con

The opening chapters deal exclusively with Australian conditions. Pressure observations are sidered first. The mean amplitude of the difference between a number of conspicuous minima and the succeeding maxima in the curves showing the annual variation, amounts to more than seven-hundredths of an inch. When the curves for those stations for which long records are available are compared, they all show a marked similarity, and the important generalisation is arrived at that simultaneous excess or defect of pressure in any one year is a marked feature of the whole Australian continent, and is not restricted to any one particular portion of this area. Coming next to the rainfall observations, an examination of the curves leads to a similar conclusion. Years of low rainfall are, broadly speaking, years of deficiency over the whole continent, and in years of excess the excess is also general. Moreover, a comparison of the rainfall and pressure curves suggests very strongly that periods of high pressure are periods of low rainfall, and vice versa. These are generalisations of great importance, for they introduce a great simplification, and correspondingly facilitate the further study of Australian weather conditions. In view of the few data available in proportion to the area considered, a meteorologist, arguing from analogy, might be disposed to regard these as hasty generalisations. The extraordinary variability of rainfall in other parts of the world is well known, and for its adequate study a large mass of information is essential. When the necessary figures are forthcoming we find that even within the narrow limits of our own islands there are very conspicuous differences between the north of Scotland and the south of England. Australian conditions are, however, different. As Dr. Lockyer points out, the weather of the continent is dominated primarily by anticyclones travelling from west to east. In years of high pressure these anticyclones are found to embrace a wider area, and thus the low-pressure systems which skirt their edges and bring rain to the northern districts in summer, and to the southern ones in winter, affect the land area to a smaller extent.

In discussing these questions of correlation, whether it be between variations of the same element at different places or between different elements, Dr. Lockyer uses the similarity between two curves as his standard of measurement. The points of resemblance to which he directs attention are, indeed, striking. At the same time, the reader feels a desire for a more definite expression of the relation between the elements under comparison. When we come to the correlation between the Australian curves and those for other parts of the world, which takes up much of the later part of the work, this becomes more imperative. Thus, on p. 72, after discussing the striking resemblance between the pressure changes at Adelaide and those of Bombay or Batavia, we read, "While the Cordoba curve is nearly the inverse of Adelaide the curve for the Cape seems to be intermediate, being more inclined to be similar to the Australian type of variation than that of South America." The intermediate between two curves which are inverse to one another should be a straight line. If it is meant that the Cape curve follows now the variations of Adelaide and now those of Cordoba, it becomes a matter of importance to have some means of comparing the degrees of similarity in the two cases. Superpose any two arbitrarily drawn curves showing fluctuations of approximately the same amplitude, and we are sure to find that some of the maxima and minima agree. Can we say by how much the correlation between the curves we are discussing exceeds that between curves drawn arbitrarily?

The question of periodicity naturally comes in for discussion. After eliminating a variation of short period by taking means of groups of four years, Dr. Lockyer claims that the smoothed curves for Australia show a periodicity of nineteen years. It is true that there are conspicuous maxima in 1868 and 1897, and minima separated by about the same number of years, but this does not of itself prove a recurring periodicity, and the case is not advanced by drawing hypothetical curve through the points of maximum in which an intervening secondary maximum is disregarded and replaced by a principal minimum. The occurrence of a similar interval between the maxima in the pressure curve for South America, but of other epoch, is suggestive, but the question of the connection between the two continents remains one for further study.

66

a

A highly suggestive and interesting chapter on the air movements over the three great land areas of the southern hemisphere points out some interesting similarities between the pressure distribution and the incidence of rainfall of the three continents. The volume also contains an interesting comparison of the flow of the Murray river with the rainfall, and of the frequency of southerly "Bursters" with the variations of pressure. The work thus ranges over a wide field. It offers much that is new, and brings together from a common point of view much information that has hitherto been scattered in a number of individual papers. R. G. K. L.

POSSIBILITY OF AN EXTRA-NEPTUNIAN PLANET.

