484 



NATURE 



\August 29, 1878 



trade took place, it was to be observed that in 1857 an equally 

 severe commercial crisis took place both in England and the 

 United States. The year 1847 was memorable for the excessive 

 number of bankruptcies, and in 1839 and 1836 crises took place 

 in England, while in 1837 the crisis took place in the United 

 States'! Some exceptional cause appeared to have broken up the 

 crisis into minor crises. From 1837 they progressed 11 or 12 

 years to the great bubble year, 1825, The paper went on to 

 show that during the last 165 years there had been 16 great 

 commercial crises at intervals of about ten years and concluded 

 by stating that the fact of periodicity of commercial crises was 

 so strong that it could not be doubted, and the question of a 

 physical cause was only a matter of speculation. 



SECTION G. — Mechanical Scienxe. 



Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., read a paper On the Rainfall of 

 Ireland, in which he mentioned as a remarkable fact that the 

 Irish hills do not exhaust rain clouds as the English hills do. 

 With the exception of a dry central area around Dublin, the 

 •rainfall all over Ireland may be taken to be the same. At 

 present, instead of the greatest rainfall being in the south-west, 

 or in Galway, we have the wettest spot of all (with one ex- 

 ception) in the south of the county Down, the very fplace 

 which, theoretically, might be expected to be almost the driest 

 part of Ireland. That shows that it is really a question more of 

 the elevation of hills than of geographical position. He ex- 

 hibited a map showing the number of rain stations established 

 for the observation of the rainfall. He had succeeded since the 

 meeting of the Association in Belfast in obtaining the services of 

 a large number of gentlemen volunteers throughout Ireland who 

 had taken charge of the rain-gauges supplied to them, and had 

 engaged to register their observations. There were still large 

 districts, however, in which he had not been able to establish 

 rain-gauges, and the observations were, therefore, necessarily 

 defective as to the average rainfall. There was a large district 

 in the neighbourhood of Longford without a single station. 

 The same could be said of other stations, where it was essential 

 that observations should be taken. If he could induce some 

 gentlemen having property in these neighbourhoods to take 

 charge of rain-gauges, Ireland, instead of having to depend 

 upon ten stations, as it did not many years ago, would be fairly 

 represented both geographically and physically. 



Mr. W. H. Preece, C.E., read a paper On Recent Advances 

 in Telegraphy, with the effect of showing that improvement in 

 telegraphy was never more active in England than it has been 

 since the Government managed the business. Having indicated 

 the improvements effected, the paper concluded: — "The con- 

 trol of Parliament and of the press exercises a far more dis- 

 ciplinary and supervising power on the management of a 

 Government department than any half-yearly meeting of share- 

 holders, or occasional committee of investigation." 



Mr. Wigham read a paper On the Irish Siren Fog Signal.-— 

 The Irish siren is adapted either for steam or compressed air, 

 and differs from those made in America and in England in being 

 driven by a species of small turbine actuated by the current of 

 the steam or air by which the instrument is sounded, the rate of 

 rotation being controlled and rendered uniform by a simple 

 governor, a much less complex arrangement than the somewhat 

 cumbrous mechanism which has heretofore been used. The 

 Irish siren is applicable to steamships as well as to lighthouses. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Prof. Helmholtz is succeeded in the rectorship of the 

 Berlin University by Prof. Zeller. 



The University of Halle is receiving valuable additions in the 

 form of new edifices for the various departments. The necessity 

 of new buildings with modern appliances has long been felt, and 

 the want is being met at present by the erection of a library, two 

 new clinics, and pathological, physiological, and anatomical 

 institutes. 



Sweden possesses at present one of the most thorough systems 

 of education in Europe. It is difficult to find a district where 

 one per cent, of the population are unable to read and write. 

 The common schools of the country cost about 220,000/. yearly. 

 There are numerous institutions for agricultural and technical 

 education, and two universities at Lund and Upsala, which com- 



pare fairly with the German universities, in regard to the amount 

 of valuable research carried out in various departments. 



