Cotton fibre is of a tubular structure, and so long as these tubes exist in long lengths the impurities in the interior of the tubes, derived from the evaporated juices of the cotton plant, and more or less affected by the nitration process, are extremely difficult of removal. Not only is the cotton in the form of long tubular fibres, but these fibres are themselves matted and entwined to such an extent that the former process of washing in running water even failed to remove impurities from amongst the bundles of fibre.

The operation of pulping introduced by Abel breaks up both the bundles of fibre and the fibres themselves, reducing the latter to short lengths or destroying them altogether by crushing. In this fine state of division the removal of impurities is much more readily effected by washing.

The manufacture of guncotton by the von Lenk-Abel process was commenced in this country about 1865. Foreign countries took it up in quick succession, and the process was the one universally followed for the next forty years. Some modifications of the nitration process were made towards the end of that period, in one case in the direction of dipping larger charges of cotton waste, and of allowing them to remain in the original acid mixture until nitration was completed, and then transferring the whole contents of the nitrating pan into the acid centrifugal; in another case the nitration process was actually carried out in the centrifugal itself.

In 1905, however, an entirely new system of nitration, hereafter referred to as the " displacement process," was invented by Messrs. Thomson, of the Royal Gunpowder Factory, and this process has been perfected and has entirely replaced the pot system of nitration there, and at Nobel's Explosives Factory at Ardeer, in Scotland. It is also being adopted at other factories both in this country and abroad.

The nitration of the cotton waste is carried out in shallow, circular earthenware pans. These pans are grouped together and worked in sets of four. The bottom of the pan slopes downwards to a central hole, connected by suitable pipes and cocks to a pipe supplying the nitrating acid, and to other pipes through which the waste acid is removed on completion of nitration. The pans are covered with aluminium hoods connected to an exhaust fan, for carrying off fumes.

Nitrating acid is then run in up to a definite mark, and a charge of 20 lb. of dry cotton waste is immersed in the acid in each pan in small quantities at a time. An aluminium fork is used for the purpose. When the charge of cotton waste has been dipped, perforated earthenware plates are placed on the top of it to keep it all under the surface of the acid; a film of cold water is run on to the surface of the plates and serves as a seal to prevent fumes getting into the room, and the aluminium hoods are removed. The cotton waste remains soaking in the acid for two and a half hours; at the expiration of that time its conversion to guncotton is complete. The cock leading to the waste acid pipe is then opened, and the waste acid allowed to flow away from the guncotton at a definite rate, whilst cold water is allowed to flow on to the top of the perforated plates at an equal rate. The water follows up the acid through the guncotton without any appreciable mixing of the water and the acid taking place, and when the whole of the acid has been displaced in this way the water is allowed to drain away from the guncotton, which is then ready for the final purification process. This system of manufacture possesses many advantages over the systems which it is superseding. Foremost among them are:

(1) Decreased cost of manufacture, due to the facts that for a given output very much less labour is required; that the plant is both very cheap and very durable; that no power is required to work it; that less acid is lost in the washing processes; and that, owing to the absence

of fumes and spilt acid, the cost of maintenance of the buildings is reduced.

(2) Increased safety so far as personnel is concerned, because there is no escape or splashing about of acid, which in the old processes was a fruitful source of acid burns, and also because decompositions, which used to take place both in the digesting pots and in the acid centrifugals, with the consequent evolution of poisonous oxides of nitrogen, no longer occur.

(3) A better guncotton is obtained. It is freer from unconverted cotton, and as the whole of the nitration and preliminary washing operations are carried out in earthenware receptacles, it is freer from mineral impurities.

(4) An increased yield to the extent of about 7 per cent. is realised.

The manufacture of guncotton was not commenced at the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey, until the year 1872. Shortly after that date an improvement was made in the purification process. It consisted in subjecting the guncotton, while still in the waste form, to a series of steam boilings in large wooden vats. In the early days of this process boilings of long duration were used throughout. Later, a system was introduced in which a large number of short boilings at the commencement was followed by a couple of final long boilings. With the introduction of the displacement process of nitration, a thorough investigation of the chemistry of the boiling process was undertaken at Waltham Abbey, and as a result it was ascertained that a more rapid purification was effected by means of two long boilings, each of twelve hours' duration, followed by a series of very much shorter

ones.