M. GAILLOT has contributed an admirable note

on this subject to the Comptes rendus (March 22). A summary of his calculations is set forth so clearly as to be easy to follow, and if we have one regret it is that he has not published the discordances between observed and tabular positions that necessarily form the basis of his work. We suppose that the Comptes rendus do not admit masses of tabular matter, and we wish to express the hope that M. Gaillot will publish this information somehow or other.

A review recently appeared in NATURE (June 17, P. 463) on Prof. W. H. Pickering's calculations. We there maintained that Prof. Pickering's supposed planet "O" could not possibly produce sensible_perturbations in Uranus. Now, M. Gaillot and Prof. Pickering both locate their hypothetical planets in the same part of the sky. M. Gaillot's mass is five times that of the earth, or two and a half times that of Prof. Pickering's "O." A reader of the previous review will see that M. Gaillot's planet would, therefore, produce in Uranus inequalities exceeding a second of We suspect that Prof. Pickering has made some numerical mistake in estimating the mass of his planet "O," and, if he can rectify this, we should then have two independent researches in practical agreement. M. Gaillot's result is, however, sufficiently confirmed by the analogy from inner planets developed in the previous review.

arc.

The important question now arises, "Are the observed discordances sufficiently large to point unmistakably to some unknown planet? It is clear that an inequality with a coefficient of one second of arc appears to exist in the observations; but the elliptic constants of the orbit of Uranus are arbitrary, the observations are liable to small errors, and the theory of the action of known planets is not perfect. All this shows how unsafe it would be to assert the real existence of the inequality which would in its turn demonstrate the existence of an unknown planet. We

may draw an analogy from the moon. The real existence of a term with coefficient nearly three seconds and period sixty-four years is now generally admitted in the motion of the moon. This term was first defined in 1904, and the case for its real existence was not a strong one until Prof. Newcomb arrived in 1909 at an almost identical conclusion from the totally different evidence of occultations. The term in the motion of Uranus must therefore be doubtful for the present. We are not entitled to do more at present than hope that it is real, and that a corresponding planet will reward M. Gaillot's admirable work. This doubt is fully admitted by M. Gaillot.

"Ces résultats ne doivent être acceptés d'ailleurs qu'avec une extrême réserve. En effet, les différences entre les positions observées d'Uranus et celles qui sont calculées a l'aide de nos Tables ne dépassent guère les limites des erreurs probables des observations augmentées de celles qui résultent des imperfections de la théorie. . . ."

It is noteworthy that, like Prof. Pickering, M. Gaillot bases his hypothetical planet upon Uranus and not upon Neptune. It appears, therefore, that the motion of Neptune is in good agreement with the tables, and that no extra-Neptunian planet can exist of a mass and epoch to produce sensible inequalities in the motion of Neptune since its discovery. This is an important negative result; in fact, if it be assumed that the unknown planet has a mass at least one-third that of Neptune, a considerable part of the ecliptic is excluded from the domain where this planet can possibly be found.

IT

THE SORBY RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP. T will be remembered that the late Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., of Sheffield, bequeathed a sum of 15,000l. to the Royal Society of London to be held in trust for the establishment of a professorship or fellowship for original scientific research, the testator expressly desiring the professorship or fellowship thus founded to be associated with the University of Sheffield. Accepting this trust, the council of the Royal Society appointed a committee to confer with representatives of the University of Sheffield with the view of drawing up a scheme for giving effect to the intentions of Dr. Sorby's will.

A scheme, prepared by this committee for the establishment of a 66 Sorby Fellowship for Scientific Research" to be associated with the University of Sheffield, has now been approved and adopted by the council of the Royal Society, and by the senate and council of the University of Sheffield. This scheme provides for the administration of the income of the fund by a joint committee consisting of four persons appointed by the council of the Royal Society, one person appointed by the council of the University of Sheffield, and two by the senate of that University.

