CARL ZEISS, JENA. BRANCHES LONDON: 29 Margaret St., Regent St., W. Berlin. Frankfort o/M. Hamburg. Vienna. St. Petersburg. MICROSCOPES Suitable for every class of Scientific and Technical Research. PHOTOMICROGRAPHIC AND PROJECTION APPARATUS ILLUSTRATED PAMPHLET "Mn," POST FREE ON APPLICATION. NEW PATENT ELECTRIC FURNACES FOR Crucibles, Muffles, Combustion Analysis, Kjeldahl's Nitrogen Estimations, Assay Work, &c. Temperature easily regulated up to 2500° Centigrade; if heat resisting material can be found up to 3000° C. Arranged from 70 to 250 Volts. Price List and full details on application. SOLE AGENTS FOR UNITED KINGDOM, A. GALLENKAMP & CO., Ltd., 19-21 SUN STREET, FINSBURY, LONDON, E.C. RADIUM. Pitchblende, from 2/- to 30/- per piece; in Powder, 2/6 per cz. Rad. Residue, 2/- per tube. Polonium, 21/- per gram; 11/-)-gram. Flexible Sandstone, 5/- to 50/-. (See NATURE, June 23, 1904, page 185.) Radio-active Mud, 1/6 per bottle. Monazit, 3/- per oz. Monazit Sand, 1/- per oz. Bar. Plat. Cyan., for Screens, 3/- gramme, 60/- oz. Crystals, 4/gramme. Screens, 9d. per square inch. Willemite Radio-active screens, 6d. per square inch. screens, 6d. per square inch. Electroscopes (special), 21/Spinthariscopes (special), 21/-, 10/6 and 7/6. Selection of Minerals in boxes, 2/6, 5/6, 10/6 and 21/-. NEW ZEALAND VEGETABLE CATERPILLAR; from 2 to 3 inches long, with a stem showing fructification growing out of its head. Specimens may be had from 10/6 to 21/-, according to quality and size. See NATURE, May 12, 1904, page 44. Goods may be returned if not approved of, when money will be refunded. Professional Men, Universities, Schools, &c., allowed special terms. ARMBRECHT, NELSON & CO., 71 & 73 DUKE ST., GROSVENOR SQUARE, W. RECTIFIED SPIRIT (SPIRITS OF WINE). B.P. and higher strengths. Duty paid; or Duty Free under Finance Act 1902. METHYLATED SPIRIT Special Quotations to large BOORD & SON, DISTILLERS SINCE 1750, 115-121 Tooley Street, LONDON, S.E. LIQUID AIR AND LIQUID HYDROGEN. NEON, KRYPTON, XENON, Dr. HAMPSON'S AIR-LIQUEFIER is now made to a standard pat tern, 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. ARGON, HELIUM. We have now in stock a number of Vacuum Tubes of the above Gases, GUARANTEED PURE. HYDROGEN LIQUEFIER to the designs of Dr. MORRIS W. ADAM HILGER, Ltd., 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. 75a Camden Road, London, N.W. AWARDED GOLD MEDAL, ST. LOUIS EXHIBITION, 1904. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LIST OF SPECTROSCOPES, &c.. POST FREE ON APPLICATION. SOUND, LIGHT, HEAT, MAGNETISM, Nearly 4,000 Illustrations. 99 "NATURE says: "The new illustrated catalogue of physical apparatus just issued by Messrs. F. E. Becker and Co. (Messrs. W. and J. George, Ltd.) is likely to prove indispensable in the physical laboratories of all our schools and colleges. It runs to 628 large pages, and is strongly bound in cloth. Full particulars are provided, not only respecting the apparatus required in elementary and advanced physical teaching, but also concerning that necessary to the physicist in his research work. All branches of physics are included, and the instruments throughout are explained by excellent illustrations and concise descriptions, and, what is of prime importance, the figure and its appropriate text are close together." "CHEMICAL NEWS" says: "KNOWLEDGE" says: "Messrs. F. E. Becker and Co. (W. and J. George, Ltd., Successors) have sent us a copy of their new list of apparatus in the various departments of Physics, including Sound, Light, Heat, Magnetism, Electricity, Mechanics, &c. This exhaustive catalogue consists of over 600 pages and some 4000 illustrations. One of its noteworthy features is that the requirements of science teaching in this country and its colonies are always kept in view, and the articles listed cover the latest developments in their subjects. The method adopted in the list itself, together with the completeness of the index, is such as to make reference to it simple and expeditious." "Messrs. F. E. Becker and Co. (W. and "SCHOOL WORLD" says: at J. George, Ltd., successors) have just "The science-master in every grade of school should possess a copy of the new catalogue of Messrs. George, for he will find here particulars as to the available apparatus in sound, light, heat, magnetism, electricity, mechanics, and other branches of physics, with information as to price and other necessary details. There is a profusion of welldrawn illustrations, which, together with the clearly expressed descriptions, will serve to explain to any buyer exactly what he is purchasing. This. excellent catalogue will form a valuable addition to the reference library of any physical laboratory." BECKER BECKER ECKER BECKED RECORDING PYROMETERS. AN ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE THERMOMETER, in combination with a Callendar Electric Recorder, forms a most convenient and accurate Recording Pyrometer. These instruments work without