Spain has at present ten universities. Those of Madrid, 

 Barcelona, and Granada possess each five faculties — law, 

 medicine, pharmacy, the exact sciences, and philosophy and 

 literature. In those of Salamanca, Seville, and Valenfia 

 pharmacy is absent. Saragossa has law, medicine, and philo- 

 sophy ; Santiago and Valladolid law and medicine ; and Oviedo 

 law only. The professors number 414, and the students 15,000 ; 

 Madrid alone contains, however, 76 professors and 6,500 

 students. Technical education is provided for by schools of 

 mines at Madrid and Almaden, the agricultural schools of 

 Madrid and Cordova, the veterinary institutes of Madrid, 

 Cordova, Leon, and Saragossa, the School of Architecture, and 

 the school of Civil Engineers at Madrid, as well as polytechnics 

 in various cities. Preparatory schools number 63, with 30,000 

 students, and elementary schools number 28,000, with an attend- 

 ance of 1,400,000. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of Mathematics, vol. i. No. 2. — On the 

 application of the new atomic theory to the graphical represen- 

 tation of the invariants and covariants of binary quantics, by 

 Prof. Sylvester. — Researches in the lunar theory, II., by G, W. 

 Hill. — Bipunctual co-ordinates, by F. Franklin. — Desiderata 

 and suggestions. No. 2. The theory of groups; graphical 

 representation, by Prof. Cayley.— On the electric potential of 

 crystals, by W. E. Story. — Theorie des fonctions numeriques 

 simplement periodiques, by Prof. Ed. Lucas. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, August 19. — M. Daubree, president. 

 — Meridian observations of the minor planets made at the Paris 

 Observatory during the second quarter of 1878 ; communicated 

 by M. Mouchez. — Experimental researches on the nervous 

 sudoral fibres of the cat, by M. A. Vulpian.— On a new species 

 of mineral named thaumasite, by Prof. Nordenskjold. — On the 

 alterations caused by the phylloxera in the roots of the vine, by 

 M. A. Millardet. — Elements of the planet 148, Gallia, by M. 

 Bossert. — Second note on the employment of identities in the 

 solution of numerical equations, by M. Desboves. — Spectro- 

 metric study of some sources of light, by M. Crova. — Ambulant 

 electric sparks, by M. G. Plante. — On a telephone able to trans- 

 mit sounds to a distance, by M. Righi. — On a new improvement 

 in the peroxide of manganese and sal ammoniac pile, by M. 

 Leclanche. — On the dissociation of metallic sulphurs, by MM. 

 Ph. de Clermont and J. Frommel. — On the value of magnesia 

 as an antidote to arsenious acid, by the same. — On two beds of 

 phosphatic lime in the Vosges, by M. P. Guyot. — Researches on 

 the nutrition of insects, by M. L. Joulin. — Researches on the 

 relations of weight which exist between the bones of a skeleton 

 of the goat, by M. S. de Luca. — The new meteoric mineral, 

 Daubreelite ; its constitution ; its frequency in meteoric irons, 

 by Mr. Lawrence Smith. — New molluscs of the Parisian 

 tertiaries, by M. Stan Meunier. 



CONTENTS Pace 



The Eclipse. By J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. ; Dr. HenryDraper 



(With Illusiratiom) 457 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Floatingof Solid on Molten Metal.— W. J. Millar 464 



AMeteorite?—J.|HARRis Stone 404 



The Australian Monotremes.— W. E. A. 464 



Microphone in Indirect Circuit.— Alfred Chiddey 404 



Our Astro no .mical Column : — 



The SatelUte of Neptune 404 



Notes 4&5 



The British Association :— 



Reports • 407 



Section A.— Mathematical and Physical 47° 



Section B.— Chemical Science 472 



Section C— Geology ' * ' 1!r 



Section D.— Biology 47» 



Section E.— Geography jOj 



Section F.— Economical Science and StatisUcs 403 



Section G.— Mechanical Science 4»4 



University and Educational Intelligbnce 404 



Scientific Serials " • *'^ 



Societies and Academies 4»4 



