June 7, 1 888] 



NA TURE 



M3 



the minutes of proceedings without being discussed, as well as 

 for papers read at the supplemental meetings of students : — For 

 papers read and discussed at the ordinary meetings : a Telford 

 Medal and a Telford Premium to Robert Abbott Hadfield, for 

 "Manganese in its Application to Metallurgy," and "Some 

 Newly-discovered Properties of Iron and Manganese " ; a Watt 

 Medal and a Telford Premium to Peter William Willans, for 

 "Economy-Trials of a Non-condensing Steam-Engine, Simple, 

 Compound, and Triple" ; a Telford Medal and a Telford Pre- 

 mium to Dr. Edward Ilopkinson, for " Electrical Tramways — 

 the Bessbrook and Newry Tramway " ; a Watt Medal and a 

 Telford Premium to Edward Bayzand Ellington, for "The 

 1 (istribution of Hydraulic Power in London " ; a Telford Medal 

 and a Telford Premium to Josiah Pierce, Jun., for " The 

 Economic Use of the Plane-Table in Topographical Surveying " ; 

 a George Stephenson Medal and a Telford Premium to Sir 

 Bradford Leslie, K.C.I.E., for " The Erection of the 'Jubilee' 

 Bridge, carrying the East Indian Railway across the River 

 Hooghly at Hooghly"; and the Man by Premium to the late 

 Hamilton Goodall, for "The Use and Testing of Open-hearth 

 Steel for Boiler-making." For papers printed in the Proceed- 

 ings without being discussed : a Watt Medal and a Telford 

 Premium to Prof. Victor Auguste Ernest Dwelshauvers-Dery, 

 for " A New Method of Investigation applied to the Action of 

 Steam-Engine Governors" ; and Telford Premiums to William 

 Mann Thompson, for " Improved Systems of Chaining for Land 

 and Engineering Surveys"; to James William Wyatt, for 

 " Sizing Paper with Rosin " ; and to Dugald Drummond, for 

 "The Heating of Carriages by Exhaust Steam on the Cale- 

 donian Railway." For papers read at the supplemental meetings 

 of students the following Miller Prizes have been given : to 

 David Sing Capper, for "The Speed-Trials of the latest 

 additi >n to the Admiral Class of British War-Vessels"; to 

 Lawrence Gibbs, for " Pumping-Machinery in the Fenland and 

 by the Trentside " ; to Harold Medway Martin, for "Arched 

 Ribs and Voussoir Arches " ; to John Henry Parkin, for " River- 

 Gauging at the Vyrnwy Reservoir"; to Alfred Chatterton, for 

 " The Prevention and Extinction of Fires" ; to John Holliday, 

 for "Boiler Experiments and Fuel-Economy"; to Arthur 

 Wharton Metcalfe, for "The Classification of Continous Rail- 

 way-Brakes" ; to Robert Jarratt Money, for "Railway En- 

 gineering in British North America." 



Victoria Institute, June 4. — The annual general meeting 

 was held at the house of the Society of Arts. The President, 

 Prof. G. G. Stokes, P.R.S., M.P., took the chair. The twenty- 

 second Annual Report was read by Captain Frank Petrie, the 

 Honorary Secretary, and Sir Monier- Williams delivered an 

 address on mystical Buddhism. A vote of thanks was accorded 

 to the President. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, May 28. — M. Janssen, President, in 

 the chair. — New theory of equatorials (continued), by MM. 

 Lcewy and Puiseux. In order to verify the already explained 

 theory, the authors here compare the values of the constants 

 obtained by physical processes with those resulting from the 

 astronomical methods based on the observation of transits or on 

 the apparent variations of the right ascensions or declinations. 

