February 17, 1898] 



NATURE 



371 



question in which both parties are really striving for the 

 same end. 



It is announced that in connection with the completion of his 

 twenty-fifth year of office as Woodwardian Professor of Geology 

 at Cambridge, Prof T. M'Kenny Hughes, F.R.S., is to be the 

 recipient of an illuminated address, to be presented at a public 

 dinner to be held in London on Saturday, the 26th inst. Sir 

 Archibald Geikie has consented to preside. 



The death is announced of Dr. Rudolf Leuckart, professor of 

 zoology and zootomy at Leipzig. 



Prof. Alexander Graham Bell has been elected presi- 

 dent of the National Geographic Society, Washington. 



Many men of science will grieve to learn that there is no 

 improvement in the condition of Sir Richard Quain, who has 

 been in ill-health for some time, and is gradually getting 

 weaker. 



We regret to see the report that Sir William Dawson, C.M.G., 

 F. R. S., formerly principal and vice-chancellor of the M'Gill 

 University, Montreal, has had a stroke of paralysis. 



Dr. Nansen has consented to deliver a lecture at the Queen's 

 Hall on the evening of Monday next, February 21. Lord Lister 

 will take the chair. 



The organisation of the Corps of Electrical Engineers, Royal 

 Engineers (Volunteers), has now been completed, and applica- 

 tions for membership may be made to the adjutant, Captain 

 Brady, R.E., at the headquarters of the Corps, 13 Victoria Street, 

 S.W. Major J. Hopkinson, F.R S., is in command, and Lord 

 Kelvin is honorary colonel. The War Office is offering every 

 encouragement to the development of this new Corps of 

 Volunteers. 



In the House of Commons on Monday, Sir H. Vincent asked 

 the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what grant 

 would be proposed from public funds for the representation of 

 the United Kingdom at the Paris Exhibition of 1900; and if he 

 could state what sums Germany, the United States, and Italy 

 proposed to allocate for the representation of their national 

 industries. In reply Mr. Curzon said : — It is proposed to ask 

 Parliament for a grant of 75,000/. to provide for the expenses 

 connected with the British section. The German Government 

 has sanctioned a grant-in-aid of 5 million marks, or about 

 250,000/. The United States Government has made a 

 Treasury estimate of 350,000 dollars, or about 70,000/. In Italy 

 nothing has yet been officially settled as to the exact amount to 

 be devoted to this purpose. 



A GREAT authority on iron and steel has passed away in the 

 person of Prof. Styffe, who died in Stockholm on February 3, 

 having just entered his seventy- fifth year. After completing 

 his studies at the University of Upsala (says Engineering) he 

 passed through the School of Mines at Falun, and was after- 

 wards engaged as a mining engineer in the Sala silver mines, 

 but he was soon called by his Government to be the chief 

 director of the Royal Technical Institution at Stockholm. Here 

 he rendered great services during more than a quarter of a 

 century, and was consulted at the same time by the Board of 

 Iron and Steel Works (Jernkontor) in Sweden. When the 

 construction of railways was begun in Sweden, some forty years 

 ago, the question naturally arose of using the excellent native 

 iron and steel for the railway plant, and the State appointed a 

 Committee to make careful researches as to its adaptability for 

 the purpose. Director Styffe was appointed chief of this Com- 

 mittee, and carried out these researches during a period of five 

 years in the most minute and scientific manner. His results 

 were published in the Annals of the Jernkontor, or Board of 



NO. 1477. VOL. 57] 



Iron and Steel Works in Sweden. They were translated into 

 English by C. P. Sandberg, and published under the title of 

 "The Elasticity, Extensibility, and Tensile Strength of Iron 

 and Steel." The work caused a great deal of interest in the 

 engineering press at the time. Styffe was juror for Sweden for 

 mining and metallurgy at the London International Exhibition in 

 1862, and at the subsequent exhibitions in Paris and Vienna. 

 Last summer he was present as an honorary member of the 

 International Congress for the Testing of Materials at Stock- 

 holm, and was duly honoured for his long and valuable services, 



American geographers appear to be far from pleased with 

 the projected plans of Captain Sverdrup. He purposes this 

 summer to use the Fram, with Dr. Nansen's approval, for the 

 exploration of the northern shores of Greenland. These plans, 

 it is objected, materially affect and invade Lieut. Peary's 

 field of work, who has not only already done a great deal on 

 the north coast of Greenland, but has for a long time had in 

 view a project for its continued exploration this summer. The 

 American Geographical Society, in its recently-issued quarterly 

 Bttllelin, publishes two strong protests. It is asserted that 

 Captain Sverdrup, by setting out at the same time, adopting 

 Peary's route and aims, utilising his experience, and interfering 

 with his resources of men and dogs in North Greenland, will 

 frustrate the labour of ten years, and turn to advantage all that 

 skill and courage has already accomplished. The caustic com- 

 ment is made: "There is no legal impediment in Captain 

 Sverdrup's way. He can do these things if he will, and men 

 will remember him as the one Arctic voyager whom they would 

 gladly forget." 



The "Year- Book" of the Royal Society, No. 2, 1897-98, 

 has just appeared. There are several features m it which lend 

 additional interest, and form an improvement on the last issue. 

 For instance, the scheme of regulations for the administration 

 of the Publication Grant of 1000/. from H.M. Treasury is given, 

 as well as a good deal of information regarding the annual 

 Government Grant for scientific research, such as an account of 

 the appropriations, and a list of the Boards recommending: 

 assignments from the fund. A note on p. i states that appli- 

 cations for grants, and the reports on them, must be sent in by 

 January 31 ; but the late issue of this " Vear-Book " (apparently 

 it is brought down to November 30, in each year) renders the 

 information valueless, at any rate for the current year. The 

 President's address and other anniversary matter is now 

 omitted from the Proceedings, and published instead in the 

 "Year-Book." 



A STRIKING novelty in vacuum tubes is described by Prof. 

 Trowbridge and Mr. Burbank in the February number of 

 the Philosophical Magazine. The space between anode and 

 kathode is done away with, and a continuous wire is led through 

 the exhausted tube, which is then inserted in a circuit contain- 

 ing a spark gap and one of Trowbridge's improved " rheostatic 

 machines." The latter is charged by means of a battery of 

 10,000 storage cells. The condensers constituting the machine 

 are charged in parallel, and then discharged in series, thus giving, 

 rise to a voltage which may be made to approach a million. It 

 is not surprising that by this means novel results are obtained. 

 The tubes glow all over with a brilliant phosphorescence. X- 

 rays are developed ; but their photographic effect cannot well be 

 brought into evidence, owing to the fact that brush discharges 

 pass between the tube and the sensitive plate, which on develop- 

 ment has a star-spangled appearance. The skin of the hand 

 shows all the symptoms of X-ray burning. An aluminium 

 mirror attached to the wire inside the tube throws a beam of 

 kathode rays upon the wall, which may be deflected by a piece 

 of tinfoil. At extreme exhaustions no difference is noticeaUe 



