52^ 



NATURE 



[September 30, 1897 



illustrated, two volumes ; " Elements of Palaeontology," by 

 Prof. Karl A. von Zittel, translated and edited by Dr. Charles 

 R. Eastman, vol. i. (this English edition is revised and 

 enlarged by the author and editor in collaboration with 

 numerous specialists) ; "Light, Visible and Invisible," lectures 

 delivered at the Royal Institution, by Prof. Silvanus P. 

 Thompson, F.R.S., illustrated; "The Founders of Geology," 

 a series of lectures, by Sir Archibald Geikie, P\R.S. ; " A 

 System of Medicine," by Many Writers, edited by Dr. Thomas 

 Clifford Allbutt, F.R.S., vol. iv., containing diseases of the 

 liver, of the pancreas, of the kidney, and of lymphatic and 

 ductless glands, obesity, and diseases of the respiratory organs ; 

 " Electro-Physiology," by Prof. H. Biedermann, translated by 

 Frances A. Welby, vol. ii. ; " Infinitesimal Analysis," by Prof. 

 William Benjamin Smith, vol. i. Elementary ; " On Laboratory 

 Arts," by Prof. Richard Threlfall ; "Recent and Coming 

 Eclipses," by Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., illus- 

 trated ; " The Sun's Place in Nature," by Sir Norman Lockyer, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., illustrated ; " Physiography for Advanced 

 Students," by A. T. Simmons, illustrated ; " The Pruning Book," 

 by L. H. Bailey (Garden Craft Series) ; " Constipation," by Dr. 

 H. Illovvay ; "Entomology," by Dr. A. S. Packard; "A 

 Primer of Elementary Psychology," by Prof. E. B. Titchener ; 

 " American Insects, Weed : Wild Neighbours," by E. Ingersoll ; 

 " Travels in West Africa," by Mary Kingsley, new and 

 popular abridged edition; "The Practitioner's Handbook," 

 by Dr. J. Milrier Fothergill, new edition, revised by Dr. 

 W. Murrell. 



Messrs. Methuen and Co. announce : — " Primaeval Scenes," 

 by Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, illustrated. 



The Rebman Publishing Co. Ltd., announce: — "The 

 Diseases of Women : a Handbook for Students and Prac- 

 titioners of Medicine," by J. Bland Sutton and Dr. Arthur E. 

 Giles, illustrated; "Injuries and Diseases of the Ear: being 

 various papers on Otology," by Macleod Yearsley. 



Messrs. L. Reeve and Co. have in preparation for serial 

 issue: — Anew illustrated work on the " Potamogetons of the 

 British Isles," by Alfred Fryer, illustrated ; an illustrated 

 " Monograph of the Genus Teracolus,'' by Miss E. M. Bowdler 

 Sharpe ; also the final part and concluding volume of the ' ' Flora 

 of British India," by Sir Joseph Hooker, F.R.S. ; new parts of 

 the " Flora Capensis " and the "Flora of Tropical Africa " ; and 

 the fourth volume of C. G. Barrett's " Lepidoptera of the British 

 Isles." 



In Mr. Grant Richard's list we notice : — "The Evolution of 

 the Idea of God : Researches in the Origins of Religion," by 

 Grant Allen ; "The Subconscious Self in its Relation to Educa- 

 tion and Health," by Dr. Louis Waldstein. 



Messrs. Walter Scott, Ltd., will add to the Contemporary 

 Science Series : — "Sleep: its Physiology, Pathology, Hygiene, 

 and Psychology," by Dr. Marie de Manaceine, with diagrams. 



Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., promise: — 

 "Ethics," by Prof. W. Wundt, translated with the author's 

 permission from the second German edition, 3 vols., vol. i. 

 Introduction : the Facts of the Moral Life, translated by 

 Prof. Julia Gulliver and Prof. E. B. Titchener, vol. ii. Ethical 

 Systems, translated by Prof. Margaret Floy Washburn, vol. iii. 

 The Principles of Morality and the Sphere of their Validity, 

 translated by Prof. E. B. Titchener; "Physiological Psycho- 

 logy," by Prof. W. Wundt, translated by Prof. E. B. Titchener, 

 illustrated, 2 vols.; "Practical Ethics," by Prof. Henry Sidg- 

 wick ; " A History of Contemporary Philosophy," by Prof. 

 Friedrich Ueberweg, edited by Prof. Max Heinze, translated by 

 William A. Hammond (forms a supplement to Flrdmann's 

 "History of Philosophy"); "A Student's Text-book of 

 Zoology," by Adam Sedgwick, F.R.S. , illustrated, 2 vols.; 

 "Text-Book of Palaeontology for Zoological Students, by 

 Theodore T. Groom, illustrated; "Text-Book of Embry- 

 ology : Invertebrates," by Drs. Korschelt and Heider, vol. ii. 

