrum to some compound of magnesium
with hydrogen, we accepted the analogy in favour of the sup-
position that acetylene is the substance which produces the flame
spectrum ; or, at any rate, that acetylene is a necessary concomi-
tant of the reaction taking place during its emission, and con-
sequently might give rise to this peculiar spectrum.
Having examined this question in the way described, we
adopted the view of Angstromand Thalén as to the genesis of this
spectrum in opposition to the views of Attfield, Morren, Watts,
Lockyer, and others, who held that this spectrum was really
due to the vapour of carbon. The delicate character of the
experiments which were required to discover the origin of the
peculiar set of flutings in the more refrangible part of the
spectrum of cyanogen made it apparent that, whatever views as
to the origin of the hydrocarbon flame spectrum were adopted
by different workers, it could not be regarded hitherto as experi-
mentally proved which was the correct one.
With the object of being able to exhaust this question, a
special study was subsequently made of the ultra-violet line
spectrum of carbon, in order to ascertain whether any of its
lines could be found in the spectra of the arc or flame. We
have found that the ultra-violet lines of metallic substances have
as a rule the greatest emissive power, and are often present
when no trace of characteristic lines in the visible part of the
spectrum can be detected. If carbon resembled the metals in
this respect, then we might hope to find ultra-violet lines
belonging to its vapour, thus enabling us to detect the volatili-
sation of the substance at the relatively low temperatures of the
arc and flame. The test experiments made on this hypothesis
are recorded in the paper entitled ‘‘ General Observations on the
Spectrum of Carbon and its Compounds.” It is there shown
that some seven of the marked ultra-violet spark lines of carbon
occur in the spectrum of the arc discharge, although one of the
strongest lines, situated in the visible portion of the spectrum at
wave-length 4266, could not be fcund. Further, it is proved
that the strongest ultra-violet line of carbon does occur in the
spectrum of the flame of cyanogen fed with oxygen. Thus it seems
probable that the same kind of carbon molecule exists, at least in
part, in the arc and flame, as is found to be produced by the
most poweriul electric sparks, taken between carbon poles or in
carbon compounds.
Now the spark gives us the spectrum which is associated with
the highest temperatures, and therefore it is assumed that this
spectrum is that of the simplest kind of carbon vapour. If that
be the case, we cannot avoid inferring that denser forms of
carbon vapour must exist in arc and flame, emitting, like other
complex bodies, a fluted, in contrast to a line, spectrum ; or
rather that the two distinct kinds of spectra may be superposed.
Such considerations showed that a series of new experiments and
observations must be made with the special object of reaching a
definite conclusion regarding the origin of the flame spectrum,
and the following paper contains a summary of the results of
such an inquiry.
Vacuous Tubes.—We have heretofore laid little stress on obser-
vations of the spark in vacuous tubes on account of the great
uncertainty as to the residual gases which may be left in them.
The film of air and moisture adherent to the glass, the gases
occluded in the electrodes, and minute quantities of hydrocarbons
of high boiling-point introduced in sealing the glass, may easily
form a sensible percentage of the residue in the exhausted tube,
however pure the gas with which it was originally filled. The
excessive difficulty of removing the last traces of moisture we
learnt when making observations on the water spectrum, and the
almost invariable presence of hydrogen in vacuous tubes is doubt-
less due in great measure to this cause. Wesendonck (Proc. Roy.
Soc., vol. 32, p. 380) has fully confirmed our observations as to
this difficulty. By a method similar to that employed by him,
we have, however, succeeded in so far drying tubes and the gases
introduced into them that the hydrogen lines are not visible in the
electric discharge. For this purpose the (Pliicker) tube was
sealed on one side to a tube filled for some six or eight inches of
its length with phosphoric anhydride, through which the gas to
be observed was passed, and on the other side to a similar tube
full of phosphoric anhydride, which was in turn connected by
fusion to the (Sprengel) pump. To dry the gas it is not enough
to pass it through such a tube or even a much longer one full of
phosphoric anhydride ; it has to beleft in contact with the anhy-
dride for several hours, and to get the adhering film of moisture
out of the tube it has to be heated after exhaustion while con-
nected, as above described, with the drying tubes up to the point
at which the glass begins to soften, and kept at near this temper-
ature for some time. To get most of the gases out of the
electrodes, the tube must be exhausted and sparks passed through
it for some time before it is finally filled with the gas to be
observed. Even whenthese precautions have been observed, the
lines of hydrogen can often be detected in tubes filled with gases
which should contain no hydrogen. The general result of our
observations on the spectra observed in tubes so prepared is that
the channelled spectrum of the flame of hydrocarbons is not
necessarily conrected with the presence of hydrogen ; it does not
come and go according as hydrogen is or is not present along
with carbon in the way that the channelled spectrum of cyanogen
comes and goes according as nitrogen is present or absent. Our
observations confirm those of Wesendonck on this point. This
spectra given by various tubes containing carbon compounds are
described in the paper.
Tubes filled with carbonic oxide exhibit in general at different
stages of exhaustion the following phenomena. When the
exhaustion is commencing and the spark will just pass, the
spectrum is usually that of the flame of hydrocarbons and nothing
else. As the exhaustion proceeds, the spectrum of carbonic oxide
makes its appearance superposed on the former, and gradually
increases in brilliance until it overpowers, and at last at a some-
what high degree of exhaustion, entirely supersedes the flame
spectrum, This is when no jar is used. In the earlier stages of
exhaustion, the effect of the jar is to increase the relative
brilliance of the flame spectrum, and diminish that of the carbonic
oxide spectrum, and at the same time to bring out strongly the
lines of oxygen and carbon ; at a certain stage of the exhaustion,
when the flame spectrum is very weak without the jar, the effect
of the jar is to bring it out again, but without sensibly enfeebling
the carbonic oxide spectrum, and without bringing out the
cervon lines, Ata still higher stage of exhaustion, when the
carbonic oxide spectrum is alone seen without the jar, the flame
spectrum is sometimes, not always, brought out by putting on
the jar, though the carbon lines again show well. At this stage,
at which the flame spectrum is not seen at all, the distance
between the strize in the wide part of the tube is considerable,
and much metal is thrown off the electrodes, which are rapidly
heated by the discharge. Ina tube filled with carbonic oxide
mixed with a little air imperfectly dried, when not too highly
exhausted, the carbonic oxide spectrum, that of the flame of
hydrocarbons, and that of cyanogen, may all be seen at once
superposed when no jaris used. With a jar and a tolerably
high exhaustion the carbonic oxide spectrum, the hydrocarbon
flame spectrum, and the carbon line spectrum, may al] be seen
at the same time,
Spectrum of the Spark in Compounds of Carbon at Higher
Pressures.—In the spark taken between poles of purified:graphite
in hydrogen, the spectrum of hydrocarbon flames is seen, and it
increases in brilliance, as the pressure of the gas is increased up to
ten atmospheres, and continues bright at still higher pressures so
far as we have observed, that is, up to twenty atmospheres.
The spark without condenser in carbonic oxide at atmospheric
pressure, shows both the spectrum of carbonic oxide and that of
the hydrocarbon flame; and as the pressure of the gas is
increased, the former spectrum grows fainter, while the Jatter
grows brighter, no jar being used. The line spectrum of carbon
is also visible. At the higher pressures the flame spectrum pre-
dominates and is very strong. The observations were carried up
to a pressure of twenty-two and a half atmospheres. On letting
—
Fan. 11, 1883]
NATORE
259
down the pressure, the same phenomena occur in the reverse
order, All the parts of the flame spectrum, as seen in a Bunsen
burner, are increased in intensity as the pressure is increased.
The fact that the effects of high pressure are so similar to those
produced by the use of a condenser at lower pressures, seems to
point to high temperature as the cause of those effects. But
against this, we have the fact that at reduced pressure we get in
carbonic oxide, the carbonic oxide spectrum and the line spectra
of carbon and oxygen simultaneously, without that of the hydro-
carbon flame. As we cannot doubt that a very high temperature
is required to give the line spectrum of carbon, we must suppose
that reduced pressure is unfavourable to the stability of the
molecular combination, whatever it be, which gives the hydro-
carbon flame spectrum. Wesendonck has remarked (doc. cit..)
that in carbonic acid at pressures too low for the fame spectrum
to be developed without a jar, it is only in the narrow part of
the tube that the use of a jar brings out that spectrum. It
would appear, therefore, that the constraint, due to the confined
space in which the discharge occurs, has the same effect, in
regard to the stability of the combination producing the spectrum
in question, as increase of pressure.
Cyanogen Flame Spectrum.—Our former observations ‘* On
the Flame Spectrum of Cyanogen Burning in Air’’ were made
on cyanogen gas, prepared from well-diied mercury cyanide,
which was passed over phosphoric anhydride, and burnt from a
platinum jet fused into the end of the tube. We observed what
Pliicker and Hittorf had noted, that the hydrocarbon bands were
almost entirely absent, only the brightest green band was seen,
and that faintly. When gaseous cyanogen is liquefied by the
direct pressure of the gas, the researches of Gore (Proc. Roy.
Soc., vol. 20, p. 68) have shown that it is apt to be contaminated
with a brownish, treacley liquid, which probably arises from the
imperfectly purified or dried cyanide of mercury. In oder to
obtain pure cyanogen, we have prepared quantities of liquid
cyanogen, not by compression, but by passing the already cooled
gas into tubes placed in a carbonic acid and ether bath. By this
method of condensation any easily liquefiable substances are
isolated, and any permanently gaseous substance escaped. The
samples were sealed up in glass tubes into which different reagents
were inserted. After such treatment the cyanogen was used for
the production of the flame in dry air or oxygen. ‘The liquid
cyanogen was left in contact with phosphoric anyhdride, Nord-
hausen sulphuric acid, and ordinary sulphuric acid. By means
of a special arrangement of glass tubing surrounding the flame
dry oxygen could be supplied, or oxygen made directly from
fused chlorate of potash could, by means of a separate nozzle,
be directed on to the flame, and thus perfectly dry and pure
gases used for combustion, Liquid cyanogen which had remained
in presence of the above reagents gave only the single green
hydrocarbon flame line faintly in dry air, all the cyanogen violet
sets being strong. When oxygen made directly from chlorate of
potash was directed on to the flame, allithe hydrocarbon flame
sets appeared with marked brillianey. The set of lines which we
have formerly referred to as the three set of flutings of the
cyanogen spectrum, showed marked alteration of brilliancy with
variations in the oxygen supply. Thus, liquid cyanogen
purified by the action of the above reagents, does yield the
spectrum of hydrocarbon flames on combustion in pure oxygen.
From the great precautions we have taken, we feel sure that the
amount of combined hydrogen in the form of water or other
impurities in the combining substances must have been exceed-
ingly small, and that the marked increase in the intensity of the
flame spectrum, when oxygen replaces air is essentially connected
with the higher temperature of the flame, and is not directly
related to the amount of hydrogen present. This being the case,
it must be admitted that the flame spectrum requires a higher
temperature for its production during the combustion of cyanogen
than that which is sufficient to cause a powerful emission of the
special spectra of the molecules of cyanogen. Now, the two
compounds of carbon, which give the highest temperature on
combustion are cyanogen and acetylene. Both of these com-
pounds decompose with evolution of heat, in fact, they are
explosive compounds, and the latent energy in the respective
bodies is so great that if thrown into the separated constituents a
temperature of near four thousand degrees would be reached.
The flames of cyanogen and acetylene are peculiar in this
respect, that the temperature of individual decomposing molecules
is not dependent entirely on the temperature generated by the
combustion, which is a function of the tension of dissociation
of the oxidised products, carbonie acid and water. We have no
means of defining with any accuracy the temperature which the
particles of such a body may reach. We know, however, that
the mean temperature of the flames of carbonic oxide and
hydrogen lies between two and three thousand degrees, and if
this be added to that which can be reached by the substance
independently, then we may safely infer that the temperature of
individual molecules of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen in the
respective flames of cyanogen and acetylene may reach a temper-
ture of from six to seven thousand degrees.
A previous estimate of the temperature of the positive pole
in the electric arc made by one of us, was something like the
same value.
The formation of acetylene in ordinary combustion seems to
be the agent, through which a very high local temperature is pro-
duced, and this is confirmed by the observations of Gouy on the
occurence of lines of the metals in the green cone of the
Bunsen burner, which are generally only visible in spark spectra.
On this view acetylene is a necessary agent in the production of
the flame spectrum duringcombustion. The fact that the flame
spectrum is often invisible when the arc is taken in a magnesia
crucible, although the cyanogen spectrum is strong, but may be
made to appear by introducing a cool gas or moisture, must be
accounted for by an increased resistance in the are producing
temporarily a higher mean temperature. The experiments in
course of execution, where the arc will be subject to a sudden
increase of pressure, will, we trust, solve this difficulty.
Further evidence of the high temperature of the cyanogen
flame is afforded by the occurrence in the spectrum of that flame,
when fed with oxygen, of a series of flutings in the ultra-violet,
which appear to be due to nitrogen. The series consists of four,
or perhaps more, sets, each set consisting of a double series of
lines overlapping one another. The lines increase in their
distance apart on the more refrangible side, otherwise the
flutings have a general resemblance to the B group of the solar
spectrum,
The four sets commence approximately at about the wave-
lengths 2718, 2588, 2479, 2373 respectively. They are frequently
present in the spectrum of the arc taken in a magnesia crucible,
and show strongly in that of the spark taken without a condenser
either in air or nitrogen. As they appear in the spectrum of the
spark in nitrogen, whether the electrodes be aluminium or
magnesium, and do not appear when the spark is taken in
hydrogen or in carbonic acid gas, they are in all probability due
to nitrogen. When a large condenser is used they disappear.
Linnean Society, December 21, 1882.—Alfred W. Bennett,
M.A., in the chair.— Prof. Adolph. Ernst, of Venezuela, and
Dr. W. C. Ondaatje, of Ceylon, were elected Fellows.—Prof.
T. S. Cobbold exhibited specimens of Ligules from the Bream,
the Minnow, and the Grebe to compare with tho:e from man.
The worm from the Bream is called Z. edudis by Briganti, and
is eaten under the name ‘‘macaroni piatti.’—Mr. T. Christy
called attention to experiments lately made, which show that the
Kola nut possesses singular properties of clearing fermented
liquors.—Mr. Thos. H. Corry read a paper on the development
and mode of fertilisation of the flower in Asclepias Cornutt. R.
Brown, 1809, J. B. Payer, 1857, and thereafter H. Schacht,
have made Asclepias the subject of interesting study ; Mr. Corry
nevertheless has added new observations thereto, He finds that
the petals and stamens, which in the early stage originate sepa-
rately, become afterwards adnate; the stamens, moreover, by
their broad filaments form a fleshy pentagonal ring, ze. are
monadelphous. The ‘‘ s¢¢gma-disk” is not formed by the fusion
of two stigmas, for the styles proper remain distinct throughout
their entire extent. The greatest analogy of the flower to that
of the Apocynacez is at this period ; thereafter differences
ensue. From a careful study of the different stages of the pollen
in Asclepias it appears to exhibit a perfectly isolated and peculiar
case of formation. The idea that self-fertilisation can take
place with the parts zz sif« is shown to be impossible,
and the need for insect or artificial aid rendered impera-
tive. Cross-fertilisation is the great law in the Asclepiads.
—Dr. F. Day read a paper, ‘‘ Observations on the Marine
Fauna of the East Coast of Scotland,” founded on a recent
survey by H.M.S. Zion off Aberdeen, Kincardine, and Forfar.
As regards the herring and its migrations, they shift their locality
for breeding purposes or in search of food, occasionally being
driven from a spot where extensive netting or other causes dis-
turb them. The herring seems of late years to take to deeper
water off shore, but at times they appear to return to their old
260
habitats in the comparatively shallow water. Although it is
true that some fisheries—Wick, for instance—have decreased in
plenty, at the same time other places, ¢.g. Fraserburgh, have
proportionately increased. The fishery ‘records prove that from
the beginning of this century onwards there has been a steady
annual increase of fish taken, though desponding fishermen aver
to the contrary. At Wick, herring of different ages and con-
ditions arrive and depart thrice yearly. Dr. Day “recounts the
results of his dredgings, and describes the Crustaceans and Mol-
lusks obtained.—An additional report on the Echinoderms col-
lected by Dr. Day, was made by Prof. F. J. Bell, and of the
Zoophytes and Sponges by Mr, S. O. Ridley.—Mr. 7 G, Baker
afterwards read his second contribution on the Flora of Mada-
gascar. In this paper, upwards of 150 new species of mono-
petalous dicotyledons are characterised. They were gathered
chiefly by the Rev. R. Baron, F.L.S., of the London Missionary
Society. Among others described are four new genera, one
nearly allied to Cinchona, a second of semi-parasitic Scrophu-
lariaceze, and two of Acanthaceze ; besides these, many repre-
sentatives of well-known European genera occur.—Prof. T. S.
Cobbold read a description of Ligwla Mansonz,a new human
Cestode. He shows it to be extremely probable that the trout’s
ligule is the sexually immature state of the great broad tape-
worm of man. Other interesting genetic relations are established,
and several important generalisations discussed.—Additions to
the Lichens of the Challenger Expedition was a short paper by
the Rev. J. M. Crombie.—Mr. J. G. Baker madea second com-
munication, being descriptions of about thirty plants from the
Fiji Islands referred to by Mr. J. Horne in his recent work on
the economic resources of Fiji.
Victoria Institute, January 1.—A paper upon “ Design in
Nature,” was read by Mr. W. P. James. It was stated that
Prof. Stokes, F.R.S., would read a paper at the next meeting.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, January 2.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—M, Rolland was elected vice-president for 1883.—The
Academy has lost four Members during 1882, viz MM. Liouville,
Decaisne, Bussy (Free Academician), and Wohler (Foreign
Associate) ; and six Correspondents, viz. MM. Plantamour,
Lutke, Billet, Darwin, Cornalia, and Schwann. — Memoir on the
vision of material colours, &c. (continued), by M. Chevreul.—
Researches on hyponitrites ; first part, chemical researches, by
MM. Berthelot and Ogier. They study hyponitrite of silver,
describing their analyses, and examination of the action of heat
and oxidising agents, also calorimetric measurements. The
formula NO; =Ags agrees best with the results,—Ramifications of
Isatis tinctoria, formation of its inflorescences, by M. Trécul.—
It was announced that the U.S. Congress had invited the Pre-
sident of that country to convoke all nations toa conference with
a view to adoption of a common initial meridian and an universal
hour.—Reply to the objections presented by MM. Faye and
Hirn to the theory of solar energy, by Dr. Siemens.—On a
method of photographing the corona without an eclipse of the
sun, by Dr. Huggins.—On geodetic circles, by M. Dar-
boux.—On algebraic integrals of linear differential equations
with rational ‘coefiicients, by M. Autonne.—On a communi-
cation of M. de Jonquieres relative to prime numbers (con-
tinued), by M. Lipschitz.—Remarks on the subject of a note
of M. Hugoniot, on the development of functions in series from
other functions, by M. du Bois-Reymond.—Does oil act on the
swell or on the breaker? by M. Van der Mensbrugghe. His
theory applied only to two cases: where calm water, covered
with oil, came to be acted on by wind, and where waves break,
The relative calm of phosphorescent portions of tropical waters,
he attributes not to increase of cohesion of the water (Admiral
Bourgeois), but to the innumerable floating objects forming an
obstacle to the slip of surface-layers over each other.—Decom-
position of formic acid by the effluve, by M. Maquenne. The
results are the same as those got by M. "Berthelot in decomposing
gaseous formic acid in a closed vessel, by heat alone, about 260°.
—On the chloride of pyrosulphuryl, by M. Ogier.—On a vibrion
observed during measles, by M. Le Bel. It is found in the
urine in the early stages, and disappears with the fever : is a
slightly curved, very refringent rod, moving very slowly ; con-
tains oval spores at one- third of its length, in a bag of dead
protoplasm, which gradually disappears, the spore showing
then a zone of mucilage around it. Another occurrence of
spores on the thirty-fifth day was observed in an adult. The
NATURE
[ Fan. 11, 1883
vibrion also may be got from the skin at the time of
desquamation. M. Le Bel cultivated the vibrion, and injected
it into a guinea- pig ; ; which, on the tenth day, showed
small vibrions in its urine, but did not seem incom-
moded. The urine in scarlatina and in diphtheria shows a
microbacterium and a micrococcus, respectively, both quite
different from the vibrion of measles. —Existence of zinc in
the state of complete diffusion in dolomitic strata, by M. Dieu-
lafait.—On the Marine Carboniferous of Haute-Alsace ; disco-
very of culm in the valley of the Bruche, by MM. Bleicher i
Mieg.—On the excitant property of oats, by M. Sanson.
has experimented with Du Bois Reymoad’s electrical mE
on the neuromuscular excitability of horses, before and after
ingestion of oats, or of an excitant substance, which he isolated
from oats (from ‘the pericarp of the fruit) ; this is called avenine,
is quite unlike vanilline. is uncrystallisable, brown in mass,
finely granular, and has the formula C,,H,,NO,,. All kinds
of cultivated oats elaborate it, but in different quantity ; as a
rule the white varieties have less than the dark. ‘The quantity
seems also to depend on the place of cultivation. Crushing the
grain weakens the excitant property. The total duration of the
excitation (which grows to a point, then gradually disappears)
seemed to be about an hour per kilogramme of oats ingested.
Errata in last week’s report.—P. 236, top of second column,
7th line, for ‘‘Guimareo” read ‘‘Guimaraes” oth line, for
*‘argotised ” read ‘‘azotised” ; 13th line, for ‘‘usteria” read
“Asteria” 16th line, for ** pedunculus” read ‘ peduncu-
latus” ; 16th line, for ‘‘suctocitiates ” read ‘*‘ suctociliates.”
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, November 9, 1882.—The
following papers were read :—K. Laker, studies on the hematic
discs (Hayem’s hzematoblasts), and on the so-called dissolution
of the white blood-corpuscles in the process of the purification
of the blood.—E. Ludwig, note relating to the chemical compo-
sition of the damburite from the Scopi Mountain (Graubiindteng).
—T. Herzig, on guaiaconic acid and guiacic acid.—On the
action of nitrous acid on guiacol, by the same.—A. Grunow,
preliminary communication on the Diatomacez collected by the
Austro-Hungarian North Polar Expedition.
November 16, 1882.—The following papers were read :—N.
Polejzff, on the sperm and spermatogenesis of Sycandra
rajahamus Heckelit,—F. vy. Hauer, new contributions to the
knowledge of the elder tertiary Brachiuara fauna of Vicenza and
Verona (Italy).—M. Margules, note on the dynamo-electric pro-
cess.—A. Tarolimek, contributions to mechanical theory of
heat.—K. Zelbr, on the comet Schmidt, October 9, 1882.—A
sealed paper dated from November 6, 1882, was opened and
read containing a short note by Josef Popper, on the transmis-
sion of power and the realisation of unused natural powers
by electricity.
CONTENTS Pace
Gerixie’s Grotocy. By G. K. Girsert, U.S. Geological Survey . 237
Our Boox SHELF:—
Minchin’s ‘‘ Uniplanar Kinematics of Solids and Fluids” . . . 239
ESMieiecarer VWestialens saa cl rs)ne) ie tere oneee Smeten for fet nas
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR :—
Equal Temperament of the Scale— C. B. CLARKE. - . . . . 240
Animal Intelligence.—Dr. Fritz MUELLER . 240
The Inventor of the Incandescent Electric Light. —W. Matriev
WILLIAMS . Piet ')
The Reversion of Sunflowe ers at “Night. =o “AL Waite ciate Ris CL
Pollution of the Atmosphere.—JosErH JoHN MurpHy. . . 241
A ‘Natural’? Experiment in Complementary, Colours.—E. a
BYES) ois. = ro ay oe PO eon oe a
Batrps’ HARE AND ITs Hastrs | 5a 241
Nores FROM THE LETTERS OF CAPTAIN Dawson, RA In Com:
MAND OF THE BriTIsH CIRCUMPOLAR EXPEDITION . . BR ero
Tue SWEDISH EXPEDITION TO SPITZBERGEN, 1882 . 243
THE INCREASE IN THE VELOCITY OF THE WIND WITH THE ALTITUDE.
By E. DouGtas ARCHIBALD . AeA coy
Krao, THE “* HumMAN Monkey.’ By. A. “H. Keane * Se
FIGURE oF THE NUCLEUS OF THE BricuT ComeT oF 1882 (Govrn).
By Prof. Epwarp S. HotpEN OFS Illustrations). . Sa eecrgc) |e
Notes. - - ee en A at
Our ASTRONOMICAL CoLuMN :—
The Total Solar Eclipse on M aay G.) sip cuitiniets Saw edea ee AS
The Minor Planets . . Rag sch Cot GOR ie oS
Comet 1882¢. . - WA ois
THe Epucation oF ouR INDUSTRIAL CLASsES. "By J. Norman
LOCKYER; (EARS Sec pel calen oilelis Ben DMs Co si icri, > alle Mee
Tue TRANSIT OF VENUS. tee ee et oot ©. Xe) eae were
Exrectric Ramways. By Prof. “Ww. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. (Werth
Tilustrations) . . aT inh cei) ch Yo es he et PEER
SociETIES AND ACAORMIES Uc SoM Cee SV 07s Pas Oona aay
ee Ss
NALGRE
261
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1883
GEIKTE’S GEOLOGY}
Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad. By Archibald
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. With Illustrations. (London
and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1882.)
Text-Book of Geology. By Archibald Geikie, LL.D.,
F.R.S. With Illustrations. (London; Macmillan and
Co., 1882.)
Il.
E now come to consider the quality of the matter
contained in the volume, the discrimination exer-
cised in its selection, the validity of the theories presented,
and the fidelity with which the science is portrayed. It is
the function of a text-book to exhibit to the student an im-
partial and symmetric outline of the science. Its author
is under obligation to present the views which are
generally entertained by the great body of geologists,
carefully withholding those which are peculiar to himself.
From the great mass of available matter he must select
that which will afford a well-balanced and comprehensive
review, and he must sedulously avoid giving undue pro-
minence to those matters which have special interest to
himself by reason of his individual studies. In the work
before us this has been accomplished in a manner which
may truly excite admiration. Although the author is an
original investigator in several departments of the science
he delineates, he has permitted his own predilections to
give little if any additional prominence to his special
topics, and the wisdom he has displayed in the selection
of material and the balancing of parts will commend itself
to all professional readers.
It is useless to attempt an analysis of a work which is
itself an epitome of a great science, but we may refer to
the treatment of a few mooted points and to a few matters
of novelty or of current interest.
The microscopical characters of rocks are treated more
at length than in any other text-book. In the general
account of rock characters they are accorded even more
space than are the macroscopical, and they form part of
the description of each specific rock. They are, more-
over, illustrated by a series of cuts, showing the appear-
ance of thin slices when highly magnified. A chapter is
devoted to the subject of rock determination, and an
analytical table is included therein.
The results of the Ciad/enger exploration of the bottom
of the ocean are given at some length, and the conclusion
is drawn that the continental regions of the globe have
been marked out from the earliest geological times. This
is not treated as an hypothesis but as an established
theory, and its logical consequences appear in numerous
places.
In the taxonomic terms of stratigraphy, the convention
of the Bologna Congress is not adopted. The terms
system, series, and stage are used in the same order, but
group, which by the congress was made more compre-
hensive than system, is by Geikie used as the equivalent
of stage. He remarks, with propriety, that the attempt
to alter the signification of a term so universally employed
in English literature would produce far more confusion
* Continued from p. 239.
VOL. XXvII.—No. 690
than can possibly arise from a failure to conform to
continental usage.
One of the most conspicuous omissions of the book is
with reference to the antiquity of man. The subject is
treated with great brevity, because it is regarded as
belonging more properly to archzology, but an account
is nevertheless given of the earliest human vestiges.
Mention is made of man’s association with the Loess
and with the inter-Glacial deposits of Europe, but the
Californian claims to his pre-Glacial existence are ignored.
It is true that these claims have been disputed, and it is
true that the evidence in regard to each of the individual
finds upon which they rest is incomplete; but since
Whitney has assembled all the facts in his ‘ Auriferous
Gravels,” it must be admitted that their cumulative force
entitles them at least to recognition and consideration,
however slow we may be to accept them as demonstrative.
In the section which treats of manasa geological agent,
there are enumerated a great variety of ways in which he
modifies the face of nature, but one of the principal, if
not indeed the chief of all, is omitted, namely, the stimu-
lus he gives to denudation by tilling the soil. The mat
of vegetation, living and decaying, which naturally covers
the soil in all humid regions, affords great protection
against the erosive work of rain. Not only is the beating
of the rain resisted, but the velocity of its outflow is
retarded, so that from surfaces of gentle inclination it
washes away very few particles. When this mat has
been removed, and especially when the surface has been
stirred by the plough, the conditions become exceedingly
favourable to rain erosion, and the rain rills are charged
with sediment. Moreover, cultivation and the cutting of
forests increase the magnitude of river floods, and since
rivers perform their chief work of erosion and transporta-
tion during flood-stage, the quantity of their work is thus
augmented. It is safe to say that}the rate of degrada-
tion of the surface by rains and rivers is increased several
hundred per cent. by the removal of forests and the
tillage of the soil, and it may be added that for this
reason most attempts to measure the natural rate of
denudation by means of the outscour of rivers have been
abortive.
The unconformability between the Archzean and the
Palaeozoic is not mentioned in such way as to convey an
impression of the profoundness of the chronological break.
There is no known locality where a newer formation
rests conformably upon the Archean. There are few
where the discordance of dip is not great. There are
few where the superior formation is not relatively unal-
tered, and none where the inferior formation is not highly
metamorphosed. So far as we know, the Archzean strata
were both thrown in great folds and plicated in detail,
were universally subjected to a metamorphism such as in
later rocks seems to have been accomplished only at a
depth beneath the surface, and were subsequently worn
away upon a most stupendous scale before they received
any sedimentary covering within the regions now acces-
sible for examination. Compared with this, all other
chronological breaks are trivial, and we may almost say
that, compared with this, all other stratigraphical breaks
are local.
In treating of the condition of the interior of the earth,
Geikie concisely presents the prominent hypotheses, and
N
262
NATURE
[ Fan. 18, 1883
then remarks that it is “highly probable that the sub-
stance of the earth's interior is at the melting-point
proper for the pressure at each depth.” In treating of
the age of the earth, he sets forth the geological and the
physical arguments with commendable brevity, but with-
holds all expression of individual opinion. In treating
of the origin of orographical displacement he gives a brief
history of opinion, and states that the contractional
hypothesis is now generally accepted. A foot note, how-
ever, refers to Fisher’s “ Physics of the Earth’s Crust,”
which appeared while the text-book was passing through
the press. The cause of ice motion is not discussed.
In the classification of formations there is nothing new.
The Cambrian and Silurian are marked as independent
and co-ordinate divisions, the latter beginning with the
Arenig group in Great Britain and with the Calciferous
in America, but the opinion is expressed that a subse-
quent revision of the subject may result in “ throwing all
these older Palaeozoic rocks into one paleontological
system.” The pre-Cambrian rocks are designated by
Dana’s title of Archean. The Rheztic is included with
the Trias. In the table of formations the American
Laramie is placed in the Tertiary; but this appears to
have been done by inadvertence, for in the descriptive
text which follows it is treated as Cretaceous.
In the classification of rocks the primary division is
into crystalline and clastic. The crystalline are separated
into stratified, foliated, and massive, and the clastic into
sand rocks, clay rocks, volcanic fragmental, and organic
fragmental. Of the massive crystalline rocks, the principal
sub-group is indicated as fe/dspar bearing, and four small
groups (the nepheline rocks, the leucite rocks, the olivine
rocks, and the serpentine rocks) are indicated as co-
ordinate with this.
The subject of geological climate is treated almost ex-
clusively from the astronomical point of view, and the
theory of Croll is the only one which receives more than
passing mention. Its statement was prepared especially
for the volume by Dr. Croll himself, and covers six pages.
It is undoubtedly true that this theory has been widely
accepted, that it is very generally entertained as a working
hypothesis, and that it is the most probable one before
the public; and it should for these reasons be given great
prominence in a text-book ; but I cannot help regretting
that it has been presented with so little qualification. It
deals with a series of physical laws and physical con-
ditions which interact upon each other in an exceedingly
complex way—in so complex a way that meteorologists,
who have to deal with only a portion of them, do not
claim and scarcely hope for a complete analysis of their
combinations. The opportunities for arguing in a circle
are most seductive, and the a fvvor2 probability that im-
portant considerations have been overlooked is not small.
The only manner in which so comprehensive and intricate
an hypothesis can be established is by stimulating inquiry
which shall lead to corroborative evidence, and this is
precisely what Croll’s hypothesis after eight years of
wide publicity has failed to do. If it is true, then epochs
of cold must have occurred with considerable frequency
through the entire period represented by the stratified
rocks ; and iceberg drift, if no other traces, should have
been entombed at numerous horizons. It has not been
|
Croll to show evidence of glacial action, the treatise
under consideration mentions only two with confidence,
and two oters with doubt. In the two instances to
which queries are not attached, the phenomena appear to
indicate local and not general glaciation. If the hypo-
thesis is true, the cold of the Glacial epoch must have
been many times interrupted by intervals of exceptional
warm, but little has been added to the evidence adduced
by Croll for such an interruption, and in America, where
there is now great activity in the investigation of glacial
phenomena, the evidence cf a szzg/e inter-glacial period
is cumulative and overwhelming, while there is no indica-
tion whatever of more than one. If the hypothesis is
true, submergence in polar and temperate regions should
have been coincident with glacial expansion, and emer-
gence coincident with glacial retreat, but the Quaternary
history of Great Britain, as drawn in the new text-book,
includes two periods of maximum ice-extension, separated
by a period of maximum submergence. While these
difficulties exist it appears to me unadvisable to convey
to the student the impression that a satisfactory solution
to the problem of glacial climate has been reached.
Because I have mentioned some points in which my
individual judgment differs from that of. Prof. Geikie, it
must not be supposed fora moment that I undervalue
his work, or that I regard it with anything short of
enthusiastic commendation. It is broad and catholic,
conscientious in detail, masterly in treatment. It is
imbued especially with a spirit which for want of a better
name may be called scientific modesty. The majority of
our text-books, including all of our best text-books, have
been written by teachers, and have been more or less
affected by the peculiar mental attitude of the teacher.
The investigator is under the constant necessity of hold-
ing his judgment in abeyance, and of treating every
conclusion as an hypothesis, to be tested by future
researches, and possibly amended or even abandoned.
The teacher is under an equal necessity to formulate his
knowledge so that he may communicate it in definite
shape—he must not doubt, he must know; and under
this compulsion he naturally and unconsciously acquires
an undue confidence in results that have simply arisen
from the weighing of probabilities. He is especially
tempted to regard classifications as final, and not to recog-
nise them as temporary presentations of temporary stages
of knowledge. It is the especial merit of Prof. Geikie’s
book that it is untainted by this teacher’s bias. It cautions
the student against the confusion of geological synchrony
with stratigraphical homotaxis; it cautions against the free
use of palzontological evidence in the inference of geologi-
cal climate; it cautions against deductions which may be
vitiated by the imperfection of the geological record, and
against negative evidence in general ; it cautions against
the impression that there are in nature any hard and fast
lines separating epochs or formations or rock species ;
and, in addition, it heeds its own cautions. Its readers
cannot escape the impression that the science of geology
is in its youth, that it is developing at a rapid rate, that
many of its results are tentative, and that its unsolved
problems are as numerous and important as those it has
successfully attacked.
It is only by a conscious effort that one gives attention
found, however, and of the eight horizons claimed by | to the literary style of Prof. Geikie’s text-book. It is so
—
Fan. 18, 1883]
NATURE
263
direct and plain that it serves the purpose of conveying
thought without leaving an impression of the manner of
conveyance. As in the matter, so in the manner, his
personality is not permitted to intrude. He says one
thing at a time, and therefore his sentences are short ;
but he does not exaggerate, and therefore he never
indulges in epigram.
A noteworthy feature of the illustrations is the repro-
duction of a large number of De la Beche’s cuts, which
are derived directly from the original blocks. All of these
are good, and so are the majority of the remaining illus-
trations, but there is also a considerable number, espe-
cially in the chapters on stratigraphy, which are not so
distinct as is desirable, and which probably owe their im-
perfection to the employment of some photo-mechanical
process. The typography is excellent, and a page of
errata is not called for.
The foot-notes contain a very large number of useful
references. These are not mere citations of authorities
in support of statements in the text, but are indications
to the student of treatises in which he may find the fullest
exposition of subjects to which the text introduces him.
G. K. GILBERT,
U.S. Geological Survey
SACHS’S TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY
Text-Book of Botany, Morphological and Physiological.
By Julius Sachs, Professor of Botany in the University
of Wiirzburg. Edited, with an Appendix, by Sidney
H. Vines, M.A., D.Sc., F.L.S., Fellow and Lecturer
of Christ’s College, Cambridge. Second Edition.
(Oxford, 1882.)
HERE are not wanting signs that the study of botany
is steadily increasing inthis country. An immense
number of text-books or manuals have been published
in English during the last thirty years on the subject,
some of which have been very popular, to judge by the many
editions they have passed through. Referring to these
introductions to the study of botany in general terms, it
was to be noted that they all, in a more or less complete
manner treated of the vegetable kingdom from a morpholo-
gical and classificatory point of view; but that the morpho-
logical portions were deficient in clear descriptions or con-
ceptions of the origin or development of the members of
the plant’s body which they described, and the student
who required instruction as to physiological, anatomical,
or embryological details, had to look for such in the
pages of the botanical periodical literature of the day.
Most modern workers in biology will agree that the
greater portion of this literature was derived from Ger-
man sources, and it is scarcely to be denied that the first
general compendium of note appeared in the German
text-book of Sachs. This work had reached a fourth
edition in 1874, but the previous editions had found their
way into several of the centres of botanical teaching in
Great Britain and Ireland, and had caused a consider-
able change in the older methods of teaching botany.
Still it must have been a matter requiring some courage
for the delegates of the Clarendon Press to undertake
the costly work of translating, editing, and printing in
English this work of Sachs’, forming a large octavo
volume of nearly 1000 pages, a text-book one would
think far too large and expensive for most ordinary stu-
dents. This work was, however, issued from the Claren-
don Press in the spring of 1875, and it is not without
interest to note that for the last two or three years it has
been completely out of print, so that the edition must
have been exhausted in the course of the first four or five
years after its issue. It was most unfortunate that this
edition, so ably translated by Messrs. Bennett and
Thiselton Dyer, had not been based on the fourth Ger-
man edition, which had been published nearly a year
before the English translation made its appearance. The
success of the translation may, however, be looked on as
to a certain extent condoning this misfortune, and there
can be doubt as to the revolution in the study of botany
in these kingdoms, which has been brought about by its
appearance. Instead of to an endless catalogue of under-
and above-ground forms of stems, instead of a list as
long as that of the ships in Homer of the forms of
simple and compound leaves, the student has had
his attention—at least in scme schools—called to the
important structures to be met with in these varied
portions of a plant and to their peculiar functions
and ontogeny. The subject of plant life and development
seems to have become of more especial interest and to
have rallen like a new story on many even old ears. It
was not, under these circumstances, surprising that a new
edition was called for, but it did excite some surprise
that, having in a great measure made the demand, the
Delegates of the Clarendon Press seemed unable for a
time to supply it, and let several Long Vacations glide by
without its appearance ; even this new edition comes to
us late in the autumn season of the year, when the year’s
fruits have been well garnered in. Still itis welcomeas an
important contribution to the study of a science that has
of old and for long been fostered by the University of
Oxford.
Welcome as this new edition is, it would, we firmly
believe have been a much more complete text-book and
have reflected more of credit on the Clarendon Press
Series, if the present Editor had been given a fairer field
to work on. Although the fourth German edition was in
advance of the previous one, yet the half-dozen years that
have elapsed since it made its appearance have been
years during which botany has advanced with no tardy
footsteps. Even Prof. Sachs himself could not be per-
suaded to face the torture of a fifth edition of the original,
for he felt, as he tells us, that the expanded views of the
present period would not even fit into the framework of
his text-book, so that a faithful translation of the fourth
edition is even more out of date in 1882 than the trans-
lation of the third edition was in 1875.
Hence it must have been distressing for the Editor of
the volume before us to find, on entering on his task, that
nearly the whole of Book I., which treats of the general
morphology of the cell, the tissues, and the external
conformation of plants had been for some time in type,
and that consequently a number of recent discoveries
had not been noticed in it. No one could have been
better fitted than Mr. Vines to have brought this most
important section up to date, and it is a pity that only 32
out of its 232 pages were reprinted, for there is a decided
awkwardness in looking in an appendix for supplementary
204
NA LOLRT:
| Fan. 18 1883
remarks which are often found to explain away or totally
alter the meaning of the text.
As it is, we would emphasise the prefatory remark of
the Editor, that “‘the Appendix has come to be an im-
portant feature” of the book, and is to be especially
recommended to the notice of the reader. The student
who will judiciously introduce the new material in this
appendix into the older structure in the text will be
afforded a tolerably clear insight into the present stand-
point of vegetable morphology.
Book II. forms the largest third of the volume, and
from a purely critical point of view, was the least satis-
factory portion of the original. No doubt it was by far
the most difficult portion to condense into any reasonable
compass, and it bristled with unknown quantities and
controverted points, and indeed it may well be doubted if
the immense subject of ‘ General Morphology and Out-
lines of Classification ”’ could be fairly well mastered by
any one botanist. That the editor has added a great
deal of new material—no doubt assisted by some whose
criticisms and suggestions he gratefully acknowledges—
is, on the face of this second book, abundantly clear.
That a good deal might have been still added is also, on
a little examination, made apparent. Detailed criticism
on this portion of the volume would be here to a large
extent out of place, and serve no good end, but as a
justification of these remarks we would observe that
among the very first forms alluded to—the Protophyta
arranged under the Cyanophyceze—of which the Nosto-
caceze form a highly interesting group—the description
of the formation of the Nostce filament, though amended,
as noted within brackets, is, despite the warning of Bor-
net, founded on a misconception of Thuret’s account.
In a footnote, too, we read that Archer has described the
occurrence of spores in JVostoc paludosum, as if this
were something novel, but their appearance in many
species has not only been known to but made even a
factor in their classification by Bornet. It seems inex-
plicable to us why this distinguished author’s works
should be so little known to English writers, but so it
is, and on turning over page 247 to see what would be
said about the Rivulariacee—the Scytonemaceze—we
felt disappointed at not finding even a reference to show
the student how much has been done by Bornet in
recent years to add to our knowledge of these groups.
To these remarks we will only add that the large and
important groups of Palmellaceze are dismissed in a
paragraph of ten lines. In order that these remarks may
not be mistaken, we may observe that we did not expect
to find more than a sketch of the natural: history of the
forms to be found in these groups lying at the base of
chlorophyllaceous life, but we did expect that what was
narrated of these would be exact, and that a reference
to the latest literature of the subject would be given. It
would be easy, at least among the Thallophytes, to extend
these criticisms. Such an excessively interesting algal
form as Pithophora is nowhere alluded to, though its
first birth-place seems to have been our Royal Gardens
at Kew. Wittrock’s paper on this form was fully as
important as his on Mesocarpez. Norvis the student
referred under Fucoidee to the splendidly illustrated
work on the group by Thuret and Bornet ; but criticism is
not our object, and we gladly pass from the notice of
Book II. to notice Book III., from which, knowing the
excellent work done by the Editor in vegetable physiology,
we expected great things, nor have we been disappointed.
It seems to us an excellent account of vegetable physio-
| logy, with all or most of all the modern discoveries
alluded to, and we know of no compendium on the subject
at all approaching to it.
Should in another four years this second English
edition be sold out, let us hope that Mr. Vines will, like
its author, cease trying to mend the old garment, but will
of his own energy and knowledge give us an Introduc-
tion to the Study of Botany, which we doubt not would
be worthy of appearing as one of the Clarendon Press
Series, and which will wipe away the reproach, true to
this of physiological botany as of the drama, that we are
forced to fly with all too borrowed plumes.
E. P. WRIGHT
RECENT ELECTRICAL PUBLICATIONS
Electricity. By Robert M. Ferguson, Ph.D., F.R.S.E.,
of the Edinburgh Institute. New Edition, revised and
extended by James Blyth, M.A., F.R.S E., Professor of
Math. and Nat. Phil. in Anderson’s College, Glasgow.
(London and Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers,
1882.)
Electric Illumination. By Conrad Cooke, James Dredge,
M. F. O’Reilly, S. P. Thompson, and H. Vivarez.
Edited by James Dredge. Chiefly compiled from
Engineering. With Abstracts of Specifications, pre-
pared by W. Lloyd Wise. Vol. I. (London : Office of
Engineering, 1882.)
ROFESSOR BLYTH has done good service by the
judicious additions which have to a great extent
revivified Dr. Ferguson’s well-known little manual, and
brought it up to the level of the times.
The actual progress in electrical science since the
original book appeared has not been anything extra-
ordinary, but the amount of it which the public are willing
to learn has undergone a prodigious increase, and the
modern text-book is therefore expected to enter into
details about a number of matters which a few years ago
would have been scouted as altogether too difficult. It is
these semi-advanced portions which Prof. Blyth has in-
corporated with the old stock of the work, the stock re-
maining about the same. There was very little to which
one could object in the original ; if it erred, it erred as a
rule only by omission. In the new edition, however, we
have information, and though concise it is mostly good
and reliable information very intelligibly expressed, con-
cerning Sir Wm. Thomson’s electrometers, mariner’s
compass, and thermo-electric discoveries, also concerning
electrostatic and electromagnetic induction, and other
matters which had been but very lightly glanced at in the
original edition. It also refers to Mr. Crooke’s experiments,
Mr. Spottiswoode’s coil, Prof. Tait’s thermo-electric dia-
gram, and Dr. Kerr’s discoveries. The operation of
making a text-book may be compared to the operation of
skimming, and the depth to which this operation may be
safely carried depends, we suppose, mainly on the taste of
the public at the time. Prof. Blyth has added to Dr.
Ferguson’s original skim a slightly deeper and more sub-
stantial layer ; and fortunately neither of the authors have
a
Fan. 18, 1883]
forgotten the very important preliminary operation of
blowing aside the froth and scum which accumulates on
long standing, and which an injudicious skimmer is very
apt to obtain and exhibit as his sole result.
The book appears almost contemporaneously with
Prof. S. P. Thompson’s little work on the same subject,
which we noticed some months back, and may be taken
as complementary to it. Although both are of the same
scope, yet the area open to them was so wide that it
seldom happens that they both contain equally full infor-
mation on precisely the same subjects.
The second volume which we here notice, viz. the
compilation entitled “Electric Illumination,” is of very
different appearance and scope. It isa handsome large
octavo, well printed, and with admirable illustrations. It
is not addressed to students, but to engineers and practical
men, and it is a most useful summary of notices which
have appeared in the pages of Ezgzneering, concerning
dynamo machines, electric lamps, and the other parapher-
nalia connected with the practical applications of electri-
city. It aims, of course, more at completeness than at
- judicious selection; and it therefore naturally includes a
number of contrivances which are hardly likely to come
into any notorious existence.
While it is very useful as a book of reference, therefore
itis scarcely calculated for ordinary reading, the style of
the descriptions being not seldom tiresome, and giving
one the usual dismal feeling of “letterpress’’ written up
to a picture. Some of the sections are very full, as for
instance that relating to the manufacture of Jablochkoff
candles, where the account is so complete that the usual
form of the Wheatstone bridge is depicted and carefully
explained as if it were a specialty of the Jablochkoff
system : while some other sections are distinctly meagre.
At the same time it is only natural that some kinds of
information should be easier of access than others, and
that all that came to hand should be utilised. At the be-
ginning of the book we havea sketch of the early history of
dynamo machines, several admirable sketches of lines of
force, and a very clear elementary exposition of the prin-
ciples of magnetic induction. There are also very excellent
and instructive skeleton figures of the Gramme and Sie-
mens armatures, as designed by the late Antoine Breguet,
though the writer of the article rather absurdly seems to
take them as embodying researches which throw a new
light on the action of the machines, instead of as useful
and interesting illustrations of what was perfectly clear to
every physicist.
Throughout the book, in fact, one comes across various
curious statements, which, if read hypercritically and
pressed, would be either annoying or misleading; but still
more frequently one is in the presence of a cautious
vagueness which conceals the want of exact knowledge by
the turning of a phrase, and one notices a laudable
desire to avoid the ascription of either praise or blame
and to take the odiousness out of all comparisons.
But to say that some of the writers are often only half
acquainted with their subject, and that they accordingly
take precautions to avoid mistakes, is only to say that the
book belongs to modern periodical literature; to that kind
of literature, namely, which is written and read with the
tacit understanding on both sides that in a few years at
most it is sure to be out of date and forgotten, and that
NATURE
- THESE seven numbers form parts 6 to 12,
265
accordingly any serious labour expended on either its
production or its assimilation would be labour misspent.
Taken for what it is, however, it is difficult to imagine
a more complete and handy publication of information
for which at the present time there is a great demand,
and the book will be welcomed by all who take an inte-
rest, professional or otherwise, in those applications of
electricity which are now so evidently imminent, and
which must ultimately assume such vast proportions.
OPN eA
OUR BOOK SHELF
Introductory Treatise on Rigid Dynamics. By W. Stead-
man Aldis, M.A. (London: G, Bell and Sons, 1882.).
THis little work is truly characterised by its above title.
The portions of the subject selected by the author will be
best indicated by the headings of the several chapters.
An introductory chapter on kinematics is followed by one
on D’Alembert’s principle ; general equations of motion
of a rigid body ; impulsive forces. Chapter iii. treats of
moments and products of inertia; Chapter iv. of motion
round a fixed axis (centres of suspension, oscillation, and
of percussion) ; Chapter v. of motion of a body with one
point fixed ; and Chapter vi. of the motion of a free body.
Chapter vii. discusses certain general principles, as con-
servation of linear momentum, of moment of momentum,
and of energy. In Chapter viii. miscellaneous problems
are investigated, as of moving axes, initial motions, small
oscillations, and “tendency to break.” As might have
been expected from so accomplished a teacher, the expo-
sition of the general principles is most clear, and these
principles are fully illustrated by a capital selection of
exercises, many of which are solved, and for the solution
of many others hints are given at the end. We know of
no better introduction to this difficult branch of study.
The text is most carefully printed.
Encyklopedie der Naturwissenschaften. UHerausgegeben
von Prof. Dr. G. Jager (and seven other gentlemen).
Erste Abtheilung (Parts 16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27).
(Breslau : E. Trewendt, 1880, 1881.)
z.e. the second
volume of a “Handbuch der Mathematik,” edited by
Dr. Schlémilch, the several treatises being written by
Dr. R. Heger, Professor at Dresden. The pagination is
continuous (1-963 pp.), and there are 235 woodcuts.
The first treatise is on “Analytical Plane Geometry ”
(pp. 1-194). The first 164 pages are devoted to the conic
sections ; the mode of treatment, or rather the order of
arrangement of propositions, is different from that of any
English text-book with which we are acquainted, but
approximates most closely to that of Dr. Salmon’s classi-
cal work. It is a full, able, and interesting presentment
of the properties of these curves. The remaining thirty
pages are devoted to a rapid sketch of the principal
known properties of curves of the third order, in which
are embodied most, if not all, of the results of modern
research.
The second treatise is on “ Analytical Geometry of
Three Dimensions’”’ (pp. 195-380); the third is on the
“ Differential Calculus’? (pp. 381-568) ; and the last is on
the ‘‘Integral Calculus’’ (pp. 569-902).
This last work is broken up into three parts, of which
the second treats of elliptic functions, the theta functions,
and of elliptic integrals; the third is devoted to dif-
ferential equations.
There are two smaller works, one (pp. 903-928) on the
method of least squares (Ausgleichungs-rechnung), and
the other (pp. 929-957) on insurances (Renten-, Lebens-,
und Aussteuer Versicherung). A list of works on the
different subjects treated of in the “ Handbook” is given
266
NATURE
[ Fan. 18, 1883
on pp. 961-963. These works are all in German, and the
only English mathematician whose works are cited is Dr.
Salmon, in Teutonic dress.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor dss not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his corre:pondents. Neither can hz undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possthle. The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Pollution of the Atmosphere
IN answer to Mr. Joseph John Murpby’s letter in NATURE,
vol. xxvii. p. 241, stating that the radiation of marsh gas (from
the incomplete combustion of coal) would be insignificant com-
pared t» that of vapour, I would like to say that their behaviour
in the atmosphere is different ; the moisture in the air is there,
so to speak, on sufferance as long as the pressure and temperature
allow it ; that is, it is held in suspension by what might be called
the capillary attraction of the air of a certain pressure and tem-
perature. If you reduce the temperature you reduce the capacity
of air for vapour, first by its reducing the capillary attraction,
and secondly, by redu:ing one of the conditions that makes OH,
avapour. If you reduce the pressure, you enlarge the spaces
between the molecules and reduce the capillary attraction, if I
may apply this term toa gas. This is borne out by the balloon
ascents of Mr. Glaisher, At 4 miles high the temperature was
8°, the dew-point was — 15°, or a difference of 23°; at § miles it
was 28°, and at 30,009 feet he stites that there is no doubt that
the dew-point is a difference cf 50° ; that is, the higher, the less
vapour. But this will not be the case with marsh gas, as it is a
permanent gas, and being of less densi'y than even vapour, or
about half the density of air, there is no reason why it should
not be found in larger quintities at greater altitudes ; and I think
that its effect there would be that in the temperate zones and at
the poles it would radiate its temperature of say from —§ at
30,000 to — 30, and produce cold and rain, snow and floods as
the storms on the Alps and the floods on the Continent, and in
the Tropics to make the nights colder. In fact, it will have a
tendency to do the reverse of vapour ; vapour retains our heat
and shields us from the cold of space. This radiator and ab-
sorber will tend to radiate the cold to us or to the vapour in the
lower atmosphere, and produce rain and wind.
9, Bootham Terrace, York, January 13 4H. A. PHILLIPS
A “Natural” Experiment in Complementary Colours
SiNCE I wrote to NATURE last October (vol. xxvi. p. 573) on
the above subject, I have been both surprised and gratified to
read no less than six communications on the same matter (vol.
xxvi. p. 597, vol. xxvii. pp. 8, 78, 150, 174, 241). Only to-day
I have received a letter from a German friend drawing my atten-
tion to Goethe's observation at Schaffhau-en, he evidently being
unaware of Mr. W. R. Browne’s interesting letter (vol. xxvi.
p- 597). My friend goes on to point out that ‘‘Gischt” is cer-
tainly foam, for in the context Goethe describes how he saw a
rainbow in the ‘‘ Dunst,” or mist, thus enabling us to contrast
the two words,
The special point of my com nunication was the excellent
illustration, afforded us naturally, of tue advantage of toning
down the brightness of the white surface, upon which the com-
plementary tint is to be cooXed, until that brightness is suitable
to that of the exciting colour. In the experience related by me
I was unable to see complementary tints in the foam, upon
which full sunlight was falling; the glare of light was too
strong.
Mr. C. R. Cross (vol. xxvii. p. 150) speaks of seeing them
even in strong sunlight on the crests of waves; may not these
crests have been in slight shadow, if the waves were just curling
over? The example he gives of cloud shadows appearing purple
on the ocean illustrates excellently my own observations. The
letter from Mr. E. J. Bles (vol. xxvii. p. 241) gives a quotation
from Sir C. Lyell, but without further detail I do not feel that
much weight can be given to his observation from my special
point of view. But Ido not at all wish to say that comple-
mentary tints are not visible on a white surface in full sunshine ;
but theory and my own observations are certainly in favour of
the advantage (and this isall I claimed) of a reduction of bright-
ness to a level comparable with that of the exciting colour.
Cuas. T, WHITMELL
8, Maryland Street, Liverpool, January 15
The Comet
In my letter relating to the September comet, published in
vol. xxvil. p. 108, I was guilty of carelessness in copying from
my notes the difference of micrometer readings instead of their
value in arc. The value of one revolution of the screw is
15”"31075, and consequently the distances given in my letter
should be as follows :—
6°57
16°90 > November 3
$°34
7°36
16°51 » November 6
IO'lS
Hou Ww a at
SRO BAR
W. T. SAMPSON
U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., January 2
The Transit of Venus
WILL you be kind enough to make the following correction in
your published report of the times of contact of phases of the
transit of Venus. The third contact should be 2h. 39m. 57s. in
place of 2h. 38m. 57s. These were both inadvertencies. From
a comparison of Mr, Finlay’s place at the Cape of Good Hope
on September 8, I find that these elliptic elements satisfy the
place within 7 seconds of arc in Right Ascension and 1°5 seconds
of arc in Declination. EDGAR FRISBY
U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., January 3
Early Coltsfoot
LAsT year I recordel (NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 241) Coltsfoot in
blossom on January 6, on the sides of the railway near here,
probably an unprecedentedly early date. The mild weather
lately prevailing induced me to suspect the former early blossom
ing might find a parallel ¢#/s year. I saw the plant in flower
this morning, near the same spot; one flower-stalk was fully
four inches high, so it should have been observed some days
previously had sunshine prevailed. Last year the winter was
practically over (so far as hard frost was concerned) at the
beginning of January. Will this be paralleled by the winter of
1882-83 ? R. McLACHLAN
Lewisham, January 12
Baird’s Hare
SOME of your readers may be interested in reading the fol-
lowing extract in which me ition is made of a fact similar to that
found in NATUuRE vol. xxvii. p. 241, about Aairt’s Hare. The
extract is from the Life of St. Francis Xavier, by H. J. Cole-
ridge, S.J. In a letter written from Amboyna in May, 1546,
Francis says :—
. . . ‘*In the island of Amboyna I have seen what no one
would bel'eve . . . a e-goat giving suck to his young kids with
his own milk ; be had one breast which gave every day as
much milk as would fill a bain. I saw it with my own eyes,
for 1 would not believe it without seeing it. A respectable
Portugese has the goat, and is taking it away, meaning to carry
it to Portugal.” T. MARTYR
49, High Street, Clapham, S.W., January 15
The Projection of the Nasal Bones in Man and the Ape
Tue form and projection of the osseous frame-work of the
human nose being considered by anthropologists of considerable
value in a racial point of view, a close comparison his recently
been made of the profiles of the external nose of man and the
nose-case of the anthropoid apes. It has resulted in the convic-
tion (1) that the ab-ence of projection in the nasal bones of the
chimpanzee, the gorilla, and the orang constitutes a distinction of
more importance than has generally been assigned to it, and not
the less so seems the fact (2) that a slight nasal elevation is
——-
Fan. 18, 1883]
observable in the skulls of some of the gibbons, and in the lower
monkeys, as, for instance the baboons. ?
The distinction appears to me to be of the same kind as the
erect position of man and the different order of the length of his
toes as compared with the ape and many of the lower animals—as
for instance the third toe in the lion, bear, dog, badger, and hare.
It should be remembered that the nasal bones in man form
merely a bridge or back to the osseous structure of the nose,
which is mainly due to the upheaval laterally of the pre-maxillary
bones. ‘These are less elevated in other animals, and there is
no tilting of the nasals proper. In the chimpanzee and the
orang the nasals are as flat as inthe hippopotamus. On referring
to Prof. Mivart’s essay on the apes in the ‘‘ Encyclopedia
Britannica,” I find he alludes to the transverse convexity of the
bones of the nose, which he considers a marked character of
man’s skull, entirely absent in the chimpanzee. He adds: the
nasals in the orang are exceedingly small and flat, ‘‘ often even
uniting in one bone.”
In connection with the subject, it may be mentioned that in
Quain’s ‘‘ Anatomy ” the external nose is said to be due to the
development of the frontal lappets in the fifth or sixth week of
the human embryo. It is represented in a woodcut in Balfour’s
‘* Embryology ’’ as well-formed and prominent so early as in the
ninth week.
The existence of the nasal spine in the nostrils of man, but
not in the ape or any of the lower animals, is a fact that bas to be
accounted for. It appears to have been overlooked, but is of
some importance in connection with the development of the
human nose. J. PARK HARRISON
January 14
P.S.—The peculiarities of the human nose and the rationale
of its formation are fully treated of in Prof. Humphry’s
“‘Human Skeleton,” p, 220.
THE COMET
(ENS following communication from Dr. Gould of Cor-
doba Observatory (Argentine Republic) appears in
Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 2481 :—
On September 6 I received information that a bright
comet was visible in the east before sunrise. My in-
formant had seen it on the morning of the 5th, and
described it as being as bright as Venus and with a
brilliant tail. Inquiry showed that it had been seen for
several days by ewployés of the railroad and other persons
whose duties required them to rise before daylight.
Not only was the morning of September 7 cloudy, but
the eastern sky was overcast on every morning for a
whole week. On one occasion it seemed that a part of
the comet’s tail could be distinguished, but not even an
approximate position could be obtained for the head. On
the morning of the 14th the comet was first seen at the
Observatory, and an approximate position obtained from
the circles of the equatorial telescope by pointings with
the finder. It was then only 13’ south of the equator,
and moving northwardly.
The telescope was equipped with the photographic lens
and apparatus, and as my series of stellar photographs
was nearly completed and its continuance for a few weeks
demanded constant attention, I was reluctant to change
the adjustments. It has been my uniform policy in Cor-
doba to confine our instrumental observations to the
southern half of the sky, and, in general, to such regions
as are not well visible from northern observatories. And
as the comet had been conspicuous for more than a
week, was on the equator, and the date of equinox was
close at hand, it appeared unadvisable to saci ifice im-
portant and unique observations for the sake of deter-
“minations of the comet’s position which I could not
doubt were making under more favourable circumstances
in the north. Consequently no micrometric observations
were undertaken; but rude determinations of position
were repeatedly made, from that time on, by use of the
finder and the graduated circles, in order to follow the
comet’s course and deduce approximate elements and
ephemeris,
NATURE
267
On September 16 the brightness of the head was such,
that it was visible with the finding-telescope throughout
the day ; and I prepared to observe it on the meridian,
having followed it with the equatorial until within half an
hour of the time of transit. Its declination was about
+ 0° 52’. But not more than five minutes before that
moment a large cloud drifted across the meridian, making
the observation impossible.
September 17 the comet was very bright and easily
found in the full sunlight. At 1oh. 4om. am. it was
necessary to use a shade-glass, on account of its proximity
to the sun; and at 11h. the sun : nd comet were in the
same field of view. I again attempted to observe it upon
the meridian, but was prevented by a new difficulty. The
comet was hidden by the disc of the sun, and although I
carefully scrutinised this and especially the preceding
limb as it traversed the field of the meridian-circle, no
token of the comet could be seen, nor could it be found
during the afternoon. Although it must have passed in
front of the sun, I then supposed it to have passed behind
it and been occulted.
On Monday the 18th the comet was again on the pre-
ceding side of the sun and decreasing in declination at the
rate of more than 2} hourly. Early in the day its bril-
liancy attracted popular attention throughout the country,
and the “blazing star near the sun’’ was the one topic of
remark, Telegrams came to me from all parts of the
country, as well as from Chile and Uruguay, calling
attention to the phenomenon. In the small telescope it
presented the aspect of a brilliant nebulous mass, having
at each end curved appendages like horns or wings, nearly
large as the central body, and at their base quite as
brilliant ; the general form of the whole reminding one of
the winged globes carved on ancient monuments. ‘1 his
ay pearance, unquestionably due to the outrush of glowing
vapour from the nucleus, was also exhibited, although to
less extent, on the two following days, during both of
which the comet remained visible to the naked eye.
As soon as the elements of the orbit could be obtained,
its similarity to that of the comet of 1843-1880 was mani-
fest, and the suspicions regarding its identity and the
hypotheses to which these gave rise presented them-
selves forcibly, as I am sure they must have done to
astronomers in the northern hemisphere, where I doubt
not they have long since been a theme of discussion. The
perihelion-distance, although small, seems clearly larger
than that of the orbits of 1843 and 1880; but how
far such discordance is consistent with the hypothesis
of identity must be decided by future investigation.
The comparatively small amount of study which I
have been able to give to the que:tion leads me
to think that the orbit deduced from observations
before the perihelion may differ somewhat frcm that
indicated by the observation since September 17; but as
the Cordoba observations prior to that date were of a
crude description, I have impatiently waited fcr tidings
from other observatories. No. 2459 of the Astv. Nachr.,
which has just reached me, leads me to fear that micro-
metric or meridian observations may not have been mace
before perihelion. In such case the rough positions
obtained here with the finder and circles of the equatorial
may possess a value far greater than was supposed pos-
sible at the time. Those previous to the perihelion are
ten in number, and although I do not believe that their
probable error can exceed a minute of arc in either co-
ordinate, they are not represented within this limit by the
elements deduced from observations made since tke peri-
helion. Should no better positions have been obtained I
will serd these to you; but I cannot yet abandon the
hope that some belated astronomer may have seen this
brilliant object in season to securea series of observations
before the perihelion passage.
Micrometric determinations have teen made here on
various dates since Cctober 17, and have now begun
268
NATURE
[ Fan. 18, 1883
systematically, as the comet is growing lower for northern
observers. But as it will not pass the limit of 303°, S.
Decl. the southerly observatories of Europe and all those
of the United States will probably be able to follow it as
long as it remains visible, and will find comparison stars
in Argelander’s Zones.
It will not have escaped your notice that all the
elements differ from those of 1880 in the same direction
in which these differed from those of 1843.
In the earliest observations made with the large tele-
scope there appeared to be, in the place of the nucleus,
a series of bright points following the axial line. The
preceding and brightest of these seemed scarcely to
exceed the tenth magnitude, and all were connected by
intermediate material of somewhat less brilliancy which
made it difficult or impossible to count them. Mr.
Thome, who has made all the micrometric measurements,
thinks that there were certainly not less than five or six,
and perhaps more. The appearance was as though the
original nucleus had been resolved into a series of ill-
defined granules. These have gradually become less and
less distinct, until the place of the nucleus now appears
occupied by a line of irregular definition and. unequal
brightness, about 45” in length, and of an average width
of about 5”. All our determinations of position were
made for the preceding and brightest of these nodules
while they were clearly distinct ; and, since then, for the
anterior extremity of the bright line, where is a point which
is still somewhat brighter than the remaining portions.
Since we are at present overloaded with work, in the
preparation of the Zone-Catalogue, and observations are,
without doubt, still making in Europe and North America,
I will reserve the micrometric determinations until the
reductions can be revised.
Those made on the meridian are as follows :—
a 5
Ds aml ees: aes ae
1882, Sept. 18 Il 20 51°3 +0 16 393
LO) \..-, ebL 14) 31-0 —0 32 38°6
Oe sett, 45770 —1 59 30°2
‘Cordoba, November 14, 1882 B. A. GOULD
DESTRUCTION OF LIFE IN INDIA BY WILD
ANIMALS
ie a recent communication I called attention to the loss
of human and animal life in India from snake bites ;
I now proceed to describe the mortality due to wild
animals, which, though much less than the former, is
very considerable, and forms an important item in the
mortuary returns.
The statement appended shows in detail for each pro-
vince. the number of persons and cattle killed by wild
animals, and the number of wild animals destroyed, with
the rewards paid for their destruction during the year
1881, as compared with the previous year. The figures
are summarised in the following tables :—
Number of Human Beings and Cattle Killed by Wild
Animals
Persons killed. Cattle killed.
1880, 1881, 1880. 1881.
Madras 223 238 ... 8,667 ... 8,668
Bombay 130 I4l ... 4,537 <-. 2,398
‘Bencalgy ee 1205 15307) 218 ids507 meno) 423
North-Western Pro-
vinces and Oudh ... 561 470 8,140 ... 7,971
GOD es) ean oes 2. oo0 27...) Yg86 awemt4s083
Central Provinces ... 289i in.) P2404 23 abo ye 20)
British Burma... ... 32 CY rece 978 ... 898
Coorg Pa es ik. ING czy PON we ZLO mens 191
(Assam ll o) os-ee- 2Bai cep ZEL-0:) 93,200 mene, OO2
Hyderabad Assigned
Districts tg teks 24 LO! jess pS 500m ee Sj O13
Ajmere-Merwara 4 en PATO) SR 264
Total 2,840 2,757 «.- 55,950 ... 41,640
Number of Wild Animals destroyed and Amount of
Rewards Paid
Destroyed. Rewards. Destroyed. Rewards.
1880. r88r.
Sa eaciDp: Rs. a.p.
Madras......... 1,284 ... 16,579 10 0... 1,429... 20,251 50
Bombay ...... 1,717 4,775 10... 1,367 .... %4;905113 0
Bengal ......... 4,783 ... 24,841 106... 4,213 ... 23,316 30
N.-W. Provinces
and Oudh... 2,924... 7,295 40... 3,037... 8,434 140
Punjab .ceescers 17380)... 4,705 OIOL., aX, 411 4,856 30
Cent. Provinces 1,408 ... 17,887 80... 1,351 15,842 00
British Burma. 639... 3,468 O0... 1,059 4,200 80
Coorg........... 26.:... 140 (010. 15 215 00
SASSaTn ee cere 41 7,022 100... 1,176 7,552 2°0
Hyderabad As-
signed districts 167... 1,590 OO0.. 216 2,156 00
Ajmere-Merwara 8... 13 00 5 Nil
Total 14,886 ... 88,327 II 6... 15,279 ... 91,850 00
The resolution of Government, dated November 8,
1882, in dealing with this subject, gives the following
details, which are so far satisfactory, as they show that
organised measures are now being put in force for the
destruction of wild beasts, and that already there has
been diminution in the loss of human and domestic
animal life. As in the case of venomous snakes, the pre-
vention, or at all events diminution of loss of human and
domestic animal life from the ravages of wild animals, is
a question mainly of time, perseverance, and expenditure
of money. The last consideration perhaps may have
stood in the way of progress, not that expenditure of
rupees either has been or would be grudged, were there
certainty that it would overcome the evil, but that there
may have been, perhaps is, a natural reluctance to spend
public money for what seems an uncertain benefit, as
some have regarded a system of rewards for destruction
of snakes and wild animals. The Government of India
has always evinced a desire to adopt any steps that might
reasonably afford hope of relief, and many resolutions by
the supreme and local Governments, and considerable
expenditure of money wlth this object in view, proves
that the authorities have been and are alive to the magni-
tude of the evil and to the importance of repressing it,
and that they have taken measures which in some districts
have been attended with a fair amount of success. But the
absence of a thoroughly organised system of dealing with
the evil, and the desultory and varying methods employed
have prevented the attainment of the success that might
fairly be expected and would be obtained under better
arrangements ; and it will not be until some complete
organised system have been steadily and perseveringly
prosecuted that the desired result will be accomplished.
A few years ago (in 1878), when calling attention to this
subject, I noted that the loss of life from wild animals in
1875 and 1876 had been as follows :—
Killed in 1875. Killed in 1876.
Animals.
Persons. Cattle. Persons. Cattle.
Elephants... ... Olle Olgas Ber os 3
Tigers oa 828 ~2-01E25423) oe OL ele sLo)
Leopards ... US 7ipees ghOs05'7, 156 ... 15,373
Bearsi-cumccuawess Amen 522 F 230m 410
Wolves 1,061 ... 9,407 887 ... 12,448
LER ESM ooh S55 (ys ey th 49 ... 2,039
Other animals ... 1,446 ... 3,011 143 ... 4,573
Total... 3,735 --- 43,642 2,327 ... 47,962
Comparing these returns with that of 18S0-81 it will be
observed that the loss of life has not been materially
diminished
Persons killed.
1880 2,840
1881 2,757
1875 3735
1876 2,327
though there is reason to hope that future yearly reports
will be more favourable.
,
Fan. 18, 1883 |
NATURE
269
Registration is now becoming more accurate than it
has been, and the returns are probably more reliable than
they were, but they do not indicate any marked im-
provement on the whole. It is evident, however, from
the terms of the resolution before referred to, that Lord
Ripon is determined to deal vigorously with the evil,
and, just as in the case of the poisonous snakes—only,
perhaps, more surely —will the result, in time, justify the
expenditure which must needs be incurred.
Of the wild animals and venomous snakes which de-
stroy life in India, the wolf and tiger, it will be seen, are
the chief offenders among the former, the cobra and bun-
garus(krait) among the latter. A list of the rewards that
have been offered at various times and in different parts
of India is appended, but I do not know the amount now
offered for each animal, though it is probably much on
the same scale. If these rewards be distributed regularly
and systematically throughout India, they will probably
suffice to insure a steady reduction in the number of
noxious animals, and so will diminish a great evil.
“‘The figures quoted show a decreas2 during the year
under review, as compared with the previous year, both
in the number of persons and cattle killed ; and, on the
other hand, an increase in the number of wild animals
destroyed. As was the case in the previous year, the
mortality which occurred in Bengal and in the North-
Western Provinces and Oudh, was far greater than in
other provinces. Of the total number of deaths, 2757
were caused by wild animals, the figures for the previous
year being 2840.
The number of persons killed in Bengal (747), and in
the North-western Provinces, and Oudh (208) by wild
animals other than those specifically named in the
returns, was considerable. In future returns the animals
which come under the general head ‘ other animals,’’
and which causes in all provinces a very large proportion
of the mortality, should be specified in a foot-note, with
the number of deaths caused by each kind.
The total number of cattle killed also decreased. This
result is chiefly due to the exclusion from the Bengal
return of sheep and goats, of which a large number were
included in the figures of the year 1880. There has, how-
ever, been a marked decrease in, the number of cattle
killed by wild animals in the Bombay Presidency. In
the Punjab, also, the number of cattle killed was con-
siderably less than in the preceding year, but in this
province, as in the case of Bengal, the decrease appears
to be due to the exclusion of sheep and goats from the
returns of the year 1881.
The number of wild animals destroyed was 15,279,
against 14,886 in 1880. The number of tigers, leopards,
bears, and wolves destroyed was 1557, 3397, 991, and
4538 respectively, as compared with 1689, 3047, 1100,
and 4243 in the preceding year; and the number of
human beings killed by these animals respectively,
amounted to 889, 239, 75, and 256, against 872, 261,
108, and 347 in the year 1880.
Of the total amount of rewards paid during the year,
Rs 91,850 were awarded for the destruction of wild
animals.
In the review of the returns for the year 1880 a hope
was expressed that endeavours would be made to induce
men belonging to the Shikari class to devote themselves
specially to the work of destruction in districts which are
more than usually infested with wild animals, and Local
Governments were authorised to make special arrange-
ments for the experimental employment of such men.
From the present reports it appears that the Government
of Madras has decided that the employment of a paid
corps of Shikaris is undesirable, as the cost of supervision
would be excessive, while the employment of such a corps
would discourage local Shikaris. On this point the
Governor-General in Council desires to remark that where
local Shikaris exist it is very desirable that every en-
couragement should be held out to them, and that in such
cases it is preferable to trust to fixed, certain, and prompt
payments according to results, as the most effective way
of inducing the Shikaris to devote themselves to the
work, At the same time certain tracts of country exist
in which the special and temporary employment of men
from outside may be very useful and expedient, and the
reports show that the adoption of this plan has in some
cases been followed by satisfactory results. For instance,
in the Futehpore district, in the North-Western Provinces,
the entertainment of a body of special Shikaris resulted
in the destruction of a considerable number of wolves
with which that district was infested. In Dinapore, in
the Lower Provinces, also, professional hunters were
engaged during the closing month of the year for the
destruction of tigers.
“In the Central Provinces the ravages committed by
tigers in the Balaghat and Seoni districts necessitated the
offer of enhanced rewards for their destruction, and the
district officer of Seoni has endeavoured to organise a
special expedition of shikaris for the purpose of hunting
down the animals, and has provided the shikaris with
ammunition. Licenses under the Arms Act appear to
have been more freely given than hitherto to persons who
require arms for protecting themselves and their cattle
and crops from the attack of wild animals, but the
Governor-General in Council desires to take the oppor-
tunity of expressing a hope that this matter will be care-
fully kept in view by Local Governments and Administra-
tions in order that every possible facility may be offered
to cultivators and others for obtaining such licences in
districts in which wild beasts are more than usually
abundant.”
Wild Animals destructive to Life in India
CARNIVORA
felide
Felis—F. leo Lion
F, tigris Tiger
F. pardus Leopard
F, jubata Hunting Leopard
Hyaenine
Hyzna—H., striata Striped Hyzna
Canide
Canis—C. pallipes Wolf
C, aureus Jackal
Urside
Ursus—U. isabellinus
U. tibetanus
U. labiatus
Brown Bear
Black Bear
Sloth Bear.
UNGULATA
Elephantide
Elephant
Khinoceros
Suide
Wild Boar
Bovine
Bison, gaur
Buffalo, arna
Elephas—E, indicus
Rhinoceros—R. indicus
Sus—S, indicus
Gavzeus—G, gauri
Bubalus—Bb, arni
SAURIA
Crocodilide
Crocodilus—C, palustris Crocodile
C. biporcatus a
C, pondicerianus 90
Gayialis—G. gangeticus Gharial
PISCES
Carcharide
Carcharias—C. gangeticus Groundshark of Ganges
270
NATURE
[ Yan. 18, 1883
Poisonous Snakes of India
Those marked with an * are most deadly.
Those marked with a + are most common among the most
deadly.
PolsoNOUS COLUBRINE SNAKES
Llapide
1. Naja N. tripudians 7, cobra, several
varieties
O. elaps *, hamadryas
B. ceruleus ft, krait
B. fasciatus, sankni
X. bungaroides
C. intestinalis and several other
spec es
Fydrophide, or Sea Snakes (all deadly)
P. scutatus, P. Fischeri
H. cyanocincta, and several
other species
E. bengalensis
P. bicolor
2. Ophiophagus
3. Bungarus
4. Xenurelaps
5. Callophis
1. Platurus
2. Hydrophis
3. Enhydrina
4. Pelamis
VIPERINE SNAKES
Crotalide, or Fit Vipers
T. gramineus and several other
species
1. Trimeresurus
2. Peltopelor P. macrolepis
3. Halys H. himalaya: us
4. Hypnale H, nepa
Viperide, or true Vipers
1. Daboia D. rus-elliit, Chain Viper,
Tic-polonga
2. Echi E. carinata t, Phoorsa snake,
Afaé, Kuppur
The following is a scale of the rewards offered in dif-
ferent parts of India, at different times, for wild beasts
and snakes :—
TIGERS
Rupees
Bengal 80 oa S00 12} 10 50
Berar eas oo ae = a0 TO}y,;, 20
Bombay ... — oe te eee 6.5; 60
Burmah ... oat a nas ste Se eo
Central Provinces a ‘= sts Io ,, 100
Hyderabad anc anc = sa 20
Madras +A “00 oo we 50 to 500
My:ore ... “0 5c soc 35
North-West Provinces... ies a 10
Oudh : None
Punjab None
Rajpootana S56 IO to 15
Lions
The only record cf which I find cfficial mention, is 25 rupees
in Kotah.
PANTHERS, LEOPARDS, CHEETAHS
Rupees.
Bengal oe a ae a8 aA 2% to 10
Bombay es wie Ss vee see Seas 12
Burmah a wee aes oe i Sess) 10
Hyderabad ... 286 50 cot co 10
Madras 0 vee ar ive ae 25
My. ore eco ta sce ack oo 15
North-West Provinces... 2 moe 5
Rajpootana ac oo we ace 8 to 10
Ceutral Provinces ... oe oi wee pg 123
WOLVES
Rupees
Bergal Bch ae ae ee a 5 to 20
Berar fee ie cg oo ay Baan «5
Bombay : se oes ace fas 4
Central Provinces ... an oe eae Zeto, 5
Madras oe wae ae ese ies 5
Noith-West Provinces... 6 ey 5
Oudh ee ou se ee ae I to 6
Kajpootana... wn Ses * 5 5
IlyNAS
Rupees.
Bengal 6 - Ace ee “A Tetomee
Berar 2 i ane a Aa 5
Central Provinces ... ee ohn ae A tones
Madras he = e: ay Ree 3}
BEARS
Rupees.
Bengal ne 1} to 23
Berar 520 5 355 “A —
Bombay... 20 a Sah ie 3 to 12
Burmah = Pe, ee ie 5 tenes
Hyderabad ... 595 oe E
Madras : =6 bd 505 200
Central Provinces ... ine 355 se 2). toms
North-West [Provinces ... ie “0 3
Rajpootana... 28 “50 B53 oe 5
SNAKES (Species not reported)
Bengal ... coe 0 4 annas
Berar ... 200 an3 650 =
Bombay... co ae 6 pie to 4 annas
Burmah... 866 bet boxe _
Central Provinces I rupee
Hydcrabad 8 annas to 2 rupees
Madras ... ae I anna
Mysore ... 30 50 8 annas
North-West Provinces... a5 2 rupzes
Oudh .... oa oes ae =
Punjab .. cen et 2 annas
Rajpootana ao 084 I to § annas
No rewards appear officially proclaimed for elephants,
buffaloes, or bisons. In cases of notorious rogue ele-
phants rewards have been specially given. In Burmah 5
to 20 rupees offered for alligators ; in special cases, more
has been given in Bengal and Madras.
The difference in the amount of the rewards appears to
indicate that higher sums were offered in special cases,
probably when the creature was a nctorious man or
cattle-slayer.
Now I cannot help thinking that if Government made
it part of the duty of district officers, not only to pro-
claim these rewards but to encourage the destruction of
wild animals and snakes, by means of an organised
establishment, which should be supplied in these dis-
tricts, much benefit might result. The money rewards
already offered would probably suffice for wild animals,
but those for venomous snakes should be increased ;
if, at the same time, the people were encouraged
to work for the rewards, and were aided by persons
acting under properly selected superiors, the result would
soon show a diminution of the wild animals and snakes.
But, I repeat that not until some organised establishment
is formed, to be worked steadily throughout the whole
country—not dependent on the will or subject to the
caprice of individuals, but under local officers subject to
one head—will any real or progressive amelioration
of the evil be effected. Such a department under a
selected officer, would, as was the case with the Thugs
and Dacoits, soon make an impression on a death-rate
which, so long as it continues in its present condition,
must be referred to a defect in our administration.
J. FAYRER
PALAZOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF NORTH-
EAST LONDON
ihe 1855 Prof. Prestwich published in the Quarfer/y
Fournal of the Geological Society an account of a
fossiliferous deposit in the gravel of West Hackney.
The precise locality of the excavation is given, and from
1855 to now many neighbouring excavations have | een
made. They almost invariably exhibit the “ Paleolithic
Floor.” In 1855 only little was known of palzolithic
implements, yet it is a remarkable thing that none of
these objects, so common and well-made as they usually
_ Fan. 18, 1883]
are at West Hackney, arrested Prof. Prestwich’s atten-
tion. It is also remarkable that although alist of twenty-
three land and freshwater shells is given in that paper,
yet it does not include the only two of especial interest,
viz. Corbi.ula fluminalis, Miill.,and Hydrobia marginata,
Mich. ; the first of which is extremely common, and the
latter frequent. The branches of trees, “sharply broken
into short pieces,” and the fossil bones, “showing no
trace of wear or fracture,” are frequent in all the West
Hackney pits. One may be sometimes very near a
curious discovery and yet miss it.
In NATuRE, vol. xxvi. p. 579, I described and illus-
trated the West Hackney, or Stoke Newington, palz-
olithic gravels as understood by me, confining myself to
the geological aspects of the situation. I now approach
the subject of the weapons and tools contained in the
drift of that place. Of the stone implements there are
three distinct varieties, each belonging to a different
geological time. The implements of these ages are not
confined to the valley of the Thames, as they are marked
with almost equal distinctness in other places as at Can-
terbury, Bedford, Southampton, and elsewhere.
In looking for the oldest human works, it would be un-
reasonable to expect symmetrical implements. The very
earliest weapons and tools used by our most remote pre-
cursors must have been natural or accidentally broken
stones :—naturally pointed stones and stones with a
naturally suitable cutting or chopping edge; the first
attempts at implement making must have been at the
time when the primeval savages ‘‘ quartered” a stone by
smashing it, and then selected pointed and knife-like
pieces of this stone for tools.
None of the following rules are without exceptions,
for amongst the implements which are usually very
large, a very small specimen may now and then occur ;
and amongst those which are usually very small, there
may be at times a large example. The lustre and deep
ochreous tints may at times vary a little. Notwithstand-
ing exceptions, when all the characters are taken together,
the distinctness of the three classes will hold good.
The ‘oldest known tools are the rarest, and, according
to my estimate, can be recognized by the following cha-
racters :—they are generally lingulate, or club-shaped,
with a heavy butt, often rudely ovate, never acuminate,
generally large and very rude, frequently with a thick,
ochreous crust, and always greatly abraded, as if they had
been tossed about for ages in the sea. Some of these
implements are so much abraded that they have lost
almost every trace of flaking. These old implements
acquired their ochreous crust before they were buried in
the gravel, as they occur amongst sub-angular lustrous
flints and even chert gravel, where only the implements
and a few stray stones exhibit the ochreous crust. I have
seen no trimmed flakes or scraping tools belonging to this
older age. In London, these old implements are gene-
rally found near the bottom of the twenty feet (or even
thirty feet) excavations. At Ca>terbury they occur in thin
seams of distinct ochreous material where all the contained
flints have an ochreous surface. All these older tools
were made at a long distance from where they are now
found. Two Canterbury examples are illustrated, half
actual size at Fig. 1 and 2, Nos 100 and 126 in my collec-
tion. A very important point has now to be especially
noticed : when these ochreous instruments were originally
tossed about and buried in the gravel some of them be-
came chipped and even broken. Now, the chipped and
broken surfaces of these older implements, as at A A,
Fig. 1, are mever ochreous, but invariably of the natural
colour of the flint and lustrous. This lustre has been
acquired since the gravels were laid down, and it exactly
agrees with the lustre of the sub-abraded lustrous imple-
nents of medium age found from 8 feet to 10 feet above
the ochreous ones. It follows, therefore, that the lustrous
implements, although enormously old, can only be as old
NATURE
275
as the time when the ochreous ones were bruised and
broken in the gravels where they are now found.
Another fact must be mentioned here: the men who
used the oldest known tools sometimes broke them in
two whilst they were at work with them ; the accidentally
fractured surfaces of this class are of course as old as the
tools, and therefore always ochreous. Points and butt
ends wholly ochreous are of common occurrence : these
pieces of tools must have been shattered for long ages
before the gravels of middle age were laid down.
The men who made and used the rude ochreous tools
were to a great extent a “whole handed” race—they had
not learned the full use of their fingers but held the
weapons as one would now hold a heavy stone for smash-
ing. It is probable that the more pointed end of the
club-shaped implements was sometimes grasped in the
hand and the butt used asa club or hammer. The ab-
sence of scrapers indicates that the men probably knew
nothing of dressing skins, and were unclothed.
In and near London lustrous and sub-abraded tools of
medium age are commonly found at a depth of 12 feet;
these tools show a distinct improvement in workman-
ship over the older ones. Most of the examples are
lingulate and acuminate, and the butt, and sometimes
the umbo, shows signs of hammering, the ovate form is
not uncommon, but the cutting edge all round I have not
yet seen. A few chisel ended implements occur. Rude
choppers and somewhat large scraping tools are common.
All the artificially chipped stones of this medium age are
sub-abraded and lustrous. They were not made where
now found, but have been carried by the drift for a short
distance. A pointed weapon and chopper of medium
paleolithic age are illustrated half real size at Figs. 3 and
4, Nos. 588 and 482 in my collection. A scraper of the
same age is illustrated at Fig. 5, Scraper No. 9 in my
collection.
When the lustrous sub-abraded tools were made the
men had by that time acquired the habit of holding their
weapons in a lighter fashion,—still in the palm, but more
lightly held with the thumb and two next fingers. The
frequent presence of horse-shoe and side scrapers now
indicates that the men had possibly learned to rudely
dress skins for clothing. Sometimes unfinished implements
are found; one of medium age from Lower Clapton,
London, is illustrated at Fig. 6. The dotted line shows
where the point would have been, if the maker had finished
it. Implements roughly blocked out to form, and without
any secondary trimming, are common: it would appear
that the men sometimes first blocked out a number of im-
plements rudely with a heavy hammer-stone, and afterwards
finished with neater fabricating tools. An implement in
a preparatory stage, of which I have many similar
examples, is illustrated in Fig. 7, from Bedford. Many
implements were accidentally shattered in the course of
manufacture, and the shattered failures are common in all
implementiferous gravels.
Long after these two classes of tools were buried by
floods of water deep in the gravel and sand, there lived
a third race of palzolithic men, as far removed from the
men who made the lustrous sub-abraded implements as
these latter men were from the makers of the ochreous
and highly abraded instruments. These newer tools are
found at Stoke Newington at about 8 feet above the
lustrous examples, and generally about 4 feet from the
present surface. In some places so much top material
has been taken off for brickmaking that the stratum
containing the newer implements is almost exposed on
the surface. Denudation since palzolithic times has
considerably altered the contours round north London,
and the “ Paleolithic Floor’’ at South Hornsey, close to
Stoke Newington, is 14 feet below the surface instead of
4 feet—this 10 feet has been removed in some places by
the rains of centuries, in others by modern brickmakers -
i and nurserymen.
272
NATURE
| Fan. 18, 1883
The newest palzolithic implements are as a rule not
highly lustrous as in the last, but sub-lustrous, and often
even dull; not abraded or sub-abraded, but as sharp as
on the day they were made. As a rule they are very
much smaller and lighter than anything belonging to the
two previous periods. An example is illustrated half real
size at Fig. 8, No. 403, in my collection. Other charac-
teristic specimens are illustrated at Figs. 9 and 10. Fig.9
Fig. 1
is a thin and exquisitely manipulated trimmed-flake,
No. 47 in my collection, weighing only 1,5, ounces. Fig.
Io is an implement worked on both sides, the natural
crust of the flint being left untouched on the butt, weight
only 14 ounces, No. 627 in my collection. Oval imple-
ments with a cutting edge all round now appear ; a few
examples, as in the last period, occur where the broad
end (as in neolithic celts) appears to have been designed
for cutting or chiselling ; scrapers are common, not large
Fic. 2.
and rough, but as a rule small and extremely neat. One
is illustrated at Fig. 11, half actual size, scraper No. 22
in my collection; small knives, ze. flakes, with the edge
or edges showing very neat secondary trimming, are
common, and hardly to be distinguished from neolithic
eae As a rule every object is now neat, small and
ne.
That these later implements are of a different age from
the last is proved by the curious fact that the newer
implements are sometimes re-made from older ones, ze.
re-trimmed after the lapse of a vast period of time. I
have several such examples, one a scraper belonging to
the “ Paleolithic Floor”: it is made from an old lustrous
flake of medium age, all the more recent work being dull
and sharp. At Fig. 12 is illustrated, half real size (No.
452 in my collection), an implement of later palzolithic
age from Bedford. It is an old implement that was
“found” after a lapse of time by a newer palzeolithic man
and re-pointed. The finder had probably sense enough
to know that the thing he found was really a human-
made implement, only wanting a little fresh work to make
it “as good as new.’”’ This man. stands in contrast with
the very few individuals (still extant) who say they can
see no evidence of design in drift tools. The original
form of the implement is indicated by the dotted lines,
C,C,C; the natural crust of the flint is present at the
base on both sides, shown by dots in the illustration.
The original mid-age flaking is shown at B,B, B, B, and
Fic. 3.
the work of the newer palzolithic man is exhibited at
D,D,D. The old finder of the implement gave two new
edges and a new point to the tool, and improved the
shape of the butt; the newer work is creamy white and
lustrous, and in distinct contrast with the older work.
When this implement was thrown out of the pit by the
workman, the newer point got accidentally injured, at E, F.
This injury, by exposing the interior of the flint, shows
that the tool was originally a greyish-black one, and that
since it was last pointed, it has acquired a thick, white
bark by the decomposition of the flint. Now, neolithic
flints at Bedford (where the example under examination
was found) remain blackish-grey to the present day; the
thousands of years (say from two to ten) since they were
chipped have been insufficient to cause even the thinnest
conceivable while film of decomposition to appear, but
this paleolithic example has acquired a white bark of a
sixteenth of an inch in thickness. How much older then
must this ew oznt be than the neolithic flints from the
same place. The new point being inconceivably old, how
much older must the old butt be! The implement, how-
Fan. 18, 1883 |
NATURE
273
ever, that was “found’’ (as proved by the flaking of | living places stretched in unbroken lines on the old river
medium age) was new as compared with the older, highly-
abraded examples. There is other evidence of the ex-
treme antiquity of these things. They are a// beneath the
“trail and warp.” Now the “trail’’ belongs to
geological time, and the period of its deposition
is so remote that one can only guess at its age
in years. The newest palzolithic implements
are every one beneath and older than the “trail,”
how very much older, then, must be the oldest
implements. The proofs that they are really older
I have given. ;
The tools of the later palzolithic period show
a marked development of the hand in the makers,
for the chippers of these later tools had learned
to hold small instruments with the fingers, much
as we now hold a small pen, pencil or knife. From
the rude and heavy bludgeonthemen had advanced
to beautiful oval and ovate forms almost perfect
in geometrical precision. The progress from the
large and rude, to the extremely small and neat scraper,
shows that the men had probably progressed in the art of
dressing skins, and in every way did finer and neater things.
That these men and women now wore necklaces, and
possibly bracelets, seems proved by the fact of specimens
of Coscinopora globularis, D’Orb., occurring with the natural
Fic. 4.
orifice, artificially enlarged. I have several specimens
thus enlarged from a horde of more than two hundred,
examples all found together near Bedford. Mr. James
Wyatt, F.G.S., noticed a similar fact, as recorded by him
in the Geologist 1862, p.234. These later palzolithic men
lived in large and probably peaceful companies, and their
banks.
patches, but places extending for many miles, how large
they are it is impossible to say from paucity of excavations.
The “ Paleolithic Floors” are not little isolated
They are not confined to the valley of the Thames, but
they occur in many places.
The newer implements and those of middle age are
innate with, and have belonged to the gravel from the first.
The older implements are distinctly “derived” like the
cretaceous fossils commonly found in the gravel, We know
whence the fossils have come because they are socommon,
the abraded ochreous implements on the other hand are
very rare, and this rarity makes it difficult to say whence
they have been derived, they possibly belong to none of
our existing rivers. As in 1868 (Fournal of Anthropological
SS All
Soe
Fic, 6.
Institute, Feb, 1879), I recorded my discovery of flakes
and implements in the so-called middle-glacial gravel of
Amwell, Ware, and Hertford, I have little doubt that the
older implements found at North-East London have
been derived from these positions. Whether the above-
mentioned gravels are really glacial or not, I am not
prepared to decide. How the implements got into the
gravel I cannot say. I found them in the ballast thrown
out of the pits and in the pits themselves. If the gravel
is glacial could not glaciers have swept up flakes and
tools from old surfaces in the same way as the “trail”
has undoubtedly done?
274
Great caution must be exercised in the acceptance of
implements as of glacial age, even if found on the sur-
face of glacial gravels. Men of the later palzolithic age
lived only seven miles south of Ware, and there is no
reason why they should not have strayed over those high
Fic. 7.
positions. Some of the later tools have glacial striz on
the original crust.
There is apparently, but perhaps not really,a gap between
each of these three palzolithic periods, as there is appar-
ently a gap between paleolithic (in its vague general sense)
and neolithic times. Each older period however, has
forms which foreshadow the forms which follow in suc-
ceeding periods even down to neolithic times. No doubt
the fossil bones, if a good series could be obtained, would
show a succession of, or possibly different groups, of animals
in the different deposits, but the bones, antlers, and teeth
met with by me, are at present insufficient to define any
such groups with distinctness.
The day will come when we shall know much more
of palzolithic men than we know now. At present
we only know that such men once existed and made
NATURE
[ Fan. 18, 1883
weapons and tools of stone during long periods of time.
How or where they first appeared as human creatures
we can only guess. When we know more we shall modify
our use of such terms as ‘River Drift Men,” “Cave
Men,” &c., and we shall probably be able to mark out
more or less distinctly a succession of men, a succession
of geological events, and a distinct succession of progres-
sive steps in the men from the lowest savage to the
barbarian. Some of our ignorance is undoubtedly caused
by the undue attention that has been bestowed on the
collection of ornate implements and to the employment
of gravel-diggers for their collection. No greater mistake
can be made than the mere getting together of the more
highly finished and perfect implements. We only learn
from them that certain makers, at first few and far be-
tween, common at last,—acquired extraordinary skill in the
manufacture of stone tools and weapons. For one per-
fect example, twenty have their points, butts, or edges
injured either by peaceful or warlike work. Collectors
will not put the damaged examples and failures in their
“cabinets ;” but every damage tells some story of the
use of the implement, and throws some light on the
character of the being who made and used it. :
Implements could not have been made without fabri-
cating tools—without punches, hammer-stones, and anvils ;
—where the ordinary implements are, these latter things
also are. Implements such as are seen in museums are
only fit for moderately rough work ; very rough work was
sometimes done, but rough and massive stones artificially
worked are seldom seen in collections.
Knives, scrapers, wedges, heavy choppers, punches,
anvils, cores, abraded hammer-stones, and other things
have all been recovered by me from Stoke Newington,
London ; but as this paper has already exceeded the
limits set apart for similar articles, the description and
illustration of these less-known objects had better be
deferred. WORTHINGTON G. SMITH
LEVERS ARC LAMP
S° many rival forms of lamps have recently been
devised for regulating the electric arc light that even
specialists in this branch of applied science have some
difficulty in keeping up a knowledge of all the various
systems. Amongst those, however, there is a tolerably
well-defined class of lamps in which the movements of
the carbon-holder are regulated by a clutch or kindred
device, which grips the holder and raises it, lowers it, or
releases it when required. Clutch lamps date back, in-
deed, to the year 1858, when a lamp of this type invented
by Hart, the instrument maker, received a prize from the
Royal Scottish Society of Arts. Amongst the more
modern forms of clutch lamp those which have hitherto
Fan. 18, 1883]
found favour with the public are the well-known inven-
tions of Brush and Weston. Though the clutch device is
in itself simple and efficient, the difficulty which has
beset the action of such lamps has been that of arranging
suitable electric mechanism to work the clutch. In
Hart’s lamp an electro-magnet through the coils of which
the main current passed on its way to the lamp, lifted the
clutch, and again released it when the increasing resist-
ance of the arc interfered with the strength of the cur-
rent. In the lamps of Weston and of Brush a much
more complicated arrangement was adopted, the magnets
which worked the clutch being in both these patterns of
lamp wound “ differentially,” that is to say, with a coil of
fine wire connected as a shunt to the lamp, acting in
opposition to another coil of thick wire through which the
main current flowed. This differential principle was
originally applied in the Siemens’ lamp, wherein, however,
no clutch was used. In the Pilsen lamp, and in many
others, combinations of shunt magnets and main: circuit
magnets have been similarly applied. The lamp which
we illustrate in the figure, the invention of Mr. Charles
Lever, of Manchester, is a clutch lamp, but of remarkably
simple, yet efficient construction. And as it possesses
sundry points worthy of notice from a scientific aspect,
we will briefly describe it. The upper carbon is clamped
ina holder or carbon rod ¢, which consists of a tube of
brass sliding smoothly through the upper framework of
the lamp. Fitting accurately, but not tightly to it, is a
brass washer, or collar, B, which is supported from below
or on one side by an adjustible screw, G, and on the other by
a metal piece, I, projecting from the jointed framework
NATURE
mT
below. This framework is held up by a spiral spring, D,
which, when the lamp is not in action, keeps the piece, 1,
pressed up under the washer, B, and tilts it. When thus
tilted it clutches the carbon-holder, C, and raises it.
Attached to the under-side of the jointed framework
alluded to is an iron bar, A, bearing two broad-ended
iron screws, J, below which, again, are seen the two limbs
of an electro-magnet, FF, with the poles upward. This
electro-magnet is wound with fine wire, and connected
asa shunt to the lamp. Now, as described above, when
the lamp is not in action, the carbons are held apart by a
spring. When the current is turned on it must therefore
pass through the shunt magnet, which immediately attracts
the bar, A, lowers the piece, I, releases the clutch-washer,
B. The upper carbon then falls, and the current is
diverted from the shunt-magnet to the lamp itself, passing
through the carbons. But when this takes place, the
spring, D, being no longer opposed, draws up the frame-
work, and picks up the clutch, thus raising the upper
carbon through the space requisite for the production of
the arc. A more simple or efficient mechanism would be
difficult to devise; and its action is extremely regular
and steady in practice.
NOTES
Pror. Hux Ley has been appointed to deliver the Rede
Lecture (Cambridge) this year.
Mr. G. H. Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., has been elected to the
Plumian Professorship of Astronomy and Experimental Philo-
sophy at the University of Cambridge, vacant by the death of
the Kev. James Challis. This was the first election to a profes-
sorship since the approval of the new University Statutes by
Her Majesty in Council. By the new statutes the election to
certain professorships is vested in a Board nominated by the
Special and General Boards of Studies and by the Council of
the Senate, the persons so nominated being elected by the
Senate. The members of the Board appointed to elect to the
Plumwian Professorship are the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. H. J. S.
Smith, of Oxford, Mr. W. H. M. Christie, the Astronomer-
Royal, Mr. W. Spottiswoode, President of the Royal Society ;
Profes-ors Adams, Stokes, Cayley ; Dr. Ferrers, Master of Gon-
ville and Caius ; and Mr. Isaac Todhunter, of St. John’s.
THE subscription for the Darwin Memorial has awakened so
much enthusiasm in Sweden that the local committee there
formed has received subscriptions from no less than 1400 per-
sons, including ‘‘all sorts of people,” writes Prof. Loven in a
letter to the English Committee, ‘‘ from the bishop to the seam-
stress,” the sums varying from five pounds to twopence. The
English Committee, which has its head-quarters at the Royal
Society, London, has now rec-ived (inclusive of subscriptions
from abroad), 4000/., but the number of subscribers in the
United Kingdom is only about 600, From this it would seem
that an interest in science is not nearly so widely spread in
Britain as it is in the more thinly peopled land of Sweden.
In announcing the death of Mr. Darwin to the American
Philosophical Society at iis meeting on April 21, 1882, Dr. Le
Conte stated the general bearing of Darwinism in a striking and
unusual way :—‘'To no man more than to Darwin does the
present age owe as much, for the gradual reception of the modern
method of close observation over the scholastic or @ friort
formule, which, up to a brief period, affected all biological
investigations, To him, above all men, we owe the recurrence
to the old Aryan doctrine of evolution (though in those ancient
times promulgated under the guise of inspiration) as preferable,
by reasonable demonstration, to the Semitic views, which have
prevailed to within a few years, and are still acceptable to a
large number of well-minded but unthinking men, The doctrine
276
of evolution, in its elementary form, means nothing more than
that everything that exists has been derived from something
that pre-existed ; that the former is related to the latter as effect
is to cause. And it is most pleasing evidence of the accepta-
bility of this doctrine, that it is now heard from many pulpits in
the land, and is a strong illustration of the instructions which are
thence given.’
LETTERS have been received from Mr. Forbes dated from
Shonga, on the Niger, at the end of October last. Shonga is a
smal] trading-station a short distance upacreek on the right bank
of the main stream some fifty miles below Rebba, Mr. Forbes had
been there three weeks, and was expecting to remain about three
more, when the steamer would call for him, and try to get up to
Sokoto—an excursion that would occupy at least six weeks.
After this Mr. Forbes would return direct to England. Having
been pulled down by fever and the want of good food, Mr.
Forbes had not been very successful in his collections at Shonga.
His list of species of birds obtained at the date of his letter was
only 105, and the difficulty in obtaining spirit had interfered
with the preservation of fishes, of which many species were
abundant,
In a collection of birds and insects just received from Mr,
Andrew Goldie by Messrs. Salvin and Godman are specimens of
a fine new Bird of Paradise, obtained in the D’Entrecasteaux
Islands, south-east of New Guinea. This species, which belongs
to the restricted genus Paradisea, is shortly characterised by
Messrs. Salvin and Godman in the last number of the Zéis as
Paradisea decora, and will be fully described and figured in the
next number of the same journal.
THE Lancet is happy to be assured that the rumours respecting
the infirm state of health of Prof. Owen are unfounded. The
large circle of the professor’s friends will share with us in the
hope that his valuable life will be prolonged many years beyond
the seventy-nine which it has already reached.
A GROWING want has for some time been felt by lecturers on
biological subjects, and especially Ly those whose lot it is to
address large audiences or classes, of a good series of lantern
slides, which would do for biology what has been so well done
for physical science by York’s series of slides. The ever
increasing use of the oxyhydrogen lantern as a means of illustra-
tion, especially with popular audiences, renders this need more
apparent. Arrangements have, however, now been made with
Messrs. York and Son, 87, Lancaster Road, Notting Hill,
London, W., to issue such a series, under the supervision of
Dr. Andrew Wilson and of Mr. Wm. Lant Carpenter, to whom,
at 36, Craven Park, Harlesden, London, N.W., or to Dr.
Wilson, 110, Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, any communications
on the subject may be addressed. It is intended that, in the first
instance, the series shall comprise some of the principal types
and life-histories of the lower forms of plant and animal life, and
the elementary facts of animal and vegetable physiology. It is
believed that the knowledge that these are in preparation, may
save the construction of diagrams by some lecturers, and may
lead others to make valuable suggestions as to sources of illus-
tration, &c., to one of the above named gentlemen.
Pror. Cook, of Canterbury College, New Zealand, points
out in the new number of the V.Z. Yournal of Science that
while the colony is remarkably well provided with museums, it
is entirely without a public astronomical observatory. It is a
fact that some years ago about 250/. were collected for such an
observatory, but it came to nothing. We heartily endorse Prof.
Cook’s able advocacy for the foundation of an observatory in
New Zealand, which, if perfectly equipped and directed could
not fail to do good work. Out of a total of ninety-five observa-
tories in the Nautical Almanac only eight are in the southern
latitudes.
NATURE
| Fan. 18, 1883
AT the Guildhall last week Dr. Siemens and Dr. Percy were
each presented with the freedom and Livery of the Worshipful
Company of Turners. The honour was conferred upon Dr
Siemens in recognition of his eminence as an engineer, his suc-
cessful application of physical science to valuable practical pur-
poses, especially electricity and metallurgy, and his personal
support of technical education. The new member made a
suitable reply in returning thanks for the honour conferred
on him, an honour which was specially precious to him, and of
which he should ever be proud. Referring to electricity, he
said it was a new science, the applications of which had all to be
developed, and in the development of which wonderful results
had been produced. In the case of Dr. Percy, the honour was
conferred in recognition of his distinguished scientific attain-
ments, especially in connection with metallurgy, the great value
of his researches, and his teaching not only to turners, but to all
workers in. metal.
THE German Fishery Society has petitioned the Reichstag to
make a grant of 10,000 marks, chiefly to enable Germans to
take part in the approaching London Fishery Exhibition. It is
desired that an official delegate should represent this Empire in
London in connection with the enterprise.
THE astronomical observatories of Greenwich, Kiel, Pulkova,
Vienna, Milan, Paris, Utrecht, and Copenhagen have fixed on
Kiel as the centre for astronomical telegrams. For an annual
payment of five pounds each of the above-mentioned observa-
tories wjll receive by telegraph information of every fresh astro-
nomicgl discovery wherever made.
DR. SCHLIEMANN is desirous of commencing a new series of
excavations in the North-West of Athens. In the neighbour-
hood of the old Academy was the site of the official burial-
ground, and there were buried the ancient Athenians who had
fallen in battle. Dr. Schliemann hopes in this spot to find the
grave of Pericles, At a subsequent period it is his intention to
begin fresh excavations in Crete.
In an address on education at Birmingham on Monday, Mr.
Mundella said : ‘‘ They were asked if they were not over educa-
ting; he said no, and he would tell them why. Our idea of
education was the lowest, certainly, on this side the Alps.
Those who had the longest experience in education, those
nations which had spent the most on it, were at this moment
making the greatest efforts. The educational impulse throughout
Europe was something they could hardly believe, and it was so
because the people on the Continent had found that knowledge
was power, not only military power, but industrial power.
Whereas in Birmingham, last year, the expenditure on education
was 2s. 3d@. per head, in Paris it was 12s.”
Tue following gentlemen have kindly promised to deliver
popular lectures, with lantern illustrations, at the Royal Victoria
Coffee Hall, Waterloo Road, on Friday evenings at 9 o'clock.
January 19, Mr. Wm. Lant Carpenter, B.A., F.C.S., on *‘ The
Telephone and how to talk to a man 100 miles away.” January
26, Mr. C. A. V. Conybeare on Pompeii. On February 2,
instead of a lecture a magic lantern entertainment, entitled
‘Here, Fhere, and Everywhere,”’ will be given by Major George
Verney. February 9, Mr. E. B. Knobel (Sec. R.A.S.), ‘‘ The
Sun and his Family, with a glance at other Suns.”
ACCORDING to the Yournal of the Russian Physico-chemical
Society, the priority in photographing with the electric light
belongs to the well-known St. Petersburg photographer, M.
Lewitski, who obtained such photographs in the winter of 1856,
on the following oceasion:—To produce the electric light during
the celebration of the coronation of the Czar Alexander II. at
; Moscow, a Bunsen battery of 800 elements had been constructed.
Fan. 18, 1883]
NATURE
277
The following winter this battery was taken ty St. Petersburg,
and Prof. Lenz demonstrated its action to a distinguished
auditory, formed of members of the Imperial family and generals
of the army. It was during this lecture that M. Lewitski
obtained a photograph of the professor, A positive of this
portrait was presented by M. Lermantoff to the Russian Physical
Society at the séance on December 14, 1880, It is by no means
a poor photograph, but full of detail in the shadows and half
tints.
In a recent report of the Berlin Physical Society (p. 95) we
referred to some valuable observations by Dr. Koenig with Prof.
Helmholtz’s new instrument, called the Zewkoscope. We observe
that a detailed account (with illustration) of the instrument and
of the results obtained with it, appears in //“edemann’s Annalen,
Nos. 12 and 13 of last year.
Pror, F, W. Purnam has concluded a very successful course
of lectures at the Peabody Museum, Boston, on some of the
most interesting of American antiquities. The Boston Evening
Transcrift in an article on the lectures says:—‘‘It is to be
hoped that the curator will not again be retarded in his work
from the want of means for its prosecution, when he has shown,
as he has in this course of lectures, how much can be done at
comparatively little expense under proper methods of research.
As he said in his lecture, what is to be done must be done at
once, and it would be a great pity to have the opportunities now
open to him lost to science. The ancient city known to the
present inhabitants of the Little Miami Valley, thirty-five miles
east of Cincinnati, as ‘Fort Ancient,’ would be worth to
American scholars for study as much as any of the old Greek
cities that have been so thoroughly dug over by European
explorers and students. Certainly American scholars should
lead in American archeology and ethnology. ‘The restoration
or preservation of these wonderful remains of a comparatively
enlightened prehistoric American people would be a glorious
monument for any American Institution of learning and
science.”
SHocks of earthquake have been felt in the province of
Murcia, in Spain. Seven shocks occurred at Archena on the
zith inst. Shocks have also been felt at Fortuna, Muta, Ricotel
and other towns in Murcia. Eleven distinct shocks were felt
on Tuesday morning at Archena, between the hours of three and
six. Some lasted fifteen, and others lasted two seconds. An
earthquake of a few seconds duration was experienced at Kultorp,
near Kalmar, in Sweden, at 8.50 p.m. on the 12th inst. A
slight shock of earthquake was felt at Monmouth at five o’clock
on Tuesday evening, accompanied by a light, rushing noise. The
wave seemed to pass from south-east to north-west.
A REMARKABLE discovery of the elder Xue inscriptions has
just been made in Ryfylke in Norway. The characters have
been made on a stone, the arrival of which in Christiania is
awaited with great interest by savants.
THE French Minister of Postal Telegraphy in France has
established at the central office a special course of lectures on
Wheatstone’s automatic apparatus, to which sixteen competent
operators, from different parts of the country, have been admitted,
‘Lhe course of lectures and experiments has lasted two months.
The pupils are now passing an examination, and a special certi-
ficate will be issued to the successful candidates, which will
greatly help them in their future promotion in the postal tele-
graphic service.
THE Parc Montceau, placed in one of the most fashionable
parts of Paris is now lighted by Jablochkoff candles with success.
ADMIRAL Moucuez has issued his invitation for the Soirées
de \’Observatoire, at which as usual will be exhibited all the
scientific novelties of the year.
M. CHEVREUL has been unanimously nominated once more
President of the French Société Nationale d’Agriculture.
if is expected that the French Government will take in hand
the celebration of the centenary of the discovery of balloons.
The two committees which had been formed by several
aeronautical societies have been amalgamated, and M, Gaston
Tissandier has been appointed president. The scheme of an
international exhibition for balloons and instruments used in
aérial investigations has been adopted by M. Herrisson, the
Minister of Public Works, and will be carried into effect by M.
Armengaud Jeane, the well-known civil engineer.
In his speech on laying down his office, previous to being
admitted Vice-Chancellor for the year 1883, Dr. Porter,
Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, referred to the endowments
of the new Professorships of Physiology and Pathology,
increased grants to the museums and lecture-rooms, and a
chemical Jaboratory on an adequate scale, as among the more
urgent claims on the new funds available to the University.
Pror, FRispy writes from the U.S. Naval Observatory,
Washington, that in the circular he lately sent (NATURE,
vol. xxvii, p. 226), giving elliptic orbit of great comet,
¢ = 89° 7’ 42"*70 should be @ = 89° 13' 42"""70.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Bonnet Monkey (AZacacus radiatus 8) from
India, presented by Mr. C. James; a Common Otter (Zutra
vulgaris), British, presented by Mr. E. P. Squarey; a Black-
necked Hare (Lepus nigricollis 6) from Ceylon, presented by
Mr. W. Bowden Smith; an Indian Antelope (Avéilope cervi-
capra) from India, presented by Capt. R. Brooke Hunt ; a Bohor
Antelope (Cervicapra bohor 2) from India, presented by Mr. W.
J. Evelyn ; a Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas) from South
Africa, presented by Mr, J. S. Crow; a Larger Hill Mynah
(Gracula intermedia) from India, presented by Mrs. M. R.
Manuel ; three Passenger Pigeons (Zcéopistes migratorius) from
North America, presented by Mr. F. J. Thompson; a
Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma ) from California, pre-
sented by Mr. Martin R. de Selincourt ; a Common Adder
(Vipera berus), British, presented by Mr. J. Harris ; an Indian
Black Cuckoo (Zudynamys orientalis) from India, purchased ;
an Axis Deer (Cervus axis 6), born in the Gardens.
APPROXIMATIVE PHOTOMETRIC MEASURE-
MENTS OF SUN, MOON, CLOUDY SKY,
AND ELECTRIC AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL
LIGHTS *
IR WILLIAM THOMSON pointed out that the light and
heat perceived in the radiations from hot bodies were but the
different modes in which the energy of vibration induced by the
heat was conveyed to our consciousness. <A hot kettle ; red-hot
iron ; incandescent iron, platinum, or carbon, the incandescence in
the electric arc, all radiate energy in the same manner, and accord-
ing as it is perceived through the sense of sight, by its organ the
eye, or by the sense of heat,? we speak of it as light or heat.
When the period of vibration is longer than one four-hundred-
million-millionth of a second, the radiation can only be per
ceived by the sense of heat; when the period of vibration is
Abstract of lecture at the Glasgow Philosophical Society, by Sir William
Thomson, F.R.S. A
2 Sometimes wrongly called the sense of touch. The true list of the
senses, first given, I believe, by Dr. Thos. Reid, makes two of what used
to be called the sense of touch, so that, instead of the still too common
wrong-reckoning of five senses, we have six, as follows :—
Sense of Force.
oF Heat.
an Sound.
o Light.
a Taste
= Smell.
278
NATURE
[ Han. 18, 1883
shorter than one four-bundred-million-millionth of a second, and
longer than one eight-hundred-million-millionth of a second, the
radiation is perceived as light, by the eye.
Pouillet, from a series of experiments, deduced a value
of the energy radiated by the sun, equal in British units to
about 86 foot-pounds per second per square foot at the earth's
surface, or about 1 horse-power to every 64 square feet of the
earth’s surface. We may estimate from this the value of the
solar radiation at the surface of the sun. The sun is merely an
incandescent molten mass losing heat by radiation, and sur-
rounded by an atmosphere of incandescent vapour, so that the
radiant energy really comes out from any square foot or square
mile of the sun’s surface, as from a pit of luminous fluid which
we cannot distinguish as either gaseous or liquid. Take, how-
ever, instead of the sun, an ideal radiating surface of a solid
globe of 440,000 miles radius. The distance of the earth being
taken as 93 million miles, the radius of the sun is equal to, say in
round numbers, one two-hundredth of the earth’s distance, hence
the area at the earth’s distance corres; onding to one square foot
of the sun’s surface, is equal to 40,000 square feet. The radia-
tion on this surface is (40,000 X 86, or) 3,440,000 foot-pounds,
which is therefore the amount of radiation from each :quare foot
of the sun’s surface. This amounts to about 7000 hor:e-power,
which, according to our brain-wasting British measure, we must
divide by 144, if we wish to know the radiation per square inch
of the sun’s surface, which we thus find to be 50 horse-power.
_ The normal current through a Swan lamp giving a 20-candle
light is equal to 1.4 amperes with a potential of 40 to 45 volts.
Hence the activity of the electric working in the filament is 61°6
ampere-volts or Watts (according to Dr. Siemens’ happy desig-
nation of the name of Watt, to represent the unit of activity
constituted by the amrere-volt). To reduce this to horse-power
we must divide by 746, and we thus find about 1-12th of a
horse-power for the electric activity in a Swan lamp. The
filament is 34 inches long, and ‘or of an inch in diameter of
circular section ; the area of the surface is thus 1-9th of a square
inch, and therefore the activity is at the rate of 3-4ths of a
horse-power per square inch, Hence the activity of the sun’s
radiation is about sixty-seven times greater than that of a Swan
lamp per equal area, when incande:ced to 240 candles per horse-
power.
In this country the standard light to which photometric
measurements are referred is that obtained from what is known
as a standard candle. Latterly, however, objections have been
raised against its accuracy. It has been said that differences of
as much as 14 per cent. have been found in the intensity of the
light given by different standard candles, and that serious
differences have been observed in the intensity of the light from
different parts of the same candle in the course ofits burning. The
Carcel lamp, the standard in use in France, has been regarded
as the only reliable standard. It is, no doubt, very reliable and
accurate in its indications, but it should be remembered that its
accuracy is greatly owing to the careful method and the laborious
precautions taken to secure accuracy. If something akin to
the precautions applied to the Carcel lamp by Regnault and
Dumas were ap} lied to the producticn and use of the standard
candle, there is little doubt but that sufficient accuracy for mcst
practical purpcses could also be obtained with it; probably
= good results as are already ol tained by the ure of the Carcel
amp.
At the Conference on Electrical Units which met in Paris
lately, a suggestion was made to ue as a standard for photo-
metric measurements the incandescence of n:elting platinum,
and very interesting results and methods in connection with the
proposal were presented to the meeting. According to experi-
ments by Mr. Violle, which M. Dumas reported to the Con-
ference, a square centimetre of liquid platinum at the melting
temperature gives of yellow light seven, and of violet twelve
times the quontities of the same cclours given by a Carcel lamp.
The apparent area of the Swan filament, beins one-ninth of a
square inch, is "23 of a square centimetre, and when incandesced
to 20 candles must be about as bright as the melted platinum of
Mr. Violle’s experiment, as the 7 carcels of yellow and 12 of
violet must correspond to something like 10 carcels or 85 candles,
in the ordinary estimation of illumination by our eyes. The tint
of Mr. Violle’s glowing platinum cannot be very different from
that of the ordinary Swan lamp incande:ced to its ‘* 20 candles.”
Thus both, as to tint, and brightness, it appears that melted
platinum at its freezing temperature is nearly the same as a carbon
filament in vacuum incandesced to 240 candles per horse-power.
For approximative photometric measurements the mo:t con-
venient method is certainly that of Rumford, by a comparison
of the shadows cast by the sources of light on a white surface.
The apparatus necessary are only a piece of white paper, a
small cylindrical body such as a pencil, and a means of mea-
suring distances. Ordinary healthy eyes are usually quite ccn-
sistent in estimating the strength of shadows, even when the
shadows examined are of different colours, and with a reasonable
amount of care photometric measurements by this method may
be obtained within 2 or 3 per cent. of accuracy. The difference
in the colours of the shadows is of course due to each shadow
being illuminated by the other light.
Arago has compared the luminous intensity of the sun with
that of a candle, and estimates it as equal to about 15,000 times
that of a candle flame.
Seidel, as Sir W. Thomson had been informed by Helmholtz,
estimated the luminous intensity of the moon as about equal to
that of grayish basalt or sandstone. An experiment on :unlight
made in Glasgow on the 8th of this month (since this paper was
read), compared with an observation on moonlight, which he
made at York during the meeting of the British Association
there in 1881, had led him to conclude that the surface of the
moon radiates something not enormously different from one-
quarter of the light incident uponit. It would be exactly this if
the transparency of the Glasgow noon atmosphere of December
8, 1882, had been exactly equal to that of the York midnight
atmosphere of September, 1881, referred to below, for the
respective altitudes of the sun and moon on the two occasions.
The observation on moonlight referred to above showed the
mocnlight at the time and place of the observation (at York
early in September, 1881, about midnight, near the time of full
moon) to be equal to that of a candle at a distance of 230 centi-
metres. The moon’s distance (3°8 x 1o!°cm.) is 1°65 x 10%
times the distance of the candle. Hence, ignoring for a moment
the loss of moonlight in transmission through the earth’s atmo-
sphere, we find (1°65 x 10%)”, or 27 thousand million million as
the number of candles thst must be spread over the moon’s
earthward hemisphere painted black, to send us as much light
as we receive from her. Probably about one and a half times
as many candles, or say forty thousand million million wuld be
required, because the absorption by the earth’s atmosphere may
have stopped about one-third of the light from reaching the
place where the observation was made. The moon’s diameter
is 3°5 X 10° centimetres, and therefore half the area of her
surface is 19 X 10! square centimetres, which is nearly five
times forty thousand million million. Thus it appears that if
the hemisphere of the moon facing the earth were painted | lack
and covered with candles standing packcd in square order
touching one another (being say one candle to every five square
centimetres of surface), all burning normally, the light received
at the earth wou!d te abcut the same in quantity as estimated by
our eyes, as it really is. It would have very n uch the same tintand
general appearance as an ordinary theatrical moon, except that
it would be brightest at the rim and cou.tinucusly less bright
from the rim to the centre of the circle where the brightness
would be least.
The luminous intensity of a cl.udy shy he found about 1oa.m.,
one day in York during the meeting of the British Association
to be such that light from it thr ugh an aperture of one square
inch area was equal to about one candle, ‘he colour of its shadow
compared with that from a candle was as deep buff yellow to
azure blue, the former shadow being illuminated by the candle
alone, the latter by the light coming through the inch hole in the
window shutter, )
The experiment on sunlight of last Friday (Cecember $)
showed, at 1 o’clock on that day, the sunlight reaching his
house in the University to be of such brilliancy that the amount
of it coming through a pinhole in a piece of paper of ‘09 of a
centimetre diameter produced <n illumination equal to that of
126 candles. ‘This is 6-3 times the 20-candle Swan light, of
which the apparent area of incandescent surface is *23 of a
square centin etre, or 3°8 times the area of the pin-hole. Hence
the : un’s surfece as seen through the atmos here at the time ard
place of observation was 24 times as bright as the Swan carbon
when incar.desced to 240 candles per horse-power. By cutting a
piece of paper of such shape and size as just to eclipse the flame
of the candle and measuring the area of the piece of paper, he
found about 2°7sq. centims. as the corresponding area of the
flame. This is 420 times the area of the pin-hcle, and therefore
he intensity of the light from the sun’s disc was equal to
Fan. 18, 1883]
NATURE
279
(126 x 420) about 53,000 times that of a candle-flame. This is
more than three times the value found by Arago for the intensity
‘of the light from the sun’s disc as compared with that from a
candle-flame ; so much for a Gla‘gow December sun!
The ‘og cm. diameter of the pin-hole, of the Glasgow obser-
vation, subtends, at 230 centimetres distance, an angle of 1/2556
of a radian; which is 23°7 times the sun’s diameter (1/108 of a
radian). But at 230 cm. distance the sunlight through the pin-
hole amounted to 126 times the York moonlight (which was I
candle at 230 cm. distance). Hence the Glasgow sunlight was
[(23°7)? x 126 times or] 71,000 times the York moonlight. We
cannot therefore be very far wrong in estimating the light of fu'l
moon as about one-seventy-thousandth of the sunlight, anywhere
oa the earth. This, however, is a compari-on which, because
of the probably close agreement of the tints of the two lights,
cin probably be made with minute accuracy: and we ust
therefore not be satisfied with so very rough an approximation
to the ratio as this 70,000. A lime light, or magnesium light,
or electric are-light, carefully made and remade with very exactly
equal brilliance, for each separate observation of sunlight and
moonlight, might be used for intermediary.
THE HYPOTHESIS OF ACCELERATED DE-
VELOPMENT BY PRIMOGENITURE, AND
ITS PLACE IN THE THEORY OF EVOLU-
TION *
[NX our days the student of the biological sciences may look
forward towards his life-task with sincere gratitude. Grati-
tude not only for what has already been achieved, and for the
ends that have been attained in this domain, but more especially
for all that which the future promi-es, since the sage whose
mortal remains were lately deposited in Westminster Abbey has
thrown the light of his genius over regions which hitherto were
shrouded in deepest obscurity and has opened new vistas on old
problems, of which man has been seeking the solution for many
thousands of years.
It is to him we have to give thanks that the dawn of a new
life has commenced for those sciences; to him, moreover, we
owe it that the twilight has only lasted a short time, and that the
full light of day has shone so soon upon an extensive field,
And if by this light we perceive numerous new problems, the
existence of which was not even dreamt of before, and which
cover the field of our work as far as the horizon reaches, still
we notice that their shapes have obtained definite outlines. In
future they may serve as milestones on our way onwards, before,
when we were still groping in the dark, they wer2 as many
stumbling-blocks which prevented us from advancing.
If to-day I call before your mind the inage of this great re-
former, it is not to give you an eulogy of Darwin, whose sudden
death some months ago has filled with grief the whole civi-
lised world. He is before my mind, becau e I belong to the
generation whose youth coincides with that of the ‘‘ Origin of
Species ;’’ a generation deeply filled with gratitude towards this
great master. A gratitude bursting forth witb doubled intensity
in him who enters upon a career in which he will have ample
opportunity to continue work in that field of science to which
he has become more and more attached through the inspirinz
influence of Darwin.
It is not only by the contents of his work that Darwin tikes
hold of us, it is also his personal character which leaves such a
forcible impression. The history of his life, his method of
work, his amiable individuality, have excited our enthusiasm
over and again, and always in an increasing measure. Simi-
lar to other grand figures in the history of the world, who
by their life and their example have perhaps wrought more than
by their teaching—which at the hands of less eminent adepts
soon took a dozmatic, z.e, a degenerate shape—this reformer of
biological science has left behind him a remembrance which will
be kept and transmitted by his followers with quite as much care
and piety as the writings he has left.
What strikes us most and all at first in everything emanating
from him is his passionate honesty,” which has already become
proverbial. Never did he pass over in silence, in the interest of
his argument, a point which might eventually appear to be in
favour of the oppo ite plea, In the enumeration and refutation
of such points he was always quite as careful as in the collection
* By Prof. A. A. W. Hubrecht. Inaugural Address delivered in the
University of Utrecht. September, 1882.
2 Cf. Huxley, Nature, May, 1882,
of positive proofs. He was never biassed, unless biassed in the
good sence of the term, z.c. enabled, when once he was of opi-
nion that it was necessary to choose a decided side with respect
to any dubious point, to devote to the careful consideration of
this point not only hours, but if necessary months and years of
his life,—months and years of daily returning observations con-
cerning what appeared to be unimportant facts, which, however,
when they were afterwards brought together, permitted him to
draw highly important conclusions.
Unlimited veracity and undaunted patience, two principal
requirements of the true naturalist, thus found their most perfect
incarnation in Darwin, and with these two for his guides, he
brought together, from fur and near, building stones for the com-
pletion of the grand structure which his mind had conceived.
The quarries from whence he excavated those building stones
were very different from those to which the scribes in biological
science habitually resorted. It must be understood that since
the appearance of Cuvier’s ‘‘ Le Régne Animal distribué d’apres
son Organisation,” a reaction had sprung up against descriptive
zoology which in many cases went further than Cuvier himcelf
would ever have acknowledged. The numerous volumes of his
excellent ‘‘ Histoire naturelle des Poissons ” furnish ample proof
that Cuvier had always endeavoured to combine careful descrip-
tion of the species and conscientious sifting of all the material
concerning its life history, its geographical distribution, and its
synonymy with the study of the comparative anatomy of the
group to which it belonged. Several of his followers have,
however, concluded that since researches upon the internal
organisation of so many classes of animals allowed him to make
most important deductions, it was from similar researches only
that anything could be expected for the future. Their ambitious
aspirations could not manage to forget that a combined investiga-
tion by Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire was once described by
one of the two in the following words :—‘‘ Nous ne dejéunions
jamais sans avoir fait uae découverte.” __
And so 2 period was opened up in which our knowledge of
the internal organisation of animals was not only increased on
all sides and firmly based upon f cts by zealous workers, but in
which this knowledge was gradually pu-hed into the foreground
as the pre-eminent, as the only'true zoology. ‘The careful study
of the species and its life history was left with a smile and a
shrug of the shoulders to dilettanti and museum zoologists. In
order further, to indicate how the results of researches of these
men were looked upon as popular and unimportant, this new
school invented the well-sounding name of ‘‘ scientific z»ology.”
The eminent researches of von Siebold on parthenogenesis and
on the freshwater fishes of Germany; Kolliker’s important
monograph of the Pennatulids, &c., show that even its founders
were subject to impul-es which drove them back into this very
field, or rather that it was not they, but their less gifted
followers from whom the c ntemptuous meaning which that
combinati n of words gradually attained has emanated.
Thus for a certain lapse of time the wind blew from a different
quarter, and attempts have repeatedly been made to call into life
classifications which were based upon certain points in the
internal organi ation, points which were considered to be of the
more importance the le-s they were visible. Fortunately the
great masters to whom we owe comparative anatomy, and who
have made it such as we know it in the pre-ent day, have not
joined in this movement. Johannes Miiller’s “System der
Plagiostomen” stands side by side with his ‘* Comparative
Anatomy of the Myxinoids,” showing that this one-sided exagge-
ration would never have been encouraged by himself. Gegen-
baur, Huxley, &c., have similarly kept aloof from the ‘‘scien-
tific zoologists” in the stricter sense, whose narrow-minded
doctrines are still pullula’ing, be it in a somewhat modified form.
At the present day it is not so much the internal o-ganisation
which forms the shibboleth by which entrance is obtained to the
holy circle of self-styled orthodox zoologists, but now it is the
history of development, embryology, that gives the pass-word,
Th's important branch of biological science has made gigantic
strides of late ; it counted in its foremost ranks, among the most
promising and large-minded, the man whom a cruel fate had
doomed to find his deat: in the Alps of Switzerland, the talented
Balfour. He never overvalued in a petty way the labours of
the select batallion of which he was one of the leaders. In
the rear of this army, however, voices are heard claiming infalli-
bility for embryology, and the splendid generalisation: ‘the
development of the individual is a repetition on a reduced scale
of the development of the race,” must often serve to hide unripe
280
NATURE
[ Fan. 18, 1883
attempts at classifications deduced from the developmental stages
of eggs and larvz of questionable origin, and applied to groups
of animals of which the adventurous embryologist would cer-
tainly not be able to distinguish the different members speci-
fically.
But enough of this distressing partiality, knowing that we
find a complete reaction against it, in Darwin’s word and ex-
ample, which will be our strongest antidote against similar in-
fluences. We are thus carried back to our starting-point, where
it was observed that the value of the sources from whence Darwin
has drawn so much valuable information, was scarcely recognised
up to his time. He entered into connection with cattle-rearers
and bird-fanciers, and gladly availed himself of the remarks of
trustworthy observers who were acquainted with animals and
plants in their daily life, even if they had always remained out-
side the pale of science.
And what far-reaching results may be obtained by careful
study of the habits and life-history of animals is shown by the
last volume which we owe to Darwin’s hand, Here it is appa-
rent, upon almost every page, that from conscientious observa-
tions on the habits of an animal so common as the earthworm,
conclusions follow which furnish us with new and quite unex-
pected views about the formation and the changes of a large area
of the earth’s surface.
The most striking example of Darwin's all-embracing genius
is obtained when his Monograph of the Cirripedia is compared
with the chapters in which he enunciates and discusses his
hypothesis of pangenesis. The one, the most scrupulous study
of details, the comparison of slight differences both between
individuals of the same species and between specifically distinct
specimens; the evaluation of these distinctive characters one
against the other ; in one word, pure systematic zoology with all
its appurtenance of patience, scrupulousness, and nearly painful
conscientiousness. The other—one of the most daring hypo-
theses which the human understanding has ever wrought, upon
which only a yery limited number cf observed facts can be
brought to bear. A hypothesis which boldly penetrates into the
most hidden secrets of organic nature ; which brings the mar-
vellous effects of heredity on a level with the reproduction of
lost parts, yea even with the healing of wounds, A hypothesis
which no longer looks upon the cells as the morphological units
of the living organism, but which postulates the existence of a
continual flow of separate minute gemmulz, feeding and repro-
ducing themselves, and being derived from all the cells and all
the tissues in all the consecutive periods of their existence.
These gemmulz, in the individual being we have before us, cir-
culate along paths which remain wholly unknown to us, and
finally reunite in millions in every ovum, in every spermatozoon,
in every bud, and in every pollen-grain.
The laws by which these inscrutinable processes are governed,
do not lose anything of their mysteriousness when we glance at
the disparate and incomprehensible phenomena which they have
to explain: atavism, in which heredity takes a sudden leap
backwards into the grey mists of the past; the transmission to
the child of the effects of an increased or decreased use of a
limb by the parents: the reproduction of a lost limb or tail; the
growth of an entire plant out of a severed portion of a leaf;
the change which pollen and sperma may occasionally call forth
not only in the ovules but also in the tissues of the mother-form ;
the hybridisation in the vegetable kingdom by the union of the
cellular tissue of two plants independently of the organs of
generation ; the appearance of a complex metamorphosis in the
course of the development of certain animal forms, the nearest
allies of which are entirely devoid of anything like it; &c.
Nevertheless this hypothesis was put forward by the very same
Darwin whom we have to thank for the monograph of the Cirri-
pedia. It is clear that the frame of mind required for completing
the one is widely different from that in which he enunciated
the other, There is, however, a common link uniting the two.
In the specific description of the Cirripeds we find him ever and
again in collision with the opinion then generally accepted of
the definite boundaries limiting the species, and thus this work
cannot have remained without influence on the later development
of his ideas. On the other hand, he looked upon the hypothesis
of pangenesis as a necessary sequel, to a certain extent as ‘‘le
couronnement de l’edifice’”” of his theory of evolution by means
of natural selection.
We have not here to enter into a discussion concerning the
hypothesis of pangenesis, nor to inquire into the different attacks
to which it has already been exposed. I must, however, observe
that with it Darwin has entered the domain of physiology, a
field upon which all the questions into which the great problem
of evolution may be subdivided, as heredity, influence of uce
and disuse of organs, adaptation to modified circumstances,
must find their solution,
Whereas the physiology of man and the higher animals is
developing and growing with rapidity, and what has been
thought and wrought in Utrecht has largely influenced this
development, Comparative Phy-iology, which has to track all the
different problems just mentioned all through the animal king-
dom down to their simplest form in the lowest organised beings,
is only in its infancy. And yet this branch of science will shortly
come abreast of morphology further to secure the basis of the
theory of evolution and to contribute to its harmonious develop-
ment. It was not by mere chance that the legislature specially
mentions Comparative Physiology as a branch of science which
will have to be cultivated and taught by him who is called to
the chair I am about to occupy.
Although the greater part of this territory is still wrapt in
obscurity, still it is at the University of Utrecht that the pros-
pects for Comparative Physiology are promising in the highest
degree, be it by the efforts of others than the legislature had
in view. It must for certain be acknowledged that researches
concerning the phenomena of life in the very smallest organisms,
investigating their reaction towards light and oxygen, and even
penetrating into the effects of hunger and thirst as manifested
by these lowly-organised beings, eminently belong to the domain
of Comparative Phy-iology. The vicinity of a laboratory in
which such excellent results have already been obtained is a
strong stimulus for us all towards further labour in this field.
Venturing to-day along that road, I may hope to claim your
attention, because in so doing, I wish to make an attempt to
weaken one of the chief arguments against the theory of evolu-
tion, an argument which was termed by Huxley ‘*the stock
objection.” 2
I wish to speak to you about the hypothesis of accelerated
development by primogeniture and its place in the theory of
evolution.
I must begin with calling to mind that provisionally it is not
upon the firm basis of proved facts, but more upon the quick-
sands of theoretical conjecture that we shall be moving. Our
track first leads us into the domain of a science which is of such
an exceptional value for the theory of evolution, because this
science only, the science of palzontology, can furnish us wish
direct evidence towards the truth of that theory.
If, indeed, living organisms form one continuous chain with
those that have already become extinct ; if these organisms have
not been called into life in successive periods by repeated crea-
tive acts but if they are in direct blood-relationship to each
other—a relation which as we penetrate further into the past
must be accompanied by a simplification of organisation—then
paleontology must furnish us with the evidence of this pro-
cess. Then, indeed, the superposed strata which have been
deposited since the cooling of the earth’s crust under the com-
bined influence of internal vulcanism and external atmospherical
influences, must contain the archives in which the most trust-
worthy and direct proof for the validity of the theory of evolu-
tion are to be found. Moreover, the material which we find
heaped in these archives must show—if we place confidence
in it—that gradual increase of complication which accompanies
the development of the more highly differentiated forms out of
simpler types by the aid of natural selection, in a succession
exactly corresponding to that of the deposition of the strata. We
know how far palzeontology had advanced in 1859, we under-
stand how it was that Darwin insisted on the imperfection of the
geological record in the first edition of his ** Origin of Species.”
He diligently collected arguments to explain this incompleteness
and to oppose the objection against his doctrines which it might
furnish, ~ I cannot at present enter into details concerning this
refutation. Still it is quite as valid to-day. So many deposits
are wholly devoid of animal remains, it is so obvious that of
other animal forms, fossils can hardly ever have been formed,
and lastly, only such a small portion of the earth’s surface has
been adequately searched, that we have indeed more reason to be
astonished at the quantity of facts that have already come to our
knowledge, than at the much larger quantity which yet remains
hidden from our view. :
This is especially present to our minds when we remember
* T. H. Huxley, American Addresses.
Fan. 18, 1883]
NATURE
281
the inyaluable deposits that have of late years been opened up in
North America, where not only the successive periods of the
tertiary epoch form extensive deposits, but where they moreover
contain perfectly preserved animal specimens which have lived
in these successive periods, and which indeed show in the most
irrefutable way that a direct connection accompanied by an in-
crease of differentiation undeniably exists. We here find a very
remarkable page of the book thrown open upon which nature
has written down for us the history of the development of the
horse, and whoever has learnt to read this h ndwriting is brought
to the inevitable conclusion: this development has started from
an older form of a less specialised organisation, and has pro-
ceeded along successive steps which are entirely in accordance
with the theory of evolution.
Similarly the numerous remains of the fossil group of the
Ornithoscelidce are only known since a recent date, and a gradu-
ally increasing knowledge is thus attained of those interesting
animals which link together reptiles and birds, two classes of
animals which were formerly looked upon as amongst the most
thoroughly separated.
Together with these irrefutable proofs that evolution has
indeed taken place, starting from the simpler, more generalised
types, and tending towards the more complicated and more
specialised forms, paleeontology acquaints us with certain other
facts. I allude to the persistence of the same form, of the same
genus, sometimes even of the same species in all successive strata
and periods. ‘Thus, for example, among Mollusks, Chiton and
Pleurotomaria have persisted from the Silurian down to the pre-
sent period ; Dentalium from the Devonian ; Pinna and Cyprina
from the Carboniferous period. Amongst the. Foraminifera
certain genera occur in the Carboniferous epoch, which at the
same time are members of the living fauna. Amongst Brachio-
pods our living Lingulas, Rhynchonellas, and Terebratulas are
very ancient types ; representatives of the osseous fishes lived in the
Cretaceous period, which cannot be generically distinguished
from their living relatives, whilst certain genera of cartilaginous
fishes reach even into a much farther distant past.
(Zo be continued.)
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
OxFrorD.—Owing to the early occurrence of Easter, the term
has begun a week earlier than usual this year. The first Uni-
versity business of importance will be the constitution of the
New Boards of Faculties. These will consist of the professors as
ex-officio members, and of members elected by the College lec-
turers in the various faculties, the number to be so elected being
first decided by vote. The first step towards the new state of
things has been the appointment of Mr. Lockhart, of Hertford
College, as General Secretary to the Board of Faculties.
In the department of Physics at the University Museum, Prof.
Clifton continues his course on the Electricity Developed by the
Contact of different Substances; Mr. Stocker lectures on Me-
chanics, and Mr. Heaton on Problems on Mechanics and
Physics. Prof. Price continues his course on Optics, and also
gives a course on Hydro-mechanics.
Prof. Pritchard is absent in Egypt completing his measure-
ments of the magnitude of the stars. The observatory will be
open on Tuesday and Thursday evenings under the charge of
Mr. Plummer.
In the Chemical Department of the Museum, Prof. Odling
will give a course on Elementary Facts and Doctrines. Mr.
Fisher will lecture on Inorganic Chemistry, and Dr. Watts on
Organic Chemistry. The laboratory will lose the services of
Mr. F. D. Brown in the middle of the term, as he has been
elected to the Professorship of Chemistry and Physics in the
New University at Auckland, and leaves for New Zealand in
March.
In the Biological Department Prof. Moseley continues his
course on Comparative Anatomy (followed by practical work).
Mr. Hatchett Jackson lectures on the Fundamental Principles of
Embryology, Mr. Poulton on the Geographical Distribution of
Animals, Mr. Lewis Morgan on the Teeth of Vertebrata and on
Human Osteology, and Mr. Hickson on Histology. Mr.
Barclay Thompson has been obliged to give up lecturing on
account of ill health.
Prof. Prestwich gives a course of lectures on Stratigraphical
Geology.
The following courses will be given in the private College
laboratories :—At Christchurch Mr, Vernon Harcourt lectures
and gives practical instruction in Quantitative Analysis, and Mr.
Baynes on Thermo-dynamics. At Balliol Mr. Dixon lectures on
Organic Chemistry, and Elementary Electricity. At Magdalen
Mr, Yule gives a course of demonstrations on the Chemical and
Physical Properties of the Blood, Circulation, Respiration, &c, ;
and Mr. Chapman gives a practical course on Elementary
Vegetable Morphology.
A scholarship in Natural Science will be offered at Keble
College of the value of 8o0/. per annum. The examination will
be in Biology and Chemistry ; a scholarship will also be offered
for competition at Queen’s College in Physics, Chemistry, or
Biology.
CAMBRIDGE.—Mr, J. E. Marr, M.A., Fellow of St. Johns
College, is the Sedgwick Prizeman this year.
Science lectures commence on the following days: Prof.
Liveing, General Principles of Chemistry, January 23; Prof.
Dewar, Organic Chemistry, January 23; Prof. Newton, Geo-
graphical Distribution of Vertebrate Animals, January 31; Mr.
Caldwell, Morphology of Invertebrata, Advanced, February 1;
Dr. Hans Gadow, Morphology of Vertebrata, Advanced,
January 30.
The names of Messrs, Casey (Trin.), Harvey (King’s), A. R.
Johnson (St. John’s), Turner (Trin.), and Welsh (Jesus) appear
in alphabetical order in the First Division of the List for the
Third Part of the Mathematical Tripos, to which only the
Wranglers were admitted, One name is in the second division,
and eight in the third.
Mr. F. J. M. Paces, B.Sc., F.C.S., of University College,
London, was elected, on January 11, Lecturer on Physics at the
London Hospital Medical College.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Fournal of the Franklin [nstitute, December, 1882.—An im-
proved dynamometer, by W. P. Tatham.—The isochronal
Worthington pumping engine, by J. K. Maxwell.—Explosive
and dangerous dusts, by T. W. Tobin.—Economical steam
power (continued), by W. B. Le Van.—The universality of
vibrations, by C. C. Haskins.—Report on European sewerage
systems, &c. (continued), by R. Hering.
Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No 13 (December 2, 1882),
—Absolute measurements with bifilar suspension, and especially
two methods for determining the horizontal intensity of terrestrial
magnetism without time measurement, by F, Kohlrausch.—The
reduction of the Siemens unit to absolute measure, by E. Dorn.
—On electric vibrations with special regard to their phases, by
A. Oberbeck.—Experimental researches on galvanic polarisation,
by F. Streintz.—On M. A. Guebhard’s representation of equi-
potential curves, by E. Mach.—The electromotive force of the
Daniell element, by E. Kittler-—On amalgamation-currents, by
H. Haga.—Explanation of electric shadows in free air, by P.
Riess. —On the material parts in electric sparks, by F, Wachter.
—On the magnetic screening action of iron, by J. Stefan.—
On tone-vibrations of solid bodies in presence of liquids, by F.
Auerbach.—A small alteraiion of the pyknometer, by E. Wiede-
mann,—Remark on Herr Galn’s memoir on the density of the
luminiferous ether, by the same.—On the true cohesion of
liquids, by the same.—On the condensation of liquids on solid
bodies, by the same.—/he leucoscope and some observations
made with it, by A. Koniy.—Contribution to the theory of dif-
fraction in tele cope-tubes, by H. Struve.—On the elliptical
polarisation of reflected diffracted light, by W. Koenig.—On the
Poggendorff fall-machine, by K. L. Bauer.—Contributions to
the history of natural sciences among the Arabs, viii. and ix., by
E. Wiedemann.
Bulletin de? Academie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, Nos. 9
and 10.—Notice on a peculiarity in the aurora borealis of Octo-
ber 2, 1882, and on the increase in intensity of scintillation of
stars during aurorz, by C. Montigny.—Some theorems of ele-
mentary geometry, by E. Catalan.—On curves of the third
order, by C. Le Paige.—Aspect of the great comet of 1882
(Cruls) observed at Louvain, by F. Terby.—Note on the
aurora borealis of Oct ber 2, 1882, by the same.—Action of
chlorine on tertiary butylic chloride, by Baron d’Otreppe de
Buvette.
No. 11.—Note on some bones of the Biscay whale at the
282
NATURE
a
[ Fan. 18, 1883
Museum of La Rochelle, by P. J. Van Beneden.—On some
uniform geometric transformations, by C. Le Paige.—Second
notice on the comet, by F. Terby.—On the functions of M.
Prym and M. Hermite, by A. Genocchi.—On glycogen in
Mucorinee, by L. Errera.
Fournal ce Physique, December, 1882.—Remarks on timbre,
by M. Kcenig.—Remarks on the critical state, by M. Stolatow.
—Experimental study of the reflection of actinic rays ; influence
of specular polish, by M de Chardonnet.—Note on the theory
of the Laurent saccharimeter with white light, by M. Dufet.—
Notes of science in 77 Nuovo Cimento and the Fournal of the
Russian Physico-Chemical Society.
Rivista Scientifico-Industriale e Giornale del Naturalista,
October 31, and November 15 and 30, 1882.—Inconveniences
of the usual pluviometer, and a few words about the pluvio-
pulverometer, an apparatus for rain, dew, and atmospheric dust,
by P. I.ancetta.—Non-sensitive mercury thermometer ; demon-
stration of the princip’e of the telephone, by G. Guvi.—A doe
with hairy horns.—Review of a prize memoir by G. Poloni, on
the permanent magnetism of steel at different temperatu:es, by
A. W.—Double-action mercury air-pump, by G. Serraville.—
Fundamental principle of electrostatics, by S. Mugna.—Male
genital armatures of saltatory Orthoptera, by A. Tozzetti.—
Brief notice of the fluoriferovs vuleanoes of Campania, by A.
Scacchi.
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere. Rendiconti.
Vol. xxv , fase. xvili—On a recent landslip near Belluno, by
T. Taramelli.—On drunkenness in Milan, IJ., by A. Verga.—
Jacobi’s theorem regarding periodicity, and the illegitimacy of
a part of the consequnces that have been deduced from it, by
F. Casorati.
Nouv.aux Mémoires de la Sociéé Helvetique des Sciences
Naturelles, vol. xxviii., 2nd part.—The Diluvium round Paris
ard its position in the Pleistecene, by A. Rothpletz.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Mathematical Society, January 11.—Prof. Henrici, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—Messrs. H. T. Gerrans and W. L.
Mollison were elected members.—Dr. Hirst, F.R.S., spoke on
the resclution of congruences into systems of quadric reguli;
Mr. Glaisher, F.R.S., discussed the solution of a differential
equation allied to Riccati’s; and Mr. Tucker communicated a
paper by Prof. Cayley, F.R.S., on the automorphic transforma-
tion of a binary cubic function.
Zoological Society, December 19, 1882.—Prof. W. H.
Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. Sclater
exhibited some photographs of a new Zebra, from Skoa, lately
named Lguus grevyi, by M. A. Milne-Edwards, F.M.Z.S.,
which had been sent to him by that gentleman, and pointed out
the difference which separated this animal from the nearly allied
£. zebra,—The Rev. H. H. Slater, F.Z.S., exhibited and made
remarks on the skin of a Shrike (Zamius sp. inc.) which had
been obtained near Spurn Point, Yorkshire.—lhe Secretary
exhibited, on behalf of Lord Lilford, the skin of a young male
Emberiza rustica, which had been taken at Elstree Reservoir on
November 19 last. Only one other example of this bird had
hitherto been recorded as having been met with in Great Britain.
—Dr, Giinther exhibited, on behalf of Sir Campbell Orde,
Bart., a specimen of a Charr (Sa/mo alpinus), obtained ina loch
in North Uist, being the first example ever obtained in this loch.
—Mr. P. H. Carpenter exhibited and made remarks on some
microscopical preparations of Axtedon eschrichti, in which a ner-
vous plexus derived from the fibrillar envelope of the chambered
organ was visible at the sides of the ambulacra of the disk.—
Prof. Flower exhibited a photograph (presented to the Society
by Mr. James Farmer, F.Z.S.) of Seal Point, Farallone Islands,
off the coast of California, showing the immense number of
Seals (O¢aria gillespit, M‘Baiu) frequenting that lccality. —Prof.
Flower read a paper on the whales of the genus Hyferoodon, in
which he pointed out that one of the most important points in
the history of these animals yet unsolved was whether the large-
headed form, with great development of the maxillary crests,
called by Dr. J. E. Gray Lagenocetus latifrons, was a distinct
species, or whether, as suspected by Eschricht, it was the adult
male of the common form known as Hyferoodon rostratus. The
author had asked Capt. David Gray to avail himself of his ex-
ceptionally favourable opportunities of observing these animals
in their native haunts, to solve this question, with the result
shown in the next communication.—A communication was read
from Capt. David Gray, :s. Fclipse, called ‘“‘Notes on the
Characters and Habits cf the Bottlenose Whale (/yferodoon),”
in which it was stated that he had killed 203 of these animals
last season, and had traced in the males every gradation of
development between the two forms, and had therefore conclu-
sively proved that Hyferoodon or Lagenocetus latifrons had no
existence as a distinct species. The communication was illus-
trated by sketches and photographs, showing the external cha-
raeters and cranium in various stages of growth.—Mr. P. H.
Carpenter read a paper on the classification of the Comatule.
He criticised the method of formulation recently proposed
by Prof. F. J. Bell, and pointed out its disadvantages for
the purposes of classification, owing to its being inapplic-
able to those Comatu/e which have irregular arm-diyisions.
He explained his own system of formulation and classifica-
tion, and stated that he believed it to be capable of deal-
ing with all possible variations of Cometula structure.—Mr.
F. Day read a paper on the identity of Arnoglossus lophotes,
Gthr., with Pleuronectes srohmanni, Bonap. A second paper by
Mr. Day contained remarks on some hybrids between Salmon
and Trout.—A paper by Messrs. Godman and Salvin was read,
describing some Butterflies from New Ireland, received from
the Rey. G. Brown and Mr. E. L. Layard. Among these were
examples of two new species, named respectively Prothoe
layardi and Danaius adustus.—Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a
paper conta ning descriptions of two new species of Fruit-Bats
of the genus Ptevepfus from the Caroline Islands. The author
proposed to call them Preropus phaocephalus and Pt, breviceps.—
A communication was read from Major G. F. L. Marshall,
F.Z.S., containing some notes on Asiatic Butterflies. A species
of Amecera was mentioned as new to the Beluchistan fauna,
and three species were described as new to science.—Mr, G. A.
Boulenger read the description of a new species of Lizard from
Dacotah, based upon some specimens lately presented to the
Society’s collection by Mr. S. Garman, of the Museum of Com-
parative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., and proposed to name it
Sceloporus garmant.—Mr. Arthur G. Butler read a paper in
which he gave an account of a collection of Spiders made by the
Rev. Deans Cowan in Madagascar. In addition to many inte-
esting and singular forms were specimens cf the curious tailed
species Arvachnoura scorpionoides trom Central Madagascar. Six
new species were described.—Mr. W. N. Parker read a paper
on some points in the anatomy of the Indian Ta, ir.—Mr.
Herbert Druce read a paper descriptive of new species of Moths
chiefly from Western Africa and New Guinea. Fifteen new
species were described, as was also a new genus of Chalcosiide
from New Guinea.
Geological Society, December 20, 1882.--J. W. ‘Hulke,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Percival Fowler, Alfred Eley
Preston, and Robert Blake White, were elected Fellows of the
Society. —The following communications were read :—On generic
characters in the order Sauropterygia, by Prof. Owen, C.B.,
F.R.S. After referring to the subdivision of De La Beche’s
group of Enaliosauria into the orders Ichthyopterygia and
Sauropterygia, the author indicated that the latter showed
differences in the proportional length of the neck and the
number and form of its vertebrae bearing relation to the size of
the head, together with modifications of the teeth, of the sterao-
coraco-scapular frame and of the paddle-bones, leading to the
formation of two genera, namely, Plestosaurus and Pliosaurus,
the latter so-called to indicate the nearer approach made by it to
a generalised Saurian type. In Crocodilia the crowns of the
teeth show a yair of strong enamel ridges, placed on opposite
sides of the teeth, and these occur also in Pliosaurus ; while in
Plestosaurus they are not present. Pliosaurus further ap; roaches
the fresh-water Saurians by the large size of the head and the
shortness of the neck.—On the origin of valley-lakes, mainly
with reference to the lakes of the Northern Alps, by the Rev. A.
Irving, B.A., B.Sc., F.G.S. The author, having given reasons for
considering this question, still an open one, proceeded to criticise
Prof. Ramsay’s theory as it was expounded by him in 1862. The
author preceeded to show that the lakes of the Northern Alps
are found, as a rule, just among those strata where subsidence
would be most likely to occur. In this way it was shown that
we are not shut up, by Prof. Ramsay’s reasoning, to the hypo-
thesis of e/acial excavation. Further, other agencies than those
discussed by Prof. Ram:ay may have co-operated to form lakes,
,
,
Fan. 18, 1883]
such as (a) Alterations in the relative levels of different parts of a
floor of a valley, connected with movements of parts of a moun-
tain-system on a large scale. The effects of (1) lines of flexure
crossing older lines of valley-erosion; (2) of lateral thrusts
closing in a valley (partly), were here considered. (4) Upthrust
of the more yielding strata (as in the ‘‘ creeps” of coal-mines) by
resolution of forces due to pressure of the mountain-masses at the
side of a valley. (c) The dead weight of the huge g'aciers which
filled the Alpine valleys, and crushed in the floor, in places where
extensive underground erosion had gone on in preglacial times.
(d) The partial damming up of valleys, (1) by diluvial detritus,
(2) by moraines, (3) by Bergstiirze (rece itly inves‘igated by
Prof. Heim of Ziirich. (e) Halts. (/f) Chemical solution, by
Alpine waters derived from the melting of the snow, which has
undergone long exposure to tlle atmosphere. It was shown that
the very situation of the great majority of the lakes of the
Northern Alps is distinctly favourable to the operation of one or
more of these agencies. The Konigsee was mentioned as a
special instance of szdsidence ; the Achensee of a lake lying ina
faulted line of dislocation; Lake Alleghe and Lake Derborence
as lakes formed by Bergstiirze during the last century; the pre-
historic delta of the Arve as the most conspicuou: instance in
the Alps of the partial damming-up of a valley by diluvial
detritus ; the gwondam Lake of Reutte as an instance connected
with violent inversion of strata; and the ancient lakes of the
Grédner and Oetz Thals as instances of the action of moraines.
The common fact of observation that lakes are more numerous
in glaciated than in non-glaciated countries, the author thought,
was partly explained by some of the foregoing principles, partly
by the better preservation of lake-ba-ins in glaciated countries
from silting up and from becoming thus obliterated, while in
some glaciated regions lakes are wanting.
_ Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, January 15.—Prof.
Stokes, F.R.S., Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cam-
bridge, read a paper on the Absence of Real Opposition
between Science and Religion.
t EDINBURGH
Royal Society, December 18, 1882.—Mr. Robert Gray,
vice-president, in the chair.—Prof. Tait read a paper on the
laws of motion, in which an attempt was made to express the
fundamental principles of dynamics without introducing the idea
of ‘‘force.” The conservation of energy forms of course the
basis. The region of space, in which a given particle is, is
mapped out by its equipotential surfaces. Newton’s First Law
is expressed, then, by sayinz that the potential of the space is
the same from point to point, so that the kinetic energy of a
moving particle suffers no change. If the potential varies, then
the kinetic energy must vary. As a simple case, consider two
regions separated by a plane, the potential function being con-
stant throughout each region. Then the velocity of a particle
approaching the plane may (since motion is purely relative) be
referred to a point moving parallel to the plane, so as to make
the velocity of the particle wholly perpendicular to the plane.
It thus appears that the component of the velocity at right
angles to the plane only is altered, so that if the direction of
motion is originally inclined to the plane, the direction as well
as the speed is altered. This, in fact, is the well known problem
of refraction according to the corpuscular theory of light; and
the principle of least action thus appears under the form of the
conservation of velocity at right angles to the direction of
greatest potential slope. In expressing Newton’s Third Law,
Prof, Tait extended the second interpretation as given in the
now well known Scholium to include vector as well as scalar
quantities.—Mr, George Seton, in a paper on illegitimacy
in Scotland, gave a careful analysis of the returns for the
last decade, which showed a decrease of ‘9 per cent. as com-
pared with the returns of the previous decade. The counties in
which the -percentage was under the average for the whole
country all lay to the west of a line drawn from the north coast
to Loch Ryan, down the eastern boundaries of Sutherland,
Inverness, Perth, Argyle, Renfrew, and Ayr. That this differ-
ence could not be referred as altogether due to difference of
race was proved by the fact that amongst the pure Scandinavian
population of Orkney and Shetland the rate was much below
the average. The results pointed to a low moral tone in the
agricultural districts of Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen, Roxburgh, aud
Galloway.—Prof. Tait communicated an account of Prof. J. E.
MacGregor’s experiments on the absorption of low radiant heat
by some gaseous and vaporous bodies. The apparatus was
NATURE
283
a gigantic form of that which has already been described in
these columns (see NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 639). Air saturated
with water vapour at 12° C. behaved almost exactly like air
mixed with ‘06 per cent. by volume of olefiant gas.—Prof. Tait,
in a note on the compressibility of water, stated that water
seemed to be less compressible at higher than at lower pressures,
and more compressible (as compared with steel or glass) at lower
than at higher temperatures, ‘This latter result was obtained by
comparison of his own laboratory experiments with the experi-
ments carried out by Mr. Murray and Prof. Chrystal in their
deep-sea sounding expedition last summer on the north-west coast
of Scotland. Both series of experiments were made with Prof
Tait’s steel and glass gauges.—Prof, Crum Brown communicated
a note by Mr. A. P. Laurie on an application of Mendeljeff’s
law to the heats of combination of the elements with the halo-
gens. Laying off as abscissee numbers representing the heats of
combination of different salts of a given halogen, and measuring
as ordinates the corresponding atomic weights of the other ele-
ment in the compound, Mr. Laurie obtains a succession of
points which show a remarkable periodic arrangement. The
curves so drawn for the different halogens are strikingly similar.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, January 8.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—Observations on the
last communication of Dr. Siemens concerning solar energy, by
M. Faye.—On the ice-plant (A/esembrianthemum crystallinum),
by M. Mangon. This plant (which is covered with transparent
vesicles filled with liquid, like frozen dew-drops) is formed of a
weak solution of alkaline salt, kept in the solid state by a vege-
table tissue, whose weight reaches less than two per cent. of the
whole mass. The ashes, formed of salts of soda and potash,
constitute nearly half (43 per cent.) the weight of the dried
plant (recalling seaweed). M. Mangon notes the plant’s elective
power, suggests that its cultivation, as a potash-plant, might be
useful insome cases, and in any case, it might do gocd service
in removal of alkaline salts in excess from ground on the
Mediterranean coast.—Researches on hyponitrites ; second part ;
calorimetric measurements, by MM. Berthelot and Ogier.—On
the natural formation of bioxide of manganese, and on some
reactions of peroxides, by M. Berthelot.—Experiments relating
to disorders of motility caused by lesions of the apparatus of
hearing, by M. Vulpian. He describes a series of disorderly
movements produced in rabbits by pouring a few drops of
Lydrate of chloral solution into one ear or both ears. The same
experiment with dogs and guinea-pigs gave much less marked
effects. —On complex units, by M. Kronecker.—Examination of
the analogy between: electrochemical and hydrodynamical rings,
and the curves AV=0; Best process of discussions in the experi-
mental method, by M. Ledieu.—Experiments on the motion of
current waves in various passages, contracted either in the in-
terior or at the extremity of a canal debouching into a reservoir,
by M. de Caligny.—Report on a memoir of M. de Salvert on
conic umbilici.—On the precision of longitudes determined with
use of the new chronometric method, by M. de Magaac. He
shows by a list of chronometric longitudes obtained in the Feax
Bart, ou the coast of Brazil and Montevideo, compared with the
telegraphic longitudes’ deduced from observations by three
American officers, that the difference is remarkably small.—A
case of damage to a building from lightning was reported ; the
effect was attributed to breaks in certain metallic parts (there was a
good lightning-rod and there were trees near).—The periodicity
of comets, by M. Zenger. He finds the origin of comets in-
timately connected with the rotation of the sun. Dividing the
intervals of times of perihelion by various whole numbers, he
obtains a mean value of 12°56 days, which is exactly that of a
demi-rotation of the sun. Thus, between successive formations
of conets there must have elapsed an even or odd number of
solar demi-rotations. He supposes enormous explosions driving
far out the matter of protuberances ; large meteorites near the
outer border of the corona may thereby be enabled to agglomerate
coronal matter round them and form acomet. The general law
of motions of planets applies equally to comets, but the duration
of revolution of comets must be a multiple of that of a half-
rotation of the sun.—Addition to a note on prime numbers, by
Mr Lipschitz.—Influence of cooiing on the value of maximum
pressures developed in closed vessels by explosive gases, by
M. Vieille. —Remarks on the expression of electric magnitudes
in the electrostatic and electromagnetic systems, and on the
relations deduced from it, by MM. Mercadier and Vaschy.—
284
NATURE
[ Fan. 18, 1883
Phosphorography of the infra-red region of the solar spectrum ;
wave-lengths of the principal lines, by M. Becquerel. He gives
a determination of new lines of the solar spectrum and their
wave-length, {and he has observed in the infra-red spectrum,
maxima and minima of extinction proper to different phosphores
cent substances manifested by various luminous sources, and
similar to phosphorogenic maxima and minima in the other end
of the spectrum.—On solar photometry, by M. Crova. Correct-
ing a numerical error, he obtains 8,500 carcels for the sun’s
luminous intensity in a clear sky, and so removes the inexplicable
discordance of his former figures with those of Bouguer and
Wollaston.—Manganese in dolomitic strata ; origin of the nitric
acid, which often exists in natural bioxides of manganese, by M.
Dieulafait. There are two classes of ores of manganese ; those
of the first class are directly derived from action of sea-water on
primordial rocks, and they are deposited but a short distance from
their place of extraction. Those of the second class have been,
since the origin of seas, in complete solution in their waters,
and have been deposited at allepochs, where chemical conditions
have been favourable.—On the existence of the genus Zodea in
Jurassic strata, by M. Renault.—On a trombe observed at sea,
by M. de Tromelin.—A work by Prof. Inostranzeff, of St.
Petersburg, ‘‘ On the prehistoric man of the stone age of Lake
Ladoga,” was presented by M. Daubreée.
BERLIN
Physical Society, January 5.—Prof. Helmholtz in the chair.
—Prof. Spérer, of Potsdam, first communicated the results of
an investigation of the sun-spot observations in the twenty years,
1861 to 1880, with a view to settlement of the question whether
movements of the spots indicated surface-currents on the sun.
It appeared that such currents, towards the pole, or towards the
equator, were not demonstrable. Herr Sporer further spoke at
length on a quite peculiar phenomenon he had noticed on ob-
serving the transit of Venus on December 6. He premised that
the phenomenon might be explained in two ways; either it
might be regarded as an effect of fatigue or over-stimulation of
the eye (though he had not marked other signs of such ex-
haustion), or it might be connected with a very cloudy atmo-
sphere of Venus, whose presence is supposed to be indicated by
the glow which some astronomers have seen to extend along the
Venus-crescent over the whole planet. The phenomenon itself
was as follows: the transit of Venus was observed in Potsdam
with a 10-foot telescope; the sunlight was reduced to a
degree of brightness bearable by the eye by means of a polar-
ising arrangement (two pairs of parallel mirrors). The sun’s
limb was much agitated, and the first contact could not be
observed. When the planet had made a distinct indentation on
the sun, it was considerably blacker than the ground of the
heavens; and the part of the planet lying outside the sun was
invisible. After more than half the disc had entered the sun, it
was observed that the borders of the black-planet disc was still
at right angles to the sun’s border, and the two sun-points were
absent. Later, when Venus was further advanced, the whole
disc, and even the small part lying outside, appeared brighter
than the ground of the heavens, and with a dull grey light.
Another minute later a small interrupted line having previously
been seen outwards and upwards from the planet's disc, on
the ground of the heavens, there appeared, out from the grey
disc, a dark crescent-shaped segment, which, above and below,
was distinctly defined, and in the middle merged indefinitely in the
similarly coloured ground of the heavens. The grey disc with the
dark crescent advanced onthe sun, so that it was not possible to
distinguish precisely the planet’s disc. At about 3h. 11jm. the
outer border of the grey disc was in the connecting line of the
two solar horns, and so in the first internal contact ; one minute
later, an alteration (not more exactly describable) had occurred
in the aspect of the planet’s disc, and about 3h. 134m., at the
time of the previously-calculated first internal contact, the outer
border of the dark segment had entered; one saw a fine lumi-
nous line on the sun without black drop. One minute later the
sun disappeared behind a bank of clouds.—Dr. Herz communi-
cated the results of calculations he had made with a view to
answering the question, whether the tidal action of the moon is
capable of producing currents of water-masses on the earth of such
an order of magnitude, that the ocean-currents observed might
be explained by this cause. Proceeding on the assumption of a
water channel running round the equator, he found for liquids
with friction, that the tide must indeed produce a current; and
for a whole series of such channels reaching from the equator to
the pole there appeared currents, which in their co-operation
would present the form of the great ocean currents, but their
order of magnitude was such, on the assumption at the outset,
that the actual ocean currents cannot be due to this cause. Herr
Herz then, conversely, calculated from the astronomically-proved
retardation of the earth’s rotation, the tangential force, which
can produce such a retardation, and determined the differences
of the water-levels on the east and west coast of a very narrow
dividing ridge of land, which would produce such a pull; these
differences of level were deducible from the tidal action of the
moon.—Prof, Ostwald, from Riga, reported, on his experi-
ments for measurement of the chemical forces of affinity. As
is usual in physics, he measured these forces by mass and
velocity of the reactions, or by the force with which equilibrium
is maintained. Two acids were each brought into contact with
a base, and the salts formed were determined ; in all cases, the
affinities were found proportional to the reacting mass and the
square of the velocity of the reaction. The formula construteed
a few years ago by Herren Guldberg and Wage for affinity, has
been confirmed by the author by numerous experiments.
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, November 30, 1882.—
V. Hausmaninger, on the variability of the coefficient of diffu-
sion between carbonic acid and air.—P. Kowalewsky, on the
relation of the nucleus lentiformis to the cortex of brain in
man and animals.—V. Hilber, on recent land-snails and land-
snails found in the loess from China (part 1). containing a
description of Helix species collected by L. v. Loczy during the
Asiatic Expedition of Count Szecheniji. E. Stefan, on the
experiments made by Boltzmann on sound-vibrations.
December 7, 1882.—V. v. Lang, on his capillary balance.—
ee Niederriss, on trimelhene-glycol and the bases of trimel-
ene.
December 14, 1882.—F. Streintz, on the usefulness of the
method of Fuchs.—Tg. Klemencic, on the capacity of a _plate-
condenser.—A Wassmuth, on the internal connection of some
electro-magnetic phenomena resulting from the mechanical
theory of heat.—V. Gruber, fundamental experiment on the
cutaneous sight of animals.—G. Vortmann, on the separation of
nickel from cobalt.—R. Canaval, on the earthquake at Gmiind
(Austria) on November 5, 1881.—E. Weiss, communication on
the observations of the transit of Venus in Austria.—H. Weidel
and M, Russo, studies on pyridine.
CONTENTS
Gerkie’s Grotocy, II. By G. K. Girsert, U.S. Geological Survey
Sacus’s Text-Boox oF Botany. By Prof. E.P.WricHT .. .«
RecenT ELECTRICAL PUBLICATIONS . . - 2 + © = «© e © = =
Our Boox SHELF:—
Aldis’s ‘‘Introductory Treatise on Rigid Dynamics”. . -
PaGE
261
263
264
265
““Encyklopzdie der Naturwissenschaften ’” . . - « + » + « 265
L&TTERS TO THE EpiToR:—
Pollution of the Atmosphere.—H. A. Poiturrs . . «. « » + - 266
A “Natural”” Experiment in Complementary Colours.—Cuas. T.
WHITMELE.© 5 cuss oe, eu tel Fe) cel tele nwt tal (ots aan Ome
The Comet.—W. T. SAMPSON - © © © © © © 2 ee - 266
The Transit of Venus.—Prof. EDGAR FRISBY. . . - + « + 266
Early Coltsfoot.—R. McLacHLAN . - - + « «© © © = « » 266
Baird’s Hare.—T. MARTYR» - 2 «© + 0 eo © sb ee 200
The Projection of the Nasal Bones in Man and the Ape.—J. Park
HARRISON . Hae ee ere Merete Oe eyo MO Og
Tue Comet. By Dr.B.A.Gourpd . . - + + + + © © 2 + + 267
Destruction oF Lire 1n Inp1A BY Witp Antmats. By Sir J.
Fayrer, F.R:S., K.C.S.I.. 2. 2 + + + ee ee ew 2 + 268
Pavzouituic IMPLEMENTS OF NorTH-East Lonpon. By Wor-
THINGTON G. SMITH (With Jilustrations) . . « + « + «© « +» 270
Lever’s Arc Lamp (With Illustration) « . « + + 6 © © «© © «© 274
NoTes. - +--+ «© © « 0 er adel tee: Geahediube at ten ame omIS7S
APPROXIMATIVE PHOTOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF SuN, Moon,
Ctoupy Sky, AND ELECTRIC AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL LicHTs. By
Sir Writtam’THomson, F.R.S. - 2 2 - © 2 © © © © = = = 2977
Tue Hypornests OF ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT BY PRIMOGBNI-
TURE, AND ITS PLACE IN THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION. By Prof.
Aj BR. Wit OBRECH INS fen Se De ee) oe. eine) <eeenz
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE . se + + + + + 28F
SCTENTIFIC'SERIALS s 0 0 “ee ce 0) 0, es 28r
s 282
SocrgtrES AND ACADEMIES . + «+ +
NATURE
285
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1883
THE THIRST FOR SCIENTIFIC RENOWN
EW students of science can fail to feel at times
appalled by the ever-increasing flood of literature
devoted to science and the difficulty of keeping abreast of
it even in one special and comparatively limited branch
of inquiry. Were merely the old societies and long
established journals to continue to supply their contribu-
tions, these, as they arrive from all parts of the country,
and from all quarters of the globe, would be more than
enough to tax the energy of even the most ardent
enthusiast. But new societies, new journals, new inde-
pendent works start up at every turn, till one feels inclined
to abandon in despair the attempt to keep pace with the
advance of science in more than one limited department.
One of the most striking and dispiriting features of
this rapidly growing literature is the poverty or worth-
lessness of a very large part of it. The really earnest
student who honestly tries to keep himself acquainted
with what is being done, in at least his own branch of
science, acquires by degrees a knack of distinguishing, as
it were by instinct, the papers that he ought to read from
those which have no claim on his attention. But how
often may he be heard asking if no means can be devised
for preventing the current of scientific literature from
becoming swollen and turbid by the constant inpouring
of what he can call by no better name than rubbish !
Some sciences seem to be specially exposed to inunda-
tion of this kind. Geology lies exposed to it in an
unusual degree. Popular in its subject, and capable of
ready apprehension as to its general principles, this
department of science allures the outsider into its pre-
cincts, where he too frequently soon arrives at the belief
that to have read a geological book or two is to become a
geologist. This belief would be harmless enough, did it
not speedily bear fruit in “ papers’? communicated to
scientific journals, and stamped with all the enthusiasm
and crudity of a beginner. On no account should any
check be placed on the legitimate ambition of the
youngest aspirant after scientific renown. But we venture
to think that the common precipitate publication of his
earlier efforts is not a legitimate ambition ; but on the
contrary is really an injury to himself and a positive
hindrance to the progress of the science which he no
doubt loyally desires to serve. It too frequently happens,
moreover, that his first efforts are directed to the pleasant
task of discovering flaws in the work of those who have
preceded him. And of course the more eminent these
predecessors, the greater his credit in setting them right.
Let him take to heart the old maxim, Festina /ente. The
longer he delays his appearance as an author, and the
wider he meanwhile extends his practical experience of
nature, the more tolerant will he become of the work of
others and the less overweeningly confident of his own.
In no department of natural knowledge can a real ac-
quaintance with the subject be gained save as the result
of prolonged study.
These reflections have been suggested on the present
occasion by the perusal of a pamphlet which exhibits in
the most glaring way the tendency on which we have
VOL. XxviI:—No. 691
animadverted. It is devoted to the announcement of a
brand-new theory of the origin of Fingal’s Cave.
Curiously enough this is not the first time that the
basaltic colonnades of Antrim and the Scottish Isles have
furnished the text for teaching the most arrant non-
sense. Nearly forty years ago a sailor, familiar with
tropical bamboo jungles, started the idea that columnar
beds of basalt are neither more nor less than petrified
growths of bamboos. After vainly trying by occasional
newspaper letters to find supporters, he seems to have
given up the struggle against the blind prejudices of
geologists. In 1864, however, his views were taken up by
another writer yet more outrageous, who published a
pamphlet of nearly 109 pages, entitled “The Giant’s
Causeway once Bamboos,” and in supporting his dogma
ran a tilt at religion, science, tradition, history, in short
at everything that happened to suggest itself in the
course of his incoherent and erratic pages.
The author of the pamphlet cited below, Mr. F. Cope
Whitehouse, M.A., &c., is obviously a man of original
genius, and is resolved that the world shall knowit. In the
summer of 1381 he seems to have come with the mob of
tourists that annually makes a pilgrimage to the coast of
Antrim. But instead of merely submitting to be led through
the usual route by the inevitable and inexorable guide,
he boldly separated himself from the gaping crowd, and
proceeded to meditate. To his rapid mental vision it
was soon apparent that the caves of that coast-line,
instead of being the work of the sea, as ignorant mankind
has hitherto believed, have been hollowed out by human
hands. At once he could perceive the intimate relation-
ship of Gothic doorways, ancient civilisation, medizval
castles, Irish manuscripts, and the “ Kelto-Iberian, Wend
or Pheenician” race. The narrow sea-worn gullies of
Antrim being thus shown to have been ancient harbours,
his eye looked northwards to the dim blue Scottish Isles,
and his venturous imagination at once demanded whether
that world’s wonder, Fingal’s Cave, might not after all be
merely a piece of man’s handiwork. To state the question
was in effect to answer it affirmatively. Nevertheless that
no unsympathetic geological Philistine might blaspheme,
our courageous hero sailed for those far islands of the
west, saw Staffa with his mortal eyes, and found how well
his prophetic intuition had divined the secret of that
weird place. We almost envy the thrill of satisfaction
that must have vibrated within him as he proudly felt
that scientific observers for a century past, from the days
of Sir Joseph Banks down to our own time, had one and
all missed the true meaning and history of the Caves of
Staffa, and that it was reserved for him, casual visitor as
he was, to lift the veil and reveal the mystery to our
astonished gaze.
Knowing well the type of which Mr. Whitehouse
is a fresh and most characteristic example, we hardly
require his assurance that as soon as his eye lighted on
Staffa his “conjecture received strong and unexpected
confirmation. It was subjected to rigid examination ; it
Was strengthened by opposition.” Of course it was.
Then, like all similar enthusiasts, his soul could find no
rest until he had proclaimed the truth to the nations. Re-
turning to America, he found an opportunity of enlighten-
t “Ts Fingal’s Cave Artificial?’’ A paper by F. Cope Whitehouse, M.A.
(New York: Appleton and Co., 1882.)
oO
286
NATURE
[ Fan. 25, 1883
ing the darkness of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, at its meeting in Montreal in
August Jast. A few weeks later he proclaimed the great
discovery to the Academy of Sciences of New Yorx.
But these were limited audiences, though composed,
no doubt, mainly of scientific men on whom as yet
the true light had never shone. It was absolutely
necessary to appeal to a wider, and possibly more sympa-
thetic public. Accordingly he published his views in the
December number of the Popular Science Monthly. But
he was still unsatisfied, till at last he conceived the noble
idea of combining the spread of truth with promoting the
erection of the Statue of Liberty enlightening the World.
He hired a theatre in New York, gave an account of his
astonishing observations, charging a dollar a head for
admission, and stated that the proceeds of his ‘‘matinée ”
were ‘to be devoted to the pedestal of the colossal
statue.” Let us hope that the sum realised was worthy
at once of the great truths proclaimed by the lecturer,
and of the national object to which it was to be given.
Future pilgrims to the colossal Statue of Liberty wil]
piously scan the pedestal, searching for the stone that
shall hand down to the far future the name of the illus-
trious seer who could brush away the tangled cobwebs
spun by a century of scientific babblers, and pierce into
the true meaning of the Cave of Fingal.
Mr. Whitehouse has published so far only an abstract of
his address, but he has had it well printed with good illus-
trations, and seems to have generously scattered copies of
it broadcast over this country. It was not of course at
all necessary that he should communicate the steps of the
reasoning by which he was led up to his great disco-
very. And he has considerately refrained from troubling
the world with such unprofitable details. Still one
cannot help trying to follow the mental process by which
an epoch-making deduction has been reached. We vet
from the abstract glimpses of the way in which the re-
ceived explanation of the caves of Staffa collapsed at the
touch of Mr. Whitehouse’s genius. He visited the
scenery in calm summer weather. From Staffa he could
see the great sweep of the Mull cliffs to the east and the
broken rampart of islands all round the rest of the
horizon. As the smooth sea mildly heaved along the
base of the basaltic colonnade, he could easily persuade
himself that Staffa must be a ‘‘ singularly sheltered,’’
“Jand-locked” island, and that “the force of the
breakers is inconsiderable.” How absurd then must it
have appeared to him to attribute to that placid lake-like
water the power of hollowing out caves in a rock so
obdurately stubborn as basalt! Moreover, he could see
no reason why the sea, supposing it gifted with such
power of erosion, should have chosen the places where
the caves actually occur. And his inability to find this
reason satisfactorily disposed of any possible action of
the waves. Not only so, but from his stand-point at
Stiffa his clear vision could take in the whole coast-line
of Scotland, and he made the further important announce-
ment, which will doubtless for ever silence our northern
geologists, who believe in the geological power of the
waves, that “there are very few hollows worn by the sea
in the Scotch coast!” Having cleared away the fictions
of so-called scientific observation, he could apply the
much more reliable conjecture which his glance at the
Giant’s Causeway had evoked in his own mind. To his
trained eye the caves of Staffa were obviously artificial.
Oracularly he tells us that they are “strikingly Phoenician.”
““No such Gothic arch was ever formed by nature. No
natural cave has an entrance higher than the interior.” (!)
Lastly, from the end of Fingal’s Cave you can see the
Hill of Iona rising against the sky, consequently the cave
must have been excavated by men who lived on Iona.
This final argument must be regarded as a crushing
answer to those who have recklessly talked of the power
of the waves in these regions. On what conceivable
grounds can we suppose that the sea would make a
tunnel, from the end of which the Dun of Iona would be
visible ?
Perhaps some unconvinced outsider may be tempted
impertinently to ask for what object such stupendous ex-
cavations could have been devised by any civilisation,
whether ancient or modern—excavations always swilled
with the surge, often unapproachable for weeks together,
and in which, even in calm weather, unless care be taken,
a boat is liable to have its bottom knocked in. Of such
questions Mr. Whitehouse very properly takes no notice.
Again, we were in the belief that the religious community
of Iona had been an eminently peaceable folk, liable to
invasion by pirates from the sea or marauders from the
mainland, but with little more to oppose in the way of
defence than the prestige of their sanctity. But this
conception also is now found to be false. We learn, on
the same reliable authority, that they were a warlike race,
quite able to look after themselves. It appears that Mr.
Whitehouse has shown “the strategic importance of
Staffa, and the probability that the wealth and refinement
of Iona were due to the protection it afforded.” He will
have no difficulty in further proving that the traditional
picture of the saintly Columba is a mere myth, and that
the abbots of Iona possessed an army and navy, made
war on heathen Pict and savage Scot, curbed the fury of
fiery Norseman, and employed their gangs of prisoners in
tunnelling the caves of Staffa!
There is a hollow among the rocky knobs that rise inland
from the summit of the cliffs above Fingal’s Cave. We
would fain place Mr. Whitehouse there on a day when the
gathering clouds have blotted out Ben More, when thick
mists are driving along the opposite precipices of Gribon,
when the Treshnish Isles grow fainter every moment in
the western sky, when even Iona, that lies so near, is
fading into the general gloom, and when the wild moan
of the rising south-western gale among the crags around
is answered by the hoarse clamour of the surge below.
We should like to keep him there while the gale rapidly
increases, breaker after breaker careering madly forwards
with foaming crest from under the pall of driving rain
that hides the sea, dashing into every creek and cave,
rushing in sheets of green water up the face of the crags,
and pouring back in hundreds of yeasty torrents into the
boiling flood. We would ask him still to stay till the
storm has reached its height, that he might feel the solid
island shake under his feet, that he might see the sheets
of water, foam, and spray thrown far up into the air, that
he might hear the cannon-like thunder of the shock as
each billow bursts into the Cave of Fingal. He would
return a wiser (and a wetter) man, and would regret that
in a rash moment he had published some childish nonsense
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE
287
about man having excavated sea-worn caves, and had
expressed an opinion about the power of the sea of which
he would then feelingly admit that he had been profoundly
ignorant.
The pamphlet here noticed did not in itself deserve
consideration in these columns. We have made use of it
as a type of publication painfully frequent in the literature
of science. If in exposing its characteristics we deter any
rash and immature aspirant for fame from at once rushing
before the world with what he conceives to be his dis-
coveries, we shall have done a service at once to him and
to science.
CINCHONA PLANTING
A Handbook of Cinchona Culture. By Karel Wessel van
Gorkom. ‘Translated by Benjamin Daydon Jackson,
Sec.L.S. (London: Triibner, 1883.)
Die Chinarinden in Pharmakognostischer Hinsicht
dargestellt, Von F. A. Fliickiger. (Berlin: R. Gaertner,
1883.)
HE rapid extension of cinchona planting in India,
Ceylon, and Jamaica will make a translation of Van
Gorkom’s account of the methods of cultivation and
harvesting pursued by him, as Director of the cinchona
plantations belonging to the Dutch Government in Java,
useful to many who propose to turn their attention to this
profitable industry. At present intending planters in
British possessions have had little beyond Dr. King’s
Manual of Cinchona Cultivation (1876) to serve as a guide.
In Ceylon the planting community includes many men of
first-rate ability, and the singularly energetic journalism
of the island speedily ventilates for the common good any
fresh idea or point of practice in planting procedure.
Indian planters share the benefit of this, while Jamaica
has the advantage of possessing in Mr. Morris, a director
of its botanical department, who has carried to the West
Indies an intimate knowledge of all that is being done
in Ceylon. It is not very probable that those who are
at present occupied in cinchona enterprise in British
possessions will glean much from Van Gorkom’s book.
Still such a manual will not be without its use for those
who have everything to learn about the matter, and, as
will be seen, it cannot fail to be interesting to those
who watch from an independent point of view the
economics of the subject.
The book is handsomely printed and got up—too hand-
somely, indeed, for workmanlike use, for which its size,
that of a small folio, seems particularly unsuited. We
must too make a serious protest as to the style of the
translation, which, we think, cannot be considered toler-
able, even with every allowance for “seeming inele-
gancies’’ which Mr. Jackson pleads for in his preface.
Take, as a sample, the first sentence which caught
our eye :—
“Tf we trust that this excellent opportunity for fruitful
comparisons shall lead to unfettered judgment, still more
do we look for, from the impressions received and the
enlarged field of view, the scientific work carried on,
which has so long been in hand, and most certainly with
great completeness and undisputed knowledge of material,
will indicate our present standpoint in the domain of
quinology ” (p. 264).
* Of T. C. Owen’s Cinchona Planter’s Manual, published at Colombo, we
know nothing beyond the name.
Now it is quite certain that this is not English, and we
have some doubts whether it really conveys any meaning
at all. But at any rate we would ask what is the use of
translating in this way a work the purpose of which is not
literary but essentially utilitarian. There seems, in fact,
to be a deep-rooted superstition about the value of so-
called fidelity in translating books of mere information.
In rendering a foreign language as a philological under-
taking, it is often desirable to sacrifice, to some extent,
style and form, in order to convey as nearly as may be,
the exact force of each word and of each turn of expres-
sion. But where, as in a technical treatise, it is only the
context we care about, it is exasperating to find the
translator exhibiting a would-be scholarly care over the
exact reproduction of the vehicle. All we want him to do
is to master the meaning and give it to us in clear,
straightforward English.
Having said so much by way of criticism we may indi-
cate a few points which we think will be interesting even
to some who are not colonial readers of NATURE.
A hundred of the three hundred pages of which the
volume consists is given up to historical matter regarding
the history of Czzchonaand the development of its culture
in Java and in British possessions. All this is an oft told
tale, and contains little that will not be found in Mr.
Markham’s Peruvian Bark (reviewed in NATURE, vol.
xxiii, pp. 189-191). An exception must be made, however,
as to the interesting account of the commencement of
cinchona cultivation in Bolivia. The existence of this
enterprise was known, but we have not met with any
previous account of it. The Dutch Consul-General
reported to his Government :—
“The great event in the agricultural region of Bolivia
is the planting of the Bolivian cinchona forests, of which
an earnest beginning was made in 1878. . . . The river
Mapiti, in the province of Larecaja, department La Paz,
has been the centre of the movement, and already the
young trees of two years’ growth, may be reckoned at
from four to five hundred thousand” (p. 17).
Doubt is, however, expressed whether the planting will
be maintained in the face of labour difficulties and a pos-
sible fall of prices in consequence of increasing exports
from the East Indies.
Modern cinchona enterprise in Java has aimed at the
production of barks rich in quinine. With the lucky
purchase from Mr. Ledger in 1865 of a packet of seeds of
the now well-known Czxchona Ledgeriana, the Dutch
“cinchona culture of the future has entered upon an
entirely new phase” (p. 77). About 20,000 of the seeds
germinated in Java, and first and last Mr. Ledger received
about 24/. from the Dutch Government, and “was there-
with well content’’ (p. 91). Fortunately the greater part
of the seed originally imported was purchased by a well-
known Indian planter, Mr. Money, and some of it seems
by private channels to have found its way to the Govern-
ment plantations in Sikkim. The Dutch having got this
valuable kind seem to have managed it with extraordinary
intelligence and skill. Men like De Vrij, Moens, and
Van Gorkom were well-trained European scientific men
and competent chemists. Their object was by continuous
selection, controlled by repeated analyses of barle made
on the spot to obtain races of Cizchona Ledgeriana richer
and richer in quinine, and it is a matter of genera]
288
NATURE
notoriety how well they have succeeded." It is the part
of Van Gorkom’s treatise dealing with this matter which
cinchona planters will be grateful to Mr. Jackson for
putting within their reach. Two conditions of success in
harvesting good seed are insisted upon.
“ For seed saving, the handsomest strongest trees are
selected, and especially amongst those whose superior
value has been ascertained by chemical examination.
Disappointment is inevitable where the eye and botanical
characters alone are made use of and trusted to; she
whole issue depends upon the certainty that varieties rich
tn quinine are exclusively propagated.
“The choice being made there is something else which
must not be neglected ; it further behoves us to be per-
fectly sure that the tree is not fertilised with foreign
pollen, that is to say, pollen of an inferior tree or variety”
{p. 136).
The last condition cannot be insisted upon too forcibly,
notwithstanding that competent botanical opinion can be
quoted against it. In their home in South America the
different species of Czzchona are localised at different
points of the Andine chain. Geographical isolation
keeps them uncrossed. But where they are brought to-
gether in one plantation they hybridise freely. Czzchona
robusta, which is now widely diffused in India, undoubt-
edly first originated in Ceylon as a cross between C.
officinalis and C. succtrubra.
The aim of the Dutch Government being to produce a
commercial bark of high quinine-producing quality, in
which they have met with extraordinary success, Van
Gorkom is somewhat disposed to criticise the different
policy which has been pursued in British India :—
“The Bengal Government . makes its cinchona
culture serviceable before all things to the wants of its
population, and thus only asks itself, how the people and
army may be provided with febrifuges on the most advan-
tageous terms ” (p. 229).
He sets against this the ‘ well-known fact that
not one half of the alkaloids possessed by the raw
material are obtained, the greater part being lost.’’
Even supposing, however, that things are as bad as
this, and not susceptible of improvement, it is still argu-
able whether, looking at the cheapness with which red
bark can be grown and converted into a febrifuge—the
usefulness of which is incalculable—the theoretical waste
is a matter for the present of much consequence. But it
is unreasonable to suppose that the Bengal methods of
extraction are not susceptible of improvement, though
they will probably never reach the standard practicable
by more expensive methods in Europe. But the objection
of wastefulness must be measured by the circumstances.
The proprietor of an estate in England who, with a view
of bringing a portion of his park into tillage, began by
burning the timber upon it, would be considered a madman.
3ut this is habitually done in clearing a piece of tropical
forest for cultivation, and as it is not easy to see what
else could be done, a complaint as to the waste would
not be much to the purpose. It might have been expected
that Van Gorkom’s sympathies would have centered in
the quinine-producing yellow barks which are for the
moment most in favour. This, however, is largely due to
the unreasonable importance which is attached to quinine
* Acknowledgment must be made of the striking liberality with which the
Dutch Government officials have always placed what they could spare of
their selected seed at the disposal of planters in other countries.
>
[ Fan. 25, 1883
Van Gorkom does not
over other cinchona alkaloids.
share this prejudice :—
“The conviction has more and more gained ground,
that good cinchona barks judiciously applied, frequently
do not merely rival quinine, but even surpass it in useful
effect ” (p. 212).
This point of view is exceedingly important with regard
to red bark (C. succirubra), which is the easiest of all
species to cultivate.
“There is no cinchona bark richer in alkaloids, and
though C. swzccérubra is not suitable for the preparation
of quinine, because it can only be treated with trouble
and much expense, yet it has a preponderance of the
secondary alkaloids. No better material for pharma-
ceutical purposes is known, and on that account its
propagation is desirable from every point of view”
(p. 100).
High class yellow barks are by no means free in their
growth or particularly easy of cultivation. It has been
found useful to graft them on szccirubra stocks, and the
practice has been adopted in Sikkim and Ceylon ; Van
Gorkom gives a useful account of the method adopted
in Java.
We must refrain from pursuing many other points which
these pages suggest. Two of the concluding chapters
deal with the possible synthesis of quinine and the com-
merce of the barks. As to the former the author has
little doubt of success. Two isomerous bodies, chinoline
and chinoleine, are known, of which the former is obtained
by the distillation of coal tar, the latter by that of quinine
This is thought then to be the clue by which the con-
struction of quinine from coal-tar products will be even-
tually achieved. But he takes comfort for cinchona planters
from two considerations. One is that the synthesis of a
vegetable substance when effected does not always result in
its practical commercial replacement. The synthesis of
alizarine it is found after all does not give the dyer quite
what the madder plant gives him. Artificial quinine then
may—if ever produced—prove only of interest to the che-
mist. His other consolation is based on what is said above—
that pharmacy can never dispense with the total aggregate
extracted products of bark, and the day may be regarded
as indefinitely distant when the chemist will be able to
replace these any more than such complexes as the
contents of our tea- and coffee-pots.
As to commerce it is interesting to learn that London
is the most important market for bark, and Paris next.
We fear, however, from statistics obtained from another
source, that this country has no corresponding lead in
the production of the manufactured products, only about
10 per cent. of the quinine of the world being made in
England. Yet Van Gorkom states emphatically that
“the consumption at the present day of cinchona and its
alkaloids, merely represents a paltry fraction of the quan-
tity which will be required to satisfy the prescription of
humanity in every country, and among all classes and
races of men”? (p. 236).
We have left ourselves but little space to notice Prof.
Fliickiger’s handy and concise work, which, though
of importance to cinchona planters, is primarily a phar-
maceutical study of the subject. The bark of Cinchona
succirubra has been recently adopted as the official bark
of the German Pharmacopceia—a fact of no small import-
ance to planters in British possessions, when it is remem-
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE
289
bered how enormous is the extent of its cultivation in
their hands. It is this fact which has won it its official
status, as though poor in quinine its quality is tolerably
uniform, and being easily grown its supply can always be
depended on. Prof. Fliickiger gives a figure of the plant
as well as of Cinchona Ledgeriana—the quinine bark far
excellence—and of Remijia pedunculata, one of the sources
of the Cinchona cuprea which has of late years been
poured into European markets from South America.
MARINE SURVEYING
A Treatise on Marine Surveying. Prepared for the
use of younger Naval Officers, by the Rev. J. L.
Robinson, B.A., Royal Naval College. (London:
Murray, 1882.)
HIS book has been written apparently with the view
of enabling young naval officers to cram themselves
sufficiently to pass the examination in surveying at the
Royal Naval College, and it must be conceded displays
considerable industry on the part of Mr. Robinson, who
has evidently taken pains to go through the examination
papers on surveying from their commencement, to see
what questions are usually asked, and in what form they
could be best answered; and has besides consulted a
large number of works bearing on surveying, a list of
which he gives at the commencement of his treatise ; but
we confess we are much disappointed that with such ex-
cellent materials, so poor a result should have been pro-
duced, for, with the exception of the chapter on tides,
which in its way is excellent, the work is of very little
value, and rather reminds us of that treatise of—
** The young lady of Buckingham
Who wrote about geese and stuffing ’em,
But found out one day
She’d neglected to say
A word in ker book about plucking ’em.”
Mr. Robinson says in his preface “he has had no intention
to write a handbook for the use of the practical surveyor,”
and that “such an intention might fairly be regarded
as an impertinence in one who has never been engaged
in the practical work of the profession,” but that he has
had rather “the examination room and its requirements
before him.” But did it not strike Mr. Robinson that the
practical surveyor selected to examine the candidates
might ask questions upon which he has neglected to
touch, and that consequently his treatise might fail to
ensure success in the “examination room,” notwithstand-
ing the valuable hints he has received from Staff-Com-
mander Johnson and his friend of great experience as a
first-class surveyor ?
The first chapter consists of extracts from Admiralty
publications, but we recommend the officers at the college
to consult those publications for themselves, more espe-
cially the Admiralty list of abbreviations, as the illustra-
tions in this work give a poor representation of the
symbols and signs used by the draughtsman and engraver.
The second chapter, on the Construction and Use of
Scales, and the sixth, on Instruments, are derived prin-
cipally from Heather. Here again we prefer the original
to the copy.
The third chapter, on Laying off Angles, merely con-
tains a brief description of the methods of plotting angles
by chords with a small radius. On this we would remark
that the real value of plotting angles by chords consists
in their being plotted with long radii, as any practical
draughtsman could have informed the author.
The fourth chapter is a most elaborate analysis of the
method of Fixing a Position by Angles, &c, Surveyors
take sextant angles, principally, to fix their positions when
sounding, and invariably use the station pointer for that
purpose; this chapter therefore seems to us to be firing
a 12-ton gun at a sparrow.
The fifth chapter, on Charts and Chart Drawing, is
rather a description of the method of map construction,
and contains some mis-statements. Evidently Mr. Robin-
son is not well acquainted with the mode of constructing
charts at the Admiralty or by surveyors, as he states in
one paragraph that circumpolar charts are usually con-
structed on the gnomonic projection, whereas we are not
acquainted with one Admiralty circumpolar chart on this
projection. It is true a diagram is published to facilitate
the practice of great circle sailing but no circumpolar
chart.
The fact is all marine surveyors project their work on the
gnomonic projection, and as the smallest scale in use is an
inch to a mile, it is evident that the errors of this projection
are very slight, as the largest sheet of paper that can be
worked at conveniently is about six feet square. When the
original surveys arrive at the Admiralty the Hydrographer
decides in what form they shall be engraved and published.
If the surveys are plans of harbours, they are usually pub-
lished on the gnomonic projection (as they were origin-
ally drawn) ; if the survey is of a coast, or to be incor-
porated in a coast, or general sheet, it is transferred to
the mercatorial projection, for which the meridional parts
of the spheroid are used. Charts of the circumpolar
region are however published on an arbitrary projection,
in which the parallels of latitude are drawn as concentric
circles at equal distances from the pole.
Chapter seven is on Base Lines. Now base lines are
principally of use to the marine surveyor as the quickest
method of starting his work, which, when it extends over
a large area, almost invariably depends eventually for its
scales on astronomical observations.
Mr. Robinson states that it is impossible to fix the posi-
tion exactly by means of a sextant. Here we must differ
from him, and will give one instance to the contrary.
When the question of the boundary between the United
States and British North America was decided, and the
49th parallel was fixed on, Admiral Sir George Richards
then in command of H.M. surveying vessel Plumper, at
Vancouver's Island, was directed to ascertain the position
of this boundary line on the western seaboard of North
America. This he did with a sextant, and buried a mark
in the ground on the position of the 49th parallel as ascer-
tained by himself. The Americans sent a party for the
Same purpose with a zenith sector and altazimuth
and when they had fixed the position of the 49th parallel
by these means, the difference between the two results
was found to be less than 100 feet! It is of course as
well that nautical surveyors should know the various
methods employed in obtaining accurate bases for geode-
tical measurements, but for marine surveying the same
nicety is not required as in measuring the arc of a me-
ridian, and it cannot be too often impressed on the mind
290
NATURE
[ Fan. 25, 1883
of the aspirant in surveying that over accuracy (that is
such minuteness as cannot be represented on paper) is
loss of time.
The eighth chapter is on Triangulation, and is more
worthy of attention than those preceding. If we remem-
ber rightly, there was only one three-feet theodolite used
in the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, which instru-
ment is the property of the Royal Society. In fact, so far
as we are acquainted, there are only two three-feet theodo-
lites in existence, Ramsden’s, and another used in the
Great Trigonometrical Survey of India.
The observation that very distant stations are generally
observed at night is now subject to correction, as the
heliostadt has rendered it quite as easy to observe by day,
in fact, in some of our marine surveys, triangles whose sides
were 60 miles in length, have been obtained with these
instruments, and an eight-inch theo Jolite, with the greatest
ease. With the eight-inch theodolite, and by means of
repeating the main angles round the circle, very accurate
results may be obtained; and the spherical excess has
to be allowed for, and deducted, in order to make the
triangles plane, for in all nautical surveys the chord of
the arc is used both for calculation and plotting.
The ninth chapter, on Levelling, contains not only an
account of levelling, but also of obtaining heights by
means of the barometer and thermometer, but totally neg-
lects the method in general use by surveyors, viz. by
angles of elevation and depression with a theodolite. For
travellers the barometer and thermometer give an ap-
proximation of the elevation, which is exceedingly useful
in an unsurveyed district. For work requiring extreme
accuracy careful levelling is required, but for nautical
work the principal use of the levelis to ascertain the exact
difference between the zero of the tide gauge and some
permanent mark on shore, so that a fixed datum can
always be referred to for reduction of soundings in future.
The heights of hills are almost invariably obtained by
angles of elevation and depression, and the results so
closely approximate to the truth that it is waste of time to
do more, unless results less than five or six feet in error
are absolutely requisite.
The tenth chapter is on Tides, and is, as has been
before mentioned, well worthy of perusal, in fact, it is the
most complete popular description we remember to have
seen; and if compiled entirely by Mr. Robinson from the
books he has consulted reflects great credit on him, and
we can but wish he had paid the same attention to the
other parts of his treatise.
We think, if we remember rightly, that it was in one of
the Arctic voyages, that of Sir John Ross, that the in-
fluence of atmospheric pressure on the rise of the tide
was first observed, but the fact is well known now, and is
always allowed for by surveyors when ascertaining the
mean level of the sea. This subject is of considerable
practical importance, for it is sometimes the only guide
we possess by means of which we can reduce our sound-
ings to the same depth as those obtained at previous
epochs. For instance, if the datum-mark to which the
soundings have been referred, has, in the course of time,
disappeared, the surveyor’s first work is to ascertain the
height on his gauges of the mean level of the sea. This
he does by obtaining day and night observations for five
or six consecutive high and low waters, carefully register-
ing the barometer at the same time. Then meaning
the results and allowing for the atmospheric pressure, it
is astonishing how closely they agree. The mean level
having been found, it is very easy to reduce the soundings
to the former datum. For instance, if the soundings are
reduced to low water ordinary springs, and their rise at
springs is 16 feet, it is evident that the soundings must be
reduced to 8 feet below mean level of the sea, to enable
them to be compared with those previously obtained.
In his paragraph (201) on tide-gauges, Mr. Robinson
recommends a string from a float over a pulley. It must
be either a chain or wire, as a string is far too subject to
contraction and expansion from atmospheric changes.
Self-registering tide-gauges are, we are glad to say,
becoming much more common than they were, and we
trust to see them established at every important point in
the United Kingdom.
The eleventh chapter, on Soundings, may do very well
to enable a sub-lieutenant to answer some questions in the
examination-room, but is useless in practice.
Few surveyors think it necessary to accurately protract
on a chart the position of the objects they use for sounding
transits (Art. 210). Often the back mark is too far off
to appear at all on the sheet, and the farther off it is the
better, provided the atmosphere is clear; for a front
mark the first conspicuous object in the foreground is
seized—a conspicuous tree, the chimney of a house, the
angle of a hedge, a boat hauled up on the beach, &c. If
the back object is sufficiently far off, the lines of sound-
ings are practically parallel, and the same mark may be
used for the whole survey. It is also requisite to cross
the lines of soundings, to avoid any chance of error.
The sounding on the chart depends (1) on the leadsman,
(2) on the officer fixing and registering, (3) on the tidal
register, and (4) on the reductions being correctly made.
Now there may be a mistake in either one of these, and
consequently it is advisable to always cross the lines of
soundings asacheck. We have found that as good a
method of checking the correctness of the results as any,
is by running along the contour lines, as defined by
soundings obtained at right angles to those lines.
Another remark on soundings we must also take ex-
ception to, viz. that (Art. 213) it is usual to make a reduc-
tion of a couple of feet below low water in doubtful
cases.
With respect to under-currents (Art. 221), Mr. Robin-
son appears not to be aware of the methods pursued by
Sir G. Nares in the Challenger, and Capt. Wharton in
the Shearwater.
Chapters twelve and thirteen, on Chronometers, and
Meridian Distances, are principally derived from Admiral
Shadwell’s notes on the management of chronometers,
andhere we recommend the student to the original rather
than the copy.
The method of calculating meridian distances ex-
pounded by Dr. Tiarks, and fully explained by Sir
Chas. Shadwell, is invariably used by nautical surveyors,
and the results thus obtained have hitherto closely
approximated to the later determinations by means of the
electric telegraph.
Chapter fourteen, on the method of Plotting a Survey,
deals almost exclusively with the small plans required by
the examination papers at the Naval College, and as it
Fan. 25, 1883 |
NATURE
291
instructs the student to plot ov¢ from the base line (which
is never done in practice) cannot be recommended.
The method of plotting adopted in practice is to calcu-
late out from the base line to the extreme points of the
survey, or to the extreme points that will appear on any
one sheet of paper, and then to plot zz. Every practical
draughtsman knows that it is far easier to say, “draw a
straight line ’’ than to do it, and that an infinite amount
of trouble is saved by plotting in towards small triangles
from large, as the errors of the plotter are then being
constantly reduced, whereas in plotting ow¢ they are
being continually enlarged. In fact we venture to say
that no one is competent to write an article on plotting
who has not been in the habit of projecting surveys
for no one else can understand the extreme nicety re-
quired to make three lines from three stations to the
same object coincide in one point.
It is possible that Mr. Robinson has compiled this
work in hopes the Admiralty may order it to be accepted
as the text-book on surveying at the College. We trust,
however, that their Lordships may be better advised on
the point. Already we have one book, ordered to be used,
which contains a theory on winds, not by any means
accepted by meteorologists, and this theory has at present
to be learnt by all the younger naval officers. Now we
have no objection to any one theorising on wind, or any
other subject, but what we do object to is that a book
containing such theories should be ordered to be the
standard work at the colleges, simply because the gentle-
man who wrote it holds, and worthily holds, a prominent
position there. We think that although theories should
not be absolutely excluded from textbooks, they should
deal principally with well-ascertained facts, leaving the
student to develop for himself a theory from those facts.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinrons expressed
by his correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance cven
of communications containing interesting and novel facts. |
Natural Selection and Natural Theology
A PERUSAL of Dr. Romanes’ article on Natural Selection and
Natural Theology, in the Contemporary Review for October,
1882, suggests a few remarks upon one or two points, which
may not be out of | lace.
One would quite agree with Dr. Romanes in ‘‘insisting on
the essentially distinct character of natural science and natural
theology as separate departments of human thought.” True as
that is, in a just sense, how does it follow that there ‘‘is no
point of logical contact between” the two? Does this mean
that because natural phenomena can be reduced to Jaws and
sequences of cause and effect, no legitimate or rational inference
can be made by the human mind to a causa causarum? It
would seem so, and that it must be o to justify his very thorough-
going conclusion: (1) That Darwin’s theory explodes particular
design (which he chooses to identify with special or independent
creation) ; and (2) that it does not allow us rationally to intro-
duce the conception of ‘fan ultimate cause of a psychical
kind pervading all nature,” the theory having ‘‘no point of
logical contact with the theory of design even in the larger
sense.” That is, a ratson d’ére in particular is proved to be
absurd ; behind all secondary cause:, one such may possibly
exist, but it is not to be legitimately thought of !
Or does he mean only that Darwin’s theory need not, and
legitimately should not, concern itself with philosophy and
natural theology? Very well: then let the disciples practise
what they preach, and imitate their revered master, who was
content fo maintain that species became what they are by
descent with modification, instead of by independent creation,
leaving untouched the question whether or not they were
designed to be what they are. If there be ‘‘no logical con-
tact”? between Darwin’s theory and the theory of design, then
this renowned investigator preserved more logical consistency
than some of his fcllowers: if he refrained because of “‘ the
essettially distinct character of natural science and natural
theology,” and because of his determination to consider only
the former, he was no less consistent.
But after all, such questions may be consistent enough, and
moreover they are inevitable ; and so it is not wonderful that
they are raised—and not rarely prejudged—on the scientific
about as freely as on the theological side.
Anyway Darwin did not prejudge the question of design,
while declining to diseuss it, as is done, for instance, by the
dictum that if the species of animals and plants were slowly
evolved, the evidence of design has been utterly and for ever
destroyed. That has been affirmed over and over, formerly in
the main by the theologians, 1 ut now, when these have seen
what it comes to, mainly by the anti-theologians; by both,
seemingly, under a misapprehension of the real character of the
evidence for design.
Dr. Romane,’ view is fairly presented in his denial that,
under our present knowledge, ‘‘the facts of organic nature
furnish evidence of design of a quality other or better than any
of the facts of inorganic nature.” ‘‘ Or, otherwise stated, there
is nothing in the theory of natural selection incompatible with
the theory of theism; but neither does the former theory
supply evidence of the latter. Now this is just what the older
theory of special creation did; for it would be proof positive of
intelligent design, if it could be shown that all species of plants
and animals were created, that is, suddenly introduced into the
complex conditions of their life ; for it is quite inconceivable
that any cause other than intelligence could be competent to
adapt an organism to its environment suddenly.”
Is the writer of this quite sure that any cause other than in*el-
ligence could be competent to adapt existing organisms to their
environment gradually 2 How has the former presumption—
the contrary of which was quite inconceivable—been done away
with? For this presumption arose, and had its full force under
the consideration of animals and plants produced by natural
propagation ; and the then irresistible inference of intelligent
design was drawn directly from their adaptations in themselves
and to their environment ; whence it was ccncluded that the
series of phenomena must have been instituted somehow and at
some time or times (-udden creation is no doctrine of natural
theology) uncer intelligence. How is tis presumption nega-
tived or impaired by the suppos tion of l)arwin’s theory, that
the ancestors were not always like the offspring, but differed from
time to time in small particulars, yet so as always to be in com-
patible relations to the environment? We do not see how or
why the inference, which was so cogent, should under the new
showing become at once irrelevant and out of all logical connec-
tion with the facts of the case, which guoad design are just what
they were. Suddenness—if that must needs be entertained—is
of course incompatible with the Darwinian view, and also with
the facts as we understand them; but gvadua/ness is in nowise
incompatible with design, Under the conception of Nature as
the outcome of Divine intelligence, questions of time and mode,
of generality and particularity, are well nigh devoid of real
significance.
But what may be contended for, and what is probably meant,
is that natural selection is a rival hypothesis to design, that it
accounts for all adaptaticns in the organic world upon known
pbysical principles, and so renders the idea of design superfluous,
as some would say ; or, as it is better stated by Dr. Romanes,
renders the evidence of design from these adaptations of no
other or better value than that from anything else in Nature.
So that the argument from teleology ‘‘ must now take its stand
upon the broader basis of the order of nature as a whole.” This
last, sensible natural theologians are prepared for. But the
whole is made up of parts; and it is a whole in which the de-
signed (if such there be) and the contingent can never be accu-
rately discriminated, in which, indeed, from the very nature of
the case, limitation is inconceivable. This need not be wondered
at, since we are equally unable to discriminate the two in human
292
action. The evidence of design may be irresistible in cases
where we cannot indicate its limits, We can only infer with
greater or less probability, according to circumstances, and espe-
cially according to relation to ends. Better evidence than that
of exquisite adaptation of means to ends is seldom, if ever,
obtainable of human intention, and in the nature of the case it
is the only kind of evidence which is scientifically available in
regard to superhuman intention. Now if means and ends are
predicable of inorganic nature at all, it is only by remote and
indirect implication; while in organic nature the inference is
direct and unavoidable. With what propriety, then, can it be
affirmed that organic nature furnishes no other and no better
evidence of underlyiug intelligence than inorganic nature? The
evidence is certainly o//er, and to our thinking defter,
To make the contrary supposition tenable, it must be shown
that natural. seiection scientifically accounts for the adaptation ;
that the survival of only the very best adapted, out of the brood
of more or less adapted to the environment at the time,
gives sufficient scientific explanation of the adaptability or |
actua] adaptation of the organism. Certainly this has not yet
been done, and it seems incredible that it ever will be. That
organisms have undergone changes as the Darwinian theory
predicates, and that these changes have been picked out and led }
on by natural selection, seems to me most probable. That the
action of the environment in some wholly unexplained way
induces organisms to movement and change which would not
otherwise occur, is also probable; but such change appears to
be a response of the organisms to the physical surroundings and
stimuli. And thismost important factor in the result receives
no explanation from the natural selection which operates upon it
or co-operates with it, In other words, real causes have been
assigned under which, g?ven the requisite changes, the actual
diversity and adaptations of plants and animals must or may have
come to pass. But none have been assigned under which the
organisms zwst have responded in the ways they do, or have |
responded at all, to the influences of the environment. Yet this
is the very gist of the matter. The whole tenor of Darwin’s
writings and many explicit statements assure us that he com-
pletely recognised this distinction, which less exact minds over- |
look. If this distinction is valid, then the conclusion is at least
premature which affirms ‘‘ that the arzument from teleology has
been dislodged by the theory of natural selection,” and its special
value, as derived from adaptations in organic nature, utterly and
for ever destroyed.” ASA GRAY
Cambridge, U.S.
Intelligence in Animals
Mr. RoMANES remarks in his book that there are few re-
corded instances of intelligence in bears ; the following facts
may therefore be worth recording :—In the Clifton Zoological
Gardens there are two female Polar bears between two and a
half and three years old, which came here quite young. One
of these shows remarkable intelligence in cracking. cocoa-nuts.
A nut was thrown to-day into the tank ; it sank a long way, and
the bear waited quietly ull after some time it rose a little out of
her reach. She then made acurrent in the water with her paw,
and thus brought it within reach. This habit has already been
several times noticed in Polar bears. She then took it on shore,
and tried to break it by leaning her weight on it with one paw.
Failing in this, she took the nut between her fore-paws, raised
herself on her hind-legs to her full height, and turew the nut
forwards against the bars of the den, three or four feet off. She
then again leant her weight on it, hoping she had cracked it; but
failed again. She then repeated the process, this time success-
fully. The keeper told me she employed the same method to
break the leg-bone of a horse. That this is the result of indi-
vidual experience, and not of instinct, is clear from the fact that
her companion has not learnt the trick of opening them thus, nor
could this one do it when she first came. The method of throw-
ing 1s precisely similar to that adopted by the Cebus monkey
described by Mr. Romanes. J. G. GRENFELL
Clifton College, Clifton, Bristol, January 15
Ona Relation existing between the Latent Heats, Specific
Heats, and Relative Volumes of Volatile Bodies
As I do not find that the following relation between the latent
heat of evaporation, the expansion undergone in changing into
the gaseous state, and the specific heat of a volatile body has
NATURE
}
[ Fan. 25, 1883
been previously pointed out ; and as, if verified, it might be of
some value in the determination of one or other of the akove
quantities I submit it, not however without considerable diffi-
dence, to the readers of NATURE.
Briefly stated the relation stands thus—
The latent heat of gasification at constant pressure of any body,
divided by the product of the relative volume of the gas and the
specific heat of the body is approximately constant ; or, if
A = latent heat of gasification of any body,
v = relative volume of the gas; 7.e. the vol. of the body on
assuming the gaseous state compared with its vol. as a
liquid,
5 = specific heat of the body. Then
= const.
Uxs
The calculated value of this constant approximates to 0°8, as
will be seen in the following table.
The letters A, v, and s, heading columns 2, 3, and 4, have the
same signification as above.
a. Uw Ss. us
uxs
Ethernes QUI 228 “515 ils
Carbon disulphide 86°67 414 "235 “890
Wood spirit re 2037; 651 645 628
Bromine nacghes” 145° 510 "107 “S41
Oil of turpentine 68°73 204 “410 837
Formic acid .. 169'0 548 536 “575
Ethyl acetate... 92°6 209 “527 ..2 GS4O
Methyl acetate... ... 110°2 321 "S07 0a SOR,
Butyric acid sno) LNA 67, 271 503 "841
Ethyl formate ELOsss 241 513 851
Amyl alcohol 5, NG) 268 587 “967
Acetone a etal) 339 *530 736
Alcohol . 208°0 456 “547 833
Benzene QI°47 282 "395 “821
Chloroform eee OO 318 232) Vnemoos
Perchloride of carbon. 47°0 263 ‘T98! ... 902
Phosphorus trichloride 51.42 3II "2001 eee OD
Methyl butyrate 87°33 273 "487, 014 HORT
Ethyl chloride ... 930 220 "427 679
Ethyl iodide . 46°87 317 “1G2) eee Ora!
Acetic acid Fa 4 Wes TODO 515 “S030. 305
Chloride of arsenic ... 46°5 324 "176 813
Tetrachloride of tin... 30°53 ... 237 148 *869
Water... con SEO ; 1OL2) -... 1'000) 333
It would appear then that the latent heat of a body may be
considered as approximately proportional to the expansion of the
body im vaporising and to its specific heat; and that the amount
of heat required to convert a unit mass of the body at the boiling
point from the liquid to the gaseous state, is equal to an amount
of heat which would raise through one degree a quantity of the
body in the liquid state which is approximately proportional to
the expansion undergone by the liquid on evaporating.
It will be noticed that among the bodies instanced in the table
there are some which appear to be very far indeed from accord-
ing with the relationship in question. Notably acetie acid and
water ; of these, however, water presents so many peculiarities
that perhaps it may be allowable to consider this as only adding
one more to their number. In the case of acetic acid it is note-
worthy that in plotting the curve of the latent heats of the group
of acids of which acetic acid is a member, Fayre and Silbermann
found an irregularity arising from this body. It is, at any rate,
possible that this irregularity may mean an error in the deter-
mination of the Jatent heat of this body.
Considering the difficulties which attend the accurate deter-
mination of latent heats, relative volumes, and specific heats
of the several bodies, and that, of course, an error in any one of
these will introduce inaccuracies into the constant, it may well
be supposed that some, at least, of the variations noticeable in
the results tabulated arise from inaccurate data. Further, there
are in many cases two or more distinct determinations of these
physical properties extant, of which one might be so selected
in each case as to reduce the variations occurring in the constant
to a minimum. F. TROUTON
Trinity College, Dublin
The Gresham Funds
IN an account of a meeting of the Common Council of the
City of London, held last week, I read in the Zimes that the
1 Varies with temperature of determination irregularly.
7,
>.
Fan. 25, 1883]
Gresham Committee reported that they had agreed with the
Mercers’ Company upon a scheme by which the open area of
the Royal Exchange should be roofed over at a cost of 10,000/.
Does this mean that the funds of the Gresham Estate are par-
ticularly flourishing just now, or that they are to be burdened
with a new liability which will indefinitely postpone the time
when there may be a surplus to be devoted to that advancement
of science which Sir Thomas Gresham had in view in forming
Gresham College? It is not long since some of the bonds, which
represent money borrowed on the Gresham Estate for the build-
ing of the Royal Exchange, were advertised for repayment out
of its surplus annual income, which afforded a hope that a good
time for the scientific part of Sir Thomas Gresham’s bequest
might be drawing nigh. The public would be glad to know
whether this hope is to be falsified or not. W. B.
January 20
Siwalik Carnivora
May I ask space to thank your correspondents for their answer
to my previous inquiries concerning collections of Siwalik fossils
in England, (many of which I have not yet had an opportunity
cf visiting,) and to add that I am now about undertaking the
description of Siwalik Carnivora for the Indian Government ? All
remains of this order are very scarce, and in general fragmentary,
and every specimen is, therefore, important. If any specimens
exist in any provincial collections, I should be very glad of any
information regarding them, and if possible of the opportunity
of describing them in my forthcoming memoir. Any specimens
sent to me, to the care of Dr. H. Woodward, F.R.S., British
Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W., will be
thankfully received, and duly returned after comparison and
description, if necessary. RICHARD LYDEKKER
The Lodge, Harpenden, Herts, January 17
Earthquakes
EARTHQUAKE phenomena are extremely rare in this highly
favoured part of the world; but we had a very decided shake
near the close of the year 1882. It occurred Jast night (Sunday,
December 31) at about five minutes past ten o’clock, Halifax
time, as nearly as can be determined at present. My observa-
tion was made at -Lucyfield, ten miles north from the city of
Walifax ; the house stands on a rounded hill formed of unaltered
drift, overlying slate rock, and at an elevation of about 350
feet above sea-level.
The air was perfectly still. There was a sudden rumble as of
heavy waggons on a hard road at some little distance, then the
sound became louder, I may say deafening, as of heavy loaded
waggons running close to the wall; or of a heavy railway train
cunning through a reverberating cutting ; then the noise seemed
overhead as if caused by rolling heavy furniture on the upper
floor ; there was a slight vibration of the building, as if some-
thing large and heavy had struck the roof, icicles fell from the
eaves, fragments of plaster fell down behind the lathing of
the walls, and there was a sound like a sudden gust of wind upon
the windows and walls outside (there was no wind however).
Suddenly noise and vibration ceased, and all was perfectly still.
Passing outside, to look for some cause for these remarkable
phenomena, nothing particular was noticeable. The country
was covered with a thick white mantle of snow, the air was per-
fectly calm, there had been no rain drops, nor hail, but a faint
flash of lightning (unaccompanied by thunder) occurred about a
minute and a half or two minutes after cessation of the shock.
For two or three days prior to the shock, the temperature did
not fluctuate much. The thermometer stood at zero centigrade
(32° F.) at sunset on the 31st and has not varied much since ; it
was within a degree of the same at sunset of the previous day,
but went downat night, rising again in the morning. During
the day (31st) the sky was clear with some light fleecy clouds,
wind northerly, but veered round to south-west about sunset, and
the sky became overcast with clouds ; later the clouds seemed to
clear away, but the air became foggy, and was so at the time of
the shock. (About Truro I am informed the sky was ‘‘clear
and starry.”) The air had been in a highly electric state during
the afternoon and evening.
The earthquake shock lasted, as nearly as I can compute from
recalling circumstances, something less than a minute, certainly
more than half a minute, but probably not more than a whole
one. I cannot indicate with any degree of certainty the direction
NATURE
293
of oscillation; so far as a retrospect of circumstances and
sensations indicate, the apparent movement was from south-west
to north-east.
Most persons in the city of Halifax to whom I have spoken
to day observed the shock more or less distinctly, but it does not
appear to have been nearly as violent in the city as in some other
places. I ascertained from the conductor of the morning railway
train that the shock was felt more or less severely all along the
journey traversed by his train this morning, viz. from Truro to
Halifax, a distance of sixty-one miles. At Shubenacadie, nearly
thirty miles from my point of observation, flower-pots in the
railway station house were toppled over on the window-sill
and rolled upon the floor,
I have jotted down these particulars, thinking they may possibly
prove of some interest if compared with the observations of
others at different points. GEORGE LAWSON
Dalhousie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, January 1
A SHOCK of earthquake was felt in this district on Tuesday,
January 16, about 5 p.m. Comparatively few persons perceived
it, but to those who did it was a striking phenomenon, The
following report has been handed to me by a trustworthy
observer :—
“About 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16, I was standing in a
room, leaning against the foot of an iron bedstead, and facing a
window, in front of which, on a table, was a cage containing one
of the small African parrakeets known as love birds. The room
was perfectly quiet, when this bird, which had settled itself for
the night, surprised me by craning out its neck and flattening its
plumage with every appearance of alarm, without any sound or
movement on my part, or anything in the room which could
possibly have frightened it. Immediately afterwards the iron
bedstead I was leaning against, as well as the floor, trembled
sufficiently to make me wonder what on earth was going on,
especially as I heard no sound sufficient to account for it. The
trembling ceased in a few seconds, and, while I was still won-
dering, returned in a greater degree than before, lasting this time
about five seconds. The feeling I experienced was similar to
that of standing on a bridge while a load was passing over. The
second time I speedily came to the conclusion that it was caused
by an earthquake.” GerorGE F. BURDER
Clifton, January 20
I sHALL feel obliged if you will put on record in your columns
that an earthquake was felt at Hastings by my sister and myself
in separate rooms, on Tuesday morning last, the 16th inst., at
g} minutes past 9 a.m. The undulatione were between E.S.E.
and W.N.W., and lasted about 4 seconds.
R. H. TIDDEMAN
H.M. Geological Survey, 28, Jermyn Street, S.W., Jan. 20
The Sea Serpent
BELIEVING it to be desirable that every well-authenticated
observation indicating the existence of large sea serpents should
be permanently regi-tered, I send you the following particulars.
About three p.m. on Sunday, September 3, 1882, a party of
gentlemen and ladies were standing at the northern extremity of
Llandudno pier, looking towards the open sea, when an unusual
object was observed in the water near to the Little Orme’s Head,
eS eee
———————
travelling rapidly westwards towards the Great Orme. It
appeared to be just outside the mouth of the bay, and would
therefore be about a mile distant from the observers. It was
watched for about two minutes, and in that interval it traversed
about half the width of the bay, and then suddenly disappeared.
The bay is two miles wide, and therefore the object, whatever it
was, must have travelled at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It
is estimated to have been fully as long as a large steamer, say
200 feet; the rapidity of its motion was particularly remarked as
| being greater than that of any ordinary vessel. The colour
294
NATURE
[ Fan. 25, 1883
appeared to be black, and the motion either corkscrew like or
snake-like, with v rtical undulations. Three of the observers
have since made sketches from memory, quite independently of
the impression left on their minds, and on comparing these
sketches, which slightly varied, they have agreed to sanction the
accompanying outline as representing as nearly as possible the
object which they saw. The party consisted of W. Barfoot,
J.P. of Leicester, F. J. Marlow, solicitor, of Manchester, Mrs.
Marlow, and several others. They discard the theories of birds
or porpoises as not accounting for this particular phenomenon.
F. T. Morr
Birstal Hill, Leicester, January 16
A Novel Experiment in Complementary Colours
THE old maxim of an adjacent gray in crder to give visibility
to a complementary colour seems to hold its ground. Mr.
Charles T. Whitmell puts it very clearly when he alludes to
“the advantage of a reduction of brightness to a level com-
parable with that of the existing colour.”’
Mr. Whitmell will find, I think, that this brightne-s may be
sill further reduced below the level of the existing colour. This
may be shown by one or two remarkable experiments with light
admitted through a small needle hole the one-fiftieth of an inch
in diameter, made through the bottom of a half ounce pill-box
painted inside with Jampblack. On placing a sheet of white
paper on the table at night in a room hghted with ordinary gas,
and looking through the small hole with one eye, Joth eyes being
open, he will see on the paper a disc of asbeautiful cobalt 4/ze colour,
evidently the complementary of the yellow light of the gas. On
examining the sky in the same way in the morning, there will be
seen, especially if the weather is dull and hazy, as it has been of
Jate, a disc of a primrose yellow colour, the complementary of
the blue sky, which, although invisible, is stil] making its im-
pression on the sensitive retina.
five and six o’clock, when the weather is murky, the disc has a
well-marked zk colour, the atmosphere being evidently tinged
with dark green. Thee several results I have witnessed from
day to day for the last fortnight, and they have been verified by |
others to whom I have shown them. But when the sky is very
blue and clear, there is seen, for obvious reasons, a blue disc
only.
In the above experiments there is the curious anomaly of
having one eye impressed with the exciling colour, the other
with its complementary. JOHN GORHAM
Bordyke Lodge, Tunbridge, January 20
The Projection of the Nasal Bones in Man and the Ape
In my letter in the Jast number of NATURE (p. 266) the walls
of the human nose were carelessly ascribed to the elevation of
the 7e-maxillary bones. This is not the case. It is only in the
ape and lower animals that the ascending processes of tke pre-
maxillary assist in forming the external nose-case, or muzzle,
above the nostrils. The frame-work of the rose in the lower
types of the negro seems, therefore, in this respect, to differ
more from the nose-case of the ape, than it does owing to any
great development of the nasal bones,
I take this opportunity to mention that the wocdcut of the |
embryo, which I referred to, appeared firt in Quaiu’s
““Anatomy.” Also, the quotation about the nasal bones of the
orang, I have since found trom my notes, to have been derived
from Prof. Mivart’s ‘‘ Man and the Ape.”’
January 22 J. PARK HARRISON
HOVERING OF BIRDS
(ails problem, to account for the phenomenon of the
motionless hovering of hawks and other birds in
mid-air, was the subject of correspondence in NATURE,
vol. vill. pp. 86, 324, 362; vol. ix. p. 5; vol. x. pp. 147,
262: vol. xi. p. 364. The only plausible explanation
advanced (by Joseph Le Conte, vol. ix. p. 5, and pre-
viously by the present writer, vol. viii. p. 362) was that
the birds take advantage of slant upward currents of
wind sufficiently strong to neutralise the force of gravity.
But the arguments brought forward in support of this
explanation were perhaps not quite conclusive, for lack
of a sufficient series of observations.
Later on in the day, between
During the past six years I have noted such instances
as I have chanced to witness in the course of a wandering
occupation, and now offer the results as a further contri-
bution towards the solution of the question.
I may state at once that in every case where I have
seen a bird hovering, the following three conditions have
obtained :—
(1) There was a fresh wind blowing.
(2) The bird was facing the wind.
(3) Beneath the bird there was a steep slope of ground
facing the wind.
The particular localities in which I have observed the
phenomenon are the following :—
(1) 1877, September 17.—Driving from Aberayron to
Llanrhystyd (Cardiganshire). Wind W.N.W., moderate.
Cliffs facing N.W. Gulls under cliff top, below road. in
poise. Hawk under hill top, above road, in perfect
oise.
i (2) 1877, October 13.—Approaching Llantrisant town
(Glamorganshire) from Llantrisant Junction. Wind S.W.,
moderate. Hawk over S.W. slope, barely poising, partly
fluttering, tail plainly brushed up.
(3) 1877, October 14.—Llantrisant (Glamorganshire).
Wind S.S.W. Rooks upborne, above S.S.W. slopes of
hill with entrenched fort (Caerau).
(4) 1877, October 20.—Cliff facing S. between Longland
and Caswell Bays, Gower (Glamorganshire). Gull and
crows upborne. Wind moderate, S.S.W.
(5) 1877, October 21.—Cefn Bryn, Gower (Glamorgan-
shire), facing S.S.W,, climbing from Reynoldston. Rooks
upborne. Wind strong, S. by W.
(6) 1879, October 17.—On road from Llantrisant to
Pontypridd (Glamorganshire). Wind W. Rooks up-
| borne over slopes facing W.
(7). October 28.—Killay, near Swansea (Glamorgin-
shire). Hawk poised above hill-side facing N.E., to the
west of Killay railway station. Wind N.E. I wasalmost
under the bird, and could see the conduct of wings and
tail suiting the ripples of wind. p
(8) 1879, November 5.—Near Merthyr Tydfil (Glamor-
ganshire). Hawk poised over N. slope of hill above (to
| S. of) tunnel on Merthyr-Abernant Railway. Wind N.
(9) 1880, March 13.—Near Penally (Pembrokeshire).
Sea-gulls, rooks, and jackdaws upborne and floating with
wings outstretched all along cliff line facing S., between
Penally and Lydstep. Wind S., full on cliff from the
sea. Gulls up to 200 feet above cliff edge. At greater
| height and inland, they were flapping. Different be-
haviour of rooks over inland northern slope.
Further on, over caves at north end of Lydstep Sands,
hawk poised for 1 min. and 1} min. at a time, just over
cliff line, in teeth of wind off sea. ‘
(10) 1880, March 17.—Near Cardiff (Glamorganshire).
Hawk poised about Io or 12 feet above railway embank-
ment facing E.N.E. (20 or 25 feet high) of Llandaff and
| Penarth line, near Ely Station. Wind E.
(11) 1880, March 27.—Gulls uplifted over E. scarp of
Beachy Head Down (Sussex). Wind E.N.E.
(Same day)—Over N.E. slope of Lighthouse Down.
| Bevy of eight gulls, all in perfect poise, immediately over
edge of cliff.
(1z) 1880, August 8.—Wells next-the-sea (Norfolk).
Wind N.W. Hawks poising over W. slope of sea-wall,
and over N.W. slope of sand-hills (projecting from the
main line of dunes that runs east and west), and trying
unsuccessfully over railway embankment which runs
N.W. and S.E.
In several of the instances here recorded I was near
enough to see that the bird was delicately adapting the
| slope and spread of its wings to the momentarily varying
inclination and force of the wind. Among the sand-
| hillocks near Wells, on the Norfolk coast, I succeeded in
approaching, under cover of ridges and long grass, with-
| in about ten yards of a hovering hawk, and saw the
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE
205
posture of the bird very well for a few seconds, till he
became aware of my presence and dashed away. I was
much struck by those instances in which the obstacle that
caused the upward slant of the wind was only a sea-wall
or a railway embankment, and especially by the critical
case (No 12) where the bird was evidently baffled because
the wind lay along the embankment, not against it, and
therefore gave no upward current.
My list includes four cases (3, 4, 5, 6) of rooks and
gulls ““up-borne’’ on outspread wings, under conditions
similar to those present in hovering—cases that could not
be explained by any theory of wzs vzva, but clearly in-
volved an external mechanical force, which could only be
that of the wind, sustaining and uplifting the birds. The
close relation between the “up-borne” and the “ hover-
ing” action was evident in case (9) where the gulls, &c.,
were up-borne and sailing, while the hawk was poised
and motionless.
These observations, as far as they go, appear to indi-
cate plainly the law which governs the phenomenon in
question. I think they strongly confirm the theory
already advanced, that the bird in hovering is upheld by
a slant upward current of air. A strong wind pressing
against a slope of ground is necessarily thrown into a
slant upward current, ‘‘as slopes a wild brook o’er a
hidden stone.” There may be a downward eddy if the
slope is precipitous, as one may often feel at the foot of a
high wall, but the main stream of the air for some con-
siderable height above the slope is forced to take an up-
ward slant, with increased velocity, in order to surmount
the obstacle in its path.
Given such a slant upward current, it is easy to see
A G
that a bird, with the exquisite muscular sense that every
act of flight demands and denotes, might so adapt the
balance of its body and the slope of its wing-surface to
the wind as to remain motionless in relation to the earth.
The slope of the wing-surface should divide the angle
between the horizontal and the direction of the slant
wind-current in such proportion that, if the air were at
rest, the bird, under the action of gravity, would float for-
wards, downwards, on outspread wings, with exactly the
same velocity as that of the wind (in which it remains
motionless) and in exactly the opposite direction. The
mechanical conditions are identical in the two cases,
whether we consider the air at rest and the bird floating
through it, or the bird at rest and the wind rushing under
it. In either case the bird has reached, and maintains,
its maximum velocity, due to gravity, compatible with the
resistance of the air, which resistance is the same in both
cases.
I have heard it objected that the mechanical conditions
are not the same in these two cases, because in the one
case the bird has momentum, in the other not. Need it
be said that momentum is a purely relative possession,
just as velocity is? In each case the bird has the same
velocity, and therefore the same momentum, relative to
the air. The mechanics of the situation, as between bird
and air, are not affected by the possession or loss of
velocity (and with it momentum) relative to the earth.
Perhaps the feasibility of the thing may be best shown
by a simple diagram. Let AB represent the slope of the
bird’s wing (viewed from the right side), dividing the
angle between the horizontal, ac, and the direction of
the wind, DA. Draw BD at right angles to AB, and take
AD to represent the force of the wind. Then DB and
B A will represent the force of the wind resolved perpen-
dicular and parallel to the slope of the wing AB. The
resolved part, BA, meeting only the resistance of the
bird’s head and shoulders and front edge of the wings,
tends not strongly to push the bird in the direction, BA,
that is, backwards and a little upwards. But the resolved
part, D B, which meets the full area of the outspread wings
and tail, tends powerfully to push the bird ia the direc-
tion D B, that is, upwards and a little forwards. Then all
that is required to keep the bird at rest is that the effect
of the forward force exerted by DB should balance the
effect of the backward force exerted by B A (both being
resolved vertically and horizontally), and that the great
upward force exerted by DB, together with the small up-
ward force exerted by BA should exactly neutralise the
downward force of gravity.
The only difficulty in the way of the slant-upward-
current theory lies in the statement of the Duke or Argyll
(NATURE, vol. x. p. 262) that “a hundred times’’ he has
seen birds hovering “when by no possibility could any
upward deflection of the wind have arisen from the con-
figuration of the ground.” My own observations testify
so consistently in favour of slant upward currents that I
feel justified in asking for more precise information con-
cerning the instances alluded to by the Duke of Argyll,
before relinquishing the theory which I hold. Wherever
I have seen a hawk trying to remain in one position over
a plain or slightly undulating ground, the feat has only
been accomplished by continued vibration of the wings.
The problem of the “soaring” of birds introduces
other conditions, which require separate consideration,
though I believe it will be found that the two phenomena
of ‘‘soaring” and “hovering”? depend upon essentially
similar causes.
(By the bye, does not the provincial name of one of the
hawks, the “‘ Windhover”’ record the constantly observed
dependence of the act of hovering on the wind ?)
HUBERT AIRY
THE LATE EDWARD B. TAWNEY
Y the death of this young naturalist English geology
has lost one of its most enthusiastic and cultivated
students. Hardly beyond the threshold of his career, he
had already gained for himself a notable place among the
geologists of this country, and his friends augured for him
a future of distinction and usefulness. But in the fulness
of his promise and in the midst of his work he has been
struck down so suddenly that few of his friends knew he
had been ailing until they were shocked and saddened by
the news of his death.
Born in 1841, he was the third child of the Rev.
Richard Tawney, Vicar of Willoughby, Warwickshire,
who had gained a distinguished place at Rugby, ana had
been a Fellow of Magdalen College. On the death of his
father, young Tawney was placed under the care of his
guardian, Dr. Bernard of Clifton, and received his early
education there. During these years he seems to have
acquired a bent towards natural science mainly through
the influence of Dr. Bernard and Dr. Fox of Brislington.
He was eventually enabled to gratify this inclination by
attending the courses of instruction at the Royal School
of Mines, Jermyn Street, from 1860-63, where he greatly
distinguished himself. He gained a Royal Scholarship,
Duke of Cornwall’s Scholarship, the De la Beche Medal
for Mining, and the Edward Forbes Medal for Natural
Science, and took Associate’s diplomas in the Mining and
Geological divisions. ‘
With the training in scientific methods thus obtained,
he soon betook himself to original research, gaining
experience by excursions at home and by travel abroad.
In 1872 he accepted the offer of Assistant Curator of the
296
Bristol Museum. With characteristic energy he at once set
to work, re-tableting. re-arranging, and naming the geo-
logical collection, taking care to have gaps in the series
filled up, and making the museum really serviceable for
purposes of instruction. Six years later, in the early part
of 1878, he received the appointment of Assistant Curator
of the Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. He soon
made his mark there, as was acknowledged in the follow-
ing year by the bestowal upon him of the honorary M.A.
degree. His indefatigable industry and wide range of
acquirements so peculiarly fitted him for this position,
that his death must for some time to come be an almost
irreparable loss to the University.
Looking over his published papers one cannot but be
struck with his versatility. At one time we find him
discussing the Rhoetic beds of South Wales, at another
dealing with that vexed question of Alpine geology—the
position of Zerebratula diphya. From Devonian fossils
he passes to the description of new species of Oolitic
gasteropods, or to the Cretaceous Aporrhaide, or to
Paleozoic star-fishes. He could enter minutely into the
stratigraphy of the Isle of Wight Tertiary strata, and
with not less energy and clearness of insight described
the microscopic structure of the crystalline rocks of
Wales. Well versed in the Continental languages, he
kept himself abreast of the foreign progress of his
favourite science. Nor were his tastes wholly scientific.
He delighted in Piers Ploughman and the Niebelungen-
lied. What he might have done who may guess? That
with his feebleness of constitution he should have been
able to accomplish so much, shows how ardent was his
love of nature and how indomitable his spirit of inquiry.
His devotion to truth and abhorrence of everything
savouring of insincerity or sham led him to speak out
freely and uncompromisingly. But no one could mistake
the honesty of his purpose. A. G.
REMARKS ON AND OBSERVATIONS OF THE
METEORIC AURORAL PHENOMENON OF
NOVEMBER 17, 1882
{pee interesting meteoric phenomenon seen in England
during the aurora of November 17 last, has induced
me to endeavour to find the true path of that object.
Though I have spent much time in applying the method
given by Prof. E. Heis in his “ Periodischen Sternschnup-
pen,” I have got no farther than the point to which
Mr. H. D. Taylor has brought us, the observations
being in no way capable of combinating. In fact, when
seeking the lines of intersection, formed by the different
planes of the great circles, wherein the apparent path
was seen, with the mean horizon (say the plane of
a common map), these lines have but little tendency to
converge to the same point. Therefore the method of
Mr. Taylor seems tome the most convenient. When the
object has followed a straight line, all the places where it
was seen passing just before the moon, must lie in a plane
containing the true path and the moon. This plane
must cut the plane of the map in a straight line.
Now the four places where observers saw the meteor
before the moon’s disc are :—Woodbridge, near Ipswich,
Lincoln’s Inn Fields (London), Windsor, and Ramsbury,
near Hungerford, fulfilling, by no means, the above-men-
tioned condition. Nevertheless the most probable direc-
tion of this line seems to be that accepted by Mr. Taylor,
N.E. by E.-S.W. by W. (astronomical), because this is
the general direction of the lines of section, given by
the great circles, mentioned above. Here it is to be
remarked that when the meteor was seen from S.E.
to S.W. (as in the case at York), but at some height
(here 10°) above the horizon, the intersections of the
apparent path with the horizon may lie near E. and W.
(here, according to the observation of the meteor passing
6° below the moon, at 12° south of E.). We give here
NATURE
| Fan. 25, 1883
bearings as seen from the different places, taken directly
from the communications, or deduced indirectly from
them :—
Street (3° south of Leeds) S.E.-S.W.
Clifton (Bristol) od ice E. 18° N.-W. 18°S.
Greenwich... ... E.N.E.— (?)
Guildown (p. 149) E.-W. (nearly).
Bedford) wees S.E.-S.W.
Clevedon (p. 100) N. 70° E. (?)-S. 70° W.
Cambridges mye es E.-S.S.W.
York (H. D. Taylor) E, 12°S.-W. 12°N.
Woodbridge... ... E. 10° N.-W. 10° S.
Windsor 5 E.-W.
Coopers Hill pod Aes Stan ESN
IRamsbuty cc ay pate cee mere een
Lincoln’s Inn Fields E.-W.
Now we can add to these English observations! two
others made in the Netherlands.
1. Prof T. A. C. Oudemans gives in the Utrecht News-
paper (No. 318) the following (translated) description :—
“At 6h. 23m. (6h. 23m. Greenw. T.) a feather-like
appearance, resembling in the beginning a brilliant
comet, formed suddenly in the eastern part of the heavens,
the end being just before Aldebaran. Within two minutes
this feather had prolonged itself above Saturn, through
the Pegasus quadrate, and south of the three Eagle-
stars, the east or following end shortening, while the
other or preceding end advanced. . . . When this arch
had obtained the length of 90° (which lasted but a few
seconds) a separation was made in the middle of its
length, where the arch had a breadth of about 3°. This
separation had a length of about ro° and a breadth of 4°,
and was pointed at the ends. At 6h. 25m. this arch
disappeared wholly in the west.” Prof. Oudemans says
further that the great circle of the apparent path inter-
sected the equator at 110° and 290° of right ascension.
This gives me, combined with the position of Aldebaran,
a direction in the horizon of E. 20° N.-W. 20° S.
2. Mr. P. Zeeman observed the same phenomenon at
at Zonnemaire, near Zierikzee (51° 42’ lat. and 57’ W.
Amsterdam). He wrote me the foilowing on November
19 and 24 :—‘“‘ About 6h. 20m. (I saw) a magnificent,
splendid white arch, beginning a little north of east, and
prolonging itself to south-west, but in the meantime
shortening at the east end and disappearing in a very short
time.” Mr. Zeeman declares in his second letter that this
arch went through Aldebaran, and through a Pegasi.
This gives me a horizontal bearing of E. 20° N.-W. 20°
S., as the observations of Prof. Qudemans gives also.
Thus we find these two Dutch observations (unhappily
the sky in Groningen had just, at 6h. 1m. Greenw. T., got
cloudy, the aurora being very splendid before) supplement
and confirm the greater part of the English observations.
Only the phenomenon seems to have been of greater
apparent size, and therefore nearer to the observer. The
separation by an obscure streak seems not to have been
visible in England, perhaps from the change of its
relative position.
The conclusion to which we come after all, regretting
earnestly the want of French observations, is that we have
here probably a meteoric object, moving, according to the
calculations of Mr. H. D. Taylor (vol. xxvii. p. 140), with
great velocity through the upper strata of the atmosphere
and at the same time of auroral character, as the spectrum
observation of Mr. Rand Capron (vol. xxvii. p. 84), makes
out beyond any doubt. The separation and the feather-
like forms, observed at Utrecht, make it probable that it
was a mass of meteoric dust, passing through our atmo-
sphere like an accumulation of little shooting stars. In
this way the phenomenon of November 17 brings a confir-
mation of my own theory of aurora, proposed by me in
the “ Appendice alle Mémorie della Societa degli Spettro-
copisti Italiani,’’ 1878, vol. ii.,and received with sympathy
1 Will Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie be so kind as to tell us where we
can find the Swedish observation mentioned by him, vol. xxvii. p. 140?
Fan. 25, 1883 |
NATURE
2
97
by many of the German and Dutch astronomers; but as
it seems little known in England, though referred to
by Mr. Rand Capron on p. 64 of his beautiful work,
“Aurore.” In this theory most of the properties of
aurorz are deduced from cosmic dust entering into the
atmosphere of the earth. I take the liberty to direct
attention to the unexpected argument, that the brilliant
object of November 17, 1882, has brought forth in favour
of my “‘ Théorie Cosmique,” to which I had already the
opportunity to refer in this Journal in my article “On
Dust, Fogs, and Clouds” (vol. xxiii. p. 195).
Furthermore, I think that this object is not the only
example of such a phenomenon. On November 2, 1871,
there was seen in Groningen and several places of
Germany a strange, brilliant arch, striped parallel to its
well defined sides and changing its curve during its two
hours of existence. The beginning of the phenomenon
(of which I gave a description in the Dutch journal /szs)
was seen by a student, Mr. Gratama, like an elliptic
patch of light round the Pleiades. Dr. Vogel, who ob-
served the same arch at Bothkamp, determined its auroral
character by the spectrum, Otherwise it resembled
very much the bright spur of a gigantic meteor or fireball.
Also it disappeared slowly, beginning at the east end,
as the illustration shows. A faint aurora, with dark
segment, was visible in the north. The height of this
arch was calculated by me approximately at 127 kilo-
metres or 79 miles. I think that the only difference
between these two feather-like phenomena of November 2,
1871, and of November 17, 1882, consisted in the different
apparent velocity and in the greater mass of meteoric
dust, forming in the case of November 17, 1882, but a
short, and in that of November 2, 1871, a very long train
of incandescent matter. It must be remembered here
Auroral Arch, observed November
that the tails of great fireballs remain visible for half an
hour or more (see e.g. the article of Mr. Branfill, vol.
XXVil. p. 149). In NATURE, vol. xii. p. 330, is to be
found a description of similar arches, seen at Fremantle
in Australia by Mr. Lefroy, in presence of the moon,
which was obscured by one of them.
This leads us to a question, touched by Mr. Back-
house, NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 198, that of the halos seen
in Siberia (by Von Wrangel, I believe), when an auroral
beam was in front of the moon. I watched in vain if such
an event should perhaps occur November 17 last, but Mr.
Zeeman, whom I have cited above, seems to have been
so happy as to have seen a white and bright auroral
cloud floating over the moon’s disc at 5h. 47 (local time),
giving the common interference phenomena. It is un-
necessary to remark, that these phenomena can be
formed by all kinds of dust, formed of nearly equal
2,
1871, at Groningen (Netherlands),
| particles, and that they in no way require ice-par-
| ticles. On my inquiry why the observer could decide
that it was not a common cloud, be brought forward the
| following arguments :—(1) Its great brightness; (2) its
| transparency to the starlight; (3) its very great velocity,
| unusual in common clouds.
Returning to the meteoric phenomena, visible simul-
taneously with aurore, it seems that such phenomena
were seen during the marvellous aurora of January
7, 1831, described in Poggendorf7’s Annalen of the same
year. We read (p. 440) that Bergrath Senff, in Colberg,
at 6.30 o’clock, saw above the west horizon a bright
| yellow streak, rising upward with a common cloud-
| velocity, passing at 30° N. Zen. D., and forming an arch
| from W. to E,, beginning to disappear from the west end,
| almost at the same moment that it reached the east
| horizon. At p. 458 we see that Prof. Rudberg, at Upsala,
298
NATURE
[ Fan. 25, 1883
December 7, 1830, saw a very bright patch of double the
dimensions of the moon’s disc, moving with great velocity
behind the common auroral beams. Further, Prof.
Bischoff, in Burgbrohl (p. 461), observed, on the occasion
of the aurora of January 7, 1831, a moving cloud as bright
as the milky way, from E. to W., in five minutes. Prof.
Moll saw, in Utrecht a similar object, rising from N.E.,
through the Pleiades, to S.E. (S.W.?). Similar observa-
tions are to be found during the same aurora, p. 471 (one
advancing arch), p. 472 (four similar arches, and a dark
streak).
In several articles on the aurora of November 17,
1882, the height of aurorze is spoken of. Mr. W. M.
F. P.(p. 173) says that the strange object observed is
physically impossible to auroral nature, because of its
height of about 170 miles. It was already observed by Mr.
Backhouse that aurore are often observed at very great
heights. The same is also the case with shooting stars. I
take the liberty to refer once again to an article of mine
in this journal entitled ‘‘ The Height of the Aurora,” where
I refer to the beautiful determinations by Prof. Heis
and Dr. Flégel, published in the Zeztschrift der Oesterr.
Gesellsch. f. Meteor., vii. p. 73. The heights were found
from Io to 100 geogr. miles (46 to 461 Engl. miles). Dr.
Sophus Tromholt found, besides apparent low heights
of some aurore in Norway, the height of that of March
17, 1880, to be 17 geogr. miles (“ Wochenschrift redigirt,”
von Dr. H. J. K'ein, 1880, p. 172). Prof. Galle of Breslau
calculated by his method, described in the Zeztschr. /.
Met., vii. p. 73, and in the Astr. Nachrichten, Bd. 79,
No. 1882, 40 to 60 geogr. miles, and I found for the
great aurora of May 13, 1862, 59 geogr. miles.
H. J. H. GRONEMAN
Groningen (Netherlands), January 14
NOTES
THE Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers have
arranged for the delivery at the Institution of a series of six
lectures, on the Applications of Electricity, on the following
Thursday evenings, at 8 o’clock :—February 15—The Progress
of Telegraphy, by Mr. W. H. Preece, F.R.S., M.Inst. C.E.
March 1—Telephones, by Sir Frederick Bramwell, F.R.S.,
V.P.Inst., C.E. March 15—The Electrical Transmission and
Storage of Power, by Dr. C. William Siemens, F.R.S., M. Inst.
C.E. April 5—Some Points in Electric Lighting, by Dr. J.
Hopkinson, F.R.S., M.Inst. C.E. April 19—Electricity
applied to Explosive Purposes, by Prof. F. A. Abel, C.B.,
F.R.S., Hon. M.Inst. C.E. May 3—Electrical Units of
Measurement, by Sir W. Thomson, F.R.S., M.Inst. C.E. This
is an excellent step which the enterprising Institution has taken,
and we are sure will be productive of good both to science and
to engineering.
Mr. ERNEsT H. GLAIsHER, B.A., Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, has been appointed Curator of the British Guiana
Museum, George Town, Demerara.
Mr. W. H. Wuire, one of the Chief Constructors to the
Navy, has resigned his position to take up a managerial appoint-
ment in the firm of Sir Joseph Whitworth.
AN interesting boring through the chalk is now about to be
resumed at Southampton. At the last meeting of the | ritish Asso-
ciation a paper by Mr. T, W. Shore and Mr. E. Westlake on the
Artesian well on Southampton Common was read in the Geo-
logical Section. The Town Council has now accepted a tender
for continuing the boring which was abandoned in 1851, after a
depth of 1317 feet had been reached. The boring was then
passing through the lower chalk or chalk marl, and we believe
it is now intended to continue it to the Lower Greensand. The
well at the bottom of which the boring commences is 563 feet
deep, and this was reopened last week, after having been
closed for thirty-two years. Some observations on the tempe-
rature of the water were at once made by Mr. T. W. Shore and
Mr. J. Blount Thomas, of Southampton, for the Underground
Temperature Committee of the British Association. By means
of a heavy elongated sinking weight and a registering windlass, a
thermometer was passed down the bore shaft to a depth of 1210
feet, when it was stopped by chalk mud. An outer case which
was attached to the sinking we ght was much scratched in passing
through the Upper Chalk. A temperature of 71°°9 F. was
registered at the bottom, that of the outer air being 49° F.
Tue City of Neuchatel celebrated in the beginning of the
present month the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of its
Natural History Society. The leader among its founders, who
first met for the purpose on December 6, 1832, was Louis
Agassiz.
THE biennial Hunterian oration will be delivered on Wednes-
day, February 14, at three o’clock, by the President of the
College of Surgeons, Mr. Spencer Wells, in the theatre of that
institution. The biennial festival will be given in the library
the same evening, to which the president and vice-presidents
have, as usual, invited several distinguished visitors.
THE Pontifical Academy of the Nuovi Lincei have appointed
a Committee to take steps for the erection of a monument in
Rome to the late eminent astronomer, Father Secchi. The
monument will be of a meteorological character. The sculptor
Prinzi has already made a model which combines convenience for
arranging the meteorological apparatus with features recalling the
work of Father Secchi. The statue of the astronomer crowns
the monument, and among other emblematical figures will be
one of Meteorology holding in one hand a gigantic barometer,
which can be seen from a great distance, and another of Physics
holding up to view an equally large thermometer,
THE rumour that the fragments of the unfortunate Mr.
Powell’s balloon have been found in the Sierra del Pedroso,
in the far south of Spain, is too vague and incredible to deserve
much attention.
Av the meeting of the Essex Ficld Club, to be held on
Saturday evening next, January 27, the attention of the members
and the public generally will be directed to the Bill about to be
introduced into Parliament for the construction of a line of
railway from Chingford to High Beach. In January, 1881, the
Club, in conjunction with other Natural History Societies in and
around London, strongly protested against any portion of Epping
Forest being occupied by a Railway or other Company, to the
prejudice of the provisions of the Epping Forest Act, and cer-
tainly no sufficient arguments or expressions of public opinion
have since been brought forward in favour of the scheme. It is
believed that the proposed line is quite unnecessary, as no part
of the forest is more than two miles from a railway station, and
moreover a railway and its concomitants could not fail to destroy
the chief interest and charm of the district—its seclusion and
naturalness ; qualities of inestimable value so near a large city.
Tue following papers are set down for reading at the meetings
of the Socizty of Arts during the part of the Session after
Christmas :—At the Ordinary Meetings—W. K. Burton, The
Sanitary Inspection of Houses; General Rundall, The Suez
Canal ; Prof. Thorold Rogers, M.P., Ensilage in the United
States ; Sir Frederick Bramwell, F.R.S., Some Points in the
Practice of the American Patent Office; J. H. Evans, The
Modern Lathe ; A. J. Hipkins, The History of the Pianoforte ;
Prof. George Forbes, The Electrical Transmission of Power ;
Fan. 25, 1883 |
D. Pidgeon, Recent Improvements in Agricultural Machinery 5
Wilfred Cripps, F.S.A., English and Foreign Silver Werk, with
some Remarks on Hall-marking. In the Foreign and Colonial
Section—Edmond O'Donovan, Life among ithe Turkoman
Nomads ; Rev. J. Peill, ‘‘Social Conditions and Prospects in
Madagascar ; Robert W. Felkin, Egypt: Present and to Come;
W. Delisle Hay, Social and Commercial Aspects of New
Zealand. In the Applied Chemistry and Physics Section—
C. F. Cross, F.C.S., Technical Aspects of Lignification ; Walter
G. McMillan, F.C.S., Chemical Means for Preventing or Ex-
tinguishing Fires; W. N. Hartley, F.R.S.E., Self-purification
of River Waters; R. W. Atkinson, B.Sc., The Formation of
Diastase from Grain by Moulds ; James J. Dobbie, D.Sc., and
John Hutchinson, On the Application of Electrolysis to Bleach-
ing and Printing. In the Indian Section—Charles H. Lepper,
Overland Commercial Communication between India and China,
vid Assam; W. S. Seton-Karr, Agriculture in Lower Bengal,
with some Notice of Tenant Right, &c.; J. M. Maclean, Private
Enterprise in India; C. Purdon Clarke, Some Notes on the
Domestic Architecture of India.
WE have received from Egypt a publication of :ome interest
in the shape of the Axd/etim of the Chemical I aboratory at
Cairo, directed by M. Altert Ismalun. The laboratory is under
the Department of Public Works, and judging from the report
in the Bulletin is doing a fair amount of useful work. The
laboratory has been recently much improved, and attached is a
museum of specimens in geology, palzontolozy, and zoology.
A CONSIDERABLE number of names has been added to the
list of those who are unfavourable to the meeting of the British
Association in Canada in 1884. The request of the protesters
to the Council seems to us quite reasonable, —‘‘ that it is highly
de-irable that you should take some further steps in order to
ascertain the general feeling of the members of the Association
upon the subject, before allowing our kind and liberal friends
in Canada to incur any further trouble or expense.” There are
I4I names appended to the circular, and while some of them
are well known, still we note the absence of some of the leading
representatives of English science.
THE proceedings at the meeting of the Association for the
Improvement of Geometrical Teaching were not carried out
quite on the lines laid down in a recent number of NATURE
(vol. xxvii. p. 247). In consequence of a delay in the delivery
of the copies of ‘‘the Elements of Plane Geometry,” the Presi-
dent was oblized to defer the movi-g of his resolution till the
next meeting, which, it is hoped, will be held about Easter next.
The members were also informed that Mr. Levett had, in answer
to an appeal made to him, consented to retain office as Hon.
Secretary for the present year. Mr. E. B. Sargant, Trinity
College, Cambridge, was elected to act as joint secretary with
Mr. Levett. The following members were elected: Miss
Burstall, Professors G. C. Foster, F.R.S., W. H. H. Hudson,
H. Lamb, and G. M. Minchin, Rev. A. Jamson Smith, and
Messrs. G. Griffith, E. B. Sargant, Charles Smith, F, Turner,
and H, H. ‘Turner.
Dr. PEVERATI, director of the Meteorological Observatory
of Cassine, states that an earthquake shock was felt there on
January 16, at 7.42 a.m. (Roman time). The shock was undu-
lating, preceded by a rumbling noise in the direc'ion W.E., and
lasted three-quarters of a second. The accompanying noise
is compared to that of a very heavy body in motion in contact
with another body at rest. The shock is classified as No. 3 in
the scale of intensity proposed by Dr, Forel, A similar shock
was felt the same day at Demonte (Cuneo) at 5.25 a.m., moving
in a west-south direction. On the night of the 14-15th,
several shocks were felt at Terranova and Pollino in Basilicata.
NALORE
299
Twenty-two shocks of earthquake were felt on January 16,
at Centi, in the province of Murcia, Spain. Several houses
were destroyed, but the inmates escaped unhurt. There was no
loss of life.
Ir is announced from Mexico, January 23, that a new comet
near Jupiter has been discovered at the Puebla Observatory.
A NEW electrical paper E/ectricity, has issued its first number
at Buda-Pesth. It is written in the Magyar language. The first
paper of this description ever published was called Les
Archives del’ Electricité, and was published by M. de la Rive at
Geneva in 1840, and the first issued in England was edited by
the late Mr. Walker in 1843, under the title, Zvectrical Maga-
zine. None of these papers lasted for more than three or four
years.
THE Algerian Government is preparing an expedition for next
spring, in order to protect effectually the southern patt of the
province of Oran against incursions of the surrounding indepen-
dent tribes. The results of this expedition are not without
interest for English journals, many of which are printed on
paper made from alfa, a plant cultivated in those remote regions,
and manufactured in England. A curious fact is, that no
French paper-maker ever attempts to manufacture alfa for
inland consumption,
THE oases of the Beni-mzab Confederacy to the south
of Algeria, have been annexed to the French Algerian posses-
sions, and a military expedition has established a regular
administration in the country. The Algerian section of the
French Alpine Club is organising a scientific expedition which
will leave shor.ly in order to take advantage of a favourable
season for travelling. | Any one wi-hing to take part in this
excursion should communicate with M. Durando, president of
the Algerian section. The newly-annexed oases are seve in
number, with a population estimated at 40,000, with about
200,000 palm-trees under cultivation. The ruins of several
large towns have been covered by sand.
Two of the most important scientific expeditions which
attempted to get into the Siberian seas last year were those in the
Dijmphna, with Lieut. Hovgaard bent on reaching the North
Pole, and the Dutch Meteorological Expedition in the Varna,
bound for Port Dickson. These two vessels succeeded in
forcing the ice in the Waigatz Straits in September last, and
perhaps the Dijmphna would then have got through the Kara
Sea, had she not, by mistaking certain signals, been led to leave
the open ‘“‘lead” in which she was, and gone to the assistance of
the steamer Zcwise, beset by the ice. She was caught in the
pack, as the ara had previously been, and was frozen in on Sep-
tember 17. ‘The last report which we possess from these vessels,
is dated September 22, and was brought to Europe by Capt.
Dallmann of the Zowise. Since that date no news whatever has
come to hand from the vessels, and the statements which have
appeared in the Rus-ian press relating to the discovery by
Samoyedes of a wreck, supposed to have been that of the
Dijmphna, south of Waigatz Island, have been proved to refer
to an old Russian whaler, stranded there some years ago.
Although the expedition, if it had met with any mishap, would
undoubtedly have found its way to the mouth of the Petchora,
of which we should have had information before now, it has
been decided by the Danish Government to send out a search
expedition, under Capt. Norman, from Siberia, in case the
Dijmphna should be in want of anything. On the other hand
the Swedish-Norwegian Consul at Arkangelsk reports under
date of December 13, that fishermen who had visited
Waigatz Island in November last, had not seen any vessel near
that island. In the last message received from Lieut. Hovgiard
he expres-ed the opinion that the ice in the Kira Sea w vuld
300
NATURE
4
| Fan. 25, 1883
break up during the periodical storms in September and October,
and enable him to reach Port Dickson, where he intended to
winter. If to this is added the statements made by Mr, Leigh
Smith and Sir Henry Gore Booth, as to open water north and
east of Novaya Zemlya during the summer, it is not improbable
that the Dijmpina has got free in October, and safely reached
Port Dickson, or, perhaps, even Port Aktinia on the Taimur
Island. Should this be the case, Lieut. Hovgaard has, no
doubt, despatched a messenger to the nearest habitation, viz. Golto-
chicha, and thence by express to Jeniceisk, and we may there-
fore look forward to reassuring news from the gallant Danish
explorer at the end of January or early in February.
THE results of a fourth years’ observations of periodic move-
ments of the ground as indicated by spirit levels at Secheron, are
given by M. Ph, Plantamour in the Archives des Sciences of
December 15. The curves obtained from the east-west spirit
level, for the four years, are sirikingly similar in the manner
(pretty regular generally) in which they follow the thermal oscil-
lations of the air. Different years show a notable difference in
the epoch of maximum descent of the east side relatively to the
minimum of mean temperature, and maximum rise of the same
side relatively to the maximum of temperature. One is led to
consider the maximum and minimum of temperature rather as
accidents as regards the epoch at which they occur, and to attri-
bute a preponderant influence to the distribution of mean tempe-
ratures during the four months November-February, and the
four June-September. Probably, too, the degree of moisture
influences largely the rapidity with which the deeper ground
layers are affected by exterior temperature. The curve for the
north-south level is also very similar to the previous ones ; but
has this peculiarity, that while the south side follows, in general,
from October i to the end of September, the oscillations of
external temperature (descending in winter and rising in summer)
the intermediate variations of temperature have an inverse
effect. The cause is at present unknowh. Col. van Orff’,
observations at Bogenhausen reveal oscillations of the ground
similar to those at Secheron, only with greater amplitude south-
north, and less east-west. M. Plantamour regrets that, excepting
Col. van Orff and M. d’Abbadie, no one, so far as he knows,
has undertaken observations of the kind at any other station.
They are easily made, and should yield important results.
NEARLY thirty years ago, Poggendorff described a ‘‘ fall-
machine” of his invention, Its merits, according to Herr Bauer,
who spoke warmly in commendation of it at a recent meeting of
philologists and schoolmasters in Karlsruhe (Wed, Ann., No.
13), appear to have been somewhat overlooked. Few physical
cabinets have it, and the only text-book in which Herr Bauer
has found it described is that of Reis. We may state that the
two pulleys over which the cord runs are at the middle and one
end of a balance beam, a weight being hung from the other end
(with which, and a running weight, the beam can be rendered
horizontal). The machine is supplied by Herr Karl Sickler in
Karlsruhe.
THE Nation states that from Mr. Agassiz’s annual report on
the condition of the Museum of Comparative Zoology it learns
that it is his intention, in connection with Prof. Faxon and Dr.
Mark, to issue in the Museum Memoirs a *‘ Selection from Em-
bryological Monographs,” containing quarto illustrations derived
from innumerable scientific transactions and periodicals, and
serving as an atlas for any text-book on embryology. By the
purchase of the large Schary collection of Bohemian Silurian
fossils, and by its own rich amassing in the West and South-west
during the year, the museum now contains one of the finest col-
lections of palzeozoic fos-il invertebrates in existence. Mr. Samuel
Garman, whose explorations for mammalian remains in the
Western Territories were very successful, was led to believe from |
the mode of their accumulation that the cause of extinction of
the more recent was ‘‘a very severe winter, much more extensive
and severe” than the occasional blizzards of our time. ‘‘As if
from freezing, the shafts of the larger bones are generally
splintered.”
WE have received the Annuaires of the Bureau des Longi-
tudes and of Montsouris Observatory, both of them abounding
with useful information on many subjects. Gauthier-Villars is
the publisher.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include two Macaque Monkeys (A/acacus cyno-
molgus 6 6) from India, presented by Mr. J. Steel; a Black-
footed Penguin (.Sphenisces demersus) from South Africa, pre-
sented by Mr. John Wormald ; a West Indian Rail (Avamides
cayennensis) from West Indies, presented by Mr. E. H. Blome-
field; an Orange-winged Dove (Leftofitla ochroptera) from
Brazil, presented by Mr. C. A. Craven, C.M.Z.S-.; a Long-
eared Owl (Asio otus), British), presented by Mr. — Dyer; a
Great Barbet (JZegalema virens), a Silky Starling (Sterns
sericeus), two Grey Thrushes (7urdus cards), twelve Red-sided
Tits (Parus varius) from Japan, a Crested Grebe (Podiceps cris-
tatus), four Razorbills (A/ca torda), a Red-throated Diver
(Colymbus septentrionalis), British, purchased.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
THE GREAT CoMET OF 1882.—The first determination of
elliptical elements of this comet by Mr. S. C. Chandler, of
Harvard Ob-ervatory, U.S., assigned a period of revolution
of about 4000 years. Later investigations have diminished this
period very considerably, though the length of revolution is
not determined within narrow limits. Prof. Frisby, of Wash-
ingto», employing observations on September 19, October 8,
and November 24, gives a period of 794 years, and finds a close
agreentent betWeen the position indicated by his orbit and the
Cape ante-perihelion observation of September 8. Dr. Kreutz,
of Berlin, using chiefly meridian observations or normal places
from September 8 to November 14, gives 843 years, and finds a
pretty close accordance with observation throughout this interval,
thus showing no very material perturbation at perihelion passage.
Further, Dr. Morrison, of Washington, founding his calculation
upon positions for September 19, October 8, and December 11,
finds a period of 6523 years. But while these later computations
favour a shorter revolution than was at first attributed to the
comet, there remains to be ascertained to what extent the
abnormal form of the nucleus since the end of September has
affected the observations, and hence the deduced elements of the
orbit, and a much more complete discussion of the observations
than has yet been attempted, when details respecting the point
of the comet observed are before us, may be required before
confidence can be placed in the result of any calculation. Primd
facie the elements assigned by Dr. Kreutz look satisfactory
enough,
In view of a possible period of seven or eight hundred years,
attention may be again directed to the comet of 1106, which
had several characteristics favourable to identity, though the
statement in several of the chronicles (chiefly English) that at the
latter part of its appearance it was seen between the north and east,
is not reconcilable therewith. Pingré, advocating the identity
of the comet of 1106 with the great comet of 1680 (in which he
followed Halley) rather questioned the authority of the Chroni-
con Alberict, Trium-fontium Monachi, that the tail extended
‘below the constellation Orion,” which might have been the
case if the comet were identical with either of the comets of
1843, 1880, or 1882; he remarked, the monk was ‘‘ ni contem-
porain, ni exact, ni judicieux.’”” This subject will deserve further
attention, and we may return to it shortly.
THE WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY, U.S.—The first volume
of ‘* Publications of the Washington Observatory of the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin” has just been issued by the director, Prof.
E. S. Holden, and augurs most favourably for the reputation of
this institution, which was founded within the last five years
through the liberality and scientific spirit of a private indi-
vidual, the Hon, C. C. Washburn. ‘The volume is especially
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE 301
valuable, from its containing a large number of measures of
double stars made by Mr. S. W. Burnham during his temporary
connection with the Observatory, from April 23 to September
30, 1881, The measures are contained in three catalogues : (1)
a list of sixty new double stars discovered in the zone observa-
_ tions, chiefly by Prof. Holden; (2) a list of eighty-eight new
double stars discovered and measured by Mr. Burnham ; and (3)
measures by the same eminent observer of 150 double stars from
his manuscript general catalogue. A number of difficult objects
are included in the third series. 8 Sextantis was not elongated
with the highest powers at the epoch 1881°34, nor did yy Coronz
show any sign of duplicity ; as Mr. Burnham remarks, “it has
been apparently single with all apertures since about 1871.”
Among the more difficult binary stars there are measures of
- 0.3. 235, & 3123, 42 Comex, = 2173, B Delphini, & Equulei,
and 85 Pegasi. There are also positions and descriptions
of eighty-four red stars, of which twenty-seven are stated
to be new, and a list of new nebulz and clusters discovered in
the zone-observations at the Washburn observatory.
The position of the observatory is in latitude 43° 4’ 36"°6 N.,
and longitude 89° 24’ 28’""3 west of Greenwich. Piof. Watson, of
Ann Arbor, Michigan, was first appointed to the superintendence,
but at his premature death in November, 1880, he had not been
able to commence astronomical observations. Prof. Holden
gives some account of the preparations he was making for
scientific activity, as the only way of associating his name with
the observatory,
CHEMICAL NOTES
HERR LELLMANN (Berichte, xv. 2835) describes an interesting
case of physzcal tsomerism. Dibenzyl-diamido dibromdiphenyl
melts at 195°; if the liquid so produced is quickly cooled, the
solid now melts at 99°, but on heating again solidifies at 125° to
130°, and melts a second time at 195°; if the substance melting
at 195° be slowly cooled and then again heated, the melting
point now observed is 195°.
BERTHELOT AND VIELLE (Comet. vend. xcy. 129) sum up
the results of their researches regarding explosive waves. The
propagation of an explosive wave occurs when the ignited
stratum of gas exerts the maximum pressure on the adjacent
stratum; increase of pressure is accompanied by increased
velocity of propagation. To produce an explosive wave it is
necessary that a considerable mass of gas should be employed
and that the cooling by radiation and conduction should not be
great; if the temperature fall below 1700°-2000°, or if the
volume of the products of combustion is less than one-fourth, or
in some cases one-third of the total volume of the final mixture,
the propagation of the wave ceases.
ACCORDING to the experiments of M. Corne (¥. Pharm.
Chim., [5] vi. 17) the glowing of phosphorus is due to volatilisa-
tion of the phosphorus and subsequent production of ozone by
electrical energy generated by the volatilisation of the phos-
phorus. Phosphorus does not glow in pure oxygen at high
pressures because, says M. Come, volatilisation is impeded and
at a certain limit becomes too slow to ozonise the oxygen.
Gases which hinder the formation of ozone also prevent
phosphorescence.
BAEYER (Berichte, xy. 2856) has obtained nearly pure
indigo blue by acting on a solution in acetone of ortho-nitro-
benzaldehyde. Acetone and nitrobenzaldebyde react to form a
condensation product, C,;)H,,NO,, from which alkali withdraws
te elements of acetic acid with production of indigo-blue,
thus—
2C,,H,,NO,+2H,0=C,,H,)N,0, + 2C,H,O, + 4H,O.
J. Horsaczewski (Berichte, xv. 2678) has obtained uric
acid by heating together glycocoll and urea to 200°-230” ; details
of the reaction are promised.
THE working of the Food Adulteration Act for the year 1881
is considered in a Report of the Local Government Board lately
issued in a Blue Book, and published in 7%e Analyst (vii. 218).
The total number of districts in which analysts were acting at
the close of December 1881, was 260 ; during the year 17,823
samples were analysed, of which 2613, equal to 14°7 per cent.
were reported as adulterated; in 1877, 14,706 samples were
analysed, and 19°2 per cent. reported as adulterated. More
than a third of the samples analysed, and more than a half
of those reported against, were of milk, Birmingham still
‘‘maintains the distinction which it has for some years
enjoyed, of having a larger proportion of its milk reported
as adulterated than any other great town in the kingdom,”
The adulteration of bread and of butter seems to be steadily
on the decrease; in coffee the proportion of adulteration is
rather less than last year; chicory is still the commonly used
adulterant. The adulteration of sugar is practically a thing of
the past. More than one-fourth of all the samples of spirits
examined were reported as adulterated, chiefly with water: a
good deal of gin is sold containing not much more than 20 per
cent. of alcohol.
PROF. HOFMANN describes in the Berichte (xv. 2656) a number
of interesting lecture experiments. To determine that no loss of
matter occurs during combustion, he employs a two-litre flask
fitted with a cork carrying a small manometer, a glass tube with
stopcock, and a straight piece of rather wide tubing to the
under-end of which a small porcelain crucible is attached. The
wide tube is closed by a cork, about half a gram of dry phos-
phorus is placed in the little crucible, a portion of the air in the
flask is pumped out, and the flask—and also a little bit of stout
copper wire—is counterpoised ; the little bit of copper wire is
heated and dropped down the wide tube, from which the cork is
withdrawn for a moment; the phosphorus is thus ignited ; after
the combustion, which proceeds slowly, is completed, the flask
is found to weigh the same as before; the stopcock is now
opened, air rushes in, and the flask now weighs more thanit did
at the beginning of the experiment.
To illustrate the great difference between the volumes of equal
weights of liquid and gaseous water, Dr. Hofmann employs a
glass bulb of about 309 c.c. capacity, with a narrow glass tube
at each end, the upper tube being fitted with a stopcock. This
apparatus is supported so that the lower tube reaches to about
I centim, from the surface of the mercury ina basin; a rapid
current of steam is passed into the apparatus ; after five minutes
or so, when every trace of air is expelled, the stopcock is closed,
and at the same moment the lower tube is pushed beneath the
mercury, which at once begins to rise into the bulb; after a
little time the bulb is almost filled with mercury, on the surface
of which the condensed water appears as a thin layer.
VeERY simple apparatuses are also described for containing
considerable quantities of liquefied gases : e.g. SO, : for exhibit-
ing quantitatively the reactions on which the manufacture of
sulphuric acid is based; and for demonstrating the law of Dalong
and Petit. For descriptions of these, and for other experiments,
reference must be made to the original paper.
THE HYPOTHESIS OF ACCELERATED DE-
VELOPMENT BY PRIMOGENITURE, AND
ITS PLACE IN THE THEORY OF EVOLU-
TION * ie
‘THE problem before which we are here placed may be formu-
lated as follows :—How is it, that while the tendency to
vary which obtains in all organised beings, and which forms one
of the foundation stones of the theory of evolution, how is it that
this tendency has exerted upon a number of living beings a so
much less considerable influence than upon others, so that even
in the present day numerous representatives are found of the
most primitive animal groups which belong to the oldest known
in the geological succession ?
Still more, why are there certain genera which, since the
Silurian period, appear to have undergone a stagnation in their
development, in their advance towards higher differentiation,
whereas within a much shorter period the whole of the living
mammalian fauna has developed out of more primitive verte-
brates and the important modifications have taken place among
these mammalia which have finally led to the appearance of the
elephant on the one hand, and of the shrews on the other ?
In other words, can it be assumed that this tendency to vary
could be totally and persistently neutralised by other causes
amongst whole series of living beings during thousands of years,
whereas during the same number of years this tendency, aided
by natural selection, could lead other series of animals along
roads where they have advanced with gigantic strides ?
Ineed not remind you that this objection against the theory of
* By Prof. A. A. W. Hubrecht. Inaugural Address delivered in the
University of Utrecht. September, 1882. Continued from page 281.
302
evolution, which has also been felt and combated by Darwin,
was very often advanced against it, especially in the beginning.
Cuvier had already reminded Lamarck that the absolute identity
between the Egyptian animals, as they were embalmed three
thousand years ago, with those inhabiting the same provinces in
the present day, rendered untenable his ideas about gradual
change and perfection of organic beings.
Huxley, to whose close reasoning powers and untiring reedi-
ness for batile the rapid progress of evolution is in a great
measure due, has devoted several pages to the refutation of this
objection, His argument runsas follows ? :—
The two chief factors in the process of evolution are : the one
the tendency to vary, the existence of which in all living forms
may be proved by observation ; the: other, the influence of sur-
rounding conditions, both upon the parent form and upon the
variations which are evolved from it. Now, as often as the first
factor makes itself felt, and modified forms take their origin out
of a common parent form, it will depend entirely on the condi-
tions which give rise to the struggle for existence, whether the
variations which are produced shall survive and supplant the
parent, or whether the parent form shall survive and supplant
the variations. If the surrounding conditions are such that the
parent-form is more competent to deal with them and flourish in
them, than the derived forms, then, in the struggle for existence,
the parent-form wii] maintain itself, and the derived forms will be
exterminated. But if, on the contrary, the conditions are such as
to be more favourable to a derived than to a parent-form, the
parent-form will be extirpated, and the derived form will take
its place. In the first place there will be no progression, no
change of structure through any imaginable series of ages; in
the second place there will be modification and change of form.
So far Huxley. Ne doubt but he has made us acquainted
with a very reliable explanation of how the variation of any
form of animals or plants may be retarded. The hypothesis of
degeneration first formulated by Anton Dohrn, and afterwards
warmly advocated by Ray Lankester, is no doubt of considerable
importance for our comprehension of numerous lower stages of
organisation in the animal and vegetable world, which may no
longer be looked upon as parent-forms of more highly ifferen-
tiated groups, but which, on the contrary, have in their lineage |
much more complicated ancestors than their own stage of orga-
nisation would appear to show. At first sight these degenerated
animals show different points of similarity with animal forms,
lower than those to which they are genetically allied.
So, for example, the Tunicata have for a long time been
arranged amongst or close to the Mollusca, but lately-continued
researches have evermore tended towards the conclusion that we
have here before us the degenerate descendant of animals which
had already attained the level of the lowest Vertebrates, but
whose descendants, thanks to degeneration, have at present all
the appearance of Invertebrates. In this way the number of
lower avimal types which may be looked upon as_ primi-
tive, and whose persistence throuzh geological periods gives rise
to the questions as formulated above, is deceptively increased
by forms, which we must remove from ainongst them, and
place in the vicinity of their more direct allies.
The process of degeneration is, however, confined within
certain limits ; it cannot do the same service tewards the refuta-
tion of the objection here dealt with as can Huxley’s argumenta-
tion above referred to, which is fully directed against the cardinal
point, and the value of which I cannot estimate highly enough.
Still it appears to me that his explanation of the lengthened
persistence of so many of the lower organised animals and plants
can yet be supplemented by a new hypothesis.
To this I give the name of the hypothesis of accelerated de-
velopment hy primogeniture. If I have the advantage to lay it
before you to-day, you will bear in mind that it has as yet only
a preliminary shape, and that for its ultimate confirmation
extensive researches will yet be required.
The fact is daily confirmed by continuous observation, that not
only numerous vertebrates, but also very many invertebrates, can
attain a very old age without the capacity for reproduction being
essentially diminished. This is confirmed by the recently pub-
lished researches of Weissmann 2 on the connection between the
length of the reprcductive period and the duration of life. We
may fairly assume that all those animals attaining an old age
leave issue which has been born at different periods—issue from a
youthful age, which itself has again brought forth children and
* American Addresses, p.
2 A. Weissmann, “ Ueber die Dauer des Lebens,”’ 1881.
NATURE
[ Fan. 25, 1883
grandchildren, and issue from old age, which is on a level with
the fcurth or fifth generation of the first-born descendants. An
example of old age combined with successful attempts towards
reproduction is furnished by the well known sea-anemone,
““Granny,” which was captured in 1828 by Dalyell on the
Scotch coast, and being still alive, last year gave birth to a
certain number of young Actiniz.
The large Tridacnas and the gigantic Cephalopods which have
now and then been observed, must also have attained a consider-
able age ; nothing authorises us to maintain that these have been
infertile in all the later years of their lives. We need not stop
to consider the higher groups: fishes, birds, and mammalia.
They all contribute during a shorter or longer time towards the
procreation of the species, and the considerable age which both
fishes and birds are known to attain is the cause of a very
considerable difference in age of the oldest and the youngest
individuals of their own breeding. And so all of them will
leave both first-born and last-born posterity. With the first-born
this will in their tarn be the case, so with ¢he?v posterity, and so
forth. Similarly the Jast-born, when they have attained matu-
rity, will bring forth a series of descendants of very different ages ;
the last-born of the last-born being the final term of this series.
After centuries the effect will be this: From one pair of
parents a large number of descendants will have sprung, a small
number of these being the descendants in a direct line of the
first-born of every successive generation ; another small number
being the descendants in a direct Jine of the last-born of every
successive generalion, whereas the remainder belong to interme-
diate stages. The first-born are separated from the primitive
parent f rm by a number of generations, x, which is necessarily
a considerable multiple of the number of generations y, which
lies between the same parent form and their last-born descen-
dants. Evidently the difference in age between the first-born
descendant and his parents is a minimum, for the sole reason of
his being the firs -born, that between the last-born descendant
and these same parents being on :imilar grourds a maximum.
Thus, if we follow up in the direct line of descent the series of
first-born of the first born, &c., we find that the distance between
two terms of that series corresponds to a much smaller number of
years tha. the distance between two terms of the series of the
continually last-born, which have always descended from last-born.
Cempart ig these two series simultaneously after the lapse of
centuries, the series of the fir-t-born will count numerous terms,
many generations, at short distances from each other, whereas
the series of the last-born will,.on the contrary, consist of a much
smaller number of terms, each of which is separated from its pre-
decess r by a much more considerable distance. It is the num-
ber of these terms which in the one case I wished to express by
x, in the other by y.?
From this fact we are led to propose the following question :
Is there any reason to expect, that in the struggle for existence,
the representatives of each of the two divergent series are collec-
tively provided with different weapons? Or are both these
groups quite equal to each other in the struggle?
Eoth observation and theoretical deduction force the conclu-
sion upon us that a difference is indeed present. A difference,
(1) in the external circum: tances under which the first-born and
the Jast-born come into existence ; (2) in the internal properties
and acquirements with which both series are provided ; a differ-
ence which does not appear sporadically between certain repre-
sentatives of both groups, but which may indeed be collectively
observed between all of them.
As to the first point, the external circumstances, I call your
attention to the following example, which shows how nature
indeed makes a difference on a large scaie in the conditions—
under which she awaits the first-born and the last-born pro-
geniture.
* I am doubtful whether there are indeed first-born descendants in the
pure signification of the word, z#.e. such which, both from the paternal and
frc m the maternal side, count only first-born in the whole of their ancestry.
However, this does net materially influence our argument. We bring toge-
ther in the series of first-born all those descendants in which mixture and
intercrossing with second and third births was always reduced to a minimum,
whereas on the other hand, in the group of the last-born, not only those
cases which are theoretically pure are brought tcgether, but those in wh'ch the
number of ancestors on both sides most closely approaches to the number of
generations y, which lies between the last born 7x aé-tracto and the common
parent form. Inthe majority of cases, however, intercrossing and blending
will have occurred on a large scale, and the average number of generations
which leads from them to this parent form nay be expressed by * +7. The
calculus of probabidites wculd be able to furnish us in any given case, sup-
posing enough data are available, with the exact grouping of these numbers.
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE
393
From the observations which Livingston Stone has made in
1878 in the North American institutions for fish-culture on the
McCloud River, it follows that 14,000,000 eggs obtained from
ripe but relatively young and smaller salmon were without ex-
ception at least one third smaller than the millions of eggs
which were before obtained from older, larger salmon of the
same species, and that nevertheless they developed quite
normally. By these ob-ervations the fact is established that the
salmon, when older, lays larger eggs than at a more youthful
age, and this, more especially, is of great value for our hypo-
thesis. Firstly, the size of the egg must influence the chances
which they have for escaping or falling a prey to different
voracious animals, In this respect the smaller eggs are exposed
to other dangers than the larger ones. Furthermore, the relative
size of the egg will, without doubt, exert a certain influence—
however insignificant—upon the individual which is developed
out of it.
In comparison with the larger egg of the older salmon, either the
food-yolk or the formative yolk in the smaller one will be of
smaller dimensions, or both together will have been reduced in
size. In each of these three cases, even in the last-named, the
conditions under which the smaller egg (that is to say, the whole
generation of the first-born) attains its development, differ from
those of the generation issued from the larger egys, the genera-
tion of the last-born. The first-born will either be of smaller
size, or because they possess a smaller food-yolk they will have
to provide their own nourishment at an earlier date; or both
circamstances are combined.
Nobody will deny that in each of these cases natural se-
lection can freely come into play. In addition to this it must be
remarked that however insignificant this difference in external cir-
cumstances may be its presence is nevertheless undeniable, since
it reappears again with unerring certainty in every successive
generation. In this way the effect can gradually accumulate,
and finally the path may have been entered upon which leads to
a specific differentiation of the descendants of the first and of tke
last born.
This having taught us that indeed the external circumstances
which preside at the birth and at the growth of the first and the
last born are different (at least for this species of salmon, reliable
observations on a similar scaiz concerning other animals being
for the present wanting), I must now call your attention to the
second cardinal point, viz., that the internal properties and
acquirements with which each of the two series of births is pro-
vided, are also different. Heredity has indeed invested them
with peculiarities, part of which show themselves in their
organisation, another part remaining latent, and only attaining
development in following generations. Such a latent potential
tendency towards eventual modification of the individual or his
progeny, must needs find more numerous occasions to unfold
itselr in the first born, simply because these are possessed of a
larger number of ancestors. On the contrary those that have a
smaller number of ancestors, z.e. the last born, have had this
occasion for development offered to them at rarer intervals.
From this it follows that further modifications under the influ-
ence of natural selection will be started by preference in the
different series of first born, because ceteris paribus, there are
here more chances for the appearance of small deviations, which
toa certain extent are always due to reversion to the parent
forms.
And so there is reason to suppose that also the internal
properties of the series of first born «iffer from those of the last
born, in the same way as we have just defined it for external
agencies. In my opinion the difference in internal structure is
of greater consequeuce than that in external agencies, although
we must at the same time acknowledge that our present methods
do not allow us to test this experimentally. Only by extensive
and long-continued experiments more light will be thrown on
this subject. The example which was mentioned of the seventy-
years-old sea anemone, which reproduced itself successfully
proves that the material for similar experiments is not deficient.
In the vegetable kingdom forms will certainly be hit upon which
will fully reward the difficulties of the experiment.
Once a new species, modified and generally higher-differ-
entiated, having arisen out of the first-born by gradual accumu-
lation of the small deviations, intercrossing and _bastardising
with the last-born descendants of the parent form, becomes rarer,
copulation taking place by preference with specimens of the
same species, and only exceptionally with representatives of the
species which has lazged behind in its development. For this
new species the same process sets in; here, too, the first
born progeniture will surpass in the course of years the
last-born, and will in its turn give rise to new modifications.
And so ad infinitum.
We now come t» another important point, which is in direct
connection with the question, which are the last-, which the
first-born. With most lower animals—Protozoa, Ccelenterata,
Echinoderms, Worms—reproduction by fission is very common
by the side of reproduction. Cut arms of starfishes grow to be
complete starfishes after having passed the so-called ‘‘ comet”
stage ; certain annelids divide themselves after one of the pos-
terior body-segments have become converted into a head ; certain
Nemertines break themselves into pieces under spasmodic con-
tractions, each fragment being able to reproduce both head and
tail ; Amcebz divide themselves into halves.
Now it cannot be admitted that in fissiparous reproduction,
heredity can come into play in the same measure as it can in the
case of sexual reproduction. It is not even possible to deter-
mine which of the two halves represents the older generation.
Weissmann bas lately humorously said : if we fancy an Amoeba
gifted with consciousness, she will think upon dividing into two,
“*T now bring forth a child,” and there is no doubt that each
half would look upon the other as the child, and upon itself as
the mother. Weissmann has thus introduced the idea of the
(approximate) immortality of the Protozoa, an idea which can
also be adduced in favour of the hypothesis here maintained,
and which at all events deserves to be mentioned by the side of
the hypothesis proclaimed by Heckel and others, viz. that the
Monera living in the present day are in no genetical connection
with older ancestors from earlier periods, but have come into
existence by the aid of repeated spontaneous generation.+
The same views hold good for the self-division of worms and
Ccelenterata. Here too both parts are the direct continuation
of a single individual which, although dividing, does not cease
to exist. Coral reefs which principally multiply by division
may be looked upon in the same way.
Never, in case of fissiparous reproduction, does that myste-
rious potentiation take place which brings together in the egg-
cell and in the spermatazoon, not only the characteristic properties
of father and mother, but of whole series of ancestors ; never
in this case can the special process of fixation of a part of these
latent forces, the process which we term heredity, take place to
its full extent. Never can selection during embryonic and larval
life, which, according to recent researches, plays a much more
conspicuous part than was origina!ly expected, favour the stabi-
lity of a variation, and thus lead to modification of the species,
where multiplication by division takes place.
In his chapter on pangenesis (‘‘ Origin of Species,” second
edition, pp. 353 and 390) Darwin too touches upon this subject,
and insists upon the fact that organisms produced asexually,
consequently not passing through the earlier phases of develop-
ment, ‘‘ will therefore not be exposed at that period of life when
structure is most readily modified to the various causes inducing
variability in the same manner as are embryos and young larval
forms.”
The series of generations which owe their origin to a-sexual
and not to sexual reproduction, are thus in a much lesser degree
liable to vary.2 And yet a variation of some sort must always
first occur, in order that natural selection, acting upon it, may
finally produce a definite modification of the species. Never-
theless, fissiparous multiplication continues to play—and has
always played—a very important part in the invertebrate king-
dom, 4y the side of sexual reproduction. Thus the presumption
is allowed, that where in the course of centuries a-sexual repro-
duction has beea more predominant than sexual reproduction,
a stagnation in development has re-ulted, the differentiation
of those series of individuals and genera which have originated
through sexual reproducti.n, in the meantime always continuing
its regular course onwards.
Both factors—the retardation of development by a-sexual re-
production, and the acceleration of the development of the always
first-born, make it very probable, in my opinion, that we have
to look upon the more highly-developed groups of animals, and
amongst these upon their higher-differentiated representatives, as
forms which are separated from the original parent stock by a
maximal number of aacestors, the number of times that a-sexual
1 Lamarck had already, by this same assumption, attempted to overcome
the difficulty. AN 4 A
2 Observation tends to confirm this in a general way (vide Darwin, Z.c.,
DP. 353+
304
NATURE
[ Fan. 25, 1883
reproduction has taken place in their ancestry being at the same
time reduced to a minimum,
On the contrary, we must expect that a much smaller number
of ancestors lies between the lower-developed groups and the
common parent form, that a-sexual reproduction has here more
repeatedly occurred, and that finally, Darwin’s and Huxley’s
explanation, which we have above alluded to, of the non-occurrence
of further modifications, may here have been realised to a greater
extent.
Keeping in view the combined action of both these principles,
we no longer wonder that even in the present day living repre-
sentatives are found of genera which were already present in the
Silurian epoch, nor that the simplest organised beings have con-
tinued to exist in that primitive form.
They are for the greater part the younger sons, and being con-
demned to a slower rate of development, they could not keep
apace of their elder brothers. The latter, which have so much
oftener passed through the improving crucible of sexual repro-
duction, are indebted to that cause for having become the parent
stock out of which the higher and highest-developed animal and
vegetable forms, now surrounding us, have gradually sprung.
THE ETHER AND ITS FUNCTIONS}
I HOPE that no one has been misled by an error in the printing
of the title of this lecture, viz. the omission of the definite
article before the word ether, into supposing that I am going to
discourse on chemistry and the latest anesthetic ; you will have
understood, I hope, that ‘‘ether” meant ¢#e ether, and that the
ether is the hypothetical medium which is supposed to fill other-
wise empty space.
The idea of an ether is by no means a new one, As soon as
a notion of the enormous extent of space had been grasped, by
means of astronomical discoveries, the question presented itself
to men’s minds, what was in this space? was it full, or was it
empty? and the question was differently answered by different
metaphysicians, Some felt that a vacuum was so abhorrent a
thing that it could not by any possibility exist anywhere, but
that nature would not be satisfied unless space were perfectly
full. Others, again, felt that ety space could hardly exist,
that it would shrink up to nothing like a pricked bladder unless
it were kept distended by something material. In other words,
they made matter the condition of extension. On the other hand,
it was contended that however objectionable the idea of empty
space might be, yet emptiness was a necessity in order that
bodies might have room to move; that, in fact, if all space were
perfectly full of matter everything would be jammed together,
and nothing like free attraction or free motion of bodies round
one another could go on.
And indeed there are not wanting philosophers at the present
day who still believe something of this same kind, who are satis-
fied to think of matter as consisting of detached small particles
acting on one another with forces varying as some inverse power
of the distance, and who, if they can account for a phenomenon
by an action exerted across empty space, are content to go no
further, nor seek the cause and nature of the action more
closely.7
Now metaphysical arguments, in so far as thay have any
weight or validity whatever, are unconscious appeals to experi-
ence ; a person endeavours to find out whether a certain condi-
tion of things is by him conceivable, and if it is not conceivable
he has some grima facie ground for asserting that it probably
does not exist, Isay he has some ground, but whether it be
much or little depends partly on the nature of the thing thought
of, whether it be fairly simple or highly complex, and partly on
the range of the man’s own mental development, whether his
experience be wide or narrow.
If a highly-developed mind, or set of minds, find a doctrine
about some comparatively simple and fundamental matter abso-
lutely unthinkable, it is an evidence, and it is accepted as good
evidence, that the unthinkable state of things is one that has no
existence ; the argument being that if it did exist, either it or
something not wholly unlike it would have come within the
range of experience. We have no further evidence than this for
the statement that two straight lines cannot inclose a space, or
that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles.
£ ee by Prof. Oliver Lodge at the London Institution, on December
2 1052,
2 Tn illustration of this statement an article has since appeared in the
January number of the Philosophical Magazine, by Mr. Walter Browne.
Nevertheless there is nothing final about suck an argument ; all
that the inconceivability of a thing really proves, or can prove,
is that nothing like it has ever come within the thinker’s expe-
rience; and this proves nothing as to the reality or non-reality
of the thing, unless his experience of the same kind of things
has been so extensive as to make it reasonably probable that if
such a thing had existed it would not have been so completely
overlooked.
The experience of a child or a dog, on ordinary scientific
phenomena, therefore, is worth next to nothing; and as the
experience of a dog is to ordinary science, so is the experience
of the human race to some higher phenomena, of which they at
present know nothing, and against the existence of which it is
perfectly futile and presumptuous to bring forward arguments
about their being inconceivable, as if they were likely to be any-
thing else.
Now if there is one thing with which the human race has
been more conyersant from time immemorial than another, and
concerning which more experience has been unconsciously
accumulated than about almost anything else that can be men-
tioned, it is the action of one body on another ; the exertion of
force by one body upon another, the transfer of motion and energy
from one body to another; any kind of effect, no matter what,
which can be produced in one body by means of another, whether
the bodies be animate or inanimate. The action of a man in
felling a tree, in thrusting a spear, in drawing a bow ; the action
of the bow again on the arrow, of powder on a bullet, of a horse
on a cart ; and again, the action of the earth on the moon, or of
a magnet on iron. Every activity of every kind that we are
conscious of may be taken as an illustration of the action of one
body on another.
Now I wish to appeal to this mass of experience, and to ask,
is not the direct action of one body on another across empty
space, and with no means of communication whatever, is not this
absolutely unthinkable? We must not answer the question off-
hand, but must give it due consideration, and we shall find, I
think, that wherever one body acts on another by obvious
contact, we are satisfied and have a feeling that the phenomenon
is simple and intelligible ; but that whenever one body apparently
acts on another at a distance, we are irresistibly impelled to
look for the connecting medium.
