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WIMSHURST ELECTRICAL MACHINE.

Best Quality, giving full 4-inch Spark in Air, £5. As made for the
Science and Art Department.

NEWTON & CO.,

3 FLEET STREET, TEMPLE BAR, LONDON, E.C.

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STANDARD OF SELF-INDUCTION. AYRTON & PERRY'S VARIABLE

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LIVERPOOL SCHOOL BOARD.

The Liverpool School Board require the services of an additional ASSISTANT SCIENCE DEMONSTRATOR, qualified to take part in the Experimental Science Teaching (Mechanics, Chemistry, and Physics) given in their Schools.

Salary, 100 first year, rising in four years to £120, with an extra annual payment from £3 to 11 if applicant holds Science and Art Certificates and University distinctions; and also a small proportion of the Grant received for the classes taught (if any) under the Science and Art Department. Applications, stating Age, Qualifications, and Experience, must be received not later than TUESDAY, MARCH 25, addressed to EDWARD M. HANCE,

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SALARY, £600 per annum and private practice; also allowed to charge 10s. 6d. for each private analysis made. No passage provided.

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APPOINTMENT OF DEMONSTRATOR IN
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The Council invite applications, on or before MARCH 27, 1890, for the above Appointment.

The duties will commence on TUESDAY, April 22, 1890. Particulars of the stipend, conditions, and duties, will be sent on application to the Secretary, Mr. G. H. MORLEY, The Mason Science College, Birmingham, to whom all applications for the appointment should be sent. LAWSON TAIT, President of the Council.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. FACULTY OF MEDICINE.

The Classes re-commence on MAY 1, and are so arranged as to afford a convenient opportunity for Students to commence their Medical Course. Full information may be obtained from the Office of the College, Gower Street, W.C.

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GOLD MEDAL awarded at the FISHERIES EXHIBITION to THOMAS BOLTON, 83 CAMDEN STREET, BIRMINGHAM, Who last week sent to his subscribers Embryo of Mussel (Anodoma) av sketch and description. He also sent out Argulus foliaceus, Curethra. T Ova, Philodina roseola, Floscularia, Corethra plumicornis, Melicerta ringe Stephanoceros; also Amba, Hydra, Vorticella, Crayfish, Dog-Fa Amphioxus, and other Specimens for Biological Laboratory work. Weekly Announcements will be made in this place of organisms I is supplying.

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R. FRIEDLÄNDER & SOHN, Berlin, N. W., Carlstrasse 11 Just appeared, our New Catalogue of Books on

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104 Pages in Royal 8vo, with 4005 Titles of Books, Pamphlets, & Subdivisions.-Old and Ancient Authors-History of Mathema Periodicals-Arithmetic-Algebra-Geometry-Mathematical Tables In a few weeks will be published: "CATALOGUE of the LITERATURE on PROBABILITIES" (Doctrine of Chances).

Never before have been published any Catalogues so Complete of 12. Literature of a Special Science.

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Gratis and Post-free on Application.

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A Large Collection of Beautiful Mineral Specimens, including a VERY FINE GROUP OF SENARMONTITE CRYSTALS, VERY BRILLIANT MANGANITES, WULFENITES, VANADIMITES, HARMATOME, from Oberstein and Scotland; NATROLITES, Auvergne ; CHILDRENITES, ARAGONITES, and MELANOPHLOGITE.

OIL ENGINE

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Fullest Particulars on application to

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Precious Stones for Collectors and Mounting.
COLLECTIONS FOR STUDENTS AND PROSPECTORS.
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Catalogues Free.

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NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY,

148 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON, S.W.,
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Begs to give notice that at the end of MARCH next his Business
WILL BE REMOVED to his lately acquired Commodious Show and
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158 BROMPTON ROAD,

Five doors west of his present premises.

Recently received:-Specimens of Bertrandite, a Meteorite from Atacama, and other American Minerals of interest.

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SEND FOR CATALOGUES, FREE ON APPLICATION.

BRYCE-WRIGHT'S MUSEUM, DEATH AND DISABLEMENT BY ACCIDENT.

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MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY.

SPECIAL AND TYPICAL COLLECTIONS FOR STUDENTS, LECTURERS, AND MUSEUMS.

EVERY REQUISITE FOR PRACTICAL WORK, CABINETS, CASES, APPARATUS OF ALL KINDS.

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New Catalogues and Lists now ready, Free, of

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GEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS. Comprising Fossils, Minerals, and Rocks, labelled with Name, Locality and Geological Position, in Mahogany Cabinets. 100 Specimens, 25s.; 200 ditto, sos. The best value obtainable.

Micro-sections of Rocks in great variety. Cabinets, Glass-topped Boxes, and other Geological Requisites.

