searches on liquids and on the law of corresponding states at low temperatures.

THE seventh annual meeting of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science will be held at Bloemfontein during the week ending on Saturday, October 2, under the presidency of Sir H. Goold Adams, K.C.M.G. The work of the association will be divided into three sections, a's follows:-section i. will include mathematics, physics, astronomy, meteorology, geodesy, geography, engineering, mining, and architecture; section ii. will include chemistry, metallurgy, mineralogy, geology, botany, zoology, agriculture, forestry, bacteriology, physiology, and hygiene; section iii. will include education, philology, psychology, history, archæology, economics, statistics, sociology, anthropology, and ethnology. Papers on any of the subjects enumerated will be welcomed, and should be submitted to either of the secretaries. A strong reception committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the Mayor of Bloemfontein (Mr. C. L. Botha), who is taking active steps towards making the visit to 'Bloemfontein a success. The joint honorary secretaries at Bloemfontein are Dr. Geo. Potts, of the Grey University 'College, and Mr. Arthur Stead, 40 Victoria Road, Bloemfontein. Further details regarding this meeting of the association may be obtained from the assistant general secretary, P.O. Box 1497, Cape Town.

THE provisional programme of Section H (Anthropology) of the British Association, for the Winnipeg meeting, has now reached us. In arranging the proceedings of the section an attempt has been made, so far as possible, to cover the latest developments in anthropological science. Dr. T. Ashby, director of the British School at Rome, will deal with archæology in the western Mediterranean; Mr. R. M. Dawkins, director of the British School at Athens, with archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean; and Mr. D. G. Hogarth with the archæology of Asia Minor, with special reference to the Hittites. Miss Breton will review the present state of our knowledge of the arms and armour and of the physical type of the ancient inhabitants of 'Central America. It is hoped that the first results of an expedition which Dr. Haddon is now conducting among the natives of the western coast of North America may be available for the meeting. A number of prominent anthropologists of the United States have promised to contribute to the proceedings of the section. Among these may be mentioned Dr. F. Boas, who will deal with anthropological problems in Canada; Miss Fletcher, who will read a paper on her work among the Omaha people; papers will also be contributed by Dr. Gordon, of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Clarence Moore. Dr. Harry Piers, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, will deal with our present knowledge of the natives of Nova Scotia, and Mr. C. Hill-Tout will present his final report on the natives of British Columbia. The valuable reports which have been presented to the association from year to year by Mr. Hill-Tout are the results of work undertaken under the auspices of the Canadian Ethnographic Survey Committee of the British Association, now defunct. In this connection it may be mentioned that papers dealing with the urgent necessity for an ethnographic survey of Canada will be contributed by Mr. E. S. Hartland and Dr. F. C. Shrubsall.

IN the Revue scientifique for July 3 is published the discourse delivered by Dr. Edmond Perrier, Director of the Paris National Museum of Natural History, on the occasion of the inauguration, on June 13, of the statue of Jean de Lamarck. In this oration, which is characterised by eloquence and insight, M. Perrier does full justice to the

extraordinary industry of Lamarck, and to the merits. his work on the systematics of invertebrates and pla In dealing with his speculative treatises on meteorology & kindred subjects, while allowing that his imagination apt to get the better of his judgment, M. Perrier pertiner asks what would become of science if its professors nev permitted themselves to attack questions which curre opinion pronounces insoluble. On the subject of organ evolution, the author brings out in an interesting ways contrast between the influence of Lamarck and that Darwin upon scientific opinion. M. Perrier does not m cern himself to defend Lamarck's view of the method evolution against objections, but points out that w Lamarck was himself thoroughly convinced of the tran of the general principle which is everywhere accepted day, his work met at the time with almost univers neglect. On the other hand, it fell to Darwin's lot secure the general assent of his scientific contemporaries After discussing the opposition to Lamarck offered Cuvier, M. Perrier concludes with the observation that t great anatomist, in the pride of his assurance, was aire all mistaken, and once more it is the pêcheur de Lan who was right.

THE Torquay Natural History Society has started journal of its own, of the first number of which we har received a copy. This opens with an account of the histor of the society, which is followed by a series of shor papers, several of them dealing with local subjects.

We are indebted to the Conchological Society for a cop of the July number of the Journal of Conchology, in whe special reference is made to the need of further workers in Scotland to assist the census " of British land a fresh-water molluscs. now being taken.

THE July number of the Popular Science Monthly co tains two articles on Darwinian subjects, one, by Pro F. H. Giddings, dealing with Darwinism in the theor of social evolution, while in the second Prof. Dewey dcusses Darwin's influence on philosophy.

