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NATURE 



{Sept. 2 2, 1887 



by Robert Hunt, F.R.S. (second edition); "The Watch- 

 maker's Hand-book," from the French of Claudius Saunier, 

 translated and enlarged by Julien Tripplin ; " Our Granite 

 Industries," by Geo. F. Harris ; " Marble and Marble-Workers," 

 by Arthur Lee ; " Tables, Memoranda, and Calculated Results 

 for Mechanics, Engineers, Architects, Builders, Surveyors, &c.," 

 by Francis Smith (fourth edition). Also the following new 

 volumes in Lockwood's Series of Handy-books for Handi- 

 crafts : "The Mechanic's Workshop Handy-book," "The 

 Model Engineer's Handy-book," "The Cabinet- Worker's 

 Handy-book," "The Clock-Jobber's Handy-book," all by Paul 

 N. Hasluck. Also the following new editions in Weale's 

 Rudimentary Scientific Series : " A Treatise on Mathematical 

 Instruments," by J. F. Heather; "The Mineral Surveyor's and 

 Valuer's Complete Guide," by Wm. Lintem (second edition). 



The English edition of Naegeli and Schwendener's treatise 

 on " The Microscope," by Mr. Frank Crisp and Mr, J. Mayall, 

 will be published shortly by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and 

 Co. The book was first sent to press in the autumn of 1878, 

 was printed by April 1883, and was then entirely burnt in a 

 fire at the printers'. It has since been revised and again printed, 

 and will at length be in the hands of the public. 



The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press will publish 

 early in October two works on "Elementary Chemistry." One, 

 intended as a companion to lecture-work, is by Mr. Pattison 

 Muir and Dr. Charles Slater ; the other, intended to be used 

 along with the book already mentioned, is a course of laboratory 

 work by Mr. Pattison Muir and Mr. Carnegie. Both books 

 deal with the subject of elementary chemistry in a manner some- 

 what different from that usually adopted in text-books. 



The International Shorthand Congress will meet in the 

 Geological Museum, Jermyn Street, on September 26 and five 

 following days. The inaugural address will be delivered by the 

 Earl of Rosebery, and various papers on subjects connected 

 with shorthand will be read. Men of science, like every other 

 class of the community, are under a debt of gratitude to those 

 who exercise the art of shorthand writing, and will wish the 

 organizers of the Congress every success. We are glad to 

 observe that one of the papers to be read is on the subject of 

 shorthand in education, for the art is unquestionably an invalu- 

 able adjunct to any system of education, and is so useful, espe- 

 cially to those engaged in scientific pursuits, that it should be 

 one of the subjects which every youth destined for a scientific 

 career should acquire. 



We have received from the Essex Institute of Salem one of 

 its occasional papers, describing a collection of Japanese pot- 

 tery made by Prof, Morse, Director of the Peabody Academy 

 of Science, Salem. The author is Mr. Sylvester Baxter, and his 

 description is the first authorized account of the collection. An 

 exhaustive work on the subject by Prof, Morse himself is 

 preparing for publication. 



Science states that in order to expedite the publication of short 

 articles upon astronomical and meteorological subjects which 

 may be prepared at Harvard College Observatory, it has been 

 decided to print them as successive numbers of a series, which 

 will constitute the eighteenth volume of the "Annals of the 

 Observatory " when a sufficient amount of material has thus 

 been collected. Each number will be published and distributed 

 soon after it has been prepared. 



During this month will appear, under the editorship of Dr. 

 G. H, Rohe, a quarterly journal, the Climatologist, devoted to 

 the consideration of questions in the domain of medical and 

 sanitary climatology. As there is at present, says Science, 

 no other journal in the world exclusively occupying this special 



field, the editor and publishers believe that there is room for such 

 a publication. Each number will contain forty-eight quarto pages 

 of reading-matter, the subscription" price will be fifty cents per 

 year, and the place of publication, S. E. Cor. Baltimore and South 

 Streets, Baltimore, Md. 



