Sale by Auction.

IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF LEPIDOPTERA. TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 AND 17, AT ONE O'CLOCK.

MR. J. C. STEVENS will Offer at his Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden. London, W.C., the second portion of the unrivalled COLLECTION OF BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA formed by the late PHILIP B. MASON, M. R.C.S., F.C.S.. F.Z S., F.E S., &c.. of Trent House, Burton-on-Trent, comprising long and superb series of most of the rare and extinct species, fine varieties and local forms in the best state of preservation, also many valuable and historic specimens and types from the Haworth and other Collections, together with the first rate Standish and other Cabinets in which they are arranged.

On View the Monday prior and Mornings of Sale. Catalogues ready a week prior to Sale, post free on application.

LIQUID AIR AND LIQUID HYDROGEN.

Dr. HAMPSON'S AIR-LIQUEFIER is now made to a standard pattern, and numbers are in use in University Laboratories and elsewhere in various countries. The whole apparatus is neat and compact and its parts very easily moved; the Liquefier, without stand, being a cylinder 17 inches high and 8 inches in diameter.

It begins to liquefy air in from 6 to 10 minutes after the admission of air at from 150 to 200 atmospheres pressure, making over a litre of liquid per hour.

It requires no auxiliary refrigerant and produces a perfectly clear liquid which requires no filtering.

The operator has only one gauge to watch and one valve to control. HYDROGEN LIQUEFIER to the designs of Dr. MORRIS W. TRAVERS for use in conjunction with Air-Liquefier.

For Prices and Particulars apply to the Sole Makers :BRIN'S OXYGEN COMPANY, LIMITED, ELVERTON STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W.

II.

4

III.

7-6 volt Accumulators in teak cases, 9 amps.

1/12"

"oil immersion, N.A., 1.30

£8 8 0 10 10 0 8 0

0 0 00 5 0

VII. Carpenter's Bench and Tools.

The whole can be seen by appointment at Ordnance House, Enfield Lock, Middlesex, or particulars may be obtained from Mr. HICKS, Mathematical Instrument Maker, 8 Hatton Garden, London.

£2

5 0

"N.A.. 0.80

5

NATURE says: "In the excellence of their 1/12-in. homogeneous oil immersion, they have produced an English-made lens of first-rate capacity which is a marvel of cheapness.'

LISTS POST FREE ON APPLICATION.
UNIVERSITY OPTICAL WORKS,

81 Tottenham Court Road, London.

IF YOU WANT TO OBTAIN COPIES

Circulars, Price Lists, Plans, Diagrams, Specifications, Music, &c.,

"HECTO SHEET"

The Simplest and Cheapest Duplicating

PRICES COMPLETE No. 1. 12 by 6" 9/2 12/3 19/6

Including a roll of "Hecto Sheet," 6' 6" long, and bottle of ink.

Each roll can be used two

or three times.

You merely place

the original, when

dry, on the sheet,

and take the copies.

NO INKING.

Invention.

NO WASHING. NO MELTING. Write for Specimens, &c., or call and see this useful AUTOCOPYIST CO. (Dept. 1), 64 Queen Victoria St., London, E.C.

PHOSPHORESCENT POWDERS

to Phosphoresce by Day

or Ultra-Violet Light.

In neat Ebonite and Brass Boxes with

SCREEN PICHBLENDE

(PATENT).

Shows a magnificent display of scintillations, showers of sparks, direct from the mineral Pitchblende, Radium, Polonium, Uranium, Thorium, or any radio-active substance, even a Welsbach mantle contains sufficient Thorium to excite the very sensitive screen of the Scintilloscope, which is far more sensitive than the Spinthariscope. The Scintilloscope rivals the most delicate Electroscope as a detector of Alpha rays.

The eye sees an inexhaustible shower of stars of white light, giving a very realistic idea of the ceaseless activity of these marvellous substances which are producing the terrific bombardment causing this beautiful display. See NATURE, September 29, page 535Glew's Scintilloscope Superior Lens, with Extra-sensitive Pitchblende and Polonium Screens, giving brilliant effects, Complete, 7s. 6d., Post free, U.K. Foreign Postage extra, weight 2 ounces.