THE July number of the Museums Journal deals larger with American topics, one article being devoted to the tariff on certain objects of art, a second to exhibits in t Brooklyn Institute illustrative of evolution and the pre servation of animals, and a third to the history and colections of the Chicago Academy of Sciences.

To vol. xxvi. (pp. 283-331) of the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Mr. A. Hermann, the ch preparator to the museum, contributes an interesting account of the methods now in use in preparing vertebrate fossils. The plates accompanying this paper illustrate the newest American systems of mounting fossil skeletons for the combined purposes of exhibition and study.

DR. G. STEINMANN has sent us a copy of a paper entitled "Zur Abstammung der Säuger," published in vol. ii. of the Zeitschrift für induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre, in which he further elaborates his remarkable views as to the polyphyletic origin of mammals. The extent to which he carries his views will be apparent when we state that while he derives Glyptodon from the dinosaurs of the Ancylosaurus group, its relative Panochthus is considered to be descended from Polacanthus.

ACCORDING to the July number of the Selborne Magazine, the Brent Valley Bird-sanctuary is yearly proving more and more successful, nightingales being numerous, while nuthatches and nightjars have made their appearance in the preserve. At least one pair of nuthatches is known to

ave nested, and it is not improbable that the nightjars ay have laid in a recently made clearing. The Selborne ociety desires to make it known that its work is by no eans limited to birds, but that antiquities, as well as any other subjects, come within its purview.

walls of the uterus. The physiology of nematocysts is dealt with in the same journal by O. C. Glaser and C. M. Sparrow, whose investigations support Grosvenor's view that the discharge of the thread-cells is brought about by osmotic pressure. They also afford further proof of the fact, recently demonstrated by Toppe, that the threads are capable of penetrating the tissues of other animals; but it appears that in order to do this they must make their punctures before eversion is complete.

WE learn from the Transvaal Agricultural Journal (No..

a

It is surprising how long it takes to acquire a complete knowledge of the structure even of an animal so thoroughly investigated as the frog. It is not many months since the existence of Reissner's fibre in the canalis centralis of the central nervous system of this animal was first announced by Nicholls, and now we learn that the frog also possesses nervus terminalis, morphologically similar to that of fishes. For this information we are indebted to Herrick, who contributes a short paper on the subject to the May number of the Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology. The nerves in question, for they are, of course, paired, are extremely short and slender, and may be observed in transverse sections lying beneath the olfactory bulbs, but they appear to be quite distinct from the olfactory nerves. They are composed of non-medullated fibres. In the next paper in the same journal, R. E. Sheldon records the occurrence of the same pair of nerves in the carp.

STUDENTS of embryology will find much to interest them in two recent numbers of the Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie (vol. xcii., parts iii. and iv.). A memoir by Erwin Taube on the development of the Euphausida deals with the segmentation of the egg up to the time of gastrulation, and constitutes an important contribution to our knowledge of cell-lineage in the earlier stages of ontogeny. A kindred topic is ably handled by E. Martini in a study on the constancy of the histological elements in Oikopleura longicauda. The author maintains that in many species certain cell-individuals in every specimen come to occupy exactly the same position in the body, always show the same relations to their surroundings, and can also be recognised as homologous by their histological characters. He refers to Goldschmidt's recent work on the central nervous system of Ascaris as one of the best examples of such constancy, and finds a similar condition of things in the nervous system, notochord, and certain other organs of Oikopleura, while the endostyle does not conform to the general rule.

IN the May number of the Journal of Experimental Zoology, Raymond Pearl sketches out a comprehensive scheme for the study of the physiology of reproduction in the domestic fowl, and makes a commencement with a biometrical investigation of the shape of the eggs laid by a particular pullet. The first egg was very abnormal in shape, but the normal form was ultimately attained by a progressive regulatory change which is shown to follow a logarithmic curve. The author concludes that the shape of the egg is determined by the muscular activity of the

vaal vineyards, and may be expected to spread and do a considerable amount of damage. Fortunately the Transvaal possesses an excellent Agricultural Department, and all proper steps to cope with the pest will be taken. In an article in the journal Mr. Davis, the Government horticulturist, describes phylloxera-resistant vines that would be suitable for the country and should in future be planted.

THE Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope recently directed attention to the ravages caused by the Antheraea tyrrhea caterpillar in certain districts, and published an appeal from the Government entomologist, Mr. Lounsbury, for material. The caterpillar comes as a plague, but between its intervals of abundance it appears to be held in check by some parasitic enemy. Two parasites are known, and others are being looked for as the simplest and most effective way of getting rid of the caterpillar.

