of goool., an income which is derived from a variety of Sources:-Treasury grant, 4000l.; Gassiot Fund, 400l. (about); from Meteorological Committee, 400l.; fees, &c., 4200l. (about). In addition to this there has been 1200l. in donations.

Whether the laboratory can become self-supporting is a matter of doubt to my mind. Even if it should be so, that is no reason for taking it away from State control, which always gives an impress to decisions, and it is a pledge that gain is not its only object. Certainly it would never arrive at the proportions that the huge, more than self-supporting department, the Post Office, has arrived at. The example of Germany, where the State takes the fees, and supports the institution, is worth following.

THE BEN BULBEN DISTRICT.

THE region lying north of Sligo, which was visited by a large party of naturalists last July on the occasion of the fourth triennial conference of the Naturalists' Field Clubs of Ireland, is one of much beauty and interest. In its general aspect it recalls the best features of the Yorkshire Carboniferous Limestone area. Its setting, with the great limestone plain of Ireland stretching away on one hand, and the Atlantic Ocean on another, adds a dignity and impressiveness to this group of cliff-rimmed, flat-topped hills which might not be bestowed by their height alone, though they are of no mean elevation (Truskmore, the highest point, rises to 2113 feet). The Ben Bulben range,

I might refer to researches in solar physics also, which are carried out in the iron shanties at South Kensington, ader the control of the Board of Education. The sum of 700l. is allotted as a grant in aid for the work that is carried out there, and some of the staff are borne on the estimates; but if, as is to be believed, some of the tremendous problems of the causes of famine and plenty are dependent on the solar phenomena, then this work should be enlarged and encouraged. The expenditure of ten times the sum in one year may enable millions of pounds and lives to be saved which may be lost from the scant supply of needful means. It is true that the Solar Physics Observatory is under the Board of Education, but if its history were written, I doubt not that it would be found that from its very first inception (due to the repeated recommendation of a host of scientific men who foresaw something of what might be expected from it) the State wanted none of it. It may be said that if the Meteorological Office and the National Physical Laboratory were attached to a Government department, they might be starved in the same way. I do not believe it possible that such would be the case, for these two are of ostensible use to the ordinary public, and appeal to that most sagacious and popular person the man in the street, in a way that solar physics does not. The last deals with problems which are for future use, but it is intimately, most intimately, connected with meteorology. If the Meteorological Office becomes attached, as it eventually must be, to a Government department, the Solar Physics Observatory and staff should be attached to the same department.

If the Government will recognise the two institutions as doing essentially public service, and ask for the necessary funds, I believe Parliament would vote the supplies in the same ungrudging manner that Congress has done, as they would look upon them as a paying investment. Parliament realises most frequently before Government does the importance of any public work. The most happy solution of the problem would be (1) to have some department of State to which these and other kindred scientific institutions should be attached; (2) to have a scientific advisory board; (3) to distinguish clearly between grants for research, equipment, and material, and those for staff.

4 Includes the Observatory Department.

which derives its name from that of one of its spurs which projects boldly towards the Atlantic, represents the wreck of the Upper Limestone of this district. The fertile undulating low grounds all around are occupied by a lower and more argillaceous series, through which one of the old Caledonian folds of Ireland projects as a knobby ridge, its rugged outlines forming a charming contrast with the green and grey tabular forms of the limestone. The Upper Limestone, 700 feet or 800 feet thick, massive and strongly jointed vertically, rests on the lower series as a cliff-bound plateau, intersected by several grand glens, which are cut through the limestone deep into the less resisting rocks underneath. The mural precipices are the result of the characteristic weathering of the massive limestones. Below them, where not obscured by talus, the Middle Limestones and shales fall away in steep concave slopes into the plain. The exquisite valleys of Glencar and Glenade cut right through the plateau, the first in an east and west direction, the other north and south. Each is from one to two miles wide from cliff-top to cliff-top, and about a thousand feet deep (Fig. 1). The floors of these valleys are undulating, and the scenery is much enhanced by the fact that each embosoms a lake at the point where the cliff scenery reaches its best.