Pieces of Pitchblende mineral, ground flat and polished, with Sensitive Screen attached, for use in Scintilloscope or with any strong pocket magnifier, from 78. 6d. each, according to size.

Radio active supplies of every description, on Sale or Hire. Radium Bromide, 1,800,000 units on hire for lectures.

F. HARRISON GLEW, Radiographer (Silver Medallist, Paris, 1900), 156 Clapham Road, London, S. W.

THE SYTAM SYSTEM

Saves an incredible amount of wall space and completely utilises dark corners, recesses, and out-of-the-way places.

Prevents crowding and confusion.

Allows for extension as and when required. Always room for more, hence reorganisation seldom or never necessary.

Saves time, lightens work, and increases comfort by producing perfect order in the Laboratory, Library, Study, Home, Office, &c.

SOME SYTAM FITTINGS. 1. THE BOTTLE ELEMENT.

One hundred 4 oz bottles are arranged in one Sytam Bottle Element occupying less than

LTD.,

ENTOMOLOGICAL APPARATUS AND CABINETS.

MAMMAL SKINS. BIRD SKINS. BIRDS' EGGS in clutches with full data.

BOOKS ON ALL NATURAL HISTORY SUBJECTS.

Catalogues Post Free.

THE JUNGLE, 166 PICCADILLY, LONDON,

WANITAP

LARGE
INDUCTION
COILS FOR
RESEARCH
WORK
a Speciality.

Also MANUFACTURERS of X-RAY and HIGH-FREQUENCY APPARATUS of various patterns. LIGHT BATHS of all kinds, Cabinet, Reclining, Portable Baths, with' three-colour arrangements, with Incandescent and Arc Lamps, &c., with Arc-Light Projector for simultaneous local treatment. (Combined Patent.)

NEW PATENT SHENTON-SANITAS X-RAY COMBINATION OPERATING TABLE.

"TRIPLET" and "DERMO" LAMPS with Carbon and Iron Electrodes for "Finsen" Treatment.

VIBRATORY AND PNEUMATIC MASSAGE APPARATUS. APPARATUS FOR 3-PHASE SINUSOIDAL AND ALL OTHER CURRENTS.

NEW PORTABLE CAUTERY TRANSFORMER, with Terminals for Light, &c., taking only 2 Ampères from 200 Volts Continuous Main. MULTINEBULIZER, ELECTRO-MAGNETIC AND SWEDISH EXERCISE APPARATUS, &c., &c.

33 & 7a, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

WITH

FOCAL

PLANE

SHUTTER.

MADE

OF

LICHT

METAL.

Fitted with ZEISS LENSES.

SIZES-6x9 and 9x12 cm., and 3 in. x 4-in. and 5-in. X4-in. Also 9x 18 cm. for Stereo and Panorama. SUITABLE FOR PLATES, PACK FILMS, AND ROLL FILMS.

Illustrated Catalogue, "Pn," Post Free on application.

Scientific Instrument Makers to the Indian Government and Science and Art Department.

ISSUED TO MARK THE

MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS.

OF

THE "RYSTOS" ELECTRIC LAMP

(No. 1)

For Standing or Hanging, with Cord and
Plug to fit ordinary lamp socket, and
Reversing Switch. The insulated switch
handle on top will be found safe and well
adapted for turning on the current to
either ruby or white light, or instantly
exchanging the one for the other. The
white light is convenient when making
bromide prints, transparencies, &c. The
ruby glass provided is of special quality,
being spectroscopically tested. It gives
a soft diffused light, while its semicircular
shape secures the illumination of the
whole developing table.

Dimensions, 4 in. x 8 in.
Price 18s. 6d.

(When ordering, please mention voltage.)

LAMPS FOR GAS ALSO WITH BYE-PASS. New Photographic Requisite List on application.