If a marionette dances in obedience to a prompting hand
above it, any intelligent child would feel for the wire, and if no
wire or anything corresponding to it were discovered, would
feel that there was something uncanny and magical about the
whole thing. Ancient attempts at magic were indeed attempts to _
obtain results without the trouble of properly causing them, to
build palaces by rubbing rings or lanterns, to remove mountains
by a wich instead of with the spade and pickaxe, and generally
to act on bodies without any real means of communication ; and
modern disbelief in magic is simply a statement of the conviction
of mankind that all attempts in this direction have turned out
failures, and that action at a distance is impossible.
If aman explained the action of a horse or a cart by saying
that there was an attraction between them varying as some high
direct power of the distance, he would not be saying other than
the truth—the facts may be so expressed—but he would be felt
to be giving a wretchedly lame explanation, and any one who
simply pointed out the traces would be going much more to the
root of the matter. Similarly with the attraction of a magnet
for another magnetic pole. ‘To say that there is an attraction as
the inverse cube of the distance between them is true, but it is
not the whole truth ; and we should be obliged to any one who
will point out the traces, for traces we feel sure there are. If
any one tries to picture clearly to himself the action of one body
on another without any medium of communication whatever, he
must fail. A medium is instinctively looked for in most cases,
and if not in all, as in falling weights or in magnetic attraction,
it is only because custom has made us stupidly callous to the real
nature of these forces.
When we see a vehicle bowling down-hill without any visible
propelling force we ought to regard it with the same mixture
of curiosity and wonder as the Chinaman felt when he saw for
the first time in the streets of Philadelphia a tram-car driven by
a rope buried in a pipe underground. The attachment to these
cars comes through a narrow slit in the pipe, and is quite unob-
trusive. After regarding the car with open-mouthed astonish-
ment for some time, the Chinaman made use of the following
memorable exclamation, ‘‘No pushee—No pullee—Go like
mad!” He was a philosophic Chinaman,
~
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE
395
Remember then that whenever we see a thing being moved we
must look for the rope; it may be visible or it may be invisible,
but unless there is either “ pushee” or ‘‘ pullee” there can be no
action. And if you further consider a pull it revolves itself intoa
push ; to pulla thing towards you, you have to put your finger behind
it and push ; a horse is said to pull a cart, but he is really push-
ing at the collar ; an engine pushes a truck by means of a hook
and eye; and soon. There is still the further very important
and difficult question as to why the parts hang together, and why
when you push one part the rest follows. :
Cohesion is a very striking fact, and an explanation of it is
much to be desired ; I shall have a little more to say about it
later, but at present we have nothing more than an indication of
the direction in which an explanation seems possible. We
cannot speak distinctly about those actions which are as yet
mysterious to us, but concerning those which are conparatively
simple and intelligible we may make this general statement :—
The only way of acting on a body directly is to push it behind.
There must be contact between bodies before they can
directly act on each other; and if they are not in contact with
each other and yet act, they must both be in contact with some
third body which is the medium of communication, the rope.
Consider now for an instant the most complex case, the action
of one animate body on another not touching it, To call the
attention of a dog, for instance, there are several methods: one
plan is to prod him with a stick, another is to heave a stone at
him, a third is to whistle or call, while a fourth is to beckon
him by gesture, or, what is essentially the same process, to flash
sunlight into his eye with a mirror. In the first two of these
methods the media of communication are perfectly obvious—the
stick and the stone—in the third, the whistle, the medium is
not so obvious, and this case might easily seem to a savage like
action at a distance, but we know of course that it is the air,
and that if the air between be taken away, all communication by
sound is interrupted. But the fourth or optical method is not so
interrupted ; the dog can see through a vacuum perfectly well,
though he cannot hear through it ; but what the medium now is
which conveys the impression is not so well known. ‘The sun’s
light is conveyed to the earth by such a medium as this across
the emptiness of planetary space. The only remaining typical
plans of acting on the dog would be either by electric or mag-
netic attractions, or by mesmerism, and I would have you seek
for the medium which conveys these impressions with just as
great a certainty that there is one as in any of the other cases.
Leaving these more mysterious and subtle modes of communi-
cation, let us return to the two most simple ones, viz., the stick
and the stone. These two are representative of the only possible
fundamental modes of communication between distant bodies,
for one is compelled to believe that every more occult mode of
action will ultimately resolve itself into one or other of these two.
The stick represents the method of communication by con-
tinuous substance; the stone represents the communication by
actual transfer of matter, or, as I shall call it, the projectile
method. There are no other known methods for one body to
act on another than by these two—by continuous medium, and
by projectile.
We know one clear and well-established example of the pro-
jectile method, viz., the transmission of pressure by gases. A
gas consists of particles perfectly independent of each other, and
the only way in which they can act on each other is by blows.
The pressure of the air is a bombardment of particles, and
actions are transmitted through gases as through a row of ivory
balls. Sound is propagated by each particle receiving a knock
and passing it on to the next, the final effect being much the
same as if the first struck particles had been shot off through the
whole distance.
The explanation of the whole behaviour of gases in this
manner is so simple and satisfactory, and moreover is so certainly
the true account of the matter, that we are naturally tempted to
ask whether this projectile theory is not the key to the universe,
and whether every kind of action whatever cannot be worked
out on this hypothesis of atoms blindly driving about in all
directions at perfect random and with complete independence of
each other except when they collide.!_ And accordingly we have
the corpuscular theories of light and of gravitation ; both account
for the respective phenomena by a battering of particles. The
corpuscular theory of gravitation is, however, full of difficulties,
for it is not obvious according to it why the weight of a plate is
_ * To this hypothesis Mr. Tolver Preston has addressed himself with much
ingenuity.
the same when held edzeways as when held broadside on, in the
stream of corpu cles ; while it is surprising (as indeed it perhaps
is on any hypothesis) that the weight of a body is the same in
the solid, liquid, and gaseous states. It has been attempted to
explain cohesion also on the same hypothesis, but the difficulties,
which were great enough before, are now enormous, and to me
at any rate it seems that it is only by violent straining and by
improbable hypotheses that we can explain all the actions of the
universe by a mere battery of particles.
Moreover, it is difficult to understand what the atoms them-
selves can be like, or how they can strike and bound off one
another without yielding to compression and then springing
out again like two elastic balls ; it is difficult to understand the
elasticity of really ultimate hard particles. And if the atoms are
not such hard particles, but are elastic and yielding, and bound
from one another according to the same sort of law that ivory
balls do, of what are they composed? We shall have to begin
all over again, and explain the cohesion and elasticity of the
parts of the atom.
The more we think over the matter, the more are we com-
pelled to abandon mere impact as a complete explanation of
action in general, But if this be so we are driven back upon
the other hypothesis, the only other, viz. communication by con-
tinuous medium.
We must begin to imagine a continuous connecting medium
between the particles—a substance in which they are imbedded,
and which extends into all their interstices, and extends without
break to the remotest limits of space. Once grant this and
difficulties begin rapidly to disappear. There is now continuous
contact between the particles of bodies, and if one is pushed the
others naturally receive the motion, The atoms of gas are
impinging as before, but we have now a different idea of what
impact means.
Gravitation is explainable by differences of pressure in the
medium, caused by some action between it and matter not yet
understood. Cohesion is explainable also probably in the same
way.
Light consists of undulation or waves in the medinm ; while
electricity is turning out quite possibly to be an aspect of a part
of the very medium itself.
The medium is now accepted as a necessity by all modern
physicists, for without it we are groping in the dark, with it we
feel we have a clue which, if followed up, may lead us into the
innermost secrets of nature, It has as yet been followed up
very partially, but I will try and indicate the directions in which
modern science is tending.
The name you choose to give to the medium isa matter of
very small importance, but ‘‘the Ether” is as good a name for
it as another.
As far as we know it appears to be a perfectly homogeneous
incompressible continuous body incapable of being resolved
into simple elements or atoms; it is, in fact, continuous, not
molecular, There is no other body of which we can say this,
and hence the properties of ether must be somewhat different
from those of ordinary matter. But there is little difficulty in
picturing a continuous substance to ourselves, inasmuch as the
molecular and porous nature of ordinary matter is by no means
evident to the senses, but 1s an inference of some difficulty.
Ether is often called a fluid, or a liquid, and ayain it has been
called a solid and has been likened to a jelly because of its
rigidity; but none of these names are very much good; all
these are molecular groupings, and therefore not like ether; let
us think simply and solely of a continuous frictionless medium
possessing inertia, and the vagueness of the notion will be
nothing more than is proper in the present state of our
knowledge.
We have now to try and realise the idea of a perfectly con-
tinuous, subtle, incompressible substance pervading all space and
penetrating between the molecules of all ordinary matter, which
are imbedded in it, and connected with one another by its
means. And we must regard it as the one universal medium by
which all actions between bodies are carried on, This, then, is
its function—to act as the transmitter of motion and of energy.
First consider the propagation of light.
Sound is propagated by direct excursion and impact of the
atoms of ordinary matter. Light is not so propagated. How
do we know this ?
I. Because of speed, 3 X 10, which is greater than anything
transmissible by ordinary matter.
2, Because of the kind of vibration, as revealed by the pheno-
mena of polarisation.
306
The vibrations of light are not such as can be transmitted by
a set of disconnected molecules; if by molecules at all, it must
be by molecules connected into a solid, z.e, by a body with
rigidity. Rigidity means active resistance to shearing stress, 7.¢.
to alteration in shape ; it is also called e/astictty of figure ; it is
by the possession of rigidity that a solid differs from a fluid.
For a body to transmit vibrations at all it must possess inertia ;
transverse vibrations can only be transmitted by a body with
rigidity. All matter possesses inertia, but fluids only possess
volume elasticity, and accordingly can only transmit longitudinal
vibrations. Light consists of transverse vibrations ; air and water
have no rigidity, yet they are transparent, 7.¢. transmit transverse
vibrations ; hence it must be the ether in ide them which really
conveys the motion, and the ether must have properties which,
if it were ordinary matter, we should style zvertéa and rigidity.
No highly rarefied air will serve the purpose; the ether must be
a distinct body. Air exzs¢s indeed in planetary space even to
infinity, but it is of almost infinitesimal density compared with
the ether there. It is easy to calculate the density of the atmo-
sphere at any height above the earth’s surface, supposing other
bodies absent.
The density of the air at a distance of » earth radii from the
centre of the earth is equal to a quarter the density here divided
by 10” #. Soata height of only 4000 miles 2bove the sur-
face, the atmospheric density is a number with 127 ciphers after
the decimal point before the significant figures begin. The
density of ether, on the other hand, has been calculated by Sir
William Thomson from data furnished by Pouillet’s experiments
on the energy of sunlight, and from a justifiable guess as to the
amplitude of a vibration, and it comes out about io a
number with only 17 ciphers before the significant figures. In
inter-planetary space, therefore, all the air that exists is utterly
negligible ; the density of the ether there, though small, is
enormous by comparison.
Once given the density of the ether, its rigidity follows at
once, because the ratio of the rigidity to the density is the
square of the velocity of transverse wave propagation, viz. in the
case of ether, 9 x 107°. The rigidity of ether comes out, there-
fore, to be about g00. The most rigid solid we know is steel,
and compared with its rigidity, vz. 8 X 101}, that of ether is
insignificant. Neither steel nor gla:s, however, could transmit
vibrations with anything like the speed of light, because of their
great density. The rate at which transverse vibrations are pro-
pagated by crown glass is half a million centimetres per second
—a considerable speed, no doubt, but the ether inside the glass
transmits them 40,000 times as quick, viz. at twenty thousand
million centimetres per second.
The ether outside the glass can do still better than this, it
comes up to thirty thousand million, and the question arises
what is the matter with the ether inside the glass that it can
only transmit undulations at two-thirds the normal speed. Is it
denser than free ether, or is it less rigid? Well, it is not easy
to say ; but the fact is certain that ether is somehow affected by
the immediate neighbourhood of gross matter, and it appears to
be concentrated inside it to an extent depending on the density
of the matter. Fresnel’s hypothesis is that the ether is really
denser inside gross matter, that there is a sort of attraction
between ether and the molecules of matter which results in an
agglomeration or binding of some ether round each atom, and
that this additional or bound ether belongs to the matter, and
travels about withit. The s%gzazty of the bound ether Fresnel
supposes to be the same as that of the free.
If anything like this can be imagined, a measure of the density
of the bound ether is easily given. For the inverse velocity-ratio
is called uw (the index of refraction), and the density is inversely
as the square of the velocity, hence the density-measure is 17.
The density of ether in free space being called 1, that inside
matter has a density u*, and the density of the bound portion of
this is w?—1.
This may all sound very fanciful, but something like it is
sober truth; not as it is here stated very likely, but the fact that
(: - : )ih of the whole ether inside matter is bound to it and
ye
travels with it, while the remaining ur th is free and blows
freely through the pores, is fairly well established and confirmed
by direct experiment.
(Zo be continued.)
NATURE
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—The following further announcements of lec-
tures have been made :—
Prof. Humphry, Circulatory and Respiratory Systems, Jan. 25;
senior class, Jan. 29; Demonstrations by the Demonstrator for
Natural Science Tripos, Jan. 26; Osteology, for beginners,
Jan. 17; Demonstrations for second year students, Jan. 18;
Mr. McAlister will give six lectures later in the term, on the
Mechanism of the Human Skeleton. Dr. Michael Foster’s
course of Elementary Physiology, Jan. 23 ; Mr. Lea, Chemical
Physiology, Jan. 24; Dr. Vines, Anatomy of Plants, advanced,
with practical work, Jan. 24 (Chri-t’s College) ; General Ele-
mentary course, New Museums, Jan. 23, to extend over two
terms, and be illustrated by demonstrations. A class for the
practical study of systen.atic botany, Mr. T. H. Corry, assistant
curator of the Herbarium, will be formed. Dr. Hicks will
lecture on the Morphology of Flowering Plants, with especiay
reference to classification, including floral diagrams, in the Hall
of Sidney College, beginning Jan. 26; Mr. Glazebrook,
advanced Demonstrations in Electricity and Magnetism, Caven-
dish Laboratory, Jan. 24; Mr. Shaw, Demonstrations in
Mechanics and Heat, Jan. 23; if more students attend than
can be accommodated in the laboratory at one time, the course
will be repeated on the same days. Mr. Trotter, Trinity Col-
lege, Physical Optics, Jan. 25. Mr. Pattison Muir, Non-
metallic Klements, Elementary, Jan. 22, Caius College Labora-
tory; General Principles of Chemistry, Advanced, Jan. 23.
Mr. Solly will give Demonstrations on Minerals in the Lecture
Room of the Mineralogical Museum, first lecture, Jan. 22. Prof.
Stuart, Jacksonian Lecture Room, Theory of Structures, Jan. 30 ;
the Demonstrator of Mechanism, Mathematics required for
Engineering, Jan. 29.
Christ’s College Open Scholarships, Natural Science ; E. L.
Sortain, Bath College, 30/.; 3rd year, J. C. Bose, 30/. ; Caius
College, Natural Science, Edgworth, Clifton College, 40/.
Mr. MARSHALL WARD is giving a course of free publie
lectures at Owens College, on the Nutrition of Plants,
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Fournal of the Franklin Institute, January.—Electric lighting
in mills, by C. J. H. Woodbury.—Bricks and brick-making
machinery, by C. Chambers, Jun.—Experiential principles of
controlled combustion, by E. J. Mallett, Jun.—Olsen’s testing
machines.
Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, December 15,
1882.—Meteorological 7észmé of the year 1881 for Geneva and
the great St. Bernard, by A. Kammermann.— Observations on
cometary refraction, by W. Meyer.—Development of the vege-
table kingdom in different regions since the tertiary epoch,
according to Dr. Engler’s work, by A. de Candojle.—Periodical
movements of the air indicated by spirit levels, by Ph. Planta-
mour.—On the same, by C. von Orff.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Chemical Society, January 18.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in
the chair.—It was announced that a ballot for the election of
fellows wouid be held at the next meeting, February 1.—The
following japers were read:—The fluorine compounds of
uranium, by A. Sumithells. The author has investigated the
action of aqueous hydrofluoric acid upon the green uranoso-uranic
oxide. He finds that a voluminous green powder, uranium
tetrafluoride, is left, and that a yellow solution is formed which
contains uranium oxyfluoride. The author confirms the results
previously obtained by Bolton, and proves those obtained by
Ditte to be erroneous.— On a new method of estimating the
halogens in volatile organic compounds, by Kk. T. Plimpton
and K. E. Graves. The authors burn the vapour of the compound
in a glass Bunsen burner, the products of the combustion are
aspirated through caustic soda solution, which is heated with
sulphurous acid aad the halogen precipitated by silver nitrate,
&c., in the usual way. Good results were obtained with various
liquids from ethy| bromide boiling at 39° to acetylene bromiodide
boiling at 150°. On a modified Liebig’s coidenser, by W. A,
Shenstone. The author has slizhtly modified a vertical con
[ Fan. 25, 1883 |
Fan. 25, 1883]
NATURE
307
denser so that it can be used for prolonged digestion and sub-
sequent distillation without shifting.—On two new aluminous
mineral species Evigtokite and Liskeardite, by W. Flight.—On
the volume alteration attending the mixture of salt solutions, by
W. W. J. Nicol. The salts employed were NaCl, KCl, KNO,,
NaNO , CuSO, and K,SO,.
Zoological Society, January 16.—Prof. W. H. Flower,
F.K.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. H. E. Dresser, F.Z.S.,
exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of J/erops philippen-
sts, which was said to have been obtained near the Snook,
Seaton Carew, in August, 1862.—Lieut.-Col. Godwin-Austen,
F.R.S., read the third and concluding of a series of papers on
the shells which had been collected in Socotra by Prof. J. Bayly
Balfour. The present portion treated of the freshwater shells
of Socotra, which were stated all to belong to the genera
Planorbis, Hydrobia, and Melania. Not a single bivalve was
obtained. Four species were described as new, namely, P/anor-
bis socotrensis, P. cockburnt, Hydrobia balfouri, and Méelania
sclater?.—Prof. E. Kay Lankester, F.R.S., read a paper on the
right cardiac valves of Echidna aad of O) nithorhynchus. Seven
additional specimens of the latter animal had been examined
since the author’s former paper on this subject had been read,
all of which, whilst showing interesting variations, agreed in the
absence of the septal flap of the right cardiac valve. This
character was shown to exist also in Echidna, and was therefore
presumed to be a distinctive feature in the structure of the Mono-
tremes.—A communication was read from Mr. F. Moore,
F.Z.S., containing the descriptions of some new genera and
species of Asiatic Lepidoptera Heterocera.—A communication
was read from Mr. G. B. Sowerby, jun., in which he gave the
descriptions of five new species of shells from various localities.
Anthropological Institute, January 9.—Mr. A. J. Lewis
in the chair-—The election of Admiral F. S. Tremlett, F.R.G.S.,
was anncunced.—Mr. Worthington G. Smith exhibited four
palzolithic implements from Madras. One of them weighed
4 lbs. 77 0z., and the author believed that it was the second largest
specimen of the kind extant. —Mr. W. S. Duncan read a paper
on the probable region of man’s evolution. Starting with the
assumption that man was evolved from a form lower in organi-
sation than that of the lowest type yet discovered, and that his
origination formed no exception to the general law of evolntion
recognised as accounting for the appearance of the lower forms
of life, the author said that man’s most immediate ancestors
must have been similar in structure to that of the existing Anthro-
poid apes, although it is not necessary to suppose that any of
the Anthropoid apes at present existing belong to the same family
as that of man. The science of the distribution of animals
showed that the higher types of monkeys and apes appear to
have had their origin in the Old World, the American con-
tinent being entirely destitute of them, either alive or fossil.
The distribution of the greater portion of the animals of the Old
World was shown to have taken a generally southward direc-
tion, owing to the gradual increase of the cold, which culminated
in the last Ice Age. This migration was, however, interrupted
by the interposition of the Mediterranean and other seas, and
thus, although a few of these animals were enabled to journey
on until they reached tropical regions, the majority were com-
pelled to remain behind, where they had to exist under altered
circumstances. The temperature was much lower, and as a
result of the consequent diminution of the number of fruit forests,
a change in the food and in the manner in which it was obtained
by the apes occurred. A considerable alteration took place also
in the manner in which they were forced to use their limbs, and
it was due to the operation of these and other causes that the
ape form became stamped with human characteristics such as the
curvature of the spine an] an increase in the breadth of the
pelvis. For these reasons the author regarded the south of
Europe as the part in which it was most likely that the evolution
of man took place. Mr. Duncan concluded by urging the im-
portance of forming a committee to watch discoveries bearing on
this branch of anthropology.
Meteorological Society, January 17.—Annual General
Meeting.—Mr. J. K. Laughton, F.R.A.S., President, in the
chair.—The Secretary read the Report of the Council which
showed that the total number of Fellows was 571, 47 new
Fellows having been elected during the year.—The President
then delivered his Address. He referred briefly to the great
importance of the uniform series of observations now taken
under the auspices of the Society, and proceeded to speak, at
greater length, of certain other points in which the Society
might, by its concerted action, further the interests of meteoro-
logical science. The first of these was anemometry, which is
at present ina condition far from satisfactory. We know
nothing vositively either as to the pressure or the velocity of the
wind ; there is no exact standard instrument, and observations,
whatever may be their absolute value, are not comparable one
with the other. He thought that the Society might properly
interfere, so far as to regulate the wide diversity amongst the
instruments now used, in order that when the proper time came,
and it was known what anemometer could be trusted, the older
observations might be reduced. The movement of air in the
upper regions of the atmosphere is not measurable by any
existing method ; but experiments have been made, at the
suggestion of the Meteorological Council, in which the drift of
the smoke-cloud of a bursting shell may be observed and
measured. The observations of the barometer taken at elevated
stations in the United States seem to throw considerable doubt
on the received formulz for the reduction of barometric readings
to sea-level, and for the calculation of heights. When the
observations extend over a long period, and are regularly taken
under all conditions of weather, then no doubt the height of a
mountain can be calculated with a fair approach to accuracy ;
but isolated observations, subject to the fluctuations of the
different readings are extremely wild in their results. In the
same way, the reduction of the barometer to sea-level is com-
plicated by many discrepancies which arise between observations
at the upper and lower stations, which have hitherto been
ignored. It is impossible to say how far they affect the
isobars on which our daily weather charts are based ; but it is
probable that they are at least one additional source of error
and of difficulty. It is much to be wished that systematic and
continuous observations at high-level stations could be taken,
not only on the top of Ben Nevis, but on the top of some others
of the highest peaks in different parts of the country. In this
way alone, can these difficulties of reduction be cleared away,—
The following gentlemen were elected the Officers and Council
for the ensuing year:—President, John Knox Laughton,
F.R.A.S., Vice-Presidents : Edmund Douglas Archibald, M.A.,
Rogers Field, B.A., Baldwin Latham, F.G.S., William Marcet,
F.R.S., Treasurer, Henry Perigal, F.R.A.S., Trustees: Hon.
Francis Albert Rollo Russell, Stephen William Silver, F.R.G.S.,
Secretaries: George James Symons, F.R.S., John William
Tripe, M.D., Foreign Secretary, Robert Henry Scott, F.R.S.,
Council: Hon. Ralph Abercromby, William Morris Beaufort,
F.R.A.S., John Sanford Dyason, F.R.G.S., Henry Storks
Eaton, William Ellis, F,.R.A.S., Joseph Henry Gilbert, F.R.S..
Charles Harding, Robert John Lecky, F.R.A.S., Capt. John
Pearse Maclear, R.N., Edward Mawley, F.R.1.S., George
Matthews Whipple, F.R.A.S., Charles Theodore Williams,
M.D.
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, January 15.—Prof. Maclagan, vice-president,
in the chair.—In a paper on the diurnal variation of the force
of the wind on the open sea and near land, Mr. Buchan gave
the first instalment of the meteorological results of the Challenger
expedition. From fully 1200 observations which had been taken,
mean diurnal curves were drawn for the different oceans, from
which it appeared that in the open sea no clear marked diurnal
variation existed, but that near land a very evident maximum
showed itself about two in the afternoon, and a much smaller
maximum at midnight. Also near land the force of the wind
was distinctly less than in the open sea, a fact readily accounted
for by the greater friction experienced at the surface in the
former case. The wind was stronzest in the southern ocean,
feeblest in the Pacific. Though the temperature observations
had not been completely reduced, enough had been done to show
that the surface temperature of the North Atlantic was subject
to a very small variation of not more than °*75 of a degree
Fahrenheit.—The Rev. Dr. Teape read a long paper on the
Semitic and Greek article, in which he pointed out the influence
of the Hebrew idiom upon the use of the Greek article, both
in the Septuagint and the New Testament, and maintained, in
opposition to Prof. Blackie’s views, that the use of the Greek
article was rezulated by definite grammatical rules.—Mr. W. W.
J. Nicol, M.A., B.Sc., read a paper on the nature of solution,
which he regarded from the point of view of molecular attraction.
Solution took place because the particles of water had a greater
attraction for the particles of the salt than these had for them-
selves. The theory was applied to explain various facts
308
NATURE
established by himself and other experimenters, such for example
as the relation between the density of a crystal and the temper-
ature at which it is made to crystallise out.—An elaborate
experimental paper on the relative electro-chemical positions of
wrought iron, steels, cast metal, etc., in sea-water and other solu-
tions by Mr. Thomas Andrews, Assoc.M. Inst.C.E., F.C.S., was
communicated by Prof. Crum Brown. The time changes in the
galvanic relations were very curious, showing in some instances
a complete reversal of the poles. This was regarded as probably
due to the penetration of the liquid into the plates, which would
thus seem to he very far from homogeneous. The experiments
have evidently an important bearing on the question of erosion
in sea-water.
SYDNEY
Linnean Society of New South Wales, October 25)
1882.—Dr. James C. Cox, F.L.S., &c., president, in the chair.
—The following papers were read:—Description of a new
species of Solea from Port Stephens, by E, P. Ramsay, F.L.S.
This new species of sole, of which a drawing was exhibited, was
proposed to be named S. /ézeata.—Contributions to Australian
oology (continuation), by E. P. Ramsay, F.L.S. In this paper
the author gave descriptions of the nests and eggs of nineteen addi-
tional species of Australian birds, whosenidification and oology had
previously heen imperfectly known.—Deccriptions of Australian
Micro-lepidoptera, by E. Meyrick, B.A. This, the eighth paper
by Mr. Meyrick on the Micro-lepidoptera of this country, treats
exclusively of the Oecophoride, a family represented in Australia
by about 20co species. Fifteen genera and 107 species are
described at great length in the present paper.—Notes on the
geology of the Western coal-fields, by Prof. Stephens, M.A.,
No.1. This was a brief account of the Wallerawang and
Capertee conglomerates and overlying coal-measures, together
with some description of the Devonian beds of the Capertee
Valley and Coco Creek. Specimens of Brachiopoda and Favo-
sites, together with a large P/eurotomaria as well as of Porphyry
and other rocks obtained from the same locality were shown in
illustration of the paper.—Notes on the oyster beds at Cape
Hawke, by James C. Cox, M.D., &c, This was a paper in
support of the author’s views, as expressed in a previous paper,
of the undoubted <pecific difference between the drift oyster and
rock oyster of our coasts.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, January 15.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—Choice of a first
meridian, by M. Faye (Reyort in name of Commission). This
is favourable to the American proposal.—On the mechanical
and phy-ical constitution of the sun (first part), by M. Faye.
He presents a réswmé of his researches on the subject.—Re-
searches on alkaline sulphites, by M. Berthelot.—On alkaline
hyposulphites, by the same.—On complex units, by M. Kro-
necker.—Separation of gallium (continued), by M. Lecoq de
Boisbandran.— Table concerning the ramification of Zsatés dinc-
toria, bs . Trécul.—On hydraulic silica, and on the 7é/e it
plays in the hardening of hydraulic compounds, by M. Landrin.
The pure ilica obtained by decomposing a solution of silicate
of potash with an acid, and repeatedly washing and drying at a
dark red heat, he names Aydyaulic silica, and he considers it the
cause of the final hardening of hydraulic mortars. The alu-
minate of l:me cannot concur in this effect, because of solubility,
but at the moment of immersion it facilitates the intimate union
of the hydraulic elements, hinders water from penetrating the
mass of mortar, and so aids the slow reciprocal action of the
lime and hydraulic silica.—Chemical studies on maize, &c. (con-
tinued), by M. Leplay.—Treatment of typhoid fever at Lyons,
in 1883, by M. Giénard. Instead of the expectant method,
which awaits complications, combating them as they arise, the
method «of treatment with cold baths has been adopted
in Lyons (as in Germany), with a view to preventing
those complications. The mortality is thus greatly reduced
(e.g. in the civil hospitals of Lyons from 26 to 9 per cent.,
in private practice to 1 or 2 per cent.),—On the proposals
of M. Balbiani for opposing phylloxera, and on the winter egg
of the phylloxera of Aierican and European vines, by M. Tar-
gioni-Tozz iti, He throws doubt on the data on which the
Phylloxera Commission have proceeded, in directing effort
towards the de-truction of the winter-egz, M. Balbiani replies
at length to his arguments, none of which, he states, are new.—
Treatment of phylloxerised vines, with sulpho-carbonate of
potassium in 1882, by M. Mouillefert, The surface treated was
2225 hectares, on 385 properties, and a steady increase is shown
since 1877. The amount of sulpho-carbonate used was 821,317
kg. ; the cost varied between 200 and 450 francs per hectare ;
0 05 fr. and 0°04 fr. per stock.—Observations on the sulject of
the Circular of the United States Government, concerning the
adoption of a common initial meridian and a universal hour, by
M. de Chancourtois. He advocates the adoption of a decimal
division of the day and of the circle (the latter into 400 degrees,
the right angle containing 100). The ancient meridian of
Ptolemy, about 31°7 degrees from that of Paris, he considers
the best for the initial meridian.—On the hypergeometric func-
tions of superior order, by M. Goursat. —On Fourier’s ©
series, by M. Halphen.—On a general property of an
agent whose action is proportional to the product of the
quantities in presence and to any power of the distance, by M.
Mercadier.—Methods for determination of the ohm, by M.
Brillouin.—Reply to a note of M. Maurice Lévy.—Researches
on the relative oxidisability of cast iron, steel, and soft iron, by
M. Gruner.
four corners, were immersed simultaneously in water acidulated
with 0’5 per cent. of sulphuric acid, or sea-water, or were simply
exposed in moist air of a terrace. Jmfer alia, in moist air,
chromate steels were oxidised most, and tungsten steels less
than mere carbon steel. Cast iron, even with manganese, is
oxidised less than steel and soft iron, and white specular iron
less than grey cast iron. Sea-water, on the other hand, attacks
cast iron more than steel], and with special energy white specular
iron. Tempered steel is less attacked than the same steel
annealed, soft steel less than manganese steel or chromate steel,
&c. Acidulated water, like sea-water, dissolves grey cast iron
more rapidly than steel, but not white specular iron; the grey
impure cast iron is most strongly attacked.—On the losses and
gains of nitrogen in arable land, by M. Deherain, The losses
are due not only to the exigencies of crops, but also, and for the
most part, to the oxidation of azotised organic matter. When
the land is not stirred, but kept as natural or artificial meadows,
the combustions are less active, and the gains of nitrogen
exceed the losses. Thus a farmer will more easily enrich a soil
with nitrogen by keeping it ina meadow than by prodigal manur-
ing.—Physiological action of picoline and lutidine, by MM. de
Coninck and Pinet.—New experiments on irian grafts, with a
view to establishing the etiology of cysts of the iris, by M.
Masse.—On the solutions of continuity produced at the moment
of moulting, in the apodemian system of decapod crustaceans,
by M, Nevequard.
CONTENTS PacE
Tue THIRST FoR SCIENTIFIC RENOWN . . . « 2 © © «© + « @ 295
CINGHONA PANTING, 3) ae cd GP S08 ea cen
MARINE SURVEYING. . abe foeear to taleke ere aie Sha. (ste 289
LETTERS TO THE EpITOR:—
Natural Selection and Natural Theology.—Prof. Asa GRAY 201
Intelligence in Animals.—J. G. GRENFELL. . » « + « + «© + 292
On a Relation existing between the Latent Heats, Specific Heats,
and Relative Volumes of Volatile Bodies—F. TRouroN . .- 292
The Gresham Funds.—W. B. « - . . « «© » » « = « « © 292
Siwalik Carnivora—RicHARD LYDEKKER. + + + + + + + + 203
Earthquakes.—Prof. Gzorce Lawson; GrorGeE F. BurpDEr ;
es Gelbecorn Mime yee ty oF OF bor of oo Oo. 6 293
The Sea Serpent.—F. T. Morr (/Vith [ilustration) . . .« + 293
A Novel Experiment in Complementary Colours.—JoHN GORHAM 294
The Projection of the Nasal Bones in Man and the Ape.—J. PARK
ELARRISON) «, sibs) fu.tist ce’ lafpst eu eet ey leyieat a MRS eR TO ORTOnaO.
Hoverinc or Birps. By Husert Airy (With Diagram) . - 294
Tue LATE Epwarp B. TAWNEY . + © + + = + © + © © + © 295
REMARKS ON AND ORSERVATIONS OF THE METEORIC AURORAL PHE-
NOMENON oF NoveEMBER 17, 1882. By Dr. H. J. H. GRonEMAN
(With Illustration) «© » . + © © © © = © © © 8 8 296
Whey Sors 6 of Omloed Pe ee ede or neh wo 208
Our AsTRONoMICcAL CoLuMN!—
TheiGreat Comet o£:1882%- <2, s+) shel vis si teluce nn emme . 300
The Washington Observatory, U.S... - 2. + = + + # » # 300
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Tue Hyporuesis or ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT BY PRIMOGENI-
TURE, AND ITS PLACE INTHE THEORY OF EvotuTion, II. By Prof.
ASA. Ws ELUBRECH I, <0) ccnp spt ues ts ese 30
Tue Eruer anp its Funcrions. By Prof. Ortver Lopce. . 304
ONIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE « + « + 306
ScusnTIFIC|SBRIALS» + sl eu sMiss sr) ete ie 0) cs) 2s oe 306
SocIRTIES AND ACADEMIES » « © + 6 © © © © » « « » » « 306
[ Fan, 25, 1883.
;
Various plates, suspended in a frame, by their —
NATURE
309
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1883
POPULAR ASTRONOMY
The Sun, its Planets, and their Satellites. A Course of
Lectures upon the Solar System, read in Gresham
College, London, in the Years 1881 and 1882. By
Edmund Ledger, M.A., Rector of Barham, Suffolk.
Pp. 432. (London: Stanford, 1882.)
NOTHER work on Astronomy! It must have
demanded some courage to venture on such an
attempt in these days, so unprecedentedly fertile in
similar undertakings. We are not speaking of the inun-
dation of lighter productions—the magazines, the lectures,
the newspaper articles—by which the lower grounds of
modern society are overrun, to the benefit no doubt, in
many cases, of those who may thus be led to find out in
what a glorious world they live. Provided only that such
efforts have something clear and something pleasant
about them, we shall not be disposed to say “the fewer
the better cheer.’”’ It is a worthy and honourable attempt,
to introduce one new interest, one fresh and innocent
pleasure, into the dull round of a careworn plodding life.
The shepherd will love his work none the less for learning
something of the movements of his “ unfolding star :” the
evening of the weary mechanic will bring unalloyed re-
freshment, if he is enabled to turn an inquiring gaze
upon “‘the fields of light that lie around the throne of
Gop.” But not only is provision being thus made for the
development of thought and intelligence among those
whose lives too often are divided between uninteresting
labour and debasing gratification, but a corresponding
advance has been made in the production of treatises
addressed to the possessors of more cultivated minds and
leisurely opportunities. A full collection of such treatises
during the last half-century would be at once voluminous
and interesting. What would come out in strong relief
from a comparison of them would be the comprehensive-
ness and many-sidedness of the subject. It is indeed a
glorious subject—the ‘consideration of the heavens”;
the subject of a life-time, of many life-times—in all its
complexity of magnificence. No one mind, no one book,
can do it justice. It is as boundless as the spaces of
which it treats, and the mechanism which it professes to
explain. [t embraces no small part of the history of
human intelligence ; it demands the utmost power and
subtlety of the most consummate analysis ; the picturings
of the most poetical imagination will be tame and feeble
in the presence of its realities ; and yet so simple are
many of its elementary truths as to invite and recompense
familiar inquiry. There may be room then for another,
and another, and yet another work on astronomy ; and
provided they are thoughtfully designed and accurately
wrought out, there will be little question as to their suc-
cess ; for it arises from the very comprehensiveness of
the matter, that every writer will address himself to the
task from his own point of view, and all readers may find
something to interest them in every varied presentation
of the subject.
We are pleased to give a welcome reception to the
treatise which is now before us. In many respects it will
be found worthy to take rank among the best. Where,
VOL. XXvVII.—No. 692
as we have said, the study is so many-sided, it is obviously
better to work on certain lines ; not to attempt too wide
a grasp, with the inevitable annoyance of bulk and cost-
liness ; not to be led into the opposite course of saying a
little about everything, and enough about nothing. The
author of these Lectures has chosen his own line, pre-
ferring to give us a good deal that is explanatory of the
mechanism of the solar system, and a good deal that is
descriptive of its wonders. And he has executed his task
on the whole remarkably well. He has evidently a clear
apprehension of what he is going to write about, and
therefore succeeds in mak ng it clear to other minds ;
and there is a pleasant facility in his style which imparts
readableness to matters intrinsically somewhat dry. And
if we meet with little of vivid and imaginative description,
its place is supplied by a truly valuable amount of caution
and discretion in dealing with the theories of the day. If
he does not lead us far he will certainly not lead us wrong:
and ‘‘ when,” as he characteristically tells us, ‘we know
so little, we must not let our ignorance suggest unnecessary
difficulties. Rather let it teach us to wait, and watch,
and learn.” Availing himself of no common extent of
reading, he has used his materials with conscientious
accuracy; and if we may venture to point out a few
matters to which in our view some exception might be
taken, we hope it may be looked upon as only the fulfil-
ment of his own express desire to receive friendly com-
munications of this nature.
A comparatively undeveloped point, we venture to
think, in the programme, is the very brief notice that has
been taken of the theory of the tides. Granted that its
minuter details are affected by some complicated con-
siderations, its general outline admits of easy explanation,
and is at the same time the cause of occasional miscon-
ceptions which ought to be removed ; and it would be
probably considered by many persons an improvement if
the larger space allotted to it were obtained at the ex-
pense of the refutation of the fallacy of the exploded
Ptolemaic system,
We do not meet with any reference to outbursts
of light on the surface of the sun; so interesting a
proving that the brilliancy of the photosphere may be far
outshone, and so suggestive as to their possible origin.
The author’s usual lucidity is scarcely exemplified in
the explanation of phases in p. 63, ae we venture to
think a more familiar treatment might have been adopted-
The larger map by Beer and Madler, notwithstanding
its able reduction by Neison, might have found place in
the enumeration of aids to selenographical study.
There seems a little confusion on p. 77 between Sir W.
Herschel’s idea that Aristarchus and some other spots
visible in the earthshine were volcanoes in actual eruption,
and the observations by Schréter and others of minute
illuminations on the dark side, which sec.:ned to point to
an unreflected origin, and are still, unlike the former, not
accounted for.
With regard to Mercury, we feel it right to say that Sir
W. Herschel’s failure’ fo confirm the statements ot
Schréter may not be entitled to much weight ; as is suffi-
ciently indicated by their controversy in the PAz/. Trans.
respecting the phenomena of Venus. As far as this
latter planet is concerned, it may be concluded, without
accepting the measures of Schréter, that the irregularities
P
310
We TORE
[ Feb. 1, 1883
witnessed by many observers prove the existence of
elevations much more considerable than any upon the
earth: as to Mercury, notwithstanding Schréter’s de-
ficiency as an artist, and his occasional mistakes of pre-
conception, his observations are always too honest and
faithful to be set wholly aside ; and we are not sure that
the uselessness of devoting time to this planet may not
be found a mistake at some future day.
As to the physical condition of Mars, we venture to
think that our author has dealt very fairly and judiciously
with a subject of controversy, which might have become
less pleasant but for the unassuming modesty of Schia-
parelli and the liberal candour of Green, so honourable to
each of them. We are not sure that it is always borne in
mind, how much of the difference may have been due to
the early return of the English observer from Madeira to
a far inferior climate, previous to the development of the
additional features which were subsequently perceived at
Milan, and which may possibly, like their strange gemina-
tion, become more visible from prolonged solar influence,
The less favourable position of the planet at the next
opposition is much to be regretted; but Schiaparelli’s
experience has warned us that increase of distance may
possibly be compensated by improvement in definition :
to which we would add on the one hand the constantly
verified adage of Sir W. Herschel, that “ when an object
is once discovered by a superior power, an inferior one
will suffice to see it afterwards” ; and on the other, the
advantage which may be expected from the 18 inches of
aperture with which the Italian Government are about to
mark their appreciation of their astronomer’s ability, and
their willingness to enable him to meet the emergency.
It will be matter of regret, if in this honourable contest no
corresponding preparation should be made among our-
selves; though it is difficult indeed to counteract the
disadvantage of the English sky. It is not easy to forecast
the result ; but we think there are indications that possibly
the supposed terrestrial analogy has been pushed quite
far enough. As to the interesting question of the habita-
bility of Mars by beings like ourselves, it deserves more
attention than it perhaps has often received, that none of
.the supposed correspondence with our own constitution
could be maintained excepting on the supposition of a
higher internal temperature on the, globe of Mars, or pos-
sibly a very different composition of atmosphere. We
are not so much struck as the author with the progressive
diminution of the measured diameter of Mars effected by
the employment of modern instruments; at least Schroter’s
determination by the mode of projection in 1798 scarcely
exceeds by 05 that adopted by Newcomb for 1850.
Irradiation no doubt is a fact; and a very troublesome
one; but we suspect that its effects have been sometimes
over-estimated, or mixed up with those of diffraction ;
and possibly the subject might bear further investigation.
As to the internal heat of Jupiter, so interesting an
inquiry ought not to have been left so long in abeyance.
If it exists, it would hardly be less capable of detection
than that of Arcturus; and the bolometer of Langley
seems to offer a fair chance for the discovery. The satel-
lite whose strange reappearance is so difficult of explana-
tion was, it will be found, about to enter on transit instead
of suffering occultation. It may be noted, ex passant,
that a telescope must have had a marvellous power of
indistinctness, that could show M. Flammarion the third
satellite with a disc as large as that of Uranus (p. 409).
It seems a pity that the traditional misrepresentation
of the ball of Saturn, at p. 358, as carrying a faint shadow
on one side, should still be adhered to; and we may
venture to suggest that there is a good deal of inequality
in the execution of the diagrams in various parts of the
book.
We are confident that the author will not misunder-
stand our remarks, or hesitate to accept our assurances
that they are made in the most friendly spirit. If we
are in error, he is fully able to hold his own; and he
has our cordial wishes not only for his success on the
present occasion, but for the extension of his labours, at
no distant time, to a wider review of the glorious works
of Nature.
THE ZOOLOGICAL RECORD
The Zoological Record for 1881. Being Vol. xviii. of the
“Record of Zoological Literature.” Edited by E. C.
Rye. (London : John Van Voorst, 1882.)
T is gratifying to be able to announce that the perse-
vering efforts of the editor of the Zoological Record
to publish the record of one year’s work before the ter-
mination of the next year have been at last crowned with
success ; nor do we doubt but that this very desirable
effort will be continued, and indeed become even less
difficult with the advance of time, so that through the
good will of the Recorders the date of publication will
recede backwards from December to September or August
in each year, enabling the worker to begin his autumn
session with the volume in his hand. The facilities of
intercourse are now so great with all parts of the world,
that the Transactions and Proceedings really published
in the month of December in any one year can be, nay
are on our bookshelves in these British Isles, long ere
the spring is on its wane, and no doubt long ere 1882
was out, some of the Recorders of this very volume had
the record for that year well in hand. However grea
may be our expectations for the future we cordially wel-
come this present volume, and acknowledge that our
thanks are due to both Editor and Recorders for what they
have already done.
To those who have time for reflection and dare to look
back over those eighteen years since Dr. Giinther and his
friends launched this work upon the world of science, the
thought naturally arises of the vastness of the amount of
work that is year after year being accomplished without
apparertly in any way leading to exhaustion. The Editor’s
own comments are naturally in the volume very few, but
how full of meaning is the following: “This volume is
36 pages longer than its predecessor,” that is, even the
very enumeration of the zoological literature of 1881 re-
quires about 800 closely printed pages ; and again we
read, “the number of new genera and sub-genera con-
tained in the present volume is 1438”—a simply appalling
number. The Insecta are credited with 543, and the Pro-
tozoa with 517 of these genera. An enthusiastic zoologist
once contemplated the posting up to date of Agassiz’s
“ Nomenclator Zoologicus,’’ that was when the generic
increase was some 400 to 500 a year; what would he
Feb. 1, 1883 |
say or think now of these new births at the average of
over 1000 a year. The “examination of this large number
of new names, as regards prior occupation,” the Editor
states was necessarily superficial, we quite sympathise
with him; before we read his footnote we rushed into
the subject with the A’s, but on turning over to page 2 we
saw how matters stood and we gave the critical business
up at once, and it was obvious at a glance that the
greatest genus maker of the year was Ernest Haeckel.
The year 1881 showed a lull so far as the works on
recent Mammalia were concerned—at least in comparison
with 1880—but the flood of new extinct mammalian forms
from North America shows no sign of abatement. In
1881 the lamented Balfour completed his excellent and
masterlike treatise on Embryology. The account of the
Mammalia in Messrs. Salvin and Godman’s work on the
Biology of Central America has been finished, and Peters
and Doria have published an important work on the
Mammals of New Guinea.
The contribution to Bird Literature has been consider-
able, and the year was marked by the appearance of two
more volumes of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British
Museum (vols. v. and vi.). Among the Reptiles, Batra-
chians, and Fishes, no work of any very special import-
ance seems to have appeared. Dr. von Martens still
records the Mollusca and Crustacea. The record of the
former group extends to 108 pages, and of the latter to 38
pages ; both are most painstakingly executed.
The literature of the Arachnida is more extensive than
usual, and the year’s work is marked by the appearance
of several important contributions by the Recorder,
Holmberg, Karsch, Keyserling, Koch, Pavesi, Simon,
and Thorell, so that it is evident that the Arachnid
treasures of the world are at last being worked. Among
the Myriopods, Cantoni’s Monograph of the Lombardy
forms seems to call for notice.
The enormous group of Insecta is recorded by Mr.
Kirby, with the exception of the Neuroptera and Ortho-
ptera, which fall to the skilled hands of Mr. McLachlan.
The Vermes and Echinoderms are recorded by Prof.
Jeffrey Bell; the Ccelenterata by A. G. Bourne and
Sydney J. Hickson. It is remarkable that not a single
new genus or species of any recent Octactiniz seems to
have appeared in 1883, nor indeed any separate paper on
the group. The Sponges and Protozoa have engaged the
attention of Stuart O. Ridley; while nothing very
striking seems to occur among the Sponge literature.
Kent’s Manual of Infusoria, and Haeckel’s Prodomus of
the Radiolaria mark the year ; among the Protozoa, the
latter work records 483 new genera and 2000 new species
—an almost embarassing number of pretty things.
We are truly glad that the importance of this Record
is still practically witnessed to by the generous help ren-
dered to the Zoological Record Association by the British
Association for the Advancement of Science and by the
Grant Committee of the Royal Society.
OUR BOOK SHELF
The Brewer, Distiller, and Wine Manufacturer. (London :
J. and A. Churchill, 1883.)
THE little work before us is the first of a series
of technological handbooks to be issued by the pub-
NATURE
shill
lishers, “each of which will be complete in itself, will
appear in a handy form and at a low price.’’ Practically
they will be a re-issue of articles in Cooley’s “‘Cyclopedia
of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the
Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades,” with a
somewhat fuller treatment and with reference to the more
recent developments which have taken place in industrial
processes. As this, the first of these handbooks, treats of
Alcohol and Alcoholimetry, Brewing and Beer, Cider,
Liqueurs and Cordials, Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors,
and lastly, Wine and Wine Making, necessarily much of
the Encyclopedic form of treatment must remain, when
such important industries are discussed in so small a
compass.
Though we cannot endorse the statement of the pub-
lishers, that each handbook will be comp/efe in itself, we
are compelled to admit that the Editor has given a
remarkably well condensed /réczs of what has been
written on industrial fermentation frocesses.
The first chapter describes the sources of alcohol, its
detection in liquids, and its estimation by volume and by
weight : numerous tables are given for this purpose. In
addition to the usual distillation process, the methods of
Balling, Gréning, Brossard- Vidal, Silbermann, Geissler,
and others are described; this part of the book must
prove of much use to the technologist.
Brewing is described in fifty pages ; this is sufficient to
show how condensed the treatment of one of the largest
industries in the kingdom must necessarily be. Brief
though it be the Editor deserves the highest praise for the
manner in which he has condensed the vast mass of facts
now accumulated in this department of fermentation
chemistry. In addition to the description of the English
processes of malting, mashing, and fermentation, a brief
account is given of the German Lager beer system now
almost universal on the continents of Europe and North
America. This is supplemented by a large number of
elaborate analyses of English and ‘‘ Lager” beers, show-
ing the characteristic differences in the products of the
two methods. Brief though this part of the handbook is,
it will be found of interest to the general reader and of
value to the practical brewer, who may not have hitherto
given much attention to the scientific part of his manu-
facturing process.
In Chapter V. we have a full account of the mashing
and fermentation processes adopted by the distiller and
rectifier, including the methods followed by the latter to
remove some of the fusel oils and to flavour ‘still”’ spirit
so as to produce gins, whiskies, &c., of various taste and
aroma. A useful feature in this part of the work will be
found in the descriptions and drawings of the stills of
Coffey, Siemens, Derosne, Laugier, Dorn, Pistorius,
Pontifex and Wood, and others; this will be found of
much interest to distillers, more especially in our colonies,
where technical information is more difficult to obtain
than in the old country.
The sixth and last chapter treats of Wine and its Manu-
facture.
After a brief description of the soils and manures
best suited to the culture of the vine, we have an enume-
ration and description of some of the better known wines,
such as Lafitte, Latour, Margaux, Haut Brion, Leoville,
and other red wines of the Gironde, and of the white
Graves, as Sauterne, Barsac, Chateau Yquem, Latour,
&c.; of the Burgundies, Romanée Conti, Chambertin,
Clos Vougeot, Clos St. George, and La Tache, and of
some of the wines of the Champagne, Beaujolais and
other vine districts of France.
A brief account is given of the so-called Hocks of the
Rhine, and those of the valleys of the Moselle, Ahn, and
other rivers of Germany. In the description given of
wine-making some use is made of the invaluable treatise
by Messrs. Dupré and Thudichum (“On the Origin,
Nature, and Varieties of Wine,’’ Macmillan), a work
312
which will amply. repay the technologist who con-
sults it.
In conclusion we may add that this little book, though
far from being “complete,” or exhaustive of any one
subject it treats of, is yet compiled with great care and
discrimination by the Editor, and will be found of much
value by those unable to consult larger treatises or
original papers. eres
Il Potentiale Elettrico nell? Insegnamento Elementare
della Elettrostatica. Per A. Serpieri, Prof. di Fisica
nella Universita e nel Liceo Raffaelo di Urbino.
(Milano, 1882.)
THIS treatise is an elementary exposition of the theory
of the Potential in its application to Electrostatical Phe-
nomena. It is founded, as we learn from the preface, on
the authors l-ctures at the Raphael Lyceum of Urbino;
and is intended for the use of the Lyceums and Technical
institutes of Italy. It is well known to all who interest
themselves in such matters that a promising young school
of physicists has recently been springing up in Italy, and
that those who wish to be abreast of their time can no
longer neglect the Italian scientific literature. If the
treatise of Prof. Serpieri may be taken as a fair specimen
of the scientific instruction given in the secondary schools
of Italy, it is clear that this harvest of physicists is due
in no small degree to careful sowing.
The work deserves its title of Elementary, inasmuch as
nothing is demanded of the student beyond a knowledge
of elementary geometry and algebra, and a slight ac-
quaintance with trigonometry. The author is mistaken,
however, in supposing that an elementary treatment of
eiectrical theory has not hitherto been attempted; for
the English work of Cumming, published some six years
ago, is almost identical in its aims with his own.
Although Cumming’s treatise is an excellent one in many
ways, we cannot help thinking that the Italian one is
better fitted for the purposes of elementary instruction.
Prof. Serpieri appears to us to have happily kept the
middle way alike between poverty and redundance of
matter, and between excess of mathematical and excess
of merely experimental detail.
In the first four chapters are developed the relation
between potential and charge, and the theory of lines of
force and equipotential surfaces. The fifth, sixth, and
seventh chapters contain the theory of capacity, of elec-
trostatic induction, and of the measure of potential. The
eighth chapter contains a short sketch of the centimetre-
gramme-second system of uniis, now universally adopted
in accordance with the decision of the Electrical Congress
at Paris ; farther details on this all-important matter are
given in one of the appendices, and a considerable
number of numerical examples is providéd to familiarise
the student with the practical use of the system. The
last seven chapters are devoted to the theory of con-
densers. Not only is the theory explained in a simple
and interesting way, but abundance of experimental
results and numerical illustrations are given to enable the
learner to judge how far the mathematical theory repre-
sents the actual facts. The account of the experiments
of Villari on the heat developed in the electric spark
under various circumstances is interesting, and would
probably be new to most English readers.
The main fault we have to find with Prof. Serpieri’s work
is that he has a tendency to cite second-hand authorities
where it would have heen quite as easy, more instructive
for his youthful readers, and ore just to give the original
sources. Again, why of all the results concerning specific
inductive capacity should he quote (p. 69) those of Gordon
only, which have been precisely the most questioned, and
why on the same page should the results of Boltzmann
for the specific inductive capacity of gases not be coupled
with the name of their author?
NATURE
[ Fed. 1, 1883
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can hz undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|
Hovering of Birds
In your last number I observe an interesting letter on the
‘* Hovering of Birds,” by Mr. Hubert Airy. In that letter he
refers to an opinion which I have expressed, that this ‘‘hover-
ing” capnot be accounted for by the mere supporting agency of
an upward current of air. The writer quotes this opinion as it
was expressed in a letter to you (NATURE, vol. x. p. 262). But
he does not seem to have read the fuller explanation which 1
have given on this subject in Chapter III. of the ‘‘ Reign of
Law.” To that chapter I must refer your correspondent for an
explanation, which shows that hovering can be, and is perpetu-
ally accomplished under the ordinary conditions of horizontal
currents of air. It is very commonly performed (especially) by
the whole tribe of Terns, or sea-swallows, over the surface of
the sea, where there are no hills or mountains to deflect aérial
currents from the usual horizontal course.
Mr, Airy himself uses words which indicate that this agency
of upward currents is quite superfluous. He says: ‘‘It is easy
to see that a bird, with the exquisite muscular sense that every
act of flight demands and denotes, might so adapt the balance
of its body, and the slope of its wing-surface to the wind, as to
remain motionless in relation to the earth.” He prefaces these
words by these others : ‘‘ given such a slant upward current.”
But no such ‘‘ gift” is needed. The bird has only to slope his
wing-surfaces to the current, and precisely the same effect is
produced as if the current had been otherwise ‘‘sloped” up-
wards against a horizontal wing-surface. Mr, Airy’s own letter
contains an*excellent explanation of this correspondence.
Cannes, France, January 29 ARGYLL
WITH respect to Mr. Hubert Airy’s interesting note (vol. xxvii,
p. 294), I beg to say that I have very often seen the kestrel
hovering over the perfectly level meadows of Middlesex with
obvious ease, where no undulation of the ground could possibly
affect the currents of air, Of the twelve instances Mr. Airy
enumerates, I see only six refer to hawks (species undetermined),
so this fact must be taken into consideration ; the conduct of
rooks and crows under such circumstances seems to me to come
under quite a different category from that of hawks, and in some
instances gulls, thus ‘‘ prospecting” for their prey. Mr. Airy
does not ignore this aspect of the question, but I think that by
confusing objective with subjective ‘‘ hovering ” he complicates
his theory. Henry T. WHARTON
39, St. George’s Road, Kilburn, N.W., January 27
Action of Light on India-rubber
Ir may be in the recollection of some of your readers, that in
1876 I pointed out that the deterioration of ebonite surfaces was
due to the combined action of light and air. Some time after-
wards it was remarked to me that our laboratory (an old green-
house) was too light, and as a result all our india-rubber tubes
would rapidly deteriorate. This led me to submit some pieces
of ordinary black india-rubber to the same treatment as the
ebonite in the former experiments. On October 11, 1879, four
pieces.of caoutchouc connector of 5 mm. internal diameter were
taken, two were placed in test-tubes plugged with cotton-wool,
and the remaining two inclosed in hermetically sealed tubes.
One of the sealed tubes, and one of those plugged with cotton
wool were placed in a dark drawer, and the other pair in the
laboratory window, with a north aspect, and in such a position
that they were not under the influence of direct sunlight in the
summer. To-day the specimens were examined. Both the
sealed tubes were found to be slightly moist inside, and on
opening them an organic odour, like that of an india-rubber
shop, was perceived. The caoutchouc which had been exposed
to air and light, was covered with a thin brown coating, and on
being bent this coating cracked ; the end which had been most
| exposed to the light was rather brittle, and could not be stretched
i
"alg
Feb. 1, 1883 |
NATURE
sg
without splitting. The other three specimens were unaltered.
All four specimens were slightly acid to test paper, but the
quantity of acid was too small to be determined.
Mareck (Chem. News, xlvii. 25, from Zettschr. fiir Anal.
Chem, xxi.), has lately recommended the preservation of caout-
chouc tubes, by keeping them in water when not in use. This
is, no doubt, efficacious in consequence of the exclusion of air.
Cooper’s Hill, January 22 Herbert McLEoD
A Possible Cause of the Extinction of the Horses of
the Post-Tertiary
A TRAVELLER in the Park region of northern Colorado, and
the central portion of Wyoming, fifteen years ago, could not fail
to notice the immense numbers of skulls and other bones of
bisons in districts at that time no longer frequented by these
animals, Scattered specimens were to be seen in all directions,
some of them bearing marks of bullet and knife which left no
doubt as to the agent of destruction, Others were to be found
in numbers in localities which suggested that they had been sur-
prised by death while seeking shelter from the weather rather
than the human destroyer. In such cases, tumbled and mixed
by the scavengers, they were thickly strewed over small areas,
and the contour of the surface often was such as to bring them
closer together wiih the movement of water or soil, When
asked the cause of the wholesale slaughter, the reply of the
natives was almost invariably ‘‘ the hunters killed a great many,
but the most died in the deep snow and cold weather some
twenty-five years ago.”
The great losses experienced by the cattle men of the Medi-
cine Bow and Elk Mountain region, only a couple of winters
ago, are too recent to have been forgotten. The next spring
and summer the unfortunate owner found the carcases of his
cattle in positions similar to those occupied by the bands of
bisons. In small parties they had huddled in sheltered basins
or nooks, and some, upheld by the snow through the winter,
were still on their feet. Since then these ‘‘bone yards” have
become similar in appearance to those of earlier date.
Last summer the kind: ess of Prof. Agassiz enabled me to
make some discoveries in the Mauvaises Terres of the eastern
slope of the Rocky Mountains which vividly brought to mind
the pockets full of recent skeletons. Sections in the Post-
Tertiary beds here and there disclosed groups or herds of fossil
horses (Zgwus) in circumstances so similar as to leave no alterna-
tive to the conclusion that the same causes had filled the bone
basins in the olden and in most recent time.
Stripped of the strata above them, the contour of the surface
would have been similar, and the old-time Coyotes in their
feasting had evidently brought about an equal amount of con-
fusion in the remains. About the time of the deposition of
these fossils the horses became extinct. Wy is still an open
question. Such evidence as was gathered there Las led to the
belief that, in that region at least, occasional ‘‘ cold waves” of
days—perhaps weeks in duration, which deep snows caused, or
were the principal causes of the extermination of the horses,
Other causes that may be suggested are these: lack of water,
and an extended glacial period. A .consideration of the charac-
ter of the deposits, the drainage of the mountains at the time,
the absence in these beds of proof of a glacial period affecting
them since, and the continued existence in the same locality of
other creatures, somewhat less sensitive to the cold, would seem
to be sufficient objections to their acceptance. The tradition of
the Indians, that there is a winter of terrible destructicn to the
animals once or twice in the lifetime of a man—say once in
about forty years—appears to be confirmed by the testimony of
the whites. A few degrees or a few days added to the measure
of the ‘‘ wave,” or ‘‘blizzard,” and a few inches added to the
depth of the snow would suffice to sweep the herds from the
pastures. Weather of this character is a pcssibility every winter
in the Bad Lands, though we hardly expect it. Apparently the
rocks contain evidence of such weather in post-Tertiary times.
And it may not have differed so very much from that we are
having to-day. S. GARMAN
Cambridge, Mass., U.S., January 12
Suicide of Scorpions
SPEAKING of scorpion suicide, Mr. G. J. Romanes in his
“ Knimal Intelligence writes : ‘Still I think that so remarkable
a‘ fact unquestionably demands further corroboration before we
shall be justified in accepting it unreservedly” (p. 225). Some
years ago I made some experiments and observations on a
smaller and a larger species of scorpion found on the Cape
Peninsula. I am unable to ascertain the specific names; the
smaller are found beneath the bark of decaying tree-stumps, the
larger, which often weigh upwards of seventy grains, are found
beneath stones and ant-balls. I have recently resumed these
experiments and observations. The conclusion I come to is
that neither of these species have any suicidal instinct, Only in
one case have I found, after death, any sign of such a wound as
the sting might inflict; in this case, though one of the tergal
plates showed a largich irregular fracture, the wound did not
seem a fresh one, and was dry and apparently skinned over; in
this cave, too, though I watched the death of the scorpion
(caused by the gradual application of heat to the bottom of the
glass vessel in which the creature was inclosed), I was not able
to detect anything lke the act of suicide. TI will now briefly
describe the nature of my experiments.
1, Condensing a sun-beam on various parts of the scorpion’s
body. The creatures always struck with the sting round, across,
and over the heated spot, and seemed to try and remove the
source of irritation.
2. Heating ina glass bottle. As this admits of most careful
watching, I have killed some twenty or thirty individuals in this
way. ‘The creatures very commonly pass the sting over the
body as if to remove some irritant. The poison exudes from the
point of the sting aid there coagulates.
3. Surrounding with fire or red hot embers. I first took a
newspaper, mcistened a ring about a foot in diameter with alco-
hol, and placed a scorpion within the ring. The paper was, by
this tive, ignited. He walked without hesitation ihrough the
fire, and tricd to make his escape. I made a ring of red-hot
wood-embers, and placed a scorjion in the middle. He pushed
his way out, displacing two of the embers. I made a better
fire-wall, and put him in the middle again. He crept over the
embers. I placed him in the midst of a ring of embers on the
flat and much-heated stones of the fire-place. He crept over
the embers again, but this time got baked before he could
e: cape.
4. Placing in burning alcohol. I placed a layer of an eighth
of an inch of alcohol in a shallow vessel, lit the alcohol, and
placed the scorpion in the midst of the burning spirit.
5. Placing in concentrated sulphuric acid. I moistened the
bottom of a large beaker with a very thin layer of concentrated
sulphuric acid, and put in a scorpion, The creature died in
about ten minutes. (I have also tried other strong acids, a con-
centrated solution of sodium hydrate, and a potassium cyanide
solution.)
6. Burning phosphorus on the creature’s body. I placed a
small pellet of phosphorus near the root of the scorpion’s tail,
and lit the ;hosphorus with a touch of a heated wire. The
creature tried to remove the phosphorus with its sting, carrying
away some of the burning material.
7. Drowning in water, alcohol, and ether.
8. Placing in a bottle with a piece of cotton-wool moistened
with benzere.
g. Exposing to sudden light. I have not tried special experi-
ments as to this point, but have, on turning over an ant-ball,
suddenly exposed a scorpion, hitherto in complete or almest
complete darkness, to the full glare of Scuth African sunshine.
Io. Treating with a series of electric shocks.
11. General and exasperating courses of worry.
I think it will be admitted that some of these experiments
were sufficiently barbarous (the sixth is positively sickening) to
induce any scorpion who had the slightest suicidal tendency to
find relief in self destruction. I bave in all cases repeated
the experiments on several individuals. I have in nearly all
cases examined the dead scorpion with a lens. My belief is that
the efforts made by the scorpion to remove the source of irrita-
tion are put down by thcse who are not accustomed to accurate
observation as efforts at self-destruction. On one occasion I
called in one of my servants to watch the death of a scorpion by
gradually heating it in a glass bottle. The creature at once
began moving its sting across and over its back, upon which my
servant exclaimed, ‘‘See it is stinging itself.” Ido not wish to
imply that all the cases of alleged scorpion suicide are merely
instances of careless observation, All I wish to do in this
note is to record my individual experience, and to state clearly
that after making a series of observations as carefully as I could
314
ona large number of individuals, I cannot place on record a
single instance of clear and unmistakable scorpion suicide.
Rondebosch, January 1 C. LtoyD MorGAN
Mimicry in Moths
I HAVE read with great interest the observations of the Duke
of Argyll on Mimicry in Moths. I remember more than one
similar occurrence during my travels. The most curious was
as follows :—
Whilst in Japan, a messmate brought on board, in an
ordinary po’, a beautiful trained shrub with a leaf much
resembling that of an orange. It was placed on the ward room
table where we all sat, the steward removed it from the table to
the top of an harmonium at least three times a day, and I
watered it when required, and often examined.and admired it ;
in about eight or ten days it began to show signs of failing ;
and, thinking it might be infected with spider or green fly, I
examined it carefully, and in doing so I disturbed a large green
smooth-skinned caterpillar. Like all animals on board ship he
soon became a great favourite, and we often asked strangers to
point him out and in no case did they succeed.
He always lay along the edge of the leaf, with his head to the
point and eat at each bite, exactly the breadth necessary to pre-
serve the contour of the leaf as far as possible, when he reached
the point, by a few sharp convulsions he returned to the stem
and began another row. Whenhe had finished one half of the
leaf he began the other; and when nothing but the centre rib of
the leaf was left he eat backwards along the stem. He was the
most economical feeder I ever saw, only a very little bit of the
centre rib of the leaf was bitten off and fell to the ground, and
the hard stem of the leaf was left.
I soon observed that he could assume the exact shade of the
leaf he was feeding on, and I frequently shifted him and watched
the process.
In due time he assumed the chrysalis form; he partly sus-
pended, partly glued, himself to the stem of the plant and it
was very difficult to detect him; but not nearly so difficult as in
the caterpillar state.
He remained a very short time in the pupa, and one day I
was called by a-messmate who informed me that ‘‘ My beastly bug
had hatched out,” and at first I thought this was the case, as a
beautiful black and gold butterfly was expanding his wings and
legs on the table, and soon took wing, but was captured and
handed over to our buz collector, who by the way took no
interest whatever in the prior stages ; he was neither butterfly,
moth, nor beetle, so nothing to him.
I went to observe how he had broken out of the sheath and
was astonished to find that my chrysalis was safe and sound, the
butterfly we had certainly did not come from it. Then where
did it come from? We were still in Yokohama harbour, and it
was a common occurrence that insects flew off to the ships.
But how did a butterfly in the state I saw this one get on the
ward room table? I came to the conclusion that the pupa had
been attached to the plant or pot; I did not anticipate what
took place. Ina few days another butterfly, to all appearance
the brother of the first one, was seen (but not by me), to emerge
from the chrysalis we had at first observed; and I have no
doubt the first insect had eluded all our prying, and that there
were two caterpillars all the time on the plant.
I do not get NATURE until it isa fortnight old, and I have
waited with anxiety to see if any one better able than I am would
endeavour to show that mere physical causation is sufficient to
account for all the phenomena disclosed by the Duke's admirable
observation of the moth.
I look upon the Duke as one of the best observers of Nature
we haye, and his opinions must carry great weight ; and believing
as I do that in the Theory of Natural Selection the future exist-
ence of our race and all hope of advancement in morality is
bound up, Iam anxious that his doubts on this subject should
not carry weight with others.
I think the whole question lies in this—were either of these
caterpillars, or the Duke’s moth perfect, or even the most perfect
of their kind ?
I believe Ihave had more opportunity of observing cases of
mimicry than his Grace has, and I have always found that the
individuals vary as much in these forms of life as in any other.
At Labuan one of the Engineers of the coal works sent a native
out andin half an hour he returned with seven leaf-insects. I
had picked one up in my walk from the settlement, and although
at first each appeared a perfect leaf to my eye, I soon found
NATURE
[ Fed. 1, 1883
great differences between the individuals; some being much
better specimens than others—just as all sheep are not sheepish
to the shepherd—and I think it is quite possible that not one of
these eight insects would deceive the eye of an average natural
enemy. Let us suppose that anyone of these were so perfect as
a mimic, that it would deceive this enemy, it might be wanting in
the advantage of perfect rest whilst under inspection, and thus
be detected. It was by the movement of the insect that I was
enabled to get the one I picked up. The Duke’s moth was
betrayed by his ‘‘ beaded eyes and thorax ;” and last of all,
there was a small hole in the covering of the bright wings, which
the Duke considers one of the mysteries of nature, and through
all the mimicry of this moth the Duke with very little trouble
detects the imposter ; as far as he was concerned, all the effort
of nature was wasted. If I may be allowed the paradox, it is
only when one has come to see what a botch nature has made of
its work that its beauties can be properly appreciated. I admire
quite as much the quickness of eye that belongs to the lizard
that may have been on the watch to capture the moth ; these
‘‘mysteries ” have gone on together ; and wheie a moth ora
lizard failed ever so little it went down whilst its better appointed
brother was the fittest to survive. Until the mind has taken in
how constant the battle is, how small the advantages must be
when the enemy is travelling the same path, it is difficult to
resist the feeling of wonder and the desire to account for all by
a fat of creation.
I remember some remarks by the Duke of Argyll in a similar
strain, when he observed three water-oozels take the water for the
first time. He was struck with the way in which they all dived
and swam, so perfectly ; but I think he failed to consider this
view of the matter—did any one of these surpass the others in
the art, even were his advantage so little that the Duke was
unable to detect it? if so, then provided he was equal of his
brothers in all other respects, he was the fittest to survive ; and
as we evolutionists only claim little by little ; its ordinary phrases
are no lean and empty formula to me.
Nothing but the conviction that, in the new light thrown on
nature by Charles Darwin and his numerous disciples, lies the
happiness or misery of our race, would have emboldened me,
so indifferently educated for the task, to take up the subject
and your time. DUNCAN STEWART
Knockrioch, January 25
Clerk-Maxwell on Stress
CAN any of your readers give me a reference to the note in
which Maxwell, commenting on or replying to a correspondent
of Nature, gave his ideas as to the nature of stress in a beam
or cord ? Ate
The Comet
May Task space to make some observations about the orbit of
the Great Comet of 1882?
Looking on the many elements pnblished in NATURE, in the
Dunecht Circulars, and in the Astronomische Nachrichten, 1 find
very great differences between one and another. Especially the
elliptical elements calculated by Mr. S. C. Chandler, Mr. Frisby,
Mr. Kreutz, and Mr. Morrison present periods peculiarly
different.
Now this fact can be produced 1ut by two causes ; either it may
be that the different observers considered different parts of the
nucleus as the brightest part; or it may be that the movement
of the comet has been much perturbed by some bodies of the
solar system.
The first hypothesis is very probable, as you remark in the
“ Astronomical Column” in NATURE, vol. xxvil. p. 300.
The division of the head in two, and perhaps three portions,
is a fact well observed by many astronomers, and well shown in
the drawings published by Mr. A. A. Common, Dr. Doberck,
and Mr. W. T, Sampson in NATuRE, vol. xxvii, pp. 109, 129,
and 150.
But I observed that with small magnifying power the appear-
ances of the brightest part of the head maintained always a
certain unity, which would not admit great mistakes in the
observations. Therefore it stems to me that, unless we suppose
considerable and unknown variations in the form of the nucleus,
only the difference of appreciation of the point observed can
hardly explain such a great, and I say regular, difference between
one orbit and another.
I say regular difference, because I remark a certain peculiarity.
Feb. 1, 1883]
NATURE 315
The first elliptical orbit calculated by Mr. J. C. Chandler, using
observations from September 18 to October 20, gave a period
of about 4000 years.
Afterwards Mr. Kreutz, using observations from September
8 to November 14, gave a period of 843 years, and lately Mr.
Morrison, keeping observations from September 19 to De-
cember 11, has an elliptical orbit with only 642°5 years.
This fact induces me to believe that an accurate study of the
perturbations of the motion of this comet may be as important
as it was for Biela’s comet.
It is my purpose to go, as far as I can, through a com-
plete discussion of all the observations, and I shall be very
glad if those of your readers, who are possessors of good un-
published remarks both about the appearance and about the
positions of the comet, would kindly let me know of them.
E, RIsToRI
13, Pembridge Crescent, Bayswater, W., January 30
The Aurora of November 17, 1882
I sHOULD like to ask H. J. H. Groneman whether he tried
to find out if a curved path for the auroral beam would agree
better with the observations than a straizht one; because, if it
was purely an auroral phenomenon, we should naturally expect
its path to be a curve, maintaining a uniform height above the
surface of the earth, and to be approximately a small circle
having its centre at the magnetic pole, this being the ordinary
position of the aurora] arches. Of course the motion of the
parts of the arch is often not exactly in this direction, because
the arch has frequenily a tran:verse motion in addition to the
movements that take place longitudinally ; and if there was any
such transverse motion in the case of this beam, that would
prevent its moving strictly along a parallel of magnetic latitude,
though it is hardly likely it would deviate far from it. It would
be well to ascertain whether such a motion would not agree
better with the observations of the beam than Dr. Grone-
man’s hypothesis that it was in a straight line; for the establish-
ment of a curved motion would do away with the idea that the
phenomenon was caused by a meteor.
In the other cases cited by Dr. Groneman of supposed
meteoric masses passing through our atmosphere and producing
auroral effects, the paths, so far as given, seem all to have been
approximately along the parallels of magnetic latitude, which
circumstance militates against their having had anything to do
with meteors, because these traverse the atmosphere in all direc-
tions, and would be just as likely to go in a northerly or
southerly direction as ia an easterly or westerly one. Possibly,
however, Dr. Groneman’s theory may be that meteors only
produce an auroral effect when they happen to go in such direc-
tions as may be calculated to produce it.
Sunderland, January 29 TuHos, WM. BACKHOUSE
As Dr. Groneman in his most interesting paper on the pheno-
menon of November 17 asks for my authority for the Swedish
observation, I may say that J merely saw it in the ‘‘ Notes” in
NATURE (vol. xxvii. p. 113). There seems a misprint in that
statement, however, as ‘‘ Eskibstuna, fifty-four miles south of
Stockholm ” would be in the sea, whereas Eski/stuna is fifty-four
miles west of Stockholm. i
As the spectroscope observation is said to put the auroral
nature of the ‘‘spindle” beyond doubt, I would observe that
until we know that gas excited by the passage of particles
through it at fifteen miles a second does not give the same
spectrum as when incandescent by an electric discharge, the
observation of certain lines cannot prove anything of the exciting
cause, Further, a good deal of the light might be reflected sun-
light, as that would be scattered over the whole spectrum, and
would thus be masked by the faint diffused spectrum of the
moonlight at the time. W. M. F. PETRIE
Bromley, Kent
REFERRING to Dr. G:oneman’s communication, possibly it
may be of service to say that at 9 p.m., October 14, 1870,
besides some ruddy aurore, chiefly in the west and north, I saw
a band having a very close resemblance to that figured in the illus-
tration, p. 297. It, however, stretched all the way across the sky
from west to east, and continued for some time without much
apparent alteration in figure or locality. An appointment called
me away before it had vanished. HENRY MUIRHEAD
Cambuslang, January 26
The Sea Serpent
I HAVE seen four or five times something like what your cor-
respondent describes and figures, at Llandudno, crossing from
the Little Ormes head across the bay, and have no doubt what-
ever that the phenomenon was simply a shoal of porpoises. I
never, however, saw the head your correspondent gives, but in
other respects what I have seen was exactly the same ; the
motions of porpoises might easily be taken for those of a serpent ;
once I saw them from the top of the Little Orme, they came very
near the base of the rock, and kept the line nearly half across
the bay. JOSEPH SIDEBOTHAM
Erlesdene, Bowdon, January 26
Influence of ‘‘ Environment” upon Plants
REFERRING to Prof, Thiselton Dyer’s letter on the above
subject in NATURE (vol. xxvii. p. 82), it may interest your
readers to know that I have had several trees of Acacta dealbata
30 feet high, in the open air, in flower for ten days past, but not
so fully as they will be in a fortnight’s time. I have had
Desfontainea spinosa in flower during the past eight months ; this
shrub is 64 feet high, and al-o in the open air.
Rosehill, Falmouth, January 29
Howarp Fox
THE PEAK OF TENERIFFE ACTIVE AGAIN
PRIVATE letter which I have just been privileged
to see, from: a native lady in Santa Cruz to her
sister in this country, tells how the inhabitants of that
present capital of Teneriffe had remarked for several
months past, that there was no snow on the upper part of
the Peak; though all the “ Cumbree,’’ or moderately high
land over the rest of the island, was whitened with it in
the usual manner for the season. But within the past
few days, “ fire, like three great bonfires’’ had been seen
on the summit of the Peak, and a lava stream had begun
to flow down from it.
Now this is interesting both chronologically, and choro-
graphically. Chronologically, I had remarked at p. 150
of my little book ‘‘ Teneriffe an Astronomer’s Experi-
ment,” (published in 1858), that the lava eruptions there
only break out about once in a century ; the last eruption
having occurred in 1798, and the previous one in 1703;
and now we have one in 1883, but in what part of the
mountainous island called Teneriffe has this last eruption
appeared ?
So far as I can gather from the said private letter, it
has issued, if not from the very mouth of the craterlet
which forms the tip-top of the Peak, yet from its sides or
foot where it stands on a filled up crater of much larger
size, otherwise to be looked on as the Peak’s proper and
effective summit; and it is from that crater’s lips that
have proceeded all the later, and yet prehistoric, streams
of black lava, which score and frill the Peak on every
side ; and contrast so strikingly with the far more ancient
red, and the still more ancient, more abundant, and once
hotter yellow streams from the older and larger craters
lower down, before ever yet, the Peak, or final cinder
heap, was formed.
But though in the Nature-primeval history of the
Mountain, the black, unoxydised lava streams of the
Peak, were its latest exudations, still nothing more of that
kind was locally expected to occur there within the human
period. This was partly because no addition to them had
been made since the Spanish Conquest ; and partly be-
cause the lava outflow of 1798 avoided the Peak, and
broke out on the Western side of the general mountain
mass, while the eruptions of 1703, which threatened the
town of Guimar to the south, and destroyed Garachico to
the north, filling up its once beautiful bay—broke forth
nearer the sea-level than the peak’s top. Whence the
idea arose, that the central vent of the peak must have
clogged up with time, and that nothing more than its
merry little jets of steam and sulphurous acid were to be
looked for in that quarter ; yet now we are told of red
hot lava pouring forth.
NATURE
| Feb. 1, 1883
Nevertheless on the whole, and in the long course of
time, the forces of the grand old volcano may be dying
out. For in an earlier work than any other that I had
ever met with before about Teneriffe, I have lately read a
very different account of the average state of the summit
crater, to what it has been in, ever since the days of modern
travelling and visitation began.
The book [ allude to, in the possession or the Earl of
Crawford and Balcarres, is an exquisitely illuminated MS.
volume in vellum, by the Chevalier Edmund Skory, of the
date of about 1582, and dedicated to that name so dear to
all the students of Natural Science, viz. :
“ Sir Frances Bacon,
“the knower and lover of all good Arts.”
The very first dipping into its old MS. pages brought
out a quaint proof of its antiquity, by its involuntary allu-
sions to Garachico, as a city that was necessarily the
island's chief delight and glory ; the seat of its Govern-
ment, the abode of its commerce, the place of all its ship-
ping, and of course, because it was so prosperous, destined
to live a queen for ever, and to be the joy of all peoples.
Yet it is now, and has beea for nearly two centuries as
deserted as another Tyre ; hardly fit to be the habitation
of foxes, a mere howling wilderness of black rocks, for a
few fishermen to spread their nets upon.
This happily preserved author then in the Earl’s valuable
library, who had abundant experience of Teneriffe more
than a century previous to Garachico’s Herculaneum fate,
speaks of —
« Great stones being, with noyse, fyre and smoke, many
‘times cast forthe’’ out of the craterlet on the top of the
peak.
Also that, ‘On the sommer time the fyers doe ofte
breake forth from out the hole in the topp of this hill ; into
which, if you throw a great stone, it soundeth as if a great
weight had fallen upon infinite store of hollow Brasse.”
C. P1azzi SMYTH
FOHANN BENEDICT LISTING
NE of the few remaining links that still continued to
connect our time with that in which Gauss had
made Gottingen one of the chief intellectual centres of
the civilised world has just been broken by the death of
Listing
If a man’s services to science were to be judged by the
mere number of his published papers, Listing would not
stand very high. He published little, and (it would seem)
was even indebted to another for the publication of the
discovery by which he is most widely known. This is
what is called, in Physiological Optics, Listing’s Law.
Stripped of mere technicalities, the law asserts that if a
person whose head remains fixed turns his eyes from an
object situated directly in front of the face to another, the
final position of each eye-ball is such as would have been
produced by rotation round an axis perpendicular alike to
the ray by which the first object was seen and to that by
which the second is seen. “Let us call that line in the |
retina, upon which the visible horizon is portrayed when
we look, with upright head, straight at the visible horizon,
the horizon of the retina. Now any ordinary person
would naturally suppose that if we, keeping our head in
an upright position, turn our eyes so as to look, say, up
and to the right, the horizon of the retina would remain
parallel to the real horizon. This is, however, not so. If
we turn our eyes straight up or straight down, straight to
the right or straight to the left, it is so, but not if we look
up or down, and also to the right or to the left. In ¢hese
eases there is a certain amount of what Helmholtz calls
“ wheel-turning ” (Aad-drehung) of the eye, by which the |
horizon of the retina is tilted so as to make an angle with |
the real horizon, The relation of this “ wheel-turning ”’
to the above-described motion of the optic axis is expressed
by Listing’s law, in a perfectly simple way, a way so
simple that it is only by going back to what we might
have thought nature should have done, and from that
point of view, looking at what the eye really does, and
considering the complexity of the problem, that we see
the ingenuity of Listing’s law, which is simple in the
extreme, and seems to agree with fact quite exactly,
except in the case of very short-sighted eyes.” The
physiologists of the time, unable to make out these things
for themselves, welcomed the assistance of the mathema-_
tician. And so it has always been in Germany. Few
are entirely ignorant of the immense accessions which
physical science owes to Helmholtz. Yet few are aware
that he decame a mathematician in order that he might
be able to carry out properly his physiological researches.
What a pregnant comment on the conduct of those
“ British geologists” who, not many years ago, treated
with outspoken contempt Thomson’s thermodynamic
investigations into the admissible lengths of geological
periods !
Passing over about a dozen short notes on various sub-
jects (published chiefly in the Gottingen “‘ Vachrichten”),
we come to the two masterpieces, on which (unless, as
we hope may prove to be the case, he have left much
unpublished matter) Listing’s fame must chiefly rest.
They seem scarcely to have been noticed in this country,
until attention was called to their contents by Clerk-
| Maxwell.
The first of these appeared in 1847, with the title
Vorstudien zur Topologie. \t formed part of a series,
which unfortunately extended to only two volumes, called
Géttinger Studien. The term Topology was introduced
by Listing to distinguish what may be called qualitative
| geometry from the ordinary geometry in which quantita-
tive relations chiefly are treated. The subject of knots
| furnishes a typical example of these merely qualitative
relations. For, once a knot is made on a cord, and the
free ends tied together, its nature remains unchangeable,
so long as the continuity of the string is maintained, and
| is therefore totally independent of the actual or relative
dimensions and form of any of its parts. Similarly when
two endless cords are linked together. It seems not un-
likely, though we can find no proof of it, that Listing
was led to such researches by the advice or example of
Gauss himself; for Gauss, so long ago as 1833, pointed
out their connection with his favourite electromagnetic
inquiries.
After a short introductory historical notice, which shows
that next to nothing had then been done in his subject,
Listing takes up the very interesting questions of Inversion
(Umkehrung) and Perversion (Verkehrung) of a geome-
trical figure, with specially valuable applications to images
as formed by various optical instruments. We cannot
enter into details, but we paraphrase one of his examples,
which is particularly instructive :—
“© A man on the opposite bank of a quiet lake appears in the
watery mirror perverted, while in an astronomical telescope he
appears inverted. Although both images show the head down
and the feet up, it is the dioptric one only w hich :—if we could
examine it :—would, like the original, show the heart on the left
side ; for the catoptric image would show it on the right side.
In type there is a difference between inverted letters and per-
verted ones. Thus the Roman V becomes, by inversion, the
Greek A; the Koman R perverted becomes the Russian $]; the
Roman L, perverted and inverted, becomes the Greek Tr. Com-
positors read perverted type ithout difficulty :—many newspaper
readers in England can read inverted type. * ** The numerals
on the scale of Gauss’ Magnetometer mus’, in order to appear to
the observer in their natural position, be both perverted and
inverted, in consequence of the perversion by reflection and the
inversion by the telescope.”
Listing next takes up helices of various kinds, and dis-
cusses the question as to which kind of screws should be
~~ SS 3? oe |
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Feb. 1, 1883]
called right-handed. His examples are chiefly taken
from vegetable spirals, such as those of the tendrils of
the convolvulus, the hop, the vine, &c., some from fir-
cones, some from snail-shells, others from the “snail”
in clock-work. He points out in great detail the confu-
sion which has been introduced in botanical works by the
want of a common nomenclature, and finally proposes to
found such a nomenclature on the forms of the Greek
6 and 2.
The consideration of double-threaded screws, twisted
bundles of fibres, &c., leads to the general theory of
paradromic winding. From this follow the properties of
a large class of knots which form “clear coils.” A special
example of these, given by Listing for threads, is the
well-known juggier’s trick of slitting a ring-formed band
up the middle, through its whole length, so that. instead
of separating into two parts, it remains in a continuous
ring. For this purpose it is only necessary to give a strip
of paper one Aa/f-twist before pasting the ends together.
If three half-twists be given, the paper still remains a
continuous band after slitting, but it cannot be opened
into a ring, it isin fact a trefoil knot. This remark of
Listing’s forms the sole basis of a work which recently
had a large sale in Vienna:—showing how, in emulation
of the celebrated Slade, to tie an irreducible knot on an
endless string ! ;
Listing next gives a few examples of the application of
his method to knots. It is greatly to be regretted that
this part of his paper is so very brief; and that the
opporiunity to which he deferred farther development
seems never to have arrived. The methods he has given
are, as is expressly stated by himself, only of limited
application, There seems to be little doubt, however,
that he was the first to make any really successful attempt
to overcome even the preliminary difficulties of this
unique and exceedingly perplexing subject.
The paper next gives examples of the curious problem:
—Given a figure consisting of lines, what is the smallest
number of coztinuous strokes of the pen by which it can
be described, no part of a line being gone over more
than once? Thus, for instance, the lines bounding the
64 squares of a chess-board can be drawn at 14 separate
pen-strokes. The solution of all such questions depends
at once on the enumeration of the points of the complex
figure at which an odd number of lines meet.
Then we have the question of the “area” of the pro-
jection of a knotted curve on a plane; that of the number
of iaterlinkings of the orbits of the asteroids ; and finally
some remarks on hemihedry in crystals. This paper,
which is throughout elementary, deserves careful trans-
lation into English very much more than do many
German writings on which that distinction has been
conferred.
We have left little space to notice Listing’s greatest
work, Der Census raiimlicher Complexe (G6ttingen
Abhandlungen, 1861). This is the less to be regretted,
because, as a whole, it is far too profound to be made
popular; and, besides, a fair idea of the nature of its
contents can be obtained from the introductory chapter
of Maxwell’s great work on Electricity. For there the
importance of Listing’s Cyclosis, Periphractic Regions,
&c., is fully recognised.
One point, however, which Maxwell did not require, we
may briefly mention.
In most works on Trigonometry there is given what is
called Euler's Theorem about polyhedra :—viz. that if §
be the number of solid angles of a polyhedron (not
self-cutting), # the number of its faces, and £ the
number of its edges, then
SEF =E--42,
The puzzle with us, when we were beginning mathe-
matics, used to be “ What is this mysterious 2, and how
came it into the formula?” Listing shows that this is a
NATURE
317
! mere case of a much more general theorem in which
corners, edges, faces, and regions of space, have a homo-
geneous numerical relation. Thus the mysterious 2, in
Euler’s formula, belongs to the two regions of space :—
the one inclosed by the polyhedron, the other (the A7-
plexum, as Listing calls it) being the rest of infinite
space. The reader, who wishes to have an elementary
notion of the higher forms of problems treated by Listing,
is advised to investigate the modification which Euler’s
formula would undergo if the polyhedron were (on the
whole) ring-shaped :—as, for instance, an anchor-ring, or
a plane slice of a thick cylindrical tube. Pi Gea;
CLAUDE BERNARD
1) NDER the title of ‘‘ Notes et Souvenirs sur Claude
3ernard,” Prof. Jousset de Bellesme, of the School
of Medicine of Nantes, has published an interesting
sketch of the life and labours of the great French physio-
logist, his master, which those who are admirers of
Claude Bernard will be glad to have their attention called
to. The essay was meant for the opening address to be
delivered at the commencement of the present session of
the Nantes School.. It seems to have been a little too
outspoken to meet with the approbation of the director
of the school. On the representation of a majority of
the professors of the school, it was forbidden to be de-
livered ex cathedrd by the Minister of Public Instruction,
in an Order dated October 28, 1882. In the pages of the
November number of the Revue Internationale des Sct-
ences biologigues, the address appeals in type to a wider
audience than the assembled professors and pupils of the
School of Nantes. Commencing with an extremely
graphic account of the author’s first introduction to
Claude Bernard, which concludes as follows :—“‘ With a
kind gesture of his head he bid meattend his laboratory ; I
thanked him, and was retiring. Just as I was about to close
the door, he, taking his attention off his experiment, turned
his eyes upon me and said, ‘ Have you read Descartes’
“‘Discours de la Méthode?” Read it, and read it again.”
At the time of this interview Claude Bernard was in his
forty-fifth year, and a great number of his striking works
had been achieved. Havingassisted for many years with
astonishment at the apparently inexhaustible series of
discoveries, Bellesme ventured to ask him one day, what
was the secret which enabled him to penetrate so easily
into things hidden from others. ‘‘Do not seek for a
mystery,” said Bernard, “ nothing can be simpler, or less
mysterious. My secret is open to all. When I was a
young man, I lived greedily on the writings of Descartes.
His ‘ Discourse’ always completely satisfied my soul, and
I was passionately fond of it. His rules appeared to me
so just, that I came to the conclusion that by a strict ob-
servance of them all questions might be solved. That is
all.”’? The most important of these rules, Bellesme reminds
his readers, is as follows :—‘‘ Ne recevoir jamais aucune
chose pour vraie qu’on ne la connaisse évidemment étre
telle, éviter soigneusement la Précipitation et la Prévention
dans ses jugements.” The author, then, in avery striking
manner, draws a series of comparisons between Descartes
and Cl. Bernard. Passing from this, he criticises some-
what severely the tendency of a modern school, which
without taking notice of the complexitiness of biological
phenomena, seem to have culminated in the idea that no
contagious disease can be conceived of which has not
some special microbe as its cause ; but the disciples of
this school, he urges, have not meditated on the third
rule of Descartes: ‘“ Conduire par ordre ses pensées, en
commencant par les objets les plus simples et les plus
aisés 2 connaitre, pour monter peu & peu comme par
degrés jusqu’a la connaissance des plus composés.”
We are afforded a little glimpse of the private life of
the great French physiologist, which explains a sadness
318
NATURE
| Fed. 1, 1883
about his domestic relations—possibly not understood by ,
many of his foreign admirers and friends. Married late |
in life—and even in his very youth never having had much
place in his mind for love—still his agreeable and quiet cha-
racter, his inexhaustible kindness, his open frank cordiality,
which so often secured the sympathy of others, seemed to
promise an abiding union between him and his wife, but
the liberal ideas of the husband, and his devotion to |
his very peculiar studies, did not please Madame Bernard. |
The state of things became irritable—intolerable ; even |
the birth of two children did not improve the condition of |
affairs. In 1869 the separationcame. The husband and |
the father was left alone; and from then to the end of |
his days he lived his solitary life in an apartment in the |
rue des Ecoles, vs a vis to the College of France. His |
life was all too full of work to leave much time for a morbid
appreciation of his solitude. Some slight rest was taken |
each year at the vintage period at Saint Julien, near
Villefranche, and he almost every year took part in the
French Association for the Advancement of Science, an
Association which he assisted in founding, and of which
he was the first president. During these latter ten years
Bellesme was his very constant visitor, his trusty friend.
They were times not to be recalled, he tells us, with-
out emotion, and he regards them as among the happiest
of his life. Often he would spend the evening with him by his
fire-sideinthe small bedroom, where by preference he would
pass the afternoon, and which his old servant would keep
with a quite canonical neatness. In the background was
the bed with its curtains of blue damask, to the left the
fireplace ; at the side of the bed, a large armchair in
which Claude Bernard would sit enveloped in a dressing-
gown, which, on his ample shoulders, took the folds and
plaits of an ancient toga; his head covered with a cap,
which he would often remove while talking, with an action
peculiar to him, as if his thoughts made him find it too
tight. Close to him, opposite the fire, a small square
table, on which the lamp is placed amidst a mountain of
reviews, drochures, new books sent to him from all parts. |
At this epoch of his life he read, however, but little, nor did
he writemuch. The volumes, which were published during
these last ten years, were composed of extempore lectures
of his, very carefully edited. “With our feet on the
fender,’’ writes Bellesme, “ our conversation would begin
with the striking events of the day, but speedily we turned
to physiology. This was almost the sole object of the
master’s thoughts. About this he would wax eloquent,
and speedily we would be entering on the higher regions
of the science. These were charming excursions on the
very mountain-tops, with the clear light of his mind illu-
minating all the dark valleys.” No wonder that time
was little thought of, or often altogether forgotten.
Up to 1865 Claude Bernard’s health was excellent.
About then he was attacked by an ill-defined chronic
enteritis, from which, after eighteen months, he had only
recovered. After this he had some rheumatic attacks,
which did not frighten his friends, as he still preserved
an alas deceitful appearance of vigorous health. Still
nothing seemed to presage his approaching end. Towards
the last days of 1877, after passing a long morning in the
damp and unhealthy laboratory of the College of France,
he returned home shivering, and with a feeling of intense
uneasiness. The next day nephritis set in; he kept his
room, and was not disquieted as to his state, but after a
few days it was evident to all that his career was run, On
February 7, 1878, after a six weeks of suffering, he lost
all consciousness, and expired on February 10, at half-
past nine o’clock in the evening. In Claude Bernard
France lost a noble son, one who cultivated science
purely and disinterestedly. His works will not ever
perish, and in future years they will serve as a demonstra-
tion of the excellence of the “ Discours de la Méthode,”
and as a very sure guide towards arriving at a knowledge
of truth, ee.
THE FINSBURY TECHNICAL COLLEGE
Ps Finsbury Technical College and the programme
of instruction which we have recently received
represent a fait accompli of the City and Guilds of
London Institute.
Judging of the education to be given in the new College
from the Programme forwarded to us, we may congratu-
late the Council of the Institute on having steered clear of
the Scylla and Charybdis which overhang the narrow
channel of technical education proper. In all such educa-
tional movements, there is the dan er that the teaching
shall either be too exclusively of the ordinary scientific
type, or, by being too distinctly practical, shall attempt
to take the place of workshop instruction. Theory and
practice promise to be judiciously combined in the new
_ school, and the experiment about to be tried in Taber-
nacle Row is interesting not only as a new departure in
education, but also as showing the effect of beginning
science teaching from the practical rather than from the
theoretical side, as is still so frequently the case.
During the last three years the conception of the Fins-
bury College has undergone considerable development,
and corresponds now much more nearly to what a
technical school should be than appeared probable at its
inception. According to the plans published in March,
1880, in the Report to the Governors, the College was
to consist in the first place of chemical and physical
laboratories only. These laboratories were to be adapted
to instruction in various departments of applied che-
mistry and physics, but no provision was made for the
teaching of mechanics, drawing, or of other subjects
which find a place in the new programme. Such a
school would scarcely have realised the idea of a technical
college properly so called, least of all a college for the
instruction of artisans. It is doubtful whether many
of the pupils who frequent the excellent classes of Prof.
Ayrton and Prof. Armstrong are really of the artisan
class, for which instruction was originally intended to be
given by the City Guilds. The progress that is being
made in the completion of the Central Institution at
South Kensington, which is expressly intended for the
education of a higher class of students, renders it the
more important, in order that the two schools may not
clash with one another, that the instruction at Finsbury
should be not only nominally, but really, of a different
grade, and adapted to the improvement of artizans and
workpeo, le.
The programme recently published shows that provi-
sion has been made for other branches of industry be-
sides electrical lighting and technical chemistry.
The Technical College, Finsbury, consists really of
two distinct schools: a day school and an evening school.
It has for its objects the education of—
(1) Persons of either sex who wish to receive a scien-
tific and practical preparatory training for intermediate
posts in industrial works.
(2) Apprentices, journeymen, and foremen who are
engaged during the day-time, and who desire to receive
supplementary instruction in the art practice, and in the
theory and principles of science connected with the
industry in which they are engaged.
(3) Pupils from middle class and other schools who are
preparing for the higher scientific and technical courses
of instruction to be pursued at the Central Institution.
The College therefore fulfils the functions of a finishing
technical school for those entering industrial life at a
comparatively early age; of a supplemental school for
those already engaged in the factory or workshop ; and
of a preparatory school for the Central Institution.
The College embraces the following four chief depart-
ments : (1) Mathematical and Mechanical ; (2) Physical;
(3) Chemical ; (4) Applied Art.
It is under the general direction of a principal or super-
intendent of studies; and the Council of the Institute
~~
feb. 1, 1883]
NATURE
eye)
appear to have acted wisely in asking Mr. Philip Magnus,
who has directed the work of the Institute up to the
present time with so much ability, and whose exceptional
experience of Continental technical schoels renders him
particularly fitting for such a position—to occupy this
post, pending the completion of the Central Institution,
and to carry into effect the general scheme of instruction
indicated in the programme.
In the day school of the Finsbury College, pupils from
middle class and higher elementary schools will have the
opportunity of continuing their studies, and of preparing,
at the same time, for the particular branch of industry in
which they purpose to be engaged.
Such a school is a technical school in the true sense of
the word, for it gives the pupil the best training he can
receive for his future occupation.
The instruction is not limited to the application of one
branch of science only; the future electrician is taught
chemistry and mechanics, the chemist is taught mechanics
and physics, the mechanician is taught physics and che-
mistry, and, what is almost equally important, all are
taught drawing, French, German, and the manipulation
of toals in the workshops.
The evening school is intended for those who are
already engaged in practical work, and in this depart-
ment of the College noteworthy changes have been
introduced, with a view of adapting the teaching to
the special requirements of artisans. To the courses
of Applied Physics and Chemistry originally provided
for, courses of Mechanical Engineering have been
added; but besides these courses, which are adapted to
the higher class of artisans, a complete syllabus of in-
struction has been added to the programme, suited to the
requirements of the special industry of the district of
Finsbury, viz. cabinet-making. To provide a systematic
course of instruction for cabinet-makers it was necessary
to add to the other departments of the College, a Depart-
ment of Applied Art; and in order to secure a good
number of students to start with, the Council affiliated
to the College the City School of Art, one of the oldest
art schools of the country, and appointed Mr. Brophy as
head master.
Moreover, to satisfy the demand of workmen engaged
in numerous small industries, the Council have arranged
courses of instruction, on a more systematic basis than
has been previously attempted in this country, for car-
penters, joiners, metal-plate workers, bricklayers, &c.,
thereby supplying that popular element in the instruction
provided by the City Guilds, which at first seemed likely
to be wanting in their scheme of technical education.
By undertaking to admit apprentices to the evening
classes at half the fees, which are small enough, charged
to ordinary workmen, those who have had the direction
of the work of the Institute have shown a just appreciation
of the importance of encouraging apprentices of fifteen to
twenty to follow the evening courses of instruction ; for
there will be far less difficulty in inducing youths, during
their apprenticeship, to attend regular systematically-
arranged lessons, covering a period of two or three
years, than is generally found in the case of adult
workmen.
Indeed, it is in the arrangement of systematised and
progressive courses of instruction adapted to various
industries and involving the application both of science
and of art to the student's occupation, as well as in the
practical methods of instruction adopted, that the Techni-
cal College, Finsbury, is differentiated from other science
schools.
The programme of studies now before us is a publica-
tion that can hardly fail to prove useful to all persons who
are interested in the establishment of technical schools,
and shows unmistakably that the Council of the Institute
and their advisers are fully conscious of the difficulties
that beset the problem of technical education, and may
be trusted to deal judiciously with them in the schools
established under their direction.
The fittings of the new College, which are most com-
plete and admirably adapted for practical teaching, have
been designed and executed under the direction of
Professors Armstrong, Ayrton, and Perry.
ON THE GRADUATION OF GALVANOMETERS
FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF CURRENTS
AND POTENTIALS IN ABSOLUTE MEASURE*
III.
HE determination of 7 and the measurement of a
current in absolute units, can be effected simul-
taneously by the method devised by Kohlrausch, and
described in the Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxxix. 1870.
This method consists essentially in sending the current
to be measured through two coils, of which all the con-
stants are accurately known. One of these is the coil of
a standard galvanometer, the other is a coi] hung by a
bifilar suspension, the wires of which convey the current
into the coil. The latter coil rests in equilibrium when
no current is passing through it, with its plane in the
magnetic meridian. When a current is sent through it,
it is acted on by a couple due to electro-magnetic action
between the current and the horizontal component of the
earth’s force, which tends to set it with its plane at right
angles to the magnetic meridian; and this couple is
resisted by the action of the bifilar. The coil comes to
rest, making a certain angle with the magnetic meridian,
and as the couple exerted by the bifilar suspension for
any angle is supposed to have been determined by experi-
ment, a relation between the value of # and the value of
the current is obtained. But, as the same current is sent
through the coil of the standard galvanometer, the ob-
served deflection of the needle of that instrument gives
another relation between // and C. From the two equa-
tions expressing these relations the values of H and C
can be found. Full details of the construction of Kohl-
rausch’s apparatus and of the calculation of its constants
will be found in the paper above referred to.
In this method it is assumed that the value of # is the
same at both instruments, an assumption which for rooms
not specially constructed for magnetic experiments cannot
safely be made. An instrument which is not liable to
this objection has been suggested by Sir William Thomson,
A short account of this instrument and its theory will be
found in Maxwell’s “‘ Electricity and Magnetism,’ vol. ii.
p- 328.
In the application of what has gone before to the
graduation of galvanometers, we shall have to deal with
the quantities resistance and potential, and in our calcu-
lations to measure potentials in volts, resistances in ohms,
and currents in amperes. A full explanation of the terms
resistance and potential would require a treatise on elec-
tricity, but perhaps a very short explanation of what is
meant bya volt, by an ohm, and by an ampere may not
be here out of place.
Two conductors are at different potentials when, on
their being put in contact, electricity passes from one to
the other. The difference of potential between them will
be made manifest if one of them be connected with an
electrically insulated plate which forms one of the scales
of a delicate balance, and the other with a second insu-
lated plate parallel to, and at a very small distance from
the first plate. If the conductors be at different potentials
the plates will attract one another, and the force of attrac-
tion may be weighed by means of the balance. With
certain arrangements to ensure accuracy, a balance may
be constructed by means of which the difference of poten-
tials between two conductors can be measured. Such an
instrument has been made by Sir William Thomson, and
called by him an Absolute Electrometer.
T Continued from p. 1c8
320
NATURE
[ Feb. 1, 1883
It is found exper‘mentally by measuring with a delicate
electrometer that, between any two cross-sections 4 and
B of a homogeneous wire, in which a uniform current of
electricity is kept flowing by any means, there exists a
difference of potentials, and that if the wire be of uniform
section throughout, the difference of potentials is in direct
proportion to the length of wire between the cross-sections.
It is found further that if the difference of potentials
between 4 and & is kept constant, and the length of wire
between them is altered, the strength of the current varies
inversely as the length of the wire. The strength of the
current is thus diminished when the length of the wire is
increased, and hence the wire is said to oppose vesestance
to the current ; and the resistance between any two cross-
sections is proportional to the length of wire connecting
them. Ifthe length of wire and the difference of poten-
tials between 4 and & be kept the same, while the cross-
sectional area of the wire is increased or diminished, the
current is increased or diminished in the same ratio; and
therefore the resistance of a wire is said to be inversely
as its cross-sectional area. Again, if for any particular
wire, measurements of the current strength in it be made
for various measured differences of potentials between
its two ends, the current strengths are found to be in
simple proportion to the differences of potential so long
as there is no sensible heating of the wire. Hence we
have the law, due to Ohm, which connects the current C
flowing in a wire of resistance A’, between the two ends
of which a difference of potential / is maintained,
Lines! S
Ca Ss ard)
In this equation the units in which any one of the three
quantities is expressed depend on those chosen for the
other two. We have defined unit current, and have seen
how to measure currents in absolute units; and we have
now to show how the absolute units of / and & are to be
defined, and from them and the absolute unit of current
to derive the practical units—volt, ampere, coulomb, and
ohm,
We shall define the absolute units of potential and
resistance by a reference to the action of a very simple
but ideal magneto-electric machine, of which, however,
the modern dynamo is merely a practical realisation.
First of all let us imagine a uniform magnetic field of
unit intensity. The lines of force in that field are every-
where parallel to one another: to fix the ideas let them
be vertical. Now imagine two straight horizontal metallic
rails running parallel to one another, and connected to-
gether by a sliding bar, which can be carried along with
its two ends in contact with them. Also let the rails be
connected by means of a wire so that a complete con-
ducting circuit is formed. Suppose the rails, slider, and
wire to be all made of the same material, and the length
and cross-sectional area of the wire to be such that its
resistance is very great in comparison with that of the
rest of the circuit, so that, when the slider is moved with
any given velocity, the resistance in the circuit remains
practically constant. When the slider is moved along
the rails it cuts across the lines of force, and so long as it
moves with uniform velocity a constant difference of
potentials is maintained between its two ends, and a
uniform current flows in the wire from the rail which is
at the higher potential to that which is at the lower. If
the direction of the lines of force be the same as the
direction of the vertical component of the earth’s magnetic
force in the northern hemisphere, so that a blue pole
placed in the field would be moved upwards, and if the rails
run south and north, the current when the slider is moved
northwards will flow from the east rail to the west through
the slider, and from the west rail to the east through the
wire. If the velocity of the slider be increased the differ-
ence of potentials between the rails, or, as it is otherwise
called, the electromotive force producing the current, is
increased in the same ratio; and therefore by Ohm’s law
so also is the current. Generally for a slider arranged as
we have imagined, and made to move across the lines of
force of a magnetic field, the difference of potentials pro-
duced would be directly as the field intensity, as the
length of the slider, and as the velocity with which the
slider cuts across the lines of force. The difference of
potentials produced therefore varies as the product of
these three quantities ; and when each of these is unity,
the difference of potentials is taken as unity also. We
may write therefore /= 7Zv, where / is the field in-
tensity, Z the length of the slider, and ~@ its velocity.
Hence if the intensity of the field we have imagined be
I C.g.s. unit, the distance between the rails 1 cm., and the
velocity of the slider 1 cm. per second, the difference of
potentials produced will be 1 c.g.s. unit.
This difference of potentials is so small as to be incon-
venient for use as a practical unit, and instead of it the
difference of potentials which would be produced if, every-
thing else remaining the same, the slider had a velocity
of 100,000,000 cms. per second, is taken as the practical
unit of electromotive force, and is called one vo/éA It is
a little less than the difference of potentials which exists
between the two insulated poles of a Daniell’s cell.
We have imagined the rails to be connected by a wire
of very great resistance in comparison with that of the
rest of the circuit, and have supposed the length of this
wire to have remained constant. But from what we have
seen above, the effect of increasing the length of the wire,
the speed of the slider remaining the same, would be to
diminish the current in the ratio in which the resistance
is increased, and a correspondingly greater speed of the
slider would be necessary to maintain the current at the
same strength. We may therefore take the speed of the
slider as measuring the resistance of the wire. Now
suppose that wher the slider 1 cm. long was moving at
the rate of 1 cm. per second, the current in the wire was
I c.g.s. unit; the resistance of the wire was then I ¢.g.s.
unit of resistance. Unit resistance therefore corresponds
to a velocity of 1 cm. per second. This resistance, how-
| ever, is too small to be practically useful, and a resistance
1,000,000,000 times as great, that is, the resistance of a
wire, to maintain I ¢c.g.s. unit of current in which it would
be necessary that the slider should move with a velocity
of 1,000,000 000 cms. (approximately the length of a
quadrant of the earth from the equator to either pole) per
| second, is taken as the practical unit of resistance, and
called one cfm. :
In reducing the numerical expressions of physical
quantities from a system involving one set of funda-
mental units to a system involving another set, as for
instance from the British foot-grain-second system,
formerly in use for the expression of magnetic quantities,
to the c.g.s. system, it is necessary to determine, accord-
ing to the theory first given by Fourier, and extended to
electrical and magnetic quantities by Maxwell, for each a
certain reducing factor, by substituting in the formula,
which states the relation of the fundamental units to one
another in the expression of the quantity, the value of the
units we are reducing from in terms of those we are
reducing to. For example, in reducing a velocity say
from miles per hour, to centimetres per second, we have
to multiply the number expressing the velocity in the
former units by the number of centimetres in a mile, and
divide the result by the number of seconds in an hour ;
that is, we have to multiply by the ratio of the number of
centimetres in a mile to the number of seconds in an hour.
The multiplier therefore, or change-ratio as it bas been
called by Professor James Thomson, is for velocity
simply the number of the new units of velocity equi-
valent to one of the old units, and may be expressed by the
formula 2 where Z is the number of new units of length
contained in one of the old, and 7 is the corresponding
number for the unit of time. In the same way the
Feb. 1, 1883]
NATURE 221
o
change-ratio for rate of change of velocity or acceleration
is 7 ; and the change-ratio of any other physical quan-
tity may be found by determining from its definition the
manner in which its unit involves the fundamental units
of mass, length and time. Now the theory of the change-
ratios of electrical and magnetic quantities, in the electro-
magnetic system of units, shows that the change-ratio
for resistance is the same as that for velocity ; that in
fact a resistance in-electro-magnetic measure is expres-
sible as a velocity; and hence we may with propriety
speak of a resistance of one ohm as a velocity of 10°
centimetres per second,
It is obvious from equation (14) that if V and 2, each
initially one unit, be increased in the same ratio, C will
remain one unit of current; but that of VY be, for ex-
ample, 10° c.g.s. units of potential, or one volt, and & be
a resistance of 10° cms. per second, or one ohm, C will
be one:tenth of one c.g.s. unit of current. A current of
this strength—that is, the current flowing in a wire of
resistance one ohm, between the two ends of which a
difference of potentials of one volt is maintained,—has
been adopted as the practical unit of current and called
one ampere. Hence it is to be remembered one ampere
is one-tenth of one c.g.s. unit of current.
The amount of electricity conveyed in one second by
a current of one ampere is called one cow/omb. This
unit although not quite so frequently required as the
others, is very useful, as, for instance, for expressing the
quantities of electricity which a secondary cell is capable
of yielding in various circumstances. For example, in
comparing different cells with one another their capacities,
or the total quantities of electricity they are capable of
yielding when fully charged, are very conveniently
reckoned in coulombs per square centimetre of the area
across which the electolytic action in each takes place.
The magneto-electric machine we have imagined gives
us avery simple proof of the relation between the work
done in maintaining a current, the strength of the current,
and the electromotive force producing it. By the defini-
tions given above of a magnetic pole and a magnetic
field, a unit pole must produce at unit distance from
itself a magnetic field of unit intensity. Again, unit
current is defined as that current which flowing in a wire
of unit length, bent into an are of a circle of unit radius,
acts on a unit magnetic pole at the centre of the circle
with unit force. Hence, as the reaction of the pole on
the current must be equal to the action of the current on
the pole, this wire carrying the current is acted on by unit
force tending to move it in the opposite direction to that
in which the pole is moved, and it plainly does not matter
which we suppose held fixed and which moved. Therefore
a conductor in a magnetic field, and carrying a unit cur-
rent which flows at right angles to the lines of force, is
acted on by a force tending to move it in a direction at
right angles to its length, and the magnitude of this force
for unit length of conductor, and unit field, is by the defini-
tion of unit current equal to unity.
Applying this to our slider in which we may suppose a
current of strength C to be kept flowing, say, from a
battery in the circuit, let Z be the length of the slider,
v its velocity, and / the intensity of the field; we have
for the force on the moving conductor the value 7ZC,
Hence the rate at which work is done by the electro-
magnetic action between the current and the field is
TL on or 7Z Cv, and this must be equal to the rate at
which work is done in generating by motion of the slider
a current of strength C. But as we have seen above
{Lv is the electromotive force produced by the motion of
the slider. Calling this now /:, the symbol usually em-
ployed to denote electromotive force, we have / C as the
rate of working, that is, the rate at which electrical energy
is given out in the circuit.
By Ohm’s law this value for the rate of working may
‘2
‘ F E
be put into either of the two other forms, namely: =, or
R
C*R. In the latter of these forms the law was discovered
by Joule, who measured the amount of heat generated
in wires of different resistances by currents flowing
through them. This law holds for every electric circuit
whether of dynamo, battery, or thermoelectric arrange-
ment.
We have, in what has gone before, supposed the slider
to have no resistance comparable with the whole resistance
in the circuit. If it has a resistance 7, and & be the
remainder of the resistance in circuit, the actual difference
of potentials between its two ends will not be /Zv or Z,
but Ext, The rate per unit of time at which work is
given out in the circuit is however still &C, of which
Bee a
the part / Cr+ =
R
R+7
In short, if 7 be the actual difference of potentials, as
measured by an electrometer, between two points in a
metallic wire connecting the terminals of a battery or
dynamo, and C be the current flowing in the wire, the rate
at which energy is given out is /C, or if & be the re-
sistance of the wire between the two points, C*”.
One of the great advantages of the system of units of
which I have given this brief sketch, is that it gives
the value of the rate at which work is given out in the
circuit, without its being necessary to introduce any co-
efficient such as would have been necessary if the units
had been arbitrarily chosen. When the quantities are
measured in c.g.s. units, the value of 2 Cis given in terms
of the centimeter-dyne or evg, the recognized dynamical
unit of work. Results thus expressed may be reduced to
horse-power by dividing by the number 7°46 X 10°; or if #
is measured in volts, and C in amperes, & C may be
reduced to horse-power by dividing by 746. Thus, if 90
volts be maintained between the terminals of a pair of
incandescent lamps joined in series, anda current of 1°3
ampere flows through these lamps, the rate at which
energy is given out in the lamps is approximately °157
horse-power. ANDREW GRAY
is given out in the slider, and the
remainder, “ C in the remainder of the circuit.
(To be continued.)
NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE OPEN COMPE-
TITIVE EXAMINATIONS FOR CLERKSHIPS
(CLASS I.) IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
HE Civil Service Commissioners have done much to
encourage the thorough study of natural science in
our Universities by the weight which they have assigned
to it in the competitive examinations for first-class clerk-
ships in the Government service. These posts are of
sufficient value to attract young men of one or two-and-
twenty, fresh from the University. It will be seen from
the list of marks assigned to subjects, which we print
below, that 1000 marks may be made in two branches of
natural science, for instance, Zoology and Geology ;
whilst Greek and Roman language, literature, and history
only stand for 1500. Hence a candidate who makes
science his strong side and can do something in either
English, classical, or foreign literary subjects, is by no
means at a disadvantage.
We take this opportunity of prominently drawing atten-
tion to the encouragement thus given to the pursuit of
natural science as a branch of culture. t
The schoolboy who is excused from verse-composition
and sent into the chemical laboratory, is distinctly recog-
nised, and has a fair chance given to him by the Com-
missioners. So too the Oxford undergraduate who breaks
with the wearisome iteration of Greek play and Latin
322
NA TORE
[/ed. 1, 1883
odes in the College lecture-room and escapes to the
fascinating microscopes and dissecting troughs of Prof.
Moseley, or the verniers and milligram-weighing pans of
Prof. Clifton, is marked out for patronage. And not only
indeed are Oxford and Cambridge students of science
thus benefited.
The courses of instruction in scientific subjects given
at the London Colleges, University and King’s, are pre-
eminently such as will enable a candidate to do justice to
his abilities in this examination. The examination is
practical, and no mere smattering of a subject will obtain
any marks for a candidate. Hence the “‘crammers’’ are
at a disadvantage, and the teachers in duly-organised and
properly-furnished laboratories, are rightly encouraged in
their efforts to carry on thorough courses of instruction. It
is indeed, a matter for satisfaction that hitherto the
various cramming establishments where young men are
“prepared ”’ for public examinations have failed to enable
any candidate to gain a success in any branch of natural
science in these higher competitive examinations, those
candidates who have scored marks in natural science
having been University students. We subjoin an extract
from the Regulations issued by the Civil Service Com-
mission, to the secretary of which body application for
further information should be made.
1. The limits of age for these situations are 18 and 24,
and candidates must be of the prescribed age on the first
day of the competitive examination.
2. At the competitive examinations exercises will be
set in the following subjects only ; the maximum of marks
for each subject being fixed as follows, viz. :—
. a Marks,
English Composition (including Précis-writing)... ... 500
History of England—including that of the Laws and
Constitutions evisu) cc ens er ie rn 500
English Language and Literature oh!” Eo 500
Language, Literature, and History of Greece 750
” ” 2” Rome oo 750
“5 5A 40 Erance! eyes 7.5
” ” a Germany 375
on ” ” Italy 375
Mathematics (pure and mixed) ... ... .. ... 1250
Natural Science: that is, (1) Chemistry, including
Heat ; (2) Electricity and Magnetism ; (3) Geology
and Mineralogy; (4) Zoology ; (5) Botany .-. 1000
*.* The total (1000) marks may be obtained by ade-
quate proficiency in any two or more of the five
branches of science included under this head.
Moral Sciences: that is, Logic, Mental and Moral
Eilosophys ser eee es 500
Jurisprudence... .. 375
Political Economy ... > [enc ens 75
Candidates will be at liberty to offer themselves for
examination in any or all of these subjects. No subjects
are obligatory.
No candidate will be allowed any marks in respect of
any subject of examination unless he shall be considered
to possess a competent knowledge of that subject.
NOTES
A TELEGRAM, dated December 21, has been received by the
Finnish Academy of Sciences from Prof, S. Lemstrom, chief of
the Finnish Meteorological Observatory at Sodankyla. He
states that, having placed a galvanic battery with conductors
covering an area of 900 square metres on the hill of Oratunturi,
he found the cone to be generally surrounded by a halo, yellow-
white in colour, which faintly but perfectly yields the spectrum
of the aurora borealis. This, he states, furnishes a direct proof
of the electrical nature of the aurora, and opens a new field in
the study of the physical condition of the earth. A further
telegram, dated Sodankyla, January 5, has been received, in
which Prof. Lemstrom states that experiments with the aurora
borealis made December 29, in Enare, near Kultala, on the
hill of Pietarintunturi, confirm the results of those at Ora-
tunturi, On that date a straight beam of aurora was seen over
the galvanic apparatus. It also appears from the magnetic
observations that the terrestrial current ceases below the aurora
arc, while the atmospheric current rapidly increases, but depends
on the area of the galvanic apparatus to which it seems to be
proportional. The Professor regrets that with the means at his
disposal further experiments cannot be made, and that he
intended, on the 13th inst., to withdraw the apparatus.
THE Report of the Royal Gardens, Kew, for 1881, shows
what a large amount of varied and highly useful work is got
through in the space of a year at that great national esta-
blishment ; perhaps zmferial would be more accurate than
national, for it is really the botanical and horticultural centre of
the whole empire, One important feature is the lessons given
during the year to the young gardeners in the science of these
subjects ; this will certainly tend to secure that the work of the
gardens throughout are conducted with intelligence and on a
sound scientific basis. The Report contains extracts from the
reports of various Colonial curators, on the progress of experi-
ment in the culture of certain important plants, such as Cin-
chona and india-rubber. Mr. Jamieson reports from the
Nilgiris that he has found the Cape Coast and Liberian coffee-
plants to be really two varieties. Queensland may yet add
coffee to its other industries, a vastly important addition, The
Report contains an illustration of Cinchona Ledgeriana, Moens.
IN preparation for the International Fisheries Exhibition
there is a large number of artificers now employed in erecting
and completing enormous buildings for the reception of the
exhibits on the ground known as the Royal Horticultural
Gardens, South Kensington. Some four or five immense struc-
tures have been already erected, two standing side by side on
the western side of the gardens—one being about 180 yards, the
other some 140 yards in length, with a width of about 20 yards,
and of great height and capacity. Arched roofs contain in the
centre, running the whole length of the building, a wide breadth
of glass, which throws below as ample an amount of light as
can be desired. Other similar buildings are in the course of
completion at the north-eastern corner of the gardens, close to
the Albert Hall ; and when the capacity of all these structures is
considered, some estimate can be formed of the enormous pro-
portions the International Exhibition will assume. The arcade
at the south-western side of the gardens, well known for the
horticultural and other expositions which the Royal Horticultural
Society has held in it, is being devoted to the purposes of an
aquarium, which will socn be completed, and in which both
fre h-water and sea fish will be exhibited. The spacious long
arcade affords ample room for all the tanks that may be required,
and it is expected that the aquarium will form one of the most
attractive features of the exhibition. Arrangements will be made
to provide easy access from one building to another, and such
portions of the gardens as remain uncovered by the necessary
structures will serve as an agreeable promenade. All the works
are so forward that everything will be ready in good time for
the reception of the exhibits of our own and of foreign
countries,
CONSIDERABLE success has attended the Sunday Evening
Association, its object being to bring together all persons who,
estimating highly the elevating influence of music, the sister arts,
literature and science, desire, by means of meetings on Sunday
evenings, to see them more fully identified with the religious life
of the people. The president is Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S.
The fifth series of meetings will be concluded next Sunday with
a lecture by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S., C.B., on ‘‘ Niagara.”
A sixth series will be commenced on Sunday, February 11, and
will include lectures by Dr. G. J. Romanes, F.R.S., on ‘‘Star
Feb. 1, 1883]
NATURE
373
Fish; ” J. Cotter Morison, M.A., on ‘‘A Glimpse of England
in the Fifteenth Century ;” Dr. P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S., on
‘*Metamorphosis of Insects,’’ and J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.,
on ‘‘ The Recent Eclipse of the Sun,” The meetings are held
in the Working Men’s College, Great Ormond Street.
THE Report of the Commissioner of the Imperial Japanese
Mint, Osaka, for the year ending June, 1882, being the twelfth
report of the Japanese Mint, shows that the high standard of
excellence of the work done at this establishment is still kept up.
Rather more gold was coined than during the previous year, viz.
803,645 yen, all in 5 yen pieces ; the silver coined during this
year was all 1 yen pieces, and amounted to 3,294,988 yen ;
whilst the nominal value of the copper coins, in 2 sen, I sen, and
half sen pieces was 1,130,548 yen. The total nominal value of
the coins of all denominations struck since the commencement of
the Mint to the end of the last financial year is 102,888,478 yen,
of which more than one-half is gold and two-fifths silver, Besides
this a large number of medals have been struck and refined
ingots produced. This year a large number of old bronze guns
and field pieces have been melted down, refined, and converted
into copper coins, and also additional improvements and econo-
mies have been made in the treatment of old Japanese silver
coins prior to their re-coinage. The sulphuric acid works in
connection with the Mint have been more busy than last year,
and nearly a million pounds of acid have been exported to China
in addition to that produced for home consumption. The soda
works are now in working order, and a considerable outturn of
sulphate, black ash, white ash, and crystallised soda has been
made ; caustic and bicarbonate of soda will shortly be produced,
and it is proposed to add works for the production of bleaching
powder so as to utilise the whole of the hydrochloric acid formed.
There was a considerable increase in the amount of Corean gold
dust received during the year, but it was not generally of a high
standard. The curve showing the variation in weight of the
silver yen issued, as also the report of the trial of the pyx and
the reports of the assays on the pyx pieces made by Prof, Chandler
Roberts of the Mint in this country, and by Mr, Lawner, of the
American Mint, show that the greatest care and attention is
given to every department, both by the foreign employés, Mr,
Wm. Gowland, chemist, assayer, and technical adviser, and Mr,
R. MacLagan, engineer, and also by the native officials, The
report affords abundant evidence that excellent work is being
done by the above-named European technical advisers of the
Japanese Government.
WE have received an excellent little pamphlet on ‘‘ The
Rudiments of Cookery, with some Account of Food and its
Uses.” It is called a manual for the use of schools and homes,
is written by ‘fA, C. M.,”’ examiner to the Northern Union of
Training Schools for Cookery, dedicated to the Countess of
Derby, and published by Simpkin and Marshall, Besides con-
veying practical information on plain cookery, the writer is
careful throughout to explain the why and the wherefore of
every point by briefly stating the principles of elementary science
which bear upon the subject. We can recommend the pamphlet
to the ‘schools and homes ”’ for whose use it is designed.
AT the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Monday
evening, Sir Henry Rawlinson, who presided, stated that Mr,
Leigh Smith, in acknowledgment of the assistance which the
Royal Geographical Society had afforded him in fitting out his
expedition, and also to mark the extent of the interest he takes
in Arctic discovery, had presented 1000/7. for the purpose of
extended Arctic exploration. Sir Henry referred briefly, also,
to the recent services of one of the native explorers which the
Indian Government are in the habit of sending beyond the
Himalayas, which are closed to Europeans by the jealousy of
the natives. The paper from which he quoted said: ‘‘ One of
General Walker’s native explorers has returned to India after an
absence of four years through Thibet, in which he has obtained
a large amount of new geographical information, and has finally
disposed of the question of the Sanpo River, which does not,
according to him, fall into the Irawaddy, as was generally sup-
posed. The traveller got as far north as Santu, lat. 40° N,,
92° E., which is supposed to be the Sorchia of Marco Polo,
Returning, he proceeded to Batang, and tried to reach Assam
by the direct route, but was stopped at the frontier of the
Mishmi country by the assurance that the natives were savages,
who would murder him, He, therefore, took a circuitous route
to Lhassa, va Alanto and Gjamda, But from the latter place
he turned and made for Chetang, on the Sanpo, thence by
Giangze, Leng, and Phari, to Darjeeling. He reports that
Sama is the place where two Europeans coming from Assam
were murdered some thirty years ago. If so, it must be
Wilcox’s Simé, where the priests Kirch and Bsury were
murdered in 1854. He is positive he only crossed the Sanpo
once at Chetang. He says that on the road from Sama to
Gjamda there is a great range of hills to the west, separating the
basin of the afflaents of the Sanpo, from that of the affluents of
the Irawaddy to the east.”
LizutT.-CoL, BERESFORD Lovett, her Majesty’s Consul at
Astrabad, read at the same meeting a paper, which was illus-
trated by an itinerary map from his plane table survey of four
inches to the mile. The route from Teheran northwards to
Asolat is well known, but new ground was traversed between
Asolat and the Lur Valley, on the south of Mount Damavand,
and again between the Horas River and Firnshuh, and onward
to Kurrand, and also between Fulhad Mahala and Shu Kuh.
The survey throws considerable light on the untrodden parts of
the Elburz Mountains, and on the entire route no part of which
had been previously delineated with any approach to accuracy.
The author’s route was from Teheran to Astrabad, vzé Ahar to
Sarak, thence to Husan Ikdir, Gutchisir, Wohbad, Towar, and
Arsmkern, The route was along the ridge of the Shamran
mountain country, which runs south of the Caspian, the author
desiring, as the journey was made in the middle of the summer
heats, not to descend below 5000 feet, while on the journey an
altitude of over 9000 feet was attained, and one mountain 12,500
feet was measured and ascended. The author found in one
position a plateau of considerable height full of oyster shells,
while in his paper and in the discussion which followed, it was
shown that at one geological period the Caspian must have been
a sea of very large extent to the north and east.
Unper the presidency of the Marquis of Exeter, a National
Fish Culture Association has been established, its object being
to increase the supply of food by increasing the supply of fish of
all kinds.
FroM the preliminary report of the Princeton Scientific Expe-
dition (the third of its kind), whose ground was Wyoming,
Colorado, and the west, it would seem that the students who
formed the party covered a very considerable field, did some
good work in geology and natural history, and endured just
enough of hardship to give them the feeling of real explorers.
Tue trial of the electro-magnetic engine, aérial screw, and
bichromate elements constructed by MM. Tissandier for their
directing balloon took place in their aéronautical work-shop at
Point du Tour, on January 26, before a large number of elec-
tricians and aéronauts. It was shown that the twenty-four
elements, each of which weighs about six kilogrammes, give
during almost three hours a current which rotates a screw of
2°8sm, diameter, and about 5 metres of path, with a velocity of
150 turns ina minute. The motive power really developed may
be estimated at that of four horses per hour. The weight of all
324
NA TORE
[ Feb. 1, 1883
the machinery and elements is a little less than 250 kilogrammes.
The real effect on the air can only be found by experiments in
the air, but according to measurements taken with a dynamo-
meter of the horizontal tendency to motion, it is about the same
asin the experiment tried by Dupuy de Lome. The motive
power of Dupuy de Lome having been obtained with eight men
working his large screw, whose diameter was 9 metres, it may
be inferred that the results in the present case will be more
advantageous in the ratio of ‘wo and a half to one. These
results are not very powerful when compared with the immense
power of aérial currents. But MM. Tissandier have no intention
of directing their balloon against strong winds. Their object is
to organise an apparatus with which rational experiments may be
made in the air, and they have taken advantage of the most
recent improvements of science. If their elongated balloon
answer their wishes, a real advance will be registered in the
history of aéronautics.
EXCAVATIONS are being carried out on Blackheath for the
purpose of exposing the ‘‘deneholes” which have puzzled
geologists and archzologists, and of which we gave some
account in vol. xxiii. p. 365.
In 1884 a general Italian exhibition will be opened at Turin.
Among the exhibits will be works in mathematics, physics, and
general chemistry.
THE ‘‘ Treatise on Marine Surveying,” reviewed in last
week’s NATURE, is published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co.,
and not by Mr. Murray.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona @ ) from
West Africa, presented by Mr. J. N. Flatau; a Crested Porcu-
pine (Zystrix cristatus) from West Africa, presented by Mr.
Joseph J. Doke ; two Pileated Jays (Cyanocorax pileatus) from
La Plata, presented by Capt. Gamble; two Grey-breasted
Parrakeets (Bolborhynchus monachus) from the Argentine Re-
public, presented by Mr. Tomas Peacock ; an European Tree
Frog (Hjla arborea), European, presented by Mrs. M. B.
Manuel ; a Malbrouck Monkey (Cercopithecus cynosurus 6) from
East Africa, a Macaque Monkey (M/acacus cynomoleus 2 ) from
India, deposited ; a Water Chevrotain (Hyomoschus aquaticus),
born in the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
VARIABLE STARS.—The following are Greenwich times of
heliocentric minima of Algol :—
h. m.
eb is 20s mee aan
February 3, 8 47 |
17, 16 52 March 12, 15 23
- 20, 13 41 155) D2eoe
23, 10 29 TSO) at
The light-equation (geocentric—heliocentric) in seconds, may be
found from the expre-sion—
460°2s. R. sin (S+35° 28'-7),
where R is the earth’s radius-vecto-, and S the longitude of the
sun. S Cancri will be at a minimum about the following
times :—February 2, at 9h. g4om. ; February 21, at Sh. 55m. ;
and March 12, at 8h. 20. A minimum of U Cephei occurs on
February 5, about 13h. 26m. x Cygni is at minimum on March
17. This year’s maximum of Mira Ceti is not observable.
According to the observations of Mr. Knott in 1881 and 1882, a
maximum of T Cephei, when the star is about 6°5m., may be
expected towards February 17 ; the position of this variable for
1880 is in R.A. 2th. 7m. 57s , Decl. +68° o'"1; it is No. 3731
in Felorenko’s catalogue from Lalande.
RePorTeD DIsCOVERY OF A CoMET.—A Reuter’s telegram
from Puebla, Mexico, January 23, states that a comet had been
discovered there near the planet Jupiter, of which no further
account has been received at the time we write, nor has a some-
what hurried examination of the vicinity between clouds revealed
anything brighter or more cometary in aspect than our very old
friend, the first nebula of Messier’s catalogue near ¢ Tauri,
which has proved ‘‘a mare’s nest” for more than one incipient
comet-hunter. Jupiter was close at hand on January 22, but
there was a full moon on that date, which hardly favours the
suggested explanation. Messier 1, it may be remembered, led
to more than a single false alarm when observers were on the
look out for Halley’s comet in 1835.
THE NEXT RETURN OF D’ARREsT’s COMET.—At the sitting
of the Paris Academy of Sciences on January 22, M. Leveau
communicated elements of the orbit of D’Arrest’s comet of short
period, for the approaching return to perihelion. He states
that on account of the great perturbativns suffered by the comet
from its passage near Jupiter during the period 1859-1863 (in
April, 1861, it passed within 0°36 of the earth’s mean distance
from the planet), and the want of observations at its third
appearance in 1864, it has not been possible to combine in the
same system of elements the observations made in 1851 and
1857 with those of 1870 and 1877. He has consequently been
obliged to determine the osculating orbit in 1883, from the
elements which best represent the observations of 1870 and
1877 alone. The following are the elements of the comet’s
orbit for 1883, June 12°0, M.T. at Paris :—
Mean anomaly ... ... 206 328 13 20°3
Longitude of perihelio 319 If 10°S8) Mean
> ascending node 146 7 210 > equinox
Inclination’ <=") 2) =e 15 41 471) 1880°0
Angle of eccentricity 38 46 3374
Mean daily sidereal motion 530765245
It is M. Leveau’s intention to prepare and circulate among
astronomers an ephemeris for what appears to be the most likely
period during which to obtain observations, or from April 23 to
November 25 in the present year, but from the comet’s great
distance or unfavourable position it is probable that only the
largest telescopes wil command it. By the above elements the
comet will not arrive at perihelion until 1884, January 13°5765
Greenwich M.T.
MERIDIAN OBSERVATIONS OF NEBUL#.—Dr. Engelmann
publishes the positions of about 120 nebulz, determined with
the 6-inch meridian circle of the Leipsic Observatory, and re-
duced to the beginning of the year 1870, with the mean epoch
of observation and the annual precessions, thus aiding by meri-
dian observations the extension of our knowledge of accurate
places of these bodies, which has engaged the attention of
d’Arrest, Vogel, Schonfeld, Schultz, and others, with equatorial
instruments. Waluable material is thus being collected for the
investigation of proper motiun amongst the nebula, which for
want of reliable positions in past times, is not practicable at
present, except perhaps in a few isolated cases.
ERRATUM.—In last week’s ‘* Astronomical Column,” p. 300,
lines seven and six from bottom, tor Washington read Wash-
burn.
PHYSICAL NOTES
A DOUBLE-ACTION mercury air-pump, invented by Signor
Serravalle, who was awarded a gold medal for it at a recent
exhibition in Messina, is described in the Aiwista Scientifico-
Industriale (Nos. 21-22). By a simple mechanical method
two similar vessels are raised and lowered alternately with each
other on opposite sides of a vertical support. A long caoutcho.2
tube connecting their bottoms lets mercury pass from one to tlie
other. - Each has at top a three-way cock ; one port of which in
a certain position leads into a small open vessel to receive any
excess of mercury, and another is connected by means of a
caoutchouc tube with a spherical piece fixed laterally about the
middle of the vertical support. This piece has three passages,
communicating together ; two of them are opposite each other,
and lead into the tubes from the mercury vessels; the other is
connected by tubing to the vessel to be exhausted of air. The
three-way cocks at the tops of the vessels are mechanically shifted
at the top and bottom of their course by means of a toothed
sector and rack in the one case, and a pin and projecting piece
in the other.
To observe directly the action of gravity on gases, M.
Kraievitsch, of the Russian Chemical Society (Your. de Phys.,
j
Feb. 1, 1883]
NATURE 325
December, 1882), sets up two baro-manometers, one on the (low)
ground, the other at the top of a high building, or of a hill.
The manometric branches are connected by means of a long
metallic tube. On rarefying the air in the tube through an
adjutage adapted near one of the manometers, the rarefaction is
prepagated towards the other, but owing to gravity, the lower
one always shows a greater pressure than the other. By varying
the conditions, the hypsometric formula may be established
directly. To ascertain whether gases have or have not a limit
of elasticity, two baro-manometers are placed below and con-
nected by separate tubes with the one above. On rarefying
through a tube near one of the lower manometers, a limit is
reached at which gravity prevents the air of the latter manometer
from rising, and it remains stationary while the other continues
to fall, if the limit of elasticity exist. The author was fitting up
his apparatus for these experiments on a very high old building
at St. Petersburg.
In another paper to the same Society (/oc. cit.), M. Piltschikoff
describes an arrangement for measuring the refractive index of
liquids of which one has but small quantities. A hollow lens is
filled with the liquid, and with the aid of a graduated scale and
a microscope, one measures exactly the focal distance of a mono-
chromatic flame placed at a given distance from the lens. The
author gives a simple formula for calculating the index of the
liquid, when the constants of the apparatus have been determined
once for all. In one set of experiments, the index of glycerine
was found = 147298, with a probable error estimated at
+ 0°00001. :
In the common practice of referring the electromotive force of
galvanic combinations to the Daniell element as unit, some diffi-
culty and confusion have arisen from differences in the construc-
tion of that element by different physicists. In a recent investi-
gation of this matter (Wed. Ann., 13, 1882), Herr Kittler
gives the name of ‘‘normal element” to a combination, which
is as follows :—Amalgamated, chemically pure zinc, in dilute
sulphuric acid of specific gravity 1°075 at 18° C. ; and chemically
pure copper in concentrated copper sulphate solution of specific
gravity I°190 to 1°2c0__ He finds that the electromotive force of
the Daniell element (Zn, H,SO,, CuSQO,, Cu) increases with
percentage proportion of the acid to a maximum occurring at
the same place, whether the copper sulphate solution be concen-
trated or dilute, viz. with 25 to 30 per cent. of the acid ; with
further hydration of the acid there is decrease. The increase is
greater, ho ever, the more dilute the CuSO, solution used, and
greatest with pure water. It is further found that, if very weak
acids are used, there is decrease of the electromotive force with
dilution of the copper-sulphate solution. Accordingly, there is
a degree of concentration of the acid, with which a Daniell
element furnishes the same tension, whether the CuSO, be con-
centrated or diluted to any extent. The solution in question has
the specific gravity I‘oorr at 16° C., and is compounded of
750 ccm. H,O and 100 cem. dilute H,SO, of sp. gr. 1007.
Herr Kittler compares the action of his ‘* normal element” with
that of other practical units.
IN a recent paper to the Vienna Academy (Wed. Ann., 13,
1852), Prof. Stephan describes an investigation of the maguetic
Screening action (Schirmwirkung) of iron (which is exemplified
in Thomson’s marine galvanometer and the Gramme machine).
His experiments were made with hollow iron cylinders and iron
rings, and were of three kinds, viz. deflection, oscillation, and
induction.
‘THE sound-vibrations of solid bodies (glass cylinders) in contact
with liquids has been lately studied by Herr Auerbach (/Vied.
Ann., No. 13, 1882). He finds that the geometrical lowering of
Zone, represented by the ratio of the vibration number (7) of the
empty vessel to that of the same vessel filled with water (7), is
smaller the higher the tone of the empty vessel, aid greater the
narrower the vessel. The arithmetical lowering of tone (repre-
sented by (7) —7)7z)) in a ves-el of mean pitch, is inversely pro-
portional to the square root of the vibration-number of the empty
glass, and (approximately) to that of the number of wave-lengths
which the sound of the empty vessel traverses from the wall to
the axis, In glasses of different width it is (approximately)
inversely proportional to the square root of the width. ‘lhe
specific lowering of tone of a liquid depends primarily on the
density, and is greater, the greater this is, though it does not
increase so quickly ; next, on the compressibility, being greater
the smaller this is.
AN INQUIRY INTO THE DEGREE OF SOLU-
BILITY REQUISITE IN MANURES, WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PRECIPITATED
CALCIC AND MAGNESIC PHOSPHATES
OME remarkable field trials, recently conducted in Scotiand
by Jamieson and others, have tended to raise serious doubts
coacerning the correctness of the high relative values, hitherto
| assigned by chemists to dissolved phosphates, commonly termed
super-phosphates, for manurial purposes. We propose, there-
fore, to examine briefly the action of phosphates in the soil; the
conditions under which they become available for the nutrition
of plants, and the degree of solubility which, considering these
facts, would appear to be most adva tageous fot the purposes of
the agriculturist. We hope to be able to show the great value
of precipitated calcic and magnesic phosphates as manure-
ingredients, and to assign some reasons for the comparative
neglect which the salts of magnesia have hitherto received from
agricultural chemists.
The careful and elaborate series of experiments undertaken by
Dr. Voelcker respecting the ‘‘solubility of phosphatic mate-
rials” may be said to constitute the basis of our present inquiry,
as the behaviour of phosphates in water is perhaps the readiest
test of their activity as manures. Dr. Voelcker ascertained that
one gallon of distilled water will di solve the following amount
of calcic pho-phates, derived from the sources quoted :—
Per gallon.
Estremadura phosphorite... o'IO grains.
iWorwepian apatites 225 so eee) een eae ee) OA;
Coprolites (mean of Suffolk and Cambridge-
SHIE)|. jeder) decors O:62 ass
Monk’s Island phosphate ... ... ... «. LOO ,,
Pure bone ash (from very hard bone) ... ... 118 ,,
Pure tribasic phosphate of lime, precipitated,
burnt and finely ground passe Boel Es
Guano occt Spee ae one enone” (osc Ce OSs s
Pure tribasic phosphate, precipitated and
still moist beats SESOn iiss
The general deductions arrived at from these experiments,
made about fifteen years ago, were that the phosphates in
coprolites, apatite, and other phosphatic minerals were very little
acted upon by water, and that ‘‘ for agricultural purposes phos-
phatic minerals, as well as bone ash, should be treated with a
quantity of sulphuric acid sufficient to convert the whole of the
insoluble phosphates, therein contained, as completely as possible
into solnble combinations. It is a waste of good raw materials
to leave much of the insoluble phosphates unacted upon by
acid.” Broadly speaking, the above may be said to constitute
the creed of the agricultural chemist at the present day, and the
farmer buys his manure at a relatively high price, per unit of
soluble phosphate.
On ap lying manures containing dissolved phosphates to tne
soil, nearly the whole of the phosphoric acid is at once neut-
ralised by the various salts present therein, be they lime,
alumina, or iron, and the chemist assures us that the superior
estimation in which soluble salts are held arises from the
property possessed by these salts of becoming rapidly diffused
through the soil and precipitated therein, in an extremely fine
state of sub-division. Voelcker, in some recent obs:rvations on
this question, lays down certain propositions which are thus set
forth in the abstract of the Yournal of the Chemical Society,
vol. xi. (1881) p. 640. These appear to us to state very clearly
and briefly the accepted theories respecting the action of phos-
phates in manure.
I. Phosphetes are not readily taken up by plants in a soluble
form, but must be returned to an insoluble cond tion before they
yield their useful properties.
2. The efficacy of insoluble calcium phosphate corresponds
with the minuteness of division in which it is found in a
manure,
3. The finer the particles in a phosphatic material, the easier
it is dissolved in water, and the more energetic its action as a
manure. Coarsely-ground coprolites and other minerals are less
useful than the same materials in fine powder.
4. Calcium phosphate in porous soft bones is more soluble
and energetic than in hard bones, and is more available in bone
meal than in crushed bones.
5. Calcium phosphate in crystallised mineral phosphates—
Norwegian, Canadian, and Spanish apatites, for example—is less
326
NATURE
[ Fed. 1, 1883
soluble and energetic than the same amount contained in porous
phosphatic materials, such as certain descriptions of phospho-
guano.
6. Treatment with acids renders the material completely
soluble in water, and the so-formed superphosphate, when put
into the ground, is precipitated in a very fine state of division.
7. Inthe precipitated state the insoluble phosphate is im-
measurably more finely divided than it could be obtained by
mechanical means, and is consequently more energetic than any
raw material mechanically ground,
8. The anthor’s conclusion is that the chemical treatment with
acid is the cheapest and best way of rendering mineral phosphates
useful for agricultural purposes.
We think that it will be generally admitted that these proposi-
tions give a very reasonable statement of the case ; but for the
purposes of our inquiry we must supplement them with the fol-
lowing additional proposition. This has reference to a matter
which has escaped the attention of Dr. Voelcker, but which is
strongly supported by the results of the numerous recently-
recorded practical trials.
‘* By reprecipitating the acid in a super-phosphate previous to
its employment for agriculture by means of a suitable base, it
becomes possible to obtain a neutral phosphate, possessed of a
sufficient degree of solubility to be readily distributed through
the soil, in an extremely fine state of subdivision, and capable of
affording nutriment to the plant under highly favourable
conditions.”
It is to this further proposition to which we now desire to call
special attention, and we may allude first to the assumed loss of
the power of spontaneous diffusion through the soil, which is
stated by Sibson, in his work on ‘‘ Artificial Manures,” to
render the precipitated phosphates inferior in value to soluble acid
phosphate. We think that no chemist will doubt that the phos-
phates in guano are sufficiently soluble to be available for plant
food, and precipitated phosphate is certainly more soluble than
the earthy pho=phates in Peruvian guano. It must be remem-
bered, moreover, when studying the table of solubilities of
phosphates, as ascertained by Dr. Voelcker, that these are stated
with reference to distilled water, which does not occur in nature,
whereas in water containing small percentages of many of the
salts, commonly present in the soil, the solubility of phosphates
is largely increased. Thus the addition to the water ofa trifling
amount of ammonic chloride (1 per cent.) increases the solubility
of precipitated calcic phosphate fourfold.
This matter has not then received a due share of attention, for,
as we have seen, arguing on the analogy of guano, phosphates,
in the precipitated form, are undoubtedly so far soluble as to
possess the power of diffusion to an extent amply sufficient for
agricultural purposes, and there must be a point, short of perfect
solubility, which adequately satisfies all requirements in this
respect. A careful consideration of the subject has led us to the
conclusion that the effect of phosphoric acid added to the soil,
after having been fixed by a suitable base, in a condition suffi-
ciently soluble for every need of the plant, and in a state of sub-
division far finer than anything which could be obtained by
mechanical means, would be in theory, if not superior, at least equal
to that of a similar amount of soluble phosphate, applied to a soil
promiscuously, in casesin which it is impossible to predict by
what bases the phosphoric acid will be fixed, or even whether it
will be fixed at all. Indeed, the foregoing considerations would
almost lead us to the belief that the employment of such ready-
formed compounds as calcic or magnesic phosphates would be
preferable tothe haphazard use of soluble phosphoric acid in a
super- phosphate.
Chemists in treating of the magnesic | hosphates appear to have
overlooked the dibasic phosphate and to have conducted their
experiments and to have founded their observations mainly, if
not entirely, on the behaviour of the far less soluble tribasic
phosphate. The freshly-precipitated magnesic phosphate is
soluble in about 322 times its weight of pure water, while
calcic phosphate, as we have seen when newly precipitated, is
soluble to the extent of 5°56 grains per gallon. Both of these
salts are therefore much more soluble than the earthy phosphates
present in guano. We must not overlook the fact also that
although it has not yet received much attention, the magnesia
would appear to possess in itself considerable manurial value.
Aj}recent French authority assigns to it a value approaching
5s. 8@. per unit, almost three-fourths of the price he sets down
for phosphoric acid, and we are convinced from the study of the
composition of numerous fertile soils, the ashes of plants, and
recent field-trials, that the day is not far distant when the
magnesia will rank as high in a manure as a salt of potash,
Another fact which the foregoing considerations have forcibly
brought before us is the value of organic matters, in bringing
about the solubility ot the phosphates. This is perhaps scarcely
within our present scope, but we have mentioned, incidentally,
that small quantities of ammonia and carbonic acid, dissolved in
the water, produce a very marked effect on the solubillty of the
phosphates. So valuable is their office in this respect, that it
seems a false system to deny that organic matter, when present
in a manure, posse ses any value whatever. It was formerly the
practice with agricultural chemists to allow 1/. per ton (2"4d.
per unit) for organic matrer, and we think that the important
office which it fulfils in supplying carbonic acid for bringing into
solution additional quantities of the phosphates, fully justifies
the assignment to it of the above valuation.
We have thus endeayoured to explain the true conditions
under which phosphoric acid becomes, in the soil, a source of
plant-food. We have shown that there must be a limit to the
value of solubility, merely considered as a means of securing dif-
fusion through the soil, because partially soluble salts also possess
the property to a devree sufficient for all practical purposes. In
conclusion we have claimed for a ready-formed, partially-
soluble phesphate, in a finely divided condition, and, in the
case of the magnesic phosphate, possessing the property of
fixing at the same time a portion of the ammonia, a value at
least as great as that of a soluble acid phosphate, which runs
the risk of being fixed by iron, or alumina (should lime be
deficient in the soil), or, which may sink below the roots of the
plan's before it is neutralised. We trust we have thus shown a
good case fora more liberai valuation of precipitated phosphates,
and have indicated, with some measure of success, the reasons for
the excellent results that have been recently obtained by the use
of manures containing phosphoric acid in this form.
THE BLECTROLYTIG BALANCE Ors
CHEMICAL CORROSION *
THs paper treats of some fundamental points in silver electro-
plating, and shows how a large amount of the electric
power may be wasted by the use of too large a proportion ot
free potassic cyanide in the plating solution, or by using the
liquid in a heated state.
In it is also described a method of ascertaining the degree
of energy of chemical corrosion of metals in electrolytes, by
means of the strength of electric current per unit of surface
necessary to prevent such corrosion; the metals and liquids
employed for the purpo e in the present research being silver,
and solutions of argento cyanide of potassium containing free
potassic cyanide. Numerous examples, chiefly in the form of
tables, are given of the strength of current required to enter
cathodes of a given amount of surface, in order to exactly
balance the chemical corrosive effect upon them at atmospheric
temperatures, and at hizher ones, of solutions of potassic cyanide
of various degrees of strength.
The method employed was to take a given solution of cyanide
of potassium, pass through it by means of a sheet of platinum
anode and a burnished sheet of silver cathode, a weak electric
current, and add gradually to the liquid (with stirring) small
portions of argento potassic cyanide, until the faintest percepti-
ble deposit of silver occurred. The verge of deposition thus
attained was called ‘‘the balance point ;” and the conditions
which determine and influence it, constitute the subject of this
research,
The effect of various conditions upon the point of balance
of electric and chemical energy were investigated, and the
experiments are described. The influences examined were:
composition of the liquid, strength of current, size of cathode
and density of current, electro-motive force, temperature,
ordinary chemical corrosion, nature of the cathode, etc. The
circumstances were also investigated which affect the measurement
of the current by the method employed in this research, viz. by
depo iting silver from a solution of argento potassic cyanide ;
and the sources of error, (and their limit), in that method, are
pointed out. The effect of varying the proportions of free
potassic cyanide, and of argento potassic cyanide, upon the
strength of current at the balance point, are shown in tables of
results. The strengths of current just sufficient to prevent all
X Abstract of paper by G. Gore LL.D., F.R.S., read before the Birming-
ham Philosophical Society, Dec. 14, 1882.
ir ow
Feb. 1, 1883]
NATURE
327
corrosion and to deposit the whole of the silver from a solution
of argento potassic cyanide of given composition and containing
free cyanide are also shown. ‘The influence of varying the pro-
portions both of argento potassic cyanide, and free cyanide of
potassium, upon the transfer resistance! of the solution, and
thereby upon the balance point, are also investigated and the
results described.
A number of results and conclusions were arrived at, some of
which are as follows :—variation either of the number of battery
elements, the proportion of water, of free potassic cyanide, or
of argento potassic cyanide, destroys the balance. The effect of
altering the proportion of water is opposite with strong solutions
to what it is with weak ones. ‘The electric current at the point
of balance appears to be entirely conveyed by the free potassic
cyanide, and does not divide itself between the two salts until
the liquid contains a certain proportion of argentic salt. In
strong solutions of potassic cyanide, decreasing the number of
battery cells, necessitates more cyanide of silver to restore the
balance. The alteration of the point of balance by alteration
of proportion of free potassic cyanide cannot be much accounted
for by alteration of corrosive power of the liquid. A current
from ten Smz2e’s elements is about sufficiently strong to prevent
all corrosion of silver at 60° F. in a solution of cyanide of
potassium containing a mere trace of argento potassic cyanide.
The addition of nitrate, chloride, iodide, or sulphate of potassium
to the cyanide solution has but little effect upon the balance
point. Variation of strenith and of ‘‘density” of current
affect greatly the point of balance. Greater ‘‘ density” irre-
spective of strength of current usually increases the amount of
silver deposited. Diffcrence of electro-motive force of current
had no conspicuous effect in altering the balance point. Rise of
temperature of the liquid acts in two opposite ways, it increases
the corrosive action, and by diminishing conduction-resistance
it increases the current, and as the latter effect is usually a little
stronger than the former one, rise of temperature alters slightly
the point of balance, and enables the current to produce a sparing
deposit of silver. ‘The ordinary chemical corrosion of silver in
a solution of potassic cyanide without an electric current is
increased slightly by partial immersion (through capillary
corrosion), and greatly by rise of temperature ; it is also slightly
greater in a weak solution than ii a strong one, with solutions of
a certain range of strength ; and it is distinctly increased by
contact with platinum. In consequence of the latter circum-
stance, a platinum cathode requires a somewhat stronger current
than a silver one to enable the point of balance to be attained.
In a mixed solution of potassic and argento potassic cyanides,
even the smallest proportion of the former salt conveys a portion
of the current, and if the cathode is large or the current is
sufficiently weak, the whole of it is conveyed by thai salt, how-
ever much of the double salt is present, an error is thereby
introduced when deposition of silver in such a liquid is used as a
measure of current. But with a large amount of the double
salt, a small amount of potas:ic cyanide, anda current sufficiently
strong, the proportionate amount of error is small. During the
act of deposition the cathode surface is not at all corroded, and
any deficiency in the weight of deposit is not due to corrosion,
but to a portion of the current being conveyed by other ingredients
of the liquid than the argentic salt. A current which produces
deposition of silver, prevents all corrosion of a silver cathode in
the same liquid. The addition of free potassic cyanide to a
solution of the double cyanide alters both the resistance and the
balance point. The quantity of current diverted from the
argentic salt in solution 1s directly proportional to the amount of
free potas-ic cyanide present, but not always in the same ratio,
The presence of a large proportion of free cyanide, together
with the employment of a feeble current conduce to the passage
of a large amount of current through the liquid without
depositing silver ; and a current of ‘001057 Ampere (which
would deposit *132 grain of silver in two hours) was hardly
strong enough to prevent all corrosion or to deposit any silver
from a solution composed of 37°5 grains of argento potassic
cyanide and 112°5 grains of free cyanide of potassium in three
ounces of water. Whilst also a current if sufficiently weak,
may traverse a solution of potassic cyanide containing double
cyanide, without any of the current decomposing the latter, it
cannot traverse a solution of double salt containing free potassic
cyanide without some of it traversing the cyanide of potassium,
_ * By transfer resistance is meant the resistance to transfer of the current
into the cathode.
With a very dense current also, a portion of it enters the cathode
without depositing silver, and evolves gas.
It requires a much stronger current to balance the corrosion in
a hot solution of the two cyanides than in a cold one, and in an
instance given, a rise of temperature from 60 to 120° F, was
attended by the passage of 21 per cent increase of current
without deposition of silver, Addition of free potassic cyanide
to a weak solution of the double salt at the balance point,
first decreases and then increases the current by altering the
transfer resistance, probably at the cathode. An amount of
current equal to ‘14857 Ampere, entering a surface of ths,
of a square inch, was found to be sufficiently strong to
deposit nearly the whole of the silver from a solution at 60° F,
composed of 701! grains of free potassic cyanide, ‘0297 grain
of double cyanide, and three ounces of water, the liquid retain-
ing dissolved a little less than that amount of silver at its balance
point under those conditions. The strength of current at the
balance point in a weak solution of potassic cyanide, varies
inversely as the amount of silver salt added, and at about eight
times the rate. A c rtain strength of current must enter a given
surface of silver in a given liquid under stated conditions in
order to prevent all corrosion and produce deposition. The
addition of the double cyanide reduces the amount of current con-
veyed by the free pcotassic cyanide into the cathode at the balance
point. Successive additions of double salt to a solution of
potassic cyanide xot at the balance point, first decreases and
then increases the current by altering the transfer resistance ;
it alters the relation of the molecules of potassic cyanide to the
cathode so as to diminish their power of transmitting current into
that surface without depositing silver. The greater the proportion
of double salt present, the greater the tendency to the deposition
of silver. Addition of potassic cyanide to a weak solution of
the double salt of at the balance point, first decreases and then
increases the current by altering the transfer resistance at the
cathode ; in this respect it behaves like addition of the double
salt to a weak solution of potassic cyanide. With cathodes of
platinum, a solution of potassic cyanide offered less resistance to
the current (sot at the balance fotnt) than one of the double
cyanide, but with silver cathodes the reverse effect occurred.
The balance point is a case of equalization of molecular
influences, including ordinary chemical corrosion, density of
current, nature of cathode, temperature, proportions of water,
argento potassic cyanide, free potassic cyanide, and the soluble
salts present as impurities, either of which by being disturbed,
alters all the others, All these influences also have separate
numerical values. A rise of temperature of 60° F. requires
an increase of ‘000976 Ampere to restore the equipoise.
The experiments illustrate the dynamics of electro silver
plating ; and the method employed in the research is appli-
cable to the detection and measurement of molecular influ-
ence in electrolytes. In consequence of the alteration of
any one of the conditions having the effect of altering all the
remainder, all the above conclusions are limited in their applica-
tion and are only correct under the conditions given in the paper.
The fundamental explanation underlying these conclusions is,
that the phenomena are essentially molecular ; and that the mere
presence and admixture of the double cyanide alters the mole-
cular arrangement of the free cyanide not at the balance point,
in such a way as to enable the latter to transmit a greater
quantity of current into a cathode of given size, notwithstanding
its being more diluted by the other salt.
The phenomena of the ‘‘balance point” constitute an
interesting example of molecular equilibrium, in which the
balance point may be compared toa ball suspended by an
elastic cord, and having attached to it, a number of other
similar cords, each drawing it ina different direction, and all of
them being kept in a state of tension. In sucha case an alter-
ation of the degree of strain of any one of the cords, changes
that of all others, and alters the position of the ball.
The research has a practical bearing both upon the measurement
of electric currents by means of deposition of silver froma cyanide
solution, and upon the technical process of electro plating. In
the former it shows how a large proportion, or even the whole of
a current may pass without being measured, and how the error
may be reduced to the smallest amount ; and in the latter, how
a similar waste of current may occur, and how to prevent it.
It is manifest from the foregoing research, that the electrolytic
balance of chemical corrosion of cathodes in other depositing
solutions, such as those of gold, copper, nickel, etc., might form
an extensive subject of experimental investigation.
328
NATURE
[ fed. 1, 1883
Appended Note.—It was constantly found that in using a non-
corrodible anode such as platinum, the amount of current passing
was very much more easily regulated by varying the size of the
anode than that of the cathode, with a corrodible anode however,
such as silver, this effect was not observed.
THE ETHER AND ITS FUNCTIONS +
Il.
Consider the effect of wind on sound. Sound is travelling
through the air at a certain definite rate depending simply on the
average speed of the atoms in their excursions, and the rate at which
they therefore pass the knocks on; if there is a wind carrying all
the atoms bodily in cne direction, naturally the scund will travel
quicker in that direction than in the opposite. Sound travels
quicker with the wind than against it. Now is it the same with
light: does it too travel quicker with the wind? Well that
altogether depends on whether the ether is blowing along as
well as the air; if it is, then its motion must help the light on a
little; but if the ether is at rest no motion of air or matter of
any kind can make any difference. But according to Fresnel’s
hypothesis it is not wholly at rest nor wholly in motion ; the free
is at rest, the bound is in motion ; and therefore the speed of
light with the wind should be increased by an addition of
(« - rh of the velocity of the wind. Utterly infinitesimal,
eB
of course, in the cace of air, whose u is but a trifle greater than
1; but for water the fraction is 7-16ths, and Fizeau thought this
not quite hopeless to look for. Heaccordingly devised a beauti-
ful experiment, executed it successfully, and proved that when
light travels with a stream of water, 7-16ths of the velocily of
the water must be added to the velocity of the light, and when
it travels against the stream the same quantity must be sub-
tracted, to get the true resultant velocity.
Arago suggested another experiment. When light passes
through a prism, it is bent out of its course by reason of its
diminished velocity inside the glass, and the refraction is strictly
dependent on the retardation; now suppose a prism carried
rapidly forward through space, say at the rate of eighteen miles
a second by the earth in its orbit, which is the quickest acces-
sible carriage ; if the ether is streaming freely through the glass,
light passing through will be less retarded when going with the
ether than when going against it, and hence the bending will be
different.
Maxwell tried the experiment in a very perfect form, but
found no difference. - If all the ether were free there would
have been a difference ; if all the ether were bound to the glass
there would have been a difference the other way; but accord-
ing to Fresnel’s hypothesis there should be no difference, because
according to it, the free ether, which is the portion in relative
motion, has nothing to do with the refraction ; it is the addition
of the bound ether which causes the refraction, and this part is
stationary relatively to the glass, and is not streaming through it
at all. Hence the refraction is the same whether the prism be
at rest or in motion through space.
An atom imbedded in ether is vibrating and sending out
waves in all directions; the length of the wave depends on the
period of the vibration, and different lengths of wave produce
the different colour sensations. Now through free ether all
kinds of waves appear to travel at the same rate ; not so through
bound ether ; inside matter the short waves are more retarded
than the long, and hence the different sizes of waves can be
sorted out by a prism. Now a free atom has its own definite
period of vibration, like a tuning-fork has, and accordingly sends
out light of a certain definite colour or of a few definite colours,
just as a tuning-fork emits sound of a certain definite pitch or
of a few different pitches called harmonics. By the pitch of the
sound it is easy to calculate the rate of vibration of the fork ; by
the colour of the light one can determine the rate of vibration of
the atom.
When we speak of the atoms vibrating, we do not mean that
they are wagging to and fro as a whole, but that they are
crimping themselves, that they are vibrating as a tuning-fork or
ora bell vibrates ; we know this because it is easy to make the
free atoms of a gas vibrate. It is only in the gaseous state,
indeed, that we can study the rate of vibration of an atom ;
when they are packed closely together in a solid or liquid, they
t A lecture by Prof. Oliver Lodge at the London Institution, on December
28, 1882. Continued from p. 306.
are cramped, and all manner of secondary vibrations are
induced. They then, no doubt, wag to and fro also, and in
fact these constrained vibrations are executed in every variety,
and the simple periodicity of the free atom is lost.
To study the free atoms we take a gas—the rarer the better—
heat it, and then sort out the waves it produces in the ether by
putting a triangular pric:m of bound ether in their path.
Why the beund ether retards different waves differently, or
disperses the light, is quite unknown. It is not easy accurately
to explain refraction, but it is extremely difficult to explain dis-
persion. However, the fact is undoubted, and more light will
doubtless soon fall upon its theory.
The result of the prismatic analysis is to prove that every atom
of matter has its own definite rate of vibration, as a bell has ; it
may emit several colours or only one, and the number it emits
may depend upon how much it is struck (or heated), but those it
can emit are a perfectly definite selection, and depend in no
way on the previous history of the atom, Every free atom of
sodium, for instance, vibrates in the same way, and has always
vibrated in the same way, whatever other element it may have
been at intervals combined with, and whether it exists in the sun
or in the earth, or in the most distant star. The same is true of
every Other kind of matter, each has its own mode of vibration
which nothing changes; and hence has arisen a new chemical
analysis, wherein substances are detected simply by observing
the rate of vibration of their free atoms, a branch of physical
chemistry called spectrum analysis.
The atoms are small bodies, and accordingly vibrate with in-
conceivable rapidity.
An atom of sodium vibrates 5 x 104 times ina second ; that is,
it executes five hundred million complete vibrations in the
millionth part of a second.
This is about a medium pace, and the waves it emits produce
in the eye the sensation of a deep yellow.
4x 10! corresponds to red light, 7 x 10! to blue.
An atom of hydrogen has three different periods, viz. 4°577,
6°179, and 6°973, each multiplied by the inevitable ro.
Atoms may indeed vibrate more slowly than this, but the
retina is not constructed so as to be sensible of slower vibra-
tions; however, thanks to Capt. Abney, there are ways now of
photographing the effect of much slower vibrations, ard thus of
making them indirectly visible ; so we can now hope to observe
the motion of atoms over a much greater range than the purely
optical ones and so learn much more about them.
The distinction between free and bound ether is forced on our
notice by other phenomena than those of light. When we
come to electricity, we find that some kind of matter has more
electricity associated with it than others, so that for a given
electromotive force we get a greater electric displacement ; that
the electricity is, as it were, denser in some kinds of matter than
in others. The density of electricity in space being 1, that
inside matter is called kK, the specific inductive capacity. In
optics the density of the <ther inside matter was we. These
numbers appear to he the same.
Is the ether electricity then? I do not say so, neither do I
think that in that coarse statement lies the truth; but that they
are connected there can be no doubt.
What I have to suggest is that positive and negative electricity
together may make up the ether, or that the ether may be
sheared by electromotive forces into positive and negative elec-
tricity. Transverse vibrations are carried on by shearing forces
acting in matter which resists them, or which possesses rigidity.
The bound ether inside a conductor has no rigidity ; it cannot
resist shear ; such a body is opaque. Transparent bodies are
thoce whose bound ether, when sheared, resists and springs back
again; such bodies are dielectrics.
We have no direct way of exerting force upon ether at all;
we can, however, act on it in a very indirect manner, for we
have learnt how to arrange matter so as to cause it to exert the
required shearing (or electromotive) force upon the ether
associated with it, Continuous. shearing force applied to the
ether in metals produces a continuous and barely resisted stream
of the two electricities in opposite directions, or a conduction
current, 5
Continuous shearing force applied to the ether in transparent
bodies produces an electric displacement accompanied by elastic
resilience, and thus all the phenomena of electric induction.
Some chemical compounds, consisting of binary molecules,
distribute the bound ether of the molecule, at any rate as scon
i
acl i eae
“
Feb, 1, 1883]
NATURE
329
as it is split up by dissociation ; and, instead of each nascent
radicle or atom taking with it neutral ether, one takes a certain
definite quantity of positive, the other the same amount of
negative, electricity. In the liquid state the atoms are capable of
locomotion; and a continuous shearing force applied to the
ether in such liquids causes a continual procession of the matter
and associated electricity, the positive one way, and the negative
the other, and thus all the phenomena of electrolysis..
What I say about electricity, however, is not to be taken
without salt, you will not regard it as recognised truth, but as a
tentative belief of your lecturer’s which may be found to be
more or less, and possibly more rather than les:, out of accord-
ance with facts. I can only say that it hangs phenomena to-
gether, and that it has been forced upon my belief in various
ways.
Now what about the free ether of space, is it a conductor of
electricity? There are certain facts which suggest that it is, and
Edlund has suggested that it is an almost perfect conductor,
When a sun-spot or other disturbance breaks out on the sun,
accompanied as it is, no doubt, by violent electric storms, the
electric condition of the earth is affected, and we have aurorz
and magnetic disturbances. Is this by induction through space?
or can it be due to conduction and the arrival of some micro-
scopic portion of a derived current travelling our way ?
For my part I cannot think the ether a conductor. Maxwell
has shown that conductors must be opaque, and ether is
nothing if not transparent; one is driven, then, to conclude that
what we call conduction does not go on except in the presence
of ordinary matter—in other words, perhaps, that it is a pheno-
mena more connected with bound ether than with free.
But now, looking back to Fresnel’s hypothesis of the extra
density of the ether inside gross matter, and also to the fact that
it must be regarded as incompressible, the question naturally
arises how can it be densified by matter or anything else?
Perhaps it is not; perhaps matter only strains the ether towards
itself, thus slackening its tension, as it were, inside bodies, not pro-
ducing any real increase of density ; and this is roughly McCullagh’s
form of the undulatory theory. In this form gravitation may be
held to be partially explained ; for two bodies straining at the
ether in this way will tend to pull themselves together. In fact
Newton himself pointed out that gravitation could be produced
if only matter exerted this kind of strain on all pervading ether,
the tension varying as the inverse distance.
He did not follow the idea up, however, because he had then no
other facts to confirm him in his impression of the existence of
such an ethe , or to inform him concerning its properties. We
now not only feel sure that an ether exists, but we know some-
thing of its properties ; and we also have learnt from light and
from electricity, that some such action between matter and ether
actually occurs, though how or why it occurs we do not yet
know. Iamtherefore compelled to believe that this is certainly
the direction in which an ultimate explanation of gravitation and
of cohesion is to be looked for.
In thinking over the Fresnel and McCullagh forms of the
undulatory theory, with a view to the reconciliation between
them which appears necessary and imminent, one naturally asks,
is there any such clear distinction to be drawn between ether
and matter as we have hitherto tacitly assumed? may they not
be different modifications, or even manifestations, of the same
thing?
Again, when we speak of atoms vibrating, how can they
vibrate ? of what are their parts composed ?
And now we come to one of the most remarkable and sug-
gestive speculations of modern times—a speculation based on this
experimental fact, that the elasticity of a solid may be accounted
for by the motion of a fluid ; that a fluid in motion may possess
rigidity.
I said that rigidity was precisely what no fluid possessed ; at
rest this is true; in motion it is not true.
Consider a perfectly flexible india-rubber O-shaped tube full
of water ; nothing is more flaccid and limp. But set the water
rapidly circulating, and it becomes at once stiff; it will stand on
end for a time without support; kinks in it take force to make,
and are more or less permanent. A practicable form of this
experiment is the well-known one of a flexible chain over a
pulley, which becomes stiff as soon as it is set in rapid motion,
This is called a vortex filament, and a vortex is a thing built
up of a number of such filaments. If they are arranged parallel
to one another about a straight axis or core, we have a vortex
cylinder such as is easily produced by stirring a vessel of water,
or by pulling the plug out of a wash-hand basin ; or such as are
made in the air on a large scale in America, and telegraphed
over here, when they are called ‘‘ cyclones,” or ‘ depressions.”
The depression is visible enough in the middle of revolving water.
These vortices are wonderfully permanent things, and last a long
tme, though they sometimes break up unexpectedly.
Vortices need not have straight cores, though they may have
cores of various ring forms, the simplest being a circle. ‘To
make a vortex ring, we must take a plane disk of the fluid, and
ata certain instant give to every atom in the disk a ‘certain
velocity forward, graduating the velocity according to its dis-
tance from the edze of the disk. We kave as yet no means of
doing this in a frictionless fluid, bnt with a fluid such as
air and water it happens to be easy ; we have only to knock a
little of the fluid suddenly out of a box through a sharp-edged
hole, and the friction of the edges of the hole does what we
want. The central portion travels rapidly forward, and returns
round outside the core, rolling back towards the hole. But the
impetus sends the whole forward, and none really returns ; it
rolls on its outer circumference as a wheel rolls along a road. In
a perfect fluid it need not so roll forward, as there would be no
friction, but in air or water a vortex-ring has always a definite
forward velocity, just as a locomotive driving-wheel has when it
does not slip on the rails.
We have in these rings a real mass of air moving bodily for-
ward, and it impinges on a face or a gas flame with some force.
It is differentiated from the rest of the atmosphere by reason of
its peculiar rotational motion,
The cores of these rings are elastic—they possess rigidity ;
the circular is their stable form, and if this is altered, they
oscillate about it. Thus when two vortex rings impinge or even
approach fairly near one another, they visibly deflect each other,
aud also cause each other to vibrate.
The theory of the impact or interference of vortex rings whose
paths cross, but which do not come very near together has been
quite recently worked out by Mr. J. J. Thomson. It is quite
possible to make the rings vibrate without any impact, by ser-
rating the opening out of which they are knocked. The simplest
serration of a circle turns it into an ellipse, and here you have
an elliptic ring oscillating from a tall to a squat ellipse and back
again. Here is a four-waved opening, and the vibrations are by
this very well shown. A six-waved opening makes the vibra-
tions almost too small to be perceived at a distance but still they
are sometime; distinct.
The rings vibrate very much like a bell vibrates, perhaps very
much like an atom vibrates, They have rigidity, although com-
posed of fluid ; they are composed of fluid in motion. These
vortices, are imperfect they increase in size, and decrease in
energy ; in a perfect fluid they would not do this, they would then
be permnent and indestructible, but then also you would not be
able to make them.
Now does not the idea strike you that atoms of matter may be
vortices like these—vortices in a perfect fluid, vortices in the
ether. This is Sir William Thomson’s theory of matter. It is
not yet proved to be true, but is it not highly beautiful? a theory
abaut which one may almost dare to say that it deserves to be
true. The atoms of matter according to it are not so much
foreign particles imbedded in the all-pervading ether as portions
of it differentiated off from the rest by reason of their vortex
motion, thus becoming virtually solid particles, yet with no
transition of substance ; atoms indestructible and not able to be
manufactured, not mere hard rigid specks, but each composed
of whirling ether; elastic, capable of definite vibration, of free
movement, of collision, ‘The crispations or crimpings of these
rings illustrate the kind of way in which we may suppose an
atom to vibrate. ‘They appear to have all the properties of
atoms except one, viz. gravitation; and before the theory can
be accepted, I think it must account for gravitation, This
fundamental property of matter cannot be left over to be
explained by an artificial battery of ultra-mundane corpuscles.
We cannot go back to mere impact of hard bodies after having
allowed ourselves a continuous medium, Vortex atoms must be
shown to gravitate,
But then remember how small a force gravitation is. Ask any
educated man whether two pound-masses of lead attract each other,
and he will reply no. He is wrong, of course, but the force is
exceedingly small. Yet it is the aggregate attraction of trillions
upon trillions of atoms ; the s/ighéest effect of each upon the ether
would be sufficient to account for gravitation ; and no one can
33°
NATORE
a_i
¢
[ Fed. 1, 1883
say that vortices do not exert some such residual, but uniform,
effect on the fluid in which they exist, till second, third, and
every other order of small quantities have been taken into
account, and the theory of vortices in a perfect fluid worked out
with the most final accuracy.
At present, however, the Thomsonian theory of matter is not
a verified one, it is, perhaps, little more than a speculation, but
it is one that it is well worth knowing about, working at, and
inquiring into. It may stand or it may fall, but if it is the case,
as I believe it is, that our notions of natural phenomena,
though they often fall short, yet never exceed in grandeur the
real truth of things, how splendid must be the real nature of
matter if the Thomsonian hypothesis turns out to be inadequate
and untrue.
I have now endeavoured to introduce you to the simplest concep-
tion of the material universe which has yet occurred to man.
The conception that is of one universal substance, perfectly
homogeneous and continuous and simple in structure, extending
to the furthest limits of space of which we have any knowledge,
existing equally everywhere. Some portions either at rest or in
simple irrotational motion transmitting the undulations which
we call light. Other portions in rotational motion, in vortices
that is, and differentiated permanently from the rest of the
medium by reason of this motion.
These whirling portions constitute what we call matter ; their
motion gives them rigidity, and of them our bodies and all other
material bodies with which we are acquainted are built up.
One continuous substance filling all space: which can vibrate
as light ; which can be sheared into positive and negative electri-
city; which in whirls constitutes matter; and which transmits
by continuity, and not by impact, every action and reaction of
which matter is capable. This is the modern view of the ether
and its functions.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—Lord Rayleigh has resumed his course of
lectures on Electrical Measurements.
Dr. Gaskell’s lectures this term deal with the Physiology of
the Circulation; Mr. Langley is lecturing on the Physiology of
Muscle and Nerve, and the Histology and Pathology of the
Secretory Organs.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Nos.
2-5, 1881-82.—Outlines of the geology of the North-eastern
West India Islands, by Prof. Cleve. —The excavation of the bed
of the Kaaterskill, New York, by Dr. Julien.—On the cell-
doctrine and the bioplasson doctrine, by Prof. Elsberg.—The
discovery of the North Pole practicable, by Commander Cheyne.
—The volcanic tuffs of Challis, Idaho, and other western locali-
ties, by Dr. Jullien.—The mammoth cave of Kentucky, by Mr.
Stevens.—On the determination of the heating-surface required
in steam pipes employed to produce any required discharge of
air through ventilating chimneys, by Prof. Trowbridge.—On a
peculiar coal-like transformation of peat, recently discovered at
Scranton, Penn., by Prof. Fairchild.—The parallel drift-hills of
Western New York, by Dr. Johnson.—Hypothetical high tides
as agents of geological action, by Dr. Newberry.—The inter-
national time-system, by Prof. Rees. The moral bearing of
recent physical theories, by Prof. Martin.—The discovery of
emeralds in South Carolina, by Mr. Hidden.—Obituary notice
of Prof. J. W. Draper.—On the behaviour of steam in the
steam-engine cylinder, and on curves of efficiency, by Prof.
Thurston.—Stereoscopic notes, by Prof. Hines. —A new rever-
sible stereoscope, by Mr. Stevens.—Diphenylamine-acrolein, by
Prof. Leeds.
Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 1, 1883.—On the radi-
ometer, by E. Pringsheim.—A wave-length measurement in the
ultra-red solar spectrum, by the same.—Fluorescence according
to Stokes’ law, by E, Hagenbach.—The isogyrous surfaces of
doubly-refractive crystals ; general theory of the curves of like
direction of vibration, by E. Lommel.—On the heat-conducting
power of liquids, by L. Graetz.—On the ratio of the specific
heats in gases and vapours, by P. A. Miiller.—The product of
internal friction and galvanic conduction of liquids is constant
with reference to the temperature, by L. Grossmann.—On M. |
Guebhard’s proposed method of determination of equipotential
lines, by H. Meyer.—Further researches on the relation of mole-
cular refraction of liquid compounds to thcir chemicai constita-
tion, by H. Schréder.—On the preservation of oxygen gas in
the zinc-gasometer, by J. Loewe.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, January 11.—‘‘On the Skeleton of the
Marsipobranch Fishes. Part I. The Myxinoids (A/yxine and
Bdellostoma).” By W. K. Parker, F.R.S. Abstract.
In their cranio-facial skeleton the Myxinoids are very remark-
able ; where segmentation is perfect in other fishy types there
they only exhibit a lattice-work of continuous growth; in the
median region of the skull-base, where other types show but
little or only temporary distinctness of parts, these fishes develop
and retain large independent cartilages.
The lamprey has a large superficial basket-work of soft car-
tilage (extra-branchial), and its giil-pouches keep this related
to the rest of the structures of the mouth and throat. But in the
Myxinoids the basket-work is 7#’va-branchial, and corresponds
to the system of segmented arches of the higher Cartilaginous,
the Ganoid, and the Osseous fishes. But these non-segmented
arches soon lose all relation to the branchial pouches. which are
removed so far backwards that they begin under the /wentietk
myotome ; whilst the end of the pericardium is under the fortieth.
In seeking light upon the primordial condition of the Verte-
brata, one naturally looks to such forms as the Myxinoids. For
in these types, even in the adult state, there are neither limbs
nor vertebree, and no distinction between head and body, except
the beginning, in the head, of a cartilaginous skull ; a continuous
structure—not showing the least sign of secondary segmentation,
and by far the greater part of which is in front of the notochord,
or axis of the organi-m. But here our gvadational work agrees
with the developmental, for the continuous skull-bars constantly
arise before the secondary cartilaginous segments that are found
between the myotomes behind the head. Evidently, therefore,
the early ‘‘ Craniata” grew supports to tke enlarged and sub-
divided front end of their neural axis, long before anything
beyond strong fibrous septa were developed between the muscular
segments of the body. As for the linear growth, the greater or
less extension backwards of the main organs—circulatory,
respiratory, digestive, urogenital—that, in the evolution of the
primary form, was a thing to be determined by the “surround-
ings” of the type. ‘‘ Thereafter as ¢hey may be” was the
tentative idea in this case.
Certainly, in the Marsipobranchs and in their relations, the
larval ‘‘ Anura,” we have the most archaic ‘‘Craniata” now
existing ; in these the organs may be extended far backwards in
a vermiform creature, as in these low fishes, or kept well swung
beneath the head—the body and tail together forming merely a
propelling organ, as is seen in Tadpoles, especially the gigantic
Tadpole of Pseudis,
Thus we see that in low limbless types there is no necessity
for the development of more than fibrous “‘ metameres’’; but
the vesicular brain, the suctorial lips, the branchial pouches, and
the special organs of sense—these all call for support from some
tissue more dense than a mere fibrous mat or web. In the
Myxinoids we find that four special modifications of the con-
nective tissue series are developed for the support of the properly
cephalic organs, and for them only; thus these fishes are
Craniata, but are not Vertebrata ; that is, if we stick to the
letter, which of course we do not.
At first some disappointment is felt, after careful study of
these types, for, notwithstanding the low level in which they
remain, they are mere specialised Ammocetes, keeping on the
same ‘‘ platform” as the larval Lamprey; yet some parts of
their organisation do undergo a marvellous amount of trans-
formation, and are, indeed, as much specialised in conformity
with their peculiar habits of life as any Vertebrates whatever, the
highest not excepted.
Yet, on the whole, the Msxinoids are a sort of Ammocetine
type, whilst the transformed Ammoccete, the larval Lamprey,
comes nearest to the untransformed Frog or Toad—the Zadfole,
But the mere putting of this shows (suggests at any rate) what
Josses the fauna of the world has sustained during the evolution
of the Craniate forms; ow, the Myxinoids, Petromyzoids, and
anurous Amphibia, must all be kept ‘‘ within call” of each
other ; but the types thathaye been culled out between them
B20. 1, 1883]
cannot be numbered. Some other kind of fish are evidently
the descendants of primordial ‘‘ Marsipobranchs,” notably Zefz-
dosteus, the development of which has been lately studied, and the
results are being published in the P%z/osophical Transactions.
But the Chimeroids, Dipnot, and, still more important, the
Myxinoids themselves, have still to be followed through their
early stages. If the present paper is of any value to the
snorphologist, one on the embryology of these low forms would
be worth much more.
The Myxinoids keep on the low ‘‘ platform” of the larval
Lamprey (Ammocete) in the following particulars, namely :—
a. The notochord has no paired cartilaginous vertebral rudi-
ments in the spinal region.
6. The trabeculze end in the ethnoidal region, without growing
forwards into a cornu (or wo continuous cornua).
c. There are merely “‘ barbels”’ round the mouth; no /adial
cartilages.
d. The last character involves this, namely, that the special
armature of horny teeth, attached to the labials in the adult
Petromuy'zon, is absent.
é. The organs of vision are very feeble, and probably almost
useless ; in the 4mmocate they are arrested for a time.
J. The cranium is a mere /foor, without side-walls or roof.
The Myxinoids come near to the adult Lamprey in the follow-
ing particulars, namely :—
a. There are developed outside the skull proper, but not
segmented from it, palato-pterygoid and hyoid cartilages.
6, There is a very large median cartilage belonging to both
the hyoid and branchial regions.
¢. The cranium acquires a floor by the development of a
special ‘‘ hinder intertrabecula.”
d, There is a large median cartilaginous olfactory capsule.
The Myxinoids go beyond even the adult Lamprey in the
following particulars, namely :—
a. The facial basket-work is much more perfect ; and as ‘his
is a generalised condition of the true zm/ra-visceral system of
cartilages, it is a very important character ; there is not only an
equal development of the ‘‘suspensorium,” but the szspensorial
part of the hyoid is developed also (it is suppressed in the
Lamprey) ; and there is, in Bdellostoma a large complete first
branchial arch, and in both kinds pharyngo-branchial rudiments
of the second branchial arch.
6. The respiratory (branchial) pouches are much more spe-
cialised by being carried far back under the spine.
c. There is not only a distinct sub-cranial intertrabecula, but
also a large pre-cranial or nasal median cartilage of the same
nature.
d, The opening of the median olfactory sac is not a mere
short membranous passage, but a long tube, encased in a series
of cartilaginous (imperfect) rings.
e. Correlated with the non-development of the suctorial labial
cartilages, there is an enormous development of the lingual, the
basal bar becoming not only double, but, in front, quadruple,
and the ‘‘supra-lingual” cartilages, which are very small in the
Lamprey, and carry only one pair of rows of small second teeth,
in the Myxinoids are very large, and carry two pair: of rows of
large teeth, wlth the addition of a median antagonistic ‘‘eth-
noidal tooth,”
Lastly, the greater development of the intra-visceral (= ‘‘ intra-
branchial”’) cartilages is correlated with the suppression of the
extra-visceral basket-work seen both in the larval and adult
Lamprey, and also in the larvee of the ‘‘ Anura” generally.
)
January 18.—‘‘On the Skeleton of the Marsipobranch
Fishes. Part II. The Lamprey.” By W. K. Parker, F.R.S.
The suctorial mouth has its highest development in the
Lamprey ; in the Myxinoids (AZyxine), and Bdellostoma, there is
no circular disk with horny teeth, but merely an oral fissure
surrounded by barbels, and having inside it a huge tongue beset
with two oblique rows of recurved and inturned horny teeth,
antagonised by a single ethnoidal tooth. Inthe larva of the
Lamprey the mouth is not circular, and the ewer lip is far back,
covered by the #Aer, which is like a hood; there are no teeth
of any kind, only moss-like ‘‘barbels” or fZafi//e under the
upper lip.
In the Tadpole the mouth is suctorial, the /ower lip being con-
verted into an imperfect ring, which is completed by the wpjer
lip. Here the cartilage of the lower lip is not a perfect ring, as
in the Lamprey, but is in two parts, and is formed into a sort of
horseshoe, Inside this compound ring there are sharp horny
NATURE
331
plates or teeth, and the folds of the lips, all round the mouth,
are covered with a horny rasp.
Correlated with the perfectly suctorial Jowér lip of the
Lamprey, which, is a fost-oral structure, entirely, we have the
perfectest form of the superficial branchial skeleton, a basket-
work of soft cartilage which appears in the early embryo, and
only gains enlargement fore and aft, and all its snags and out-
growths, after metamorphosis. Besides this there are no rudi-
ments of z¢ernal branchial arches, such as we find in the Tad-
pole. The only parts developed zwside the head-cavities and
branchial arches are the generalised and rudimentary mandibular
and hyoid arches. In the Tadpole there is no fier to the hyoid
arch, and the frst cleft is arrested as a small blind pouch ; this
state is persistent in the Lamprey. But, after metamorphosis—
as the lingering latter part of that profound change of structure—
the young Frog and Toad acquire a pier to their hyoid arch,
right and left. This, however, does not become functional to
the arch, much less assist in supporting the mandible, asa ‘‘ hyo-
mandibular,” but is transformed into an osseo-cartilaginous chain
—a stapedio-incudal series, specialised correlatively with the
expanded rudiment of the first cleft, now enlarged into a cavum
tympani, with a large ‘Eustachian opening.’ The little
mandibles of the Tadpole, which served as arms to carry the
divided suctorial disk, and lay across the fore face, become very
long, and are often hinged on to their pier behind the occiput,
and the cartilages of the suctorial disk straighten out and add to
the length of the lower jaw in front. These things show how
this temporary ‘‘ Petromyzoid,” the Tadpole, blossoms out into
unthought-of specialisations ; it becomes a guast-reptile, worthy
of a place far above the Lamprey, and even far above all other
Ichthyopsida,
Geological Society, January 10.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S.,
president in the chair.—T, W. Edgeworth Pavid, the Earl of
Dysart, John James Hamilton, Francis Alfred Lucas, and
Meaburn Staniland, were elected Fellows, and Dr. Otto Torell,
F.C.G.S., of Stockholm, a Foreign Member of the Society.—
The following communications were read :—On the Lower
Eocene section between Reculvers and Herne Bay, and some
modifications in the classification of the Lower London Tertiaries,
by J. S. Gardner, F.G.S.—The author noticed Prof. Prestwich’s
classification of the Lower London Tertiaries, and the intro-
duction by the Survey of the term ‘‘ Oldhaven Beds” for some
of his basement beds of the London Clay. He next discussed
the conditions under which the Lower Tertiaries were produced,
and showed that throughout the Eocenes there are indications of
the close proximity of land and of the access of fresh water.
Two types of faunas are to be recognised, namely, those of the
Caleaire Grossier and the London Clay, the latter indicating
more temperate climatal conditions. The former is represented
in England by the Bracklesham series. The areas of these two
faunas were separated by land forming an isthmus, as each
formation is bounded by a shore-line and separated from its
neighbours by freshwater formations ; but this isthmus probably
shifted its position to the north and south without ever being
broken through. A vast Eocene river existed, draining a great
continent stretching westward; the indications of this river
in Hampshire and Dorsetshire would show it to have been
there seventeen or eighteen miles wide. —The Lower Tertiaries
have been’ divided by Prof. Prestwich and the Survey into the
marine Thanet beds, the fluviatile, estuarine and marine
Woolwich and Reading Beds, and the marine Oldhaven Beds.
The mode of occurrence of these was described by the author,
with especial reference to the section between Herne Bay and
the Reculvers, from his investigation of which he was led to the
following conclusions :—The Thanet Sands were probably depo-
sited by a rough sea outside the estuary of the great Eocene
river, but within its influence. This area became silted up, rose
above the surface, and became covered with shingle and sand.
The Thanet Beds closed with a period of elevation, during which
the Reading Beds were formed, and this was followed by a
subsidence during the Woolwich period, which finally ushered
in the Oldhaven and London Clay deposits. The formation of
the Oldhaven Beds may be compared with that of the modern
beach at Shellness ; and during the period of depression the
beaches would advance steadily over the flat area of Sheppey,
and the earlier formed ones would sink and become covered up
by the silt of the great Eocene river, These beaches, forming
vast aggregations of sand and shingle between the Thanet Beds
and the London Clay, form integral portions of one or other
formation, and cannot be recognised as forming a separate
33?
NATURE
[ Feb. 1, 1883,
formation at all equivalent to the other divisions of the Eocene.—
On Mr. Dunn’s Notes on the Diamond-fields of South Africa,
1880, by Francis Oates, F.G.S.
Anthropological Institute, January 23. — Anniversary
Meeting.—John Evans, V.P., D.C.L., F.R.S., in the chair.—
The Treasurer’s report and the report of the Council were read
and adopted.—The Chairman delivered an address, in which he
briefly reviewed the work of the past year, and enlarged on the
subject of the antiquity of man, discussing the evidence for and
against his existence in Tertiary times.—‘lhe following Officers
and Council for 1883 were elected :—President, Prof. W. H.
Flower, F.R.S. Vice-presidents : Hyde Clarke, John Evans,
F.R.S., Francis Galton, F.R.S., Major-Gen. Pitt-Rivers,
F.R.S., A. Thomson, F.R.S., E. B. Tylor, F.R.S. Director,
F. W. Rudler, F.G.S. Treasurer, F. G. H. Price, F.S.A.
Council: J. Beddoe, F.R.S., S. E. B. Bouverie-Pusey, E. W.
Brabrook, F.S.A., C. H. E. Carmichael, M.A., W. Boyd
Dawkins, F.R.S., W. L. Distant, A.W. Franks, F.R.S.,
Lieut.-Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S., Prof. Huxley,
F.R.S., A. H. Keane, B.A., A. L. Lewis, Sir J. Lubbock,
M.P., R. Biddulph Martin, M.P., Henry Muirhead, M.D.,
J. E. Price, F.S.A., Lord Arthur Ras ell, M.P., Prof. G. D.
Thane, Alfred Tylor, AGES Me Wis Walhouse, F.R.A.S.,
R. Worsley.
Paris
Academy of Sciences, January 22.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—On metasulphites,
by M. Berthelot.—On selenide of nitrogen, by MM. Berthelot
and Vieille.—On the characters of induced currents resulting
from reciprocal movements of two magnetic bodies parallel to
their axis, by M. du Moncel. Polarisation of an iron core im-
mobilises a certain quantity of magnetism, which thus remains
indifferent to exterior magnetic excitation, and is only affected
when, being able to act on the inducing body, which over-
excites its energy, it may polarise it in its turn, so that action
and reaction are in concordance. —On complex units (continued),
by M. Kronecke —Theory of the most general electro-dynamic
actions that can be observed, by M. Le Cordier.—On the con-
struction of a dynamo-electric propeller on a long balloon, by
M. Tissandier. The system, with a total weight = three men,
gives during three hours the work of twelve to fifteen men,
The two-vaned propeller (of steel wire and varnished silk) is
driven by a small Siemens’ dynamo (120 turns of the former to
1200 of the latter) ; the battery being of thirty-four elements
mounted in tension, and divided into four series. An element
consists of a vulcanite box (four litres capacity) holding ten zinc
and eleven carbon plates. Strong bichromate solution is let in
or drawn off by raising or lowering a separate vessel connected
by a tube with the battery.—Observations of the transit of
Venus at Bragado (Argentine Republic), by M. Perrin. He
observed two direct contacts (the second and the fourth), and a
certain number of artificial contacts which will supplement the
others. The phenomenon was of distinct and well character-
ised geometrical appearance.—On the approaching return of
the periodic comet of d’Arrest, by M. Leveau. He has
calculated an ephemerides (which will be communicated to all
astronomers) for the period most favourable to observation, viz.
April 23 to November 25 this year. Values for the relative
brightness are deduced.—Addition to a note on prime numhers,
by M. de Jonquieres.—On the relations between covariants and
invariants of like character, of a binary form of the sixth order,
by M. Stephanos.—On the functions of several imaginary vari-
ables, by M. Combescure.—On the functions of two variables,
by M. Poincaré.—On the curyes of the sextant, by M. Gruey.—
Mode of distribution among various points of its small supporting
base, of the weight of a hard body, of polished and convex sur-
face, placed on an elastic horizontal ground, by M. Boussinesq.
M. r and Vaschy on cen-
sequences deducible from relations between electric magnitudes,
by M. Lévy.—Remarks on the expression of electric magnitudes
&c. (continued), by MM. Mercadier and Vaschy.—Observations
on Dr, Siemens’ last paper, by M. Violle.—Photographic posi-
tives on paper obtained directly, by MM. Cros and Vorgerand.
Paper is covered with a solution of 2 gr, bichromate of ammonia,
15 gr. glucose, and 1oo gr. water, is dried, and exposed to light
under a positive (e.g. a drawing). When the (yellow) bare parts
of the paper have become grey, the paper is immersed in a bath
of 1 gr. nitrate of silver to 100 gr. of water, with 10 gr. acetic acid.
The image appears at once, with reddish tint, produced by
bichromate of silver. Drying in light gives a dark brown tint.
—On hydraulic silica, by M. Le Chatelier. The only new fac
given by M. Landrin (he says) is the non-hydraulicity of silica
obtained from manufacture of hydrofluosilicic acid. —On mutual
displacements of bases in neutral salts, the systems remaining
homogeneous, by M. Menschutkin,—On the causes capable of
affecting the amount of ammonia in rain-water, by M. Houzeau.
One important consideration is the time that has elapsed
between obtaining and analysing ; another the monthly quantity
of water (the less the rain, the more ammonia presen!).—On the
action of certain metals on oils, by M. Livache. Instead of
metallic plates (which M, Chevreul experimented with), he used
metals finely divided, as in precipitation, and got much better
effects. Of the three, lead, copper, tin—lead acts most strongly.
If some of it be moistened with oil and exposed to air, an
increase of weight very soon occurs through oxidation, and it is
greater the more siccative the oil. A solid and elastic product
is formed. The increments of weight with different oils are
sensibly proportional to those in fatty acids of the same oils
exposed to air several months (cotton-seed oil alone is anoma-
lous ; it is siccative, but its fatty acids increase very little in
weight). The transformation of the oil is attributed to direct
action of tbe metal, not to that of the air. It suggests a rapid
means of distinguishing siccative and non-siccative oils, and an
advantageous substitute for the heating of oils.—Calcification of
kidneys, parallel to the decalcification of the bones, in subacute
poisoning by corrosive sublimate; increase of the proportion of
mineral parts of a tibia, following disarticulation of the other
tib'a, by MM. Prevost and Frutiger.—Physiological action of
sulphate of quinine on the circulatory apparatus in men and
animals, by MM. Lée and Bochefontaine. It preserves and
increases the force of the heart, and is a powerful antipyretic.—
Medullary origin of paralyses following cerebral lesions, by M.
Couty.-—On the lymphatic system of tadpoles, by M. Jourdain.
—On the development of the reproductive apparatus of pul-
monate molluscs, by M. Rouzaud.—On Suctociliate Infusoria (a
reply), On the morphological nature
of the subterranean braaches of the root of adult Psz/otum, by
M. Bertrand.—Contribution to the stratigraphic history of the
relief of Sinai, and especially on the age of porphyries of that
country, by Abbé Raboisson The last dislocations of the
Sinaitic system were posterior to the eocene.
CONTENTS Pacr
PoPpuLaR ASTRONOMY 300
Tue Zootoaicar Recorp . 310
Our Boox SHELF:—
“ The Brewer, Distiller and Wine Manufacturer’”’ . gir
Serpieri’s “ I] Potentiale Elettrico nell’ see mcr Elementare
dellayblettrostaticatau- aie) ene =) se een Swe 3 ee
LETTERS TO THE EpiroR:—
Hovering of Birds—Tue DuKe oF Arcytt; Henry T.
WHARTON . . gi2
Action of Light on India-rubber.—Prof, Hexpert McLeop,
F.R.S 312
A Possible Cause of the “Extinction of the Horses of the Post-
Tertiary.—S GaRMAN. . Song a powder ee ars:
Suicide of Scorpions.—C. Lioyp Mokcan . Cl Pap 313
Mimicry in Mcths.—Commander Duncan Stewart. |. 314
Clerk-Maxwell on Stress\—T. . . . 2 0 « « as) ee 314
The Comet.—E. Ristori. « - Ae wee
The Aurora of November 17, 1882 _Tuos. “Wm. BackHousE;
W.M F. Perriz; Dr. Henry MurkHeaD Se hoe cpio 2h
The Sea Serpent.—JosEPu SipbBOTHAM . - Sears
Influence of ‘‘ Environment’”’ upon Plants. _Howarp Fox. . 315
Tue Peak oF TeNERIFFE ACTIVE AGAIN. By Prof. C. Prazzi SMYTH 315
Joann BENEDICT LISTING ». . 6 «+ © © «© © © © © © » = © QAO
CraupF BERNARD . ay ee < ve: se | <0) | Jo ROS ERIS OZ:
THe Finspury TECHNICAL CoLtEecE : 5 318
On THE GRADUATION OF GALVANOMETERS FOR THE MEASUREMENT
oF CURRENTS AND PoTENTIALS IN ABSOLUTE Measure, lJI. By
ANDKEWGRAY. . See 39.
NaTurRaAL SCIENCE IN THE OPEN CompEtitive EXAMINATIONS FOR
Crerxsutes (Crass I.) IN THE Civi SERVICE. . - «© + © + + 32%
Nores. - . eC th. OL er ce
Our ASTRONOMICAL ‘Corumn:—
Variable Stars. . Rr Os cece. 5 * 324
Reported Discovery of a Comet cern oO Lye 324
The next Return of D’Arrest’s Comet . - = oho . 324
Meridian Observations of Nebule. . YC 324
Puysicat Norss. . 32
An InQuiry INTO THE “DEGREE oF SonupieiTY ReoquisirE IN
with SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PrecirITaTeED CaL(ic
MAnukgs,
AND MaGNEsic PHOSPHATES. . 325
Tue Evecrrotytic BALANCE OF CHEMICAL Corrosion. By G
Gorr, LL.D., F.R.S. .- 326
Tue ETHER AND ITS FUNCTIONS, Il. “By Prof, Ouiver Lopcr 328
University AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE . « . * 330
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS - . - © «+ © © i i « oe wena 330
. 330
SocimT1Es AND ACADEMIES « - «+ «+ © © © + © © «
NAME RE
333
——————————
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1883
ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES
A Contribution to the Out-door
By Felix L. Oswald. With
(London :
Zoological Sketches.
Study of Natural History.
Thirty-six Ilustrations by Hermann Faber.
W. H. Allen and Co., 1883.)
Zoological Notes on the Structure, Affinities, Habits, and
Mental Faculties of Wild and Domestic Animalss
with Anecdotes concerning and Adventures among
them, and some Account of thetr Fossil Representatives.
By Arthur Nicols, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. Illustrated by
J. W. Wood and F. Babbage. (London: L. Upcott
Gill, 1883.)
E cannot say much in favour of the first of
these two works. The engravings are good,
but the subjects chosen scarcely justify the care which
has been taken in their execution. For these subjects
are nearly all chosen for the sake of a comical or sen-
_sational effect, without any reference to utility as illus-
trating zoological facts or principles. And the essentially
unscientific spirit which has led to the choice of the
“¢thirty-six illustrations,” is no less apparent throughout
the letter-press. We are always ready to welcome any
attempt at popularising zoology, more especially when
the writer has any first-hand “contributions to the study
of natural history’? to supply; but surely such study
admits of being made sufficiently interesting in itself,
without the need of lame attempts at a kind of pleasantry,
which in being always forced and never witty, must
necessarily become irksome even to the least intelligent
of unintelligent readers. Weare the more disposed to
regret the author’s mistake in adopting this artificial
style, because in his short preface, where it is not adopted,
he shows that he is able to write with marked ability.
Concerning the facts of natural history which are
detailed, the most interesting, in our opinion, are those
which refer to the intelligence of monkeys and the
stupidity of sloth bears. We shall, therefore, give one
quotation on each of these topics.
Speaking of a domesticated sloth, the author says :—
“Though fed daily by the same hands, the old pen-
sioner still fails to identify his benefactor, or to recognise
his obligations in any way. To his ear the human voice
in its most endearing tones is a grunt ef preterea nihil ;
you might as well appeal to the affections of a cockroach.
You may frighten a pig, a goose, a frog, and even a
fly, but you cannot frighten or surprise a sloth. On
my last trip to Vera Cruz I procured a pair of black
tardos, full grown, and in a normal state of health, so far
as I could judge, but after a series of careful experiments
I have to conclude that their instinct of self-preservation
cannot be acted upon through the medium of their optic
or acoustic nerves. They can distinguish their favourite
food at a distance of ten or twelve yards, and the female
is not deaf, for she answers the call of her mate from an
adjoining room; but the approach of a ferocious-looking
dog leaves her as calm as the sudden descent of a meat-
axe within an inch of her nose. The he-sloth witnessed
the accidental conflagration of his straw couch with the
coolness of a veteran fireman. War-whoops do not
affect his composure. I tried him with French-horn
blasts and detonating powder, but he would not budge.
One of my visitors exploded some pyrotechnic mixtures
VOL. XXvVII.—NOo. 693
of wondrous colours and odours, but the tardo declined to
marvel; he is a wz/-admirari philosopher of the ultra-
Horatian school.”
Very different was the philosophical temper displayed
by another of the author’s pets. This was a young
Siamese bonnet-macque monkey (Macacus radiatus), of
which he says :—
“His conduct under circumstances to which no pos-
sible ancestral experiences could have furnished any
precedent has often convinced me that his intelligence
differs from the instinct of the most sagacious dog as
essentially as from the routine knack of a cell-building
insect. His predilection for a frugal diet equals that of
his Buddhistic countrymen, and I have seen him over-
haul a large medicine-chest in search of a little vial with
tamarind jelly. He remembered the shape of the bottle,
for he rejected all the larger and square ones, and after
piling the round ones on the floor, began to hold them up
against the light, and sub-divide them according to the
fluid or pulverous condition of their contents. Having
thus reduced the number of the doubtful receptacles to
something like a dozen and a half, he proceeded to scru-
tinise these more closely, and finally selected four, which
he managed to uncork by means of his teeth. Number
three proved to be the bonanza bottle, and, waiving all
precautions in the joy of his discovery, Prince Gautama
left the medical miscellanies to their fate, and bolted into
the next room to enjoy the fruits of his enterprise.”
We have only observed one actual error in natural
history, but as it is frequently repeated, we may point
it out. The writer speaks of vampire bats as those
which suck the blood of sleeping persons, whereas
the truth is, as Belt has remarked, “the vampire is the -
most harmless of all bats.’
The over-burdened title of the second of the above-
named books serves to show its general character.
The author is known from his previous works on
“Chapters from the Physical History of the Earth,”
“The Puzzle of Life, and How it has been Put To-
gether,” &c. He is therefore already known as an ardent
sportsman, a good naturalist, and an accurate observer ;
but in our opinion his latest work is his best. Indeed, we
have seldom read a more successful and entertaining
account of wanderings in which science has been com-
bined with sport. Whether Mr. Nicols is writing about
the snakes of India, the marsupials and monotremata of
Australia, or the birds of South America, he manages
equally to convey such vivid and interesting pictures of
the animals, with their habits and surroundings, that
while not a few of his first-hand observations are of im-
portance to the scientific zoologist, nearly every page of
his book is delightful and instructive to the general
reader.
The plan of his work is a simple one. The first four
chapters are devoted to Snakes, the second four to Mar-
supials, and the remaining eleven to Birds. In each
case all the more interesting features of classification,
anatomy, development, habits, distribution, intelligence,
&c., are given with accuracy, and sandwiched between
very readable descriptions of scenery, sporting adven-
ture, &c. Asan example of the latter, we may give one
quotation, and for this purpose we choose one of the
scenes in Australia :—
“On every side was desolation and salt-saturated earth,
but here, in the midst of it, stately trees, luxuriant vege-
tation, and, above all, fresh water! This delightful site
Q
334
NATURE
[ Fed. 8, 1883
was selected by myself and my friend as a camping
ground for a fortnight’s holiday in the height of summer.
Beyond a few pounds of biscuit and the usual allowance
of tea and sugar, we had nothing, intending to live on
whatever the gun and fishing-line brought to bag, and
pick up as much natural history as possible. At a short
distance from camp a creek entered the bay, noted for
the abundance of wild fowl to be found upon it in the
autumn and winter; but now all the birds were away
breeding in the vast impenetrable swamps to the south-
ward of the bay, except a few barren or unmated
stragglers. . . . The sole result of the day’s sport had
been a pelican and a small shark, obtained in the first
hour after sunrise, when alone it was possible to face the
heat. Neither of us being acquainted with the method
(if any exist) of rendering pelican a culinary delicacy,
and having made the acquaintance of fried shark
to such purpose that we would not willingly renew
it, nothing remained but to watch for a chance duck.
This duty being allotted to me, while my companion pre-
pared the tea, I placed myself towards evening in hiding
behind a mangrove stump, with the retriever beside me.
For nearly an hour I endured the torture of a mosquito
assault on face, hands, and legs, when suddenly a duck
turned the seaward bend of the creek, and came skimming
along the water tome. I stepped forward and shouted
at him, with the usual result of making him hesitate in
his flight and rise well into the air, exposing the lower
and most vulnerable side of his body to the charge,
which in another instant laid him dead upon the water.
The retriever dashed in to do his part of the work, and
our supper might have been considered secure, had not a
swift-winged cloud passed between the very nose of the
dog and the bird, and with a splendid swoop a sea eagle
bore off the duck, grasped by one strong foot. The sudden
and unexpected action deprived me momentarily of all
thought but admiration for the consummate ease and
grace of a movement performed without any apparent
effort, yet so expressive of immense power.”
Among the novel or otherwise interesting observations
in natural history which are recorded, we may note the
following. The young kangaroo, while carried in the
pouch of its mother, swallows the nipple, the end of which
rests in the stomach; if forcibly withdrawn, the young
animal makes no attempt to regain it, nor does it seem to
have any idea where to seek for it. Again, speaking of
Prof. Owen’s theory concerning the object of the pouch
as a ‘‘perambulator,” necessitated by the long droughts
in Australia to enable the mother to carry about her
young in her search for water, Mr. Nicols observes that
this view can only at best apply to the case of kangaroos,
and therefore can scarcely be taken as the true vazsox
@étre of the marsupium. Moreover, as a matter of fact,
the ‘‘arboreal marsupials do zo¢ migrate in the severest
drought, and in all probability they depend entirely upon
the copious dew which falls at night upon leaves and
grass.”
The following observation on the king lory seems worth
quoting :—
“In a few minutes he flew on to a tree well within
range of the binocular, and shortly afterwards a female
joined him in answer to his call. The swain was ardent,
the damsel coy ; they flitted from branch to branch, and
whenever she perched he circled round her, threw himself
underneath the branch, and swung to and fro with out-
spread wings, displaying the full glory of his scarlet
breast. In every movement, whether on the wing or
swaying at the end of a bough, he studied to present in
the most effective manner the brilliant adornments of his
plumage. . . . I do not think it possible for any one who
had seen this little episode in bird life to have resisted
the conclusion that the male was conscious of his beautiful
breast, and that he adopted the best method of showing
it by swinging himself beneath the branch, whence the
female could look down and admire the display.”
In the course of a discussion on the theory of flight Mr.
Nicols has occasion to correct several errors of observa-
tion which have been made by previous writers. Thus,
Captain F. W. Hutton has said that he has “sometimes
watched narrowly one of these birds (albatross) sailing
and wheeling about in all directions for more than an
hour without seeing the slightest movement of the
wings”; and the Duke of Argyll, in his “ Reign of
Law,’’ repeats the statement, on the testimony, as he
says in reply to a letter from Mr. Nicols on the subject,
“of many writers and of some friends.’’? But Mr. Nicols
is very positive in his assertion that “the soaring does
not continue for more than four minutes without a wholly
new departure of from twenty to thirty powerful wing im-
pulses, and it would seem an importation of the super-
natural into Natural History to admit the possibility
of sustaining the [soaring] flight for an hour.’ Mr,
Nicols also questions the accuracy of another statement
which was published by the Duke in this Journal concern-
ing the habits of Picus minor. His Grace said that,
having had an opportunity of closely observing these
habits, he found that the cock bird drums upon the
hollow parts of trees with his beak, in order to produce
“instrumental music’’ wherewith to charm the sitting
hen. On this it is remarked—
“The above is dated May, 1880. Although everything
from the pen of so attentive an observer will be received
with respect, it must obviously be very difficult to deter-
mine whether this is really a substitute for vocal music,
or simply the ordinary beating of the tree to procure
food.”
We shall now conclude this brief selection from Mr.
Nicols’ observations, by quoting a somewhat remarkable
one which he made in the Zoological Gardens of London.
“T saw a most extraordinary performance on the part
of a flamingo towards a cariama. The two birds were in
adjoining pens in the open air, separated by close wire
fencing, over which the flamingo could easily reach. The
cariama was constantly uttering its harsh metallic cry
while standing opposite to the flamingo, both birds being
as near the fence as they could stand. They remained
gazing at each other thus for at least half an hour, each
replying to the cry of the other. The demeanour was not
in the least suggestive of anger, but what passion moved
the flamingo I cannot imagine, unless it had some refer-
ence to the sexual instinct, and may indicate a habit
unknown to naturalists. During the whole time that I
watched them—and perhaps for long before and after—
the flamingo continued to drop from its beak upon or in
front of the cariama a bright scarlet fluid, which I cannot
doubt was blood. The bird was certainly not wounded
or hurt, and the action, from whatever impulse it pro-
ceeded, was voluntary, and appeared to afford gratification
to the performer and to the recipient of this singular
attention. In reply to a note on the subject, which I at
once sent to Mr. Darwin, he expressed his surprise at the
peculiar behaviour of the flamingo, which had not pre-
viously been brought under his notice, but did not see his
way to an explanation of it. The keeper told me he had
witnessed the performance once before, and assured me
that both birds were in perfect health, and on most friendly
terms with each other.”
From the care with which Mr. Nicols has made most
Feb. 8, 1883]
NATURE
335
of his other observations, we should have expected him
in this case to have procured some of this scarlet fluid for
examination, and also to have obtained permission to place
both birds in the same pen; but we have said enough to
show that his book seldom lays itself open to criticism of
this kind, and we sincerely hope that it will, in the words
of its concluding sentence, “ find favour with the public,”
not only because it well deserves to do so, but also because
the author promises that if it does, other Series of similar
Zoological Notes will be issued by him from time to time.
Lastly, we must not take leave of this, the First Series,
without noticing the life-like drawings of the illustrations
—particularly that of the cobra—and also the novel and
effective character of the binding, the boards being
covered with thin but continuous plates or shavings of
wood, which, without at all adding to their stiffness,
give so strikingly pretty a finish that we should like to
see this new idea in book-binding largely adopted by
other publishers. GEORGE J. ROMANES
THE GOLD COAST
To the Gold Coast for Gold. By Richard F. Burton and
Verney Lovett Cameron. Two Vols. Maps and IIlus-
trations. (London: Chatto and Windus, 1883.)
pee exploration undertaken by Captains Burton and
Cameron was for the purpose of examining and re-
porting upon the condition and prospects of certain gold-
mining properties in Western Africa, for which early in
1882 upwards of seventy distinct concessions had already
been obtained from various native owners. Five only
out of these concessions are reported on as having upon
them mines actually in operation, while it is more than
probable that of the remaining sixty-five a large propor-
tion might be acquired by the British public for a valuable
consideration.
It had originally been intended to explore the so-called
Kong Mountains, relative to which no additional infor-
mation has for many years been acquired; but so much
work had to be accomplished on the Ancobra river that
the latter portion of the programme had of necessity to
be relinquished ; under this disappointment Capt. Burton
philosophically consoles himself with the reflection that
“ Geography is good but Gold is better.’
Capt. Burton left Trieste on November 18, 1881, for
Gibraltar, and thence proceeded to Madeira, about which
he very pleasantly gossips through some sixty pages, and
where he is joined, on January 8, 1882, by his travelling
companion, Capt. Cameron. From Madeira they pro-
ceed together to Teneriffe, @ Aropos of which place we are
given the translation of a Spanish account of the repulse
of Lord Nelson from Santa Cruz de Teneriffe, which
extends through at least another fifty pages.
From Teneriffe the travellers continued their voyage,
touching at Bathurst, Sierra Leone, Cape Palmas, &c.,
eventually landing at Axim on January 24, 1882. Of
Axim Capt. Burton says :—
“ There is no better landing-place than Axim upon this
part of the African coast. The surf renders it impracti-
cable only on the few days of the worst weather. We
hugged the north of the Bobowustia rock-islet. When
the water here breaks there is a clear way further north;
the southern passage, paved with rocks and shoals, can
be used only when the seas are at their smoothest. A
regular and well-defined channel placed us on the shingly
and sandy beach. We had a succulent breakfast with
Messrs. Gillet and Selby (Linott and Spink), to whose
unceasing kindness and hospitality we afterwards ran
heavily in debt. There we bade adieu to our genial
captain and our jovial fellow-travellers.”
From Axim the travellers visited a stretch of country
in the vicinity of the coast, extending some distance west
of that town, and Prince’s River to the east of it; and
then ascended the Ancobra as far as Tumentu, situated
about twenty-two miles from its mouth. After inspecting
this last locality Capt. Burton returned to Madeira,
leaving Capt. Cameron to continue his surveys inland as
far as Crockerville, a mining settlement about forty-five
miles north-east of Axim. Capt. Cameron left the
African coast on March 28, 1882, and having picked up
Capt. Burton at Madeira they proceeded together to
Liverpool.
Rich alluvial deposits as well as auriferous quartz reefs
are described as occurring abundantly, but the hydrau-
licing of the former is strongly recommended in prefer-
ence to the mining and crushing of the latter. This
opinion is so constantly reiterated that the explorers
would appear to believe that a large portion of the
“Dark Continent’? would pay for washing. Water is
stated to be plentiful, and facilities for hydraulic mining
are represented as being very general.
“Wherever catas or ‘women’s washings’ are found
we can profitably apply the hydraulic system of sluicing
and fluming, not by an upper reservoir only, but also
from below, by a force pump. Water is procurable at
all seasons by means of Norton’s Abyssinian tubes, and
the brook-beds dammed above and below will form
perennial tanks.”
In California as much as fifteen hundred and seventy
cubic feet, or forty-three tons of water, under a pressure
of four hundred feet, are sometimes discharged per minute
from a single nozzle; it is therefore evident that any
supply to be obtained from Abyssinian tubes, and pumped
against an auriferous bank, would, in comparison with
such a power as that described, possess only the force
of an ordinary garden squirt.
About five-sixths of the letterpress are from the facile
pen of Capt. Burton, the remainder being contributed by
his companion, who appears to have done good work by
determining the position of various places, of which the
exact situation was previously unknown. Collections of
plants and birds were also made.
Although somewhat diffuse, these volumes contain much
information very pleasantly conveyed, but even in the case
of gold-mining, caution is often to be recommended.
OUR BOOK SHELF
4 Handbook of Vertebrate Dissection. By H. Newell
Martin, D.Sc., M.D., M.A., and William A. Moule,
M.D. Part I. How to Dissect a Chelonian, (New
York : Macmillan and Co., 1881.)
SINCE the publication of Huxley and Martin’s ‘ Ele-
mentary Biology,’’ there has been a growing want of
more books constructed on the same model. Without
such books it is exceedingly difficult for a student to dis-
sect and thoroughly understand the anatomy of an animal
which he has never examined before; and though many
of the large teaching centres have their own laboratory
directions,-which, with the help of demonstrators, fulfil
all requirements, there are few reliable practical books
which can be bought by the private student.
336
NATURE
_ [Feb. 8, 1883
Drs. Martin and Moule have lately brought out a
pamphlet in which full directions are given ‘‘how to dis-
sect a Chelonian,’ and we are pleased to see from the
preface that they intend to follow it by a series of similar
works. It is almost a pity that so exceedingly specialised
a reptile as a Chelonian should be the first they treat,
especially as they intend to include a lizard in the series,
for it is doubtless far better to begin the study of reptiles
with the latter than with the former.
The species on which the work is based is Pseudemys
vugosa, but, as Dr. Martin states, ‘‘ the end in view is not
to provide a monograph on any one species, but to show
a student ‘how to dissect a Chelonian,’” the fact that,
when dissecting another species, the description in the
book cannot altogether be relied upon, makes the student
examine everything carefully for himself.
Without working through the anatomy of a Chelonian
with the help of the book it is impossible fully to appre-
ciate its value, but from the arrangement, accuracy, and
clearness of description, it will doubtless preve a great
boon to the young herpetologist.
The only fault we can find with it is one under which
the ‘Elementary Biology”? equally suffers, and that is
the want of illustrations. There is a frontispiece with
four rather rough woodcuts of the skull (to which no
reference letters are given in the text), but this is all.
Of late several illustrated students’ biological books,
intended as guides for practical work, have been brought
out, but most of these are so inaccurate as to be practi-
cally useless. It is therefore to be regretted that a book
by so eminent a teacher as Dr. Martin should be so
poorly provided with figures, and we hope that the rest of
the series will be more fully illustrated, as their value
would be thereby greatly increased.
Ferns of Kentucky. By John Williamson. (Louisville,
Kentucky: J. P. Morton and Co., 1878).
ALTHOUGH this little volume has only just reached us, it
cannot be said to be out of date; for the number of
popular works on ferns—those published in England
excluded—is so small, that an addition to their number is
at any time welcome to the fern-lover who has become
well acquainted with the common British species, and
would gladly increase his knowledge of the tribe. There
is, indeed, no parallel in French or German literature to
the number of fern-books which have been issued in
England ; but it would appear from the volume before us
that in America fern-hunting is as popular as it is among
ourselves; for Mr. Williamson asks in his preface “‘ Who
would think now of going to the country to spend a few
days, or even one day, without first inquiring whether
ferns are to be found in the locality ?”’
Mr. Williamson has given descriptions of the species
found in Kentucky, and the letterpress is accompanied
by sixty plates, in which the characters of the genera and
the habit of each species is represented. The descrip-
tions, although short and couched in simple language,
seem carefully done; and the absence of pretence about
the work does not render it the less attractive. Although,
of course, primarily intended for local use, the “ Ferns of
Kentucky ”’ contains much to interest the British lover of
ferns.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Lditor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by hts correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications.
{The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts. |
Hovering of Birds
I AM much obliged to his Grace the Duke of Argyll and to
Mr. H. T. Wharton for the notice they have taken of my letter
on the hovering ol birds. It may be hoped that the question will
not be allowed to rest until it has received its quietus at the
hands of some mathematician who shall tell us with authority
whether it is possible, according to the received laws of me-
chanics, for a rigid body, by any disposition of its surfaces, to
remain motionless (relative to the earth) for a minute in mid-air
in a perfectly horizontal wind.
It is disappointing to find that the 3rd chapter of the ‘‘ Reign
of Law,” to which the Duke refers me, contains no satisfactory
explanation of the phenomenon of motionless hovering. We
read there (p. 161, 5thedition, 1868). ‘* When there is a strong
breeze, no flapping is required at all, the force of the wind sup-
plying the whole force necessary to counteract the force of
gravity.” This is hardly a sufficient explanation. Let us
imagine a bird at rest in ahorizontal wind. Neglecting friction,
the only forces acting on the bird are (1) the vertical force of
gravity, and (2) the resultant of the air-pressures on the different
surfaces of the bird caused by the horizontal velocity of the wind.
These pressures may be resolved parallel and perpendicular to
the general plane of the wings, and the direction of their
resultant will vary with the slope of the wing-plane ; but in every
case it will lie to rearward of the vertical, and therefore in every
case there will be a resolved horizontal force pushing the bird -
backwards. Yet in spite of this force the bird is to remain at
rest! Shade of Archimedes !
Consider, again, what must be the necessary corollary to the
Duke’s proposition. Ifa bird can remainat rest ina horizontal
wind, it necessarily follows that in still air a bird can float hori-
zontally without losing velocity. We do indeed see rooks and
other birds float long distances descending on outspread wings in
still air, and it is marvellous how slow is the descent, so great is
the resistance of air to a plane surface when at every successive
instant the plane surface covers a fresh body of air that has not
yet begun to yield. But no one ever saw a bird maintain a
horizontal floating flight in still air, Either the descent is con-
tinuous, or the bird loses velocity.
It might be wished, in a matter of such importance, involving
as it does nothing less than the establishment of a miracle, that
the Duke of Argyll were more precise in his statement, for I feel
curious to know by what resolution of forces he would demon-
strate the existence of a forward horizontal force to balance the
backward force which he cannot deny to be present. A diagram
setting forth the Duke’s views would be exceedingly welcome.
My own diagram, I fear, will not serve his purpose any better
than my words, in spite of the attempt he makes to press them
into his service. The Duke says: ‘‘ The bird has only toslope his
wing-surfaces to the [horizontal] current, and precisely the same
effect is produced as if the current had been otherwise sloped
upwards against a horizontal wing-surface.” Perfectly true,
provided his Grace can tilt the direction of gravity through the
same angle. Otherwise not (at the same time there is nothing
about a ‘‘horizontal wing surface”’ in my letter).
Mr. Wharton will do good service if, in recording any future
observations he will note precisely the local circumstances under
which they are made, bearing in mind that such an obstacle as a
stack, a barn, a high hedge, or a thick tree might be enough to
give the wind an upward throw. I presume he understands
that the phenomenon to be explained is that of a bird remaining
at rest in mid-air, with wings motionless, not fluttering.
Woodbridge, February 5 HUBERT AIRY
THis is a very interesting problem, and one which has been
very clearly treated by Mr. Hubert Airy, so far as he dis-
cusses it.
I think, however, that birds are able to “‘hover” in other
conditions than that he mentions, namely, where the wind is
diverted upwards by blowing straight against cliffs or rising
ground,
The wind in this country at least is generally of a cyclonic
character. Now such wind blows in toward the centre of
depression, as has been shown by the Rev. W. Clement Ley, at
an average angle of 25 degrees (inward from the tangent to the
isobar). If we assume the wind to blow at a distance of 600
miles from such centre at a rate of 20 miles per hour—on an aver-
age for one mile in depth—then we have a volume of air converging
upon the centre, which must rise into the upper regions there.
If we assume, for the sake of obtaining a definite idea of this
amount, that the centre of depression covers an area of 70 miles
in diameter, say about 4000 square miles, then the air would rise
vertically at an average rate of 400 feet per minute over the
-
Feb. 8, 1883 |
NATURE
BE
area. Owing to the friction which the wind experiences in
passing over the surface of the earth, however, this upward
current could exist at its maximum only at a considerable height.
But it is important to observe that there may frequently be a
considerable amount of current upwards in the regions where
birds ‘‘hover,” at least in the neighbourhood of a cyclonic
vortex. But how much lifting force is necessary to sustain, say
a gull, in the air? A gull moves its wings in ordinary flight at
from 160 to 200 (double) strokes per minute, and reckoning 12
inches as the greatest vertical depth through which the bird can
raise itself by one (double) stroke, we find that it possesses the
power of raising itself about 180 vertical feet per minute. This,
however, is less than one-half of the rate at which we have found
the currents to rise near the centre of a cyclonic depression.
From this we may judge it is likely enough that birds ‘* hover,”
or suspend themselves motionless in the air through the influence
of upgoing currents, which are masked to our observation by the
fresh winds which accompany them.
A kestrel may, however, support itself largely by its peculiar
quivering play of the wings, and J think it must be difficult to
determine how much support a bird may contribute by such
motion, when at a height where it is difficult to observe it.
I have frequently observed gulls ‘‘ hovering” upon currents
of air which were heaped up by the wind striking obliquely
upon a rising coast line, in which case the head is turned at an
angle to the general direction of the wind, so as to face the
heaped-up and rising currents. Such passing over irregular
ground are irregular or gusty, and tax the bird’s utmost muscular
agility to prevent a sudden lateral turning to leeward. in which
case the rapid flight with the currents may be compared to the
fall of a stone ty the ground. The same upward direction to
the atmospheric currents must be imparted by the cortracting
sides of a converging valley. But when such local forces derive
aid from the upward currents peculiar to cyclonic winds, atmo-
spheric conditions favourable to ‘‘ hovering” must, I think,
frequently occur.
On the other hand, I cannot conceive it to be possible for
birds (and I do not think that the third chapter of the ‘‘ Reign
of Law,” gives any sufficient explanation) to sustain themselves
motionless on currents of air which are purely horizontal, for in
such ease there is nothing to compensate—when the wings are
slanted at the necessary angle to prevent falling—the backward
horizontal force, and the creature must inevitably be driven
backwards, DaviD CUNNINGHAM
Dundee, February 5
On August 12, 1881, I observed a hawk maintaining an
apparently stationary position at a height of about 200 feet above
the surface of flat ground. He was as a matter of course facing
the wind, which blew, if I remember rightiy, from the west.
For the most part his wings remained motionless, but now and
then he fluttered them for a little while. This was over the
sensibly level plain which lies between Machrihanish Bay and
Campbeltown Loch, at the southern end of the Mull of Cantire,
and, curiously enough, on or close to the Duke of Argyll’s pro-
perty. The exact spot was about a mile and a half eastwards
from Machrihanish Bay, and about three-quarters of a mile
northwards from the southern boundary of the plain. There
could not be any ‘‘slant upward current,” such as Mr, Airy
supposes, maintaining him in that position ; at any rate, there
was no sloping ground near.
I watched this bird for about ten minutes, and he verified in
aremarkable manner the views I had held on this subject for
many years, namely, that, given a steady wind blowing with a
velocity which lies somewhere between certain possibly calculable
limits, a hawk can remain fcr a time apparently motionless above
a point ; he is, in reality, descending a slightly inclined plane,
and requires to recover vertically lost ground by the occasional
use of his wings. WILLIAM GALLOWAY
Cardiff, January 30
In the letters on the above subject that have appeared in some
recent numbers of NATURE, the writers lead us to believe that a
current of air is zecessary to enable a bird to ‘‘ hover ” or retain
when on wing a motionless position. My observations lead to
an opposite conclusion, as I have often seen both hawks and
terns remain steadily poised, when there was not a breath of
wind. That there was no wird where the birds (¢ervms) were,
was shown by their heads, when hovering, being turned in dif-
ferent directions, although at only a short diste nce from each other.
Generally, if not always on these occasions, I noticed that the
birds spread out their tails in a more or less depressed position,
as if to counteract any forward movement likely to be caused by
the wing-motion. J. RAE
4, Addison Gardens, February 3
IN reading the letters published in your last issues of NATURE
with regard to the hovering of birds, it struck me that a very
similar thing can be seen sometimes, among inanimate objects
when an imperfect attempt is made to cause ‘ducks and drakes’
with a flat stone. I have commonly noticed that the missile;
curves sharply upwards and for a moment ‘‘hovers”’ as it were
in mid-air before dropping. In this case and also in the similar
one of the motion of the boomerang, the slanting upwards and
the apparent hovering do not require, and need not be due to,
upward currents, but merely depend upon the force of a hori-
zontal current of air meeting the inherent force of the moving
body. It is not unreasonable to suppose a similar simple solution.
of bird hovering. C. S. MIDDLEMIss
Linnzus Street, Hull, February 3
Is there not an error in the letter of NATURE (p. 312)? The
writer there suggests, as it seems to me, that a bird could main-
tain a position of rest, with respect to the earth, by a suitable
slope of the wings against a horizontal wind. Now, as I
pointed out in NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 78, such lifting action on
the part of the wind can only take place in the interval between
the time when the bird is first launched from the cliff, and the
time when it has by friction attained the velocity of the wind.
That this interval is not a long one, is shown when balloons or
other objects are launched,
[[t may be well to notice, that if there were wo friction there
is no lifting power; so that if we object to the above, that
“*the bird gives such a very small friction with the wind,” we
thereby do away to the same extent with the lifting power ; just
as a frictionless ship in a constant stream would be unmoved
were it sufficiently tapering. ]
From the above considerations I have been compelled, since
writing my last letter, to ascribe the hovering power of birds—
1. To the “‘exquisite muscular sense” by which they can
take advantage of all upward currents of air, shifting their
positions for this purpose. In an elastic fluid as the air, I
imagine that the stream-lines, even over the sea, are far from
horizontal. I believe the evidence of balloons over the sea goes
to show this.
2. Thereis, to use a common expression, ‘‘ flying avd flying ;”
just asa man can skate without striking out, so can a bird give
itself some support by quiet movements of wings and tail.
I may remark that kestrels keep fluttering their wings at
short intervals while hovering ; they are never still for long.
So also terns and gulls, as seen from the fixed point of a cliff,
are always moving and shifting in a quiet way, which may dis-
guise both a seeking of upward currents and the quiet sort of
“flying.” W. LARDEN
Cheltenham College
Science and Theology
CAN you tell me by what right the authorities of Cooper’s
Hill Engineering College, who are in want of a Professor of
Physics, make it a condition that he should ‘‘ bea Protestant,”
and should ‘‘attend morning chapel and Sunday services with
reasonable regularity, showing in this respect a good example to
the students?” The institution is one supported by the State,
and is surely bound to respect the principles which underlie the
State’s dealings with religious matters. The president (or who-
ever is responsible for these preposterous conditions) may have
forgotten this fact ; but I cannot believe that the present Go-
vernment will allow an appointment to be made until all
“religious” limitations are cancelled from its conditions. As
the memorandum stands at present, it appears little short of
insulting to scientific men, C.
Intelligence in Animals
Mr. GRENFELL’S letter in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 292, re-
minded me of a statement in vol. iii. p. 308 of Cook’s last
voyage, where Capt. King refers to the ordinary sagacity of
bears, described in a ‘‘thousand stories” which he heard in
338
NATURE
[Fd 8, 1883
Kamtschatka. He gives a single instance, which, he says,
**the natives speak of as a well-known fact, and that is, the
stratagem they (the bears) have recourse to in order to catch the
bareins, which are considerably too swift of foot for them.
These animals keep together in large herds, and love to browse
at the feet of rocks and precipices. The bear hunts them by
scent till he comes in sight, when he advances warily, keeping
above them, and concealing himself among the rocks as he
makes his approaches, till he gets immediately over them, and
nigh enough for his purpose. He then begins to push down
with his paws pieces of rock among the herd below. This
manceuvre is not followed by any attempt to pursue, until he
has maimed one of the flock, upon which a course immediately
ensues, that proves successful, or otherwise, according to the
hurt the barein receives. I cannot conclude this digression
without observing that the Kamtschadales very thankfully
acknowledge their obligations to the bears for what little
advancement they have hitherto made either in the sciences or
polite arts. They confess that they owe to them all their skill
in physic and surgery ; that by remarking with what herbs these
annnals rub the wounds they have received, aad what they have
recourse to when sick and languid, they have become acquainted
with most of the simples in use among them, either in the way
of internal medicine or external application.”
After this we are not surprised when we are told that the
Kamtschadales receive instruction from the bears even in the
‘*polite arts,” and imitate in their dances the various attitudes
and gestures of these animals. It seems that in the 7d/es of
master and pupil the proverbial Savoyard and dancing bear
would find matters reversed in Kamtschatka.
Millbrook, Tuam, February 3 J. BIRMINGHAM
Electric Railways
Pror. AYRTON speaks as to the advantages obtainable from
an electric system of railways, He says:—‘‘The mass of the
locomotive adds at least 50 per cent. to the horse-power abso-
lutely necessary to propel the carriages along” (NATURE, vol.
xxvii. p. 255). In short, he speaks of the weight of the ordi-
nary locomotive as superfluous, and considers that ‘‘a far larger
number of passengers may travel at a greater speed and with less
fear of danger than at present.” Now, speaking practically, it
is difficult to conceive of a train of carriages running sixty miles
per hour without any massive locomotive in front. It would be
easy enough to get up the requisite speed, but the train would
certainly leave the road, there being nothing tending to keep the
carriages steady, unless they were very heavy. The grip on the
rails is directly as the weight of rolling stock, and it is generally
found that the light coaches leave the road more readily than the
modern heavy carriages. Of course the cant of the rails must
not be neglected. I wish that Prof. Ayrton would favour
NATURE with a few remarks on these points. We
The Channel Tunnel
WILL you allow me to correct an unfortunate slip of the pen
in my article on ‘‘ The Silver Streak and the Channel Tunnel ”
in the current number of the Covtemporary Review ? The rate
of the progress of the French Channel Tunnel from the little
village of Sangatte towards the English shores was, in November
last, 18 yards per day and not ‘‘ per week.” At the present time
the Beaumont and English boring machine is cutting the 7-foot
driftway at the rate of more than 20 metres per day, and has not
arrived at the limit of its capacity. W. Boyp DAWKINS
Owens College, Manchester
The Great Comet of 1882
THE comet not having been visible to my naked eye during
the last lunation, I was astonished to find last night that (doubt-
less owing to its increasing altitude, and the clear, dark sky) its
tail is still so visible, quite distinctly, though very faint. 1 saw
it best with a pair of field-glasses, aperture 2°05 inches, power 4;
with which it reached to y® Canis Majoris, and was therefore
53° long; unless part was really a wisp of the Milky Way:
undoubtedly the greater part was the comet, Its axis (which
was nearer the north than the south ede) was straight for 3°,
and then appeared to curve southwards somewhat. Its south
edge was straight, but its north edge, which was more definite,
was convex. Its width was nearly 2°. I could not detect any
of the definite features which were so remarkable formerly.
The tail was nearly as long with the naked eye. Its head and
two neighbouring stars were plainly visible to the naked eye as
one star. One of these stars (Lalande 12,056) was decidedly
brighter than the comet’s head, which would be about of the
7th mag.
With a 4}-inch refractor the head continues elongated. With
a power of 20, its major axis (which was in the direction of the
tail) was 16’ long, and its minor axis 11’. With a power of 38
it was 13/ by 8}. TuHos. WM. BACKHOUSE
Sunderland, January 31
Meteor of November 17
Ir is perhaps rather late to revert to the auroral cloud of
November 17, but I am away from home, and have only now
gained the requisite information. The path which I ventured to
assign for it in your issue of November 30, from a digest of the
printed reports, as compared with my own observations at
Clevedon, proves to have been substantially correct. The cloud
passed in the zenith at Brussels, as witnessed by M. Montigny,
an eminent Belgian savant; and at Laon it was seen to the
northward, as it were, gliding round the upper edge of the great
main arch of the aurora. The actual elevation above the surface
of the earth may therefore, without much risk of error, be con-
sidered as between forty and forty-five miles.
Montreux, February 3 STEPHEN H. SAxBy
The Sea Serpent
LIKE your correspondent, Mr. Sidebotham (in NATURE, vol.
xxvii. p. 315), I have frequently seen a shoal of porpoises in
Llandudno Bay, as well as in other places, and on the occasion
referred to by Mr. Mott, in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 293, the
idea of porpoises was at first starled but immediately aban-
doned. Iwill venture to suggest that no one has seen a shoal
of these creatures travel at the rate of from twenty-five to thirty
miles an hour. I have seen whales in the ocean, and large
flocks of sea-birds, such as those of the eider duck, skimming
its surface ; but the strange appearance seen at Llandudno on
September 3 was not to be accounted for by porpoises, whales,
birds, or breakers, an opinion which was shared by all present.
: WILLIAM BARFOOT
Welford Place, Leicester, February 2
In the summer of 1881 I was staying for some weeks at
Veulettes, on the coast of Normandy. While there, on several
occasions, several members of my party, as well as myself, saw,
at a distance of three or four miles out at sea, what had the
appearance of a huge serpent. Its length was many times that
of the largest steamer that ever passed, and its velocity equally
exceeded that of theswiftest. What seemed its head was lifted
and lowered, and sometimes appeared to show signs of an open
mouth. The general appearance of the monster was almost
exactly similar to that of the figure in your correspondent’s letter
published on the 25th ult. Not the slightest appearance of
discontinuity in its structure could be perceived by the eye,
although it seemed incredible that any muscular mechanism could
really drive such an enormous mass through the water with such
a prodigious velocity. I carefully watched all that any of us
caught sight of, and one day, just as one of these serpent forms
was nearly opposite our hotel, it instantaneously turned through
a right angle, but instead of going forward in the new direction
of its length, proceeded with the same velocity broadside for-
ward. With the same movement it resolved itself into a flock
of birds.
We often saw the sea-serpent again without this resolution
being effected, and, knowing what it was, could with difficulty
still perceive that it was not a continuous body; thus having a
new illustration of Herschel’s remark, that it is easier to see
what has been once discovered than to discover what is un-
known. Possibly this experience may afford the solution of
your correspondent’s difficulty. W. STEADMAN ALDIS
College of Physical Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Feb, 3
Natural Enemies of Butterflies
Ir would be very interesting to ascertain what testimony can
be b:ought forward to show that the Rhopalocera are commonly
the prey of insect-eating birds. ‘Ihe return of a gentleman who
has been collecting butterflies and studying their transformations
Feb. 8, 1883]
for the last five years in Brazil, and who by my request has
given especial attention to the matter, is the immediate occasion
of my inquiry. Protective mimicry is a fact too well establiched
to admit of its supporters feeling the question a delicate one,
Admission into your paper will speedily settle the question.
Liverpool, Eebruary 2 Henry H. HIGGIns
ON THE GRADUATION OF GALVANOMETERS
FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF CURRENTS
AND POTENTIALS IN ABSOLUTE MEASURE
IV.
WE shall now consider, very briefly, the graduation of
instruments for measuring volts and amperes in
practical work, and we shall take as our example Sir Wil-
liam Thomson’s graded galvanometers. The graduation
of these instruments is effected by a comparison of their
indications with those of a standard galvanometer such
as that described above. We shall consider first the
graduation of a potential galvanometer, or galvanometer
the resistance of which is so high, that the attachment of
its terminals to two points in a conductor carrying a
current does not perceptibly change the difference of
potentials formerly existing between these points. Of
course any galvanometer which measures currents also
measures potentials, for, if its resistance is known, the
difference of potentials between its terminals can be
calculated from Ohm’s law ; but the convenience of a
galvanometer specially made with a high resistance coil
is that the difference of potentials, thus calculated as
existing between the two points at which its terminals
are applied while they are in contact, may be taken as
the actual difference of potentials which exists between
those two points when nothing but the ordinary con-
ductor connects them. For, let Y be this actual difference
of potentials in volts, let » ohms be the resistance of the
conductor, and “& ohms the resistance of the galvano-
meter. Then bythe application of A, V is diminished in
the ratio of & to R + 7, and therefore the difference of
potentials between the ends of the coil is now Va 2:
Hence by Ohm’s law we have for the current through
the galvanometer the value a = ne or Ls, If x
RR+r R(i+ 4)
R
be only a small fraction of 2, = is inappreciable, and the
difference of potentials calculated from the equation
C= z will be nearly enough the true value.
The instrument to be graduated is first tested as to
the adjustment of its coil, needle, &c. The standard
galvanometer and it are then properly set up with
their needles pointing to zero, in positions near which
there is no iron, and at which the values of H have been
determined. The high resistance coil of the standard
galvanometer and the coil of the potential instrument
are joined in series with a constant battery of as many
Daniell’s cells as gives a deflection of about 45° on the
standard galvanometer, and the magnetometer is adjusted
with its index at zero, in such a position on its platform
that a deflection ofits needle also of nearly 45° is produced.
The current actually flowing in the circuit is calculated
by equation (11) or (12) from the reading obtained on the
standard, and reduced to amperes by multiplying the
result by 10. The difference of potentials between the
two ends of the coil of the potential galvanometer is
found in volts by multiplying the number of amperes
thus found by the resistance of the coil in ohms. We
can then obtain, by an obvious calculation, the number
of divisions of deflection which corresponds to one volt
between the two ends of the coil, and thence from the
* Continued from p. 321.
NATURE
339
value of 7 the number of divisions which would corres-
.pond to one volt if the intensity of the field were one
c.g.s. unit. This would be the number which would be
marked at that position on the platform of the instru-
ment; but, except for the position of the magnetometer
nearest to the coil, positions the corresponding numbers
of which are multiples and submultiples of 2 are alone
marked. The numbers corresponding to the two of these
positions adjacent on the two sides of the position of the
magnetometer in our experiment, may be readily found
by keeping the same difference of potential on the coil,
and moving the magnetometer nearer to or further from
the coil until the deflection is increased or diminished in
the proper ratio. For example, let the deflection be 40
divisions for 20 volts, and let the value of # at the instru-
ment which is being graduated be 17. The number of
divisions of deflection which would correspond to one volt
for that position, ifthe field were of unit intensity, would be
4° x 17 =°34. Hence the marked positions nearest to
this in the two sides of it, are to be those for which the
corresponding numbers are 4 and 3. Therefore the
magnetometer must be moved further from the coil for
the latter until the deflection produced by 20 volts be-
comes 294. This is the position at which the number +
is to be marked. To find the position at which 4 should
be marked a smaller difference of potentials must be
used, as the deflection with the same battery as before
would be beyond the limits of the scale. Suppose that
when its number of cells is diminished to one half; we
get a deflection for our first position of 20. While the
potential difference in the coil remains constant, the
magnetometer is pushed in until the deflection again
becomes 29°4- At this position the number 4 is to be
marked. From this it is easy to see how the position for
the number 1 can be found, and in the same way those
for the other numbers of the series, 2, 4, &c. The
number corresponding to the position of the magneto-
meter nearest to the coil, although not one of the terms
of this series, is determined in the same way, and marked
at that position on the platform. This is the method
adopted in practice in the graduation of these instru-
ments.
Another method sometimes convenient is as follows.
The standard instrument, a few good Daniell’s cells, and
a resistance which gives a deflection of about 45° on the
standard are joined in series, and the galvanometer to be
graduated is applied at two points in the circuit which
include between them such a portion of the resistance as
gives a deflection of about the same amount, Let R
ohms be the portion of the resistance included between
the terminals of the galvanometer, and let G ohms be
the resistance of the galvanometer coil. Let the current
calculated from the deflection on the standard be C
amperes, then if V be the potential difference in volts
between the terminals of the potential instrument, we
have by Ohm’s law—
c=¥,
where 4” is the resistance equivalent to the divided
RG
circuit of Rand G. But A’ = ae and therefore
c= VRE
KG
Hence,
sa RE
RAG
This last equation gives the number of volts indicated
by the deflection on the potential instrument, for the
position at which its magnetometer is placed; and from
this in precisely the same manner as described above,
the series of positions of the magnetometer on its plat-
form are determined and numbered.
340
NATURE
[ Fed. 8, 1883
For verifying the accuracy of the graduation of the
potential instruments when performed by either of these
methods, a standard Daniell’s cell of the form proposed by
Sir William Thomson at the Southampton meeting of the
British Association is use 1. It is represented in the annexed
cut (Fig. 4). It consists of a zinc plate at the bottom of
the vessel resting in a stratum of saturated zinc sulphate,
on which has been poured, so gently as to give a clear
surface of separation, a stratum of half saturated sulphate
of copper solution, in which is immersed a horizontal
plate of copper. The copper-sulphate solution is intro-
duced by means of the glass tube shown in the diagram
dipping down into the liquid, and terminating in a fine
point, which is bent into a horizontal direction so as to
deliver the liquid with as little disturbance as possible.
This tube is connected by a piece of indiarubber tubing
with a funnel, by the raising or lowering of which the
sulphate of copper can be run into or run out of the cell.
By this means the sulphate of copper is run in when the
cell is to be used, and at once removed when the cell is
no longer wanted.
The electro-motive force of this cell has been determined
very carefully and found, according to Lord Rayleigh’s
latest determination of the ohm, to be 1'07 volt at ordinary
temperatures. The direct application of this cell to the
galvanometer gives. at once a check on the graduation.
As the resistance of the galvanometer is always over
6,000 ohms, there is practically no polarization.
Fic. 4.
The method adopted for the graduation of the current
galvanometer is precisely the same as that first described
for the potential instrument. The standard galvanometer,
of which in this case the low resistance coil is used, and
the current galvanometer to be graduated are joined in
series witha battery, which with some resistance in circuit
is sufficient to give a deflection in each of about 45°, when
the magnetometer of the current instrument is at a con-
venient position on its platform. The current flowing in
amperes is given by the standard, and this, of course, is
the number of amperes which is indicated by the deflec-
tion of the current instrument. By an obvious calculation
from the value of H at the current instrument, precisely
similar to that above described, the number of divisions
of deflection corresponding to a current of one ampere
for a field of unit strength is found, and from this the
series of positions on the platform and their numbers are
found.
The value of the field intensity
the magnetometer when in position has generally been
determined in the following manner. A battery of about
30 of Sir William Thomson's Tray Daniell’s is joined
in series with a resistance of about 7,000 ohms.
electrodes of a potential galvanometer, on which the
magnetometer is placed without its magnet, are attached
given at the needles of
at two such points in this resistance that the deflection of |
the needle produced is from 30 to 40 division on the
The |
scale. The current through the palvanometer is now
stopped and the magnet placed in position, and the
index brought to zero by turning the magnet by means of
its screw. The electrodes are now placed so as to include
a resistance which makes the deflection nearly what it was
in the former case. Let & be the electromotive force of
the battery, 7 the intensity of the horizontal component
of the field produced at the needles by the magnet ;
2, R, the amount of this resistance included between
the electrodes of the galvanometer in the first and second
cases respectively ; /, and V, the potential difference in
volts on the instrument in the same two cases ; D, and D,
the corresponding deflections, and G the resistance of
the galvanometer. We have by Ohm’s law
ERG
’ V.= GER-P)RF OER GH MAD,
an
We = ER,G
2 = (GSR RIC ERREG = ee
where 77 is a constant.
Therefore we have
D,Rz{(B+R — Ry)(R, + G) +R, G}
Dz Ry {((B+R— R2)(R,+G) +R, G}
If the resistance B of the battery be small in compari-
son with G, or if the galvanometer is sensitive enough to
allow = to be made sufficiently small by resistance
added to G, B may be neglected; and it is generally
possible, by properly choosing &, Aj, 2, to simplify very
much this formula. The number / thus found, diminished
by H, is the number of c.g.s. units which measures the
horizontal intensity of the magnetic field produced at the
needle by the action of the magnet alone. The value of
I —H is the number painted on the magnet, and is
generally about 9 or Io.
I — H may be determined by means of a current galva-
nometer very easily by keeping a constant current flowing
through the instrument, and using without the magnet
one of the less sensitive positions of the magnetometer,
and with the magnet one of the more sensitive positions.
If D, and D, be the deflections and 7, 7, the number of
divisions of deflections corresponding to one ampere at
the two respective positions, the value of 7 is at once
found from the obvious equation
Dee Ds
Piglet wien my D, a
When either instrument has been graduated for a fie}
of intensity equal to 1 ¢.g.s. unit, and the intensity of the
field given by the magnet at the needles has been deter-
mined, the graduation of the instrument is complete. In
the practical use of the instrument with the magnet in
position, the number of volts, or the number of amperes
(according as the instrument used is a potential or a_cur-
rent galvanometer) corresponding to a deflection of any
number of divisions is found by the following rule :—
Multiply the number of divisions in the deflection by
the number on the magnet increased by the horizontal
intensity of the earth’s field and divide by the number
at the division on the platform scale exactly under the
Front of the magnetometer.
When the magnet is not used the rule is the same as
the above, except that the divisor to be used is the value
of H for the place of the galvanometer.
For convenience in the ordinary use of either instru-
ment a position of the magnetometer on its platform,
| which may not be one of the series described above, is
determined at which the deflection with the magnet in
| position, for one volt or one ampere, is one or some other
convenient number of divisions. For this position lines
_ 4D,
1 The mean value of 1 for Great Britain may, wen the magnet is used,
\ be taken with sufficient accuracy as “17 C.g-S.
feb. 8, 1883]
NATURE
341
are drawn on the sides of the platform so as to prolong
the white lines on the sides of the magnetometer. By
this means currents in amperes or potentials in volts can
be at once read off without any calculation.
The graduation of the current galvanometer may also
be performed by means of electrolysis. The electro-
chemical equivalents of a large number of the metals
have been determined, and it is only necessary therefore,
in order to graduate the instrument, to join it in series
with a proper electrolytic cell and a constant battery, and
to compare the amount of metal deposited on the negative
plate of the cell with the total quantity of electricity
which flows through the circuit in a certain time. A
convenient cell may be made with two plates of copper,
each about 50 square cms. in area, held parallel to one
another about 2 cms. apart, and immersed in a nearly
neutral solution of copper-sulphate in a glass beaker. A
current of one ampere through sucha cell gives a very good
result. This current will deposit about 1'2 grammes of
copper per hour, which, when light plates are used, can
be very accurately weighed. The plates should be care-
fully cleaned, dried, and weighed before being immersed
in the liquid, and care must be taken not to send the
current through the cell at all until it is made to flow
continuously for the experiment. The instant the current
through the cell is completed should be noted, and
readings of the current galvanometer taken at equal
short intervals during the time allowed for the experi-
ment. The average of these readings is to be taken as
the average reading of the galvanometer. When the
experiment has been completed the plates are to be
taken out and very carefully washed in clean water and
dried before being weighed. It is generally better to
calculate the quantity of electricity from the gain of the
negative plate than from the loss of the positive. The
electro-chemical equivalent of copper has been recently
determined afresh with great care in the Physical
Laboratory of the University of Glasgow by Mr. Thomas
Gray, and as the result of his experiments ‘000331 of a
gramme of copper is deposited by the passage of one
coulomb of electricity. Dividing the gain of weight of
the negative plate by this number, we obtain the total
number of coulombs which have flowed through the
galvanometer during the experiment. This divided by
the time in seconds gives the average current in amperes ;
from which the number corresponding to the position of
the magnetometer on the platform can be determined,
and the graduation completed in the manner described
above.
Errata in Part II. of this Article—P. 106, line 2 from
top, for 2r7zCA read 2CA; line 5, for CD(=+) read
CD(= y) ; line 6, for DE (= y) read DE(=+).
ANDREW GRAY
NORWEGIAN GEODETICAL OPERATIONS?
ais publication of the Norwegian Committee of the
Association for the Measurement of Degrees in
Europe is a report of the observations made at two
tidal stations in Norway—Oscarsborg and Drontheim.
The report opens with a summary of the previous tidal
operations carried out in Norway. From June 8 to 28,
1835, a series of observations were made at a large num-
ber of stations at the request of the English Admiralty.
These observations, together with those from numerous
other stations in Europe, along the North Sea, and
Atlantic coasts, were reduced and compared by the Rev.
Dr. Whewell, and were published by him in the P/z/o-
sophical Transactions of 1836.
The next tidal operations recorded were undertaken in
1839, to ascertain whether, as supposed, the Norwegian
coast is slowly rising. With this object, marks were cut
* Publication of the Norwegian Committee of the Association for the
Measurement of Degrees in Europe, Part I. (Christiana, 1882.)
in the rock at twenty-six points along the coast, and the
date was inscribed in each case. On the eastern coast,
where there is little or no tide, only one mark was cut, at
the level of the water; but along the western and northern
coasts two marks were made, one at high water, and the
other at low water. The report gives a detailed descrip-
tion of the position of these marks. In 1865 observations
were made to ascertain if any alteration had taken place
in the relative positions of these marks and of the sea,
and it was found that on an average the land was rising
at the rate of 3” in 26 years. It was, however, seen that
such determinations were very inadequate, since the mean
level of the sea had not been taken into account, and the
marks were not connected by lines of levelling. The
whole question was accordingly placed before a Com-
mittee of the University. This Committee, however,
came to no conclusion, principally on the ground of the
expense of the necessary levelling operations. It was
then pointed out by Prof. Fearnley, the chairman of the
Committee of the Association for the Measurement of
Degrees in Europe, that the resolutions of the Association
at the General Assembly in 1864, at Berlin, had given an
increased importance to the determination of the mean
tide level. Nevertheless, it was not until 1876 that any
steps were taken to establish a series of tidal stations
provided with self-registering apparatus, as enjoined by
the Association ; six stations have now been established,
and two more are to be formed.
Previously however, namely, in 1872, two stations had
been established, one at Oscarsborg, in the fortified
island of Kaholmen, situated in the Christiana fiord,
in connection with submarine mining, and where ob-
servations have been recorded from 1872 to 1879; the
other at Drontheim in connection with the harbour
works, the observations at this station have extended
from 1872 to 1878. These two sets of observations form,
as already mentioned, the subject of the present report.
At both stations self-registering apparatus of simple
designs were used. At Oscarsborg the rise and fall of
the tide was marked on a P/ave sheet of paper attached
to a frame moving horizontally. The motion was im-
parted to this frame by a weight, which, in order that the
motion might be uniform, was connected to a clock.
The float was inclosed ina tube, so as to annul the dis-
turbing action of the waves. At Drontheim the paper
was attached to a drum rotating uniformly by means of
clock-work. The apparatus was placed at the end of a
pier, and the scribing pencil was connected by a system
of rods to a bridge, the other’end of which was supported
by a pontoon. In this manner the action of the waves
was eliminated. The mean tide level was obtained at
these two stations by taking the arithmetic mean of the
heights of the tide recorded on the diagrams for each
hour, and not by the more accurate method based on the
areas described. But since these observations extended
over several years, the result is no doubt practically the
same; moreover, neither apparatus was provided with
any means of obtaining the areas automatically, and to
calculate them would have involved an enormous amount
of labour.
The observations at both stations are arranged in a
series of tables.’ Table I. gives the heights of the tide
at each hour, commencing at noon, for every day during
one month.* The arithmetic mean of the heights of the
tide at the same hour each day during the month, are
also given for every hour of the day; the moon’s in-
fluence does not appear in these means, they therefore
show the influence of the sun. These means, for every
month during which the observations lasted, are collected
together in Table IV., and the mean of these means is
also given. Table II. gives the height of high and low
* The corresponding tables in each set of observations are denoted by the
same number.
2 This table was not extended further, in order to save space in the
Report.
342
water, the time of their occurrence, and the range of the
tide for every day of the same month as before. Table
III. is similar to Table I., but the hours are counted each
day from the upper culmination of the moon, instead of
from noon. By thus arranging the table, the sun’s in-
fluence is eliminated in the means for each hour, and the
moon’s influence on the tide is thus made apparent.
Table V. corresponds to Table IV. The remaining
tables, VI. to XII., give information as regards the inter-
val of time between the moon’s upper or lower culmina-
tion and high water, and similarly for low water; also
the height of the highest and lowest high and low water
recorded each month, specifying the direction of the wind
and the height of the barometer ; and lastly, the greatest
and least range of the tide during each month.
The report concludes with a comparison of the semi-
menstrual inequality as calculated by Whewell’s formule,
and the actual observed inequalities. The agreement is
very close.
There is no discussion in the report of the results
obtained, this being reserved for future publications,
when the observations at the other stations are available.
The report is accompanied by five plates, showing
the registering apparatus, and giving specimens of the
diagrams.
SCIENTIFIC HERESIES IN CHINA
ee belief of the old writer who explained the dis-
appearance of the swallows in autumn, by the
assumption that they all rolled themselves together into
a mass, beak to beak and wing to wing, and plunged
“‘fluminibus lacubusque,” there to remain until the
return of spring, is but an instance of the thousand and
one theories which have from all time been held by
unscientific observers on the subject of the annual
appearance and disappearance of migrating birds. It
is not so very long ago that even among ourselves
the question of the migration of sand martens was a
moot point; and it need not be a matter of surprise,
therefore, that the Chinese, though keen observers of
nature, should be guilty of holding heretical hypotheses
to account for the presence in summer and the absence
in winter of birds of passage, as well as for other pro-
cesses of nature which are enacted before them. Like
most common fallacies, those current in China on these
subjects are derived from ancient authorities, but, unfortu-
nately, in the case of the Chinese, whose respect for every-
thing that is old is supreme, this antiquity only entails
upon them the more unquestioning faith. They are,
therefore, perfectly content to believe that the disappear-
ance of quails in autumn is sufficiently accounted for by
the assumption that at that time of the year they are
transformed into moles, and that in spring they succeed
in reappearing again in beaks and feathers. The expla-
nation of this fallacy is simple enough. The ploughman
who in the spring and summer has seen the quails flitting
among the mole-hills, finds that when, the birds having
disappeared, he ploughs over the same land in winter,
the moles, which he has not before seen, are the sole
occupants of the ground.
Another generally accepted belief is based on what
Max Miiller calls a disease of language. At the opening
of spring, hawks are said to become pigeons, and at
midsummer to be reconverted to their original shapes.
Now it happens that Az, the Chinese name for a pigeon,
forms the second syllable of the word for a crested hawk
(Shwang-kiw), and it would appear that by a corrup-
tion of terms and a confusion of ideas the first syllable
has been dropped and the last has been allowed to
stand in its literal and isolated meaning. Thus the
original assertion that during the breeding season hawks
become crested has been perverted into a meaningless
and self-condemnatory myth. Chinese writers on natural
NATURE
[/ed. 8, 1883
history lay stress on the fact that during the spring, when
“the rearing instinct in birds becomes excessive, birds of
prey become excited,” and when excited or angry, hawks,
as is well known, erect the feathers on the head, giving
the appearance ofa crest. 3
Much in the same way has arisen the legend that in
late autumn certain small birds go into the sea and be-
come crustaceze. In this case the error depends on the
word wez, which is here translated “ become,” but which -
also means ‘for,’ and which, when so read, converts an
absurdity into the record of a fact concerning the birds
probably referred to, namely, sandpipers. These birds,
we know, “frequent sandy sea-shores, some of them con-
gregating in numerous flocks in autumn and winter, and
seek their food by probing the sand,with their bills, and
by catching small crustaceans in pools or within the
margin of the sea itself.”?_ The same mistake, which is,
however, complicated by a further misunderstanding,
makes it incumbent on Chinamen to believe that in winter
pheasants go into the lakes and become clams. The
word here translated “clams” means also “sweet flags
and water rushes,” and in search of these hungry pheasants
might very probably be tempted to seek the margins of
swamps and lakes. A curious and unaccountable super-
stition was anciently and is still connected with this habit
of Chinese pheasants. We have it on the authority of
one of the Classics that ‘‘if within ten days from the
beginning of winter pheasants do not go to the great
waters, lascivious women will multiply in the country.”
' Otters and polecats, again, are the subjects of a more
sentimental belief. They are said to be in the habit of
offering up, the one fish, and the other animals, in sacri-
fice. This strange myth is accentuated in the “ Imperial
Encyclopedia,’’ published by order of the Emperor
K’ang-he (1661-1722), by an illustration attached to the
chapter on otters, in which one of those animals is repre-
sented as squatting down on the bank of a river with his
two forepaws on a newly-captured trout, and with a most
devout expression on his upturned face, which is directed
towards the moon. The explanation of this legend is
not far to seek.
The habit common to both otters and polecats of
destroying many more creatures than they are able to
devour, and of leaving their victims apparently untouched
after having satisfied their appetites with the flakes at
the back of the fishes’ necks, and with the blood of the
animals, suggests to careless and superstitious observers
the semblance of propitiatory sacrifices offered up to the
patron saints of vermin,
Many other generally accepted myths might be quoted,
which are but the perverted representations of facts.
But if we descend to a lower level, to the vulgar supersti-
tions ofthe masses, we find ourselves in a region where—
‘Wisdom and Wit are little seen,
But Folly at full length.”
A resemblance in outward form, or even in disposition,
is enough to give rise to a belief that the animals are
interchangeable. Thus eels are said at times to be trans-
formed into serpents, mice into bats, and sharks into
tigers, and vice versé. By a curious connection of ideas,
between kings and whales, also comets, those stars so
abhorred by rulers, are considered to be as destructive to
the lives of the monarchs of the deep as of the sovereigns
of the soil.
NOTES OF TRAVEL IN SARDINIA
WE Sicily possesses classical associations and
remains of the highest interest, together with
physical features more or less dependent upon the
presence of the most famous volcano in the world; and
| while Lipari and the associated islands are remarkable
for their evidences of past and present volcanic action,
1 Chambers’ Encyclopedia.
\
;
Feb. 8, 1883]
Sardinia can lay claim to neither the one interest nor the
other, to any marked degree. Neither can we compare
it with Iceland, or with Majorca, and perhaps the only
special interest which belongs to it is the occurrence of
large numbers of xwvaghi—conical stone mounds of
prehistoric construction, hollow within, and probably
designed as tombs by the earliest inhabitants of the
island. These are scattered over the island in large
numbers, particularly near Torralba.
In Roman times Sardinia never rose to much import-
ance, hence the relics of that period are but few. The
most important is an amphitheatre near Cagliari hewn
out of the rock, the major axis of which is 153 feet in
length, and the minor axis 98 feet. It is now in a very
dilapidated condition, far more so indeed than that of
Puzzuoli. There are alsoafew Romantombs. The most
_ remarkable is in a suburb of Cagliari called Santa Tenera,
and it is known as La Gru/ta‘dessa Pibera, that is the
Grotto of the Viper, from the serpents which are sculp-
tured over the entrance. It was the tomb of Attilia
Pamphilla, anoble Roman lady. On the walls there are
some interesting inscriptions, which have been published
by Genesse La Marmora and by Muratori.
The few travellers who visit Sardinia nowadays are
tempted rather by prospects of sport than by anything
else. Moufflons still exist among the Gennargentu
Mountains, also wild boar, and smaller game, but the
amount of sport afforded by the island has been exagge-
rated, and the sportsman will commonly prefer to go
to the north of Norway or to Iceland to running the risk
of catching malarious fever in Sardinia.
Malaria has always been very prevalent in the island.
There is a large extent of marsh Jand, and in the autumn
a great deal of decomposing vegetable matter. We were
glad to notice that some of the Englishmen who have
recently acquired land in the island have not only com-
menced draining operations, but have also planted num-
bers of Eucalyptus trees, the effect of both operations
being undoubtedly to diminish malaria. On the other
hand, many of the native landowners are converting their
timber into charcoal, for which they can obtain about
fifty francs a ton in France and elsewhere. Some thou-
sands of tons are annually shipped, and unfortunately
new trees are not planted in place of the old ones. If
this wholesale destruction of forests continues, there can
be no doubt that the climate of the country will eventu-
ally be seriously affected. The exporters do not in the
least realise that they are shipping v/s v7va in a very
condensed form from their shores, and at the same time
diminishing the rainfall.
The chief wealth of Sardinia lies in her mines of
argentiferous galena, and of calamine. As much as 120
ounces per ton of silver have been extracted from some
of the lead ores. The principal mines are those of Monte
Poni, near Iglesias, in the south-west of the island, and
of Monte Vecchio, in the west centre. At Monte Poni we
noticed that the newest forms of Belgian and German
machinery for crushing and washing the ores were in‘use.
At the present time, the operations are very much im-
peded by the flow of water into the principal shaft, which
will probably be to a great extent obviated, by boring a
tunnel through the side of the mountain in which the
shaft is sunk.
A railway constructed, and to a great extent owned by
an English company, now connects the two capital cities
of the island—Cagliari and Sassari—a distance of 260
kilometres, with branches to Iglesias, in-the south-west,
and to Terranova in the north-east, and the line is con-
tinued from Sassari for'12} miles to Portotorres, its port,
a miserable and fever-stricken village. Fifty years ago,
there were scarcely any roads at all in Sardinia. The
Roman roads had become obliterated, and no attempt
had been made to construct them afresh.
The railway is well constructed, but the trains are
NATURE
343
extremely slow, and do not average more than seventeen
miles an hour. Between Macomer and Chilirani there
are many cuttings and some very steep gradients. The
railway connecting the two capitals—Cagliari and Sassari
—has only recently been completed. Sassari, a town of
33,000 inhabitants, is nearly as large as Cagliari, and in
some respects preferable to it. It stands upon a hill 650
feet above the sea. It has a clean, bright appearance,
but in reality is very badly drained and extremely un-
healthy. So recently as 1855 the cholera carried off
nearly one-third of the population in less than three
weeks, at the rate of more than 500 a day.
In Torralba there are a number of z7aghz, and in the
neighbourhood several extinct volcanoes, the most import-
ant of whichis Keremule. Nearly midway between Mores
and Torralba we saw exposed, ina recent railway cutting, a
fine mass of columnar basalt overlying chalk. There is a
good deal of pale green, pale pink, and grey trachite in
the neighbourhood. The only geological map of the
island which now exists is in General La Marmora’s fine
monograph published in Paris and Turin between 1839
and 1860, and entitled Voyage en Sardaigne.
G. F. RODWELL
MATHEMATICS IN SCANDINAVIA *
4 first part of the new mathematical journal has
reached us. We have not quite reproduced the
title ; the words Zeztschrift herausgegeben von on one
side of the axis of symmetry (let us say) of the page, are
matched by the words Yournal rédigé par on the other
side. This is significant of one part of the Editor’s plan :
the journal, though printed and published in Stockholm,
is to have its articles written in what the Editor styles the
principal \anguages. It may be that English is one of
these languages; there is not, however, in the preface,
anything definite to relieve our doubts. The prospectus
(unintentionally, we hope) is somewhat more informatory.
In the language of our “lucid” neighbours it says: “In
Germany, in France, in Italy, in Scandinavia, everywhere
in fact, where science is held in honour (other side of the
line of symmetry—‘#éderall wo mathematisches Leben
herrscht’), the idea of starting the journal was received
with the most lively sympathy.” Apparently in regard
to the English language and English science, the less
said the better. We, for our part, say nothing.
In outward appearance the new journal closely re-
sembles Crelle’s. The paper is equally good, the margin
equally broad, and the size otf page and the number of
pages in a part substantially the same in the two serials.
Neither is quite so handsome as a third member of the
same family, the now five-year old American Fournal of
Mathematics ; but then we must not forget the ratio of
five dollars to twelve marks.
The list of the editorial staff supporting M. Mittag-
Leffler contains many distinguished names. There are
five Swedish mathematicians, four Norwegians, three
Danish, and one from Finland; and scarcely one of
these but is well known far beyond his native country.
The contents of the first part are all that could be
expected from such a brotherhood, headed by such a
chief. The first paper is by Prof. Poincaré, of Paris, its
subject being the Zhéorie des groupes fuchsiens. It ex-
tends to 62 pp., and is altogether worthy of its place of
honour. One does not know which to admire most—the
author's grasp of his subject, or the clearness and sim-
plicity of his exposition. Following this, comes a con-
tribution of 14 pp. by Prof. Malmsten, of Upsala, ‘‘ Zur
Theorie der Leibrenten ;”’ then there is a paper of 16 pp.
on “Eine Annaherungsmethode im Probleme der drei
Korper,” by M. Gyldén, the head of the Stockholm Ob-
servatory; and lastly, to complete the 96 pages, there is
T Acta Mathematica: Zeitschrift herausgegeben, von G. Mittag-Leffler.
(Stockholm, 1882.)
344
NATURE
[ Fed. 8, 1883,
a short communication entitled “Das Problem der Con-
figurationen,” by Prof. Reye, of Strassburg. The Editor
may be most heartily congratulated on the stait he has
made: taking everything into account, we have little
doubt but that his efforts will be crowned with abundant
success.
The most serious difficulty about such an undertaking
is that of finance. The American Journal began its
career with the Johns Hopkins trustees at its back: we
suppose, however, that by this time it walks alone. In
the present instance, the mainstay is the enlightened
King Oscar the Second. Long may he live! The jour-
nal is rightly dedicated to him, the dedication being made
appropriately in one of the second-rank languages, which
it is cheering for us to see, have sometimes their uses.
M. D.
THE FRENCH MISSION TO CAPE HORN
BR members of the French Magnetic and Meteoro-
logical Expedition to Cape Horn have taken up
their quarters at Orange Bay, and have already begun
work. The accompanying illustration, reproduced from
La Nature, after a photograph transmitted to the Paris
Academy of Sciences, will give an idea of the aspect of
the station occupied by the expedition. On the summit
of the hill are the astronomical cabins, beside which are
placed a pluviometer and an actinometer. The large
house in the middle distance forms the officers’ quarters,
while the lower building is for the sailors, Along the
shore are other structures partly shown in the illustration,
a stockade for the tidal register, and an isolated tent for
absolute determinations.
Station of the French
The mission arrived at Orange Bay, Terra del Fuego,
on September 6 last. They found the country marshy,
and were compelled to select a wooded spot in order to
obtain firm ground. No time was lost in erecting in-
closings and installing the various instruments ; and on
September 26, the meteorological and magnetical obser-
vations were begun.
temperature at Orange Bay has been very mild; the
thermometer has never been below o° C., and several
times it has been as high as 16°. The air is very moist,
and there has been plentiful rain almost every day,
though not lasting long. Squalls have been rare. The
magnetic observations will be made partly by instruments
which will be read directly,—absolute determinations of
declination, inclination, horizontal force, &c., and partly
by means of regulating apparatus, which, so far, have
worked very satisfactorily, and have given indications
g seeing with those obtained from direct-reading mag
Since the arrival of the party the |
Mission to Cape Horn.
netometers. The other duties of the expedition consist
| in astronomical and meteorological observations.
The expedition has been well received by the natives,
one of whom speaks and reads English fluently. Indeed,
twenty miles off, in Beagle Channel, is an English mis-
sion station, which is reported to be very prosperous.
On-the whole, the French expedition has been very suc-
| cessful ; it may be regarded as one of the International
Polar Observing Stations.
HEATING BY ACETATE OF SODA
M A. ANCELIN, Civil Engineer, describes in Za
* Nature a method he has devised of heating for do-
mestic purposes, travelling, &c. ,by means of acetate of soda.
His object has been to devise a method that will possess
all the advantages of heating by means of hot water, with-
out any of itsinconveniences. For this purpose he sought
ee
Feb. 8, 1883]
NATURE 345
for a vehicle having a great latent heat of fusion, and
after several preliminary experiments, he, in September,
1878, took out a patent for heating carriages, &c., by
means of the latent heat stored in solid substances pre-
the large form is for
apartments or beds, the smaller for a lady’s muff.
Fic. 1.—Warming-pans with acetate of soda for domestic use;
viously liquefied by heat. In the course of his experiments,
M. Ancelin’s attention was called by M. Camille Vincent
to the acetate of soda, the very slow cooling of which
gd ah ah 3h
REFROIDISSEMENT EN HEURES.
|
4p 5p eh 7D
Fic. 2.—Curves of cooling of warming-pans with water.
during manufacture had struck him. M. Ancelin then
experimented with this substance, and obtained satis-
factory results. The duration of the heat in a warming-
pan with acetate of soda he finds to be four times that of a
warming-pan with hot water in spite of the great
calorific capacity of water. This is due to the enormous
quantity of heat which must be applied to the acetate of
soda in order to change it from the solid to the liquid
state, a heat which it again gives off as it resumes the
solid state. As the result of his experiments, M. Ancelin
finds that the quantity of useful heat is in fact four times
greater in acetate of soda than in water. A railway
warming-pan containing 11 litres of water, in passing from
80° C.. the mean temperature at which itis put in the
carriage, to 40° the temperature below which the heat is
no longer perceptible, disengages 440 calories (11 X 40).
The same pan containing about 50 kilogrammes of
acetate, in passing from 80° to 40° disengages 173E
calories instead of 440. Practice is in accord with theory,
as may be seen from the curves in Figs. 2and 3. Wesee
how rapid is the decrease in the temperature of the water
warming-pan, while for the acetate pan the curve, at first
parallel to that of water, suddenly changes at the point
hs
FL
ae
REFROIDISSEMENT EN HEURES
6»
Fic. 3.—Curves of cooling of acetate of soda.
which corresponds to the temperature of crystallisation.
The curve then remains almost horizontal, and falls very
gently, rendering evident to the eye what takes place
inside the pan. We obtain this result at a much less ex-
penditure of heat for the acetate than for water. To raise
the pan of water of 11 litres from 10° to 9o°, four times,
there is required 3520 calories. For the same quantity
of acetate only 1987 calories are required, showing a
saving of 1500 calories in favour of the acetate. In
reality the saving is much greater. In the case of the
water-pans raised to 90°, they are only at a maximum ot
80° when put in the carriage, and for four heatings we get
only 1760 calorics, or 50 per cent. of the heat stored. In
the case of the acetate, there are only 256 calories un-
utilised, or about 12 per cent. of the quantity stored. M.
Ancelin claims for his method that it required almost
one-half less expenditure of heat than in the case of
the usual warming-pans, especially when we consider
that the water requires four separate heatings, and the
acetate only one. Long journeys can thus be made by
rail, say from Paris to Havre, Lyons, Bordeaux, &c.,
without having to change the warming-pans, a great
346
NATURE
[ Feb. 8, 1883
saving of labour and of annoyance to passengers. Several
companies both in France and in other countries now
employ M. Ancelin’s method of heating; the French
Western Railway Company use it in their carriages from
Paris to Havre, and also to Dieppe. In England, M.
Ancelin states, the London and North Western Com-
pany had, last winter, 3000 of his acetate pans in use,
and double that number during the present year.
He shows that his system may be applied to domestic
purposes as well as onrailways. Itis certainly preferable
to charcoal, which, in France, is a fertile cause of death by
asphyxia. Fig. 1 shows a portable apparatus, which
may be used in private carriages, and even as a foot-pan
in bed, and several other purposes, its heat lasting five
hours. The smaller figure shows a form of heater which
may be used in a lady’s muff or even in the pocket. The
openings by which the acetate is introduced are het-
metically closed, and the substance does not require
renewal except at very long intervals. In filling the
receptacle certain precautions must be used, which may
be easily learned after a little practice. To renew the
heat in the pans they have only to be kept in boiling
water for half an hour.
NOTES
WE believe that two English observers are being sent out to
record the approaching Eclipse of the Sun, and that the American
Government have been asked, and have agreed, to find places
for them with the American expedition. M. Janssen will be the
head of the French expedition, which will be located on one of
the smallest islands of the Caroline Archipelago.
On the proposition of M. Fremy, the Academy of Sciences will
defray, from its own funds, the expense of sending a naturalist
with the Eclipse Expedition. The Austrian Government will send
to the same station M, Palisa, the director of Pola Observatory.
For the two last weeks M. Dumas has been unable to attend
to his duties of Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences.
He has been suffering from bronchitis, but we are happy to |
state that no anxiety whatever is being felt by his friends.
A MATHEMATICAL Society has been founded at Edinburgh,
the initiatory meeting having been held in the University on
Friday last. Mr. John S. Mackay, M.A., F.R.S.E., Mathe-
matical Master in the Edinburgh Academy, was chosen the first
president, and Dr. Knott, secretary. Professors Tait and
Chrystal were elected honorary members.
GENERAL PiTt-RIivers has offered his well-known and inyalu-
able collection, now in the South Kensington Museum, to the
University of Oxford, on condition that the University provides a
suitable building for it. It is to be hoped, for the sake of the Uni-
yersity and in the interests of science, that the authorities will
accept the collection on the conditions imposed by the generous
donor, though we should deeply regret its removal from London.
WE are not surprised that the London School Board should
have hesitated last week to commit itself to the importation at
once of technical education into elementary schools. The adop-
tion of Dr. Gladstone’s motion, that a committee be appointed
to consider how best the Board could help in the matter, seems
to us to be the judicious course to follow.
THE following premiums are offered by the Society of Arts
for the 129th Ses-ion of the Society (1882-83) :—Benjamin
Shaw Prize.—1. A Society’s gold medal, or 20/., for the best
plan for ‘‘ obviating or diminishing risk to life in the operations
of coal mining.” 2. A Society’s gold medal, or 20/., for the
best plan for ‘‘ obviating or diminishing risk to life in the manu-
facture, storage, and transport of explosives.”” The Council of
the Society leave it to #e competitors to bring the plans under
their notice in any way they may think proper, whether by
model, written description, or otherwise. Howard Prize.—A
prize of 100’. for the best essay on the Utilisation of Electricity
for Motive Power. Preference is to be given to that essay
which, besides setting forth the theory of the subject, contains
records with detailed results of actual working or experiment.
The Society reserves the right of publishing the prize essay.
Fothergill Prize.—A Society’s gold medal, or 20/., for the best
invention having for its object the prevention or extinction of
fires in theatres or other places of public amusement. Designs,
plans, models, essays, descriptions, inventions, &c., intended to
compete for any of the above prizes, must be sent in on or b2fore
October 31, 1883, to the Secretary of the Society of Arts, John
Street, Adelphi, London.
THE Industrial Society of Berlin offers a number of prizes,
amongst which we note the following :—1. Fora method of
precipitating zinc by galvanism from its dilute sulphate solution,
50/7, 2. For the examination of German crude petroleum, with
directions for preparing a good commercial product, 757. 3.
For a criticism of the usual indications of the value of iron and
a proposal of more useful indications, 157. 4. For a plan of the
technical arrangements of a public institute for the examination
of tissues, in order to oppose the frequent adulterations met with
in textile industries, 157. 5. For ameliorations in salt mines
and salt works, 75/.
THE Birmingham papers report the Town Hall crowded with
working men to hear a lecture from the Rev. W. Tuckwell,
Rector of Stockton, near Rugby, on ‘‘ The Midland Boulders
and the Great Ice Age.” The lecturer described the erratic
blocks of the neighbourhood, and some recent discoveries of
boulder clay at Birmingham and Stockton. He presented in a
popular form the discoveries and theories of Croll, Geikie, Boyd
Dawkins, Lubbock, Evans; and drew a picture of early man
| and his brute contemporaries as revealed by the bones and im-
plements of the caves and river gravels. The lecture was illus-
trated by lime-light views of glaciers, extinct animals, and human
implements ; and was followed on the succeeding evening by a
conversazione at the same place, when Mr. Tuckwell exhibited
and explained to successive crowds throughout the evening a
| splendid collection of implements, ranging from the earliest
paleolithic to the latest bronze ornaments and weapons, kindly
lent without charge by Mr. Bryce Wright, of Regent Street.
Both evenings were arranged by the Sunday Lecture Society,
which provides popular scientific lectures every Sunday night
throughout the winter half of the year in the four largest Board
Schools in Birmingham, with special lectures in the Town Hall
three times in the year. The lectures, as was the case with Mr.
Tuckwell’s, are frequently marked by a religious, though not by
a sectarian tone ; and the crowded audiences consist of persons
rarely or never seen in chur.h or chapel.
Tue Berlin Academy of Sciences is about to send Dr. Lepsius,
Professor of Geology at Darmstadt, with an assistant, to Athens,
to make a geological survey of the neighbourhood, and
endeavour to decide the question of the origin of the Athenian
marbles.
Unbrr the presidency of Count Hans Wilczek and the Baron
Victor Erlanger, an International Electric Exhibition will be held
in Vienna, opening on August 1, and closing on October 31.
It will be an undertaking of a private nature, but is specially
favoured by the Government.
THERE seems to be a serious decline in the once flourishing
oyster fisheries of Denmark. Last year only about two million
oysters were taken, which is far below the average, nor was the
quality so good as usual. There were no new banks discovered
during the year. The most important are now those in the
| Gulf of Vendsel and at Fladstrand.
=
Feb, 8, 1883] ~
THE Smithsonian Institution have received from Dr. Stej-
neger, who was despatched on a scientific mission to Behring
Island some time since, e/even fairly perfect crania of the extinct
Sirenian Mammal, Riytina stelleri, together with sets of nearly
all the other bones of the skeleton.
THE Royal Swedish Geographical Society has decided to
appoint a committee, consisting of Professors Nordenskjéld and
Gyldén, and Consul Elfwing, to consider the proposal for an
international meridian and a common time. This committee
has requested Consul Elfwing to draw up the Society’s report on
the question.
THE eminent Swedish paleontologist, Nathorst, has published
the results of his examination of the fossil plants collected by
the Vega expedition at Mogi, in South Japan. According to
Hr. Nathorst these remains belong to the Tertiary period, and
while they are older than the Glacial age, they would yet seem
to be referable to a time when the climate was colder than at
present, This instance of the pre-ence in Eastern Asia of a
flora of polar origin shortly before the advent of the Glacial
period, is considered especially interesting from the strong evi-
dence which it affords in favour of the theory of the migrations
of plants in the early ages of the world’s history.
FROMacommunication of theresults of Herr Hakonson-Hansen’s
observations of the November auroral displays which is printed in
the last number of WVaturen, we learn that while there were as
many as nineteen specially vivid and one ordinary manifestation
at Trondhjem in that month, the extraordinary length of time
during which the aurore retained their brightness gave a special
character to the phenomena. On every night of the week from
the 12th to the 18th inclusive, the heavens were illuminated with
the auroral light, which on the 13th appeared as early as 4 p.m.,
while on the 17th it continued visible from $ p.m. till 6 a.m.
on the following morning. During this period it was found
almost impossible to work the telegraphic wires by day or night,
The most striking display occurred on the 18th, at 4.30 a.m.
when a brilliant corona appeared in the zenith, from which vivid
streams of light stretched to the horizon, while luminous waves
flowed uninterruptedly from the latter towards the corona, dif-
fusing so strong alight as to enable one with ease to read mode-
rately clear print. On the same day, at Gothenburg, it was
found impossible to make the wires act.
Naturen warns its readers not to put implicit faith in the
statements made in reference to the large yields of silver, which
may be expected from the old silver mines in Nordland. Ac-
cording to the prospectus of a company, which offers the public
one thousand shares in the Svenningdal mine, near the little
town Mosjo, 162,000 kroner’s worth of ore was purchased from
the owners in 1881 for the silver works at Freiberg in Saxony,
yet, as the writer points out, there were only twenty-five men
employed in the mine in the course of that year! It is well
known that traces of silver are constantly found in the galena
and cadmium yielded by these mines, but this fact even the most
daring of speculators must admit to be a very insufficient basis,
on which to maintain the numerous companies, amounting, it is
said, to one hundred, which are offering the public at home and
abroad shares in one, or other of the more or less exhausted
mines of Nordland.
THE Anthropological Society of Paris has received from one
of its members, Dr. Benzengre, a report of the autopsy of
General Skobeleff, from which it would appear that the weight
of the brain, according to Broca’s system, was 1457, which is
considerably above the mean for ordinary adult Europeans of
his height (1°73m.) and even slightly above that hitherto given
for men of exceptionally great intellect.
NATURE
347
Dr. WILLIAM H. STONE will give the first of three lectures,
at the Royal Institution, on Singing, Speaking, and Stammering,
on Saturday next (February 17); and Prof. Robert S. Ball will
give the first of four lectures on the Supreme Discoveries in
Astronomy, on Tuesday (February 20).
THE Norwegian Government have commissioned Dr, S. A.
Buch during the present year to make researches, practical as
well as scientific, into the great herring fisheries which annually
take place on the west coast of Norway.
THE new mathematical journal, Acta mathematica (noticed in
another column), published in Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris, has
received a subsidy of kr. 1000 from the Swedish Government,
while the Danish have granted a sum of 60/. a year to the editors
in Denmark—Prof. Lorenz, and Drs. Petersen and Zeuthen.
THE U.S. Commissioners of Fish and Fisheries propose to
build a large aquarium at Wood’s Hole, Mass., in connection
with their new station there. The aquarium will be devoted to
biological researches of every description, At the adjoining
station preparations are being made for the artificial propagation
of cod, mackerel, halibut, and other fishes useful for food, and
it is expected to hatch annually a thousand millions of cod and
of other kinds in proportion.
AT the meeting of the Essex Field Club held on January 27, a
resolution was passed condemning the proposed extension of the
Great Eastern Railway from Chingford to High Beach. The
Club regards it as ‘‘ wholly unnecessary for the railway to take
the route projeczed, and that it would not fail to prejudicially
affect the advantages secured by the Epping Forest Act, which
directs that the forest is to be preserved as far as possible in its
natural aspect, and the Society hereby authorises the Council to
petition Parliament against the project, and to send copies of
this Resolution to the Press.”
Pror. VERGA has been recently investigating the subject of
intemperance in Milan (Reale Jst. Lomb.), a vice which seems
to be on the increase there. Among other things he notes that
suicide and kleptomania are very rare among the drunkards.
With regard to the two sexes, he says that women fall much less
easily into intemperance than men, and that drunken women
belong to the lowest social strata, and show true brutification.
Men appear to give themselves to excessive drinking more in the
cold season ; women in the mild season. Women relapse more
frequently and shamefully into drunkenness than men, and more
easily remain victims. The female drunkard excites disgust or
laughter by her behaviour, but is not dangerous either to herself
or to others; the male drunkard alarms by his excesses, and has
often to be severely punished.
THE behaviour of the virus of anthrax in the form of spores
and in that of the bacterium (Bacz//us anthracis) under heat and
various reagents, has been investigated fully by Signor Perroncito,
The results are published in the Ali della R. Accademia det
Lincei, and show well how much greater power of resistance the
spore has than the bacterium.
THE Jablochkoff light of the Avenue de l’Opera having been
extinguished, the Place de Carrousel is the only street now
electrically lighted in Paris at the expense of the Municipal
Exchequer. But the electric light is every day finding new
fields of display ; a building company who are erecting a large
structure in the Paris will manufacture the light on their own
premises for their own use, and <ell it to the tenants at moderate
rates.
M. THOLLON has sent from Nice to the Academy of Sciences
a determination of the velocity of the motion of the great 1882
comet, calculated from the displacement of the spectral rays.
348
THE action of very diluted nitromuriatic acid (aqua regia) on
meat and other animal substances has been recently studied by
Signor Pavesi (Giorz. Farm. Chim. xxxi. 529), and he finds the
substance an excellent preserving agent ; meat in pieces of about
1kg. kept in the liquid in wooden vessels remains unaltered and
savoury for years. The meat treated may also be dried at 15°
to 20° without undergoing change, apart from a diminution of
volume and the appearance of a brown colour. Put for a few
hours in water, the meat recovers its original softness and natural
colour. The proportions of the acids in the preserving liquid
are not given. The method is also adapted to preservation of
animal substances for scientific purposes.
Two shocks of earthquake occurred at Agram, the first at
8.44 p.m. on the 4th and the other about 1 a.m. on the 5th.
Both were of a violent character, accompanied, as the former
disturbances were, by a rolling, thundering noise underground.
The direction of the motion was from north-east and south-west,
and each shock lasted about four seconds. No damage has been
done hitherto. A telegram from New York, February 5, states
that earthquakes have occurred at Bloomington, Illinois, and
Wolfborough, New Hampshire, U.S., but no serious conse-
quences are reported.
THE German Aéronautical Society held its general meeting at
Berlin on January 13 last. During 1882 no less than 230 pro-
posals, principally relating to the steerage of balloons, were
submitted to the Society, none, however, furthering the question
in any material way.
A MEMBER of the Paris ‘‘ Ecole pratique d’acclimatation”
has discovered a species of spider on the African coast, the
firm and long web of which resembles yellow silk very closely,
and is said to be almost as good as the product of real silk-
worms. The syndicate of the Lyons silk-merchants has closely
investigated the matter, and the result is reported as highly
favourable. There seems to be no difficulty in the way of
acclimatising the new silk-producer in France.
NeEws has been received in Bolivia regarding Dr. Crevaux’s
mission. It appears that several members of this expedition
were not killed, as was formerly reported, but are kept prisoners
by the Tabo Indians.
THE Museum of the Berlin Society for Commercial Geo-
graphy will be opened on April 1 next. From time to time
there will be in this museum special exhibitions arranged by
foreign states. Several of these are already announced. The
best part of the Brazilian exhibition will remain in the Museum.
LizuT. WISSMANN, the intrepid and successful German
traveller, arrived at Cairo on January I. His route from Loanda,
by way of Nyangwe, on the Lualaba River, to Zanzibar, which
measures about 3600 kilometres, led him for at least one-third of
the distance through unexplored country. He has thus solved
some of the enigmas of equatorial Africa. It is the southern
half of the Congo basin through which Wissmann passed, and
he found this to be most densely populated. This fact is remark-
able, as it was entirely unexpected. Wissmann also passed
through the land of a tribe of dwarf negroes. On the long and
dangerous route from Lake Tanganyika to Zanzibar the traveller
met with a most hospitable reception at the hands of the
renowned brigand chief Mirambo, who supported him in every
respect,
In our last number we stated that M. Tissandier’s electro-
mignetic machine had given a power of 4 horses per hour; it
should have been 4 horse-power.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua
NATURE
| Jed. 8, 1883
galerita) from Australia, presented by Mrs. Norman; a Roseate
Cockatoo (Cacatua roseicapilla) from Australia, presented by
Mrs. Sims; a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) from North
America, presented by Mr. C. H. Webster ; a Vulpine Phalanger
(Phalangista vulpina) from Australia, presented by Mr. G. S.
Northcote ; four Ceylonese Terrapins (Clemmys trijuga) from
Ceylon, four River Turtles (Zmyda ) from India,
a Globose Curassow (Crax globicera 2) from South America,
deposited; a Blue-cheeked Amazon (CArysotis caligena) from
Guiana, two Maximilian’s Parrots (Pionus maximiliani) from
Brazil, purchased ; a Collared Fruit Bat (Cyzonycteris collaris),
two Four-horned Antelopes Zetraceros quadricornis), born in
the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
DENNING’s ComMET.—Mr. W. E, Plummer, of the University
Observatory, Oxford, has made an interesting contribution to
a branch of astronomical investigation, in which we have not
shone greatly in this country, in the shape of a definitive deter-
mination of the elements of the orbit of the comet discovered by
Mr. W. F. Denning, of Bristol, on the morning of October 4,
1881, which proved to be one of short period, though not pre-
viously observed, Accurate positions were obtained between
October 5 and November 19 at Athens, Dun Echt, Harvard
College, U.S., Marseilles, Odessa, Oxford, Palermo, Paris,
Rome, and Strasburg. Starting with the second ellipse calcu-
lated by Dr. Hartwig, which assigned a revolution of 8°884
years, Mr. Plummer compares all the observations with an
ephemeris computed therefrom. He then determines, by the
method of variation of constants, for four-day intervals, the
effect of perturbations by each of the planets from Mercury to
Saturn inclusive, during the period of visibility ; the influence of
the perturbations upon the observed right ascensions and decli-
nations being inferred by calculating the differential coefficients
for variation of elements for the part.cular epochs, and these co-
efficients were used in the formation of equations of condition.
The tabular longitudes of the sun were corrected by the results
of observations at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, supplied
by the Astronomer-Royal. Normal equations were then formed
and solved in the usual manner by least squares, and a corrected
set of elements was thus found. The positions of the comet
computed from them, and the positions inferred from the
substitution of the corrections to the elements in the original
equations of condition, agreed generally, but owing to their
considerable amount, and the neglect of terms of the second
order in calculating the differential coefficients, the agreement
was notexact. Since Mr. Plummer’s principal object was the
determination of the comet’s mean motion, he preferred to obtain
the values of the several unknown quantities in terms of the
mean motion, so that by successive small variations of this
element, accompanied by the corresponding alterations in the
others, several sets of elements could be formed, and the prefer-
able orbit selected by direct comparison with the observations.
This additional labour adds much to the value of Mr. Plummer’s
work. He accepts as the most trustworthy guide the sums of
the squares of the errors in right ascension and declination,
though the two do not correspond to precisely the same value of
the mean motion, and so obtains the following definitive
orbit :—
Epoch 1881, September 28°5 Greenwich M.T.
Meananomaly ... ... I 40 35°39
Longitude of perihelio: 18 36 12°8
55 »» . ascending node 65 52 2°'0 Mena
Inclination ate) Pee 6 50 22°6
Angle of eccentricity ... 56 8 284
Log. semi-axis major ... 0°6315148
Period of revolution 3235 days.
Hence we find (the unit of distance being the earth’s mean
distance from the sun)—
Semi-axis major ... 4°28070 | Eccentricity ... 0°8304135
A minor... 2°38498 | Period in years 8 8567
Aphelion distance.. 7°83545 The perihelion passage Sept.
Perihelion distance 0°72595 ; ( 13°43493 M.T. at Greenwich.
The orbit of this comet is remarkable for the near approach it
makes to the orbits of Venus, the Earth, and Jupiter. By Mr.
cb. 8, 1883]
NATURE
349
is distant from the orbit of Jupiter only 07145, a sufficient ex-
planation of a probable cause of the short period of revolution.
THe GREAT Comer oF 1882.—The positions subjoined are
extracted from an ephemeris published by Herr Stechert, of
Berlin (Astron. Nach. No. 2486), and founded upon the elliptical
elements of Dr. Kreutz :—
At Berlin Midnight
Plummer figures it appears that in longitude 223°*4 the comet
Right Ascension. Declination. Distance from
h. ms. z i Earth. Sun.
February 8... 6 I 57 —20 5°8 ... 2°412 ... 3'008
TOM NON OE7 <.. 19.3455
Tete 5 S640 .. TQ) 3a7) eeskZ1500) 5. 34003
DAwes. Sb y 2h e198 3374
REM SESORE2 Ie.) wilO, (36) 4.0 21002 eS uTilo
8 ..555 8 17 34°4
20 wens S A aS, DeSean TOD) enc Spee
ASTRONOMICAL TELEGRAMS.—Mr. Spencer F, Baird, Secre-
tary of the Smithsonian Institution, notifies that arrangements
have been completed with the Director of the Harvard College
Observatory for conducting the system of telegraphic announce-
ments of astronomical discoveries, which was established by the
Institution in 1873, and that henceforward the American centre
of reception and distribution of telegrams will be ‘‘ The Harvard
College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts,” to which all
astronomical telegrams should in future be sent.
THE MATTER OF SPACE
OF late years there has been a growing tendency towards the
belief that matter is present everywhere throughout the
universe, as well in interstitial space as in the bodies of the spheres.
Yet an older hypothesis is still widely held. The phenomena of
light seem to require some substantial medium in space, but this
substance has been viewed as specifically distinct from matter,
and named ether. Another class of thinkers has devised still
another species of substance. This is required to meet the
demands of the new gravitation hypothesis; and consists of
excessively minute particles, moving with intense speed, and
pressing vigorously on the larger and slower particles of matter.
In the past still other species of substance were imagined ; heat,
electricity, etc., were each ascribed to a specifically distinct
substance.
Now, however, the tide has turned, and the inclination is to
believe in only a single form of substance. There are, - of
course, countless distinct conditions produced by the aggregations
of substance, and variations from simplicity to complexity, but
this may not necessarily require more than a single hind of
basic particle, or whatever we may call it. If the substantial
contents of space are similar in constitution to the matter of
the spheres, their state of existence must be much more simpli-
fied. In the spheres we have matter ranging from the simple
elementary gases of the atmosphere, through the complex
mineral compounds of the solid surface, to the highly com-
pounded organic molecules. In outer space the variation is
probably in the opposite direction, and substance may exist
there in a condition much more highly disintegrated than the
atmospheric gases. This view is not held by all theorists. Dr,
Siemens argues that space holds molecules of considerable
intricacy, comprising certain terrestrial elements, and their
simpler compounds; as to the contents of space we know that
there are very numerous solid masses, some of considerable size,
others minute, and possibly ranging through many degrees from
the largest to the minutest. Yet these really occupy but an
inconsiderable portion of space, and apparently originated in
solar or planetary orbs.
Such is, briefly stated, the state of knowledge and of hypo-
thesis concerning the substantial contents of space. We need
but add the uncertain reasons for arguing the presence of a
resisting medium in space, and the necessity of a highly elastic
condition of the light-conducting substance, to exhaust the
subject so far as yet pursued.
