Prescott's book, Edison distinctly says: "I can lay no claim to having discovered that conversation could be carried on between one receiver and the other upon the magneto-principle, causing the voice to vibrate the diaphragm... My first attempts at constructing an articulating telephone were made with a Reis transmitter and one of my resonant receivers. My experiments in this direction, which continued until the production of my present carbon telephone, cover many thousand pages of manuscript."

This last incidental remark, which there is no reason to doubt, reveals the indefatigable character of the man. The public see only the successful results, and many doubtless imagine that these spring ready accomplished from the fertile brain of Mr. Edison; the truth is just the reverse. It is a trite, but true observation, that successful work in any direction, and notably in scientific discovery, is the result of patient persistent toil. The public look at the nugget, but not at the labour that has won it. The fields of science are now so well trodden that

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FIG. 4.-Edison's pressure relay resembling one form of microphone. discoveries are not to be accidentally picked up, but only reward those whose quest is most skilful and diligent.

The extraordinary succession of valuable discoveries in applied science which Mr. Edison has made can only be the offspring of incessant work, profound technical knowledge, and that ready resource under difficulties which characterises a mechanical genius. The conditions under which such a man works are different from those of a purely scientific investigator; the latter publishes his researches and thereby establishes his claim to the priority of the work he has done; the former can publish nothing till the end he has in view is achieved, and the pecuniary benefit accruing from his labours secured by legal processes. And because the reward sought in the two cases is very different, the investigator must often expect to see others reaping the benefit of applications that may be made of his observations, and the inventor ought not to grumble when he finds others claiming credit for work he may previously have done, but for his purpose found it necessary to keep by him unpublished. W. F. BARRETT

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE LATE SOLAR ECLIPSE AT WATSON'S STATION.

Prof. Watson made such excellent use of the brief period of totality in the eclipse of July 29, that it will not be without interest to record the circumstances under which he observed. In a communication to M. Mouchez he gives for his position at Separation, Wyoming Territory, latitude 41° 45' 50", longitude 2h. Im. 36s. west of Washington, corresponding to 7h. 9m. 48 1s., west longitude from Greenwich. Prof. Newcomb's corrections to Hansen's place of the moon at this time are - o'63s. in right ascension, and +3.3" in declination; whence if we take Ioh. 24m. Greenwich M.T. for a special calculation, we have for the position of the moon, R. A. 8h. 38m. 11'96s., decl. +19° 5' 59'3". Combining this with the sun's place from Leverrier's Tables and the Nautical Almanac semidiameters, there results

Beginning of total eclipse, July 29...3h. 13m. 32°5 Mean times
Ending
...3h. 16m. 240 at Separation.
Thus the duration of totality was 2m.51'5s.
If for the Nautical Almanac values we substitute

Leverrier's semi-diameter for sun and deduce the semidiameter of the moon from her horizontal parallax with Burckhardt's ratio, we find the times of beginning and ending of totality are respectively 3h. 13m. 32'0s. and 3h. 16m. 24°5s., showing a duration of 2m. 52°5s.; we may therefore take 2m. 52s. for the interval which was available to Prof. Watson in his search for intra-mercurial planets. The middle of totality occurred at 3h. 14s. 58.3s. M.T. at Separation, or at 11h. 44m. 41°9s. sidereal time, when the sun's altitude was 444°, and his hour-angle 46° W.

CALCULATION OF EXCENTRIC ANOMALIES. The number of bodies in the minor planet group is now approaching two hundred, yet so far as their orbits have been satisfactorily determined only two or three out of this number have the angle of excentricity, as it is termed, or sine, greater than 20°, which corresponds to e 0'342. More than ten years since Mr. Godward, of the Nautical Almanac Office, prepared some tables for the direct computation of the excentric anomaly from the mean to this limit of excentricity. His process is as follows:

In orbits where the excentricity is not great, M, u, and being the mean, excentric and true anomalies respectively, and the angle of excentricity

tan tan2 (45° + § 4) tan ¦ M nearly.

Let M' be an angle such that

tantan (45° + § 4) tan ♣ u

= tan2 (45° + ) tan [į M + §(M' — M)]. Then the Table contains (M' - M) for any value of up to 20°, the arguments being M and .