THE necessity for looking after fruit trees properly is well brought out in a Bulletin (No. 253) recently issued by the Michigan State Agricultural College. Upon many Michigan farms there are said to be mature apple orchards that have been neglected for many years, and have produced no income beyond an occasional small crop of apples of uncertain quality. A detailed account is given of the methods, chiefly involving pruning and spraying, by which three such orchards were improved and made to yield an average net profit of 104 dollars per acre per annum for a period of five years.

THE results of field experiments in Shropshire and Staffordshire, and at the Harper Adams Agricultural College, have just been issued by the Staffordshire Education Committee. They include manurial trials on grass land, potatoes, mangolds, and swedes, and are on the lines generally adopted in such cases. Unfortunately, no analyses of the soils are given, nor any descriptions sufficient to enable anyone to apply the results to any other case. However, if the intention was simply to show that artificial manures increase crops the experiments have been a success. The experiments carried out at the college are fuller, and some interesting notes are added from the various departments on black scab of potatoes, by Mr. Malthouse; black leg in cattle, by Mr. Wilson; and agricultural chemical analyses, by Mr. B. F. Davies.

IT has always been recognised in England that an agricultural college should have its own farm, but in Scot

land the conditions have hitherto been rather different, and it has been held that the college could do without one. We now learn, however, from the North British Agriculturalist, that the Glasgow College of Agriculture has decided to acquire a farm at Kilmarnock, to be used both for teaching and experimental purposes. The sum of 3000l. will be needed for equipment, but the Scotch Education Department has promised to contribute one half, on condition that the other half can be raised locally. The experiment is attracting a good deal of attention among agriculturists in Scotland.

THE seventh annual report of the director of the Bureau of Science, Manila, shows what the Americans are accomplishing in the Philippines. One of the most pressing needs has been to obtain a sufficient medical staff to cope with the infectious and epidemic diseases and the pernicious superstitions of the natives relating thereto. At present there is but one doctor to every 430 square miles of territory in the Philippines, and many towns even of some importance have no resident medical man. In these circumstances the medical school is training intelligent natives, and is making efforts to secure sufficient numbers of students to remedy the deficiency. Anthropomorphic measurements of Filipinos and of Igorots are made, and other studies have been undertaken to throw

light on the histories of the natives. In addition, a large

amount of work is recorded on the natural resources of the island-sugar, fibres, essential oils, &c. It is stated that the fruit of Pittosporum resiniferum, Hemsl., commonly known as the petroleum nut, yielded on distillation 7 per cent. of heptane.

"A SHORT Guide to the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London, S.W.," has been issued anonymously at the price of one penny. It seems strange that the names of the curator and director are not attached, but we may take it for granted that they are responsible, as the guide is "sold only at the museum." It will undoubtedly prove of great service to visitors in directing attention to the many objects of scientific interest and practical import ance that are exhibited, and in giving so far as possible within the compass of forty-eight pages a good deal of explanatory information. The last handbook to the museum, prepared by Mr. Rudler, the former curator, was issued in 1896, and since that date many alterations and improve

ments have been made. The removal of the fine collection

of British pottery and porcelain, though lamented by many students, was necessary for the proper display of further raw materials in place of manufactured articles. Thus the exhibition of British minerals has been considerably extended, and the practical applications of geology have been more fully illustrated by examples of brick clays, road stones, &c. The map department has received special attention, and illustrations are displayed of the mode of preparation of the Geological Survey sheets on the scales of six inches and one inch to a mile. Instructive models of the Isle of Purbeck and of the complicated district of Assynt, in Sutherlandshire, have also been introduced. Plans showing the arrangement of the specimens on the several floors of the museum form an exceedingly useful feature in this new guide.

WE have received from the Philippine Weather Bureau reports by the Rev. J. Coronas of two severe typhoons experienced in 1908. The first, called the Hong Kong typhoon of July 27 and 28, resembled in its leading characteristics the destructive storm of September 18, 1906. The Manila Observatory was able to announce its appearance to the north of Luzon on the morning of July 26; it increased in speed in the China Sea, where its velocity of translation was about 8 miles an hour, and about 14 miles when it struck Hong Kong, but once in China it began to fill up, as is generally the case. The Hong Kong Observatory carefully watched the progress of the storm, and gave timely warning of its approach. The second storm, called the Tarlac typhoon of September 18 to 27, from the wreck of the ship of that name, was first announced on the morning of September 20, being then near the Western Carolines. When it reached the Philippines its velocity was about fifteen miles an hour. The storm was most violent at Borongan (Samar), and reduced that town to a heap of

ruins; it reached the northern part of Indo-China on September 27. An eye-witness at Borongan states that the roof of the town church was "blown up like a huge kite," while the convent was 64 simply crushed down soon afterwards, showing that there were ascending and descending currents on the same side of the centre, the winds being in both cases from the same direction. The area of destructive winds had an average radius of about fifty miles. The full reports, with diagrams, are published in the bulletins of the Weather Bureau.

