Vol. XXV. No. 7.] 
POPULAR SCIEI^CE NEWS. 
lOd 
©{^e J^opalor (Beienee ^ew§. 
BOSTON, JULY 1, 1891. 
AUSTIN p. NICHOLS, S.B Editoe 
WILLIAM J. KOLFE, LITT.D. . . ASSOCIATE EDITOR 
I 
With the present number the PoruLAR Science 
N'ews commences its second quarter of a century. 
Twenty-five years ago, on the first day of July, 
1800, the first number of the Journal of Chemistry 
and Pharmacy, a small trade journal of eight 
pages, made its appearance, the principal object 
of its existence being to further the business 
interests of the chemical manufacturing firm of 
.1. E. Nichols & Co. Owing to the eminent 
scientific and literary abilities of its editor, Dr. 
N'iciioi.s, it met with such an immediate and un- 
expected success that its scope and character was 
soon changed, and it took a leading place among 
tlie standard scientific journals of the world — a 
jilace which the present editors will use every en- 
deavor to retain in the future as they have in tlie 
past. The period of time just completed has ))een 
unusuallj' rich in scientific discovery in every 
liranch. To simply name the more important dis- 
covel-ies would take more space than is at our dis- 
l)osal, but we may mention the fields of spec- 
troscopy, photography, telephony, and electric 
lighting and power, as those in whicli the great- 
est progress has been made, as well as the new 
systems of chemical philosophy and molecular 
pliysics which h.ave been formulated, and the gen- 
eral acceptance of tlie theory of the gradual 
development of living organisms from pre- 
viously existing forms — one of the most Impor- 
tant and revolutionary scientific generalizations 
ever brought forward. The promise for years to 
come is equally hopeful ; we seem to be standing 
on tlie verge of discoveries even more wonderful 
llian those which have already been made, and at 
any moment we may expect the announcement of 
now phenomena and laws which will give us a far 
deeper insight into the mysteries of Nature than 
we have ever considered possible. The field of psy- 
chology is one which has heretofore been almost 
entirely neglected, but which only needs to he 
eultiv.ated by systematic scientific investigations 
to yield a rich return. Many other changes may 
be noted during the period just concluded. The 
name of the paper has been changed to one de- 
noting more accurately its character and scope. 
Its connection with the original business house 
lias been entirely dissolved, the size of the paper 
has been increased, and the variety and quality of 
its contents improved in every possible way. The 
death of Dr. Nichols, in 1888, was an irreparable 
loss, botli to the paper itself, and to the present 
oecui)ant of the editorial chair and those associ- 
ated with Iiiin in the management of the paper; 
but, notwithstanding this loss, it is with peculiar 
pleasure that we note the continued prosperity 
of the Science News, and its increasing influence 
in the field which it has made especially its own. 
It begins its second quarter century under the 
most favorable auspices for a success which every 
one connected with it will use his best efforts to 
deserve and attain. 
One of the most ingenious scientific hoaxes 
iver perpetrated was tlie description of an alleged 
automatic "comet finder" attributed to the in- 
ventive genius of Professor Barnard of the Lick 
Observatory, the action of which was said to be 
dependent upon the varying electric resistance of 
the element selenium under the action of light. 
[Science News, May, 1891, page 71]. Originally 
appearing in a San Francisco daily newspaper, it 
was written with such skill, and with all the details 
of the apparatus described in such a plausible 
manner by one evidently thoroughly familiar with 
the principles of physics and astronomy, that it 
was particularly well calculated to deceive — as, in 
fact, it did — nearly every scientific periodical in 
the country, although a close examination of the 
article would have shown at once the absurdity of 
the story. A letter from Professor Barnard, ex- 
posing the hoax, states that he considers it one of 
the most remarkable ever gotten up on an astro- 
nomical subject, and that it was originated by a 
young man of remarkable ability — as. Indeed, he 
must have been to have succeeded in deceiving so 
many persons familiar with such matters. Pro- 
fessor Barnard's "comet finder" will have to be 
classified hereafter with the "moon hoax" of 
some half a century .ago, and other products of a 
too livel}' and indiscriminatiug scientific imagina- 
tion. 
*^ 
A SLIGHT modification of the present system 
of weights and measures is proposed by Mr. 
IIannssen, a Danish engineer, by which it can 
be converted into a true decimal system equally 
convenient for calculations with the French met- 
ric system now so extensively used. Briefly 
stated, the foot is increased by about 1-2,500 of 
its present length, or the thickness of ordinary 
note-paper,— exactly from 1.0000 to 1.000403,— 
while the pound avoirdupois, the ounce, and the 
imperial gallon remain unaltered. By this very 
slight alteration of the length of the foot, which 
hardly will be noticed in trade, manufacture, and 
commerce, the present system of standards is at 
once converted into a decimal system. While the 
present cubic foot only contains 436,971.78 grains 
of distilled water, the new standard cubic foot 
would contain exactly 1,000 ounces (437,500 
grains) of distilled w.ater of 4° C. temperature; 
16 cubic feet consequently will be equal to 100 
gallons, (called 1 hectogallon) , and 1 hectogallon 
of distilled water of 4° C. weighs 1,000 pounds. 