COLOGNE,

Contains on its more than 900 pages a complete survey of the apparatus used for instruction in Physics, as well as numerous practical instructions and about 3000 illustrations.

and

NATURE says:--" The firm of Leybold Nachfolger in Cologne has recently issued a very complete and interesting catalogue of physical apparatus The book starts with a history fittings sold by them of the instruments made in Cologne during the last century. In its second section we find an account of the construction and fittings of various chemical and physical institutions. After this follows the catalogue proper, filling some 800 large pages, profusely illustrated and admirably arranged. The book will be most useful to the teacher." No. 1846, Vol. 71.)

THE CATALOGUE WILL BE FORWARDED TO SCHOOLS

A

THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1905.

SCIENTIFIC WORTHIES.
XXXV.-EDUARD SUESS.

MONG the living leaders of geology none is more widely known and more highly honoured than Eduard Suess. The amount and value of his original contributions to science, the broad, philosophic grasp he has displayed of every department of research on which he has entered, the vivid, imaginative insight which has enabled him to marshal a multiplicity of scattered facts into connected order and sequence, the unwearied industry with which he has made himself acquainted with the geological literature of almost every country on the face of the globe, and the noble march of the literary style in which he has clothed not a little of his reasoning and speculation, have combined to give him a place apart, like that of one of the great masters in the heroic age of geology. Full of years and honours, and president of the Academy of Sciences, he still moves as the centre of the scientific life of Vienna, still enriches the world with his impressive pictures of the structure and history of the earth, and still manifests an ardent interest and enthusiasm in all that concerns the advancement of natural knowledge.

But for a wave of change in the world of commerce we might have claimed Suess as an Englishman, and his achievements might have added their lustre to the scientific fame of this country instead of Austria, for he was born in London and spent here the earliest years of his childhood. His father, who was a native of Saxony, had settled here as a German merchant, importing wool from Bohemia, and it was during the residence of the family in London that the eldest son and future geologist was born on August 20, 1831. When wool began to arrive in abundance from the vast sheep-runs of the Australian colonies, the trade in the

Bohemian product declined so much that at last, in November, 1834, the Suess family left England for Prague. The father in 1845 became a partner in a great industrial establishment in Vienna, and that city was thenceforth the family home. It had been at first intended that the son should enter the same business, and accordingly at the end of the usual school training he was placed in the polytechnic school. But it soon became apparent that his natural bent did not lie in the commercial direction, but wholly towards natural history studies. As early as the year 1850, when he was only nineteen years of age, he ventured upon his first publication-a short sketch of the geology of Carlsbad and its mineral waters, specially prepared for the use of foreigners. So completely had his tastes now decided his future life that in the following year he was appointed an assistant in the Imperial Museum of Vienna, and thus made his formal entry into the official ranks of science. From that day until now the long intervening half-century, though uneventful in personal, experiences, has been with him a time of ceaseless industry and fruitful research. A few more specially notable epochs in his career may here be noticed.

In the vast palæontological collections of the Vienna Museum Suess found a wide domain for the exercise of his powers of observation and comparison. He at first specially devoted himself to the study of the brachiopods of the Palæozoic and Mesozoic formations, and for some ten years continued to publish the results of his researches among these interesting and important fossils, but with incursions into other departments of the animal kingdom, which displayed a general enthusiasm for biological inquiry from the geological point of view. His zeal and ability were soon recognised by his being appointed in 1857, at the age of twenty-six, professor in the university. In 1862 he relinquished his post in the museum and devoted himself thenceforth to the duties of his chair. It was in this early part of his life that he entered upon those studies in palæogeography on which his scientific renown

now largely rests. As far back as 1863 he published a brief statement of the results to which his inquiries had led him as to the former connection of northern Africa with southern Europe. In 1855 he married the daughter of Dr. Strauss, a distinguished physician in Prague, and then entered on a life of great domestic happiness, which largely contributed to the success of a strenuous career wherein science and politics came to be strangely blended.

