June 9, 1887] 



NATURE 



131 



effect measured by the unit. The unit of electro-static 

 capacity, the farad, has been called after the greatest 

 experimental worker in electricity ; it would therefore 

 seem appropriate that the unit of electro-magnetic capacity 

 should be called after Maxwell, the greatest mathematical 

 worker in electricity. We do not, however, like to pro- 

 pose this, as we feel there might be difficulty in obtain- 



ing the general acceptance of the name of an Englishman* 

 however great, unless it were sanctioned by an Inter- 

 national Electrical Congress, or unless the man's name 

 was intimately associated in men's minds with self and 

 mutual induction. And Maxwell's large contribution to 

 the subject of electro-magnetic induction is surrounded by 

 his equally large contributions to ail other branches of 



Fig. 2. — Experimental Secohmmeter. 



electricity and magnetism— a giant surrounded by giants 

 is not prominent. Coming to the last two years, we are 

 glad that the leader and all those who have followed him 

 in taking part in the widening of our ideas on self-induc- 

 tion are still with us. Hence we are driven to suggesting 

 a temporary name for the unit, and as the first three 

 letters in " second " are common to the name in Enghsh, 



French, German, Italian, &c., and ohm is also common, 

 we venture to suggest '• secohm " as a provisional name, 

 and our instrument we will therefore call a " secohm- 

 meter." 



Unless the glass tube in the secohmmeter just described 

 be rather long, either the sensibility or the range of the 

 instrument must be limited ; but a very long straight tube 