On some parts of the plateau-edge denudation has been more severe, as in the beautiful wedge of Ben Whiskin (1666 feet), the western side of which displays a characteristic precipitous front, while the eastern side has been worn down to a uniform steep slope which drops into Gleniff.

The uniformity of the post-Carboniferous uplift is shown by the almost absolute horizontality of the beds of limestone throughout the region. The surface of the plateau, while retaining in a general way this horizontality, is seen on a nearer approach to be undulating, a feature chiefly due to the fact that patches of the Yoredale sandstone still remain here and there isolated on the surface of the limestone. The whole plateau, limestone as well as sandstone, has in general a thick covering of peat.

To the botanist the Ben Bulben range is well known as the only British habitat of Arenaria ciliata, a species with a high northern and alpine distribution, which is locally

abundant on these hills. This plant strikes the key-note of the flora of the district, which is essentially northern and alpine in its characters. Adjoining on the south, in Mayo, the Lusitanian heaths, Erica mediterranea and Dabeocia polifolia, and other plants fully represent the remarkable southern flora which characterises the western sea-board of Ireland, and a few miles on the northern side the same features are repeated in Donegal in the occurrence of Saxifraga umbrosa, Euphorbia hiberna, and Trichomanes radicans. But in the Sligo flora the southern element is absent, saving the occurrence of Adiantum Capillus-Veneris, which may be found growing at sea-level in company with Draba incana and Saxifraga aizoides.

fined to the erosion taking place on the Yorkshire coast between Bridlington and Spurn, and the works that have been carried out in constructing promenades, sea walls, and groynes at Bridlington.

There is no novelty in the descriptive parts of these papers. It is a well known and recognised fact that on certain parts of the coast of this country considerable loss of land is taking place by the erosion of the sea. The subject occupied the attention of the geological section of the British Association in 1885, when a committee was appointed to investigate the subject of coast erosion, and reports of experts having local knowledge were obtained from all parts of the coast and printed in the reports issued from time to time, the last, which was confined to recent evidence obtained from the coast guards, being published in the report of the meeting held at Southport in 1903. We have ourselves dealt with the subject in articles in NATURE in our number for June, 1899, and on sea coast and destruction in August 23, 1900. The destruction of the Holderness

to the British Isles, which accompanied it here, is likewise northern; and other instances might be quoted. Among other results of the Field Club visit (which are fully described in the September number of the Irish Naturalist) may be mentioned the discovery of three water-mites, one of which, Eylais bicornuta, is new to science, and the two others new to Britain.

COAST EROSION AND PROTECTION.

TWO papers on this subject were recently read at the

Institution of Civil Engineers, one by Mr. A. E. Carey on coast erosion, and the other by Mr. E. R. Matthews, the borough engineer of Bridlington, on the erosion of the Holderness coast of Yorkshire.

The first paper deals generally with the whole coast of England, and briefly enumerates the salient geological features of the coast line and points out their connection with the relative rates of erosion. The second paper is con

coast and the protective works put up to stop the erosion at Hornsea, Withernsea, and Spurn were dealt with in a paper by Mr. Pickwell on the encroachments of the sea from Spurn Point to Flamborough Head printed in the Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. li., 1878.

The whole subject, both as descriptive of the coast of England, the losses that have taken place, and the works that have been carried out to prevent erosion, is also very fully dealt with in the work on "The Sea Coast lished by Messrs. Longmans in 1902.

pub

Mr. Matthews in his paper makes a statement that has frequently been made before, but for which there does not appear to be any warrant, to the effect that the material eroded from the Holderness coast is carried into the estuary of the Humber. This subject was very fully dealt with in a paper read at the British Association at Glasgow in 1901 on the source of warp in the Humber, in which it was conclusively shown that it is physically impossible for this material to be carried into the Humber, and that, as a

matter of fact, no warp is carried into the river from the sea, but that the warp in suspension is derived entirely from the solid matter brought down by the various tributaries of the river. The paper describes this matter as oscillating backwards and forwards with the tides in a zone confined to the lower reaches of the Ouse and the Trent, except that when heavy freshets are running it extends into the Humber and is then partly carried out to sea. This peculiar action is made use of to improve the value of the land adjacent to the rivers by the process of "warping.' Any solid matter brought into the Humber on the flood tide consists entirely of clean sand, and has no relation to the waste of the Holderness coast.