As an example of the use of this Table, suppose the excentric anomaly of Juno is required for the time to which the elements of the planet are reduced in the Appendix to the Nautical Almanac for 1881. The mean anomaly (= € − π) = 168° 39′ ̊43 and 7° 23′′22, 84 19.72

then

M Ž(M' — M)

...

tan (45° + )

...

...

...

: :

::

:

::

::

...

...

...

...

previous lines, so that there is no subtraction in the Here tan is obtained by adding together the two operation.

Mr. Godward's Table was printed by the Nautical Almanac Office in 1866. satellite-orbits showing excentricity, as Hyperion, where It is applicable to all the

$ = 7° 11'.

Several members of the group as Dike, Medusa, and others with better determined orbits remain to be virtually rediscovered, and the most interesting of all, from its long period and near approach to the orbit of Jupiter (Hilda), was not found at its last opposition. Atalanta and Felicitas are now nearer the earth than is usual with the minor planets, both being within the mean distance of the earth from the sun; they have the brightness of stars of the tenth magnitude. The following positions are for 12h. M.T. at Berlin, or about 11h. G.M.T. :

WE regret to learn that the Earl of Dufferin will be unable to open the session of the Royal Geographical Society on Monday next, as he has received Her Majesty's commands to attend at Balmoral on that day, but it is hoped that he will be able to preside at the meeting on December 9.

PROF. F. V. HAYDEN, in charge of the Geological Survey of the U.S. Territories, has crossed the Rocky Mountain Divide ten times during the past season. He has explored some of the most noted passes, and among them the celebrated Two-ocean Pass, of which he made a careful chart; an account of this we hope soon to be able to give. We hope also to receive from Prof. Hayden an account of the discovery of recent glaciers in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming Territory, the first known to exist in the United States east of the Pacific Coast. A fine glacier was observed on the east side of Wind River Peak, and two grand ones on the east side of Fremont's Peak. The latter Dr. Hayden named Upper and Lower Fremont Glaciers. Dr. Hayden took great pleasure in traversing much of the same ground passed over by him in 1860, eighteen years and three months before.

A REUTER'S telegram states that Gen. Severtsoff, the explorer of the Pamir plateau, has returned to St. Petersburg, having visited the unknown districts of Lake Rang-Kul and the Sariz Pamir and Alitchur Pamir plateaux. He reports having found a continuous valley extending from Lake Kara-Kul to the Aksu River. Gen. Sjevertsoff has considerably altered the map of these regions and thrown much light on the geography of the Pamir plateau.

We are sorry to state that no news from the Florence has reached Washington from September 13, the date of the last telegram which Capt. Tyson sent to New York when leaving St. John's, Newfoundland. It is feared that the ship was sunk by the recent heavy gales which raged in this part of the Northern Atlantic a few days after its setting out.

THE London Missionary Society have received intelligence of the arrival of their Tanganyika expedition at Urambo, in Unyamwesi, on July 27; they were to leave that place early in August, and hoped to reach Ujiji by the beginning of September. Mr. Hore in his letter divides his geographical description of the country between Kirasa, forty-five miles east of Mpwapwa, and the capital of Unyamwesi into four sections, each of which furnishes interesting details respecting the region traversed by the party. From Kirasa in S. lat. 6° 42' 30", elevation 2,700 feet, to Mpwapwa, lat. 6° 22′, 3,200 feet, they were still in the coast region, the country gradually rising to Mpwapwa along an inclosed plain.

