will be made on the afternoon of Saturday, September 3, and on Thursday, September 8.

THE honorary degree of LL.D. has been conferred on the following gentlemen by the University of Glasgow:-F. M. Balfour, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Dr. Angus Smith, F.R.S., Government Inspector of Alkali Works; Prof. Richard Owen, C.B., F.R.S., Superintendent of Natural History Collections of the British Museum; Andrew Buchanan, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Physiology in the University of Glasgow.

THE honorary degree of LL.D. has been conferred by the University of Edinburgh on Prof. A. W. Williamson, of University College, London.

It is intended to celebrate in Edinburgh the centenary of the birthday of Sir David Brewster, on December 9, by a public dinner.

THE annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will be held in London on May 4, 5, and 6. On May 4 the Bessemer Medal for 1881 will be presented to Mr. William Menelaus, and the president-elect (Mr. Josiah T. Smith) will deliver his inaugural address. The following is the list of papers to be read :On the Results of Experiments relative to Corrosion in Iron and Steel, by Mr. William Parker of Lloyd's Registry, London; On the Manufacture of Armour Plates, by Mr. Alexander Wilson, Sheffield; On the Manufacture of Steel and Steel Plates in Russia, by Mr. Sergius Kern, St. Petersburg; On the Use of Steel for Shipbuilding, by Mr. William Denny, Dumbarton; On some Physical Properties of Cast Iron, by Mr. Charles Markham, Staveley; On the Desulphurisation of Iron, by M. Rollet, St. Chamond, France; On Iron and Steel Permanent Way, by Mr. R. Price Williams, London; On Hydraulic Appliances for the Bessemer Process, by Mr. Michael Scott, London; On the Manufacture of Bessemer Steel and Steel Rails in America, by Capt. Jones, Edgar Thomson Steel Works, Pittsburg, U.S.A.; On Hydrogen and Carbonic Oxide in Iron and Steel, by Mr. John Parry, Ebbw Vale; On the Preservation of Iron and Steel Surfaces, by Mr. George Bower, St. Neots; On a new method for the determination of Oxygen in Iron and Steel, by Mr. Alex. E. Tucker, Rhymney.

DURING the Summer Term of the City and Guilds of London Institute, commencing May 2, 1881, Prof. Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S., and Prof. Ayrton, A. M., Inst. C. E., will continue their tutorial and laboratory courses of instruction in chemistry and physics as applied to the arts and manufactures, at the Cowper Street Schools, pending the present erection of the City and Guilds of London Technical College, Finsbury, the foundation stone of which will be laid by Prince Leopold on May IO. There are both day and evening classes at the institute, with means for ample laboratory practice, at fees which place the education within reach of all classes. We would specially draw attention to the fact that these classes and the laboratory practice are open, at an almost nominal fee, to female as well as to male students. For every hour of lecture there are two hours laboratory work included in this nominal fee. The day classes would be of service to girls who have not the means to obtain a Girton or a Newnham education, while the evening classes will be of great use to those women who take more than a mechanical interest in their daily work; for from the course of instruction and their own work in the laboratory they will gain such a thorough knowledge of principles as should distinguish a skilled workwoman from a mere machine.

THE Annual Report for the past year of the Jamaica Public Gardens, by Mr. D. Morris, the new director, is one of great interest. As the year has been the first under the new organisation, the chief work has naturally been of a departmental character, but

from the details given, it is evident that important advances have been made in developing several industries which must have an important influence for good on the future of the island. From the variation in altitude of the different gardens under Mr. Morris's charge excellent opportunities are afforded for experimenting on various kinds of cultivation, and these he is evidently prepared to take full advantage of. Among the various cultures, concerning which interesting information is contained in the Report, are Cinchona, Liberian Coffee, Sugar Canes, Teak and Mahogany, Pine-Apples, Jalap, Cacao, Tobacco, India-Rubber, various spices, Oranges, Banana Fibre, &c. The best results may be looked for from Mr. Morris's vigorous and intelligent directorship.

