May 12, 1898] 



NATURE 



39 



vessel, which will probably be chartered from the Hamburg- 

 American line, is to be a steamer of at least 2000 tons, with a 

 sea-speed of not less than 10 knots : the personnel of the ex- 

 pedition will include, besides Prof. Chun, a navigating officer, 

 four zoologists, a botanist, an oceanographer, a chemist, a 

 doctor, and a photographer. The expedition is to start in 

 August, beginning work in the Faeroe-Shetland Channel, and 

 going southward by the Canaries and Cape Verd Islands to the 

 coast of German West Africa, where some special fishery 

 problems are to be studied. From the Cape, the meeting-place 

 of the hot and cold waters to the east is to be examined, and 

 if possible an excursion made southward to Prince Edward 

 Island. Next the waters east of Madagascar will be visited, and 

 after touching at Zanzibar the expedition will work through the 

 region of the Seychelle and Chagos Islands to Colombo, and 

 thence back to Aden by the Eight-degree Channel, returning to 

 Hamburg from Aden direct. The whole time occupied will 

 probably be eight or nine months. We hope shortly to publish 

 a detailed account of the final arrangements of the expedition. 



The death is announced of Prof. D. S. Kellicott, professor 

 of zoology at Ohio State University. 



The Royal Agricultural Society has accepted the invitation 

 to hold its country meeting in York in 1900. 



Prof. John Milne has left England for a few weeks on a 

 short tour, with the object of visiting seismological observatories 

 in Italy, Sicily, and Germany. 



The Croonian Lectures of the Royal College of Physicians 

 of London will be given by Dr. Sidney Martin on June 14, 16, 

 21 and 23. The subject is the chemical products of pathogenic 

 bacteria considered with special reference to enteric fever. 



The Presidents of the Institute of Chemistry, Society of 

 Chemical Industry, and Society of Public Analysts have sent 

 out invitations for a reception to be held at the Royal Institute 

 of Painters in Water Colours on Tuesday, May 24. 



A MEETING of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers 

 will be held in the rooms of the Geological Society, Burlington 

 House, on Thursday and Friday, May 19 and 20, under the 

 presidency of Mr. A. M. Chambers. 



It is announced in the Kew Bulletin that Mr. J. A. Gammie, 

 Deputy Superintendent of the Government Cinchona Plant- 

 ation in Sikkim, has retired from that post, and Mr. Robert 

 Pantling has been appointed his successor. Both Mr. Gammie 

 and Mr. Pantling went out to Calcutta from Kew. 



At a meeting of the Essex Field Club to be held at Ching- 

 ford on Saturday, May 21, Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., will lec- 

 ture on "The Preparation of Marine Animals as Transparent 

 Lantern-slides, illustrated by Characteristic Forms of the Essex 

 Coast." The subject is one which has occupied Dr. Sorby's 

 attention for some time, during his cruises off the coast in his 

 yacht Glimpse. The preparation of marine animals as lantern- 

 slides, so as to show not only their true general form, but also 

 much of their internal structure, is as much a chemical as a 

 biological problem, and different animals require very different 

 treatment. A general account of the methods of preparing 

 such slides was given by Dr. Sorby in a recent number of 

 Nature (March 31, p. 520). The company of naturalists and 

 others interested in the subject is invited by the Essex Field 

 Club. Cards for the meeting may be had of the Hon. Secre- 

 taries, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 



On Saturday, May 14, the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, of 

 which Prof. Michael Foster is now the President, will hold a 

 meeting at Clapham, Yorkshire, for the investigation of Ingle- 

 borough and Bowland Knotts. Special facilities have been 

 NO. 1489, VOL. 58] 



obtained for the examination of the great Ingleborough Cave, 

 which can be traversed for a distance of about half a mile. 

 The cave is of little interest to the archoeologist, no remains 

 either of flint implements or bones having been found in it, but 

 it is of surpassing interest to the physical geologist and to 

 those who wish to study the formation of different forms of 

 stalactites and stalagmites. An instructive leaflet containing 

 notes on the geology and biology of the district has been pre- 

 pared for the information of the members of the Union. 



The third International Congress of Applied Chemistry will 

 be opened in Vienna on July 28, and will last until August 2, 

 inclusive. From the Chemical News we learn that the subjects 

 of the Congress are as follows : (a) Consultations concerning 

 important questions in all departments of applied chemistry, 

 and particularly of those the solution of which is a matter of 

 public interest, {b) Agreement upon methods to be considered 

 internationally valid for the analysis of such products as are 

 valued upon the basis of their chemical composition, (c) Agree- 

 ment upon methods to be considered internationally valid for 

 the use of the different chemical industries, (d) Discussion on 

 questions of instruction in applied chemistry, and consultations 

 upon general affairs of chemists. And {e) commencement of a 

 friendly understanding between the representatives of the 

 different departments of applied chemistry at home and abroad. 

 Papers to be read at the meeting should be in the hands of the 

 General Secretary, M. F. Strohner, Vienna IV/2, Schonburg- 

 strasse 6, not later than June i. It is requested that no paper 

 be longer than five pages octavo in print. 



An automatic' telephone exchange system, which does away 

 with the necessity for the staff of skilled operators at present re- 

 quired at exchanges, is being introduced into this country from 

 the United States by the Direct Telephone Exchange Syndicate. 

 Instead of ringing up the central station, requesting the attendant 

 to put him in communication with the person to whom he wishes 

 to speak, and waiting while the required alterations are made 

 on the switch-board, the subscriber to an exchange worked on 

 the automatic plan is himself able to connect his telephone with 

 that of any other subscriber without the intervention of a third 

 person. Each subscriber has upon the front of his instrument 

 a circular disc pivoted at the centre, and having one-half of its 

 circumference inscribed with figures from o to 9. If he wishes 

 to communicate with another, he sets the disc so that the number 

 of the other subscriber appears upon the dial, and he then finds his 

 telephone in circuit with that of the person whose number he 

 has indicated by his disc. When he has finished his conversation 

 he simply hangs his receiver on its hook. Immediately, the 

 switch which represents him at the exchange returns to its 

 normal position, and communication is cut off. A third sub- 

 scriber cannot get possession of the line until the first two have 

 done with it ; hence there is no possibility of interruption, and 

 secrecy is assured. In the United States a considerable number 

 of exchanges are in regular operation on this plan, and are 

 stated to be proving perfectly satisfactory to their subscribers. 



The Melloni thermo-pile has of late years fallen somewhat 

 into disuse. For the detection and measurement of small 

 thermal changes, the bolometer of Langley, the micro-radiometer 

 of Boys, and the extremely sensitive photo-electric cells of 

 Minchin, have to some extent supplanted the older instrument. 

 In a recent number of the Zeit. Instrumentenkunde, Prof. 

 Heinrich Rubens shows that the capabilities of the original 

 apparatus may be greatly increased if proper care is given to 

 the construction, particularly by reducing the thermal capacity 

 of the couples. Antimony and bismuth are mechanically ill- 

 suited for the purpose ; he therefore replaces them by iron and 

 the nickel alloy " constantan," in the form of fine wires. The 

 thermoelectric "power" of an iron-constantan single couple 



