Oct. 6, 1887] 



NATURE 



541 



I 



who teach, as by endowing professorships, or by pecuniary aid 

 to those who are being taught, or by endowing scholarships, or 

 fellowships, or in any other manner which the trustees may in 

 their absolute discretion think proper," and they are requested 

 to place themselves in communication with the Council of Uni- 

 versity College with a view to preparing a scheme for carrying 

 out the objects of the bequest. The testator desires that in any 

 statement of the foregoing bequest the name of his brother, the 

 late Sir John Richard Quain, shall be associated with his name. 



A SEVERE shock of earthquake was felt throughout Greece at 

 I o'clock on Tuesday morning, the 4th inst., the strongest 

 disturbance being on the northern and southern shores of the 

 Gulf of Corinth, 



Mr. D. Nutt will publish shortly a new and thoroughly 

 revised edition of Brenicker's " Logarithms, with Supple- 

 mentary Tables of Natural Functions and Circular Measures of 

 Angles to each Minute of Arc," by Prof. Alfred Lodge, of 

 Cooper's Hill College. 



Messrs. Marcus Ward and Co. will issue in a few days 

 " Teneriffe and its Six Satellites," a new work of travel in 

 two volumes by Mrs. Olivia M. Stone, author of "Norway in 

 June." Together with a narrative of wanderings through the 

 seven inhabited islands, Mrs. Stone gives an historical account of 

 the past race of inhabitants, and she draws attention to the value 

 of the archipelago as a health resort. She has also something to 

 say about the flora, and tables of temperature are appended. 



The third scientific voyage of Prince Albert of Monaco, in 

 his schooner, the Hirondelle (200 tons), terminated at the end of 

 August, when the vessel came back to Lorient. The Prince 

 was accompanied by Prof. Pouchet, who made a special study 

 of currents ; and by M. Guerne, whose work was zoological. 

 Leaving early in June, they went to the Azores, where three 

 weeks were spent in dredging, &c. A newly-captured sperm- 

 whale was examined. The fauna of the lakes at the bottom of 

 craters was studied by M. Guerne. The Gulf Stream was then 

 crossed, and a thousand of the Prince's floats were thrown out. At 

 St. John's, Newfoundland, researches were continued. The vessel 

 was then directed northward along the caast, but bad weather 

 put an end to the project. In returning to Europe the party 

 encountered a violent storm, in which grave damage was averted 

 by the use of oil. The voyage is considered a great success. A 

 noteworthy feature of it is the carrying on of productive and 

 difficult dredging operations entirely without steam. 



Experiments have been recently made on the Seine, in the 

 stoppage of steamers in motion, by means of a "cable-anchor " 

 invented by M. Pagan. This is a cable having on it a series of 

 canvas cones, which open out by the action of the water, and 

 close again when drawn in the opposite way. The steamer 

 Corsatre, running 13 knots, was stopped each time by the 

 apparatus in seven or eight seconds, and in a space of 26 to 30 

 feet at the most. For comparison, the steamer, running full 

 speed, was stopped in the usual way, by reversal of the engines. 

 T his took at least thirty-four seconds, and the space was 350 to 

 360 feet. It would thus appear that M. Pagan's apparatus 

 effects the result in less than a tenth of the space, and a fourth 

 of the time, of the ordinary method. 



In clinical practice it is often desirable to be able to measure 

 in a simple and direct way the speed with which nerve-im- 

 pressions are conveyed. An electric chronometer for this purpose 

 by Dr. D'Arsonval, is described in a recent number of La 

 Lumih-e ^lectrique. An axis with small terminal plate is driven 

 round uniformly by clockwork, making one turn per second. 

 Opposite the plate is another plate connected with the axis of a 

 pointer on a dial. These axes are independent while a current 



passes through a small electro-magnet holding the second plate ; 

 but when this current ceases, a spring brings the latter in contact 

 with the moving plate and the pointer is carried round till the 

 current flows again. The patient to be examined having shut 

 his eyes, the doctor applies to a part of the body a simple 

 instrument which by this application breaks circuit, so that the 

 pointer begins to travel. The patient is required, immediately 

 on feeling the pressure, to press'a button, which makes the circuit 

 again, and the pointer stops. The interval can then be deter- 

 mined in hundredths of a second. The velocity of sensations in 

 different parts of the body can thus be compared very rapidly. 

 It is proved that different sensations (pressure, heat, pricking, 

 cold, electricity, &c. ) are transmitted with different velocity, and 

 some diseases abolish some while exalting others, &c. 



Prof. Mushketoff's account of his explorations in the 

 Caspian steppes contains some interesting remarks on the work 

 done by marmots {Spermophyius eversmanii) in the modification 

 of the surface of the steppe. They made their appearance in 

 the region only a few years ago, but their heaps of earth already 

 cover hundreds of square miles. Like earthworms, they must 

 therefore be regarded as a factor of some importance in modi- 

 fying the surface of the soil. Their heaps of earth have an 

 average length of 3^ metres, and a width of 2\ metres, with an 

 average height of from 30 to 50 centimetres, and it was found 

 that on each 2 square metres there were no less than five, seven, 

 or even eight heaps, each of which represented at least 2 cubic 

 metres of earth removed. It may be safely asserted that on each 

 square kilometre of surface no less than 30,000 cubic metres of 

 earth have been brought to the surface owing to their activity. 

 Their influence on vegetation is also well worthy of notice. 



At a recent meeting of the Paris Biological Society, M. 

 Megnin gave an account of a peculiar disease which is very 

 prevalent at present among hares in Alsace. It is a parasitic 

 disease, a sort of pulmonary tuberculosis, caused by the presence, 

 in the lungs, of Strongyliis commutatus{Filaria ptdmonalis of 

 Frolich). The same disease was noticed in Thuringia in 1864. 



An introductory lecture at St. Mary's Hospital was delivered 

 on Monday last by Mr. A. Critchett, Ophthalmic Surgeon to 

 and Lecturer at St. Mary's Hospital. Speaking of the studies 

 in which he himself is chiefly interested, Mr. Critchett said he 

 was old enough to remember the introduction of the ophthalmo- 

 scope by that great teacher and thinker Helmholtz, who, he 

 rejoiced to say, yet lives to witness the priceless boon which his 

 discovery has conferred upon the human race. It was difficult 

 for those who are now familiar with its use to conceive the 

 wondering eagerness with which the original workers sought, by 

 the aid of their new weapon, to bring to light those numerous 

 hidden diseases of the eye which had till then been only partially 

 and most imperfectly recognized. Numerous modifications of 

 the instrument have since been introduced, and among the most 

 recent and most useful improvements has been the ingenious 

 adaptation of the electric light to the ophthalmoscope by 

 Mr. Juler. After alluding to the labours of his late father, 

 of the venerated Nestor of English ophthalmic surgery. Sir 

 William Bowman, and of the much lamented Von Graefe, the 

 lecturer reminded his hearers of the colossal work which had 

 been achieved by Prof. Bonders, who had opened out a new 

 world for thought and investigation, and had elevated the study 

 of practical optics to the dignity of a science. 



A remarkable series of experiments upon the synthesis of 

 water by weight is described by Dr. E. H. Keiser in the current 

 number of the Berichte of the German Chemical Society, in 

 which not only has a known weight of oxygen in the form of 

 copper oxide been employed, but has also been made to com- 

 bine with an actually weighed quantity of hydrogen. In the 