We have also a very satisfactory Report of work for the year ending March 31, 1880, from Mr. Duthie, superintendent of the Government Botanical Gardens at Saharanpor and Mussooree. As in Jamaica, experiments, some of them very successful, have been carried on in the rearing of various useful plants, including vegetable and medicinal plants. Much difficulty has been experienced by Mr. Duthie in training Mallies for work in the gardens, and he has some trials before him ere he is able to turn out a staff of properly-trained natives.

MR. M. G. MULHALL sends us the following curious note, which we give without comment :-"Although Shakespeare is supposed to have taken the idea of Hamlet from the Danish historian Saxo-Grammaticus, there are such points of resemblance with the Arabic chronicle of Nigiaristan, respecting Montasser, tenth Caliph of Bagdad, that I venture to call your attention to the same. The points of analogy are as follows: 1. That Montasser is murdered by putting poison in his ear. ghost scene, in which his father appears to him. playing of tapestry before the Caliph and his court, in which the tapestry represents a tragedy identical with the late Caliph's murder."

2. The 3. The dis

THE Daily News New York correspondent telegraphs that the aldermen have passed, over the mayor's veto, the ordinance giving the Edison Electric Lighting Company permission to lay tubes in the streets. "The company will proceed immediately to introduce its new electric lamps in the offices in the business portion of the city around Wall Street. The construction of the lamp is simple. It consists of a small bulbous glass globe, four inches long, an inch and a half in diameter, with a carbon loop which becomes incandescent when the electric current passes through. Each lamp is of sixteen candle-power, with no perceptible variation in intensity. The light is turned on or off with a thumbscrew. Wires have already been put into forty buildings. The company will compete with the gas companies by charging the same rates. If the latter reduce, the Edison Company will also reduce, and are prepared to go lower than the gas companies can."

AT five o'clock on Saturday morning a strong shock of earthquake was felt at Paola in the province of Calabria. On the night of April 19 there was another severe shock of earthquake

at Chios.

A NEW illustrated work on the Butterflies of Europe is, we understand, in active preparation by Dr. Lang, F.L.S. Its publication, in monthly parts, will be commenced very shortly by Messrs. Lovell, Reeve, and Co.

MRS. BURTON, the wife of the well-known Capt. R. Burton, our Consul at Trieste, is evidently doing a good work in that city in teaching the people kindness to animals. The lesson is evidently much needed, and judging from Mrs. Burton's speech at her last fête and distribution of prizes, her efforts are meeting with decided success. Of course all this costs money; possibly some of our readers may be inclined to help by sending a con

tribution to Mrs. Richard Burton, British Consulate, Trieste, Austria.

OWING to the outcry caused by the sale to a private person of the Katoomba Falls, in the Blue Mountains, the New South Wales Government, according to the Colonies and India, has set apart for public use large tracts of land round Dangar's Falls, near Armidale, the Great Falls in the same district, and Moona Falls, near Walcha, in imitation of the reserves or national parks

in the United States of America.

A REMARKABLE frost is said to have occurred in Guatemala on February 10, doing great damage to the tropical vegetation.

IN the review of Messrs. Fison and Howitt's "Kamilaroi and Kurnai" that appeared last week, we should have mentioned that the book is published in England by Messrs. Macmillan and Co.

FROM Glasgow we have received two satisfactory Reports that of the Industrial Museum, presided over by Mr. James Paton, and that of the Mitchell Library, under Mr. F. T. Barrett.

TWO HUNDRED AND TEN school teachers nominated on purpose by the 30,000 public teachers of elementary schools in France, and travelling at the expense of the Government, were summoned to Paris in order to hold a Pedagogic Congress, which came to a close on the 24th. At the same time the Ligue de l'Enseignement, founded by M. Jean Macé, held a series of meetings at the Trocadéro. The concluding sitting, which took place last Thursday, was attended by all the school teachers and an immense number of political leaders. M. Gambetta delivered a speech praising the advantages of education, commending school teachers as a body, and advocating the importance of interesting ladies in the general diffusion of knowledge.