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By Typewriter. Special attention given to Papers on Technical Subjects

for Public Reading.

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THE RAILWAY PASSENGERS' ASSURANCE COMPANY Assures £1000 at Death and Full Benefits at £4 per Annum. HON. EVELYN ASHLEY, Chairman.

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Maker of every description of Entomological Cabinets and Apparatus ; Store- and Book-boxes, fitted with Camphor-cells; Setting Boards, Oval or Flat, &c. Cabinets of every description kept in stock. SPECIAL INSECT CABINETS, with Drawers fitted with Glass Tops and Bottoms to show upper and under side without removing insect. Store-boxes specially made for Continental Setting, highly recommended for Beetles. All best work. Lowest possible terms for cash. Prices on Application. Estimates supplied. Trade supplied. Established since 1847.

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STANDARD TYPEWRITING CO., 90 & 91 Queen St. (third floor), E.C. GOLD MEDAL, Highest Award, Inventions Exhibition,

and at 38 Arlington Square, N., and 41 Goldney Road, W.

1885.

DESCRIPTION OF MR. BRYCE-WRIGHT'S MUSEUM,

26

SAVILE

From "The World."

I MAKE my way through Crown Court, up Bury Street, across Piccadilly, through the quiet passage of the Albany, and so into Savile Row, where I find the bourne of my journey, the museum of Mr. Bryce-Wright, the celebrated lapidary.

Once I

ROW.

and loses its colours, it is allowed to soak for a night in a bow
of soap-suds. When it is taken out the next morning it is ne
milk-white, all its colours apparently washed out of it; but ad.
the jeweller has allowed it to lie for some hours in the sun, a
the superfluous moisture (for ten per cent, of water is necessary to
the composition of an opal) has dried out of it, all its colours r
fire come back to it renewed tenfold. Mr. Wright tells m. sa
an opal he had once, which, from time to time, when it be
to grow dim, he used to place near, not in, a tap of runni
water for a whole night, and in the morning the stone, bin
absorbed as much moisture as it required, would be brigh
than ever. . . . Spinels of many different colours are shown
me, and I am much interested at hearing Mr. Wright's opin
that the great so-called "Black Prince ruby," which forms t
most conspicuous ornament of the Imperial State crown of Fa
land, is not a ruby at all, but a spinel. This famous stone
presented to the Black Prince by Pedro the Cruel after the bette
of Najera, in 1367. It was worn in the helmet of Henry V...
the battle of Agincourt, which gives one rather an odd idea of in
way in which battle-array was understood in those days; an
it had on that occasion a very narrow escape of beng
for good to the English crown, for a furious blow given in t
Duc D'Alençon on the King's helmet carried away a large pe
tion of the setting of the gem. The size of this stone is e-
mous for either a ruby or a spinel, being an inch and a half wict,
and one and three-quarters long; but its value, other that its
historical one, is marred by the fact that it is drilled right thro2, **
its length in Eastern fashion, having been probably intende
as an amulet for the arm by its first possessors.

Amongst the gems lying on the table are several specimens
that strange stone, the Alexandrite, a stone which way
to have only come into notice in the last few years. Of a bean
ful clear moss-green by day, at night it vies with the reby sell
in colour.
Some are found in Siberia (but of an fent:
quality), in mica-schist, but the best come from Ceylon; and int
curious fact that, though the stones are well known m Ceylo
where they are believed to be found, no one has been able
get a Ceylon Alexandrite as an uncut stone in the rough The
Siberian stones are not transparent, and are usually fall of fa
and "feathers"; but a fine Ceylon Alexandrite is one of the
most beautiful gems that it is possible to imagine. Topazes
all colours-blue, pink, green, yellow, and white-come a
on show. One among them is a most remarkable stone, and
indeed absolutely unique-a perfectly white stone, weight
about nine hundred carats ! It is, in fact, too big

