August rS. 1898] 



NATURE 



375 



the Corporation. The sum expended on the Manchester 

 Museum, including special donations, is only 2785/., whilst the 

 neighbouring city of Liverpool spends 5700/. Bearing this 

 comparison in mind, the citizens of Manchester would do well 

 to consider the following words of a recent American writer on 

 the subject of museums referred to by Mr. Hoyle : — "It is not 

 too much to assert that the level reached in intelligence and 

 organisation by any community may be gauged most accurately 

 by the attention and support afforded to its museums." 



The fifth edition of Mr. L. Cumming's * ' Electricity treated 

 Experimentally " has just been published by Messrs. Longmans, 

 Green, and Co. A few slight additions and alterations have 

 been made to this useful little work, in order to bring it into 

 touch with the present state of knowledge of the subjects 

 surveyed in it. 



The May number of ih^ Journal of the Federated Institutes 

 of Brewing contains an interesting paper on the water supplies 

 of Yorkshire, by Mr. Thomas Fairley. The great variety of 

 waters existing in Yorkshire is remarkable, even when the size 

 of the county is taken into consideration. Mr. Fairley classifies 

 them in convenient tables, and makes useful comments on their 

 origin and properties, both from the hygienic and technical 

 point of view. 



In reference to recent discussions and decisions on the vacci- 

 nation question, it will be of interest to note that Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., have now in the press, and will 

 publish early in the autumn, the Milroy lectures on " Vac- 

 cination, with special reference to its natural history and 

 pathology," by Dr. Monckton Copeman, Medical Inspector to 

 the Local Government Board, whose name is so widely and 

 favourably known in connection with the new glycerine treat- 

 ment of vaccine, the use of which is prescribed in the Bill 

 which has now been approved by both Houses of Parliament. 



Dr. W. Grosse, of Bremen, has written a small book 

 entitled " Der Aether und die Fernkraefte," compiled from 

 various sources, as a short history of the more recent develop- 

 ments of the researches of Hertz and Roentgen. The remark- 

 able stimulus to scientific investigators produced by the publi- 

 cation of Roentgen's great discovery is indicated by the fact that 

 within a few months the Beibliitter was devoting no less than 

 eighty pages per volume to X-rays. "Telegraphy without 

 wires " is treated of by Dr. Grosse with a brave attempt to do 

 equal justice to all who have, or think they have, priority. 



"Astronomy for the Young" (London: G. Stoneman, 1898) 

 is the title of a small book of sixty-two pages by Mr. Thynne 

 Lynn. The a uthor describes in very popular and elementary 

 language a few general notions about the earth, her satellite the 

 moon, the sun, the planets, comets and meteors, and lastly the 

 stars, giving the young reader a general notion, in a few words, 

 of the bodies which we see in the heavens by day and night. 

 The book is simply written, and few, if any, technical terms are 

 used, so that it is well adapted to the readers for whom it is 

 intended. Perhaps it might have been belter to have omitted 

 the illustration on p. 31, displaying the "phenomena of the 

 heavens ; " as a rainbow, halo, aurora, waterspout, a lightning 

 flash, &c., are all jumbled up together, and are more inclined 

 to puzzle than enlighten a young reader. 



Mr. a. H. Evans's volume on "Birds," for the Cambridge 

 Natural History, is now so well advanced that Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co. hope to publish it in the course of Sep- 

 tember. With few exceptions the illustrations have all been 

 specially drawn for the book by Mr. Lodge, and engraved on 

 wood by O. Lacour, The tr£atment of the subject throughout 

 is systematic, and the author has taken special pains to describe 



NO. 1503, VOL. 58] 



each bird so minutely that a naturalist or sportsman in the field 

 will have no difficulty in identifying any specimen. The next 

 volume to appear will be the completion of Dr. Sharp's 

 admirable treatise on insects. This may be looked for not later 

 than January. 



The Revue Scientifique for July 30 contains a summary of 

 M. Berthelot's recent researches on the relations existing between 

 the energy of light and chemical energy. M. Berthelot's lead- 

 ing idea is that the true chemical equivalent of light energy can 

 only be measured by means of an endothermic irreversible re- 

 action—that is to say, by a reaction which progresses* with 

 absorption of energy, and with the formation of products which 

 cannot re-combine spontaneously under the circumstances of the 

 experiment. These conditions exclude many actinometric 

 methods hitherto used. Thus a mixture of hydrogen and 

 chlorine cannot be employed, for in this case the action in- 

 duced by light is exothermic ; the energy liberated is not that 

 which has been received as light, but is almost wholly due to 

 the chemical energy pre-existing in the uncombined hydrogen 

 and chlorine. Photographic actinometers are also excluded for 

 the same kind of reason, as well as from the fact that in some 

 cases the products of the reaction tend to re-combine. Thus 

 metallic silver or silver subchloride and free chlorine pro- 

 duced by the action of light on silver chloride can re-combine 

 spontaneously. The reactions studied by M. Berthelot are the 

 decomposition of nitric acid into nitrogen peroxide, oxygen and 

 water, and the decomposition of iodic acid, hydriodic acid, and 

 oxide of mercury respectively into their elements. It was observed 

 incidentally that the more refrangible rays only are effective in the 

 cases of nitric and hydriodic acid, and that in the decomposition of 

 hydriodic acid a periodide of hydrogen is formed intermediately. 

 Carbon dioxide, and a mixture of carbon monoxide and oxygen 

 were not affected by exposure to sunlight. M. Berthelot is 

 engaged in a deeper study of the energy relationships. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus sinicus, 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. H. Page ; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus 

 rhesus, 9 ) from India, presented by Mr. C. E. Bashall ; a 

 Common Chameleon {Chamaleon vulgaris) from North Africa, 

 presented by Mr. M. Titford ; a Smooth-bellied Snake {Homa- 

 losouia lutrix), a Rufescent Snake {Leptodira hotambaia), two 

 Rhomb-marked Snakes {Trimerorhinus rho/ubeatus), five Crossed 

 Snakes {Psa/nmophis crticifer), three Puff Adders {Bitis 

 arietans) from South Africa, presented by Mr. J. E. Matcham ; 

 two Pinche Monkeys {Midas cedipus) from Columbia ; a Grey 

 Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) from West Africa, deposited ; two 

 Three-toed Sloths {Bradypus tridactylus) from British Guiana, 

 purchased; an Humboldt's Lagothrix {Lagothrix humboldti) from 

 the Upper Amazons, a Red-backed Saki {Pithecia chiropotes) 

 from Guiana, received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Wolf's Comet. — The following is a continued ephemeris 

 for this comet, the positions being stated for Berlin midnight : — 

 R.A. Decl. Br. 



On June 18, Prof. Hussey, who rediscovered the comet on the 

 previous day with the Lick 36-inch refractor, found the comet 

 an easy object with the 12-inch telescope {Asl. Jour., 439). 



Fall ok a Meteorite in Bosnia.— A correspondent has 

 sent us the following extract from the Foreign Office Annual^ 

 1898 (No. 2167, " Trade of Bosnia and the Herzegovina for the 