It is held by some that the gravitation energy of the suns and
planets is sufficiently great to sweep space of all contiguous
material particles, except those solid masses which are saved
from this fate by the vigour of their orbital motions. The
atmospheres of suns and planets are retained with an energy
very greatly in excess of their reverse energy of molecular
motion, and therefore it is quite impossible that any of this
material should escape into space, or that fany similarly-con-
ditioned material should exist contiguous to the spheres without
being forced to become atmospheric matter. The centrifugal
energy of the earth’s atmosphere at the equator is only ,'7 of
that necessary to overcome gravity. The molecules of the
atmosphere have also a vigour of heat vibration about equal to
their centrifugal energy. Hence the resisting energy of these
molecules is far below the gravitative energy, and they are
vigorously held.
The question of the possible existence of gravitating matter in
interspheral space depends strictly upon that of its mctor energy.
If the momentum of any particle, or of the whole sum of
particles, be insufficient to constitute a centrifugal energy equal
or superior to the centripetal energy of gravitation, then the
material contents of space must inevitably be drawn into the
attracting spheres, as atmospheric substance, and space be
denuded of matter. If, on the contrary, the centrifugal energy
of these particles be sufficient to resist gravitation, they will
remain free, and space continue peopled by matter.
Such gravitative particles, wherever existing in space, could
not be for an instant free from the influence of spheral attraction
whatever their energy of motion. . If this energy be too small,
they must be related to the spheres as falling bodies, and must
become atmospheric matter. If the two opposite energies be
equal, they must be related to the spheres as planetary bodies,
and circle in fixed orbits around the centre of attraction. If
the centrifugal energy be in excess they must assume the con-
dition of independent cometary bodies, temporarily influenced
but not permanently controlled by any sun, and wandering
eternally through space.
Such are the three possible conditions of the material contents
of space. If the first obtain, space must be denuded of matter ;
if the second obtain, it will permanently contain matter in a
partially elastic state; if the third obtain, it will permanently
contain matter in a highly elastic state, since the pressure upon
each other of the vigorously centrifugal particles must be great,
and may be extreme. Of course no single particle could long
retain its direction of motion, as related to any sphere. Con-
stant impacts must constantly vary the directions of molecular
motion, But the motion of each particle is successively trans-
ferred to a long series of particles, and thus is virtually continued
in force and direction, Each motion pursues its course
independently, though not as affecting any fixed particle of
matter, and each particle aids in the progression of a vast
network of motions, proceeding in every direction throughout
the universe. Thus each particle, though not actually changing
its place, may have motor relations which extend in every
direction to the utmost extremes of space. It is a node in an
interminable network of motions, and its incessant leaps through-
out the limits of its narrow space are each part of a long motor
line, which affects successively myriads of particles. So far as
the energy of gravitation is concerned the effect upon this
incessantly transferred motion is precisely the same as if the
motion was confined to a single particle. If it lack energy the
motion will be a falling one; if it equal the gravitative energy
it will form a closed orbit. If it exceed the gravitative energy
it will form an open curve, and be only temporarily controlled
by any sphere.
In this interchange of motor energy certain particles may
continually decrease in vigour of motion, and if near solar orbs
may be drawn in as atmospheric matter. But they can only lose
motion by transferring it to others, which would in consequence
become more independent of gravity. The sum of motor
energies in the universe must persist unchanged, and the aggre-
gation of atmospheric substance around any planet must cause
an outflow of motor energy which will increase the motor vigour
of exterior particles. In such a case the height of atmosphere
in any sphere will depend, partly on the attractive vigour of the
sphere, and partly on the average motor vigour of the whole sum
of matter. Every contraction and loss of motor energy by any
portion of matter will increase the motor energy of remaining
matter, and a fixed limit to the atmospheric control of every
sphere must result, since in the outer layers of its atmosphere
the centrifugal energy of molecular motion must increase until
it equals the energy of gravitation.
Can we arrive at any conclusion as to which of the three
possible conditions above considered really exists ? If so we can
answer the question as to the existence of matter as a constant
tenant of space, and also reach some conclusions as to the
character of its motor conditions.
350
There is one line of thought which seems to lead to a settle-
ment of this question. If the nebular hypothesis of the
formation of solar systems be accepted as true, either wholly
or partly, there can be no doubt as to the interspheral status
of matter. The conditions of nebular aggregation indisputably
settle it.
This hypothesis holds that the matter now concentrated into
suns and planets was once more widely disseminated, so that
the substance of each sphere occupied a very considerable extent
of space. It even declares that the matter of the solar system
was a nebulous cloud, extending far beyond the present limits
of that system. From this original condition the existing con-
dition of the spheres has arisen, through a continued concentration
of matter. But this concertration was constantly opposed by
the heat energy of the particles, or, in other words, by their
centrifugal momentum. This momentum could be only got rid
of by a redistribution of motor energy. If, for illustration, the
average momentum of the particles of the nebula was just
equivalent to their gravitative energy, then a portion of this
energy must radiate or be conducted outwards ere the internal
particles could be held prisoners by gravitation, The loss of
momentum inwardly must be correlated with an increase of
momentum outwardly.
This is a necessary consequence of the heat relations of matter.
As substance condenses its capacity for heat decreases, and its
temperature rises, hence a difference of temperature must con-
stantly have arisen between the denser and the rarer portions of
the nebulous mass, and equality of temperature could be restored
only by heat radiation, This radiation still continues, and
must continue until condensation ceases, and the temperatures of
the spheres and space become equalised, but this is equivalent to
declaring that as the particles of the spheres decrease in heat
momentum those of interspheral space increase, and if originally
the centrifuga] and centripetal energies of matter approached
equality, they must become unequal, centripetal energy becoming
in excess in spheral matter, centrifugal energy in the matter of
space. Thus, asa portion of the originally widely distributed
nebulous matter lost its heat, and became permanently fixed in
place by gravitative attraction, another portion gained heat,
became still more independent of gravity, and assumed a state |
of greater nebulous diffusion than originally. The condensing
spheres only denuded space of a portion of the matter which it
formerly held, and left the remainder more thinly distributed
than before. The spheres, in their concentration, have emitted,
and are emitting, a vast energy of motion. This motor energy
yet exists in space as a motion of the particles of matter, which
therefore press upon each other, or seek to extend their limits,
with increasing vigour, so that the elasticity of iinterspheral matter
is constantly increasing.
It might be hastily imagined that such an excess of heat vigour
in the matter of space over that of the spheres should declare
itself in temperature. But it must be remembered that temper-
ature is no measure of the absolute heat contents of matter.
Condensation increases, rarefaction decreases, temperature
with no necessary change in absolute heat contents. The
expression ‘‘ fire mist,” so often applied to the matter of uncon-
densed nebulz, gives a very erroneous impression, The matter
of the solar system nebula, though containing a high degree of
absolute heat, was probably of low temperature. Its great
rarity must certainly have greatly decreased its temperature. As
a differentiation in this matter took place, one portion becoming
condensed, another portion more rarefied, the former must have
increased, the latter decreased, in temperature. Eventually the
extreme condensation of one portion of this matter, and rare-
faction of another, caused an extreme difference in temperature.
An excessive radiation from the spheres to space has taken place
in consequence, the absolute heat of the former constantly
decreasing and that of the latter increasing. But the difference
in temperature still continues great, the influence producing it
acting much more rapidly than the influence tending to obliterate
it. Eventually an equality of temperatures may be produced,
but only by the production of a very considerable inequality of
absolute heat, This must be the final result of spheral conden-
sation and nebulous rarefaction of exterior matter; namely,
equalization of temperature, with a change from the original
homogeniety to a great hetercgeniety of heat contents.
But we are again brought back to the question of the motor
energies of matter. Are they sufficiently great to enable a
portion of this matter, when reinforced in motor energy by
radiations from the spheres, to defy gravitative attraction and,
NALGORE
feb, 8, 1883 7
remain free in space? Undoubtedly so, and much greater than :
would be simply requisite for the purpose, since we find the
matter of the planets, after their immense losses by radiation,
still possessed of a considerable excess of motor energy. The
earth, for instance, has an orbital motion sufficient to maintain —
it at a con-iderable distance from the sun, But the motion of
the earth is but the combined motion of its molecules. This
motion once existed as independei.t molecular motion, which in
time, under the influence of gravity, became dependent mole-
cular motion. We have already spoken of the fact that the
particles of space, in consequence of their heat motions, tend to
dart off in straight lines of motion, except in so far as the
gravitative attraction of spheres causes these lines to become
curved, These lines of motion, so far as individual particles
are concerned, are checked by the particles coming into contact
with others. The motion, however, proceeds onwards, though
it is carried by successive, instead of by single particles. If,
however, a number of particles move in company in the same
direction, they may move much further as individuals, before
transferring their energies. And if an immense mass of
particles come to thus move in company their individual excur-
sions may be indefinitely extended. The lines of motion, instead
of being continued by successive particles, are continued by the
same particles, and molecular motion becomes mass motion.
The motion of terrestrial molecules, in their revolution around
the sun, resemble those of the molecules in Prof. Brooks vacuum
tubes, constituting his ‘‘ fourth state of matter.”
Now the degree of resistance of such a mass to centripetal
energy will indicate the degree of resistance of the original uncom-
bined molecules. In the earth the motion of the molecules, thus
combined, yields a centrifugal energy sufficient to maintain the
earth at its present distance from the sun, But this is only a
portion of its molecular energies. Its molecules possess
considerable indep:ndent motion, and form nodes in lines of
radiation that extend in every direction. They have also lost a
great vigour of motion by radiition to space. It follows that the
original momentum of these molecules must have constituted
a centrifugal vigour greatly in excess of their centripetal vigour.
It secondarily follows that the momentum of those molecules of
the nebula which still exist in space, augmented as it has been by
radiations from the spheres, yields a very energetic excess of centri-
fugal vigour. Many of the comets have a centrifugal energy in
excess of the centripetal energy of the sun, yet this represents only
a fraction of the energy of their molecules, and a much smaller
fraction of the energy of the material particles of space.
The combination of the centrifugal energies of terrestrial
particles is due to the fact of a secondary centre of gravity
having heen formed. The heat velocity of its particles, in
excess of that displayed in their revolution around the sun, has
become partly a revolution around the earth’s axis, and is partly
retained as heat vibration. But the heat velocity of the material
particles of space is not thus secondarily employed. It is
affected by the attraction of the sun, or of the nearest sphere ;
but evidently, from the considerations above taken, this
attraction cannot be sufficient to over-balance the centrifugal
energy and cause atmospheric aggregation or even to cause
orbital revolution, The particles must have energy suffi-
cient to make them independent of spheral gravity. Their
straight lines of motion must become to some degree curved in
response to gravity, but cannot become closed curves. Instead
of becoming planetary, they remain cometary lines, of very
open orbit. For if we imagine the earth to be suddenly
restored to its nebulous condition, or its particles to be set free
in space, they would possess a ve ocity of motion much in excess
of the earth’s orbital velocity. Hence they could not be con-
trolled by the sun. The exi ting particles of space possess a
stillmuch greater velocity, and are therefore much more free
from gravitative control.
Certain necessary results of this condition have been con-
sidered. The lines of centrifugal motion in space are not con-
fined to single particles as in the earth, but are transferred from
particle to particle, The effect, however, is precisely the same ;
this motion of successive particles is in no respect different in
effect from what we would have if a single particle were free to
move in the same direction. Each particle moves a certain
distance, and then transfers its motion in that direction to
another. But it immediately pursues some other direction of
motion in response to impact, and this aids in the progressive
moyement of innumerable lines of motor energy. The great
centrifugal vigour of these motions must cause an energetic com-
|
}
| Feb. 8, 1883]
NATURE
351
_ pressing influence upon interspheral matter, and thus produce
an elasticity, sufficient perhaps for the requirements of light
radiation.
The lines of motion thus transferred through space cannot be
unvarying in their orbital directions. Nature knows no great or
small in her processes, and each movirg particle of the free
matter of space is controlled by the same principles which
control the motions of a planet. It is subject to perturbations
from lateral atiractions, similar to those which draw planets
and comets out of their orbits, and completely change the
orbit of the latter. And its impacts with other particles yield
effects such as would arise in impacts between planets of
oppositely moving systems, Action and reaction are equal, in
this as in every case. The orbit and the speed of a line of
motion may be changed through impact or attractive resistance,
but only by its causing an opposite change in some other line.
Thus the lines of motor energy referred to are not unvarying in
speed and direction, but are unvarying in their sum of corre-
lated speeds and directions. The variations which take place
in the orbits of spheres and comets through attractive pertur-
bation, and the greater variations which would take place did
spheres come frequently into contact, are precisely similar to
those which must occur in the case of interspheral particles, and
any change in the direction of one orb t is balanced by an equal
opposite change in the direction of another orbit, the balance of
motor direction and energy in nature being exactly preserved.
If such a line of motion pursues a cometary ellipse and enters
the atmosphere of a globe, it must be affected by friction pre-
cisely as if the line of moving particles were a single particle, or
a niinute comet. It might be obliterated by friction or resistance,
as the orbital motion of a falling body is obliterated, But this
obliteration is really caused by the opposing energy of opposite
lines of molecular motion. The single line of motion may be
gistributed into a thousand lines differing in direction, but the
pe ronent of these thousand lines must agree with the original
ine.
The transfer of motion from particle to particle here indicated
may take place through attractive resistance as well as through im-
pact resistance. The original disintegration of the matter of space
must have increased, as spheral condensation denuded space of
much of its material, and as radiation from the spheres increased
its motor energy. If matter thus divided up into smaller and
smaller particles, these may have continued as closely contiguous
in space as are the molecules of spheral atmospheres. In such
a case they may present the conditions of excessive rarity so far
as weight of matter is concerned ; of close contiguity of particles,
sufficient to permit the exercise of attractive energy ; of great
compression, through their vigour of centrifugal motion, and of
intense elastic resistance to compre-sion. These are the con-
ditions necessary for the transfer of the radiations of light and
heat. In these radiatures motion is conveyed through space by
transfer of vibratory motions, not of impacts. The vibrating
particle swings between lateral chains of attraction, and causes a
like transverse swing in successive particles with which it is
attractively connected. Greater energy here causes only greater
width of vibration, not greater rapidity of transfer. The latter
depends only on the elasticity of the matter concerned. Impact
transfer of motion, on the contrary, must differ in speed with
every difference in vigour. It is transferred by the motions of
what we know as local heat, similar to the incessantly varied
heat motions of gaseous matter. As the particles are unvarying
in weight, increased momentum can be gained only by increased
rapidity of motion, and the lines of motion thus transferred
through space vary in speed with every variation in vigour.
Every motion, of every particle of matter, is really a minute
portion of an orbit, which represents that of a falling body, of
a-planet, or of a comet, according to its rapidity. Though the
momentum affects successive particles of matter the orbit is con-
tinous, except to the extent that it is varied by perturbations
through attraction and impact.
Wherever any influence aids a translation of interspheral matter
—causes a wind to blow through space—the lines of motion con-
tinue to be conveyed by the same particles. The orbital motions
of the spheres are such winds through space ; minor aggregations
of moving matter may enter the . tmosphere of the sun or other
globes. But no atmosphere can become permanently increased
in this manner ; such masses, checked by friction, must yield
motion, which flows outward. The centrifugal energy of the
molecules of the external atmosphere is thereby increased, and
the gain of matter must be balanced by an equal escape of
matter at that critical atmospheric limit where centrifugal and
centripetal energies are in balance. But any such fall of inter-
spheral matter must aid the radiant emissions of the sun. Its loss
of proper motion, its high degree of absolute heat, its increased
temperature through condensation, and its consequent radiation,
would make it a source of solar heat. Any such cometary
matter must form part of ‘‘ Phe Fuel of the Sun.”
Philadelphia, U.S. CHARLES Morris
THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERS
THE Annual General Meeting of this Institution was held on
January 25 and 26, at the Institution of Civil Engineers,
Great George Street ; and the papers read were of unusual
interest, from a scientific point of view, for a society whose
aims are so distinctly practical. As it was pointed out by the
president, Mr. Westmacott, three out of the five papers on the
list were contributed by professors of science, and dealt with
aspects more or less theoretical of the subjects treated upon.
This forms, in fact, an additional instance of the way in which
the old barriers between theory and practice are breaking down,
and it is everywhere bec ming recognised that neither can flourish
without the aid of the other.
The first two papers, though quite independent, were both
evolved, as it were, out of the same subject, namely, the research
which the Institution has for some time been carrying on into the
properties of hardened and unhardened steel. The first of these
is an inéevim report by Prof. Abel, C.B., F.R.S., on the present
stage of his experiments relating to the condition in which car-
bon exists in steel. Preliminary trials had shown that the treat-
ment of steel and iron by a chromic acid solution (produced by
mixing a solution of potassium bichromate, saturated in the
cold, with one-twentieth of its volume of pure concentrated sul-
phuric acid) gave great promise of success in detecting the
chemical differences existing in the same steel, according to the
treatment to which it has been subjected. When cold—rolled,
and annealed steel was thus treated, it yielded considerable
amounts of an insoluble residue, consisting of black spangly
particles, strongly attracted by the magnet, and presenting the
characteristics of a true carbide, to which was assigned provision-
ally the formula Fe,C;. With hardened steel, on the other
hand, but a small quantity of such particles were obtained,
mixed with a lighter sediment; and the total residue contained
only about one-sixth the carbon in the original steel, whereas in the
annealed samples nearly all the original carbon was detected in the
residue. The theory to which this points clearly is that in soft
steel the carbon exi-ts in a state of chemical combination, forming
a carbide which is disseminated as a separate body through the
mass of the iron ; but that in hard steel this combination is dis-
solved, and the carbon exists in its pure form, either merely in
mechanical admixture, as in the case of grey cast-iron, or in that
peculiar and not very well understood form of association
which metallurgists term an alloy. It would follow that the
process of tempering, or rapid cooling, does not leave time for
the complete formation of the carbide, and that in tempered
steel all or some of the carbon still survives in its free or alloyed
condition, :
The fresh experiments described by Prof. Abel give, on the
whole, great support to this theory. Four preparations were
made of steel dissolved in chromic acid solution made as above,
but of difterent degrees of strength. In the last only, where the
strength was very high, were the re-ults different, showing that
the carbide had not been able to resist the oxidising effects of
the solution. In the others, a considerable deposit was found,
which, after being kept for several days, first in the original and
afterwards in a fresh solution, was washed and dried, and then
analysed. Another portion of the same was treated with chlor-
hydric acid, in order to ascertain what proportion would be
converted into hydrocarbon. When this proportion was de-
ducted from the whole, the remainder showed a most remarkable
uniformity of composition, the percentages of carbon in three
experiments being 5°93, 5°94, and 6°00 respectively. It seems
evident that we have here a definite compound, to which Prof.
Abel gives the formula Fe,C. The deviations from this exact
composition he accounts for by the presence of a certain amount
of water, indicating that a carbo-hydrate had been formed, pro-
bably as a result of the action on the carbide first separated.
Prof. Hughes’s paper, which was illustrated by a series of very
302
NATURE
Feb. 8, 1883
striking and elegant experiments, performed with the simplest | governed by three conditions :
(1) the temperature of the blast;
apparatus, may be considered, in its result, as the complement | (2) that of the escaping gases ; (3) the quantity of carbon which
of Prof. Abel’s. The latter goes to show that in soft steel the car-
bon is present as a chemical compound, which is dissolved by hard-
ening ; the former, that in hard steel the carbon is present as an
alloy, varying with the temper. Between the two, we seem to
reach the threshold of a complete theory. They approach the
subject, however, from different sides, Prof. Hughes's work being
purely electrical, Prof. Abel’s purely chemical; and this makes
their convergence the more important. Finding that the induc-
tion balance was equally sensitive to molecular and to chemical
changes, in the metals tested, Prof. Hughes set himself to devise
an instrument by which to examine the former class of pheno-
mena by themselves. A wire forming the core of an ordinary
magnetic coil, and capable of being shifted, twisted, &c., as
desired, supplies what he requires. The coil is joined to a
galvanometer, or, better still, to a telephone; the wire is joined
to a battery, and currents are sent through it. So long as the
wire is at right angles to the coil, no effect is produced ; but if
we set it at an angle to the coil, sounds are instantly heard,
betokening the presence of induced currents in the coil. This is
the ordinary effect of electro-magnetic induction, as discovered
by Faraday. Now, instead of shifting the wire, let us give it a |
slight twist, say of 4o°: the sounds are instantly heard as before,
and we detect induced currents, which are positive for right-hand
torsion, negative for left-hand torsion. Prof. Hughes’s explanation
of this is that the molecules of the wire, which he regards as so
many separate magnets, have been given a twist round the axis,
and thus set at an angle to the coil, just as the whole wire was
by the shifting in the first case. Now let us twist the wire still
further, even to several complete turns, No greater strength of
current is observed, showing that the angle once given to the
molecules is not exceeded, and that the subsequent torsion is of
the wire asa whole. Approach to the wire, thus twisted, one
pole of a natural magnet, laid parallel to the wire: the sounds
cease, indicating that the ma-netism has spun the molecules
back again into their original directions. Approach the magnet
at right angles to the wire: the current returns to zero while it
is still two inches distant, and when it is in contact there is a
reversed current, whith is then at its maximum. Lastly,
removing the magnet, untwist the wire by some 40°: the current
returns to zero, showing that the molecular torsion has disap-
peared, while the molar torsion remains almost the same as
before.
Tn all these effects the wire has been supposed to be of soft
iron: a remarkable difference appears when we turn to tempered
steel. For we now fail to detect more than slight traces of
molecular disturbance or rotation, no matter how many turns we
give to the wire. Thus, whereas in the iron we appear to have
great molecular freedom, with steel we have almost complete
molecular rigidity. But this molecular rigidity is found to obtain
also in all alloys of steel which have been tested—e.g. magnetic
oxide, iron and sulphur, iron and tungsten, &c. Hence we draw
the conclusion that tempered steel is likewise an alloy, the
associated elements in this case being, of course, iron and
carbon,
The above is the essential part of this striking paper ; but
the same idea of molecular freedom and rigidity was illu-trated
by other examples, Thus, if a tube nearly filled with iron filings
be magnetised, the magnetism, though permanent so long as the
tube is still, is removed in an instant by shaking, or even by
turning the tube gently, so that the filings roll over each other,
If, however, we pour in any viscous liquid, ‘he magnetism can
indeed be imparted, but it cannot be mechanically removed : the
filings are no longer able to revolve back into their former posi-
tions. Again, we may magnetise an iron and a steel wire to the
same degree, and then give each a slight pull to set it in vibra-
tion ; it will be found that almost the whole of the magnetism
has disappeared in the iron, while it is scarcely affected in the
steel. By such illustrations the remarkable physical dinerences
thus shown to exist between iron and steel were brought very
clearly bome to the audience ; and whether they accepted or not
the theoretical explanation, they could not fail to recognise the
Peeetise and fractical character of the facts thus put before
them.
The third paper on the list, by Mr. Chas. Cochrane, was a
sequel to one read by the same author at the Leeds meeting of
the Institution, and dealt with Blast-Furnace working, with
special reference to the analysis of the escaping gases. It was
Jaid down at the out:et that economy of fuel in blast-furnaces is
can be maintained in the condition, once attained, of carbonic
acid, instead of being re-transformed into carbonic oxide by
absorption of carbon in the fuel. On the first two of these heads
there is, of course, nothing new to be said; but they were
illustrated by elaborate and valuable tables, giving, in units of
fuel (C burnt to CO), (a) the heat carried zz by blast of a given
weight and temperature, (4) the heat carried owt by escaping
gases of given weight and temperature. The third is dwelt on
at some length; and tables are given, showing, for any given
consumption of C per ton of pig, the ratio of CO, to CO in the
escaping gases, first when all the CO,, once formed, is retained in
that condition ; and afterwards when 3 cwt., I cwt., 14 ewt.,
&c., are afterwards reconyerted into CO, or, as the author terms
it, when a ¢ransfer of cwt., I cwt., &c., of C has taken place.
From this is deduced the conclusion that the mere knowledge of
the ratio of CO, to CO in the escaping gases, as given by
analysis, is useless to indicate what is really going on in the
furnace; because the same ratio may appertain to any different
conditions, according to the amount of the transfer which has
taken place, from CO, back to CO. If, however, the consump-
tion of carbon per ton of pig-iron has been at the same time
ascertained, then we are at once able to refer the case to its
proper position ; and the knowledge of the ratio between the two
cases enables us at once to see what amount of transfer has been
going on, and what rrospect there is of effecting an improve-
ment. It was further pointed out that the main causes of this
injurious re-conversion of CO, into CO were (1) the fact that
the limestone, used as flux, contains a proportion of CO,, which
can only be evolved at a red heat, and therefore in contact with
red-hot coke, which immediately gives up some of its C to the
evolved gases ; (2) the fact that the ore, especially in the larger
pieces, does not get completely de-oxidised until it reaches the
red-hot region, where the CO ascending in the furnace first
unites with the oxygen in the ore to form CO,, and then absorbs
another equivalent of C from the coke, so returning again to
the condition of CO. It is therefore suggested that both these
sources of evil might be removed if (1) the limestone were ca/-
cined before entering the furnace, so as to have already parted
with its oxygen, (2) the ironstone were broken up into pieces
small enough to insure their decomposition in the higher parts of
the furnace. Another means of accomplishing the latter result
was to increase still further, if necessary, the height of furnaces.
A sanguine estimate was made of the economy that would
attend the application of these two devices, which it was
expected might reach over 3 cwt. of coke per ton of pig-iron
made,
The value to ironmasters of the elaborate tables annexed to
the paper, and of the mode in which the problem of blast-
furnace economy is presented, cannot but be very great; but
grave doubts were expressed in the discussion, by Mr. I.
Lowthian Bell, F.R.S., whether the practical results would
answer the author’s expectations. As regards the use of cal-
cined limestone, in particular, it was stated that it had already
been tried, without effecting any economy, at least in large
furnaces ; the suggested reason being that the calcined lime, as
soon as charged, re-absorbed CO, from the escaping gases, and
that although heat was no doubt disengaged in the process,
yet this was too near the throat of the furnace to have any
serious effect. Moreover it is to be remembered that the
previous calcining of the limestone must itself require fuel, the
amount of which must be deducted from any apparent gain due
to the absence of CO, in the lime within the furnace.
The fourth and last paper which was read (one on Screw
Shafts, by Prof. Greenhill, of Woolwich, being postponed for
want of time) was by a Swiss engineer, Herr Wendelstein of
Lucerne, and gave a good and clear account of the mechanical
arrangements connected with the construction of the great tunnel
under the St. Gothard, the longest in the world. These are
beyond our scope ; and the important questions of temperature
and ventilation, though just touched upon, were reserved for a
future communication, which will also deal with the railway
approaches. It may be mentioned that the observations of Dr.
Stapff, the official geologist at the St. Gothard, were stated to
give as the rate of increase of heat in that locality, 2° C. per 100
metres depth (1°1 Fahr. per roo feet) ; and that, if this figure be
applied to the Simplon tunnel, as at present proposed to be
made just above Brieg, the heat to be dealt with would reach the
very high figure of 47° C., or 116° Fabr.
Feb. 8, 1883 |
NATURE
353
THE QUARTERLY FOURNAL OF
MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE
VTHE January number of this well-known scientific periodical
appears in so new a form as to call for special notice.
Under the editorship of Prof. R. Lankester it has long since
attained a very high standpoint among the high-class journals of
Europe, but it wanted a little in its general get-up to bring it to
the very highest level of these, in such details as size, paper,
and illustrations. No doubt such details are not to be taken
for more than they are worth, and of late years it will be con-
ceded by all those whose opinion is worth having that the value
of the contents of the quarterly numbers of the journal left it in a
great measure independent of mere typographical superfluities.
Still it is very pleasant to find this eighty-ninth number of the
New Series so splendidly got up—its paper and type are such
as we might expect to find associated with some special mono-
graph ; while the increased size (royal octavo) enables the illus-
trations to be given on a scale quite up to anything we have
been accustomed to in the very first of the German and French
journals. Let us hope that the enterprise of both Editor and
Publisher will meet with sufficient reward to enable them to con-
tinue toshow what can be done in the way of a scientific journal
in these countries.
That the contents are worthy of such a shrine is beyond dis-
pute. Never has Prof, Lankester issued a more important
number of his journal, as a mere enumeration of the contents as
follows will show. Dr. E. Klein, On the relation of Pathogenic
to Septic Bacteria, as illustrated by Anthrax cultivations. This
paper relates to a most serious question : it is a model of fair
and judicious criticism of the labours of others, and of skill in
experimental details. Our space forbids an allu-ion to its con-
clusions ; but every medical man of any culture should read and
re-read this memoir. Somewhere Claude Bernard has said,“ Now-
adays every medical man ¢hinks himself a physiologist.” Such
would profit by a perusal of this paper if they are able to under-
stand its full significance.—E. B, Poulton, M.A., On the tongue of
Perameles nasuta, with some suggestions as to the origin of taste-
bulbs (Plate 1).—Dr_ L. Elsberg, Plant-cells and living matter.
—F. O. Bower, M.A., Plasmolysis and its bearing upon the
relations of cell-wall and protoplasm (Plate 8).—Prof. A. P.
Thomas, The life-history of the Liver Fluke (Fasciola hepatica),
(Plates 2 and 3); a most elaborate, complete, and beautifully
illustrated monograph.—W. F. R. Weldon, B.A., Note on the
early development of Lacerta muralis (Plates 4-6).—R. V.
Witlemoes-Suhm (the late), On a crustaceous larva, at one time
supposed to be the larva of Limulus (Plate 7).—A. G. Bourne,
B.Sc., On Haplobranchus, a new genus of Capitobranchiate
annelids (Plate 9).—E. Ray Lankester, M.A., and A. G.
Bourne, B.Sc., The minute structure of the lateral and the
central eyes of Scorpio and of Limulus (Plates 10-12). The
authors find, in the essential agreement of the central eyes of
Limulus with those of Scorpions, another important detail,
which confiims the opinion of Prof. Lankester, that the Scor-
pions and King Crabs are closely-allied representatives of one
class, the Arachnida.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Oxrorp.—Dr. E. B. Tylor’s first lecture on Anthropology
will take place on Thursday, February 15, at 2.30 p.m., at the
large lecture room at the University Museum, not on Wednes-
day, the 14th, as previously announced. The second lecture
will be given at the same hour and place on Wednesday, the 21st.
The voting for ‘‘ elected members” of the new Boards of
Faculties took place last Saturdav. The electors were the
Members of Convocation, authorised by the Colleges to teach in
the subjects of the various faculties. Mathematics and Natural
Science are included in one faculty -that of Natural Science.
As there are more college lecturers in Mathematics than in
Natural Science, it was resolved at a preliminary meeting of the
electors to choose five mathematicians and five teachers of
Natural Science to occupy the ten places which were to be filled
up. Ten names were then agreed upon, but at the formal
meeting another mathematician and another scientist were pro-
posed so that it became necessary to vote. The ten names
before agreed upon were those chosen, the mathematicians
naturally heading the list. They are Messrs. ¥V. Esson, F.R.S.,
Merton, C. J. Faulkner, University, C. Leudesdorf, Pem-
broke, E. B. Elliott, Queen’s, and J. W. Russell, Balliol,
as representatives of mathematics; Messrs. R. E, Baynes,
Christ Church, as a representative of Physics; Messrs. J. Watts,
Merton, and A. G. Vernon Harcourt, F.R.S., Christ Church,
as representatives of Chemistry; and Messrs. E. B, Poulton,
Keble, and W. H. Jackson, New, as representatives of Biology.
The Professors of Mathematics and Natural Science are ex
officio members of the Board,
The Examiners for the Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship give
notice that the examination will eommence at the Museum on
February 13.
The Examiners for the Burdett-Coutts Geological Scholarship
give notice that the examination will commence on February 12.
The serious illness of Prof. Henry J. S. Smith is causing
much anxiety in the University.
CAMBRIDGE.—The syndicate appointed to frame regulations
on the subject of the degree of Doctor in Science or Letters
report that they think it important that precautions should be
taken to secure that whenever a degree in Science or Letters is
granted, the provisions of the statute requiring that the candi-
date shall have given proof of distinction by some original con-
tribution to the advancement of science or learning have been
bond fide complied with ; but they think it undesirable to require
from candidates any additional examination or special act or
exercise. Considering that it is desirable to encourage the more
distinguished graduates to turn their thoughts towards original
work at a comparatively early age, and that it is not uncommon
for able men to be elected Fellows of the Royal Society at the
age of thirty or thereabouts, the Syndicate are of opinion that
five years will be a sufficient interval between the degrees of
M.A. and D.S. or D.L. The Syndicate think that it is to be
wished that some of the older graduates in Arts should proceed
to their new degrees. They think that the probability of this
would be increased if the seniority of all those who so proceed
within a limited time were reserved to them, The Syndicate
have carefully considered the difficulty which may arise from the
ambiguity of the term ‘‘ Science.” They are of opinion that no
regulations can be laid down drawing a clear line between
claims for a degree in Science and claims for a degree in
Letters.
The Syndicate have drawn up a code of regulations to the
effect of the above. ‘The fee to be payable for the degree of
either Doctor of Science or Letters to be 20/.
Candidates’ applications are to be sent to the Chairman of the
Special Board of Studies with which their original contribution
is most closely connected, specifying the printed contribution or
contributions for which the degree is sought. The applicatron
is to be considered by a committee, and the contributions re-
ported on by at least two persons, who may be members of the
committee or not. Ifthe Special Board report in favour of the
candidate, the General Board of Studies is to have a voice in the
matter, and if they approve, the Vice-Chancellor is to publish
the name as approved.
The following are nominated Electors to the Professorships
named :—
Chemistry.—Professors A, W. Williamson, Lord Rayleigh,
Dewar, Frankland; Doctors Phear (Emmanuel College), and
Ferrers (Caius), Prof. Fuller (of Aberdeen), and Mr. Coutts
Trotter.
Jacksonian of Natural Philosophy.—Professors A. W. Wil-
liamson, G. G. Stokes, G. D. Liveing, Dr. Hugo Miiller,
F.R.S., Dr. M. Foster, Mr. P. T. Main, Prof. Fuller (Aber-
deen), and Mr. Coutts Trotter.
Cavendish of Experimental Physics.—Sir W. R. Grove,
Prof. G. G. Stokes, G. H. Darwin, Sir W. Thomson, R,. B.
Clifton, G. D. Liveing, James Stuart, and Mr. W. D. Niven.
The Smith’s Mathematical Prizes are awarded to Messrs.
Welsh, Jesus College (1), and Turner, Trinity College (2).
The Balfour Fund now amounts to about 4130/., in addition
to the 4000/. contributed by his relatives and by Dr. Foster.
DuRINc last year there entered at the University of “Upsala
330 students. In 1881, the number was 312; in 1880, 263 ; in
1879, 259; in 1878, 243.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Fournal de Physique, January, 1883.—On the metallic gra-
tings of Mr. Rowland, by M. Mascart.—/éswmé of experiments
made at the Exhibition of Electricity, on magneto- and dynamo-
354
NATURE
[ Fed. 8, 1883
electric machines, and on electric lights, by M. Potier.—On
electric shadows and on various connected phenomena, by M.
Righi.—On the surface of the wave, by M. Doyen.—Demons-
tration of the principle of Archimedes for bodies immersed in
various gases, by M. Terquem.
Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincet. Transunti, Vol. xvii.,
fasc, 1.—On attenuation of the carbuncular virus, by S. Perron-
cito.—On the tenacity of the carbuncular virus in its forms of
spores, or of Bacillus.anthracts, by the same —On the presence
of yttrium in the sphene of syenite of Biellese, by S. Cossa.—
New Sicilian fungi, by Srs. Passerini and Beltiami.—On some
unpublished propositions of Fermat, by M. Henry.—On the
action of chloride of cyanogen on the potassic compound of
pyrrol, by Srs. Ciamician, and Dennstedt.
Vol. xvii. Fasc. 2,—On a class of triple systems of orthogonal
surface, by S. Bianchi.—Observations of the Venus transit at
the Observatory of Campidoglio, by S. Respighi—Reports on
prize competitions.
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere. Rendiconti.
Vol. xv. Fasc. xviii—On compensatory hypertrophy of the
kidneys, by S. Golgi.—On drunkenness in Milan (continued), by
S. Verga.
Fasc. xix.—Prof. Giacci’s ‘‘ Fundamental theorem in the
theory of the canonical equations of motion,” by S. Morera.—On
drunkenness in Milan (continued), by S. Verga.—On olivil and
some of its transformations, by Srs. KOrmer and Carnelutti..—
Congenital pachydactylia from a psychical impression in the
mother, by S. Scarenzio.—Observation of the transit of Venus
at the Royal Observatory of Brera, on December 6, 1881, by S.
Schiaparelli.—Bacteria of anthrax in the foetus of a heifer that
died of the disease, by S. Sangalli. Discussion with S. Golgi.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, February 1.—‘‘On the Affinities of Thyla-
coleo,” by Prof. Owen, C.B., F.R.S., &c.—Since the appear-
ance of Part IV. of the ‘‘ Fossil Mammals of Australia” in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1871, the author has omitted no
opportunity of promoting the acquisition of additional evidences.
The application of a grant by the Legislature of New South
Wales, in aid of further exploration of the Limestone Caverns
in Wellington Valley, having been confided to Ed. P. Ramsay,
F.L.S., the results have furnished the author with additional
evidences, including those which form the subject of the present
communication. Aftera brief exposition of the state of the ques-
tion at the date of the previous paper, a description is given of
the complete dentition of the upper and lower jaws of a mature
marsupial lion. This is followed by descriptions of the anti-
brachial bones and ungual phalanges of the same extinct animal,
the characters of those parts of theskeleton being compared with
the same parts in feline mammals and in the existing kinds of
diprotodont marsupials. The paper concludes with a description
of an entire mandible ; and the conclusions to be drawn from the
shape and position of the articular condyles, which harmonise
with those deducible from fragmentary fossils previously de-
scribed, go nearly to complete the reconstruction of what the
author deems to be the most extraordinary of the extinct pouched
quadrupeds of Australia,
The paper was accompanied by drawings of the natural size
of the fossils described.
In the subsequent discussion the author remarked on the cor-
respondence of spelean phenomena, the proportion of the remains
of the old British lion in bone caves of this country being paral-
leled by that of the Australian carnivore in the antipodean caves,
They were the retreat of the destroyer in both localities ; and the
fragmentary, gnawed condition of the remains of the prey, with
usual immaturity of the captured kangaroos of great size, the
Diprotodon australis, e.g., afforded an instructive analogy.
‘Preliminary Note on a Theory of Magnetism based upon
New Experimental Researches.” By Prof. D. E. Hughes,
F.R.S.
In the year 1879 (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xxix. p. 56, 1879) I
communicated to the Royal Society a paper ‘‘ On an Induction
Currents Balance and Experimental Researches made therewith.”
I continued my researches into the molecular construction of
metallic bodies, and communicated the results then obtained in
three separate papers (Prec. Roy. Soc., vol. xxxi. p. 5255 vol.
Xxxii, pp. 25, 213, 1881) bearing upon molecular magnetism.
To investigate the molecular construction of magnets, required
again special forms of apparatus, and I have since been engaged
upon these, and the researches which they have enabled me to
follow.
From numerous researches I have gradually formed a theory
of magnetism entirely based upon experimental results, and
these have led me to the following conclusions :—
mri. That each molecule of a piece of iron, steel, or other
magnetic metal is a separate and independent magnet, having its
two poles and distribution of magnetic polarity exactly the same
as its total evident magnetism when noticed upon a steel bar-
magnet,
2. That each molecule, or its polarity, can be rotated in either
direction upon its axis by torsion, stress, or by physical forces,
such as magnetism and electricity.
3. That the inherent polarity or magnetism of each molecule
is a constant quantity like gravity; that it can neither be
augmented nor destroyed.
4. That when we have external neutrality, or no apparent
magnetism, the molecules, or their polarities, arrange themselves
so as to satisfy their mutual attraction by the shortest path, and
thus form a complete closed circuit of attraction.
5. That when magnetism becomes evident, the molecules or
their polarities have all rotated symmetrically in a given direction,
producing a north pole if rotated in this direction as regards the
piece of steel, or asouth pole if rotated in the opposite directionn.
Also, that in evident magnetism, we have still a symmetrical
arrangement, but one whose circles of attraction are not
completed except through an external armature joining both
poles.
The experimental evidences of the above theory are extremely
numerous, and appear so conclusive, that I have ventured upon
formulating the results in the above theory.
I hope ina few weeks to bring before the Royal Society the
experimental evidence which has led me to the conclusions I
have named; conclusions which have not been arrived at
hastily, but from a long series of research upon the molecular
construction of magnetism now extending over several years.
Linnean Society, January 18.—Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—E. A. L. Batters, A. J
Burrows, E. F. Cooper, Prof. J. A. Harker, and G. Lewis,
were elected Fellows of the Society.—Mr. H. Grooves called
attention to a specimen of Ranunculus ophioglossifolius obtained
in Hampshire, and therefore new to Britain.—There was
exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Jas. Romanis, a live specimen of
Pieris Rape, which had been found fluttering on the window of
his house a few days previously.—A paper was read on the fall
of branchlets in the aspen (Populus tremula) by Samuel G.
Shattock. He shows that in this tree and some few others—in
contradiction to the majority of exogenous trees—a process takes
place termed ‘‘cladoptopsis” by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley
many years ago. In the small branchlets only disarticula-
tion is effected by a swollen ring of corky tissue at the
base, somewhat as in the ordinary fall of leaves.—Mr. A. G.
Bourne gave a contribution on the anatomy of Polynoina,
pointing out that the Polynoé grubiana, wery common in the
Mediterranean, is only a variety of the P. c/ava, Montague,
of our own coasts. The latter itself has certain constant cha-
racteristics, and others much more variable.—Prof. P. Martin
Duncan read his observations on the Madreporaria, fam, Fungi-
dze, with special reference to the hard structures. Edwards and
Haime described the synapticula as constituting an essential
family structure, and also the absence of endothecal dissepi-
ments, Dr. Duncan describes that the ridges of the continuous
synapticula with canals between them is limited by solid and
also perforate septa, and he delineates the structures. The
synapticula are shown to have no relation to the ornamentation
on the ridges of the septa. The basal wall is shown to be of
synapticular origin, and the foramina in it to relate to the growth
of these binding structures.
Physical Society, January 27.—Prof. Clifton, president, in
the chair.—New Member, Mr. Hugh E. Harrison.—Prof. G.
Carey Foster read a paper on the determination of the chm, in
which he desoribed the various methods which have been used
and proposed in determining the B.A. unit of resistance. He
also described a method of his own, proposed in 1874, and
recently tried with good results. The method consists in
balancing the E.M.F. set up in a coil of wire by spinning it in
the earth’s magnetic field, against the E.M.F, of a battery or
"Feb. 8, 1883]
other electromotor, in a wire whose resistance is to be deter-
mined. The two opposing circuits through this wire, “, are
composed, the first of the spinning coil and a zero-galvanoscope,
and the second of a battery and an absolute galvanometer ; these
two circuits meeting at the ends of the wire &. The late Mr.
Hockin and Prof. Foster find that the best conditions obtain
when the resistance of the absolute galvanometer 7 is equal
to R; the resistance of the zero galvanoscope 72 equal to
E + 7, and the resistance of the spinning cord, 73, many times
2
the battery-resistance, which should be so lowas to be practically
negligible. The E.M.F. of the battery should be double that
of the spinning coil. Many other conditions had to be attended
to, as explained by Prof. Foster. With this method, and using
a thermo-electric battery giving an E.M.F. of 2°2 volts, the
coil was spun at about 1800 revolutions per minute; 7 was
63 ohms, 7) was 135, 73 was 50, and # was 73 in one,
and of 80 in another experiment. A” was made up by
coils on a resistance box. The ohm was determined by two
trials to be 1°003 and ‘999. This general result is so satisfactory
that the experiments will be continued with extra precautions.
Mr. Glazebrook called attention to the remarkable agreement
between the results of Lord Rayleigh’s determinations and his
own independent ones. Lord Rayleigh’s figures are for the unit,
*9893, -9865, 9868, and Mr. Glazebrook’s is ‘9866, or the mean
of lord Rayleigh’s results. He also announced that the
Clarendon Laboratory, Cambridge, would soon be in a position
to test and certify any resistance coils sent there.—Mr. Walter
Baily then read a paper on the spectra formed by curved diffrac-
tion gratings. Ina diffraction grating ruled on a portion of a
cylinder, if y is the distance of a point from the centre of the
grating, and @ the angle which a line to the point makes with
the perpendicular from the centre of the grating, ¢ the radius of
curvature of the grating, and d@ an arbitrary constant, a series of
curves may be drawn in the plane perpendicular to the lines of
the grating having as the general equation
~ - =1
r cos?@=c cosd+ad.
If a source of light is placed on a point on one of these, curves
the foci of the diffracted light lie on the same curve. The curve
consists of two loops, one of which gives the spectra of trans-
mitted and te other those of refracted light. When d is infinite,
these curves coincide in a circle, the properties of which have
been so used by Prof. Rowland in the construction of his dif-
fraction spectroscope. The paper also describes how the posi-
tion of the spectra on the curves can be determined for any
position of the source of light.
Geological Society, January 24.—J. Gwyn Jeffreys, vice-
president, in the chair.—Walter Raleigh Browne, Thomas
Charles Maggs, Lieut.-Col. William Alexander Ross, and Cecil
Carus Wilson, were elected Fellows of the Society.—The fol-
lowing communications were read :—On Streptelasma Remeri,
sp. nov., from the Wenlock shale, by Prof. P. Martin Duncan,
F.R.S., V.P.G.S.—On Cyathophyllum Fletcheri, Edw. and H.,
sp., by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S., V.P.G.S.—On the
fossil Madreporia of the Great Oolite of the counties of
Gloucester and Oxford, by Robert F. Tomes, F.G.S.
Institution of Civil Engineers, January 30.—Mr. Brun-
lees, president, in the chair.—The paper read was on ‘‘ Mild
Steel for the Fire-boxes of Locomotive Engines in the United
States of America,” by Mr. John Fernie, M.Inst.C.E.
SYDNEY
Linnean Society of New South Wales, November 29,
1882.—Dr. James C. Cox, president in the chair,.—The follow-
ing papers were read :—‘‘ Description of two new birds of
Queensland,” by Charles W. De Vis, B. A.—One of these birds
—Prionodura Newtoniana constitutes a new genus and species
of the Family Paradiseide. It is described from a unique
specimen taken in Tully River scrubs, Rockingham Bay. The
other bird described—Cyracticus rufescens came from the same
locality.—‘‘ Fungi aliquot Australiz Orientalis,” by the Rev.
Carl Kalchbrenner.—The following new species were described
Agaricus megalotheles, Agaricus Kirtoni, A. fpeltastes, and
Scleroderma pileolatum.—The Rey. J. E. Texison-Woods, vice-
president, read the fifth part of his ‘‘ Botanical Notes on
Queensland.”—This paper consisted of a description of the
“ Brigalow” scrubs, which consist mainly of Acacia hartophylla
NA TORE
355
(F.v.M.) instead of A. excelsa as usually stated. The brigalow
forms thickets of from thirty to eighty feet in height, amongst
which a peculiar flora occurs. A list of those collected by the
author was given at the end of the paper.—‘‘ Contribution to a
knowledge of the Fishes of New Guinea” No. 3, by William
Macleay, F.L.S., &c.—In this paper Mr. Macleay completes
the list of the Fishes sent by Mr. Goldie from Port Moresby,
bringing thenumber up to of species 274. The new species described
in the present paper are :—H/atyelossus guttulatus, Coris cyanea,
Pseudoscarus Goldiei, Pseudoscarus frontalis, Pseudoscarus
papuensis, Pseudoscarus zonatus, Pseudoscarus labiosus, Pseudo-
scarus Moresbyensis, Monacanthus nigricans, Monacanthus fuli-
ginosus, Trygon granulata, and Teniura atra.—<‘ Notes on the
Geology of the Western Coal Fields, No. 2, by Prof. Stephens,
M.A.—In this paper Prof. Stephens proceeds to an examination
of the Wallerawang, Marangeroo and Capertee conglomerates
which leads him directly to the conclusion that the continent oft
whose shores the upper marine carboniferous beds were deposited,
was asystem of high mountain ranges, snow-capped, and under
erosion by glaciers which descended to near the level of the sea.
It was shown further that all the subsequent formations were of
shore or river formation, in plains skirting the mountains, or in
valleys penetrating their recesses, and that these were all fresh
water deposits, excepting the coal seams themselves, which were
subaerial ; and that the most recent sedimentary formations in
that district was the Hawkesbury Sandstone, also lacustrine in
origin, and due like the underlying strata to a continued rise of
the lake waters upon the land,—‘‘ Note on an Australian species
of Phoronis,” by William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc.—‘‘ Note
on a curious instance of Symbiosis,” by William A. Haswell,
M.A., B.Sc.—‘‘ Note on the segmental organs of Aphrodita,”
by William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc.
BERLIN
Physiological Society, December 29, 1882,—Prof. du Bois
Reymond in the chair. —Dr, Pohl-Pincus spoke about the effect of
weak local stimulations of the heart, and about the effect of vagus-
stimulation upon the heart.—Prof. Quincke of Kiel, who was
present as a visitor, spoke upon the physiological part of the
results of experiments and observations which he had made upon
the life-history of the red blood corpuscles. It is a well-known fact
that large cells with numerous pigment-granules occur in the
spleen and in the marrow of bones. These cells, as the micro-
chemical reaction teaches us, contain a great deal of iron in
combination with albumen. The iron-reaction of the spleen and
bone-marrow is more pronounced than the number of pigment-
cells can explain ; and hence Prof. Quincke hypothesizes the
presence in both structures of a colourless iron-albumen, which
is, on the one hand, the product of the destruction of red
corpuscles, and on the other hand forms the material out of
which the new red corpuscles are developed. Both these cir-
cumstances were verified experimentally; when by frequent
transfusions of equal quantities of blood into an animal, the num-
ber of the red blood corpuscles was considerably augmented, and,
by this means, the destruction of red corpuscles likewise increased,
the number of the pigment-cells and the amount of iron-albumen in
the spleen and marrow ef the bones was also very much increased,
and there was present in the capillaries of the liver a consideable
quantity of white blood-corpuscles with iron-albumen, which, under
normal circumstances are only found in this organ in very small
numbers, When, onthe other hand, the number of an animal’s
red blood-corpuscles had been diminished by repeated bleedings,
both the number of pigment cells and the amount of iron-albu-
men in the spleen and marrow was found after a few days to be
considerably diminished and reduced toa minimum. While a
part of the iron from the disintegrating red blood corpuscles
describes a circle forming a reserve for the newly-forming blood-
corpuscles, another portion is eliminated from the blood through
the urine and bile. In the experiments, in which the destruc-
tion of red corpuscles was increased as a consequence of
transfusions, it was possible to demonstrate the intermediate
stages in the process of the abnormally-large elimination
of the iron, as both the liver-cells and the kidney-epithelium
gave a quite distinct iron-reaction.—Dr. Schiffer then read
two preliminary communications. One of these was npon
the poisonous properties of the mammalian urine. When the
urine of either carnivorous or herbivorous mammals was injected
under the skin of a frog, symptoms of poisoning manifested
themselves, to which the frog soon succumbed. Rabbits also
| exhibited symptoms of poisoning after subcutaneous injection of
356
NATURE
| Fed. 8, 1883
evaporated urine, which had been deprived of the poisonous
potash-salts. Dr. Schiffer is still engaged in the investigation
of the isolation of the poison.—The second communication was
upon his experiments with curare. The striking inoperativeness
of this violent poison, when introduced into the stomach cannot
be due, as has up to the present been almost universally
accepted, to the absorbed poison being quickly eliminated by the
kidney, because Dr. Schiffer’s experiments showed that the
elimination of this substance through the -urine is complete,
although very slow, so that the animal, if it would absorb the
poison, would have had to succumb long before. When Dr.
Schiffer introduced a very large dose—about 2 grms.—of curare,
into a stomach which he had ligatured at the pyloric orifice,
the animal died in about twenty-two hours, which was far too
late for curare poisoning, and far too soon as a consequence of
the ligature of the pylorus. When introduced into the small
intestine, the continuity of which was interrupted above and
below by a ligature, the curare was very quickly absorbed ;
when the small intestine was only occluded above, only a very
little eurare was absorbed, this absorption taking place slowly.
The large intestine behaved like the small one. From the
rectum out, curare was very quickly absorbed. Outside the
body, curare diffused very well through a stomach wall. To
sum up, the inoperativeness of curare when introduced into the
stomach is as yet unexplained.
Paris
Academy of Sciences, January 29.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The death of M. Sedillot, Member in the Section of
Medicine and Surgery, was announced.—Note on the observation
of the transit of Venus, by M. Janssen, The conditions were
very favourable at the fort du Chateau-Neuf, Oran. Special
attention was given to the question as to presence of aqueous
vapour in theatmosphere of Venus. This wasnot demonstrated.
Afterwards M. Janssen spent a month at Mecheria, a military
station on the high desert plateaux, with the same purpose. The
air was so dry and clear that, ¢.g., Jupiter’s satellites could be
seen with the naked eye, With very perfect spectroscopic appa-
ratus applied under extremely good conditions, he is yet con-
strained to great reserve as to the presence of aqueous vapour in
Venus’s atmosphere. He studied mirage, photographed it
several times, and finds its causes, in most cases, to be quite
different from those commonly supposed.—On the mechanical
and physical composition of the sun (continued), by M. Faye.
This relates to spots.—Contributions to the history of the
reactions between sulphur, carbon, their oxides, and their
salts, by M. Berthelot. The results have a bearing on
the reactions produced during explosion of powder.—On
the morbid phenomena produced in rabbits by introduction
of hydrate of chloral into the ear, by M. Vulpian. The
most salient phenomenon is impetuous rotation of the ani-
mal on its longitudinal axis ; which the author attributes to the
inflammation produced in the cavities of the internal ear; to
this inflammation, along with more or less broncho-pneumonia,
the animals often succumbed. The brain and meninges were
not affected, as in the experiment of M. Brown-Séquard, who
poured chloroform into the ear. Though the disorders of
motility are weakened in time, they are found still to persist in
some degree, a month after operation.—Observations on the
occasion of a Report of M. Leon Colm, on the mortality pro-
duced by typhoid fever in the French army, by M. Vulpian.
This Report, by a committee of the Academy of Medicine,
throws doubt on the value ot M. Glenard’s recent statistics (to
show the efficacy of cold baths),—Note on the state of natural
sciences and on anthropology in Brazil, by M. de Quatrefages.
Inter alia, Brazil now devotes, on an average, 16 per cent. of
her whole revenue to public education ; in one of the twenty-one
provinces (Goyaz), the proportion reaches 30 per cent. The
National Museum in Rio, dating from 1817, has been wholly
reorganised by Dom Pedro, and it is of great value. The Em-
peror is often present at the lectures there. The Museum has
its Archives, and M. de Quatrefages indicates the contents of
the first four volumes sent him; they reveal great scientific
activity. The successful Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition
held last year is to be followed by one for the entire Conti-
nent,—Note on the determination of the phosphoric acid in
arable land, by M. de Gasparin, He describes an easy and
rapid method, Arrangements were made in connection with
a new annual prize of 1000 francs, provided by a widow, Mme.
Francceur ; it is to be given ‘‘ to the author of discoveries or works
useful to the progress of the mathematical sciences, pure or
applied.”—On wounds from fire-arms, called seton-wounds, by
M. Guerin. These wounds always contain foreign bodies, from
crushing of the tissues, and perhaps particles of cloth, &c. ; and
the conditions are adverse to immediate cicatrisation. The author
adopts (with success)—(1) antiseptic washings with continuous
currents, (2) pneumatic occlusion ; simultaneously, alternately,
or successively, as the case may be.—On a class of functions of
two independent variables, by M. Ficard.—On the algebraic
integration of a class of linear equations, by M. Goursat.—On
a theorem of M. Tchébychef, by M. Korkine.—Application of
a method given by Legendre, by M. Lipschitz.—Observation of
a magnetic storm at Cape Horn, by M. Mascart. This was on
November 17 and 18 last. The principal perturbation was
simultaneous with that at the Pare St. Maur.—Reply to a note
by M. Marcel Deprez, by M. Lévy.—M. Deprez presented a
translation of the official Report at the Munich Exhibition,
on transport of force by dynamo-electric machines.—Reply to
M. Lévy, by MM. Mercadier and Vaschy.—New experiment
in electrolysis, by M. Semmola. In proof of the law that the
quantity of liquid decomposed in a given time is proportional to
the quantity of electricity which passes in that time, he uses a
voltameter with three platina electrodes inserted equally apart’
at the bottom. The current coming by one is caused, by a com-
mutator, to pass either by one of the others or by both.—Re-
searches on the passages of alcoholic liquors through porous bodies
(second note), by M. Gal. He investigates the influence of
temperature, and nature of membrane, and the case in which the
membrane is exclusively in contact with the liquid or with its
vapour. An alcoholic liquid in contact with a membrane tends
to diminish in degree, instead of concentrating, as Scemmering
affirmed, and as is everywhere taught ; and it is the same with its
vapour.—On the vapour of carbamide, by M. Isambert.—On
sulphite of manganese, by M. Gorgeu,—On new ammonio-
cobaltic combinations, by M. Maquenne.—On the crystalline
form, specific heat, and atomicity of thorium, by M. Nilson.
The crystals form a regular combination between the octahedron
and the tetrahedron: the specific heat is 0°02757 ; the substance
is quadrivalent.—On the mutual displacements of bases, &c.
(continued), by M. Menschutkine.—Importance of zoological
characters furnished by the upper lip in the Syrf/zdes (Diptera),
by M. Gazagnaire.—On the effects of respiration of air charged
with petroleum vapour, by M. Poincaré. Dogs, rabbits, and
guinea-pigs were experimented with. Respiration was increased
in frequency and amplitude, heart-beats were retarded, (the
shock was intensified); there was itchiness, sleepiness, and
inappetence. Guinea-pigs alone succumbed, after one to two
years.
CONTENTS Pace
ZoouocicaL SKETCHES. By Grorce J. RomANES . . . - - « « 333
THE.GOuD COAST <,. 0, om «) coy 1s a ye sey ote
Our Boox SHELF :— ’
Newell’s ‘‘ Handbook of Vertebrate Dissection’” . . . , . ~ 335
Williamson’s ‘‘Ferns of Kentucky”. . . - « . Le) « se 9R0
LxeTTERS TO THE EpiTroR:—
Hovering of Birds—Husert Artry; Davin CunNINGHAM;
Witxiam Gatioway; Dr. J. Rak, F.R.S ; C. S. Mippiemiss ;
W.Larpen . . Bey eo ROR om OG ery
Science and Theology.x—C. . - - - = © - © « » «+ « « «© 357
Intelligence in Animals.—J. BIRMINGHAM. . - « . . . «© + 337
BPlectric Railwaysi—Vi & ee eee 1a) Sache ab nr oy oO OER SB
The Channel Tunnel.—Prof. W. Boyp Dawkins, F.R.S. . . . 338
The Great Comet of 1882.—THos. Wm. BACKHOUSE . . . . 338
Meteor of November 17.—Rev. STEPHEN H. Saxsy . . . . -
The Sea Serpent.—Wit.1amM BArroor; Prof. W. STHADMAN
ALDIs .
Natural Enemies of Butterflies—Hernry H1GGINS. . . . . . 338
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ScrentiFic Heresies IN CHINA.
Nores OF TRAVEL IN SARDINIA.
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357
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1883
LTE, TERTIARY HISTORY OF THE GRAND
CANON DISTRICT
A Monograph by Capt. C. E. Dutton. Being Vol. II. of
the Monographs of the United States Geological
Survey. With Atlas. 4to. [Vol. I. is not yet pub-
lished.]. (Washington, 1882.)
ie a handsome quarto volume, with a large atlas of
maps and coloured views, the recently-constituted
United States Geological Survey begins its series of
memoirs descriptive of the geological structure and
history of the country. Most appropriately the subject
selected for illustration is at once the grandest and most
unique feature in the geology of the United States, and
to which indeed there is no parallel elsewhere in the
world. Ever since the early Report by Ives and New-
berry, in which the marvels of the Rio Colorado of the
West were first made known, there has been a strong
desire among geologists to learn more of that region, to
have accurate measurements and careful drawings, and
to be told authoritatively the details and the history of
what they could not but admit to be the most stupendous
example of river-erosion on the face of the globe.
‘Major Powell’s bold descent of the river and the
charming volume in which he described it threw much
fresh light on the wonders of the cahons. But he had no
opportunity of properly exploring the surrounding regions,
though we looked forward to his return to the scene of his
exploits and the consequent elaboration of another me-
moir discussing the whole problem of the origin and
history of the geological features of that remarkable area.
Pressure of other duties has prevented him from realising
this hope. But, though unable himself to resume this
task, he deserves our best thanks for having induced the
late Director of the Survey, Mr. Clarence King, to
intrust the detailed survey of the Grand Cafion to Capt.
C. E. Dutton, who had already done excellent service
among the high volcanic plateaux farther north. Capt.
Dutton unites some of the highest qualities of a geo-
logical explorer. He is an excellent stratigrapher, a good
petrographer, an enthusiast in the study of rock-sculpture,
writes clearly and pleasantly, has a physical frame
capable of carrying him triumphantly through any
amount of physical fatigue, and is the happy possessor of
a bright, cheerful nature, that must lighten the hardships
of camp-life in the remote West both for himself and for
his companions. We can well imagine how such a man,
wandering among the lofty plateaux of Utah that had
been assigned to him for exploration, should have cast
many a longing gaze southward to that strange wild
desert region of rocky platforms and winding mesas,
through which the gorges of the Colorado and its tribu-
taries have been sunk; how he should have been unable
to resist the temptation to stray into that wonderland ;
and how he must in some measure have almost welcomed
the blasts of early winter that drove him down from the
survey of the plateaux, and allowed himto ourney through
the canon country on his way back to the Mormon settle-
ments and the nearest railroad.
When at last the task of actually exploring and describ-
VOL. XxXviIl.—No. 694
ing that region was intrusted to him, he already possessed
a general acquaintance with its character and with many
of its details. A stranger who first finds the cafion
scenery before him is so excited by its novelty and
grandeur, that for a time he feels utterly bewildered.
Only after his eye has in some measure recovered its
power of grasping the broad effects, without being lost in
the details, does he begin to realise what are the elements
of this stupendous grandeur. But Capt. Dutton had
gone through this preliminary training. He had been
led to scrutinise the scenery in detail, to discover the
relations of part to part, and to speculate upon the evo-
lution of the whole. Yet no one can read his pages
without feeling that this analytic process has in no way
dulled his sense of the beauty and majesty of the scenery.
His words glow with the light that floods those flaming
precipices. The blue aérial perspective of chasm and
cliff receding into the dim distance in the central gorge
seems to rise before our eyes as we read. With no
irreverent hand does he tear the mask off the face of
Nature. Rather does he make us feel how deeply the
mystery of the scene has entered into his soul, as he
gently lifts the veil that we may see a little way within,
even as far as he has himself been enabled to penetrate.
And this is the true spirit in which such scenery should’
be described and discussed. The man who could sit
down and dissect these cafions in cold blood, and with as
little emotion as he would show in cutting up a joint of
beef, would be a creature not to be envied. Nowhere in
this world does the scenery appeal so powerfully to the
imagination. Among the Alps the rocks have been so
stupendously crumpled that we may be pardonably at a
loss to tell how far the outlines of a mountain are due to
subterranean movements or to subsequent erosion. But
among the western canons there is no room for any such
doubt. The rocks lie for thousands of square miles as
flat as when they were laid down upon the floors of
ancient seas and lakes, and their horizontal undisturbed
beds may be followed by the eye, winding in and out from
cliff to cliff, preserving the same breadth, colour, features,
and serving as so many datum-lines from which to measure
the amount of solid rock that has been removed from the
gorges. In tracing back the origin of these landscapes,
and seeking out the causes of their infinite variety of
detail yet marvellous harmony of effect, the mind natu-
rally compares them with the feeble illustrations of erosion
with which alone we are usually personally familiar. Such
a comparison, however, will almost suggest a doubt as to
whether we ever before could have had any proper con-
ception of what the power of running water actually is, so
utterly beyond description is the impressiveness with
which this power is now realised. Nor is one disposed
to deny that nowhere else is the dominant influence of
geological structure upon the ultimate contours developed
by erosion so significantly displayed. On every part of
the scenery the story of its origin is impressed in charac-
ters that cannot be mistaken. Yet these characters are
on so colossal a scale that the dry prosaic language of
otdinary geological description seems utterly incongruous
when applied to them. It must be a difficult task to
preserve the sober decorum of scientific treatment, and
to convey at the same time an adequate impression of
the infinite majesty of the subject.
R
358
NATURE
[ Feb. 15, 1883
Capt. Dutton may be congratulated on having accom-
plished this task with as large a measure of success as pro-
bably was achievable. Without entering into stratigraphi-
cal details he addresses himself to the problem of the
origin and history of the erosion that has converted the
level rock-platforms of the Colorado River into their
present profoundly trenched condition. Sketching briefly
but clearly the general geographical features of the
region and their relation to the underlying geological
structure, he presents the reader with a series of pictures |
of the various types of scenery. He shows how every-
where the evidence arises of vast denudation. Not only
have the wide valleys and deep gorges been excavated,
but an enormous amount of material has been worn away
from the broad rocky terraces. From the high plateaux
of Utah the Mesozoic and Tertiary formations descend
by a succession of broad terraces like a giant staircase
to the platform of Palaeozoic rocks. Capt. Dutton gives
reasons for his belief that the strata which end at the
cliffs of these successive terraces once extended over the
whole of the Grand Canon district, and he estimates
the amount of rock thus removed to have averaged
probably 10,000 feet in thickness over an area 13,000
to 15,000 square miles in extent. He bases this esti-
mate partly upon the obvious continuity of the strata,
and the improbability that they could have ended
off upon the Carboniferous platform; partly upon the
evidence of displacements whereby Paleozoic rocks,
formerly buried at least 10,000 feet below the sea-level,
under an accumulation of sediment of that depth, have
been again uplifted into the lofty plateaux of the
Colorado ; partly upon an argument from the history of
the drainage-lines of the district. In this last argument,
developing the views so forcibly expressed by Jukes many
years ago for the rivers of the south of Ireland, and more
recently applied by Powell to the stupendous illustrations
in the Colorado basin, he shows that the present courses
of the rivers are so entirely independent of structural
features, that their position is inexplicable save on the
interpretation that when the streams began to flow these
features had not revealed themselves. He thus smoothes
over the faulted Carboniferous platform, piles over it a
covering somewhere about two miles thick of Mesozoic
and Tertiary strata, and makes the rivers begin their first |
erosion on the surface of this covering. The faulting, |
plication, and uplifting have taken place subsequently ;
but meanwhile the rivers have kept their courses, inces-
santly sawing their way downward into lower layers of
rock, and across the dislocations and folds that subter- |
ranean disturvance might throw across their path. No
thoughtful student of this subject can refuse his assent to
the solution of the problem so well worked out.
In tracing the geological history of the canon region,
we find at the bottom of all the visible strata, a founda-
tion of ancient crystalline Archzan rocks, and also
crumpled and broken masses of stratified formations,
referred with more or !ess confidence to the Silurian and
Devonian periods. The disturbance and extensive denu-
dation of the older Palaeozoic masses had been effected
before the lowest of the vast conformable ‘series of forma- |
tions in this region began to be deposited, for the latter
lie upon the upturned edges of the former, as on a plat-
form—an impressive feature in the scenery. Continuous
| to that distance below it by the end of the period.
sedimentation began some time in the Carboniferous
period, and appears to have been carried on with no
sensible break up to the close of the Eocene period, until
a total depth of at least 15,000 feet of sediment had accu-
mulated. The Carboniferous portion is estimated at a
thickness of 4500 feet, the various Mesozoic formations at
g0oo or 10,000, and the portion of Eocene lacustrine beds
deposited were 1000 or 1200 feet.
Capt. Dutton calls attention to the remarkable uni-
formity and persistency of the lithological characters of
each formation, while at the same time there is great
diversity in those respects between the strata of different
platforms. By far the larger proportion of the whole
mass of conformable strata consists of sandstone, pre-
senting on successive horizons the most extreme contrasts
of structure and colour, for they consist along certain
platforms of adamantine quartzite, in others of massive
cross-bedded sand-rocks, while they graduate also into
shales and these into marls. It is this alteration of strata,
showing very different degrees of permanence, yet each
retaining its normal characters over vast areas, that
affords the key to much that is most characteristic in the
scenery of the region. The limestones are almost wholly
confined to the Carboniferous system, where they occur
both in the lower and upper divisions.
Another significant feature brought out by the survey
is the evidence that sedimentation went on nearly at sea-
level during the whole of Mesozoic time throughout the
Canon province. As the Mesozoic strata are go000 or
10,000 feet thick, it is obvious that the sediments which
were at or near the sea-level at the beginning had sunk
We
have here, therefore, a consecutive series of shallow-water
deposits not much less than two miles in vertical thick-
ness. The Cretaceous rocks which form the uppermost
division of this series are from base to summit banded
with seams of lignite or coal, and layers containing marine
mollusca. They vary in different parts of the province
from 3500 to 8000 feet in thickness. At the close of their
deposition, those movements appear to have begun which
have culminated in the elevation of the sea-floor into the
elevated plateaux that now form so prominent a feature
on either side of the watershed of the continent.
With the advent of Eocene time the shallow sea-floor, in
which sedimentation had been so continuous during the
whole of the Mesozoic ages, began to be converted into
wide fresh-water lakes. The Tertiary history of Western
America is in large measure a record of the formation,
duration, and effacement of these lakes, as the land
gradually increased in elevation. In the plateau country
| the Eocene lacustrine deposits range from 1000 to 5000
feet in thickness. Great as this accumulation is, it
unquestionably took place in comparatively shallow
water over an area that was generally rising, yet was
locally sinking, so that the lake persisted, and remained
shallow ; for its depth was reduced by the deposit of
sediment as fast as it was increased by subsidence. The
waters appear to have dried up from south to north, and
finally disappeared somewhere in the area of the Uinta
mountains.
It was on the floor of this desiccated lake that the
drainage system of the Colorado river began, somewhere
about the close of the Eocene period. During the vast
Feb. 15, 1883]
NATURE
359
succession of ages that have since elapsed, erosion has
been continuously in progress, and the result is the
scenery of the Cafion region. Capt. Dutton gives what
appear to be good reasons for believing that the larger
rivers flow along the same channels which they took at
the beginning, but that the minor tributaries, where any
exist (and they are conspicuously absent in some wide
districts), are comparatively recent in origin, and have
been determined by modern surface conditions. The
excavation of the Grand Canon of the Colorado has thus
been going on ever since the -Eocene period. During
that enormous interval the climate of the region appears
to have passed through successive oscillations. There is
no more skilful feature of the volume before us than the
way in which the scattered facts that bear on this question
are marshalled to their places and made to tell their story.
Ancient river-beds, which for ages have been dry and are
partly filled up with debris, open on the edge of the great
chasm. They doubtless discharged their waters into the
main river at a time when rains were abundant and
watercourses numerous. But their fountains have long
since been dried up, and their fading channels are almost
gone. But all the while the Colorado and its larger feeders,
drawing their supplies from far well-watered uplands, have
continued their task of erosion until they have sunk their
channels in some places more than a mile below the level
of the plateau across which they flow.
The process of the excavation of the Grand Cajon is
treated at length, and much new information is given as
to its varying conditions. The details of the erosion are
described with great clearness. The two final chapters,
wherein these subjects are discussed, contain much that
is suggestive, and deserve careful perusal by all who take
interest in questions of denudation. They are condensed
pieces of reasoning which cannot be intelligibly sum-
marised here, and which indeed one is hardly pre-
pared to find in an official report. Like his colleague,
Mr. G. K. Gilbert, Capt. Dutton properly lays great
stress upon the influence of an arid climate as
one of the chief factors in cafion excavation. He
points out how the absence of vegetation exposes the
surface of bare rock to the action of rain. But it may be
doubted if the scanty rains of the region can do more
than remove material already disintegrated. We have
to account for the continuous lowering of the level of the
’ plateaux,and the removal of sovast a depth of stratified rock
from their surface. Capt. Dutton himself admits that most
of the rain which falls upon the country is absorbed by
the rocks, and gushes out in copious springs at the base
of the cafion-walls, thereby notably increasing the volume
of the river. But there is everywhere a perceptible disin-
tegration of the rock at the surface. This decay cannot
be attributed to frost, which in so dry a climate can have
but small effect. It seems to be due in large measure to
the superficial strain induced by a great daily range of
temperature, And it is no doubt aided by the action of
wind, which removes the loosened particles, and exposes
a new surface to the same kind of disintegration.
In conclusion, reference must be made to the truly
magnificent series of illustrations by which this mono-
graph is accompanied. The maps of the atlas give the
reader a clear mental picture of the general topography
and geological structure of the region. But it is by the
pictorial illustrations that he will be chiefly fascinated.
These are scattered profusely through the text, and form
an important feature in the atlas. Mr. Holmes, whose
reputation for the accurate and artistic rendering of geo-
logical details is so well established, has here far sur-
passed all his previous efforts, and has produced the most
impressive and instructive geological pictures that have
ever been made. His large coloured views of the Grand
Canon are in themselves a series of lessons in geology
far more interesting and efiective than can be supplied in
words. The United States may be heartily congratu-
lated on this first of the monographs of their Geological
Survey. Let us hope that Congress will continue in the
same liberal spirit the annual appropriations that have
enabled the Director of the Survey and his associates to
produce such splendid results. ARCH. GEIKIE
CENTRAL ASIA
Travels and Adventures East of the Caspian during the
Years 1879-81, including Five Months’ Residence among
the Tekkés of Merv. By Edmond O’Donovan. Two
Vols. (London: Smith Elder, 1882.)
Wanderings tn Baluchistan. By Major-General Sir C.
M. MacGregor, K.C.B. (London: Allen and Co.,
1882.)
R. O7DONOVAN’S venturesome excursion to the
Mery Oasis stands out conspicuously as perhaps
the most romantic episode in the recent annals of Central
Asiatic travel. Yet in proceeding eastwards his original
goal was not the Mervli Turkomans, but their western
kindred, the Akhal Tekkés of the Daman-i-Koh. Sent
out as the Special Correspondent of the DazZy News with
the Russian expedition against those nomads in 1879, he
was at first well received, and spent some profitable time
during the progress of military operations on the Caspian
seaboard. But after the death of General Lazareff,
having been suddenly banished from Chikislar, his
ramblings lay henceforth mainly within the North Persian
frontier. Here he again went over the ground, with
which we have been made tolerably familiar by V. Baker,
Macgregor, Stewart, and other recent explorers. Never-
theless even of this region Mr. O’Donovan has much to
tell us, which is both new and interesting. There is a
freshness and a fulness of detail in his account of Meshed,
Tehran, Kuchan, Resht, Siabrtd, as well as of the
people and scenery of Khorasdn and Mazandaran, which
lend a peculiar charm to the first of these brilliantly
written volumes.
But the chief interest of the work naturally centres in
the section devoted to the Merv Oasis and its Tekke
Turkoman inhabitants, with whom the traveller passed a
forced residence for over five months during the year
1881. How he eluded his Persian escort, crossed the
border above Sarakhs, traversed the Tejend river valley,
plunged boldly into the heart of the desert, safely reached
the Murghab Oasis, allayed the suspicions of the Tekkés,
who took him for a Russian spy, gradually gained their
confidence, became in fact a “Tekke of the Tekkés”
and head of a Turkoman triumvirate, finally, by a rare
combination of tact, patience, and courage, again escaping
from his too importunate frien’s, all reads far more like
a wild piece of fiction than so much sober history.
360
BVA POLE
[ fred. 15, 1883
Although Colonel Stewart had recently brought home
some accurate information regarding the present state of
the Oasis, this region had been actually visited by no
European traveller since Abbot’s expedition in 1840.
Hence Mr. O'Donovan is here on comparatively new
ground, and his graphic account of the place and its in-
habitants will be read with deep interest, especially by
those who have not seen the portions already published
in the Dazly News. Since the Russian occupation of the
Akhal country, the Oasis has doubtless lost whatever
strategical significance it may have hitherto possessed.
Nevertheless its position in the desert midway between
the Oasis and Caspian, its great fertility and dense popu-
lation—estimated at about 500,000--its numerous anti-
quities and grand historic memories, must always ensure
for the “ Queen of the World” an exceptional importance
in the eye of the statesman and historian. The student
will here find ample details of its present social and
economic condition, of its government and administra-
tion, of the organisation of the Toktamish and Otamish
Tekke tribes,! their local institutions, the water system of
the Murghdb, the remains of Bairam Ali, and other
cities which successively bore the name of Merv, the
home life of the Mervlis, their actual commercial and
political relations and future prospects.
A very full description is given of the many ruins
scattered over the Oasis, all of which were visited and
sketched by the explorer. Of these the most extensive
are Giaur Kala, the original site of Merv, destroyed about
the end of the seventh century by the Arabs, and Bairam
Ali, its successor, destroyed in 1784 by the Amir of
Bokhara. A general plan is given of all these crumbling
citadels, palaces, tombs, baths, and earthworks, ‘‘ where
now no living creature is to be met with, save an occa-
sional Ersari robber or treasure seeker. For here, as in
almost every other part of the East, the popular imagina-
tion enriches these ruined vaults and foundations with
secret treasures stowed away beneath them ” (ii. 247).
From the frequent recurrence of the term Xa/assz,
supposed to be a corruption of ecc/esza, some archzologists
have scattered the remains of ancient Christian churches
with a liberal hand over Western Turkestan. But Mr.
O'Donovan suggests that there is here a confusion
between A7z//ss7, which really represents ecc/esta, and
Kalassit, a Turki form of the Arabic Ka/’a, a fort or
castle.2, Hence Kara Kalassi, for instance, would mean,
‘not the “ Black Church,” but the “Black Castle.” In
Armenia, a Christian country, Az//ss¢ certainly occurs ;
but in the Oasis Mr. O’Donovan “never came upon any
structure which could possibly have been a Christian
Church ’’ (ii. 177).
Amongst the remains are some earthworks bearing the
title of Iskander Kala, or ‘‘ Alexander's Castle,’’ the
local tradition being that the Macedonian army encamped
here on its way to India. But here again he pertinently
remarks that “in these countries Alexander comes into
every story connected with ruins of remote antiquity.”’
* The subdivisions of these two main branches of the Merv Tekkés do not
correspond with those given by Mr. Marvin in his ‘‘ Merv, the Queen of the
World.” Some of the discrepancies however may, be reconciled by restoring
to their proper form the names disguised in Mr, O’ Donovan’s peculiar ortho-
graphic system. Thus his Aarvatchmet appears by reference to Marvin’s
tables to stand for the Kava-A/med subdivision of the Otamish branch.
2 At the same time this Ka/ass? would appear in many cases to be simply
the Persian Kadésa, a well, and especially the watering-places maintained
pe nnterals in the desert for the convenience of caravans‘ and pilgrims to
Mecca,
Some points of resembl«nce are discovered between
the Turkoman and Kelt, which are probably not intended
to be taken seriously. But the description of the Turko-
man type, coming from a shrewd and original observer,
possesses sufficient ethnological value to deserve quoting:
“ The usual Turkoman physical type, both male and
female, is rough, rude, and vigorous, and quite in contrast
with that of the frontier Persian, which is sleek, cat-like,
feeble, and mean. The worst part of the Turkoman is
his head, which is decidedly conical, the point being
thrown somewhat to the rear. A phrenologist would say
that firmness was very pronounced, conscientiousness want-
ing, and benevolence small. The features are not of that
Tartar cast that one’would be apt to suppose in denizens
of East Caspian districts, and though here and there may
be seen a suspicion of peeping eye, a tendency towards
flattening of the point of the noise, and occasionally high
cheek bones, on the whole the faces are more European
than otherwise. In fact I have seen some physiognomies
at Gumush Tepé which, if accompanied by an orthodox
European dress, would pass muster anywhere as belonging
to natives of the West. It is among the women that the
absence of European features is most conspicuous. There
are many of them who could fairly be reckoned pretty,
though it is quite a different order of beauty from that to
which we are accustomed. . . . It is among the men that
the handsome individuals must be sought for, especially
when there has been an admixture of Persian blood. The
scanty beard of the pure Turkoman is then replaced by
one of much more luxurious proportions, and of a darker
tint ; the nose assumes a more or less aquiline form, and
the eye loses the cold grey expression so characteristic of
the pure-blooded dweller on the Steppes ” (i. 231-3).
The accompanying portrait of the author in oriental
garb might be taken as an apt illustration of this descrip-
tion. There is also an excellent map of North Persia
and the Trans-Caspian region, based on that of Colonel
Stewart, but with numerous fresh details embodying the
results of the explorer’s observations in the Tejend Valley
and Merv Oasis. But the spelling is as usual at variance
with that of the text, and there is unfortunately no index.
The appendix contains 1acsimiles of a number of letters
from Turkoman Khans, one or two of which are fine
specimens of the beautiful ta’lik penmanship.
The reputation of an inteliigent and enterprising ex-
plorer secured to General Macgregor by his ‘Journey
through Khorasén (noticed in NATURE, vol. xx. p. 453);
will be considerably increased by his “ Wanderings
through Baluchistan.” The trip was made in company
with the ill-fated Capt. R. B. Lockwood, of the 3rd Bengal
Cavalry, on their return to duty in India, between the
months of September, 1876, and March, 1877. During
this period the western section of Makran was thoroughly
explored, and the problems connected with the drainage
of the Mashkid and Mashkel rivers at last cleared up.
The Mashkid was supposed by many geographers to
flow through the Dasht to the Arabian Sea, while the
Mashkel was sent northwards to the Zirreh or Sistan
Hamun, that is, to the Helmand basin. But by actual
survey the explorers have shown that (1) both of these
rivers belong to the same hydrographic system ; (2) this
system is unconnected either with the Helmand or
Arabian Sea; (3) the two streams, after their confluence
above the romantic Tank Zorati pass in the Sianeh-kuh
range, flow mainly north-west to the Mashkel Hamun in
28° 20’ N., 60° E.; (4) this swamp has no outlet, and is ac-
tually separated by another depression, the Kindi Hamun,
Feb. 15, 1883]
NATURE 361
and bya range of hills, the Koh-Amir, from the Sistan
Hamun. A ride performed under great difficulties across
the Kharan desert to the neighbourhood of the Sistan
swamp placed all these points beyond doubt, so that the
drainage system of the hitherto almost unknown region
along the Perso-Baluch frontier, from the Lower Helmand
to the Arabian Sea, has now been satisfactorily deter-
mined. From Sistdn the travellers made their way by two
new and parallel routes right across North Baluchistan to
Jacobabad in Sind. The numerous typographical points
recorded both here and throughout West Makrdan are
embodied in the accompanying map, which is on a large
scale, and which forms an important contribution to our
knowledge of the south-eastern section of the Iranian
plateau. Inthe appendix are given the directions, dis-
tances, and other useful details of no less than twenty-two
routes in the same region. The relief of the land and its
salient physical features are also further illustrated by
numerous sketches made on the spot by General Mac-
gregor. Much valuable matter regarding the Baluchi
and Brahui tribes, and the present political situation of
Baluchistan, is scattered over the pages of this pleasantly
written volume. A. H. KEANE
PHYSICAL OPTICS
Physical Optics. By R. T. Glazebrook, M.A., F.R.S.
(London: Longmans, 1883.)
HIS is the most recent volume of the well-known
series of Text-books of Science published by Messrs.
Longman. Mr. Glazebrook is already favourably known
as an accurate experimenter and an able theorist in the
subject of which this volume treats, and it is therefore
unnecessary to say that the treatise under notice contains
a large amount of authentic and interesting information
on all branches of the subject. We must confess, how-
ever, to a certain feeling of disappointment after going
through the book, arising chiefly from the fact that the
author does not appear clearly to have made up his mind
as to the class of readers to whom the book is to be
useful. Those who have had any experience in real per-
sonal teaching of the artisans and students in science
schools for whom the volumes of this series are stated to
be intended, will soon perceive that Mr. Glazebrook has
assumed an amount of mathematical knowledge and
ability which very few of them possess. On the other
hand results are occasionally assumed, the investigation of
which would be quite within the reach of those university
students who will probably form the larger part of the
readers of the treatise. For instance, the investigation
of the focal lines of a pencil refracted in a principal plane
through a prism, and the condition of their coincidence
in the position of minimum deviation, is settled by an
“it may be shown,” although the analysis required is
certainly not more difficult than much that is given in the
book, and the point to be elucidated is of considerable
importance.
The author has intentionally introduced a large quantity
of matter which is usually considered to belong to the
kindred subject of Geometrical Optics, and although there
will probably be a difference of opinion as to the advantage
of this proceeding, there will be none as to the clearness
of the explanations and the excellence of the diagrams
employed. There does not seem to be quite so much
“matter new to the text-books”’ as is hinted at in the
preface, but on the whole the book furnishes a good
account of the subject, comparable with Lloyd’s well-
known treatise on the Wave Theory of Light, and dealing
with many points which have been investigated since the
date of the latter work.
Where there is so much of good, it is a pity that it
should not be made better, and there are a few points in
which perfection has not been reached. In places there
is a tendency to a slipshod and “high-falutin” method of
expression which may be forgiven in University Extension
lectures delivered extempore to popular audiences, but
which is hardly suitable for a scientific treatise. On p. 2
we have a graphic representation of the author raising his
arm and of the effect thereby produced on his own body.
Later on in the book, quitting the solitary first person, he
becomes more friendly to his readers, and speaks of “ our
apertures, our lens, our prism, our eye,” and so on. He
even presently hands the apparatus entirely over to the
reader and directs him to perform the operations for
himself. A more serious matter is the want of care in
revising the proofs. For instance, on p. 202 an effect is
spoken of as “ that due to a single aperture multiplied by
a number of apertures,” which is nonsense, the author’s
meaning being ‘‘ multiplied by #ze number of the aper-
tures.’’ Again, on p. 141, the sentence—‘‘ They are dis-
tinct from the coloured rings of thick plates discovered
by Newton, and were described by him as follows,” gives
an almost opposite meaning to that which the author
intended. It ought to read ‘‘ which were described.”
The proper names are not treated with the accuracy
and uniformity which are desirable. We have Fraunhofer
usually, but on p. 316 Frauonhofer. Huygens appears on
p- 15, but more frequently the name is met with as
Huyghens, while the possessive case assumes the dif-
ferent forms of Huygben’s, Huyghens’, and on p. 226
Huyghens’s. Defects of this kind mar the pleasure with
which the book would otherwise be read, and seem to:
indicate that more care might have been advantageously
bestowed on the original composition as well as on the
revision of the proofs. Possibly the author wishes to
leave something to be looked for in the second edition,
for the speedy arrival of which he has our best wishes.
OUR BOOK SHELF
The Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1882. 8vo.
(London : Churchill, 1883.)
THIS volume contains a number of exceedingly inte-
resting papers and extracts. The most interesting
are those which relate to the artificial production of
organic alkaloids, for when we obtain such a knowledge
of the constitution of these bodies as will enable us to
make them artificially, we may hope that a new era wilh
commence in medicine, and that the results of the treat-
ment of disease will be more definite and satisfactory
than heretofore.
Prof, Ladenburg, who has been engaged for some time
on researches into those alkaloids which dilate the pupil,
is still continuing his researches, and has obtained very
interesting results indeed. Atropia when heated with
strong hydrochloric acid splits up into a base, tropine,
and an acid, tropic acid. While pursuing his investiga-
tions upon tropine, the author came to the conclusion
that this base contained an alcoholic hydroxyl group
Pp. 607.
362
We TORE
[ Fed. 15, 1883
which possessed the exceptional property of forming fresh
alkaloids, when treated with certain acids in hydrochloric
solution as in the preparation from it of atropine and
homatropine. By acting upon secondary amines by
chlorhydrines, he has succeeded in obtaining a series of
bases analogous to tropine, and yielding, like it, other
basic compouncs, which resemble natural alkaloids in
their properties and composition. For these bases, which
perform the function of alcohols and amines, the author
proposes the name of a/camznes, and for the basic ethers
derived from them, that of alcameznes. That resulting
from the action of phenylacetic acid, for instance, has a
composition represented by the formula C,,H.,NO,, and
forms crystallisable salts. it is a powerful poison, acting
on the respiration and the heart.
A curious relation has been discovered between theo-
bromine, the active principle of cocoa, caffeine, the active
principle of tea and coffee, and xanthine, a substance
found in muscle, and largely contained in beef tea and
Liebig’s extract.
Dr. Fisher shows that xanthine may be converted into
theobromine, and theobromine into caffein. The relation
between these bodies seems to be that theobromine is
dimethyl- and caffein is trimethyl-xanthine.
From the great importance of the cinchona alkaloids
and their extensive use in medicine, it is exceedingly de-
sirable that we should be able to make quinine artificially.
This has not yet been done, but, with a view towards it,
extensive researches are being made into the constitution
of the cinchona alkaloids ; and Skraup finds that all the
four cinchona alkaloids—quinine, quinidine, cinchonine,
and cinchonidine—when oxidised with potassium perman-
ganate yield formic acid, and a base apparently related
to phenol or carbolic acid. Other modes of oxidation
exhibit a relation between quinine and cinchonine.
Cinchonine has been prepared artificially by treating .a
mixture of nitrobenzol, aniline, and glycerol with sulphuric
acid. In its physiological properties it exhibits a certain
relation to quinine, and, like it, reduces the temperature
in fever and lessens or prevents putrefaction. It is said
to difier from quinine in not producing giddiness, or
ringing in the ears, and to have very little action on
alcoholic fermentation.
An important paper by Plugge relates to the various
strengths of aconitine. He finds that Petit’s nitrate of
aconitine has a poisonous action at least eight times
greater than Meret’s and 170 times greater than Fried-
lander’s. Such differences as these between preparations
bearing the same name have already led to fatal cases of
poisoning—when aconitine has been prescribed medicin-
ally; and Mr. Holmes considers that the only way to
secure uniformity in the ordinary preparations of aconite
is to prepare them only from plants grown in this country,
and gathered while the plant is in flower.
In addition to many other interesting papers this
volume contains a bibliography of chemistry, pharmacy,
botany, and allied subjects.
Mémoires de la Société des Sciences Physigues et Naturelles
de Bordeaux. 2° Série, Tome v. 1° Cahier. (Paris, 1882.)
IN this number there are several interesting papers.
We note “La Route d’Australie par le Thermométre,”’
with tables, by M. Hautreux; “Sur les Unités de
Gauss,’ by M. Abria; ‘‘Le Téléphone & Bordeaux,”
by M. Auguste Bonel; ‘‘ Notice sur les Communications
Télégraphiques sous-marines,” by the same; ‘ Modifica-
tion aux Machines a Force centrifuge,” by M. O. de
Lacolonge ; “ Températures et Densités de I’Eau dans
) Estuaire de la Gironde,’’ by M. Hautreux ; ‘“‘ Vérification
expérimentale des Lois de Dalton relatives & l’ Evapora-
tion des Liquides,” by M. E. Laval. M. P. Tannery con-
tributes one of his useful critical notes, this time “ Sur une
Critique ancienne d'une Démonstration d’Archiméde.”
The criticism is contained in § 36 of the fourth book of
the “‘ Collections”” of Pappus (Hultsch’s edition), and it
charges Archimedes (in Prop. 18 of his “ Spirals”) with
solving as a solid problem (z.e. with the aid of the conic
sections) the following proposition :—O M 4 is a spiral,
of which O is the pole, O A the axis, and A C, the tangent
at A, meets the perpendicular to the axis through O in C,
then O C is equal in length to the circumference described
with OA as radius. M. Tannery supplies the gist of
Archimedes’ proof, and shows that Archimedes “ fait
appel simplement a Vintuition et au principe de con-
tinuité”’ Other points of interest turn up in the com-
munication. Dr. Sigismond Ginther is engaged upon an
extended inquiry into the processes employed by the
ancient mathematicians in the extraction of square
roots, and in the course of his work has met with
some interesting results. Some of these he puts
forth in his paper “Sur la dépendance entre cer-
taines méthodes d’extraction de la racine carrée et
l'algorithme des fractions continués.” The methods
examined are those of Mollweide (‘‘ Commentationes
mathematico-philologicee tres,” Lipsiee, 1813), and of
Alexeieff (“Sur l’extraction de la racine carrée d'un
nombre,” Bulletin de la Soc. Math. de France, t. vii. p. 167).
We have left to the last an article by Dr. Adolf Dux
(translated from the Pester Lloyd for February 4, 1880),
entitled “‘La Tombe du Savant.” Bolyai was professor of
mathematics and physics in the “ Collége Réformée” at
Maros-Vdsdrhely. No statue, nor marble mausoleum
with sides covered with laudatory inscriptions, marks the
spot where this savant lies; but the tomb, by its occu-
pant’s strict direction, is overshadowed by the boughs of
an apple-tree, “en souvenir des trois pommes qui ont
joué un réle si important dans l'histoire de ’humanité,
et il désignait ainsi la pomme d’Eve et celle de Paris qui
réduisirent la terre a l'esclavage, et la pomme de Newton,
quila replaca au rang des astres.” Strangely enough,
when Dr. Dux visited the tomb there hung on the tree
just three apples, “ni plus ni moins.”
Bolyai was not only a mathematician, he was also a
poet: hence he had not only in his room a portrait of
Gauss (with whom he had been associated at Gottingen
from 1797 to 1802), but also the portraits of Shakspeare
and Schiller.
In 1855 he wrote his own JVecrologe, and survived its
completion about one year. In this “Adieu” occur
passages, some grave, and some humorous; of himself
he writes, “ S’il a été mauvais, la terre est délivrée de lui ;
s'il a été bon, il est délivré de la terre.” He burned his
poetical writings, and collected the ashes in a wooden
cup, on which he wrote the following lines from
Horace :—
“ Poesis
Si paulum a summo discessit, vergit ad imum.”
This is now preserved as a relic in the library of the
College. Here too is shown a photograph taken after
Bolyai’s death. ‘Une noble figure, au front et au nez
puissants, illuminée par la majesté de lesprit et du
sublime repos, avec de longs cheveux lisses, descendant
jusqu’aux €paules. Quand on a vu ces traits, on com-
prend mieux le sens du nécrologe que Bolyai a lui-méme
écrit et suivant le texte duquel un noble pommier a été
planté_sur sa tombe.’
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Natural Selection and Natural Theology
I HAVE just received last week’s issue of NATURE from Eng-
land, and find in it some remarks by Prof. Asa Gray on an
Feb. 15, 1883 |
NATURE
363
article of mine which appeared in the Covlemporary Review.
As he appears to solicit a further statement of my views, I shall
supply a brief explanation of those passages in my article to
which he refers.
This article, I must begin by observing, was written in reply
to a criticism on my essay in the ‘‘ NATURE Series” (‘‘ Scien-
tific Evidences of Organic Evolution”), and, being intentionally
limited to the ground covered by that criticism, it did not require
to discuss all the points raised by Prof. Gray. But without
reference to the original article, I shall now consider these points
seriatim.
First, I am requested to state what I mean by urging that inmy
opinion there is no logical point of contact betw een natural science
and natural theology. My answer is that natural science, as
such, can only be legitimately concerned with the investigation
of natural or physical causes, and that in whatever degree it
presumes to pass beyond the territory of such investigation, it
ceases to be natural science, and becomes ontological specula-
tion. In other words, there is no point of logical contact
between the methods and aims of natural science, as such, and
the super-scientific conclusions which constitute the aim of natu-
ral theology. For it is the aim of natural theology to establish
certain very definite conclusions with reference to the existence
and the character of a ‘‘causa causarum,” which is acknow-
ledged to be supernatural at least to the extent of being in-
scrutable by any of the methods possible to science. But from
this sufficiently obvious position it does not follow, as my critic
seems to insist, ‘‘that because natural phenomena can be re-
duced to-laws and sequences of cause and effect, no legitimate
or rational inference can be made by the human mind to a causa
causarum.” Whether or not any such legitimate or rational
inference can be made, from the data mentioned, dy the human
mind is not here the question, and therefore I decline to enter
uponit. The only question before us is as to whether any such
inference can be drawn by the human mind from the province
of natural science, and I say that this question must be answered
in the negative, seeing that there is, as I have just explained, an
absence of logical contact between the sphere of natural science
and the sphere of supernatural theology. Any inferences of the
kind in question, be they legitimate or not, are drawn from the
general order of Nature—?.e. feom the wmiversal prevalence of
““laws and sequences of cause and effect’’; therefore they are
not really or logically strengthened by a mere enumeration of
particular instances of such laws and sequences all similar in
kind. The so-called law of causation as a whole being known,
and its universality recognised, its true argumentative value to
the theory of theism is not influenced by the explicit formula-
tion of any number of its specific cases which the progress of
science has been able, or may be able, to supply.
I allow, of course, that the human mind cannot avoid occu-
pying itself with the most momentous of all questions—the
nature of the First Cause and of its relations to the universe—
or, in the words of Prof. Gray, that ‘‘such questions are in-
evitable” ; I am only concerned with explaining why I conceive
that such questions are not affected by any of the methods or
results of natural science, which do not stand in any logical
relation to them. And this introduces me to the next point in
Prof. Gray’s criticism. He says that I am inconsistent in first
alleging that there is no point of logical contact between natural
science and natural theology, and then proceeding to affirm that
the theory of natural selection has proved destructive of the
evidence of special design in organic nature. But I think this
charge must have been made without due reflection ; for, if a
man believes that there is no logical connection between one
thing and another, I do not understand why he should be deemed
inconsistent merely because he endeavours to show the fictitious
character of the logical connection which has been erroneously
supposed to exist. Assuredly I think that ‘‘ Darwin’s theory need
not, and legitimately should not, concern itself with natural
theology”; but I also think that natural theology should not
seek to obtain unreal support from natural science, and it is be-
cause natural theology has sought to do this in one conspicuous
instance, and in that one instance has been as conspicuously met
by Darwin’s theory, that, as I explained in my article, it seemed
to me desirable, both in the interests of science and of theology,
henceforth clearly to recognise the logical gulf which is fixed
between these two departments of human thought.
Next Prof. Gray observes, and quite correctly, that my view
of the matter as a whole is fairly presented by the followi g sen-
tences, which he quotes :—
“The facts of organic nature furnish no evidence of design of
a quality other or better than any of the facts of inorganic
nature.”’ ‘* Or, otherwise stated, there is nothing in the theory
of natural selection incompatible with the theory of theism; but
neither does the former theory supply evidence of the latter. Now
this is just what the older theory of special creation did ; for it
would be proof positive of intelligent design if it could be shown
that all species of plants and animals were created, that is, sud-
denly introduced into the complex conditions of their life ; for it
is quite inconceivable that any cause other than intelligence
could be competent to adapt an organism to its environment
suddenly,”
Prof. Gray then asks: ‘‘Is the writer of this quite sure that
any cause other than intelligence could be competent to adapt
existing organisms to their environment gvadually 2?” My answer
is but too easy. I must leave to others the happy position of
being ‘‘ quite sure” about anything relating to the possibilities
of supernatural causation. or aught that I know, or for aught
that any living man can ever know, not only all existing
organisivs, but all existing atoms, may have depended from all
tme, and for all their changes, sudden or gradual, upon ‘‘ intel-
ligence,’’ without which they may not have been able either to
have lived or to have moved, or even to have had their being.
But bow does this necessary ignorance on my part affect my
statement that “the facts of organic nature present no evidence
of design of a quality other or better than any of the facts of
Inorganic nature”? I confess I do not see how this failure in
the evidence of design is made good by telling me that, for any-
thing to the contrary of which 1 can be ‘‘quite:ure,”’ there may
have been a designer. For I cannot follow my critic where he
argues that the element of a supposed sudden introduction cf an
organism to its environment makes no difference in the evidence
of its adaptations to its environment having been designed. He
asks : ‘‘ How is this presumption [¢.e. that of special design]
negatived or impaired by the supposition of Darwin’s theory,
that the ancestors were not always like the offspring, but dif-
fered from time to time in small particulars, yet so as always to
be in compatible relations with their environment?” The
answer is, that if we suppose the sudden or special creation of
organisms in manifold adaptation to their several environments,
we can conceive of no cause other than intelligence as com-
petent to produce the adaptations, whereas, if the adaptations
have been effected gradually, and dy the successive climination of
the more favourable variations by a process of natural causation,
we clearly have a totally different case to contemplate, and one
which is destitute of any evidence of special design. Assuredly
** cradualness is in nowise incompatible with design,” and I do
not suppose that there has ever been any one so foolish as to
imagine that it is; but all the same, the progressive adaptations
of structures to functions by such a purely physical cause as
natural selection when once clearly revealed must destroy all
special or particular evzdence of design, even supposing such
design to exist. For under this point of view it was on/y those
variations which were ‘‘in compatible relations with the environ-
ment” which were able to survive. Only if it could be shown
that the variations always took place exclusively in the directions
required for a development of the adaptations, so as to leave no
room for the operation of the physical cause in question—only
then would the evidence of design as deduced from the theory of
evolution be comparable with that evidence as deduced from the
theory of special creation.
Towards the close of his letter, Prof. Gray seems to have
anticipated this obvious rejoinder, for he says that, in order to
make the purely physical explanation tenable, ‘‘it must be
shown that natural selection scientifically accounts for the adap-
tation,” —z.e. as 1 understand, it must be shown that there is not
some influence of an intelligent kind guiding the occurrence of
the variations in the requisite lines, which, having been thus
intelligently caused to arise, are then seized upon by natural
selection. If this is Prof. Gray’s meaning, he is certainly
wrong in attributing it to Mr. Darwin, and I cannot see that it
is a meaning of any argumentative use. For the burden of proof
lies with the natural theologian to show that there Aas been
some such intelligent guidance of the variations, not with the
evolutionist to show cause why there may not haye been such
guidance. The evolutionist may freely admit that natural selec-
tion has probably not been the only physical cause at work, and
even that the variations supplied to natural selection may not
have been wholly fortuitous, but may sometimes have occurred
along favourable lines as ‘‘responses of the organisms to their
364
NATURE
[ Fed. 15, 1883
physical surroundings.” } But such admissions would make no
change in the logical aspect of the case ; for, however many sup-
plementary causes of this kind we may choose to imagine as
possible, the evolutionist is bound to regard them as all alike in
this—that they are of a physical or natural kind,
And this leads me to the core of the whole subject.
Gray says :—
‘What is probably meant is, that natural selection is a rival
hypothesis to design, that it accounts for all adaptations in the
organic world on physical principles, and so renders . . . the
evidence of design from these adaptations of no other or bet-er
value than that from anything else in Nature.” He then proceeds
to object to this view, and says :—‘‘ If means and ends are prac-
ticable in inorganic nature at all, it is only by remote and
indirect implication ; while in organic nature the inference is
direct and unavoidable. With what propriety, then, can it be
affirmed that organic nature furnishes no other and no better
evidence of underlying intelligence than inorganic nature? The
evidence is certainly o¢/er, and to our thinking detter.”
This, I say, is the core of the whole subject. If once it is
fully admitted and understood that organic nature is one with all
.the rest of the universe in the matter of physical causation, so
that all the wonderful adaptations which we there encounter are
the results of natural causes—survival of the fittest p/wes any
number of other natural causes—then it appears to me, as I
have said in the essay already alluded to, that all such cases of
adaptation must fall into the same logical category, with reference
to the question of design, as all or any other series of facts in
the physical universe. For the only element of difference arises
from the greater intricacy of the physical causation in the cases
contemplated, rendering it more difficult to perceive the opera-
tion of the causes, at work, and therefore, as Prof. Gray truly
asserts, rendering their operation more suggestive of design.
But this element of difference does not really affect the question,
For, ex hypothes?, the law of causation is everywhere and equally
uniform, and for this reason the evidence of design in organic
nature is certainly #o¢ other than it is in inorganic nature, nor,
in view of the same reason, is it, to our thinking, better.
Florence, February 3 GEORGE J. ROMANES
Prof,
Tue letter of Prof, Asa Gray (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 291)
‘contains a sentence which seems to me to contain the essence of
the difference between the views of organic life, as held by the
supporters of Natural Selection and Natural Theology. He
says: ‘‘ How is this presumption negatived or impaired by the
supposition of Darwin’s theory, that the ancestors were not
always like the offspring, but differed from time to time in small
particulars, 3e¢ so as always to be in compatible relations to the
environment?” The italicised portion is just such a statement
as ‘‘ Design” would require, but cannot be held by scientific
evolutionists, otherwise why are there so many extinct species ?
With ‘‘ Design” there ought to be a perfecting of all species ;
whereas we know of so many which have been ruthlessly
swept aside, owing to their having ‘‘ differed (or owing to their
not having sufficiently differed) from time to time in small par-
ticulars, yet’? zzo¢ ‘‘so as to be in compatible relations to the
environment.” Change is the evolutionist’s view of life—change
sometimes caused by the environment, sometimes beneficial,
sometimes eventually detrimental : where beneficial, the species
increases ; where detrimental, other changes or extinction must
ensue. Design would never have supplied us with a ‘* Nature
red in tooth and claw with ravine,” nce would it have built up a
system by the expensive and cruel mode of trial and error,
Cove Castle, Loch Long, N.B. J. B. HANNAY
Two Kinds of Stamens with Different Functions in the
Same Flower
To the Melastomacee and Commelynacee mentioned in
NATURE (vol. xxiv. p. 307, vol. xxvi. p. 386, and vol. xxvii. p. 30),
may be added the genera Mollia (Tiliaceze), Lagerstremia (Lythra-
eex), and Heteranthera (Pontederacex), for having differently
coloured anthers. In several species of A/o//ia, according to Dar-
win (‘‘ Forms of Flowers,” p. 168, footnote), the longer stamens
of the five outer cohorts have green pollen, whilst the shorter :ta-
_ *Inmy “‘ Nature Series” essay I expressly stated that natural selection
is probably not the only cause of organic evolution, and therefore I think it
might have been well if my critic had taken the trouble to refer to this essay
before indulging in the general proposition at the close of his letter with
reference to exactitude.
mens of the five inner cohorts have yellow pollen ; the stigma
stands close beneath the uppermost anthers. In a Lagerstremua
in my garden the six outer stamens have green pollen, and are
much longer than the numerous inner ones, which have bright
yellow pollen ; the stigma stands on a level with the outer anthers.
I have repeatedly seen bees alighting on, and gathering the
pollen of, the inner anthers without noticing the outer ones.
In Heteranthera reniformis there is one long stamen (be-
longing to the outer whorl) having pale bluish pollen, and two
short stamens (of the inner whorl) with bright yellow pollen.
The stigma stands generally on a level with the anther of the
long stamen. When the white flower opens, pistil and long
stamen diverge, the pistil bending (almost without exception) to
the right, and the stamen to the left; at the withering of the
flower, they again approach each other, so that the stigma may
be fertilised by the pollen of the long stamen. Visiting insects
are attracted yet more to the yellow anthers of the two short
stamens by their being placed close to a yellow spot, surrounded
by a violet border, at the base of the upper petal.
Thus it may be safely assumed that in all these flowers, as
well as in the above-mentioned Melastomaceze and Commelyn-
acez, fertilisation is almost exclusively effected by th2 pollen
of the longer stamens, whilst the shorter stamens serve only to
attract pollen-gathering or pollen-eating insects. It is far from
surprising that the pollen of these latter stamens, though often
Fic. 1.—Flower-spike of Heteranthera rentformis (natural size). Fic. 2.—
Upper end of the flower-tube, seen from behind. a’, the one anther-of
the outer whorl, with pale bluish pollen; a, the two anthers of the inner
whorl, with bright yellow pollen ; s¢, stigma.
produced in large quantity, should tend to degeneration. Dar-
win long ago came to this conclusion with respect to some
Melastomacez with differently-coloured anthers, of which he had
raised seedlings from pollen both of the longe* and shorter
stamens (‘* There is reason to believe that the shorter stamens
are tending to abortion.”—‘‘ Cross- and Self-Fertilisation,”
p. 298, footnote). The Lagerstremia in my garden being self-
sterile, I fertilised some flowers with green, and others with
yellow pollen of a different variety (or species ?) growing in
other gardens ; both produced fruits with apparently good seeds,
but only some of those from the green pollen have germinated.
As in all the flowers above-named, with differently-coloured
anthers, the dull colour of those of the longer stamens evidently
serves to make them less visible to insects, may not the green
colour of the anthers of the long stamens of the mid-styled and
short-styled flowers of Zythrum salicaria also protect them
against the attacks of pollinivorous insects, to which, from pro-
truding far from the corolla, they would be more exposed than
those of the shorter stamens?
Even without being differently coloured, the stamens of the
same flower may be divided into different sets with different
functions. Thus in a species of Cassia the visiting humble-bees
gather the pollen of the four intermediate stamens (the three
upper ones being pollenless), which are short and straight,
whilst the three lower ones are very long and curved in such a
way that their pollen is deposited on the back of the humble-
bees. The pistil is of the same length and curved in the same
way as the longer stamens. Another very striking instance has
been carefully described by Prof. J. E. Todd of Tabor (Iowa) in
Feb. 15, 1883]
NATURE
365
a plant of a very different family, viz. Solanum rostratum
(American Naturalist, April, 1882, p. 281): one stamen and
the pistil are very long and strangely curved ; four stamens are
short and straight, and serve only to furnish pollen to the visiting
insects ; all the anthers, as I am informed by Prof. Todd, are of
the same dull yellow colour. Fritz MULLER
Blumenau, Santa Cattarina, Brazil, December 27, 1882
The Markings on Jupiter
AFTER heavy storms of hail on January 30, the sky cleared
and the night was exceptionally fine. I observed Jupiter with
my 10-inch reflector about 11h. 30m., and watched the chief
markings pass the central meridian of the planet. The well-
known equatorial white spot came to transit at 11h. 44m., and
it was followed 5 minutes later—at 11h. 49m,.—by the great red
spot. These objects, therefore, must have been in conjunction
on January 30, at 2h. 47m., as the greater velocity of the white
spot enables it to gain 13m. 24s. on the red spot daily,
In NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 225, I stated that during the 4ood.
oh. 20m. elapsed between 1880, November 19, gh. 23m. and
1881, December 24, gh. 43m., the white spot had completed 9
revolutions of Jupiter relatively to the red spot ; the number of
rotations performed by the former being 976, and by the latter
967. Since 1881, December 24, I have continued to watch the
anomalous velocity of these curious markings, and find that
between that date and 1883, January 30, the white spot has com-
pleted 9 further revolutions of Jupiter. From 1881, December
24, gh. 43m., to 1883, January 30, 2h. 47m., is g4o1d. 17h. 4m.,
during which the white spot has rotated 980 times, while
the number for the red spot is 971. In fact my observations
since 1880, November 19, show that up to 1883, January 30,
the white spot had performed 1956 rotations, as against 1938
by the red spot in the interval of 801d. 17h. 24m.
On January 30, when I last saw these markings, the red spot
was remarkable on account of its great faintness. On the other
hand, the equatorial white spot was extremely brilliant and
conspicuous, and formed one of the most noticeable features on
the planet. Observers should now keep a close watch on the
red spot, as it seems likely to be on the point of disappearance,
though this disappearance need not necessarily be of final cha-
racter. It fortunately happens that a curious irregularity in the
formation of the great southern belt will probably enable the
exact position of the spot to be watched for a considerable time.
This particular region of the planet, as I drew it on January 30
at midnight, was as follows :—
1883, January 30, 12h.
The region south of the equator of Jupiter.
red spot; 4, white spot.
a, The
The sketch shows that the great south belt is now double, and
a very conspicuous object on Jupiter. The south half of this
belt is bent abruptly to north, and nuns into the other half
exactly north of the preceding and following ends of the red
spot. There is some explanation to this interesting feature,
though it is at present involved in mystery ; in any case it may
possibly serve as a very accurate indication of the place of the
red spot long after that object has become obliterated alto-
gether. W. F. DENNING
Bristol, January 31
Meteor of November 17
I THINK now that more observations of the remarkable phe-
nomenon of November 17 have been brought forward, that we
cannot but candidly acknowledge that the evidence is extremely
contradictory and impossible to reconcile, that is as applying to
one and the same object. Altogether there is something
mysterious about it. It is evident that since it appeared to
reach the greatest apparent length of about 30° at York, then
from all places further south it ought to have attained a length
exceeding this, the more so the further south they are. The
ends of the beam appeared very well defined from here, and
there was very little room for estimates varying according to the
observer’s sensitiveness to light. If we take the observations
made from Clifton, Cirencester, East Clevedon, Woodbridge,
and Windsor, as they nearly all agree in estimating the length
as over 30°, some considerably over, then these may all relate to
the same object. But its appearance from York is flatly contra-
dicted by Mr, Batson’s observation from Hungerford, that from
Halstead, Essex (which seems to agree with Mr. Batson’s), also
those from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Greenwich, and Cambridge.
All these agree in contradicting the others named above, by
assigning a much s/a//ey angular length. Mr. Batson describes
a sudden foreshortening which the meteoroid underwent when
passing the moon, and since I saw it pass below the moon at
practically the same time, then (on the supposition that we
beheld the same object) the same shortening ought to have
been visible to me ; but there was not the slightest trace of any
such thing. I noticed that it very gradually shortened in length
(after allowing for perspective) in its journey towards the west,
which is significant, and explainable if we suppose the body to
have been encountering resistance to its momentum. It is im-
possible to reconcile all the observations, and yet most extra-
ordinary that no single observer is known to have witnessed
more than one such phenomenon at about that time except Mr.
Worthington, who says he saw two a¢ once. I have reason to
believe that a rather similar thing was seen below the moon at
about 5.30 on that night from here. TI see that from Ziericksee,
in Holland, a similar phenomenon was seen to transit a
Pezasi (which would be at about 50° altitude, and on
the magnetic meridian from there). If this was the
one that I saw, then at the time that it was seen to
transit a Pegasi, from Holland, it would appear to me to be just
forming in the south-east, where it appeared to be about 10°
above the horizon, it which case it would have to be under
seventy miles high when over Belgium. But it is almost certain
that it attained a height of over 150 miles during the latter part
of its course. As yet (figuratively speaking) the spectra of these
auroral phenomena have not thrown as much light on these things
as that which enters the narrow slip of the spectroscope to print its
uncertain record on the retina. I only hope that some one with
a clear head and much patience will succeed in unravelling the
tangled skeins of evidence which surround the mysterious
meteoroid of November 17, 1882. H. DENNIS TAYLOR
Heworth Green, York, February 11
Aino Ethnology
In an article on ‘‘Aino Ethnology” which appeared in
NATURE, vol. xxvi, p. 524, and which I happened to read only
a few days ago, Mr. A. H. Keane makes the following state-
ment :—‘‘ Until the appearance of Herr Rein’s large work on
Japan, one of the most universally-accepted of these conclusions
was that, whatever be their affinities, the Ainos must certainly
be separated from the Mongolic connection. No little surprise
was accordingly produced by Rein’s attempt to affiliate them to
the surrounding members of the yellow race. But it was soon
seen that his arguments, apparently inspired by a love of para-
dox, were sufficiently refuted by the very .illustrations of the
Aino type introduced into his work.”
I submit that one who has read my work upon Japan will
decide, with me, that the spirit of the matter quoted is unfair,
in so far as it charges me with ‘‘attempts” at affiliation, and
with being ‘‘ inspired” otherwise than by a love of truth—this
motive being, as stated in my preface, that which induced me to
write.
It is repeatedly mentioned in my book that I had never been
in the island of Yezo, and those who have carefully read the
whole work—including Mr. Keane, if he has done so—cannot
reasonably jail to observe that I speak of the Aino tribe as one
who had never visited them in their proper home, nor made
them a special subject of study in any respect. My remarks
upon their probable racial affinities were based upon good, and
the then latest, authorities, whose names I was careful to men-
tion. Thus, on p. 444, occurs a passage of which the following
is a rendering :—“ Doenitz and Hilgendorf have made thorough
investigations of their (the Ainos) physical peculiarities, and have
published the results thereof in the Mzttheilungen der Deutschen
Gesellschaft Ostasiens. It appeared as an undoubted fact ‘that
the Ainos are Mongolians, who are separated from the Japanese
in a perhaps less degree than the Germans from the Romans,’ ”
366
NATURE
[ Feb. 15, 1883
In the comments which I added to the views of these eminent
observers, wherein I mentioned those circumstances that seemed
to me to tend in the direction of their support, I was, of course,
unable to include, as I would if possible have done, a statement
of the opinions of such noted authorities as Dr. Steube and
Herr von Siebold, the results of whose investigations have so
recently been given to the press, and which are cited in the
article that elicits this letter. J. J. REIN
Marburg, Germany, February 8
Hovering of Birds
I REGRET that I did not notice until to-day that Mr. Airy, in
his letter published in NA1URE, vol. xxvii. p, 294, specially re-
ferred to ‘‘hovering with perfectly motionless wings” as being
that for which an upward slant of wind is, as he believes,
absolutely requisite to enable the bird to do so.
Is the term ‘‘hovering’’ applicable to the examrles given by
Mr. Airy of gulls and hawks floating as it were with motionless
wing along hillsides and cliffs ?
I have always associated ‘‘ hovering” with the flapping or
fluttering of the wings, as is invariably noticed when terns or
hawks are looking for their prey either over land or water.
February 10 eas
Intelligence in Animals
IN his letter in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 337, Mr. J. Birming-
ham does not mention what kind of bear it is that throws down
pieces of rock ‘‘in order to ca*ch the bareins,” as told by the
Kamtschadales ; but the Eskimos have a somewhat similar story
of the white bear, when attacking the walrus, the largest of
which, with their formidable tusks, Bruin generally avoids.
The circumstance was told me by an eye-witness, a very
truthful and honest Eskimo of Repulse Bay. He said: ‘‘I and
two or three other Innuit were attempting to approach some walrus
in winter, lying on the ice close to the water, kept open by the
strong current, in Fox’s Channel. As we were getting near
we saw that a large white bear was before us. He had reached
in the most stealthy manner a high ridge of ice, immediately
above where the walrus were lying ; he then seized a mass of
ice? in his paws, reared himself on his hind legs, and threw the
ice with great force on the head of a half-grown walrus, and
then sprang down upon it.”
The Eskimos then ran up, speared the bear, and found the
walrus all but dead, thus securing both animals. I should add
that the bear threw the ice as if he was “‘left-pawed.”
Kensington, February 10 J. Rar
WHILE spending the late winter months at Paignton, in
Devon, I frequently watched, through a telescope, shore birds
of various kinds stalking game on the low-tide sands. These
abound with sand-eels, which lie, perfectly concealed, about an
inch below the surface, and are caught in the following way Ly
the gulls.
Standing close to the water’s edge, the birds tread the wet
sand into soft puddles by rapid alternate movements of their feet,
and when a sand-eel, thus disturbed, makes a dart for the sea,
he is instantly taken by a skilful but leisurely-looking snap of
the beak.
Sand-eels bury themselves without leaving any marks on wet
sand, and the gulls were always seen steadily and tentatively
beating over the ground in the way I bave described. They
took, each, a fish a minute, perhaps, and impressed me with
the idea that some thoughtful ancestral gull had deserved well
of his race for the invention of such an easy logical way of
picking up a living. D, PIDGEON
Holmwood, Putney Hill, February 7
The Sea-Serpent
On reading the letter of W. Steadman Aldis in NATURE
(vol. xxvii. p. 338) yesterday, I was reminded by a person
present that some years ago, when in Orkney, I pointed out
an appearance that most people unaccustomed to witness it
might have taken for a great sea-monster. This was no hing
more or less than some hundreds of cormorants or ‘scarps ”
* It may be questioned how the bear could find a lump of detached ice.
The strong current mentioned is constantly breaking up the ice into small
pieces,
flying in a continuous line close to the .water, the deception
being increased by the resemblance of a head caused by several
“* scarps” in a cluster Aeading the column, and by the ‘‘ /ampy”
seas of a swift tideway frequently intervening and hiding for an
instant part of the black lines, causing the observer to—not un-
naturally—imagine that the portions so hidden had gone under
water. The speed of the cormorant on the wing may be fairly
estimated at thirty miles an hour or more. J. RAE
Kensington, February 10
The “ Zoological Record”
I sHOULD like to point out a slight error in the last impression
of NATURE (p. 311). In your notice of the Zoological Record,
1881, it is stated that no separate paper seems to have appeared
in 1881 exclusively devoted to the group Octactizie. I should
mention that Prof. Nicholson’s book on ‘‘ Monticulipora,”
his paper on the skeleton of ‘‘ Tubipora,” and Mr. Wilson’s
paper on the development of ‘‘ Renilla,” all appeared in 1881,
and were duly recorded by me. SyDNEY J. Hickson
Anatomical Department, Museum, Oxford, February 5
STEVE-TUBES
vEN CAREFUL examination by E. Russow (Amz. Sez.
Wat. xiv. 1882, Nos. 3 and 4) of the structure and
development of sieve-tubes leads him to the following
general conclusions.
In all vascular plants examined, the sieve-tubes exhibit
a remarkable agreement in structure, always expressed
by the presence of callus. The sieve-punctation appears
to be wanting in /soefes, and possibly also in the Marat-
tiaceze. It is not, when present, confined to the sieve-tubes,
but occurs also in the parenchyma of the secondary liber.
It is often difficult to decide whether these punctations
are actually perforated; but this is clearly the case
wherever the sieve is traversed by callose cushions or
striz, or by connecting filaments; the presence of callus
is not of itself sufficient to indicate perforation, for its
formation certainly precedes the perforation of the mem-
brane. In conifers the punctations between the sieve-
tubes and the cells of the medullary rays are provided
with callose cushions only on the side of the sieve-tubes,
and the punctations remain closed.
The development, accumulation, and final disappear-
ance of the callus indicate that it is not a product of
transformation of the cellulose, but that it is separated
from the contents of the sieve-tubes ; its accumulation
round the perforations is proportionate to the freedom
and duration of the intercommunication that takes place
through them; this communication probably continues as
long as the strie of the callus remain clearly developed,
and ceases when these disappear, close up the sieve-pores,
and end the function of the sieve-tubes.
In gymnosperms and vascular cryptogams, mucilagi-
nous filaments are never to be seen traversing the callose
cushions, although there is always a certain ainount of
communication between the elements of the sieve-tubes.
The special function of the sieve-tubes is probably always
maintained wherever striaz cross the callose cushions.
The large number of plants in which the sieves are tra-
versed, both in summer and winter, by mucilaginous
filaments, and the large number in which no such fila-
ments are at any time observable, contradicts the idea
that the function of the callus is to close the sieve-pores
during the dormant season.
Much less callus is deposited in the sieve-tubes of
closed fibrovascular bundles, especially in permanent
organs, than in those of open bundles which increase in
thickness from the activity of their cambium. This dif-
ference corresponds to a difference in the nature of the
contents, and in the duration of the activity of the sieve-
tubes. While in gymnosperms and dicotyledons the
active period of the sieve-tubes rarely exceeds two years,
in monocotyledons and vascular cryptogams it lasts as
long as the organ itself. A stem of Adsophila, at least
= =
Feb. 15, 1883]
twenty years old, had all the sieve-tubes at its base still
in a state of full activity. Ina stem of Yucca alotfolta,
about fifteen years oli, the sieve-tubes of all the fibro-
vascular bundles, even the innermost, were active, and
had their sieves covered with callus; but this was no
thicker in the oldest than in the youngest tubes. Ina
stem of Dracena draco, at least twenty years old, the
callus had nearly or entirely disappeared from many of
the sieve-tubes; but the plant was otherwise in bad
health.
The callus is not a reserve-substance ; for in gymno-
sperms and dicotyledons it often remains unchanged for
years in the dead sieve-tubes, and even in leives which
have fallen in the autumn, and in aérial branches which
die in the winter. It behaves rather like a secretory
product ; and this view is confirmed by the study of its
development. The organised structure which the callus
sometimes exhibits is not a sufficient objection to this
view.
- Under which class of organic compounds the callus
should be placed cannot at present be determined with
certainty. Its behaviour to iodine-reagents and to aniline
blue appears to indicate an alliance with proteinaceous
substances, and especially with nuclein ; in this respect
it differs altogether from the solid carbohydrates, such as
cellulose and starch.
Allsieve-tubes resemble one another in their contents,
at least as far as relates to the parietal protoplasm and
water. The mucilage, which is undoubtedly a non-
granular protoplasm, only exists in large quantities in
dicotyledons ; no mucilaginous threads can be detected in
monocotyledons or vascular cryptogams; in some mono-
cotyledons there is simply an accumulation of mucilage
in the sieve-tubes. The sieve-tubes of these two classes
contain, on the other hand, a large quantity of smaller or
larger refringent globules, which are also proteinaceous.
Similar globules have been observed in the closed vas-
cular bundles of Azppuris vulgaris.
Although starch is almost always present in the sieve-
tudes of open vascular bundles, it is seldom to be met
with in those of closed bundles. The diameter of the
starch-grains is always greater than that of the canals
which are clothed with callus, which renders it impossible
for them to pass from cell to cell as long as the sieve-
tubes are in an active state. The reddish-violet or brick-
red colour which these starch-grains take with iodine
reagents indicates the presence of a diastase among the
contents of the sieve-tubes.
A series of observations on the same organs by E.
Janczewski (Ann. Sci. Nat. xiv. 1882, Parts 1 and 2)
was directed mainly to a comparison of their structure in
the different primary groups of the vegetable kingdom.
In vascular cryptogams the elements of the sieve-tubes
are not much larger than those of the parenchymatous
tissue. They have no nucleus, and contain proteinaceous
globules, adhering to the parietal protoplasm, and col-
lected below the pores. Both the lateral and terminal
walls have a larger or smaller number of pores. The
membrane of these pores is never perforated, and pre-
vents the intercommunication of the contents of adjoining
elements ; it is sometimes (as in Prer7s aguilina) pierced
by callose cylinders. The time of year exercises no
influence on the sieve-tubes, which remain in the same
condition through the whole of their existence.
In gymnosperms the life of the sieve-tubes may be
divided into two periods, evolutive and passive. During
the first period the pores in the walls of the young tube
produce callose substance, and are transformed into
sieves covered and closed by the callus ; the elements of
the tubes contain, at this period, parietal protoplasm.
During the second period the tubes entirely lose their
protoplasm, and become inert ; but at its very commence-
ment the sieves also lose their callus, and free communi-
Cation is established between adjacent elements.
NATURE 367
In dicotyledons the structure of the tubes is still more
complicated ; their life may be divided into four periods:
evolutive, active, transitional, and passive. During the
first period the cambial cell is not transformed imme-
diately into an element of the tube, as in gymnosperms ;
it divides longitudinally, and produces on one side an
element of the tubes, on the other side one or two cells of
the liber-parenchyma. In the elements thus separated,
the pores of the walls, or the entire horizontal septa,
become covered with callus, and perforated into true
sieves composed of a delicate network of cellulose and a
callose envelope. The tubes now enter the second or
active period, characterised by the sieve-structure and
the free intercommunication of the protoplasmic contents
of adjacent elements. It may last for months or years.
In some cases the sieves are closed before winter by a
fresh formation of callus, and open again in the spring.
During this period the tubes contain protoplasm, a larger
or smaller quantity of a mucilaginous proteinaceous sub-
stance, and sometimes starch. During the transitional
period the tubes gradually lose their contents ; the sieves
are closed by callus, and reopen again by the complete
absorption of the callose substance. They have now
entered the passive period; they are completely inert,
and contain no organic matter ; the sieves are reduced to
a delicate network of cellulose.
The development and behaviour of the sieve-tubes of
monocotyledons resemble that of dicotyledons, and their
life may be divided into the same four periods. But
from the fact of the vascular bundles being closed, and
having no cambial zone capable of forming fresh tubes,
the active period of the tubes may last as long as the life
of the organ which contains them requires it. The
passive period is, in fact, rarely manifested. In our
climate the sieve-tubes have the power of closing their
sieves in autumn, and reopening them in spring. The
elements of the tubes contain no starch or mucilaginous
substance ; and their parietal protoplasm only contains
proteinaceous particles which seem to disappear in the
spring, and to add to the density and refrangibility of the
protoplasm.
CASSELL’S NATURAL HISTORY*
\\ the sixth volume, this well-illustrated account
of the natural history of the animal kingdom is
brought to a close, and the six handsome volumes leave
nothing to be desired, so far as good covers inclosing excel-
lent paper and beautiful typography are concerned. Indeed,
the general get-up of the series is quite unexceptional, and
as to the average value of the scientific contents we feel
fully justified, on the strength of such contributors as
Parker, Sharpe, Carpenter, Dallas, Sollas, &c., in strongly
recommending the series to the majority of our readers.
From a purely scientific point of view, we regret the
title selected by the Editor. He should not have launched
so important a book in these days upon the sea of science
under an obviously wrong title. -The ‘‘ Historia natu-
ralis” embraces, as the Professor of Geology in King’s
College, London, well knows, something more than an
account of the members of one of nature’s kingdoms,
and of their distribution in space and time. It is there-
fore certainly not scientific, and we take it as against
modern culture to adhere to such a style. If, indeed, the
eminent firm of publishers were to extend this natural
history so that in another half-dozen volumes we should
have an account of the equally interesting, and even more
important vegetable kingdom, the title of the series would
the more approach exactness.
Although in the title of his work the Editor has followed
in the footsteps of the mere compiler, he has by no means
1 “Cassell’s Natural History.”” Edited by P. Martin Duncan, M.D.
Lond., F.R.S., Professor of Geology, King’s College, London. Volumes
1 to 6, illustrated. Volume 6. (London, Paris, and New York: Cassell,
Petter, Galpin, and Co., 1883.)
followed this example in the direction of writing on all
the groups of the animal kingdom with his own pen, but
has been fortunate in getting together a number of con-
tributors, whose very names command respect for their
contributions. The table of contents of the just published
volume shows that the subjects of the Insects, Myriopods,
and Arachnids have been written by Mr. W. S. Dallas,
with the exception of the Lepidopterous Insects written
about by Mr. W. F. Kirby, the Crustacea are described by
Mr. Henry Woodward, the Echinoderms by Mr. Herbert
Carpenter, the Sponges by Prof. Sollas, the Rhizopods
by Prof. Rupert Jones, and the Worms, Zoophytes, and
Infusoria by the Editor.
We have been greatly struck by the immense amount of
information given to us by Mr. Kirby in Chapter IX., which
treats of the characteristics of the order of Lepidoptera,
gives an account of the evolution of these insects from
the egg to the perfect state; describes the imago con-
dition ; gives a condensed but very clear account of their
anatomy, food, and geographical distribution, and con-
NATURE
[ Fred. 15, 1883
and 40,000 moths; but then Mr. Kirby adds: ‘‘ Hun-
dreds of new species are being added to our lists every
year.” The abundance of species in a district would
seem to be in proportion to the variety of the vegetation,
which latter is intimately connected with variety of ele-
vation, and so it is ‘‘that Lepidoptera are far more
numerous in Switzerland than in the peninsulas of Italy
and Spain :” but is it not possible that the mountainous
regions of Spain will still yield many as yet unknown
forms? The illustrations in this portion of the volume are
often very beautiful, and comparatively new. Of the next
order, Diptera, says Mr. Dallas, “it is not easy to arrive
at any trustworthy estimate of the total number of species,
yet allowing Dr. Schiner’s estimate of 9000 species as
European, it has been calculated that the total fly popu-
lation of the world would be from 150,000 to 160,000,
Only a very few of this great army could be of course
| alluded to, but the information given about the gnats,
cludes with a few hints on collecting, killing, and setting. |
Among the statistics of lepidopterous life, we note that
the present census gives about 10,000 species of butterflies, |
midgets and crane flies is very full and interesting. Many
of these forms are injurious to our crops, as well as irri-
tating to ourselves. The Gall Midges (Cecidomyidz) are
among the most delicate species of all these gnat-like
Diptera.
The larvee of these elegant little insects feed
Fic. 1.—Cecidomyid with viviparous larva.
upon various species of plants. The number of species
is very considerable, about 100 being recorded as Euro-
pean. Many of them by attacking useful plants, fre-
quently do much mischief. Among these may be men-
tioned the Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor), which
has done so much damage to the grain crops of the United
States, and which received its name from a belief that it
was introduced into the States with the baggage brought
by the Hessian troops in the pay of the British Govern-
ment about the year 1776. The Wheat Midge (C. ¢riticz)
is an enemy of the wheat crops in this country, some-
times doing much damage; several other species form
the flower-like galls oftentimes found on willows.
In 1860 Dr. Nicolas Wagner, of Kasan, made the
startling discovery that in certain of these Cecidomyids
the larval stages could give rise by a kind of budding, to
several small larval-like forms, and that when these latter
got free, they in their turn produced still other larval forms
in the same curious fashion, and so one generation
succeeds another throughout the autumn, winter, and
spring. Inthe summer the last generation undergoes a
change to the pupa state, and from these pupe the
A, adult insect; B, B, pupz ; C, larva, showing young larve at aa,
perfect winged males and females emerge. The latter
lay eggs in the bark of trees, and the larve produced from
these commence once more a fresh series of organic
broods. This strange circle of development is in part
represented in the accompanying illustration, which will
serve as a fair example of those which abound in this
volume. Al] the families of the flies, ending with that of
the flea, which, however, is placed in an order by itself,
are well and judiciously treated.
The chapter on the Rynchota is also, despite its sub-
ject, a very interesting one, and a great deal of useful
information is crowded into a small space. Mentioning
the noise produced by the male Cicada, the author says :
“During the heat of the day they sit concealed amongst
the foliage of the trees and shrubs, and sing incessantly ;”
but is it not rather their wont to select the end of some
dead twig, or the extremity of some vine pole, and there
out in the full glare vibrate violently. A little space might
have been spared for an account or figure of the vine
phylloxera.
The chapter on the Orthoptera begins with the crickets
and ends with the springtails. Among the Myriopods
Feb. 15, 1883 |
we find the orders Pauropoda and Onychophora, the latter
for Lansdowne Guilding genus Peripatus, which, by
the way, he referred in his original description to the
mollusca, and not, as here stated, to the worms.
The chapter on the Arachnida includes the Scorpions
and their allies the Spiders, Mites, Tardigrades, and
Pantopods ; in the sketch of the latter a half page might
usefully have been devoted to recent researches on the
distribution of this extraordinary group of marine forms
in the depths of the sea.
The class of Crustacea is well illustrated, and in the
NATURE
Fic. 2.—Millepora, showing expanded zooids.
introductory chapter we have an excellent account of the
general anatomy and strange development of the group.
Even Fritz Miiller’s account of the metamorphosis of
Penzus is given, with figures of the Nauplius, Zoea, and
Mysis stages. The typographical arrangements of the
headings of the orders of the Crustacea seem faulty.
The Editor’s eye has failed him here, and though the
sense is in no ways altered by the want of uniformity in
the type used for the headings Brachyura (p. 197), Ano-
moura (p. 202), Macroura (204), yet there is a utility in
the case of a classification of appealing to the eye. The
Fic. 3.—Zufplectella aspergillumt, structure.
.
King Crabs are placed as usual among the Crustacea,
but the joint authors (Messrs. Dallas and Woodward), in
their concluding remarks on the Arthropods write: “the
structural relations of these to the scorpions would seem to
be very close, and certainly raise a difficult problem, one
which is rendered still more interesting by the fact that,
according to the researches of Dr. Jules Barrois, a Limu-
loid, or King Crab-like stage occurs in the development
within the egg of certain true spiders. For the present,
this and many other such questions must, however, re-
main open. In all biological problems relating to the !
369
past developmental history of the organic world, we must
for a long time yet expect to come continually upon
obscure and puzzling points which only a more extended
knowledge of minute details can clear up.”
The various classes of the “grand division” of the
worms are treated rather unevenly. This grand division
is, no doubt, a somewhat heterogeneous one. “ Thus it is
found that an animal does not exactly correspond with
one of the articulate groups, and another resembles in
certain points, but not in all, an Infusorian. They are
then placed with the Vermes [worms] because of the
existence of certain fundamental structures.” There is a
good deal of minute anatomical detail given about the
Leeches and Rotifers, while the Land Planarians are
dismissed with the following:—‘‘ They have eyes, no
tentacles, a proboscis, and a narrow body. They are
found in the United Kingdom and generally in Western
Fic. 4.—Rhipidodendron splendidum.
monad.
A, colony ; B, two monads; ¢, free
and Central Europe. They have been found in America
and on continental as well ason oceanicislands. Moseley
says that they are nocturnal in their habits, when in the
light getting under leaves. Some contain chlorophyll and
seek the light, but die in the sunshine. They eat small
snails, worms, and flies. An American kind secretes a
mucous thread, and suspends itself in the water, and
another lets itself down from the leaves by one.”
If we were introduced to the Worms as a Grand Divi-
sion, we are told that the Echinoderms form a Sub-
Kingdom of the Animal Kingdom, but there is nothing
to guide us to this in the heading of the portion of this
volume in which Mr. Herbert Carpenter so well, though
succinctly describes this important group, an account that
we would have wished to have been much more detailed.
The classes of this group getting about three pages of
text to each, and several of the pages are devoted to new
and excellent woodcuts.
The group of the Zoophyta embraces the Hydrozoa and
370
Actinozoa. These “are distinct from the Spongida,
although some synthetic-minded morphologists classify
all together as Ccelenterata.”” In treating of the freshwater
Hydra we notice the “old story” repeated that “if the
body be turned inside out, the old ectoderm [why the
adjective ?] takes on the digestive power and the former
endoderm that [takes on the function] of the skin.”
The order Hydrocorallina is placed as the last of the
Hydrozoa, with the families Milleporide and Stylasteride,
as indicated by Moseley, to whose researches and those
of Agassiz we are indebted for all we know about the
order. Mzllepora alcicornis was obtained by Moseley at
Bermuda. The calcareous tissue of the coral is very hard
and compact, and the polyps are extremely small. It is
very difficult to prevail on the polyps to protrude them-
selves from their cells, but Mr. J. Murray, of the Challenger
Expedition, succeeded in procuring them in this state on
two occasions, and the accompanying drawing (Fig. 2) of
one of the expanded polyps, and of five of its surrounding
zooids, is from Mr. Moseley’s memoir on the structure of
this genus. In the centre is seen the short polyp form
provided with a mouth and with only four short knobby
tentacles, while grouped a-ound are the five polyps without
mouths, and for the sake of letting the central zooid be
clearly seen a sixth mouthless zooid is omitted from the
sketch ; these latter zooids have from five to twenty ten-
tacles ; they are much more active than the mouth-bearer,
and do the work of catching food for it. When alarmed
all disappear within the framework.
The article on the group of the Sponges is excellent.
The author now regards the sponges as forming a sepa-
rate class independent of the Coelenterata, and situated
at the very bottom of the Metazoic sub-kingdom, and
gives a brief sketch of the orders and sub-orders.
The figures of sponge structure are refreshingly new,
many of them being from quite recent sources—-such as
the memoirs of Haeckel, Schulze, and Prof. Sollas himself.
The beautiful sponge belonging to the genus Euplectella,
now known to live anchored in the mud in deep seas, or
attached to the hard bottoms of shallower waters, has had
its structure ably described by Prof. Schulze, from whose
memoir the annexed woodcut (Fig. 3) istaken. ZThe mem-
branous wall—very delicate and thin—which surrounds
the skeleton is furnished with smooth-edged roundish
pores of different sizes, irregularly arranged, and varying
very much in number. These form an open communica-
tion between the cavities of the chambers and the duct-
like spaces surrounding them, which penetrate every where
between the ciliated chambers and extend even to their
mouths, where they terminate on a tougher membrane,
which binds together and connects laterally the chamber
walls. The figure shows the outer portion of a thin
section taken perpendicularly to the outer surface through
the side wall of a ridge, and is magnified X 150. Several
of the ciliated chambers are seen.
Although the Rhizopods. are described as standing
“first in the scale of animal organisation,” we find them
treated of in a chapter before that relating to the
Infusoria, and we are told in the same paragraph that
“‘they have ina great degree the same simple constitution
as several other kinds of animalcules which are grouped
by naturalists as Protozoa.” We venture to think that
such a description will be apt to lead the general reader
astray ; nor was it quite fair of the Editor to allow the
writer of the article on the Rhizopods to go somewhat
out of his way in his forty-ninth paragraph to give a view
of the organisation of the Sponges which will be apt to
puzzle the reader who has perused the more accurate
account of the sponge structure given by Prof. Sollas.
As an example of the beautiful illustrations of the
Infusoria, which are for the most part taken from Saville
Kent's excellently illustrated Manual of Infusoria, we give
the woodcut of Aiipidodendron splendidum. There are
ew workers with the microscope who devote themselves
NATURE
[feb. 15, 1883
to the study of the Infusoria but must be familiar with
the stems of that group of animalcules, which gravitate
about the well known Azthophysa vegetans of Miller ; the
attached colony stocks putting one in mind of some
minute fucoid stem. Of this group the species figured
after Stein is one of the most remarkable, originally
described and most beautifully illustrated in Prof. Stein’s
great work. This freshwater form has apparently not yet
been found in this country, but a nearly allied species,
k. Huxleyz, has been met with in South Devon. The
figure shows the compound colony stock at A, the quite
young colony stock at B, which latter was built up by a
single monad, which divided by longitudinal fission, pro-
ducing two parallel, or nearly so, tubes, and one of these
monads is seen at C free, without a tube.
In congratulating the Editor on the successful termina-
tion of his labours, we are not unmindful of the difficulties
he has had to encounter in trying to secure a more or less
uniform style of treatment of subjects so varied as
the different classes and sub-divisions of the animal
kingdom.
THE CONDENSATION OF LIQUID FILMS ON
WETTED SOLIDS
Ie Poggendorf’’s Annalen for 1877,and in the Phzlo-
sophical Magazine for 1880,1 have recorded some
facts which are satisfactorily explicable only on the sup-
position that the liquid in contact with the glass under-
goes condensation upon the surface of the latter. In the
latter paper I was able to show that this condensed film
visibly altered the resistance experienced by the liquid
in flowing through the tube. In the paper in the Poggez-
dorff’ s Annalen it was shown that a difference of poten-
tial was set up between tke two ends of a capillary tube
through which water was forced, and that the effect of
leaving the water in contact with the tube was that this
difference of potential rapidly diminished. No doubt
this finds its explanation in the effect of the condensation
of the liquid on the sides of the capillary tube, causing
the friction of the water against the tube to become less
and less, whilst the friction of the water upon the con-
densed water-film becomes progressively greater, as the
latter adheres more strongly to the glass. Probably
simple drying would suffice to restore to the tube the
originally observed difference of potential between its
ends.
Whilst working upon this subject I noticed the large
E.M.F. produced by a small air-bubble slowly ascending
through the vertical capillary tube which was full of
water (see Dr. Dorn, Ann. d. Phys. u. Chem. 1880, S.
73). At the time I could not account for this, but not
long ago I constructed an apparatus which allowed of
alternate drops of water and bubbles of air being driven
through the capillary tube. This produced a very large
E.M.F. Probably this increase in the E.M.F, is depen-
dent upon (a) the increased electrical resistance conse-
quent upon breaking up the water in the tube into drops
separated by air-bubbles, and (8) upon an increased
disturbance of the liquid film adhering to the glass.
Experimentally these etfects, (a) and (8), might be sepa-
rated by substituting for water a (practically) perfectly
insulating liquid.
Another and very interesting illustration of a liquid
condensed on the surface of a solid is probably to be
seen in the familiar fact that water will not clean a greasy
sheet of glass. ‘
As is well known to all workers on surface tension,
almost the only way of getting a physically clean sur-
face of glass is by heating the glass in concentrated
sulphuric acid, to which a little nitric acid has been
added, and then heating, after washing in pure water
to remove the acid. Such a glass surface exposed
to the air for a short time is generally imperfectly
Feb. 15, 1883]
NATURE
271
wetted by water. This no doubt arises, partly at least,
from the condensation of gases on the surface, which
Quincke has shown will produce this effect to a remark-
able extent under certain conditions described by him.
To this, also, Barrett and Stoney have referred certain
modifications of Leidenfrost’s phenomena ; and the float-
ing shells, &c., of Hennessey are due to the same general
cause. But a very minute trace of oil on a physically
clean surface produces the familiar greasy surface.
Why is this? Oil is not insoluble in water, and
when the quantity of water used is sufficient to dis-
solve the quantity of oil placed on the glass, it ought
to wash off. Every one knows, however, how difficult it
is to wash oil off glass. Js this then due to a diminution
in the solubility of the oil in the water owing to its CON-
DENSATION ox the glass surface? I believe it to be very
probable that this is the case, and think that the experi-
mental proof would be possible by placing estimated quanti-
ties of oil on a physically clean glass surface, and subse-
quently washing in quantities of water, such as under
ordinary circumstances would readily suffice to dissolve
it. By dissolving the oil in a volatile medium, its quan-
tity might be readily estimated. No doubt other liquids
of somewhat greater and better known solubility might
be advantageously substituted for the oil, and perhaps, as
Dr. Japp has suggested to me, by employing a coloured
liquid the result might be rendered evident to the eye.
My inability to complete these experiments at the
present time, and the great interest attaching to a deter-
mination as to whether the condensation experienced by
the liquid-film alters the physical or chemical properties
of the liquid must be the excuse for the publication of
incomplete results, which I much hope may be taken up
by others. J. W. CLARK
THE STOCKHOLM ETHNOGRAPHICAL
EXHIBITION *
R. STOLPE was asked to arrange and describe the
Ethnographical Exhibition of Stockholm in the
year 1878. This exhibition was brought together from
all, or at least nearly all, Swedish public and _ private
collections ; no less than 217 exhibitors with about 10,000
objects participated, the King himself opened the gal-
leries, and general interest was raised by an ethnographi-
cal exhibition as indeed no other country has realised
tillnow. We took occasion to visit the exhibition, and
were astonished to see so rich a material, as well as a
thoroughly scientific arrangement.
Both works named below area result of the meritorious
undertaking. The second was partly a guide through
some parts of the exhibition, especially China and Japan,
with a general introduction, and many valuable and
interesting special remarks, partly, in its second volume,
a determination of all, about 6200 numbers of the exhibi-
tion, arranged after the exhibitors. The first-named
work illustrates in geographical order the more important
objects of the exhibition, partly in groups, but chiefly in
single representations. There may be represented in
all about 1500 objects, and we hear that a fourth supple-
mentary volume is in the press.
The first volume of this album contains, on 84 plates, Aus-
tralia, Oceania, Malaysia, Madagascar, Malayo-Chinese,
and Tibet; the second, on 116 plates, China, Japan,
Samoyedes, and Turks; the third, on 78 plates, America,
Africa, Circassia, Persia, and India. Japan and China,
as well as Oceania, are relatively best represented ;
among the last-named division figures the fine collec-
tion from the Savage Islands, which the expedition of
the Lugénze brought home in the year 1853.
1 H. Stolpe, ‘‘Exposition ethnographique de Stockholm, 1878-1879.’"
Photographies par L. F. Lindberg. 3 vols. 4to. 36 pp. 278 plates. (Stock-
holm, 1881).—“ Den allmanna etnografiska utstallingen, 1878-1879’" (The
General Ethnographical Exhibition). 2 vols. 8vo. 80 pp. 1878-1879, and
Vill. 112 pp. 1880.
This photographic album must be regarded as the best
existing ethnographical atlas; it gives, notwithstanding
the inequality in the representation of the single countries,
a good idea of a high-class ethnographical museum. The
editor has had a full appreciation of the problem which
was to be solved, and no ethnologist who works scien-
tifically can do well without this album. It was therefore
right that the International Geographical Congress of
Venice in the year 1881 should bestow a prize on this
beautiful work. Copies of the album are, we believe,
only printed to order, and may be obtained direct from
Herr Lindberg, R. Archzeological Museum, Stockholm.
A. B. MEYER
BARON MIKLOUHO-MACLAY
ETTERS have been received from Baron N. de
Miklouho-Maclay from the Suez Canal, the distin-
guished traveller being now on his way back to Australia.
During his prolonged and arduous experience of eleven
years’ life amongst Melanesian and other savages of the
Pacific his health has, we are sorry to say, suffered very
seriously, and he returns to Sydney mainly on this
account, since he finds that the climate of New South
Wales suits him best. He intends to call at Batavia on
the way out, where he left a part of his collections in 1878,
in order to convey these to Sydney, where the main bulk
of the gatherings of his many journeys is already stored.
The Emperor of Russia, with enlightened liberality, has
promised to defray the cost of the publication of the
scientific account of Baron de Maclay’s results, and the
collections have been brought together at Sydney in order
that they may be available for the preparation of the
work for the press there.
Baron de Maclay hopes to be able to get ready the
whole of his numerous diaries, notes, and papers for
publication in about two years’ time. The complete
work to be issued by him will, if his present plan be
carried out, consist of an anthropological and ethnogra-
phical section, a section treating of comparative anatomy,
and a general narrative of his travels, together with
appendices containing meteorological observations and
information on physical geography.
The work will be published first in Russian, but
translations in other languages will probably soon follow.
He intends to do a good deal of the anatomical work
needed to complete his researches on animals collected
by him in Australia and New Guinea at the Zoological
Station at Watson’s Bay, of which he is the founder,
This Zoological Laboratory at the very first received most
important support from the Linnean Society of New
South Wales, and by the influence of this Society a grant
of land was obtained from the New South Wales
Government for the erection of the building. Scientific
men in other colonies, and notably in Victoria, recognising
the great imporiance of the establishment to the progress
of biological research, have come forward nobly to sup-
port the enterprise, and the Australian Biological Associa-
tion has been formed, a Society including men of science
of all the Australian colonies and some distinguished
European naturalists, the object being to support bio-
logical stations in Australia. It is very gratifying to find
so enlightened a sympathy with scientific progress deve-
loped, and that the different colonies are able to work
together in so excellent a cause. We hope to refer
shortly again to the constitution and aims of the
Australian Biological Association.
NOTES
We can only for the present express the deep regret with
which we learn of the death, on the gth inst., of Prof. H. J. S.
Smith, of the Savilian Chair of Geometry at Oxford, at the
372
comparatively early age of fifty-six years.
to refer to his career and work in detail.
We hope next week
THE death is announced at Basle of Prof. Peter Merian, the
Nestor of Swiss geologists. He was born on December 20,
1795. His first important work, on the Jura of the Canton
of Basle, was published in 1821, followed a few years later by a
geological account of the Southern Schwarzwald. In 1821 he
was appointed Professor of Physics and Chemistry in his native
University, and at a later period he accepted the Chair of
Mineralogy and Geology, which he held for half a century.
He was more than once chosen rector of his University,
and throughout his life not only continued his geological
activity, but took an active interest in scientific work of all
kinds as well as in public affairs.
WE learn that Dr. Oscar Dickson arrived in Christiana on the
‘gth inst. to confer with King Oscar, who is sojourning there, as
to an Arctic expedition to be despatched this year, under the
command of Baron Nordenskjold, to North Greenland.
M. JANSSEN, as leader of the French Eclipse Expedition, will
embark on March 6 for Panama. He will cross the isthmus by
rail, and the Eclaireur will be ready at Colon to take him to
Sable Island, near Caroline Island in the Marquesas group.
Mr. DEans Cowan, well known for his explorations in
Madagascar (see Proc. R. Geogr. Soc., vol. iv. p. 521), has now
fully settled to return there, in order to explore the southern part
of the island. Of this district little is known, and it may be
fully expected that Mr. Cowan will get valuable additions to our
knowledge of the natural history of the country. Mr. Cowan
calculates that his journey will occupy about two years. His
plan is to begin at Ambahy on the south-east coast, and to pro-
ceed inland to the most southern point reached when he made
his survey of the Bara-land, working southward amongst the
Tausay and Taudroy people, thence westward towards the dis-
trict of the Mahafaly tribe, and on to the River Onylahy. This
will occupy one year. From the Onylahy the route will be
nearly north through western Bara-land and the Sakalava
country, ending at Mojanga. As these journeys will be amongst
the aborigines, and even in different geological formations to
that from which nearly all our Madagascar specimens are
obtained, Mr. Cowan expects that the results will be of a most
valuable character, and help to a solution of many interesting
questions in regard to Madagascar.
CoLONEL EMILE GAUTIER has been appointed Director of
the Observatory of Geneva, in succession to the late Prof. E.
Plantamour, who had filled the position from 1839.
On Tuesday, February 6, a large number of scientific men
and social and political notabilities assembled at the Northern
Station, Paris, to witness the transmission of energy by an iron
wire used like an ordinary telegraphic line, and extending to
Sevran, near Le Bourget, and returning to the station, thus
completing a distance of 20 kilometres. The primary engine
was moved by a force of about 5 horse-power, and the force of
the secondary was said to be 24. No precise measure was
taken. The experiment was in continuation of the much spoken
of Munich transmission of energy from Mierbach, according to the
Marcel-Deprez system. It is not believed that this new experi-
ment will put an end to the controversy. Many papers have
reported enthusiastically on the proceedings, and letters have
been written by electricians claiming to have executed more
successful trials. It is stated that new experiments on the Marcel-
Deprez system of transmission of energy will take place under the
superintendence of M, Tresca, with the same machines as on
February 6. The Lumiere Electrique states that the percentage
of force is about 374 per cent., and that the dynamometer for
NATURE
| Fed. 15, 1883
measuring the motive power of the primary machine was not in
order at the time of the first experiment.
PROF. FLOWER will commence, at the Royal College of
Surgeons, oa Monday, the 26th inst., a course of nine lectures
upon the Anatomy of the Horse and its allies. In the first three
lectures the general position of the horse in the animal kingdom,
and its relations to other existing and extinct species will be
treated of ; the remainder of the course being devoted to a more
detailed account of the osseous, dental, muscular, nervous, and
other systems, as compared with those of the generalised Mam-
malian type, the allied forms of Ungulates, and Man. The
lectures will be given on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,
and are free to all who take an interest in the subject.
IT seems that the season of 1882 has, on account of the state
of the ice in the Arctic seas, undoubtedly been one of the most
adverse on record. Thus while the Norwegian walrus and white
fish hunters were unable to get to the north of Spitzbergen and
the Swedish Meteorological Expedition to Mossel Bay, no vessel
succeeded in reaching the Siberian rivers. It appears from
information just to hand that the summer along the coast of
Siberia has been unusually cold, while incessant north-east winds
have accumulated drift-ice on the shores to such an extent that
the estuaries of the Yenissei and the Obi were not once navigable
in the season. Thus the small steamer Da//mann, of Yenis-
seisk, belonging to Baron Knop, was quite unable to get from
the Yenissei into the Obi, and all she accomplished during the
year was to transfer a few thousand poods of grain from Mr.
Sibiriakoff’s depot, where it had been lying for some years, to
Baron Knop’s, to be eventually forwarded to Europe. When it
is remembered that this was the state of the ice in the eastern
and southern parts of the Arctic seas, and we remember the
reports of Mr. Leigh Smith and Sir Henry Gore Booth of open
water north and east of Novaya Zemblya, it becomes apparent
that some other part of the Polar basin must have been very free
from ice during the summer. It seems to be the opinion of
several authorities, as for instance Baron Nordenskjéld, that any
vessel which had attempted to penetrate by way of Behring
Strait would, no doubt, have demonstrated the practicability of
navigating the Siberian seas every summer from one end or the
other. This year fresh attempts will be made by Mr. Sibiriakoff,
Baron Knop, and Dr. Oscar Dickson to open up a trade route
with Siberia from Europe ; those however acquainted with the
Arctic seasons would not be surprised to see the ice in the
summer of 1883 as adverse to Arctic voyaging as it was in 1882.
THE first news has been received at St. Petersburg from the
Russian Lena Expedition. Lieut. Harder, who was searching for
the remains of the victims of the Feanmette disaster, met Dr.
Bunge and Jiirgens on October 3. He found the members of the
Lena Expedition in excellent health, and already comfortably
settled in their winter quarters.
M. Wo tr, chief of the Physical Department in the Paris
Observatory, delivered last Saturday evening a lecture at the
Sorbonne, on the Methods employed in Astronomical Physics,
before a very large and enthusiastic audience. M. Wolf insisted
upon the three methods employed by astronomers, viz. ocular
inspection with telescopes, spectroscopic analysis, and photo-
graphy. He dwelt upon the difficulties of vision with instru-
ments possessed of a great magnifying power, and he tried to
oppose the popular delusion that any description of celestial
phenomena could be photographed with advantage. He
explained that this method should be almost exclusively confined
to the sun and moon, The lecture was illustrated by many
experiments and projections.
AN important advance is in course of realisation in the use of
telegraphy for French newspapers. The Reforme has hired a
= >
| Feb. 15, 1883]
NARORE
373
direct cable from London to Paris. ‘The instruments are in the
London and in the Paris office of the paper, so that the transmis-
sion is instantaneous. According to circumstances, the Reforme
telegraphists use the Calais, Boulogne, or Dieppe cables. None of
these gives a sensible retardation through crossing the sea ; but
it is remarked that, contrary to expectation, the Dieppe cable
is the best of the three. The transmission is made with an
ordinary Hughes apparatus.
THE following are the subjects of the lectures to be given at
the Royal Institution by Prof. Robert S. Ball, the Royal Astro-
“nomer of Ireland, on the Supreme Discoveries in Astronomy :—
“The Scale on which the Universe is Built,” ‘‘The Sun no
more than a Star, the Stars no less than Suns,” ‘*The Law of
Gravitation,” and ‘‘ The Astronomical Significance of Heat.”
The first lecture will be given on Tuesday, February 20.
PROF, JOHNSTRUP, Rector of the University of Copenhagen,
in a paper on ‘* The Glacial Phenomena manifested in Den-
mark,” has shown that the Cyprina-mud deposits overlying the
gravel in many parts of the Danish territories afford evidence
that an interval of lesser cold must have followed the great
glacial period. He moreover regards the presence of the shells
of Cyprina islandia, and other boreal forms of similar habit, as
a proof that the climate in this intermediate period must have
been similar to that of the North Sea and the Cattegate in the
present day. His views of the connection between these
Cyprina deposits and the varied manifestations of glacial action
are based on the hypothesis that the ice, which advanced from
the interior of Scandinavia and covered Denmark and Northern
Germany, must have been driven back, and that on its disappear-
ance, the Cyprina mud was deposited ia horizontal layers. On
the recurrence of another glacial period these deposits were
crushed, dislocated, and often thrust into a vertical position by
drifting ice-fields, which had ploughed and broken up the sea-
bottom in their advance, This view is in opposition to the
opinion more generally held by geologists, that Denmark was
twice completely buried under one connected ice-pall, which
owed its origin to the continental ice of the Scandinavian penin-
sula. The direction of the striations and scouring lines in the
island of Bornholm, ard in some parts of Iceland, which are
now being carefully investigated, are, however, admitted to be
favourable to the views advanced by Prof. Johnstrup.
Mr. GEORGE STALLARD, B.A., of Keble College, Oxford,
at present Science Master of St. Paul’s School, has been
appointed Science Master at Rugby, in place of the Rev. C. M.
Hutchinson,
THE Council of the Meteorological Society have determined
upon holding at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great
George Street, S.W., on the evening of March 21 next, an
Exhibition of Meteorological Instruments which have been de-
signed for, or used by, travellers and explorers. The Exhibi-
tion Committee invite co-operation, as they are anxious to obtain
as large a collection as possible of such instruments. The Com-
mittee will also be glad to show any new meteorological
apparatus invented or first constructed since last March, as
well as photographs and drawings possessing meteorological
interest,
WITH reference to the recent explosion of a zinc-plate oxygen
gasometer, described by Herr Pfaundler in Wiedemann’s Annalen,
Dr. Loewe states (Wied. Ann. No. 1) that to protect oxygen or
atmospheric air from admixture of carbonic acid or acid vapour
from the air of the laboratory, he has for many years placed
them over lime-water, Some 20 to 30 gr. freshly slacked lime, in
a powdered state, is placed in a strong linen bag, which is tied
with cord just above the contents, and hung near the outflow
tube of the water vessel of the gasometer. This ensures that all
carbonic acid and acid vapours which the water of the gasometer
may in time absorb from the air, are neutralised by lime-hydrate,
and rendered innocuous. There is the further advantage, for ele-
mentary analysis, that the potash or soda lye, which is preferred for
washing the gases, remains long quite caustic, and thus serves—
as it ought to do—less for purification of the gas than as an in-
dicator of the gas current. After long use the linen bag of
lime-powder is renewed,
THE February part of Hartleben’s Geographische Rundschen
contains an interesting account of Potanin’s journey through
Mongolia in the years 1876-77; also some well-written articles
on the Samoa Islands, on Eastern Africa, and the European
census of 1881, together with a memoir of Count Hans Wilczek.
SOME time ago we announced the commencement of the pub-
lication of an ‘‘ Elektro-technische Bibliothek,” by Hartleben,
of Vienna. The second volume of this series has just appeared,
entitled “‘ Die elektrische Kraftiibertragung und ihre Anwendung
in der Praxis,” by Eduard Japing.
WE are requested by the Council of the Society of Telegraph
Engineers and of Electricians to state that an International
Electrical Exhibition will be held in Vienna under the patronage
of the Austro-Hungarian Government, in the months of August,
September, and October next. At the request of the Austrian
Minister of Commerce, and of the Managing Committee of the
Exhibition, the Council of the Society have appointed a Com-
mi*tee for the purpose of receiving applications for space from
intending British exhibitors, and for promoting generally the
formation of a British section. Application should be made as
early as possible, and should be addressed to the Secretary of
the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Electricians, 4, The
Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W.
THE Municipal Council of Paris is proposing to the adminis-
tration to organise a medical service for the inspection of the
eyes, ears, and teeth of the pupils of the public schools, in order
to see how to cure constitutional or chronic diseases by which
they may be affected.
A LOCAL committee has been established in Annonay for the
erection of a statue to commemorate the invention of the
Montgolfier balloon.
Upwarps of one hundred Palzolithic implements from the
collection of Mr. Worthington G. Smith have been transferred
to the collection of Mr. John Evans at Nash Mills, Hemel
Hempstead.
A ‘SECOND London edition”’ has been issued by Macmillan
and Co. of Prof. Newcomb’s ‘‘ Popular Astronomy.” The
principal additions relate to Dr. Draper’s investigation on the
existence of oxygen in the sun; Janssen’s conclusions from his
solar photographs ; Prof. Langley’s investigation on the solar
spectrum on Mount Whitney, California ; the satellites of Mars;
the supposed intra-Mercurial planet ; preliminary results from
the late (1874) transit of Venus, and other recent methods of
determining the solar parallax; the transit of Venus on Dec. 6,
1882; the great telescopes completed within the last four years ;
and recent developments in cometary astronomy. The preface
is dated Washington, July, 1882.
A DEposIT of remains of mammals from the diluvial period
has been laid bare by the waves of the Wolga on the bank of
that river between Zarizyn and Sarepta. M. Al. Knobloch, of
Sarepta, has made a valuable collection of the bones found,
which belonged to Evephas primigenius, Bos priscus, Elasmo-
therium, Camelus Knoblochi, besides several antelopes, stags, &c.
374
On the evening of January 24 an aurora was observed at
Geestemiinde, which was remarkable both for its duration as
well as for the intensity of its light. The sky was quite clear
and the moon shining brightly, when about 7.30 p.m. a semi-
circle of light appeared in the north-east. Soon afterwards long
rays shot out from this across the sky, forming an immense fan
of light ; the middle one of these rays crossed the sky right down
to the south-west, and remained visible in the same brightness
for two hours. The size and brightness of the other rays
changed constantly. The light was perfectly white.
A VIOLENT earthquake is reported from Freiburg-im-Breisgau
January 24, at 5.30 a.m., accompanied by loud subterranean
noise. At the same time two strong shocks were felt at
Bischoffingen. On the same date, at 7.58 a.m., an earthquake
was observed in Herzegowina. It lasted for four seconds, and
its direction was from north to south.
DuRING the coming summer a Fine Art and Industrial Exhi-
bition will be held at Huddersfield in connection with the open-
ing of the New Technical School.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include two Macaque Monkeys (AZacacus cynomolgus)
from India, presented respectively by Mr. T. W. Davidson and
Miss M. Sutton; two Common Marmosets (//afade jacchus) from
Brazil, presented by Mr. A. Pariss ; an Oak Dormouse (AZyoxus
dryas) from Russia, presented by M. A. Wrzesniowski; a
Common Marmoset (/fafale jacchus) from Brazil, presented by
Mrs, Lynch; two Common Gulls (Zarus canus), British, pre-
sented by Mr, W. K. Stanley ; two Herring Gulls (Zarzs argen-
tatus), British, presented by Capt. C. R. Suckley; a Brant
Goose (Sernicia brenta), European, presented by Mr. J. C,
Robin on; a Black Lemur (Lemur macaco) from Madagascar,
four Impeyan Pheasants (Zophophorus impeyanus 8 2 2? 2) from
the Himalayas, a Black-necked Swan (Cygnus nigricollis) from
Antarctic America, deposited; two Philantomba Antelopes
(Cephalophus maxwelli), a Crowned Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus
coronatus) from West Africa, four Snow Buntings (Flectrophanes
nivalis), two Brant Geese (Bernicla brenta), European, a Red-
throated Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis), British, purchased ; a
Schomburgk’s Deer (Cervus schomburgki), from Siam, received in
exchange ; two Hybrid Peccaries (between Dicotyles labiatus
and D, tajacu ?), five Ring-hals Snakes (Sepedon hemachates),
born in the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
THE COMET OF 1771.—The comet discovered by Messier at
Paris on April 1, 1771, and last observed by St. Jacques de
Silvabelle at Marseilles on July 17, has long been mentioned in
our treatises on Astronomy as undoubtedly moving in a hyper-
bolic orbit. This inference was first drawn by Burckhardt, who
considered that of all the comets calculated up to the time he
wrote (Mémoires présentés par Savans érangers, 1805) that of
1771 was the only one of which it could be stated with some
degree of certainty that the orbit was hyperbolic. Encke con-
sidered the case worthy of further investigation ; remarking that
from the nature of the conditions it might be demonstrated that
a comet could not rigorously describe a parabola, and that expe-
rience so far rather gave the preference to the ellipse over the
hyperbola, he insisted that a comet, whose track could not be
represented completely except by hyperbolic motion, merited the
greatest attention. He accordingly reduced anew the six obser-
vations employed by Burckhardt, and after their careful discussion
found that the most probable elements were hyperbolic with
eccentricity = 1°00937, which is almost identical with Burck-
hardt’s value (t'00944). Nevertheless he did not regard the
decided superiority of the hyperbola in the representation of
the six places as an indubitable proof of the neces-ity of
admitting motion in that curve; the positions used were
not normal positions, but the results of single and isolated
observations, and as such, the errors exhibited by a parabolic
Uy
NATURE
_
[ Fed. 15, 1883
orbit had not so great a preponderance in his opinion as to
enforce such necessity. He concluded that the subject still
required examination by a combination of all the observations,
and especially if the originals of those at Marseilles could be
found. On this point Zach stated, in a note to Encke’s commu-
nication (Correspondance Astronomigue, t. v.), that during a
recent visit to Marseilles he had searched in vain amongst the
papers of St. Jacques de Silvabelle for these originals.
Lately, the orbit of the comet of 1771 has formed the subject
of two memoirs, containing very rigorous discussions of the
observations, the first by Mr. W. Beebe, in the Zvamnsactions of
the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. v. ; the
second by Dr. H. Kreutz, published in the Proceedings of the
Vienna Academy. Mr. Beebe gives also a hyperbolic orbit,
accompanied by the most probable parabola for comparison.
The investigation by Dr. Kreutz, a very complete one, gives
perhaps a more defnite result. He is led to a parabolic orbit
for the closest representation of the comet’s path, and though
the original observations at Marseilles had again been sought for
unsuccessfully, he does not think their recovery would affect
the conclusion at which he had arrived. The elements of the
definitive parabola are as follow :—
Perihelion passage, 1771, April 19'14144 M.T. at Paris.
Longitude of perihelion 104 1 21°77) weg
ss »,» ascending node 27 53 I1°7 F - = r
Inelinsationie-c- see. sue eee DS mean 77
Logarithm of perihelion distance, 9°955127
Motion—direct.
THE CassINI DIVISION OF SATURN’S R1ING.—At the January
meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, Prof. J. C. Adams
made a very interesting communication on William Ball’s ob-
servations of Saturn, upon which much confusion and misappre-
hension have existed. Attention has been directed to the subject
lately by several astronomical contemporaries, mainly with the
view to show that William Ball was not, as he has been consi-
dered, the discoverer of the chief diviion of Saturn’s ring.
Prof. Adams has carefully examined letters from Ball preserved
in the Archives of the Royal Society, HuyShen’s Ofera Varia,
&c., and remarks: ‘‘I fird no evidence that Ball, any more
than Huyghens, had noticed any indication of a division
in the ring.” This statement may be accepted as con-
clusive that the impression of several English writers as
to Ball’s claim to the discovery of a double ring is a mis-
taken one, and the credit of the discovery rests with Cas-
sini. The announcement of it made by the French astronomer
to the Academy of Sciences is in the following terms :—
“* Apreés la sortie de Saturne hors des rayons du soleil an 1675
dans le crépuscule du matin, le globe de cette planéte parut avec
une bande obscure semblable a celles de Jupiter, étendue selon
la longueur de |’anneau d’orient en occident, comme elle se voit
presque toujours par la lunette de 34 pieds, et la largeur de
Vanneau étoit divisée par une ligne obscure en deux parties
égales, dont lintérieure et plus proche du globe étoit fort
claire, et l’intérieure un peu obscure, II y avoit entre les
couleurs de ces deux parties, a-peu-prés la meme difference qui
est entre l’argent mat et l’argent bruni (ce qui n’avoit jamais eté
observé auparavant), et ce qui s’est depuis vi toujours par la
méme lunette, mais plus clairement dans la crépuscule et a la
clarte de la lune que dans une nuit plus obscure. Cette ap-
parence donna une idée comme d’un anneau double, dont
Vinférieur plus large et plus obscur fit chargé d’un plus étroit
et plus clair.” In two figures attached to this announcement
the ring is shown with the outer half shaded and the inner half
white, and there is a central band across the globe.
ON THE CHEMICAL CORROSION OF
CATHODES*
THs paper contains a description of the influence of various
circumstances upon the chemical corrosion of metallic
cathodes in different liquids.
Several preliminary experiments are described by means of
which it was found that in some cases the chemical corrosion of
a metal is increased, and in others decreased, by making the
metal a cathode. Also, that the loss of weight of a cathode in
an electrolyte is dependent upon several conditions, such as
difference of metal, of liquid, or of strength of liquid, some of
1 By G. Gore, LL.D., F.R.S._ Abstract of paper read before the
Birmingham Philosophical Society, December 14, 1882.
-
Feb. 15, 1883].
which tend to increase, and others to decrease the corrosion, In
a solution of potassic cyanide pure silver is always protected by
being made a cathode. The influence of variations of strength
of acid was tried in several cases.
The results, which at first were apparently contradictory, were
found to depend upon a number of conditions, and it would
require an extensive research to determine the limits of those
conditions; and what the proportions are, in which all those
separate influences participate in producing the effect. Unequal
capillary action is one of them, and its effect is described in a
separate paper entitled, “ The Electrolytic Balance of Chemical
Corrosion.” Another is unequal corrodibility of the metal it-
self. This was investigated, but how it arose was not clearly
ascertained, ‘Traces of certain kinds of soluble impurity in the
liquid was also a disturbing circumstance. The altered chemical
composition of the liquid around the cathode, caused by sub-
stances set free or formed by electrolysis, was another influence ;
this was investigated in the case of a silver cathode in a solution
of potassic cyanide, and the protective influence of the current
upon the cathode was found to be partly due to the formation of
potassic hydrate; the current, however, operates also ia some
other manner. The effect of temperature was also examined,
and it was found that the current exercised a greater protective
power when the liquid was hot than when it was cold ; the cor-
rosive effect without a current was also greatest (as might have
been anticipated) in the hottest liquid. The effects were further
influenced by the degree of strength of the current ; the greatest
strength of current exercised the most protective power, and a
large number of experiments were made expressly to test the
question whether difference of electro-motive force alone, inde-
pendently of difference of strength of current, affected the rate
of corrosion, but the difficulty of insuring perfect uniformity in
all the other conditions which affected the corrosion was so
great that sufficiently decisive results were not obtained.
THE MOVEMENTS OF AIR IN FISSURES
AND THE BAROMETER
FROM time to time attention has been called to the property
exhibited by certain wells in different parts of this country
of maintaining an active and permanent circulation of air. It
was observed that currents alternately entered or issued from
fissures in the sides of the wells, and though in some cases the
first emission on sinking the well consisted of choke-damp, the
gas subsequently passing consisted of no more than atmospheric
air. While it was clear that the currents were not due to the
evolution of any gas by chemical action in the rock or the water,
an explanation of the phenomenon was found inthe fact that the
changes in the direction of the circulation coincided precisely
with the changes of movement of the barometer, the current
being outwards with a falling glass, inwards when the barometer
was rising, and ceasing altogether when no change in the atmo-
spheric pressure was taking place. The strength of the currents
moreover was found to be proportionate to the rapidity of the
barometric movements.
The name of Blowing Wells has come to be applied to such
wells in consequence of these properties. From their extreme
sensitiveness to changes in the atmo-pheric pressure, they have
been found to give useful indications of the approach of bad
weather. Their warnings are rendered audible by fixing horns
or whistles in an air-tight covering, in such a way as to sound
readily to the outward current, or to give a different note for
an outward or inward movement of the air.
The first blowing well of which we have an account appears
to have been of an entirely artificial origin. A well was sunk
at Whittingham, near Preston, to a depth of eighty feet, and
being afterwards abandoned, was covered with a large flagstone
pierced by a small hole. Currents of air were observed to enter
or issue from this hole, according as the barometer was rising or
faJling, and a tin horn fixed in it became auiible at a consider-
able distance. Similar phenomena were exhibited by a cess-
pool, intended to receive offensive residue from some chemicai
works. The pool was arched over, a small hole being left for
the passage of the refuse; a fall in the barometer was made
unpleasantly evident by the issue of offensive vapours.
Subsequently it was noticed that three wells in the New Red
Sandstone, in the neighbourhood of Northallerton exhibited the
same peculiarity. The wells ‘‘blow” through fissures in the
sandstone just above the water-level. The changes in the
* J. Rofe, F.G.S., Geological Magazine, vol. iv. p. 106, 1367.
NATURE
375
direction of the currents coincide precisely with the movements
of the barometer, and the outward current is made to blow a
“buzzer,” which is said to be audible at a mile distance.! In
the years 1879-80 a series of interesting experiments on one of
these wells, situated near Solberge, three and a half miles south of
Northallerton, was made by Mr. Thomas Fairley, F.R.S.E.?
After stating that the water has a composition similar to that
coming from chalk or limestone, and that, though on the first
opening of the fissure a violent outburst of choke-damp had
taken place, the gas subsequently issuing did not differ appre-
ciably from common air, Mr. Fairley gives a detailed account of
observations made on the volume of air passing. The currents
passed through fissures in the sandstone at a depth of forty-five
feet from the surface of the ground, and just above the level of
the water. The measurements were made firstly by a vane-
anemometer, and subsequently by two large dry meters, con-
structed to pass 3,000 cubic feet per hour; these had been
substituted for two of the largest meters in the possession of
the Leeds Corporation, which had been thrown out of gear by
their incapacity to pass the air fast enough. As a result of
these experiments it was found that a fall of the barometer of
0°26 inch was accompanied by an outflow of 83,900 cubic feet of
air, and by an application of Boyle’s law it was calculated the
total capacity of the fissures must amount to nearly 10,000,000
cubic feet.
The existence of currents obeying the same laws is equally
obvious in a well at Langton at a few miles distance. The well
has been long disused, and the water is exceedingly foul, not-
withstanding which a candle burns clearly at the bottom. A
third instance occurs at Ornhams near Boroughbridge, where the
roar of the air-currents passing into the crevices of the rock has
been compared by a workman to that of the waterin a mill-race.
No observations, further than those necessary to prove the exist-
ence of the currents, have yet been made on these wells.
At Hopwas a well has been sunk for the supply of Tamworth
to a depth of 168 feet, the water standing naturally a depth of
129 feet. The shaft passes through alternations of shale and
sandstone, one of the beds of the latter, met with at a depth of
ninety-six feet eight inches, b2ing described as ‘‘ light fissured
sandstone thirty feet four inches.” * From a fissure in this bed,
at 115 feet from the surface, there issued a violent rush of
atmospheric air, which soon spent itself, and was succeeded by
currents showing variations coincident with the barometic
changes. The currents have been noticed in one fissure only,
an irregular opening, of two and a half inches in height by one
inch in width, in a nearly close-sided vertical joint. Experi-
ments on the amount of air traversing this fissure are now in
progress.
The same properties are exhibited in an equally well-marked
degree in a well belonging to Mr. A. Potts at Hoole Hall, near
Chester. The well is eighty-one feet deep and contains ten feet
nine inches of water; it is sunk through glacial deposits, con-
sisting of a tough clay overlying a sand of variable thickness,
into the New Red Sandstone, but, being an old well and lined
with brick to the water-level, the exact nature of the strata and
the position of the fissures is unknown. Communicating with
the interior of the well by pipes, are two whistles of a different
tone, and a pressure gauge; the deeper-toned whistle sounds to
an inward, the shriller-toned to an outward current, and were
they allowed to act freely during unsettled weather, these
whistles would render sleep in the adjoining house impossible.
It is stated by Mr. Potts that changes in the atmospheric
pressure are shown more rapidly by the pressure gauge of the
well than by a mercurial barometer, and that whenever there is
a sudden change for rain, the water in the well becomes agitated
and slightly discoloured. An appearance of ebullition was
noticed also in the Solberge well, but has been attributed by
Mr. Cameron to the falling of fragments of mortar. The
movements of the watet in the Hoole well are being made the
subject of experiment by Mr. Potts. Similar, though less
powerful, currents have been observed in two other wells within
a distance of 500 yards of Hoole Hall. The wells are in a
situation where a similar sequence of glacial deposits probably
exists, but further particulars are at present wanting.
The fissures from which the currents in biowing wells issue
occur usually near, but just above, the water-level. Above
them there is provided an air-tight covering in the glacial clays,
T A. G. Cameron, Geological Magazine, vol. vii. p. 95, 1880.
2 Proc. York Geol. and Polyt. Soc., N.S., vol. vil. p. 409, 1881.
3 Mr. H. J. Marten, Eighth Report on the Circulation of Underground
Waters to the British Association, 1882.
376
NATURE
[ Feb. 15, 1883
or in beds of shale interstratified with the sandstone, cutting
off communication with the open air in this direction. Fissures
traversing a dry sandstone in such a situation constitute an air-
chamber which may clearly be of great capacity. On cutting
ene of asystem of connected fissures, the first eftect is frequently
to liberate a quantity of pent-up air or choke-damp, as at
Solberge ; subsequently the opening becomes the sole channel
by which equilibrium is preserved between the enclosed air and
the atmosphere. It would however seem as probable that the
opening should occur below the water-level as above it. In
such a case the first effect of an expansion of the pent-up gases
would be to force out water, and raise the level of the water in
the well. The agitation of the water noticed in the well at
Chester is probably due to the openings being partly above and
partly just below the surface of the water. That they not infre-
quently are wholly below appears probable from observations on
springs and wells, for it has been noticed that in certain chalk-
springs there is an increase in the amount of water flowing when
there is a rapid fall in the barometer, though no rain may have
fallen, and that under the same circumstances water recommences
to flow from land-drains and percolation gauges. The gaugings
of deep wells in the chalk have confirmed these observations and
show that there is a rise in the water-level under a decrease of
atmospheric pressure. These movements have been attributed
to the expansion of the dissolved gases.1_ It is probable that the
gases when given off by the water, rise into and occupy cavities
from which there is no escape upwards.
It is noticeable however that five certainly, and two probably,
of the blowing wells described above derive their properties from
fissures in the New Red Sandstone ; no case is known in either
chalk or limestone, though these are soluble rocks peculiarly
liable to contain caverns or widened joints. It is not improbable
that the fissures are too numerous in these rocks, so that where-
ever large hollows occur, there are also communications upwards
with the open air. In sandstone on the other hand large
hollows are of extremely rare occurrence, and in view of this
difficulty it has been suggested that the Magnesian Limestone
which underlies it about Northallerton, at a depth of about 400
feet, and is known to be extremely cavernous, may have given
way in places, and led to the formation of hollows in the sandstone.
This explanation however is not applicable to the wells at
Tamworth or Chester, where the sandstone is not underlain
by limestone. It seems more probable that the strength of the
air-currents should be taken in connection with the copiousness of
the water-supply as indicative of the great extent of small ramify-
ing fissures in some of the triassic sandstones. That the united
capacity of such fissures must be very great to account for the
phenomena is undeniable. The volume of air contained in the
cavities at the Solberge well was estimated at about 10,000,000
cubic feet, or as much as would fill a chamber measuring 217
feet each way, length, width, and height.2 In making this
estimate no allowance was made for aqueous vapour, or for air
held in solution in the water, both of which would come off in
increased quantities with a decreasing pressure. The former
was known by the state of the meter to have been present in
large quantities. But making every allowance for these
causes of error, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the
fissures, small as they are individually, must in the aggregate
form a reservoir of immense capacity.
In concluding these remarks we may refer to the practical
application of the knowledge of these properties in fissures. It
has been noticed that the drains of large works begin to smell on
the approach of rain, and there can be little doubt that this is
partly due to the setting up of an outward current corresponding
toafallinthe barometer. In fact every network of covered drains,
and every covered cess-pool, where special provision for ventila-
tion is not made, must constitute a natural blowing well. _ It is
not our intention to discuss here the engineering details of drainage.
It is sufficient to point out that by a faulty system of ventilation, or
by the derangement of a system originally good, sewer-gas might
be forced into a house with every fall of the barometer.
Lastly we would allude to the effect of the barometer on the
escape of fire-damp from coal-seams. Coal is a rock subject to
jointing ; seams are not only broken through and displaced by
faults, but for some distance from the main fracture are traversed
by joints and smaller shifts resulting from the general strain. A
brief visit to a fiery portion of a mine is sufficient to show the
part played by these small clefts. On every side is heard the
* Baldwin Latham, Report of the British Association for 1881, p. 614.
2 Proc. York Geol. and Polyt. Soe., of. cit.
monotonous hissing or bubbling of the escaping gas, often
accompanied by the deeper note of a ‘‘ blower,” or one of those
larger channels often observed in connection with faults: The
gas is continously given off as a result of a slow decomposition
taking place in the coal, and the amount that comes off indicates
a great extent of connected fissuring. For though cavities
charged with gas under pressure and liable to exhaustion
are found, yet large ‘‘ blowers ’” commonly continue active for
years, and must therefore drain a large area of theseam. While
the movement of the gas in the blower differs from that of the
air in sandstone fissures, in being always in one direction, namely
outwards, it is at the same time evident that the same cause
which induces an outward current in the well would cause an
increase in the outward current from the coal. The increase
would be proportional to the capacity of the fissures ; a fall in
the barometer from thirty to twenty-nine inches for example
would cause th of the body of gas stored in the fissures to be
added to the ordinary outflow. The liability to explosion with a
falling glass has long been a subject of observation. When it is
considered that a wide margin is usually allowed in the ventilation
to ensure the sufficient dilution and removal of fire-damp, and that
a number of other contingencies may bring about an explosion,
it becomes evident tlat a powerful cause must be operating to
make the influence of the barometric changes perceptible.
A, STRAHAN
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, January 25.—‘‘ Internal Reflections in the
Eye,” by H. Frank Newall, B.A.
The author in this paper describes the appearance and investi-
gates the cause of a faint light seen under certain circumstances
now to be related :—Stand opposite a uniformly dark wall in a
darkened room. Direct the eye to any point in front, and
keeping the eye fixed, and being ready to perceive any appear-
ance out of the line of direct vision without moving the eyes
towards it, hold up a candle at arm’s length, and move it to and
fro over about two inches ona level with the point fixed, and a little
to the right or left of it. The faint light may be seen moving
with a motion opposite to that of the candle on the other side of
the point of direct vision.
Near inspection of the light shows it to be an inverted image
of the candle, about equal in size, very faint.
Reasons related in the paper lead the author to offer the
following explanation : the physical cause of the faint light or
“ghost,” is light which, proceeding outwards from the image ot
the candle, formed on the retina by the lens, is reflected back on
to the retina by the anterior surface of the lens. This second
image is ‘‘referred”’ outwards, and seems as if produced by a
faint source of light outside the eye.
The effects of alterations of the state of accommodation on the
appearance of the ghost are described; the question as to
whether the retina is to be regarded as a screen or as a regular
reflector is discussed; and the results of calculations based on
numbers given by Helmholtz for his schematic eye are noted as
forming a difficulty in the explanation. :
If the candle be replaced by sunlight, further observations are
to be made : (1) signs of the faulty centering of eye-surfaces, as
shown by the fact that the sun and its ghost do not arrive at the
centre of the field of vision together ; (2) signs of oblique re-
flection at a concave mirror, as shown by the fact that the ghost
is circular in only one state of accommodation, whilst in other
states it is extended either in a horizontal direction for near
focus, or in a vertical direction for distant focus.
To about four out of fifteen persons the author has failed to
show the ghost ; but no relation is as yet observed between the
visibility of the ghost and the kind of sight of the observer, as
defined by the ordinary terms, long- and short-sightedness.
A second ‘ ghost,” probably due to reflections entirely within
the lens, is referred to in the paper: but this, on account of its
indistinctness, has not been investigated, except to establish the
fact that its motion is the same in direction as that of the candle
in the circumstances above related.
February 1.—On the Electrical Resistance of Carbon Contacts,
by Shelford Bidwell, M.A., LL.B. :
The experiments described in the paper were undertaken with
the object of investigating the changes of resistance occurring in
carbon contacts under various conditions.
>
_ Feb. £5, 1883 |
NATURE
377
A short movable carbon rod was placed across and at right
angles to a similar rod which was fixed in a horizontal position,
and arrangements were made for varying and accurately mea-
suring the pressure of the one upon the other, for varying and mea-
suring the current passing through them, and for measuring the
resistance at the points of contact. The following are the most
important results arrived at :—
1, Carbon Contacts.—Changes of pressure produce propor-
tionately greater changes of resistance with small pressures than
with great pressures, Thus, when the pressure was increased
from *25 to °5 grms., the resistance fell from 16’I to 11‘o ohms.,
the difference being 5°1 ohms ; whereas, when the pressure was
increased from 25 to 50 grms., the resistance fell from 2‘r to
1°8 ohms., the difference being only *3 ohms.
Changes of pressure produce proportionately greater changes
of resistance with weak currents than with strong currents. Thus
when the pressure was increased from ‘25 to °5 grm., the resist-
ance fell from 9°27 to 8°45 ohms with a current of 1 ampere;
and from 25°50 to 17°75 ohms with a current of ‘oor ampere.
Changes of current, the pressure remaining constant, produce
greater changes of resistance with small currents than with large
currents, and with light pressures than with heavy pressures.
When the resistance of a carbon contact has been reduced by
an increase of pressure, it will, on the removal of the added
pressure, rise to approximately its original value.
The passage of a current whose strength does not exceed a
certain limit, depending upon the pressure, causes a permanent
diminution in the resistance (so long, of course, as the contacts
are undisturbed), and the stronger the current, the greater will
be such diminution,
When the strength of the current exceeds a certain limit, the
resistance is greatly and permanently increased (generally becom-
ing infinite). The greater the pressure, the higher will be such
limit.
Unless special means are adopted for maintaining a constant
current, the fall in the resistance which attends increased pres-
sure is greater than that which is due to increased pressure alone
being partly due also to the increased current.
It is not proved that the diminished resistance which follows
an increase of current is an effect of tenyperature.
2. Metallic Contacts.—For the sake of comparison, a few ex-
periments were made with metals. The metal principally used
was bismuth, which was selected on account of its high specific
resistance, but experiments were also made with capper and
platinum.
In the case of bismuth, and probably of other metals :—With
a given pressure, the weaker the current the higher will be the
resistance. This effect is most marked when the current is
small. Thus, with a pressure of ‘1 grm, the resistance, with a
current of ‘I ampere, was 2 ohms; with ‘ol ampere it was
16°92 ohms ; and with a current of ‘oor ampere it was 143°3
ohms. With a pressure of *5 grm., the resistance with the same
currents as before was 1°45, 1°47, and 3°8 ohms.
The passage of a current, even when very small, causes a
permanent adhesion between metallic contacts. This effect had
been previously observed by Mr. Stroh.
Increase in the current is accompanied by a fall of resistance,
and if the current be again reduced to its original strength, the
resulting change in the resistance will be small, and it will in no
case return to its original value.
Diminution in the strength of the current is followed by a
small fall in the resistance if the metal is clean, and by a small
rise in the resistance if the metal is not clean.
Increased pressure produces a greater fall in the resistance
with small pressures than with great pressures, and with weak
currents than with strong currents.
The resistance, after having been reduced by increased pres-
sure, does not return to its original value when the added pressure
is remoyed.
3. Reasons for the Superiority of Carbon over Metal in the
Microphone.—The above observations may perhaps furnish an
answer to the question, Why does carbon give far better results
than any metal when used inthe microphone? The mere fact
that a current causes delicately-adjusted metal contacts to adhere
to each other seems sufficient to account for the superior efficiency
of carbon, In addition to this phenomenon of adhesion, and
probably connected with it, are the facts that metallic contacts,
unlike those of carbon, do not even approximately recover their
original resistance when once it has been reduced by increased
pressure or increased current, unless indeed complete separation
occurs ; and even the initial effect of pressure upon resistance is
in general much more marked with carbon than with metals.
Lastly, it is to be noticed that in the case of carbon, pressure
and current act in consonance with each other: pressure diminishes
the resistance, and in so doing, increases the strength of the
current ; and the current thus strengthened effects a further
diminution in the resistance. In the case of metals, on the other
hand (or at least in the case of clean bismuth) pressure and cur-
rent tend to produce opposite effects. The resistance is dimi-
nished by pressure, and the current consequently strengthened ;
but by reason of the increased strength of current, the resistance
is higher than it would have been if the current had remained
unchanged. The effect of this antagonism is not very great, but
it seems sufficient to give a material advantage to carbon.
The paper contains fifteen tables, four curves, and three
diagrams, illustrative of the apparatus used.
February 8.—‘‘ Note on Terrestrial Radiation.”
Tyndall, F.R.S.
On Hind Head, a fine moorland plateau about three miles
from Haslemere, with an elevation of 900 feet above the sea, I
have recently erected a small iron hut, which forms, not only a
place of rest, but an extremely suitable station for meteorological
observations. Here, since the beginning of last November, I
have continued to record from time to time the temperature of
the earth’s surface as compared with that of the air above the
surface. My object was to apply, if possible, the results which
my experiments had established regarding the action of aqueous
vapour upon radiant heat.
Two stout poles about 6 feet high were firmly fixed in the
earth 8 feet asunder. From one pole to the other was stretched
a string, from the centre of which the air thermometer was sus-
pended. Its bulb was 4 feet above the earth. The surface
thermometer was placed upon a layer of cotton wool, on a spot
cleared of heather, which thickly covered the rest of the ground.
The outlook from the thermometers was free and extensive ; with
the exception of the iron hut just referred to, there was no house
near, the hut being about 50 yards distant from the thermometers.
On November 11, at 5.45 p.m., these were placed in position,
and observed from time to time afterwards. Here are the
By John
results :—
6) pm; Air 36° Fahr. Wool 26° Fahr.
8.10 ” te ” 36 ene » 25
9:15 3, +» 9) 30 os ny 25
air almost dead calm, sky clear, and stars shining.
November 12, the wind had veered to the east, and was rather
strong. The thermometers, exposed at 5 p.m., yielded the fol-
lowing results :—
5.15 p.m. Air 38° Wool 33”
5-45 ” tee ” 38 wee i oth
6.45 ” oe ” 38 ee » 35
9 ” wee » 39 sieja ” 36
During the first and last of these observations the sky was
entirely overcast, during the other two a few stars were dimly
visible,
On November 13, 25, and 26, observations were also made,
but they presented nothing remarkable.
It was otherwise, however, on December ro, On the morning
of that day the temperature was very low, snow a foot deep
covered the heather, while there was a very light movement of
the air from the north-egst. Assuming aqueous vapour to play
the part that I have ascribed to it, the conditions were exactly
such as would entitle us on @ frtori grounds to expect a con-
siderable waste of the earth’s heat. At 8.5 a.m. the thermo-
meters were placed in position, having left the hut at a common
temperature of 35°. The cotton wool on which the surface
thern.ometer was laid was of the same temperature. A single
minute’s exposure sufficed to establish a difference of 5° between
the two thermometers. The following observations were then
made :—
8.10 a.m. Air 29° Wool 16°
8.15 ,, 9» 29 pes poe
Thus, in ten minutes, a difference of no less than 17° had
established itself between the two thermometers.
Up to this time the sun was invisible: a dense dark cloud,
» In April, 1882, the author communicated this observation to Mr. Preece,
who referred to it in a paper read at the Southampton meeting of the Brit.
Assoc., on ‘“ Recent Progress in Telephony,”
378
NATURE
[/eb. 15, 1883
resting on the opposite ridge of Blackdown, virtually retarded
his rising.
8.20 a.m. Air 27° Wool 12°
SasONes Se ne | AS set ra
8.40 ,, ae my 25 des LO.
8.45 55 te x 27 xy Il
8.50 ,, i 2) ve ney Le
During the last two observations, the newly-risen sun shone
upon the air thermometer. As the day advanced, the difference
between air and wool became gradually less. From 18° at 8.50
a.m., it had sunk at 9.25 to 15°, at 9.50 to 13,, while at 10.25,
the sun being unclouded at the time, the difference was 11° ; the
air at that hour being 31° and the wool 20°.
In the celebrated experiments of Patrick Wilson, the greatest
difference observed between a surface of snow and the air 2 feet
above the snow, was 16°; while the greatest difference noticed
by Wells during his long-continued observations fell short of
this amount. Had Wilson employed swansdown or cotton wool,
and had he placed his thermometer 4 feet instead of 2 feet above
the surface, his difference would probably have surpassed mine,
for his temperatures were much lower than those observed by
me. There is, however, considerable similarity in the conditions
under which we operated. Snow in both cases was on the
ground, and with him there was a light movement of the air
from the east, while with me the motion was from the north-
east. The great differences of temperature between earth and
air, which both his observations and mine reveal, are due toa
common cause, namely, the withdrawal of the check to
terrestrial radiation which is imposed by the presence of aqueous
vapour.
Let us now compare these results with others obtained at a
time of extreme atmospheric serenity, when the air was almost a
dead calm, and the sky without a cloud. At 3.30 p.m.,
January 16, the thermometers were placed in position, and
observed afterwards with the following results :— :
3-40 p.m. Air 43° Wool 37°
3:59 55 229 ” 2 00 » 35
4 ” .* » 40 ore ” 35
4.15 ? 29 22 ae 329 » 34
4-39 5, IG ” 3 see » 32
5 ” 000 » 37 G99 ” 28
5-39 5, as Oh Sv 000 239°
6 ” i 30 s» 32
These observations, and especially the last of them, merit our
attention. There was no visible impediment to terrestrial radi-
ation. The sky was extremely clear, the moon was shining ;
Orion, the Pleiades, Charles’s Wain, including the small com-
panion star at the bend of the shaft, the north star, and many
others, were clearly visible. On no previous occasion during
these observations had I seen the firmament purer; and still,
under these favourable conditions, the difference between air and
wool at 6 p.m. was only 4°, or less than one-fourth of that
observed on the morning of December Io.
We have here, I submit, a very striking illustration of the
action of that invisible constituent of the atmosphere, to the
influence of which I drew attention more than twenty-two years
ago. On December Io the wind was light from the north-east,
with a low temperature. On January 16 it was very light from
the south-west, with a higher temperature. The one was a dry
air, the other was a humid air; the latter, therefore, though of
great optical transparency, proved competent to arrest the
invisible heat of the earth.
The variations in the temperatures of the wool recorded in the
last column of figures are, moreover, not without a cause. The
advance of temperature from 28° at 5 p.m. to 32° at 6 p.m., is
not to be accounted for by any visible change in the atmosphere,
or by any alteration in the motion of the air. The advance was
due to the inirusion at 6 p.m, of an invisible screen between the
earth and firmament. .
As the night advanced the serenity of the air became, if pos-
sible, more perfect, and the observations were continued with
the following results :—
6.30 p.m, Air 36° ‘ Wool 31°
7 53 ae »» 36 0 », 28
7-30 ” see ” 354 Bas ” 28
8 ” sea pH 25 an », 26
8.30 ” one » 34 eee » 25
9 ” see » 35 Jo} 9 «27
we ” yd ” 28
10.30 3), ates UNE mae ee Ite » 29
After this last observation, my notes contain the remark,
“* Atmosphere exquisitely clear. From zenith to horizon cloud-
less all round.”
Here, again, the difference of 4° between the temperature of
the wool at 8.30 p.m., and its temperature at 10.30 p.m., is
not to be referred to any sensible change in the condition of the
atmosphere.
The observations were continued on January 17, 23, 24, 25,
and 30 ; but I will confine myself to the results obtained on the
evening of the day last-mentioned. The thermometers were
exposed at 6.45 p.m., and by aid of a lamp read off from time
to time afterwards.
7.15 p.m. Air 32° Wool 26°
8 7 = rp eee + ne)
O30), re et des pe 27)
During these observations the atmosphere was very serene.
There was no moon, but the firmament was powdered with
stars. The serenity, however, had been preceded by heavy
rain, which doubtless had left the atmosphere charged with
aqueous vapour. The movement of the air was from the south-
westand light. Here again, with an atmosphere at least as clear as
that on December 10, the difference between air and wool did
not amount to one-fourth of that observed on the latter
occasion,
The results obtained on February 3 were corroborative.
thermometers were exposed at 6.15 p.m.
7.15 p.m. Air 34° Wool 28°
8.25 ” see » 34 con op 342)
Here again, the difference between air and wool is only 4°,
although the sky was cloudless, and the stars were bright, The
movement of the air was from the south-west and light.
On the forenoon of this day there had been a heavy and
persistent rain storm. Heavy rain and high wind also occurred
on the night following. The serene interval during which the
The
| observations were made lay, therefore, between the two storms.
| Doubtless the gap was well filled with pure aqueous vapour.
Further observations were made in considerable numbers, but
| they need not here be dwelt upon, my object being to illustrate
a principle rather than to add to the multitudinous records of
meteorology. It will be sufficient to say that, with atmospheric
conditions sensibly alike, the waste of heat from the earth varies
from day to day; a result due to the action of a body which
escapes the sense of virion. It is hardly necessary for me to
repeat here my references to the observations of Leslie, Hen-
nessey, and others, which revealed variations in the earth’s
emission for which the observers could not account. A close
inspection of the observations of the late Principal Forbes on the
Faulhorn proves, I think, that the action of aqueous vapour
came there into play, and his detection of this action, while un-
acquainted with its cause, is in my opinion a cogent proof of the
accuracy of his work as a meteorologist.
Postscript.—In the Philosophical Transactions for 1882, Part I.
p- 348, I refer to certain experiments executed by Prof. Soret of
Geneva. My friend has recently drawn my attention to a com-
munication made by him to the French Association for the
Advancement of Science in 1872. It gives me great pleasure
to cite here the conclusions at which he has arrived.
‘The influence of humidity is shown by the whole of the
observations ; and it may be stated generally that, other circum-
stances being equal, the greater the tension of aqueous vapour
the less intense is the radiation.
‘In winter, when the air is drier, the radiation ismuch more
intense than in summer, for the same height of the sun above the
horizon. 2
“On several occasions a more intense radiation has been
observed in dry than in humid weather, although the atmo-
sphere was incontestably purer and more transparent in the
second case than in the first.
‘*The maximum intensity of radiation, particularly in the
summer, corresponds habitually to days exceptionally cold and
dry.”
Sack are the results of experiments, executed by a most
excellent observer, on the radiation of the sun. ‘They apply
word for word to terrestrial radiation. They are, moreover, in
complete harmony with the results published by General
Strachey in the Philosophical Magazine for 1866. Meteoro-
logists will not, I trust, be offended with me if I say that from
such outsiders, fresh to the work and equipped with the neces-
a
Feb. 15, 1883 |
NATURE
379
sary physical knowledge, they may expect efficient aid towards
introducing order and causality: among their valuable observa-
tions.
Mathematical Society, February 8.—Prof. Henrici, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—Capt. P. A. MacMahon, R.A., was
admitted into the Society—The following communications
were made :—On the Sylvester-Kempe quadruplane, by Mr. H.
Hart.—On curves obtained by an extension of Maclaurin’s
methed of constructing conics, by Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S.—A
generalisation of the ‘‘nine-point”’ properties ofa triangle, by
Capt. P. A. MacMahon.—On the use of certain differential
‘operators in the theory of equations, by Mr. J. Hammond.—A
method for reducing the differential expression d¢/./{¢—a, ¢- B,
¢—y, 7-5} to the standard form, by Mr. J. Griffiths. The
‘‘nine-point’”” property was the following :—If through the
centre of the circle 4 #C, and the ortho-centre of the triangle
ABC, lines be drawn making angles a and r—a with the sides
of the triangle, twelve points will be obtained on the sides, and
these lie six and six on two circles of radius } R coseca. Each
circle also passes through six other points, and they are inscribed
circles of the two three-cusped hypocycloids, which are the
envelopes of the two tangents, equally inclined to the axis (at
angles a), to a parabola inscribed in the triangle ABC. Of
course, when a = 4, the circles become the ordinary nine-point
2
circle of ABC.
Linnean Society, February 1.—Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Messrs. F, W. Burbidge and
Joseph Johnson were elected Fellows of the Society.—Dr. W. (Gs
- Ondaatje called attention to examples of red coral from Ceylon.
| —Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer exhibited a model of the fruit of
the Double Cocoa-nut (Lodoicea Seychellarum, Lab.), of an
unusual form, obtained from Major-General C. G. Gordon, R.E.
—A series of microscopic sections of coal-plants were shown on
behalf of Mr. J. Norman.—The fullowing paper was then
read :— On the structure, development, and life-history of a
tropical epiphyllous lichen, by H. Marshall Ward. The author’s
observations lead him to believe that the epiphyllous cryptogam
in question supports the view that a lichen is a compound organ-
ism composed of an alga on which an ascomycetous fungus has
become more or less intimately affixed and dependent. It is
developed on the leaves of many plants, but it has been more
closely watched on AZichelia furcata. The lichen presents four
types, orange-red stellate patches, greyish-green blotches, clear
grey spots, and white shining circles, but these pass impercept-
ibly into one another, and vary in size from a speck to a quarter
of an inch in diameter. The reddish spots of the earlier stages
is an alga of which the radiating filaments are in part reproduc-
tive organs, and in part barren hairs. It subsequently passes
into the grey and green stages, and by a modification of growth
the invasion of a fungus mycelium succeeds. The white matrix
of the complete lichen consists of the same algal thallus invested
by dense masses of the fungus hyphze, which produce shining black
dots, viz. the fruit bodies. The author describes in detail the pecu-
liarities of growth and reproduction of the alga and fungus, and for-
mation of the lichen. He alludes to and criticises Dr. Cunningham’s
account of Mycotdea parasitica, which latter is evidently closely
related to that described by himself, Assuming that Mycoidea and
Ward’s Alga are generically the same, either Cunningham
discovered a female organ of reproduction which becomes
fertilised and produces zoospores, or he confounded these
with certain fertile hair organs described by Ward. As re-
gards the systematic position of the alga, a comparison with
Coleocheta suggests that there is very little in common le-
yond mode of growth of the disc-like thallus, and the pro-
duction of zoospores from certain cells. The genus Chryoolepus,
moreoyer, presents features which agree in several important
points, viz., orange-red oily-cell contents, habitat, production of
zoospores in ovoid cells developed terminally and laterally, The
structure of the thallus, and relative positions of the main masses
of fungal and algal portions, agree with what occurs in hetero-
merous crustaceous lichens, as Graphidea ; but the perithecia
indicate an angiocarpous alliance, bringing this form nearer such
families as Pertusaria and Verrucaria, to the latter of which it
may ultimately be referred.—A paper was read by F. Maule
Campbell, on the pairing of 7zgenaria Guyoniz, and description
of certain organs in the male abdominal sexual region. Two
cases are related in which during confinement the males killed
the females after union, and an instance is also given of an
attempt to impregnate an immature female which was also
destroyed by the male. In neither case could hunger have been
the cause of the attack. The writer explains the occurrences,
and also the accounts of females destroying males after union,
on the ground “that those instincts which are habitually prac-
tised throughout the far greater portion of the life of the species,
and on which it is dependent, would scarcely be suspended for a
longer period than necessary for the sexual union.” Some of the
habits of spiders, and especially of this species, are mentioned
as bearing on these sexual conflicts, and the specific benefits
which would arise from them are referred to. The paper con-
cluded by a note on some glands (probably for spinning) situated
on the convexity of the abdominal sexual region. The ducts
are con-iderably convoluted, and open through transparent tubular
spines which are arranged transversely to the axis of the body of
the spider. Two papilla-like processes below the opening of the
genital sinus are described.
Zoological Society, February 6.—Prof. W. H. Flower,
LL.D., F.R.S., president, in the chair.—A letter was read from
Mr. F. C. Selous, dated from the Matabele Country, on the
possibility of obtaining a White Rhinoceros.—Extracts were read
from a letter received from the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S.,
of Cape Town, giving an account of the habits of some reptiles
which he had had in captivity.—A communication was read
from Messrs. Salvin and Godman, containing the description of
a new species of Pigeon of the genus Ofdiphaps from Ferguson
Island, one of the D’Entrecasteaux group, which they proposed
to call O. insudaris—Mr. Sclater read some further notes on
Tragelaphus gratus, and exhibited drawings of both sexes of
this antelope, taken from specimens living in the Menagerie of
the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. —A communication was read from
Mr. E. W. White, F.Z.S., containing some supplementary notes
to a fofmer paper on the birds of the Argentine Republic.—A
communication was read from the Rev, G. A. Shaw, contain-
ing some notes on the habits of an Aye-Aye which he had had
in confinement for several months, and other information respect-
ing this animal.—Mr G. A. Boulenger, F.Z.S., read a paper
containing the description of a new species of Lizard of the
genus Zmyalius from Peru, which he proposed to name &.
palpebralis.
BERLIN
Physiological Society, January 12.—Prof. du Bois Reymond,
in the chair.—Dr, Falk read a contribution upon the phenome-
non lately demonstrated by experiments on animals, that great
oedema of the lungs can be produced in a very short time. even
in a quarter of an hour, by compressing or otherwise interrupting
the function of the left side of the heart; w ereas a similar
action on the right side does not produce such ‘n effect. Dr.
Falk has had an opportunity in two post-mortems of proving
the correctness of these observations in respect to man, In one
of these cases, a strong, healthy man died in consequence of a
discharge of shot, and the post-mortem showed that the cause of
death was the penetration of a shot into the wall of the left
ventricle, The lung of this previously healthy man exhibited a
high degree of oedema. In the second case, a healthy railway-
workman was killed by a blow of a buffer upon the chest. Tne
post-mortem showed a rupture of the right ventricle to have
been the cause of death; the lungs which were carefully
examined, did nct show a trace of oedema,—Dr. W. Wolff
described the structure of the tactile c>rpuscles, according to his
researches, they contain no nerve-branchings, but consist of a
rugose sheath, granular contents, and the free ends of the enter-
ing nerve-fibres. In opposition to other histologi-ts he further
found the epithelium-cells which he studied in the cornez of
small mammals to be devoid of nerves ; and in agreement with
this he has always found gland-cells to be withour nerve, Tne
sympathic nerve-fibres which enter into the glands according
to Dr. Wolff always end in unstriped muscles. —Prof. Kronecker
reported on experiments of Dr. Meiss, upon the irritability of
the heart under abnormal conditions of nutrition. During experi-
ments, undertaken to study the comparative effects of concen-
trated and diluted blood upon the frog’s heart, and which
established the occurrence of a more energetic activity by
nutrition with conceutrated blood, certain remarkable deviations
oceasionally occurred from the general law that frog’s hearts
(always) respond to every stimulation with maximal contractions.
These deviations consisted in the occurrence of smaller sub-
maximal beats between the maximal beats. [Further investiga-
tion of this appearance led to the conclusion that this was a
380
result of abnormal conditions of nutrition which was not easily
orcertainly tobe produced. These sub-maximal contractions and
the irregular pulse, were chiefly observed when passing a current
of asphyxiated blood through the heart, but they always dis-
appeared on supplying the heart with fresh blood.
Physical Society, January 19.—Prof, Roeber in the chair.—
Prof. Schwalbe supplemented his former communications to
the Society on ice-caves, wtth additional facts he had recently
come to know through literature. He noted, as a most inter-
esting phenomenon, that the occurrence of ice-caves was not
confined to limestones, basalts, and lavas, but that they have
also been observed in gypsum-hills. Thus, in the gypsum-hill
Iletzkaja Satscha, in the Southern Ural, is an ice-cave which
Murchison visited in August ; situated in the street, it was closed
with a simple wooden door, and it was utilised by the inhabitants
of the district as a store-room. Its temperature was so low that
the drinks kept in it only a short distance from the mouth were
frozen. And as with all other cayes distinguished by their low
temperature and ice-formation, it was stated of this one, that in
winter the air in it was very warm, so that people slept
in it at night without requiring their sheep-skin furs. Murchi-
son had applied to Sir John Herschel for an_explana-
tion of the phenomenon, and Herschel had offered the
hypothesis, that it was a case of cold and heat waves, which,
penetrating inwards from the surface of the earth, were retarded,
and so caused the low temperature in summer and the warmth
in winter. Prof. Schwalbe, however, has convinced himself
that this explanation is inadequate; for the summers in which
ice-caves have been visited and found filled with ice, have been
preceded by very mild winters, eg. the winter 1881-2 was very
mild, yet the ice-cave in bohemia, which he had himself visited,
was covered with ice; besides, the retardation of cold several
months is very improbable. Before a sufficient explanation of
thee peculiar conditions of temperature can be reached, con-
tinuous scientific observations must be made, for a long time, of
the course of the temperature throughout the year. As to the
warmth of air in the caves in winter, and the melting of the ice
in winter, there are only observations by lay-persons, which,
however, strikingly agree, even in the assertion that the ice-
formation regularly takes place on a large scale in the month of
May. With regard to the immediate cause of the ice formation
no one (according to the author) can be in doubt, who has
visited an ice-cave, and seen how the dropping water from the
roof solidifies directly on falling. Water that has trickled
through is over-cooled, and solidifies just as after falling to
the ground, even when it meets a different solid body; the
ice, further, is only met with where water drops. The strong
cooling of the water and of the rock through which it has
trickled, is, perhaps, connected with the process of filtration
through the earth-strata. On this point experimental research
must decide, following up the investigation made by Jungk in
1865, who observed a lowering of temperature in filtration of
water through porous partitions. Such laboratory experiments,
exact long-continued temperature-observations in accessible ice-
caves, and topographical examinations of as many as possible of
these caves (which are not rare), will surely bring about a solu-
tion of this still obscure natural problem.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, February 5.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—On the physical and
mechanical con-titution of the sun (third and last part), by M.
Faye. He deals with the depth of spots, the movements of
hydrogen and their effects, the height of protuberances and an
illusion attending them, the clouds of the photosphere, &c.—M.
Hirn presented an analysis of a érechure by himself and M.
Hollauer. ‘‘ Refutations of a second critique of M. G. Zeuner.”
It relates to the theory of steam-engines.—On the spherical
representation of surfaces, by M. Darboux.—On the functions
satisfying the equation AF = o, by M. Appell.—On the dis-
placement of the sodium lines, observed in the spectrum of the
great comet of 1882, by MM. Thollon and Guy. From the
displacement ob erved with a single-prism spectroscope, he had
estimated the rate of recession of the comet at from 61 to 76
km. per second. This is confirmed by M. Bigourdan, who,
from a determination of the trajectory of the comet, estimates
the velocity at the time in question (3 p.m. on September 18)
at 73 km. The spectroscope is thus shown to be reliable
for the purpose referred to.—Magnetic action of the sun
NATURE
[ Fed. 15, 1883
and the planets; it does not produce secular variation in
the great axes of orbits: note by M. Quet.—The distriku-
tion of energy in the solar spectrum and chlorophyll, by M.
Timiriazeff. Prof. Langley finds, with his bolometer, the maxi-
mum of radiant energy in the orange, precisely that part of
the spectrum which corresponds to the characteristic band of
chlorophyll. M. Timiriazeff is studying the quantitative rela-
tion between solar energy absorbed by the chlorophyll of a leaf
and that stored up through chemical work produced. It appears
that the leaf can transform into useful work as much as 40 per
cent. of the energy absorbed.—On some combinations of sul-
phite of magnesia with alkaline sulphites, by M. Gorgeu.—On
hydraulic silica; reply to M. Le Chatelier, by M. Landrin.—
On the mutual displacements of bases in neutral salts, the sys-
tems remaining homogeneous, by M. Menschutkine.—The
microbes of marine fishes, by MM. Olivier and Richet. In all
the fishes they examined (about 150) there were, in the perito-
neal liquid, the lymph, the blood, and consequently in the tissues,
microbes more or less numerous, having all the characters of
terrestrial microbes, and reproducing similarly. Besides direct
observation, the authors had recourse to experiments (1) of cul-
tivation, (2) of occlusion. (In the latter case the fishes, or parts
of them, were put into melted paraffine, which, after solidi-
fying, was coated with several layers of collodion and
Canada balsam, to protect from atmospheric germs. In
a few weeks microbes were always abundantly developed.)
The organisms were mostly Sacz//us.—On the reaction-time of
olfactory sensations, by M. Beaunis. He gives numerical results
for this quantity (which is the time between sense-excitation
and the moment when the person indicates bya signal that he
has experienced the sensation) in the case of ten substances :
ammonia, acetic acid, camphor, &c. They range from 37 to
to 67 hundredths of a second. The time is longer than that for
tactile, visual, and auditory sensations (in the author’s case shorter
than for tactile sensations).—On the respiration of aquatic plants
or submerged aquatic-aérial plants, by M. Barthelemy. He
considers the phenomena brought forward as proof and measure
of the chlorophyllian function merely exceptional, and produced
by the mode of experimentation. Under normal conditions,
the special respiration of green organs cannot have the universal
importance attributed to it.—Note on the morphologival nature
of the aérial branches of adult Psz/otum, by M. Bertrand.—In-
fluence of temperature on the production of wheat, by M. Du-
chaussoy. He gives in a table the yield of wheat in the depart-
ment of Cher, and the mean temperature of spring and summer,
from 1872 to 1881. The descending scale of the yield is nearly
that of the mean temperature of summer. The years 1873 and
1876 are exceptions, and their small yield is explained by the
dryness of the summer.
CONTENTS
Tue Tertiary History OF THE GRAND CANon District. By Dr.
Pace
ARCHES GEYIKIE SROs. cc) cate) i) Meunier: lie) SiR ean 357
CENTRAL ‘ASIA.” By AS Hi-KRANES 5502 5 eo 4 359
PHYSIGAEIOETIGS «Mico ewe hips Wed eee otha tee: = + 362
Our Boox SHELF:—
«othe Near-Book of Pharmacy). «)ce) =! is) <1 ll sine) seo
“Mémoires de la Socié:é des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles de
(Bordeanxs 3, 1s Lcplc-at mee Ga Me) Low oT eC ny cite . 362
LxTTeERs To THE EpDITOR:—
Natural Selection and Natural Theology—Dr. Grorce J. Ro-
MANES, ERIS); JuBsEUANNAY, RoR ooss («oc el iol eomen anne
Two Kinds of Stamens with Different Functions in the Same
Flower.—Dr. Fritz MULLER (W2th Jilustrations). . . . . 364
The Markings on Jupiter.—W. F. DenninG (With Illustration). 365
Meteor of November 17.—H. Dennis TaYLoR . . . - «© « + 365
Aino Ethnology.—Dr, J. J. REIN. . - . - + + 2 + « « 365
Hovering of Birds —J-R. . . - . es we ee ts 366
Intelligence in Animals.—Dr. J. Rar, F.R.S.; D. Prpczon . . 3
The Sea Serpent.—Dr J. Raz, F.R-S. . 2. » - - « + « « 366
The “' Zoological Record.”"—Sypngey J. Hickson . . . «+ . 366
S1eve-TuBes Tee oes ss OL Sk
CassELv’s NaturRAL History (W2th Jilustrations) . . +. +. . 367
Tue CONDENSATION OF Liquip Firms on WETTED Soups. By J.
WiGEARKS ute Sys way enue eee Pia! uci y >
Tue STrocKHOLM ETHNOGRAPHICAL Exn1BITION.—Dr, A. B. MEYER 371
BARON MIKLOUHO-MACLAY> 6 4. ).° 5. oc ete ee teme sin) fo 371
NU Cp i rh ee Ses ck me cyt
Our AsTRONOMICAL COLUMN :—
The Gomet of'r77r - - . . + = = 5 374
The Cassini Division of Saturn’s Ring . Ae or = 974
On THE CHEMICAL Corrosion oF Catuopes. By G. Gors, LL.D.,
ARIS oo a car) Zens peu eee ie ee Mes phe « ste’: elie ba IO
Tue MovEeMENTS OF AIR IN FISSURES AND THE BAROMETER. By A.
STRAHANI cote? 98 cto eee ree EE Celtce™ “oY aire of ae RTS
SocieT1ES AND ACADEMIES . - + - + + © + «© @ 376
See NATURE
381
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1883
PROFESSOR HENRY SMITH
N Friday, the 9th inst., we lost one of our most
gifted men. By the death of Prof. Henry Smith
there has dropped out from our roll-call a name which
was already known among a wide circle of friends and
admirers, but which would assuredly have been more
widely known and more fully recognised if he had
remained longer in our ranks.
Henry John Stephen Smith was born in Dublin, but
when he was about two years old his family, at his father’s
death, removed to England. His precocity from the earliest
age was remarkable; but what was perhaps still more
remarkable, the talents which he thus showed did not, as
is so often the case, fail him in after life. He was a fair-
haired child, and was known among his relations as the
“white crow.” When he was two years old it was
understood that he could read; and on his third birth-
day it was agreed that he should be tried, on the condi-
tion that, in the case of failure, the white crow should be
allowed to fly out of the window, which was set open for
the purpose. Itis needless to add that there was no occa-
sion for flight. At the age of four he was found one day lying
flat on the floor, with his face raised slightly above his book
(his sight being, even then, short) teaching himself Greek
from an old-fashioned grammar full of antique contrac-
tions in the characters. His subsequent education was
carried on until he was eleven by his mother, and then by
tutors. For an account of the rapidity with which he
galloped over the ground with one of them, we are indebted
to an interesting letter in the 77wes of the 12thinst. With
a view to his education the family removed to Oxford in
1840, whence he was transplanted to Rugby. He entered
the school in August, 1841, the commencement of the last
year of Dr. Arnold’s Head Mastership, and was in the
Boarding House of the late Rev. Henry Highton, who
was himself an old Rugbeian, a pupil of Arnold, and Co-
Exhibiticner from the school with the present Dean of
Llandaff and the late Dean of Westminster, and had lately
graduated at Oxford, taking a First Class in Classics and
a Second in Mathematics. Henry Smith had been
Highton’s private pupil at Oxford, and was so well taught
that when he entered Rugby he was (although only then
fourteen) placed in the fifth form, which is the highest
form but one below the sixth, and which, by the rules of
the school, is the highest in which a new boy can be
placed. He was distinguished at Rugby for his unvarying
gentleness of character, and was a favourite alike with
masters and boys. An old schoolfellow writes of him
thus; ‘I was a young boy in the house, and remember
being struck with his great gentleness and amiability. It
did me good at once, and I felt it, as I believe, to my
lasting benefit.” He was always much attached to his
old friend and tutor, Highton; and ever since the latter’s
death, in December, 1874, no one has shown more kind-
ness to his widow and children than Henry Smith. At
Rugby he progressed as rapidly as elsewhere, and was
kept back from entering the sixth form under Arnold, only
on account of his age. He was the first boy promoted to
that form under Dr. Tait, Dr. Arnold's successor,
VOL. XXVII.—NOo. 695
Nothing in fact seemed capable of stopping his intel-
lectual career. The death of his only brother and his
consequent withdrawal from school, which would have
thrown most boys entirely out of gear, did not interfere
with his gaining, at the age of eighteen the scholarship
at Balliol. A severe illness delayed his residence at college,
but neither the malady itself, nor absence from Eng-
land, nor severance from books prevented him in 1848,
winning the blue ribbon in classics among Oxford under-
graduates—the Ireland Scholarship. In 1850 he took his
degree, obtaining an old-fashioned ‘Double First,”
namely, in classics and mathematics. The next year
he gained the Senior Mathematical Scholarship; and
if in this he had but few competitors, it was because his
strength and powers were already known. After such a
University career, almost unparalleled in the annals of
Oxford, it seems but a natural consequence that he
should be elected, as was the case, to a Fellowship at his
College. In 1861 he was elected successor to the late
Baden Powell in the Savilian Professorship of Geometry,
which chair he retained until his death. With a view to
relieving him from the labour and duties of College
tuition, which he had faithfully discharged for five-and-
twenty years, Corpus Christi College offered him a Fellow-
ship free from such duties. Notwithstanding his regret
at leaving (although, as it subsequently proved, tem-
porarily) his old college, he decided, having reference to
the growing calls upon his time, to accept the offer. But
Balliol, unwilling to lose all connection with its dis-
tinguished alumnus, afterwards bestowed upon him an
honorary Fellowship, and, under the recent Statutes, a
full Fellowship without emolument.
The malady under which he ultimately sank may be
considered hereditary, for his father died from the same
cause, and the son showed symptoms of it even at an
early age. It is idle now to speculate whether a quieter
or less exhausting life would have prolonged his years.
There is some truth in the idea that a man can first and
last perform a certain amount of work andno more. On
this supposition it may be even a gain to the individual to
have performed his task in the minimum of time, while
those who remain must rest thankful at having lived in his
day, and having retained him amongst us as long as was
the case.
The testimony of his friends to his ability and other
qualities is from all quarters abundant. Prof. Huxley
writes : ‘‘ Henry Smith impressed me as one of the ablest
men I ever met with; and the effect of his great powers
was almost whimsically exaggerated by his extreme
gentleness of manner, and the playful way in which his
epigrams were scattered about. They were so bright and
sharp that they transfixed their object without hurting
him. I think that he would have been one of the greatest
men of our time, if he had added to his wonderfully keen
intellect and strangely varied and extensive knowledge
the power of caring very strongly about the attainment of
any object.” Although the present writer is not likely to
differ much from Prof. Huxley in his estimate of the
man, he would still suggest that Henry Smith’s care for
the attainment of an object was measured rather by his
estimate of its ultimate value than by its present advan-
tage. For those who knew him best were most fully
aware of the effort which it cost him to postpone (as he
s
382
often did, with apparent readiness) his beloved mathe-
matics to other claims. Another friend says: ‘‘ He was
a man of rare powers, and as guileless as he was richly
gifted.”
Of some men it is said that they were never young, of
others that they became old while their contemporaries
were still lads; and it has been stated as a general law,
in scientific thought at least, that the best and most
original ideas have always been conceived before the
age of thirty. But whatever may be the case in this
respect with the generality of men, Henry Smith was as
young and vigorous in intellect at the age of fifty-six, the
limit to which he attained, as he was when he gained the
first of his many University honours. It was his fresh-
ness of mind, his vivid appreciation and intelligent enjoy-
ment of everything going on, not only in science, but
also in life, whether social or political, which made us
forget that his years, like ours, were passing away, and
that the number of them was finite. It was his genial
presence, his sympathetic attention, his ready counsel, his
sound judgment, his happy mode of dealing with both
men and things, which make us already feel a loss which
we cannot as yet fully appreciate, but which we can never
hope again completely to replace.
Of many Greek towns it is related that each has claimed for
itself the honour of having been the birthplace of Homer ;
in like manner, many branches of knowledge, and avoca-
tions of life, might claim to have been the favourite
pursuit of Henry Smith. But however proficient, or even
prominent he may have been in other subjects, it was in
mathematics that he mainly showed the originality of his
genius, and that he has left any permanent record of work
of the highest kind.
Among the great works which it was long hoped that
he would have accomplished was his treatise on the
Theory of Numbers. This subject, which during the
present generation has been so marvellously generalised
as to undergo a complete transfiguration since it was pre-
sented to us in the work of Barlow and in the ordinary
educational books on Algebra, formed for many years a
serious study on the part of Prof. Henry Smith. The
papers in which the researches of mathematicians on this
subject are recorded are scattered through the pages of
various periodicals, so that it is not easy to realise the
steps which each writer has contributed to the general
progress, nor to assign to each his relative position. But
this is not all, nor even the worst; it has been a
prevailing custom, too prevalent we think, among mathe-
maticians of late years, to publish results alone, without
proof of their statements, and even without indication of
the train of argument which led them to their: conclu-
sions. This naturally entails on the part of the reader
either a strong act of faith or a difficult and, as we hold,
unnecessary effort. It need hardly be added that in endea-
vouring to digest and present to his readers what had
been done by others in his subject, Henry Smith adopted
the latter course ; and, with a sagacity in which few could
haye rivalled him, he assimilated all these fragments, and
utilising the valuable among these désyecta membra, and
rejecting the worthless, he brought them into harmony,
and was in a fair way to produce from them a Structure
intelligible in itself, and capable of forming a groundwork
for further developments. But while our author was dis-
NAL ORE
[ Fed. 22, 1883
cussing what had been already done, the very materials
upon which he was engaged were growing apace, and his
self-imposed task accumulated upon him. Of unfinished
work, or of ‘“‘ragged ends” as he used to call them, he
was as nearly intolerant as he could be of anything;
and it is not clearly known whether he ever made up
his mind to complete what he had undertaken up to a
certain date or not. In any case what he had already
long ago achieved in this matter must have been a
gigantic work; and it remains only to hope that his
manuscripts have been left in such a state that others may
be able to wield the weapons which he had forged.
The results of his preliminary studies were given in his six
invaluable Reports on the Theory of Numbers, published
in the volumes of the British Association for 1859 and
following nearly consecutive years; and these alone are
sufficient to show the extent of his reading and the firm
grasp which he had of the subject. The following ex-
tracts from the first and third of these Reports indicate
both the wide range of the theory and the magnitude of
the portion which still remains to be achieved :—
“ There are two principal branches of the higher arith-
metic: the Theory of Congruences and the Theory ot
Homogeneous Forms. Ina general point of view these
two theories are hardly more distinct from one another
than are in algebra the two theories to which they re-
spectively correspond, namely, the Theory of Equations
and that of Homogeneous Functions; and it might, at
first sight, appear as if there were not sufficient founda-
tion for the distinction. But, in the present state of our
knowledge, the methods applicable to, and the researches
suggested by, these two problems, are sufficiently distinct
to justify their separation from one another.”’
“Tt is hardly necessary to state that what has been
done towards obtaining a complete solution of the Repre-
sentation of Numbers by Forms, and the Transformation
of Forms, is but very little compared with what remains
to be done. Our knowledge of the algebra of homoge-
neous forms (notwithstanding the accessions which it has
received in recent times [1861]), is far too incomplete to
enable us even to attempt a solution of them co-extensive
with their general expression. And even if our algebra
were so far advanced as to supply us with that knowledge
of the invariants and other concomitants of homogeneous
forms, which is an essential preliminary to an investiga-
tion of their arithmetical properties, it is probable that
this arithmetical investigation itself would present equal
difficulties. The science, therefore, has as yet had to
confine itself to the study of particular sorts of forms ;
and of these (excepting linear forms, and forms contain-
ing only one indeterminate) the only sort of which our
“knowledge can be said to have any approach to complete-
ness are the binary quadratic forms, the first in order of
simplicity, as they doubtless are in importance.”
Prof. Smith’s sphere of utility was, as indeed is pretty
well known, not confined to his University, nor to science
as such, but extended, among other directions, even to
departments of the State. Passing over the Royal Com-
missions on Scientific Education and on the University
of Oxford, of both of which he was a leading member,
mention must not be omitted of the Meteorological
Council of which he was chairman. That body, nominated
by the Royal Society, but appointed by the Government, |
il hat subject had lost its charm,
NATURE
383
holds a position intermediate betweer a public depart-
ment and an independent institution. While on the one
aand this intermediate position presents some advantages,
it all events in the present stage of the subject asa
science, it undoubtedly, on the other, requires no incon-
siderable tact and judgment in its management. For
the yearly administration of a large sum of public
noney, for the management of a considerable staff at
yome, and of a variety of observers at out-stations in all
varts of the country, and for communication with similar de-
yartments of State in foreign countries, science alone
would not have sufficed. But at the same time few
pranches of natural knowledge stand more in need of a
strong scientific guide to keep it from the crotchets of
jJabblers in the subject, or from relapsing into an indis-
priminate accumulation of loose observations from which
ao valuable result can ever be derived. For this post the
President and Council of the Royal Society unanimously
nominated him, nor had they ever reason to regret the
ep which they then took.
_ The case of the Meteorological Council was, however,
Jt one instance out of many in which his name came
jpermost in the minds of men when they were looking
for a leader, or a chairman, or a president.
sident of the Mathematical Society (1874-6), or of the
Mathematical and Physical Section of the British Asso-
ation (1873), or as Chairman of Committees too many
{0 enumerate, he always succeeded in commanding the
respect of those with whom he was associated, and in
ing through the business to a satisfactory issue.
In one matter only did he fail of success; but in that
e the failure was not really his, but that of those who
should have given him support. The case was that of
ge. aces of the candidature of leading Uni-
ersity men, both in Oxford and in Cambridge, have not
been unknown, from the time of the late Sir John Lefevre
o that of Prof. Stuart; but all have terminated in the
ame result, namely, the total defeat of every man of
Niversity distinction, whatever other qualifications he
y have for the office. With these instances we may
compare, not without interest and instruction, the choice
: Oxford, when, in 1878, Lord Cranbrook received his
‘Joccurred.
It was sometimes thought that his mind became
iverted from mathematics by his many other distracting
\@vocations; there are, however, reasons for doubting this.
\fle is true pre he did not pour out the amount of ane
|matical papers of which he was certainly capable ; but
\|hose which he did publish showed that he cared little to
at he reserved himself for questions of real importance.
e remember his alluding to the subject of one of his
ter papers contributed to the Mathematical Society, on
fodular Equations, as relating to “a point on which people
| ke fringe-work to the borders of our knowledge, and
Q
at
aad puzzled themselves for a long time,” and the follow-
passages from his address to the London Mathematical
ociety were certainly not penned bya president for whom
“ Of all branches of
athematical inquiry, this is the most remote from prac-
ical applications ; and yet, more perhaps than any other,
< Pern
hich has been made by the University of London on |
€ only two occasions on which a vacancy has yet |
it has kindled an extraordinary enthusiasm in the minds
of some of the greatest mathematicians.’ Then he
quotes Gauss as having held Mathematics to be the
Queen of the Sciences, and Arithmetic to be the
Queen of Mathematics. I do not know that the great
achievements of such men as Tchébychef and Riemann
can fairly be cited to encourage less highly gifted in-
vestigators ; but at least they may serve to show two
things—first, that nature has placed no insuperable
barrier against the further advance of mathematical
science in this direction; and secondly, that the boun-
daries of our present knowledge lie so close at hand that
the inquirer has no very long journey to take before he
finds himself in the unknown land. It is this peculiarity,
perhaps, which gives such perpetual freshness to the
higher arithmetic. It is one of the oldest branches
perhaps the very oldest branch, of human knowledge ;
and yet Some of its most abstruse secrets lie close to its
tritest truths. I do not know that a more striking
example of this could be found than that which is fur-
nished by the theorem of M. Tchébychef. To under-
derstand his demonstration requires only such algebra
| and mathematics as are at the command of many a
Whether as |
schoolboy; and the method itself might have been
| invented by a schoolboy, if there were again a schoolboy
with such an early maturity of genius as characterised
Pascal, Gauss, or Evariste Galois.”
The following is another instance of the interest which
| he retained in mathematics to the very last. In the
address above quoted he alluded to a problem, at that
time still unsolved, in the following terms :—“ It was first
shown by M. Liouville that irrational quantities exist
| which cannot be roots of any equation whatever, having
his candidature for the representation of the University
integral coefficients. We may perhaps be allowed to
designate by the terms arithmetical and transcendental
the two classes of irrational quantities which M. Liouville
has taught us to distinguish ; and it becomes a problem
of great interest to decide to which of these two classes
we are to assign the irrational numbers, such as e and z,
which have acquired a fundamental importance in analysis.
To Lambert, the eminent Berlin mathematician of last
century, the first great step in this direction is due. He
showed that neither 7 nor x” is rational; with regard
to « he was even more successful, for he was able
to prove that no power of e, of which the exponent
is rational, can itself be rational. There (with one
slight exception) the question remained for more than
a century; and it was reserved for M. Hermite, in the
year 1873, to complete, by a singularly profound and
beautiful analysis, the exponential theorem of Lambert,
and to prove that the base of the Napierian logarithms is
a transcendental irrational. But, in a letter to M. Bor-
chardt, M. Hermite declines to enter on a similar research
with regard to the number 7. ‘Je ne me hasarderai
point,’ he says, ‘a la recherche d’une démonstration de
la transcendence du nombre 7. Que d'autres tentent
Yentreprise ; nul ne sera plus heureux que moi de leur
succés ; mais croyez m’en, mon cher ami, il ne laissera
pas que de leur en cotiter quelques efforts.’ It is a little
mortifying to the pride which mathematicians naturally
feel in the advance of their science to find that no pro-
gress should have been made for a hundred years and
more toward answering the last question, which still
384
NATURE ‘
| Fed. 22, 188.
remains unanswered, with regard to the rectification of
the circle.”
Last year, Lindemann, starting from Hermite’s re-
searches, succeeded in supplying the proof required with
reference to the number 7. And while speaking of this
achievement with the satisfaction which his generous
nature prompted, Henry Smith added that it was a pro-
blem on which he had long fixed his eye with a view to
attacking it seriously so soon as he had leisure for the
undertaking.
He was doubtless then looking forward to some Uni-
versity vacation ; for vacation time formed the period
for his original investigations, while term time was
devoted to current work and to society, which he himself
so keenly enjoyed, and in which he was always an
honoured and a welcome guest.
It has been much the fashion of late years to raise
memorials to the departed ; and in some cases it may be
doubted whether a wise discrimination has been exercised
in the matter. No one, however, who has any interest
in science, would doubt for a moment that the memory of
Henry Smith was in the highest degree deserving of
perpetuation. But in our opinion the best and only
suitable memorial of him will be the publication of his
works, in the fullest and most complete form of which
they are now capable. And it is sincerely to be hoped
that his MSS. may be placed in the hands of a mathe-
matician who may prefix to them an introduction as
worthy of these works as was Prof. Smith’s introduction
to the remains of Clifford.
During his last few years he lived, as Keeper of the
University Museum, at the house adjoining the main
building, previously occupied by his predecessor, John
Phillips. His companion was his sister, whose useful
and sympathetic life worthily supplemented his own.
It is to be hoped when the wave of sorrow which is now
passing over her has in some degree subsided, and when
time has brought an alleviation which may now seem
impossible, that she may derive satisfaction, although it
be a melancholy one, in having learnt through the event
how much her brother was appreciated and beloved by
many, and by some even unknown, friends.
W. SPOTTISWOODE
PUBLIC ELECTRIC LIGHTING
NM UCH attention is being given at the present moment
‘1 to the operation of the Electric Lighting Act passed
during the last session of Parliament. Under the terms
of that Act, licenses and provisional orders will be granted
to local authorities, companies, and private individuals to
supply electricity for the purpose of electric lighting over
definite areas. A large number of applications for
licenses and provisional orders have already been sub-
mitted to the Board of Trade, in a few instances by local
authorities, but in the majority of cases by joint-stock
companies formed for working one or other of the different
systems for electric lighting. A number of the “‘Pro-
visional Orders” now being promoted lie before us, the
majority of them being drawn in almost identical terms.
A perusal of these documents cannot fail to impress the
reader, firstly, with the great complexity of the question,
secondly, with the extreme difficulty of striking a fair
balance between vested interests and public convenience
thirdly, with the great amount of knowledge and ski
displayed in the drafting of these provisional orders. |
is an open secret that not only the main outlines but als
most of the details of these orders are from the hand
Mr. J. Fletcher Moulton, F.R.S., whom we must con
gratulate upon the success with which he has applie)
himself to the task of preparing them. Now that Parlia
ment is once more in session we shall probably hear c
further legislative proposals ; but if all provisional order
are as well and as wisely drawn as the majority of thos
before us appear to be, there can be little doubt that th
necessity for separate further legislation and for the prc
motion of private bills for electric lighting will bh
removed.
As to the provisional orders themselves it would b
impossible within reasonable limits to deal with a tit
of the important topics which are therein set forth. Man
of the provisions are naturally directed toward questio
of municipal rights and parochial law. Leaving aside a
these matters we come to the more scientific point
Four separate systems of distribution are recognised i
the provisional orders. These are (a) “direct” syste
more familiar under the name of distribution in parall
arc, with ‘‘distributing mains’’ throwing off “servic
lines” for individual consumers ; (4) “storage” systen
with service lines in parallel arc from storage batteri
charged in series intermittently from a generating statio
(c) either of the above with ‘‘earth” returns ; (¢) “series
system, supplying customers in one undivided circui
We may remark in passing that it appears to us that tl
use of ‘‘earth’’ for return should be in every case fo
bidden. If currents of the intensity employed for electr
lighting are sent through earth in our crowded cities w
shall have constant derangements of telegraphs, tek
phones, electric bells, in fact of all electric appliance
which work by feeble currents and use earth return
Moreover, as ‘‘earth’’ in practice means usually the en
ployment of existing gas-pipes or water-pipes as returr
the proposal to utilise “earth” for electric light return,
is doubly to be deprecated. Amongst other limitatior
set forth in the provisional orders are some which bin
the “undertakers” to lay down their mains within tw
years, some which prescribe the hours during which tl;
supply of currents must be maintained, and some whic
limit the conditions of supply. Amongst the latter w
observe in several of the orders before us that it is pri
posed that “the potential at corresponding points of tl
positive and negative distributing mains shall differ ;
each point by a constant difference, not being less thz
thirty volts, and not being more than four hundred volts
And that “ such constant difference of potential ’’ is to
termed ‘‘the standard pressure.’”’ It is to be hoped th,
the Board of Trade will be much more precise in i
limitations. Thirty volts is so low a “ pressure” as to |;
practically out of the question except with a gigant
outlay in copper conductors, whilst four hundred volts
equally inadmissible on account of the danger to perso
No less an authority than Sir W. Thomson has said th;
nothing above two hundred volts should ever be admitt¢
into a dwelling-house. The provision that “the standay)
pressure may be different for different points of the sa
mains, and for different hours during the period of supply
We ioe:
Sea * > cm « 7
»
2 ..
a ’ , »
Feb. 22, 1883]
is bad, and if permitted will greatly militate against con-
venience and uniformity in using the current both for
light and for motive-power. Where the undertakers dis-
tribute “alternating”? currents it is provided that the
mains should have a ‘‘ constant (?) difference of potential”’
or standard pressure of not less than forty-five and not
more than six hundred volts. Here again we think that
the Board of Trade might very wisely insist on a further
restriction. If steady currents at a pressure of four
hundred volts are dangerous, alternating currents at four
hundred are far more so. Yet here the undertakers talk
of six hundred! Indeed, considering the risks involved,
and the difficulty in distributing alternating currents
through long lines or lines where there is great self-induc-
tion; and also considering that the supply of electric
currents is not for lighting alone but for the providing
also of motive-power, it would not be any loss to the
public if the use of alternating currents under the pro-
visional orders were absolutely disallowed. It is true
that the patentees of certain specific forms of machine
might cry out loudly against such a prohibition; but the
public would be guaranteed against one source of danger
and difficulty. According to the orders the undertakers
may charge consumers either by the amount of electric
energy consumed, or by the quantity of electricity sup-
olied, or by time, or by a yearly agreement. In connection
with the first of these methods the proposal is made to
call by the name “one unit” the energy contained in a
current of r0o0co amperes flowing under an electromotive
force of one volt during one hour. Most of the pro-
visional orders name sevenpence per unit as the price of
electrical energy. We have here for the first time an
actual quotation-price for evevgy; a fact which should be
mteresting to those who have striven so hard to drive
mto the popular mind exact ideas concerning energy and
its conservation. One “unit’’ thus defined for commercial
purposes being 1000 volt-amperes (z.e. 1000 watts) for one
hour, and one horse-power being 746 watts, we see that
the scale of payment is about 54 pence per hour per
(electrical) horse-power.
Into the further provisions for the inspection and test-
ing of mains, the inspection of meters, the testing of
insulation, provisions for safety, and penalties for default
in supply, we cannot here enter. Suffice it to say that
there is no detail that does not appear to have had thought
expended upon it, no provision that is really superfluous
or harassing, no possible want or eventuality that does
not appear to have been anticipated. Such masterly
treatment cannot but greatly facilitate the work of the
Board of Trade in agreeing to orders and licenses, and
will tend to bring about unity of method in the organisa-
tion of the actual work of laying down town supplies so
soon as such orders and licenses shall have been granted.
If it be true that the effect of the Electric Lighting Act
has been to produce a temporary lull in the progress of
electric lighting, we are convinced that such a lull will be
in the end an unmixed good, since it gives the oppor-
tunity for thought to ripen, and for projects and inven-
tions to mature, if not to survive. Two dangers indeed
seem yet possible in the future of public electric lighting,
and either of them may be sufficiently serious to damage
public confidence in this new industrial factor. Firstly,
some better guarantees ought to be insisted on that the
NATURE
385
Companies or other parties who obtain orders or licenses
as undertakers should be possessed of capital adequate to
carry out the projects in hand. A very hasty glance at
the list of applicants for provisional orders will suffice to
show that this fear is not unfounded. Secondly, it ought
to be made impossible for a Company which has obtained
an order for any limited district to delegate the responsi-
bility of supplying any section of such district to a sub-
company. No Company should be allowed to hold a
monopoly (if the limited monopoly created by the pro-
visions of the Electric Lighting Act be a monopoly at all)
of a single square yard of territory which it cannot with
its own resources supply under the terms of the order or
license which has been granted. If this principle be not
upheld, serious abuses will creep in, to the detriment of
progress and in contravention of the interests of the
public.
CRYPTOGAMIC FLORA OF GERMANY,
AUSTRIA, AND SWITZERLAND
Dr. L. Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamen-Floravon Deutschland,
Oesterreich, und der Schweiz. Zweiter Band: Die
Meeresalgen Deutschlands und Oesterreichs. Bear-
beitet von Ferdinand Hauck. 1-3 Lieferung. (Leipzig :
Eduard Kummer, 1883.)
INCE the appearance of the original work (1845-53)
the systematic study of living alge has, through a
more accurate knowledge of the structure and fructifica-
tion of these plants, led to great changes in their diagnosis
and classification. Hence the necessity of a new edition
of Rabenhorst’s work.
In order to render it more valuable, the preparation of
the parts of which it is composed have been intrusted to
authors specially conversant with the subjects of which
they treat. The first volume, five numbers of which have
already appeared, contains the Fungi, and is edited by
Dr. G. Winter of Zurich; the second comprises the
Marine Algz (exclusive of the Diatomacez); then will
follow the Fresh-water Algz, edited by Herr Paul Richter
of Leipzig; the Diatomacee, by Dr. A. Grunow of
Vienna; and the Frondose Mosses and Hepatice, by
Herr G. Limpricht of Breslau. To these will succeed
works on the Lichens, Charice, and Vascular Crypto-
gams.
The second volume, which forms the immediate subject
of this notice, has been intrusted to M. F. Hauck, who,
from his residence on the coast at Triest, has, during
many years, had opportunities of studying marine alge in
a living state; and by his connection with German and
other algologists, has been able to obtain authentic ex-
amples of most of the species. It may also be mentioned
that M. Hauck has published “ A List of the Algze of the
Adriatic” (Beitr. 2. Kenntn. d. adriat. Algen, Wien,
1878).
The present work, of which three numbers have ap-
peared, includes not only the algz inhabiting the Austrian
coast and islands of the Adriatic, but also those of the
Baltic and North Seas, and the coasts of Heligoland with
the adjacent islands: the latter have been found especially
rich in species.
In the Introduction to his work, M. Hauck gives in-
structions for the collection and preparation of the various.
kinds of marine alge. The list of instruments and appli-
ances used in collecting is rather formidable, but it must
be remembered that the object of the algologist is to
obtain specimens in as perfect a state as possible, for the
purpose of instituting a searching examination into the
structure and fructification of the plants ; andthis cannot
be done without much labour and pains. In the case cf
small plants which adhere closely and spread over rocks
and other objects, M. Hauck recommends that, instead
_ of scraping off the algze, portions of the rocks on which
they grow should be chipped away with a geological ham-
mer, and preserved with the growing plants upon them.
Directions are also given for the treatment of the Coral-
linze and other alge which are covered with carbonate
of lime, in order to divest them of the lime, and thus pre-
pare them for microscopic examination. There are also
instructions for preparing and mounting specimens of
algae for the microscope.
Every one who has endeavoured to cut sections of algze
for microscopic observation, must be aware of the diffi-
culty, occasioned by the different structures of the plants,
of performing this operation. The {author shows how
some of these difficulties may be avoided; but he has
omitted to mention whether the sections should be made
with a machine, or in the old-fashioned way, by holding
the portion to be cut firmly with the forefinger nail of the
left hand, while cutting the section with a sharp, thin
knife.
We now come to the work itself.
classifies the marine alge:
coloured red; II. PH®OPHYCE, plasma coloured brown;
III. CHLOROPHYCE®, plasma chlorophyll-green; IV.
CYANOPHYCE, plasma bluish-green. Commencing with
the Rhodophycez, he treats of the Floridez, describing
their structure and fructification. A summary of the
families, with the names of the genera contained in each
family, follows. M. Hauck’s classification of the Floridez
is novel; it remains to be seen whether it will meet with
the general approval of algologists. We have next a
description of the genera and species. This part of the
work is illustrated with figures drawn on zinc, of at least
one species of each genus, as seen by transmitted, not
reflected, light, the objects being represented as if trans-
parent. Some of these illustrations are original, but the
greater part are borrowed from Kiitzing, Thuret, Zanar-
dini, and others. They are inserted in the text near to
the species delineated,—an extremely convenient arrange-
ment.
M. Hauck thus
I. RHODOPHYCE&, plasma
Besides these illustrations, there are five plates, repre-
senting different species of Lithophyllum and Lithotham-
nion. They were printed by the “ Albertotype ” process,
from negatives executed under the supervision of the
author. These plates are admirable, and give more cor-
rect and characteristic figures of these singular and in
this country but little-known vegetable productions than
can be obtained by any other process.
Lithophyllum and Lithothamnion have been found in our
seas, and it is probable that more would be found if
sought for. They abound in the Adriatic and Mediter-
ranean, and some species are known on the French coast.
M. Hauck seems to have bestowed much pains and
care in the preparation of the work, and it will be seen
that he has added very considerably to our knowledge of
386 Oe! NABER eo
Several species of.
As [ Feb. 22, 1 883
the fructification of numerous species. It may, however,
be as well to remind him that the cystocarpic fruit of
Callithamnion Thuyoides, Call. polyspermum, Call. Bor-
rert, Ceramium tenuissimum, and Grateloupia filicina,
which he does not mention, were described and figured
in Harvey’s Phyc. Brit. (Pls. 269, 281, 259, 90, 100).
Also that the tetraspores of Nemaleon, which M. Hauck
says (pp. 14, 59) are unknown, were described by Dr.
Agardh, who had examined the living plant (see “Sp.
Gen. et Ord. Algarum,” vol. ii. p. 417 (1852).
It is to be hoped that we have found in this work the
solution of a problem which for a long time has exercised
the minds of algologists, namely, Does Porphyra belong
to the Chlorosperms or to the Floridez ?
Although the colouring of Porphyra assimilates it to
the Floridez, yet the apparent agreement of its vegeta-
tive structure with that of the Ulvas, and especially of
some of the species of Monostroma, had induced the
elder algologists to place Porphyra among the Chloro-
phyllacez. The discovery of the fructification of the
plants of both genera has however shown that they are
widely separated. In Monostroma the only kind of fruc-
tification known consists of zoospores, which, when they
first issue from the mother-cell, are endowed with active
motion. In Porphyra the tetraspores were first dis-
covered, then the antheridia ; the antherozoids are mo-
tionless. Algologists, however, still hesitated to admit
Porphyra among the Floridex, because no cystocarpic
fruit had yet been found. M. Hauck now tells us that
the cystocarps of seme species are known (p. 21), and he
describes those of P. /eucosticta, as well as the tetraspores
and antheridia of this plant (p. 25). There can, there-
fore, be no longer any hesitation as to including Porphyra
among the Floridez, of which it constitutes the lowest
family.
On looking through the present instalment of this work,
it will be seen that out of the 122 species, or thereabouts,
which are described in it, about seventy are found on the,
British coasts—nineteen of the latter are common to the
North Sea and Adriatic—twenty-seven of them inhabit the
Adriatic, and twenty-four the North Sea. The work,
when complete, cannot fail therefore to prove of great
interest to algologists in this country.
The type is good, as well as the figures with which it
is illustrated, and readers will no doubt be glad to know
that in the printing German characters have not been
used. Mary P. MERRIFIELD
THE CHURCHMAN’S ALMANAC
The Churchman’s Almanac for Eight Centuries (1201 74
2000), giving the Name and Date of every Sunday:
By W. A. Whitworth. Pp. 23. (London: ae
Gardner, Darton, and Co., 1883.)
SERS never surely was such an age of almanacs)
The social change whose effects meet us on ever
side has worked a revolution here. Some of us can calj
to mind the time when ‘‘ Old Moore” ruled the reckonin
in his peculiar, old-fashioned way, and Murphy blazed out
like a meteor to expire like a farthing candle, and Zadkie!
“Tao Sze”’ began to trade on human curiosity and cre:
dulity. But those days are past. Instead of being =
as of old, to make our own quiet, though limited, choice,
OF ed, 22, 1883]
as the year draws to its close we find ourselves surrounded
by a swarm of calendars; the insurance-office, the
journalist, the general-storekeeper, the stationer, the
watchmaker, the grocer, all vie in pressing on our accept-
ance something to remind us how time flies ; often padded
with most irrelevant pieces of innovation, but sometimes,
it must be owned, got up ina very attractive form. We
do not quite see how all this can be made to pay. We
should have thought it a very expensive and often un-
called-for mode of advertising. But that is no affair of
ours. Living in “a nation of shopkeepers,’ whatever may
be our private impressions, we are bound to believe that
't isfound a remunerative mode of expressing gratitude, or
Jnxiety, as the case may be. But whatever may be the
donor's purpose it is not quite easy to see what corre-
sponding purpose is, generally speaking, to be answered
on the part of the receiver: for, with certain exceptions,
it really signifies very little to the bulk of the community,
how the fifty-two ensuing weeks are arranged. One great
exception of course is the festival of Easter, and the
others that depend upon it. But as to these there is
always a sufficient general understanding, as there was in
our least educated days, when there were comparatively
few that knew how to use a calendar: and as to the
phases of the moon, the only other leading feature in
ordinary almanacs, their notification is rather convenient
than necessary, excepting for those who believe, as old-
fashioned people still do, with Prince Bismarck at their
head, that the moon has an influence distinct from its
attractive power. But, say what we will against the
necessity of a general diffusion of almanacs, public feeling
is on the other side, and even those who could do very
well without these favourite articles, and seldom refer to
them, would not feel satisfied if they did not possess
them.
One curious feature in the case, however, is that so few
comparatively have any correct idea of the principles on
which almanac-making proceeds. We suspect that even
among such as pass for educated people it would be easy
to find those who would not be very comfortable if they
were required to explain the want of correspondence
between the reckoning by weeks and that by months, the
unequal length of the latter, the necessity of intercalation
or the cause of the difference between the “styles "—im-
portant as that was thought in its day, even to the excite-
ment of popular indignation. As to such matters, if it is
true that “we take no note of time but by its loss,” it is
nearly as true of a large portion of even civilised society,
that they take no note of the arrangement of time—except
perhaps by misunderstanding it. However, there is no
excuse for such ignorance (if we may be forgiven the ex-
pression) for the future, if people will take the trouble of
referring to the little work whose title we have quoted
above. It will not indeed enlighten us much as to the
root of all the difficulties—the incommensurable durations
of the day and month and year, or help us to make out
the strange old machinery of cycles and epacts and
golden numbers by which the calendar was kept right,
but it will do what is practically of much more value, set
before us something of the processes, and all needful
results, of the most accurate computations.
The title was a puzzle to us at first, for we had been for
so many years acquainted with a very unpretending
NATURE
387
though most useful Churchman’s Almanac, that we did
not comprehend how it should now find its place in
NATURE, till we remarked the continuation of the title ;
this, promising perennial instead of annual information,
at once made a claim to attention which we find is well
deserved. There are a good many curious and out-of-the
way pieces of information in the three pages of introduc-
tion—among which we may mention the explanation of
the reason, hitherto to us so incomprehensible, why the
accounts of the public revenue are made up to the odd-
looking epoch of April 5—and this is followed by a per-
petual calendar, as far as Sundays are concerned, to a
period that the youngest now living will never see; while,
for historical purposes, the retrospective portion is an~
authentic and valuable resource as to many indefinite
matters in chronology, the correct determination of which,
as antiquaries well know, often involves considerable
trouble. The author has fulfilled his undertaking, as far
as we can judge, with especial care and attention ; and if
his work, which is one of the thinnest of folios, is so far
less in accordance with the ideas of this ‘‘ handy-book”-
loving age, we must bear in mind that the form was im-
posed by the extent of its tabular matter, and that though
there is little to attract in its formidable array of figures,
its intrinsic value is, for those who need such aid, of a
high and enduring character.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts,
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letlers
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts. |
Hovering of Birds
Mr. Airy asks for a diagram explaining my views as to the
hovering of the kestrel and of other birds, asserting at the same
time that these views would establish a ‘‘ miracle.”
If Mr. Airy will be so good as to look at the beautiful drawing
of a kestrel in the act of hovering, by Mr. W. Wolf, at p. 160 of
the ‘* Reign of Law,” he will see an illustration far better than
any diagram. Mr, Wolf is an excellent naturalist as well as an
accomplished artist, and his drawing of the kestrel was made to
represent his own knowledge and observation of the act of
hovering, and not to set off any theory of mine.
It will be seen that the body of the bird is represented as at a
considerable angle to the horizon, and (of course) to any hori-
zontal current of wind.
It is by placing itself in this position to the wind, and by a
wing-action accurately proportioned to the strength of the
breeze, that the bird accumplishes the feat of hovering—which
is no miracle, but the mechanical result of the ‘‘ resolution of
forces.”
The hovering of a boy’s kite is a miracle of the same kind.
The element of weight is here represented by the string, held at
the surface of the ground,
Mr. Airy is, however, mistaken in his description of the facts.
He speaks of hovering being performed with ‘‘ wings motion-
less, not fluttering.” Now I have never seen a kestrel’s wings
motionless when hovering. Always when the air is still, and
always when the breeze is only moderate, the wings have a rapid
and tremulous action, varying from moment to moment according
as the ‘‘ muscular sense”’ directs it, and feels it to be needed for
the ‘‘ poise.” But sometimes when the breeze is very stiff this
action may be suspended for a moment or two, I have seen this
Occasionally. But even in this case I could detect the quivering
of the quills.
The sea-swallows perform the evolution perpetually over the
water when it is as still asa millpond, In all cases the inclined
388
position of the body of the bird to the plane of the horizon is
observable. The miracle is always performed by the use of the
appropriate means. ARGYLL
Cannes, February 12
I AGREE with ‘‘J. R.” that the term ‘‘hovering” is likely to
be misunderstood. Iused it because it had been used in the
earlier correspondence in NaTuRE to which I referred. If
“¢ J. R.” (or any other of your correspondents on this subject)
has never seen a hawk hanging in motionless poise above a hill-
side, I would ask leave to refer him to NATURE, vol. viii. pages
86 and 324, for a description of the act.
February 19 HUBERT AIRY
I HAD once a very unusual opportunity of observing accurately
the flight of buzzards, from the summit of Acro-Corinthus. As
this unique natural fortress rises sheer from the plain, on the
side toward Attica, to the height of eighteen or nineteen hundred
feet, a group of these birds, hanging at that height above the
surface, were thus brought in a line with the eye. I could
detect the minutest movement of wings or tail. Again and again
there were considerable intervals, of many seconds’ duration,
during which one bird and another would hang, with pinions
horizontally outstretched, absolutely motionless, neither descend-
ing nor drifting, but as if his balance in the air were one of deli-
cately adjusted equipoise. And when, by a just perceptible
movement of wing, he stirred again, it seemed rather to be to
change his position than that he needed any kind or degree of effort
* to maintainit. The kestrel is an unfortunately chosen bird for Mr.
Hubert Airy’s observation, because though it hangs for a minute or
two over the same spot watching its prey, it is always ‘‘ by short
and rapid motion of its wings” ; from which fanning motion it
has acquired, I think, its popular name of windhover, and not
because, as Mr. Airy supposes, it is upborne by the wind. But
were my Corinthian buzzards upborne by the wind? There was
mone. ‘The day was one of dead calm. No doubt of necessity
there was some upward current of air from the sun-warmed
surface of the ground by which the birds profited; but if at
all sufficient to sustain them, their actual gravity, when in that
position and so willing it (by which I mean nothing so absurd
as that gravitation can be counteracted by the ws vite, but that
by inflating its lungs, and perhaps suspending its respiration, the
bird may have the power at will of lessening its comparative
weight in the air), must be very near to that of the atmosphere
around and underneath them. It is evident that Mr. Airy could
only claim my observation as being in favour of his theory if
there had been a breeze from Attica striking against the face of
the citadel. There was none perceptible ; and I drew the atten-
tion of my companions to the curious problem presented by such
an ease of flight. HEwRY CECIL
Bregner, Bournemouth, February 13
P.S.—Will ‘you allow me just to mention that the letter
reprinted from NATURE by Dr. George J. Romanes in his
‘* Animal Intelligence,” as mine, is by Mr. Merlin, our present
Consul in Athens. I sent it, but he wrote it, and the observa-
tion is wholly his.
The Auroral Meteoric Phenomena of
November 17, 1882
Mr. BACKHOUSE remarks in his letter (NATURE, vol. xxvii-
p- 315): ‘‘ It would be well to ascertain whether such a motion
{in a curve) would not agree better with the observations of the
beam than Dr. Groneman’s hypothesis that it wasa straight line.”
When a straight line lies within or without the (celestial)
sphere, on whose surface we wish to trace the perspective pro-
jection of that line (the eye being placed in the centre of the
sphere), the perspective of the line will of course always be a
great circle. When inversely the apparent path of the same
meteor, seen from ome place of observation is a great circle, the
true path musi lie ina plane. When the apparent paths, seen at
the same time from two different places, not situated in the
direction of the apparent path, are both great circles, the true
path lies in two different planes, and must be a straight line.
Now Prof. Oudemans at Utrecht says positively that the
apparent path of the phenomena of November 17 was a great
circle, cutting the horizon (and also the equator) in two opposite
points. Of the English observers I will cite Mr. Saxby (p. 86),
who describes ‘‘the trajectory as much flatter than that of the |
NATURE ©
”
stars.” Moreover the general fact is, as I proved in my paper,
that this trajectory, having been seen of regular form and con-
sequently probably of equal curvature in its whole length,
intersected the great circle of the horizon in two opposite points,
and therefore must have been a great circle itself. The above-
mentioned condition being fulfilled, I was under the necessity of
taking the true path as a right one. I think this peculiarity
indicates the meteoric nature of the phenomenon and of all the
auroral arcs (/es arcs proprement dites of my theory) showing as
great circles of the sphere. In fact a curve cited by Mr. Back-
house, lying at equal height above a terrestrial parallel, will
show itself ézt i ome case as a great circle, namely where the
observer is within its plane. From all other places it will be
seen as a small circle of the sphere. In this case is the apparent
boundary of an aurora in the north, the arch of the dark segment
cutting the horizon in two not opposite points.
I dare not occupy more space to answer Mr. Backhouse
further on the influence exercised by cosmic matter on terrestrial
magnetism, and the consequence of the general direction east to
west of these currents when passing in the neighbourhood of the
earth, but I think that this direction east to west must be
deduced from the observed facts. :
I am much obliged to Messrs. Petrie and Muirhead for their
information, As to the remark of the former on the spectrum
observed by Dr, Rand Capron, I think that the auroral cha-
racter of some phenomena will be proved the best when it
shows the auroral lines, whatever may be the origin of its light.
When its other properties point out its meteoric character, a
strong argument is found in favour of the cosmic theory of
auroree. H. J. H. GRONEMAN |
Groningen, Netherlands, February 14
The Orbit of the Great Comet of 1882
1 AM very much obliged to tliose gentlemen who have kindly
given me the information required in my letter published in
NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 314.
They all agree on the same point, which confirms my opinion
that in all the good observations the same or very nearly the
same point of the head was observed during the brightest
appearance of the comet.
I remarked especially in the sketches shown to me by
Mr. A. A. Common, who was the first to see the comet
in England, on September 16, and who continually made
careful observations of it, that, although the nucleus was
seen since October 30 divided into two parts, always one of
these (which I shall call the main part next to the following
end of the nucleus) remained the brightest. Mr. Common in
every drawing marks this part with the word ‘‘ brightest.” At
the Washington Observatory also this same bright point was
always observed with the transit instrument, as it is stated by
Mr. W. C. Winlock in his letter (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 129).
Mr. W. L. Elkin, Cape Observatory, in a communication to
the Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 2490, speaks about this
orbit. He used the first observation made at the Cape on
September 8, the observation fof the] disappearance of the
comet at the sun’s limb on the 17th of the same month, and a
normal observation on November 17, to calculate either a
parabolic orbit or an elliptic one; but none of these gave the
positions of the comet according to intermediate observations.
Mr. Elkin believes it is possible to take as the most probable
value of 1 the value 0°0075, and consequently the comet has a
a
very long period, while Mr. Morrison in his calculation of the
orbit had e = 09998968, and a period of 652°5 years.
As errors of observations are of course inadmissible, it is now
the question to study what produces such great differences in
calculating the orbits.
Are they due to disturbances during the comet’s passage
through the solar system, and especially at its passage through
the sun’s corona? or are they due to the hypothesis specified by
Mr, Elkin and others that the centre of the nucleus is not the
point gravitating around the sun? ‘This question cannot be
decided but by a careful discussion of all the positions of the
comet during the whole period.
The observations before perihelion are of course very im-
portant. Unfortunately at the Cape the astronomers were pre-
vented making observations between September 8 and Septem-
ber 17 because of bad weather ; but there are some observations
made in Melbourne and in other observatories before September
~ 7S
Feb. 22, 1883]
NATURE
389
17 ; and besides, the important observation of the disappearance
of the comet at the sun’s limb is very valuable. Now then, if
it will be possible to secure some observations in the remaining
days the comet will be visible, I am sure we shall have a large
amount of material to study upon.
~ I may add that Mr. Common and I saw the comet a few days
ago. With magnifying power of 120 and 150 we were not able
to distinguish the division of the nucleus, but with a higher
power we saw five bright points ; one of these, corresponding
to that seen before, remains the brightest. The comet has all the
appearance of a little curve convex to the horizon, and is still a
very bright object, as Mr. Common was able to see it pretty
well with only six inches aperture and in moonlight.
13, Pembridge Crescent, Bayswater, W. E. RISTORI
Aino Ethnology
LET me hasten to assure Herr Rein that nothing could have
been further from my intention than to question the ‘love of
truth,”’ which is conspicuous in his work on Japan. I trust he
will consider as absolutely withdrawn any expression of mine
which he fancies might at all bear such a construction, His
authorities I did not quote, because I attached much more im-
portance to the weight of his name than to theirs. The almost
unanimous opinion of original observers is opposed to their con-
clusions, which I was certainly somewhat surprised to find
adopted by Herr Rein. But as he has not himself visited the
Aino people, the question of their affinities need not be further
argued here. I may state, however, that to Steube and von
Siebold must now be added Herr Kreitner, of the Szechenyi
expedition, who emphatically removes them from the Mongolic,
and ‘assimilates them to the Caucasic type” (‘‘Im Fernen
Osten,” Vienna, 1881, p. 318). A, H,. KEANE
Auroral Experiments in Finland
In the note in NATuRE, vol. xxvii. p. 322, in which you
refer to my telegrams from Sodankyla, there is a misunder-
standing concerning the apparatus which I made use of in
the experiments. This apparatus, which I call in Swedish
“ Utfromningo-apparat ” (streaming apparatus), was constructed
of uncovered copper wire, provided at each half-metre with
fine erected points. That wire was led in slings to the top of the
hill, and reposed on the usual telegraph insulators, From one
end of this wire was conducted a covered copper wire on insu-
lators to the foot of the hill (600 feet high), and there joined a
plate of zinc interred in the earth. In this circuit was put a
galvanometer.
It was this apparatus which produced both the yellow-white
halo at Oratunturi and the straight beam of aurora borealis at
Pietarintunturi, as the positive current in the galvanometer at
both places. The terrestrial current diminishes (or ceases) below
the belt of maxima of the aurora borealis. S. LEMSTROM
Helsingfors
Flamingoes and Cariamas
In NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 334, an account is given of the
curious behaviour of a flamingo towards a cariama. May I
point out that this habit of the flamingo was observed in 1869
by Mr. Bartlett, and will be found in a P.S. to a paper of his
entitled ‘‘ Remarks upon the Habits of the Hornbills,” read
before the Zoological Society, February 25, 1869. The liquid
Was examined by Dr. Murie, and is said to have consisted almost
entirely of blood. A short notice of the habit, communicated
by Mr. Bartlett, appears also in Buckland’s Edition of ‘‘ White’s
Selborne.” JAMEs CURRIE
Cambridge, February 19
THE APPROACHING FISHERY EXHIBITION
FROM the cheerful note of preparation which is now
being sounded, we presume the opening of the
International Fisheries Exhibition will take place punc-
tually on the day which has been fixed for that event—
May 1. That the Exhibition will be successful, both in
a pecuniary sense and asan exposition of fishery economy
and of the natural history of our food fishes, may, we
think, be even now predicted. The two exhibitions by
which it has been preceded, those of Edinburgh and
Norwich, not only paid all expenses, but left a handsome
surplus ; so that, with the vast population of London and
the strangers who daily come within its gates to work
upon, the promoters of the exposition are warranted in
believing that it will provea success. It will undoubtedly
be the greatest affair of the sort which has yet been
designed, and will occupy a site twice as large as the
Norwich and Edinburgh exhibitions joined together.
The fishery exhibition which was held at Berlin three
years ago was visited by nearly half a million persons,
but it was only open for ten weeks, whilst the show to be
held at South Kensington will remain open for six months,
and as the population of London is more than four times
greater than that of Berlin, we may calculate on the
visitors to the Fishery Exhibition running into big figures ;
—two million persons at a shilling each would represent
a sum of one hundred thousand pounds. Already a large
guarantee fund has been subscribed by corporations and
private persons, and there is no reason why Parliament
should not be asked for a grant in aid, although any
money that might be granted may not be required. It is
right to say that asa nation we play a rather “mean”
part in such matters, and are quite outdone in libe-
rality by other countries. America, for instance, is
sending us an “exhibit” which will cost that country ten
thousand pounds, and other foreign countries are acting
in an equally liberal spirit. If we were asked on any
occasion to reciprocate, what answer could we make?
We have positively nothing that we could send. With
the exception of the toy museum left to the country by
Mr. Frank Buckland, we possess nothing in the shape of
a national collection illustrative of fishery economy ;
hence the Exhibition which is about to open assumes very
much the shape of a commercial enterprise, and becomes
a gate-money show. But that is better than nothing,
and it is to be hoped that from the debris of the
approaching exposition a substantial addition may be
made to the Buckland Museum of economic fish culture,
and if we may be permitted to make such a suggestion,
the aquarium should, if that is possible, be so arranged
that it could be left as a permanent attraction for all who
are interested in the natural history of fish and in the
proper ingathering of the harvest of the sea.
Great expectations are entertained as to the value of
the lessons to be taught at the approaching Exhibition.
We are undoubtedly in need of knowledge of all kinds
regarding the natural history of our fishes. From the
whitebait to the whale we are singularly deficient in
those details of fish life that would prove valuable to
persons engaged in fishery enterprise. In the matter of
well-planned investigation into the natural history of the
British food fishes we are far behind America, where
information of the most valuable kind is systematically
collected and disseminated. As a matter of fact, we have
(as a nation) done almost nothing in respect of adding to
the knowledge of the public. Some individuals have been
toying with the subject of Pzsczceu/ture, whilst in the seas
that pertain to the United States fish-breeding on an ex-
tended scale has been long in operation under the auspices
of the Government. It will not be the fault of the
promoters of the approaching Exhibition if attention is
not aroused to our want of interest (as a people) in
the sea-fisheries of the country. We have therefore
every reason to be grateful to those who have stepped to
the front in order to promote this enterprise; the men
who have assumed the lead have nothing to gain person-
ally by its success—they are working in the interests of
the public, knowing well that the fisheries of the sur-
rounding coasts contribute largely to the commissariat of
the country.
A portly prospectus, so far as its contents are concerned,
has been issued, indicative of what will be shown in the
Exposition, and from that document we gather that a large
3990
NATURE
Slag 9 a nds
(Feb. 22, 1883.
sum of money will be distributed in prizes for inventions
and improvements of fishing gear; the special prizes in this
department alone will number over 100, ranging in value
from 600/. to 27. ros. Over 1000/. will also be given for
essays on various topics connected with the economy of
the fisheries and the natural history of our more im-
portant food fishes, as also for papers on fishery legisla-
tion. The dissemination of the knowledge to be obtained
from such essays as may be awarded prizes is important.
None of the essays contributed to the Norwich Exhibi-
tion have been published, except that of Sir James Mait-
land, printed presumably at his own expense, so that
whatever information was contained in the Norwich prize
essays remains only in the cognisance of those who read
them. The Edinburgh prize essays are, we believe, being
printed. Surely they might have been published ere this,
and it might be taken into consideration by the executive
of the present Exhibition, whether it is possible to have
the essays judged, the prizes awarded, and a print of
such as are worthy of being published on sale in the
building in the course of the summer: a popular “ hand-
book” to the Exposition will, we may presume, be issued.
As to “exhibits” of a useful kind, suchas those of fishing
gear of every description, men with a practical turn of
mind will be able to take stock of them and perceive at
a glance how far they can be utilised. As a class, fisher-
men are slow to learn and chary in the way of trying
experiments, but it is not impossible that the approaching
Exhibition may contain the germs of some new ideas
which may prove alike practical and profitable.
THE PROGRESS OF TELEGRAPHY
“ps8 first of the series of six lectures on the Applica-
tions of Electricity was delivered on Thursday
evening, February 15, at the Institution of Civil Engi-
neers, on “ The Progress of Telegraphy,’ by Mr. W. H.
Preece, F.R.S., M.Inst.C.E., of which the following is an
abstract :—
Telegraphy is the oldest practical application of elec-
tricity. It grew about the railway system, and was ren-
dered a practical agent by the foresight of Robert
Stephenson, I. K. Brunel, Joseph Locke, and G. P.
Bidder, who were its godfathers in England. Electric
currents are, as a rule, maintained for telegraphic pur-
poses by the combustion of zinc, and in the innumerable
forms of batteries in use, the conversion of zinc into
sulphate of zinc is the root of the transformation of
energy into that form which was utilised as electric
currents. There are three forms of battery in use in the
British Post-Office Telegraph system, and in the following
numbers :—
Daniell ew n 87,221 cells.
Leclanché srk went 56,420 ,,
Bichromate 21,846 ,,
Every administration has its own adopted form, dif-
fering in design, but based on one or other of these types.
Magneto-electricity is employed for some forms of appa-
ratus, and dynamo-machines are sometimes used to
supplement batteries. Experiments are now being made
with secondary batteries. The various terms employed—
electromotive force, resistance, induction, and current—
though measurable in definite units, have not yet become
household words ; but, being admitted into commercial,
legal, and Parliamentary lore, they will soon be as
familiar as feet, gallons, or pounds.
Electric currents are conveyed from place to place
either overground, underground, or submarine.
Overground.— Wooden poles preserved in creosote are
employed in England, but iron poles are extensively used
in the colonies. The conducting wire is almost uni-
versally of iron, but copper wire is much used through
smoky places where iron is liable to rapid decay.
Phosphor-bronze wire is under trial, and is a very
promising material, as it possesses the conductivity of
copper with the strength of iron. The improvements
made in the quality of iron wire have been very great,
and it conducts now fully 50 per cent. better than it did
a few years ago. Electric tests have had a marvellous
effect upon the production of pure metallic conductors ;
copper has improved in even greater ratio than iron;
samples have been produced better even than the standard
of purity. The insulators remain principally of porcelain,
and their forms vary nearly with the number of indi-
viduals who use them; the only improvement of any _
value recently made is one which facilitates the very ©
necessary process of cleaning.
Underground.—Wires are almost invariably carried
underground through towns. Copper wire, insulated —
with gutta-percha, incased in iron pipes, is the material
used. There are 12,000 miles of underground wire in
the United Kingdom. There is a great outcry for more
underground work in England, owing to the destruction
to open lines by gales and snowstorms ; but underground
telegraphs, wire for wire, cost at present about four times
as much as overground lines, and their capacity for the
conveyance of messages is only one-fourth ; so that over-
ground are, commercially, sixteen times better than
underground wires. To lay the whole of the Post-Office
system underground would mean an expenditure of about
20,000,0007. Hence there is no desire to put wires under-
ground except in towns. Besides snowstorms are few
and far between, and their effects are much exaggerated.
Of the numerous materials and compounds that have
been used for insulating purposes, gutta-percha remains
the oldest and the best for underground purposes. It,
like all other materials used for telegraphy, has been
improved. vastly through the searching power that the
current gives the engineer.
Submarine.—The past ten years has seen the globe
covered with a network of cables. Submarine telegraphs
have become a solid property. They are laid with facility
and recovered with certainty, even in the deepest oceans. |
Thanks to such expeditions as that of H.M.S. Challenger,
the floor of the ocean is becoming more familiar than
the surface of many continents. There are at present
80,000 miles of cable at work, and 30,000,000/. have been
embarked in their establishment. A fleet of twenty-nine
ships is employed in laying, watching, and repairing the
cables. The Atlantic is spanned by nine cables in work-
ing order. The type of cable used has been but very
little varied from that first made and laid between Dover~
and Calais; but the character of the materials, the
quality of the copper and the gutta-percha, the breaking
strain of the homogeneous iron wire, which has reached
go tons to the square inch, and the machinery for laying,
have received such great advances, that the last cable
laid across the Atlantic, by the Telegraph Construction
and Maintenance Company, was done in twelve days
without a hitch or stoppage.
Ideas are conveyed to the mind by electric signals,
and in telegraphy these signals are produced at distant
places by using two simple electrical effects: (1) that a —
magnetic needle tends to place itself at right angles to a
wire when an electric current passes through it; and (2)
that a piece of iron becomes a magnet when a current of
electricity circulates around it. An innumerable quantity
of tunes can be played on these two strings. Various
companies were established at different times to work
certain systems, but when the telegraphs were absorbed
by the State the fittest were selected to survive, and their
number consequently declined.
The ABC instrument is the simplest to read, for it
indicates the jetters of the alphabet by causing a pointer
to dwell opposite the desired letter. There are 4398 in
use. Its mechanism is, however, complicated and ex-
pensive, and it is being rapidly supplanted by the tele-
phone. The needle instrument is the simplest in con-
Fete 5
_ struction, but it requires training to work it. There are
3791 in use in the Post Office, and 15,702 among different
railway companies. As a railway instrument it is the
simplest, cheapest, and most efficient ever devised. The
- Morse instrument, of which there are 1330 in use in the
~ Post Office and 40,000 on the Continent, records its letters
in ink. in dots and dashes on paper tape, and, like the
needle and A B C, appeals to the consciousness through
the eye; it also indicates the letters of the alphabet by
sound, and thus utilises the organ of hearing. Sound-
reading is gaining ground in England with great rapidity.
There are now 2000 sounders in use : in 1869 there were
none. In America scarcely any other instrument is used.
_ On the Continent there is scarcely one.
Acoustic reading attains great perfection in Bright’s
bell instrument, where beats of different sound replace
the dot and dash of the Morse alphabet. Sound-reading
is more rapid and more accurate than any system of
- visual signals or permanent record. In fact no record is
kept in England, for the paper tape is now destroyed as
soon as it has been read. Errors are of course inherent
in all systems of telegraphy. A telegraphist cannot see
what he writes, or hear what he says, and who is there
that does not make mistakes whose eye follows his pen,
or whose ear takes in his own words? The Hughes
type-instrument, which prints messages in bold Roman
characters, is much used on the Continent ; it is, in fact,
recognised as the international instrument, but it has had
to give way in England to a more rapid system of tele-
graphy. It is, however, solely used for the Continental
circuits by the Submarine Telegraph Company. All long
cables are worked by Sir William Thomson’s beautiful
siphon-recorder.
In ordinary working only one message can be sent in
one direction at one time ; but by a simple and ingenious
contrivance, by which the neutrality of opposite currents
is utilised to convey signals, duplex telegraphy is rendered
possible, so that two messages can be sent on the same
wire at the same time ; and by a still further improve-
ment, where currents of different strength are utilised,
four messages are sent on one wire—two simultaneously
in opposite directions—at the same time. There are in
England 319 duplex and 13 quadruplex circuits at work.
The acme of efficiency in telegraphy is attained in the
automatic system, in which manual‘labour is supplanted
by mechanism in transmitting the messages. There are
71 circuits worked by these instruments, and 224 instru-
ments in use, anda speed of working of 2co words per
minute is easily maintained upon them. When the hand
alone is used, from 30 to 40 words per minute is the
maximum rate attained, but by automatic means the limit
is scarcely known. Since this system can be duplexed,
and in many cases is so, 400 words per minute on one
wire are easily sent. By the use of high-speed repeaters,
the length of circuit for automatic working is scarcely
limited ; it would be easy to send 100 words per minute
to India.
The growth of business since the telegraphs have been
acquired by the State is enormous: 126,000 messages per
week have grown to an average of 603,000; but the mile-
age of wire has not increased in anything like the same
proportion, the excess of traffic having been provided for
by the great improvements made in the working capacity
of the apparatus. In 1873, the average number of
messages per mile of wire was 147, it is now 256. Itis
in press work that the greatest increase has taken place :
5000 words per day at the time of the Companies have
grown to 934,154 words per day now. 340,966,344 words
of srg matter were delivered in the year ending March
31, 1882.
The development of railways has necessitated a corre-
sponding increase in the telegraphs required to insure the
safety of the travelling public, and while 27,000 miles of
wire in England, Scotland, and Wales were used for that
Bos 2 Say
purpose in 1869, at the end of December, 1882, the total
had increased to 69,000 miles, equipped with 43,176
instruments, against 8678 in 1869.
The growth of business is equally discernible in the
great cable companies. In 1871 the number of messages
dealt with by the Eastern Telegraph Company was
186,000 ; in 1881, it was 720,000. This growth is equally
striking in all civilised countries, and even in Japan
2,223,214 messages were despatched last year, of which —
g8 per cent. were in the native tongue. The mode of
transacting the trade of the world has been revolutionised,
and while wars have been rendered less possible, their
conduct has been expedited, and their penalties alleviated.
CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA?
pee brilliant journey of Major Serpa Pinto across
Africa from Loanda, by the Zambesi to Natal, must
be fresh in the recollection of our readers. The present
narrative may be regarded as complementary of the
major’s exciting story. Captains Capello and Ivens were
members of the original expedition along with Major
Pinto, and for the first part of the journey the three
companions worked together. The object of the expedi-
tion, which was organised by the Portuguese Government,
was to thoroughly survey the great artery which—a
tributary of the Congo—runs from south to north between
17° and 19° E. of Greenwich, and is known as the
Cuango, as also to determine all the geographical
bearings between that river and the west coast, and make
a comparative survey of the hydrographical basins of the
Congo and Zambesi. The three travellers started from
Benguella in November, 1877, but had not proceeded
far on their journey, when a difference of opinion arose
as to the future route of the expedition. Messrs.
Capello and Ivens did not feel at liberty to depart from
the original letter of their instructions, while the bold
Major Pinto conceived that he would be carrying out the
spirit of their instructions by making a dash across the
continent. We have nothing to do with the quarrels of
the travellers ; experience proves that in such an expe-
dition there should be one supreme head, and that the
best exploring work has often been done by a white tra-
veller single-handed. Major Pinto’s presence with the
other two was really unnecessary, and it was certainly to
the advancement of geographical knowledge that he took
an entirely different route. Messrs. Capello and Ivens
are evidently two pleasant and agreeable gentlemen,
though we have some doubts if exploration is exactly the
métier to which they are best adapted. At all events
they have written a narrative that contains much pleasant
reading, and some additions to our knowledge of the
geography and natural history of the limited region
which they traversed. Their real work lasted for about
two years, during which they traced the Cuango north-
wards to about 5° S. lat., when they were compelled to
turn back, partly owing to the exhaustion of their sup-
plies, and partly to the arid nature of the country
beyond their farthest point. During their journey they
crossed innumerable streams, some of them adding their
waters to the Cuango and others joining the Cuanza,
which discharges into the Atlantic south of Loanda. The
sources of the Cunene, Cuanza, and Cuango were visited
and determined, and a pretty careful survey of the region
all along the route made. The country traversed is mostly
Mountainous, cut up by innumerable streams and valleys,
rich in many parts in vegetation, and even in metals, and
having a considerable population clustered in villages,
each of which is ruled by its chief. With each of these
chiefs much diplomacy had to be used in order that the
® “ From Benguella to the Territory of Yacca; description of a journey
into Central and West Africa.”” By H. Capello and R. Ivens. Translated
my Elwes, Ph.D. Iwo vols. (London: Sampson Low and Co.,
392
NATURE
(Feb. 22, 1883.
explorers and their followers might obtain provisions and
be allowed to pass ; but the repetition of the same story
of petty troubles and difficulties becomes ere long some-
The habits and dwellings, the imple-
ments and weapons, the dispositions and superstitions of
the people in this region are pretty much the same as
those of the other Bantu tribes with which Pinto, Stanley,
Cameron, and other recent explorers have made us |
Among the Ganguella we find considerable
what tiresome.
familiar.
Fic. 1.—A Muata of the T’chiboco,
manufactures of iron, while Bihé is rich and fertile, and
its inhabitant the greatest native travellers in Africa. In
reference to the Bihenos the authors have some curious
remarks on the well-known African prefix in its varying
forms ma, da, &c. They seriously lament the ignorance
of ethnologists who call the Kafirs “ Bantu,” a word, they
tell us, which simply means “‘ persons.” This is in strict
analogy with the customs of nearly all peoples, who almost
invariably refer to themselves by terms which mean /é/e
people, the men, &c. Bantu has come to have a well-defined
ethnological significance, and is not likely to be displaced
by the not too well-informed criticisms of our travellers.
Among the people of this region we find the same
elaborate methods of dressing the hair, so common in
Central and Western Africa, and with which readers of
recentAfrican travel must be familiar. We have some inter-
esting details as to the history of some of the leading
tribes of the region, from which it is evident that for
centuries the various African peoples have been in a
state of almost constant migration, that the so-called
states are exceedingly unstable, and that even here it~
would be hazardous to regard any one race as unmixed.
| Fic. 2.—Woman of Cangombe.
|
| We give here two types: Fig. 1, a Muata, or ruler, of the
T’chiboco; and Fig. 2, a woman of Cangombe,
The sources of the Cuango were found at a height of
4756 feet, at about 114° S., and a little east of 19° E., in
one of the most extraordinary watersheds to be met with
anywhere. It is thus described :—
“ An extensive tract of land, all hill and dale, marks
this culminating point, a sort of St. Gothard of the
African waters. On the north, running through a narrow
and tortuous valley, appeared the Cuango, which, shortly
after its birth, flows at the foot of the plantations of
manioc and massambala, growing abundantly upon the
slopes, and at that time filled with girls and women
engaged in hoeing and other field labours. A bluish
Fic. 3.—Ebande (Fish of the Cuango).
streak of land was visible in a south-west direction, and
on the western slope, in Cavica, appeared the sources of |
the Caitieu rivulet, which constitutes the modest com-
mencement of the great Cassai. To the north-east
stretched out the T’chibungo range, on whose eastern
slope were visible the sources of the T’chipaca at about
twenty-five miles from the point of observation, and
whose latitude was 11° 27’ and longitude 19° 11’ 30”.
Finally, the eye took in at various distances, approxi-
mately determined by the compass, an infinity of spring-
heads, the sources of various affluents of the T’chipaca,
the Cuango, the Cassai, the Lume, and the Loando,
which, glittering in all directions, poured their ever-
increasing waters to the Congo-Zaire, the Cuanza and the
Zambese, till they were lost to sight in the valleys and
ravines, where a denser vegetation still hinted at their
sinuous course. ‘The aspect of the country was magni-
ficent. In the east, extended as far as the eye could
reach, the rich green valley of the upper Cassai, clothed
with numerous senzalas of za-guioco and wa-cosa, indi-
cated by the white patches of manioc flour spread to dry
| upon the Zvandos or mats of the abu.”
‘ es
"| Feb. 22, 1883]
NATURE
393
Speaking again of the same remarkable region, the
writers say :—
“In a lofty position—the mean altitude being 1531 feet
—the intense heat of the tropics is far from predominant,
and the breeze which is stirring during a part of the year
renders the climate soft and salubrious to the European.
Standing upon a granitic plateau, the region may pro-
perly be described as the Mother of the African Waters,
Sven
Fic. 4.—Fiscus Capelli (Cassange).
a veritable hydrographic centre whence issue, through
deep gullies, the streams that flow to the two great oceans
by the channels of the Congo-Zaire, the Cuanza, and the
Zambese. Its mineral wealth is considerable, abounding
chiefly in oligist iron ; native copper exists more to the
are important. There are Afocinaceas, or india-rubber
trees ; Burseraceas, which yield aromatic resins such as
the Elenz ; Herminieras, used in the building of canoes ;
Rubiacias, or teak, mixed with Lrythrinas, producing
Fic. 5.—Euprepes Ivensi (new species), River Cuanza.
eastward, where, if we may rely upon the reports of the | cork ; several Ewfhorbias, acacias used for dyeing pur-
natives, the lodes are easily worked. The vegetable pro- | poses ;
Typhas, and a species of Borassus; grasses of
ducts, more especially upon the banks of the great rivers, | various kinds, such as the pavicum and andropogon, the
Fic. 6.—The Cuango in Yacca.
penisetum, both smooth and barbed (massango), hemp,
and a large number of Convolvulaceas, all these we
ourselves saw. Among the variety of wild fruits of
T’chiboco are distinguishable the /wzgo, not unlike a
plum, but less pulpy and more sour, which grows upon a
medium-sized tree ; the wzaco//a, of the granular species,
’
NATURE ~
~
(Feb. 22, 1883
1
having the shape and size of an orange, but resembling
internally the American muruenia, that produces purgative
effects when taken in large doses; the ¢omgo, similar in
form and dimensions to the white plum ; and the ¢uzda,
almost equal to a cherry in taste, and having black seeds.
The abundance of wax is really remarkable, and towards
the south and south-east it constitutes an important
branch of industry.”
At this point the two travellers separated in order to
proceed northwards on different sides of the Cuango, and
met again at Cassange, where they fell in with Dr. Max
Buchner, on his way to the great Muata Yanvo. Of this
famous potentate Messrs. Capello and Ivens give a fancy
portrait, which contrasts markedly with that taken from
the original by the German explorers who have recently
done so much for a scientific knowledge of the region
through which the route of the Portuguese travellers lay.
Cassange may be regarded as the furthest Portuguese
outpost, and a busy centre it is.
Yacca, the furthest limit of the expedition, was reached
in May, 1879, and although innumerable small lakes and
many streams had been passed, the region beyond was
found to be an arid desert, brooded over by “the silence
of the grave.” Here is a summary of the travellers’
observations on the course of the Cuango from its source
to the limit of their journey, about 140 miles from where
the river discharges into the Congo :—
“From parallel 11° 30’, approximately, where its
sources are to be found, up to 5° 05’ at the Quicunji
cascade, the river has a sinuous course of 580 geographic
miles, and a total fall between its extreme points of
about 3 feet 4 inches per mile. Rocks, stones, rapids,
and cataracts interrupt the stream, and twelve of the
points at which they do so are known to us, namely, the
first at parallel 10° 17’, to the east of Muene-songo; the
second at 10° 25’, near the Camba rivulet ; the third at
10° 08’, Caxita rocks; the fourth at 10° 05’, the Louisa
falls; the fifth at 10° 05',a cataract a little above Port
Muhungo ; the sixth at 9° 20’, Zamba; the seventh at
19° 19’, Tuaza ; the eighth at 9°, cataract Cunga-ria-
Cunga ; the ninth at 7° 42’, Suco-ia-Muquita or Suco-ia-
n’bundi ; the tenth at 7° 38’, just below the Camba; the
eleventh at 7° 35’, in the midst of numerous islands; and
the twelfth at 5° 05’, the Quicunji waterfall, which is only
passable after the heavy rains. The greatest navigable
tract, therefore, is that space which lies between the
cataract at 7° 35’ and Quicunji, or about 190 geographic
miles. The river there is of variable width, never less than
76% yards, and from 5 to 20 feet in depth. The current
loses a little of its speed in the upper section, where the
stream in the summer season has a fall of about 3 feet
2 inches per mile. We think it well to mention that our
longitudes being strictly correct, as the record, partly
chronometric, was compared both on departure and
arrival at the Portuguese station of Duque de Braganca,
and the latter again at the terminus on the coast, it ap-
pears to us that the point of affluence of the Cuango (or
Ibari-N’Kutu) as marked upon the maps, just above
Stanley Pool, is erroneously placed considerably to the
eastward.”
Major von Mechow, who has been exploring the river
urther down its course, has found it equally unnavigable,
and we may say that the maps illustrating Mr. Stanley’s
last journey to the Congo place the mouth of the river |
further west than on those of his famous trans-African |
expedition. It was this river which Mr. Stanley as- |
cended in his little steamer, and found it expanding
into a broad lake. Messrs. Capello and Ivens came to |
the conclusion, confirmed by Major von Mechow, that |
no such lake as Aquilonda exists in this quarter. ‘The
travellers returned by a somewhat different route, staying
for some time at Pungo N’Dongo, with its famous rocks,
and reaching Loanda in October, 1879.
The work abounds with illustrations of the country and
the people, many of them devoted to natural history. On
the animal and plant life of the district traversed there
are many valuable notes, and in the appendix will be
founc, besides tables of geographical observations and
heights above sea-level, lists of additions to the fauna and
flora, tables of African dialects, and a N’Bunda Vocabu-
lary. There is a good summary of the general results
in the concluding chapter, in which the authors have the
following observations on the geology of the continent :—
“The physical configuration of the African continent,
and more especially of the portion south of the equator,
is nowadays too well known to require minute descrip-
tion. It may be summed up in these few words: a
depressed central basin surrounded by a vast circle of
high land, gradually descending to the sea, and rent by
deep ravines, through which rush huge watercourses,
engendered in the interior, till they overflow and seek the
lower level fronting the ocean. From a very general
geological point of view we may define the regions run-
ning from the littoral to the interior in the following
order, viz. limestone, sandstone, and granite. But on
going more minutely into the subject we shall find that
these distinctions are not very exact; inasmuch as the
component parts frequently run into each other and
change places, while precise lines of demarcation are
wanting. The geological formation on the western coast
at the points observed by us between Loanda and Mossa-
medes, and even further to the north, exhibits generally
near the sea a belt of tertiary deposits, with abundant
masses of sulphate of lime and sandstone, from which
they are separated by beds of white chalk alternating
with primary rocks, for the most part gneiss, abounding
in quartz, mica, hornblende, granite, and granulated
porphyry. Towards the south large tracts of feldspar
become visible. At Mossamedes whole mountains are
composed of sulphate of lime ; while carbonate of lime,
accumulated in shells, is very frequent. Both rock-salt
and nitrate of potash are found in stratification. Along
the Mocambe chain, we were informed, there exists a
basaltic line of great length. From that point the shift-
ing soil may be said to commence, extremely abundant in
sand, constituting true sa/aras, as in the parallel of Tiger
Bay. In the transition from the lower zone towards the
interior, for instance at Dondo, vast tracts of schist rock,
in perfect laminae, compose the soil; and sandstone,
reddened by oxide of iron, is visible in every direction.
Proceeding further into the interior we find, in a perfectly
mountainous region, the ground to be composed of
granite-quartzy rock, extremely hard and compact; this
is the case throughout the belt crossed on the way and
up to Pungo N’Dongo, the surface soil being formed by
the disintegration of the granite itself. These geological
characteristics will naturally be repeated to the south and
north in identical parallel regions, with variations in the
high table-land, where we meet occasionally with hard
and tough red sandstone and rocks of feldspar as in the
basin of the Lucalla.”
In the same chapter will be found abundant notes on
the various tribes visited, which, although the authors’
ethnology appears to us by no means sound, are still a
valuable contribution to a knowledge of the African
peoples. As evidence of the important contributions to
the natural history of West Africa, we give a few of the
illustrations bearing on the subject.
ON THE AURORA BOREALIS*
HAVING been requested by this journal to give an
account of my latest researches into the nature of
the aurora borealis, I must explain that my lateness in
t In reference to the present interesting communication from Herr Sophus
Tromholt, from his station in Ultima Thule, we ought to point out that Herr
Tromholt was, at the time of writing, not aware of the important discovery
as regards the nature of the aurora made by Prof. Lemstrém at the Finnish
station of Sodankyla during December last, and of which an account
appeared in Nature, vol. xxvii. p.
322
Feb, 22, 1883]
NATURE
395
complying with this request arises from the fact that I
had this winter changed my residence from Bergen,
where the communication was directed, to this spot—
Kautokeino, in Ultima Thule.
Since September -last I have, for the sake of the
aurora borealis, been residing here in North Finmarken
(69° N. lat., 23° E. long ), in a quarter, therefore, where the
auroree attain their maxima, and where the phenomena,
consequently, are so frequent and on such a scale that
there cannot be 2 question of selecting and analysing one
in particular. I therefore prefer to give briefly a descrip-
tion of its general appearance here, its character and
occurrence.
My winter sojourn here has two objects in view—viz.
firstly, to frame a pendant to the observations of the
aurorze made at Bossekop, 1838-39, by the French Com-
mission du Nord (‘Voyages en Scandinavie,” &c.),
which, by the bye, later students of the phenomenon seem
to have entirely ignored ; and secondly, by means of alti-
tudinal measurements corresponding with those now
being made at the Norwegian Meteorological Station at
Bossekop, to procure sufficient materials for fixing the
parallax of the aurora borealis. I choose the remote
Kautokeino for my observatory for several reasons—viz.
that this place is situated almost exactly south of
Bossekop, while the distance between the two places is
very nearly a degree, a distance which is exactly suited
to the opinion I have formed as to the height of the
aurora, viz. 150 kilometres, and also for the reason that
Kautokeino possesses a very free horizon, and that its
situation, very far inland, would insure favourable weather
conditions.
As previously stated, observations are made simul-
taneously here and at Bossekop on a common pre-
arranged plan, and measurements made in the common
vertical plane by the so-called auroral theodolite, con-
structed by Prof. Mobn. A similar arrangement has also
been effected with the Finnish Meteorological Station at
Sodankyla, which is, however, situated at a great distance
from this place and in a somewhat unfavourable direc-
tion (about 45° S.E.). We shall not, of course, be able
to compare notes before the spring, so I am unable at
present to lay before the reader the final results ; but
Judging from my own researches here, I feel convinced,
in spite of assertions made by scientists to the contrary,
that the exact height of the aurora may be ascertained
by the method I advocate, and that from the observations
made at these three stations we shail glean sufficient
materials to solve a problem hitherto deemed an insoluble
one.
Aurore occur here, I may say without exaggeration,
every night, and an evening without them would be a
phenomenon as remarkable as their appearance under the
equator. Unfortunately, however, unfavourable weather
has during the last two months, accompanied by cloud
masses unusual in these latitudes, sadly interfered with
the number and completeness of my observations. Still,
the magnitude of the aurorz is not the same every night.
Sometimes they appear as short, faint, arc-shaped pheno-
mena, similar to those so frequently seen in South Norway,
while at others they assume an extent and grandeur which
mocks every attempt at description.
