2l6 



NA TURE 



\yan. 13, 1876 



of nines is up, and unity be added on the wheel on the right, all 

 the nines are at once replaced by zeros and one is added to the 

 figure on their left. The machine presents a clichi of figures, the 

 basis for a stereotype plate ; it will calculate and print a table to 

 ten decimal places at the rate of about forty turns per minute. 

 A two-horse power engine will be required to drive it to its full 

 capacity. 



An arithmometer, or multiplying machine, devised by Mr. 

 Grant, was also shown wi'.h, for comparison, those of Thomas 

 de Colnar and Baldwin, it being adapted to the same purposes 

 as those, but constructed on the principle of the difference 

 engine. 



Prof. R. E. Rogers gave some facts of interest respecting the 

 silver mines known as the Comstock Lode. In the deeper drifts 

 the temperature is much higher than can be explained by the 

 usual hypothesis of interior heat ; it frequently reaches 150° F. 

 Water trickling from the roofs of these drifts is so hot as to be 

 almost scalding ; workmen have to be protected from it by iron 

 screens. An application of ice-water to the head at intervals is 

 found necessary to the support of life. The heat is due to che- 

 mical action, principally to the decomposition of sulphide of 

 silver deposits which takes place when water containing chloride 

 of sodium reaches them. There is some saline material in the 

 ore. It is a singular fact that while there appears to be no trace 

 of copper in the ore, tlie washing from the quicksilver mills, 

 which runs iato a pond and there evaporates, leaves a depo>it 

 which is only 300 fins instead of 700, all the rest being copper. 

 To extract tlie silver, this deposit is put into a cap-like recep- 

 tacle of felt, and hot quicksilver is turned upon it, which strains 

 through, and carries with it the copper and gold, leaving the 

 silver. The next process is to separate the gold from the copper 

 in the drippings. To effect this the combined substance is heated 

 to fusion and allowed to cool, when the two metals segregate, 

 and the gold cracks off the copper. Before the discovery of this 

 process the ' ' tadings " of the mills had no value ; now they 

 prove of considerable worth. 



Prof. J. Lawrence Smith has been studying a crystalline pro- 

 duct olitained from the graphite of meteoric iron, that proves 

 soluble in ether and crystallises in acicular form. Wohler and 

 Roscoe have announced the discovery of a similar substance in 

 carbonaceous meteorites. Prof. Smith finds it in carbon nodules 

 in the very centre of large masses of meteoric iron, Wohler 

 and Roscoe regard it as a hydro-carbon ; Prof. Smith gives rea- 

 sons for considering it a sulpho-hydro-carbon. 



In another communication Prof. J. Lawrence Smith described 

 a pendulum designed to meet the wants of a cheap and efficient 

 compensating arrangement for common clocks. Prof. Smith 

 has taken advantage of the great expansibility of vulcanite under 

 changes of temperature. His experiments, in common with 

 those of others, prove that its coefficient of expansion is about 

 that of mercury, between 0° and 212°. In applying this simple 

 form of compensating pendulum to clocks, he states that it need 

 not add more than twenty or thirty cents to the cost of the pen- 

 dulum ordinarily in use. He has constructed one with more 

 perfect means of adjustment, yet very simple in character, which 

 he thinks can be attached to regulators and astronomical clocks. 

 Pi-of. Smith is now engaged in investigating any possible change 

 in the materials used that may interfere with the permanency of 

 this instrument ; from the nature of the subject it will take some 

 time to arrive at the necessary results. In these experiments he 

 is assisted by a very competent associate. 



The following were the papers presented at the session, in 

 addition to those already mentioned : — Contributions to Meteor- 

 ology, by Prof. Elias Loomis ; Exposition of several peculiar 

 Astronomical Phenomena, by Prof. Stephen Alexander ; Con- 

 firmation of same author's Theory of the Zodiacal Light, by the 

 same ; Composition of Schorlomite, by Prof. George A. Koenig; 

 Modern System of Chemical Terminology, by Prof. R. E. 

 Rogers ; Steam Geysers of California, by the same ; the Annu- 

 lar Nebula in Lyra, by Prof. Edward S. Holden. Prof. C. E. 

 Dutten's paper on certain Igneous Rocks of Southern Utah was 

 read by tide only. 



