March 20, 1879] 



NATURE 



473 



II A.M. and 8 p.m. on ^veek days, and between 6 P.M. and 

 .H^P.!*!. on Sundays. 



'" The Emperor of Germany has confirmed the election of Sir 

 G. B. Airy as a foreign member of .the Berlin Academy. 



Russian astronomers seem determined to outstrip their con- 

 freres in other countries in the matter of telescopes ; we are in- 

 formed that funds have been subscribed for the construction, 

 for Pulkowa Observatory, of a refractor of thirty- two inches 

 aperture. 



We have received a circular from the Research Committee of 

 the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, drawing attention to 

 three subjects which they have selected for first investigation, 

 and asking for any information, bearing on all or any of them, 

 which any one interested may be willing to communicate : e.g.^ 

 records of unpublished experiments, references to authorities on 

 the question, copies of books or papers in which it is treated, 

 &c. The Committee would be glad to receive such information in 

 full detail, and at the earliest convenient date ; and it will be 

 suitably acknowledged in their report. The subjects are : — 

 Subject A. The hardening, tempering, and annealing of steel. 

 Subject B. The best form of riveted joints to resist strain, in 

 iron or steel, or in combination. Subject C. Friction at high 

 velocities, specially with reference to friction of bearings and 

 pivots, frictions of brakes, &c. The address of the Institution 

 is lo, Victoria Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster. 



In the Monthly Weather Report of the U.S. Signal Service 

 for January, 1879, are many points of great interest to meteorolo- 

 gists. The partictilar report before us belongs to the division of 

 " Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce and 

 Agriculture," and contains a multitude of well-arranged data 

 received up to February 14. The charts accompanying the 

 Report are of special interest. One of them shows the tracks of 

 ocean-storms from November 23, 1878, to January 16, 1879, 

 and exhibits the paths of seven storms. No. 6 of these is shown 

 to have commenced in California on January 6, to have come 

 down to the Gvdf of Mexico by the 8th, to have gone north-east 

 through the United States to Newfoundland, between the 8th 

 and nth, across the Atlantic between Scotland and Iceland, the 



orm expending itself off the coast of Norway on the 15th, one 

 .. eek after starting from California. 



Experiments in electric signalling and reconnoitring have been 

 made at Mont Valerien on a large scale. Details are wanting, 

 as the French Government think it pmdent to keep secret almost 

 all experiments relating to military matters. 



We have received an interesting sketch, with portrait, by 

 Prof. Ehlers, of Gottingen, of the late Wilhelm Engelmann, so 

 long the head of the well-known Leipzig scientific publishing 

 house, and who did so much for the advancement of scientific 

 knowledge in Germany. 



The Science Index is the title of "A Monthly Guide to the 

 Contents of the Scientific Periodicals," the first number of which 

 we have just received, though dated January. This delay is 

 apologised for, on account of the difficulty of getting together a 

 first number. The aim of the journal is highly to be commended, 

 and if carried out on a thoroughly well-considered plan, ought 

 to prove of great service. We are not disposed to criticise this 

 first number too severely, though we think there is considerable 

 room for improvement. It is by no means exclusively devoted 

 to science, including as it does Art, Architecture, Strikes, Baking 

 and Confectionery, Bells, Commerce, and other miscellaneous 

 topics. Indeed, on the principle which has been partially fol- 

 lowed, we do not see where the line is to be drawn short of an 

 index to CA-erything. We hardly think the plan has been well 



considered, and we think that many of the subjects indexed 

 might be omitted with advantage if it is meant to be really a 

 Science Index. Judging from the number of misprints, this 

 number seems to have been hastily got out. In geography alone 

 we meet with such horrors as " Afkanistan," " Leybian Desert," 

 "Oxies" for Oxus, &c. References to the Swedish Arctic 

 Expedition occur under different headings, as if the compiler did 

 not know that the items referred to the same thing. Still, the 

 index is a step in the right direction, and we hope the editor will 

 take competent council, and introduce such improvements as 

 will make his Scietice Index what it might and ought to be. 



Major Majendie, as the result of a series of experiments 

 with dynamite, has come to the conclusions that frozen dynamite 

 is considerably less sensitive to explosion by a blow than unfrozen 

 d)mamite ; that cartridges of dynamite having small quantities 

 of exuded nitro glycerine within them are decidedly more sensi- 

 tive to explosion by a blow than cartridges in which there is no 

 such exudation ; that frozen dynamite is much more susceptible 

 to explosion by simple ignition than unfrozen ;^dynamite ; that 

 frozen dynamite is much less sensitive :to explosion by the im- 

 pact of a bullet than unfrozen dynamite ; that the danger 

 attending the mere breaking in two of a firozen dynamite 

 cartridge does not seem to be of the formidable character indi- 

 cated by the Austrian regulations ; and that frozen nitro-glycerine 

 is not susceptible of detonation by detonators of the same 

 strength as those with which the detonation of unfrozen -nitro- 

 glycerine may be readily and certainly effected. 



The Bradfordian is the title of a magazine " written and sup- 

 ported by the two Grammar Schools" of Bradford. It has a 

 varied programme, in which, we are pleased to see, science finds 

 a place. 



The Times Geneva correspondent writes that M. A. Borel, 

 of Chaux-de-Fonds, has just had the good fortime to find in the 

 Lake of Neuchatel, between Bazuge and Chatelard, a prehistoric 

 canoe, probably the finest specimen of the sort that has yet come 

 to light in Switzerland. Hollowed out of a single piece of oak, 

 the vessel is 8 metres long, 90 centimetres vride, and 65 centi- 

 metres high. It is well finished, and in a perfect state of pre- 

 servation. The stem carries a spur, and the prow is curved in 

 the form of a hook, probably for the purpose of attaching it by 

 a rope to a landing-place. The canoe is sufficiently large to 

 carry twelve persons. There is no appearance of rowlocks, but 

 the supports on which the thwarts formerly rested are still plainly 

 to be seen. M. Borel proposes to present this interesting "find" 

 to the Museum of Chauxde-Fonds. 



A PETROLEUM spring, ouc boring of which has jdelded 2,000 

 kilos in twenty-four hours, has been discovered at Pohar, in 

 Austrian Poland. 



According to the report of H.M.'s Consul for Hiogo and 

 Osaka, the Japanese claim that petrolevmi has been known in Japan 

 for over 1,200 years, and it would certainly be curious if the 

 numerous springs which exist in certain localities should have 

 escaped notice in their immediate neighbourhood. It is doubt- 

 ful, however, whether it was ever utilised, and certainly no 

 attempt was made to refine it before the arrival of foreigners. 

 The first efforts in that direction were made near Niigata in 

 1875, t>ut the petroleum then refined failed to stand a higher 

 test than 75° F. Accordingly Prof. Lyman, who had preriously 

 performed a similar service for India, was sent for from 

 America to conduct a professional survey of the region. His 

 report, however, was unfavourable, chiefly on the ground of an 

 insufficient supply. This opinion the Japanese are now about to 

 test, for which piirpose they have established a refinery near 

 Hiogo. Its supplies of crude oil are to be drawn from the 

 province of Potomi, distant about loo miles to the north, the 

 transport being conducted by sea. 