It is very probable that the displacement system of nitration is itself responsible for the reduction in the amount of boiling required to produce a stable guncotton. Although there is no appreciable amount of mixing taking place between the displacing water and the waste acid, still, mixing at the surface of contact does occur to a slight extent, sufficient to produce a distinct rise of temperature. The zone of warm acid liquid produced passes very slowly through the whole of the guncotton, removing in its course various impurities. The purifying action of this liquid is no doubt due to the fact that it possesses strong oxidising and solvent properties.

The pulping process introduced by Abel is still universally employed, and although its value from a purification point of view is no longer of such great importance now that guncotton is boiled as it was in the early days of coldwater washing, it is, undoubtedly, still of use in effecting a final purification of the guncotton.

The

In the beating-engine the mechanical process of reducing the guncotton to a pulp is effected, but no actual removal of impurities takes place, because the water is not changed during the operation. The impurities still present in the guncotton at this stage are both mechanical and chemical. The mechanical impurities consist chiefly of particles of metal of various kinds, sand and fine grit, wood and similar substances, introduced originally in the cotton waste and during the processes of manufacture. chemical impurities are bodies produced by the action of the nitrating acid on bodies other than cellulose; they are not entirely removed in the boiling process, but are set free in the pulping. To remove the mechanical impurities the guncotton pulp, in a large volume of water, is at Waltham Abbey run from the beaters over flannel laid on long shallow troughs, the troughs having pockets with baffle plates at intervals. The rough surface of the flannel retains the fine particles of grit, &c., and the larger particles settle in the pockets or grit-traps. In the last pocket an electromagnet is inserted to remove iron or steel particles which may have escaped retention in the grit-traps.

The guncotton thus freed from mechanical impurities runs into large oval iron tanks called where poachers, it receives several cold-water washings. The contents of the poacher are agitated by means of a power-driven wooden paddle-wheel, and then allowed to settle. The washing water containing the impurities is drawn off from the surface of the guncotton by means of a large skimmer, in order that not only impurities in solution may be removed, but also any light solid impurities in suspension.

The finally purified pulp is passed to a moulding machine, where it is lightly compressed to remove the bulk of the water, and converted into a form in which it can be easily handled. If intended for use in mines or torpedoes, or for demolition purposes, the lightly compressed shapes are submitted to heavy hydraulic pressure, converting them into dense hard blocks.

The other high explosive of which I am to speak, viz. nitroglycerine, enters into the composition of many modern propellants. Nitroglycerine was discovered by Sobrero in 1847, but it remained for a long time a chemical curiosity only.

Alfred Nobel commenced its manufacture as a blasting agent about 1868, for which purpose he absorbed nitroglycerine with an infusorial earth known as kieselguhr, and gave the compound the name of dynamite; but, prior to this, nitroglycerine had been made on a large scale in America, where it was frozen after manufacture for purposes of transport, and used for blasting.

Nitroglycerine is a liquid, and is a much more violent explosive than guncotton, and whereas the manufacture of guncotton is absolutely safe throughout, that of nitroglycerine is dangerous. The risks attendant on the manufacture of nitroglycerine are due to the facts that the temperature resulting from the chemical reaction is not so easily controlled, and that nitroglycerine, being a liquid insoluble in water, the processes after nitration have to be carried out with a substance not rendered inert, as guncotton is, by admixture with water. For these reasons the nitration of glycerine in the early days of the production of nitroglycerine on a manufacturing scale was carried out in very small quantities.

With the introduction of dynamite, the small pots used for the nitration of glycerine, standing in vessels full of ice water, were replaced by lead tanks, in which considerable quantities of glycerine, amounting to several hundred pounds, were nitrated at one operation. In these vessels the temperature was controlled by means of cold water circulating through lead coils fixed in the tank, and the whole contents of the tank were kept in agitation during the nitration by means of mechanical stirrers or by compressed air escaping through small holes in lead pipes situated at the bottom of the nitrating vessel. On completion of the nitration it was the practice in the early days to drown the whole of the charge of nitroglycerine and waste acid in a large bulk of water, from which the nitroglycerine separated out and was removed for subsequent purification by washing with alkaline solutions in lead tanks. This system entailed the loss of the waste acid, and was superseded by a process in which the nitroglycerine and waste acid were run from the nitrating vessel into another vessel termed a separator, and allowed to separate in it. The nitroglycerine, being lighter than the waste acid, came to the top, and was run off into a third tank for preliminary purification, consisting of several water washings.