While Mr. Wright busies himself unlocking his safe in answer to my request that he should show me all his newest and best stones, I make a survey of the great lofty room and the treasures it contains. The walls are panelled with trophies of assegais, spears, and lances of all kinds, which make the place look something like an armoury. Curiosities from many lands lie about on the tables: Japanese ivories, netsukes, and medicineboxes, agate bowls, carvings from the South Seas, Malay kreeses, and quantities of that terrible material malachite, which, though Russian, I most heartily abhor, on account of its crude green, which is enough to put even the teeth of a Fenian on edge. A most beautiful bowl of lapis-lazuli of an oval shape, adorned with Louis Seize mounts in bronze-doré, attracts my eye. Two cupids sit at one end, blowing long curved trumpets, and round the foot are small jewels embedded in the bronze garlands of flowers. Other oval bowls in agate, but unmounted, are lying on a table, and in answer to my remark on their diversity of colour, Mr. Wright tells me that the two I have in my hands, one of which is of the most beautiful shades of blue, the other of a reddish-yellow, are both of them dyed. . . hear this, all the charm of colouring vanishes, and I reserve my admiration for an undyed bowl, which is indeed far more lovely, with its exquisitely soft tones of fawn, white, and gold. By this time, however, Mr. Wright has produced his treasures from the depths of the safe. The first parcel discloses a huge lump which any school-boy might be excused for mistaking for a bit of sugarcandy. It is an immense diamond from Kimberley, still in its uncut "octahedral form," as Mr. Wright explains, for the sake of my ignorance. At present it weighs a little over two hundred carats, but of course would be considerably reduced in size and weight by cutting. On the outside it is covered with a pale yellow film, like a skin, which would disappear in the cutting, but which for the time being certainly causes it to resemble the lollipop of one's childhood. A black diamond of eighty carats strikes me as being one of those things whose beauty is visible to the eye of faith alone, for a bit of half-burnt coke would be as ornamental as this gem in its uncut state. Another great curiosity, more to be commended on account of its rarity than its actual beauty, is the engraved diamond that forms the centre of the late Queen of Delhi's ring. Engraved diamonds are one of the rarities of the world, there being only about five in existence, one of which is in the Queen's possession, another in that of the Prince of Wales. Even of these five, all can hardly be justly called engraved diamonds, as one or two have been ground by the wheel in Europe, instead of being actually engraved by purely manual labour. The pedigree of the ring in Mr. Wright's possession is a good deal more authentic than such things often are. Up to the time of the Indian Mutiny and the fall of Delhi, this ring was kept in the Treasury of the Mogul Emperors of Hindostan, by whom it was looked upon with considerable veneration, probably partly on account of the invocation to the Prophet Ali (the leader of the Eastern or Sunnite division of the Mahometan faith) which is engraved upon it. After the looting of Delhi the ring passed into the possession of Bhulwand Singh, Maharajah of Dholepore, and at his death came into the hands of an English officer, from whom Mr. BryceWright purchased it. . Two enormous sapphires are next produced, but do not please me much, being to my mind unwieldy, if such an epithet may be applied to a gem, which, however, cannot be said of a lovely transparent emerald, rather too light in colour, but wonderfully brilliant and pellucid. A large opal comes next, and an argument ensues on the question of the superstition attached to it, that it brings ill-luck to the wearer. The ancients gave the opal credit for bestowing all possible good, a belief that continued as late as the beginning of the seventeenth century. When the superstition of their being unlucky first arose I know not, but undoubtedly Sir Walter Scott is answerable for a good deal of the opal's evil repute, as all readers of "Anne of Geierstein" will probably acknowledge. Lovely the opal undoubtedly is, but even its loveliness is somewhat uncanny. Amongst the Arabs, when an opal turns pale EVERYTHING in BRYCE-WRIGHT'S MUSEUM is FOR SALE at LOWEST PRICES

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I would infinitely prefer to possess one of the smaller Jas
topazes, a colour which is given to them by exposing them to
fire. Many a time and oft are these "topars brulées" said s
Balas rubies, and the purchaser is no wiser unless he thin
wish to sell them again, when there is a painful awakene
Verily there are not many Nathaniels left in the world, 28
even the simple turquoise has not escaped being tampered wit
for an ingenious individual discovered a means of pounding a
inferior turquoises into a powder, mixing them with acids mo
paste, out of which, when hardened into a mass, turquoues a
any kind could be cut at will. It will, therefore, perhaps, be w
if all intending purchasers of abnormally-sized turquoises wa
to get the advice of experts, such as Mr. Bryce-Wright, be
concluding the bargain. From the higher class of precio
stones I pass on to the less valuable kinds, and I turn over 19
contents of various drawers and cases, until my braid for 7
whirls with trying to remember such names as Dioptase, He
denite, Zircon, Peridot, Tourmaline, and many others, wh..
have now vanished from my memory. At last I emerge
Savile Row, feeling as if I had been amongst the marvels of
Aladdin's Cave; and I feel that the real way to enjoy the be
of precious stones is to handle them when they are free fre
setting. King Humbert of Italy has a mania for gems
state, and always has a handful loose in his pocket to play wh
as other men do with their small change. For those who she
this love for unset gems, which, to my mind are so much mo
beautiful and interesting than those that have had the jeweller
worst done upon them, I could not recommend a better way
forgetting the fog than to spend an hour or two in the Savis
Row Museum.

