5« 



NA rURE 



[NoVExMBER 18, 1897 



to be laid from Newfoundland to Ireland, forms an attractive 

 object of the collection. It is about 18 inches in diameter, on a 

 •stand, with a magnetic compass underneath, and shows many 

 signs of hard usage. The journal kept by Mr. Field and notes 

 of deep-sea soundings set down by him and officers of the 

 Great Eastern, which laid the cable, are part of the collection. 

 Mr. Field's private library, with all the literature relating to the 

 work of laying the cable, forms another part. There are also 

 copies of medals presented to Mr. Field by Congress and the 

 French Government, engrossed resolutions passed by public 

 bodies in the United States and in Europe, a cane from the 

 •wood of the Great Eastern, &c., as well as cases containing 

 sections of the first Atlantic cable. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times gives particulars of 

 the trial trip at Mantes of the electric locomotive devised 

 by M. Heihnann. The train, which was composed of 

 twelve carriages and a luggage van, and carried 250 persons, 

 weighed about 150 tons. The object of the trip was not to 

 make a trial of speed, and the train journeyed at the rate of 

 only eighteen miles an hour ; the experiment seems, however, 

 'to have been considered a great success, and testimony is borne 

 to the ease and regularity of the movement of the train. 

 Great things are hoped from this invention, no less than the 

 conveying of a train weighing 300 tons at the speed of sixty-two 

 miles an hour being looked forward to. The Heilmann engine 

 draws a closed tender containing a steam engine of the Pilon 

 pattern, which works the dynamos producing electricity. The 

 motive power is transmitted directly to the eight wheels, which 

 .are only one metre five centimetres in diameter. The consump- 

 tion of coal by the engine is less than that of an ordinary engine, 

 so that the locomotive can go greater distances with fewer and 

 shorter stops for replenishing coal and water. It will, of course, 

 light up the carriages by electricity, and it is thought that the 

 electric will supersede the air brake. 



A LECTURE on " Microscopic Observations on Deterioration 



by Fatigue in Steel Rails," was given on Monday, the 8th inst., 

 before the Sheffield Society of Engineers and Metallurgists, by 

 Mr. Thomas Andrews, and is reported in the Sheffield Daily 

 Telegraph, from which we give a condensed report as follows : — 

 The earlier part of the lecture was occupied with the '"con- 

 sideration of the external stress and disintegrating forces imposed 

 •on rails, and a lai'ge number of illustrations of the state of the 

 wearing faces of rails which had endured the stress of wear for 

 known periods and under known conditions of main line service 

 were given. The gradual development of lines of transverse 

 weakness, indicating the danger from minute cracks, and showing 

 the influences of internal micro flaws in assisting the loss of 

 ■strength due to vibratory stress were then traced. The effects 

 also of varied chemical compositions on the physical properties 

 and strength of steel rails were also considered, and illustrated 

 by numerous micro-sections and micrographs. The lecturer 

 referred to his recent researches on another serious cause of the 

 loss of strength in rails arising from occasional segregation of 

 the chemical constituents and impurities in steel rails, and 

 offered suggestions for the prevention of this evil. He further 

 referred to the light thrown on this question by recent micro- 

 scopic researches on the structure of gold and other metallic 

 alloys. The effects of the secondary crystallisation of iron 

 recently observed by the lecturer were also illustrated. Reason- 

 ing from the results of his research on the microscopic structure, 

 chemical composition, and physical structure of rails of satisfac- 

 tory long life, Mr. Andrews indicated the conclusions he had 

 arrived at as to the specification for modern rails best calculated 

 to ensure durability and safety for main line services. The 

 ilecturer mentioned that he was still pursuing additional chemical, 

 physical, and microscopical researches on the important question 

 NO. 1464, VOL. 57] 



on the loss of strength in steel rails by reason of use, and ex- 

 pressed the hope that valuable results in the interests of the 

 public safety would result. 



At a meeting of the Nottingham Naturalists' Society on 

 November 9, the newly-elected president, the Rev. A. Thorn- 

 ley, deHvered a thoughtful address on " The Work of a Natural 

 History Society." In the opinion of the president, the func- 

 tions of a Society such as theirs should embrace at least the fol- 

 lowing objects : instruction, stimulation, field-work, and pro- 

 tection. The speaker, in the course of his remarks, regretted 

 that the study of entomology has up to the present been to a 

 large extent neglected in the county of Nottingham, but stated 

 there were signs of improvement in this direction, as during the 

 past year their Coleoptera list had been largely augmented by 

 the labours of several members of their Society. 



The so-called " fruit cure," although not much heard of in 

 this country, is well recognised at various places on the conti- 

 nent, where so-called grape-cure stations have been established. 

 In a recent number of Modern Medicine and Bacteriological 

 Review there is an interesting article on the subject, in which the 

 historical side of the question is dealt with. Thus we are told 

 that many medical authorities in the tenth century become en- 

 thusiastic in their writings over the remarkable curative virtues 

 of grapes, whilst a certain Van Swieten, of a more modern date, 

 is said to have "recommended in special cases the eating of 

 twenty pounds of strawberries a day." The same gentleman also 

 reports a case of phthisis healed by strawberries, and cites cases 

 in which maniacs have regained their reason by the exclusive use 

 of cherries as food ! These instances rather savour of the 

 miraculous ; but there is no doubt that the so-called grape-cure, 

 for indigestion and other evils, is carried on in many places on 

 the continent, and that people betake themselves to Meran, 

 Vevey, Bingen, or to Italy and the South of France with the in- 

 tention of devoting six weeks to the cure, during which time they 

 are expected to have gradually accomplished the feat of con- 

 suming from three to eight pounds of grapes daily as the case 

 may be. Grapes are said to exercise a salutary action on the 

 nervous .system and to favour the formation of fat, that is to say, 

 when fruit of good quality is employed ; if the grapes are not 

 sufficiently ripe, and are watery and sour, the patient may lose 

 rather than gain in weight. Dr. Kellogg, Director of the 

 Sanitarium Hospital and Laboratory of Hygiene at Battle 

 Creek, Mich., is of opinion that the valuable results obtained 

 by a fruit diet in cases of biliousness which he has observed 

 are due to the fact that noxious germs habitually present in the 

 alimentary canal do not thrive in fruit juices. 



The Board of Trade report for 1897 on the sight tests used in 

 the mercantile marine shows that of the fifty-six candidates who 

 failed in colour vision in 1896 twelve were examined on appeal, 

 of whom five passed and seven were rejected. The number of 

 officers already in possession of certificates who, on coming up 

 for examination in 1896, failed to pass the sight tests, was 

 twelve— one master, five mates, and two second mates failing in 

 colour vision, and one mate and three second mates failing in 

 form vision. Two of the mates who failed in colour vision ap- 

 pealed and passed, and one of the second mates who failed in 

 form vision passed on re-examination. The percentage of 

 failures to pass the colour tests was i '02, a percentage almost 

 exactly the same as that obtained in former years, before the 

 introduction of the wool test. The most extraordinary point in 

 the report is the great number of normal sighted persons who 

 were rejected as colour blind ; no less than 41 '6 per cent, of 

 those who appealed passed. This state of things, says the 

 British Medical Jomnal, we may expect to continue until 

 properly qualified medical men are employed as examiners, and 

 a trustworthy test is used. 



