^Sept. 5, 1878] 



NATURE 



503 



Aspects of the Steel Manufacture; by J. S. Perisse, Paris, On 

 the Ponsard Furnace for the Manufacture of Steel ; by Sydney 

 G. Thomas and Percy C. Gilchrist, Blenavon, on the Elimi- 

 nation of Phosphorus from Pig Iron in the Bessemer Converter ; 

 by R. P. Rothwell, New York, On the Low and Strong Water 

 Gas Processes. Visits have been arranged for to the works of 

 Creuzot, of Terre Noire, and of Hayange, Lorraine. 



The scientific facilities of Ziirich are to be increased by the 

 erection of a magnificent new chemical laboratory for Prof. 

 Victor Meyer. For this purpose the cantonal government has 

 granted an ample site and the sum of 600,000 francs, which 

 amount will be increased by appropriations from the city. Prof. 

 Meyer, although but 30 years of age, is one of the most popular 

 and well-known professors of chemistry of the present day, and 

 his present laboratory is thronged with students of various 

 nationalities. 



We intimated some time since that a wealthy Danish brewer 

 had set aside the sum of a million Danish crowns for the support 

 of a laboratory in which to carry on scientific research. The 

 first report of work done in this laboratory has just been 

 issued under the title of " Meddelelser fra Carlsberg Labo- 

 ratoriet" (Copenhagen, Thieles Bogtrykkeri). It is in Danish, 

 with an abstract appended in French. The founder of the 

 fund, from the application of which so much of scientific 

 interest and technical value may be expected, is Mr. J. C. 

 Jacobsen, a Danish gentleman who owns a large brewery in the 

 neighbourhood of Copenhagen, and who is well known and 

 honoured in his own country for his patriotism and for his 

 intense love of science and art. The Carlsberg endowment is 

 only the last of a series of munificent gifts to his country, or 

 rather to the whole civilised world. The fund itself, as we have 

 said, consists of one million Danish crowns, or about 56,000/. 

 English. This sum is vested in the hands of five persons, who 

 are nominated by the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences. A 

 portion of the annual revenue is to be expended in keeping up 

 the splendid laboratories attached to the brewery, in which 

 chemical and physiological researches are carried on with a view 

 to establishing as complete a scientific basis as possible for the 

 great industries of brewing and malting. The other portion 

 will, after the death of the donor and his wife, be expended in 

 the advancement of the various natural sciences, mathematics, 

 philosophy, history, and philology. In the administration of 

 this latter portion much latitude is very properly allowed to the 

 trustees of the fund, who will be enabled to apply it in almost 

 any way they think proper. It becomes, in fact, a veritable 

 research fund for all branches of science. The statutes of the 

 fund otU well repay a careful examination. The endowment 

 has now been in force for something like two years, and the 

 report embodies the results obtained in the laboratory during 

 that period. The papers are of different degrees of value and 

 interest, but on the whole form a very respectable contribution 

 to our knowledge of the subjects on which they treat. A 

 correspondent writes that last year he had the opportunity of 

 inspecting the magnificent laboratories of Carlsberg, and was 

 much struck with the complete and luxiurious manner in which 

 they are fitted up, and with the good style of work that was 

 being carried on in them. The Report contains papers on the 

 following subjects : — "On the rotatory power which beer-wort 

 exercises on polarised light, and on its variations during fermen- 

 tation," " Estimation of extract," and "Estimation of alcohol 

 in beer," by M. J. Kjeldahl ; "Researches on some factors 

 which affect the propagation of the low yeast of Saccharomyes 

 cerevisicB ;" " On the influence which the introduction of atmo- 

 spheric air into fermenting wort exercises on fermentation j " 

 and " Researches on the influence of temperatiire in the produc- 

 tion of carbonic acid on barley germinating in darkness," by M. 

 R. Pedersen. 



Mr. F. a. Ober, who has been engaged for several years in 

 prosecuting investigations into the ethnology and archaeology of 

 the West India Islands, under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, reached Martinique in the beginning of July, where 

 he proposes to continue his labours. He has already explored 

 the islands of Dominica, St. Vincent, Santa Lucia, Antigua, and 

 Tobago, and has sent home a very good collection of the birds 

 of these islands, including quite a number recently described by 

 George N. Lawrence as new to science. He has also supplied 

 many archaeological objects of considerable interest. A list of 

 the birds of Dominica and St. Vincent, prepared by Mr. Law- 

 rence, is published in the Proceedings of the National Museum 

 at Washington, and the notices of the remaining islands will 

 soon appear in the same journal. Mr. Ober expects to return 

 to the United States in September or October next. 



A new meteorological society is in way of formation at St. 

 Petersburg ; its special aim will be the extension of meteoro- 

 logical observations in Russia. 



The committee of the Liebig Monument Association at 

 Munich have given their decision regarding the various models 

 sent in for competition. The first prize (loo/. ) was awarded to 

 the sculptor, Herr M. WagmuUer, of Munich, and the second 

 (75/.) to Prof. Begas, of Berlin. 



The International Association against the pollution of rivers, 

 the soil, and the air, will hold its second meeting at Cassel on 

 September 9 and 10, i.e., two days before the meeting of the 

 Association of German Naturalists. 



The general meeting of the United German Societies of 

 Archaeology and History will take place at Marburg on Septem- 

 ber 15-19. 



Among the subjects expected to be discussed at the Social 

 Science Congress at Cheltenham, October 23-30, are the ex- 

 pediency of increasing the number of universities in England,, 

 and the desirability of establishing free primary schools 

 throughout the countrj'. 



The Exhibition of Sanitary Appliances and Articles of 

 Domestic Use and Economy, held in connection with the 

 Autumn Congress of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, will 

 take place at Stafford, from the 2nd to the 19th of October 

 next. 



At Chalons-sur-Saone a committee has been formed for the 

 erection of a monument in memory of Joseph Nicephore 

 Niepce. 



In the Fourth Report of the Underground Water Committee 

 of the British Association, read at DubUn, Mr. De Ranee com- 

 ments on the scientific and practical importance of the con- 

 tinuance of the experimental well boring just carried to a depth 

 of 1,000 feet, through the pebble beds of the new red sandstone, 

 for the Liverpool Corporation, by Messrs. Mather and Piatt. 

 The boring is 26 inches diameter, and if continued, would not 

 only prove the water-bearing capabilities of the new red sand- 

 stone, but its thickness, the character of the underlying rock, the 

 nature of the coal-measures beneath, and the possible existence 

 of productive coal-seams, and other questions of not merely local, 

 but national importance. 



Among the scientific novelties of the German book trade 

 during the past month we notice the following works : — 

 " Praktische Anleitung zum Bestimmen der K'afer Deutschlands 

 und der Schweiz," J. Hoffmann (Stuttgart); " Vier Jahre ia 

 Afrika," E. von Weber (Leipzig) ; "Die Messung des Feuchtig- 

 keitsgehaltes der Luft," Dr. K. Koppe (Zurich); " Theorie 

 der Bewegung des Wassers in Fliissen und Canalen," O. 

 Meissner (Bamberg) ; " Leitfaden der Physik," R. H. Hofmeis.- 



