May 24, 1888] 



NATURE 



9i 



Purposes," was discussed. The author had found water gas and 

 producer gas practically equal both as regarded cost of production 

 and heating values. 



Mr. II. Eccles drew attention, in a paper on "An Imperfection 



in Mild Steel Plates considered chemically," to want of care in 



sampling steel before casting, whereby defects in the ingots were 



rolled out into the plates ; and it appeared in the discussion, as 



1 well as in a paper by Major Cubillo, on " The Manufacture and 



Treatment of Ordnance at Trubia," that the ingot was much 



I improved when the steel was made and heated in a radiation 



i furnace. Another paper by Major Cubillo, on " Steel Castings 



for the Manufacture of Guns," gave rise to a highly technical 



ion ; as did also papers on "The Behaviour of Arsenic in 



J Ore and Metal during Smelting and Purification Processes," by 



. Pattinson and Stead, and on " The Effect of Arsenic on 



Mild Steel," by Messrs. Harbord and Tucker. 



The last paper read was on "A New Instrument for the 

 Measurement of Colour, more especially as applied to the 

 Estimation of Carbon in Steel," by Mr. H. Le Neve Foster. In 

 ! the instrument are two fields of view under similar monocular con- 

 ditions, freed from any errors which may arise from the introduction 

 l of unequal side lights, and also the different power of distinguish- 

 I ing colour that often exists in the eye of the observer ; in con- 

 junction with the instrument is a standard set of coloured glasses, 

 jeach set being the same colour, but regularly graded for depth 

 of tint. The instrument consists of a tube, divided by a central 

 partition terminating at the eye-piece in a knife-edge, which, being 

 inside the range of vision, is not seen when the instrument is in use. 

 jjAt the other end of the instrument are two apertures of equal 

 size, and alterable in size or shape by means of diaphragms. The 

 two apertures are divided by the thick end of the central parti- 

 tion, which, together with the sides, is recessed so as to hide the 

 edges of the standard glasses, as well as the sides of the gauged 

 jglass vessels, which are used to contain the liquid that requires 

 Ito be matched or compared. The only light coming to the eye 

 must pass in equal quantity through the gauged glass vessel and 

 the standard glasses respectively. 



J The instrument has been used by dyers, brewers, and sugar, and 

 ^various other manufacturers. It forms a ready means of measuring 

 the depth of colour in water, and is also applicable for Nessler's 

 ammonia test as used in water analysis. For the estimation of 

 carbon, the author finds the best results are obtained by dis- 

 solving o"5 gramme of steel in 10 c.c. nitric acid, sp. I 20, and 

 joiling for twenty minutes, and then diluting to 50 c.c. and 

 placing the liquid in a i-inch cell. For mild steel this gives an 

 r »asy colour to match, the results obtained agreeing well with 

 ii hose found by the Eggerty method. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for April, 

 [888 (vol. xxviii. part 4) contains : — A monograph on the 

 ipecies and distribution of the genus Peripatus, Guilding (plates 

 54 to 40), by Adam Sedgwick, F. R. S., gives an account of all 

 he known species of the genus, with a bibliography of most of 

 he literature relating to them. Many of the figures are 

 :oloured from nature. — Notes on the anatomy of Peripatus 

 'apet/sis and P. ttovce-zealandice, by Lilian Sheldon, Bathurst 

 Student, Newnham College, Cambridge. Gives details about the 

 j:rural glands, the segmental organs, the accessory glands of the 

 nale, and the vas deferens. — On the construction and purpose 

 >f the so-called labyrinthine apparatus of the L ab^inthine 

 ishes (plate 41), by Dr. Nicholas Zograff. — Studies on the 

 comparative anatomy of sponges ; (1) on the genera Ridleia, 

 ji. gen., and Quasillina, Norman (plate 42), by Arthur Dendy 

 -Kleinenberg on the development of Lopadorhynchus, by G. C. 

 ioume. This paper gives a resume' of Prof. Kleinenberg's very 

 iletailed account of the development of the Polyehaste Annelid 

 .opadorhynchus, which extends over 225 pages of the Zeitschrift 

 iir Wisscnschaftliche Zoologie. 



American Journal oj Science, May. — The absolute wave- 

 ength of light, Part 2, by Louis Bell. In continuation of his 

 >revious communication the author here gives the angular 

 measurements, and the details of the measurement and cali- 

 ration of the gratings, together with the final results. He also 

 iquires into the probable sources of error in some recent deter- 

 minations of wave-length. His own final determination of the 

 lean value of the absolute wave-length for the line D x is 

 896"i8 in air at 760 mm. pressure and 20 C. temperature, or 



in vacuo 5897 '90, which he considers not likely to be in error 

 by an amount as great as one part in two hundred thousand. — 

 Three formations of the Middle Atlantic slope (continued), by W. 

