330 



NATURE 



[January 31, 1901 



The melting-point of gold is an important fixed point in 

 pyrometry, and its exact determination has been attempted by 

 several observers. In this country the electrical resistance 

 pyrometer has been regarded as the most trustw^orthy instru- 

 ment, the mean result obtained by its use being given by Messrs. 

 lieycock and Neville as 10617° C, In the January number of 

 Wiedemann s Annalen there is a further paper on this subject 

 by Messrs. L. Holborn and A. Day. These observers prefer a 

 thermo-couple that has been directly standardised against an air 

 thermometer as their measuring instrument. In their previous 

 papers these authors have described a method in which the melting- 

 point of a small piece of gold wire is determined. On account 

 of the possibility of the result being influenced by the minute 

 amount ("03 gram) used, it appeared desirable to redetermine 

 the constant by the crucible method. The temperature of 450 

 grams of solidifying gold was measured with a thermo-couple in 

 crucibles of graphite, porcelain and clay, the atmosphere above 

 the fused metal being either air, carbon dioxide, or oxygen. 

 The mean result was 1063 5° C. The same sample of gold gave 

 1063 '9° C. by the wire method. 



The Board of Trade has received, through the Foreign 

 Office, copy of a memorandum by H.M. Consul at Milan 

 respecting an electrical smelting process carried on in North 

 Italy under Captain Hassano's patent. The memorandum 

 states that the feature of Captain Hassano's process is the 

 substitution, in the smelting of iron ore, of heat produced by 

 electricity for that produced by coal, and ihe merit he claims 

 for it is economy. His experiments were begun in Rome, but 

 have now for some time been carried on, under his personal 

 superintendence, by a company formed for the purpose, at 

 Darfo, in the Province of Brescia, where a considerable water- 

 power is available. At the end of last month a commission 

 composed of five well-known scientific men spent two days at 

 Darlo and witnessed a series of experiments. These gentlemen 

 have now issued a very brief report to the eff"ect that they con- 

 sider the Hassano process to be industrially practical. The 

 Consul states, however, that he has consulted several very com- 

 petent authorities at Milan who have carefully followed the 

 development of Captain Hassano's invention, and they are all of 

 opinion that as yet no adequate proof has been furnished that 

 the new system will not cost more rather than less than the one 

 actually in use. Moreover, its application, with any prospect of 

 success, appears to be dependent on the possession of a very 

 abundant water-power, at a very low price, for the production 

 of the electric energy, the consumption of which is enormous. 



Mr. J. B. C. Kershaw's paper on "The Use of Aluminium 

 as an Electrical Conductor," which was read before the Institu- 

 tion of Electrical Engineers on January 10, contains an account 

 of some mteresting experiments made by the author on the 

 durability of aluminium under different atmospheric conditions. 

 The results show that the commercial aluminium at present ob- 

 tainable is by no means perfectly resistent to atmospheric cor- 

 rosion, but becomes seriously pitted after ten months' exposure, 

 especially in the air of towns. Unfortunately the scientific value 

 of the experiments is dimmished by the fact that, although the 

 aluminium used had only a purity of 99 per cent., no analysis of 

 the samples was made. According to Moissan, pure aluminium 

 is quite stable, but the presence of a very small quantity of sodium 

 destroys this stability. It is to be hoped that Mr. Kershaw, in 

 his further experiments, will carry out a more thorough investi- 

 gation of this point, as it is one of great importance. The paper 

 shows how enormously aluminium has decreased in cost in the 

 last ten years, until it has now become, by virtue of its cheap- 

 ness, a formidable rival to copper. Some interesting details 

 are given of aluminium transmission lines which have been, 

 or are being, erected in America, which show that country 



NO. 163I, VOL. 63] 



to be far in advance of England in this, as in rrxist other, 

 enterprises. 



In the Victorian Naturalist for December Messrs. Fulton 

 and Grant record the occurrence of the European shore-crab 

 {Carcinus tnoenas) in considerable numbers in Port Phillip. If, 

 as seems probable, the species is introduced, it is the first in- 

 stance of the intrusion of a European marine type into the 

 Australian fauna, and the progress of the intruder will be 

 watched with interest. To the same number Mr. D. le Souef 

 contributes notes on some little known Australian birds' eggs. 



In the January number of the Zoologist Mr. T. Southwell, of 

 Norwich, describes a recent visit to the fish-wharf at Lowestoft,, 

 in the course of which he shows how much information is to be 

 gleaned with regard to our fish-fauna from such an inspection. 

 Among the uncommon captures was a porbeagle shark nearly 

 eight feet in length. The author adds that all the animals seen, 

 at Lowestoft must not be regarded as British, mentioning the 

 case of the so-called prawns of the genus Nephrops, large 

 numbers of which are brought in from the North Sea. 



To the same journal Mr. G. Leighton contributes an account 

 of an extraordinary "plague" of snakes which has recently 

 occurred in a house at Cefncaeau, near Llanelly, South Wales. 

 During September, according to a newspaper report, the place 

 had become a domicile for swarms of these reptiles. "They 

 crawled over the floors, infested the cupboards, curled them- 

 selves together on the furniture, while some more aspiring mem- 

 bers of the species climbed the stairs and luxuriated in the com- 

 forts of the bedrooms. The human occupants of the house 

 had done their best to rid themselves of these unwelcome 

 visitors, and had waged a war of extermination against them. 

 The snakes continued to come, however, although, as the in- 

 spector explained, no fewer than twenty-two were slaughtered 

 in one day." As might have been expected, the species proved/ 

 to be the common grass, or ring-snake. The eggs from which 

 the twenty- two individuals mentioned above were hatched 

 were probably deposited by the parent behind the oven, or in a 

 hole in the back wall. On taking down a portion of the latter 

 wall no fewer than forty bunches, each containing thirty eggs, 

 were discovered, all being on the point of hatching. There 

 were thus some twelve hundred snakes in an area of a few 

 square feet. 



The December issue of the Agricultural Journal of New 

 South Wales contains the conclusion of an interesting communi- 

 cation by Mr. W. J. Allen on olive culture in the Colony, 

 illustrated with seven plates showing the fruit of the various 

 varieties that have been raised there. The author lays great 

 stress on the importance of cultivating only such varieties as 

 have been proved to be suitable to the Australian climate and 

 soil, and are. at the same time, noted for their abundant yield 

 of oil. How great is the diff"erence in the latter respect between 

 different strains is shown graphically by photographs of a series 

 of equal-sized flasks containing the products of equal quantities 

 of olives. In the case of two varieties the yield is a flask and 

 a half, or more, whereas some of the inferior strains yield not 

 more than one-sixth of a flask. 



We have received the fifth oi the excellent series of 

 L.M.B.C. Memoirs now in course of issue under the able 

 editorship of Dr. Herdman, the present fasciculus, which is by 

 Dr. Hickson, dealing with Alcyonium, the zoophyte commonly 

 known as "dead men's fingers." The anatomy, development 

 and physiology of this curious compound form are severally 

 treated in considerable detail, the whole account forming a 

 model of how such a subject should be treated. When an 

 Alcyonium colony has all its polyps fully protruded, the whole 



