March 15, 1888] 



NA TURE 



473 



At the meeting of the French Meteorological Society, on 

 February 7, it was announced that M. Janssen had offered five 

 prizes, consisting of silver medals, for the best works relative 

 to the application of photography to meteorology, and M. 

 Teisserenc de Bort offered a similar prize for the best measure- 

 ments of the height of clouds. M. Moureaux (Secretary) 

 presented a paper on the periodicity of disturbances of declina- 

 tion and hoiizontal force at Parc-Saint-Maur Observatory for 

 the years 1883-87, showing, by means of curves, that the 

 monthly values of both those elements exhibited two maxima at 

 the equinoxes, and two minima at the solstices ; and that, while 

 the monthly variation of the number of disturbances appeared 

 to follow a general law, the diurnal variation seems to be subject 

 to complex laws. M. H. Lasne presented a note on the gyra- 

 tory movements of the atmosphere, in connection with the 

 experiments of MM. Weyher and CoUadon on the motions of 

 fluids. M. Maillot exhibited a kite, arranged to maintain a 

 constant height for some time, and designed for the purpose of 

 facilitating the registrationcf variations of temperature at certain 

 altitudes. 



A TETRA.SULPHIDE of benzene has been prepared in the pure 

 state by Dr. Otto, of Brunswick {Jotirn. fiir. prakt. Cheniie, 1888, 

 Nos. 3 and 4). When a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is 

 led through a warm dilute solution of benzene-sulphinic acid, 

 CgHgSOa, in alcohol, the sulphinic acid is reduced to phenyl- 

 disulphide, (CBHg).2S2, a substance already well known. The 

 behaviour, however, is entirely different when a very strong 

 solution is employed : the liquid becomes rapidly yellow, and 

 eventually monoclinic crystals of sulphur and a yellow oil 

 separate. This yellow oil was found to consist of phenyl-tetra- 

 sulphide, (CeH5)jS4, the analyses indicating an exceptionally 

 pure product, after careful separation from the free sulphur by 

 dissolving in ether and subsequent evaporation. This tetrasul- 

 phide at the ordinary temperature is a very viscid, heavy, highly 

 refracting oil, possessing an unpleasant odour reminding one of 

 mercaptan. It is a comparatively stable compound, remaining 

 unattacked on treatment with sodium sulphite, even when 

 warmed for a long time ; but on warming with colourless 

 ammonium sulphide it is reduced to disulphide, polysulphide 

 of ammonium being formed. According to Klason, phenyl- 

 tetrasulphide is also the product of the action of dichloride of 

 sulphur, S2CI.2, upon thio-phenol, CgHg . SH, the mercaptan of 

 the benzene series, and Otto shows that this is really the case, 

 the reaction going best when the two substances are gradually 

 mixed in carbon bisulphide solution. No extraneous heat is 

 necessary, the operation being itself attended by a considerable 

 evolution of heat. On distilling off the bisulphide of carbon, the 

 resulting oil is found to be identical with the phenyl-tetrasulphide 

 prepared in the above manner. , 



The thirty-ninth Bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey con- 

 sists of a paper embodying the results of the investigations of 

 Mr. Warren Upham upon the upper beaches and deltas of the 

 extinct Lake Agassiz, which, in Glacial times, occupied the 

 basin of the Red River of the North. Mr. T. C. Chamberlain, 

 geologist in charge of the Glacial Division, in transmitting Mr. 

 Upham's paper to the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, 

 for publication, wrote : — "This is but an initial contribution, 

 embracing only so much of the data gathered as from their 

 degree of completeness and interest warrant present publication 

 as a record of results. The investigation is still in progress, and 

 the general discussion of data and the eduction of conclusions 

 are reserved until its completion. Meanwhile the great mass 

 of carefully-determined facts here recorded will, besides their 

 inherent independent value, be of important and immediate 

 service to the 'students of other extinct and shrunken Glacial 

 lakes. " 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an interest- 

 ing descriptive catalogue of manufactures from American woods, 

 as shown in the exhibit of the Department at the Industrial and 

 Cotton Exposition at New Orleans. The compiler is Mr. C. 

 R. Dodge. He has brought together many interesting facts 

 about the uses of woods in architecture and building, in trans- 

 portation, in implements of industry, in articles relating to trade, 

 in articles for man's physical comfort or luxury, and in articles 

 for education, culture, or recreation. There is also a paragraph 

 on "miscellaneous uses," under which are such headings as 

 "Gun-stocks," "Artificial Limbs," "Crutches," and "Um- 

 brella-sticks and Canes." 



Messrs. Gurney and Jackson will issue in April the first 

 part of •' An Illustrated Manual of British Birds," by Mr. 

 Howard Saunders. The work will be completed in about 

 twenty monthly parts. 



We have received the eighteenth Annual Report of the 

 Wellington College Nat ural Science Society. It contains a 

 record of much good work done during the past year. The 

 Report includes abstracts of lectures delivered before the Society, 

 observations made of the plants, insects, and birds contained in 

 the Royal Meteorological Society's lists, and a meteorological 

 report for every day of 1887. 



In the twelfth Annual Report of the President of the Johns 

 Hopkins University, Baltimore, Dr. Oilman says that during the 

 last year the number of teachers in connection with the institu- 

 tion was slightly enlarged, and the number of students con- 

 siderably increased. A new department of instruction — pathology 

 — was initiated ; a physical laboratory, the largest and costliest 

 building yet erected for the University, was completed and 

 occupied ; a building was set apart for the petrographical 

 laboratory ; and an astronomical observatory, for the instruction 

 of students, was equipped. The cost of the physical laboratory, 

 including the land, furniture, gas-fitting, steam-heating, and 

 astronomical dome (but not including large amounts paid 

 previously for instruments and apparatus, and not including the 

 dynamos, nor the telescope), stands, in the books of the trea- 

 surer, 1 74, 765 '86 dollars. This building will be used by 

 classes studying mathematics, astronomy, and physics. 



The Calendar, for the year 1888, of the Royal University of 

 Ireland has just been issued. The Drapers' Company have 

 offered an exhibition of the average annual value of ^^35 for 

 three years, to be awarded, on the result of the matriculation 

 examination of this University, to the girl who, complying 

 with certain conditions stated in the Calendar, shall be awarded 

 either first or second class honours in at least two subjects, 

 and who shall obtain the highest aggregate of marks at the 

 examination to be held on July 4 next. 



We have received the Calendar, for 1887-88, of the Imperial 

 University of Japan. An address by President Watanabe, on 

 the occasion of the graduation ceremony, July 9, 1887, is 

 printed as an appendix. If we may judge from the tone of this 

 address, the University is in a prosperous condition, and doing 

 justice, in its courses of instruction, to science no less than to 

 literature and law. 



On February 12, Mr. Jeremiah Curtin read, before the An- 

 thropological Society of Washington, a paper of some interest 

 on the folk-lore of Ireland. Last year Mr, Curtin went to 

 Ireland for the express purpose of finding out how far the old 

 "myths and tales" were still alive in the minds of the people. 

 He visited some secluded parts of the western coast, and "took 

 down personally a large body of myths and stories, some very 

 long, others not so long." "This collection of materials," he 

 says, "is sufficient to fill a couple of i2mo volumes, and will 



