350 



NA TV RE 



[February lo, 1898 



collections now presented toUhe University, Prof. Marsh has 

 found time to describe many of the important specimens new to 

 science, and make them known to the world in more than two 

 hundred and fifty publications. 



We have been requested to announce that it is proposed to 

 raise, by international subscription, a memorial fund to the late 

 Prof. Edmund Drechsel, the well-known physiological chemist, 

 whose recent death at Naples, on September 22, 1897, has been 

 a great loss to science. Prof. Drechsel has left a widow and two 

 young sons in very poor circumstances. It is hoped that sufficient 

 money will be raised to contribute materially to the support and 

 education of these boys, as well as to provide a modest memorial 

 to Drechsel in the place where he is buried. Any contribution 

 to this object may be sent direct to Prof. Kronecker, Physio- 

 logisches Institut, Bern ; or to Mr. Ernest H. Starling, 8 Park- 

 square, London, N.W., who will forward any subscriptions 

 received to Prof. Kronecker. This appeal has been circulated 

 among the members of the Physiological Society ; but Drechsel 

 was even more a chemist than a physiologist, and many English 

 chemists, as well as other scientific men, may be glad to contribute 

 in some way to the memorial which is being raised on behalf of 

 his widow and children. 



r, 



With reference to the recrudescence of epidemic influenza 

 the British Medical journal says : — Influenza has further in- 

 creased in London during the past week, and medical prac- 

 titioners in all parts of the town are finding their hands very 

 full. The epidemic seems to be very prevalent also in some of 

 the home counties, especially in Kent and Surrey, and it pre- 

 vails also in Devonshire and Cornwall. The epidemic now 

 prevalent, in some districts at least, differs in its character from 

 those from which we have suffered in previous years. It has 

 long been recognised that the disease may present at least three 

 distinct types, according to whether it attacks most severely the 

 respiratory, the nervous, or the digestive systems. In the 

 earlier epidemics in recent years the majority of cases belonged 

 to the first type, and many deaths were caused by bronchitis 

 and pneumonia. Later, the prevalent type was the nervous, 

 and men were left in a condition of mental and physical de- 

 pression which for many months greatly limited their activities, 

 and in too many cases helped to fill the asylums. The present 

 epidemic is remarkable for the very large proportion of cases 



L which show symptoms of profound disturbance of the digestive 

 system. 



It is surprising that in a subject like mathematics, where 

 any student may easily rediscover known theorems for himself, 

 so few journals exist devoted to the interchange of notes and 

 queries. We are glad to see that L ' Intermediaire des Mathi- 

 maticiens, which exactly fulfils this object, has now entered on 

 its fifth year of publication. The editors. Dr. C. A. Laisant 

 and M. Emile Lemoine, justly take pride to themselves in 

 recording that the recent Mathematical Congress in Zurich 

 owed its origination partly to correspondence in their columns. 



A NOTE by Commander C. H. Davis in Terrestrial Magnetism , 

 calls attention to the serious effects of electric car disturbances 

 at the magnetic observatory of the United States Naval Ob- 

 servatory, which is situated on Georgetown Heights, in the 

 suburbs of Washington. The disturbances seem to have most 

 affected the vertical force, but the horizontal force and declin- 

 ation were also disturbed. Experiments conducted at the 

 magnetic observatory of Toronto, which is still in a worse pre- 

 dicament than this observatory, show that magnetic instruments 

 must be removed to a distance of at least two miles before 

 the disturbances of an electric railway cease to be apparent. 

 Observations at Toronto have been discontinued. As Com- 

 mander Davis remarks, it thus appears that the use of powerful 



NO. 1476, VOL. 57] 



electric currents for commercial purposes has destroyed the 

 usefulness of the only two magnetic observatories on the North 

 American continent. 



The Aeronautical Journal, which now enters on its second 

 year of publication, bids fair to be a current record of all ex- 

 periments on aeronautical matters as well as of devices, both 

 practicable and impracticable, for navigating the air. Among 

 the features of the current number are an account of Mr. 

 Chanute's American experiments, and a translation of a paper, 

 by Captain Moedebeck, on the German aluminium balloon 

 which was experimented with on November 3 of last year, but 

 was wrecked through becoming unmanageable. That never 

 failing subject of controversy, the " soaring bird," is again 

 brought forward, this time in a lengthy disquisition by Mr. G. 

 L. O. Davidson. Mr. P. Spencer describes Mr. Pollock's 

 balloon trip of October 12, 1897, across the Channel ; and Mr. 

 A. Lawrence Rotcb, of the Blue Hill Observatory, contributes 

 a note on " The Highest Kite Ascent." A glance at the list of 

 patents applied for, and actually granted, will show that the 

 " dark ages " of science have not yet entirely disappeared, so far 

 as aeronautics is concerned. 



A SMALL pamphlet, entitled "Natural Colour Photographs," 

 has been received from the Natural Colour Photography Com- 

 pany, Ltd., Dublin ; and though Prof. Joly's name is not 

 mentioned in it, the process described is evidently the one we 

 owe to his ingenuity. This process, it will be remembered, con- 

 sists in using two screens : one — the " taking " screen — lined in 

 orange, yellowish-green and blue; and the other— the "view- 

 ing " screen — lined in red, green and violet. The pamphlet 

 just received is taken up with directions for using these screens, 

 the former of which is employed to obtain the negative, while 

 the latter — when superimposed upon the positive finally ob- 

 tained — reproduces the colours of the original object, which 

 appears as a transparent photographic image in the natural 

 colours. Many photographers will be glad to know where to 

 procure these screens, and how to obtain the best results with 

 them. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences at Vienna, on 

 January 20, Dr. J. Hann communicated a treatise on the theory 

 of the daily oscillation of the barometer. The chief object of 

 the discussion is the investigation of that portion of the regular 

 oscillation of the barometric pressure which occurs once in an 

 entire day. This period is most subject to disturbances of 

 locality and time because all meteorological phenomena have a 

 whole-day period. With the view of eliminating all disturbing 

 influences as much as possible, the author deals with the hourly 

 observations made at sea, and on islands far from continents. 

 Near the equator the extremes of the whole-day period occur 

 near 5h. 30m. a.m. (the maximum) and 5h. 30m. p.m. (the 

 minimum), which are not very different from the average con- 

 ditions on land, the epochs being retarded with increase of 

 latitude. The amplitude of the whole-day oscillation at the 

 equator is nearly a third of that of the double daily variation. 

 The amplitudes of the daily wave have two principal maxima 

 at the time of the equinoxes, and a principal minimum in June 

 and July, at the time of aphelion ; while in December and 

 January, at the time of perihelion, the amplitude is much 

 greater. The author also investigates, for a number of stations, 

 the modifications to which the normal whole-day wave of 

 barometic pressure is subject, owing to the daily periodic 

 transfer of masses of air from land to sea, and the reverse, as 

 well as at mountain stations. 



The Hong Kong Observatory seems to have been originally 

 founded for the purpose of issuing storm warnings and protect- 

 ing commei-ce against the destructive typhoons which visit 



