i6 



NATURE 



[Nov. 7, 1878 



into the latter from the east, about five miles north of the 

 Laloki. From this point a portion of the party travelled 

 eastward, between the Mawmika and the Laloki, towards 

 the Astrolabe range, through open forest country, hoping 

 to reach the table-land seen from the spurs of Mount 

 Owen Stanley in their first journey. After about forty 

 miles they met with magnificent waterfalls (about 150 ft.) 

 on the Laloki, and on the fourth day reached the table- 

 land after great labour. They went along it for twenty 

 miles, when their further advance on horseback was 

 stopped by the scrub. Two of the party remained with 

 the horses, while three others, led by three natives car- 

 rying provisions, went through the scrub for thirty miles, 

 and struck the head waters of the Goldie. They then 

 proceeded for six miles in each direction, and found, 

 after their great toil, that they had got entirely away 

 from all indications of gold. They returned to the 

 Laloki camp after an absence of thirty-two days, and 

 since then no exploring work has been done. The mem- 

 bers of the expedition still maintain that good gold must 

 exist, and they propose to return to Top Camp, and 

 thence to cross a small range to the north-west, from 

 which the gold found in the Goldie River is supposed to 

 have come ; from that point they hope to get to another 

 river supposed to run under Mount Owen Stanley, in the 

 direction of Redscar Bay. The total distance traversed 

 by the party during their three prospecting trips was 370 

 miles, and throughout the whole of that distance not half 

 a grain of gold was discovered. 



Early in the summer Mr. J. V. WiUiams was sent to 

 New Caledonia to inspect the nickel mines there on 

 behalf of an English smelting company, and we learn 

 from an Australian contemporary that he thinks most 

 favourably of their prospects. The mines extend from 

 Noumea northwards, along the coast for 120 miles, and 

 the French authorities, disheartened by the inefficient 

 manner in which mining has hitherto been carried on in 

 the island, are said to be prepared to give an English 

 company all reasonable assistance and encouragement. 



From a Singapore paper we learn that Baron Overbeck 

 and Mr. Alfred Dent, the promoters of the cession of a 

 portion of Northern Borneo to an English company, to 

 which we referred some few months back, arrived at that 

 port at the end of August, after a visit to the lately-ceded 

 territory. They state that matters are quiet there, and 

 that no disturbances are apprehended. A Ceylon planter 

 who went to report upon the adaptability of the soil of 

 the territory for planting purposes, is of opinion that 

 coffee might be cultivated on the west coast, while on the 

 east coast the sugar-cane and other products which 

 usually flourish in the same soil, would thrive well. Alto- 

 gether the most sanguine expectations appear to exist as 

 to the productiveness of the country. 



THE WERDERMANN ELECTRIC LIGHT 



TTtTHILE the world is waiting for the announcement of 

 * • Mr. Edison's method of splitting up the electric 

 light, Mr. Richard Werdermann, a gentleman well known 

 in connection with electric lighting, seems to have solved 

 the problem, to some extent, at least, and he believes that 

 after further experiments he will be able to divide the 

 current into 50, 100, or even 500 lights. Experimental 

 exhibitions of the light have been given with satisfactory' 

 results at the works of the British Telegraph Manufactory, 

 Euston Road. 



f-5 The chief object of Mr. Werdermann is to demonstrate 

 that a number of lights can be placed in one circuit, the 

 current being produced by an electroplating Gramme 

 machine, having an electromotive force of 4 to 4| Daniell 

 cells. The principle of Mr. Werdermann' s invention is 

 that of keeping a small vertical pencil of carbon in con- 

 tact with a large disk of the same material. In some 

 earlier experiments he found that when he increased the 



sectional area of the one carbon and reduced that of the 

 other, he produced an electric light with the carbons in 

 actual contact, a small arc appearing at the point of 

 contact. The small carbon is a pencil 3 mm. in dia- 

 rtieter ; the upper or negative carbon is a disk of 2 inches 

 diameter and an inch thick. The upper carbon is not 

 consumed, so that the waste takes place only in the 

 lower. 



In his lamp he places the disk uppermostVith the 

 pencil vertically beneath it, sliding up a metal tube 

 which acts as a guide and contact. The pencil is kept in 

 contact with the disk by means of chains attached to its 

 lower extremity passing over pulleys and down again to 

 a counterweight of about i^ lb. About | in. of the lower 

 carbon appears above the tube, and is rendered incan- 

 descent by the passage of the current between it and the 

 disk. This pencil is pointed, and retains this point all the 

 time of burning. It is between this point and the disk 

 that the small electric arc appears which gives the greater 

 part of the light. 



At the exhibitions which have been given only ten 

 lights were in circuit at once, Mr. Werdermann having 

 no more lamps at hand. The lights were put in what 

 is called the parallel circuit, that is, they all branched off 

 from one wire of the machine and met again on the other. 

 The lamps were estimated to give a light of forty candles 

 each, and the results obtained were most satisfactory, all 

 the lights burning equally well, giving a beautiful white _^ 

 light, which was perfectly steady. By this system of 

 lighting a large number of lamps could be lighted simul- 

 taneously, could be put out, and again re-lit. If one 

 lamp should be extinguished it does not affect the others, 

 except by making them burn slightly brighter ; but this 

 effect will be obviated by a switch arrangement for regu- 

 lating the current of the extinguished lamp. The current 

 produced by the machine being very low in tension, the 

 insulation of the conducting cables could be cheaply and 

 easily maintained. 



We may state that two larger lamps were shown of 360 

 candles each. The effect of the light is not dazzling to 

 the eyes, and it was shown naked ; in actual practice a 

 common glass globe, as in the ordinary gas lamps, will 

 be a sufficient protection. 



NOTES 



We are requested to state that on the occasion of Prof. 

 Wurtz's Faraday lecture at the Royal Institution on Tuesday next, 

 the visitors' tickets issued by the Chemical Society entitle ladies 

 as well as gentlemen to admittance. 



Some of our readers may be aware that Mr. Alfred Russel 

 Wallace is a candidate for the post of Verderer of Epping 

 Forest. We are sure no one can be better fitted than Mr, 

 Wallace to perform the duties attaching to such an office, and 

 as, so far as we know, no more suitable candidate has appeared, 

 the duty of those who have the filling-up of the appointment is 

 plain. 



It is with regret we announce the death of Mr. Charles R. 

 Thatcher, the well-known conchological collector. It will be 

 remembered that we alluded a few months ago to the number 

 of genera and species of shells lately described, due to the inde- 

 fatigability of this gentleman, including the unique and wonder- 

 ful Thatcheria i?nrabilis, described in the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society by Mr. G. F. Angas, and the Delphinulopsis 

 Lesourdi, described by Mr. Biyce-Wright in t\xQ Journal de Con 

 chyliologie, Paris. Mr. Thatcher started, a few months ago, on 

 a five years' collecting tour, and had made the most perfect 

 arrangements for deep-sea and shallow dredgings. He was 

 attacked suddenly by fever, and died a few days after his arrival 

 at Shanghai. There is no greater loss to conchological science 

 than this gentleman's death, as he was undoubtedly the most 

 successful collector of the day. 