This preliminary purification removes most of the free acid adhering to and dissolved in the nitroglycerine, but in order to obtain a stable product a further and prolor.ged purification is necessary, as in the case of guncotton. This is effected in lead tanks by repeated washings with warm, dilute sodium carbonate solution. The alkali remaining in the nitroglycerine after this treatment is thoroughly removed by washing with purified warm water. As nitroglycerine is a somewhat viscous liquid, special care has to be taken that the washing solutions are brought into very intimate contact with every portion of the charge of nitroglycerine. For this purpose the method universally employed is to agitate the contents of the washing tanks by means of the escape of air under compression through small holes in the bottom of the tank. As a result of this very thorough agitation the nitroglycerine, even after the removal by skimming of as much as possible of the washing liquid, still contains a small proportion of water suspended in it in a very fine state of division. It also contains small quantities of flocculent impurities and mineral matter derived from the glycerine and acids. To get rid of these bodies filtration is resorted to; coarse crystalline salt is very usually employed as a medium, but at Waltham Abbey it has been found that a filter in the form of a mat of sponges

is more efficacious and free from the objections salt filters possess.

After the removal of the nitroglycerine from the waste acid, which takes place in a comparatively short space of time, the waste acid was run out of the separator into large lead vessels, where it remained for days, in order to allow of the formation and removal of the last traces of nitroglycerine. This process is known as afterseparation, and was necessary to enable the waste acid to be dealt with without risk, because so long as it contained any traces of nitroglycerine it could not be stored or handled without risk of violent decompositions, or even of explosions, taking place.

This system of manufacture, comprising nitration, separation, preliminary washing, final washing, and afterseparation, all carried out in different vessels and in different houses, was the one which, with slight modifications in detail, was followed almost universally, and is still in use in many of the older factories in this country and abroad. Its disadvantages are several. In the first place, owing to the fact that it is unsafe to transport or to carry liquid nitroglycerine about, factories are always designed so that it may flow from process to process by gravity. The result, obviously, is that nitroglycerine

houses must be built on the side of a hill, or, as this is not always possible, the alternative of building a nitrating house, and also, probably, a separating house, on artificial mounds, has to be resorted to, entailing a very considerable expense.

In the next place, owing to the corrosive nature of the mixture of nitroglycerine and waste acid, and to the acid nature of the nitroglycerine even when separated from the waste acid, the only material which can be used for the cocks necessary to allow the nitroglycerine and acid to run from vessel to vessel is earthenware. The use of earthenware cocks is attended with considerable risk, owing to the fact that there is friction in them between the key and the body of the cock, and there is always the risk in moderately cold weather of the nitroglycerine freezing and fixing the key; force, if used in these circumstances, would be very liable to cause accident. Again, the necessity of storing the waste acid under observation for long periods is a costly one, both as regards labour and plant required.

It was to overcome these disadvantages that the whole system in current use for the manufacture of nitroglycerine received very careful consideration at the Royal Gunpowder Factory some years ago.

The first step that was taken to improve matters was to abolish the use of earthenware cocks in the preliminary and final washing tanks. As the nitroglycerine when it was ready to leave these tanks was thoroughly free from acid, it was possible to get rid of the cocks on these tanks, and to replace them by rubber tubes. During the washing operations this tube is secured to a nozzle fixed to the outside of the tank at a point above the level of the liquid. To run off the nitroglycerine it is only neces sary to slip the rubber tube off the nozzle and direct it into another vessel or into a lead gutter used to convey the nitroglycerine to the next operation.

Rubber, however, could not be used in the case of the separator or the nitrator, where either acid nitroglycerine or a mixture of nitroglycerine and acid had to be drawn off. To overcome the difficulty in this case an entirely new system was invented at Waltham Abbey. Instead of running the nitroglycerine and waste acid on completion of the nitration process into the separator, the separation is allowed to take place in the nitrating vessel itself. Nitroglycerine as it separates from the waste acid comes to the top, it being the lighter of the two liquids, and to remove it from the nitrator all that is necessary is to raise the liquid contents of the vessel gradually until the nitroglycerine reaches the top of the nitrator, where a pipe or gutter is fixed to lead the nitroglycerine away into the preliminary washing tank. This raising of the charge is effected by introducing into the bottom of the nitrator. through the same pipe by which the nitrating acid is admitted, the waste acid from a previous charge. The rate of inflow of the waste acid is regulated, so that the nitroglycerine displaced is as free as possible from acid in suspension.

