ii6 



NA TURE 



[December 3, 1891 



the spectrum of the totally colour-blind is considerably 

 shortened ; in this case it began about 665 m, and ceased about 

 420 fx.. The greatest intensity was in the green. Further, it 

 appeared that all coloured radiations had the same relations of 

 brightness to each other for the adapted normal eye as for the 

 eye of the colour-blind person. With any two spectral lights, 

 again, an equality of sensation could be produced in this 

 person, when a suitable ratio of intensities was established ; 

 and when the two different colours, which seemed equal to the 

 colour-blind, were examined with the normal eye (adapted to 

 darkness), it was found that these two colours had equal white 

 valences. In general, the brightness-curve of the spectrum of 

 the colour-blind had the same course as the curve of white 

 valences for the normal eye. These facts are regarded as a 

 strong confirmation of the author's views. 



The Morgue in Paris now has a medico-legal institute at- 

 tached to it, with courses of lectures, &c. The need of frigorific 

 apparatus has been long felt, and in a recent competition for the 

 supply of it, the arrangement proposed by MM. Mignon and 

 Rouart (Carre's system) has been selected by a Committee, and 

 will be worked out. According to the Report {Bulletin de la 

 Soc. (T Encouragement), Prof. Brouardel imposed three condi- 

 tions : (i) to submit bodies, on arrival, to a temperature of -15° 

 to — 20° C. (this on account of bad conductivity and slowness 

 of freezing internally, also the advanced state of decomposition 

 often met with) ; (2) to take them into a room with temperature 

 varying between — 4° and - 1° ; and (3) to keep ten bodies at a 

 temperature of - 4°, Further, vibration was to be avoided, and 

 the air kept still. The method of Carre, it is known, depends 

 on changes in an aqueous solution of ammoniacal gas, the gas 

 being driven off by heat, liquefied^by its press ure, vaporized, and 

 absorbed by water. Chloride of calcium is used to transmit the 

 cold ; this liquid passing through pipes in the wooden walls of 

 a freezing cell, into which the body is pushed on a carriage. Ten 

 hours is enough for-, the largest body : it becomes hard as wood. 

 The after-process is easier. Bodies can be kept thus more than 

 eight months, though decomposition had begun before freezing. 

 When an autopsy is to be made, the body is put into a case 

 which is heated with gas burners, and afterwards it may be 

 relegated to the frozen state to be kept longer. To keep bodies 

 at - 2° in a hall, for exhibition to the public, presented special 

 difficulties. How these were overcome may be learned from the 

 above-mentioned Report. 



The new number of the Journal of the ; Marine Biological 

 Association of the United Kingdom (new series, vol. ii.. No. 2) 

 opens with the Council's report for 1890-91 and the Director's 

 report. The weather was extremely unfavourable for continuous 

 and systematic dredging ; nevertheless the boats of the Labora- 

 tory were constantly employed on every suitable day, and a 

 considerable amount of material was collected. The preservation 

 of specimens has been much more carefully attended to than 

 formerly. One man now devotes almost his entire time to this 

 work. The following are the other contents of the present 

 number : — The egg and larva of Callionymus lyra, by J. T. 

 Cunningham (with plate v.) ; experiments on the production of 

 artificial baits, by Frank Hughes ; the rate of growth of some 

 Sea fishes and their distribution at different ages, by J. T. 

 Cunningham ; on some Ascidians from the Isle of Wight — a 

 study in variation and nomenclature, by Walter Garstang (with 

 plates vi. and vii.) ; on the development of Palinurus vulgaris, 

 the rock lobster or sea crayfish, by J. T. Cunningham (with 

 plates viii. and ix. ) ; the reproduction and growth of the 

 pilchard, by J. T. Cunningham (with plate x.); the distribution 

 of Crystallogobius nilssonii, by J. T. Cunningham ; physical 

 investigations, preliminary paper, by H. N. Dickson (with plate 

 xi.) ; notes on meteorological observations at Plymouth, by 

 H. N. Dickson ; notes on the herring, long-line, and pilchard 

 NO. II 53, VOL. 45] 



fisheries of Plymouth (continued), by William Roach, Associate 

 Member ; note on a British Cephalopod — Illex eblancc (Ball)» 

 by William E. Hoyle ; notes and memoranda. 



Prof. Kaufmann, of Liege, has issued a useful " Student " 

 Guide" to the Liege School of Mines and Engineering, the 

 Montefiore Electro-technical Institute, and the principal en- 

 gineering firms in Liege and the environs. He quotes from an 

 official report by Mr. Vice-Consul Menzies a statement to the 

 effect that the advantages offered by Liege from an educational 

 point of view do not seem to be duly appreciated in the 

 United Kingdom. While the youth of almost all the other 

 European nations are fairly, and in some instances largely, 

 represented at the Liege University, the British students rarely 

 number more than five or six at a time, and sometimes not even 

 that. 



A " Handy List of Books on Mines and Mining" has been 

 compiled and published by Mr, H. E. Haferkorn, of the 

 Milwaukee Public Library. He describes it as an alphabetical 

 reference catalogue, arranged under authors and subjects, and 

 including analytical references to the contents of important 

 works. 



Messrs. Whittaker and Co. have issued the fourth edition 

 of the "Working and Management of an English Railway," by 

 George Finlay. In June 1890 the author read a paper at the 

 Royal United Service Institution, on the transport of troops by 

 rail within the United Kingdom. The substance of this paper 

 he has embodied in the chapter on railways as a means of 

 defence. To the present edition he has also added, as an 

 appendix, a lecture (with emendations) delivered at the Society 

 of Arts, on modern improvements of facilities in railway 

 travelling. 



Messrs. Whittaker and Co. have in the press a second 

 edition of Dr. A. B. Grififiths's "Treatise on Manures." It is a 

 little more than two years since the work appeared. Fifty pages 

 of new matter have been added. 



The third edition of "Electricity, treated Experimentally 

 for the Use of Schools and Students," by Linnaeus Gumming, 

 has been published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. 

 The author has made such additions and alterations as seemed 

 necessary to bring the book up to date. 



A NEW edition of Prof. A. Humboldt Sexton's " Elementary 

 Inorganic Chemistry " (Blackie and Son) has been issued. To 

 meet the alterations in the syllabus of the Science and Art 

 Department, the author has recast the part dealing with 

 qualitative analysis. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science 



has just issued the Proceedings of its meeting (the thirty-ninth) 



held at Indianapolis, Indiana, in August 1890. 



Part 38 of Cassell's "New Popular Educator" has been 



published. Besides the illustrations in the text, it includes a 



good map of Spain and Portugal, 



The second series of lectures given by the Sunday Lecture 



Society begins on Sunday afternoon, December 6, in St. 



George's Hall, Langham Place, at 4 p.m., when Mr. Eric S. 



Bruce will lecture on " Fogs and their Prevention." Lectures 



will subsequently be given by Prof. J. F. Blake, Prof. Vivian 



B. Lewes, Prof. Percy Frankland, F.R.S., Dr. Benjamin W. 



Richardson, F.R.S., Mr, Whitworth Wallis, and Mr. Willmott 



Dixon. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 



past week include a '&z.x\i^rj'^o\i.%t.{Mus barbarus)ixova. Barbary, 



a Chinese Blue Magpie {Cyanopolius cyanus) from China, two 



Brown Thrushes {Turdus leucomelas) from South America, 



purchased ; a Vulpine Phalanger {Phalangista vulpina), born in 



the Gardens. 



