ytdy 7, 1887] 



NATURE 



231 



on the way, in a diagonal direction, the whole western half of 

 the Thian Shan range." 



On June 30 a Philippine Exhibition was opened at Madrid by 

 Queen Christina. The most important exhibits are specimens 

 of the natural products, vegetable and mineral, of the Philippine 

 Islands. Some forty natives, male and female, with their native 

 houses and arms, are present. The late King of Spain started 

 the idea of a permanent Colonial Museum, to cintain the 

 mercantile products of the Spanish colonies. The openin;; of 

 this Exhibition is regarded as the first step towards the realization 

 of his scheme. 



Another instalment of his valuable work on high tempera- 

 ture dissociations has just been given forth from the laboratory 

 of Prof. Victor Meyer, at Goltingen. The molecular condition 

 of phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony at the highest accessible 

 temperatures has been the subject of this recent work, and the 

 following are the experimental results obtained. As is well 

 known, the experiments of Deville and Troost brought to light 

 the fact that as high as 1040" in the case of phosphorus, and 

 860° in the case of arsenic, the observed densities are such as 

 can only be explained on the supposition that the m ilecules of 

 these elements consist of four atoms. J. Mensching and Victor 

 Meyer now show that as the temperature is gradually raised to 

 a red heat the molecuhr weights begin to diminish— that is, the 

 four-atom molecules commence to break down — and at a white 

 heat so large a number are dissociated that the values obtained 

 for the vapour-densities approximate to those required on the 

 suppf^sition that the molecules each contain but two atoms. 

 Hence, at a white heat the vapour-densities of phosphorus and 

 arsenic are normal, and the molecules consist of the usual two 

 atoms. In the case of antimony, no thoroughly trustworthy work 

 has hitherto been published as to its molecular state, but it has 

 been generally supposed to consist also of four-atom molecules. 

 Mensching and Meyer, however, find that it behaves quite 

 unlike phosphorus and arsenic, inasmuch as immediately on 

 volatilization its density is found to correspond to a molecule of 

 but^ three atoms, and although dissociation continues to the 

 limit of terrestrially procurable temperatures, yet when this is 

 attained, the level of the normal state is not reached, and more 

 definite results must perforce be deferred until, by some inge- 

 nious device, temperatures far higher are obtainable. 



The Royal Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands at 

 Utrecht has recently published \i% J aarboek iox 1886, containing 

 observations taken three times daily at ten places, and daily i 

 rainfall values at eighty stations. These volumes, which have I 

 now been regularly issued for thirty-eight years, form one of the | 

 most complete series of meteorological observations in Eur .pe, i 

 and they also contain valuable discussions on the climatology of | 

 distant parts. The volume now in question contains observa- j 

 tions taken at San Salvador (on the Congo) for 1S85, and at j 

 Djedda (Arabia Felix), Paramaribo (Dutch Guiana), and Cule- i 

 bra (Panama Canal) for 1886. The Director of this Institution 

 (Dr. Buys Ballot) first enunciated the law that now bears his 

 name, showing the univereal relation of the direction of the 

 wind to barometric pressure, which has been so instrumental in 

 popularizing weather knowledge. This Office also deals largely 

 with maritime meteorology, and has published a long series of 

 papers on this subject entitled " Uitkomsten van wetenschap en 

 ervaring," as well as wind charts for the various oceans. 



An unusual number of foreign men of science will be present 

 at the Manchester meeting of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. The following is the first list of 

 foreigners who have accepted invitations to attend the meeting :— 

 SectiotiA {Phyncs ami Mathematics) : Cleveland Abbe, Meteoro- 

 logical Office, VVa>^hiDgton ; Von Hefner Altneck, Berlin ; A. 

 Comu, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris ; A. Crova, Montpellier ; 

 J. R. Eastman, U.S. Naval Observatory ; W. Foerster, Director 



of the Berlin Observatory ; W. de Fonvielle, Paris ; A. Horst- 

 man, Heidelberg; F. Kohlrausch, Professor of Physics, Wiirz- 

 burg; A. Kundt, Professor of Physics, Strassburg; William 

 Libbey, Princeton College, N.J, ; G. Lippmann, Paris ; R. 

 Lipschitz, Professor of Mathematics, Bonn ; Malcolm McNeill, 

 Princeton College, N.J. ; O. E. Meyer, Breslau ; G. Quincke, 

 Professor of Physics, Heidelberg ; Schering, Director of the 

 Observatory, Gottingen ; Ernst Schroeder, Karlsruhe ; J. Violle, 

 Ecole Normale, Paris ; E. Warburg, Professoi of Physics, Frei- 

 burg; H. Wild, St. Petersburg; A. C. Young, Princeton College, 

 N.J. Section B {Chemistry) : A. Bernthsen, Heidelberg ; J. W. 

