112 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Notes at Tort St. Mary, Isle of Man," by A. 

 Chopin; "Aspect of the Heavens: April, May, 

 June, 1890," by A. Graham, etc. 



Mr. Clement Wragge, Government meteorolo- 

 gist of Queensland, sends us his very interesting and 

 instructive meteorological report for 1887. We 

 believe this is the first time anything of the kind has 

 been attempted in Queensland, and it certainly is a 

 most creditable performance. The report is illus- 

 trated with a great number of diagrams, weather 

 charts, &c, all showing that the greatest care and 

 precision have been expended to make them suc- 

 cessful. 



We have received from the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture the following important pamphlets : — 

 " The Root-Knot Disease of the Peach, Orange, and 

 Other Plants in Florida, due to the Work Anguillula," 

 by Dr. J. C. Neal ; " Report of a Trip to Australia to 

 investigate the Natural Enemies of the Fluted Scale," 

 by A. Koebell ; and parts 7, 8, and 9 of " Insect 

 Life." The importance of these pamphlets to agri- 

 culturists cannot well be exaggerated. That on the 

 root-knot disease is a most exhaustive one, and is 

 very fully illustrated, containing twenty-one plates 

 printed in colours. 



" Perspective Charts for use in Class Teaching," 

 by H. A. James (London : Chapman and Hall), is 

 a most useful book for a teacher of perspective. 



Mr. H. W. Marsden, 21 New Bond Street, 

 Bath, sends us two of his egg-drills, with a grooved 

 conical tip. The advantage of these instruments 

 over the primitive pin is very great. One can 

 make a round hole of what size he likes, and there is 

 no risk of breaking the egg. Mr. Marsden's priced 

 catalogue of British and foreign birds' skins and eggs, 

 animals' skins, Lepidoptera, British and foreign 

 shells, and all kinds of natural history appliances 

 and books, will be found valuable to all those in 

 search of information in any or all of these subjects. 



Among the exhibits worthy of special notice in 

 the science department (under the direction of the 

 Reverend Dr. West and Mr. C. Carus- Wilson} of 

 the Bournemouth Industrial and Loan Exhibition, 

 opened on the 7th inst., we may draw attention to 

 the collection of British and foreign oysters lent by 

 the Poole Oyster Fishing Company, also to a col- 

 lection of birds' eggs, for which Mr. Gray received a 

 special prize. Mr. E. Davies exhibited a most 

 interesting collection of recent and fossil local shells, 

 and on account of its perfection, and the skill shown 

 in mounting, he was awarded the first prize. The 

 processes employed in the development of photo- 

 graphs formed an interesting series, exhibited by Mr. 

 Jones. In the geological section the large specimens 

 of fluor-spar lent by Dr. West were much admired, 

 and his collection of eocene fossils from the London, 



Hants, and Paris basins formed a most valuable 

 addition to the list of exhibits. Mr. C. Carus- 

 Wilson lent a case of remarkably well-preserved 

 fossils of various geological ages, including a gigantic 

 shark's tooth (carcharodon) from Rio ; also garnets 

 in quartz, and samples of musical sands. Leaves 

 from the Bournemouth beds were well represented 

 by Mr. Bennett's collection. In the entomological 

 section Mr. McRae's splendid collection of British 

 Lepidoptera attracted much attention ; the Rhopa- 

 locera and Macro-Heterocera are nearly all repre- 

 sented, a large number having been bred by Mr. 

 McRae from larvae obtained in or near Bournemouth. 

 A special prize was awarded to W. Harding for a 

 large astronomical telescope constructed entirely by 

 himself — quite a marvellous production for an 

 amateur ; it possesses three powers on revolving 

 eye-tubes, speculum 9 "3 inches diameter, two-inch 

 achromatic finder, slow motion in R.A., and will 

 divide stars o"6 asunder. Some interesting " Voice 

 Pictures " were shown by Mrs. Watts Hughes. 

 Though not in the science department, Mr. C. J. 

 Bayley's auto-pneumatic fountains are well worthy of 

 notice ; by an ingenious contrivance, which is worked 

 by compressed air, they play for eight hours without 

 attention. The exhibicion will close on the 21st inst., 

 when the prizes will be distributed by the Duchess of 

 Albany. 



On the 2nd inst. Mr. Ernest Spon, A.M.I.C.E., 

 read a paper before the Civil and Mechanical 

 Engineers' Society. After describing bygone 

 blasting powders, and the early forms of gun- 

 cotton and nitro-glycerine, Mr. Spon came to 

 modern explosives, which he described in detail. 

 These included dynamite, blasting gelatine, roburite, 

 securite, smokeless blasting powder (S. B.) and 

 others. While speaking of the manufacture of gun- 

 cotton, he said that in one manufactory there is an 

 annual output of 3500 tons. The Picrate composi- 

 tions were touched upon, with the various forms of 

 detonators, and their practical effect was discussed. 



On April the 23rd, Mr. William Whitaker, F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., of the Geological Survey, delivered a highly 

 important address before the Society of Arts on 

 •' Coal in South-Eastern England." Mr. Whitaker, 

 as far back as February 18S6, in a paper read before 

 the Geological Society, recommended Dover as a 

 site for an experimental boring for coal beneath the 

 chalk. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Micro-Photography. — Dear Editor, permit me 

 to pass a few comments upon the article headed 

 " Micro-Photography," which appeared in the March 

 number. If Mr. D. W. Barker will allow me, I 

 should like to point out a mistake which he has 



