April lo, 1 8 79 J 



NATURE 



5-17 



When the gallery contains coal-dust, on the other hand, on 



e floor and on the shelves referred to, and when it [is filled 

 > ith the return air of the mine the explosion traverses its whole 

 !jngth, and shoots out into the air to distances varying from 4 to 

 1 5 feet. The flame of the fire-damp explosion is thus magnified 

 ten times by the presence of the coal-dust and the return air. 



When pure air is employed instead of return air, other things 

 remaining the same, the explo-ion is only about one-half as 

 extensive ; and when an artificial mixture of air and fire-damp is 

 employed, of the same composition as the return air, without 

 its excess of moisture, the explosion is stronger than with the 

 return air. The arrangements whereby pure air and air and fire- 

 damp can be used have only been recently completed, and few 

 experiments have been made with them as yet. 



Although the apparatus employed in this experiment appears 

 to be on too small a scale to solve the coal-dust question un- 

 equivocally, the results obtained with it appear to be sufficiently 

 conclusive to enable us to affirm that an explosion, occurring in 

 a dry mine, is liable to be indefinitely extended by the mixture 

 of air and coal-dust, produced by the disturbance which it 

 initiates. 



The only means of avoiding the dangers due to the presence 

 of coal-dust in mines appears to be to carefully and constantly 

 water the roadways leading to and from the working-places. 



It is very interesting to be able to mention a fact in connection 

 with watering the roadways which, although not mentioned in 

 Mr. Galloway's paper, is well worthy of a place here, viz., that 

 the 'Abercarne explosion, ramified through every part of the 

 workings, which were exceedingly dry and dusty, with the ex- 

 ception of one dis'.rict from which it was entirely cut off by 2cx> 

 yards of a very wet roadway, and that the men in the latter 

 district not only escaped unhurt, but hardly felt the explosion. 

 The wetness of this roadway was due to natural causes. 



April 3. — "On the Thermal Conductivity of \Yater," by 

 J. T. Bottomley, Lecturer in Natural Philosophy and Demon- 

 strator in Experimental Physics in the University of Glasgow. 

 Communicated by Prof. Sir William Thomson, LL.D., F. R.S. 

 r The result anived at by the experiments described, is that the 

 thermal conducti\-ity of water may be taken at from *oo22 to 

 '00245 in square centimetres per second. 



Some experiments have been made on the thermal conductivity 

 of solution of sulphate of zinc, a solution which happened to be 

 convenient for preliminary trials. The specific heat of solution 

 of sulphate of zinc at different densities, which it is necessary to 

 know for comparison as to thermal conductivity of that liquid 

 with water, has been determined. 



Experiments are now being carried on on this subject with the 

 assistance of a grant from the Government Fimd of 4,000/. 



Anthropological Institute, March 25. — Mr. E. B. Tylon 

 D.C.L., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. Henry Seebohm, 

 F.Z.S., gave some interesting particulars respecting the native 

 races of Arctic Siberia, accompanied by an exhibition of ethno- 

 logical objects collected in that region. In 1874 he visited Lap- 

 land, of which he gave some account, and in the following year 

 he proceeded from St. Petersburg to Archangel, and thence 600 

 miles eastward, where he first came in contact with the Sa- 

 moeides, and obtained some particulars about the Voguls, who 

 dwelt across the Ural range. But his most adventurous journey 

 was in 1877, when he accompanied Capt. Wiggins on his expe- 

 dition for the exploration of Arctic Siberia. After travelling 

 2,500 miles from London to Nishni-Novogorod, they took sledge 

 thence, and pushed on 3, 500 miles farther, until they reached the 

 Arctic Circle. In the Tartar \'illages there which they visited 

 they found that the crescent predominated over the cross, 

 and what still more surprised them, it seemed to be the symbol 

 of a superior ci^^lisation and order. The native languages 

 were akin to the Turkish. The copper-coloured Btiriats, who 

 dwelt behind the Baikal Mountains, were a somewhat dif- 

 ferent race, and bore a strong resemblance to the Chinese. The 

 Ostiaks and Dolgans were located on the colossal river Yenisei, 

 which was reckoned the third largest river on the face of the 

 globe. The Tungoosks were settled on one of its chief tri- 

 butaries. The costumes, weapons, tools, smoking-appliances, 

 reindeer-harness, snow-shoes, snow-goggles, idols, &c., of these 

 and kindred tribes were shown, together with a remarkable case 

 of prehistoric bronzes, found in ancient Siberian graves, and 

 thought to be firom 4,000 to 5,000 years old. — A paper was read 

 by Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., D.C.L., LL.D., on some rock 

 oarvings found near Sydney, New South Wales. Rude carvings 



of human and other animal forms, especially kangaroos and 

 fishes, including the whale, had been found at various points of 

 the coast of New Holland, from Cape Howe to Moreton Bay. 

