436 



NATURE 



\_March 28, 1878 



A great banquet, under the auspices of the College of Physicians, 

 to be held on the day of the Harveian oration, is also talked of, 

 but judging by the apathy shown generally on the subject of 

 Harvey's tercentenary, it is not very probable it will come off. 

 How is it that we take so little trouble here to keep alive the 

 memory of our great dead ? 



We notice the death of Prof. A. Lamy at Paris on the 20th 

 inst. For a number 'of years he has occupied the Chair of Indus- 

 trial Chemistry at the Ecole Centrale. As an investigator his 

 name is chiefly known in connection with the metal thallium. 

 Very shortly after the detection of its spectrum by Mr. Crookes 

 in 1 86 1, he observed the same phenomenon in the lead works at 

 Lille J and his isolation of the metal and descriptions of its pro- 

 perties followed so closely on the announcements of the English 

 chemist that the question of priority was vigorously discussed for 

 some time, until finally decided against him. Contemporaneously 

 with Mr. Crookes he submitted the new element to a careful 

 examination, and it is to him we owe the first determination of 

 the atomic weight 204, the discoveries of the poisonous proper- 

 ties, of the close relations with the alkaline group, of the remark- 

 able thallium alcohols, and the preparation of thallium glass. In 

 1869 Lamy invented the two valuable pyrometers associated with 

 his name, the one based on the dissociation-tension of calcium- 

 carbonate for temperatures above 800°, and the second containing 

 instead of carbonate the compound CaCIg.SNHg for temperatures 

 below 42°. In physics he studied the electric properties of 

 sodium and potassium, and was the first to produce induction 

 currents by means of terrestrial magnetism. 



The death is announced of Michel- Charles Durieu de 

 Maissonneuve, on February 20, aged eighty-two. He was 

 honorary director of the Gardens of Bordeaux. As member of 

 the Scientific Commission of Algeria he was known to botanists 

 for his researches in the flora of that country. 



We regret to announce the death of Prof. Gustav Will- 

 manns of Strassburg University, well known' through his African 

 explorations and discoveries. Prof. Willmanns was only thirty- 

 two years of age. 



In the course of a few weeks a festival will be held in the city 

 of Liege, to celebrate the fortieth year of the professorship of 

 Theodore Schwann, the author of the cell-theory. To some of 

 our readers it will be a startling piece of intelligence that the 

 founder of modern histology is actually at this moment alive, 

 and teaching as Professor of Physiology in the Belgian 

 University. The committee charged with the management of 

 the celebration desire the co-operation of scientific bodies and of 

 individuals in this country. We are authorised to draw the 

 attention of officials of the learned societies and other corpora- 

 tions to the approaching event, and to beg them to obtain some 

 expression of sympathy with the object of the celebration — viz., 

 the doing homage to the genius of Theodore Schwann. It is 

 requested that letters intended to be read at the celebration may 

 be forwarded either direct to the secretary, Prof. Edouard van 

 Beneden, Liege, or to Mr. Ray Lankester, Exeter College, 

 Oxford. All Englishmen of science who have specially occupied 

 themselves in the field of work opened up by Schwann, are 

 begged to communicate individually with either of the above- 

 named gentlemen, and to forward their photographs for insertion 

 in an album which is to be presented to the founder of the 

 cell-theory. 



M. Raoul, Pictet, at Geneva, in consideration of the im- 

 portance of his discoveries with regard to the liquefaction of 

 gases, has had the honorary title of Doctor ofj^Medicine con- 

 ferred upon him by the University of Jena. 



It was stated at the last meeting of the Royal Dublin Society 

 that a new explosive agent has been discovered by Prof. Emerson 

 Reynolds, in the Laboratory of Trinity College, Dublin. It is 

 a mixture of 75 per cent, of chlorate of potassium with 25 per 



cent, of a body called sulphurea. It is a white powder, which 

 is very easily prepared by the mixture of the materials in the 

 above-named proportions. The new powder can be ignited at a 

 rather lower temperature than ordinary gunpowder, while the 

 effects it produces are even more remarkable than those caused 

 by the usual mixture. Dr. Reynolds states that his powder 

 leaves only 45 per cent, of solid residue, whereas common gun- 

 powder leaves about 57 per cent. It had been used with success 

 in small cannon, but its discoverer considered that its chief use 

 would be for blasting, for shells, for torpedoes and for similar 

 purposes. Dr. Reynolds pointed out that one of the advantages 

 this powder possesses is that it can be produced at a moment's 

 notice by a comparatively rough mixture of the materials, which 

 can be stored and carried without risk so long as they are 

 separate. The sulphurea, the chief component of the new 

 explosive, was discovered by Dr. Reynolds about ten years ago, 

 and could be easily procured in large quantities from a product 

 of gas manufacture which is at present wasted. 



The annual meeting in London of the Iron and Steel Insti- 

 tute commenced yesterday, and will be continued to-day and to- 

 morrow. Discussions will take place on papers read at the 

 Newcastle meeting, and several papers will be read on subjects 

 of technical interest. 



The great forge of Creusot has just despatched for an Italian 

 ironclad two steel plates, weighing respectively 23,000 and 

 31,000 kilogrammes. They required a special railway train 

 constructed for the purpose. The recent experiments at Spezia 

 show that vessels protected by these plates are absolutely imper- 

 forable by any missiles so far known. 



The rare phenomenon of St. Elmo's fire was observed at 

 several localities in the Harz Mountains during the past month. 

 At Blankenburg it occurred at a temperature of -J- C'S C. and 

 pressure of 721 "5 mm., after a series of storms. The air was 

 so laden with electricity, that canes held aloft emitted from their 

 points light blue flames five inches in length and three in 

 breadth. In Doblitz the phenomenon occurred in the midst of 

 a storm, half snow and half rain, when the ends of the branches 

 in an entire grove were surmounted by flames from four to five 

 inches in length. 



A THEORY of the chemical action of light recently propounded 

 by M. Chastaing is controverted by M. Vogel (in the reports of 

 the German Chemical Society), who cites various facts to show 

 that rays of any kind are capable of producing either an oxidising 

 or a reducing action on inorganic substances, according to the 

 nature of the substance by which they are absorbed ; there is no 

 ground for attributing to the less refrangible rays in all cases an 

 oxidising, and to the more refrangible a reducing, power. M. 

 Chastaing's second proposition, that light has an oxidising action 

 on organic substances, which is strongest in the violet and 

 weakest in the red, is also opposed by M. Vogel. 



Cape Colony, [New Guinea, the Australian Colonies, the 

 South Seas, and, it would appear, almost every known portion 

 of the southern hemisphere, have been suffering from a severe 

 and protracted drought. Shade temperatures of 124° and 127° 

 are reported from the interior of Australia, the heat being much 

 less intense near the coast, owing to the strong sea-breezes which 

 prevail in connection with the great heat of the interior. Sheep, 

 cattle, horses, and the wdd animals of these regions are dying 

 off in thousands. In Cape Colony, in particular, complete ruin 

 has overtaken large numbers of the settlers, many of the homes 

 of hitherto well-to-do colonists having been broken up, and the 

 several members gone into menial service in exchange for the 

 barest necessaries of life. We have received several letters on 

 this subject alrtady, and shall be glad if our readers in the regions 

 named will favour us with any information of which they may 

 be in possession, suggesting or disproving tke cyclical character 

 of these droughts. 



