March 14, 1901] 



NA TURE 



481 



connection with the local industries. One of the rooms of the 

 Zoological Museum at the University College of Liverpool is 

 devoted to a permanent fisheries collection, illustrating the local 

 fishing industries. The committee has thus proved that suc- 

 cess attends the co-operation of the work of men of science in 

 University Colleges with that of technical instruction, and their 

 action should lead to the development of a similar policy in 

 other cities. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Symons's Meteorological Magazine, February. — The pressure 

 of the wind, by R. H. Curtis. In this paper the author deals 

 with the wind-pressure from the point of view of the engineer 

 and its effect upon structures, rather than from a purely meteor- 

 ological standpoint. After the time of the collapse of the Tay 

 Bridge, in December 1879, a good deal of attention was paid to 

 this subject, and a committee was appointed to consider the 

 , question of wind force on railway structures. It estimated that 

 the greatest pressure likely to be experienced over a large surface 

 was 56 lbs. per square foot, but that, to ensure safety, bridges 

 and similar structures ought to be built to withstand four times 

 that pressure. This conclusion has probably led to an ex- 

 travagant expenditure of money, as the records of improved and 

 well-exposed anemometers have recently shown that this esti- 

 mated pressure of 56 lbs. was greatly in excess of anything 

 likely to be experienced. It is true that an Osier's pressure 

 anemometer at Liverpool Observatory registered the extra- 

 ordinary pressure of 90 lbs. on the square foot in March 1871. 

 But this exaggerated record must have been due to a succession 

 of impulses upon the pressure plate, as a wind force of less than 

 60 lbs. per square foot would, in all probability, have sufficed to 

 carry away the anemometer itself. The author has paid much 

 attention to this subject and will continue his interesting discus- 

 sion.— Weather records at Slough, by Mr. R. Bentley. 

 Instrumental observations were begun there by Sir William 

 Herschel in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Mr. 

 Bentley communicates classified rainfall values for 1874-1899, 

 and has collected non-instrumental records of interesting 

 phenomena in ;South Buckinghamshire from a very remote 

 period. 



Avierican Journal of Science, February. — Apparent hysteresis 

 in torsional magnetostriction and its relation to viscosity, by 

 C. Barus. A differential method is employed, in which the two 

 identical wires of iron or nickel to be compared are fastened co- 

 axially one above the other, a mirror being attached between 

 them. Accidental temperature effects are avoided by keeping 

 the lower wire submerged in a tube of flowing water. A cur- 

 rent can be sent either round or through the wire, so as to place 

 the wire in either a longitudinal or circular field, the effect to 

 be observed showing itself in a shifting of the fiducial zero. The 

 phenomena are independent of the direction of the current and 

 a larger arigle of twist does not appear to magnify them. The 

 results, which are somewhat complex, can be understood if mag- 

 netisation be regarded as a means of shaking up the molecular 

 mechanism, and thus to produce temporary molecular instability 

 or momentarily very low viscosity. — The dinosaurian genus 

 Creosaurus, Marsh, by S. W. Williston. A description of a 

 shoulder girdle and arm of a carnivorous dinosaur obtained from 

 a deposit in the Freeze Out Mountains, Wyoming. The fossil 

 is well differentiated from AUosaurus, although occurring with 

 remains which may possibly belong to that genus. — The stereo- 

 graphic projection and its possibilities from a graphical stand- 

 point, by S. L. Penfold. A continuation of a previous paper. 

 The graphical methods are applied to some solutions of spherical 

 triangles, in determining geographical distances, and to map pro- 

 jection. — On the melting point of gold, by L. Holborn and 

 A. L. Day. These results have been already noted in the 

 January number of Wiedemann s Annalen.— On some new 

 mineral occurrences in Canada, by G. Chr. Hoffmann. The 

 minerals described are lepidolite, newburyite, struvite, schorlo- 

 mite, danalite, spodumene and uranophane. 



Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, February. — 

 The seventh annual meeting of the Society was held in New 

 York City, on December 28, 1900. Several important changes 

 in the organisation of the Society were made, the membership 

 of which has now reached the fine total of 357 names. Prof. 

