170 



NATURE 



[February 17, 1898 



A circuit through the steel rings, the brass collar, the 

 metallic rings on the rod, fhe projectile and the body of the 

 gun was completed whenever the brass collar touched one 

 of the rings on the rod. It was broken when the wooden 

 portions passed, and so an alternate transmission and 

 extinction of the polarised beam was brought about, which 

 served the same purpose as in the arrangement first de- 

 scribed. The curves obtained showed a constant accel- 

 eration of the projectile within the barrel, which would 



Fig. 2.— Apparatus for measuring velocity of projectile inside the barrel. 



indicate a constant pressure of the gas. But unfortun- 

 ately no complete records were obtained, the rods having 

 broken off half-way through the barrel. 



fc The most remarkable circumstance of all these trials 

 lies in the extreme smallness of the intervals measured. 



In some experiments ten points were taken along a 

 length of 72 cm., which corresponds to a duration of o 0x35 

 seconds, and reduces the interval observed to 00005 

 seconds. 



I u.. J. — lilix k au.u .... . to muzzle for making circuit. 



Needless to say, the apparatus may with equal success 

 be applied to other fields of micro-chronographic investi- 

 gation. 



NOTES. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society next Thursday, 

 February 24, for the discussion of the scientific advantages of 

 an Antarctic expedition, the following are likely to take part in 

 the discussion which will be opened by Dr. John Murray : — The 

 Duke of Argyll, Sir Clements Markham, Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 Sir Archibald Geikie, Dr. Neumayer (Director of the Deutsche 

 Seewarte), Dr. Sclater (Secretary of the Zoological Society), 

 Prof. D'Arcy Thompson, and others. 



NO. 1477. VOL. 57] 



Prof. Alexander Agassiz writes to Prof. Ray Lankester 

 from Sura, P'iji, under date January 3, as follows: " I got 

 here first days in November, and found my steamer awaiting 

 me ; started the day after reaching Sura, and have been on the 

 full run ever since. I have learned more about coral reefs than 

 on all my former expeditions. Naturally my experience else- 

 where has been of great service. The problem is getting more 

 and more complicated. My boring was a fizzle. I only got to 

 80 feet ; but in a region where there are elevated reefs nearly 

 1000 feet thick, that means nothing. From all I hear about 

 the Funafuti boring (700 feet), and from what Prof. David 

 writes, I fancy the bore-core will not bring us any nearer to a 

 conclusion. It certainly can not help us to ascertain how atolls 

 have been formed." 



That until a few days ago (February 10) there lived in 

 Eaton Square a nephew of Sir John Moore, and a man who 

 many years ago attained a considerable distinction in geology, 

 was little known to the present generation of scientific workers. 

 John Carrick Moore was born in 1804, and inherited an estate 

 in the northern part of The Rhinns of Wigtownshire, near 

 Stranraer. lie became a Fellow of the Geological Society in 

 1838, and two years later read a paper on the rocks which 

 form the west shore of the bay of Loch Ryan, at the head of 

 which Stranraer is situated. In subsequent years he devoted 

 much attention to the fossiliferous Silurian strata of Wigtown- 

 shire and Ayrshire, and contributed the earliest account of the 

 rocks near Carrick. He likewise published accounts of the 

 Tertiary fossils of St. Domingo and Jamaica. For many years 

 he served on the Council of the Geological Society, terminating 

 his official connection in 1875. In 1846 he was appointed one 

 of the Honorary Secretaries, and later on for several years he 

 was a Vice-President of the same Society. He was elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society in 1856. Educated at Queen's 

 College, Cambridge, he early gained a sound knowledge of 

 mathematics and physics, and in after years he contributed a 

 few articles to the Philosophical Alagazine, dealing with the 

 influence of the obliquity of the ecliptic on climate, and criti- 

 cising some of the principles enunciated by Ramsay with regard 

 to the erosion of lake basins. Living to the advanced age of 

 over ninety-four, Moore long outlived the majority of his 6ld 

 friends, of whom Murchison was one with whom he was 

 intimately associated. 



We have received further correspondence relating to the two 

 Societies in Lincolnshire, to which reference was made in our 

 issues of December 30 and February 3. It appears that the 

 older Society, the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union, does not 

 regard with unmixed friendliness the newer and possibly more 

 vigorous Science Society. Into this unfortunate conflict of 

 interests it is not our province to enter, and we can only repeat 

 with renewed emphasis that it is a most serious mistake to allow 

 the spirit of rivalry to enter into the matter at all. The welfare 

 of both Societies can only suffer, and the progress of science in 

 the county can only be retarded by friction. The Lincolnshire 

 Science Society explains its origin by accusing the Union of fail- 

 ing to carry out the objects for which it was founded. There 

 may or may not be truth in the accusation, but we are bound to 

 admit that evidenceof scientific activity on the part of the Union 

 has not been obtainable. We cannot find the latter body among 

 the corresponding societies of the British Association ; neither 

 can we learn that any publication has been issued under its 

 auspices. Attention may be called to an article by Prof. 

 Meldola,on the work of local societies, published in these columns 

 in 1896 (vol. liv. p. 114), in which some of the causes of the 

 decay of such societies are pointed out, and the advantages of 

 federation insisted upon. We can only hope that Lincolnshire 

 will not present to the scientific world a divided front on a 



