April 1 8, 1878] 



NATURE 



491 



A Cours Annexe has been created at the Sorbonne for physical 

 astronomy. M. WoIflF will lecture on the observational methods 

 of physical astronomy, and the coastitution of celestial bodies, 



M. OssiAN Bonnet, director of Studies to the Polytechnic 

 •School, has been appointed successor to M. Leverrier in his 

 capacity of Lecturer on Mathematical Astronomy. 



The Italian Cryptogamic_ Society, ^foynded in 1858. by De 

 Notaris, has just been reconstituted under the presidency of Prof. 

 F. Ardissone, of Milan. It consists of two classes of members : 

 ordinary (fffetivi) and foreign. The former consist entirely of 

 Italian, the latter of foreign cryptogamic botanists, the foreign 

 members being elected by the vote of the ordinary members. 

 The Society will publish annual volumes of its ' ' atti," and, in addi- 

 tion, one or more fasciculi every year, each containing fifty new 

 or interesting species pf cryptogams, at a cost of 10 lire (Italian) 

 the fasciculus. The British corresponding members at present 

 are the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, Dr. R. Braithwaite, Dr. M. C. 

 Cooke, Mr. Jas. Stirton, and Mr. John Smith. Cryptogamists 

 who are not members of the Society are invited to contribute 

 descriptions or specimens of new species, for which they will 

 receive in exchange the volume or fasciculus containing their 

 contributions. 



The Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 

 one of the most active of our provincial societies, have resolved 

 to spend about 100/. in improving and adding to their apparatus. 



The Faculty of Medicine at Lyons has taken the initiative in 

 a subscription for the erection of a monument to the late Claude 

 Bernard on the Quai de la Vitriolerie. 



Dr Puluj, of Vienna, exhibited at a recent session of the 

 Imj^erial Academy, an ingenious arrangement for signalling 

 by means of the telephone. The vibrating membranes in two 

 connected telephones are replaced by a pair of tuning-forks 

 giving the same number of vibrations per second. A bell is 

 placed close to each fork and a brass ball is suspended from a 

 thread .between the two, but in contact with the fork. If one 

 of tlie forks be put in vibration by means of a hammer the move- 

 ment is communicated to the other, which causes a loud ringing 

 on the bell by means of the ball. A response can be sent back 

 in the same manner, and after replacing the vibrating mem- 

 branes, the usual method of communication begins. 



A French inventor, M. Bregnet, has recently completed a 

 so-called mercury telephone, which is quite a variation on the 

 systems already in use. It is comjwsed of two instruments for 

 transmission and reception, connected by means of wires. Each 

 of these consists of a glass vessel, containing acidulated water 

 and mercury, into which is inserted a capillary tube fdled with 

 mercury. One wire connects the mercury in the tubes, and the 

 other that in the vessels. When a person speaks before llie 

 transmitter, the vibrations of the air are communicated to the 

 mercury, and cause variations in the electromotive force, whicli 

 are transmitted to the receiver, and there give rise to vibrations 

 of the air appreciable by the ear. A later simplification of the 

 apparatus consists in using a tube with alternate drops of 

 mercury and acidulated water, forming thus a series of electro- 

 capillary elements. 



We are glad to know that one of the signs of our times is a 

 more appreciative and intelligent interest in the things lying 

 around us, including the beauties of nature as well as those affairs 

 of a more human interest. Messrs. Marcus Ward and Co., in 

 their new monthly publication, entitled, Our Native Land, a copy 

 of which we have just received, certainly deserve well of those 

 who think that the habit of observation can be fostered and 

 Hpveloped by calling attention to the many things of beauty and 



interest in our own country. The work is to consist of repro. 

 ductions of water-colour sketches, with descriptive notes, and 

 the publication breaks ground by giving coloured plates and text 

 illustrating ^ Derwcntwater, " " Ambleside," and " Rydal 

 Falls." The publication is as excellent in excaition as it is 

 admirable in idea, ami the reproduction of the water-colour of 

 Ambleside is admirable ; it is one of the finest specimens Jof 

 clu-opiolithography that we have ever seen. Its truth to the 

 colour of nature and the softness of the atmospheric effects, leaves 

 little, if anything, to be desired. 



^ Macmillan and Co. arei preparing for publication a 

 "Journal of a Tour in Morocco in 1871, including a Visit to the 

 Great Atlas," by Sir J, D. Hooker, P.R.S., &c., and John 

 Ball, F.R.S., with a Sketch of the Geology of Morocco, by 

 George Maw, F.G.S. The work will l>e illustrateci by Mr. 

 Whymper. 



Gen. de Nansouty, the director of the Pic du Midi 

 Observatory, has been apix)inted Officer of Public Instruc- 

 tion as a reward for 1 his efforts and successes. He had 

 already been made, eighteen months ago. Officer of the 

 Academy. The General Council of Vaucluse framed, at its last 

 session, a resolution for establishing a meteorological observatory 

 on the top of Mount Ventoux, a mountain about 2,000 metres 

 high, situated in the most admirable position for an extensive 

 view of an immense region. 



The intellectual abilities of the Japanese race have l^een 

 evidenced in a striking manner by a quartette of students from 

 that country now studying in Berlin. One of these, Dr. Dirokitao, 

 has lately invented an ingenious optical instrument termed the 

 leucoscope, which measures the variations in the perception of 

 light and colour by the human eye, in accordance with the 

 strictest mathematical laws. Another, wlio has attained the rank 

 of lieutenant in the Prussian army, has introducetl a remarkable 

 simplification into tlie mechanism of the Mauser rifle, which has 

 succeeded the historic needle-gun. Two more who are prose- 

 cuting their chemical studies under Prof. Ilofmann, have 

 published for two years past several interesting synthetical 

 researches on the aromatic series. 



The canvas for tlie great Pari:; captive balloon is quite ready ; 

 it forms 46 rolls, weighing 60 kilogs. each, having a length of 80 

 metres, and a breadth of 113 centimetres. It was submitted to 

 a traction of 1,000 kilogs., under which it has extended 25 

 millimetres per metre. After some time the increase in length 

 was reduced to 12A millimetres. The net is almost finished. It 

 is composed of 256 ropes 1 1 millimetres each in diameter, and 

 bearing a strain of i ton. 



In a note in the Bulletin of the French Scientific Association, 

 Col. Gazan gives some interesting observations on the fracture of 

 iron. During his sojourn in the arm manufactories of St. 

 Etienne and Tulle, at the central depot of artillery, and at the 

 manufactory of Chatellerault, he was able to make important 

 researches on iron. The fracture of iron may be nervous, in 

 grains more or less fine, or in facets sometimes having a surface 

 of several square millimetres ; often it presents a mixture of these 

 three features. Thus it is impossible to judge of the quality of 

 an iron before breaking it ; and it is on this account that in arm 

 manufactories they break a certain number of bars with which 

 they make a certain number of pieces for which they are intended, 

 and which are afterward broken to ascertain their resistance, 

 that is, the goodness of the iron, which, moreover, is still ren- 

 dered brittle.in presence of phosphorus, arsenic, or sulphur. The 

 best irons are the nervous, then those of fine grain and with 

 facets. On railways it has been proved that rails placed 

 in the direction ,'of the magnetic meridian are affected quite 

 differently from rails placed at right angles to this direc- 