The only novel features, therefore, in these papers is the suggestion of Mr. Carey that the matter should be taken up by Parliament, and that a body of commissioners should be created with the special function of dealing with the foreshores of England and Wales. He proposes that the coast should be divided into districts placed under commissioners, each having an engineer to act as coast warden, with power to deal with the material on the beach, and the general control and management of all foreshore lands, the costs incurred by this commission to be divided between the Treasury, the local authorities, and the landowners.

Mr. Matthews confines his ideas of Government interference to the coast of Yorkshire, and suggests that this ought to be protected against the inroads of the sea by the Government, quoting as a precedent for this that the Board ot Trade protects the Spurn Peninsula. He loses sight, nowever, of the fact that this is done for the protection of the lighthouses which stand on the peninsula, and for the preservation of the entrance to the Humber. Mr. Matthews gives an estimate for protecting this reach of coast by sea walls and groynes, and shows, as has been done by others on previous occasions, that the value of the land swallowed up by the sea within a reasonable period would not amount to one-third of the first cost of the protective works, apart from their maintenance.

It will be remembered that recently, owing to the great destruction of sea protective works that occurred at Lowestoft and Southwold, the representatives of the sea coast towns on the east of England held a conference at Norwich and appointed delegates to interview the Prime Minister and the officials of the Government departments more parri ularly concerned in this matter, urging that the prervation of the coast and the sea defence works ought to a national charge. So far, however, they do not appear to have justified their claims for such aid. It has been inted out that most of these towns have gradually emerged from mere fishing villages into sea-side resorts, and have erected promenades and other similar works for the rpse of making their places popular, and have by this means increased the value of the land in the neighbourhood rom a mere agricultural price to that of building land, very greatly to the profit of the owners of such land. It appears therefore manifestly unfair to ask the owners of the agricultural land at the back, whose rents have already been greatly depleted by the fall in value of agricultural produce during the last few years, to contribute towards works for the improvement of their neighbours' land on the coast, which they would have to do if these works were made a Carge on the national revenue, and it would be equally

just to levy contributions on inland towns which have borne the costs of large improvements for sanitary and reaith purposes out of their own rates.

Mr. Carey describes in his paper the evolution of a sea-side village, subject to intermittent inundation, into a watering place, in front of which the local authority charged with the works not only encloses within the sea wall nearly the whole of the shingle beach which afforded a natural protection to the shore, but also by groynes traps the whole of the travelling shingle, with disastrous results to the owner of the land to leeward. It may also be pointed out, as stated in the British Association report for 1895, that many of the disasters that occur to the sea walls and promenades of these sea-side towns are due to defective engineering and a complete disregard of the laws of

Gature.

It is obvious that it would be very desirable to set up wore better control over the works now carried on along

the sea shore either by increasing the powers of the Board of Trade or by the appointment of a special commission, as suggested by the author of the paper. The great difficulty will be in dealing with the rights of the persons claiming the ownership of the beach material, which in many cases is sold and removed in very large quantities for concrete making, road repairs, or other purposes. The Board of Trade occasionally, on being applied to, intervenes and issues notices prohibiting the removal of sand and shingle, but its power to do so is not so well defined as it ought to be, and the whole subject requires investigation, and legislative action for regulating and controlling works carried out on the sea shore and the removal of beach material; but the preservation of the property of landowners and urban authorities out of funds provided from the national exchequer would be entirely contrary to the methods of administration hitherto pursued in this country.

THE NOVEMBER METEORS OF 1904. THOUGH there was no prospect of a brilliant display this year, there seemed the probability of a pretty conspicuous shower. In 1838-five years after the great meteor-storm of 1833-Mr. Woods, of London, reported in the Times that on the night of November 12, between 15h. 25m. and 15h. 55m., nothing could exceed the grandeur of the heavens. Meteors fell like a shower of bombshells in a bombardment and in such rapid succession as to defy every attempt to watch their particular directions or to ascertain their numbers. Mr. Woods estimated that he saw 400 or 500 meteors during the half-hour mentioned.

