626^ 



NA TURE 



[April 25, 1901 



attention at the present moment were : — (i) The union or co- 

 ordination of the work of the Board of Education and the Board 

 of Agriculture in dealing with agricultural and rural instruction ; 

 and (2) the training of teachers in nature knowledge and other 

 rural subjects. Speaking upon the first of these subjects, Mr. 

 Hobhouse, M.P. , said the Board of Agriculture only inspected 

 certain of the higher agricultural schools, and did not system- 

 atically advise or report on the work of the local authorities. It 

 had no voice in drawing up schemes for agricultural instruction 

 for which grants were given under the Directory or Code. It 

 thus failed to take the position assumed by the agricultural 

 departments of nearly every other country, including Ireland and 

 our own colonies, where the progress of agriculture was system- 

 atically promoted by encouraging the best methods of instruction. 

 The yearly sum devoted to agricultural instruction and research 

 in the United States was (federal grants only) 700,000/. ; in 

 Canada, 156,000/. ; in France, 152,460/. ; and in Wiirtemberg, 

 65,000/. ; while in England the sum was only about 15,000/. 

 It would seem that the example of Scotland should be followed 

 in England, and that the educational powers of the Board of 

 Agriculture should be transferred to the Board of Education, 

 especially as under the Board of Education Act, 1899, there 

 already existed power to make a similar transfer by Order in 

 Council. The Board of Agriculture would then, much to its 

 own relief, cease to be an educational authority, though it might, 

 perhaps, retain some supervision over certain experimental work 

 carried on by agricultural societies. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, April, — The magnetic theory 

 of the solar corona, by F. H. Bigelow. A discussion of an ex- 

 periment of Ebert on the behaviour of an electrified sphere in a 

 magnetic field, when placed in a rarefied gas. The phenomena 

 observed in the corona of the sun agree in a remarkable way 

 with the effects produced in the above experiment. — Tertiary 

 springs of Western Kansas and Oklahoma, by C. N. Gould. — 

 Some fundamental propositions in the theory of elasticity. A 

 study of primary or self-balancing stresses, by F. H. Cilley. A 

 discussion of the effects of initial or " primary " strain of a body 

 upon its elasticity. Since these strains and stresses are a com- 

 ponent of the actual strains and stresses existing in substances, 

 it is concluded that the latter cannot be defined through the 

 equations of elasticity alone. — The boiling point of liquid hy- 

 drogen determined by the hydrogen and helium gas thermo- 

 meters, by T. Dewar. From the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society. — On the nature of vowels, by E. W. Scripture. Re- 

 productions of a magnified set of curves from a gramophone. 

 The results tend to show that the movement of the air in the 

 mouth cavity is a free vibration and not a forced one. The cord 

 movements in the vowels are of the nature of explosive openings 

 and not of the usual vibratory form found in most musical 

 instruments. — Note on the behaviour of the phosphorus eman- 

 ation in spherical condensers, by C. Barus. — The remarkable 

 concretions of Ottawa County, Kansas, by W. T. Bell. 



Annalen der Physik, April i. — The application of the method 

 of residual rays to the proof of the law of radiation, by H. 

 Rubens and F. Kurlbaum. A discussion of the various ex- 

 pressions which have been proposed to show the relations 

 between the intensity of radiation, the wave length and the 

 temperature. A detailed account of the experimental methods 

 is given, measurements being carried out at temperatures be- 

 tween - 180° C. and 1450° C, a graphical comparison being given 

 between the experimental results and those calculated from the 

 formulae proposed by Wien, Thiesen, Rayleigh and Planck. 

 The simple formula of Planck would appear to be the best 

 hitherto proposed. — The elementary laws of electrodynamics, 

 by E. Wiechert. — On the absorption of heat by carbonic acid, 

 by S. Arrhenius, An account of the results ot measurements 

 of the absorptive capacity for heat of carbonic acid. The results 

 are applied to the discussion of the effects of carbonic acid in the 

 atmosphere upon the temperature of the air. — On the surface 

 tension of water surfaces covered with an oil layer, and on the 

 range of moleCtilaT action, by R. H. Weber. The value 

 deduced from the experiments for the radius of molecular 

 action is 115/1/*., considerably greater than that deduced 

 from the experiments of Reinold and Rucker, 10 to 17 /i/n. 

 T T7f(j)n thq phenomena in induction coils, by K. R. Johnson. 

 '• — Mechanical vibrations of an isolated stretched wire with 



visible electrical discharges, by .O. Viol. If an isolated 

 stretched wire is charged from one end with electricity at high 

 potential, transverse vibrations are set up in the wire, and if the 

 electricity is negative and the charge sufficiently high for a visible 

 discharge to take place along the wire, only the nodes appear 

 to shine. — On the mode of action of coherers, by K. E. Guthe. 

