HA RD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OS SI P. 



43 



Museum at Ipswich, the Midland Institutes Union at 

 Birmingham, and ,' the Literary and Philosophical 

 Societies of York, Hull, and Wolverhampton. 



Mr. G. H. Morton, jun., read a paper on "The 

 Agreement of Colour Theories with Practical Experi- 

 ence," before the Art Congress,' Liverpool. He 

 dwells on the difference between the three primary 

 colours of the artist and those of the physicist. 

 Those of the former are the pigments red, yellow, 

 and blue, while those of the latter are the sensations — 

 red, green, and violet. The artist's red is of a violet 

 hue, whilst the physicist's is a yellow-red, or orange. 

 One set contains the mean between two colours of 

 the other set ; thus the violet of the physicist's set 

 is obtained by mixing the red and blue of the artist's 

 set, and the artist's blue by mixing together the 

 physicist's red and green. The hue of a primary 

 pigment is that one which will mix with the greatest 

 number of colours and still retain its brightness. As 

 a rule the hue of each primary pigment tends towards 

 blue and away from red. This is. explained by the 

 vibratory theory of light. The primary blue pig- 

 ment has more of a green than a violet hue. All 

 colours are sensations caused by the action of light 

 on the retina of the eye. Each of the three sets of 

 nerves when excited, produces a colour, thus there is 

 in reality no colour outside ourselves, and a pigment 

 is not really a colour, but an object which causes the 

 sensation of colour. From this we see that the 

 physicist's are the true primary colours, viz. orange, 

 green, and violet. 



The Rev. Dr. Hind, rector of Honington, assisted 

 by Professor Churchill Babington, D.D., F.L.S., 

 rector of Cockfield, is about to bring out " The Flora 

 of Suffolk," a Topographical enumeration of the 

 plants of the county, showing the results of former 

 observations and of the most recent researches. The 

 work will contain an introductory chapter on the 

 geology, climate, and meteorology of Suffolk, by 

 Wheelton Hind, M.D., F.R.C.S., and will be 

 published by Gurney and Jackson, successors to Van 

 Voorst, Paternoster Row. 



Mr. C. J. Watkins, King's Mill House, Pains- 

 wick, Gloucestershire, sends us a list of selected scales 

 of Lepidoptera, &c., unmounted, in packets. Each 

 packet contains a named portion of wing, sufficient 

 to mount two or three good slides of detached scales. 

 There is a good variety, and the price is low. 



We have received from Messrs. J. Wiggin and Son, 



Jpswich, a " Youth's Half-Crown Chemical Cabinet." 



Its contents are both varied and interesting, and it is 



without doubt the cheapest set of Elementary 



' Chemical Apparatus we have seen. 



Messrs. Ewart and Son, 64 Euston Road, 

 London, N.W., have, in addition to their well-known 

 Lightning Geyser for heating water for a bath, &c., 

 brought out a smaller one (No. 5) "for the many 



occasions when a small quantity of boiling water is 

 required." It is made of copper throughout, and is 

 carefully tinned next the water. It produces boiling 

 water at the rate of a pint a minute, and is therefore 

 useful for dentists' operating rooms, bedrooms, 

 kitchens, &c. 



Mr. B. Piffard, of Hemel Hempstead, writes to 

 say that the fossil from the chalk referred to in our 

 Geol. column last month as a Cone of Taxus, turns 

 out on further examination to be a coprolite. 



The Huddersfield School Board have started a 

 Natural History Society. The chairman of the 

 School Board, J. W. Robson, Esq., is president. The 

 rules are a model of what such Societies should be. 

 A comprehensive and attractive programme consist- 

 ing of Lantern Lectures, and Rambles, Pic-Nics, and 

 Flower-Shows, has been drawn up. We wish the 

 Board Schools everywhere would adopt this new 

 departure, and we congratulate the Huddersfield 

 School Board on setting so good an example. 



At the last meeting of the Geologists' Association 

 the following papers were read : " On some Bagshot 

 Pebble Beds and Pebble Gravel," by Horace W. 

 Moncton and R. S. Herries ; " On the Palaeontology 

 of Sturgeons," by A. Smith Woodward. 



Parts 6 and 7 of the "Illustrated Manual of 

 British Birds," by Howard Saunders (and published 

 by Gurney and Jackson), are to hand. They fully 

 maintain the high reputation for artistic merit and 

 good letter-press, gained by the preceding numbers. 



We have received Mr. Wm. Wesley's comprehen- 

 sive Natural History catalogue of books relating 

 chiefly to Microscopic Zoology, Entomology, and 

 Conchology. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Microscope Slides.— We have received two 

 most interesting slides from Mr. E. Hinton, 12, 

 Varley Road, Upper Holloway, N. The first is a 

 specimen of Hydra viridis, exquisitely clean, with the 

 natural colour preserved, and the tentacles fully ex- 

 tended ; it is intended to be used with the Paraboloid. 

 The second is the Medusiform gonozooid of Obelta 

 genkulata, one of the Hydroids. It has been killed 

 in sea-water, and the delicate tentacles (of which there 

 is an immense number) are fully exserted as in life, 

 the manubrium is also well shown. The preparation 

 is most interesting, and, without doubt, many micro- 

 scopists would be glad to see the phenomenon of the 

 Medusa life of the Hydroid, as it cannot often be 

 obtained. 



The Journal of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society, besides containing its Transactions and 

 Proceedings and a summary of current research in 



