ii4 



NATURE 



\_May 31, 1888 



Last week we printed a letter from M. Julius, of Delft, 

 Holland, asking a question with regard to tables of reciprocals. 

 Mr. T. S. Barrett and Mr. A. Freeman write to us recom- 

 mending Barlow's tables of squares, cubes, square roots, cube 

 roots, and reciprocals of all integers up to 10,000. The re- 

 • ciprocals are given to seven places of significant figures, besides 

 the leading zeros. The work was edited by the late A. De 

 Morgan, and published for the Useful Knowledge Society by 

 Taylor and Walton, London, 1840. 



Prof. Ball, General Director of the Science and Art 

 Museum, Dublin, mentions in his report for 1887, that early in 

 the year he brought before the Council of the Royal Irish 

 Academy the desirability of its handing over to the Museum an 

 old collection of moulds of Irish crosses and miscellaneous 

 sculptures, together with casts, most of which had been prepared 

 for the Exhibition of 1853. To this proposition the Academy 

 cordially assented, and, after much piecing together of broken 

 fragments, it was found that the material provided a very 

 valuable and representative set of casts. It is proposed that 

 casts of many objects of ancient Irish art not included in this 

 collection shall also be obtained. The collection, when com- 

 pleted and properly arranged in the new Museum, ought to be of 

 great service not only to archaeologists but to workmen, who 

 would be well rewarded for a careful and elaborate study of the 

 ideas of the mediaeval craftsmen of Ireland. 



Herr H. Forsf.ll has been chosen President of the Swedish 

 Royal Academy of Science for the ensuing year, in place of 

 Herr C. G. Malmstrom. 



The Biological Society of University College will hold its 

 annual soiree at the College on Thursday, June 7, beginning at 



8 p.m. Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., will deliver a lecture at 



9 p.m. on " The Pygmy Races of Men." Tickets may be had 

 on application to the secretaries of the Society. 



We have received the Annuaire for the year 1888 of the Paris 

 Society for the Encouragement of National Industry. Among 

 the contents are a list of the members, and an extract from the 

 programme relating to the prizes to be given by the Society from 

 1888 to 1893. 



The Danish Government has granted a sum of ^"500 for the 

 purpose of having the oyster-banks in Denmark examined by 

 an expert. His object will be to ascertain the results of their 

 continued preservation, with a view to the resumption of fishing. 



Some months ago a large consignment of salmon ova was de- 

 spatched from Denmark to Buenos Ay e ? , vid Hamburg, for the 

 stocking of certain lakes and rivers in the Argentine Republic. 

 The experiment has proved very successful, the ova ariving in 

 ■ excellent condition, and further consignments are to be made. 



The following incident in the trial of the great patent case, 

 Edison and Swan Electric Light Company v. Holland and 

 others, now proceeding in the Chancery Division of the High 

 Court of Justice, before Mr. Justice Kay, is taken .from the 

 shorthand report in the Electrician of May 18. On May 16, 

 Prof. James Dewar, F.R. S., Professor of Chemistry in the 

 University of Cambridge was under examination. A small 

 crucible was produced and handed to the witness, who said : 

 In that crucible T have, with Mr. Gimingham, carbonized fila- 

 ments in the precincts of the court, using no packing and no 

 luting of any description. The filament was a thread so far as 

 he could remember. 



Sir Horace Davey urged that this did not arise out of the 

 cross-examination. 



Mr. Justice Kay said it should have been produced in the 

 *xamination-in-chief. If it were pursued, Sir Horace Davey 

 would be entitled to ask any questions upon it. 



Sir Horace Davey, cross-examining: — About what heat was 



this produced at ? — It was a mere experiment. It was a spirit- 

 lamp that was used. 



Do you suggest that this coil, or whatever you like to call it, 

 has been heated to a sufficient heat for use as a conductor in an 

 incandescent lamp ? —Not at the present time. 



Then it is not completely carbonized ? — It is carbonized ; but 

 it does not conduct well enough. It wants to be heated for a 

 longer time at a higher temperature. 



Plas it been heated to a degree at which the oxygen would 

 combine with or attack the carbon ? — That I cannot say. I think 

 it is probably at a low red heat. 



Mr. Justice Kay : I am very much disgusted. I am here trying 

 all I can to understand the case, and this is clearly an attempt to 

 mislead. I am greatly disgusted. 



Prof. Dewar : I have no desire to mislead your lordship. I 

 have stated that this was a mere experiment. I did not produce 

 it. It was put to me. 



Mr. Justice Kay : You may stand down. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macacus rhesus 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. George Somerford ; a Barbary Ape 

 {Macacus inims 9) from North Africa, presented by Miss 

 Waterman ; a Brazilian Tree Porcupine {Sphingurus prehensilis) 

 from Pernambuco, presented by Mr. Clement J. Bateman ; a 

 Barbary Wild Sheep {Ovis tragelaphus), from North Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. E. H. Forwood ; a Greater Black-backed Gull 

 (Larus marinus), British, presented by Prof. E. Ray Lankester, 

 F.R.S., F.Z.S. ; a Herring Gull {Larus argentatus), British, 

 presented by Mr. E. Wright: a Cape Dove {(Ena capensis), a 

 Tambourine Pigeon ( Tympanistria bicolor) from South Africa, 

 presented by Mr. R. H. Milford ; a White-handed Gibbon 

 {Hylobates lar) from the Malay peninsula, a Chimpanzee {Anthro- 

 popithecus troglodytes 9 ), a Marabou Stork {Leptoptilus crumeni- 

 ferns') from West Africa, two Caracals {Felts caracal juv) from 

 Africa, three Red-crowned Pigeons {Erythremias pulchcrrimus), 



a Praslin Parrot {Coracopsis barklyi), two Kestrels ( Tin- 



minculus gracilis) from the Seychelles, a Laughing Kingfisher 

 {Dacelo gi«antea), a Black -backed Piping Crow {Gymnorhina 

 tibiceu), a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo {Cacatua. galerita) 

 from Australia, two Glass Snakes {Pseudopus pallasi) from Dal- 

 niatia, deposited ; six Common Pintails {Dafila acuta), eight 

 Common Teal {Qtierquedu'a crecca), eight Garganey Teal 

 {Querquedula circia), ten Wigeon {Mareca pcnelopc), a Shoveller 

 {Spatula clypmta), British, purchased; a Red Kangaroo 

 {Macropus ru/us), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1888 a (Sawerthal). — A.t the beginning of last 

 week, apparently on May 20 or 21, the comet suddenly became 

 very much brighter, gaining fully three magnitudes. It has since 

 faded again. Only a few observations have as yet come to 

 hand, but it is to be hoped that everyone who has observed it 

 during the last fortnight, and made any estimate of its bright- 

 ness, will publish his observations without delay. 



The Short Period Comets and Asteroids. — Prof. 

 Kirkwood, who has already given reasons for thinking that 

 two short period comets originally belonged to the group 'of 

 asteroids, has extended his argument in the Sidereal Mes- 

 senger for May to include the class of short period comets 

 as a whole. He points out that, of the twenty comets con- 

 cerned, seven have disappeared, either by dissolution into 

 fragments, like Biela's comet, or by the transformation of the 

 orbit by the influence of Jupiter, as in the case of Lexell's 

 comet. The instances of the comets of Lexell and Wolf (1884) 

 are representative, Prof. Kirkwood considers, of the mode in 

 which asteroidal may have been changed into cometary orbit;. 

 Had the latter, indeed, been discovered before its perturbation, 

 it would probably have been considered simply an asteroid of 

 unusually long period, for its eccentricity and inclination were 