"London by

WE have received a reprint of the article Night," by Mr. H. Wild, which appeared in Photography and Focus in March last. It contains four very realistic night by means of the illumination provided by the ordinary reproductions of photographs of London streets taken at artificial lights. The photographs were taken on rapid quarter plates of several makes by means of a portrait lens (Dallmeyer's 2B) with an exposure of about half a second, and they will bear enlargement up to 15 x 12 inches. They open up a field in photography which was undreamt of a few years ago.

THE June number of Le Radium contains an article by M. Moulin on the most probable value of the atomic charge e of electricity according to the most trustworthy of the observations made up to the present time. The three methods which M. Moulin discusses are:-First, the condensation method adopted by Sir J. Thomson and his pupils, and by Profs. Millikan and Begeman in America; second, the direct measurement of the charge on the particle, by Prof. Rutherford and Dr. Geiger; and third, the calculation of the number N of molecules in a gram molecule, based on the measurements of the Brownian movements by Prof. Perrin. The first and third of these methods agree in

giving for e the value 4.1 X 10-10 electrostatic units, while

the second gives 4-6, a high result which M. Moulin attributes to the want of uniformity in the layer of radium C with which Messrs. Rutherford and Geiger worked. His final conclusion is that the most probable value of e is 4.1 X 10-10 electrostatic units, and of N 7× 1029.

IT is well known that reaction steam turbines have a lower efficiency at the high-pressure end than at the lowpressure end. This is caused by the relatively small area of blades at the high-pressure end and the proportionally high percentage of clearance which permits of excessive leakage of steam round the blades. Published tests of a large marine turbine show an efficiency ratio of the high-pressure turbine of 55 per cent. at full power, as against 63 per cent. for the low-pressure turbine, in spite of the adoption of lower steam and blade speeds in the high-pressure turbine, thus securing a higher ratio of blade area to clearance area Pfenninger turbine, illustrated in Engineering for July 9, for the purpose of reducing leakage. In the Melmsa successful attempt is made to combine the advantages of the impulse type for the high-pressure end with the reaction type for the intermediate and low-pressure sections. An important feature of this turbine is the adoption of a drum construction for the impulse section, in which it differs from the wheel construction usual in turbines of the Curtis type. The remainder of the turbine is of the well-known Parsons type. The makers say that they have found it practicable to work with a clearance of but 10 mils. between the nearest points of the opposed fixed and moving surfaces.

THE steamer Tortuguero, which was launched from the shipbuilding yard of Messrs. Alexander Stephen and Sons, Ltd., at Linthouse, on the Clyde, on March 24, and sailed on April 22, represents the latest practice in the transport

of bananas from the West Indies. A full description of the vessel appears in the Engineer for July 9, from which we note that she is of 5000 tons gross, having insulated space of 220,000 cubic feet, the capacity of the fruit bins being 175,000 cubic feet. Granulated cork is used for the insulating material, the average thickness of the cork being. from 7 inches to 8 inches, and the bins are so constructed that the bunches of fruit do not come into contact with

metal surfaces during transit, all such being protected by wood gratings and battens, or by hemp-rope coverings. An elaborate arrangement of air passages enables cooled air to be supplied throughout the cargo, the cooling of the air being effected by a Hall's CO, refrigerating plant. An even temperature of 55° F. is maintained, and the fruit is inspected frequently so as to ensure its arrival at Manchester in proper condition for the market. In loading, the fruit is stored without covering of any kind, the lowest bunches are arranged with stems vertical, and the final layer placed horizontally, an arrangement which economises space and ensures freedom from damage.

A SECOND edition of Mr. Arturo Massenz's "Lavorazione e Tempera degli Acciai " has been published by Mr. Ulrico Hoepli, of Milan. The price of the volume is 2 lire.

shows, however, that this apparently puzzling phenome is only what is to be expected, arguing from our pres knowledge of meteor-orbits. Briefly, he shows by diagre and tables that the attracting force of the earth's mass at different times, capable of deflecting or accelerating: smaller bodies, so that the apparent change of the lo tude of the radiant counterbalances the variation pro by the earth's motion; thus the radiant appears to i stationary, or nearly so. Prof. Pickering also produ arguments against the prevalent idea that meteors generally of infinitesimal mass.

