July i, 1897] 



NATURE 



205 



NOTES. 

 M. Hatt has been elected a member of the Section de 

 ("■eographie et Navigation of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 in succession to the late M. d'Abbadie ; and Prof, de Lapparent, 

 professor of mineralogy, geology, and physical geography in 

 the Paris Ecole libra des hautes etudes, has been elected a 

 member of the Academy, in succession to the late M. des 

 Cioizeaux. 



We regret to announce the death, at sixty-seven years of age, 

 of Prof. P. Schtitzenberger, professor of chemistry at the 

 College de France, and member of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences. 



M. MaiiriceLkvy AM) M. Leaute will represent the Paris 

 Ac:»demy of Sciences at the inauguration of the statue of Per- 

 ronet at Neuilly, on Sunday next, July 4. 



The eightieth annual meeting of the Societe helvetique des 

 sciences naturelles (the Swiss Association of Naturalists) 

 will be held at Engelberg, in the pretty Alpine village of 

 Kngelberg (Obwalden), on September 12-15. The Committee 

 has issued a very cordial letter of invitation, in which it is 

 pointed out that though Engelberg does not offer the resources 

 and pleasures of a large town, or exhibit such a solid testimony 

 to scientific movement as is seen at Ziirich, where the Associa- 

 tion met last year, nevertheless the little village at the foot of 

 snow-capped Titlis has attractions of its own, and the welcome 

 which will be extended to the members will be a very hearty 

 t)ne. The meeting will open with a reception at five o'clock in 

 the evening of Sunday, September 12. On the following day 

 there will be a general meeting, after which an excursion and a 

 banquet will be the order of the day. On September 14 the 

 sections will meet in the morning, but the afternoon and evenfng 

 will be devoted to lighter pleasures. The second general meet- 

 ing will take place on September 15, and the session will be 

 closed on the same day. The railway and steamboat com- 

 panies offer special facilities to members of the Association, and 

 the charges at hotels will be reduced. The hearty invitation of 

 the Committee, and the place of meeting (in one of the most 

 beautiful valleys of the Alps), will doubtless attract many men 

 of science to go with friends or families to Engelberg next 

 September. It is hoped that those who propose to attend the 

 meeting will notify their intention before the end of July. 

 Letters should be addressed to the President of the Annual 

 Committee, Herr PL Etlin, Arzt, Sarnen, Obwalden. 



The Albert Medal for the present year has been awarded, 

 with the approval of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, the Pre- 

 sident of the Society of Arts, to Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., "for 

 the services he has rendered to the United Kingdom by affording 

 to engineers engaged in the water supply and the sewage of 

 towns a trustworthy basis for their work, by establishing and 

 carrying on, during nearly forty years, systematic observations 

 (now at over 3000 stations) of the rainfall of the British Isles, 

 and by recording, tabulating, and graphically indicating the 

 results of these observations in the annual volumes published by 

 himself." 



The annual meeting of the American Microscopical Society 

 will be held at Toledo, Ohio, on August 5-7, under the pre- 

 sidency of Prof. E. W. Claypole. 



In the House of Lords on Tuesday, Lord Hobhouse moved 

 the second reading of the Sunday Bill. The object of the Bill 

 was to amend the Lord's Day Act of 1781, which is now being 

 vexatiously used to repress attempts to improve the rational use 

 of Sunday by means of lectures and musical performances. 

 After discussion, the second reading was rejected by 50 votes 

 to 33- 



NO. 1444. VOL. 56] 



A pi;blic meeting will be held in the Botanical Theatre of 

 University College, Gower Street, t6-morrow at 4 p.m., to 

 inaugurate the personal memorial to the late Sir John Pender. 

 Mr. Onslow Ford's bust of Sir John Pender will be on view, 

 and a cheque for 5000/. , to endow the electrical laboratory of 

 University College, will be handed over to the Trustees. The 

 gift will be acknowledged by Lord Reay on behalf of the 

 College. The Marquis of Tweeddale will preside, and Lord 

 Kelvin is expected to be present and speak. 



A COMMISSION, consisting of Prof, D. T. McDougal, of the 

 State University of Minnesota, and Prof. Campbell, has lately 

 visited Jamaica and other of the West Indian Islands, to select 

 a site for an international botanical laboratory in the tropics. 

 American botanists have long been considering the advisability 

 and expediency of the establishment of such an institution, 

 which, if it is founded, will be of great value as a permanent 

 research laboratory. 



The New York Zoological Society is making special efforts 

 to increase its membership and obtain subscriptions and endow- 

 ments for the Zoological Gardens, to be established in South 

 Bronx Park (see vol. Iv. p. 613). The Society requires 250, coo- 

 dollars for the erection of animal buildings, aviaries, and "other 

 enclosures, and for the purchase of a series of mammals, birds, 

 and reptiles with which to fill them. The sum of 100,000 

 dollars is urgently required, and should be obtained before 

 August I, as that amount must be pledged before any work oi> 

 the proposed Zoological Park can begin. There ought not to 

 be any difficulty in obtaining this amount if the rich citizens of 

 the largest and wealthiest city in America have any public 

 spirit. 



At Shoreditch, on Monday, Lord Kelvin opened a central 

 electric station, in which the motive power Js steam produced 

 by a destructor which is to be fed with household refuse as 

 fuel. From the Times we learn that there are twelve destructor 

 cells, each having a grate area of twenty-five square feet, and 

 heating six water-tube boilers working at a pressure of 200' 

 pounds to the square inch. The chimney is 150 feet high and 

 7 feet in internal diameter at the top, and, in addition, there 

 are three electrically-driven fans, which each deliver 8000 cubic 

 feet of air a minute with a maximum ash-pit pressure of three 

 inches of water. An interesting feature is the employment of 

 Mr. Druitt Halpin's system of feed thermal storage. As it is 

 necessary to keep the destructors burning continuously, steam, 

 is generated during all the twenty-four hours. But as power 

 is required on a large scale during only a portion of that time,, 

 in order to reduce waste a plan of heat storage has been in- 

 troduced, by which, during the day, steam is mixed in a vessel 

 with cold water in such proportions that at evening the 

 cylinder is full of water at the temperature and pressure of the 

 steam required by the engines. The boilers are fed with this 

 heated water, and are said to be enabled in consequence to 

 produce one-third more steam than they would if working with 

 water direct from the mains. As to the amount of refuse con- 

 sumed, it is expected that the most efficient rate will be between 

 eight and twelve tons a day. The electrical plant at present 

 consists of three generators working at iioo volts, and three 

 low-tension dynamos at 165 volts. All are driven by Willans' 

 three-crank engines, coupled direct. Orders have already beea 

 received to nearly the full capacity of the present plant. la 

 declaring the undertaking ready for public use. Lord Kelvin 

 said that it was worthy of the Victorian era as an example of 

 the combination of scientific forethought, mechanical skill, and 

 courage, which had nothing of gambling in it, but simply 

 brought into practice recognised engineering possibilities. Dust 

 destructors have been tried for some years in order to get quit 