As it is approached, the mountains of that range bound the view westward, forming the distinct boundary-line of the maritime region. The waters of the Limbo and of the Mpwapwa stream appear to be mere tricklings left by an immense and irregular flow of water during the rains, which, Mr. Hore suspects, will alter the whole face of the country and reconcile the conflicting accounts we have had about the Gombo Lake. The Chunyo Pass is the back door of the maritime region; a slight descent leads to the plain of the Marenga Mhali, which extends through Ugogo, unless the break of elevated forest and ridge between Kididimo and Nyambwa may be said to divide it into two portions. Assuming this, the first portion, consisting of the Marenga Mhali and Eastern Ugogo, exhibits a similar character throughout, that is, a gently undulating plain, with harsh, thorny, scrubby vegetation and small trees, its monotony broken by small irregular and rugged granite hills. A slightly elevated ridge, with a really beautiful forest, divides the first from the second section of the journey. Descending from the first ridge, the party entered the second section, a flat plain, crusted with a salt deposit, in which tall palm-trees form a new feature. At Mizanga the second section terminated abruptly at a precipitous wall 800 feet high. This wall, or step,' extends north and south, but north of Mizanga it trends away to north-west and west-northwest, which bend the expedition followed, and mounted into the third section or stage of the journey a little beyond Makondoku, the westernmost town of Ugogo, This third section was the vast and elevated forest plateau of Uyanzi and Unyamwesi, extending almost unbroken to nearly the meridian of Unyanyembe. The party here found a comparatively bracing atmosphere, and also reached their highest elevation, 4,400 feet, in the meridian of Jewe-la-Singa. At Uyui (lat. 4° 53′, altitude, 3924 feet) the fourth section was entered, the hills and dales of Unyamwesi, and the country maintained the same character as far as Urambo (lat. 4° 37′ 30′′, altitude, 3,815 feet), from which place Mr. Hore wrote that the hills, often little elevated ridges, trend generally north and south, and many of their shoulders had to be crossed. This is the region of the Gombe Nullah. "To the passing traveller," Mr. Hore says, "the driftwood and grass in the trees overhead speak to him of some vast inundation rather than of a stream. The Gombe Nullah is the lowest drain of a vast body of water, whose general direction towards the Malagarasi is indicated by it. This fourth stage has brought us on to the water-shed of the Tanganyika.'

cess.

THE proceedings of the party which last spring went to New Guinea in the Colonist from Australia, have hitherto been shrouded in mystery, though rumours have occasionally reached this country as to their want of suchas been obliged to go to Cooktown, Queensland, through Recently, however, a leading member of the party ill-health, and his report of their proceedings has been furnished to the Brisbane Courier. Almost all that has previously been heard of them is that they had formed a point we learn that they proceeded through open country camp on the Laloki River. Starting north from this for eight miles, and struck the Goldie River, where they found the first colours of gold. Twelve miles up this river they crossed and proceeded for two miles in a northerly direction, when they recrossed on finding that the river trended to the east. They then took a northeasterly direction for thirteen miles, partly through dense scrub, and reached what they named the Top Camp, thirty-five miles from the Laloki. They made two journeys up the Goldie, one party going a distance of fifty miles, but found no indications of gold. They saw many villages, some numbering 1,000 inhabitants, and all the natives were friendly. Afterwards the party moved further down the river, and camped near the junction of the Mawmika and the Goldie, the former of which flows

into the latter from the east, about five miles north of the Laloki. From this point a portion of the party travelled eastward, between the Mawmika and the Laloki, towards the Astrolabe range, through open forest country, hoping to reach the table-land seen from the spurs of Mount Owen Stanley in their first journey. After about forty miles they met with magnificent waterfalls (about 150 ft.) on the Laloki, and on the fourth day reached the tableland after great labour. They went along it for twenty miles, when their further advance on horseback was stopped by the scrub. Two of the party remained with the horses, while three others, led by three natives carrying provisions, went through the scrub for thirty miles, and struck the head waters of the Goldie. They then proceeded for six miles in each direction, and found, after their great toil, that they had got entirely away from all indications of gold. They returned to the Laloki camp after an absence of thirty-two days, and since then no exploring work has been done. The members of the expedition still maintain that good gold must exist, and they propose to return to Top Camp, and thence to cross a small range to the north-west, from which the gold found in the Goldie River is supposed to have come; from that point they hope to get to another river supposed to run under Mount Owen Stanley, in the direction of Redscar Bay. The total distance traversed by the party during their three prospecting trips was 370 miles, and throughout the whole of that distance not half a grain of gold was discovered.

