92 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1898 



be raised if, when travelling dt this speed, it were instantly 

 brought to rest and the whole of its energy converted into heat 

 in the atom itself, we have the result that the rise in temperature 

 is no less than the stupendous figure of approximately 

 50,000,000,000 degrees Centigrade. This is upon the assump- 

 tion that the specific heat remains constant ; but allowing for 

 this, and even allowing for the merest fraction of the energy 

 being converted into heat in the atom itself, there is obviously 

 an ample margin to admit of a temperature being actually 

 obtained enormously transcending anything of which man has 

 any knowledge. Perhaps it may be objected that it is only 

 when we come to deal with aggregations of atoms' that we can 

 speak of heat, and that a hot atom is a physical absurdity. If, 

 however, we look upon heat as a rhythmic dance of the atoms, 

 perhaps we may also contemplate the possibility of a single 

 atom executing a pas seul, and giving pulses to the ether at 

 each of its movements. In any case, this difiiculty disappears if 

 we imagine the travelling particles each to consist of an aggre- 

 gation of atoms. The fact that substances of high atomic 

 weight form the most efficient anti-kathodes, lends force to the 

 .suggestion that the Rcintgen rays are produced in some way by 

 the sudden removal of velocity from the atoms that form the 

 kathode stream, owing to the collision of these latter with the 

 comparatively stationary atoms of which the anti-kathode is 

 composed ; while the effect observed with the pin-hole photo- 

 graphs of the anti-kathode, in which, as has been seen, the 

 kathode rays that strike the anti-kathode most normally are the 

 most effective in producing Rontgen rays, is also in accordance 

 with this view. At the same time, the fact that in Rontgen ray 

 photographs of Birkeland's kathode ray spectrum it is always 

 the least deflected ray that produced the greatest photographic 

 action, goes to show that the higher the velocity of the kathode 

 ray atoms the more effective these latter are in generating the 

 Rontgen rays. 



More than two years have now elapsed since the date of 

 Rontgen's discovery, and nearly twenty years since the com- 

 mencement of the researches of Crookes. Here, as always, we 

 find that " Art is long, opportunity fleeting, experiment un- 

 certain, judgment difficult." Thus wrote the Greek Hippo- 

 crates some twenty-three centuries ago, and time has not 

 impaired the truth of the ancient aphorism. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The Junior Scientific Club met at the Museum on 

 Wednesday, May 18. After private business. Rev. G. D. 

 Allen exhibited his collection of European Cicindelidce and 

 Carabidse. Mr. N. V. Sidgwick (Ch. Ch.) read a paper on 

 " Tautomerism," which gave rise to a short discussion, and Dr. 

 Gustav Mann gave an account of Miss L. Huie's further re- 

 t-eatches on changes produced in Drosera by feeding. The 

 foods recently investigated include peptone, milk, globulin, and 

 urea. The results previously obtained with egg albumin are con- 

 firmed by the three former foods, with important modifications. 

 Urea acts as a poison. 



Cambridge. — On June 15, honorary degrees are to be con- 

 ferred on General Ferrero (Italian Ambassador), the Master of 

 the Rolls, Mr. Leonard Courtney, Mr. James Bryce, Prof. 

 Dicey, Sir Edward Poynter, Sir William Turner, F.R.S., the 

 Master of Balliol, Mr. F. C. Penrose, F.R.S., Prof. S. R. 

 Gardiner, Sir Henry Irving, and Mr. Charles Booth, author of 

 the valuable inquiry into East-end life and poverty. 



The honorary degree of M.A. is to be conferred also on Dr. 

 Arthur Willey, Balfour student, for his excellent researches on 

 Nautihis. 



The General Board of Studies recommend the establishment 

 of a University Lectureship in Chemical Physiology, but in 

 view of the present state of the University finances the post 

 will be without stipend from the Chest. 



Dr. Joseph Griffiths has been appointed to the new Reader- 

 ship in Surgery, which takes the place of the suspended Pro- 

 fessorship. 



