59^ 



NATURE 



[October 21, 1897 



it will be seen that the amount of energy going on in the tissues 

 •of a patient whose temperature is rising must be very consider- 

 atile, and about thirteen times greater than the above figures, 

 for these figures apply only to the blood. Mr. Lloyd suggests 

 that the difficult problem with regard to the number of atoms 

 in the molecule of protoplasm, which has hitherto baffled 

 physiologists, may be finally solved by an accurate determination 

 of the specific heat of living protoplasm. 



We are sorry to learn that Mr. Alfred Allen, of Bath, finds it 

 necessary to discontinue the J otirnal of Microscopy and Natural 

 Science, which he has edited for the last sixteen years, in con- 

 sequence of the circulation being slightly too small to cover the 

 cost of publication. The last number is one of the best that we 

 have seen, and contains articles by Dr. Jabez Hogg on " The 

 so-called Jumping Bean of Mexico," by E. Steinhouse on " How 

 Plants live and work," and a reprint of an important paper by 

 Dr. August Forel, of Zurich, on " Ants' Nests." The Postal 

 Microscopical Society, with which the yournal was semi- 

 officially connected, will still be continued. 



The problems of the liquefaction of the more permanent 

 ^ases has always aroused a considerable amount of scientific 

 interest, and this has been especially the case with fluorine, in 

 which there is the added difficulty of the extraordinary chemical 

 activity of the gas. The successful issue of this problem was 

 ifirst announced by Profs. Moissan and Dewar in May last (see 

 p. 126), and in the current number of the Contptes reiidus of 

 the Paris Academy of Sciences, there is a further contribution 

 to this subject by the same authors. In the preliminary account, 

 ^special interest was excited by the description of a white 

 explosive substance, apparently a compound of fluorine and 

 oxygen ; it is now shown, however, that liquid fluorine and 

 liquid oxygen mix in all proportions if the oxygen is perfectly 

 dry, and that it is the presence of moisture which determines the 

 formation of the white explosive body, which would appear to 

 be simply a hydrate of fluorine, decomposable with detonation by 

 a slight rise of temperature. In the earlier experiments it was 

 found that fluorine could not be liquefied by oxygen boiling 

 under atmospheric pressure, but it is now shown that freshly 

 prepared liquid air, boiling under the same conditions, can effect 

 the liquefaction. The boiling point of fluorine is found to be 

 — 187° C, and there is no sign of solidification nor even of loss 

 of mobility at - 210° C. The density of fluorine, as determined 

 by the flotation of solids of known density, is i'i4, and the 

 liquid is devoid both of magnetic action and of any absorptive 

 effect upon the spectrum. The chemical reactions of the liquid 

 are curious, as although at - 210° there is no action upon water 

 or mercury, it still combines violently with hydrogen and essence 

 of turpentine. A little of the liquid fluorine, accidentally spilt, 

 set fire to the wooden floor. 



The subtropical garden of Mr. Thos. Hanbury, at Palazzo 

 Orengo, La Mortola, near Ventimiglia, is well known to all 

 visitors to the Riviera. Mr. Hanbury has just issued an alpha- 

 betical catalogue of plants growing in the open air in the 

 garden, compiled by K. Dinter. It occupies fifty-three quarto 

 pages. The native country is given of each species. 



The current number of the Journal of the Royal Statistical 

 Society contains the Howard Medal Prize Essay, by Dr. James 

 Kerr, on " School Hygiene, in its Mental, Moral, and Physical 

 Aspects." The subject for the medal to be awarded in 1898 

 ((with 20/. as heretofore) is "The Treatment of Habitual 

 Offenders, with special reference to their Increase or Decrease 

 in various Countries." 



The Physical Society of London meets on Friday, October 

 29, at the rooms of the Chemical Society. Prof. Stroud will 

 exhibit and describe the Barr and Stroud naval range finder, 

 and also a telemetrical focometer and spherometer ; Mr. Acker- 

 tnann will exhibit a surface-tension experiment. 