In one respect my researches here have been of great
moment to me, ze. with regard to understanding the
various types of the aurore, their real strike and shape,
and their exterior appearance, which changes in the dif-
ferent altitudes above the horizon ; while on account of
their frequency, and the circumstance that they now
appear in the north, then in the south, and at last in
zenith, there is a splendid opportunity to study the modi-
fications which one particular form of aurora is subjected
to when changing its position to the observer. It appears
now conclusive to me that the many forms usually de-
scribed in researches may be reduced to a few, almost
similar, types. In most instances the aurora runs in
zones, belts, in the direction of the magnetic east-west,
and either as a more or less diffuse luminosity, or as thin
shining bands, which I have found to be parallel with the
indication of the inclination needle. But the appearance
which the phenomenon assumes is entirely dependent on
the relative position which the observer occupies to the
same. If he is thus greatly distanced from the aurora
he will only observe, a few degrees above the horizon, a
continuous arc with streamers, but if he approaches
nearer, he will notice several such arcs with clearly
defined constituents and a greater vibratory motion,
and if still closer, he will see the “ belts’’ or bands men-
tioned by Weyprecht far above the horizon; and if these
then travel towards /zs zenith, he will distinctly see the
auroral “ corona.” I have just stated that the main strike of
the aurorze is magnetic east-west; this is, however, only
stated as a general rule, particularly with those of the
luminous or “ glory’? type, while the “ belts’’ may, besides
their slight folds, be twisted and slung in almost any
direction. I have thus seen them stretch from north to
south, and even form a continuous circle, which, with
zenith as centrum, has engirdled the entire heavens at an
elevation of about 30°. The variable position of these
luminous belts is the cause of the many peculiarities and
the deviations from the normal which are so frequently
observed with the arcs, as, for instance, their unsymmetri-
cal position in relation to the magnetic meridian, and their
uneven shape, viz. that they are often bent ecliptically
back at the points, or even take the appearance of regular
eclipses. I ought, however, to point out that the faint
retrograding bend which great arcs assume near the
horizon is due simply to optical causes. The study of
the auroral corona here is very instructive. When a belt
of streamers travels towards the <nagnetic zenith, the
radiations seem to become shorter and shorter, caused
by the circumstance that they are seen obliquely, and
when the belt passes the magnetic zenith, its lower rim
only is seen, which makes it appear as a bent and folded
luminous belt. In this position one may observe that
every individual streamer has only a very limited depth,
but that the belt consists of several, sometimes of a great
number, of luminous ‘‘sheets” in a parallel position to
one another.
Besides this form of aurora, which thus embraces two
kinds, viz. the continuous and the radiating, I know only
one more of a character distinctly differing from the
same. I do not thus consider the individual knots of ray-
aurore, or the streamers, as anything but incomplete
belts ; while the luminous gatherings I consider are
merely remnants, so to say, of previously radiant aurore.
I may also here state that the large purple auroral clouds
peculiar to this phenomenon, when observed during con-
siderable electrical disturbances in southern climes,
have never seen at Kautokeino.
Of quite-a different nature is, however, the phenomenon
which I have named “coruscation.” This phase of the
aurora, which almost without exception belongs to the
earliest hours of the morning, and after large and ex-
tended oscillations of the aurora, is developed, I believe,
by the luminous clouds. But while these remain quiet,
or show at least subdued oscillations, the “ coruscation,”
as I term it, is so violent and of such a peculiar nature,
that I have not even yet succeeded in ascertaining
whether the motion is horizontal or vertical, or whether it
is the luminous clouds themselves which flood the heavens,
or their merely momentary “ blazing up’’ under the influ-
ence of some passing waves of energy. The entire
heaven is sometimes for hours a bath of liquid fire by
this force, which seems, by the bye, to possess the same
remarkable rapidity around zenith as at lower elevations.
As regard the colours of the aurora, I have only noticed,
when the substance of light is great, and when the oscil-
lations are very rapid, two well-known forms, viz. green
396
NATURE
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7
7
and red. These are, however, only seen in the arcs as
their lower rim, and by the forward’movement one part
assumes a red, another a green tint. The red colour
sometimes changes into violet or ochre.
The spectroscope I have not had much opportunity of
using here, but the well-known auroral “line” I can
always see ; any others I have not observed.
With regard to the height of the aurora I have, judging
from observation, come to the conclusion that it does not
appear at a lower elevation here than it does in the
south of Norway, while I am convinced that its plane
is to be found far above that of the clouds. There
has often enough been an opportunity of observing
aurore and clouds simultaneously, but never has there
been the slightest indication of the aurore having de-
scended to the sphere of the clouds, not even under the
most violent oscillations and the most intense luminosity
and play of colour. In fact I have come to the conclu-
sion that the aurorze which I have watched at Kautokeino
are identical with those I have studied in southern
latitudes, while their plane is at the elevation which I
estimated when choosing Kautokeino as my station of
observation.
I may in conclusion state that I have never myself
heard the slightest approach to any auroral “ noise,’’ and
this in spite of my most earnest attention to this so-
much-disputed question. Still if I ask the native people
(Lapps) about here as to the “noise” there is not a single
one who doubts its existence, while several even assert
that they have heard it.
I have several times attempted to photograph the
aurora borealis, but without success, Thus even by using
the most sensitive English “dry” plates, and exposing
them from five to seven minutes, I have not obtained a
trace of a negative. The cause of this is, I believe, the
exceedingly limited substance of light possessed by the
auroree: were thus even the entire heavens flooded by
the most intense aurora, their aggregate lighting capacity
would not equal that of the moon when full. I may
therefore assume that photographing the aurora borealis
is an impossibility. SOPHUS TROMHOLT
Kautokeino, Finmarken, Norway, January 28
PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON EDUCATION
GN the 16th inst., Prof. Huxley gave an address in
connection with the distribution of prizes at the
Liverpool Institute, a revised report of which will appear
in the next number of the Journal of Education. By
the courtesy of the editor of that journal, we are en-
abled to give a few extracts from Professor Huxley’s
address. He began by referring to certain propositions
which he laid down in the address he gave in Liverpool
fourteen years ago as to the practical value of instruction
in physical science, its superiority to any other study as a
mental discipline, and the certainty that in the future
physical science would occupy a much larger share in the
time allotted to teaching than had been the case pre-
viously. He also laid special stress upon the fact that he
was no advocate of the exclusion of other forms of culture
from education, but, on the contrary, insisted that it would |
be a serious mistake to cripple them for the sake of science. |
He had no sympathy, he said, with a kind of sect or horde |
of scientific Goths or Vandals who think that it would be
proper and desirable to sweep away all other forms of |
culture and instruction except those in physical science.
After referring to the great variety of his past experiences,
his familiarity with every form of society, from the un-
civilised savage of Papua and Australia, to the occa-
sionally somewhat over-civilised members of our upper
ten thousand, and to his interest in every branch of know-
ledge and form of art, Prof. Huxley insisted on the vast
importance of science in education, when properly taught
He pointed out, however, that unless the knowledge con-
veyed in the teaching of science or in the teaching of
history were actually realised to themselves by the learn-
ers, it would be worse than useless.
“Make it as little as you like, but unless that which is
taught is based on actual observation and familiarity with
facts it is better left alone. There are a great many
people who imagine that elementary teaching might be
properly carried out by teachers provided with only ele-
mentary knowledge. Let me assure you that that is the
profoundest mistake in the world. There is nothing so
difficult to do as to write a good elementary book, and
there is nobody so hard to teach properly and well as
people who know nothing about a subject; and I will tell
you why. If I address an audience of persons who are
occupied in the same line of work as myself I can assume
that they know a vast deal, and that they can find out the
blunders I make. If they don’t, it is their fault and not
mine ; but when I appear before a body of people who
know nothing about the matter, who take for gospel
whatever I say, surely it becomes needful that I consider
what I say, make sure that it will bear examination, and
that I do not impose upon the credulity of those who
have faith in me. In the second place, it involves that
difficult process of knowing what you know so well that
you can talk about it as you can talk about your ordinary
business. A man can always talk about his own business.
He can always make it plain ; but if his knowledge is
hearsay he is afraid to go beyond what he has recollected
and put it before those that are ignorant in such a shape
that they shall comprehend it. That is why, to be a good
elementary teacher, to teach the elements of any subject,
requires most careful consideration if you are a master of
the subject ; and if you are not a master of it it is needful
you should familiarise yourself with so much as you are
called upon to teach—soak yourself in it, so to speak—
until you know it as part of your daily life and daily
knowledge, and then you will be able to teach anybody.
That is what I mean by practical teachers, and although
the deficiency is being remedied to a large extent, I think
it is one which has long existed, and which has existed
from no fault of those who undertook to teach, but because
; until within the last score years it absolutely was not pos-
sible for any one in a great many branches of science,
whatever his desire might be, to get instruction which
would enable him to be a good teacher of elementary
things. All that is being rapidly altered, and I hope it
will soon become a thing of the past.”
Then as to the important question of time, Prof.
Huxley said that all he asked for was that scientific
teaching should be put into what politicians and states-
men call the condition of the “most favoured nation”’ ;
that is to say, that it shall have as large a share of the
time given to education as any other principal subject.
On the important question as to what should be regarded
as “principal subjects,’ Prof. Huxley remarked as
follows :—
“T take it that the whole object of education is, in the
first place, to train the faculties of the young in such a
manner as to give their possessors the best chance ot
being happy and useful in their generation ; and, in the
second place, to furnish them with the most important por-
tions of that immense capitalised experience of the human
race which we call knowledge of various kinds. I am using
the term knowledge in its widest possible sense, and the
question is what subjects to select, by training and disci-
pline in which the object I have just defined may be best
attained. I must call your attention further to this fact,
that all the subjects of our thoughts, feelings, and propo-
sitions, leaving aside the mere materials and occasions of
thinking and feeling—our sensations as all our mental
furniture — may be classified under one of two heads:
as either within the province of the intellect, something
that can be put into proposition and affirmed or denied,
Nae, a gS aoe 0 oe,
yn
[ Feb, 22, 1883
or as within the province of feeling, or that which, before
the name was defiled, was called the zsthetic side of our
nature, and which can neither be affirmed nor denied, but
only felt and known. According to the classification
which I have put before you then, the subjects of all
knowledge are divisible into two groups, matters of sci-
ence and matters of art; for all things with which the
reasoning faculty alone is occupied come under the
province of science, and, in the broadest sense, and not
In the narrow and technical sense in which we are now
accustomed to use the word art, all things feelable, all
things which stir our emotions, come under the term of
art, in the sense of subject matter of the zsthetic pro-
- vince. So that we are shut up to this,—that the business
of education is, in the first place, to provide the young
with the means and the habit of observation; and,
secondly, to supply the subject matters of knowledge,
either in the shape of science or of art, or of both com- | l :
| culture and information of those whom art addresses, the
bined. Now, it is a very remarkable fact—but it is true
of most things in this world—that there is hardly any-
thing one-sided or of one nature, and it is not imme-
diately obvious what, of the things that interest us, may
be regarded as pure science, and what may be regarded
as pure art. It may be that there are some peculiarly
" constituted persons, who, before they have advanced far
_into the depths of geometry, find artistic beauty about it,
but, taking the generality of mankind, I think it may be
said that when they begin to learn mathematics their
whole souls are absorbed in tracing the connection
between the premisses and the conclusions, and that to
them, geometry is pure science. So I think it may be
said that mechanics and osteology are pure science. On
the other hand, melody in music is pure art. You cannot
reason about it ; there is no proposition involved in it.
So, again, in the pictorial art, an arabesque, or a ‘har-
mony in grey,’ touch none but the esthetic faculty. But
a great mathematician, and even “many persons who are |
not great mathematicians, will tell you that they derive
intense pleasure from geometrical reasonings. Every-
body knows that mathematicians speak of solutions of
problems as ‘elegant,’ and they tell you that a certain
mass of mystic symbols is ‘ beautiful, quite lovely.’ Well,
you do not see it. They do see it, because the intellectual
process, the process of comprehending the reasons sym-
Dolised by these figures and these signs, confers upon
them a sort of pleasure, such as an artist has in visual
symmetry. Take a science of which I may speak with
more confidence, and which is the most attractive of those
I am concerned with. It is what we call morphology,
NAT
URE
.
compositions of this kind, is essentially of the same
nature as that which is derived from pursuits which are
commonly regarded as purely intellectual. I mean that
the source of pleasure is exactly the same as in most of
my problems in morphology—that you have the theme in
one of the old masters’ works followed out in all its end-
less variations, always appearing and always reminding
you of unity in variety. So in painting ; what is called
truth to nature is the intellectual element coming in, and ~
| truth to nature depends entirely upon the intellectual
| culture of the person to whom art is addressed. If you
are in Australia, you may get credit for being a good —
artist—I mean among the natives—if you can draw a
kangaroo after a fashion. But among men of higher
civilisation the intellectual knowledge we possess brings ~
its criticism into our appreciation of works of art, and we
are obliged to satisfy it as well as the mere sense of
beauty in colour and in outline. And so_the higher the
more exact and precise must be what we call its ‘ Truth
to nature.’ If we turn to literature, the same thing is
true, and you find works of literature which may be said
to be pureart. A little song of Shakespeare or of Goethe
is pure art, although its intellectual content may be
nothing. A Series of pictures is made to pass before your
mind by the meaning of words, and the effect is a melody
of ideas. Nevertheless the great mass of the literature
we esteem is valued not merely because of having artistic
form, but because of its intellectual content, and the
value is the higher the more precise, distinct, and true
is that intellectual content. And if you will let me fora
moment speak of the very highest forms of literature, do
we not regard them as highest simply because the more
we know the truer they seem; and the more competent
we are to appreciate beauty, the more beautiful they are ?
No man ever understands Shakespeare until he is old,
though the youngest may admire him; the reason being
that he satisfies the artistic instinct of the youngest and
harmonises with the ripest and richest experience of the
oldest. I have said this much to draw your attention to
what, to my mind, lies at the root of all this matter, and
| at the understanding of one another by the men of science
on the one hand, and the men of literature and history
and art on the other. It is not a question whether one
| order of study should predominate or that another should.
which consists in tracing out the unity in variety of the |
infinitely diversified structure of animals and plants. I
cannot give you any example of a thoroughly zsthetic
pleasure more intensely real than a pleasure of this kind
—the pleasure which arises in one’s mind when a
whole mass of different structures runs into one har-
Mony as the expression of a central law. That is
where the province of art overlaps and embraces the |
province of intellect. And if I may venture to express
an opinion on such a subject, the great majority of
forms of art are not in the sense what I just now defined
them to be—pure art; but they derive much of their |
quality from simultaneous and even unconscious excite-
ment of the intellect. When I was a boy I was very fond
of music, and I am so now; and it so happened that I
had the opportunity of hearing much good music. Among
other things, I had abundant opportunities of hearing
that great old master, Sebastian Bach. I remember per-
fectly well—though I knew nothing about music then, and
I may add know nothing whatever about it now—the
intense satisfaction and delight which I had in listening
by the hour together to Bach’s fugues. It is a pleasure
which remains with me, I am glad to think; but of late
It is a question of what topics of education you shall select
which will combine all the needful elements in such due
proportion as to give the greatest amount of food and
support and encouragement to those faculties which
enable us to appreciate truth, and to profit by those
sources of innocent happiness which are open to us, and
at the same time to avoid that which is bad and coarse
and ugly, and to keep clear of the multitude of pitfalls and
dangers which beset those who break through the natural
or moral laws.”
Professor Huxley then went on to point out the worth-
lessness of the kind of literary education that used to
prevail in English schools, and gave his idea of whata
literary education ought to be. If, he said, he could
make a clean sweep of everything, and start afresh, he
would in the first place secure the training of the young
in reading and writing, and in the habit of attention and
observation both to that which is told them and that
which they see; and he would make it absolutely neces-
sary for everybody, for a longer or shorter period, to learn
to draw, and there is nobody who cannot be made to draw
more or less well.
“‘ Then we come to the subject-matter, whether scien-
tific or zsthetic, of education, and I should naturally
have no question at all about teaching the elements
of physical science of the kind I have sketched in
a practical manner ; but among scientific topics, using
years I have tried to find out the why and wherefore, and | the word ‘scientific’ in the broadest sense, I would
it has often occurred to me that the pleasure, in musical | also include the elements of the theory of morals and
398
NATURE
([Feb. 22, 1883 ;
of that of political and social life, which, strangely enough,
it never seems to occur to anybody to teachachild. I
would have the history of our own country and of all the
influences which have been brought to bear upon it, with
incidental geography, not as a mere chronicle of reigns
and battles, but as a chapter in the development of the
race and the history of civilisation, Then with respect to
zesthetic knowledge and discipline, we have happily in
the English language one of the most magnificent store-
houses of artistic beauty and of models in literary excel-
_ lence which exists in the world at the present time. I |
| the general feeling of the members of the Association.
have said before, and I repeat it here, that if a man cannot
get literary culture of the highest kind out of his Bible,
and Chaucer, and Shakespeare, and Milton, and Hobbes,
and Bishop Berkeley, to mention only a few of our illus-
trious writers—I say if he cannot get it out of those writers,
he cannot get it out of anything ; and I would assuredly
devote a very large portion of the time of every English
i " h dels of English writing |
Sepa nescarrrul study:of the models of Enghaiaating | this is received, information will be given to the Members of the
of such varied and wonderful kind as we possess, and
what is still more important and still more neglected, the
habit of using that language with precision and with force
and with art. I fancy we are almost the only nation in
the world who seem to think that composition comes by
nature. The French attend to their own language, the
Germans study theirs; but Englishmen do not seem to
think it is worth their while. Nor would I fail to include
in the course of study I am sketching translations of all
the best works of antiquity or of the modern world. It
is a very desirable thing to read Homer in Greek; but if
you don’t happen to know Greek, the next best thing is to
read as good a translation of it as we have recently been
furnished with in prose. You won’t get all you would get
from the original, but you may get a great deal, and to
refuse to know this great deal because you cannot get all |
| screw shaft.
seems to be as sensible as for a hungry man to refuse
bread because he cannot get partridge. Finally, I would
add instruction in either music or painting, or if the child
should be so unhappy, as sometimes happens, to have no
faculty for ‘either of these, and no possibility of doing
anything in an artistic sense with them, then I would see
what could be done with literature alone; but I would
provide in the fullest sense for the development of the
zesthetic side of the mind. In my judgment these are all
the essentials of education for an English child.’’ Prof.
Huxley concluded by saying that if the educational time
permitted, there were one or two things he should be |
inclined to add to these essentials (which fitted an Eng- |
lishman to go anywhere or to enter on any career) ; among
these additional subjects he mentioned Latin and German. |
Beyond that, let each man take up his special line.
NOTES
THE Emperor of Germany has raised Prof. Helmholtz to
noble rank.
THE two English observers, Messrs. Lawrence and Woods,
detailed to secure photographs of the total eclipse of the sun on
May 6, left Southampton for Panama on Saturday last. The
operations will be exclusively photographic. The Treasury only
determined to grant the necessary funds some fifteen days before
the last date on which the observers could sail ; the instruments
sent out, therefore, were most hurriedly put together ; and the
greatest praise is due to Messrs. Hilger and Meagher for their
work against time.
stating the work to be done for every second from ten minutes
before totality till ten minutes afterwards, have been sent with
the observers. _ If all goes well more than fifty photographs will
be secured,
In reply to the Memorial addressed to the Council of the
British Association on the subject of the proposed meeting of
the Association in Canada in 1884, signed ~by 144 members of
Detailed instructions and a time table |
the General-Committee, Mr, Bonney states that the ‘Council of
the British Association are fully alive to the difficulties which will
attend the visit to Canada decided upon by the General Com-
mittee at Southampton in August last. As this decision was
obtained in accordance with the usual forms and does not appear
to contravene the expres; wording of the rules of the Associa-
tion, the Council feel bound to recognise it as a valid one, and
believe that they would not be justified in summoning a special
| meeting of the General Committee to reconsider the question.
They have, however, in effect already taken steps to ascertain
In the
month of November last, after a consultation with Sir A. T.
Galt, the High Commis-ioner for Canada in this country, the
officers of the Association addressed to their intending hosts in
Montreal a number of questions, upon the answers to which the
success of the projected visit must greatly depend. To the-e
questions they are now daily expecting a reply. As soon as
Association, and inquiries made as to their willingness to visit
Canada. The replies will enable the Council to judge whether
it will be possible to hold a successful and fairly representative
meeting at Montreal.
M. RAout PicTer has recently tried, on the Lake of Geneva,
a specimen of his ‘‘ rapid vessel,” the general idea of which was
indicated a short time ago. The vessel is figured in Archives
des Sciences for January, and M. Pictet gives details of the theory
and working. With a length of about 67 feet, and a width of
13 feet, this vessel is peculiar chiefly in having a bottom that is
of parabolic form lengthwise, the concavity downwards; trans-
versely the bottom is nearly straight; the sides are vertical.
A keel reaching from about the middle of the length, incloses a
Among other results M. Pictet shows that the
force of traction of this vessel is always less than that of an
ordinary vessel of the same general form and going at the same
rate. The advantages of the parabolic curve only become
apparent at a certain speed, depending on the width, leng h,
and tonnage, and the parameters of the parabolic curve. The
force of traction passes through a maximum, at a certain velocity
for each vessel; beyond that point, the work of the motor, and
so the expenditure of fuel, diminishes, though the speed in-
creases. Experiment has yet to decide the linits of this
second period. The emergence of the vessel, very small for
small velccity, grows very quickly when a speed of 5 metres
(say 17 feet) per second has been reached; and it converges
rapidly towards an upper limit. The recoil of the screw for
different velocities increases to a maximum, then constantly
diminishes and tends to become zz/ for an infinite velocity.
For other features of the action we must refer to the original.
‘The engine we note proved faulty, and in several of the experi-
ments the vessel was towed by a steamer, at velocities rising to
| 27 kilometres (say 17 miles); when this last is reached, an
economy of one-half is realised (growing from 16 kilometres).
THE recent death of the Rey. Titus Coan, an aged and
much-esteemed missionary at Hilo, Hawaii (where he laboured
nearly forty-eight years), has been announced (Am. Fourn. Sct.).
He tcok a deep interest in the volcanic mountain at whose foot
| he lived, and at each eruption was generally the first on the
ground to observe and report on the movements. Three times
he ascended to the scenes of the eruptions connected with the
summit crater. Though not a geologist, his accounts (many of
them in the journal named) have always been of geological
value. He was the principal historian of the great eruption
of Kilauea in 1840, and the summit eruption of 1843, when
the flow was uninterrupted for twenty-five miles and con-
tinued six weeks, It was after the latter eruption that he
made the very important observation (since confirmed) that
Feb. 22, 1883]
Wig = >
NATURE!
ht
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399
Kilauea, though 10,000 feet lower in level than the summit
crater, showed no change, no signs of sympathy whatever.
A DEPUTATION from a number of the Scientific Societies of
Yondon had an interview with Sir John Lubbock on Tuesday, for
the purpose of asking him to oppose the Bill to authorise the
construction of a railway through Epping Forest. It was stated
that the line would greatly destroy the natural beauty of the
Forest, and that the existing means of access to it were abundant.
Sir John Lubbock said he would be prepared to assist in oppos-
ing the Bill; but it was pointed out that, as the Corporation and
the Verderers had given their sanction to the scheme, it would
be difficult to secure its rejection.
THE death is announced of Herr Thomas Dickert, well known
by his geographical relief-maps. He died on January 11 at
Poppelsdorf, near Bonn, aged eighty-two. Al-o of Dr, Bohdalek,
formerly Professor of Descriptive Anatomy at Prague University,
who died at Leitmeritz on February 2.
Av a public meeting held in Glasgow last week, called at the
suggestion of Sir William Thomson and Mr, John Burns of
Castle Wemyss, it was agreed to collect the money to establish
a permanent and efficient observatory on Ben Nevis. The
building will cost 2000/., the instruments 1000/7. In all 5000/,
are required, and of that sum 1400/. has already been subscribed.
The Government has refused to assist in the matter.
M. Tresca read before the Paris Academy of Sciences on
Monday his report on the experiments of M. Marcel Deprez ;
the distance being exactly 17,000 metres instead of 20,000 as
at first asserted, and the motive-power 6°21 horse instead of 5,
the percentage is exactly 0°326, a little less than one-third. It
may be supposed that the percentage of primary engines, tele-
graph wires, and secondary engines is 0°70, so that the result
obtained is just (0°70)? =0°343, almost exactly the real value.
The measurements have been taken with accuracy, and no error
can be adduced. The number of revolutions of the primary
machine was 588 in a minute. Others were tried on Monday
with 814 revolutions, but it is too soon to judge of the result. M.
Tresca having declined to doso, an Academical Commission has
been appointed to report upon M. Deprez’s theories. M. Tre-ca
praised Mr. Hutchinson who made the electrical measurement
with apparatus brought from London for measuring differences
of potential and number of amperes, The electrical measures
were verified with dynanometers.
Dr. WARREN DE LA RUE has been elected by the Com-
mittee a Member of the Athenzeum Club under Rule 2, which
provides for the admission of persons eminent in literature,
science, or the arts, or for public services.
THE usual sitting of the Congrés des Sociétés Savants will
take place in Paris on March 27, 28, and 29next. The Minister
of Public Instruction will preside over the concluding meeting
on the goth. For the first time the Academy of Aérostation has
been summoned to send delegates.
From the beginning of the next financial year Kew Gardens
will be opened an hour earlier than at present, viz. at 12 o’clock
instead of I.
AT the Technical College, Finsbury, the introductory address
was given by Mr. Philip Magnus, Director and Secretary of the
Institute, on Monday evening last. Sir Frederick J. Bramwell,
F.R.S., was in the chair.
WE are glad to see that the new and spirited Scottish
quarterly, the Scottish Review, does not neglect science. In the
February number, which is just out, there appears an article on
Medical Reform and an appreciative estimate of the late James
Clerk Maxwell.
THE Journal Tklégraphiquedu Bureau Central de Berne, sam-
marising the principal lacunze in the universal system of tele-
graphy, notes as one the construction of a line to Iceland for
recording the principal atmospherical events observed in the Polar
regions,
A DISTINGUISHED Swedish entomologist, Gustaf Wilhelm
Belfrage, has recently died in Texas, where he had been for
some years residing. The deceased had collected and forwarded’
a number of entomological specimens to the Swedish Academy
of Sciences in Stockholm, for which he had received a State
grant.
AN International Exhibition of Garden Produce and a
Botanical Congress will be held in St. Petersburg this summer.
Reports from Lower Bavaria announce the discovery of
auriferous and argentiferous sand deposits. They are confined
to a layer of gneiss which occurs in the granitic rocks for a
length of about fifteen or eighteen miles, between the villages of
Innernzell and Zenting. It appears that 100 kilogrammes of the
sand contain about 10 to 15 grammes of pure silver and between
2 and Io grammes of pure gold; the sand from 4-6 metres depth
is even richer. The weathered gneiss partly carries gold and
silver and partly gold only; no special form is marked in the
occurrence of the auriferous sand ; there are deposits that seem
to be alluvial, others which occur in the firm rocks, others again
in distinct veins of mica slate, and still others in exposed gneiss
which is many yards high.
IN a recent communication to the Vienna Academy, Prof.
Graber, of Czernowitz, describes a long series of experiments
with regard to the ‘*skin-vision” of animals; affording exact
proof that certain animals, without the aid-.of visual organs
proper, can make not only quantitative but qualitative distinc-
tions of light. These experiments relate chiefly to the earth-
worm, as representing the eyeless (or ‘‘dermatoptic”) lower
animals, and to the 77iton cristatus, as representative of the
higher (‘‘ophthalmoptic”) eyed animals. In a table Prof.
Graber pre-ents columns of numerical ‘‘ coefficients of reaction,”
indicating how many times more strongly frequented a space
illuminated with bright red, green, or white without ultra-violet,
is, than one illuminated dark blue, green, or white with ultra-
violet respectively, the conditions being the same as regards
light-intensity, radiant heat, &c. In one set of experiments, the
animals were in the normal sta‘e ; in another, the anterior end
of the worm, and the eyes of the triton were removed,
“CATALOGUES of the New Zealand Diptera, Orthoptera, and
‘ Hymenoptera, with Descriptions of the Species,” by F. W.
Hutton, F.G.S., Professor of Biology at Canterbury College,
N.Z., have been published by the Colonial Museum and Geo-
logical Survey of the Colony. ‘They consist of reprints of the
original descriptions of such species in the orders named as have
been described from New Zealand, without, as a rule, critical
remarks, and form an amplification of Lists already published
in the Zrans. N.Z. Institute.. Only 227 species for the three
orders are enumerated. Although this publication is dated 1881,
it has only just been received in England, In some respects it
is already obsolete, especially in Hymenoptera. Mr.. Kirby in
1881 enumerated 81 species in this order, Prof. Hutton enume-
rates about 71, which should be still further reduced from
synonymic considerations.
THE Belgian Academy offers a prize of 3000 francs (120/.)
for the best treatise on the destruction of fishes by the pollution
of rivers. Several points are to be treated of which relate to the
impurities which find their way into rivers from the principal
branches of trade and the manufactures, and also to the practical
means for rendering these impurities harmless. The treatises
400
ata nd Cet At Sey ; Pe
; ; . &S
NATURE
pe ly
Er
[eb. 22, 1883
competing for this prize are to be sent in before October
I, 1885,
EARTHQUAKES are reported from Silesia and North-Eastern
‘Bohemia. Two shocks were noticed on January 31, at2.40p.m.,
at Trautenau. Their direction was from south-west to north-east.
They were also felt at Braunau, Jungbuch, Freiheit, Marschen-
dorf, Grossaupa, Spindelmiihle, and Johannisbad, and also at
Gorbersdorf and Landeshut. The motion was undulatory and
lasted from three to five seconds. No damage was done.
_ THE Paris papers report the extraordinary run of a small
hydrogen gas balloon, capacity about two gallons, which, having
been liberated at Bercy, was discovered at Grodno in Poland,
having travelled more than two thousand miles ; it is the longest
air journey on record for so small an object.
THE French gas companies have instituted at their com-
mon expense a laboratory for testing the several inventions
reported in electric lighting, and proving whether they are valu-
able or not. After alluding to this foundation, and the much-
spoken-of experiments tried at the French Great Northern
Railway Station, a French scientific periodical says: ‘‘ Mieux
yaut un sage enemi qu’un imprudent ami.”
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Green Monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus é )
from West Africa, presented by Mr. J. F. Williams ; a Punjaub
Wild Sheep (Ovis cycloceros $) from North-West India, pre-
sented by Lieut.-Col. C. S. Sturt, C.M.Z.S.; a Thar (Capra
jemlaica) from the Himalayas, presented by Lieut.-Col. Alex.
A. A. Kinloch, A.Q.M.G., C.M.Z.S.; a Blyth’s Tragopan
(Certornis blythi ¢) from Upper Assam, a Fythch’s Partridge
(Bamébusicola fythcht) from Upper Assam, presented by Capt.
Brydon ; a Small Hill Mynah (Gracula religiosa) from South
India, presented by Dr. Rogers W. Taylor ; a Macaque Monkey
(Macacus cynomolgus 6) from India, a Common Cormorant
(Phalacrocorax carbo), British, deposited; three Stump-tailed
Lizards) Trachydosaurus rugosus) from Australia, purchased.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
THE GREAT CoMET oF 1882.—The following places for
Berlin midnight are derived from Dr. Kreutz’s ellipse :—
R.A. Decl. Log. Distance from
1883. hm. s. z Earth. Sun:
February 26 ... 5 52 10 ...—15 43°3 ... O°4551 ... O°5122
Yes sina 15 17°I ... 0°4629 ... 075158
March 2a aby D2 14 51°5 -.. 0°4705 ... O°5193
Ae. Gu5E 4S: 14 26°5 ... 0°4781 ... 0°5227
Ol SET 10 14 2°I ... 0°4856 ... 075261
8... 5 5057 ... 13 38°4 ... 0°4930 ... 0°5295
10... 5 51 O ...—13 1574 ... 075003 ... 0°5329
Mr. E. E. Barnard, of Nashfield, U.S., reports that on the
morning of October 14 he found to the south of the comet a
but less bright object close beside this, their borders touching,
and on the opposite side of the first a third fainter mass: the
three were almost in a line, east and west. More of these
cometary masses were found towards the south-east: there were
at least six or eight within about 6° south by west of the head
of the great comet.
comets with very slightly brighter centres, several being in the
field at once. They were not seen again after being obscured
by daylight on the morning of October 14.
Dr. Julius Schmidt’s observations of a cometary mass near
the head of the great comet are already published in No, 2468
of the Astronomische Nachrichten.
On the 5th inst., with the large refractor at Strasburg, the
comet had two stellar nuclei, the fainter of the two on an angle
of 246°, and 38” distant from the brighter, which was observed
for position, On January 27, Mr. Ainslie Common, of Ealing,
Their appearance was that of distinct |
with his large reflector, saw the nuclear part of the comet larger
but less bright than previously, and resolved into a string of
brightish points, the second and third of which were much the
brightest. The position-angle was 240° 20’, and the distance
between the brighter points was 317'5, so that they doubtless
correspond to the two ‘‘fixternartige Kerne” observed at Stras-
burg. Inasketch with which Mr. Common has favoured us,
five points of condensation are shown ; it was made at 9g p.m.
on January 27.
VARIABLE STARS.—Dr, Julius Schmidt has published his
usual summary of results of observations of variable stars, made
at Athens in 1882. Minima of Ceraski’s variable U Cephei
occurred on November 25 at $h. 57°2m. mean time at Athens,
and on November 30 at 8h. 36°5m. Minima of Algol on
November 29 at 11h. 30°4m., and December 2 at 8h. 7'Im.,
the first determined from observations extending over 5"4h., and
the second from an interval of 7°5h. R Hydrz was at maximum
on March 8, when it attained 4°3m. Mira Ceti at minimum on
February 4, magnitude 95; the statement in some of our
popular treatises on astronomy, that this star disappears at
minimum is erroneous ; its average brightness at that time is
about 9m. on Argelander’s scale, according to the most experi-
enced observers. x Cygni was at maximum September 1°5,
the predicted date being August 25. The variations of a Her-
culis during the year were small, but well fixed by numerous
observations ; the period, as usual, irregular; the same may be
said of g Herculis. T Cephei at maximum on January II, 6"7m.,
the increase of light much quicker than the decrease ; V Coronze
at maximum September 15°6; the fine variable R Leonis was at
maximum on May 20, 6*5m., and at minimum on November 6,
gm.; R. Piscium at maximum on December 5°3, the increase of
light slower than previously; Palisa’s variable in Scorpio at
maximum July 9°7, 12m.; of R Scuti, a maximum occurred
October 11, well-determined minima, on June 21 and December
6; Harding’s variable R Virginis was at maximum April 16°6,
and at minimum June 305, the limits of brightness being 7m.
and I1°7m,
It is much to be desired that the number of observers of these
interesting objects should be largely increased ; their observation
opens up a field of useful work, even to an amateur with the
most modest of optical appliances. At present our knowledge
of the subject is mainly due to the systematic labours of the
indefatigable director of the Observatory at Athens.
A New NEsBULA.—Mr. Barnard notifies his discovery of a
new nebula 1° 48’ north, and 5m. 39s. west of @ Virginis. It
was observed with the 15-inch refractor at Harvard College by
Mr. Wendell, and described as ‘‘rather diffuse and faint, but
gradually a little brighter in the middle” ; its position for the
beginning of 1882 is in R.A. 14h. 16m. 19°6s., Decl. +0° 9’ 14”.
This nebula is not found in the Harvard Zones, Nos. 53 and 54,
observed on May 9 and 11, 1853, and which would overlap its
place, though three new and faint nebulz were first detected in
those Zones, viz. Nos. 33-35 of Prof. Auwer’s Catalogue of new
nebule in the Konigsberg observations. This object may be
worth watching, on the score of possible variability.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
In NATuRE last week we announced that an Arctic expedition
this summer had been decided on in Sweden. This expedition,
Ae) | which has been promoted by the well-known Swedish Mecenas,
large, distinct cometary mass, fully 15’ in diameter, and a similar |
Dr. Oscar Dickson, will be in command of Baron Nordenskjold,
whose intention it is on this occasion to explore the east and
north-east coast of Greenland. It was originally his intention
to have proceeded this summer into the Siberian seas, but seeing
the delay caused to the Danish Polar Expedition, which will now
be there during the summer, this idea was abandoned and
Greenland decided on instead. Baron Nordenskjold, having
formerly visited the country, is of the opinion that some kind of
“break,” or oasis, is to be found in the interior of Greenland.
He purposes to proceed along the east coast of Greenland, as
far as the ice will allow, and then to penetrate into the interior,
some 300 miles across the inlandice. ‘The country inland is nearly
the whole year covered by ice and snow, which, during the sum-
mer months, render it almost entirely one bog. The enormous
stretch of inland ice has also always been a barrier to exploraticn.
Another object in view by Baron Nordenskjéld is to attempt to
find traces of the Norse colonies, which existed in Greenland
Heb, 22, 1883] —
NATURE
401
from about the year 1000 until the end of the r4th century.
The ultimate fate of the Norse settlers in Greenland is shrouded
in mystery, as there is no authentic record of their existence after
the end of the fourteenth century. There has also in later days
been great diversity of opinion where to seek for the settlements ;
thus the Danish explorer Graah, who, in the years 1828-31,
searched for remains of the same, sought them west of Cape
Farewell, but without success. Baron Nordenskjold is, how-
ever, of the opinion that the Osterbygd and the Norse settle-
ments were situated east of the Cape, and it is here that he
intends to search for them. It is hardly necessary to enlarge on
the interesting and important results to science which would
accrue from the discovery of these ‘‘dead cities” on the
shores of the Arctic Ocean, Baron Nordenskjold will start on
his journey early in May next, and although the general expenses
of the expedition, no doubt, will be defrayed by King Oscar
and Dr. Oscar Dickson, it is the intention of the latter to apply
to the Swedish Parliament for the use of one of the vessels of
the Navy for the voyage.
More details have now reached us concerning the expedition
of the African travellers, Lieut. Wissmann and Pogge. The
travellers proceeded along the Kassai River during the autumn
of 1881, passed through Kimbunda and reached Kidimba, the
residence of Chingenge, the chief of the Tooshilange tribe, in
November. Then they proceeded northwards. They reached
the frontier of the West African savannah-forests and entered
upon the densely populated prairies of Central Africa. In the
middle of December they reached the Mukamba Lake. Now
they traversed the well-populated country of the Bashilange and
reached the Lubi, a magnificent river bordered by rich tropical
vegetation, and which is a tributary of the Lubilash river. The
opposite shore of the Lubi is inhabited by the Bassonge, a hand-
some and powerful tribe, which possesses numerous clean and
cheerful villages adorned by palm and banana trees. On January
14, 1882, the travellers reached the capital on the left bank of
the Lubilash, in 5° 7’ 18” lat. S. Kachich, the chief of the
Kotto district, whose power is based upon his reputation of
fetishero (high priest), caused many obstacles to be thrown into
their way. At last, on January 29, the expedition crossed the
Lubilash, which is identical with the Sankura, and which flows
into the Congo. This was in 5°13' lat. S. Then they passed
through well-watered prairies, inhabited by the warlike Bassonges,
by the Beneckis, who have villages 17 kilometres in length, and
the Kalebues, reaching and crossing the Lomami River on
March 8. All these tribes are cannibals. Between the Lubi
and Lake Tanganyika, Wissmann found remains of what must
once have been the natives of these parts, viz. the Batuas, little,
undergrown, slender, dirty, and savage-looking people, who live
only by the chase and on wild fruit, speak a curious language,
and whose arms and implements indicate a very low state of
civilisation. The Lomami was crossed in 5° 42’ lat. S. The
direction towards Nyangwe was now taken through flooded
prairies and marshes, alternating with parts where the grass had
grown to a perfect carpet resembling felt. The Lufubu River
was crossed on April 2, By April 11 two canoes had been
made, On April 16 the expedition reached the Lualaba River,
and Nyangwe on the 17th, where they were well received by
the Arabs. Here they resolved to separate. Pogge was to
return to the Mukenge Station with the caravan, and Wissmann
to the east. On May 5 Pogge left. Wissman started on June 1
with only a few companions, and eventually reached Cassongo
and then Lake Tanganyika. At Manyema he had gone south
of Stanley’s and Cameron’s route, and afterwards crossed it at
Ca=Bambarre, passing northward into the land of the Wasi-
Malungo and Ubngwe tribes towards Uguhla. On the shores
of Lake Tanganyika Wissmann rested for fourteen days, staying
at the missionary station of Ruande. He made an excursion to
the Lukuga River and crossed the lake to Ujiji. On August 9
he left the caravan track, proceeding in a northerly direction to
Uhha, to visit the renowned chief, Mirambo. Passing through
many great dangers he reached Mirambo’s residence, and was
most hospitably received. On September 3 Wissmann reached
the French mission-station at Tabora, from whence he made an
excursion to the German African Society’s station at Gonza,
There he considered his geographical work as completed, inas-
much as Dr. Kaiser had proceeded to Gonza from the east coast.
Wissmann found Dr. Boehm and Reichard both in good health,
Dr. Kaiser having left a few days before. On November 18
Wissmann reached the east coast near Saadani.
Ir is announced by the hon. secretaries of the Egyptian
Exploration Fund that Sir Erasmus Wilson, LL.D., F.R.S.,
has accepted the office of President of the Society, and has
headed the subscription list with a donation of 5007. Thus
launched, the Society has commenced excavations at Tel-el-
Maskhuta, in the Wady Tumilat—this mound being the supposed
site of Raamses, one of the two cities specified in the first
chapter of Exodus as built by the forced labour of the Hebrews.
M. Edouard Naville, the eminent Swiss Egyptologist, in co-
operation with Prof, Maspero, has undertaken the direction of
the excavation on this important site, where he is now at work,
aided by an experienced engineer, and a gang of eighty labourers.
The results to be anticipated from discoveries at Tel-el-Maskhuta
are inscriptions which shall enable Egyptologists to identify the
Pharaoh of Moses, to assign a dynastic date to the period of the
oppression, and to settle the much-disputed question regarding
the route of the Exodus. More funds are needed for the pro-
secution of the work already begun, and it is hoped that the
public will liberally support the action of Sir Erasmus Wilson,
Pending the election of a treasurer, subscriptions will be received
by the hon. secretaries, Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole, British
Museum, and Miss Amelia’B. Edwards, the Larches, Westbury-
on-Trym, Bristol.
In the March number of Petermann’s Mittheilungen the
principal paper is an account of Herr Fr, von Schenck’s journey
in the United States of Columbia in 1880, an important contri-
bution to the physical geography of a country on which we have
no very recent information. Dr. Capus gives some interesting
information on the valley of Yagnan and its inhabitants, about
170 versts east of Samarcand. ‘There is a brief sketch of Herr
Schuver’s journey to the sources of the Tumat, Jabus, and
Jal, in the region lying between the Upper Bahr-el-Azrek and
Bahr-el-Abiad. This number contains the Necrology for 1882.
—In Nos, 10, 11, and 12 (in one) Band xxv. of the Mzitheilungen
of the Vienna Geographical Society is a paper, with map, by
Dr. J. Morstadt on the mountain structure of South Tyrol. An
important work in ten vols. on the peoples of Austria-Hungary,
by many authors (Vienna, Prochaska), is reviewed by Dr.
Paulitschke.—Nearly the whole of the Compte Rendu of the
Paris Geographical Society for December 15 is occupied by M.
Desire Charnay’s account of his explorations in Yucatan.
ON THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SODA
INDUSTRY
AN interesting and important paper with the above title was
read by Mr. Walter Weldon, F.R.S., at a meeting of the
Society of Chemical Industry held at Burlington House on
January 8. The following abstract is condensed from this paper
as published in the Yournal of the Society :—
A few years ago there were twenty-five alkali-works in the
neighbourhood of Newcastle-on-Tyne; now there are only
thirteen. Seven or eight works are standing idle in Lancashire ;
in Belgium the manufacture of soda by the Leblanc process has
entirely ceased. The following table represents the
Present Soda Production of the World in tons
Ammonia
soda per
Leblanc soda, Ammonia soda, Totals. cent. of
total soda.
Great Britain ... 380,000 ... 52,000 ... 432,000 ... 12°0
France 70,000 ... 57,125 ... 127,125 ... 44°9
Germany ... 56,500 ... 44,000 ... 100,500 ... 43°8
Austria 39,000 ... 1,000... 40,000... 2°5
Belgium ... 2.00 — 8,000 ... 8,000 ... To0"0
United States ... _— 1,100: .... 21,100) .<. TO0%0
Totals ... 545,500 163,225 708,725 230
The ammonia process for making soda dates, as a practical
manufacturing method, from 1866, in which year M. Solvay of
Brussels established works at Couillet, near Charleroi. M. Solvay
is now manufacturing soda by the ammonia process at the rate
of about 75,000 tons per annum.
The production of soda has very rapidly increased on the
Continent within the last five years; the greater part, but not
the whole, of this increase is due to the introduction of the
ammonia process, The production of soda by this process in
England is entirely in the hands of one firm—Messrs. Brunner
and Mond: in 187§ this firm produced 2500 tons of soda, in
402
‘ NATURE
iy
[ Feo. 225 1883
1880 they produced 18,800 tons, and their output is now at the
rate of 52,000 tons per annum. The new works now in course
_ of construction in this country and on the Continent, when com-
pleted, will at once increase the production of ammonia soda by
- 65,000 to 70,000 tons annually.
What then can the mannfacturer of Leblanc soda expect save
utter collapse? But the state of the alkali-maker threatens to
become even worse than it is. The source of the sulphur which
is used in the Leblanc process is pyrites; the pyrites employed
in this country is almost exclusively imported by three large
companies from Spain and Portugal; it contains from 2 to 3
per cent. of copper, and very small quantities of silver and gold.
When the soda manufacturer has burnt off the sulphur, he sends
the residual ore to the copper extractor, who is able to sell the
iron oxide which remains when he has taken out the copper at
about 12s. per ton. Now the French soda-manufacturers make
use of pyrites of their own, which contains little or no copper ;
one of the large companies which supplies the English market
purposes, therefore, to start works in France, which shall
employ Spanish pyrites, but which shall depend for their profits,
not on the soda which they manufacture, but on the copper and
icon oxides remaining after the sulphur has been burnt off from
the pyrites. This company, which starts with a capital of over
‘a million sterling, speaks of building five large works in France,
and one in the neighbourhood of Antwerp.
The Leblanc soda manufacturers have tried to persuade them-
selves that the price of ammonia must rise considerably, and
that thus they may be able to compete with the ammonia soda-
makers on more equal terms than at present. But in place of
ammonia becoming dearer, its price is steadily falling. New
sources of ammonia are being found; a process for collecting
ammonia and other volatile products from coke-ovens, which is
easily applied to existing ovens, has recently been patented by
Mr. J. Jameson of Newcastle-on-Tyne. If this method should
be generally applied to the coke-ovens in this country, a quantity
of ammonia corresponding to 180,000 tons of ammonium sulphate,
worth about three and a half millions sterling, would be annually
saved.
Mr. Ferrie—a member of the great iron firm of William
Baird and Co.—has also contrived a method whereby the
ammonia and tarry matters which are present in the gases of the
blast furnace may be condensed; this process has been at work
for some time at Gartsherrie, and by its help about 20 lbs, of
ammonium sulphate are obtained per ton of coal burnt in the
__ blast furnaces,
Another difficulty which presses heavily on the manufacturer
of soda by the Leblane process consists in the want of an ou let
for the great quantities of hydrochloric acid which accumulate
during the soda manufacture,
This difficulty is not felt by the Continental manufacturer
because he finds a ready market for the chlorine which can be }
extracted from hydrochloric acid ; but in England the supply of
chlorine at present much exceeds the demand. But Mr. Weldon
holds out hopes to the English chlorine-maker ; he says: ‘‘I
think that our English manufacturers of Leblanc soda will have
to cease to devote their hydrochloric acid—when they do not
throw it away—exclusively to chlorine making; . . . the diffi-
culty hitherto has been how to turn it to account otherwise. I
' believe that difficulty is about to disappear. I am not free to
enter into that matternow; . . . but I have very great confidence
that new applications of hydrochloric acid, admitting of being
applied very extensively, at comparatively small expense, are
among the things of the immediate future.”
Mr. Weldon then considers the ways in which the English
manufacturer of Leblanc soda may hope to recover himself and
again make soda at a reasonable profit. First of all, he must
get his pyrites about 50 per cent. cheaper than the price he now
pays for it; the present combination between the pyrites com-
panies will expire at the end of next year; after that time the
price of pyrites must, in Mr. Weldon’s opinion, fall very
considerably,
Secondly, the soda-manufacturer must recover all the sulphur
in hisalkali waste; if he can recover the sulphur at a cost not
exceeding 2/, per ton, he will become master of the sulphur
market, as the actual cost of Sicilian sulphur delivered at Mar-
seilles is now about 5/. per ton.
The third thing which the soda-manufacturer must do is to
distil the coal which he now uses as fuel, condense and sell the
volatile products, including tar, oils, and ammonia, and employ
the residual coke as fuel ; he will thus get his fuel for nothing,
and at the same time will confer an inestimable boon on the towns
where coal is now largely used as fuel.
These three courses, says Mr. Weldon, must be all adopted by
the English soda-maker. If, in addition to doing this, the
strictest economy in manufacture is practised and the purest and
best product that can be made is always turned out, the manu-
facturer of soda by the old Leblanc method may yet hope to
hold his own against the new and wonderfully successful
ammonia process. M. M. P. M.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
OxForp.—The following persons have been elected Members
of the Committee for the nomination of examiners in the Natural
Science Schools: Prof. R. B. Clifton; Prof. W. Odling ; and
Prof. H. N. Moseley. The Vice-Chancellor and Proctors com-
plete the Committee. Up till this term the nomination of
examiners lay with the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors, who
appointed in turn,
The Examiners for the Burdett-Coutts Geological Scholarship
have recommended Mr. F. W. Andrews, of Christ Church, for
election.
Magdalen College advertises a demyshipin Natural Science to
be competed for in June.
CAMBRIDGE.—The following farther appointments of Boards
of Electors to Professorships have been made :—
Mineralogy :—Prof. Story-Maskelyne (Oxford), Dr. H. C.
Sorby, Profs. Stokes, Warrington Smyth, and Liveing, Dr.
Phear, Dr. Percy, and Mr. Glazebrook.
Mental Philosophy and Logic :—Prof. Croom Robertson
(Univ. Coll. Lond.), J. B. Mayor (King’s Coll. Lond.), and
Adamson (Owens College), Messrs. H. Sidgwick, J. Ward,
I, Todhunter, Shadworth H. Hodgson, and the Master of
Trinity College.
Music :—Sir F. Ouseley, Messrs. Pole, T. P. Hudson, G.
Grove, Sedley Taylor, G. F. Cobb, R. Pendlebury, and
E. S. Thompson.
Mr. ALBERT SCHAFER, F.R.S., Fullerian Professor of
Physiology at the Royal Institution, has been appointed Jodrell
Professor of Physiology at University College, London, in the
vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Dr. J. Burdon
Sanderson, LL.D., F.R.S., appointed Wayneflete Professor of
Physiology in the University of Oxford.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Chemical Society, February 1.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in
the chair.—The following were elected Foreign Members :—
F. Beilstein, P. T. Cléve, H. Debray, E. Erlenmeyer, R. Fittig,
H. Helmholtz, D. Mendeleeff, Victor Meyer, Lothar Meyer.
The following were elected ordinary Fellows :—H. C. Bond,
G. C. Basu, J. Brock, A. M. Chance, J. T. Donald, H. C.
Foote, W. Fox, W. R. Flett, J. A. M. Fallon, E. C. Gill, F.
Gothard, J. Hunter, H. Jones, B. R. Lee, A. H. Jackson,
Joowansinghi, T. Jenner, J. E. Johnson, W. W. J. Nicol, F.
W. Richardson, E. S. Spencer, C. A. Serré, T. Turner, J. E.
Tuit.—The following papers were read:—On derivatives of
fluorene, by W. R. E. Hodgkinson and F, E. Matthews. The
fluorene was crystallised five or six times from alcohol ; it melted
at 113°; when pure, it does not fluoresce. A dibrom and mono-
brom derivative were obtained, and a fluorene sulphonic acid ;
by the action of caustic potash on the potassium sulphonate, a
trihydroxy-diphenyl was formed ; and by dropping the hydro-
carbon into fused caustic potash, a dihydroxy-diphenyl was pro-
cured.—On the action of chlorine on certain metals, by R.
Cowper. As observed by Wanklyn, dry chlorine has no action
upon melted sodium ; the author finds that dry chlorine has no
action upon Dutch metal, zine, or magnesium ; it acts very
slowly upon silver and bismuth ; tin, arsenic, and antimony are
attacked rapidly, with evolution of heat.—Some notes on
hydrated ferric oxide, and its behaviour with sulphuretted hydro-
gen, by L. T. Wright. The author found great difficulty in
obtaining ferric hydrate, by precipitating the chloride with am-
monia, free from basic chloride. Having poured some ferric
chloride into an excess of ammonia, he evaporated to dryness at
100°, The residue, when treated with water, gave a reddish
solution which would not yield a clear filtrate, some of the
Feb. 22 1883]
NATURE
403
iron being probably in the so-called ‘‘colloidal” condition.
Such ferric hydrate is not turned black by sulphuretted hydro-
gen; ordinary ferric hydrate is turned black at once, and the
sulphide of iron dissolves in excess of potassium cyanide, form-
ing potassium sulphide and ferrocyanide.—On alpha cyano-
naphthalene sulphonic acid, by W. K. Dutt, The author first
prepared the naphthalene sulphonic acid, then distilled the
potassium salt with dry potassium ferrocyanide, and converted
the cyanonaphthalene by sulphuric hydrochloride into the above
substance.
The Institution of Civil Engineers.—February 13, Mr.
Brunlees, president, in the chair. The paper read was on ‘* The
Design and Construction of Repairing-Slipways for Ships,” by
Mr, I. B. Lightfoot, M. Inst. C.E., and Mr, John Thompson.
EDINBURGH
Royal Society. January 29.—Mr. Thomas Stevenson,
M.Inst.C.E., vice-president, in the chair.—Dr. Knott read a
paper by Mr. H. R. Mill on the rainband, being a description of
the author's observations during the last six months of 1882.
The observations were all made with Mr. Hilger’s smallest size
of pocket spectroscope, in which the presence of the rainband is
indicated only by an apparent broadening of the D line. Mr.
Mill measured the varying intensities of the rainband by com-
paring D with the other evident lines in the spectrum—E, 4, F,
The distinctness of the fine lines in the green was also found to
be an additional factor in prognosticating the weather ; the less
distinct these lines the greater the chance of rain, An analysis
of the observations showed that of the ‘‘rain” predictions 78
per cent, came true; of the ‘‘no rain” predictions 64 per cent.
—The Rey. J. L. Blake read his third communication on the
theory of monopressures applied to-rhythm, accent, and quantity.
—Mr. John Aitken read a paper on the effect of oil on a stormy
sea, in which it was proved by experiment that the presence of
the oil film did not calm the waves, but merely prevented them
from breaking. The reason given was that the wind had no
power to produce wavelets on the oil-surface, since in virtue of
the action of surface-tension any forward motion of a portion of
the oil-film necessitated the forward motion of the whole. In
the case of a clean water surface, again, the wind acting strongly
upon any small surface portion would push it ove the contiguous
surface, and so give rise to a wavelet. Some beautiful experi-
ments on the effect of surface-tension were shown as bearing
upon the subject.—A note was read from the Astronomer-Royal
for Scotland calling attention to the remarkably high tempera-
ture maximum which had occurred some time during the
preceding night.
CAMBRIDGE
Philosophical Society, February 12.—The following com-
munications were made to the Society :—On the isochromatic
curves of polarised light seen in a uniaxal crystal cut at right
angles to the optic axis, by Mr. R. T. Glazebrook.—On a spec-
trophotometer, by Mr. R. T. Glazebrook. The paper descr bes
an arrangement for viewing simultaneously the spectra formed
by the light from two different sources after traversing the same
set of direct-vision prisms. These two spectra are polarised in
two planes at right angles and {their relative intensity is deter-
mined by the position of a Nicol in the eye-piece through which
they are observed.—On a common defect of lenses, by Mr. R.
T. Glazebrook. The author exhibited some lenses which, when
placed between two crossed Nicol’s prisms, showed strong
elliptic polarisation.—On the motion of a mass of liquid under
its own attraction, when the initial form is an ellipsoid, by Mr.
W. M. Hicks.—On functions of more than two variables ana-
logous to Tesseral Harmonies, by Mr. M. J. M. Hill.—Observa-
tions of the transit of Venus across the sun, taken near
Kingston, Jamaica, December 6, 1882, by Dr. J. B. Pearson.
In this paper the author described observations taken by him-
self of the late transit of Venus, He unfortunately missed
seeing the first external contact, and only first saw Venus when
she had intruded about one-third of her sphere on the sun’s disc.
On the internal contact he noticed no kind of black drop, or
sympathetic attraction or assimilation between the limb of the
planet and that of the sun. It seemed to him that when the
planet was actually projected on the sun’s disc, about 20” before
the time he assigned for actual contact, the black surface of the
planet adjoining the atmosphere seemed to begin to be picked
out with little white dots commencing very probably from either
side.
He could not say that he actually saw two horns of light |
gradually advancing until their poiuts touched, but rather that
the segment of the planet nearest the cun’s limb, and still ob-
scure, began to be speckled with white dots which in not more
than twenty seconds, or twenty-five at the outside, developed
into a white line. He saw 1othing like an atmosphere around
Venus, though he looked carefully for it; it was possible that
his telescope, considerably smaller than what might be called the
authorised size, was not large enough to show it.
BERLIN
Physiological Society, January 26.—Prof. du Bois-Rey-
mond in the chair.—Prof. Fritsch, who, in his study of the tor- ~
pedo at the zoological stations of Naples and Villafranca, has
discovered, in addition to the facts already published, a series of
new facts in reference to the development of this electric fish,
combined these facts with those already discovered by previous
investigators, and thus produced a general sketch of the develop-
ment of this remarkable animal before the Society, illustrated by
numerous preparations, The torpedo exhibits so many different
forms in its ontological development that already de Sanctis dis-
tinguished a squaliform stage, a raiform stage, and a torpediform
stage; and in fact the different stages, as the lecturer demonstrated
in his series of preparations, first resemble shark-embryos, after-
wards pass over into the form of rays, and finally change into that
of torpedoes by the development of the electric organ. The first
embryonic beginnings of the electric organ have the greatest
resemblance to embryonic muscular fibres. Upon longitudinal
section, there are to be seen in the interior of sheaths consisting of
connective-tissue-cells very distinct longitudinal fibrous striz,
with traces of transverse striation and many oval nuclei.
In a later stage, on making a longitudinal section, the longi-
tudinal fibration and transverse stric are seen to have entirely
disappeared ; the nuclei have become much more numerous
and circular, and in the interspaces the disc-like elements of
the pillars that are to be developed are already to be seen as
transverse striz. The whole represents, in a sheath of connec-
tive-tissue, a granular mass of protoplasm with numerous nuclei.
On making a transverse section, we see in the first stage, in
which the organ resembles embryonic muscular-tissue, the cut
ends of the longitudinal fibres as circular contours in an homoge-
neous connective-tissue. When the electric organ is further
developed, there is seen, on making a transverse section, a
polygonal net of connective-tissue, in whose meshes the :ound
pillars lie, being separated from the walls by cellular masses.
Hence Prof. Fritsch believes that the histological development
of the electrical organ is analogous to the transformation of
normal muscle in myomata, and that it would not be incor-
rect to call the electric organ anormal myoma. The phylo-
genetical development of the torpedo has already been described
in the account of its ontogenetical development. The electric organ
is developed from muscle, and indeed from the outer gill-muscles of
the fifth gill-arch. The gill-arch muscle, which develops in rays
and sharks into the extraordinarily powerful lower-jaw muscle, is
wanting in the torpedo, and in its place we find the electrical
organ, which is, comparatively speaking, a more serviceable
weapon of offence and defence to the small animal than the
lower-jaw muscle of the related predatory-fishes. The lecture was
illustrated by a great number of microscopic and macroscopic
preparations.
Physical Society, February 2.—Prof. v. Helmholtz in the
chair.—Dr. Hertz described a series of peculiar light-phenomena
which he had observed in the case of electric discharges. When,
in a moderately rarefied space (pressure about 20 to 30 mm. of
mercury), the electric discharge takes place between electrodes,
one of which is fixed in a tube that is closed at one end and
drawn out to a small opening at the other end, while the second
electrode is placed laterally near the opening of the tube, the
spark of discharge springs from the opening, laterally, to the
second electrode; at the same time, however, one sees a ray of
yellow-brown light break forth from the tube, reaching out a few
centimetres in the prolongation of it. With stronger or with
weaker pressure, the ray is shorter and less luminous ; and if a
Leyden jar be inserted, the ray is also shorter, but it is more
luminous. The form of this ray (which broadens at the end)
is very varied; and if it impinges on the wall of the vessel
inclosing the rarefied space, it produces whirling there. - The
colour of the ray is different according to the gas: yellow with
air and oxygen, blue with hydrogen, &c., and spectrum analysis
hows that it is the respective gases that glow. If a small
404
. NATURE
[ Feb. 22, 1883
mica-disc be introduced into the luminous ray, it enters
into oscillation; and a small mill is set in rotation by the ray.
This proves that real material particles, glowing masses of gas,
‘are driven forth in the discharge from the tube. The wall on
which the ray impinges is strongly warmed, and a thermometer
put into the ray rises 10° to 20°. _If the ray, which to the naked
eye seems quite continuous, be looked at through a slit in a
rotating disc, so arranged that the slit, in different, very short
intervals of time after each opening of the primary current of
the induction-coil, passes before the eye, one sees in the first
moment a small ray at the opening, then, at a later moment,
a small cloud above the opening, and finally a larger luminous
cloud floating at a greater distance from theopening. The light-
ray is thus discontinuous ; and at each spark-discharge separate
clouds of glowing gases are driven out from the tube, which are
ever enlarging. Evenat atmospheric pressure these light-pheno-
mena may, with careful observation, be perceived. They occur
mostly in the air as yellow sheaths about the aureoles of the
sparks, and with different electrodes present manifold forms :
sheaths, swellings, whirls, and the like, In moist airthe phenomenon
is quite absent, and in hydrogen it soon ceases. The great variety
of the appearances have not yet been brought under one common
standpoint.—Dr. Goldstein had observed similar phenomena to
those just described by Dr. Hertz, and made a number of experi-
ments regarding them. In spectral tubes he saw the yellow
light appear at the places of passage from the thin to the wider
parts, in cylindrical tubes, on the other hand, the yellow light
always surrounded the red discharge-light as an envelope, which in
the neighbourhood of the cathode gradually widened, and from
there progressively filled the tube. If evacuation be effected
during the discharge, one sees that the yellow light, with the air,
is driven out of the tube. This glowing of the gas Dr. Goldstein
connects with the long-known after-luminosity of Geissler tubes,
which he has sometimes found to last many seconds, and even
some minutes, after discharge. The essential thing in the case
of phosphorescent Geissler tubes is the change between wider
and narrower parts, because only at the places of transition does
the after-luminosity develop that light—yellow in air, blue in
hydrogen, and other colours in other gases.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, February 12.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—On the difference of
barometric pressures at two points of a given vertical, by M.
Jamin. He shows from records of the double observatory at
the base and at the top of the Puy de Déme, for 1880, that the
difference of pressures varies very regularly every day and
throughout the year, diminishing till 3 p.m., then increasing till
sunrise, also increasing from the summer to the winter solstice.
Kaemitz, in 1832, proved such variation with the season in
Switzerland. Similar effects, due to temperature, duubtless
occur everywhere. We have to conceive an atmospheric en-
largement, a kind of air-tide, moving round with the sun, The
resulting phenomena are complex. M. Jamin shows how the
variations of the difference of pressures in a given vertical, with
changes of temperature, pressure, and hygrometric state, may be
calculated.—Researches on chromates, by M. Berthelot.—On
the grou, ings of the animal world in primary times (second note),
by M. Gaudry. Each of the epochs seems to have had special
expansions, beings that began with it and ended withit. The
irregularities met with do not favour the idea of a struggle for
life in which the victory was to the strongest and best-endowed.
There are many striking personalities, vois de passage (so to
speak), giving the epochs a character of their own, so that as we
speak of the age of Charlemagne, &c., we may say the age of
Paradoxides, of Pterichthys, &c. But it is often the most
specialised and perfect beings that have disappeared. Other
types, representing the just mean, have persisted.—On the
numbers of unequal ordinary fractions which may be expressed
by using figures which do not exceed a given number, by Mr.
Sylvester.—Refutation of a second critique by M. Zeuner, &c.
(continued), by M. Hirn.—Researches on the 7é/e of inhibition
in’a special kind of sudden death, and with regard to the loss of
consciousness inepilepsy, by M. Brown-Séquard. The losses of
function and activity of the brain, in certain cases, are pure
effects of inhibition, arising from irritation more or less distant.
—lInfluence of subterranean humidity and of capillarity of the
soil on the vegetation of vines, by M. Barral. The fruitfulness
of the vine on the sandy soil of Aigues-Mortes is due to abun-
dant water in the subsoil (from 1 m. depth) rising to the roots by
capillarity. The author describes several laboratory experiments, -
—On treatment of the vine with sulphur in Greece, by M.
Gennadius. This treatment (for oidium) is thought successful
only if carried out on a day without wind, rain, or clouds, and
with a burning sun. This fine weather must last twenty-four
hours. It is the sulphurous vapour, and not the sulphur
powder, that kills the spores in the air and on the vine, though
the powder may act mechanically (and other fine powders will
do the same) by protecting tender parts from contact with spores. —
On germinated wheat, by M. Ballard. The gluten is profoundly
altered ; there is more acidity and more sugar and lignin ; less
fatty matter—On the relations that exist between covariants and
invariants of binary forms, by M. Perrin.—On the theory and
experiments of MM. Mercadier and Vaschy tending to establish
the non-influence of the di-electric on electro-dynamic actions,
by M, Lévy.—General method for strengthening telephonic
currents, by Mr. Moser. He introduces more induced coils.—
On chlorides of lead and of ammonia, and oxychlorides of
lead, by M. André.—Preparation of ethers of trichloracetic acid,
by M. Clermont,—Contribution to the study of isomerism in the
pyridic series, by M. Gichsner de Coninck.—On the relative
toxical power of metallic salts, by Mr. Blake. His tabulated
data of experiments show why he cannot accept the law formu-
lated by M. Rabuteau (that metals are more active the greater
their atomic weight and the smaller their specific heat).—Pene-
tration of actinic radiations into the eye of man and of vertebrate
animals, by M. de Chardonnet. He finds that no medium of
the eye is transparent for the ultra-solar radiations, that is, for
waves shorter than T or U, the limits of the ultra-violet solar
spectrum. The mitilating membrane in sparrow-hawks and
fowls is translucid for part of the ultra-violet spectrum (up to
O and Q). The absorbing power of the vitreous humour,
cornea, and crystalline lens varies in different species. The
general fluorescence corresponds to actinic absorption, but
there are exceptions.—New researches on the production of
monsters in the hen’s egg by the effect of late incubation,
by M. Dareste. This takes place more slowly in winter than
in summer. Also eggs of the same age grow old more or
less quickly. —On the tonic and inhibitory 7é/e of the sympa-
thetic ganglions, and their relation to vaso-motor nerves, by
MM. Dastre and Morat.—The mode of fixation of the
suckers of the leech studied by the graphic method, by M.
Carlet. The movements of the animal on smoked paper were
observed. It has been received that the oval sucker is attached
first by the centre, then by the borders, but the author finds
that the borders are fixed first. Detachment, too (which does
not seem to have attracted attention), begins at the borders.—
On a new fixed Crinoid, Democrinus parfaiti, obtained in
dredging from the Zravailleur, by M. Perrier. This makes
only the fifteenth species known. It is distinguished by a long
funnel-like cup, formed of five basal pieces.—Geological and
chemical researches on the saliferous formations of the Swiss
Alps, and especially on that of Bex, by M. Dieulafait. These
beds the author regards as products of evaporation of ancient
seas.
CONTENTS PAGE
Prorgssor Henry SMITH. By Dr. W. Sportiswoope, P.R.S. , . 36%
Pusric ELEcTRIC LIGHTING:.-. « © » =.0 = © « «© © «© «| = «30d
CrypToGamic Frora oF GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND SWITZERLAND.
By Mrs. Mary P. MERRIFIELD. . . »« «+ + + + © © «© « «@
THE CHURCHMAN’S:ALMANAG . + «6 «© © = 2 © © © «© ¢ « «
LxeTTERS TO THE EprTroR:—
Hovering of Birds.—THe Duke or ArGytt, F.R.S.; Huperr
385
386
IATRY. EDENRY CREIE Seis, oy is) reece ne ike fn ni fo” eto esi mIOY)
The Auroral Meteoric Phenomena of November 17, 1882 —Dr.
H.. J. Hi(GRoneMAN o,f. 5 ta ie) jn le Un! ©) ce ongeD
The Orbit of the Great Comet of 1882—E. RisToRI . « - « 388
Aino Ethnology.—A. H. KEANE . . . . - + «© © «© @ « 389
Auroral Experiments in Finland.—S. LemstriM . «. « s « 389
Flamingoes and Cariamas.—JAMES CURRIE . - « « + « « «= 389
Tue ApproacHING FISHERY EXHIBITION +. » « + © © + © + + 389
Tue Procress oF TELEGRAPHY - . - - « «© « + © + © « «© # 390
CENTRAL AND West Africa (With Illustrations). . » « « « + 39%
On THE AuroRA Borgatis. By SopHus TROMHOLT , - «. + + « 304
Proressor HuxLeEY ON EDUCATION. « «© « + «© «© © @ 396
NOTES si-len eles wens = [rath al. <wt=, Dale) Wale Res’ <iie ate eenaeaOs:
Our AsTRONOMICAL COLUMN:—
The Great Comet of r882. . 2. «© - - © © © © © « «© © = 400
Variable Stars er a Ses cu ere rar. ie
A New Nebula, 4°00 2. ge) ie) sel er sis) f= 400
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES . . » + + + 2 + «+ » «© «© © © © «© = 400
ON THE PRESENT CoNDITION OF THE SopA INDUSTRY . . . + . 405
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE «. «© - « + «© + + 402
SocigtreS AND ACADEMIES . . - + «© + © «© «© « «el = pes
“—
NATORE
405
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1883
RECENT ARMOUR-PLATE EXPERIMENTS
T the conclusion of their labours the “Iron Plate
Committee” reported, in 1865, that the best material
for the armour of war-ships was wrought iron of the
softest and toughest nature. Steel, or steely iron, or
combinations of iron and steel were all pronounced un-
suitable for the purpose, after a long course of careful
experiments. Accepting this verdict the designers of
armoured ships continued to specify for soft iron armour,
the makers of guns and projectiles aimed at the perfora-
tion of this kind of armour, and the manufacturers sought
to secure the desired qualities of softness and toughness
in the thicker and heavier plates which they were con-
stantly being called upon to produce. All the armoured
ships built from 1860 to 1876 were ‘‘ironclads,’’ and in
that time the thicknesses of armour plates carried on the
sides or batteries of completed ships had advanced from
4% inches to 14 inches, while the weights had risen from
4 or 5 tons to 20 or 25 tons. Greater aggregate thick-
nesses of iron had been arranged for prior to 1876. For
example, the /7/flexzble had been designed to carry 24
inches of iron on her sides, but this was in two layers of
12-inch plates. The adoption of the so-called “‘ sandwich-
fashion ’’ of armour plating was based upon experiments
made at Shoeburyness, and it had certain advantages of
a constructive character ; it also enabled broader and
longer plates to be produced within the fixed limits of
weights with which the manufacturers could deal, and
enabled them to insure excellence of quality which might
not have been so certain of attainment in plates of 20
inches or upwards in thickness.
While the two great Sheffield firms and their rivals in
France were thus developing the manufacture of iron
armour plating, the Creusot Company, of which M.
Schneider was the head, were attempting to reverse the
verdict against steel armour, and to produce specimens
which could hold their own against the best iron armour
of equal thickness. The Italian Admiralty brought the
claims of the rival materials to the test of experiment at
Spezia in October, 1876. In order to decide on the kind
of armour to be used on the Duzlio and Dandolo, speci-
men targets were erected and a series of firing trials made
against them on a scale of unprecedented magnitude. A
gun weighing 100 tons, manufactured at Elswick, was
brought to bear upon targets protected by iron or steel
plates 22 inches thick, backed by great masses of timber
and strong supports. Other guns of considerable weight
and power were also used, but their performances were
overshadowed by those of the monster weapon. The
results of these trials may be briefly summarised. Against
the 10-inch and 11-inch guns the 22-inch iron plates had
a decided advantage over the steel plate of equal thick-
ness. The penetration was somewhat greater in the iron
plates, but the steel plate cracked badly. On the other
hand, when the Ioo-ton gun was brought against the
targets the iron plates and their backings were completely
perforated as well as broken up: whereas the steel plate,
-although smashed to pieces, prevented the shot from
passing through the backing.
VOL. XXVIIL.—NOo. 696
Various opinions were
i
formed as to the deductions which should be made from
these trials. On the one side it was urged that as steel
plates of great thickness could be gradually cracked and
destroyed by guns incapable of perforating them, steel
ought not to be used instead of iron, which could be
battered by a great number of projectiles from such guns,
and be neither perforated nor cracked. On the other
side it was maintained that there was small probability
of any single armour plate on a ship’s side being struck
repeatedly in action ; and consequently that the material
should be preferred which could best resist perforation by
a single projectile from the most powerful gun, even if
the resistance to perforation involved the partial destruc-
tion of the plate struck. The Italian authorities adopted
the latter view, and the Duz/io and Dandolo have steel
armour, being the first ships protected in that manner.
Although these steel armour plates were made in
France, the French authorities did not follow the Italian
lead and abandon iron armour, Nor was a similar course
followed in England. Change was seen to be inevitable,
but it was endeavoured to make the change in a direction
which should combine the high resistance to perforation
of steel with the power to resist cracking and disintegra-
tion possessed by tough rolled iron. To Messrs. Cam-
mell and Co. of Sheffield belongs the honour of taking
the lead in this direction; Messrs. Brown speedily fol-
lowed, and the Admiralty gave substantial assistance in
the conduct of the necessary experiments. In the earlier
stages many failures and disappointments were expe-
rienced ; but eventually better results were obtained, and
‘€steel-faced armour’’ became recognised as the substi-
tute for iron on English war-ships. Steel-faced armour,
as the name implies, consists of a rolled iron back-plate,
on the face of which is welded a layer of steel. The
hard steel face resists perforation, and breaks up or
deforms the projectiles, while the intimate union of the
tough iron back with the hard steel face prevents the
serious cracking which occurs in steel alone. Curiously
enough the idea was not merely an old one, but a small
plate made on this principle, 44 inches thick, had been
fired at in 1863. This early steel-faced plate was broken
into two pieces at the first shot of a light gun, and was
condemned by the Iron Plate Committee. Fourteen
years later plates of a similar character, so far as the
combination of steel and iron is concerned, but of im-
proved manufacture, were ‘successfully resisting three
shots, either of which would have perforated an iron
plate of equal thickness.
The first steel-faced plates were used on the /7/levzdle’s
turrets: they were 9 inches thick, worked ‘ sandwich-
fashion” outside 7-inch iron armour. It was part of the
contract that a test-piece from each steel-faced plate
should be fired at with a 12-ton gun, and should receive
three shots without being broken up or perforated. This
was considered to be a very severe test at the time, and
undoubtedly was so when the novel conditions of the
manufacture are considered. It was successfully met,
however, and from that time onwards the manufacture
has steadily improved. As an indication of what has
been done, it may be stated that steel-faced plates 11
inches thick have received no less than eight shots from
the 12-ton and 18-ton muzzle-loading guns, with battering
charges and at Io yards’ range, without perforation or
T
-- 406
very serious cracking, this enormous “ punishment”’
having been sustained by an area of 48 square feet only.
Most of the trials made against steel-faced armour have
been against plates from Io to 12 inches in thickness.
For thicknesses up to 12 inches it is probably within the
truth to say that for zovmal zmpact the steel-faced plates
of recent manufacture have been equal in their resistance
to perforation to iron plates 25 to 30 per cent. thicker and
heavier. For oblique impact the hard armour is probably
still more superior to iron, glancing the projectiles at
angles of obliquity when they would have “ bitten” into
the iron. A few experiments have been made in this
country and abroad on much thicker steel-faced plates,
ranging up to 18 or 19 inches in thickness, and of these the
most recent and important are the trials made at Spezia
in November, 1882. Three targets were constructed for
these trials, the armour plate on each being nearly 11 feet
long, 84 feet wide, and 19 inches thick. One of the targets
was covered by a steel-faced plate made by Messrs.
Cammell, another by a steel-faced plate made by Messrs.
Brown, and the third by a steel plate made at Creusot.
All three plates were similarly backed and supported by
4 feet of oak; the Creusot plate was fastened by no
less than 20 bolts, and the Sheffield plates had only 6
bolts each. Against these targets the roo-ton muzzle-
loading gun was brought into action. At first the powder-
charge used (329 lbs.) was that which gave such a
velocity to the chilled cast-iron projectiles—zooo Ibs. in
weight—as would have perforated a 19-inch iron armour
plate. The actual penetrations were from 3} to 5 inches
in the steel-faced plates, and 8} inches in the steel plate,
showing that the actual superiority of all the plates over
jron considerably exceeded the estimate. The steel plate
did not crack at the first shot: the steel-faced plates did,
_ but not to any serious extent. Next followed a more
severe attack, the powder charge being increased to
480 Ibs., giving the projectiles a velocity estimated to be
capable of perforating about 24 inches of iron armour.
The total energy of the projectile moving at this velocity
exceeded 33,000 foot-tons. All the plates were broken
into pieces by this terrific blow. The steel plate was
split into six pieces, but the numerous bolts held these
pieces in position, and still preserved the defensive power
of the target. Each of the steel-faced plates was broken
into five pieces, and on account of the fewness of the
bolts these pieces fell to the ground, leaving the targets
uncovered. The whole of the chilled cast-iron shots
were broken up on impact, and the penetration into the
steel-faced plates was less than that in the steel plate.
At this stage the comparative tests ended. A third round
was fired, with the heavier charge and a steel projectile
against the steel plate. The shot was stopped, the pene-
tration was only 7 inches, but the plate was broken up,
and the -backing seriously splintered. A fourth round
was fired at this target and completely wrecked it.
On a review of all the circumstances of the experi-
ments, it must be admitted that the greatest success was
attained by the steel plate, although this must be attri-
buted rather to the number and excellence of its fasten-
ings than to superiority in quality of the plate over the
steel-faced plates. The latter proved themselves less
penetrable than the steel plate, and had rather the advan-
tage as regards fracture at the end of the first two series
NATURE
[March 1, 1883
of rounds; but they were insufficiently secured. One
definite lesson to be learned from these experiments is,
therefore, that a larger number of bolts is needed for a
given area of steel or steel-faced armour than has been
commonly used. Another lesson taught by these trials
is that the steel armour plates of Creusot manufacture in
1882 are far superior to those made six years earlier. It
is not at all probable that light guns such as broke the
22-inch steel plate to pieces in 1876 would have been
equally effective against the 19-inch plate recently tested.
In both cases the plates were made specially for the
firing tests, and they may not have been ‘‘ merchantable
articles’’ in the sense of representing large quantities of
steel armour. But nevertheless this 19-inch plate shows
what can be done with steel, if cost is of secondary im-
portance. Authoritative statements are wanting of the
actual processes of manufacture, or of the cost of produc-
tion. It is reported that the 19-inch plate was hammered
down from an ingot three or four times as thick as the
finished plate, and that the face was oil tempered. If
this is correct the cost must be high, and probably as
great as, if not greater than, that of steel-faced plates.
Moreover if such an amount of “work” has to be put
into steel plates in their conversion from ingots into the
finished forms, then no great economy or advantage can
result from the power which the maker has to cast steel
ingots in special shapes or sectional forms. The Creusot
Company use a soft steel containing perhaps three-tenths
to four-tenths per cent. of carbon, give it toughness by
means of a large amount of hammering, and harden the
face by oil tempering. On the contrary, the Sheffield
firms, as the result of numerous experiments, use a hard
steel for the face, the percentage of carbon amounting to
about twice that in the Creusot plate, and support this
by a tough iron back. With this hard steel, oil tempering
does not appear to be beneficial, although with softer
steel it undoubtedly is an advantage. These steel-faced
plates which were tested at Spezia were really samples
of large quantities made at Sheffield in the same manner.
Probably equally good results would have been obtained
if any one of the batch of plates represented had been
selected for test. In this respect, therefore, there is a
marked difference between the test to which the two
manufactures were subjected.
As between the steel and steel-faced plates tried at
Spezia we may assume that there is no notable difference
in resistance to perforation or to fracture. Possibly, with
equally good and equally numerous fastenings the steel-
faced plates would have had some slight advantage, and
in other trials mentioned later on steel-faced plates
have had a decided advantage. Supposing no important
difference to exist, then the choice between the two kinds
of armour will be governed by their relative prices; and
how these compare, we have no means of judging, but it
seems probable that the steel-faced plates would be at
least as cheap as steel plates made in the manner
described above for the steel test-plate.
It may be convenient in this connection to briefly
describe the mode of manufacture of steel-faced plates.
Messrs. Cammell prefer to pour the molten steel on to
the face of a wrought-iron plate which has been brought
to a good welding heat. The layer of molten steel is
} surrounded by a frame of wrought-iron which has
March 1, 1883]
NATURE
407
previously been attached to the iron plate; and it is
pressed against the surface of the iron plate by a cover
carried by an hydraulic ram, until the welding is complete
and the steel has solidified. Messrs. Brown prefer first
to roll a steel face-plate as well as an iron back-plate,
and then to raise both to a welding heat; the molten steel
is afterwards poured into a space left between the two,
and hydraulic pressure is applied until the solidification
has taken place. The remaining processes are similar
in the practice of both firms. After welding has been
completed, the whole mass is reheated and rolled down
to the finished thickness of the armour plate. The steel
face is usually about one-half the thickness of the iron
back, and it is a curious fact that the iron and steel
maintain their relative thicknesses as the rolling pro-
ceeds, even when the reduction in thickness during
rolling is very considerable. This reduction varies from
one-half for thin armour-plates, up to ro or 11 inches in
finished thickness, to one-third with 18 to 20 inches of
finished thickness. Some competent authorities consider
that too little work is done in the rolls on the thicker
plates, but there is a need for further experiment to
show whether this viewis correct. Whatever may be the
cause, it would seem that the best results so far have
been obtained with steel-faced plates below 12 inches in
thickness.
Simultaneously with the Spezia experiments another
competition was proceeding, near St. Petersburg, between
steel-faced and steel armour. The plates tested were 12
inches thick, 8 feet long, and 7 feet wide. They were first
fired at with the 11-inch breech-loading gun, throwing a
550-lb. chilled cast-iron projectile, with a powder charge
of 132 lbs. The velocity of the shot was 1500 feet per
second. Messrs. Schneider supplied the steel plate,
which was fastened with twelve bolts. Messrs. Cammell
made the steel-faced plate, which had only four bolts in
it. The first blow on the steel plate broke it into five
pieces ; the projectile was destroyed, but it penetrated 13
inches into the target. A blow of equal energy on the
steel-faced plate produced only a few unimportant cracks
in the steel, and the penetration was about 5 inches only.
Three out of the four bolts were, however, broken. A
second shot was then fired at each plate with 81 lbs.
charge. The steel plate was broken into nine pieces, and
the penetration was 16 inches : whereas on the steel-faced
plate the principal effect produced was to break the only
remaining bolt and to let the plate fall to the ground, face
downwards. The back of this plate was perfect, and the
target behind the plate was uninjured. In this trial the
steel-faced plate proved greatly superior to the steel, but
had insufficient fastenings. It is proposed to increase
the bolts in number, re-erect the plate, and continue the
trial, of which the further results cannot fail to be
interesting.
This contest between steel and steel-faced armour must
not be allowed to withdraw attention from the great
superiority of both, in certain respects, to iron armour,
Even as matters stand, either of these modern defences
is greatly to be preferred to their predecessor. Against
this hard armour chilled cast-iron projectiles break up in
a manner never seen with soft iron. Projectiles of this
kind are virtually impotent, and must be replaced by
more expensive, harder projectiles, if steel or steel-faced
armour is to be attacked. Even with steel projectiles
results cannot be obtained such as were possible with
iron armour. Perforation of armour by shells carrying
relatively large bursting charges is no longer a possi-
bility : and the heaviest gun yet made cannot drive its
projectiles through a thickness of hard armour only
three-fourths as great as the thickness of iron which it
it could perforate.
The use of steel and steel-faced armour will involve
many experiments to determine not merely what descrip-
tions of projectiles are best adapted to damage or
penetrate it, but what are the laws of the resistance of
such armour to penetration and disintegration. All the
formulze based on experiments with soft iron armour and
chilled cast-iron projectiles are inapplicable under the
new conditions. Perforation is no longer to be feared as
the most serious damage likely to happen to armour
plates: more moderate thicknesses of hard armour suf-
fice to stop the projectiles from the heaviest guns than
would have been considered possible a short time ago.
Instead of perforating 19 inches of steel or steel-faced
armour, the projectile of the 1oo-ton gun with a given
velocity only penetrates 8 inches into the plates. But, on
the other hand, the possible disintegration and fracture
of the armour plates are becoming important matters.
Makers of armour plates have to endeavour to produce
materials which shall resist fracture as well as penetra-
tion, and the only proof of their success or failure is to
be found in the results of actual trials. Experiments are
equally essential to progress in the manufacture of guns
and projectiles. The example set by Italy must be
followed; the necessary experiments must be on a large
and costly scale, and they may lead to many departures
from former practice. But if real progress is to be made
in the armour and armament of ships, it must be prefaced
by experiments beside which those of the former Iron
Plate Committee will appear insignificant.
In conclusion it may be stated that although iron armour
has been practically superseded for the sides and batteries
of war ships, it is still preferred for decks. Experiments
have shown that for angles of incidence below 20 degrees,
and for such thicknesses—not exceeding 3 or 4 inches
—as are used on decks, good wrought-iron is superior
to both steel and steel-faced plating. The explanation
of this departure from the laws which hold good for
thicker plates and greater angles of incidence cannot
be given here, but the fact has been established by
elaborate trials made in this country and abroad.
SMOKE ABATEMENT
Report of the Committee of the Smoke Abatement Exhi-
dition. (London: Smith & Elder, 1883.)
HIS volume, which has just been issued, presents
many points of interest, as it is the outcome of the
labours of a Committee formed in 1881 with a view to
ascertain what means could be adopted to check the
growing evils arising from the evolution of smoke which
attends the combustion. of bituminous coal. It may be
said to be the continuation of work undertaken by the
several Parliamentary Committees which met in 1819,
1843, and in 1845. In the previous efforts attention
appears to have been mainly directed to lessening the
408
NATURE :
[March 1, 1883,
nuisance arising from smoke from factory and other
furnaces, but in the present movement it is evident that
the importance of the domestic fireplace as a foe, if not
the chief one, to the purity of the air of cities, has been
generally recognised and has been the main object of
attack.
It is not a little remarkable that, although elaborate
experiments have been made from time to time with a
view to ascertain the nature and composition of the gases
generated in furnaces, but little attention has been
devoted to the gases given off from stoves and grates.
On the Committee of the recent Smoke Abatement Exhi-
bition chemists were well represented, and this brief notice
will mainly refer to the genera] chemical results that have
been obtained.
The examination of the gases withdrawn from flues to
which stoves and grates were attached, was intrusted
to Prof. Chandler Roberts, who at first considered that the
analysis of representative samples might best be made by
the aid of the rapid methods of gas analysis arranged by
Orsat. In view, however, of the peculiar conditions under
which the tests had to be made, and bearing in mind that
more than one hundred appliances were submitted for
testing in the limited time during which the Exhibition
was open, Prof. Roberts submitted a plan to the Com-
mittee which received its approval.
He points out in his report that the first researches on
chimney gases are due to Péclet, who published some
results of analysis in 1828, but Péclet’s results and those
of different experimenters who followed him were open
to the objection that the samples submitted to analysis
were only small fractions of the total gases in the flues,
and as the samples were not taken with sufficient fre-
quency they could not represent the mean composition of
the gaseous mixture passing up the chimney. This grave
defect was, however, remedied by Scheurer-Kestner in an
elaborate research on the composition of the flue-gases
of boiler furnaces, which will always be the basis of future
experiments in this direction, and to which frequent
allusion is made in the Report. The details of the method
adopted are given in the Report itself ; it will be sufficient
to say here that the gases were withdrawn through a fine
slit in a tube extending across the flue, an_arrange-
ment which rendered it possible to draw the gases uni-
formly from the entire diameter of the ascending current
of gas in the flues. The effluent gases were withdrawn
by aspiration through a tube loosely filled with asbestos
to retain the solid particles of carbon and soot; they
then passed through a U-tube filled with chloride of
calcium to absorb water, and thence through three U-
tubes filled with soda-lime to absorb carbonic anhydride ;
the gases were then led to a tube of porcelain filled with
cupric oxide and heated to redness by means of a small
furnace. The complete combustion of the remaining gases
was thus effected, the carbonic oxide being burnt to car-
bonic anhydride, and the hydrocarbons and free hydrogen
to aqueous vapour and carbonic anhydride ; the water was
retained in a U-tube filled with chloride of calcium, and
the carbonic anhydride in two other soda-lime tubes;
the residual gases (unconsumed oxygen and nitrogen)
then passed to the aspirator, a chloride of calcium tube
being interposed to prevent any moisture from the aspirator
from penetrating the system of tubes.
It will be evident that this plan renders it possible to
compare the relative proportion of the completely burnt
products of combustion with those in which combustion has
been imperfect. With regard to the proportion of carbon
lost as soot, the evidence afforded by the results of the
tests made at the Exhibition, although they do not un-
fortunately render it possible to give a clear and precise
answer to the question, are sufficiently definite to show
that the amount probably does not exceed I per cent. of
the total carbon in the fuel, and is in many cases far less.
The coal] used in testing the grates and stoves was
either ‘ Wallsend,’ which yielded 67°i per cent. of coke,
or Anthracite, giving 94 per cent. on distillation in a_
closed vessel.
With regard to the completeness of the combustion, the”
carbon present in the form of carbonic anhydride varied
in relation to that present as carbonic oxide and as
hydrocarbons, C.Hy, within the limits of 1,000 to 4 and ©
1,000 to 375, but of the whole eighty-six tests in only three
was the number indicating imperfect combustion below ©
Io, and in only nine cases was it above 200, and six of
these nine cases (three grates and three stoves) were
worked purposely for ‘‘ slow combustion.”
The total amount of carbon present in the gases
ascending the flue (either in the free state or combined —
with carbon) bore a relation to the hydrogen present
which varied between the limits of 1,000 to 8 and 1,000 ©
to 259, the latter probably being due to the fact that the ©
grates and stoves were tested whilst the mortar in which
they were set was still wet.
The mean of the results of the tests of the seventeen
best grates shows that the loss of carbon in the form of
carbonic anhydride and hydrocarbons is about 3°4 per
cent. of the carbon in the fuel used (in the case both of
Anthracite and Wallsend), the mean for the whole of the
grates being about g per cent. of the total carbon.
The comparative imperfection of the combustion
shown in some of the tests is hardly to be wondered
at when it is remembered that the bituminous coal em-
ployed yielded on distillation no less than 32 per cent.
of volatile matter, and that in the case of many of the
appliances the cold fuel was simply charged on to the
top of a mass of coal already in the state of incandescence.
Professor Roberts cautiously points out that all that
has hitherto been done in this series of tests “merely
renders it possible to select certain typical appliances
which deserve more detailed examination.’’ He appears,
however, to have spared no pains to render this very |
laborious investigation as complete as the circumstances
allowed, and the Chemical section of this Report is cer-
tainly one of the most important contributions ever made
to our knowledge of the combustion of fuel.
E. FRANKLAND
/
‘
;
}
NORTH AFRICAN ETHNOLOGY
Sahara und Sudan: Ergebnisse Sechsjahriger Retsen in
Afrika. Von Dr. Gustav Nachtigal. Part II. (Berlin:
1881.)
EARLY a decade has elapsed since Dr. Nachtigal’s
return to Europe after his travels in East Sahara
and Central Sudan during the years 1869-74. Most of —
the geographical and ethnological results of his researches
a
; March 1, 1883 |
NATURE
409.
in that region have already appeared at various times in
the memoirs of the Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde and of
other learned societies. But the issue of the monumental
work embodying all the details in a permanent form is
proceeding at a very slow rate. The first part, covering
the years 1869-70, did not appear till 1879, and an interval
of two years elapsed before the publication of this second
instalment, which, although forming a bulky volume of
790 pages, gets no further than the first days of September,
1872. In the preface the delay is attributed mainly to the
time occupied in the tedious process of sifting the ethno-
logical and especially the linguistic materials brought
home by the traveller. The help afforded by Rudolf
Prietze in arranging these materials is handsomely ac-
knowledged in the preface, where occasion is also taken
to express regret for omitting to give the source of the
familiar mailclad, mounted Bornu warrior borrowed in
Part I. from Denham and Clapperton’s work, attention to
which oversight had been called in our review of that
volume (see NATURE, vol. xxi. p. 198).
The three books forming the present volume embrace
the trips made to Kanem and Borku north of, to
Baghirmi south of, Lake Chad, and to the islands in the
lake itself. Separate chapters of great permanent value
are devoted to the main geographical features of these
regions, and to the history and complex ethnical relations
of their inhabitants. Here special attention is naturally
claimed by the mysterious Tubu people of the East
Sahara, and a serious attempt is made to explain their
relations on the one hand to the Hamitic Tuariks
(Berbers) of the West Sahara, on the other to the Negro
races of Sudan.
The Tubu, that is, “‘ people of Tu” or Tibesti,! are by
Lepsius ? with great probability identified with the Gara-
mantes of Herodotus (iv. 183), whose capital was Garama
(Edrisi’s Germa) in Phazania (Fezzan).
places the Garamantes in the same region, that is, in the
Libyan Desert (Sahara) south of the Syrtis Major (Gulf
of Sidra), already speaks doubtfully of their ethnical
affinities, and seems disposed to affiliate them rather to
the Ethiopian (Negro) stock.? Later on this position is
_disturted by Leo Africanus, whose fifth great division of
the Berbers are the Gumeri (Garamantes?), whom he
elsewhere calls Bardei (Bardoa). These Bardzi, whose
name appears to survive in the Bardaz oasis of Tibesti,
are accordingly identified by Vater with the Tubu, and
by him grouped with the Berbers.* Now comes Lepsius,
who again removes the Tubu from the Libyan (Berber)
connection, and with Ptolemy transfers them to the
Negro group. He admits a strong modification of the
original dark, and a corresponding assimilation to the
Libyan, type. But this is attributed to their position
along the great historical trade route across the Sahara
between North Africa and the Chad basin, wh le their
language is regarded as decisive proof of their Negro
relationship.°
And thus this interesting, if somewhat troublesome,
nomad race has continued throughout the historic period
* Cf. Kanent-bu =people of Kanem, where dz is the pl. of the personal
postfix #ra, answering to the personal prefix m, pl. da, wa, cf the Bantu
races, as in M’Ganda, Waganda; and to the de of Fud-be =‘‘ Pul people.”’
2 Nubische Grammatik, Einleitung.
°“Ovraw S¢ cal airay bn uadrAov alédrwy, i, 8.
ass Mithridates II.,”" p. 45 of Berlin ed. 1812
5 “ Urspriinglich ein Negervolk,”’ of. cit., Einleitung, xlviii.
Ptolemy, who_
to occupy a dubious ethnological position between the
surrounding Hamitic and Negro peoples. That Dr.
Nachtigal should attempt to grapple with the problem was
inevitable, and although his own inferences are vague
and hesitating, he at all events supplies ample material
for a satisfactory solution. As in so many other anthro-
pological fields, the difficulty turns, so to say, mainly on.
the collision between ethnical and philological interests
The present physical resemblance of the Tubu to their
western neighbours, the Berber Tuariks, admits of no
doubt, and this resemblance increases as we proceed from
the Dasa, or southern, to the Teda,' or northern, division
of the race. In fact there is here the same gradual
transition between the Hamites of the Sahara and the
Negroes of Sudan, which is found further west all
along the borderlands from Bornu to the Atlantic, and
which is conspicuous especially in the more or less
mixed Sonrhay, Pul, Hausa, and Toucouleur nations of
the Chad, Niger, and Senegal basins. To these corre-
spond in Central Sudan the Negroid Kanuri, Kanembu,
Baele, and Zoghawa peoples,’ while the same com-
plexity is presented in the Nilotic regions, where the
Nuba family merges imperceptibly north and south in
the Egyptians and Negroes of the White Nile.
But Lepsius (of. cé¢.) now holds that the two elements
have become interpenetrated throughout the whole of the-
Sudan, which he consequently regards as an interme-
diate zone of transition between the intruding Hamites
from Asia and the autochthonous Negroes, whose original
domain is relegated to the southern half of the conti-
nent. In this scheme, which thus recognises in Africa
only two fundamental racial and linguistic types, what
place can be assigned to the Tubu? We have seen
that Lepsius himself disposes of the question by re-
garding them as originally Negroes assimilated physi-
cally to the Berbers, while retaining their primitive Negro
speech. If this view could be accepted, we should have
an instance of the linguistic surviving the ethnical type,
a theory in which anthropologists would in any case be
slow to acquiesce. But Dr. Nachtigal’s researches, while
confirming Barth and Koelle’s conclusions regarding the
intimate relation of Tubu to Kanem and Kanuri, also
show that this group is fundamentally distinct from the
Bantu, that is, from the typical Negro linguistic stock of
Lepsius. If it could be affiliated to the Hamitic family,.
there would be no further difficulty as to the ethnical
position of Tubu. But Nachtigal also shows that it
differs quite as radically from Hamitic as it does from
Bantu. His inquiries have in fact resulted in the dis-
covery of an independent and widespread linguistic
family corresponding in the East Sahara and Central
Sudan to the northern Hamitic and southern Bantu
groups. The source, or at least the most archaic known
form, of this family is the Teda, or northern Tubu, whose
direct offshoots are the more highly developed Dasa, or
southern Tubu, the Kanem north of Lake Chad, the
Kanuri of Bornu, the Baele of Ennedi and Wanyanga,
and the Zoghawa of North Dar-Fur. More distant
members appear to be the Hausa, Fulu, and Sonrhay of
x Inthis word Teda we have apparently the root of the Tedamensiz, a
branch of the Garamantes placed by Ptolemy south of the Samamyeii in
Tripolitana. If my identification is correct, it gives us a fresh proof of the
identity of the Garamantes with the Tubu
2 See my paper ‘‘ Onthe Races and Tnbes
vol xv p. 550.
of the Chad Basin,” NaturE,
410
West Sudan, the Logon, Bagrimma (Baghirmi), and
Mandara (Wandela) of the Shary basin, and the Maba of
Wadai. But the actual relationship of these and other
outlying branches to the main trunk can only be deter-
mined by future research. Meantime, Dr. Nachtigal rests
satisfied with having demonstrated the existence of this
widely-ramifying family and its radical difference both
from the Hamitic and Bantu groups. “ How far the re-
lationship may extend will be made more and more
evident by a further study of the Sudan languages, espe-
cially the Hausa, Masa, Bagrimma, Maba. For the
present it is enough for me to have established the rela-
tions of the Tubu dialects to each other, and of both to
the Kanuri and Baele”’ (p. 209).
But when he comes to the consequences of his premisses
he speaks with singular hesitation, as if overweighted or
hampered by the brilliant generalisations of Lepsius.
The fact is, this theory of the three zones leaves no room
in Africa for the great linguistic family which Nachtigal
has nevertheless discovered there. But instead of boldly
giving up the theory, he timidly suggests alternatives, in
order somehow to reconcile it with the actual conditions.
After clearly showing the independent position of Tubu,
he leaves the reader to choose between a possible ‘ex-
tremely remote connection with the Negro languages, or,
if it be preferred, to regard it as a distinct species, which
has held its ground between the Negro and Hamitic
linguistic types’’ (p. 201). Most ethnologists will pro-
bably be prepared to accept the latter alternative, even
at the risk of adding one more to the two “linguistic
types” which alone Lepsius will tolerate. The only
point of contact between Tubu and Bantu seems to be
the absence of grammatical gender, a negative feature
which both share with a thousand other languages in the
Old. and New Worlds. Yet apparently in order to save
Lepsius’s scheme, Nachtigal is content on this weak
ground to allow a connection between Teda and Negro,
adding, still more inconsequently, ‘fin which case, con-
sidering the vagueness of the concept ‘ Negro’ (bei der
Unbestimmtheit des Begriffes ‘ Negro’), there can cer-
tainly be no objection to group the Tubu themselves with
the Negroes, although, taking the word in its ordinary
sense, in other respects they essentially differ from them”
(p- 209). So the Negro—that is, the most marked of all
human varieties—is frittered away toa “ vague concept,’’
because Tubu is a no-gender language, or because
Lepsius will allow only two linguistic types in Africa.
But by getting rid of this theory, an easier exploit
than getting rid of the Negro, everything will fall into its
place. The consideration that the centre of evolution: of
the Tubu group hes, not in Sudan, but in the Sahara, far
north of the original Negro domain, placed by Lepsius
south of the equator, would almost alone suffice to
separate it from that connection. Dr. Nachtigal him-
self shows that Teda, or northern Tubu, represents the
germ, of which the southern Dasa, Kanuri, Baele, &c.,
are later developments. He also shows that the migra-
tions, as was natural to expect, were always from the arid
plains and uplands of the Sahara to the fertile region of
Sudan. Except under the lash of the slave-driver,
the Blacks seem never to have moved northwards. But
we have seen that the roving nomads, Tuariks in the
west, Tubu in the east, have everywhere, all along the
NATURE
[March 1, 1883
line, penetrated from their desert homes into the “ Black
Zone.” The inference seems obvious. Nachtigal himself
regards the Tubu as “a thoroughly pure, homogeneous
people (ezze durchaus reine, homogene Bevolkerung), un-
modified by any changes from remote times” (p. 190).
He also shows their close physical resemblance to the
Tuariks (Berbers) of the western Sahara, and their
essential difference from the Negro type. The anthro- -
pologist will not hesitate to remove them from the latter
and group them with the former race. The Tubu and
Berbers are thus ethnically two slightly differentiated
branches of the Hamitic section of the great Mediterra-
nean (Caucasic) division of mankind.
From this standpoint the Tubu speech, although as
radically distinct from the Hamitic as it is from the
Bantu, will no longer present any difficulty. In Europe
the Mediterannean races have developed at least one
radical form of speech, the Basque; in Asia several,
the Aryan, Semitic, Georgian, and others in Caucasia.
Why should they not have developed two in Africa, the
Hamitic and Tubu? Elsewhere I have endeavoured to
account for this remarkable phenomenon of specific
diversity of speech within the same ethnical group.!
Here it will suffice to note the fact, and if the no-gender
character of Tubu be urged as a difficulty, the reply is
twofold. First, no-gender languages occur also in other
Caucasic groups, as in Basque, Georgian, Lesghian ;
secondly, although gender has not been developed in
Tubu, nevertheless it contains the raw material, so to say,
which has been elaborated into a system by the more
cultured Hamitic peoples. After admitting that, but for
the absence of this feature, there would be no scruple
(Bedenken) in affiliating Tubu to the Hamitic order, Dr.
Nachtigal adds: ‘‘ Tubu also certainly seems to possess
the elements by which gender is indicated in the Hamitic—
oand # for the masculine, ¢ for the feminine, as in 0-777,
man ; 722, son, by the side of dd, woman ; dé, daughter ;
dé, mother; edz, female’ (p. 200). Here d@ of course
answers to ¢, the universal mark of the feminine gender
in Hamitic, and in the Berber group often both prefixed
and postfixed, as in ak/z, negro; /ak/it, negress.
Room must therefore be made in Lepsius’s scheme for a
third linguistic family, the honour of having determined
which belongs to Dr. Nachtigal. This Tubu family must
be assumed to have been independently evolved in remote
ages by the Garamantes, ancestors of the Tubu nomads,
during long isolation in Kafara, Kawar, Tibesti, and the
other oases of the eastern Sahara and Fezzan. Lastly,
the Tubu themselves must be absolutely separated from
the Negro ethnical connection, and grouped with the
Hamites in the Mediterranean division of mankind.
A, H, KEANE
OUR BOOK SHELF
The Electric Lighting Act, 188 2, the Acts incorporated
therewith, the Board of Trade Rules, together with
numerous Notes and Cases. By Clement Higgins,
M.A., Recorder of Birkenhead, and E. W. W. Edwards,
B.A., Barrister-at Law. (London: W. Clowes and
Sons, 1883.)
PRACTICAL electricians unversed in law, and lawyers
unversed in the practical applications of electricity, will
t See Appendix to my “ Asia” (Stanford Series), p. 695.
a —_—
“28
.
find much useful matter in this volume. The authors are
thoroughly competent to deal with the legal aspect of the
case, whilst their judicious comments show that they
appreciate at least many of the technical difficulties
necessarily presented by the subject. The contents deal
_ with the various sections of the Electric Lighting Act,
adding copious notes and comments, and references to
legal precedents and decisions. Quotations are given
_ from the evidence collected by the Select Committee on
Electric Lighting, and from the Rules and Regulations
recommended by the Society of Telegraph Engineers
and Electricians concerning the prevention of fire-risks.
One or two minor slips in the science are to be regretted,
as for example where the authors state that a current of
unit strength will decompose ‘09378 grammes of water
per second. It is a pity, moreover, that they have de-
parted from customary usage in speaking of the “strength”
of a current as its “intensity.’’ That term has been and
is still so much abused, that so long as it is liable to
mislead its use should be avoided. One of the authors
describes himself as ‘‘ Fellow of the Physical Society of
London.” We were not aware that the Physical Society
of London recognised any such grade amongst: its
members.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.)
Ben Nevis Observatory
In NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 399, there is among its notes of
scientific intelligence, a paragraph mentioning that at a public
meeting in Glasgow last week, called at the suggestion of Sir
William Thomson and Mr. John Burns of Castle Wemyss, it
was agreed to collect money for a permanent observatory on
Ben Nevis.
As NaTuRE has always kindly encouraged this project of the
Scotch Meteorological Society, perhaps you will it me, as
Chairman of the Society’s Council, to add a little to this brief
notice.
A requisition was presented to the Lord Provost of Gla-gow,
which was signed, not only by the eminent physicist and the
extensive ship-owner mentioned in your notice, but also by Dr.
Grant of the Glasgow Observatory, ing that a meeting of
the merchants and ship-owners should be called to aid the
Society in raising the necessary funds.
The Lord Provost in compliance called a meeting for the
the 14th inst., which was well attended, and at which very able
speeches were made, not only by the three requisitionists, but by
the Lord Provost and by other influential citizens. The result
of the meeting was a resolution expressing approval of the
Society’s proposal, and appointing a Committee to obtain sub-
scriptions in aid of it.
It is expected that the amount of the fuads required will be
obtained from a community so wealthy and so public-spirited as
that of Glasgow. ut if we are mistaken in this, the Society’s
Council intend to appeal to other communities also for help,
being resolved to resort to every legitimate means of attaining
an object allowed on all hands to be of national importance.
The Council began with Glasgow, not only because it is the
richest community in Scotland, but because the Scotch Meteoro-
logical Society originated there. The late Sir John G. Forbes
of Pitsligo, and I, being both of us interested in meteorology,
applied to the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, when it met in Glasgow in September, 1855, under the
presidency of the Uuke of Argyll, to see whether it wonld
approve of the formation of a Meteorological Society for Scot-
land. The result of our application was the following resolution
by the General Council :-—
“* Resolved, that the British Association express their satisfac-
tion at the proposed establishment of a Scotch Maetcorological
oS Jr esi bas, “]
NATURE
a ee
wociely, and their willingness to afford the Society any assistance
which can be yielded by the establishment of the Association at
Kew. :
“* That a letter to this effect be addressed to the Meteorological
Sociely by the General Secretary.”
On the basis of this testimonial by so influential a body, ©
Sir John Forbes and I proceeded at once with the organisation
of a Society, the Duke of Argyll being our first President, and
assi-ting us greatly by his patronage.
When the Society resolved on attempting the formidable under-
taking of establishing an observatory on Ben Nevis, at a cost of
at least 5000/., the first movement for funds was made among
its own members and friends, the result of which was a promise
of 1400/. provided the full sum of 5000/. was raised.
to be enabled to fulfil this condition, the Society’s Council not
unnaturally went first to the town where it originated, and
which more than any other town would be :upposed to take an
interest in the Society and its operations.
There was this further reason : that the O'.servatory being in-
tended to be on the west coast, its proximity to Glasgow would
add to that interest, and the more so as, on account of the vast
shipping and commerce of the Firth of Clyde, no district of
Scotland could be so deeply concerned in obtaining additional
data for storm warnings. ;
‘The British A-:sociation, by way of encouraging the formation
of the Meteorological Society, expressed in the resolution before
quoted a willingness to afford to it assistance from its establish-
ment at Kew.
This promi-e, unfortanately, the Association was unable to
fulfil. But this disap; ointment to our Society has now been so
far compensated by a handsome donation of 100/. towards the
Ben Nevis fund from Dr. Siemens, the present Pre-ident of the
Association.
The Scotch Meteorological Society is one out of many proofs
of the usefulness of the British Association in encouraging re-
searches in particular branches of science, and the recent recog-
ition of the Society’s work in this Ben Nevis enterprise by so
eminent 2 man as the present President of the Association iS
very gratifying to the Council. Davip MILNE HomME
Milne Graden, Coldstream, February 26 ;
Indian Archegosaurus
Tue skull and part of the vertebral column of a large
labyrinthodont, allied to Archegosaurus, was obtained in 1864
from the Bijori-group of the trias-jura of India, and presented
to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It was soon after sent to
England for determination. All traces of this. unique and
important specimen, which should now belong to the Govern-
ment of India, are now lost, and I write in the hope that some
of your readers may be able to afford us a clue to its present
position. The specimen can hardly have been mislaid, as it is
some two feet in length. RICHARD LYDEKKER
The Lodge, Harpenden, Herts, February 21
The ‘“‘ Vampire Bat”
KINDLY permit me to ask for a further explanation from
Mr. Geo. ]. Romanes about the vampire bat, in regard to which
he says in his criticism of ‘‘ Zoological Sketches” (Oswald) :
**Mr. Bates says (I presume it is a clerical error giving Mr. Belt
as the authority) the vampire, however, is the most harmless of all
bats.” Yet he, Mr. Bates, would lead us to believe that a species
of the same genus, Phyllostoma, is a blood-sucker, and had even _
attacked himself (see p. 91 of the fifth edition of his ‘‘ Naturalist
on the Amazon”’).
Is there a species of Phyllostoma that lives on fruits, the vam-
pire, and another species of the same genus that Mr. Bates calls
*€ the little grey blood-sucking Phyllostoma,” that may possibly
attack human beings?
The late Chas, Waterton seems to have had no doutt that
the vampire attacks persons asleep, and gives an instance.
The common name vampire may not be in South America
confined to the species Phyllostoma spectrum. Mr. Romanes’
remarks would lead one to believe that he considered there was
no species of bat that attacked human beings.
THos. WORKMAN
4, Bedford Street, Belfast, February 15
Dr. RoMANEs, in criticising a book (‘‘ Zoological Sketches”),
in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 333, says: “‘ The writer speaks of
In order_ ‘a?
‘from the
do suck the blood of sleeping persons.
412
-SWATURE. >,
de
vampire bats as those which suck the blood of sleeping persons,
whereas the truth is, as Belt has remarked, ‘the vampire is the
most harmless of bats.’ ”’
In Charles Darwin’s ‘‘ Voyage of the Beagle,” we find an
account of a vampire bat (Desmodus d'orbignyz) sucking the
withers of horses during repose. We also have Charles Water-
ton’s most circumstantial account of the sucking of the blood of
human sleepers. Waterton says there are two species, only one
of which attacks man. The Rev. J. G. Wood tells us in his
notes to “‘ Waterton’s Wanderings” that the bat is Vampirus
spectrum, on what authority he does not say, but quotes
C. Kingsley in confirmation of the blood-sucking habit. Again,
Prof. Mivart has an article in the Popular Science Review for
July, 1876, on bats, in which he not only quotes Darwin’s
account, but speaks of the modification of the teeth and stomach
of Desmodus as specially suited to this habit. What I wish to
ask in all humility, as a mere onlooker, is, How are we to
reconcile the above statement with all this authority ?
94, Jacob Street, Liverpool, February 12 A. W. AUDEN
T INADVERTENTLY wrote the name of Belt while quoting
work of Bates. The answer to the question
which your correspondents ask is sufficiently simple, and
has, in fact, been furnished by one of them, viz., that
while the vampire bat itself does not suck blood, the name
is popularly extended to other kinds of bats which do. These
other kinds—or at any rate some of them—belong indeed to the
‘same sub-family as the vampire (viz., genera Phyllostoma and
Desmodus) ; but that the large and repulsive-looking vampire is
innocent of the habit in question may briefly be made evident by
-citing again, and a little more fully, the authority of Mr. Bates, who
writes: ‘‘ The vampire was here by far the most abundant of the
family of leaf-nosed bats. . . . . No wonder that imaginative
people have inferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an
animal, The vampire, however, is the most harmless of bats,
and its inoffensive character is well known to residents on the banks
of the Amazons ” (‘* Naturalist on the Amazon,” p. 337).' Again,
Mr. G. E. Dobson writes: ‘‘This species (Vampirus spectrum),
believed by the older naturalists to be thoroughly sanguivorous
in its habits, and named accordingly by Geoffroy, has been shown
by the observations of modern travellers t» be mainly frugivorous,
and is considered by the inhabitants of the c untries in which it
is found perfectly harmless” (‘Catalogue of the Chiroptera,
Mee Pp. 471);
In conclusion, I cannot quite understand why my remarks
should have led any one to believe, as one of your correspondents
says, that I consider there is no species of bat which attacks
human beings. I stated that the author whom I was reviewing
Was wrong in speaking “of vampire bats as those which suck
the blood of sleeping persons,”’ a statement which appears to me
plainly enough to imply that there are certain other bats which
GEORGE J. ROMANES
Hovering (? Poising) of Birds
LET me entreat the Duke of Argyll not to confuse the issue
between us. I made bold to ask his Grace to draw a diagram
showing by what balance of forces he thought a bird could be
sustained in mid-air, motionless on motionless wings,:in a per-
fectly horizontal wind ; and he refers me to a beautiful drawing
of akestrel hovering, with fluttering wings, in still air. (See
note at foot of page 161 of the “‘ Reign of Law,” 5th edition,
1868: ‘‘ Mr, Wolf's illustration of a kestrel hovering shows
accurately the position of the bird when the action is performed
in still air.’”’)
This is quite beside the mark. ‘The problem to be solved is
not, How does a bird remain at rest in mid-air on fluttering
wings? That question is admirably answerei in the ‘‘ Reign of
Law” (p. 160). But the problem before us—the same that
was discussed in NATURE in 1873-74—is simply this, How
does a bird remain at rest in mid-air on perfectly motionless
wings ?
Does the Duke deny that this ever takes place? Has he |
forgotten the letters of Prof. Guthrie and Major Herschel
(Navurg, vol. viii. pp. 86 and 324) in which the phenomenon
Was so graphically described? The Duke himself says
(NATURE, vol. x. p. 262), ‘‘that under certain conditions of
Strength of air-current a kestrel can maintain the hovering posi-
tion with no visible muscular motion whatever ;” and compares
the action to that of a rope-dancer ‘* standing still in some tiptoe
attitude,” At that time he appears to have recognised the
peculiar features of motionless hovering; but now he denies
that he has ever ‘‘seen a kestrel’s wings motionless when hover-
ing,” except for a moment or two, and eyen then he ‘‘ could
detect the quivering of the quills.”
I am really at a loss to know whether the Duke maintains
his former position ; or whether by shifting his ground he admits
that it is untenable ; or, lastly, whether he has not partly mis-
apprehended the problem under discussion.
In instancing the ‘‘hovering of a boy’s kite” the Duke
curiously parodies the mistake which he made in his last letter,
which required for its correction the tilting of gravity through
a certain angle. So here, when he says, ‘‘the element of weight
is here represented by the string, held at the surface of the
ground,” he forgets the all-important anzle between the direction
of gravity and the direction of the string at its point of attach-
ment to the kite. HUBERT AIRY
February 26
HAVING all my life given some attention to the flight of birds,
I may mention that I have frequently noticed both hawks and
gulls stationary in the air, without flapping, for five or six
seconds over the Cornish cliffs when the wind has been blowing
off the sea, but never under the circumstances mentioned by Dr.
Rae. I totally fail to see why Mr. Airy should be, as the Duke
of Argyll states (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 387), ‘‘ mistaken in
his description of the facts,” it having been plain throughout
that Mr. Airy employs the term ‘‘ hovering” as equivalent to
“‘hanging in motionless poise.” Mr. Wolf’s kestrel in the
“Reign of Law,” p. 160, is shown as moving its wings through
an angle of about 30°.
Although I believe there is nothing in the etymology of the
word ‘‘ hover”? which implies movement, yet its similarity to
such words as ‘‘quiver,” ‘‘ shiver,” &c., may have caused the
idea of movement to be associated with it ; but whether this be
a “disease of language” or not, Mr, Airy seems to have most
accurately described what is surely not an uncommon fact of
observation. W. CLEMENT LEY
The Auroral “ Meteoric Phenomena” of
November 17, 1882
Ir Dr, Groneman has established the fact that the spindle-
shaped beam from every point of observation appeared moving
in a straight line, that is an important point gained; but
I fail to gather from his letter on p. 388 that there is clear evi-
dence of this. He cites S. H. Saxby as one observer in favour
of this, but his description appears to me very ambiguous.
When he says, ‘‘ Its trajectory was much flatter than that of the
stars,” what stars does he mean? If he means the stars at the
same declination as that of the beam, viz. about 10° S., then a
great circle undoubtedly would be flatter, but still more would a
small -circle having its centre at the magnetic pole. On the
other hand, H. 1). Taylor writing from near York describes the
path of the beam as from south-east to south-west, thus making
it a small circle curved in the wrong direction for an auroral
arch,
It must be remembered that it is very difficult to judge whether
a trajectory is a straight line when it covers a great extent in
azimuth. T. W. BACKHOUSE
Sunderland, February 26
IT is much to be desired that the increasing interest concerninz
this great phenomenon should supply the only way of obviating
the paucity and incompleteness of observations, by having a
meeting of observers and advanced nature-students either at
London or Bristol. The Utrecht observation says: ‘* When
this arch had obtained the length of 90° (which lasted only a few
seconds), a separation was made in the middle of its length,”
&c. I think this accounts for many of the discrepancies.
M. Groneman writes : ‘*‘ The Dutch observations confirm the
English, only the phenomenon seems to have been of greater
apparent size and therefore nearer.” I used to think this for
the same reason he gives, but I now think it probable that it
was further from the earth when it first approached,
From Bordeaux I learn the sky was cloudy, but the aurora
was well seen from Rome, Spezia, and Florence, and I have
hopes of observations from the north of Italy.
The logical position is that we must lay aside all preconceived
| [March 1, 1883
4
March Tal 88 3]
NA TURE
413
opinions ; that we must be prepared to receive fresh ideas from
our new views of the action of intense heat on gases and
meteorites. f
I have only one point to add to my own observation (at two,
not ten, minutes past six, as misprinted), that the object, when
nearest, presented through its length (but rather below than
above) a remarkable ‘‘ doz/ing’” appearance (as seeds in a cap-
sule), while the edges appeared smooth and quiet.
The Rookery, Ramsbury, February 20 ALFRED BATSON
Aurora
A NEWSPAPER paragraph that has come under my notice
describes ‘‘a strange phenomenon” seen at Brixham on Thurs-
day morning at 1.30—the 15th instant is to be inferred from the
date of the paper. It would seemto have been an aurora—yet
another example of exceptional auroral activity attendant on the
passage of large sun-spots, as there was a spot of importance
approaching the sun’s central meridian at the time. Any definite
information concerning this particular manifestation, or indeed
aurora generally near the date in question, appears worthy of a
place in your journal. The sun-spot maximum is passing—
perhaps past—and such opportunities should not be lost.
February 24 F. BoE.
DIURNAL VARIATION OF THE VELOCITY OF
THE WIND ON THE OPEN SEA, AND NEAR
AND ON LAND?
ees the three-and-a-half years’ cruise of the
Challenger, ending with May, 1876, observations of
the force and direction of the wind were made on 1202
days, at least twelve times each day, of which 650 days
were on the open sea, and 552 daysnear land. The obser-
vations of force were made on Beaufort’s Scale, (o—12)
being the scale of wind-force observed at sea. ‘he five
oceans have been examined separately, viz., the North
and South Atlantic, the North and South Pacific, and the
Southern Ocean, and thereafter the results grouped toge-
ther. The*mean diurnal periodicity in the force of the
wind on the open sea and near land respectively is
shown on Fig. 1, where the figures on the left are Beau-
fort’s Scale, and those on the right their equivalents in
miles per hour. The solid line represents the mean force
on the opea sea, and the dotted line the mean force near
land.
As regards the open sea, it is seen that the diurnal
variation is exceedingly small, showing only two faintly-
marked maxima about midday and 2 a.m. respectively.
On examining, however, the separate means for the five
oceans, no uniform agreement whatever is observable
among their curves. The slight variations which are met
with are different in each case, not one of the maxima or
minima being repeated at the same hours in more than
two of the five oceans. It follows, therefore, that the
force of the winds on the open sea is subject to no dis-
tinct and uniform diurnal variation. The difference
between the hour of least and that of greatest mean
force is less than a mile per hour.
Quite different is it with the winds encountered by the
Challenger near land, where the observations of the force
of the wind give a curve as pronouncedly marked as the
ordinary diurnal curve of temperature. The minimum
occurs at 2 to 4.a.m., and the maximum from noon to 4
p-m., the absolute highest being at 2 p.m. The curve
constructed for each of the five oceans, from the obser- !
vations near land, gives one and the same result, viz.,
a curve closely agreeing with the curve of diurnal
temperature.
The 650 daily observations on the open sea give a
mean velocity of 17} miles per hour, but the 552 near
land give a velocity of only 12} miles per hour. The
difference is greatest at 4 a.m., when it amounts to up-
« Part of this article is abridged from a forthcoming volume cf the
“Reports” of H.M.S, Challenger, by permission of the Lords Commis-
sioners of H.M, Treasury.
wards of 6 miles an hour, but is diminished as the tem-
perature rises, till at 2 p.m. it is less than 3 miles an
hour,
At Mauritius, which is situated within the south-east
trades, the minimum velocity of the wind is 9'7 miles per
hour, occurring from 2 to 3 a.m., from which hour it
rises to the maximum 18'5 miles from I to 2 p.m., the
influence of the sun being thus to double the wind’s velo-
city. At Batavia, situated in a region where the mean
barometric gradient is much smaller, the differences are
still more decided. From 1 to 6 a.m., 85 per cent. of the
whole of the observations are calms, whereas from noon
to 2 p.m. only 1 per cent. are calms. In all months the
minimum. velocity occurs in the early morning, when the
temperature is lowest, and the maximum from 1 to 3
p-m., when the temperature is highest. At Coimbra, the
mean maximum hourly velocity in summer is five times
greater than the minimum velocity, whereas in winter it
is only about a half more. At Valencia, in the south-
west of Ireland, one of the stormiest situations in western
Europe, the three summer months of 1878 gave a mean
hourly velocity of 13°3 miles per hour, the minimum
oscillating from 1o to 11 miles an hour from 9 p.m. to
6 a.m.,and the maximum exceeding 16 miles an hour
from II a.m.to 5 p.m. The absolutely lowest hourly
mean was 10 miles at I1 p.m., and the highest 18
miles at I p.m., the velocity about midday being thus
nearly double that of the night. The results of observa-
FIG I.
I2MILES PER HOUR
bo
bo
tions at many other places might be added to these, in-
cluding those published by Wild, Hann, Koppen, Ham-
berg, and others, which go to establish the fact that the
curves of the diurnal variation of the velocity of the wind
generally conform to the diurnal curves of temperature.
The curves of the diurnal variation are most strongly
marked during the hottest months. The maximum velo-
city occurs at I p.m., or shortly thereafter, being thus
before the maximum temperature of the day (occurring
therefore at the time when insolation is strongest) ; and the
minimum in the early morning, when the temperature
falls to the lowest, or when the effects of terrestrial radi-
ation are at the maximum. The rule appears to hold
good with all winds, whatever be their direction, as shown
by Hamberg. The exceptions to this rule are so few, and
of such a nature, that they are in all probability attri-
butable to causes more or less strictly local.
With respect to cloud, Hann has pointed out that for a
number of places the mean maximum hourly velocity is
1o2 per cent. above that of the minimum with clear
skies ; 77 per cent. with skies half covered with clouds ;
and 50 per cent. with skies wholly covered. At Vienna,
however, these rates of increase are, for clear skies, IOI,
and half-covered skies, 66 per cent., whereas when the
sky is overcast the variation becomes irregular and but
faintly marked. Hann has also examined the Vienna
observations of the wind on those days when the velocity
414
NATURE
[March 1; 1883
did not exceed 30 kilometres per hour and on the days
when this rate was exceeded, and finds the diurnal
periodicity well marked with light and moderate winds, but
irregularly and only slightly marked with strong winds
and stormy weather.
In inquiring into the remarkable facts regarding the
variation in the diurnal velocity of the wind observed in
all climates, attention is first drawn to the two curves of
Fig. 1, showing the observations of wind-force made on
board the Challenger during the cruise. As regards the
open sea, the diurnal curve shows practically no variation.
The whole of the observations of the surface temperature
of the North Atlantic made by the Challenger have been
discussed, with the result that the daily range is only
o°’7. Hence the statement may be regarded as substan-
tially correct, that over the ocean the atmosphere rests on
a floor the temperature of which is all but constant day
and night ; and, so far as concerns the generation of
ascending aérial currents from a heated surface, practi-
cally constant.
On approaching the land, however, the daily range of
the temperature of the air over tte sea becomes mate-
rially augmented, the daily range being 4°°3, and, as all
observation shows, the temperature over land still more
so. Now, bearing in mind that the temperature has
risen above its daily mean at Io a.m., and fallen below it
at 10 p.m., an examination of the curve of velocity near
land in Fig. 1 reveals the fact that the increase in the
diurnal velocity of the wind is entirely restricted to those
hours of the day when the temperature is above ‘the daily
mean, and the maximum velocity is reached at the hour
when insolation, or the sun’s heating power, is strongest.
The phenomenon of the diurnal variation in the wind’s
velocity is thus associated in the closest manner with the
temperature of the surface on which the air rests. Where
there is practically no variation, as in the temperature of
the surface of the sea, there is no variation in the velo-
city ; but where, as on land, the temperature of the air
has a strongly-marked daily period, the wind-force also
is strongly marked, and the increase rises and falls with
the degree of insulation on the surface. Further, the
velocity increases, not with the increase in the tempera-
ture of the air, but with the heating of the surface; in
other words, with the conditions on which ascending
aérial currents depend.
It is also to be observed, as regards the curves of the
five oceans, that they show in each ease and at all hours
of the day a greater velocity of the wind on the open sea
than near land.
The following are the mean and extreme hourly veloci-
ties, in miles per hour, for the five oceans :—
bed | of) 8 | gé | 8s
? az aa Ax WA | So
|
| Miles. | Miles. | Miles. Miles. | Miles
Mean hourly velocity on
OPEIseA yess Gas. -e2u|'TS:Ol4| UOsTs | ArAeS ns Moyea s+ s
Mean hourly velocity |
near land a 1570 | 14°7 96 | rro | 17°6
Difference coe BF) NEO) 34 4°9 52 59
Highest mean hourly velo-
city near land ... ...| 170 | 16°4 | 1n‘6 | 13:7 | 20°8
Lowest mean hourly velo-
city near land . || ¥3°kr | 1350' "|| 10‘0 9°3 | 14°3
Diurnal variation hear
land 3'9' | 374 1°6 4°4 6°5
Thus the winds are-lightest on the North Pacific, and
strongest on the Southern Ocean, and these oceans show
respectively the least and the greatest diurnal variation
n the force of the wind on nearing land.
From the number and character of the two sets of
observations, it may be assumed, without risk of error,
that the open-sea and the near-land winds, summarised
and represented in Fig. 1, were atmospheric movements
resulting from mean barometric gradients substantially
equal to each other. From the above table it is seen that
in each of the oceans the mean velocity near land is less
than that on the open sea, the two extremes being the
North Atlantic, with a difference of 30 miles, and the
Southern Ocean with a difference of 5°9 miles; and that
even the maximum velocity during the day is always less
than the velocity on the open sea. The slight rise in the
near-land curve during night is probably wholly caused
by the land-breezes felt on board the Chad/enger when
near land. In strictly inland places, tolerably well
situated for making observations of the wind, this feature
does not appear in the curve, and there the velocity falls
to the diurnal minimum during the period of lowest tem-
perature, or when the effects of terrestrial radiation are
most felt on the surface of the ground.
From these results it follows that, so far as concerns
any direct influence on the air itself, considered apart
from the floor or surface on which it rests, solar and
terrestrial radiation do not exercise any influence in
causing the diurnal increase of the velocity of the wind
with the increase of the temperature of the air; or if
there be any influence at all, such influence is altogether
insignificant, as the observations of the Chad/enger on the
five great oceans of the globe conclusively prove. The
same observations show that on nearing land the wind is
everywhere greatly reduced in force, the retardation being
due chiefly to friction, and to the viscosity and inertia
of the air in relation to the obstructions offered by the
land to the onward course of the wind. The retarda-
tion is greatest when the daily temperature is at the
minimum, and it is particularly to be noted that though
the temperature rises considerably, yet no marked in-
crease in the velocity sets in till about 9 a.m., when the
temperature has begun to rise above the daily mean.
From this time the increase is rapid. The maximum
velocity is reached immediately after the time of strongest
insolation, and falls a little, but only a little, during the
next three to five hours, according to season, latitude,
and position. The velocity is low during the hours when
the temperature is lower than the daily mean, and the
least velocity occurs early in the morning. Even the
maximum near land falls considerably short of the velo-
city which is steadily maintained over the open sea by
night as well as by day.
The period of the day when the wind’s velocity is in-
creased is thus practically limited to the time when the
temperature is above the daily mean, and the surface
superheated, and the influence of this higher temperature
is to counteract to some extent the retardation of the
wind’s velocity resulting from the causes already stated.
The results show that the increase in the diurnal velocity
of the wind is due to the superheating of the surface of
the ground, and to the ascensional movement of the air
consequent thereon, which tend to reduce the effects of
friction and viscosity of the air. It is of importance in this
connection to keep in view the fact, shown by hourly
observations made at the instance of the Marquis of
Tweeddale in 1867 on the temperature of the soil and
air, that in cloudy weather a temperature much higher
than that of the air near the ground was radiated from the
clouds down upon the earth’s surface (Fournal Scottish
Meteorological Society, vol. ii. p. 280). Hence in cloudy
weather the superheating of the surface-layer of the
ground will often take place, the greatest degree of
heating being under an overcast sky, where the cloud-
covering is of no great thickness, ard the temperature
of the clouds themselves is much higher than that of
the surface of the earth. On the other hand, little or
rather no heating will take place, when the cloud-screen
which overspreads the sky is of great thickness, and the
—
March +, 1883]
‘
NATURE
415
temperature of the clouds is not greater than that of the
surface ; and when the temperature of the cloud-screen is
lower than that of the surface, the temperature of the
latter will fall. It is scarcely necessary to remark that in
discussing the influence of cloud on the diurnal periodi-
city of the wind's velocity, only such means are of real
value as are calculated from a very large number of
observations. : :
During the night, when terrestrial radiation is pro-
ceeding, the temperature of the surface falls greatly, and
instead of an ascensional movement in the lowermost
stratum of the air, there is, on the contrary, a tendency
towards, and, if the wind be light, an actual descensional
movement down the slopes of the land. The effects of
friction being thus intensified, the velocity of the wind
falls to the daily minimum during these hours.
ALEXANDER BUCHAN
EPHEMERIS OF THE GREAT COMET, 6 1882
(Communicated by Vice-Admiral Rowan, Superintendent
U.S. Naval Observatory) '
GREENWICH MEAN NOON
R.A. Decl. Log. 7. Log, A.
1883. ive ame ge SE ERS,
Feb. 10°0, 6 0 37°8 ... —19 41 17 ... 0°48137 ... 0°38891
140, 5 57 404... 18 40 13 ... 0°48909 ... 0°40520
18'0, 5 55 19'7 17 41 17 ... 0'49669 ... 0°42132
22°0, 5 53 327 16 44 35 «.. 0°50413 ... 0°43723
2670, 5 52 14°7 15 50 14 ... O°51133 ... 0°45282
March 2°0, 5 51 24°74 14 58 16 ... 0°51841 ... 0°40817
70, 5 50 58°7 14 8 43 ... 0°52532 ... 0°48322
100, 5 50 54°8 13 21 37 -.. 0°53200 ... 0°49790
140, 5 51 12°3 12)37, NOw..1 O-5390L ..- O:512S1
18'0, 5 51 47°9 II 54 52 ... 0°54508 ... 0°52635
22'0, 5 52 39°5 II I§ 10 ... 0°55135 ... 0753995
26'0, 5 53 46°1 IO 37 56 ... O°55751 ... 0°55316
. 30°, 5 55 O61 10 3 6... 0°56354 ... 0756594
April 3'0, 5 56 381 9 30 34 ... 0°56944 ... 0757828
70, 5 58 20°9 9 O19 ... 0°57520 ... O'59015
Ilo, 6 0 13°99... —8 32 21 ... 0°58090 ... 0°60153
WVote—In the published elements q should be
89° 13’ 42°70 instead of 89° 7’ 42'°70.
Washington, February 10 E. FRISBY,
Prof. Math., U.S.N.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF NEW OR RARE ANIMALS
IN THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S LIVING
COLLECTION ?
Sele
29. [pee CAPE SEA-LION (Ofarta pusi/la).—It is a
singular and as yet unexplained fact in geo-
graphical distribution, that while the Sea-lions amongst
Mammals and the Albatrosses amongst Birds are con-
fined to the South Atlantic Ocean, both these groups
reach up to high northern latitudes in the Pacific. In the
Atlantic, no Albatross is seen “north of the line,”
whereas these birds are familiar objects on the coasts of
both California and Japan. No Sea-lion is met with in
the Atlantic until we get to the Cape on one side and the
La Plata on the other, but these animals are well-known
objects at San Francisco, and the great supply of their
much-valued furs comes from the far northern territory
of Alaska.
The Sea-lion first became an inhabitant of our Zoologi-
cal Gardens, and thus known to Europe in a living state,
in 1866, when a French seaman, Francois Lecomte,
brought to this country an example of the Patagonian
species (Ofarza jubata), and exhibited it to the public.
The remarkable form of this animal, its extreme docility,
and its agile movements attracted great attention, and
* Computed from elements (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 225) and reduced to
the mean equinox 18830.
? Continued from p, 154.
led to its acquisition by the Zoological Society, in whose
Gardens it quickly became an established favourite.
Upon the death of this individual in the autumn of the
same year, the Council of the Society determined to send
out Lecomte, who had entered their service in charge of
it, to the Falkland Islands, in order to obtain other
specimens. Lecomte returned to this country in August,
1867, but owing to various unforeseen circumstances only
succeeded in landing alive one of the four Sea-lions with
which he had started from Port Stanley. This animal,
young and small on its arrival, throve well under Le-
comte’s careful management, and soon supplied the void
occasioned by the death of the original specimen. Like
its predecessor, it exhibits extraordinary agility in the
water, and catches the fishes thrown to it for food both
above and below the surface with unerring aim.
Four years subsequently, in 1871, the Society received
from Sir Henry Barkly, then Governor of the Cape
Colony, a present of a young specimen of the Cape Sea-
lion, of which we now give an illustration (Fig. 29). Like
its Patagonian relative, the Cape Sea-lion is a female,
and although quite adult, does not attain the dimensions
of the male sex of these animals In general appearance,
shape, and form, the two species are very similar, and
present little obvious differences to the casual observer,
except that the ear-lobe is longer inthe Cape animal. To
the two females has recently been added a young male
of the Patagonian form, and the three individuals now
live together in the narrow limits of their basin in the
greatest harmony, forming one of the most attractive
groups in the Regent’s Park Gardens. Little has been
recorded of the mode of life of. the Sea-lion in a state
of nature, but Mr. E. L. Layard in his “ Catalogue of the
South African Museum,” tells us that it ‘Sis abundant
along the whole of the coasts of the colony, and has
given ils name to numerous bays, islands, and capes, ot
which ‘Robben’ Islands near Cape Town is perhaps the
best known.
“Tt resorts to these places in great numbers for
breeding purposes, and is sought for and slain for the
sake of its fur and oil. The male is said to be maned,
and to much exceed the female in size, but though double
the market value of the skin has been offered by the
Museum for a skin of the male of this common animal,
as it is not the custom of the sealers to take the skin off,
leaving in the head and feet, we have been unable to
procure one.”
As regards the habits of some of the other members of
this genus, which are of the most extraordinary character,
we have now ample details concerning the North Pacific
species in a very interesting and well illustrated work
prepared by Mr. Henry W. Elliott on the Seal Islands of
Alaska and their productions.!
Soon after the Sea-lions were established in the
Zoological Gardens in this country, specimens of these
animals were obtained by the principal Gardens on the
Continent, and basins built for the exhibition of their
aquatic evolutions. But the examples on the Continent,
as well as those in the Aquarium at Brighton, all belong
to one of the North Pacific species of Sea-lion (Ofaria
californiana), which is found in enormous multitudes
upon the Pacific coast. Of the South African species
now figured, the example in our Zoological Society’s
Gardens is the only one yet brought alive to Europe.
30. BLANFORD’S SHEEP (Ovw?s blanfordi).— Every high
mountain-tract in Northern and Central Asia appears to
be occupied by a distinct form of Wild Sheep (Ovzs),
while single outliers of the same genus are found far to
the west in Sardinia and to the east in North America.
Some of these animals, such as the celebrated ‘‘ Ammon”
of Ladakh (Ovzs hodgsonz) and the Snow-sheep of
Kamschatka (O. zz¢vico/a), attain a magnificent size and
* A Monograph of the Seal Islands of Alaska. By Henry W. Elliott
Reprinted, with additions, from the Report of the Fishery Industries of th
Tenth Census. 4to. Washington, 1882.
NATURE
development, whilst others, like the Sardinian species |
416 [March 1, 1883
The Wild Sheep best known to the sportsmen of
(Ovds musimon), are more nearly of the dimensions of the | British India is th
e “Koch”’ or “ Gudd”’ of the Punjaub,
also called the ‘ Oorial.”
ordinary domestic animal.
The Oorial frequents the
Fic. 30.—Blanford’s Sheep.
rocky and stony hills of the Punjaub, as also the Sulimani | Hazara and Peshawur. In these districts,$ Dr. Jerdon
range on the other side of the Indus and the hills of
tells us, it occurs at very low elevations—from 800 to
“
March 1, 1883]
NATURE
417
< |
2c00 feet above the sea-level—and is capable of enduring
great heat. :
The Punjaub Sheep was introduced into the Zoological
Society’s series nearly thirty years ago, and has frequently
bred in their menagerie. The adults of both sexes and
the lambs, of which two are generally produced at a
birth, are correctly figured in Wolf and Sclater’s “Zoo-
‘logical Sketches” from specimens living in the Society’s
Gardens.
The recent extension of British influence into Khelat
and Afghanistan has led to our acquaintance with the
Wild Sheep of the higher ranges of these territories,
which, although closely allied to that of the Punjaub, is
perhaps distinct and entitled to specific separation. Such
at least is the opinion of the Indian naturalist, Mr. A. O.
Hume, who in 1877 described and figured the horns of
this form, from a specimen received from Major Sandi-
man, under the name Ov7s dlanford?, in honour of Mr.
W. T. Blanford, a well-known Indian zoologist and
geologist. Mr. Hume’s example of Blanford’s Sheep was
obtained in the hills above the Bolan Pass. The specimen
from which our drawing has been prepared (Fig. 30) was
captured in Afghanistan during the recent campaign in
that country, and presented to the Zoological Society by
Capt. W. Cotton in February, 1881. It is a young male
animal with the horns not yet fully developed, and has
been placed in company with a female of the better-known
Sheep of the Punjaub hills, with which, there is no doubt,
it will readily cross.
31. THE UV#AN PARRAKEET (Vymphicus uv@ensis).
—In the second volume of Capt. Cook’s “Voyage to-
wards the South Pole and round the World’’ will be
found (at*p. 110) a large, double, copper-plate engraving
entitled a “ View in the Island of New Caledonia,” taken
from a sketch prepared by Hodges, the artist of the
expedition. The left-hand corner of this engraving con-
tains a rude figure of a parrot with two feathers pro-
jecting from the summit of its head. This is doubtless
Fic. 31.—The Uvean Parrakeet.
the first representation ever given of the celebrated ,
‘* Horned Parrot” of New Caledonia, of which a single |
specimen was obtained by the great circumnavigator |
when the island itself was first discovered (in September, |
1774), and brought home for the collection of Sir
Joseph Banks.*
Since the time of Cook until recent days little more has
been known of this singular parrot. In the posthumous
works of Forster, who accompanied Cook as naturalist,
it was described as ‘‘ Psittacus bisetzs,’ and Wagler, in
1832, made it the type of a new genus “ Mymphicus.”
But specimens remained very scarce, and Dr. Finsch in
his excellent history of the Parrot-tribe, published in
1868, tells us that it was then still one of the rarest of the
whole family in the museums of Europe.
In 1879 however two living examples of this parrot
were brought to London in a vessel coming from Sydney,
¥ See Latham’s “ Synopsis of Birds,” vol. i. p. 248.
and secured by the Zoological Society for its parrot-
house. There was thus for the first time for those who
do not wish to make a voyage to New Caledonia, an
opportunity of seeing this lovely species in its full
beauty. What, however, followed was still more singular.
In April, last year, while the two Horned Parrots were
still alive, there arrived in the London market a second
pair of birds of the same peculiar structure, but presenting
ample distinctions for their recognition by naturalists as
a distinct species. These birds, it need hardly be said,
were quickly secured for the Zoologica] Society's Aviary,
so that the two forms might be exhibited side by side.
At the same time was received a communication from
Mr. E. L. Layard, H.B.M. Consul at Nouméa, in New
Caledonia, a Fellow of the Zoological Society, and a well-
known naturalist, describing the new species under the
| name Nymphicus wva@ensis (see P. Z. S., 1882, p. 408,
Pl. XXVI.).
418
NATURE
[March 1, 1883
It would appear that the Uveean Parrakeet, of which
wwe now give an illustration (Fig. 31), taken from one of
the Zoological Society’s living specimens, is a kind of
satellite of the New Caledonian Parrakeet, as is the
small island of Uvéa, in which it is found, of the larger
island of New Caledonia. Mr. Layard had a living pair
of the Uvean bird for some time in his possession before
he noticed their difference from the New Caledonian
bird, of which he had regarded them as the immature
form. But in the first place the crest of the two birds is
totally different. In Mymphicus cornutus the crest is
composed of two elongatec feathers, which are black,
faintly tinged with green, and broadly tipped with red.
In WV. wv@ensis, as will be seen in our figure, the crest con-
sists of a bunch of about six short, upturned, entirely green
feathers, springing from the end of a small spot of red
which occupies the centre of the forehead. In JV. cornz-
tus the two long crest-feathers rise from the centre of the
broad red cap which covers the whole top of the head.
Besides this difference the former bird does not present
the broad orange nuchal collar which ornaments JV.
cornutus, and exhibits only the faintest trace of orange
on the rump.
The small island of Uvéa, one of the Loyalty group,
to which the new species is confined, consists, as Mr.
Layard tells us, of a series of small islets joined together
by a connecting reef with a lagoon in the centre. It is
very singular that this distinct form should be found only
in so restricted a locality, while its near relative, the
“Horned Parrot” of Cook, appears to be distributed all
over the large island of New Caledonia.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AT THE SAVOY
DHEATERE*
R. D’OYLY CARTE, having determined to light
the Savoy Theatre by the Swan incandescence
electric light, intrusted the work of installation to Messrs. |
Siemens Brothers and Co. The theatre is lighted by no
less than 1194 Swan lights of the improved form intro-
duced by Mr. C. H. Gimingham, of the Swan United |
Electric Light Company. Of these 1194 electric lights, |
the auditorium is lighted by 150 lamps attached in groups
of three, supported on threefold brackets projecting from |
the different tiers and balconies, each lamp being inclosed |
within a ground, or opaloid, shade, by which arrangement
a soft and pleasant light is produced. These bracket
lamp-holders have been designed and constructed by
Messrs. Faraday and Son, of Berners Street, London.
Two hundred anil twenty lamps are employed for the
illumination of the numerous dressing-rooms, corri-
dors, and passages belonging to the theatre, while no
less than 824 Swan lamps are employed for the lighting
of the stage.
The stage lights are distributed as follows :—
6 rows of 100 lamps each above the stage 600
I ” 60 ” ” ‘ ” 60
4 25 14 “1 fixed upright 56
2eages see LO ” rae 36
5 oS 10 ground lights 50
2 ” II 2? ” 22
824
In addition to the above-mentioned lights within the
theatre, there are eight pilot lights in the engine-room,
which, being in the same circuit with some of the lights
in the theatre, serve the purpose not only of illuminating
the machinery, but also of indicating to the engineer in
charge of the machines, by the changing of their illu-
minating power, when the lights in the building are turned
up or down.
The lamps are at present worked in parallel circuit in
* Communicated.
six groups, five of which comprise 200 lamps each, and
the sixth 202 lamps. The current of each group is pro-
duced by one of Messrs. Siemens Brothers and Co.’s
W, alternate current machines, the field magnets of
which are excited by a separate dynamo electric machine
of the Siemens type, known as D;. The machines and
engines are fixed in a shed erected on a piece of waste
land adjacent to the Victoria Embankment, the current
being conveyed to the theatre by means of insulated
cables laid underground.
The six alternate or W, machines are driven at a speed
of 700 revolutions per minute, and the six exciting or D;
machines at 1150 revolutions, by three steam-engines,
that is to say, a portable 20-horse engine by Garrett, a
12-horse power portable by Marshall, and a 2o0-horse
semi-portable engine by Robey, but the power actually
utilised, as measured by a ‘‘von Hefner Alteneck”
dynanometer, is between 120 and 130 horse-power. We
must not, however, omit to state that, in addition to the
six pairs of machines for working the 1202 incandescent
lamps, there is also a D, Siemens dynamo machine for
producing the powerful arc electric light suspended out-
side the theatre, and over the principal entrance in
Beaufort Buildings, and that the power to drive this
machine is included in the above-mentioned horse-power
employed, as well as that necessary for driving the shunt
machine used to charge the secondary batteries for the
fairy lamps.
The most interesting feature, however, from a scientific
point of view, of this most interesting installation, is the
method by which the lights in all parts of the establish-
ment are under control, for any of the series of lights can
| in an instant be turned up to their full power or gradually
lowered to a dull red heat as easily as if they were gas
lamps, by the simple turning of a small handle. There
are six of these regulating handles, corresponding to the
number of the machines and circuits—arranged side by
side against the wall of a small room on the left of the stage,
and each handle being a six-way switch, can, by throwing
into its corresponding magnet-circuit greater or less
resistance (according to its six stages), lessen or increase
the strength of the current passing through the lamps by
as many grades. The special interest of this part of the
installation, however, is the fact that the turning down of
the lights is accompanied by a corresponding saving of
motive power in the engine, for the variable resistance
which is controlled by the regulators is not thrown into
the external or lamp circuit of the alternate current
| machines, but into the circuit by which their field magnets
are excited.
The fittings of the lamps in the passages, staircases,
&c., have, up to the present, been of a temporary nature,
but, as the electric lighting has worked to the entire
satisfaction of all concerned, these temporary fittings will
now be replaced by permanent brackets, quite indepen-
dent of the gas brackets.
All risk of fire is avoided by the leading wires being
thoroughly insulated, and small pieces of lead wire being
inserted into the circuit wherever a branch wire leaves the
mains. These “ safety-pieces” of lead are chosen of such
size that they will melt before the conductors themselves
become sufficiently heated to cause any danger, and by
their melting the current is at once interrupted.
The small lamps worn by the fairies, and which have
been specially made by the Swan United Electric Light
Company, are rendered incandescent by the current
produced from a small “secondary” battery, which is
carried on the back like a small knapsack. These secon-
dary batteries have been made by Messrs. Siemens
Brothers and Co. on a new plan, and are charged by a
shunt-wound Siemens’ dynamo in the engine-shed. Each
battery is provided with a switch, by means of which the
light can be turned on or off by the wearer at pleasure.
The system of electric lighting has now been working
March 1, 1883]
NATURE
419
at this theatre for about a year and a half without any
accidents, and has proved to possess many advantages
over gas as applied to the illumination of buildings of
this description. Not the least amongst these are the total
absence of heat and vitiated air in the house, and the
length of time during which the decorations will retain
their freshness and colour instead of becoming quickly
faded and tarnished, as would be the case. were the old
system of gas adopted. sf
ON THE NATURE OF INHIBITION, AND THE
ACTION OF DRUGS UPON IT
BY inhibition we mean the arrest of the functions of a
structure or organ, by the action upon it of another,
while its power to execute those functions is still retained,
and can be manifested as soon as the restraining power is
removed.
It is thus distinguished from paralysis, in which the
function is abolished, and not merely restrained.
Inhibition is cne of the most perplexing problems in
physiology, and we have at present no satisfactory hypo-
thesis regarding it. It plays, however, such a very im-
portant part in pharmacology, that we cannot pass it
over ; and as it is through the action of drugs upon the
various functions of the body that we have already
arrived at a knowledge of inhibitory actions, which would
otherwise have been impossible—as, in fact, pharma-
cology has here quite outstripped physiology—we are
obliged to enter into some hypothetical considerations, in
order to be able to form some kind of idea regarding the
mode of action of many drugs.
Hypotheses serve as “pegs on which to hang facts,”
and by their aid the isolated facts which few memories
could carry may be arranged, and their relation to each
more readily perceived. A hypothesis serves also asa
guide for further experiments, by which it may be either
disproved or supported. Should facts be against it, so
much the worse for the hypothesis ; it must be discarded,
and another tried in its place; but if facts agree with it
we obtain a means of predicting phenomena, and make
another step in knowledge. Like other useful things,
hypotheses are not without danger, and sometimes do
harm by satisfying people and stopping further inquiry.
Thus Sultzer noticed the peculiar taste produced by the
contact of two dissimilar metals with each other and with
the tongue forty years before Galvani; but at that time
the doctrine of vibrations was employed to explain all
natural phenomena, and he concluded that some pecu-
liar vibration occurred frcm the contact of the metals,
which produced the peculiar sensation on the tongue. All
the world were satisfied with the explanation, and thus a
prominent fact slept in obscurity from the time of Sultzer
to that of Galvani, no further attempts being made to
determine the nature of the vibrations or the laws which
governed them.' Yet in their proper place hypotheses are
most useful, and but for the hypothesis that light, heat,
and sound are due to waves, our knowledge of their phe-
nomena would be much less than it is.
The cases of inhibition, as we may term them, which
we meet with in the study of physics, are the production
of complete silence by the interference of two sounds,
and of darkness by the interference of two rays of light.
When two sounds or two rays of light are combined,
so that the crests of the waves of which they consist coin-
cide, the sound becomes louder and the light brighter. If
they are thrown together, so that the crests of the waves
in the one sound or ray coincide with the sinuses or
hollows of the other, they completely counteract each
other, and silence or darkness is produced.
When the waves are of different rhythms, the crests
and hollows of the two sounds or rays, which at one time
coincide, will gradually interfere, and again gradually
* Ree’s Cyclopedia. Article ‘‘ Galvanism.”
coincide, so that rhythmical alternations of loud sound
and silence, of bright light and darkness, are produced.
A good example of interference or physical inhibition, and
one that affords an illustration well suited to our purpose,
is that of Newton’s rings. When a lens of small curvature
is placed on a plane surface of glass, a series of rings is
observed, starting from the centre of the lens and passing
concentrically outwards. If monochromatic light is used,
such as pure yellow light, pure red light, &c., these rings
are alternately bright and dark; but if white light is
used, they appear as a number of circular bands of dif-
ferent rainbow colours. The cause of these rings is, that
though the surface of the lens appears to the eye to be in
contact with the plate of glass over a considerable area,
it is not really so; avery fine film of air of varying thick-
ness being interposed between them.
Fic. 1.—A very diagrammatic representation of interference in Newton’s
rings.
When a ray of light passes through the lens on to the
glass, part of itis reflected back from the lower surface of
the lens, and part of it from the upper surface of the glass
plate. Between those two points there is a very minute
film of air: one vay has therefore to travel somewhat
Jurther than the other, The distance which it has to
travel is only through the extremely thin layer of air lying
between the surface of the lens and the glass and back
again ; but this distance at some places is just sufficient
to throw the waves in the one beam half a wave-length
behind those in the other, and to produce darkness by
their interference.
As we recede from the point of most complete contact
between the lens and the glass, the thickness of air in-
creases, the ray has somewhat further to travel, and the
distance is then just sufficient to throw it a whole wave-
length behind the other ray ; no interference is produced,
and we get a ring of bright light.
Further outwards the increased thickness of the film of
air is again sufficient to throw one ray a wave-length and
a half behind its fellow ; interference is again produced,
and darkness is the result.
With rays, then, of one colour, or of one wave-length,
we get alternately light and darkness by interference.
But it is evident that the extra distance which the
waves have to travel in order to produce interference will
not be the same for long and short waves ; and thus it is
found that when white light, which contains rays of diffe-
rent wave-lengths, is used, the rings, instead of being
alternately light and dark, are coloured.
The very distance which was sufficient to throw the
red rays half a wave-length behind the other, and to pro-
duce interference, will throw, let us say, the violet rays a
whole wave-length behind, and thus there will be no
interference and vice versd; the distance which causes
interference of the violet rays does not cause interference
of the red, and so on with other colours.
Thus the spaces which would have been perfectly dark
when rays of pure red or pure violet, or more correctly
ultra-violet, were used, would be filled up by the other if
used together, and when white light is used, the various
waves interfere at different places, and so we get a series
of rainbow colours.
The extra distance which one beam has to travel
in order to produce interference with another is zot
absolute, but relative to the wave-length, This relation
differs for different wave-lengths, and therefore if the
relative distances remain constant, the effect of the beams
on each other will vary if their wave-lengths be changed.
It is obvious that if both the wave-lengths and the
AZ0-
distances they have to travel remain the same, the effect
of the beams on each other will be altered by any change
in their rate of travel such as would be effected by
altering the media through which they pass.
This is a most important point in regard to the hypo-
thesis -of the causation of inhibition by interference of
vibrations in the nervous system. It may therefore be
useful to illustrate this further, and probably it could not
be done better than by using, with a little modification,
the example given by Sir J. Herschel in his article on
Light in the Encyclopzedia Metropolitana. ‘ Let R bea
reservoir of water, from which the channels A and B pro-
B
vas aK
Haeal| P
see
~ mete oo
Fic. 2,—Diagram to illustrate Sir J. Herschel’s observations on interference.
Adapted from his} article {on |‘ Absorption of Light,”’ Phil. Mag. 1883,
P- 405.
ceed, to join each other at P; they are supposed to be equal
in every respect except that Bis longer than A, Ifa wave
from the reservoir enters the openings of A and B at the
same time and travels at the same rate along them, the
wave which passes through A will reach P sooner than
the one which passes through B, so that the water at that
point will be agitated by two waves in succession. But
let the original cause of undulation be continually
repeated so as to produce an indefinite series of equal
and similar waves. Then if the difference of lengths of
the two canals A and B be just equal to half the interval
between the summits of two consecutive waves, it is evi-
dent that when the summit of any wave propagated along
A has reached the point of intersection P, the depression
between two consecutive summits (viz., that corre-
sponding to the wave propagated along A and that of the
wave immediately preceding it) will arrive at the inter-
section P by the course B. Thus in virtue of the wave
along A the water will be raised as much above its natural
level as it will be depressed below it by that along B. Its
level will therefore be unchanged. Now as the wave
propagated along A passes the intersection P, it subsides
from its maximum by precisely the same gradations as
that along B, passing it with equal velocity, rises from its
minimum, so that the level will be preserved at the point
of intersection P undisturbed so long as the original |
cause of undulation continues to act regularly.) So soon
as it ceases, however, the last half-wave which runs along
B will have no corresponding portion of a wave along 4 |
to interfere with, and will therefore create a single
fluctuation at the point of concourse P.”
It is obvious that if everything else remains the same,
the effect which the waves have upon each other at P will
be altered if the rate at which they travel is increased or
diminished.
The more the speed is increased the less effect com-
paratively will the greater length of B have in retarding the
wave which flows along it, so that its crest will no longer
coincide with the trough or sinus of the waves in A, but
will, on the contrary, coincide more nearly with the crest
of one of the waves in A.
The more the speed is diminished, the more will the |
wave in B lag behind that in A, so that its crest, instead
of coinciding with the trough between two crests of the
waves from A will gradually come to coincide with the |
as ° . . i
* This actually happens in the harbour of Batsha, into which the waves !
pass from the open sea through two channels of unequal length.
NATURE
— [March 1, 1883
crest succeeding the trough, and thus double its magni-
tude instead of destroying it.
We see, then, that under the conditions we have sup-
posed either increase or diminution in the rapidity of
their transmission may convert the interference of waves —
into more or less complete coincidence, and the effect of
the two waves may thus be doubled instead of neutralised
by their superposition.
The alteration which is produced in the mutual effect
of two waves by increase or diminution of their rate of
transmission along channels of constant length supplies
us I think with a test by which we may ascertain the
truth of the hypothesis that inhibitory phenomena in the
animal body are due to interference. For if it be true
we ought to find that a nerve which produces inhibitory _
phenomena when excited under normal conditions will
gradually lose this power when the rate of transmission
along it is increased or diminished, as, for example, by
the influence of heat or cold, and will gradually acquire
an exactly contrary or stimulating action. This, I think,
is shown to be the case by our experimental data so far
as they go.
Several authors have pointed out the analogy between
inhibitory phenomena in the animal body and the effects
of interference of waves of light or sound. This has been
done with special precision by Bernard! and Romanes.?
The tendency to do away with the idea of distinct inhibi-
tory centres is gradually spreading, but hitherto no attempt
has been made to bring all the phenomena of inhibition
under one general rule or to explain the mode in which
they are affected by the action of drugs. The object of the
present paper is to gather together some instances of inhi-
bition which we find in the body, and to see whether by
the theory of interference it is not possible to explafn
both the curiously perplexing exceptions which we meet
with in physiological experiments, and the still more
perplexing action of drugs on inhibitory phenomena.
One of the most striking examples of reflex action and
of inhibition, is the effect of a slight touch or touches, and
of firm pressure upon the palms of the hands, the soles of
the feet, or the axilla, and in some persons also the
knees. In many persons a very slight touch or succes-
sion of touches upon these parts is sufficient to throw first
the respiratory muscles, and then the whole body into
violent convulsions. Indeed, it is stated that during the
persecution of the Albigenses by Simon de Montfort,
several people were tortured to death by tickling the
soles of their feet with a feather. The stimulus here
applied, and the consequences it produces, appear to be
out of all proportion to one another; the stimulus being
almost infinitesimal, and the consequences enormous.
In the case of Newton’s rings it might be possible with
much trouble to throw a different beam into such a con-
dition that it would interfere with one of the beams in
the rings. and produce darkness, but in the rings a
similar, effect is produced in a very much simpler way by
alteration of part of the same beam. A similar occur-
rence is to be observed in the inhibition of the reflex
action on tickling.
By a very powerful effort of the will we may completely
arrest the reflex movement which would otherwise occur,
and allow the limb to remain perfectly passive. But the
same effect is produced in a much simpler way by apply-
ing a firm pressure instead of a slight touch. The firm
pressure neutralises the effect of the touch in regard to
motion, and not only are no reflex convulsive actions
produced, but no tendency whatever to them is felt.
But while the pressure has neutralised the tendency to
motion, and has altered the character of the sensation, it
has not neutralised sensation. On the contrary, it has
rendered it more definite, so that one can distinguish
with much greater certainty the particular point of the
1 Bernard, La Chaleur Animale, Paris, 1876, p. 371.
= Romanes, Phil. Trans. 1877, p- 730.
March t, 1883]
NATURE
421
surface which has beentouched. Increased pressure has
thus inhibited motion but increased sensation.
In a paper on “Inhibition, peripheral and central,”
which I wrote in the West Riding Asylum Reports in
1874, I tried to explain these phenomena in the following
manner : “It appears to me to be in all probability due
to there being two sets of ganglia in the cord itself, one
motor and one inhibitory. The motor is more readily
excited than the inhibitory, and causes violent move-
ments, which the inhibitory centres of the brain cannot
restrain without the greatest difficulty, though they are
readily controlled by the inhibitory ganglia in the spinal
cord. A slight titillation excites the motor, but not the
inhibitory spinal ganglia ; a stronger pressure stimulates
the inhibitory centres also, and thus arrests the move-
ments without any action being required on the part of
the inhibitory centres in the brain. We may try to ex-
plain this, by supposing that there are two distinct sets
of nerves proceeding from the skin to the cord, one
of them having the power to excite inhibitory, and the
other to excite motor centres. Further, we must suppose
that these sets of fibres are endued with different degrees
of excitability, the motorial ones being stimulated by a
slight touch, but the inhibitory ones only by a stronger
impression.
Fic. 3.
“This is represented in Fig. 3, where s is the skin; a,
the fibres proceeding from it to the motor ganglion, 7
and e, those going to the inhibitory ganglion, 1; 7 is the
fibre by which I arrests the action of 7, and7z that by
which the brain exerts a similar action. The different
fibres by which 7 acts on the muscles have not been
introduced into the diagram.
Fic. 4.
“This hypothesis, however, is a very clumsy one, and
we explain the facts quite as well by supposing that there
is only one set of afferent nerves (a, Fig. 4) from the
skin to the cord, which transmit a slight impression only
to the motor ganglia, 7, but convey a stronger one along
@ to the inhibitory ganglia 1, also, which then react
through Z upon the motor ones. This latter supposition
renders intelligible the fact that it is only when some-
thing is drawn quickly and lightly across the skin, so as
to make a slight and transient impression on the ends of
many sensory nerves, that tickling is felt. If the pressure
on the skin is heavier, or if the motion over it is slow, the
effect is quite different, and this is just what we might
expect if a short and slight impression travels only to the
motor ganglia, and a stronger or more lasting one goes to
the inhibitory beyond them.’’
These diagrams themselves are suggestive of interfer-
ence ; but I did not in that paper say anything regarding
it, contenting myself only with the term inhibition. One
reason that prevented me from considering inhibition in
animals as corresponding closely to the interference of
light, was that the rapidity of transmission of nervous
impulses was differently given by different observers, and
indeed, according to Munk, it varies along the course of
the same nerve.!
Unless the rate of transmission of impulses is constant,
one cannot expect interference to produce inhibition. But
in his observations on Medusz, Mr. Romanes found that
when the circumference of the bell in a medusa was cut
into a long spiral strip, leaving only the centre of the bell
uninjured, stimuli applied to the extreme end of the strip
passed along it, and were delivered to the centre of the
bell, just as if they had been applied to the central part
itself—all passing at the same rate they did not interfere
with one another. But when the strip was pressed upon
or stretched, the passage of impulses was interfered with.
This seems to show that the rate of transmission of a
stimulus along a conducting structure is a definite one,
provided the structure remain under the same conditions.
But still more instructive on this point are the experi-
ments with the Ton-inductorium, invented by my friend
Prof. Hugo Kronecker. Other observers have found that
when a muscle is irritated by an interrupted current
applied to its nerve, the tetanic contraction into which it
would be thrown by twenty interruptions per second
ceased when the interruptions became as frequent as 250
per second. By using an interrupted current induced by
the vibrations of a magnetic rod, which gave out a
definite tone, Kronecker and Stirling were able to throw
the muscle into tetanus with no less than 22,000 inter-
ruptions per second. This success is probably to be
attributed to the regularity and equality of the stimuli
applied by Kronecker’s method, while the fact that their
predecessors got no tetanus with more than 250 inter-
ruptions per second is probably due to interference of the
stimuli they applied. Kronecker’s observations show, I
think, how definite must be the rate of transmission of
stimuli alorg a nerve so long as it remains under the
same conditions and give us a basis for extending the
theory of interference from waves of light and sound to
vibrations in nervous and muscular tissues.3
We are justified, I think, by these experiments in con-
sidering that interference may occur in the nervous
system, and that one part may exercise an interfering or
inhibitory effect upon the other, which is constant under
normal conditions, but will be modified when these condi-
tions are altered.
Let us now try to apply this hypothesis to the reflex
action which we have just been discussing.
Fig 5.
Let s,S’ and s” be three sensory cells in the spinal
cord, M, M’ and M’ motor cells, s and s’ sensory nerves,
and 7 wz’ motor nerves. SB is a sensory and MB a
® Archiv. f. Anat. u. Physiol. 1860, p. 798 .
? It must be borne in mind, however, that the overtones of such a vibrat-
ing rod are in the ratio of , 3%, 5 72, &c., and not in that of #, 2#, 42, like
those of a vibrating string or pipe. Quincke (Poggendorff’s Annalen, 1866,
vol, viii. p. 182) Failed to silence the sounds of such a rod by means of an
interference apparatus.
3 Vide Hermann’s Handbuch d. Physiol Bd. 1.
i. Th, i. p. 39.
Th. i. p. 44, and Bd.
a) aes
422
NATURE
[March 1, 1883
motor cell in the brain. When s is stimulated by a
slight touch, the stimulus is transmitted up to s, thence
to M, and down m to muscles, thus causing reflex con-
traction. This is increased when a number of slight
touches are made over a limited surface, as in tickling,
because then s and S’‘are both stimulated, and more
motor impulses are produced. But when harder pressure
is made on s the stimulus, instead of being confined
to S, is transmitted to S’ and thence to M, as well as
direct from sto M. Thus two impulses are sent to mM,
which, starting at the same time from s, have had a
different length to travel round. This different length,
we suppose, is just sufficient to allow the impulses to
interfere with one another in M and thus destroy each
other’s action in regard to motion. When 3’ is also irri-
tated at the same time as s, the same interference is pro-
duced by a stimulus passing from s’ to $s", and then to M’.
But at the same time that the relation of s’ Ss” to M and
M’ is such as to produce interference and inhibition in
regard to motor impulses, the relation to each other is
such that the impulses mutually strengthen one another
on their way up to the brain, and thus the sensation
which we perceive on firm pressure is more definite and
better localised.
On this hypothesis each successive layer of sensory
and motor cells in the spinal cord may have several
different functions: (1) Each cell may exercise its own
sensory or motor functions in relation to the sensory
or motor nerves connected with it; (2) it may exercise
an inhibitory function on the sensory and motor cells
above or below it, and also on other sensory or motor
cells on the same plane with itself ; (3) it may have a
stimulating function on other cells above, below, or on
the same plane as itself, increasing instead of abolishing
their action.
The effect that any sensory or motor cell produces when
stimulated is not determined then simply by the profer-
ties of the cell itself, but by its eZa¢éons to other cells or
fibres.
Motion, sensation, inhibition, or stimulation are not
positive, but simply relative terms, and stimulating or
inhibitory functions may be exercised by the same cell
according to the relation which subsists between the
wave-lengths of the impulses travelling to or from it, the
distance over which they travel, and the rapidity with
which they are propagated.
T. LAUDER BRUNTON
(To be continued.)
NOTES
M. JANSSEN was present at the sitting of the Academy of
Sciences on Monday, for the last time before his departure from
Paris. He is very busy preparing his apparatus.
Baron NORDENSKJOLD so very carefully considers every step
he takes that we may be sure he has satisfactory reasons for
claiming the reward of 25,000 guilders (about 2000/.) offered
by the Dutch three centuries ago to the discoverer of the
North-east Passage. Some surprise is expressed at the Baron’s
claiming a reward which lapse of time may be considered as
having rendered obsolete. At the time it was offered the North-
east Passage was regarded as a sea-route of the highest com-
mercial importance, though this idea has been long exploded.
Still to some extent Baron Nordenskjéld has shown that the old
conception was not without justification, and although the pas-
sage is now of no value as a route to China and India, still the
Swedish explorer has proved that as a trade-route it may be
rendered of considerable yalue. Moreover as he is so dis-
interested, ardent, and successful a pioneer of science, we should
be glad if the Dutch Government cheerfully admitted the claim.
It may be remembered that the much larger reward offered by
our own Government to the discoverer of the North Pole was
withdrawn many years ago.
AT the last meeting of the Royal Swedish Geographical
Society, on the proposal of Baron Nordenskjold, the greatest
honour at the disposal of the Society, the Vega gold medal, was
conferred on Mr. Stanley. The medal, struck 7” memoriam of
the Vega expedition ‘‘for geographical discovery,” has only been
twice before conferred—viz. in 1881, on Baron Nordenskjéld,
and in 1882, on Capt. Palander.
In 1880 the Belgian Academy proposed, as a prize-subject,
the relations between physical and chemical properties of simple
and compound bodies (completion of the knowledge of these by
new experiments). The prize (a gold medal valued at 1000 franes)
has been awarded to M, De Heen, engineer at Louvain. His
memoir is an extension of one previously sent in, which gained
high approbation for original work and results, but was thought
badly-proportioned, so that the subject was re-proposed. ‘The
work is in five sections, dealing successively with specific heats,
dilatability of solids and liquids by heat, changes of state in rela-
tion to chemical composition, capillarity, and (here without
original researches) molecular volumes, refraction, spectral analy-
sis, and absorkent power of bodies for heat. The ample vésemé
M. Spring gives of this memoir (Bu//. Belg. Acad. No. 12)
indicates matter that must be of much interest and value to the
physicist and the chemist.
PERHAPS never in the history of science, the Zazcet says, has
a distinguished career equalled in its length that of M. Chevreul,
whose name is best known in this country in connection with his
investigations on colour; and it is probably altogether unique
for a savant to be able, at one of the most distinguished scientific
societies in the world, to refer to remarks which he made before
the same society more than seventy years previously. A few
days ago M. Chevreul made a communication to the Academie
des Sciences, and at its close he observed : ‘* Moreover, gentle-
men, the observation is not a new one to me. I had the honour
to mention it here, at the meeting of the Academie des Sciences,
on the roth of May, 1812”!
THE death is announced of the Silesian botanist, Herr Johann
Spatzier, aged seventy-seven ; also of Herr Josef Knorlein, the
entomologist, at Linz, on February 12, aged seventy-seven.
MountT ETNA is very active and ejects red-hot lava. At
night the glare is constantly visible. A violent shock occurred
on February 15.
WE find in the last number of the J/evestia of the Russian
Geographical Society a note, by Prof. Lenz, on the cosmical
dust collected by M. Marx at the meteorological station of
Yeniseisk. After having vainly searched for traces of cosmical
matter, as he was advised to do by Baron Nordenskjold, he dis-
covered it finally on October 31, 1881. The wind was blowing
in the evening with great force from the west, and during the
night it turned into a strong gale, with some snow and rain.
When M. Marx measured next morning the amount of water in
his pluviometer, he remarked that it had a considerable quantity
of suspended matter of a brick-red colour. After careful analysis
this matter proved to consist of iron, nickel, and cobalt. Prof.
Lenz does not doubt that the red dust found by M. Marx had a
cosmical origin, and points out that it was observed on a day
very near to the appearance of the November meteors.
At Monday’s meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences,
M. Tresca read a paper full of facts on the experiments
tried at the Gare du Nord. Deducting certain work for the
, mechanical transmission to the generator, the result was 42 per
‘ cent. of energy conveyed instead of 35 per cent. with a smaller
March 1, 188 3]
NATURE
423
velocity, but without deducting this work the alteration was very
slight, 33 per cent. instead of 32 per cent.
THE second annual general meeting of the members of the
London Sanitary Protection Association was held on Saturday
at the rooms of the Society of Arts, under the presidency of
Prof, Huxley. From the report of the council, presented to
the meeting, it appeared that 368 new members had joined the
Association during the year, and there was a total of 533
members. The total number of houses inspected was 362, and
in the greater number of these serious errors in the sanitary
arrangements of the houses were found and corrected. Twenty-
one of them, or 6 per cent., were found to have the drains
choked up, and no communication whatever with the sewer; all
the foul matter sent down the sinks and soil-pipes simply soaking
into the ground under the basement of the houses. In 117
houses, or 32 per cent., the soil-pipes were found to be leaky,
allowing sewer-gas, and in many cases liquid sewage, to escape
into the house. In 137, or 37 percent., the overflow pipes
from the cisterns were led direct into the drains or soil-pipes,
allowing sewer gas to pass up them, and contaminate the water
in the cisterns, and in most cases to pass freely into the house,
In 263, or nearly three-fourths of the houses inspected, the
waste-pipes from baths and sinks were found to be led direct
into the drain or soil-pipes, thus allowing the possibility of
sewer gas passing passing up them instead of being led outside
the house, and made to discharge over trapped gullies in the
open air as they should be. Prof. Huxley moved the adoption
of the report, and stated that he had found himself unable
longer to act as president of the association, owing to the in-
creasing demands upon his time and energies. He was glad
however to say that the Duke of Argyll had consented to succeed
him in that post. The second annual meeting of the Sanitary
Assurance Association was held at the office, Argyll Place,
Regent Street, W., on Thursday. In the absence of Sir Joseph
Fayrer, Prof. T. Hayter Lewis, F.R.I.B.A., was elected to
preside. The secretary read the report of the council for the
year 1882, from which it appeared that the inspection of
houses, supervision of work, and issue of certificates had been
continued on the plan initiated by the association in 1881. The
financial statement showed that considerable progress had been
made since the issue of the first report. The increase during
1882 had been nearly double that of 1881.
Part 2 of vol. ii. of ‘‘ The Encyclopzedic Dictionary,” pub-
lished by Messrs. Cassell, extends to the word Destructionist.
The present instalment seems quite up to the standard of those
already published, though for a work of such extent we think the
account of the corona of the sun inadequate. On the other hand,
to illustrate the term Darwinism, we have half a column
biography of Charles Darwin.
THE last number of the /zvestia of the East Siberian Geo-
graphical Society, which has just reached us, contains a letter
from M. Yurgens, chief of the meteorological station at the
mouth of the Lena. When leaving Yakutsk with his com-
panions, Dr. Bunge and M. Eigner, he took with him, besides
provisions for eighteen months, a wooden house 42 feet long
and 21 feet wide, 40 cwts. of petroleum, two cows with a calf,
plenty of hay, bricks, lime, and even moss and clay, as there is
no clay in the delta of the Lena. As is unfortunately too often
the case with such expeditions, the barometers went out of
order, and the observers found great difficulty in filling and
boiling them again, so that the new meteorological station at
Olekminsk has remained without a barometer. On this subject
a correspondent writes: ‘‘ A new portable barometer would be
really an immense benefit for countries like Siberia, but in the
meantime would it not be advisable for second-rank meteoro-
logical stations to make use of the aneroid? Of course the cor-
rection of each aneroid changes slowly but continuously, so that
an uncontrolled aneroid has no value at all ; but would it not be
possible to control it, say every fortnight, by means of a hypso-
thermometer—a most reliable instrument if the observer follows
the advice of Dr. Wild—and, after having boiled the water,
leave the thermometer to cool, and make use only of a second
reading, which is made when boiling the water for a second
time. The observations of Dr. Wild, repeated by M. Krapotkin
at the St. Petersburg Physical Observatory on five hypsothermo-
meters taken from an optician’s shop, proved that they were most
reliable if the above-mentioned precaution were used. Might
it not be useful to repeat these observations on hypsothermo-
meters on a larger scale, in order to ascertain the degree of
accuracy that might be expected from these instruments, which
highly recommend themselves to travellers, and especially for
small meteorological stations, by their portability ?”
AN avalanche, or rather a landslip, took place at Gudvang-
soren, in the remote and narrow Nero valley, in Norway, at
the end of January last. The quantities of earth and stone
precipitated into the valley destroyed several farms, and killed
two women. Landslips have previously occurred in this
valley.
Ir is remarkable that a disease like leprosy should flourish in
Norway. From the returns just published this appears however
to be the case, although we are happy to say that the number of
afflicted is decreasing. At the end of 1875 there were 2008
patients reported in the country. At the end of 1880 the number
had fallen to 1582. The disease is stated to be due to the con-
sumption of food in an unwholesome condition, particularly fish,
and also to uncleanliness.
On February 5,-at 6.45 p.m., a meteor of unu-ual size and
appearance was observed near Arvika, in Sweden. An ob-
server who happened at the time to be passing a lake—Glas-
fjorden—states that he first observed the meteor high on the
horizon, going from south-east to north-west, when, after about
eighteen seconds, it suddenly changed its course to south-east.
During its progress to north-west, calculated at eighteen seconds,
the meteor made several digressio: s from its plane, while its size
varied from tbat of an ordinary star to that of the sun, sometimes
emitting a white, at others a yellow light, and at times dis-
charging showers of sparks. At the point of changing its direc-
tion, when it was so near the surface of the lake that its path
was reflected therein, it possessed a distinct tail, and with this
adjunct it passed out of the range of sight in a south-easterly
direction, after being observed for nearly fifty seconds.
Ar Iserlohn (Rhenish Prussia) the fall of a meteorite was
observed by several persons on the evening of February I. Next
morning the meteorite was found, having penetrated deeply into
the hard-frozen soil of a neighbouring garden. Its weight is
165 grammes, its size that of a goose’s egg, The surface is of a
glistening black, and the point seems broken off,
A NEW substance, remarkable for its intense sweetness, being
much sweeter than cane-sugar, has been lately found by Dr.
Fahlberg in the course of some investigations on coal-tar derivas
tives (Yourn. Frank Inst.). He designates it benzoic sulphinide,
or anhydrosulphamine benzoic acid,
Mr. H. HeaTHcoTe STATHAM will give the first of two
lectures, at the Royal Institution, on ‘‘ Music as a Form of
Artistic Expression,” on Saturday, March 10, The subject of
Prof. Tyndall’s discourse on Friday evening, March 16, is
«Thoughts on Radiation, Theoretical and Practical.”
On February 11, at 9.50 a.m., an earthquake was noticed at
Szigeth (Hungary). It lasted four seconds, It was also felt in
the Bosnian village of Looskrupa and its neighbourhood,
NATURE
| Varch 1, 1883 -
_AN Electro-technical Exhibition will be opened at Konigsberg
on April 15 next.
_ THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include two Common Marmosets (Hafale jacchus)
from Brazil, two Brazilian Caracaras (Polyborus brasiliensis)
from Uruguay, presented by Mr. Donald F. Mackenzie ; a Rook
(Corvus frugilegus), a Common Magpie (Pica caudata), British,
presented by Mr. C. L. Sutherland ; a Lump Fish (Cyclopterus
Jumpus), British Seas, presented by Mr. W. K. Stanley; a
Bonnet Monkey (Macacus radiatus) from India, deposited ; a
Humboldt’s Saki (Pithecia monachus) from the Amazons, a
Squirrel Monkey (Chrysothrix sciurea) from Guiana, two Red-
vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus hemorrhous) from India, a Crested
Black Eagle (Lophoaétus occipitalis) from West Africa, a Cirl
Bunting (Zméeriza cirlus), British, purchased; a Zebu (Bos
indicus 6), five Brown-tailed Gerbilles (Gerdc/lus erythrurus),
born in the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
CERASKI’s VARIABLE STAR, U CEPHE!.—On comparing Dr.
Julius Schmidt’s observations of this star in 1882, with minima
determined by the same obseryer in the autumn of 1880, there
results a period of 2°49289 days, or 2d. 11h, 49m. 46s., on the
assumption that itis regular or equable. Dr. Schmidt suspected
a marked variation in the period, each successive period being
525 seconds longer than the preceding one. The following are
the times of minima in March, which will be observable here :—
h. m. h. m. h, m.
March 2 ... 12 43 | March 12... 12 2] March 22 ... 11 21
Wivene, N2y 22) 7p Pere ti thy bf 2yeearlt 0
THE ToraL Sonar ECLIPSE OF 1901, MAY 17.—The ensuing
return of the solar eclipse in May next, for the observation of
which this country with France and the United States have
despatched observers to the Pacific, will take place on May 17,
1901, when the duration of totality will be even longer than in
the present year, and the part of our globe where observations
will be most advantageously made will be rather more accessible
than in the approaching eclipse. The following are approxi-
mate elements of the phenomenon :— -
G.M.T. of conjunction in R.A. 1901, May 17, 17h. 28m, 14s.
Right ascension Pr tat cca comet 54 15 36
Moon’s hourly motionin R.A. ... ... 39 30
Sun’s 35 5 Pk ae 2 29
Moon’s declination wach Peles eves...) SLO MEIIES TAIN
Sun’s AB Rotates 19 23 49 N
Moon’s hourly motion in decl. 5 144N
Sun’s "A 9 0 34 N
Moon’s horizontal parallax 60 57
Sun’s cD ” oy)
Moon’s true semi-diameter 16 36°5
Sun’s oe An aA 15 48°9
Hence the middle of the general eclipse occurs at 17h. 33m. 255.
G.M.T. The central phase commences in longitude 39° 57’ E.,
latitude 27° 21'S ; the eclipse is central and total with the sun
on the meridian in longitude 97° o’ E., latitude 2° 7’ S., and
the central phase ends in longitude i57° 8’ E., latitude
130’ S. If we calculate directly fora point in 100° 59 E. and
1’ 14’ S., which is close upon the central line and to the west
coast of Sumatra, we find—
h. m. s.
Beginning of totality, May 18, at o 22 11
Ending c 28 35
Hence the duration of total phase is 6m. 24s.
tude is 68°,
THE VARIABLE STAR, S VIRGINIS.—This object, which
varies between 5°7m. and 12°5m., appears to have escaped ob-
servation during the last few years. Prof. Schénfeld assigns a
period of 374 days, according to which, reckoning from his
tabular maximum, the last would have occurred on October 25,
1882, and if the minimum falls about 119 days before maxi-
mum, as stated by the Bonn astronomer, one will be due about
July 8. This star has an intense reddish-yellow light : its posi-
tion for 1883 is in R.A, 13h. 26m. 54s., N.P.D. 96° 36’.
Local mean
time.
The sun’s alti-
” ”
There is a suspicion that another star in the vicinity varies
through about two magnitudes, 8-10. Its place for 1883 is in
R.A. 13h. 24m, 26s., N.P.D. 98° 58’.
THE Binary STAR, ¢ CANCRI.—Among several orbits re-
cently calculated for this star by Dr. H. Seeliger, in an interest-
ing memoir communicated to the Academy of Sciences at
Vienna, the following is perhaps the most satisfactory :—
Passage of Peri-astron ... 1870°393
Node Poehite Aeacaretets 71 32
Node to Peri-astron on orbit 113 52
Inclination 10 53
Eccentricity 0°34327
Mean motion tne ont epee — 5°°8867
Semisaxismnajor ss a/4y.c. | ec eee eee o”'8515
Period of revolution 61154
This orbit gives for 1883°0, position 71°'1, distance 0°88 ;
and for 1885'0, position 61°°4, distance 0°93.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
As there seems to be some misunderstanding as to the route
to be followed by Baron Nordenskjéld in his Greenland Expe-
dition, we may say that we have good reason to believe that
there is no intention to proceed along the west coast to Cape
York. An attempt will certainly be made to add to our know-
ledge of the old Danish se tlements on the south and south-east
coast, but the chief purpose of the expedition is to further ex-
plore the east coast, and to penetrate the interior. Baron
Nordenskjéld will be accompanied by a complete se entific staff ;
but we believe he does not intend to divulge the details of his
plan till after the expedition sails. He has made a thorough
study of all that is known of Greenland ; among other things
he has published an elaborate investigation of the voyage of the
Zeni. A Danish expedition, under Lieut. Holm, will also be
sent to Greenland this year ; it will be away two years.
THE Russian Geographical Society announces the early publi-
cation of the following works which it has already received :—
A large work, by M. Mayeff, being a statistical and economical
description of the Khanate of Bokhara ; the report of M. Pola-
koff on his explorations in Sakhalin, with several maps, including
the eastern coat; and a work, by M. Adrianoff, on the anti-
quities of the Altay and Sayan, with numerous drawings. These
works will be published in the Afemoirs of the Society, but each
of them will appear separately, as soon as printed, without
awaiting the completion of a volume, as was formerly the case,
which caused great delay in the appearance of interesting
papers.
AT the last meeting of the Caucasian Geographical Society,
General Stebnitsky exhibited his new orographical map of Asia
Minor and adjacent countries. The map is based on measure-
ments of heights of about 1500 places. Dr. Radde made a
further communication on his great work, ‘‘ Ornis Caucasica,”
which is the result of his many years’ travels in the Caucasus,
and of the description of the collection of the Tiflis Museum,
which contains no less than 4000 specimens of birds.
M. PoLakorr, who was sent by the Academy of Sciences for
the exploration of Sakhalin Island and of the coasts of the
Pacific, spent last winter and spring at Taranka, in the Gulf of
Patience, and has returned to Korsakovo with rich scientific
collections. He will now begin the exploration of the coasts of
Russian Manchuria. One part of his report has already reached
the Geographical Society.
News has been received at the Paris Geographical Society
that the French had reached the banks of the Niger, Colonel
Desborde haying been obliged to cut his way through the Bele-
degou region. He fought a battle with the chief of Daba, after
having crossed a stream called Baoulé. The victory was won by
artillery, and the chief of Daba was killed, as well as a large
number of his followers.
THE Danish Ministry received on February 24 a despatch
from their representative in St. Petersburg, to the effect
that the Samoyedes sent out to look for the Dijmphna and
the Varna, had returned on January 6 to Liapine in the Obi
basin, and reported that ‘‘neither had they seen any vessel at
sea, nor heard of any shipwrecked crew.”
- = ‘
“March J 1883] ate
NATURE
425
In the last part of the Bud/etin of the Paris Geographical
Society for 1882, Dr. J. Montano describes his excursion into
the interior and along the coast of Mindanao; Commander
Gallieni gives a detailed narration of his mission to the Upper
Niger and Segou; M. Aymonier describes the result of his
excursion to Central Cambodia; a paper by the late Dr.
-Crevaux gives the leading results of his exploration of the Yary,
Paron, Ica, and Yapura ; and M, Dutreuil de Rhins has a paper
on the observations of the transits of Venus.
In the new number (102) of the Zestschrift of the Berlin Geo-
graphical Society we have the usual annual systematic list of
new works, papers, and maps in all departments of geography
published during the past year, a list indispensable to geo-
graphers, and which will be found useful by students of the
many departments of science related to geography. In the
Verhandlungen (No. 1, for 1883) Prof. Foerster has a paper on
the expeditions for the observation of the recent transit of Venus,
and Prof. Brauns a paper on the Island of Yezo. Interesting
news from the various German expeditions in Africa will be
found in Heft 4 of Band iii. of the A/ttthetlungen of the German
African Society, including a detailed account of Dr, Wissmann’s
journey across the continent, to which we referred last week.
There are four letters from Herr Flegel on the progress of his
Niger explorations, and several communications of great im-
portance from the party stationed at Gonda, in East Africa,
who are accumulating material of great value. They were
arranging for a visit to Lake Moero according to the latest
intelligence.
In a paper onthe Gulf Stream in the Bud/etin of the American
Geographical Society (No. ii. 1882), Commander Bartlett gives
some of the results of the examination of that current by the
party in the B/ake in the summer of 1881.
THE principal paper in the February number of the Bol/ettino
of the Italian Geographical Society is a narrative, with illustra-
tions, by Lieut. Bove, of his mission to South America,
THE OPENING OF THE FINSBURY
TECHNICAL COLLEGE
WE have already given in our issue of February 1 (p. 318) a
brief outline of the curriculum of study to be pursued at
the Finsbury Technical College, in our review of the programme
of instruction recently published. The new college was opened
on Monday, February 19, with an address by Mr. Philip Magnus,
the Principal of the College, and Director of the Institute. The
address was. delivered in the hall of the Cowper Street School,
none of the lecture-rooms of the new college being large enough
for the purpose. There were present about 1200 persons, chiefly
artisans. Sir Frederick Bramwell occupied the chair, and among
those on’the platform were Sir Sydney Waterlow, Dr. Siemens,
Professors Roscoe, Abel, Carey Foster, Adams, Ayrton, Hunt-
ington, Armstrong, and Perry, Dr, Gladstone, Mr. H. T.
Wood, Mr. J. G. Fitch, Mr. Swire Smith, Mr. Matthey, Mr.
Owen Roberts, Mr. John Watney.
Mr. Magnus commenced by indicating some of the incorrect
ideas still prevalent on the subject of technical education,
He considered that any definition ought to be expressed in
very wide terms, so as to be referable to the different
kinds of training to which the term technical education applies.
He himself proposed to call that education, training, or instruc-
tion technical which had a direct reference to the career of the
student who received it. Thus considered, technical education
was no-new thing, except in its reference to careers called into
existence by recent developments of science. It was because the
system of education to which we had been accustomed was no
longer the best preparation for actual work, and not because
no relation hitherto existed between the boy’s training and the
man’s career that such colleges were needed. The necessity of
technical education he attributed to the invention of the steam-
engine and the breaking-up of the apprenticeship system, and the
tide which was pushing it forward would not subside until it had
influenced the educational institutions of the country from the
primary scho2l to the university. The Council had been guided
by the desire to supplement, and not to duplicate, existing edu-
cational machinery. The college consisted really of a day
school for pupils entering between the ages of fourteen
and seventeen, and an evening school for apprentices, work-
men, &c. The former would give preparatory training
to students for practical work in the factory or engineer’s
shop, and the evening department was intended to help those
already at work to understand the principles underlying processes
they saw exemplified in their daily work. The college was
therefore a technical school of the third grade, and whilst the
majority of the pupils would complete within it their instruction,
some would proceed to the technical high school or central insti-
tution in course of erection at South Kensington. The college
might claim to represent a new grade of school. It was not an
institution in which any particular trade would be taught, except
it were some art industry, nor would it teach the excellence,
precision, and rapidity of execution which could only be acquired
in the workshop or factory, where, under the severe strain
of competition, salable goods were being manufactured.
Proceeding to indicate the course of instruction to be given,
Mr. Magnus explained that on entering the institution, the
student would generally declare whether he wished to be
trained as a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer,
or with a view to some branch of chemical industry, or
whether he wished to study applied art, and the subjects
would be taught with special reference to the career of the stu-
dent. The teacher would keep steadily in view the purpose to
which the student would apply his knowledge. The work would
be essentially practical, and more would be done in the labora-
tory than in the lecture-room, the lectures forming rather a com-
mentary on the practical work than the practical work an illuse
tration of the teaching of the lecture-room, The main purpose
was not to turn out scientists, but to explain to those preparing
for industrial work the principles that had a direct bearing on
their occupation, so that they might be able to trace back the |
principles they saw to their causes, and thus substitute scientific ~
method for mere rule of thumb. Of the four departments of
the College—electrical engineering, mechanical engineering,
chemistry, and applied art—that of electrical engineering pro-
mised to be the most attractive to students. But there was
an intimate connection between the different branches of
science not to be lost sight of in the training of a student in any
one department. In the course of his remarks on the evening
school and the curricula arranged for artisans engaged in various
industries, Mr. Magnus referred very pointedly to the narrow
view which adult workmen generally take of their own edu-
cational requirements. He impressed upon this class of students
the necessity of aequainting themselves with branches of industry
cognate to their own, and suggested that one of the objects of
technical education was to correct the cramping and narrowing
influences of extreme division of labour. He referred to a fact
told him by a medical friend, that a student refused to dissect the
abdominal cavity because, as a surgeon, he intended to occupy
himself exclusively with diseases of the eye, and stated that this
view of technical instruction needed to be strenuously resisted.
He also insisted very strongly upon the importance of artisan
students gaining a knowledge of the principles of science, as
helping them to deal with unexpected and exceptional cases of
difficulty certain to arise in their ordinary work. Mr, Magnus
referred at some length to the methods of teaching to be adopted
in the college, showing that there was no real opposition, as
sometimes stated, between technical instruction, properly under-
stood, and mental culture—that science might be so taught
as to yield mental discipline, and yet at the same time have
a direct reference to the career or occupation of the student.
Mr. Magnus further explained the exact position which the
Finsbury Technical College is intended to occupy in the Insti-
tute’s general scheme of technical education. He illustrated
this part of his address by a diagram showing the Bavarian
school system, which he said was pronounced by many educa-
tional authorities to be the best in Germany, and the technical
part of which was in many respects similar to the series of
schools which the Institute is engaged in establishing. Mr.
Magnus attached great importance to the Central Institution,
now being erected in South Kensington, as crowning the educa-
tional ladder which pupils from the primary schools should have
the opportunity of ascending, and as influencing, in the same
way as the Universities at present influence, the entire system of
education pursued in the series of schools leading up to them.
The speaker did not omit to refer to the Applied Art Depart-
ment which has recently been added to the College, and in
which the instruction he said would be specialised according te
the particular occupation of the student.
Magnus hoped the college would do much to wipe away the
reproach of the neglect of technical education under which the
country had hitherto lain compared with other countries. On
In conclusion Mr. ~
426
the motion of Dr. Siemens, seconded by Prof. Abel, Mr. Magnus
was thanked for his address. In seconding a vote of thanks to
the Chairman, Alderman Sir Sydney Waterlow said their success
was attributable to the generous aid of the Livery Companies,
and he appealed to them to render permanent those grants
hitherto given at their pleasure.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
The Fournal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol, xvii. Part 2,
January, 1883, contains :—On a method for the estimation of
urea in the blood, Part 1, by Dr. J. B. Haycraft.—On the
homologies of the long flexor-muscles of the feet of Mammalia,
with remarks on the value of their leading modifications in
classification, by Dr. G. E. Dobson (Plates 4-6).—On ob-
literative endarteritis and the inflammuitory changes in the
coats of the small vessels, by Dr. R. Saundby (Pl. 7).—The
presence of a tympanum in the genus Raia, by G. B. Howes
(Pl. 8).—The ligamentum teres, by J. B. Sutton (Pl. 8).—
Fibrinous coagula in the left ventricle, by Dr. A. M‘Aldowie
(Pl. 9).—A simple method of demonstrating the nerves of the
epiglottis ; the trachealis muscle of man and animals; the sulpho-
cyanides of ammonium and potassium as histological reagents,
by Dr. Wm. Stirling.—A new theory as to the functions of the
semicircular canals, by Dr. P. M‘Bride.—Some points on the
myology of the common pigeon, by W. A. Haswell, M.A.—The
action of saline cathartics, by Dr. M. Hay (Pl. 10).—Some
yariations in the bones of the human carpus ; a first dorsal ver-
tebra with a foramen at the root of the transverse process, by
Prof. W. Turner, M.B.—Multiple renal arteries, by Dr. Mac-
alister.—Division of the scaphoid bone of the carpus, with
notes on other varieties of the carpal bones, by Dr. R. J.
Anderson.
Fournal of the Royal Microscopical Society, December, 1882,
contains :—On some organisms found in the excrements of the
domestic goat and the goose, by Dr. R. L. Maddox (V1. 7).—
On a further improvement in the Groves- Williams ether-freezing
microtome, by J. W. Groves.—Summary of current researches
relating to zoology and botany (principally Invertebrata and
Cryp'ogamia), microscopy, &c., including original communica-
tions from Fellows and others.—The proceedings of the Society.
February, 1883, contains :—Observations on the anatomy of
the Oribatiiz, by Dr. A. D. Michel (plates 1 and 2).—On a
minute form of parasitical Protophyte, by G. F, Dowdeswell,
M.A.—On the use of incandescence lamps, as accessories to the
microscope, by H. C. Stearn, with figure—and the usual sum-
mary of current researches relating to botany and zoology.
Revue internationale des Sciences, December, 15, 1882, con-
tains :—On the Nofoures of New Guinea, by Elie Reclus.—On
movements and sensibility in plants (finis), by J. L. de Lanessan.
—Reviews.—Notices of learned Societies: the Academy of
Sciences, Paris ; the Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam.
January 15, 1883, contains :—On the localisation of the cere-
bral functions in the cerebral hemispheres in man and animals,
by Julius Nathan.—On the development of colours in flowers,
by H. Miiller.—On cell-division or cytodieresis, by L. F. Hen-
neguy.—On the vaginal stopper in rodents, by Dr. Lataste.—
On the adulterations in provisions in Paris, by M, Egasse.
Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Bd. 37, Heft 4,
December 22, 1882, contains :—On the Coelenterata of the
South Sea, No. 1.—On Cyanea aunaskala, nov. sp., by Dr. R.
y. Lendenfeld, of Melbourne (Plates 27 to 33; Pl. 27, a coloured
representation of the new species).—Contribution to the anatomy,
developmental history, and general biology of Trombidium
fulizinosum, Herm., by H. Henking (Plates 34-36).—On some
facts in the life-history of freshwater polyps, and on a new form
of Hydra viridis, by Wm. Marshall, of Leipsig (P]. 37).—Sup-
plementary remarks on Dino, hilus, by Dr. E. Korschelt.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, February 22.—‘‘ On the Effects of Tempe-
rature on the Electromotive Force and Resistance of Batteries,”
by W. H. Preece, F.R.S.
That heat has considerable influence on the condition of gal-
vanic elements is well known, and it has been investigated by De
la Rive, Faraday, Daniell, and many others. Some attribute
the result to increased chemical affinity, and others to increased
NATURE
[March 1, 1883
conductivity of the liquid, but no one has eliminated the effect
on electromotive force from that on internal resistance with the
view of expressing each in definite measurement. This the
author has done. Special apparatus was made, so as to vary
the temperature, and a very careful series of experiments were
made upon Daniell, Leclanché, and bichromate of potash cells,
measuring the electromotive force and resi:tance at each change
of temperature in rising and falling between o° and 100° C. The
results are tabulated and plotted out as diagrams.
The conclusions are (1) that the E.M.F. is not materially
affected by changes of temperature ; (2) that the internal resist-
ance is affected very materially according to a fixed law that’
apparently varies with every cell. A Daniell’s cell at 100°C.
has only one-third the resistance it his ato° C. Between 10°
and 20° C. it falls one half. Bichromate and Leclanché cells,
though much reduced, are not reduced to the same extent ; (3)
when a liquid is warmed up, its resistance at the same tempera-
ture in cooling is greater than when it was being warmed up,
and it takes a very long time (fifty hours) to recover its normal
condition.
Chemical Society, February 15.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in
the chair.—It was announced that a ballot for the election of
Fellows would take place at the next meeting (March 1).—The
following proposed changes in the list of officers were also
announced :—Prof, G. D, Liveing and Dr. A. Voelcker as
vice-presidents instead of Professors J. Dewar and A. V.
Harcourt ; Prof. Dittmar, Dr. W. R. E. Hodgkinson, Messrs.
P. D. Howard, and RK. Meldola as members of Council instead
of Dr. T. E. Thorpe, and Messrs. F, D. Brown, J. M. Thom-
son, and W. Thorp.—The following papers were read :—On
some derivatives of diphenylene ketone oxide, by A. G. Perkin.
During the preparation of this substance from salicylic acid and
acetic anhydride, a body was noticed which was separated out
as transparent, satiny plates containing 75°2 per cent. carbon,
and 4 per cent. hydrogen. The author has also investigated
the action of nitric acid, of bromine, and of sulphuric acid on
the above substance. —On a-ethyl yalerolacton, a-ethyl 8-methyl
valerolacton, and on a remarkable decomposition of B-ethyl
aceto-succinic ether, by S. Young.
Anthropological Institute, February 13.—Prof. W. H.
Flower, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. Colquhoun read
a paper on the aboriginal and other tribes of Yiinnan and the
Shan country. Mr, Colquhoun first dwelt upon the races of the
South China borderlands. Between Canton and Nan-ning (one
of the important towns on the Si-Kiang in Kwang-si), the
inhabitants met with were pure Chinese. West of that to the
Yiinnan frontier, a mixed population on the river and aboriginal
tribes in the interior were found. Throughout Yiinnan the
chief population consisted of Shans disguised under a great
variety of tribal names. Lo-lo and Miao-tzii aborigines were
met with, as well as Thibetans under the name of Kutsung.
On the west side of Yiinnan Mahomedans are numerous, pre-
sumably the remains of the armies of Ginghis Khan. The
costumes are most varied and picturesque, and the Shans and all
the aboriginal people were kind, frank, and hospitable, and in
these respects and in their feet being uncrushed offer a great
contrast to the Chinese. Besides the tribes met with, Mr.
Colquhoun pointed out that there were in the north and north-
west Yiinnan, as well as in Ssii-chuan, four divisions, namely
Li-ssit, Moro, Sifan, and Mantzt. A great similarity of lan-
guage exists between the Lo-lo, Li-sst, Sifan, and Burmese.
The large area over which the Shan population is distributed
was pointed out, and the habitat of the Karens and Lawas. The
paper was illustrated by part of a collection of admirable photo-
graphs and sketches made during Mr, Colquhoun’s late explora-
tion, exhibited by means of the oxhydrogen light. These form
a portion of the illustrations which will appear in Mr. Col-
quhoun’s forthcoming account of his late journey.
Geological Society, February 16th, Annual General Meeting.
—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., president, in the Chair.—The Sec-
retaries read the Reports of the Council and of the Litrary and
Museum Committee for the year 1882, The Council expressed
their regret that, owing probably to the same causes as last year,
they could announce no material advance in the prosperity of the
Society, a!though its financial position was well maintained, the
balance at the close of 1882 showing an increase over that of
the previous year, notwithstanding a large expenditure upon the
Quarterly Journal, The total number of Fellows was diminished by
one, but there was an increase of nine in the number of contributing
| March iy 1883]
NATURE
427
_ Fellows. The Council stated that Mr. Ormerod had furnished
a second Supplement to his Classified Index to the publications
of the Society, bringing that work down to the end of 1882. The
Council’s Report further announced the awards of the various
_ Medals and of the proceeds of the Donation Funds in the gift of
the Society.
_In presenting the Wollaston Gold Medal to Mr, W. T.
Blanford, F.R.S., F.G.S., the President addre sed him as follows :
“Mr. Blanford,—The Council has awarded you its highest dis-
tinction, the Woliaston Medal, in recognition of your services to
geology in Abyssinia, in Per-ia, and on the Geological Survey of
the Indian Empire. They are so well and so generally known
that it is not necessary for me to enlarge upon them here. Your
writings, which treat of a not inconsiderable portion of the
Eastern Hemisphere, comprise, in addition to geology, much in-
formation respecting zoology and the climates of the countries in
which you served. Stamped with thoroughness and comprehen-
siveness, they constitute important addivions to our knowledge of
those regions. In conferring upon you this distinction, the
Council of the Geological Society desires to mark its sense of
their great value.”
The President then handed the balance of the proceeds of the
Wollaston Donation Fund to Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., for
transmission to Prof. John Milne, F.G.S., of Tokio, Japan, andad-
dressed him as follows: “ Prof. Judd,—The Council, in bestowing
upon Mr, Milne the balance of the proceeds of the Wollaston
Fund, wishes to mark its appreciation of the importance of his
. investigations into the phenomena of earthquakes, to which he
has devoted so much time and attention during his residence in
Japan. In handing to you this cheque for transmission to him,
I would ask you to convey to him the hopes of the Council that
this award may assist him in continuing those inquiries in
Seismology which he has proved himself so well able to
undertake.”
In handing the Murchison Medal to Mr. Warington W. Smyth,
F.R.S., for transmission to Prof. Heinrich Robert Géppert,
F.M.G.S., of Breslau, the President said: “Mr. Warington
Smyth,—The Council of the Geological Society has awarded
one of its high distinctions, the Murchison Medal and a part of
the proceeds of the Murchison Fund, to Prof. H. R. Goppert of
reslau, one of our Foreign Members, in recognition of his
bours in fossil botany. The very large number of papers, 245,
recorded in the Scientific List of the Royal Society under Prof.
Goppert’s name, testifies to the zeal and success with which he
has cultivated this branch of biology during half a century. In
asking you to transmit to him this Medal, I would desire you to
express to him the high estimation in which this Society holds
his work.”
The President then handed to Prof. Morris, F.G.S., for trans-
mission to Mr. John Young, F.G.S., the balance of the proceeds
of the Murchison Donation Fund, and said : “ Professor Morris, —
The Council of the Geological Society, in awarding to Mr. John
Young, of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, the balance of the
proceeds of the Murchison Donation Fund, wishes to mark its
appreciation of the value of his long-continued researches on the
fossil polyzoa, especially those of the western part of Scotland,
_and of his investigations into the structure of the shells of the
Carboniferous Brachiopoda. In his absence, I have much
pore in placing the amount in your hands for transmission to
- him.
The President next presented the Lyell Medal to Dr. W. B.
Carpenter, F.R.S., and addressed him in the following words:
“‘Dr, Carpenter,—The Council of the Geological Society has
awarded to you the Lyell Medal with (in compliance with the
terms of the bequest) a portion of the proceeds of the Lyell Fund,
in recognition of the great value of your investigations into the
minute structure of invertebrate fossils and your deep-sea
researches. Your contributions ‘On the Structure and Affinities
of the Eozoon Canadense,’ ‘On the Microscopic Structure of
Nummulina, Orbitolites, and Orbitoides,’ published in our
Journal, your numerous papers on the intimate structure of
shells, communicated to the Royal Society, and others published
in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ your long-
continued work on Foraminifera, your communications on
Oceanic Circulation and on Abyssal Life-forms, all testify to a
life-long devotion to branches of natural knowledge bearing on
that department of science, the cultivation of which is the raison
@ ttre of this Society. I count it a pleasure, Dr. Carpenter, that
it has devolved upon me to hand you this Medal. ”
In presenting one moiety of balance of the Lyell Donation
Fund to Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter, the President addressed him
as follows: ‘‘Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter,—The Council of the
Geological Society, in awarding to youa portion of the balance
of the proceeds of the Lyell Donation Fund, desires to express
its sense of the great value of your researches into the structure
and relationship of several families of fossil Echinodermata.
Your papers ‘On some little-known Jurassic Crinoids,’ ‘On
the Cretaceous Comatulz,’ ‘On the Crinoids from the Upper
Chalk,’ and that read last session, ‘On Hybocrinus, Baerocrinus,
and Hybocystites,’ are models of clearness and an excellent
earnest of future work. The Council hopes that this award may
aid you in continuing those lines of research in which you have
already achieved signal success.”
The President then handed the second moiety of the balance
of the Lyell Donation Fund to Prof, Seeley, F.R.S., for trans-
mission to M. E. Rigaux of Boulogne, and said: *‘ Professor
Seeley,—In conferring upon M. Rigaux a portion of the balance
of the proceeds of the Lyell Donation Fund, the Council of the
Geological Society desires to signify its estimation of the value it
places on his researches in the Jurassic formations of the
Boulonnais and their contained fossils. In asking you to trans-
mit tohim this cheque, I would desire you to convey to him with
it our hopes that he may continue those lines of inquiry in
prosecuting which he has attained so great success.”
The President finally presented the Bigsby Gold Medal to Dr.
Henry Hicks, F.G.S., and addressed him in the following
words: ‘*Dr. Hicks,—The Council, in conferring on you the
Bigsby Medal as a mark of their appreciation of your labours
amongst the oldest fossiliferous and the Archzean rocks of Great
Britain and Ireland, feels, in your community of interests, a
peculiar fitness in associating you with the memory of the founder
of this distinction. Your numerous communications, beginning
with one ‘On the genus Axofolenus,’ written in 1865, and
culminating in that which you read at our last meeting, show to
what good purpose you have employed the hore subsecive of a
busy professional life in prosecuting those researches which have
had a distinct effect on geological thought. In handing to you
this Medal, I would express the wish that you will continue to
prosecute the line of inquiry to which you have so long and so
successfully devoted your leisure hours.”
The President then read his Anniversary Address, in which he
passed in review the work done by the Geological Society during
the past year, and discussed at considerable length a question
arising out of this review, namely, the structural characters pre-
sented by the sternal framework and the limbs of Enaliosaurians,
and the classificational value which they possess. He also referred
to the discoveries which have been lately made in America of
numerous remains of Pterosaurians, often of eigantic size ;
adverted to the proceedings of the International Geological
Congress, held in 1881, at Bologna, and noticed, as one
gratifying result of the latter, the establishment of an Italian
Geological Society.
The ballot for the Council and Officers was taken, and
the following were duly elected for the ensuing year :—
President: J. W. Hulke, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Prof.
P. M. Duncan, F.R.S.; R. Etheridge, F.R.S.; J. Gwyn
Jeffreys, F.R.S.; Prof. J. Prestwich, F.R.S. Secretaries:
Prof, T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.; Prof. J. W. Judd, .&.S. Foreign
Secretary : Warington W. Smyth, F.R.S. Treasurer: Prof. T.
Wiltshire, F.L.S. Council: H. Bauerman; W. 7. Blandford,
F.R.S.; Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.; W. Carruthers, F.R.S. ;
Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S.; R. Etheridge, P.R.S. ; John
Evans, F.R.S.; A. Geikie, F.R.S.; Rev. Edwin Hill, M.A, ;
G. J. Hinde, Ph.D. ; Prof. T. M‘Kenny Hughes, M.A. ; J. W.
Hulke, F.R.S. ; J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S.; Prof. T. Rupert
Jones, F.R.S.; Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S.; 5S. R. Pattison ;
J. A. Phillips, F.R.S.; Prof. J. Prestwich, F.R.S.; F. W.
Rudler ; Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S.; Warington W. Smyth,
F.R.S.; W. Topley ; Prof. T. Wiltshire, F.1.5.
Physical Society, February 10.—Prof, Fuller in the chair.
— Annual general meeting.—New officers electe: the year :—
President : Prof. R. B. Clifton, M.A., F.R.S. Vic esidents: Sir
W. Thomson, Prof. G. C. Foster, F.R.S., Dr, ‘!. Hopkinson,
F.R.S., Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., Prof. W. C. berts, F.R.S.
Secretaries: Prof. A. W. Reinold, M.A., M Valter Baily,
M.A, Treasurer: Dr. E. Atkinson. Demonstrator: Prof, F.
Guthrie, F.R.S. Other Members of Council: Prof. W. G.
Adams, M.A., F.R.S., Prof. W. E. Ayrt F.R.S., Mr.
Shellford Bidwell, M.A., LL.B., Mr. W. H. M. Chuistie, M.A.,
428
NATURE
| March 1, 1883
F.R.S., Prof. F. Fuller, M.A., Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, M.A.,
F.R.S., Mr. R. J. Lecky, F.R.A.S., Prof. O, J. Lodge, D.Sc.,
Mr. Hugo Miiller, Ph.D., F.R-S., Prof. J. Perry. New
Member: Prof. Blyth of Anderson College, Glasgow.—Prof.
Sylvanus P. Thomson explained his new graphical method of
showing Jacobi’s law of maximum rate of working, and Siemens’s
law of efficiency for dynamo-electric machines. This has been
fully explained in the Phz/osophical Magazine and in the Cantor
lectures on Dynamo electric Machinery, delivered by Prof.
Thomson. Prof. W. G. Adams pointed out ‘the advantages of
a graphic system of the kind.
The Institution of Civil Engineers.—February 20, Mr.
Brunlees, president, in the chair. The paper read was on
** Covered Service-Reservoirs,” by Mr. William Morris, M. Inst.
C.E. (of Deptford).
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, February 5.—Prof. Jenkin, F.R.S., vice-
president, in the chair.—Emeritus Professor Blackie, ina paper on
scientific method in the study of language, maintained that the
true way to learn a foreign Janguage was to learn it in the way a
child learns its native language—conversationally ; and that this
method should be adopted for the teaching of the dead lan-
guages as well as for modern ones. Simple sentences express-
ing facts with which the pupil is in direct contact, the grammati-
cal rule for construction being given after the construction is
practically mastered by repetition, should lead by insensible
gradations to more complicated sentences and ideas. The paper
finished with some characteristic remarks about quantity and
accent in Latin and Greek, which called forth criticism from
Prof. Butcher and Mr. Marshall, Rector of the High School.—
Prof. Tait, in a short note on the mirage problem, mentioned
that he had come across a paper in Gorgonne’s Azmna/en criti-
cising Biot’s great paper upon the subject. Thinking that pos-
sibly he might have been forestalled in some of his theorems,
he had looked into the paper, the author of which, however, in
attacking Biot, had given a construction which, if applied to the
case of ordinary desert-mirage, would give a direct instead of
an inverted image. Mr. Sang, in his criticisms on the paper,
maintained that such mirage as was said to have been observed
by Vince was impossible.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, February 19.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—Observations of
small planets, made with the large meridian instrument of the
Paris Observatory, during the fourth quarter of 1882, by M.
Mouchez.—Results of experiments made in the workshops of
the Chemin de fer du Nord, on M. Deprez’s electric transport of
work to a great distance, by M. Tresca (See p. 399).—Note on
the theorem of Legendre cited in a note inserted in Comptes
vendus, by Prof. Sylvester.—Report on a memoir of M. Rosen-
stiehl, entitled ‘‘ Researches on the Colouring-matters of Mad-
der,” by M. Wurtz. JZzter alia, M. Rosenstieh] has found a
new mode of formation of purpurine (decomposition of pseudo-
purpurine by heating with alcohol at 40°), and his discovery of
the composition of pseudopurpurine (which is really a trioxy-
carboxyl-anthraquinone) throws much light on several facts that
were obscure. Madder contains only three glucosides, giving
respectively. pseudopurpurine, carboxyl-alizaric acid, and mun-
jistine, or carboxyl-xanthopurpuric acid.—M. Hospitalier pre-
sented a note on the influence of the mode of coupling of
dynamo-electric machines in experiments on transport of
force to a distance.—Observations of the new planet (232)
Palisa, made at the Paris Observatory, by M. Bigourdan, —Ob-
servations of the great comet 4 1882, made with the Brunner
equatorial of Toulouse Observatory, by M. Baillaud.—On a
curious modification of the nucleus of the great comet, by M. de
Oliveira Lacaille. On the evening of January 8 the nucleus was
seen to be much elongated and subdivided into four small nebu-
losities in a line, with centres like stars of the 12th magnitude.
At 9.30 a.m, next day there was a change in the relative position :
the first nebulosity being more separated, and the second having
taken its place, &c.——On the observation of the transit of Venus
of 1882 at the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California,
by Mr. Todd. He got 147 photographs, of which 125 are well
fitted for micrometric measurement.—On the uniform functions
of a variable connected by an algebraic relation, by M. Picard.—
On the relations between co-variants, &c. (continued), by M.
Perrin.—On the functions of several imaginary variables (con-
tinued), by M. Combeseure.—On a question of diyisibility, by
M, de Polignac.—On the equilibrium of the elastic cylinder, by
M. Schiff.—On crystals observed in the interior of a bar of
cemented Swedish iron, by M. Stoltzer. These crystals of steel
are not regular octahedra like those of pig-iron and iron.—On
the immediate analysis of pozzuolanas, and on a rapid process
for testing their hydraulic properties, by M. Landrin. The
rapid process is attack with hydrochloric acid, and trial of the
insolubles with lime-water. There is no possible comparison
between the action of pozzuolanas and of their insolubles on
lime-water.—On sulphocyanopropionine, by MM. Tcherniac
and Norton.—On allotropic arsenic, by M. Engel. When
arsenic is isolated by the wet or dry way under about 360’, it is
amorphous, dark grey, brown, or black, and unalterable in
moist air ; and its density is between 4°6 and 4°7. Heated to-
360°, it changes into arsenic with a density of 5°7,—the steel-
grey arsenic of laboratories, which crystallises when formed
from condensation of arsenic vapour about 360° or more.—On
benzoyl-mesitylene, by M. Louise.—Researches on mesitylene,
by M. Robinet.—Toxical power of quinine and of cinchonine,
by M. Bochefontaine. The former has more active physio-
logical properties than the latter. Both are convulsive, cin-
chonine more than quinine, and quinine is distinguished by its
yomitive effects and depressing action on the central nervous
system.—On the value of intercrossing of the movements of
cerebral origin, by M. Couty. This intercrossing is not con-
stant, and has not the value that has been attributed to it.—
Vision of ultra-violet radiations, by M. de Chardonnet. The
spectrum of the crystalline lens corresponds exactly to that
ot the visible spectrum, From observations of persons with
the lens removed, the author concludes that the retina is
sensitive to ultra-violet radiations that come to it (as well
as visible radiations), at least to about the line S. Thus
the crystalline lens alone limits the visible spectrum. The
absorption of the long ultra-solar spectrum of the elec-
tric arc probably fatigues the eye.—Researches on the pro-
duction of monstrosities by shocks imparted to hens’ eggs,
by M. Dareste. He produced tremors, and so monstrosities,
by means of a beating apparatus used by chocolate-makers.—On
the generation of cells of renewal of the epidermis and of epi-
thelial products, by M. Retterer.—On M. Merejkowski’s Sucto-
ciliates (second note), by M. Maupas.—On the structure of
simple subterranean branches of adult Psilotum, by M. Bertrand.
—On the conservation of solar energy, by M. Duponchel. He
infers from peculiar circumstances of our epoch that the sun-spot
period which has varied in the neighbourhood of ten years for 130
years, will;be extended to fourteen for the present and the two fol-
lowing periods. The first maximum will be in 1885.—Imitation of
diffraction-spectra by dispersion, by M. Zenger.—The second
part of M. Griiner’s geological description of the coal basin of
the Loire was presented (with analysis) by M. Daubrée.
CONTENTS Pace
RecEnT ARMOUR-PLATE EXPERIMENTS . . « + = « 405
Smoke ABATEMENT. By Dr. E. FRANKLAND, F R.S. 407
Nortu African Erunotocy. By A. H. Keane . - . 408
Our Book SHELF:—
‘*The Electric Lighting Act, 1882". . ... . 410
LxeTrers To THE Epiror:—
Ben Nevis Observatory.— Davin MitnE HomME. . «~~ ~~ 418
Indian Archegosaurus.—RicHarD LYDEKKER . . . . . «|. 412
A. W. AupDEN;
The ‘ Vampire Bat.’’—THos. WorKMAN ;
GrorGce J. RoMANEs, F-RiS. .. 2 ~ - - ws ws GS 41
Hovering (? Poising) of Birds.—Dr. Huserr Airy; Rev. W.
CreweENnDIRyiite oh ae a. thee a fete ea
The Auroral ‘* Meteoric Phenomena’’ of November 17, 1882 —
T. W. BackxousE; ALFRED Batson A See a
Aurora. PSB MB res VS SS is oe ee le, Ce ee
Divrna VARIATION OF THE VELOCITY OF THE WIND ON THE OPEN
SEA, AND NEAR AND ON LAND. By ALEXANDER BucHan (l/h ith
Diagram) ioe ae ee ed pee, et ine a) SS
EPHEMERIS OF THE GREAT Comet, 41882. By Prof. E. Frispy . 415
ILLusTRATIONS OF NEW OR RarE ANIMALS IN THE ZOOLOGICAL
Sociery’s Livinc Cotnection, XI... 2. « » = (4) % - &) = S4ES
Tue Evectric LIGHT ar THE Savoy THEATRE. . . - - -.- ~ 418
On THE NaTuRE OF INHIBITION, AND TH® ACTION OF DRUGS UPON
iT. By Dr. T. Lauper Brunton, F.R.S. (With Diagrams) 419
Nores sagen epee ee SR Ae On ES 422
Our AsTRONOMICAL CoLUMN?—
Ceraski’s Variable Star, U Cephei_ - é 424
The Total Solar Eclipse of 1901, May 17 . 424
The Variable Star, S Virginis saa 424
The Binary Star, ¢ Cancni 424
GEoGRAPHICAL NOTES . . . + - = + =] 424
Tue OPENING OF THE Fin Bury TECHNICAL COLLEGE 425
ScrenTiric SERIALS. . - . + «= SS ddl eee Oma 426
SocimTrEs AND ACADEMIES .- 426
NAPORL:
429
THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1883 :
THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS
Origine des Plantes cultivées. Par Alph. de Candolle
(Paris: Germer, Bailliére et Cie., 1883.)
Les Plantes potagéres, Description et Culture des principaux
Légumes des Climats tempérés. Par Vilmorin-Andrieux
et Cie. (Paris: Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie., 1883.)
LPHONSE DE CANDOLLE occupies a position
in the botanical world which in its way is unique.
He is ina manner the doyew amongst the heads of the
botanical establishments of different countries which have
for their especial object the study of the earth’s vegeta-
tion in its taxonomic aspect. There is a special appro-
priateness in his being so; the Geneva botanical school,
though in filiation related to the French, has always
seemed to belong more to Europe than to Switzerland.
The effect of this circumstance has doubtless operated
indirectly on a mind naturally inclined to wide and general
views. Accordingly as the invaluable ‘ Prodromus ”— the
only modern work which has attempted to describe all
known species of flowering plants—drew near the point
at which it was decided to conclude it after occupying
two generations of botanists, we find De Candolle himself
more and more engaged with works dealing with general
questions—works which both temperament and point of
view peculiarly fitted him to undertake. Such were his
“ Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis deux
Siécles,” published in 1873, and his “ Phytographie; ou,
L’Art de décrire les Végétaux,’’ published more recently
(1880).
Long ago however, in 1855, he had published his classical
“ Géographie botanique raisonnée,’’ and in this he had
stated the theory, sufficiently novel then, though now a
commonplace, that the present distribution of the earth’s
flora cannot be accounted for by any possibility as the
result of the existing configuration of its surface, but is
the gradual result of long antecedent geological changes.
De Candolle’s conclusions are now seen to form a par-
ticular case in the general theory of evolution. But we
must not forget that they were the independent result of
a long and laborious induction.
The study of geographical distribution requires the
elimination from the facts of all disturbing elements. It
is necessary to ascertain the precise nature of the flora
of any given district undisturbed by artificial modifica-
tions. The slow action of natural forces is one thing:
the changes brought about by man are another. De
Candolle was therefore obliged to devote no small atten-
tion to the question of introduced and cultivated plants, |
They must clearly be eliminated from the enumeration of
feral productions. But the question then arises, What is
to be done with them, and to the flora of what country |
are they to be relegated? The result is not merely one
of disembarrassment to the botanist; it has its interest no >
less for anthropology in the widest sense. Different races
have taken advantage of plants susceptible of cultivation
cultures with them. If the botanist then does his work
properly in tracking them back to their original cradle, he
VoL. Xxvil.—No. 697
is tracking bac< the migratory race as well, and doing
the work of the anthropologist. Plants often take their
old names with them, and these may and frequently have
persisted when the race that brought them has passed
away, been dispersed, or changed its language. All the
various names, for example, given to hemp by the
descendants of the Aryan race go back to the same root.
These considerations will be sufficient:to establish the
utility of the study which De Candolle has had in hand
for some thirty years, and with regard to which he has
now given us, in a singularly succinct form, probably as
much as we are ever likely to know. Hitherto we have
been badly off for a handy synopsis of the subject. It is
true we have the chapter in De Candolle’s work already
referred to, and Mr. Darwin brought together a con-
siderable body of information in his “ Variation of Animals
and Plants under Domestication.” The former book has,.
however, long been out of print, and Mr. Darwin’s purpose
only led him to deal with those species which have largely
varied under cultivation. For my own part I have gene-
rally used for reference the two admirable articles in the
ninth volume of the /owrnal of the Horticultural Society—
a body which unhappily, while taking the title of Royal
seems to have lost its taste for such studies. These
articles—in form a review of a little work by Targioni-
Tozzetti, of which I have never seen but a single copy—
are really an extremely useful examination of the whole
subject ; and as it is an open secret that they are from
the pen of Mr. Bentham, the critical opinions they contain
as to the origin of all our more important cultivated.
plants may be relied upon with considerable confidence.
“ An English vegetable garden,’ says Mr. Tylor, “is a
curious study for the botanist, who assigns to each plant
its proper home; and to the philologist, who traces
its name.’? But De Candolle, not confining himself to
our temperate pot-herbs, has included in his studies
the cultivated plants of all countries. Accurate know-
| ledge in this matter is a thing of comparatively recent
growth. Linnzeus bestowed no pains upon it. Humboldt
in 1807 dismissed it as an impenetrable secret. De
Candolle has now discussed no less than 247 species. It
is curious—perhaps significant—to note that 199 of these
trace back to the Old World ; only 45 are American, and
3 doubtful. Neither the tropical nor the southern regions
of either hemisphere have any of these species in common.
The northern have five which are so, but it goes with the
rest of the facts that the domestication of these belongs
to the Old World, and to this De Candolle has accord-
ingly credited them. Some things no doubt have escaped
him, although the list is remarkably complete. Perhaps
the most curious omission is rhubarb, the use of which
for the table seems pretty much confined to England and
Holland.
It is rather to be regretted that De Candolle has aban-
doned the attempt to indicate the points on the earth’s
surface from which the maximum number of cultivated
plants appear to have sprung. He contents himself with
saying that the original distribution of the stocks of culti-
vated plants is most irregular. “It had no relation with
in the places where nature had originally planted them ; | the needs of man supplied nor with the area of origin.”
and as these races have migrated they have taken their | I have a decided suspicion that the facts might be made
to yield a different result.
There does not seem any
a priori reason why plants susceptible of useful develop-
U
430
NAT ORL
|-Warch 8, 1883
ment under cultivation should be so arbitrarily distri-
buted. The number of species domesticated in a given
area would, other things being equal, seem to be related
to the intelligence of the races working on them. North
America has only given us the vegetable marrow and the
Jerusalem artichoke ; and neither deserve more than a
succes d’estime. But our best domesticated plants have
developed their merits Aarz passu with the races that
educated them. If we stumbled zow against the primitive
stocks they might seem as little susceptible of develop-
ment as the plants of the United States, whose capabilities
we rank so low. But had the Old World races been but
early enough on the New World soil to work out their
progress to civilisation, possibly the balance in the pro-
portion of domesticated plants would have been redressed.
If the gardens of the United States are filled with Old
World vegetables, the houses are inhabited by an Old
World stock. The two things seem to me to go together;
the indigenous races could neither develop their latent
vegetables nor hold their own against an Old World
human invasion.
The circumstances of domestication, however, impose
certain conditions which the flora drawn upon must fulfil
The early stages of civilisation were probably unsuited to
any fixity of abode. Tylor, it is true, remarks that “even
very rude people mostly plant a little.’ But they will
plant only what will give a quick return, and the qualities
of foresight as well as a permanent social structure must
be developed before men would have the disposition to
plant fruit trees, which perhaps only their descendants
would gather from. The first domesticated plants
must have been those that were in themselves suc-
culent, or would in the course of a single season yieid
some desired product. We find then that out of the
44 species, the cultivation of which in the Old World
goes back to the dawn of civilisation, half are annuals ;
and these are just what the great temperate flora of
the northern hemisphere would supply. On the other
hand, Patagonia and South Africa have not yielded a
single domesticated plant. Australia only contributes
the overrated Eucalyptus globulus, and New Zealand a
wretched spinach (Ze¢ragonia). But then, as De Can-
dolle remarks, their floras are destitute of the types of
Graminee, Leguminose, and Crucifere, which were avail-
able in the northern hemisphere, and predominate in the
list of the 44 most anciently cultivated plants. As between
the north and the south I think this argument is valid.
But as between the east and the west in the north hemi-
sphere, since the main features of the flora are radically
the same, any similar explanation does not hold.
With regard to such of these primitive cultures as
belong to the temperate regions of the Old World, it will
be interesting to give De Candolle’s conclusions. The
turnip and rapeseed (not however sustainable as distinct
species) originated in Northern Europe. The cabbage
was derived from the western coasts of Europe, where its
wild stock may still be found ; it was first gathered and
then cultivated by pre-Aryan races. Purslane is wild
from the Wesiern Himalayas to Greece. The onion was
brought from Western Asia. As to textiles, the origin of
flax is somewhat complicated. The inhabitants of the
Swiss lake-dwellings of the Stone Age did not use our
present annual flax but a subperennial sort indigenous to
Southern Europe (Zizum angustifolium). This was dis-
placed by Linum wusitatissimum, a native of countries
south of the Caspian, which was introduced into Europe
and India by Aryan races. The knowledge of hemp
seems to have been brought into Europe by the Scythians
about 1500 B.C. ; there is no trace of it in the Swiss lake-
dwellings. The vine is indigenous in Western Asia,
whence its use was carried to various countries by both
Aryan and Semitic races ; but it did not reach China
before 122 B.C.
The almond, although so characteristic of Mediter-
ranean countries, seems to be a native of Western Asia,
and perhaps Greece. As late as the time of Pliny the
fruits were known to the Romans as Wuces grece. The
wild stocks of our pears and apples seem to have been
indigenous to Southern Europe and Western Asia before
the Aryan invasion ; their remains abound in the Swiss
lake-dwellings. The quince is a native of North Persia,
but seems to have been introduced into Eastern Europe
in pre-Hellenic times. Remains of a form of the pome-
granate have been found in strata of the Pleiocene age in
Southern France by Saporta; but it died out and was
reintroduced from countries adjoining Persia in prehis-
toric times into the Mediterranean region of which it is
now so characteristic a feature. The primitive home of
the olive was apparently the eastern shores of the Medi-
terranean, where the Greeks discovered its useful qualities
the Romans learning them later. The fig has left its
remains in quaternary rocks in France along with the
teeth of Elephas primigenius, but its prehistoric home
must be sought in the Southern Mediterranean shores
and lands, where it survived after probably perishing in
France. The common bean (/aéda vulgaris) seems to
have become extinct in a wild state; it may have
originated south of the Caspian, and was introduced into
Europe by the Aryans. The remains of lentils have been
found in lake-dwellings of the Bronze Age, and it was
probably indigenous in Western Asia, Greece, and Italy
before its cultivation in these countries ; subsequently it
was introduced into Egypt. The chick-pea was carried
from the south of the Caucasus by the Aryans to India
and Europe. The carob is indigenous to the Eastern
Mediterranean, whence the Greeks introduced it into
Italy and the Arabs into Western Europe. De Candolle
regards all the various kinds of wheat as derivatives of
the small-grained kind found in the most ancient lake-
dwellings of Western Switzerland. He inclines to the
belief that the wild stock of this originated in Mesopo-
tamia, where it may still exist. The origin of spelt is
very doubtful, and it may possibly be an ancient culti-
vated derivative from the wheat stock. As to barley, the
inhabitants of the Swiss lake-dwellings cultivated both
the two-rowed and the six-rowed kinds. The former is
found spontaneously in the area between the Red Sea
and the Caspian; but nothing is known of the spontaneous
occurrence of the latter or of the four-rowed kind. Either
then both were derivatives in prehistoric times of the
two-rowed variety, or they are the cultivated representa-
tives of species which have since become extinct. As to
rye, probability points to an origin in South-Eastern
Europe. The lake-dwellers even of the age of Bronze
did not know it, but Pliny mentions its cultivation near
Turin. De Candolle supposes that the Aryan migrations
March 8, 1883]
NATURE
431
westward met with it in Europe and carried it onward.
Cats seem also to have originated in Eastern Europe ;
they are found not earlier than the Bronze Age in Switzer-
land. From Pliny’s mention that the Germans used oat-
meal, it is concluded that it was not cultivated by the
Romans.
Space will not allow of my giving an idea of the method
by which these results are arrived at. But they seem to
me to take advantage of every line of evidence and to be
as near the truth as we are at present likely to approach.
De Candolle sums up with great pains the philological
evidence which he has collected from the best quarters,
and though, as he is prepared to admit, a professed philo-
logist might handle the evidence in a different way, he
claims that the inferences he draws are such as are fairly
within the competence of instructed common sense. And
controlled as they are by other lines of inquiry they do
not seem to me to be pushed toa point where, except in
the hands of an expert, they would be likely to prove
treacherous. It is obvious that the philological evidence
alone might make the most careful go astray. The two
instances given by Tylor are, ina way, a case in point.
“ Sometimes,” he remarks, “ this (the name) tells its story
fairly, as where damson and peach describe these fruits
as brought from Damascus and Persia.” This is true
perhaps as far as it goes. The cultivated plums of Damascus
had a reputation in the time of Pliny ; but the wild stock
does not extend to the Lebanon, and its home was probably
far tothe northin Anatolia and Northern Persia. As tothe
peach, De Candolle points out that its having no Sanscrit
or Hebrew name is against an origin in Western Asia,
and he gives a considerable body of evidence pointing to
China as its true native country.
It is in fact the indirect evidence given by such names
through their origin and history which is of use, not the
actual information they imply. The Jerusalem artichoke
is a well-known instance. As De Candolle says, it is not
an artichoke, and being a North American plant can have
nothing to do with the Holy Land. The plant is techni-
cally a sun-flower (He/¢anthus), though in our climate it
rarely betrays its affinity by flowering. And the ordinary
explanation is that Jerusalem is a corruption of Gzvaso/e.
But this seems to be a wanton piece of euhemerism ;
there is no evidence that the Italians ever used such a
name for it, and the real explanation seems to be that
Jerusalem was applied in a vague way, like Indian or
Welsh, simply to indicate a foreign origin. Thus an old-
fashioned garden plant (PA/omzs fruticosa) is called sage
of Jerusalem with about as little reason. And in France
the term Jerusalem artichoke is applied to a species of
gourd.
The second work which I have cited at the head of this
article deserves a more extended notice than it is possible
to give it. It is safe to say that only in France could
such a book be produced, either as regards the share of
authors or publishers. It isa sort of complement to De
Candolle’s treatise, describing, from the cultural point of
view (but with botanical references apparently carefully
accurate), the various esculent vegetables which are
known, with all their typical varieties, including even
such sorts as are rarely seen in the gardens of cool
countries. It is a book which any botanist will find a
trations, which contrast so strikingly with the coarse
ostentation of the ordinary trade catalogue.
Weel ek)
OUR BOOK SHELF
Useful Rules and Tables relating to Mensuration, En-
gineering, Structures, and Materials. By William
John Macquorn Rankine, C.E., F.R.S., &c. Sixth
Edition, thoroughly Revised by W. J. Millar, C.E.
With Appendix, Tables, Tests, and Formule for the
use of Electrical Engineers, by Andrew Jamieson,
C.E., F.R.S.E. (London: Charles Griffin and Co.,
1883.)
WE learn from the title-page of this edition of
Rankine’s well-known book of Rules and Tables that
it has been thoroughly revised, but we are sorry to find so
little evidence of this in the work itself. Many of the
rules given in this book are only applicable in particular
cases, and generally no explanation as to this is given.
Take for example Rule XXV., p. 211, which gives the
9672000 X thickness?
length X diameter
This rule is evidently based on Fairbairn’s experiments,
which were made on tubes with closed ends and of
lengths in no case exceeding ten times the diameter. The
rule as it stands is simply absurd, for it gives zero col-
lapsing pressure for infinite length. The addendum to
Part II. p. 367, referring to springs, may be taken as
another example. Straight springs cannot be treated by
the formulze given for beams unless they are only slightly
bent, and again, the ratio of the force to the elongation
produced by it ina spiral spring is that given by the formula
only when the spires have small inclination to a plane
at right angles to the axis. This formula is not even
accurate, as the 7 in the denominator should be 77. Some
estimate of the care bestowed on the work by the editor
may be gathered from the following slovenly sentences
taken from p. 374:—‘‘From experiments by Major
Morant, R.E., India, it appears that only one-half the
quantity of dynamite and one-third the number of bore-
holes is required to remove the same quantity of rock as
gunpowder.” “The area of the fire-grate being about
145 square feet.”
The Appendix on Tables, Tests, and Formule, for the
use of electrical engineers, is a real addition to the book.
Beginning with a table of the “ Formule of the Absolute
Units,” Mr. Jamieson goes on to the definition of the
different practical units now in use; and then gives a
large amount of useful information in the form of tables
and rules for making electrical tests. Much of the infor-
mation here given is published for the first time, and on
this account will be the more valuable to engineers.
Cable work has received special attention, and although
not fully treated, absorbs, we think, more than its due share
of the sixty-four pages devoted to the appendix. The space
taken up by some of the less useful tables might, it seems
to us, have been saved, and a fuller treatment of the
different methods of testing electromotive force, battery-
and other resistances, &c., given. Mr. Jamieson gives
only a few rules for such tests, and refers to other books
for more, but we think that a book of rvles should be full
if it be anything. In order to measure the resistance of
thick wire, Mr. Jamieson suggests that a piece of it may
be drawn down to a fine gauge, and then tested in the
Wheatstone bridge. This is neither convenient nor satis-
factory, and should be replaced by one of the well-known
methods of testing such wires. Again on page 361, Mr.
Jamieson proposes to measure the work done in charging
a secondary battery by joining up a suitable voltameter
as a shunt to it. This method is worse than useless.
Although we should like to see an absence of such
collapsing pressure of tubes as
useful addition to his library, if only for the delicate illus- | faults as the above, and considerably more space devoted
432
NATURE
a ae
| March 8, 1883
to the subject of general laboratory and engineering work,
Mr. Jamieson has made good use of the space at his
disposal, and we have much pleasure in recommending
his appendix as likely to prove exceedingly useful to
electricians.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opintons expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications,
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|
Mr. Stevenson’s Observations on the Increase of the
Velocity of the Wind with the Altitude
A HEAVY pressure of professional work has prevented me till
now from noticing Mr, Archibald’s remarks on my paper on
simultaneous observations of the wind at different elevations.
I fear I have not been sufficiently explicit as to the object of
my observations. All of them have reference strictly to the
retarding influence of the friction caused by the earth’s surface,
and are not so much of a meteorologic as an engineering character.
This I thought would have been understood from my statement
that I believed they were approximately correct ‘‘for practical
purposes.” The formule are intended to be applicable only to
heights within the limits of my observations, and the idea of
applying them to the higher regions of the atmosphere, such as
from 3800 to 23,000 feet above the earth, never for one moment
crossed my mind, and I think the following facts observed by
Mr. Glaisher in his balloon ascents prove the futility of attempt-
ng to deduce from experiments made near the surface of the
earth what the velocity of the wind may be at such great
elevations.
“Tn almost all the ascents the balloon was under the influence
of currents of air in different directions.” ‘* The direction of
the wind on the earth was sometimes that of the whole mass of
air up to 20,000 feet, whilst at other times the direction changed
within 500 feet of the earth. Sometimes directly opposite
currents were met with at different heights in the same ascent,
and three or four streams of air were encountered moving in
different directions.”
“On January 12, 1862, the balloon left Woolwich at 2h. 8m.
p-m., and descended at Lakenheath, seventy miles distant, at
4h. 19m. p.m. At Greenwich Observatory, by Robinson’s ane-
mometer, during this time the motion of air was six miles only.”
On June 26. 1863, ‘‘at go90 feet the sighing and moaning of
the wind were heard, and Mr. Glaisher satisfied himself that this
was due, not to the cordage of the balloon, but to opposing
currents.’’ On the descent, ‘‘a fall of rain was passed through,
and then Je/ow it a snow-storm, the flakes being entirely com-
posed of spiculze of ice and innumerable snow crystals.”
On July, 1862, the temperature of the air at starting was 59°
Fahr., at 4000, 45°, at 10,000, 26°, at 13,000, 26°, at 15,500,
31°, at 19,500, 42°, at 26,000, 16°. On descending, it was found
to be 37°°8 at 10,000, while on the ascent at the same height,
it was only 26°.
Mr. Buchan states -(article ‘‘ Atmosphere,” ‘‘ Ency. Britt.,”
gth edition): ‘* observations of the winds cannot be conducted,
and the results discussed, on the supposition that the general
movement of the winds felt on the earth’s surface is horizontal,
it being evident that the circula’ion of the atmosphere is affected
largely through systems of ascending and descending currents.”
The observations in the higher regions of the atmosphere quoted
by Mr. Archibald confirms this irregularity of the atmospheric
currents ; as, for example, the velocity at an elevation of 1600
feet is greater than at an elevation of 7200 feet, showing that no
satisfactory results can be deduced from them,
My observations on the 50-feet pole are onlyjapplicable to
‘*small heights” above the ground, and they have proved the
absolute necessity of all anemometers being placed at one uni-
form height above the ground, and are mainly useful in enabling
us to reduce anemometric observations obtained by instruments
at different heights to the same standard level—a matter which,
as a meteorologist, I deem of great importance.
I believe that the formula for small heights will be useful,
because I consider it applicable to such engineering works, for
example, as the Tay and Forth Bridges.
As regards the other observations with pressure anemometers
at comparatively great heights, the highest observed being 1600
feet at the Pentland Hills, the simple formule which I pro-
posed were made only to cover the observations which I actually
obtained, and they do agree nearly with these results. As to
the assertion that I supposed that the force of the wind ought
to vary as its velocity, the contrary is the fact, as Mr. Archibald
might have seen by my statements that the only hypothesis on
which 1 could account for the paradoxical re-ult of the same
formula being practically applicable both to force and yelo-
city was the decreased density of the air as we ascend. I
Observations on Velocity at Arthur's Seat
| = oe 5
Velocities computed for lower station
Velocity =
Velocity
recorded at | By Mr. | y Mr. By Mr. recorded at
high elevation. Stevenson’s | Stevenson's Archibald’s | low elevation.
| rst formula. | 2nd formula. formula.
5 feet above | z — h\| 9—VA | 5-1 b/d | 550 feet abo
ees ea firs Paid Fs v lea
I |
|
885 703 | 592 766 720
1,698 | 1,430 1,205 1,558 1,364
23620 ©) || +2}2064 9), = 1859 2,405 2,133
3,416 | 2,876 2,424 3,132 2,718
4,328 3,646 3,071 3,973 3,465
5.575 4,697 3,957 5,117 4,592
6,763 5,698 4,800 6,208 5,640
8,035 6,765 5,702 7,376 6,782
9,368 7,893 | 6,648 8,600 7,862
10,820 9,115 | 7,679 9,933 8,765
12,410 10,455 8,807 11,392 9,789
13,709 11,542 9.722 12,576 10,639
15,058 12,687 10,686 13,833 11,680
+ 13 79,713 67,152 | 86,869 76, 149
Mean results) 6,132 5,165 6,682 5,857
Calculations for lower station
Height of =. By Mr. By Mr. By Mr.
eariens s OREN EUE Sieeausents Sieeensaes Archibald’s
Jahores At higher) At lower | ist formula. | 2nd formula. formula.
in feet. station. | station. } FA Fh 4 ar
=F fe = ae A
ey ec etait Vv i
nw || FAAS | — — =
1500 — | 57250 | 5424 | 5°246 5-491
TROON s|)05542) | a | = =F =
gI5 —_ 5000 | 6671 | 5°208 7°516
438 5077 ae = | — —
371 —_ | 4259 4675 4°301 4873
37 W455 alee ln es aS
276 — |4181 | 3945 | 37405 4247
Average for 5 | 5 | : ;
lower stations | | 4 oe | 5179 | 4°540 5°53?
am not prepared to admit that the velocity at 100 feet above
the sea will, as Mr. Archibald supposes, be much greater than
at sea-level, for my simultaneous observations of wind pass-
ing over the sea, over sand and over grass (Min. Cir. Eng.)
render it doubtful. If for example a wind passes over the
surface of the sea with a given velocity, which will depend
to a certain extent on the comparatively small amount of friction
due to passing over water, that velocity will be at once reduced
when the current meets the shore and begins to pass over the
more retarding surface of solid land. At a height of 100 feet
above sea-level, it may not therefore have attained the initial
velocity which it had at sea. But as to the whole subject, which
March 8, 1883]
NATURE
433
is one of great difficulty, I will only repeat what I formerly said,
that ‘additional observations are much wanted at high levels,”
and I might have added, at small elevations also,
I have tabulated as above the results given by my two
formulze and by that of Mr. Archibald, from which it appears
th
that my first formula, viz. v=V \/ ,agreesmore nearly with
the recorded results of velocity at Arthur’s Seat than any of the
Fh
others, while my second formula, /= Wess best with my
first observations of pressure.
Edinburgh, February 17 THOMAS STEVENSON
The Supposed Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians
In glancing through my back numbers of NATURE my atten-
tion has been drawn to a letter on the above subject by Mr. H.
B. Guppy, published in the issue dated November 2, 1882.
Quoting the late Mr. Charles Darwin’s famous work on ‘‘ Coral
Reefs,” where it is stated at p. 14, on the authority of Dr. J.
Allan, that Holothuriz subsist on living corals, he recounts the
results of his investigations made on the reefs of Santa Anna
and Cristoral, with the object of putting such statement to the
test. As the upshot of his experiences he writes that he has by
no means satisfied himself that Holothuriz do subsist on living
coral. In no instance did he meet with a single individual
browsing on the patches of living zoophytes, the two species
observed being indeed found living only in the plots of detritus
or dead coral matter that flanked the growing masses. Mr.
Guppy gives an approximate estimate of the amount of coral
sand daily voided by an individual Holothurian, but adduces no
evidence as to the manner in which such hard matter is taken
into its body. This phenomenon indeed he apparently did not
witness ; nor, so far as I am able to ascertain, has any other
investigator brought forward any positive testimony in this
direction,
Through my cultivation of Holothuriz in company with
various other Echinoderms a few years since in the tanks of the
Manchester Aquarium, and also more recently in the Channel
Islands, I find myself in a position to suj ply this hiatus in our
knowledge of their life economy. ‘The two species that were
more particularly the subject of my observations included the
large, dark purple Cucumaris communis, derived from the Cor-
nish coast, attaining, in its fully extended eccndition, a length of
from eight to twelve inches, and the white or dirt; yellow variety
of Cucumaria pentactes, that rarely exceeds balf these dimensions,
The oral tentacula in both of these species are largely developed,
taking the form of ten extensively ramifying pedunculate plumose
or dendriform tufts stationed at equal distances around the oral
opening. It is with these organs that the food substances are
seized and conveyed to the alimentary system, though in a man-
ner totally distinct from what obtains in other tentaculiferous
animals, such as a sea-anemone, tubiculous annelid, or cuttle-
fish. When on the full feed it was observed indeed that the
tentacles of the Holothurian were in constant motion, each
separate dendritic plume in turn, after a brief extension, being
distally inverted and thrust bodily nearly to its base into the
cavity of the pharynx, bearing along with it such fragments of
sand and shelly matter as it had succeeded in laying hold of.
No consecutive order was followed in the inversion of the
separate tentacles, that which at the moment had secured the
most appetising morsel gaining seemingly the earliest entrée,
But little time was lost in this feeding process, for no sooner
was one tentacle everted than another was thrust into the gullet,
and so the meal continued, as not unfrequently observed, for
several hours together. To furnish a fitting simile for this
anomalous phenomenon of ingestion, one might imagine a
child provided with ten arms, after the manner of ancient
Buddha, grasping its food with every hand and thrusting it
in a quick and continuous stream down its throat, the hands and
arms with every successive mouthful, not stopping at the
mouth, but disappearing up to or above the elbow within
the visceral cavity. That the Holothuriz are not devourers
of living corals is shown not only in connection with the
data just recorded, but from the fact also that several of
these animals were kept in a tank containing sea-anemones
and corals (Balanophyllia verrucosa) without their interfering
with them in any way, or manifesting alimentative functions
other than those just described. All that they require for their
nutrition is evidently derived then fron the coral or shell debris
with which they are customarily associated, At first sight this
material would appear to be in the last degree adapted for the
sustenance of such highly-organised animals, but, as may be con-
firmed at any time by the investigation of like conditions in
aquaria, it will be found that shell-sand, gravel, and all other
debris forming the superficial layer at the bottom of the water,
when exposed to the light, is more or less completely invested
with a thin pellicle of Infusoria, Diatoms, and other microscopic
animal and vegetable growths. It is upon these minute crganisms
that the Holothuriz feed, swallowing both them and the shelly
or other matter upon which they grow, much in the same way as
we might subsist on cherries, swallowing stones and all—the
nutritious matter in the case of the cherries being in much
greater ratic—and the Echinodermata having the advantage over
us that they have no vermiform appendage to their alimentary
system to jeopardise their safe indulgence in such stone-swallow-
ing propensities. Most probably, but this as a fact I did net at
the time take steps to determine, the shell or coral debris, with
its investing organisms conveyed to the mouth, is triturated by
the characteristic teeth that arm the pharynx into one homo-
geneous mass, which, after the extraction of all nutritious sub-
stances, is discharged in the form of sandy pellets at the
opposite extremity. At all events, the phenomenon of food
ingestion as witnessed and here described amply accounts for
the relatively prodigious quantities of shell- or coral-sand that
the Holothuris have been ob-erved to void by Mr. H. B. Guppy
and other writers.
Data of interest concerning the feeding processes of various
other Echinodermata were noted by me at the Manchester
Aquarium. Two species of Echini—Z. miliaris and EZ. lividus
—throve well, and devoured large quantities of the seaweed,
Ulva latissima, thus demonstrating their essentially herbivorous
tastes, while the common Sand-star, Ophiura tex‘urafa, eXx-
hibited peculiarly interesting habits. These were kept in a
shallow tank with a sandy bottom, and, except at feeding-time,
were but rarely vi-ible. No suoner, however, had a few small
pieces of chopped fish been dropped into the water and settled
to the bottom than their snake-like arms appeared above the
sand in all directions, next their entire bodies, then a general
scramble ensued for the provided food. This was conveyed to
the creatures’ mouths with the aid of the flexile arms, one of
which was dexterously twisted round the selected fragment—as
an elephaut might use its } roboscis—and the morsel then dragged
beneath the body with its central oral aperture, or rather the
body dragged on top of it. Pher.omena of corresponding interest,
did space yermit, might be related of numerous other species,
but the foregoing will suffice t» illustrate the amount of know-
ledge that may be gained, and gained in no other way, concern-
ing the habits and life-histories of marine organisms by their
intelligent study in the tauks of an aquarium,
Apropos of this subject of aquaria, it will interest all biologi-ts
to know that the long-hoped for opportunity has at last arrived,
or is about to arrive, of securing to the nation an aquarium
suited in all ways, in both position and equipments, for the
conduct of scientific pisciculture and biological research. In-
cluded in the buildings now in course of erection for the forth-
coming International Fisheries Exh bition is a fine series of
marine and freshwater tanks, having such substantial construc-
tion and perfect mechanical arrangements, that it is proposed to
leave them standing after the close of the Exhibition, their final
destiny having alone to be decided on, ‘The close contiguity of
these tanks in the Western Arcade of the Horticultural Gardens
to the exi-ting Museum of Economic Pisciculture immediately
suggests the appropriateness with which they might be incorpo-
rated and more fully developed in conjunction with that Museum,
or with the biological department of the Science Schools on the
opposite side of the road. Asan appanage of the last-named
insti‘ution, it is indeed almo t impossible to prognosticate the
important 7é/e t! is aquarium might be adapted to fulfil. Leaving
a sufficiency of tanks for public exhibition, the remainder might
form an efficient depot or inland zoological station for both
supplying the class-rooms and for placing at the disposal of
original investigators facilities hitherto unprecedented in this
country for making themselves acquainted with the structure,
habits, and developmental histories of organisms pertaining to
every branch of marine biology. It is at all events most earnestly
to be desired that steps will be taken at the right time by the
proper authorities to turn to good account so magnificent and
rarely recurring an opportunity. W. SAVILLE KENT
Buckland Fish Museum, South Kensington, February 21
434
NATURE
— [March 8, 1883
Influence of a Vacuum on Electricity
THE theory of Prof. Edlund that a perfect vacuum is a
perfect conductor of electricity, but that a discharge across such
a vacuum between two electrodes is prevented by an electro-
motive force at the surface of the electrode, involves our attri-
buting to the vacuum the property of screening from electrical
influence any body which it envelops. If the vacuum be a
conductor, what we call induction cannot take place through it.
Not having been able to find any record of an experiment
which conclusively proved that a vacuum so perfect as to offer
considerable resistance to the passage of a
current nevertheless permitted induction to
take place through it, I have tested the
matter by means of the apparatus shown in
the figure,
AB is a glass tube about 15 cm, long ;
c is a light hollow platinum ball, 1 cm. in
| diameter, hung by a fine platinum wire
from the top of the tube between D and
‘ | E the two separated halves of a cylindrical
platinum box, which are insulated from
each other and held in positiou by platinum
connections sealed into the sides of the
| tube, and projecting to the outside at F
ath and G.
It is of importance to mention that the
upper terminal H, from which the sphere
hung, does not reach more than about 3
G millimetres above the inner surface of the
= tube. The two halves of the cylindrical box
\ are sufficiently near together to prevent the
ball coming in contact with the sides of the
SS B glass.
This tube was exhausted until an induc-
tion current, would give a 12-millimetre
spark in air, rather than pass between two
terminals, K L, sealed in the upper part
of the tube with their opposed ends about
half a centimetre apart.
A wire about 30 cm. long was then hung
from F, and an electrified body presented to
the lower end. On the approach of this
body to the wire the sphere was at once
attracted towards p, and when a discharge was permitted be-
tween the electrified object and the wire, the sphere was violently
attracted, and a minute spark was seen when the wire holding
it touched the cap of the box p, The sphere was then repelled
by the similarly charged box,
It thus appears that the phenomena of electric induction take
place acro-s a discharze-resisting vacuum, and that the sphere
hung in it is not screened from electrical influence as it would
be if surrounced by a c mductor. A. M. WORTHINGTON
Clifton College, Biistol, February 22
The Meteoroid of November 17, 1882
THERE has already been much discussion on this subject, but
I do not think that such exceptional phenomena lose any of their
interest by haying happened a few months ago; and so I write
partly to correct a misapprehension on the part of Mr. Back-
house and Mr. Groneman as to the bearings of the positions of
appearance and disappearance of the meteoroid as seen by my-
self, It seemed to me to appear in the S.E.E. and disappear
S.W. by S., but these are not the directions of those points
where the trajectory and the horizon would intersect. By
mentally continuing the apparent path down to the east and
west horizons, points would be reached, nearly, but I think not
quite, 180° apart, the former about 20° N. of E. and the latter
nearly opposite, so that I scarcely think that it was a great
circle, but it is very uncertain. Mr. Saxby states that a similar
cloud was observed to cross the zenith of Brussels by M. Mon-
tigny. Now there are two accounts—one by M. Zeeman of
Ziericksee and the other from near Rye (Sussex)—which seem to
consistently apply to one and the same thing, for the latter place
is W. by 20° S. from Ziericksee, and from both places the same
elevation of about 50° was reached. ‘These accounts, if com
bined with that from Brussels, indicate a height of about 70
miles ; but then how does such a height agree with some of the
English observations ? On the supposition of the above height,
the altitudes of culmination as seen from Woodbridge and
Windsor would be about 29°, from Bristol 25°, and from York
10° only, which last angle is directly at variance with the actual
one. For my part, I will give up the reconciling of such con-
tradictory evidence to those who have an aptitude for conun-
drums. The evidence is in favour of this being an auroral
manifestation, but the spectrum of the cloud does not prove this,
for as yet it is not known whether the extremely rarefied upper
atmosphere may not be excited to such incandescence as will
yield the so-called ‘‘ auroral” spectrum by other means than
the electric discharge, as, for instance, by the passage cf a cloud
of meteorites. Mr, Petrie upholds the latter hypothesis, but I
think that there is a simple but weighty objection to it ; for it is
difficult to see how acloud of meteoric dust of such closeness
and defined form as the appearance of this cloud would imply,
could travel through space for any length of time without
coalescing into one granular lump, owing to the mutual gravita-
tion of its particles. Of course this objection will have the less
weight the smaller we suppose the individual particles to be. This
argument will scarcely apply to the well-known meteor streams,
whose individual particles are really so very far apart. If this
“* flying arch”’ was subject to gravity, it certainly had more than
sufficient velocity to prevent it being appropriated by our earth
as a satellite, for the tangential speed necessary to a circular
orbit of 4100 miles radius round our earth would only be about
4} miles per second, with a period of 14 hours. All interested
in this phenomenon will no doubt pay more attention to the
southern sky during future auroras, in hopes of noting some-
thing more of a similar nature, and they will also look forward
to seeing a full account of Prof. Lemstrém’s remarkable experi-
ments on the nature of the aurora, which he has been conducting
at Sodankyla with such unlooked-for results.
Heworth Green, York H. DENNIS TAYLOR
A Meteor
LAST evening at 9.35 p.m. a remarkably large and brilliant
meteor was seen from here, appearing at a point about 10° east
of 7 Canis Majoris, passing slowly over that star in a south-west
direction, and vanishing a few degrees above the horizon; time
about three seconds. Its light had a pale green tint, and in
brightness and apparent diameter it far exceeded Sirius (which
was particularly bright all the evening), so much so that my
companions, though not looking in that direction, were instantly
attracted by the light, and saw it in its splendour.
R. W. S. GRIFFITH
Eyeworth Lodge, Lyndhurst, Hants, March 3
Aurora
Last night at about ten o’clock there were two beautiful white
auroral streamers, like the tails of enormous comets, near the
Pleiades. They were nearly vertical, and slowly moved, in a
direction parallel to the horizon, towards Orion, after which they
gradually vanished. There was little wind, and the night was
bright starlight, after a cloudy day. There was an auroral glow
like twilight over the northern horizon. The barometer rose
during yesterday and last night, and stands high.
JOsEPH JOHN MurPHY
Old Forge, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, February 28
Hovering of Birds
WITH regard to Mr. W. Clement Ley’s remarks, I have
already been permitted to explain in NATURE (vol. xxvii. p.
366) how I had accidentally misunderstood Mr. Airy’s meaning.
I do not believe that any bird having a greater specific gravity
than the air can retain a perfectly fixed position iu a calm with-
out some wing-motion. Mr. Ley ‘‘believes that there is
nothing in the etymology of the word ‘hover’ that implies
movement.” This has induced me to look up a somewhat volu-
minous‘and recent dictionary, in which I find ‘* Hover, v.2. (W.
hoviaw, to hang over, to fluctuate, to hover). To flap the wings,
fluttering or flapping the wings with short irregular flights” ; and
more to the same effect, all indicating movement. J. RAE
AMATEURS AND ASTRONOMICAL
OBSERVATION
Tp labour done by astronomical an.ateurs has had
no little influence upon the progress of the science.
The work achieved by them has indeed often been of the
March 8, 1883 |
NATURE
S321)
utmost value, and a long list of names might be adduced
of those who in past years attained a most honourable
position either as discoverers, as systematic observers, or
as both. Seeing therefore that amateurs, whose efforts are
purely disinterested and the natural outcome of a love for
the subject, have contributed so largely to place our know-
ledge of astronomy in its present high place, their efforts
should be encouraged and utilised by their contemporaries,
who hold official positions, and who may find it convenient
to assist them by some of that practical advice and in-
struction which they are eminently qualified to afford.
It seems a thing to be deplored that in this country
there are no establishments where astronomy is made a
special subject for teaching, and where those who early
evince a taste in this direction may be educated in con-
formity with inclination. We think that an institution
giving special facilities to astronomical students, and
affording instruction both in observation and computa-
tion, must prove a most efficient means of advancing the
interests of the science. It cannot be denied that the
work of many amateurs is rendered far less valuable than
it would otherwise be by its approximate character, that
is to say, by its lack of critical exactness—both as regards
practice and theory. This cannot be avoided under
present circumstances. A man on first becoming imbued
with the desire to study astronomy asa hobby is generally
in a measure isolated; he has to rely entirely upon his
own exertions and what he can get out of the popular
treatises upon the subject. It must, however, be conceded
that he has many difficulties to encounter, both imaginary
and real, before he proceeds very far; and these impedi-
ments are of such force as either to deter him altogether
from advancing further, or check him so effectually that
more than ordinary enthusiasm is required to surmount
them. Now this could be obviated by a little timely
assistance from some practical astronomer. ‘Treatises,
however exhaustive and felicitous in explanation, can
never be as effective as personal instruction and example,
and hence it seems a desideratum that some establish-
ment should be arranged to afford assistance to such
amateurs as are anxious to qualify themselves as practical
astronomers. It is certain that could such instruction be
imparted on reasonable terms, there are many amateurs
who would gladly avail themselves of the opportunity.
The main purpose might be to train observers to the use
of equatoreals, transit instruments, micrometer work,
photography, &c., and in the proper reduction of obser-
vations and computation of orbits.
The fault with amateurs seems to be that they are
devoid of organisation, and generally of proper education
to the work in hand. Labouring independently and in-
termittently they have, as a rule, no definite purpose in
view other than the mere gratification of curiosity. It is
obvious that some means should be adopted to attract
them to suitable channels for systematic work, so that
they may be enabled not only to find pleasure, as hitherto,
in seeing objects of interest, but also more effectively to
aid the progress of the science by making their observa-
tions of practical utility. For it cannot be doubted that
the means of determining exact positions and the capacity
to reduce them will naturally increase the ardour and
interest of observers, and must introduce a new and
powerful element to the further advancement of astro-
nomy. The number of amateurs is steadily increasing
year by year, and there are now in this country a very
large’ assortment of efficient telescopes which are lying
comparatively idle or so misdirected as to be of little
service. Under these circumstances it seems desirable to
make some attempt to organise the labours of amateurs
in directions suitable to their means and inclinations, and
to utilise such results for the benefit of astronomy.
_ It is generally the case that amateurs employ their
instruments in spasmodic fashion, and do not tenaciously
follow up important observations even when such are well
within their grasp. For instance, an interesting marking
on a planet may be once seen and recorded as a feature
of peculiar interest, but it is then allowed to escape sub-
sequent observation, and thus the value of the record is lost.
It is not sufficient to see a thing; we must hold it as long
as possible, watching its variations of motion and form, and
thus possibly arriving at something definite as to its
behaviour and physical character. We cannot, it is true,
expect amateurs, who generally are much pressed with
other engagements, to work for long periods and at in-’
convenient hours, because this directly means a sacrifice
of other interests which it is imperative should not be
neglected. But by the exercise of discretion, and by the
utilisation of favourable opportunities, we think that ob-
servers, though their time may be much restricted and
their instrumental means very limited, may yet contrive
to do valuable work in one or other of the many attractive
departments of astronomy.
The fact sometimes forces itself upon us that astro-
nomical work is not nearly commensurate with the means.
The large number of powerful instruments now in use
might surely be expected to yield a most abundant harvest
of results ; but we cannot deny that this is far from being
the case. It is sometimes the boast of the fortunate
possessors of a 10-inch refractor or 12-inch reflector that
their instruments are comparable, as regards performance
and reach, with those employed by the first Herschel ;
and this being granted, how comes it that there is such a
manifest lack of new discoveries and of that unwearying
enthusiasm exhibited by the earlier observers? Possibly
some of our best instruments are merely erected as play-
things serving to gratify popular curiosity. The possessor
of a “big’’ telescope is always courted to a certain
degree by people who, though knowing little and caring
nothing about the science, yet profess great interest in
order to be permitted to view some of the most interesting
wonders in the sky. These ordinary sightseers love
novelties of any kind ; moreover a view of such objects
and an explanation by the “astronomer’’ himself is a
thing to be desired, because one acquires self-importance
and can dilate upon the subject to one’s open-mouthed
friends who have never been honoured with such marked
distinction. It is needless to say that such exhibitions
are mere waste of time; valuable opportunities—and they
are few enough in this climate !—are lost never to return.
Many fine telescopes, though occasionally in use, are
not directed to the attainment of any important ends.
Year after year they are kept in splendid adjustment ;
a speck of dust on the lens is removed with scrupulous
care; a spot of dirt on the circles is rubbed off with
anxious energy, and the owner stands off a few paces to
view his noble instrument with intense pleasure. How
grand it looks! How massive! Surely this splendid
machine is able to reveal the most crucial tests of obser-
vational astronomy? The knowledge that he has the
means to see great things is in itself a sufficient satis-
faction without any practical application. Besides, how
can he think of departing from his invariable custom of
going to bed at 10.30 p.m. and risk catching a slight cold
into the bargain? His intention certainly had been to
make a prolonged vigil to-night, but that was decided on
in the sunny afternoon before the frosty air came on and
before the fog began to rise up from the valley, and so he
decides with some show of reluctance to leave it all to
another night! Here is the hour, but not the man.
It is a fact to be regretted that many promising
amateurs have had to relinquish, prematurely, all astro-
nomical work on account of circumstances. A man on
first experiencing the desire to do something to astronomy
buys a few books, and then, when he finds it indispensable,
a telescope, thus expending it may be the hard-earned
savings of a few years. He becomes more interested
with new facilities, and devotes much time to the subject.
Ultimately the fact is realised that his business affairs
436
are suffering from want of proper attention, and what is
of even more importance his health is failing with over-
application to work. There is no alternative but to
relinquish his favourite hobby, and he parts with his
books and instruments for what little they will fetch.
How many are there who have had this experience ?
How many promising observers have left the science
because it offers no pecuniary rewards or benefits such as
other work commands? “Life is real, life is earnest”’;
the telescope must be neglected for the ploughshare, and
the solitary though withal happy hours of vigil must be
given over to Morpheus! Many have realised all this,
and though their names will never be known as astro-
nomers, they have deserved as much credit for their dis-
interested efforts as many others who have from more
fortunate circumstances achieved eminence.
It must be admitted that observers of the present day
have many advantages over their predecessors, owing to
the greater perfection and size of instruments and the
conspicuous advances in the serial literature of the
science. The latter has developed wonderfully during
the last few years with such publications as The Obser-
vatory, Copernicus, L’ Astronomie,. Sirius, Ciel et Terre,
The Sidereal Messenger, &c. Formerly we had but the
Astronomische Nachrichten, Wochenschrift fiir Astro-
nomte, and Astronomical Register. This leads us to
hope for a corresponding increase in the number of
astronomical workers.
It cannot be questioned that the essential direction of
labour on the part of amateurs should be more of a syste-
matic or methodical character than hitherto. A certain
de,artment or definite work should be taken in hand and
followed up persistently. Little good is likely to accrue
from erratic work or from the hasty and necessarily in-
complete examination of many different objects. Every
observer has a leaning towards a speciality, and he
should pursue this exclusively even to the absolute
neglect of other departments. Astronomy offers such a
large number and variety of objects that to attempt an
investigation of more than a mere fragment will tax more’
than the energies of a lifetime. We would therefore
recommend amateurs to apply themselves sedulously to
such special branches as they may individually select, for
the indiscriminate use of a telescope is to be deprecated
on many grounds. W. F. DENNING
ON THE NATURE OF INHIBITION, AND THE
ACTION OF DRUGS UPON IT *
Il.
VULPIAN has observed that the excitability of
* the lower parts of the spinal cord increases as the
upper part is gradually shaved away, so that each layer
of the cord appears to exercise an inhibitory action on
the one below it. M. Brown-Séquard supposes that in
each layer of the cerebro-spinal system there are both
dynamogenic elements and inhibitory elements for the
subjacent segments.
We are, in fact, almost obliged to assume that each
nerve-cell has two others connected with it, one of which
has the function of increasing, and the other that of re-
straining the function of the nerve-cell itself.
Applying this same hypothesis to Newton’s rings, we
would say that certain parts of the lens or of the glass
plate possessed the property of interfering with the rays
of light, or were inhibitory centres for them, Others
again had the property of increasing the brightness, or
were stimulating centres for them; and, moreover, that
different parts of the lens or of the glass plate contained
each its stimulating and inhibitory centres for different
coloured rays.
The multiplication of centres in the lens and glass
plate soon becomes more than the imagination can well take
* Continued from p, 42e.
NATURE
| March 8, 1883
in; and we are at present almost precisely in the same
condition regarding inhibitory and stimulating centres in
the nervous system.
As soon as we get rid of the idea that the darkness
caused by the interference of the rays of light at certain
points is due to some peculiar property inherent in the
glass, and attribute the interference simply to the relation-
ship between the waves of light and the distance they
have to travel, the whole thing becomes perfectly simple,
and the same is, I think, the case in regard to inhibition
in the nervous system.
Let us now take a few more examples of inhibition.
We find in experiments with the frog’s foot exactly the
same as on our own hand. Thus, when a little turpen-
tine 1s placed upon the toes it excites a violent reflex, but
if a little turpentine be injected under the skin of the
same foot, the reflex is abolished.1 We find also that
irritation applied to a limited region of the skin usually
causes marked reflex, but if the same stimulus be applied
to the sensory nerve supplying that region, the reflex is
very much less.?_ In the cases just mentioned the irrita-
tion is applied to sensory nerves of the same part of the
body, and close together, and the explanation of its dif-
ferent results is the same as that already given for the
different effects of tickling and pressure. Different sensory
nerves on the same side of the body, but at some distance
from each other, will also cause inhibition of motor reflexes ;
thus it has been shown by Schlosser * that simultaneous
irritation of the skin over flexor and extensor surfaces
will lessen reflex action.
Some years ago I observed that frogs suspended by
the fore-arms with cords, or tied with their bodies against
a board, reacted less perfectly to stimulation of the
foot by acid than a frog suspended by a single point, as in
Tiirck’s method. Tarchanoff* has also observed that
frogs held in the hand also respond less perfectly than
when hung up; the gentle stimulation of the sensory
nerves in the skin of the body appearing to exercise an
inhibitory action over the reflex from the foot.
The injection of acids or irritating solutions into the
mouth ® or dorsal lymph sac ® also exercises an inhibitory
action on reflexes from the foot.
A similar effect is produced by irritating the sciatic
nerve on one side by a Faradaic current, and applying a
stimulus to the other foot. So long as the irritating cur-
rent is passed through the sciatic nerve, no reflex move-
ment can be elicited by stimulation of the other foot;
but so soon as the Faradaic current stops, the reflex
excitability again appears in the other foot.’ As this
phenomenon occurs when the influence of the brain and
upper part of the spinal cord has been destroyed by a
section through the cord itself, the inhibition which occurs
must be due to an action which takes place in the lower
portion of the spinal cord.
Stimulation of the nerves of special sense has also an
inhibitory action on reflex movements. This we can
readily see in ourselves, by observing our actions in the
dark. If we touch something cold or wet, or if some-
thing suddenly comes against our face, we give an in-
voluntary start, sometimes almost a convulsive one. If,
however, we were able to see, we should not give a start
in the least when we touched a piece of wet soap, or
when the end of a curtain suddenly came against our
cheek.
Without entering into the nervous mechanism through
which sight effects this change in our actions, but only
reducing it to its simplest form of expression, as we would
* Richet, Muscles et Nerfs, Paris, 1882, p. 710.
? Marshall Hall, Memoirs on the Nervous System, London, 1837, p. 48.
3 Arch. of Physiol. 1880, p. 303, quoted by Richet, of. czt. 709.
4+ Quoted by Richet, of. cft. p- 709. E -
5 Setschenow, Physiologische Studien tiber die Hemmungsmechanismen
fiir die Reflexthatigkeit des Riickenmarks im Gehirn des Frosches, Berlin,
1863, Pp. 33- ,
6 Brunton and Pardington, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, 1876
Ds 155
7 Nothnagel, Centralblatt d. med. Wiss. 1869. p. 21r.
March 8, 1883]
NATURE
437
in talking of animals, we say that the stimulus to the
sensory nerves of the hand or cheek, by contact with the
wet soap or with the curtain, caused in us a reflex spasm,
which was inhibited by the stimulus applied to our optic
nerves. A similar occurrence is observed in frogs, and
the reflex actions produced by stimuli applied to the feet
are much stronger when the inhibitory effect of the optic
nerves upon them is removed by covering up or destroy-
ing the eyes, or by removal of the optic lobes.!
Regarding the optic lobes, we will have a good deal
more to say presently, for they have been considered to
be special inhibitory centres, and are often known by the
name of Setschenow’s centres.
If we try to explain all those instances of inhibition by
the assumption of special inhibitory centres for each
action, we must suppose, in connexion with every sen-
sory nerve, that centres exist which lessen or abolish the
ordinary reflexes produced by stronger or weaker stimula-
tion applied to the nerve. Besides this, we must suppose
other centres which inhibit motor actions in other parts
of the body: as for example, when irritation of the
extensor lessens reflex excited by irritation of the flexor
surfaces, or vice versd, or when the irritation of one
sciatic stops reflex action from mechanical irritation of
the other foot. A special inhibitory centre must be
placed also in the optic lobes in connection with the optic
nerves. This complication reminds us of the multitude
of inhibitory centres which one must imagine in glass, in
order to explain the occurrence of Newton’s rings by
them, but it seems to me that all these cases are readily
explained on the hypothesis that the motor and sensory
cells concerned in them are so placed with relation to
each other that the stimuli passing from them produce
interference under normal or nearly normal conditions of
the organism.
A spot of light may be caused to disappear by throwing
another ray upon it, so as to interfere with it, but it may
be also made to disappear from the place where it was,
by simply reflecting it somewhere else.
A similar occurrence to this takes place in the body,
and although two stimuli may interfere with and destroy
each other, we not unfrequently find that the apparent
abolition of the effect of a stimulus is simply due to its
diversion into some other than the usual channel. In
very many cases, where we have inhibition we have also
diversion ; and it is not at all improbable that when the
stimulus is very strong complete inhibition may be impos-
sible by interference alone, and can only be effected by
diversion of part of the stimulus. We have already said
that two waves of sound will neutralise each other and
produce silence, but this only occurs when the waves are
not too powerful. When they reach a certain intensity
they produce secondary waves which give resultant tones,
and several facts seem to point to an analegous condition
in animal organisms.
We have hitherto considered cases in which the inhibi-
tion was probably brought about by interference of two
stimuli, so that the one counteracts the other in much the
same way as tworays of light interfered with one another
in Newton’s rings. In one case which we have men-
tioned, the movement of the hand when it is tickled is
entirely arrested by a strong effort of the will, and the
hand is allowed to remain perfectly passive and limp.
Here we suppose the impulse sent down from the motor
centres in the brain to interfere with that which has
originated in the cord by irritation of the sensory nerves,
and to counteract it so that no muscle whatever is put in
action. But very frequently we find that a result ap-
parently similar is produced by a different mechanism,
viz. by diversion of the stimulus into other channels. In
the former case the arm is felt to be quite limp, but in the
latter though it is quite quiet, it is perfectly rigid—all the
* Langendorff, Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol. 1877; Von Boetticher, Ueber
Reflexhemmung, Inaug. Diss., Jena, 1878, p. 12.
muscles being intensely on the stretch. Here the stimulus
which would usually have excited convulsive movements
of the arm, and probably of the body, resulting in a con-
vulsive start, have been diverted from the body into other
muscles of the same limb.
A similar power of diverting a stimulus is seen in the
instinctive muscular efforts which any one makes when in
pain. One of the most common of these is clenching
the teeth, and it used to be a common practice in the
army and navy for men to put a bullet between the teeth
when they were being flogged, and at the end of the
punishment this was usually completely flattened. <A
| patient seated in a dentist’s chair usually grasps convul-
sively the arms of the chair, or anything which may be
put into his hand ; and there can be little doubt that pain
is better borne, and appears to be less felt, when the
sensory stimulus occasioning it can thus be diverted
into motor channels. In children the motor channels
into which diversion usually takes place are those con-
nected with the respiratory system, and the sensory
stimulus works itself off in loud yells. At a later
age the stimulus is often diverted into those motor chan-
nels through which reaction occurs between the indi-
vidual and his surroundings. Thus most people probably
remember how a kick in the shins at football often
served simply to accelerate their speed; and during the
heat of battle the pain of a wound is often but little
felt, the stimulus having been diverted into motor
channels.
Many more instances might be given of the effects of
diversion of stimuli, but having discussed this subject at
length in a former paper,! I shall not pursue it further
here.
Sensory stimuli are also capable of inhibition by inter-
ference. Hippocrates* noticed, and it is a matter of
general observation, that pain in one part of the body
may be lessened or removed by the occurrence of pain in
another. In many instances, the removal of the pain to
one part may be indirect, through the action exerted on
the vessels by the pain in the other part. But in some
instances it may be, and probably is, due to the direct in-
terference of sensory impressions.
This question of the removal of pain by the interfer-
ence of waves in the sensory nerves or nerve-centres has
been very fully and clearly discussed by Dr. Mortimer
Granville.* Starting from the hypothesis of interference,
he has also devised a plan of treatment which appears to
give satisfactory results. By means of a small hammer
moved by clockwork or electricity, he percusses over the
painful nerve in order to induce in it vibrations of a dif-
ferent rhythm to those which are already present and
which give rise to the pain. Thus he percusses rapidly
over a nerve when the pain is dull or grinding, and per-
cusses slowly when the pain is acute, in order to produce
interference if possible. In many instances the treat-
ment is successful, and its success affords additional
support to the hypothesis on which it is based.
We have hitherto spoken of reflex inhibition in the
cerebro-spinal axis alone, but we find also reflex inhibition
of motor actions produced by irritation of sympathetic
nerves ; and, wéce versd, we find inhibition of the move-
ments of internal viscera produced by irritation of cerebro-
spinal nerves. Thus strong irritation of the sensory nerves
of the liver, intestine, uterus, kidney, or bladder, occa-
sionally abolishes the power of walking or standing.
Irritation of a sensory nerve will frequently arrest the
movements of the heart.
The phenomena which occur in swallowing afford an
excellent example, not only of inhibition occurring in
parts innervated by the sympathetic system, but also of
* Brunton, ‘‘Inhibition, Peripheral and Central,’’ West Riding Asylum
Reports, 1874.
2 Hippocrates, Aphorisms, sec. i. 46; Sydenham Soc. Ed. vol. ii. p. 713.
3 Mortimer Granville, Nerve Vibration and Excitation. (London:
Churchill, 1883.)
438
NATURE
[March 8, 1883
partial diversion of stimuli. Kronecker has found that
when we swallow, the food or water is sent down at once
into the stomach by the contraction of the muscles of the
pharynx, and that afterwards a peristaltic contraction of
the cesophagus occurs. When several attempts to swallow
are made one after the other, however, the cesophagus
remains quiet until they are ended, and then it occurs at
the same interval of time after the last, that it would have
done after a single act of swallowing.
B
R “
eae
A
Fic. 2.—Diagram to illustrate Sir J. Herschel’s cbservaticns cn interference.
Adapted from his article on ** Absorption of Light.” Phil. Mag. 1883,
p- 405.
If we now refer again to our diagram (Fig. 2, which
for convenience we repeat here) we will see that it
answers just as well for the contractions of the cesophagus
as for the tides at Batsha by simply giving a different
meaning to the letters. Let R now instead of represent-
ting a reservoir or the open sea represent the ganglia of
the pharynx, A and B the nerve fibres which conduct
nervous impulses from these ganglia to P, and let P be the
ganglia of the cesophagus which stimulate its muscular
fibres to peristaltic action. A single wave passing from
R causes two waves at P, one succeeding the other, but a
number of waves from R under the conditions supposed
also cause only two waves: one at the beginning and one
at the end, for during all the intermediate period they
neutralise each other.
It might perhaps seem that the two stimuli should cause
two contractions of the muscular fibres of the cesophagus,
But it frequently happens that a single stimulus is unable
to produce muscular contraction. It only increases the
excitability of the contractile tissue to a second stimulus,
and when this is applied contraction ensues. The effect
of the first wave then would be to increase excitability,
that of the second wave to cause contraction. This is well
shown in the accompanying tracing from the contrac-
éak current
Fic. 6.—Showing the increasing contracticns of the tissue of medusa when
stimulated by repeated weak induction shocks of the same intensity.
tile tissue of medusze, which I owe to the kindness of
my friend, Mr. Romanes. He has found that when very
slight stimuli, such as from weak Faradaic shocks, are
applied, the first has no apparent action, but the effect of
each successive stimulus is added to that of the preceding
ones, until contraction is produced. Two shocks were
applied before the first small contraction shown in the
tracing occurred, and the shocks are all of the same
strength, although the last ones produce the maximal
contraction of which the tissue is capable, and the first
had apparently no effect at all. This relation of the con-
tractile tissue to stimuli is usually expressed by saying
that the tissue has the power of summation.
At the same time that a stimulus is sent down from the
pharynx to the cesophageal ganglia, which has an inhib‘tory
action, there appears to be another sent to the medulla
oblongata, which acts on the roots of the vagus nerve.
This latter stimulus has a very curious effect, viz. inhi-
biticn of inhibition. The vagus usually exercises an
inhibitory action on the heart, rendering its beats less
rapid than they would otherwise be, but during swallowing
this inhibitory action is removed and the heart pulsates
at nearly double its normal rate.! Here we seem to have
a stimulus one part of which passes along one path, while
another part is diverted and passes along another. Each
part interferes with the nervous actions which would
occur in its absence, but one part interferes so as to
prevent, and the other so as to increase muscular activity
in the cesophagus and heart respectively.
The same diversion of a stimulus which we find in the
case of the cesophagus seems to occur frequently through-
out the body. Thus we find it almost invariably in rela-
tion to the vascular changes which occur on stimulation
of a sensory nerve. When a sensory nerve going to any
part of the body is irritated, the vessels of the district
which it supplies usually dilate, while those of the other
parts of the body contract.2. The stimulus in this case
passes to the vasomotor centre, and thence is reflected
as an inhibitory stimulus in one direction and as a motor
stimulus in another.
Some results of the greatest interest have recently been
obtained by Dastre and Morat, in some experiments
which they have made on the subject of vascular dilata-
tion or inhibition.
In many cases the stimulation and inhibition of vascu-
lar nerves take place in the medulla oblongata, or in the
spinal cord, and the inhibitory and motor centres are
close to each other; but in other cases, such as those ex-
perimented on by Dastre and Morat,’ we find the inhibt-
tory and motor centres separated from one another, some
of the motor centres being in the cord and some of the
inhibitory in a ganglion situated nearer the periphery.
It was previously known that in some cases, as in the
dilatation of the vessels of the submaxillary gland on
irritation of the chorda tympani, small ganglionic struc-
tures were situated at the terminal branches of the nerve,
and it was supposed that these ganglia, by their interposi-
tion between the nerve and the structure on which it was
to act, converted its motor power into an inhibitory one.
The experiments of Dastre and Morat are much more
definite on this point. Excitation of the cervical sympa-
thetic nerve has the effect of causing the vessels of the
ear to contract very greatly in the rabbit, but irritation of
the same nerve causes in the dog enormous dilatation of
the vessels of the mouth. Moreover, in the rabbit this
constricting action on the vessels of the ear is exerted
only when the nerve is irritated between the first cervical
ganglion and the ear. When the nerve is irritated be-
yond the cervical ganglion, instead of causing constric-
tion, it produces dilatation.
In order to explain this action, the authors suppose that
the fibres of the sympathetic, in passing through the
ganglion, end in the ganglionic cells, and thus suspend
the tonic action which they exert on the constricting
fibres which issue from the ganglion and pass to the ear.
It seems to me, however, that a more satisfactory expla-
nation of this fact also is afforded by the hypothesis of
interference.
In the cerebro-spinal system, cells being ranged above,
below, and around one another with free communication
between them, we have ample provision for the passage
of two stimuli along paths of such different length, as to
enable them to interfere with and inhibit each other.
1 In my own case the proportion is 120 to 76. —
2 Ludwig and Loven, Ludwig’s Arbeiten, 1866, p. 17-
3 Archives de Physiologie, 1882, tom. x. p. 326.
al
March 8, 1883]
NATURE
439
But in peripheral nervous mechanisms, such as those
in the heart of the frog, where we have no such pro-
vision, and the cells are not only few in number,
Vit
A.KARMANSK/
E.PRBMIBCNEN. SC
Fic. 7.—View of the auricular septum in the frog (seen from the left side).
n is the posterior, and 7’ the anterior cardiac nerve, ¢ is 4 horizontal
portion of the latter nerve; 4 is the posterior, and 2’ the anterior auriculo-
ventricular ganglion; #z is a projecting muscular fold. This figure is
taken by the kind permission of my friend, M_ Ranvier, from his Legons
d’Anatomie Générale, Année 1877-8.—Appareils nerveux terminaux, t. 6,
p- 79. (Paris: J. B. Bailliére et Fils, Rue Hautefeuille 19.)
but not arranged in strata, we find a special form of
ganglion cell which seems constructed for this very
purpose. This is the spiral cell described by Beale,
AsKARMANS KI
A.B.M .
SS
Fic, 8.—Part of the posterior cardiac nerve more highly magnified, showing
the ganglia (Ranvier, of. cit. p. 106).
in which we find one nerve-fibre twisted round and
round in a way which reminds us of a resistance coil
in a galvanic circuit. The object of this peculiar arrange-
ment has, so far as I know, not been discovered ; but it
seems to afford the exact mechanism which is wanted,
in order to alter the distance two stimuli have to travel,
and thus allow them to interfere with and inhibit each
other. The occurrence of these ganglia in the heart and
other viscera seems to afford in itself some support to the
Fic. 9 —Spiral ganglion cell trom the paeumogastric of the frog. This figure
is not taken from the cells in the cardiac nerves, as in them the connection
between the spiral and straight fibres has not been clearly made out, but
it is probable that these cells have a structure similar to the one figured
(Ranvier, of. czt. pp. 114-20). a is the cell body, # the nucleus. 7 the
nucleolus, ¢ nucleus of the capsule, /the straight fibre, g Henle’s sheath,
sf spiral fibre, g’ its gaine, ~’ nucleus of Henle’s sheath (Ranvier,
op. cit. p. 114).
hypothesis here advanced; but we will defer the con-
sideraticn of the mode in which inhibition occurs in the
heart and other internal viscera, and pass on at present
to the effect of various parts of the central cerebro-spinal
system upon each other.
T. LAUDER BRUNTON
(To be continued.)
LHE SHAPES OF LEAVES
I.—General Principles
ee leaf is the essential and really active part of the
ordinary vegetal organism ; it is at once the mouth,
the stomach, the heart, the lungs, and the whole vital
mechanism of the entire plant. Indeed, from the strictest
biological point of view every leaf must be regarded as to
some extent an individual organism by itself, and the tree
or the herb must be looked upon as an aggregate or
colony of such separate units bound together much in the
same way as a group of coral polypes or the separate
parts of a sponge in the animal world. It is curious,
therefore, that so little attention, comparatively speaking,
should have been given to the shapes of the foliage in
various plants. ‘‘ The causes which have led to the dif-
ferent forms of leaves,’’ says Sir John Lubbock, “ have
been, so far as I know, explained in very few cases.”
Yet the origin of so many beautiful and varied natural
shapes is surely worth a little consideration from the evo-
lutionary botanist at the present day, the more so as the
main principles which must guide him in his search after
their causes are simple and patent to every inquirer.
The great function of a leaf is the absorption of car-
bonic acid from the air, and its deoxidation under the
influence of sunlight. From the free carbon thus ob-
tained, together with tne hydrogen liberated from the
water in the sap, the plant manufactures the hydro-car-
bons which form the mass of its various tissues. Vegetal
life in the true or green plant consists merely in such
deoxidation of carbonic acid and water, and rearrange-
ment of their atoms in new form :, implying the reception
of external energy; and this external energy is supplied
by sunlight. We have thus two main conditions affecting
440
NATURE
7
| March 8, 188 3
the shape and size of leaves : first, the nature and amount
of the supply of carbonic acid; and second, the nature
and amount of the supply of sunshine. But as leaves
also aid and supplement the roots as absorbers of water,
or even under certain circumstances perform that func-
tion almost entirely alone, a third and subordinate element
also comes into play in many cases, namely, the nature
and amount of the supply of watery vapour in the air.
Fic. 1.
This last element, however, we may leave out of con-
sideration for the present, confining our attention at the
outset to the first two.
Carbonic acid is the true fool of plants: water, one
may say, is only their drink. The roots can almost
always obtain a sufficient amount of moisture ; and
though no doubt there is sometimes a fierce struggle for
Fic, 2.
this material between young plants, yet its effects are not
usually so obvious or so lasting on the shape of the parts
concerned.
must be built up there exists a competition between plants
as great and as evident as the competition between car-
nivores for the prey they pursue, or between herbivores
for the grasses and fruits on which they subsist. The
plant endeavours to get for itself as much as it can of
But for the carbon of which their tissues |
this fundamental food-stuff; and all its neighbours en-
deavour to frustrate and to forestall it in the struggle for
aérial nutriment. Again, the carbon is of no use without —
a supply of sunlight in the right place to deoxidise it and |
render it available for the use of the plant. Hence these
two points between them mainly govern the shapes of —
leaves. Natural selection insures in the long run the —
survival of those types of foliage which are best fitted ©
Fice 2.
for the performance of their functions as mouths and —
stomachs in the particular environments that each species
affects. Accordingly, in the final result each plant tends
to have its chlorophyll disposed in the most economical
position for catching such sunlight as it can secure ; and
it tends to have its whole absorbent surface disposed in
the most advantageous position for drinking in such par-
ticles of carbonic acid as may pass its way. The import-
ance of the first element has always been fully recog-
| nised by botanists; but the importance of the second
appears hitherto to have been too frequently overlooked.
At the same time, the shape of the leaf in each species
is not entirely determined by abstract considerations of
fitness to the function to be performed: as elsewhere
in the organic world, evolution is largely bound by heredi-
tary forms and ancestral tendencies. Each plant inherits
a certain general type of foliage from its ancestors ; and
March 8, 1883 |
NATURE
441
it modifies that type so far as possible to suit the exigen-
cies of its altered conditions. It cannot remake the leaf
de novo at each change of habit or habitat : it can only
remodel it in accordance with certain relatively fixed
ancestral patterns. Hence, as a rule, each great group
of plants—family, tribe, or genus—has a common type of
leaf to which all its members more or less closely ap-
proximate. Occasionally, as among the composites, the
diversity of types in a single family is very great; at
other times, as among the peas and still more among the
pinks, the type is fairly well preserved throughout. But,
Fic. 5.
in spite of all apparent exceptions, and of numerous very
divergent cases, there is a general tendency in most
allied plants to conform more or less markedly to a cer-
tain general central and ideal form of leaf—the form from
which all alike are hereditarily descended with various
modifications. The actual shape in each case is not the
ideally-best shape for the particular conditions ; it is only
the best possible adaptive modification of a pre-existing
hereditary type.
_ The point that is most common to leaves of different
Fic. 6.
sorts in the same group is their vascular framework or
ground-plan ; in other words, their venation. This is the
typical thing which tends most of all to reproduce itself,
under all varieties of external configuration. The plant
seems to build up first, as it were, its ancestral skeleton,
and then, if it can afford material, to flesh it out with the
intervening cellular tissue (not, of course, literally, for all
the leaf buds out at once froma single knob). A glance
at the accompanying diagrams will show how easily, by
failure of growth in the intervals between the principal
ribs, a simple primitive rounded leaf may be converted
during the course of evolution into a lobed or compound
one. In Fig. 1 we have such an ovate leaf, with digitate
venation: the dotted line marks the chief intervals
between the ribs, mainly filled by cellular tissue. In
Fig. 2 we have the leaf of a sycamore, with the same
venation, but with the intervals between the ribs unfilled.
Here it will be noticed that the apex of the five main
lobes corresponds in each case with the termination of a
main rib ; and the largest lobe answers to the midrib. Simi-
larly, the apex of each minor serration answers to the
termination of a secondary riblet. The type remains the
KAO
: /)
Fic. 7.
same throughout; only in Fig. 1, material has been sup-
plied to fill it all in, and in Fig. 2, only enough has been
supplied to cover the immediate neighbourhood of the
main veins.
In Figs. 3 and 4 we get a further modification of a
similar type. Here the cutting of the lobes goes so deep
as to divide the entire blade into separate leaflets ; and
the result is the compound leaf of the horse-chestnut.
The same thing may also occur with pinnately-veined
leaves. In Fig. 5 we get a typical leaf of this character,
where the supply of carbonic acid and sunshine under the
Fic. 8.
Fis. 9.
average circumstances of the plant is sufficient to allow
of its having assumed a full and rounded specific form.
Fig. 6 shows the less fully-veined tracts in such a type of
foliage ; and in Fig. 7, where the ordinary conditions do
not favour full development, we get the familiar irregu-
larly-lobed blade of the English oak. The diagrammatic
representation in Fig. 8 suggests the steps by which a
regularly pinnately-veined leaf, such as that of the common
olive, may pass into a pinnatified and pinnatisect form
by non-development of the mainly cellular tracts. We
may thus get either a lobed leaf like the hawthorn, as
442
NATURE
| March 8, 1883
adumbrated at the summit of the diagram, or a compound
leaf with pinnate leaflets like the commonest papiliona-
ceous type, as shown in the lower portion. These
examples will at once make clear the principle that with
very slight changes in the real structural composition of
a leaf we may have very great differences in the resulting
outline. How the various underlying types of venation
themselves are acquired or modified we must consider at
a later stage; for the present we must take them for |
granted as relatively fixed generic or tribal charac-
teristics.
It may be necessary to warn the reader in passing that
comparatively little importance must be attached to the
particular circumstances of each individual leaf. It is
the average circumstances of the species which give rise
to the specific type. True, each particular blade cannot
grow at all except in so far as material is supplied to it
during its growth from the older and more settled
members of the complex plant-commonwealth ; but even
when such material is supplied to it, it will only grow to
the extent and into the shape which natural selection has
shown to be the best on the average for all its prede-
cessors. For example, no plethora of available material
would make the sycamore or the oak produce leaves like
those represented in Figs. 1 and 5; it would only make
them produce a greater number of normal leaves like
those represented in Figs. 2 and 7, since these embody
the final result of all the past experience of the race—the
residuum of countless generations of unsparing selection.
A single illustration of the way in which these general
principles work can best be found, as a first example, in
the foliage of the water-crowfoot (Ranunculus aguatilis,
Fig. 9). This well-known plant, growing as it does in
streams or pools, has two forms of leaf on the self-same
branch, strikingly different from one another. The lower
or submerged leaves, which wave freely to and fro in the
water, are minutely subdivided into long, almost hair-like,
filaments ; the upper or floating leaves, which loll upon
the surface of the stream, are full and rounded, though
more or less indented at the edge into from three to six
obovate lobes. Familiar as is this curious little English
plant, the causes which give it its two types of leaves
admirably illustrate the laws which we must employ as
the general key to all the shapes of foliage throughout
the vegetal kingdom.
First, as to the submerged leaves. These organs,
growing in the water under the surface, have not nearly
so free access to carbonic acid as those which growin the
open air. For the proportion of carbonic acid held in
solution by water is very small; and for this small
amount there is a great competition among the various
aquatic plants. Asa rule, the cryptogamic flora of fresh
waters consists of long streaming alge or characex,
which assume filamentous shapes, and wave about in the
water so as to catch every passing particle of the precious
gas.
take to inhabiting similar spots, their submerged leaves
also tend to assume somewhat the same forms, and to
move freely with every current in the pond or stream, so
as to catch whatever fragments of carbon may happen to
pass their way. In this case, there is no dearth of sun-
shine, no interference of other plants with the incidence
of the light ; the waving thread-like form depends solely |
upon the comparative want of carbon in the surrounding |
medium. The leaves have acquired the shape which
enables them best to lay hold on whatever carbon there
may be in their neighbourhood ; any other arrangement
would involve a waste of chlorophyll—a misplacing of
it in an unadvantageous position. Full round leaves
would be useless under water, because there would not
be work enough for them to do there.
On the other hand, when the leaves reach the surface,
they have room to spread out unmolested into an area
singularly free from competing foliage. Here, then, they
When flowering-plants, like- the water-crowfoot, |
plim out at once into a larger rounded type, as they can
obtain abundant carbonic acid from the air around,
and can catch the unimpeded sunlight on the surface of
their pond. The two cases, as Lamarck long since re-
marked, are somewhat analogous to those of gills and
lungs; for though in the one case it is oxygen that is
required, and in the other case carbonic acid, yet inas-
much as both are gases dissolved in water, the parallelism
on the whole is very close.
It is to be noted, however, that in both cases the
central ranunculaceous type of leaf is faithfully preserved
in the ground-plan or framework. This central type of leat
is found in a rounded form in the lesser celandine (A.
| ficaria), and in the radical leaves of the goldilocks (R.
auricomus). Itis more divided and cut, or (to put the
same thing conversely) less filled out between the ribs in
the common meadow buttercup (2. acrzs). But in the
water-crowfoot, the floating leaves remain very close to the
rounded form of lesser celandine, though a little more
lobed at the edge; while in the submerged leaves, we
get hardly anything more than an attenuated skeleton of
the venation, still essentially keeping up the typical form,
though in a somewhat exaggerated and minutely sub-
divided manner. When one compares these submerged
Jeaves with the equally filiform and minutely dissected
submerged foliage of the water-violet (Hottonta palus-
tris) and the water-milfoil (yriophyllum sficatune),
one sees at once that the same effect has been obtained
in the various cases by like modification of wholly unlike
ancestral forms. While assuming extremely similar
outer appearances, all these plants retain essentially
diverse underlying ground-plans.
Furthermore, there are various minor forms or varieties
of the water-crowfoot in which minor peculiarities of like
import may be observed. The form known as &. fluitans
lives chiefly in rapidly-running streams, where none of its
leaves can reach the surface; hence all its foliage is
submerged, and deeply cut into very long, thin, parallel
segments, which wave up and down in the rapids, and
are admirably adapted to catch the floating particles of
carbonic acid carried down by the water in its course.
The variety known as A. cércinatus grows mainly in deep
still pools, where also its leaves cannot reach the top;
and it has likewise submerged foliage with finely-cut
segments, but the separate pieces are “ shorter and more
spreading,” because this form is best adapted to catch
the stray dispersed particles of carbonic acid in the quiet
waters. . The common type (vz/garis of Bentham) has
both forms of leaves, floating and submerged, and grows
mostly in shallow pools or slow streams. The type
known as ivy-leaved crowfoot (2. hederaceus) creeps on
mud or ooze, and has only the full three-lobed leaves.