EARLY in the summer Mr. J. V. Williams was sent to New Caledonia to inspect the nickel mines there on behalf of an English smelting company, and we learn from an Australian contemporary that he thinks most favourably of their prospects. The mines extend from Noumea northwards, along the coast for 120 miles, and the French authorities, disheartened by the inefficient manner in which mining has hitherto been carried on in the island, are said to be prepared to give an English company all reasonable assistance and encouragement. FROM a Singapore paper we learn that Baron Overbeck and Mr. Alfred Dent, the promoters of the cession of a portion of Northern Borneo to an English company, to which we referred some few months back, arrived at that port at the end of August, after a visit to the lately-ceded territory. They state that matters are quiet there, and that no disturbances are apprehended. A Ceylon planter who went to report upon the adaptability of the soil of the territory for planting purposes, is of opinion that coffee might be cultivated on the west coast, while on the east coast the sugar-cane and other products which usually flourish in the same soil, would thrive well. Altogether the most sanguine expectations appear to exist as to the productiveness of the country.

THE WERDERMANN ELECTRIC LIGHT

sectional area of the one carbon and reduced that of the other, he produced an electric light with the carbons in actual contact, a small arc appearing at the point of contact. The small carbon is a pencil 3 mm. in diameter; the upper or negative carbon is a disk of 2 inches diameter and an inch thick. The upper carbon is not consumed, so that the waste takes place only in the lower.

In his lamp he places the disk uppermost with the pencil vertically beneath it, sliding up a metal tube which acts as a guide and contact. The pencil is kept in contact with the disk by means of chains attached to its lower extremity passing over pulleys and down again to a counterweight of about 1 lb. About in. of the lower carbon appears above the tube, and is rendered incandescent by the passage of the current between it and the disk. This pencil is pointed, and retains this point all the time of burning. It is between this point and the disk that the small electric arc appears which gives the greater part of the light.

At the exhibitions which have been given only ten lights were in circuit at once, Mr. Werdermann having no more lamps at hand. The lights were put in what is called the parallel circuit, that is, they all branched off from one wire of the machine and met again on the other. The lamps were estimated to give a light of forty candles each, and the results obtained were most satisfactory, all the lights burning equally well, giving a beautiful white light, which was perfectly steady. By this system of lighting a large number of lamps could be lighted simultaneously, could be put out, and again re-lit. If one lamp should be extinguished it does not affect the others, except by making them burn slightly brighter; but this effect will be obviated by a switch arrangement for regulating the current of the extinguished lamp. The current produced by the machine being very low in tension, the insulation of the conducting cables could be cheaply and easily maintained.

We may state that two larger lamps were shown of 360 candles each. The effect of the light is not dazzling to the eyes, and it was shown naked; in actual practice a common glass globe, as in the ordinary gas lamps, will be a sufficient protection.

NOTES

WE are requested to state that on the occasion of Prof. Wurtz's Faraday lecture at the Royal Institution on Tuesday next, the visitors' tickets issued by the Chemical Society entitle ladies as well as gentlemen to admittance.

SOME of our readers may be aware that Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace is a candidate for the post of Verderer of Epping Forest. We are sure no one can be better fitted than Mr. Wallace to perform the duties attaching to such an office, and as, so far as we know, no more suitable candidate has appeared, the duty of those who have the filling-up of the appointment is

Ir is with regret we announce the death of Mr. Charles R. Thatcher, the well-known conchological collector. It will be remembered that we alluded a few months ago to the number of genera and species of shells lately described, due to the indefatigability of this gentleman, including the unique and wonderful Thatcheria mirabilis, described in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society by Mr. G. F. Angas, and the Delphinulopsis Lesourdi, described by Mr. Bryce-Wright in the Journal de Con chyliologie, Paris. Mr. Thatcher started, a few months ago, on a five years' collecting tour, and had made the most perfect arrangements for deep-sea and shallow dredgings. attacked suddenly by fever, and died a few days after his arrival at Shanghai. There is no greater loss to conchological science than this gentleman's death, as he was undoubtedly the most successful collector of the day.

He was

PROF. F. V. HAYDEN has recently been elected honorary member of the Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, Lausanne, Switzerland; Société Malacologique, Brussels, Belgium; and the Geographical Society of Halle, Prussia.

It is announced that the Sheffield meeting of the British Assotion will begin, not on August 6, but August 20, 1879.