photography, the record being always open to nspection; they are entirely free from pen friction error. The illustration is produced from an annealing-furnace record obtained in this way, and shows quite clearly the change in the management of the furnace when one fireman (A) was relieved by another (B). Full particulars will be forwarded free on application. THE CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY, LTD. Works & Head Office: CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, where all correspondence should be addressed. LONDON SHOWROOM: 92 HATTON GARDEN, LONDON, E.C. THE BLACK AUTOCOPYIST Selenium For reproducing Circulars, Plans, Sketches, Specifications, THE PHOTO AUTOCOPYIST (a simplified form of Collotype without elaborate plant) for reproducing from negatives splendid permanent prints, in any colour. equal to Silver, Platinotype, or Bromide prints. From 55/ NATURE says:-"As a means of quickly obtaining permanent prints from photographic negatives it should prove extremely useful." Write for Specimens, &c., or call and see these useful Inventions. Cells of High Sensitiveness to Light, with & without Evacuation. FLAT, Apparatus for Demonstrating Apparatus for Wireless Telephony by Light. C. F. ADOLPH & CO., 14 FARRINGDON RD., "No Better Food."-Dr. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E., &c. Fry's Try also FRY'S MALTED COCOA, PURE Cocoa, A Combination of Fry's Pure Cocoa and Allen & Hanburys' Extract of Malt. RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. At first the birds-estimated at 2000 in number-rose in a flock, and fears were entertained that they would permanently forsake their nests, but after a time-despite the erection of a "blind" for the camera-they returned in a body. The sight of such an army of large birds, both in flight and when marching, is described as magnificent and imposing, if not, indeed, appalling. The young remain in the nest for about three days, and for the first three weeks after leaving it feed like ordinary birds. By that time, however, the beak has attained its characteristic flexure, and the young birds then search for their food with the lower mandible upwards. Molluscs of the genus Cerithium form almost the sole food of the Barbados species. It is sincerely to be hoped that a movement to prevent these " rookeries" from being raided by the plumage-hunter will be attended with success. Ix a pamphlet entitled "Notes on the Commercial Timbers of New South Wales," Mr. J. H. Maiden describes the principal woods, their characters, and uses. The information is primarily suited to practical men who supply or use timber in the colony. The majority of the timbers are hard woods, and different species of Eucalyptus give ironbarks, stringy barks, varieties of box, mahogany, and gum. The timbers recommended in lieu of pine are white beech, Gmelina Leichhardtii, a genus of the order Verbenacea, and red cedar, Cedrela australis, and rosewood, Dysoxylon Lessertianum, both included in the Meliaceæ. THE establishment of biologic forms" of species of Erysiphaceæ and Uredineæ is based upon the restricted powers of infection of the spores upon allied species of the host plant. But the immunity of a species of the host plant is not absolute, because, as pointed out by Mr. E. S. Salmon in No. 3 of vol. ii. of the Annales Mycologici, another host plant may act as a bridging species. Thus the form of Erysiphe graminis which grows on Bromus racemosus will infect Bromus hordeaceus, but will not infect Bromus commutatus, although the spores found on Bromus hordeaceus will infect Bromus commutatus. If spores from Bromus racemosus are sown on Bromus hordeaceus, then the spores produced on Bromus hordeaceus as a result of that sowing are found to be capable of infecting Bromus commutatus. THE daily weather report issued by the Meteorological Office on Tuesday, December 6, showed that on the morning of that day the winds and sea in the Channel were still very heavy, and, further, that a rapid fall of the barometer at Scilly pointed to the approach of a fresh disturbance. This storm developed very rapidly, and by 2h. p.m. a deep disturbance lay over Dorsetshire, and another to the north of the Helder. These disturbances were accompanied by very heavy rainfall, amounting in twenty-four hours to 2-25 inches at Cuxhaven, 1-25 inch at St. Aubins (Jersey), and 0-94 inch in London, while severe thunderstorms occurred generally in Devon and Cornwall. Much damage to property is reported from various districts, and in parts of Dorsetshire a veritable tornado occurred; rain and hail fell in torrents, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning. At Beaminster roofs and trees suffered severely; the path of the storm was well defined, and, as is usually the case in these local whirlwinds, was limited to a very small area. The region of heavy rainfall over the country generally was sharply defined on its northern side; at Nottingham and