 They conclude with some general remarks on the employment 

 of the equatorial coude. — On the measurement of low tempera- 

 tures, by MM. L. Cailletet and E. Colardeau. The researches 

 here described have been undertaken for the purpose of obviat- 

 ing the difficulties hitherto felt in employing hydrogen thermo- 

 meters for the measurement of low temperatures. — Researches 

 on ruthenium, by MM. H. Debray and A. Joly. These studies 

 are occupied chiefly with the rutheniates of potassa and silver, 

 and the heptarutbeniates of potassa and soda. The authors find 

 that, although there exists an evident analogy in the composition 

 and reactions of the rutheniate and heptarutheniate of potassa on 

 the one hand, and the manganate and permanganate of potassa 

 on the other, no relation of isomorphism has been detected 

 between the salts of the acids of ruthenium and those of man- 

 ganese. The rutheniate of potassa is hydrated, while the man- 

 ganate, like the sulphate, is anhydrous. — On the monthly charts 

 of the North Atlantic currents, by M. Simart. Continuing the 

 work of Commander Brault, the author has prepared two series 

 of charts (diagrams and results) based on 60,400 observations 

 obtained from the records of the French Admiralty and various 

 other sources. The charts of results give the currents most 

 likely to be met with from month to month all the year round, 

 while the diagrams indicate the currents that may possibly be 



met, especially near the coasts, where they present the greatest 

 dangers to seafarers. — Origin of the aurora borealis, by M. Jean 

 Luvini. This phenomenon is regarded as analogous to the dis- 

 charge of electricity in thunderstorms, the only difference con- 

 sisting in their different degrees of intensity. Both are attributed 

 to the friction of particles of water and ice and occasionally of 

 other minute bodies drawn by the aerial currents into the higher 

 atmospheric regions and disseminated over the terrestrial atmo- 

 sphere some hundred miles thick. The northern lights are most 

 frequent about the pole, where the air abounds most in icy particles 

 and where the field of terrestrial magnetism is most intense. — Ob- 

 servations of the new planet Palisa (279) made at the Observatory 

 of Algiers with the o - 5om. telescope, by MM. Rambaud and Sy. 

 These observations, which include the positions of two comparison 

 stars and the apparent positions of the planet, cover the period 

 from May 18 to May 22. — Observations of the planet Borelly 

 (278) made at the Observatory of Marseilles with the o - 26m. 

 Eichens equatorial, by M. Esmiol. During these observations, 

 continued from May 13 to May 21, the planet appeared to be 

 of magnitude 11*5. — On the supernumerary arcs accompanying 

 the rainbow, by M. Boitel. The position of these arcs, as 

 determined by Airy on the principles of diffraction, and generally 

 accepted as absolute, is shown to be merely a first approxima- 

 tion, which the author hopes soon to supplement by more 

 accurate calculations. — Researches on the application of the 

 rotatory power to the study of the compounds formed by the 

 action of the neutral tungstates of soda and potassa on the 

 solutions of tartaric acid, by M. D. Gernez. From these experi- 

 ments it appears that the neutral tungstates of soda and potassa 

 behave analogously in their action on tartaric acid. — On the 

 sesquisulphide of rhodium, by M. E. Leidie. The author 

 describes the methods of preparation of this substance and of 

 the double sulphides both by the wet and dry processes. — On 

 two isomerous naphthoquinoleins, by M. Alphonse Combes. 

 The only terms hitherto known of these rare compounds are 

 those obtained by Skraup by making glycerine act on the 

 naphthylamines in the presence of sulphuric acid. The author 

 here describes two new terms of the series, as well as a means 

 by which several others may also be obtained. — On a new species 

 of Coregonus, by M. Victor Fatio. To this species, discovered 

 in the French Lake Bourget, the author has given the name of 

 Coregonus Bezola. It is a well-defined local variety. — On the 

 germination of Anemone apennitta, by M. Ed. de Janczewski. 

 This species presents in its germination a curious and most 

 remarkable anomaly, differing in this respect from all other 

 dicotyledonous plants. — On the bust of a woman carved in the 

 root of an equine tooth, by M. Ed. Piette. This specimen of 

 prehistoric art, recently discovered by the author in the cave of 

 Mas d'Azil, Ariege, presents several points of interest to the 

 anthropologist. Owing to the contracted space, the artist had 

 to suppress shoulders and arms, merely suggesting the outlines- 

 of the sides. But the pendant breasts are well executed, and 

 the profile of the face carefully delineated. The nose is large 

 and rounded, the lips thick, the chin retreating like that of the 

 Nauletle jaw, but the forehead is high and hot receding like 

 that of the Neanderthal skull. It is the third extant representa- 

 tion of a woman of the Quaternary period, the two others being 

 M. de Vibraye's "Venus" and the "Reindeer Woman," both 

 from Laugerie-Basse. 



Berlin. 



Physical Society, May 18. — Prof, du Bois-Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Dieterici gave an account of his 

 experiments on the determination of the latent heat of evapora- 

 tion of water at o° C. Regnault's experiments on the latent 

 heat of evaporation of water were made at higher temperatures, 

 and had led to the construction of a formula according to 

 which the latent heat of evaporation at 0° C. must be 607 units 

 of heat. The speaker, using an ice-calorimeter, had made 

 a direct determination of this value. A glass tube, with its 

 lower end blown out into a bulb and filled with water, was 

 immersed in the chamber of the calorimeter, the upper end of 

 the tube being connected with an air-pump, and a small column 

 of sulphuric acid being interposed between the pump and 

 the tube. As soon as the apparatus had assumed a perfectly 

 uniform temperature, a vacuum was produced by the air-pump, 

 whereupon the water in the tube evaporated, taking up from the 

 calorimeter the heat necessary for its evaporation. Values were 

 obtained from a series often experiments, which differed from each 

 other by not more than \ per cent. In order to meet the objection 

 which might be raised— namely, that the temperature at which 



