358 



NATURE 



[Feb. 9, 



was read by Mr. George C. Thomson on " Smolie," and in the 

 discussions which followed, Mr. W. R. W. Smith, Chairman of 

 the Health Committee of the Glasgow Corporation, urged upon 

 the members present the desirability of doing all in their power 

 to secure that at the forthcoming International Exhibition in 

 Glasgow each of the boilers be supplied with a separate 

 chimney, so that a series of exhaustive trials may be made with 

 mechanical stokers, &c., and other means for the purpose of 

 showing what might be done in the way of smoke prevention. 



With reference to the subject of testing, the Committee are 

 of opinion that arrangements should be made as soon as 

 possible for obtaining the use of three testing-rooms for testing 

 stoves, gi-ates, and ranges, the rooms being conveniently 

 accessible for such articles, and having gas connections under 

 command. The tests made in these rooms, under the same 

 conditions of chimney and cubic capacity, would then become 

 of greater comparative value than tests made in independent 

 rooms. 



Arrangements will be made as soon as practicable for pro- 

 curing such accommodation for testing, and also for providing 

 the necessary instruments used for testing ; and as the system 

 develops, attention will be given to the establishment of a 

 chemical laboratory, the analysis of gases, and tesling-rojms for 

 testing-apparatus incidental to the work of the Institution. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, December 1887. — On the de- 

 struction of the passivity of iron in nitric acid by magnetization, 

 by Edward L. Nichols and W. S. Franklin. From the experi- 

 ments described in this paper, which was originally read before 

 the Kansas Academy of Science, November 1885, it appears 

 that the action of the magnet tends to lower the temperature of 

 transition to the active state, and that the intensity of the mag- 

 netic field necessary to convert passive into active iron at a given 

 temperature increases rapidly with the concentration of the 

 acid. An account is promised of fui-ther researches offering a 

 satisfactory explanation of the manner in which the chemical 

 behaviour of iron is modified, and its passivity destroyed in the 

 magnetic field. — On a method of making the wave-length of 

 sodium light the actual and practical standard of length, by 

 Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley. The preliminary 

 experiments recently carried out according to the method here 

 proposed seem to confirm the anticipation that it would furnish 

 results more accurate than any of those hitherto suggested. The 

 apparatus for observing the intei-ference phenomena is the same 

 as that used in the experiments on the relative motion of the 

 earth and the luminiferous ether. — The work of the International 

 Congress of Geologists, by G. K. Gilbert. This is a reprint of 

 an address delivered before the Section of Geology and Geo- 

 graphy of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at the New York meeting, August 10, 1887. It deals 

 largely with a revised system of geological terminology, the 

 substance of which has already been published. The question 

 of geological coloured maps is also considered, and practical 

 suggestions made for their greater efficiency and economy. — On 

 the existence of certain elements together with the discovery of 

 platinum in the sun : contributions from the physical laboratory 

 of Harvard University, by C. C. Hutchins and E. L. Holden. 

 These investigations, carried on with Prof. Rowland's magnificent 

 diftVaction grating, deal with cadmium, lead, tin, silver, potas- 

 sium, and several other elements, including platinum, the 

 presence of which in the solar atmosphere is here for the first 

 time determined. Between 4250 and 4950 wei'e found sixty- 

 four lines of platinum, sixteen of which agree with the solar 

 lines. — The flora of the coast islands of California in relation 

 to recent changes of physical geography, by Joseph Le Conte. 

 A careful study of these insular groups, at present from 20 to 30 

 miles distant from the coast, shows that they at one time formed 

 part of the mainland, from which they were undoubtedly 

 separated during the Quaternary period. That they still 

 formed part of the continent during later Pliocene times is 

 shown by the remains of the mammoth found on Santa Rosa, 

 one of the largest and furthest off of the whole group. — 

 A new instrument for the measurement of radiation, by C. C. 

 Hutchins. The instrument here described and illustrated 

 presents great advantages over the thermopile as an accurate 

 measurer of radiations. It is much more sensitive and requires 



no longer time to return to zero than for the galvanomsler 

 needle to come to rest. A lighted match at 6 feet drives the 

 needle round to its stop. — Mineralogical notes, by George F. 