; Finally, it may be noted that even the particular position
of individual leaves here counts for scmething; since
nothing is commoner than to find one of the finely-cut
submerzed leaves with a few upper segments floating on
the surface; and these upper segments begin to fill out
| at once into broader green tips, thus giving the end of
the leaf an odd, swollen, and bloated appearance.
GRANT ALLEN
(To be continued.)
HERRING AND SALMON FISHERIES
ANG a meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Edinburgh International Fisheries Exhibition of
1882, which proved so successful, held on Wednesday,
February 28, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. John
Murray, seconded by Sheriff Irvine, that the funds at
the disposal of the Executive Committee be granted to
the Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society to
carry out the proposed investigations with reference to the
herring, salmon, and other fisheries which are described
March 8, 1883]
in the Circular submitted by the Council with their letter
of application to the Committee of May 23, with power
to arrange for a zoological station, and with a recom-
mendation that an application be made to Govern-
ment for assistance. The sum granted is upwards of
1500/,
The results already obtained by the Scottish Metevro-
logical Society in connection with the herring fishery
show a close relation between the fluctuations of the
catches and changes of temperature, wind, sunshine,
cloud, thunder, and other weather phenomena. ‘Thus the
observations show, for the six years ending with 1878,
that a low temperature is attended with large catches,
and a high temperature with small catches. Good catches
are also had when the temperature fluctuates about the
average, and high temperatures, if short continued,
scarcely diminish the catches. So far as the discussion
of the observations has gone, it appears that the maxi-
mum catches are made when the temperature of the sea
is about 55°°5, but this point requires further investiga-
tion. Thunderstorms, if widespread, are followed for
some days with small catches over the region covered by
them.
The Council has hitherto been unable, from want of
funds, to complete the discussion of the observations
already made ; to inspect the fishing districts and confer
with the fishermen, and thereby secure observations of
the fulness and exactness which are required ; and to carry
on certain investigations in physics and in natural history
which are essential to this inquiry. Of the physical
investigations may be mentioned the heating 'power of
the sun’s rays at different depths of the sea, which ap-
pears to have important bearings, directly and indirectly,
on the depth at which the herrings are caught. The
inquiries in natural history are mainly those which con-
cern the food of the herring and also the food of the
animals on which the herrings prey, together with the
influence of weather and season on the distribution of
these animals in the sea. In carrying out the latter
inquiries, the fishermen would be invited to assist, by
entering, in schedules prepared for the purpose, observa-
tions as to the colour and appearances of the sea-water,
due to the presence of minute organisms. As regards
the discussion, it will be necessary to make weather maps
of Scotland for each day of the fishing seasons—say up-
wards of 500—in which special prominence is given to
charting the temperature, wind, cloud, thunder, and the
other elements of weather which affect the fishings,—to-
gether with the catch of each day entered on the positions
of the maps where they were severally made round the
coast. From these maps some of the causes which tend
to localise the shoals will become apparent.
The desiderata at present requiring to be supplied in
carrying on the investigation ot sea and river fishing are
these :—1. Fuller and more exact observations of the
temperature of the sea at the surface, and at different
depths, by the fishermen at the fishing grounds. 2. The
resumption of continuous maximum and minimum tem-
perature observations at Peterhead, and the establish-
ment of similar observations at other points round the
coast. 3. The observation of maximum and minimum
temperatures in other of the more important salmon
rivers. 4. Daily temperature of the sea, by boat at some
distance from land, at about six selected places. 5. The
discussion of past observations, particularly of the herring
fishings as described above. 6. Assistance of specialists
in Carrying on investigations into the food of the herrings,
and into the heating power of the sun’s rays at different
depths.
We are glad to think that with the surplus funds of
the Edinburgk Fisheries Exhibition, so wisely disposed
of, the Scottish Meteorological Society will be able to
prosecute their researches on these points with some
hope of a satisfactory result.
NATURE
443
NOTES
THE mathematical papers and memoirs of the late Prof. Henry
Smith are, we believe, to be collected, and published in two
volumes quarto by the Press of his own University. Miss Smith
will contribute a biographical introduction; and the general
editorship of the work, which will include a considerable quantity
of hitherto unpublished material, will be intrusted to Mr, J. W. L.
Glaisher.
Tn NAtuRE for February 1 we gave a brief account of the re-
markable results obtained by Prof. Lemstrém with his network of
wires arranged up the face of the mountain at his station at Sodan-
kyla, in North Finland. By this means he succeeded in procuring
an appearance exactly similar to that of the aurora borealis. In
connection with these experiments Mr, G, A. Rowell, assistant in
the Natural History Department at Oxford, has issued a circular
calling attention to the suggestion made by him forty years ago
in reference to similar experiments. ‘‘ My views on the cause
of aurore,” Mr. Rowell states, ‘‘are that they result from elec-
tricity carried over with vapour by the superior trade-winds, from
tropical to polar regions, and its occasional accumulation in the
Jatter to such a degree as to flash back to lower latitudes, through
the atmosphere at a reduced density, but still within the regions
at which vapour is flotable although in a frozen condition. The
directive properties of the magnetic needle I attribute to the
return current of electricity from polar to tropical regions. The
following is the concluding paragraph of the report on my paper
on this subject :—‘ The author supports his opinion by general
reference to the observations on the aurora, &c., in the appendix
to Capt. Franklin’s ‘Journey to the Polar Seas, ’ and concludes
with proposing the experiments of raising electrical conductors to
the height of the clouds in the frigid regions during the frosts in
winter, which in his opinion would cause the aurora to be ex-
hibited and lead to important discoveries in the science of mag-
netism.’ ”—(efgort of the British Association, 1840, Zransactions
of the Sections, p. 49.)
DuRING the past winter, the weather in Shetland and the
north has been more stormy than for a number of years. In
evidence of the severity of the weather, the inhabitants of the
Island of Foula, which lies about eighteen miles to the west of
Shetland were only able last week for the first time this year to
cross to the mainland in their boats. The large supplies of food
laid in, as is usually done, were in many cases exhausted, and
several families were only saved from starvation by help received
from neighbours who were better supplied.
ARRANGEMENTS have been completed for an exhibition, on
an imporiant scale, of hygienic dress, sanitary appliances, and
household decoration, under Royal and distinguished patronage,
and under the direction of the National Health Society, at
Humphreys’ Hall, Knightsbridge. The exhibition will ve
opened on June 2 next. The exhibits will be divided into seven
classes, and besides hygienic, rational, and artistic dress, will
include food-products, appliances for the sick-room, home
nursing and home education, industrial dwelling and cottage
hygiene, the sanitation of the house and hygienic decoration,
heating, lighting, and cooking apparatus, fuel, &c. The Super-
intendent is Mr. E. J. Powell, 44, Berners Street, W.
THE National Smoke Abatement Institution is making
arrangements for opening a permanent exhibition in a central
part of London in an extensive range of buildings, for the display
of apparatus, fuels, and systems of heating, combining economy
with the prevention of smoke, and the best methods of ventilating
and lighting. The exhibition will be free to the public, and will
include examples of all the most recent inventions and improved
apparatus. A lecture hall for the reading of papers, and in-
struction classes will be provided ; also testing rooms under the
444
NATURE
| March 8, 1883
supervision of experts, for the purpose of continuing the series
of tests and trials commenced in connection with the South
Kensington and Manchester Smoke Abatement Exhibitions of
1882. Particulars may be obtained at the offices of the National
Smoke Abatement Institution, 44, Berners Street, Oxford
Street, London, W.
THE Executive Committee of the International Fisheries Ex-
hibition have come to a decision to light their galleries by elec-
tricity, and they have already made arrangements for the illumina-
tion of fully two-thirds of the area. Messrs. Davey Paxman and
Co. have undertaken to supply the necessary motive power,
which has been estimated at little less than 700 horse-power.
THE International Medical Congress, which, in accordance
with the resolutions of the Italian Congress of last year, is to be
held this year in Holland, will take place at Amsterdam, during
the Colonial Exhibition, from September 6 to 8 next.
WE have on good authority the following instance of the
liberality of Dr. Oscar Dickson, who has contributed so largely
to the various expeditions of Baron Nordenskjéld :—An energetic
Swedish botanist, Sven Berggren, was some years ago engaged
in studying the flora of New Zealand, of which he gave some
account in the Swedish A/tond/ad. In one of his letters he
stated, however, that his studies would have to be discontinued
from want of funds. The next day a sum of 1000/. was received
anonymously by the A/tond/ad, with instructions to forward it to
Herr Berggren. It was only many years after that it leaked out
that the generous donor was Dr. Oscar Dickson.
Part IV. of Mr. Distant’s ‘‘ Rhopalocera Malayana” ap-
peared this week. A complete synoptical key is given to the
genera, and the geographical distribution of the genera and
species is fully described. An attempt is made to allude to all
biological facts which can illustrate or explain the many com-
plexities in the distribution and economy of Malayan butterflies,
and to draw attention to the different theories which have been
promulgated to account for the same. The work may thus
prove useful as an introduction to the study of Rhopalocera.
Already it has assumed much larger proportions than estimated
owing to the number of additional species recently received or
found in other collections. Woodcuts have also been given,
and the plates are equal to anything yet produced by chromo-
lithography. Mr. Distant’s work deserves every encouragement.
AN International Congress for the Protection of Animals is
to be held at Vienna in September next. A great number of
local societies, such as those of Berlin, Cologne, Munich,
Dresden, Hanover, &c., besides several Spanish, Italian, and
Russian, have. expressed their intention of being represented
at the Congress. Anti-vivisectionist societies will not be
invited, as the promoters of the Congress, eminent men of
science, do not consider them as societies for the protection of
animals, and hold them to be generally incompetent regarding
questions relating to such protection.
THE Dutch press considers the demand made by Baron
Nordenskjold perfectly legitimate and just.
THE death is announced of Dr. Bertillon, the well-known
French anthropologist and statistician,
AT its January meeting, the Russian Chemical and Physical
Society awarded its Sokoloff premium to Prof. Menshutkin, for
his researches into the influence of isomerism of alcohols and
acids on the formation of compound ethers.
Ir is interesting to examine the items in the budget of Norway
for the ensuing year, which has just been issued, relating to the
“extraordinary ” grants made in that country for the benefit of |
science. The following are some of the donations for this year:
—To the academies of science in Christiania and Throndhjem,
600/, ; the museums of Bergen, Stavanger, and Tromso, 9oo/. ;
travels of scientific students abroad, 350/. ; the European geodetic
commission, 400/.; international observations of the physical
condition of the polar regions, 700/.; Archiv of mathematics
and natural sciences, 70/. ; other scientific journals, 130/, ; a
new natural history journal, 702, ; ‘‘ further,” towards the publi-
cation of the works of the distinguished Norwegian mathe-
matician, Abel, 1007, ; a work by Herr Norman on the Aretic
flora of Norway, 350/.; Herr Tromholt for the study of the
aurora borealis, 60/.; the Acta mathematica, 60/. ; scientific
study of the Norwegian sea fisheries, 300/. ; for the artificial
hatching of salmon ova, go/. ; geological researches of Southern
Norway, 600/.; the society for promoting the Norwegian
fisheries in Bergen, 1600/. ; publication of the reports of the
North Atlantic expedition, 100/, These amounts, as well as the
3000/7. granted towards the expenses of the Fishery Exhibition in
London, are all in addition to the ordinary subsidies of the year.
THE Swedish Government has granted a sum of 60/., for this
year, to an entomologist, whose duty it will be to advise farmers
as to the best means of destroying injurious insects.
WE are informed by the secretary of the Society of Telegraph
Engineers and of Electricians that the Crown Prince of Austria
has consented to become patron of the Vienna Electrical Exhi-
bition, and that the Emperor has signified his intention of
devoting some highly decorated rooms for the purpose of testing
the effects of incandescent lighting in connection with various
styles of decoration. The time fixed for the receipt of applica-
tions for space has been extended from the Ist to the 2oth inst.,
by which latter date they should be in the hands of the Secretary
of the Society, 4, The Sanctuary, Westminster. We are also
authorised to state that the Committee at Vienna are making
arrangements for a reduction in the rates of transit on all goods
forwarded to Vienna for exhidition.
It isa common belief among persons who keep poultry that
the shocks and tremors to which eggs are subject during transport
on road or railway affect the germ contained in the egg. M.
Dareste, who has been studying this matter (Comples Rendus),
found, a few years ago, that in eggs submitted to incubation
directly after a railway journey, the embryo very generally died ;
but a few days’ rest before incubation obviated this. He has
lately inquired into the effect of shocks on the fecundated egg-
germ, with the aid of a ¢éafoteuse, or machine used by chocolate-
makers to force the paste into the mills; it gives 120 blows a
minute. Monstrosities were always the result of the tremors so
caused, This teratogenic cause is the more remarkable that it
acts before the evolution of the embryo ; whereas the other
causes M. Dareste has indicated, as elevation or lowering of
temperature, diminution of porosity of the eggshell, the vertical
position of the egg, and unequal heating, only modify the embryo
during its evolution. The modification impressed on the germ
by those shocks did not disappear after rest, as in the case
mentioned above ; but it is not known why. A few eggs escape
the action.
THE radiometer is an instrament which may render good
service in the hands of the teacher. Prof. Rovelli has been
showing this (zv. Sct. Zud.), and among other experiments he
suggests are these :—Placing the instrument at the focus of a
parabolic mirror, while a mass of snow is put at the focus of a
like mirror facing the first a little way off ; placing it, with sul-
phuric ether, under the bell-jar of an air-pump, and exhausting,
afterwards letting in the air (the motion is opposite after the air
is admitted) ; exposing the radiometer at the focus of a parabolic
mirror turned towards the weak light reflected from snow, on a
cloudy day, then turning the mirror away from the snow. Prof,
March 8, 1883]
NATURE
445
Roveili finds that 8° of dark heat neutralise the effect of the
weak light emitted by a common candle at the distance of 45
centimetres from the radiometer. The instrument may serve
aivantageously to demonstrate the relation between the absorp-
tive and the emissive power of bodies, and to determine their
respective values.
M. Ferry, the new Premier in the French Cabinet, as well
as Minister for Public Instruction, will deliver the usual address
to the Congrés des Sociétés Savantes at the end of this month.
M. Houzeau, the director of the Brussels Observatory, has
returned from San José, but has obtained leave from his Govern-
ment, and will spend the remaining part of the winter at Cannes,
The King of Belgium is anxious to have the Observatory trans-
ferred to Laeken, to an eligible site placed in the vicinity of his
castle, but nothing is decided in that respect. A temporary shed
has been erected for the new meridian circle by Repsold, but the
readings are taken with the old one.
M. SHULACHENKO, who managed the Russian military tele-
‘graph during the Kulja expedition, communicates to the Russian
Physical Society the following results of his experiments with
Siemens’ telephones :—At adistance of 93 miles, music, singing,
and speaking were heard quite distinctly ; at 130 miles, conver-
sation was difficult, —it was necessary to shout loudly, and those
who received messages had to display a great sensibility of ear ;
but it was possible to have conversation even at a distance of
212 miles. When six pairs of telephones were put side by side,
having each its wire, and the wires not being connected with one
another, the conversation on one of them was heard on all the
others. When the connecting wire of one pair of telephones
was broken, the conversation on this pair was heard on the next
pair of telephones the wire of which was in good state.
A COMMEMORATIVE stone has been placed on the house
No. 17 in Via Dei Prefetti, Rome, to Morse, the telegraphist.
The inscription was as follows, translated into English :—
**Samuel Finkez Breese Morse inhabited this house from 2oth
February, 1830, to January, 1831, inventor of the writing electro-
magnetic telegraph. He was born at Charlestown 27th April,
1791 ; died at New York 2d April, 1872.”
THE last number of the Zzvest7a of the Russian Geographical
Society gives interesting particulars of the naphtha-wells in the
province of Ferghana, in ‘lurkistan. There are no less than
200 wells which are situated at the foot of both mountain ridges
that inclose the valley of Ferghana. One range of wells, twenty-
seven miles long, is situated on both banks of the Naryn. twenty
miles north of Namangan. The other, about sixty-five miles
long, is situated in the latitude of Makhram, in the districts of
Marghilan and Kokan. There is a third intermediate group
some thirty miles east of Andijan. The wells are situated in
the limestones and slates of the ‘* #erghana level” of the chalk
formation. The specific weight of the Ferghana naphtha is
0°950 at 17° Cels., 09517 at 28°, and 07945 at 43°; it belongs
therefore to the heavy mineral oils. The heavier parts remaining
after the evaporation of naphtha in open air are known under
the name of £4//k, and when mixed with sand give an excellent
waterproof cement, sometimes used by natives for irrigation
canals, ‘There are also mines of mountain-wax on the Kok-tube
Mountain, in the district of Namangan, and a very good mine
of sulphur at Karim-duvany.
M,. DoMojrIROFF continues to publish in the /evestéa of the
Russian Gcographical Society his anemometric observations on
board the clipper Djigtit, In June, 1881, during the cruise
from the Zond Strait to the Seychelles Islands, he met mostly
with south-east winds, the velocity of which varied from 3 to
7°5 metres per second, with one exception, on June 9, when it
|
reached 15 metres. On the cruise from the Seychelles to Aden,
from June 25 to 30, the wind was mostly south-west, and varied
from 5 to 12°7, reaching 14°3 metres per second on June 29.
The observations are carried on in the same way as was described
in a preceding number of NATURE,
THE young West Siberian branch of the Russian Geographi-
cal Society proposes to publish in its next volume of Memoirs a
botanical description of the district of Tara, which has the
interest of having an intermediate flora between the forest region
and the Steppes, the Irtish being a boundary-line between the
two. The same Soriety continues the excavation of several
koorgans in the district of Yalutorovsk.
FROM various parts of the Greek Archipelago and from the
Pelikon district continued volcanic phenomena are reported.
The neighbourhood of Volo in Thessaly is particularly affected.
Also the island of Chios seems again to be a centre of disturb-
ance. The volcano at Santorin is very active.
On February 16, at 8.10 a.m., a slight earthquake was noted
at Bologna and the whole Southern Romagna. Mount Vesuyius
increased its activity on that occasion.
A DISCOVERY, which is expected to throw some light on pre-
historic times in what is now Germany, has been made near
Andernach on the Rhine. Remains of prehistoric animals
have been found ina pumice-stone pit, and Prof. Schaaffhausen
of Bonn has investigated the spot closely, A lava-stream under-
lying the pumice-stone was laid bare, showing a width of only
two metres. The crevices between the blocks of lava were filled
with pumice-stone to a depth of one-half io one metre ; below
this, however, there was pure loam and clay, and in this were
found numerous animal bones, apparently broken by man, as
well as many stone implements. It is supposed that there was
a settlement there, of which the food-remains fell into the lava-
crevices defore the whole was covered with pumice-stone,
Tue additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Macaque Monkey (Aacacus cynomolgus)
from India, presented by Miss Annie M. Davis; an Ocelot
(Felis pardalis) from South America, presented by Mrs. A.
Harley ; a Grey Ichneumon (/erfestes griseus) from India, pre-
sented by Miss G, Gordon Clark; a Black Rat (MZus rattus),
British, presented by Mr. H. B. Stott; a Tawny Eagle (Aguila
nevioides) from South Africa, presented by Mr, Roland Trimen,
F.Z.S. ; a Slender-billed Cockatoo (Licmetis tenuirostris) from
South Australia, presented by Mr. A. Anderson; a Common
Magpie (Pica rustica), British, presented by Mr. Charles Davis ;
a Ring-necked Parrakeet (Padeoriis torguatus) from India, pre-
sented by Miss Bibby ; a Common Curlew (Wiwnenius arquata),
a Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis), British, purchased,
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
Tue Comer 1883 a.—Ina circular issued from the Imperial
Academy of Sciences, Vienna, are the following elements of a
comet discovered at Rochester, N.Y., on the 23rd ult., founded
by Dr. Hepperger upon observations on February 24, 25, and 26.
Perihelion passage, February 20'20206 M.'. at Berlin.
Longitude of perihelion 33 23 51 =
a ascending node 280 4 al eee
Mmelination| <.. <2. sa een ses 77 32 48 | :
Logarithm of perihelion distance 9°379124
Motion—direct.
Prof, Millosevich kindly communicates observations made at the
Collegio Romano in Rome :—
Rome M.T. R.A. Decl,
h. m. s. h. im. Ss. Ae Gy iy
Feb, 28 7 431 23 43 19°58 +31 37 545
March 1 7 53 14 ess, ir27 +31 49 7°
446
From Prof, A. Ricco, who writes from Palermo on February 28,
we learn that he has found the spectrum to be formed of the
three bands of hydrocarbons, with an extremely faint continuous
spectrum of the nucleus ; the sodium line (D) was not present.
The comet is receding from the earth as well as from the sun.
The elements have but little similarity to those of any comet
previously calculated.
THE GREAT COMET OF 1852.—Prof. Julius Schmidt has pub-
lished some particulars of his observations of this remarkable
body since the commencement of the present year. On Jan. 3
the tail was traced through upwards of 11° with the naked eye ;
on the roth it was visible for 8°, on the 28th it had diminished
to 54°, but was readily seen without the telescope; on the 30th
its length was 3°. On February 5 a tail 2° in length was per-
ceptible to the naked eye; Prof. Schmidt obtained his last dis-
tinct glimpse of the comet without the telescope on February 7.
Dr. B. A. Gould, director of the Observatory at Cordoba,
who is now in London ex route for the United States, informs
the writer, that on February 11, three days out from Rio Janeiro,
he was satisfied of the visibility of the tail of the comet to the
naked eye; its distance from the earth at this time was 2°48, and
its distance from the sun 3°05.
THE VARIABLE STAR U CEPHEI.—Mr. G. Knott secured a
good observation of the minimum of this variable, at Cuckfield,
on the night of March 2. An uninterruptedly clear sky enabled
him to keep a watch on the star from 7h. 24m. to 14h. 30m.
G.M.T. At about 8h. 15m. it began to fade from 7:2m., and
at 14h. 30m. it had risen again to 81m. The observed time of
minimum was 12h, 36m., or seven minutes earlier than the time
assigned in the ephemeris in NATURE, and the magnitude at
minimum was 9°45. The star remained at minimum for nearly
24 hours. The low magnitude attained, Mr. Knott considers,
is confirmatory of a suggestion he made from his earlier observa-
tions, that at alternate minima the star touches a lower magnitude
than at those which intervene.
New NEBUL&.—M. Stephan, director of the Observatory at
Marseilles, publishes a catalogue of fifty nebulz observed there,
forty-five of which he believes to be new. A group of four
pretty bright nebulz he gives as identical with 4, Nos. 2352,
2356, 2358, and 2359, but their relative positions resulting from
his observations are not in accordance with Sir John Herschel’s
Catalogue. The Marseilles places and descriptions are—
R.A. 1880’0. N.P.D.
ies sare, SY ere a
No. 42... 11 9 8°45...71 14 8:7 Assez belle, assez petite,
ronde, condensation cen-
trale.
3» 43.--- II 10 28°49 ... 71 19 391 Assez belle, assez petite,
ronde, conden-ation cen-
trale.
71 17 350 Belle, roide, assez éten-
due, condensation gra-
duelle centrale trés forte.
71 11 46°7 Assez belle, ronde, con-
densation graduelle cen-
t ale assez forte.
The catalogue is published in the Comptes Rendus del’ Académie
des Sciences of February 26.
”
44\.c DI1O230:52)--.
Abie 1 10140073)
”
GEOGRAPAICAL NOTES
WE are now enabled, on the authority of Dr. Oscar Dickson,
to give the following particulars of the programme of Nordens-
kjold’s proposed expedition :—The expedition will leave Sweden
early in May next, in all probability in the Government steamer
Sophia, and if the state of the ice is favourable to a landing on
the east coast this will be effected ; but as this is not expected to
be the case until later in the season, Baron Nordenskjéld will |
proceed to the west coast, not for geographical discovery, but to
study the appearance and extent of the inland ice on this side
before attempting to penetrate from the eastern side. There are
also known to exist on the west coast some very large blocks of
ironstone, perhaps of meteoric origin, which a party of the
expedition will be despatched to examine. When these re-
searches are finished, and the state of the ice more favourable,
the vessel will make her way from Cape Farewell along the eastern
shore in the open channel, which is generally found between the
coast and the drift-ice. With regard to the ‘‘ break” or oasis,
believed by Baron Nordenskjéld to exist in the interior of Green-
NATURE
[March 8, 1883
land, to which we have previously referred, the explorer has
been led to this conviction during his wanderings on the inland
ice on a former occasion. fe maintains that not only the con-
stant advance of the ice-mass, but the fact that the country does
not rise continually in the interior, show that the whole land is
not covered with perpetual snow and ice; and this theory, he
states, has been further corroborated by the studies made by him
and others of the temperature and moisture of the air on the
inland ice. The expedition, which will be accompanied by a
complete scientific staff, will also aim at studying the conditions
of the drift-ice between Iceland and Cape Farewell, the fossil
remains in Greenland, as well as the appearance and quantity of
the cosmic dust there. One object will also be, if possible, to
discover traces of the former Norse settlements. It is expected
that the party will return in September next. We understand
that the reason why Baron Nordenskjéld has not issued any
official programme concerning his expedition is that, being occu-
pied with preparations for his journey and public duties, he
would not be able to enter into any critical controversies as to
his plans and theory.
Ir appears from a letter of Dr, L, E. Regel to the Secretary
of the Russian Geographical Society, that this Central-Asian
traveller successfully pursued his explorations during last summer.
He left Samar-land at the end of June last, and to reach Hissar
he chose the shortest route, z7é@ Penja-kent. This route, by
which the expedition visited the Fan River and Lake Iskander-
kul, and crossed the Mur Pass, was very difficult; but the
botanical collections and the geographical results were all the
richer. Inthe centre of this region is situated a great mountain
| range, whose summits—the peaks of Kuli-kalan and the Chandar
and Bodhan Mountains—are seen from Samarkand. To the
south of this range runs the Saridagh valley, beyond which rises
the Hissar range proper; to the north it has the Kul-i-kalan
plateau and the valleys of a tributary of the Voron and the
Pasrut River. The plateau of Kul-i-kalan has a circumference
of about thirteen miles, and is dotted with five lakes 10,000 feet
above the sea-level. The mountains around it have no real
glaciers, but there are old moraines which can be traced also
along the tributary of the Voron, which is fed by on: of these
lakes. We have here a separate Alpine landscape, the mountains
of which are mostly fossiliferous limestones (sandstones with casts
of thick fossil trees are found in the Pasrut valley), and witha
vegetation not only richer than that of any other part of the basin
of the Zarafshan, but also more varied as to its distribution. The
forest vegetation is richest in the zone between 4000 and 8co0o
feet above the sea-level: M. Regel found there apple, cherry,
and nut trees, together with the 47cha. The upper zone, where
the Archa also predominates, contains birches, willows, and an
arborescent Ephedra ; it reaches 10,500 to 11,000 feet, and the
vegetation altogether goes highcr up than the limit of perpetual
snow. The Mur Pass—about 14,000 feet high—is very steep ;
the expedition had to cross snow-fields for nearly four miles, and
found on the southern slope immense accumulations of snow,
which probably is due to the foggy climate of Hissar,, although
the amount of rain is small in this region. The vegetation of
the southern slope is very rich and much like that of Karateghin.
The range is composed. of syenite ; the next range, of the same
height, between Khoja-Hassan and Hakimi, consists of granite,
syenite-gneiss, and fussiliferous slates. Between Hakimi and
Karatagh there is a series of lower parallel ridges, consisting of
fossiliferous sandstones. The same sandstones are met with
also between the two main ranges; they contain fossils at
Khoja-Hassan. Changing his former plan, M. Regel proceeded
further directly to Kala-i-Khumb, while his topographer was
despatched to Kulab, va Hissar, the two to meet in the Darvaz.
The remainder of M. Regel’s letter gives several interesting
topographical details, and information about different routes, as
well as an enumeration of the chief questions that must be
resolved as to the topography of this region.
We announced last week that a Danish expedition would
explore the east coast of Greenland during the summer. The funds
required for this expedition were voted by the last Danish
Parliament, and it will consist of two lieuteuants in the navy,
G. Holm, and T. Garde, with two scientific men, but the
remaining members will be natives of Greenland. The expedi-
tion will only employ boats for their purpose.
Tue Ural Mountains are again becoming the field of explora-
tion for Russian geologists and geographers. We learn from
the Zsvestia of the Russian Geographical Society that M. Nasi-
March 8, 1883]
NAT ORE
447
loff is spending a third year in the exploration of the Northern
Ural. After having explored the river Lala under 59° N. lat.,
where he discovered layers of spherosiderites which were not
yet known on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains, he ex-
plored the banks of the Sosva—their geolozical structure, and
the koorgans that are met with in its basin, as well as the fauna
and flora of the region, In 1882 he visited the banks of the
Lozva and Sosva, and the old mines of this locality, and made
large geological, botanical, and ethnographical coll?ctions. He
followed the Lozva to its junction wi‘h the Tavda, and went up
the Sosva. The collections brought home by M. Nasiloff are
now in the Mining Institute, in the St. Petersburg University,
and in the Geographical Society. Another member of the
Geographical Society, M. Malakhoff, continued his zoological
and ethnographical re-earches on the Middle Ural. He explored
the lake-dwellings discovered in the neighbourhood of Ekaterin-
burg, and, together with a member of the Mineralozical Society,
explored the 3000 feet high mountain, Kachkanar, making there
interesting collections of plants and insects. Later on in the
summer he visited the districts of Irbit, Ekaterinburg, and
Trvitsk, and discovered close by Irbit very interesting accumula-
tions of bones, lake-dwellings on Lake Ayat, containing large
implements of slate, and finally stone and bone implements in a
cavern close by the Mias ironworks. At Lake Bagaryak he
discovered interesting furms for casting animal and human
figures during the prehistoric epoch.
HARTLEBEN of Vienna has published a unique little work by
Dr, Jos. Chavanne, on ‘‘ Afrika’s Stréme and Fliisse,” in which
the author briefly surveys the hydrography of Africa as far as
recent discoveries have furnished them. The book is accom-
panied by a well-drawn hydrographical map.
In the March number of Hartleben’s Deuls-he Rundschau for
geography and statistics, Dr. Chavanne has a sketch of the pro-
gress of discovery in Africa during 1882. There are interesting
biographies, with portraits, of General Strelbitski and the late
Prof. Henry Draper.
THE following papers will be read at the thir] German ‘‘ Geo-
graphentag,” which will be held at Frankfort-on-the-Maine on
the 29th-31Ist inst :—On the importance of Polar research to geo-
graphical science, by Prof. Ratzel (Munich) ; on the commercial
conditions of South Africa, by Dr. Buchner (Munich); on
the significance of the International Colonial Exhibition at
Amsterdam with regard to geographical science, by Prof. Kan
(Amsterdam) ; on the reciprocal relations of climate and the
shape of the earth’s surface, by Dr. Penck (Munich); on the
means of determining the geographical position at the time of
great discoveries, by Dr. Brensing (Bremen); on the latest
efforts made to determine more accurately the shape of the earth,
by Dr. Giinther (Ausbach); memoir of Emil von Sydow, by
Dr. Cramer (Gebweiler) ; on topography as an introduction to
geography, by Dr. Finger (Frankfort); on the pedagogic
requirements and principles in drawing wall-maps for the use of
schools, by Herr Coordes (Cassel); on the method: of repre-
senting various; objects on maps, by Prof. Jaroslaw Zdenck
(Prague); on the Prussian teachinz order and examination with
reference to geographical instruction, by Dr. Kropatschek
(Brandenburg) ; on the geographical handbooks of M. Neander,
by Dr. Votsch (Gera). Three other highly interesting papers
are also promised, viz. notes fron his botanical journeys in
Tropical America extending over five years, by F. R. Lehmann ;
on the Balkan Mountains, by Prof. Toula (Vienna); and a
report on his great journey across Africa, by Lieut. Wissmann.
NEws from Zanzibar, dated November 8, 1882, brings the
sad announcement of the death of Dr. Kayser, who had been
sent by the German African Society to their station on the
shores of Lake Tanganyika, together with Drs. Boehm and
Reichard, and who had left his station and was on his way to
the Gold Coast.
THE CONSERVATION OF EPPING FOREST
FROM THE NATURALISTS’ STANDPOINT:«
“HE great expanse of primitive woodland in the immediate
_heighbourhood of East London declared ‘‘open” to the
j ublic on May 5, 1882, by Her Majesty the Queen, should be
* Being a paper read before the Essex Field Club, at the meeting held on
February 24, by Raphael Meldola, vice-president of the Club.
regarded as one of the numerous bequests to posterity marking
the enlightenment of our times. The feelings leading to the
agitation for the preservation of open spaces in and around the
metropolis are sure indications on the part of the public of a
recognition of the necessity for protecting and conserving our
common lands for outdoor recreation—a recognition which must
be considered as marking a decided advancement in the ideas of
the British holiday-maker. If we compare a map of the en-
virons of London of, say, twenty years ago, with the actual state
of the country at the present time, it will be seen that large
tracts of open land have disappeared; shady coppices and
furze-clad heaths have been inclosed and built upon, and the
country-loving Londoner has had to go further and further afield
for his rambles. If it is obviously true that increased pressure
of population demands more dwelling accommodation, it is
equally true that a denser population requires more open spaces.
The indifference of the public in former times to their own
rights and to the wants of their successors is naturally making
itself more and more seriously felt with a rapidly augmenting
population and a corresponding spread of buildings. The
formation of such public bodies as the Commons Preservation
Society and the Epping Forest Fund was a healthy sign that
people were beginning to be alive to the gravity of the situation,
and we may now fairly say that rural London is on the defen-
sive. The remarks which I am about to offer on the present
occasion are based on an unpublished article written many
months ago, when that wooded area in which our interest as a
society centres was threatened by tramway invasion. The with-
drawal of the Great Eastern Railway Company’s bill for extend-
ing their line from Chingford to High Beech in 1881, and the
apparent collapse of the tramway scheme ha led to the hope
that the ‘‘ people’s forest” would remain unmolested, and that
the Epping Forest Act of 1878 would be carried out in spirit
and in letter. But unfortunately new grounds of alarm have
recently arisen, and our honorary secretaries, to whom I
showed the original manuscript, did me the honour of thinking
that the views which I had expressed would still be found to be
in accordance with those of our own and kindred societies.
Like other open tracts in the metropolitan district, the great Wal-
tham Forest, which comprised the forests of Epping and Hainault,
was rapidly undergoing absorption. From the report of the Select
Committee of the House of Commons presented in 1863, it appears
that of the 9000 acres which constituted the Forest in 1793,
only 6000 acres then remained uninclosed. In 1871, when the
Corporation of London took up the Forest question, this area
had been reduced to 3500 acres. I do not here propose to
trouble you again with the now familiar history of the rescue of
this picturesque remnant of primeval Britain (see Mr. J. T.
Bedford’s ‘‘ Story of the Preservation of Epping Forest,” Czty
Press Office, 1882). The work—commenced more than a decade
ago by the Corporation of London—received its crowning reward
at the late Royal visitation. We shall the more appreciate the
results of the action taken by the Corporation when we bear in
mind that the total area dedicated to the public last May is very
nearly equal to the expanse of 6000 acres reported upon by the
Select Committee of 1863. But whilst expressing the gratitude
of metropolitan field naturalists generally for the restoration of
one of their largest and most accessible hunting grounds, it cer-
tainly does seem to me that the shout of triumph raised by the
Conservators has been allowed to drown the smaller voices of
those who had previously demonstrated to certain rapacious lords
of manors by somewhat forcible means that a ‘‘ neighbour’s
landmark ” was not a movable thing. It must not be forgotten
that prior to the year 1871, besides many vigorous individual
prctests, both the Commons Preservation Society and the
Epping Forest Fund had declared war against illicit inclosure.
The restoration of the Forest to the people has cost a sum of
money considerably exceeding a quarter of a million pounds
sterling, and it will be generally admitted that this amount has
been well if not wisely spent in the public cause. There are no
doubt many who have suffered by their own cupidity, or by that
of former manor lords, who still feel aggrieved at the action of
the Corporation, and it must indeed be conceded that many
whose estates have suffered curtailment have been the un-
conscious receivers of illegally acquired property and are thus
deserving of commiseration, The principles involved in the
conflict between public rights on the one hand and manorial
actions on the other are of the very deepest importance to the
community at large, and it is therefore no matter of sur-
prise that the ‘‘ Forest Question’’ should have acquired
448
a quasi-political aspect during the last few years in this
neighbourhood.
As far as I have been able to learn, the motives lead-
ing to the preservation of our Forest at the great cost
specified appear to have been pnrely philanthropic. The main
object was to secure this splendid area for the ‘recreation and
enjoyment” of Londoners generally, and more especially for
the East-End inhabitants, whose chances of holiday-making are
only too often limited to an occasional day in the country. In
one sense the latter class may now, thanks to the movement first
set in action by Mr. J. T. Bedford, claim to have a decided
advantage over their wealthier West-End brethren, for the total
area of theWest-End parks (including Regent’s) amounts only to
about 1150 acres as compared with the 5000 to 6000 acres of
open country so easily accessible to East Londoners, In the
face of such an obviously enormous gain to the country rambling
holiday folk, it may perhaps seem ill-advised to attempt to |
criticise the action of the Conservators in their dealings with the
Forest. It is with great reluctance on my part that I forsake
the peaceful paths of scientific study to take up a question which
generally appears to lead to nothing more than a manifestation
of angry controversy, and I only do so now on behalf of that
numerous and ever ircreasing scientific class of holiday-makers
whose claims thus far appear to have been altogether put out of
court.
Long before the question of encroachment or of preserva-
tion had been brought into its present prominence, botanists,
entomologists, microscopists, and students of nature generally
were in the habit of frequenting our Forest and of rambling in
quest of the objects of their study through this woodland expanse
so conveniently situated with respect to the great scientific centre
of this country. There are records which prove that Epping
Forest has been for more than a century the hunting ground of
many who have gathered materials from its glades for the great
storehouse of human knowledge, and who have taken a true
and purely intellectual delight in studying its animal and vege-
table productions. The London naturalists of the present time
should surely have something to say in connection with the fate
of this favourite haunt, made classic ground to them by the
memories of such men as Richard Warner, the author of the
“*Plantze Wocdfordienses ” (1771), Edward Forster, the Essex
botanist, who wrote between the years 1784 and 1849, and
Henry Doubleday, of Epping, our own grocer-naturalist, who
died in 1877. It is time for the natural history public, by no
means such an insignificant body as is generally supposed, to
raise their voice on behalf of these ‘happy hunting grounds.”
The position to be taken up is not necessarily one of antagonism
towards the Conservators, but it is certainly desirable that some
understanding should be come to respecting the claims of those
who, im pursuit of knowledge, have long been contented to bear
with the pitying smile of the ignorant for “*trifling away their
time upon weeds, insects, and toadstools.” The numerous
scientific societies and field clubs of the metropolitan districts
have already declared their views on former occasions, and it is
chiefly with the object of attempting to define the respec-
tive attitudes of the parties concerned that I have entered the
arena on the present occasion.
‘There are at the present time more than twenty Natural History
Clubs in the environs of London, and of these many have long
been in the habit of making collecting excursions to our Forest.
Our own Society and our Walthamstow colleagues have their
head-quarters in the Forest district. Some of the East-End
clubs are entirely composed of working men, and have done
excellent work in fostering a healthy taste for the study of out-
door natural history among this class of the community, a
matter of considerable importance to us when we so often hear
that the Forest has been acquired as a recreation-ground chiefly
for the working men of East London.
numerous local clubs, there are the great London Societies,
which, like the Linnean, Zoological, Entomological, Royal
Microscopical, and Quekett Club, are all interested in promoting
the study of biology in its various branches. Now, in face of the
rapid destruction of all the truly wild tracts of country in the
vicinity of London, it must assuredly be of the greatest import-
ance to the natural history public as a body to watch with a
most jealous eye the dealings by those in authority with this the
largest, wildest, and most accessible of all the open spaces in
the metropolitan district. To naturalists generally such a tract
of primitive country as that which has come under the manage-
ment of the Corporation is something more than a mere pic-
NATURE
In addition to these |
(March 8, 1883
nic-ing ground—to: all students of nature it is a d/ological pre-
serve. Nay, I will even go so far as to declare that forest
management is essentially a scientific subject in itself—a natural
history question in the | roadest sense. Now with the exception
of our esteemed members, the Verderers, by whom we were
invited to a conference some months ago, it appears to me that
the Conservators as a body—and a confessedly unscientific body
—are not aware that scientific counsel is necessary to enable
them to faithfully carry cut the Act of Parliament, zz. to keep
the area committed to their charge in its ‘‘ natural aspect ”
as a forest. I will therefore take the present opportunity of
pointing out that scientific criticisms would have been disarmed
and the fears of natural history students allayed it the Epping
Forest Committee had only recognised the claims of science by
consulting, let us say, the Directorate of Kew Gardens, or by
appealing to the Councils of some of the London Societies.
If we consider the actual work done during the period that the
Forest has keen under the jurisdiction of the Corporation, we
may fairly say that the energies of this body have hitherto been
developed in the direction of landscape gardening ; z.e. of arti-
ficialiang certain portions of the Forest. The great hotel at
Chingford has been made the centre of convergence of a
number of roads, some of which have been newly cut
even at the risk of being superfluous. The aquatically-
disposed holiday-maker may hire boats in which he can
paddle about on an ‘‘ornamental water,” or can embark on
a floating machine turned by hand-paddles, and possibly con-
structed with a view to delude the occupants into the belief that
they are on board a steamer. The exhausted East Londoner
whose vitality appears to require that recuperation which seems
to be derivable from swinging, steam-roundabouts, and throwing
sticks at cocoa-nuts, has been amply provided for, and his wants
| have in every way been attended to. In 1881 the Forest was
threatened by a railway ; in 1882 by a tramway, and again this
year another railway billis about to be introduced into Parliament.
To all these schemes the Committee, no doubt with the best
motives, gave and still give their support, and one has to seri-
ously ask what is the meaning of the word ‘‘ conservator,” and
how far this attitude is compatible with the instruction that
“‘the Conservators shall at all times as far as possible preserve
the natural aspect of the Forest,” and ‘shall by all lawful
means preyent, resist, and abate all future inclosures, encroach-
ments, and buildings, and all attempts to inclose, encroach, or
build on any part thereof, or to appropriate or use the same, or
the soil, timber, or roads thereof, or any part thereof, for any
purpose inconsistent with the objects of” the Act of 1878. It
must not be supposed that there is any desire on the part of
naturalists to exclude the general public. I wish only to em-
phasise the fact that up to the present time it would appear that
the Forest has fallen into the hands of those who are disposed to
regard it exclusively from the point of view of excursionists and
““cheap trips,” and in accordance with the principle that :upply
and demand act and react, it may be expected that this class—
which has thus far alone been catered for—will more and more
frequent the Forest district. Increased accommodation for ex-
cursionists means, if we may judge from the line of action pur-
sued by the Conservators, an extension of facilities for swinging
and donkey-riding. The ‘‘improvements” that have hitherto
been made have not been of such a nature as to preserve the
woodland in its native beauty, but have been limited to the con-
version of a portion of the Forest land into a resort for pleasure-
seekers of the class indicated. To the naturalist—and I am
sure I may say to the intelligent public generally—such a tract
of primitive country is beautiful only so long as Nature is given
full sway, and the adjustments which for long ages have been
going on slowly and silently under the operation of natural laws
remain unchecked and uninterfered with by man. No unscien-
tific body of Conservators can possibly realise to the fullest
extent the seriousness of the charge committed to their care,
With respect to the management of the Forest, the views of
| naturalists are now so well known that no excuse can be made
| for ignoring them, Our wants are of the simplest and most
economical nature—our case is perfectly met by the trite aphor-
ism, ‘‘let well alone.” The whole Forest area at present exist-
ing may be considered to consist of primitive woodland and of
tracts formerly under cultivation. The former can best be dealt
with by leaving the ‘management ” to Nature ; whilst the latter
should be naturalised as soon as possible. And here we cannot
| close our eyes to the fact that while a large amount of money has
| been expended in altering portions of the Forest proper, no
=
March 8, 1883 |
NATURE
449
attempt has yet been made to plant or to restore to a natural con-
dition those unsightly tracts which were formerly inclo.ed, and
of which many remain as barren wastes to the present time.
The cause of the naturalist is thus imperillei both by the active
and by the passive position of the Conmittee—he is like the
pitcher in the Italian proverb, which says that ‘* whether the
pitcher hits the stone or the stone hits the pitcher, it is always
the worse for the pitcher.”
It is now quite unnecessary to make detailed statements
of the views of individual naturalists with refereice to the
present subject. It will be remembered that at a meeting
of this Society held last year, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton
brought forward a proposal—and a very excellent one it
was—that all landowners round the Forest district should
agree to stop generally the destruction of all birds and animals
on their estates, so that a great exp2riment mizht b2 carried out
for some years, leading to a true ‘‘balance of nature” in the
whole area comprised between the valleys of the Lea ani
Roding. At the discussio. arising fron that suggestion the
preservation of the fauna and flora as a whole was advocated,
and many naturalists whose opinions will carry great weight
expressed their views on the question of forest management.
The complete report of this meeting has not yet appeared, bat I
will refer yu to it prospectively, and in an appendix to the part
of our Zrumsactions now going through the p-esi will app2ar
papers, drawn up at the request of the Council, by Dr. M.C.
Cooke, Mr. J. E. Harting, and Prof. Boalyer. The evils of
deep drainage, from the nataralis*’s point of view, which fora
the text of Dr. Cooke's protest, have already bzen pointed out
by many, and I will just call your attention to some remarks on
this subject by our eminent honorary member, Mr. A. R.
Wallace, in an able art’cle published in the Avrvtnightly Review
for November, 1878, wherein he says:—‘‘ It must be remem-
bered, too, that a proportion of bog, and swamp, and damp
hollows are essential parts of the ‘natural aspect’ of every great
forest tract. It is in and around such places thit miny trees aad
shrubs grow most luxuriantly ; it is such spots that will be
haunted by iateresting birds and’ rare insects; and there alone
many of the gems of our native flora myy still be found. Every
naturalist searches forsuch spots as his best hunting grounds. Every
lover of natuce finds them interesting anl enj>oyable.”” After enu-
meratiog some of the rarer marsh plants of our Forest, Mr. Wallace
continues :—‘* These ani many other choice plants would be
exterminated if by too severe drainige all such wet places were
made dry. The marsh birds and rare insects which hauated
them would disappear, and thus a chief source of recreation and
enjoyment to that num2rous and yearly increasing class who
delight in wild flowers, birds, and insects, would be seriously
interfered with.”’
It is sonewhat exceptional for a society fouided for
the study and promotion of natural science to find itself
engazed in active polemics, but in tasinz up the position
into which we have been forced, we are simply carrying out
that line of action which at our foundatioa I ventured to
lay down as our true function with respect t» the Forest.
(Inaugural Address, Zransactions, vol. i. pp. 19, 20.) It is
extremely unfortunate that the claims of science should appear
to be opposed to the wants of the general public—I say should
appear to be opposed, because I am convinced that there is no
reil antagonism. The grievance of naturalists is not only that
their claims have been ignored, but the action of the Conserva-
tors has hitherto been entirely on the destructive side, and a
feeling of alarm has arisen lest the whole of the Forest should
piecemeal be desecrated in the name of a fictitious philanthropy.
The public wants—a; interpreted by the Board of Conservators
—are made to take the form of clearing of underwood, drain-
age, roadmaking, the intersection of the Forest by railways
and tramways, and ample public-house accommodation. If
these are really the fundamental requirements of holiday-seekers,
then there must for ever be a strong antagonism between this
class of the public and those whose cause I have taken it upon
myself to advocate. At this juncture, however, we may fairly
ask whether this kind of artificialised recreation-ground, @ /a
Cremorne, is actually demanded by the frequenters of the Forest.
I believe myself that it is not. The notion of keeping a
holiday in what is only too often a bestial manner is not a fair
estimate of the British excursionist. If he gives way to the
temptations which have been so lavishly scattered in his path, it
is, as Shakespeare puts into the mouth of King John, because
‘*the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done.” The
East Londoner who wishes to spend a day ina ‘‘ people’s park” is
provided for elsewh2re, but if we conjent to the denaturalisiag
of our Forest, the more intelligent class of excursioaists—and
their name is lezion—will be either driven from its precincts or
will suffer that degeneration which the liae of ac'ion at present
pursued is exclusively calculated to bring about.
- Inthe course of these re marks I may have s»mewhat exaggerated
the supposed antagonism between the twoclasses most interested
in the conservation of Epping Forest, but I have done so wita th:
object of defining as sharply as possible the position of the hitherto
uaconsidered naturalist. The conditions requisite for transform-
ing the Forest intoa *‘ people’s park” are fatal t» its preservation
as a natural history resort. Any pieze of waste land can be
made into a park, but a tract of wild forest onze destroyed can
n2vec b2 restored. I would once more urge, and most en-
phatically, that there is no: the slightest desire on the part of
naturalists to exclude the ‘‘ toiling million,” or to prevent their
full enjoyment of the Forest. I wish only to point out that my
present contention is that inthe long rua the wants, both of the
naturalist and of the ordiairy excu-sionist, will be found to be
absolutely coincideat. If th2 neighboarhood of a railway ter-
minus with its conco nitant evils leads to the destruction of the
“natural aspect” of any portion of the Forest, that portion is
runed, not oily for the natucalist, but likewise for the general
pwlic who com: to enjoy a day ia the couatry fur fron “*the
bu y hum of mea.” By juliciou; management the re juirements
of both claises can b2 met, and it rests entirely with the Con-
servators to determine whether the attitude of th: respective
parties is to be pacific or the revers?. It must be rem2mberel
that long befo-ethe Forest was rescued by the Corporation this
district was a favourite resort of multitudes of holiday folk,
and, not being interfered with to any considerable exteat, was
at the same time available to the naturalist. The note of
alarm must be sounded, or we may find ourselves worse off than
in pre-Conservatorial times. The constitution of the Eppiaz
Forest Committze is apparently prejudicial to our interests if
we may judge by the standird of past and present actions.
Of this Com nittee the Verderers, who, as represe iting the Co n-
moners and as residents in the Forest district, are best qualified to
advise with respect to the manazement of the Forest, form but four
ofa Committee of sixteen. However enlightened the views of these
gentlemen miy be—and I only wish I could say that the present
Verderers were unanimously of our way of thinking—they are
thus liable to be outvoted. Another evil, and a most serious
one so far a; we are concerned, is that the Committee is prac-
tically a secret one—its proceedings are conducted with closed
doors, and the people at large, whether naturalists or excur-
sionists, have no means of making their voices heard. Whether
this action is just in a case where the fund; are derived from a
public source it does not enter into my province to consider.
The views which I have now put forward are offered with the
best of intentions with respect to the boly Conservatorial. We
cannot be unmindful of our oblization to the Corp >ration for having
saved the Forest, but we appeal to them to assist in exalting the
ideas of those who frequent this place as a holiday resort instead
' of pandering solely to the more degraded aspect of humana
nature. A day spent amid the natural beauties of our sylvan
glades is the beau ideal of a holiday, intellectually, morally, and
physically, to those whose pursuits keep them confined to the
town. Let Epping Forest be preserved for the multitudes who
have for so lonz enjoyed it rationally. The ‘‘recreation and
enjoyment of the vublic”’ will thus bec »me possessed of a higher
meaning, and the na‘uralist while carrying on his studies as here-
tofore will be doubly grateful to those who have secured these
time-honoured preserves as a public space free from all fear of
inclosure or destruction. The ideas which I have attempted to
formulate are I know entertained by large numbers not only of
working naturalists, but also by the continually gcowing class of
lovers of the country and of nature in general. It is becoming a
matter of almost national importance that the surviving tracts
of open country in the neighbourhood of all large towns should
be rigidly preserved, and opinions in accordance with this hay-
from time to time been forcibly expressel both with resp2ct to
our own Forest and all the common lands in the environs of
London.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE. —The following farther appointments to Electoral
Boards have been made :—
Professorship of Botany: Sir Jos. Hooker, Dr. F. Darwin,
450
NATURE
| March 8, 1883
Dr. M. Foster, Prof. Oliver, Dr. Hort, Dr. Phear (Master of
Emmanuel College), Rev. G. F. Browne, and Rev, M. J.
Berkeley.
Woodwardian Professorship of Geology: Prof, Prestwich
(Oxford), Rev. E. Hill, Mr, W. H. Hudleston, Mr. A. Geikie
(Director of Geological Survey), Dr. Phear, Mr. R. D. Roberts,
Mr. Ewbank, and Prof. A. Newton.
Professorship of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy : Prof.
Flower, Prof. Moseley (Oxford), Dr. M. Foster, Prof. Huxley,
Mr. J. W. Clark, Dr. F. Darwin, Prof. Humphry, and Mr. D.
McAlister.
The Woodwardian Professor has been authorised to apply a
sum equivalent to the late Assistant’s stipend in payment of
Demonstrators for this and the next term.
The regulations for the degrees of Doctor in Science and
Doctor in Lett-rs have been confirmed, with minor modifi-
cations.
The additional mathematical examination of candidates for
honours in the ‘‘Little Go” is to be discontinued ; Elementary
Logic is to be hereafter allowed as a substitute for Paley’s
Evidences ; Euclid is to be limited to the more useful proposi-
tions ; algebra is to be increased in quantity ; and the examina-
tion is to be held three times a year, the additional time being
at the beginning of October.
The subject for the next Sedgwick Prize Essay, 1885, is ‘‘ The
Jurassic Rocks of the Neighbourhood of Cambridge.”
The last Report of the Mathematical Board recommends that
the Moderators and Examiners shall be the adjudicators of the
Smith’s Prizes, and that the Smith’s Prizes be awarded on the
results of Part III. of the Mathematical Tripos. This would
give more distinction to the examination in the higher subjects.
The concurrence of Professors Stokes, Adams, and Cayley in
this recommendation is a strong point in its favour.
The report of the Moderators and Examiners in the last
Mathematical Tripos, the first under the new system, gives par-
ticulars about Part III., to which only the Wranglers are ad-
mitted. Of the twenty-nine Wranglers, sixteen presented them-
selves for Part III., of whom two were not finally classed. In
order to give opportunity to a candidate who had confined his
reading mainly to one group of the higher subjects to employ
his whole time in questions in that group, the examiners in the
five bookwork papers gave at least four questions in each group
which came into the paper, and fixed five as the limit of ques-
tions to be answered. In the fifth paper, subjects for essays
were chosen from each group. The majority of candidates
attempted too many subjects, and their answers as a rule wer
poor and meagre. The Examiners are far from satisfied with
the average performance of the candidates in Part III., but they
expect better results when the new system is better understood,
especially the encouragement given to limiting reading in the
hizher subjects to one or two groups.
FREE admission to the lectures and courses of practical
instruction in the Normal School of Science and Royal School
of Mines at South Kensington and Jermyn Street will be
granted to alimited number of Teachers and Students of Science
Classes under the Science and Art Department, who intend to
become Science Teachers. The selected candidates will also
receive a travelling allowance, and a maintenance allowance of
twenty-one shillings per week while required to be present in
London. The courses given and the duration of each are as
stated below :—Chemistry: Part I., October to February ;
Parts II. and III., October to June. Physics: Part I., October
to February; Parts II. and III., October to June. Biology:
October to June. Geology: Part I., February to June; Part
II., October to February. Mechanics: Part I., February to
June; Parts II, and III., October to June. Metallurgy: Oc-
tober to June. Mining: October to June. Agriculture: Oc-
tober to January. Attendance is required from 9 or IO a.m.
to 4or 5 p.m. daily, in addition to the time necessary in the
evening for writing up notes, &c. Students will be required to
attend the Classes for Mathematics, Geometrical Drawing, and
Freehand Drawing, so far as may be considered necessary.
Candidates for these Studentships must send in their applications
before May 31, on Science Form No. 400, copies of which may
be obtained on application to the Secretary, Science and Art
Department, South Kensington. When the same student is a
candidate for more than one course, the order of preference
should be given. It should, in all cases, be stated for which
course or courses the student is a candidate.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
American Fournal of Science, February.—Henry Draper, by
G. F. B.—Fauna at the base of the Chemung group in New
York, by H. S. Williams.—Geological chemistry of Yellow-
stone National Park.—Geyser waters and deposits, by H. Leff-
mann.—Rocks of the Park, by W. Beam.—Electromagnetic
theory of light; general equations of monochromatic light in
media of every degree of transparency, by J. W. Gibbs.—The
rainfall in Middletown, Connecticut, from 1859 to 1882, by H.
D. A. Ward.—Discoveries in Devonian Crustacea, by J. M.
Clarke.— Observations of the transit of Venus, 1882, made at
the Lick Observatory, by D. P. Todd.—The antennz of Melée,
by F. C. Hill.—Hypersthene-Andesite, by W. Cross.~—Method
for determining the collimation constant of a transit circle, by.
M. Schzeberle.
The American Naturalist, December, 1882, contains :—A
pilgrimage to Teotibuacan, by R. E. Hills.—On the grey rabbit
(Lepus sylvaticus), by Samuel Lockwood.—The Paleozoic allies
of Nebalia, by A. S. Packard, jun.—American work on recent
mollusca in 1881, by W. H. Dall.—The organic compounds in
their relations to life, by L. F. Ward.—The reptiles of the
American Eocene, by E. D. Cope.
January, 1883, contains :—The history of anthracite coal in
nature and art, by Jas. L. Lippincott.—The development of the
male prothallium of ihe field horse-tail, by D. H, Campbell.—
On the geological effects of a varying rotation of the earth, by
J. E. Todd.—On the bite of the North American coral snakes
(Zlaps), by F. W. True.—Achenial hairs and fibres of Com-
posites, by G. Macloskie.—Instinct and memory exhibited by
the flying squirrel in confinement, with a thought on the origin
of wings in bats, by F. G. King.—The extinct Rodentia of
North America, by E. D. Cope.
February, 1883, contains:—The Kindred of Man, by A. E.
Brown.—Indian Stone Graves, by C. Rau.—On organic physics,
by C. Morris.—The mining regions of Southern New Mexico,
by F. M. Endlich.—The extinct Rodentia of North America,
by E. D. Cope.—Spencer and Darwin.—The Beastiarians.
Anna'en der Physik und Chemie, No. 2.—The electric con-
ductivity of some cadmium and mercury salts in aqueous solu-
tions by D, Grotrian.—On the change of the double refraction of
quartz by electric forces, by W. C. Rontgen.—On the optical
behaviour of quartz in the electric field, by A. Kundt.—On the
function of magnetisation of steel and nickel, by H. Meyer.—
Contributions to the history of recent dynamo-electric machines,
with some remarks on determination of the degree of action of
electromagnetic motors, by A. von Waltenhofen.—On the vis-
cosity of salt solutions, by S. Wagner.—Researches on the ab-
sorption of gases by liquids under high pressures, by S. y.
Wroblewski.—Strecker’s memoirs on the specific heat of gaseous
biatomic compounds of chlorine, bromine, iodine, &c., by L.
Boltzmann.—On the luminosity of flames, by W. Siemens.—
Distillation in vacuum, by A. Schuller.—Researches on the
elasticity of crystals of the regular system, by K. R. Koch.—On
absolute measures, by C. Bohn.—Correction of the method
adopted by Rk. Kohlrausch in his researches on contact-elec-
tricity, by E. Gerland.—The volume-change of metals in
melting, by F. Nies and A. Winkelmann.—Correction, by A.
Guebhard.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, February 22.—‘‘ Preliminary Note on the
Action of Calcium, Barium, and Potassium on Muscle.” By
T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., and Theodore Cash, M.D.
It has been shown by Ringer that calcium prolongs the con-
traction of the frog’s heart. This prolongation is diminished
by the subsequent addition of potash.
It occurred to us that calcium and potassium salts might exer-
cise a similar action on voluntary muscle. Ontrying it we found
this to be the case. Calcium in dilute solution prolongs the
duration of the contraction in the gastrocnemius of the frog.
Potassium salts subsequently applied shorten the contraction.
We have been led to try the effect of barium on muscle by con-
siderations regarding the relations of groups of elements, accord-
ing to Mendelejeft’s classification, to their physiological action.
These considerations we purpose to develop in another paper.
The effect of barium is very remarkable. It produces a curve
March 8, 1883 |
very much like that caused by veratria, both in its form and in
the modifications produced in it by repeated stimuli. We have
found that the veratria curve is restored by potash to the normal
in the case of the gastrocnemius, just as Ringer found it in the
case of the frog’s heart. The peculiarity which barium produces
in the gastrocnemius is also abolished by potash. We have
tested a number of other substances belonging to allied groups,
and find that some of them have a similar, though not identical,
action with barium, The results of these experiments, as well
as the general considerations to which we have ‘already alluded,
we purpose to discuss in another paper.
“On the Formation of Uric Acid in the Animal Economy,
and its Relation to Hippuric Acid.” By Alfred Baring Garrod,
M.D., F.R.S.
The paper is divided into an introduction and three parts.
The introduction contains the results of a series of experiments
upon the solubility of uric acid and its most important salts, at
the temperature of the body ; and upon the effects of mixing the
urates of sodium and ammonium with the phosphates and
chlorides of the same bases.
Part I. contains observations upon the physical and micro-
scopic characters of the urinary excretions of birds, reptiles, and
some invertebrata, as well as chemical investigations of such
excretions, and of the blood of the same classes of animals, with
a view to the detection therein of uric acid. Part II. deals with
the formation of uric acid in the animal economy, The rival
theories are discussed, and from the consideration of the very
large quantities of uric acid, in proportion to the body-weight,
excreted by many of the lower animals, as well as the inability
of the kidneys to excrete uric acid which has been taken by the
mouth or injected into the blood, the author is led to the opinion
that the uric acid is a product of changes which take place in
the kidneys itself, and is not merely filtered off from the blood. °
This view receives further support from the fact that, whilst the
kidneys excrete ammonium urate, uric acid when found in the
blood is in the form of the more stable sodium urate.
It is further shown that when solutions of hippurates are |
mixed with solutions of urates, the salts exert an influence upon
each other, and details of experiments to demonstrate this action
are embodied in an appendix.
Linnean Society, February 15.—Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited a
perfect hermaphrodite butterfly (Zycena zcarus), and a blue
male and brown female of the same species for comparison.
The hermaphrodite in question possesses two spotless blue wings
on the left, and two spotted brown wings on the right, thus
being intermediate in colour between the two sexes.—Dr. W. C.
Ondaatje exhibited a collection of thirty species of Ceylon
corals, of which twenty were of a stony character. ‘The series
agree in the main with those of the Indian fauna ; four are new
species, viz. two of Cavoria, one of Pavonia, and one of
Alcyonium, the two latter however showing most affinity to
forms met with in islands of the Pacific Ocean.—Mr. T. Christy
called attention to examples of Carnauba palm leaves and to the
wax of the tree; and he also showed specimens of a hybrid
Primula (P. japonica and P. sinensis) with double whorls of
flowers. —Mr. J. G. Baker read his third contribution to the
flora of Madagascar, In this he gives descriptions of the new
Incomplete and Monocotyledons contained in the collections
recently made in Madagascar by the Rey. R. Baron and
Dr. G. W. Parker. The only new genus is Cephalophyton,
a Balanophorad used in medicine, of which the material is
not complete. Most of the new species belong to widely
spread tropical genera, such as Ficus, Loranthus, and Croton.
Cape types are represented by Faurea, Peddiea, Dais, Kniphofia,
and Digcadi, one species of each, and by four Aloes. Of
Obetia, a genus of arborescent stinging-nettles known only in
Madagascar and the neighbouring islands, there are four new
species. The Bamboo common in the woods of Imerina proves
to be conspecific with that of the interior of Bourbon. There
is a curious Zxocarpus with phyllocladea, nearly allied to species
from Norfolk Island and the Malay archipelago.—Mr. C.
B, Clarke has contributed a complete synopsis of all the
species of Cyperus known in Madagascar and the neighbouring
islands.—Mr, George Murray read a paper on the outer peridium
of Broomeia. This gasteromycetous fungus, which is nearly
related to Geaster consists of a mass of individuals closely seated
together on a corky stroma, These individuals have been found
up till now with only one peridium, and the Rev. Mr. Berkeley,
who first described the plant in 1844, treated the stroma as the
NAT OTE
451
!
| homologue of an outer peridium. Mr. Murray has found
on some specimens recently brought from Dammara Land
a true outer peridium common to all the individuals. From an
examination of it he is able to throw light on the mode of
development of this fungus. —A paper was read on the ‘* Manna”’
or Lerp insect of South Australia, by Mr. J. G. Otto Tepper.
This contained observations on the insect in question and on the
peculiar saccharine substance derived from it, which is deposited
on Eucalypt trees.—Mr. W. B. Hemsley read a communication
on the synonymy of Didymoplexis, and on the elongation of the
pedicle of D. fadlens, The latter saprophyte orchid is widely
scattered in tropical Asia, though apparently nowhere very
common. It is remarkable for the elongation of its pedicles
after flowering, At tle time of flowering the pedicles are
shorter than the flowers, which are less than half an inch long ;
but afterwards they elongate, sometimes as much as a foot. The
object seems to be to carry the ripening fruit clear of the wet
decaying vegetable matter in which the plant grows.
Zoological Society, February 20, W. H. Fowler, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell exhibited a selection
of microscopical preparations received from the Zoological
Station at Naples, and made some remarks upon them.—Mr,
J. J. Weir exhibited and made remarks on an apparently
hermaphrodite specimen of Zycenea tcarus.—Mr. Sclater gave
an account of the birds collected by Mr. H. O. Forbes, F.Z.S.,
during his recent expedition to Timor Laut, and exhibited the
specimens. The species were fifty-five in number, sixteen of
which were described as new to science under the following
names :—/Vinox forbest, Strix sororcula, Tanygnathus subaffinis,
Geoffroius tenimberensts, Monarcha castus, Monarcha mundus,
Rhipidura hamadryas, Myiagra fulviventris, Micreca hemi-
| xantha, Grauculus unimodus, Lalage mesta, Pachycephala arcti-
torguis, Diceum fulsidum, Myzomela annabelle, Calornis crassa,
and Megapodius tenimberensis. The general facies of the avifauna
as thus indicated was stated to be decidedly Papuan, with a
| slight Timorese element, evidenced by the occurrence of certain
species of the genera Geoctchla and Erythura ; while the new
owl (Strix sororcula) was apparently a diminutive form of a
peculiar Australian species.x—Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell read the
second of his series of papers on the Holothuroidea. The
present communication contained the descriptions of some new
species which the author had discovered while examining the
specimens of this group contained in the collection of the British
Museum.—Dr. Hans Gadow read a paper on the suctorial ap-
paratus of the Tenuirostres, pointing out that the tubular
structure of the tongue in this group is produced by the over-
growth of the horny lingual sheath, the edges of which curl
upwards and inwards.—A paper was read by Mr. L. Taczan-
owski, C.M.Z.S., Curator of the Museum at Warsaw, in which
he gave the descriptions of some new species of birds in the
collection made by Dr. Raimondi during his recent explorations
in Peru. The species in question were seven in number, belong-
ing to six genera, namely, Carenochrous seebohmi, C, dressert,
Phytotoma raimondi, Ochthaca jelskii Upucerthia pallida,
Cynanthus grisetventris, and Psittacula crassivostris.—Mr, Tac-
zanowski also read a communication from Dr, Dybowski, in which
the sexual differences between the skulls of AAj tina stelleri were
pointed out.—A communication was read from Mr, G, B.
Sowerby, jun., containing the descriptions of nine new species of
shells and of the opercula of two known species,
Entomological Society, February 7.—]. W. Denning,
M.A., F.L.S., president, in the chair.—Two Members and one
subscriber were elected.—Mr. J. R. Billups exhibited a species
of Conocephalus which was found in a greenhouse at Lee and
kept alive some time.—Mr. F. P. Pascoe read some comments
on a letter recently contributed to NA1uRE by the Duke of
Argyll, respecting a moth observed by him at Cannes.—Mr. E.
A. Fitch exhibited three species of Hymenoptera from Am-
barawa, Sumatra.—M. L, Peringuey communicated notes on
the habits of three species of Pawssus observed by him at the
Cape of Good Hope.
Mineralogical Society, February 15.—Mr. W. H. Hudle-
ston, F.G.S., president, in the chair.—Prof. Church exhibited
and described a specimen of siliceous matter obtained by Mr.
Vicary from the Upper Greensand of Haldon, which contained
98 per cent. of silica.—The President then read a paper on a
recent hypothesis with respect to the diamond rock of South
Africa. A discussion ensued.in which Profs, Rupert Jones, John
Morris, and Church took part.—A paper from Mr. J. H.
452
NATURE
| March 8, 1883
Collins was read on the minerals of Rio Tinto. The President,
Prof. Morris, and Mr. Kitto joined in the discussion.
Meteorological Society, February 21.—Mr. J. K. Laughton,
F.R.A.S., president, in the chair.— Rev. W. R. C. Adamson,
R, P. Coltman, W. F. Gwinnell, Capt. C. S. Hudson, T. Mann,
F. G. Treharne, and W. Tyson, were elected Fellows. —The
following papers were read :—Notice of a remarkable land fog
bank, ‘‘the Larry,” that occurred at Teignmouth on October 9,
1882, by G. W. Ormerod, M.A., F.M.S. The “Larry” is a
dense miss of rolling white land fog, and is confined to the
bottom of the Teign Valley, differing therein from the sea fog
which rises above the tops of the hills; it appears about day-
break, and has an undulating but well-defined upper edge,
which leaves the higher part of the hillsides perfectly clear.
The author gives an account, illustrated by photographs, of the
remarkable fog bank that occurred at Teignmouth on the
morning of October 9.—Barometric depressions between the
Azores and the continent of Europe, by Capt. J. C. de Brito
Capello, Hon. Mem. M.S. The author gives the tracks of
several depressions from the Azores to Euro; e, and shows that if
there had been a telegraphic cable, nearly every one of them
could have been foretold in England.—Weather forecasts and
storm wariings on the coast of South Africa, by Capt. C. M.
Hepworth, F.M.S.—Note on the reduction of barometric read-
ings to the gravity of latitude 45°, and its effect on secular
gradients, and the calculated height of the neutral plaae of
pressure in the tropics, by Prof. E. D. Archibald, M.A.,
F.M.S.
Physical Society, February 24.—Prof. Clifton in the chair.
—New members: Prof. A. W. Scott, M.A., Mr. F. E. M.
Page, B.Sc.—Mr. Lewis Wright read a paper on the optical
combinations of crystalline films, and illustrated it by experi-
ments. He exhibited the beautiful effects of polarisation of light
and the Newtonian retardation by means of plates built up of thin
mica films and Canada balsam. The wedges thus formed gave
effects superior to those of the more expensive selenite and
calcite crystals. The original use of such plates is due to Mr.
Fox, but Mr. Wright showed many interesting varieties of
them, including what he termed his ‘‘ optical chromotrope,”
formed by superposing a concave and } wave-plate on each
other. Norenberg’s combined mica and selenite plates were also
shown. Mr. Spottiswoode praised the results very highly, and
pointed out their value to the teacher and student as showing
how the effects can be produced step by step. The phenomena
can be shown by an addition to the ordinary microscope, costing
some two guineas, as made by Messrs. Swift and Sons.—Mr.
Braham then gave an experimental demonstration of the
vorticle theory of the solar system by rotating a drop of castor |
oil and chloroform in water until it threw off other drops as
planets.
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, February 19.—Mr. A. Forbes Irvine in the
chair.—Mr. G, Auldjo Jamieson read a long and interesting
paper on land tenure in Scotland in the olden time, in which
the author, after describing in detail the various ancient systems
and the survivals of them that exist even now in different parts
of the country, strongly deprecated the position taken by some
that a return to the old systems would be beneficial.—Prof,.
Rutherford, in a paper on the microscopical appearances of
striped muscular fibre during relaxation and contraction, main-
tained that the views held generally by physiologists as to which
is the contractile portion of the fibre were quite erroneous.
A great deal of the inconsistency that seemed to exist was due to
difference in the appearance of muscular fibre according as it
was relaxed or contracted; and previous observers had been
unable to explain this simply because they had not hit upon
an cftective method of preserving the fibre in either condi-
tion. The paper was illustrated by enlarged diagrams and by
microscopical preparations of the fibres in various conditions.
BERLIN
Physiolagical Society, February 9.—Prof. du Bois Rey-
mond in the chair.—Dr, Walten, who was present as a visitor,
gave a detailed account of his experiments upon the power of
hearing in hysterical, hemianzsthetic persons. He has deter-
mined the presence of different degrees of deafness, in cases of
partial and complete hemizsthesias, in addition to the manifold
motor and sensory hyperzsthesias and anzsthesias. In all
cases anesthesia of the external auditory meatus and of the
membranum tympani existed on the affected side; the lesser
degrees of deafness manifested themselves in the same way that
senile deafness sets in, z.e. in interference with the propagation of
sounds through the cranial bones, while direct hearing by the ear
was still normal. When a higher degree of hysterical deafness was
present, high tones could not be perceived by the ear. In extreme
cases deafness is absolute on the affected side. All degrees of
uni-lateral hysterical deafness could, like the remainder of the
manifestations of hemizesthesia, be transferred to the healthy
side through the operation of a powerful magnet. Dr. Walten
was able to measure the gradual decrease of deafness on the
affected side and its gradual increase on the healthy side.—Dr.
Martius, reasoning by analogy from the fact that a frog’s heart
cannot contract unless it is bathed in a nutritive fluid, from
which it takes the energy required for its work, has tried to de-
termine by experiment if other organs, e.g. the brain, require a
continual supply of a nutritive fluid in order to keep up their
activity. He therefore replaced the blood of frogs by a neutral salt-
solution of the strength of 0°6 per cent., with which he washed
out the blood-vessels until the fluid ran off free from blood,
and as clear as water, and he observed the functions of the
central nervous system in these frogs (salt-frogs). It was, how-
ever, soon discovered that all the blood had not been removed
from the body by driving salt-solution through once, because,
when the process was repeated after a few hours’ time, the fluid
flowed off deeply coloured with blood, and this process had to
be renewed very frequently before the blood was reduced to a
minimum. Hence, in the experiments with ‘‘salt-frogs,” the
brain was supplied by blood that was more and more diluted,
and it reacted as follows :—After washing out the vessels once
with salt-solution, the frog behaved like a brainless frog behaves.
It sat still and did not make any spontaneous movements ; it
breathed normally, and exhibited the croak-reflex to perfection.
After the vessels had been washed out twice, the croak-reflex
had disappeared, and breathing was irregular and intermittent ;
finally, when the blood was still further diluted, respiration
entirely ceased and the general reflex-irritability was greatly
increased, as in frogs whose spinal cord is separated from their
medulla oblongata. The conclusion to be drawn is that the
brain, as well as the heart, requires the presence of a nutritive
fluid from which it abstracts the energy for its work. The frogs
that were operated upon recovered perfectly from the first stage
in a few days’ time, but did not recover from the later stages.
It is evident that they bore the transfusion of such large
quantities of salt-solution very well. On the other hand, they
could not be used for experiments upon blood-transfusion, be-
cause they died even after very moderate transfusions of blood
from other animals.
GOTTINGEN
Royal Society of Sciences, December 27, 1882.—On an
onyx cameo not hitherto known, with a replica of the represen-
tations on the upper and middle layers of the large Paris cameo
of La Sainte Chapelle, by F. Wie:eler.
CONTENTS
THe OrIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS ., . «© + « « © «+ = « «
Our Book SHELF:— 3
Rankine’s ‘‘ Useful Rules and Tables relating to Mensuration,
Engineering, Structures, and Materials” . .... . 431
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:—
Mr. Stevenson’s Observations on the Increase of the Velocity of
the Wind with the Altitude. —THoMAs STEVENSON. . . . . 432
The Supposed Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians.—W. SaviLie
Kenn OSS Ril oo! Oe RG ee ee ate ne ea
Influence of a Vacuum on Electricity—A. M. WorTHINGTON —-
(With Illustration). «6 + i + me ee et = ane
The Meteoroid of November 17, 1882 —H. Dennis TAYLOR 434
A Meteor.—R. W. S GriFFITH . . «+ + s sees 434
Aurora.—JostpH JOHN MuRPHY . . . . «| + 434
Hovering of Birds.—Dr. J. Rat, F-R.S. . - «2 » ss + + 434
AMATEURS AND ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION. By W F. DENNING 434
On THE NaTurE OF INHIBITION, AND TH# ACTION OF DruGS UPON
it, Il. By Dr. T. Lauper Brunton, F.R.S. (With Illustrations) 436
Tue SHapes or Leaves, I. By GRANT ALLEN (With Idlustrations) 439
HERRING AND SALMON FISHERIES. «© « «© © «© + © © = «© «© « 442
Nores . OY un sick “ay tay, oh de sie) tel vie rint Alo E ED nat,
Our AsTRONOMICAL COLUMN :—
The Comet 1883 @ Zee os 445
The Great Comet of 1882. . . . ; 446
The Variable Star U Cephei - a = 446
New Nebuloeaiyie os) eo ees, es eae no SR Ab O
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NATURE
453
THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1883
THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION IN NAPLES
HERE are few of those interested in biological
studies who are not more or less familiar with the
history and character of the great international laboratory
on the shore of the Bay of Naples, which has had so
profound an influence on the progress of zoology in the
last nine years; scarcely a volume belonging to recent
zoological literature, British or foreign, can be taken up,
but the acknowledgment of indebtedness to the resources
of the Naples station comes under the eye ; the publica-
tions of the station are on the shelves of most scientific
libraries ; and many accounts of its organisation have
appeared from time to time in scientific periodicals and
even in the daily press. But the institution is much too
interesting a topic of discussion to be easily exhausted ;
it is constantly developing and exhibiting new stages of
existence. There is soon to be added a new department
that of comparative physiology, the work of which will be
carried on in a separate laboratory ; and on the eve of an
expansion so considerable, it is natural to reflect on the
work the station has already accomplished, its present
state of activity, and the probabilities of its future.
In no branch of zoological science has such rapid and
important progress been made in recent years as in
embryology, and the investigations into the development
of marine forms of all classes by which this progress has
been chiefly effected, have been in great part the result of
the special facilities which the resources of the Naples
station offer for this kind of research. The brilliant
career of the lamented Francis Balfour was begun while
he occupied, on the opening of the station in 1874,
the table rented by Cambridge University. His stay on
this occasion lasted from February to June, and re-
sulted in the publication of his first paper, “On the
Development of Elasmobranchs,” in the Qvzarterly
Journal of Microscopical Science. The material for
the researches which he continued to carry on at Cam-
bridge on his return was sent from the station. In 1875
he again spent some months at Naples, and again
published the results of his workin the same Quarterly
Journal, this time under the title “‘ A Comparison of the
Early Stages in the Development of Vertebrates.” The
following year he did not visit the station, but in 1877 he
investigated there the spinal nerves of Amphioxus, and
added to his work on Elasmobranchian embryology.
These studies appeared in the Journal of Anatomy and
Physiology, vols. x. and xi. In the preface to his
“Monograph on the Development of Elasmobranchs,”’
which, published in 1878, was at once recognised by all
biologists as a classical work, Balfour gratefully acknow-
ledges how much his researches owed to the resources
of the zoological station and the support of its ersonnel.
It is unnecessary to dilate here on the importance of
Balfour's work ; the significance of the discoveries which
he made, such as the openings of the renal organs into
the body cavity in Selachians as in Annelids, the epiblastic
origin of the sympathetic system, the history of the blas-
topore in vertebrates, and its relation to the medullary
canal, the head cavities, &c., and the masterly way in
which he applied the results of his observations to the
Vo L. XXVII.—NO. 698
solution of the great problems of vertebrate morphology,
have given him a place among those whose names mark
epochs in the progress of science.
Another English name connected with work in the
field of vertebraie embryology which does honour to the
Naples station is that of Mr. Milnes Marshall, who has
More than once occupied the British Association table.
Much of our knowledge of the development of Salpa, the
excentric relation of the vertebrates, is due to the work in
the station of Professors Salensky and Todaro.
Molluscan embryology has benefited by the existence
of the station through the work of Prof. Lankester and
the Russian embryologist, Dr. Bobretzky. The former
carried on researches in the laboratory in the spring of
1874, and obtained many of the important results which
are embodied in his memoir “On the Development of
Cephalopoda”? (Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci. vol. xv.), and his
paper “ On the Development of Mollusca” (Phz/. Trans.
1875). Dr. Bobretzky of Kiev occupied the Russian
table in 1874, and applied the methods of technical his-
tology to the study of the ova of various Gasteropods,
Nassa, Fusus, &c., and of Loligo and other Cephalopods.
His Russian memoir on the latter (Moscow, 1877) con-
tains the most complete and reliable series of figures we
have of the anatomy of Cephalopod embryos.
In the embryology of sponges, Prof. Oscar Schmidt of
Strassburg has published the results of important re-
searches carried on in the station in the years 1875 and
1877. Prof. Selenka of Erlangen worked out the develop-
ment of various Holothuria at the Bavarian table in 1875,
and of Echinidz in 1879. The work of Dr. Carpenter on
the development of Antedon (Proc. Roy. Soc. 1876) was
done at the British Association table, and the contribu.
tions of Dr. Goette to the same subject are based on
studies made in the station in 1875. One of the best
known of recent studies in development which have pro-
ceeded from the station is that of Dr. Spengel, on
Bonellia, published in 1879.
Leaving works of a strictly embryological character, we
will mention some of the principal contributions to
general morphology, which have taken their origin in the
station. Prof. Grenacher’s great work on the eyes of
Arthropods, which forms one of the chief recent additions
to our knowledge of the class, is based on researches
begun at the Mecklenburg table in 1876. Dr. Hubrecht’s
researches on Nemertines were carried out at the Dutch
table. The contributions to and confusions of Molluscan
morphology, which we owe to Von Jhering, proceeded
from work done in the station, and both are not without
value in the progress towards truth. Dr. Spengel’s im-
portant paper on the “ Geruchsorgan der Mollusken”’
(Zettschr. f. wiss. Zool. Bot. xxxv.), was produced while
he was a member of the staff of the institution. The
remarkable volume of the brothers Hertwig, ‘‘ Die
Actinien,”’ describing a nervous system still existing in
the primitive condition, was the result of an occupation
of two of the German tables.
The honour of the discovery of Symbiosis in animals
is shared by two zoologists, who both carried out their
researches in the station, Mr. Geddes and Dr. Brandt ;
and the studies which the latter is still carrying on there
have resulted in many other contributions to our know-
ledge of the Radiolarians.
x
454
NATURE
| March 15, 1883
The investigations of Von Koch into the relations of
the skeleton in corals, Flemming’s researches on the ova
of Echinoderms, Metschnikoff’s on Orthonectidz, those
of Dr. Vigelius on the anatomy of Cephalopoda, of Prof.
Greef on Alciopide, are a few more examples of good |
work, of which some of the credit belongs to the station.
Since the laboratory was opened more than 200 scientific
workers have studied at its tables.
Besides this success which the institution has obtained
as an international laboratory, it has also produced great
results by its own individual activity. A vast amount of
complete and careful work is devoted to the preparation
of the series of monographs which commenced with the
Ctenophore of Dr. Chun in 1880. Of these six have
appeared—four zoological and two botanical—and a large
number, embracing many important classes of animals,
are far advanced towards completion. The Planarians,
by Dr. Lang, will be received with interest on account of
the discoveries and original views which his work has
already produced. The Actiniz are being worked out
thoroughly, for the first time, by Dr. Andres. The
Sponges, the Radiolarians, the Copepoda, and the Capi-
tellidze are also at present undergoing a complete study
in the station, and two of the volumes already announced
will treat of families of Alga. An enterprise of such
magnitude has never before been undertaken in the field
of zoological investigation ; only an organisation of the
power and resources of the station at Naples could attempt
it; an organisation which is able to offer to zoologists, of
energy and zeal, unlimited material in the living con-
dition, unlimited leisure for work, and immunity from all
distractions save some slight duties connected with the
routine of the laboratory.
The other two publications of the station are of a less
colossal character. The W2ttheclungen was begun in
1879, for the sake of publishing the numerous discoveries
and new views which result from the work of the staff
occupied with the ‘‘Fauna and Flora,” or from the re-
searches of those occupying the rented tables. The
circulation has already reached 400 copies, and the few
volumes which have appeared constitute a valuable addi-
tion to the literature of biology. In its pages are
described the new processes in the ¢echnigue of micro-
scopical work which have been invented in the station,
one of which, the method of preparing series of sections,
devised by Dr. Giestrecht, and now used in every labora-
tory in Europe, is an improvement whose importance it
is impossible to estimate too highly.
The object of the Zoologischer Jahresbericht was to
supply a bibliographical report, which should not only
give a list of published works but a véswmmé of the matter
contained in each, and which should give perfect facilities
for reference. The latter object is attained by means of
two indices—one of the names of authors, the other of
subjects. The English Zoological Record and the report
of the Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte are devoted chiefly
to systematic zoology ; in the Jahresbericht every publica-
tion on anatomy, embryology, morphology, or physiology,
is catalogued and summarised.
In contrast with the activity exhibited by the station
in the directions which we have hitherto considered,
activity whose results are as conspicuous as they are
important, is the unobtrusive work of the department
presided over by the energetic conservator, Salvatore Lo
Bianco,—the department for the preservation and distri-
bution of marine animals, All the material procured by
| the expeditions of the two steam launches, and the
smaller boats belonging to the station, or by purchase
from Neapolitan fishermen, passes first into the control
of this department. Whatever is needed by the various
occupants of the work-tables and by the scientific staff is
selected and allotted according to applications made from
day today. The rest is either put into the tanks of the
public aquarium, or preserved. Marvellous progress has
been made in the art of preserving delicate and sensitive
creatures in their naturally extended condition, and inland
laboratories can be provided with specimens of Alcyonaria,
Zoantharia, Medusz, Ctenophora, Annelids, &c., which
show the form if not the colour of the living animal, and
in which all the organs are in a perfect condition for
anatomical and generally even histological study.
There is scarcely a biological laboratory in Europe
which has not had recourse to the preparing department
of the Naples station in order to procure material for
investigation or for teaching purposes. An example of
the work of the department is to be exhibited in the
approaching International Fisheries Exhibition—a most
beautiful collection of preparations is now in the station,
ready to be sent to London.
In connection with this department arrangements have
been made with the naval authorities of Germany and
Italy, by means of which an officer is sent from time to
time to the station to learn the methods of obtaining and
treating marine creatures for the purpose of scientific
study ; so that the cruises of war-ships in remote seas
may contribute to valuable scientific results when each
has an officer on board who understands what is of
zoological interest and how it should be preserved.
In conclusion it will be of interest to give a few details
concerning the finances and arrangements of the station.
The annual income is between 5000/. and 6000/., of which
1200/, is derived from the public aquarium, 1600/. from the
rented tables, about 800/. from the sale of the publications,
including 260 annual subscriptions of 50s. each for the
monographs, 600/. from the preparation department, and
1500/7. is the amount of the German Government subsidy,
The total number of those in the permanent service of
the station is thirty-seven, of which eight comprise the
scientific staff, and the rest are made up by the engineers
under the direction of Mr. Petersen, the fishermen, and
the conservator and his assistants. The number of tables
at present rented is twenty-one, but the station has space
for thirty. At the beginning only seven tables were taken,
two each by Prussia, England, and Italy, and one by
Holland. The School of Biology at Cambridge has de-
rived much support and benefit from its connection with
the station, and the taking of a table by Oxford would
probably give to zoological studies there an impetus
which is much needed. Of the few zoologists which
Oxford produces, some have already had recourse to the
British Association table. It is probable that some one
of the many rich institutions in America will soon take a
table for the use of American zoologists, many of whom,
imperfectly acquainted with the organisation of the sta-
tion, and therefore unaware that no table can be occupied
unless taken either by a corporation or a private indi-
March 15, 1883 |
NATURE
455
vidual for a whole year, have applied for permission to
work there. Last year Mr. Whitman, whose observations
on the development of Clepsine are well known, received
this permission under special cireumstances by the
courtesy of the staff, and carried out some excellent re-
searches on Diczemidz, which are published in the last
number of the A7t¢thetlungen. Recently an increased
number of similar applications have been received from
American zoologists.
In speaking of the arrangements of the station, the
perfection of the organisation for the supply of material,
by means of the dredging and fishing of the gulf, cannot
be too warmly praised or admired. Except in continuously
bad weather, the beautiful and wonderful creatures com-
prising the rich Mediterranean fauna are brought in to
the station in an abundance that is perfectly bewildering
to a zoologist on his first visit.
steam launches, the larger of which, the Johannes Miiller,
was given by the Berlin Academy in 1877, while the
smaller was purchased subsequently, gives to the fishing
department the facilities for rapid locomotion and trans-
port, without which such abundance and perfect condition
of the living material could not be obtained ; especially
as some of the most fruitful localities are widely sepa-
rated, and a great many of the creatures, including all
pelagic forms, are of extreme sensitiveness and delicacy.
The zoological station, although only nine years have
passed since its first opening, has become a necessity for
the progress of zoology; its international character
enables every country to contribute to its support and
share in the benefits derived from it; it is a great organi-
sation by which forces of various kinds are brought
together to aid in the attainment of one great object, the
investigation of the facts and phenomena of marine life
in all its diversities, and their explanation in accordance
with the principles of evolution. The progress which is
brought about by the work actually done in the station is not
more important than the indirect influence it exerts in
various ways ; its example has produced similar enterprises
in various parts of the world; the benefit of the experience
it gains extends to other centres of scientific research,
and other branches of biology than marine zoology, and
by its own vitality and its influence on the zoologists who
study at its tables it has done much to sustain and develop
the great impulse which the genius of Darwin gave to zoo-
- logy twenty-three years ago. J. T. CUNNINGHAM
EPPING FOREST
HE House of Commons divided last Monday after-
noon upon the Chingford and High Beech
Railway Bill. An amendment was proposed by Mr.
Bryce, Chairman of the Commons Preservation So-
ciety, and was supported by Mr. Thorold Rogers, Sir
H. J. Selwin-Ibbetson, who framed the Epping Forest
Act of 1878, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Firth, Mr. T. C. Baring,
Lord Eustace Cecil, Mr. Ritchie, Mr. James, Mr. Caine,
and Mr. Waddy. As a fitting sequel to Mr. Meldola’s
paper, which we published last week, the result of the
division, which was announced amidst cheers, was : For
the second reading, 82; against it, 230 ; majority against
the Bill, 148. It is to be hoped that this will be the last
attempt to tamper with what Mr. Bryce justly described
as “a priceless heritage of the people of London.’’
The possession of two
It is inevitable from the growth of our great towns that
the student of Nature dwelling in their midst must go
farther and farther afield for the objects of his study. It
seems, moreover, that our science is at present inadequate
to prevent the lethal influence of smoke and acrid fumes
from dealing destruction to vegetation over a wide region
outside the actual boundaries of these towns. The sani-
tary necessity of open spaces has been amply demon-
strated ; but it was not as a mere open space or people’s
park that Parliament allowed the Corporation of London
to acquire Epping Forest in 1878.
The so-called rights of those who had inclosed the
Forest, were overridden in order that an expanse of
natural and, in some senses, primeval forest might be
secured for the benefit of all classes of the public free
from encroachment for ever. Parliament directed that it
was to be preserved “in its natural condition as a forest,”
and conferred upon a Committee—composed of some
members of that Corporation which holds the manorial
rights, together with four resident gentlemen as Verderers,
elected nominally by the commoners—the position of
Conservators.
Unfortunately Common Councilmen seem to share the
popular ignorance as to what constitutes the natural
aspect of a forest. Many people believe a forest to be a
large wood or plantation, and the Conservators seem to
have been mainly actuated by fears lest visitors should
get their feet wet or find the Forest less amusing than
other suburban resorts. Draining and roadmaking have
been their main tasks with a view to maintain the natural
aspect the Forest wore for centuries, while during the five
years they have been in office no attempt has been made
at reafforesting the now unsightly fallows that the in-
truders had reduced into an arable condition. Pieces of
artificial water have been constructed, mostly with out-
lines reminding one of the so-called Round Pond in
Kensington Gardens ; pleasure-boats have been licensed
upon them at a rental estimated at over 200/. per annum ;
free displays of fireworks in connection with a huge
tavern, shooting-galleries, and steam-roundabouts have
been authorised as contributing to a truly ideal forest.
These steps have of course been taken with the idea
that the Conservators had the power to act in the way
they think best calculated to elevate and refine the work-
ing-classes; but they are diametrically opposed to the
spirit of the Act of 1878, which did not aim at establish-
ing a tea-garden or at pandering to the lowest tastes of
any class of the community.
As is seen from Mr. Meldola’s article, the Essex Field
Club and other scientific societies have more than once
protested against such mismanagement; but the Con-
servators had not yet filled up the full measure of their
iniquities. They must promote a railway, if not a tram-
way as well.
English public opinion is beginning to awaken to the
idea that we have now almost as many railways as are
required for any purposes but providing fees for directors
and engineers and feeding the jealousies of rival com-
panies. In the present session of Parliament the railway
companies have evinced in the Bills they are promoting a
partiality for common land that would be remarkable
were not the reason for it sufficiently obvious. Common
land can be had cheap; for it is everybody’s business to
456
NATORE
| March 15, 1883
oppose its spoliation, and everybody’s business is prover-
bially nobody’s. It is to be hoped, however, that the
kmell of these schemes was sounded on Monday last,
when the House of Commons, on the motion of leading
men of both parties, rejected the Chingford and High
Beech Extension Bill, promoted by the Corporation and
the Great Eastern Railway, by an overwhelming majority.
The House was fully aware that the line then proposed
by Sir Thomas Chambers and Lord Claud Hamilton was
only the first section of a longer one which would ultimately
surround the Forest, and that it was intended to serve at
first mainly as a feeder to another large tavern. All
lovers of nature will rejoice that the collecting ground of
Edward Forster, the Doubledays, and thousands of
London naturalists less known to fame, has been rescued
from destruction.
Authorities inform us that lopping and smoke have
reduced the number of lichens and insects even during
the last twenty years, and Conservatorial draining may
have a similar effect upon other groups of organisms, so
that the help of a railway in the work of devastation is
certainly not required.
It isto be hoped that the verdict of Parliament will
show the Conservators that forest management has a
scientific basis and that their powers are not unlimited.
It is equally desirable that the public interested in the
Forest will form some organisation for its protection from
encroachment and mismanagement in the future, so as to
relieve a scientific body such as the Essex Field Club,
which has borne the chief labour of opposition, from a
task which, from its political and litigious character,
must necessarily be uncongenial.
G. S. BOULGER
PERRY’ S “PRACTICAL MECHANICS”
Practical Mechanics. By John Perry, M.E. (London:
Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1883.)
HIS book is one of a series of manuals now being
published by Messrs. Cassell and Co., intended for
the use of technical students, and claims, to quote the
preface, “to put before non-mathematical readers a
method of studying mechanics,’ which, if carefully fol-
lowed, will supply “a mental training of a kind not
inferior to that the belief in which retains in our schools
the study of ancient classics and Euclid.” A principal
feature of the method consists in “ proving” the various
formulz of mechanics by quantitative experiments. Of
these many are described in the book, several of which,
such as those relating to torsion and other stresses, &c.,
are carried on in many physical laboratories, and belong
rather to physics than to mechanics. Another feature of
the method more novel than the last is the gathering
together of a few of the definitions and elementary
theorems of mechanics, such as the parallelogram of
forces, in a chapter at the end of the book called a
glossary. Even then no formal proofs are given, probably
because they are unnecessary, since on p. 2 we are told
that the reader “ cannot know the parallelogram of forces
till he has proved the truth of the law half a dozen times
experimentally with his own hands.”’
This kind of proof is very different from the evidence
usually tendered for the fundamental laws of mechanics,
but we’must not forget the class of readers, entirely dif-
ferent as they seem to be from any we have ever encoun-
tered, for whom the book is intended. We are reminded
of this on p. vii., when we are told that “the standpoint
of an experienced workman in the nineteenth century is
very different from that of an Alexandrian philosopher or
of an English schoolboy, and many men who energetically
begin the study of Euclid give it up after a year or two in
disgust, because at the end they have only arrived at
results which they knew experimentally long ago.”
Thus the empire of the Greeks in geometry must give
place to the supremacy of the intelligence of the working
man, and even Euclid himself must fall from his high
estate to be compared and contrasted with the modern
schoolboy. But this latest born of time apparently pos-
sesses even higher powers. If made “to work in wood
and metal,” “to gain experience in the use of machines
and use drawing instruments and scales,” he will arrive
at a condition in which “he may regard the 47th proposi-
tion of the First Book of Euclid as axiomatic,’ and “he
may think the important propositions in the Sixth Book
as easy to believe in as those in the First.” Truly here at
last has been found in geometry a royal road. But when
Prof. Perry has raised our opinion of the modern school-
boy and working man to this high eminence we feel a
rude shock on reading the second page of the book, when
we discover that these rarely gifted, ideal beings, so
favoured of the gods in geometry, may perhaps not be
able to apply to a practical example a simple algebraical
rule.
In reading the book, especially in its earlier chapters,
we are struck by the want of logical arrangement and of
strictness in the definitions, by the frequent use of terms
which have not been previously defined, or not adequately
defined, and of writing so careless in its style as frequently
to become unintelligible. The theory of friction, in the
limited extent to which alone it is given, is inserted piece-
meal into parts of the two first chapters and into the
glossary, and the ordinary laws are not explicitly given
until nearly the end of the book, but in their place we
have the loose statements, “‘friction is proportional to
load,’ and “friction is a passive force, which always
helps the weaker to produce a balance.” The English of
the last sentence is as curious in character as that of one
on p. 13, “ This rubbing is a very slow motion.”
The doctrine of the conservation of energy or of the
conversion of energy into heat is nowhere explicitly given,
although the theory is assumed in numerous applications.
Can it be that the modern schoolboy, duly equipped, is
able not only to surpass Pythagoras by regarding the
47th proposition of Euclid as axiomatic, but that he has
come to view the great physical theory as equally self-
evident? It must be so; otherwise, having only been
told of energy as the equivalent of mechanical work (p.
5), he would not understand the meaning of the obscure
sentence—* Every experiment we can make shows that
energy is indestructible, and consequently, if I give
energy to a machine, and find that none remains in it, it
must all have been given out by the machine.”
We find the leading laws of hydrostatics inserted in a
paragraph on water, which is included in the chapter on
materials, fifty pages after the uniform transmission of
fluid pressure has been assumed in the article on the
March 15, 1883}
NATURE
457
hydraulic press, and we are told (vo/e, p. 75) that a cubic
foot of water possesses, “in virtue of the steadiness of the
motion, pressure or potential energy,” &c. On p. 74
“total pressure” is used for resultant pressure. Nowhere
throughout the book is the theory of the centre of gravity
given, or the name even defined, yet the author ~— to the
chagrin of any student who believes it—does not hesitate
on p. 142 to preface with the words “it is evident”’ an
application o he usual formulz defining the position of
the centre of gravity to the case in hand. The term
“radius of g ration” is used on p. 144, but not defined
until p. 196. The statement that “velocity is the speed
with which a body moves’’ reminds one of Lord Palmer-
ston’s definition of an archdeacon, and we wonder what
kind of notion will be gained of the motion of a body in a
curve by any one who is told in a definition of centrifugal
force that, “if a body is compelled to move in a curved
path, it exerts a force directed outwards from the centre.”
We have also the following as a definition of the pitch
circle :—“ Two spur wheels enter some distance into one
another, and the circle on one which touches a circle on
the other, the diameters of these circles being proportional
to the numbers of teeth on the wheels, is called the pitch
circle.” Could even the common sense of high quality, pos-
tulated of the readers of the book, enable them to select,
from the infinite number of pairs of circles satisfying the
above conditions, those which represent the pitch circles
required?
In the rule for the differential pulley block we are sur-
prised to find that the movable pulley rises through the
whole, instead of half, the difference of the amounts of
rope uncoiled from the two pulleys in the upper block.
On p. 30 it is said :—‘“‘In the study of the motion of a
slide valve it is much too usual to assume that the piston’s
motion is what is shown in Fig. 18 as pure harmonic
motion.” How shall we reconcile this with the informa-
tion we have already received on the previous page that
Fig. 18 (a skeleton drawing of a crank and connecting
rod) does not represent pure (why not ‘“‘simple?”) har-
monic motion except when the connecting rod is infinitely
long?
In the rule which is inserted on p. 46 to find M,
the constant should be twice that given, or about 59,500.
On p. 64 our powers of comprehension are baffled in
endeavouring to attach a meaning to the assurance that
“So foot-pounds is the total energy stored up in the wire
in the shape of a strain.’ (The italics are ours.) In the
rule given in Art. 192—we presume for evfectly elastic
bodies—the momentum communicated from the one body
to the other is just twice that stated.
We are told (p. 193) that the motion of a point in the
balance of a watch is very nearly pure harmonic, if we
suppose the point to move ina straight line instead of a
circle, but we confess that the advantage of so describing
the motion is not apparent, nor should we be disposed to
call the friction in a twisted wire fluid friction (p. 199)
because the friction in this case, as in that of fluids moving
slowly, is proportional to the velocity.
The long array of mistakes given above, which by no
means exhausts our list, forms a very serious accusation
against the author.
His book has much disappointed us, for although
some of the chapters, such as those on shear and
twist, beams, graphical statics, and spiral springs, treat
in a simple manner subjects which in parts present some
difficulty, yet the defects to which we have alluded are
far too grave to be compensated by any excellence in
particular parts of the work. In the earlier chapters
especially, the author has failed in the fundamental ex-
cellences of book-writing, in logical arrangement and
clearness and exactness of expression, in just those quali-
ties in fact in which he would have been most successful
if he had aimed at writing more from ‘the standpoint
of an Alexandrian philosopher.” J. F. Main
OUR BOOK SHELF
Der Norske nord-hass-expedition, 1876-1878. VIII. Zoo-
logi, Mollusca. I. Buccinide, ved Herman Friele.
Med 6 plancher og 1 kart. 4to. (Christiania ; Gron-
dahl and Sons, 1882.)
I HAVE already, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural
History for this month, given some account of the scientific
expeditions which were made by the Norwegian Govern-
ment during the years 1876, 1877, and 1878, to explore the
sea-bed lying between the coasts of Western and Upper
Norway and Iceland, Jan Mayen, and Spitzbergen ; and
I also noticed the series of publications which embody
the result of these expeditions, including the present
volume. I now propose to say a few more words on the
subject of Herr Friele’s work.
The great family of Buccinum, which is treated in it,
is most perplexing in a taxonomical point of view; and
its generic type, Buccinum undatum,is so unusually prolific
and abundant, and consequently so variable, that no two
conchologists agree as to the number of species belonging
to it. In a short paper of mine on the northern species of
Buccinum, which appeared in the Azma/s for December
1880, I ventured to consider as varieties of that species and
of B. grenlandicum (which is probably also a variety of
the polymorphous ZB. wdatwm) no fewer than 25 other so-
called species. Such amalgamation will doubtless not be
admitted by many conchologists ; but the examination and
careful comparison of an immense number of specimens
from all parts of the North Atlantic which have fallen
under my examination, warrant me in forming the above
opinion. If we were to substitute the German word
“geste’lt” or form for species, subspecies, and varieties,
it might perhaps be a more safe and convenient mode of
definition ; but naturalists are not yet prepared to change
the time-honoured system of Linnean and Lamarckian
classification.
Herr Friele’s work and the other publications fo
which I have referred are written in excellent English,
as well as in his native language. The descriptions of
new species are in Latin, which is scarcely so well
adapted as English or French for the terminology of
natural history at the present time ; although his descrip-
tions are far superior to the barbarous if not illiterate
productions of Reeve and some other modern concho-
logists. The distinctive characters of new species are
for the most part given in the same order, so that the
description of one species can be more easily compared
with that of a congener. This is an important and nearly
indispensable desideratum. One new genus (/uma/a) is
proposed, having Fusus Turtoni for its type; and it
appears to be based on Prof. G. O. Sars’s description of
the odontophore or dentition. Ten species are also for
the first time described and figured, viz. one of /uma/a,
seven of Weptunea, and two of Buccinum. I regret that
I must disagree with my friend the author as to the
number of genera (six) into which he has divided the
northern species of Buccinéde. 1 should be disposed to
attach more value to the operculum than to the odonto-
phore as a generic character. Nor can I accept all his
458
NATURE
| March 15, 1883
new species. The species which he considers my /zszus
curtus is very different from the F. Sabzuz of Gray, or
the F. fogatus and F. Pfaffi of Moérch (all enumerated by
Friele as synonyms); and I regard the last-named three
species as the F. edwr of Morch and not as my /. Sarsz.
However, notwithstanding any trifling errors, if they be
errors, the work of Herr Friele is not only admirable and
valuable, but is imbued with that scientific merit and
modesty which are peculiar to our fellow-workers in
Scandinavia; and we shall look forward with great
interest to the continuation of his papers on the Mollusca
of the Norwegian North-Sea Expedition.
J. GWYN JEFFREYS
Tables for the Use of Students and Beginners in Vegetable
Histology. By D. P. Penhallow, B.S., late Professor
of Chemistry and Botany in the Imperial College of
Agriculture, Japan. (Boston, 1882.)
THIS little work by no means meets the expectations
which its title arouses. The author states, indeed, in his
preface that the scope of the work is purposely limited,
but the limits are so narrow that the work will not be of
much use to the student who has a competent teacher,
and it will not be of any use to the beginner who is
attempting the study of vegetable histology by himself.
The book deals simply with the micro-chemistry of
plants; the reagents are enumerated, as are also the
various substances to be met with in the cells, but no
attempt is made to give an account of the mode of appli-
cation of the reagents for the detection of the substances,
and in certain important cases (the chloriodide of zinc,
for example) the mode of preparation of the reagent is
not given. Nota word is said about imbedding, nor is
any mention made of staining. The general mode of
treatment of the subject is thoroughly unpractical. For
example, silica is said to appear in plants “as a trans-
parent deposit”; but every histologist knows that the
silica in a cell-wall can only be made evident by incine-
rating with nitric acid.
The priority which the author claims can hardly be
granted in view of the fact that Poulsen’s valuable
**Microchemie” has been in the hands of European
histologists for several years. The selection of litera-
ture given atthe end also betrays the author’s want
of acquaintance with his subject, inasmuch as no men-
tion is made of such important works as Dippel’s
““Mikroskop”” and De Bary’s “ Vergleichende Ana-
tomie.”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts. |
The Matter of Space
In his paper on ‘*The Matter of Space,” in NATURE,
vol. xxvil. p. 349, Mr. Charles Morris has given us an excellent
exposition, and, as I believe, in general a perfectly correct one,
of the fundamental laws and properties of matter and motion,
But as I have for some time been investigating the views which
he describes with exactly the results and con-equences at which
he has arrived (excepting only in one material difference to which
I will presently return), a little outline of the mathematical
form which I found that the discussion of the subject could
receive, and to which it was accordingly submitted in my examina-
tions of its scope and contours, will aid readers of Mr. Morris’s
paper, perhaps, in attaching clear ideas to some of the ex-
pressions which he uses, and in thereby discussing and estimating
very easily and fairly the positive truth, in general, or ina few
points, of the paper’s considerations, the just degree of reliability
at all events, which the marvellous maze of internetted motions
possesses, which he has most tersely and graphically, and at least
in the main, as it appears to me, correctly and truthfully
described.
Angular momentum, or (for a particle of unit mass) the rate
of description of sectorial areas, is, like actual energy, a quantity
of two dimensions in space ; it is in fact the vector-product of
(or the quadrilateral area between) the two radii of the particle’s
orbit and hodograph. Tractivemomentum, or the product of the
unit-particle’s radius-vector and the resolved part of the particle’s
velocity a/ong (instead of across) the radius-vector, is equally a
quadratic product (but differently estimated) of the two foregoing
orbit and hodograph radii. It isnot the rate of description of
an area, like angular momentum, but the time-rate of the square
on the orbit-radius. The time-rates of each of these momenta
are similar to them in space-relation, and are respectively angular
moment or twirl (of a force-couple) and tractive moment or
wrest (of a motor-couple). But if a small step of angle is the
ratio of a circular-are step (or of a small step along its tangent)
to the circle’s radius, this being numerical, a twirl’s work through
this small step of angle is similar in space-relation to the twirl
itself and to its time-effect, or angular momentum.
The same similitude in space-relation will exist between a
wrest, or motor-couple, and its time-effect (or tractive momentum),
and its small step of work, if, in imitation of the practice for a
twirl’s or force-couple’s action, a wrest’s space-step is defined to
be the ratio of the particle’s step along the radius to the orbit-
radius. This counterpart of angle-step may be called a traction-
step; and it is the small percentage of elongation which the
radius undergoes. If this construction is assumed, there ensues
from it a close, and evidently significant, analogy between the
time-rate of ordit-radius square (which denotes at once, in space-
relation, a #zolfor-couple and its time- and space-effects) and the
hodograph-radius square (which expresses simultaneously in space-
relation a force-couple and its time- and space-effects). Although
the square of the hodograph-radius signifies the square of the
material point’s velocity, or its directed actual energy, I conceive
that the square of the orbit-radius represents a square of un-
directed velocity, or an undirected energy of ‘* higgledy piggledy ”
motion of the material point ; and its time-rate is @ horse-power
of the point’s quaquaversal, or undirected actual “ energy.
Viewed in this light, twirls or force-couples and their time- and
space-effects are all graphically synonymous with actual directed
energy ; but wrests or motor-couples and /Hezr time- and space-
effects are all graphically synonymous with orse-power of un-
directed actual energy. For these latter quantities Mr. Morris
uses indifferently the various words, ‘‘momentum,” ‘‘heat mo-
mentum,” ‘‘heat velocity,” ‘‘heat,” ‘‘motor energy,” ‘heat
energy,” ‘‘heat vibration,” ‘‘centrifugal energy,” and ‘centrifugal
or motor vigour,” of a moving point ; but while they are all, as he
rightly opines, convertible quantities in their relation to graphic
space, yet the theory of force-couples with which (mzfato nomine)
they are equally convertible in the same space, teaches us that
a twirl-group falls mechanically, according to its association with
time and angle, into three distinct divisions, of an action (the
couple) and its time- and space-effects (angular momentum and
accumulated work). It is so also with the motor-couple’s graphic-
space measure, ‘‘vigour.”” In proper combinations with time
and traction-ratio! it becomes either an action or a kind of
momentum or a form of work. But in discussing these new
quantities’ properties two maxims of construction and interpreta-
tion must be kept constantly in view.
In the first place, we must not expect a motor-couple (although
it tends to alter @) which endows a point with undirected horse-
power, to tend tv lengthen or shorten the point’s radius-vector i
the same way that a force would do. If by their actions motor-
couples can 2” any way oppose the action of a force or force-couple,
it must be, not by exerting force themselves, but by giving rise
to force where they act. Now motor-couples can no more act
intelligibly upon a single pcint (to range a radius’s extremities to-
wards or from each other) than a force-couple can (to turn a
radius’s two ends round each other). Hence motor-couples must
produce force in a material point in virtue of the point’s being an
aggregation of material points, or in other words the appearance
of force is a sign of the compositeness of the material point upon
which it acts. Per contra, forces can produce force-couples, or
* The integral of traction-ratio, [dp = oe = log 2 = 9,1 identify
with Rankine’s “thermodynamic function’’ (for which he uses the same
symbol, g) usually termed “‘ entropy ”’ in works on thermodynamics.
March 15, 1883]
NABORLE
459
if properly combined can balance them, on a collection of
material points, if certain internal conditions (always including
conservation of force-effects and conservation of twirl-effects) of
the component points’ mutual force and couple-actions on each
other, which we call certain static relations of the system, are
fulfilled ; and then we lave forces on such an aggregation either
giving rise to or holding in check force-couples acting on it.
But no combination of force-couples, on the other hand, can
either produce in the system, or resist in it, the action of a
single force. 5
Now as a motor-couple and its parts exert time-flow of one
form of energy, they differ from a force-couple and its parts in
the same way that these differ from uniform rotation and
translation ; and as it happens that while rotations can combine
on a system to produce translation, and not the opposite
arrangement, and just the reverse of this relation prevails in
force-couples and their forces, so we may infer that ina system
of connected points motor-couples would have the opposite
property to force-couples, and in combination together on the
system, instead of being produced by, they would either wholly
or partially produce, a form of resultant of the nature of a motor-
couple part. This kind of resultant, too, will exert a tendency
on the system as a whole, with equal and similar intensity at all
its points. Such a combination of motor-couples on a body,
therefore, will in general communicate to it by their conjunction,
not horse-power of undirected actual energy in the same manner
as a single couple would, but some or no resultant couple-
part, and some or no resultant couple, just as a set of forces,
(or rotations) applied to a body may yield a mixed resultant of a
force and couple (or of a rotation and translation), the couple in
one case and the translation in the other both taking effect upon
the body as a whole, since each is quite devoid of any particular
point of application in the body. This property, which we may
reasonably assign to motor-couples, of furnishing in combinations
on a group of material points a dual resultant in general, and the
condition that they exert singly a time-flow of undirected energy,
are together the first maxim to be kept in view in discussing
their effects ; for the double-resultant’s nature, of a congregation
of motor-couples, in general resembles that of a screw’s motion,
which is partly translative along and partly rotative round a
polar axis. Along a given line through the system therefore this
resultant acts jointly, partly as a wrest, or residual motor-couple,
and partly as a couple-half, of whose nature and effects no
attempt, in what precedes, has yet been made to give an
explanation.
Although such views as these of matter and motion largely
invite investigation, it is rather their conformity to observation
and to such slender mathematical evidence as is derivable from
the laws of graphic space than any rigid demonstration of their
validity which has led me to put faith in them. Where time
and entropy (which linear dilatation is above surmised to be)
clasp and bind undirected energy in new ties of space, so
singularly like but yet distinct from the well-known ones which
regulate the transformations of directed energy, intrusion into the
mathematical avenues of the problem is almost warded off by the
obduracy of the new inquiry, and onlyscattered fields of cultivation,
occurring ever and again along his road, assure the venturesome
wanderer in the new tract that the course before him still always
lies in habitable regions.
It would be presumptuous therefore to insist, until the
mathematical field has been thoroughly explored, upon a
preference of one view or hypothesis of motor-actions, as
decidedly superior to another; but adopting, as Mr. Morris does,
the opinion that the effects of motor-actions are conserved, and
adding to this an assumption that in groups of points subjected
to them the mutual conservation may not be (as it always is among
the mechanical connecting forces of every piece of ponderable
matter) perfect and complete in the system by itself, without
reckoning on to it one other external point, then a material
simplification of the views unfolded in his paper would, I believe,
be introduced, by adopting a different hypothesis from that which
Mr. Morris advances of the nature of the ether as an exceedingly
attenuated form or ‘fourth state” of gross ‘‘ gravitating” (or
ponderable) matter.
If Nature’s course could be retraced to the beginning of time,
we may suppose in that soufre of antiquity ether to have been dif-
ferentiated from gross matter in this way, that whereas internal
conservation of motor-effects suffices to weld a group of material
points into a resultant yielding system, then, no limits of smallness
being imposed upon the group, it is allowable to define a point
(in the language of graphic space) of gross or ponderable
“‘gravitating”” matter as an originally differentiated mass of
aérilian points, upon which the dual resultant of the conjoined
motor-couples on the aérilian points will take effect. A part of
this resultant is a couple-half, about which we know nothing ;
and we may reasonably suppose it to be attractive and repulsive
force acting on the baric point. The other part of the resultant
is an unbalanced motor-couple, only susceptible of conservation
as to its effects by an equal and opposite one in some other
similar mass or aérilian assemblage. A certain integrity can, I
conceive, be imparted to this first hoard of scaffolding of the new
theory’s construction, by locating the conserving couples, of which
the motor-couples supposed to be aboriginally welded together
are the counter-equivalents, not ina single, but partly in one, and
partly in another, set of free-moving aérilian points in such a way
that, while the resultant motor-cowple is balanced by the first set,
the force-resultant of the massed couples’ combination, will be
balanced ¢hrough a counter-equivalent force-resultant in another
mass-point éy the free motor-couples of the other aérilian set.
The residue of this set’s couples will be occupied in opposing
the unbalanced couple-residue of the couples massed together
in the second baric point, while these couples’ transmittent force-
resultant will be opposed 4y the still uncompensated portion of
the motor-couples acting on the first free-moving set. Perfect
compensation of the two dual resultants cannot then take place
under these conditions, without exact counter-equivalence of the
half-couple (or force-) resultants, and therefore also exact counter-
equivalence in their native state between the two groups of
motor-couples acting on the two free aérilian sets; at least, if
we assume massed and moored aérilian points to have been
all originally endowed in pairs with equal counter-couples, and
if their modes of collection into mass-points and of producing
force-resultants were aboriginally all alike.
In our present undeveloped knowledge of the mathematical
properties of tractive or motor-couples, and of their random-
energy horse-powers’ geometrical relations to the common
mechanical modes of exertion of directed energy in forces and
couples, it would be premature and vain to speculate as Mr.
Morris does, I believe too boldly and fearlessly, in his paper,
upon Nature’s established order of progressive collection of baric
points into ‘‘spheres,” or into the atoms and molecules which
further build up atmospheres, suns, planets, and all ponderable
bodies. My views diverge here from his in, at least, one salient
point, that the ether (as we nuust still in sober science term his
‘*interspheral matter”) is held, in his opinion, to be ponderable
or ‘‘ gravitating,” and to be endowed with a vigour of motion
which exempts it from yielding to its vigour of gravitation. By
thus identifying ‘‘interspheral matter’s” or the ether’s particles
with those of matter ‘‘ employing its motion secondarily about
new centres of gravity” (of vea//y gravitating or ponderable
‘spheres ””), the way is barred at once of explaining the
ultimate sources of attractive and repulsive force by exercises of
motor ‘‘yvigour.” But further than this we must evidently
abandon definitely all reasonable hope of constructing out of
particles’ ‘‘ incessant leaps in nodes of an interminable network
of motions, affecting in long motor lines myriads of interspheral
particles,” any intelligible framework of the important laws of
radiation, magnetism, and electricity which we know that a clear
comprehension of the ‘‘interspheral” ether’s real constitution
would immediately unfold to us, if its real nature and that of
its relations to ponderable matter were rightly understood. In
the form therefore in which Mr. Morris’s theory presents itself to
us, it fails completely (by only the slightest pcssible illusion, as
I venture to submit, in the choice of its principal hypothesis) in
attaining the admirably well pursued and well nigh compassed
object of its otherwise exhaustively clear and excellently
propounded arguments and demonstrations.
In the view which 1 have here advanced, massed assemblages
of aérilian points form irrevocably the points of gross or
ponderable matter, while an equal number of moored points,
inseparably connected two and two with the former ones, form
bound <érilian assemblages equally untransformable and form-
ing active individual parts of the unchanging ether. That tke
latter points, unlike those of the massed group, may rove at
large in graphic space, does not preclude them from all occupy-
ing a common point in another space domain, just as a number of
balloons may be all at one height, whatever the courses of their
tracks upon a map may be. Nor, again, does an encounter of
two balloons’ courses on amap necessarily entail collision between
the two balloons, since at the time they may be at different
460 :
NATURE
| March 15, 1883
heights.
foreign to our graphic measures, the free roving aérilian set may
all occupy a common place in this foreign scale of space, and
that a massed and a moored aérilian point may have the same
position in graphic space without impinging on each other, as
such points are not at the time at one and the same place
in the foreign space. The moored or bound ether may thus
traverse the space occupied by the massed ether of gross
matter without mutual interference ; but, whether superposed or
not in ordinary space, the pair of ether sets which compensate
resultant actions of two gross-clustered sets of a pair of points
of baric matter, will form, however they may mingle graphic-
ally, two orbs of ether exerting each (corporately) exactly
counter-equal free-orb couples.
If for example the baric points B B’ are urged towards each
other with a ponderomotive force or flow of ordinary baric
momentum F,, by the motor actions on them of two ether-orbs
A, A,’ in counter equal intensities, force-momentum only will be
transferred from A, to A,’ ; while the tractive momentum (or as
we may presume, the heat-energy) accompanying it will only be
transferred from A, to B, and a similar transfer of thermal energy
or tractive-momentuim will at the same time take place from
B' to Ay’.
Should it, in the next place, be required to oppose the action F,
by an equal counter-force Fy, a pair of ether-orbs A, A,’ must be
superadded to those already urging B and By’, so as to urge them
in the opposite direction. It will be seen from the figure that
the total effect of this and of the previous orb-pair’s actions will
simply be tbat the pair of ether-orbs connected with B will
transmit motor energy from one to the other (from A, to Ay), and
the other ether-pair will also transfer an equal amount of energy
contrariwise from one orb to the other, without any leakage of
ordinary momentum occurring at B and By’, by the neutralised
action, into the channel B B’,
Neweastle-on-Tyne, February 10
(Zo be continued.)
A. S. HERSCHEL
Terrestrial Radiation and Prof. Tyndall’s Observations
In Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 377, I see a notice on Prof.
Tyndall’s observations on terrestrial radiation, with the author’s
concluding remarks, that meteorologists should not be offended
by his saying that from outsiders equipped with the necessary
physical knowledge they may expect valuable aid towards intro-
ducing order and causality among their observations. May I be
permitted to state that Prof. Tyndall will give no offence, at
least to the meteorologists whose works are advancing this
science at the present time.
Prof. Tyndall tries to prove by his observations the extreme
importance of vapour of water as a check to terrestrial radia-
tion, and he mentions the much greater difference between a
thermometer in the air four feet from the ground and another on
cotton wool on a morning when snow was lying on the ground
than on other nights, equally clear, but with higher tempera-
tures of the air and no snow. Now it is well known that, parz
passu, a surface of snow will be colder than a surface without,
because (1) snow is an excellent radiator ; (2) because, as a very
bad conductor, it shelters the surface from the influence of the
higher temperature of the soil. In the observation on December
10, the thermometer on cotton wool was so coli because it was
under the influence of the cold radiated by the snow, and besides
immersed, so to say, in the coldest stratum of air near the
ground. Tomy mind, the manner in which the observation was
conducted does not prove what Prof. Tyndall advances. To
isolate, so to say, the influence on radiation of the atmosphere
itself, he should have placed, between two poles, at some feet
above the ground, a plank, and on it his cotton wool and ther-
mometer. No doubt that this thermometer, isolated from the
snow, should have shown a higher temperature than his thermo-
meter placed on the surface on cotton wool.
It is thus quite conceivable that, in a scale of space |
Prof. Tyndall lays great stress on the fact that the difference
between the temperature in the air and on the ground was less in
clear nights with a higher temperature and greater quantity of
vapour of water in the air, and sees in this a confirmation of his
opinion on the great influence of vapour of water in checking
radiation. I do also see in this the influence of vapour of water,
but not of its absolute quantity, but of relative humidity. Once
the dew-point is attained, the cooling of the thermometer on the
ground is arrested. The whole question between Prof. Tyndall
and many physicists and meteorologists is this: nobody negates
the influence of vapour of water on terrestrial radiation, but Prof.
Tyndall ascribes this influence to vapour in the gaseous state,
while his opponents hold the opinion that in this state vapour of
water has a diathermacy scarcely different from dry air, while,
condensed in small ice crystals or water droplets, it really inter-
poses a very efficient screen to terrestrial radiation, even if, which
sometimes is the case, it is perfectly transparent to light, ze.
invisible to our eye. Another influence of water on terrestrial
radiation is admiited by all: that is, that of the latent heat in the
deposition of dew and hoar frost.
If we wish to make meteorological observations bearing on
the question, the following modus oferandi should be adopted :
(1) observations should be made in climates where, with a ten-
sion of vapour greater than that which obtains in England in
winter, the relative humidity is yet so small that there is no dew
on clear nights, or at least it appears rather late ; (2) three ther-
mometers placed on cotton wool, but at different heights above
the ground should be observed, say one on the ground, and the
others at heights, say from 10-100 feet above.
If Prof. Tyndall’s views are right, the highest of the ther-
mometers should show by far the lowest temperature, as it
is not screened from radiation by the vapour of water dif-
fused in the lowest stratum of air. I think every meteoro-
logist will express the opinion that there will be scarcely
a difference in this case. As to the observations in dif-
ferent climates, those made where the relative humidity is low
should .ive no greater difference between the thermometer in
the air and on the wool than the observations in England on
clear nights, with the same vapour tension, if Prof. ‘lyndall’s
hypothesis be admi‘ted. Ithink we have already many observa-
tions which prove that, with vapour-tensions much above o”"181
(or 46mm.), ze. above that of saturation at 32° F., terrestrial
radiation is very great, if only the sky is clear and the relative
humidity small. No doubt the decrease of the temperature of
the air from the midday maximum to the night minimum is
caused by terrestrial radiation. I give some figures from the
observations at Biskra, in the Algerian Sahara,!
Difference of
AE Mean Tension of Relative Amount
By nae temperature. vapour. humidity. of cloud.
January 25°4 56°8 0°264 61 1°6
August 39°2 89°6 0°557 40 o8
October ... 35°6 68°4. 0°432 58 o'9
In an arid climate in low latitude the non-periodic variations
are but small, and the difference between the maxima and minima
is very near to the daily range of temperature. As the amount
of cloud is very small in all three months taken here, the con-
ditions for terrestrial radiation are very favourable. If vapour
of water in the gaseous state impeded terrestrial radiation so
much as stated by Prof. Tyndall, we should expect to find the
daily range smaller in August than in January, on account of the
double amount of vapour in the air. The reverse is the case,
the daily range being by 14°8 greater in August thanin January.
Has anybody observed a daily range of 39°2 in England, be the
amount of cloud and the vapour-tension ever so small ?
I must add that in all observations bearing on terrestrial radia-
tion we must not forget that other substances besides water in its
three states may interpose a screen to radiation. I mean espe-
cially dust and smoke of all kinds, Now far from large cities,
there are many reasons why in winter, especially when the
ground is covered with snow, the air will hold less of these im-
purities than in summer, as in winter there are no fires of forests
and peat-bogs, there is little inorganic dust, because the humidity
of the soil, and still more so the snow, prevent it; organic dust,
germines, &c., are also absent, or present in very small quaati-
ties, on account of the small amount of plant and lower animal
life. The absence of dust and smoke explains the great purity
of the air in winter, so favourable to solar and terrestrial radia-
t « Annales du Bureau Central Météorologique de France,” 1879, vol. i.
A
y
March 15, 1883 |
tion, as well as the purity of the air at great heights, especially
above the snow-line.
Prof, Tyndall has certainly lost sight of this when he attri-
butes the diathermacy of the air in winter only to the small
amount of vapour of water. The same is the case when he
points to the relatively small nocturnal radiation on clear nights
in many tropical countries. In the case of many of them,
besides dust and smoke, the igh relative humidity has much to
do with the small amount of cooling during the night. What
quantities of latent heat are liberated by the formation of dew
in humid climates of low latitudes, and how much the nocturnal
cooling must be impeded by it, everybody can imagine who has
been in these countries, or only read scientific travels to them.
A. WOEIKOF
Diurnal Variation in the Velocity of the Wind
THE observations discussed in Mr, Buchan’s interesting article
on this subject leave little to be desired, and with most of the
conclusions meteorologists in general will agree. I am surprised,
however, to find such an eminent authority accounting for the
large diurnal oscillation on land, solely on the ground of its being
due ‘‘to the superheating of the surface of the ground, and to the
ascensional movement of the air consequent thereon, which tend
to reduce the effects of friction and viscosity of the air.”
There may perhaps be more hidden within this sentence than
appears from the wording of it; but, taking it as it stands, it
certainly omits what I believe to be the most important factor in
the whole result, viz., the interchange of motion between the upper
and lower layers of the atmosphere, occastoned by the ascensional
movements during the day over superheated land. This has
been most clearly shown by Dr. Képpen in an article in the
Austrian Zeitschrift fiir Meteorologie,’ by successive rejection of
inefficient causes, to be the only means by which such increase of
velocity could be occasioned near the earth’s surface.
It is not clear, moreover, how the ascension currents could other-
wise diminish the friction of the air enough to account for such a
large diurnal increase of velocity. The effect of the increased
temperature alone, would certainly be to increase the friction,
but as K6ppen shows from Meyer’s formula for the coefficient
of gaseous friction, the daily range of temperature would only
cause the friction of the air to vary from } to 1 per cent. of its
whole amount,” so that this factor is evidently without any
appreciable influence on the diurnal period.
In the paper already referred to, Dr. Kippen has gone into
the whole question most minutely, and a perusal of it will, I
think, convince most persons, that the chief factor in causing the
diurnal increase of wind-velocity over land is the intermixture
of air (/uft-austausch) resulting from the uprise of heated air
from the surface, and the consequent downfall of cooled air to
it, ‘‘ bringing down with it,” as Espy told the British Associa-
tion in 1840, ‘“‘the motion which it has above, and which is
known to be greater than that which the air has in contact with
the asperities of the earth’s surface.”
Among the facts cited by Koppen in favour of his theory may
be noted the following :—
1. The fact that in Europe the ratio of the velocity of the
wind to the gradient, is greater for N.E. winds and in summer
than for S.W. winds and in winter; together with the circum-
stance that the temperature decrement, and therefore also the
facility with which local ascension and descension currents may
be formed, is greater under the former conditions than under
the latter.
2. That simultaneously with the diurnal increase in the velocity
of the lower layers of the atmosphere, those above appear to be
retarded.
3. That on stations near the earth’s surface the curve of abso-
lute humidity reaches its minimum about the time of maximum
wind-velocity, while at elevated stations, such as the Faulhorn,
the humidity reaches its maximum at the same time.
In fact it may be concluded, as Képpen graphically puts it,
‘*that the greater the difference of the temperature of the air in
a vertical direction, the smaller are the differences in the humidity,
barometric pressure, and motion of the air, and that in the early
hours of the afternoon the inhabitants of plains are placed to a
certain extent on a higher, and the dwellers of Alpine heights on
a lower, level, relatively to these elements.”
E. DouGLAs ARCHIBALD
* “Die tagliche periode der Geschwindigkeit und Richtung des Windes,’”
September heft, 1879.
= Meyer's formula in English measure is 7 = 7, (tr +°0014/), where » 7, are
the friction coefficients at ¢° and 32° Fahr. respectively.
NATURE
461
The Large Meteor of March 2, 1883
THE meteor described by Mr. R. W. S. Griffith in the last
number of NATURE was also observed at Bristol and Bath. At
the latter place it was seen by Mr. J. L. Stothert at gh. 33m. 40s.,
passing in the direction from a Hydra to 7 Canis Majoris. The
brilliancy of the meteor was equal to twice that of Venus ;
colour yellow ; motion slow ; no train. Comparing this obser-
vation with that obtained by Mr. Griffith, it would seem that
the meteor probably belonged to a radiant point near Lyra,
rising in the north-north-east at the time of its appearance. A
meteor shower was observed by the writer on March 14, 1877,
between 14h. 12m, and 15h. 43m. from the point a 277°,
6 25°+, the members of which were somewhat slow and devoid
of streaks or trains, and the fireball of March 2 last appears to
have belonged to the same stream.
It would be important to hear of additional observations of
this meteor. Its considerable brightness, and the fact that it
appeared at a time when it must have been widely observed,
lead me to hope that many other records of its path have been
preserved. In all such cases it is very desirable to give the
R.A. and Dec. + or — of the beginning- and end-points of the
observed path. Descriptions by the stars or compass-bearings
are likely to be less accurate, and are often difficult to reduce.
In the Odservatory for September, 1879, p. 129, I mentioned
that “‘during the first four days of March fireballs have been very
numerous, especially on the Ist, 2nd, and 4th.” This meteoric
epoch is therefore well confirmed by the fireball of the 2nd inst.
which it is hoped will aid us in determining one of the chief
radiant points of the date. W. F. DENNING
Bristol, March 12
A VERY brilliant meteor was seen here on March 2 at 9.35 p.m.
It burst forth in the immediate neighbourhood of Sirius, and
passed downwards to the west at about an angle of 40° from the
perpendicular, disappearing after a course of about 25°. Its light
was so strong as to make the distant trees, fields, and hedges
perfectly visible, brighter than the brightest moonlight. Its
colours also were very decided, changing quickly, much as does
Sirius to the naked eye, but showing more of the violet at first,
and afterwards more of the red. jos iF
Capel, Surrey
On the Movements of Air in Fissures and the
Barometer
I sHOULD be glad to add to my article “‘On the Movements
of Air in Fissures and the Barometer” (NATURE, vol. xxvii.
Pp. 375) a reference to an instrument devised by Mr. Whitehouse,
and described in 1871 before the Royal Society (Prec. Roy. Soc.
vol. xix. p. 491). The apparatus, which was intended to record
minute variations of atmospheric pressure, consisted of two
hydraulic chambers, connected by a tube or siphon, and buried
inthe ground. One of the chambers was left open at the top
and exposed to atmospheric pressure, the other was closed and
removed from such pressure; the difference in the level of the
water in the two was a measure of the variation in the atmo-
spheric pressure. This instrument reproduces those conditions
to which the oscillation of the water-level in certain chalk-wells,
coincident with the barometic changes, has been attributed. It
was believed by the inventor that by its aid he had been able to
detect atmospheric waves or pul ations at a distance from a
storm-centre ; it has not however come into scientific use.
I may further add to my brief allusion to colliery explosions a
reference to the paper by R. H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S., and W.
Galloway, Mining Engineer, entitled ‘‘On the Connection
between Explosions in Collieries and Weather” (Proc. Roy. Soc.
vol. xx. p. 292, 1872). A, STRAHAN
28, Jermyn Street, March 10
THE PITT-RIVERS COLLECTION
T will be remembered that some time past Major-
General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., most munificently offered
his far-famed Anthropological Collection to the University
of Oxford on the condition that the University should
erect a building adequate to contain it and display it
properly. On Wednesday, the 7th ult., a vote was passed
by Convocation authorising the Curators of the Univerity
462
Chest to expend a sum of 7500/. on the erection of an
annex to the east side of the present University Museum
to contain the collection and to provide the requisite
cases and fittings; a vote of thanks to General Pitt-
Rivers was also passed.
This most important collection, therefore, which com-
menced its public existence at Bethnal Green, and has
so long been exhibited at South Kensington, will rest
finally at Oxford, where it cannot fail to be studied
with ever increasing interest and benefit to learning
generally.” The title of the collection as the “ Pitt-Rivers
Collection” is to be maintained, and the developmental and
gradational system of arrangement devised by the donor,
and carried out by him in the greater part of the collection,
with such valuable and interesting results is to be retained.
The new building, which will be provided with two
galleries, will be entered by two doorways at different
levels from the present University Museum.
The delegates of the Museum have elected Dr. E. B.
Tylor tc be Keeper of the Museum in place of the late Prof.
Henry Smith, so that the new collection, as well as the
anthropological collection of the late Prof. Rolleston,
will fall into the hands of the man most suited to arrange
and explain them.
FOHN RICHARD GREEN
7pae death of Mr. Green, at the early age of forty-five
years, we regard as a serious loss not only to his-
torical literature but to science. We have frequently
maintained that science has no peculiar sphere, that every
field of human research is capable of scientific treatment.
As we pointed out in reviewing Mr. Green’s famous
“Short History ” and his “‘ Making of England,” he has the
credit of having been the first historian who appreciated
the function of science in a State, or the moulding power
of the environment of a people. Not only so, but he dis-
tinctly aimed at showing that the history of a people
is simply an evolution dependent for its course and out-
come on the action and reaction between the entity and
its surroundings. This» conception of the function of
the historian was probably even more distinctly brought
out in the ‘‘ Geography of the British Isles,’ by Mr.
Green and his accomplished and congenial wife. As
we pointed out in our notice of the “Short History ”
moreover, Mr. Green not only wrote his ‘‘ History’’ on a
scientific method, but gave large space in that history to
a record of the progress of science and of scientific
societies, as distinct and influential elements in the life of
our nation. Indeed he may be regarded as the first his-
torian who, breaking away from the old conventional
methods of writing history from the outside, and thus mis-
taking the shell for the kernel, adopted the method of the
physical geographer as distinct from the mere topo-
grapher, and, penetrating deep beneath the surface, traced
the forces which have actuated the nation and brought
it to its present standpoint. Although the impulse given
by Mr. Green to historical study will certainly bear fruit,
his loss cannot be overestimated. His “Making of
England” was evidently only a prelude to a series of
volumes in which he intended to show in minute detail
the interaction between the various elements that go to
make up the life of these islands,—the ethnical and
moral elements on the one hand, and the encompassing
physical elements on the other. Happily he has left behind
him in a nearly complete state a second volume on
“The Coming of the Northmen,’ which brings his
scheme down to the point when it may be said that all
the forces were in the field, the continued action of which
has gone to make up the England of to-day. Since Mr.
Green’s death ample testimony has been borne to his
rigidly scientific method of work, and the patience with
which he wrote and rewrote ere his own severely critical
NATURE
[March 15, 1883
standard was reached. It will be difficult to find a suc-
cessor to Mr. Green so far as stirring eloquence of style
is concerned, but we trust that his scientific method may
find favour, and that historians in future will endeavour
to trace the life of a nation as he did, after the manner of
the biologist and physical geographer.
THE BOTANY OF THE “ CHALLENGER”
EXPEDITION
ES time to time various contributions to the
Botany of the Challenger Expedition have been
published in the Yournal of the Linnean Society,
chiefly in the fourteenth and fifteenth volumes; but
hitherto no part of the botanical results has appeared
in the series of sumptuous volumes in which are re-
corded the discoveries and observations of the expedi-
tion. The Government have at length decided to devote
one volume of about 350 pages and fifty plates to
the elucidation of the flora of the more interesting
countries visited, which the writer of the present article
has undertaken with the assistance and under the super-
intendence of Sir Joseph D. Hooker. There can be no
doubt that the Government are right in their estimate of
the relatively small importance of the results obtained in
botany as compared with those obtained in other branches
of science ; yet we think we shall be able to show that the
botanical collections are sufficient to form the basis of a
most interesting volume. It is almost superfluous to state
that the botanist of such an expedition has little chance
of exhausting the flora of any of the numerous countries
or regions visited ; and the task of elaborating the ma-
terials seemed at first an unpromising one. At many of
the places visited, and especially some of the more inter-
esting ones, the stay was too short and the means inade-
quate for making and drying large collections of plants,
Nevertheless the naturalist, Mr. H. N. Moseley, seems to
have lost no opportunity, having collected in almost every
place touched at. Unfortunately the plants of the least-
known countries, such as the Aru and Admiralty Islands,
reached England in a very much damaged condition.
But imperfect as they are, they include a large proportion
of novelties, and indicate a flora rich in endemic species.
The best collections, so far as number and quality of the
specimens are concerned, are those from Chili, Juan
Fernandez, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, &c.; yet they
contain little or nothing new to science, and by no means
fully represent the vegetation of the several countries.
There remain the collections made in the remote islets
of the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, which, with what
was previously known, afford material for a practically
complete flora of these isolated spots, so interesting to the
student of the distribution of plants and animals. And
it has been decided that this shall be the scope of the
work.
The Bermudas, the oldest English colony, come first in
the arrangement adopted. These islands, having an area
of about one-seventh of that of the Isle of Wight, are
situated about six hundred miles from the American
continent, and although settled as long ago as 1612,
nothing approaching a complete and critical account of
their vegetation has hitherto been published. The flora
is a poor one, especially in regard to number of species,
and is evidently of comparatively recent origin, being in
this respect in striking contrast to that of various other
Atlantic islands—that of St. Helena, for example. The
indigenous element has been, almost without exception,
derived from the West Indies and the extreme south-east
of the mainland of North America. By the indigenous
element we mean those species which have reached the
islands independently of human agency, direct or indirect.
With unimportant, though rather numerous, exceptions,
the indigenous and introduced elements are easily dis-
—
March 5, 1883]
tinguished. A remarkable feature in the vegetation is
the almost total absence of endemicforms. The possible
important exceptions are the native palms. There are
two or possibly three species, of which one belongs to the
genus Sabai. Without due investigation, it has been
generally accepted as a fact that there was only one indi-
genous palm, and that this was identical with the Sabal
Palmetto of south-eastern North America; but in elabo-
rating the palms for the “ Gexera Plantarum,’ Sir Joseph
Hooker became aware that the imperfect herbarium
specimens in this country represent two species, one of
them at least evidently different from Sadal Palmetto.
Several historical passages in Sir J. H. Lefroy’s work on
the Bermudas confirm this view. Thus, in one place it
is recorded that the only food certain fishermen took out
to sea with them on a given occasion was “ Palmitoe
berries ” ; and in another place that the workmen did not
hesitate to share this fruit with pigs and other animals,
and even preferred it to bread to eat with their meat.
Every effort is being made to obtain material this season
to set this question at rest. The earliest references we
find to the vegetable productions of these islands are in the
“ Historye of the Bermudaes,” edited by Sir J. H. Lefroy,
and some of these are valuable, because they enable us to
say with certainty that one species of Opuntia, for
example, existed in abundance previous to the settlement
of the islands.
Francois André Michaux was the first botanist who
visited the Bermudas. In his case it was unintentional,
the fortunes of war having been the cause of his spending
a week there in 1806. He published an interesting
sketch of the vegetation, though the following extract
reveals a want of exactitude : “ Parmi ces plantes [z.e. les
plantes naturelles au pays] on en trouve plusieurs de
Vancien continent, qui ne paroissent pas de nature a y
avoir été transportées: telles sont Verbascum thapsus,
Anagallis arvensis, Mercurialis annua, Leontodon ta-
vaxacum, Plantago major, Gentiana nana, Oxalis aceto-
sella, &c.” The two last names must hive been a slip of
the pen. Since Michaux’s time two imperfect lists of
Bermudan plants have been published, both in 1873. One,
by J. M. Jones, F.LS., is marred by some rather gross
errors in classification and nomenclature, yet it contains
some interesting information. The other, by Dr. J.
Rein, was prepared with greater care, and contains 128
species of introduced and indigenous flowering plants
and ferns, besides upwards of too alge. Altogether Mr.
Moseley collected 162 species of plants. In addition to
these is a considerable number sent to Kew by Sir J. H.
Lefroy during his governorship of the islands, making
a total of about 320 species that occur in a wild state.
These may be classified as follows: indigenous, 130;
probably indigenous, 57 ; certainly introduced, 133. The
last number would be higher if we included solitary waifs
of other species.
Next in order of the Challenger collections come those of
St. Paul’s Rocks and the island of Fernando Noronha, in
which Mr. Moseley collected about sixty species, including
a new species of Oxalis, one new Asclepiad, and one
fig, &c. Had permission to collect objects of natural his-
tory not been withdrawn after the first evening, there is
no doubt this collection would have been an important
one.
Proceeding southward and taking the other islets on
our way, we have Ascension, St. Helena, Trinidad (off
the coast of Brazil, in about 20° 30’ S. lat.), Tristan
d’ Acunha, and the neighbouring islets Inaccessible and
Nightingale; and thence southward and eastward, Gough
Island, Lindsay and Bouvet Islands, Prince Edward and
Marion Islands, the Crozets, Kerguelen Island, the Heard
group, St. Paul and New Ainsterdam. With the exception
perhaps of Kerguelen Island, the published accounts of the
botany of these oceanic islets are all most imperfect and
scattered. We are unaware of any complete enumeration
‘NATURE
463
of the exceedingly meagre indigenous flora of Ascension.
St. Helena has fared better ; but the fifty or so indigenous
species are lost amongst the 1000 species of introduced
plants enumerated in Mr. Melliss’s book “St. Helena,”
the botanical value of which consists chiefly in the figures
of the endemic plants. Moreover Mr. Melliss did not
elaborate the synonymy of the flora, and some of the
Cyperacez were undetermined, whilst a few, we believe,
were omitted.
The island of Trinidad is rather farther from the coast
of Brazil than the Bermudas are from North Carolina,
and very little is known of its vegetation. On the out-
ward voyage of Sir J. Ross’s Antarctic Expedition, Sir
Joseph Hooker and some of the other officers landed on
a small rocky cove, where they were unable to scale the
barrier cliffs; so they could not penetrate to the interior of
the island, and they brought away only one fern (Poly-
podium lepidopteris) and one sedge (/imbristylis, sp.),
though there were tree-ferns and other trees, in sight from
the ship, on another part: of the island. In 1874 Dr.
Ralph Copeland; of the Dunecht Observatory, who
accompanied one of the transit expeditions, landed on
the east side of the island, and succeeded in reaching the
elevated centre, where he found several ferns in. great
luxuriance, and collected a few scraps of plants, including
a new tree-fern. The most interesting plant,;showever,
was Asplenium compressum, a fern previously known only
from St. Helena, though Melliss, by some unfortunate
slip, records it from South Africa, Madagascar, &c. Dr.
Copeland further states that, although most of the. valleys
of the north side of the island contained enormous
numbers of dead trees, not a single living one was to be
seen, except near the highest points. They appeared to
have been dead many years and were mostly overturned.
He was unable to investigate the phenomenon, but sug-
gests that they may have been destroyed by goats, though
he adds not a mammal of any kind was seen.
Tristan d’Acunha itself was explored by Dupetit
Thouars in 1793, and he described the plants in a paper
which he read before the /uzs¢z¢ut of France in 1803.
The next botanist who visited the island was Carmichael,
who published an enumeration of the plants he collected
in the 7yansactions of the Linnean Society. Mr. Moseley
botanised the same island and the neighbouring Nightin-
gale and Inaccessible Islands, and collected not only
those previously known, but also some new species of
Cyperacee. Previously, too, Guaphalium pyramidale,
Thouars, was unknown at Kew, or rather a young plant
of it collected by Carmichael could not be identified as
such with certainty.
We have little space left, so wecan merely mention the
groups of islets in the Southern Ocean. Mr. Moseley added
considerably to our knowledge of the flora of Marion
Island and the Heard Group, and Kerguelen Island,
whilst the Americans, Germans, and French, of their
respective expeditions, investigated the Crozets and New
Amsterdam and St. Paul’s Islands. Kerguelen Island,
the largest by far of all these oceanic islets, being about
eighty miles in diameter, has been explored by the natur-
alists of the English, German, and American transit
expeditions, and the results published. One of the most
interesting discoveries of late years connected with the
vegetation of these islets was made by the late Capt.
Goodenough, about ten years ago, when he collected
Phylica arborea in Amsterdam Island, till then only
known in the island of Tristan d’Acunha, separated there-
from by ninety degrees of longitude, which in this latitude
are equal toa distance of about 4700 miles. Mr. Moseley
also found it abundantly in Inaccessible and Nightingale
Islands. Phylica arborea is likewise remarkable in being
the only plant of these southern islets that is arboreous in
habit, though at the outside it is only about twenty feet
high in the most sheltered localities.
W. BOTTING HEMSLEY
464
NATORE
[March 15, 1883
THE SHAPES OF LEAVES?
Il.—Extreme and Intermediate Types
V HERE access to carbonic acid and sunlight is
habitually unimpeded by the competition of other
plants in any direction, the leaf of each species tends to
assume a completely rounded form; the conditions are
evenly distributed on every side of it. Such absolute
freedom to assume the fullest foliar perfection is best
found on the surface of the water. Hence most water-
plants which have leaves lolling on the surface assume a
at ee
\
Vio Ness
[ re:
Fic. 10.—Lemna minor.
more or less distinctly rounded shape, the venation and
other details remaining in accordance with the ancestral
habit. Foliage of this character is found in the water-
lilies and many other aquatic plants. The little entire
lenticular fronds of the common duckweed, Lemna minor
(Fig. 10), which coats all our small ponds and ditches,
form an excellent example of the tyre in question. Here
the shape is almost orbicular; the edge is entire ; and
the smallness of each separate frond is due to the minute-
ness of the plant and the obvious necessities of its situation.
In the waterlilies we get a similar example on a much
larger scale, for these plants recline on broader and
more permanent sheets of water, and draw nourishment
from their large rhizome, sunk securely in the mud _ be-
neath, and annually accumulating a rich store of food-
stuffs for the growing foliage. Dep
Mr. Herbert Spencer (by whose kind permission two
accompanying diagrams are copied from “‘ The Principles
of Biology’’) points out a distinction between the shapes
adopted by such plants, according to their relations to a
central axis. Inthe sacred lotus, Ne/wmbium spectosum
¥ Continued from p. 442.
(Fig. 11), the leaves grow up on long and independent
footstalks, without definite subordination to any such
axis; and they therefore assume an almost perfectly
symmetrical peltate form. Inthe Victoria regia (Fig. 12)
the footstalks, though radiating almost horizontally from
a centre, are long enough to keep the leaves quite remote
from one another; and here they assume an almost
symmetrically peltate shape, but with a bilateralness
indicated by a long seam over the line of the footstalk.
The leaves of our own white waterlily, Mymphea alba
(Fig. 13), are more closely clustered, and have less room
to expand transversely than longitudinally; hence they
are somewhat longer than broad, and have a cleft where
the Victoria regia has only a seam. Limnanthemum
shows the same type on a smaller scale.
Among land plants, the conditions under which leaves
2 ie
Fic. 12.—Victoria regia. Fic. 13.—Nymphea alba.
can fill out to the full rounded shape occur less frequently
than among floating aquatic species ; still, even here a
very interesting set of gradations may be observed. The
best example of all is that given by the common American
May-apple, Podophyllum peltatum, where the separate
radical leaves grow straight up from a stout rootstock on
very thick and tall stalks, so as to overshadow all the
other vegetation ; and they assume a regular, circular,
peltate form, exactly like a Japanese parasol. The radical
leaves of our own English Cotyledon umbilicus (Fig. 14),
| springing from a perennial rootstock, for the most part
on bare walls or unoccupied hedgerows, are able simi-
larly to expand without interference, and catch carbonic
acid and sunlight to their hearts’ content. Hence they
are orbicular and peltate, though they retain the charac-
teristic crenate edge of most flat-leaved Crassulacee.
| Fic. 14 —Cotyledon umbilicus.
| But the upper leaves, springing from the flower-stalk, are
| more bilateral, as shown in the figure, though even these
| round out to a more or less orbicular form, owing to their
| exceptional access to air and light. The so-called garden
nasturtium, Zyopeolum majus, with leaves growing out
at right angles into open space, has also peltate leaves, as
has likewise the usually aquatic Hydrocotyle. L
When the plant sends up leaves from a rich buried
rootstock, so tall as to overshadow the surrounding vege-
tation, but subordinated to a common centre, they usually
assume the reniform shape. This type is particularly well
seen in the various coltsfoots—for example, in Tussilago
| farfare, 7. petasites, and T. fragrans (Fig. 15). Similar
types occur in Asarabacca, and in the marsh marigold,
Caltha palustris. Extremely similar to the leaf of Caérha,
though on a smaller scale, is that of one true buttercup,
March 15, 1883 |
NATURE
465
Ranunculus ficaria, the lesser celandine, which produces
its foliage in early spring from buried tubers, and so anti-
cipates other plants, having the air all to itself for a
couple of months, after which it gets overshadowed by
later comers. The same type recurs pretty closely in the
radical leaves of its allies, R.auricomusand R. parviflorus,
as also somewhat more remotely in the ivy-leaved crow-
foot, 2. hederaceus, which creeps, unimpeded, over soft
mud. Many early spring plants have lower or radical
leaves at least of this reniform type, because they grow in
comparatively unoccupied ground. As an example, take
ground-ivy, Wefeta glechoma (Fig. 16). The violets re-
present a closely similar case. Many of these plants,
Fic. 15.—Typical leaf of Tusstlago Fic. 16.—WNefeta glecoma.
genus.
however, produce later on, when foliage grows thicker,
much more lanceolate leaves. In the burdocks, docks,
&c., this type is persistent.
On the other hand, where the distribution of carbonic
acid is most scanty, or where the competition is fiercest,
or where the competing plants are supplied with no re-
serve to enable them to send up shoots which overtop
their competitors, immense subdivision into leaflets takes
place, and these leaflets are often almost or quite filiform.
The extent to which leaflets are subdivided depends upon
the relative paucity of carbon in their environment; the
general resulting form depends mainly upon the inherited
type of venation. Among submerged aquatic plants, the
Fic. 17.—Charophycium silvestre.
filiform condition is habitual, because carbonic acid is so
comparatively scarce in water. Among British species,
the water violet, Hottonia palustris, is a good example.
All terrestrial primroses have undivided foliage ; but in
flottonia the leaves, still preserving the pinnate character
of the venation, as in the common primrose, are cut into
very deep segments, forming a close mass of narrow,
linear, waving threads, more like a Chava than a flowering
plant at a first glance. Uv¢ricularia shows the same result
with a different ground-plan. In Myridophyllum, water
milfoil, we have whorls of leaves each minutely subdivided
| localities.
into hair-like pinnate segments, and moving freely through
their still ponds in search of stray carbon particles dif-
fused in the water. A/zppuris has the separate Jeaves un-
divided, but attains the same result by crowding its long,
thin, linear blades in whorls of ten or twelve, so as closely
to resemble an Lguisetum. Our common Ceratophyllum
looks at first sight much like water-milfoil, but here the
whorled leaves, instead of being pinnately divided, are
repeatedly forked into subulate or capillary segments, the
result of a branching rather than of a pinnate venation.
Other instances will occur at once to every botanist.
On land we get very much the same condition of things
A
aN
| ee
J |
- |
i) . Nile
<d \
a
1
See mS 0 ZN
ee ee
. Ree eg -
\ < ———— rE
\ a of) Reuse eae
/ \
/
|
|
Fic. 18.—Floating leaf of 7xafa natans.
in the fierce competition that goes on for the carbon of
the air between the small matted undergrowth of every
thicket and hedgerow. The common weedy plants, and
especially the annuals or non-bulbous perennials, which
grow under such conditions, cannot afford material to
push broad leaves above their neighbours’ heads, and
they are therefore compelled to fight among themselves
for every passing particle of carbon. Hence they are
usually very minutely subdivided, though in a less waving
and capillary manner than the submerged species ; their
Fic. 19.—Submerged leaf of Trafa natans.
leaflets are oftener flat, and definitely exposed on their
upper surface to the sunlight. That essentially weedy
family, the Umbellates, contains a great number of such
highly segmented hedgerow leaves. Common wild cher-
vil, Cherophyllum silvestre (Fig. 17), forms a familiar
example: other cases are C. ¢emulum, Sison Amomum,
many Carums, Genanthes, Pimpinellas, Daucus, Caucalis,
&c., all of which belong by habit to greatly overgrown
Compare these with the free-growing, almost
orbicular, radical leaves of Astrantia and Sanicula, m
466
NMALOURE
[March 15, 1883
the same family ; or with the still freer peltate leaves of
Hydrocotyle; or again with the divided but more broadly
segmented leaves of those tall open-field species, cow-
parsnip, Heracleum sphondylium, and Alexanders, Smyr-
nium olusatrum, which have only to compete against the
grasses and clovers ; or, finally, with the large waterside
forms, Apium graveoleus, Stum latifolium, and Angelica
silvestris. So, too, take the much segmented herb—
Robert, Geranium Robertianum, of all our hedgerows,
growing side by side with the like-minded chervils and
carrots, and compare it with that persistent rounded
G. molle, &c., but even in many exotic Pelargoniums.
Among composites the crowded type is best exemplified
by that thicket weed, milfoil, Achz//ea millefolium, with its
infinite number of finely-cut, pinnatifid segments ; while |
in the taller but closely-allied sneezewort, Achillea
plarmica, growing on high open pastures, we get the
same general type in outline and venation, only entire
save for the slight serrations along its edge. In tansy,
Tanacetum vulgare, also a hedgerow plant, the same
type as milfoil recurs ona far larger and handsomer
scale. Compare these with coltsfoot and burdock, or
even with the tall eupatory and the tufted, close-packed
daisy.
group, &c.; while among larger cryptogams the majority
of thicket ferns display an equally marked subdivision of
the fronds and pinne. It may be added that highly
civilised countries like England are particularly rich in
these subdivided types of foliage, owing to the predo-
minance of hedgerows and of tall grasses.
As in the submerged plants, so in the matted terrestrial
undergrowth, whorling of linear leaves may practically
answer the same purpose as minute segmentation.
plants solve the difficulty of catching stray carbon in the
one way, and some solve it in the other.
easiest modification of its own ancestral type. For
example, take the stellate tribe. Their tropical allies,
the larger Rubiacez, have simple, usually entire, opposite
leaves, with interpetiolar stipules.
northern forms however, the interpetiolar stipules have
grown out into linear leaf-like foliar organs, forming with
the true leaves an apparent whorl of six members. Some-
times, too, the whorl is enlarged to as many as eight
leaves, and sometimes reduced to four. These thick
whorls of small leaves, always well turned outward to the
sunlight, have become practically analogous in their
action to minutely segmented leaflets, in our English
Galiums, Asperulas, and Sherardia. Two of them at
least, G. mollugo and G. aparine, are extremely common
hedgerow plants. Compare them with the broad-leaved
free-climbing Rubia peregrina, which has only four large
members to each whorl.
Among monocotyledons, where (as will be afterwards
explained) the type is given by the peculiarity of the
cotyledon and governs the venation, minute subdivision
is replaced in the matted undergrowth by single, linear,
lanceolate blades, which answer the selfsame purpose in
the long run. The grasses, sedges, and woodrushes are
sufficient examples.
and narrow, and all with long thin flower stems, strive to
overtop one another, and run up side by side to a con- |
They may be compared with the large |
siderable height.
rich leaves of the bulbous lilies, tulips, amaryllids, and
orchids. In both cases the type is the same, but the
development is different.
the grasses, as for example ribwort plantain, though
wholly unlike in type, are apt to be drawn up and assimi-
lated to them, not merely in general character, but even
in venation and mode of fertilisation. Other grass-like
dicotyledons are found among the Polygonums, Armerias, |
Bupleurums, pinks, &c., all under similar circumstances
to those of the grasses themselves.
Other good miscellaneous instances of the weedy |
type are fumitory, Corydalis, moschatel, the camomile |
Here the numerous leaves, all long |
Some |
Each adopts the |
In the small, weedy, |
kinds, such as cabbage and charlock.
Intermediate types between these two extremes of
entire obicularity and minute subdivision occur every-
where. Compare, from this point of view, the common
meadow buttercups, which grow in fully occupied mea-
dows, with Ca/tha and the lesser celandine. Compare,
again, the mallows on the one hand with the peas on the
other, or the docks with the crucifers. Throughout these
intermediates, various stages can be easily observed. For
example, the South European water-chestnut, Zrvapa
natans, beautifully illustrates the gradations which have
| finally given us our own Azppuris and Myriophyllum from
geraniaceous type which recurs, not only in our English |
an Onagraceous or Saxifrage ancestor. It has a number of
floating leaves (Fig. 18) supported by bladder-like petioles
filled with air, and arranged radially round the stem.
Hence, though large and spreading, they are distinctly
bilateral, and they do not interfere with one another's
food supply. But the submerged leaves (Fig. 19, very
diagrammatic) are mere pinnate skeletons of the venation,
waving about in the water below. Among monocotyledons,
the Potamogetons show us some very instructive similar
cases, altered in character by the peculiarities of the very
persistent monocotyledonous foliar type. In the floating
leaves of P. xatans they come as near the waterlilies
as a monocotyledon can reasonably expect to do; in
P. pectinatus, the wholly submerged leaves look like
long blades of grass, proceeding from the thread-like
stems.
Less minutely subdivided than the hedgerow plants are
a large class of somewhat weedy forms, well typified by
our smaller English crucifers. These are often pinnately
| divided to a considerable extent, as in Cardamine hirsuta
and Senebiera didyma. Compare them with the taller
Much the same
type reappears in the lowly forms of Papilionacez, as for
example in Aythyllis, Astragalus, Ornithopus, Hippo-
crepis, &c. On the other hand, in the tall climbing
Vicias, and still more in Zathyrus, the leaflets, having
more carbon, more sun, and less competition, fill out
rounder, and generally decrease in number, the upper
ones being transformed into tendrils. But in the very
grass-encumbered clover-like types, Ovonts, Medicago,
Melilotus, Trigonella, and, above all, Trifolium itself,
the leaflets are dwarfed and reduced to three, the lower
members being suppressed, and only the three terminal
ones left, so as to raise them on a long footstalk up to the
air and sunshine. Compare the very similar leaflets of
wood-sorrel. Again, look at the various conditions under
which the following Rosaceous plants grow : pear, black-
thorn, strawberry, cinquefoil, silver-weed, great burnet,
salad burnet, and compare some of them with clover,
lady’s-fingers, and Hippocrepis. The comparison tells its
own tale at once.
Finally, we must briefly allude to a large class of tufted
plants, usually with entire, ovate, obovate, or ovate-
lanceolate leaves, which grow in a rosette from a centre,
and insure themselves a good supply of carbon and of
light by keeping under all competitors with their close
tufts. Of these, our common daisy forms an excellent
example: notice the tight way it fits itself against the
ground so as to prevent grass from growing beneath it.
Another good case in point is Plantago media: compare
form and habit with those of P. major and P. lanceolata.
To the same class, more or less, may be referred Avabis
thaliana and many crucifers, London Pride, the common
primrose, Hzeracium pilosella, &c. ; and, with more pin-
| nate, lyrate, or prickly leaves, the young thistles, and the
Plants that consort much with |
|
radical foliage of many ligulate composites.
The shapes of leaves thus depend upon the average
surrounding conditions, modifying a given ancestral type.
How these ancestral types themselves were first deve-
loped we shall have to inquire in our next paper.
GRANT ALLEN
(To be continued.)
March 15, 1883}
NARORLE
467
ON THE NATURE OF INHIBITION, AND THE
ACTION OF DRUGS UPON IT?
Ill.
oe first important contribution to our knowledge of
inhibitory centres in the brain and spinal cord was
that of Setchenow. He found that when the cerebral lobes
in a frog were removed, voluntary motion was abolished, but
reflex action became somewhat more marked. On removal
of the optic lobes, the reflex action became very greatly
increased, and if, instead of removing them they were
stimulated either chemically by a grain of salt laid upon
them, or electrically, reflex action in the limbs was greatly
retarded or completely abolished.
These experiments were repeated by Herzen, who, like
Setchenow, considered that there was no inhibitory me-
chanism in the spinal cord itself, but disbelieved also in
inhibitory centres in the brain. He explained the depression
of reflex which occurred on irritation of the optic lobes
by supposing that any intense nervous irritation, no
matter whether it was central or peripheral, caused great
depression of reflex action both when the brain was intact
and when it was divided, as in Setchenow’s experiments.
Setchenow again repeated his experiments, and came to
the conclusion that it was uncertain whether the inhi-
bitory mechanism could be excited reflexly from the
periphery. He made, also,a sharp distinction between
tactile and painful impressions upon the skin. For
tactile impressions he considered that there was no
inhibitory mechanism in the brain. Further investiga-
tions still, showed that both chemical and electrical irrita-
tion would excite the inhibitory apparatus, and he, there-
fore, considered that both excito-motor and depressor
fibres were present in the same nerve-trunk.? Goltz found,
in opposition to Setchenow, that there was an inhibitory
apparatus for tactile reflexes also in the frog’s brain,
but this he found in the cerebral lobes,? while Setchenow
denied any inhibitory function to that part of the brain
altogether.
He found also, however, like Herzen, that complete
abolition of reflex action could be produced by powerful
irritation of any peripheral sensory nerve, and considers
that the irritation is conveyed to the reflex centre, and
diminishes or destroys its excitability for the original
stimulus, without supposing that there is any special
inhibitory centre.
Lewisson found that by powerfully compressing the
neck, or by squeezing the feet, or some other part of the
body of a frog, or by irritation of the cutaneous or mus-
cular nerves, or by electricity, the reflex excitability could
be much depressed. He found, however, that unless the
irritation was strong it produced stimulation both of the
reflex and motor centres of the brain instead of de-
pression.+
The general conclusion to which all these experi-
ments, as well as those of Fick,® Freusberg, and others
lead is, either that the nerves contain both excito-motor
and reflex depressing fibres, or that excitement and
depression can be produced by the same nerves under
different conditions.
Freusberg,® who discusses the question of inhibition in
an able and thorough manner, comes to the conclusion
that all instances of inhibition including the different
effects of weak and powerful stimuli applied to the same
nerve, and also the inhibitory effects of stimulation of
different nerves on each other, are not due to specific
* Continued from p. 439.
Uber, die elektr. und chem. Reizung der sensiblen Ruckenmarksnerven
des Frosches, 1868. Quoted by v. Boetticher, of. cif. p. 6.
3 Goltz, of. cit. p. 42.
4 Lewisson, ae Ueber Hemmung der Thatigkeit der motor. Nervencentren
durch Reizung sensibler Nerven,’’ Archiv. f. Anatomie u. Physiol. 1869.
5 Fick, Verhandlungen der physikalisch medicinischen Gesellschaft zu
Wurzburg, April 23, 1870.
© Freusberg, ‘‘ Ueber die Erregung u. Hemmung d. Thatigkeit d.
nervisen Centralorgane,’’ Pfliiger’s Archiy. x. 174.
inhibitory centres, but to a remarkable property of the
central nervous system, which does not allow of its
different parts being simultaneously set in action by
different causes. This conclusion, although it may be
nearer the truth than the hypothesis of separate inhi-
bitory centres, is not satisfactory, for it still leaves us in
the dark regarding the way in which the central nervous
system comes to possess the remarkable properties which
he attributes to it.
Setchenow explains the increased rapidity of reflex
action after section of the cord below the medulla
oblongata, by supposing that there are two paths along
which the stimulus usually passes, from the sensory to
the motor tracts. The one goes directly across, and
this is the path taken after section. The other goes up
to the medulla, and then down the cord. This is the
path taken under ordinary conditions; but besides the
apparent unlikelihood that the stimulus should take this
longer path under normal conditions, an objection has
been raised to it by Cyon which seems fatal.
Cyon finds that when the so-called inhibitory centres
are stimulated, although reflex contraction of the leg is
apparently delayed for a long time, this delay is to a great
extent only apparent and not real.
It is true that the vigorous contraction of the muscles
which suffices to raise the limb is much delayed, but a
contraction of these muscles commences at very nearly
the same time that it would do if the inhibitory appa-
ratus were not stimulated. This shortening of the muscle
goes on very gradually for a considerable time, and then
culminates in a sudden vigorous contraction, the total
height of which is greater than that of the contraction
wbich would have occurred without irritation of the
inhibitory centres. It is very difficult to explain this
result on the ordinary hypothesis, but easy enough on that
of interference. According to it we suppose that a stimulus
applied to the foot has been transmitted as usual from the
sensory to the motor cells of the cord, and thence to the
muscles, so as to initiate contraction in them. This stimu-
lus would correspond to the first half wave in the diagram
(Fig. 2). The subsequent waves of stimulation which
would have proceeded from the motor ganglia have been
interfered with by the stimuli passing down from the so-
called inhibitory centre, but their times being not arranged
so that each wave from the brain should fall half a wave-
length behind that in the cord, the stimuli at length cease
to interfere, and the contraction, which has gone on
gradually increasing as the interference diminishes, at
last finishes abruptly. ;
The part of the brain which ought to correspond in
higher animals to the optic lobes in frogs is the corpora
quadrigemina, but irritation of these parts has not been
found to have any marked inhibitory action upon reflexes
in the limbs.?
Irritation of the frontal lobes in puppies has, however,
been found by Simonoff% to exercise an inhibitory action ;
but, according to Ferrier, abolition of the frontal lobes in
monkeys does not produce any very obvious effect upon the
animal.? We know that by an effort of the will, we are able
either to increase or diminish reflex action, and it might
appear probable that irritation of the motor tracts in the
cerebrum might have an inhibitory action on reflexes,
Irritation of the cerebral motor areas has not been found to
exercise any definite inhibitory action upon reflexes, but on
the other hand Exner® has found, if a stimulus be applied
simultaneously to a motor area in the brain and to an
extremity, the two stimuli aid one another, and produce
a greater effect than they would separately. As irritation
T Cyon, Ludwig's Festgabe, p. clxviii. 7
2 Setschenow Physiologische Studien iiber die Hemmungs-mechanismen
fiir die Reflexthatigkeit des Riickenmarkes im Gehirn des Frosches, p. 3
(Berlin: Hirschwald, 1863).
3 Simonoff, Arch. f. Anat. u. Phys. p. 545, 1866.
4 Ferrier, Functions of the Brain, p. 230 (London, 1876),
5 Exner, Pfliiger’s Archiv. xxviii. 487.
468
ERO RE
[March 15, 1883
ofthe cerebral motor areas, therefore, does not exercise
a definite inhibitory action upon reflexes, but does under
certain conditions markedly increase them, one might
expect that their removal would diminish reflex action.
Such a diminution actually occurs when they are destroyed
in disease, but when the brain is removed layer by layer
in operations upon animals, it is usually found that the
reflex increases in proportion to the quantity removed.
When the whole brain is removed, the reflex action is
greater than when it is present, and as the cord is cut
away layer by layer, the excitability of the seg nent below
appears to be increased ; each layer, as has already been
mentioned, appearing to have an inhibitory influence on
the one below it. But this is not always the case, because
we sometimes find on removal of the various parts of the
brain or of the spinal cord that the section completely
abolishes reflex action for the time.
We are accustomed frequently to cloak our ignorance
of the true cause of this abolition by saying it is due to
the shock of operation or something of that sort; but
looking the facts fairly in the face, we find that some-
times removal of the upper part of the brain or spinal cord
causes increase and sometimes diminution of reflex-action
in the parts below. At present we have no satisfactory
explanation of this phenomenon, but if we suppose in the
one case the nervous matter to have been removed in
such a way as to cause an interference of the stimuli
passing along from cell to cell, and in the other to
cause a coincidence, we can readily understand the
occurrence of the two different conditions. Moreover,
we have said several times, that inhibition or stimu-
lation are only relative conditions depending on the
length of path along which the stimulus has to travel, and
the rapidity with which it travels. The length of path
remaining the same, the occurrence of stimulation or
inhibition depends upon the rapidity of passage of the
stimulus. The same length of path which is just suffi-
cient to throw successive impulses of a slowly travelling
stimulation half a wave-length behind the other, and pro-
duce inhibition, may be just sufficient to throw the vibra-
tions of another more rapidly transmitted stimulus a
whole wave-length behind, and produce increased instead
of diminished action.
If the hypothesis that inhibition is produced by inter-
ference be true, we shall be able to test it by seeing
whether stimulation of certain nerves which, under the
ordinary conditions produce inhibition, do so when the
rate of transmission of nervous impulses is altered. The
length of path being the same, if we alter the rapi-
dity of transmission it is probable that as the rapidity
diminishes, the inhibition will be converted into stimula-
tion, again possibly passing into inhibition, according as
the stimuli, which we normally suppose to be half a wave-
length behind each other, are thrown a whole wave-
length, or a wave-length and a half behind each other.
At a certain period, also, the waves of stimulation will be
neither a whole nor a half wave-length behind each
other, but the fraction of a wave-length. In such cases
we shall neither have constant coincidence, nor constant
interference, but we shall have rhythmical coincidence and
rhythmical interference, the result of which will be that
we shall neither get constant motion, nor constant arrest
of motion, but alternate motion and rest. In other words
we shall neither have complete rest nor tonic contractions,
but intermittent or clonic contractions. Now this con-
dition is exactly what we do find when one sciatic of a
frog is irritated twenty-four hours after it has been exposed.
We have already mentioned that when irritated imme-
diately after exposure it had the effect simply of abolishing
reflex action in the other leg; but the same irritation
applied in the same manner after many hours, instead of
causing arrest in the other leg, causes clonic convulsions.*
This occurrence is very hard to explain on the ordinary
1 Nothnagel, Centralblatt f. d. med. Wiss. March 28, 1869, p. 211.
hypothesis of separate and distinct inhibitory centres, but
it agrees perfectly with the hypothesis that inhibition and
stimulation are merely relative conditions.
I have repeated Nothnagel’s experiments, but I have
not got the same results. Irritation of the sciatic nerve
indeed caused a certain diminution in reflex at first, but’
irritation after twenty-four hours caused no clonic con-
vulsions, it merely appeared somewhat to stimulate reflex
action in the other leg. The reason of this discrepancy
in our results is probably that the temperature was dif-
ferent in the two cases. Nothnagel’s results were pub-
lished in March, and his experiments were probably
performed during cold weather, while mine were done
during very mild weather. If the effects which he noticed
were due to definite inhibitory centres in the spinal
cord similar experiments should have had similar results
in his hands and mine __ If on the other hand the effects
simply depend on the rate of the transmission of nervous
impulses it is easy to understand why the results were
different in the two cases.
There are also certain pbenomena connected with the
action of drugs on the spinal cord which are almost
inexplicable on the ordinary hypothesis, but which are
readily explained on that of interference. Thus bella-
donna when given to frogs causes gradually increasing
weakness of respiration and movement, until at length
voluntary and respiratory movements are entirely abo-
lished, and the afferent and efferent nerves are greatly
weakened. Later still, both afferent and efferent nerves
are completely paralysed, and the only sign of vitality is
an occasional and hardly perceptible beat of the heart
and retention of irritability in the striated muscles. The
animal appears to be dead, and was believed to be dead,
until Fraser made the observation that if allowed to
remain in this condition for four or five days, the apparent
death passed away and was succeeded by a state of
spinal excitement. The forearms passed from a state of
complete flaccidity to one of rigid tonic contraction. The
respiratory movements reappeared ; the cardiac action
became stronger, and the posterior extremities extended,
In this condition a touch upon the skin caused violent
tetanus usually opisthotonic, lasting from two to ten
seconds, and succeeded by a series of clonic spasms. A
little later still the convulsions change their character and
become emprosthotonic. These symptoms are due to the
action of the poison upon the spinal cord itself, for they
continue independently in the parts connected with each
segment of the cord when it has been divided.
This action may be imitated by a combination of a
paralysing and exciting agent such as strychnia and
methyl-strychnia. Fraser concludes that the effects of
large doses of atropia just described are due to a com-
bined stimulant and paralysing action of the substance on
the cord, and that the difference in the relations of these
effects to each other, which are seen in different species
of animals, may be explained by this combination acting
on special varieties of organisation.
T. LAUDER BRUNTON
(To be continued.)
NOTES
THE Queen has signified her intention of opening the
International Fisheries Exhibition, at South Kensington, on
Saturday, May 12.
BARON NORDENSKJOLD writes to us that he has definitely
settled to start for the interior from Auleitsivik Fjord on the
west coast, and then, in September, to go round Cape Farewell
along the east coast to the north.
A Most interesting letter has been received at Kew Observa-
tory from Mr, Cooksley, of Capt. Dawson’s expedition to Fort
| Rae. They arrived on August 30, started the meteorological
March 15, 188 3]
observations on September 1, and the magnetical observations
on September 3. Apparently all was well at the date of the
letter, December 19, 1882.
Mr. WILLIAM HENRY M. CurRIsTIE, F.R.S., Astronomer
Royal, has been elected by the Committee to be a Member of
the Athenzeum Club, under Rule 2, which provides for the
admission of persons distinguished in literature, science, or the
arts, or for public services.
M. Dumas was not able to be present at Monday’s sitting of
the Academy of Sciences. His recovery is not quite so rapid
as it was hoped and expected to be.
In the Civil Service Estimates for 1883-4 the total vote for
education, science, and art amounts to £4,748,556, a net increase
of £165,531 over the previous year.
THE sixth International Congress of Orientalists will be
opened at Leyden on September Io next.
' Mr. MItne, who has recently returned to his post in Japan,
has suggested to the Japanese Government the great utility of
establishing a series of observations for the study of earthquakes ;
earth-tremors ; earth-pulsations; earth-oscillations, or permanent
changes of level ; terrestrial magnetism ; fluctuations of under-
ground water; earth temperatures; eruptive phenomena, &c.
We trust that the Japanese Government will see it to be their
interest, in a land of earthquakes,-as well as the interest of
science, to take the advice of Mr. Milne, who has already done
so much for seismology. Mr. Milne writes that he is more and
more convinced that there are ‘‘earthquakes” of so slow
period that neither observers nor ordinary instruments record
them. The Japanese papers report that a volcano in the Asuma
Yuma range has burst out.
Mr, A. H. KEANE has been elected Corresponding Member
of the Italian Anthropological Society.
Mr. Rospert LinpDsAy has been appointed Curator of the
Edinburgh Botanic Garden,
A SPECIAL general meeting of members only of the Associa-
tion for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching will be
held at 8 p.m., on March 20, at University College, (1) to
authorise the publication of Books i. and ii. of the Elementary
Geometry as revised by the committee ; (2) to appoint three
trustees of the property of the Association.
THE Institution of Naval Architects began its annual meeting
yesterday, and continues to-day and to-morrow. Among the
papers in the programme are the following :—On certain points
of importance in the construction of ships of war, by Capt. G.
H. Noel, R.N. ; The influence of the Board of Trade rules for
boilers upon the commercial marine, by J. T. Milton; Sea-
going torpedo-boats, by M. J. A. Normand ; Some experiments
to test the resistance of a first-class torpedo boat, by A. F.
Yarrow; On the modes of estimating the strains to which
steamers’ are subject, by Wigham Richardson ; On the extinctive
effect of free water on the rolling of ships, by P. Watts; A de-
scription of a method of investigation of screw propeller efficiency,
by H. B. Froude ; The speed and form of steamships considered
in relation to length of voyage, by James Hamilton ; On fog-
signalling, by J. MacFarlane Gray; Method of obtaining the
desired displacement in designing ships, by R. Zimmermann.
THE Royal Commissioners for Technical Education—Messrs.
Samuelson, M.P., Woodall, M.P., P. Magaus, and Swire Smith
—accompanied by Mr. G. R. Redgrave (secretary), visited Bir-
mingham on March 8, and devoted several days to a careful
inspection of the Mason College, Midland Institute, &c. The
Commissioners were much interested in the system of practical
science instruction which is being carried on in the Board
NATURE
469
Schools under the direction of Mr, Jerome Harrison, F.G.S.,
and both heard lessons given in the new Icknield Street Schools,
and examined the newly built laboratory, &c. We hope shortly
to present to our readers an account of the system by which
about 2500 of the elder boys and girls in the Birmingham Board
Schools are now receiving lessons in elementary science, at,
practically, little or no extra cost to the town of Birmingham,
It is proposed to establish the new Professorship of Physiology
at Cambridge in the ensuing Easter term. The appointment of
a Professor of Pathology is also declared by the General Board
of Studies to be urgent. The Medical Board has recently
unanimously reported that the appointment of a Professor otf
Surgery is urgently necessary ; and Prof. Humphrey has offered
to resign the Professorship of Anatomy and accept the Profes-
sorship of Surgery for the present, without stipend.
THE death is announced of William Desborough Cooley, the
author of a History of Geographical Discovery, a Physical Geo-
graphy, and other geographical works, and who at one time
wrote largely on theoretical African geography.
THE half-yearly General Meeting of the Scottish Meteoro-
logical Society will be held to-day. The business before the
meeting is: (1) Report from the Council of the Society ; (2)
Address by Prof. Piazzi Smyth, at request of the Council, on
Rainband Spectroscopy ; (3) the Meteorology of Ben Nevis in
1882, by Clement L. Wragge.
THE Réforme, the new Paris paper, which has established
telegraphic communication with London, publishes daily a
translation of the previsions issued by the Meteorological Board
of London, which is read by the French public at the same time
as in England.
M. LaLANNE, Member of the Academy of Sciences, has been
elected a Life Senator in the Liberal interest. It seems to be
becoming almost a constant practice of the French Senate to
select its ‘‘ Irremovables” from among the several classes. of the
Institute.
Aw Electrotechnical Society has been formed at Vienna,
similar to the one existing and flourishing at Berlin.
THe German astronomers who had proceeded to Punta
Arenas in Magellan’s Straits in order to observe the last transit
of Venus have at last returned to Germany.
A METEORIC stone weighing a hundredweight fell near
Alfianello, near Bresci1, on February 16 last. It entered the
ground to a depth of two metres, and caused a shock like that
of a slight earthquake.
A memorr, for which a gold medal (600 francs) has been
awarded by the Belgian Academy, is by Prof. Fredericq,
of Liege; it is on the influence of the nervous system on
the regulation of temperature in warm-blooded animals, After
many experiments, the author affirms that cold acts on the sensi-
tive nerves of the skin, and through them on centres of thermo-
genesis in the medulla oblongata. These centres react, and
through centrifugal nerves cause an increase of the phenomena
of interstitial combustion, especially in the muscles ; but we also
fight with cold by a diminution of the losses of heat, the vessels
of the skin being constricted, owing to an excitation of the vaso-
constrictor centres, through impression of the sensitive nerves of
the skin by cold. M. Fredericq considers that the system does
not (as most physiologists say) contend against heat by diminishing
the production of heat. The regulation of temperature is simply
based on increase of the losses of heat, by dilatation of the
cutaneous vessels, by acceleration of the outer circulation, in-
creased secretion and evaporation of sweat, and greater ad-
470
NATURE
| March 15, 1883
mission of air to the lungs. The vaso-dilator nerve centres
(sudorific and respiratory) are excited directly by superheated
blood,
AN interesting trial of an electrically-moved tramcar took
place on Monday at Kew, and, notwithstanding some inevitable
hitches, may be regarded as fairly successful. The peculiarity
of the application of electricity in the present case lies in the
use made of accumulators. The car was constructed at the
Electrical Power Storage Company’s works at Millwall, and is
of the usual dimensions for carrying forty-six inside and outside
passengers. It weiyhs, with its accumulators and machinery,
but without any passengers, four and a half tons. Under the
inside seats of this tramcar is placed the accumulator, consisting
of fifty Faure-Sellon-Volckmar cells, each measuring 13 inches
by 11 inches by 7 inches, and each weighing about 80 lbs. This
accumulator, when fully charged, is capable of working the
tramear with its maximum load for seven hours, which means
half a day of tramway service. From the accumulators the
current is communicated by insulated wire to a Siemens’
dynamo placed underneath the car, which acts as a motor, the
motion being transmitted to the axle of the wheels through a
driving-belt. To start the car the current is switched on
from the accumulator to the dynamo, the armature of which
being set in motion, the power is communicated to the driving
wheels, The car can be driven from either end, and the power
required can be exactly appor.ioned to the work to be done by
using a greater or lesser number of cells. Ona level road, for
instance, with a light load, only a comparatively small number
of cells will be necessary, but with a heavy load or on a rising
gradient greater power will be required, and additional cells
must be switched in. The action of the motor, and consequently
the direction of the car, can be readily reversed by reversing the
current, and the car can also be as readily stopped by shutting
off the current entirely and applying the handbrake with which
the car is fitted. At night the car is lighted by means of four
Swan incandescent lamps, two of which are placed under tie
roof and one at each end of the car. All the lamps derive their
current fro. the accumulator. The car is also fitted with electric
bells, worked from the same source, and is to be run regularly
on the Acton tramway line, The Storage Company also had a
successful trial on Monday at Kew of a launch fitted with a
battery of forty cells and a Siemens’ dynamo.
WE learn from the last number of the ¥ozsa/ of the Russian
Chemical and Physical Society (1883, fascicule 1) that, at a
recent meeting of the Society, Prof. Mendeléeff made a commu- |
nication on the applicability of the third law of Newton to the |
mechanical explanation of chemical substitutions, and especially
to the expression of the structure of hydrocarbons. If we admit
not only the substitution of hydrogen by methyl, but also the
substitution of CH, by H,, and of CH by H,—as must be
according to the law of substitutions as deduced from the third
law of Newton—we can not only explain, but also predict, all
cases of isomerism, without recurring to the usual conceptions as
to the connections and atomicities of elements. Thus, benzene
can be understood as a normal butane, CH,CH,CH,CHg, or
(CH;CH,)., where a double symmetrical substitution of H, by
CH has taken place, the H, having been taken from CH, and
the third H from CH,, so that only the CH groups are left;
CHCH \?
CH .
of benzene, diproparzyl the formation from acetylene, and the
substitution and addition products from benzene.
benzene being thus =(( It would explain the isomer
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Rhesus Monkey (MJacacus erythreus é)
from India, presented by Mr. C. F, Henshaw ; a Grey Ichneu-
mon (/ferpestes griseus) from India, presented by Mr. F. C. H.
Dadswell; a Herring Gull (Zarus argenta/us), British, pre-
sented by Miss Ella Vicars ; three Common Swans (Cygnus olor),
British, presented by Mr. J. Hargreaves; four Prairie Grouse
(Zetrao cupido) from Iowa, North America, presented by Mr,
Henry Nash; a Daubenton’s Curassow (Crax daubentoni 2)
from Venezuela, presented by Mr. Rowland Ward, F.Z.S.; a
North American Turkey (AZée/eagris gallo-pavo 6) from North
America, presented by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T.,
F.R.S. ; a Malbrouck Monkey (Cercopithecus cynosurus) from
West Africa, deposited ; a Gaimard’s Rat Kangaroo (Aypst-
prymnus gaimardi @), three Coypu Rats (AZyopfotamus coypus),
born in the Gardens.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS
OF the several branches of the Russian Geographical Society,
the Caucasian and the East Siberian are well known for
the amount of valuable geographical work they have done during
the thirty years or so of their existence. The high scientific interest
connected with the exploration of the Caucasus is obvious. The
scientific exploration of the Alps has revealed to us anew world ;
but the highlands of the Caucasus, with the high plateaux of
Trauscaucasia, afford a still greater variety of geological and
physico-geographical features than the Alps ; besides, situated
as they are on the boundary between the moist climate of the
west and the dry one of the east, between the deeply-indented
coasts of Europe and the deserts and plateaux of Asia, between
the young civilisations of the west and the old civilisations of the
east, the Caucasian highlands afford such a variety of climatic,
botanical, zoological, and ethnological features as hardly can be
met with in any other country of the world. Very much remains
to be done to bring these highlands within the domain of
scientific knowledge. In what has been done up to the present,
the Caucasian branch of the Russian Geographical Society has
always had a good share, either by direct exploration, or by
bringing to the knowledge of the scientific world such explora-
tions as otherwise would have remained unknown in the archives
of different Government offices, or by giving a scientific cha-
racter to such explorations as were made for military or
diplomatic purposes. Besides, the activity of the Caucasian
Geographical Society is nct limited to the Caucasus. Closely
connected with the General Staff of Tiflis, it extends its explora-
tions to the Trans-Caspian region, to Asia Minor, and to Persia ;
and closely follows the Russian military expeditions, surveyors,
and diplomatists who eagerly visit these countries.
Unfortunately the publications of the Caucasian branch—the
Zapiski or Memoirs, and the Jzvestia or Bulletin—are but very
insufficiently known abroad, Fetermann’s Mittheilungen being
nearly the sole channel through which they are brought to the
notice of the scientific world. The following summary, therefore,
of the last publications of the Society will be of some use to
scientific geographers. Without attempting to review all the
volumes of the Memoirs and /zvestia which have appeared, we
shall limit this paper to a review of the tw» last of each, the
chief results of the papers contained in former volumes being
already embodied in Elisée Reclus’s ‘‘Géographie Universelle.”
Several papers of the sixth volume of the /zvestia are devoted
to the geodesy of the Caucasus and adjacent countries. During
the war of 1878 a considerable amount of geodetical work was
, done in the province of Kars and in Asia Minor, and M. Kul-
berg gives the latitudes and longitudes determined. The longi-
tudes of Kars, Erzerum, and Mysun were determined by means
of telegraphic signals (the accuracy of this method being such as
to reduce the probable error between Pulkova and Vladivostok,
on the Pacific, to 014, that is, to 50 yards on a distance of
7000 miles). Other longitudes were determined by chronometer.
A trigonometrical network was extended to Erzerum, and
numerous surveys were made. The longitudes of several points
, at Constantinople were determined with great accuracy by
General Stebnitzky, as well as that of Batum by M. Kulberg.
The same volume contains also a list of latitudes and longi-
tudes determined on the banks of the Emba and on the Mangi-
shlak peninsula.—M. Kulberg contributes also an interesting
paper on the results of determinations of lengths of the pendulum
on the Caucusus, in order to determine the increase of gravity
caused by the Caucasian chain. The observations were made at
‘March 1 5, 1883 |
, Tiflis, Elizabethpol, Dushet, Gudaur, and Vladikavkaz with the
same pendulums that were used for a similar purpose in Russia
and afterwards in India. It results from the observations that
in all the above-named localities, the lengths of the seconds
pendulum are less than the calculated ones, namely, by 0 0037
Paris lines at Batum, 0°0455 at Elizabethpol, 00445 at Tiflis,
070476 at Vladikavkaz, 0°1171 at Dushet, and 0°1226 at Gudaur.
- Thus, the geoid (or the true figure of the earth’s surface, as
determined by the directions of the pendulum) nearly corresponds
with the spheroid on the shores of the Black Sea; it rises above
it by 1587 feet at Tiflis, and by 1622 feet at Elizabethpol. It
rises further north, reaching 4175 feet at Dushet, and 4371 at
Gudaur, but soon falls, and has at Vladikavkaz, on the northern
slope of the main chain, nearly the same height as at Tiflis, that
is, 1697 feet above the spheroid.
The purely geographical papers are numerous :—M. Bakradze
contributes a paper on the Batum province,—the Saata-
bago of antiquity,—and the basin of the Chorokh River,
inclosed by mountains 10,000 feet high, and often of
volcanic origin, The vegetation of the province is perhaps
still more luxuriant than in other parts on the coasts of the
Black Sea, where it altogether develops with a prodigious
strength, owing to the great amount of rain; vines cover the
trees in the coast district. But the country is thinly peopled. The
old Georgian population is forgetting its language, and is dis-
appearing from the upper parts of the basin of the Chorokh;
the Lazes occupy only nineteen hamlets ; the Armenians number
no more than 570 houses; the Abhazes and Circassians, who
have immigrated from the Caucasus, and Kurds are also scarce,
—Another paper, by M. Levashoff, gives a detailed description
of the mountains on the left bank of the Chorokh, between
Batum and Artvin; these mountains are spurs of the Anti-
Taurus. chain which terminates close by the Chorokh in the
peak! Kvahid, 10,390 feet high. The left affluents of the
-Chorokh flow in narrow gorges, the bottom of which, anl
sometimes the slopes, are occupied by hamlets of Mussulman
Gurians.» Each of these gorges has its own individuality, and
communication between them is very difficult, The small
villages of each gorge are quite isolated from those of a neigh-
bouring gorge. The fields of Indian corn and rice are often
scratched on the small terraces on the slopes of mountains, often
at a height of 3000 feet above the sea-level, and close by ruins
of old small fortresses, each of which has its own legend. The
tributaries of the Chorokh become wild streams after each rain,
and the avalanches are dangerous enemies. The forests, which
cover the mountains from top to bottom, are peopled with bears,
wolves, and foxes. Further down, towards the sea-coast, the
gorges become wider, and their bottom is covered with gardens.
The Chorokh itself has a breadth of twenty-five to fifty yards,
and runs with such rapidity that the Aayouks, or local boats,
managed with great skill through the rapids, pass the distance
from Artyin to Batum (more than fifty miles) in four or five
hours.—We notice also in the same volume a paper on the
villayet of Trebizond, translated from the German; the letter
of Mr. Gifford Palgrave on vestiges of glacial action in North-
eastern Anatolia, translated from a former volume cf NATURE;
the account of a party who undertook to climb the Elbrouz, but
stopped 3500 feet short of its summit; and a notice on Western
Daghestan.—M. Chernyavsky gives a detailed description of
periodical phenomena in the life of plants at Sukhum-kaleh,
cure the autumn, winter, and spring of the years 1871 to
1875.
M. Seidlitz contributes a note on goitre and cretinism on the Cau-
casus. It is spread in several valleys of the main chain, especially
in the Upper Svanetia ; in the valley of the Tzhenis-tzhali many
cases of cretinism were noticed. Altogether the small people of
Svanets, which numbers only 12,000 souls, seem to be in a state
of degeneracy, and ought to have an infusion of fresh blood
from without. The goitre was noticed also in adjacent parts of the
upper basin of the Rion river, among the Osets. On the northern
slope of the Caucasus, west of the Kazbek peak, as well as in
the basin of the Kuban, the goitre was not noticed ; but it is
known in Western Daghestan and in the valleys of the Andian
Koysou ridge. It is cured by the waters of springs containing
carbonic acid. Women are more subject to this disease than
men, Another disease, of hysterical character, endemic to the
same locality, is worthy of notice. The men and women affecetd
bark like dogs, and the aborigines consider it as the result
of bewitching, in which the ‘‘ barking grass,” as the Avars say
a kind of Orchis), is used by the bewitchers, In the Anti-
NATURE
471
Caucasus goitre was noticed in the Nakhichevan district and in
the Batum province. It is always endemic, and never takes an
epidemic character, as was the case in 1877 at Kokan, in
Turkestan, where 9 per cent. of the soldiers and officers were
seized with this disease after a year’s stay at Kokan.
The ethnography of the Caucasus occupies a large place in
this volume of the Zzvestéa. M. Zagursky contributes a note on
the supposed kinship of the Osets with the Etruscans, and shows
that it would be rather difficult to establish this kinship on account
of a want of likeness between the Osetian language and the
little we know about the language of the Etruscans.—Prof.
Patkanoff contributes a valuable paper on the place occupied by
the Armenian Janguage among other Indo-European languages.
He concludes that, and shows why, the question still remains
open. Several linguists consider the Armenian language as
decidedly belonging to the Iranian group, whilst others classify
it with the European group. Lagarde distinguishes in it three
elements : the Haikan, the Arkasid, and the Sassanid elements ;
the two latter are Iranian, but the Haikan element belongs to a
family of languages the oldest of which is the Zend. Hiibsch-
mann concludes that it occupies an intermediate place between
the Iranian languages and the Slavo-Lithuanians ; and Fr. Miiller,
a partisan of its Iranian origin, admits that it has some kinship
with the Slavo-Lithuanian languages. Prof. Patkanoff concludes
that it occupies an intermediate place between these two, and is
a representative of an extinct group of Indo-European lan-
guages, which formerly was spread perhaps in Asia Minor.—
We notice also several notes: on the dolmens of the Maykop
district ; on the descriptions of the first physical training given
to children by different Caucasian peo; les (these interesting de
scriptions, comprising nearly all Caucasian peoples, were sent to
Moscow to Dr. Pokrovsky) ; on archzeological discoveries in the
province of Kuban, &c.
The /zves/ia contain also many interesting short notices on
the scientific work done on the Caucasus by other Societies and
private persons ; and bibliographical notices on different works
dealing with the Caucasus. Elisée Reclus’s description of the
Caucasus in the ‘‘ Géographie Universelle” is considered as the
best that has yet appeared, and it is proposed to translate it into
Russian, with notes and additions.
The Appendix contains several valuable papers, namely: a
note on the Bosphorus and Constantinople, by M. Stebnitzky
(with a map), containing some new information on currents in
the Bosphorus and on the mean temperature at Pera, according
to new observations of M. Kumbari (14°°3 Cels.) ; a note on the
Aysors of the province of Erivan ; a note on the population of
Turkish Armenia, by M. Eritsoff (1,162,957, out of which
214,350 are Turks, 357,577 Kurds, 498,007 Armenians, 41,682
Kizilbashes, 25,516 Greeks, and 17,400 Aysors); and several
translations.
The geodetical part is represented in the seventh volume of the
Zzvestia by a paper by M. Kulberg, on the influence of the oscillations
of the supporting disc of the pendulum of the Russian Academy
on the measured length of the seconds pendulum. The correc-
tion due to this cause was found to be equal to +0'0650 Paris
lines, which correction closely corresponds to the difference
between the Russian pendulum and that of Cater, which was
found at Kew to be equal to 0'0056 inches, or 0'0631 Paris lines.
The corrected lengths of the seconds pendulum at the above-
named localities (at 13° Réaumur, and reduced to the sea-level)
would be thus : 440°2734 Paris lines at the Tiflis Observatory,
440°3279 at Vladikavkaz, 440°2126 at Gudaur, 4402018 at
Dushet, 440°3172 at Batum, and 440°2364 at Elizabethpol.—A
biographical notice of the late Gen. Khodzko gives an account
of the immense work he performed for the triangulation of the
Caucasus. He began this work in 1847 with the Anti-Caucasus,
always taking for himself the most difficult parts of the work,
such as the measurements on the summit of Alaghéz (13,436
feet high), or of Ararat (16,916 feet), 6000 feet above the snow-
line, and of other high summits. On June 28, 1851, he observed
an eclipse of the sun on the summit of Galavdur, at a height
of 10,380 feet, and noticed the protuberances which were
doubted at that time as belonging to the atmosphere of the sun.
The geodetical determination of 1386 points in Trans-Caucasia
was terminated in 1854, but that of Northern Caucasus was
begun only in 1860, and was connected with those of Russia in
1864. The accuracy of this immense work and its importance
for geodesy and physical geography are well known.
The same volume contains several valuable geographical
papers and maps. Among the latter the first place belongs to
472
NATURE
| .Warch 15, 1883
those of the frontier between Russia and Persia, from the Caspian |
> I
to Babadurmaz, and of the frontier between Russia and Turkey,
from the Black Sea to Ararat; both are accompanied with |
maps.—General Stebnitzky contributes a most valuable sketch
of all that is known about the Pontian range, which follows
the southern coast of the Black Sea from the Yeshil-irmak to the
Chorokh.—M., Stepanoff contributes an interesting paper on the
province of Kars, recently annexed to Russia ; and M. Bakradze
oneon the ethnography of the same province. The province consists
of three different parts : the lowlands of the basin of the Olti
River, covered with clay hills intersected with irrigation canals,
and offering great advantages for gardening; the 5000 to 6000
feet high plateau of Kars, 50 miles long and 35 miles wide,
bordered with mountains the highest of which reaches 9700 feet.
It is covered with lavas and basalts, deeply cut by rivers ;
the mountains are devoid of wood; agriculture is carried on on this
plateau, notwithstanding its great height. The third part of the
province is again a plateau, 6000 to 7000 feet high, where agri-
culture becomes impossible, but covered with good pasture-land,
and dotted with lakes. The population of the province has suffered
much from wars, In the basin of the Olti and in the north-east
it was formerly Georgian, who haye become Mussulmans ; the
Kurds make one-sixth of the population. The basins of the
Araxes and Kars rivers were formerly occupied by Armenians.
The capital of Armenia, Ani, now in ruins, was situated here.
After 1830, no less than 90,000 Armenians emigrated into
Russian dominions, whilst Turks, Turcomans, Karapakhs, and
Caucasian emigrants (Kabards and Osets) occupied their place,
forming thus a most mixed population. Presently the Mussul-
mans emigrated back from the province (no less than 65,447 souls
during two years), and 7100 Russian Nonconformists have occu-
pied their place, as well as 10,000 Greeks and about 4100
Armenians. The migration of whole populations is thus still
going on in our times, as it was going on formerly after the great
wars of the past. It is easy to foresee that the country contains
most remarkable Armenian antiquities, such as churches built in
the ninth and tenth centuries.
Since the year 1880 the director of the Tiflis Observatory, M.
Milberg, has undertaken a series of measurements of the tempe-
rature of the ground, together with measurements of temperature
by a black-bulb thermometer suspended 1°5 metres above the
ground, and M. Smirnoff analyses the results of these measure-
ments. The blackened thermometer has given a somewhat
higher average temperature for the year than the usual thermo-
meter suspended in shade (12°°7 Celsius, instead of 11°°6); the
same was observed, as is known, in England. At the same
time its maxima are obviously higher and its minima are lower
than those of the usual thermometer in shade, its range being
from —14°'5 to +42°'9, instead of —12°°0 to +37°°6; whilst
the range of average temperatures of different months was 28°°6
instead of 27°°5 inthe shade. The underground thermometers
were placed at depths of 1, 2, 5, 12, 20, 41, and 79 centimetres,
and were observed, the six former every hour, and the last
each three hours. ‘Two other thermometers, placed at depths of
1°6 and 3°5 metres, were observed onceaday. The whole series
of observations is published in the AZemoirs of the Caucasian
Agricultural Society, and the /zvestia give the monthly averages,
as well as a résumé of the results. We shall add to this 7éswmé
that the observations at Tiflis show well the retardation of sea-
sons at a depth of 79 centimetres, the coldest and warmest
months being February and August, instead of January and
July. The frosts at the spot where the observations were made
do not penetrate deeper than 40 centimetres.—M. Masloysky
gives some observations of temperature at Askhabad, in the
Akhaltekke oasis, during the summer months ; the moisture in
May was but 31 to 33 per cent., falling as low as 17 per cent.,
and reaching sometimes 59 per cent.—M. Chernyavsky gives the
Abkhaze, Mingrelian, and Georgian names of different plants.
Several papers deal with the population of the Caucasus: M.
Zagursky has contributed a paper on the ethnographical maps of
the Caucasus, and, after having sharply criticised the works of
M. Rittich, reeommends as the best ethnographical map of the
Caucasus, that which was published by M. Seidlitz in Péter-
manws Mittheilungen, and in which M. Zagursky has embodied
the results of the little-known but remarkable linguistic works of
the late General Uslar. Still this map leaves much to desire
and ought to be accompanied by an explanatory memoir.—The
much-debated question as to the number of Armenians in the
Russian dominions is discussed by M. Eritsoff, who comes to the
conclusion that it must be (taking into account the increase of
population until 1881) 860,456 on the Caucasus, and 56,536 in
| European Russia.—M. von Eckert gives the results of anthropo-
logical measurements he has made, according to the instructions
of Virchow, on 30 Adighes, 7 Ingushes, 11 Georgians, 14 Osets,
14 Armenians, 9 Aderbijan Tartars, and 8o Little-Russians from
the Government of Kharkoff. They proved to be all brachy-
cephalic, the average indexes being 80°7 for the Osets, 80°9 for
the Tartars, 81°9 for the Ingushes, 82’o for the Adighes, 82°2 for
the Little-Russians, 83-3 for the Georgians, and 86°75 for the
Armenians. The percentage of broad faces (chamdprosop faces,
that is, those where the breadth between the cheek-bones is less
than 89'9 per cent. of the length of the face, measured from the
upper part of the nose to the lowe-t part of the chin) is 44 for
Tartars, 64 for Armenians, 71 to 77 for Osets, Georgians, and
Adighes, 86 for Ingushes, and go for Little- Russians.
The same volume contains several notes : on the Charjui; a list
of heights in the Aderbijan ; on the Scotch colony at Kuras and
many others; and a bibliographical notice, by M. Stebnitzky,
of Elisée Reclus’s description of the Caucasus, which is spoken
of in high terms.—The Appendix contains the translation,
with notes, of the memoir, by Major Trotter, on the Kurds
in Asia Minor, and of the Consular Report of W. Gifford Pal-
grave on the provinces of Trebizond, Sivas, and Kastamuni.
The eleventh volume of the Memoirs of the Caucasian Geo-
graphical Society contains three papers by M. Petrusevitch : on
the Turcomans between the Uzboy and the northern borders of
Persia; on the north-eastern provinces of Khorassan ; and on
the south-eastern coast of the Caspian and the routes to Merv.
Some of these papers are already known to English geographers ;
and the others probably will be translated in full. They are
accompanied by a map of the Russian Trans-Caspian dominios
and of Northern Persia.
The twelfth volume of the J/emozrs contains the first part of
a large work, by the late General Uslar, on the ancient history
of the Caucasus. It deals with the oldest traditions about the
Caucasus, and is a most remarkable attempt at a sczev/ific inquiry
into the remotest history of this country. It is accompanied by
a biographical notice of General Uslar, by M. Zayursky, his
collaborator and follower. It is certain that M. Uslar, who
pursued for many years the truly scientific exploration vf Cau-
casian languages (undertaken first by Sjogren), has done in this
branch far more than anybody else. But his works—which were
only lithographed in a few copies, and each of which is not only
a serious study of separate Janguages, but also a thorough de-
scription of the nation it deals with—are very little known, and
this only from the short reports that were made on them by
the late Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, M.
Schiefner. The few pages in which M. Zagursky gives an
account of the work of Uslar, of the methods he followed, and
of the results he arrived at, ought to be translated in full, as
surely they would be most welcome to all those in England who
are interested in the study of ethnology. They deserve much
more than a short notice. Paik
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Oxrorp.—Prof. Moseley and Prof. Burdon Sanderson have
been appointed ex officio Members of the Board of the Faculty of
Natural Science.
Prof, Clifton has been elected a Member of the Hebdomadal
Council in place of the late Prof. Smith.
The Professorship of Archeology and Art, founded by the
late Commissioners out of the revenues of Lincoln College, has
been in abeyance owing to the proposed statute not having
received the Queen’s assent. The College now proposes to endow
the professorship, and a statute will be promulgated at the
beginning of next term, providing for a Professor of Classical
Archeology and Art, ‘who shall lecture on the arts and manu-
factures, monuments, coins, and inscriptions of classical antiquity,
and on Asiatic and Egyptian antiquities, or on some of those
subjects.” ;
Mr. G. A. Buckmaster, B.A., and late Natural Science
Demy of Magdalen College, has, after examination, been elected
to the Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship. Mr. Buckmaster
also obtained the Burdett Coutts Scholarship for proficiency in
geology in 1882, The Fellowship is of the annual value of 200/.,,
tenable for three years. The candidate must declare that he in-
tends to graduate in medicine in the University of Oxford, and to
March 15, 1883]
travel abroad with a view to his improvement in that study. A
Fellow forfeits his Fellowship by spending more than eighteen
months within the United Kingdom.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
Fournal of the Frankiin Institute, February.—An account of
certain tests of the transverse strength and stiffness of large
spruce beams, by G. Lanza.—The abstraction of heat by mecha-
nical energy, by J. Rowbotham.—On the application of the
principle of virtual velocities to the determination of the deflec-
tion and stresses of frames, by G. F. Swain.—Cone pulleys, by
H. W. Spangler.—Dust explosions in breweries, by C. J.
Hexamer.—A summary of progress in science and industry,
1882.
THE January number of the Revue ad’ Anthropologie (Premier
Fasc., 1883), contains the first part of a valuable memoir—un-
fortunately left incomplete by Paul Broca at the time of his
death—on the cerebral couvolutions of the human brain, as
shown by casts.. Broca, having found from long experience that
it is almost impossible to obtain specimens of a normal cerebrum
in which both hemispheres are symmetrical, devoted his atten-
tion to the preparation, for the special use of students, of exact
models of the convolutions divested of the secondary folds,
whose extreme variability makes it difficult to determine their
true character. The memoir now first printed supplies an
exhaustive description of the brain at every stage from fcetal
to senile life, with explanations of the significance of the
different colours used in the preparation of the models, which
have been completed under the superintendence of M. 5. Pozzi.—
‘* Buffon Anthropologiste ” is the title of a paper by M. P. Topi-
nard, in which he has reprinted the, main part of a lecture pre-
viously addressed to his class in the Ecole d’Anthropologie. The
object of the address is to show that Buffon was the precursor
of Darwin and Lamark, both as to the theory of development
from one, or at most a few original types, and in his belief in the
survival of the fittest. His undoubted contradictions M.
Topinard ascribes to the necessity of the times, which
compelled him to respect the opinions of the clergy so
far as to address to the Faculty of Theology a written retrac-
tation of fourteen propositions contained in his ‘‘ Histoire
Naturelle,” which that body had condemned. This curious
document is here given zz extenso.—M. C. Sabatier, a former
juge de patx in Kabylia, in an article on ‘‘La femme ka-
byle,” explains the nature of the enactments by which the
French Government is endeavouring to ameliorate the condition
of women among the Kabyles, who till the present time have
virtually been slaves, being treated alike by their fathers and
husbands as the least valued of chattels. As the result of long
discussions with the heads of the tribes, two new ‘‘ kanouns,”
or laws, have been agreed to and put into force, which
M. Sabatier believes to be decisive steps towards the social
regeneration of the men as much as of the women, one
of these enactments restricting the rights of the father to
give his daughter in marriage before she has reached a
fixed age, and the other freeing a wife from the control of her
husband under certain conditions of desertion and neglect. —MM.
Corre and Roussel’s report of their observations of 200 crania of
criminals preserved in the Anatomical Museum of Brest is sup-
plied with various tables exemplifying their precise cranial cha-
racteristics, the nature of the crimes committed, the birth-place
of the criminals, &c. The general conclusions are in complete
accord with those of Bordier, Broca, &c.
Archives des Sciences Physigues et Naturelles, January 15.—
On a refractometer for measuring the indices of refraction and
the dispersion of solid bodies, by M. Soret.—Theoretical and
experimental study of a rapid vessel, by M. Pictet.—On the
apparent forces arising from the terrestrial motion, by M.
Cellérier.
Bulletin de P? Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, No.
12, 1882.—Considerations on the stratigraphic relations of the
psammites of Condroz and the schists of the Famenne properly
so-called ; also on the classification of these Devonian deposits,
by M. Mourlon.—Second note on the dynamo-electric machine
with solenoid inductor, by M. Pliicker.—Determination of the
general law ruling the dilatability of any liquid chemically de-
fined, by M. de Heen.—On the aurora borealis of November
17, 1882, by M. Terby.—Reports on prize competitions, &c.—
The great discoveries made in physics since the end of last
NATURE
473
century (lecture at public séavce), by M. Montigny.—Dwarfs and
giants (lecture), by M. Delbceuf.
The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
vol. vii. Part 2 (April-June, 1882); Part 3 (July-September,
1852). The chief contents are, Botanical: Botanical notes on
Queensland. No. 2, the tropics; No. 3, the Mulgrave River ;
No. 4, Myrtacee.—On a coal-plant from Queensland, by Rey.
J. E. Tenison-Woods.—Half-century of plants new to South
Queensland, by the Rev. B. Scortechini.—Forage-plants indi-
genous to New South Wales, by Dr. Woolls.—On JZyoporum
platycarpum, a resin-producing tree of the interior of New South
Wales, by K. H. Bennett.—Botanical notes in the neighbour-
hood of Sydney, by E. Haviland.—Zoological: On a new
Gobiesox from Tasmania; on two new birds from the Solo-
mons; on a new Coris from Lord Howe’s Island, by E. P,
Kamsay.—Australian Micro-lepidoptera, No. 7, by E. Meyrick.
—On a reported poisonous fly from New Caledonia; new
species of fish from New Guinea and Port Jackson; on an insect
injurious to the vine, by Wm. Macleay.—On a new species of
Allopora, by Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods.—On Australian fresh-
water sponges; on the brain of Galeocerdo rayneri; mono-
graph of Australian Aphroditea (Plates 6 to 11); notes on
anatomy of pigeons, by W. A. Haswell.—Some new Queens-
land fishes ; on a new species of squill from Moreton Bay, by
W. de Vis, B.A.—Habitat of Cyfrea citrina, of Gray, by J.
Brazier,— New variety of Ovalum depressum, found at Lifou, by
R. C. Rossiter.—On a breeding place of Platalea flavipes and
Ardea pacifica, by K. H. Bennett.— Geological: Physical struc-
ture and geology of Australia, by Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods.
Fournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. li. Part 2, Nos.
2and 3, 1882 (December 30, 1882) contains :—Some new or rare
species of Rhopalocerous Lepidoptera from the Indian region,
by Major G. F. L. Marshall, R.E. (Pl. 4).—On an abnormality
in the horns of the Hog-deer (Axzs forcinus), with an amplifica-
tion of the theory of the evolution of the antlers in ruminants,
by John Cockburn.—On the habits of a little-known lizard
(Brachysaura ornata), by John Cockburn.—Second list of butter-
flies taken in Sikkim in October, 1882, by L. de Nicéville.
Morphologisches Fahrbuch, eine Zeitschrift fiir Anatomie und
Entwickelungsgeschichte, Ba. 8, Heft 3, contains :—The nasal
cavities and lachrymo-nasal canals in amniotic vertebrata, by
Dr, E. Legal.—The structure of the hydroid polyps, by Dr.
Carl F. Jickeli (Plates 16-18).—The tarsus in the birds and
Dinosaurs, by G. Baur (Plates 19 and 20).—Contribution to a
knowledge of the development of the vertebral column in Tele-
ostians, by Dr. B, Grassii—On an hypothesis concerning the
phylogenitic derivativion of the blood system of a portion of the
Metazoa, by Dr. O. Biitschli.
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere Rendicontt, vol.
xv. fasc. xx.—Reports on prize-awards; announcements of
prize-subjects, &c.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, February 15.—‘‘ Description of an Appara-
tus employed at the Kew Observatory, Richmond, for the
Examination of the Dark Glasses and Mirrors of Sextants.”
By G. M. Whipple, B.Sc., Superintendent.
In the Proc. Roy. Soc. for 1867, Prof. Balfour Stewart de-
scribed an apparatus designed and constructed by Mr. T. Cooke
for the determination of the errors of graduation of sextants.
This instrument has from that date been constantly in use at
the Kew Observatory, and since the introduction of certain
unimportant improvements has been found to work very well.
No provision was made, however, for its employment in the
determination of the errors of the dark shades used to screen
the observer’s eyes when the sextant is directed to the sun or
moon, and it has been found that errors may exist in the shape
of want of parallelism in these glasses, sufficiently large to
seriously affect an observation accurate in other respects.
It has also been found that sextant makers are desirous of
having the shades examined before proceeding to fit them into
their metal mountings, and also to have the surfaces of the
mirrors tested for distortion before making the instruments up.
With a view to the accomplishment of these ends, for some time
past the Kew Committee have undertaken to examine both dark
glasses and mirrors, and to mark them with a hall-mark when
474
IMA TORE
oe aes He)
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[March 15, 1883
they are found to answer the requirements necessary for
exactitude,
For these purposes the following apparatus has been devised
by the author, and brought into use at the Observatory.
A telescope of 3} inches aperture and 48 inches focal length,
a pair of collimators of 13 inch aperture and 10 inches focal
length, and a heliostat, are firmly fixed to a stout plank, so that
their axes may be in the same horizontal plane. The eyepiece
of the telescope carries a parallel wire micrometer.
In order to adjust the instrument, the telescope is directed to
the sun, a shade being fitted to the eyepiece and then placed in
its Y’s focused for parallel rays. The collimators are then
fixed on their table with their object-glasses opposed to that of
the telescope, the eyepieces and wires having first been removed,
and a metal plate with a sharply-cut hole in its centre fitted to
their diaphragms.
Light is next reflected down the collimator by the heliostat,
and the aperture in the diaphragm being viewed through the
telescope, is carefully focused by moving the object-glass of the
collimator to and fro by means of its rack and pinion.
The diaphragm aperture is next collimated by rotating the
collimator in its bearings.
Both collimators being thus adjusted, they are placed sice by
side, so that their illuminated sights can be viewed simulta-
neously in the telescope, appearing as superimposed bright disks
12’ in diameter. They are next separated so that the disks
remain merely in contact at the extremity of their horizontal
diameters. ;
The instrument is now ready for use, and the examination of
the shades is performed in the following manner :—
The glass to be tested is fixed in a rotating frame in front of
the object-glass of one collimator, a corresponding shade being
placed between the heliostat and diaphragm of the other colli-
mator. The sun is now directed on to the diaphragms. The
coloured disks are viewed through the telescope, when, if the
sides of the shade, placed between the collimator and the object-
glass of the telescope, are perfectly parallel, the relative posi-
tion of the disks is unchanged ; if, however, the shade is not
ground true, the disks will a; pear either separated or to overla».
In the first case the amount of separation is measured by the
micrometer, and serves to indicate the quality of the glass. In
the case of overlapping images the shade is rotated through 180°,
and separation produced which can be measured. A second
examination is then made, the shade having been turned through
go°.
If in no position a separation of images is found to exist to
the extent of 20”, the glass is etched K.O. 1; if more than
20" but less than 4o", the mark is K.O. 2; with greater distortion
than this, the shade is rejected and not marked.
To examine the quality of the mirrors, a small table, on
levelling screws, is put in front of the object-glass of the tele-
scope. The mirror to be tested is placed on its edge on this
table, and turned until a distant well-defined object is reflected
down the tube of the telescope. The object-glass of the tele-
scope having previously been stopped down to an aperture
corresponding to the size of the mirror, the reflected image is
contrasted with that seen directly, and if the definition is un-
changed the mirror is marked K.O, with a writing diamond, and
returned to the maker ; if the object appears distorted, its un-
fitness for use is similarly notified. A small fee is charged for the
examination.
Geological Society, February 7.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—G. D’Arcy Adams, Prof. Ferdinand
Moritz Krausé, and the Rev. Alfred William Rowe were elected
Fellows, and Dr. Karl A. Zittel, of Munich, a Foreign Corre-
spondent of the Society.—The following communications were
read :—On the metamorphic and overlying rocks in parts of
Ross and Inverness shires, by Henry Hicks, F.G.S., with
petrological notes by Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. In this
paper the author described numerous sections which have been
examined by him in three separate visits made to the north-west
Highlands. In some previous papers, sections in the neighbour-
hood of Loch Maree had been chiefly referred to. Those now
described are to the south and south-east of that area, and occur
in the neighbourhoods of Achmashellach, Strathcarron, Loch
Carron, Loch Kishorn, Attadale, Strome Ferry, Loch Alsh,
and in the more central areas about Loch Shiel and Loch Eil to
the Caledonian Canale In these examinations the author paid
special attention to the stratigraphical evidence, to see whether
there were any indications which could in any way be relied”
upon to prove the theory propounded by Sir k. Murchison that
in these areas fossiliferous Lower Silurian rocks dip under thou-
sands of feet of the highly crystalline schists which form the
mountains in the more central areas. On careful examination
he found that in consequence of frequent dislocations in the
strata the newer rocks were frequently made to appear to dip
under the highly crystalline series to the east, though in reality
the appearance in each case was easily seen to be due to acci-
dental causes. Evidences of dislocation along this line were
most marked; and the same rocks in consequence’ were
seldom found brought together. He recognised in these eastern
areas at least two great groups of crystalline schists metamor-
phosed throughout in all the districts examined, even when
regularly bedded and not disturbed or contorted ; and they have
representatives in the we-tern areas, among the Hebridean series,
which cannot inany way be differentiated from them. These he
called locally by the names, in descending order, of Ben-Fyn,
and Loch-Shiel series. ‘lhe former consist, in their upper part,
of silvery mica-schists and gneisses, with white felspar and
quartz ; in their lower part, of hornblendic rocks, with bands of
pink felspar and quartz, and of chloritic and epidctic rocks and
schists. The Loch-Shiel series consists chiefly of massive grani-
toid gneisses and hornblendic and black mica-schists. Thirty-
three microscopical sections of the crystalline schists and the over-
lying rocks are described by Prof. Bonney, and he recognises
amongst them three well-marked types. In No. 1 he includes
the Torridon Sandstone, the quartzites and the supposed over-
lying flaggy beds on the east side of Glen Laggan, “These are
partially metamorphosed,’ only distinct fragments are always
easily recognisable in them in abundance, In No. 2, the Ben-
Fyn type, the rocks are crystalline throughout, being typical
gneisses and mica-schists. In No. 3, the Loch-Shiel series, he
recognises highly typical granitic gneisses of the Lower Hebri-
dean type. Dr. Hicks failed to find in these areas at any point
the actual passage from group I to group 2; neither did
the same rocks belonging to group I meet usually the same
rocks belonging to group 2. The evidence everywhere showed
clearly that the contacts between these two groups were either
prodtced by faults or by overlapping. Group 3, placed
by Murchison as the highest beds in a synclinal trough,
supported by the fossiliferous rocks, the author regarded
as composed of the oldest rocks in a broken anticlinal.
They are the most highly crystalline rocks in these areas ;
and the beds of group 2 are thrown off on either side in broken
folds. These, again, support the rocks belonging to group I.
The author therefore feels perfectly satisfied that the crystalline
schists belonging to groups 2 and 3, which compose the moun-
tains in the central areas, do not repose conformably upon the
Lower Silurian rocks of the north-west areas with fossils, and
that these highly-crystalline rocks cannot therefore be the meta-
morphosed equivalents of the comparatively unaltered, yet highly
disturbed and crumpled, richly fossiliferous Silurian strata of
the southern Highlands, but are, like other truly crystalline
schists examined by him in the British Isles, evidently of pre-
Cambrian age. In an Appendix by Prof. T. G. Bonney,
F.R.S., on the lithological characters of a series of Scotch
rocks collected by Dr. Hicks, the author stated that he observed
in the above series, as he had done in other Scotch rocks lately
examined by him, three rather well-marked types—one, where,
though there is a certain amount of metamorphism among the
finer constituents forming the matrix, all the larger greins,
quartz, felspar, and perhaps mica, are of clastic origin; a
second, while preserving a bedded structure and never likely to
be mistaken for an igneous rock, being indubitably of clastic
origin, retains no certain trace of original fragments ; while the
third, the typical ‘‘old gneiss” of the Hebridean region,
seldom exhibits well-marked foliation. It is sometimes difficult
to distinguish between the first and second of these; but this
the author believed to be generally due to the extraordinary
amount of pressure which some of these Scotch rocks have
undergone, which makes it very hard to determine precisely
what structures are original. Even the coarse gneiss is some-
times locally crushed into a schistose rock of comparatively
modern aspect. ‘The least altered of the above series the author
considered to be the true ‘‘newer-gneiss” series of the High-
lands, but both of the others to be much older than the Torridon
Sandstone.—On the Lower Carboniferous rocks in the Forest of
Dean, as represented in typical sections at Drybrook, by E.
Wethered, F.G.S., with an appendix by Dr. Thomas Wright.
March 15, 1883]
Chemical Society, March 1.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in the
chair.—The following gentlemen were elected Fellows :—A, C.
Abraham, G. Board, C. N. Betts, E. Bevan, F. J. Cox, A.
Collenette, S. Dyson, W. T. Elliott, H. B, Fulton, C, G,
Grenfell, B. F. Halford, W. D. Hogg, D. Hooper, J. J.
Knight, H. F. Lowe, T. H. Leeming, J. E. Marsh, W.
Newton, C. Rumble, F. Scudder, J. O’Sullivan, S. A. Vasey,
T. D. Watson, R. M. Walmsley, C. S. S. Webster, F. Watts.
—The following papers were read :—On some derivatives of the
isomeric C,)H,,O phenols, by H. E. Armstrong and E. H.
Rennie. Lallemand stated that a trinitro-thymol was produced
by the action of a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids on
dinitrothymol. The authors find that a trinitro body is formed,
but that it has the constitution and properties of trinitrometacre-
sol. The authors could not obtain a trinitro body from carva-
crol. When thymolsulphonic acid is treated with nitric acid,
paranitrothymol is formed, the sulpho group being displaced.
When bromothymolsulphonic acid is treated with chromic acid,
an amorphous quinone is formed, but when permanganate is
used, no quinone is produced, The authors have also studied
the action of nitric acid on bromisobutylsulphonic acid.—
Chemico-microscopical researches on the cell-contents of certain
plants, by A. B. Griffiths. The author has grown cabbage
plants on soils containing ferrous salts: the plants are larger,
and their ash contains a considerable quantity of oxide of iron.
In sections under the microscope crystals are visible which
belong to the monoclinic system and give a blue colour with
potassium: ferricyanide and an opacity with barium chloride.
The author concludes that they consist of ferrous sulphate. —The
phenates of amido bases, by R. S. Dale and C, Schorlemmer.
The authors have satisfied themselves that, when aurin is heated
with ammonia, pararosanilin is at once formed. When aurin is
heated with common rosanilin and alcohol, asolution is produced
which on concentration yields a crystalline powder of rosanilin
aurate ; similarly by heating anilin and phenol in molecular pro-
portions, anilin phenate is obtained in glistening: plates melting
at 29°'5, boiling 184°°5.
Anthropological Institute, February 27.—Prof. W. H.
Flower, F.R.S., president, in the chair—The election of Mr,
C. Fountaine Walker was announced.—Dr. Garson exhibited
and described a series of photographs of cases of hypertrichosis.
—Mr. A. Tylor reada paper on the homological nature of the |
human skeleton. He finds that in the skull of all vertebrate
animals, including man, a general resemblance to the trunk and
limbs is carried out—for instance, variations in the limbs are
accompanied by variations in the jaws, and the occiput varies
with the pelvis, the sternum with the palate, and so on through-
out the skull and body. This is due to mechanical causes.
Bones, like the parts of plants, consist of stalks and leaves ; the
stalk-element is shown in the vertebra and the long bones, and
the leaf-element in the apophyses, the plate-bones of the skull,
such as the parietals, &c, The elemental shaft-bones always bulye
at the extremities where pressure is exerted, hence the peculiar |
form of all such bones. This form is a mechanical necessity,
and, in accordance with the known laws of correlation and repeti-
tion of parts, helps us to understand the singular relations
subsisting between the skull and the rest of the skeleton.
Institution of Civil Engineers, March 6.—Mr. Brunlees,
president, in the chair.—The first paper read was on the pro-
ductive power and efficiency of machine tools, and of other
labour-saving appliances, worked by hydraulic pressure, by Mr.
Ralph Hart Tweddell, M.Inst.C.E.—The second paper read
was on stamping and welding under the steam-hammer, by Mr.
Alexander McDonnell, M.Inst.C.E.
SYDNEY
Linnean Society of New South Wales, December 27,
1882.—Dr. James C. Cox, F.L.S., president, in the chair.—
The following papers were read :—Occasional notes on plants
indigenous in the neighbourhood of Sydney, No. 2, by Edwin
Haviland. This paper treats chieflly of the construction and
habits of Utricularia dichotoma.—Description of a new Belideus
from Northern Queensland, by Charles W. De Vis, B.A.—A
paper by the same author describing two new Queensland
fishes (Callionymus achates and Mugil nasutus)—By the Rev.
Dr. Woolls, on the species of Eucalyptus first known in Europe.
Of the twelve species described by Willdenow, eleven are from
the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney, and one only from
Tasmania. This tree, the Tasmanian Stringy Bark (2. obligua),
NAT ORE
475
was the first Eucalypt known in Europe, the specimen having
been collected during Furneaux’s voyage. On it L’Heéritier
founded the genus, 1788. The early descriptions are, as it may
be supposed, very vague and imperfect, and their identification
has been a matter of much difficulty and hesitation, now happily
removed.—On some new species of tubicolous annelides, by
William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc.—On new species of Agaricus
discovered in Western Australia, by the Rev. C. Kalchbrenner.
—On some points in the anatomy of the urogenital organs in
females of certain species of kangaroos, Part 1, by J. J.
Fletcher, M.A., B.Sc.—The Rey. J. E. Tenison- Woods read a
paper on a species of Brachyphyllum, which was found in the
Tivoli coal mine. In many respects this species resembled the
well-known &. »amillare of the British and Continental Oolite,
but lest any confusion should arise from a doubtful identification,
and as the stems and leaves of this specimen were much thicker,
and the leaves more fleshy than in 2. mamillare, the author dis-
tinguished it as B. crassum. He considered that the discovery
of this specimen served to place the Jurassic age of the Ipswich
(Queensland) coal beds beyond much doubt.—A note was read
by Dr. H. B. Guppy, of H.M.S. Zar, on the cocoa-nut eating
habit of the Bzgas of the Solomon Islands. Dr. Guppy had
no doubt from what he had observed that the Robber-Crab is in
the habit of breaking open the shells of the cocoa-nuts with its
powerful chelze.—Mr. Haswell stated that he had much pleasure
in announcing to the Society that, thanks to the intelligent
inquiries made by Mr. Morton of the Museum, while recently in
Queensland, he had hopes that they were on the way towards
learning something of the embryology of the Cevatodus. Mr.
Morton had ascertained that the Ceratodus spawns in the Burnett
River during the months of June, July, or August, the spawn
being deposited in a slight excavation formed in the bed of the
river at a depth of eight or ten feet, the male and female re-
maining in close attendance on it until hatched. Arrangements
had been made by which it was hoped that a supply of the
spawn might be obtained for observation next season.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, February 26.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The death of Baron Cloquet, Member in Medicine and
Surgery, was announced.—The following papers were read :—
Note on various points of celestial physics, by M. Janssen. At
Meudon Observatory they are studying movements of photospheric
matter with the aid of series of images obtained with the ‘‘ photo-
graphic revolver” ; they are also working at photographic photo-
metry, the principle being that the intensities of two lght-sources
are in the inverse ratio of the time they take for the same photo-
graphic work (e.g. producing the same tint on two quite similar
plates). The method will be applied to data of ihe comet of
1881, the full moon, &c. M. Janssen further hopes to present
soon a complete study of the spectrum of aqueous vapour.—
Results of a new series of experiments on the apparatus for
transport of mechanical work installed on the Chemin de fer du
Nord, by M. Deprez: note by M. Tresca (see p. 422).—On
the heat of formation of chromic acid, by M. Berthelot.—Rain
in the Isthmus of Panama, by M. de Les-eps, A table of
observations of rainfall by Mr. John Stiven, for 1879-1882,
shows that 1879 was an extraordinarily rainy year (2‘152 m.), a
large excess occurring in November. ‘The rain-season lasts
nearly six months, from May to November, excepting an inter-
ruption of a few weeks in Juneand July. This is explained by
the behaviour of the ascending body of air which accompanies
the curve of maxima in its annual oscillation on either side of
the thermal equator, which movement is connected with the
annual movement of the sun. ‘The trade-winds north and south
also affect the phenomena.—On the bronze tools used by miners
in Peru, by M. Boussingault. A bronze chisel found in an old
quarry of trachyte near Quito, evidently served in working the
trachyte (softened by water) ; it contains copper 95, tin 4°5, with
minute quantities of lead, iron, and silver.—Nebulz discovered
and observed at Marseilles Observatory, by M. Stephan,—Ex-
halation of nitrogen in a gaseous state during respiration of
animals, by M. Reiset. MM. Petenkoffer and Voit negated such
exhalation (affirmed by the author). Recent experiments by
MM. Seegen and Nowak confirm M. Reiset’s view.—Direct and
rapid attenuation of virulent growths by the action of heat, by
M. Chauveau. The method may be applied to liquids of arti-
ficial cultivation with much better success than to the natural
humours of the system, and it may be graduated at will accord-
ing to the degree of attenuation desired.—Contribution to the
476
NATURE
| March 15, 1883
study of refrigeration of the human body in hyperthermic dis- }
eases, especially typhoid fever, by M. du Montpellier. He
indicates the useful effects of his cooling apparatus. —Researches
on the division of acids and bases in solution by the method
of congelation of the solvents, by M. Raoult.—On the rela-
tions between covariants, &c. (continued), by M. Perrin.—
On the theory of uniform functions, by M. Goursat.—Note on
a point of the theory of continuous periodic fractions, by M. de
Jonquiéres.—Remarks on a communication of M. de Char-
donnet on the vision of ultra-violet radiations, by M. Mascart.
He thinks the conclusions too absolute ; he showed some years
ago that ordinary sight habitually perceives the whole ultra-violet
solar spectrum as lavender grey, and some eyes see even further.
—On the increase of intensity of scintillation of stars during
auroras, by M. Montigny. (Already noted elsewhere,)—On the
production of apatites and of bromised Waynerites with lime
base, by M. Ditte.— Researches on thé action of zinc-ethyl on
amines and phosphines; new method of characterising the
nature of these bodies, by M, Gal.—On the products of decom-
position by water of fluoborised acetone a, by M. [.andolf.—On
neutralisation of glycolic acid by bases, by M. de Forcrand.—
On a new base of the quinoleic series, phenol-quinoleine, by M.
Grimaux.—Derivatives of strychnine, by M. Hanriot. He
describes a new dinitro-strychnine, also diamido-strychnine.-—On
sul) hocyanacetone, by MM. Vcherniac and Hellon.—Chloro-
nitrated camphor, by M. Cazeneuve.—On the ice plant, by M.
Heckel. His observations some years ago agree with those of
M. Mangon.—Researches on the chromatophores of the Sepio/a
Rondeletiit, by M. Girod. He regards the protoplasm of the
pigmentary cell as the agent of extension ; the basilar cell pro-
ducing contraction.—On the disease of saffrons known as Zacon,
by M. Prillieux —On an inversion of temperature observed at a
point of the Alps on December 27, 1882, by M. Henry. M.
Broch noted a similar case near Christiania, where a rich banker
has a chalet at a height of 408m. In winter the temperature
there is often about zero, while at Christiania it is 10 or 15
degrees below zero.—M,. Daubrée indicated the contents of a
new publication from Lima, Azadles de Construcciones civiles y de
Minas del Peri.
March 5.—M. Blanchard in the chair.—The following papers
were read :—Observations of the satellites of Neptune, of
Uranus, and of Saturn, with the equatorial of the eastern tower
of Paris Observatory, by MM. Henry; Note by M. Mouchez.
A new objective having been put in the instrument (acquired in
1849, under Arago) renders it the best instrument the Observa-
tory has ever had. —Nebulz discovered, &c. (continued), by M.
Stephan.—The prolific power of virulent agents that are
attenuated by heat, and the transmission by generation of the
attenuating influence of a first heating, by M, Chauveau. The
attenuation does not involve any alteration of the vitality or pro-
lific power of the agents deprived, by heat, of their infectious
properties. It is also shown that the influence is not merely
individual, but may appear in the properties of new agents
arising through proliferation of the protoplasm which has been
directly subject to it,—M. de Lesseps stated that he was about
to go to the region of the North African Chotts for a month, to
consider the investigations of M. Roudaire.—A letter from M.
Nordenskjold referred to his intended departure for Greenland
in August. He believes that vast regions covered with perpetual
ice are a physical impossibility on our globe south of the 8oth
degree of N. lat., and goes to the interior of Greenland to test
this view.—On the importance of the 7é/e of inhibition in
therapeutics, by M. Brown-Séquard. A morbid activity will
disapjear suddenly, or nearly so, on irritation at some point (to
be souzht) more or less distant from that at which the activity
prevails. —Practical use of sulpho-carbonate of potassium against
Phylloxera in the south of France, by M. Culeron—On the
perturbations of Saturn due to the action of Jupiter, by M.
Gaillot.—Observations of the great comet of September, 1882
(Il. 1882), made at the Observatory of the Transit of Venus
Mission at Martinique, by M. Bigourdan.—Observations of the
new comet (Brooks and Swift) made at Paris Observatory (equa-
torial of the western tower), by the same.—Observations of the
same comet at Lyons Observatory with the 6-inch Brunner equa-
torial, by M. Gonessiat. The comet appeared as a bright,
nearly round nebulosity, with nucleus well condensed. In a
clear sky, a straight tail of about 13’ long was observed. (M.
Bigourdan es\imates the brightness as about that of a star of
6th or 7th magnitude.)—On the approximation of sums of |
numerical functions, by M. Halphen.—On the series of poly- |
nomes, by M. Poincaré.—On the trajectories of differeut points
of a connecting-rod in motion, by M. Léauté.—On the theory
of electromagnetic machines, by M. Joubert. He calls atten-
tion to the loss of work in continuous-current machines
through change of direction of the current in the coils of
the ring.—On a new collimator, by M. Thollon. The slit
is made to take any direction, while its image remains
fixed. This is effected by means of a total-reflection prism
placed behind the slit, with its hypothenuse face parallel both to
the axis of the collimator and to the slit.—Dissociation of the
bromhydrate of pkosphuretted hydrogen, by M. Isambert.—On
sulphuric chlorhydrate, by M. Ogier.—On chloride of pyro-
sulphuryl, by the same.—Heat of formation of solid glycolates,
by M. de Forecrand.—On the hydrocarbons of peats, by M.
Durin. From an examination of fresh mosses, he thinks it
probable (with M. Dumas) that the hydrocarbons of peat are
not formed during vegetal decomposition, but that they existed
already in the mosses which formed the peat.—Experiments
proving that sanguineous concretions, formed at the surface ot
an injured part of vessels, begin with a deposit of hematoblasts,
by M. Hayen.—On the chromatophores of Cephalopoda, by M.
Blanchard. He holds that they do not differ at all in general
structure from those of fishes, batrachians, and esyecially
saurians (chameleon). The chromatophore is a sort of amceba
charged with pigment, living for itself and independent of the
skin which imprisons it; it is, however, under the influence of
the nervous system. The radiating fibres are mere fibres of con-
nective tissue, and M. Blanchard has never (like M. Girod)
found them to vary in form with the chromatophore.—On a
flagellate Infusoria, ectoparasite of fishes, by M. Henneyuy.
This was observed on trout. The name Bodo necator is given
provisionally. —On the Gretacee of the coal formation of Rive-
de-Gier, by M. Renault.—Selenetropism of plants, by M.
Musset. Plants of phototropic sensibility were grown from
seeds in pots in a very dark place; then, on three nights, exposed
at a window to direct moonlight ; the stems bent over towards
the moon, and followed it in its course.
« BERLIN
Physical Society, February 16.—Prof. Kirchhoff in the
chair.—Prof. Krech described at length a spectrophotometer
which he had made in 1872, and with which, in the years 1873,
1874, 1875, and 1876, he had made a large number of observa-
tions for verification of the theory of the apparatus and deter-
mination of its errors. The theory of the instrument and the
improvements proposed were fully gone into ; the experiments
had been made before Herr Glau had described his spectropho-
tometer.
CONTENisS PAGE
TuHE ZooLoGICAL STATION IN NapcLes. By J. T. CUNNINGHAM 453
Eprtnc Forsst. By Prof. G. S. BoutGer Sa cae 455
Perry’s ‘ Pracricat Mecuanics.”’ By Dr. J. F. Main 456
Our Book SHELF:—
Friele’s ‘‘ Der Norske nord-hass-expedition, 1876-1878."—Dr. J.
Gwyn Jerraeys, F.R.S. . OR LANE SES g'cp a Rae ee 7,
Penhallow’s ‘‘ Tables for the Use of Students and Beginners in
Vegetable Histology”’ . ‘ 458
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR :—
The Matter of Space. —Prof. A. S. HerscHet (With Diagram). 458
Terrestrial Radiation and Prof. Tyndall’s Observations. —Dr. A.
Wosikor! 63 27.6 eal aoa, cep eee eee ee.
Diurnal Variation in the Velocity of the Wind.—E. Doucras
ARCHIBALD. . + ~ war we Mw he tet, Dehn she FEA en Oe
The Large Meteor of March 2, 1883.—W. F. Denninc; J. L. J. 461
On the Movements of Air in Fissures and the Barometer.— A.
STRAHAN OPE Ad dee 46
Tue Pirr-Rivers COLLECTION . 461
Joun RICHARD GREEN . Aero woe om oro mot cor Ae cle
Tue Botany oF THE ‘CHALLENGER’ ExPEpITION. By W.
Borrinc HEMSLEY a ee nein ene Sr acsane aes eae
Tue Suares oF Leaves, II. By Grant ALLEN (With Illustrations) 464
On THE NATURE OF INHIBITION, AND THE ACTION OF DRUGS UPON
iT, III. By Dr. T. Lauper Brunton, F.R.S. 467
NOMES) gp - met eles mies he CREE Oe oO 468
GroGRAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS. - + = = : 470
Unsiversiry AND EpUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE . 472
Screntrric'SRRIAIS: 2 s+ + 2 5 * © = * «© a 8 > ate 473
Socmetigs AND ACADEMIES . - - + + + © © + + © # @ + 473
NA PORE
477
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1883
PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY
A Text-Book of Pathological Anatomy and Pathogenesis.
By Ernst Ziegler. Translated and Edited for English
Students by Donald MacAlister, M.A., M.B., St. John’s
College, Cambridge. 8vo. (London: Macmillan and
Co., 1883.)
OR some years the student of medicine has felt
the want of an English manual of modern Patho-
logical Anatomy. He has been compelled either to trust
entirely to his teacher, or to consult works and memoirs
little adapted for beginners. This felt want the English
edition of Ziegler’s Pathology, when completed, will in
great part meet. The author believing ‘that the learner
gains a readier grasp of his subject when it is first
presented to him as a uniform and coherent system of
doctrine,” has, by avoiding “ much matter of controversy,”
succeeded in making a clear and concise statement of
each subject treated. In this the author has been well
seconded by the editor, who, by carefully revising and
amending the original, by adding numerous references to
English and French memoirs, and by otherwise with
characteristic ability adapting the work for English
readers, has greatly enhanced its value.
Although the authors have kept the student chiefly in
view in preparing this manual, a glance at the small
print and the numerous references given, will at once
prove that those desirous of gaining an exhaustive know-
ledge of the subject, and those engaged in special investi-
gations, have not been neglected. It seems to us that
this is by far the best plan for a text-book. It is to be
regretted that students at the present day read so little.
In many instances they content themselves with “learning”
in order afterwards to retail what they purchase from their
teachers ; or what is worse, when they are unfortunate
enough not to have their teacher as one of their examiners,
they “get up’’ an endless number of often useless facts,
derived from all possible sources, before presenting them-
selves for examination. This waste of time and energy
in great part results from the want of good text-books.
The books available are generally too large, they are
often quite beyond the grasp of the beginner, and at the
same time not a little out of date. In order to be able to
utilise fully the opportunities now offered for gaining a
practical knowledge of pathology, and other allied sub-
jects, lectures are not.enough; there must be something
to fall back upon, by means of which the impressions
received from the teacher may be tested, something that
will form a foundation on which an intelligent knowledge
of the subject may be built. We believe that the work
before us will serve this purpose, and that it will be
equally useful to the teacher by enabling him to take for
granted that the fundamental facts of his science can be
again and again referred to as the student requires, and
by providing short, concise statements which he can
modify at will, and to which he can add much that is of
historical interest, or that is too recent for any manual,
however complete, to contain.
The volume now published deals with General Patho-
logical Anatomy. It is divided into seven sections. Those
VoL. XXv11.—No, 699
on Malformations, Inflammation, Tumours, and Bacteria
deserve especial mention. In treating these subjects the
authors have been careful to avail themselves of all the
recent investigations, not only in Pathology, but also in
Embryology and other branches of Biology, and by
making free use of small print and giving abundant
references, they have succeeded in drawing up a more
complete account than exists in any other English manual.
In a very suggestive introductory chapter some of the
special terms used by pathologists are defined, and the
functions of pathological anatomy indicated. In the
section on the Formative Disturbances of Nutrition
the researches of Strasburger and Flemming on the
changes in cells and nuclei during subdivision are con-
sidered, and a diagram showing indirect cell-diyision is
introduced. In speaking of cell-multiplication it is pointed
out that the proposition, “The stronger the external
stimulus the greater the proliferation,” cannot be accepted ;
that “one can at most admit that very slight stimuli,
sufficient merely to excite the cell without injuring it,
may perhaps call into play its power of multiplication;
but nothing has been experimentally established concern-
ing the nature, the action, or the mode of application of
such stimuli”; further, that “when the nutritive and
formative activities of a cell are morbidly increased, the
effect is due to augmentation of the physiological stimuli
or diminution of the physiological resistances to growth,
or the direct influence of external stimuli”; the factors
probably favouring proliferation being (1) an increased
capacity in the cell to assimilate nutriment, (2) an in-
creased supply of nourishment, (3) the removal of the
normal checks to growth. In the same chapter there is
an account of the origin of epithelium, fibrous and adi-
pose tissue, and of new blood-vessels ; and, in the chap-
ter immediately following, an account of the origin of
pus-corpuscles and of the mode in which tissues are
regenerated.
Tubercle and other allied diseases, such as lupus,
leprosy, and glanders, are spoken of as “‘ Infective Granu-
lomata.” A tubercle is defined from a histological point
of view as “a non-vascular cellular nodule which does
not grow beyond a certain size, and at a certain stage of
its development becomes caseous”; but it is afterwards
pointed out that when Koch’s recent investigations are
taken into consideration it must be spoken of as “a cel-
lular nodule containing within it the specific tuberculous
virus, the bacillus tuberculosis.”
Among these infective granulomata we have the new
disease known as ‘‘actinomycosis,” which is associated
with the presence of the peculiar fungus Actinomyces.
In this disease the infection probably starts from the
mouth, and results in the formation of granulations and
fibrous tissue and in suppuration.
The classification of tumours has long been a puzzle
to pathologists. Later writers have more and more recog-
nised their relation to the embryonic layers, and now we
have, we believe for the first time in an English text-book,
a purely embryological arrangement, tumours being divided
by the authors into: (1) those derived from the mesoblast
—the connective-tissue tumours ; (2) those containing
elements derived from epithelial cells—the epithelial
tumours. This classification, which commends itself by
its simplicity, is likely to be generally adopted.
v
478
NATURE
| March 22, 1883
The consideration of the different kinds of tumours is
followed by a chapter on their ztiology, in which Cohn-
heim’s embryonic hypothesis is discussed at some length,
and the objections to its general acceptance pointed out-
In answer to the question, How does the tumour assume
properties distinct from those of its surroundings? there
is as a reply, “‘ We believe that the phenomenon is ulti-
mately due to some change affecting individual elements
of a tissue whereby they are rendered dissimilar to their
neighbours.”’ The change is manifested especially in this
—that the normal checks to the indefinite growth of the
proliferous cells are inoperative or inadequate, either
because the formative and productive energy is increased,
or because the restraining influence of the surrounding
structures is diminished, or from both causes together.
The last section of the present volume is devoted to
Parasites. On comparing the German account of animal
parasites with the English, we note very considerable
additions and improvements. The chapter contains a
sufficiently complete account of the structure and life-
history of the ordinary parasites for all practical pur-
poses. The chapter on Bacteria is extremely valuable.
The editor has been careful to incorporate in the text all
the important recent discoveries, and references are given
to all the memoirs that the student or investigator is
likely to require to consult. We thus have in a connected
form the results of nume1ous inquiries into the nature of |
the organisms which for some time have been claiming
not a little of the attention of biologists and physicians.
In describing the bacteria, reference is made to the
influence of temperature and of the surrounding medium
on their growth and development, also to the influence
they exercise on the nutrient liquid, and to their presence
without and within the living body.
In reference to the existence of bacteria within the
body we read :—
“ Bacteria are perpetually entering the body with the
food we eat and the air we breathe. They must, there-
fore, be at times found in the tissues, especially in places
where access is direct. The fact that they are not easy to
demonstrate is readily explained. It must be only a small
number that are able to multiply in the tissues they have
penetrated ; the majority must quickly perish.” Bacteria |
are described as pathogenous and non-pathogenous, the
latter being harmless unless the normal secretions under-
go some alteration, or the bacteria develop to an
unusual extent. Under such conditions, inflammation
may be set up, or the whole system may be influenced
by the absorption of the soluble products of decomposi-
tion, some of which are extremely poisonous, and capable
according to Hiller, of altering or even destroying the |
tissues exposed to them. “The pathogenous bacteria
have the power of settling, not merely in the ingesta
and secretions, or in dead tissue, but also in living tissue.
This happens chiefly in the mucous membranes and in
the lungs. The uninjured skin is protected against
invasion by the horny epidermis.”
“Many of the bacteria can settle in perfectly healthy
mucous membranes.
imagine that they do not find a proper soil for their
development, unless the mucous membrane is injured or |
Of course injury or alteration of this kind may |
altered.
In the case of others we must |
seem to make the outer skin or any other accessible |
tissue the starting-point of a bacterial invasion (wound-
infection). All that is necessary is that a bacterium
should reach a spot that affords the conditions of its
development. If this occurs, it multiplies and forms
colonies or swarms. These may, according to the
species of the fungus and the nature of its soil, remain
in aggregation, forming heaps or masses, or may spread
through the tissues. Such a settlement is never without
effect on the affected tissues. The bacteria may force
their way into the substance of the constituent elements,
and especially into the tissue-cells, which are sometimes
found to be crammed with bacteria.”
All that is necessary is that a bacterium should reach
a spot that affords the conditions for its development, Ze.
“the temperature of the body must be such as favours its
development; it must be able to abstract fit nutriment
from the tissues in which it settles; it must nowhere
encounter substances which check or injure it.” When
in the tissues, the increase of the bacteria may be
arrested by the aggregation of living cells resulting from
the inflammation they set up, assisted by the regenera-
tive action of the fixed tissue-cells. If this does not
happen, they spread into the surrounding tissues, usually
reaching the lymphatics and blood-vessels, some to perish,
others rapidly to multiply.
The bacteria are supposed to lead to disease by with-
drawing nourishment, setting up chemical changes—
partly by their direct action on the nutrient material, and
partly by the action of the unorganised ferments they
form ; and finally, as a result of these changes, by pro-
ducing poisonous matters. In doing this they enter into
conflict with the tissue-cells, influencing their nutritive
activity, changing them or even leading to their destruction.
Whether it isa change in the fermentive action of the
cells, or a disturbance of the functions of the central
| nervous system which leads to fever, has not been deter-
mined. Neither is it known whether the unsusceptible
condition of the tissues which usually follows when the
bacteria have been eliminated, results from “a modifica-
tion in the chemical constitution of the tissues, or to a
change in the vital activity of the cells.”
In referring to the relation of bacteria to infective dis-
eases it is stated “that among the infective diseases there
are certainly some which are due to the invasion of a
microphyte, and that it is highly probable the others have
a like origin.” This chapter further gives a short account
of the various diseases which have been described as
resulting from the influence of bacteria, and concludes
by discussing the burning question of the present moment
—the mutability of bacterial species. It is well known that
Naegeli, Buchner, and others believe “that both the
morphological and the physiological characters of the
bacteria are mutable” ; that “a given bacillus does not
invariably produce bacilli of the same structure, and does
not always pass through the same developmental stages.”
“‘ A bacterium which, under given conditions, gives rise
to a definite kind of fermentation, may lose this property
when cultivated under different conditions.” Koch and
others believe that bacteria do not alter in their proper-
ties, and that ‘‘even when the nutrient medium is
altered from time to time no recognisable differences
are produced.”
The authors point out that “at present we are unable
March 22, 1883}
to draw any certain conclusion regarding the relation of
non-pathogenous to pathogenous bacteria. Clinical ex-
perience would indicate that the activity of the infective
virus may vary within certain limits. And we must appa-
rently admit that the infective bacteria have not always
possessed their noxious qualities, but have acquired them
somehow inthe course of ages. But this is not enough to
convince us that harmless bacteria can acquire infective
properties rapidly. . . . We may therefore provisionally
conclude that the transformation of innocuous into
noxious bacteria can occur but rarely, and under special
conditions.”
Recent work both in this country and on the
Continent seems to go against the mutability theory,
and in all probability it will soon be made clear that
Buchner’s experiments are capable of another interpreta-
tion from that hitherto adopted.
Enough has been said to indicate that the English
edition of Ziegler’s Pathology will not only prove of
immense help to the student, but that it will also be
invaluable to the practitioner. It is to be hoped that
the second part, on Special Pathological Anatomy, will
soon appear, and that it will equally commend itself to
English readers.
The numerous woodcuts with which the work is illus-
trated are beautifully distinct, the type and paper are
everything that could be desired, and so successful has
the editor been that there is no evidence of the greater
part of the work being a translation.
ENSILAGE
Ensilage in America. By James E. Thorold Rogers,
M.P. (London: W. Swan Sonnenschein and Co.,
1883.)
ROFESSOR ROGERS has contributed a most in-
teresting little book on Ensilage in America. He
has no doubt been serviceable to his country in drawing
public attention to a subject of importance ; but like most
persons who focus their eyes upon a single point, he has
lost the due proportion in which it stands to its back-
ground, foreground, and surroundings. Perhaps this may
be forgiven as a common fault, or it may be the secret of
strength, in all propagandists. Be this as it may, it is a
marked feature in the volume before us. Ensilage is to
be the temporal salvation of the farmer. The Professor
appears to have been carried away on the full tide of
American enthusiasm, buoyed up bya certain youthful
airiness scarcely consistent with the gravity of an Oxford
Don. He has forgotten the salt, and those who read his
book (and we trust they may be numbered by thousands)
must add it for themselves.
Ensilage is the preservation of green fodder in its
natural succulent condition in pits or Sz/os. These pits
must be airtight and watertight, and the fodder must be
so well trampled into them and weighted on the top as to
arrest fermentation. The theory of the process is that, in
the case of fodder so treated, heat is generated and
fermentation commences. The small amount of oxygen
held in the interstitial air is speedily absorbed, and its
place taken by carbonic acid gas. Just as a lighted candle
extinguishes itself in a bath of choke-damp of its own
making when burnt in a closed vessel: so the fermenta-
NATURE
479
tion and its accompanying heat are arrested in the mass
of closely packed fodder which is in fact immersed in a
bath of carbonic acid, and thus securely protected from
ordinary atmospheric action. Well preserved ensilage
comes out of the pit almost as green and fresh as when it
was first put into it, and has acquired a pleasant vinous
smell and slightly acid flavour, which has given it its
name of sourhay in Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
The process is at once simple and effective, but is no
doubt expensive when carried out upon the scale which a
successful experiment demands. Thus the larger the pit
the more assured the success, as all the conditions are
more perfectly attained. At p. 22 we read: “ M. Have-
meyers silos were four—two fifty-nine feet long and
fourteen feet wide ; and two thirty-five feet long and
twelve feet wide, each pair being twenty-five feet deep.
They are under the same roof as the feeding barn, where
there is standing-room for ninety-eight cows.’’ The pits
are bricked and cemented, or built with concrete walls,
and they may be carried up higher than the level of the
ground, or may be built entirely from the surface. When
the ground is naturally dry and of a clayey or close
texture the silo need not be lined. It is recommended
that a drain should if possible be carried from the bottom
of the silo to take off superfluous water. Simple as these
directions undoubtedly are, they point to a heavy initial
expenditure, only to be recommended after very mature
consideration. On the other hand silos of smaller size,
as, for example, 22’ X 9’ X 15’ deep and other dimensions,
are also mentioned. Still the fact remains that in small
silos there is more waste and greater uncertainty. Also
that for practical purposes a small silo would be of little
value. The process of storing the fodder is very easy to
understand. It is, in the case of green maize, cut up
with a powerful chaff-cutter, trampled into the pit by men
or horses, and when the space is filled it is covered with
boards and weighted down with boxes of stone or earth
to a pressure of about 100 lbs. per square foot. The
fodder settles down under pressure, and is found after
several months to be perfectly palatable and fresh.
Such is the process which Prof. Rogers now lays before
the British public with the strongest possible recom-
mendations. Not only so, but with threatenings or at
least warnings also, for we are told that “if the New
Englanders and New Yorkers succeed in extending their
ensilage system, they will strive to find a foreign market
for their increased produce.’ This process, it is urged,
is entirely to revolutionise agriculture. It is to be a new
point of departure, a “new dispensation.” ‘Is there
not a bonanza (a mining term for peculiarly rich ore) in
the farms with this new enterprise? Will it not give the
farmer such profits, with less labour, as will enable him to
be more independent? Is it not going to create new
interests with our sons, when they can find a more profit-
able employment, with less hard labour than can be found
in any business in our cities?” It is to double the popu-
lation of ‘four New England cities,” and indeed appears
to be a veritable £7 Dorado for farmers.
In thus introducing ensilage to the attention of his
countrymen, Prof. Rogers is scarcely cautious in the
manner in which he discounts the value of scientific and
especially of chemical opinion upon this subject. “ En-
silage is to be the food of the future for pigs and poultry
480
NATURE
as well as for horses and bullocks.” But it is only grass
after all, and we can hardly believe that it can be superior
to the herbage from which it was made. Pigs and poultry
will graze in pastures it is true, but the digestive systems
of these animals demand more concentrated foods. There
is an evident tendency to “forget the rock from which it
was hewn,” if we may apply such words to the process of
ensilage. It is green fodder Preserved until winter.
Well! if preserved until winter it cannot be eaten in
summer. If eaten in summer it surely would also have
been realised.
It may be better than hay, but we cannot expect from
ensilage such superlative results above what might reason-
ably be expected from hay. Such high-flown anticipa-
tions as are embodied in Prof. Rogers’s book are usually
doomed to disappointment, and the process of ensilage
will probably take its place in American and English
agriculture as it has already taken its place in the agri-
culture of the Continent of Europe, among other improve-
ments of the nineteenth century, but without overtopping
any of them.
Prof. Rogers does not appear to have informed himself
as to the state of our knowledge in England upon this
topic. The process was fully described by the present
writer for the Royal Agricultural Society in 1874. He
also drew attention to it in two letters to the Z7zzes in
1875, when it evoked considerable discussion, under the
title of ‘‘Potted Hay.” The process was also both de-
scribed and illustrated by drawings in the Agricultural
Gazette at the same period. Since then it has been
repeatedly tried, but in all cases without marked success.
We are ready to allow that this want of success has been
due to the experiments having been conducted upon a
small scale and probably with too much regard to
economy of outlay. The process is too generally
successful in many countries to be capable of being
challenged. So late, however, as 1875 Prof. Tormay
of Pesth wrote to us that practical men were greatly
divided as to its value. No doubt the making of
sourhay deserves further trial, and there is as little
doubt that it will be largely experimented upon during
the coming summer.
that it may be as profitable to eat the herbage when
growing, as to preserve it 7 any form for the winter. |
Also that our turnips, swedes, and mangels give us a
means of producing meat in these countries which is
not possessed by American agriculturists. Turnips and
hay are probably a better combination of succulent and
dry food for winter feeding than turnips and ensilage
would be. In this matter we prefer to suspend judgment
for a while upon the uses of ensilage to the British farmer.
It must, however, be remembered |
particularly useful in the Eastern States of America, |
where the soil and climate are unfavourable to the growth |
of roots and favourable to the growth of maize. On this
point we have abundant testimony in Prof. Rogers’s book.
A special attraction towards ensilage is that it can be
carried out without delay in any weather, and that it
saves the anxiety of haymaking.
Those who have tried it in this country complain that
it is very difficult to keep the pit good when it has been
once opened. Still the process is worthy of more extended
trial, and if carried out without too much fear of the
| employment of the mind.”’
initial expense and risk of failure, may be shown to be
of service to English agriculturists.
JOHN WRIGHTSON
OUR BOOK SHELF
-Another Book of Scraps, principally relating to Natural
With thirty-six Lithographic Illustrations
History.
from Pen and Ink Sketches of Wild Birds.
Charles Murray Adamson.
Reid, 1882.)
Mr. ADAMSON has been so much amused by the prepa-
ration of his first “‘Book of Scraps” that he has prepared
another, and invites our opinion uponit. We cannot say
By
(Newcastle-on-Tyne :
through his letterpress, although we perfectly agree
with him that the study of natural history, which he
advocates, “opens out a wide field for the profitable
But the thirty-six illustra-
tions which form the main portion of the book certainly
show that the author has studied the forms and habits of
wild birds to some purpose, although in an artistic point
of view, perhaps, it would not be difficult to criticise the
surroundings amongst which he places them. The
drawings are a little rough, as Mr. Adamson himself
confesses, but no naturalist can turn them over without
recognising at once the species which are intended to be
portrayed. We have seen pictures inthe Royal Academy
of which the same remark could not truthfully be made.
| Mr. Adamson is evidently most at home on the sea-shore.
His sea-birds are best. With his woodcocks and par-
tridges we are notso well satisfied. But “ Another Book
of Scraps” will make a nice addition to a drawing-room
| table.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[Zhe Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Incubation of the Ostrich
I HAVE received the following letter from Mr. J. E. Harting,
and with his permission send it to you for publication. I do so
partly in justice to Mr, Harting himself—the letter having been
originally written to the Spectator in vindication of his own
accuracy, and having been rejected by the editor—and partly
because I think it desirable that the point in natural history
which it discusses should be definitely cleared from the erroneous
views which, as I shall pre-ently show, are still prevalent with
regard to it.
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE
To the Editor of the Spectator
S1r,—I have just read in your issue of February 3 a letter
from Mr. G. J. Romanes to which a long editorial note is
‘ : ae | appended, and which raises an interesting question relating to
At the same time we cordially agree that it is likely to be |
the incubation of the ostrich. As my name is mentioned as
having written something on the subject, perhaps you will allow
me to offer a few remarks.
Briefly stated, the point under discussion is this: Mr. Ro-
manes, in his recently-published work on ‘f Animal Intelli-
gence,” has observed that in the case of the ostrich the task of
incubation is shared by both the sexes.
In reviewing this work your critic alleges that ‘‘ female
| ostriches take #o part in the duty of incubation ”—that is, they
do not assist the male.
Whereupon Mr. Romanes cites his authorities for the state-
ment made by him, and refers amongst other sources to my book
on ostriches, published in 1876, wherein (at p. 41) I remark
that ‘‘the males are polygamous, each associating with three or
four hens, all of which lay their eggs in one large nest scooped
| March 22, 1883,
4
| that we have derived much information from looking —
4
March 22, 1883 |
NATURE
481
out in the sand, and relieve each other by turns at incubation.
Je Vaillant purposely watched an ostrich’s nest, and during the
day saw four hens sit successively on the same eggs, a male bird
coming late in the evening to take his turn at incubation.” A
little further on, [ added: ‘‘Incubation lasts six weeks, the
cock-bird taking his turn at sitting like the hens.”
Your reviewer, still sce; tical, replies: ‘‘ The passage in Mr.
Harting’s book is based on the statement of Le Vaillant, whose
observations, except when confirmed by later experience, are justly
discredited by the best-informed naturalists of the present day,
as he was notoriously so often unworthy of belief.”
Permit me to point out that in making the statement above
quoted, I by no means relied so/e/y on Le Vaillant. I had before
me the evidence of several modern observers on the subject,
whose publications are referred to in my ‘‘List of Works
quoted,” at the commencement of my volume. At p. 189 I
have alluded to the experiments made at San Donato, near
Florence, in 1859 and 1860, by Prince Demidoff, who says that
“‘the female ostrich began to sit as soon as the first egg was
laid, and sat for three hours daily, leaving the male for the rest
of the time.”
At p. 196, quoting a report forwarded in 1873 by a resident
of experience in South Africa to the Council of the Zoological
and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, who were then contem-
plating the introduction of the ostrich into that colony, I find
this distinct statement: ‘‘ The process of hatching is performed
by the male and female sitting alternately, one keeping a vigilant
look-out as sentry, as well as procuring food.”
_ Again, ina Report by Dr. W. G. Atherstone of Grahams-
town, based on observations made by himself and friends on
different ostrich farms in the neigbourhood of Grahamstown,
and quoted by me zz extenso, the following pas:age occurs on
p. 202 of my book :—‘‘ They sit alternately, the male at night
grazing and guarding the females. During the daytime, the time
of the male bird going on the nest vari s during the period of
incubation, as also does the time between the female leaving the
nest and the male taking her place, the exposure and cooling
being probably regulated by the temperature of the incubation
fever at different stages.”
In addition to the evidence of these observers I had before me
the testimony of Mr. F, Denny of Grahamstown, which is too
long to be quoted here, but which will be found embodied in an
interesting note published in the Zoo/ogist for 1874 (p. 3916) ; so
that I felt perfectly justified in asserting in effect, as Mr. Romanes
has done, that the task of incubation with the ostrich is shared by
both the sexes. It would be easy to adduce further evidence on
the subject if necessary, but I will not occupy space further than
to observe that if your reviewer will turn to p. 107 of Douglass’s
“ Ostrich Taming in South Africa,” published by Messrs. Cassell
and Co. in 1881, he will see a full page illustration thus lettered,
\“* Hen bird sitting. Froma photograph taken at Heatherton
Towers.”
Admirers of Le Vaillant will be glad to learn that in this case
‘at least his assertions (to quote your reviewer) ‘‘ have been con-
jfirmed by later experience,” and are therefore not to be dis-
credited.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
22, Regent’s Park Road, N.W.
J. E. HARTING
After such a battery of evidence it seems almest needless to
adduce more ; but as the point is an interesting one to ornitho-
logists, I shall briefly add some corroborative proof from other
sources.
| In the Sfectator, besides referring to the above, I gave a
eference to two articles published by Mr. E. B. Biggar on the
strich-farms of the Cape Colony, and also to the recently pub-
ished work by Mr. Nicols ; from each of these sources I shall
ow quote brief passages. Mr. Biggar writes as follows :—
“Some will sit throughout with the most solicitous maternal
mstinct; . . . others manifest such anxiety, that when the hen
as been a little late in taking her morning turn upon the nest,
e has gone out, and, hunting her up, has kicked her to the nest
in the most unmanly manner. Some are very affectionate over
eir young, others the reverse ; thus do individuals differ even
mong ostriches. Asa rule the cock bird forms the nest, sits
e longest, and takes the burden of the work of hatching and
fearing. Contrary to what has been currently understood, and
hat is still stated even in recent colonial accounts, the cock
ird sits at night, not the hen. In this peculiarity the hand of
rovidence may be seen, for the worst enemies of the nest
ppear at night, and the cock, being stronger and braver, is
etter able to resist them; moreover, the feathers of the cock
fl
being black, night sitting would not expose him to that exhaus-
tion from the sun’s rays which would ensue if he sat during the
day ; while at the same time time the grey feathers of the female
are less conspicuous while she sits during the day.”—Fi/d,
August 21, 1880,
And again, ‘After turning the eggs over one by one with her
beak, she will sit perhaps for hours with her head stretched flat
and snake-like on the ground, and her body as motionless as a
mound of earth. Occasionally, on hot days, she may be seen
with her body lifted slightly out of the nest to admit a current of
air over the eggs ; and sometimes she will even leave the nest
for two or three hours, till instinct tells her thet the lowering
temperature requires her return” (Cextury, January, 1883).
Mr. Nicol’s work, entitled ‘‘ Zoological Notes,” repeatedly
states that the hen bird assists the cock in the process of incuba-
tion, and on my writing to him to ask whether he had witnessed
the fact, he answers that although he has not done so himeelf, a
well-educated friend ‘‘who had passed some time in visiting
ostrich-farms in South Africa” had done so ; and, in answer to
his express inquiry on the subject, wrote, ‘‘that the female took
part in the task, though not nearly to so great an extent as the
male,” adding that he was surprised to hear there should be any
question concerning a fact so well known to the ostrich farmers.
Lastly, having recently been to Florence, I took the oppor-
tunity of calling upon the superintendent and proprietor of the
Zoological Gardens there, and obtained all the particulars of the
case alluded to by Mr. Harting in the above letter as having
occurred at San Donato. I found that two brocds of young
had been raised in successive years by the same pair of ostriches,
and that on both occasions the female assisted the male to incu-
bate the eggs: ‘‘que Je male et la femelle couvent alternative-
ment,” in the words of the published report (‘‘ Guide du R.
Jardin Zoologique de Florence,” p. 81, 1868). Here, however,
as in allthe previously-mentioned cases, the fact which I stated
in *‘ Animal Intelligence” was apparent, viz. that the cock bird
undertook the whole duty of sitting during the night.
Now when all this evidence is taken together it appears to me
impossible to doubt that the female ostrich assists the male in
the process of incubation. Yet from the fact of this evidence
not having been clearly focused, an cld error on the subject
still appears to be prevalent. This error aro-e some twenty years
ago from the observations of M. Noel Suchet (? or Suquet) on a
pair of ostriches kept in confinement. Thus, in 1863, Dr.
Sclater wrote :—‘‘ We now know with certainty from the obser-
vations of M. Noe] Suchet, Director of the Zoological Gardens
at Marseilles, that the normal habits of the ostrich (as regards
incubation) do not differ materially from those of its allies of the
same family” (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 233); and Mr. Darwin,
following the judgment formed by Dr. Sc’ater, wrote in the
“Descent of Man” (p. 479) that the male bird ‘‘ undertakes the
whole duty of incubation.” Again, my reviewer in the Sfccfator
—who, although curiously weak in his logic, appears to be
strong in his ornithology—pins his f:ith entirely to this single
observation of M. Suchet. Lastly, Prof. Newton in his article
on “‘ Birds” in the ‘‘ Encyclopedia Britannica” (p. 771), rely-
ing, I presume, on the same observation, writes :—‘‘ A band of
female ostriches scrape holes in the desert sand, and therein
promi-cuously dropping their eggs, cover them with earth, aid
leave the task of incubation to the male, who discharges the
duty thus impo:ed upon him by night only, and trusts by day to
the sun’s rays for keeping up the needful fostering warmth.”
Thus it appears that the influence of M. Suchet’s observations
has been very disproportionate to its merits, and has misled some
of our principal ornithologists concerning the normal habits of
ostriches.1 Possibly Prof. Newton, with his extensive knowledge
of the literature of such matters, and writing since the appear-
ance of most of the counter-evidence which I have given, is
cognisant of some other observations on which he rests his
statement. But, if so, it becomes desirable that he should sup+
ply his references, as otherwise bis statement appears to rest,
as my reviewer in the Spectator would say, ‘‘simply on the
survival of the old belief.” GEoRGE J, ROMANES
March 12
Difficult Cases of Mimicry
I HAVE received from Mr. Thos. Blakiston, of Tokio, Japan, a
communication to the Yafan Mail by himself and Prof. Alexar der,
* I may observe that Mr. R. B. Sharpe, writing in ‘‘ Cassell’s Natural
History”’ (vol. iv. p. 228), has not been thus misled, for he says distinctly
that the cock and hen “‘ relieve each other by turns.’”
482
NATURE
[March 22, 1883
4
commenting on my article in NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 86, and
pointing out some errors as to [the estimated advantage derived
by the mimicking butterflies. On referring to my article, I find
that I have, by an oversight, misstated the mathematical solu-
tion of the problem as given by Dr. Fritz Miller and confirmed
by Mr. Meldola, and have thus given rise to some confusion to
persons who have not the original article in the Proceedings of
the Entomological Society to refer to. Your readers will remem-
ber that the question at issue was the advantage gained by a dis-
tasteful, and therefore protected, species of butterfly, which
resembled another distasteful species, owing to a certain number
being annually destroyed by young insectivorous birds in gaining
experience of their distastefulness. Dr. Miiller says: ‘‘If both
species are equally common, then both will derive the same
benefit from their resemblance—each will save half the number
of victims which it has to furnish t> the inexperience of its foes.
But if one species is commoner than the other, then the benefit
is unequally divided, and the proportional advantage for each of
the two species which arises from their resemblance is as the
square of their relative numbers.” This is undoubtedly correct,
but in my article I stated it in other words, and incorrectly,
thus: ‘‘If two species, both equally distasteful, resemble each
other, then the number of individuals sacrificed is divided
between them in the proportion of the square of their respective
numbers ; so that if one species (a) is twice as numerous as
another (4), then (4) will lose only one-fourth as many individuals
as it would do if it were quite unlike (a) ; and if it is only one-
tenth as numerous, then it will benefit in the proportion of 100
to 1.”
This statement is shown by Messrs. Blakiston and Alexander
to be untrue; but as some of your readers may not quite see
how, if so, Dr. Miiller’s statement can be correct, it will be well
to give some illustrative cases. Using small and easy figures,
let us first suppose one species to be twice as numerous as the
other, a having 2000 and ¢ 1000 individuals, while the number
required to be sacrified to the birds is 30. ‘Then, if 4 were
unlike @ it would lose 30 out of 1000, but when they become so
like each other as to be mistaken, they would lose only 30
between them, @ losing 20, and 4 10. Thus 4 would be 20
better off than before, and a only 10 better off; but the 20
gained by d is a gain on 10co, equal to a gain of 40 on 2000, or
four times as much zz proportion as the gain of a. In another
case let us suppose ¢ to consist of 10,000 individuals, @ of 1000
only, and the number required to be sacrificed in order to teach
the young birds to be 110 for each species. Then, when both
became alike, they would lose 110 between them, ¢ losing 100,
donly 10. Thuse will gain only 10 on its total of 10,000, while
d will gain roo on its total of 1009, equal to 1000 on 10,000, or
100 times as much proportional gain asc. Thu-, while the gain
in actual numbers is inversely proportional to the numbers of the
two species, the Zrofortional gain of each is inversely as the
sguare of the two numbers. ;
I am, however, not quite sure that this way of estimating the
proportionate gain has any bearing on the problem. When the
numbers are very unequal, the species having the smaller number
of individuals will presumably be less fiourishing, and perhaps
on the road to extinction, By coming to be mistaken for a
flourishing species it will gain an amount of advantage which
may long preserve it as a species; but the advantage will be
measured solely by the fraction of zfs own numbers saved from
destruction, not by the proportion this saving bears to that of the
other species. I am inclined to think, theref re, that the benefit
derived by a species resembling another more numerous in
individuals is really in inverse proportion to their respective
numbers, and that the proportion of the squares adduced by Dr.
Miiller, although it undoubtedly exists, has no bearing on the
difficulty to be explained. ALFRED R. WALLACE
Mr. A. R. WALLACE has been so good as to forward me the
extract from the /afan Mail above referred to, together with
his reply. The article in question bears the title, “‘ Protection
by Mimiery—a Problem in Mathematical Zoology.” The
authors, while admitting the broad principles involved in Dr.
Fritz Miiller’s theory, fail to see why the advantage derived by
the mimicking species, in cases where the litter is less numer-
ou; than the model, should be as the square of the relative
numbers. They admit that ‘‘the ingenious explanation seems
perfectly satisfactory,” but the proportional benefit appeared to
them exaggerated. Mr. Wallace has now, I think, cleared up
the misunderstanding with reference to this part of the question,
but it may be of use in assisting towards the further discussion
of the problem if I here give the simple algebraical treatment
adopted in the original paper.
Let a, and a, be the numbers of two distasteful species of
butterflies in some definite district during one summer, and let
x be the number of individuals of a distinct species which are
destroyed in the course of a summer before its distastefulness
is generally known. If both species are totally dissimilar, then -
each loses 7 individuals. If, however, they are undistinguish- —
ably similar, then the first loses = and the second loses
a + a, |
Ayn
aaeR The absolute gain by the resemblance is therefore for
rete 22)
j
ayn
the first species, 7 — =
a+ ay
3 and ina similar manner
for the second species, —1” —.
a, + a |
with the total numbers of the species, gives for the first (A), _
sone —" | We thus have
a4(4y + ay (a, + ay)
the proportion, A, :A, = a2: @,".
With reference to Mr. Wallace’s concluding paragraph, I may
point out that the advantage of the mimic is ‘* measured solely
by the fraction of zts own members saved from destruction.”
Thus, taking his last example, the speciesc saves only 1/1000 of
its whole number, and d saves 1/10 of its whole number by the’
resemblance to ¢, The fact that these numbers stand to one|
another in the ratio of 1: 10°, whilst c:¢d= 10:1, is a me |
matical necessity from which I do not see how we can escape.
As the numerical disproportion betwen the species increases, the
advantage derived by the more abundaat insect is practically a
vanishing quantity ; whilst, on the other hand, if the two species
are equal in numbers, it is obvious that they both derive the
same advantage, each losing only half the number that it would
if there was no resemblance between them.
It must not be forgotten in considering the question of
mimicry between two nauseous species that the foregoing calcu-
lations apply only to the case where the resemblance is perfect,
z.e. so exact that the insects are absolutely undistinguishable by
their foes. The initial steps may be hastened in these cases by
the near blood-relationship of the species, and it is a remarkabl
circumstance that large numbers of species belonging to differen
distasteful genera havea close similarity of wing-pattern, althoug
the distinctness of the genera has never been called in question.
But the genera concerned, although distinct, are very closely
related, and this is quite in accordance with the views here
advocated.
, and for the second (Ay),
The general question as to the persecution of distasteful butter
flies by young inexperienced birds, &c., is certainly one or
which much work remains to be done, and-very great servic
could be rendered if naturalists residing in the tropics would
undertake some systematic experiments in this direction. M
friend, Mr. W. L. Distant, the author of the ‘‘Rhopalocera
Malayana,” has already given reasons in these columns (vol,
xxvi. p. 105) tor disbelieving in any such want of experience,
and I have discussed this phase of the question with him else:
where (Axx. and Mag. Nat. Hist., December, 1882). |
Rk. MELDOLA
On the Value of the ‘‘ Neoarctic” as One of the eB
Zoological Regions
In the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences a
Philadelphia (December, 1882) Prof. Angelo Heilprin has a1
article under the above title, in which he seeks to show that ih
Neoarctic and Palearctic should form one region, for which h¢
proposes the somewhat awkward name “ Triarctic Region,” of
the region of the three northern continents. The reasons fojff
this proposal are, that in the chief vertebrate classes the propoxy
tion of peculiar forms is less in both the Nearctic and Palzearctijff
than in any of the other regions; while, if these two regions ary
combined, they will, together, have an amount of peculiarit)
greater than some of the tropical regions.
This may be quite true without leading to the conclusioj
argued for. The best division of the earth into zoological
regions is a question not to be settled by looking at it from on
point of view alone; and Prof. Heilprin entirely omits two cout
siderations—peculiarity due to the absence of widespre:
groups, and geographical individuality. The absence of thi!
|
|
|
March 22, 1883}
families of hedgehogs, swine, and dormice, and of the genera
Meles, Equus, Bos, Gazella, Mus, Cricetus, Meriones, Dipus, and
Hystrix, among mammals ; and of the important families of
flycatchers and starlings, the extreme rarity of larks; the
scarcity of warblers, and the absence of such widespread genera
as Acrocephalus, Hypolais, Ruticilla, Saxicola, Accentor, Gar-
rulus, Fringilla, Emberiza, Motacilla, Yunx, Cuculus, Capri-
muleus, Perdix, Coturnix, and all the true pheasants, among
birds, many of which are groups which may almost be said to
characterise the Old World as compared with the New, must
surely be allowed to have great weight in determining this
question.
The geographical individuality of the two regions is of no
less importance, and if we once quit these well-marked and
most natural primary divisions we shall, I believe, open up
questions as regards the remaining regions which it will not be
easy to set at rest. There runs through Prof. Heilprin’s paper
a tacit assumption that there should be an equivalence, if not an
absolute equality, in the zoological characteristics and peculiari-
ties of all the regions. But even after these two are united,
there will remain discrepancies of almost equal amount among
the rest, since in some groups the Neotropical, in others the
Australian, far exceed all other regions in their speciality, The
temperate and cold parts of the globe are necessarily less marked
by highly peculiar groups than the tropical areas, because they
have been recently subjected to great extremes of climate, and
have thus not been able to preserve so many ancient and spe-
cialised forms as the more uniformly warm areas. But, taking
this fact into account, it seems to me that the individuality of
the Nearctic and Palzearctic regions is very well marked, and much
greater than could have been anticipated ; and I do not think
that naturalists in general will be induced to give them up by
any such arguments as are here brought forward.
ALFRED R, WALLACE
IS /s
+ ,
A Remarkable Phenomenon,—Natural Snowballs
I TAKE the liberty of inclosing a copy of an account of natu-
ral snowballs which I furnished to the Courant newspaper in
this place. It may be well to state that the distance from Long
Island Sound to Massachu-etts is some seventy miles, and that
the Connecticut Valley Railroad is about fifty miles long, and
runs close to the bank of the Connecticut River for some forty
miles; the rolls of snow on the frozen river are said to have
been very large and handsome. SAMUEL HART
| Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., U.S.A., February 22
On Tuesday evening a light but damp snow fell upon the
crust that had formed over the snow of Sunday’s storm ; and
the south wind, which arose at a later hour, produced an unusual
phenomenon. Wednesday morning the college campus, the
park, and vacant lots everywhere hereabouts were seen to be
strewn with natural snowballs, some of them resembling spheres
with diameters of from one to nine inches or more, and others
‘ looking very much like rolls of light cotton batting, having a
\ cylindrical shape, but in nearly every case with a conical depres-
sion at each end reaching nearly or quite to the middle. It was
easy to see how the balls had been formed, as it is easy to see
how boys roll up the snow for their forts. The wind had in
each case started a small pellet of the moist snow, and it had
rolled along until it grew so large that the wind could move it
no further. The ball not only increased in diameter as it rolled,
but also grew gradually in length as a little more of the snow
stuck to it on each side, and thus the snow was formed into the
peculiar shape described—that of a cylinder with a hollow at
each end, as if along isosceles triangle were rolled up, beginning
at its vertex. The largest of the cylinders measured on the col-
lege campus had a diameter of twelve inches and a length of
eighteen inches, while others in the fields in the neighbourhood
seemed much larger. The path of the balls could in many
eo be readily traced for a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet.
The snow, it should be added, was not at all closely packed,
but lay together very lightly and yielded to a slight touch, so
}ithat it was impossible to move a ball without breaking it.
Observers in other parts of the city report that some balls
were seen of the size of a barrel which left tracks behind them
or more than sixty feet. From East Hartford it is reported
hat they studded the fields thickly, especially in places
here the wind had a long range, and were of every size
o that of a half bushel or larger. Similar balls were seen yes-
erday morning in many places from the Sound north to Massa-
NALTORE
483
chusetts. All along the line of the Valley Railroad they appeared
on every rod of ground, and at some places they had left tracks
showing that the wind had blown them in every direction, even
in some cases up hill,
This interesting phenomenon, though quite unusual, has been
noticed before in different places in this country and elsewhere,
the most striking instance on record being one which was ob-
served in New Jersey in 108; this was in the daytime, when
the whole process could be watched. On this occasion some of
the masses of snow which were rolled up by the wind attained a
diameter of three feet. They appear to have been seen, how-
ever, over an area of only some four hundred acres, whereas the
snowballs yesterday were spread thickly over many square
miles.
[We have received a communication on the same subject from
Prof. Brocklesby of Hartford. —ED. ]
The Late Transit of Venus
I AM told that, in referring to the observations on the late
transit of Venus which were made from a station on our college
grounds by the astronomers of the German Imperial Commis-
sion, you speak of them as using the photographie process.
This is not correct; besides contact observations they re-
stricted themselves to the use of the heliometer. The first and
the second contacts were not seen by reason of clouds ; but four
half sets and six full sets of heliometric measurements were
made—128 in all. The third and the fourth contacts were
observed by the German astronomers and by myself,
SAMUEL HART
Trinity College, Hartford, Conn,, U.S.A., February 22
Rankine’s ‘‘ Rules and Tables”
I Do not know upon what authority your reviewer of Ran-
kine’s ‘Rules and Tables” bases his dictum that the 7 in the
rule for the extension or compression of a spiral spring should
be to the second power instead of to the third power. of.
Rankine’s view was that it should be 7%, I would refer your
reviewer to vol. xviii. of the Zramsactions of the Institution of
Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, where he will find,
amongst other results of an experimental committee’s investiga-
tions upon the important question of the loading of safety-valves
by such springs, that the ¢427d power of the radius or diameter
of the spring is also used. W. J. MILLAR
Glasgow, March Io
[The formula given by Mr. Millar is, the writer of the notice
informs us, perfectly correct, and the error is his. —ED. ]
Meteors
ABOUT five minutes past seven this evening I saw the most
beautiful ‘* shootime star” I have ever witnessed. It was
moving from east to west directly over this town, and disap-
peared at an apparent distance of ten or twelve miles, after
traversing an arc of about 75° as I saw it. It was visible whilst
one might count ten or twelve at the usual rate of speak-
ing. In its course it not only left a most unusually long train
of light behind, but whole pieces kept dropping. What appeared
is thus best described. These pieces followed the original for
a space, leaving perceptible lines of light. Probably ten or
a dozen such pieces were broken off during the time I was
looking, Some idea of it may be gathered from the fact that
for a time I thought it wasa rocket. The light was remarkably
white, the brilliance much above that of Venus at any time,
and its rate of motion slow. The most remarkable feature,
however, was the continucus breaking away of pieces, which
left in turn visible trains of light. THOMAS MASHEDER
The Grammar School, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, March 17
In Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 434, reading somewhat hastily, I
took the brilliant meteor there mentioned to be one I myself
saw. Reading more carefully, however, in last week’s issue, I
see that both day and hour and direction differ. On March 4,
about 8.45 p.m., a very large and bright meteor passed at a low
altitude from south to north. It was of a greater apparent size
than Venus, quite as bright, but with a greener light. The
motion was slow, no train; it only became incandescent during
484
NATURE
a
| March 22, 1883
a short part of its transit, and passing behind the roofs of some
houses was immediately lost to sight. HENRY CECIL
Bregner, Bournemouth, March 20
P.S.—If a line be drawn north and south, the meteor became
visible at a point due east, which direction I was facing.
THE BRITISH CIRCUMPOLAR EXPEDITION?
eS journey to Fort Rae, though long, was full of
interest and variety. Our party, consisting of myself,
two sergeants, and an artificer, of the Royal Artillery, left
Winnipeg on June 9 by steamer for Fort Carlton, on the
Saskatchewan, vi@ Lake Winnipeg. We were detained
a day in that lake by ice, but reached the mouth of the
Saskatchewan on the 13th, where we were delayed four
days trans-shipping cargo to the river steamer, which lay
three miles off at the upper end of the rapids; a tedious
voyage of eight days took us to Carlton, a stockaded port
on the south bank of the river. For the first three days
the country seemed one immense swamp, with numerous
shallow lakes ; then the banks gradually grow higher, till
at “the Forks” (the confluence of the north and south
branches of the Saskatchewan) they are about 150 feet
above the river. Here the soil seems very rich and fer-
tile, and about the new settlement of Prince Albert, a day
higher up, the country is quite English in appearance—
undulating, covered with rich grass, with woods here and
there—a far more attractive-looking country than the flat,
treeless prairie near Winnipeg.
From Carlton, after a day or two spent in hiring
transport carts, we started on the 3oth with a train of ten
carts, containing our provisions and baggage. The
country was very pretty, well wooded and watered, with
duck, snipe, and prairie chicken in abundance ; it was at
times difficult to believe one was not in an English park.
But the most vivid imagination cannot picture the swarms
of mosquitoes that at times attacked us: they came
against our faces like flakes in a heavy snowstorm, and
though we found our veils and gloves a good protection
whilst travelling, yet, when mealtimes came, veils had to
be laid aside, and the wretched insects seized the oppor-
tunity of taking their meal too.
On the third day of our journey, on reaching the crest
of some rising ground, an extended view opened before
us, ridge behind ridge, a sombre sea of pinewood stretching
away in the distance. It was the great sub-Arctic forest
which extends northwards to the barren grounds at the
Arctic circle and east and west to the Atlantic and the
Pacific. On entering the woods the mosquitoes were not
quite so bad, but our unfortunate animals became the
prey of an enormous horsefly, which settled on them in
thousands, biting them till they were streaming with
blood. Fortunately they only came out during the heat
of the day, and we were sometimes obliged to make a
halt and light fires so that the animals might stand in
the smoke, which they were very willing to do; indeed
they often put a newly-lighted fire out by rolling in it.
The road through the woods was very bad, and
breakdowns were numerous, but at last on July 9 we
reached Green Lake, which we left by boat on the 11th for
Ile 4 la Crosse. Cur conveyance was now one of the
Hudson Bay Company’s inland boats, with a crew of
eight Indians. As we had the stream with us, we were
able to drift all night, only landing when we required to
cook; so we reached Ile a la Crosse early on the 14th.
We left it the same evening with a crew of eight
Chipewyans, the best crew we ever had. I think they
must have pulled sixty miles on one day, the day after we
left the fort. On the evening of that day we had an
aurora shortly after sunset, which is unusually early in
‘ Letter from Capt. Dawson, R.A., in command of the Expedition.
See p. 243.
the evening for one. This one appeared to be remark-
ably close, from its rapid motion and from its being
between us and a cirro-cumulus cloud. It was accom-
panied by a distinct swishing noise like the sound of a
sharp squall in a ship’s rigging, or the noise a whip
makes in passing through the air. I have not heard it
since, though there have been plenty of auroras, but
from what I have been told by those who have passed
their lives in the country, I am of opinion that this sound
is occasionally, though rarely, heard, and that it would
be heard oftener were it not that the aurora is generally
at too great a height.
Two more days brought us to Portage la Loche, a
track of some fourteen miles across the watershed
dividing the basin of the Arctic Ocean from that of
Hudson’s Bay. It is fairly level till the last mile, when
the edge of the valley of the Clearwater River is reached,
some 600 feet above the stream. From this point the
view of the valley is very fine, and it strikes one the
more from the monotonous nature of the scenery hitherto.
The river flows between two ranges of hills, from 800 to
1000 feet in height, and here and there in rapids between
limestone cliffs. The first “portage” (where the boats
have to be hauled some distance overland) is particularly
picturesque, but the whole valley abounds in bits that
would delight an artist’s eye.
On July 28 we reached the Athabasca River, a fine
stream, half a mile or more in width, and the strong
current, aided by a fair wind, took us to the lake in a
couple of days. There are several springs of naphtha |
and one of sulphur on the banks.
On crossing Lake Athabasca to Fort Chipewyan, there |
is a complete change in the character of the country. On
the south side the banks are nearly level with the water,
all reeds and mud ; on the north side is a savage wilder-
ness of Laurentian rock. From a hill at the back of the
fort is an extensive view of this strange and desolate
country. To the west the lake stretches away to the
horizon ; on the other side is a mixture of lake, island, |
and river, and to the north the land, a wilderness of rock |
in low rounded hills, with a few stunted pines in the’
valleys, all pretty enough, but so lonely looking. j
We were detained a fortnight at Fort Chipewyan till”
the arrival of the Mackenzie River boats. The heat was
at times extreme—as much as 90” in the house.
The Slave River, or Mackenzie, as it really is, is a)
magnificent river, especially after its junction with the §
Peace River, which is at least as big as the Athabasca.)
The united stream is often a mile in width. About half
way to Slave Lake are the rapids, where the scenery is)
very fine. There are four portages, over three of which
the boats had to be hauled, so it was two days’ work)
getting through them. We had a sharp frost on the}
morning of the 19th, the buckets, &c., that were left with
water in them had a quarter of an inch of ice on them in
the morning.
On the next evening, while running down the rapid tq
the last portage, the ‘‘ Portage des Noyés,” after sae |
a bright parhelion made its appearance, some 10° or 12°
above the horizon. It was of a bright red colour, and
threw a brilliant reflection in the water, remaining visible
for about twenty minutes, when it changed into a crimson
column, that gradually died away. kk
On August 22 we reached Fort Resolution—a wretched
looking place on a flat muddy coast—and the samefi
evening we left for Fort Rae. At sunset the pilot of thef Ff
boat insisted on stopping for the night at a small rock
island at the mouth of the Slave River. I thought it 2fj
pity to stop as we had a fair wind, but the natives of t
country have a great dread of lakes, and certainly Grea
Slave Lake is a stormy place. At midnight a heavy swelffie
suddenly arose, and our boat was stove in and sunk in J \h
very few minutes. It was a pretty wet job to land all thigie,
baggage and stores, which of course were all saturate
4
March 22, 1883]
NATURE
485
with water ; but fortunately the instruments all escaped
unhurt, and nothing was lost but a pair of boots and a
couple of hats, and all our salt and most of our sugar,
which the water dissolved.
For the next two days we were employed repairing the
boat, it blowing a gale and raining hard the whole time,
so that we could dry nothing; and when at last we
started, almost constant head-winds and frequent gales
made our journey a slow one. Fortunately our course
lay among islands, so that we enjoyed a certain degree of
shelter from the wind, and harbours of refuge were
always at hand in case of necessity. These islands
are all of rock and well wooded, but destitute at this
season of the year of game, which was unfortunate for
us, aS Our provisions were getting short, and our crew
were reduced to a pound of flour per diem, with a little
tea and sugar. There were not even fish to be caught,
though they are usually abundant, but I suppose the
rough weather had driven them into the deep water. At
last we shot some seagulls, and we were all glad enough
to eat them.
At length, on the 30th, we reached Fort Rie, which
lies in lat. 62° 38’ N. and long. 115° 25’ W., half way up a
long gulf that runs for about 109 miles in a north-west
direction from the mouth of the Yellow Knife River.
The fort is situated at the foot of a rocky hill that rises
some 200 feet above the lake, which is about four miles
wide at this point. The Indians who resort here for trade
hunt for the most part in the “barren lands” near the
Coppermine River, whence they bring quantities of skins
‘and beef from the musk-ox, which seems to be very
abundant. Deer too are very plentiful, and in the winter
‘they migrate in great herds from the barren lands to the
country between the arm of the lake on which Fort Rae
lies and the Mackenzie. Sometimes these herds pass
quite close to the fort, and take two or three days in
passing. Their numbers must be very great; a single
band has been known to kill over 15,000 in an ordinary
season.
This year the deer have passed at some distance, but
ithe Indians are now bringing in fresh meat daily.
These Indians are of the “ Dog-rib’’ tribe —T’ akfwel-
jotting, they call themselves—a quiet, inoffensive race,
like all the wood-Indians. They are almost all Roman
Catholics, the missionaries of that religion being very |
numerous in the country, and they are certainly very
{devoted and hard-working. There are also Protestant
missionaries, but they do not appear to have made any
converts.
| The Dog-ribs are a branch of the Chipewyan family
ywhich occupies all that portion of the continent between |
ithe Rocky Mountains and Hudson’s Bay to the north
‘of the parallel of 55°. They are unprepossessing in
appearance, and their language is almost unpronounce-
ble by a European. Their alphabet, if they had one,
ould contain no less than seventy-one letters, that being
‘the number of distinct sounds. I believe the language is
llied to the ancient Mexican—at any rate the Navajo is
he nearest to it of existing languages—and the combina-
ions of letters that one sees in Mexican names (dd, for
nstance) are common in this language. The Dog-ribs
ave the remarkable peculiarity of a national habit of
tammering, which is most marked in those who seldom
ome in to the fort. They treat their women with more
indness than is usual among the American Indians.
Fort Rae is one of the windiest and cloudiest places I
ave ever seen, but I am told this is an exceptional year.
t is certainly a very late autumn ; the lake was not frozen
ill November 1, and it is only within the last day or two
hat the cold weather has really set in. Last night the
thermometer was at — 34°.
My space is at an end, but by the next mail I hope to
j you an account of our winter here.
}
|
Fort Rae, December 1
ON THE NATURE OF INHIBITION, AND THE
ACTION OF DRUGS UPON IT*
IV.
CONDITION very nearly similar to that caused by
atropia is produced by morphia. When this sub-
stance is given to a frog, its effects are exactly similar to
those produced by the successive removal of the different
parts of the nervous system from above downwards. Goltz
has shown that when the cerebral lobes are removed from
the frog it loses the power of voluntary motion and sits
still; when the optic lobes are removed it will spring when
stimulated, but loses the power of directing its move-
ments. When the cerebellum is removed it loses the
power of springing at all; and when the spinal cord is
destroyed reflex action is abolished.
Now these are exactly the effects produced by morphia,
the frog poisoned by it first losing voluntary motion, next
the power of directing its movements, next the power of
springing at all, and lastly reflex action. But after reflex
action is destroyed by morphia and the frog is apparently
dead, a very remarkable condition appears, the general
flaccidity passes away and is succeeded by a stage of
excitement, a slight touch causing violent convulsions
Just as if the animal had been poisoned by strychnia.2
The action of morphia here appears to be clearly that -
of destroying the function of the nerve centres from above
downwards, causing paralysis first of the cerebral lobes,
next of the optic lobes, next of the cerebellum, and next
of the cord. But it seems probable that the paralysis of
the cord first observed is only apparent and not real, and
in order to explain it on the ordinary hypothesis we must
assume that during it the inhibitory centres in the cord
are intensely excitel so as to prevent any motor action,
that afterwards they become completely paralysed, and
thus we get convulsions occurring from slight stimuli.
On the hypothesis of interference, the phenomena pro-
| duced both by atropia and by morphia can be more simply
explained. These drugs, acting on the nervous structures,
gradually lessen the functional activity both of cells and
of fibres ; the impulses are retarded, and thus the length
of nervous connection between the cells of the spinal cord,
which is calculated to keep them in proper relation in
the normal animal, just suffices at a certain stage to throw
the impulses half a wave-length behind the other, and
thus to cause complete inhibition and apparent paralysis.
As the action of the drug goes on, the retardation be-
comes still greater, and then the impulses are thrown very
nearly, but not quite, a whole wave-length behind the
other, and thus they coincide fora short time, but gra-
dually again interfere, and therefore we get on the appli-
cation of a stimulus, a tonic convulsion followed by
several clonic ones, and then bya period of rest. This
explanation is further borne out by the fact observed by
Fraser, that the convulsions caused by atropia occurred
more readily during winter, when the temperature of the
laboratory is low and the cold would tend to aid the
action of the drug in retarding the transmission of
impulses.® ;
The effect of strychnia in causing tetanus is very re-
markable; a very small dose of it administered to a frog
first renders the animal most sensitive to reflex impulses,
so that slight impressions which would normally have no
effect, produce reflex action. As the poisoning proceeds,
a slight stimulus no longer produces a reflex action limited
to a few muscles, but causes a general convulsion through-
out all the body, all muscles being apparently put equally
on the stretch. In man the form assumed by the body is
that of a bow, the head and the heels being bent back-
wards, the hands clenched, and the arms tightly drawn
to the body.
* Continued trom p. 468.
® Marshall Hall, Memoirs on the Nervous System, p. vii. (London,
1837). Witkowski, Archiv fiir exper Path. und Pharm., Band vii. p. 247+
Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xxv. p. 467.
486
NATURE
|
[March 22, 1883,
My friend Dr. Ferrier has shown that this position is
due to the different strengths of the various muscles in
the body. All being contracted to their utmost, the stronger
overpower the weaker, and thus the powerful extensors
of the back, and muscles of the thighs keep the body arched
backwards and the legs rigid, while the adductors and
flexors of the arms and fingers clench the fist and bend
the arms, and draw them close to the body.!. The con-
vulsions are not continuous, but areclonic; a violent con-
vulsion coming on and lasting for a while, and then being
succeeded by an interval of rest, to which after a little
while another convulsion succeeds. The animal gene-
rally dies either of asphyxia during a convulsion, or of
stoppage of the heart during the interval.
When the animal is left to itself the convulsions—at
least in frogs—appear to me to follow a certain rhythm,
the intervals remaining for some little time of nearly the
same extent.