 F. N. Cole gives a brief recapitulation of advance since the 

 foundation of the Society, and fully records the proceedings at 



NO. 1637, VOL. 62,'] 



the Christmas gathering. The titles of seventeen papers are 

 given and abstracts of many of them are here printed. On 

 some birational transformations of the Kummer surface into 

 itself, by Dr. J. I. Hutchinson, is a paper read at the meeting. 

 Another paper that was read is entitled "Theorems concerning 

 positive definitions of finite assemblage and infinite assemblage," 

 by C. J. Keyser. A third paper, by W. B. Ford, is entitled 

 " Dini's method of showing the convergence of Fourier's series 

 and of other allied developments." Short notice follows of 

 Fehr's Application de la methode vectorielle de Grassmann a la 

 geometric infinitesimale, by E. B. Wilson, and of the Annuaire 

 pour I'An 1901, public par le Bureau des Longitudes, by Prof. 

 E, W. Brown. Notes and new publications as usual. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society^ February 21. — "An Investigation of the 

 Spectra of Flames resulting from Operations in the Open-hearth 

 and ' Basic ' Bessemer Processes." By W. N. Hartley, F. R.S., 

 Royal College of Science, Dublin, and Hugh Ramage, 

 A. R.C.Sc. I., St. John's College, Cambridge. 



Three papers on " Flame Spectra," by one of the authors, 

 were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1894. 

 Parts I. and II., " Flame Spectra at High Temperatures," and 

 Part III., "The Spectroscopic Phenomena and Thermo- 

 chemistry of the Bessemer Process." 



The spectroscopic results were quite different from those 

 previously obtained by observing the " acid " process, as the 

 continuous spectrum was much stronger. Many lines and bands, 

 new to the Bessemer flame spectra were observed. 



Twenty-six plates of spectra were photographed. The spectra, 

 increase in intensity as the blow proceeds in the first stage, and 

 this can only result from a corresponding increase in the tem- 

 perature of the bath of metal and of the flame. 



Considerable difficulty was experienced in the identification 

 of some of the lines and bands ; some were due to uncommon 

 elements, and others were relatively much stronger than a study 

 of the oxy hydrogen flame and other spectra of the same metals 

 had hitherto shown. 



Conclusions. 



(i) Line spectra are not observed in the open-hearth furnace. 

 This is attributed mainly to the fact that the atmosphere of the 

 furnace is oxidising, and under these conditions, as Gouy has 

 shown (Phil. Mag., vol. ii., 1877, p. 156), only sodium gives a 

 spectrum approaching in intensity that which it gives in a re- 

 ducing flame. 



(2) The phenomena of the "basic" Bessemer blow differ 

 considerably from those of the " acid " process. 



First, a flame is visible from the commencement of blowing. 

 The immediate production of this flame is caused by carbon- 

 aceous matter in the lining of the vessel, its luminosity is due 

 partly to the volatilisation of the alkalies, and to the in- 

 candescence of lime dust carried out by the blast. 



Secondly, volatilisation of metal occurs largely at an early 

 period in the blow, and is due chiefly to the smaller quantity of 

 silicon present. 



Thirdly, a very large amount of fume is formed towards the 

 close of the second period. The flame is comparatively short, 

 and the metallic vapours carried up are burnt by the blast. 



Fourthly, the " over blow " is characterised by a very powerful 

 illumination from what appears to be a brilliant yellow flame : a 

 dense fume is produced at this time composed of oxidised 

 metallic vapours, chiefly iron. The spectrum is continuous, but 

 does not extend beyond wave-length 4000. The light emanates 

 from a torrent of very small particles, liquid or solid, at a 

 yellowish-white heat. 



Fifthly, the spectra of flames from the first stage of the 

 "basic" process differ from those of the "acid" process in 

 several particulars. The manganese bands are relatively feeble, 

 and lines of elements, not usually associated with Bessemer 

 metal, are present. Lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and 

 caesium have been traced mainly to the lime used ; manganese, 

 copper, silver and gallium to the metal. 



(3) Differences in the intensity of metallic lines. The in- 

 tensity of the lines of any metal varies with the amount of the 

 metal in the charge, but they are also to be traced to changes in 

 temperature; as the temperature of the flame rises, some lines 