FROM a Government Minute we have received from Mauritius, we learn that the governor, Sir Arthur Phayre, laid before the council of July 20 an application from the President of the Meteorological Society of Mauritius for a grant of money, in order that the results of the meteorological observations made during many years by Dr. Meldrum, the Government observer, may be published in a form which will be advantageous to science and to navigation, as well as to commerce. The form which it is proposed the publication shall take is twofold, namely: synoptic weather charts for the Indian Ocean, extending over twelve consecutive months, and a storm atlas of the Indian Ocean, exhibiting the principal results which have been obtained respecting the more marked atmospheric disturbances in the Indian Ocean during the last thirty years. The objects are set forth in detail in a report by Dr. Meldrum, of which a copy is annexed to the Minute. The matter was referred to the Finance Committee, who, we trust, will grant the sum asked for. If they have any regard to the interests of navigation and commerce in the Indian Ocean, there can be no doubt as to their decision.

COMMANDER PERRIER has been making some interesting experiments with the Giffard captive balloon for the purpose of comparing the qualities of the best aneroid barometers selected from the Paris Exhibition. Each French maker who obtained a silver medal sent two instruments, which were sent up five or six times, and compared with a standard Fortin barometer placed at the foot of the cable. It was discovered that very few of these barometers recovered their original readings until after the lapse of a considerable time. Some photographs were taken of Paris at this high altitude, and are most interesting, although

the motion of the car has caused some want of distinctness in the parts removed from the centre of station.

SOME interesting objects have recently been brought to light from the lake-dwellings in the lake of Neufchatel, and are now exhibited at the Neufchatel Museum. Amongst them are three particularly worthy of notice: (1) a large and extremely well preserved piece of amber; (2) a golden earring of masterly workmanship, of the bronze age; and (3) a canoe cut out from the trunk of a single oak tree in perfect preservation. Its length is 7 metres, its breadth 55 centimetres at the prow, and 65 centimetres at the stern; its depth is 19 centimetres, its total height from 22 to 24, and the thickness of its sides 6 to 8 centimetres.

NEWS from Panama states that the volcano Cotopaxi is in a state of violent activity. Its crater is surrounded by ice and snow, but the clouds of ashes and smoke rising from it can be seen even at Guayaquil on the shores of the Pacific.

THE Daily News Naples Correspondent under date November 2, telegraphs that after numerous variations the activity of the eruption of Vesuvius appeared to be then at its height. The lava flowed into the same ravine into which it fell during the eruption of 1872. The seismographs denoted an approaching increase in the eruption.

Two fresh shocks of earthquake are reported from Buir (Rhenish Prussia), of which the first was felt for many miles around. It occurred on October 24, at 12.30 A.M., and the second one on the same date at 3.45 P.M.

A VIOLET-COLOURED meteor, with a reddish train, was seen at Stanislas, Austria, on the evening of the 24th in the Great

Bear and moving in a northerly direction. It is described as thrice the size of Jupiter.

IN NATURE (vol. xviii. p. 652) we gave an account of a verification of M. Pervouchine's first result (vol. xviii. p. 104). We have now seen a very short and neat verification not only of Pervouchine's first but also of his second result (vol. xviii. p. 456). The author (Mr. John Bridge, M.A.) uses the scale whose radix is 16 instead of the binary scale. He assumes r to be the remainder arising from the division of 22", then since 20+1 = (22)3, it follows that +1 is the remainder arising from the division of (7). Hence the remainders can be successfully calculated. Thus for the first result the divisor is (in scale 16) 1(12)001

=

• 15 = 5249, 69(11)4, r7 = − 59(10)6, rg = + (12)5(11)4, 9 = IO(10)(15), 10 + 1702, 11 =+ (13)(10)(13)6, 712 = — I. Hence 2212 has remainder - 1, and therefore 2212 + 1 is divisible 7 × 214 + I. The second result is obtained in the same manner, the divisor being (10)(16)6 + 1, ¿e., (10)000001, and the last remainder 23. These verifications have been presented to the

London Mathematical Society by the author.