MESSRS. MARSHALL JAPP, AND CO., have published a useful little Half-Holiday Handbook of Geological Rambles around London, which will be found to add much interest to a Saturday afternoon walk into the country.

MR. H. L. JANSSEN VAN RAAY writes to us from Batavia, March 21, that in the enumeration of the different geographical societies of the world in NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 299, the Geographical Society at Samarang (Java), founded in 1879, was omitted.

FIDELIS BUTSCH SOHN of Augsburg has issued a priced catalogue of the extensive library of the late Prof. W. P. Schimper of Strassburg.

THE new number of the Proceedings of the Bristol Natural History Society contains some good papers :-Some Optical Illusions, by Prof. S. P. Thompson; Underground Temperature, by Mr. E. Wethered; The Structure and Life-History of a Sponge, by Mr. W. G. Sollas; On some Cases of Prolification in Cyclamen Persicum, by Mr. A. Leipner; The Ethnology of the Paropamisus, by Dr. J. Beddoe, F. R.S.; Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the Bristol District, by Mr. A. E. Hudd, and of the Fungi, by Mr. C. Bucknall; The Pomarine Skua, by M. H. Charbonnier.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include three Short-tailed Wallabys (Halmaturus brachyurus) from West Australia, presented by Sir Harry St. George Ord, C.B., H.M.Z.S.; three Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis) from Jersey, presented by Mr. E. H. Bland; a Rufous Rat Kangaroo (Hypsiprymnus rufescens) from Australia, presented by Mr. A. W. Wyatt; a Lion (Felis leo?) from Africa, deposited; three Entellus Monkeys (Semnopithecus entellus ¿ ¿9) from India, purchased; a Lion (Felis leo?) from Africa, a Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris), British, received in exchange; a Collared Fruit Bat (Cynonycteris collaris), a Vulpine Phalanger (Phalangista vulpina), born in the Gardens.

CHEMICAL NOTES

IN Journal pract. Chemie, Herr Cech, in the course of a paper on the decompositions which occur during the rotting of eggs, describes experiments which he thinks establish the possi bility of obtaining a good soap free from smell, by saponifying with soda the residue obtained by evaporating to dryness rotten eggs, freed from their shells. Such a dried residue yields about 10'5 per cent. of oil, fresh eggs giving about 11 per cent.

THE changes undergone by grain when stored in underground magazines have been recently studied by M. Müntz (Compt. rend.). The magazines of the Paris Omnibus Company are partly underground; the grain in the upper parts is, however, exposed to the influence of atmospheric changes; it is found to contain much more moisture and to be at a higher temperature than that in the lower parts. The relative amounts of deterioration in grains may be measured by the quantities of carbonic anhydride exhaled. When grain is freely exposed to air about grain is kept in closed receptacles; less oxygen is absorbed than ten times as much carbonic anhydride is given off as when the corresponds with this evolution of carbon dioxide. Normal grain contains from 11 to 19 per cent. of moisture: the greater the moisture the greater the exhalation of carbon dioxide. The amount of the gas evolved also increases with increase of temperature until a point is reached at which true chemical combustion of the carbon begins, as distinguished from the physiological combustion which has preceded it. Grain which is to be kept for any time ought to be very dry, the receptacle containing it ought to be completely closed, and all parts of this receptacle ought to be at approximately the same temperature. MR. V. LEWES, in the same journal, describes barium pentathionate, BaSО6. 3H,O, and several potassium pentathionates, prepared by slow evaporation in a vacuum of "Wackenroder's solution." These experiments appear to establish beyond doubt the existence of pentathionic acid.