The Report of the Council of the City and Guilds of London 

 Institute upon the work of the Institute during last year has just 

 been published. Before referring in detail to the several branches 

 of the Institute's work, the Council point out that the percentage 



NO. 1 49 1, VOL. 58] 



of expenditure on the teaching staff is 61-9 per cent, at the 

 Central Technical College, and 58-2 per cent, at the Finsbury 

 Technical College, while the average of fourteen University 

 Colleges is 64-9 per cent. The comparison relieves the Council 

 of any suspicion of excessive expenditure. The Research 

 Fellowship at the Central Technical College, founded by the 

 Leathersellers' Company during the mastership of Dr. W. H. 

 Perkin, F.R.S., was awarded at the commencement of the 

 summer term, with the sanction of the Company, to Mr. W. S. 

 Gilles and Mr. F. F. Renwick, who were together engaged in 

 investigating the oxidation products of the so-called artificial 

 camphor. Dr. Williamson, the holder of the Salters' Company's 

 Fellowship, has continued his investigations at the College on 

 the actual composition of the wheat grain grown on Sir John B. 

 Lawes's experimental farm at Rothamsted, and that of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society at Woburn. A number of other investiga- 

 tions have been carried out in the engineering, physics, and 

 chemical laboratories, and the results in many cases have 

 been published in the technical and scientific journals. Prof. 

 Ayrton rightly points out that the assignment of space for 

 an electro-chemical laboratory merits attention in consequence 

 of the rapidly growing importance of the electro-chemical 

 industry. It is certainly time that a well-equipped laboratory 

 was established to provide facilities for investigations in electro- 

 chemistry. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, April. — On the temperature co- 

 efficients of certain seasoned hard steel magnets, by Arthur 

 Durward, The author examined the temperature coefficients of 

 a large number of stout magnets seasoned according to the 

 method of Barus and Strouhal. If the temperatures are plotted 

 as abscissEc, and the percentage losses of magnetic moment as 

 ordinates, the curves obtained show a slight concavity upwards 

 in most cases, which implies that the loss of moment becomes 

 accelerated at the higher temperatures. Some specimens show 

 an anomalous behaviour, which can be traced to local soften- 

 ing of the steel, and a temperature coefficient considerably 

 augmented in consequence. — The skull of Amphictis, by E. S. 

 Riggs. Describes an almost complete skull in the Princeton 

 collection from the phosphorites. It is unusually small, the 

 length from the incisors to the condyles being '074 m. The 

 cranium is well expanded, showing a large and well-convoluted 

 brain. The nasals are narrow and slender as in the civets. The 

 genus forms a connecting link between the Mustelidae and the 

 Vineridae. and supports Schlosser's theory as to their common 

 origin. — New form of make and break, by C. T. Knipp. The 

 ordinary form of make and break for a seconds pendulum con- 

 sists of a platinum tip brushing through a mercury drop. This 

 is subject to oxidation and other troubles. The author uses a 

 simple spring device which is always in order, and gives ai 

 sharply defined tick for transmission. A T-shaped lever of thin 

 sheet brass is attached to the pendulum. As it swings, each end 

 alternately comes into contact with a fine steel spring. In the 

 middle position, the springs are both in contact, and the circuit 

 is established and transmits the signal. — Rhodolite, a new 

 variety of garnet, by W. E. Hidden. During the past fifteen 

 years there has been found from time to time, over a very limited 

 area in western North Carolina, a variety of garnet called rose 

 garnet. It is distinguished b> the variety of its tints, by its 

 transparency, and by its Ireedom irom inclusions and other 

 imperfections. Its specific gravity is 3 "838. The ratio of 

 MgO to FeO is almost exactly 2:1. The 'detailed formula is 

 2Mg3Al„(Si04)3.Fe3Al,(Si04)3. 



Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, April. — The 

 February meeting, in accordance with the rule lately set up by 

 the Society, was an all-day one. This arrangement gives 

 opportunity for not only scientific, but also social intercourse. 

 There was a good attendance of members, and many papers 

 were read. — The theorems of oscillation of Sturm and Klein 

 (first paper), by Prof. Bocher. The author states that Sturm's 

 work {Liouville''s Journal, 1836) has been regarded by some 

 writers as not sufficiently rigorous, and that other methods 

 must be substituted for his ; for instance, the method of suc- 

 cessive approximations recently employed by Picard for estab- 

 lishing some of the theorems. Prof. Bocher considers that 

 Sturm's work can be made perfectly rigorous without serious 

 trouble and with no real modification of method. This is what 



