July 16,, 1887] 



NA TURE 



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out of the grant, the remaining ;^20,ooo being held as an endow- 

 ment fund. The Council intend that instruction shall be given 

 in all the branches of cotton- spinning, weaving, and designing, 

 mechanical engineering, and the building-trades in general, 

 both in day and night classes. The school will be called the 

 Victoria Jubilee Technical School. . 



The Chair of Civil Engineering in the University of Dublin 

 has been filled by the appointment of Prof. Thomas Alexander, 

 who recently returned from Japan after having held the Pro- 

 fessorship of Civil Engineering in the Imperial College of 

 Engineering, Tokio, for seven years. Mr. Alexander is the 

 author of several valuable papers on engineering subjects, and 

 has given some new theorems in graphic statics which have been 

 adopted both in English and Continental works on that subject. 

 He is also, jointly with Mr. Arthur W. Thomson, author of a 

 work on elementary applied mechanics. 



In the latest number of the Zeitschrift fiir physikalische Chemie 

 will be found complete details of the classical work of Drs. Kriiss 

 and Nilson, briefly announced three weeks ago in the Berichte, 

 upon the vapour-density of thorium chloride, which finally sets at 

 rest the controversy as to the valency and position in the natural 

 system of thorium. From a consideration of the physical con- 

 stants, and the fact that the oxide is isomorphous with the oxides 

 of titanium, zirconium, and tin, thorium was generally supposed 

 to be tetravalent, forming an oxide, ThOg, and a chloride, ThCl4 ; 

 moreover, an element of atomic weight 232, having these 

 properties and belonging to the tetravalent series, was required 

 from theoretical considerations based on the assumption of the 

 truth of the periodic law. But, unfortunately, confusion was 

 introduced into all this harmony by the matter-of-fact announce- 

 ment by no less an authority than Troost that the vapour-density 

 of the chloride had been determined by him to correspond to the 

 formula ThClg. This, however, meant a divalent thorium of 

 atomic weight Ii6, for which no place exists in the periodic 

 table. Kriiss and Nilson, in their endeavours to get at the 

 truth of this matter, have utilized a quantity of pure thorium, 

 which they had prepared for atomic-weight determinations, by 

 converting it into the chloride, pure colourless prisms of which 

 were eventually obtained by resublimation in a platinum tube. 

 The determination of its vapour-density was then carried out in 

 a platinum vessel and in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, with 

 the satisfactory result that at temperatures varying from 1 102° to 

 1 140°, just above the point of volatilization, the vapour-density 

 corresponds to a formula of ThCl4, while above this temperature 

 the chloride dissociates into free chlorine and a lower chloride. 

 This proves decisively that thorium is tetravalent, and demon- 

 strates the accuracy of results deduced from physical constants. 

 To complete this splendid work, which bears great similarity to 

 the famous work of Nilson and Pettersson on beryllium, the 

 Swedish chemists have redetermined the atomic weight of 

 thorium, which, in the light of their vapour-density determina- 

 tions, they find to be 231 "87. 



The Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer of the 

 United States Army for the year 1885 has now reached 

 this country. It consists of two volumes : the first con- 

 tains the usual meteorological results and notices of the works 

 in progress ; the second part, a volume of 440 pages (Wash- 

 ington, 1886), is a treatise by Dr. W. Ferrel on the recent 

 advances in meteorology. As might be expected from Dr. 

 Ferrel's works on the " Mechanics and General Motions of the 

 Atmosphere," the subject is not treated in a very elementary 

 manner. In fact, it is stated in the preface that the object has 

 been to select from the material on hand some of the more im- 

 portant principles, methods, and results arrived at, mostly during 

 the last quarter of a century, and to present them in the form of 

 a text-book of the higher meteorology. No descriptions of 

 meteorological instruments are given, as the Report states that i 



this subject will be treated of in a separate work, by Prof. 

 Cleveland Abbe. We refrain from making any comments here 

 on Dr. Ferrel's treatise, further than that it supplies a want 

 that has been much felt by students who have mastered the usual 

 elementary text-books. 



Volumes 28-30 of the miscellaneous collections published by 

 the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, 1887) contain much 

 valuable matter which should be widely known, viz. : — (i) A 

 fourth edition of Dr. Guyot's meteorological and physical 

 tables, the third edition of which was published more than a 

 quarter of a century ago. Many useful tables have been added, 

 mostly geographical and miscellaneous, but the meteorological 

 tables have generally been reprinted unchanged, and are much 

 behind the present requirements of the science. (2) A cata- 

 logue of the principal independent scientific and technical 

 periodicals published in all countries from the earliest times ta 

 the close of the year 1882, giving full titles, sequence of series, 

 and other bibliographical details. (3) The scientific writings of 

 the late Joseph Henry, formerly Secretary of the Smithsoniaa 

 Institution, including his contributions to various Societies and 

 some previously unpublished papers, embracing a period of fifty- 

 five years. This work is divided into two parts, the first con- 

 taining miscellaneous, and the second meteorological papers. 



Prof. Shaler's article on tornadoes and cyclones in 

 Scribner's Magazine for August will contain reproductions of 

 two instantaneous photographs of a tornado which passed over 

 Jamestown, Dakota, on June 6, 1887. The publishers had 

 made a special search for negatives of storms, and given notice 

 of it to many Western photographers. This fortunate oppor- 

 tunity occurred after the article was already in type. 



The " Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry " is such a 

 well-known book, that we need only state the names of the 

 eminent men who have brought the fifth edition, which 

 we have just re,:eived, up to date. Astronomy by Sir 

 G. B. Airy, K.C. B., ex- Astronomer-Royal ; Hydrography by 

 Capt. W. J. L. Wharton, R,N., Hydrographer of the 

 Admiralty ; Tides by Prof. George PI. Darwin ; Terrestrial 

 Magnetism by Prof. George F. Fitzgerald, assisted by Staff- 

 Commander Creak, R.N., and Mr. G. M. Whipple, Superin- 

 tendent of the Observatory ; Meteorology by Mr. Robert H. 

 Scott, Secretary of the Meteorological Council ; Geography by 

 General Sir Henry Lefroy, R.A. ; Anthropology by Mr. E. B. 

 Tylor ; Statistics by Prof C. F. Bastable ; Medical Statistics 

 by Mr. William Aitken ; Geology by Prof. Arch. Geikie ;, 

 Mineralogy by Prof. W. J. Sollas ; Seismology by Mr. Thomas 

 Gray ; Zoology by Prof. H. N. Moseley ; Botany by Sir J. D. 

 Hooker. About half of the book has been entirely re-written ; 

 the arrangement of the present edition being substjintially the 

 same as that of former ones. No doubt our men-of-war will 

 by-and-by be used very much more as floating laboratories and 

 observatories than they are at present. When this is done both 

 science and the naval service will be great gainers, and we know 

 of no better means towards such an end than the efficient use of 

 this magnificent compendium published in accordance with the 

 laws of the Admiralty. 



"Pioneering in New Guinea, "by the Rev. James Chalmers^ 

 contains some very valuable sketches |of travels and labours in 

 New Guinea during the years 1878-86. Mr, Chalmers explains- 

 that "his hand takes more readily to the tiller than to the pen." 

 Hence he has made no eflbrt to " work up " the contents of his 

 journals into " a finished book," but has been content for the 

 most part to present them exactly as they were written. The 

 book is all the more likely to be appreciated on that account, 

 for it has a freshness and vividness which it could scarcely have 

 possessed if it had sprung less directly from the author's expe- 

 rience. Mr. Chalmers points out that succeeding missionaries 