66

In 1872 also, about five years after the brilliant displays in 1866, 1867, and 1868, the Leonids returned pretty abundantly, for on November 13, 12h. to 18h., several observers at Matera, Italy, counted 638 meteors, and the display was regarded as having been much brighter than

usual.

In these circumstances it was expected that the return of 1904 would be deserving of careful observation, and so it has proved, though the shower was perhaps not quite so rich as expected. The earth, however, probably passed through the denser part of the stream at about Greenwich noon on November 15, and thus it must have escaped observation in England. Reports from American stations are awaited with interest. In this country fogs were very prevalent at the important time, and at some places appear to have obliterated the phenomenon.

At Bristol during the night of November 13 there were very few meteors visible, with only occasional Leonids, but the stars were dim in the fog.

On November 14 the conditions were more favourable. Between 13h. 30m. and 15h. 45m. about 55 meteors were seen (including 33 Leonids) by the writer during a watch extending over 1h. of the period named. It was considered that Leonids were appearing at the horary rate of 25 for one observer. After 16h. increasing fog interfered with observation. The Rev. S. J. Johnson at Bridport had, however, a very clear sky after 16h., and noted a fairly numerous display of Leonids, including one as brilliant as Venus and several equal to Jupiter. He does not mention the exact number seen.

Mr. C. L. Brook at Meltham, near Huddersfield, watched on November 14 between 16h. and 18h., and counted 69 Leonids, of which number 17 were observed in the first quarter of an hour. Other results have come to hand which corroborate Mr. Brook's figures, and show that the maximum was attained between 15h. 50m. and 16h. 20m., when the rate of apparition was 1 Leonid per minute in the sphere of vision commanded by one observer.

There appear to have been very few Leonids seen either on the nights of November 13 or 15.

As observed at Bristol, the radiant seemed to be an area 4 or 5 degrees in diameter, with its centre slightly west ofy and Leonis, or at 151°+23°. There were several minor showers visible, and two of these were well pronounced at 43°+21° and 144° + 37°.

W. F. DENNING,

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD.-The Rhodes trustees have decided to add 200l.
a year for the next five years to the stipend of the reader
in pathology. Mr. Alfred Beit and Mr. Wernher have
supplied sufficient money to endow a professorship of
colonial history, and to appoint an assistant professor in
the same subject. They have also made a gift to the
Bodleian Library.

Magdalen College has made a grant to the delegates of
the university museum of 250l. a year for the next two
years for the purpose of the payment of scientific assistants.

The following examiners have been appointed :-in
chemistry, W. H. Perkin, jun.; in preliminary physics,
E. S. Craig; in preliminary chemistry, J. E. Marsh; in
preliminary animal physiology, W. Ramsden; in pre-
liminary zoology, E. S. Goodrich; in medicine, organic
chemistry, N. V. Sidgwick; in human anatomy, A. Thom-
son; in materia medica, R. Stockman; in midwifery, J. S.
Fairbairn; in pathology, G. Sims-Woodhead; in forensic
medicine and public health, J. D. Mann and A. L. Ormerod;
and in human physiology, L. E. Hill.

THE Treasury, at the instance of the Colonial Office, has
made a grant of 500l. a year to the Liverpool School of
Tropical Medicine.

THE prizes and certificates gained by students at the
Sir John Cass Technical Institute during the past session
will be distributed by Sir William H. White, K.C.B.,
F.R.S., on Thursday, December 1. The laboratories and
workshops of the institute will be on view, and there will
be exhibitions of students' work.

on

AT Bedford College for Women two occasional lectures,
open to the public without fee, will be delivered
November 25 and December 8. The first lecture will be by
Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., on "Recent Work and some
Unsolved Problems in Heredity," and the second by Miss
C. A. Raisin on London, its Early Foundation and Later
Growth, a Geological Study."

THE alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
are collecting, says Science, a fund for current expenses,
which now amounts to more than 20,000l., to be used in the
course of the next five years. We learn from the same
source that Harvard University has received from Miss
Whitney a gift of 1000l., the income of which is to be
applied as a scholarship to aid meritorious students in the
study of field geology or geography in the summer months,
preferably in the mountain region of the western United
States.