Spurn Head no rain was reported to the Meteorological Office on the morning of December 7. A VOLUME of monthly wind charts for the South Atlantic Ocean, prepared by the marine branch of the Meteorological Office, has just been published by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty. The region covered extends from the equator southward to the 65th parallel, and from the 20th meridian of east longitude to the 90th of west longitude, so that a portion of the Pacific is included. Nearly a million sets of observations, extending over a period of forty-five years, have been used. The winds have been discussed in areas of 5° of latitude by 5° of longitude, and the results are exhibited by means of roses showing the relative frequency and strength at the sixteen even points of the compass. The distribution of mean atmospheric pressure is shown by means of isobaric lines, and the mean air temperature by isotherms, while along the African and American coasts are numerous notes bearing upon the characteristic climatic features of the various months. A striking feature on every chart is the area of high barometric pressure covering the whole of the area between Africa and the east coast of America, its central space being usually more on the western side of the ocean, as is the case with the anticyclone of the North Atlantic. The wind circulation of the South Atlantic is associated with its dominating high pressure system. On the eastern and northern portions of the ocean the south-east trade is very constant, is never interrupted by storms, nor attains the force of a gale. On the western side the winds are more variable, but gales are very rarely experienced northward of the 35th parallel. Except near the land fogs seldom occur northward of the 30th parallel, and the south-western part of the ocean is the only region where ice is ordinarily met with. Statistics of the rainfall at a number of places within the area of the charts show that the annual amount ranges from 0.31 inch at Walfisch Bay and 1.54 inches at Serena (Coquimbo) to 93-41 inches at Pernambuco and 100-63 inches at Valdivia. It may be recalled that at the Cambridge meeting of the British Association Commander Hepworth read a paper on the results of the discussion of the observations for these charts. IN No. 22 of the Physikalische Zeitschrift Messrs. Elster and Geitel reply to Mr. J. R. Ashworth's recent letter to NATURE (vol. lxx., p. 454) suggesting that the human breath may be considered as a source of the ionisation of the atmosphere. Their measurements of the conductivity of air charged with ordinary human breath show that such air is not more conducting than ordinary air. On the other hand, the breath of a person who has been working continually with radium preparations has decided ionising power, and the nature of the ionisation shows that it is due to the emanation of radium. NEARLY all the physicists who have been approached hitherto by the Revue Scientifique in the course of its inquiries as to the existence of the n-rays have unequivocally stated their inability to observe the effects which these rays are alleged to produce. It is therefore particularly interesting to note in the Revue for November 26 that M. D'Arsonval has been able to reproduce these effects in many instances, and to show that they are not due merely to thermal causes. M. Mascart is stated jointly to have observed with him the same phenomena. M. Poincaré, NATURE PART xii. of the Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society consists of an investigation by Mr. Richard J. Moss of the state in which helium exists in pitchblende. quantity of helium in a sample of pitchblende was 0.107 c.c. The total per gram, and of this 1.17 per cent. was liberated by simply grinding the mineral in a vacuum. dioxide separated by completely decomposing the mineral The quantity of carbon was 4.686 c.c. per gram, of which only 0.0085 per cent. was obtainable by grinding. As a similar proportion of the total occluded carbon dioxide can be separated from calcite, in which the gas is undoubtedly present in minute cavities, by simply pulverising the crystals, it is probable that the whole of the carbon dioxide of pitchblende, and possibly the helium also, are present similarly occluded. evident that the proportion of the gases liberated by roughly grinding must necessarily be only a small proportion of the total volume. It is THE Christmas number of Photography, published by Messrs. Iliffe and Sons, Ltd. (1s. net), is restricted to many kinds of work with the camera which can be accomplished indoors during the winter months. further to deal with the lighter side of photography as It might be said well, as will be judged by reading the second portion of this number. Part i., by Mr. C. J. Harrison, deals with the working up of negatives and prints for the removal of mechanical and other defects from negatives. The methods and dodges employed are, as the author