A slight external stimulus, however, applied during the
interval—or at least during a certain part of it—will bring
on the convulsion. But this is not the case during the
whole interval. Immediately after each convulsion has
ceased I have observed a period in which stimulation
applied to the surface appears to have no effect whatever.
It is rather extraordinary also, that although touching
the surface produces convulsions, irritation of the skin by
acid does not do so.”
The cause of those convulsions was located in the
spinal cord by Magendie in an elaborate series of experi-
ments.
Other observers have tried to discover whether any
change in the peripheral nerves also took part in causing
convulsion ; but from further experiments it appears that
the irritability of the sensory nerves is not increased.*
According to Rosenthal, strychnia does not affect the
rate at which impulses are transmitted in peripheral
nerves ; according to him, however, it lessens the time
required for reflex actions. Wundt came to the conclu-
sion that the reflex time was on the contrary increased.
In trying to explain the phenomenon of strychnia
tetanus on the hypothesis of interference, one would have
been inclined by Rosenthal’s experiments to say that
strychnia quickened the transmission of impulses along
those fibres in the spinal cord which connect the different
cells together.
The impulses which normally, by travelling further
round fell behind the simple motor ones by half a wave-
length, and thus inhibited them, would now fall only a
small fraction of a wave-length behind, and we should
have stimulation instead of inhibition.
Wundt’s results, on the other hand, would lead to the
same result by supposing that the inhibitory wave was
retarded so as to fall a whole wave-length behind the
motor one. On the assumption, however, that the fibres
which pass transversely across from sensory to motor
cells, and those that pass upwards and downwards in the
cord connecting the cells of successive strata in it, are
equally affected, we do not get a satisfactory explanation
of the rhythmical nature of the convulsions. By sup-
posing, however, that these are not equally affected, but.
that the resistance in one—let us say, that in the longi-
tudinal fibres—is more increased than in the transverse
fibres we shall get the impulses at one time thrown com-
pletely upon each other causing intense convulsion, at
another half a wave-length behind, causing complete
relaxation, which is exactly what we find.
This view is to some extent borne out by the different
effect produced by a constant current upon these convul-
sions, according as it is passed transversely or longi-
tudinally through the spinal cord. Ranke found that
when passed transversely, it has no effect, but when
* Brain, vol. iv. p. 313.
2 Eckhard, Hermann’s Handb. d. Physiol. Band ii. Th. 2. p. 43.
$ Bernstein quoted by Eckhard, of. e#t. p. 40. Walton, Ludwigs
rbeiten, 1882.
i
passed longitudinally in either direction, it completely |
arrests the strychnia convulsions, and also the normal |
reflexes which are produced by tactile stimuli. |
Ranke’s observations have been repeated by others
with varying result, and this variation may, I think, be
explained by the effect of temperature.
Near the beginning of this paper I mentioned that the
touchstone of the truth or falsehood of the hypothesis of
inhibition by interference was to be found in the results
of quickening or slowing the rate of transmission of
stimuli.
Heat and cold are the two agents regarding whose
action in this respect we have the most trustworthy
experimental data. In peripheral nerves, heat up to a
certain point quickens the transmission of stimuli, and
cold retards it. In the spinal cord warmth increases the -
excitability, and at a temperature of 29 to 30 may of
itself cause tetanus.!_ Cold also beyond a certain temper- |
ature increases the reflex excitability. F
The effect of warmth and cold upon strychnia retangy |
is what we would expect on the hypothesis of interfer-
ence. With small doses of strychnia warmth abolishes the
convulsions, while cold increases them. When large
doses are given, on the contrary, warmth increases the
convulsions, and cold abolishes them.
We may explain this result on the hypothesis of inter-
ference in the following manner :— 5
If a small dose of strychnia retard the transmission of
nervous impulses so that the inhibitory wave is allowed
to fall rather more than half a wave-length, but not a
whole wave-length, behind the stimulant wave, we should
have a certain amount of stimulation instead of inhibition.
Slight warmth, by quickening the transmission of im-
pulses, should counteract this effect, and should remove
the effect of the strychnia. Cold, on the other hand, by
causing still further retardation, should increase the
effect. With a large dose of strychnia, the transmission
of the inhibitory wave being still further retarded, the
warmth would be sufficient to make the two waves coin-
cide, while the cold would throw back the inhibitory
wave a whole wave-length, and thus again abolish the
convulsions.
The effect of temperature on the poisonous action of
guanidine is also very extraordinary, and is‘very hard to
explain by the ordinary hypotheses, although the pheno-
mena seem quite natural when we look at them as cases)
ot interference due to alterations in the rapidity with)
which the stimuli are transmitted along nervous struc-
tures. Guanidine produces, in frogs poisoned by it,
fibrillary twitchings of the muscles, which are welll
marked at medium temperatures, but are abolished by)
extremes of heat and cold. Thus Luchsinger has found that,
when four frogs are poisoned by this substance, and one
is placed in ice-water, another in water at 18° C., a third
in water at 25° C., and a fourth in water at 32° C., the
fibrillary twitchings soon disappear from the frog at o° C.
and only return when its temperature is raised to about
18° C. In the frog at 18° C. convulsions occur, which aré
still greater in the one at 25°C. In the frog at 32° C., on
the other hand, no trace of convulsions is to be seen; thej™
animal appears perfectly well, and five times the dose off?"
the poison, which at ordinary temperatures would con uf
vulse it, may be given to it without doing it any harm, saj™
long as it remains in the warmth,’ although when it is
cooled down the effect of the poison at once appears.
Another cause of tetanus that is difficult to understan
on the ordinary hypothesis of inhibitory centres is the “
similar effect of absence of oxygen and excess of oxygens}
When an animal is confined in a closed chamber, withou
oxygen it dies of convulsions ; when oxygen is gradually
;
|
|
ting,
ton,
Ist,
oes Recherches critiques et exper. sur les Mouyements Reflexe:
ine he ‘ “ Q
* Kunde and Virchow quoted by Eckhard, of. cé¢.fp. 44; Foster, Journ:
of Anatomy and Physiology, November 1873, p. 45.
3 Luchsinger, Physiologische Studien, Leipzig, 1882, p. 44-
March 22, 1883]
NATURE
487
introduced before the convulsions become too marked, it
recovers. But when the pressure of oxygen is gradually
raised above the normal, the animal again dies of convul-
sions. This is evidently not the effect of mere increase
in atmospheric pressure, but the effect of the oxygen on
the animal, inasmuch as 25 atmospheres of common air
are required to produce the oxygen convulsions, while
3 atmospheres of pure oxygen are sufficient. This effect
is readily explained on the hypothesis of interference by
supposing that the absence of oxygen retards the trans-
mission of impulses in the nerve-centres ; so that we get
those which ought ordinarily to inhibit one another,
coinciding and causing convulsions. Increased supply
of oxygen gradually quickens the transmission of impulses
until the waves first reach the normal relation, and then
the normal rate being exceeded, the impulses once more
nearly coincide, and convulsions are produced a second
time.
In discussing the action of the nervous system we have
hitherto taken into account only that of the nerve fibrils,
and left out of the question the nerve cells. We have
assumed that the waves arrived in the reservoir (in our
diagram) from a distance, and were simply transmitted
along channels, but in the nervous system we have to
take into account the origination of the waves in the
nerve cells themselves, as well as their propagation along
the nerve channels.
There is a great difference between the function of the
nerve cell and of the nerve fibre analogous to that which
exists between the cell and the wire in a galvanic battery.
The particular form of energy which we met with in both
Cases originates in the cell and is transmitted along the
fibre or the wire. In both cases also the energy appears
to originate from chemical changes going on in the cell.
Material waste of some sort goes on in both, and in both
the products of this waste if allowed to accu nulate will
by and by arrest the action.
We find an indication of the difference between the
amount of chemical change which goes on in the nerve
celland in the nerve fibre in the amount of blood sup-
plied to each respectively. The nerve cells are abun-
dantly supplied with blood, and the nerve fibres very
sparingly so. The free supply of blood secures to the
nerve cells both the supply of fresh material and ready
removal of waste products.
Perhaps the best illustration that we can find in physics
of the processes which take place in the nervous and
muscular systems is however afforded by singing flames
in which the sounds and movements are produced by
very numerous small explosions: for both in the nervous
and muscular systems the tissue change appears to go on
as a series of small explosions. The material which
yields nervous and muscular energy undergoes oxidation,
but the oxygen concerned in the process is not derived
directly from the external air. Substances which yield
oxygen are contained within the tissues themselves just
as nitre is contained along with oxidisable substances in
a charge of gunpowder.
:
__ In this paper also we have spoken of waves of nervous
interference as if they were simple, but it is much more
probable that they are very complex, resembling much
more the beats of sound produced by two singing flames
which are not in unison, than simple waves of water.
The number of nervous discharges which issue from
the motor cells of the spinal cord during tetanus and set
the muscles in action is, according to Dr. Burdon Sander-
‘son, about 16 per second, but in all probability each of
these impulses consists of a large number of small vibra-
tions. In rhythmical actions, such as that of the respira-
tion, we have probably at the very least three rhythms,
Ist, exceedingly rapid vibrations in the nervous cells ;
2nd, slower vibrations or beats from 16 or 18 per second,
which issue from them and excite the muscles to action ;
and 3rd, a still slower rhythm, of 16 per minute, probably
due to interference between groups of cells, which leads
to inspiratory movements alternating with rest or with
active exspiration. The consideration of these com-
plicated phenomena would, however, at present lead us
too far, and they as well as the subject of nervous inter-
ference in the heart and rhythmic contraction of muscles,
must be reserved for another time.
In this paper I must be content with the attempt to
show that inhibition and stimulation in the nervous system
are not dependent on special inhibitory or stimulating
centres, but are merely relative conditions depending
on the length of path along which the stimulus has to
travel and the rate of its transmission. The test of the
truth or falsehood of this hypothesis is to be found in
the effect of alteration in the rapidity of nervous trans-
Tnission upon inhibitory phenomena. The application of
this test appears, so far as our present data go, to support
this hypothesis. T. LAUDER BRUNTON
BEN NEVIS OBSERVATORY
N NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 39, I gave a brief notice that
on November 1—owing to stress of weather forbidding
the regular daily ascents of Ben Nevis—I was obliged to
discontinue the daily work of the meteorological observing
system on the summit and slopes of the mountain. This
was in simultaneous connection with my system of obser-
vations near the sea-level at Achintore, Fort William.
As in the previous summer, | had the honour to organise
and carry on the work under the auspices of the Scottish
Meteorological Society. The experience gained in 1881,
when I first commenced observing on the Ben, enabled
me to draw up and submit to the Society a more elaborate
plan of mountain observation for the summer and autumn
of 1832; and as I have been fortunate enough to carry it
through for five months without any hitch, and as I am
not aware that anything of the kind had, previous to my
first undertaking, been attempted, I am naturally anxious
that NATURE should have a more complete account of
my last year’s operations. My plan was to have /ived
stations at different altitudes between the main obser-
vatories at the base and on the summit of the mountain.
so placed in fact that I could observe regularly at half-
hourly intervals during the daily ascent and descent of
the Ben ; to extend the number of summit observations
to five sets; and to have in every case simultaneous obser-
vations taken at the sea-level station—my grand base of
operations. All this was with a view to localising dis-
turbances existing in the stratum of atmosphere between
the sea-level and the top of Ben Nevis, to furthering
meteorological research generally, and so ultimately to
gain forecasting material. I arrived at Fort William from
Edinburgh on May 25, and at once proceeded to give
effect to my plans. During the next few days I was
engaged mainly in erecting Stevenson’s thermometer
screens, and laying out the sea-level station; in establish-
ing a new “midway’’ observatory at the lake, erecting
screen, and building there a granite cairn fora barometer ;
and in reopening the temporary observatory on the sum-
mit of the mountain. It was only by dint of great
exertion and a gang of men that I got all in order
on the top of the Ben on May 31. I had no occasion,
however, to alter the arrangements of the previous sum-
mer; and the heavy work of reopening chiefly consisted
in digging out from the vast accumulations of snow the
barometer cairn, hut, and thermometer cage which here,
as a safeguard, incloses Stevenson’s screen. The snow,
in fact, was nearly four feet deep, and it was necessary
to cut out wide areas around the instruments. I also
erected another screen to contain Negretti and Zambra’s
self-registering clock-hygrometer, most kindly placed at
my disposal by that eminent firm for the purpose of
obtaining 9 p.m. values. I had also to fix a new roof of
ship’s canvas to the rude shanty that affords some little
488
NATURE
—_-
[March 22, 1883
shelter from the piercing cold and storms. The baro-
meter, a fine Fortin, had been left in its cairn built up
during the past winter; and great labour was expended
before the north side of the cairn was reopened, the
stones being so hard frozen that a crowbar had to be
employed. The instrument was found in good condition.
Passing over all other details of arranging the stations
and fixing instruments, I may say that I had all in order
and commenced work on June I. I now give a list of the
stations, with positions, hours, and elements of observa-
tion.! The distances in the text are given in right lines
from the sea-level station. Fig. 1 at once shows the
bearings, and distances by the actual track followed.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section giving total actual
distances. ¥
ACHINTORE, FORT WILLIAM, BASE OR SEA-LEVEL
OBSERVATORY.—-/osition : About 28 feet above sea, on
a level sward, perfectly open on all sides, running parallel
aus immediately adjacent to Loch Linnhe; soil, gravelly
oam.
Hours.—5, 5.30, 6.15, 7, 7.30, 7-55, 8.30, 9, 9.30, 10,
10.30, 11, and 11.30 a.m. ; and noon, 0.30, I, 1.45, 2.30,
3, 6, and 9 p.m.
Elements.—Atmospheric pressure by mercurial baro-
meter, temperature of air and evaporation (dry and wet
bulbs), direction and force of wind, kind and amount of
Se. LIVINGSTON'S BOULDER
/ STATION 840 FT z
oe ‘ r
@ PEAT MOSS Sect
“STATION 40 FT No
An
Se
VA
Bie.)
2
Fin
/ a
THE LAKE STATION
2S. x 1840 FT
nm x
= Peas HORSE LEFT HERE
‘8
a @ BROWN’S WELL
i) 7 * STATION 2200 FT
8 / ACHINTORE, FORT WILLIAM \a Hs
Vv ___BASE STATION. on
os << au
Sse STATION @ RED BURN CROSSING
—— t "2700 FT
“Ses Pax ee ”,
FMNG pe ’Of>._ BUCHAN’S WELL
‘—adce ae STATION®... 357577,
} SANs iit ut
= BEN “NEVIS
| MILE a 7 4 SUMMIT STATION
aT Ss » Arm 406 FT
FURLONGS — 7h,
Fic. ;
3
BUCHANS WELL
STATION 2
THE LAKE STATION \ 357542
gia 1 BEN NEVIS
! reo surRN ' SUMMIT STATION
i CROSSING STN. a | 4406 FF
LIVINGSTONS H l 1 2700F! ! H
I aN! | BROWNS WELL\ i 1
ACHINTORE 1 fe Sue ' pLareau
BASE STATION PEAT MOSS : \ | iJ H H OF STORMS
ery =e L | MEALL ANT- | HY i s
MEALL ANT- 4 eee 1 SUIDHE | i y
SLAMAIN H 1 | esFery Dr» a gy
' 1 ene: VE YS Be y
' ! SZ ie ¢ j
pee ear YM iE,
3M.GF. 4M.6F. 5M.2F. 5M.GF, 6M. 2F.
SS
FURLONCS
Fic, 2. |
cloud, and movements and velocities of the various strata
of cloud, hydrometeors and remarks in full detail at all
the above times. Maximum and minimum shade tem-
perature, solar maximum and terrestrial minimum tem-
perature, earth temperature (1 and 2 feet), and rainfall at
ga.m. and 9 p.m. Temperature of Achintore well, and
subsequently of Loch Linnhe between 9 and II a.m.
Ozone for periods of 4 hour, 1 hour, 14 hour, and 2
hours between 9 and 11 a.m.; also for periods of 24
and 12 hours, ending 9 a.m. and g p.m. Ozone also for
the following periods of exposure .—6 hours ending 1
p.m., and 18 hours ending 7 a.m., and subsequently in
addition for 15 hours ending 5.30 a.m., and 9 hours ending
- Cloud movements and velocities were not, however, [noted atsolutely
ery time.
2.30 p.m. [It will be seen later that all these ozone ob-
servations (except those for 12 hours ending 9 o’clock) were
simultaneous with others on the summit of Ben Nevis, at
the Lake, and Peat Moss stations. ] |
Actinism of the sun’s rays and of daylight by Dr.
Angus Smith’s apparatus for 24 hours ending 10,17 a.m. ;
comparison-pressure by aneroid at 5 a.m. and 3 p.m. on
leaving for and returning from the summit and slopes’
stations.
PEAT Moss.— Postion : About 40 feet above sea;
2m. 2f. ; perfectly open ; near the middle of the extensive
moss at the foot of AZeall an ¢t-Suidhe; peaty, swampy
soil, with hummocks around.
Hours.—5.30 to 6 a.m. (this was the only- hour in the
entire system that varied, and extra simultaneous reat |
March 22, 1883 |
NATURE
489
ings were taken at Achintore whenever this was the case),
and 2.30 p.m. From August I also at 9, 9.30, 10, 10.30,
and II a.m.
Elements.—Temperature of air and evaporation (dry
and wet bulbs), wind and force; kind of cloud, amount
and velocity ; hydrometeors and remarks in full detail as
before at all the above times. Pressure by aneroid, 5.30
to6a.m., and at 2.30 p.m. Rainfall at 9 am. Ozone
for 15 hours, ending about 5.30 a.m., and for about 9
hours, ending 2.30 p.m.; also for periods of 4 hour,
1 hour, 14 hour, and 2 hours between g and 11 a.m.
(simultaneously with the summit and base stations).
Temperature of adjacent water-hole subsequently about
5.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m.
PEAT Moss CROSSING.—A minor station about 70 feet
above sea, 3m. of., situated at the burn AV//t Cotre an
Lochain.
Hours and Elements.—About 5.50 a.m. and 2.17 p.m. :
pressure by aneroid, and temperature of burn.
LIVINGSTON'’S BOULDER.!—Positiou : 840 feet above
sea; 3m. 1f.; close to the burn A//t Cotre an Lochain, on
a level swampy patch; ground around undulating, with
large boulders of coarse-grained granite lying adjacent.
Hours.—6.15 a.m. and 1.45 p.m.
Elements—Pressure by aneroid, temperature of air
and evaporation (dry and wet bulbs), temperature of
burn ; wind and force; kind of cloud, amount and
velocity ; hydrometeors and remarks in full detail as
before each time.
THE LaKE.—Position: A plateau-valley 1840 feet above
the sea, 3 miles, on swampy ground, fairly level, by the
CF GREAT PRECIPICE
BRINK
co
“9
Bo H L
E “ye
i Au | <
p K
Pp L .
SCALE
0 1020 40 60 FEET
Fic. 3.—A, B, C, D, raingauges; E, notice board; F, Ordnance Survey
cairn; G, solar and terrestrial radiation thermometers; H, Stevenson’s
thermometer cage and ozone tests; 1, self-registering hygrometer; J,
barometer cairn; K, earth thermometers; 1, hut. The apparatus for
measuring the actinism of light is near the edge of the precipice N.E.
from the hut.
north-east shore of the tarn, Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe :
Barometer Cairn.
Solar Radiation Thermometer.
Hut.
Standard Rain-gauge.
Thermometer Cage.
Fic. 4.
granite blocks and hummocks of bog, moss, and dwarf-
* The altitude of this station and those of the following intermediate
stations, except the Lake, were determined by mean results of aneroid read-
ings, and must be accepted accordingly.
heather to eastward. Main slopes of Ben Nevis on east-
south-east side, and AZeal/ an ¢-Suzdhe on west side.
Hours.—7 a.m, and I p.m.
Elements—Pressure by mercurial barometer, com-
499
NATURE
[March 22, 1883
parison-pressure by aneroid, temperature of air and
evaporation (dry and wet bulbs), maximum and minimum
shade temperature, and ozone for periods of 6 and 18
hours, temperature of ground at depths of 1 and 2 feet;
temperature of lake; wind and force; kind of cloud,
amount and velocity; hydrometeors and remarks in full
detail as before each time. Rainfall on Ist, 8th, 15th,
and 22nd of each month.
BROWN’S WELL.—Position : 2200 feet above sea, 3m.
If, on a grassy patch with springs and swamps, on the
main slopes of Ben Nevis. Boulders and stones of fine-
grained granite graduatiog into felsite lie around. Slope
to westward estimated at 35°.
Ffours.—7.30 a.m. and 0.30 p.m.
Elements.—Pressure by aneroid, temperature of air
and evaporation (dry and wet bulbs), temperature of
well; wind and force; kind of cloud, amount and
velocity; hydrometeors and remarks in full detail as
before each time.
RED BURN CROSSING.—Posztion : 2700 feet above sea,
3m. 2f., above the general limit of vegetation in the deep
ravine of and close beside the Red Burn; boulders and
debris of porphyritic rock on all sides; slope to westward
estimated at 4o°.
Hlours.—7.55 a.m. and noon.
Elements.—Pressure by aneroid, temperature of air
and evaporation (dry and wet bulbs), temperature or
burn; wind and force; kind of cloud, amount and
velocity; hydrometeors and remarks in full detail as
before each time.
BUCHAN’S WELL.—Position : 3575 feet above sea,
3m. 5f., source of the Red Burn: entirely in a region of
rocks, fragmentary stones, and debris; completely open,
and ground more undulating, with comparatively gentle
slope to westward.
ffours.—8.30 and 11.30 a.m.
Elements.—Pressure by aneroid, temperature of air
and evaporation (dry and wet bulbs), temperature of well;
wind and force; kind of cloud, amount and velocity ;
hydrometeors and remarks in full detail as before each
time.
BEN NEVIS, SuMMIT OBSERVATORY.—Position :
4406 feet above sea, 4m. 6f, in the centre of a rough
rocky plateau, covered with felstone lavas and volcanic
agglomerates (see Figs. 3 and 4).
Hours.—9, 9.30, 10, 10.30, and 11 a.m,
Elements.—Pressure by mercurial barometer, com-
parison-pressure by aneroid, temperature of air and
evaporation (dry and wet bulbs), wind and force ; kind of
cloud, amount, and velocities of strata ; hydrometeors
and remarks in fullest detail as at the sea-level and inter-
mediate stations at all the above times.
Maximum and minimum shade temperature, solar
maximum and terrestrial minimum temperature, and rain-
fall by four gauges at 9 a.m.
Temperature of Wragge’s Well and of ground at depths
of 1 and 2 feet between 9 and 11 a.m.
Ozone for periods of 4 hour, 1 hour, 1} hour, and
2 hours between 9 and 11 a.m., also by two differently
exposed tests for 24 hours ending 9 a.m.
Actinism of the sun’s rays and of daylight by Dr.
Angus Smith’s apparatus for 24 hours ending 10.17 a.m.
Hygrometric conditions prevailing about 9 o’clock the
previous night by self-registering dry and wet bulbs, were
noted at 10,50 a.m.
A moment’s consideration, then, will show that the
observations at the sea-level station were in every case
simultaneous with those at the summit and intermediate
stations, and that the hours at the latter were so arranged
as to “mean” to the Io a.m. readings at the base and
summit of the mountain, and also at the Peat Moss.
Rainband by Browning’s spectroscope was observed at
various altitudes, and its indications proved of consider-
able value. Full notes were taken of the cloud limits,
and of any important changes observed between the
stations.
Of course my first business was to get the main obser-
vations—pressure, temperature, hygrometric conditions,
wind, cloud, &c.—into full swing by June 1; and as I
felt my way and got my hours and distances well under
command I added to my work. Thus the ozone observ-
ing-system and the three extra rain-gauges on the summit
were added on June 15, and the delicate operations for
measuring the actinism of light on July 9. The additional
gauges were established to discover if and to what extent
the rainfall varies in connection with the wind at different
points of the plateau from the centre to the edge of the
great precipice.
During June, Stevenson’s screens were in use only at
the sea-level, lake, and summit; and hence at the other
places the dry and wet bulbs had to be swung and the
latter moistened afresh from adjacent water at each
swinging. But aching wrists and sore fingers soon made
me determine to have louvred screens at all the stations,
and by July 1 they were in their places and dry and wet
bulbs supplied by Hicks and Negretti and Zambra fixed
permanently in each. So above all was accuracy the
better insured, and the whole system went like clockwork.
I left Achintore before 5.30 a.m., and returned about
3 p-m., and the rate of ascending and descending was so
regulated as to insure punctuality usually within a few
seconds—often to the second—at the various stations.
The new screens were a trifle smaller than the others.
I need hardly add that the instruments at all stations
were the best observing-standards procurable, and that
the arrangements in every respect were those approved
by the Meteorological Office and the English and Scottish
Meteorological Societies. The condition of the wet bulbs,
fixing of ozone tests, clamping self-registering instruments
to prevent vibration in gales, levelling rain-gauges, and
numerous other matters of important detail required the
closest attention. The Beaufort wind and cloud scales
were in use, and the ozone tests were Moffat’s. Two
assistants, educated by Mr. Colin Livingston of Fort
William—a sufficient guarantee for their ability—and
trained by myself, helped in the work; and relieved me
in the ascent of the mountain three times a week, and on
these occasions I took the sea-level station. One of the
greatest difficulties I had to contend with in the Ben
Nevis routine was as to the pony on which I rode to and
from the Lake, where it was left to graze and await my
descent. Occasionally the stable-boy overslept, and I
had to make up for lost time,—no easy matter, as the
wretched track leads over deep ruts and treacherous
swamps, and the poor brute had a trying time of it. Still
more frequently the person to whom it belonged gave me
rotten saddlery in spite of all remonstrance; and on
commencing the ascent the girth would break, and I had
to turn the animal airift and plod on to the Lake my
fastest. This was decidedly hard, inasmuch as I was
obliged to climb afoot some 2500 feet from the tarn in
less than two hours by a circuitous route and over rough
rock stopping to observe at the other intermediate sta-
tions. Again, the pony often wandered in his hobbles or
having broken the tethering rope had made off to the
moss; so also on the homeward journey I had sometimes
to leave him and run my hardest over ruts and through
swamps, by a short cut, to get my readings at the next
station. Other trying parts of the work consisted in the
journeys between Buchan’s Well and the top in the
allotted time, in having the two hours’ exposure on the
summit in bad weather, and in becoming chilled after
profuse perspiration. The rude hut, with its walls full of
holes of all shapes and angles through which the wind
whistles and the snow-drifts drive, afforded but a poor
shelter from the drenching rain and cold, and it was im-
possible to keep anything dry. My hands often became so
numbed and swollen, and my paper so saturated that I had
March 22, 1883]
NALOURE
491
the utmost difficulty in handling keys, setting instruments
and entering my observations. Usually so laden was the
air with moisture and so very dense and lasting was the
cloud-fog that, even when no rain had actually fallen,
all the fixings and instruments were dripping; and al-
though, of course, I made a point of wiping the dry
bulb, it almost immediately became wet again. Occa-
sionally I timed the interval between wiping and fresh
condensation on the bulb, and have found it wet again
within ¢izrty seconds.
After November 1, then, 1 had to discontinue the work,
The hut had become choked with snow, and the carrying
on of the undertaking satisfactorily impossible. I was,
however, satisfied ; and very pleased that I had secured
Bie months’ observations without the break of a single
ay.
It is not my part to refer in this paper to any results.
Such I must in duty leave to be discussed and made
known by the Scottish Meteorological Society. But,
from what I myself know of the meteorology of Ben
Nevis from the experience of two summers and autumns,
I do most strongly urge the establishment of a permanent
observatory on the summit, firmly believing that most im-
portant and unexpected results will accrue to meteorology
from continuous observations there. Such, in connection
with others at the sea-level, would in my opinion enable
the energetic staff at the Meteorological Office, under Mr.
Robert H. Scott’s able direction, to forecast storms with
far greater certainty.
I cannot conclude this account without expressing my
best acknowledgments to Dr. Angus Smith for placing at
my disposal his apparatus for measuring the actinism of
light, which I consider an immense acquisition to a
meteorological observatory; to Mr. John Browning for
his rainband spectroscope ; to Messrs. Negretti and
Zambra for their clock-hygrometer ; and finally to the
Scottish Meteorological Society for the kind encourage-
ment and liberal assistance they have given me.
CLEMENT LINDLEY WRAGGE
HYDROGEN WHISTLES
[= may be recollected by some of the readers of NATURE
that a few years ago! I contrived a whistle for testing
the upper limits of the power of hearing very shrill notes
by different men and animals. When properly made, it
easily suffices to do this, in the case of men and most
animals, but it cannot, neither can any other instrument
hitherto devised, emit such notes as it is conceivable that
insects may hear. The problem whether any insects can
hear notes whose numbers of vibrations per second is
manyfold greater than those of the notes audible to men
has not yet been fairly put to the test of experiment. I
wish to show that this can now be done.
The whistles of which I speak have their lower ends
closed with a piston that admits of being inserted more
or less deeply, and thus of varying the depth of the
whistle and consequently its note; but as a whistle will
not give its proper note unless its depth be greater than
its width, say, 14 times as much, and as the depth of a
whistle that gives, say, 24,000 vibrations per second is
is only o'14 inch, it follows that their bores must be very
small, and that a limit of minuteness is soon reached.
Having had occasion lately to reconsider the subject, it
occurred to me that I cculd greatly increase the shrillness
of any whistle by blowing a gas through it that was lighter
than common air.
_ The number of vibrations per second caused by whistles
is inversely proportional to the specific gravity of the gas
that is blown through them; therefore by the use of
hydrogen, which is thirteen times lighter than air, the
* “South Kensington Conferences, in “connection with Loan Exhibition
of Scientific Apparatus, 1876,” p. 61.
number of vibrations per second produced by a given
whistle would be increased thirteenfold.
I have made experiments with most satisfactory results
with common coal gas, whose specific gravity, though
much greater than that of hydrogen, is not much more than
half that of common air, and I have little doubt in con-
sequence that a number of vibrations may be excited by
one of my small-bore whistles through the use of hydro-
gen gas, that very largely exceeds the number attainable
hitherto in any other way. They would of course fail to
excite the sense of sound in any of ourselves, or
perhaps to produce any physical effect that we can
appreciate, whether on sensitive flames or otherwise,
and the note to those creatures, if any, who could hear
it, would be feebler on account of the lightness of the
medium in which the vibrations originated, but it would
be (so far as I can anticipate) a true note, and ought to be
powerful enough to be audible at the short distances at
which small creatures may be tested. The whistle I used
was made forme by Hawksley, 357, Oxford Street ; its
bore is o'04 inch diameter, and it givesa loud note for its
size. After some prefatory trials, I proceeded as fol-
lows:—I attached the whistle to a gas jet by a short
indiarubber tube. Then, without turning on the gas, I
retested my range of hearing by setting the piston at
various lengths and giving sharp squeezes to the tube as
it lay in the hollow of my hand. The effect of each
squeeze was to force a little air through the whistle, and
to cause it to emit'a sharp “cheep.” When I relaxed the
grasp, air was sucked in through the whistle, and the
tube became again filled with air, ready for another
squeeze.
My range of hearing proved to be such that when the
depth of the whistle was 0°13 inch, I could hear no
musical note at all—only a puff; at o'14 inch I could just
perceive a very faint musical note enveloped, as it were, in
much puff; even at 0°20 some little puff remained, but
before 0°25 the note had become purely musical. This
having been established, I kept the whistle set at 0°25 and
turned the gas on, giving it abundance of time to expel
all air from the tube. Then, turning the stopcock to shut
the indiarubber tube from behind, I gave a sharp squeeze
as previously, but the whistle, instead of emitting a pure
note, gave to me just the same barely perceptible sound
that it did when it was set at o114. I relaxed my grasp
and instantly retightened it, and then the whistle emitted
a pure note. A little common air had regurgitated into
the whistle when my grasp was relaxed, and it was the
reissue of this that gave the note. J repeated the experi-
ment several times with the same result. With a depth
of 0:24 I could hear no note at all when using the gas.
Then I pulled out the piston to 0°35, and the gas gave a
clear musical note; on the second squeeze the note was
considerably deepened. The specific gravity of the gas
from the jet, as calculated from these data, would be to
that of the air at the time, as 14 to 25, or as 0°56 to 1.
This happens to be the specific gravity of carburetted
hydrogen, but that of common street gas is heavier.
Perhaps my measurements were not quite accurate;
probably the note given by the gas being really fainter
(though not perceptibly so) than that given by air
somewhat falsified the judgment. A very slight differ-
ence in the data would raise the 0°56 to 0°60 or more.
By the use of hydrogen the little whistle when set at 0°14
inches would produce 312,000 vibrations per second. I
know by experiment on others that it will give a true
musical note when made much shorter than this, and I
see no cause to doubt that it will sound truly at half the
above length, and therefore be capable of emitting twice
the akove enormous number of vibrations per second.
Mr. Hawksley is making for me an apparatus with
small gas bag for hydrogen pure or diluted, valves, and
an indiarubber ball to squeeze, to enable hydrogen to
be used with the whistle when desired. The whistle is
492
NATURE
[March 22, 1883
fixed to the end of a small indiarubber tube in order to
be laid near the insect whose notice it may be desired to
attract. FRANCIS GALTON
PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE BACILLUS OF |
TUBERCULOSIS (KOCH)
if5 ops absorption and consequent retention of certain
stains by this bacillus does not appear to be
effected by the hydrates of potassium, sodium, and am-
monium and by aniline alone. Sodic phosphate, potassic
acetate, vegetable alkaloids, &c., appear to exert a similar
action. Further experiments are in progress. I have
some very good preparations which were rapidly stained
with a very faintly coloured stain containing sodic phos-
phate (sod. phos. cryst. B.P.).
II. The sections of tissue shown (by the kind arrange-
ment of Mr. Blaker) at the Brighton meeting of the British
Medical Association, in which the bacilli were very dis-
tinct, were stained, &c., then floated on to the glass slides,
dried over concentrated sulphuric acid (or fused CaCl,),
and mounted in balsam. Hitherto my attempts to fix
the colour of the bacilli, by means of a mordant, in such |
a way that it might remain unaffected by alcohol, and by
oil of cloves, have not proved successful.
III. Treatment with a solution of potassic acetate will
probably prove well adapted to free preparations from
those last traces of nitric acid which so often cause their
ultimate destruction.
From (I1.) I should omit a very beautiful and remark-
able preparation showing the spores of this bacillus in
the lymphatics of the lung. This slide was prepared by
Dr. Barron, of University College, Liverpool, and for his
kindness in lending it to me and for much invaluable
advice I am very grateful.
To Mr. Blaker, M.R.C.S., of Brighton, and to Mr.
Black, M.R.C.S., of the Sussex County Hospital, I am |
under many obligations for their kindly interest and
assistance. J. W. CLARK
THE SHAPES OF LEAVES*
IIll.—Origin of Types
bee two most general and distinctive types of foliage
among angiosperms are those characteristic of
monocotyledons and dicotyledons respectively.
owe their principal traits of shape and venation to the
manner in which these two great fundamental classes
have been separately evolved from lower ancestors.
Mr. Herbert Spencer has shown that there are two
‘chief ways in which a central axis or caulome may con-
ceivably be developed from an integrated series of primi-
tive stalkless creeping fronds. The /ist way is by the
in-rolling or folding of the fronds so as to form a com-
plete tube, often with adnate edges, as represented in the
accompanying diagram (Fig. 20), modified by Mr.
Spencer’s kind permission from the “ Principles of
Biology.” For details of the explanation, the reader
must be referred to that work (vol. ii. part iv. chap. iii);
it must suffice here to note that as in such case each
frond must envelop the younger fronds within it, the |
process is there shown to eventuate in an endogenous
stem and a monocotyledonous seed—two characteristics
found as a matter of fact constantly to accompany one
another in actual nature. The second way is by the
thickening and hardening of a fixed series of midribs, as
shown in the next diagram (Fig. 21), also modified after
Mr. Spencer; and this method must necessarily result in an
exogenous stem anda dicotyledonous seed. The diagrams
in Figs. 22 and 23, which represent according to Mr.
Spencer (slightly altered) the development of the monoco-
* Continued from p. 466.
They |
| parallel.
| in those cases among dicotyledons where the lamina is
tyledonous and dicotyledonous seedling respectively, will
help further to illustrate the primitive characteristics of
the two types.
The monocotyledonous type of foliage is for the most
part extremely uniform and consistent, in temperate
climates at least, for in the tropics the presence of large
arborescent forms, such as palms and screw-pines, as
well as of gigantic lilies, amaryllids, and grasses, such as
the bananas, yuccas, agaves, and bamboos, gives a very
distinctive aspect to the ezsemdble of the class. Being in
principle a more or less in-rolled and folded frond, every
part of which equally aids in forming the caulome or
stem, the monocotyledonous leaf tends as a rule to show
little distinction between blade and leaf-stalk, lamina
and petiole. For the same reason, the free end also tends
to assume a lanceolate or linear shape, while the lower
part usually becomes more or less tubular or sheathing in
arrangement. Again, for two reasons, it generally has a
parallel venation. In the first place, since the leaves or
terminal expansions are mere prolongations or tips to the
stem-forming portion, it will follow that the vascular
tissues will tend to run on continuously over every part,
instead of radiating from a centre which must in such a
case be purely artificial. In the second place it is clear
that parallel venation is the most convenient type for long
narrow leaves, as is plainly shown even among dicotyle-
dons by such foliage as that of the plantains, descended
from netted-veined ancestors, but with chief ribs now
Still better are both these principles illustrated
suppressed altogether, and the flattened petiole assumes
foliar functions, as in Oxalis bupleurifolia and Acacia
melanoxylon (Fig. 24). These phyllodes thus resembling
in their mode of development the monocotyledonous type,
and continuous throughout with the caulome-portion of
the primitive leaf, exhibit both in shape and venation the
chief monocotyledonous characteristics. A typical mono-
cotyledon in shape and venation is represented in Fig. 25.
The dicotyledonous type, though far more varied, is
| equally due in its shape and venation to the original
characteristics implied by its origin. Only the midrib
instead of the whole leaf being here concerned in the
production of the stem, there is a far greater tendency to
distinctness between petiole and lamina, and a marked
preference for the netted venation. The foliar expansion
is not here a mere tip ; it becomes a more separate and
decided element in the entire leaf. And as the petiole
joins the lamina at a distinct and noticeable point, there
is a natural tendency for the vascular bundles to diverge
there, making the venation palmate or radiating, so as to
distribute it equally to all parts of the expanded surface.
| Fig. 26 shows the resulting characteristic form of dicoty-
ledonous leaf. Its variations of pinnate or other vena-
tion will be considered a little later on.
Among monocotyledons, the central type is perhaps
best found in the mainly tuberous or bulbous orders, such
as the orchids, lilies, and amaryllids. These orders,
having rich reservoirs of food laid by underground, send
up relatively thick and sturdy leaves ; but their shape is
decided by the ancestral type, and by their strict sub-
ordination to the central axis. Hence they are usually
long, narrow, and rather fleshy. Familiar examples are
the tulips, hyacinths, snowdrops, daffodils, crocuses, &c.
Those which have small bulbs, or none, or grow much
among grass, like Sisyrinchium, are nearly or quite
linear ; those which raise their heads higher into the
open, like Listera, are often quite ovate. Exotic forms
(bromelias, yuccas, agaves) frequently have the points
sharp and piercing, as a protection against herbivores.
In the grasses there is generally no large reservoir of
food, and their leaves accordingly show the central type
in a stringy drawn-up condition. So also in sedges,
woodrushes, and many others. But where the general
monocotyledonous habit has been more lost,and something
March 22, 1883]
NATURE
ta )
493
like the dicotyledonous habit acquired, the leaves become
more like those of the opposite class. Thus the Arums,
with their very unlilylike mode of growth, and their long
petioles rising high into the open air, have usually a very
distinct broad lamina, and have the veins accordingly
branched or netted, almost as in dicotyledons. Very much
the same type recurs under similar circumstances in
Sagittaria sagittifolia (Fig. 27). Still more markedly
dicotyledonous-looking are the leaves of certain very
aberrant Amaryllids, such as Zamus and the other Diosco-
ridez, which have taken to climbing, and have therefore
acquired broader leaves with netted veins between the
Fic. 20.—Developmen tof Monocoty!edonous stem.
ribs. Compare with these the like result in Sylax;
and then look at both side by side with such dicotyledons
as Convolvulus. The influence of the ancestral type is
here seen in the arrangement of the main ribs; the in-
fluence of environment is shown both in the approxima-
tion of general shape, and in the netting of the minor veins,
Once more, the ovate type of Listera leads on readily
enough to the whorled leaves of Paris and Trillium,
where the venation has become similarly netted. A
bushy type, like Azscws, develops broad leaf-like ped-
uncles, which closely simulate the true leaves of dicotyle-
donous bushes with like habit, such as box or privet.
Fic, 21.—Development of Dicotyledonous stem.
But the widest departure of all from the central mono-
cotyledonous type is found in leaves like those of the
tropical arborescent forms—the palms, screw-pines, &c.
Most of these have long pinnate foliage, whose origin
may best be considered when we come to examine the
Ry ) xf
:
Fic. 22.—Development of Monocotyledonous seedling.
(
chief dicotyledonous types ; meanwhile such forms as the
cocoanut or the date-palm may be advantageously com-
pared, as to conditions and general shape, with the tree-
ferns in one direction, and the cycads in another. The
bananas cast much analogous light upon the origin of
these tropical pinnate forms. Where the plant is less
arborescent, as in Chamerops, the leaf assumes rather a
fan-shaped than a pinnate development.
Among dicotyledons it may be fairly assumed that the
earliest form of leaf was simple, ovate, and nearly ribless,
or with faint digitate venation. This is shown both by
the nature of the earliest leaves in most seedlings, and
the constant recurrence to such a type wherever circum-
stances are favourable for its reproduction. Hence, as a
whole, digitate venation seems the commonest in most
humble dicotyledons ; and the only problem is how
pinnate venation came to be substituted for it in certain
cases. The answer seems to be that wherever circum-
stances have caused leaves to lengthen faster than they
broadened, and so to assume a lanceolate rather than an
ovate shape, the tendency has been for the main ribs to
be given off, not from the same point, but a little in front
of one another. If the technical botanists will pardon
such a phrase, the internodes of the midrib, usually sup-
pressed, seem here to have been fully developed. Figs.
28, 29, and 30 show the stages by which such a change
494
NATURE
| March 22, 1883
may be brought about. Figs. 31, 32, and 33 exhibit a
slightly different form of the same tendency.
That this is the real origin of pinnate venation seems
pretty clear on a comparison of a good many otherwise
closely related forms. Look for example first at the rounded,
almost orbicular leaf of Geranium molle and its allies,
| NG 0
aN V{{
fl
i
Fic. 23.—Development of Dicotyledonous seedling.
\
with palmate ribs ; and then look at the long, narrower,
doubly pinnate, and pinnately-ribbed leaves of Erodium
cicutartum. Or again, look at the common cinquefoil,
erect and palmate; and then at silver-weed, long, creep-
ing, closely pressed to the ground, and with numerous
pinnate leaflets. Once more, compare A/chemil/a with
Fic. 24.—Acacia melanoxylon.
Poterium and Sanguisorba. As a still simpler instance,
where we get the difference in its first beginning, contrast
Ranunculus acris with R. repens, or the least compound
leaves of the blackberry bramble with its own most com-
pound foliage. Asa rule the most pinnate groups, such
Fic. 25.—Typical Monocotyledonous leaves and venation.
as the lesser crucifers, the peaflowers, &c., have very
long leaves.
This suggested origin of pinnate venation in dicotyle-
dons becomes even more probable when we look at the
pinnate members of other classes. Among monocotyle-
dons the long-leaved arums, though their venation is
fundamentally parallel in type, have yet acquired a
branching and practically pinnate set of ribs. The
plantains and bananas, with very long and broad foliage,
carry the same tendency yet further; for their leaves are
pinnately ribbed from a stout midrib. The lower shrubby
or bushy palms, like Chamzrops, have fan-shaped leaves,
with veins diverging in rough parallelism from a common
centre ; that is to say, they are in fact palmate; but in
the taller arborescent palms, with their long leaves, the
internodes of the midrib (to use the same convenient
Fic. 26.—Typical Dicotyledonous leaf and venation.
phrase once more) are fully developed, so that the leaf
becomes pinnatifid. In this case the subdivision into
leaflets is probably protective against tropical storms.
The broad-leaved plantains and the Chameerops, though
so much shorter than the pinnate palms, are often torn
by the wind, and a plantain leaf so torn into ribbons
| closely resembles a cocoanut leaf; in the taller palms
this disruption between the ribs becomes norma]. Com-
pare Zamia and the other cycads among gymnosperms.
Fic. 27.—Sazitttaria sagittifolia.
Once more, the ferns are a class with long lanceolate
fronds as a rule, and their venation is almost always
pinnate ; the only ferns that vary much from the central
type being some like the Maidenhairs, which are tufty
and rather ovate in general form, and have so modified
their venation as closely to approach the herb Roberts
and other hedgerow plants in the outer effect. We may
March 22, 1883]
NATURE
495
fairly conclude, therefore, that pinnate venation is best
adapted to very long leaves, both because of the support
it gives to the cellular mass and because of the easy
manner in which it distributes sap to every part alike.
It seems also probable that pinnate ribs are especially
adapted to forest trees. Most of these indeed have their
leaves rather long in outline—like the ash, the oak, the
chestnut, the walnut, the mountain ash, the laurels, the
hornbeam, and the willow—while others in which the
primary ribs are palmate—like the horse-chestnut and
Fics. 28, 29, 30-—Gradation from palmate to pinnate venation.
the plane—have their secondary ribs pinnate and their
lobes or leaflets very long, so that the total effect is in
the end pretty much the same. But even when the leaf
is rather shortened in general outline, as in the elm, the
beech, the alder, and the poplar, the venation is still
pinnate. Doubtless this form of ground-plan protects
the leaves of these exposed trees best against the wind;
and where the leaflets are much subdivided, as in the
acacias, the subdivision may be regarded as a protection
against severe storms.
Fics. 31, 32, 33-—Gradation from palmate lobes to pinnate leaflets.
The shapes of leaves in each particular species of
plant thus depend in ultimate analysis upon two factors :
first, the ancestrally-inherited peculiarities of type and
venation ; and second, the actual conditions to which the
species is now habitually exposed. Accordingly, under
the same conditions, a monocotyledon and a dicotyledon
will tend to assume approximately similar general ex-
ternal forms ; but their underlying ancestral peculiarities
may generally be perceived through the mere analogical
resemblance produced by an identical environment. By
the interaction of the two factors we must endeavour to
explain every particular form of leaf. To do this through-
out the whole vegetable kingdom would be of course an
endless task, but to do it in a few selected groups is both
a practicable and a useful botanical study. The ground-
plan will always depend upon the ancestral type; the
outline, degree of segmentation, and minuteness of
cutting, will always depend upon the average supply of
carbonic acid and sunlight. GRANT ALLEN
(Lo be continued.)
NOTES
Sir JOHN Lupgock did right to ask the Prime Minister on
Monday, whether, in remodelling the department of the Lord
President of the Council, he would consider the desirability of
separating the actual Minister of Education in the House of
Commons from that office, and of transferring to him the power
of appointing the inspectors and other officers on whom the
satisfactory working of the education of the country so greatly
depends. As might have been expected, Mr. Gladstone held
out no hope of any change being mad> for a long time; that,
however, is no reason why the efforts of the friends of science
and education in this direction should cease.
THE Grocers’ Company have issued a scheme for the encou-
ragement of original research in sanitary science. It consists of
two forms of endowment: the one, meant as maintenance for
work in progress, in fields of research to be chosen by the
worker himself ; the other, meant as reward for actual discovery
in fields of research to be specified from time to time by the
Company. With the former intention the Company establishes
three Research Scholarships, each of 2507. a year; with the
latter intention they appoint a Discovery Prize of 1000/., to be
given once in every four years. The Research Scholarships are
intended as stipends for persons engaged in making exact re-
searches into the causes of important diseases, and into the
means by which the respective causes may be prevented or
obviated. The Court of the Company propose to appoint to
two of the scholarships in May, and to a third in May, 1884.
The Discovery Prize is intended to reward original investigations,
which shall have resulted in important additions to exact know-
ledge, in particular sections of sanitary subject-matter. The
Court will, once in four years, propose some subject for investi-
gation ; and the first subject will be announced in May.
THE Annual Report of the City and Guilds of London Insti-
tute, taken in conjunction with the Annual Meeting held last
week, shows that technical education has taken firm root and is
making rapid progress in this country. Though hardly yet so
universal as on the Continent, there is every reason to believe
that it soon will be, and Lord Selborne, who presided at the
Annual Meeting, was justified in congratulating the Institute on
its success. As the Z%es, in a sensible article on the Annual
Meeting, says: ‘‘ Lord Selborne did not dwell at length upon
the general aspects of technical education. He assumed, and
he had good reason to assume, that the need for a systematic
development of it is proved beyond question, and is almost uni-
versally accepted. No observer now doubts that if the English
artisan is to hold his ground in the struggle for existence, he
must be kept up to the mark by proper teaching; and no one
who has at heart the moral well-being of the working classes
doubts the enormous importance of giving them an insight into
principles and processes which will raise their work as much as
possible out of the mere mechanical groove.”
THE following are the arrangements for the lectures after Easter
at the Royal Institution :—Prof. J. G. McKendrick, ten lectures
on physiological discovery ; Dr. Waldstein, four lectures on the
496
NATURE
| March 22, 1883
art of Pheidias; Prof. Tyndall, three lectures on Count Rum-
ford, originator of the Royal Institution; Mr. R. J. Poole,
three lectures on recent discoveries in (1) Egypt, (2) Chaldza
and Assyria, (3) Cyprus and Asia Minor; Mr. A, Geikie, six
lectures on geographical evolution; and Prof, C. E. Turner,
four lectures on historical sketches of Rus:ian social life. The
discourses on the Friday evenings will be as follows :—April 6,
Dr. Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., The Cajions of the Far West ;
April 13, Dr. Waldstein, The influence of athletic games on
Greek art; April 20, Prof. Bayley Balfour, The island of
Socotra and its recent revelations; April 27, Dr. C. William
Siemens, F.R.S., Some of the questions involved in solar
physics ; May 4, Robert H. Scott, F.R.S., Weather knowledge
in 1883; May 11, Prof. Huxley, V.P.R.S., Oysters and the
oyster question ; May 18, Prof. C. E. Turner, of the University
of St. Petersburg, Kustarnoe proiezvodstro: or, the peculiar
system of domestic industry in the villages of Russia; May 25,
Prof. Flower, F.R.S., Whales, present and jast, and their
probable origin ; June 1, Frederick Pollock, LL.D., The sword :
its forms and its history; June 8, Prof. Dewar, F.R.S.
In reference to the course of ten lectures on physiological
discovery, to be given at the Royal Institution on Tuesdays,
beginnirg April 3, by Prof. J. G. McKendrick, we may say that
the object of the course will be to trace the progress of physio-
logical research from about the beginning of the sixteenth century
to recent times, and more especially along those lines which have
led to great results. Admitting that the deepest foundation of
physiological science is 2 knowledge of structure, both of organ
and of tissue, it will be the aim to show how physiology has
gradually attempted to solve some of its problems by the
methods of physics and of chemistry, and has thus become a
branch of experimental science. The method followed will be
to describe briefly the lives of the great discoverers, to indicate
the influence of contemporary science on their ideas and opinions,
and to show how their labours have brought us to our present
position. As far as possible, the fundamental experiments of
discoverers will be shown or illustrated, and these will be
compared with present methods.
Baron NoRDENSKJOLD, having inspected the Royal Mail
Steamer Sofiia, which the Government have asked the Swedish
Parliament to lend for his expedition to Greenland, finds that the
vessel is not large enough to carry the quantities of coals and
provisions required, although very suitable in other respects. He
has therefore decided that a vessel shall be despatched from
Denmark with these requisites, and depots established in con-
venient places on the coast. ‘The SefAza will be overhauled and
fitted for her voyage in Gothenburg, and as her commander
Capt. Nilsson, of that city, has been selected.
THE position of the Lena Meteorological Station is 73° 22’ 30”
N, lat. and 126° 34’ 55” E. long. The house erected there for
the observers is reported to be quite comfortable, and the health
of the expedition is satisfactory.
THE group of fishing Chukches, which Baron Nordenskjold
has prepared from materials collected in the Vega expedition for
the coming Fisheries Exhibition, is now on view in Stockholm.
Wirth the completion of the buildings in which the varied
collection of the great International Fisheries Exhibition is to be
housed, the preparatory work of the executive committee is
drawing to an end. Not much remains to be done to the build-
ings which now almost cover the southern half of the Horticul-
tural Society’s gardens, and the nature and distribution of the
exhibits may now be approximately given. Before handing over
to the care of representatives of the colonies and of foreign
Powers the places allotted to their countries, the committee
on Friday invited members of both Houses of Parliament
and their friends to see the buildings. To add to the in.
terest of the aquaria, Lord Walsingham has offered to let off a
lake, of about seventy-two acres in extent, on-his estate at
Merton, in Norfolk, and to send all the fish worth forwarding
alive, and besides pike, perch, tench, and other coarse fish, he
promises 10co specimens of the celebrated golden tench. Addi-
tional value will be given to the natural history department by
the exhibition in a building near the new Natural History
Museum of the fine collection of fish preserved in spirit now to
be brought from Bloomsbury. In order to make the exhibition
as truly popular as could be desired, it will be kept open in the
evening, and brilliantly lighted by electricity.
AT the installation of Mr. Bright to-day as Lord Rector of
Glasgow Univer-ity, the degree of LL.D. will be conferred on
Dr. Joseph H. Gilbert, F.R.S., and Prof, Fleeming Jenkin.
On February 26 there was discovered in the snow in several
places in Trondhjem Amt, in North Norway, a fine dust,
which, it was believed, originated from the Iceland volcanoes,
such an occurrence having taken place in1876. Dr. H. Reusch,
of the Mineralogical Faculty of Christiania University, having
examined the samples forwarded to him, now states, however,
that the dust is not of an eruptive nature, but consists of common
sand, fine stones, quartz, hornblende, and talc, mixed with very
fine particles of vegetable matter. The phenomenon is never-
theless very remarkable, as the dust must have been carried a
very long distance, the whole of the country having for months
been covered with deep snow. The dust fell over a district of
several degrees. The wind blew strongly from north-north-
west.
ON the night of the 4th inst. there was observed in Gestrike-
land, in Sweden, a display of aurora borealis, the extent, vivid-
ness, and magnitude of which, it is reported, has not been
observed in that country for years. An interesting feature of
the phenomenon was that the big clouds, which from time to
time passed below the aurora, did not in the slightest degree
affect the phenomenon.
A TELEGRAM from Messina states that on the afternoon of
March 20 a shower of small stones began to‘fall, proceeding
from an eruption of Mount Etna, The atmosphere was thick
and dark.
Prog. VIRCHOw has started on a journey to Sicily, whither
he goes for archzeological purposes. He contemplates returning
in two months.
A COMMUNICATION from Dr, Joule, F.R.S., was read at a
recent meeting of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society, on the use of lime as a purifier of the products of com-
bustion of coal gas. The slaked lime is placed ina vessel the
bottom of which, about one foot diameter, is slightly domed and
perforated with fine holes. The vessel is suspended about six
inches above the burner. It is found that a stratum of four or
five inches of lime is sufficient to remove the acid vapours so far
as to prevent them from reddening litmus paper, The lime
seems in many respects to present important advantages over the
zine previously recommended.
Mr. Extis Lever has offered a prize of 500/. for a new
miners’ safety lamp, and has requested the Council of the
Society of Arts to appoinl! one of the judges to award the prize.
In accordance with this request, the Council have appointed
Prof. F. A. Abel, C.B., F.R.S.
AN enormous aérolite fell on February 16, a little before
3 p-m., in a ploughed field near Alfianello, between Cremona
and Brescia, sinking more than one metre in the ground, and
producing a rumbling noise, heard twenty kilometres off, and a
March 22, 1883]
NALGCRE
497
reeling of the nearest houses as by an earthquake. Unhappily |
the ignorant country people, when the first fright passed, with
mattocks and sticks smashed it and took away the pieces, so
that Prof. Calderoni, who directly ran up from Cremona,
could obtain only some little fragments for chemical analysis
and for scientific cabinets.
A SCHEME is proposed for introducing electric lighting
into the Canton of Vaud. The motive force would be derived
from turbines of 5000 horse-power at Vallorbes, and the water
supply being constant and abundant, it is believed that gas,
which is very costly in Switzerland, may be entirely dispensed
with throughout the district.
A VERY severe shock of earthquake was experienced in Cyprus
on the morning of March 5, at 7.30, lasting about fifty or sixty
seconds. At Limassol the houses swayed and rocked in the
most appalling manner, and uncemented walls fell to the ground.
It was impossible for foot passengers in the streets to keep their
balance without assistance. The mules and horses staggered
about as though in fits. It was altogether the severest shock
which has been recorded for many years.
WE have received copies of the circulars just issued by the
Local Scientific Societies Committee of the British Association
to 324 societies, for the purpose.of obtaining such information as
will be useful in suggesting further action. Appended is a list
of about 120 local societies which publish Proceedings.
THE Easter excursion of the Geologists’ Association will be
to Hythe, Romney Marsh, Sandgate, and Folkestone (March 26
and 27). On April 7 the Association will visit Westcombe
Park, Greenwich ; on April 14 the College of Surgeons; and
on April 21 Berkhampstead and Boxmoor.
WE understand that a new weekly journal, devoted to the
popular exposition of sanitary matters and to the education of
the people in the laws of health, will be shortly issued by Messrs.
Wyman and Sons, London. The new journal will be entitled
Health.
THE former limits of the ice-sheet of the Glacial period appear
to be still more and more extended by Russian geologists, in
proportion as the post-Pliocene formations of Russia are better
explored. We notice in a recent monograph on the Geology of
the Volga, by M. Krotoff, that the author, who is well acquainted
with this region, considers the glacial formations described by
Prof. Miller in the southern parts of the province of Nijni-
Novgorod, as due to the action of glaciers, and not of floating ice.
THE young Society for Caucasian History and Archzology,
founded in 1881, has already published a first fascicule-of its
Bulletin ; the second will soon follow. Prof. V. Miller has
published his linguistic ‘‘ Osetian Studies,” containing in the
appendix a paper on the religious beliefs of the Osets ; and Prof.
Patkanoff has published the first part of his ‘‘ Materials for an
Armenian Dictionary,” as well as a pamphlet ‘‘ On the Cuneiform
Inscriptions of the Van system discovered in Russia.”
THE Administration of Public Instruction of the Caucasus
has conceived an excellent idea which cannot be too much recom-
mended for other countries ; it is to invite schoolmasters to write
descriptions of their localities, and to collect local traditions,
folk-lore, &c., and to publish the papers received in the shape of
a special collection. It is easy to conceive, indeed, the amount
of knowledge which might be gathered in this way, and the at-
traction which is thrown by a scientific pursuit into the wearisome
life of a schoolmaster, who is lost in a small town or village, far
from intellectual centres. When he knows that his work will
not be lost, and when he is supplied from an intellectual centre
with the scientific works he needs, he surely will find interest in
his pursuit. This of course applies more to Russia than England.
The two first parts of the collection thus started on the Caucasus
wholly confirm these previsions ; as is seen from an analysis of
them published in the /evestia, they contain, indeed, much
valuable information, The descriptions of Erivan, Gori,
Wakhichevan with its district, and of Chernolyesskoye village
are spoken of as very useful work. Two papers, on the forma-
tion of Lake Paleostome, and a summary of all places where
the Caucasus is mentioned by the ancients, are very elaborate ;
whilst a series of smaller papers and notes contains a variety of
ethnographical sketches, folk-lore, and traditions.
LAMPART AND Co. of Augsburg are issuing in parts a third
revised edition of Hellwald’s ‘‘ Kulturgeschichte in Ihrer Natur-
lichen Entwicklung bis zur Gegenwart.” Triibner and Co. are
the London publishers. The work will be completed in twenty
parts.
AT the last meeting of the Meteorological Society of France,
M. Moureaux, physicist to the Bureau Central, read a paper
showing that the regimen of the rains south of the Central
Plateau was independent of the meteorological conditions on the
oceanic side. This communication is considered as an argument
in favour of granting to the Bureau Méréorologique of Algiers
the privilege of being in direct communication with the other
offices, and issuing warnings for the northern side of the
Mediterranean.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Common Seal (Phoca vitulina), British
Seas, presented by Mr. William Whiteley ; a Common Squirrel
(Scturus vulgaris), British, presented by Mrs. Campbell; two
Prairie Grouse (7Zetrao cupido) from North America, presented
by Mr. Henry Nash; six Common Trout (Sa/o fario), British
fresh waters, presented by Mr. S. Wilson; two Common Seals
(Phoca vitulina), British Seas, eight Prairie Grouse (Zétrao
cupido) from North America, deposited ; three Common Shel-
drakes (Zadorna vulpanser), three Common Pintails (Dajfla
acuta), four Shovellers (Spatula clypeata), European, four Chilian
Pintails (Dajila spinicauda) from Antarctic America, two
Bahama Ducks (Dajfila bahamensis) from South America, two
Chiloe Wigeons ((JZareca chiloensis) from Chili, nine Summer
Ducks (47x sfonsa) from North America, six Mandarin Ducks
(Aix galericulata) from China, purchased ; an Axis Deer (Cervus
axis 6), two Black Swans (Cygzus atratus), born in the
Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
THE OBSERVATORY AT MELBOURNE.—The seventeenth
annual Report of the Board of Visitors of this establishment,
together with the Report of the Government astronomer, Mr.
Ellery, for the year ending June 30, 1882, has just been re-
ceived. The meridian work with the transit-circle was for the
most part limited to observations of standard stars, for the
ordinary purposes of an observatory and the determination of
places of stars used for positions of comets. The 8-inch equa-
torial had been arranged for the observation of the small planets
Victoria and Sappho, during the last autumn, according to a
programme agreed upon with several European and American,
and other southern observatories, with the view to another
determination of the solar parallax. The large reflector was
employed on celestial photography, for sketching a number of
Sir John Herschel’s smaller nebulz, for drawings of comet 1881,,
IV., &c. The nebula about 7 Argus was examined on three
evenings, and was found to agree very closely with the drawing
made in 1875. The majority of the smaller nebulz were found
to accord well with Herschel’s descriptions. Nos. 57 and 1423,
however, were much fainter than Herschel indicated, and Nos.
1655 and 2181 differed considerably from his description. The
positions of these nebule for 1$83°0 with Herschel’s notes are
as follows :—
INA TORE,
[March 22, 1883
R.A. N.P.D.
ih.) ms: 5 5
No. 57 O 21 43 147 3777
aan 423 625 6 I2I 12°3
Be) e1655 8 16 27 125 50°9
ss 2181 10 37 27 125 45°0
No. 57.—Pretty bright, small, round, much brighter in the
middle.
1423.—Pretty bright ; considerably large, round, very little
gradually brighter in the middle ; 4’.
1655.—A double star =/. 4023 in a pretty small nebula,
among some seventy stars,
2181.—Pretty faint, small, much extended in o°+ ; very
suddenly, very much brighter in the middle; the
first of three.
The photo-heliograph was used on every fine day possible, and
217 pictures were obtained in the year.
The necessary funds have been voted fora new transit-circle
more in accordance with the mcdern requirements of astronomy,
and its construction has been intrusted to Messrs. Troughton
and Simms. Mr. Christie, the Astronomer-Royal, was invited
to modify the specification sent to England, if he found reason
to do so.
THE SUPPOSED VARIABLE « DORADUS—A SPURIOUS STAR.
—Dr. B. A. Gould has made a very unexpected discovery, from
which it appears that » Doradtis of our catalogues, long sup-
posed to be a variable star, was never observed by Lacaille in
the position he assigns it in the Catalogue of the Calum Australe
Stelliferum, and further, that by similar error, five other stars
observed by Lacaille on the same day, which are found in the
reduced catalogue published by the British Association, have no
existence in the positions given. The case is a curious one, and
as the Calum Australe of Lacaille is now a scarce work, we
may be excused for transcribing the observations in question as
they stand. They were made in Zone XI., 1751, December 16,
in parte inferiore of Lacaille’s rhomboid ; the numerals are
our own :—
mag. h, m s. | mag. hm. s.
No. 1 4 17 Sodas e 6°7 |
2Ae2 4
» 2 7 43951] 7 - 7 |
47 9)} 4
7 25025) |))| eon 4 59 22
” 3 4 2 (| 5 3 28
ge Ol
» 4 6°7 4 3016)|) 5 9 .. 7 6 oes
32 38 9 8
» 5 7 4 41 331
43 41
Lacaille appears to have entered correctly the times of beginning
and ending of describing the chord of his rhomboid for Nos. 1
and 2, but instead of gh. 25m. 23s. for the third star, the time
was really 5h. 25m. 23s., and this error of th. runs on up to
No. 8 inclusive ; No. 9 is correct. This will be readily seen by
inspecting the above times. The star entered in the Catalogue
as « Doradtis is No. 8, called 5m, in the observations but 6m, in
the Catalogue, which gives its place for 1750°0, R.A. 76° 11' 17”,
Decl. —62° 7/4". The place given by the B.A. reductions is
R.A. sh. 4m. 44°3s., N.P.D. 152° 6' 57”, which is correctly
deduced from the transits as printed. With the correction of
+th, to the times, the position for 1750 becomes R.A.
6h. 4m. 44'2s., N.P.D. 152° 6’ 49’, and the star ‘‘ Doradtis”
is seen to be identical with Brisbane 1172 = B.A.C. 2000 =
Stone 2836, in Pictor. The other spurious stars introduced in
the Catalogue by the error which Dr. Gould has brought to light
are Nos. 1542, 1554, 1633, 1680, and 1706. The following
identifications of the stars really observed may be useful :—
Spurious stars of the reduced Stars really observed by
Catalogue. Lacaille.
No. 1542 Reticulum 7m. = Stone 2497, Dorado 7°6m.
x» 1554 ” 67 = »» 2532, ” 6
3, 1633 Dorado he Se eleeehe © 55 67
” 1680 ” 67 = Led 2707, ” 6.7
35 1706 0 = Brisb. 1109, Taylor V. 516
: 7
1766 (u Doradiis) 5 Stone 2836, Pictor 5m.
Brisbane observed a star close upon Lacaille’s erroneous posi-
tion of his » Doradtis, and according to his general custom gave
it Lacaille’s magnitude. Moesta (Astron. Nach., No. 1545)
stated that he had observed this star at Santiago de Chile from
February, 1860, to January, 1865, and had found it 84 or 9 of
”
Argelander’s scale; he therefore considered it to be variable,
and thought the period of variation would prcve to be of long
duration.
THE CoMET OF 1812.—MM. Schulhof and Bossert’s sweeping
ephemerides for this comet are continued in No, 2489 of the
Astronomische Nachrichten.
INSECTS VISITING FLOWERS
THE interest arising out of the writings of Darwin, Lubbock,
and Hermann Miiller relative to the part played by insects in
their oft-recurring visits to flowers has of Jate years attracted much
attention. The subject, in fact, has created a taste for observa-
tion, and an incentive has been given to watch the frequency of
visits of various species to certain flowers, and especially to the
insects’ choice of colours of flower. While the mere register-
ing of visits may seem a comparatively simple one, the reason why
insects should show a preference to alight upon flowers of a
certain colour, or choose certain species of plants, is a much
more complicated problem than at first sight it would appear.
Sir John Lubbeck has shown by experiment that blue is the
bees’ favourite colour ; H. Miiller avers that in the Alps bees
are attracted to the yellow rather than the white flowers. How-
ever this may be, certain it is that a much larger number of
observations are yet needed before a positive law can be deduced.
Two papers read at the last meeting of the Linnean Society
(March 1): one by Mr. Alf. W. Bennett, ‘‘On the Constancy
of Insects in their Visits to Flowers,” and the other by Mr. R.
M. Christy, ‘‘On the Methodic Habits of Insects when Visiting
Flowers ””—point out that a strict watch and ward is being kept
on the movements of the busy bee and its kindred. Mr. Bennett
states that butterflies show but little constancy in their visits,
citing only a few instances to the contrary ; but according to
him, to some extent they seem to have a choice of colour. The
Diptera exhibit greater constancy, though by no means absolute,
The Apidee, especially the hive-bee, manifest still greater con-
stancy. From these data he infers that the ratio of increase is
in proportion to the part performed by the insects in their
carrying pollen from flower to flower. As respects preference
for particular colours, in a series of observations Mr, Bennett
has noted among the Lepidoptera that 70 visits were made to
red or pink flowers, 5 to blue, 15 to yellow, and 5 to white; the
Diptera paid g visits to red or pink, 8 to yellow, and 20 to
white ; Hymenoptera alighted 303 times on red and pink flowers,
126 on blue, 11 on yellow, and 17 on white flowers. Mr. Christy
records in detail the movements of 76 insects, chiefly bees, when
engaged in visiting 2400 flowers. He tabulates the same, and
concludes therefrom that insects, notably the bees, decidedly
and with intent confine their successive visits to the same species
of flower. According to him, also, butterflies generally wander
aimlessly in their flight : yet some species, including the Fritil-
laries, are fairly methodical in their habit. He believes that it is
not by colour alone that insects are guided from one flower to
another of the same species, and he suggests that the sense of
smell may be brought into play. Bees, he avers, have but poor
sight for long distances, but see well at short distances. Of 55
humble-bees watched, 26 visited blue flowers: of these 12 were
methodic in their visits, 9 only irregularly so, and 5 not at all;
13 visited white flowers, whereof 5 were methodic and 8 the
reverse ; 11 visited yellow flowers, of which 5 were methodic
and 6 not; 28 visited red flowers, 7 appearing methodic, 9
nearly so, while 12 were the contrary.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—In the last local examination 17 per cent. of
those Juniors who sent up papers in Trigonometry obtained no
marks, although some questions were of the very simplest nature.
Among the Senjors Hydrostatics produced unsatisfactory answers.
Many candidates had no ideas worth the name about pressure at a
point, density, specific gravity, and weight. This is due partly
to corresponding imperfections in some current text-books, and
partly to the habit of teaching Hydrostatics apart from general
physics or practical applications. The answers in Statics were
the least satisfactory ; yet according to the examiner there are
few subjects in which good teaching tells more quickly than in
elementary mechanics. Thus many who passed did very good
papers.
March 22, 1883]
Junior Chemistry obtained a favourable report; but the
Seniors displayed lack of reasoning power, with great readiness
to reproduce cut-and-dried statements from books, In Heat
the results of the examination were encouraging and satisfactory.
In Experimental Physics generally there was great lack of
practical acquaintance with the subjects. Only one candidate
did really well among the Seniors. In Botany the answers were
weak throughout, showing great lack of teaching by real objects
handled by the students. Zoology appears to have been too
much studied by Juniors from older and worthless text-books.
The Seniors did better, but spread themselves over too wide a
field of work, The knowledge of Physical Geography was
better than that of Geology, but neither was good.
The report recently made by Mr. R. D. Roberts of his visits to
the centres where local lectures have been established, and on
the present state of the local lectures’ scheme, contains many
most interesting facts regarding the high appreciation with
which the intelligent working classes regard the lectures, and the
difficulties which the cost of the lectures occasions. Of the results
of a course of electricity at Newcastle, the examiner says that the
work done in answer to a long and difficult paper of questions
was fully equal to that attained in a scientific University course.
The greatest difficulty that occurs is not lack of demand for or
interest in education, but the provision of funds to meet the
expenses. If a solution of this could be found, the scheme
would be taken up largely in towns where it is now out of the
question. The people who are eager for knowledge and travel
long distances to obtain it, in all kinds of weather over the
roughest roads, are just those who, if they must pay for the
lectures, must have less bread for their families. This is cer-
tainly the case with the Northumberland and Durham miners.
Whether the State will in some way assist in providing the
knowledge and teaching which are so eagerly desired, must be
again made a practical and urgent question.
The following are the lectures in Chemistry, Physics, and
Mineralogy for the Easter Term (el. signifies elementary, ad.
advanced) :—
Elementary Course of Chemistry, by a Demonstrator ; General
Course, continued, Mr. Main, St. John’s College ; Non-metals,
continued, and Organic Chemistry, el., Mr. Pattison Muir;
General Principles, continued, and Organic Chemistry, ad., Mr.
Muir, Caius College ; Organic Chemistry, el., Mr. Scott (Prof.
Dewar’s assistant) ; Demonstrations in Gas Analysis, Mr. Scott;
Sound, Lord Rayleigh ; Heat, Mr. Trotter, Trinity College ;
Physics, el., Mr. Glazebrook, Trinity College; Physics, el.,
Mr. Shaw, Emmanuel College; Physics, ad., papers, Mr.
Glazebrook an dMr. Shaw ; Chemistry and Physics, el., papers,
Mr. Pattison Muir and Mr. Shaw.
Practical Chemistry, University, St. John’s, Caius, and Sidney
College Laboratories.
Practical Physics, Cavendish Laboratory ; Demonstrations in
Light and Acoustics ; and in Optics and Electricity, el.
Mineralogy, Course by Prof, Lewis, and Demonstrations for
both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos.
The following arrangements have been made by Prof. Hughes
for lectures during the Easter term :—Local Stratigraphy, Prof.
Hughes ; Geology (General Course, continued), by Dr. R. D.
Roberts, Clare College; Petrology, Mr. Harker, St. John’s
College; Palzeontology, Mr. T. Roberts, St. John’s College.
Dr. R. D. Roberts will continue to set papers and superintend
the course of reading of students in the Museum.
The Strickland Curatorship being about to become vacant,
Mr. Salvin having completed his valuable catalogue, a new code
of regulations for the Curatorship has been drawn up. The
Strickland Curator is to be appointed by Mrs. Strickland, the
foundress, during her lifetime; then by Mrs. Catherine Strick-
land in case she shall survive the foundress; and, after her
decease, by the Superintendent of the Cambridge Museums of
Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. In addition to caring for
the Strickland Collection, the Curator is to take charge of any
University ornithological collections, to catalogue them, to assist
scientific visitors in studying the ornithological collections, and
to aid and promote the progress of ornithological science.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.—Twenty lectures on Quan-
titative Analysis will be delivered by Richard T. Plimpton,
Ph.D., on Mondays and Fridays at 3 o’clock, during the third
term. The first lecture will be given on April 13.
Pror. STOKES, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the
University of Cambridge, has been appointed to deliver the first
NATURE
499
course of lectures on Natural Science under the auspices of the
Burnett Literary Fund, Aberdeen,
THE Earl of Zetland has given 500/. to the Edinburgh Asso-
ciation for the University education of woman to found a bursary
for the benefit of its students. This bursary will be known as
the Earl of Zetland’s Bursary.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, March 8.—‘‘ Note on the Order of Reversi-
bility of the Lithium Lines,” by Professors Liveing and Dewar.
In their communications on the reversal of the lines of
metallic vapours, the authors have several times noticed (Proc.
Roy. Soc. vol. xxviii. pp. 357, 369, 473) the reversal of the
lithium lines, and concluded that the blue line is more easily
reversed than the orange line. This, however, does not appear
to be really the case. When much lithium is introduced into
the arc, a second blue line is developed close to but slightly
more refrangible than the well-known blue line. This second
blue line produces with the other the appearance of a reversal,
which deceived the authors until they became aware of the
existence of the second line. The blue line (wave-length 4604)
is really reversed without difficulty when sufficient lithium is
present, but urder these circumstances the orange line is also
reversed, The latter line is also the one which first (of the two)
shows reversal, and also the one which is more persistently
reversed. Hence they place the lines in order of reversibility as
follows : red, orange, blue, green, violet.
Mathematical Society, March 8.—Prof. Henrici, F.R.S.,
president (and subsequently Sir J. Cockle, F.R.S., vice-presi-
dent), in the chair.—Mr, Alfred Lodge, Fereday Fellow of St.
John’s College, Oxford, was elected a Member, and Major Allan
Cunningham and Mr. H. T. Gerrans were admitted into the
Society.—Prof. Henrici feelingly announced, in a few well-
chosen sentences, the loss the Society had sustained since its
last meeting by the death of Prof. Henry Smith, one of its most
distinguished ornaments, and who had been a Member almost
from its commencement in 1865. The loss to mathematics in
this country was almost irreparable, and it would be hard to
find anywhere a fitting successor to him as an exponent of the
higher geometry. It had been said that there were not half a
dozen mathematicians in Europe who could breathe on the mathe-
matical heights to which he was accustomed ; it was further true
that few were so fitted as he for introducing others to those
heights. His charm of manner and power of fixing the attention
of his hearers were wondrous, and were as strikinvly exhibited at
the December meeting of the Society (the last meeting at which
he was present) as on any previous occasion. What Clifford
once said when reading a paper by Hesse might be said with
equal truth of Henry Smith’s papers: ‘‘This is reading
poetry.” [Perhaps this Society will miss him more than any
other ; he was always willing, if possible, to respond to the
Secretary’s request for a paper, and he was a true imitator of the
Jewish king, for he never gave us of that which cost him nothing.
“*Everything that he did was as perfect as he could make it.”
In a letter now before us the writer says truly: ‘‘Of all who
‘knew’ him, none knew or saw him himself as we did at the
Mathematical Society.” ‘‘ Very pleasant” was he to us, and h’s
death has left a void in our ranks which time will hardly fill.]
—Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher made a communication on the calcula-
tion of the hyperbolic logarithm of #.—Mr,. Tucker read (in its
entirety) a paper by Prof. Cayley entitled ‘*On Monge’s ‘ Mé-
moire sur la Théorie des Déblais et de Remblais.’”—Mr. J.
Hammond made a few critical remarks on a recent paper by
Prof. Sylvester in the American Fournal of Mathematics.
Zoological Society, March 6.—Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., vice-
president, in the chair.—The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of
the Rey. F. O. Morris, the drawing of a bird shot in Hampshire
in November, 1882, which it was suggested represented a Tina-
mou of some species that had escaped from captivity.—Mr. J.
E. Ady exhibited some microscopical preparations of bone, in
one case showing the growth of blood-vessels into cartilage
previous to ossification, and in another case presenting a hard
section in which the lacunz and canaliculi were extremely well
shown.—Dr. Hans Gadow read a paper on the laryngeal
muscles of birds, and pointed out first that the muscles of the
syrinx are developed from the sterno-hyoid muscles ; and,
500
NATURE
[March 22, 1883
secondly, that the cutaneous muscles are derived from superficial
layers of the common muscular stratum: Thirdly, the author
considered the connection between muscle and nerve-supply,
illustrating his remarks by diagrams.—A communication was
read from the Rev. H. S. Gorham, F.Z.S., containing the
descriptions of some new species of Coleoptera belonging to the
family Erotylidz. Twenty-nine new species of this family were
described, of which ten were from the Philippine Islands, three
were from the Andaman Islands, two from Assam, two from
the Malay district, six from Africa, and six from Peru. The
species treated of belonged chiefly to the subfamilies Zxcaustiné
and Dacnini, the author reserving the remaining subfamilies for a
future communication.—Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys read the sixth part
of his communications on the Mollusca procured during the
Lightning and Porcupine Expeditions. This included an account
of the specimens of the groups of Scéssevella, Trochus, Turbo, and
part of Zztforina, referable altogether to seventy species. Four
genera and twenty species were for the first time described as new.
—A communication was read from Mr. H. O. Forbes, F.Z.S.,
describing a species of scarlet JZyzomela obtained in the Island
of Boeroe, one of the Ceram group.—Mr. G, A. Boulenger read
a paper on the Geckos of New Caledonia. The object of the
author in preparing this paper was that it might serve as a guide
to the identification of the Geckotidaee of New Caledonia, and
at the same time bring the synonymy into order, To this end
the author had compared the typical specimens in the Museums
of Brest, Lisbon, Paris, and Brussels with those in the British
Museum, and had given short descriptions of every species taken
from typical or well-authenticated speciinens. The number of
species of Geckotidze actually known from New Caledonia was
fourteen: of these two were recorded for the first time, one
being new to science.
Geological Society, February 21.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S
president, in the chair.—Rey. John Birks, Capt. James Scott
Black, John Bradford, Thomas Alexis Dash, Henry Lewis, and
Thomas Morris were elected Fellows of the Society.—The fol-
lowing communications were read :—On the relation of the so-
called ‘‘ Northampton Sand” of North Oxfordshire to the
Clypeus-Grit, by Edwin A. Walford, F.G.S.—Results of ob-
servations in 1882 on the positions of boulders relatively to the
underlying and surrounding ground in North Wales and North-
West Yorkshire ; with remarks on the evidence they furnish of
the recency of the close of the Glacial period, by D. Mackintosh,
F.G.S. ‘The author entered into a consideration of the time
which has elapsed since the close of the Glacial period, and
stated the main results of his observations as follows :—1. That
the average vertical extent of the denudation of limestone rocks
around boulders has not been more than six inches. 2. That
the average vate of the denudation has not been less than one
inch ina thousand years, 3. That a period of not more than
six thousand years has elapsed since the boulders were left in
their present positions by land ice, floating-ice, or both.—Notes
on the Corals and Bryozoans of the Wenlock Shales (Mr. Maw’s
washings), by G. R. Vine. Communicated by Prof. P. Martin
Duncan, F.R.S.
Entomological Society, March 7.—Mr. J. W. Dunning,
M.A., F.L.S., president, in the chair.—Three new members
were elected.—Exhibitions : A specimen of Po/istes hebreus,
Fabr., an East Indian wasp, captured alive in one of the London
docks, by Mr. R. McLachlan ; Two British Ichneumons, and an
orthopterous insect (Copiophora cornuta, De Geer) from Central
America, by Mr. T. R. Billups; A preparation showing the
structure of the thorax in a large beetle (Chalcolepidius porcatus,
Linn.), by Dr. D. Sharp.—Paper read: ‘‘ Further additions to
Mr. Marshall’s Catalogue of British Zchmeumonida,” by Mr. J.
B. Bridgman.
Physical Society, March 10,—Prof. G. C. Foster in the
chair.—New Member, Major W. S. Boileau.x—Mr. Shellford
Bidwell read a paper on a new method of measuring resistances
with constant currents. It consists in placing a resistance-box
in the arm of the bridge which afterwards has to contain the
unknown resistance. A balance is effected by unplugging re-
sistance in this box. The unknown resistance is then inserted
in the same arm, and the balance restored by plugging resistance
out of the box. The amount plugged out equals the unknown
resistance.—Prof, F. Guthrie made a communication on liquid
slabs. Films of liquid, spread out like a flattened drop on a
solid surface, are found by the author to have a thickness which
is a physical constant for the same liquid, provided the area is
very great in proportion to the thickness. Sodium amalgam
inserted in a mercury slab causes it to spread out further. Prof.
Guthrie also finds that an electric current increases the diffusion
of sodium amalgam through mercury in the direction of the
current.—Mr, Baily suggested that, as the diffusion produces a
current, an opposing current might be found to stop the dif-
fusion. Mr, Stanley said the largest water-drop he had measured
was one-fifth of an inch in diameter.
EDINBURGH
Mathematical Society, March 12.—Mr. J. S. Mackay,
M.A., F.R.S.E., president, in the chair.—Prof. Chrystal, in
his address on ‘Present Fields of Mathematical Research,”
remarked at the outset that the times seemed peculiarly suitable
for the foundation of such a society in Scotland where, as in
England and America, the tide of mathematical research had
certainly begun to flow. The direct effect of the work of the
society would be to keep alive the interest of its members in
mathematics, and especially, by division of labour, to benefit the
teacher whose daily tasks leave him somewhat unfitted to under-
take in moments of leisure the reading necessary to keep him
abreast of the time. Further, such benefits would surely
extend their influence to the improvement of secondary educa-
tion in Scotland. The lines along which members might advan-
tageou:ly work were then indicated in a suggestive sketch of the
history in modern times of geometry and algebra. Descartes’
system of analytical geometry was the first great step, though
for long it remained simply a series of solutions of special
problems. The discovery and development of the calculus no
doubt kept analytical geometry for a time in the background ;
but there is every reason to believe that great progress in deve-
loping geometrical methods was effected by Pascal, Desargues,
Newton, and Maclaurin. With them originated the idea of
projection, which was systematised into a powerful geometrical
method by Mongeand his disciples, Poncelet, Chasles, Brianchon,
and others. Monge also, however, established the analytical
side of geometry, as well as the synthetic, upon an independent
basis ; his work has been ably supplemented by Dupin and
others, and more especially by Pliicker. The treatment by the
latter geometer of the singularities of higher plane curves, his
introduction of the abridged notation, and his invention of the
system of line geometry, have been developed each into an
extensive branch of mathematics. At the same time algebra
has been differentiating itself into well-marked parts. The
theories of forms, of equations, of substitutions, and of de-
terminants have been greatly developed by Abel, Jacobi,
Galois, Cayley, Sylvester, Jordan, Clifford, and others. The
address concluded with a reference to the theory of transcendents
and the closely-related properties of the complex variable. A
hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Prof, Chrystal on the
motion of Prof. Blyth of Glasgow, seconded by Mr. Muir of
Glasgow.
CONTENTS PAGE
PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY. . an eet celts: OL)
Ensittace. By Prof. Joun Wricurson - eo) ete lol Pesenel cone rane eS
Our Boox SHELF:—
Adamson's ** Another Book of Asie peneipally relating to
Natural History” .. . Poorer oC
Lerrers To THE EDITOR :—
Incubation of the Ostrich.—Grorce J. Romangs, F.R.S. . . . 480
Difficult Cases of Mimicry.—ALFRED R. Watiace; R. MELDOLA 481
On the Value of the ‘‘Neoarctic”’ as one of the Primary Zoological
Regions.—ALFRED R. WALLACE . 482
A Remarkable Phenomenon—Natural Snowballs. —Samurt HART 483
The Late Transit of Venus.—Samuet HArT. .... .« - 483
-Rankine’s “ Rules and Tables.”"—W. J. MILttar . . ens Cs}
Meteors.—THOMAS MasHEDER; Henry CECIL. - .« 483
Tue BririsH CIRCUMPOLAR ExPEDITION. By Capt. Dawson, R ane 484
On THE NaTuRE OF INHIBITION, AND THE ACTION OF DRUGS UPON
1T, IV. By Dr. T. LaupER BRUNTON, ERS): 485
ben Nevis ORSEEUSIOER: By Crement LINDLEY Wracce (With
Illustrations) . fous . 487
HyproGen WHISTLES. “By FRANCIS Garton, FR. Ss) 401
PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE BAcILLUS OF TUBERCLE (Kocn). “By
J: W; Crake. 492
THe SHaPES OF Leaves, Ill. By Grant ALLEN (With Mlustrations) 492
Norges. . . A )>aaos
Our AsTRoNoMICAL COLUMN !—
The Observatory at Melbourne. : = ia 8 OD
The Suppesed Variable Doradtis—a Spurious S Star PM ton oF ks
The Comet of 1812. . . pe) te eae
InsECTS VisITING FLOWERS . .« us) eee Boo Vs
Us1VERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE a eee 2 og Peeps
j SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES i. ae ;
NAT OEURE
501
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1883
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
Proceedings of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science. Thirteenth Meeting, held at Cincinnati,
Ohio, August, 1881. (Salem: Published by the Per-
manent Secretary, 1882.)
iB the same year that the British Association for the
Advancement of Science was celebrating its jubilee,
this, its eldest daughter, had reached the mature age of
thirty years. The volume which embodies the results of
the Cincinnati meeting is considerably smaller than the
corresponding one published on this side of the Atlantic.
The latter, containing the reports and proceedings of the
York meeting, is a bulky and closely-printed volume of
824 pages, besides 82 pages of introductory matter and a
list of members. The corresponding American volume
only contains 416 pages, with about the same amount of
introductory matter, in which the list of members is in-
cluded. The ratio of the one to the other is even less
than the above number indicates, for the type used in the
American is on the whole larger than in the English
volume, the smallness of which, in the Transactions, can
-only be justified by the necessity for restricting the bulk
of the volume.
The American Association appears to be constituted
very nearly on the same plan as the British, but there are
some minor points of difference. The American consists
of Members, Fellows, Patrons, and Honorary Fellows:
of which the former two appear to correspond roughly
with the Members and the General Committee of the
British Association. A donation of one thousand dollars
constitutes a Patron—only two persons, however, one of
each sex, appear to have availed themselves of that
avenue to distinction. The sections, or sub-sections, into
which the Association divides itself for purposes of business
at the time of meeting, are nine in number, as were those,
including departments, at the York meeting of the British
Association. But the distribution of the subjects differs.
The American Association has a section for Physics
separate from Mathematics and Astronomy, rendering
permanent the fission which only occasionally takes place
with us. Geology and Geography are placed in one section,
which certainly would be found impracticable in Britain,
as both these departments are in general well supplied
with papers. Our Section D (Biology), with its three de-
partments, Zoology and Botany, Anatomy and Physiology,
and Anthropology, is divided in America into Biology, His-
tology and Microscopy, and Anthropology. The remaining
sections correspond exactly. The two most noteworthy
differences in the American volume are the general absence
of the Presidential addresses, so marked and often so
valuable a feature of the British, and the small number of
Special Committees (and consequently of their Reports).
Only in the sub-sections of Entomology and of Anthro-
pology is there any record of addresses by the chairmen,
and there does not appear to have been any general ad-
dress by the President of the whole Association. The
number of Special Committees also is smaller than we
should have expected. Of these we find but eight, ex-
cluding those connected with executive business. They
VOL. XXVII.—NO. 700
are “ On Weights, Measures, and Coinage,” “ For Obtain-
ing a New Survey of Niagara Falls,” “ On the Best Me-
thod of Science Teaching in the Public Schools,” “On
Standard Time,” “On Stellar Magnitudes,” ‘‘On State
Geological Surveys,” and two others, the purpose of
which seems a little singular to English readers, one being
“ On the Registration of Deaths, Births, and Marriages”
(the order of sequence seems a little curious), and a
““Committee to cooperate with the American Philologica
Association in relation to the proper restriction of the
degree of Ph.D.,’’ a subject which, we imagine, even if
the necessity existed here, the British Association would
be a little shy of touching.
It is of course difficult to express an opinion on the re-
quirements of an American institution, but we cannot
help thinking that as some of the most useful work of the
British Association has been and is being done through
its Committees, and that their reports (including those of
individuals) are the most valuable part of its volume, the
Transatlantic society would do well to develop this feature
in its constitution. At the York meeting in 1881 thirty
reports were read and forty-eight committees appointed.
There were a considerable number of mathematical
and physical papers read before the American Associa-
tion, but of the majority only the titles are printed. Of
the few reported at any length, one, we should have
thought, would have been more appropriate placed in the
section of Mechanics, as the mathematical reasoning is
of the simplest kind. The conclusion, however, is in-
teresting, for it shows, as the result of a number of experi-
ments, that “timber may be injured by a prolonged
stress, far within that which leaves the material uninjured
when the test is made in the usual way, and occupies a
few minutes only.” Bars of timber (most of the experi-
ments were made with yellow pine) yielded and broke,
generally suddenly, under loads below their average
breaking weight under ordinary test. When the load was
about three-fifths of the average breaking weight, it was
sometimes a full year before they gave way. This sug-
gests pleasant reflections for occupiers of newly-built
“jerry” houses in London!
Among the physiological papers there is one on a sub-
ject which must, we think, be novel. It is entitled “A
Study of Blood during a Long Fast” (by Lester Curtis,
of Chicago). In May, 1881, a Mr. John Griscom, of
Chicago, commenced a fast of forty-five days. The author
was invited by the “managers” to make any investiga-
tions that he pleased, and after satisfying himself that the
fast was to be conducted honestly, he chose the blood
as a subject of study. The first examination made, at the
commencement of the fast, shortly after the patient had
eaten his last meal, showed the red corpuscles abundant,
bright coloured, pure in appearance, regular and smooth
in outline. Four days afterwards two kinds were noticed,
one pale, almost colourless, large, with a “sticky ” aspect,
the other deeper in colour than the ordinary corpuscles,
smaller and covered with nodules. By the fifth day the
colourless corpuscles had disappeared, but they returned
in a few days, and continued in greater or less amount
to the end, The darker corpuscles assumed various
shapes, and many very small ones appeared, apparently
by subdivision of the larger. Their aspect was most ab-
normal on the thirty-ninth day of the fast, when Mr.
Z
502
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
Griscom was extremely exhausted ; but on the fortieth,
after he had been refreshed by a rather long excursion on
the lake, the corpuscles returned to a normal condition,
except as regards size. This improvement was not lost
during the remainder of the fast, though the abnormal
appearance to some extent returned.
In the joint section of Geography and Geology are
some interesting papers—one, the substance of an evening
le.ture, describes the Grand Cafion of the Colorado
River, and shows that the denudation, of which it is a
onsequence, commenced in Middle Eocene, and has been
Continued to the present time, the greater part however
aving been accomplished by the end of the Miocene.
During the whole period there has been a vertical uplift
of from 16,000 to 19,000 feet, and a removal of a total
thickness of rock equal to about 10,000 feet.
Another interesting paper connected with physiography
is by Mr. J. W. Spencer, ‘Notes on the Origin of the
Great Lakes of North America,’ together with one by
Mr. W. Claypole, on ‘‘ Evidence from the Drift of Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois, in support of the Preglacial Origin
of the Basins of Lakes Erie and Ontario.” The authors
discuss the physiography and geology of the districts in
which these lakes are situated, and show the most prob-
able theory of their origin to be that they are fluviatile
valleys of preglacial age, which during glacial times were
obstructed by the accumulation of drift. This, aided by
submergence owing to change of level, has produced the
lakes in their present form. These papers are well worth the
study of some English geologists, to whom no work seems
too small or too great for a glacier, and whose faith at
one time seemed quite equal to gulping down Lake
Superior itself, Sooner than falter in supporting a fas-
cinating theory.
We would venture in conclusion to suggest to the
American Association one improvement in detail: this is to
imitate the British, and give their volume a cloth binding
instead of sending it forth merely stitched in a paper
cover, so loosely as to tumble to pieces after a few days’
use. T. G. BONNEY
PRINGSHEIM’S BOTANICAL YVEAR-BOOKS
Jahrbiicher fiir wissenschaftliche Botanik, Herausgegeben
von Dr. N. Pringsheim. Vol. XII. Part 4, and Vol.
XIII. Part 3. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1881 and
1882.)
“| Mie two parts now before us include six papers dealing
with anatomical and physiological subjects, illus-
trated by 13 plates, some of them of great beauty. In
the concluding part of vol. xii. there are papers by
Westermaier, Ambronn, and Zimmermann; while in the
third part of vol. xiii. the editor, Dr. Pringsheim, contri-
butes a long controversial paper, and there are two papers
—a long one by Godlewski, and a short one by Tschirch.
Westermaier’s paper is on the “‘ Intensity of Growth of
the Apical Cell and of the Youngest Segments.’”? From
an examination of figures of Dictyota, Hypoglossum,
Metzgeria, Salvinia, Equisetum, and Selaginella, as given
by Naegeli, Goebel, Pringsheim, Cramer, Rees, and
Pfeffer, Westermaier concludes that the maximum of the
increase in volume i: the apical region occurs in general
either in the apical cell itself or in the youngest segments,
and that taking the region which includes the apical cell
itself and the four youngest segments, in none of the
plants examined was the increase in volume of the apical
cell found to be the minimum for the region. The results
are represented graphically and afford very instructive
curves.
A paper on the “Development and Mechanical Pro-
perties of Collenchyma, a Contribution to the Knowledge
of the Mechanical System of Tissues,” is contributed by
Dr. Ambronn, and is illustrated by six plates of micro-
scopical sections. The Collenchyma with the prosenchy-
matous fibres of the wood and bast form the mechanical
system of Schwendener and Haberland. When the
mechanical elements form separate plates, or bundles, or
individual isolated cells, the cells are known as Stereides,
and the whole tissue as S?¢eveome. When on the other
hand the mechanical cells are united with others which
are non-mechanical, as in wood and bast bundles, then
Schwendener has distinguished them as Westome. The
investigation of the structure of a number of plants shows
that the Collenchyma may be arranged in bundles or in
the form of a ring, and that in both the arrangement of
Collenchyma and Mestome may follow a uniform plan, or
the arrangement of the Collenchyma may be quite inde-
pendent of the Mestome. Ambronn confirms the state-
ment of Haberland that Collenchyma does not originate
from any special morphological series of cells, but has the
most variable origin: and further confirms the statement
of Schwendener that the grouping and arranging of the
cells depends entirely upon mechanical and not upon
morphological causes. In Faeniculum vulgare the bast
and Collenchyma of the external bundles are connected
together and lie in the same radii, while in Clematis
vitalba the bast and Collenchyma lie in the same radii
but are not connected. In Phdlodendron eximium the
Collenchyma forms a ring and is connected with the
separate peripheral fibro-vascular bundles, both develop-
ing from a zone of secondary meristem. In Peperomia
latifolia a ring of Collenchyma is formed, but it is inde-
pendent of the bast. These plants afford examples of
the four great types of structure. The Collenchyma cells
are always prosenchymatous, often two millimetres’ in
length, or even longer, and they frequently contain
secondary partitions, being chambered by numerous fine
transverse walls. They always contain fluid very rarely
with any chlorophyll. The walls when viewed in a longi-
tudinal section present elongated slit-like pores., Other
collenchymatous cells are more parenchymatous in cha-
racter, and originate by secondary collenchymatous
thickening of parenchymatous cells. The wall always
colours blue with Schultz’s iodochloride of zinc, but is
not coloured by the combined action of phoroglucin and
hydrochloric acid, Wiesner’s exceedingly delicate test for
lignin, which is coloured a fine and intense rose-red by
the reagents. Collenchyma swells up but little in water,
contrary to the usual opinion, and only contracts about
4 per cent. when deprived of water. Collenchyma may
originate from Cambium, from Meristem, or from Paren-
chyma, but the origin is found to be unimportant. The
strength of collenchymatous cells is very little inferior to
that of bast fibres, which have been shown by Schwen-
dener to equal that of wrought iron wire.
The last paper is by Albrecht Zimmermann, “On the
March 29, 1883]
NATURE
593
Mechanism of the Scattering of Seeds and Fruits, with
Special Reference to Torsion.” The paper deals with
the torsion in the awn of grasses, such as Avena sterilis
and Stipa pennata, torsion of the legume of Orobus and
Caragana, the curving and torsion of the awn or beak of
the fruits of Geraniacez, and the scattering of the seeds
of Oxalis, and is illustrated by three plates. The author
points out the relation of the different phenomena ob-
served to the mechanical cells in the part, as demonstrated
by a microscopical exaniination of the different structures.
Sometimes the cells of the part contract, at other times
they swell up, and one or other or a combination of both
these causes, gives rise to the effects noticed in the dif-
ferent plants under examination. Thus swelling of the
cell-walls causes the remarkable ejection of the seeds of
Oxalis. Unequal contraction of the mechanical cells
causes the movements in the beaks of Geraniacez, and
combined contraction and swelling in different layers of
cells may be observed in the awns of Stipe and
Avena.
In the second part under consideration, namely, vol.
xiii. part 3, there is a paper by E. Godlewski, with the
title “Contributions to the Knowledge of Vegetable
Respiration.’ The details of a large number of experi-
ments are given which were made, with an ingeniously
contrived and simple apparatus, upon the respiration of
germinating seeds with both fatty and starchy endosperm,
and a smaller series of experiments made on the respira-
tion of the flower buds of Papaver somniferum and on the
ripening fruits with oily seeds of the same poppy and the
castor oil plant. Some of the more important results as
set forth by Godlewski himself may here be alluded to.
During the early stage of germination in which the seeds
swell up by imbibing water, the volume of CO, given off
equals or is only a iittle Jess than the volume of oxygen
taken up, both in fatty and in starchy seeds. When the
swelling takes place under water or when air is excluded,
intramolecular respiration takes place. When air is
admitted the intramolecular respiration does not imme-
diately cease, but is gradually replaced by normal respira-
tion. As the rootlets of the seedlings are developed the
volume of carbonic acid gas evolved gradually diminishes
in proportion to the quantity of oxygen taken up, so that
at the period of most active respiration only from 55-65
volumes of CO, are given off for every 100 volumes of O
taken up. The formation of transitory starch during the
germination of fatty seeds probably depends upon the
action of atmospheric oxygen in each molecule of fat,
converting it into CO,, water, a certain quantity of an un-
determined substance, and three molecules of starch. In
the later stages of germination of fatty seeds the tran-
sitory starch is used as well as the fat, so that the differ-
ence between the volume of CO, given off and O taken
up became gradually smaller, until at last the volumes
are equal. d
In the germination of starchy seeds the volume of CO,
given off in all stages nearly equals that of O taken up,
in peas sometimes a little more or a little less, but in
wheat maintaining a seemingly constant relation of 1 to
105, the CO, being a little in excess of the O taken up.
In the buds of Papaver somniferum the CO, given off
practically equals the O taken up (100°9 CO, for every
100 vols. O). In ripening fruits with oily seeds more
CO, is given off than O absorbed ; in Papaver somniferum
150 CO, for every 100 vols. of oxygen.
When oxygen is supplied under diminished pressure,
respiration is variously influenced in different parts of the
plant, but respiration is more affected in fatty than in
starchy seeds. When the pressure of the oxygen is very
slight 7ovma/ respiration is reduced to a minimum, and
intramolecular respiration commences. Intramolecular
respiration is, under normal conditions, not a primary
phenomenon as Pfeffer and Wortmann assert. Vormal
respiration consists in the immediate action of atmo-
spheric oxygen upon the molecules of living protoplasm.
Intramolecular respiration only begins when the normal
respiration is rendered difficult by the want of atmospheric
oxygen. Under ordinary conditions intramolecular re- .
spiration only begins when processes of reduction are
going on in the plant as when fat is formed from carbo-
hydrates.
The concluding paper in this part is “ Contributions to
the Anatomy and Mechanism of the Rolling up of the
Leaves of certain Grasses,’ by Dr. A. Tschirch, with
three plates. In this paper the author fully describes the
mechanism by which such grasses as Wacrochloa tena-
cissima (Esparto), Lygeum spartum, Aristida pungens,
and others, which he groups as Steppe grasses, roll up
their leaves in dry weather to protect the upper surface
which bears the stomata, and prevent too great evapora-
tion.
The first paper in the part and the longest is by the
editor, Dr. N. Pringsheim, himself, ‘‘On the Function of
Chlorophyll and the Action of Light in the Plant.” This
paper is a controversial one, issued in the form of an
open letter to the Philosophical Faculty of the University
of Wiirzburg. The first part of the paper includes a
“personal defence,” in which the statements contained
in a paper by Dr. A. Hansen, with the title “ History of
Assimilation and the Function of Chlorophyll,’ pub-
lished separately as a ‘‘ Habilitationsschrift,” and also re-
printed in Sachs’ “‘ Arbeiten,’” vol. ii. p. 557, are minutely
criticised. The second part of the paper is an historical
discussion of the theory of assimilation, of the function
of chlorophyll, and of the action of light on the plant. In
this part Pringsheim does not seem to bring forward any
new experiments, but gives a careful véswmé of the whole
subject under three heads. These are (1) Problem of
the primary action of light on the cell ; (2) the function
of the colouring matter of chlorophyll in the exchange of
gases in the plant ; and (3) the function of the chlorophyll
bodies and the primary product of assimilation of carbon.
Into the merits of the controversy we cannot enter.
W. R. MCNAB
___ = a a eee eee ee
OUR BOOK SHELF
Mexico To-day. By Thomas Unett Brocklehurst.
(London: Murray, 1883.)
DURING a recent tour round the world Mr. Brocklehurst
turned from the beaten track in the United States south-
wards to Mexico, where he spent seven profitable months
in the capital and neighbourhood in the year 1881.
Since the suspension of our diplomatic relations with that
country in 1860, great difficulties have been felt in pro-
curing accurate information regarding its internal rela-
504
NATURE
| March 29, 1883
tions. All the more welcome will be this pleasantly
written volume, which gives a far brighter picture of the
Republic and its prospects than its most sanguine sym-
pathisers may have anticipated. Since the expulsion of
the French in 1867, profound peace has prevailed both at
home and abroad, interrupted only by a few feeble and
aimless pronunciamientos in the years 1868 and 1869 ;
signs of moral and material progress are everywhere per-
ceptible ; security for life and property is being extended
from the capitals to the remotest districts of the several
states ; the whole country is already covered with a net-
work of railways connected in the north with the United
States system, and affording several alternative routes be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ; lastly, the Liberal
party, which has guided the destinies of the Republic for
over twenty years, has succeeded in establishing free
institutions on a firm basis. “I have every confidence,”
writes our author, “that the favourable terms in which I
have spoken of the country will not hereafter be found to
be exaggerations ; that my ideas as to the future prosperity
of Mexico being early realised are true, and that such
ideas are held by most of its leading men.” And he adds
that the time has come for England to bring about “a
reconciliation with a country, in whose aid her influ-
ence and power could be so beneficially exerted’’
(p. 259). f far Nn ;
The contents of this work, which is sumptuously illus-
trated by no fewer than fifty-six coloured and other
plates from sketches by the author, are extremely varied,
special chapters being devoted to the present state of the
capital and surrounding districts, to the public institu-
tions, the Roman Church, Protestant missions, trade,
manufactures, farm life, the Pachuca silver mines, anti-
quities, the ruins of Teotihuacan, the remarkable lime-
stone caves of Cacahuampila, Popocatapetl, and many
other topics of general interest. During the ascent of
Popocatapetl, the traveller ascertained that, according to
the latest survey, the edge of the crater was 19,000 feet
above sea-level, the usual estimates being 17,850 to 17,880,
and that the peak still rose 1000 feet higher. Should
these calculations be confirmed, Popocatapetl will again
take its place as the culminating point of North America,
a position from which it had recently been deposed by
Mount St. Elias on the Alaska coast! On the same
occasion another curious discovery was made. General
Uchoa, present owner of the crater and its rich sulphur
deposits, told our author that the eruption of 1521, as
described by Diego Ordaz, one of Cortes’s captains, must
have been due to some misapprehension. All geologists
who have lately visited the crater, or who have examined
specimens of its minerals, are now convinced that no
eruption can have taken place for the last 10,000 years.
This is a great confirmation of the opinion now generally
entertained that the underground energies diminish
steadily in vigour as we proceed from the Southern
Cordilleras, through Central America, northwards to the
Anahuac tableland. The financial condition of Mexico is
described, contrary to the current impressions, as far from
hopeless.
Of the numerous illustrations a large number are
occupied with curious little clay heads, obsidian knives,
stone pestles, arrowheads, and other objects found amongst
the debris of the Teotihuacan ruins and elsewhere. There
are also excellent reproductions of the famous Aztec
Calendar and sacrificial stones, of a beautiful vase from
Teotihuacan, of Teoyamiqui, the goddess of death, and of
an exquisite vase of Centeotl, or the Mexican Ceres, a
perfect gem of Aztec art. Many of the objects brought
home by the traveller have been placed in the hands of
Mr, Franks of the British Museum, and are no doubt
ultimately destined to enrich the Christy collection.
A. HK.
t On the British Admiralty charts this mountain is marked 14,800 feet,
but by the late United States Survey it was raised to 19,500 feet.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as posstble. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|
The Matter of Space?
INE
In the aggregations of points which form ponderable bodies,
other means exist of suppressing the effects of the points’ attrac-
tions for each other than the simpie counteracting forces of the
above figure. Clausius’s equation of stationary motion in fact
informs us that this will take place when there is no exertion of
tractive moment, or no total instantaneous sum of motor-couple
actions in the system. This simply appears to imply that the
pair of orbs A, A, and the pair A,’ A, are in that case no longer
independent of each other in their transference and counter
transference of motor energy, but that the twofold action of such
energy is then a self-neutrali-ing one ; or in other words that the
energy given off at A) passes on to A,’ ; and that discharged at A,’
is taken up by A, ; so that in the case where B B ‘are in stationary
motion, or combine to form a “sphere” of two gravitating points,
or again where many such points collected together form a perma-
nent ponderable body, orb-couples intervene between the otherwise
free extremities, Ay'A, and A,A,’ of the two ether systems (in the
directions shown by arrows in the figure), and bind them together
conservatively by an endless circuit of motor enerzy through the
ether-orbs, while a similar endless flow of ordinary momentum
through the ponderable channels of the system in the meantime
| constirute also the usually recognised internal, gometrical, or
‘‘lost” forces of such a permanent aggregation, ‘‘sphere” or
“body” of ponderable matter.
This subjection of two or more baric points B B’ &c. to the
condition of stationary motion, asthe bond of neutrality of ‘lost ”
geometrical or ‘‘internal” forces between them differs therefore
from the case before supposed of absolute suppression of all
interforce between them in this, that when (in the latter case)
the motions of the points B B’ &c. areabsolutely free and entirely
exempted from disturbing force action, the motor-vigours of the
couplets A, Ay, Ay’ A,’&c. of the ether-orbs in permanently bound
binary attendance upon the baric points B B’, &c., respectively,
will then also be equally exempt and free from disturbing actions
of any other orb-couples upon them, than those only by which
they are dually and counter-equally bound to each other through
the channels of their respective baric centres B B’, &c.
Throughout the whole of a baric point B or 8,’s state of un-
disturbed rest or motion, the ether-couplet attached to it is con-
stantly transmitting from one of its ether-orbs to the other a
ceaseless flow of undirected energy, or it is etherially exercising
a ceaseless undirected horse-power, whose supply of energy is
drawa from and is returned again without mal-destination to the
universal ether’s general stock of energy, if the meaning of the
principle of conservation of energy in this case may be said to be
that, for the entire sum of all its parts, the universal ether’s whole
stock of energy never undergoes any alteration. We may next
consider also: the case where the interforces between baric points
are not entirely absent, but may present us with a resultant alge-
braic sum of any number of interforces, instead of with a neutral
sum only of two equal and opposite ones. Although in that
case there is no counter-equality between the motor-couples
which act on the ether cortége A, A, &c. of each baric point B or
B &c. yet if the motions of these latter points are subjected to
no condition of stationariness under the influence of the forces
acting on them we may yet recognise the universal ether’s whole
* Continued from p. 460.
March 29, 1883]
NATURE
595
stock of energy as being the source and destination of all the
flows of undirected energy exerted by the collective cortége’s
couples, if we assume for the whole of the ether together the
same obedience to the law of conservation of energy as before,
because, for each one of the interforces between B and:some other
barie point b’, and therefore in the sum of all such mutual forces
and points paired with B to produce them, the orb-couples at Ay
A which yield the force F, are exactly counter-equivalent to each
other, and so will abstract from such a general stock of energy
just as much at one of their points of action A, or Aj’ as they
restore to the same general stock of their energy requirements
at the other one,
The presumption here used that the undirected energy funded
and effunded by the motor-couples acting on the ether-retinues of
the reacting baric points, belongs to an invariable stock of that
description of energy residing in the universal ether as a whole,
and that it is not extracted from and rendered up to any other
imaginable sources, or in other words the theory of the con-
servation of motor energy in the universal ether by all the
motor orb-couples together which are in action in it, acquires
an important meaning, when we recur again to the nature, as
above explained, of the condition to which these orb-couples
are subjected when they act upon the ether-retinue of a
collection of baric points which compose a ‘‘sphere” or body,
or which are together in stationary motion, The description
already given of this case informs us that when the state subsists,
the simple sum of all the motor actions or tractive couples on the
body’s retinue of aérilians! is either nil at all times instan-
taneously, or, when it is a periodic -u, its average value for a
time-period or recurring time-cycle of its changes is so, No
instantaneous resultant can be formed at all, if the sum’s value is
perceptibly periodic, and it is not in our power to say whether
ether orbs of aérilian points originally differentiated from weighty
material points (or whether those points themselves) yield sums
which have periodic or instantaneous re-ultants ; it belongs to a
strict examination of the subject to pronounce and illustrate the
rules by which stationary or periodic resultant sums can, in
combinations of orbs or aérilian parts, afford by proper means
either periodic or stationary resultant actions on a collective
aérilian assemblage. The mode of combination of such actions
on subordinate parts into a resultant action of one or both kinds
on a united group which they compose is certainly not a hopeless
problem, when its character is once regarded as the essential
problem of etherial mechanics. What free or unbound ether
may exist besides the ether enrolled in the retinues of ponderable
matter, and what actions these free and enrolled portions of the
ether may have upon each other, and separately or together upon
the originally sundered multitudes of matter composing the
ponderable parts of gravitating bodies, so as (with time as
another element of the reactions) to explain the gradual process
of condensation which appears to be a perfectly regulated
progressive principle of material economy, are all questions
which, by a closer discus-ion of the surmises here explained and
indicated, may without doubt be certainly expected to follow from
their careful consideration, in due course. But as the phenome-
non of stationary motion is shown by Clausius’s equation (which
states its condition) to be at least a rigidly true absence of average
total tractive moment in a system which presents it, when the
average is a time-average taken over a sufficiently long fixed or
over a proper repeatedly recurring term or movable interval of
time, and since, to senses incapable of discriminating exceedingly
minute quantities, this time-average becomes an instantaneous
quantity when the time-term for which it is reckoned diminishes
without limit, a conclusion may be readily drawn from this which
will fairly justify us in accepting the presumption used above, that
the instantaneous effects of individual motor-couple actions are
conserved in the universal ether as a whole, For we are unable
to discriminate what periodic variations the sum of these effects
may or way not have in their total value for the universal ether ;
and we have therefore exactly the same grounds for regarding the
instantaneous effects of all motor-couples as being instantaneously
conserved by the occult fluctuating terms or periods of the uni-
versal ether, as we have for viewing them as instantaneously con-
served (so as to give a sensibly stationary zero resultant sum)
throughout the parts of a ponderable body’s mass in which we
cannot detect any periodic motion, or any perceptible vibration.
* Those entering into the baric body’s actual composition inay be left out of
the enumeration, since this body’s baric motions being themselves (all taken
together) stationary, they satisfy the equation of condition identically ; and
in general instantaneously, unless a common periodic motion is given to the
baric points.
A bent bow, when its string is released, a soap-bubble or an air-
gun’s charge, when they give way and burst, or a bubble of hydro-
gen and chlorine gas mixture when an active light-ray strikes it,
ignition of a train of gunpowder by hot iron, or of fire-damp in
a safety lamp, of gases and gold leaf by the electric spark, are
instances, if we could penetrate the process, of suddenly infringing
by a forced vibration the gradualiy attained subsidence of all per-
ceptible periodicity in a system’s inner motions, with instant dis-
integration for its consequence of the stationariness of the motor-
actions of its parts. A little universe in effigy has collapsed,
leaving to the universal ether the task of saving and storing up,
by means of individual free motor-couples, the vibrations let
loose, and of so modelling into something else the scattered frag-
ments.
But on the other hand the resisted jet, as well as the shutting
of a water-pipe or steam-boiler valve, the swing of a hammer as
well as its stroke on a rock or bell, directed radiations of all
kinds as well as their radiometer-like interceptions, the steadily
resisted flow as well as the breaking or making of an electric
current, conduction between bodies of a steady flow of heat,
sound, and all perceptible horse-power exercises of motor-vigour’s
effective, or unreversible operations, can only be conducted (as
the ether does conduct such effective works there conservatively)
by the individual periodic actions of unbalanced motor-couples
acting on some free-coursing ether-orbs or orb-clouds forming
equally free-coursing heavy bodies’ retinues. These all rely
directly onthe u iversal ether’s store of motor energy to maintain
in their isolated severance (and in that of the free-coursing bodies
also) from other works’ and matters’ motions a constant conser-
vation of their unreversible motor-activities’ effects.
This view of the ether’s function as a whole to conserve the
individual effects, both of primordial and of resultant motor-
couples on ether aérilians and orbs and clouds, whether those
couples’ intensities are stationary, or fluctuate and vary in any
periodical or unperiodical manner, is the second maxim above
noted, to be kept in view along with that of description of
couple.’ intensities as a time-rate of a certain kind of energy, in
discus-ing the properties, or the etherial mechanics, of motor-
couples’ balanced and unbalanced actions. The maxim, as thus
laid down, also cautions us against confusing the kind of zzstan-
taneous energy effects of motor-couples, which the ether conserves
as a whole, with any periodically ¢erm-averaged semi-mean square
of a collection of particles’ rhythmically fluctuating velocities, or
with any temporary or enduring ‘‘ perzeval sum,” as it may be
called, of the collection’s total undirected energy, since the
instantaneous undirected sum thus obtained, is not really instan-
taneous as long as the length of the term or period over which
the average is taken is a perceptible and measurable one. The
resultant quantity whose effects the ether conserves at every
instant, on any individual aérilian assemblage, by a total sum of
counter-equivalent quantities acting on other aérilian assemblages
or aérilians is the sum (treating every aérilian as of the same
inertia 7 = 1)
2 4(rB)=3(@) +2(*)
where, for a single aérilian, 7 is a vanishingly small distance
between at least two parts of which it must consist, and for
groups of aérilians the sum also includes, under the general
symbol 7, the distance between centres of every pair of aérilians
possessing, relatively to the assemblage’s centre of inertia (just
as the aérilian parts do relatively to their aérilian centres), counter
equal accelerations, X,—. We are not at liberty in applying
the equation to include in its sum any other distances and
accelerations, nor any other velocities v, of the aérilians’ parts
and centres than these barocentric ones, relative to centres of
inertia included in the given system, because as an equation of
couples having no truth or meaning, except in virtue of its com-
position of pairs of quantities (so furnished by pairs of inert
points contained in the system as to be independent in its sum
of the origin of reference used in its formation), all distances,
velocities, and accelerations of the given system’s centre of inertia
cannot form part of the equation conformably to its physical use
and applications, but must form part of physical actions in some
other system, of which the given assemblage and its centre of
inertia forms one individual member. :
It is this necessary view of the above equation of stationary
motion drawn from such views as those here offered of its physical
interpretation, which obliges us to regard the simplest aérilian
point of the ether as consisting of at least two parts; and this
assumption agrees with the dual view of the ether’s nature taken
506
by Professor O. Lodge in his address on the ‘‘ Functions of
the Ether” (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 328), while this system also
explains the kind of conservation which has been noticed in-
dependently by Dr. G. Lippmann and Professor S. P. Thompson *
as characterising the phenomena of electricity, and the close
resemblance which not only exists between the processes of con-
duction of heat and of electricity, but also, as noticed by the
former writer, between the laws of electrical potential and the
thermal principle of Carnot’s law.
It seems scarcely probable that so many converging views
can be all fallacious, and ingenuity may without doubt be
spent with profit and advantage in further attempts to adapt and
reconcile some comprehensive theory of the ether’s properties, of
a mechanical description, to embrace in a common review all the
multiplicity of remarkably analogous laws, which physics in its
various branches at present offers to our contemplations.
If the description which precedes of a connected outline of
such a system of synoptic views has extended to a much greater
length than I was originally prepared to offer as comments on
Mr. C. Morris’ communication, it is because the logical develop-
ments which I have repeatedly found them to admit of induced
me to try to establish them on a satisfactory foundation. In
many trials, moreover, of their applications, I have met with
such frequent proofs of the validity of some such general prin-
ciples as those here indicated, that the results to which they have
easily conducted me in numerous directions, are in general so
accordant with those which Mr. Morris has skilfully reviewed,
that, save in the small divergence between us, upon which I have
dilated, in the main principles adopted for explaining them, Mr.
Charles Morris’s and my views of the properties and laws of
motion, of the distribution of the ‘‘ Matter of Space,” and of
the mec’ anical behaviours of ‘‘motor-vigour,” are for the most
part only varie /ectiones of each other. A. S. HERSCHEL
Newcastle-on-Tyne, February 10
P.S.—It will perhaps serve to correct some misconceptions
which, although they were not intended to be produced, may
yet not impossibly have arisen from the form of defective rea-
soning, which at some few points of this letter’s descriptions it
has been unavoidably necessary to introduce, to notice in reca-
pitulation that it formed at the outset no part of its main object
to define and represent exactly the extremely complicated part
which (at least in combinations of its periods) it is evident that
time discharges in determining the operative efficacies and
strengths of motor-couples, in exerting ‘‘ vigour” of undirected
motion. With a well-grounded geometrical substructure, there
need be no occasion to entertain a doubt that the first principles
at least of time’s use in definitions of the actions and effects of
wrests or motor. couples will be easily identified and laid down
with all the precision and accuracy needed for purposes of their
mathematical ap;lications.
The principal object, however, here aimed at and sought to
be attained has not been to offer such an exact description of
time’s relations of form and economy to the different sates of
action and repose of undirected motion (which do not actually
admit of successful discussion without much more abstract ele-
mentary conceptions than those ordinarily recognised of geo-
metrical principles), but simply as a preliminary step towards
this question’s future surer treatment, to point out clearly and
plainly the distinctive and peculiar character of undirected
motion’s space-relations.
This kind of motion, it has been eudeayoured to explain,
consists in change of magnitude of a certain ratio-index, 9, of
tractional configuration between collocated points. In the capa-
city of a ratio-index @ very closely simulates, in its algebraical
and geometrical properties, all the analogous properties of
angles. But it differs from them in this important particular,
that it possesses no directional qualification. For a crank-arim’s
description of angle at once a-signs the plane of the crank’s
revolution, and this plane has direction ; but extension of a con-
necting-rod is a ratio which affects the rod’s le gih equally
in all positions, without giving rise in so doing to any new
direction.
On the other hand, neither motion in angle nor in traction-
index can by their unaided t»-and-fro presence in a crank or
connecting-rod give backward and forward motion to a piston or
piston-rod, but only by virtue of certain constraints involving
the properties in one case of trigonometrical, and in the other
case of hyperbolic, sines and cosines. It is probably because
changes of angle are, like the changes of the angle’s sine which
* NaTUuRE, Vol. xxiv. p. 140; and pp. 78, 164.
NATURE
|
[March 29, 1883
result from them, directed quantities, that the relations of angle-
variations to changes of coordinate lines by means of trigono-
metrical ratios is a familiarly applied and well-established theory.
But no such theory having the same scope and extent of appli-
cation connecting changes of coordinate lines with variations of
the ratio-index @, by means of hyperbolic sines and cosines, and
showing what neces<ary conditions directed geometrical quanti-
ties (including angle) must satisfy to make a fixed law of hyper-
bolic connection with the undirected quantity @ have any pos-
sible existence, has yet been brought into general notice and
acceptance.
But that the directed and undirected geometrical quantities do
satisfy and fulfil such a condition, and that the fixed law of
connection between them does actually exist, there is sufficient
evidence to assure us in the consistency with which such reasonings
as those which Mr. Morris has produced, and which I have tried
to base on that geometrical assumption, represent correctly a very
large array of physical phenomena. Forming therefore, as the
undirected quantity p does, a position-scale in space, of whose
possession Of certain distinctive and special geometrical and
physical properties no theoretical employment has yet been
made, and no sufficient proof of satisfactory evidence has, in
fact, heretofore been produced, no excuse, it is opined, for
hyperbole or figurative use of speech need be presented, for
describing the new quantity, as it was termed in a former part of
this letter, as a new position-scale of interspheral, ethereal, or
aérilian motions foreign to and independent of our ordinary
graphic field of space.
Mr. Stevenson’s Observations on the Increase of the
Velocity of the Wind with the Altitude
I aM sorry if I took Mr. Stevenson too literally when I
understood his remark, ‘‘ great heights above sea-level,” to
mean absolutely great heights ; but I certainly think the phrase
is extremely liable to such interpretation, and as no superior
limit was assigned, I naturally inferred that the author deemed
the formula“ — s
[po TEL
sidered in my paper.
On his own showing, however, this formula succeeds no better
than mine on Arthur’s Seat ; while mine possesses the unques-
tionable advantage of approximating to the truth throughout the
higher levels, where all Mr. Stevenson’s formule fail according
to Vettin’s data. If the data furnished from Arthur’s Seat
correctly represent the conditions in a free atmosphere up to the
same level, which I very much doubt ; we must infer that the
velocities increase in a more rapid ratio with the heights than that
given by the formula 7 =(%)» which is preferred by Mr. Ste-
applicable to such heights as those con-
: 3 : Cae
venson, but in not so rapid a one as that given by = =F and
in fact, if we make the index 2 instead of 3, we get a formula
which gives far better results, as far as the Arthur’s Seat observa-
tions are concerned, than that preferred by Mr. Stevenson. The
agreement is so close for nearly all the velocities, that I give
below a comparison of the results aff rded by both formula :—
Velocity Velocities computed for lower station Velocity
recorded at recorded at
high eleva- By Mr. Steven- By the lower station,
tion, 775 feet son’s formula formula 550 feet
above sea- v_{k\t gas ¢ z above sea-
level. V-\a ) Va =) level.
885 703! 704 Ec 720
1,698 ... 1,430 1,351 1, 364
2,620 eid 2,206 2,084 2,133
3,416 ao 2,876 2,718 2,718
4,328 .. 3,646 3443 3,465
5,575 4,697 4,435 4,592
6,763 5,698 5,391 5,640
8,035 6,765 6,393 6,782
9,368 7,893 75453 7,862
10,820 ee 9,115 8,609 8,765
12,410... + —*10)455 9,874 9.789
13,700 11,542 10,900 10,639
15,058 12,687 11,980 11,680
Sums 79,713 76,325 76,149
Means 6,132 5,871 5,857
This value is wrong as given by Mr. Stevenson. It should be 745.
March 29, 1883}
NATORE
bey
-From the above table it is seen that in ten cases out of thirteen,
the formula I have proposed gives results cloer than Mr.
Stevenson’s, while the means differ by a quite insignificant
amount.
If then, as seems probable on all grounds, the higher we
ascend, the slower the increase of the velocities with the heights,
Mr. 7=(5)* should hold for a level
Wea
Above that,
again, a formula, 2=(7)* should apply ; and finally, the
Stevenson’s formula,
somewhat higher than 775 feet, and not below it.
formula, z=(5) recommended in my paper.
I cannot believe, however, that the formula 5 =(})' holds
up to such a comparatively large height as this inference would
postulate, since it gives such an excessive value at 1600 feet with
Vettin’s data (more than twice that observed), and I can only
conclude, therefore, until experiments in a free atmosphere
corroborate Mr. Stevenson’s data from Arthur’s Seat, that these
latter do not correctly represent the actual rate of increase in the
velocity between such levels in the atmosphere, away from the
disturbing influences of mountains and valleys.
In any case, however, I must enter a distinct protest against
having my name prefixed to the pressure formula i Vt:
if Mr. Stevenson carefully examines my paper, he will no-
where find the remotest allusion to such a formula. The
formula for the velocity which I there recommended for the
higher levels, was in fact shown to be directly deducible from
Mr. Stevenson’s first formula for the pressure, viz. if = / A
to which it is exactly equivalent on the ordinary assumption that
ji ais
aa
Moreover, the paradoxical result which Mr. Stevenson arrived
atin violation of this assumption, viz. that the same formula was
practically applicable both to force and velocity, is controverted
by the conclusion entertained in his letter, that the formula
Z “
aan a/ + agrees best with the recorded results of velocity,
and the formula = f with those of pressure.
While these two formulz can hardly be called the same, it is
somewhat striking to find that on the assumption force varies as
(velocity)?, which is supposed to be annulled by the diminished
density as we ascend, they are #dentical,
Finally, Mr. Stevenson has ey dently quite misunderstood my
allusion to sea-level. When I spoke of sea-Jevel, I simply
meant the approximate equivalent to the level of the sea on /and,
as at Berlin for example, where Vettin’s observations were made,
When Mr. Stevenson therefore maintains that the velocity of
the wind at roo feet above sea-level over land, is probably not so
great as that near the surface over the sea, he entirely misses
the point of the argument, which lies in the ve/a¢ively excessive
velocity of the wind at 100 feet above, to that near the surface,
over land which lies approximately at sea-level.
The very fact mentioned by Mr. Stevenson regarding the
greater friction encountered by air in passing over land than over
water, as well as the results of his experiments, point to a con-
siderable increase in the velocity from the surface to an elevation
of 100 feet above it. For the very same reason, I should expect
to find a mere moderate increase up to the sawe height over
water, E. DouGLas ARCHIBALD
On the Formation of Mudballs
THE letter from Mr. Hart in NaTurE, vol. xxvii. p. 483, on
the natural formation of snowballs, has recalled to my memory
the similar formation of balls of mud.
About eight miles south of Bromley in Kent the soil is clayey,
ard after rain the country lanes are apt to be very muddy. Some
five or six years ago there was a very violent storm of rain,
whether or not accompanied with melting of snow I cannot now
remember. The steep lanes were in many places regularly
scoured with water, and it looked afterwards as though the
whole surface had in places been a sheet of water, for the soil
Was quite washed off and the flints were left bare. After this
storm my brother and I noticed in the lanes a considerable
number of mudballs, usually almost perfectly spherical, but in
some cases with a tendency to a cylindrical shape. They varied
in size from small pellets up to four or five inches in diameter.
On seeing the first one or two, they looked to us like the handi-
work of some boy with an enthusiasm for mud pies, but the
number of them, and the fact that they were always found on
the slopes of hills proved them to be a natural formation. They
were formed throughout of soft clayey mud, and I do not re-
member finding any nucleus in the middle when we cut them
open. We concluded that they were formed by accretion to
pellets of mud washed down the hillside and rolling as they
went, I have only once since seen a similar ball, and that was
in a furrow in a ploughed field in the same country; it is
possible that this ball may have been made inside an agricultural
roller, although there were no marks on the field of recent
rolling aad there had been heavy rain. The comparative rarity
of the appearance of these balls seems to show that they can only
be formed with some precise degree of stickiness of the mud,
Closely similar are the marvellously spherical balls of matted
vegetable fibre to be found on the seabeach in some places.
Sir Anthony Musgrave informed me that on the beach in
Australia, I think near Adelaide, he had seen tens of thousands
of such balls, all perfectly spherical. It seems rather obscure
why the fibres should begin to mat together in such a form as to
be rolled by the surf, but the perfection in shape is clearly due
to incessant rolling. It is probable that, with a flat bath
and some cocoanut fibre or oakum, the process of formation
might be watched, but I have never tried the experiment. It is
very common to see after rain matted lines of such objects as
pine-leaves or the flowers of lime-trees, but I have neyer seen
any apparent tendency to rolling, and such lines are left lying
flat after the water has drained off. G. H. DARWIN
Cambridge, March 23
Snow Rollers
THE phenomenon described in NAtTuRE, vol. xxvii. p. 483,
under the title of ‘‘ Natural Snowballs,” is known to British
meteorolegists under that of snow rollers, and as the latter
agrees more closely with the phenomenon, I venture to plead for
its adoption.
1 believe that the first person wh» carefully examined their
formation was that excellent and venerable observer, the Rey.
Dr. Clouston of Sandwick Manse, Orkney, and I am under the
impression that he published a description of their formation in
an early number of the PAlosophical Magazine. He has ob-
served them on the lawn at Saniwick more than once, and has
always noticed the hollowness at the ends ; in fact, he described
them to me as resembling ladies’ white muffs,
I remember only one instance of their being reported in Eng-
land, namely in the following letter from the late Admiral Sir
F, W. Grey, which appeared in the AZeteorological Magazine for
May, 1876. G, J. Symons
62, Camden Square, N.W.
S1r,—The snowstorm of Thursday night (April 13, 1876) was
marked by one circumstance which I have never witnessed
before, though it may not be uncommon. It was this :—
On Friday morning I observed th it fora considerable distance,
and following a regular line, the lawn, to leeward of the house,
was strewed with masses of snow like boulders, varying from
the size of a snowball to a cubic foot at least, and as the snow
melted, a track either straight or curved led up to the large
ones, following, apparently, the direction of the wind. I had
observed before dusk that the eddies of the wind and the swirls
of the snow were very marked, and | have since heard froma
friend who observed the same thing, that he saw the snow
rolled along by the wind, and forming masses such as I have
described.
As I have said, I know not whether this has been observed
in other cases, and perhaps it may interest you to have this
account of it.—Yours faithfully, F. WM. GREY
Lynwood, Sunningdale, Staines, April 16
Incubation of the Ostrich
Ir seems strange that there should have existed an uncertainty
in the mind of an ornithologist as to the mode of incubation of
the ostrich in confinement at the Cape of Good Hope. The
habits of the birds are of course as familiar to the ostrich-farmers
508
——
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
as those of barndoor fowls to ourselves. I have stayed at a
farm at Cape Point, where a pair of the birds were nesting
within fifty yards of the house, in a small paddock, and have
seen the hen on the nest.
An interesting subject of inquiry, however, seems to me to be
still open in the matter. It is, How far do the habits of nidifi-
cation of the ostrich vary in the different climates through which
it ranges? The nest of the ostrich is commonly described as a
heap of sand, and so no doubt it is in warm desert regions ; but
the nest which I saw at the Cape was carefully built of grass and
other warm materials, so as to aid in retaining heat. The birds
kept the nest almost constantly covered between them.
In warmer regions, however, the hen appears often to leave
the nest in the daytime, and it is just possible that where the
temperature is very high the hen may not incubate at all, and
the cock alone may do so at night. I merely wish to point out
that it should not be assumed that the habits of the ostrich as to
incubation are necessarily the same in the various climates of
Africa with those to be observed in the Cape region.
T have noticed that at the Zoological Gardens the ostriches at
the breeding season are supplied every year with a cartload of
silver sand as the traditional nest. It would not be amiss to try
them with some more substantial materials as an experiment,
and prove whether in our climate they would not build a warm
nest as at the Cape.
That birds’ eggs can be hatched like those of turtles in mere
sand is undoubtedly a fact. The Megapodius inhabiting Cape
York, Australia, makes, as is well known, a huge mound of
vegetable matter, which by decomposition supplies the necessary
warmth to hatch the egss ; but at the Philippine Islands another
Megapodius buries its eggs in the perfectly clean calcareous sand
near the seashore.
The habits of the emu in nesting have been carefully watched
at Blenhein. The head keeper told me not long ago that the
cock alone incubates. The hens lay their eggs anywhere about
in the grass, the cock builds a nest, and rolls the eggs to it, the
hen sometimes endeavouring to prevent him and to break them.
I believe an account of observations on the habits of the emu
at Blenheim were published by Mr. Frank Buckland.
H. N. MoseELry
Bonchurch Hotel, Isle of Wight, March 26
Holothurians
My experience of about three months in Bermuda and Jamaica
fully bears out Mr. Guppy and Mr. Kent’s view that the Holo-
thurians do not feed on living coral. They were moderately
common in both localities close to the shore, where corals are
comparatively scarce, and are mainly of the massive kinds, such
as the Astrzeas, against which the tentacles of a Holothurian
would be useless. There were a few branching Oculinas here
and there, but not enough to support the Holothurians. But
further, some of the latter bury their bodies in the mud or sand,
leaving only the tentacles exposed ; and I have watched these
thrusting their tentacles into their stomachs right up to the base
in the comical way described by Mr. Kent. It is quite clear that
these were not feeding on living coral. I did not, however, see
them actually taking up sand and shell and thrusting it down, as
Mr. Kent did; in fact I was puzzled as to what they were feeding
on. From the way the tentacles were set, standing nearly erect,
I fancied they were catching swimming creatures, as other
tentacled animals do. This idea is supported, though not
proved, by a fine specimen from the Zoological Station at
Naples, which has a half-swallowed fish protruding from its
mouth. The specimen is in the Bristol Museum. It proves at
all events that they do not reject this kind of food. Possibly in
default of it they may fall back upon sand and shell, and the
minute organisms contained in these. Some of my expe-
riences with these creatures were interesting. At Bermuda
two large kinds u-ed to lie quite exposed in shallow water.
I might have guessed from this that they would probably be
protected in some way. I used to wade along shore carrying a
fishing-basket and a landing-net, and one day, as my basket was
full, I put a couple into the landing-net to carry home. As
their skins were quite hard, I thought they would travel well so.
After handling them, I found my hands smarted a little, and
the irritation lasted till bedtime. I found that little bits of their
skin had got under mine, and this caused the irritation. As I
was going home, I found my Holothurians were literally melting
away ; long streamers of a colourless gelatinous substance were
hanging down between the meshes. Of course I threw the
nasty things away, and had a dreadful job to get the net clean.
I attributed my misfortune to the sun, so another day I packed
a couple up comfortably at the bottom of my basket, which is.
very elosely made. After an hour or two I was horrified to find
long streamers hanging down from the basket of the same
horrible substance. They had literally gone to pieces again, and
spoilt everything inthe basket. Shortly after, I left for Jamaica,
and there [ took out a wide-mouthed bottle and brought one
home in triumph. Being engaged that evening, I left the Holo-
thurian in the bottle all night. Next morning the creature was
all there, but he had cleared out the whole of his inside; his
intestinal canaland the beautiful tree-like organ were perfect.
The latter was still alive and was waving about in the water in
the prettiest way, and looking remarkably like branchiz. Some
accessory organs along the intestinal canal were exhibiting
rhythmical pulsations. Altogether it was a most interesting
sight. But my poor H>lothurian was only a tube. I did not
know at the time that he could grow a complete new inside.
Clifton College J. G. GRENFELL
The British Circumpolar Expedition
SUPPLEMENTARY to the very interesting notice in NATURE
(p. 484) of the above expedition, permit me to give a brief
extract from a letter recently received from Capt. Dawson, as
follows :—‘‘I have heard of a large cavern about a day from
this (Fort Rae), which I shall try and explore, There are some
eyeless fish that live there, that I hope may turn out to be a new
species.” I do tru-t Capt. Dawson may ve able to carry oat his
intention, but he must be heavily weighted with work, in which
he appears to take a deep interest. I had long ago been told of
this cave and its fish, but had no time to visit it, never having
been within one or two hundred miles of the place.
March 24 J. RAE
Meteor
Mr. MASHEDER’S account in your last number of NATURE
(p. 483) of the meteor seen by him at Ashby-de-la-Zouch on
March 17, corresponds in some particulars with the inclosed note
of one seen by myself on the same evening at Malvern. I am
therefore inclined to send it you.
The discrepancies are in the time, which Mr. Masheder states
to have been 7.5, while here the metecr passed at 6.56 p.m. ;
also in his description of ‘‘ pieces dropping,” I noticed no such
appearance, but simply the not unusual one of rapidly recurring
scintillations in the train.
Great Malvern, March 17, 6.56 p.m.
This evening a bright flame-coloured meteor with a short
scintillating train, nucleus the brightness of Jupiter, passed.
rapidly across the sky. When first seen it was beneath the
moon, then shining brightly, and was apparently about the alti-
tude of Betelzeux, at that time nearly Io past the meridian. It
disappeared behind the hills almost due west, but so quickly that
it was difficult to determine its course with any exactitude.
Lambert House, Great Malvern, March 25 E. BROWN
Mimicry
Sucu remarkable instances of mimicry as that described by
the Duke of Argyll in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 125, as occurring
in a moth, make heavy demands upon the faith of the non-
scientific reasoner, since it seems to him impossible that organic
Nature in her ‘‘blind groping in the dark” could, under any
imaginable combination of circumstances, have succeeded in
taking the successive steps requisite to bring her to such a state
of perfect adaptation to condition. But the proverbially keen
sight of birds, as at present organised, is apt to lead to erroneous
» inferences with regard to the evolution of protective mimicry in
their insect prey, seeing that the high develop:nent of this faculty
now attained by them renders nugatory any disguise that is not
almost perfect. The theory of natural selection, however,
requires the gradual perfecting of this, no less than of other
structural and physiological acquirements ; and there is no
reason for supposing that the Ornithoscelidan ancestors of the
feathered tribes possessed exceptional visual powers, but rather
that the reverse was the case; so that it may be concluded that
improvement in vision and in rapidity of flight proceeded part
passu, This being granted, the initiatory steps of mimicry in
March 29, 1883 |
NATORE
509
the Lepidoptyra may have been tentative, and well within the
competence of ordinary variabilily.
The above sufficiently trite train of thought has been suggested
to me by the consideratio uf analogous facts known to every
angler. Many fishes greedily snap at anything that glistens or
is highly coloured, especially if it be rapidly drawn through the
water, and the slight additional disguise imparted to artificial
bait of this description by a spinning motion renders it very
attractive. The highly specialised salmon is easily deceived,
and the most killing artificial flies for this fish make no pretence
to resemble anythinz in niture, ana ave attractive in proportion
to their gaudiness. The same is true of his congener the trout,
althouzh this fish appears to be somewhat more zsthetic in his
tastes; and the mo-t useful artificial flies employed to entice
him are mere generalised imitations of his natural food. Indeed,
on these grounds no less than on those of anatomy, it cannot be
doubted that the 7¢/eostei—albeit highly specialised of their kind
—have failed to develop that acuteness of vision which their
rapid movements would seem to render de-irable, and are yet in
the stage in which a very imperfect mimicry misleads them ; and
it is not an unreasonable presumption that birds were once in a
very similar condition, from which they have emerged in conse-
quence of the nece:sity for frequent and abundan: supplies of
food entailed upon them by their active mode of life. Under
these circumstances it must have gone hard with the helpless
caterpillar, so toothsome and nutritious, seeing that he could
not, like the mature Pivyganide and Ephemeride, keep out of
hharm’s way by shunning the element inhabited by his natural
foe ; and hence arose the necessity for his protective modifica-
tion. How urgent was the need for this is amply shown by the
fact that several distinct medes of protection have been enlisted
in his defence, viz. cuticular hypertrophy resulting in hairiness,
mimicry of the veget ition on which he feeds and lives, and un-
palatable flavour ; to which has been superadded mimicry of the
unpalatable forms by those of good flavour. But even with all
this adventitious aid the struggle would probably have proved
exterminating to him by reason of the voracity of birds, had not
the teeming imago participated in the protective modifications,
and thereby been enabled to maintain the balance of supply and
demand necessary for the survival of the order.
Wycombe Court, Bucks PAUL HENRY STOKOE
Threatened Extinction of the Elephant
THE threatened extinction of any existing species of plant or
animal cannot fail to be matter of real concern to all students of
science, who ought to neglect no feasible means for preventing
so deplorable an occurrence.
Of the few gigantic mammals still living on the surface of our
planet, none possesses more interest and none are more worthy
preservation than the elephant. Yet it is an accepted conclu-
sion that the elephant is doomed to extinction, and that within
a measurable period of time this majestic quadruped will have
suffered the fate of the Dodo. Cannot such a calamity be
prevented? Surely the destruction of elephants might be
legally controlled (in India, at any rate), and their capture
(for domestication) might be limited, as it is well known
they never breed in confinement. The continuous rise in
the market-price of ivory, and its recent unprecedented
scarcity as an article of commerce, are ominous signs,
and renders it incumbent on the votaries of science to consider
what may be done inthe matter. It is no question of mere
sentiment—it is of vital importance; and if ‘‘ ancient monu-
ment:, ruins, &c,,” are worth protecting, it cannot be denied
that s> remarkable and interesting a creature as our colossal
Pachyderm merits some effort in his behalf.
EDWARD E. PRINCE
United College, University of St. Andrews, March 15
A Curious Case of Ignition
ONE fine morning recently, as two ladies were standing to-
gether in the drawing-room of a house in this neighbourhood,
smoke was observed to rise from the dress of one of them. This
was found to be due to ignition by the solar rays focused on her
dress by the lens of a graphoscone which stood on the table.
Similar cases of accidental concentration of the sun’s rays have,
I am aware, been recorded. It would be interesting to know
whether any serious fires have thus originated. One can easily
imagine circumstances which would favour such results from a
simple cause.
Finchley, March 26
| W. H. Stone, M.D.F.R.C.P
SINGING, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING’*
I.--SINGING
“ee voice, essentially a musical instru nent, has only
of late been scientifically considered. Even now
singing is too much dealt with as an art, and its acquire-
ment as an accomplishment. The professional mystery
with which it is surrounded serves no good purpose, and
favours empiricism. At ladies’ schools the old fiction of
what are quaintly termed “finishing lessons” still sur-
vives ; they often succeed in finishing any prospect; the
pupil may have had of becoming a singer. Most of the
current primers and tutors are luticrously vague and
feeble, many methods are absolutely injurious to the voice;
for the improvement of which one ingenious inventor has
suggested the use of a false palate, and another the fitting
of singers’ mouths with a sort of bell-shaped snout or
proboscis to act as a resonator. A chorus of such pro-
boscidians on the Handel orchestra would be an appalling
sight. The real foundation of our knowledge rests on the:
researches of Helmholtz on the physical, and of Garcia
on the physiological, side. The classical discoveries of
the former as to the production of vowel-sounds by the
superaddition of a varying harmonic in the mouth-cavity,
and of the latter by the examination of the larynx in
action by means of a mirror, brought before the Royal
Society in May, 1855, have formed the substratum of
much which has now become the common property of
scientific men. Dr. Bristowe, in his Lumleian lectures of
1879, has added some pathological data of considerable
value, and Dr. Walshe, in his ‘“‘Dramatic Singing,
Physiologically Estimated,’ has touched on points con-
nected with the sympathetic and emotional power which
this most perfect of instruments can be made to exercise.
It owes this in a great measure to the fact that it can
combine musical sounds with significant words, and thus
interest at once the ear and the intelligence. Afver a de-
monstration of the action of the larynx and fauces in
phonation, illustrated by some excellent photographs
taken from his own larynx by Mr. Emil Behnke, and
thrown on the screen, vowel-sounds were shown to be
thirteen in number in the English language, with
six more in French and German, fifteen of these being
oral in origin, and four, all French sounds, nasal. Con-
sonants were about sixteen in number, and had been
called ‘‘noises” by Max Miiller, owing to their compara-
tively unmusical character. They are chiefly caused by
some check or obstruction to the laryngeal note. A dia-
gram of Madame Seiler’s was, however, shown which
indicates that there is an oral resonance-note even for
consonants, though it is much more obscure and uncertain
than that of the vowels. Melville Bell's division of vocal
sounds into vowels, consonants, and glides or semivowels
was adverted to, and his ingenious device of visible
speech briefly explained, but left for fuller consideration
in the second lecture. The contrast was then pointed
out between singing, in which the musical notes predo-
minate and are separate or discrete ; intoning, which is
speech intentionally rendered monotonous for better
transmission in large spaces like cathedrals ; recitative,
which is the converse of the former, being singing
partially loosened from the trammels of time, rhythm,
and melody, so as to approximate to speaking ; speech
itself, which uses continuous inflection; declaiming,
which is speech with the addition of a histrionic and
emotional element; reading, which is a faint and as it
were distant reproduction of speaking in a lower key,
quieter and less marked in accent than in speaking viva
voce; and whispering, which is purely oral, without a
laryngeal ground note, and which may be termed voice-
less speech.
The different qualities, compass, and register of voices
t Abstract by the Author of three Lectures at the Royal Institution, by
510
NATURE
[March .9. 1883
were then described. The larynx of the child, like its
head, is large relatively to the rest of the body. At the
age of fourteen or fifteen, rather earlier in girls than in
boys, the vocal apparatus enlarges and strengthens. In
boys the vocal chords about double in length ; in girls
they increase from five to seven. In the latter case the
pitch of the voice is not materially altered; in the male it
usually descends an octave or more.
Garcia adopted the division of Registers into three,
namely, the chest, falsetto, and head voice, due originally
to Miiller. This remains the most practical mode of
classification, though the word falsetto is misleading,
being liable to confusion with the artificial male voice
bearing the same name, and may well be replaced by the
phrase Medium. The term register has been enveloped
in much professional mystery, and has been far too much
refined upon. There has also beena confusion of octaves,
from which even Madame Seiler is not free, due mainly
to the modern and objectionable method of scoring music
for the tenor voice in the soprano clef, and an octave too
high. Register evidently marks an alteration of mechan-
ism in the voice-reed and resonator to enable it to obtain
the very remarkable compass, amounting to nearly five
octaves, of which the human voice is possessed. Single
voices run to three octaves or more. Catalani had 33;
Bastardella, heard by Mozart in 1770, had the same.
Madame Carlotta Patti can reach Gginalt. Bennati, a
tenor, had three full octaves, and Tamberlik reached the
Ce of 544 double vibrations.
[he words Head and Chest obviously only represent
subjective sensations which accompany the shifted me-
chanism. In many parts of the voice similar notes can
be reached iu two rezisters, but with different force and
quality, on either side of the break.
In using chest-voice the vibration can be seen to involve
the whole vocal chord and the arytoenoid cartilages. At
about A in the male and C in the female the chords act
alone, though the first mechanism can by an effort be
continued. The second form of vibration takes the voice
up to F, the usual limit of bass voices and of the chest
register. Above the F the chords are stated to lengthen,
giving by a second elongation the second series of the
chest register, which forms the bulk of the tenor compass,
the remainder being formed by a variable number of fal-
setto notes. These seem to be produced by a thinning
of the edges of the chords. Czermak lighted the larynx
of thin persons strongly frorn the outside, and found that
sufficient light was transmitted to show a decided increase
of transparency in the chords at this point. All observers
agree in placing this change, both in males and females,
between F and Fg. In this region, common to both
males and females, an amusing experiment can be made
by causing a tenor male and a contralto female singer to
execute the same passage behind a screen, or in an
adjoining room. It is difficult, and at times impossible,
to discover the sex of the singer from the quality of the
tone. There still remains among male voices the curious
and only partially explained counter-tenor. Sometimes
by arrest of development or by accident the boy’s compass
is retained in after-life. This accident may be quite inde-
pendent of masculinity, as those who have heard lusty,
rubicund Yorkshiremen, with their wives and children
round them, trolling out a sweet treble in glees on the
terraces of the Crystal Palace after the Handel Festival,
can testify. But besides this rare accident, most basses
and baritones can cultivate an artificial and peculiar
voice which most properly bears the name falsetto. Its
production appears to be in great measure a matter of
education. It was seemingly commoner in the madri-
galian epoch and in the time of Queen Elizabeth than it
isnow. Dr. Bristowe says truly that the mechanism of
its production is still doubtful, though many attempts
have been made to determtne it. Such voices are
not only artificial, but complex and uneven, being a
compound of high chest notes and others of special
quality. There is a serious break between the two both
in production and in quality, which practised singers
disguise by running the one into the other at different
places, according as the passage to be sung ascends or
descends.
It will have been seen that female voices overlap the
compass of the male voice by an octave or more. Many
contraltos take the E on the bass stave, which is well in
the middle of the bass voice, and a low note for a tenor
singer. Hence we sometimes hear of female tenors,
though the effect is usually more peculiar than pleasing.
Our great English contralto, Madame Patey, however,
drops to this note with fine effect in Handel's oratorio of
Solomon, which was written for the exceptional and now
fortunately obsolete voice of Farinelli.
In females the break is somewhat higher than in
males, but the transition to the falsetto takes place at
the same note G. The contralto does not use the head-
register,
This, otherwise called the Small, begins as just stated.
Its upper limit varies, the extremes having been already
given. Mozart wrote the fine air G47 Anguiz d’/nferno
in the “Magic Flute” for such an exceptional voice
reaching to F in alt. A commoner and perhaps plea-
santer limit is the C below this.
All authorities agree in describing a curious appear-
ance of the glottis in singing these notes. This is a
folding together of its posterior half with vigorous vibra-
tion of its anterior part. Such an appearance can only
be produced either by some stopping of the chords at the
middle by contact with structures lower down, or by
overlapping from vigorous approximation of the arytoenoid
cartilages. The former supposition lacks anatomical
confirmation, and the latter, which is anatomically pos-
sible, has the implied, though not the expressed sanction,
of Helmholtz. The drawing of this app arance is given
by Madame Seiler, who alone of laryngoscopists, pos~
sesses a register peculiar to the female.
Dr. Stone was materially assisted in his first lecture
not only by Mr. Behnke, but also by his colleague Dr.
Felix Semon, who gave admirable demonstrations of the
healthy larynx, as seen in Mr. Williams, and some other
pupils of St. Thomas’s Hospital.
ACCLIMATISATION OF EDIBLE MOLLUSKS
RECENT and interesting notice by Mr. F. P.
Marrat of Liverpool, who is an excellent concho-
logist, mentions the introduction into the Cheshire coast
of what he calls the “wampum clam,’’ or Venus mer-
cenaria of Linné ; and he concludes that there is ‘“‘a fair
prospect of the naturalisation, on the extensive shallow
shores of Lancashire and Cheshire, of an extremely
nutritious and highly esteemed food-product, new to
Great Britain.” The late Prof. Gould says that this
mollusk is known in Massachusetts under the name of
“ Quahog,” given to it by the Indians. According to him
and other American writers on the subject, the true
“clam” par excellence is Mya arenaria of Linné. I was
present as a guest at one of the fashionable “clam-feasts”;
but the muddy flavour derived from the habitat of that
mollusk does not agreeably commend itself to my palat-
able recollection. However, chacun a son yott! Mya
arenaria inhabits the western coasts of the North Pacific
as well as both sides of the North Atlantic.
The American oyster (Ostvea virginica of Gmelin =
O. borealis and O. canadensis of Lamarck) is peculiar to
North America, and has now found its way into the
London market. It differs from the common European
oyster (O. edulis, L.), and is equally variable as regards
size. O. virginica has been within the last few years
introduced into the mouth of the Tagus, and is called the
Portuguese oyster. Our own or “native’’ oyster was
March 29, 1883 |
highly esteemed by the Romans, as we know from |
Juvenal; but there are no grounds for imagining that
it was in those times imported into Rome from Britain.
The facility of transport was not then so great as it is at
present; and a gamy flavour was probably not so much
relished by the Romans as it is said to have been by
our King George the First, who preferred oysters a week
old at Hanover to those which he afterwards got in
England.
Within the last few years the “ periwinkle ”’ (z¢/orina
litorea, L.), which is a favourite delicacy of our poorer
classes, has spread with unusual rapidity along the eastern
shores of the North American continent. Mr. Arthur F.
Gray, in Science News for April, 1879, attributed its
origin to Europe. It certainly does not seem to have
been observed in America by Gould or any other concho-
logist before 1870.
Preeminent among land shells, as a dainty article of
food in France, is Helix pomatia, L. We are more
fastidious or more conservative in our gastronomic
notions. It is a mistake to suppose that the Romans,
when they possessed and inhabited Great Britain, brought
this snail with them to indulge their luxurious tastes. In
all probability it was not even known to them, because
another species (#7. /ucorum, Miiller) takes its place in
Central Italy. AH. fomatia has not been found at
Wroxeter or York, or in any other part of England or
Wales where the Romans built cities or had important
military stations. Among the debris of an extensive
Roman villa discovered in Northamptonshire, in which
the shells of cockles, oysters, mussels, and whelks
abounded, not one of H. fomatia occurred, although at
Woodford, a few miles distant, that species is plentiful in
a living state. J. GWYN JEFFREYS
THE ALFIANELLO METEORITE
IGNOR DENZA, Director-General of the Italian
Meteorological Association, sends us an account of
the remarkable aerolite which fell in the province of
Brescia on February 16, and to which we referred last
week. On that date, at 2.43 p.m. local time, a strong
detonation was heard in many places of the province of
Brescia and even in the neighbouring provinces of
Cremona, Verona, Mantua, Placenza, and Parma. The
detonation was quite awful in the commune of Alfianello,
in the district of Verolanuova, Brescia. This was found
to be caused by a meteorite which exploded a few hundred
yards above Alfianello. A peasant saw it fall in the
direction of N.E. to S.W., or, more exactly, N.N.E. to
S.S.W., at a distance of about 150 yards. When the
meteoric mass fell to the earth, it produced on the
ground, in consequence of the transmission of the shock,
a movement similar to that of an earthquake, which was
felt in the surrounding districts; the telegraph wires
oscillated and window frames shook. Before the meteorite
fell a confused commotion was seen in the sky, and im-
mediately after a prolonged noise was heard similar to
that of a tram moving rapidly along the rails. No light
was seen ; but the meteor must have been accompanied,
as usual, by a light vapour, produced by the volatilisation
of the substance melted at the surface ; for some of those
who saw it fall compared it to a chimney falling from the
sky, and surmounted bya wreath of smoke. The meteorite
fell in a field about 300 yards south-west of Alfianello.
It penetrated the ground obliquely, nearly in the same
direction as it was seen moving in the air, from east to
west, sinking to the depth of about a yard, deducting the
height of the meteoric mass. The peasants who saw it
fall and who were the first to touch it, found it somewhat
hot. The meteorite fell entire, but unfortunately was
soon broken to pieces and carried away by the crowd who
gathered to see the strange sight. The form was ovoid,
but a little flattened at the centre; the under part was
NATURE
51f
broad and convex, presenting the 1urm of a cauldron ;
the upper part was truncated. The surface was covered
with the usual blackish crust, and studded with small
concavities, partly separate, partly grouped together.
As to the dimensions and weight of the aerolite, the
estimates differ. According to the evidence of some, its
height was about 75 centimetres, greatest breadth 60
centimetres, and its volume about 25 cubic decimetres.
Its weight has been variously estimated at 50, 100, 200,
and 250 kilograms. Its real weight was probably not
much under 200 kilograms. It is certain that Prof.
Bombicci carried more than 25 kilograms to Bologna, to
add to the rich collection of meteorites in the Mineralogi-
cal Museum of the University ; that a specimen weighinz
13} kilograms was taken possession of by MM. Ferrari,
the owners of the field in which the meteorite fell ; that
about 4o kilograms remained in possession of other
persons; that the municipality of Alfianello sent a speci-
men of 5 kilograms to the Athenaeum of Brescia; and
that two pieces weighing 12 kilograms each were thrown
into a stream and lost; without speaking of a consider-
able quantity of small fragments, distributed here and
there, of which Signor Denza possesses four, of a total
weight of 39 grammes.
By its structure the Alfianello meteorite belongs, ac-
cording to Prof. Bombicci, to the sporasiderite-oligo-
siderite group, being almost identical with the New
Concord (Ohio) meteorite. The substance is finely
granulated, of an ashy grey; the bright glossy sur-
face has elements showing varied gradations of colour.
Metallic particles abound; they are found scattered
like small nuclei, in which are iron and perhaps one of
its alloys, in brilliant crystalline aggregations, of a
yellowish or bronze white. Circles of rust of a yel-
lowish brown rapidly form around the particles of iron
In the places where there are no metalliferous nuclei, the
grains of iron are attached to the stony portion in the
proportion of 68 per 1000 of weight. The blackish crust
is rough, and to some extent rugged in some parts of the
surface, and rather smooth and uniform in others; in
general it is somewhat lustrous. The total specific weight
of the stone is from 3°47 to 3°50. The chemical analysis
of the meteorite is being made in two different labora-
tories at Bologna. Signor Denza’s information has been
obtained from Prof. Bombicci of Bologna University,
and from Professors Briosi, Ragazzoni, and Casali of
Brescia.
THE SHAPES OF LEAVES?
1V.—Special Types in Special Environments
no the previous papers it will be clear that degree
of subordination to the stem accounts in large
measure for the extent to which leaves vary from the
primitive ovate-lanceolate type. Where they are still so
most subordinated, there will be a strong tendency
towards the long pointed ribbon-like form, and also a
marked inclination towards decurrence. This combina-
tion of peculiarities is well seen in several thistles, and in
comfrey, as also to a less extent in many epilobes and stel-
larias. Compare Verbascum thapsus, and other mulleins.
From these extreme cases, in which leaf and stem are not
fully differentiated from one another, one can trace several
gradations, through square stems with sessile leaves (as
in certain St. John’s worts) up to merely sessile stem-
leaves, or leaves that clasp the stem with pointed or
rounded auricles. Wherever lines exist along the stem,
they may be observed in pairs up to the point where a
leaf is given off, and they are undoubtedly surviving
marks of the primitive unity of stem and leaf. The same
may be said of rows of hairs, like those of S/e//aria media
and of Veronica chamedrys. There can be little doubt
* Concluded from p. 495.
512
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
that special selective causes (protection against creeping
imsects, &c.) have often come into play in preserving or
modifying such decurrent wings, stem-lines, auricles,
clasping stipules, and rows of hairs ; but as a whole they
nevertheless point back distinctly to the origin of dicotyle-
donous stems from superposition of leaves and midribs
upon one another. They are rudimentary forms of stem-
lamina.
Sessile leaves are particularly apt to be lanceolate.
They approach nearest among dicotvledons to the mono-
cotyledonous type. The botanist will readily fill in
examples for himself.
Fic. 34.—White Deadnettle (Lamium album).
On the other hand, it is clear that the conditions under
which leaves assume the orbicular and peltate types can
only occur where there is least subordination to a central
stem. And these conditions must have occurred for im-
mense numbers of generations in order to overcome the
ancestral tendency towards the lanceolate or ovate form.
For a leaf must first pass through a cordate or reniform |
stage, like that of the coltsfoots, before it can reach an
orbicular shape, like that of our common waterlily ; and
even when it becomes completely circular, like the Victoria
regia, it may still retain a mark of junction where the |
Fic. 35-—Lime.
overlapping edges have met without becoming connate.
In the case of Victoria regia the transformation has been
traced during germination. The first leaves produced by
the young plant are linear and submerged ; the next are
sagittate and hastate ; the later ones become rounded,
cordate, and orbicular; and even when they assume the
peltate form, the line still marks the point of union.
This sufficiently accounts for the rarity of perfectly peltate
leaves, such as those of Zrof@olum, Hydrocotyle, and
Podophyllum. Radical leaves growing on long footstalks
will be oftenest orbicular cordate; stem-leaves on the
same plant may pass from ovate-cordate to ovate, lanceo-
late, and linear. Large cordate radical leaves will be
most frequently produced from perennials with richly-
stored rootstocks. The sagittate and pointed leaves of
Arum and Sagittaria show the furthest step attained in
the same direction by monocotyledonous foliage, starting
from the liliaceous form.
Where the stem, or, what comes practically to the same
thing, solitary ascending branches, rise high into the air,
especially with opposite leaves, we get a common type
which may be well represented by the white deadnettle
a RA
(Fig. 34). Hedgerow plants with perennial stocks fre-
quently assume this type. It reappears almost identically,
under the very same conditions, in so distant a group as
the true nettles ; and though it is possible that the causes
which produce mimicry in the animal world may here
have come somewhat into play, so as to modify sundry
Lamiums into the similitude of the protected Urtica, yet
the analogy of other Labiates shows that the circumstances
alone have much to do with producing the resemblance.
For a great many tall-stemmed hedgerow Labiates closely
Fics. 36 and 37.—Begonias.
Fic 38.—Cow-parsnip.
approximate to the same type: for example, Lammzum
| galeobdolon, Ballota nigra, Galeopsis tetrahit, Stachys
stlvatica, and S. palustizs. Compare, mutatis mutandis
for ancestral peculiarities, the other hedgerow plants,
Scrophularia nodosa and Alliaria officinalis. On the
other hand, notice the orbicular long-stalked lower leaves
of the latter (especially when biennial) side by side with
the lower leaves of some Labiates, such as Wefela
glechoma. Indeed, the Labiates as a whole present an
excellent study of local modification in an ancestral type,
Fic. 39.—Creeping leaves of ivy.
according to habit and habitat. Take as other groups of
this family the following: first, Mentha and Lycopus ;
then, Salvia pratensis, Prunella, Marrubium, radical
leaves of Ajuga reptans; and lower leaves of Vefeta
glechoma; finatly, the typical form dwarfed in little
prostrate retrograde types, such as Thymus serpyllum
and Mentha pulegium. Compare these last with other
prostrate or dwarfed types elsewhere, like Veronica ser-
pyllifolia, Peplis portula, Hypericum humifusum, Montia
Jontana, and Arenaria serpyllifolia.
As grassy types, the best familiar examples are those
March 29, 1883 |
NAROKE
aKS
of the flaxes, Ste//aria graminea, Toadflax, Bastard Toad-
flax, &c.; all of which have been largely influenced by
monocotyledonous competition. Even a pea, Lathyrus
nissolia, has got rid under such circumstances of its
leaflets, and has flattened its petiole into a grass-like
blade. Intermediate forms occur in Southern Europe.
The peas, indeed, are papilionaceous plants which have
largely cast off their ancestral leaf-type, in order to avail
themselves of new conditions. JZ. afhaca has lost its
leaflets, and flattened and enlarged its stipules so as to
resemble simple opposite leaves; and Z. /irsutus and
pratensis have reduced the leaflets to one long almost
Fic. 40.—Ascending leaves of ivy.
linear pair. Marshy plants have also often been forced
into adopting grass-like forms. The great spearwort
is a swampy buttercup, whose ancestral leaf has been
lengthened ont into a long ribbon, with almost parallel
ribs ; the lesser spearwort shows the same tendency to a
less degree, still retaining ovate lower leaves, with lanceo-
late upper ones; and Veronica scutellata is a similar
marshy case among the Scrophularinez.
When the tree-like form is attained, or free access to
air is otherwise gained (as by climbers), the supply of
carbon, being practically unlimited, becomes relatively
little important, and the supply of sunlight assumes the
Fis. 41.—Sundew.
first place in the economy of the plant. Under such
conditions, the great object must be to prevent the leaves
from overshadowing one another. Now this result may
be obtained in a great number of ways, and we must not
expect that every tree or shrub will solve the problem for |
itself in exactly the same fashion.
shape into which the ancestral form is finally modified
should sufficiently answer the purpose in view.
matter of fact, the suitability of the actual forms and
arrangements of tree-leaves to the functions they have to
perform can be readily tested by observing any tree in
bright sunshine. Onthe one hand, almost every leaf is in
As a_
It is enough that the |
full illumination, no leaf unnecessarily shading its neigh-
bour; and on the other hand, there is hardly any interspace
between the leaves, as may be seen by the fact that the
shadow thrown by the tree as a whole is almost perfectly
continuous. In short, there is no waste of chlorophyll,
and there is no waste of sunshine.
Mr. Herbert Spencer has called attention to the results
of varying exposure to light in the various parts of the
same leaves, which often causes them to become unequally
developed. In the lime (Fig. 35) such obliquity is normal.
In the various Begonias (Figs. 36 and 37) the resulting
asymmetry is very noticeable. In the cow-parsnip (Fig.
38) it is the leaflets of the same leaf which are asymme-
trically developed, so as not to overshadow one another.
In more symmetrical leaves, there is an equal provision
for preventing overshadowing, only here it takes the form
of indentation of the edge, as in the oak, or of subdivision
into leaflets, as in the horsechestnut. In the latter case,
indeed, the two outermost leaflets are habitually asym-
metrical. On the whole, however, the mass of forest
trees in temperate climates have almost entire leaves ;
and full exposure to sunlight is secured rather by their
special specific arrangement at the end of the minor
branches. Most often they are more or less ovate, as in
the elm, beech, alder, birch, and poplar. Where the
Fic. 42.—D.onza.
leaves are divided, the separate leaflets assume the ap-
pearance of almost entire leaves ; compare the leaflet of
the horse chestnut with the leaf of the true chestnut; the
leaflet of the ash with the leaf of the hornbeam; the
leaflet of the walnut with the leaf of the beech ; and the
leaflet of the mountain ash with the leaf of the black-
thorn. In all these cases, almost identical results are
practically produced in the end by similar circumstances
acting upon wholly unlike original types.
Some minor typical forms exist in certain groups of
climbers, which are worth a moment’s notice. Take as
an example the creeping leaves of ivy. As Jong as this
plant grows close to a wall or the trunk of a tree it
assumes the well-known shape shown in Fig. 39. But
‘as soon as it branches out its flowering sprays into the
, open, acquiring a tree-like habit, which it often does on
the top of a wall, it takes a simpler and totally different
form of leaf, as shown in Fig. 40, growing on the same
plant. This last type is quite comparable to that of the
pomegranate. That both types admirably suit their par-
, ticular situation can easily be seen by noting how well
they fit in with one another without overshadowing. It
would be difficult to point out the geometrical grounds
for this relation, but the relation itself becomes obvious
on watching an ivy-plant in broad sunshine. Moreover,
the first or truly ivy-like form of leaf tends to recur among
514
many plants which similarly press close toa flat surface.
In Veronica hederefolia we get it in a weed that climbs
over banks of earth ; in Zizaria cymbalaria we get it in
a trailer hanging upon stone walls; in Campanula hede-
racea and Ranunculus hederaceus we get it in a creeper
along the edge of rills or over soft mud. Compare in
each case other forms of the typical generic leaf, as seen
in germander speedwell, toadflax, harebell, and meadow
buttercup.
Another special climbing type, proper to more open
habits of twining round alien stems, is that of the com-
mon bindweed. This, the ordinary convolvulus form,
reappears exactly in so distant a plant as Polygonum con-
volvulus, whose habits are exactly similar. Even among
monocotyledons we get it closely simulated by Smz/ax,
with precisely like conditions, and somewhat less closely
by Zamus. Indeed, this form of leaf may be said to be
almost universal among lithe twining creepers.
The hop type belongs rather to mantling than to mere
twining climbers, It reappears under identical condi-
tions in the vine, and less closely in true bryony. More
subdivided into leaflets, it produces the Virginia creeper,
and many forms of clematis.
Among ground plants, it is only possible very briefly to
refer to the succulent types which abound in dry situa-
tions. A regular gradation may here be traced from
rich forms with rather thin, flat, ovate leaves, growing in
favourable situations, like Sedum telephium, through
dwarfish forms, with oblong leaves, like Sedum album, to
forms with knobby, globular leaves, growing in very dry
spots, like Sedum anglicum. Where the stem becomes
very succulent, the leaves may be dwarfed out of exist-
ence altogether, or reduced to prickles, as in those dry
desert plants, the cactuses. Compare some tropical
Euphorbias. Miscellaneous examples of these dry types
are also found among Mesembryanthemums and other
Ficoidez, natives of hot, sandy plains in South Africa.
The succulence here acts as a reservoir for water.
Special precautions are taken against evaporation. We
see the first symptoms of such a habit in some English
dry-soil saxifrages.
Proximity to the sea, whether the plant grows in sand
or mud, also tends to produce succulence. This effect is
seen casually in many seaside weeds, and habitually in
such cases as samphire, /xzla crithmoides, Spergularia
rubra, Cakile maritima,and common scurvy-grass. Seda
maritima is in this group the exact analogue of Sedum
anglicum, while Salicornia is similarly the analogue of the
leafless cactuses. Compare also Sa/sola kali. There is
a somewhat similar tendency to fleshiness in certain
freshwater weeds of moist spots, such as Chrysosplenium,
and many saxifrages.
In such a brief sketch as the present it is impossible to
do more than allude in passing to sundry more special
developments of leaves, for protective or other purposes.
One development of this character is seen in the growth
of prickly tips (Agave, Aloe, Salsola, Juncus acutus, Bro-
melia pinguin), or of prickly edges (thistles, Car/ina, holly,
Stratiotes, Dipsacus, Rubia peregrina). Such prickles
may be purely defensive, or they may assist the plant in
clambering (S¢e//ate, Smilax, hop). Again, the leaf as
a whole may be reduced toa prickle, as in gorse, where
the very young seedling has trefoil leaves like its allies:
but these give way gradually to entire lanceolate blades,
and finally to mere thornlike spines. Another very
different development is that of the insect-eating plants,
which grow in very boggy spots, and so require animal
matter not yielded them by the roots. Our English sun-
dew (Fig. 41) is an example of the first step in such a
process ; essentially its leaves belong to the obovate tufted
or rosetted type represented by the daisy, only a little
exaggerated; but they have been specialised for the
insect-eating function by the evolution of the little glan-
dular hairs. Even simpler is the type of the butterwort,
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
which belongs to the same foliar class as the London
Pride, Draba aizoides, Samolus Valerandi, Sempervivum
tectorum, &c., but with the edges folded over so as to
inclose its insect prey. From these simple forms we
progress at last to highly specialised types like Dionca
(Fig. 42), Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, Nepenthes, and
Cephalotus. Once more, the connate form in opposite
leaves (Dipsacus, Chlora) or the perfoliate in alternate
ones (Buplewrum) may be due, as has been suggested, to
the facilities these arrangements afford for storing a little
reservoir of water, which acts as a moat to protect the
flowers from climbing ants. But such minor selective
actions are too numerous and too diversified to be
noticed in full here; it must suffice to point out the
general principles upon which the forms of leaves usually
depend, leaving the reader to fill in the details in every
case from his own special observations.
GRANT ALLEN
FOSSIL ALG)
Pee publication of Saporta and Marion’s “ Evolution
of the Cryptogams” (see NATURE, vol. xxiv. p. 75,
558) has been followed by a work in which Dr. Nathorst
has endeavoured to prove that nearly the whole of the
supposed fossil marine Algae, especially from the older
rocks, are either tracks of Invertebrata or were produced
by mechanical agency. ‘ Floridez, Laminariez, Chon-
driteze, Alectorurideze, Arthrophycez, Bilobites, and other
algze ; comprising among them forms curious and remark-
able by the regularity of their branching thallus, their
phyllome with raised periphery and striated surface; all
had disappeared as if by enchantment, and in their place
there remained but tracks of Invertebrata, moving upon
the ooze, swimming or creeping, and impressing the ex-
tremities of their tentaculary palpze around them, or of
larvee gliding through the slimy mud.” When these are
insufficient, the movement of water acting on inert bodies,
or waving tufts of sea-weed, are appealed to, for no fossil
imprint either sunk or in relief, unless preserving car-
bonaceous matter, is admitted in Dr. Nathorst’s hypo-
thesis to have ever been a plant. This view is ener-
getically combated by Saporta in the present work. The
issue however does not very materially affect either the
general theory of plant-evolution, as traced by Saporta
and Marion, since this relies but little upon the evidence
of doubtful fossil algz, or the succession of marine alge in
time, which seems to have been probably Laminariez,
Fucacez, and Floridee. The main point in dispute is
whether the supposed. primordial alga, Eophyton and
Bilobites, are of vegetable or of other origin. There are
numerous @ friovi reasons for supposing plant life to
have existed in palzeozoic seas, and the complexity of life
seen in even the older rocks renders their presence almost
a necessity. The question is whether certain impressions
which are abundant in Silurian rocks reproduce some of
these forms, or whether we are still without indications
of the primeeval alge.
Dr. Nathorst appears to rely very greatly upon the fact
that many of these supposed sea-weeds are marked in
relief upon the under-sides of slabs, proving, as he sup-
poses, that they are the filling-in of furrows, and also
upon the very general disappearance of all trace of car-
bon. In denying the plant-origin of certain impressions
lately described as alga by Prof. Walter Keeping in the
Geological Magazine, he lays particular stress on the
former hypothesis. Saporta however devotes two or
three pages to clearing up this, as he believes, mis-
conception. The fact that very unmistakable impressions
of even terrestrial plants do occur in this condition, is
known to most collectors of them, and is explained by
the author as follows :—A plant-stem of sufficient sub-
™ «A propos des Algues Fossiles.’? Le Marquis de Saporta. (Paris: G.
Masson, 1882.)
March 29, 1883 |
NAT ORT.
Sy)
stance to resist pressure, but destined in the long run to
decompose, would, if resting on the sea-bottom, become
covered with sand or silt, if such deposit were taking
place. (@.) As the weight increascd above, its under-
surface \, ould become pressed into the bed upon which it
‘chanced to be resting. (6.) As it decomposed, infiltrated
sediment would replace the organic matter (c.), until
finally the decomposition being complete, the sediment
from above entirely fills in the space, leaving on the
under-surface a reproduction in semi-relief of the decayed
‘organism, while the upper part is merged in the sand.
we
SS a
x — a =
SSS
(d.) Instances of this form of fossilisation are by no
means rare, but cases in which all carbonaceous matter
has disappeared from vegetable impressions are still more
common, especially with sea-weeds, which, as M. Grand
’Eury has remarked, decompose into a semi-fluid gela-
tinous matter when imbedded in mud. Nor does the
destruction of carbon cease when the mass they are
buried in becomes consolidated, for percolating water
brings oxygen to them, which slowly destroys every
remaining vestige of organic matter.
The author is careful in the present work only to select
specimens for illustration about which little or no reason-
able doubt can exist. Commencing with impressions
from the Tertiaries of almost existing species of sea-weed,
he compares these with the more doubtful secondary Chon-
drites. The Chondrites of the Flysch, strongly impregnated
as they are with carbonaceous matter, are admitted on all
hands to be Alge, and the author asks how the same
origin can be denied to casts. of specifically identical
Chondrites of the Cretaceous, and so on to the Liassic
forms. The algous nature of most of those selected for
illustration is indeed so obvious that no shadow of doubt
respecting them can exist. The gigantic Liassic Lami-
narias with reticulated structure are more problematic,
but it seems at least highly improbable that any move-
ments of invertebrata could have produced such markings.
The Alectoruridz, an extinct group of algee which existed
from the Silurian into the Tertiaries, and their equally
extinct ally Glossophycus, whose vegetable nature is
even more apparent, may challenge reasonable criticism
on account of their divergence from recent alge. While
the algous nature of these, and many other types, is main-
tained, the author does not hesitate to acknowledge that
many forms which it was previously considered might be
alge, are probably tracks of invertebrates. He simply
holds that Dr. Nathorst’s generalisations are far too
sweeping, and in many cases utterly against the evidence.
The true nature of Bilobites, however, is still open to some
question. They are always preserved in semi-relief, a pro-
cess explained above, but the arguments, while abundantly
proving that they cannot be due to tracks of invertebrates,
fall short of absolute proof that they must be Algae, and
can be nothing else. In like manner the Eophyton of the
Lower Cambrian, alleged by Nathorst to be furrows made
by moving sea-weed on a muddy bottom, is almost proved
by its occasionally cylindrical form and interlacing frag-
ments, and wholly confined as it is to this most ancient
formation, to be something more than mere scratches
upon ooze, however produced, yet the evidence does not
prove conclusively that it is a plant. The discussion has
at least produced two most valuable works, the one serving
to show how even the most accomplished palzophytolo-
gists may be deceived in dealing with so perilous a subject
as fossil algze, and the other proving that in spite of nume-
rous errors, there is a considerable basis of truth in even
the most speculative branch of their science. J. S. G.
NOTES
WITH reference to the scheme of the Grocers’ Company for
the encouragement of sanitary research, it is stated that so far as
the administration of the scheme will involve scientific considera-
tions, the Court proposes to act with the advice of a committee of
eminent scientific men, and the following gentlemen have con-
sented to form the first committee :—Messrs. John Simon, C.B.,
F.R.S., John Tyndall, F.R.S., John Burdon Sanderson, M.D.,
F.R.S., and George Buchanan, M.D., F.R.S.
A PRIVATE test took place on Monday of a telephone between
New York and Chicago, a distance of 1000 miles, and the result
was a complete success. Previously the longest distance over
which a telephonic message had been sent was 700 miles,
between New York and Cleveland. The present result is not
due solely to the telephone, although that possesses some
novelty, but is mainly due to a novelty in the conductor, This
consisted, it is stated, of a steel wire core, copper plated, the
electrical resistance of which to Chicago was only 1522 ohms.
This new achievement is regarded as marking a new era in the
development of telephonic communication.
AFTER assuming threatening proportions, the eruption of
Mount Etna has almost subsided. Eleven new fissures had
opened on the side of the mountain, giving out smoke, scoriz,
and showers of small stones, accompanied by a rumbling sound,
and a trembling of the earth. Strong shocks of earthquake
were felt at various parts of the surrounding country, and
crevices were formed in the earth. A telegram from Prof.
Silvestri, dated the 25th, states that the eruption is without
importance and seems ceasing. Later news on Monday night
states that there is still cause for some uneasiness in respect to
Etna. The lava has not flowed, but has formed a new cone.
On Monday strong shocks of earthquake were felt at Pedara,
and slight ones at Catania. The site of the present eruption is
further down the mountain than any previous eruption in modern
times, and it is the first eruption which has occurred on the
southern side of the mountain for more than a century.
WE regret to record the loss to science of a gifted and ener- -
getic young worker through a gun accident. A telegram from
Hong Kong informs us that Mr. Frank Hatton, mineralogist and
scientific explorer for the British North Borneo Company was
killed by the accidental discharge of his gun while hunting in the
jungle. The deceased gentleman was the only son of Mr
Joseph Hatton, and gave promise of a brilliant and useful scien-
tific career. He was a student of the Royal School of Mines,
South Kensington, where he distinguished himself by the extra-
ordinary rapidity and accuracy with which he worked through
the course of studies in that institution. He was especially dis-
tinguished in the Chemical Section, in which he made and pub-
lished some valuable researches on Bacteria, &c., for which he
obtained the Frankland prize of the Institute of Chemistry,
entitling him to the degree of Associate. Mr. Hatton had great
linguistic aptitude, and this, with a considerable amount of
natural tact, contributed much to his success in dealing with the
natives of Borneo during his exploring expeditions for the
Company. During the last eighteen months he has explored
the greater part of the Company’s dominion, an area about as
large as France, without losing a man, and in regions in which
516
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
in many cases he was the only individual able to speak the
Malay and Dusun dialects. A large number of scientific ob-
servations and notes on climate, geology, &c., of Borneo made
during these expeditions will probably be published. Mr.
Hatton, who had scarcely attained his twenty-second year at the
time of his death, was a Fellow of the Chemical Societies of
London and Berlin and of the Asiatic Society.
THE Gothenburg Museum will be represented at the coming
Fisheries Exhibition by a magnificent selection of exhibits from
its Zoological Section, the expenses of which will be borne by
Dr. Oscar Dickson. This collection will be selected, arranged,
and taken care of to London by Dr. A. H. Malm of that
Museum. The collection will consist of the choicest gems of
the Museum, among which are five rare species of whales, and
the ichthyological fauna of the province of Bohus, a; well as
the well-known collection of herrings of various kinds and from
different countries belonging to the Museum, There will also
be sent a collection of skeletons of the fishes and birds compris-
ing the fauna of Southern Sweden. The entire selection made
by Dr. Malm is remarkable for its scientific accuracy, as well as
finish. He will also show privately a splendid collection of
Mollusca from the Cattegat.
THE Commission, consisting of Baron Norden<kjéld, Consul
Elfwing, and Prof. Gyldén, which the Royal Swedish Geo-
graphical Society had appointed to report on the question of an
international meridian and a common time, has come to the
conclusion that it would undoubtedly be a matter of great diffi-
culty to decide as to the former on account of national jealousies,
but it has offered a solution of the latter question which is
worthy of notice. Ifthe Greenwich meridian is fixed on as the
common one, it would strike a point 180° from Greenwich, east
of New Zealand, and if another circle is drawn 90° from Green-
wich, its western half would nearly touch New Orleans, and its
eastern a point a few minutes east of Calcutta. This system
would furnish four cardinal times, viz. one European, one
American, one Asiatic, and one Oceanic. As it would however
be necessary to find several mean times for Europe, Prof. Gyldén
proposes that twelve meridians be drawn from Greenwich,
which he numbers at intervals of 2}°, which will make the time
of the places falling under each differ from those under the
nearest meridian by 10 minutes of actual time. These meridians
as numbered would either touch the places mentioned below, or
fall so near them that the actual difference would be of no
consequence. The difference of time from 1om, is however
shown in the parentheses: No. 1, Paris (40s.); No. 2, Utrecht
and Marseilles (Im. 29s.) ; No. 3, Bern (t6s.) and Turin (42s.) ;
No. 4, Hamburg (6s.), Altona (14s.), Gottingen {14s.), and
Christiania (2m.); No. 5, Rome (50s.), Leipzig (26s.), and
Copenhagen (20s.); No. 6, Sweden (15s. from common mean
time); No. 7, Briez (Prussia); No. 8, Konigsberg (2m.) ;
No. 9, Abo (Im.) and Mistra (Greece) (5s.) ; No. 11, no place
of importance; No. 12, St. Petersburg (1m. 14s.), and Kiev.
Further east it is not suggested to carry the system. Should the
various European countries decide on adopting the mean time
of the nearest meridian they might be arranged as follows :—
No. 1 for France; No. 2 for Holland and Belgium ; No. 3 for
Switzerland; No. 4 for Norway and Western Germany; No. 5
for Denmark, Central Germany, and italy ; No. 6 for Sweden
and Austria; No. 7 for Eastern Germany ; No. 8 for Hungary ;
No. 9 for Poland and Greece ; No. 10 for Finland, Roumania,
and Bulgaria; No. 11 for Turkey; No, 12 for Eastern Russia.
West of Greenwich No. 1 would serve for Spain, and No, 3
for Portugal. By this system Prof. Gyldén thinks it would
be a simple matter for every one to remember that the differ-
ence between two meridians, as, for instance, between London
and Paris, was exactly 1o minutes. Prof, Gyldén also suggests
| :
that, for the convenience of travellers and others, all pu slic
clocks should be provided with: coloured rings showing the
differences of time between the various meridians.
THIs wiater, at a large number of private and official sozrées in
Paris, the electric light has been used from storage batteries in a.
very simple manner. The accumulators are carried in a vehicle
which is stationed in front of the house, and electric wires are
conducted into the building through the windows. Incandescent
lamps are placed in the ordinary candelabras, and the fitting of
the most complex lighting is an affair of a very few hours.
THE new Elphinstone-Vincent dynamo machine was shown
the other evening to a large party of visitors at Messrs. Unwin’s.
printing offices ; 411 Swan incandescent lights of twenty candle-
power being well sustained by an engine of not at all large
dimensions. The exhibition seems to show that the Elphinstone-
Vincent machine in its present form of maturity is one of con-
siderable merit. Its most notable feature is that the arma.ure
works between both external and internal magnets, that the
saddles of wire of which the armature is formed constitute a
very simple construction, that there is close proximity in the
working parts to the magnets, and that, all the parts of the
machine being duplicated, taking to pieces and repairing can be
most readily effected.
THE Commissioners on Technical Education—Mr. Woodall,
M.P., Mr. Samuelson, M.P., Mr. Wyer Smith, and Mr, Magnus,
with Mr, Redgrave, secretary—paid a flying visit to Edinburgh
last week. They visited, we understand, the Watt Institute—
where they were received by Prof. Fleeming Jenkin and Lord
Shand, to whom they expressed themselves highly satisfied with
the tuitional and other arrangements of the Institute—the
Museum of Science and Art, and Heriot’s Hospital. One half
of them afterwards inspected the Merchant Company’s Schools,
and the other half several of the Board Schools,
Tue Surveying Expedition, under the direction of M. de
Lesseps, has left Hamma, Tunis, and visited the mouth of the
Oued Melah, which is to form the outlet of the projected Inland
Sea Canal. It is declared that the result of the investigations
shows that the cutting of the earth may bz accomplished without
difficulty. : :
M. CocueEry, the Minister of Postal Telegraphy, presided over
the fir-t monthly dinner of French Electricians, which is to take
place on the 2st of every month, at the Café Durand. English
electricians wishing to join should communicate with the director
of L’Electricité, 16, Rue du Croissant, Paris. The president of
the meeting for April 21 will be M. Berger, ex-director of the
Electrical Exhibition of 1881.
A TELEGRAM from Copenhagen states that ‘‘ volcanic ashes ”
have fallen in the neighbourhood of Trondhjem, Norway, and
that a serious eruption of Mount Hecla is therefore supposed to
have taken place. If these ‘‘ ashes” are the dust referred to in
our note last week (p. 496), then they are not of a volcanic
character, according to the examination of Dr. H. Reusch of
Christiania University. On this subject a Glasgow correspondent
writes :—‘‘ My son, who is a passenger by the P. and O, steamer
Deccan to the East, writes on February 27, when the steamer was
in the Red Sea: ‘ Nothing of note oceurred till evening, when
G. and myself determined to sleep on deck, on account of
the heat. We accordingly did so, and retired to our bunks
about 4 a.m, ... During our sleep on deck we were much
annoyed by a quantity of small particles of dust which covered
our faces, pillows, &c., and indeed was spread all around. . . .
I am convinced it must have been a shower of lava dust, which,
it is well known, is often carried hundreds of miles from the
crater where it has origin, The dust was of hard particles.
March 29, 1883 |
NATURE
EA
aim convinced that lava dust it was, but can get no one to coin-
cide with my opinion.” Can this be a relation to the Norway
dust? Isee your Norway note says the wind blew strongly from
north-north-west, which would bear towards the Red Sea.”
M. NApo.t, electrician to the French Great Eastern Rail-
way, has published in the Aéronxawt an article showing that elec-
tricity supplies a less ponderous motive power than steam for
propelling balloons. He supposes that 3230 grammes of ma-
terial is enough to generate, by means of Bunsen elements, an
electric current able to give with a Gramme machine of a con-
venient construction one horse-power working during an hour.
ON the evening of February 28, at 8:40 p.m., two travellers
sledging over the Lesj6, a remote lake in Varmland, in Sweden,
saw a meteor of remarkable size and lustre fall about a mile off.
Their backs were turned at the time of its appearance, but its
luminosity was so strong that the whole country round was illu-
minated, and when they turned its brilliancy blinded them for a
fev seconds. Its track was marked by a vivid band, to the eye
one foot broad and three yards long, of a yellowish colour. The
meteor, after about five seconds, burst with a shower of sparks
of the same colour before striking the earth. The night was
perfectly clear.
THE Swedish Chamber of Agriculture has granted a Mr, A.
Carlsson 50/. for the practical study of English agriculture
during the coming season.
Ir is undoubted that Gramme was the first to construct a
dynamo-electric machine with continuous induction, using (inde-
pendently of Pacinotti) a ring-armature similar to Pacinotti’s
ring. But regarding the question, who it was that first produced
continuous dynamo electric currents, and so was the first to
combine experimentally the principles of Siemens and Pacinotti,
Prof. von Waltenhofen offers proof (Wied. Ann. No. 2) that
this priority belongs to Prof. Pfaundler of Innsbruck. In 1867
Herr Kravogl of Innsbruck showed his electromagnetic motor at
the Paris Exhibition; this consists of coils forming a hollow
ring which rotates round a horizontal axis, while it incloses a
bent cylindrical rod tending by weight to take the lowest position,
but kept suspended in a certain raised position by currents in the
coils, whereby also the ring is rotated. In a letter on this
machine in 1867 Prof. Pfaundler proposed to apply Siemens’s
principle to it, and get electric currents from mechanical work
of rotation (the battery being included at first with a shunt, then
quite excluded). This he tried and effecte| about three years
later, as a letter dated February 11, 1870, records. Thus
Pfaundler seems to have produced continuous dynamo-electric
currents before Gramme, and to have indicated the possibility of
getting such currents from the Kravogl ring machine in the same
year (1867) as Siemens’s invention of dynamo-electric machines
acquired publicity.
THE Committee of the Annonay Montgolfer celebration have
already collected 60,000 francs, and subscriptions are pouring in,
They have decided upon the publication of a special organ, of
which the first number will be issued in a few days. The cele-
bration will consist in the erection of a statue to the two
brothers, several ascents, the sending up of a Montgolfier similar
to the original one, and a cavalcade representing the provincial
officials, who wi'nessed the preceedings on June 5, 1783.
If seems to result from recent researches by A. W. Pehl,
brought before the Russian Chemical Socieiy, that the poisonous
action of the ergot, the bad effects of which are so often witnessed
in Russia, is due to putrefaction poisons called ptomaines, which
appear during the decomposition of the albuminoids in flour.
The ergot, that is the sclerotium of the small mushroom, C/avz-
cps purpurea, has energetic peptic qualities and thus would
directly contribute to the formation of ptomaines in the flour,
WE have received the last number of the Caucasian /zvestia,
which appeared at ‘Tiflis on February 24. I+ contains
several interesting papers; M. Stebuitzky contributes a paper
on the measurements by Parrot, in 1829, of the seconds pendu-
lum on the Great Ararat, and, introducing all necessary correc-
tions for rendering them comparable with recent measurements,
he arrives at the result that the length of the pendulun at the
monastery of St. Jacob on the Ararat is 440°1613 Paris lines.
The anomaly would be thus equal to 7°7 swings per day, and
corresponds to an elevation of geoide on the normal spheroid
of 855 metres. Compared with Tiflis (1343 metres), this
diminution of gravity would point out the existence of great
cavities in the Ararat. We notice also a paper on the changes
of height of the level of the Caspian Sea, by M. Filipoff;
measurements of heights in the villayet of Trapezunt ; comple-
mentary notes to the formerly-published anthropological
measurements, by M. Erxert ; and a summary of the first part
of M. V. Miller’s researches on the Osetian language. In the
bibliozraphical part we find an interesting sketch of the climate
of the Caucasus, on the ground of the meteorological observations
published by Dr. H. Wild in his work, ‘‘ Die Temperatur-Ver-
haltnisse des Russichen Reichs,” and a report, by M. Zagursky,
on Baron Uslar’s posthumous work on the Tabasatan language ;
it is a serious work, containing a very elaborate grammar of the
language, a list of words, and a chestomathy. The same
fascicule contains the necrologies of Dr. Land and Count Sol-
logoub, and a variety of notes. In the appendix we find a
translation of Mr. Palgrave’s reports on Anatolia and Lazistan,
which are considered as the more reliable with regard to
population,
A SERIES of shocks, lasting several seconds, believed at pre-
sent to be due to earthquake, were felt at Amsterdam at 5 am,
on March 17. The movement was in a vertical direction, and
caused mirrors and other pendent articles of furniture to
oscillate.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Common Wigeon (Mareca penelope $ ),
British, presented by Lieut.-Col. C. Birch Reynordson ; three
Sirens (Stren Jacertina) from South Carolina, presented by Mr.
G, E. Manigault; six Common Squirrels (Scturus vulyaris),
British, a Lemur (Zemurx ) from Madagascar, two Robben
Island Snakes (Coronella phocarum) from Robben Island,
South Africa, purchased ; a Gayal (Bidos frontalis), born in
the Gardens.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
THE Comet 1883 a.—From elements calculated by Dr.
Hepperger of Vienna upon observations extending from Feb, 24
to March 4, the following epheweris for midnight at Berlin
results :—
R.A. Decl. Distance from
hs) mses. A rl Earth. Sun.
March 30 ... 3 29 24 2ieAGr2... 1/407 -.. 1:073
31... 3 33 59 20 19°5
Aipril: AD 25 3) $ou25 20 50°3 ... 1°536 ... 1°098
2) SU AzEay: 20 21°4
EY 2c G5 LQU52:0) -22) 15 7Ouee baer
A 2-3 SONS ON LON 2453
I cee Sh! SR) ace | HEE Roman Ue ahs OTS)
6G: 31581402. 18 2976
Toe CAG 2 ES 2 LS) 227, ia.) LOS %. cre Ee ag
Oita) ROMER) een, 302
9 4 9 48 +17 Io0'2 ... 1°698 ... 1°204
The ascending node of this comet falls at a radius-vector of
about 2°36 in the region of the minor planets, the descending
node at a radius-vector of 1°12, or 0°14 outside the earth’s path ;
but, for the comet to passat its least distance from our globe, the
perihelion passage must occur about November 16.
518
WALTORE
[ March 29, 1883
THE MINok PLANET No. 228.—The nearest approach to the | combustion under the boiler, applied equally to the thermo-
earth’s orbit made by any one of the 232 small planets so far
known appears to occur in the case of No, 228, discovered by
Herr Palisa at Vienna on August 19, 1882. At the perihelion
point this planet may be distant from us only 0°662 of our mean
distance from the sun, and on this account would prove a
favourable object for a determination of solar parallax. But
unfortunately the brightness of the planet at discovery was only
12°5m., though the mean anomaly was then 14’, or the perihelion
passage took place five days subsequently. Hence it is very
questionable if such an object could be utilised for the purpose.
No. 132, £thra, has the smallest perihelion distance (1°6038),
but in consequence of the large angle between the lines of nodes
and apsides, and an inclination of nearly 25°, this planet is much
further from the earth’s track at perihelion than No. 228.
Andromache, No. 175, recedes furthest from the sun, the distance
at aphelion being 4°7234, or within 0°48 of the mean distance of
Jupiter.
Binary STars.—According to Dr. Doberck’s orbit of y
Coronz Borealis, this very difficult object should now be
measurable with our larger instruments, For 1883°5 the calcu-
lated position is 123°, and the distance 0°34. This object was
single, with the great refractor at Washington, from 1875 to
1879. In June, 1881, it was pronounced round, or doubtfully
elongated, by Mr. Burnham, who remarks, ‘‘Ir has been appar-
ently single with all apertures since about 1871.” Doberck’s
period of revolution is 954 years: periastron passage, 184377.
The following calculated angles and distances of several uther
binaries may serve for comparison with observations :—
Epoch. Star. Position. Distance. Sees
1882°5 ... » Cassiopeize 1633 5°52 ... Doberck.
s 161°8 5°38 =... Duner.
1882°5 ... ~ Bootis 268°9 3°56 .. Doderck.
1883°5 ... A 267 6 3°20 50
1882°5 ... w Leonis 86°5 0°60 55
188375 ... a Oo o-6r PA
1882°5 ... 7 Corone Bor.... 1409 O51 2p
1882°5 ... ¢ Herculis 105°9 1°43 os
1882°5 ... «” Herculis 297°3 O88) ee ns
1882°5 ... 70 Ophiuchi 63°5 2°98 ... Tisserand.
ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION OF FORCE
AND STORAGE OF POWER?
D*: SIEMENS, in opening the discourse, reverted to the
5 object the Council had in view in organising these occa-
sional lectures, which were not to be lectures upon general
topics, but the outcome of such special study and practical
experience as Members of the Institution had exceptional oppor-
tunities of acquiring in the course of their professional occupa-
tion. The subject to be dealt with during the present session
was that of electricity. Already telegraphy had been brought
forward by Mr. W. H. Preece, and telephonic communication
by Sir Frederick Bramwell.
Thus far electricity had beea introduced as the swift and
subtle agency by which signals were produced either by mecha-
nical means or by the human voice, and flashed almost instan-
tanevusly to distances which were limited, with regard to the
former, by restrictions imposed by the globe. To Dr. Siemens
had been assigned the task of introducing to their notice electric
energy in a different aspect. Although still giving evidence of
swiftness and precision, the effects he should dwell upon were
no longer such as could be perceived only through the most
delicate instruments human ingenuity could contrive, but were
capable of rivalling the steam engine, compressed air, and the
hydraulic accumulator, in the accomplishment of actual work.
In the early attempts at magneto-electric machines, it was
shown that, so long as their effect depended upon the oxidation
of zine in a battery, no commercially useful results could have
been anticipitated. The thermo-battery, the discovery of Seebeck
in 1822, was alluded to as a means of converting heat into
electric energy in the most direct manner; but this conversion
could not be an entire one, because the second law of thermo-
dynamics, which prevented the realisation as mechanical force
of more than one-seventh part of the heat energy produced in
* Abstract of lecture given at the Institution of Civil Engineers on
March 15 by Dr. C. William Siemens, F.R.S., M.Inst.C.E, Revised by
the author.
t
|
‘
i
electric battery, in which the heat, conducted from the hot points
of juncture to the cold, constituted a formidable loss. The electro-
motive force of each thermo-electric element did not exceed
07036 of a volt, and 1800 elements were therefore necessary to
work an incandescence-lamp.
A most useful application of the thermoelectric battery for
measuring radiant heat, the thermopile, was exhibited. By
means of an ingenious modification of the electrical pyrometer,
named the Bolometer, valuable researches in measuring solar
radiations had been made by Prof. Langley.
Faraday’s great discovery of magneto-induction was next
noticed, and the original instrument by which he had elicited
the first electric spark before the members of the Royal Institu-
tion in 1831, was shown in operation. It was proved that
although the individual current produced by magneto-induction
was exceedingly small and momentary in action, it was capable
of unlimited multiplication by mechanical arrangements of a
simple kind, and that by such multiplication, the powerful
effects of the dynamo-machine of the present day were built up.
One of the means for accompli-hing such multiplication was the
Siemens armature of 1856. Another step of importance was
that involved in the Pacinnoti ring, known in its practical appli-
cation as the machine of Gramme. A third step, that of the
self-exciting principle, was first communicated by Dr. Werner
Siemens to the Berlin Academy, on January 17, 1867, and by
the lecturer to the Royal Society on the 4th of the following
month. This was read on February 14, when the late Sir
Charles Wheatstone also brought forward a paper embodying
the same principle. The lecturer’s machine which was then
exhibited, and which might be looked upon as the first of its
kind, was shown in operation; it had done useful work for
many years as a means of exciting steel magnets. A suggestion,
contained in Sir Charles Wheatstone’s paper, that ‘‘a very re-
markable increase of all the effects, accompanied by a diminu-
tion in the resistance of the machine, is observed when a cross
wire is placed so as to divert a great portion of the current from
the electro-magnet,” had led the lecturer to an investigation read
before the Royal Society on March 4, 1880, in which it was
shown that by augmenting the resistanc+ upon the electro-mag-
nets a hundredfold, valuable effects could be realised, as illus-
trated graphically by means of a diagram. The most important
of these results consisted in this, that the electromotive force
produced in a ‘‘shunt-wound machine,” as it was called, in-
creased with the external resistance, whereby the great fluctua-
tions formerly inseparable from electric-are lighting could be
obviated, and that, by the double means of exciting the electro-
magnets, still greater uniformity of current was attainable.
The conditions upon which the working of a well-conceived
dynamo-machine must depend were next alluded to, and it was
demonstrated that when losses by unnecessary wire-resistance,
by Foucault-currents, and by iniuced currents in the rotating
armature were avoided, as much as 90 per cent., or even more,
of the power communicated to the machine were realised in the
form of electric energy, and that vice vers@ the reconversion of
electric into mechanical energy could be accomplished with
similarly small loss. Thus, by means of two machines at a
moderate distance apart, nearly 80 per cent. of the power
imparted to the one machine could be again yielded in the
mechanical form by the second, leaving out of consideration
frictional losses, which latter need not be great, considering that
a dynamo-machine had only one moving part well balanced, and
was acted upon along its entire circumference by propelling
force, Jacobi had proved many years ago that the maximum
efficiency of a magneto-electric engine was obtained when
; e w
OR Ge
which law had been frequently construed by Verdet (‘* Theorie
Mécanique de la Chaleur”) ani others to mean that one-half
was the maximum theoretical efficiency obtainable in electric
transmission of power, and that one-half of the current must
be necessarily wasted or turned into heat. The lecturer could
never be reconciled to a law necessitating such a waste of energy,
and had maintained, without disputing the accuracy of Jacobi’s
law, that it had reference really to the condition of maximum
work accomplished with a given machine, whereas its efficiency
must be governed by the equation
Gly
EW
From this it followed that the maximum yield was obtained
= nearly 1.
March 29, 1883 |
when two dynamo-machines (of similar construction) rotated
nearly at the same speed, but that under these conditions the
amount of force transmitted was a minimum. Practically the
best condition of working consisted in giving to the primary
machine such proportions as to produce a current of the same
magnitude, but of 50 per cent. greater electromotive force than
the secondary ; by adopting such an arrangement, as much as
50 per cent. of the power imparted to the primary could be
practically received from the secondary machine at a distance
of several miles. Prof. Silvanus Thompson, in his recent Cantor
Lectures, had shown an ingenious graphical method of proving
these important fundamental laws.
The possibility of transmitting power electrically was so obvious
that suggestions to that effect had been frequently made since the
days of Volta, by kitchie, Jacobi, Henry, Page, Hjorth, and
others ; but it was only in recent years that such transmission
had been rendered practically feasible.
Just six years ago, when delivering his pre-idential address to
the Iron and Steel Institute, the lecturer had ventured to suggest
that ‘‘ time will probably reveal to us effectual means of carrying
power to great distances, but I cannot refrain from alluding to
one which is, in my opinion, worthy of consideration, namely,
the electrical conductor. Suppose water-power to be employed
to give motion to a dynamo-electrical machine, a very powerful
electrical current will be the re-ult, which may be carried to a
great distance, through a large metallic conductor, and then be
made to impart motion to electro-magnetic engines, to ignite the
carbon points of electric lamps, or to effect the separation of
metals from their combinations, A copper rod 3 inches
in diameter would be capable of transmitting Icoo h.p. a
distance of say 30 miles, an amount sufficient to supply one
quarter of a million candle-power, which would suffice to
illuminate a moderately-sized town.” This suggestion had been
much criticised at the time, when it was still thought that elec-
tricity was incapable of being massed so as to deal with many
horse power of effect, and the size of conductor he had proposed
was also considered wholly inadequate. It would be interesting
to test this early calculation by recent experience. Mr. Marcel
Deprez had, it was well known, lately succeeded in transmitting
as much as 3 h.p. to a distance of 40 kilometres (25 miles)
through a pair of ordinary telegraph wires of 4 mm. diameter.
The results so obtained had been carefully noted by Mr. Tresca,
and had been communicated a fortnight ago to the French
Academy of Sciences. ‘Taking the relative conductivity of iron
wire employed by Deprez, and the 3-inch rod proposed by the
lecturer, the amount of power that could be transmitted through
the latter would be about 4ooo h.p. But Deprez had employed
a motor-dynamo of 2000 volts, and was contented with a yield
of 32 per cent. only of the power imparted to the primary
machine, whereas he had calculated at the time upon an electro-
motive force of 200 volts, and upon a return of at least 40 per
cent. of the energy imparted. In March, 1878, when delivering
one of the Science Lectures at Glasgow, he said that a 2-inch
rod could be made to accomplish the object proposed, because
he had by that time conceived the possibility of employing a
current of at least 500 volts. Sir William Thomson had at
once accepted these views, and with the conceptive ingenuity
peculiar to himself, had gone far beyond him, in showing before
the Parliamentary Electric Light Committee of 1879, that
through a copper wire of only 34-inch diameter, 21,0co h.p.
might be conveyed to a distance of 300 miles with a current of
an intensity of $0,000 volts. The time might come when such
a current could be dealt with, having a striking distance of
about 1°2 feet in air, but then, probably, a very practical law
enunciated by Sir William Thomson would be infringed. This
was to the effect that eleciricity was conveyed at the cheapest
rate through a convuctor, the cost of which was such that the
annual interest upon the money expeided equalled the annual
expenditure for lost effect in the conductor in producing the
power to be conveyed. It appeared that Mr. Deprez had not
followed this law in making his recent installations,
Sir William Armstrong was probably first to take practical
advantage of these suggestions in lighting his house at Cragside
during night-time, aud working his lathe and saw-bench during
the day, by power transmitted through a wire from a waterfall
nearly a mile distant from his mansion. The lecturer had also
accomplished the several objects of pumping water, cutting
wood, hay, and swedes, of lightung his house, and of carrying
on experiments in electro-horticulture from a common centre of
steam-power. The results -had been most satisfactory; the
NATURE
319
whole of the management had been in the hands of a gardener
and of labourers, who were without previous knowledge of elec-
tricity, and the only repairs that had been found necessary were
one renewal of the commutators and an occasional change of
metallic contact brushes.
An interesting application of electric transmission to cranes,
by Dr. Hopkinson, was shown in operation.
Amongst the numerous other applications of the electrical
transmission of power, that to electrical railways, first exhibited
by Dr. Werner Siemens, at the Berlin Exhibition of 1879, bad
created more than ordinary }ublic attention. In it the current
produced by a dynamo-machine, fixed at a convenient station
and driven by a steam-engine or other motor, was conveyed to a
dynamo placed upon the moving car, through a central rail sup-
ported upon insulating-blocks of wocd, the two working-rails
serving to convey the return current. The line was goo yards
long, of 2-feet gauze, and the moving car served its purpose of
carrying twenty visitors through the Exhibition each trip. The
success of this experiment soon led to the laying of the Lichter-
felde line, in which both rails were placed upon insulating
sleepers, so that the one served for the conveyance of the current
from the power station to the moving car, and the other for
completing the return circuit. This line had a gauge of 3 feet
3 inches, was 2500 yards in length, and was worked by two
dynamo-machines, developing an aggregate current of 9go0o
Watts, equal to 12 h.p. It had now been in constant operation
since May 16, 1881, and had never failed in accomplishing its
daily traffic. A line half a kilometer in length, but of 4 feet
$3 inch gauge, was established by the lecturer at Paris in con-
nection with the Electric Exhibition of 1881. In this case
two suspended conductors in the form of hollow tubes with a
longitudinal slit were adopted, the contact being made by
metallic bolts drawn through these slit tube’, and connected
with the dynamo-machine on the moving car by copper ropes
passing through the roof. On this line 95,000 passengers were
conveyed within the short period of seven weeks.
An electric tramway 6 miles in length had just been com-
pleted, connecting Portrush with Bush Mills in the north of
Treland, in the installation of which the lecturer was aided by
Mr. Traill, as engineer of the Com,any, by Mr. Alexander
Siemens, and by Dr. E. Hopkinson, representing his frm. In
this instance the two rails, 3 feet apart, were not insulated from
the ground, but were joined electrically by means of copper
staples and formed the return cireuit, the current being conveyed
to the ear through a T iron placed upon short standards, and
insulated by means of insulite caps. For the present the power
was produced by a steam-engine at Portrush, giving motion to a
shunt-wound dynamo of 15,0co Watts = 20 h.p., but arrange-
ments were in progress to utilise a waterfall ofample power near
Bush Mills, by means of three turbines of 40 h.p.seach, now
in course of erection. The working-speed of thi line was
restricted by the Board of Trade to 10 miles an hour, which
was readily obtained, although the gradients of the line were
decidedly unfavourable, including an incline of 2 miles in
length at a gradient of 1 in 38. It was intended to extend the
line 6 miles beyond Bush Mills, in order to join it at Dervock
station with the north of Ireland narrow-gauge railway system.
The electric system of propulsion was, in the lecturer’s
opinion, sufficiently advanced to assure practical success under
suitable circumstances—such as for suburban tramways, elevated
lines, and above all lines through tunnels, such as the Metro-
politan and District Railways. The advantages were that the
weight of the engine, so destructive of power and of the plant
itself in starting and stopping, would be saved, and that perfect
immunity from products of combustion would be insured. The
limited experience at Lichterfelde, at Paris, and with another
electric line of 765 yards in length, and 2 feet 2 inches gauge,
worked in connection with the Zaukerode Colliery since October,
1882, were extremely favourable to this mode of propulsion,
The lecturer however did not advocate its prospective application
in competition with the locomotive engine for main lines of
railway. For tramways within populous districts the insulated
conductor involved a serious difficulty. It would be more
advantageous under these circumstances to resort to secondary
batteries, forming a store of electrical energy carried under the
seats of the car itself, and working a dynamo-machine con-
nected with the moving wheels by means of belts and chains.
The secondary battery was the only available means of pro-
pelling vessels by electrical power, and considering that these
batteries might be made to serve the purpose of keel ballast,
520
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
their weight, which was still considerable, would not be objec- |
tionable. The secondary battery was not an entirely new con-
ception. The hydrogen gas battery suggested by Sir Wm. Grove
in 1841, and which was shown in operation, realised in the
most jerfect manner the conception of storage, only that the
power obtained from it was exceedingly slight. The lecturer, in
working upon Sir William Grove’s conception, had twenty-five
years ago constructed a battery of considerable power in substi-
tuting porous carbon for platinum, impregnating the same with
a precipitate of lead peroxidised by a charging current. At that
time little practical importance attached, however, to the sub-
ject, and even when Plante, in 1860, produced his secondary
battery, composed of lead plates peroxidised by a charging
current, little more than scientific curiosity was excited. Jt was
only since the dynamo-machine had become an accomplished
fact that the importance of this mode of storing energy
had become of practical importance, and great credit was
due to Faure, to Sellon, and to Velckmar, for putting this valu-
able addition to practical science into available forms. A ques-
tion of great interest in connection with the secondary battery
had reference to its permanence. A fear had been expressed by
many that local action would soon destroy the fabric of which it
was composed, and that the active surfaces would become coated
with sulphate of lead preventing further action. It had, how-
ever, lately been proved in a paper read by Dr. Frankland
before the Royal Society, corroborated by simultaneous investi-
gations by Dr. Glad-tone and Mr. Tribe, that the action of the
secondary battery depended essentially upon the alternative
composition and decomposition of sulphate of lead, which was
therefore not an enemy, but the best friend to its continued
action.
In conclusion, the lecturer referred to electric nomenclature,
and to tke means for measuring and recording the passage of
electric energy. When he addressed the British Association at
Southampton, he had ventured to suggest two electrical units
additional to those established at the Electrical Congress in
1881, viz., the Watt and the Joule, in order to complete the
chain of units connecting electrical with mechanical energy and
with the unit-quantity of heat. He was glad to find that this
suggestion had met with favourable reception, especially that of
the Watt, which was convenient for expressing in an intelligible
manner the effective power of a dynamo-machine, ard for giving
a precise idea of the number of lights or effective power to be
realised by ils current, as well as of the engine power necessary
to drive it : 746 Watts represented 1 h.p.
Finally the Watt-meter, an instrument recently developed by
his firm, was shown in operation. This consisted simply of a
-coil of thick conductor suspended by a torsion wire, and opposed
laterally to a fixed coil of wire of high resi-tance. The current
to be measured flowed through both coils in parallel circuit, the
one representing its quantity expressible in Ampéres, and the
other its potential expressible in Volts. Their joint attractive
action expressed therefore Volt-Amperes or Watts, which were
read off upon a scale of equal divisions.
The lecture was illustrated by experiments, and by numerous
diagrams and tables of results. Measuring instruments by
Professors Ayrton and Perry, by Mr. Edison and by Mr. Boys
were also exhibited.
FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE ALEUTIAN
ISLANDS
HE last number of Matwren contains an interesting report
by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger of the result of his six months’
observations of the fauna and flora of the Kamschatkan coast
and of the so-called Kommandorski Islands, which form the
western group of the Aleutian archipelago between Behring’s
Sea and the Pacific, in 50°-55° N. lat. The Kommandorski
group consists of two islands, one of which is known as Mednoj
Ostrov, Copper Island, from the large amount of the pure metal
found there ; while the other, which was the scene of Behring’s
shipwreck and death, bears his name. Both islands are geolo-
gically allied to Kamschatka, and excepting at the north of
Behring’s Island, where the gradual subsidence of the sea has
left raised beaches, terraces, and tabulated rock-formations, the
islands consist generally of deep narrow valleys separated by
rocky barriers, which rive precipitously to a height of from 1000
to 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The islands, which
were uninhabited before their annexation by Russia, are now
occupied by about 700 persons, in the employment of a Russo-
American fur company, which has been attracted to the spot by
the enormous numbers of sea-bears (Cal/orhinus ursinus) and
sea-oiters (Enhydra lutris) which frequent the coasts. ‘The
climate is foggy, and the vegetation stunted and _ sparse,
while in the neighbouring Kamschatkan territory the blue
of the summer sky, the stillness of the sea, and the
softness of the air, are almost Italian in character.
The flora, moreover, is so exuberant that numerous plants,
which in Norway never exceed two or three feet, here attain the
height of a tall man. Next to the birch (Betula ermannt),
alders, willows, and roans (Soréus Kamschaticus), are the most
frequent trees, the berries of the last-named, and those of
Lonice-a cerulea, p ssessing a sweetness which brings them into
great request among strangers as well as natives. Some flowers
also, as the wild, indigenous, dark red r se, several rhododen-
drons, and native lilies, are .:qually remirkable for exceptional
fragrance. Among wild flowers, some of the geraniuas, poten-
tillas, taraxacums, &c., are almost identical with those found in
Norway. Besides a large whale, and a specimen of the walrus
(Rosmarus obesus), which had been killed near Avatscha Bay, Dr.
Stejneger could find no trace of any mammal but a small specimen
of Arvicola economus. Of birds there is, however, an enormous
variety, some of which, as Calliope Kamschatica, Carpodacus Ery-
thrinus, and a kind of sedge-warbler, provisionally named by the
author ‘* Acrocephalus dybowskii,” combine an almost tropical
brilliancy of colouring with a sweetness of song equal to that
of our own nightingale or thrush. Besides these melodious
warblers, Kamschatka harbours large numbers of Locustella
lanceolata, whose grasshopper-like cry is heard when all else is
still. Cuculus canorinus represents our common cuckoo.
Pipits, chats, and wagtails abound; Larus capistratus is com-
moner than any other gull, and the osprey is not unfrequent.
Mosquito- like gnats of vindictive natare swarm in such numbers
as to make the pursuits of the field naturalist almost impractic-
able. The fauna, generally, is palzarctic in character, with
a scarcity of American forms which is very remarkable when we
consider the vicinity of the western continent.
PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE DEAD SEA,
THE FORDAN VALLEY, AND PALESTINE
ROF. E. HULL, LL.D., F.R.S., delivered an interesting
lecture on the above subject on March 2, in the Theatre of
the Royal Dublin Society’s premises, Kildare Street. Prof.
Hull said :—‘‘ There is no country which possesses for us an
interest equal to that which I have to treat of this evening. Its
religious and historical associations stand alone amongst those of
all nations, and will ever maintain in the history of the world an
undying import. But while this is true as regards the religious
and social aspects of Pale-tine, I hope to show that in its physical
aspect it possesses points of interest which render it unique
amongst all countries, and which have attracted to it the atten-
tion of naturalitts during a lengthened period down to the
present day. Probably no country has been so often described.
Its physical features have attracted the attention of observers of
natural phenomena from Strabo downwards to the recent admir-
able work of M. Lartet and the Duc de Luynes, to which I am
largely indebted. In more recent times we have the observations
of Humboldt, of the late Dr. Hitchcock, of Lieut. Lynch of the
United States Navy, who carried out a systematic series of
soundings over the bed of the Dead Sea, and more recently of
the Rev. Dr. Tristram, of Prof. Roth, Burkhardt, and others,
including the Survey made by the officers of the Royal Engi-
neer. It is curious however that the remarkable physical
phenomenon which renders the Holy Land unique among-t all
countries (regarded in its physical aspect) was not discovered till
the year 1836-37, when Lleinrich Von Schubert and Prof. Koth
determined by barometric observations that the surface of the
Dead Sea lies no less than 1300 feet below the level of the
Mediterranean, a fact not suspected by previous observers. It
is the deep depression of the Jordan Valley, deeper by far
than any river valley elsewhere, which is the key to the
physical history of the whole country ; and in endeavouring to
trace out its origin I shall reproduce in as general a manner as I
can the successive phases through which the region bordering the
Medit:rranean, and extending eastwards towards the Euphrates
and : outhwards to the Dead Sea, has passed. The fundamental
basis of the geological formation of Palestine is the gneissic
granite, of Archzean age and metamorphic origin, which rises into
the wountains of Idumea, and is the rock from which the huge
°
March 29, 1883]
NATURE
521
monoliths of Egypt have been hewn, such as Cleopatra’s Needle’
the obelisk of Luxor, and the columns which adorn the Piazza
of Venice. This foundation rock formed part of a conti-
nental area down to the Carboniferous period, when it was sub-
merged, and a great sandstone formation was spread over it
known as ‘‘the Nubian sandstone.” After another interval of
time the sandstone itself was overspread by limestone deposits
of Cretaceous and Tertiary aze, deposited over the floor of the
ancient sea, and down to the close of the Eocene period the
‘waters of the sea overspread the greater portions of Asia Minor,
Palestine, and the adjoining districts of the Asiatic and African
continents. The first appearance of Palestine and the adjoining
districts asa land surface dates from the succeeding Miocene
period, when the bed of the sea was upraised into dry land, and
at the same period a great fissure corresponding with the line of
the Jordan valley was produced. Along this fissure, which has been
traced from the Lebanon southwards towards the Gu'f of Akaba
—the strata on the eastern (or Moabite) side have been relatively
elevated : those on the western relatively depressed ;—so that
the strata on the opposite sides of the Jordan valley and the
Dead Sea do not correspond with each other. This great fissure
is the key to the physical formation of the whole region, because
it gave origin to a river which once flowed down from the
mountains of Lebanon—southwards through the Gorge of
Arabah (discovered by Burkhardt)—into the Red Sea in
a remarkably straight line running north and south for
a distance of over 250 miles. This is now the Jordan.
The depression of the valley continuing through the succeeding
Pliocene epoch, the district of the Ghor and the Jordan valley
was conveyed into a lake, which Prof. Hull considered ulti-
mately extended from the southern end of the Dead Sea, north-
wards nearly to the Lake Merom, and included the Sea of
Galilee. This lake would then have had a length of 160 miles
and an average breadth of ten miles. During ‘‘the Pluvial
period,” which succeeded ‘the Glacial,” the waters probably
reached their maximun elevation, and contiiued to flow south-
wards through the Gorge of Arabah and the Gulf of Akaba into
the Red Sea; but from the increasing dryness of the climate
they gradually decreased, and the surface of the Inke became
contracted, and ultimately reduced to its existing limits. During
this lowering of the surface, the remarkable terraces noticed by
most travellers were formed. Dr. Tristram has taken the baro-
metric level of several of these above the Dead Sea. They
range up to 750 feet, and even higher. They appear to be un-
doubtedly old lake margins, and indicate the successive levels at
which the lake stood. The 750-foot terrace very closely corre-
spoads to the summit-level of the Gorge of Arabah. When the
waters were reduced so iow as not to pass through the Gorge of
Arabah, they became brackish, and ultimately salt—the salinity
increasing as the area became diminished. Al] lakes not having
an outlet become saline; and the contrast of the waters of the
Sea of Galilee and those of the Dead Sea form a striking illus-
tration of the law just stated. The saline ingredients in the sur-
face waters of the Dead Sea are 24°57 lbs. in 1oolbs. of the
water, while that of the Atlantic only contains 6 lbs. in the
same quantity. The Dead Sea water is therefore over four times
as strongly impregnated with salts as that of the ocean, and in
the deeper waters the salinity amounts to sataration, as saline
deposits are forming over the floor of the Dead Sea. This re-
markable inland sea had assumed somewhat of its present con-
tracted dimensions, and was known as ‘‘the Salt Sea” as far
back as the time of the Patriarch Abraham. Near its borders
stood the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah—not beneath
its waters, as was often supposed—but near its upper margin.
With the call of Abraham the political and religious history of
Palestine begins, and the narrative of the physical historian
ends.
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS
American Fournal of Science, March.—The selective absorp-
tion of solar energy, by S. P. Langley.—New locality of the
green turquois known as chalcuite, and:on the identity of
turquois with the callais or callaina of Pliny, by W. P. Blake.
—On portions of the skeleton of a whale from gravel on the
line of the Canada Pacific Railway near Smith Falls, Ontario,
by J. W. Dawson.—The cobwebs of Uloborus, by J. H.
Emerton.—Glacial drift in the Upper Missouri River region, by
C. A. White.—Late observations concerning the molluscan
fauna and the geographical extent of the Laramie group, by the
i
same.—The Sphingide of North America, by A. R. Grote.—
** Rotational coefficients” of various metals, by E. H. Hall. —
Recent exploration of the voleanic phenomena of the Hawaiian
islands, by C. E. Dutton.
Journal of the Russian Chemical and Physical Society, vol. xiv.
fase. 9.—On several ethylenic hydrocarbons, and on their action
on water, by M. A. Eltekoff. Of the compounds of the series
C,,H,,0, the oxides are the least known, and it still remains in
doubt as to those described by MM. Bauer, Wiirtz, Jekyll, and
Clermont being true oxides and not ketones ; M. Eltekoff studied,
therefore, the action on water of seven compounds of this series.
He arrives at the conclusion that the characteristic features of
oxides do not disappear, as seemed formerly to be the case, in more
compound oxides containiny even as much as six equivalents of car-
bon. Their capacity of entering in direct compounds with water
diminishes, however, in proportion as the molecule becomes
more complicated.—Oa the oxidation of sulphur used for
covering the vineyards, by M. A. Bazaroff.—On the evaporation
of liquids, by M. Sreznewsky. Evaporation of benzol, ether,
ethyl-alcohol, chloroform, and sulphur of carbon at different
temperatures. The paper will be continued.—On the critical
temyerature and pressure of water, by M. O. Strauss. The
average of a series of observations gives for the critical tempera-
ture of water 370°, with a probable error of 5°. The critical
pressure would be 195°5 atmospheres. —Hist »rical sketch of the
work accomplished by the Physical Society during its ten years’
existence, by M. N. Hesehus.—On the te nperature of the
absolute vaporisation of liquids, by M. Nadejdin.—Oa the
spheroidal state of liquids, by M. D. Diakonoff.—Minutes of
proceedings.
Rivista Scientifico-Industriale e Giornale del Naturalista,
January 15.—The glossograph of S. GentilliimInfueace of
ozone in agriculture, by S. Ziano.—The radiometer and school
experiments, by C. Rovelli.—Fossil elephants in the district of
Parma.—Simple holohedral forms of the rhombohedral system,
by M. de Lupo.
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienzz e Lettere. Rendiconti, vl.
xvi. fasc. i.—Meteorological résumé of the year 1882, calculated
on observations made at the Royal Observatory of Brera, by E.
Pini.—The frost of 1882 considered in its agrariin and meteoric
aspect, by E. Ferrario.—Results of observations on the ampli-
tade of diurnal oscillation of the declination-needle made during
1882 at Brera Observatory, by G. Schiaparelli—On the action
of metallic iodide on leuci1e and other like substances, by G.
Korner and E. Menozzi.
Fasc. ii.—Property of a class of functions with more variables
than are presented in dynamics in the case of permanent motion,
by C. Formentii—On some plane involutions, by E. Bertini.—
Generalisation of a theore n on the analytical representation of
substitutions, by A. Grandi.
Schriften der Physicalisch-Okonomischen Gesellschaft zu
Konigsberg. 1880, first part; 1881, first and second parts.—
Geological investigation of the North German level country,
especially East and West Prussia, in the years 1878-80, by A.
Jentzsch.—Contributions to a knowledge of the Silurian Cepha-
lopoda found in the East and West Prussian diluvial formations,
by H. Schréder.—Rugous corals in the same formation, by G.
Meyer.—The scales of our fishes, by B. Benecke.—On some
diluvial and alluvial diatom-layers of North Germany, by P. T.
Cleve and A. Jentzsch.—The underground portion of the North
German level country, by A. Jentzsch.
Verhandlungen der Naturhistorischen Vereines der Preuss
ischen Rheinlande und Westfalens, 1882 (first half).—Further
observations on fertilisation of flowers by insects, by H. Miiller.
—On the various systems of measurement of elestric and mag-
netic quantities, by R. Clausius.—The lower Devonian strata of
Olkenbach, by O. Follmann.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, March 8.—‘* Notes on the Absorption of
Ultra-Violet Rays by various Substances,” by Professors Liveing
and Dewar.
These notes contain some records of ultra-violet absorptions
in addition to those which have been examined by Soret,
522
NATURE
[| March 29, 1883
Hartley, M. de Chardonnet, and other investigators, For these
observations the spark of an induction coil, with Leyden jar,
between iron electrodes, was generally used as the source of
light. The lines of iron are so multitudinous, and so closely set
ina large part of the ultra-violet region of the spectrum, that
they form almost a continuous spectrum, at the same time there
are amongst them a sufficient number of breaks and conspicuous
lines to serve as points of reference. The optical train used was
wholly of quartz, and the spectra were all photographed.
Chlorine in small quantity shows a single absorption band
extending from about N (3580) to T (3020). As the quantity of
chlorine is increased this band widens, expanding on both sides,
but rather more rapidly on the less refrangible side. Different
quantities of chlorine produced absorption from about H (3968)
to wave-length 2755, from wave-length 4415 to 2665, and from
wave-length 4650 to 2630. With the greatest quantity of
chlorine tried, the absorption did not extend above wave-length
2550.
Bromine vapour in small quantity absorbs light up to about L
(3820), and is quite transparent above that. With larger quan-
tity the absorption increases, gradually extending with increase
of bromine vapour from L to P (3360); and at the same time
there is a gradually increasing general absorption at the most
refrangible end of the spectrum beginning at about wave-length
2500; so that the denser bromine vapour is transparent for a
band between wave-length 2500 and 3350.
Liquid bromine in very thin film between two quartz plates is
transparent for a band between wave-length about 3650 and
3400, shading away on both sides, so that below M on one side
and above P on the other the absorption seems complete. The
transparency of the liquid film ends on the more refrangible side
just where that of the vapour begins.
Iodine vapour tolerably dense cuts off all within the range of
our photographs below wave-length 4300, and its absorption
gradually diminishes from that point up to about wave-length
4080; from that point it is transparent. Denser vapour pro-
duces complete absorption up to 4080 and partial absorption
above that point.
Comparing the absorptions of the three haloid elements, the
principal band shifts towards the less refrangible side with
increasing atomic weight, as Lecoq de Boisbaudran has noticed
in the case of lines corresponding to one another in the spectra
of groups of similar metals.
Iodine dissolved in carbon disulphide is transparent for a band
between G and H, cutting off all above and below. It is not
possible to tell how much of the light above M (3727) is absorbed
by iodine in such a solution, inasmuch as carbon disulphide is
opaque for rays more refrangible than M,
Iodine dissolved in carbon tetrachloride when the solution is
weak shows only the absorption due to the solvent, described
below. More iodine increases the absorption until it is complete
above P (3360), with shading edge as far down as about wave-
length 3400.
Sulphurous acid gas produces an absorption band which is
very marked between R (3179) and wave-length 2630, and a !
fainter absorption extending on the less refrangible side to O
(3440), and on the other side to the end of the range photo-
graphed, wave-length 2300.
Sulphuretted hydrogen produces complete absorption above
wave-length 2580. Below that a partial general absorption.
Vapour of carbon disulphide in very small quantity produces
an absorption band extending from P to T, shading away at
each end; no absorption in the higher region. With more
vapour the absorption band widens, extending from about wave-
length 3400 to 3000, and a second absorption occurs beginning
at about wave-length 2580, and extending to the end of the
range photographed.
Carbon tetrachloride liquid produces an absorption band with
a maximum about R, extending, but with decreasing intensity,
up to Q (3285) on one side, and to s (3045) on the other. In
the higher region there is a second absorption sensible about
wave-length 2600, and increasing in intensity up to about wave-
length 2580, beyond which point it is complete.
Chlorine peroxide gives a succession of nine shaded bands, at
nearly equal intervals, between M and S, with faint indications
of others beyond. In the highest region this gas seems quite
transparent.
A slice of chrome-alum a quarter of an inch thick is trans-
parent between wave-lengths 3270 and 2830; its absorption
rapidly on the more refrangible side than on the other, and be-
comes complete below about wave-length 3360 and above wave-
length 2730.
A very thin plate of mica shows absorption beginning about
S (3100), rapidly increasing above U (2947), and complete above
wave-length 2840.
A thin film of silver precipitated chemically on a plate of
quartz transmits well a band of light between wave-length about
3350 and 3070, but is quite opaque beyond those limits on both
sides.
A thin film of gold similarly precipitated merely produces a-
slight general absorption all along the spectrum.
The difference between the limits of transparency of Iceland
spar for the ordinary and extraordinary rays, inferred from
theory, was found to be very small, and hardly to be detected
without using a considerable thickness, three inches or more, of
the spar.
The authors had expected to be able to apply the well-known
photometric method by means of polarised light to the compari-
son of intensities of ultra violet rays. Ordinary Nicol’s prisms
are not applicable to ultra-violet rays on account of the opacity
of the Canada balsam, with which they are cemented, so Fou-
cault’s prisms were used. Upon taking photographs of the
spectrum of the iron spark through this pair of prisms at various
inclinations between the planes of polarisation of the two prisms,
it was found that for the whole range between the position of
parallelism and the inclination of 80° there was no sensible dif-
ference of effect upon the photographic plate, though the length
of exposure was in all cases the same. For inclinations between
80° and go° there was a sensible and increasing diminution in the
photographic effect as the planes of polarisation of the polariser
and analyser were more nearly at right angles to one another.
It seems to follow from this that the full photographic effect on
the dry gelatine plates used ensues when the intensity of the
light reaches a certain limit, but that for intensities of light
beyond that limit there is no sensible increase in the effect until
the stage of solarisation is reached,
Chemical Society, March 15.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in
the-chair.—Dr. Gilbert will resign the presidential chair at
the end of the session.—The Council have proposed Dr. W.
H. Perkin to fill the vacancy, and Mr. J. Millar Thomson
to be Secretary.—The following papers were read :—On some
condensation-products of aldehydes with aceto-acetic ether
and with substituted aceto-acetic ethers, by F. E. Matthews.
The author has studied the following reactions : condensations
of aceto-acetic ether with isobutylic aldehyde, valeric aldehyde,
chloral furfurol, acrolein; of benzoic aldehyde with aceto-
diethylacetic ether, aceto-dichloracetic ether, and aceto-benzili-
dene-acetic ether, and of benzoic aldehyde with aceto-mono-
ethylacetic either.—Contribution to the chemistry of ‘‘ Fairy
Rings,” by Sir J. B. Lawes, Dr. Gilbert, and Mr. Warington.
The authors have analysed samples of the soil inside the ring,
on the ring, and outside the ring. The soil inside is much poorer
in organic carbon and nitrogen than the soil outside the ring ;
the soil at the ring itself is intermediate in character as to car-
bon and nitrogen, but contains a larger quantity of nitrates.
The fairy ring fungi seem to derive and assimilate nitrogen from
the soil; this nitrogen is eventually deposited as manure at the
ring, and becomes available to the associated herbage, which
thereby acquires the characteristic dark-green colour.—On lines
of no chemical change, by Dr. Mills and Mr. D. Mackey. The
authors have investigated the strength at which sulphuric acid
ceases to attack zine at certain temperatures.—On homologous
spectra, by W. N. Hartley. The author has photographed and
mapped the spectra of various elements belonging to the same
homologous series, e.g. magnesium, zinc and cadmium, calcium,
strontium and barium, &c., especially with a view to finding out
whether the striking similarity in such spectra was due to har-
monic vibrations of a common fundamental vibration. The
author concludes that -the data contained in the paper support
the view that elements whose atomic weights differ by a constant
quantity, and whose chemical character is similar, are truly
homologous, or in other words, are the same kind of matter in
different states of condensation,
® Cornu (‘Spectre Normal du Soleil,” p. 23, #o¢e) mentions that such
films of silver are transparent for rays about A= 270, which is a good deal
too high. Chardonnet (Comptes Rendus, February, 1883) states that the
band extends from Oto S. W. A. Miller (PA??. Trans. 1863) noticed that
gradually increases on both sides of those limits, but rather more | a silver reflector failed to reflect a band in the ultra-violet.
|
March 29, 1883 |
Linnean Society, March 1.—Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
president, in the chair.—The following gentlemen were elected
Fellows of the Society :—W. B. Barrett, L. J. K. Brace, J. B.
Bridgman, W. O. Chambers, W.E. Clarke, W. Godden,
F. H. H. Guillemard, J. C. Havers, T. M. Hocken, C. H.
Middleton Wake, James Stirling, and Rev. P. W. Wyatt.—
Two pieces of North American yellow pine were exhibited for
Mr. R. M. Middleton, which displayed on their surface a great
number of depressions like fine shot holes. These were doubt-
fully supposed to be produced by insect depredations. —Mr.
W. T. Thiselton Dyer called attention to and made remarks on
the dried leaves and rind of the fruit of oranges from the
Bahamas, partially destroyed by the Mytilaspis citricola,
Packard.—Mr,. R. F. Towndrow showed examples of a new
variety of Rosa stytosa, obtained at Madresfield, near Malvern,
by Mr. A. D. Melin. This variety is evergreen, and its fruits
ripen in the second year.—Mr. Alfred W. Bennett read a paper
on the constancy of insects in ther visits to flowers.—Then fol-
lowed a communication on the methodic habits of insects when
visiting flowers, by Mr. R. M. Christy, see notice (p. 498).—
The Secretary, Mr. G J. Romanes, read some observations on
living Echinodermata. He stated that star-fish possess a sense
of smell which is not localised in any particular organs, such as
the ocelli, but is distributed over the whole of the ventral sur-
face. The function of the Pedicellariz was shown by some
further experiments, corroborative of those already published by
him in the Phzlosophical Transactions, to be that of seizing upon
and arresting the movements of fronds of seaweed in order to
give the pedicels time to establish their adhesions. It was also
shown that the righting movements of echinus, when inverted
on its aboral pole (which are performed by means of the
pedicels) are due to central coordinatixn proceeding in part
from the pentagonal nerve-ring surrounding the mouth, and in
part from central nerve-matter distributed along the course of
the radial nerve-trunks. One of the experiments whereby the
fact of such central coordination (depending on a sense of gravity)
was proved consisted in rotating an inverted echinus upon a
wheel moving in a vertical plane. It was found that whatever
phase in the righting manceuvre the echinus might have attained
at the moment when the rotation commenced was maintained
so long as the rotation continued, but the manceuvre was re-
sumed so soon as the rotation was allowed to cease. The paper
concluded with an account of the effects of the various nerve
poisons on the Echinodermata,—There followed in abstract the
17th part of the Rey. R. Boog Watson’s memoir on the mol-
lusca of the Challenger expedition ; therein he deals with the
family Pyramidellide, describing twenty-three new species of
the genus Zudima, and one of the genus S¢y/ifer.
Geologists’ Association, March 2.—Mr. W. F. Stanley
read a paper upon the pos-ible causes of the elevation and
subsidence of the earth’s surface. In this he offered an hypothesis
that both the rising and sinking of land was entirely due directly
or indirectly to the action of our great common motor, the sun.
But most particularly for the greatest effects to the elevation of
aqueous vapour, and to its after deposition as snow about the
poles of the earth. The deposition of snow was assumed at the
present time to reach a considerable altitude at the south pole,
and in this position by its gravity to react as a pressure upon
the interior mass of the earth, which was assumed to be in a
highly heated viscous or semi-liquid state, and to be surrounded
by a somewhat rigid crust of 200 miles or so in thickness. The
crust was assumed to offer a certain amount of resistance to
internal and external pressures, beyond which it was deflectable
upon or from the viscous interior. The pressures from continued
accumulation of snow at the poles acting as an hydraulic pressure
upon the interior mass were assumed to be distributed in such a
manner as was evident by elevation of land in volcanic and
plutonic action, so that the earth could remain approximately
under the conditions present, a symmetrical spheroid whose
outward figure would constantly represent a natural resultant of
the action of gravitation upon all its parts, and of the tangential
force of such parts in revolution. It was argued that the
stability of the land-surface was entirely due to sermanent
elevation by volcanic and plutonic action, and that if this did not
exist the effects of atmospheric denudation would reduce the
land surface within moderate geological time to a nearly level
swampy plane. It was further discussed that if the interior of
the earth is metallic, which has been reasonably inferred from
its high specific gravity (about 5°6), then it would consist of a
heat-conducting material, so that, beyond the non-conducting
NATURE
523
coating, which we term the crust, a certain degree of heat would
be reached which might henceforth remain uniform throughout
the interior mass. The crust would therefore be that portion of
the exterior which was oxidised into a non-conducting coating in
which the interior heated mass would conserve its heat with
little loss. It was further argued that if the interior were a
viscous mass the reaction of hydraulic pressure upon it, as from
great accumulation of ice at either pole, would be made most
evident about the most deflectable parts of the crust, so that the
central mass might remain static, and if this was assumed by the
presence of enormous pressure to form a practically incompres-
sible semi-liquid, it would in this state possess enormous rigidity.
Mr. Stanley further discussed the conditions of continuity of
voleanic action throughout all time that the earth bas existed as
a cooling globe with a solid crust accumulating ice at either of
its poles, and that the periods of greatest glaciation at either pole
would be the periods of greatest volcanic eruption and elevation.
Dr. Croli’s theory of displacement of the earth’s centre by polar
glaciation was shown not entirely to coincide with observation, in
that the coast of Greenland was sinking, and the coast of
Nerway, in the same latitude, was rising whereas by this theory
of displacement of the earth’s centre, the present accumulation
of ice at the south pole should cause both of these parts to be
rising equally. Mr. Stanley held that the cause of the coast of
Greenland sinking was the weight of the present accumulation
of ice upon that continent, which represented on a small scale a
polar pressure system such as he had discussed.
Royal Horticultural Society, March 13.—Sir J. 1}.
Hooker, K.C.S.I., in the chair.—Potato-disease ; Dr. Masters
read a portion of a paper on this subject forwarded to him by
Mr. A. Stephen Wilson, and having especial reference to the
“*sclerotia ” which Mr, Wilson has discovered in nearly all the
organs of the adult plant, as well as in the seedlings and tubers.
The sclerotia are supposed to germinate and lie in a state of
incubation in the haulm. Ultimately they give rise to the
conidial threads. The conidia form, according to circumstances,
either (1) zoospores, (2) plasm granules, or (3) secondary conidia.
These are succeeded by oospores and a non-parasitie mycelium,
from which latter, as it creeps through the soil, are thrown out
“floats” and specks of the seminal plasm. The seed-tuber
comes into contact with the plasm in the soil, which is absorbed ard
becomes developed in the shape of sclerotia, and thus the life-
cycle is completed. From the tuber or seed to the conidia is the
parasitic arc. From the conidia to the tuber is the non-parasitic
arc. The author illustrated his position by what happens in the
case of cereals, wherein the plasm, say, of smut or rust, is ab-
sorbed by the cells of the scutellum or cotyledon, passes through
a period of gestation and then germinates. Mr. G. Murray
observed that a microscopical examination did not clearly reveal
any organic connection between the sclerotia and the perono-
spora mycelium, and thought that possibly they might prove tu
be glandular bodies of some kind, and belonging to the potato
itself. Moreover they could not be true sclerotia in the fungoid
sense, as the latter are a compact mycelium.—Retinospora pistfiva
and FR. plumosa: Mr. Noble sent a specimen exhibiting sprays
of both of these supposed species on the same plant. Dr. Mas-
ters remarked that the latter is the young form, while the former is
the adult, and that a microscopical examination showed a corre-
spondingly different distribution of the stomata, being more
numerous in . plumosa.—Funiperus Chinensis: He also sent
a male spray taken from a female plant; the sexes in this
species being normally quite distinct.— Garrya elliptica grafted on
Aucuba Faponica : Mr. Noble forwarded a specimen showing
the stock and the graft united. Mr. Henslow observed that this
was an instance where physiological affinity corroborated the
morphological; in that while Endlicher had placed Garrya
between the hop and the plane, Bentham and Hooker assigned
its position in the ‘‘ Gen, Plantarum” next to Aucuba ; but the
discovery of its power of grafting on Aucuba was purely acci-
dental, having been made by a gardener in Mr, Veitch’s nurseries.
—Carica, hybrid: Mr. Green, gardener to Sir G. Macleay, sent
ripe fruits and foliage of a plant grown from seed furnished by
M, Van Volxem of Brussels, It is a hybrid of the second
generation, the first being raised from C. erythrocarpa, im-
pregnated with the pollen of C. cundinamarcensis (from
Colombia). From the fruit of this cross seedlings were raised,
which were impregnated with pollen from the last named species,
or from the hybrid itself. Some of the fruits supplied by Mr.
Green contained apparently good seed. Mr. Henslow has tried
the effect of the foliage on meat, that of the ‘‘ Papaw,”
524
NATURE
[March 29, 1883
os a .t.;_ cow TO
C. papaya, having the well known property of rendering it
tender. He wrapped a piece of steak in a leaf for twenty-four
hours, and it was quite effectual in softening it, and when cooked
was pronounced excellent, though some thought there was a
somewhat peculiar flavour as compared with a similar piece not
wrapped up.
MANCHESTER
Literary and Philosophical Society, January 9.—H. E.
Roscoe, F.R.S., &c., president, in the chair.—Dr. Joule said
that he had, in December, 1882, made a fresh determination of
the freezing-point in a sensitive thermometer constructed thirty-
nine years ago. During that time the point had risen about 1°
Fahrenheit, and although now rising very slowly, was not even
yet quite stationary, having risen 1/40 of a degree Fahrenheit
since November, 1879.
January 23.—J. P. Joule, F.R.S., vice-president, in the
chair,—Remarks on the simultaneous variations of the barometer
recorded by the late John Allan Broun, by Prof. Balfour
Stewart, F.R.S.—A paper was read entitled ‘‘ Jeremiah Horrox
and William Crabtree, the Observers of the Transit of Venus in
1639,” by Mr. John E. Bailey, F.S.A.
February 6.—Prof. Balfour Stewart, F.R.S., in the chair.—
Note on the vapours of incandescent solids, by Henry Wilde.—
Remarks on Prof. Osborne Reynolds’ paper on isochronous
vibrations, by Robert Rawson, Hon. Member, Assoc, I.N.A.,
Mem. of the London Mathematical Society.
February 20.—H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S., &c., president, in the
chair. —Mr. R. D. Darbishire, F.G.S., read a note upon the
Mammoth Cave, by Mr. G. Darbishire.
BERLIN
Physiological Society, February 23.—Prof. Du Bois
Reymond in the chair.—Prof. Lucae, induced by the per-
ception of a low noise when, in the open country, a strong
wind blew against his ear, has long experimentally studied
this phenomenon, investigating sounds and noises which arise
on blowing into the external auditory meatus. He ob:erved
in normal ears which were closed with a sound tympanic
membrane a moderately high noise, the pitch of which
could not exactly be determined. When the tympanic mem-
brane was stretched, the noise was somewhat higher and piping ;
when, on the other hand, the tympanic membrane was broken
through or was absent, so that in the experiment the large air-
space formed by the middle ear with the large cellular air-spaces
beyond was blown into, he then heard a very deep noise. This
great difference between the proper tone of the external auditory
meatus and that of the large irregularly-formed air-space behind
the membrane Prof. Lucae has verified both in all suitable patients
and in dead bodies. An estimate of the relation of resonance of
the ear cavities was obtained when, upon a spherical resonator
which gives the tone c, on blowing, a short open cylinder was
placed, which, blown into separately, gives the tone c,; when
this combination was jointly blown into, the considerably deeper
tone 7 washeard. When, however, between sphere and cylinder,
a stretched membrane of caoutchoue was introduced, and the
system blown into, there was heard again a higher tone, 7. The
influence here exercised by the degree of tension of the membrane
could not be determined. To bring this schema of the air-spaces
of the ear still nearer to the natural conditions, dry sponge was
placed in the spherical resonator, the cavities of this material
corresponding to the bone cells communicating with the middle
ear; the pitch of the tone on blowing was not thereby much
altered. ‘The determination of the proper tone of the tym-
panum and the influence of these conditions on audition are
further engaging the author’s attention.—Dr. Pohl Pincus had
explained at a previous meeting of the Society that in the non-
vascular frog heart two groups of muscular fibres with different
action must be distinguished. The one class of fibres surrounds
the fissures of the heart-wall, which perform the function of the
vessels and admit the nutritive liquid to the tissue (vessel-
muscles) ; the others, by their regular contractions and dilatations,
act in the way of moving the blood (proper heart-muscles), The
contraction of the first kind of muscles closes the fissures and
produces paleness of the heart-wall, and their dilatation opens
the fissures, lets the blood penetrate into the substance of the
heart, and reddens the heart-wall ; while the action of the second
group of muscles produces systole and diastole of the heart.
Now the actions of these two kinds of muscles—the heart-vessel
muscles and the proper heart-muscles—are not simultaneous and
similar under the influence of local stimuli, removal of the brain,
section of the spinal cord in different places, and poisons ; some-
times the heart-walls were observed to be pale in diastole and
deep red in systole, and there were various other local differences
of behaviour. This led the author to seek also an anatomical
difference of the two groups of muscles, and he found one such
on microscopical examination, for the proper heart-muscle fibres
were cross-striped throughout and had long cell nuclei, whereas in
the others the cross-striping did not comprise the whole width of
fibres, and the nuclei were oval. With this anatomical difference
the different mode of reaction of the two kinds of muscles and
their different function is intelligible.
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, January 4.—The fol-
lowing papers were read :—G. Haberlandt, on the physiological
anatomy of milk-tubes.—T. Wiesner, on the entering of the
winter-buds of creeping blackberry-shoots into the soil, and on
the mechanical cause of this process.—F. Rathay and B, Haas,
on Phallus and Caprinus.x—A, y. Obermayer, on diffusion of
gases (third paper).
January 11.—F. Enrich, on the action of bile acids on albumen
and peptones, and on their antiseptic effects.—T. Haubner, on
the logarithmic potential of an uninsulated elliptic plate—A.
Lieben and S. Zeisel, on the products of condensation of propion-
aldehyde and its derivatives.—F. Anton, determination of the
orbit of the Cassandra planet (114).—T. Ehrmann, on the for-
mation of adipose tissue by the fat-organs, named winter-sleep-
glands.
January 18.— C. Rabl, contribution to the history of develop-
ment of Prosobranchiata.—F. Brauer, systematic studies based
on the Diptera-larvze, with a description of new species (third
part).—R. Andreasch, on the oxidation of bases obtained by
the action of halogen-compounds on thio-urea,—T. Freydl, note
on the dry distillation of tartaric and citric acid with an excess
of lime.—C. Pelz, on the determination of the outlines of warped
screw-planes.—G. Goldschmidt, on the products of decomposi-
tion of the anhydrides of salicylic acid by distillation.—F. N.
Dafert, on amylbenzol.
February 1.—W. Biedermann, contributions to general nerve
and muscle physiology (tenth communication); to the know-
ledge of secondary contraction.—A. Belohoubek, on erystallised
potassium hydroxides.—T. Blaas, contributions to the know-
ledge of natural water containing double sulphates.—T. Hep-
perger, determination of the orbit of Schmidt’s nebulz.— M.
Kretschy, on the oxidation of kynurine and kinurenic acid.
CONTENTS PaGE
Tue American ASSOCIATION. By Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. « 501
PrincsHEtm’s BoTaNnicaL YEAR-BooKS. By Prof. W. R. McNas 502
Our Boox SHELF:—
Brocklehurst’s ‘‘ Mexico To-day” ..... . . + =» = « 503
LETTERS TO THE EpiroR:—
The Matter of Space, II.—Prof. A. S. Herscuer (With
Diagram). 256 Vey fel eine fn es ad hs Nish ae ee
Mr. Stevenson's Observations on the Increase of the Velocity of
_ the Wind with the Altitude. —E. DouGias ARCHIBALD . 506
On the Formation of Mudballs.—Prof. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S. 507
Snow Rollers.—G. J. Symons, F.R.S. ; F. W. Grey . ee ey
Incubation of the Ostrich.—Prof. H. N. Mose Ley, PRS.) ee) a2:
Holothurians.—J. G. GRENFELL . . - - - - «= + « + + 508
The British Circumpolar Expedition —Dr. J. Rar, F.R.S.. . - 508
Meteor BROWN) uel unite) osteitis 508
Mimicry.—Dr. PAuL HENRY STOKOE . . +. + ss = =) L505
Threatened Extinction of the Elephant.—Epwarp E. PRINCE 509
A Curious Case of Ignition.—M. . . - - « © + © + + «© = 509
StncinG, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING, I. By W. H. Strong,
M.D: FREGiDioe so cae pin ist arch con el anutlet xrau o/h (ont EeD
ACCLIMATISATION OF Eprpre MorrusKs. By Dr. J. Gwyn
Jerrreys, FIRIS. oe ee ws 8) eee ihe) eens
Tue ALFIANELEO METEORITE) <) «) <) so 0) le) +) = (>) ose een
Tue Suares oF Leaves, IV. By Grant ALLEN (With Jélustrations) 51x
Fossit AtG@ (With Illustration) . . . + + bthey ton thie bes ree
Notes. .« Sebo OAaOec sie . 515
Our ASTRONOMICAL CoLUMN:—
TheiCometixS83ia) (205 elas ey oe) see 517
The Minor Planet No. 228 . . - - «© «© © © © 518
Binary Stars) fee he) my fe kon ee ee 518
ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION OF FORCE AND STORAGE OF Power. By
Dr. C. WILLtAm SIEMENS, F.R.S. . . . + « a it ev - 518
FAUNA AND Fiora OF THE ALEUTIANISLANDS . . + + + + «© +. 520
Puysicat History or THE DEAD SEA, THE JORDAN VALLEY, AND
PALESTINE) © cs) 0m a Soh blmiel ols) We ia tatedl pike n> oe > Laees) Oe
ScCHENTIFIC/SERIALS).) 0) co, Gen =) tye eee et deus Ue 5 5 521
SociztT1zs AND ACADEMIES . Bree. Hine Chae s bORG 521
NARBO RL
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1883
FIRE-FOUNTAINS
Fire-Fountains,; the Kingdom of Hawaii, its Volcanoes,
and the History of its Missions. By C. F. Gordon
Cumming. In two vols. 8vo. (Edinburgh and Lon-
don: William Blackwood and Sons, 1883.)
ISS GORDON CUMMING has, in the work
before us, given a most lively and interesting
account of the Sandwich Islands. The large amount of
experience which she has gained during five years of
almost continual travel among the islands of the Pacific
has enabled her to make careful comparisons between
the physical features, the productions, and the populations
of the different groups. In her two previous works, “A
Lady’s Cruise in a French Man-of-War,”’ and “At Home
in Fiji,” our authoress has given us her impressions of
Tahiti and the Fiji Islands respectively.
It is evident that Miss Gordon Cumming’s first senti-
ments on arriving in the islands were those of disappoint-
ment. In productiveness, in the picturesque character of
their scenery, in the beauty of their coral reefs, and in
richness of flora, the Hawaiian Islands must cer-
tainly yield the palm to the Archipelagos of the Pacific.
Even Kilauea itself failed to satisfy the traveller’s
expectation, for at the time of her first visit the fires of
Halemaumau seemed to be almost extinct. Fortunately
these first feelings of disappointment were to some extent
removed by what the authoress subsequently witnessed
during her long sojourn in the country.
The title of ‘‘ Fire-Fountains” may perhaps lead a
geologist to anticipate a more than usually exact account of
the volcanic phenomena of these interesting islands. The
extreme liquidity of the Hawaiian lavas enables them—as
Dana, Brigham, Coan, and others have so well shown—to
be thrown up into actual “fountains,” and such jets have
been witnessed both in Kilauea and Mauna Loa, rising
to the height of several hundred feet. Any expectations
of scientific accuracy in the account of the volcanic phe-
nomena are, however, dispelled when we turn to the work
itself. Miss Gordon Cumming’s descriptions are wonder-
fully graphic, and a small amount of geological training
would have enabled her to avoid popular errors, and em-
ploy accurate instead of misleading terms, thus making
them valuable records of the phenomena she witnessed.
Unfortunately, as in so many similar cases, this small
amount of previous training was wanting.
The first part of the work consists of descriptions of
the physical features of the group and of the charac-
teristics of the inhabitants, and here the authoress largely
relies upon her own observation, and furnishes us with
many instructive comparisons with Tahiti and Fiji.
The second part of the book, which contains a history
of the islands and of missionary enterprise in them, is of
course compiled from published works, the information
thus acquired being supplemented by facts derived from
independent sources, such as letters and conversations.
The visit to Kilauea has been so often described that it
may seem difficult to understand how any ordinary tra-
veller can find anything new to say on the subject. But
Miss Gordon Cumming had the good fortune (though she \
VOL. XXvII.—No. 7o1 ;
525
does not seem to have appreciated it at the time) to see
the crater under somewhat exceptional conditions, as the
following account will show (vol. i. pp. 164, 165) :—
“ After traversing three miles of this strangely varied
lava-bed we reached the base of that inner circle of crags
which within the last few months have been thrown up
all round the central crater—z.e. the Halemaumau. So
rapidly have they been upheaved, that they now form a
ring 600 feet in height; and up this steep ascent we
had to climb in order to look into the Lake of Fire.
“Tt was a toilsome ascent over very brittle lava; but
Roback kept cheering me by telling me what a grand
sight awaited me, and that he had never seen the lake in
finer action than last week. So we climbed over coils
of huge hollow vitreous lava-pipes, which constantly
broke beneath our weight, and over ridges which looked
to me like gigantic sugarsticks pulled out and twisted—
and at last we gained the summit, and looked eagerly for
the much-described Lake of Fire.
“THERE WAS NONE! at least nothing worth speaking
of, in the first instance. I turned to look at my guide,
and he stood staring in stupefied, bewildered amazement.
He could not believe his own eyes. Only a few days had
elapsed since he had led a party of Americans to the very
spot where he now stood beside me in speechless wonder
at the change.
“They had watched the blood-red waves dashing in
scarlet spray against the cliffs on the farther side of the
lake of molten fire, then rushing back to form a mad
whirlpool in its centre, and thence, as if with a new
impulse, flinging themselves headlong into a great cavern
which undermined the lava-terrace just below the spot
where I was now standing.”
This was written on October 29, 1879, but three days
afterwards the authoress has a very different state of
things to chronicle (vol. i. pp. 186-189) :—
“ November ist.
“Last night was Hallowe’en—the great fire-festival of
our ancestors—and here it has been celebrated in right
royal style, for the fire-spirits have broken loose and are
holding high revel.
“The flow is increasing rapidly and is magnificent.
The fire has burst out at so many points together that it
has formed a new lake in the outer crater, in which fire-jets
are spouting and molten lava thrown high in mid-air,
great masses of red-hot solid lava being tossed to a height
of from forty to fifty feet, while from the overflowing rim,
or from weak points in the sides of the lake-basin, flow
rivers of lava, forming a network of living, rushing fire,
covering fully two square miles of the very ground over
which I was walking only two daysago. It is a scene of
marvellous beauty and is inexpressibly fascinating.
“From the edge of the crater-wall I have watched
each stage in the growth of this strange new lake. I have
seen it gradually rise higher and higher, till at last it
overflowed in glowing streams, like rivers of golden
syrup, but brighter far—an indescribable colour. The
centre of the lake is oftenest of a silvery grey, only
crossed by zigzag lines of flame colour and deep rosy
red; but all round its shores it is continually surging and
upheaving great crested billows, which break in fiery surf
and toss up clouds of fire-spray. Sometimes the whole
lake appears to be in a tremendous commotion—heaving
and trembling as if acting obedient to some pressure from
the furnace below.
“ About a dozen cones have formed in and around the
lake, each a distinct fire-fountain, yet all flameless—only
merrily flinging about the molten metal: a bouquet of
rare fireworks.
“These cones are miniature volcanoes—spouting liquid
lava in the most sportive manner, playing gracefully like
true fountains—spouting like intermittent geysers, and
AA
-
526
WAT ORE
[April 5, 1883
falling in showers of red hail—sometimes silently, some- |
times with puffing and spluttering, varied with a roar like |
an angry bull; then a hush, followed by low moaning sobs. |
“Some of these explosive forces have not built them-
selves chimneys, or, if they have, the lake has melted
them, for they only betray their existence by suddenly
bursting beneath the surface, like torpedoes, and tossing
up red rockets.
“From the crag above I looked down upon a heaving,
restless expanse of dull red almost entirely coated over
with a silvery-grey scum, intersected by flowing rivers of |
red gold. The ceaseless movement beneath the surface
kept up a glancing, gleaming play of white and red light,
glistering like quicksilver in motion. Sometimes there
came a swirling eddy, like the rush of a Highland stream.
“Then, again, the lava seemed to writhe and twist as
if in agonised contortions, and then commenced a violent |
boiling and bubbling preparatory to its bursting into
active fire-fountains These play sometimes singly, some-
times alternately, sometimes a dozen burst into simul-
taneous action—like some marvellous display of rockets,
flinging their fiery rain on every side, then dying away
altogether, till the silvery coating spreads so evenly over
the surface of the lake, that, but for the sulphureous ex-
halations and columns of smoke, it might almost be |
mistaken for some cool refreshing pool. In truth, the
white vapours which play so eerily among those black |
rock-masses, might well be morning mists floating upward
from a quiet mountain-tarn.
“This, however, is a delusion not to be cherished for
long, especially towards sunset ; for then the lake appears
in its true glory, and all the wonderful chemical colours |
which were lost in the full light of day reveal themselves,
the difference of the scere before and after sundown
being that of any huge smelting works, as seen by day
or by night, only magnified ten thousand times. Then
the scale of colour varies from deepest chocolate, crimson, |
and scarlet, to orange, yellow, and primrose tints, and |
the silvery grey becomes tinged with pink and violet, while
the solid rocks become ever more intense in their black-
ness; and the many-tinted sea plays around them, and
dashes over them, and from time to time detaches some
huge fragment, which falls with thunderous crash, rever-
berating from crag to crag.
“ As the twilight faded away, my kind landlord rigged
up blankets and lanterns to make me a snug sketching-
point on the hill above this house, whence I could watch
the glory undisturbed, and attempt to preserve notes in
colour, which may give you and others an idea, however
faint, of the amazing scene before me. A full moon
added its cool, pure light to the lurid crimson glow, which
was reflected on all the overhanging clouds, as well as on
the column of white steam which for ever rises from the
Halemaumau itself; and these clouds, being visible at a
distance of many miles, must have declared plainly to
our friends in Hilo that there was unusual activity at
Kilauea.”
The authoress of this work did not reach the summit
crater of Mauna Loa, but at the end of her book she has
collected from various sources a tolerably complete
account of the great outbursts of 1880 and 1881.
The details given in this volume concerning the abori-
ginal inhabitants and their manners and customs—or
rather, we should say, of the total want of the former and
the utter “ beastliness ” of the latter—is interesting to the
anthropologist. The judgments of the authoress upon
historical questions are by no means unfair, and if she
does not follow American writers in treating Capt. Cook’s
visit as an act of piracy and his fate as a just retribution, |
she clearly points out that the death of the great naviga-
tor followed as a natural consequence of the sad mis-
| ordinary missionary productions.
understanding between the English and the natives.
From the traditions of the natives we can now fill in
many details of the story, and explain certain matters
which Cook, in his total ignorance of the language of the
people, could scarcely guess at. In this and in the sub-
sequent transactions between the English under Capt.
Vancouver, and the Hawaiians, it must be confessed that
the natives were treated with but scant justice at the best,
and in too many instances with wanton cruelty and
tyranny.
The admirable illustrations of this work constitute one
of its most valuable features. They are reproduced by
| the autotype process from the sketches of the authoress.
The frontispiece, showing the low rounded dome of
Mauna Loa, with Kilauea on its flanks, is one of the best
representations of this most wonderful district which we
remember to have met with. The indefatigable traveller
who has now become an acknowledged favourite with the
| public may be heartily congratulated upon the success of
this latest production of her busy pen and pencil.
OUR BOOK SHELF
Africana, or the Heart of Heathen Africa. By the Rev.
Duff Macdonald. 2 vols. (London ; Simpkin, Marshall,
and Co., 1882.)
NOTWITHSTANDING a large amount of professional com-
monplace, this work rises considerably above the level of
The author, who ad-
ministered the Church of Scotland Mission at Blantyre,
south of Lake Nyassa, during the years 1878-81, applied
himself diligently to the study of his dusky flock, and has
embodied his experiences chiefly in the first volume, de-
voted to the ‘‘ native customs and beliefs.” The second
is occupied more specially with “ mission life,’? and with
the inevitable difficulties and troubles entailed upon the
writer in consequence of his accepting a position which
from the first he felt to be untenable.
Since his enforced retirement from active work, Mr.
Macdonald has usefully occupied his time in arranging
for publication some of the rich materials collected during
| his stormy missionary life. Most of these materials, being
| Hot, I sweat.’
the result of original observation in a new field not yet
disturbed by contact with Europeans, possess great
scientific value. The descriptions of the native manners,
customs, beliefs, superstitions, and traditions are as inter-
esting as they are trustworthy, and they are supple-
menied by two appendixes, which may be specially
commended to the attention of all lovers of folk-lore.
These comprise numerous selections of original “ native
tales’’ and ‘‘ cosmical tales,’’ literally translated from the
author’s manuscript collection of tales, songs, enigmas, &c.,
the whole of which it is to be hoped he will be induced to
publish. Some of the tales accounting for natural phe-
nomena have at least the merit of brevity, as, for
instance, that about the wind: ‘‘A great man had a
daughter, and she said, ‘ Father, in this country I am
Then her father said, ‘Come here, my
child, I have pity, I will blow with my breath.’ So he
blew, and thence came wind ”’ (i. 283).
It is sad to learn that trial by ordeal and torture is still
as universally practised as it was in Europe during
medizeval times. ‘“ When a Magololo suspects his wives,
he places a stone in a jar of boiling water or oil, and
orders them to fetch it up with their barearms. He then
judges of their guilt by the amount of injury they sustain.
When a woman is thus convicted, he makes her confess
who seduced her. In vain does the helpless creature
protest that she is innocent. Notwithstanding that her
arm is severely scalded, she is subjected to the most cruel
April 5, 1883 |
NAT ORE
527
torture by akind of thumbscrew (#éanz/o), which is applied
to her head. Asmall tree is partly divided along themiddle,
the skull of the poor woman is inserted as if it were
a wedge for splitting the tree still farther. Great pressure
is exerted by forcing the halves of the tree together with
the aid of pulleys” (i. 201). This of course has the
wished-for effect, and as in the “ processus inquisitorii,’’
the wretched victims ‘dum propria sua confessione
contra se pugnare coguntur sul ipsius proditores torte
constituuntur.” : A. H. K.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Natural Selection and Natural Theology
I READ with interest, in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 362, the reply
made by Dr. Romanes to a letter of mine which, although not
originally addressed to a scientific organ, found hospitable
reception in your columns. It was not much out of place there,
for it was essentially an inquiry whether certain inferences may
or may not sczentzfically be drawn from certain premisses. I am
not wholly without hope of making it clear that the criticisms
which I ventured to bring forward are grounded in reason; and
confining my rejoinder strictly to the issue joined, I may hope
not to be long nor very tedious. Let me trust that no curtness of
statement will imply any want of the great respect which I
entertain for an able investigator and writer, whose view may be
imperfectly apprehended, or may bear an interpretation I should
accede to.
The issue is a narrow one, and there is no need to widen it.
Dr. Romanes is understood to derive from scientific premisses the
conclusion that evidence of design is not legitimately derivable
from the structure and adaptations of plants and animals, and,
more particularly, that the theory of natural selection has de-
stroyed the evidence of special design in organic nature, so that
now the facts of organic nature furnish no other and no better
evidence of design than do the facts of inorganic nature.
The first of these conclusions was derived from the proposition
that there is no point of logical contact between natural science
and the idea of design, wherefore no inference can legitimately
be carried from the facts of the one to the conceptions of the
other. I suggested that the maintainer of that position could
not consistently argue that a particular scientific theory has
annihilated an inference admittedly beyond its logical range.
The reply is that, ‘‘ If a man believes that there is no logical
connection between one thing and another, I do not understand
why he should be deemed inconsistent because he endeavours to
show the fictitious character of the logical connection which has
been erroneously supposed to exist.” But the point of the objec-
tion was that, while insisting that any inference from the one to
the other was invalid from the nature of the case, he actually
inferred that certain scientific facts and theories completely over-
throw and destroy the theory of particular design in organic
nature. This may be. Only one would think that whatever
may be legitimately overthrown may be as legitimately sup-
ported.
Moreover, if I rightly understand, there was not long agoa
legitimate ground of inference (whether scientific in the narrower
sense or philosophical need not here be inquired) from organic
nature to design. ‘* For it would be proof positive of intelligent
design if it could be shown that all species of plants and animals
were created ” ; and therefore proof presumptive while the theory
of special creation was accepted and probable. At least—and this
is the point—the ‘argument from structure and adaptation to
design was then admissible and even cogent.
Now, from the scientific side, upon which we are standing,
special creation means only that the forms were scientifically in-
explicable, and to be taken as original; their adaptations to
their surroundings and their relations of means to ends in them-
selves equally as primary endowments. And whatever evidences
of intellectual origination these manifested, were seen in the things
themselves, and we suppose are to be seen there still, The
inference was not one from an intellectual originator to design
in the organic world, but from marks and operations in the
latter which indicated design to an intellectual originator. The
inference to most minds was convincing; at least it was legiti-
mate. The recognised laws and operations of nature—a better
knowledge of which has destroyed so many crude notions—were
not thought to interfere with it.
It used to be so, but we have changed all that. How?
First, by the declaration of the principle that the facts of
organic nature, in all their multiplicity and variety, yield no
other and no better indications of design than do any of the
facts of inorganic nature. That is to say, a stratum no more
than a structure, a crystal than a chrysalis, living things and
their responses than lifeless things simply acted upon, things
which are intelligible only when contemplated as means and
ends, no more than things of which ends are predicable, if at all,
only by remote implication. Not only is the one as good as the
other, but any one is said to be as good as all. Because of ‘‘ the
universal prevalence of laws and sequences of cause and effect,
. .. they are not really or logically strengthened by a mere
enumeration of particular instances. . . . The so-called law of
causation as a whole being known, and its universality recog-
nised, its true argumentative value to the theory of theism is not
influenced by the explicit formulation of any number of its
specific cases.”
Here ‘‘law of causation,” or the way how something comes
to pass, is mixed up with ‘‘ evidence of design,” or what it was
for, And we are to conclude that the immense variety and
multiplicity of adaptations of particular means which accomplish
particular ends in organic nature bring no contributory and
cumulative evidence as to there being any design in them. In
palliation of the charge of ‘‘damnable iteration,” to which the
teleologists are thus exposed, it may be pleaded that, although
possibly one good witness or one good observation may be as
convincing as many for certifying a fact, surely the more and the
more varied the better for proving an underlying intervention—
of which the evidence must always be circumstantial, and the
conclusion a judgment or belief.
The old belief that adaptation of means to ends in plants and
animals gives evidence of intellectual origination, had not been
seriously unsettled by the scientific belief of the universality of
the law of causation. It remains to be seen whether it will
survive the establishment of the belief that the forms in which
these adaptations are recognised have themselves been slowly
evolved and diversified ina way that is partly explained by the
doctrine of natural selection; and this is the gist of the
question.
Dr. Romanes thinks that we have, in natural selection, ‘‘a
cause other than intelligence competent to produce the adapta-
tions,” one which supersedes intelligence by working gradually.
For, ‘‘if the adaptations have been effected gradually, and by
the successive elimination of the more favourable variations by a
process of natural causation, we clearly have a totally different
case to contemplate, and one which is destitute of any evidence
of special design.” ‘‘ The progressive adaptations of structures
to functions by such a purely physical cause as natural selection,
when once clearly revealed, must destroy all special or particular
evidence of design, even supposing such design to exist.” This
phrase, ‘‘such a purely physical cause as natural selection,” and
the preceding phrase italicised by its author as specially signifi-
cant and as being its equivalent, show that the term is used in its
strict sense. So the substitute for intelligence, that which is
said to account for all the adaptations in living nature, is the
successive destruction of the less favourable variations by natural
causes, leaving the most favourable to survive! Here ‘‘ we
clearly have a totally different case to contemplate, and one
which is destitute of any evidence of special design,”—equally
destitute, one would say, of any pretensions to act as its substi-
tute until it is explained how the physical destruction of a part
should have set the rest into varying at all, into varying advan-
tageously, and into varying into the very special ways they have
done. Not till this, or something like it, is done, can natural
selection pure and simple claim to give scientific explanation of
the adaptations and the forms at whose birth it has assisted.
When I before insisted that ‘‘to make the purely physical
explanation tenable it must be shown that natural selection
scientifically accounts for the adaptation,” and that it has not
done this, that no reasons have been given why the organisms
528
NATURE
[April 5, 1883
must have responded in the ways they do, or have responded at
all to the environment, I meant only that the theory ought to
fulfil the conditions which other physical theories are bound to
satisfy, z.e. to account for the principal facts of the case. I had
no reference to any subsidiary hypothesis which might help the
matter. Dr. Romanes rightly says that it lies not with the evo-
lutionist to show that variations may not have been intellectually
planned or guided. But when he assigns the whole results to
known physical causes and discards the factor of intelligence,
he is bound to render their adequacy at the least conceivable.
It may now be seen, I trust (and the context might have made
it clear), that, in asking Dr. Romanes if he was quite sure that
any other cause than intelligence could adapt organisms to their
environment gradually, I was not inviting him to guesses ‘‘ about
the possibilities of supernatural creation,” but to a reconsidera-
tion of his antithesis between special (and as he will have it,
sudden) creation, requiring intelligence, and gradual evolution,
which might dispense with it ; and I was intimating that he had
not shown how the latter could dispense with it. The problem
was : Given plants and animals with certain structures and certain
adaptations to their environment, to be changed into other forms
with other structures equally well adapted to a more or less
changed environment, how to do this solely by the action of
said environment. Answer: By the killing out of all which
have not somehow or other acquired the particular structure and
adaptation they needed.
But now comes an important qualification : ‘‘ The evolutionist
may freely admit that natural selection has probably not been the
only physical cause at work, and even that the variations sup-
plied to natural selection may not have been wholly fortuitous,
but may have occurred along favourable lines as responses of
the organisms to their physical surroundings” ; and Dr, Romanes
calls my attention to a statement of his that it may be so in an essay
which I regret that I have not read. He continues, however :
**But such admissions would make no change in the logical
aspect of the case; for, however many supplementary causes of
this kind we may choose to imagine as possible, the evolutionist
is bound to regard them as all alike in this: that they are of a
physical or natural kind.”
“« Physical or natural kind.” The agency which explained
away all implication of design was in the strict sense physical,
being the action of the environment on the organisms.
now extended to whatever is zatwra/, that is, to whatever occurs
in the course of nature, presumably under established laws ; and
it is assumed that whatever so occurs is thereby void of all
evidence of intellectual intention (we need not regard the differ-
ence—if any there be in such relations—between general and
special design, the question being wholly one about the grounds
of any evidence of design in nature), To me it is wholly
probable that existing species and their special adaptations
became what they are in the course of nature. And my argu-
ment is that, if ‘‘such a purely physical cause as natural selec-
tion” leaves these adaptations still unaccounted for, whatever
implication of designed origination there formerly was still |
holds, and may hold, although the series of natural causes be
practically endless.
Then as to such causes being all of a piece, so that pure
physics may explain all biology. Doubtless in a certain sense
all nature is of a piece. But in another sense—the very one we
are concerned with—it is of at least two pieces ; no matter how
it came to be so. One of them is pervaded by an element of its
own—that of direction of action to ends—which is more and more
manifested as we rise in the scale of being, but is characteristic
of all organisms. That seems to lay a foundation for a difference
in the quality of the ‘‘inference which can be drawn by the
human mind [guoad design] from the province of natural science ”
This difference might have made Dr. Romanes hesitate to draw,
from scientific premisses, the downright conclusion that ‘‘ the
facts of organic nature present no evidence of design of a quality
other or better than any of the facts of inorganic nature.”
Here lies our whole contention. We agree that natural
science leaves aside the question whether evolution and design
in nature are compatible or not, this being only a phase of the
enigma which was as puzzling before evolution was dominant as
itis now. Wesuppose, too, that the difficulty of conceiving how
design can coexist with the natural evolution of organisms is
fairly balanced by the difficulty of conceiving how the phe-
nomena of organic nature can be accounted for without it. The
point which we have laboured over is that, if science has no call
to settle the question, it has none to prejudge it. It was only
It is |
| question was valid, and even cogent.
because Dr. Romanes seemed to me unwittingly to have done so,
that I ventured the criticisms which opened this discussion.
Cambridge, Mass., U.S. ASA GRAY
P.S.—A brief note upon Mr. Hannay’s letter, NATURE,
vol. xxvii. p. 364, referring to my supposition of successive
generations slowly changing, ‘‘ yet always so as to bein compatible
relations to the environment.’ We remarks, this ‘‘is just such a
statement as ‘Design’ would require, but cannot be held by
scientific evolutionists, otherwise why are there so many extinct
species?” Surely it could be held by the soundest of evolu-
tionists, for it is of the very essence of Darwinism. Are not
the individuals which compose the present fauna and flora in
compatible relations to the environment, and is not the extinc-
tion of species going on? In human society do we consider
that the unmarried and the childless members of the community
are not in compatible relations to their surroundings? Is there
any reason to suppose that the individuals of a flora of earlier
times—say of the Miocene—were not on the whole in as orderly
and compatible relations as the existing flora is? It is not chaos
but cosmos that true Darwinism has in mind, common though
the contrary impression be. A. G.
Pror. Asa Gray is kind enough to remark that he has read
my reply to his previous communication with interest. I should
like to say, 7 imine, that I have read his reply to me not only
with interest but with profit ; for it is not often that one meets
with an argument so carefully thought out and so clearly pre-
sented. Therefore, if I seek to meet hi; further criticisms, it is
not in any spirit of controversy that I do so, but solely for the
sake of endeavouring to help, so far as I am able, in determining
the true logical position of an important question.
This question, as Prof. Gray observes, is a narrow one, and I
shall keep to it. Without therefore trespassing upon the wider
question of Theism as a whole, our discussion is confined to
“an inquiry whether certain inferences may or may not sczen-
tifically be drawn from certain premises.”
First, I have to meet the dilemma which is put to me when I
am told that, having said there is no point of logical contact
between natural science and natural theology, I ought not forth-
with to say that natural science is competent to destroy an
inference belonging tv natural theology. But in stating it as
my opinion that natural science had shown the inference pre-
viously drawn to be invalid, I did not myself, as my eritic
asserts, draw any inference (even of a negative kind) from
natural science to natural theology ; I merely endeavoured to
point out that an inference previously drawn from the one to the
other was illegitimate, that inasmuch as the inference proceeded
from natural science it was liable at any time to be overturned
by natural science, and that it had now actually been overturned.
Whether or not, therefore, I was right in saying that there is no
point of logical contact between natural science and natural
theology, at least I did not myself endeavour to institute such
contact.
But I am told, you admit that long ago the inference in
Well, I answer in one
sense it was, but in another and a truer sense it was not. For
its cogency arose from the hypothesis of special and sudden
creation on which it rested ; grant this hypothesis, and the infer-
ence from organic adaptation to intelligent design becomes not
only cogent but inevitable. The hypothesis, however, was not
one that really belonged to natural science, and it was just this
hypothesis that constituted the ‘fictitious logical connection”
alluded to in the passage which Prof. Gray quotes from my pre-
vious letter. The facts presented by science remain, of course,
-yery much the same as they were; but it does not follow that,
in the absence of the special creation hypothesis, ‘‘ whatever
evidences of intellectual origination these manifested were seer ir
the things themselves, and we suppose are to be seen there still.’”
Let us take an illustration. In the last issue of NATURE
there is a letter from Prof. Darwin describing the formation of
mudballs by a suitable and rare combination of natural causes.
He and his brother did not see these balls in process of forma-
tion, and therefore he says, ‘‘On seeing the first one or two,
they looked to us like the handiwork of some boy with an
enthusiasm for mud pies” ; but their number and the constancy
of their situation on the slopes of hills—z.e. further knowledge
of the inferred conditions of their origin—afterwards disposed
of the teleological hypothesis in favour of a physical one. Now
here it is equally true that ‘‘ whatever evidences of intellectual
April 5, 1883}
origination these manifested were seen in the things themselves,”
and after the hypothesis of their physical origin had been arrived
at, were ‘‘to be seen there still.” Yet we should have deemed
the brothers Darwin very unworthy representatives of their
family if, after having arrived at the physical hypothe-is,
they had continued to argue in favour of a teleological enthu-
siasm for mud pies, on the ground that ‘‘the inference was not
one from an intelligent originator to design in the (in-)organic
world, but from marks. . . in the latter which indicated design
to an intelligent originator.” In other words, a change in the
hypothesis concerning the origination of the mudballs entirely
changed the logical cogency of the teleological inference.
Now I have purposely chosen this illustration because it is
of so simple a character, and therefore serves in a clear manner
to show how greatly a teleological inference may be modified by
a change of hypothesis concerning the mode of origin of a
structure, even though the structure remains the same ; if there
had been no evidence of a purely physical mode of origin in this
case, it might truly have been said of the teleological interpreta-
tion, ‘‘the inference to most minds was convincing; at least it
was legitimate.” Of course in organic nature the apparent
marks of design ‘‘in the things themselves” are much more
numerous, varied, and complex than any that we meet with in
inorganic nature; but no matter how numerous, varied, and
complex such marks of design may be, if we see good reason to
conclude that they have al/ been produced by physical causes, they
are no more available as evidences of special design than are the
mudballs—although both they and the mudballs, being alike
formed under an orderly system of causation, may be due to a
general design pervading the cosmos. And here I understand
that Prof. Gray is in agreement with me, for he says that when I
assign the whole results to known [or unknown] physical causes
and discard the factor of intelligence, I am bound to render their
adequacy at least conceivable. This appears to show that Prof.
Gray is at one with me in holding that physical causes as such
do not constitute other or better evidence of design in the
organic than in the inorganic world; and it is only because he
cannot conceive how such causes are adequate to produce the
results observed in the former that he deems these results unique
as evidence of ‘‘the factor of intelligence.” In other words,
supposing for the sake of argument that all these results have
been due to purely phy-ical causes, and supposing further that
all these causes were as perfectly well known as the less compli-
cated physical causes of the inorganic world, then I take it Prof.
Gray would agree with me in saying that under such circumstances
the former would constitute no other or better evidence of design
than the latter.
If so, our only difference resolves itself into a difference in the
estimate which we respectively form of the probable adequacy
of purely physical causes to produce all the results which are
observable in organic nature. To me the probability appears
overwhelming that in respect of method ‘‘all nature is of a
piece,” and therefore that the terms ‘‘ physical” and ‘‘ natural,”
when applied to causation, are logically, as well as etymologically,
convertible. To Prof. Gray, on the other hand, the probability
appears to be that such is not the case, but that, when we meet
with the ‘‘ direction of action to ends,” we have special evidence
of ‘‘the factor of intelligence,” which therefore makes nature “ of
at least two pieces,” and so makes the term ‘‘ natural” to mean
more than the term ‘‘ physical.”
Supposing that I am right in understanding this as the only
difference between us, I may point out that if, while following my
ideas of probability, I have erred on the side of rashness in
drawing “the downright conclusion” that the facts of organic
nature present no other or better evidence of design than the
facts of inorganic, Prof. Gray, in following his ideas of proba-
bility, can scarcely be able to shut out the suspicion (more espe-
cially in view of abundant historical analogies) that, in resorting
to “the factor of intelligence ” as a hypothesis wherever physical
causation is found to be complex or obscure, he may be merely
supplementing our present ignorance of such causation by an infer-
ence which is at leastasrash as my statement.! And here I should
t I suppose it will be admitted that the validity of an inference depends
upon the number, the importance, and the definiteness of the things or
ratios known, as compared with the number, importance, and definiteness of
the things or ratios unknown, but inferred. If so, we should be logically
cautious in drawing inferences from the natural to the supernatural; for
although we have the entire sphere of experience from which to draw an
inference, we are unable to gauge the probability of the inference when
drawn—the unknown ratios being confessedly of unknown number, import-
_ ance, and degree of indefiniteness: the whole orbit of human know-
ledge is insufficient to obtain a parallax whereby to institute the required
NATUKE
529
like to observe, with special reference to the natural or physical
causes summed up in the term ‘‘natural selection,” that although I
speak with all the respect which I sincerely feel for so distinguished
a naturalist and so able a dialectician, I am not able to follow
Prof. Gray in his understanding of this subject. For he says of
the theory of natural selection that it is destitute of any preten-
sions to act as the substitute of the theory of special design,
“until it is explained how the physical destruction of a part
should have set the rest into varying at all, into varying advan-
tageously, and into varying into the very special ways they have
done.” But surely it is no part of the theory of natural selection
to suppose that the physical destruction of unfit organisms is, or
has any need to be, the cause of advantageous variations arising
in other and allied organisms. The theory merely supposes
that variations of a/l kinds and in all directions are constantly
taking place, and that natural selection seizes upon the more
advantageous. Therefore, so far as this theory is concerned,
there is no call to explain why promiscuous variation occurs ; it
is simply a fact that it does occur, though not necessarily made
to occur by the destruction of other organisms. Neither is there
any call to explain why the variations occur in special and advan-
tageous ways, for they are not supposed to occur in special and
advantageous ways, but only to appear to do so on account of
all other variations being eliminated, while those which happen
to occur in the specially advantageous ways are preserved.
Again, Prof. Gray says in his postscript that the theory of
natural selection supposes successive generations to be slowly
changing, ‘‘ yet always so as to be in compatible relations to the
environment.” Now it is true that where the changes in the
environment are gradual, and the variations of specific type are
being slowly accommodated to them, each generation is, on the
whole, in compatible relations with its environment. But it is
not true that such continuous compatibility in itself points to
design; it only points to the plasticity of the varying type,
which, if not sufficiently plastic to meet the new demands upon
it in this respect, simply becomes extinct.
In conclusion, I agree that ‘‘ natural science leaves aside the
question whether evolution and design in nature are compatible
or not,” and I agree that, ‘‘if science has no call to settle the
question, it has none to prejudge it,” But I do not agree that I
have prejudged this question by saying that in my opinion the
theory of evolution, in supplanting the theory of special crea-
tion, has necessarily removed the special evidence of des‘gn in
organic nature, by showing that in respect of causation organic
nature and inorganic nature are one. GEORGE J. ROMANES
The High Springs of 1883
THE high springs of the present year, consequent upon the
excessive rainfall of the past winter, are an event that ought
not to pass unrecorded in the pages of NATURE. I can speak
only of phenomena which I have observed upon my native
chalk hills of Hampshire, but I doubt not that similar facts
have attracted attention elsewhere.
The Candover, a confluent of the Itchen from the north, burst
forth this year in a field near Preston Candover, where it has
not been known to rise for the last fifty years, and has flooded
the road between Preston Candover and Chilton Candover.
The Itchen itself rose in the valley above Cheriton beyond its
recognised source, and has flooded fields on the road to Kilmes-
ton, where no one recollects to have seen water before.
‘The Hampshire tributaries of the Thames have acted in
exactly the same manner. The Whitewater has issued forth in
the valley just below Upton Grey, far above its usual origin
even in the highest springs, and has flooded the whole road
between Bidden and Greywell. Another branch of the same
stream has risen in the fields on the left of the main road from
Odiham to South Warnborough, where spring water has never
been known within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. In
like manner ‘the Wey, which, in wet seasons, takes its rise in
the meadows adjoining Chawton House, has issued forth this
year at a much higher level in the fields below Farringdon.
These facts are the more worthy of notice because it has been
generally believed that, in the Hampshire hills at least, owing
to more efficient drainage and other causes, the springs were
measurement or proportion between the terms known and the terms un-
known. Or, otherwise phrased, we may say—As our knowledge of a part is
to our knowledge of a whole, so is our inference from that part to the reality
of that whole. Who, therefore, can say, even upon the supposition of
Theism, that our inferences or ‘‘idea of design’’ would have any meaning if
applied to the ‘ All-Upholder,’’ whose thoughts are not as our thoughts ?
53°
NAT ORE
[April 5, 1883
getting lower every year, and would never again attain the level
that they once had according to the traditions of past genera-
tions, It should be added that the springs were at their highest
about the commencement of this month, and are now gradually
falling. P. L. SCLATER
Hoddington House, Odiham, March 31
3
4
Scorpion Suicide
I AM sorry that my experiments on scorpion suicide has given
pain to some of your correspondents. Allow me to explain ina
few words the object of my investigation. It is commonly
believed in this colony and elsewhere that scorpions commit
suicide; Dr. Allen Thomson, in a letter to NATURE, lent the
weight of his scientific name to this view; and Dr. G. J.
Romanes, in his “ Animal Intellizence,” treats it as an open ques-
tion. Nowifthis habit ofcommitting suicide be an e-tablished fact,
we have in scorpions a highly persistent type of creature that
inherits a habit detrimental alike to the individual and the
species. Scorpion suicide, therefore, if a fact, is one of the strongest
individual cases against the Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection that is presented to us in the animal kingdom. It
seemed to me that the only way of settling this questi n was by
the direct appeal to experiment. But is the Theory of Natural
Selection of sufficient importance in its bearing upon human life
and human progress to justify the infliction of jain upon, say,
sixty scorpions? Iam one of those who believe that it is. I
am one of those who believe that the theory of evolution has
enormously influenced human thought and action, and is destined
to influence it in a constantly increasing degree. I believe thit
much of the moral and intellectual progress of our race is in-
dissolubly associated with this theory of evolution, I may be
wrong in that opinion, but that is the opinion I hold. And
holding that opini om it became to me a duty to do something to-
wards settling a question which seemed to me to be of great import-
ance in its bearing on the evolution theory. And it was my
object to do the work, as far as I could, thoroughly and once
for all. I believed that if I could show that even under torture
scorpions do not commit suicide, the view that they do so when
irritated by the bright light of a candle-flare became highly im- |
probable. To establish a negative in the face of ppsitive
assertions is, however, difficult, and I considered it necessary to
experiment upon a number of individuals. Azne le lachryme!
One of my friends, however, protested as follows: ‘* The theory
of evolution,” he said, ‘‘is now so strongly established, that
scorpion suicide is @ priori impossible.” But I hold ic to be
dangerous in the extreme, in the present position of science, to
set up the theory of evolutior as a doctrine from which to draw
deductions, unchecked by an appeal to nature where such appeal is
possible. C. Ltoyp MorGAn
Rondibosch, March 12
Nesting Habits of the Emu
I aM able fully to confirm Prof. Moseley’s statement of the
habits of the emu in nesting at Blenheim. Some years ago my
father was very successful in rearing these birds at his place at
Brockham Lodge, near Dorking. The first egg was usually laid
shortly after Christmas ; the total number of a brood being from
fifteen to twenty, laid usually at intervals of about forty-eight
hours. Some time before the full number was laid the cock
bird would commence the incubation by carefully drawing them
under him. When the hen bird was ready to add to their
number she would sit down by his side, produce the egg, and
her mate would then carefully draw it under him with his foot.
As soon as the number was completed, it became necessary to
seclude the hen bird, as she was from this time ** vicious ”
towards her mate and towards her own eggs ; and the seclusion
continued until the young birds had attained a considerable size,
as she showed every disposition to destroy them. The number
of eggs laid was often too large for the cock bird to get com-
fortably under him. Still during several years that my father
kept the birds a considerable number of eggs were annually
hatched, and the young lirds reared to th: breeding age. No
brood from native birds was, however, obtained. ‘1hey showed
no disposition to change the breeding season from January to
July. In captivity the birds strikingly exhibited their singular
inquisitive propensities. They were not usually vicious, except
during the breeding season, but were very easily frightened.
London, March 31 ALFRED W. BENNETT
The Recent Cold Weather
THE excessively severe and prolonged cold weather of the
month of March has hardly a parailel in this century. It
appears to have been felt throughout Europe, and has even
reached the shores of Africa, Frost, snow, and wintry gales
we expect at a season proverbial for its fitful severity, but the
scarcely interrupted sweep of the frigid atmospheric waves
which have overwhelmed us for three successive weeks is an
experience of weather so remarkable that I conceive the record
wiil probably interest some of your readers.
In position, altitude, and in its freedom from the sheltering
influence of large towns, this station may be accepted as favour-
able for giving an accurate account of the weather in the centre
of England. Our instruments are on a proper meteorological
stand, and are by Negretti and Zambra. I may add that, in its
blighting influence on vegetation stimulated into activity by a
mild and moist period in February, this weather has proved
more destructive to early fruit blossoms, certain shrubs and
plants accepted as hardy, than from any weather previously
experienced in March in other years ; but apart from vegetation,
and acting on the upturned fallows and soddened clods of clay,
the penetrating winds, frequent frosts and falls of snow have
pulverised the land, so that it falls before the plough or harrow
like calcined limestone, and in respect to the preparation of
land the weather has had a beneficial action.
Record of Weather, March, 1883, at Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
March. Min. Max.
Grass. Wind. Rain. Snow.
4 27 50 27S. toe ee _—
5 27 51 20 N. _ =>
6 33 52 29 N. =" F0lke2
7 26 40 22 NE — F202
8 24 41 24 N. — .. 025
9 20 35 14 N. ==' Solr
fe) Mes e3 7 4 N. SE ORS
II PION ag ey s) fe) N. _— ==
12 25 39 23 N.W. Pe. ONe2
13 25 39 20 We — on ox
14 20002. 49 22 We — _
15 CS orp eh) 20 |... Ni 27S) Begs
16 20s Me), oe WES EM 6 cre = =
17 28 38 24 Saw —" Mors
18 2 40 20 S: — o'r
19 28 42 21 N. — | ro
20 31 40 31 E.N.E. — "SS Oke:
21 32 37 She N.E, ae
22 28 35 27 E. — =
23 28 35 26 N.E. _— =
24 18 42 5 W. —
25 26 45 16 N.W. ONO
26 26 4I 19 N.W. Ci ss =
27 27 40 18 N. es a
28 26 43 TOU ONE _ =
2 24 41 12 Ss. on ae
30 35 48 35 See ho
31 30 55 24 S.W. POD OY kag =
Belvoir Castle Gardens WILLIAM INGRAM
Sap-Flow
A REMARKABLE instance of the strong up-rush of sap in trees
at this time of the yeer occurred here during the late severe
weather, The boughs of a sycamore overhanging a road were.
trimmed on the 21st of this month during a very keen frost, and
next day icicles of frozen sap, varying in length from a couple
of inches to a foot, were hanging from the severe i ends. The
icicles were semi-opaque in appearance and slightly iridescent,
like the sheen on the moonstone, and, when put in a bottle and
melted, the product was pure sap.
The sycamore, being one of the earliest trees to develop leaves,
had its sap rising, notwithstanding the intense cold and late
season ; while a beech, which is much later in coming out, and
an ash, which is usually latest of all, whose boughs had also
been lopped, showed no signs of bleeding, and the cuts remained
dry and bare. :
The icicles have been melted, reformed, and melted again
since the 21st, and still the sap is dropping from the cuts.
Highfield, Gainsborough, March 28 F. M, BuRTON
April 5, 1883]
Foamballs
To artificial snowballs and mudballs will you permit me to
add an experience of foamballs. We were staying at Biarritz in
early spring, and one morning on going down to the beach we
found it covered with such balls. A strong wind was blowing
off the bay, which caught the wave-crests, and threw off little
masses of foam, These, though quite small at first, accumu-
lated, and, in some cases, conglomerated as they rolled inland,
until they gradually attained a size of two to three feet in
diameter; and as many of these balls of various sizes were
drifted along by the wind, they presented a most singular
appearance. This was made more curious by some of the town
dogs catching sight of the objects, and taking to chevying them
along the sand, until a sort of steeplechase was established.
Every now and then a doz would overtake and dash into a
flying sphere, only to find it, to his manifest disappointment, of
a very unsubstantial character. The beach was covered far and
wide with the debris of the broken balls.
Guildown, March 31 J. Ranp Capron
Meteor; the Transit ; the Comet
As you have on previous occasions deemed it of sufficient
interest to record notices of striking meteors observed, I send
you an account of a singularly brilliant and unu ual form which
appeared here about half-past 8 p.m. on the 29th inst.
I happened to be lcoking at a portion of the sky a little below
the constellation ‘‘ Orion,” that is to the southward and east-
ward, when suddenly a brilliant meteor became apparent. Un-
like ordinary meteors, it did not move, at least to my vision ; it
simply increased in size and brilliancy, till it appeared like a
fine ‘‘Roman candle” or ‘‘blue light,” intensely blue, and
emitting rays at about two hundred yards’ distance. It appeared
to illuminate the country with a pale blue light.
It disappeared as suddenly as it came. Could its stationary
appearance and increasing brightness have been caused by its
approaching me ina direct line? I have thougl-t so.
I saw the transit of Venus splendidly from my hilltop, through
my binocular, an ordinary hand-telescope, and even with the
naked eye, protected of course in each instance by coloured
glass.
The comet also was a glorious object for several weeks. It
was first seen here on September 23. I noticed very plainly the
dark line near the right edge of the tail, as if there had been a
fold in a luminous substance ; that was the idea that the appear-
ance gave me. Fig. 3, p. 610, vol. xxvi. of NATURE, most
resembles what we saw here, but the shadow, or dark part, from
the V-like incision at the end, should be longer and darker.
Not being a scientific observer, I did not trouble you with any
notices of either, feeling sure you would have plenty.
British Con:ulate, Noumea, January 31 E. L. LAYARD
Ticks
CAN none of your readers be prevailed on to take up the
study of the Ixodes (Ticks), of which there are several Britich
species? I feel sure their life-history, if fully worked out, would
prove both interesting and instructive, and might throw some
light on a mysterious and deadly disease amongst cattle and
sheep, which prevails extensively in Scotland, and in :ome
districts in England. It is a curiou< fact that Ixodes are almost
invariably, if not always found infesting sheep where this disease
prevails, and it becomes an important question whether their
presence is merely a coincidence, from the rough coarse natural
grasses forming a congenial habitat, or whether they are not the
carriers or inoculators of vegetable or other poison. I should
be very glad to give further information to any one di-posed to
take up the study, \VOMDs IL
Ignition by Sunlight
““M.” MAY like to have the following case:—I went once at
sunrise (at Kishnagar, Benga!) into my coachhouse, which opened
east. I saw smoke ascending from the tops of the two carriage
lamps. I jumped hastily to the conclusion that my syce (groom)
had been using the carriage candles illegitimately, and taxed
him. His defence obliged me to examine closer, and to see that
the two wicks had been ignited to smouldering point by the
horizontal rays of the sun condensed by the parabolic reflectors
NA LORE
531
at the backs of the lamps. A notable enough example of Indian
heat, was it not? W. J. HLERSCHEL
Collingwood, March 31
WHEN driving along the Beaumaris Road on Tuesday last at
half-past three, 1 observed smoke issuing from the top of one of
the carriage lamps, 1 stopped to examine the cause, and found
that the reflector had concentrated the sun’s rays on the wick of
the candle lamp and caused it to smoulder.
Rhianva, Bangor, Avril 2 EDMUND H. VERNEY
Mimicry
REFERRING to Mr, Stokoe’s letter in NATURE, vol. xxvii.,
p- 508, and to his remarks on the defective vision of the Teleostei
as proved by the very poor imitations of insects which are suffi-
cient to entrap them, have not bats and swallows—animals of
certainly more than normal acuteness of vision—been hooked on
several occa-ions by the flyfisher ? H. J. MorRGAN
Exeter, March 31
Braces or Waistband ?
CAN you or any of your readers answer the following :—
Which method of suspending the trousers is the least interference
with 2atwve—their suspension from the /zfs or from the shoulders,
the wearing of braces, or a tight waistband ?