 The present natives had no tradition as to their origin, yet there 

 were no good grounds for reftLsing to regard them as works of 

 indigenous art. Col. Vigors had copied many of them, and a 

 number of his drawings were handed round. One of these 

 carvings represented a wall thirty feet long. Those found in 

 Sydney cavern included a kangaroo at bay and a man erect, with 

 out-stretched arms. Another class of similar carvings were 

 chromatic. They were found on the north-west coast, and had 

 been plausibly supposed to be the work of Malay pearl-fishers or 

 shipwrecked sailors. 



Zoological Society, April i.— Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — An extract was read from a letter 

 addressed to the Secretary by Mr. Carl Bock, respecting the 

 habits of the Movmtain Antelope of Sumatra (Capricornts sutna- 

 trensis), of which he had obtained a living specimen destined for 

 the Society's collection. — Mr. J. W. Clark exhibi ed and made 

 remarks on a drawing of a Dolphin belonging to the genus 

 Lagenarhynchus, which had been lately taken off Ramsgate. — 

 Prof. Flower exhibited a coloured diawing of a yovmg female of 

 the common Dolphin {Delphinus deipht) lately taken off" the 

 coast of Cornwall, and made some observations on the published 

 figm-es and geographical distribution of the species. — The birds' 

 eggs collected during the Challettger Expedition were exhibited. 

 The series was stated to contain about 250 eggs belonging to 

 fifty different species. Amongst tnese were eggs of the Sheath- 

 bill {Chionis minor) from Kerguelen, and of the Wandering 

 Albatross {Diomedea exulans), from Marion Island. — Prof. 

 Mivart exhibited a figure of and made remarks upon a Kestrel 

 with abnormal feet, in the collection of the Marquis de Wa\Tin, 

 at Brussels. — Mr, R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.Z.S., read an accoimt 

 of the collection of birds made by Mr. F. W. Burbidge, in the 

 Sooloo Islands. A new Jungle Fowl was described as Galltts 

 stramindcollis, and a new Parrot as Tanygnathus burbidgii. — A 

 second communication from Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, consisted of a 

 list of the birds of Labuan Island and its dependencies, founded 

 principally on the collections formed during the last fomr years, 

 by Governor Ussher and Mr. W. H. Treacher, but including also 

 descriptions of a large number of eggs carefully collected by Mr. 

 Hugh Low. One new species, Cypselus lowi, was described. — 

 A communication was read from Mr. R. Collett, C.M.Z.S., 

 containing the description of a new fish of the genus Lycodes, 

 from the Pacific, which he proposed to call Lycodes pacificus. — A 

 communication was read from Prof. Garrod, F. K.S., containing 

 an account of the variations in the trachea and tracheal muscles 

 in the different forms of gallinaceous birds. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, March 25. — Mr. Bateman, 

 president, in the chair. — The paper read was on the electric 

 light applied to lighthouse illumination, by Mr. J. N. Dou>jlas, 

 M. Inst. C.E. The author showed the progress of lighthouse 

 luminaries from wood and coal fires to the introduction of tallow 

 candles, fatty oils, mineral oils, coal gas, and electricity. 



Statistical Society, March 18. — The president, G. J. Shaw 

 Lefe%Te, M.P., occupied the chair. — Mr. H. H. Hayter, the 

 Government Statist of Victoria, read a paper on the colony of 

 Victoria ; its progress and present po ition. — The following 

 were elected as Honorary Members : — M. le Dr. E. Janssens, of 

 Brussels, AL Arthur Chervin, of Paris, Signer Gerolamo 

 Boccardo, of Genoa, and Prof. Dr. Fr. Xav. von Neumann- 

 Sfallast, of Vienna. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, April 7. — Two papers 

 were read, one by Thomas Karr Callard, F.G.S., and one, 

 taking some special points, by Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. 

 The subject was the contemporaneity of man with the extinct 

 mammalia (as taught by recent cavern exploration), and its 

 bearing upon the question of man's antiquity. The first paper 

 contended that the cavern e\idence points to the more recent 

 extinction of the mammalia referred to, rather than to the remote 

 existence of man. 



Boston, U.S.A. 



American Academy of Arts and Sciences, March 12. — 

 Prof. W. A. Rogers presented a paper on the coefficient of expan- 

 sion of the brass bars used by the U. S. Coast Survey for standards 

 of length. In order to compare different ^tandards it was foimd 