DRS. DUPRÉ AND HAKE have applied their method for the estimation of carbon (Chem. Soc. Journ.)-viz, burning in oxygen, absorbing carbonic anhydride in baryta water, converting the barium carbonate into sulphate, and weighing as such-to the estimation of carbon in air; their experiments apparently demonstrate the presence in London air of carbon in forms other than carbonic anhydride, and probably in the form of some volatile organic compounds, not as suspended matter. Drs. Dupré and Hake claim that their method of analysis enables them to estimate carbonic anhydride, carbon in the peculiar forms already noticed, and suspended carbonaceous matter in air.

IN the same journal there is a contribution to the history of ozone by Prof. Hartley of Dublin. The main conclusions drawn from experimental data are these: Ozone is a normal constituent of the higher atmosphere, and is present therein in larger prɔportion than near the surface of the earth. The limitation of

It is

the solar spectrum in the ultra-violet is readily accounted for by the absorptive action of atmospheric ozone, without taking into account the possible absorptive power of nitrogen and oxygen. The blue tint of the atmosphere is probably due to ozone. shown in the paper that the wave-length of the extreme ray capable of absorption by considerable quantities of ozone is about 316. A quantity of 2.5 mgm. of ozone in each square centimetre of sectional area of a column of air produces, it is said, a full sky-blue tint. Incidentally experiments are described in which one volume of ozone was distinctly detected by the sense of smell in 2,500,000 volumes of air.

MR. G. S. JOHNSON has obtained ammonia (Chem. Soc. Journal) by passing hydrogen and (presumably) pure nitrogen over cold or moderately heated spongy platinum: when however the mixed gases were passed over hot asbestos before traversing thinks that nitrogen probably exists in two forms, an active and the spongy platinum, no ammonia was formed. Mr. Johnson an inactive form, the latter being produced by the action of heat on the former.

DR. DUPRÉ has introduced (Analyst) a slight modification into the ordinary method for observing a colour change in titrating with standard solutions, which is said to render the perception of the change very sharp and accurate. He views of the same colour as, and about equal in intensity to, the liquid the liquid to be titrated through a glass cell containing a solution

itself.

M. LONGUININE has recently determined (in Compt. rend.) the heats of combustion of various alcohols of the allyl series, and compared the numbers with those expressing the heats of combustion of metameric aldehydes. He finds very marked differences between the two series of numbers, showing once more a distinct connection between the energy lost by a carbon compound in passing from one state to another standard state, and the structure of the molecule of that compound.

M. BERTHELOT, in continuation of his researches on compounds of metallic halogen salts with haloid acids, describes in Compt. rend. the action of gaseous hydrochloric and hydrobromic acids on alkali chlorides and bromides; he shows that the gaseous acids are absorbed by the dry salts with disengagement of heat, and that the products of the actions are possessed of properties which distinguish them from mere mixtures.

M. BERTHELOT also considers the reciprocal actions between alkali haloid salts and haloid acids; he shows that as a rule alkali chlorides are decomposed by hydrobromic acid, but that in some cases and under special conditions of temperature, bromides are decomposed by hydrochloric acid. The general results are shown to be in keeping with the laws of thermochemistry. That action in which most heat is evolved occurs, but the products of the action may be unstable under experimental conditions, and hence the primary change may be modified,

or even reversed.

M. MUNTZ states that his investigations have shown that traces of alcohol exist in all natural waters, whether rain, river, sea, or snow water. He de cribes his method of applying the iodoform test for alcohol, whereby one part can be detected in 1,000,000 parts of water.

PHYSICAL NOTES

M. LAURENT of Paris has constructed "magic mirrors" giving similar effects to those brought from Japan, but of glass silvered at the back instead of metal. By engraving patterns at the back and silvering the front surface, the mirror has a perfectly plane surface only when the air-pressures at the front and back are equal. If the air behind be compres-ed or rarefied the thinner parts will have relatively a greater convexity or concavity than the rest, and in the disk of light which the mirror reflects on to a wall from a luminous point the pattern engraved on the back will accordingly appear dark or light.