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THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1890.

in Yap is mainly dependent on the enterprise of the young men of the villages, who, from time to time combine together to procure a canoe, in which, with the consent of their chief, they repair to the arragonite rocks to extract as much of the stone as their boat will hold. On

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INCE 1868, when Herr Kubary first entered upon a course of inquiry among the Polynesians, which he had undertaken for the Godeffroy Museum in Hamburg, to which institution he was then officially attached, he has made the archipelago of the Carolines the chief seat and object of his observations. These islands, lying between 5 and 10° N. lat., midway between the Ladrones and New Guinea, and stretching from 138°-160° E. long., have been visited by few white men excepting the traders who occasionally touch there for purposes of barter, or with the object of securing workmen for some more or less remote labour-market on terms of hire which are usually misunderstood by the natives themselves. To this drain on the numbers of able-bodied men, and to continual tribal wars among the different members of the group, the rapid diminution of the population of the Carolines is probably mainly due. In some of the slands the author found that the once numerous families of the kings or chiefs had either wholly died out in recent years, or were only represented by a single male descendant, who, in the absence of any other woman of pure native race, would have to take a half-sister for his wife, if he would avoid the alternative of making a prohibited exogamic marriage.

The probably imminent extermination of these Northern Polynesians gives more than common interest to Herr Kubary's narrative of his long sojourn in the island Yap, and in the Pelew group, or Western Carolines, where he had the good fortune to obtain previously-unknown information regarding the various indigenous moneys in use, and thus to establish the hitherto unsuspected fact that among these people a carefully-adjusted and rigidlyprescribed monetary system has been long in force. Thus in the island of Yap he found that each distinct kind of money could only be used for specially-defined purposes, the form known as gau, which consists of strings of equally-sized polished disks of the spondylus, Constituting what we may term the gold of the district. This is not current among the general public, but is carefully accumulated by the chiefs, who keep it in reserve to be exchanged with other chiefs for canoes or weapons of all kinds, to be used when they are preparing to make, or to resist, a hostile attack. This spondylus currency has considerable ethnological interest, for we find that the shell can only be procured to the east or the north of Yap, and that it is traditionally the most ancient form of money in use in that and some of the neighbouring islands, while its discovery in old graves of chiefs in the Ladrones seems to point to a common origin of the natives of the latter group and those of the Carolines. Next in value is the palan, which consists of round disks of arragonite of various degrees of thickness, which is obtained by the people of Yap at considerable risk and with much labour from certain islands of limestoneformation in the Pelew group. The supply of this money VOL. XLI. NO. 1063.

returning to their native village, they are bound to present their chief with all the larger blocks, after which they dispose of the remainder to the villagers at the rate of the market value of the stone, which is estimated according to its width. Thus, while a fragment measuring an inch or two in diameter is the recognized price of a basket of taro, consisting of a definite number of roots, the scale of values rises gradually until it requires a mass six feet in width to purchase a good-sized canoe, or a gau-belt adorned with two whale's teeth, which ranks in the eyes of a Yap dandy as the most precious of all personal ornaments. The arrival of a cargo in which there are several of these exceptionally large blocks, is generally soon followed by the breaking out of hostilities between the village chief and his neighbours, as the former seldom loses a chance of making speedy use of these sinews of war; and hence perhaps palan is popularly known as "men's money." Next in value to it comes yar, which consists of small threaded nacreous shells that serve as small change, and are known as "women's money."

In the Pelew Islands, another form of money, known as audouth, is current, whose origin and history are unknown, although the traditions regarding it suggest that it may have been obtained through early trading relations between these islands and remote eastern and western nations. Audouth is divided into numerous groups, consisting of coloured or enamelled beads or disks, some of which present a vitreous or earthy character, recalling objects of Chinese or Japanese art; while others, to judge by the coloured illustrations in Herr Kubary's work, are almost identical with the glass beads still largely manufactured in Venice. Each variety of bead has a fixed place on the scale of values, which, beginning from the taro-basket unit, gradually rises, until it finally reaches so large an amount that each of the still existing forty or fifty beads, which rank as the highest in the series, and which are all accumulated in the hands of one or two of the kings, actually represents a sum equal to ten or twelve pounds sterling. The extremely limited number of the audouth-beads, and the obligation of making payments with only specially prescribed forms of these coins, have led to the establishment of a regularly organized system of loans. By the rules of this system, a man who requires to make a payment in a coin of which he is not possessed, and who has to borrow it from his chief, or some neighbour, is compelled to give in pledge certain definite objects, only redeemable by repayments at fixed periods and rates of interest, while he is, moreover, obliged to refund his debt in the same coin which he originally borrowed.

In his comments on the singular fact that the unclothed, tattooed natives of a remote Polynesian archipelago should possess well-organized systems, based on fixed principles, not only for regulating loans, but also for conducting exchange and barter on equitable terms, Herr Kubary adduces apparently good grounds for assuming that the people have derived these methods,

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