The waste acid has still to be dealt with. It was discovered that the addition of a small percentage of water to this acid, after the nitroglycerine has been separated from it in the nitrator-separator, entirely prevents the further formation and separation of the small traces of the nitroglycerine, which the after-separating bottles were required to deal with.

The advantages of the Waltham Abbey plant and system of manufacture over others are briefly as follows:

(1) Increased Safety. By the abolition of all cocks through which nitroglycerine had to pass, the risks attendant on their use have disappeared. By the presence of cooling coils in the one and only vessel in which nitroglycerine and acids are in contact, any undue rise in temperature, always a possibility in the circumstances, can be at once checked. It was not usual to have cooling coils in the separator and after-separating bottles.

(2) Reduction in Total Elevation for, and Area of a Factory.-The abolition of the separator, and the running off of the nitroglycerine from the top of nitrator, effect a very material saving in the height required.

The after-separating house being no longer necessary, or the separator house when one existed as distinct from the nitrating house, the number of buildings, and therefore the ground area, is substantially reduced.

(3) Reduced Cost of Production.-This results from the fact that the capital outlay for a factory is much less, that fewer men are required for a given output, that there is less plant and fewer buildings to maintain, and that the plant itself suffers slower deterioration. Finally, the yield of nitroglycerine is increased by at least 5 parts for every 100 parts of glycerine nitrated.

The substitution recently of Nordhausen for ordinary sulphuric acid has further improved the yield of nitroglycerine, and whereas a few years ago a yield of 210 parts of nitroglycerine for every 100 parts of glycerine nitrated was considered excellent, the average yield at Waltham Abbey is now 230 per cent., a very high figure in view of the fact that the theoretical yield is 246.74 per cent. The use of Nordhausen sulphuric acid also permits of a considerable reduction in the proportion of nitrating acid to glycerine, so that a larger output is obtainable for any given sized plant.

(To be continued.)

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

INTELLIGENCE.

Ar a recent meeting of the council of the University of Bristol Dr. Lloyd Morgan tendered his resignation of the office of Vice-Chancellor, and in accepting the same the council placed upon record its sense of the distinguished services rendered by him to the cause of university education during the twenty-two years of his tenure of office as principal of University College, Bristol, and its hearty acknowledgment of the unsparing manner in which he has devoted his time and influence to the promotion of the scheme for the foundation of the University of Bristol, now brought to a successful issue. Sir Isambard Owen, principal of Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, has been elected Vice-Chancellor of the University, and Prof. J. Michell Clarke Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

MANY evidences of the numerous activities of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions are to be found in the July issue of the association's journal, which is published by the St. Bride's Press, Ltd. Addresses and papers read at the annual conference, of which an account appeared in NATURE of June 10, are printed in the periodical, and, in addition, there are several contributions by members of the association on various branches of technological chemistry. Prof. A. F. Holleman, of the University of Amsterdam, writes on substitution in the benzene-nucleus, Mr. Frank E. Weston discusses thermic reactions, and Mr. E. B. Naylor describes a course of instruction in chemistry designed to meet the needs of a mining centre. Full particulars are given also respecting the administrative work both of the parent association and its branches.

The

MESSRS. CORNISH BROTHERS, LTD., of Birmingham, have published in pamphlet form the address delivered last January by Sir Alexander B. W. Kennedy, F.R.S., in his capacity of warden of the Guild of Undergraduates, to the students of the University of Birmingham. address is entitled "The Complete Student," and contains much wise and kindly advice to young men entering upon life. Early in the address Sir Alexander says:-"I am sure that the exclusive use of our mental apparatus for technical or professional or business matters, or equally for artistic or scientific matters, renders the large part of that apparatus which is adapted for far wider uses useless and inert. The owner of only half a mind-especially if it be only the money-making half-is a very poor person. Moreover, even the one used half tends to become smaller and less elastic as its owner grows older. As regards his friends, such a one grows every year duller and more stupid; as regards his profession, he becomes less and less able to appreciate its continually changing aspects; as

of the pleasure of existence as if he had chosen to shut himself up all his days in a tube railway, beautifully illuminated by arc lamps, but absolutely cut off from the light of the sun.