 NO. 1460. VOL. 56] 



At the meeting of the Chemical Society on Thursday, 

 November 4, the following papers will be read :— " The Pro- 

 perties of Liquid Fluorine," by Profs. Moissan and J. Dewar ; 

 "The Liquefaction of Air and the Detection of Impurities" 

 and "The Absorption of Hydrogen by Palladium at High 

 Temperatures and Pressures," by Prof. Dewar. 



A NEW instalment of the second edition of Dr. W. Ostwald's • 

 " Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Chemie " has just been published 

 by Engelmann of Leipzig. The first volume of the new 

 edition was completed in 1891, and the first part of the second 

 volume appeared in 1893. These portions of the work have 

 already been reviewed in Nature (vol. xlviii. p. 49, 1893). 

 We announced nearly a year ago the publication of the first 

 section of the second part of the second volume, dealing almost 

 entirely with the history of chemical affinity, and now the 

 second section has appeared. In this section chemical dynamics 

 is treated under two heads — chemical kinetics and chemical 

 statics. It is announced that the remaining parts of the work 

 will be published in the course of next year, and we propose to 

 defer our review until the work is completed. At the present 

 time we will only say that chemists will be glad when the 

 second volume is finished ; for, to repeat the opinion already 

 expressed in these columns, "its appearance will serve to com- 

 plete a work which goes further than any other to show how 

 chemistry and physics must be united in the endeavour to arrive 

 at the real nature of material phenomena." 



" The Bibliography of X-Ray Literature and Research, 

 1896-1897," will be published in a few days by The Electrician 

 Printing and Publishing Company. The book is edited by Mr. 

 C. E. S. Phillips, who has also contributed an historical retro- 

 spect, and a chapter on " Practical Hints on Rontgen Ray- 

 Work." The same Company will also issue at the end of 

 October a new work by Messrs. Fisher and Darby, entitled 

 "The Student's Manual to Submarine Cable-Testing." Mr. 

 Young J. Pentland announces: — "Text-Book of Physiology, 

 by British Physiologists," edited by Prof. E. A. Schiifer, F.R.S., 

 two vols., illustrated; "Text-Book of Medicine, by British 

 Teachers," edited by Dr. G. A. Gibson, illustrated ; " Manual 

 j of Operative Surgery," by H. J. Waring, illustrated ; " Manual 

 I of Diseases of Women," by Dr. J. Clarence Webster, illustrated ; 

 j " Diseases of the Heart and Circulation," by Dr. G. A. Gibson, 

 illustrated ; "The Principles of Treatment," by Dr. J. Mitchell 

 Bruce ; " Diseases of the Kidneys," by Dr. Robert Maguire ; 

 " Manual of Midwifery," by Dr. R. Milne Murray, illustrated ; 

 " Examination of the Eye," by Simeon Snell, illustrated ; 

 " Edinburgh Hospital Reports," edited by Drs. G. A. Gibson, 

 C. W. Cathcart, John Thomson, and D. Berry Hart, vol. v. ; 

 " Diabetes Mellitus : its Symptoms, Pathology, and Treatment," 

 by Dr. R. T. Williamson. 



A SHORT historical account of the Royal Society of Canada, 

 and the work it has accomplished, is contributed to the Canadian 

 Magazine by the honorary secretary, Dr. J. G. Bourinot, C. M.G. 

 The Society was established on the initiative of the Marquis of 

 Lome, then Governor-General of Canada. The first meeting 

 was held in May 1882, under the presidency of the distin- 

 guished geologist. Dr. (now Sir) J. W. Dawson. The member- 

 ship to begin with amounted to eighty Fellows, who had written 

 — to quote the constitution — " memoirs of merit or rendered 

 eminent services to literature or science"; a number subse- 

 quently increased to a hundred, or twenty-five each to the four 

 sections of (i) French Literature and History; (2) English 

 Literature, History and Archaeology ; (3) Mathematical, 

 Physical and Chemical Sciences ; (4) Geological and Biological 

 Sciences. From the very commencement the Canadian Royal 

 Society has been composed of men who have devoted them- 

 selves with ability and industry to the pursuit of literature, 