A SUPPLEMENT to No. 37 of the Boletin de la Institucion libre de Enseñanza consists of a prospectus giving an account of its aims and of its statutes, which we sketched out in a former notice of the Institution. It also contains a list of officers (among the four honorary professors we notice the names of John Tyndall, de Londres, and Charles Darwin, de Londres) and of the courses of lectures for the students. We have received, also, a copy of the Vice-Rector's (Montero Rios) address, "Las Elecciones Pontificiales." Among other papers read at the con. erencias we note "El Aqua y sus Transformaciones," por D. Francisco Quiroga; "Relaciones entre la Sciencia y el Arte," "Teorias Modernas sobre los por D. Federico Rubio ; Funciones Cerebrales," por D. Luis Simano; "La Vida de los Astros," por D. A. G. de Linares. No. 33 has papers on "La Geometria Sintética" (continuation); "Los Principales Publicaciones sobre Plantas Insectivoras" (two by Mr. F. Darwin are noticed), and the catalogue of the "Coleccion de Rocas" in the Natural History Cabinet is proceeded with.

THERE has been opened at Berlin the Telegraphic Museum established by M. Stephan, the General Director of Postal Telegraphs in Germany. The exhibition has been located in two large rooms of the General Post Office at Berlin. This is not the first institution of the kind, a telegraphic museum, and even laboratory, having been established at Tokio by the Japannese Government for the use of the pupils in telegraphic engineering. A number of interesting experiments have been already made in that laboratory under the guidance of Messrs. Ayrton and Perry.

WE have received the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society for 1877-8. The society is now in its tenth year, and is both financially and numerically stronger than at any previous period of its existence, the number of members being nearly 190. A glance at the contents of the part shows that the society is fairly carrying them out. We would particularly call attention to the series of letters on the ornithology of Norfolk, by eminent deceased naturalists, edited by Prof. Newton. The society is making it a feature of its work to rescue all such valuable records from loss. The society is also endeavouring to rescue from oblivion the memory of men who did good work in their time, but are fast being forgotten. The complete meteorological report is also an annual contribution; the observations are recorded by the valuable set of instruments, the property of the Norwich Meteorologica Society. Mr. Stevenson's "Ornithological Notes" are also continued from year to year. The last paper is perhaps the most important: it is part viii. of a carefully compiled fauna

and flora of the county. The subjects of the previous parts have been mammals, reptiles, marine, fresh-water, and land shells, fungi, lepidoptera, flowering plants and ferns, diatomaceæ. Other sections will follow as opportunity occurs. We have also received the Proceedings of the Norwich Geological Society, part i., which contains some interesting papers, a creditable Fourth Annual Report of the Lisburn School Association, and a satisfactory Report of the Committee of the Goole Scientific Society, which is in its third year.

WE have received the programmes of the arrangements for the session of the various association societies of Cumberland, of the organisation and activity of which we have had already occasion to speak. The programmes seem to us on the whole very satisfactory.

A FINE statue of Corinthian metal resting upon a marble pedestal has just been found through excavations which are being made at the Ponte Sisto at Rome. The statue is 3 metres

high and is slightly damaged; the right arm is entirely broken off; yet it is hoped that the damage is not beyond repair. The general belief among archeologists is that the statue represents the Emperor Probus.

AT Berlin a "Society for Ornithology and the Protection of Birds" has just been formed, under the presidency of Dr. Karl Russ. It consists of about fifty members at present, amongst whom there are numerous eminent ornithologists. The special purposes of the new Society are the discussion and practical testing of ornithological questions in regular meetings, the estab lishment of frequent ornithological exhibitions on as large a scale as possible, and the delivery of public lectures on the science of birds in all its branches.

M. NICOLLE, the organiser of the Exhibition of Maritime and River Industries, which took place at the Palais de l'Industrie, Champs Elysées, in 1876, has received from the French Government, authority to use the same building in 1879 for an exhibition of science applied to industry. M. Nicolle is now busy making his arrangements for next spring. We under. stand that a very large place will be devoted to the wonders of electricity. This exhibition is opened to all nations, and scientific exhibitors at the Champ de Mars and the Trocadéro will receive circulars giving details before the close of the exhibition. A sum of 700,000 francs has been voted out of the National subscription for covering the travelling expenses of 5,000 working men to the exhibition. A sum of from 47. to 6%., according to distance, has been handed over to each of the chosen delegates, and the railway companies have agreed to take only half of the ordinary fares.