 J. McGee. In this paper the author deals with the Columbian 

 formation alone, describing in detail the general characters of 

 its fluvial and interfluvial phases. By the fluvial phase he 

 understands the thicker and more conspicuous formations 

 commonly occurring along the great rivers at and for some 

 miles below the fall line, while the iuterfluvial comprises 

 the thinner deposits forming the surface over the re- 

 mainder of the coastal plain. These interfluvial deposits 

 are shown to corroborate and extend the testimony of 

 the deltas, all the phenomena conjointly recording a brief 

 period of submergence of the entire coastal plain in the 

 Middle Atlantic slope reaching ico feet in the south and over 

 400 in the north, with coaeval cold, long anterior to the terminal 

 moraine period. — On some peculiarly-spotted rocks from Pigeon 

 Point, Minnesota, by W. S. Bailey. The character and origin 

 are discussed of some curious circular spots occurring here and 

 there on the quartzites of Pigeon Point, a district projecting about 

 3 J miles into Lake Superior, and consisting mainly of a great 

 dyke of coarse olivine gabbro or diabase. — The Taconic system 

 of Emmons, and the use of the name Taconic in geological 

 nomenclature (continued), by Chas. D. Walcott. In this paper 

 the author deals with the subject of nomenclature, discussing the 

 use of the names Taconic and Cambrian, and concluding with a 

 classification of the North American Cambrian rocks. — Prof. R. 

 D. Salisbury has some remarks on the terminal moraines of 

 North Germany, and Carl Barus communicates a short note on 

 the viscosity of gases at high temperature, and on the pyrometric 

 use of the principle of viscosity. 



Bulletin de V Acadhnie Royale de Belgique, March. — Remarks 

 on some stone implements found in Spain by MM. H. and L. 

 Siret, by A. F. Renard. Amongst the rich archaeological finds 

 recently made by MM. Siret in the Carthagena and Almeria 

 districts are some polished stone hatchets of small size and - 

 beautiful workmanship. With a view to determining the 

 material of which these implements were made, the author has 

 subjected them to a careful analysis, and finds that this material 

 is fibrolite, which occurs in many parts of Spain. In appearance 

 it somewhat resembles jade, but its chemical composition and 

 general properties show that it is quite distinct from that sub- 

 stance. — Determination of the variations in the specific heat of 

 fluids near the critical point, by P. de Heen. It is suggested as a 

 working hypothesis, that fluids are formed of molecular groups 

 which may be called liquidogenic molecules. These groups and 

 their constituent elements, presenting the aspect of little vortices, 

 would appear simply to be the molecules as regarded in the gaseous 

 state (gasogenic molecules). The transition from the liquid to 

 the gaseous state at the critical temperature might then be thus 

 interpreted. It may be admitted that at a given temperature 

 the gasogenic molecules cease to move in closed curves, and 

 describe the rectilinear trajectories of M. Clausius. The 

 author's researches, as here described, tend mainly to confirm, 

 this view. 



Rendiconli del Reale Istituto, Lombardo, April. — On the 

 importance of the phagociti in the morphology of the Metazoi, 

 by Prof. Leopoldo Magi. The author's researches generally 

 tend to confirm the conclusions of Metschnikoff regarding the 

 physiological functions of the phagociti. He considers that 

 " phagocitism " — that is, the intracellular digestive process — is a 

 function which attests in the morphology of the Metazoi, or 

 pluricellular organisms, their genetic descent from the Protozoi. 

 Thus physiology, as well as embryology and palaeontology, 

 confirms the now commonly accepted views regarding biological 

 volution in animal organisms. 



Rivista Scientifico-Industriale, April 30. — On some recent 

 discoveries in electro-optics, by Prof. Ercole Fossati. In con- 

 nection with the recent researches of Hertz and Hallewachs on 

 the influence of light on electrified conductors, attention is 

 directed to the analogous experiments made by Morichini at the 

 beginning of the present century. Reference is made more par- 

 ticularly to this physicist's observations on the magnetization of 

 steel by the effect of light alone, independently altogether of any 

 action caused by heat or terrestrial magnetism. — Researches on 

 magnetic thermogenesis, by Prof. Giuseppe Martinotti. The ex- 

 periments described in this and previous papers lead to the 

 general conclusion that heat is developed when soft iron, or any 

 other magnetic body, is successively magnetized ;. and that the 