The new standard foot will be divided into deci-, 
centi-, and milli-foot ; and all the other units of 
weight and measure are correspondingly simpli- 
fied. The new system is described very fully in 
a recent number of the Chemical Netos, and Mr. 
IIannssen has certainly hit upon some very curi- 
ous and remarkable relations between our present 
standards of weight and measure. The difficulty 
experienced in introducing the metric system Into 
generiil use shows how hard it is to make any 
change in this direction ; but the slight actual 
alteration from existing standards required by 
this system, and the great ease and simplicity 
introduced by it into all calculations, may serve 
to render it more popular and generally accept- 
able if further discussions of the subject show no 
other objection to its general adoption. 
In April last a telephone line between London 
and Paris, a distance of 297 miles, was opened 
for public use, and we find our foreign exchanges 
crowded with descriptions and illustrations of 
what they apparently seem to think is an entirely 
new application of electricity. As a matter of 
fact, telephoning over much greater distances 
has been a matter of daily occurrence in this 
country, since 1883, when a conversation was 
carried on between New York and Cleveland, a 
distance 650 miles, and since then communication 
has been obtained between Boston and Chicago 
(1,000 miles). At the time of the great blizzard 
of 1888, the only direct means of communic^tiou 
between Boston and New York for several days 
was over a long distance telephone wire, which 
withstood the storm that prostrated all the other 
lines. JAke most other luxuries in Europe, the 
price for the use of the long distance telephone 
is much higher than in this country, a charge of 
two dollars being made for three minutes use of 
the wire between the English and French capitals. 
An undertaking which will undoubtedly be of 
great value to science is the deep boring into the 
earth which is soon to be made at the expense of 
the government. An eight-inch well near Wheel- 
ing, West Virginia, has been sunk by a private 
company to a depth of 4,100 feet. Both oil 
and gas have been struck througliout in paying 
quantities. It has gone through several thick 
veins of coal, and has traversed layers of gold 
quartz, iron and numerous other minerals. The 
owners are to drill about one thousand feet 
farther and then the government will take up the 
work, and, under the diiection of the Geological 
Survey, drill into the earth as far as human skill 
can penetrate. A complete record of all the 
strata passed through and the discoveries that 
may be made will be kept, and will form one of 
the exhibits at the coming World's Fair. Al- 
though we doubt the propriety of expending the 
public funds for such a purpose, there can be no 
question hut that the results of the boring will be 
of the greatest scientific interest and importance ; 
and, with the aid of modern machinery and appli- 
ances, the engineers in charge will, without doubt, 
succeed in penetrating into the earth to a much 
greater depth than has ever before been attained. 
An interesting, though not entirely novel, ex- 
periment recently attempted by the writer was 
the taking of a photograph by the light of the 
full moon. A clear May evening was chosen, and 
the plate (a Seed 26) was exposed for an hour and 
a half with the full opening of the lens. It was de- 
veloped in the usual way, giving a very good pic- 
ture of the buildings of a city surrounded by hills 
in the background. T'he electric street lights and 
the illuminated windows were reproduced with 
gieat intensity, while in the shadows there was 
a noticeable lack of detail, as was to be expected 
under the circumstances. Thie most surprising 
feature of the picture, however, was the clearness 
and the minuteness with which distant details 
were reproduced, trees and other small objects 
on the distant hills appearing with perfect dis- 
tinctness, which were entirely invisible to the eye 
by moonlight, and hardly to be distinguished even 
in sunlight. A similar effect has been observed in 
astronomical photography, where the cumulative 
eft'ect of a long exposure gives a minuteness of de- 
tail which Is not shown to the eye by the most 
powerful telescopes. The diff"erenee in intensity be- 
tween the light of the sun and moon is shown by 
the long exposure required for the latter, as an 
exposure of a fiftieth of a second would have 
been sufiicient to have taken a photograph of the 
same landscape when illuminated by direct sun- 
light. 
»♦+ 
At the meeting of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, held at Washington, May 5, 1891, Dr. 
Charles A. L. Reed, of Cincinnati, introduced the 
following : 
Jtesoloed : That the American Medical Association hereby 
extends a cordial invitation to the medical profession of the 
western hemisphere to assemble in the United States In an 
Inter-Contlnental American Medical Congress. 
Jteaolved: That the Committee on Nominations be and is 
hereby Instructed to nominate one member for each State 
