212 



NATURE 



\yan, 2, 1890 



millions, or £\AA per head; 184$, 4000 millions, or £1/^1 

 per head; 1865, 6000 millions, or £100 per head ; 1875, 8500 

 millions, or ;^26o per head ; and finally, the present figures of 

 lo.ooo millions, or £2^0 per head. There was in fact a steady 

 increase, with the exception of the interval between 1812 

 and 1822, when there was a heavy fall of prices, and this 

 increase, it was believed, represented almost all through a real 

 increase in things, money prices at any rate being at a lower 

 rate now than at the beginning of the century. There had also 

 been a remarkable change all through in the proportions of 

 different descriptions of property. Lands, at the commence- 

 ment constitute about 60 per cent, of the total ; at the be- 

 ginning of the century they are still about 40 per cent. ; at the 

 present time they are 17 per cent, only. Houses, on the other 

 hand, are about 15 per cent, of the total at the beginning, 

 and 19 percent, at the present time, an increasing percentage 

 of an ever- increasing total ; but the main increase after all 

 is in descriptions of property which are neither lands nor 

 houses. After referring to the accumulations of capital in 

 foreign countries, Mr. Giffen concluded by giving illustrations 

 of the mode of using such figures, showing the difference of the 

 burden of taxation and national debts in England, France, and 

 the United States ; the preponderance of England in the United 

 Kingdom as compared with England, Scotland, and Ireland ; 

 the rapid growth of the United States in recent years as com- 

 pared with the United Kingdom, and especially as compared 

 with France (the national debt in the United States, from 

 amounting twenty years ago to a sum equal to a fifth of the 

 total property, having come to be only equal to a thirtieth of 

 the property) ; and the small proportion of the annual savings 

 of the country which comes into the public market for invest- 

 ment, as compared with the savings invested privately as they 

 are made. In passing, a reference was made to the talk of the 

 vast expenditure on military armaments, and the burden they 

 impose on certain communities ; and it was suggested that, 

 heavy as the burdens are, yet the vast amount of property re- 

 latively indicated that the point of exhaustion was more remote 

 than was commonly supposed. In conclusion, the hope was 

 expressed that the discussion of recent years would lead in time 

 to the production of better figures, especially with regard to the 

 growth of different descriptions of property. Were trouble 

 taken, results might be arrived at which would be of value to 

 the Government practically, as well as to economists in their 

 discussions. The progress of revenue was intimately connected 

 with the progress of national resources, and the progress of 

 money revenue with the progress of the money expression of 

 those resources. The resources themselves, and the money 

 values, must be studied by Chancellors of the Exchequer with 

 almost equal anxiety, and they should both, at any rate, be 

 studied together. Periodical complete valuations of property 

 were in this view as indispensable as the census of population 

 itself. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



University College, Liverpool.— The Sheridan Mus- 

 pratt Chemical Scholarship, of the value of ;^50 per annum for 

 two years, has been awarded to Mr. J. T. Conroy, who has 

 been a student in the chemical laboratories during the past two 

 years. Mr. Conroy has recently taken the degree of B.Sc, with 

 honours in chemistry, at the University of London. The 

 Scholarship, which is the gift of Mrs. Sheridan Muspratt, is 

 intended to enable the ht)lder to continue work in the higher 

 branches of chemistry. The Sheridan Muspratt Exhibition of 

 ^25 has been awarded to Mr. A. Carey, of Widnes, who has 

 been a student of the College during the last two and a half 

 years, and is now in the final stage of preparation in the honours 

 school of chemistry of Victoria University. 



phor and camphorated alcohol produce no effect on the virus, 

 and that chloroform and hydrated chloral have a more or less 

 attenuating action, checking the development of the artificially 

 cultivated microbe, or even in some cases rendering it absolutely 

 sterile, while camphorated chloral has a decidedly neutralizing 

 effect on the virus. Other experiments show that when tetanus 

 is once developed in the system iodoform is powerless to arrest 

 its progress, but is most efficacious in neutralizing the virus of 

 the injured part. The whole series of experiments fully con- 

 firms the author's previous conclusion that iodoform is the 

 specific disinfectant of the microbe of tetanus. 



Bulletin de VAcadenie Royale de Belgique, October 12. — 

 Jupiter's north equatorial band, by M. F. ferby. The author 

 describes in detail the structure of this remarkable phenomenon 

 which he has been carefully studying for the last three years 

 with a Grubb 8-inch telescope. — Determination of the invariant 

 functions or forms comprising several series of variants, by M. 

 Jacques Deruyts. In continuation of his previous communica- 

 tions, the author here extends to forms with several series of 

 variants the results already made known for forms with a series 

 of n variables. — M. C. Vanlair describes the symptoms and 

 treatment of a new case" of bothriocephaly in Belgium, due to 

 the presence of Bothriocephaliis latus in the patient. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Rendiconti del Reale Istituto Lombardo, November. — On 

 the antidotes of the virus of tetanus, and on its prophylactic sur- 

 gical treatment, by Prof. G. Sormani. In continuation of his 

 previous paper on this subject, the author here describes some 

 further experiments with alcohol, chloroform, and various pre- 

 parations of camphor, chloral, and iodine. He finds that cam- 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, December 5, 1889. — "Researches on the 

 Chemistry of the Camphoric Acids." By J. E. Marsh. 



An account is given of some experiments leading to the pro- 

 duction, in any desired quantity, of a new camphoric acid, and 

 to the mutual conversion of one acid into the other ; as well as 

 to a method of quantitatively separating the two acids when 

 mixed. The space at our disposal does not permit us to enter 

 into any details of the experiments, nor into the theoretical 

 considerations involved. For this, reference must be made to 

 the original paper. 



December 19, 1889. — " On the Steam Calorimeter." By J. 

 Joly, M.A. Communicated by G. F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 

 F.T.C.D. 



The theory of the method of condensation has been previously 

 given by the author in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 

 vol. 41, p. 352. 



Since the publication of that paper a much more extended 

 knowledge of the capabilities of the method has been acquired, 

 which has led to the construction of new forms of the apparatus, 

 simple in construction and easily applied. Two of these are 

 described and illustrated, one of which is new in principle, 

 being a differential form of the calorimeter. The accuracy of 

 observation attained by this latter form is so considerable that 

 it has been found possible to estimate directly the specific heats 

 of the gases at constant volume to a close degree of accuracy. 



An error incidental to the use of the method arising from the 

 radiation of the substance, when surrounded by steam, to the 

 walls of the calorimeter, is inquired into. It is shown that this 

 affects the accuracy of the result to a very small degree, and is 

 capable of easy estimation and elimination. 



Further confirmation of the accuracy of the method is afforded 

 in a comparison of experiments made in different forms of the 

 steam calorimeter. 



Various tables of constants are given to facilitate the use of 

 the method, and the results of experiments on the density of 

 saturated steam at atmospheric pressures, made directly in the 

 calorimeter, are included. These are concordant with the 

 deductions of Zeuner, based on Regnault's observations on the 

 properties of steam, and were undertaken in the hope of 

 affording reliable data on which to calculate the displacement 

 effect on the apparent weight of the substance transferred from 

 air to steam. 



The communication is intended to provide a full account of 

 the mode of application of the steam calorimeter. 



Royal Meteorological Society, December 18, 1889. — Dr. 

 W. Marcet, F. R.S., President, in the chair. — The following 

 papers were read : — Report of the Wind Force Committee on 

 the factor of the Kew pattern Robinson anemometer. This 

 has been drawn up by Mr. W. H. Dines, who has made a 