FROM America we have received from the twenty-first to the twenty-eighth annual reports of the New York State Museum of Natural History, edited by the regents of the University of the State of New York. Their contents are of the highest interest, comprising many geological, botanical, and zoological communications of value. Amongst others we note an elaborate paper (with map) on the Niagara and Lower Helderberg groups, their relations and geographical distribution, by Dr. James Hall, the director of the museum; numerous entomological contributions by J. A. Lintner; an account of an ascent of Mount Steward and its barometrical measurement, by Verplanck Colvin; remarks on some peculiar impressions in sandstone of the Chemung group, New York, by Dr. Hall and R. P. Whitfield; notes and observations on the Cohoes Mastodon, by Dr. J. Hall. Each part contains a number of well-executed plates. We may, at a future date, return to some of the contents at greater length.

We have also before us the Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis (vol. iii. No. 4); the principal contents are a valuable treatise by Prof. G. Seyffarth, entitled "Corrections of the present Theory of the Moon's Motions according to

the Classic Eclipses;" a note on the larval characters and habits of the blister beetles, by Charles T. Riley; a synopsis of Ame. rican firs, by Dr. George Engelmann, and other botanical com. munications by the same gentleman. Also the following publications of interest for entomologists :-Collecting Butterflies and Moths, by Montagu Browne; Preliminary Studies on the North American Pyralidæ, by A. R. Grote; Butterflies and Moths of North America, by Herman Strecker; Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres, and Heteroceres, by the same (Nos. 14 and 15).

M. W. DE FONVIELLE writes us that Capt. Howgate has not forgotten the suggestion made by him of utilising for ballooning purposes the magnificent coal seam discovered by our Arctic Expedition on the shores of Lady Franklin Bay. Capt. Howgate has made use of the delays arising from the slowness of Congress in granting the required credit for his Arctic colony, in having experiments made to ascertain whether it is possible to inflate balloons without recurring to the ponderous process of preparing ordinary lighting gas. From a report on the experiments which have been made by Prof. Samuel King in the inflation of the “King Carnival," we learn that great success has been met with. The inflation, we are told, was accom.

The

plished successfully throughout in seven hours' time. Gas for the purpose was supplied by what may be termed a five-foot generator of the Lowe pattern or build, which employs the modern method of a steam in conjunction with an air blast. Five of gas produced by each charge or turn approximated 6,000 charges or turns were required to fill the balloon. The amount cubic feet. As will be inferred from the two last statements, the capacity of the balloon is about 30,000 cubic feet. generator employed could have filled the balloon in less than six hours, and would have done so had not the operations been purposely delayed, which delay.was occasioned by a state of weather somewhat unfavourable to the ascension which it was proposed to make. The external dimensions of the generator are, height eleven feet, diameter five feet. It is cylindrical in shape, and has an inside fire-brick lining of about six or seven inches thickness, thus leaving a clear diameter for generating purposes of less than four feet. About ten inches of the height is also taken up by the bottom lining. The gas for the inflation was made from anthracite coal. Steam is passed through the incandescent coal. There comes from the generator an impure hydrogen gas containing carbonic acid and oxide of carbon. The car. bonic acid is then removed by a suitable and familiar process, and the carbonic oxide remains with the gas. About forty-six lbs. buoyancy is obtained to every thousand feet of gas. The cylinder of the generator can be made in sections, of cast-iron, if no fire-bricks are used, and of wrought-iron if fire-bricks are used. The sections can be luted with clay and then bolted together. The results of these interesting experiments will be laid before the Geographical Society of Paris and Minister of War of France. M. De Fonvielle inquires whether it is really hopeless to find a liquid which might absorb the largest quantity of carbonic oxide, and restore to the hydrogen gas its natural buoyancy.

IT is stated that a committee is being formed in Paris with a view to a permanent International Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. French exhibitors are invited to transfer their productions from the Champ de Mars to Sydenham, and thus realise the original idea of the Crystal Palace as a cosmopolitan museum and warehouse.

We have received from Mr. Clifton Ward two papers by him reprinted separately-"Quartz as it Occurs in the Lake District,"

and "Notes on Archeological Remains in the Lake District."

We have on our table the following books :- "A Manual of Anthropometry," by Charles Roberts, F.R.C.S. (J. and A. Churchill); "The Art of Scientific Discovery," by G. Gore,