A SERIES of new salts, remarkable alike for their crystalline 

 beauty and explosive proclivities, has recently been prepared by 

 M. Klobb, of Nancy {Ann. de Chimie et de Physique, September 

 1887, p. 5). These salts, which contain at the same time groups 

 of such opposite properties as ammonia and permanganic acid, 

 are generally obtained by the addition of cold solutions of 

 potassium permanganate to ammoniacal solutions of certain 

 metallic salts ; for example, with silver nitrate the compound 

 AgMn04 . 2NH3 is obtained as a crystalline dark-violet powder, 

 decomposing on warming, with detonation. The salts of copper, 

 cadmium, nickel, and zinc give analogous compounds, but it is 

 around the salts of cobalt that the interest mainly concentrate-. 

 The ordinary simple salts of cobalt only yield compounds which 

 are immediately oxidized, but the ammonio-cobalt salts, and 

 especially the more stable ones known as luteo-cobalt salts, form 

 the most interesting of the series. Luteo-cobalt permanganate, 

 (C02, i2NH3)6Mn04, is prepared by mixing concentrated solu- 

 tions of luteo-cobalt chloride, Coj . 12NH3. Clg, and potassium 

 permanganate in the proportion of one to twelve molecules, at 

 a temperature not exceeding 60° ; on cooling, the salt separates 

 out in little black octahedra or pyramid-capped prisms belong- 

 ing to the quadratic system, and exhibiting a fine lustre. If the 

 carefully powdered crystals be warmed in a tube, they suddenly 

 decompose with incandescence, and if the same warming 

 operation be performed upon the crystals themselves, the in- 

 stantaneous incandescence is accompanied by a loud detonation, 

 the tube being shattered into fragments. If a crystal be struck 

 with a hammer, a violent detonation is again the result, even 

 powdering of the crystals in a mortar being accompanied by 

 dangerous decrepitations. Compounds in which hydrochloric 

 and hydrobromic acids partially replace the manganic acid have 

 also been prepared, together with a most lovely salt of the com- 

 position (C02, I2NH3)4MN04, CI2— 2KCI, which forms dark- 

 violet hexagonal plates, sometimes bearing low six-sided pyramids, 

 and frequently grouped together in the form of six-rayed stars 

 resembling the forms of snow-flakes. All these salts are of a 

 more or less explosive character, but the luteo-cobalt perman- 

 ganate itself is by far the most violent. 



During last summer the Hydrographical Survey Office ol 

 Norway effected a series of soundings along the north-west coast 

 of that country. The results have just been published. The 

 Islands of Vsero and Rost, at the extremity of the Lofodden 

 group, were surveyed ; and here the end of the great fishing- 

 bank projecting from these islands appears to have been dis- 

 covered. About 5 miles west of these islands a depth of 50 

 fathoms was found, the bottom being sand. Inside this the 

 bottom gradually becomes more shallow, with occasional 

 " skaller " or mounds. Outside the 50-fathom line the bottom , 

 gradually slopes, until about 50 miles west of Rost the depth is J 

 loa fathoms. Here this depth runs in a line nearly north to | 

 south for a distance of about 60 miles, viz. from the southem.- 

 most islet by Rost to the latitude of Moskenaeso, one of ■ 

 Lofodden Islands, South of the former islands the bank trel|^ 

 eastwards for about 6 miles, and, north of the latter, westwar 

 for about 35 to 40 miles, when it again trends east and north- 

 east. Inside the line indicated the bottom is everywhere fine 

 sand mixed with pebbles and remains of shells. Some 75 miles 

 west of Rost the depth was 150 fathoms, but on approach- 

 ing this depth the bottom becomes clayey. Here the edge ot 

 the bank was struck, the depth oceanwards rapidly falling from 

 1 50 to 300 fathoms. About 85 miles west of Skomvser a depth 

 of 438 fathoms was struck, the bottom being clay, 



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