FROM experiments on the radiation and conduction of heat in rarefied gases (Wied. Ann., No. 13) Herr Graetz finds the results in much better agreement with Stefan's law of radiation than with that of Dulong and Petit, and "it may be affirmed that in the temperature-interval from o° to 250° C. the radiation is very nearly proportional to the fourth power of the temperature." The factor of proportionality (in Stefan's formula Q = 74) is

σ

σ

then that amount of heat which is radiated from one square centimetre of a substance of - 272° C. in a second towards a space of the absolute temperature o° (− 273°). By the method of least squares Herr Graetz finds

☛ for glass =10846-12 gramme centigrade

centim, seconds

Certain divergences at low temperatures suggest that while the intensity of radiation grows with rising temperature, it perhaps grows differently for different heat colours.

IN a recent communication to the Munich Academy, Herren Nies and Winkelmann de-cribe an inquiry into the volumechanges of various metals in solidifying. Of eight metals examined, six (viz. tin, zine, bismuth, antimony, iron, and copper) were proved to undergo expansion in passing from the liquid to the solid state. For three of the metals approximate values for the amount of this expansion were obtained (tin showed an expansion of 0'7 per cent., zinc 0'2, and bismuth 3). Two metals (lead and cadmium) gave doubtful results; but the authors find some reason to believe that they also expand in solidifying. So far then the rule would appear to be general for metals.

M. TRÈVE describes in the Comptes rendus some curious observations from which it would appear that when light is admitted from a natural or artificial source through a slit, more light passes if the slit be horizontal than if it be vertical. M. Trove has produced photographs taken behind slits in various positions to prove that the effect is not an illusion of the

eye. The phenomenon appears to us inexplicable, but certainly requires further proof to substantiate its reality.

mena.

M. MERCADIER still continues to study radiophonic pheno He finds it possible to increase the effects by uniting in one tube the vibrations of several receiving disks. He also finds it possible to construct tubes whose length corresponds to the wave-length of the vibrations radiophonically excited, and which respond to the note emitted. M. Mercadier hopes by these means to re-determine with increased accuracy the velocity of sound in air and other gases.

WITH regard to the beats and beat-tones of harmonic intervals Dr. Koenig argues (Wied. Ann. No. 3) against Prof. Helmholtz's sounding with the higher (Dr. Koenig, in his former experiments, view, that these are due to harmonic tones of the lower primary having used strongly-excited tuning-forks). He shows how the phenomena may be studied with the aid of a "wave-syren," in which a blast of air is sent through a slit against the serrated border of a rotating disk, or of a ring-section of a thin cylinder. He has the border of the disk cut to represent accurately the curve produced by combination of the curves of two simple tones, giving an air motion, when blown against, quite like that from the two tones sounded together. The beats and beat-tones are then heard. With a mere wavy outline for the border and the slit at right angles one hears a quite simple tone, which however is at once changed to a clang" with strong overtones, when the slit is slanted a little. Now, with two simple tones got thus the beat-tone heard when the slits are at right angles should (on Helmholtz's supposition) be less distinct than when, the slits being slanted, the overtones are brought out; whereas the reverse is the case.

66

DR. KOENIG, in the same number, describes a simple lectureapparatus for producing beat-tones. It consists of two glass rods of different length, clamped in vertical position by the middle to a jointed frame, which, through an elastic contrivance, keeps their lower ends pressed against the cloth-covered periphery of a wheel which dips in water in a trough. The friction calls forth the longitudinal tones and the beat-tone.