 Briihl, Freiburg ; Caro, Mannheim ; Le Chatelier, Paris ; 

 F. W. Clarke, Washington ; De Clermont, Paris ; F. B. 

 Fittica, Marburg ; R. Fittig, Strassburg ; Hempel, Dresden ; 

 Reinhardt Hoffman, Biebrich ; A. Ladenburg, Kiel ; J. W. 

 Langley, University of Michigan ; A. Lieben, Vienna ; C. 

 Lieberman, Berlin ; Oscar Liebreich, Berlin ; Lunge, Zurich ; 

 J. W. Mallet, University of Virginia ; C. A. Martius, Berlin ; 

 MendelejefF, St. Petersburg ; Menschutkin, St. Petersburg ; 

 Lothar Meyer, Tiibingen ; Noelting, Muhlhausen ; Pauli, 

 Hockst ; Silva, Paris ; G. Wiedemann, Leipzig ; Otto 

 Witt, Berlin; J. Wislicenus, Leipzig. Section C {Geology): 

 E. Cohen, Greifswald ; H. von Dechen, Bonn ; Anton 

 Fritsch, Prague ; Alfred Nehring, Berlin ; Abbe Renard, 

 Bruxelles ; F. Zirkel, Leipzig. Section D (Biology) : A. de 

 Bary, Strassburg ; Von Boddaert, Cutsem ; C. W. Braune, 

 Leipzig ; A. Chauveau, Paris ; F. Cohn, Breslau ; C. Dervalque, 

 Liege ; C. Gegenbauer, Heidelberg ; Asa Gray, Harvard Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, U.S.; W. His, Leipzig; A. Hubrecht, 

 Utrecht ; Ch. Julin, Liege ; F. Kiihne, Heidelberg ; Count von 

 Solms Laubach, Gottingen ; Lortet, Lyon ; Marey, Paris ; C. 

 S. Minot, Harvard College ; G. S. Morse, Salem, Mass. ; P. 

 Preyer, Jena ; Pringsheim, Berlin ; J. von Sachs, Wiirzburg ; 

 De Saporta, Aix ; A. Weismann, Freiburg ; R. Wiedersheim, 

 Freiburg. Section E [Gcog aphy) : Comodore Jansen, The 

 Hague ; M. Lindemann, Bremen ; M. Venukoff, Paris. Section 

 F {Economic Science) : Carl Greven, Leyden ; Dana Horton ; 

 Judge Mackay ; A. de Marcoartu, Madrid; Carl Menger, Vienna ; 

 Section G {Engineering) : Thos. Egleston, Washington ; J. B. 

 Francis, Past President of the American Society of Civil 

 Engineers ; A. Gobert, Bruxelles ; Quinette de Rochemont, 

 Havre ; R. H. Thurston, Sibley College, Cornell University. 

 Section ff {Anthropology): Dr. O. Finsch ; Marquis de Nadaillac, 

 Paris. 



Messrs. Marcus Ward and Co. will publish, early this 

 autumn, a work, in two volumes, on the Canary Islands. The 

 writer, Mrs. Olivia M. Stone, author of "Norway in June," 

 visited with her husband all the islands of the group — a feat 

 which had never before been accomplished by English people. 

 Illustrations from photographs taken during the tour, and eight 

 maps made from the author's personal observations, will accom- 

 1 any the letterpress. 



In a letter printed by us last week, describing a meteor which 

 was seen in West Sussex by daylight, the meteor is said to have 

 " disappeared near the meridian of Antares." For *' meridian " 

 read " position." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include three Blotched Genets {Gcnetta tigrina) from 

 South Africa, presented by Gen. J. J. Bisset ; an Ocelot {Felis 

 pardalis) from South America, presented by the Earl of Dudley ; 



a Barn Owl {Strix Jlammea), British, presented by Mr. 



Wickham ; a White- tailed Sea Y^digXc {ffaliaetiis albicilla), Euro- 

 pean, presented by Mr. G. J. Mayer ; a Ceylonese Jungle 

 Fowl {Callus stanlcyi) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. Hugh 

 Neville ; six Corn-Crakes {Crex pratensis), British, presented 

 by Mr. G. J. B. Willows ; a Magpie (T^/Va r«j/iVa) from France, 

 presented by Mr. Walter H. Ince ; a Yellow-fronted Amazon 



