March 20, 1890] 



NATURE 



471 



We print to-day a review of Dr. Sydney J. Hickson's valu- 

 able work, " A Naturalist in North Celebes." It may be well 

 at the same time to call attention to an "Album" which has 

 been sent to us, containing reproductions of photographs taken 

 in Celebes. The collection has been formed by Dr. A. B. 

 Meyer, director of the Zoological and Ethnographical Museum of 

 Dresden, and includes 37 plates, on which about 250 reproduc- 

 tions are printed. In iSyoand iSyiDr. Meyer spent some time in 

 Celebes, and the greater number of the photographs which have 

 been reproduced he brought back with him. Others he has re- 

 ceived from friends. We cannot say that the process employed 

 has always yielded perfectly satisfactory results ; nevertheless, 

 the "Album" contains many representations that cannot fail to 

 interest students of anthropology and ethnography. There are 

 groups of portraits from northern, central, and southern Celebes, 

 and any one who carefully studies them will find that tliey give 

 him a very vivid idea of the various types of the native popula- 

 tion. The tables are accompanied by short explanatory notices, 

 some of the best of which are by Dr. J. G. F. Riedel, Utrecht. 

 The work is edited by Dr. Meyer, and issued by Messrs. Stengel 

 and Markert, Dresden. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. have published a second edition 

 of Sir John Lubbock's well-known " Scientific Lectures." The 

 author includes in this edition the Presidential address read by 

 him before the Institute of Bankers in 1879. The address con- 

 tains many interesting suggestions as to the development of 

 coinage, and is illustrated by two excellent plates representing 

 ancient coins. 



We have received the fifth volume of" Blackie's Modern Cyclo- 

 pitdia," edited by Dr. Charles Annandal.e. The volume includes 

 words from " Image '' to " Momus," and the articles, so far as 

 we have tested them, are, like those of the preceding volumes, 

 concise and accurate. 



The Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool has 

 published Nos. 41, 42, and 43 of its Proceedings. Among the 

 papers printed, we may note " Life and Writings of the Hon. 

 Robert Boyle," by Mr. E. C. Davies ; "An Ideal Natural 

 History Museum," by Prof. Herdman ; "On the Remains of 

 Temperate and Sub-Tropical Plants found in Arctic Rocks," by 

 the Rev. H. H. Higgins : "Notes on the Cooke Collection of 

 British Lepidoptera," by Mr. J. W. Ellis; "Lake Lahontan, 

 an Extinct Quaternary Lake of North- West Nevada, U.S.A.," 

 by Mr. R. McLintock ; "On the Individuality of Atoms and 

 Molecules," by the Rev. H. H. Higgins ; note on the foregoing, 

 by Prof. Oliver J. Lodge ; " The Complete Analysis of Four 

 Autopolar lO-Edra," by the Rev. T. P. Kirkman ; and " On the 

 Cradle of the Aryans," by Principal Rendall. 



Mr. Fletcher, the well-known manufacturer of gas appli- 

 ances, has just \ssued a little work of 70 pages on "Coal Gas as 

 a Fuel" (Warrington : Mackie and Co.). Perhaps no one has 

 given more attention to the subject than Mr. Fletcher, and his 

 book is therefore of considerable importance. He gives an 

 account of the precautions necessary to obtain the greatest 

 efficiency in every case where coal gas can be applied — in the 

 kitchen, bath-room, greenhouse, workshop, and laboratory. 

 There is a useful chapter giving instructions to fitters with 

 respect to flues and dimensions of service pipes. All who con- 

 sume gas for purposes other than ordinary house illumination, 

 will do well to read Mr. Fletcher's book. 



