April 1 8, 1889] 



NA rURB 



59: 



ordinary pressure, methyl diphenyl tricyanide, which solidified 

 in the receiver to a white mass of crystals. By recrystallization 

 from alcohol, it was obtained in long needles About 50 

 •grammes were obtained for every 100 grammes of acetyl chloride 

 ;-ed. The crystals melted at 110°. When hydrochloric acid 

 ^ai was passed through a solution of the needles in benzene, 

 crystals of the hydrochloride separated. Upon similarly treating 

 a warm alcoholic solution, and adding a warm solution of platinum 

 chloride in alcohol, ruby -red crystals of the platinochloride were 

 obtained on cooling, analyses of which confirmed the above 

 formula, which had been independently established empirically 

 by analyses of the base itself. A vapour-density at 444° also 

 pointed to the corresponding molecular weight. The proof of 

 its constitution was afforded by the products of saponification, 

 which were found to be simply acetic and benzoic acids and 

 ammonia. When propionyl chloride was substituted for acetyl 

 chloride, the corresponding ethyl compound was obtained, and 

 likewise the propyl compound by use of normal butyryl chloride. 



Severe oscillations of the ground were noticed at Athens 

 during the evening of April 3. 



In the Meteorol^gische Zeitschrift for March, Dr. J. Ilann 



inimarizes the results of the meteorological observations made 



(luring the French International Polar Expedition to Cape Morn 



in 1882-83. These observations are specially interesting, both on 



ccount of the locality and of their fulness, as they embrace 

 veral subjects not generally included in the other expeditions. 



i'he principal features of the climate are a relatively mild tem- 

 jicrature, a high degree of humidity, precipitation in the form of 

 rain, snow, and hail at all seasons, an almost continually cloudy 

 sky, and sudden and very violent storms, especially in summer- 

 time. Storms occur in summer every four or five days, and de- 

 crease in number and intensity as winter advances. Nine times 

 out often they approach from between north-west and south-south- 

 west. Storms from the north-east are very rare. Thunderstorms 

 rarely occur ; distant thunder was only heard five times during 

 summer, and lightning was seen only twice. No observations 

 were made at Orange Bay during the month of September, but 

 Dr. Hann has interpolated values from observations taken at 

 Ushuaia, about a degree further northward. 



The New England Meteorological Society, following the 

 custom of the Royal Meteorological Society of London, held 

 an Exhibition of Instruments at Boston, in January last. Among 

 tlie more interesting articles exhibited we may me tion : (i) A 

 registering actinometer, by Richard Brothers, of Paris, consist- 

 ing of a bright and black globe, each containing a thermometer 

 \shich registers on a drum. (2) A Watkin aneroid for mountain 

 -e, in which the hand travels three times round the dial in 

 s^istering from 23 to 31 inches, so that the open scale is not 

 icrificed to the size of the instrument. (3) A portable anemo- 

 cter, as designed by Mr. F. Galton for the Meteorological 

 ' ffhce. In it, the Robinson cups are geared to a dial, but can 

 be disconnected by inverting a sand-glass after a run of two 

 minutes, and the wind's velocity in miles per hour can be read 

 off at leisure. (4) A form of the Jordan sunshine-recorder, 

 modified by Prof. Pickering. It consists of two half-cylinders, 

 each with its axis parallel to the earth's axis. The sun shines 

 through holes, the latter being shifted slightly each day, so that 

 one sheet of sensitized paper lasts a week. (5) The Chief 

 Signal Office exhibited a very delicate anemometer, with 

 conical cups made of aluminium, used to determine the con- 

 stants of the anemometers of the service. Among the curio- 

 sities of the Exhibition were a bottle and a saucer fused together 

 by lightning, and a piece of window-glass which had been 

 round translucent by the sand-bearing winds of Cape Cod. 



Mk. C. Carus- Wilson writes to us that he has devised a 

 simple and effective dry method by which the denser minerals — 



zircon, mtile, tourmaline, &c. — may be separated from sand. A 

 piece of cardboard about 2 feet long is bent in the form of a 

 shoot or trough (it rr.ust not be allowed to break), and held in 

 this form by elastic bands at either end ; this must then be held, 

 or fixed, at an angle sufficiently inclined to allow the sand to 

 travel slowly down the shoot on being gently tapped. .\ small 

 quantity of the sand to be treated is now placed at the Rsad of 

 the trough, which is then tapped with the finger. When the 

 trough is tapped, the sand travels slowly down, and in doing si, 

 the denser grains lag behind, forming a dark ma-^s in the rear of 

 the stream ; this dark mass increases as the sand flows on, and 

 must be collected and placed in a receptacle just the moment 

 before the last tap would cause it to fall off the trough. When a 

 sufficient quantity of this denser sand has been thus collected, it 

 should be placed in the lid of a cardboard box (about 12 inches 

 by 6), and gently shaken to and fro at a slightly inclined angle, 

 the mass being at the same lime gently blown upon with the 

 breath. The finer quanz grains will thus be blown away, and 

 hardly any but the denser grains will remain. 



At a recent meeting of the Northern Antiquarian Society of 

 Copenhagen, Dr. L. Zinck drew attention to the remarkable 

 graves from the Stone Age found in the northern part of 

 Seeland. In one grave 52 bodies were found, and upwards of 175 

 ornaments. From the number of graves in one locality he 

 came to the conclusion that the occupants had dwelt there. 

 Certain bone implements showed that they had reared sheep, 

 whilst their c3oking-j»ots were exactly like those now in use by 

 the peasants, called " Jutland" pots. 



During last year the archaeological researches that have been 

 carried out in Norway were extended as far north as 70° 15' 

 lat. N. The. results appear to show that the islands and the 

 coast were well populated 4n prehistoric times, but thit the 

 cultivation of the soil did not begin until a late date. 

 Numerous burial-places were found, and among the weapons 

 and implements discovered were schist arrow-heads, knives 

 of three kinds, and chisels. No stone axes like those found 

 in the south were discovered. From the fact that no 

 bronze objects have ever been found in the north of Nor- 

 way, it is concluded that the inhabitants of the Stone Age, 

 on coming in contact with those of the early Iron Age, adopted 

 the use of iron, and never learnt the use of bronze. It is 

 worthy of note that all the implements from the Stone .\ge are 

 of schist, none being of flint, as in the south. 



Attention has lately been called by an American physician 

 (Dr. Lindsey) to the therapeutic value of regions below the sea 

 level, for asthmatical or consumptive patients, who there have 

 continuously higher atmospheric pressure than at the sea-level. 

 Excellent effects have been thus obtained in the valley of Con- 

 chilla, near Los Angeles in California, about 273 feet under the 

 sta (barometric pressure only about 7 mm. higher). The most 

 noteworthy place of the kind on the earth's surface is probably 

 the Dead Sea district ( - 1289 feet), and the following are some 

 others : Lake Asal in East Africa ( - 639 feet), the oasis of .Vraj 

 in the desert of Lybia ( - 270 feet), the Arroyo del Muerto in 

 California ( - 230 feet), the oasis of Siwah in Lybia ( - 123 feet), 

 the borders of the Caspian ( - 86 feet). 



In the Report of the Acting Administrator of British Bechuana- 

 land for the past year, presented to the Houses of Parliament, it 

 is said that the forests of that region are of considerable extent, 

 but they are being rapidly destroyed for the tin ber and firewood 

 required at Kimberley. Both natives and Europeans are engaged 

 in denuding one of the finest forest tracts in the world, which 

 might be protected by a small yearly expenditure. The system 

 at present employed is that any person on payment of a small fee 

 is allowed to cut down timber without any check being put upon 



