42 



NATURE 



[May 12, 1887 



have already been taken at the new Observatory for about a 

 year for the purpose of deducing corrections to be applied to 

 the temperature-observations made in the town since 1833, to 

 reduce them to the temperatures taken in the country. 



A German mathematician has, from certain measurements 

 effected, calculated that the quantity of snow which fell in 

 Central Germany from December 19 to 23, between 50° and 

 52°-5 N. latitude and between f and 18° E. longitude, weighed 

 no less than ten million tons. 



The Lord Mayor, sometime a member of the school, has 

 arranged to be present at the opening, on May 24, of the new 

 science and art buildings of Sir Andrew Judde's School, 

 Tunbridge. 



Dr. F. Day, F.R.S., author of " The Fishes of Great Britain 

 and Ireland," will shortly pubhsh with Messrs. Williams and 

 Norgate his monograph on the Salmonidse. It will be illus- 

 trated by coloured plates, and, in the first instance, be published 

 for subscribers. It will be ready in July. 



Messrs. Macmillan will publish immediately a volume of 

 "Essays and Addresses," by the Rev. J. M. Wilson, Head 

 Master of Clifton College. The writer discusses the relation 

 between ethical and theological questions and the ideas of 

 modern science. 



The Council of the London Mathematical Society have sanc- 

 tioned the issue of a complete index of all the papers printed in 

 the Proceedings of the Society since its foundation. Seventeen 

 volumes have been published. All persons who take an interest 

 in mathematical researches and who wish to know what has 

 been done by the Society in their respective branches are invited 

 to apply to the Secretaries (22 Albemarle Street, W.) for a copy 

 of the index. 



The Clothworkers' Company of London have shown lately 

 that they thoroughly understand the necessity for an improved 

 system of technical education. At Dewsbury the Jubilee is to 

 be celebrated by the establishment of a technical school, and the 

 Clothworkers' Company have agreed to raise the local fund for 

 the building and equipment of the institution from ;^io,ooo to 

 ;^i 1,000. In addition to this they have promised an annual 

 subscription of ;^5o towards the maintenance of the school. 

 The same Company, having contributed ;^3,50O to the fund for 

 the erection of the Bradford Technical College, as well as ;if 500 

 per annum towards its maintenance, have now promised to con- 

 tribute ;r^Soo to a fund which is being raised to pay off the debt 

 still remaining on the building. The additional buildings of the 

 Textile Industries and Dyeing Departments of the Yorkshire 

 College, now completed and equipped, were ei'ected by the 

 Clothworkers' Company at an expense of ;^30,ooo. 



We regret to learn that the amount of support given to the 

 proposed memorial to the late Thomas Edward, the Banff 

 naturalist, has been so small that the project is in abeyance ; and 

 the' Committee are contemplating the return of the subscriptions 

 received. It will be much to be regretted if some means of 

 commemorating Edward cannot be found, similar to the John 

 Duncan Prizes in the Vale of Alford. It will be remembered 

 that a considerable proportion of the sum subscribed for Duncan 

 in his old age was placed by him in the hands of trustees just 

 before his death to found prizes for the encouragement of the 

 study of botany in his own locality. Edward accomplished 

 much more for science than Duncan, and it will be lamentable 

 if no memorial of him can be established. Any persons who 

 may wish to prevent the threatened abandonment of the 

 memorial should communicate at once with Mr. John Allan, 

 Town Clerk of Banff. 



In the Monatsheft of the Berlin Chemical Society (viii. 73) 

 Dr. K. Olszewski has a paper on the " Absorption- Spectrum of 

 Liquid Oxygen and of Liquid Air." On examining the absorp- 

 tion-spectrum of liquid oxygen with the help of a small direct- 

 vision spectroscope — employing solar light — two strong dark 

 lines were noticed in the orange and yellow portions of the 

 spectrum, and these did not completely disappear after the 

 volatilization of the oxygen. They were in fact found to be 

 present in the ordinary solar spectrum, being faint at midday, 

 but very distinct towards sunset. On employing greater dis- 

 persion, the oxygen absorption-lines expanded to bands like the 

 telluric bands of the solar spectrum, and they were noticed, not 

 only when solar light was employed, but also when the electric 

 arc or the lime-light was made use of. In these experiments the 

 oxygen layer was 71mm. thick, and on increasing this to 

 12 mm. two more bands made their appearance ; namely, a very 

 faint one in the green, and another somewhat stronger in the 

 blue. The positions of the four oxygen bands were determined 

 with a Vierordt's spectroscope, the wave-length numbers being- 

 Band in orange .. . ... ... 634 — 622 



,, ,, yellow 581—573 



,, ,, green 535 



,, „ blue 481—478 



or, taking the middle of the lines, 628, 577, 535, and 480. 

 Line 628 is distinguished by its breadth, and 577 by its 

 intensity ; the more feeble bands, 535 and 480, appear to be 

 absent from the solar spectrum. With the view to determine 

 the spectrum of the other main constituent of the atmosphere, 

 pure nitrogen was not employed, but merely air carefully freed 

 from moisture and carbonic acid. The spectrum of the lique fied 

 air was examined under the same conditions as in the case of the 

 oxygen, but no new bands made their appearance. The spec- 

 trum consisted merely of the bands 628 and 577 mentioned 

 above, and these were but faint ; they became stronger as the 

 air became richer in oxygen through the volatilization ol 

 nitrogen, but were still far less intense than in the spectrum ol 

 pure oxygen. The determination of the absorption-bands oi 

 liquid oxygen is of importance in connexion with the discussion 

 of the origin of the telluric lines of the solar spectrum. Janssen 

 and Secchi have shown that most of these are due to aqueous 

 vapour, and, according to Angstrom, the bands which on 

 account of their stability cannot well be due to aqueous vapour 

 are A, B, a, and 5, the two latter coinciding with the two 

 strongest oxygen bands. According to Egoroff, who recently 

 examined the spectrum of compressed gaseous oxygen, the tel- 

 luric bands A, B, and probably a, are due to oxygen. Janssen 

 obtained similar results, but found also some other bands in the 

 spectrum of compressed oxygen. Olszewski cannot confirm 

 either the presence or absence of the groups A and B from the 

 absorption-spectrum of liquid oxygen, as he has been unable to 

 make exact observations in this part of the spectrum. 



Another paper by Dr. K. Olszewski in the Monatsheft 

 (viii. 69) is on the "Determination of the Boiling-Point of 

 Ozone." It has been shown by Hautefeuille and Chappuis thai 

 when ozonized oxygen is exposed to a pressure of 125 atmo- 

 spheres and to the temperature of boiling ethylene (—I02'''5), 

 the ozone is obtained in the form of a dark-blue liquid which 

 retains the liquid form for a short time at the above temperature, 

 after the removal of the pressure. It seemed, therefore, that the 

 boiling-point of ozone could not be much below that of ethylene, 

 and attempts were therefore made by Olszewski to liquefy ozone 

 at the atmospheric pressure merely by the application of cold. 

 At a temperature of —150° no liquid was obtained, the large 

 proportion of oxygen present probably hindering the condensa- 

 tion of the small percentage of ozone. When a lower tempera- 

 ture (-i8l°-4) was employed— that of boiling oxygen— the 

 ozone readily condensed to a dark-blue liquid. At this tern 