APPLICATION will be made to Parliament in the ensuing
session for an Act to transfer University College, London,
exclusive of the North London or University College
Hospital, the medical school, and the boys' school, to the
University of London, and to dissolve or provide for the
dissolution of the college itself. The Bill will contain a
clause authorising and providing for the making by the
Senate of the university, or by such other body or persons
as the Act may prescribe, of statutes and regulations for the
management of the college; and provision will also be made
for carrying on the work of the hospital, the medical school,
and the boys' school.

THE new buildings of the Borough Polytechnic Institute
were opened by Mr. Benn, chairman of the London County
Council, on November 16. The buildings, which were
urgently needed for the large number of students, have cost
with equipment more than 24,000l. Toward this amount
the central governing body of the City of London Parochial
Charities contributed 3000l., the London County Council
16,000l., with a promise of a further sum. The council
also meets the cost of installation of the electric light and
equipment, amounting to 2950l. The total cost of the land,
about 1 acres, buildings and equipment, by the end of the
year will be not less than 96,000l.

WITH the object of giving to the school children of the
United Kingdom better knowledge of the colonies, and of
giving to the school children of each colony better know-

ledge of the United Kingdom and of other parts of the
Empire, a syllabus of seven lectures on the United Kingdom,
each to be illustrated by about forty lantern slides, has been
drawn up by a committee connected with the Colonial Office.
The subjects of the lectures are:-(1) the journey from the
East to London; (2) London the Imperial city; (3) scenery
of the United Kingdom; (4) historic centres and their in-
fluence on national life; (5) country life and the smaller
towns; (6) great towns, the industries, and commerce;
(7) defences of the Empire. Mr. H. J. Mackinder will give
an account of the scheme, and exhibit some of the slides
which have been prepared to illustrate it, at the Whitehall
Rooms, Hôtel Métropole, on Wednesday, December 7, at
5 p.m. The Colonial Secretary has consented to preside.

Ar the inaugural meeting of the new session of the Royal
Statistical Society on November 15, the new president, Sir
Francis Sharp Powell, Bart., M.P., delivered an address on
education in which he presented specially impressive figures
to illustrate prominent educational features of various coun-
tries. The activity in educational matters of to-day was
commended, and attention directed to the growing convic
tion that a more liberal education than that provided by
purely technical instruction is necessary in this country.
Among other interesting comparisons instituted in the
address was one dealing with the average expenditure on
education per child in Prussia and in England. Exclusive
of central and local administration, it appears that the
average expenditure per child on the register is in Prussia
1l. 155. 6d. if buildings are included, and 1l. 10s. 8d. ex.
clusive of buildings. The corresponding figures in England
are 2l. 125. 9d. and 1l. 175. Further, the number of scholars
per teacher is 66 in Prussia and 57 in England, excluding
pupil teachers. It seems clear from these figures that
Germany, with a smaller expenditure per child than our
own, succeeds in securing better results, and it is to be
hoped that English education soon may be conducted more
scientifically, so that the value of our education may be
more in accordance with our expenditure. The address also
pointed out that in secondary education German activity is
shown in the provision of technical schools for special
branches of metal industries, for wood-working, engineer-
ing, and textile industries, and for agriculture.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

LONDON.

Royal Society, June 16.-" Hydrolysis of Cane Sugar
by d- and 1-Camphor-B-Sulphonic Acids." By R. J.
Caldwell, B.Sc.

The rates of inversion of cane sugar by two stereoisomeric
acids were determined in order to compare the results with
the case of inversion by enzymes, which are apparently all
asymmetric substances. Wilhelmj's law holds accurately
for half normal solutions of both dextro- and lævo-camphor-
B-sulphonic acids. The velocity constant K (equal to
10/t log, a/a-x, where a is the initial cane sugar concen-
tration, and x the concentration of the inverted sugar at
the end of t minutes) was found to be 10 07 and 10-13 in
two experiments with the dextro-acid, and 10.05 and 10 0
for the lævo-acid. The author concludes that there is no
difference in the inverting power of the two acids attribu-
table to their asymmetric structure. This result is in accor
with the conclusion arrived at by Emil Fischer regarding
the d- and l-camphoric acids (Zeits. Physiol. Chem., 189
vol. xxvi. p. 83). The relative activities of hydrochloric acid
and camphor-B-sulphonic acid towards cane sugar an
100 90, whereas for milk sugar the ratio is 100: 70.