NOTES 

 Prof. Hildebrand Hildebrandsson has published in the 

 "Transactions" of the Royal Society of Sciences at Upsal, a 

 clear and interesting account of a tornado which occurred near 

 Hallsberg, in the province of Nerike, Sweden, on the i8th 

 August, 1875. From the full details he gives it is evident that it 



closely resembled the tornadoes which have been described by 

 the American meteorologists and the well-known tornado of 

 Chatenay of iSth June, 1839, described by Peltier. Upwards 

 of 1,000 large trees (Pitius allies), covering a space 1,000 feet in 

 length by 500 feet in breadth, were totally destroyed, the greater 

 number being torn up by the roots, whilst those about the margins 

 of the path of the tornado were snapped across. On emerging 

 from the forest, where its course had been directed to N.N.E., it 

 turned in the direction of N.E., uprooting trees, overturning solid 

 buildings, and carrying the dedris of the ruins, in some cises, 

 many miles from the scene of destruction. From the positions 

 of objects thrown down, which are shown on a map. Dr. Hilde- 

 brandsson points out that in this instance the destructive force 

 was compounded of two forces, one being directed towards the 

 centre of the tornado and the other in the line of its course. The 

 true theory of these terrible phenomena can only be arrived at 

 by such carefully observed and collated facts as D;. Hilde- 

 brandsson here presents us with ; and much light would be 

 thrown on this difficult question if barometric and thermometric 

 observations were made within and near the district swept by 

 the tornado. 



Yesterday's Standard contains a letter from the ChaUenger 

 correspondent of the paper, dated Valparaiso, Nov. 19. Hono- 

 lulu was left on August ii and a call made at Hilo (Hawaii), 

 when the crater of Kilauea was visited. On the 19th the ChaU 

 lenger lefc and made for Tahiti, soundings and dredgings being 

 carried on by the way, the average depth being 2,800 fathoms, 

 with a bottom of red clay. Oxide of manganese was brought up 

 in large quantities, and " many things of great interest to the 

 naturalist." Several excursions were made on the Island of 

 Tahiti, and every opportunity was made use of to get acquainted 

 with the productions, soil, climate, and inhabitants. Sail was 

 again made on Oct. 2, and Juan Fernandez reached on Nov. 13, 

 the average depth of the section being 2,160 fathoms. Hill and 

 dale were tramped over by the naturalists and others during the 

 two days' stay, and numerous specimens of birds and plants 

 obtained. Valparaiso was reached on the 19th. 



Part II. of the first volume of the new series of the " Transac- 

 tions" of the Linnean Society, just published, contains a paper 

 by Dr. J. D. Macdonald, on the external anatomy of Tanais 

 viUatris, occurring with Limnoria and Chelura terebrans in exca- 

 vated pier-wood, and another by Dr. M'Intosh, on Valencinia 

 armandi, a new Nemertean. The first part contains Mr. Parker's 

 mejQoir on the skull of the woodpeckers, one by the la'.e Dr. R. 

 V. Willemoes-Suhm on some Atlantic Crustacea from the 

 Challenger Expedition, and one by Dr. Allman on the structure 

 and systematic position of Sttphanoscyphns mirabilis, the type of 

 a new order of Hydrozoa. 



Some living specimens of the gigantic Tortoises of the Gala- 

 pagos Islands, which were on their way to this country in H. M. S. 

 Reptdse, were lost, we regret to say, in a gale which did some 

 damage to the ship and caused the death of two of the crew. 



A new journal, The Scientific Monthly, devoted to the natural 

 and kindred sciences, has been quite recently started at Toledo, 

 Ohio, Mr. E. H. Fitch being the editor. 



Messrs. H. Holt and Co., New York, will publish during 

 the month a work entitled " Life Histories of Animals, including 

 Man," by Mr. A. S, Packard, jun. This work having appeared 

 in parts in the American Naturalist, we can most certainly vouch 

 for its excellence. 



We regret to have to announce the death of Mr. S. T. Daven- 

 port, well-known as an active and energetic officer of the Society 

 of Arts. Mr. Davenport's connection with the Society had 

 lasted for thirty-three years, and it was in great part to his un- 

 ceasing and zealous efforts that the present p.^osperity of the 



1 