March 16
STINGING, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING?
II.— SPEAKING
1 the first lecture the musical and emotional side of
human utterance ; in the second, the colloquial and
intellectual aspect of speech was adverted to. Speaking
in modern times, and in England especially, is a more
neglected art than singing. Even in Shakespeare’s days
there must have been a state of things not very dissimilar;
for he makes Dogberry, who always manages to state the
wrong proposition, say, “ Readin’ and writin’ come by
nature,” and there is a quaintly satirical passage in that
graceful and ethereal play, the ‘‘Midsummer Night’s
Dream,” which goes straight to the point. Theseus, in
commenting on the Clown’s blunders of diction, says :—
““ Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes ;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practised accents in their fears,
And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome.” .
It cannot be too often reiterated that speech is essen-
tially an acquirement, and that it must be learned. At
first, indeed, it is picked up by imitation in early child-
hood, and later on in life 1s commonly neglected and left
to take its chance ; though much can be done with little
labour to correct defects both of this and of the hand-
writing, the two first things by which a man’s intellectual
status is judged of. It is unlike singing, in that pleasant
and articulate speaking does not require the gift of a
musical organ, but is open to all alike. There exists,
however, in some quarters a prejudice against fluent
speaking. Ineffableness is held to indicate grasp of
thought ; taciturnity to be the cloak of profundity. This
would be correct if fluency were to supersede accuracy ;
but such an antagonism is by no means necessary, or it
would reach its natural limit in the case of the sailor’s
parrot, which “could not talk, but thought the more.”
Some other hindrances to correct speech require pas5-
ing comment. Inthe first place its acquirement is too
much mixed up with recitation and dramatic representa-
tion. Neither exaggeration nor servile imitation produce
good speaking, the one salient feature of which is natural-
t Abstract by the Author of three Lectures at the Royal Institution, by
W. H. Stone, M.B.,F.R.C.P. Continued from p. 510. >
Sie)
NATURE
[ April 5, 1883
ness and spontaneity. Elocutionary teaching has also
been hindered by an over-cultivation of poetical rhythm,
which tends to reduce speech to a kind of singsong. The
same may be said of punctuation, which is not elocution-
ary but grammatical ; though the absurd rule has been
formulated to “‘pause one for the comma, two for the
semicolon, three for the colon, and four for the full stop.”
It is sufficient to test this pedantic error by reading
any piece of nervous or pathetic English on the system,
and thus to show its full absurdity.
It has been said above that whereas in singing the
musical note is predominant, in speaking it is secondary
and subsidiary to the words; but it still exists, and its
function is well described by Cicero in his treatise, “ De
Oratore.”
cantus obscurior.”’” An appreciation of this fact is of the
greatest value to the public speaker, since the imperfect
regulation of the laryngeal element often renders the
voice indistinct and even inaudible. Many speakers drop
their voices with a descending inflection, and from want
of musical ear fail to raise it again: others err from
excess of noise, and in their anxiety to be audible, shout
and labour, with the result of enveloping the significant
sound in an overwhelming mass of heterogeneous and
meaningless vibration.
It has several times been attempted to reduce speech
to a definite musical notation like that of singing. To a
certain extent this was done in the Ecclesiastical Plain-
song ; but it was carried to its extreme limit in a work of
the last century, the “Prosodia Rationalis” of Joshua
Steele. It is sufficient to glance at the vague and com-
plicated symbols there employed to realise its practical
uselessness.! Indeed, so far from being an advance, it is
really a step of retrograde character. Mr. Deacon, in
«Grove’s Dictionary of Music,” gives very clearly the
our chief differences between song and speech :—1. The
isochronism of vibration is never present long enough to
make a musical note. 2. Little more than the lower third
of the singing voice comes into play in speech. 3. In
singing short syllables do not exist. 4. Singing tends to
preserve intact purity of language; speaking, to split it
up into dialects and idiosyncracies.
A common defect in speaking in large buildings is
inability to catch the keynote or resonance vibration of
the inclosed space. All large areas have such resonance
notes, and in some it is very marked: Westminster
Abbey, for instance, consonates to G sharp, and intoning |
on this note is much more audible than on one a semi-
tone above or below it. Personally the lecturer prefers
He says, ‘‘Est in dicendo etiam quidam |
the use of an open chest-voice as little vocalised as may |
be.
It is less laborious, less liable to accidents, less |
liable to develop the affection commonly known as |
“clergyman’s throat,” and, by removing the sensation of
effort, more easy and sympathetic.
He then proceeded to analyse the constituents of a
good delivery; and first, pauses.
commonest faults in speech. It has two defects; the
one in overtaxing the complex muscular mechanism of
the speaker; the other in adding to the intellectual
labour of the listener. The former would be considered
in the third lecture ; the latter needed a few words.
rapidity of reception of ideas through the ear differs
materially in different persons, even excluding those
distinctly “hard of hearing.” It is not great among the
uneducated, whence it had been paradoxically said that
all illiterate persons are deaf. But they do require a
longer time to arouse them to a state of attention than
the more cultivated. Naval officers had defended the
practice of swearing, or as it was euphemistically termed,
“shotting their speech,” with sailors; the expletive
rousing attention and preparing the mind for the suc-
ceeding command. Mr. Hullah had on a similar ground
explained the refrains or fal-lal-las of the older music, in
t “ King’s College Lectures on Elocution,”” Plumptre, ps 142.
Haste is one of the |
The |
that the) dilute the too concentrated sense of the words,
and give time for the perception of the music.
When the great actor Salvini was in this country in
1875, the lecturer made some experiments on this point.
Salvini’s voice was one of the most remarkable ever
heard for its power of travelling ; even suppressed phrases
coming up to the distant gallery with perfect clearness.
He spoke on a note about D in the bass, from the chest,
and in a sort of recitative; there were distinct periods
from accent to accent, and the inflections were very large,
running over an interval of more than a fifth. The in-
dividual words came about one a second, and the pauses
were astonishingly long.
four, several times to five, and at the two great crises of
the play to seven continuous seconds. And yet there was
no sense of delay or of interruption, but quite the reverse.
The lecturer incidentally noted another thing, which the
recent development of Wagner’s musical theories had
invested with additional interest. In the play “Il
Gladiatore,” the four principal characters, a young
Christian virgin, a Roman matron, the hero a Roman
officer, and the gladiator, formed an unintentional though
perfect vocal quartett of soprano, contralto, tenor, and
bass. At times the alternations of dialogue produced a
distinctly musical effect, an observation which to his
mind strongly corroborated the views of the great
musician lately deceased, that dramatic music, instead of
being conventional, should be the outflow of passion and
emotion, and that this result could be attained as well
from the elocutionary as from the strictly melodic side.
Pronunciation, under which is included respiration
as well as vocalisation, was then spoken of, schemes of
the vowels and consonants by Dr. Bristowe and Melville
Bell being distributed among the audience. The latter
being unfamiliar in this country, may be reproduced in
this abstract.
GENERAL VOWEL SCHEME, MELVILLE BELL.
Lingual. Labio-Lingual. Labial.
1. Eel U (German) Ooze
2. In U (French) O (Provincial)
3. Alle U (French) Old
4. Ill (Scotch) Zur (Provincial) Ore
5. Ell Eu (French) Awe
6. An Er Ir (English) Urge (Scotch)
7. Ask Er Ir (variety) Urge
8. ” Ah ”
ARTICULATIONS or CONSONANTS.
Mia v7 Oral. Nasal.
P B M
_ { Obstructive. }
{ | Complete contact. § AF D N
\k G Ng
Ph Bh
|Rh R (smooth)
| Ch Gh
Firm .../ Wh WwW
's Zh
| — Hes sh Z
Ap; roximation Yh Y
|
} 4 /KRA Gr (burr)
\ Continuous ) \ Relaxed (Rb k (rough)
place
(Partial contact x awaay en
tr (Gaelic)
The aspirate was briefly described as being no fixed
They frequently amounted to”
A
April 5, 1883 |
NATURE
533
articulation, but simply a vowel sound first whispered
and then pronounced aloud. Accent has for its object
to make one syllable or several more prominent than
those around. The English language tends to throw
it as far back in a word as is practicable. A long word
may have one strong, and one or even two weaker accents
in it.
Inflexion is either rising, falling, or a compoun1 of
these. As a rule, rising tones appeal, falling tones assert,
compound tones suggest ; a complete balance of the two
is the antithesis, which can be heard in such a remark as
“Tt was not so much what you said—as your manner of
saying it, which struck me.’’ The contrasted effect of
the two accents may be reproduced by reading this sen-
tence aloud and intelligently.
When inflexion is applied in this way to sentences,
three cases occur: the sentence either asserts, asks, or
orders, and the nature of the inflexion depends on the
relative circumstances of the speaker and listener.
Delivery and modulation are combinations of pausing
and of pitch. The conversational pitch being taken as
a medium, all below this denotes sadness or solemnity ;
all above it joy or levity. Force, expression, and senti-
ment, thus developed, are infinite in their variety.
Emphasis can only be attained and regulated by a full
perception of the point to be brought out; as a rule it
marks the predicate of a logical expression. False
emphasis is the foundation of many quaint stories in
common currency. Speaking generally, new, contrasted,
or antithetical ideas are marxed by emphasis.
In conclusion, the lecturer gave three general rules by
which any one can speak. The first, in the words of
Horace : “ Dicendi recté principium est sapere, et fons ;”
that is, “ Know exactly what you are going to say.” The
second, “ Endeavour to forget yourself.” This frame of
mind had been formulated by old elocutionists as ‘* Have
a contempt for your audience.” He preferred to state it
ina less obnoxious way as “ Consider yourself one of your
audience.’ The third, ‘Be natural and unaffected.”
By bearing in mind these simple injunctions any man
free of congenital or acquired defects, though he might
not be a brilliant, could hardly fail in being an agreeable
and sympathetic speaker.
PROFESSOR SCHIAPARELLI ON THE
GREAT COMET OF 1882
EADERS of Nature will be glad to have a full
report of the interesting popular lecture which Prof.
Schiaparelli, the well-known Italian astronomer, gave in |
Milan on February 4, on the great comet of 1882. Re-
ferring to the national misfortune which had given origin
to his and other lectures, he began by showing that while a
connection between the comet and the inundations which
wasted, in October. 1882, many Venetian provinces, was |
not absolutely impossible, it was at least very improbable,
both because the comet was yet a great distance from
the earth when the floods rose, and from the difficulty of
understanding why the supposed influence of the comet
should have acted only on that little part of the globe.
After this preamble M. Schiaparelli gave the public a
rapid and elementary account of our planetary system,
and of the comet's trajectory during its passage near the
sun and planets. The orbit of the comet, in the position
which could be subjected to astronomical measurement,
is parabolic, in a plane inclined 30° or 40° to planes of
the solar system. The greater portion of the orbit is in
the southern regions ; for in the austral hemisphere the
comet was sooner and better observed than in the boreal,
where it never was very high above the horizon. The
vertex of the parabola is very near the sun, and only when
the comet was approaching to this position with an extra-
ordinary rapidity, astronomers could perceive it,—at
Auckland (September 2), at the Cape of Good Hope, in
Australia, the Argentine Republic, and Brazil. The direc-
tion of its movement was perhaps towards the sun; but the
inconceivable rate which the comet acquired in its falling
towards the sun (480 km. in a second, sixteen times the
mean velocity of the earth in its orbit), and the lateral
rush coming fron it, were enough at that time to overcome
the attractive power of the sun, and to hinder the great
luminary from swallowing it. The attraction of the sun
failed not to produce its effect, slackening successively
its flight ; but being animated by this great velocity, the
comet could escape in security to where the sun’s action
is very feeble, and whence it will not return for many
years.
The Cape astronomer had the opportunity of wit-
nessing this rare spectacle of a heavenly body which,
rushing headlong from extraplanetary depths, went
directly on the sun, as if it would fall in, and notwith-
standing, in a few hours delivered itself, changing com-
pletely its direction of motion. At that time the earth
was placed very obliquely in respect to the arc described
by the comet about the sun, so that astronomers observed
it with a great foreshortening of perspective. In those
hours the comet, being exposed to an extraordinary heat,
swelled and became so luminous, that the Cape astro-
nomers, and afterwards some in Europe, could see it
near the sun. They could make the absolutely new
observation of a comet's transit before the solar disk,
thus satisfying an ancient desire of astronomers, who
have wished to know if in those bodies’ head, which often
appears as a very bright star, is bidden an obscure
perceptible nucleus, and to judge of the density of the
shining atmosphere whose splendour produces the star’s
appearance. In this case it was not possible to be
deceived by an illusion, as happened in 1819. Messrs.
Finlay and Elkin, at the Cape, saw the comet gradually
ap} roach the sun’s limb, touch it, and disappear ; so that
their searches to find the comet in the place where it
obviously was were vain. The comet then was so thin
and clear, that the most slender cloud would more
obscure the sun: its solid nucleus (if it had a nucleus, as
was very likely) was so small that the observer’s telescope
could not perceive any spot or shade. After it left the
neighbourhood of the sun, the effects of the enormous
heat began to appear in the development of that splendid
tail, which everybody could see in the morning hours of
October and November.
The orbit of the comet (continued the Professor) is not
easily deducible from the very little portion which we
know. Both becau e to assign a trajectory observed in a
small branch is very difficult, and sometimes impossible,
and because exact and definitive calculations will not be
undertaken before the vanishing of the comet ; the notes
which at present can be given are only approximative.
On observations of last September, October, and Novem-
ber, it was stated that the period of the comet is included
between eight and nine centuries, and the aphelion is
nearly six times farther than Neptune from the sun (175
times the earth's mean vector radius), the rate of velocity
in aphelion and perihelion being as I to 23,000.
On the brightness of the comet, M. Schiaparelli ob-
served that it could be attributed to three causes: the
strong illumination of the sun, its own light, and electrical
discharges, which take place continually in similar bodies,
in the opinion of expert physicists. Those causes united
to make that very splendid appearance of a matter clearer
and less dense than the rarefied air of our best pneumatic
engines. The density of the tail was so small that an
astronomer estimated it at no more than a few kilo-
grammes, while its dimensions were larger than were
ever before observed in comets. It is true that other
comets (that of 1861, for example) showed an apparently
longer tail, their position in respect to the earth being
more favourable to observation; but in the annals of
534
NATURE
[ April 5, 1883
astronomy we have never found a comet's tail really as
long as this.
I leave out the detailed description of the comet’s
aspect, because NATURE has given full accounts and
sketches, and I come to the most interesting part of M.
Schiaparelli’s lecture, on the production of those magni-
ficent phenomena. I translate literally from Signor
Schiaparelli’s manuscript.
The proper nucleus of the comet is a solid or liquid
body so small as rarely to be seen : in the greater number
of comets, as in this, it seems to be not large enough to
be visible even in powerful telescopes. It seems also that
in some comets there are several nuclei, very small and
close, whose particular atmospheres in their development
at last unite in one. As long as such a body (or system
of bodies) remains far from the sun, in extraplanetary
regions, where temperature is less than — 140° C. (accord-
ing tothe most moderate estimates),and where the sun has
perhaps no power to heat it, the matter must be wholly
solid or at least liquid; and, if a small quantity is
gaseous or vaporous, it must have a great density and a
small volume. The progressive approach to the sun by
its descending orbit will obviously swell the enveloping
atmosphere, or give rise to one if it does not yet exist,
with materials generated by the surface. Shortly the
nucleus begins to appear surrounded by a blaze of light,
feebleat first, but afterwards more and more brilliant, which
is the star or head of the comet. Many comets do not go
beyond this first phase, both because they have not matter
enough to make an atmosphere, and because they do not
come near enough to the sun to be subject to a great
neat. Some comets do not enter the earth’s orbit, others
cannot reach that of Mars, and we know that the comet
of 1729 got only a little way into the orbit of Jupiter.
The most part of those comets, being exposed very
moderately to the solar influence, cannot increase, and
remain telescopic ; and it is very probable that a large
number stop at Jupiter or Saturn’s orbit (or even further)
in their descent upon the sun: none of those are seen,
and we can speak of them only by conjecture.
When a comet, however, as the present, pierces through
the interior part of the planetary system, it is in the best
condition to develop its atmosphere if it contain matter
enough to do so. But the sun, while attracting to him-
self the nucleus, has the property to repel some of the
matter of the atmosphere. It is not well known how and
why this matter is repelled, and to expound the various
hypotheses on this point would take too long a time. The
effect of repulsion is nevertheless undoubted, and mani-
fested by the fact that those parts of the cometary atmo-
sphere, under the sun’s impulse, almost as if under a gale
blowing fromit, leave the nucleus and fly in an opposite direc-
tion away from the sun, producing the tail, which, nourished
successively by incessant evaporations of the nucleus,
more and more increases in length, till the atmosphere of
the nucleus, wholly repelled, overflows into the tail, and
thus exhausts itself. This happens usually when the
nucleus, after the perihelion, receding from the sun and
being then exposed again to the cosmical cold, is no
longer able to supply with new evaporations the part of
the atmosphere which the tail absorbs. Deprived thus
of its former envelopes, and unable to engender others,
the nucleus is reduced again to itself, and the comet
disappears.
The tail of the comet consists then of matters repelled
by the sun with a mysterious power. But, during the
above described period of conflagration, other interesting
events occur in the comet. It is so much swollen and
convulsed by solar heat that the little nucleus is not able
sometimes to keep together the fragments by its own very
feeble attraction. Violent eruptions take place at the
surface, so that pieces of nucleus are raised and thrown
out of the principal body’s attraction. Those fragments
then pass through the heavens as independent bodies,
and their orbits are not very different from the orbit of the
nucleus. Sometimes one of the broken pieces is great
enough to engender another separate comet: that is, the
several times observed phenomenon of a divided comet.
But most generally it seems that separated pieces are
very small and numerous, like the sparks of a piece of
salt thrown on the fire; and extend along the trajectory
of the nucleus like a current or projection of corpuscles,
which gradually invade all the orbit of the comet. Many
comets (probably all) engender in their course a similar
retinue ; and the planetary intervals are peopled by those
corpuscles produced by a comet’s partial disintegration.
When the earth in its yearly revolution passes through
one of these processions it meets with several pieces,
which get inflamed by contact with the terrestrial atmo-
sphere, and burn in a very short time, producing a falling
star.
An example of such a process of separation was given
by the present comet. In effect, a little before Octcber 15
M. Schmidt, the astronomer at Athens, observed an irre-
gular and very feebly shining thin cloud leaving the
comet, withdrawing, and finally disappearing. It was more
dense and luminous in some places than in others, but it
looked not like a comet, having rather the aspect of a
mass of corpuscles exploded by the principal nucleus.
The atmosphere also enveloping the principal nucleus
offered analogous phenomena, being not round and sym-
metrical, but lengthened spindle-fashion, with several
more luminous centres of different intensity spread in an
oval cloud. We have, besides, reason to believe that
another little comet, which was observed in the beginning
of 1880 in the austral regions of the earth, running in an
orbit very similar, was previously separated from our
great comet.
M. Schiaparelli passed afterwards to another question,
on the chemical constitution ef comets, explaining the
principle of spectrum analysis and its application to
celestial chemistry. He remarked that the present and
Wells’s comet only, by their coming so near the sun,
could present the lines of sodium, whilst all the comets
before observed gave only lines of hydrocarbons in the
spectroscope; and it is very probable, according to
modern theories, that comets contain also some matters
which are made apparent in falling stars and in aérolites,
as iron, nickel, silicium, magnesium, aluminium, and
others. This confirms the induction as to the similarity of
their chemical composition to that of the earth; and the
common origin of comets in the planetary system is evi-
dently proved by their accompanying the sun in its pro-
gressive movement towards the constellation of Hercules.
It seems that comets belonging to the solar system would
have the function of continually dissipating matter in
space, as a compensation to the attractive power of the
greatest centre, the sun.
Pressure of space obliges me to leave out the very
eloquent conclusion of this lecture, in which the lecturer
refuted the apprehensions as to the shock of a comet with
the earth, and its probable consequences, discussing the
great moral importance of these studies as an antidote to
the fears and superstitions of ignorant people. Referring
to Anaxagoras and Galileo, he concluded with these words:
“© A science which suffered such noble condemnations,
| and is able to awake such noble hopes, cannot be con-
sidered as futile and idle; it will always be dear to the
friends of truth; dear to every one who is convinced that
man lives not by bread alone.” FRANCIS PORRO
R. Observatory of Brera in Milan
THE SOARING OF BIRDS
ete recent correspondence in NATURE upon this
subject ought not to close without some reference
to a possible explanation of soaring which does not appear
to have been yet suggested.
April 5, 1883]
NATURE
535
I premise that if we know anything about mechanics it
is certain that a bird without working his wings cannot,
either in still air or in a uniform horizontal wind, maintain
his level indefinitely. For a short time such maintenance
is possible at the expense of an initial relative velocity,
but this must soon be exhausted. Whenever therefore a
bird pursues his course for some time without working
his wings, we must conclude either (1) that the course is
not horizontal, (2) that the wind is not horizontal, or (3)
that the wind is not uniform. It is probable that the
truth is usually represented by (1) or (2); but the question
I wish to raise is whether the cause suggested by (3) may
not sometimes come into operation.
In NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 10, Mr. S. E. Peal makes
very distinct statements as to the soaring of pelicans and
other large birds in Assam. The course is in large and
nearly circular sweeps, and at each lap some Io or 20
feet of elevation is gained. When there ts a wind, the
birds may in this way “ without once flapping the wings”
rise from a height of 200 to a height of 8000 feet.
That birds do not soar when there is no wind is what
we might suppose, but it is not evident how the existence
of a wind helps the matter. If the wind were horizontal
and uniform it certainly could not do so. As it does not
seem probable that at a moderate distance from the
ground there could be a sufficient vertical motion of the
air to maintain the birds, we are led to inquire whether
anything can be made of the difference of horizontal
velocities which we know to exist at different levels.
In a uniform wind the available energy at the
disposal of the bird depends upon his velocity ve/a-
tively to the air about him. With only a moderate
waste this energy can'at any moment be applied to gain
elevation, the gain of elevation being proportional to the
loss of relative velocity squared. It will be convenient
for the moment to ignore the waste referred to, and to
suppose that the whole energy available remains con-
stant, so that however the bird may ascend or descend,
the relative velocity is that due to a fall from a certain
level to the actual position, the certain level being of
course that to which the bird might just rise by the
complete sacrifice of relative velocity.
For distinctness of conception let us now suppose that
above and below a certain plane there is a uniform hori-
zontal wind, but that in ascending through this plane the
velocity increases, and let us consider how a bird sailing
somewhat above the plane of separation, and endowed
with an initial relative velocity, might take advantage of
the position in which he finds himself.
The first step is, if necessary, to turn round until the
relative motion is to leeward, and then to drop gradually
down through the plane of separation. In falling down
to the level of the plane there is a gain of relative velo-
city, but this is of no significance for the present purpose,
as it is purchased by the loss of elevation ; but in passing
through the plane there is a really effective gain. In
entering the lower stratum the actual velocity is indeed
unaltered, but the velocity relatively to the surrounding
air is zzcreased. The bird must now wheel round in the
lower stratum until the direction of motion is to wind-
ward, and then return to the upper stratum, in entering
which there is a second increment of relative velocity.
This process may evidently be repeated indefinitely ; and
if the successive increments of relative velocity squared
are large enough to outweigh the inevitable waste which
is in progress all the while, the bird may maintain his
level, and even increase his available energy, without
doing a stroke of work.
In nature there is of course no such abrupt transition
as we have just now supposed, but there is usually a con-
tinuous increase of velocity with height. If this be suf-
ficient, the bird may still take advantage of it to maintain
or improve his position without doing work, on the prin-
ciple that has been explained. For this purpose it is
1
only necessary for him to descend while moving to lee-
ward, and to ascend while moving to windward, the sim-
plest mode of doing which is to describe circles on a plane
which inclines downwards to leeward. If in a complete
lap the advantage thus obtained compensates the waste,
the mean level will be maintained without expenditure of
work ; if there be a margin, there will be an outstanding
gain of level susceptible of indefinite repetition.
A priori, 1 should not have supposed the variation of
velocity with height to be adequate for the purpose ; but
if the facts are correct, some explanation is badly wanted.
Mr. Peal makes no mention of the circular sweeps being
inclined to the horizon, a feature which is essential to the
view suggested. It is just possible, however, that the
point might escape attention not specially directed to it.
However the feat may be accomplished, if it be true
that large birds can maintain and improve their levels
without doing work, the prospect for human flight be-
comes less discouraging. Experimenters upon this sub-
ject would do well to limit their efforts for the present to
the problem of gliding or sailing through the air. When
aman can launch himself from an elevation and glide
long distances before reaching the ground, an important
step will have been gained, and until this can be done, it
is very improbable that any attempt to maintain the level
by expenditure of work can be successful. Large birds
cannot maintain their levels in still air without a rapid
horizontal motion, and it is easy to show that the utmost
muscular work of a man is utterly inadequate with any
possible wings to allow of his maintenance in a fixed
position relatively to surrounding air. Witha rapid hori-
zontal motion, the thing may perhaps be possible, but for
further information bearing upon this subject, I must
refer to a paper on the resistance of fluids published in
the Philosophical Magazine for December, 1876.
March 22 RAYLEIGH
PHILIP CHRISTOPH ZELLER
atom )LOGY has just sustained an irreparable loss
by the death of Prof. Zeller, which took place at
Griinhof, near Stettin, on March 27, suddenly, from heart
disease. Zeller was born on April 9, 1808, at Steinheim,
in Wiirttemburg. For many years he was attached to
official educational establishments in Germany, especially
at Glogau in Silesia, and Meseritz in Posen. While at
the former place the honorary title of Professor was
bestowed upon him by the Government on account of his
eminent scientific researches, and some time afterwards
he retired from official duties, and settled near Stettin,
where much of his leisure was devoted to the Ento-
mological Society that has its headquarters in that town,
of which he was acting secretary, and of which Dr. C. A.
Dohrn is president. Zeller’s fame as an entomologist is
more especially based upon his publications on Lefi-
doptera, more particularly of Europe, and chiefly on the
smaller moths. His first recorded paper appeared in
Oken’s /szs for 1838, and consisted of a critical deter-
mination of the Lepidoptera in Réaumur’s “ Memoirs,” a
prize essay, in which the author took first place. From
that time a continuous stream of valuable papers by him
appeared, and on the day of his death he was engaged in
scientific work. It is utterly impossible to give here even
the titles of his more important works. It is with regret
that we are obliged to admit that the title of “entomologist”
does not always enable us to take for granted that the
entomologist is also a naturalist. Zeller was both, in the
fullest acceptation of the terms. While his purely de-
scriptive work is of the highest character, his investiga-
tions into the natural history of his subject were persistent,
and he never ceased to deprecate the ‘‘slop-work” so pain-
fully evident in the writings of some entomologists. For
many years he made almost annual excursions in pursuit
| of his favourite science, especially in the Alps of Central
536
NATURE
April 5, 1883
[4p 3
a
Europe, and so long ago as 1844 a more extended tour in
South Italy and Sicily. In this country he was so well
known that British entomologists will feel that in his death
they have lost one of themselves ; it is nearly thirty-five
years since he was elected an Honorary Member of the
Entomological Society of London, and he was one of the
editors of Mr. Stainton’s magnificent “ Natural History
of the Tineina.” There are those amongst us in this
country who in Zeller’s death have lost one of their
dearest friends. Scientific entomology has lost one of its
most shining lights. R. MCLACHLAN
THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES
EXHIBITION
HE MAJESTY THE QUEEN has recently ap-
pointed the 12th of May for the opening of the
International Fisheries Exhibition, which an influential
and energetic committee, under the active presidency of
the Prince of Wales, has developed to a magnitude
undreamt of by those concerned in its early beginnings.
This magnitude is perhaps as great a matter of agreeable
surprise to Mr. Birkbeck and its other Norwich founders
as it will be to those who have very naturally become
accustomed to class all specific exhibitions together upon
a standard formed by the unfortunate annual exhibitions
of which the public has, not without reason, grown
weary.
The idea of anzzternational Fisheries Exhibition arose
out of the success of the show of British fishery held at
Norwich a short time ago; and the president and execu-
tive of the latter formed the nucleus of the far more
powerful body by whom the present enterprise has been
brought about.
The buildings are well advanced towards completion,
and will be finished long before the opening day; the
exhibitors will, it is hoped, support the executive by
sending in their goods in time, and thus all will be ready
for the 12th proximo.
The plan of the buildings embraces the whole of the
twenty-two acres of the Horticultural Gardens: the
upper half, left in its usual state of cultivation, will form
a pleasant lounge and resting-place for visitors in the
intervals of their study of the collections. This element
of garden accommodation was one of the most attractive
features at the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
As the plan of the buildings is straggling and extended,
and widely separates the classes, the most convenient
mode of seeing the show will probably be found in going”
through the surrounding buildings first, and then taking
the annexes as they occur.
On entering the main doors in the Exhibition Road, we
pass through the Vestibule to the Council Room of the
Royal Horticultural Society, which has been decorated
for the reception of marine paintings, river subjects, and
fish pictures of all sorts, by modern artists.
Leaving the Fine Arts behind, the principal building of
the Exhibition is before us—that devoted to the deep sea
fisheries of Great Britain. It is a handsome wooden struc-
ture 750 ft. in length, 50 ft. wide, and 30 ft. at its greatest
height. The model of this, as well as of the other
temporary wooden buildings, is the same as that of the
annexes of the great Exhibition of 1862.
On our Jeft are the Dining Rooms with the Kitchens in
the rear. The thirdroom, set apart for cheap fish dinners
(one of the features of the Exhibition), is to be decorated
at the expense of the Baroness Burdett Coutts, and its
walls are to be hung with pictures lent by the Fishmongers’
Company, who have also furnished the requisite chairs
and tables, and have made arrangements fora daily supply
of cheap fish, while almost everything necessary to its
maintenance (forks, spoons, table-linen, &c.), will be lent
by various firms,
gardens :
}
The apsidal building attached is to be devoted to
lectures on the cooking of fish.
Having crossed the British Section, and turning to the
right and passing by another entrance, we come upon
what will be to all one of the most interesting features of
the Exhibition, and to the scientific student of ichthyology
a collection of paramount importance. We allude to the
Western Arcade, in which are placed the Aquaria, which
have in their construction given rise to more thoughtful
care and deliberation than any other part of the works. On
the right, in the bays, are the twenty large asphalt tanks,
about 12 ft. long, 3 ft. wide,and 3ft.deep. These are the
largest dimensions that the space at command will allow,
but it is feared by some that they will be found somewhat
confined for fast going fish. Along the wall on the left
are ranged twenty smaller or table-tanks of slate, which
vary somewhat in size; theten largest are about 5 ft. 8 in.
long, 2 ft. 9 in. wide, and 1 ft. gin. deep.
In this Western Arcade will be found all the new
inventions in fish culture—models of hatching, breeding
and rearing establishments, apparatus for the transporting
of fish, ova, models, and drawings of fish-passes and
ladders, and representations of the development and
growth of fish. The chief exhibitors are specialists, and
are already well known to our readers. Sir James Gib-
son Maitland has taken an active part in the arrangement
of this branch, and is himself one of the principal con-
tributors.
In the north of the Arcade where it curves towards the
Conservatory, will be shown an enormous collection of
examples of stuffed fish, contributed by many of the
prominent angling societies. In front of these on the
counter will be ranged microscopic preparations of
parasites, &c., and a stand from the Norwich Exhibi-
tion of a fauna of fish and fish-eating birds.
Passing behind the Conservatory and down the Eastern
Arcade—in which will be arranged Algze, Sponges, Mol-
lusca, Star-fish, worms used for bait, insects which destroy
spawn or which serve as food for fish, &c.—on turning to
the left, we find ourselves in the Fish Market, which will
probably vie with the Aquaria on the other side in attract-
ing popular attention. This model Billingsgate is to be
divided into two parts, the one for the sale of fresh, the
other of dried and cured fish.
Next in order come the two long iron sheds appropriated
respectively to Life-boats and Machinery inmotion. Then
past the Royal Pavilion (the idea of which was doubtless
taken from its prototype at the Paris Exhibition) to the
southern end of the central block, which is shared by the
Netherlands and Newfoundland ; just to the north of the
former Belgium has a place.
While the Committee of the Netherlands was one of
the earliest formed, Belgium only came in at the eleventh
hour ; she will, however, owing to the zealous activity of
Mr. Lenders, the Consul in London, send an important
contribution worthy of her interest in the North Sea
fisheries. We ought also to mention that Newfoundland
is among those colonies which have shown great energy,
and she may be expected to send a large collection.
Passing northward we come to Sweden and Norway,
with Chili between them. These two countries were, like
the Netherlands, early in preparing to participate in the
Exhibition. Each has had its own Committee, which
has been working hard since early in 1882.
Parallel to the Scandinavian section is that devoted to
Canada and the United States. While the American
Government has freighted a ship with specimens expected
daily, the former has entered heart and soul into the
friendly rivalry, and will occupy an equal space—ten
thousand square feet.
In the Northern Transept will be placed the inland
fisheries of the United Kingdom. At each end of the
building is aptly inclosed a basin formerly standing in the
and over the eastern one will be erected the
April 5, 1883]
NATURE
537
dais from which the Queen will formally declare the
Exhibition open.
Shooting out at right angles are the Spanish annexe,
and the building shared by India and Ceylon, China and
Japan, and New South Wales: while corresponding to
these at the western end are the Russian annexe anda
shed allotted to several countries and colonies. The Isle
of Man, the Bahamas, Switzerland, Germany, Hawaii,
Italy, and Greece—all find their space under its roof.
After all the buildings were planned, the Governments
of Russia and Spain declared their intention of partici-
pating ; and accordingly for each of these countries a
commodious iron building has been specially erected.
The Spanish collection will be of peculiar interest ; it
=|
GREAT BRI
ROYAL
HORTICULTURAL
TAIN
SOCIETY
Brock Pran.—A. Switzerland; B. Isle of Man; C. Bahama and W. I. Islands; D. Hawaii; E. Poland;
I. France; J. Italy; K
Wales.—Scale, 200 feet to the inch.
has been gathered together bya Government vessel ordered
round the coast for the purpose, and taking up contribu-
tions at all the seaports as it passed.
Cf the countries whose Governments for inscrutable
reasons of state show disfavour and lack of sympathy,
Germany is prominent ; although by the active initiative
of the London Committee some important contributions
. Greece; L, China; M. India and Ceylon; N. Straits Settlements; O. Japan; P. Tasmania ;
ately
F. Portugal; G. Austria ; H. Germany;
SnEeP Q. New South
have been secured from private individuals : among them,
we are happy to say, is Mr. Max von dem Borne, who
will send his celebrated incubators, which the English
Committee have arranged to exhibit in operation at their
own expense.
Although the Italian Government, like that of Germany,
holds aloof, individuals, especially Dr. Dohrn of the
53
NATURE
[ April 5, 1883
Naples Zoological Station, will send contributions of great
scientific value.
France, the other day only, consented to the official
appointment of her Consul to look after the interests of
the oyster cultivators who are contributing an important
feature.
In the Chinese and Japanese annexe, on the east, will
be seen a large collection of specimens (including the
gigantic crabs) which has been collected, to a great
extent, at the suggestion of Dr. Giinther of the British
Museum.
It is at the same time fortunate and unfortunate that a
similar Fisheries Exhibition is now being heldat Yokohama,
as many specimens which have been collected specially
for their own use would otherwise be wanting; and on
the other hand, many are held back for their own show.
China, of all foreign countries, was the first to send her
goods, which arrived at the building on the 30th ultimo,
accompanied by native workmen, who are preparing to
erect over a basin contiguous to their annexe models
of the summer-house and bridge with which the willow-
pattern plate has made us familiar; while on the basin
will float models of Chinese junks.
Of British colonies, New South Wales will contribute
a very interesting collection placed under the care of the
Curator of the Sydney Museum; and from the Indian
Empire will come a large gathering of specimens in spirits
under the superintendence of Dr. Francis Day.
Of great scientific interest are the exhibits, to be placed
in two neighbouring sheds, of the Native Guano Company
and the Millowners’ Association. The former will show
all the patents used for the purification of rivers from
sewage, and the latter will display in action their method
of rendering innocuous the chemical pollutions which
factories pour into rivers.
In the large piece of water in the northern part of the
gardens, which has been deepened on purpose, apparatus
in connecticn with diving will be seen; and hard by,
in a shed, Messrs. Siebe, Gorman & Co. will show a
selection of beautiful minute shells dredged from the
bottom of the Mediterranean.
In the open basins in the gardens will be seen beavers,
seals, sea-lions, waders, and other aquatic birds.
From this preliminary walk round enough has, we
think, been seen to show that the Great International
Fisheries Exhibition will prove of interest alike to the
ordinary visitor, to those anxious for the well-being of
fishermen, to fishermen themselves of every degree,
and to the scientific student of ichthyology in all its
branches.
The economic question of the undertaking we have
left untouched.
NOTES
Ir will be seen from a communication in another columa that
the Council of the British Association have virtually decided that
that body is bound to hold its meeting in Canada in 1884. From
Sir A, T. Galt’s letter it is evident that our Canadian fellow-
subjects have already arranged to give the Association a hearty
and generous welcome; and now that Canada seems in-
evitable, we hope that as many members as possible will
make up their minds to be present. The expenses for
visitors will be reduced to a minimum, a: d the travelling expenses
of officials, to the number of fifty, to #7. A magnificent pro-
gramme for three weeks’ excursions has been sketched, and the
expenses connected with them will be confined to hotel charges,
carriages, &c., the railway companies haying handsomely offered
to convey members free of charge.
THE Academy of Sciences held its Annual Meeting on April
2, M. Jamin in the chair. He pronounced the é/oge of the
three Academicians who died last year, viz., MM. Liouville,
Bussy, and Decaisne. M. Blanchard, filling the room of M.
Dumas, who, although present, was unable to deliver any
speech, read the list of laureates. The number of prizes offered
for public competition is yearly enlarging; not less than three of
them—Monti, Machedo, and Francceur—were delivered for the
first time. The number of verdicts which the commission had
to render was thirty-three. In nine cases the commission de-
clared no memoir was worthy to take a prize; the competitions
were in general adjourned to 1885, and a certain sum of money
was given to some semi-successful candidates. In two instances
the merit of the candidates was acknowledged so great that two
prizes were delivered instead of one. These two cases were in
statistics and mathematics; the question put was to give a
theory of the partition of numbers in five squares, Amongst
the prizes lost is included the famous Prix Breaux, for the cure
of cholera. The interest was divided amongst four pupils of
M. Pasteur’s, The Poncelet Prize has been taken by M. Clausius,
and the Voltz Prize by Mr. Huggins and M., Criils, a Brazilian,
for their spectroscopic work.
If was announced at the ahoyve-mentioned meeting that
the great mathematical prize of the French Academy had been
awarded to the late Prof. H. J. S. Smith for his dissertation
on the representation of a number as the sum of five squares.
The subject for the prize was announced in the Comptes Rendus
of the Academy in February of last year, and, according to
custom, the essays were to be sent in before June 1—each dis-
sertation bearing a motto and being accompanied by a sealed
envelope having the motto on the outside and the writer’s name
inside. The envelopes of the unsuccessful candidates are de-
stroyed unopened. Prof. Smith’s dissertation bore as its appro-
priate motto :—
“Quotque, quibusque modis possint in quinque resolvi
Quadratos numeri pagina nostra docet.”’
There were three candidates, and the value of the prize is 3000f,
The theory of numbers, to which the prize subject related, is
one to which Prof. Smith had devoted the greater part of his
life, and in which he occupied an almost unique position ; with
the exception of Prof. Kummer of Berlin, there is no one whose
contributions to the science could be compared to his, and this
posthumous mark of the appreciation on the Continent of the value
of his work is all the more satisfactory as the great prize has
never before, we believe, been awarded to an English mathema-
tician. The complete solution of the important problem pro-
posed by the French Academy had been obtained by Prof.
Smith sixteen years ago as part of a far more general investiga-
tion, and the results were published by him in the Proceedings of
the Royal Society in 1868, but without demonstration. These
researches seem, however, to have escaped the notice of the
French mathematicians. When the subject of the prize was
announced last year, Prof. Smith extracted from his manuscript
books the demonstrations of the propositions relating to the
five-square problem, and it is to the dissertation so formed that
the prize has been awarded. No more striking instance of the
extent to which Prof. Smith had carried his researches, or of his
great mathematical genius, could be given than is afforded by
the fact that a question considered by the French Academicians
of so much importance to the advancement of mathematical
science as to be chosen for the subject of the ‘‘Grand Prix”
should have been completely solved by him as only a particular
case in the treatment of a general and even more intricate
problem. In 1868 Prof. Smith won the Steiner Prize of the
Berlin Academy, so that had he but lived till now he would
have been ‘‘laureate’’ of the Academies of both Paris and
Berlin.
THE removal of the natural history collection from Great
Russell Street to its new quarters at South Kensington, on the
oh
April 5, 1883]
site of the Great Exhibition of 1862, has been proceeding gradu-
ally during the last two years, and is now rapidly approaching
completion. Several of the rooms, formerly stocked with birds,
fishes, &c., have been already emptied.
LizuT. SAMUEL W. VERY, U.S.N., and Dr. Orlando B.
Wheeler, the two principal members of the expedition sent by
the United States Government to Santa Cruz, Patagonia, to ob-
serve the recent transit of Venus, arrived in Liverpool on Friday,
by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company’s mail steamer Pata-
gonia. Lieut. Very, who had charge of the expedition as chief
astronomer, states that the expedition arrived off the mouth of
the Santa Cruz River on November 2. The weather during the
first fourteen days was very encouraging, but this was succeeded
by nine days of overcast, disagreeable weather, with frequent
and sharp showers of hail and rain. Fine weather again fol-
lowed until the eventful morning of December 6, which broke
cloudy and hazy. By half-past seven a.m., however, the clouds
began to weaken, half an hour later the sun shone out dimly,
and as the day advanced the weather improved, so that when it
was time to take up stations for the first contact, the sun was
almost entirely clear. All four of the contacts were observed
both by Lieut. Very, with the large equatorial, and by Mr.
Wheeler, with a smaller one ; and during the transit 224 photo-
graphs were taken, with a continuous improvement in the
results. b> sunset the weather changed again for the worse, and
the sun was 1 t seen, except at intervals, for four or five days,
during which time Lieut. Very was looking avxiously for obser-
vations for rating his chronometers. While the expedition was
in camp the temperature changed to the extent of 19° in the
cour:e of every twelve hours. In the daytime the heat occa-
sionally was oppressive, while at night the air was very cold, and
the party had to sleep with double blankets and heavy clothing
upon them. The Lieutenant speaks in the highest terms of the
kindness and consideration shown to him by the Pacific Steam
Navigation Company and the Customs authorities, both of
whom, when they were informed of his business, put all possible
facilities in his power.
THE next ordinary General Meeting of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers will be held on Wednesday, April 11, and
Thursday, April 12, at 25, Great George Street, Westminster.
The chair will be taken by the president, Percy G. B. Westma-
cott, at three o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, and at ten o’clock
on Thursday morning. The following papers will be read and
discussed :—On the strength of shafting when exposed both to
torsion and end thrust, by Prof. A. G. Greenhill, of Woolwich ;
On modern methods of cutting metals, by Mr. W. Ford Smith,
of Salford ; On improvements in the manufacture of coke, by
Mr. John Jameson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne ; On the application
of electricity to coal mines, by Mr. Alan C. Bagot, of London.
THE 21st meeting of the delegates of the French Learned
Societies took place last week at the Sorbonne. M. Ferry, the
French Premier, presided over the tinal meeting on March 31,
and delivered, as is customary, an address. The Minister dwelt
much on the circumstance that he had added to the four sections
in existence a fifth, devoted to political economiy, so that the
meeting of the Learned Societies included every subject in human
knowledge. He praised the Trustees of the British Museum
for their fair dealing towards France in the matter of the Ash-
burnham manuscripts, and eulogised the French Government
for their zeal in the promotion of knowledge, declaring that 60
millions of francs had been already spent for the rebuilding of
French universities, and that 40 millions were to be spent shortly
for the same purpose. The presidents of the several sections
omitted to deliver their reports, and the proceedings terminated
somewhat abruptly, The address was well received, but the
unexpected silence of the presidents has taken the public by
surprise, and has been unexplained as yet.
NATURE
539
M. HERVE MANGON, President of the Bureau Central of
French Meteorology, opened the Session of the Congress of
Meteorologists on March 29 by reading a report on the working
of the institution. This document states that, froma comparison
made by the Bureau, its forecasts have been acknowledged good
83 times in each 100 ; that for the warning of tempests 207 had
been sent to- the seaports, out of which 100 had been fulfilled
entirely, 65 partly, and 42 had not been warranted by the event.
The president, who is a member of the French Legislative
Assembly for La Manche, announces the intention of asking from
Parliament an augmentation of credit.
Mr. MuysrIDGE has issued a prospectus of ‘‘a new and
elaborate work upon the attitudes of man, the horse, and other
animals in motion.” As the expense of conducting these ex-
periments is very great, Mr. Muybridge naturally waits until
he obtains a sufficient number of roo-dollar subscriptions before
entering upon them, Each subscriber of the sum will receive
a large album containing the photographic results of the experi-
ments. Their scientific and artistic value is so great that we
trust Mr. Muybridge will receive sufficient encouragement to
put his plan into execution. His address is Scovill Manufac-
turing Company, Publishing Department, 419-421, Broome
Street, New York.
Tue Warwick Museum has been enriched by the very valu-
able collection of local Liassic and Keuper fossils formed by
the late Mr. J. W. Kirshaw, F.G.S., which it is intended to
keep as a separate collection. The whole of the collection in
the Museum has lately been classified and arranged by Mr.
R. Bullen Newton, of the Natural History Museum, South
Kensington.
HARTLEBEN’S ‘“‘Elektrotechnische Bibliothek” has been
further augmented by three volumes. They consist of two little
books by Dr. Alfred von Urbanitzky, viz. ‘‘ Die elektrischen
Beleuchtungs Anlagen” and ‘‘ Das elektrische Licht,” and one
by Herr W. P. Hauck, ‘‘ Die galvanischen Batterien, Accumu-
latoren, und Thermosaulen.”
ACCORDING to latest accounts, the eruption of Mount Etna is
resuming activity. Enormous quantities of gas are thrown out,
and slight shocks are again felt in the neighbourhood of
Nicolosi.
THE second number of Zimehr7, the journal of the British
Guiana Agricultural and Commercial Society is to hand; it
completes the first volume. Among the contents we note the
following :—Forest Conservancy in British Guiana, by M.
McTurk, G. M. Pearce, and the Hon. W. Russell; Mount
Russell in Guiana, by the Editor, Mr. Im Thurn; The Aspect
and Flora of the Kaieteur Savannah, by G. S. Jenman ; Notes
on West Indian Stone Implements, by the Editor, with several
coloured illustrations ; British Guiana Cave-Soils and Artificial
Manures, by E. E. H. Francis. There are also several inter-
esting notes, and the reports of the Society’s meetings. Among
the notes is a letter from Dr. R. Schomburgk, of Adelaide,
giving some interesting autobiographical details. Stanford is the
London agent.
WE have received the first number of the new American
monthly, Sczence, to which we heartily wish all success.
WHILE Western Europe enjoyed a mild autumn, very severe
weather was experienced on the Ural. At Ekaterinburg the
average temperature of October was four degrees lower than the
average for forty five years, that is, — 3°°9, instead of +079,
the lowest temperatures in October witnessed since 1836 having
been but —2°4 and —3°2. For nineteen days the thermo-
meter did not rise above zero, and it fell as low as —19°'2 and
—17°°9.
540
ENTOMOLOGISTS generally, as well as those more particularly
interested from their geographical position, will be pleased to
learn that the long-expected Yorkshire List of Lepidoptera—on
which Mr. Geo. T. Porritt, F.L.S., of Huddersfield, has for
some time past been engaged—is now completed, and that the
MS. is now being set up for the Zyansactions of the Vorkshire
Naturalists Union. Mr. Porritt, who has been assisted by the
leading entomologists of the county, and who has also paid
attention to the literature of the subject, has written what will
probably be regarded as one of the best county catalogues of
Lepidoptera extant. The diversity of soil and climate, geological
and physical conformation, for which Yorkshire is famous, is once
more illustrated by the richne-s in species which the lepidopterous
fauna shows, 1344 out of the 2031 species recognised as British
finding places in Mr. Porritt’s catalogue
THE following occurrence is worth notice :—The Weymouth
and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company’s mail steamer
Aguila \eft Weymouth at midnight on Friday for Guernsey and
Jersey on her pas-age across Channe]. The weather was calm
and clear, and the sea was smooth. When about one hour out
the steamer was struck violently by mountainous seas, which
sent her on her beam ends and swept her decks from stem to
stern. ‘The water immediately flooded the cabivs and engine-
room, entering through the skylights, the thick glass of which
was smashed. As the decks became clear of water, the bulwarks
were found to be broken in several places, one of the paddle- |
boxes was considerably damaged, the iron rail on the bridge was
completely twisted, the pump was broken and rendered useless,
the skylight of the ladies’ cabin was completely gone, and the
saloon skylight was smashed to atoms. The cabins were baled
out with buckets, while tarpaulins were placed over the skylights |
for protection. Fives minutes after the waves had struck the
steamer the sea became perfectly calm. Several of the crew
were knocked about, but none were seriously injured.
AT 10 p.m. on March 27 an earthquake occurred inand around
the town of Miskolcz, Hungary.
shocks, and so distinctly were they felt that in the theatre, where
the performance was going on, a panic ensued, the entire
audience rising and rushing in terror towards the outlets. Many
persons were injured, but, happily, no lives were lost. An
earthquake was observed on March 12 in various parts of |
Italy. Reports now state that it was principally noticed in the
Pellice valley, in the Po district, at Gessi, Varcita, Stura, and
Coni. The direction of the shocks was from N.E. to S.W.
In the plains the shocks were far less severe than in the moun-
tains, where the foundations of the houses were shaken. Nobody,
however, was hurt.
AN interesting discovery has been made at St. Pierre Quiberon
(department of Morbihan), It consists of a new dolmen, one of
those stone monuments of grey antiquity. It contained several
entire human skeletons, besides a number of skulls, stone axes,
a bronze pin, and some fragments of vessels.
THE large gold Cothenius medal, which the Imperial
“ Leopoldinisch-Carolinische ” German Academy of Naturalists
at Halle awards every year, has this time been given to Prof. F.
Eilhard Schulze of Graz.
THE Berlin Mining Academy has purchased for the Mineralo-
gical Museum of this Institution a so-called lightning tube or
fulgurite, which was recently found near Warmbruon. It
measures nearly 2 metres in length. It is specially interesting,
inasmuch as it shows a branch formation, about 30 centimetres
from its end, measuring half a metre in length, The fulgurite
was found after a seveve thunderstorm in a sandhill and in a
vertical position.
There were two separate |
NATURE
* [April 5, 1883
A BRILLIANT meteor was observed at Carlsruhe on March 5
at 8.9 p.m. It was about twice as bright as Venus at her
greatest brilliancy. Its direction was S.S.W. to N.N.E. ; it
left a trail of yellowish red colour and of several degrees in
length. The phenomenon finally disappeared in the constellation
of Cassiopeia, developing little cloudlets at its disappearance.
AT Salez (canton of St. Gallen) some sixty bronze hatchets
have been found imbedded in the ground only one metre deep.
Their age is stated to be at least 2500 years.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include an Arabian Baboon (Cynocephalus hama-
dryas 2) from Arabia, presented by Mr. F. E. Goodner; a
Sharp-tailed Grouse (Zetrao phasianellus) from North America,
presented by Mr. Henry Na-h; two Sea Mice (Aphrodite
aculata) from British Seas, pre-ented by Mrs. A. Browning;
an Olive Weaver Bird (Hyfhantornis capensis) from South
Africa, presented by Mr. Edward Ling ; two Bonnet Monkeys
(Macacus radiatus § 2) from India, deposited; a Red-vented
Parrot (Pionus menstruus) from South America, a Sordid Parrot
(Pionus sordidus) from Venezuela, purchased; a Long-eared
Fox (Otocyon lalandii) from South Africa, received on approval ;
a Sambuc Deer (Cervus aristotels?), an Axis Deer (Cervus
axis? ), born in the Gardens,
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
‘THE GREAT COMET OF 1882.—Herr Stechert has continued
his ephemeris of this comet from the elliptical elements by Dr.
Kreutz, which still agree pretty nearly with observations. We
extract as follows :— j
At Berlin, Midnight
R.A. Decl. Log. distance from
: hm? “s: PD, Earth. un.
April 9 ... § 59 32 ... —8 43°1 ... 0°5973 ... 075787
Lise-.) 0) 10130 8 295
TSis L130 8 16°5 ... 0°6084 ... 075843
15... — 2 33 8 39
1 ae aati he rf 7 519 ... O6191 ... 075898
19 .. 4 43 7 40°4
QT... = 1th) SO! ree 7 29°3 ... 076294 ... 0°5952
23) 75 On sOR 7 188
25). — 6 10 7 8°7 ... 010399 ....0 0005
2 ie COE22 oer OOO T
29... =10 35°... °6 50'0 ... 1016487 <2 O:60h7
May. 1, .l6 ar 50); 6041-3
Assuming the intensity of light = 1, on February 8, when Prof.
Schmidt last saw the comet with the naked eye at Athens, the
intensity on April 9 wild be 0°234, and on April 29, 07163.
From September 8, the date of the first accurate observation
at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, to the middle
of last month, the comet had described a heliocentric or orbital
arc of 339°; no other comet since the celebrated one of 1680
has passed over so large an arc of its orbit while under observa-
tion, Between Kirch’s first observation on the morning of
November 14, 1680, and the last observation by Sir Isaac
Newton on March 19, 1681, that body traversed a helicentric
arc of 345°.
VARIABLE STARs.—Mr. G. Knott has observed three more
minima of Ceraski’s variable U Cephei. The resulting times of
minima are—
h. m.
1883, March 12, 11 49 G.M.T.
3). 22) 1 TO 9°45
April 1, 10 29 9°45
Mr. Knott remarks that the star is not a very easy one to observe,
and it is not therefore an easy matter to disentangle errors of
observation from real irregularities in the light curve.
Oa March 31 and April 1 he found the variable star R Coronz
Borealis very visible to the naked eye, and nearly equal to
x Corone. ‘‘It has presumably brightened up further since
Schmidt's observations towards the end of last year” (Ast, Nach.
No. 2491). m Coronz is a sixth magnitude according to Arge-
lander ani Heis. The variability of this star was established by
Pigott in 1795, but its fluctuations are exceedingly irregular.
Magnitude 9*4
” ”
” ”
April 5, 1883 |
NATURE
541
Schonfeld in his last catalogue gives, as the limits of variation,
5°S8m. and 13m. The actual position is in R.A. 15h. 43m. 45s.,
Decl. + 28° 31''0. Schmidt found that a star which precedes
R Coron by 2 seconds, and 74 minutes N. varies from 11m. to
13'12m. in a period of perhaps 14-2 months (see Ast. Nach,
No. 1915).
Bradley 396 has been so discordantly rated in our catalogues
that variability appears highly probable, and the period may not
be a long one. The estimates are from 4*5m, to 7m. It is
Groombridge 580, Fedorenko 473, and B.A.C. 906. The
Position for 18830 is in R.A. 2h. 53m. 4os., Decl. +81° 10.
Prof. Pickering reports that a careful study of the fluctuations
of Sawyer’s variable by Mr. Chandler shows that it belongs to
the Algol class, and has a period of little over 20 hours. A
long series of observations of the light curve and successive
minima gives 20h. 7m. 41‘6s. + 173s.
THE LaTE TRANSIT OF VENUS.—Prof. Pickering has pub-
lished the results of contact observations in the transit of Venus
made at the observatory of Harvard College ; the times are as
follow :—
eee ss
First external contact ... 2 4 32 G.M.T. by 3 observers.
syeunternall ©°,¢ 2 2443 5 by 4 a
Last internal ,, - 7 47 40 33 by 6 aA
3) external’ =, crete lyf UES “ by 6 no
These differ from the times given by the equations of reduction
inserted in this column by + 58s., + IIs., + 22s., and — 255s.
respectively, a very close accordance, considering that observa-
tions of the first external contact are less certain than the others.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
AT a recent meeting of the Geographical Society of Copen-
hagen, Capt. Irminger in the chair, Dr. Oscar Dickson
was present to give an account of the proposed Swedish expe-
dition to Greenland. The chairman referred to Dr. Dickson as
the Mzecenas who enabled Nordenskjéld to carry out his ideas,
while both had an ardent supporter in King Oscar. Of the
Arctic expeditions, which wholly or partly owed their orizin to
Oscar Dickson, he mentioned the following :—The expedition of
1868 to Spitzbergen was almost entirely paid for by him; the
expedition of 1870 to Greenland was entirely paid for by him;
the expedition of 1872-73, which wintered at Spitzbergen, was
partly paid by him, while the great deficiency subsequently
arising was covered by him; the expedition of 1875 to the
Yenissei was entirely paid by him ; the expedition of 1876 to the
same river, by sea and by land, was chiefly paid by him; the
Vega expedition of 1879-80 was paid to the extent of one-
third by him, and if the vessel hai not succeeded in rounding
Asia he would have borne the entire cost of this expedition; and
eventually the cost of the Swedish expedition of 1883 would be
borne by him. It should also not be forgotten that, at the time
when the despatch of the Dimphna expedition was nearly
frustrated for the want of 20,0o00kr. (1150/.), Oscar Dickson
came forward to supply the deficiency, and although it was most
generously contributed by Mr. Gamél, every lover of geographical
discovery ought to appreciate his noble action, Dr, Oscar
Dickson next addressed the meeting. He began by stating that
the King of Denmark had sanctioned the new expedition.
Nordenskjéld had not desired that the programme of the expe-
dition should be made public too soon, as he was much occupied
with preparations for his journey and his duties as a senator, and
if his plans should be questioned by savazts, he would have no
time for discussing them. He next referred to the oldest
accounts of Greenland, its colonisation from Iceland, and
“*Esquimauxising” from America. After this, Greenland was
for a time forgotten, until the west coast was rediscovered. The
speaker then mentioned the achievements of Hans Egede, and
the founding of a commerce. The west coast was one of the
best known Arctic countries, both geographically and ethno-
logically ; but not so the east coast. In spite of several expe-
ditions and researches, only the southern portion was known.
The interior was a ¢erva incognita, These tracts were, however,
too important to remain unknown. He then referred to the
wanderings of Nordenskjéld and Lieut. Jensen on the inland
ice. From these expeditions it was impossible to infer that the
interior of Greenland was entirely covered with ice, while in the
constant advance of the glaciers and their melting off he (the
speaker) found a corroboration of this theory. By the geogra-
phical appearance of Greenland, and more especially by the
circumstance that the country gradually rose in the interior, it
was more than probable that the interior was not entirely covered
with ice. Even in the temperature and moistness of the air
there seemed a proof that the country would answer to its name.
In any case the exploration of the interior of this country was
most important, and it was for this purpose that the expedition
would make its researches. To these belonged the a-certaining
of the extent of the drift ice between Cape Farewell and Iceland,
the study of the inland ice, the fossil remains, and the cosmic
dust in the island. Eventually it was hoped that, while
Nordenskjild made his expedition across the ice, another party
of the members would pay a visit to the west coast, where there
were some very peculiar blocks of ironstone. The expedition
would possess a complete staff of scientific specialists. The ex-
pedition had al o one more object in view, viz. to settle the
question as to where the Osterbygd had been. Every one who
read without prejudice the oldest accounts could but come to
the conclusion that its remains must be found on the east coast.
After excursions on the inland ice, it was the intention to attempt
to penetrate northwards along the east coast. In May next the
expedition would start in a well-equipped steamer, and, if the
state of the ice would permit, first land on the east coast ; but
as this was not expected to be the case the party would Iand on
the west coast, and when the researches here were at an end
they would proceed along the east coast in a channel between
the land and the drift ice. In September next the expedition
would return.
THE changes of level of the Caspian are still a puzzling pro-
blem for Caucasian geographers. It is known that the late
M. Kbanikoff was of opinion that the level of this sea has been
rapidly falling during our century. After having been, in 1780,
13 feet above the level of 1852, and ro feet in 1820, he said,
it was only 3°3 feet higher in 1830, and has almost regularly
decreased since. Sokoloff maintained that it had risen and
fallen at irregular intervals since 1744, but was Io feet lower in
1830 than in 1780, Lenz admitted that it had fallen about
Io feet during the years 1816 to 1830. In any case, for the
benefit of subsequent measurements he made permanent marks
at Baku showing the level of the sea in 1830, and since that
time measurements of level were carried on at Baku. But their
results were unsatisfactory—as it appears from M. Filipoft’s
paper in the Jast number of the Caucasian JZzvestia—and the
only sure result is that on May 30, 1853, the level of the
Caspian was 2 feet 1°3 inches lower than in March, 1830.
In September, 1854, at high water it already had risen 1 foot
6 inches adove the mark of May 30, 1853. On June 4, 1882,
that is, at high water, it was also higher than in 1830 by 10°5,
inches, so that it may be admitted, according to M. Filipoff,
that since 1830 the level of the Caspian, although subject to
fluctuations (such as a rapid rise after £847), has not sensibly
fallen during the last fifty years.
ACCORDING to the recent explorations of M. Yadrintseff, the
situation of the aborigines throughout Northern and Middle
Siberia is very precarious. The Bakaharians and Tartars, who
were formerly a privileged class of merchants, and number at
present 43,670 souls in Middle Siberia, are decreasing, and
belong to the poorest population of the country. The Voguls
in the Government of Tobolsk number 6070, and their increase
is insignificant. As to the 23,070 Ostyaks and Samoyedes, they
are in the worst imaginable position; the rate of increase is very
low, while in other parts they obviously decreasing. They are
accustomed now to eat bread, but have no means to provide it in
necessary quantities owing to its high price. As to the southern
Tartars, who have maintained their pasture lands, they are in a
better position; those of Barnaoul and Biysk, who are agri-
culturists, and those of Kuznetsk, living on trade, are on the
increase ; and M. Yadrintseff quotes an instance of ten families.
who have maintained their land and occupy now seven villages,
making a total of 1270souls. The dying out of these aborigines
is the more regrettable, as M. Yadriutseff proved by numerous-
instances that they displiy a high degree of intelligence, and
might adapt themselves to new conditions.
In the April number of Pelermann’s Mitthetlungen there is a
full account, dy Dr. Rink, of recent Danish researches in Green-
land,—on the geography of the interior, the ice-formation and
glaciers, geology and mineralogy, botany and archzology ;
accompanying the paper is a map of the west coast between
Godhayn and Proven, coloured geologically. Baron yon Rich~
thofen di-cusses the value of the copy of ‘‘ Marco Polo” recently
discovered in the royal library of Stockholm.
542
NATURE
[ April 5, 1883
Ir is reported that Dr. Emil Holub is at last about to start
again for the dark continent. As before, so will Dr. Holub
now go to Africa without one penny State assistance ; and the
only support he could obtain is that a special train will carry his
cases to the Austrian frontier, and, if the German Government
permit, to Hamburg, where they will be embarked for South
Africa. The money for his expedition he acquired himself by
lecturing in Vienna, Berlin, London, &c. He will leave Austria
after he hears that his cases have arrived in Africa, in about two
months, and he contemplates remai sing on the African continent
about four years. The 150 cases and about 100 other packages
which he takes contain all that is necessary for a scientific
expedition, includins scientific instruments which the Austrian
War Ministry lends him. He has also a transportable iron cart,
which can be taken to pieces, and an iron boat on Stanley’s
celebrated models, both gifts of Austrian mannfacturers or
private persons. The remainder of the cases are filled with
utensils, arms, stuffs, cotton goods, &c., for the natives, and all
other neces:aries.
THE Museum for Commercial Geography was opened at
Berlin in the Architekten House on April 1.
TuHE Imperial Geographical Society of St. Petersburg has
awarded its highest distinction, viz. the Constantine medal, to
Dr. Hermann Abich of Vienna, for his work, ‘‘ Geological
Researches in the Caucasus.”
FACTS AND CONSIDERATIONS RELATING
LO THE PRACTICE OF SCIENTIFIG EX-
PERIMENTS ON LIVING ANIMALS, CO.M-
MONLY CALLED VIVISECTION!
[lssued by the Association for the Advancement of Medicine by
Research]
§ 1. MEDICINE, as the art of preventing and curing disease,
; depends first, upon Anatomy and Physiology, or
knowledge of che structure aud working of the human body in
health ; secondly, upon Pathology, or knowledge of the origin,
course, and re-ults of disease; and thirdly, upon knowledge ot
the effects of various mechanical, physical, or chemical means
which prevent or modify diseased processes, and are thus avail-
able for preventive or curative Treatment.
As in every other practical arr, the application of scientific
(that is to say, exact and general) knowledge to particular cases
mu-t be checked and controlled by practical experieuce. But
the history of medicine abundantly proves that experience 1s
productive only ia so far as it is guided by the habit of scientific
inquiry and quickened by physiological knowledge. The foun-
dation of efficient medicine was laid by the discoveries of the
sixteenth ceniury in anatomy, and of the seventcenth century in
physiology, and its rajid progress in modern times has been
chiefiy the result of di-coveries in physics, in chemistry, and in
general biology.”
: The term “ Vivisection” is open to objection. Asa question-begging
epithet, it produces an unfounded prejudice against experiments, of which
the majority are painless, and of which the object is to relieve the sufferings
of both man and brutes. Moreover, the term is at once too narrow and too
wide: too narrow, since it excludes painful experiments which do not in-
volve cutting, such as exposure to disease; and too wide, since it includes
painful procedures upon animals for other than scientific or humane objects,
for food, as in preparation for the table, for convenience, as in horse and
cattle breeding, or fur amusement, as in certain sports, ‘he same operation
which, if performed for the acquirement of knowledge, is called a vivi-
section, 1s not called a vivisection when performed for a less worthy object.
2 Some otherwise well-informed persons have expressed doubt as to the
reality of the great progress of medicine durlng the present century. This
doubt arises partly from an arbitrary separation of what is called internal
medicine from surgery (la médicine opératoire) and from preventive medicine.
The world fu ly appreciates such triumphs of medicine as the cure of Aneu-
rism and prevention of Smali-pox, the discovery of Anzsthetics and the
success of ()variotomy, the results of Antiseptic surgery, the vastly de-
creased mortality after operations, and the protection of cattle from pesti-
lence by inoculation. But in the treatment of fevers, inflammations, and
other internal diseases, conventionally called medical, progress is less
striking, because, being more obscure, these maladies have not yet been
brought under the complete influence of scientific investigation.
In proof, however, that the scientific spirt of modern medicine has not
failed to advance the treatment of even the more obscure diseases, and that
practical advance in medical treatment has nut been limited to operat.ve
surgery, may be adduced as instances: the-gréatly lessened mortality in
Fevers, owing to physiological observations and scientific treatment, the
improved diagnosis and more successfi:{ results in cases of paralysis and
other diseases of the Nervous System; the far shorter and less painful
course of acute Rheumatism; the advance in treatment of Diabetes, Con-
sumption, Dropsies, and affections of the Heart, and the successful cure of
numerous forms of disease now proved to be due to animal or vegetable
parasites.
“Looking back over the improvements of practical medicine and surgery
Medicine then, iNcluding Hygiene, or preventive medicine,
and Therapeutics, or curative medicine, whether it acts by
operative and mechanical measures,! by the administration of
drugs, or by other means, does not depend upon arbitrary
dogmas, or upon the theories of one or another school ; it depends
upon accurate knowledge of the structure and functions of the
body in health and disease, and of the effects of various agents
upon it, applied in each case by the aid of bedside experience—
kal’ Exagrov yap iatpeve.
The relation of medicine to physiology and pathology is the
same as that of navigation to astrometry and meteorology, or
of engineering to applied mathematics, or of dyeing and other
manufactures to chemistry. A seaman may safely direct a
vessel who is ignorant of the construction of a quadrant; a
bridge may be built without knowledge of theoretical mechanics,
and a watch may be ‘‘cured ” or a musical instrument ‘‘ tuned”
by a workman who is unacquainted with mathematics or acoustics,
In the same way many men are useful! practitioners of medicine
who are imperfectly acquaintei with the scientific basis of their
practice. But it is only the most ignorant of sailors who sneer
at natural science, and the most presumptuous of watchmakers
wh» rail at mathematics.
§ 2. The knowledge of the functions of the body in health,
or Physiology ; the knowledge of the origin and course of
diseases, or Pathology; and the knowledge of the action of
remedies, or Pharmacology, like other branches of natural
science, depend entirely upon observation and experiment.
Mere observation at its best is but careful noting of such experi-
ments as natural laws or accident may present; experiment, or
observation of events under intentionally varied conditions, is
abs>lutely necessary in addition.” Indeed, it would be as un-
reasonable to expect the ‘‘ Institute of Medicine” (as physiology
and pathology are rightly called) to advance without laboratories
and experiments on animals, as to hope for progress in chemistry
or physics by allowing only observation upon metals and gases
and forbidding the pertormance of experiments.
It is true that there are special difficulties in the study of the
natural laws of living bodies. The conditions are far more
complicated than those of the inorganic world, and observations
and experiment, must be proporti »nately numerous, well-devired,
and cautiously interpreted. Fallacies of observation and de-
duction are difficult to avoid, and often results are seemingly
contradictory until their true meaning is perceived by help of
fresh experiments and more careful reasoning. But the great
and assured re-ults which have been already obcained prove that
these difficulties are far from insurmountable. All our present
knowledge has been achieved in spite of them, and thereby the
path to future discoveries has been cleared. No reasonable
person would disparage experimental inquiry into the functions
of plants and the cultivation of crops, because the laws of
vegetable life are more complicated and obscure than thos? of
mineralogy : or would call the experiaeuts of the botanist
useless because they are difficult.
That experiments on living creatures, like all other experi-
ments made by fallible persons, have sometimes misled, is an
obvious truth. Many errors atte..ded the first application of the
stethoscope, of the micrsscope, and of chemical analysis to
medicine, so that impatience and ignorance pronounced that
each of these valuable methods of investigation was useless.
§ 3. The future progress of medicine, in the widest sense of
the word, of the art which prevents disease, promotes health,
relieves sickness and prolongs life, depends upon the same cause
which has led to its present position—upon more complete ac-
quaintance with the laws of health and diseae. These laws
have been, and can only be, succe-sfully investigated by obser
vations and experiments.
This conclusion is not only the inevitable result of reasoning,
during my own observation. of them in nearly fifty years (writes Sir James
Paget) see great numbers of means effectual for the saving of lives and for
the detection, prevention, or quicker remedy of diseases and physical dis-
abilities, all obtained by means ef knowledge, to the acquirement or safe
use of which experiments on animals have contributed. ‘There is scarcely
an operation in surgery of which the mortality is now more than half as
great as it was forty years ago; scarcely a serious injury of which the
consequences are more than half as serious; several diseases are remediable
which used to be nearly always fatal; potent medicines have been intro-
duced and safely used; altogether, such a quantity of life and working
power has been saved by lately-acquired knowledge as is truly past counting. ””
* “« Forasmuch as the Science of Physick doth comprehend, include, and
contain the knowledge of Chirurgery as a special member and part of the
same, "’—Statute 32 Hen. VIII. c. 40. ' : .
ae Pi L’observateur écoute la nature, l’expérimentateur l'interroge. "—
uvier.
April 5, 1883] :
NABRORE
543
but is also enforced by the unwavering testimony of those best
qualified to judge,—not only of scientific workers themselves,
but of the medical profession in all civilised countries. There is
not the smallest danger that the ninety-nine hundredths of the
medical profession who are engaged in the daily effort to prevent or
relieve disease will undervalue practical medicine in comparison
with the more abstruse branches of experimental physiology
and pathology; the danger is the other way, With few ex-
ceptions physicians and surgeons are not themselves experimenters
in physiology or pathology. Their business is to prevent disease
and to relieve their patient’s sufferings : but they know the benefits
which their art hax derived fro u the work of the laboratory, and
understand the nature and value of experiments. They are thus
at once the n.ost disinterested and the most competent wit-
nesses, and their constant and unanimous testimony ought to be
conclusive,
The International Medical Congres of 1881, where upwards
of 3,000 physicians and surgeons assembled in London, among
whom were the ablest and most respected leaders of the pro-
fession in the three kmgdoms, in America, and in foreign
countries, passed, without a dissentient voice, the following
resolution :—
‘*That this congress records its conviction that experiments
on living animals have proved of the utmost service to medicine
in the past, and are indispensable to its future progress. That,
accordingly, while strong!y deprecating the infliction of un-
necessary pain, it is ‘f opinion, alike in the interest of man and
of animals, that it is not desirable to restrict competent persons
in the performance of such experiments.”
§ 4. A moral question, however, arises, from the fact referred
to in the resolution just quoted, that some of the necessary ex-
periments of physiology and pathology involve the infliction of
pain or of death upon certain of the lower animals.
The better informed opponents of experimental medicine do
not dispute i’s scientific and practical value, but assert that no
probable benefit to man or animals justifies the infliction of
pain.
No one would succeed in closing the laboratories of the
chemist, or the observatories of the astronomer, however strong
his disbelief in the experimental method of inquiry might be,
however cordially he disliked or dreaded the advance of science,
or however obstinately he persisted that the useful arts do not
depend on scientific data.? It is obvious, however, that the
fact of pain or death being inflicted in the course of experiments
cannot alter their scientific importance and necessity ; it only
imposes on us the duty of making a comparison between the
injury to a sentient creature and the probable benefit to mankind,
or to others of its own species. This comparison we will attempt
to make.
Happily, the amount of pain inflicted in the course of scientific
experiments need only be small, and the destruction of life in-
significant. That, from carelessness or want of forethought,
experiments have been performed which were ‘‘ cruel,” because
the pain produced was excessive and unnecessary, may be ad-
mitted. In many countries consideration for the brute creation
is still little developed, and the vice of cruelty lightly regarded ;
* It would be invidious to dwell upon the very few exceptions to this
almost universal testimony. One only deserves special mention. Sir
William Fergusson was one of the most skilful and successful operators, but
he had no authoritative claim to give an opinion upon the sources or the
methods of surgical science, and even he in his evidence before the Royal
Commission admitted the use of experiments on animals.
The testimony of the late Professor Claude Bernard has been often
adduced against that of all other physiologists because he once wrote,
“Nous venons les mains vides, mais la bouche pleine de promesses légi-
times.” This phrase occurs in an elaborate exposition of the necessity of
experiments on living animals not only for knowledge but for use. Bernard
well understood the bearing of experiments upon medicine, but he furesaw
future developments of sc.entific treatment, in comparison with which his
own eminent seryices would appear insignificant. The following quotation
shows that his evidence on the whole question did not differ from that of
other competent witnesses :
“On voit que la pbysiologie, ou médecine scientifique, comprend-& lw fois
ce qu’on a artificiellement séparé sous les noms de physivlogie normale, de
physiologie pathologique, et de thérapeutique. Au point de vue pratique,
c’est certainement la thérapeutique qui intéresse au plus haut degré le mé-
decin ; or, c’est précisément la thérapeutique que doit le plus de progrés &
la physiologic expérimentale.”—Lecons de Phystologie Opératoire, p. 20.
* On the other hand, it is almost as clear that no serious obstacle would
be put in the way of even painful experiments in the cause of science, if all
their opponents were convinced of their utility, and were acquainted with
the methods of science in general, or the facts of medical science in par-
ticular. This seems to follow from the very moderate opposition to, or tacit
acquiescence in, the infliction of pain for desirable objects which obviously
cannot be otherwise attained, such as more delicate food, more docile
horses, increased wealth and comfort, or the pleasurable excitement of
chasing and killing animals.
even in England, until comparatively lately, the torture of
harmless animals was thought an innocent pastime. Men of
science have not always risen above the average humanity and
moral enlightenment of their ave and country. But speaking
of this country, and of modern times, it may safely be said that
no charge of wanton, needless, or excessive sacrifice of animals
can be, or indeed has been, seriously alleged again-t the small
number of experimental physiologists and pathologists at work
in the three kingdoms.!_ Science has herself provided the
means by which pain is reduced to a minimum. The bene-
ficent discovery of anesthetics is one cause of the great difference
between the sufferings inflicted by Harvey, Boyle, Hales, Haller,
Hunter, Magendie and Bell, and the generally painless experi-
ments of a modern laboratory. These may be classified as
follows, with reference to tre suffering inflicted :—
(1) Many physiological experiments are entirely unaccompanied
by pain, and can therefore be performed, according to con-
yenience, either upon animals or upon man himself. Such are
many experiments upon vision, ta-te, smell and touch ; experi-
ments on the value of different kinds of food, experiments on
the effect of exercise, temperature, and other conditions on the
excretions ; many experiments on bodily heat, on the pulse, and
on respiration.
(2) In still more numerous cases, observations and experi-
ments can be made on the tissues and organs after the death of
an animal: e.g., the relative tenacity of the different textures,
the mechanical effects of violence upon the bones, the action of
the heart (which in cold-blooded creatures continues long after
their death) and the whole of a long and important series of
experiments on the functions of muscles and nerves, which
cause no pain, since they are performed on the tissues of a dead
organism.
(3) Next, but far less nm number, comes a third class of experi-
ments which are performed on animals rendered insensible by
various anesthetic agents, These can be, and were, by the
practice of physiologists long before legislative sanction was
added, carried out without any pain or even discomfort to the
animal, which being killed before awakening, is deprived of life
in probably the most painless manner po sible,
(4) There are, however, certain observations, for which it is
necessary to allow an animal to recover from insensibility, and
to live for a longer or shorter time. In such cases the severest
pain, that of the operation, is abolished, and the subsequent
suffering is sometimes quite insignificant, usually that of a
healing wound, and occasionally that of inflammation, colic, or
fever. In many of these experiments the initial pain is so
trifling that it would be absurd to give an anesthetic ; such are
acupuncture and inoculation. It would be unreasonable to
give a rabbit chloroform for such observations as bleeding, vac-
cination, or pricking with the needle of a subcutaneous syringe,
for which no human being would take it.
(5) There remain a small number of experiments in which
anzsthetics would be impracticable. These are chiefly the
experimental production of various diseases, such as tubercle,
glanders, cattle-plague, where the pain is that of the subsequent
! The following extract is taken from the Report of the Royal Com-
mission, which was drawn up after a prolonged and patient examination of
witnesses and documents, and was signed by all the Commission—Lord
Cardwell (Chairman), Lord Winmarleigh, the Rt. Hon. W. E. Forster, the
late Sir John Karslake, Professor Huxley, Mr. Erichsen, and Mr, R. H.
Hutton :-—
“That the abuse of the practice by inhuman or unskilful persons, in
short, the infliction upon animals of any unnecessary pain, is justly abhor-
rent to the moral sense of your Majesty’s subjects generally, nct least so of
the most distinguished physiologists and the most eminent surgeons and
physicians.’” i :
The imputation of cruelty which has always been indignantly repudiated,
has not been substantiated by a single authentic instance. In their evidence,
given before the Royal Commission, the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals state, through their Secretary, that they do not know a
single case of wanton cruelty. :
On the cccasion of the present Act (39 and 4o Vict, cap. 77) being passed,
all teachers of physiology, in a memorial addressed to the House of Com-
mons, said :
“We repeat the statement which most of us have made before the Com-
mission. that within our personal knowledge, the abuses in connection with
scientific investigation, against which in this Billit is proposed to legislate,
do not exist, aad never have existed in this country.’’ Signed by the late
Prof. Sharpey (University College, London); Dr. William Carpenter, C.B.
(formerly Lecturer on Physiology at_the London Hospital); Professor
G. Humphry (Cambridge); Professor Rutherford (Edinburgh) ; Dr. Pavy
(Guy's Hospital); Dr. M. Foster (Trinity College. Cambridge); Dr. Burdon
Sanderscn (University College, London) ; Dr. Robert McDonnell (Dublin) ;
Prof. Redfern (Belfast); Prof. Cleland (Galway); Prof. Charles (Cork);
Prof. McKendrick (now of Glasgow); Dr. Pye-Smith (Guy’s Hospital) ;
Prof. Yeo (King’s College, London); Mr. Charles Yule (Magdalen Col-
lege, Oxford); Prof. Gamgee (Owens College, Manchester).
a i
544
NATURE
[April 5, 1883
disease, and more justly described as discomfort than as torture;
and the trial of certain modes of treatment, as inoculation, and
of various drugs, where the suffering produced is less than the
familiar effects of corresponding remedies in human beings.
Probably the most painful scientific experiments ever performed
haye not been vivisections at all. Such are those of ascertaining
the effect of starvation, carried out abroad many years ago;
observations of great value and importance, but happily not
needing repetition.
Vivisections in the popular sense of the word, experiments
comparable to surgical operations, involving cutting and irritation
of sensitive parts, can, with few exceptions, be performed with-
out the slightest pain, Hence the results of acutely painful
experiments, comparable with the pain endured by rabbits and
weasels caught in ordinary traps, by young animals being
gelded, by wounded birds, or by rats poisoned with strychnine
or phosphorus, are not to be found in our physiological la-
boratories,
That the utmost possible limitation of the infliction of pain
has always been the object and practice of scientific workers in
England,! is sufficiently proved by a Report which was drawn
up by a Committee of the Physiological Section of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1871, several
years before the appointment of the Royal Commission.
While the suffering caused to animals by scientific experiments
has been enormously exaggerated, both absolutely and relatively,
no one denies that both pain and death are and must be inflicted
‘thereby. Otherwise there would be no more reason for licensing
and inspecting the physiologist’s laboratory than that of the
chemist. The whole question is one of justification for causing
the pain or death of brutes. Few who compare the extent of
suffering and of slaughter thus caused with that generally recog-
nised as right in other cases by enlightened Christian morality,
or who compare the objects for which animals commonly suffer
pain and death (for food, for dress, for profit, for convenience,
or for amusement) with those of the scientific observer (for
advance of knowledge and for relief of human suffering) will
hesitate to conclude that so long as the principles and practice
of scientific men in this country continue what they now are,
their investigations should rather be fostered than impeded.
But any possible danger of abuse is prevented by the Act
passed in 1876, by which not only are all physiological labora-
tories placed under the inspection of the Home Office, and exist
only by its license, but, in addition, no experiment involving
pain can be performed without a special, elaborate, and carefully
guarded certificate. Indeed, so stringently has the law been
‘administered that more than one investigation of great practical
value has been prevented, others have been injuriously hampered
or delayed, and a serious check has been given to medical science
in England. In two instances eminent members of the pro-
fession found it necessary to go abroad in order to carry cut
investigations of great importance. The object of one was to
decide a question in relation to treatment of wounds ; that of
the other was to determine the action of certain new drugs,
This was certainly not the intention of the Royal Commission
in recommending, or of Parliament in passing, an Act for the
purpose of preventing possible abuses without hindering scientific
and useful work. What is now needed is such an expression
of opinion in Parliament as will permit the Act to be worked
in the spirit in which it was framed and loyally accepted, and
according to its strict provisions. It may be remarked that
attempts have been made, by the same methods of agitation, to
check physiological research by legislation in Germany, Den-
mark, Sweden, and the United States: but in each case the
humane and enlightened judgment of the country has 1 efused to
impede researches of which the usefulness is beyond dispute.
§ 5. It has been imagined that students of medicine perform
operations upon living animals in order to gain manual dexterity ;
such a practice would be as useless as it would be reprehensible,
and has neyer, we believe, been thought of. For our veterinary,
surgeons it would be quite unnecessary, and they have a}v@ys
reprobated the practice.
It has also been supposed that students might, &* amuse-
* The following quotation, from a Manual of Miysiological Experiment
by a well-known German physiologist, will sve to show that humane con-
sideration for animals is not confined to tS country :—‘‘ An experiment in-
volving vivisection should never be performed, especially for purposes of
demonstration, without previous consi,eration whether its object may not be
otherwise attained ; ’’ and, as a seceud rule, “‘ Insensibility by chloroform or
other drugs should be produced wadenever the nature of the experiment does
‘not render this absolutely impossible.’”"—Cyon, Phystologische Methodik, p. 9.
ment, perform physiological experiments upon living animals,
This would be practically impossible, since not only are know-
ledge and skill necessary, but a properly equipped laboratory
and suitable appliances.1 If, however, any ill-disposed person
without scientific object or training should be guilty of cruelty
most alien from the practice and the training of the profession,
there is no doubt that every member of it, teacher or student,
would help to detect and punish such conduct.2 The case has
never arisen; if it did, it could be efficiently dealt with under
the law known as ‘‘ Martin’s Act.”
§ 6. The real objects of scientific experiment on living animals
are briefly as follows :—
i. Zo extend, correct, and define our knowledge of the functions
of the living body.
Even apart from ulterior adyantage to medicine, physiology
must be held to be a branch of science of at least equal im-
portance with chemistry or geology; and to be successfully
cultivated, it must be cultivated for its own sake, without per-
petual or premature inquiry as to the immediate and material
results which increased knowledge of the laws of Nature will
bring. In physiology, as in other natural sciences, the investi-
gator must have primarily in view the discovery of truth; for,
in the words adopted by the Royal Commissioners, ‘‘if in the
pursuit of science he seeks after immediate practical utility,
he may generally rest assured that he will seek in vain.” There
must be, to quote the words of an older authority, “light-bear-
ing,” as well as ‘‘ fruit-bearing experiments.”
As examples of this first kind of experiment, and of their
success in extending useful knowledge, we may refer to the
following :—
(1) The great discovery of the circulation of the blood by
Harvey, the firstfruits of the experimental method. Upon
this as the foundation depends all the subsequent progress in
the surgical treatment of hemorrhage and of aneurisms, and
the recognition and treatment of diseases of the heart, the
arteries, and the veins.
(2) The discovery of the effects of electricity on animals by
Galvani and Volta, from which have resulted not only the
development of one great branch of electrical science, but also
important means of diagnosis and treatment in cases of paralysis.
(3) Artificial respiration, invented and improved in the case
of animals with purely scientific objects by Vesalius, Hooke,
Lower, and others, and long afterwards applied with complete
success to resuscitation from drowning.
(4) The experiments of the Rev. Dr. Hales on pressure of
the blood in the arteries.
(5) Those of Boyle, Hooke, Mayow, and other natural philo-
sophers on respiration.
(6) Transfusion of blood from one animal to another, ac-
complished by Sir Christopher Wren and others of the early
Fellows of the Royal Society in the seventeenth century, but only
recently, owing to fresh physiological knowledge, applied with
success to the saving of human life.
(7) Experiments by a Committee of Physicians at Dublin, in
1835; showing the way in which the sounds that attend the
action of the heart are produced, and enabling physicians to
judge of the condition of the organ by the alterations of the
sounds.
(8) The discoveries of reflex action and of the separate en-
dowments of motor and sensory nerves, on which much of our
present knowledge of the functions and disorders of the nervous
system is founded,
(9) The discovery of vasomotor nerves.
* It is obvious that thissound general principle admits of exceptions when
the’ skilled perscn with suitable appliances must, from the nature of the
case, carry cut his researches on board ship, as for instance for investigation
into the functions of jelly-fish, or the electric torpedo; or in the open fields,
as in inquiries into means of protection from epidemic diseases of cattle:
? For the real sentir .-*s of medical students, see Dr. Pavy’s evidence
Sufore the Royal “MISSION, = B71¢ Book, p. 114.
3 Some jeisons have ventured t-, deny that Harvey’s discoveries were due
to vivisection, on the faith of 2 +-eported statement of his to the Hem
Robert Boyle (another eminent ViVIS€~-tor), and in contradiction to Harvey's
express words. Others have denied tlj2¢ ‘the circulation was proved by vivi-
section, tecause Harvey having prove'q a)) but one point by a series of ex-
periments on living animals, Malpight ¢- mpleted the demonstration by
another experiment on another living anim.) “The full account of the matter
is contained in Harvey's own treatise, ‘* De, \otu Cordis et Sanguinis.”” It
is briefly referred to in the article Harvey of the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica,”
and in the evidence of Professor Turner, 02; Edinburgh, before the Royal
Commission (Blue Bock, pp. 157, 158); wher. aco are given the account of
the discovery by vivisection of the great sYictem of lymphatic vessels, by
Aselli and Be f
cquet, and of the discovery ol; mails
the same means by Bell and Magendie. Pic Care Acc Severe Lesa Oe
April 5, 1883 |
NATURE’
545,
ii. Zo obtain direct and exact knowledge of the processes of |
disease.
The following examples may be cited :—
(1) Experiments relating to the nutrition of the body and the
maintenance of its constant temperature constitute the basis of
the existing knowledge of fever.
(2) Experiments relating to the mechanism of the circulatlon,
and to the influence of the nervous system thereon, have served
to explain the nature and mode of origin of the various forms
of dropsy
(3) Experiments as to the effect of plugging arteries (Em-
bolism) have afforded explanations of diseased processes pre-
viously not understood, and in particular of many obscure cases
of sudden death.
(4) Experimental investigations of the functions of the liver
and other secreting glands have materially advanced our know-
ledge of diabetes and of the affections known as Bright's
disease.
(5) Knowledge gained from experiments relating to the mode
of action of the muscles, and of the nervous system which
regulates them, constitutes the basis of the pathology and
diagnosis of convulsive and paralytic diseases.
(6) Experiments on animal grafting and as to the nature of
the processes by which wounds are healed and injured parts
restored. Among the best known are those which relate to the
mode of repair of fractured or otherwise injured bones, par-
ticularly the researches of Duhamel (1740), Sir Astley Cooper
(1820), and Syme (1831). In recent times such inquiries have
been pursued much more completely by Ollier and others, and
with practical results of ever-increasing value.
(7) The dangerous form of blood poisoning after operations
has been investigated by strictly physiological experiments, with
the result of almost complete protection from it.
(8) Researches into the origin and nature of inflammation, by
Redfern, Cohnheim, Von Recklinghausen, and others, have
been of necessity conducted by means of experiments on
animals, and have proved of great practical value.
(9) Our recently extended knowledge of the locality of diseases
of the brain, and of their accurate diagnosis and treatment, has
been due, partly to clinical observations, partly to pathological
investigations, but also, and not least, to direct experiments
upon the lower animals.
iii, Zo test various remedial measures directly.
The utility of the greater number of the older remedies and
methods was first learnt empirically : but many of them were
not applied to the best purpose until they have been investigated
by observations on the lower animals. As regards the remedies
and appliances of modern times, they have, in almost every
instance, been investigated first and brought into use afterwards.
For example ;—
(1) Subcutaneous injection was used in the laboratory for
years before it was applied in practice.
(2) The useful property of the well-known anodyne chloral
hydrate was first investigated in the laboratory, and then intro-
duced into practice. ;
(3) Pepsin and pancreatin were known for years as physio-
logical agents before they were applied in practice.
(4) The action and mode of administration of such important
new drugs as nitrate of amyl, physostigma, and the anzesthetic,
methylene, were discovered entirely by physiological experiments.
(5) The better appreciation and more useful application of
some of the most valuable remedies were gained by experiments,
such as those by Traube on‘digitalis, by Magendie on strychnia,
and by Moreau and others on saline purgatives.
(6) The application of various practically useful methods of
checking hemorrhage was tested upon animals before being
tried gn human beings, with the result of saving innumerable
lives,
(7) Similar preliminary trials of subcutaneous and other
operations, especially those of tenotomy, have helped in the
relief of numerous deformities; while the trial of such for-
midable operations as excision of the kidney and tentative im-
provements in ovariotomy have led to some of the most brilliant
results of modern surgery.’
In cases where new drugs are to be introduced, or new operative
methods tried, the first experiments must be made either upon
t See an article in Narure, vol. xxv., p. 73-
® See an article in the Nineteenth Century for December 1881, p. 926.
3 See a paper by Mr. Spencer Wells, Trans. Internat. Med. Congr. vol.
il, p. 226.
living animals or upon living men. Where circumstances ex-
cluded the former alternative, members of our profession have
not hesitated to make themselves the subject of often hazardous
experiments : but happily, in most instances, the sacrific: of a
= guinea-pigs or frogs will suffice to help in saving human
ife.
iv. Zo ascertain the means of checking contagion, and pre-
venting epidemic disease both in man and in brutes
An experiment of this kind, inoculating the udder of a cow
so as to produce a vaccine pustule, was one of the links in the
great discovery of Jenner. Among more recent examples may
be mentioned :—
(1) The experimental investigations of the last fifteen years,
as to the origin and nature of the infective diseases which spring
from wounds and injuries (pyzemia and septiczemia), the results
of which constitute the basis of antiseptic surgery.”
(2) Th discovery by experiments of the infective nature of
tuberculosis (1868), of its relation to chronic inflammation, and
finally of the dependence of its infectiveness on a living parasitic
organism (1881).
(3) Discovery of the mode of origin, and consequently of the
prevention, of various parasitic entozoa (hydatids, trichina)
which infect the human body, by inference from investigation of
their development in the bodies of animals.
Among diseases of animals may be mentioned :—
(1) Silkworm disease, which has been brought completely
under control by the experimental discoveries of Pasteur.
(2) Small-pox of sheep, against which preventive inoculation
has been long used.
(3) Cattle-plague, the prevention of which is entirely founded
on the knowledge of its mode of spreading gained by ex-
periment.
(4) Pleuro-pneumonia of cattle, and foot and mouth disease,
of which, although experiment has not as yet yielded a satis-
factory mode of prevention, it has furnished exact knowledge
as to the method of its propagation.
(5) Splenic fever of cattle, and the analagous diseases of
horses, sheep, and other animals, against which experiment has
recently furnished a mode of prevention, now successfully used
in countries in which this disease has most fatally prevailed,
particularly in France.
(6) Farcy and glanders, the early detection and prevention of
which has been greatly promoted by experiments.
v. Lor instruction.
It is not necessary to insist on the well-known difference
between book-learning and demonstration. Like chemistry,
physiology must be taught practically if it is to be tauzht well,
and it is necessary that all students of medicine to whom the
care of the human body will be intrusted should have a practical
and thorough familiarity with the most important functions of
that body. For this purpose no painful experiments are neces-
sary, and none are performed in our medical schools and
colleges. Most of the demonstrations of what is called ‘ prac-
tical physiology ” are demonstrations of the microscopical struc-
ture of the tissues, or of their chemical properties and processes,
or of their physical endowments, and the remainder apply to
the organs of insensible or recently killed animals. Whether
the occasional repetition of an experiment of great importance,
and involving very little pain, would be morally justifiable may
admit of question; but, as a matter of fact, it is not and cannot
be done. Apart from the provisions of the Act, this question
was decided long before by the resolution quoted above.
vi for the detection of poisons.
The fact that some of the most subtle and dangerous poisons
cannot be certainly identified by ordinary testing (7.e. by recoz-
nition of their physical and chemical properties), is well known.
In such cases the physiological test, or the effect of the poison
upon the lower animals, is the only means by which the guilt of
murder can be brought home to a criminal, or the innocence of
a wrongfully accused person established. This, like many other
scientific facts, has been disputed by ill-informed persons: but
it is beyond serious question.?
* For details on this part of the subject, see the Address by Mr. Simon
C.B., F.R.S., entitled ‘‘ Experiments on Life as fundamental to the Science
of Preventive Medicine.”” (‘Transactions .of the International Medical
Congress. 188r.’’)
? For details, see a paperin the Wineteenth Century for March, 1382, by
Mr. George Fleming, President of the Royal College of Veterinary Sur-
geons : ‘‘ Vivisection and Diseases of Animals.”’
3 See on this subject a paper by Prof. Gamgee, of Owens College, ‘The
Utility of Physiological Tests in Medico-Legal Inquiries.”
546
NATURE
[April 5, 1883
It was found necessary to insert a clause in the Act allowing
a judge to order any needful experiments by a medical jurist.
But this may cause, and has already caused, injurious delays,
and it would be desirable for each person engaged in this de-
partment of scientific work to take out the necessary license
beforehand.
§ 7. The above is only a brief enumeration of some of the
more striking and illustrative cases in which the objects pro-
posed by experiments on animals have been attained. In some
of these success has been brilliant and complete, in others com-
parative and needing fuller development. In some the results
have been the direct and exclusive consequence of the experi-
ments, in others they have been due to these either as confirming
or correcting previous conjectures, or as guiding clinical research,
or as suggesting fruitful investigations by other methods.
Without exaggerating its extent and cogency, the evidence
is ample to show, what no one conversant with the subject doubts,
that the great strides made in the practice of medicine during
the last fifty years have been chiefly due to the exact scientific
experimental inquiries of this epoch. In fact, experience fully
bears out what reason demonstrates and authority confirms, that
medicine rests chiefly upon physiology, and that physiology
cannot advance without experiments.
The prejudices excited by the account of long past or distant
abuses of the right and duty of experiment will, it may be
hoped, be dispelled (as in many cases they have been) by in-
creased knowledge of the facts; while those which have been
raised by reckless misstatement will subside on candid investi-
gation. If any fear remain that evils which do not now exist
may possibly arise in future, it may be dispelled by a con-
sideration of the stringent regulations of the existing law, even
if carried out with the utmost desire not to obstruct demon-
strably useful scientific work.
But it is on the scientific investigator himself that the respon-
sibility must ultimately rest of determining what is the best
method of accomplishing a given scientific result, and by what
means the greatest possible result may be obtained at the least pos-
sible cost of suffering. If restrictions are supposed to be neces-
sary to control the conduct of careless individuals, let them be
continued ; but so long as scientific men exercise their respon-
sibility in the humane spirit which has hitherto guided investi-
gation in this country, they have a right to ask that no unneces-
sary obstacles should be placed in their way.
It is therefore hoped that such a decided and influential
expression of opinion will be made in Parliament as will not
only rebuke ill-advised attempts to totally abolish one of the
most important methods of natural knowledge, and an indis-
pensable method for the improvement of medicine; but will
also strengthen the hands of the Government in administering
the law, so as not to interfere with the just claims of science
and with the paramount claims of human suffering.
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AND CANADA
ao following circular is being sent out by the British
Association for the Advancement of Science :—
“92, Albemarle Street, London, W., March 19
‘*Str,—We have been instructed by the Council of the
British Association to communicate to you the accompanying
letter from Sir A, T. Galt, G.C.M.G., High Commissioner for
Canada, This letter was written in reply to one addressed by
us to him, making certain inquiries with reference to the invita-
tion to visit Montreal in 1884, which was accepted by the Gene-
ral Committee at the Southampton meeting last year. In that
letter it was our endeavour to obtain information as accurate as
possible concerning the probable expense of the journey to and
from Montreal, including a stay of a fortnight or three weeks in
Canada (in addition to the period of the meeting), and excur-
sions to some of the more interesting localities. From the
statements in Sir A. T. Galt’s letter, the members will be able
to form an opinion as to the probable cost of the expedition,
the amount of which must obviously, to a considerable extent,
depend upon the length of time which they are willing to devote
to the visit.
‘*Tt is obviously most important to secure that the Montreal
meeting should be attended by a strong and thoroughly repre-
sentative body of members, so that the gathering may be both
creditable to the Association and gratifying to our Canadian
hosts. Further, many arrangements must be made prior to the
meeting, and these must be settled considerably in advance of
the usual dates. It will therefore greatly aid the Council and
those who will have to carry out their instructions in detail, if
you will be so good as to state your intention concerning the
visit to Montreal by filling up the annexed form and returning it
as addressed before April 14.
‘* We remain, sir, your obedient servants,
“°C, W. SIEMENS, President
“© A, W. WILLIAMSON, General Treasurer
** DouGLas GALTON, General
“© A. G. VERNON HARCOURT, \ Secretaries
““T. G. Bonney, Secretary”
“*9, Victoria Chambers, London, S.W., March 3, 1883
“* Dear Sir,—I have to refer you to your letter of November
28 on the subject of the visit of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science to Montreal in 1884, in accordance
with the decision of the general committee, at their meeting at
Southampton on August 28 last, and to inform you that I have
received a communication from the Chairman of the Montreal
Invitation Committee (T. Sterry Hunt, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.),
containing some detailed information on the different matters
you mentioned to me.
“‘Tt is my pleasant duty to state that the inhabitants of the
city of Montreal received with satisfaction the intimation that
the Association had decided to honour them with a visit, and
much public spirit has already been manifested in the desire that
everything should be done to make the occasion worthy of the
illustrious body and of the country. Committees on invitation,
on finance, and on conveyance have already been formed, and a
guarantee fund opened very satisfactorily ; while the Government
of the Dominion, in view of the widespread interest which the
matter has awakened, will ask Parliament during its present
session to vote a considerable sum ($20,000) as a contribution
to the funds that will be subscribed by the public. Montreal, I
may add, is not without experience of the requirements of an
important meeting of the kind, having twice been favoured with
vi-its from the American Association, the last occasion being in
1882, when an attendance of more than 900 members anc asso-
ciates was registered, and the Association, with its nine sections,
found ample accommodation in the buildings of McGill Uni-
versity.
“¢] propose to answer your questions in the same order as that
in which they were placed in your communication, but it will
not be possible for me to do so in such full detail as I should
like so far in advance of the time of their application, especially
in regard to the cost of conveyance and the various expeditions
to be arranged. I trust, however, the following information
will be sufficient for the purpose of giving to the members of
your distinguished Association an idea of the probable expenses
they may be called upon to defray during their stay in Canada.
“*(1.) ‘The cost of the journey to and from Montreal to one
who makes it as a member of the Association or as the near
relative of a member.’
““Dr. Sterry Hunt desires me to say that the committee will
arrange fifty free passages for the conveyance of the officers of
the Association whose attendance is indispensable at its annual
meetings. The funds at the disposal of the committee will also
enable it to negotiate with the steamship companies for the re-
duction of the ordinary ocean passages in favour of Jond fide
members of the Association. Two courses are open in which
this can be done.
‘*(1) To arrange for a number of passages to be offered at the
single rate for the double journey—say 15/. 10s.
‘*(2) For a general reduction, so far as the funds will permit.
‘‘Kither of these plans can be adopted, but the steamship
companies, although fully disposed to entertain the matter, do
not care to make any definite engagements so far in advance,
which will, I am sure, be readily understood. I am to state,
however, that the committee is prepared, with the aid of the
Government grant, to devote 3000/. to these purposes alone.
««(II.) ‘The cost of board and lodging per head per diem for
the above during the week of the meeting at Montreal.’
“I cannot do better than quote a paragraph from Dr. Sterry
Hunt’s letter, in regard to this inquiry :—‘In reply to Prof.
Bonney’s question as to the expenses of board and lodging for
members of the British Association during the meeting in
Montreal, the committee will give assurance that free entertain-
ment will be provided for at least 150, and probably for all other
members who may attend.’
«
April 5, 1883] NAT
“*T may amplify this by stating for your information that the
tariff of the Montreal hotels ranges from $2 soc. to $4 per day
inclusive, and that private accommodation can be obtained at
much lower prices than in England.
‘© (TII.) ‘A scheme of expeditions which would occupy from
two to three weeks subsequent to the meeting, and the cost of
each of them.’
“Dr. Sterry Hunt says :—‘ As to the proposed excursions, we
are prepared to say that the Grand Trunk, the Canada Pacific,
and the Intercolonial Railways will furnish free transportation
over their lines throughout the dominion of Canada from Nova
Scotia to the North-West. The Canada Pacific will also arrange
an excursion to the Rocky Mountains, and the Grand Trunk
one to the Great Lakes (note: this will include Niagara) and
Chicago ; while the South-Eastern Railway will do the same for
the White Mountains and Portland and Boston. For an excur-
sion of this kind, occupying three or four weeks, tourists should
be provided with, say, 20/. in money for hotels, carriages, and
other incidental expenses, though it is possible that a less sum
than this would be needed.’
**T am inclosing a copy of a circular that has been prepared
by the Montreal committee. It contains interesting informa-
tion, and it will be seen that the arrangements are in the hands
of representative and eminent men.
“*T believe from the information that reaches me that the
Association will receive the addition of a considerable number
of associates in Canada, and that the visit will give an impetus
to scientific research in the Dominion such as it has not expe-
rienced before. It is confidently anticipated also that the
American Association will hold its meeting in 1884 at a conve-
nient time and place, affording an opportunity for scientific
intercourse that I imagine does not often occur.
«1 will gladly supply any further information you may require
if it isin my power to do so, and shall readily cooperate in any
measures having for their object the success of the meeting of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science at
Montreal in 1884.
“*T am, dear Sir, your obedient servant,
oC Ae ieGALT,
“ High Commissioner for Canada, and Vice-Chairman
of the Montreal Citizens’ Committee
“Prof. T. G. Bonney, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.8., &c.,
‘22, Albemarle Street, W.”
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
OxrorD.—The Savilian Professorship of Geometry in the Uni-
versity is vacant, and an election to the office will be held before
the endof Trinity Term (July 7, 1883). A Fellowskip in New
College is now annexed to the Professorship. The duty of the
Profe-sor is to lecture and give instruction in pure and analytical
geometry. The combined emoluments of the office from both
sources will be, fur the present, 700/. a year, but may possibly
hereafter be increased to an amount not exceeding 900/. a year.
The qualifications required in candidates for the Savilian Pro-
fessorships by the existing Statutes of the University are as
follows :—‘‘ Hos Professores sive lectores, prout voluit fundator,
statuimus et decernimus fore perpetuis temporibus eligendos ex
hominibus bonze fame et conversationis honeste, ex quacunque
natione orbis Christiani, et cujuscunque ordinis sive profes~ionis, /
qui in mathematicis instructissimi sint, et annos ad minimum’
sex et viginti nati; et, si Angli fuerint, sint ad minimum Artium
Magistri.” Candidates are requested to send to the Registrar of
the University their applications, and any documents which they
may wish to submit to the Electors, on or before Thursday,
May 31.
VicroriA UNIVERSITY.—At a meeting of the University
Court on March 30, Vice-Chancellor Greenwood laid on the
table the supplementary charter, dated March 20, 1883, enabling
the University to confer degrees and distinctions in medicine and
surgery. After some discussion it was resolved that the Council
be empowered and instructed to appoint external examiners in
medicine and surgery for a limited period, and to appoint certain
lecturers of the University to act as University examiners ; also
to prepare, after a report from the General Board of Studies, a
statute or statutes and regulations relating to degrees in medicine
and surgery for the consideration of the Court, and also to report
of the subsequent appointment of external examiners in medicine
a®.R.S.E. Communicated by the President.
URE 547
and surgery, in accordance with the recommendation of the
University Council. The Council were instructed to ascertain
whether the University charter would allow of the same facilities
that had been given to Owens College students being extended
to the students of other colleges when those colleges sought
admission to the University. The Council were of opinion that
such facilities should certainly be given.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LoNDON
Linnean Society, March 15.—Frank Crisp, treasurer and
vice-president, in the chair.—Dr. T. S. Cobbold read a paper
on Simondsia paradoxa, and on its probable affinity with
Spherularia bomb. Thirty years ago Prof. Simonds discovered
aremarkable parasite within cysts in the stomach of a wild boar
which died in the Zoological Gardens, London. Prof, Simonds
regarded the worm as a species of Strongylus, but Dr. Cobbold
in 1864 suggested its affinities might probably be nearer the
genus Sfiroftera, then naming it S%mondsia. The original
drawings unfortunately were lost, and only quite lately, along
with the specimens, they have turned up and have enabled Dr. -
Cobbold to investigate them more closely. He arrives at the
conclusion that Simondsia is a genus of endoparasitic nematodes
in which the female is encysted and furnished with an external
and much enlarged uterus, whose walls expand into branches
terminating in ceca. The male is 4 inch and the female ;5, inch
long. Moreover, it is now found that what was at first regarded
as the head turns out to be the tail, so that supposed Strongyloid
character is incorrect. Taking into account what is known of
Spherularia bombi as interpreted by Schneider, and whose views
are universally accepted, it appears that Sizondsta, though
unique, yet approaches towards Sfheralaria in respect of the
enormously developed female reproductive organ, which in both
lies outside the body proper. Until Sir J. Lubbock’s memoir on
Spherularia appeared, the so-called male had never been indi-
cated ; but, judged by Schneider’s interpretation of that genus,
the male is still unknown, Dr, Cobbold points out that the so-
called rosette in S¢yzondsia is morphologically a prolapsed uterus
furnished with two egg-containing branches; he regards the
external branched processes as homologous with the spheerules
of Spherularia, whilst the ultimate czecal capsules have nothing
comparable to them in nature.—A paper was read on the moths
of the family Urapteridz in the British Museum, by Arthur G.
Butler. The author, basing distinctions on wing neuration and
other characters, redistributes the family, and indicates the fol-
lowing new genera :—Tyistrophis, Gonorthus, Stirinpteris,
Nepheloleuca, Thinopteryx, Xeropteryx, and A£schropteryx.—
The eighteenth contribution to the mollusca of the Chadlenger
Expedition, by the Rey. R. Boog-Watson was read, in which
the author treats of the family Tornatellidze, therein describing
six new species of the genus Aceon.
Geological Society, March 7.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—Messrs. Thomas Gustav Hawley,
Richard Lydekker, and J. O’Donoghue were elected Fellows,
and M. F. L. Cornet, of Mons, a Foreign Correspondent of the
Society. —The following communications were read :—On Gray
~and Milne’s seismographic apparatus, by Thomas Gray, B.Sc.,
This apparatus
avas stated to have for its object the registration of the time of
occurrence, the duration, and the nature, magnitude, and period
of the motions of the earth during an earthquake. The instru-
ment was made by Mr, James White, Glasgow, and is to be
used by Prof. John Milne in his investigations in Japan. In
this apparatus two mutually rectangular components of the hori-
zontal motion of the earth are recorded on a sheet of smoked
paper wound round a drum, kept continuously in motion by
clockwork, by means of two conical pendulum-seismographs.
The vertical motion is recorded on the same sheet of paper by
means of a compensated-spring seismograpb. In details these
instruments differ considerably from those described in the
Philosophical Magazine for September, 1881, but the principle
is the same. The time of cccurrence of an earthquake is deter-
mined by causing the circuit of two electromagnets to be closed
by the shaking. One of these magnets relieves a mechanism,
forming part of a time-keeper, which causes the dial of the
timepiece to come suddenly forward on the hands and then
moye back to its original position. The hands are provided
548
NATURE
| April 5, 1883
with ink-pads, which mark their positions on the dial, thus indi-
cating the hour, minute, and second when the circuit was closed.
The second electromagnet causes a pointer to makea mark on the
paper receiving the record of the motion. This mark indicates the
part of the earthquake at which the circuit was closed. The
duration of the earthquake is estimated from the length of the
record on the smoked paper and the rate of motion of the
drum. The nature and period of the different movements are
obtained from the curves drawn on the paper.—Notes on some
fossils, chiefly Mollusca, from the Inferior Oolite, by the Rev.
G. F. Whidborne, M.A., F.G.S.—On some fossil sponges from
the Inferior Oolite, by Prof. W. J. Sollas, M.A., F.G.S. Some
fossil sponges have been described from the Inferior Oolite of
the Continent, but hitherto none have appeared in the lists of
fossils from this formation in British localities. The collection
of sponges described by the author was made by the Rev. G. F.
Whidborne. The author described eleven species (six of which
he identified with those already described from Continental
localities) belonging to nine genera, and concluded his paper
with some general remarks, These sponges are calcareous, but
are considered by the author to have been originally siliceous,
replacement of the one mineral by the other having taken place
_as already noticed by him. The beds in which these sponges
are found bear all the appearance of being comparatively
shallow-water deposits—On the Dinosaurs from the Maastricht
beds, by Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.G.S.
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, March 5.—The Right Hon. Lord Moncrieff,
president, in the chair.—Prof. Turner, in a paper on bicipital
ribs, described two examples which he had recently come across
in the human subject. In both of these cases, one of which
closely resembled a specimen in the Anatomical Museum of the
University which Knox had explained as due to the fusion of a
cervical with a thoracic rib, the real cause was the union of the
two first thoracic ribs. That the former explanation was the
true one in certain instances was demonstrated by other speci-
mens; and the distinctive peculiarities of each kind of fusion
were pointed out.—Sir William Thomson read two papers on
gyrostatics and on oscillations and waves in an adynamic gyro-
Static system. The papers were in great part experimental
illustrations of the theorems regarding gyrostatic stability which
are laid down in Thomson and Tait’s ‘‘ Natural Philosophy”
(second edition, vol. i. part i. § 345). It was thus demon-
strated to the eye that a system when under gyrostatic domina-
tion is stable in positions for which, statically considered, the
system is unstable as regards an even number of degrees of
freedom ; so that, to take a particular case, a gyrostat which is
unstable, because statically unstable as regards one mode, is
rendered stable by making it statically unstable as regards two
modes. Hence also an ordinary spinning top is stable because
it is statically unstable in two of its degrees of freedom. The
curious behaviour of a gyrostat resting horizontally on gimbals
with its axis of rotation vertical was also shown, viz. its in-
stability as soon as the framework on which it rested was moved
in the opposite rotational sense to the spin of the gyrostat. The
author then proceeded to point out that all phenomena of
elasticity which are ordinarily treated by assuming forces of
attraction or repulsion between parts or stresses through connec-
tions can be as readily explained by the as-umption of connecting
links subject only to gyrostatic domination. The gyrostati¢
hypothesis led to other consequences which the ordinary dynamic
assumption did not involve; but it had not been found as yet
that elasticity had properties corresponding to these.—Sir
William Thomson also communicated a paper on the dynamical
theory of dispersion, which was virtually an application of the
principle of forced vibrations to a molecular structure, each
molecule forming the nucleus of a rezion whose density increases
gradually from without inwards. As bearing upon the same
kind of problem, a model was shown illustrating Prof. Stokes’
dynamical theory of fluorescence, which is that, if the first of a
connected chain of elements is disturbed by a periodic disturb-
ance having no close relation to the free vibration periods of
the chain, the disturbance does not pass along the chain, but
has its energy stored up in the first few elements, to be given
back again when occasion offers.
Paris
Academy of Sciences, March 19.—President, M. E.
Blanchard.—The following communications were read :—Sum-
mary description of a new system of equatorials and its installa-
tion at the Paris Observatory, by M. M. Loewy.— Observations
of the Swift-Brooks comet made at the Paris Observatory, by
M. Périgaud.—Graphic proof of Euler’s theorem on the partition
of pentagonal numbers, by Prof. Sylvester.—Observations on
blue milk (second part), by M. J. Reiset.—On the second edition
of the ‘‘ Pilot of Newfoundland,” of Admiral Cloué, and ona
question of atmospherical optics, by M. Faye.—Function of the
lymphatic vessels in the production of certain pathological phe-
nomena, by M. Alph. Guérin.—The following memoirs were
presented :—On the possibility of increasing the irrigation waters
of the Rhone, by means of reserves to be established in the
lakes of Geneva, Bourget, and Annecy, by M. Ar. Dumont,—
Determinations of longitudes effected at Chili, by the Transit of
Venus Expedition, by M. de Bernardieres.—On the number of
the divisions of an entire number, by M. T. Q. Stieltjes.—On
the equations to the partial derivatives, by M. G. Darboux.—
On the application of the elliptic and ultra-elliptic intervals to
the theory of unicursal curves, by M. Laguerre.—Table of re-
duced positive quaternary quadratic forms of which the deter-
minant is equal or inferior to 20, by M. L. Charve.—Method of
obtaining the formula giving the general integral of the differ-
ential equation—
na"y 2 may - Ch ey
ax” ata VEE Sage 7" “dx” cae
+... $A, =f (x)
by means of a definite multiple integral, by Abbé Aoust.—New
equations relative to the transmission of force, by M. Marcel
Deprez.—The transmission of force by batteries of electrical
apparatus, by M. James Moser.—On the maximum yield which
a steam motor may attain, by M. P. Charpentier.— Influence of
tempering on the electrical resistance of glass, by M. G. Fous-
sereau.—On a modification into the bichromate of potassium
pile to adapt it for lighting, by M. Trouvé.—On the calories of
combination of the glycolates, by M. D, Tommasi._ On mono-
nitrosoresorcine, by M, A. Févre.—Contributions to a study of
the plastering of wires, by M. P. Picard.—Physiological effects
of coffee, by M. J. A. Fort.—On salmon-breeding in California,
by MM. Raveret-Wattel and Bartel.—On the solenoconchal
molluscs of the deep sea, by M. P. Fischer.—Ovogenesis among
the Ascidians, by M. Ad. Sabatier.—Influence of the wind on
meteorological phenomena, by M. E. Allard.—On the hailstorm
of March 9 at the Hyéres Salines, by M. Le Goarant de
Tremelin.—The Alfianello meteorite, by M. Denza.
CONTENTS PaGE
FiRE-ROUNTAINS se, <6) fo) p=) is) sh) fie) sey es) cee eile) ta
Our Boox SHELF:—
Macdonald’s ‘‘ Africana, or the Heart of Heathen Affica’’ 526
LxTTERs TO THE EpITOR:—
Natural Selection and Natural Theology.—Prof. Asa Gray;
GsorGE J. ROMANES, FR2S3) <i = eps oe a ee
The High Springs of 1883.—P. L. Scrater, F_R S. 520
Scorpion Suicide.—C. Ltoyp Morean . eee Beto eto! 6 530
Nesting Habits of the Emu.—AtrFrep W. BENNETT . . - « 530
The Recent Cold Weather.—Witt1am INGRAM. . . . . « 530
Sap-Flow. —F. M. Burton . EOYs” aP ee ser Sar eae . =) 5g!
Foamballs.—J. RAND CAPRON. . . » - «= «= « « « Ree fosk
en Meteor; the Transit ; the Comet.—Consul E. L. Layarp = 53x
Dicks! —Wy) Micull scrap ce ysae es ul ete) coment net pene SE
Ignition by Sunlight.—Major W. J. HerscHeELt; Epmunp H.
VERNEY - svete ts Ab) tele Cevaniliny ne > Oh Mel tisk wt reed Rien
Mimicry.—H. J. MorcaAN.. . ..... - eo 531
Braces or Waistband?—R. M.. . - . + Pere ea Oo Le
Stncinc, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING, II. By W. H. Strong,
M-BORERI CoD Ae a) (alte tei tete Oncttie) Meine mS
PRoressoR SCHIAPARELLI ON THE GREAT COMET OF 1882, By
Francis Porro Oe dle ee Oe nbc ag en ech es
Tue SoarinG OF Birps. By Lord Rayreicu, F.R.S. . 534
Puitip Curistory ZeLteR. By R. McLacuran, F.R.S. os = eG
Tue Great INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES Exuipition (With Jllus-
fat) eC en ICMOMo cs Wout ONG Olde 2
Notges. . eee. “OM wo xe 538
Our AsrronomicaL CotumMN:—
The Great Comet of 1882°.. «4 se © © 2 ee 8 ew 540
Variable Starsic-0 ie of pede’ sok 1 , wees sve, el will lo Mie) Ee Ms ESAs
The Late Transitof Venus . . - = © « © «© © © « =» « « 54t
GEOGRAPHICAL NorTEs . SPRY ch wer leh eketee! tal lta ein lo olen
Facts AND CONSIDERATIONS RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF
ScIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS ON LIVING ANIMALS, COMMONLY CALLED
VAvISEGTION cetamien a al lol ellie? Yor Cell tel el Melt wy Piet na ee : 542
Tue BritisH ASSOCIATION AND CANADA . « + +» + © «© « 546
University AND EDUCATIONALINTELLIGENCE . . » « + = + 547
SocizT1Es AND ACADEMIES. Pe tar te eer ay ore 547
NATURE
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1883
THE VIVISECTION BILL
HE failure of Mr. Reid’s Vivisection Abolition Bill
on April 4 affords cause of congratulation to all
who are interested in science, although it is perhaps to be
regretted that the Bill did not come to a “ division” in-
stead of being “talked out.” Scientific men must be
pleased because one more attempt of ignorance to stop
the pursuit of knowledge has been defeated. But, more
than this, the failure of the Bill is a boon to all who care
for their own health, for that of their families, and for the
welfare of society at large. Had it passed it would not
only have stopped all experiments in physiology, patho-
logy, and pharmacology in this country, but it would have
rendered impossible the detection of crime by the appli-
cation of physiological tests, Had this Bill been law at
the time of the trial of Lamson for poisoning by aconite,
his conviction would have been impossible ; for although
chemical evidence pointed to aconite as the poison used,
‘the tests for it were not sufficiently distinctive to have
justified his conviction on chemical evidence alone, and
it required to be corroborated by physiological evidence.
This was afforded by the injection of the substance ob-
tained from the stomach into some small animals. As these
‘died presenting all the symptoms of aconitine poisoning,
the chemical evidence was confirmed, and the poisoner
was accordingly convicted.
Under the present law, considerable delay was caused
before a certificate could be obtained to allow these
experiments to be performed, but if Mr. Reid’s Bill had
been law, they could not have been performed at all ; and
secret poisoners secure of immunity might have become
as common in this country as they were in the days of
the Borgias.
To understand thoroughly the effect of the Bill upon
medical science and practice, we must imagine to our-
selves what would occur if experiments were stopped not
only inthis country but in others ; for it is not alone in
this country that the opponents of vivisection are active;
they are endeavouring to stop it as far as they can in
America and on the Continent also.
Last week we published some facts and considerations
regarding vivisection and its relations to medicine, issued
by the Association for the Advancement of Science by
Research. The data there contained we should think
were sufficient to convince any reasonable person of
the advantages that medicine has derived from experi-
ments on animals. But it is curious to notice the way in
which they are regarded by anti-vivisectionists. Finding
themselves in many cases unable to deny the advantages
of the knowledge which has been obtained by experi-
ments, they say this knowledge might have been got
without experiments, and so it might, if man had been
difterently constituted. But being as he is, there is no
royal road to knowledge, and he must take the only one
which is available for him—that of experiment.
As Mr. Cartwright pointed out in his speech, if experi-
ments on animals are prohibited, experiments must be
made on human beings, and in their rudest form. The
contrast between such rude popular experiments on man
VOL. XXVII.—NO. 702
549
and scientific experiments on animals was illustrated in
a speech of Dr, Lyon Playfair in reference to these two
kinds of experiments on cholera. The first experiment
was tried on 500,000 human beings in London, who were
supplied with water contaminated by choleraic discharges
with the result that 125 out of every 10,000 consumers
died from the effects of the experiment. In two other
experiments made by another water company, 180 died in
the first experiment, and 130 in the second, out of every
10,000.
These popular experiments on a large scale involved the
sacrifice of half-a-million human beings. In contrast with
this may be taken the scientific experiments made upon
animals by Thiersch and others. These experiments were
made on 56 mice, 14 of which died from the choleraic
discharges. These were not mixed with water acci-
dentally or carelessly, as in the popular experiment, but
were administered under definite conditions, and the
effect watched. The results of these experiments showed
that water contaminated with choleraic discharges was
deadly ; the water so contaminated was avoided, and an
epidemic was escaped.
The common-sense conclusion on the whole matter was
expressed by the Home Secretary, who said that he dis-
liked as much as any man in the House the infliction of
pain upon animals, but felt satisfied that under the ad-
ministration of the law at present there was very little
pain inflicted upon animals, and that pain was inflicted
under such circumstances as to guarantee that it was not
wantonly inflicted, but that it had occurred in the course
of experiments that were abundantly justified for the
benefit of humanity at large. As a guarantee that no
experiments shall be performed that are not abundantly
justified, Sir W. Harcourt has made the agreement with
the Association for the Advancement of Science by Re-
search, that, “if they will undertake the task of reporting to
him upon the experiments, he will undertake that no certifi-
cate shall be granted except on a previous recommendation
from them.” This Association is a representative body of
the whole medical profession, being composed of the
Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians and Sur-
geons of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, of the Royal
Society of London, of the Medical Council, and of all the
chief medical associations and societies, along with some
others specially elected. It would be difficult to imagine
a body better adapted for the purposes of maintaining
the high character of the profession for humanity, by
preventing any wanton infliction of pain upon animals
by experiment, whilst at the same time preventing the
serious consequences to human health and life which
would ensue if properly devised experiments were pro-
hibited by ill-judged and excessive care for animals.
THE BRITISH NAVY
The British Navy : its Strength, Resources, and Adminis-
tration. By Sir Thomas Brassey, K.C.B.,M.P. Vols.
I., II., I1I. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co.,
1882.)
HE three volumes of this work already given to
public by Sir Thomas Brassey are to be followed
by three others ; but as these are to contain reprints cf
speeches and publications on naval affairs it is preferable
BB
55°
NATURE
[April 12, 1883
to notice separately the first half of the series, which is
complete in itself. No better description of the scope
and intention of the book can be given than that appearing
in the Introduction, where it is described as ‘fa compre-
hensive summary of al] that has hitherto been published,
whether in England or abroad, concerning the most
important fighting vessels of modern times.’ It is
avowedly a compilation rather than an original work, and
Sir Thomas Brassey has rendered a most valuable service
to all persons interested in naval affairs by undertaking
the very laborious task now completed. He states that
it has extended over twelve years, and it must often have
seemed as if the end would never be reached in view of
the rapid progress being made in naval armaments, and
the large number of publications which have appeared in
recent years dealing with war-ships, their armour, arma-
ment, and equipment. To keep abreast of this progress,
and at the same time to retrace the history of war-fleets
during the last quarter of a century, must have been a
most arduous undertaking, and the author of these bulky
volumes must be congratulated on his industry and per- |
severance. As the result he has produced an unrivalled
book of reference, which should be in the hands of all
naval officers, ship designers, shipowners, and adminis-
trators of naval affairs.
It is a singular fact that until this book appeared
English readers had to turn to foreign publications for
the best accounts not merely of foreign navies but of the
British Navy. There was no English rival to the books
produced by Dislére or Marchal in France ; by Littrow,
Brommy, or Kronenfels in Germany; by Von Tromp in
Holland ; and by King or Véry in the United States.
Scattered notices in the press, meagre Parliamentary
papers, the scanty facts respecting H.M. ships given in
the Navy List, and the special information afforded by
Reports of Commissions or Committees were the best
sources of supply open not merely to the general reader
but to most naval officers. Sir Edward Reed, in 1869,
dealt with the general problems of armoured construction
in “ Our Ironclad Ships,” but the character of that work
excluded the detailed descriptions of individual ships
and the statistics of various fleets which are most needed
in discussions of the relative powers of maritime countries.
This want in English literature Sir Thomas Brassey has
admirably supplied. His book is better than all its
foreign predecessors, and this may be said without
offence, seeing that he has been able to draw freely from
them, frankly acknowledging his indebtedness. Coming
later into the field, he has also been able to add much
valuable information not to be found in the earlier books;
while in style of production, wealth and beauty of illustra-
tion, and moderate price, the “ British Navy” stands alone.
It is only proper to mention that Sir Thomas Brassey has
evidently desired to secure a wide circulation for his book
among naval officers, irrespective of the cost of produc-
tion ; and it is to be hoped that his wish will be realised,
for it is clearly of the utmost importance that those who
have to fight our ships should be well informed as to the
characteristics of the ships with which they may be
engaged.
Like all compilations this book requires very careful
reading. The author gives, in every case, the fullest
detail as to the authority from whom he is quoting; but
he does not compare or correct various statements on the
same subject, or attempt to appraise the relative value of
the opinions of the writers from whom he quotes. This
is left to the reader. A careless or hasty consultation of
the book might therefore lead to wrong conclusions, and
a word of warning on this point may not be out of place.
For instance, one may find in close succession statements
by Admiralty officials, or private shipbuilders who have
designed and constructed foreign vessels, or officers of
foreign governments—all of which are to be reckoned
authoritative—and statements by anonymous or unofficial
writers in various publications—some of which, at least,
are of doubtful authority. The reader should turn, there-
fore, in all cases to the admirable “ List of Authorities” in
order to make sure whose opinions he is studying before
adopting them.
Sir Thomas Brassey undoubtedly did wisely in not
attempting to reconcile or correct the various statements
which he has summarised. Had he done so before
accepting office at the Admiralty, the task would have
been beyond his power of accomplishment even for the
Royal Navy, since it could only be performed by the
freest use of official records; and for foreign navies the
difficulties would have been obviously greater. As a
matter of fact, before the publication of the book took
place the author had accepted office as Civil Lord at the
Admiralty, and thus had an additional reason for avoiding
the difficult task. He is careful to explain that the publi-
cation is in no sense an official one, the work having been
far advanced before he went to the Admiralty, and having
been completed on the lines previously laid down.
This is only one of the many incidental illustrations of
the magnitude of the work done, and the difficulty of
bringing such a book uptodate. For instance, in the
second volume, issued in 1882, the author has to explain
that the figures given for the naval strengths of various
countries date from 1879. Again, the descriptions of
progress and experiments in armour and guns, full as they
are, necessarily leave unnoticed many important events
of recent occurrence which must affect future war-ship
construction. Even if a new edition could be produced
speedily, and quite up to date, it too would soon need
additions.
The author has had many reminders of the fact that
although his book is announced as “unofficial,” it may
be used as an aid to criticism of the action of the Board
of Admiralty, of which he isa member. Admiral of the
Fleet Sir Thomas Symonds, and other advocates of a
more energetic policy in naval affairs, have found many
arguments in support of their views in these volumes.
Into this controversy we have no intention to enter, but it
may be observed that Sir Thomas Brassey, who must be
as familiar with the facts as most persons, remarks that,
“On a general and dispassionate review of our position,
we are led to the conclusion that the naval power of
England, in all the vital elements of strength, is greater
now than in any former age.” This may be true, but Sir
Thomas Brassey would also be the first to admit that
continued and strenuous efforts are required in order that
this position may be maintained.
The first volume is chiefly devoted to armoured ships;
a brief description of unarmoured ships being appended.
Elaborate tables of the dimensions, speeds, cost, thick-
April 12, 1883]
NATURE
55!
nesses of armour, weight of guns, &c., are given for the
navies of the world ; numberless diagrams and drawings
also appear in illustration of distributions of armour,
arrangements of armament, character of structural ar-
rangements, design and position of propelling machinery,
&c. Besides these there appear a large number of very
beautiful woodcuts of typical ships, from designs by the
eminent marine artist, the Chevalier de Martino, who
was formerly an officer in the Italian Navy, and possesses
a seaman’s knowledge of ships in addition to his ability
as a painter. These diagrams, drawings, and tables
taken alone are of the greatest value, and if published
separately in a handy form ought to command a large
circulation. Sir Thomas Brassey would add to the debt
of gratitude we already owe him if he undertook the issue
of such a publication, rivalling the French “Carnet de
VOfficier de la Marine,” or the Austrian ‘ Almanach fiir
die Kriegs Marine.”’
The second volume deals with “miscellaneous subjects”
of great interest and importance. Amongst these are a
fuller discussion of unarmoured ships, of torpedoes and
torpedo boats, harbour defence and coast defence ships,
the employment of mercantile auxiliaries on war services,
and many other topics. Amongst these none exceeds in
importance the discussion of the possible employment of
our merchant steamships in time of war. The means for
securing the aid of these vessels when the necessity arises,
and of best equipping them, require the gravest con-
sideration. Already something has been done in this
direction by the Admiralty, but much more yet remains
to be done, if at the time of need the best of our un-
rivalled merchant ships are to be available for the defence
of the mercantile marine or the many other services on
which they might be employed.
The third volume is devoted to a summary of
opinions on the shipbuilding policy of the Navy. It
is in some respects a curious collection, but will well
repay a careful study. The classification by the
author of this mass of opinions greatly assists the
reader. Unanimity on any point is scarcely to be
hoped for, and is not to be found; but the reader will
find ample suggestion and food for reflection. The advo-
cates of small ships are fully represented ; the designers
of the /falia and Lefanto have their views set forth.
Those who believe in armour-protection, and those who
think it should be abandoned, obtain an equally fair
audience. And in these, as in most other matters, the
author gives little or no prominence to his own opinions.
Sir Thomas Brassey has given many proofs of his
devotion to the naval interests of this country during his
Parliamentary career; but by the publication of this
work he has established a claim on the gratitude of all
classes of English readers who take an interest in naval
affairs. W. H. WHITE
OUR BOOK SHELF
-Camps in the Rockies. By W. A. Baillie-Grohman.
Map and Illustrations. (London: Sampson Low and
Co., 1882.)
MR. BAILLIE-GROHMAN has already made himself known
as an intrepid hunter, a close observer of nature, and a
charming raconteur. In the volume before us he shows
no falling off in any of these points, and seems quite as
much at home among the parks and peaks of the Rocky
Mountains as he is among the chamois-haunted preci-
pices of the Tyrol. The present volume is the result of
more than one visit, mainly for sporting purposes, to the
Far West, between the Yellowstone Park and Utah. Of
the wild life of the ranchers and hunters of the region he
has much to tell, and many exciting stories of his own
hunting experiences. He adds, moreover, not a little to
our knowledge of the topography, geology, and natural
history of a region, of many parts of which we yet know
little. On the Canons of the Colorado region he has
some interesting notes. We shall be pleased to have
another such book from Mr. Grohman.
Physics in Pictures: the Principal Natural Phenomena
and Appliances Described and Illustrated by Thirty
Coloured Plates for Ocular Instruction in Schools
and Families. With Explanatory Text Prepared by
Theodore Eckardt, and Translated by A. H. Keane,
M.A.I. (London: Stanford, 1882.)
THESE plates are somewhat rough and occasionally vio-
lent in colouring, but perfectly trustworthy, and well
calculated to interest young people and convey to them a
clear idea of the elementary scientific truths intended to
be illustrated. The accompanying text gives all the ex-
planation necessary. The plates embrace a wide field of
subjects in mechanics, navigation, magnetism and elec-
tricity, sound, optics, photography, colours, spectroscopy,
&c. We hope the collection will find its way into many
schools and families.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.]
Unprecedented Cold in the Riviera—Absence of
Sunspots
In the second week of March Cannes was visited by
falls of snow and degrees of cold far exceeding any of which
there is previous record. The preceding part of the winter was
of average mildness ; the minimum thermometer having fallen
below freezing only three times, as follows: December 2, 32°;
January 24, 29°; January 26, 31°8°. Not once did it fall so
low during February ; the average minimum being nearly 44°,
and the maximum in shade 56°, and was apparently steadily
rising with the approach of spring. The following notes are
extracted from my diary :—
February 28.—Thermometer,
58°°3; 1 barometer 29°65.
spot on the sun,
minimum 46°°6, maximum
Day fine. Wind W., calm. No
March 1.—Th. min. 48°3, max. 58°3; bar. 29°46. Day
fine. Wind N.E., moderate.
March 2.—Th. min. 43°, max. 575; bar. 29°42. Fine,
with haze. Wind N.N.E., very strong in p.m.
March 3.—Th. min. 42°°8, max. 55°°3; bar. 29°70, Fine,
but strong wind from N.E. Nota spot on the sun,
March 4.—Th. min. 36°, max. 54°°8; bar. 29°70. Wind
very strong from N.E. Fine, with cumuili.
March 5.—Th. min. 40°, max. 54°8; bar. 29°70. Cloudy,
nimbostratus. Wind very high from N.E.
March 6.—Th. min, 40°, max. 51°°7; bar. 29°40, Fine, but
some clouds. Wind N.E., very high and cold.
March 7.—Th. min. 36°°8, max. 53°; bar. 28°87. Snowed
in night in large flakes, and till 10 a.m. to depth of 8 inches,
Little wind, N.E. The weight of the snow bowed down shrubs
and trees, breaking many. Ina large shrubbery in my garden,
Erica arborea, from 10 to 20 feet high, full of flowers,
* Thermometers by Casella. Minimum is placed every night outside
an east window of the first floor of my villa, the bulb being protected from
radiation. Maximum lies shaded inside the same window, open by day.
| Barometer, aneroid, ty Pillischer.
552
NATURE
| April 12, 1883
all prostrated. Mimose of various kinds, also flowering,
and the more tender palms, were borne down and broken.
Pelargoniums and other succulent shrubs destructively crushed.
Partial thaw in the sunshine.
March 8.—Th. min. 27°°7, max. 51°°3; bar. 28°83. Sun-
shine in morning began a thaw, but only to discover mischief
done by the frost. Wind first from N.E. ; in p.m. from S.W.,
increasing thaw.
March 9.—Th. min. 35°, max. 514°; bar. 29°67. Rain in
night and most of day, but later turned to snow in large flakes.
Wind S.E.
March 10.—Th. min. 27°, max. 44°; bar. 28°88. Fresh
snow in night to depth of 4 or 5inches. Whole country white,
including Esterel Mountains, on which snow is hardly ever seen.
Wind W., rising, threatening a mistral. Only two small spots
on the sun.
March 11.—Th. min. 24°°1, max. 45°; bar. 28°84. Bright
morning, but intense cold with mistral, at nizht destroyed
almost all tender plants and shrubs in garden, in spite of covering.
One fine young indiarubber-tree of 15 feet, with its rich green
and bronze leaves, turned in the night to a spectre of limp black
rags. Wind W., calm. Only one small spot on S.E. border
of sun.
March 12.—Th. min. 25°°7, max. 49°; bar. 2890. Sun bright,
but hard frost everywhere except in sheltered places. Wind W.
strong. Four spots now visible on sun, one larger than the rest,
and near it a large oval facula of brighter light.
March 13.—Th. min. 32°°1, max. 49°°6 ; bar. 29°30. Weather
bright, wind W., moderate. Two of the four spots larger, with
deeper umbrz ; suspicion of a facula near one.
March 14.—Th. min. 29°, max. 54°(?): bar. 29°50. Sky
bright, some haze, wind W. Four sunspots, less marked, vary-
ing from day to day ; one, which was a penumbral streak, now
hardly visible.
March 15.—Th. min. 32°, max. 50 4; bar. 29°30. Weather
feels much warmer, wind W.S.W. ; one of the sunspots much
larger, with a rent of dark umbra within.
March 16.—Th, min. 36°°7, max. 50°°3 ; bar. 29°19. Weather
fine, a little haze, wind W.S.W. Now five spots ; two large,
with dark irregular centre and fringe of penumbra ; two dark,
without fringe ; one a mere streak of penumbra,
March 17.—Th. min. 41°°9, max. 52°°2; bar. 29°22. Fine
in morning, but hazy; liter, clouds from S.W. (showing rain-
band) gathered, and brought first hail, then rain for two or three
hours; later, the sun appeared with one of the new spots
much enlarged, consisting of a penumbra with two distinct dark
clefts within.
March 18.-—Th. min. 35°°1, max. 53°°9; bar. 29°48. Bright
morning, with haze, wind 5.S.W. No change in sunspots.
March 19.—Th. min. 45°°9, max. 52°°5 ; bar. 29°20. Morning
gloomy, with clouds and rain. The wave of cold seems to have
passed, but not so the vast deposits of snow left on the moun-
tains behind, and still less the unknown detriment inflicted on
vegetable life in the olive and orange groves around us.
The foregoing observations are too few and too imperfect to
warrant any decided conclusions, but they add to those already
made in evidence of the connection between the absence of sun-
spots and the diminution of terre-trial heat ; and I trust they
may be followed by further and more exact investigations to de-
termine the influence of our great luminary on the weather and
climate of the world. How far this ‘‘cold wave” has extended
to other countries and latitades I am not informed ; but it seems
to me that their usually cloudless skies bring the shores of the
Riviera into closer and more direct relationship with sun-power
. than other countries, and therefore render them more sensitive to
its variations. C. J. B. WILLIAMs
Cannes, March 19
Mr. Grant Allen’s Article on ‘‘The Shapes of Leaves”
THE article by Mr. Grant Allen on ‘‘ The Shapes of Leaves,”
published in NATURE (vol. xxvii. p. 439) as first of a series,
calls for an emphatic protest on behalf of botanists, and espe-
cially of teachers of botany.
In his introductory paragraphs he at once cuts the Gordian
knot of vegetable physiology in a most startling manner. He
tells us that ‘‘from the free carbon thus obtained [z.e. by de-
oxidation of carbonic acid], together with the hydrogen liberated
from the water in the sap, the plant manufactures the hydro-
carbons which form the mass of its various tissues.” If he had
| of these articles, since the series is not yet complete.
only substituted, by a slip of the pen, the term hydrocarbon for
carbohydrate, it might have been regarded as a pardonable piece
of negligence ; but, since he speaks of ‘‘ free carbon” and hydro-
gen, he shows that he really meant to write the word “‘hydro-
carbons.’’ Naturally he does not bring forward the results of
any experiments which may have led him to make this extra-
ordinary statement.
He goes on to say: ‘‘ Vegetal life in the true or green plants
consists merely in such deoxidation of carbonic acid and water,
and arrangement of their atoms in new forms.” Among other
strange conclusions to be drawn from the above lines we see
that, according to Mr. Grant Allen, either nitrogen does not
enter into the composition of proteids, or that the latter have
nothing to do with that ‘‘ vegetal life ” of which he speaks.
Articles containing blunders of such magnitude, but written
with that assurance of style which naturally carries conviction
to the mind of the unwary, and disseminated through the country
in a widely read journal like NATURE, cannot but produce a
rich crop of erroneous impressions. These it will be the arduous
duty of teachers to eradicate.
Every one will agree that the popular writer must, before all
things, be master at least of the first rudiments of the subject on
which he writes: Mr. Grant Allen has in two consecutive sen-
tences shown himself singularly deficient in this respect.
It would*be premature here to enter upon a detailed criticism
But the
two sentences I have quoted are so strangely heterodox that they
could not be passed over without remark, F, O. Bower
As I do not think it necessary to preface four short papers on
the shapes of leaves with a formal treatise on physiological
botany, Iam not careful to answer Mr. Bower in this matter.
The word hydrocarbons was used deliberately, because the
important point to notice is this—that the plant consists in the
main of relatively deoxidised materials. From the point of
view of energy, with which one has to deal mainly in treating of
functions of leaves, that fact is of capital importance. I can
conscientiously inform Mr. Bower that I was aware of the
chemical constitution of proteids, and of the part which they
bear in life generally; but I do not see what harm can
be done to anybody by such a confessedly rough statement
as that which he critici-es. If we must always step aside to say
all that we know about any subject whenever we have to deal
with it, exposition of new matter becomes impossible. May
I call Mr. Bower’s attention to the further fact that in the same
paper I spoke of the plant catching ‘‘ fragments of carbon,”
meaning thereby not free carbon, but carbon in the form of
carbonic acid, even though it be merely reduced fron carbon
dioxide to carbon oxide. It seems to me that such roughly
accurate language is permissible in popular writing, where one’s
main object is to insist only on the general principle involved.
It is the carbon that the leaf wants, not the oxygen; it is the
carbon and the hydrogen that it deals with, not the nitrogen,
which is but the instrument for dealing with them; and the two
other elements may therefore be safely neglected. Or must we
drag in sulphur, and potassium, and calcium, and all the rest as
well ? GRANT ALLEN
Ticks
Ir W. E. L. will acquaint himself with the somewhat scattered
literature of this subject he will find that much useful information
has already been placed onrecord by entomologists and others. The
Farm Fournal for July 10, 1880, contains asensible and convin-
cing article by Mr. James Elliot, showing the connection between
ticks and louping-ill. A good article on the sheep-tick (falsely
so called, since it is an insect and not one of the Ixodidze) occurs
in Zhe Field for April 26, 1873. The scientific aspects of the
subject are well treated of by Mégnin, especially in relation to
classification in his ‘‘ Monographie de la Tribu des Sarcoptides
Psoriques,” 1877. Mr. Hulme’s edition of Moquin-Tandon’s
“‘Elements of Medical Zoology” has a useful chapter on ticks
(p. 302). Some valuable hints are given in Prof. Verrill’s
Report on parasites to the Connecticut Board of Agriculture,
1870. An excellent article with good figures on Alelophagus
ovinus appeared in one of the volumes of the /y/el/ectual Ob-
server. The ticks of the sheep and stag are both figured in
Van Beneden’s ‘‘ Animal Parasites” (English edition of Inter-
national Series, p. 177). The sheep-tick is likewise figured and
described in the ‘* Micrographie Dictionary.” References and
April 12, 1883 |
figures are also given in the standard works of Westwood and
Packard on insects. As W. E. L. is probably a practical man,
he will do well toconsider the proofs afforded by Mr, Elliot that
the ‘‘ked,” as they call it in Scotland, is anything but the harm-
less insect which some people imagine it to be.
T. SPENCER CORBOLD
I AM inclined to think your correspondent W. E. L., on the
subject of “ticks” (p. 531), may have confounded two quite
distinct animal forms under that name. The sheep-tick or louse,
as shepherds call it, found at the roots of the wool on sheep,
and which Ii ave often formerly had brought to me under one of
those names, is an aberrant form of Azppodbosca, a genus of
dipterous insects, the typical species being the well-known forest-
fly. An excellent figure of the sheep tick will be found in
~ Curtis’s ‘‘ British Entomology,” PJ. 142, under the name of
Melophagus ovinus.
Ixodes is a genus of the Acaridee, a group easily distinguished
from the true insects by their having eight legs in the adult
state. Six British species of Zxvodes are described by Dr. Leach
in vol. xi. of the Linnean Transactions, There are probably
others not as yet determined. The one best known is the com-
mon dog-tick, found in a free state in woods and plantations,
and attaching itself not merely to dogs but to hares, &c., and
especially to hedgehogs, which often abound with them, the ticks
getting their hold as the animals pass through the close grass.
After attachment they soon get gorged with blood, their abdo-
mens swelling to an immense size com) ared with the insignificant
appearance of them previous to attachment, But I can remem-
ber no instance of an Ixodes found ona sheep, though I would
not undertake to say they never occur on that animal.
Bath L, BLOMEFIELD
Helix pomatia, L.
I AGREE with Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys (NATURE, p. 511) in con-
sidering Hedzx fomatia as indigenous in this country, and not
introduced by the Romans. I never found or heard of a single
specimen, either living or dead shell, being met with in the
neighbourhood of Bath, which the Romans occupied for more
than 400 years, though it is found in one or two localities in the
adjoining county of Gloucestershire, from whence we have
specimens in the museum of the Bath Literary Institution.
Bath L, BLOMEFIELD
Braces or Waistband?
HAVING worna Spanish sash for some time many years ago
while walking in the Pyrenees, I am decidedly of opinion that
the weight of the trousers is supported much more easily and
pleasantly by a sash than by braces; these last are narrow,
about 2 inches wide, and though custom enables us to wear
them without conscious inconvenience, I think any one using them
for the first time would find them very unpleasant. The sash
worn by the middle and lower class in Aragon is of wool 8
or g inches broad, and (if my recollection is correct) about
43 feet long; when of such width and length it does not need to
be drawn “ght, but only closely wrapped round the waist and
the end tucked in. I should certainly wear one constantly but
that I do not wish to have an eccentric appearance. Medical
men, I believe, attach great value to the wearing of sashes or
bands round the stomach, especially in hot countries. A narrow
silken sash which must be drawn tight is, I should suppose, far
less pleasant to wear.
SOLAR RADIATION AND GLACIER MOTION
je the paper on the “ Mechanics of Glaciers,’ which
the author had the honour to read before the Geo-
logical Society of London in December last, it is stated
that, after all allowance is made for work within the glacier
due to the potential energy of the wezg/t of the ice-mass,
‘there remains to be accounted for a secondary dif-
ferential motion, which has, it appears, not yet received
a satisfactory explanation . . . the movement is greater
(a) by day than by night, (4) in summer than in winter.”
The present paper is intended as nothing more than a
brief statement of the experimental evidence, upon the
NATURE
553
strength of which the explanation offered in the paper
referred to has been put forward. I may say ex passant
that this investigation was suggested to me bya statement
of Dr. Croll’s (‘Climate and Time,” p. 519) that, “We
find that the heat applied to one side of a piece of ice will
affect the thermal pile on the opposite side.” It occurred
to me that the looseness of this statement was quite in
keeping with the zphysical notions upon which the
writer has built up what he styles his ‘‘ molecular theory ”
of glacier motion, and I set to work therefore to inves-
tigate its accuracy.
The principal apparatus used consisted of a delicate
galvanometer, and a thermopile of a pretty high degree
of sensitiveness, made up as it is of eighty-one couples of
bismuth and antimony; the measurements were read off
numerically by the light reflected on the scale as usual.
Suspecting that the fallacy of the statement referred to
lay in overlooking the effect of luminous energy, which of
course is capable of passing through any /ransparent
body, I made a few preliminary trials with glass and water,
not having ice then at hand. A beam of solar radiation,
having passed through two inches of distilled cold water
+ half an inch of glass, was allowed to fall upon a
Crookes’ radiometer ; this made the vanes rotate too fast
for their rotations to be counted, even when the instru-
ment was enclosed in a wooden case on all sides except
that open to the glass-water screen through which the
sunshine passed. A beam of solar light, having been
sifted of its dark heat-rays in the same manner as before,
was received upon the absorbing face of the thermopile,
producing a considerable deflection of the magnet in the
galvanometer, even with the feeble sunshine of our recent
December days.
The next step was a series of trials with zce itself. In
the first instance, trials were made with the plates of ice
im contact with the metallic face of the pile, the black
(absorbing) face being placed at a distance of 3 inches
opposite a large Bunsen flame in a room free froms trong
draughts : in this way a constant difference of 36° C. was
obtained for the opposite faces of the pile, and main-
tained for more than half an hour, with the needle of the
galvanometer quite stationary. An iron ball 3 inches in
diameter, having been heated to dul! redness (clearly
perceptible in a dark room), was placed opposite the
plate of ice (1 inch thick) in contact with the pile, and
allowed to cool. It was again heated as before, and
placed at a distance of /ess than an inch from the ice
(now less than half an inch thick), and allowed to cool.
In both cases the effect observed upon the galvanometer
was absolute nil, even when, in the second trial, the ice
had become so thin by melting as to break under the
small force required to hold it against the pile.
In the next series of trials the arrangement was re-
versed, the zce being placed just in front of the condensing
cone attached to the absorbing face of the pile at a
distance of 4 inches; the metallic face of the instrument
was maintained at a constant temperature by contact
with a vessel of cold water, whose temperature was ob-
served frequently, and found to be practically constant.
On the distant side of the ice was placed a double board-
screen, with air-space and a circular hole to allow the
passage of a cylindrical beam of radiation of the same
diameter as the condensing cone. The iron ball, heated
to dull red heat as before, was placed opposite the hole
of the screen, at a distance of 74 inches from the face of
the pile, the intervening ice-plate in this case being 1 inch
thick, and the galvanometer having been stationary for
half-an-hour before the experiment was made. Under
the same conditions the experiment was repeated (1) with
1-inch plate of ice; (2) with 4-inch of pond-ice + wet
half-melted snow ; (3) with §-inch of fresh-fallen snow.
In all these cases the result of the obscure radiation from
the ball upon the galvanometer was adsolude nil, although,
without the interposition of ice or snow, the maximum
554
NATURE
| Aprel 12, 1883
deflection at the end of 5 minutes was 460° on the scale
(see accompanying table). This period of time was
adopted for this reason, for the duration of each following
experiment, though more than needed to produce maxi-
mum results. So far the evidence is conclusive that dark
heat (¢.e. heat capable of melting ice) applied to one side
of a piece of ice does ot affect the thermopile on the
opposite side. So much for the negative results.
It seemed to me at this point worth while to investigate
the effects produced by /wmznous radiant energy of various
phases of quality after transmission through ice, which,
it would appear, effectually barred the passage of all the
obscure rays of the iron ball from even entering it, while
the liquefaction of the ice at the surface was beyond all
comparison greater than that which goes on at the surface
of a glacier even with a full midsummer sun. The
sources of /usinous energy chosen are given in the first
column of the following table. The feeble effect produced
by the blue flame of a very large Bunsen lamp (giving no
red, orange, or yellow when examined with the spectro-
scope) as compared with the effects produced by the more
highly luminous gas-flames of far inferior thermal in-
tensity (which gave, of course, a complete visible spec-
trum), is extremely interesting for the light it throws
upon the subject in hand. The table of results explains
itself at once to any student of physics. The lime-light
used, it may be added, was a very powerful one; the
sunshine, however, was not very bright or very constant,
owing to the drifting of clouds. The latter fact explains
the apparent slight anomaly in the results of the solar
radiation given in Series I]. and III. The observations
were made however with the solar radiation (as esti-
mated by a Crookes’ Radiometer) approximately the same
for them all,
Tab. lo show the Sifting Power of Ice and Snow upon Radiation
of different Phases of Quality
Ser. 111. Ser. 1V.
° ith it - ,
Series eel neh ofl ictal ee B
Sources of radiant Siena inch of | leat ice | ROnGCS sich
relative (with ((asinIII.)
Ges radiant |Vcty, clear many air| with fallen
energy. |'° 1MtEI-| bubbles) |much we | SM2W 17
; oe inter-. | snow on | t€*Posed-
posed, | one side.
1. Red-hot iron ball,
3 inches diameter
(at dull red heat). | 460°00) 0709, o'cO | oO'cO | O00
2. Large Bunsen
lamp flame (feeble
luminosity) giving
incomplete spec- |
frm! ee eee ees. eI'35COl|) 2500)|| 2:00) | OfOOmIG:co
3. Small Bunsen |
lamp flame, with }
air shut off below |
(giving complete
SPecteiny)) eee) snes] 777.00 6°00, 400} 200] 000
4. Small fish-tail gas-
burner... A 87°00) 12°00 700 | 6'00 o'co
5. Lime-light... 192700 | 51°20) 38°40 | 20°48 0°00
6. Lhe Sun 530°00 | 310°00 , 320:00!} — 13 00
The numbers in each series in the foregoing table do not
give very simple relations among themselves, and each
number must be regarded as only a near approximation
to the exact truth. Still, when all those slight inaccuracies
which ari-e from “errors of experiment ’’ are allowed for,
the general meaning and bearing of the facts remain,
namely, that though heat (gvd@ heat capable as it is of
melting ice) cannot enter ice, yet wminous energy, which
7s readily absorbed and transformed into heat by opaque
* In this case a 4-inch plate of clear ice was used.
and semt-opaque bodies, can enter and pass through the
ice, until it meets with a non-transparent body. Substi-
tuting for our thermopile in the experiment, stones, dirt,
organic germs, &c., within the glacier, we at once per-
ceive how the luminous radiant energy of the sun can (by
being transformed into dark heat) play its part in pro-
ducing the movement of glaciers.
Further, this will be found, I believe, the ov/y satis-
factory explanation yet given of the remarkable facts (1)
that glaciers move faster (in the Alps about twice as fast;
during the summer than during the winter; (2) that the
motion during the day is greater than during the night.
This fact most people who have written on glaciers have
found it difficult to explain, for when the “ Regelation
Theory” is fully accepted, and all that follows from it is
recognised, and when due allowance is made for z¢ernalZ
Jriction, we still must seek for a cause, independent of
both of these, to account for the varéations in the move-
ments of glaciers, day and night, summer and winter,
This cause has now, I think, no longer to be sought for.
The glacier may be compared to a large greenhouse ;
as luminous energy enters freely through the glass in the
one case, so it enters freely through the transparent ice
in the other ; in both cases, heat available for work is
produced by its transformation.
In the glacier this work is expended in diminishing
the cohesion of the molecules of those parts of the ice
which are in contact with the bodies which absorb the
luminous energy. The beautiful silvery blue light of an
ice-cavern seems to show that a part of a beam of lumi-
nous radiation is absorbed by clear ice.
The Series IV. and V. of the table illustrate the effect
of (a) the more or less granular condition of the ice in
many parts of a glacier, (4) the snow with which the
glaciers are covered during the winter. The diffusive
action of the latter upon luminous energy is seen by
reference to Series V. to be very great; hence the
necessity for the use of coloured spectacles on the higher
glacier regions. A. IRVING
DEDUCTIVE BIOLOGY
T has probably occurred to a good many readers of
NATURE that it would be well if some one were to
utter a word of warning as to the mischief which may be
done, and especially to students, by the present fashion
of explaining all kinds of complicated morphological
phenomena in a more or less purely deductive fashion.
Itis no doubt pleasant, even fascinating, to sit down at
one’s desk and, having formulated a few fundamental
assumptions, to spin out from these explanations of what
we see in the world about us. But I think when done it
should be understood that the result is merely a literary
performance, and though, viewed in that aspect, one may
admire the skill and neatness with which it is accom-
plished, I nevertheless venture to think that the whole
proceeding is harmful.
Now,as I shall attempt to illustrate my position by refer-
ence to papers which have appeared in NATURE in parti-
cular, I may as well say at once that [ have no personal or
merely controversial object in writing these lines, But
though it is nowno part of the business of my life to take part
in teaching, Ihave had some experience of it, and a great
deal too much of testing its results by the process of
examination. I have derived then a tolerably definite
idea—as I believe—of the difficulties that beset the im-
parting of scientific instruction, and a decided conviction
as to what sort of discipline is wholesome, and what is
mischievous.
Of course I do not deny—far from it—the inspiriting
influence which large generalisations impart to teaching.
But then I think the intellectual enjoyment of them must
be earned. The first thing to do is to put before the
| student the facts, and then, when these are conscientiously
April 12, 1883]
Wa LORE
os
mastered, to show what general conclusions may be
drawn from them. The student will thus not merely ap-
preciate the mastery which a comprehensive point of
view gives of the subordinate facts, but he will get some
insight into the value of the evidence upon which the in-
duction rests, and be quite prepared to understand that in
the face of a wider survey of observations it may have to
be materially modified. This method of procedure seems
to me to be not only the scientifically sound one, but to
have an educational value of a very high order.
The opposite method is to start with the general
principles and derive the explanations from them. This
no doubt affords play for ingenuity. But the intellectual
discipline is immensely inferior. And when the elaborate
structure is built up, it is impossible not to begin insensibly
to resent with jealousy any criticism of its foundations,
even when it has become difficult to resist the suspicion
that they are decrepit. This state of things might be
illustrated from the history of the biological sciences
again and again. Generalisations which at first were justly
hailed with enthusiasm have finally hecome mischievous
obstructions in the way of their adherents arriving at a
better knowledge.
I do not mean to say that I prophesy this fate for the
evolution theory. But I confess I look with great dislike
on the growing tendency, especially in writings intended
for popular consumption, to explain everything by it
deductively. We may think the probability of organic
forms having been evolved is very great. But the how
of the process is what in every case we have to prove.
In this way the induction on which the theory of evolu-
tion rests perpetually widens its base, while at the same
time our detailed knowledge of the subordinate laws
through which it acts continually accumulates. But if,
assuming the truth of the evolution theory, we proceed to
spin out of our heads an explanation of how any par-
ticular phenomenon came about, I fail to see in what way
we are the wiser. The theory of evolution runs a very
good chance of being burlesqued; and at the best we
find ourselves in possession not of a new knowledge, but
merely of an ingenious literary exercise.
In several successive articles, a very able writer, Mr.
Grant Allen, has discussed and given a deductive explana-
tion of the shape of leaves. Now this isa matter on which
a good many botanists have probably bestewed much
thought, and it is well known to be beset with immense
difficulties. I believe I am justified in saying that for the
last ten years of his life it constantly engaged the atten-
tion of Mr. Darwin, and it cannot be doubted that if the
problem had at all readily admitted of solution he would
have at any rate made some attempt to clo for leaves what
he did for flowers. In work of this kind Mr. Darwin
assumed nothing. His method was purely inductive. He
made an immense number of observations drawn from the
most widely severed types existing under the most varied
conditions, and he gradually felt his way towards some
general conclusions. But the fact is that the form of
leaves, in common with a great deal of external morpho-
logy, is a product of a complex of conditions. Whatever
general principles control it, we may be pretty sure that
they do not lie on the surface. It is sufficient to mention
a few of the obvious factors that must enter into the
solution to see that this must be true. In the first place
we have the conditions of development; a leaf which,
like that of the wild hyacinth, has to be pushed up
through compressed soil, must be shaped accordingly, and
differently from one, such as that of a horse-chestnut,
which languidly expands, like the wings of a butterfly
newly escaped from its chrysalis, into the unresisting air.
Then we have mechanical conditions; a leaf is a much
greater feat of natural engineering than a stem; a
fragile expanded structure has to be carried on a single
support and supplied with a framework which must have
the necessary rigidity not to collapse, and at the same time
be carefully adjusted to withstand wind-strains. Then it
must be adapted to meteoric conditions; it must be
capable of withstanding solar radiation without being
scorched, and its own reduction of temperature at night
without being irremediably frozen. With this last circum-
stance is probably correlated the great variety of nycti-
tropic movements which leaves execute, and these again
react on their form and construction. The enumeration
might be very much prolonged; this is only a sample.
But it will suggest to most people, as I imagine it did to
Mr. Darwin, that, before asserting anything definite about
the laws that govern the form of leaves in general, there
is an enormous amount to be made out about their relation
to particular circumstances of the environment.
But, as far as I can make out, all these considerations
count as nothing with Mr. Grant Allen. ‘“ Two points,”
he says, “between them mainly govern the shapes of
leaves.” One of these is the relation of the leaf to sun-
light: and the importance of this no one doubts. The
other is the tendency of the plant ‘‘to have its whole
absorbent surface disposed in the most advantageous
position for drinking in such particles of carbonic acid as
may pass its way.” The importance of this, Mr. Grant
Allen adds, ‘‘ appears hitherto to have been too frequently
overlooked.”
Now, as I have said, I think the deductive method is
a bad way of solving morphological problems. It is still
worse when the principle started from is more than doubt-
ful. Mr. Grant Allen speaks of the competition of plants
for carbonic acid as of the same kind as that of carnivo-
rous and herbivorous animals for their respective foods.
But it is surely nothing of the sort. Carbonic acid is an
ingredient of the atmosphere to the extent of 1-2500th of
its bulk. But only about one-quarter of the earth’s surface
is occupied by land, and from this a large deduction may
be made on account of areas incapable of sustaining
vegetation. There is therefore an enormous reserve of
atmospheric carbonic acid which, as the atmosphere is
rarely at rest, is constantly brought within the range of
vegetation. Moreover, the carbon which plays its part in
vegetation is continually being released from its organic
trammels and the secular accumulation of carbon in the
soil, though the work of vegetation is at most extremely
slow. On what possible grounds then can Mr. Grant
Allen talk of a competition for carbonic acid, which the
wind that “ bloweth where it listeth” perpetually and z7z-
partially supplies to the tissues capable of absorbing it?
It cannot be doubted that, fer uzt of absorbent surface,
one plant in a locality will get as much carbonic acid as
another, no more and no less. And when I say per unit
of absorbent surface, I do not mean external surface,
which, as wellas the shape, I apprehend has nothing to do
with the matter. It is of no consequence how the chloro-
phyll-containing cells which bound the air-passages are
massed into a leaf, provided that there is enough of them
to do the carbor-fixing work of the p!ant. When, there-
fore, Mr. Grant Allen arrives at the conclusion that ‘‘the
extent to which leaflets are subdivided depends upon the
relative paucity of carbon in their environment,’’ I confess
that I should much like to see the experimental data, if
any, on which this statement rests. As there are plants
which at different periods of their lives produce much
and little divided leaves, the point would possibly admit
of being actually tested.
Now with regard to the submerged foliage of water-
plants, I am free 1o admit that I think Mr. Grant Allen
has made a point. These must absorb their carbonic acid
superficially, being destitute of stomata and intercellular
passages. But I do not see why he should say that the
proportion of carbonic acid held in solution by water is
very small. It is, I believe, never less than the proportion
that occurs in the atmosphere, and may rise to nearly
one per cent.
W. T. THISELTON DYER
550
NATURE
| April 12, 1883,
THE APPROACHING ECLIPSE
ape accompanying illustration from La Nature shows
the instruments to be used at the total eclipse of
May 6, by M. Janssen, who has command of the French
expedition, The illustration is after a photograph taken
at M. Janssen’s Observatory at Meudon. The French
expedition, which has probably reached its destination,
will be located on Sable Island, near Caroline Island, in
the Marquesas Archipelago. Before quitting Paris, M.
Janssen had all his instruments and tents erected in order
to see that all worked well. The frame surrounding the
Apparatus for French Eclipse Expedition.
apparatus is arranged to receive a large awning to protect
them. The tent on the right is intended for the astro-
nomers, the furniture consisting of a work-table, several
camp-stools, and three beds. The little tent on the left
is for photography. The instruments of the French expe-
dition comprise—1. A telescope of short focus for spectro-
scopic work. 2. An equatorial on which will be arranged
a photographic apparatus, containing five cameras which
act together. The plates are o™-4o by o™'50; they will
require an exposure of five minutes. This apparatus is
intended for intra-Mercurial planets. 3. A telescope of
6 inches, with a lens of 3 inches, with photographic appa-
ratus acting by means of three cameras at once. This.
apparatus is intended for the solar corona. 4. A
fourth telescope, specially reserved for M. Trouvelot
for drawings of the corona and search for intra-Mercurial
planets.
DEATHS FROM SNAKE BITE IN BOMBAY
AP Report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the
Government of Bombay shows that, among other
causes of death in that Presidency in the year 1881, 1209
persons died from snake bite. The names of the snakes
are not given, but it is probable that the cobra was the
chief offender, the echis and bungarus accounting for
those not slain by that snake. The monthly prevalence
of deaths from this cause is interesting, as it shows at
what period of the year efforts for destruction of snakes
might be most effectively carried on; it also shows that
there was an increase of thirty deaths on those of the
preceding year; and it suggests that, however vigorous
these efforts may have been, the result is not so satis-
factory as could be wished, as a comparison of the deaths
in 1881 with the mean of those of five preceding years
shows that (in 1881 at least) the number had increased.
Months. Deaths in 1881. Mean of five years
January 500 oe 39 30
February 34 24
March... 55 45
April ... 55 49
May 95 93
June 162 135
July 191 164
August 165 159
September 161 160
October 128 144
November 80 68
December 44 39
1209 IIIO
This (in 1881) proves that one person in 13,610 of the whole
population of 16,450,414 for the twenty-four Presidency
districts died from snake bite. June, July, August,
September, and October are the months of greatest mor-
tality, and it would be worth while inquiring if more
vigorous efforts could not be made for the destruction of
the snakes during these months, when it is presumed
the creatures are more numerous and perhaps more
active in their destructive work. The appearance and
character of venomous as distinguished from - harmless
snakes ought now to be so well known in India that,
whatever other difficulty may stand in the way of their
destruction, absence of means of identification should not
be one of the obstacles.
After all the mortality from snake bite is very small
compared with that from other causes. The same able
and most valuable Report shows that in the year 1881
there were 272,403 deaths from fever, of which no doubt
a large proportion were due to miasmatic causes. The
entire death-rate from all causes amounts to 381,450, or
23°18 per 1000 of the whole population. Against these
death-rates and their preventable causes, whether from
dirt, miasmata, foul water, or snake virus, the earnest
endeavours of the sanitary authorities are now unremit-
tingly directed, and it is impossible to read the Reports
annually prepared by the Sanitary Commissioners with-
out feeling impressed by their value and importance, or
without a conviction that they must sooner or later have
beneficial results on public health and the value of life in
India. JOSEPH FAYRER
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY
TS important part that photography is likely to play
in the future of astronomy renders it desirable that
an opportunity should be afforded to astronomers to
April 12, 1883]
acquaint themselves with the improvements continually
made in this branch of their science. This could best be
done by the establishment at convenient places of collec-
tions designed to exhibit the progress of photography as
applied to astronomical observations.
The Harvard College Observatory has some special
advantages for forming such a collection, since it already
possesses many of the early and historically important
specimens which would naturally form part of the series.
Among these may be mentioned four series of daguerreo-
types and photographs of various celestial objects taken
at this Observatory. These series were respectively under-
taken in 1850, 1857, 1869, and 1882.
At present, the astronomers of the United States have
no ready means of comparing their own photographic
work with that done in Europe, or even with that of their
own countrymen. The proposed collection of photo-
graphs, so far as it could be rendered co nplete, would
greatly reduce the difficulty.
It is therefore desired to form, at the Harvard College
Observatory, a collection of all photographs of the
heavenly bodies and of their spectra which can be ob-
tained for the purpose; and it is hoped that both European
and American astronomers will contribute specimens to
this collection. Original negatives would be particularly
valuable. It may happen that some such negatives,
having slight imperfections which would limit their value
for purposes of engraving, could be spared for a collection,
and would be as important (considered as astronomical
observations) as others photographically more perfect.
In some cases, astronomers may be willing to deposit
negatives taken for a special purpose, and no longer
required for study, in a collection where they would retain
a permanent value as parts of an historical series. Where
photography is regularly employed in a continuous series
of observations, it is obvious that specimen negatives only
can be spared for a collection. But in such cases it is
hoped that <ome duplicates may be available, and that
occasional negatives may hereafter be taken for the pur-
pose of being added to the collection, to exhibit-recent
improvements or striking phenomena.
When negatives cannot be furnished, glass positives,
taken if possible by direct printing, would be very useful.
If these also are not procurable, photographic prints or
engravings would be desirable.
In connection with the photographs themselves, copies
of memoirs or communications relating to the specimens
sent, or to the general subject of astronomical photo-
graphy, would form an interesting supplement to the
collection. A part of the contemplated scheme will in-
volve the preparation of a complete bibliography of the
subject, including a list of unpublished photographs not
hitherto mentioned in works to which reference may be
made.
The expense which may be incurred by contributors to
the collection in the preparation and transmission of
specimens will be gladly repaid by the Harvard College
Observatory when desired.
EDWARD C. PICKERING,
Director of the Harvard College
Observatory
Cambridge, Mass., February 21
DARWIN AND COPERNICUS *
HE losses by death which natural science has sus-
tained during the past year are unusually heavy.
The fertile and ingenious mathematician who for more
than a generation held a leading position among French
men of science as the publisher of one of the best-known
mathematical journals ; the chemist who, by the first
organic synthesis, helped to dispel the illusion of vital
t Address by Prof. E. Du Bois Reymond at the anniversary meeting of
the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
NATURE
537
energy ; the physiologist who solved one of the oldest
problems of humanity—are men whose death leaves a void
not easily filled up. But the lustre of even such names as
Liouville, Wéhler, and Bischoff pales before that of the
first on our list, Charles Darwin. Nearly every learned
Society in existence has publicly deplored his loss. As
this Academy has not hitherto found a fitting opportunity
for doing so, it is necessary to add a few words to the
formal mention of his decease, to show that we also
appreciate the greatness of the man and of the loss
science has sustained in him,
To say anything fresh concerning him will only be
possible when the lapse of time and the progress of
science have opened up new points of view; and the
speaker, who has often had occasion to discuss Darwin
before this Academy, finds it especially difficult not to
repeat himself, the more so as opinions of his work are
still somewhat apt to be influenced by personal feeling.
Darwin seems to me to be the Copernicus of the organic
world. In the sixteenth century Copernicus put an end
to the anthropocentric theory by doing away with the
Ptolemaic spheres and bringing our earth down to the
rank of an insignificant planet. At the same time he
proved the non-existence of the so-called empyrean, the
supposed abode of the heavenly hosts, beyond the
seventh sphere, although Giordano Bruno was the first
who actually drew the inference.
Man, however, still stood apart from the rest of ani-
mated beings—not at the top of the scale, his proper
place, but quite away, as a being absolutely incommensur-
able with them. One hundred years later Descartes still
held that man alone had a soul and that beasts were mere
automata. Notwithstanding all the labour of naturalists
since the days of Linnzeus, notwithstanding the resurrection
of vanished genera and species by Cuvier, the theory of
the origin and interdependence of living things, which
was almost universal five-and-twenty years ago, was only
equalled in arbitrariness, artificiality,and absurdity by the
celebrated theory of Epicycles, which caused Alfonso of
Castile to exclaim, “If God had asked my advice when
he created the world, I should have managed things much
better.”
“Afflavit Darwinius et dissipata est,” would, alluding
to the above-mentioned theory, be a fitting inscription
for a medal in honour of the “ Origin of Species.’’ For
now all things were seen to be due to the quiet develop-
ment of a few simple germs ; graduated days of creation
gave place to one day on which matter in motion was
created; and organic suitability was replaced by a
mechanical process, for as such we may look on natural
selection, and now for the first time man took his proper
place at the head of his brethren.
We may compare Copernicus’s student days at
Bologna with Darwin’s voyage in the Aeag/e, and his
retired life at Frauenburg with Darwin’s in his Kentish
home, up to the time when the appearance of Mr.
Wallace’s work caused him to break his long silence.
Here happily for Darwin the parallel ends. Many
circumstances combined in Darwin’s case to render his
task easier and insure his ultimate triumph. Botany
and zoology, morphology, the theory of evolution, and
the study of the geographical] distribution of plants and
animals, had advanced far enough to allow of general
conclusions being drawn from them; Lyell’s sound
sense had freed geology from the hypotheses which dis-
figured it, and introduced the idea of uniformity into
science. The doctrine of the conservation of energy had
been put on a new basis, and extended so that in combi-
nation with astronomical observation it gave rise to
entirely new views of the history and duration of the
universe. The doctrine of vital energy had been proved
to be untenable on closer investigation. An unusually
dry season had some years earlier led to the discovery of
, the so-called lake-dwellings in the bed of one of the
558
NATURE
[April 12, 1883
Swiss lakes, whereby prehistoric research was quickly
extended and developed. Though many links are still
missing, we muy fairly consider the knowledge of the
existence of primeval man as the beginning of the long-
looked for connection between him and the anthropoids
on the one hand, and between them both and their
common progenitors on the other. In a word the time
had come for the publication of the “ Descent of Man”;
that is why an opinion on the nature of man, which
differs from all former ones fully as much as the system
of Copernicus, of which it is the complement, differs from
that of Ptolemy, found such ready and general acceptance.
How different was the fate of Copernicus! ‘‘ Coper-
nicus,” says Poggendorff, “is, and will ever remain, a
brilliant star in the firmament of science ; but he rose at
a time when the horizon was almost entirely obscured by
the mists of ignorance. . . . The Ptolemaic system was
too ancient and too much venerated to be easily dis-
placed.’ Copernicus’s teaching met with but scant appre-
ciation for the first fifty years after its publication; even
Tycho Brahe opposed it ; it can therefore scarcely cause
surprise that Luther rejected it, that Giordano Bruno
died at the stake for his advocacy of it, while the less
steadfast Galileo was forced to renounce it.
Notwithstanding the pessimism of our speculative
philosophers, who deny all progress because they con-
tribute nothing towards it, Darwin’s lot was happier than
that of the great reformer of astronomy. While Coper-
nicus could only feast his eyes on the first printed copy
of his work as he lay on his deathbed because he had
not dared to publish it sooner, although he had completed
it some years before, Darwin survived the appearance of
his nearly a quarter of a century. He witnessed the fierce
struggles its appearance at first gave rise to; its ever in-
creasing acceptance and its final triumph, to which he,
cheerful and active to the last, greatly contributed by a
long series of admirable works.
While the Holy Inquisition persecuted the followers of
Copernicus with fire and sword, Charles Darwin lies
Suried in Westminster Abbey among his peers, Newton
and Faraday.
SITNGING, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING?
III.—STAMMERING
FTER the emotional and intellectual sides of human
utterance, what may be termed its pathological
aspect was considered. Imperfections of speech, though
serious hindrances to intercourse, are unfortunately not
uncommon. It is not easy to realise how common they
are. The statistics collected by Colombat point to the
conclusion that about two persons in every thousand
stammer, an estimate which is exactly borne out by
official returns obtained in Prussia. This would make two
and a half millions of stammerers in the world. But it is
hardly fair to argue from the higher to the lower races of
mankind, for stammering, like hysteria, is undoubtedly a
disease of advanced civilisation. It was unknown among
the North American Indians in Catlin’s time ; Livingstone
says he never met with a case among the Negroes, and
Cameron is stated to have confirmed the observation.
It is uncommon in Spain and Italy, but reaches its
maximum in higbly-educated Prussia and in this country.
“No nation in the civilised world,’’? says Mr. Deacon,
who has been already quoted, “speaks its language so
abominably as the English.”
Stammering appears to be commoner among males
than females.
Laboured distinctions have been made between the two
words, to stammer and to stutter, by which the infirmity
is denoted. These seem to be wholly unnecessary, since
they are practically synonymous. Both words contain an
1 Abstract by the Author of three Lectures at the Royal Institution, by
W. H. Stone M.B.,F.R.C,P. Concluded from p. 533.
imitation of the defect itself. They probably reach us
through the German language, but the ultimate root is the
Greek 3rei8o, and the fundamental meaning movement
abruptly checked. There is indeed a whole series of allied
old English words such as lag, dag, jog, shog, stag, and
cognates are stab, stagger, stamp. In some parts of the
country a horse is said to stammer when he trips in
walking. Bacon, in his ‘Natural and Experimental
History,” says: ‘‘Many stutters are very cholerick,
choler inducing dryness of the tongue.” It was long ago
noticed by Sir Charles Bell in his Bridgwater Treatise,
that speech, like writing, walking, and other functions of
life, is a coordinate muscular act involving many nerves
as well as muscles, but which, having been learned early,
has become so automatic that the directing of special
attention to it rather hinders than assists in its easy per-
formance. Indeed the act not only i volves the mechanism
of speech proper, but also that of thought and ideation,
as well as that of hearing, by means of which the sounds
emitted are discriminated. It thus may never be deve-
loped, as in idiocy, of which the failure to acquire it is
often the first sign: or in congenital deafness, which is
the precursor of dumbness. It may also disappear entirely
or partially in conditions of cerebral lesion known to
medical men under the titles of aphasia, aphemia, and
amnesia, often accompanying hemiplegia of the right side
of the body. Real stammering may be produced by
mental strain or shock, and persist through life. Such
cases are rare, but the lecturer has been allowed to refer
in general terms to one which can easily be verified—that
of a clergyman who, after being overtaxed physically and
mentally during one of the earlier cholera epidemics,
began to stammer, and though now an old man, has never
since been able to officiate in the service of the Church.
Mr. Plumptre, in his lectures on Elocution, quotes even
a more remarkable case from Dr. Mariano Semmola,
where the loss of articulation was accompanied by con-
vulsive movements, and instantly restored by bleeding.
The failure of coordination requisite to accomplish so
complex a function may occur anywhere in the apparatus
involved. Hence there are many forms of the affection,
which may be roughly classified into four: (1) at the
glottis, (2) at the isthmus of the fauces, (3) between the
tongue and palate, (4) at the lips and posterior nares.
The late Charles Kingsley, in his article quaintly named
“The Irrationale of Speech,’ published in /vaser"'s
Magazine for July, 1859, calls these four variations
abuses of breath, jaw, tongue, and lips. But these by
no means exhaust the catalogue of physical infirmities
affecting speech, though being the most completely func-
tional they fall strictly within the definition of stammering.
Idiocy, deafness, and paralysis have been named, and to
them may be added spasm, as in some cases of St. Vitus’s
dance. There are also several malformations and ac-
quired disorders, such as (1) large or unsymmetrical
tongue or tonsils, (2) cleft palate, (3) obstructed nasal
passages, (4) high roofed mouth, (5) prominent and
everted incisor teeth, which interfere with distinct articu-
lation; besides the kindred bad habits called lisping,
burring, and thickness of speech. Even then the list is
not completed ; for we have to add (1) a sort of hyperzes-
thesia or nervousness which occurs in some persons when
they are out of health, and which disappears under better
hygienic conditions ; (2) tricks and bad habits, of which
a flagrant example occurred some years ago, when a
mania for transposition of words seized the younger and
more thoughtless of the generation. A mutton chop, for
instance, became a chutton mop, and one heard of the
Chishop of Bicester, who had a sit of fickness through
eating acon and beggs. In many cases the habit became
uncontrollable, and is handed down to fame by the lady
aunt of ‘‘ Happy Thoughts,’’ in Pxzch, who corrected
errors of speech by reference to “ Dixon's Johnsonary,”’
(3) Mimicry, which produces a sort of contagiousness in
April 12, 1883 |
mispronunciation. An instance of this occurred within
the lecturer's experience at Marlborough School not long
ago: one stammering member of a certain form having
communicated his defect to several of his schoolfellows.
(4.) Bad teaching, and inattention to faults in their
nascent condition. Many mothers think fit to accommo-
date their speech to favourite children by mutilating and
defacing it ; keeping two vocabularies, one for the draw-
ing-room, another for the nursery. This is a fatal source
of imperfections, the more so as it is to be remarked that
stammering never comes on till about the age of five
years or more.
Lastly come peculiarities of an unconscious character
akin to stammering—clucking, coughing, the reiterated
interpolation of otiose syllables such as ‘‘er er,” ‘‘ta ta”;
even of definite words or sentences such as “ you know,”
or the coarse expletive adjectives of habitual swearers.
The lecturer cited a case within his own remembrance
where an estimable clergyman had acquired the singular
trick of unconsciously interlarding all his remarks with
the involuntary phrase, “ What a pity ! what a pity !” in
defiance of all sense and context.
Methods of cure were then adverted to. Probably no
human infirmity had been the object of such diverse or
such blundering and unscientific treatment. Even so good
a surgeon as Diefenbach cut wedges out of the tongue of
the patient ; Itard made them speak holding a gold fork
in their mouth; Serres advised a waving motion of the
arms during speech; Bertrand caused them to regulate
the words to a rhythmical motion of the fingers, or to
keep time to a stick as in the orchestra. He also placed
substances in the mouth. This had been done centuries
before by Demosthenes, according to that unveracious
gossip, Plutarch. These might be termed mechanical
attempts at cure.
Next to them came musical methods, and foremost
among them singing; it being well known that many
confirmed stammerers sing with perfect articulation.
Secondly, a so-called secret method, which consisted in
either whispering or speaking in a gruff unmelodious
tone. Thirdly, the very opposite of this as recommended
by Marshall Hall, namely, chanting or monotoning.
Fourthly, preceding all abrupt and consonantal sounds by
a vowel such as E, recommended by Arnott. Fifthly, the
plan of running all the words of a long sentence into one,
and thus acquiring as it were an articulatory momentum.
Intellectual or rational methods brought the lecture to
a close. First among these is pausing and deliberate-
ness. The stammerer may be compared mechanically to
a steamship which overruns her screw, and treated
similarly. Secondly, the imitation of good models, by
reading in unison with an articulate speaker. Thirdly,
and perhaps best of all, prefacing every sentence by a
deep breath, which relaxes all the muscles of speech, and
enables them to start fairly one against another. Fourthly,
a plan was suggested which had succeeded admirably in
the lecturer’s experience, namely, that of learning a new
language. For this purpose none was better than French.
Its pronunciation is so thoroughly different from that of
English, that it requires and establishes a totally new
coordination of muscles. Moreover its mode of habitual
acquirement is entirely different from that of English.
Any one who will watch a French child just rising out of
infancy must notice that whereas the character of an
English child’s incipient speech is “smudging” and
confusion, the other’s is slow, pompous, and deliberate.
It is not till later in life that the French acquire that
lightning-like rapidity of speech which is the terror of
foreigners ; while young they speak well and slowly. The
third lecture ended with a few directions how to proceed
in a case of stammering, and some suggestions as to the
prospects of cure. As to the former, it is obviously de-
sirable to examine carefully for the exact seat and the
exciting cause of the defect; most of the systems in
NATURE
359
vogue having erred by exaggerating a particular treat-
ment to the exclusion of others equally admissible. As
to the latter, there is no doubt that stammering can be
cured. This was proved by such instances as Demos-
thenes, Wilberforce, and Kingsley, But it was equally
proved by the three names thus enumerated that to
conquer the vicious habit required no usual amount of
patience, ability, and determination.
DISTRIBUTION OF ENERGY IN THE
SPECTRUM
ia
the reaction against the arbitrariness of prismatic
spectra there seems to be danger that the claim to
ascendency of the so-called diffraction spectrum may be
overrated. On this system the rays are spaced so that
equal intervals correspond to equal differences of wave-
length, and the arrangement possesses indisputably the
advantage that it is independent of the properties of any
kind of matter. This advantage, however, would not b>
lost, if ins ead of the simple wave-length we substituted
any function thereof; and the question presents itself
whether there is any reason for preferring one form of the
function to another.
On behalf of the simple wave-length, it may be said
that this is the quantity with which measurements by a
grating are immediately concerned, and that a spectrum
drawn upon this plan represents the results of experiment
in the simplest and most direct manner. But it does not
follow that this arrangement is the most instructive.
Some years ago Mr. Stoney proposed that spectra
should be drawn so that equal intervals correspond to
equal differences in the frequency of vibration. On the
supposition that the velocity of light in vacuum is the
same for all rays, this is equivalent to taking as abscissa
the veciprocal of the wave-length instead of the wave-
length itself. A spectrum drawn upon this plan has as
much (if not more) claim to the title of zorvma/, as the
usual diffraction spectrum.
The choice that we make in this matter has an im-
portant influence upon the curve which represents the
distribution of energy in the spectrum. In all cases the
intensity of the radiation belonging to a given range of
the spectrum is represented by the area included between
the ordinates which correspond to the limiting rays, but
the form of the curve depends upon what function of the
ray we elect to take as abscissa. Thus in the ordinary
prismatic spectrum of the sun, the curve culminates in
the ultra-red, but in the diffraction spectrum the maximum
is in the yellow, or even in the green, according to the
recent important observations of Prof, Langley. If we
wish to change the function of the ray represented by the
abscissa, we can of course deduce by calculation the
transformed curve of energy without fresh experiments.
To pass from the curve with abscissz proportional to
wave-length to one with abscisse proportional to reci-
procals of wave-length, we must magnify the ordinates of
the former in the ratio of the square of the wave-length,
and this will give us an energy curve more like that ob-
tained with a prismatic spectrum.
There is another method of representation intermediate
between these two, which is not without advantage. In
the diffraction spectrum the space devoted to a lower
octave (if we may borrow the language of acoustics) is
greater than that devoted to a higher octave. In Mr.
Stoney’s map the opposite is the case. If we take the
logarithm of the wave-length (or of the frequency) as
abscissa, we shall obtain a map in which every octave
occupies the same space, and this perhaps gives a fairer
representation than either of the others. To deduce the
curve of energy from that appropriate to the diffraction
spectrum, we should have to magnify the ordinates in the
ratio of the first power of the wave-length.
My object, however, is not so much to advocate any
560
NATURE
| April 12, 1883
‘particular method of representation, as to point out that
the curve of energy of the diffraction spectrum has no
special claim to the title of “ normal.”
RAYLEIGH
THE ORNITHOLOGIST IN SIBERTA'
HE ornithologists are certainly among the most
enterprising of the seekers after truth. John Gould,
che Birdman, is dead, but the same spirit which led him
over the seas fifty years ago to investigate the then un-
known Ornis of Australia still animates his brother bird-
men. Mr. Henry Seebohm—a distinguished Member of
the British Ornithologists’ Union—has recently made
two journeys into Northern Siberia, solely with the object
of observing new forms and habits of bird-life and of col- |
lecting specimens. The scientific results of these expedi-
§ sp P
Vologda. Hence it was rather more than four days and
nights continuous sledging to Archangel, which was
reached on March 18 at noon. At Archangel, the last
civilised city on the route, nineteen days were spent in
completing preparations for the further journey and in
| collecting information of what was considered by the
good citizens of that place to be a most formidable under-
| taking. From Archangel to Ust-Zylma, on the Petchora,
a distance of from seven to eight hundred miles lay before
the travellers, and as the frost showed some symptoms of
breaking up, did not at first promise to be easily got over.
Fortunately they were just intime. A fortnight later the
thawing snow became impassable, the winter road was
| destroyed, and the valley of the Petchora became cut off
| from all communication with civilised Europe for two
months! Ust-Zylma, a long, straggling village of wooden
| houses on the right bank of the Petchora, some 300 miles
from its mouth, was the headquarters of the
party until June 15. The waiting for the
‘coming of spring” was rather tedious.
‘Their first week at Ust-Zylma was not very
Fic. 1.—Grey Plover’s nest and young.
tions have been published in the /4/s—the organ of the
British Ornithologists’ Union—which is now entering
upon the twenty-fifth year of its existence, whilst a most
interesting and attractive general narrative of the two
journeys is given in the volumes now before us.
The first of these two expeditions, to the lower valley of
the Petchora, in North-Eastern Russia, was made by the
author in 1875, in company with Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown,
a gentleman whose name is also known as that of an ex-
cellent field-naturalist. In order to be in time for the
early spring migration, London was quitted on March 8,
and the railway taken v7é St. Petersburg and Moscow to
* “Siberia in Europe: a Visit to the Valley of the Petchora, in North-
East Russia ; with Descriptions of the Natural History, Migration of Birds,
&c."" By Henry Seebohm, F.L.S., F Z.S. 8vo. (London: Murray, 1820.)
“Siberia in Asia: a Visit to the Valley of the Yenesay, in East Siberia ;
with Descriptions of the Natural History, Migration of Birds, &c.”” By
Henry Seebohm. 8vo. (London: Murray, 1882.)
encouraging from an ornithological point of
view. After eight days’ work, the list of
identified birds in the valley of the Petchora
only amounted to nine species, mostly of the
commonest description. Three weeks had
passed, and the thaw still made no progress ;
the summer seemed as far off as ever. It
was sometimes hot in the daytime, but always
froze again at night. On April 28 the first
bird’s-nest was taken (that of the Siberian
Jay), but snow-shoes were still required to
get about. It was not until May 10, in fact,
that any real summer weather came, and it
thawed in the shade as well as in the sun;
but two days later it actually rained. The
migrants then arrived in quick succession :
swallows, swans, geese, gulls, wagtails, red-
starts, pipits, and shorelarks, all were hurry-
ing up from the south along with the first
blush of spring. On May 20, while the party
were on a collecting expedition on the op-
posite bank of the Petchora, which they had
crossed as usual on sledges, the grand crash
came. The ice which had so long covered
the river began to break up with a noise as
of rumbling thunder, and cracks ran along
it at the rate of a hundred miles in twenty-
four hours. It was with great difficulty that
the retreat was effected, and a few hours
after home was reached the mighty river
was in full flood, carrying its burden ot
pack-ice and ice-floes to the sea at the rate
of six miles an hour. In a week’s time the
Petchora was entirely free from ice, and
summer was upon them.
Collecting now began in earnest, and every
day added to the number of interesting birds, and
increased the variety of nests and eggs. On June 8, 143
eggs were taken and “blown” in the course of the day.
On June to the journey down the Petchora was com-
| menced in a large, partly-covered boat hired for the pur-
pose, so that the naturalists might stop when they
pleased for the purpose of collecting. The voyage was
delightful. Everywhere the Blue-throat, the Redwing,
the Brambling, the Fieldfare, the Little Bunting, and the
Willow-warbler were common, whilst Three-toed Wood-
peckers, Terek Sandpipers, and other rarities were making
their nests and laying their eggs for the benefit of the
travellers. Here one of the great discoveries of the ex-
pedition was made, which cannot be described better than
in Mr. Seebohm’s own words :—
“We were now a little to the north of the Arctic circle,
and at three in the morning moored our boat on the
Aprit 12, 1883]
NAT ORE
561
‘shores of an island, among whose willows grew an occa-
sional birch or alder. I spent five hours upon it. Sedge-
warblers were singing lustily, and sometimes so melo-
diously that we almost took them to be Blue-throats.
Soon, however, my attention was arrested by a song with
which I was not familiar. It came from a bird singing
high in the air, like a lark. I spent an hour watching it.
‘Once it remained up in the sky nearly half an hour. The
first part of the song was like the trill of a Temmick’s
stint, or like the concluding notes of the Wood-warbler’s
song. This was succeeded by a low guttural warble
resembling that which the Blue-throat sometimes makes.
The bird sang while hovering ; it afterwards alighted on
a tree, and then descended to the ground, still continuing
to sing. I shot one, and my companion an hour after
shot another. Both birds proved to be males, and quite
distinct from any species with which either of us was
previously acquainted. The long hind-claw
was like that of the Meadow-pipit, and the
general character of the bird resembled a
the Siberian chiff-chaff, the Petchora pipit, the Siberian
herring-gull, the Arctic forms of the marsh-tit, and the
lesser-spotted woodpecker; the yellow-headed wagtail,
and the Asiatic stonechat. We brought home careful
records of the dates of arrival of the migratory birds
which breed in these northern latitudes, besides nume-
rous observations on the habits of little-known birds.
“Our list of skins brought home exceeded 1000, and
the eggs were rather more than 600 in number.”
The success of the Petchora expedition induced Mr.
Seebohm to wish to extend his field of operations into
districts yet further east, when it might be expected that
some of the few remaining British birds, of which the
breeding-haunts were still unknown, would be found
nesting. The remotest eastern corner of Europe having
been worked out, it was necessary to push on into Asia,
and in 1877 an excellent opportunity of doing this pre-
large and brilliantly-coloured Tree-pipit. It
was very aquatic in its habits, frequent-
ing the most marshy ground amongst the
willows.
“On our return home five skins of this
bird were submitted to our friend Mr.
Dresser, who pronounced it to be of a new
‘species, and described and figured it in a
work which he was then publishing on ‘ The
Birds of Europe.’ In honour of my having
been the first to discover it, he named it
after me, Anthus Seebohmt. But, alas for
the vanity of human wishes! I afterwards
discovered that the bird was not new, but
had been described some years before from
examples obtained on the coast of China. I
had subsequently the pleasure of working
out its geographical distribution. The honour
of having added a new bird to the European
list still remains to us, and is one of the
discoveries made upon our journey on which
we pride ourselves.”
Ten days’ voyage down the river occupied
in this fashion brought the travellers in their
boat to Alexievka, the shipping port of the
Petchora, where the larch-timber felled on
its banks is laden for Cronstadt and other
ports. Here their headquarters were fixed
until their departure for England on August 1.
But the forty days passed here were by no
means wasted. The “tundra” on the east
bank of the great river, frozen hard and
under snow during eight months in the year,
becomes in summer a boggy moor covered
with carices, mosses, and dwarf shrubs, and
varied by abundance of lakes. Untrodden
by ordinary man, it was splendid birds’-
nesting ground for the ornithologists, who
reaped there an abundant harvest. We cannot go sepa-
rately into the discoveries here made, which are related
by Mr. Seebohm in his usual sprightly and energetic
style, but they are thus summed up at the conclusion of
his volume :—
“Of the half-dozen British birds, the discovery of
whose breeding-grounds had baffled the efforts of our
ornithologists for so long, we succeeded in bringing home
identified eggs of three—the grey plover (Fig. 1), the little
stint (Fig. 2), and Bewick’s swan. Of the remaining
three, two, the sanderling and the knot, were found
breeding by Capt. Fielden, in lat. 82°, during the Nares’
Arctic expedition, but the breeding-grounds of the curlew |
We added several |
sandpiper still remain a mystery.
birds to the European list, which had either never been
found in Europe before, or only doubtfully so; such as
Fis. 2.—Little Stint’s nest, eggs, and young.
sented itself. Capt. Wiggins, of Sunderland, one of the
| pioneers of the recent attempts to reopen sea-communica-
tion with Northern Siberia, had succeeded in penetrating
some 1200 miles up the Yenesay (Mr. Seebohm’s phonetic
spelling of Yenisei) in the previous autumn, and having left
his vessel there to winter, and returned home overland, was
preparing in February of that year to go back to the
Yenesay. At a few days’ notice Mr. Seebohm undertook
to join him in his journey out, wisely thinking that in such
an expedition it was as well to have the company of a
gentleman who “knew the ropes,” although he might
have Jittle sympathy with ornithological pursuits.
Mr. Seehohm and Capt. Wiggins accordingly left
London on March 1, and travelled by rail to Nishnt
Novgorod, a distance of some 2400 miles. Thence was
|a sledge-journey of about 3200 miles to the winter
562
quarters of the good ship 7/ames, on the Yenesay, or
rather a little way up the Koorayika, an affluent of the
The crew of the 7) hames,
Yenesay, on its right bank.
NATURE
[April 12, 1883
this spot, were found on the travellers’ arrival to be well
| who had passed a long and dreary winter, frozen up at
|
| and hearty, owing to the judicious precautions that had
Fic. 3.—Driving with the ice on the Koorayika,
been taken
health.
On April 23, when the travellers reached the ship,
there were no signs of approaching summer on the
Yenesay. On the frozen river the snow lay six feet deep,
and was little less in the surrounding forests. Mr.
Seebohm put on his snow-shoes and had a round with
his gun. Birds were more plentiful than could have
been expected. A pair of ravens were generally in sight,
and flocks of snow-buntings flitted by. Nutcrackers came to
the doors of the sailors’ room, to pick up the cook’s refuse,
by their Captain for the benefit of their
and Lapp-tits and Pine-grosbeaks were common in the |
woods. The excursions into the forest were continued
every day, and a few additional birds observed, but on |
May 1 the list of identified species was only twelve in |
number, and summer seemed nowise nearer. It was not
until May 15 that indications of a thaw appeared, and
geese were seen travelling north, but the next day was as
cold as ever.
gress was made: the water
rise, and the summer migrants appeared one by one,
The great battle of the Yenesay, as Mr. Seebohm calls |
the contest between summer and winter, lasted about a
fortnight, during which thousands of acres of ice on the
river were hurried up and down as the water rose and
fell. Sometimes the floes were jammed so tightly to-
gether that it looked as though one might cross the river
on them, at other times there was open water interspersed
only with stray icebergs. At last the final “ march-past”
of the ice took place ; “‘ winter was vanquished for the
year,” and succeeded in a few days by “the triumphant
music of thousands of song-birds, the waving of green
boughs, and the illumination of gay flowers of every hue.”
It was not until June 26 that the 7Zames was able to
steam away down the river. By this date Mr. Seebohm
and his collectors had made large collections of birds and
eggs, and having exhausted the novelties of the surround-
ing district, were heartily glad to be off northwards to
fresh fields of research. Unfortunately,
week's navigation, the 7ames grounded on a shoal, and,
as the water was falling rapidly, could not, in spite of
every effort, be got off again. All that could be done was
to move what was necessary into the /d7s—a small vessel
built on the river—and to continue the voyage down the |
Yenesay, leaving the 7/ames to her fate.
After that date, however, some slight pro- |
in the Koorayika began to |
after about a |
| On nearing the embrochure of the Yenesay, on July 12,
| a gale compelled the /ézs to cast anchor, and advantage
| was taken of the delay to explore the adjacent “tundra ”—
Fic. 4.—Summer quarters on the Koorayika.
|
“a wild-looking country full of lakes, swamps, and rivers,
a dead flat in some places, in others undulating, even hilly
| —brilliant with wild flowers, swarming with mosquitoes,
April 12, 1883]
and full of birds.” Here one of the great discoveries of
the second expedition was made, which is described by
the author in his usual lively manner :—
“The gale continued next day with rain, until noon,
when I took advantage of our enforced delay, and went
on shore for a few hours. A climb of about 100 feet
brought me on to the tundra. In some places the cliffs
were very steep, and were naked mud or clay. In others
the slope was more gradual, and covered with willow and
alder bushes. In these trees Thrushes were breeding. I
soon found the nest of a Dusky Ouzel, with five nearly
fledged young. It was placed as before in the fork of a
willow, level with the ground. On the top of the bank I
found myself on the real Tundra. Nota trace of a pine
tree was visible, and the birch trees rarely exceeded
twelve inches in height. There was less grass, more
moss and lichen, and the ground was covered with
patches of yellow mud or clay, in which were a few small
stones, that were apparently too barren for even moss or
lichen to grow upon. The Tundra was hilly, with lakes,
swamps, and bogs in the wide valleys and plains.
“As soon as I reached the flat bogs I heard the
plaintive cry of a Plover, and presently caught sight of
two birds. The male was very conspicuous, but all my
attempts to follow the female with my glass, in order to
trace her to the nest, proved ineffectual, she was too
nearly the colour of the ground, and the herbage was too
high. Feeling convinced that I was within thirty paces
of the nest, I shot the male, and commenced a diligent
search. The bird proved to be the Asiatic Golden Plover,
with gray axillaries, and I determined to devote at least
an hour looking for the nest. By a wonderful piece of
good fortune I found it, with four eggs, in less than five
minutes. It was merely a hollow in the ground upon a
piece of turfy land, overgrown with moss and lichen, and
was lined with broken stalks of reindeer moss. The eggs
resembled more those of the Golden than those of the
Grey Plover, but were smaller than either.
“These are the only authenticated eggs of this species
known in collections.”
Golcheeka, the port at the mouth of the Yenesay, was
reached on July 18. As Mr. Seebohm did not think
it prudent to attempt the sea-passage home in the
little /ézs, and the last steamer of the season up the
Yenesay was to leave six days afterwards, little could be
done in this locality. But excursions were made over
the adjoining tundra, where ‘‘birds were abundant.”
“Golden Plovers, Arctic Terns, Ruffs, Red-necked
Phalaropes, Snow-buntings, Lapland Buntings, and Dun-
lins were continually in sight, and the Asiatic Golden
Plover was breeding in numbers, though attempts to
watch them on to their nests were made in vain.” On
July 24 Mr. Seebohm finally turned his face homewards,
and reached Yenesaisk on August 14, after twenty-two
days on the road, which was considered “a good pas
sage.” Thence post-horses, steamers, and railways
brought him back to Sheffield on October 15, after a
journey of some 15,000 miles.
The ornithological results of the second journey were
“on the whole satisfactory.” It was a great disappoint-
ment not to get to the coast, and still more so to miss
the birds of the Kara Sea, and to arrive on the tundra
too late for most of the eggs specially sought for. This
misfortune was caused by the wreck of the Zames. But
on the other hand “the delay in the pine-forests produced
some very interesting results.” Besides the eggs of the
Asiatic Golden Plover already spoken of, nests and eggs
of three species of Willow-warblers, of the Mountain-
Accentor, of the Little Bunting, and of the Red-breasted
Goose were obtained. All these were previously unknown
to western collectors, and were for the most part never
previously obtained. Besides this, a large number of
other rare birds were found nesting, their eggs and young
plumages obtained, and their habits and manners studied
NATURE
563
and recorded. Concerning particulars of their disco-
veries, and for much information on the native tribes of
Northern Siberia (a subject to which our author appears
to have devoted great attention), as likewise for observa-
tions on every other incident coming before the eyes of
an intelligent traveller during a journey of 15,000 miles,
we must refer our readers to Mr. Seebohm’s volumes,
which are full of interest not only to ornithologists, but
to those who take pleasure in natural history in its widest
extent. They may be placed on our shelves next to Bates’s
“Amazons” and Wallace’s “Eastern Archipelago,” and
form no unworthy companions to the works of those
great naturalists.
THE BACILLUS OF TUBERCLE
M R. WATSON CHEYNE’S Report on the Relation
of Micro-organisms to Tuberculosis, published in
the Practitioner for the present month, is one of the fruits
of the Association for the Advancement of Medicine by
Research, recently constituted for the protection of work-
ing physiologists and pathologists. On commission from
the Association, Mr. Cheyne visited two of the chief
workers on this subject, Toussaint and Koch. He was
thus able to see their methods and obtained materials
from them with which he has experimented on his return
to England.
After some remarks on the method of staining the
tubercle bacillus, Mr. Cheyne describes some experiments
made with the view of testing the theory that tuberculosis
in rodents can be induced by almost any irritant. The
result of these experiments, made on a considerable
number of animals, was to disprove this theory and to
lead to the conclusion that in the former experiments,
made before our present knowledge as to the precautions
necessary for disinfection of instruments, &c., was gained,
the channels for the introduction of specific micro-
organisms had been left unguarded.
Experiments were next made to test Toussaint’s state-
ment that micrococci can be cultivated from the blood of
tuberculous animals, and that the injection of these
micrococci into other animals is often followed by tuber-
culosis. Mr. Cheyne failed to cultivate micrococci from
the blood of tuberculous animals ; he injected micrococci
which M. Toussaint had liberally placed at his disposal,
into a considerable number of animals without result, and
he found tubercle-bacilli but no micrococci in the organs
of several animals which had been injected by Toussaint
himself with micrococcal fluid, and had become tuber-
culous. He therefore concludes that Toussaint’s micro-
cocci do not cause tuberculosis, and that an error has
crept into his experiments probably because the means
used to disinfect his syringes, although amply sufficient
to destroy some other kinds of bacilli, did not destroy the
tubercle-bacilli.
Cultivations of bacilli were also obtained from Dr.
Koch, and the results of their inoculation was in all cases
rapid development of tuberculosis. The examination of
a large quantity of tuberculous material showed the con-
stant presence of tubercle-bacilli, but of no other micro-
organisms. The rapidity and certainty of action of
tuberculous material when inoculated into animals was in
direct ratio to the number of bacilli introduced, and the
most certain and rapid means of inducing tuberculosis in
animals is the inoculation of the tubercle-bacillus culti-
vated on solidified blood-serum. These facts lead Mr.
Cheyne to the conclusion that we have before us in these
bacilli the virus of the acute tuberculosis caused in
animals by the inoculation of tuberculous material.
Pursuing the inquiry from this point, to which it had
been brought by the researches of Koch, Mr. Cheyne
proceeds to discuss the relation of these bacilli to tuber-
culous processes in man and to tubercle generally, In
all tubercles there are present epithelioid cells, to which,
564
however, only a few authors have attached any import-
ance. On investigation Mr. Cheyne found that the
tubercle-bacilli were, unless when present in large num-
bers, only found in or among these epithelioid cells, and
that the tuberculous nodules first begin by the entrance
of bacilli into these cells and the subsequent development
of the epithelioid elements. Surrounding these epithelioid
cells a slight amount of inflammation occurs, giving rise
to the small-celled growth around the tubercle, which is
generally regarded as the growing part of the tubercle.
This Mr. Cheyne denies, asserting that it is merely in-
flammatory tissu2, and that the essential elements of the
tubercle are the epithelioid elements in its centre. In
the lungs these cells seem to be derived from the alveolar
epithelium, in the liver often apparently from the liver
cells, but in other organs and also sometimes in these
from the endothelium of the lymphatics and blood-vessels.
In phthisis the bacilli were found at the margin of
cavities and in the epithelioid cells surrounding the cheesy
matter. Mr. Cheyne concludes that in phthisis the
bacilli, inhaled into the alveoli, develop in the alveolar
epithelium, cause accumulation of epithelial cells in the
alveolus, and inflammatory hypertrophy of its walls.
Thus the bacilli are practically shut off from the circula-
tion and acute general tuberculosis cannot occur. The
two extremes of phthisis are considered—the very rapid
form or caseous pneumonia, and the slow form or fibroid
phthisis. In the former the bacilli grow rapidly, are
fairly numerous, and the lung rapidly breaks down; in
the latter the bacilli grow slowly and with difficulty, and
hence extensive fibrous formation occurs.
There are many other points of interest in this research
to which we cannot allude, but which will be found at
length in the Report. The Association is to be congratu-
lated on having chosen such a fertile subject for their first
report, and we hope that they will continue to encourage
similar work.
PROFESSOR H. J. S. SMITH AND THE REPRE-
SENTATION OF A NUMBER AS A SUM OF
SQUARES
HE award of the great Mathematical Prize of the
French Academy to the late Prof. H. J..S. Smith
may have the effect of drawing the attention of
mathematicians to the wonderful extent and value of his
researches on the Theory of Numbers. Probably no
more important or remarkable mathematical investiga-
tions have ever appeared in this country than his memoirs
on systems of linear indeterminate equations and con-
gruences and on the orders and genera of ternary
quadratic forms and of quadratic forms containing more
than three indeterminates, which were published in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1861 and 1867 and the
Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1864 and 1867. The
results contained in these papers are by far the greatest |
additions that have been made to the Theory of Numbers
since it was placed on its present foundation by Gauss in
the ‘‘ Disquisitiones Arithmetica.” The subject for which
the prize was awarded to Prof. Smith was that of the
theory of the representation of a number as a sum of five
squares, and of this question as well as that of the cor-
responding one for seven squares he had given the
complete solution in the Proceedings of the Royal Society
for 1867 (vol. xvi. p. 207). The words with which Prof.
Smith introduced his statement of the solution of these
important questions are as follows :—
‘‘The theorems which have been given by Jacobi,
Eisenstein, and recently in great profusion by M. Liou-
ville, relating to the representation of numbers by four
squares and other simple quadratic forms, appear to be
deducible by a uniform method from the principles indi-
cated in this paper. So also are the theorems relating to
the representation of numbers by six and eight squares,
NATURE
[April 12, 1883
which are implicitly contained in the developments given.
by Jacobi in the ‘Fundamenta Nova.’ As the series of
theorems relating to the representation of numbers by
sums of squares ceases, for the reason assigned by
Eisenstein, when the number of squares surpasses eight,
it is of some importance to complete it. The only cases
which have not been fully considered are those of five
and seven squares. The principal theorems relating to
the case of five squares have indeed been given by
Eiseastein (Cred/e’s Journal, vol. xxxv. p. 368) ; but he has.
considered only those numbers which are not divisible by
any square. We shall here complete his enunciation of
those theorems, and shall add the corresponding theorems
for the case of seven squares.”
In the announcement of the subject for the prize in the
Comptes Rendus in February of last year, reference was
made to the work of Eisenstein, but the fact that his
solution had fifteen years before been completed by Prof.
Smith—who had also solved the problem in the case of
seven squares, the whole being only a corollary from the
general principles contained in his memoirs—seems to
have escaped the attention of the propcsers of the
subject. In the paper in the Proceedings of the Royal
Society the results only for the case of five squares
and seven squares are given, the demonstrations being
omitted ; and accordingly, when the subject for the prize
was announced, Prof. Smith followed the only course
open to him, and communicated to the Academy his
demonstrations for the case of five squares.
All who knew Prof. Smith will understand how uncon-
genial to him was the idea of becoming a competitor for
the prize, but under the circumstances he had no choice.
It is a singular tribute to Prof. Smith’s mathematical
powers, as well as a curious episode in the history of
mathe natics, that the French Academy should have
chosen as the subject of the “Grand Prix”—thereby
indicating their opinion of its importance in the advance
of the science !—a question that had been solved already
fifteen years before as a corollary from more general
principles.
The state of the question of the number of ways in
which a number can be expressed as a sum of squares
therefore stands as follows :—For two squares the solution
was given by Gauss in the “ Disquisitiones’’; the cases
of four, six, and eight squares are due to Jacobi, Eisenstein,
and Prof. Smith (see Report of the British Association for
1865, p- 369). In these cases in which the nuaber of
squares is even, the problem can be solved by means of
elliptic functions, and it is not necessary to have recourse
to the special methods of the Theory of Numbers; but
it is not so in the case when the number of squares is
uneven, and the question is then essentially “ arithmetical ”
as regards its method of treatment and expression. The
case of three squares was given by Lejeune-Dirichlet,
and is included in Prof. Smith’s general treatment
of ternary quadratic forms in the PAzlosophical Trans-
actions for 1867: the enunciations for the cases of
five squares and seven squares were given, as has been
stated, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1867.
The demonstrations for the case of five squares have been
communicated to the French Academy, but those for
seven squares still remain unpublished in Prof. Smith's
note-book. This class of questions ceases to admit of
the same kind of solution when the number of squares
exceeds eight, so that with the publication of the demon-
stratioas for seven squares the solution of the whole
problem will be complete. It will be seen that Prof.
Smith has had a large share in this great mathematical
victory.
«| ’Académie était donc foadée A espérer que ce voyage de décou-~
vertes imposé aux concurrents & travers une des régions les plus intéressantes
et les moins explorées de |’arithmétique produirait des résultats feconds pour
la science. Cette attente n’a pas é1é trompée.’’ Report on the award of the
prize, Comptes Rendus, April 2, 1883 Inthis report however no mention
is made of the fact that these ‘‘résultats féconds’’ had been published in
1867
April 12, 1883}
NATURE
565,
NOTES
THE Queen has signified her intention of conferring the honour
of Knigh$hood upon Prof. Frederick Augustus Abel, C.B.,
F.R.S., in recognition of the valuable services rendered by him
to the War Department and to other departments of the Govern-
ment in his capacity of War Department Chemist.
Her Majesty has also been pleased to confer the honour of
Knight Commandership of the Bath on the Right Hon, Lyon
Playfair, C.B., M.P., F.R.S.
Weare glad to learn that the Hong Kong Observatory scheme,
to which we have frequently adverted, has at last become so far
a fait accompli that Dr. Doberck of the Dunsink Observatory
has been appoi.ted astronomer to the new institution by the
Secretary for the Colonies. ‘The opportunities afforded for in-
dependent and original work in Hong Kong are very great, and
we are sure the head of the new Observatory will make the most
of them, Dr. Doberck is at present attached to the Kew Obser-
vatory, and expects to leave England with his first assistant early
in June. Lord Derby is taking a marked interest in the new
Observatory, and we are glad to learn is making Dr, Doberck a
very liberal allowance for the purchase of instruments.
THE Davis Lectures for 1883 will be given in the lecture room
in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, in the Regent’s Park, on
Thursdays, at 5 p.m., commencing June 7, as follows :—June 7,
Ungulate Mammals, by Prof. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S.; June 14,
Our Snakes and Lizards, by Prof. Mivart, F.R.S.; June 21,
The Lamprey and its Kindred, by Prof. Parker, F.R.S.; June 28,
Birds and Lighthouses, by J. E. Harting; July 5, he Niger
and its Animals, by W. A. Forbes; July 12, South American
Birds, by P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. ; July 19, The Siberian Tundra,
by Henry Seebohm. These lectures will be free to Felluws of
the Society and their friends, and to other visitors to the
Gardens.
Our readers will doubtless be surprised to learn that the
masterly address on Darwin and Copernicus, of which we publish
a translation in another column, has called forth much hostile
criticism in Germany. It was read before the members of the
Berlin Academy of Sciences, of which Prof. Du Bois Reymond is
Secretary, at their last annual meeting. Shortly afterwards one
of the Clerico-Conservative newspapers of the German capital
called attention to what it was pleased to call the public lauda-
tion of one of the worst and most dangerous atheists by a
member of a public -body supported by the State. Many other
papers of the same views immediately followed suit; while the
notorious Court Chaplain, Stocker, whose exploits as a Jew-
baiter furnished the Berlin correspondents of the daily papers
with a good deal of matter about twelve months ago, preached
along sermon against Prof. Du Bois Reymond and his views.
His example was followed by other members of the so-called
“* Orthodox ” clergy in Berlin and the provinces. But the Court
Chaplain is also a member of the Prussian Parliament; so not
content with crushing ‘‘ atheism” fron the pulpit, he put a ques-
tion in the House on the subject, supported by Herr Windthorst,
one of the leaders of the Ultramontane party. They were
answered by Prof. Virchow and the Prussian Minister of Public
Instruction, thus causing a whole sitting of the Prussian Landtag
to be taken up by a debate on the graceful tribute to the
memory of Darwin, That such things should take place in
Germany, which has always been considered the home of
philosophic freedom, really seems to justify the remark of
the author of ‘‘Darwin and Copernicus,” that freedom of
thought, which, after taking its rise in England in the middle of
the eighteenth century, passed through France to Germany,
where it attained a fuller and more systematic development,
seems now to be passing away from the latter country again!
Let us hope that it is coming to our shores once more, as the-
Professor says it is.
THE Swedish subscription to the Darwin Memorial is now
closed, The number of subscribers is 2294, and the amount
subscribed 400/.
THE 7zmes Paris correspondent telegraphs as follows under
date April 10:—A shameful trick has been played on the-
Academy of Sciences. The Ko6nigsberg student, Hermann
Minkowsky, who with the late Prof. Henry J. $. Smith was
declared to have gained the great mathematical prize of 3000
francs, had simply pirated Prof. Smith’s communication to the
Royal Society in 1868, on the representation of a number as
the sum of five squares. He had even copied a slight error in
it, The Academy, therefore, at a secret session yesterday an-
nulled its original decision and declared that the whole prize
had been gained by the distinguished English professor, who
unfortunately has not lived long enough to expose the hoax.
WE would again draw the attention of local scientific societies
to the circular which has been issued by the Committee of the
British Association appointed to consider certain matters in con-
nection with such societies. These societies will be doing them-
selves as well as the Committee service by forwardinz the
information desired without further delay.
THE Scotch Universities Bill, which has been introduced by:
the Lord Advocate, establishes an Executive Commission, and.
gives them extensive powers for reorganising the Universities,
including the power of revising existing foundations and endow-
ments, and of founding new Professorships. They will also have
authority to affiliate Colleges in other parts of the country with
the University of St. Andrews ; and, if satisfied that that Uni-
versity is no longer able to perform its functions, to dissolve it,.
and create a new Corporation. The Bill also proposes that a
grant of forty thousand pounds a year shall be given to the Scotch
Universities from the Consolidited Fund.
THE committee for the organisation of the Congress of
Orientalists in Holland has issued a circular letter explaining
the reasons for the alteration of the time of meeting of the Con-
gress at Leyden from 1884 to the present year. The last
congress, which met at Berlin in 1881, decided that the next
should take place at Leyden in 1884; but, the committee say,
since then, as it has been arranged that an international colonial
exhibition was to be held in Amsterdam this year, it was thought
better, after consultation with the previous committee, and after
having obtained the sanction of the Netherlands Government, to
hold the Oriental Congress at the same time. It is accordingly
notified that the Congress will assemble at Leyden from
September 10 to 15 of the present year. A small exhibition of
literary curiosities, manuscripts, rare books, &c., will be held at
the same time. Oriental scholars desirous of being present, or
of reading papers, are invited to communicate with Mr. W.
Pleyte of Leyden before the end of July, in order that the
necessary accommodation may be prepared,
THE Fafan Mail inannouncing recently the death of a.student
of the Imperial College of Engineering, Mr. Yamada, from over-
study, refers to his docility, untiring assiduity, and very remark-
able ability. The writer, who appears to possess intimate
knowledge of the subject, speaks thus of Japanese students in
general :—‘‘ It is hard for those to think ill of Japan who have
watched these gentle, earnest-hearted lads, set themselves, almost
before they have ceased to be children, with unflagging resola-
tion to accomplish the task their fathers bequeathed to them
unattempted, the task of winning for their country the place they
hope to see her one day oceupy. ‘ Very fine, forsooth!’ we can
hear your professional maligner exclaim, ‘but after all what
566
NATURE
| April 12, 1883
have they done?’ Ay, indeed, what have they done! Doubt-
less they never ask themselves that question. Doubtless they
never have to struggle against the paralysing consciousness that
the most they can hope to do is to lay a foundation for others to
build on, to play the brave part of those silent workers who sow
that their successors may reap, That is not much, to be sure,
so far at least as visible results are concerned, but it is a work
incomparably higher than anything within reach of those
cowardly cynics who toil for nothing but to make the world
forget that the noblest of English attributes is generosity.”
Dr. G. W. LEITNER, the explorer and orientalist, is now on
his way to England.
A company has been formed for the construction and working
of an electric railway from Charing Cross to Waterloo, a Bill
for which was recently obtained. The line will pass under the
Thames through iron caissons. The work of construction will
commence near the northern end of Northumberland Avenue,
opposite the Grand Hotel, and be continued through an arch
under that avenue and the Victoria Embankment. Of that arch
sixty feet under the Embankment have already been constructed.
The railway will pass under the Thames, and again through an
arch under College Street and Vine Street, and terminate at
Waterloo Station, where it will be directly connected with the
platforms of the London and South-Western Railway, with a
separate approach from the York Road. The line will be
double, and worked by means of a stationary engine at Waterloo,
transmitting the power to the carriages, which will run sepa-
rately, start as filled, and occupy about three and a half minutes
in the journey. A tender has been accepied for the construction
of the railway, to be ready for opening within eighteen months
from the commencement of the work. A contract has also been
made with Messrs. Siemens Bros. and Company to provide and
erect all requisite electrical macninery, rolling stock, and appa-
ratus not included in the before-mentioned tender,
IN connection with the meeting of the Civil Engineers on
Saturday the 7%es makes some very definite statements on the
position and function of science in our time, which are worth
placing on record as the deliberate opinion of a leading
organ of public opinion :—‘‘ Meetings such as that of Satur-
day evening remind us not merely of the services of a particular
branch of science to mankind, but of the remarkable determina-
tion of huaian activity to scientific pursuits which is character-
istic of the present age. Literature no longer holds the place it
Once did in the minds of men; nor does it command, as it once
did, the services of the most powerful intelligences. The pro-
test against an education wholly or chiefly consisting of the study
of the classics is the result of a profound change in the con.
ditions of life. Men have not deliberately and as a result of
abstract reasoning discarded one set of studies in favour of
another, On the contrary they have discovered, often to their
great chagrin, that a complete intellectual displacement has
taken place. That which was taken up under protest as
a thing too closely connected with utilitarian pursuits to
be quite worthy of a man of intellect has now pressed
into its service the chief intellectual power of the coun-
try. The tide of intellectual effort sets strongly in the
direction of science, just as at an earlier period it set
in the direction of letters, The teachers and leaders of
the day, the real dominant forces of the age, are the men of
science, the investigators of natural phenomena, not the thinkers,
philosophers, or metaphysicians who formerly gave their names
to sects, and made all the world their partisans. Nothing is
more remarkable than the profound respect of the scientific
conception associated with the name of Darwin, not on science
only, but on literature, art, morals, and, in short, upon life.
Some will tellus that all this is a lamentable result of the
materialism of the age, but we naturally ask how it happens
that some centuries of a non-scientific or literary culture left us
a prey to the materialism it is supposed to antidote? It is un-
true, moreover, that material interest has been the great im-
pelling force. The great discoveries of science have usually
been made by men seeking no material reward, and, as a matter
of fact, receiving very little. Science pursues her own way for
the most part, and her discoveries are afterwards utilised by men
eagerly seeking for the means of material enrichment. Even
when it is a question of so practicala thing as a new dye, it will
be found that the chemist searching into the properties and
combinations of matter, comes upon the secret unawares, while
the manufacturer and the dyer reap the profits. It is indeed,
only upon these terms that nature yields up her secrets.”
THE death is announced at Basle of [Dr. Ziegler, who has
been long and honourably known for his numerous and remark-
able works in cartography. Born at Winterthur in 1801, he
began his studies under the direction of Carl Ritter, the creator
of modern geography. At a later period of his life he esta-
blished in his native town the cartographic establishment which
is now conducted by Messrs. Wurster and Randegger, From
Winterthur he proceeded to Basle, and a few years ago, in testi-
mony of his gratitude for the kindness with which he was received
there, he presented to the city of his adoption his magnificent
collection of ancient and modern maps. For the conservation
and augmentation of this collectiun a special society has been
formed. Dr. Ziegler’s most important works are his great map
of Switzerland, maps of Glarus, of St. Gall, and of the Enga-
dine, and a hypsometric map of the world. His last work,
completed shortly before his death, and now in the press, was a
geological atlas and an explanatory description of the geological
map of Switzerland,
UNDER the title of ‘Cacao: How to Grow and how to Cure
it,’ Mr. D. Morris, the Director of the Public Gardens and
Plantations in Jamaica, has issued a pamphlet of some 45 pages,
It is divided into chapters, the first of which is of an introductory
character, and treats of the character of climate and soil of
Jamaica, the abolition of slavery and its consequent effects upon
the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and the necessity at the present
time to plant new economic plants, and a consideration of the
prospects of cocoa planting. On this point Mr. Morris says:
‘*T am glad to say that the largest number of the best Trinidad
varieties distributed from the Public Gardens during the last five
or six years have been intelligently and carefully cultivated on
portions of sugar estates which, although unsuitable for canes,
are admirably adapted for cacao.” Mr. Morris’s remaining
chapters are devoted to the following considerations : Historical
description ; cultivation of cocoa ; how te start a cacao planta-
tion ; planting, pruning, gathering, sweating, curing; yield of
cocoa-trees; cost of establishing estates, &c. Under these
several heads much interesting and useful information is given,
as, for instance, on the original home of the cacao plant, the
introduction of cacao or chocolate into England, its consump-
tion in Europe and Great Britain. As a guide to planters or those
mtending to introduce cacao as a crop, the succeeding chapters
will be of much value. The little book is both readable and
useful, and can be obtained in this country of Messrs. S. W,
Silver and Co.
ALTHOUGH the Chinese Educational Mission has been recalled
from the United States before its work was done, through some
fancy, we believe, that the young men composing it were
becoming too republican in their ideas, yet the results have been
in many respects gratifying to those who desire to see Western
knowledge spread in China. The youths have been drafied to
telegraph stations, arsenals, and elsewhere, and we observe that
the secretary and interpreter, Mr. Kwong ki Chin, who recently
April 12, 1883]
NATURE
567
published a bulky volume of English phrases, is now preparing
a series of schoolbooks for use in Chinese government schools.
An English reading-book for beginners, an elementary geo-
graphy, a series of conversation books, and a manual of English
correspondence have either been already published, or will shortly
appear. Among many other indications of the steady, though
slow, advance of the Chinese in this direction, the Peking corre-
spondent of the Worth China Herald refers with regret to the
retirewent from business of Mr. Yang, a well-known pawnbroker
of the metropolis. In addition to the ordinary duties of his
calling this individual appears to have studied chemistry,
mechanical science, French, mineralogy, medicine, and other
subjects of a similar kind. He owned gasworks, steam-engines,
a complete pharmacopeia of drugs, photographic apparatus, and
a geological cabinet. It is to be hoped that Mr, Yang has
prospered in his business, because he has retired to his native
province, Shansi, where he intends prosecuting enterprises for
coal and iron mining, and other appliances of foreign machinery.
When tastes of this kind extend to the shrewd and enterprising
Chinese traders, we need not despair of the outlook for science
in China,
SOME time since we alluded to the work done in China by an
American female physician, Miss Dr. Howard. She has attended
the mother of Li Hung Chang, the great Viceroy, and now we
read she is treating the wife of the same high official, The fame
of the lady doctor appears to have spread far and wide over
North China, and she is now flooded with applications for assist-
ance and advice from the women of wealthy families, who would
die rather than be treated bya foreign male physician. It looks
as if the various countries of the East offered an almost inex-
haustible field for women fossessing medical knowledge and
skill.
Tue Annual Report of the Glasgow Museum is as favourable
as can be expected, considering the totally inadequate space
allotted for the purpose in one of the wealthiest cities of the
world, ;
Pror, H. CARRINGTON BOLTON has issued in a separate
form his address on Chemical Literature, delivered before the
American Association at Montreal last year.
For Baron Nordenskjéld’s coming expedition to Greenland a
flying-machine is now being constructed in Gothenburg. The
apparatus, a kind of flying or air-sailing machine, is the inven-
tion of a Swedish engineer, Herr A. Montén, who is now con-
structing the same at the expense of Dr. Oscar Dickson.
On the night of April 3, frequent and violent shocks of earth-
quake were felt at Pedara in Sicily.
THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the
past week include a Leonine Monkey (Macacus leoninus & ) from
Arracan, presented by Mr. A. G, Henry ; a Mule Deer (Cervus
macrotis 2) from North America, presented by Judge Caton,
C.M.Z.S.; a Common Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris 2), British,
presented by Miss A. M. Frost; a Common Pintail (Da/ila
acuta 5), British, presented by Mr. Frank Seago ; a Grey-lag
Goose (Anser ferus), British, presented by Mr. Vincent W.
Corbett ; four Palmated Newts (Zyiton palmipes), British, pre-
sented by Mr. J. E. Kelsall; a Radiated Tortoise (Zestado
vadiata) from Madagascar, deposited ; a Black Saki (Pithecia
satanas ), a White-bellied Parrot (Caica leucogastra) from the
Amazons, a Talapoin Monkey (Cercopithecus talapoin &), four
Harlequin Quails (Coturnix histrionica 6 6 2 2) from West
Africa, a Brazilian Blue Grosbeak (Guiraca cerulea), four Saffron
Finches (Sycalis flaveola § & 6 ?) from Brazil, purcha-ed.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
D'ArRREsT’s CoMET.—On April 4 a.m. this comet was re- |
observed by Dr. Hartwig with the 2c-inch refractor of the
Observatory of Strasburg, near the position indicated by the }
elements of M. Leveau of Paris. The observation is a notable
one, having been made at the great interval of 285 days from
the date of perihelion passage ; no other comet of short period
has been hitherto observed under such circumstances, indeed
there is only one instance upon record where a comet has been
observed further from perihelion passage, and this was in the case
of the celebrated comet of 1811, which was in perihelion on Sept. 12
in that year, and was followed by Wisniewsky till Aug. 17, 1812,
or 309 days after its nearest approach to the sun. The great
comet of 1861 was observed at Pulkowa 284 days after perihelion.
The comet in question was discovered by the late Prof.
D’Arrest at Leipsic on June 27, 1851, and was observed at
Berlin till October 6; its periodicity was pointed out by the
same astronomer in the first week in August. MM. Oudemanns
and Schulze specially occupied themselves with the investigation
of its orbit in this year, At the next return in 1857 its position
did not allow of observations in this hemisphere, but it was
observed at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, on
December 5, and followed until January 18, 1858. The ensuing
perihelion passage took place at the end of February, 1864, but
from the unfavourable track of the comet in the heayens no ob-
servations were procured. During this revolution the comet had
approached the planet Jupiter within about 0°36 of the earth’s
mean distance from the sun, and large perturbations of the ele-
ments were thereby produced ; the nearest approach occurred in
April, 1861. At the returns in 1870 and 1877 observations
sufficient for the correction of the elements were obtained ; the
later investigation of the comet’s motion has been ably conducted
by M. Leveau.
In 1851 at perihelion the comet was distant from the earth’s
orbit only 0°162; at the present time this distance has been in-
creased by perturbation to 0°316. There is a very close approach
to the orbit of Jupiter, in heliocentric longitude 154°, or at an
angular distance of about 165° before perihelion. In the orbit
of 1870 the distance was 0°0845, in that of 1884 it is 0°1232 ; the
presumption will therefore be that the attraction of this planet
has fixed the comet in the system.
The following positions are calculated from M. Leveau’s pre-
dicted elements ; the perihelion passage occurs 1884, January
13 5765 G.M.T. :—
At Greenwich Midnisht
R.A. Decl. Log. distance from
he aes ; arth, Sun.
* April 23, 13 38 14 +11 13°7 ... 0'2951 ... 0°4649
25, 5, 36 25 Il 27°6
eg. Sh Si7/ II 409°8 ... 0'2927 ... 0°4609
29; 53, 32mSOme Il 53°2
WERP Na Sti 2) ce 12 47 -... O'2912 . . 0°4569
Bhp ee) it) a5 12 1573
5>, 39 27, Sores | L2525°% 2... OF2906 ... 074528
7 99 2555 +. 12 33°9
9; » 24 18 ... +12 4I°7 ... 0'2908 ... 0°4486
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE IN May.—On May 7, on the eastern
coast of Australia, the sun will rise in a sea-horizon about the
time of greatest eclipse. With favourable weather the observa-
tion will be a very interesting and unusual one, more particu-
larly about Sydney, where the magnitude of the eclipse is
greatest. It will be seen from the maps in our ephemerides
that totality does not reach Australia, but at Sydney the sun will
rise at 6h. 38m., within a quarter of an hour after the middle of
the phenomenon, when the magnitude will be 095. In Queens-
land the magnitude diminishes to 0°75, and the sun will be in
the horizon at greatest phase. At the former place, therefore,
a narrow crescent emerging from the sea-horizon will constitute
apparent sunrise,
PHYSICS IN RUSSIA DURING THE LAST
TEN YEARS!
HE Russian Physical Society was founded only ten years
ago, and since its foundation it has become the centre of
all researches in phy-ics carried on in Russia, which were
limited before to a few dissertations written by Russian Pro-
fessors of Physics in German Universities, and to a few memoirs
communicated to the Academy of Sciences. At present the
* Historical sketch of the work done by the Physical Society at the
University of St. Petersburg duting the last ten years by N. Hesehus in
the Journal of the Russian Chemical and Physical Soctety, vol. xiv.
tasc. ix.
568
NATURE
[April 12, 1883
Society has 120 members, a capital of 1638/., a library, and a
physical laboratory, mostly of instruments presented by M.
Bazilevsky. As to the scientific communications made to the
Society, they are of great value, as will be seen from the following
brief summary.
The first rank among them belongs to the researches of Prof.
Mendeléeff, which are nearly all connected with his extensive
work on the elasticity of gases, these last leading him to a
great number of collaterai researches, and to the invention of
new methods and instruments, Such are, for instance, his
communications :—1. On a differential naphtha-barometer in-
tended to show small changes of pressure. 2. On a levelling
instrument, being a modification of the former, and eacily
showing changes of level of one metre; it might be applied also
to the measurement of the changes of density of air; an entire
memoir was written by M, Mendeléeff to describe this apparatus,
which is susceptible of so many applications. 3. On a means of
boiling mercury in barometers. 4. On a new siphon-barometer,
which is, so to say, a combination of two siphon-barometers
connected together in their upper parts, one of the two tubes
being capillary, and serving to exhaust the air which may pene-
trate Torricelli’s vacuum, and for filling the instrument with
mercury. 5. On a mercury pump which eliminates the disad-
vantages of friction, 6. On a very sensitive differential ther-
mometer. 7. On a formula of expansion of mercury from
temperature: the volume at a temperature ¢ being = 100,000
+ 17°99 ¢ + o7002112 7%, where 100,000 represents the
volume at zero. 8. On the coefficient of expansion of air; the
experiments were made with great accuracy, and the volumes
measured by the weight of mercury; the coefficient was found to
be a = 0'0036843. 9. On the temperature of the upper strata
of the atmosphere; according to the measurements of Mr.
Glaisher, Prof. Mendeléeff found that the increase of tempera-
ture (7) is equal to the increase of pressure (7) ; that is, a
aH
fsa
Const., or t= C+ A Taking, then, into account the
0
influence of moisture, Prof. Mendeléeff deduced, from the laws
of the mechanical theory of heat, a formula which better agrees
with observations than the formula of Poisson, deduced for dry
air. An accurate knowledge of the law of changes of tempera-
ture in the upper parts of the atmosphere having an immense
importance for meteorology, astronomy, and cosmography, Prof.
Mendeleéeff elaborated a thorough scheme of aérostatic observa-
tions in Russia, 10, On a general formula for gases; instead
of the well-known formule of Clapeyron, he proposes the fol-
lowing, which embodies the laws of Marriott, Gay-Lussac, and
Avogadro:—d PV = KM(C + 7), where JZ is the weight of
the gas in kilogrammes, and 4 — its molecular weight, the
atomic weight of hydrogen being taken as unity ; A is a constant
for all gases, whilst the 2 of Clapeyron varies with the nature
and mass of the gas. 11. On the compres-ibility of air under
pressures less than that of the atmosphere ; the chief results for
pressures from 650 millimetres to 0°5 millimetre are: the law of
Marriott not only is not true for low pressures, but the disagree-
ment increases as the pressure decreases; the produce PV
(pressure multiplied by the volume), at pressures from 0°5 to
650 millimetres, zzcreases for the air approximately from 100 to
150, instead of decreasing, as resulted from Regnault’s measure-
ments under higher pressures, ‘his result was so unexpected
and so contrary to current opinion that the measurements
were repeated many times and by different methods, but
the result was always the same. So it must be inferred
(to use Prof. Mendeléeff’s own words) ‘that as the rare-
faction of gases goes on, a maximum volume, or limit
volume, is reached, like the minimum or limit volume reached
at compression ; therefore it cannot be said that a gas, when
rarefied, merges into luminous ether, and that the atmosphere of
the earth has no limits.” The rarefied gas becomes, so to speak,
like a solid body, If the pressure on a solid is diminished its
volume increases, but at a pressure equal to zero it still attains
a limit volume. ‘There are many other communications of less
importance which were made also by Prof. Mendeleeff.
Some communications by M. Kraevich were also connected
with the same subject. He made investigations into the degree
of rarefaction reached in mercury-pumps ; into the luminous
phenomena in Geissler tubes ; into the dissociation of sulphuric
acid and glycerine in vacuum, and so on. A special interest is
attached to his preliminary experiments on rarefied air by anew
method, which experiments lead to the conclusion that “‘ after a
certain limit of rarefaction the elasticity decreases much more
rapidly than the density, and at a very great degree of rarefaction
the air loses its elasticity.” These experiments would thus con-
firm the researches of Prof. Mendeléeff.mM. Kraevich has
described an improved barometrograph, a portable barometer,
and a mercury-pump of his own invention.
Several improvements of the barometer were proposed, too,
by MM. Shpakovsky, Gu'kovsky, Reinbot, and others. M.
Lachinoff has proposed a mercury-punip without cocks. To
the same department belong also the researches by M. Rykacheff
into the resistance of the air; by M. Eleneff, on the scefficients
of compressibility of several hydrocarbons; by M. Srezneysky,
on the evaporation of water-:olutions of the chlorate of zinc ;
and by M. Schiff, on the compression of indiarubber cylinders.
In mechanics and mechanical physics M. Hesehus notices the
works, by M. Bobyleff, on the weighing methods of Borda and
Gauss ; on the length of the seconds-pendulum at Kharkoff, by
M. Osiroff, and several other communications by MM. Bobyleff,
Schiller, Lapunoff, and Gagarin.
Calorific phenomena were the subject of many communica-
tions, we notice these: On the calibration of thermometers, by
MM. Mendeléeff and Lermontoff; on the expansion of mercury
and gases, by M. Mendeléeff; a formula of expansion of mer-
cury and water, by M. Rosenberg; on the expansion of india-
rubber, by M. Lebedeff; on a new method of determining the
caloric conductibility of bodies by heating them at one end, by
Prof. Petrushevsky ; and several communications on the critical
temperature, by MM, Avenarius, Jouk, and Strauss.
The communications on optics were numerous, and we notice
among them the descriptions of an optical micrometer based on
Newton’s rings; and of a spectrophotometer, by Prof. Petru-
shevsky ; the very interesting researches of M. Ewald on the
phenomena of vision ; the researches into the chemical action of
light, by M. Lermontoff, who has tried to prove that light pro-
duces a dissociation of molecules and a new distribution of atoms
whose return to their former distribution produces the pheno-
mena of phosphorescence ; several communications dealing with
reflexion in mirrors ; several papers on spectrum analysis ; and
researches dealing with photography.
The communications on electricity were as numerous as all the
others taken together, the chief of them being: On the distribu-
tion of electricity on spheres under different conditions, and two
other papers on electrostatics, of less importance, by M. Boby-
leff ; on the magnetisation of fine steel cylinders, by M. Khivol-
son, who has proposed a theory of residual magnetism,
explaining these phenomena by the influence of molecules of
carbon, which prevent to some extent the rotation of the mole-
cules of iron; researches by M. Van der Flith on the mechanism
of the interior and exterior phenomena of the current, which
are explained by the molecular rotation in the circuit and by the
breaking of equilibrium in the surrounding ether ; the papeis on
thermoelectricity by Prof. Petrushevsky and M. Borgman, and
several other papers by M. Borgman, Prof. Lenz, and Prof.
Umoff; the microscopical researches into the crystallisation of
the metal of electrodes, by M. Shidlovsky ; and many others
which it would be impossible to enumerate in this note. It will
be sufficient to mention that the number of proposed electrical
apparatus, as well as of papers on electro-technics, was very
great, and some of them were of great value.
Cosmical physics was represented by most valuable papers on
the resisting medium in space, by M. Asten; on the transits of
Venus and Mercury, on variable and double stars, and on the
parallax of refraction, by M. Glasenap; on the tails of the
comets 4 and c, 1881, by Prof. Bredikhin ; and by several in-
teresting communications of MM. Woeikoff, Mendeléeff, Ryka-
cheff, Schwedoff, and many others.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, March 1.—‘‘ Contributions to the Chemistry
of Storage Batteries,” by E. Frankland, D.C.L., F.R.S. :
1. Chemical Reactions.—The chenical changes occurring
during the charging and discharging of storage batteries have
been the subject of considerable cifference of opinion amongst
chemists and physicists. Some writers believe that much of the
storage effect depends upon the occlusion of oxygen and hydrogen
gases by the positive and negative plates or by the active material
thereon ; some contend that lead sulphate plays an important
April 12, 1883 }
NATURE
569
part ; whilst others assert that no chemical change of this sulphate
occurs either in the charging or discharging of the plates.
To test the first of these opinions, I made two plates of strips
of thin lead twisted into corkscrew form, and af er filling the
gutter of the screw with minium, so as to forma cylinder that
could be afterwards introduced intoa piece of combustion-tubing,
these plates were immersed in dilute sulphuric acid and charged
by the dynamo-current in the usual manner, The charging was
continued until the whole of the minium on the + and — plates
respectively was converted into lead peroxide and spongy lead,
and until gas bubbles streamed from the pores of the two
cylinders,
After removal from the acid the plates were superficially dried
by filter-paper, and immediately introduced into separate pieces
of combustion-tubing previously drawn out at one end, su as to
form gas delivery tubes. The wide ends of these tubes were
then sealed before the blowpipe, care being taken not to allow
the heat to reach the inclosed cylinders. The tube containing
the cylinder of reduced lead was now gradually heated until the
lead melted, the drawn-out end of the tube meanwhile dipping
into a pneumatic trough. The gas expelled from the tube con-
sisted almost exclusively of the expanded air of the tube and
contained mere traces of hydrogen,
The tube containing the cylinder of lead peroxide was simi-
larly treated, except that the heat was not carried high enough
to decompose the peroxide. Mere traces, if any, of occluded
oxygen were evolved.
These results justify the conclusion that occluded gases play
practically no part in the phenomena of the storage cell.
With regard to the function of lead sulphate in storage bat-
teries, I have observed that during the so-called ‘‘ formation”
of a storage cell a very large amount of sulphuric acid dis-
appears from the liquid contents of the cell: indeed, sometimes
the whole of it is withdrawn. The acid so removed must be
employed in the formation of insoluble lead sulphate upon the
plates which, in fact, soon become coated with a white deposit
of the salt, formed equally upon both positive and negative sur-
faces. This visible deposit is, however, very superficial, and
does not account for more than a very small fraction of the acid
which actually disappears from solution. The great bulk of the
lead sulphate cannot be discovered by the eye, owing to its
admixture with chocolate-coloured lead peroxide,
Unless the coated plates have been previously immersed for
several days in dilute sulphuric acid, this disappearance of acid
during their ‘‘ formation” contiaues for ten or twelve days. At
length, however, as the charging goes on the strength of the
acid ceases to diminish and soon afterwards begins to augment.
The increase continues until the maximum charge has been
reached and abundance of oxygen and hydrogen gases begin to
be discharged from the plates ; that is to say, until the current
is occupied exclusively, or nearly so, in the electrolysis of hexa-
basic sulphuric acid expressed by Burgoin in the following
equation :—
Eliminated on Eliminated on
+ plate. — plate.
Mee Lee
SO,H, = SO; + 30 + 3H,.
Sulphuric acid. Sulphuric
anhydride.
Of course the sulphuric anhydride immediately combines with
water and regenerates hexabisic sulphuric acid :—
SO, + 30H, = SO,Hg.
On discharging the cell the specific gravity of the acid con-
tinually decreases until the discharge is finished, when it is
found to have sunk to about the same point from which it began
to increase during the charging. Hence it is evident that during
the discharge the lead sulphate, which was continuously decom-
posed in charging, was continuously reformed in discharging.
The chief if not the only chemical changes occurring during
the charging of a storage battery, therefore, appear to be the
following :—
ist. The electrolysis of hexabasic sulphuric acid according to
the equation already given.
2nd, The reconversion of sulphuric anhydride into sulphuric
acid.
3rd. The chemical action on the coating of the + plate.
SO,Pb + O+30H, = PbO, + SOgHg.
Lead sulphate. Lead peroxide. Hexabasic
sulphuric acid.
4th. The chemical action on the coating of the negative
plate :-—
SO,Pb +
H,+ 20H, =
« Lead sulphate.
Phy -e SO,H;.
Hexabasic
sulphuric acid,
If I have correctly described these changes, the initial action
in the charging of a storage cell is the electrolysis of hexabasic
sulphuric acid, each molecule of which throws upon the positive
plate three atoms of oxygen, aud upon the negative plate six
atoms or three molecules of hydrogen, Each atom of oxygea
decompo-es one molecule of lead sul ha'e on the positive plate,
producing one molecule of lead peroxide, and one of sulphuric
anhydride, the latter instantly unitinz with three molecules of
water to form hexabasic sulphuric acid.
The following are the chemical changes which I conceive to
occur during the discharge of a storage cell :-—
Ist. The electrolysis of hexabasic sulphuric acid as in
charging.
2nd. The reconversion of sulphuric anhydride into hexabasic
sulphuric acid as already described.
3rd. The chemical action upon the coating of what was before
the positive plate or electrode, but which now becomes the
negative plate of the cell, that.is to say, the plate from which the
positive current issues to the external circuit :—
PbO} eels = EDO
Lead peroxide. Lead oxide.
OB,.
Water.
The lead oxide thus formed is immediately converted into lead
sulphate :—
PbO + SO,H, = SO,Pb + 30H.
4th. The chemical action upon the coating of what has now
become the positive plate of the cell :—
Pb + O + SO Hg = SO,Pb + 30H.
Thus in discharging, as in charging, a storage cell, the initial
action is the electrolysis of hexabasic sulphuric acid. The oxygen
eliminated on the positive plate reconverts the reduced metal of
that plate into lead oxide, whilst the hydrogen transforms the
lead peroxide on the negative plate into the same oxide, which
in both cases is immediately converted into lead sulphate by the
surrounding sulphuric acid, thus restoring both plates to their
original condition before the charging began.
The reali ‘‘ formation” of the cell consists, I conceive, in the
more or less thorough decomposition of those portions of the
lead sulphate which are comparatively remote from the conduct-
ing metallic nucleus of the plate. Lead sulphate itself has a
very low conductivity, whilst lead peroxide, and especially
spongy lead, offers comparatively little resistance to the current,
which is thus enabled to bring the outlying portions of the
coating under its influence. It may be objected that, during the
discharge, the work of formation would be undone; but
probably, in the ordinary use of a storage battery, the discharge
is never completed. Thus I have found that, ina small cell contain-
ing two plates 6” x 2”, short circuiting with a thick copper wire for
twelve hours was far from producing complete discharge, for on
breaking this short circuit the cell zstantly rang violently an
electric bell with which it was previously connected. In ordinary
discharges of ‘‘formed” cells, therefore, the lead sulphate on
the positive and negative plates still remains mixed with
sufficient lead oxide and spongy lead respectively to give it a
higher conducting power than the sulphate alone possesses.
2. Chemical Estimation of the Charge in a Storage Cell_—No
method has hitherto been known by which the charge in a
storage cell could be ascertained without discharging the cell ;
but the results of the foregoing experiments indicate a very
simple means of ascertaining the amount of stored energy without
any interference with the charge itself. The specific gravity
and consequent strength of the dilute sulphuric acid ofa ‘‘formed”
cell being known in its uncharged and also in its fully charged
condition, it is only necessary to take the specific gravity of the
acid at any time in order to ascertain the proportion of its full
charge which the cell contains at that moment; and if the duty
of the cell is known, the amount of energy stored will also be
thereby indicated. In the case of the cell with which I have
experimented, containing about seven quarts of dilute sulphuric
acid, each increase of ‘005 in the specific gravity of the dilute
acid means a storage of energy equal to 20 amperes of current
for one hour, obtainable on discharge.
I hope shortly to be able to express, in terms of current from
the cell, the definite relation between the amount of energy
stored and the weizht of sulphuric acid liberated,
579
NATURE
[ April 12, 1883
Chemical Society, March 30.—Anniversary Meeting.—Dr.
Gilbert, president, in the chair.—The President presented his
annual report, in which he gives a review of the progress of the
Society from the commencement of its existence in 1841 up to
the present time. The Society numbers 1247 Fellows, with an
income of about 3000/. During the past year 70 papers have
been read, and a discourse delivered by Prof. Dewar. Grants
in aid of research have been made of 2207. 1775 copies of the
Fournal were printed during the past year.
tains 6800 volumes, and a new catalogue will shortly be issued
to the Fellows. In his address the President gives a most in-
teresting 7¢éswmé of the arrangements for chemical education and
research on the American Continent. After the usual votes of
thanks the following Officers, &c., were balloted for and declared
duly elected :—President, W. H. Perkin, Ph.D., F.R.S. Vice-
presidents: F. A. Abel, Warren De La Rue, E. Frankland, J.
H. Gilbert, J. H. Gladstone, A. W. Hofmann, W. Odling,
Lyon Playfair, H. E. Roscoe, A. W. Williamson, A, Crum
Brown, P. Griess, G. D, Liveing, J. E. Reynolds, E. Schunck,
A. Voelcker. Secretaries: H. E. Armstrong, J. Millar Thom-
son, Foreign Secretary, Hugo Miiller. Treasurer, W. J.
Russell. Council: E. Atkinson, Capt. Abney, H. T. Brown,
W.R. E. Hodgkinson, D. Howard, F. R. Japp, H. McLeod,
G. H. Makins, R. Meldola, E. J. Mills, C. O’Sullivan, C.
Schorlemmer.
Meteorological Society, March 21.—Mr, J. K. Laughton,
F.R.G.S., president, in the chair.—The following gentlemen
were elected Fellows of the Society: viz. Mr. G. T. Hawley,
Dr. C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., Mr. C. Walford, F.S.S., and
Col. H. G. Young. Dr. W. Koppen was elected an Honorary
Member.—The paper read was notes on a march to the hills of
Beloochistan, in North-West India, in the months of May to
August, 1859, with remarks on the simoom and on dust
storms, by Dr. H. Cook, F.R.G.S., F.M.S. These months
may be considered as the summer of the hill-country of Beloo-
chistan, though the natives expect the weather to change soon
after the fall of rain, which takes place about the end of July
and beginning of August. Compared with that of the plains,
the climate is delightful. The actual heat is greater than in
England, especially the intensity of the sun’s rays, but the weather
is less variable. Fruits and crops, asa rule, ripen earlier, and
are not exposed to the vicissitudes of the English climate. The
atmosphere is clear and pure, the air dry and bracing. Dr.
Cook describes different kinds of dust-storms, and considers that
they are due to an excess of atmospheric electricity. With
regard to the simoom, which occurs usually during the hot
months of June and July, it is sudden in its attack, and is some-
times preceded by a cold current of air. It takes place at
night, as well as by day, its course being straight and defined,
and it burns up or destroys the vitality of animals and vegetable
existence. It is attended by a well marked sulphurous 0 ‘our,
and is described as being like the blast of a furnace, and the
current of air in which it passes is evidently greatly heated. Dr.
Cook believes it to be a very concentrated form of ozone, gene-
rated in the atmosphere by some intensely marked electrical
condition.—After the reading of this paper the Fellows in-
spected the exhibition of meteorological instruments for tra-
vellers, and of such new instruments as had been constructed
since the last exhibition. In addition to the ordinary instru-
ments designed for travellers, viz. barometers, thermometers,
hypsometrical apparatus, compasses, artificial horizons, &c.,
some very interesting historical instruments used by celebrated
travellers and explorers were exhibited, including those used by
Dr. Livingstone in his last journey ; by Commander Cameron
during his journey across Africa; by Sir J. C. Ross in his
Antarctic Expedition ; by Sir E. Sabine, in his Arctic voyage,
&e,
Zoological Society, March 20.—Prof. W. H. Flower,
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. Sclater called attention to
the fact that a living specimen of Macropus erubescens (a species
originally described froma single specimen living in the Society’s
Gardens) was in the Gardens of the Zoological and Acclimatisa-
tion Society of Melbourne.—Mr. Sclater laid before the meeting
a set of the sheets of a new List of British Birds which had
been prepared by a Committee of the ‘‘ British Ornithologists’
Union,” and would shortly be published, and explained the
principles upon which it had been constructed.—Prof. Huxley
read a paper on the oviduct of the Common Smelt (Osmerus
eperlanus), and took occasion to remark on the relations of the
Teleostean with the Ganoid fishes. Prof. Huxley came to the
The library con- |
conclusion that the proposal to separate the Elasmobranchs,
Ganoids, and Dipnoans into a group apart from and equivalent
to the Teleosteans was inconsistent with the plainest anatomical
_ relations of these fishes.—Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a paper
| Hibiscus, thus showing distinctly intermediate characters,
containing the description of a new species of Batrachian of the
genus 4z/o obtained at Yokohama, Japan, during the expedition
of H.M.S. Challenger, The author proposed to describe it as
Bufo formosus.—A communication was read from Mr, W. N.
Parker containing some notes on the respiratory organs of Rhea
macrorhyncha, and comparing these organs with those of the
| Apteryx and Duck.
Royal Horticultural Society, March 27.—Sir J. D.
Hooker, K.C.S.I, in the chair.—JSclerotia of Peronospora
infestans : Mr. W. G. Smith called attention to the fact that the
so-called ‘‘sclerotia,” described in a paper by Mr. A. Stephen
Wilson, read at the last meeting, were observed and figured
by Von Martius so long ago as in 1842 (‘‘Die Kartoffel
Epidermie”) as Protomyces and by Berkeley as Tubercinia
in his paper on the Potato Murrain, in the first volume
of the Hort. Soc. Fournal, 1846. They were subsequently
figured by Broome in 1875, and by Prof. Buckman. Mr. G,
Murray said that from his examination they often seemed to
consist of the discoloured and disorganised contents of the cells,
which they completely filled, though in Martius’s drawing two
or three were in one cell ; Dr. Masters, however, noticed that
they are often outside the cells and of an angular character, as if
they had not assumed the form of the interior of a cell. The
question was raised whether they might not have been expressed
by the covering glass. Martius figured them with conidiferous
threads proceeding apparently in abundance from them. Further
investigation of their true nature was thought desirable.—
Abutilon and Hibiscus ‘*bigener” : Dr. Masters described a very
dark-flowered Abutilon which was said to be due to an original
cross between H. Rosa-sinensis and A. striatum. The original
plant was a dark-flowered seedling which was fertilised by Mr.
George of Putney for two or three generations with the pollen
of the Hibiscus, and though the character of the flower is that of
an Abutilon, it has the truncated column and foliage of the
In
one plant the leaves were marked with a dark crimson spot.
Hence it appears to be a true bigener, or cross between two dis-
tinct genera.—/uy-leaved Pelargonium Cross: Mr. George sent
some foliage of a cross between the ivy-leaved and a rough-
leaved Pelargonium. Several showed a reversion to the peltate
type, some assuming a funnel-shape or other irregular form,
thus betraying its origin from P. peltatum.—Orange-trees attacked
by Mytilaspis citricola, one of the Coccidz: Mr. Maclachlan
exhibited leaves and branches of oranges much injured by
this insect from the Bahamas. He read a communication
by Messrs. Dunlop and Roker communicated by the Governor
to the British Government, requesting information. The in-
sect was therein named Asfzdites Gloverii. He made some
remarks on the method of attack of the insect, and sugges-
tions as to remedies to suppress it, such as washes and
syringing with petroleum and the use of whale-oil soap.—
Solanum species: Sir J. D. Wiooker read a communication from
Mr. Lemmon, of Oakland, California, upon the discovery of three
species or varieties of Solanum bearing tubers, from the border-
land of Arizona and Mexico :—‘‘ We found them first,” writes
the author, ‘fon the cool northern slopes of the high peaks [of
the Huachuca range]; then afterwards, where least expected,
invading the few rudely cultivated gardens of the lower foot-
hills. One kind is called S. Famesiz, Tor., in the ‘‘ Survey
of the Mexican Boundary.” This has white flowers and
tubers. Another was S. Fendleri, Gr. It has smaller purple
flowers and flesh-coloured tubers. This Dr. Gray lately con-
cludes to be but a variety of the old Peruvian potato, and he
calls it .S. tuberosum, var. boreale. The third form or species
found at 10,000 feet altitude has mostly single orbicular leaves,
one or two berries only to the umbel, and small pink tubers on
long stolons, growing in loose leaf-mould of the cool, northern
forested slopes. . . . I have great faith in the successful raising
of one of these species (or varieties) to a useful size, for the fol-
lowing reasons :—1. While the S.. tuderosum, var. boreale, bears
long stolons and but a few tubers, the other kind, S. Famesi?,
makes many short stolons terminated by four to eight large, round
white tubers. 2. While the first kind has been partially tried and
then given up, the latter species is known to have become
enlarged to the size of domestic hens’ eggs during the accidental
cultivation of three years in the embanking of a rude fish-pond.”
April 12, 1883]
_ NATURE
571
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, March 19.—Prof. Maclagan, vice-president,
in the chair.—Mr. Sang read a paper on the impossibility of
inverted images in the air, in which he discussed the conditions
as to density necessary for such an effect, concluding that these
atmospheric conditions were so unstable as to make it physically
impossible for clear images to be formed. The famous observa-
tion by Vince of the erect and inverted images high up in air
was, he maintained, simply the case of a vessel and its reflection
in the sea, which was so calm as to be indistinguishable from
the sky—the apparent horizon being the margin of a ruffled por-
tion of the surface between the true horizon and the observer. —
Prof, Tait communicated a note on the thermoelectric positions
of pure rhodium and iridium, specimens of which had been
supplied him by Messrs. Johnson and Matthey. The lines of
these metals on the thermoelectric diagram were found to be
parallel to the lead line, that is, according to Le Roux, the
Thomson effect is 77/inthem. Uv fortunately the lines are too close
to be of any practical use as a thermoelectric thermometer.—Dr.
Christison gave the results of the observations on the growth of
wood in deciduous and evergreen trees, which had been begun
by the Jate Sir Robert Christison in 1878, and continued by him-
self since Sir Robert’s death. It appeared that the evergreen
trees began their rapid growth much earlier in the year than the
deciduous trees, and stopped sooner. Hence the reason why the
variations in growth in successive years did not follow the same
law in these two classes—an early winter affecting the deciduous
trees, a late winter the evergreen. The effect of wet seasons
was also indicated, the deciduous trees being apparently more
influenced.—Mr. Buchan read a paper on the variation of tem-
perature with sunspots. The comparison was nt a direct
one, but was based upon the well-known phenomenon of
the diurnal barometric oscillation viewed in relation to the
amount of water vapour in the air. From the observa-
tions of the Challenger Expedition, Mr. Buchan had con-
cluded that this diurnal variation over the open sea was not
the result of changes of surface temperature (for these were very
small), but was to be referred to the direct heating effect of the
sun upon the air, or more strictly upon the water vapour in the
air. This view was supported by the fact that over the sea the
diurnal variation of pressure was greatest where most vapour
was ; whereas the contrary held over the land, the temperature
of which varied greatly during the day, and the more so when
the air above was drier, as more heat then reached the earth, In
other words, the increase of moisture in the air increases the
barometric oscillation over the sea and diminishes it over the
land ; and hence it seemed probable that the discussion of these
daily oscillations in sun-spot cycles might lead to some definite
result. The long-continued observations at Calcutta, Madras,
and Bombay were combined in this way, and yielded a remark-
able result—there being a well-marked maximum of barometric
diurnal oscillation half way between the minimum and maximum
sun-spot years, and a minimum half way between the maximum
and minimum years. The averages were taken for the five dry
winter months, and the effects were explained as due to the accu-
mulated water vapour in the upper southerly winds that exist
over India during these months. When the rainfall on the
southern slopes of the Himalayas was similarly treated—which
rainfall is of course due to the arresting of these upper moist
currents—the analogous fact was brought out, viz. minimum
rainfall at times of maximum barometric oscillation and vice
vers,
DUBLIN
Experimental Science Association, March 13.—On
Ayrton and Perry’s voltmeter, by Prof. Fitzgerald.—On an
experiment on the resonance of flames, by H. Maxwell. A
vibrating tuning fork when held in a gas or candle flame,
or in the heated current of air above, was shown to have its note
greatly strengthened. A current of unignited gas produced no
perceptible strengthening of the note.—A thermal galvanoscope,
by C, D. Wray, A method of showing to an audience the
expansion of a wire under the heating influence of a current of
electricity.—On a thermometer that can be read by telegraph, by
J. Joly. An arrangement whereby the level of the mercury in a
thermometer can be read by reckoning the number of contacts
made with a battery in the home station. Suitable mechanism
on the thermometer causes a wire to advance down the open tube
of the thermometer, by a known minute distance, at each
passage of the current. On reaching the mercury, a current
passes to a galyanometer in the home station.
SYDNEY
Linnean Society of New South Wales, January 31.—
C. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., president, in the chair.—The follow-
ing papers were read:—On a new form of mullet from New
Guinea, by William Macleay, F.L.S., &c. This is a descrip-
tion of a very remarkable freshwater fish from the interior of
New Guinea, allied to Mugil, but constituting a new genus to
which the author gives the name of Zschrichthys.—By J. J.
Fletcher, M.A., B.Sc. The second part of his paper upon the
anatomy of the urogenital organs in females of certain species of
Kangaroos.—On remains of an extinct Marsupial, by Chas. W.
De Vis, B.A, This is a very careful description of a number of
bones found together and evidently of the same individual, by
Mr. Henry Tryon, in Gowrie Creek, Darling Downs. The
bones and teeth point to some bilophodont form, showing affinity
with A/acropus and Palorchestes on the one hand, and with WVo‘o-
therium and Diprotodon on the other.—Contributions to the
ornithology of New Guinea, by E. P. Ramsay, F.L.S., &c.
This contained a complete list of the birds recently brouzht by
Mr, Goldie and others from the <outh-east part of the island.—
On a new species of Tree Kanyaroo from New Guinea, by the
sameauthor. This differs from Dendrolagus venustus in some
particulars, and is named after the Marquis Doria. A new Rat
(Hafpalotis Papuanus) was also described.—On some habits of
Pelopeus letus and a species of Larrada, by Mr. H. R.
Whittell.—Mr. Whittell also read a short paper on the voracity
of a species of /eterostoma. He had observed one of these
centipedes in the act of eatirg a live lizard. The aggressor,
evidently finding his victim too powerful for his unassisted
strength, had ingeniously taken a double turn with the posterior
portion of his body around a small stem which was found con-
veniently at hand, and so was enabled to continue his meal with-
out interrurtion.
BERLIN
Physical Society, March 2.—Prof. Kirchhoff in the chair,
—Dr. Konig reported on two optico-physiological researches,
which he had carried out in consequence of his optical studies
with the leucoscope. In the first he has, with the aid of a
special apparatus, examined a number of colour-blind per-ons as
to the position in the spectrum of their so-called ‘‘neutral’’ point.
According to the Young-Helmboltz theory, it is known, there are
three primary colours (red, green, and violet), each of which
produces its special colour-sensation, while all combined give
the impression of white. The sen-ibility for the three primary
colours is so distributed over the spectrum that their curves in
great part coincide on the abscissa of wave-lengths, and there-
fore mixed colour-sensations occur everywhere, while the maxima
of the separate curves occur at the places of brightest red, green,
and violet respectively. In the case of the colour-blina one
curve is wanting, and the two remaining ones have therefore a
point of section where their ordinates are the same. Hence the
eye must at this part have the impression of white or grey. For
finding this neutral point in the spectrum, an apparatus served,
in which the telescope of a spectroscope was so arranged with
regard to the non-refringent angle of the prism that the spectrum
took up only half of the field of vision, while the other half was
occupied with the image of the white-painted ground-surface of
the prism. Instead of the eyepiece there was another slit in the
telescope, in which one saw only a small section of the spectrum ;
by micrometric displacement of the collimator of the spectral
apparatus any part of the spectrum could be brought on the
sht. Now ata particular part of the spectrum the coJour-blind
person saw both halves of the field of vision white, while the
person with normal vision saw the part of the spectrum in
question in its normal colour, and so could determine the wave-
length at which the neutral point of the colour-blind person
occurred. Changes of light-intensity displaced the neutral
p int; hence in comparative measurements care must be taken
to have the same intensityin the source of light. Such mea-
surements were made by Dr. Kénig with great precision on
nine colour-blind persons, and it appeared that the neutral points
are situated between about 491 aid 500 millionths of a milli-
metre, and (what is of special interest theoretically) that the
mean values of the separate observations with different colour-
blind persons were not equal, but varied in a pretty regular
series between the two terminal values. According to the
common view that colour-blindness depends on the disappear-
ance of one of the normal three curves of colour-percep-
tion, the position of the neutral point as point of section of
the two curves present must be always the same, and for the
572
NATURE
[ April 12, 1883
red and the green blind must be at two quite determinate poiuts
of the spectrum. As the experiments have yielded a different
result in persons, two of whom were red-blind, and seven green-
blind, Dr. Konig believes that the essence of colour-blindness
consists not in the absence of one curve, but in the displacement
of two curves on one another, which may be more or less com-
plete, and so preduces the different degrees of colour-blindness
o'served. In the second investigation Dr. Konig sought to
determine the two remarkable points of section of the three
curves that occur, according to the Young-Helmholtz theory, in
normal colour-perception. From the researches of Prof. von
Helmholtz on the wave-lengths of the complementary colours,
and from those of Clerk Maxwell on colour-mixtures, appear
values for these points of section which agree pretty well. The
same values, approximately, are reached by the researches of
several ophthalmologists on the places of quickest change of
colour in the spectrum. Dr. Konig tried to determine the first
section point by making the violet curve disappear through the
taking of santonin, and when he had thus made himself tempo-
rarily violet-blind, he determined his neutral point, the point of
section of the red and the green curve. All these determina-
tions and theoretical considerations led to pretty much the same
values for the points of section, and the first point is situated
not, as is often suppose@, in the yellow, but in the blue, between
the Fraunhofer lines E and 4,, and nearer the latter.
Paris
Academy of Sciences, March 26.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following? papers were read:—On an objection
of M. Tacchini relative to the theory of the sun in the Memorie
dei spettroscopisti Italiani, by M. Faye. Having observed the
eruptions accompanying a spot to be intermittent and of brief
duration, M. Tacchini thinks this fact against the theory of the
spots being due to cyclonic movements. M. Faye says this is as
if, on seeing the water-jet of a force-pump go down, one main-
tained that the ;} ump did not exist.—Contribution to the study
of stamping and of the “‘prows” it produces, by M. Tresca.—
On the motion and deformation of a liquid bubble which rises
in a liquid mass of greater density, by M. Resal.—Note on the
preparation of oxide of cerium, by M. Debray.—On the reading
of a report by M. d’Abbadie on his transit expedition to the
island of Haiti, the president expressed the felicitations of the
Academy (concern had been felt on account of the prevalence of
yellow fever).—Addition to preceding communications on con-
tinuous periodic fractions, by M. de Jonquieres.— Character by
which one may perceive if the operation indicated by
2t
a Vu 6 /wi, or by / 4 £6 Vowi,
may be effected under the forma Vo+ BN wi, m designating a
positive whole number, v and w positive rational numbers, and
aand 4, a and £ any rational numbers ; method of effecting this
operation, by M. Weichold.—On a spectroscope with inclined
slit, by M. Garbe. He described to the French Physical Society
on March 2 an arrangement similar to M. Thollon’s. —Observa-
tion on the figures of consumption of zinc given by M. G.
Trouvé for his bichromate of potash batteries, by M. Regnier.
He points out a difference between the effective and the theo-
retical expenditure.— Heat of formation of glycolates, by M. de
Forcrand.—Action of sulphur on oxides, by MM. Filbol and
Senderens. Sulphur acts on alkalies in the dissolved state less
and less easily the greater the dilution.—On the action of dif-
ferent varieties of silica on lime water, by M. Landrin. Hy-
draulic silica, gelatinous silica, and soluble silica absorb lime
water more or less rapidly, but in all cases the absorption finally
varies, for one equivalent of silica, between the limits 36 and
38. The formula 3Si0,,4CaO, requiring for 30 of silica 37°3 of
lime, thus fairly expresses the limit towards which those pheno-
mena tend.—On the hydrate type of neutral sulphate of alumina,
by M. Marguerite-Delacharlonny.—On the production of brom-
ised apatites and Wagnerites, by M. Ditte.—Researches on
crystalline phosphates, by MM. Hantefeuille and Margottet.—On
various effects of air on beer yeast, by M. Cochin, Itis only some
time after the glucose solution has penetrated, by endosmose, the
membranous envelope of the yeast cells, that fermentation com-
mences. Sometimes (yeast aérated) the sugary liquid simply
penetrates into the yeast, the proportion of sugar outside con-
tinuing undiminished ; sometimes (yeast deprived of air) the
sugar is absorbed in larger quantity by the yeast and the liquid
outside impoverished. It is within the cell that the sugar is
transformed. Probably air attenuates ferments as it does virus.
—Determination of extractive matters and of reducing power of
urine, by MM. Etard and Richet. This determination is made
with bromine ; which in acid solution attacks the uricacid and the
extractive matters, The reducing power of urine varies much in
different individuals, but little in one individual.—The percep-
tion of colour and the perception of form, by M. Charpentier.
Luminous rays have two distinct actions on the visual apparatus
—one gives rise to the rudimentary perception of light and is
distrib ted pretty equally over all points of the retina ; the other
is more efficacious on the centre of the retina, giving rise, on the
one hand, to the sensation of colour, on the other to the
distinction of multiple luminous points.—Note on the adherence
of a frontal tumour with the yolk, observed in a cassowary which
died in the egg at the moment of hatching, by M. Dareste.—
New observations on the dimorphism of Foraminifera, by MM.
Munier-Chalmas and Schlumberger.—Attempt at application of
M. Faye’s cyclonic theory to the history of primitive meteorites,
by M. Meunier. He considers that chondrites are to rocks of
gaseous precipitation what iron grains, &c., are to rocks of
aqueous precipitation. They testify to eddies in the generating
medium, to photospheric cyclones.—On shocks of earthquake
observed in the department of La Mayenne, by M. Faucon.
These were felt about 3 p.m. on March 8. Three considerable
trepidations occurred in a few seconds. —M. Decharme described
a method of preserving and reproducing crystalline forms of
water. <A horizontal glass plate at a low temperature is covered
with a thin layer of water mixed with minium; particles of the
minium are involved in the formation of ice. Ulterior fusion
and evaporation leave the minium in position.
VIENNA
Imperial Academy of Sciences, February 15.—C. v.
Ettingshausen, contributions to the knowledge of the Ter-
tiary flora of Australia.—F. Brauer, to nearer knowledge
of the Odonate, genera Orchithemis, Lyriothemis, and
Agrionoptera.— On the systematic position of the genus
Lobogaster, Pil., by the same.—S. Tolver Preston, a dy-
namic explanation of gravitation.—On the possibility of ex-
plaining past changes in the universe by the action of natural
laws now active, by the same.—E. Heinricher, contributions to
the teratology of plants and morphology of flowers.—P. Pastro-
vich, on Reichenbach’s picamar ; on ccerulignol, Reichenbach’s
oxidating principle-—A. Tarolimek, on the relation between
tension and temperature of saturated vapour.
March 1.—W. Biedermann, contributions to general nerve
and muscle physiolozy (eleventh communication) ; on rhythmic
contractions of striped muscles under the influence of constant
currents. —V. Graber, fundamental experiments on the light and
colour sensibility of eyeless and blinded animals.—P. R, Hand-
mann, on a very useful filling of the zinc-carbon battery.
CONTENTS PacE
Tue VivisEcTION Birt. . . - . « - 549
Tue BritisH Navy. By W. H. WuiTe. 549
Our Boox SHELF:—
Baillie-Giohman’s ‘‘ Camps inthe Rockies” . 55r
Eckardt’s ‘‘ Physics in Pictures’’ . ong 55t
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR :—
Unprecedented Cold in the Riviera—Absence of Sunspots.—
CS BAWiILreraAMs: 7 551
Mr. Grant Allen’s Article cn “The Shapes “of Leaves.”—F. O.
Bowkk; GRANT/ALEEN 0) 0) - +22 5 as) >) os le | i
Ticks.—Dr. T. SPENCER CoBBoLp, F.R.S. ; Rev. L. BLoMEFIELD 552
Helix p.matia, L.—Rey. L. BLoMEFIELD . + ot Ser ase
Braces or Waistband ?—N. . . « - - e - + » = = = 553
Sotar RapIATION AND GLaciER Motion. By Rev. A. IRVING . . 553
DepuctivE Biotocy, By W. T. THIse-ton Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S. 554
Tue AprroacuinG Ectipse (With [llustration) . a tale on coh
DEATHS FROM SNAKE Bite 1N Bombay. By Sir JosepH FayRrer,
K.C:S.1., F2R:S: BREE A ee eee
AsTRONOMICAL PHotroGrapHy. By Epwarp C. PickerinG, Director
of the Harvard College Observatory. .. . - -.- ++ + + 550
Darwin AND Corernicus. By Prof. E. Du Bors Reymonp . . . 557
SincinG, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING, III. By W. H. Stone,
M.B., F.R.C_P. ar olpns ini eo Gol otis ease
DistTriBUTION OF ENERGY IN THE SPECTRUM. By Lord RayYLeiGu,
F.RS. . ee ee ict to eee, oe orm ecko Sa Ea
THE ORNITHOLOGIST IN SIBERIA (With Idlustrations) . 560
Tue Bacicius oF TUBERCLE - ET ee ts, het Gute ene OS
Pxoressor H. J.S.SmiTH AND THE REPRESENTATION OF A NUMBER
ASA. SUM OF SQUARES) 4s)" «)(ciow Poms, Mel an hist) oy (ouisipines RO,
Itong: SP Ed ee ee ono ka) eine a 6 oO Sal Ste AG
Our AsTRONOMICAL CoLUMN:—
D"Arrest?s Comet’! 30k) st = eg ee tee el ees ee Soy
The Solar Eclipse in May. . . sitet Mek eyed eee AL) ae Oe
Puysics 1n Russia DURING THE Last TEN YEARS . 567
Socizt1gs AND ACADEMIES. Seas toe OM DMD ORL Ey Chat)
NATURE
THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1883
THE SCOTCH UNIVERSITIES BILL
ee long expected Scotch Universities Bill has at last
made its appearance. As no explanation of its
provisions has yet been offered in Parliament, and the
Scotch newspapers have shown the caution characteristic
of their country in declining to commit themselves to an
opinion about it till they learn what its authors have to
say in its favour, it may be interesting to our readers to
know what the Bill proposes to do and how it proposes
to do it. Se much at least can be stated in a few sentences.
The Scotch Universities derive a-considerable portion of
their revenues from Parliamentary grants. The Bill
proposes to give them a sum which is estimated at about
8000/. a year, or 25 per cent., more than they now get; to
remove the whole of their payment from public moneys
from the annual estimates to the Consolidated Fund; to
settle this sum of 40,000/. on them “ in full discharge of
all claims past, present, and future,’’ and to cut them
adrift. They now get really about 28,000/. annually, the
other 4000/. going to two institutions—the Royal Obser-
vatory in Edinburgh, and the Botanic Garden there,
which are in future to be handed over to the University
of Edinburgh and to be maintained by it out of the
portion of the 40,000/. to be allocated to it. The alloca-
tion of this sum as between the Universities is to be
made once and for ever by a new Executive Commission,
with whose judgment, except in the form of a somewhat
complicated and expensive appeal to Her Majesty in
Council and the usual formal laying of their ordinances
on the table of Parliament, the State will not farther
concern itself.
The second main provision of the Bill is that these
Commissioners are directed to make ordinances, subject
only to the same appeal, regulating everything in or con-
cerning these Universities, and in particular fixing anew
the constitution and functions of all the various Univer-
sity bodies and officers, such as the University Court, the
University Council, the Senatus Academicus, the chan-
cellor, the rector, the assessors, and all other University
officers. They are directed in only two particulars. They
are to institute a first examination which is to be com-
pulsory on all persons who intend to graduate in Arts or
in any other Faculty, and to institute if they think fit, in
any or all of the Universities, a new Faculty of Science,
subject to these particular directions : they are to ‘‘ regu-
late the manner and conditions in and under which
students shall be admitted, the course of study and
manner of teaching, the amount and exaction of fees, the
length of the academical session or sessions, and the
manner of examination.”
The next important duty imposed on the Commissioners
is to report within twelve months whether in their opinion
it is no longer possible for the University of St. Andrews,
which is the oldest and by far the least numerously
attended of the four, “‘in consequence of the want of
sufficient endowments,” to “continue to perform its
functions with advantage,” and in the event of their so
reporting they are to make “suggestions for dissolving
that University and its Colleges, and creating a new
corporation to which the funds and property of the
University and Colleges shall be transferred.’’
VOL. XXVII.—NO. 703
a
o
57
There is another curious provision, which we mention
only from the interest which will generally attach to it,
not because we should venture in this place to express
any opinion about it, in one wayoranother. Like all the
Universities in the kingdom, except London and the new
Victoria University, the Scotch Universities have a
Faculty of Theology. This has been hitherto in direct
connection with the Scotch Established Church, and the
Professorships can only be held by clergymen of that
Church. It is well known that the Nonconformist de-
nominations in Scotland prescribe a professional course
of their own for students preparing for their ministry,
and the two great Presbyterian nonconforming bodies
have each of them Colleges and Professors, whose lec-
tures their students must attend. The Bill provides that
from this time forward no test of any kind shall be appli-
cable to the University Chairs of Theology, which may
therefore either be held by clergymen of any persua-
sion or by laymen. Should this provision become law;
it will be most interesting to watch what may be the
tendencies and character of the new scientific theology
which will develop itself in Scotland after it has been
freed from the trammels of any creed. It is to be feared,
indeed, that the first effect may be that the students who
now attend the University Chairs of Theology may be
directed elsewhere to new Colleges or Halls of Presby-
terian theology taught from the point of view of the
Established Church, and that the rising clergymen of the
nation, who are generally of opinion that they do enough
when they do all that their licensing bodies require of
them, may not sit in great numbers at the feet of the
occupants of the new scientific Chairs. There is another
provision which illustrates in a singular way the jealousy
with which a lay State can scarcely help regarding theo-
logy, even after it has become scientific, and “in the
abstract.” Whatever happens, whoever may benefit by
the 25 per cent. of increased emolument to be made over
to the Scotch Universities, it is expressly provided that
the scientific theologians are never to get any of it.
The most interesting question to our readers is how the
new Bill will influence the progress of science in the
Scotch Universities. The obvious and only answer is
that nobody can tell. The Commissioners may make
provision fora Faculty of Science, and in the three younger
and more numerously attended Universities they will
probably doso. In Edinburgh they could certainly do so
without requiring to create new Chairs. In Glasgow there
is not at present a Chair of Geology, though that subject is
taught in an old-fashioned alliance with zoology, by the
single Professor of Natural History. There is no Pro-
fessor of Geology or of Astronomy or of Engineering in
Aberdeen. The foundation of new Chairs on these sub-
jects may possibly be thought necessary before a Faculty
of Science is instituted; and there are medical Chairs, like
that for Pathological Anatomy, which are not established
in Glasgow. A great deal will depend, in fact, on the
extent to which the free balance of 7500/. or thereabouts
may be found sufficient to meet the more urgent and im-
mediate demands which will be made on it from all
quarters. Glasgow and Aberdeen have no Chair of
Modern History. In Aberdeen one Professor teaches
English Literature and Logic, and there is no Chair of
| Political Economy. In the University of Adam Smith
cc
574
WA TORE
[April 19. 1883
Political Economy is only taught by the incumbent of the
Chair of Moral Philosophy. The recommendations of the
Inquiry Commissioners stated urgent wants of the Uni-
versities five years ago which would amount to much
more than the added 25 per cent. now to be given to the
Com nissioners to settle upon the Universities for ever.
It is true that Scotland is now both a rich and a liberal
country, and that much may be expected in future
from the direct contributions of her people. But ex-
perience has abundantly shown that private benevo-
le:ce is never organised benevolence, and that sums
which might in the aggregate be sufficient to meet
all the most urgent wants of the Universities are not
to be expected to be provided by voluntary contribu-
tions where or when they are most wanted. To re-
organise the Scotch Universities, a liberal provision of
public money is probably necessary, and it seems strange
to throw the burden of such a provision on a fixed and
moderate sum, which is declared to be for ever incapable
of increase. It is not for us of course to consider whether
Parliament would act wisely in placing the grants for the
Scotch Universities on the annual estimates, where they
are always open to comparison and challenge, or on the
Consolidated Fund, where they are practically liable
neither to increase nor to diminution. But it seems a
strange policy to declare beforehand that the grants for
objects which are admitted to be of national importance
shall never exceed a severely limited sum. The demands
of science alone are continually increasing in pecuniary
severity, and we say no more than every one will admit |
when we add, that it is not for the public advantage that
the natural teaching of science should be hindered in any
of the three kingdoms by a too rigid or mechanical
economy. It is not placing her in her true position to
compel her to an undignified struggle with a host of other
claimants for her fair share of a moderate allowance
which cannot be increased. If the Scotch Universities
had great College estates and ample revenues like Oxford
and Cambridge, her claims might be met from time to
time as they have been in England.
they have been very moderately provided institutions,
and there are no available funds for the extensions
of the future but the freewill offerings of her people.
The State in our opinion, reasonably expected
from time to time to organise, or to help to reorganise
them in the interests of the nation. We should like
to see it ready to do something more in that way than
to offer to cut them adrift with a little extra money, and
to provide Commissioners to whose absolute discretion is
to be intrusted the reconstructive duties which naturally
devolve on Parliament. The Oxford and Cambridge Act
of 1877 gave the Commissioners then appointed very
extensive powers, but it was in marked contrast, in the
precision and fulness of its enacting clauses, and in the
checks under which the Commissioners were to exercise
their functions, to the Scotch Universities Bill of 1883.
is,
THE SCHEME OF THE GROCERS’ COMPANY |
FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ORIGINAL
RESEARCH IN SANITARY SCIENCE
HE relation of man, whether savage or civilised, to
his surroundings is one of constant exposure to
influences which are hostile to his bodily well-being.
Until of late years |
Some of these are dangerous chiefly by reason of their
insidiousness; others, although not concealed, are in
their nature unavoidable; others, though both known
and avoidable, are yet for various reasons not avoided.
All of them, of whichever class, are subjects of earnest
study to the pathologist, one part of whose science is for
this reason called etiology as relating to the causes of
disease, the other being concerned with the disturbances
which these causes induce inside the living human or-
ganism. “Sanitary Science” in so far as it is a science,
is identical with etiology, and is therefore a branch of
pathology. In this sense it is the science on which the
art of preventing disease, or “ Preventive Medicine,” as
it is commonly called, is founded, and it will be admitted
that, whatever doubt may exist as to the utility of exact
knowledge of the nature of disease for its cure, there
can be none as to its direct applicability to prevention.
The Grocers’ Company, one of the oldest and most
distinguished of the City Guilds and second to none in
the liberality with which it has always bestowed its funds
for the general good, has thought fit to create an endow-
ment, or rather a system of endowments, for the en-
couragement of “ Original Research in Sanitary Science.”
This it defines as relating to the “causes of important
diseases and the means by which the respective causes
may be prevented or obviated.’ The endowments which
the Company have created are of two kinds. The one
is intended ‘fas maintenance for work in progress in fields
of research to be chosen by the worker,’ the other as
reward for actual discovery; the former intention being
carried into effect by the establishment of three “ Re-
search Scholarships,” each of 250/. a year, the latter by
the appointment of a ‘‘ Discovery Prize” of 1ooo/., to be
given once in every four years. With a special view to
the promotion of pathological study in the United King-
dom and its dependencies, the Scholarships are limited
to British subjects who must be under thirty-five years of
age; but in all other respects they are entirely open to
persons cujuscungue ordinis stve professionis, Candi-
dates are expected to state precisely the researches they
propose to undertake, and are invited to refer, in support
of their applications, to any work they may have in pro-
gress or may have published in the same or in any
kindred field of study. In the appointment to Scholar-
ships preference will be given to those candidates whose
researches are judged likely to result in increase of know-
ledge of the “ Causation or Preventability of some impor-
tant Disease or Diseases.’ It is further provided that
towards the close of his year of scholarship each scholar
shall publish the result of his research or researches either
in print, or, if desired, in a lecture to be delivered at
Grocers’ Hall or elsewhere.
The Quadrennial Discovery Prize is intended to reward
original investigations, irrespectively of the country in
which they may have been made, which shall have resulted
in important additions to exact knowledge in particular
(previously defined) subjects. The subject for the first
Discovery Prize will be announced in May next, and the
award will be made in May, 1887, when a further subject
for investigation will be proposed. Any treatise which
the candidate may have published, whether in England
or in any other country, at any time during the period
allowed, will be accepted as a competition-treatise,
“oe
April tg, 1883 |
NATORE
75
on
provided that the author has duly declared himself a can-
didate. Every treatise must be in print and in the English
language, and must bear the name of its author. It
seems to be contemplated that some definite problem will
always be involved in the subject announced, the solution
of which will be considered as the essential condition of
success. But if it shall appear that although this has not
been accomplished any candidate has made valuable pro-
gress towards its accomplishment, or has even incidentally
made some discovery of practical importance, the merits
of such candidate will be recognised by the award of a
part of the sum offered.
Such is the scheme; we think it will be generally
regarded as well adapted for the accomplishment of the
end proposed. The objections to which it is liable are
exclusively those which are applicable to all similar
schemes for the encourage nent of research by pecuniary
endowment.
To the Discovery Prize we attach less value than to the
other. In the natural sciences discoveries are usually
made by men to whom the prospect of a reward, however
munificent, would not be a sufficiently strong reason to
induce them to change the course or purpose of their
investigations. It is the consideration of this fact, no
doubt, which has led the Company, we think very wisely,
to determine to accept published researches in competi-
tion; but here the difficulty at once arises, for the dis-
covery must relate to a particular question previously
announced. How will the selection of this question be
made?
It is clearly desirable that on each occasion the problem
selected should be one which will certainly meet with its
solution during the next four years—and therefore one as
to which investigation is already in progress. To antici-
pate what will and must soon be discovered is half way
towards discovery, and consequently demands, on the
part of the individuals intrusted with the selection, powers
at least equal to those which it is proposed to recognise
in the bestowal of the prize. Nothing could be better
than that Prof. Tyndall, Mr. Simon and the other scientific
advisers of the Company should have the opportunity
given them, or rather the duty imposed upon them, of
publishing these forecasts of the probable progress of
knowledge in relation to the causes of disease, for, even
if their prognostications serve no other purpose, they will
at least be of use in directing inquiry into the most
promising channels.
The more important division of the scheme—that which
relates to the scholarships—is open to no objections of
the kind referred to above. Its purpose is simple, and
the way in which it is proposed to carry it out effectual.
It is of course quite as impossible to make a worker of a
man by giving him a scholarship as to make a discoverer
of him by offering him a prize, but there is this difference
between the two cases, that the endowment evadles, the
prize only vewards. The scholarships are limited to
candidates under thirty-five. Among men of this age
who are now working at pathology in this country we
may be sure that there are some who are doing so, if one
may so express it, at the cost of life, for they are devoting
to investigations which certainly will not pay, time which
could otherwise be spent with direct advantage to them-
selves ; and that there are among such men some at least
‘
who are fitted by nature to undertake the work of investi-
gation, and have the additional qualifications afforded by
training in scientific methods. Their number is no doubt
very inconsiderable, for pathology as a science is of very
recent birth. Itis the offspring of physiology, and has
only just arrived at such a stage of development as to
claim an independent position. By reason of its being in
this evolutionary condition it happens in pathology, as
in all other sciences during the initial stage of their
growth, that the more work is done the more is re-
quired—the completion of each bit of research only
preparing the way for fresh investigations. New me-
thods, new applications. of physical, chemical, or physio-
logical knowledge to the problems which relate to the
causes of disease, are being brought within reach of
the pathological worker every year, but all of these
require work to make them fruitful. There is therefore
not the least reason for apprehending that there will be any
difficulty in finding subjects for future inquiries. It is far
more doubtful whether the men possessing the qualifications
which have been already indicated will be forthcoming.
At first, if we are not mistaken, the choice will be very
restricted, but each year will bring an accession of
strength to the ranks of the competitors, so that if in the
first instance the Company should be advised for want of
suitable applicants to allow one or more of their scholar-
ships to remain vacant, they will act wisely in delaying
the appointment.
We do not think that the difficulty will arise, for the tide
has already turned. Practical medicine, which has hither-
to been strangely indifferent to the science on which it
professes to be founded, is awakening to the importance
of scientific investigation of the cause and nature of
diseases. Among indications of the change may be
mentioned the origin and successful progress of the new
“Association for the Advancement of Medicine by Re-
search,’ which has begun its function by devoting its
funds to an inquiry into the etiology of tuberculosis.
Another fact of equal moment as indicating the recogni-
tion of pathology as a special subject of study, is the
intended establishment of a Professorship of the science
in the University of Cambridge—an example which will
no doubt soon be followed by the sister University. When
this shall have been accomplished it may be hoped that
the great educational institutions which are attached to
Guy’s, Bartholomew’s, and St. Thomas’s Hospitals may
be also induced to follow the example of the Worshipful
Company of Grocers, by doing something more than they
have done hitherto to encourage and provide for “the
making of exact researches into the causes of important
diseases and the means whereby these causes may be
prevented or obviated.”
ELEMENTARY METEOROLOGY
Elementary Meteorology. By R. H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S.,
Secretary to the Meteorological Council. (London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., 1883.)
M R. SCOTT’S aim in this text-book of meteorology
is to explain the conditions required for the
successful prosecution of the science, and to show in
some detail the more prominent of the results which have
already been arrived at. The various instruments are
576
figured and described, and the methods of observing
detailed at length ; and emphasis is laid on the necessity
of securing accurate observations, and of paying atten-
tion, in making arrangements for observing, to the few
simple and obvious principles which underlie the science.
An account is then given of the geographical distribution
of temperature, pressure, and the other phenomena of
meteorology, particularly those which are usually com-
prised under the heads of climate and weather. The
book is a highly successful one, and evinces a full and
ready knowledge of the work which has been done by the
meteorologists of this and other countries down to the
present time, and we must not omit to add that there is
an earnest endeavour manifested throughout to give the
fullest crejit to the first discoverers of the more im-
portant facts and principles.
The following extracts, in explanation of hill and
valley winds and the distribution of rain and weather on
the two sides of a mountain-chain, show the general
style of the book : —
“The day wind brings up moisture to the upper strata
of the atmosphere, and this is condensed, forming caps
on the mountain-tops, and often giving rise to thunder-
storms. The night wind, a descending current, carries
the moisture with it, and so the highest peaks are oftenest
clear inthe early morning. The reasons of this rhyth-
mical change in air-motion are to be sought for in the
action of heat. In the daytime the air in the valleys and
on the lower slopes of the mountains becomes heated and
expanded. The isobaric surfaces over such districts
rise, and the air so raised has a tendency to flow towards
the mountains and up the upper valleys as long as the
heat action over the lowlands is maintained. At night the
temperature in the valleys falls, and the air lying in them
contracts, producing a partial vacuum. This causes the
air above to descend, so that a downward current is
generated, which lasts all through the night. - . .
“When wind coming in from the sea, and therefore
charged with moisture, meets a mountain-chain, it is
forced to rise; it is cooled by rising, and made to give
up much of the vapour it brings with it in copious rains.
The result is that the air is rendered dry and cold. If
now the average height of the cols of the chain above the
plain country beyond be 4000 feet, the air in its descent
may receive an increment of temperature of over 20°,
and as at the same time its capacity for containing
moisture will be increased, it will be felt as a dry hot
wind. This is the explanation of the characteristics of
the Féhn of Switzerland.”’
This gives the true explanation of the increased humid-
ity observed during the hottest hours of the day on the
Faulhorn and similar elevated situations.
A long extract is given (pp. 269-275) from Laughton’s
“Physical Geography,” summarising the broad features
of atmospherical circulation as exemplified by the trades
and anti-trades, in which it is stated that in both hemi-
spheres to the north or south of the parallel of 30° or
40° a strong westerly wind blows with great constancy all
round the world;—and that, alike in the Atlantic and
Pacific; in North America, west of the Rocky Moun-
tains; in the Eastern States; in European Russia and
Germany, and in Northern Asia, there is found the same
predominance of westerly winds. A more decided ob-
jection might have been made to the above view than by
stating that the winds of the temperate zone and of the
higher latitudes seem to be regulated by the distribution
of pressure. Laughton’s statement might possibly be
NATURE
&
[ April 19, 1883
accepted if we had before us little more than Horsburgh
and the other directories of the navigator. In the north-
west of Iceland observations show on the mean of the year
212 days when the wind blows from some easterly point,
and only 71 days*when it blows from any westerly point,
and these prevailing winds of Iceland are essentially
typical of the winds of an extensive region of the north.
The cyclonic and anticyclonic systems of winds observed
on the surface of the earth in ‘connection with the well-
known seasonal areas of low and high pressure are not
merely surface winds, but extend to a considerable height
in the atmosphere. This is evident from the considera-
tion that in winter, pressure is 1°115 inch higher in Siberia
than in Iceland, and in summer o’860 inch higher in the
Atlantic than in the south-west of the Punjaub in the same
latitudes, and that great disturbances of the equilibrium
of the atmosphere must necessarily obtain to very great
heights. It therefore follows that over large portions of
the northern hemisphere gradients for prevailing westerly
winds cannot be formed within many thousand feet of the
earth’s surface.
Mohn’s happy classification of thunderstorms into heat
thunderstorms and cyclonic thunderstorms is adopted and
illustrated. The former is the type which predominates
in summer and in hot climates, while the latter are cha-
racteristic of our Atlantic coasts, Iceland, and Norway,
and are a not infrequent accompaniment of cyclonic dis-
turbances. Cyclonic thunderstorms have their maximum
period in winter, and though they occur at all hours of
the day, yet long-continued observations show a distinct
diurnal period having the maximum during the night ;
and in some regions so strongly marked is this phase that,
of the twenty-three cyclonic thunderstorms which occurred
in Iceland in fourteen years, only three took place at an
hour of the day when the sun was above the horizon. On
the other hand, heat thunderstorms are most frequent
during the hottest period of the day, or during the early
afternoon.
Sheet lightning and the so-called summer or heat
lightning are stated to be nothing else than the reflection
of, or the illumination produced by, distant electrical dis-
charges. This opinion, so long and generally entertained,
is not supported by observation. At Oxford, during the
twenty-four years ending 1876, the following are the
number of times which thunder, with or without lightning,
and lightning unaccompanied with thunder, have been
recorded during May, June, July, and August, from 3 p.m.
to 4 a.m. :—
Thunder. Lightning. Thunder. Lightning.
3-4 p.m. Ly, Aon 10 [O=1i panes 02) ees
4-5 4 27 I PUSINOE, vga tt! 30
5-6 ,, 29 Oo ...mid.-Iam.... 7 27
67 "5; 21 fe} 12) Posi) sone 27
728m Gp noes OE 2 223) (55) fl 120 no
$-0: Son) eee I =A 143 nS
g-I0 ,, 7 7
Thus at Oxford the hours of maximum occurrence of
thunder is from 4 to 6 of the afternoon; but the hour of
maximum occurrence of sheet lightning or heat lightning
is delayed tillabout midnight. These different times, but
above all the larger number of cases of heat lightning
over thunder about midnight, which are nearly as 7 to 2,
proves that a large proportion of these cases of heat
lightning at Oxford were not the reflection of distant
—
April 19, 1883]
NATURE
577
electrical discharges or thunderstorms, and this conclu-
sion is amply confirmed by similar observations made in
other parts of the globe. A very large number of these
cases of sheet lightning at Oxford are, as suggested by
Prof. Loomis in 1868, due to the escape of the electricity
of the clouds in flashes so feeble that they produce no
audible sound, and they occur when the air being very
moist offers just sufficient resistance to the passage of
the electricity to develop a feeble light.
SALVADORI?S PAPUAN ORNITHOLOGY
Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche, di Tommaso
Salvadori. Parte terza. 4to. pp. 597. (Torino, 1882.)
HE completion of the third and concluding portion
of Count Salvadori’s great work upon the Birds of
New Guinea and the adjoining Islands is an event that
should be duly chronicled. We have already spoken of
_ the plan of this great undertaking, and of the excellent
| way in which it has been carried out, in our notices of the
preceding volumes (see NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 240, and
vol. xxiv. p. 603). We will now say a few words upon
the general results arrived at.
The ground covered by the present work embraces, it
| must be recollected, the whole of the northern portion of
| the great Australian region.
The mainland of this dis-
trict is New Guinea, but it also contains the islands of
the Moluccan Archipelago up to “ Wallace's Line,”
besides various groups situated to the east and south-east
of New Guinea, and extending as far as the Solomon
Islands. In the ‘‘ Papuan Sub-region,”’ as it is generally
called, thus constituted, it will be evident that variation
must necessarily play a much more important part than
in the solid continent of Australia. Not only do the
species isolated in the different islands obtain a better
' chance for the exaggeration of their peculiarities (as has
been so well shown by Mr. Wal'ace in his “Island Life”),
but in the mainland of New Guinea we find mountains
reaching to such an altitude as to cause the presence of a
very different fauna from that of the adjoining lowlands.
From these two causes it would be naturally expected
that the ornithology of the Papuan Sub-region would be
more rich in species than that of Australia proper. And
such, indeed, is shown to be the case by the completion
of Count Salvadori’s work, whereby the first summary
has been effected of the Papuan Crnis, since recent
researches have revealed to us its luxuriance. In Mr,
Gould’s great work upon the Birds of Australia little more
than 700 species of birds are given as inhabitants of the
whole of that great continent. By Count Salvadori’s
volumes, we find that 1028 species are already known to
us from the Papuan Sub-region, and, as we all know, a
very large portion of New Guinea and many of the
adjacent islands are still fexva zncognita. Much therefore
remains to be added to the Papuan Avi-fauna, whilst in
Australia the subject is comparatively exhausted.
Taking a general survey of the forms of Papuan bird
life, we see at once how nearly akin it is to that of
Australia. Recent researches especially have shown that
nearly all the peculiar forms of the Australian Ornis have
their representatives in the Papuan Sub-region. Some
of these forms, however (for example, the Paradise-Birds
and the Cassowaries), are much better represented in the
Papuan Islands than on the Australian Continent, and the
Papuan Islands must be regarded as their original home,
whence they have sent forth stragglers into the Southern
Continent.