November 17.-" Enhanced Lines of Titanium, Iron,
and Chromium in the Fraunhoferic Spectrum." Bv
Sir J. Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., and F. E.
Baxandall, A.R.C.S.

In this paper the authors give the results of a detailed
study of the enhanced lines of Ti, Fe, and Cr in relation to
the lines of the Fraunhoferic spectrum. In previous
Kensington publications it had been shown that the enhanced
lines of some of the metals are prominent in the spectra of
a Cygni and the sun's chromosphere, whilst it has been
generally recognised that the lines in the Fraunhoferic spec-
trum are mainly the equivalents of lines in the arc spectra

of metals. In connection with the work on enhanced lines, it has been noted that some of them, at least, appear to correspond with comparatively weak solar lines to which Rowland has attached no origin. With the object of possibly tracing some of the unorigined solar lines to their source, a careful comparison has been made between the enhanced lines shown in the photographic spark spectra of Ti, Fe, and Cr and the solar lines. The photographs used for this purpose were all taken with a Rowland grating, and on such a scale that the length of spectrum between K and F is about 14 inches (35 cm.). The chemical elements named were first selected for investigation because they furnish by far the greater number of enhanced lines which have been shown to occur in the spectrum of a Cygni.

It was found that many of the enhanced lines fell exactly on isolated lines of the solar spectrum, and in these cases the solar wave-lengths were adopted and the identification considered established. If, however, for any of these solar lines Rowland had given alternative origins, special comparisons were made of the enhanced line photograph with those of the metals given by Rowland. Notes (given at the end of the tables) were made as to the agreement or non-agreement of the metallic lines involved, and also of the relative intensities in their individual spectra, so that due weights could be given to the respective metallic lines which were thought conjointly to produce compound solar lines.

Where there was any doubt as to the exact coincidence of a metallic and solar line, or where by the close grouping of several solar lines it was not possible to say by direct comparison to which solar line the metallic line corresponded, careful measures were made of the metallic line, and its wave-length found by interpolation between closely adjacent lines of known wave-length. The resulting wavelengths were then compared with Rowland's solar wavelengths, and in cases of close agreement with solar lines it was deemed probable that the two lines were really identical.

A final table is given of the enhanced lines of the three elements which are considered, as a result of the analysis, to be identical with lines in the Fraunhoferic spectrum. Forty-two of these agree with solar lines unorigined by Rowland, and as the majority of them are conspicuous lines in stellar spectra of certain types, it has been thought that these results will be of importance in standardising the wave-lengths of many stellar lines.

Physical Society, November 11.-Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., president, in the chair.-Investigation of the variations of magnetic hysteresis with frequency: Prof. T. R. Lyle. The experiments were made on two rings of laminated annealed iron, in one of which the radial breadth of the iron was considerable relative to its mean radius. These rings were magnetised by alternating currents of different strengths and periods; both the magnetisingCurrent wave and the magnetic-flux wave were quantitatively determined by a wave-tracer (described by the author in the Phil. Mag., November, 1903), and the wave-forms so obtained subjected to harmonic analysis. The experiments were divided into series, in which the period and wave-form of the magnetising current were kept as nearly constant as possible throughout any one series, while its strength was varied. The analytic expressions for the associated current and flux waves for a few series are given in tabular form. From the analytic expressions for each pair of associated waves it was found that when the magnetising Current was approximately sinusoidal the total iron loss (1) was, within certain limits of the induction, given by a fermula I = (a+bn) B1, where n is the number of periods per sec., B the "effective induction," and a and b are instants. When from the total iron loss per c.c. per cycle the sum of the statical hysteresis and the value that Theory assigns to eddy-current loss was subtracted, a conderable quantity remained, which increased both when **frequency and the flux-density increased. This quantity, lied by Fleming the kinetic hysteresis, has been obtained for each experiment.-On the practical determination of the nean spherical candle-power of incandescent and arc lamps : 1. B. Dyke. Mr. Dyke points out the need of an improved method of expressing the efficiency of glow-lamps, and adopts the suggestion of Dr. Fleming of expressing the Ahole flux of light in lumens per watt. The expression of