states, the outcome of his own experience, but nevertheless they are interesting reading, and may prove serviceable to many photographers. The illustrations accompanying the text chosen to represent various stages of these methods also well worth examination. In part ii. Mr. W. L. F. Wastell discourses on bye-paths of photography. the reader is made acquainted with methods for producing Here what may be termed 66 freak have illustrated examples of the so-called “ photographs. Thus we graph, distortions due to the object being too near to the spirit" photocamera, two images of the same person in one picture, combination portraits, silhouettes, and many others of a similar character. The supplement to this number consists of designs, covering sixteen pages, of photographic mounts to serve as Christmas cards. and are THE articles in the October number of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin (xv., No. 163) are mainly of medical interest. Dr. Packard, however, writes an interesting account of some famous quacks, including Valentine Greatrakes, who claimed the healing touch for the King's evil in the seventeenth century, no other than Robert Boyle testifying to his powers; Joshua ("Spot ") Ward, who discovered a cheap way of making oil of vitriol; and John St. John Long, who devised a famous liniment which possessed not only curative powers, but also revealed hidden disease, and from his practice is said to have derived 13,000l. a year. [DECEMBER 15, 1904 THE separate parts (parts i.-vi.) of " A School Geometry," by Messrs. H. S. Hall and F. H. Stevens, which have been reviewed in these columns from time to time, have been published together in one volume by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., at 4s. 6d. A FOURTH edition of Prof. Olof Hammarsten's "Textbook of Physiological Chemistry has been published by Messrs. John Wiley and Sons, New York (London: Messrs. Chapman and Hall, Ltd.). This issue is an authorised translation by Prof. John A. Mandel. from the author's enlarged and revised fifth German edition, THE 1904 issue of the "Year-book of the Scientific and Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland" has now been published by Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd. This is the twenty-first annual issue of a useful list of organisations for the advancement of science, literature, and art, and of work done year by year. Comprehensive as the compilation is, it is not quite complete, for there appears to be no reference either to the Sociological Society or to the Geographical Association. Erratum. In the inscription of Fig. 5 (p. 135) of the article on Invar in last week's NATURE, "a 2 km. wire " should read 66 a 24 m. wire." OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. RELATIONS BETWEEN SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. In a paper communicated to the Royal Society of New South Wales, Mr. H. I. Jensen, of Sydney University, discusses the more recent data concerning sun-spot frequencies and the occurrence of volcanic outbursts, earthquakes and climatic variations, with the view of illustrating further the dependence of the terrestrial upon the solar phenomena. In a previous paper communicated to the same society in June, 1902, he arrived at the conclusion that the maxima of volcanic and seismic activity coincided, in point of time, with the sun-spot minima, but the discussion of the later data has led him to a confirmation of the views expressed by Sir Norman Lockyer, viz. that the maximum activity of the terrestrial takes place at both the minima and the maxima of the solar phenomena. His observations show, however, that the action at sun-spot maxima is less marked than, and of a different character to, that which takes place at the minima. The differential action of lunar attraction is also discussed, and although the author concludes that this cause is only one of secondary importance, he shows that volcanic outbursts and earthquakes seem to occur most frequently at those times when the moon is in perigee. performed in this direction by Sir Norman and Dr. Lockyer, SUN-SPOT SPECTRA.-In No. 4, vol. xx., of the Astrophysical Journal Father Cortie brings together the results of all the sun-spot spectra observations made at the Stonyhurst College Observatory during the period 1883-1901. Using a Browning automatic spectroscope containing twelve 60° prisms, the widened lines in the region B-D of the solar spectrum were picked out, and the intensity of their relative widening recorded on an arbitrary numerical scale. The present catalogue results from 5486 individual observations of 349 lines, and the results generally confirm the observations made at South Kensington as recorded by Sir Norman Lockyer in a paper (" On the Relation between the Spectra of Sun-spots and Stars ") recently communicated to the Royal Society, viz. that vanadium and titanium are the elements chiefly affected in sun-spot spectra. |