COMPARISON OF THE SPECTRA OF THE CENTRE AND E OF THE SUN'S DISC.-Previous observations having indica that in passing from the centre to the edge of the su disc the spectrum suffers modification, MM. Buisson a Fabry recently repeated the observation, using their inte ferometer method, in which each wave-length is exami independently of those of the other lines. Their observ tions, which are published in No. 26 of the Compa rendus, confirm the earlier ones of Hale and Adams, a Halm.

The latter showed that the wave-length of a line in the spectrum at the limb was a little greater than when centre of the disc was observed. From the study of for teen lines in the region of λ 4400 MM. Buisson and Fa find that the increase of wave-length varies from 0-004 t 0.006 Ångström; to this rule the two vanadium lin A4379-4 and A 4406-8, are exceptions. The observations also show that in the spectrum at the limb the same Ene are a little broader than in the spectrum at the centre, the increase of breadth amounting, in the mean, to 0-0:0 Ångström.

The

WE have received in two volumes parts A, B, C, and D of the quarterly bulletin of the results for the year 1907-8 secured during the periodical cruises and in intermediate periods in connection with the Permanent International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. parts in order deal with the temperature and salinity of the surface water; the temperature, salinity, density, &c., of sea water at different depths; the oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide dissolved in sea water; and plankton tables for August and November, 1907, and February and May, 1908. The first three parts have been prepared with the assistance of Mr. Martin Knudsen, and the last with the help of Mr. Harry M. Kyle. The volumes are published by Andr. Fred. Høst et Fils, of Copenhagen.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. STATIONARY METEOR RADIANTS.-Since Mr. Denning announced the existence of stationary meteoric radiants in 1878, many observers have endeavoured to explain, and account for, them, hitherto without much success. The apparent radiant of a meteor depends almost as much on the true direction of the earth's motion as it does on the true motion of the meteor itself, therefore it seems almost impossible that these bodies should appear to stream from the same point of the heavens for months at a time. an article appearing in No. 5, vol. xxix., of the Astrophysical Journal (June, p. 365), Prof. W. H. Pickering

In

MM. Buisson and Fabry suggest that these two phe mena, displacement and broadening, are due to the sa The only modification a line really undergoes is displacement, amounting to 0-010 Ångström, of its re edge, the more refrangible edge remaining invariable. I the exceptional case of vanadium the broadening apparently symmetrical. They suggest, further, that th asymmetrical broadening may be caused by pressureincrease of seven atmospheres would be sufficient to pr duce the observed effect-but only becomes apparent at the limb where a greater thickness of the denser layers is traversed by the radiations.

CHANGES OF FORM IN SUN-SPOTS.-Some interesting results of detailed observations of sun-spot forms are discussed, and illustrated by drawings, by M. A. Amaftounsky in No. 4332 of the Astronomische Nachrichten.

He shows that whilst, in general, the outline of the penumbra roughly follows the form of the nucleus, tremen dous changes may take place in the former, whilst the latter is apparently undisturbed. This is what would b expected on the hypothesis that the nucleus of the spots a depression, a hole, and the penumbra is produced by the ascending and descending of incandescent vapours. The appearance of bright spots in the nucleus, sometimes followed by the bridging and disintegration of the latter, is explained by the supposition that the nucleus is at a higher temperature than the photosphere, and constantly re-vaporises the filaments and tongues of the penumbra by the expulsion of hotter vapours.

MUTUAL OCCULTATION OF JUPITER'S SECOND AND FOURTH SATELLITES.-In No. 4338 of the Astronomische Nachrichter M. Pidoux describes the conjunction and mutual occultation of Jii. and Jiv. observed by him at the Genera

Observatory on June 17, 1908. Plotting the various measures, he finds that the conjunction took place a 8h. 33-4m. (G.M.T.), the shortest distance between the centres of the satellites being 1-9". Whilst the latter quantity agrees exactly with that calculated and published by Oudemans, the time is 4-6 minutes in advance of the ephemeris.

According to calculation, satellites iii. and iv. should have been in conjunction at 7h. 58.5m. on July 3. 1008, but when first observed by M. Pidoux, at 7h. 52m., the conjunction was already complete and the satellites appeared as one. At 7h. 50m. the system was elongated. and at 8h. 2m. the two images were distinctly separated. It therefore appears that the observations prove the calcu lated times to be several minutes too late.