Such general facts as regards the distribution of bird
life in the Australian Region may be easily gathered from
an inspection of the contents of the present work. But
our author, we are glad to see, promises us to put them
forward in his own shape, in an “Introduction to the
Ornithology of Papuasia and the Moluccas,” which he is
now preparing. In this supplementary volume will be
likewise given chapters on the history and bibliography
of the subject, and a chart to illustrate its somewhat
complicated geography. Count Salvadori is evidently
determined to spare no trouble in order to render com-
plete the results of his eight years’ hard labour on the
Birds of Papuasia and the Moluccas.
OUR BOOK SHELF
Cutting Tools Worked by Hand and Machine. By
Robert H. Smith, M.I.M.E. (London: Cassell,
Petter, Galpin, and Co., 1882.)
STUDENTS of mechanical engineering, and more espe-
cially those who study machine tool construction, have
up to the present time found it very hard to obtain a suit-
able text-book relating to the theoretical part of the
subject ; hitherto almost the only books relating to it
have been published in Germany.
This work comes to hand at a time when the want
of such a work is much felt, and students attending
mechanical engineering classes will find that it will help
them considerably in understanding the construction,
theoretically and practically, of the machines dealt with.
The author in his preface states distinctly that he does not
intend the book to be a descriptive treatise on tools, nor
does he refer to all the different cutting tools in use, but he
has happily chosen the more important machines, and
gives a very full description and illustration of each. The
subject of driving power is dealt with and fully explained,
and results of experiments carried out by the author on
the subject are carefully arranged in tables.
In the first chapters cutting tools for wood are dis-
cussed, the wedge action of any cutting tool being
clearly described and illustrated ; also the method of
grinding and setting edge tools, frequently a very difficult
task for beginners to accomplish. He also gives the
results of experiments carried out by himself on the
power required to be exerted through certain tools when
doing a fixed amount of work, an interesting subject from
a theoretical point of view.
The chapter on chipping-chisels and hand-planes fully
explains the action and construction of the several tools,
the different angles of the cutting-edge of cold chisels are
shown, and the author points out the reasons for varying
the angle according to the quality of the metal. The whole
chapter goes into the subject practically, the explana-
tions being clear and to the point. The next chapters
deal more especially with wood-working machinery. The
variety of teeth used in the different kinds of saws,
including inserted teeth, are amply illustrated, the
important matter of setting the teeth being fully ex-
plained, with experiments showing the power absorbed
in driving the different saws, this also being usefully
arranged in tables; after which the author goes on to
explain the different machines used in working the
metals, milling machinery having its full share of the
text. The cutting speed and rate of feed for milling-
cutters is gone into, and in the latter part of the chapter
the milling-cutters themselves are dealt with. i
Chapter V. relates to the various methods of planing
578
NATURE
»
| April i9, 188
metals, and concludes by dealing with the behaviour and
action of the larger machine tools, including planing,
shaping, and slotting machines, all of which are illus-
trated.
The following chapters go fully and minutely into the
construction and working of the lathe, perhaps the most
important of all the machines in a workshop; describe
its various uses, both for hand-turning and wood, and the
mechanical slide-rest for metals. A screw-cutting and
surfacing lathe is illustrated, and all its different motions
explained. It is impossible here to do justice to these
chapters on the lathe and turning in general. The student
will find the time well employed if he studies them care-
fully, the author evidently being well acquainted with the
practical working of this all-important machine.
The remaining chapters are occupied with drilling,
boring, and the necessary machines for carrying out the
same ; a variety of drills are shown, and their different
uses explained. The drilling machine, its construction,
and various arrangements of feed gear are illustrated and
concisely shown.
The book concludes with shearing and punching
machines.. Various illustrations are given, including
Whitworth’s driving gear for the same, and an illustra-
tion of Tweddle’s hydraulic shearing and punching
machine.
As a treatise on cutting-tools, for wood and iron, this
work will be found extremely useful to engineers gene-
raliy ; moreover, there is a good deal of original informa-
tion that will be found interesting to experienced tool-
makers. The classification of the machinery is decidedly
good, and the descriptions are so simple as to be easily
understood by the uninitiated. It is impossible to study
the book without at once finding that the author is com-
pletely master of his subject. Of course there is no
doubt that practical working is essential to perfection in
any branch of engineering ; yet the student who is unable
to attain such practical knowledge will obtain a good
insight into the construction and the uses of the various
machines and tools in their connection.
The author certainly seems to have omitted a matter
of great importance in tool-making, namely, that of tem- |
pering and hardening the cutting-tools. There is little
doubt that most of the failures arising in wood and iron-
working machinery are due to tools not being properly
hardened. A chapter or two devoted to the subject would
have been of great service.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice ts taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great
that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|
Metamorphic Origin of Granite.—Prehistoric ‘‘ Giants”
I HAVE for some time intended tosend you a few notes on two
matters, bo'h connected with geology, though very different in
kind. In Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 121, there was an interesting
pap-r by Mr. Geikie on the metamorphic origin of granite
and on the crystalline schists. Last autumn I became satisfied
of aconclusion which | had long suspected—that the large granitic
district in the Ross of Mull, adjacent to the Island of Iona,
is a great mass of granite formed by the metamorphism of an old
stratified deposit belonging to crystalline schists. It is well
known to geologists that the Isle of Mull consists almost entirely
of the series of (Tertiary) volcanic rocks which have been admir-
ably described by Prof. Judd. These traps, tuffs, and lavas rest
in sonie places on chalk, and where the chalk had been previously
denuded they rest on Ovlitic and Liassic beds. Older rocks, be-
longing, I think, to the Cambrian series, appear at one place
subjacent to the traps. But the limit of all these volcanic rocks
to the south-west is sharply defined by the deep bay and harbo
of Bunessan, called Loch Laigh. As we enter that loch in |
boat, we have on our left the trap headland of Ardtun, where
found the Tertiary leaf-bed many years ago, and on the right a
headland of massive red granite. But the shores at the end or
head of the bay, including all the hills above the village of
Bunessan, are neither trap nor granite, but are composed of thi
regular crystalline mica schists which constitute the great bulk
the county of Argyll. ‘This is the only part of Mull, so far as
know, where these rocks appear. They stretch right across the
long promontory of the Ross to the southern shore. At the hi
of Loch Laigh they are more highly crystalline than in most
parts of the mainland of the county. Very fine crystals o
tourmaline have been found above Bunessan, and the schists near
the new pier are highly micaceous and in some places full of
coarse garnets. These schists dip at a high angle, and indeed
are in some places nearly perpendicular. On the southern coast
of the promontory (which is here very narrow) they occupy 2
considerable space between the traps which terminate on the
farm of Scoor, and the granite which begins on the farm of
Ardalanish. The point of contact between these schists and the
granite is obscured at the head of Loch Laigh, and I have not
visited it on the southern shore. But the point of most interest
will be found in the granitic headland which forms the
south-western shore of Loch Laigh. Along part of this
shore the granitic masses at the top of the hill have all
the appearance of standing upon legs. These legs at a
little distance seem granitic, and although they have a suspi-
cious appearance of tilted strata, I had passed them over and
over again under a general impression that they were nothing —
but granite divided by unusually narrow lines of cleavage. On
examining them, however, carefully, in August, 1882, I found
that they are (in my judgment) beyond all doubt crystalline
bedded schists exhibiting the phenomena of metamorphism in
the most curious and instructive form. The metamorphicaction
has often segregated the mineral const'tuents of the old sedi-
mentary rock in bands tran-verse to the line of bedding, so that
in one stratum we have bands of pure quartzite and of horn-
blende gneiss, between bands of granitoid and of pure granitic
composition. These beds pass up without a break into the
am rphous granite of the great bulk of the hill; and how pure
and typical that granite will be acknowledged when I add that
the columns of the memorial to the Prince Consort in Hyde Park
are made of it. Since discovering this passage I have found
some other spots on the c .ast where the relstion of the two rocks
to each other is well seen. ‘he best is on the deeply indented
shore of the fam of Awockvoligan, behind the Island of
**Gilan Giraid,”’ on which the Northern Light Commissioners
have placed their establishment in the Sound of Iona. Boats
can be bired at Iona, and at high tide there is a beautiful passage
behind Gilan Giraid to the shore I refer to. There.a dark
hornblendic gneiss will be seen underlying, involved in, and
pas-ing into granite in every form of complication and variety.
An interesting question arises as to the horizon to which this
hornblendic rock belongs. As Iona belongs unquestionably, as
I believe, to the Laurentian series, and the Bunessan schists to
the metamorpho-ed Silurian, the sub-granite gneiss which
intervenes may be assigned to either the one or the other. My
impres-ion is that it represents some of those gneissose beds of
the Silurian series which are highly developed in Sutherland,
and lie high above the ‘‘fundamental” or Laurentian gneiss, so
well known in that county. I should be very glad if some com-
petent geologist could investigate this district of the Ross of
Mull, and could confirm or check my observations.
Turning now to the other subjec>. I have been surprised to
sée in the English scientific j »urnals no notice taken of the very
remarkable discovery reported from the Californian Academy
of Science in a paper communicated to that body by Charles
Drayton Gibbs, C.E., on the discovery of a great number of
(apparently) human footprints of a gigantic size in the State of
Nevada. It appears that in building the State Prison, near
Carson City, the capital of that State, there was occasion to cut
into a rock composed of alternate layers of sandstone and clay.
On several of the clay floors exposed in this operation great
numbers of tracks of all sorts of animals have been exposed.
These tracks include footprints of the mammoth or of some animal
like it, of some smaller quadrupeds apparently canine and feline,
and of numerous birds. Associated with these are repeated
tracks of footsteps, which all who have seen are agreed can
'
April 19, 1883]
NATURE
579
be the footsteps of no other animal than man, and the engravings
and photographs which accompany the paper leave no doubt on
the mind of any one who sees them. The most remarkable
circumstance characterising them is their great size, In one
case there are thirteen footprints measuring 19 inches in length
by 8 inches wide at the ball, and 6 inches at the heel. In
another case the footprints are 21 inches long by 7 inches wide.
There are others of a smaller size, possibly those of women.
One track has fourteen footprints 18 inches long. The distance
between the footprints constituting a ‘‘step” varies from 3 feet
3 inches to 2 feet 3 inches and 2 feet 8 inches, whilst the distance
between the consecutive prints of the same foot constituting a
** pace”’ varies from 6 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 6 inches. In none
of the footprints of the deposit are the toes or claws of animals
marked. As regards the beasts, this is probably due to the
‘*slushy ” state of the mud when the tracks were made. But
in the case of the human footprints it is probably due to the use
of some kind of shoe or mocassin.
I need not say that so far as the geological horizon is con-
cerned this discovery does not carry the existence of man beyond
the Quaternary Mammalia, with which it has long been pretty
clear that he was associated in prehistoric times. Nevertheless
it is, if confirmed, a highly remarkable discovery, especially as
connected with the curious intimation so concisely made in the
Jewish Scriptures, ‘‘And there were giants in those days.”
Hitherto, so far as I know, the remains of prehistoric man, so
far as hitherto discovered, have not revealed anything abnormal in
point of size, It is just possible that the slippery and yielding nature
of the muddy lacustrine shore on which the tracks were made
may have partly occasioned the apparent size. ut the photo-
graphs and engravings exhibit them as very sharp and ‘‘ clean
cut.” Professional Indian trackers have been employed to ex-
amine the tracks, and none of them seem to have the smallest
doubt as to the footprints being human. ARGYLL
Cannes, April 14
P.S.—The paper was sent to me by my son, the Governor-
General of Canada, a few weeks ago.
“The Ether and its Functions”
In NATURE, vol. xxvii. pp. 304, 328, is a reprint of a lecture
delivered by Dr. Oliver Lodge in December 28, 1882, at the
London Institution, on ‘‘ The Ether and -its Functions.” As
this happens to be a subject to which I have devoted special
attention, 1 would beg to offer a few remarks, also as wy name is
alluded to in the article,
The repudiation of the assumption of ‘‘action at a distance ”
in the first part of the lecture, coupled with the ingenious argu-
ments by which its baselessness is exhibited, will no doubt be
encouraging to all those who favour the advance of knowledge.
But that portion of the lecture dealing with the constitution of the
ether (and which assumes it to be non-molecular) is to my mind
disappointing, as it looks hke a step backwards to suppose the
ether to be something essentially different from ordinary matter,
while on all sides the simple opinion of the ‘‘unity of matter”
has been making progress. I will quote the passage more
especially relating to this point, viz. :—
“As far as we know, it (the ether) appears to be a perfectly
homogeneous incompressible continuous body, incapable of
being resolved into simple elements or atoms ; it is in fact con-
tinuous, not molecular. There is no other body of which we can
say this, and hence the properties of ether must be somewhat
different from those of ordinary matter” (p. 305).
It will be admitted that clearness is a first desideratum in a
theory, It appears difficult to see how an ‘‘zncompressible”
body isto transmit waves.* A remark of Maxwell’s in his paper
“On the Dynamical Theory of Gases” has some bearing on this
point, viz. : ‘‘ The properties of a body supposed to be a uniform
plenum [z.e. not molecular] may be affirmed dogmatically, but
* For it seems apparent that an incompressible, non-molecular, ‘* friction-
less”’ liquid could not-have wave-energy imparted to it at all, or a hot
substance could not emit light or heat in such a medium. Moreover let us
(in a spirit of fair argument) take a representation of one of the most
commonplace effects in physics, say an explosion of gunpowder. Then the
assumption of “*action at a distance’”’ being rejected, there is (admittedly)
no more playful building of castles in the air out of ** force,’’ or no store of
phantom energy to get the motion (“‘explosion”’) from. ‘The motion there-
fore must inevitably come from the matter of space, or froma set of particles
or atoms already in motion in space in their normal state. How is a non-
molecular, /rictzondess liquid to lay hold (astit were) or act upon the molecules
of gunpowder and put them in motion? Is not the objection conclusive
though elementary ?
cannot be explained mathematically” (Pi. Trans., 1867,
p- 49). Moreover, it seems hard to reconcile the fact that Sir
W. Thomson’s theory of the constitution of matter is apparently
adopted or favoured in the lecture, and yet at the same time the
molecular or atomic nature of the ether is repudiated. But is
not Sir W. Thomson’s theory of matter essentially an atomic
theory? The incompressible fluid outside the vortex atoms can-
not serve as the ether, or this seems an impossibility. Maxwell,
for example, remarks in relation to this point, viz.: ‘‘The
primitive fluid [7.2. the fluid exterior to the atoms] entirely eludes
our perceptions” ! (see ‘* Encyc. Brit.,” article ‘* Atom,” p. 45).
The ether, however, does not entirely elude our perceptions, but
is very distinctly felt in the beating of the waves of light upon
the eye. It appears, therefore, that if the ether is to affect the
senses at all it must consist of atoms or molecules (doubtless
very much smaller than those of gross matter, a difference in
degree but not a difference in Aizd). It may be noted in passing
here how often notoriously has the error of mistaking a mere
difference in degree for a difference in kind or essence been made
in the history of science, and the correction of this error with
the correlation and simplication of views attendant on its re-
moval marks one of the chief stages of our progress. The
theory of evolution abolished this error in regard to the animal
world ; its abolition in regard to the universe of matter is equally
demanded. One satisfaction that Sir W. Thomson’s theory of
matter brings, consists perhaps in the fact that it does not over-
throw our old conceptions as to the atomic constitution of matter
so firmly built up by the able reasoners of the past, including
Lucretius and Newton—and which has produced such great
results for science. The Thomsonian view goes rather to con-
firm the atomic theory and to establish its truth by explaining in
addition how an atom can be e/as¢zc and yet indestructible. Let us
not deviate from the well-tried ground of the atomic constitution
of matter, already won with so much labour, unless we are
forced to do so, and let us work towards the great generalisation
of the Unity of Matter and of Energy.
London, April
P.S.—My views regarding the Matter of Space (the result of
many years of thought and study) are contained in various scat-
tered papers, references to the chief of which may be conve-
niently given here, viz. Philosophical Magazine, September and
November, 1877, February, 1878; NATURE, January 15,° 1880 ;
March 17, 1881; March 20, 1879; Philosophical Magazine,
August, 1879, November, 1880; April and May, 1880, &c., &c.
Also a little book, ‘‘ Physics of the Ether” (E. and F. N. Spon),
was published in 1875 as a first imperfect essay on the subject.
The above papers include an atomic theory of the ether, capable
of affording a simple and natural explanation of gravitation
without the aid of ‘‘ultramundane corpuscules ” [2.e. without the
supply of any energy or matter at all from outside the bounds
of the visible universe]. Dr. Lodge seems to admit that his
premises cannot explain gravitation. But is not the elucidation
of gravitation (which may be called the primary physical effect
in the universe) one of the first requirements of any theory of
the constitution of the Matter of Space? A more concise sum-
mary of my views (with additions and developments, the work
of recent years) regarding the relations of the Matter of Space
to ordinary matter and to the local fluctuating changes taking
place in the universe, may be found in the forthcoming volume
of the Zyansactions of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, to which
they have been communicated by Prof. Ludwig Boltzmann of
Graz.
S. TOLVER PRESTON
““Krao”
Some two months ago there appeared in NaTuRE (vol. xxvii.
Pp. 245) certain statements about ‘*Krao,” the Siamese hairy
child, which with your leave I would venture to correct. Krao’s
parents are both Siamese, not Laos ; they are both still living
in this city; neither of them presents any special peculiarity ;
they have other children still living, and also showing no special
peculiarities ; Krao, it is true, was not born in Bangkok, but in a
village between this and the sea, her parents having a little time
before her birth run away from their master, but coming back
after the event. Siamese is of course Krao’s native language ;
1 A clear and able exposition of the relation of Sir W. Thomson’s theory
of matter to the old-established atomic theory may be found in a paper on
“The Atomic Theory of Lucretius,” by an anonymous author in the .Vorti
British Review for March, :868. . A é
2 This paper includes a corpuscular theory of light consistent with the
main principles of the undulatory theory—vo? therefore an evzdssion theory.
580
in her short journey up country with Mr. Bock, she, being an
intelligent child, picked up a few words of Laos; the joints of
her arms and fingers possess, it is true, according to European
ideas great flexibility, but really they have it to no greater degree
than those of ordinary Siamese ; it is also true that she is able
to use her toes, grasping things between the big toe and the next
one in a way that is surprising and amusing to Europeans, but
this is a faculty which all Siamese, being a barefooted people,
possess to a greater or less degree ; the child was looked upon here
as even a greater natural curiosity than she is considered to be in
England, her parents being in the habit of taking her about and
showing her for a small reward, and the price they obtained for
her (in native currency equal to 60/.) being twice that of an
ordinary child of the same age. A strange mistake has been
made about the child’s name, “ Krao” being merely the Siamese
name for whiskers, a very natural nickname for the child to
obtain. As far as I can ascertain from those who knew the
child well, she is endowed with the average intelligence of
Siamese children of her age and class, and beyond her abnormal
hairiness presents no peculiarity.
To sum up, “‘she is,” as you rightly remarked, “‘ merely a
lusus nature, or a sport, possessed rather of a pathological than
an.anthropological interest. I may add that I have carefully
verified all the foregoing statements. A RESIDENT
Bangkok, Siam, March 3
[From information that has siice reached me I am able fully
to confirm the particulars here supplied by ‘‘A Resident.”—
A. H. K.]
Singing, Speaking, and Stammering
In Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 532, in the report of Dr. Stone’s
lecture on ‘‘ Singing, Speaking, and Stammering,” there appears
a Classification of Vowels, which is described as an abstract of
Mr. Melville Bell’s scheme. I shou'd like, however, to point
out that the system which Mr. Bell has advocated for the last
fifteen years is hardly represented in the Classification referred
to. On turning to p. 63 of Mr. Bell’s ‘‘Souads and their
Relations,” which is a new exposition of ‘‘ Visible Speech,” it
will be seen that the vowels /r and 4/ are not described as
labio-lingual, and that the threefoli arrangement of the vowels
as lingual, labio-lingual, and labial is abandoned as incorrect.
The lecturer does not appear to have mentioned the phonetic
researches of Mr. A. J. Ellis and Mr. Henry Sweet. In many
important points, however, they supplement the system of Mr.
Bell, and their works cannot be overlooked in the scientific
study either of etymology or pronunciation. The student of
language can hardly do better than begin with Mr. Ellis’s
“Speech in Song,” and Mr. Sweet’s ‘‘ Handbook of Phonetics.”
JAMEs LECKY
5, Alexandra Road, Wimbledon, S.W., April 10
Tue classification of vowels to which Mr. Lecky refers is
taken fron Mr. Melville Bell’s ‘‘ Principles of Elocution,”
which I obtained with much difficulty from a publisher in Salem,
Massachusetts. It is dated 1878, and may, I suppose, be held to
represent the author’s system at that date, I am well acquainted
with the other works named by Mr, Lecky. W. H. STONE
As an illustrative instance of the peculiarities akin to stammer-
ing, referred to in Mr. Stone’s lecture in last week’s NATURE
(p. 559), I may mention the case of an old Scotch lady whom
I knew some years ago, and who was in the habit of interpola-
ting at frequent intervals in her talk the wholly irrelevant
words ‘‘This that here there ye ken.” She herself evidently
made ue of the words with perfect unconsciousness of their
irrelevancy ; indeed I doubt whether, if challenged, she would
have admitted using them at ail. kK,
A Curious Case of Ignition
“A cuRIOUS case of ignition,” quoted in NATURE, vol, xxvii.
p- 509, reminds me of a similar circumstance that came under
my own observati n when serving in H.M. despatch vessel
Psyche, 1862-66. We were moored ‘‘head and stern” in Port
Napoleon, Marseilles, ona bright summer day. A strong smell
of burning was traced to the saloon skylight. Ou bursting open
the door of the saloon it was found that a scuttle glass (a plano-
convex lens) through which the solar rays were admitted and
NATURE
[April 19, 1883
)
focused on a rep curtain (which was smouldering) had been
substituted for a broken one, but through an oversight had not
been ground on the plane surface (as is usual). The case was
reported by letter, and an order issued to insure all scuttle glasses
used in men-of-war for the purpose being ground.
BERTRAM GWYNNE
Fibreballs
I HAVE seen balls of vegetable fibre, such as those referred to
by Mr. G. H. Darwin in his letter of March 23 (NATURE,
vol. xxvii. p. 507), in great abundance on the sea-beach at
Cannes ; there however they are not spherical like those de-
scribed by Sir A. Musgrave, but cylindrical, two or three inches —
in length, finely and closely matted, and all wonderfully similar —
in appearance. In one place they had been collected and
employed, if I remember rightly, to form a kind of wall. Some —
balls of a similar kind, but more nearly spherical and much
coarser in texture, were found, on draining a pond, by
Dr. Fitton, and sent by him to Sir J. Herschel, these were
three or four inches across, and looked almost llke small hedge-
hogs rolled up.
Benevolence in Animals
Mr. Geo. J. RoMANEs, in a lecture delivered in Manchester,
March 12, 1879, on ‘‘Animal Intelligence,” points out the
following emotions which resemble human intelligence as occur-
ring in animals below the human species, namely : fear, affection,
passionateness, pugnacity, jealousy, sympathy, pride, reverence,
emulation, shame, hate, curiosity, revenge, cruelty, emotion of
the ludicrous, and emotion of the beautiful, and gives some
remarkable instances in support of his statement. To this I can
add benevolence on the part of our household cat, who was ob-
served to take out some fish bones from the house to the garden,
and, being followed, was seen to have placed them in front of
a miserably thin and evidently hungry stranger cat, who was
devouring them ; not satisfied with that, our cat returned, pro-
cured a fresh supply, and repeated its charitable offer, which was
apparently as gratefully accepted. This act of benevolence over,
our cat returned to its customary dining-place, the scullery, and
ate its own dinner off the remainder of the bones, no doubt with
additional zest. OsWALD FITCH
Woodend, Fortis Green, N., April 12
The Zodiacal Light (?)
Last Friday evening about 7 p.m. my attention was called to
a peculiar appearance in the western sky. The sun had set not
long before. No clouds were visible but one long thin streak,
and there were the usual mists near the horizon. Above where
the sun might be, a pillar of light faintly red in colour, with soft
edges, but fairly well defined, rose vertically from near the horizon
to the height of perhaps a few degrees. It did not look like an
illuminated cloud nor like rays of light shot up through a cloud,
nor like anything local ; in fact I am told that it moved north-
wards with the sun. Was this the zodiacal light, or merely some
sunset effect? It began to grow dim about 7.10 p.m, but was
visible later than this. Sieh fe
New Kingswood School, Lansdown, Bath, April 10
Braces or Waistband ?
THE writer has for the last thirty years dispensed with the use
of either braces or a belt, having had his waistcoats made with
short elastic straps attached inside and with holes to button on
to the trousers Jike braces, one on each side and a third in
front.
- They answer as well as braces in conjunction with the ordinary
waistband and buckle of the trou-ers, and the wearer is saved the
feeling of strain across the shoulders or round the waist con-
nected with the use of braces or a belt. G. H
April 13
THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY
MECHANICS *
At the recent Annual Meeting of the Association for
the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching held, as
has already been noted in our columns, at University
* Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching, Ninth
General Report, January, 1883.
April 19, 1883}
NATURE
581
College, on January 17, the following statements of work |
done by the Committees were presented. In Sold
Geometry no progress had been made in consequence of
the serious illness of the secretary (Mr. Merrifield), but
the President in his subsequent address remarked that it
was hoped that the Committee would meet at an early
date and work out, upon the basis of what Mr. Merrifield
had done, a syllabus of propositions corresponding to the
11th and 12th Books of Euclid and the simpler geometry
of the sphere. In Azgher Plane Geometry the Committee
had revised about half of the syllabus issued in 1879 and
nad added chapters on the geometry of the triangle and
on geometrical maxima and minima (copies were distri-
buted amongst the members present, and have been
subsequently circulated). In Geometrical Comics the
former syllabus had also been revised and continued to
the end of the hyperbola (this syllabus is also in the
hands of members). In Elementary Plane Geometry the
proofs of Book I. ot the Sy//abws had been revised, the
proofs of Book II. drawn up,and a collection of Exercises
on Books I. and lI. had been added (the motion in con-
nection with the adoption of these proofs, which was
down in the President’s name, had to be postponed in
consequence of copies not having been circulated before
the meeting). Gratifying testimony to the success of the
Association’s efforts was afforded by the fact recorded in
the Council's Report that the copies of the syllabus were
all disposed of, and that it was in contemplation to bring
out at once a revised edition of the work in accordance
with the changes made in the books of proofs.
In addition to the ust.al routine business, the President
closed the morning sitting with some remarks on the
teaching of arithmetic. This is a subject the claims of
which upon teachers he has at many previous meetings
pressed vpon his hearers, it being his desire that the
teaching should be put upon a sounder footing than it at
present in most cases occupies. A true disciple of his old
master, De Morgan, he insisted strongly upon the more
frequent appeal to reason than to rule. “It seemed to him
to be the wrong order to give first the rule and then the
reason. Teachers should take particular examples, and
work them out with reasons for every step. They should
lead up to a rule by a series of examples worked out from
common sense, and only when these have been thoroughly
grasped should the rule be introduced as a convenient
embodiment and summing up of the results attained by
the application of reason and common sense.” A
common habit with boys is to ask, ‘‘ How am I to do
this?” “In his own practice he never answered that ques-
tion, but he said, ‘What does it mean? If you will only
find out what it means, then you will know how to do it.’”
Another principle he advocated was “‘that all arithmetical
processes should follow the order of thought, according
to which numbers are grouped in language... .. The
order of thought in the expression of numbers was from
the higher group to the lower, hundreds to tens, tens to
units, &c.” In this connection he referred to a lecture by
the late Mr. Bidder. A reform on the principles he (the
President) advocated would, he believed, be very valuable
in teaching and in the practical operations of a:ithmetic.
In the natural sciences arithmetic is applied to cases
where approximate data only are employed. “ Hence it
was becoming more and more important that methods of
approximation should be carefully and distinctly taught.”
This led him to enter a protest against the practice, fre-
quent amongst University examiners, of setting in papers
for schoolboys, ‘‘ among the questions on decimal frac-
tions, some examples to be done only by reducing recur-
ring decimals to vulgar fractions, and then working out
the result by vulgar fractions. To give prominence to
such examples was simply to destroy the notion which a
* A special meeting for the purpose of considering the postponed motion
was held at University College on the evening of March 20, at which the
“* proofs’” were adopted and their publication sanctioned.
\
good teacher would have been endeavouring to instil into
a boy’s mind, that decimal fractions are useful only in
general for approximate results. He did not wish to say
anything against recurring decimals rightly used and in
their proper place.” A final point was that he would sub-
stitute Horners process for the extraction of any roots
for “the awkward and almost useless special piocesses
usually given for extracting square and cube roots.
This he would teach simply as a process; but of course
with fair warning to the boy by telling him that he was
for once giving him a process which would lead to the
desired result, an 1 that it would be a reward of his future
mathematical attainments if he could get to the reason of
it.
The novel feature, however, in this year’s proceedings
was the holding of an afternoon sitting, which was‘wholly
devoted to the consideration of the subject of elementary
mechanics. This meeting was the outcome of the recent
extension of the Association’s sphere vf action, and proved
to demonstration that the said extension had met with
the approval of many of our most able physicists. The
papers rcad were three in number: (1) The Teaching of
Elementary Mechanics, by Mr. W. H. Besant, F.R.S. ;
(2) Notes on the Teaching of Elementary Dynamics, by
Prof. G. M. Minchin ; (3) The Basis of Statics, by Prof.
H. Lamb of the University of Adelaide. (1) is remark-
able as proceeding from a successful Cambridge “ coach,”
_who finds it difficult to emancipate himself “ from the ideas
and prejudices which are the natural results of an adher-
ence for many years to a special set of books and to a
special system of teaching. The fact constantly before
us in Cambridge, that mechanics are being studied witha
view to success in examinations, tends to make us forget
the importance of the practical application to daily
life of a knowledge of mechanics, and the tempta-
tion is to luxuriate in the flowery and ornamen-
tal prcblems which sometimes form the staple of
examination questions,” whereas ‘‘millions of people
must acquire a knowledge of the laws of mechanics,
practical or theoretical, or both, who are not going to be
tested by a Cambridge examination.” It however goes
without saying that at present Cambridge methods do
exercise a very large influence on the teaching of me-
chanics throughout the country. In the case of young
students and beginners, Mr. Besant censiders that the
first requisite for a class-room is a set of models and a
quantity of machinery (segnius irritant animos, &c.).
“The handling of systems of pulleys, and experiments
with levers and screws, will guide the student, almost
unconsciously, to the ideas of the transmission of
motions, and of the transmission and multiplication of
force. . . . Then, again, experiments with falling bodies,
and with an Attwood’s machine, will illustrate the ideas
of uniform motion and of accelerated motion, and gene-
rally of the action of gravity. ... For many students
this kind of experimental teaching will probably be suffi-
cient for the work of their lives, and it will be certainly
educationally useful.” The Cambridge practice has
been to treat the subjects of statics and dynamics sepa-
rately, and to take statics first ; and the teaching is so
limited that the ordinary Bachelor of Arts, whose reading
has been limited to statics alone, “is sent out into the
world without any perception of the laws of motion, anc
without any knowledge of the elementary deductions
from those laws, which are necessary requisites for a true
appreciation of a vast range of natural phenomena.”
Passing next in review the change of nomenclature anc
of treatment inaugurated by Professors Thomson ana
Tait, and the late Prof. Clerk Maxwell, Mr. Besant
records his opinion that Duchayla’s proof is “forced and
unnatural,” and causes a considerable waste of time. His
wish is that the examiners should have greater freedom
of action. He would, following the lead of the above-
named eminent physicists, commence with a study of the
582
NATURE
| dpric 19, 1883
elementary parts of kinematics, to include “the ideas and
measures of velocity and acceleration, the parallelogram
of velocities, and the parallelogram of accelerations, the
motion of a point with a constant acceleration, and the
acceleration of a point moving uniformly in a circle.”
Then would come “ falling bodies and projectiles.” From
these particular cases the student will get a general idea
of the action of force, and so be prepared for a study of
the laws of motion, and of the deductions from these laws. |
“One of the first of these is the parallelogram of forces,
and I am convinced by actual experiment of the ease with
wh ch that mode of proof is appreciated by a beginner.
The perception of the physical independence of forces,
which is really the qualitative part of the second law of
motion, is not a serious difficulty to the majority of
beginners in mechanics, and from this principle, with the
aid of the parallelogram of velocities, the parallelogram
of forces is developed easily and naturally.” Next may
be taken the mechanical powers and simple cases of
equilibrium of bodies and systems of rods, a statement of
the laws of friction, and the determination of the centres of |
gravity of bodiesand systems. Mr. Besantalso laid great
stress upon graphical modes of solution, referring to Mr.
Minchin’s work on Statics for numerous examples in these |
methods. ‘“ The discussion of the theory of moments of
forces would naturally lead up to the idea of a couple
and to the transformation and composition of couples.”
The pupil might then proceed to the impact of balls on
each other: ‘‘ The easiest method for every one... is to
assume the invariability of momentum, and the constancy
of the ratio of the relative velocities before and after im-
pact. The consideration of the action of the forces of
compression and of restitution is a more difficult idea,
and should be deferred to a later stage of the student’s
progress. In the discussion of these points the idea of
work and of kinetic and potential energy may be intro-
duced and illustrated, gradually leading up to the state-
ment of the general principle of energy.” Dwelling
upon the wonderful results that accompany the employ-
ment of this general principle, ‘‘the very concentrated
essence of science,” which in elementary mechanics
“widens the path and shortens the road, and reduces to
simple forms of thought many problems which used to
be reckoned as belonging to advanced regions of the
higher mechanics, and as depending for their solution on
the complicated machinery of analytical process,” the
paper alluded to the fact that it was only as recently as
1877 that this principle of energy appeared in Part I. of
the Tripos Examination—a result mainly to be attributed,
we believe, to Prof. Clerk Maxwell’s advocacy of it. The
principle is carefully laid down and discussed in ‘On
Matter and Motion,” as well as elaborately discussed in
Thomson and Tait’s ‘“ Natural Philosophy,’’ and in
inany recent elementary treatises. With such views of
its importance, we are not surprised to find Mr. Besant
pleading for the introduction of the idea of energy as
early as possible, and that every effort should be made to
“illustrate the idea by means of simple cases and so to
lead the student upwards, by gradual steps, to the con-
ception of the most important principle which lies at the
root of all modern science.’’ Another point on which
the paper touches is that “ ill-chosen technical terms are
likely to propagate erroneous ideas and confusion of
thought,” and reference is made to recent remarks on the
use of the word “force.” Then coming to the question of
a syllabus of mechanics, Mr. Besant remarks that “ it will
be a matter of supreme importance to discuss the defini-
tions and axioms of the subject,” and instances a common
definition of the word ‘‘ vertical’””—that it is the line in
which a stone moves when let fall.
with a few general remarks on the value of some branches
of scientific study as an education, from which we select
the two following extracts :—“ The safest and wisest plan
The paper closes |
|
seems to be to let every man, who wishes to make research
| be accompanied by acceleration 2?”
in physics, find out for himself the kinds of tools which
he wants, and then learn as much of the use of those tools
as may be necessary.’’ ‘‘ The elementary subjects, such
as mechanics and astronomy, are of more educational
value to the majority of students than the higher regions
of science, and only a select few should be encouraged to
spend much of their time in such advanced forms of
study.”
(2) In this dynamics includes both statics and
kinetics. The writer is in favour of continuing the old
way of taking statics first, and of then proceeding to
kinetics, and argues strongly against the taking the
former as a particular case of the latter. Two important
advantages, however, of the recent mode of treatment
are not ignored, viz. that the student by concentrating his
attention on force solely as change of motion, it at once
proves for him the fundamental proposition of dynamics,
viz. that of the “parallelogram of torces,” as an imme-
diate result of the easily admitted parallelogram of velo-
cities (‘‘if for the beginner the choice l:y between such
proofs as Duchayla’s, and none, I should say, ‘Assume the
proposition’”); ane next that ‘‘ the kinetical method has
the very great practical advantage that it makes the
student familiar at the outset with the idea of absolute
measures Of force, momentum, energy, &c., such as are
used in the C.G.S. system.’’ The notion of acceleration
isan exceedingly difficult one for beginners, and sucha
one, as a matter of fact, “is confined to the consideration
of acceleration of constant magnitude, and, except in the
case of uniform motion in a circle, to the case of acceler-
ation in a constant direction. Thus he gets plenty of
exercise in the motion of particles down inclined planes,
. +... but what idea does our beginner obtain of the
acceleration of the motion of a particle revolving uni-
formly ina circle? Is there not something prima facie
very difficult, if not absurd, to him in the statement that
any motion which takes place with wmzform velocity can
After a few more
remarks to the same end, Prof. Minchin says, ‘‘ So far as
my own work in teaching is concerned, I have not a
moment’s hesitation in saying that the treatment first of
kinetics and then of statics as a particular case is to be
rejected. So difficult for the mere beginner are the con-
ceptions involved in Newton’s second axiom, that three
months’ work in combating difficulties and removing false
impressions would, almost to a certainty, produce a merely
negligible amount of positive knowledge.” Starting from
| the kinetical definition of force, and thereby establishing
the fundamental proposition (“this does not logically
compel us to continue to treat of motion, deducing rest
as a particular case’’), the writer, after protesting against
the too great importance attached to the getting-up of
“‘book-work,”! expresses the opinion that the student
realises the subject only by incessant application of
the principles to particular cases. For this purpose
nothing, he believes, is so good as numerical examples:
and this in contrast to examples dealing with magnitudes
as algebraical symbols, and to geometrical examples.
“So long as forces are XY, Y, Z, and moments are JZ, ./,
ZV, and no particular consideration of the zséts of dif
ferent quantities is required, they are comfortable enough,
but when we have to deal with pounds and foot-pounds,
dynes and ergs, the utter unavailability and inutility of
their knowledge are made manifest.” Another point
strongly insisted upon is Ze znvariable accompaniment of
Jigures constructed accurately to scale with all the examples.
| The result should be arrived at by calculations made by
means of logarithmic and trigonometrical tables, and also
by graphic construction by the aid of the instruments,
and on all there should be, when possible, “the perpetual
I have met students who could write out paragraph after paragraph of
general propositions in statics, and who at the same time (although such
might appear to a frterf reasoners impossible) could not make the faintest
attempt to discuss any particular question involving the application of the
principles of statics.”
r&
eS ee
April 19. 1883]
NATURE
583
exercise of a common-sense check.” Too much weight may
be attached to graphic statics, “but real utility is gained
by making graphic methods a companion to (though not
wholly a substitute for) analysis,’ and Prof. Minchin
would assign a more conspicuous place to them in the text-
books than they at present occupy. “Their essential
merit consists in their furnishing visibly to the student
the whole history of a magnitude throughout a series of
variations in its circumstances.” Prof. Minchin would
also banish such “crude” terms as “power,” “weight,”
in the equilibrium of machines: such forces might be
called “efforts” and “resistances.” Passing over one or
two other subjects, we come to remarks on “illogical
methods of teaching”; by such a method is here meant @
process which introduces considerations that are not essen-
tially necessary for the purpose aimed at—considerations
that can be seen a priort to be irrelevant. The moral is
pointed by the discussion of a question of usual occur-
rence in the text-books. The student should be able to
be critic of his data, and “he ought to be taught to re-
cognise clearly the object finally aimed at in any problem,
and also to see what he must be given, and what he need
not be given, in order to arrive at it.” For this purpose
_ Prof. Minchin purposely uses with his students some
books which, both in their data and in thetr methods, are
full of illogicisms. The finale comes in pointing out the
desirability of making the student carefully distinguish
between the wezght of a body and its mass, and here he
“comes down,” if we mistake not, on an episcopal writer
of works on dynamics, for a “remarkable misuse of
language.”
(3) Prof. Lamb’s object is to suggest a new basis
for the science of statics, and in the course of his paper
he attacks certain principles and artifices, as “ the trans-
missibility of force,” and (in hydrostatics) the solidifica-
tion of matter, and also “rigid” bodies. The “point of
departure” which he suggests is that “ the true and proper
basis of statics is to be sought for in the principle of
linear and angular momentum. Regarding statics as the
doctrine of the equivalence of forces, I would define the
word ‘equivalent, and say that two sets of forces are
‘equivalent’ when, and only when, they produce the same
effect on the linear and on the angular momentum of any
material system to which they may be applied: ze. when
they produce the same rate of change of momentum in
any assigned direction, and the same rate of change of
moment of momentum about any assigned axis.” He
believes that on examination the objections arising from
the supposed difficulty and abstruseness of this mode
of treatment, “will disappear, and that ox ¢he whole the
method will be found to be really much simpler than that
at present in vogue. The main difficulty is at the outset.”
A brief but interesting discussion followed, enlivened
as it was by a friendly passage of arms over the term
force of inertia. Roeele
THE CHEMISTRY OF THE PLANTE AND
FAURE ACCUMULATORS
PART VE
1. Jnfluence of Strength of Acid
ile the second part of this communication in NATURE,
vol. xxv. p. 461, when treating of the charging of the
cell, we pointed out that in the electrolysis of dilute sul-
phuric acid between lead electrodes, two totally different
reactions might be obtained. The positive metal becomes
thinly coated with lead sulphate when the current em-
ployed is of small density, but with lead peroxide when
the density of the current is of greater magnitude. This
latter action is, of course, what takes place in the ordinary
formation of a Planté battery. The chemical change,
therefore, which goes on at the positive electrode is toa
certain extent dependent upon the strength of the current.
It appeared also of both theoretical and practical interest
to determine whether the chemical change was also influ-
enced by the strength of thc acid employed. Our experi-
ments consisted in passing a current of uniform strength,
about I ampere, between electrodes of lead, 12 square
inches in size, in varying strengths of sulphuric acid, and
estimating in each case the amount of oxygen fixed by
the positive electrode. We determined this for successive
five minutes of time, and as such actions are not always
very uniform, we made in each instance more than one
experiment. The results are given in the following
table : —
| | P f fixed
BEE | sao | eee ee ereenlaee of onseenied
of acid. | First Second {| Third | Fourth Total
| | 5 mins. 5 mins. 5 mins. 2s mins. | “ips
| Bate. eet
| |
etor5y || I 38°1 28°6 28°6 33°3 | 1286
I 39'5 30°2 | 256 | 30:2 | 12575
Ne i |
| | |
I to 10 I 43°4 38°7, | 29:2 34 145°3
! 4471 39°3 29°3 349 147°6
i}
| fe
I to 50 ls |) Ze 3) 39°6 35°3 22:4, || E4516
Il. 46'2 43'9 23 30 143 I
DIT.) | 54a eA Ome eS 563 35°5 | 165
I to 100 Tony ea! 38°3 339 20°5 143°7
II. 4274 40 378 BOS |) ESE y/
Ill. | 511 44°2 | 349 34°9 | 16571
Ito 500, I. 46'6 32°6 27 27 132 6
Il. |) 4674) 27 27 18 1184
= oe ele
Ito tooo I, 90°6 ED a 76°4 57°5 305°6
| Il. go's | wa 72°3 63°1
It appears from this that the strong sulphuric acid (1
to 5) is not quite so favourable to the action as the more
dilute (1 to 10), but that between this latter proportion
and 1 to 500 there is no great difference in the amount of
oxygen fixed, and therefore of corrosion of the plate.
The appearance of the plate in every instance indicated
the formation of only lead peroxide. With sulphuric
acid diluted with 1000 parts of water, the amount of
oxygen fixed, and therefore of corrosion, was at least
doubled, while the chemical action was very different. On
parts of the electrode, streaks of a mixture apparently of
the yellow and puce-coloured oxides were seen. On other
parts a white substance formed and was easily detached,
falling in clouds into the liquid. Where this latter action
took place, the plate was visibly the most corroded. This
white substance gave on analysis SO, equivalent to 736
per cent. of lead sulphate, suggesting the idea that it was
a basic sulphate of the composition 2PbSO,,PbO, which
would require 731 per cent. As the peroxidation of the
lead is required, and the corrosion of the plate is to be
avoided as much as possible, it is evident that this ex-
tremely dilute acid must be avoided. It has already been
shown that if the sulphuric acid is entirely removed from
solution, as sometimes happens in an accumulator, the
lead is simply converted into the hydrated protoxide, and
therefore corroded without any good effect.
2. Function of Hydrogen—In the formation of a
secondary cell, after the complete reduction of oxide or
sulphate to metallic lead, bubbles of hydrogen gas are
seen to escape from the lead plate. It has been assumed
that a portion of this is occluded by the lead, or in some
other way enters into association with it, and it has been
584
NATURE
[April 19, 1883
supposed that this hydrogen compound may play an im-
portant. part in the subsequent production of electro-
motive force. It therefore appeared desirable to obtain
experimental evidence as to whether hydrogen is so
absorbed. The process we adopted for this purpose was
founded upon the observation of Graham that hydrogen
associated with palladium reduced ferri- to ferro-cyanide
of potassium, and that generally in the occluded condition
the element was mure active chemically. We had pre-
viously ascertained that hydrogen associated with other
elements, as platinum, copper, and carbon, was capable
of reducing potassium chlorate to chloride, This method
seemed to give trustworthy results, and therefore we
applied it in this instance. As the result of several trials,
however, we found that the amount of hydrogen asso-
ciated with the reduced lead was almost inappreciable.
Small as this quantity is, however, it is by no means im-
possible that it may be the cause of the exceedingly high
electromotive force observed for the first few moments, on
joining up a completely formed cell immediately after its
removal from the circuit of the charging current. This,
however, may be due, as Planté imagined, to the gaseous
hydrogen itself. The principal if not the only function
of the hydrogen of the water or sulphuric acid is there-
fore that of reducing the lead compounds.
By a totally different process Prof. Frankland has very
recently come to the same conclusion as ourselves in
regard to the exceedingly small amount of occluded
hydrogen.
3. Evolution of Oxygen from the Peroxide Plate.—
Planté noticed a small escape of gas from the negative
plate of his cell immediately after its removal from the
influence of the charging current. This he attributed to
a decomposition of water by means of local circuits be-
tween the peroxide and the subjacent lead plate in contact
with it.
The explanation we gave in our first paper (NATURE,
vol. xxv. p. 221) of the local action which goes on at the
negative plate does not account for the escape of any gas
—either oxygen or hydrogen. We therefore thought
it of interest to ascertain the nature, and if possible the
origin, of the gas noticed by Planté.
We found that the escape of gas from a Planté nega-
tive plate was very slight, and soon ceased; but we
observed that it became much more pronounced when
the temperature of the electrolytic liquid was raised.
order to get a sufficient quantity of the gas for examina-
tion, we prepared a negative plate according to the pro- |
cedure of Faure, and then heated it in dilute acid, with
an arrangement for collecting the gas as it was evolved.
The amount of gas was still very small in comparison with
that of the peroxide, but a sufficient quantity was col-
lected to enable us to ascertain that it was oxygen. We
next heated some of the electrolytic peroxide apart from
the lead plate, and again noticed a similar evolution of
gas, which was also found to be oxygen. This shows,
therefore, that it was not a result of local action.
The gas has generally some odour of ozone, and, on
testing the dilute acid between the plates of a Planté cell,
we always found traces of something that bleached per-
manganate of potassium, and which might be either
ozone or peroxide of hydrogen.
The origin of the gas noticed by Planté may be easily
attributed to the oxygen which always passes off in quantity
from the peroxide plate during the process of “ formation.”
It is only necessary to suppose that some of this becomes
condensed on the peroxide, and is gradually eliminated
from it when the surrounding conditions are changed.
But the matter is capable of another explanation. If
peroxide of hydrogen be really formed in the liquid, it
will exert its well-known influence on higher oxides,
namely, that of reducing them and itself at the same
time.
into peroxide of hydrogen oxygen is evolved.
In |
As a matter of fact, if peroxide of lead is dropped |
| reader to judge for himself.
4. Temperature and Local Action.—Planté has recently
pointed out that an elevation of temperature facilitates
the formation of his secondary cell (Comptes Rendus,
August, 1882). The character of the chemical changes
which took place at the negative plate led us to think it
exceedingly probable that this increase in the rate of
formation arose from an augmentation in the amount of
local action. Experiment showed such to be the case,
Pairs of similar negative plates on Planté’s model were
allowed to remain in repose at 11° C. and 50° C. respec-
tively, and the formation of the white sulphate was visibly
more rapid at the higher than at the lower temperature.
The same is also true with negative plates prepared by
Faure’s process. Thus we found that two similar plates
kept in repose for an hour, the one at 11° C. and the other
at 50° C., formed by local action 2°6 and 7°4 per cent. of
lead sulphate respectively. On two other plates the pro-
portions were 7°6 and 9'5 per cent. respectively. These
observations of course by no means exclude the idea
that an increase of temperature may facilitate the other
chemical changes that take place in the formation of a
lead and lead-oxide cell. J. H. GLADSTONE
ALFRED TRIBE
THE LION AT REST
Be illustration which we give on next page, from Za
Nature, is after a photograph of one of the lions
in the Zoological Gardens, London. This photograph
may be regarded as one of the numerous triumphs of
instantaneous photography, valuable both to art and
Science. The original was rephotographed in Paris
directly on wood, by means of a special collodion, at
present much used. This has assured a_ perfectly
faithful reproduction of the original, exhibiting all the
characteristic details of the lion at rest. The illustration
tells its own story.
ON THE RELATIONS OF THE FIG AND THE
CAPRIFIG?
HE relations of the fig and the caprifig, or the cultivated
varieties of fig and the wild form of the Mediterranean
region, have been variously explained by different writers,
including those recent ones whose works are cited below.
Intimately connected with this question is the process of
| caprification, so often and so circumstantially described
by ancient and modern authors, amongst the later of
whom we may mention Gasparrini. Graf Solms-Laubach’s
essay is an elaborate work of upwards of one hundred
quarto pages, embodying the results of much research.
Not the least interesting part is that treating of caprifica-
tion, or perhaps we might say the manner in which fer-
tilisation is effected. The author regards the cultivated
edible varieties of fig as constituting one race, and the
wild caprifig as another race of one and the same species;
and the former as having developed from the latter under
the influences of cultivation. Gasparrini, on the con-
trary, described them as distinct genera. Dr. Fritz Miller
takes an altogether different view. He says it appears to
him far more likely that the fig and caprifig represent, as
Linnzus supposed, different forms, the male and the
female, belonging together, and not proceeding the one
from the other, but which developed side by side, before
any cultivation, through natural selection. An examina-
tion of the facts adduced by Solms-Laubach himself
seems to point to the correctness of Miller's view. But
we will set them forth as briefly as possible, leaving the
The responsibility of their
accuracy rests with the author whom we are quoting. It
= «Die Herkunft, Domestication und Verbreitung des gewéhnlichen
Feigenbaums (Ficus Carica, L.).’’ Von Grafen 2u Solms-Laubach. (Git-
tingen, 1882.)—‘‘ Caprificus und Feigenbaum.” Von Fritz Miller. Aessros,
xi. p. 30
della Societa
Sulla Caprificazione, &c.'? G. Arcangeli. Processi Verbali
Toscana di Scienze Naturali, November, 1882.
——————— ee
585
NATURE
Apri 19, 1883 |
586
NATURE
[April 19, 1883
may be well to explain, in the first place, the nature of
the fruit of the fig, as it is something more than a seed-
vessel of one flower. The fleshy part is a thickened
hollow receptacle, closed, except a very narrow aperture
at the top, and containing numerous minute flowers
crowded together all over the inside of the cavity. Both
the fig and caprifig produce three more or less distinct
crops of fruit in the course of the year. Each of these
crops of fig and caprifig bears a distinctive name ; but
the three crops of the former do not all reach maturity.
In this country only one crop ripens. The varieties of
the fig in Naples, whether cultivated or wild, produce
fruit at least twice a year, and different varieties exhibit
diverse phenomena in the degree of development and
maturation of the several crops. In the fig the tissue of
the receptacle or inflorescence is fleshy, and the perianth
and pedicels of the individual flowers it contains thicken
and abound in a sugary juice; whilst the fruit of the
caprifig remains hard and milky up to maturity, or only
imperfectly softens just at last without any secretion of
sugar, and then shrivels and dries up. As long ago as
1770, Colin Milne! recorded the fact that the varieties of
fig cultivated in England contained only female flowers ;
and Graf Solms found that male flowers were almost
invariably altogether wanting in the varieties culti-
vated in Naples, and in the very rare exceptional
instances in which they were present they were
imperfectly developed and abnormal, the anthers being
commonly replaced by leafy organs. On the other
hand the inflorescence of the caprifig, as observed in
Naples, usually contained both male and female flowers,
the latter covering the greater part of the surface of the
cavity, and the former restricted to a zone, variable in
breadth, in the neighbourhood of the apical aperture.
is, moreover, noteworthy that the inflorescence exhibits
proterogynous dichogamy in a marked degree. At the
time when the female flowers are in a receptive condition
the male flowers are still in a very early stage of deve-
lopment. The significance of this will perhaps be better
understood after reading the description of caprification— |
that is if we may assume with Miler that this is really a
process of fertilisation, in which there is a mutual adaptation
of the inflorescences of the fig and caprifig and the insect
which is an agent in procuring fertilisation. Before pro-
It |
ceeding to that description, it should be mentioned that a |
variety of the fig exists in Brittany in which normal male
flowers are abundantly produced. Yet, as in the caprifig,
the males are not developed until long after the females
have passed the receptive stage. The position this
caprifig has not been ascertained.
to an original moncecious condition.
With regard to caprification, it was known to the
ancients that an insect inhabits the fruit of the caprifig,
and they also discovered that the visits of this insect to
the fruit of the fig exercised some beneficial influence,
either in accelerating ripening or in hindering the fall of
the fruit before it was ripe. Consequently, branches of
the caprifig were hung on the fig-trees at a certain season
to insure these visits, and effect what was termed caprifi-
cation. The insect that operates in this manner is a
small hymenopter (Blastophaga grossorum, Grav syn.
Cynips psenes, Linn.), the complete annual cycle of deve-
lopment of which takes place within the three crops of
fruit of the caprifig, whilst only one generation visits the
fig, and that, as will be seen, to no advantage to the
insect itself. In order to render what follows easily
understood, we will give the present Neapolitan names of
the three crops of the caprifig. The fruits that hang
through the winter and ripen in April are called mamme
(cratitires of the ancients). These are followed by the
proficht (ornz), which ripen in June, and the mammonz
(fornites), which ripen in August and September. If we
* “A Botanical Dictionary,” in the article on ‘‘ Caprification.”
It may be a reversion
|
closely examine the fv ofichi when fully ripe in June, we
see here and there a black-winged insect emerging from
the orifice at the top, its hairy body dusted over with
pollen grains that have adhered to it in its passage
through the zone of male flowers. And if we cut open
one of these fruits, we find a considerable number of
these insects, all striving to find the way out. These are
females and associated with them are some helpless wing-
less males, and very often a number of a slender ichneu-
mon as well. The female of this generation visits not
only the »zammonz, but also the fruits of the fig, if there
are any at hand, in order to deposit her eggs. Now the
remarkable fact in connection with this is that she is able
to do so effectually in the #zamonz, but not in the edible
fig, though she succeeds in penetrating the fruit far
enough to convey pollen to the female flowers, perishing
in the act. Furthermore the generation of the insect that
develops in the #zammonz deposits eggs in the wzame, and
the generation proceeding therefrom finds an asylum for
its progeny in the Zroficht. Respecting the reproduction
of the lastophaga, Graf Solms claims to have made the
important discovery that the eggs must be deposited within
the integuments of the ovule itself ; other wise they do not de-
velop. The fertility of the insect is astonishing, a very few of
them being able to pierce the numerous female flowers of a
| fruit of the caprifig. For this purpose the ovipositor is
thrust between the branches of the stigma, down the
pollen channel of the style into the ovary, and into the
solitary ovule itself. This act causes a gall-formation,
whilst it does not prevent the development of the ovule
into an imperfect seed, which shelters and nourishes
the larva that escapes from the egg.
The foregoing condensed extracts are perhaps sufficient
to give an idea of the only way in which the female flowers
of the fig are fertilised by the male flowers of the caprifiz.
It seems to be almost certain that seedling figs are un-
known in countries where the caprifig does not exist.
Where it is found apparently wild it is rather as the re-
mains of cultivation than as plants sprung up from seeds.
With regard to the origin of some of the cultivated varie-
ties purporting to have been raised from seeds produced
without the intervention of the caprifig, they offer a field
for further research and experiment. Possibly they owe
their origin to what has been called parthenogenesis,
and more recently adventitious embryo-formation. Pass-
| ing over inany other interesting particulars in Graf Solm’s
essay, we come to one which Dr. Miiller regards as strongly
in favour of his view. It is this, the seedling offspring
| of the fig, fertilised by the caprifig, are said to consist of
variety occupies in relation to other varieties and to the
varieties of the fig and the caprifig, pure and simple,
without any forms intermediate beween the two parents.
On the other hand it is stated that a perfect seed is now
and then found in the profichz. Prof. Arcangeli, in a
later memorandum on the subject, states that he is
unable to pronounce judgment in favour of one or the
other of these views, and confines himself to recording
the following observations on wild and cultivated forms.
The Fico verdino and the Fico piombinese are com-
monly cultivated varieties in Pisa, yet he had never
found a single perfect seed in their fruit, whereas in the
fruit of the Fico dzancolino, which is considered as a
wild form, among numerous imperfect seeds he had
found some perfect ones, which germinated freely.
Whatever light future investigations may throw on this
subject, the foregoing facts concerning the life-history of
the Blastophaga and the fertilisation of the fig are of great
interest. In conclusion it may be added that Graf Solms
found the same or a closely allied insect in the species of
Ficus that are most closely related to cus Carica, and
which inhabit Western Asia, including North-Western
India. As Miiller suggests, it would be worth while looking
into the matter to see whether they offer male and female
forms.
W. BoTTING HEMSLEY
April 19, 1883 |
NATURE
587
NOTES
THE Queen has been pleased to confer the honour of Knight-
hood upon Dr, C, W. Siemens, F.R.S.
M. Wo rF has been nominated Member of the Academy of
Sciences by 32 votes against 21 given to M. Bouquet de la Grye.
At Monday’s meeting M. Jordan pronounced the 4oge of Prof-
Henry Smith, and M. Bertrand gave an explanation on the
double prize, to which we referred last week. He stated
that the Commission was aware of the existence of the paper of
Prof. Henry Smith, and that it was to oblige Prof. Smith to
publish his valuable secret that the prize-subject was selected.
Up to the present date, we understand, there have been
-eceived in answer to the official letter of inquiry to the Members
of the British Association, as to whether they intended to go to
Montreal or not, replies in the affirmative from 340. Among
these are a good many who may be said to be really representa-
tive of English science, but as might be expected the younger
men are present in a larger proportion than the older.
THE Annual Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will take
place at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George
Street, Westminster, on Wednesday, May gth, and two follow-
ing days. On Wednesday, May 9g, the Bessemer Gold Medals
for 1883 will be presented to Mr. George J. Snelus and Mr,
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas. During the meeting the following
papers will be read :—On the Value of Successive Additions to
the Temperature of the Air used in Smelting Iron, by Mr. I.
Lowthian Bell, D.L., F.R.S., Middlesborough ; Comparison
of the Working of a Blast Furnace with Blast varying in Tem-
perature from 990° F. to 1414° F., by Mr. William Hawdon,
Middlesborough ; on American Anthracite Blast Furnace Prac-
tice, by Mr. Thomas Hartman, Philadelphia; on the North-
ampton Iron Ore District, by Mr. W. H. Butlin, Northampton ;
on Steel Castings for Marine Purposes, by Mr. William Parker,
of Lloyds ; on the Separation and Utilisation of Tar, &c., from
Gas in Siemens’ Gas Producers, by Mr. W. S. Sutherland,
Birmingham; on Improvements in Railway and Tramway
Plant, by M. Albert Riche, London; on the Estimation of
Minute Quantities of Carbon by a New Colour Method, by Mr.
J. E. Stead, Middlesborough ; on the Tin-plate Manufacture, by
Mr. Emest Trubshaw, Llanelly, South Wales; on the Coal-
washing Machinery used at Bochum, in Westphalia, by Mr,
Fritz Baare, Bochum.
WE regret to announce that Dr. William Farr, C.B., formerly
Superintendent of the Statistical Department of the Registrar-
General’s Office, died on Saturday night. He was born in 1807,
at Kenley, in Shropshire, was educated at Shrewsbury, and
afterwards proceeded to the Universities of Paris and London.
After discharging the duties of house-surgeon of the Infirmary
at Shrewsbury for a short time, he continued the practice and
teaching of medicine in London, editing the Afedical Annual
and the British Annals of Medicine. In 1838 he was appointed
Compiler of Abstracts in the Registrar-General’s Office, where
he organised the stati-tical department, of which he was made
superintendent. In this capacity he as-isted in taking the
census in 1851, 1861, and 1871. He was author of a large
number of articles, contributions to medical journals and papers
relaiing to statistics of health and kindred subjects. He wrote
many official reports on Public Health, on the Cholera Epidemic
of 1849, and on the Census; and he constructed the English
Life Tables, with values of annuities. Dr, Farr was Corre-
sponding Member of the French Institute. It may be remem-
bered that a few years ago considerable disappointment was felt
that, when a vacancy occurred in the office of Registrar-General,
Dr, Farr was not appointed to the post, with the work of which
he had so long been credited.
Major-GENERAL H. G, D. Scort, C.B., F.R.S., late Royal
Engineers, died on Monday morning at his residence, Silverdale,
Sydenham, aged 61. He was educated at the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, and entered the Royal Engineers in 1840,
He acted as instructor in surveying and practical astronomy at
Chatham, and also as examiner of military topography for the
Military Education Department at the War Office. He retired
from the army in 1871 as major-general, and became Director of
Buildings at South Kensington, acting as architect to the Royal
Albert Halland Science Schools. He was secretary to the Royal
Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition. He has just finished
Superintending the construction of the Great International
Fisheries Exhibition.
ProF,. FRANcis Marcet, who died a few days ago in London
at an advanced age, though English by birth, was a Swiss by
adoption and family connection, and spent the greater part of
his long life in Geneva. Marcet’s achievements in science were
numerous and noteworthy, and procured for him the Fellowship
of the Royal Society. Some of his discoveries, especially those
concerning the boiling point of water, the determination, by
freezing, of the specific heat of solids, and, above all, his obser-
vations at Pregny on the increase of temperature of artesian
wells, are recognised as important. Several of these observa-
tions were made in collaboration with his friend, Auguste de la
Rive, In conjunction with De Candolle he made a series of
researches in vegetable physiology and the action of poison on
plants, and his ‘‘ Manuel de Physique élémentaire,” albeit now
out of date, ranked forty years ago as the best scientific text-
book of the period.
‘THE French Government are steadily continuing their excel-
lent work of deep-sea investigation. Their vessel, the Za/isman,
is now being equipped and fitted out with the most improved
machinery and apparatus, and will leave on June 15 for
Morocco, the Canaries, Cape Verd Islands, Azores, and the
Sea of Sargasso. Our last expedition of this kind, in the
Challenger, although highly successful considering the great
extent of area traversed by it, might be considered in one
respect tentative, and ought to have led to further results, Our
own seas have never been sufficiently investigated, while the
Americans, Norwegians, Germans, French, and Italians have,
especially cf late years, been indefatigable in thoroughly
exploring their parts of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.
FroM Monday’s debate it is evident that the new Patent Bill
will not satisfy everybody, which was just what might be ex-
pected. It is certainly a great improvement on the existing
law. The provision with regard to the Patent Museum seems
to us a step in the right direction, The Bill provides that the
control and management of the existing Patent Museum and its
contents shall be transferred to and vested in the Department of
Science and Art, subject to such directions as Her Majesty in
Council may see fit to give. The Department of Science and
Art, moreover, may at any time require a patentee to furnish a
a model of his invention for deposit in the Patent Museum on
payment to the patentee of the cost of the manufacture of the
model. Another commendable provision is that the Comptroller
shall cause to be issued periodically an illustrated journal of
patented inventions, as well as reports of patent cases decided
by courts of law, and any other information that the Comptroller
may deem generally u-eful or important.
THE Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society
has established a ‘‘ Sociological Section,” for the study of Mr.
Herbert Spencer’s system of philosophy, The section originated
in a wish to unite, for the purpose of mutual help, those who
were already students of Mr. Herbert Spencer's system, but were
unknown to each other, and to introduce to the synthetic philo-
sophy those already engaged in some special biological study,
588
NATURE
| April 19, 1883
but as yet unfamiliar with the principles common to all depart-
ments of natural history. Mr, Herbert Spencer, who is already
an honoravy vice-president of the Society, has been communicated
with, and has expressed his cordial approval of the course of
work proposed to be done by the section, adding some valuable
sugge-tions. It is intended to go through the whole of his works,
discussing special points as they arise, and where practicable
giving illustrations. The president of the section (Mr. W. R.
Hughes, F.L.S.) will open the first meeting with a brief
address.
SEVERAL contributions to the theory of the microphone have
lately appeared. Mr. Shelford Bidwell has communicated to
the Royal Society a series of determinations of the changes of
resistance of a microphenic contact under different pressures ;
and comes to the conclusion that the mere fact that a current
causes delicately adjusted metal contacts to adhere to each other
seems sufficient to account for the superior efficiency of carbon.
Mr. Bidwell also thinks that the heat generated at the coatact
by the current plays an important part, for in carbon this reduces
the resistance, whilst in metals it increases it. Mr. Bidwell’s
experiments on metals were, however, confined to the metal
bismuth, which, being both the most fusible and the worst con-
ductor, is the very one which ought to have been avoided. No
conclusion of any value as to the metals in general can be drawn
from experiments on bismuth alone. Mr. Oliver Heaviside has
also experimented on the nicrophone, and finds the apparent
resistance of a contact to vary inversely as the square root of the
current. Arguing from these observations he concludes that it
is no use to arrange a number of microphones either in series or
in parallel. This result is, however, contradicted by experience,
for a transmitter such as the Hunnings, with many contacts in
parallel, is much more powerful than the single-contact Blake
transmitter. Moreover the results attained in Paris lately by M.
Moser using a ‘‘ battery” of microphones arranged partly in
series, partly in parallel, disposes of this conclusion of Mr.
Heaviside’s. It may be remarked that the suggestion to use a
battery of microphones was made in 1881 by Prof. Silvanus
Thompson. Messrs. Munro and Warwick have lately produced
some successful telephonic or microphonic transmitters with
metal contacts. These experimenters regard the action of the
microphone as due to the existence of a silent discharge of elec-
tricity through the thin air stratum at the contact. This view is
perhaps sustained by a remarkable observation due to Mr, Stroh,
that when a current is passed through a carbon microphone of a
peculiar type there is a very minute repulsion observable between
the two pieces of carbon, the actual movement being through a
distance of o005 of a millimetre!
Litera scrip~ta manet is a phrase which is literally trae of
China, It is generally mentioned in popular books on that
country that the respect for paper on which any words are written
is so great that scavengers are specially employed to collect it in
the streets and preserve it. Whatever doubt existed on this
score must now be set at rest, for in a recent is-ue of the Peking
Gazet‘e we find a memorial to the throne from the Police Censor
of the central division of the capital, reporting that there are in
that city over eighty establishments for the remanufacture of
waste paper. Paper with characters on it,
complains, used to be mixed up with the waste paper and
defiled by being applied to such base uses. The memorialist
and his colleagues published proclamations embodying the
sacred edict of the great Emperor Kang-bi, that in heaven and
earth there is nothing more precious than written characters.
Shopkeepers were forbidden to traffic in printed or written
paper, and the manufacturers were ordered to pick out all such
paper from among the waste paper purchased by them, and
send it to the offices, where a certain amount per pound would
the memorialist |
be paid for it. Two temples were selected where this paper
could be properly burned periodically. The police magistrates
on inquiry find that now the manufacturers have some idea of
the reverence due to written characters ; but some permanent
means of supporting the expenses of the purchase and sacred
process of destruction should be established, as at present the
memorialist has to pay them out of his own pocket. He further
sug-ests that the sale of the house and furniture of a certain
e-caped criminal, though they will not fetch much, will be
sufficient, if put out at interest, to meet these expenses; and he
further requests that the sale of written paper to manufacturers
be forbidden. The Imperial rescript on this memorial has not
come to our notice ; but in all probability the escaped criminal’s
house and furniture are now employed in preventing the defile-
ment of the ‘‘ flegende Blatter” of Peking.
ACCORDING to the China Mazi telegraphs in China are likely
to receive a most important extension in the shape of a line from
Canton to Shanghai. Should this line be constructed, the
southern port will then be in direct connection with Tientsin.
Lead ore, according to the same authority, has been discovered
in Kwantung, the province in which Canton is situated ; aud it
is proposed to work mines of this metal. These movements are
stated to be purely Chinese, ‘‘ and as signs of progress they are
worthy of the most attentive consideration.”
From Mr. J. F. Duthie’s ‘‘ Report on the Progress and Con-
dition of the Government Botanical Gardens at Saharunpur and
Mussoorie for the Year ending March 31, 1882,” we learn that
many additions have been made to the Gardens, of interesting
and valuable economic plants, among them the Cassta marz-
landica, L., or North American senna plant, the wax palm of
the Andes (Ceroxylon andicola, Humb.), upon the trunks of
which large quantities of wax are formed and is easily removed by
scraping, Ferzla tingifana, L., the ammoniacum plant of Morocco,
Fraxinus ornus, L., the manna ash of the Mediterranean
region, Guaiacum officinale, L., the limum vite of commerce,
Quassia amara, L., one of the bitterwood trees from the West
Indies, Rheum palmatum, L., var. tanguticum, a native of
North-We-t China, one of the species which yields medicinal
rhubarb. Besides these, many new fruits, vegetables, and fodder
plants have been under cultivation. Mr. Duthie reports a very
important item of cultivation, that of drug-yielding plants for the
supply of drugs for the use of the medical department. Extract
of henbane and extract of taraxacum have both been made, and
Mr. Duthie has prepared a list of other drugs which he prop ses
to cultivate either in the hills or at Saharanpur. Amongst these
may be mentioned aconite, aloes, buchu, calumba root, colchi-
cum, digitalis, gentian, jalap, liquorice, scammony, colocynth,
and others. It seems that the cost of maintaining the Saharunpur
Gar.‘ens much exceeds the income derived from them ; but being
kept up mainly for scientific purposes they are not expected to
prove directly remunerative. It further appears that sanction
has lately been given to the closing of the Gardens at Musso rie
and Chajri, which it has been found impossible to work success-
fully. A new Hill Garden, however, is to be opened at a more
eligible site,
THE valuable geological and paleontological collections from
Spitzbergen made by Dr. A, Nathorst and Baron De Geer last
summer will be distributed between the National Museum and
the Geological Museum at Stockholm, while the duplicate
sprcimens will be presented to the museums in Upsala, Lund,
and Gothenburg.
THE Second Part of vol. i. of Thomson and Tait’s ‘* Natural
Philosophy,” second edition, is announced for immediate publi-
cation, edited for the most part by Prof. F. Darwin. The
remaining yolume, originally planned, will not be published.
April 19, 1883]
NATURE
589.
Pror, O’REILLY writes from the Royal College of Science
for Ireland, Dublin, that there was visible there, on the night of
the 16th, between 10 and 11 o’clock p.m., an aurora appearing
as a glow, but without any beams when observed. ‘The wind
on the 17th was from the south, but the temperature was still
relatively low.
THE opening of the proposed International Horticultural Ex-
hibition and Botanical Congress at St. Petersburg has been
postponed to May 5s, 1884.
THE Council of the Popular Observatory of the Trocadeéro has
decided to open a series of Sunday lectures, illustrated by expe-
riments, during the whole of the summer season. The Thursday
lectures will be devoted to astronomical topics and delivered in
the evening, and will be followed by demonstrations on the sky
itself, weather permitting.
Dr. Doserck, whose appointment to Hong Kong we noted
last week, has been attached to Markree and not to Dunsink
Observatory.
THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the
past week include a Rude Fox (Cavs vudis) from Demerara,
presented by Mr. G. H. Hawtayne, C.M.Z.S.; an Arabian
Gazelle (Gazella arabica 2) from Arabia, presented by Mr. J.
Sewell; three Weasels (AZustela vulgaris), British, presented by
Mr. George Lang ; a Wood Owl (Syrnium aluco), British, pre-
sented by Capt. E. Hall ; a Lanner Falcon (Fa/co /anartus) from
Eastern Europe, presented by Major J. H. Hussey ; a Common
Rayen (Corvus corax), British, presented by the Earl of Eldon ;
five Mississippi Alligators (A/igator mississippiensis) from the
Mississippi, presented by Mr. Thos. Baring; two Common
Snakes (Z7opidonotus natrix), British, presented by Lord
Londesborough, F.Z.S. ; two White-fronted Capuchins (Cebus
albifrons & 9) from South America, presented by Mr. H.
Smith ; a Palmated Newt (7Z7iton palmipes), British, presented
by Mr. J. E. Kelsall; two Ambherst’s Pheasants (7haumalea
amherstie § 2) from Szechuen, China, deposited ; three Lions
(Felts leo 6° 2) from South Africa, two Reeves’s Pheasants
(Phasianus veevest 6 9) from China, a Great Black Cockatoo
(Microglossa aterrima) from New Guinea, a White-backed Piping
Crow (Gymnorhina leuconcta) from Australia, a Common Otter
(Lutra vulgaris), British, purchased.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
D’ArreEst’s COMET.—We last week referred to the discovery
of D’Arrest’s comet at the Observatory of Strasburg on the 3rd
inst., upon the strength of a telegram received at Lord Craw-
ford’s observatory from Prof. Krueger, tv the following effect :—
“Dr. Hartwig dis:overed on April 3°610 G.M.T. D’Arrest’s
periodical comet in right ascension 13h. 55m. 24s., declination
+8° 16’. Daily motion —44s. in R.A., and + 9’ in declina-
tion.” This telegram was published in the Dun Echt Circular,
No. 76, but in No. 77 issued five days later we read, ‘* Prof.
Krueger telegraphs that the object observed by Dr. Hartwig
was not D’Arrest’s comet but a new nebula.” The ‘daily
motion” assigned to the object in the first telegram, notwith-
standing its precise accordance in amount and direction with
that which the comet would have had in that position, was
therefore an illusion, Tne calculated place of the comet for
April 3°610 G.M.T, is in R.A. 13h. 55m. 11s., Decl. +8° 23':6.
During the next period of absence of moonlight for which an
approximate ephemeris was given in this column la-t week, the
theoretical intensity of light will be nearly one-third greater than
on April 3.
THE GREAT CoMET OF 1882.—Prof. Ricco sends us the fol-
lowing observation of this comet made with the 10-inch refractor
at Palermo :—
M.T.
App R.A.
ihe) ms: he ums s:
April 6 at 8 21 29
5 58 5°93
App. Decl.
-9 4 49°2
elongated nacleus containing two or more points. At this time
the comet was distant from the earth 3°87, and from the sun
3°75-
In Bulletino della Socteta di Scienze Naturali di Palermo for
February 8 we find some remarks by Prof. Riccd on the cireum-
stances attending the passage of the comet through perihelion.
On studying the appearance of the sun from twelve to fifteen
hours afterwards, he found the prominences were by no means
unusual either as regards number or dimensions ; there were nine
with a greater altitude than 30”, and about as many smaller
Ones ; the highest was one of 85” on the west-north-west limb,
opposite to the part of the disk traversed by the comet, in which
no prominences were visible. The comparison of observations
made before and after perihelion passage, shows that no very
sensible effect was produced upon the motion of the comet in its
course through the coronal atmosphere, and Prof Ricco con-
cludes, on the other hand, that his own observations, made a
few hours subsequently, ‘‘possono servire a constatare che
reciprocamente la cometa non disturhd per nulla il corso degli
ordinari fenomeni dell’ attivita solare.”
THE BINARY STAR # ERIDANI.—In a communication to the
Royal Society of New South Wales in June, 1880, Mr. Russell,
the director of the Observatory at Sydney, suggested, from the
measures made since 1856, including his own up to 1880, that
this object might not be a binary star at all, but merely afforded
an instance of one star passing before another by reason of its
proper motion. This opinion is repeated in the volume of
double-star results obtained at Sydney, published last year. ‘‘ In
fact,” observes Mr. Russell, ‘‘a straight line accords better with
all the ob-ervations made subsequent to Herschel’s than any
ellipse, and it would appear that the changes are due simply to
proper motion ; of this I think there cannot be any doubt... .”
The question has just been very fully and carefully considered
by Mr. Downing, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, who
arrives at an opposite conclusion to that of Mr. Russell, and
considers ‘‘ there is not sufficient evidence to justify us in asserting
that # Eridani is other than a binary star.” We entirely agree
with Mr. Downing in his opinion. If we only coiwpare the
measures made by Jacob in 1845-46, with those of Russell and
Tebbutt, 1878-80, we get the following expressions :—
d.sin~g = — 47361 — [8°3894] (¢ — 1850°0)
d.cos p= + 0122 — [g'1017] (¢ —1850°0)
showing differences from Herschel’s mean measures, epoch
1834°996, of —5°°I in position, and + 0”°82 in distance, which
are too large to be tolerated.
This star has been occasionally miscalled 6 Eridani, which
would imply that it was one of Flamsteed’s stars. Flamsteed, it
is true, has a star which he calls 6 Eridani, and which is
B.A.C. 926; the binary is B.A.C. 521. The letter was
attached to the star by Lacaille in the catalogue at the end of
his Calum Australe Stelliferum. The number 6 is merely bor-
rowed from Bode.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Tue Geographical Society of Lisbon has awarded their gold
medal for this year to Mr. Carl Bock, the distinguished eastern
traveller, who has also been recently elected Corresponding
Member of the Italian Anthropological Society.
THE third German Geographentag was held at Frankfort-on-
the-Main on March 29 in the presence of 430 men of science.
Prof. Rein (Marburg) delivered the inaugural address, and also
opened the geographical exhibition, which comprised 1100
objects of interest. Amongst the most successful addresses we
mention the following: Dr. Pechuél Loesche (Leipzig), on the
mountain districts of the Congo River, in which he described
minutely the mountain chains traversed by the Congo, according
to the researches of Oscar Lenz and Gii-sfeldt. Prof. Ratzel
(Munich), onthe significance of Polar re earch with regard to
geographical science; he proposed a resolution, ** That the
Geographentag recognises that the resumption of Polar research
by the German Government is equally in the interest of geo-
graphical science and of the German nation.” This resolution
was adopted unanimously. Dr. Finger (Frankfort), on topo-
graphy as an introduction to geography. Herr Mang (Baden
Baden), on the method of the tellurium and lunarium. Dr,
Breusing (Bremen), on the means for the determination of the
He states that the comet was a very faint nebulosity with an | position of localities at the time of great discoveries. Dr.
590
NATORE
[| Aprit 19, 1883
Buchner (Munich), on the tribe of Bantu negroes distributed
through the whole of South-west Africa. Prof. Giinther
(Ansbach), on the latest investigations regarding the exact
shape of the earth. Lieut. Wissmann, on his journey across
Africa with Dr, Pogge. The oldest among the German African
travellers now living, Dr. Riippel, had come to Frankfort to
greet Wissmann upon his return, The fourth Geographentag
will be held at Munich.
FRoM a paper by M, Smicroff on the climate of the Caucasus
{published in the Caucasian Zzvestia, and based on the researches
of Dr. Wild on the temperatures in Russia), it is evident that
although enjoying a warm climate, still the climate of the
Caucasus, especially in the north, is quite continental. Thus,
the average mean temperatures of the year are 5°"4 Cels. at
Alexandropol, 8°*5 at Stavropol, 12°°6 at Tiflis, and 14°"3 to 14°°5
at Bakou, Lenkoran, Kutais, Poti, and Redut-kaleh; but the
yearly range of the average diurnal temperatures is still (with
the exception of the two last places) as much as 20 to 30 degrees,
while in Central and Southern Russia it varies from 22 to 35
degrees. The highest temperatures observed on the Caucasus
vary from 38°'5 at Tiflis, to 34°°4 at Poti; and the lowest from
—25°°6 at Stavropol, to —17°°3 at Tiflis, and —6°°6 at Redut-
kaleh. It is interesting to compare these temperatures with the
+38°°8 and —62° observed at Yakutsk, and —63°'2 at Verk-
hoyansk. Altogether, it isonly in Southern Transcaucasia that
localities are found where the temperature does not fall below
— 10°, and the southern limit of the region beyond which ten-
peratures lower than —20° are no longer found, runs from the
Crimea to the Caucasus range, and along the northern slope of
this last, towards Khiva, Tashkend, and Peking. The whole
range of temperatures observed at Caucasian stations is 60°"4 at
Stavropol, 55°°8 at Tiflis, 45°°9 at Bakou, 42°"1 at Poti, and 41°°6
at Redut kaleh. Of course it is nothing in comparison with the
range at Yakutsk, where the inhabitants must be accustomei to
experience differences of temperature ranginy a little more than
100° (from —62° to +38°°8). But still it is large enough, espe-
cially for the places situated on the plateaux. High-level
meteorological stations are established at Goudaur (2156 metres
above the sea-level) and Kvi am (2362 metres). Their average
yearly temperatures respectively are 4°"1 (—8° in February and
14°°3 in August) and 1°r (—14° in January and 123 in
August).
THE last number of the /evestéa of the Russian Geographical
Society contains an elaborate paper, by M. Malakhoff, on the
anthropology of the Vyatka region ; a description of iascriptions
on rocks on the Yenisei, with drawings, by M. Schukin; a
note on old Russian geography, by M. Arsenieff; an account
on M. Balkashin’s researches into the K:rghiz, being a most
valuable addition to our very imperfect knowledge of them.
The author comes to the conclusion that the Kirghiz are not a
separate nation, but a federation of several nomad tribes who
inhabited Southern Russia, the Go i, the neighbourhoods of
Dalay-nor, the sources of the Black Irtish, and the shores of
the Baikal, who were mingled together by Genghiz Khan and
his successors. M. Grigorieff contributes a note in which he
shows that Henriette Island, which was discovered by the
Feannette, is only the land which was sighted by Hedenstrom
and Sannikoff from New Siberia in 1810, and that Bennett
Island was seen by Sannikoff from the northern coast of New
Siberia in 1811. There can be no doubt also that the land dis-
covered by Sannikoff to the north-west of the northern extremity
of the Kotelnyi Island exists in reality, but is more distant than
Sannikoff supposed. This land, which was shown in dotted
lines on older maps, but disappeared since Wrangell and
Anjou’s journeys, ought to be reintruduced on our maps. The
same number contains a note on the map of Bokhara of the
Greek Vatalsi, a necrological notice of M. Techoupin, several!
notes, and a new edition of the complete bibliography of the
Amoor, by M. Bousse. One of the notes contained new astro-
nomical determinations and hyp-ometrical measurements on the
Yu-tschou, by Dr, Fritsche ; the Siio-Utai-shan proved to be
only 9500 feet high, instead of the 11,452 feet given by
Mellendorf.
ACCORDING to intelligence from Tashkend, dated March 31,
received by the Cronstadt Courier, it is in contemplation to send
two Kus-ian Exploring Expeditions into Central Asia during
the coming summer. The ostensible object of one is to survey
part of the Pamir Steppe and fix certain points astronomically,
with the object of connecting the Russian surveys with the
English. The purpose of the other is to determine the astrono-
mical position of places on the Oxus from the points of passage
in its upper course down as far as Khiva, in fact the whole
course of the river.
From M. De Lesseps’s examination of the ground through
which it is proposed to let the waters of the Mediterranean into
the Tunisian and Algerian Chotts, he concludes that the scheme
is perfectly practicable, and that there will be no difficulty as
to boring and excavating. The size of the proposed inland sea
will be fourteen times that of the Lake of Geneva.
THE SOARING OF BIRDS»
HE circling, soaring flight of birds on stiff, outspread wings
appears to me a much more complex problem, and less
easy of explanation, than thit of motionless hovering (poising).
At the same time it has certain definite and characteristic fea-
tures, which must depend upon and connote certain definite
aérial conditions, and which should therefore afford us so many
hints toward the solution. The whole phenomenon has been
very clearly described in NATuRE (vol. xxiii. p, 10) by Mr. S.
E. Peal, who appears to have had grand opportunities of ob-
serving it at Supakati in Assam. [The explanation which he
gives is, however, insufficient, because he does not show how
the bird in falling with the wind can acquire greater ‘‘ impetus ”
relative to the airy than it would if the air were still, But such
greater “impetus” is necessary if the bird is to rise to a greater
heigat than it would reach in still air.]
The most typical instance that I have observed was on
January 8, 1882, near King’s Lynn, in Norfolk. The whole
country for many miles round is flat, broken only by trees,
buildings, and sea walls or river embankment:, The wind was
strong from the south. The birds (large gulls) were drifting
away northwards towards the Wash, circling as they drifted on
stiff, outspread wings at a height of 200 or 300 feet, and appar-
ently rising higher. The level nature of the land forbade the
notion that the wind had received an upward throw from any
fixed obstacle in its path (though I shall show below that there
may be upward currents in the air without the presence of a
fixed obstacle).
The circling appears to begin about 100 or 200 feet above the
ground. A strong wind isa constant and (presumably) necessary
condition. The bird descends with the wind, and then circles
round to right or left, and rises against the wind to a greater height
than it had before. Now if the whole mass of air were moving to-
gether horizontally with the same velocity throughout, this action
would be wholly inexplicable, for the bird would feel no more
wind in one direction than in another, and indeed would have
no evidence of the existence of any wind at all except in glancing
at objects on the earth. The fact that the earth is slipping away
under the air in a certain direction does not affect the bird’s
relation to the air, and gives no reason why the bird should fall
or rise at one phase of its circle more than at another. Still less
does it furni h an explanation of the bird’s progressive ascent.
We may therefore infer as highly probable that the air in which
the birds are circling does not move in a mass, but that there is
some differential movement in it which makes a great difference
to the bird, whether it rises or falls with or against the wind.
I think there are at least two types of differential movement
in the upper air which admit of demonstration, and which should
be tested in turn to see if either of them can give the meaning
of the phenomenon of circling.
(1.) First, there is almost always a greater velocity in the higher
strata of the air than in the lower. The lower strata are
delayed by friction on the earth’s surface, and the higher strata
outrun them ; just as the water of a brook is delayed by friction
against its bank, but flows faster in mid-stream.
(2.) Secondly, where currents override or run past one another
there is generally some vol/ing between them. This may be
seen near the edge of any stream of water if the surface is
smooth enough to exhibit the little swirls and whirlpools that
are formed between the swifter and slower currents. In the air
it may be seen on a grand scale on almost any windy day when
there are separate floating clouds in the sky. Looking at right
angles to the direction of the wind, each cloud is seen to have a
Lord Rayleigh’s valuable letter on this subject (NaTUME, vol. xxvii. p.
534) gives me confidence in offering the following considerations, which I
had prepared last February, and have submitted to two or three mathe-
matical friends. I congratulate myself on finding my own views in such
close agreement with Lord Rayleigh’s.—H. A.
oC
April 19, 1883]
systematic movement within itself : the rearward skirts of the
cloud are climbing up its sloping back, often with little rolling
curls : the top of the cloud is rolling over like a breaker in the
act of tumbling on the beach. Each cloud is in fact the scene
of a travelling vortex in the air revolving round a more or less
horizontal axis. And the persistency with which such a cloud
will preserve its individual identity indicates the persistency of
the vortex. In the comparatively lower regions of the air it
may be difficult to demonstrate the presence of such vortices, but
similar causes are present, and it cannot be doubted that similar
effects are produced and that such vortices, possessing a propor-
tionate degree of persistency, are generated in those regions of
the air which are within the range of the habitual flight of
cireling birds.
Let us see what effect these conditions (1) and (2) separately
would have upon the circling flight of a bird.
(1.) First, let us take horizontal currents increasing in velocity
the higher they are above the earth ; and suppose a bird at the
highest point of one of its gyrations, when it has mounted against
the wind and is wheeling to one side or the other, preparatory to
the descent with the wind which is to give it sufficient velocity
for another rise (but which could not enable it to rise to the same
height as before if the air had no internal movemen’, for there
would be no self renewing force to neutralise the ever-new force
of gravity and the perpetual friction of the air). Let us regard
the air at the level of the bird, at this turning-point, as s¢2//,
Then, relative to this point, the lower strata of air have a hori-
zontal velocity in the opposite direction to the wind (as perceived
on earth) ; and the bird in falling apparently down the wind will
really be meeting stronger and stronger adverse currents, and
when it has reached the lowest point of the ‘‘circle,’’ it will
have a greater horizontal velocity relative to the air at that level
than if the whole air through which it has fallen had been still.
Therefore, in virtue of its greater horizontal velocity relative to
the air (which is accompanied by increased air-resistance), the
bird will be subject to a greater force upon its wing-surface, and
will therefore be able to mount higher (ce¢erds paribus) than if it
had fallen through still air. But (instead of ‘‘ ceteris paribus’’)
suppose the bird, as it rises, wheels gradually round and faces
the wind. Then, in rising, it will enter successive strata of air
having successively greater and greater velocity relative to itself
(the bird) than if the air had no internal movement, and therefore
the air-resistance, which is the lifting force, will ever be greater
than that due to the height gained by the bird if in still air; and
therefore the bird will be able to rise yet higher. But this
manceuvre of wheelins to face the wind in rising will cost some
time, during which gravity ceases not to act ; it will also cost some
friction and a slight loss of horizontal velocity, and the question is
whether these los-es are sufficient to destroy the advantage above
described. This is a problem for the mathewaticians to solve.
It seems difficult to imagine that within the narrow limits of
the actual rise and fall of the bird at the different phases of its
circle, there should be sufficient difference of velocity of upper
and lower air-currents, to account for such a gain of elevation as
Mr. Peal mentions (from 10 to 20 feet at each lap), We require,
however, to know the vertical height of the bird’s fall and sub-
sequent rise. I have not seen any estimate of this, but, judging
from Mr. Peal’s diagram, the bird’s fall appears no greater than
its gain of elevation (10 or 20 feet).
Still it appears from the foregoing considerations that the bird
will gain support by falling with the wind and rising against it,
when the upper wind is stronger than the lower.
This result suggests that a bird might with like effect make
use of two collateral currents of different velocity. Suppose two
currents, fast and slow, side by side, flowing in the same direc-
tion. The bird may fall with the slow current, and so acquire
a certain horizontal velocity. Then let it wheel round against
the swift current, and it will be able to rise against it to a height
due to the greater horizontal velocity between bird and air.
Having reached full height, let it again wheel round into the
slow current and recover by a sloping descent therein the hori-
zontal velocity it has lost, which, when recovered, will enable it
to mount again against the fast current.
Thus it would appear that a bird can take advantage of alternate
fast and slow currents, whether collateral or superposed, rising
against the fast and falling with the slow, to maintain itself in
the air, while partaking in the general drift of the wind, without
flapping its wings.
(2.) In the next case to be considered, we have to deal not with
horizontal currents, but with the rotatory currents of rolling
NATURE
591
masses of air. A mass of air rolling about a horizontal axis will
have descending currents in its front, and ascending currents in
its rear. The former can be of no use to the bird for the
purpose of support. The bird must keep in the rear of the roll,
where it will find an upward slantig current. In a high wind
this current would probably be strong enough to support the
bird in motionless poise (relative to the earth), but this could
only be for a few seconds, because the whole vortex is travelling
rapidly with the wind (of which it forms a part) and would
speedily pass and leave the poised bird behind at the mercy
of the downward currents in the van of the next advancing
vortex. How then is the bird to remain in the upward current,
and at the same time to maintain a high velocity relative to the
air in which it moves? It can only be done by circling. The
bird must face the current in rising, and as it approaches at once
the outskirts of the current and the limits of its own momentum
(relative to the air) it must wheel round (—indeed it must have
begun to wheel while rising—) and fall down the wind, for the
double purpose of recovering its spent velocity and of overtaking
the receding vortex.
In falling down the wind, the bird will pass out of a stronger
into a weaker current, and will be able to take advantage of the
difference (regarded horizontally), just as in the case (already
considered) of horizontal currents of different velocity. But
regarded vertically the descent into the weaker current will be a
disadvantage. However, it is clear that under these conditions
there will be no difficulty about the bird’s support in air by a
circling flight without stroke of wing.
But there is still a difficulty with regard to the progressive
ascent of the bird. Mr. S. E. Peal (NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 10)
testifies that the pelican, adjutant, vulture, and cyrus rise circling
from 100 or 200 to as much as 8coo feet. Can it be supposed
that a rolling vortex of air would have equal range or climb to
such a height? Swirls formed at the edge of a deep stream of
water are seen to be drawn obliquely away from the side towards
mid-stream, and I suppose that an aérial vortex with horizontal
axis will in like manner be drawn obliquely upwards into the
more rapid air. Moreover I remark that Mr. Peal’s observa-
tions were made on the coast, and that his diagram represents
the birds as rising on a wind blowing up the country towards
the hills. Such a wind would have a general upward slant,
and any rolling of the air would have the same slant to begin
with and to rise from, so that a bird keeping to the (supposed)
vortex would rise with it to the same height.
The same principles which we have found useful in dealing
with the regular and rhythmical phenomenon of circling flight
will, I think, help us to understand the general case of irregular
sailing flight, like that of the albatross following a ship, as
described by so many writers (¢.g. the Duke of Argyll, “‘ Reign
of Law,” fifth edition, pp. 153-4). This general case may be
accounted for by (1) irregular alternations (either in strength
or direction) of horizontal air-currents ; or (2) irregular upward
currents.
Currents alternating in strength are equivalent, in relation to
any intermediate point, to currents alternating in direction.
To take an extreme, almost imaginary, case : let us sup; ose a
bird on outspread wings exposed alternately to the force of
exactly opposite winds. To each in turn the bird will offer the
sloping under-surface of its wings, and by each in turn it will be
at once uplifted and pushed back, but each will counteract the
backward push of the other, while each will reinforce the other's
uplifting effort. The result will be that the bird will rise in a
wavy line without any effort of its own beyond what is required
to keep its wings rigid, and to present them favourably to the
alternate winds. }
Now suppose the whole air to be travelling horizontally in a
direction at right angles to the two opposite currents. This
supposition will not affect the lifting power of those opposite
currents, but it will make it necessarv for the bird (if it is not to
be swept away by the travelling air) to sacrifice some of the
height it might gain for the sake of making head against the
general drift of the wind. This is no longer an extreme or
imaginary case, but one of very frequent occurrence. It is
simply that of oscillating gusts in a high wind, The air is full
of sidelong rushes of wind (probably parts of neighbouring
vortices). See how the vane of a weathercock oscillates. A
sidelong rush means fresh velocity relative to the bird in a new
direction. The bird by a tilt of the wing can instantly convert
that fresh air-pressure into a lifting force and rise upon it. And
if these rushes of wind come alternately (as in an irregular
592
NATURE
[| April 19, 1883
fashion they are sure to do) from right and left, the bird can
take advantage of their alternation to rise higher and higher, or
at least to remain floating, without more effort than that which
is required to give the due slore to its wings to make the most
of every gust.
Next suppose the whole air with its two alternate opposite
currents (as above) to be travelling horizontally in the same
direction as one of the two opposite currents. Whether this
supposition represents a possible state of things I hardly know,
but it would correspond in some measure with the commonly
observed phenomenon of a succession of alternate gusts and lulls
in the wind. Under these conditions, if the air-movement be
all horizontal, it is difficult to see Eow the bird can tum the
alternate gusts to advantage, uvless it can alternate its own
direction accordingly, stemming the gust and wheeling round to
fall back with the lull. The bird then would either circle or
would fellow a wavy ccurse oblique to the direction of the wind.
But I imagine that alternate gusts and lulls (as felt, say, at the
top of an observatory) are generally caused by a succession of
vortices, of which only one phase at a time is present to the
cbserver. These vortices will be infinitely various in the direc-
tion of their axes and currents, and it is useless to try and
imagine their relative positions. Probably the sea-birds, with
their ze ns of inherited experience, have acquired an instinctive
perception of the probable sequences and correlations of air-
streams and air-swirls, and are thereby guided so to steer their
course, selecting the upward and avoiding the downward cur-
rents, as to gain the greatest possible advantage of lifting force
that those currents can afford, to the great eco omy of their
muscular strength, which would otherwise have to be spent in
the labour of the wing.
In reading of the way in which albatrosses and other large
sea birds will follow a ship at sea with Jittle or no flapping of
the wings, it has occurred to me that the great obstacle which
the ship herself offers to the wind must of necessity give the
wind an upward throw and originate a vortex in the air, pos ibly
large enough and persistent «nough to be useful to the birds. If
the ship be a streamer, the drift of smoke from the funuel will
indicate approximately the path of the retiring vortex. It is
long since 1 have had any opportunity of observing, but I well
recollect that the gulls used often to be seen in close relation to
the smoke that drifted to leeward of the steamer. It is true that
any chance norsels of biscuit, &c., thrown from the steamer
would probably be thrown to leeward, and this might help to
determine the position of the expectant gull.
Again, at sea, the ocean waves themselves, such as roll in
from the Atlantic to the Land’s End, must throw the wind into
rolling vortices, which would afford slant upward currents. The
slant, though very flat, might well be sufficient for the purpose
of support to the long-winged sea-birds that know how to
use it.
On land, countless obstacles impede the lower wind and tend
to throw the air into a roll.
Bearing in mind, then, the perpetual variation in strength
and direction of current in a high wind, the whirls and gusts,
and veering flaws, and seeing how it is posible for the bird to
utilise every such variation (except a downward current) to the
purpose of its bodily support, we may, I think, obtain some
insight into the agency whereby the birds accomplish their
marvellous feats of soaring ana sailing, upborne upon stiff-
strained, motionless wings.
Further observations however are required for the {ull
solution of the problem which I have here only tentatively
approached. HUBERT AIRY
Woodbridge, February 28
SOME POINTS IN ELECTRIC LIGATING!
ay HE science of lighting by electricity was civided by the lecturer
into two principal parts—the methods of production of elec-
trie currents, and of conversion of the energy of those currents into
heat at such a temperature as to be given off in radiations to
which the eye was sensible. The laws known to connect to-
gether those phenomena called clectrical, were essentially
mechanical in form, closely correlated with mechanical laws,
and might be most aptly illustrated by mechanical analogues.
For example, the terms ‘‘ potential,” ‘‘current,” and ‘‘resist-
* Abstract of lecture delivered at the Institution of Civil Engineers on
Thursday evening, April 5, by Dr. John Hopkinson, F.R.S., M.Inst.C E.
ance,” had close analogues respectively in ‘“‘head,” ‘‘rate of
flow,” and ‘‘ coefficient of friction” in the hydraulic transmission
of power, Exactly as in hydraulics head multiplied by velocity
of flow was power measured in foot-pounds per second, or in
horse-power, so potential multiplied by current was power and
was measurable in the same units. Again, just as water flowing
in a pipe had inertia and required an expenditure of work to set
it in motion, and was capable of producing disruptive effects if
that motion were too suddenly arrested, so a current of electri-
city in a wire had inertia: to set it moving electromotive force
must work for a finite time, and if arrested suddenly by breaking
the circuit the electricity forced its way across the interval as a
spark. Corresponding to mass and moments of inertia in me-
chanics there existed in electricity coefficients of self-induction.
There was, however, this difference between the inertia of water
in a pipe and the inertia of an electric current—the inertia of the
water was confined to the water, whereas the inertia of the
electric current resided in the surrounding medium. Hence
arose the phenomena of induction of currents upon currents, and
of magnets upon moving conductors—phenomena which had no
immediate analogues in hydraulics.
The laws of induction were then illustrated by means of a
mechanical model devised by the late Prof. Clerk Maxwell.
In the widest sense, the dynamoelectric machine might be
defined as an apparatus for converting mechanical energy into
the energy of an electrostatic charge, or mechanical power into
its equivalent electric current through a conductor. Under this
definition would be included the electrophorus aud all frictional
machines; but the term was used in a more restricted sense,
for those machines which produced electric currents by the
motion of conductors in a magnetic field, or by the motion of a
magnetic field in the neighbourhood of a conductor. The laws
on which the action of such machines was based had been the
subject of a series of discoveries. Oersted discovered that an
electric current in a conductor exerted force upon a magnet ;
Ampere that two conductors conveying currents generally ex-
erted a mechanical force upon each other: Faraday discovered
—vhat Helmholtz and Thomson subsequently proved to be the
necessary consequence of the mechanical reactions between con-
ductors conveying currents and magnets—namely, that if a
closed conductor moved in a magnetic field, there would be a
current induced in that conductor in one direction, if the number
of lines of magnetic force passed thrcugh the conductor was in-
creased by the movement ; in the other direction if diminished.
Now all dynamoelectric machines were based upon Faraday’s
discovery. Not only so; but however elaborate it might be de-
sired to make the ai alysis of the action of a dynamo-machine,
Faraday’s way of presenting the phenomena of electromagnetism
to the mind was in general the best point of departure. The
dynamo-machine, then, essentially consisted of a conductor made
to move in a magnetic field. This conductor, with the external
circuit, formed a closed circuit in which electric currents were
induced as the number of lines of magnetic force passing through
the closed circuit varied. Since, then, if the current in a closed
circuit was in one direction when the number of lines of force
was increasing, and in the opposite direction when they were
diminishing, it was clear that the current in each part of such
circuit which passed through »he megnetic field must be alternat-
ing in direction, unless indeed the circuit was such that it was
continually cutting more and more lines of force, always in the
same direction, Since the current in the wire of the machine
was alternating, so also must be the current outside the machine,
unless something in the nature of a commutator was employed to
reverse the connections of the internal wires in which the current
was induced, and of the external circuit. There were then
broadly two classes of dynamoelectric machines—the simplest,
the alternating-current machine, where no commutator was used ;
and the continuous-current machine, in which a commutator was
used to change the connection with the external circuit just at
the moment when the direction of the current would change.
The theory of the alternate-current machine was then explained,
and it was proved that two independently-driven alternate-current
machines could not be worked in series, but that they might be
worked in parallel circuit, and hence were quite suitable for dis-
tribution of electricity for lighting without the necessity of
[roviding a separate circuit for each machine.
It was easy to see that, by introducing a commutator revolving
with the armature, in an alternate-current machine, and so
arranged as to reverse the connection between the armature and
the external circuit just at the time when the current weuld
April 19, 1883]
NATURE
593
reverse, it was possible to obtain a current constant always in
direction ; but such a current would be far from constant in
intensity, and would certainly not accomplish all the results ob-
tained in modern continuous-current machines. This irregularity
might, however, be reduced to any extent by multiplying the
wires of the armature, giving each its own connection to the
outer circuit, and so placing them that the electromotive force
attained a maximum successively in the several coils. A prac-
tically uniform electric current was first commercially produced
with the ring armature of Pacinotti, as perfected by Gramme.
A dynamo-machine was not a perfect instrument for converting
mechanical energy into the energy of electric current. Certain
losses inevitably occurred. There was the loss due to friction
of bearings, and of the collecting-brushes upon the commutator ;
there was also the loss due to the production of electric currents
in the iron of the machine. When these were accounted for,
there remained the actual electrical effect of the machine in the
conducting wire; but all of this was not available for external
work. The current had to circulate through the armature, which
inevitably had electrical resistance ; electrical energy must there-
fore be converted into heat in the armature of the machine.
Energy must also be expended in the wire of the electromagnet
which produced the field, as the resistance of this also could not
be reduced beyond a certain limit, The loss by the resistance of
the wires of the armature and of the magnets greatly depended
on the dimensions of the machine. To know the properties of
any machine thoroughly, it was not enough to know its efficiency
and the amount of work it was capable of doing; it was neces-
sary to know what it would do under all circumstances of varying
resi tance or varying electromotive force ; and, under any given
conditions, what would be the electromotive force of the arma-
ture? Now this electromotive force depended on the intensity
of the magnetic field, and the intensity of the magnetic field
depended on the current passing round th: electro nagnet and
the current in the armature. The current then in the machine
was the proper independent variable in terms of which to express
the electromotive force, The simplest case was that of the
series-dynamo, in which the current in the electromagnet and in
the ar uature was the same, for then there was only one inde-
pendent variable. The relation between electromotive force and
current might be most conveniently expressed by a curve.
Whe i four years ago the lecturer first used such a curve (since
named by Deprez the ‘‘ characteristic curve”) for the purpose of
expressing the results of his experiments on the Siemens
dynamo-machine, he pointed out that it was capable of solving
almost any problem relating to a particular machine, and that it
was also capable of giving good indications of the results of
changes in the winding of the magnets, or of the armatures of
such machines The use of the characteristic curve wa; illus-
trated with reference to charging accumulators and Jac »bi’s law
of electric transmission of power. :
When the dynamo-machine was not a series-dynamo, but the
current in the armature and in the electromagnet, though pos-
sibly dependent upon each other were not necessarily equal, the
problem was not so simple. In that case there were two vari-
ables, the current in the electromagnet and the current in the
armature ; and the proper representation of the properties of
the machine would be by a characteristic surface, of which a
model was exhibited. By the aid of such a surface any problem
relating to a dynamo-machine could be dealt with, no matter
how its electromagnets and its armature were connected to-
gether. Of course in actual practice the model of the surface
would not be used, but the projections of its sections.
The properties of a machine depended much upon its dimen-
sions. Suppose two machines alike in every particular, except-
ing that the one had all its linear dimensions double that of the
other. The electrical resistances in the larger machine would be
one-half those of the smaller. The current required to produce
a given intensity of magnetic field would be twice as great in the
larger machine as in the smaller. The comparative characteristic
curves of the two machines when driven at the same speed
were shown ina diagram. ‘The two curves were one the pro-
jection of the other, having corresponding points with abscisses
in the ratio of one to two, and the ordinates in the ratio of one
to four. At first sight it would seem that the work done by
the larger machine should be thirty-two times as much as that
which would be done by the smaller, Practically, however,
no such result could possibly be attained for many reasons.
First, the iron of the magnets became saturated, and conse-
quently, instead of eight times the electromotive force, there
would only be four times the electromotive force. Secondly, the
current which the armature could carry was limited by the rate
at which the heat generated in the armature could escape.
Again, the larger machine could not run at so great an angular
velocity as the smaller one. And lastly, since in the larger
machine the current in the armature was greater in proportion
to the saturated magnetic field than in the smaller one, the dis-
placement of the point of contact of the brushes with the com-
mutator would be greater. Shortly, the capacity of similar
dynamo-machines was pretty nearly proportionate to their weight,
that was to the cube of their linear dimensions ; the work wasted
in producing the magnetic field was directly as the linear dimen-
sions; and the work wasted in heatinz the wires of the armature
was as the square of the linear dimensions.
A consideration of the properties of similar machines had
another important practical use. Mr. Froude was able to con-
trol the design of ironclad ships by experiments upo models
made in paraffin wax. It was a much easier thing t> predict
what the performance of a large dynamo-machine would be,
from laboratory experiments made upon a model of a very small
fraction of its dimensions. As a proof of the practical utility of
such methods, the lecturer stated that by laboratory experi-
ments he had succeeded in grea'ly increasing the capacity of the
Edison machines without increasing their cost, and with a small
increase of their percentage of efficiency, remarkably high as
that efficiency already was.
The electric properties of the electric arc were experimentally
illustrated ; in particular it was shown that the difference of
potential between the carbons was nearly indepentent of the
current,
When a current of electricity passed through a continuous
conductor it encountered resistance, and heat was generated, as
shown by Joule, at a rate represented by the resistance multiplied
by the square of the current. If the current was sufficiently
great, heat would be generated at such a rate that the conductor
would become incandesgent and radiate light. Attempts had
been made to use platinum and platinum iridium as the incan-
descent conductor. But these bodies were too expensive for
general use, and besides that, refractory thouzh they were, they
were not refractory enough to stand the high temperature
required for incandescent lighting, which should be economical
of power. Commercial success was not realised until very thin
and very uniform threads or filaments of carbon were produced
and inclosed in reservoirs of glass, from which the air was
exhausted to the ntmost possible limit. Such were the lamps
made by Mr. Edison with which the Institution was temporarily
lighted. The electrical properties of such a lamp were exa-
mined, and in particular it was shown that its efficiency
increased and its resistance diminished with increase of current.
The building was lighted by about 230 lamps, each giving
sixteen candles light, produced each by 75 Watts of power
developed in the lamp. To produce the same sixteen candles’
light in ordinary good flat-flame gas-burners, would require —
between 7 and 8 cubic feet of gas per hour, contributing heat
to the atmosphere at the rate of 3,409,090 foot-pounds per
hour, equivalent to 1250 Watts, or nearly seventeen times as
much heat as the incandescence lamp of equal power.
At the present time, lighting by electricity in London must
cost something more than lighting by gas. What were the
prospects of reduction of this cost? Beginning with the engine
and boiler, the electrician had no right to look forward to any
marked and exceptional advance in their economy. Next came
the dynamo, the best of these were so good that there was little
room for econo ny in the conversion of mechanical into electrical
energy; but the prime cost of the dynam -machine was sure
to be greatly reduced. Hope of considerably increased economy
must be maiily based upon probable improvements in the
incandescence lamp, and to this the greatest attention ought to
be directed. It had been shown that marked economy of power
could be obtained by working the lamps at high pressure, but
then they soon broke down. In ordinary practice, from 140 to
200 candles were obtained from 1 horse-power, developed in the
lamps, but for a short time he had seen over 1000 candles per
horse-power from incandescence lamps. The problem, then, was
so to improve the lamp in details, that it would last a reasonable
time when pressed to that degree of efficiency, There was no
theoretical bar to such improvements, and it must be remem-
bered that incandescence lamps had only been articles of com-
merce for about three years, and already much had been done.
If such an improvement were realised, it would mean that it
594
would be possible to get five times as much light for a sovereign
as could be done now. At present electric lighting would suc-
ceed commercially where other considerations than cost had
weizht. Improvements in the lamps were certain, and there
was a probability that these improvements might go so far as
to reduce the cost to one-fifth of what it now was. He left the
meeting to judge whether or not it was probable, nay, almost
certain, that lighting by electricity was to be the lighting of the
future.
HARDENING AND TEMPERING STEEL
@R= of a series of lectures to the Liverymen and Apprentices
of the Company of Cutlers of London was delivered on
Thursday last by Prof. W. Chandler Roterts, F.R.S., ‘On
some Theoretical Considerations connected with Hardening and
Tempering Steel.”
The Master of the Company, Mr. J. Thorne, presided, and
the Lecturer observed thit the phenomena with which they had
to deal, although admittedly as interesting and remarkable as
any in the whole range of metallurgy, are but little understood.
If the fact that steel can be hardened had not been known,
the whole course of our industrial and even political history
would probably have been widely different, and the dagger,
which occupies so prominent a place in the armorial bearings of
the City of London, would have represented a survival of imple-
ments made, not of steel, but of copper hardened with tin.
It has long been known that there are extraordinary differ-
ences between the properties of wrought iron, steel, and cast
iron, but our knowledge that these differences depend upon the
presence or absence of carbon is only a century old, for it was
not until the year 1781 that Bergman, Professor in the Uni-
versity of Upsala, showed that wro ght iron, steel, and cast
iron, when dissolved in certain acids, leave amounts of a
graphitic residue, varying from 7 to 23 per cent., which are
essential to the constitution of these three varieties of metal.
Bergman’s work led many early experimenters, notably Clouet in
1796, to attempt to establish the importance of the part played
by carbon, and Clouet converted pure iron into steel by contact |
at a high temperature with the diamond, which was the purest
form of carbon he could command. Prof. Roberts said that this
experiment had been repeated by many other observers with
varying success, as in all the earlier work the furnace gases,
which had not been excluded, might have converted the iron |
into steel without the intervention of the diamond. It remained
for a distinguished Master of the Cutlers’ Company, Mr. W.
H. Pepys, to repeat Clouet’s fundamental experiment under
conditions which rendered the results unequivocal, by ea ploying
electricity as a source of heat. This experiment, which had
been communicated to the Royal Society in 1815, was performed
in the way Pepys had indicated.
It was then shown that in soft, tempered, and hardened steel
respectively the carbon has a distinct ‘‘mode of existence,” as
is indicated by the widely different action of solvents on the
metal in these three states.
The evidence as to whether carbon in steel is comdined in the
chemical sense, or is merely disso/ved, was then considered at
some length, special reference being made to the results obtained
by various experimenters, from Berzelius and Karsten to Sir
Frederick Abel of the War Department.
Prof. Roberts stated that the researches of Troost and Haute-
fenille afforded strong evidence that in ‘‘ white cast-iron” and
steel the carbon is merely dissolved, a view which he adopted, as
he did not consider it to be atall in opposition to the facts
recently established by Sir Frederick Abel, who had shown that
the carbon may be left by the slow action of solvents on soft
steel as a carbide of iron. f
The various physical, as distinguished from the chemical
theories that had been propounded from the time of Réaumur,
(1722) to that of Akerman (1879), to account for the ‘intimacy
of the relation’”’ of carbon and iron in hard as compared with
soft steel, were then described, at some length, and the remark-
able experiments of Réaumur, who cooled steel slowly in a
Torricellian vacuum in order to show that the absorption of gas
did not take place during cooling, was illustrated.
In recent years much importance has been attached to the
physical evidence as to the peculiar constitution of steel, and it
has been shown that there is a remarkable relation between the
amount of carbon contained in different varieties of steel and
their electrical resistance. Some of the very interesting experi-
NATURE
| April 19, 1883
ments of Prof. Hughes on this point were then exhibited and
described, and Prof. Roberts concluded by saying that the value
of the early work by Bergman and Réaumur had rather been
lost sight of in recent discussions, Bergman’s work being
specially remarkable, as he attempted, by thermometric measure-
ment, to determine the heat equivalent of the phlogiston he
believed iron and steel to contain.
The importance of the degree of carburisation of steel from
the point of view of its technical application was illustrated by
reference to a series of curves, and it was incidentally mentioned
that, in the case of the variety of steel used for the manufacture
of coinage-dies, the presence of 75 per cent. of carbon more or
less than a certain standard quantity makes all the difference in
the quality of the metal.
"NIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
OxFoRD.—The new Board of the Faculty of Natural Science
has issued its first list of lectures this term. The lectures are
divided under the following heads :—Physics, Chemistry, Animal
Morphology, Geology, and Botany. No lectures are scheduled
this term under Mineralogy or Physiology.
In Physics Prof. Clifton lectures on ‘‘Instruments and
Methods of Measurement employed in the Study of Optics.”
These lectures are given in the Clarendon laboratory, where
practical instruction in Physics is given by the Professor,
assisted by Messrs. Stocker and Heaton. At Christ Church
Mr. Baynes lectures on Electrokinematics and Electrodynamics,
and gives practical instruction on Electric and Magnetic Mea-
surements. At Balliol Mr. Dixon gives a course of experimenta
lectures on Elementary Heat and Light.
In Chemistry Dr. Odling lectures at the Museum on the
Composition of Air and Water; Mr. Fisher lectures on
Inorganic Chemistry ; and Dr, Watts on the Cyanogen Series.
At Christ Church Mr. Harcourt has a class for Quantitative
Analysis, and Mr. Dixon a class for Ga+ Aualysis.
In Animal Morphology Prof. Moseley lectures on Comparative
Anatomy, and gives practical instruction to his class after each
lecture; Mr. Hickson lectures on the Development of the
Chick, Mr. Hatchett Jackson on Mammalian Osteology and the
Principles of Embryology, Mr. Poulton on the Di-trioution of
Animals, and Mr. Lewis Morgan on the Vertebrate Exoskeleton
and on Human Osteology.
In Botany Mr. Chapman gives practical instruction on Vege-
table Morphology at the Botanic Gardens.
In Geology Prof. Prestwich will give a series of lectures on
Friday afternoons on the strata and fossils to be visited on his
Saturday excursions.
On June Ig an examination will be held in common by Mag-
dalen, Merton, and Corpus Christi Colleges for electing a
Scholar in Physical Science at each College. At Merton and
Corpus the chief subjects will be Chemistry and Physics.
Jesus College offers a Welsh Scholarship in Natural Science.
The examination will be held on June 14.
Examinations for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine (both
First and Second) will be held this term. Candidates are to
send in their names before May 1.
CAMBRIDGE,—Prof. Huxley’s Rede Lecture at Cambridge
University will be given on June 12, at 3 p.m., in the Senate
House. The subject is not yet announced,
Dr. Michael Foster leaves the Lectures on Elementary Biology
for this term in the hands of Dr. Vines and Mr. Sedgwick, and
will hold Catechetical Classes in Physiology for the Natural
Sciences Tripos.
Dr. F, Darwin will give six Demonstrations on the Physiology
of Plants (Growth, Movement, &c.) at the Physiological Labora-
tory on Saturdays at noon, beginning April 21.
Prof. Liveing will lecture on the Chemistry of the Heavenly
Bodies, beginning May 1.
Lonpon.—Mr. A. H. Keane has been 1ppointed to the
Hindustani Lectureship at University College.
THE Winter Session at the College of Agriculture, Downton,
near Salisbury, ended on Monday, when the certificates and
prizes were presented to the successful students by Archdeacon
Sanctuary. The certificate of membership, obtainable on
examination after completion of the two years’ course of study,
was granted to Mr. Arthur Herbert Kerr, Crookham, Farnham,
.
April 19, 1883]
NATURE
595
and to Mr. Henry Blair Mayne, Brantridge Park, Balcombe.
The scholarship, open to first-year students, was awarded to
Mr. Robert Alan Benson, Clifton.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Mathematical Society, April 12.—Prof, Henrici, F.R.S.,
president, in the chair.—The Chairman annoanced that Prof.
Rowe, of University College, London, had been elected a Mem-
ber of the Council in the room of the late Prof. Henry Smith,
F.R.S.—The following communications were made :—Equa-
tions of the loci of the intersections of three tangent lines and
of three tangent planes to any quadric « = 0, Prof. Wolsten-
holme.—Investigation of the character of the equilibrium of an
incompressible heavy fluid of variable density, Lord Rayleigh,
F,R.S. —On the normal integrals connected with Abel’s theorem,
Prof. Forsyth.—Spherical functions, Part 1, Rev. M. M. U.
Wilkinson. —Calculation of the equation which determines the
anharmonic ratios of the roots of a quintic, Prof. M. J. M. Hill.
—On simultaneous differential equations, with special reference
to (1) the roots of the fundamental determinant, (2) the method
of multipliers, Mr. E. J. Routh, F.R.S.
Chemical Society, April 5.—Dr. W. H. Perkin, president,
in the chair.—It was announced that a ballot for the election of
Fellows would take place at the next meeting of the Society
(April 19).—The following papers were read :—On the estima-
tion of hydrogen sulphide and carbonic anhydride in coal-gas, by
L. T. Wright. The coal-gas, dried and freed from ammonia,
is passed through two weighed U-tubes, the first containing
precipitated cupric phosphate dried at 100° and calcium chloride,
the second, soda lime, slightly moist, and calcium chloride.
Three cubic feet of clean coal-gas are first passed through the U-
tubes to ‘‘ saturate” the reagents. The increase of weight of the
first U-tube, after the passage of the crude coal-gas, then gives
the hydrogen sulphide, and the increase in weight of the second
the carbonic anhydride.—Some compounds of antimony and
bismuth containing two halogens, by R. W. Atkinson.—On the
theory of a molecular combination, when antimonious chloride
is mixed with potassium bromide and antimonious bromide with
potassium chloride, two distinct compounds should be produced.
The author finds that but one is formed, the two compounds
being identical in composition as well as in colour, crystalline
form, and other physical characters. This body has the formula
Sb,Cl,Brg,K, + 3H,O. An attempt to form the corresponding
bismuth compound was not successful.—Contribution to the
chemistry of the cerite metals, by B, Brauner. The author has
determined the atomic weight of didymium with the greatest
care, and fixes it at 145°4; the higher numbers previously
obtained were due to the presence of a metal having a higher
atomic weight ; this metal is proved by the author to be
samarium, the atomic weight of which he calculates to be 150,
The author also proves that the principal gadolinite earths—
ylttria, terbia, erbia, &c.—are present in cerite, but not in large
quantities.
Institution of Civil Engineers, April 3.—Mr. Brunlees,
president, in the chair.— The paper read was ‘‘On the Summit-
Level Tunnel of the Bettws and Festiniog Railway,” by Mr.
William Smith, M.Inst.C.E.
April 10.—Mr. Brunlees, president, in the chair.—The paper
read was on ‘‘ The Introduction of Irrigation into New Coun-
tries, as illustrated in North-Eastern Colorado,” by Mr. P.
O’Meara, M. Inst.C.E.
EDINBURGH
Royal Society, April 2.—Mr. John Murray in the chair,—
Dr. Gibson, in a communication on some laboratory arrange-
ments, described and exhibited a modification of Bunsen’s
method of filtration. The modification consisted essentially in
placing the vessel which received the filtrate inside a bell-jar,
which was connected with the exhausting apparatus and per-
filtered. By a suitable three-way stopcock arrangement the
adjusting of the internal partial vacuum was kept quite under
the control of the experimenter, A contrivance for the more
convenient use and better preservation of sulphuretted hydrogen
water was also described and shown.—Prof. Tait, in a short
note on the thermoelectric position of pure cobalt, described
recent experiments which fally bore out results formerly ob-
tained with other specimens. The cobalt line runs nearly parallel
to the icon line, but far down on the diagram below palladium
and nickel. Prof. Tait also indicated the solution of certain
problems of heat conduction in heterogeneous bodies as affected
by the Peltier and Thomson effects. —Prof. George Forbes read
a paper on transmission of power by alternate currents, in
which he pointed out the value of alternate current machines as
electromotors, especially in cases in which perfect isochronism
was of importance.—Prof. Herdman, in a paper on the so-called
hypophysis in the Tunicata, described the structure of the neural
(hypophysal) gland and the dorsal tubercle in various Ascidians,
and suggested that possibly the connection of the neural gland
(and also of the vertebrate hypophysis cerebri) with the pharynx
might be a secondary modification caused by one or more of a
series of primitive lateral excretory ducts, opening either upon
the exterior of the body or into the peribranchial cavity, having
come to open into a lost sense organ, in the Stomodzeum repre-
sented by the dorsal tubercle. These lateral ducts are found in
Ascidia mammillata, in some cases existing along with a median
duct opening into the pharynx at the dorsal tubercle, and in other
cases without this connection with the supposed sense-organ.—
Prof, Tait presented a paper on the quaternion expression for the
displacements of a rigid system, by Dr. G. Plarr.
Mathematical Society, April 13.—Mr. A. J. G. Barclay,
M.A., in the chair.—Mr. J. S. Mackay, president, read a paper
on the triangle and its six-scribed circles, adding historical notes
on the discovery of the various properties enumerated. The
name medtoscribed circle (il circolo medioscritto) was suggested
for use instead of nine-point circle, as had been proposed twenty
years ago by G. B. Marsano, ‘‘ Considerazioni sul Triangolo
Rettilineo,” Genova, 1863, p. II.
BERLIN
Physiological Society, March 9.—Prof. Du Bois Reymond
in the chair.—Dr. Wernicke gave a short sketch of the illness of
a patient who fell sick, exhibiting all the symptoms of a cerebral
tumour except epileptic attacks, and who manifested a disturb-
ance of speech that was characterised by Dr. Wernicke as a
**sensorial aphasia,” and by others as ‘‘ word-deafness.” A
sensorial aphasia consists, according to Dr. Wernicke, in the
fact that the patients, though in possession of a large vocabu-
lary, no longer understand the meaning of words, that they use
these confusedly, and so that their speech is quite muddled; more-
over they do not understand what one says to them at all, so that
it is impossible to arrive at an understanding with them. The
patient in question soon succumbed to an intercurrent disease,
and it was possible to make a thorough dissection of the brain,
which exhibited a bilateral affection of the cerebral cortex at the
first temporal convolution. An accurate dissection of the ears
showed that the deafness that had been observed during life was
not brought about by any disease of the sound-conducting
apparatus, but that it was rather to be regarded as a central deaf-
ness conditioned by the disease of the cortex of the first spheno-
semporal convolution in which, as Dr, Wernicke made probable
to long as ten years ago, the terminal expansion of the acoustic
nerve has its seat. Now the local disease of the brain-cortex
and the consequent observed disturbances in hearing and speech
correspond to the manifestations of ‘‘soul-deafness ” that were
experimentally produced by Dr. Munk in animals by extirpation
of the auditory sphere (//drsphdare), and consequently establish
the results of experiments on animals as true for man also. The
total deafness of the patient had only set in at a later period
towards the end of the disease, when the affection of the brain
had passed from the cortex into the deeper structures and had de-
stroyed the acoustic fibres, The physiological import of the above
case consists in the clearly proved limitation of the disease to the
first temporo-sphenoidal convolution in a case where the clinical
phenomena corresponded accurately to those of ‘‘ soul-deafness.””
—Dr. J. Munk had found in previous experiments that the func-
tion of neutral fats in nutrition can just as well be performed by
the fatty acids. Animals manifested absolutely no disturbance
| of nutrition when supplied with fatty acids instead of fats ; the
forated above so as to admit the funnel through which the liquid ;
fatty acids were made into an emulsion, and absorbed by the
| villi in precisely the same fashion as the fats, and afterwards the
chyle-vessels were found just as densely filled with a milky fluid
as after a meal of fat. The examination of the chyle had, however,
shown that the fatty acids that were supplied were no longer to be
found, but only neutral fats, and hence Dr. Munk had assumed that
a synthesis of neutral fats took place as the fatty acids passed out of
the intestinal villi into the chyle, and that the glycerine was sup-
plied by the animal body, probably by the breaking down of albu-
"NATURE
| April 19, 1883
596
ts
men. Dr. Munk has only just lately been able to advance a proo
of the truth of this assumption of a synthesis of neutral fat out
of fatty acids after it had been shown by other observers that
heterogeneous neutral fats could be taken up by animals and also
be deposited as such in the body, Dr. Munk now fed a dog,
which had been greatly reduced in weight by prolonged starvation,
with large quantities of the fatty acids of mutton and with a
little lean meat. The animal very soon increased considerably
in weight upon this diet, and after fourteen days had deposited
1100 grms. of fat in various organs under the kin, in the mesen-
tery, in the heart, and in the liver. Analysis of this fat elicited
the fact that it consisted of at least 96 per cent. of neutral mut-
ton fat. And in the dog it is evident that the mutton fat could
only have arisen by a synthesis of the fatty acids of mutton that
were eaten.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, April 9.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—The following papers were read :—On charbonous vac-
cination, by M. Pasteur. Some Turin professors having found
that vaccinated as well as unvaccinated sheep died after virulent
inoculation, M. Pasteur made inquiry, and came to the conclu-
sion that the blood used for such inoculation was septic as well
as charbonous (the sheep was dead twenty-four hours before its
blood was taken). He challenges the Turin men to a test of
this.—Description of a means of obtaining a wholly automatic
acticn of the sluice with oscillating liquid columns, without
cataract ; experimental realisation of this system during the
emptying of the sluice of l’Aubois, by M. de Caligny.—Units
of mechanics and of physics, by M. Ledieu.—The salt lands of
the South-East, by M. de Gasparin. The problem of freeing
-uch ground from salt is (unlike the formation of a folder) an
indeterminate one, and may be insoluble ; many years’ submer
sion and drainage may be ineffectual.—Report on electrodynamic
machines applied t» the transmission of mechanical work, by M.
Marcel Deprez. The dynamometric return (viewed apart from
the mechanical motor) was over 48 per cent.—On surfaces with
nil mean curvature, on which may be limited a finite por-
tion of the surface by four straight lines situated on the
surface, by M. Schwarz.—A letter of invitation to the In-
stitute to the second session of the Royal Society of Canada
at Ottawa, on May 22, was read.—Observation of the tran-
sit of Venus at Punta-Arenas (Straits of Magellan), by
M. Cruls, The four contacts were observed under excellent
conditions.—Observations of the Swift-Brooks comet, by M.
Périgaud.—Observations of comet II., 1882, at Algiers Obser-
vatory, by M. Trépied.—On uniform functions affected by
sections, and on a class of linear differential equations, by M.
Appell.—Law of periods, by M. de Jonquiéres.—Remarks on
the primitivity of groups, by M. Dyck.—Determination of
arithmetical progressions, whose terms are only known approxi-
mately, by M. Lucas.—On a theorem of M. Stieltjes, by M.
Cesaro.— On an improvement applicable to the Jonval turbine,
by M. Léauté.—On the radiation of silver at the moment of
solidification, by M. Violle. The radiation decreases at first,
more or les rapidly; then the decrease slackens, and when
solidification begins at the border of the vessel, there is a slight
increase : till solidification reaches the central part the radiation
of the liquid remains constant, then there is slight increase,
followed by rapid decrease. —On several optical apparatuses for
testing plane surfaces, parallel, perpendicular, and oblique, by
M. Laurent.—Very powerful direct-vision spectroscope, by M.
Zenger. By adding to the dispersion parallelipiped a light
crown glass prism, he gets a dispersion of 150° (A to H) ; this
is surpassed only by M, Thollon’s spectroscope, in which the
number of sulphide of carbon prisms and the multiple reflec-
tions diminish greatly the intensity of the light.—On the upper
limit of the perceptibility of sounds, by M. Pauchon. He
used a steam-driven syren, also metallic rods of diminishing
length fixed at one end, and rubbed. Znter alia, an_acoustic
comet slightly removed the limit of perceptibility ; exciting the
rods with various substances (colo; hany, alcohol, &c.) also changed
the limit-length, sometimes to the extent of double. A sound
that had become too high for the ear still acted on a sensitive
flame.—Ona process for obviating boiler explosions, by M. Tréves,
He recommends a thermomanometer, and a methodic feeding
according to it; also the introduction of a tube for injection of
air.—On some experiments made with dynamoelectric machines,
by M, Pollard.—Reply to M. Reynier, by M. Trouve.—Pro-
duction of crystalline vanadates by the dry way, by M. Ditte.—
Action of sulphur on alkaline phosphates, by MM. Filhol and
Senderens.—On a combination of phosphoric acid and silica,
by MM. Hautefeuille and Margottet. The formula is
PhO,;Si0,.—On various kinds of borotungstates, by M. Klein.
—Application of the phenomena of supersaturation to the theory
of hardening of some cements and mastics, by M. Le Chatelier.
—On chloride of pyrosulphury], by M. Konowaloffi—On the
difference of reactional aptitude of halogen bodies in mixed
halogen ethers; first part, ethylenic compounds, by M. Henry.
—On liquid chlorhydrates of turpentine, by M. Barbier.—The
structure of the ovary and formation of eggs in the Phallusi-
adez, by M. Roule.—On the organs of flight in insects, by M.
Amans. In both theories of flights he considers (M. Marey’s and
Mr. Pettigrew’s) it is overlooked that the base of the wing is
formed of two planes, with obtuse angles, so that in the descend-
ing stroke the posterior plane presents its concavity to the column
of air struck; the resultant, on the two axille, raises the bird.
—On the trichomatic origin and formation of some eystoliths,
by M. Chareyre.—Physiological researches on Champignons, by
MM. Bonnier and Mangin. The ratio of oxygen absorbed to
carbonic acid emitted does not vary sensibly with the temperature
in a given species. Respiration increases very sensibly with
the hygrometric state of the air, diminishes in diffused light, is
greatest in the more refrangible rays. Transp‘ration is greater
in diffuse light than in darkness.—Scientific exploration in the
Straits of Magellan, on Terra-del-Fuego, and on the coast of
Patagonia, with the Brazilian corvette Parnahyba, by M. Crals.
—The perception of colours and the perception of differences of
brightness, by M. Charpentier. The*perception of colour is
merely the appreciation of the difference of excitation, by certain
rays, of the apparatus of luminous sensibility on the one hand,
and of that of visual sensibility, or distinction of forms, on the
other.—Experimental researches on the physiological effects of
cinchonidine, by MM. Sée and Bochefontaine. Its place (with
quinine and cinchonine) is among substances which depress the
nervous system after momentary stimulation of the circulation.—
On the effects of prolonged stay in an atmosphere charged with
vapours of creosote, by M. Poincaré. There was hardening of
the brain, sclerosis of liver and kidneys, effacement of the pul-
monary cavities, &c.—On the circulation of the fingers and
derivative circulation of the extremities, by M. Bourceret. In
the last phalanx of the fingers there is a special arrangement
for rapid return of the blood; it consists of large, very short
capillaries, and is merely a modification of the general type.
One cannot speak properly of a derivative circulation.—On the
attenuation of the virulence of the bacterium of charbon by
antiseptic substances, by MM. Chamberland and Roux. This
was proved with carbolic acid and bichromate of potash.
CONTENTS PaGE
Tue Scotcn UNIVERSITIES Birr... ee ee ee et «8D
THE SCHEME OF THE GROCERS’ COMPANY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT
OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH IN SANITARY SCIENCE . . + + = «= + 574
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:— ‘ is :
Metamorphic Origin of Granite,—Prehistoric “‘ Giants."’—THE
Duxe oF ARGYLL oo dae: see hapa tebe ne 578
““The Ether and its Functions.”"—S. ToLvER PresTON . . - - 579
“ Krao.”’—A RESIDENT DS «she! Sheth cake ote fet came
Singing, Speaking, and Stamméring.—JAmEs Lecxy; W. H.
STONES M.B), EiR:CuP: 5) Kas. Lligscn et oie ef lees ine SE
A Curious Case of Ignition.—Lieut. Bertram Gwynng, R.N.. . 580
Fibreballs: —JOrie "te mete ce) miei ol cm) ee) el ore 580
Benevolence in Animals —OswALp FircH... . . . +--+ ~ = 580
The Zodiacal Light (?}—-J. W.B. . - - - + + + s+ «© ss 8 580
Braces or Waistband ?—G. H. . . - . AD eC a8
580
Tue TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY MECHANICS. . + - » + «© se
Tur CHEM STRY OF THE PLANT AND Faure Accumucarors, V. By
Dr. J. H. Grapstone, F.R.S., and Dr. ALFRED Tring, F.R.S.. . 583
Tue Lion at Rest (With Jdlustration) « 5) ces ag eric oe nals
On THE RELATIONS OF THE F1G AND THE CapriFic. By W. BoTT1NG
HEMSLEY i ce oe ee ne Cc ee oe an nae
5 FES BE PORE Sere
INOTES)=, /e col codon. eeecel eee
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NATURE
597
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1883
SCIENTIFIC WORTHIES
XXI.—WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE
ILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, President of the
Royal Society, was born in London, Jan. 11, 1825.
He belongs to an ancient Scottish family, many members
of which haverisen to distinction in Scotland and also in
the New World.’ He was first sent to a private (we believe)
school at Laleham under Mr. Buckland, brother of Dean
Buckland. Here, we read, ‘‘the discipline was of a
severity unknown at the present day.” Thence he was
removed to Eton, where however his stay was short.
The poet writes, “the child is father of the man’’; but
science in those days did not hold the place it does
now in the scholastic curriculum, and so the future
President, venturing to make some researches into the
effects produced by the combination of various detonants,
came into collision with the “powers that be”;° the
upshot of this contretemps was that the brothers Spottis-
woode were transferred to Harrow, then under the rule of
the present Bishop of Lincoln. His house tutor was Mr.
Harris, of the Park. On entrance he was placed in the
upper shell, a high form in those days for a newcomer:
here he was avery studious, quiet, and thoughtful boy, not
much given to athletic games. He remained at Harrow
three years, and in 1842 obtained a Lyon Scholarship.* In
this same year he entered Balliol College, Oxford, and had
the present Bishop of Exeter for his mathematical tutor,
subsequently, in 1845, the last year of his residence as an
undergraduate, he read with the Rev. Bartholomew Price,
of Pembroke College. This gentleman writes: “He
showed extraordinary liking for, and great skill in, what
I may call the morphology of mathematics, such as the
theory of simultaneous equations and the results deducible
from the form of these equations, a department in which
he has since shown great ability. He had, I think,
greater taste for these branches in their algebraical and
geometrical developments than for any other. His power
of work was very great and his industry equally so; he
read a great deal outside the usual range.” In 1845 he
took a first class in mathematics, and he afterwards won
the Junior (1846) and Senior (1847) University Mathe-
matical Scholarships. He returned to Oxford for a term
or two, and gave a course of lectures in Balliol College
on Geometry of Three Dimensions—a favourite subject
of his. He was Examiner in the Mathematical Schools
in 1857-58." On leaving Oxford, he immediately, we
1 John Spottiswoode, born 1565, Archbishop of St. Andrews, “had few
equals, and was excelled by none’’ ; another John (1616) was “a youth of
extraordinary parts”; and Sir Robert Spottiswoode, second son of the
Archbishop, was “‘a man of extraordinary parts, learning, and merit.”
(‘Genealogy of the Spotswood Family in Scotland and Virginia,’’ by C.
Campbell. Albany, 1268.)
2 * The feeling and opinion”’ at Harrow ‘‘were that no blame whatever
attached to them.””
3 One who knew Mr. Spottiswoode in his earliest days says: ‘‘Our
numbers at the school were comparatively very small, but I remember well the
great ease with which he did all hisschool work. I knew him well at Oxford,
and he several times lent me his horse—a sturdy, Roman-nosed animal of
great courage and strength—fora day’s hunting. He rode but little himself,
and did not read much in an orderly way.”” He also gives other particulars
-of interest, which we forbear to give here.
4 A son of Bishop Colenso also obtained a scholarship in the same year.
The mathematical prizes of the present day were not then founded, so that
the name of Spottiswoode does not occur among the prizemen of that time.
5 He also acted as an Examiner in the Civil Service Commission in its first
year of operation, and subsequently for the Society of Arts, and also for the
Cowper Street Middle-Class Schools.
VoL. XXv1I.—NO. 704
believe, took an active part in the working management
of the business of the Queen’s printers, about this time
resigned to him by his father, Andrew Spottiswoode,
brother of the Laird of Spottiswoode. The business has
largely developed under his hands.
Other subjects than mathematics have occupied his
attention: at an early age he studied languages, as well
Oriental as European; of his acquaintance with these
ample evidence is furnished by his contributions more
particularly referred to below.
In 1856 Mr. Spottiswoode made a journey through
Eastern Russia ; of this he has published a graphic and,
in parts, very lively account in his book entitled “A
Tarantasse Journey through Eastern Russia in the
Autumn of 1856” (Longmans, 1857). ‘‘I neither made
the journey, nor do I now write, with any political object,
but simply as a traveller to whom every square mile of
the earth’s surface is interesting, and the more so in pro-
portion as it is less known.” *
In 1860 the brothers Spottiswoode, accompanied by a
sister, went through Croatia and Hungary.” In 1861 Mr.
Spottiswoode married the eldest daughter of the late
William Urquhart Arbuthnot, a distinguished member of
the Indian Council. His exceptional qualifications as an
organiser have not only served to advance his business
in the way we have mentioned above, but these same
qualifications, together with the broad and liberal edu-
cation on which they were based, have combined to
raise him to his present high position in science. As
Treasurer and President he has been continuously on
the Council of the Royal Society for a great many years,
and through his exceptional gifts as an administrator he
has rendered it invaluable services. He has rendered
similar services to the British Association, to the London
Mathematical Society, and to the Royal Institution.’
We have permission to make the following extract from
a letter written by a friend of many years standing: “‘In
the councils (of the various societies) he has always been
distinguished by his sound judgment and his deep
sympathy with their purest and highest aims. There
never was a trace of partisanship in his action, or of
narrowness in his sympathies. On the contrary, every
one engaged in thoroughly scientific work has felt that he
had a warm supporter in Spottiswoode, on whose oppor-
tune aid he might surely count. The same breadth of
sympathy and generosity of sentiment has marked also
his relations to those more entirely dependent upon him.
The workmen in his large establishment all feel that they
have in him a true and trustworthy friend. He has
always identified himself with their educational and
social well-being-’* We give here a list of some of
the offices Mr. Spottiswoode has held, and of the honours
that have been bestowed upon him: Treasurer of the
British Association from 1861 to 1874, of the Royal
Institution from 1865 to 1873, and of the Royal Society
from 1871 to 1878. In 1871 he succeeded Dr. Bence
The hotel accommodation was of the scautiest (p. 23); the description of
| the vehiclesis pleasanter to read than to realise. The only peculiarly personal
statement is that the writer was a non-smoker. There are several illustrations
by the author, and a route map of Russia, 3 :
2 Fora description, see a paper by Mr. G. A. Spottiswoode in Galton’s
€Vacation Tourist in 1860.” 3
3 He has, we believe, also rendered valuable services to the Astronomical
t and Geographical Societies.
4 This last statement we have corroborated from other sources. ‘‘ Spottis-
woode’s people” have “ many institutions for healthful recreation as well as
mental improvement, such as library, rowing and cricket clubs, a choral
society, and a volunteer corps.””
DD
598
NATURE
| April 26, 1883
Jones as Honorary Secretary to the Royal Institution.
President of Section A, 1865 ; of the British Association,
1878 ; of the London Mathematical Society, 1870 to 1872; of
the Royal Society, 1879, which office he still holds.
Correspondent of the Institut (Académie des Sciences),
March 27, 1876. He is also LL.D. of the Universities of
Cambridge, Dublin, and Edinburgh, D.C.L. of Oxford,
and F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S., F.RS.E. In addition to these
honours he bas many other literary and scientific dis-
tinctions.
Of Mr. Spottiswoode’s willingness to communicate
from his stores of knowledge many have had frequent
proof. We are breaking no faith, we believe, when we
mention that it was his wish to purchase the late Prof.
De Morgan’s valuable library to present it to the Mathe-
matical Society, of which that distinguished mathematician
had been the first President.
Few students of the present day are acquainted with
Mr. Spottiswoode’s earliest work which appeared in the
shape of five quarto pamphlets (136 pp. in all) with the
title, “ Meditationes Analytica” (London, 1847). The
author's dedication runs thus: ‘To those who love to
wander on the shore till the day when their eyes shall be
opened and they shall see clearly the works of God in the
unfathomed ocean of truth, these papers are inscribed; ”
and in his preface he says, “The following papers have
been written at various periods, as the subjects presented
themselves to notice from time to time. If leisure had
been afforded, an attempt would have been made to draw
some of them up into a distinct treatise ; but it was
thought that even in their present form they might in-
terest some of those who take pleasure in the pursuit of
mathematical science. Some of the papers are entirely
original.” The papers are entitled, “Symmetrical Inves-
tigations of Formule relative to Plane Triangles,” “ On
some Theorems relative to Sections of Surfaces of the
Second Order,’’ ‘‘On the Reduction of the General
Equation of the Second Order,” “On the Partial Dif-
ferential Equations of certain Classes of Surfaces,”
“On some Theorems relating to the Curvature of Sur-
faces,” “On certain Formule for the Transformation of
Coordinates,” “On the Principle of Virtual Velocities,”
“On Infinitesimal Analysis,” “Examples of the Appli-
cation of the Infinitesimal Calculus,’ “On certain For-
mule made use of in Physical Astronomy,” “On the
Calculus of Variations,” ‘‘Problems in the Calculus of
Variations,” and “Note on Lagrange’s Condition for
Maxima and Minima of Two Variables ”—a fair epitome
of his subsequent mathematical labours, The treatment
calls for no special comment, except that we may note
that “in the form of the equations symmetry has been
preserved wherever the circumstances of the case would
permit.”
Ata slightly later date (1851) appeared, of a uniform
appearance with the “ Meditationes,” a much more
notable pamphlet (63 and viii. pp.), “Elementary Theo-
rems relating to Determinants,’’ of which a writer re-
marks, “ full of interest for the mathematician, but terrible
to the unmathematical vision.” A second edition of this,
rewritten and much enlarged, was published in Cred/e’s
Fournal (vol. li. 1856, occupying pp. 209-271, 328-381).!
_' “On the request of the editor of this ¥ournad to reproduce it he (Mr.
Spottiswoode) requested permission to revise the work. The subject had,
This was the earliest elementary treatise on a subject
which has since risen to such importance, and contains a
—
good sketch of what had previously been done in the
same direction. The friend, some of whose words we
have already cited, remarks, ‘that Spottiswoode should
have devoted himself at an early period to its cultivation
is to me perfectly natural, for the prevailing character of
all his mathematical work is symmetry (one might gene-
ralise still further indeed and say that it, combined
with graceful elegance, is the salient feature of all his
activity, mathematical, physical, and literary). Bertrand
once said of Serret that he was ‘wn artiste en formules,
and in a far more general sense one might say that
Spottiswoode is the ‘incarnation of symmetry.’” To
go back to the criticism just now quoted, Mr. Spottis-
woode is indeed a leviathan in symbols, and he takes his
pastime amongst them: the “gay determinant” is a
familiar form nowadays, and ‘‘ Hamilton’s weird delta
turned ” (the Vaé/a of Clerk Maxwell) is conspicuous on
many a page devoted to physics, but in some of the
papers we are about to describe there are not only in-
verted deltas, but Nablas turned to the right and to the
left run riot on the pages.
It is since 1870 that Mr. Spottiswoode has more
especially divided his attention between physics and
mathematics. ‘‘ His nearest friends,’ we are informed,
“induced him to take up the less abstract one of these
two branches of science in order that the general public
might have better opportunities of appreciating his abili-
ties. His work in the new field has been of the same
character as in the former one. It aims less perhaps at
exhaustive treatment than at a study of subtle and
beautiful phenomena.”
An early consequence of his new study was the publica-
tion in 1874, in the NATURE Series, of his ‘‘ Polarisation
of Light.’’ This contains a popular exposition of the
subject, and its pages “ constitute a talk” with his work-
people “rather than a treatise’’ on “‘this beautiful branch
of optics.” ?
Before we give a list of the several papers which, of
course, do not admit of quotation and passing over, as
still within the recollection of most of our readers, the
most admirable address delivered before the British
Association at Dublin in 18782—though one finds it hard
to pass over the many brilliant passages, of more special
interest however to the mathematician, who alone can be
supposed to care for any other than the ordinary space of
three dimensions—we must trespass to the extent of
taking the following passage from the earlier address to
Section A in 1865. This address, in the words of Prof.
Sylvester, is a combined history of the progress of mathe-
matics and physics, and of it Clerk Maxwell said he had
endeavoured to follow Mr. Spottiswoode, “as with far-
reaching vision he distinguishes the systems of science
into which phenomena, our knowledge of which is still in
the nebulous stage, are growing.”
“A detailed summary of recent progress in pure
mathematics would probably prove either interesting to
the mathematician or unintelligible to the general hearer;
proved neces-
however, been so extensively developed in the interim, that it S
i The result is
sary not merely to revise but entirely to rewrite the work.
given in the following pages.” :
* He has also contributed a lecture on the same subject to the ‘‘ Science
Lectures at South Kensington ”” Series.
2 See NATURE, vol. xvill. pp. 404-415.
April 26, 1883}
NATURE
599
with a view to sparing the patience of both, I shall
restrict myself to a few general remarks. In both the
great branches of mathematics, viz. geometry and algebra,
new schools have arisen within the last few years. In its
primary aspect the movement has tended to separate the
two; geometry has become more purely geometrical in
its conceptions and methods, algebra more independent
of geometrical considerations. The geometry of to-day
is more like the Greek than was that of fifty years ago;
and yet at the same time they have not only many prin-
ciples really in common, but many methods which,
although independent, are strictly analogous. Geometry
regards its figures, algebra its forms, not as isolated indi-
viduals, but as associated with others (concomitants, as
they are called) whose properties characterise those of
their primitives. The principles of both may be regarded
as the same, but dual in their application. Geometry,
again, is dual within itself: points and lines may be so
viewed that theorems concerning the one give rise to
analogies concerning the other; the principle the same,
but dual in its manifestation. In this way we seem to be
rising to laws which transcend the distinctions between
the two parts of geometry—between geometry and
algebra.
“ Descending a little further into particulars, in another
way again we seem to be gaining some steps—but as yet
only a few steps—towards a higher scheme both of
geometry and algebra. There are a few certain relations
so elementary in their conception, yet so universal in
their application, that they seem capable of forming the
basis of extensive theories: such, for example, in
geometry, is that of Anharmonic Ratio—a particular kind
of ratio applicable alike to points and rays, to lines and
to angles, on which M. Chasles has founded his new and
classical work on Conic Sections. Such, again, in
algebra, are those of homogeneity and of symmetry,
which prove to be not merely improvements in form, but
actually new powers for progress in the hands of the
mathematician. The calculus of homogeneous forms has
marked a new era in the history of algebra ; the theory
of equations has been transfigured in its light ; mechanics,
both ordinary and molecular, have been elucidated by it ;
and the remote applications of the integral calculus have
felt its ever-extending influence. Under these, as it were,
new fundamental conceptions, whole theories may be co-
ordinated, and of these, again, perhaps some coordina-
tion may one day be contemplated. As another instance
of this generalisation of principles and of this dual aspect
of the principles so generalised within almost the present
generation, it has been discovered, or at all events been
duly realised, that symbols of operation combine accord-
ing to definite laws, comprising as a particular case those
of ordinary number. This fertile idea has, year by year,
been receiving fuller developments, till it has at last
assumed the form of a complete calculus.’’
We, too, must join our apologies with those of the
learned speaker for lingering so long upon a favourite
subject.
The following is as complete a list of Mr. Spottiswoode’s
papers as we have been able to make:' they are
grouped, not according to subjects nor in order of time,
but as they occur in the several journals in which they
originally appeared :—
Phil. Magazine.—(1) On the Equation Q=g (a, 1, y, 2)
* We trust our readers will pardon our imperfect treatment of these
papers: we had formed quite a mass of notes—a “‘ rudisindigestaque moles "’—
but we have had, through circumstances over which we had no control, an
utterly inadequate periud in which to prune them and shape them into
comely form. The prefixed numbers are those of the ‘‘ Royal Society's
Catalogue ”’ and the notes are in most cases derived from the papers them-
selves. In our haste we have preferred to insert notes to the less familiar
papers ; the papers read before the Royal and Mathematical Societies are
without doubt those by which Mr. Spottiswoode’s rank as a mathematician
has been determined, but these are just the ones that are most familiar to
students.
=w+ir+jy+ kz (vol. xxxvi. 1850); this is a theorem
of considerable importance in the calculus of quaternions,
and indeed essential for the application of that method
to geometrical and physical problems. (2) On the Qua-
ternion Expressions of Coplanarity and Homoconicism
(z.). (3) On the Geometrical Interpretation of Qua-
ternions (vol. xxxvii. 1850), the working out on other lines
of results stated in a previous volume by Prof. Donkin.
(31) On a Geometrical Theorem (7é., 1850), viz. if three
cones of the second order, having a common vortex,
intersect one another two and two, the nine lines of inter-
section (three being selected from each pair of cones)
will lie on a cone of the fourth order. (7) On a Problem
in Combinational Analysis (vol. iii. 1852) connected with
the 15-girl Problem and a more general form of it, the
solution of which turns upon certain determinants. (41)
On some Experiments on Successive Polarisation of
Light made by Sir C. Wheatstone (vol. xli. 1871); the
introduction of instrumental means for converting the
plane of polarisation of the ordinary apparatus into
successive, or, as it is more commonly called, circular
polarisation, and the explanation of the phenomena
thence arising, constitutes the main purpose of the
communication. See also Proc. of R. Inst., vol. vi. 1872.
1875 (a) on a Revolving Polariscope; 1882 (4) on a
Separator and Shunt for Alternate Currents.
Camb. and Dub. Math. Fournal—(4) On certain Geo-
metrical Theorems (vol. vi. 1851). This is an anonymous
article which gives simple algebraical demonstrations of
certain of Steiner’s Theorems in the Systematische Ent-
wickelung, and also of some relations given by M. Chasles
in his “Apergu.’’ (9) On Certain Theorems in the Cal-
culus of Operations (vol. viii. 1853); an extension of
theorems by Boole (P&zl. Trans., 1844), relating to the
operation symbol Dax", and by Carmichael relating to
BS
the symbol vy = 1% ie + x, a
ax, “AX,
which the order of the Variables by which the Symbols of
Differentiation are Multiplied is not the same as that of
the Variables with respect to which the Differentiations
are to be performed; (2) in which the Variables by
which the Symbols of Differentiation are Multiplied are
any linear Function of the Given Variables; (10) on
Certain Geometrical Theorems (26. 1853); two Ele-
mentary Theorems in anharmonics proved by aid of deter-
minants. (11) On the Curvature of Curves in Space
(vol. ix. 1854) ; on this M. Chasles (‘‘ Rapports,”” p. 162)
remarks : “‘M. W. Spottiswoode est parvenu a la méme
expression dans une Note... ” ze. to the expression—
7 x 4
1 = cosec $) = + = == ee
P p Pis P P14 :
Quarterly Journal of Mathematics—(15) Note on
Axes of Equilibrium (vol. i. 1857). The axes (Mobius,
““Statik’’) possess the property of allowing the body to
be turned about them, the forces retaining their directions
in space without a disturbance of equilibrium. The
paper is an application of formule given by Rodrigues to
a proof of the property. (16) Ona Theorem in Statics
(26. 1857) is a proof of the following, due to Mobius
(“Statik’’): “ If there be any forces in equilibrium, and
a series of pyramids be constructed having for one edge
a common line, and for their opposite edges the lines
which represent the forces, in both magnitude and direc-
tion, respectively, the algebraical sum of the volumes of
the pyramids will vanish. It is of this M. Chasles
(“ Rapport,” p. 59) writes: “ M. W. Spottiswoode, 4 qui
toutes les ressources des nouvelles théories de l’analyse
sont si familiéres, s’est plu a les appliquer 4 la démon-
stration de cette proposition (¢.e. Mobius’s) et d’un autre
passage du traité de statique de Mobius, sur les axes de
lV équilibre.” (23) On Petzval’s Asymptotic Method of Solv-
ing Differential Equations (vol. vy. 1862). Also ina somewhat
different form in 4rzt, Assoc. Report (part ii.), 1861. (29)
. . . to the cases (1) in
600
NATURE
[April 26, 1883
On Differential Resolvents (vol. vi. 1863). A subject first
brought into notice by Mr. J. Cockle, subsequently dis-
cussed by Rey. R. Harley. The functions considered are
derived from equations in a factorial form; see also
Manch. Phil. Soc. Memoirs, ii. 1865. [In the R. S.
Catalogue these are also numbered (33)]. (37) Note
on the Contact of Curves (vol. vii. 1866). “In my
former paper” (P/z/. Trans. 1862, see infra) “one
set of expressions is unsymmetrical with respect to the
variables; the other, although symmetrical, involves
certain arbitrary quantities which remain to be eliminated
by special methods in the course of the developments ’’—
the object of the note is to establish general expressions
which are both symmetrical and free from arbitrary
quantities. (38) Note on the Resolution of a Ternary
Cubic into Linear Factors (7. 1866) is in effect a note on
a paper by Mr. J. J. Walker in the previous volume,
entitled “ Un the Resolution of Composite Quantities into
Linear Factors.”
Crelle’s Journal—(5) Mémoires sur les points singu-
liers d’une courbe a double courbure (vol. xlii. 1852). (6)
Mémoire sur quelques formules relatives aux surfaces du
second ordre (zd, 1852). (12) Correspondence between
Prof. Donkin and Mr. Spottiswoode (vol. xlvii. 1854) ;
extracts from letters (one from each) on a Method for
Determining Two Cyclic Sections of a Surface of the
Second Order. (14) The Memoir on Determinants (vol
li. 1856). (25) Sur quelques formules générales dans
le calcul des opérations (vol. lix. 1861), connected with
a Phil. Trans. paper (17). In this he shows the method
by which he obtained the formule in (17). (32) Note
sur la transformation de la cubique temaire en sa forme
canonique (vol. lxiii. 1864).
Tortolint Annali di Scienze.—(8) Sulla trasformazione
delle equazioni differenziali lineari dell’ ordine secondo
(vol. iii. 1852).
R. Soc. Proci—(13) Researches on the Theory of In-
variants (vol. vii. 1854). ‘‘The view of invariants here
taken has suggested a series of other functions of which
invariants form the last term. These functions I propose
to call variants. With the exact relation between these
functions and covariants I am not at present acquainted.”
(17) On an Extended Form of the Index Symbol in the
Calculus of Operations (vol. x. 1859, PAz/. Trans. 1860).
A more detailed form of (9). (20) On the Calculus of
Functions (vol. xi. 1861). (21) On Internal and External
Division in the Calculus of Symbols (z4.). Connected
with a paper by Mr. W. H.L. Russell (P/z/. Trams. 1861),
a generalisation and an extension. (30) On the Equations
of Rotation of a Solid Body about a Fixed Point (vol.
xiii. 1863). In treating the equations of rotation of a
solid body about a fixed point it is usual to employ prin-
cipal axes of the body as the moving system of co-
ordinates. Cases, however, occur in which it is advisable
to employ other systems. The object of the paper is to
develop the fundamental formule of transformation and
integration for any system. [This is also given as (34) in
the &. S. Caz]. (35) On the Sextactic Points of a Plane
Curve (vol. xiv. 1865 ; Phz/. Trans. 1865). (40) On the
Contact of Conics with Surfaces (vol. xviii. 1870; Pz?
Trans. 1870). (43) On the Contact of Surfaces (vol. xx.
1872 ; Phil. Trans. 1872). (45) On the Rings Produced
by Crystals when Submitted to Circularly Polarised Light
(vol. xx. 1872); 1874 (2) On Combinations of Colour by
Polarised Light; 1874-5 (6) On Stratified Discharges
through Rarefied Gases ; 1875-6 (c) On Multiple Contact
of Surfaces; (@) An Experiment in Electromagnetic
Rotation ; 1876-7 (e) On Stratified Discharges (ii.) ; Ob-
servations with a Revolving Mirror (iii.) ; (7) Ona Rapid
Contact Breaker and the Phenomena of the Flow;
1877 (g) On Hyperjacobian Surfaces and Curves; (/)
Stratified Discharges (iv.): Stratified and Unstratified
_* When there is a paper in the PAi?, Trans. as well, the reference is also
given under this head.
by Crystals submitted to Circularly Polarised Light (vol.
Forms of the Jar-Discharge; (7) Photographic Image of
the Stratified Discharge; 1878 (7) Stratified Discharge
(v.); Discharge from a Condenser of Large Capacity ;
1879 (£) On the Sensitive State of Electrical Discharges
through Rarefied Gases [with J. F. Moulton], PAz/. Trans. >
1879-80 (7) On some of the Effects Produced by an In-
duction Coil with a De Meriten’s Magneto Electric
Machine ; (vz) On the Sensitive State (ii.) (with J. F. M.),
Phil. Trans. ,; 1880-1 (#) On the 48 Coordinates of a
Cubic Curve in Space (Phz/. Trams.) ; 1881 (0) On Strati-
fied Discharges (vi.), Shadows of Striz (with J. F. M.);
and (#) Multiple Radiations from Negative Terminal ;
1881-2 (g) Note on Mr. Russell's Paper on Definite In-
tegrals ; (7) Note on Mr. Russell’s Paper on Certain
Geometrical Theorems ; (s) On the Movement of Gas in
Vacuum Discharges (with J. F. M.)2
R. Asiatic Soc. Journal—(18) Note on the supposed
Discovery of the Principle of the Differential Calculus by —
an Indian Astronomer Gol: xvii. 1860). While not grant-
ing that Bhéskardcharya had discovered the principle, “it
must be admitted that the penetration shown by him in
his analysis is in the highest degree remarkable, and that
the formula which he establishes and his method of esta-
blishing it bear more than a mere resemblance—they ~
bear a strong analogy—to the corresponding process in
modern astronomy.”’ (28) On the “Stirya Siddhdnta ” and
the Hindoo Method of calculating Eclipses (vol. xx.
1863). It had been suggested that Mr. Spottiswoode
should undertake an edition of the above work. For
reasons stated, the attempt was not made; but the object
of this paper is the translation into modern mathematical
language and formule of the rules of the work in
question.
Rk. Geog. Soc. Proc—i19) On Typical Mountain
Ranges : an application of the Calculus of Probability to
Physical Geography (vol. iv. 1861 ; Journal, vol. xxxi.
1861).
peta Soc. Memoirs.—(22) On a Method for de-
termining Longitude by Means of Observations on the
Moon’s greatest Altitude (vol. xxix. 1861; also in Geog.
Soc. Proc. vol. v. 1861).
British Assoc. Report—(24) On the Reduction of the
Decadic Binary Quantic to its Canonical Form (1861,
part 2); (36) Address to Section A (1865); (a) Address
to the Association (1878).
Phil. Trans.—(26) On the Contact of Curves (1862) ;
(27) On the Calculus of Symbols (1862); 1874 (a) On the
Contact of Quadrics with other Surfaces. See also above
under 2. Soc. Proc. |
Comptes Rendus.—(39) Note sur V équilibre des forces —
dans l’espace (vol. Ixvi. 1868); (48) Note sur la repré-_
sentation alyébrique des lignes droites dans l’espace
(vol. Ixxvi. 1873); (49) Sur les plans tangents triples a
une surface (vol, Ixxvii. 1873) ; 1874 (a) Sur les surfaces |
osculatrices ; 1875 (4) Sur la représentation des figures
de géométrie & #z dimensions par les figures corréla-
tives de géométrie ordinaire; 1876 (c) Sur le contact
dune courbe avec un faisceau de courbes doublement
infini. |
R. Inst. Proc.—(44) On Optical Phenomena produced
a
vii. 1872. See also Phil. Mag. vol. xliv. 1872); (46) On
the Old and New Laboratories at the Royal Institution
(vol. vii. 1873) ; (47) On Spectra of Polarised Light (20. |
1873) ; 1574 (2) On Combinations of Colour by Polarised
Light ; 1878 (6) A Nocturne in Black and Yellow ; (c)
Quartz: an old chapter rewritten; 1880 (¢) Electricity in
Transitu; 1882 (e) Matter and Magnetoelectric Action.
Musical Society Proc.—1879 (a) Lecture on Beats and
Combination Tones. |
Royal Society.—Presidential Addresses for the Years _
1879, 1880, 1881, 1882. |
* For analyses of the papers on ‘‘Sensitive Discharges,” &c., consult —
vol. ii. of ‘‘A Physical Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism,”’ by J. E. H.
Gordon, 1880 (see pp. 47-50, 71-81, 88-111).
April 26, 1883 |
L. Math. Soc. Proc.—t1866 (a) A Problem in Probabili-
ties connected with Parliamentary Elections ; 1868 (4)
Equilibrium of Forces in Space; 1871 (c) Question in
the Mathematical Theory of Vibrating Strings ; 1872 (d)
On some recent Generalisations in Algebra (Presidential
Address) ; 1874 (e) On the Contact of Quadrics with
other Surfaces ; 1876 (f/f) On Determinants of Alternate
Numbers; (g) On Curves having Four-point Contact
with a Triply-infinite Pencil of Curves ; 1879 (#) On the
Twenty-one Coordinates of a Conic in Space; (7) On
Clifford’s Graphs ; 1881 (7) On the Polar Planes of Four
Quadrics; 1882 (4) On Quartic Curves in Space.
“A MANUAL OF THE INFUSORIA”
A Manual of the Infusoria,; Including a Description of
all known Flagellate, Ciliate, and Tentaculiferous Pro-
tozoa. By W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S. (London:
David Bogue, 1882.)
HE Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
of London for the year 1677 contain the first pub-
lished account of the minute organisms to which the term
“ Tnfusoria’’ is now very generally applied. The account
is by “Mr. Antony van Leeuwenhoek,” who, taking up
the line of study so successfully pursued by his com-
patriot, Swammerdam, was the first to apply the micro-
scope to the investigation of the otherwise invisible fauna
and flora which teem in inconceivable abundance in the
waters of ponds, rivers, and seas, in the infusions of
organic substances prepared by man’s agency, and in
even the minutest drops of moisture which accumulate on
the surfaces of natural objects.
Henry Baker (1742), O. F. Miller (1773), and other
names are connected with the history of this field of in-
vestigation in the period antecedent to Ehrenberg, who
in 1836 gave a new aspect to the subject by his descrip-
tions and figures of a great number of forms and of their
intimate organisation. The minute creatures at one time
spoken of as “animalculz,” and later as “ Infusoria,” are
now known to comprise many very diverse series of
organisms—unicellular plants, variously organised uni-
cellular animals, as well as animals of multicellular struc-
ture and high organisation, although of minute size. The
improvement of the microscope within the last forty years
and the studies of a host of observers, among whom are
Dujardin (1841), von Siebold (1845), Stein (1854),
Clapartde and Lachmann (1858), Max Schultze (1860),
and more recently of Haeckel, Engelmann, and Biitschli
—have gradually resulted in the recognition of a
series of minute animals included amongst the “animal-
cule” and “Infusoria” of earlier writers, which are
characterised by having their living substance in the
form of one single nucleated corpuscle or “cell,” whilst
nevertheless exhibiting a considerable degree of organi-
sation, possessing a mouth into which solid particles of
food are taken, pulsating spaces within the protoplasm
of the cell, special organs of locomotion, prehension, and
protection. These are the mouth-bearing Protozoa, dis-
tinguished as such from the other unicellular animals
which have not a special orifice for the ingestion of food
and constitute the mouthless Protozoa.
It is to these mouth-bearing Protozoa and a few allied
mouthless forms that Mr. Saville Kent restricts (as is not
unusual) the old term Infusoria. Among them the most
numerous and highly organised are the Ciliata ; far less
NAT ORE
601
abundant and varied are the Tentaculifera (Acinetz),
whilst the Flagellata have, on account of their excessive
minuteness, not been properly understood (and were for
the most part altogether unknown) until very recently,
some important features in their organisation having been
first made known by the author of the book which forms
the text of this article.
Mr. Kent’s “Manual of the Infusoria’’ consists of
two large volumes and an atlas of fifty-one plates. The
first volume contains chapters on the history, the organ-
isation, the affinities, and the classification of the Infu-
soria. Then the three classes, Flagellata, Ciliata, and
Tentaculifera, are taken up one by one and systematically
divided into orders and families, genera and species—a
diagnosis and usually a figure being given of every species.
The systematic treatment of the Ciliata and Tentacu-
lifera occupies the second volume. Altogether Mr. Kent
describes goo species of Infusoria, arranged in 300 genera
and 80 families. To go over this ground in any case in-
volves a vast amount of labour and perseverance. To do
so in the thorough and conscientious manner which dis-
tinguishes Mr. Kent’s work requires special capacity. Mr.
Kent has spared no pains to make his work a trustworthy
source of information on all points relating to the group
with which it deals; the most comprehensive as well as
the smallest and most obscure of recent publications
relating to the organisation or to particular species of
Infusoria have their contents duly set forth in the proper
place in Mr. Kent’s work. So faras a frequent reference
to these volumes enables one to come to a conclusion,
little if anything of importance, whether published in
English, French, German, or Italian, has been overlooked
by our author. Even the quite recent observations of
Foettinger on the parasitic Bexedenta found in Cephalo-
poda, and of Joseph Leidy on the parasitic Ciliata occur-
ring in the Termites,are incorporated, as well as the
observations of Cunningham on Protomyxomyces, little
more than a year old.
This is by no means the only merit of Mr. Kent’s work,
He might have contented himself with recasting the
materials to be found in the three great volumes pub-
lished by Stein, in Claparéde and Lachmann, and in
Pritchard’s “‘ Infusoria”’ (a valuable book in its day), and
have simply incorporated with these the results scattered
through the various English and foreign journals and
transactions of the past twenty-five years. Mr. Kent has
duly done all this, but he has done more, since he has
himself made a very careful and prolonged study of a
large number of Infusoria. Accordingly we find through-
out the present work original observations brought for-
ward for the first time. These include a number of
new species and genera, especially among the Flagellate
and Tentaculiferous forms. The beautiful cup-forming
monads mounted on branching stalks like a colony of
Vorticella were first brought prominently into notice by
that keen observer, the late Prof. James-Clark of Boston,
and Mr. Kent has followed up the study of these beautiful
forms in a very thorough manner. On the whole, it may
be said that the portion of Mr. Kent’s work devoted to
the Flagellata will have, for those naturalists who have
not very closely followed the periodical literature of the
subject, the charm of complete novelty, for very many of
these forms were completely unknown or misunderstood
602
till within the last ten years, and have not found their
way into general treatises and text-books before the
present occasion.
With Mr. Kent’s views as to the affinities of the dif-
ferent classes of Infusoria it is not necessary to agree in
order to appreciate the value of his work in general.
The view is maintained in the “ Manual” that the
Sponges are genetically related to the Flagellata, whilst
an opinion is quoted to the effect that the Ciliata are re-
lated to the Turbellaria. Without discussing the grounds
for either of these views, we must simply express our
entire disagreement with Mr. Kent, who is not (it seems
to us) so happy in these speculations as in the more sub-
stantial portion of his work. The woodcut on p. 477,
vol. ii., comparing the disposition of the ciliated bands of
various Infusoria with that of the similar ciliated bands
of various larve of higher animals, is exceedingly instruc-
tive and useful. It serves to point out the close similarity
in form and disposition which such ciliated bands may
assume in organisms totally unrelated to one another in
the genealogical sense. Mr. Kent, however, takes the
view, which we think will not be shared by many zoologists,
that there is a deeper significance in the occurrence of
these similar modifications of similar structures in forms
so widely apart as unicellular Protozoa and multicellular
Molluscan, Polyzoan, and Echinoderm larve ; according
to Mr. Kent they indicate “ affinity,” “ phylogenetic con-
nection,” and ‘‘ biogenetic relationship.” In every direc-
tion Mr. Kent detects possible instances of such affinity,
which he sets forth in a tabular form on p. 479 ; but it is
not always quite obvious what Mr. Kent means when he
speaks of certain Infusoria as “ prototypes of’’ and as
“foreshadowing’”’ higher organisms. Had he confined
himself to drawing attention to the remarkable parallelism
or homoplasy presented by Infusoria on the one hand,
and certain higher organisms on the other, we could have
appreciated his capacity for detecting structural coinci-
dences. But it appears to be Mr. Kent’s opinion that the
Holotrichous Ciliata are the forefathers of the Annelida,
which are a/so traced by him to the Peritricha. The
latter have (according to Mr. Kent) given rise to the
Polyzoa, Mollusca, and Echinoderms ; the Hypotricha
are the ancestors of the Rotifera and of the Arthropoda !
whilst the Tentaculifera are the progenitors of the Ccelen-
terata and the Choano-flagellata of the Sponges.
Mr. Saville Kent is no doubt entitled to hold and to
promulgate an opinion on these matters, but we regret,
inasmuch as his opinion is a very singular one, that he
should have allowed it to take a prominent position in
this “ Manual.”
Upon the question of spontaneous generation Mr.
Kent is in accord with the prevalent doctrine, and gives
a clear exposition of the history of the discussion of the
subject, and so exhibits the importance of the researches
carried on by Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale upon the
reproductive process in certain flagellate Infusoria, and
the power of the ultra-minute germs of these Flagellata
to resist the destructive influence of high temperatures.
With regard to the normal generation of Infusoria Mr.
Kent is not so satisfactory. He distinguishes Fission,
Gemmation, Sporular Multiplication, and “ Genetic” Re-
production—the latter term being, without explanation,
applied to sexual reproduction. Our author clearly has
NATURE
| April 26, 1883
not—amongst his numerous and widespread researches
upon the Infusoria—devoted any time to a personal in-
vestigation of the phenomena of conjugation and rejuve-
nescence amongst the Ciliata. The account which he
gives of the work of Engelmann and Biitschli is meagre
in comparison with the space which he has devoted to
speculative digressions, and we find no figures illustrative
of the exceedingly important results attained by those |
authors. In view of the great biological interest of the
phenomena of conjugation in unicellular organisms gene-
rally, this is a serious omission. It is a mistake to have
introduced the bygone error of attributing sexual repro-
duction to the Infusoria into this work at all,as Mr. Kent
has done by the heading of his paragraph. Fission,
gemmation, and possibly spore-formation preceded at a
certain period in the family history by conjugation,
constitute all that is own to occur in Infusoria.
Mr. Kent makes too much of the isolated cases
of spore-formation among Ciliata which stand upon
good evidence. Admitting them as cases of spore-forma-
tion (that is of multiple fission), it is not possible to use
them in support of the exploded view as to the production
of embryos in the Ciliata by the breaking up of the nucleus
after conjugation. Mr. Kent still clings to this notion of
a special and peculiar formation of embryos within the
parent ciliate Infusorian after, and as the immediate
result of, conjugation, but he does not adduce any new
fact in support of it. There is no reason adduced by Mr.
Kent for regarding the nucleus of Infusoria as anything
more than acell-nucleus, and one is surprised to find that
he should express so strong a disagreement with Biitschli
as to the fate of the cast-out fragments of the nuclei of
conjugated Ciliata, when he does not detail to us any
original observations made by him upon the process in
question. The cast-out fragments of the nucleus of the
conjugated Ciliate possibly have the same significance
(Mr. Kent calls it an “unprofitable destiny,” p. 98) as the
cast-out preeseminal apoblasts or “ directive corpuscles ’”
of an ordinary egg-cell.
Undoubtedly the best part of Mr. Kent’s book, and
one which will prove of constant value to that large body
of working naturalists who are scattered throughout
English-speaking lands, who delight to follow with care
and accuracy, by the aid of the microscope, the forms
and life-histories of the minute beings first made known
by Mr. Antony van Leeuwenhoek, is that which contains
the systematic description of every known species of
Infusoria.
Accuracy is one of the first requisites in any attempt
at scientific work, and Mr. Kent’s descriptions and
figures will enable numberless good observers in country
places and small towns where there are no libraries con-
taining the big books of Stein and Ehrenberg to
accurately identify the organisms which they observe. By
familiarity with Mr. Kent’s book such an observer will be
able to tell whether he has observed a new species or a new
fact abouta known species, and he will rise at once from
the position of an isolated spectator of the curiosities of
microscopic life to that of a possible contributor to the
world’s knowledge of animal structure, a fellow-worker
with all the naturalists of civilised humanity. It is an
excellent thing for the cause of science in England, and
an excellent thing for other good causes too, that there
April 26, 1883 |
NATURE
603
are so many unprofessional naturalists in all classes of
the community and in all parts of the kingdom. Our
dilettanti naturalists not only pursue their favourite study
with a devotion and energy which Englishmen always
exhibit in regard to a “hobby,’’ but they assist in all
quarters in gaining for science true appreciation and
popularity. Not merely so, but from their ranks many
honoured leaders have sprung. It is chiefly for the ser-
vice which he has rendered to this class of students that
we consider Mr. Saville Kent is entitled to thanks, as was
Andrew Pritchard and his editors in a past generation.
In conclusion we may briefly epitomise the classifica-
tion of the Infusoria followed by Mr. Kent. He regards
the Infusoria as a legion or section of the Protozoa or
unicellular animals characterised by having appendages
which are zo¢ pseudopodia, lobose, or radiate (Rhizopoda),
but are either flagelliform, cilia, or tentaculiform. The
character of possessing a distinct mouth or mouths can-
not be strictly applied to the whole group, since some
few flagellate forms have not even a localised ingestive
area, The classes and orders and families recognised in
this legion are as follows :—
Crass I.—FLAGELLATA.
Order 1. TRYPANOSOMATA (Trypanosoma).
Crder 2. RHIZOFLAGELLATA (Mastigamceba).
Order 3. RADIOFLAGELLATA.
Family 1. Actinomonadide ; 2. Euchitonide.
Order 4. PANTOSTOMATA.
Family 1. Monadide ; 2. Pletromonadide ; 3. Cerco-
monadidz ; 4. Codoncecide ; 5. Dendromonadide; 6.
Bikcecide ; 7. Amphimonadidz ; 8. Spongononadide ;
g. Heteromitidz ; 10. Trepomonadide ; 11. Polytomide ;
12. Pseudosporide ; 13. Spumellidz ; 14. Trimastigide ;
15. Tetramitide ; 16. Hexamitide; 17. Lophomonadide ;
18. Catallactidae,
Order 5. CHOANOFLAGELLATA or DISCOSTOMATA.
Section I. Gymnozoida.
Family 1. Codonesigidee ; 2. Salpingcecidee ; 3. Phalan-
steriidz.
Section Il, Sarcocrypta (Lhe Sponges).
Order 6. EUSTOMATA.
Family 1. Paramonadide; 2. Astasiadz ; 3. Euglenide;
4. Noctilucide ; 5. Chrysomonadide ; 6 Zygoselmide ;
7. Chilomonadide; 8. Anisonemidz ; 9. Sphenomonadide.
Order 7. CILIOFLAGELLATA.
Family 1. Peridiniide ; 2 Heteromastigide ; 3. Mallo-
monadide; 4. Stephanomonadide ; 5. Trichonemide.
Cass II.—CILIATA.
Crder 1. HOLOTRICHA.
Family 1. Paramoecide ; 2. Prorodontide ; 3. Trache-
lophyllidz ; 4. Colepide; 5. Euchelyide ; 6. Trachelo-
cercidz; 7. Tracheliide ; 8. Ichthyophthiriide; 9. Ophryo-
glenide ; 10. Pleuronemide ; 11. Lembide; 12. Tricho-
nymphide ; 13. Opalinide.
Order 2. HETEROTRICHA.
Family 1. Bursariidz ; 2. Spirostomide ; 3. Stentoride ;
4. Tintinnode ; 5. Trichodinopsidz ; 6. Codonellide ; 7.
Calceolide.
Order 3. PERITRICHA.
Family 1. Torquatellide ; 3. Dictyocystide ; 3. Actino-
bolide; 4. Halteriidz ; 5. Gyrocoridz ; 6. Urceolariide;
7. Ophbryoscolecidz ; 8. Vorticellidz.
Order 4. HYPOTRICHA.
_Family 1. Litonotidz; 2. Chlamydodontide ; 3. Dyste-
riidz ; 4. Peritromide ; 5. Oxytrichide ; 6. Euplotide.
CLass III.—TENTACULIFERA,
Order 1. SUCTORIA.
Family 1. Rhynchetide; 2. Acinetide; 3. Dendro-
cometidz; 4. Dendrosomidz.
Order 2. ACTINARIA.
Family 1. Ephelotide ; 2. Ophryodendride.
The only feature in the above classification upon which
it occurs to us to offer a remark is the limitation assigned
to the class Flagellata. Putting aside the author’s spe-
ciality as to the inclusion of the Sponges in that group, it
seems that he has drawn up a very neat and, on the
whole, satisfactory classification of the group. But on
the one hand exception may be taken to the inclusion
amongst the Flagellata of such forms as Mastigamoeba
and Euchitonia, whilst, on the other hand, those who
follow Stein will ask why such forms as Volvox and
Chlamydomonas are excluded. Further we cannot
accept as satisfactory the subordinate position assigned
to Noctiluca, the proboscis of which is no ordinary fla-
gellum, but of so special a character as to entitle its
owner to a distinct order or even a class. The fact is
that it is excessively difficult to say what monadiform or
flagellate unicellular organisms should be associated with
forms such as the Choanoflagellata and Eustomata which
undoubtedly are rightly placed in one legion with the
Ciliata, and what should be left among lower plants, or
again in association with the pseudopodic Rhizopods. A
flagellate condition in the early stages of development
(a ‘‘monad form”) is common to a vast number of
Protozoa and Thallophyta, and the mere flagellate cha-
racter is not a sufficient basis for the construction of a
natural group. Mr. Kent very properly proposes to sepa-
rate as plants those flagellate forms which do not ingest
solid particles of nutriment ; but he is no doubt aware of
the difficulty of observation in this matter, and of the
statement (probably an erroneous one) by Stein, that
certain Volvocinee actually possess a cell-mouth and
gullet.
The true limitations of the natural group of the Flagel-
late Infusoria will probably be ultimately found in the
characters afforded by the series of events constituting
the life-history of the various flagellate organisms which
at first sight may appear to have a claim to be placed in
that group. E. Ray LANKESTER
OUR BOOK SHELF
The Micrographic Dictionary. By J. W. Griffith, M.D.,
and A. Henfrey. Fourth Edition, Edited by J. W.
Griffith, M D. (London; Van Voorst, 1883.)
THE interval of eight years since the publication of the
third edition of the “ Micrographic Dictionary” has been
marked by substantial progress, not only in the micro-
scope itself, but also in our knowledge of the structure of
various classes of organisms included in the subjects
specially treated. In the former of these two depart-
ments the present edition may be regarded as fairly
keeping pace with the advance of science; and the in-
troduction forms a very useful treatise on the structure
| and use of the microscope and of the various appliances
604
NATURE
[April 26, 1883
and reagents which the microscopist should have at his
command, as well as of the mode of examination of
microscopic objects. In the second department the
editor has been again assisted by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley
in the cryptogamic articles, and by Prof. Rupert Jones in
those on Geology and on Foraminifera, as well as by
other specialists. To put new wine into old wine-skins is
proverbially an unsatisfactory proceeding ; and we do not
know that it has been more successful here than else-
where. We are far from saying that the syndicate who
have assisted the editor have not contributed much from
their vast stores to bring down the work to the date which
it now bears on its title-page ; but in some of the articles
which we have had occasion to consult for work that we
have happened to have in hand, the most recent observa-
tions are certainly not alluded to, and the system of
classification is not the best or newest. But granting
these defects, the work is one which no practical micro-
scopist can afford to be without, and which must always
lie on his table for ready reference. The present edition
is enriched by five new plates, and some new woodcuts.
A. W.B
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return,
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts.
No notice is taken of anonymous communications.
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters
as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great
that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even
of communications containing interesting and novel facts. |
Speke and Grant’s Zebra
In or about 1882 a zebra was presented to the French Govern-
ment by King Menelik of Shoa (which is in lat. 10° N., south-
eastof Abyssinia). It differed in certain respects from zebras
hitherto supposed to have been described, and being regarded
therefore as a new species or variety was named by Mr. Milne
Edwards Zguus Grevyi, after the President of the French
Republic.
The species of zebra hitherto known were Z. guagga, £.
Burchelli, and E, zebra. The new one recently received in
Paris apparently approximates to #. zebra, but the arrangement
of the stripes, which are more numerous and more closely set,
especially on the haunches, as well as its geographical distri-
bution, seem to give sufficiently distinctive characters to entitle
it to rank as a new species or variety.!
In a recent communication to the Zoological Society of Lon-
don, Col. A. Grant, C.B., F.R.S., has called attention to the
fact that the late Capt. Speke and he observed, hunted, and shot
zebras during their expedition (chiefly in the lake regions of
Equatorial Africa) in 1860-63, which from his deseription are
either identical with the zebra from Shoa, or, if not, are entitled
to be considered as a new species or variety.
Col. Grant has described the animal both in his notes written
during the expedition and also in a paper to the Geographical
Society in 1872, of which extracts are subjvined.
Should further examination an! comparison show that the
zebra described by Grant in 1861, and again in 1872, is identical
with the Paris animal, it would seem that priority of discovery,
although hitherto unclaimed, is due in title, as it is in fact, to
Speke and Grant. If, on the other hand, the animal described
by them should turn out to be distinct from any other form yet
described, it would appear to have a claim to be named after
these discoverers.”
The following extracts from Col. Grant’s notes and papers
addressed to the Geographical Suciety—written many years ago
—appear to substantiate Speke and Grant’s claim to the dis-
covery and description of a new variety of zebra :—
‘It should be added that Z. Burchelli is the only zebra known to occur
north of the equator, and that &. sebra has not been seen for many
years. (Refer to figure in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, iv. p. 721, published
April 1, 1883.)
? It is possible that it may be a local variety of Z. zebra, hitherto found
much further south.
Speke and Grant's Expedition of 1860-63, from Fournal of
Royal Geographical Soctety of London, 1872
“ Equus zebra (2), Native name ‘ Phoonda.’—This animal
was frequent in Ugogo, Unyamezi, and north of Uganda. He
differs from the Agwus Burchelli of Regent’s Park Gardens in
being larger and differently striped. The stripes of our zebra
were black upon white (not yellow) ground, and extended to
the hoofs, whereas Burchelli has broader stripes, yellow ground,
and the stripes on the legs are few. However, a sketch of an
old mare shot by me shows the same black muzzleand hog mane
as Burchelli, and Mr. Blyth says my sketch is of this last
species.” ?
From Notes of Expedition
“Oct. 25, 1860,—Zebra shot through chest, shape superb,
scarcely any pile, thickly striped over every inch of it, feet, legs,
and all; fine hoofs, immense intestines. Flesh had quite the
look of prime beef, ears rounded like deer’s; a mare. A
second zebra brought in by Ruyter. This was at Zungomero,
““Dec. 18.—Halt, in lat. 6° 22’ S., long. 30° 50’ E., altitude
2500 feet to 3329 feet. Zebra spoor again. . . . Shot another
zebra.
** Dec. 21.—Again got zebras! .. .
‘“Dees22.—— Do dOniere) -
“Jan. 2, 1861.—Eight to ten zebras.
“«Jan. 6.—Zebras came among camp donkeys.” . . .
Recent Note by Co!. Grant, C.B., F.RS.
‘© When we were shooting these zebras in Africa, we thought
we were shooting the zebra which is common to Africa; but
after our return, on my seeing Burchell’s at the Zoological
Gardens, I felt convinced we had never seen a Burchell’s zebra ;
I said so to Blyth, who looked at my sketch, but who never
saw Speke’s specimens, and he seems to have called our
zebras Burchell, As soon as I saw Speke’s specimens in
1873, and on hearing Prof. Flower describe by drawings
the various zebras, I brought forward the matter, and got
Speke’s specimens up from Speke’s brother. My journal notices
the stripes to be an inch apart all over the body, and ex-_
tended to the hoofs; but it says nothing of the marks on
the haunches, though I believe that in our zebras, as well as in
all other species, the haunch stripes are farther than an inch
apart.”
“The twelve zebras which were shot by the Speke and Grant
expedition in 1861-3, were found at the undermentioned places
in Africa :—
Places. Lat. Long. Alt. ae Sea.
i im 5 eet.
Zungomero) =. 7 27S. --. 37) 30\E- 516
Jiwcla M’koa 6 OS, ... 34 OF. 4690
Rubuga Oia tae Se} Clic 3402
Usui District... 2 49S. ... 32 OE. About 4000
Uganda District 0 52N. ... 32 30E. About 4000
‘*The zebras pasture in the forest and also in open country
which is covered with bushy jungle, or where granite crops up,
as this bears the richest grass, whilst hills with running water
are always within their access.”
However the zebras in question may be named, it seems right
that the facts connected with Speke and Grant’s discovery
should be known. J. FAYRER
April 17
Leaves and their Environment
I AM taking steps to have some analyses instituted, by a highly
qualified authority, of the atmosphere (or water) in the natural
environment of certain typical plants, in order, if possible, to
produce experimental evidence upon the points impugned by
Prof. Thiselton Dyer. The results of such (necessarily very
inconclusive) evidence I shall publish in NATURE, if the Editor
will grant me space, whether they are favourable or otherwise to
my own allegations.
Meanwhile, as Prof, Dyer has himself relied upon purely
a priori considerations, may I urge (1) that in the papers them-
selves I did not overlook the other factors of the problem to
which he alludes ; (2) that in woods, hedgerows, and thickets,
the air is generally very still ; (3) that the layer of air from time
to time in actual contact with the surface of plants must always
be in course of being deprived of its carbonic acid ; and (4) that
Evidently Blyth was mistaken, as the zebra was thickly striped on the
| legs, which is not the case with £.; Burchell.
April 26, 1883]
wherever plants get free access to the open air above, it was one
of my own assertions that they must necessarily obtain carbonic
acid in abundance. It seems to me difficult to understand how
in a still place, where many plants at once are engaged in deoxi-
dising a compound which only normally forms 0°03 per cent. of
the atmosphere, there can always be as much of it left as any of
them can possibly want. I do not presume to argue with Prof.
Dyer upon the subject; but as far as my own comprehension
goes, he has not made this point clear to me.
May I venture also to suggest that perhaps another danger
surrounds biology, and especially botany—the danger of becom-
ing too fechnical and too academic? Now that perfect instru-
ments, immense collections, and a long technical training are
neces ary in order to do anything in biology by the regular road,
does not the science run just a littlerisk of falling into a groove?
And is it not well from this point of view that there should be
an outside body of amateurs, who will take occasionally a fresh
non professional view of the subject, handling their own
problems in their own way, and publishing their own little
guesses or glimpses for what they may be worth? No doubt
they will often go demonstrably wrong ; no doubt the masters
of the science will usually find numerous blunders of detail in
their work, and may often see reason to disagree with them alto-
gether ; and in that case the amateurs ouzht to receive their
corrections with all humility; but is it not a healthy thing after
all that the amzteurs should do their best, and try to follow out
their own lizhts to their own conclusions ? GRANT ALLEN
Forms of Leaves
You have recently inserted several letters from Mr, Grant
Allen on the forms of leave, a question in which I have myself
been working lately. Mr. Grant Allen’s letters open up a
number of interesting questions, but for the moment I will only
refer to his suggestion with reference to the reason why water
plants so often have their leaves cut up into fine filaments. He
tells us that this is because the proportion of carbonic acid held
in solution by water is very small, and that therefore for this
amount there is a great competition among the various aquatic
plants.
The question has already been asked on what grounds Mr.
Allen makes this statement with reference to the proportionate
amount of carbonic acid. Without entering on this point, I
would, however, venture to suggest that the reason for this
tendency in the leaves of water plants is mechanical rather than
che nical.
It is, of course, important for all leaves to present a large sur-
face for the purposes of absorption with as little expenditure of
material for purposes of support as possible. Now delicate fila-
ments such as those of water plants present a very large area of
surface in proportion to their mass. On the other hand, they
are unsuited to terrestrial plants, because they are deficient in
strength and unable to support themselves in air, Take, for
instance, a handful of the submerged leaves of an aquatic
ranunculus out of the water, and, as every one knows, the fila-
ments collapse. This seems to me the real reason why this
form of leaves is an advantage to water plants. It is perhaps
for the same reason that low-growing herbs, which are thus pro-
tected from the wind so often have much diyided leaves.
April jJouHn Lusppock
The Fohn
May I be allowed the space of a few lines to point out a
defect in the account of the Fohn, given by Mr. Scott in his
recent work on ‘‘ Meteorology,” and quoted in the review of
that work which appeared in NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 575.
This phenomenon has been fully and clearly explained by Dr.
J. Hann in a paper entitled ‘‘ Kinfahrung in die Meteorologie
der Alpen,” published under the auspices of the D. znd O. A/pen-
verein. Mr. Scott’s account of the Fohn attributes rightly the
dryness and the cooling of the wind at high altitudes to expan-
sion ; but he appears to entirely overlook the heating effect due
to condensation of moisture during the ascent of the wind,
From observations made in Switzerland, where the Fohn is
chiefly felt, Hann has established the following rule: the Fohn
is as many half degrees C. warmer at any place in its de-cent,
than it is at an equal altitude during its previous ascent on the
other side, as the place is hundreds of metres below the mountain
ridge. This he explains by the fact that compression during the
descent of the Fohn reverses the loss of temperature due to rare-
NATURE
605
faction during its previous ascent ; while the wind brings with
it over the mountain ridge the heat gained by the liberation of
latent heat in the condensation of moisture. This latter amounts
at 15° C. to about half a degree C. foreach ascent of 100 metres
for saturated air. ‘* Therein,” says Hann, “‘lies the explanation
of the heat of the Fohn.” A. IRVING
Wellington College, Berks, April 21
The Zodiacal Light (?)
THE same ‘‘ peculiar appearance in the western sky ” as that
described by your correspondent, ‘‘J. W. B.,” was observed
here by me on the same evening, April 6. At 7h. om. G.M.T.,
or fifteen minutes after sunset, I noticed a bright, golden-
coloured column of light, well defined, about 4° in length and
slightly more than 1° in width, and inclined towards the south.
“J. W. B.” says it ‘rose vertically from near the horizon” at
his station, Bath. Here it was decidedly inclined to an angle of
about 15° towards the south. At 7h. 20m. no traces of it were
visible. 1 have not seen any similar appearance since.
W. H. KoBiInson
N.B.—In the observer’s book this observation is entered as
“« Bright zodiacal light (?), seen at 7h. om.” E, J. STONE
Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, April 20
REFERRING to the letter of your correspondent, ‘J. W. B.,”
Bath, in your last issue (p. 580), allow me to say that this pecu-
liar ray of brilliant light was seen here by myself and many
other people at about 6.40 p.m. on Friday, April 6. The
sunset was brilliant and cloudless, but from the horizon to about
25° in height immediately above the spot where the sun had
disappeared there appeared a ray of light of great beauty and
extreme brilliancy ; its centre, a delicate rose colour, graduating
to the edges into the purest gold. This single ray was perpen-
dicular, and appeared to be little, if at all affected, in its bril-
lianey by the approaching dusk of evening, but continued to
exhibit itself with little-diminished brilliancy for nearly half an
hour, finally disappearing with the twilight.
ROBERT DWARRIS GIBNEY
Glan-y-dwr, Crickhowell, South Wales, April 21
WHAT your correspondent, ‘‘J. W. B.,” saw after sunset was
not the zodiacal light, which is easily distinguishable by its great
extent of area, lenticular shape, and invisibility during strong
twilight, but it may be not incorrectly termed a sun column. I
find the following entry in an old journal, of a similar appear-
ance :—‘‘ 1868, April 17.—Sun column, continuing half an hour
after sunset, which was perfectly bright, without clouds.” Per-
haps some of your readers may be able to explain the cause
of it. E, BRowN
Further Barton, Cirencester, April 21
THE phenomenon observed on the evening of Friday, the 6th
inst., in Bath, by your correspondent J. W. B, (vol. xxvii. p.
580) was seen at Dolgelly by the writer when on a tour through
Wales. On his pointing it out to a companion and some of the
townsfolk, all agreed it was quite unique in their experience.
A bright, slender pillar of light, hazy toward the edges, rose
majestically from the western horizon, in a cloudless sky, and so
continued for about three-quarters of an hour after the sun had
set. To one long habituated in meteorological observation it
was of a character differing /ofo ca/o from the path of sunbeams
through a cloud-rift, which is invariably divergent in appearance,
as if from a focus. The ‘‘pillar” was uniform in width, per-
fectly vertical, and straight, the centre lime alone brilliant.
The height was, however, greater than your correspondent
indicates.
Having fortunately with me a pocket-compass, with plumb-
bob for ‘‘dip” measurements, I determined (1) the light-pillar
was exacily vertical ; (2) the height, which scarcely varied during
visibility, was 20°, dying out faintly at that elevation; (3) the
azimuth 25° north of west. By terrestrial bearings there was an
appearance or a slight movement northward, but smallness of
the compass dial (1 inch diameter) precluded any reliable
angular determination of azimuthal change.
Further, the evening was very cold, and a continuous easterly
wind had during the day obscured the hills, which still showed
many unmelted snowdrifts upon their summits and flanks. First
observed at 7 p.m., the strange appearance faded out at 7.30 p.m.
605
WA ROR
| April 26, 1883
From the verticality, linear form, and condition of atmo-
sphere I was led to remark at the time to my companion that
the phenomenon appeared more of the nature of parhelia than
referable 10 the zodiacal light. An intensely cold easterly wind
encountering ocean-warmed airs to the westward would not
improbably lead to the ice-molecule condition of atmosphere
now assumed to be associated with the occurre ce of parhelia.
It may be added (though of little probable significance) that
the time corresponded roughly with the time of high water along
that coast. D. J. Rowan
Kingstown, April 24
On the Value of the ‘‘ Neoarctic” as one of the Primary
Zoological Regions
PERMIT me to make a few remarks relative to Mr. Wallace’s
criticisms (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 482) of my paper on ‘‘ The
Value of the Neoarctic as one of the Primary Zoological Regions.”
Briefly stated, it is maintained in the early portion of this paper
(1) that the Neoarctic! and Palzarctic faunas taken individually
exhibit, in comparison with the other regional faunas (at least
the Neotropical, Ethiopian, and Australian), a marked absence
of fosttive distinguishing characters, a deficiency which in the
mammalia extends to families, genera, and species, and one
which, in the case of the Neoarctic region, also equally (or nearly
so) distinguishes the reptilian and amphibian faunas; (2) that
this deficiency is principally due to the circumstance that many
groups of animals which would otherwise be peculiar to, or very
characteristic of, one or other of the regions, are prevented from
being such by reasoa of their being held in common by the two
regions ; and (3) that the Neoarctic and Palzearctic faunas taken
collectively are more clearly defined from any or all of the other
faunas than either the Neoarctic or Palzearctic taken indi-
vidually.
In reference to these points Mr. Wallace, while not denying
the facts, remarks: ‘‘ The best division of the earth into zoo-
logical regions is a question not to be settled by looking at it
from one point of view alone; and Prof. Heilprin entirely omits
two considerations—peculiarity due to the absence of widespread
groups and geographical individuality.” Numerous families and
genera from the classes of mammals and birds are then cited as
being entirely wanting in the western hemisphere, and which—
in many cases almost sufficient to ‘‘ characterise the Old World
as compared with the New ”—‘‘ must surely be allowed to have
great weight in determining this question.” No one can deny
that the ab ence from a given region of certain widespread
groups of animals is a factor of very considerable importance in
determining the zoological relationship of that region, and one
that is not likely to be overlooked by any fair-minded investi-
gator of the subject. But the value of this wegztive character
afforded by the absence of certain animal groups as distinguish-
ing a given fauna, is in great measure proportional to the extent
of the positive character—that furnished by the presence of
peculiar groups—and indeed may be said to be entirely depen-
dent on it. No region can be said to be satisfactorily distin-
guished from another without its possessing both positive and
negative disti:guishing characters. Mr. Wallice has 1n his
several publications laid considerable stress upon the negative
features of the Neoarctic fauna as separating it from the Palz
arctic or from any other, but he has not, it appears to me, suf-
ficiently emphasised the great lack, when compared to the other
faunas, of the positive elewent, the consideration of which is the
point aimed at in the first portion of my paper, and which has
led to the conclusions already staied, that only by uniting the
Neoaretic and Palzarctic resions do we produce a collective
fauna which is broadly distinguished by both positive and nega-
tive characters from that of any other region. - If, as Mr.
Wallace seems to argue, the absence from North America of
the ‘families of hedgehogs, swine, and dormice, and of the
genera Meles, Equus, Bos, Gazella, Mus, Cricetus, Meriones,
Dipus, and Hystrix” be sufficient, as far as the mammalian fauna
is concerned, to separate that region from the Palzaretic, could
not on nearly equ lly strong grounds a separation be effected in
the Palearctic region itself? Thus, if were to consider the
western division of the Palearctic region, or what corresponds
to the continent of Europe of geographers, as constituting an
* In the paper under consideration I have given what appear to me
satisfactory reasons for detaching certain portions of the South-western
United States from the Neoarctic (iny Trarctic), and uniting them with the
Neotropical region.
independent region of its own, it would be distinguished from
the remainder of what now belongs to the Palzarctic region by
negative characters probably fully as important as those indicated
by Mr. Wallace as separating the Neoarctic from the Palzearctic
region. The European mammalian fauna would be wholly
deficient, or nearly so, inthe genera Zguus, Moschus, Camelus,
Poephagus, Gazella, Oryx, Addox, Sarga, Ovts, Lagemys, Tamias,
in several of the larger Fel:de, as the tiger and leopard, and in
a host of other forms. A similar selection could be made from
the class of birds (among the most striking of these the Phasian-
ide and Struthionida), but it is scarcely necessary in this place
to enter upon an enumeration of characteri-tic forms. Divisions
of this kind, to be chara*terised principally or largely by nega-
tive faunal features, could be effected in all the reyions, and in
some instances with probably more reason than in the case under
discussion.
But the question suggests itself, What amount of characters,
whether positive or negative, or both, is sufficient to distinguish
one regional fauna from another ? Mr. Wallace states: ‘* There
runs through Prof. Heilprin’s paper a tacit assumption that there
should be an equivalence, if not an absolute equality, in the
zoological characteristics and peculiarities of all the regions.”
Is it to be inferred from this quotation that Mr. Wallace recog-
nises no such general equivalence? Is a region holding in its
fauna, say, from 15 to 20 per cent. of peculiar or highly charac-
teristic forms to be considered equivalent in value to one where
the faunal peculiarity amounts to 60 to 80 per cent? If
there be no equivalence of any kind required, «hy not give to
many of the subregions, as now recognised, the full value of
region ?
Surely, on this method of looking at the question, a province
could readily be raised to the rank of a full region, In the
matter of geographical individuality little need be said, as the
circumstance, whether it be or be not so, that the ‘‘ temperate
and cold parts of the globe are necessarily less marked by highly
peculiar groups than the tropical areas, because they have been
recently subjected to great extremes of climate,” does not affect
the present issue, seeing that the peculiarity is greatly increased
by uniting the two regions in question ; nor does it directly affect
the question of the \eoarctic-Palzearctic relationship.
The second part of my paper deals with the examination of
the reptilian and amphibian faunas, and the general conclusion
arrived at is: ‘‘that by the community of its mammalian,
batrachian, and reptilian characters, the Neoarcric fauna (exclud-
ing therefrom the local faunas of the Sonoran and Lower Cali-
fornian subregions, which are Neotropical) is shown to be of a
distinctively Old World type, and to be indissolubly linked to
the Palearctic (of which it forms only a lateral extension).”
Towards this conclusion, which, it is claimed, is also borne out
by the land and freshwater mollusca and the butterflies among
insects, I am now happy to add the further testimony of Mr.
Wallace (overlooked when preparing my article respecting the
Coleoptera (‘ Distribution,” ‘‘Encycl. Britann.” gth ed. vii.
p- 274).
As regards the name ‘“‘ Triarctic,” by which I intended to
designate the combined Neoarctic and Palzearctic regions, and
which may or may not be ‘‘ somewhat awkward,” I beg to state
that, at the suggestion of Prot. Alfred Newton (who, as he
informs me, has arrived from a study of the bird faunas at con-
clusions approximately identical with my own), it has been re-
placed by ‘‘ Holarctic.” In conclusion, 1 would say that, while
the views enunciated in my paper may not meet with general
acceptance at the hands of naturalists, it is to be hoped that they
will not be rejected hecause they may ‘‘open up questions as
regards the remaining regions which it will not be easy to set at
estes ANGELO HEILPRIN
~ Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, April 6
Mock Moons
A LITTLE before midnight on Monday, the 16th inst., the
moon, being nine days old and about 30° above the western
horizon, was surrounded by an unusual halo. Its radius was
certainly more than the normal 22°. By careful estimation I
judged it to be about 30°, the lower edge resting on the horizon.
On the right and left limbs of the ring were very distinct bright
patches, rather broader than the ring itself, and slightly elon-
gated outwards. The right-hand patch appeared to be in its
normal position on a line passing through the moon, parallel
with the horizon, but the left-hand patch was distinctly elevated
April 26, 1883]
NATURE
607
above this line, and seemed to be unaccountably out of place.
As, however, the moon was little past the first quarter, and the
terminator nearly a straight line, and only slightly inclined from
the vertical, a line drawn perpendicular to it would have passed
through the left-hand patch, and I imagine that its position was
due to this inequality in shape of the two sides of the visible
moon. The atmosphere was hazy, the moon though clearly
visible appearing as in a slight fog, No colours were distin-
guishable at any part of the halo. F. T. Motr
Birstal Hill, Leicester, April 17
Benevolence in Animals
Two or three years ago Dr. Allen Thomson gave me an
instance of benevolence in a cat which is so closely similar to
one communicated to you by Mr. Oswald Fitch that for the sake
of corroboration I may state it.
The cat belonged to Dr. Thomson, and one day came into the
kitchen, pulled the cook by the dress, and otherwise made signs
showing a persistent desire to attract attention. Eventually the
eat led the cook out of doors and showed her a famishing
stranger cat. The vook thereupon gave the stranger some food,
and while this was being discussed, Dr. Thomson’s cat paraded
round and round her companion, purring londly with a satisfied
sense of well-doing, GEORGE J. ROMANES
‘“Medioscribed Circle”
In this week’s NATURE (p. 595) the use of the medtoscribed
circle is suggested in place of the well-known ‘‘ nine-point ”
circle. If a change is desirable, would not ‘‘ mid-point ” circle
be equally expressive ?
April 20
AGRICULTURE IN MADRAS?
HE Government establishment at Saiddpet has now
been in existence about twelve years. It consists in
part of an experimental farm, and in part of an educational |
establishment, in which, at the date of the last report,
forty-one native students were receiving instruction in the
science and practice of agriculture. The whole is under
the superintendence of Mr. W. R. Robertson. The
object in view is to improve the condition of agriculture
in the Presidency. This is indeed urgently needed. With
a large and increasing population, the soil is in general
wretchedly cultivated, and reduced to a low state of fer-
tility. The farm at Saiddpet is the centre of many useful |
agencies. Here new crops, new breeds of cattle, and im-
proved implements are carefully tried. Here the teaching
of European science is reduced to practice, and methods
of cultivation suitable to the conditions of Indian agricul-
ture are perfected. While by means of the educational
department. by tours in the country, distributions of seed,
ploughing competitions with different implements, and
various other agencies, the endeavour is made to bring
these improved methods into use by the native farmers.
The meteorological records kept at the farin exhibit in
a striking manner the difficulties under which Indian
agriculture must be pursued. Thus in the season 1880-81
the rainfall in September was 10’9, in October 10°7, and
in November 19°6 inches, while during the whole six
months from January to June only 2°35 inches were re-
corded. Long-continued heat and drought are thus fol-
lowed, on the arrival of the monsoon, by a deluge of rain. |
It is pleasing to notice that the director of the farm is
quite abreast of the latest scientific teaching respecting
the be-t mode of meeting the difficulty in question. It is
plain that in the rainy season the land will be washed clear
of all soluble plant-food ; all nitrates formed in the soil
during the hot season will thus be lost, unless they have
been already assimilated by acrop. Mr. Robertson re-
commends that, whenever possible, advantage should be
taken of the first commencement of rain in June or July
to sow the land with a green leguminous crop (horse-
* Annual Reports on Government Agricultural Operations in the Madras
Presidency, 1880-81 and 1881-82.
gram). In most years there will be enough rain to main-
tain such a crop in growth during the summer months.
This crop will collect and assimilate a great part of the
nitrates in the soil. At the commencement of the wet
season the green crop is to be ploughed into the soil, and
forms an excellent manure for the principal crop of the
year, which is then sown. Mr. Robertson refers apparently
to the experiments at Rothamsted when speaking of the
quantity of nitrates annually formed ina soil; the amount
he mentions (40 lbs. of nitrates! per acre) is, however, far
below the truth. The quantity of nitrates found in five
successive years in the drainage water from uncropped
and unmanured land at Rothamsted amounts, indeed, on
an average, to nearly 3 cwts. of Indian saltpetre per acre
per annum.
In India agriculture depends much for its success and
permanence on irrigation, and vast sums have been, and
will be, expended on irrigation works. Here again, how-
ever, the question of the presence or absence of nitrates
is an important factor, which has been almost entirely
overlooked, engineering rather than chemical skill having
been employed in the direction of the work. It should
always be borne in mind that a water containing nitrates
supplies not only water but #anzwre. The native farmers
are generally quite aware of the difference in value of
different water-supplies, and reckon the water from the
village well as worth far more than that procured from
the Government canal. To the engineer it appears a
ridiculous waste of power to lift water from a well when
a water-supply is available at the level of the land. But
the native is right; his well-water is rich in nitrates, and
for the farmer’s purpose far more valuable than the purer
water of surface drainage found in rivers and canals. It
should always be borne in mind in plans for irrigation,
that the drainage from arable land, and from inhabited
districts will always yield the best irrigation water, By
restoring to land in time of drought the plant-food lost
in time of flood we are pursuing a truly scientific economy.
R. W.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES IN THE
SOLOMON ISLANDS
yt HOUL going into the general question as to the
position which these islanders hold to the other
Pacific races, I will briefly state the results of numerous
measurements and observations which I made during my
visit to these islands in 1882. As the surveying work of
this ship was confined for the most part to the large
island of St. Christoval and the adjacent small islands,
my remarks will refer more particularly to the natives of
this part of the group. :
The average height of a man of St. Christoval is about
5 feet 3 inches or 5 feet 4 inches, whilst the span of the
arms generally exceeds the length of the body by from
4 to 5 inches. Both men and women are usually of a
good physique, robust and well-proportioned ; but one
may find in the same village community weak, puny,
thin-limbed individuals associated with others of a strong
muscular frame, with well-rounded limbs and a good
carriage.
The colour of the skin varies considerably in shade
from a very dark brown, approaching black, to a dark
copper hue. The elderly adults are as a rule more dark-
skinned than those of younger years, the difference in
shade being attributable partly to a longer exposure by
reason of their age to the influence of sun and weather,
and partly to those structural changes in the skin which
accompany advancing years. Not unfrequently, amongst
a group of dark-skinned natives a man may be observed
whose skin is of a pale sickly hue, and who at the first
glance may be thought to afford an example of recent
Possibly in Mr. Robertson’s Report “‘nitrates’’ is here a misprint for
“ nitrogen.””
608
NATURE
[ April 26, 1883
intermingling between the Melanesian and Polynesian
races. Ona closer examination I always found that such
men were covered from head to foot with an inveterate
form of body ringworm—a scaly skin-eruption, which
affects ina greater or less degree quite two-fifths of the
nativ_s of this part of the group—and that in all their
other physical characters they belonged to the Mela-
nesian type. In its most aggravated and chronic condi-
tion this parasitical disease implicates the skin to such a
degree that the rapid desiccation and desquamation of
the epidermal cells lead to a partial decoloration of the
deeper parts of the cuticle, as though the rate of the
production of pigment was less rapid than the rate of its
removal in the desquamative process.
The hair of the head is generally black, frizzly, and
bushy ; more particularly amongst the younger adults of
both sexes this last character prevails. Amongst middle-
aged men I have sometimes observed that the air
arranges itself into entangled corkscrew-like spirals,
SSS
==
SSS
Fic. 1.—Native of Santa Anna (an island off the east extremity of St.
Christoval). The round disk of wood in the lobe of the ear should be
quite white, the dark spots being due to the imperfections of the dry
plate. The faint linear markings on the cheek due to a form of tattoo
are rarely well marked.
the whole head of hair having much the appearance of
a mop placed erect on its handle. Nowand then, though
rarely, the hair shows a tendency to become straight; I
met with one such native near Cape Keibeck, on the
north coast of St. Christoval; and I am informed that
straight-haired varieties do exist among the hill-tribes in
the interior ofthe island. With regard to the amount of
hair on the face, limbs, and body, great diversity is
observed amongst natives of the same village. Epilation
is commonly employed, but there can be no doubt that
the development of hair varies quite independently of
such a custom. Out of ten men taken promiscuously
from any village, perhaps five would have smooth faces,
three would possess a small growth of hair on the chin
and upper lip, the ninth would wear a beard, a moustache,
and whiskers of moderate growth, whilst the tenth would
present a shaggy beard and a hairy visage. The surfaces
of the body and limbs are as a rule comparatively free
from hair; but hairy men are to be met with in most
villages ; and on one occasion when in the vicinity of
Cape Surville—the eastern extremity of St. Christoval—
I visited a village where the proportion of hairy-bodied,
hairy-visaged men was in excess of the smooth-skinned
element.
From my measurements the form of the skull would
appear to be mesocephalic : the cephalic indices ranged
between 73 and 82—the greater number of them being
included between 74 and 77. The facial angle varied in
amount between 85° and go’. The nose is g=nerally
straight, coarse, and somewhat short, the nostrils wide,
and the bridge depressed in some instances. Not un-
commonly the nose is arched or aquiline ; out of fifty
natives amongst whom I took especial notice of this
feature, I found that ten possessed an aquiline nose. The
countenances of the younger of both sexes are often
prepossessing, and amongst the adults I have frequently
met with men of some intellectual expression.
Such are some of the leading physical characters of
the natives of this part of the Solomon group. To the
inhabitants of the small island of Santa Anna, which lies
off the east extremity of St. Christoval, the same descrip-
tion will apply ; but we find in the still smaller adjacent
island of Santa Catalina a subvariety of the Melanesian
type characterised by a lighter colour and probably a
greater height, although I made no measurements there.
The few natives which I saw belonging to the large island
of Malayta, which we did not visit, resembled in appear-
ance those of St. Christoval ; and from a few measure-
; ments and observations which I made in the Florida sub-
group, where the St. Christoval type prevails, it was
evident that thus far to the westward the same description
of a native of the Solomon Islands was equally applicable.
The large neighbouring island of Guadalcanar I had no
opportunity of visiting. In the small island of Simbo,
further to the west, I found no important difference in the
physical characters of the natives except perhaps a rather
darker shade of colour. Proceeding westward as far as
Treasury Island, our furthest point in that direction, we
for the first time came upon a distinct variation in the
\ type of native—a difference which has been a subject for
| remark even by such usually unobservant people as the
masters of trading ships. In their greater height and in
the alinost black colour of the skin, the natives of Treasury
Island are at once distinguished from the prevailing native
type to the eastward. Their features are more finely cut,
and the form of the skull, as shown by the cephalic
indices, is more brachycephalic—the range of seven
measurements being 78 to 84, and the mean cephalic
index 81. In some individuals the cheekbones were
prominent and the foreheads retreating. As a race the
Treasury Islanders are said to evince a fiercer disposition
than do the natives in the eastern islands of the Solomon
group. The natives of the large adjacent island of
Bougainville have the reputation of being amongst the
most daring and warlike of the inhabitants of this archi-
pelago ; and probably the examination of their physical
characters will exhibit them as a more pronounced type
of the Treasury Islanders. H. B. Guppy
H.M.S. Lark, Auckland, N.Z., February 27
ON A FINE SPECIMEN OF APATITE FROM
TYROL, LATELY IN THE POSSESSION OF
MR. SAMUEL HENSON
fpo= specimen of apatite represented in the diagram
was submitted to my inspection by Mr. Henson last
November, and is the most beautiful specimen of this
mineral which I have seen. The faces observed were
not, however, determined on the specimen itself, but from
a plaster cast and a smaller specimen with which Mr.
Henson supplied me. From these latter approximate
measurements of some of the more prominent angles
were obtained by means of a contact-goniometer, which,
ea
April 26, 1883]
on comparison with the table of angles given in Miller’s
“ Mineralogy,” rendered the identification of the more con-
spicuous planes easy. The remaining planes were then
easily determined from the relation which connects three
planes lying in a zone. The forms present are : oltat}s
ajror}, r\ too}, 7{227}, x{210}, 321}, um\4to}, ty 7223}.
I had no intention of describing the specimen at the
time it was shown me, and did not pay enough attention
to the physical characters of the faces to be able to recall
them. The specimen was for the most part remarkably
limpid, with a pale mauve tint in its purest portions. It
was in part penetrated by fine delicate needles of epidote,
ado 90° of
0 157 05
XO 139 47
ah 7130 73
70 i2 20
aid’ 120 0
Ta 735 «39
ir 737 é
as is shown in the very excellent diagram attached, which
gives a very clear and accurate idea of the specimen. A
remarkably large crystal from the same locality has
recently been added to the mineral collection of the
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road. It is of a
much deeper mauve colour than Mr. Henson’s specimen ;
it shows the same general forms, the planes ¢ and a are
bright and even, but the small planes, 7, 2, 7, are some-
what rough. These same characters are also those ob-
served on the faces of such smaller specimens as I have
examined. W. J. L.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN
TROTTING-HORSE}
j= American trotting-horse is an example of a new
breed of animals in process of formation. As yet
it can hardly be called a definite breed in which the
special and distinctive character is either fully developed
in quality or satisfactorily fixed by heredity. Great pro-
gress has, however, been made, many individual animals
have attained great speed, and all the better ones have
derived their trotting excellence in part, at least, through
heredity.
The origin of most breeds is involved in considerable
obscurity, as to how much they are due to conscious and
how much to unconscious selection, what motives led to
this selection, how far the enhancement of the special
qualities have been due to physical environment, and how
far to education, training, nourishment, or cultivation.
* By Wm. H. Brewer, from the American Fournal of Science.
NATURE
609
The formation of this new breed is so recent, the develop-
ment of a special quality has been so marked, there is
such an abundant literature pertaining to its history, the
system of sporting “records” is so carefully planned and
comprehensively conducted, and withal has become so
extensive, that we have the data for a reasonably accurate
determination of the influences at work which led to this
new breed being: made, the materials of which it is
made, and the rate of progress of the special evolution.
It is as an implement of gambling and sport that the
trotter has his chief value to the biological student.
Sporting events are published or recorded as the mere
everyday use of animals is not, and the records of races
give numerical data by which to measure the rate of pro-
gress. Similar data do not exist for the study of the
evolution of any other breed.
Incidental to the preparation of a paper pertaining to
this matter for farmers and breeders, I have compiled and
collated certain data which have a scientific as well as
economic value, the more interesting portion of which I
condense for this paper. i
The horse has several gaits which he uses naturally,
that is, instinctively. And besides those which are
natural, he has been taught several artificial ones, some
of which have been much used, particularly in the middle
ages. But to trot fast was not natural to horses; when
urged to speed they never assumed it, and until within a
century the gait was neither cultivated nor wanted by any
class of horsemen. A breed of fast trotters, had it been
miraculously created, would doubtless soon have perished
in that it would have had no use, satisfied no fancy, and
found no place in either the social or industrial world as
it then was.
Before the present century the chief and almost sole
uses of the horse were as an implement of war, an instru-
ment of sport and ceremony, an index of rank and wealth,
and an article of luxury.
For all these uses, as then pursued, a fast trotter was
not suited, nor was he better adapted to the heavy coaches
over rough roads, or the slow waggon-trains of armies. The
horse best adapted to all these, however much he may
have varied as to size, strength, and fleetness, was one
whose fast gait was the gallop or run rather than the trot.
For leisurely horseback travelling the ambling gait (or
pacing gait as it came to be called in America) was pre-
ferred. With increasing use of horses for draft, certain
heavy but slow breeds were developed in the Old World,
of which the Dutch, Clydesdale, and Norman breeds are
examples.
The causes which led to the cultivation of the trotting
gait in this country, and the evolution of a breed with
which it should be instinctively the fast gait, were various,
and the separate value of each as a factor in the problem
would be very differently estimated by different persons
studying the subject from different points of view. Now
that he is so valuable and plays such a part as a horse of
use, it is easy to see why a breed of trotting roadsters
should be produced to meet certain important demands of
our modern civilisation. But this does not explain how
the process actually began.
Reasoning a@ priorz, the trotter, as a horse of use, should
have originated in western Europe ; as a matter of fact,
he not only did not begin there, but he was unpopular
there until well developed here. Locomotives began to
draw armies to the battle-field, the war-horse declined in
actual as well as relative importance, the modern, light,
steel-spring, one-horse, convenient business waggon as
well as the modern buggy came into common use after
trotting as a sport was established, and after the gait had
been extensively cultivated and bred to. The trotting-
horse is specially adapted to various modern uses, but
these uses followed his development, rather than led it,
although in later days this factor has been an important
one in the rate of progress.
610
NATURE
[April 26, 1883
The influences which originally led to the starting of
the breed were more social than economical ; a similar
fact a century earlier marked the founding of that famous
running breed, the English thoroughbred. The origin
of the trotter, however, was not so simple as that, and
several diverse social factors were involved, only the chief
of which will here be noticed.
Fromearly colonial times horses have been more generally
owned by the masses of the people here than in any country
of western Europe. They have had a more general use in
agriculture and in business, their ownership or possession
has had less social significance, and they have had less
importance as instruments of gambling. The colonists
who settled north of Delaware Bay, although of various
nationalities, were largely those whose religious prejudices
and social education was opposed to horse-racing. With
the great majority of them it was considered a sort of
aristocratic sport, and at best led to unthrifty ways, even
if not open to the objection of positive immorality. Con-
sequently but few race-horses were imported into this
region in colonial times. The original horse stock of the
northern colonies came from several European sources.
England, Holland, France, and Spain certainly, and
Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, and Italy probably,
contributed to it. The blood from this variety of sources,
variously mingled, formed the mongrel stock of the
country. This was further modified by local conditions
and local breeding assuming different characters in
different places, and the hardships of horse life incident
to a new country, with strange forage and a rough
climate, caused deterioration in size and form. Early
writers are unanimous on this point, but many add that
what was lost in size and beauty was gained in hardiness
and other useful qualities.
After the war of independence there was an improve-
ment in the live stock of the country. English thorough-
bred horses were imported both for sporting and to
improve the horse stock of the country, and horse-racing
rapidly grew in favour as wealth and leisure increased.
The export trade in horses to the West Indies increased,
particularly from New England. Pacers were most
sought for this trade, but sometimes trotters were adver-
tised for.
As horse-racing increased in the last years of the last
century the opposition to it revived, and in the earlier
years of the present century this became ascendant, and
stringent laws forbidding the sport were passed in most
of the northern States. The prohibition was sweeping
and the penalties severe.
Horse-racing was then a contest between running-
horses, and during this repression of racing, trotting
as a sport began, at first ina very unostentatious, irregular,
and innocent sort of way. Probably no people or class
of people have ever bred good horses which they prized
and were proud of, who did not find pleasure in seeing
them compete in speed or show their fleetness in some
way, and during the repression of racing (which meant run-
ning), trotting came in as a substitute, poor though it was
at first. It had a sort of encouragement from very many
thrifty people who were not sportsmen, and was ina measure
considered a sort of democratic sport in which even plough-
horses could take part. Racing of any kind in those
days was a strife between two or more things, as it still is
in most countries; no one thought that a single horse
could run a race alone, but the instinctive inclination
to see a spirited horse in action could be mildly gratified
by letting him trot, even if single and alone, and testing
by the watch how quickly a given distance could be
covered. So “‘timing” animals came to be practised.
We hear of it on the Harlem racecourse in 1806, four
years after the laws forbidding horse-racing had been
enacted, and again, a little later, near Boston, and it was
reputed that certain horses could trot a mile in three
minutes. This speed seemed so extraordinary that in
1818 a bet of a thousand dollars was staked (and lost)
that no horse could be found that could trot a mile in
three minutes. Some authorities date the beginning of
trotting as a sport with this event. Itis said that in the
betting the odds against the successful performance of
the feat were great, which shows, strikingly, the enormous
progress since made in developing speed at this gait.
In 1821, certain persons on Long Island were allowed
by special statute to train, trot, etc., horses on a certain
track, under certain restrictions, exempt from the penalties
against horse-racing. Other organisations followed, and
by 1830 the ‘‘training ” of trotters was going on at several
points, and trotting may be said to have become estab-
lished as a sport. During this decade the record had
been successively lowered to 2.40, 2.34, and 2.32. The
times of performance were carefully taken at these “ trials
of speed,” as the statute called them, and ‘‘ records”
became established by more formal sporting codes.
The ostensible object of these associations was the
“improvement of the breed of roadsters ; ” driving single
horses to waggons became fashionable, and this led to the
improvement of light one-horse waggons for business and
pleasure. Those with steel springs were rare luxuries in
1830; by 1843, when the record of mile heats dropped to
below 2.30, they were already common. During this
thirteen years, the record had been lowered only half
a second on mile heats, but three-minute horses were no
longer rare.
The fashion of wealthy men driving a single fast
trotter for pleasure was for a long time a peculiarly
American one, and played an important part in the
development of this breed. But, as stated earlier, many
influences have contributed: changes in the modes of
travel, changes in the methods of war, sentiments regard-
ing horse-racing, the incentives of the course, the general
improvement of roads, improvement in carriages, the
needs of modern business requiring quick roadsters,
these and other influences have all been at work.!
The material out of which this new breed is made is a
liberal infusion of English thoroughbred blood (usually
more than two generations removed), with the mongrel
country stock, previously described. There is a volumi-
nous literature relating to special pedigrees, and much
speculation as to the comparative merits of the several
ingredients of this composite blood.
Regarding the ideal trotter there is as yet a difference
of opinion as to what the form should be, and it is too
early to decide from actual results. That the gait is now
hereditary, that it is the instinctive fast gait with some
animals is certain, but whether this is due to inherited
habit, inherited training, or to mere adventitious variation
and selection, I will not discuss.
The gain in speed is given in the following table, which
is the best records at mile heats, omitting the names of
the special performers :
Best | Best
Date. Record. | Date. Record.
1818, 3 1865, 2.184
1824, 2.40 1866, 2.18
5 2.34 1867, 2.174
1830, 2.32 1871, 2.17
- 1834, 2.314 1872, 2.163
1843, 2.28 1874, 2.14
1844, 2.264 1878, 2.135
1852, 2.26 1879, 2.123
1853, 2.25% 1880, 2.10}
1856, 2.244 1881, 2.10}
1859, 2.194
A sporting paper published in 1873 a list of three
hundred and twenty-three horses, with their best records,
down to the close of the preceding year. This first list
* For more details regarding the history of this development and the
factors involved, see the paper already cited, Ref. Conn. Bd. Agr. for
1882, p. 215.
April 26, 1883]
of the kind known to me was very imperfect in its details ;
it was revised for the next year, and since that time many
lists, in one form or another, have been published. The
figures for the animals with records of 2.25, or better, are
reasonably accurate ; for the others there is much dis-
crepancy. In the following table the numbers are my
own, counting down to 1872, inclusive ; the numbers after
that date are derived from various lists published since
that time in the sporting and breeding periodicals. From
the very nature of the case, the table cannot be accurate
in the larger numbers, but the numbers do not lose their
value for comparison with each other from such faults as
to the details of the larger numbers, and, as such, it is
undoubtedly the most significant series of numbers ever
compiled to show progress in evolution, whether of a
breed or species. The number of horses with records of
2.40, or better, is now stated to be over five thousand.
I leave it to mathematicians to plot the curves which
immediately suggest themselves, and determine how fast
horses will ultimately trot, and when this maximum will
be reached.
Table showing the numbers of Horses under the respective
Records,
sg [sel se | sy lselselse|ssleglsy
oe Bs] ws os He | OS) ee) ws | me] as
aa aides) all aces ies |) Rest] See pee ees aa
Cy i a lies |
1844 2 x | |
1849 Te | lane
|
1852 1o| 3 | | |
P8530 | x4.) 5
1854 | 16] 6
1855 | 19| 6 |
1856 24 7 I | | | |
L857 aN 205 a7 |e 2s | |
1858 3yoy|) Gp et | | |
BESO SZ Oli 2a ced |e or |
ESCM eAGierx |i A) (ees |
1861 | 48 | 14 4 | 2 I |
1862 54] 17 Vale As | act |
1863 59 | 19 9 A.) 1
1864 6622) 12] 4]
SORT Sazo rs | 5 | 2 x |
1866 | 1o1| 32 | 17 ®| gi a
1S67e| eae |) 2r | | 5 | 2
1868 | 146/52 | 28| 13| 6| 2}
1869 | 171) 63] 34| 15/10} 4 |
1870 | 194) 72| 35 | 16|11| 5 | |
1871 | 233} 99] 40| 7/12) 6] t |
ii) |) eee || Se Se
1873 | 376)—| 74.) 28)15| 5| 2) — |
1874} 505|—]| 98| 40|16|)11|) 5] 1 |
1875 | — | —| 134| 61 | 30] 13] 5} 2 |
1876 | 794) — | 165 | 81 | 39| 16] 6| 2 |
1877 | 836) — | 214 | 105 | 51| 19 | 8 | 2
1878 | 1,025 | — | 270 | 129 | 68 | 24] 9| 4
1879 | 1,142 | — | 325 | 164 | 88 | Se |) Lee lpagiey ar
1880 | 1,210 | — | 366 | 192 |106 | 41 | ivi O i) 2 |) a
1881 | 1,532 | — | 419 | 227 |126 l49|15| 7 | 2h |W
1882 | essa — | 495 | 275 |156 | 60 | 18 | 8 | 2 | x
|
INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS
WP Institution held their usual Spring meeting at
the Institution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George
Street, on April 11 and 12, the president, Mr. Percy G.
B. Wesunacott, in the chair. Three papers were read,
and discussed at length; a fourth, by Mr. A. C. Bagot, on
“The Application of Electricity to Coal Mines,’’ was
postponed for want of time.
The first paper was by Prof. A. G. Greenhill, of Wool-
wich Arsenal, and deait with the strength of shafting
NATURE
611
when exposed both to torsion and end-thrust. He has
worked out for this case, by a complete mathematical
investigation to be published in the Proceedings, the
following formula :—
ip We 4 Te
EES IVE WUE
where P = end-thrust, 7 = twisting moment, 7 = moment
of inertia of cross-section, “ = modulus of elasticity,
2 = maximum distance between bearings, which will allow
a shaft to be stable.
When there is no twisting moment, as in a long column,
the second part of the right-hand expression vanishes,
and we have the ordinary formula of Euler. If there be
no end-thrust, as in ordinary mill shafting, the first part
vanishes, The special case where both occur together is
that of the screw-shaft of a steamer ; but here, it appears,
on working the figures out with ordinary dimensions, that
the second part is small in comparison with the first, and
may be neglected. Hence a screw-shaft may so far be
treated as if it were a long column only; and it follows
at once that the numerous bearings interposed between
the engines and propeller (say, about every 25 feet) are quite
unnecessary so far as stiffness is concerned. If retained,
as seems desirable, simply to support the weight of the
shaft, they might at least be made in some way elastic,
so as to enable the shaft to accommodate itself to the
sagging and straining of the vessel. It was, in fact, ad-
mitted on all hands that screw-shafts never give way
from twist or thrust, but always by cross-breaking through
strains induced by the unequal movements of the ship ;
and if so, there seems every reason for taking some steps
at least in the direction which Prof. Greenhiil indicates.
Another point which the paper touched upon was the
question of hollow verszs solid shafts. Now that shafts
can be conveniently cast out of ingot steel, they are fre-
quently made hollow, with the obvious advantage of
increasing the stiffness as compared with the weight.
Thus, in the case of the screw-shaft of the C7¢y of Rome,
which is 25 inches diameter, with an internal hole of 14
inches diameter, it appears that the moment of inertia is
o’9 of that of an equal solid shaft, while the weight of the
latter would be 1 45 that of the former. Again, if a solid
shaft were used of the same weight as the hollow shaft,
or 20°7 inches diameter, its moment of inertia, and there-
fore its stiffness, would be barely half that of the latter.
Even if a transverse crack, 1 inch deep, were to occur in
the hollow shaft (which it might be urged would place it
at a serious disadvantage) the loss of stiffness comes out
to be 6 per cent., whereas in a solid shaft of equal dia-
meter the corresponding loss would be 5 per cent.; so
that even here the advantage on the side of solidity is
only I per cent.
These figures might seem to be conclusive, yet the solid
shaft has its defenders. Mr. Edward Reynolds, of Messrs.
Vickers and Co., stated roundly that the history of hollow
screw-shafts was a mere history of disaster (which, however,
was denied by a subsequent speaker) ; and he quoted some
experiments of his own on shafts one-fourth the size of
that in the Czty of Rome, where, tested under a I-ton
weight falling from about 20 feet, the hollow shaft was
rapidly destroyed, while the solid shaft remained un-
injured. This occurred even when great care was
taken to prevent the hollow shaft from getting flattened
during the process. His explanation was that the com-
paratively unstrained fibres towards the centre of the
section came in to support and relieve the exterior parts,
whenever, by cracks or otherwise, these became unduly
loaded. Prof. Kennedy, who followed, seemed to lean to
the same view, and quoted the increase of strenzth obser-
vable in the metal between the holes of a drilled plate,
as being due, in some unexplained manner, to the in-
fluence of the unstrained metal behind the holes. A very
satisfactory explanation of this fact was, however, given
by Mr. Wrightson at the last meeting of the British
612
NATURE
| April 26, 1883
Association. The real question to which Mr. Reynolds’s
tests point is probably how far theories which rest on the
hypothesis that elasticity is perfect can properly be
applied to cases where the breaking point has been nearly
reached ; and this is a question on which more light is
very urgently needed, especially with reference to such
cases as screw-shafts, where fractures, as a matter of
fact, do very commonly occur.
The second paper, by Mr. W. Ford Smith, dealt with
twist drills, milling machines, and other methods for the
cutting and dressing of metal surfaces, which have been
introduced within the last few years; and was almost en-
tirely of a practical character. The third paper, by Mr.
John Jameson, was on ‘‘ Improvements in the Manufac-
ture of Coke,” and dealt with a new method, invented by
the author, for recovering the gas, gas-tar, and ammo-
niacal liquor, which are separated from coking coal
during the process of carbonisation. As the paper points
out, these products are not originally present in the coal.
There is, for instance, no ammonia in coal; but there
are combinations containing nitrogen and hydrogen, and
in almost any process of distillation parts of the evolved
nitrogen and hydrogen unite, under very obscure condi-
tions, to form ammonia, which, however, is not stable,
but readily decomposes in the presence e.g. of oxygen.
Every process of distillation, in fact (but some much more
than others), favours the formation of gas on the one hand
and of condensable hydrocarbons on the other. With
regard to the former, its value in the neighbourhood of
coke-ovens is not usually high, and it is a question
whether it may not best be burnt in the oven itself, to
furnish the heat required in any case for the distilling
process ; but the value of tar and ammonia is great, and
would probably not fall very low, even if the production
were largely increased. At the same time, as a fuel they
are not even equal to the same weight of pure carbon. It
will be seen, therefore, that there is ample room for a
process which will enable us to separate and utilise these
by-products, instead of simply using them as fuel, or,
which is far worse, discharging them unburnt to poison
the air and destroy vegetation. Mr. Jameson’s method
of effecting this end is very simple. He takes an ordinary
“ beehive ” coke-oven, makes it tolerably airtight by letting
tar soak into the brickwork, and covers the floor wich an
impervious substance, in which are inserted some large
bricks or quarls, pierced with holes. Below these is a
chamber connected with a pipe, which leads, through any
convenient form of condenser, to a small exhausting
fan. The oven is now charged and lighted from the
top, to which alone air is admitted. The heat of com-
bustion, penetrating downwards, gradually distils the
pitch and gases out of the coal, and the fan being set to
work, these products, instead of passing upwards to the
fire, are sucked downwards through the holes in the floor,
and afterwards separated, the tar being left in one con-
denser, the ammoniacal liquor in another, and the gas
either used at once for steam-raising, &c., or stored in a
gas-holder till required.
In the discussion which followed, the advantage of
saving the waste products was fully admitted, though some
rather startling estimates of the author (who had assumed
that 75,000,000/, per annum was practically wasted under
our present system of coal consumption) were sharply
criticised. But by the ironmasters who were present it
was strongly laid down that the first duty of a coke-oven
was to make good coke—such coke as would give the
best results in a blast-furnace ; and that to this duty all
consideration of by-products must give way. It was
further suggested that pitch was a valuable ingredient in
coke, and that this pitch was left in it by the present
system, but withdrawn on the new one. This idea, how-
ever, seems to be founded on a misapprehension. Mr.
Jameson and others were able to state positively that the
coke made by his process could not be distinguished in
quality from the product of the old beehive oven ; that
the quantity per ton of coal was the same; and that the
by-products, though differing very greatly in quantity
according to the character of the coal, method of con-
densation, &c., were almost always sufficient to repay,
within a few months or even weeks, the 10/. or 15/. re-
quired to adapt an existing oven to the new arrangement.
If these results are confirmed by more extended trials in
different localities, the process seems likely, as one
speaker phrased it, “to take a pretty prominent position
among the great inventions of the present day.’’
CORONERS’ SCIENCE IN CHINA
HETHER Chinamen are or are not believers in the
principle that it is better that nine guilty persons
should escape rather than that one innocent person
should suffer, they do at all events, by their manner of
conducting inquests, leave open a wide door for the
escape of murderers. A deeply-rooted repugnance to
dissection of the human body and a consequently slight
acquaintance with anatumy, coupled with an entire ignor-
ance of the action of poisons, deprive coroners of every
means of arriving at decisions except those furnished by
outward symptoms and appearances. From early times,
however, the importance attaching to human life has
been recognised by the custom of holding inquests in
cases of sudden death, and various works have been pub-
lished embodying all the knowledge available on the sub-
ject to assist coroners in their duty of investigation. The
best-known of these was the Se yen duh, or ‘‘ Record of
the washing away of wrongs,” which was given to the
world in the thirteenth century, and which, under the
same title, subsequently received the zwprimatur of the
officers of the Board of Punishments, who, in the exer-
cise of their legislative function, issued it as a manual
for coroners. In this work is expounded the whole
system of Chinese medical jurisprudence, of which the
following is a slight sketch
One of the first directions given to coroners reminds
one of Mrs. Glasse’s celebrated dictum, and is to the effect
that before issuing a warrant for an inquest they should
be quite sure that there really isa corpse. This admonition
is no less curious than the reason which makes it neces-
sary. It appears to be not uncommon for unscrupulous
swindlers to demand inquests on imaginary corpses for
the purpose of extorting money from the wealthy owners
of the houses where the bodies are said to be, who, rather
than fall into the clutches of the law, generally pay the
sum demanded on condition that all proceedings are
stayed. But being well assured of the existence of a
corpse, the coroner should proceed to the spot well pro-
vided with onions, red pepper, salt, white prunes, and vine-
gar with the lees. If death has just taken place, he should
examine the top of the head, back of the ears, throat, and
any other vital part where a sharp-pointed instrument
may have been inserted. In case of his failing to find
any such cause of death, he should interrogate the friends
and neighbours, and then proceed to examine any
wounds there may be on any other part of the person.
An infallible guide to the date of a wound is found in
the colour of the bone affected. If it is a recent one or
of a slight nature, the bone will be red, but :f old and
severe, the bone will be of a dark blue colour. Particular
care should, however, be taken to ascertain that these
colours are genuine, and not manufactured to agree with
the story told by the relatives. A red tint may be given
to the bone by painting it with an ointment of genuine
safflover, sapanwood, black plums, and alum, with the
addition of boiling vinegar. On the other hand, green
alum or nutgalls, mixed with vinegar, impart a dark blue
or black hue. These counterfeit colours may, however,
be distinguished by their want of brightness. Again, not
uncommonly a fictitious wound is made after death by
April 26, 1883 |
burning the spot with lighted strips of bamboo, but such
a wound will be level with the surrounding flesh and be
soft to the touch. If willow bark has been used for the
same purpose, the flesh will be rotten and black, livid all
round, and free from hardness. A lighted paper placed
inside a cup and applied to the flesh makes a wound
which resembles the result of a blow with the fist ; but it
will be observed that all round there is a red, scorched
mark, that the flesh inside is yellow, and that although it
swells, it does not become hard. On the other hand, a
genuine wound can be distinguished by the well-defined
colours of the surrounding flesh. At the extremity of the
wound there should be “a halo-like appearance, like rain
seen from a distance, or like fleecy clouds, vague and
indistinct.”
Murders, it is held, are seldom the result of premedita-
tion, but are in a great majority of cases to be traced to
drunken brawls ; and further, coroners should remember
that the relatives of a wounded man, unless their ties be
of the closest, desire his death that they may extort
money from his slayer. It becomes their duty, therefore,
on hearing of a fray in which any one has been seriously
wounded, to see that the injured man be carefully tended
and provided for. If death ensues, a careful examination
of the corpse should be made, beginning from the head
downwards, and in doing so, should it be suspected that
tattoo-marks on his cheeks or elsewhere have been obliter-
ated, such parts should be tapped with a slip of bamboo,
which will have the effect of making the marks reappear.
Attention should be given to see if the ears have been
bitten or torn, whether the nostrils have been wounded,
and whether the lips are open or closed. The teeth
should be counted, the jaws examined, and the limbs
carefully scrutinised down to the finger- and toe-nails. If
the body bears marks of corporal chastisement, it should
be noted, and any scars there may be, both on the inside
and outside of the ankle-bones, may be safely set down
to torture. When the mark of a wound which is known
to have been inflicted cannot be traced, vinegar with
the lees should be poured on the spot, and a trans-
parent piece of oilcloth be held between the sun and part
to be observed. Ona dull day live charcoal must take
the place of the sun. If the result be not satisfactory,
spread powdered white prunes, with more vinegar and
lees, and examine closely. Should this also prove un-
satisfactory, then a cake composed of the flesh of white
prunes, red pepper, onions, salt, and lees should be made
very hot over a fire and applied to the parts, when the
wound will appear.
In the same way, when violence is suspected, but no in-
jury is at first sight apparent, it is directed that vinegar
with the lees should be poured on the body, over which the
clothes of the deceased saturated again with hot vinegar
should be laid, and, covering all, mats spread to keep the
steam in. The temperature of the vinegar should be
regulated by the season of the year, and in very cold
weather, when the vinegar, however hot, is insufficient to
relax the rigidity, the corpse should be laid in a hole in
the ground, in which a roaring fire has been subdued by
copious sprinklings of vinegar. The fumes of steam
which will then arise may be expected to accomplish the
object. A careful examination should then be made, and
if the marks of a wound or wounds are observed on the
skin, their size, shape, and position are to be carefully
noted, and death attributed to the one on the most vul-
nerable part. One of the most curiously perverted pieces
of coroners’ science is contained in the assertion that, if
death has arisen from a blow on the lower part of the
abdomen, the injury is discoverable by the condition of
the roots of either the top or bottom teeth in the case of
men, and in that of women by the appearance of the gums.
If the services of the coroner should not be called in
until the body is in so advanced a stage of decomposition
that the condition of the bones is the only test left him, he
NATURE
613.
should choose a bright day, and having steamed them in
the fumes of hot vinegar he should examine them under
a red oilcloth umbrella. The blood having soaked into
the injured parts, these will at once become visible, and
will leave clearly-defined red, dark blue, or black marks.
A long-shaped, dark-coloured mark so discovered points
to a wound inflicted by a weapon, a round one to a blow
of the fist, a large one to a butt of the head, and a small
one to a kick. The fact of saturation of blood in the
bone is evidence that the wound was inflicted before death.
Should there be any doubt as to the identification of the
bones, it is only necessary for a child or grandchild of the
deceased to cut himself and herself with a knife, so that the
blood may drip upon the bones, when, if they be really those
of the parent, the blood will soak into them, otherwise it
will not. In connection with this test it is curious to find
stated the old-world belief that the blood of relations, if
dripped into a basin, will mix, and not in the case of
others. This test would appear to be often appealed to,
since coroners—though it is difficult to see what it has to
do with coroners—are warned to see that those interested
in proving a relationship do not smear the basin with salt
or vinegar, under the influence of either of which any
bloods will mix.
Observations have shown, so coroners are told, that a
man who has been killed with a knife dies with his mouth
and eyes open and his hands clenched. The skin and
flesh about the wounds will be shrunken, and in case of a
limb having been cut off the bone will be protruding.
Where decapitation has taken place, the muscles will
have shrunk backwards, the skin will have curled over,
and the shoulders will be shrugged up. These appear-
ances will be wanting if the wounds have been made
after death has taken place. It is necessary to be par-
ticular on these points, we are told, as murderers con-
stantly endeavour to mislead coroners by inflicting wounds
after death in such a way as to lend a colour to vamped-
up stories of suicide. The exact frame of mind in which
a man was when committing suicide can be readily dis-
covered by the features of the corpse. If the teeth are
firmly set, the eyes slightly open and looking upwards, a
fit of violent passion prompted the act; if the eyes are
closed, but not tightly, the mouth slightly open, and the
teeth not shut, then it was due to an excess of pent-up
rage ; if fear of punishment has driven him to it, his eyes
and mouth will be placidly closed, ‘‘for he looks on
death merely as a return home and a happy release from
the responsibilities of life.” The hands also furnish a
test when there is a doubt whether the case of a man
whose throat has been cut be one of murder or suicide.
The hand with which a suicide commits the deed will
remain soft for a time, and will curl up a day or two-
after death, neither of which symptoms will occur when
death has been caused by another person. ‘
Strangulation is one of the commonest means by which
persons tired of life “shuffle off this mortal coil,” and
full directions are given as to the points to be observed
when holding inquests on such cases. The exact position
of the body, the kind of scar on the neck, the existence or
absence of the mark of a knot, the expression of the face,
and a thousand other matters are detailed at length, and
are contrasted with similar appearances in the case of
murders. One curious piece of superstition receives the
sanction of the Board of Punishment in connection with
suicide by hanging. Beneath the spot where the crime
was committed, at the depth of three or more feet below
the surface of the soil, there will be found a deposit of
charcoal, and by this test, should any doubt exist as to
the scene of the suicide, the matter may be settled. The
directions given in the case of deaths by drowning are
voluminous, and, speaking generally, accurate. The habit
of generalising from insufficient data, which is so common
with Chinamen, occasionally leads them astray here as
elsewhere. It has been reserved for them, for example,
614
NATURE
| April 26, 1883
to discover the law that bodies take a longer time to float | appearing in enlarged form with the commencement of
in winter and the beginning of spring than in the summer
and end of autumn. That a drowned man floats on his
face and a woman on her back is mentioned, and it is
left to be implied that in case of bodies having been
thrown into the water after death this does not hold
good. With the same minuteness every possible circum-
stance connected with death by fire is gone into at length,
the presence of traces of ashes in the mouth and nose
being described as “a crucial test of death by burning.”
The chapters on poison are, as might be expected in
the absence of dissection, the most unsatisfactory in the
book. Practically very little light is thrown on the dis-
tinguishing sympto ns arising from the effects of different
poisons. The common test applied to most is that of
inserting a silver needle washed with a decoction of
Gleditschia sinensis, into the mouth of the corpse. If,
when after a time this is withdrawn, it should be stained
a dark colour, and remain so stained after it has been
again washed with the decoction, poison has been the
cause of death. Another proof is furnished by the effect
which a pellet of rice, after having been some time in the
mouth of the corpse, bas on poultry who can be induced
to swallow it. The commonest poisons are said to be
opium, arsenic, and certain noxious essences derived
from herbs. But besides these, other things are taken by
suicides and given by murderers to causedeath. Insome
of the southern previnces there exists a particular kind
of silkworm, known as the Golden Silkworm, which is
reared by miscreants to serve either pu. pose as occasion
may require. Quicksilver, which is also used with fatal
effect, is either swallowed, or, like the ‘‘juice of cursed
hebenon” which sent Hamlet’s father to his account, is
poured into the ear. The torture necessarily consequent
on this last method of using it must be so excessive that
it may safely be assumed that it finds favour only with
murderers. Swallowing gold, on the other hand, seems
to be the favourite way of seeking death with wealthy
suicides. It has been held by some writers that the
expression ‘swallowing gold’’ is but a metaphorical
phrase meaning “swallowing poison,” just as when a
notable culprit is ordered to strangle himself he is said to
have had “a silken cord” sent to him. But the “ Coroners’
Manual” puts it beyond question that gold is actually
swallowed, and it prescribes the remedies which should
be adopted to effect a cure. Gold not being a poison,
death is the result either of suffocation or laceration of
the intestines. When suffocation is imminent, draughts
of strained rice-water, we are told, should be given to
wash the gold downwards, and when this object has been
attained, the flesh of partridges, among other things,
should be eaten by the patient to. “soften the gold” and
thus prevent its doing injury. Silver is also taken in
the same way. But though wealthy Chinamen thus find
a pleasure in seeking extinction by means of the precious
metals, they have never gone the length of pounding
diamonds to get rid of either themselves or their enemies
after the manner of Indian potentates.
ROBERT K. DOUGLAS
ZOOLOGY IN FAPAN
CORRESPONDENT in Tokio sends us the follow-
ing :—During the late summer and autumn some
good work has been done in the ornithological way. Mr.
P. L. Jouy, of the Smithsonian Institution, collected ex-
tensively in the region of Mount Fujiyama, at Chiu-senji
Lake, near the celebrated shrines of Nikko, and on Tate-
yama Range, between the borders of the provinces of
Shinshiu and Hida. A large number of beautifully pre-
pared skins, with a good deal of information regarding
the breeding habits of some of the rarer birds, is the
result, which will be recorded in the February number of
the Chrysanthemum, a magazine published at Yokohama,
this year. An article contributed by Capt. Blakiston in
the January number, follows up those of his for Septem-
ber, October, and November, 1882, on ornithological work
in Yezo during the past summer; in which is noticeable
the occurrence of Locustella certhiola (Pall), and Phyllo-
scopus borealis (Blasius) on that island ; and the discovery
of a new species of J/otaci//a (probably described by
Seebohm in the /ézs for January, 1883), allied to MW.
ocularts (Swinhoe) and AZ. amurensis (Seebohm), which
has hitherto somehow been mixed up with 47. dugens of
the “ Fauna Japonica,” which latter is now found to be
—to quote Capt. Blakiston’s words (Chrysanthemum,
January, 1883, p. 31)--‘‘a species unique in its genus,
having in the adult state the same appearance winter and
summer, and in which the young pass at onze before their
first winter into the adult dress.”’
Messrs. Owston, Snow, and Co.’s otter bunters at the
Kuril Islands have also during the past season added
some new localities for Japan birds. The specimens are
in the hands of Capt. Blakiston, and will be duly men-
tioned in the following number of the Chrysanthemum, as
additional notes to the “ Birds of Japan,” /vams. As. Soc.
Fapan, vol. x. part I (noticed in NATURE, vol. xxvi.
p- 362).
In the way of sammalia late investigation points to
the distinctness of Yezo from Japan proper. The Rev.
Pere Heude, who is now engaged upon a revision of the
Cervide of Eastern Asia, has come to the conclusion
that the common deer of Yezo is not C. szka of the
“Fauna Japonica,’ but C. manchuricus-minor, or an un-
described species. Two parts are already published—
very creditably got up at the Mission Press at Sikawei,
near Shanghai—cf. “ Mémoires concernant |’Histoire Na-
aren de I Empire Chincis,’”’ others being promised to
ollow.
NOTES
THE following is the list of fifteen candidates recommended
for election by the Council of the Royal Society :—Surgeon-
Major James Edward Tierney Aitchison, M.D., James Crichton
Browne, M.D., LL.D., Surgeon-Major George Edward Dobson,
M.B., James Matth-ws Duncan, M.D., Prof, George Francis
Fitzgerald, M.A., Walter Flight, D.Sc., Rev. Percival Frost,
M.A., David Gill, LL.D., Charles Edward Groves, F.C.S.,
Howard Grubb, F.R.A.S., John Newport Langley, M.A.,
Arnold Wiliam Reinold, M.A., Roland Trimen, F.L.S.,
F.Z.S., John Venn, M.A., John James Walker, M.A.
THE loss sustained by mathematical science in the premature
death of Henry Stephen Smith is still fresh in the minds of our
readers. They will find their best consolation in the fact that
his successor in Oxford may possibly be Prof. Sylvester. Such an
opportunity of recovering for England the services of one of her
two greatest mathematicians is not likely to recur, and will, we
doubt not, be eagerly turned to advantage. It has been a
humiliating thought to many to whom the highest interest of
science is dearer than the prosperity of mere mediocrity that, of
the two greatest mathematicians that ‘England has produced in
the nineteenth century, one has altogether and another almost
been obliged to seek for refuge in a foreign land.
UNIVERSAL regret wi'l be felt at the sad intelligence which
has just reached England by telegram, from Madeira, of the un-
timely death of Mr. William Alexander Forbes, B.A., Fellow of
St. John’s College, Cambridge, and Prosector to the Zoological
Society of London, Mr, Forbes left England in July last,
along with Mr. McIntosh and Mr, Ashbury, upon what was
expected to be a three or four months’ expedition in a steam-
yacht up the river Niger. He died of dysentery at Shonga on
January 14, aged 28.
April 26, 1883]
NATORE
615
THREE months ago Mr. Raphael Meldola, as retiring Pre-
sident of the Essex Field Club, gave an interesting address, which
is now printed in a separate form, on ‘f Darwin and Modern
Evolution.” It gives a clear and well-condensed account of
Darwin’s life and work. The following extract concerning the
first publication of the theory of natural selection at the Linnean
Society is of historical interest, and also, we think, of some instruc-
tive value :—*‘ Mr. Wallace has narrated to me that one of his cor-
respondents, a well-known entomologist, wrote to say that it was a
general remark in natural history circles, with respect to the
paper, that it was much to be regretted that the author had not
more confined himself to statements of fact!’’ This shows that
the naturalists of the Linnean Society at that time had the same
intolerance of anything like speculative brain-spinning which
still finds occasional expression, But to-day we have to thank
the sagacity of the greatest of naturalists that, while cautious of
speculation, he nevertheless courted it as a friend to the highest
interests of science, while leaving ‘‘the well known entomolo-
gists” to shun it as the worst of enemies, The truth is that in
biology, as in all other branches of science, unless the only aim
of a worker is to accumulate knowledge of details, he is bound
to resort to hypothe-es as feelers after principles. On the other
hand, of course, speculation, like fire, while the most valuable
of servants, nay also be the most dangerous of masters. The
lruest scientific judgment, therefore, consists in using speculation
as not abusing it; and if in particular cases it is asked how much
latitude is thus to be allowed to speculative thinking, the answer
inust be that this is just the question which in all particular
cases it requires the truest scientific judgment to decide. All
that can be said, as a matter of general principle, is that qui-e as
much and even more harm may arise from an over-nervousness
of deductive method in biclogy, as may arise from an over-
confidence in them; and also that the theory of evolution—at
Jeast in our opinion—is now sufficiently well established to admit
of being used deductively in no stinted measure, without danger
of violating the best methods of scientific procedure.
THE great and deserved success which has attended the Girls’
Public Day School Company has now led to the formation of a
similar company for establishing schools for boys. A meeting,
under the presidency of Lord Aberdare, was held on the 24th
inst. at the rooms of the Society of Arts, at which the objects of
the company were explained. The basis of the new schools is
that of a self-supporting company, independent alike of Govern-
ment and charitable aid. It is stated that premises will shortly
be secured in Kentish Town, where the first school will be
opened in a few months.
Carr. C. E. Durron, of the United States Geological
Survey, who spent half of last year in Hawaii studying the
voleanic phenomena there, and whose researches among the
plateaux of Utah have brought to light so many interesting
phases of volcanic action in that region, is about to undertake
the exploration of a still more extensive volcanic region. He is
organising his forces for a summer campaign in the Cascade
Range, beginning at the southern end in California, among the
yoleanic piles of Mount Shasta, and working northwards across
Oregon to the remote peaks of Mounts Hood and Rainier, in
Washington Territory. [nm this way a preliminary survey of the
region will this year be made, and the information will be gained
that will serve as the basis for future more detailed exploration,
That vast region contains possibly the most colossal outpouring
of volcanic matter anywhere to be seen in the world. Geologists
will rejoice that it is now to be systematically examined by one
so competent as Capt. Dutton, who has specially trained himself
for the task. ‘The American Congress is to be congratulated on
the enlightened spirit in which these surveys of the Western
Territories are conceived and carried out.
THE Central Swedish Meteorological Observatory, in Stock-
holm, has issued a request, signed by Baron Nordenskjold,
calling upon those who may witness meteoric phenomena to send
minute particulars of the same to him. He requests that the
following details may be noted :—Time, duration, direction as
well as height above horizon, whether the meteor had a tail,
emitted smoke, burst, or simply disappeared from view, whether
any sound and any fall of objects were observed. He also:
requests that a drawing of the phenomena may if possible be
forwarded. In conclusion, he says: ‘* There often appears a
peculiar dry mist or ‘sun-smoke’ over extensive tracts of land
in Sweden, sometimes accompanied by a remarkable smell ex-
tending for hundreds of square miles. The nature of this phe-
nomenon has not yet been ascertained. As I am informed that
it was recently noticed in certain parts of Norrland, I beg that
any observer of the same will forward all particulars he may
possess.”
GEoLoGIsts will learn with regret that Mr. Alexander
Murray, who has so long and so ably directed the Geological
Survey of Newfoundland, feels himself compelled by advancing
years and enfeebled health to retire from his duties. For many
years he was one of the late Sir William Logan’s chief officers in
the Geological Survey of Canada, where he long ago gained
his geological spurs. His iron constitution and indomitable
enthusiasm have carried him through more hardships than have
fallen to the lot of almost any living geological explorer, but they
have been borne with a quiet courage and good-humoured in-
difference altogether admirable. May he find now the honour-
able rest and recognition to which his long devotion to the colony
s> justly entitles him. He will be succeeded by his present
second in command, Mr. James P. Howley, in whose expe-
rienced hands the Surveying Depart nent of Newfoundland will
be excellently administered.
ProF. TYNDALL will on Thursday next, May 3, at the Royal
Institution, give the first of a course of three lectures on
“«Count Rumford, Originator of the Royal Institution.”
ALTHOUGH the circulation of books from Newcastle-upon-
Tyne Free Library has not quite kept up this second year, yet
the Report, with its account of the handsome new building, is a
very satisfactory one. The carrying on of education in various
ways, in combination with the Science and Art Department and
with the City and Guilds of London Institute, by literary and
commercial classes, including even a competition in oratory sup-
ported by a ‘‘ Bequest,” is valuable work that ought naturally to
fall, as it has done here, into the same hands as control the
library. The method of encouraging juvenile readers by per-
mitting the use of the whole library to the more intelligent is
good where these readers are sufficiently known to the librarian,
There is no doubt that the true reason is given for the large
increase in the issue of fiction, viz. that the committee have
added to their’stock in that class in a proportion twice as great
as in any other class. ‘* The love of” fiction ‘increases as much
as the” fiction “ itself increases.”
THE Mitchell Library at Glasgow has taken the only method
of repressing this circulation of fiction, viz. that of not buying
the books! In this well-endowed and promising institution,
only open five years, yet now containing 45,000 volumes, there
are only 374 volumes of fiction ; yet so great is the demand for
this class of reading that every volume has been issued ninety-
eivht times, 7.c. changed twice every week throughout the year !
This library, however, supported mainly by the splendid bequest
of 70,000/. Jeft by Mr. Stephen Mitchell in 1874, has purposely
relegated this department and that of branch libraries to the rd.
rate, able to produce in Glasgow 11,v00/. a year, while itself
takes the form of a great reference department, already the
‘616
NATURE
largest free library in Scotland, and promising in a second five
years to be among the most important collections of books in the
kingdom. One of the best functions of a public library in any
town is to become the centre to which will gravitate all publica-
_tions of any local value or interest. For since every subject or
author is naturally connected with some locality, if this were
well carried out all over the kingdom, information would gradu-
ally be as well arranged and as readily accessible as in a cyclo-
pedia. The collections undertaken by the Mitchell Library at
Glasgow are (1) the works of Burns and other Scotch poets and
verse writers, one object of which will be ‘‘to preserve local
dialects, local customs, and local memories” ; (2) all papers
which in any way illustrate the city’s growth and life ; (3) speci-
mens of early Glasgow printing. The Scotch Covenanters is
another subject in which a collection of publications has been
commenced. Still nearly one-fifth of the volumes in the
Mitchell Library, and more than one-fifth of the volumes in
-circulation, belong to the department of Arts and Sciences. The
attendance of readers has been quite as large as the present
premises will accommodate.
THE Council of the Society of British Artists opened their
gallery in Suffolk Street on Sunday last to the members of the
Sunday Society. A similar privilege has been granted for
Sunday next, the 29th inst., when the public will be admitted
during the afternoon and evening by free tickets, to be had by
all who apply, inclosing a stamped and addressed envelope, to
the Honorary Secretary, 8, Park Place Villas, W. The eighth
annual meeting of the Sunday Society will be held in the
Princes’ Hall, Piccadilly, on May 5, under the presidency of Sir
Coutts Lindsay.
WE have received the Memorandum of Association of the
National Smoke Abatement Institution, signed by the Dukes of
Westminster and Northumberland, Lord Mount-Temple, Sir
W. F. Pollock, Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir Hussey Vivian, and Mr.
Ernest Hart. The objects of this institution are already weil
known to all our readers.
Tue diplomas and scholarships of the Spring Session of the
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, were conferred on the
successful students on the 19th inst. Among those on whom the
diplomas were conferred were Messrs, Sen and Hossein, the
two Indian scholars first sent to the College by the Government
of India. It is worthy of note that one of these gentlemen, Mr.
Sen, obtained the highest number of marks ever reached for the
diploma.
A LARGE collection of weapons and implements from the
Stone Age in Japan has, we are informed, arrived in London.
The collector, Herr von Siebold, is an official of the Austrian
Embassy in Japan, and has resided for many years in the latter
-country. The collection. embraces, we believe, a large number
of flint arrowheads, celts, axes, as well as numerous specimens
of pottery taken from shell-heaps in various parts of Japan.
The well known magatama and kudatama ornaments are also
well represented. Except a few in the Christy collection in the
British Museum, and a small collection given by Herr von Sie-
bold himself to the Copenhagen Museum, the Japanese Stone
Age is not, we believe, fairly represented in any archeological
‘museum in Europe.
More than 259 years ago the English residents in Japan were
perplexing themselves, as they are to-day, on the subject of
earthquakes. In the diary of Richard Cocks, just published for
the Hakluyt Society by Mr, Maunde Thompson, we find, under
date November 7, 1618, the following entry :—‘‘ And, as we
retorned, about 10a clock, hapned a greate earthquake, which
caused many people to run out of their howses. And about the
lyke hower the night following hapned an other, this cuntrey
| April 26, 1883
being much subject to them. And that which is comunely
markd, they allwais hapen at a hie water (or full sea); so it
is thought it chanseth per reason is much wind blowen into
hollow caves under grownd at a loe water, and the sea flowing
in after, and stoping the passage out, causeth these earthquakes,
to fynd passage or vent for the wind shut up.”
News from Mr. Stanley dating down to the middle or
December has just been received at Brussels. Stanley had
reached the African coast, and, after having augmented his party
by 223 natives from Zanzibar, under the leadership of the Belgian
traveller, M. de Cambier, had started for Vivi, the first station
established by the International African Society. At Vivi pre-
parations were being made for the construction of a railway line
to the landing-place on the river, but the work proceeded slowly;
owing to the total absence of beasts of burden. Upto now seven
stations have been established—Vivi, Isanghila, Manyangha, Lu-
tété, Stanley Pool, [baka Nkoutou, and Bolobo ; the latter is dis-
tant about 700 miles from the mouth of the Congo, and is the last
one established. Of the four small steamers taken to Africa three
had been launched, and the fourth was being transported from
Manyangha to Leopoldsville. The seven stations already seem
to become centres of civilisation, and exercise a beneficial influ-
ence upon the surrounding native tribes. Horned cattle had
been introduced at Vivi, and at Leopoldsville agricultural work
had begun, cabbage and lettuce thriving exceedingly in that
locality. At Bolobo a fertile and well-populated country was
reached, which extends far beyond the limits of De Brazza’s
journey. The progress of the latter was contemplated with
equanimity, yet fears were entertained regarding the claims of
the Portuguese Government, and also concerning the freedom of
way and commerce.
SEVERAL Swedish officers have recently left Europe, being
invited to join Mr. Stanley on the Congo.
THE Swedi-h Academy of Sciences has offered a reward to
the vessel which first brings despatches, &c., to the meteoro-
logical observing party wintering at Spitzbergen.
THE despatch of the Swedish corvette Vanadis on a voyage
round the world is contemplated. Several men of science will
accompany her, among whom is Dr, Stolpe, the well-known
ethnographist.
ON the 13th inst., between 8 and 9a.m., a remarkable mirage
was seen at Olsta, in the parish of Sala, Sweden, It displayed
distinctly a town in Eastern style situated by the sea, with
temples and minarets, while to the left a forest of fine cypress
trees was seen. In front was a train in motion, while a body of
soldiers appeared marching along a road, with their bayonets
fl shing in the sun, The whole was visible for nearly an hour,
when it gradually faded away.
THE French Academy of Sciences, at its meeting on Monday
last, selected MM. Bonnct and Resal as candidates for filling
the place vacated by the decease of M. Liouville, in the Bureau
des Longitudes.
Last week M. de Lesseps delivered several speeches at the
Sorbonne and in other places, showing that the Roudaire Inland
Sea will be useful and profitable, and the speaker met with very
decided success. On Monday, M. Cosson, his usual antagonist,
delivered a long speech, pointing out the danger of the opera-
tions, but the French Academy of Sciences took no notice of it,
and no commission being appointed the matter dropped.
At the March meeting of the Russian Physical Society, M.
Sreznevsky read a communication on an instrument largely
employed but the theory of which is from being established,
namely, the hygrometer of Saussure. Its scale, usually traced
by comparison with a psychrometer, varies with the month when
April 26, 1883 |
the comparison is made, a difference which is probably due to
influence of temperature, as already pointed out in 1783 by
Saussure. The matter, however, has never yet received thorough
investigation. The cause of the elongation of the air in conse-
quence of an increase of moisture remained also unexplained.
It might be explained now, however, as it is known that the air
contains water in a liquid state in its microscopical cavities.
Thecurvature of the surfaces of these microscopical meniscuses,
which depends upon the tension of the vapour that incloses the
air, must influence the tension on its surface and therefore change
its length. Both these causes can be expressed mathematically,
at least for the simplest cases, and if we admit a state of equi-
librium we can easily see that the tension of the meniscuses on the
surface of the air is a function of the relative moisture, and is
proportionate to the logarithm of the moisture. The elongation
of the air would thus be a function of the relative moisture of
a capillary constant, of the coefficients of elasticity of the air,
and of the suspended weight.
Dr. ARNOD DoDEL PorrT has recently published the final
part of his incom, arable ‘‘ Atlas der pbysiologischen Botanik.”’
The six plates which constitute it illustrate: Cys¢ostra barbala,
I. Ag. (a genus of sea wracks), the archegonium and antheridium
of Marchantiz (one of the Liverworts), Pins larictio (third
plate), Lavatera trimestris, two plates (a genus of Malvacez),
and Datura stramonium, L. (the common thorn-apple). To-
gether with the plates is published the final part of the descriptive
text.
IN the current number of the Annales de l’Extréme Orient,
M. de Lucy-Fossarien draws attention to the interesting fact in
connection with education in Japan, that a large part of its
development is due to private assistance. In the past five years
forty-two millions of francs have been given voluntarily by
private persons for the extension of education. Even this large
sum, however, is probably less than the value of the land, houses,
&c., given in particular districts for the use of schools.
THE tenth annual Report of the Museum fiir Vélkerkunde, at
Leipzig, has just been published, and gives an interesting account
of the flourishing condition of this excellent ethnographical in-
stitution. The Emperor of Germany again contributes a large
sum to the funds of the Museum, and the Crown Prince of
Austria has become a member of the institution; the collections
have been largely increased, and there are no less than 106 gentle-
men at work in various parts of the world extending the connec-
tions of and acquiring material for the Museum.
AN earthquake was observed at Tashkend on March 31, at
7 a.m. The shocks were of considerable violence. In the
Etna district the voleanic phenomena continue. A violent earth-
quake occurred at Riposto on the 5th inst., and on the following
day oscillations were felt also at Catania, Paterndé, and Randazzo.
A thick volume of steam emanates from the crater as well as
from lateral openings. At Salinella the mud crater had resumed
its activity and had caused considerable destruction of property.
Dr. Paut GussrELpr of Berlin, the eminent traveller who
started for South America some time ago in order to make geo-
logical and other scientific researches in the Cordilleras, reports
that he is well satisfied with the results of his journey, and that
he had discovered a glacier of the first order in the style of the
Aletsch glacier. The glacier is between fifteen and twenty miles
inlength. Dr. Giissfeldt has measured many summits trigono-
metrically, made a collection of alpine plants (amongst them a
wild potato from above the glacier), and another of geological
specimens. On December 31 he intended to leave for the
Argentine Republic ; thence he proposed to return to Maipu,
and then investigate the Aconcagua district.
NATURE
617
A NUMBER of unusually bright and large meteors were ob-
served at Prossnitz (Austria) and other places in the neighbour-
hood on the evening of March 13 last, between 6 and 11 p.m.
Some lit up the whole sky and lasted five or six seconds. No
trace of any meteoric stone has as yet been discovered.
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the
past week include a Leopard (Felis pardus 2) from India, pre-
sented by Mr, A. P. Marsden; an Ocelot (Fe/és pardalis) from
South America, presented by Mr. C. G. Leith ; a Ring-tailed
Coati (Masea rufa) from South America, presented by Mr. E.
Dance; two Porto Rico Pigeons (Co/wmba corensis) from the
West Indies, a Common Boa (oa constrictor) from Brazil, pre-
sented by Mr. C. A. Craven, C.M.Z.S.; an Osprey (Pandion
haliaetus) from Australia, presented by Dr. Plummer ; a White-
bellied Sea Eagle (Haléaetus leucogaster) from Australia, pre-
sented by Mr. E. P. Ramsay, C.M.Z.S.; three Common Rheas
(2hea americana) feom Monte Video, presented by Mr, John
Fair; a Green Turtle (Chelone viridis) fron the West Indies,
presented by Mr. Fleetwood Sandeman; a Leopard (Felis
pardus &) from India, a Small Hill Mynah (Gracula religiosa)
from Southern India, a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
(Cacatua galerita) from Australia, a Gannet (Sz/a bassana),
British, deposited ; an ‘Iceland Falcon (Falco islandus) from
Iceland, purchased.
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN
ScHMID?’s VARIABLE STAR NEAR SPICA,—On June 6, 1866,
Dr. Julius Schmidt remarked to the south and east of Spica a
conspicuous star which he estimated 5*4m., and which was
wanting in Argelander’s Uranometria, It was brighter than the
neighbouring reddish-yellow star, 68 Virginis. He found its
place for 18660, K.A. 13h. 27m. 33s., Decl. —12° 31/°5. It is
Lalande 25086, estimated 6°7 on May 10, 1795, and Piazzi
XIII. 126, called 8m. in the catalogue, but 7 and 6°7 in the
Storia Celeste. It was not observed by Bessel nor Santini, but
occurs in Lamont’s Zone 355, 1846, May 22, wien it was rated
8m. In Bremicker’s Berlin Chart it is 7m., and 6°7 in Heis,
But a special point of interest about this object is Schjellerup’s
inference that it is identical with the 19th star in Virgo in
Ptolemy’s Catalogue, as indicated in a note at p. 160 of the
translation of the Catalogue of Abd-al-Rahman al-Sifi, which
the Persian astronomer says was of the smaller fifth magnitude,
nearer the sixth, though Ptolemy ealls it ‘‘ absolutely of the
fifth.” In Baily’s edition of Ptolemy’s Catalogue in vol. xiii, of
the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, the star in ques-
tion is No. 515, and there identified with 687 Virginis : it is
called 6 voriwrepos THS Eroutyns mAevpas. Schjellerup, trans-
lating from Al-Siif, says: ‘‘ La 19° est la méridionale du cété
postéerieur du quadrilatére, apres a@/-simak, sinclinant vers le
sud ; elle est des moindres de la cinquieme grandeur ; Ptolémée
la Jit absolument de cinquiéme, mais elle est plus prés de la
sixieme. Entre elle et a/-stmdék vers le sud-est, il y a environ
une coudée et demie et entre elle et la 17° il ya la méme dis-
tance. Avec al-simdk et la 17° elle forme un triangle isoscéle,
cette étoile étant au sommet. La latitude de cette étoile, in-
diquée dans le livre de Ptolémée, se trouve erronée, parce que,
au ciel, elle se fait voir autrement qu’elle ne tombe sur le globe.
Car, d’aprés cela, elle devrait se faire voir au nord d’a/-simék,
tandis que, en verité, elle se trouve au sud.” Al-simak is Spica,
and the 17th star appears to be 76 Virginis. Baily in his Cata-
logue places the 19th star in longitude 178°, with 3° o' south
latitude, but in a note he points out that in the edition of
Ptolemy, published by Liechtenstein at Venice in 1515, the
latitude is 0° 20’ and orth ; with the remark, ‘‘The star 68
Virginis agrees with the position given by Ptolemy; but it is
difficult to make it accord with the description, as being in the
‘latus sequens’ of the quadrilateral figure.”
Both the variable and 68 Virginis are found in Mr, Stone’s
Southern Catalogue, the epoch of which is 1880, The auxiliary
quantities for the reduction of positions for this year to the
assigned epoch of Ptolemy’s Catalogue, the first of Antoninus,
are, in the usual notation—
Bye. 1089) 4793 AG ose AQT OLS ee 0) 0 On AOU,
618
NATURE
| April 26, 1883
whence with the obliquity of the ecliptic = 23° 411, Stone’s
places for a.p. 138 become—
Longitude. Latitude.
Var. Schmidt (Piazzi, xiii. 126) ... 180° 52’ ... —2° 58’
68 Virginis... ... ... 178° 53) B94
As we have seen, Ptolemy’s rgth star of Virgo is placed in longi-
tude 178° 0’, latitude — 3° 0’; but, as is well known, the longi-
tudes of the Almagest are about one degree too small, Hence
Schjellerup’s identification of the variable with Ptolemy’s star is
likely to be correct ; the object deserves frequent attention.
D’ArRREsT’s COMET.—With reference to the remarks last
week in this column on the first announcement of the observa-
tion of D’Arre-t’s comet in the Dun Echt Circular, Prof.
Krueger, Director of the Observatory at Kiel, writes us from
that establish vent, as the ‘‘Centralstelle fiir astronomische
Telegramme,” as follows :—‘‘I wish to state with reference to
No. 703, p. 589, as I have done in 4. WV. No. 2507 [not yet
received], that Dr. Hartwig had not telegraphed any daily
~ motion of the supposed comet D’Arrest on the 4th Apri!. The
hypothetical daily motion was added by myself in the cable-tele-
gram to Cambridge, U.S., because I assumed that the American
astronomers were not in possession of an ephemeris. Lord
Crawford received, as usual, the same telegram as Cambridge,
U.S., with the additional note (in order to avoid double-tele-
grams) that the telegram had been sent to America. European
astronomers received only Dr. Hartwig’s original communica-
tion.”
ON THE SENSE OF COLOUR AMONGST SOME
OF THE LOWER ANIMALS?
T the meeting of the Linnean Society on Thurday, April 19,
Sir John Lubbock read a paper on this subject. Some years
ago M. Paul Bert made a series of interesting experiments with
the cowmon Daphnia, or water-flea, which is so abundant in our
ditches and pools. He exposed them to light of different colours,
and he thougat himself justified in concluding from his observa-
tions that their limits of vision at both ends of the spectrum are
the same as our own, being limited by the red at one end, and
the violet at the other.
In a previous communication Sir John Lubbock showed, on
the contrary, that they are not insensible to the ultra-violet
rays, and that at that end of the spectrum their eyes were affected
by light which we are unable to perceive. These experiments
have recently been repeated by M. Merezkowski, who, however,
maintains that, though the Daphnias prefer the yellow rays,
which are the brightest of the spectrum, they are, im fact, at-
tracted, not by the colour, but by the brightness; that, while
conscious of the intensity of the light, they have no power to
distinguish colours. Given an animal which prefers the brightest
rays, it may seem difficult to distinguish between a mere pre-
ference for light itself rather than for any particular colour.
To test this, however, Sir John Lubbock took porcelain troughs
about an inch deep, eight inches long, and three broad. In
these he put fifty Daphmas, and then, na darkened chamber,
threw upon them an electric spectrum arranged so that on each
side of a given line the light was equal, and he found that an
immense majority of the Daphnias preterred the green to the
red end of the spectrum. Ayain, to select one out of many
experiments, he took four troughs, and covered one-half of the
first with a yellow solution, half of the second with a green solu-
tion, half of the third with an opaque plate, and he threw
over half of the fourth a certain amount of extra light by means
of a mirror. He then found that in the first trough a large
majority of the Da,hnias preferred being under the yellow
liquid rather than in the exposed half; that in the second a
large majority preferred being under the green liquid rather than
in the exposed half; that in the third a large majority preferred
the exposed half to that which was shaded ; ana in the fourth
that a large majority preferred the half on which the extra
amount of light was thrown,
It is evident, then, that in the first and second troughs the
Daphnias did not go under the solution for the sake of the shade,
because other Daphnias placed by their side under similar
conditions preferred a somewhat brighter light.
It seems clear, therefore, that they were able to distinguish the
yellow and green light, and that they preferred it to white light.
No such result was given with blue or red solutions, In such
* By Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P.
cases the Daphnias always preferred the uncovered half of the
trough.
It is, of course, impossible absolutely to prove that they per-
ceive colours, but these experiments certainly show that rays of
various wave-lenyths produce distinct impressions on their eyes ;
that they prefer rays of light of such wave-lengths as produce
upon our eyes the impression of green and yellow. It is, of
course, possible that rays of different wave-lengths produce
different impressions upon their eyes, but yet that such impressions
differ in a manner of which we have no conception. This, how-
ever, seems improbable, and on the whele, therefore, it certainly
does appear that Daphnias can distinguish not only different
degrees of brightnes:, but also differences of colour.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
CAMBRIDGE.—Prof, Dewar commenced a short course on
Chemical Technology in its relation to Organic Chemistry on
April 23.
Mr. Sedgwick is lecturing on the Embryology of Mammals
and Birds, and Mr. Caldwell on the Morphology of Gephyrea,
Brachiopoda, Polyzoa, Choetognatha, and Larval Forms, prac-
tical work accompanying both courses,
Dr. Hans Gadow is lecturing on the Tegumentary and Mus-
cular Systems of the Vertebrata.
Prof. Darwin’s lectures on the Theory of the Potential will
include an account of Gauss’s treatment of those problems
generally associated with the name of Green.
The Demonstrator of Mechanism is giving a course of Me-
chanics applied to the strains in winding, pumping, and blast
engines, and in other machines. A practical class is being
formed for instruction in Surveying.
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON
Royal Society, April 12.—‘‘ Introductory Note on Com-
munications to be presented on the Physiology of the Carbo-
hycrates in the Animal System.” By F. W. Pavy, M.D.,
F.R.S.
My last communication (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xxxii. p. 418)
was entitled ‘* A New Line of Research bearing on the Physio-
logy of Sugar in the Animal System.”
During the time which has since elapsed, I have been actively
continuing my investigations in the direction started, and the
re-ults obtained give an entirely new aspect to the whole subject
of the physiology of the carbohydrates in the animal system.
Modern research has shown that, besides the well-known
carbohydrate principles, such as sugar, &c., there are several
dextrins distinguishable by their optical properties and their
cupric oxide reducing power,
From the colloidal principle starch, which has no cupric oxide
reducing power, principles (dextrins) are producible by the action
of ferments possessing gradually-increasing cupric oxide reducing
power until maltose is reached, which constitutes the final pro-
duct, and which possess a little more than half the cupric oxide
reducing power of glucose.
This is one foundation point connected with the researches I
have been conducting upon the physiology of the carbohydrates
in the animal system.
The other foundation point is that the various members of the
carbohydrate group are brought into glucose by the agency of
sulphuric acid and heat.
Proceeding upon these facts, and taking the cupric oxide
redacing power before and after subjection to the converting
action of sulphuric acid and heat, I have prosecuted investiga-
tions upon the transformation of the carbohydrates within the
animal system with the result of acquiring knowledge of an
altogether unexpected nature.
Hitherto what has been observed as regards the transforma-
tion of carbohydrates by the action of ferments and chemical
agents, has been a change attended with increased hydration—
for example, the passage of starch into the successive forms of
dextrin and maltose and cane-sugar into glucose.
The issue of the researches, however, which I have been con-
ducting recently, is to demonstrate the passage of carbohydrates
exactly in the opposite direction by the action of certain ferments
existing within the animal system.
Alike in the alimentary canal, the circulatory system, and the
April 26, 1883]
NATURE
619
liver, the conditions exist by which this kind of transformation
is effected.
From the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal a ferment |
is obtainable which converts (1) glucose into a body possessing
the same kind of cupric oxide reducing power as maltose ; (2)
cane-sugar into maltose, and not glucose as formerly asserted ;
and (3) starch either into maltose or a dextrin of low cupric
oxide reducing power.
The presence of carbonate of soda modifies the action of a
maltose-forming ferment, and leads to starch passing into a
dextrin of low cupric oxide reducing power instead of into
maltose,
The portal blood contains a ferment which possesses a
maltose or a dextrin-producing power, and the contents of
the portal system during digestion are charged with a notable
amount of maltose sometimes, and at other times a low cupric
oxide reducing dextrin.
After the introduction of glucose into the circulatory system,
I have observed the presence of maltose.
The liver also contains a ferment capable, under certain con-
ditions, of carrying glucose int» maltose, and I have further
witnessed, by the same kind of action as the sugars and dextrins
are moved from one to the other, the conversion of a carbo-
hydrate into the colloidal material belonging to the animal sys-
tem (glycogen) which holds the analogous position of starch in
the vegetable system.
Evidence has likewise been supplied that by an action of the
same nature as that which moves the carbohydrates from one to
the other in the carbohydrate group, they are, under certain con-
ditions, carried into a body out of the group, and thence not
susceptible of being brought into glucose by the converting
action of sulphuric acid ; and, on the other hand, under other
conditions a substance is brought into the carbohydrate group,
and its nature made recognisable by the converting action of
sulphuric acid and its cupric oxide reducing power.
The subject as it even now presents itself is a large one, and
I propose to deal with it in detail in a series of communica-
tions. The first will be devoted to that which refers to the
alimentary canal.
Linnean Society, April 5.—Sir John Kirk, vice-president,
in the chair.—Messrs. R. M. Barrington, G. E. Ccomerford-
Casey, F. V. Dickins, and E. Cambridge Phillips were elected
Fellows of the Society.—Mr. E. M. Holmes exhibited a speci-
men of birch-tree sap which had been found to exude from a cut
branch one inch in diameter, at the rate of 4 oz. per hour during the
night and 7 oz, to 8 oz. per hour during the day before the leaf
buds had expanded, showing that the rapid rise of the sap was
in this case not dependent on transpiration, but probably on
endosmose accelerated by the expansion of the wood caused by
solar heat. The sap had been collected and analysed by Dr.
Attfield, and its contents recorded in the Pharmaceutical
Fournal,—There was exhibited for Mr. R. Morton Middleton
a well-marked example of wood showing the extensive ravages
of the Isopod, Limnoria lignorum. ‘The wood was from the
pier piles of West Hartlepool, where the said Crustacean’s depre-
dations are very destructive.—The Secretary read a paper on the
indiarubber-tree of the Gold Coast, by Capt. Alf. Moloney. In
this the author stated that the Zandolphia owariensis grows
extensively in the countries of Akim, Aquapim, and Croboe ;
and he strongly recommended the natives and traders of Lagos
to encourage rubber as an article of trade instead of solely
depending as at present on palm oil. He described the habit
of the live plant, and the method employed in extracting the
rubber therefrom.—Mr. F. W. Phillips in a communication de-
scribed a new species of freshwater Infusorian allied to the genus
Gerda. It was proposed provisionally to name the new form
G. caudata. It was obtained at Hertford, and in compary with
the rotifer 2cistes pilula.—A paper was read on Hemicarex,
Benth., and its allies, by Mr. C. B. Clarke; in this-he gives a
revision of the genera and species of Kodresia, Hemicarex,
Schenoxiphium, and Uncinia.
Zoological Society, April 3.—St. George Mivart, F.R.S.,
vice-president, in the chair.—The Secretary read some extracts
from a letter he had received from Mr, J. Sarbo in reference to
the Gayal. The writer observed that Bos gaurus (the Gaur) and
not Bos frontalis (the Gayal) is the Wild Ox of Assam, and that
the &. /yontalis is not known in a wild state, but only as a semi-
domesticated animal owned by various wild tribes from Assam
to Arracan.—Mr. Sclater called the attention of the meeting to
the skin of a Brown Crow from Australia, which had been sent
to him for examination by Mr, Albert A. C. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S.,.
and which he was inclined to regard as a variety in plumage of
Corvus australis,—Mr. A. G. Butler read a paper containing an
account of a collection of Indian Lepidoptera made by Lieut. -
Col. Charles Swinhoe, chiefly at Kurrachee, Solun, and Mhow.
Thirty-two new species were described, and numerous field-notes.
by Col. Swinhoe. were incorporated in the paper.—Col. J. A.
Grant read some notes on the Zebra met with by the Speke and
Grant Expedition in the interior of Central Africa in 1860-63,
which certainly belonged either to the true Zebra (Zguus zebra)
or to its clo-ely allied northern form, the recently described
Equus grevyt.
Meteorological Society, April 18.—Mr. J. K. Laughton,
M.A.. F.R.A.S., president, in the chair.—T. G. Bowick, E.
C. Clifton, H. Culley, Dr. W. Doberck, A. N. Pearson, Prof.
H. Robinson, and J. E. Worth were elected Fellows of the
Society.—The following papers were read:—On cirrus and
cirro-cumulus, by the Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell, M.A., F.M.S.
The author points out that next to frequent readings of the
barometer and a knowledge of the distribution of atmospheric
pressure, observation of the character of clouds, especially of
cirrus, is of the greatest use in attempting to forecast coming
weather. Observation of cirrus can plainly be made use of in a
telegraphic system of weather forecasts as easily as observation
of the barometer, and the employment of a number of scattered
cirrus observers largely increases the probability of this form of
cloud being noted. The paper contains a description of twelve
different varieties of cirrus, with the weather they signify or at
least precede, as observed by the author during the last eighteen
years.—Some notes on waterspouts, their occurrence and form-
ation, by George Attwood, F.G.S. ‘This contains an account of
several waterspouts observed in the Pacific Ocean, and also one
seen in the Atlantic Ocean. The author believes that the water-
spouts in the Pacific Ocean were caused by a cloud heavily
charged with cooled moisture drifting from the high moun-
tains of Costa Rica coning into contact with air-currents
and clouds travelling in a different direction, and of a
warmer temperature ; by which contact the cloud heavily
charged with moisture was given a rotatory motion, causing
it to discharge part of its moisture and make it assume a cylin-
drical figure and fall down by its own gravity.—Records of
bright sunshine, by W. W. Rundell, F.M.S. This is a discus-~
sion of the sunshine records made in the United Kingdom during
the years 1881 and 1882, from which it appears that there is
more bright sunshine upon the coast than there is inland.—Note
on wind, cloudiness, and halos; also on results from a Redier’s
barograph, by E. T. Dowson, F.M.S.—On the cold weather of
March, 1883, by W. Marriott, F.M.S. The weather of this
month will long be remembered for its very cold, dry, and windy
character. The winter had been very mild, dull, and wet, and
continued so to the beginning of March. A sudden change took
place, however, on the 6th. A severe northerly gale set in on
that day, accompanied with snow showers and a keen biting
wind This gale was most violent in the North Sea, and caused
sad havoc among the fishing fleet on the east coast, no less than
382 men and boys being drowned. The temperature fell con-
siderably, the maximum being below 40° almost all over the
country, and in the North of England only a trifle above the
freezing point. The same conditions prevailed for the next two
or three days, the temperature however falling still lower, and
on the roth the minimum occurred in the central and northern
districts. ‘The most remarkable weather of the month took
place from the 21st to the 24th. Owing to a brisk fall of the
barometer over France an easterly gale was experienced over
this country, and as the temperature was low and the air very
dry the wind was exceedingly bitter and keen, and its effect upon
the human frame was most distressing.
SYDNEY
Linnean Society of New South Wales, February 28.—
C. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., president, in the chair.—The fol-
lowing papers were read :—On the coal flora of Australia, by the
Rev. J. E, Tenison-Woods, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. This was a
complete monograph of all the known fossil coal plants, in-
cluding the new species recently discovered by the author. A
diagnosis of each genus and species was given, together with a
history of the subject and its literature. The author also added
his own views with reference to the classification, in which he
regards some of the Newcastle beds as Pervian, some as Trias,
and the Ipswich beds (Queensland), the Victorian carbonaceous
“7
620
NATURE
[| April 26, 1883
4Bellerine, Cape Otway, Apollo Bay, Colac and the Wannon),
Tasmanian (Jerusalem), and the Hawkesbury sandstone as
Jurassic or Lower Oolite. He expresses a doubt whether the
Wianamatta beds can be regarded as a distinct formation, his
own opinion being that they are shales distributed at various
levels all through the Hawkesbury sandstone. The new species
of plants described are: Phyllotheca concinna, Equisetum roti-
ferum, Vertebraria tivoliensis, V. towarrensis, Sphenopteris
(Aneimoides) flabellifolia, S. (A.) f. var. erecta, Trichomantdes
laxum, T. spinifolium, Thinnfeldia media, T. australis, T. fal-
cata, Alethopteris currant, Teniopteris carruthersi, Gleichenza (?)
lineata, Feanpaulia bidens, Ptilophyllum oligonerum, Brachy-
phyllum crassum (which the author thinks may be a variety of
B. manidare), Sequoiites australis, Walchia milneana, Cun-
ninghamites australis. Besides these new species, the following
Indian or Euwopean fossils are new to Australia :—Podozamites
lanceolatus, Lindley and Hutton; Mertanopsis major, Feist ;
Angiopteridium ensis, Oldham, The monograph is meant to be
a complete reference for students on the subject of Australian
coal fossils, and is illustrated by six plates of heliographs and
two of lithographs.—Further contributions to the flora of
Queensland, by the Rey. B. Scortechini, F.L.S.—Descriptions
of two new fungi, by the Rev. Carl Kalchbrenner. The species
-described are Polyporus Pentskei and Paxillus hirtulus, both
from the Daintree River, Queensland.—Notes on the fructifica-
tion of the Bunya Bunya in Sydney, by the Hon. James Norton,
M.L.C.—Descriptions of some new fishes from Port Jackson, by
E, P. Ramsay, F.L.S.—The President read some notes on the
Tuena Gold Reefs, by M. F. Rate, mining engineer.
BERLIN
Physical Society, March 16.—Dr. Frilich exhibited a
torsion galvanometer prepared in Messrs. Siemens and Halske’s
establishment for measuring electricity mechanically, in which
the deflection of the magnetic needle is indicated by the corre-
sponding torsion of a spring whose constant expansion power is
known. The torsion galvanometer was at first constructed for
measuring the current of the large dynamoelectrie machine
fitted up in Ocker for copper electroplating, and which at least
resistance possesses a power of 800 amperes. Here it was im-
possible to employ either a dynamometer, owing to the irregu-
larity of the mercurial contact, or a tangent compass, which has
to be directly inserted in the main cireuit. Hence measurement
could be effected only by lateral closing, and as Dr. Frolich fully
explained, the determination of the potential at any required
number of points in the circuit, as rendered possible by the new
apparatus, gives the data for ascertaining the electromotor
strength, the resistance, and the power of the current. He
described in great detail the construction and adjustment of the
new appliance, in which, after insertion of determined resist-
ances in the lateral circuit, the number of volts can be read off,
and from these the amperes and ohms determined in the simplest
manner. ‘The torsion galvanometer is prepared in two forms,
vertical with a magnet suspended to a cocoa fibre, and horizontal
with a magnet resting on an edge. The latter form is intended
especially for cases in which the apparatus undergoes no delicate
manipulation.—Prof. Neesen briefly mentioned modifications
which he has introduced both in the heat regulator used by him
and in his ice calorimeter, illustrating them with diagrams, He
has found them work well in practice.
PARIS
Academy of Sciences, April 16.—M. Blanchard in the
chair.—M. Jordan read a note on the works of the late Prof. H.
Smith, and M. kertrand added some remarks on the award of
the mathematical prize.—Two new methods for determination of
the right ascension of polar stars, and of the inclination of the
axis of a meridian above the equator, by M. Loewy.—Memoir
on the temperature at the surface of the ground and of the earth
to 36m. depth, as also of the temperature of two pieces of
ground, one bare, the other covered with turf, during 1882, by
MM. Becquerel. This confirms previous results.—Graphic
demonstration of a theorem of Euler concerning the partition of
numbers, by Prof. Sylvester.—On the project of the interior
African Sea, by M. de Lesseps. After a visit to the region, he
affirms (with several associates) the urgency and fea-ibility of the
scheme.—M. Wolf was elected Member in the Section of Astro-
nomy in place of the late M. Liouville.—On the evolution of
malignant pustule in man and its treatment with iodised injec-
tions, by M. Richet. So long as general infection has not com-
menced, by bacteria or their spores entering the blood, active
5
local treatment with tincture of iodine is efficacious. —Experiments
on caustic anzesthesia, and observation of a case of ulcerated
tumour of the breast operated with the aid of this method, by
M. Guerin. A space was cauterised round the tumour with
Vienna caustic and incised throughout; then the tumour was
detached.—Mechanical action produced by magnets and by ter-
restrial magnetism (second memoir), by M. Le Cordier. —Calculus
of a double integral, by M. Callandreau.—Observations of the
Swift-Brooks comet at Lyons Observatory, by M. Gonessiat.—
Law of periods (continued), by M. de Jonquiéres.—On the
groups of transformations of linear differential equations, by M.
Picard. —On functions with lacunar spaces, by M. Poincaré.—
Ona generalisation of the theorem of Fermat, by M. Picquet.—On
the heat of combination of glycolates and the law of thermal
constants of substitution, by M. Tommasi.—On the liquefaction
of oxygen and nitrogen, and on the solidification of sulphide of
carbon and alcohol, by MM. Wroblewski and Olszewski. By
making ethylene boil in vacuo, they obtained temperatures as
low as —136°C. Liquid oxygen was obtained easily; it is
colourless and transparent like carbonic acid; is very mobile
and forms a very distinct meniscus. Sulphide of carbon freezes
about —116° C, Alcohol solidifies (after being viscous about
— 129°) about —130°°5, forming a white body. Liquid nitrogen
(colourless, and with visible meniscus) was obtained later.—Re-
searches on phosphates, by MM. Hautefeuille and Margottet.—
On artificial Hausmannite, by M. Gorgeu.—On the chloride of
pyrosulphuryl, by M. Konovaloff.—On the difference of reac-
tional aptitude, &c. (continued), by M. Henry.—Researches on
the essence of Angelica of roots (Amgelica officinalis), by M.
Maudin.—Some effects of climate on the rapidity of growth of
plants, by M. Capus. His measurements of various trees and
sbrubs in the botanical garden of Samarcand show the remark-
able rapidity of growth there in April, May, and June.—Orien-
tation of leaves with reference to light, by M. Mer. Certain
parts of leaves (the border generally) receive the Juminous im-
pression, while other parts (petioles, motor-enlargements) perform
the movements neces-ary to place the former ina favourable
position.—Contribution to the experimental study of the elonga-
tion of nerves, by M. Minor. He supports the view that this
stretching isa purely local operation, a’sort of incomplete section
of a nerve.-—Experimental studies on the physiological action of
iodoform, by M. Rummo.—New experimental researches on the
physiological action of veratrine, by MM. Pecholier and Redier.
—The synthesis of the heavens and the earth, by M. Moigno.
He deduces all from ether, first forming hydrogen. Universal
gravitation is the direct effect of impulsions of ether.—A frontal
electric photophore, for medical use, was described by MM.
Helot and Trouvé. It is an incandescent lamp, supplied
from a bichromate battery, and fitted with a reflector and con-
vergent lens. It is attached to the forehead.
CONTENTS PacE
ScrentTiric Worruis, XXI.—WiLi1aAmM~ Sporriswoove (W7th
Steel PlatesEmpyaving)) i ssraisy sei. © tuawiicns 6
““A MANUAL OF THE INFusoRIA.”” By Prof. E. Ray LANKESTER,
BERES. Oe ears a vat ne ohne tel Nel ee (ene cline at an ER
Our Book SHELF:—
Griffith and Henfrey’s ‘‘ Micrographic Dictionary” . . . - « 603
LETTERS TO THE LE DITOR:—
Speke and Grant’s Zebra.—Sir J. Favrer, K.C.S.1, F.R.S. . . 604
Leaves and their Environment.—GraNT ALLEN... . .« 604
Forms of Leaves.—Sir Joun Lupnock, Bart, M.-P. . . . + . 605
TheiKGbn:—A IRVING: V-)Je beluicu: sal) oie seus foe BOSE OOS
The Zodiacal Light (?)—W. H. Ropinson; Ropert Dwarris
Grisney; E. Brown; D. J. Rowan . mca A a eet Goe
On the Value of the “ Neoarctic ” as one of the Primary Zoological
Regions.—Prof. ANGELO HEILPRIN . . . . -.- + + « = 606
Mock Moons.—F T. Morr. Seuss te: &, fo wee Teen)
Benevolence in Animals —GrorGe J. RoMANES, F.R.S. . . . 607
“‘Medioscribed Circle ’’—R. T shiich Osh es ° : 607
AGRICULTURE IN MapRaS. fh, KV ey ia) fo ae» Ya gw 8 al ee we ORL 7
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NoTES IN THE SOLOMON IsLAnDs. By Surgeon-
Major H. B. Guppy (With Lilustration) « +e ae cs) ede eT,
On a Fine Specimen oF APATITE FROM TYROL, LATELY IN THE
Possession oF Mr. Sam! EL HENSON (With /ilustration) . . . 608
Tue EvoLuTion OF THE AMERICAN TrOTTING-HorsE. By Wo. H.
BREWER . . ; SIRS aC OC ae tints cud. OS
INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS - is ie sa anOnT
Coroners’ SCIENCE IN CuHtna. By Roperr K. DouGras . . . «. 612
ZooLOGYANETABAND pose iel mets. us) cece wien sce ie gi- a= MeO
NoTEs\:, “oo a phen ee) Lite on ter el ee ta carte to cite reer TELOX
Our AsTRONOMICAL CoLtuUMN:—
Schmidt’s Variable Star near Spica» «© «© + «© © © «© © «= « 617
D?Axrest?s;Gamets ca), susctre alse age eee. ist ag Oe sy iat EON
On THE SENSK OF COLOUR AMONGST SOME OF THE LoWER ANIMALS.
By Sir Joun Luspock, Bart., M.P. . . - - © © © © © + @ 6138
UnaiversiTy aND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE . » - 6 + + + + 618
Sociztrgs AND ACADEMIES . . . - s+ + + + + + © © + = 618
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