AN improved form of the Töpler air-pump has been devised by Herr Bessel-Hagen (Wied. Ann. No. 3), with which considerably higher vacua can be reached than those Mr. Crookes obtains with the more complicated and fragile Sprengel-Gimingham apparatus. The average limit of rarefaction was found to be millionths of an atmosphere ( in one case), while the other pump only gives millionth. (It is noted that Prof. Ogden Rocd has obtained, and in one case even with a modified Sprengel.) With his highest vacua the author found electricity to pass (using plate-electrodes and a strong Holtz machine, with Leyden jars). He considers mercury-vapour an insulator for electricity; but shows that radiometric movements No diffusion of depend greatly on its pressure in vacuo. hydrogen through the glass could be detected.

AN artificially formed body showing polar effects in the way of attraction and direction is produced by Herr Holtz (Wied. Ann., No. 3) thus: To one end of a short glass rod is cemented a plane piece of glass, and to this a short narrow glass tube (in a line with the rod). In the tube is placed a sewing-needle longer than it, and carrying at its head a thin pasteboard disk (22 mm, across), which has attached on one half of its periphery, reaching over both above and below, a pasteboard strip (10 mm. broad); opposite this, on one of the surfaces, is fastened a small projecting point of tin-foil. Brought between hollow disks fixed to the rods of a Holtz machine, the tin-foil point always turned to the positive pole. Next, the glass rod with its disk was attached to the end of a light horizontal glass tube, hung bifilarly, and so brought between the hollow disks. The disk first turned into position, and was then attracted towards the negative pole. The phenomena are thought to illustrate unipolar conductivity.

THE simple tourmaline-pincette, by reason of its small field, can be used with only a small number of crystals. To enlarge the field M. Bertin has applied to it a part of the lenses of the polarising microscope. This, it is known, consists, first, of a polariser and focus; second, of a microscope and analyser. The polariser and analyser, at the extremities, are pretty large pieces, and if replaced by two tourmalines placed between the focus and the microscope (of simplified form) the apparatus is rendered much smaller and handier. This is the principle of M. Bertin's new tourmaline-pincette (of which details will be found in the

its wishes and inducing the nurse to comply with them cannot be definitely looked at as a case of self-consciousness, but only of consciousness. This is one of the most intricate questions to decide when the child distinguishes its own body, head, hands, &c., from other objects, as belonging to himself. The first time a child says "I" and "me," in the correct sense, it may be considered to have passed the limit. The formation of ideas by associating impressions, as well as the formation of general ideas (Begriffe) by uniting similar qualities of different objects, is intellectual work done by the child long before it knows anything of its own individuality. It seems to me that self-consciousness does not arise suddenly, but by degrees, after many experiments have shown the difference between touching his own body and external objects with his little hand.

I have been occupied with psychogenetical problems since nearly four years, continually collecting facts. Should you be able to awaken some interest for these most important investigations (I mean the physiology and psychology of infants), I think the trouble taken would soon be repaid by the results.

7.

8.

9.

*029

*040

*040

*025

...

...

...

...

(A)

Minimum years in seventh line.

London-St. Petersburg

Pressure.

(1816-79).

(1822-71).

+34'2 +16.8

+ ΟΙΟ

+ '036

- 37 I

+ '048

- 14'2

+ '041

...

+30°9

+44·8

TWEEN LONDON AND ST. PETERSBURG IN THE SUN-SPOT CYCLE

BEFORE alluding to the subject which forms the heading of the present communication, I must apologise for having allowed some rather serious errors to creep into the figures given for the barometric abnormals of London in my letter to NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 243. The errors were caused by a friendly computer taking the differences from the mean for each year incorrectly in one or two cases.

I am glad to say however with respect to the relation between the barometric abnormals as there given and the sun-spot numbers, that far from its being vitiated by the corrections which have now been made, they on the contrary considerably strengthen it, as is evident when the following corrected values for the mean cycles are compared with those given in my former letter:

6

years of mean gde

Barometer Scale

+.040

min

+0.050

+.010

Baric

-.030

Baric gradient

+30

-.030

Sunspot

gradient

baric gradient oscillation of single period, closely following the inverse sun-spot oscillation.