*I-2^2 



NATURE 



[September 30, 1915 



wliic?! flourished the great microscopists Hooke, 

 Grew, Malpighi, Leeuvvenhoek, and Swammerdam. 

 Amongst the pioneers themselves are included sUch 

 well-known names as Fabio Colonna, Galileo Galilei, 

 Federig-o Cesi, and Athanasius Kircher. 



The June number of Terrestrial Magnetism and 

 Atmospheric Electricity contains the results of the 

 measurements of the deviation of the magnetic com- 

 pass, from true north made on the magnetic survey 

 ship Carnegie during her voyage from Brooklyn to 

 Honolulu vid the Panama Canal in the spring of this 

 year. The corrections to the British Admiralty Chart 

 are very small over the course from Brooklyn to the 

 West Indies, but in the neighbourhood of the passage 

 between Dominica and Porto Rico the chart gives the 

 westerly , deviation more than a degree too small. 

 Across the Caribbean Sea the chart is within a few 

 tenths of a degree of the Carnegie results, but in the 

 first 30° of the course across the • Pacific our charts 

 give the easterly deviation about a degree too small. 

 At greater distances from the American coast the error 

 falls to one or two-tenths of a degree, and is some- 

 times an excess, sometimes a deficit, in the easterly 

 deviatioii. 



In the Journal of the Franklin Institute for Sep- 

 tember, Mr. W. S. Bartholomew, president of the 

 , Locomotive Stoker Company of Schenectady, says 

 that -under average conditions any locomotive, freight 

 . or -passenger, which has a maximum tractive effort of 

 5o",oo6 pounds, or burns 4,000 pounds or more of coal 

 per hour for an extended period, one hour or more, 

 should be fired by mechanical stoker. It appears that 

 about 1,200 locomotives in the United States have 

 had mechanical stokers fitted, and about one thousand 

 of these were in use in April last. Some six hundred 

 are Street stokers of the over-f«ed type, and 365 are 

 Crawford stokers of the under-feed type. It is claimed 

 that the mechanical stoking of locomotives raises the 

 efficiency of the locomotive by increasing the earning 

 power, and also raises the efficiency of labour by 

 making it possible for one crew to handle more traffic 

 per train unit, or the same train unit with greater 

 ease. It also lessens the arduous physical labour of 

 the fireman, and lifts the grade of his employment. 



The Engineering Magazine for September contains 

 the first of a useful series of articles by Prof. J. C. 

 Smallwood on recording power plant operations. 

 Descriptions are given of coal meters, feed-water 

 meters, and steam-f^ow meters ; these are thoroughly 

 well illustrated from photographs and working draw- 

 ings, and contain much information of value to 

 engineers. Coal-weighing apparatus may be classed 

 as registering meters, automatic coal scales, and 

 hand-adjusted weighers. It does not appear thatj 

 there is any autographic coal meter on the market,' 

 although it would appear that such a one would be 

 of distinct use, especially in connection with 

 mechanical stokers. Among water-flownieters, the 

 V-notch weir meter has recently found much favour, 

 as. it may be combined with a feed-water heater. 

 Other water-meters described are operated under the 

 . PitDt principle, the Venturi principle, and the prin- 

 ciple of volijme measurement in tanks. Steam-flow 

 NO. 2396, VOL. 96] 



meters applied to individual boilers show the Instaa- 

 taneous steaming rate. A meter attached to each 

 boiler of a battery of boilers will show If any boiler 

 is "loafing." The Pitot and Venturi principles are 

 also made use of in steam-flow meters. In the St. 

 John meter the flow takes place through an orifice 

 in which is a conical plug. A difference of pressure 

 of about 2 lb. is maintained. When the flow In- 

 creases the plug rises, and thus gives an increased 

 area of orifice. A lever system connects the plug to 

 the recording pen. 



The forthcoming books of the Oxford University 

 Press Include : — The Cures of the Diseased in Re- 

 mote Regions. Reproduced in facsimile from the 

 original Issue of London, 1558, with introduction 

 and notes by C. Singer; Origin and Meaning of some 

 fundamental Earth Structures, by C. P. Berkey ; 

 Contributions to the Ethnology of the Salish Tribes^ 

 by J. A. Teit ; Architectural Acoustics, by W. C. 

 Sabine; Scientific Management, by C. B. Thompson; 

 The Evolution of Modern Medicine, by Sir W. 

 Osier; Geography of Eastern Asia, by D. Paton. 

 Messrs. Crosby Lockwood and Son announce, In 

 their "Manuals of Chemical Technology": — Chlorine 

 and Chlorine Products, by Dr. G. Martin,, with 

 a chapter on Recent Oxidising Agents, by G. W. 

 Clough; Sulphuric Acid and Sulphur Products, by 

 Dr. G. Martin and J. L. Foucar; The Salt and 

 Alkali Industry, by Dr. G. Martin and S. Smith, 

 with chapters on the Stassfurt Industry and Potas- 

 sium Salts, by F. Mllsom. Further books of science 

 to be Issued by the Cambridge University Press 

 are: — A Student's Book on Soils and Manures, by 

 Dr. E. J. Russell, illustrated (Cambridge Farm Insti- 

 tute Series); Archaeological Excavation, by J. P. 

 Droop (Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological 

 Series) ; Ticks : a Monograph of the Ixodoldea, part 

 Hi., the Genus Haemaphysalls, Bibliography of the 

 Ixodoldea, 11. ; North America during the Eighteenth 

 Century : a Geographical History, by T. Crockett and 



B. C. Wallis, illustrated; Cambridge Elementary 

 Arithmetics, by J. H. Webster, Teacher's Books V., 

 VI., and VII.; A First Course of Geometry, by Dr. 



C. Davison ; Experimental Physics : a Text-book of 

 Mechanics, Heat, Sound, and Light, by Dr. H. A. 

 Wilson, Illustrated (Cambridge Physical Series); An 

 Introduction to Applied Mechanics, by E. S. Andrews, 

 Illustrated (The Cambridge Technical Series) ; Ships, 

 Shipping, and Fishing : with some Account of our 

 Seaports and their Industries, by G. F. Bosworth, 

 Illustrated (Cambridge Industrial and Commercial 

 Series). 



A CATALOGUE of books and papers on economic 

 zoology and other subjects just issued by Messrs. 

 J. Wheldon and Co., 38 Great Queen Street, W.C.„ 

 .contains the titles of many works of interest to 

 naturalists. We notice that complete sets of reports 

 and other publications difficult to obtain are offered 

 at reasonable prices, and also rare works on fish and 

 fisheries, marine biology, and economic entomology. 

 Librarians and private workers who consult the cata- 

 logue will find In it a number of volumes well worth 

 purchasing. 



