April 25, 1878] 



NATURE 



513 



After the first impulse this extreme electro-negatiye- 

 ness of the selenium, due partly to polarisation, gave 

 way and it gradually passed again to the electro-positive 

 side, where, after a few minutes, it settled to a constant 

 value, but still electro-negative to its condition in the 

 dark. 



I found that the slightest shadow or other variation in 

 the intensity of the light caused a considerable variation 

 in the electromotive force of the couple and a conse- 

 quent indication. 



On excluding the light the selenium instantly increased 

 in electro-positiveness, and soon settled to its original 

 position. 



A couple in which two plates of selenium were opposed 

 to each other, light being excluded from one and admitted 

 to the other, gave identical results, only the resistance of 

 the element was much greater. 



The effect of light, therefore, in modifying the surface 

 tension of selenium is evidently to render it more electro- 

 negative and presumably not more metallic, as has been 

 suggested in explanation of its increased conductivity. 



I am endeavouring to construct a combination of 

 selenium elements which, with a mirror galvanometer 

 and photographic arrangement may be used to give a 

 trustworthy record of the intensity of daylight. The 

 practical difficulties in the way at present I have hopes 

 will not be insurmountable. Robert Sabine 



NOTES 



We regret to notice the death, on the i8th inst., of Dr. 

 Thomas Thomson, F.R.S., for some years Superintendent of 

 the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta, and joint author of Hooker 

 and Thomson's " Flora Indica." He was also a contributor to 

 Sir J. D. Hooker's "Flora of British India," now in progress. 



The following are the names of those whom the Council of 

 the Royal Society have recommended for election on June 6 

 next as appointed : — J. G. Baker, F. M. Balfour, Rev. T. G. 

 Bonney, Prof. J. H. Cotterill, Sir W. Elliot, Canon W. Green- 

 well, T. Hawksley, C.E., J. Hopkinson, D.Sc, J. Hughlings 

 Jackson, M.D., Lord Lindsay, P.R.A.S., S. Roberts, E. A. 

 Schiifer, H. Sprengel, G. J. Symons, and C. S. Tomes. 



The scientific world has sustained a loss by the decease of the 

 Rev. James Booth, LL.D., F.R.S., Vicar of Stone, near Ayles- 

 bury, which occurred on the 15th inst., at the age of seventy- 

 one. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he 

 obtained several prizes and graduated in honours. He was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1846, to a very great 

 extent in recognition of his earliest publication, "A New 

 Method of Tangential Co-ordinates," and also as the inventor 

 of a new system of parabolic trigonometry. In 1852 and 1853 

 he contributed to the Philosophical TransacUons two memoirs on 

 " The Geometrical Properties of Elliptic Integrals." He was 

 also known as the contributor of several papers on mathematical 

 subjects to the Philosophical Magazine, and not a few of these, 

 we believe, have found their way into other languages. In 1859 

 he was presented to the living of Stone by the .Jipyal Astrono- 

 mical Society, to whom the advowson beloi^s.i;;mi3 .jj'. 



Dr. Frederick Kampf, who has been the' astronomer of 

 Lieut. Wheeler's U.S. exploring expedition, died in Washington, 

 on March 30, at the age of thirty-six. Dr. Kampf was educated 

 at Bonn, and emigrated to the United States in 1870, securing 

 a position in connection with the United States Coast Survey 

 until 1873, when he joined the party of Lieut. Wheeler as 

 already mentioned. He promised to attain to much distinction 

 as an astronomer and observer, and his untimely death is much 

 to be lamented. 



The collection of shells of the late Dr. P. P. Carpenter, of 

 Montreal, is for sale. The opportunities of Dr. Carpenter for 



making this collection of desirable specimens were very great, 

 especially from the great Reigan collection of Mazatlan shells, 

 which he purchased many years ago, and after investigation de- 

 posited duplicate series in several museums in Europe and America. 

 The collection embraces about 4,000 species and varieties, for 

 the most part original types. The collection is deposited for 

 the present in the museum of M'Gill College, Montreal. 



Dr. Rud. Falb, of Vienna, who is engaged in studying the 

 earthquake region in South and Central America, has left Chile 

 and announces his arrival at Arequipa. He intends to ascend 

 the volcano of Misti, near Arequipa, which is some 17,600 feet 

 in height. He also reports that at the southern part of the 

 Peruvian coast the shocks of earthquake continue with unabated 

 violence, and that a violent eruption occurred recently from the 

 Cotopaxi Volcano in the Andes of Quito, without, however, 

 doing much damage. 



Afi Ethnographical Congress will assemble in Paris on June 

 24, and continue for three days. The head-quarters of the 

 Commission are rue Monsieur, 19. 



The Chair of Surgery at the College de PVance, occupied by 

 the late Claude Bernard, has been offered to Prof. Charrot. It 

 has been decided to erect the statue of the distmguished physio, 

 legist immediately before the College de France. 



Dr. E. Baumann, one of the most promising of the youi^ 

 physiological chemists of Germany, has received a Professorship 

 in the Berlin University. 



We notice the death of Prof. H. Girard at Halle, on April 

 12. He was, until a recent date, director of the Mineralogical 

 Museum of the University of Halle, and his name is associated 

 with several mineralogical researches, more especially in connec- 

 tion with the Stassfurt deposits. 



Amateurs of spectrum analysis will thank Mr. Browning 

 for a little pocket case he is now selling which permits a study 

 of absorption phenomena in a very satisfactory manner. 

 Various substances, which give very characteristic band absorption, 

 have been mixed with gelatine so as to form a thin transparent 

 coloured film. In that we have received, roseine, cosine, 

 cochineal, indigo, aniline blue, Hofmann's violet, and other 

 ; colouring matters have -been treated in this way. There are 

 twelve differently coloured films in all, and the variations in 

 the spectra are very striking. On holding the films horizontally 

 close to the slit so that one film falls on the upper and tlie 

 next on the lower part of it, a capital idea of the use of 

 comparison spectra can be gained. 



M. Dabry de Thiersant, a French Chargi d' Affaires, who 

 has been instrumental in introducing a number of Chinese plants 

 and animals into his native country, is now making arrange- 

 ments for importation in quantities of the setz, one of the most 

 valued fish found in Chinese waters. The fish belongs to the 

 carp family, and when fed on sea-plants in ponds, attaias with 

 great rapidity a weight of about forty pounds. During the past 

 three years experiments made on the fish in the Jardin d'Accli- 

 matation have shown it to be well adapted to a European 

 climate, and as it increases rapidly, it is hoped that within a 

 few years it can be introduced extensively throughout Europe. 



A LITTLE village in the neighbourhood of Draguignan, 

 France, has lately been the scene of a remarkable subsidence 

 which has attracted the curious from all directions. An elliptical 

 tract of ground, containing over 10,000 square feet, sank 

 gradually one day, accompanied by loud noises, until it left an 

 orifice of over 100 feet in depth, mth water at the bottom. 

 Numerous trees and vines disappeared completely in the depths 

 of the new lake. A similar depression on a smaller scale 

 occurred in the same vicinity a century ago, and both the 

 phenomena are attributed to the action of subterranean streams. 