The object of the fellowship is not to train students for original research, but to obtain advances in natural knowledge by enabling men of proved ability to devote themselves to research; and in making an appointment the committee will pay special attention to the capacity for original work of a candidate, as shown by the work already done by him, and to the likelihood that he will continue to do valuable work. Each appointment will be in the first instance for five years, subject to the control of the committee, but may in special circumstances be prolonged for further periods if the committee is satisfied with the fellow's work.

The fellow will be required to carry out his research, when possible, in one of the laboratories of the University of Sheffield, and provision is made under

the regulations for the setting aside of a sum not exceeding 50l. a year to form an apparatus fund, from which grants may be made from time to time to the fellow for the purchase of special apparatus and material required in his research. The stipend of the Sorby Research Fellow will probably be about 5ool. per annum, and it is hoped that the committee will be in a position to make the first appointment to the fellowship early in the coming autumn.

E

PROF. T. W. BRIDGE, F.R.S.

We regret to record the death, on June 30, of Dr. T. W. Bridge, Mason professor of zoology in the University of Birmingham. By his death the University is deprived of one of its oldest and most experienced teachers, and zoological science has lost one of those workers who, under the influence of Balfour and the Cambridge school, have contributed largely both by example and precept to our knowledge of vertebrate morphology.

Prof. Bridge was born in Birmingham in 1848, and after studying science at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, went in 1870 to Cambridge as assistant to Mr. J. W. Clark, then director of the Museum of Zoology. In 1872 he was elected to a foundation scholarship at Trinity College, and appointed demonstrator in zoology under the late Prof. Newton. After his graduation in 1875, he spent six months at Naples working in the zoological station, where, on the advice of F. M. Balfour, he carried out research into the abdominal pores of fishes. In 1879 he was appointed professor of zoology in the Royal College of Science at Dublin. In 1880 he became one of the original professors at the Mason College, Birmingham, holding the chair of biology; and when this chair was divided in 1882 he retained the title of Mason professor of zoology and comparative anatomy, and kept the same position when the Mason College became a University in 1900.

The original work carried out by Prof. Bridge dealt chiefly with the osteology of ganoid fish, the poriabdominales" of vertebrates, and the air-bladder of Teleosts. The most important of these memoirs are undoubtedly those dealing with the last subject, and the large paper by Profs. Bridge and Haddon, published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1893, on the air-bladder of Siluroids, has become a classic. This work was the first thorough investigation dealing with the structure and physiology of this organ which had appeared since Weber's original discovery and fundamental treatise on the air-bladder published in 1820. In certain Siluroids, Weber found that extraordinary apparatus which still bears his name. He described in a few families the vertebral elements that link the air-bladder with the ear, and concluded that the apparatus subserved the function of hearing in these fish. What was now required was a systematic inquiry into the variation of this mechanism and into the use or uses of it; and it is this monographic treatment that we owe to Prof. Bridge and his collaborator. They investigated 100 species of Siluroids, and concluded that this highly specialised mechanism was employed, not for audition, but for the registration of varying hydrostatic pressures. These memoirs not only advanced our knowledge of this interesting structure, but threw light on many points of ecological interest in connection with other physostomatous

Teleosts.

Prof. Bridge's most recent work was his article on fishes in the "Cambridge Natural History" (1904). This article has proved one of the most useful treatises on this subject both to teachers and students. The

value of his work was recognised by his election into the Royal Society in 1903.

We must not conclude this short article without bearing witness to the great success of Prof. Bridge as a teacher. He excelled, to no common degree, in grounding his pupils in the elements of zoology. As examination candidates his students showed unusual accuracy, and, in the main, a wide knowledge. Those of them who were able to go further and undertake some piece of research found in him not only stimulus, but an unwearied guide and a sagacious

critic.