 Kunz. Descriptions with analyses are given of a rhodochrosite 

 from Colorado, of crystals of hollow quartz from Arizona, of 

 hydrophane from Colorado, and of a remarkable silver nugget 

 weighing 606 ounces from the Greenwood mines of Michoacan, 

 Mexico. 



January. — The speed of propagation of the Charleston 

 earthquake, by Prof. Simon Newcomb and Captain C. E. 

 Dutton. A careful comparative study of the reports from all 

 parts of the disturbed area shows a general average speed of 

 3'2I4±0'072 miles, or 5171^116 metres per second. — 

 History of the changes in the Mount Loa crater-;, Hawaii ; 

 Part I, Kilauea, by James D. Dana. The first paper embraces 

 the whole period from 1823 to 1886, during «hich there appear 

 to have been at least eight discharges from Kilauea. The 

 general dynamical conclusions are that the cycle of movement 

 is simply (i) a rising in level of the liquid lavas, and of the 

 bottom of the crater ; (2) a discharge of the accumulated lavas 

 down to some level in the conduit determined by the outbreak ; 

 (3) a down-plunge of more or less of the floor of the region 

 undermined by the discharge. It is further shown that Kilauea 

 is a true basalt volcano in its normal state, the rock material 

 being dolerite or basalt, and the heat sufficing for the perfect 

 mobility of the lavas. — The analysis and composition of tourma- 

 line, by R. B. Riggs. The methods of analysis are described, 

 with results for various specimens from different parts of North 

 America and Brazil. The general inference is that there are 

 three types, lithia, iron, and magnesia tourmaline, with an in- 

 definite number of intermediate varieties, iron appearing to be 

 the connecting link between the whole series. The special 

 formulas of the three distinct types are : — 



(i) Lithia : i2Si02, 3B2O0, 4H2O, SAl/).^, 2(NaLi)20. 



(2) Iron: i2Si02, 3B2O3, 4H2O, 7AI2O3, 4FeO, Na20. 



(3) Magnesia: i2Si02, 3B2O3, 4H2O, 5AI2O3, .^MgO, fNaiO. 



— On the different types of the Devonian system in North America, 

 by Henry S. Williams. It is shown that in North America the 

 Devonian system offers at least four distinct types in four corre- 

 sponding areas, blending somewhat at their borders, but in their 

 central parts presenting marked peculiarities. The four areas 

 are: (i) Eastern Border, mainly in Northern New England; 

 (2) Eastern Continental, including New York, thence southwards 

 to West Virginia and north-westwards to Canada West and 

 Michigan; (3) Interior Continental, chiefly Iowa and Missouri, 

 extending northwards probably to the Mackenzie basin ; {4) 

 Western Continental, in Nevada and conterminous States. — 

 On the law of double refraction in Iceland spar, by Charles S. 

 Hastings. The general inference from these researches is that 

 Huyghens' law of double refraction in uniaxial crystals is 

 probably true to less than i part in 500,000, and consequently 

 that there is no known method by which any error in it can be 

 detected by observation alone. — In the Appendix, Mr. O. C. 

 Marsh describes a new genus of Sauropoda and other new 

 Dinosaurs from the Potomac formation ; also a new fossil 

 Sirenian from California. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, January 19. — "Notes on the Spectrum of 

 the Aurora." By J. Norman Lockyer, F.R. S. 



I exhibited to the Society on November 17, 1887, a tabular 

 statement showing the bright lines seen in the spectra of various 

 celestial bodies, and I also gave those recorded in the spectrum 

 of the aurora, showing many remarkable coincidences. 



I now find that the connection is closest between the auroral 

 spectrum and that of stars III. a, and, in anticipation of a sub- 

 sequent communication of details, I send on the accompanying 

 table, showing the origin of Duner's bands, so far as I have at 

 present made them out, and their connection with the spectrum 

 in question. 



The individual observations which I have used in the table are 

 those collected by Mr. Capron and Mr. Backhouse (Nature, 

 vol. vii. pp. 182 and 463). 



