May 9, 1889J 



NA TURE 



45 



The same journal publishes weekly a list of forthcoming courses 

 of lectures at the Universities of Vienna and Berlin. 



The Times of Colombo announces the arrival in Ceylon of 

 two naturalists, Herr Friihstorfer and Herr Kannegieter, the 

 former a German, the latter a native of Amsterdam. Herr 

 Friihstorfer has already travelled over a great part of the world 

 making natural history collections, while his companion is travel- 

 ling on behalf of the collection of Herr Van de Poll. Both 

 were about to proceed to the southern part of Ceylon, and after 

 a few weeks' exploration they intended going, one to Malacca 

 and Borneo, the other to Sumatra and Java, for scientific 

 purposes. 



A SEVERE earthquake lasting four seconds occurred at Agram 

 on April 27 at 8.35 p.m. 



A NEW stalactite cave has been found at Honnethal, in Sauer- 

 land, not far from the village of Sanssouci. It is not very large, 

 but has many beautiful stalactites. 



Complaints having, on several occasions, been made to the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland that salmon smolts are exposed for 

 sale and sold, the Board have issued a notice to the effect that 

 such sale, or exposing for sale, is illegal, and renders the seller 

 or exposer liable to severe pecuniary penalties. The word 

 "salmon" in the Salmon Fishery Acts of 1862 and 1868 means 

 and includes " salmon, grilse, sea trout, bull trout, smolts, parr, 

 and other migratory fish of the salmon kind." All offences 

 under the Salmon Fishery Acts of 1862 and 1868 may be prose- 

 cuted, and all penalties incurred may be recovered, " before any 

 sheriff or any two or more justices acting together, and having 

 jurisdiction in the place where the offence was committed, at 

 the instance of the clerk of any District Board, or of any other 

 person." 



With regard to Prof. Marker's article on a new farm 

 pest, printed in Nature last week. Miss Ormerod writes that, 

 " if, by any accident, readers should think that what her valued 

 friend Prof. Harker meant only as a courteous acknowledg- 

 ment of specimens was an expression of belief in the injurious 

 powers of this worm, she would in such case like to be able 

 to mention that up to the present Jtime she sees no reason for 

 alarm." 



A SERIES of experiments upon combustions in nitric acid 

 vapour have been made by Dr. P. T. Austen, of Rutger's 

 College, U.S. The gaseous nitric acid is most conveniently 

 obtained in the following manner. Into a large flask, whose 

 neck is sufficiently wide to admit a good-sized deflagrating 

 spoon, a quantity of sulphuric acid is poured, so as to form a layer 

 about half an inch deep. About ten to twenty grammes of 

 potassium nitrate, in crystals averaging a quarter of an inch in 

 size, are then added. On careful heating, the air is rapidly ex- 

 pelled, and the flask becomes filled with the clear vapour of 

 nitric acid. A glowing chip of wood held in this vapour in- 

 flames and burns energetically, something after the manner of 

 combustion in oxygen ; but, as the red tetroxide of nitrogen, 

 N2O4, is formed by the reduction of the nitric acid, a ruddy 

 halo is seen to play around the flame. Charcoal, espe- 

 cially bark- charcoal, burns brilliantly, the scintillations 

 in the red tetroxide gas producing an unusually fine 

 effect. In a similar manner a steel watch-spring may be 

 burnt as in oxygen, the combustion being started with a 

 little sulphur ; the effect, however, is quite different from that 

 in oxygen, owing to the formation of a red halo around each 

 melted globule of iron as it falls. A layer of sand should be 

 placed in the bottom of the flask in this experiment, in order to 

 prevent fracture. Phosphorus burns with great beauty, the 

 dazzling white flame passing into a deep red at the edges. By 

 far the most beautiful effects, however, are obtained by the 

 combustion of readily oxidizable gases from jets suspended in 



the nitric acid vapour. Hydrogen burns with an intensely 

 white flame, totally unlike that in oxygen, surrounded by a deep 

 red envelope. Coal gas continues to burn with a white centre, 

 enveloped as in case of hydrogen by a red halo ; when first intro- 

 duced the flame becomes musical, then degenerates into a series of 

 rapid slight explosions ; at length, after a certain amount of nitrogen 

 tetroxide has formed, it burns quietly. Sulphuretted hydrogen 

 gas burns with a bright yellow flame, and the flask becomes 

 filled with a cloud of minute chamber-crystals, resulting from 

 the action of the sulphur dioxide and water formed upon the 

 tetroxide of nitrogen simultaneously produced. Ammonia gas 

 burning in nitric acid vapour is perhaps the most beautiful case 

 of simple combustion yet investigated. Success in this experi- 

 ment appears to depend entirely upon the siz<; of the orifice of 

 the jet, which should not be less than an eighth of an inch in 

 diameter. As soon as the jet, which of course should be turned 

 upwards, from which a good stream of ammonia is issuing, is 

 lowered to a level with the mouth of the flask, it may be readily 

 ignited. On lowering it into the centre of the flask, the flame is 

 seen to consist of a bright yellow nucleus surrounded by a 

 greenish-yellow envelope ; this, in turn, passes into an outer 

 envelope of a carmine-red colour, which deepens as the amount 

 of nitrogen tetroxide increases. 



According to the Manchester Guardian, a technical school 

 has lately been added to the ancient Chetham College, "the 

 most unique piece of antiquity " left in Manchester. It seems 

 that a well-known employer of labour in Salford, and a strong 

 supporter of technical education in Manchester and the neigh- 

 bourhood, generously offered to fit up a workshop and supply it 

 with all necessary tools for the use of Chetham College. The 

 offer, which was regarded both as a very generous and a very 

 happy one, was accepted by the authorities. The result was the 

 erection of a building at the north-east rear of the College dor- 

 mitories. The building, which is very well lighted and com- 

 fortably heated, has been fitted up with lathes (for wood and 

 iron) driven by a steam-engine ; also benches, drilling machines, 

 grindstones, blacksmith's forge, vices, &c. The results so far 

 are regarded as highly satisfactory. Some forty-five of the boys 

 are now regularly engaged in the shop ; fifteen working in the 

 morning, fifteen in the afternoon, another batch of fifteen the 

 next morning, and so on. Each boy works nine hours in the 

 shop every week. 



Mr. Rowland Ward writes to the Times that on Saturday, 

 April 27, one of the keepers on the estate of Mr. Farnal Watson, 

 in Surrey, trapped a fine specimen of the kite {Faico milvus) — 

 "a grand bird," says Mr. Ward, " at one time common on our 

 moors before men became so many in the land, and their 

 hospitality, even to such visitors, so scant. " Mr. Ward notes 

 that these birds are still sometimes encountered in Wales. 



Mr. Allan Hi;me proposes to issue a second edition of his 

 " Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds." It will be edited by Mr. 

 E. W. Oates, author of a " Hand-book to the Birds of British 

 Burmah," and will incorporate all the notes which Mr. Hume's 

 numerous correspondents in all parts of India have sent to him 

 since 1873, as well as some notes from other sources. The work 

 will be published in three volumes, 8vo, of 500 pa^es each ; but for 

 the convenience of subscribers it will be issued in six parts, one 

 of which will be completed every three months, beginning from 

 an early date. The publisher will be Mr. R. H. Porter, 18 

 Princes Street, Cavendish Square, London, W. 



A collection of Prof. Weismann's essays on heredity 

 has been translated under the care of Mr. E. B. Poulton, of 

 Oxford, and will form the second volume of the series of 

 translations of foreign biological memoirs which the Clarendon 

 Press are publishing. The volume is nearly ready, and may 

 be expected shortly. 