THE Council of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy is prepared to offer five scholarships for the current year (provided suitable candidates present themselves) of the value of 5ol. each, to assist graduates in mining or metallurgy to take a practical course in mines or works at home or abroad. The scholarships will be awarded to graduates of the Royal School of Mines and other recognised British mining colleges or schools. Further information may be obtained from the secretary of the institution, Salisbury House, E.C.

"The

THE following doctorates have been conferred by the University of London upon internal and external students for the theses mentioned and other papers :-Miss Annie Abram, "The Effects produced by Economic Changes upon Social Life in England in the Fifteenth Century": Mr. P. Hartley, "On the Nature of the Fat contained in the Liver, Kidney, and Heart"; Mr. E. T. Mellor, Geology of the Neighbourhood of Middelburg, &c."; Mr. J. Stephenson, "Studies on the Aquatic Oligochæta of the Punjab "; Mr. W. Makower, "On the Active Deposit of Radium "; and Mr. H. Stansfield, "The Echelon Spectroscope, its Secondary Action, and the Structure of the Green Mercury Line."

THE London County Council Education Committee has had under consideration lately the question of the attendance of pupils residing outside the metropolitan area at secondary schools within the administrative county of London. The inquiry has led to some interesting comparisons as to the ratio existing between the gross cost per pupil of the education provided in London secondary schools and the amount of fees paid by the pupils. Taking the case of the seventeen secondary schools provided and managed by the committee, the gross estimated cost of education per pupil, apart from capital charges, varies from 12. 148. in the case of the Dalston County Secondary School for Girls to 271. 1S. in the case of the Holloway County Secondary School for Boys. The Board of Education grant of 41. 10s. is uniform throughout these schools, so that the net cost of education per pupil varies from 81. 4s. to 22l. 118. The fees charged to fee-paying pupils vary from 41. 10s. to 12l. a year per pupil. In the great majority of the schools the fee charged is only about onehalf that of the net cost, and nearer one-third that of the gross cost. In other words, London parents who send their children to these county secondary schools are called upon to pay only about one-third of what that education costs. It would be a wise policy for the Education Committee to take steps to bring this fact home to the parents, for at present evidences are not wanting that the facilities

.which London now enjoys for secondary education are insufficiently appreciated both by the parents and their children.

THE second volume of the report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1908, has been received from Washington. An important chapter, running to some 122 pages, provides exhaustive statistics relating to the universities, colleges, and technological schools of the United States. The total value of all gifts and bequests reported by the institutions, of which the Washington Bureau takes cognisance, during the year under review, amounted to 2,964,200l. Of this amount 1,029,600l. was given for buildings and improvements, 1,468,300l. for endowment, and the remainder for current expenses. Twenty-four institutions received 20,000l. or more during the year, the most fortunate of the universities being Chicago, which benefited to the extent of 419,700l.; Princeton, 200,850l.; California, 187,200l.; and Harvard, 138,400l. The statistics deal with 464 American universities, colleges, and technological schools. For the year 1907-8 these institutions received 3,448,500l. from students' fees, 811,000l. being for board and lodging. The grand total of the receipts of the institutions reached the large sum of 13.360,000l. In their libraries were 12,636,656 volumes. The value of their scientific apparatus, machinery, and furniture was 5.588,300l.; their grounds, 11.714,300l. their buildings, 42,878,000l.; and their productive funds, 51,954,000l. The institution had a teaching force of 21,960, the number of men being 19.254. The number of students under the tuition of this large staff was 265,966.

ON July 21 Lord Monk Bretton asked in the House of Lords what steps had been taken to define the spheres of the Boards of Agriculture and Education, respectively, in the matter of agricultural education. At the same time he referred to the memorandum recently issued by the Board of Education, which implied that a sum of 21,000l., in part at any rate, is available for agricultural education. He stated that he has been in communication with the university authorities and others, and can find no evidence that the money is used for this purpose. Similarly, the Treasury grants and the block-grant system of the Board of Education have not helped agricultural education; money from the latter source, indeed, goes to the relief of the rates. British agriculture, he pointed out, receives much less money than the amount granted in foreign countries, a result due to the absence of agreement and coordination between the Board of Education and the Board of Agriculture. Earl Carrington, in reply. stated that an understanding had that morning been arrived at by the two Boards as to the general lines of their future policy. There will be direct cooperation in regard to educational work, and in particular with the view of improving and extending specialised agricultural instruction. An inter-departmental committee of officers of the two Boards will consider the questions that may arise as to the correlation of work and of grants. Everything is working harmoniously between the two departments. Lord Belner strongly urged that any arrangement between the two Boards should follow the recommendation of the Agricultural Education Committee that agricultural education provided by colleges, farm institutes, and winter schools should be under the direction of the Board of Agriculture, while agricultural instruction given at evening classes connected with elementary schools should be under the Board of Education. The Marquis of Lansdowne emphasised the great importance of the subject. Quoting Sir Horace Plunkett's dictum, that what is wanted in these days is not merely economic holdings, but an economic system and an economic man to carry it out, he went on to say that we cannot get the economic man to carry out the economic system unless the Government takes some pains to give him a proper education.