 — Contribution to the knowledge of the thermomagnetic longi- 

 tudinal effect, by L. Lownds. — On the band spectra of alumina 

 and nitrogen, by G. Berndt. — On the change of the absorptior* 

 of light in solid bodies with the temperature, by J. Kcenigsberger. 

 —On the influence of a resistance free from self-induction on the 

 oscillatory discharge of a condenser, by T. Mizuno. — The air 

 barometer, by H. A. Naber.— On the spectrum equation of 

 polished platinum, by D. A. Goldhammer. — On the pressure of 

 light rays, by D. A. Goldhammer. — On the magnetism of iron, 

 by C. Fromme. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Chemical Society, March 21. — Prof. Thorpe, president, 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — Researches on 

 morphine, partii., by S. B. Schryver and F. H. Lees. The 

 authors have previously shown that bromomorphide is decom- 

 posed by water with formation of isomorphine, a base isomeric 

 with morphine ; it is now shown that another isomeride, ;8-iso- 

 morphine, is also produced in small quantity. Phosphorus tri- 

 chloride converts codeine into chlorocodeide, which corresponds 

 with bromomorphide and is convertible into isocodeine, a base 

 isomeric with codeine. — The constitution of pilocarpine, part 

 ii., by II. A. D. Jowett. Bromine acts upon isopilocarpine 

 with formation of dibromoisopilocarpine perbromide and small 

 quantities of monobromoisopilocarpine and isopilocarpinic acid ; 

 the latter is an oil of the composition CixHig04N2. On oxi- 

 dising dibromoisopilocarpine with permanganate, pilopinicacid, 

 CgHi^04N, and pilopic acid, C7H10O4, are obtained. At 100°, 

 in presence of water, bromine acts on isopilocarpine with pro- 

 duction of dibromoisopilocarpinic, monobromoisopilocarpinic, 

 bromopilopinic and bromopilopic acids. — The chemical action 

 of Bacillus coli communis and similar organisms on carbo- 

 hydrates and allied compounds, by A. Harden. The author 

 has examined the prodycts of the action of B. coli commtmis 

 and B. typhosus on carbohydrates, and notes that the produc- 

 tion of alcohol by the former organism appears to depend on the 

 presence of the group CH2(OH)'CH. OH in the compound to 

 be fermented. — Action of dry silver oxide and ethyl iodide on 

 benzoylacetic ester, deoxybenzoin and benzyl cyanide, by G. D. 

 Lander. — Alkylation of acylarylamines, by G. D. Lander. 

 Dry silver oxide and ethyl iodide convert the acylaryl- 

 amines into the imino-ether, whilst if methyl iodide 

 is substituted for ethyl iodide, a mixture of the 

 imino-ether and the acylalkylamine usually results. — 

 The preparation of aliphatic imino-ethers from amides, by 

 G. D. Lander. — Note on the latent heats of evaporation of 

 liquids, by H. Crompton. — On the atomic Weight of lanthanum 

 and on the error of the ' ' sulphate method " for the determina- 

 tion of the " equivalent " of the rare earths, by B. Brauner and 

 F. PavliCek. It is shown that in the conversion of lanthanum 

 oxide into sulphate for atomic weight determinations, small 

 quantities of acid sulphate are produced and cause error in the 

 determination of the equivalent ; it is further shown that 

 lanthanum, as hitherto known, is a mixture of two earth metals 

 in which the true lanthanum of atomic weight i39'o pre- 

 dominates. — On the atomic weight of praseodymium, by B. 

 Brauner. The author has determined the atomic weight of praseo- 

 dymium by four methods and made ebuUioscopic determinations 

 with the chloride in alcohol solutions ; the final atomic weight of 

 praseodymium is given as 140 '94. — On praseodymium tetroxide 

 and peroxide, by B. Brauner. Praseodymium tetroxide, Pr204, 

 is obtained as a black powder, by fusing the nitrate with nitre 

 and on treating praseodymium nitrate with hydrogen peroxide 

 the hydrate of praseodymium peroxide, PrjOg, is produced. — 

 Note on neodymium, by B. Brauner. The number 143*5 was 

 found by the sulphate method for the atomic weight of neo»- j 

 dymium ; this metal gives a tetroxide, Nd204, and a peroxide, 

 NdoOg.— Contribution to the chemistry of thorium, by B, 

 Brauner. The author concludes that thorium does not consisjtj 

 of a single element because on fractional hydrolysis of am- 

 monium thorium oxalate, fractions are obtained in which the 



NO. 1643, VOL. 63] 