From his youthful days, when he described the Carlsbad springs, he had been interested in underground waters, and among the inquiries which he pursued while attached to the museum was one that embraced the relations of the soil and water supply of Vienna to the life of its inhabitants. In 1862 he published a small volume on this subject, in which he gave a comprehensive account of the economic geology of the district. At that time the city was suffering from an impure water supply and consequent typhoid fever. The luminous essay of the young professor at once attracted attention. He was the same year elected into the town council, that he might give the benefit of his advice in the steps to be taken towards the attainment of better sanitary arrangements. He boldly advocated a scheme for bringing the abundant pure water of the Alps into Vienna by means of an aqueduct 110 kilometres in length. This project, eventually adopted, was brought to a successful termination in 1873. So grateful were his fellow-citizens for the signal service thus conferred on them that they bestowed on him their highest civic distinction by electing him an honorary burgess. By this time he had made his mark in the town council as one of its most useful and able members, so that it was not surprising that he should have been chosen as one of the parliamentary representatives. For more than thirty years he sat in the Austrian Parliament as a powerful leader of the Liberal party, only retiring in 1896, when advancing age made the strain of the two-fold life as a politician and man of science too great to be longer borne. When the political history of the country during the last half of the nineteenth century comes to be written, a prominent place in it will be given to Eduard Suess.

But it is his scientific work that has to be chiefly dwelt upon here. As an enthusiastic and able teacher he has exerted a notable influence on the successive generations of students at the university, until after forty-four years he resigned his professorship in the summer of 1901. Throughout his career he has shown a keen interest in those branches of geology which more especially deal with the evolution of the earth's surface features. The problems of mountain-building were suggested to him by his excursions among the eastern Alps, and in 1875 his views were so far matured that he published a little volume entitled "Die Entstehung der Alpen." This work contains the germ of those later contributions to science which have placed

1 "Der Boden der Stadt Wien nach seiner Bildungsweise, Beschaffenheit, und seinen Beziehungen zum Bürgerlichen Leben." (Vienna, 1862.)

him on so conspicuous an eminence among the geologists of the day. It sketches the general principles of mountain-architecture, especially revealed by a study of the Alpine chain. But he did not confine his view to the particular area with which he was himself personally familiar. Already his eye looked out on the wider effects of the unequal contraction of the terrestrial crust, and swept across the European continent eastwards into Asia, and westwards across the Atlantic into America. He still held the general belief in the upheaval and depression of continental areas, and dwelt on the evidence of these movements in Scandinavia, which he has since rejected with much elaboration of argument. To thoughtful students of the science this treatise, in its firm hold of detail combined with singularly vivid powers of generalisation, was full of suggestiveness. But the interest and importance of its subject did not obtain general recognition until it was followed ten years afterwards (1885) by the first volume of the great Antlitz der Erde " -the work which has chiefly given Suess his place among his contemporaries, and by which his name will be handed down to future time.

In its striking arrangement of subjects, in its masterly grouping of details which, notwithstanding their almost bewildering multiplicity, are all linked with each other in leading to broad and impressive conclusions, and in the measured cadence of its finer passages, the "Antlitz " may be regarded as a noble philosophical poem in which the story of the continents and the oceans is told by a seer gifted with rare powers of insight into the past. The order of treatment is not that of a systematic text-book. On the contrary, the casual reader who looks over the contents of the chapters might suppose them to consist of a series of desultory essays with no very clear sequence of thought. Yet a more leisurely study soon shows him how closely interwoven is the texture of the whole composition. He is astonished at the almost incredible range of literature which the author must have consulted, and he finds himself borne onward page after page by the luminous array of facts and the brilliant conclusions drawn from them. From the ancient traditions of the Deluge he is led through other human records, and made to see by what combination of physical conditions changes are worked on the surface of the earth. Upheaval and subsidence, volcanic eruptions, the elevation of mountain-chains, the depression of seabasins, the structure and disposition of continents, the formation and boundaries of the different oceans in the past as well as at the present day, the successive plications that in the course of geological time have produced the land areas and mountain-ranges of the globe-in short, the gradual evolution of the existing topography of the surface of the globe-this vast theme is here treated with a fulness of knowledge and a breadth of view which are to be found in no other author.

The work at once commanded attention among the geologists of every country, and the influence of its