A CURIOUS observation relating to influenza is quoted in 

 La Nature from a Copenhagen journal. At the Royal Institu- 

 tion for education of deaf-mutes there, the pupils (about 70 boys 

 and girls) have for seven years been regularly weighed every 

 day in groups of 15 and under. This new experiment has 

 yielded some interesting results. Thus it has been found that 

 the children's growth in weight has occurred chiefly in autumn \ 



and in the first part of December ; there is hardly any in 

 the rest of winter and in March and April, and a diminution 

 then occurs till the end of summer. Last year proved an ex- 

 ception. The curves of weight were quite like those of previous 

 years till November 23. In the four weeks thereafter, while 

 each child has usually gained on an average over 500 grammes, 

 the gills last year gained nothing, and the boys only 200 grammes 

 each (less than two-fifths of the normal amount). The contrast 

 with 1888 was even more remarkable, 700 grammes having been 

 the average four-weeks' gain in that year. There was no modifi- 

 cation as regards food or other material conditions. Now, the 

 influenza epidemic appeared in Copenhagen towards the end of 

 November. W'hile six of the professors at this institution were 

 attacked, there were no pronounced cases among the pupils ; 

 but it is supposed that germs of the disease having entered the 

 place, the struggle with these on the part of the children ab- 

 sorbed so much vital force that the organs of nutrition failed to 

 give the normal increase of weight after November 23. 



A remarkable fall of a miner down 100 metres of shaft (say 

 333 feet) without being killed, is recorded by M. Reumeaux in 

 the Bulletin de V Industrie Minirale. Working with his brother 

 in a gallery which issued on the shaft, he forgot the direction in 

 which he was pushing a truck, so it went over and he after iti 

 falling into some mud with about 3 inches of water. He seems 

 neither to have struck any of the wood debris, nor the sides of 

 the shaft, and he showed no contusions when he was helped out 

 by his brother after about ten minutes. He could not, however* 

 recall any of his impressions during the fall. The velocity on 

 reaching the bottom would be about 140 feet, and time of fall 

 4'I2 seconds; but it is thought he must have taken longer. It 

 appears strange that he should have escaped simple suff'ocation 

 and loss of consciousness during a time sufficient for the water to 

 have drowned him. 



An extremely useful piece of apparatus has been devised by Prof. 

 Lunge, and is described in the current number of the Berichte, by 

 useof which all the troublesome reductions to standard temperature 

 and pressure in the measurement of gas volumes maybe avoided, 

 the volume being actually real off" corrected to 0° C. and 760 mm. 

 pressure. The arrangement is at once simple and capable of 

 adaptation to any form of gas apparatus. It consists essentially 

 of three glass tubes. A, B, and C, arranged parallel to each 

 other vertically, and all connected with each other below by 

 means of a glass T tube and stout caoutchouc tubing. A is the 

 measuring vessel, graduated in cubic centimetres ; any gas 

 measuring vessel, such as that of a nitrometer, or of a Hempel 

 or other gas analysis apparatus, may be used for this purpose. 

 It is closed at the top by the usual well- fitting stopcock, through 

 which the gas to be m.easured is introduced in the ordinary 

 manner. Below, the gas is enclosed by mercury which is 

 poured down the tube C ; Prof. Lunge terms this latter the 

 pressure tube. The pressure tube is simply an ordinary straight 

 glass tube of similar diameter and length to the measuring tube 

 A, and open at the top. The tube B, called the reduction 

 tube, is of about the same length, but of somewhat greater 

 diameter in its upper half. This cylindrical expansion nar. ows 

 again at the top, and terminates with a well-greased stopcock. 

 A is firmly clamped to the stand, while B and C are held in 

 spring clamps which permit of ready lowering or raising. The 

 reduction tube B is then prepared as a reference tube, once for 

 all, in the following manner. The stopcocksof AandB are opened, 

 and mercury is poured down C until it rises nearly to the ex- 

 panded portion of B. A drop of water is then introduced into 

 B so that the enclosed air is saturated with aqueous vapour. 

 The thermometer and barometer are next observed, and the 

 apparent volume calculated of 100 c.c. of gas at 0° and 760 mm. 

 A mark is then made upon the reduction tube B so that the 

 volume of the tube between this mark and the stopcock is the 



