April 1 8, 1 889J 



NATURE 



;89 



places of some of the principal of these, which have been 

 ascertained during the last fifteen years : — 



No. R.A. Decl. No. R..^. Decl. 



The centre of emanation of the Lyrids is at 270° + 

 32i°, which lies between the constellations of Hercules 

 and Lyra. It will be very interesting to secure addi- 

 tional observations this year as to the strength and 

 character of this stream, and of the many lesser con- 

 temporary displays which manifest themselves at this 

 period. Fortunately the weather is often propitious in 

 the vernal season, and enables researches of this nature 

 to be successfully prosecuted. 



W. F. Denning. 



NOTES. 

 Our readers may remember that, last autumn, apropos of a 

 great patent case of colossal dimensions which was then before 

 the Courts, we published an article urging that, in the interests 

 of speedy justice, no less than for the dignity of science and its 

 professors, it was most desirable that advantage should be taken 

 of the provisions which already exist in our law, and especially 

 in the Judicature Act of 1873 and its amending statutes, and in 

 the rules of the Supreme Court framed under them, for the em- 

 ployment of scientific assessors or experts to aid the judge in 

 ■strictly scientific cases. It may be remembered that, even in 

 the very case on which we then commented, the tardy employ- 

 ment of Prof. Stokes to aid Mr. Justice Kay was productive of 

 most satisfactory results. We are glad, therefore, to notice that, 

 in a case of some difficulty which came before Lord Coleridge 

 last week, the same eminent man was again called in, and again 

 with the result of relieving the Court from the task of hearing a 

 mass of expert evidence with which no judge and jury are com- 

 i:>etent to deal satisfactorily. The whole question at issue was 

 whether a certain anemometer, of which one of the parties was 

 patentee and the other the purchaser, came up to the description 

 of its qualities given by the vendor. A considerable array of 

 counsel appeared on both sides, and it was arranged that the 

 services of Prof. Stokes should be called in to the aid of the 

 Court. Seven of the anemometers were submitted to him, and, 

 after an investigation by him, his report was read, and upon it 

 judgment was given. The result is, that the report of the case 

 occupies less than a third of a column of the Times. Without 

 the services of Prof. Stokes, or some similar sworn expert, we 

 should have had half-a-dozen or more expert witnesses on 

 one side contradicted by half-a-dozen expert witnesses on 

 the other side ; a case which would have lasted three or 

 fjur days before a wearied judge, conscientiously striving to 

 imderstand purely technical details, and a perplexed and con- 

 f^used jury ; great loss to both parties ; an unsatisfactory result ; 

 and, as we think, no little scandal to science and scientific men. 

 All this has been prevented by the very simple expedient of 

 calling in an eminent man of science to make a sworn report on 

 ihe purely technical details, and leaving the rest to the ordinary 

 administration of our Courts. Herein, we are persuaded, lie 

 the proper functions of scientific men in the administration of 

 public justice. 



Two years ago the Dutch Congress of Science and Medicine was 

 founded, and it was decided that it should meet every two years. 

 The first meeting was held at Amsterdam in September 1887. 

 The second meeting will take place at Leyden from the 25th to the 

 27ih of April. The President of the Congress is Prof. Suringar 

 (Leyden), who will deliver the opening address. A large attend- 

 ance is expected. 



The meetings of the Institution of Naval Architects, last week, 

 were in every way most .successful, and the Institution is to be 

 congratulated on the importance .and the wide range of the sub- 

 jects discussed. At the first meeting, on Wednesday, April 11, 

 a remarkable paper on the designs for the new first-class battle- 

 ships was read by Mr. W. H. White, the Director of Naval 

 Construction. The principal object of this paper was to describe 

 the main features of the approved designs for these battle-ships, 

 and to contrast their protection, armament, speed, and coal- 

 endurance with the corresponding features in other battle-ships 

 designed during the last twenty years. Incidentally, Mr. White 

 sought to show that there are good reasons why these ships sur- 

 pass in size any previously constructed vessels of the Royal Navy. 

 The reading of the paper was followed by a discussion, in which 

 Sir E. J. Reed, Lord Charles Beresford, and others took part- 

 On Thursday, Sir N. Barnaby, late Director of Naval Construe 

 tion, read a paper on the protection of buoyancy and stability 

 in ships. The next paper was by Captain Penrose Fitzgerald, 

 on the protection of merchant steamers in time of war. The 

 cruiser, Piemonte, built for the Italian Government, at Elswick, 

 was described by Mr. P. Watts, of Elswick, her designer ; and 

 Mr. J. I. Thorneycroft read a paper on water-tube boilers for 

 war-ships. On Thursday evening, technical papers were read 

 by Mr. John Scott, Mr. J. Macfarlane Gray, and Mr. V. B. 

 Lewes. On Friday, the first paper read was by Mr. Beauchamp 

 Tower, describing an apparatus for providing a steady platform 

 for quick-firing or machine-guns, or a telescope, or a search- 

 light, on board ships at sea. The second paper was by Prof. 

 V. B. Lewes, on the corrosion and fouling of steel and iron 

 ships. Two papers by Mr. R, E. Froude followed, one on the 

 part played in the operations of propulsion by differences in fluid 

 pressure, and the other on Prof. Greenhill's theory of the screw 

 propeller. Technical papers were likewise read by Mr. W. 

 Rundell and Mr. A. F. Hill. 



The general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will \)^ held on Wednesday evening. May i, Thurs- 

 day evening. May 2, and Friday afternoon, May 3, at 25 Great 

 George Street, Wastminster, by permission of the Council of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers. The chair will be taken by 

 the President, Mr. Charles Cochrane, at half- past f.even p.m., 

 on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and at half-past two 

 p.m. on Friday afternoon. He will deliver his inaugural 

 address on Wednesday evening. The following papers will be 

 read and discussed as far as time permits: — "Research Com- 

 mittee on Marine-Engine Trials : Report upon Trials of the 

 s.s. Meteor,''' by Prof. Alexander B. W. Kennedy, F.R.S., 

 Chairman ; and " Description of an Apparatus for Drying in 

 Vacuum," by Mr. Emil Passburg, of Breslau (Friday afternoon). 

 The anniversary dinner will take place on Friday evening. 

 May 3. 



The public funeral of M. Chevreul, which took place in 

 Paris, on Saturday last, was one of great splendour. This was 

 due in part, no doubt, to the interest excited by M. Clievreul's 

 extraordinary age ; but it must also be taken as a striking indi- 

 cation of the respect felt in France for men who achieve emi- 

 nence in science. In front of the house in which M. Chevreul 

 died, beside the Jardin des Plantes, a tent was fitted up as a 

 chapel ; and here the body was placed in state. The procession 

 to the Cathedral of Notre Dame was headed by a detachment 

 of police, who were followed by a platoon of cuirassiers, the 

 103rd Infantry Regiment, with flags, and a band of ushers, 

 carrying wreaths iiresented by the Stearine-makers of France, 

 the Stearine-makers of Lyons, the Friendly Society of Natives 

 of Anjou, living in Paris, and a large number of other public 

 and private bodies. Last of all came a wreath sent by the 

 Gobelin Works, surrounded by a woollen fringe dyed by M. 

 Chevreul himself. The pall-bearers were MM. Fallieres, 