NOTES.

a

M. G. DARBOUX has been re-elected president of the Société des Amis des Sciences, MM. Aucoc and Picard vicepresidents, and Prof. Joubin general secretary. The society was founded in 1857 by Baron Thenard with the view of assisting unfortunate inventors, men of science, and professors and their families. Among the names of pastpresidents of the society Occur those of Thenard, J. B. Dumas. Pasteur, and others. Since its foundation the society has distributed in pensions and grants more than two and a half million francs. This year eighty pensions have been granted to old savants or their widows. The society has assisted the education of some seventy children, and made grants to thirty-five widows. The work of the society should appeal to all who benefit from the work of men of science. Information as to the society

may be obtained from the treasurer, M. Fouret, 79 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris.

WE learn from Science that the people of Honolulu have guaranteed already half the money asked for by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the maintenance of an observatory which the institute proposes to establish at the brink of Kilauea for the study of volcanic action.

THE Geologists' Association is arranging a long excursion to the Arenigs, from July 28 to August 7, under the direction of Mr. W. G. Fearnsides. The excursion secretary is Mr. E. Montag, 4 Queen's Road, Rockferry, Birkenhead.

THE Vienna correspondent of the Times announces that during excavations near Willendorf on the Danube by the prehistoric section of the Austrian Natural History Museum, a chalk figurine, 11 centimetres high, representing a female figure, was discovered in a stratum containing instruments and weapons characteristic of the Stone age.

THE maps of the cadastral survey of Egypt have just been used to determine accurately the area of land planted with cotton and its distribution. Each plot in which cotton was sown was marked on the maps (scale 1/2500), so that not only the area and position were recorded, but, since the land-tax has been recently re-assessed with the aid of these maps, the distribution of cotton on land of different degrees of fertility was also determined. The total area was 1,466,530 feddans, or 1,522,258 acres.

THE Naples Academy of Sciences (mathematical and physical section) offers a prize of 1000 lire for the best essay containing a systematic exposition of our present knowledge of the geometrical configurations of the plane and of spaces, considered in relation to the theory of substitutions, with, if possible, some new results. The memoirs are to be sent in anonymously not later than June 30, 1910.

IN Travel and Exploration for July Mr. H. Massac Buist discusses what the nations are doing in the progress of aviation, and refers to the annual prize offered by him to the Aerial League for the best essay by a member of that body dealing with the attention that is being devoted by the leading civilised nations to the advancement of aërial locomotion. The first competition is to close on January 31, 1910. In his article the author shows that while Governments are mainly devoting their attention to the construction of dirigibles, aëroplane machines are, to a large extent, being developed by private enterprise.

WRITING in the Oxford and Cambridge Review, with a foreword by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Mr. R. P. Hearne advocates the introduction of aviation as a form of sport at the older universities. It is pointed out that such a scheme would produce a school of skilled aviators whose experience would be of great value in future developments of aërial navigation. While the possibility of an Oxford and Cambridge flying race is suggested, we would point out that, in view of the fact that the great majority of Varsity men cannot afford to spend 1000l. on a motordriven machine, the man of moderate means might participate in the sport by gliding down a suitable incline selected on the Gogmagogs, Madingley Hill, or Royston Heath.

THE number of records of earthquakes obtained at Shide, Göttingen, Hamburg, and Laibach between January 1 and April 30 this year were, respectively, 98, 65, 61, and 33. Each of these earthquakes extended over wide areas, and was recorded at more than one station. At Shide the instrument employed is of the type adopted by the British Association. At the other stations the records were made on smoked paper or by photographic arrangements with a high multiplication.

THE annual general meeting of the Royal Society of Arts, the 155th since the foundation of the society in 1754, was held on Wednesday, June 30, Sir William H. White, K.C.B., chairman of the council, in the chair. The Prince of Wales was re-elected for the ninth time in succession president of the society, and the council, with certain additions and alterations, was re-elected. The principal business of the meeting was the reading of the annual report, which recorded the proceedings of the society during the past year. Reference was made to the failure of the renewed attempt made by the managers of the London Institution to amalgamate with the society. The number of the society's members is now 3490.

