October 20, 1898] 



NATURE 



597 



moved off to the right very gradually as the cooler end of the bar 

 became heated, but was brought back to a convenient point on 

 the scale by means of a controlling magnet. When the state of 

 steady flow was reached, the bunsen flame was removed, and 

 water was immediately poured over the heated end of the bar. 

 The spot of light on the galvanometer scale immediately 

 moved off to the right, indicating an immediate rise of temper- 

 ature at the cooler end of the bar. 



The rapidity of the action was a second source of surprise to 

 me, as it far exceeded the velocity of propagation of heat along 

 the bar by conduction. I was obliged to discontinue this line of 

 work for a time, and did not return to it till 1895, when I re- 

 peated the experiments described above, this time, however, 

 using brass rods of various dimensions. In the case of the 

 brass rods I failed to observe the same phenomenon, and con- 

 cluded that the effect was due, as I had supposed in 1888, to 

 much the same cause as recalescence. 



I should judge from my results that if the effect exists at all 

 in brass, it is yet much more pronounced in iron or steel. 



At the time I made my experiments at Johns Hopkins 

 University, I drew the attention of Prof, ^enry A. Rowland 

 and Dr. Louis Duncan to the matter, the latter witnessing the 

 experiments, and later I discussed it with Prof. Ogden N. 

 Rood, of Columbia University, New York City. Prof. Rowland 

 pointed out that theoretically there should be a very slight 

 instantaneous effect, but that it should be a reduction and not 

 an increase of temperature. 



That the effect just described is altogether unaccounted for by 

 the present mathematical theory of the propagation of heat in 

 conductors is not very surprising in view of the fact that that 

 theory postulates the constancy of the specific heat and thermal 

 conductivity of the medium, whereas at high temperatures these 

 properties vary considerably with the temperature, and par- 

 ticularly in the case of iron, the physical state undergoes a 

 complete change of what Hopkinson termed the critical tem- 

 perature, which varies in different specimens from 690° C. to 

 870' C. 



In attempting an explanation of the phenomenon which we 

 have been discussing, it seems to me fair to assume that the 

 heat producing the sudden rise of temperature observed, is not 

 transmitted along the rod with the great velocity observed in 

 the tests, but that it exists at the cooler end of the rod before 

 the rise of temperature occurs. When iron or steel which has 

 been heated to redness is suddenly plunged into water a 

 marked change takes place in the properties of the metal, and if 

 this change of character in the metal is in part transmitted from 

 particle to particle to the other end of the rod, and results in a 

 lowering of the heat capacity of the material, a rise of tem- 

 perature will result as observed. John Stone Stone. 



20 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A., September 19. 



Animals and Poisonous Plants. 



From repeated observations in my own garden, I know that 

 song-thrushes will eat ripe mezereon berries greedily. In the 

 winter of 1896 they cleared a small bush containing, perhaps, 

 two hundred berries, in the course of a week or two, returning at 

 once when driven away, and becoming half- stupefied ; so that 

 they might, apparently, have been caught with the hand. 



Dr. Withering states ("British Plants," ed. 1812) that six 

 berries of this shrub {Daphne mezeretirii) will kill a wolf. 



According to the same authority, Cicitta virosa is a certain 

 poison to cows ; while goats devour it eagerly, and it is not 

 injurious to sheep and horses. As to Atropa belladonna, a case 

 which received much attention at the time may be found in the 

 daily papers of some twenty years ago. A family were poisoned 

 by eating rabbit-pie, the symptoms being those of atropine 

 poisoning; and the inquiry, which followed, showed that rabbits 

 do often eat deadly nightshade berries. J. C. 



Loughton, Essex. 



With reference to Mr. Bennett's inquiry as to the consump- 

 tion of poisonous berries by birds, I remember a young black- 

 bird, some years back, who used to frequent tLe garden of the 

 house in which I was staying, and who eagerly swallowed the 

 berries of the Daphne mezeretim. He was rather tame and 

 would take them when I threw them to him, following them as 

 they rolled along the ground, as a chicken would go after peas. 

 I see that Sowerby confirms the ordinary opinion as to the 



poisonous nature of these berries: "The whole plant is a 

 powerful irritant, both bark, leaves and fruit actmg poison- 

 ously if taken in large quantities. A few of the berries have 

 been known to cause death when swallowed.'" The blackbird did 

 not seem the worse for them. Edward M. Lanoley. 



16 Adelaide Square, Bedford, October 15. 



An Osteometric Index-Calculator. 



I should feel obliged if any of your readers could inform 

 me whether there is in use among anthropologists any mechanical 

 appliance by which indices can be determined without loss of 

 time and the possible inaccuracy attending an arithmetical 

 calculation. 



I am anxious to obtain information on this subject in order 

 to find out if there is any simpler or possibly better instrument 

 than one I have constructed. It consists of a graduated 

 quadrant and a movable arm, and it is very helpful in doings 

 the purely arithmetic work, as it shows accurately, at a glance, 

 the index required from any two figures, and does not work by 

 logarithms, as does the slide rule of engineers, which might be- 

 used for the purpose. David Waterston. 



Anatomical Department, University of Edinburgh, 

 October 11. 



Capture of Curious Crustaceans. 



Two living specimens of that very curious Crustacear> 

 Stenorynckus phalangium were taken in a net, off this coast,, 

 yesterday. E. L. J. Ridsdale. 



The Dene, Rottingdean, October 14. 



NO. T5I 2. VOL. 58] 



A SHORT HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC 



INSTRUCTION} 



IL 



I MUST come back from this excursion to call your 

 attention to the year 1845, i" which one of the germs- 

 of our College first saw the light. 



What was the condition of England in 1845? Her 

 universities had degenerated into hauls lycdes. With 

 regard to the University teaching, I may state that evea 

 as late as the late fifties a senior wrangler— I had the 

 story from himself— came to London from Cambridge 

 expressly to walk about the streets to study crystals, 

 prisms, and the like in the optician's windows. Of 

 laboratories in the universities there were none ; of 

 science teaching in the schools there was none ; there was- 

 no organisation for training science teachers. 



If an artisan wished to improve his knowledge he had 

 only the moribund Mechanics' Institutes to fall back upon. 



The nation which then was renowned for its utilisation 

 of waste material products allowed its mental products to 

 remain undeveloped. 



There was no Minister of Instruction, no councillors 

 with a knowledge of the national scientific needs, no 

 organised secondary or primary instruction. We lacked 

 then everything that Germany had equipped herself with, 

 in the matter of scientific industries. 



Did this matter ? Was it more than a mere abstract 

 question of a want of perfection ? 



It mattered very much 1 From all quarters came the 

 cry that the national industries were being undermined 

 in consequence of the more complete appUcation of 

 scientific methods to those of other countries. 



The chemical industries were the first to feel this, 

 and because England was then the seat of most of the 

 large chemical works.^ , . , . • , 



Very few chemists were employed m these chemical 

 works. There were in cases some so-called chemists at 

 about bricklayers' wages— not much of an inducement ta 

 study chemistry ; even if there had been practical labora- 

 tories, where it could have been properly learnt. Hence 

 when efficient men were wanted they were got from 



1 An address delivered at the Royal College of Science by Sir NormaB 

 .ockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., on October 6. (Continued from page 57S-) 