 Crustacea and Arachnoids, translated by Mrs. Bernard with 

 the assistance of Mrs. Woodward, illustrated; "Practical 

 Plant Physiology," by Prof. Wilhelm Detmer, translated by 

 Prof. S. A. Moor ; " Handbook of Practical Botany, for the 

 Botanical Laboratory and Private Student," by Prof. E. Stras- 

 burger, edited by Prof. W. Hillhouse, new and revised edition, 

 illustrated ; "Introduction to the Study of Organic Chemistry," 

 by John Wade, illustrated ; "Radiation," by H. H. F. Hyndman ; 

 "The Elements of Number," Part v. Compound Rules applied 

 to W^eights and Measures, Length,, Weight, Capacity, Time, 

 Divisors and Multipliers not exceeding 99, by Edith A. Sonnen- 



NO. 1457, VOL. 56] 



schein ; Young Collector Series: " Fishes," by the Rev. H. 

 A. Macpherson ; " Handbook of Grasses," by W. Hutchinson, 

 illustrated; "Mammalia," by the Rev. H A. Macpherson; 

 "Birds' Eggs and Nests," by W. C. J. Ruskin Bntterfield ; 

 " The Science and Art of Arithmetic," by A. Sonnenschein. 

 and H. A. Nesbit, new edition; " The Dynamo : how made 

 and how used," by S. R. Bottone, a new edition, illustrated, 

 and an Appendix on the Construction of a Six-Unit Dynamo. 



Messrs. Thacker and Co.'s list includes : — " Infective Diseases 

 of Animals," by Captain M. H. Hayes, being Part i . of the 

 translation of Friedberger and P'roehner's " Pathology of 

 Domestic Animals," translated and annotated by Captain M. 

 H. Hayes, Dr. Newman, and others, in 2 vols, (sold 

 separately). 



Mr. Fisher Unwin announces: — "Masters of Medicine," 

 edited by Dr. Ernest Hart, each with photogravure frontispiece ; 

 vol. i. John Hunter, by Stephen Paget, vol. ii. William Harvey, 

 by D'Arcy Power. 



Messrs. Warne and Co.'s forthcoming scientific books are : — 

 " P^avourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse," and a new 

 edition of Armatage's "Cattle Doctor." 



Messrs. Whittaker and Co.'s announcements include : — 

 " Central Station Electricity Supply," by A. Gay and C. H. 

 Yeaman ; "Alternating Currents of Electricity: a Practical 

 Treatise upon their application to industries," authorised trans- 

 lation from the French of Loppe and Bouquet, by T. J. Moffett \, 

 Prof. Reychler's " Les Theories Physico-Chimiques," translated 

 by Dr. Ferdmand Hurler ; "The 'Theory and Practice of Ana- 

 lytical Electrolysis of Metals," translated from the German of 

 Dr. Bernard Neumann by J. B. C. Kershaw; " Whittaker's 

 Mechanical Engineer's Pocket-Book," by Philip J. Bjorling ; 

 "The Inspection of Railway Material," by G. R. Bodmer ; 

 "The Elements of Geography," by Charles Bird; "Electric 

 Lighting and Power Distribution," by W. Perren Maycock,. 

 third edition, re-written, vol. ii. 



LONG RANGE TEMPERATURE AND 

 PRESSURE VARIABLES IN PHYSICS.^ 



Methods of Pyrometry. 

 nrilE endeavour to provide suitable apparatus for high tem- 

 -*■ perature measurement is one of long standing. The student 

 of the subject is fairly overwhelmed with the variety of devices 

 which have been proposed. There are few phenomena in physics- 

 which have not in some way or other been impressed into pyro- 

 metric service, often indeed by methods of exquisite physical 

 torture. I cannot, of course, even advert to many of these this 

 afternoon, as my purpose will have to be restricted to such 

 devices as have usefully survived. Thus a whole group of 

 " intrinsic thermoscopes," as Lord Kelvin calls them — apparatus- 

 in which some property of the substance is singled out for 

 measurement — will be overlooked. Pyrometry will some day 

 receive substantial aid from the phenomena of solid thermal ex- 

 pansion, dear to the hearts of old Wedgwood, of Prof. Daniells, 

 of the citoyen Guyton-Morveau, and recently to Prof. Nichols, 

 Dr. Joly and others; but even the " meldometer," which has 

 received Ramsay's encouragement, and recent heroic attempts ta 

 measure the expansion of platinum, have not yet entered the 

 arena to stay.^ The same may be said of vapour pressure, 

 ebullition and certain dissociations, of which the former is en- 

 tirely too liberal in dispensing pressure, and the latter too negli- 

 gent in readjusting it. Little has been done with heat conduc- 

 tion regarded as subservient to the measurement of high 

 temperatures ; little with colour and the spectrum, even though 

 Draper and Langley in America, and many others elsewhere 

 have paid tribute ; little with polarisation. The wave-length of 

 sound has told Cagniard Latour and our own A. M. Mayer 

 much about high temperature, but it did not tell them enough. 



Throughout the history of pyrometry, fusion seems to have 

 come forward for journeyman duty. What is more convenient 

 than to find whether the degree of red heat is too low or too 

 I high from the fusion of prepared alloys. As far back as 1828- 

 Prinsep, aware of the golden opportunity, with his air thermometer 

 determined the melting point of some equally sprecious alloys of 

 1 An address delivered by Prof. Carl Barus, before the Section of Physics, 

 at the Detroit Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, August 1897. 



2 Noteworthy attempts to replace mercury b^ a liquid potassio-sodium 

 alloy in glass thermometers are among the novelties. 