THE Times announces that in July of next year there will be held in Brussels, in connection with the International Exhibition of 1910, the first International Congress of Administrative Sciences, under the direct patronage of the Belgian Government. The term "administrative sciences" is defined by the congress committee as meaning the sum of theoretical knowledge relating to the services, the organisation, the machinery, and the action of Governments, and to the most practical methods to be employed by them. The honorary secretary to the British committee of the congress is Mr. G. Montagu Harris, Caxton House, Westminster, S.W.

THE recent notices issued by the committee of the International Aëronautical Exhibition at Frankfort show that many valuable prizes, in addition to those we have already mentioned, have been placed at its disposal, including one by the German Emperor; three prizes are also offered for the best kinematographic films of natural flight. A series of scientific lectures will be delivered, the first being

on July 12, by Major v. Parseval, who will describe his air-ship and its potentialities; many other well-known men of science have also fixed the dates of their lectures. The physics of the upper air will be discussed by Profs. Assmann, Hergesell, Süring, and others. A list of the lectures and prizes already arranged is published in the first number of the exhibition journal Ila, this title being a contraction of Internationale Luftschiffahrt Ausstellung.

WE are indebted to the author, Dr. K. J. Bush, for a copy of notes on the molluscan family Pyramidellidæ, published in the June number of the American Journal of Science. These notes may be regarded as in some degree supplemental to the article on the same group contributed by Mr. P. Bartsch to vol. xxxiv. of the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History.

THE crinoids of the family Comasteridæ undergo revision at the hands of Mr. A. H. Clark in No. 1685 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, no fewer than five new genera, of which three are based on species, being named and described in the course of the paper. The communication relates, to a great extent, to material collected by the Albatross.

new

As the result of a biological survey of the Belgian coast undertaken by the Royal Museum of Natural History of Belgium, Mr. G. Gilson, the director of that establishment, has been enabled to describe a new and interesting parasite which in autumn frequents the nursing-chamber of the females of the schizopod crustacean Gastrosaccus spinifer. Seeing that the schizopod occurs in great swarms at some distance from the shore, it is a matter for surprise that the discovery of the infesting parasite should have been so long delayed, especially as the latter is of relatively large size. The parasite is itself a crustacean, referable to the group of epicarids, a section of isopods which have become degraded in accordance with the requirements of a parasitic existence. Although nearly related to Dajus, Mr. Gilson is of opinion that the new species should represent a genus by itself, and accordingly proposes the The name Prodajus ostendensis. paper, of which we have received a separate copy, is published in vol. xliii., pp. 19-92, of the Bulletin scientifique de la France et de la Belgique.

A cory of the Milroy lectures on disinfection and disinfectants, delivered by Prof. R. Tanner Hewlett, and reprinted from the Lancet, has been received. In these three lectures Prof. Hewlett decided not to deal with the details of the various methods of practical disinfection, for these are to be found sufficiently described in every text-book of hygiene; he has rather set himself to discuss the scientific principles embraced in the practice of disinfection. He first refers to the natural processes which reduce or destroy

DARWINISM looms large in the June number of Neue Weltanschauung, in which the opening article is devoted to a biography of Dr. August Weismann, accompanied by an excellent portrait of that distinguished biologist and evolutionist. There is also a notice of an interesting Darwin exhibition recently opened at Carlsruhe, and arranged by Prof. Walther May. The exhibits are divided into three sections, one historical and biographical, the second theoretical, and the third bibliographical. In the first are included a series of pictures illustrative of the life of Darwin and of the influence of the environment on the organism, while the second is devoted to pictures and specimens illustrative of Darwin's observations and teaching.

THE fresh-water crustaceans of Algeria and Tunis form the subject of the first paper in the June number of the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, this communication being based on the collections made by the author, Mr. Robert Gurney, in February and March, 1906. Although the Algerian fresh-water crustaceans have been better worked out than those of any other part of Africa, the author finds that even here our knowledge is far from complete, while still more remains to be done in Tunis, especially in the Tell, or coast-district. A very large number of species were collected, of which several are described by the author as new, the ostracods being omitted and reserved for a future communication. Perhaps one of the most interesting of the forms discovered during the visit is the malacostracan Cirolana foutis, described by the author in the Zool. Anzeiger for 1908 on the evidence of three examples found under stones at the mouth of a spring near Biskra.

