March 8, 1888] 



NATURE 



443 



the'thiiiking of what is probable. He also offered illustrations 

 df the power of science to minister to the needs of ordinary 

 life, and to satisfy man's " insatiable appetite for the knowledge 

 of wonders." Such addresses as this, delivered by acknow- 

 ledged masters in their own departments of study, do excellent 

 service to science by bringing prominently before the public the 

 solid advantages which are to be gained by scientific training. 

 They are also made the occasion of some good writing in the 

 daily newspapers. The Daily Ncivs, for example, had an ex- 

 cellent article on Sir James Paget's address, enforcing the prin- 

 ciple that "the study of science goes further than other studies 

 fo teach us the simple love of truth for truth's sake." 



'V^v. Japan Weekly Mail %\.vA.t% in connection with the recent 

 publication of the " Life and Letters of Charles Darwin " that 

 the Beagle, in which Darwin made his memorable voyage, is now 

 used as a Japanese training-ship. It is stationed at Yokosuka, 

 a naval station in the Bay of Yedo, not far from Yokohama. 



The Directors of the Crystal Palace have arranged that the 

 Photographic Exhibition shall remain open until March 17, a 

 fortnight later than was at first intended. The public interest 

 in this Exhibition is said to have exceeded the most sanguine 

 expectations. 



The Council has reported to the Senate of the University of 

 Cambridge against the admission of women to degrees. 



At the University of Zurich there are at present forty-five 

 female students, twenty-nine of whom study medicine, fourteen 

 philosophy, and two political economy. In 1887 there were 

 108 female medical students in Paris. 



A NEW and most valuable method of determininT; the mole- 

 cular weights of non -volatile as well as volatile substances has 

 just been brought into prominence by Prof. Victor Meyer 

 {Berichtc, 18S8, No. 3). The method itself was discovered by 

 M. Raoult, and finally perfected by him in r886, but up to the 

 present has been but little utilized by chemists. It will be re- 

 membered that Prof. Meyer has recently discovered two isomeric 

 series of derivatives of benzil. differing only in the position of 

 the various groups in space. If each couple of isomers possess 

 the same molecular weight, a certain modification of the new 

 Van't Hoff-Wislicenus theory as to the position of atoms in space is 

 rendered necessary ; but if the two are polymers, one having a 

 molecular weight n times that of the other, then the theory in 

 its present form will still hold. Hence it was imperative to 

 determine without dpubt the molecular weight of some two typical 

 isomers. But the compounds in question are not volatile, so 

 that vapour density determinations were out of the question. In 

 this difficulty Prof. Meyer has tested the discovery of M. Raoult 

 upon a number of compounds of known molecular weights, and 

 found it perfectly reliable and easy of application. The method 

 depends upon the lowering of the solidifying point of a solvent, 

 such as water, benzene, or glacial acetic acid, by the introduc- 

 tion of a given weight of the substance whose molecular weight 

 is to be determined. The amount by which the solidifying point 

 is lowered is connected with the molecular weight M by the 



p 

 following extremely simple formula : M = T x — ; where C 



represents the amount by which the point of congelation is 

 lowered, P the weight of anhydrous substance dissolved in 

 100 grammes of the solvent, and T a constant, for the same 

 solvent readily determined from volatile substances whose mole- 

 cular weights are well known. On applying this law to the case of 

 two isomeric benzil derivatives the molecular weights were found, 

 as expected, to be identical, and not multiples ; hence Prof. 

 Meyer is perfectly justified in introducing the necessary modi- 

 fication in the "position in space" theory. Now that this 

 generalization of Raoult is placed upjn a secure basis, it takes its 



well-merited rank along with thatof Dulong and Petit as a most 

 valuable means of checking molecular weights, especially in 

 determining which of two or more possible values expresses 

 the truth. 



A Report on Indian fibres and fibrous substances exhibited 

 at the Colonial Exhibition, 1886, has been published by 

 authority of the Secretary of State for India. It contains the 

 results of a laboratory investigation conducted by C. F, Cross, 



E. J. Bevan, and C. M. King, in association with E. Joynson ; 

 and Dr. George Watt contributes notes of methods of treatment 

 and uses prevalent in India. In issuing the volume, the authors 

 say that perhaps the utmost they can hope to do is to indicate 

 the scope of a more adequate treatment of the subject. Th^y 

 are convinced that when the vegetable fibres come to be recog- 

 nized as constituting a special field for research, and worthy the 

 attention of those who have command of the necessary resources, 

 there will be a considerable gain to science in the results of the 

 systematic and sustained investigations which will follow. 



Messrs. Longmans and Co. are preparing for publication 

 "The Testing of Materials of Construction," embracing the 

 description of testing machinery and apparatus auxiliary to 

 mechanical testing, and an account of the most important 

 researches on the strength of materials, by William Cawthome 

 Unwin, F.R.S.; " A Text-book of Elementary Biology," by 

 R. J. Harvey Gibson, Lecturer on Botany in University College, 

 Liverpool; "Dissolution and Evolution and the Science of 

 Medicine," by C. Pitfield Mitchell ; and " The Fundamental 

 Principles of Chemistry practically taught, by a New Method," 

 by Robert Galloway, Honorary Member of the Chemical 

 Society of the Lehigh University, U.S. 



Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co. are 

 issuing, in parts, what promises to be a most useful publication — 

 " The Cyclopaedia of Education." 



A FIFTH edition of Munro and Jamieson's "Pocket-book of 

 Electrical Rules and Tables " has been issued. The first part of 

 this excellent little volume deals with the fundamental principles 

 and measurements of the science ; the second part with their 

 applications, including telegraphy, telephony, electric lighting, 

 and the transmission of power by means of electricity. In the 

 new edition many important additions have been made. 



We have received Part I. of "The Characeas of America," 

 by Dr. T. F. Allen. The author has postponed the publication 

 of the work from time to time in order to accumulate material 

 for a more complete account of the species growing in America. 

 The demand in America for information concerning these plants 

 is, however, so pressing that Dr. Allen has thought it best to 

 issue the first part, which contains introduction, morphology, and 

 classification. The second part will appear in a year or two, 

 and will give descriptions of the species now known to inhabit 

 American waters. The work is illustrated. 



The new number of the Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society (July to December, 1887), contains, among 

 other important papers, a valuable " Contribution to the History 

 of the Vertebrata of the Trias of North America," by E. D. 

 Cope. There are also interesting papers on the question, "Were 

 the Toltecs an Historic Nationality ? ", and on the ethnology of 

 Briti-h Columbia, the former by D. G. Brinton, the latter by 



F. Boas. 



MM. Beauregard and Galippe, of Paris, have issued a 

 second edition of their practical guide to micrographical work. 

 It has been much enlarged. 



M. Reinwald, of Paris, has just brought out the first volume 

 of MM. C. Vogt and Yung's "Anatomic compare pratique." 



