Feb. 7, 1878] 



NATURE 



291 



August, 1877, from Tokio to Hatsuishi (Nikko), and from 

 Nikko to Takasaki ; an account of the observations made 

 by Dr. Naumann last summer during a journey into the 

 little known western part of Nippon, and another at the 

 same time into the north of that island by Herr Gebauer ; 

 and some information from the Tokio Times, by Y. 

 Watanabe, on Chikuzen, a province in the north-west of 

 the Kiushiu. 



NOTES 



The following grants have just been made from the Research 

 Fund of the Chemical Society to aid the carrying out of the 

 following researches : — 50/. to Dr. Wright, of St. Mary's 

 Hospital Medical School for the continuation of his researches 

 in chemical dynamics ; 25/. to Dr. Armstrong for an investiga- 

 tion of camphor and allied compounds ; 20/, to Dr. Carnelly, of 

 Owens College, Manchester, for a research on the hydrocarbons 

 dipheny], ditolyl, &c., and their derivatives ; lol, to Mr. P. 

 Phillips Bedson, of Owens College, Manchester, for a research 

 on derivatives of phenyl acetic acid, and on the constitution of 

 isatin ; and 5/. to Mr. J. R. Cro;v, of Owens College Manchester, 

 for a research on the action of zinc ethyl on the chloride of 

 vanadium. 



We regret to announce the death, at Nice, of the celebrated 

 Danish conchologist. Dr. A. L. Morch. 



We hear with great regret, from an Italian correspondent, that 

 the well-known astronomer. Father Secchi, has been seriously 

 ill for several weeks, and that little hope is entertained of his 

 recovery. The Roman correspondent of the Lancet states, 

 however, that Dr. Ceccarelli, who is attending him, does not 

 absolutely despair of his recovery. Father Secchi is not yet 

 sixty, and is of robust frame. 



At the General Monthly Meeting ox the Royal Institution 

 on Monday, Dr. Warren De la Rue, D.C.L,, F.R.S., in the 

 chair, the special thanks of the members were given to Mr. 

 William Bowman, F.R.S., for his present of an ivory bust of 

 Prof. Faraday, by the late Matthew Noble, M.R.I. In 

 reference to the telephone which Mr. Preece had explained 

 to the members last Friday, the chairman stated that he had 

 made attempts to measure the current produced by the vibrations 

 of the disc of iron in front of the magnet of the telephone, and 

 that he was unable to detect any by means of a most sensitive 

 dynamometer which would render evident the current of a 

 Daniell's cell through 2,000 ohms. Moreover, by other experi- 

 ments made by other means, he concluded that the current 

 produced did not amount to that which a Daniell's cell would 

 send working through 100,000,000 ohm resistance. 



The New York Tribune gives an account of a public exhibition 

 in that city of Eddison's Phonograph, which seems to have been 

 very successful. The tones reproduced by the vibrating disk of 

 the machine were so distinct that they could be heard and under- 

 stood in different portions of the crowded room. Words spoken 

 in a high key and with forcible emphasis were reproduced with 

 much greater distinctness than those spoken in a low tone, even 

 when the latter were uttered very loudly. A difference in the 

 sound of different voices could be easily discerned. Several 

 fragments of songs were sung in a high key and repeated by the 

 machine with wonderful fidelity. The inventor stated that the 

 machine has yet to be perfected before its full power is deve- 

 loped, and that ultimately it can be used to receive and repro- 

 duce the songs of popular singers as they are rendered on the 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in 

 connection with a letter from New York describing the phono- 

 graph, Sir William Thomson gave some explanation of tbe 



machine. All previous attempts to record sound were, he said, 

 founded on the motion of a style or marker at a true parallel to 

 the paper. Mr. Kddlson's ingenious invention of the electric 

 pen was different. It consisted of a fine point, which, by an 

 excessively rapid vibration perpendicular to the paper, caused by 

 a small electric machine connected with two thin wires to the 

 point, left a trace of any person's handwriting in a row of very 

 fine holes, from which the handwriting could be printed. Mr. 

 Eddison, from this invention, elaborated the phonograph. By 

 the greater or less pressure produced through the action of the 

 alternate condensation and expansion of the air caused by 

 the mechanism of the voice, the diaphragm operated upon the 

 point and recorded the sounds. It was the most interesting 

 mechanical and scientific invention they had heard of in this cen- 

 tury. There could be no limit to its application. A man could 

 speak a letter through the phonograph— it would be recorded on 

 tinfoil, sent in an envelope through the post, and his friend, by 

 applying the point of the phonograph to the tinfoil, could repro- 

 duce the words and tones uttered. In fact they could take down 

 the singing of a Titiens (had we one), which might be reproduced 

 to a tone two hundred years hence. 



Both Houses of Legislature have unanimously passed a reso- 

 lution giving the thanks of the U. S . Congress to Mr. Henry M. 

 Stanley for his achievements in the field of African exploration. 

 Mr. Stanley meets the Geographical Society in St. James's 

 Hall to-night. It would be interesting to know how many 

 applicants beyond the 2,000, which the hall will hold, have been 

 disappointed. The officials of the Society have had a trying 

 time of it in attending to the loads of applications they have 

 received. Mr. Stanley will be entertained at dinner by the Society 

 on Saturday. 



In connection with the recent election of Prof. Simon Newcomb 

 as a foreign member of the Royal Society, it was stated that pre- 

 vious to that Prof. Asa Gray was the only living American who 

 enjoyed that honour. We find, however, among the list of 

 foreign members the name also of Prof. Benj. F. Peirce, of 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



We have received an interesting volume : "Estudios sobre la 

 flora y fauna de Venezuela," by A. Ernst. The author, in two 

 ably written articles, gives a general idea of each of the two large 

 kingdoms as they appear in Venezuela, and further adds some 

 details on the fungi, orchids, molluscs, and birds of that country. 

 The book is published at Caracas, and consists of over loo 

 quarto pages. 



The first meeting of the Institute ol Chemistry of Great 

 Britain and Ireland was held on Friday afternoon at the rooms 

 of the Chemical Society, Burlington House. Prof. Frankland, 

 F.R.S., the first President, read an address in which he gave an 

 account of the origin of the institute. At a dinner given to 

 Prof. Canizzaro on the occasion of his visit to London in May, 1872, 

 Prof. Frankland drew attention to the increasing importance of 

 chemistry in relation to the wants of communities, and suggested 

 the usefulness of an institute that should be to chemists what the 

 Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons are to the medical profes- 

 sion, the Institute of Civil Engineers is for civil en^jineers, and 

 the Inns of Court are to the legal profession. Although the 

 need of experts in connection with water and gas analysis, legal 

 proceedings, and nuisances was recognised, and the appli- 

 cation of chemistry to agriculture and manufactures was known 

 to be of great importance, the suggestion was not taken 

 up in a practical way until the beginning of 1876, when 

 a meeting to consider the subject was held at the rooms 

 of the Chemical Society on April 26. A committee was 

 appointed to draw up a sclieme for the constitution of the insti- 

 tute, which was laid before a meeting hela in November. At 

 one time it was thought that the objects might be effected by 