&c.), sunlight, desiccation, filtration (as in soil); he then turns to the defensive mechanisms with which nature has endowed the human body; and after making a brief reference to the application of internal disinfectants, he passes to a consideration of the disinfection of the infectious material outside the body. References are made to school disinfection, the requirements of an ideal disinfectant, the nature of the processes of disinfection, and the standardisation of disinfectants on the basis of their germicidal values. During the past few years much controversy has arisen upon the value of various methods of gauging the relative germicidal powers of disinfectants, and although advance has been made, we are still some distance from the goal of a satisfactory scientific method; it is important that this matter should be placed upon a sound basis, for, as Prof. Hewlett points out, the use of a disinfectant engenders a sense of security which, in the case of an inefficient one, is unreal, and may lead to disastrous results. The market is flooded with inefficient disinfectants, and there is at present no legal restraint upon their sale.

WE have been favoured with the report of the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, covering the reports of the various subordinate officers connected with the gardens. Dr. Willis refers very hopefully to the introduction of American machinery for tilling the ground, owing to the success attending the trial at the experiment station in the north of the island. The growth there of Ceara rubber has been excellent, and in consequence nurseries of Manihot dicholoina have been formed. The Government

chemist, Mr. M. K. Bamber, gives some particulars of analyses of young and old cacao leaves. In the young leaves potash and phosphoric acid accumulate to the extent of 35 per cent. and 10 per cent. respectively, but very small quantities are present in old leaves, which contain a large amount of silica combined with lime and magnesia. MR. N. N. WORONICHIN, who has been studying the distribution of the algae in the Black Sea, communicates a

preliminary account to the botanical section (No. 7) of Travaux de la Société impériale des Naturalistes de St. Pétersbourg (vol. xxxvii., part iii.). Three vertical zones of distribution are distinguished. The littoral zone is narrow, as there is no appreciable ebb and flow; Ralfsia verrucosa, Corallina virgata, Rivularia polyotis, are the chief forms in certain bays, and in others species of Ulva and Enteromorpha are the most general. The second zone comprises depths from two to eight fathoms, where Cystoseira barbata is everywhere the dominant species. A third zone ranges from ten to thirty fathoms; Polysiphonia elongata is the chief formation down to twentyfive fathoms, then Zanardinia collaris is dominant, and lower Antithamnion plumula.

A SERIES of short papers by Dr. J. N. Rose relating to xerophytic plants of the unrelated but morphologically

similar families of the Crassulacea and Cactaceæ is collected in vol. xii., part ix., of Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. A Mexican plant, formerly described from barren specimens as an Echeveria, is made the type of a new genus, Thompsonella. Another plant from Vera Cruz restores the species Echeveria carnicolor. Three new species of the same genus are recorded from Guatemala. The re-discovery of the Cuban species of tree cactus, Cereus nudiflorus, is interesting; other new species are an arboreal Pereskia, a remarkably spiny Echinocereus, and a Nopalea. Dr. Rose also describes a leguminous tree resembling a Cercidium, but sufficiently distinct to be placed in a new genus, Conzattia. The photographs illustrating the habit of these plants are admirable.

THE Scenery of the Greater Antilles forms the subject of an interesting paper read by Sir H. H. Johnston at the Royal Geographical Society, and published in the June number of the Geographical Journal. The subject provides ample scope for the author's well-known powers of observation and description. Reference is made to the striking character of the royal palms, Oreodoxa regia, in Cuba, an avenue of which " looks like a column of white marble pillars crowned with a gerbe of glossy green fronds." The palmetto, Sabal palmetto, and two other palms with fan-shaped leaves, Thrinax and Coccothrinax, are prominent in the landscape of the plains and foothills. Tall cacti contribute largely to the scenery of eastern Cuba, especially on sandy flats. In the island of Haiti the agaves aroused the author's admiration. With regard to Jamaica, the author presents a sketch of the vegetation in January; he also offers a word of advice in the matter of retaining such natural beauty spots as Fern Gully.

