June 9, 1887] 



NA TURE 



"^Zl 



the Times says : — "It is to be hoped that this sympathy will 

 take the practical form of the authorizing an extension of the 

 telegraph to the Andamans and Diamond Island. The latter 

 locality is now recognized as the birth-place of cyclones, and the 

 importance of getting early intimation of their approach cannot 

 l)c over-estimated." 



We have to record the death of Dr. Karl Friedlander, Pro- 

 fessor at the Berlin University, an eminent pathologist and 

 anatomist ; also of Dr. Alexander Ecker, Professor at the 

 Freiburg University, a well-known anatomist and anthropologist, 

 and founder of the Ethnographical Museum at Freiburg. Dr. 

 Ecker died at the age of seventy. 



The General Meetings of the Geographical Society and the 

 Botanical Club of Thuringia took place at Saalfeld on June 5. 



The largest Apicultural Meeting and Exhibition ever held in 

 Germany will take place at Hanover from September 22 to 25. 



The Council of the Royal Meteorological Society are anxious 

 to obtain photographs of flashes of lightning, as they believe 

 that a great deal of research on this subject can be pursued only 

 by means of the camera. In a letter which has been sent to 

 persons likely to be interested in the subject, the Council express 

 a hope that now the thunderstorm season is approaching, many 

 photographers may be found willing to take up this branch of 

 their art. It is pointed out that the photography of lightning 

 does not present any particular difficulties. If a rapid plate and 

 an ordinary rapid doublet with full aperture be left uncovered at 

 night during a thunderstorm for a short time, flashes of lightning 

 will after development be found in some cases to have impressed 

 themselves upon the plate. The only difficulty is the uncertainty 

 whether any particular flash will happen to have been in the 

 field of view. 



A NEW chlorobromide of silicon has been isolated by Prof 

 Emerson Reynolds from a large quantity of crude silicon 

 tetrabromide. A current of dry hydrogen was first driven 

 through the crude bromide to remove free bromine, and the 

 residue, after shaking with mercury, was afterwards subjected 

 to fractional distillation. An early fraction, that passing over 

 between 140° and 144°, was separately collected, and, by re- 

 peated refractioning, was found to consist largely of a portion 

 boiling at I40°-I4i°, which proved to be pure silicon chlorotri- 

 bromide, SiClBrj. This liquid fumes in the air, and, on addition 

 of water, is decomposed into a mixture of silicic, hydrobromic, 

 and hydrochloric acids. It is of considerable theoretical in- 

 terest, inasmuch as it completes our knowledge of the following 

 series of compounds, in which chlorine and bromine mutually 

 replace each other, and the end members of which are formed 

 by the tetrachloride and the tetrabromide of silicon respectively: 

 SiCl4, SiCl^Br, SiCl^Brj, SiClBrj, and SiBr4. This series is 

 now perfectly analogous to the one formed by the compounds 

 of chlorine and bromine with carbon. 



A NEW quantitative reaction of very wide application, by 

 means of which any desired substitution of chlorine may be 

 readily effected in a large number of hydrocarbons, is de-xribed 

 by MM. Colson and Gautier in the last number of the Annales 

 de Chimie et de Physique. It simply consists in heating in a 

 sealed tube the calculated quantities of hydrocarbon and phos- 

 phorus pentachloride on the supposition, shown by analysis to 

 be well fo-'nded, that the pentachloride is dissociated into the 

 trichloride and free chlorine, which latter acts precisely like 

 free chlorine. The great value of this means of substitution is 

 at once seen to consist in the fact that, instead of the uncertain 

 results obtained by the graduated use of free chlorine, it now 

 becomes possible to obtain a quantitative yield, in an easily 

 separable form, of the particular chlorine derivative desired. 

 Thus, in order to obtain benzal chloride, the starting-point in 



the artificial preparation of indigo, it is only necessary to heat 

 together to 195° for two hours in a closed vessel the calculated 

 quantities of toluene and phosphorus pentachloride. 



We understand that the Rev. J. B. Lock intends to write a 

 "Statics for Beginners" as a complement to the " Dynamics 

 for Beginners " which was recently noticed in these columns. 

 A Key is now being prepared, under Mr. Lock's superintendence, 

 to his well-known "Arithmetic for Schools." 



In their report for the session 1886-87 the Council of the 

 Institute of Actuaries say that the prosperity of the Institute has 

 been fully maintained during the past year. Referring to the 

 new offices at Staple Inn Hall, the Council trust that they have 

 at last secured a permanent and suitable home for the Institute, 

 corresponding to its higher dignity and its ever-increasing 

 duties. 



An International Exhibition is to be held at Glasgow during 

 the summer of 1888. The guarantee fund already exceeds 

 ;[^240,ooo, and is being increased. The objects of the Exhibition, 

 as stated in the prospectus, are "to promote and foster industry, 

 science, and art, by inciting the inventive genius of our people 

 to still further development in arts and manufactures ; and to 

 stimulate commercial enterprise by inviting all nations to exhibit 

 their products, both in the raw and finished state." Examples 

 of the manufactures of Glasgow and the surrounding districts — 

 chemical, iron, and other mineral products, engineering, ship- 

 building, electrical and scientific appliances, and textile fabrics 

 — will be shown ; and similar and more varied exhibits may be 

 expected from other parts of Great Britain and from the Conti- 

 nent. Promises of support have also been received from 

 America, India, the Canadian, Australian, Cape, and other 

 colonies. The site, which has been granted by the Glasgow 

 Corporation, extends to sixty acres, and the buildings will cover 

 about ten acres. 



In an article in the current number of the Entomologist, Mr. 

 J. T. Carrington speaks of a phenomenon which has frequently 

 puzzled him when hunting for insects on salt-marshes. He 

 refers especially to the marshes of the River Medway. The tide 

 often completely overflows the marshes, and for an hour or two 

 turns the collecting-ground into an arm of the sea, with multi- 

 tudes of rippling v/avelets. During this period there is not a 

 sign of an insect flying over the water. " As the tide recedes, 

 and little islands of the taller plants appear through the water," 

 says Mr. Carrington, "we notice the first indication of moths 

 appearing. When the water has left the marsh we examine the 

 wet and sloppy ground, and find multitudes of delicate Tortrices 

 and plumes in perfect condition, flitting about as though nothing 

 had happened to disturb their comfort. Now, where were these 

 moths when the tide covered the marsh some two or three feet 

 deep ? One can hardly imagine they were under the water all 

 the time, though there was not a sign of them over it. Many 

 times have I watched this rising and falling of the tide, but 

 never solved the problem." 



In the June number of the Zoologist, Mr. Murray A. Mathew 

 describes what he calls " a strange capture of a hare." A neigh- 

 bour of his in Pembrokeshire was crossing one of his fields late 

 in the evening when he heard a hare crying. He went in the 

 direction, expecting to find a hare in a trap, but was astonished 

 to come across one attacked by a hedgehog, which was holding 

 on to one of its hind legs. The hare (fully-grown) seemed 

 paralyzed by fear, and allowed itself to be lifted up. Directly 

 the hedgehog was shaken off the hare died, although the injury 

 it had received from the bite of its assailant was but slight. 



A new weekly newspaper, devoted more especially to the 

 commercial side of the chemical and allied industries, is being 