:

the efficiency in this manner involves the determination of the mean spherical candle-power (M.S.C.P.), and the paper describes a method of doing this. The objects of the paper are (1) to obtain curves showing the variations of candlepower of glow-lamps in a horizontal plane; (2) to obtain reduction factors by which the mean horizontal candlepower (M.H.C.P.) may be calculated from the maximum horizontal candle-power (C.P.); and (3) to obtain reduction factors for deducing the M.S.C.P. from the M.H.C.P. and from the C.P.-Exhibition of apparatus: R. W. Paul. The construction of highly sensitive pivoted electrical instruments has been rendered difficult by the fact that delicate pivots will not admit of transporting without injury. A number of galvanometers were shown in which the design was based upon the use of a moving coil, supported on one pivot in a powerful and uniform magnetic field, and controlled by a spring. A simple non-reflecting, suspended-coil galvanometer for the student's use, with a sensibility of I division per micro-ampere, was also exhibited. A new design of lantern, adapted for science lectures, and for use with three Nernst filaments arranged closely together, was shown in action. It is capable of being instantly changed from horizontal to vertical projection, can be fitted with a reversing prism, and has a wide adjustment for focusing. Another exhibit was an Ayrton Mather reflecting electrostatic voltmeter with a magnetic damping device. The instrument shown had a sensibility of 500 mm. at 1 m. for 30 volts, but similar instruments are made to give this deflection with pressures as low as 8 volts.

PARIS.

Academy of Sciences, November 14.-M. Mascart in the chair. Researches on the desiccation of plants: the period of vitality. Moistening by liquid water: imperfect reversibility M. Berthelot.-New researches on the Cañon Diablo meteorite: Henri Moissan. A very careful and complete examination was made of a block of this meteorite. weighing 183 kilograms. It was found to be distinctly heterogeneous in structure, containing iron, nickel, sulphur, phosphorus, silicon, and carbon. The latter element was present in several forms: amorphous carbon, graphite, and diamonds, both the black and transparent variety of the diamond being separated. Characteristic green hexagonal crystals of silicon carbide were also isolated, the author remarking that this is the first time that this compound has been met with in nature.-The measurements of the velocity of propagation of earthquakes: G. Lippmann. An instrument is described capable of determining to 1/5 of a second the exact time of the commencement of a seismic shock at any given point. The author also discusses the following problem to find the direction of the seismic wave front at the surface of the earth, in a given region, and to measure the velocity of its horizontal propagation.-On the inscription of seismic movements: G. Lippmann. In the photographic self-recording apparatus in common use for earthquake phenomena, owing to the considerable expense of the strip of sensitised paper, its velocity through the apparatus is very slow, about 12 cm. per hour. In the modification now proposed, the slit through which the ray of light falls on the paper is closed by a shutter, and this is operated electrically by the seismic shock. By this means the speed may be greatly increased, since the paper is only used up during the period of the earthquake shocks.-On the seeds of the Neuropterideæ: M. Grand'Eury. As the result of the examination of more than 1000 specimens of fossil seeds, usually attributed to ferns, the author distinguishes 15 genera or subgenera of Neuropterideæ, and 25 specific types. Remarks on Hugoniot's adiabatic law: M. Jouguet. On the use of helium as a thermometric substance and on its diffusion through silica: Adrien Jaquerod and F. Louis Perrot. An attempt to determine the melting point of gold with a thermometer of fused silica, and containing helium, failed owing to the rapid diffusion of the gas through the silica at the high temperature. The velocity of diffusion appears to be proportional to the pressure of the gas, and is very considerable, since after six hours' heating at 1100° C. the pressure of the helium had fallen to about one-seventh of the initial pressure. Below a red heat, at about 510° C., the diffusion is still fairly rapid, and a very slow effect could even be traced at 220° C. For practical purposes, therefore, the nitrogen