WE have received revised editions of two useful little manuals :-(1) “Observing and Forecasting the Weather,' by Mr. D. W. Horner; and (2) "Some Facts about the Weather," by Mr. W. Marriott. The first is intended for those who may wish to obtain some knowledge of the weather without the use of instruments. For such persons the work contains much useful information; the chapters on clouds and optical phenomena, from which successful forecasts may often be drawn, are especially interesting, as are also the sections on old weather proverbs and the popular fallacy of the moon's influence. The work is accompanied by some good typical illustrations. The second pamphlet gives some of the results which have been obtained from present-day systematic meteorological observations in the British Isles," and is of special interest to those possessing instruments for an ordinary climatological station. It contains useful information referring to each of the meteorological elements, the use of synoptic

66

charts, and particulars of average and extreme values; it also deals with special subjects, e.g. electrical phenomena and the investigation of the upper air, and contains many useful illustrations. The work will be acceptable to many who may wish to obtain accurate general weather knowledge without reference to more pretentious instructions and text-books.

THE Electrical Review for June 18 contains a list of the electric tramways, railways, and power companies of the United Kingdom. We note that the following towns head the list of those having electric tramways :-Manchester 105, Glasgow 95, London 86, Liverpool 59, Bradford 55, and Leeds 54 miles of track. The leading electric railways are the Liverpool and Southport with 35, the Newcastle and Tyneside with 30, the Metropolitan with 26, and the Metropolitan District with 24 miles of double track. The greatest power companies are:-the Newcastle-on-Tyne with a station capacity of 47,000 kilowatts, and the Durham Collieries with 11,000 kilowatts. One of the points which a study of the list brings out is the great popularity of electric traction in the northern towns as compared with the indifference in the south.

By means of quotations from the "Atomistic" of 1862 and the "Weltleben" of 1881 of Robert Grassmann, Dr. F. Kuntze shows in the Physikalische Zeitschrift for June 15 that more than forty years ago the brothers

Hermann and Robert Grassmann had worked out the

details of an electronic theory to which the electronic theories of the present day bear some resemblance. According to the Grassmann theory, the smallest æther particle consists of a pair of entities to which symbols +E and -E are assigned. The pairs repel each other according to the inverse fourth-power law. When glass is rubbed with silk the + E is attracted to the glass, the -E to the silk, and the two bodies become electrified. Light is due to the oscillations of the pairs as pairs, electricity to the oscillation of the constituents of each pair. Heat is the oscillation of matter and the æther pair together. Matter in the same way consists of pairs of elements, and chemical combination of two substances is the attraction of the positive matter element by the negative part of the æther pair, and the negative matter element by the positive part of the æther pair. The positive and negative parts of a pair are supposed to keep apart owing to the motion of each round the other, as in a binary star.

AN interesting article on the mechanical testing of cast iron appears in the Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie nationale for May. The author, M. Ch. Frémont, deals first with the historical aspect of his subject, giving drawings of early apparatus, and then proceeds to describe special machines of his own with which he has made many tests on small specimens for the determination of the coefficient of elasticity, the elastic limit, and the breaking strength. The results and plotted diagrams are given, and from these the author arrives at the following conclusions:-the testing under static bending of castiron samples of greatly differing strengths shows that the coefficient of elasticity varies considerably, from simple to triple proportion; the capacity for elastic bending of cast iron is inversely proportional to its strength; the elastic limit under static bending varies very greatly, being from 0.45 to 0.80 of the breaking strength.

MOST of the engineering and shipbuilding periodicals for the week ending June 26 contain reference to the new rules which are on the point of being issued by Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. The revised rules are framed to include vessels up to about 680 feet in length,