January 5, 1893] 



NA rURE 



excluding better known regions such as British India, Siberia 

 proper, Asia Minor, and Syria. The explorations must have 

 some object connected with Natural Science, physical or mathe- 

 matical, and will not be awarded for archaeological or ethno- 

 graphic work. All these prizes will be awarded in December 

 1893. Works for competition to be sent in to the Secretariat 

 before June i. The Prix Leconte, of 50,000 francs, for the 

 most important scientific discovery, will be awarded in 1895. 



The Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, in accor.lance 

 with the will of Dr, Cesare Alessandro Bressa, and in conformity 

 with the programme published December 7, 1876, announces 

 that the term for competition for scientific works and discoveries 

 in the years 1889-92, to which only Italian authors and inventors 

 were entitled, was closed on December 31, 1892. The ninth 

 Bressa prize will be given to the scientific author or inventor, 

 whatever be his nationality, who during the years 1891-94, 

 " according to the judgment of the Royal Academy of Sciences 

 of Turin, shall have made the most important and useful dis- 

 covery, or published the most valuable work on physical and 

 experimental science, natural history, mathematics, chemistry, 

 physiology and pathology, as well as geology, history, geo- 

 graphy and statistics." The term will be closed at the end 

 of December 1894. The sum fixed for the prize, income 

 tax being deducted, is 10,416 francs. Any one who pro- 

 poses to compete must declare his intention within the time 

 above mentioned, by means of a letter addressed to the Pre- 

 sident of the Academy, and send the work he wishes to be 

 considered. The work must be printed. Works which do not 

 obtain the prize will be returned to the authors, when asked 

 for within six months from the adjudication of the prize. None 

 of the national members, resident or not resident, of the Turin 

 Academy can obtain the prize. The Academy gives the prize to 

 the scientific man considered most worthy of it, even if he has 

 not competed. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. hope to publish early in the 

 spring the second volume of Dr. Arthur Gamgee's Treatise on 

 Physiological Chemistry. This volume, which deals with the 

 Digestive Processes, will be followed at no long interval by an 

 enlarged and revised edition of the first volume, which originally 

 appeared in 1880. 



The United States Government is inviting the various Euro- 

 pean Governments to send delegates to an International 

 Conference of Meteorol >gists, to be held at Washington. The 

 following is said to be proposed as a provisional programme of 

 topics to be discussed by the Conference : {a) The organization 

 of additional meteorological work for the benefit of agriculture. 

 ib) The extension to all ports frequented by commerce of the 

 benefits of systematic storm and weather signals, and the in- 

 troduction of a uniform system of storm warnings throughout 

 the world, {c) The cooperation of all nations in the publica- 

 tion of a daily chart of the weather over all the habited lands 

 and frequented oceans for the study of the atmosphere as a 

 whole, and as preparatory to the eventual possibility of pre- 

 dicting important changes several days in advance, (d) The 

 equable apportionment of stations, publications, and expenses 

 among the nations, and the suggestion of practical methods by 

 which to secure observations from those countries that are not 

 represented in this Conference, {e) The encouragement by the 

 respective Governments of special scientific investigations look- 

 ing to the advancement of meteorology. Such other matters 

 as the delegates may think advisable to submit for discussion, 

 or for future report, will also be considered. 



During the past week the sharp frost has continued almost 

 uninterruptedly over these islands, with the exception of a partial 

 thaw on Friday and Saturday, caused by a disturbance in the 

 west spreading to the eastward. The greatest increase of tem- 

 perature occurred in the north and west, but in the south-east of 



NO. I 2 10, VOL. 47] 



England the day readings were only slightly above the freezing- 

 point. There was a complete change in the type of weather at 

 the close of the week ; a large anticyclone had formed over 

 Scandinavia, and the air over nearly the whole of Europe was 

 intensely cold, the minimum in the shade at Haparanda on 

 Sunday re^isteiing 72" below the freezing-point, and the baro- 

 meter on subsequent days rose to 31 inches and upwards in these 

 islands. These conditions were accompanied by cold easterly 

 gales in the south-west of England, while a heavy fall of snow 

 was experienced m the south-eastern districts. On the coast 

 of Kent the shade minimum fell to 11° during Monday night. 

 The Weekly Weather Report issued on December 31 shows 

 that the temperature of that period was much below the mean, 

 amounting to 9° or 10° over the greater part of England, and to 

 12° in the Midland counties. Very little rain fell during the 

 week ; the deficiency of rainfall in the south-western district of 

 Kngland for the last year amounts to 10 8 inches or more than 

 25 per cent, below the average of the 25 years 1866-90. A good 

 deal of fog was experienced at the inland stations during the 

 week. 



Some very interesting entomological notes from the Eastern 

 Archipelago are given by Mr. J. J. Walker in the January num- 

 ber of the Entomolofrists Monthly Magazine. Incidentally Mr. 

 Walker mentions that Dr. Wallace's residence in these islands, 

 after a Upse of more than thirty yea-^s, is not forgotten, and that 

 the Dutch translation of the " Malay Archipelago" is "as 

 highly appreciated in the lands of which he gives so vivid a 

 picture as the original work is at home." 



At the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, Berlin, copies 

 of standard mercury resistances are being constructed in which 

 the mercury does not require renewal [Wiedemann s A nnalen). 

 They consist of U-shaped tubes filled with mercury in a 

 vacuum and then sealed by fusion. Into each of the ends are 

 fused three thin platinum wires connecting with the main 

 current, the secondary circuit, and the galvanometer respec- 

 tively. Since the connecti )ns are rigidly joined to the glass, 

 it is possible to employ platinum wires as thin as 0*3 mm. so 

 that there is no danger of heat being conducted into the 

 mercury from without. The copy, mounted in a perforated 

 brass box with an ebonite lid, is immersed in petrol<;iim con- 

 tained in another brass box, so that the binding screws are 

 covered. This box is again surrounded during the experiment 

 with a mixture of fine ice and water. The resistance is thus 

 taken at a temperature which can easily be obtained, and which 

 is uniform throughout the containing vessel. 



An apparatus for demonstrating the difference of potential 

 at the poles of a galvanic cell has been constructed by Messrs. 

 Elster and Geitel, of Wolfenbiittel {Zeitschr. fiir Phyf. und 

 Chem. Unterricht). It is a modification of Thoms >n's water- 

 dropping influence machine. Two insulated metallic vessels 

 can be filled with water by pressing a rubber ball communicating 

 with a three-necked jar. The jets enter the vessels through twa 

 metal rings. One of these rings is connected with the positive 

 pole of the cell. The jet on passing through becomes negatively 

 charged, and the charge is communicated to the vessel and 

 through a wire to the second ring, which acts by induction on 

 the other jet. A strong positive charge is soon accumulated on 

 the outside of the second vessel, and can be exhibited by a gold 

 leaf or aluminium foil electroscope. 



In 1869 it was decided, in France, to give a medal and pen- 

 sion of 250 francs to every old soldier of the Republic and the 

 Empire who could show two years of service, or two campaigns, 

 or a wound. An interesting statistical record of these "me- 

 dailles de Sainte Hel^ne " as of " a generation which is disap- 

 pearing," is given by M. Turquan in the Revue Scientifiqtu. 

 The first list, in 1870, comprised 43,592 names ; and these mea 