THE Staffordshire County Council Education Committee has issued its scheme of agricultural education, and a perusal of the circular shows that the committee is fully alive to the difficulties involved. Provision is made (a) for those already engaged in agricultural pursuits, and who therefore can only devote their evenings to study, or, at most, a few weeks during the slack winter time; (b) for boys and girls

leaving elementary schools. The former class always proves difficult to get at. Lecturers in agricultural and horticul tural subjects are provided, at a merely nominal cost to the locality, to give courses of six to twenty lectures. Practical demonstrations are also arranged in cooperation with the Harper Adams College. These include :-(1) Manurial experiments to show the effect of different manures on crops and to compare different varieties of crops; (2) hedge-layering and ditching courses, which are necessarily held in the day-time, and for which prizes are therefore given by way of recompense: (3) horticulture and fruitgrowing. There are also scholarships for short winter courses, tenable at the Harper Adams College or the Midland Dairy College, which, however, have been very inadequately taken up in the past. Coming now to provision for children leaving school, we find :—(1) Minor scholarships awarded for the Brewood Grammar School (agricultural side); (2) major scholarships for the Harper Adams or Holmes Chapel College, or, in the case of women, the Swanley Horticultural College. Farmers are apt to grumble because boys who take up agricultural scholarships subsequently find something they are better fitted for. Such grumbling is, of course, wholly unreasonable, and shows a want of appreciation of the true meaning of education. We are therefore sorry to see a proviso that candidates who accept Brewood scholarships are expected to take up agriculture on leaving school. No appointment as pupilteacher in any elementary school under the county com. mittee will be given to boys who have held Brewood scholarships." How can a boy of fourteen be expected to know just what career he will succeed at best? Why should he be penalised if he elects to go in for farming, and discovers. two years later, that his bent is for teaching? Does not the education committee know that to discover what a boy can do, and to set him at it, is one of the great objects of all education?

66

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

EDINBURGH.

Royal Society, June 28.-Dr. R. H. Traquair, F. R.S.. vice-president, in the chair.-At the request of the council Prof. Louis Dollo, of the Royal Museum at Brussels, delivered an address on the extinct gigantic reptiles of Belgium. The history of their discovery and the manner of their preservation were detailed in a most interesting and racy lecture, the peculiar skeletal arrangements of the iguanodon being specially dwelt upon.

July 5.-Prof. Cossar Ewart, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.-Notes on the skeleton of a Sowerby's whale (Mesoplodon bidens) stranded at St. Andrews, and on the morphology of the manus in Hyperoodon and in the Delphinida Sir William Turner, K.C.B. This species of whale was first recognised in 1800 from a specimen cast ashore on the Moray Firth, and described by Sowerby. Not until 1872 were other specimens found on the Scottish coast. The present specimen led to some corrections of former conclusions, especially in regard to the differences of sex. Some interesting results were given in regard to the comparative anatomy of the hand in this whale and the allied genera of Hyperoodon and dolphins. The occurrence of five distal carpal bones in the Sowerby's whale disposed of the theory that this number did not occur in mammals.-Current and temperature observations in Loch Ness: E. M. Wedderburn and W. Watson. The observations were complicated, and at times conflicting. secondary currents and cross-currents being frequent, and evidently forming part of the circulation of the lake. the general conclusions the following may be mentioned. When the lake is of uniform temperature the direct current produced by wind is felt to considerable depths, and the return current is also felt in the deepest parts. When the lake has become stratified and the temperature discontinuity has appeared, the return current is almost always above the discontinuity. When the wind changes direction or follows a calm, the direct surface current is felt to considerable depths, but after the wind has been blowing for about twelve hours the return current asserts itself, and the direct current is restricted to a narrower zone.-Pettersson's observations on deep-water oscillations : E. M.

Of