1 84 



NA TURE 



{June 21, 1888 



firm root in the minds of chemists ; and the more recent values 

 arrived at for the atomic weights of iridium, platinum, and gold 

 have tended to render this necessity even more imperative. The 

 natural sequence, according to their chemical and physical pro- 

 perties, of the metals of the platinum group is generally accepted 

 as — osmium, iridium, platinum, gold. Now the atomic weight 

 of iridium as determined in 1878 by Seubert is 192-5, that of 

 platinum as fixed by the same chemist in 1881 is 194 '3, and that 

 of gold as estimated last year by Thorpe and Laurie, and by 

 Kriiss, is 1967, while the recognized atomic weight of osmium 

 as given by Berzelius in 1828 is so high as 198 *6. Obviously, if 

 the grand conception of Newlands, Mendelejeff, and Lothar 

 Meyer is correct, the atomic value of osmium required most 

 careful revision. Such an undertaking, however, is endowed 

 with peculiar interest owing to the dangerous nature of work 

 with the osmium compounds, and many chemists who have been 

 interested in this subject have been deterred by the knowledge 

 that accidental contact with the fum es of the tetroxide, which 

 are so frequently evolved by the spontaneous decomposition of 

 many osmium compounds, might deprive them of the use of their 

 eyes for ever. Prof. Seubert has happily succeeded without acci- 

 dent in establishing the validity of our "natural classification " by 

 means of the analysis of the pure double chlorides of osmium with 

 ammonium and potassium, (NH 4 ) 2 OsCl 6 and K 2 0sCl 6 . Both 

 these salts were obtained in well-formed octahedral crystals, of 

 deep red colour while immersed in their solutions, but appearing 

 deep black with a bluish reflection when dry, and yielding bright 

 red powders on pulverization. The method of analysis consisted 

 in reducing the double chlorides in a current of hydrogen : in 

 case of the ammonium salt the spongy osmium which remained 

 after reduction was weighed, and the expelled ammonium 

 chloride and hydrochloric acid caught in absorption apparatus, 

 and the total chlorine estimated by precipitation with silver 

 nitrate. In case of the potassium salt the expelled hydrochloric 

 acid was absor bed and determined, and the metallic osmium left 

 after removal of the potassium chloride by washing was weighed. 

 The mean value yielded by all these various estimations is 191 *i, 

 thus placing osmium in its proper place before iridium, and 

 removing the last striking exception to the "law of periodicity." 



At a recent meeting of the Washington Society of Anthropo- 

 logy, Mr. H. M. Reynolds read a paper on Algonquin metal- 

 smiths. He expressed the opinion that the working of the 

 copper-mines of Lake Superior is not of such high antiquity as 

 has been supposed, and that it may have been continued until 

 comparatively modern Indian times. 



Some time ago the Smithsonian Institution issued inquiries as 

 to the existence and geographical distribution of "rude and 

 unfinished implements of the Palaeolithic type." The American 

 Naturalist says that responses have been received from thirty 

 States and Territories. The implements already noted amount 

 to between six and seven thousand, and their distribution 

 extends nearly all over the United States. Several hundreds of 

 implements — none of which seem to have been found in the 

 mounds— have been sent to the Institution. The object of the 

 Institution in undertaking this investigation was to determine 

 whether there was in America a Palaeolithic Age, and, if so, 

 whether it had any extended existence. 



The Free Public Libraries and Museum of Sheffield seem to 

 be in a most flourishing condition. According to the last Report, 

 which has just been sent to us, there has been a steady increase 

 in the number of books issued. The number issued during the 

 year ending August 31, 1887, was 410,395. The number issued 

 during the previous year was 399,653, so that there was an 

 increase of 10,742. 



Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. have sent us a 

 series of their test cards in mechanics, packed in neat little card- 



board cases. The questions on the many and various branches 

 of the subject are arranged in three stages. Each stage consists 

 of about thirty cards with six questions on each, and is supple- 

 mented by cards containing the answers to all the numerical 

 questions. The questions are excellently chosen, and are 

 arranged in an intelligible and progressive order. 



A careful and very valuable bibliography of the works of Sii 

 Isaac Newton, with a list of books illustrating his life and works, 

 by G. J. Gray, has just been issued by Messrs. Macmillan and 

 BOwes, Cambridge. The bibliography is divided into ten 

 sections : (1) collected editions of works ; (2) the " Principia" ; 

 (3/ " Optics " ; (4) " Fluxions " ; (5) " Arithmetica Universalis " ; 

 (6) minor works ; (7) theological and miscellaneous works ; 

 (8) works edited by Newton ; (9) memoirs, &c. ; (10) index. 



A new edition of the late Prof. Humpidge's translation of 

 Dr. Hermann Kolbe's " Short Text-book of Inorganic Chemis- 

 try " (Longmans) has been issued. The greater part of this 

 edition was prepared by Dr. Humpidge last summer. Being 

 unable, owing to failing health, to complete the task of revision, 

 he asked Prof. D. E. Jones, of the University College, Aberyst- 

 with, to undertake it, and to see the book through the 

 press. 



A Report, with admirable illustrative maps, on the geology 

 and natural resources of part of Northern Alberta, and the 

 western parts of the districts of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan, 

 by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, Field Geologist of the Geological Survey 

 of Canada, has just beenj published at Montreal. The Report 

 is, to a certain degree, preliminary, but the author hopes 

 that, for the present at all events, it may suffice as a guide 

 to the extent, position, and character of the mineral wealth of 

 the district. 



An interesting paper by Mr. Tyrrell, giving an account of the 

 journeys of David Thompson in North-Western America, has 

 been issued at Toronto. It was read lately before the Canadian 

 Institute, and is published in advance of the Proceedings by 

 permission of the Council. The materials for this narrative 

 are contained in Mr. Thompson's field note-books and journals, 

 which are preserved in the office of the Crown Land Depart- 

 ment of Ontario. Mr. Thompson died in 1857 at the age of 

 eighty-seven. 



Mr. Leland will shortly send to the printer his~work on 

 "Americanisms," which will follow on the "Dictionary of 

 Slang, Jargon, and Cant " now in the press. It will contain much 

 folk-lore in the form of proverbs, songs, and popular phrases, 

 and also the etymology and history of the words, as far as they 

 could be traced. The work will include an account of American 

 dialects, such as Pennsylvanian Dutch, Chinook, Creole, and 

 Gumbo. A number of American scholars will deal with special 

 subjects. 



We have received a copy of the Toyo Gakugei Zasshi (the 

 Eastern Science Journal), printed in Japanese characters. This 

 magazine is published monthly, and is edited by a committee, 

 most of whose members are Professors of the Imperial Uni- 

 versity at Tokio. Nearly 3000 copies of each number are 

 sold. 



The first part of the second volume of the Journal of the 

 College of Science, Imperial University, Japan, has been sent 

 to us. The contents include, besides a mathematical paper, in 

 German, by Dr. P. R. Fujisawa, the following articles in Eng- 

 lish : on the composition of bird-lime, by Dr. E. Drivers, 

 F.R.S., and Michitada Kawakita ; on anorthite from Miya- 

 kejima, by Yasushi Kikuchi ; the source of Bothriocephalus 

 latus in Japan, by Dr. Isao Ijima ; and earthquake-measure- 

 ments of recent years, especially relating to vertical motion, by 

 S. Sekiya. 



