134 



NA TURE 



[December io, 1891 



of it. Had I known of it, I should not have thought my 

 paper worthy of being presented to the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, as Mr. Burch has anticipated me in the 

 fundamental method of observation. 



The reaction mentioned in the postscript is to be taken 

 merely as a specimen of the reactions, on the inside of 

 the carbon stratum, by which the carbon may be re- 

 engaged in a gaseous combination. Carbonic oxide is 

 only one of the combustible gases, not originally present, 

 which are formed during the process of combustion, and 

 are found inside the envelope in which the combustion is 

 going on. — G. G. S., November 20, 1891.] 



NOTES. 



The annual general meeting of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers will be held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 

 25 Great George Street, Westminster, this evening (Thursday), 

 at 8 o'clock, for the reception of the annual report of the 

 Council, and for the election of Council and officers for the year 

 1892. The following paper will be read : — " On the Specifica- 

 tion of Insulated Conductors for Electric Lighting and other 

 purposes," by W. H. Preece, F.R.S., Past-President. 



The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen 

 offers two prizes of 400 and 600 kronen respectively, for investi- 

 gations on the exact nature and proportions of the more im- 

 portant carbo-hydrates present, at different stages of maturity, 

 in the cereals in most general use ; and for investigations on the 

 Phytoptus galls found in Denmark, with a monograph on the 

 insects producing them. The prizes are to be awarded in 

 October 1893. 



An improved armillary sphere has been patented by Prof. J. 

 S. Slater, of Calcutta University, which differs from other 

 spheres of the same kind in having a latitude circle to which 

 the celestial sphere is hinged, and in being provided with a 

 movable horizon which adjusts itself to the selected latitude. It 

 can be obtained from Messrs. Walsh, Lovett, and Co., Philpot 

 Lane, E.C. 



The next one-man photographic exhibition organized by the 

 Camera Club will consist of pictures by Mr. J. Pattison Gibson, 

 of Hexham. It will be opened in connection with a concert to 

 be held on the first Monday in January, 1892. 



With the consent of the Sultan of Muscat, the Survey of 

 India is about to establish a tidal observatory at Muscat. This 

 will probably be followed by the establishment of another 

 observatory of the same kind at Bushire in the Persian Gulf. 



We have had some correspondence with Prof. Arnold about 

 our notice of his speech at the recent meeting of the Institution 

 of Mechanical Engineers. Referring to his remarks on Prof. 

 Roberts- Austen's "Report to the Alloys Research Committee," 

 we expressed the opinion that it was rather straining the pre- 

 rogative of rhetoric to speak of the work done by Prof. Roberts- 

 Austen as "not worth a rush." We did not intend to imply 

 that Prof. Arnold applied the expression "not worth a rush " to 

 the whole of the work on which Prof. Roberts- Austen reported. 

 He wishes us to state that what he said was, that he thought 

 "any analogue obtained fron:i a comparison of simple bodies 

 like gold and lead with a complex body like steel would not be 

 worth a rush." 



The reports of the examiners on the results of the science 

 examinations held in Aj-ril and May 1891 have been issued. 

 The examinations related to building construction, naval archi- 

 tecture, mathematics, theoretical mechanics, applied mechanics, 

 magnetism and electricity and alternative elementary physics, 

 NO. IT 54, VOL. 45] 



chemistry, geology, mineralogy, animal physiology, botany, 

 the principles of mining, navigation and nautical astronomy, 

 steam, the principles of agriculture, and hygiene. 



Mrs. R. M. Crawshay, writing to us from Mentone, on 

 December 2, about the recent eclipse of the moon, refers to the 

 fact that " the Rev. A. Freeman and Mr. R. T. Leslie are not 

 agreed as to the shadow on the moon's disk having colours or 

 not." For some time there were illuminations and fireworks 

 at Monte Carlo on account of the birthday of the Prince of 

 Monaco, and, when these were over, clouds suddenly came up. 

 " It was only," Mrs. Crawshay says, " when the moon was very 

 nearly half obscured that I caught a glimpse of her without any 

 colouring whatever, orange or otherwise. One could only liken 

 it to a painting in Indian ink." 



Mr. George T. Bettany, who was well-known as a popular 

 writer on scientific subjects, died on December 2 in his forty- 

 second year. For some years he lectured on botany at Guy's 

 Hospital. Conjointly with Prof. Parker, he wrote a work on 

 "The Morphology of the Skull." He was also the author of 

 "The World's Inhabitants," and other books. For Messrs. 

 Ward, Lock, and Co., he edited " Science Primers for the 

 People " and "The Minerva Library." 



An interesting paper on aluminium and its application to 

 photography, by Mr. G. L. Addenbrooke, is printed in the 

 December number of the Journal of the Camera Club. Mr. 

 Addenbrooke thinks aluminium ought now to supersede brass 

 for photographic lenses and the metal parts of cameras. By its 

 use the weight of lenses, flanges, and adapture is reduced nearly 

 to one-third. He is also in favour of aluminium being used for 

 the revolving tripod heads fixed in the bare boards of cameras, 

 as these are rather too heavy in brass. " In hand-cameras," he 

 says, "I think the metal should be useful in most places where 

 there are metal parts. I am also not without hopes that dark 

 slides may be made in it altogether, which will be lighter and 

 more compact than the wooden ones. For developing-dishes, 

 also, it is very suitable, as the action of most of the chemicals 

 used in photography is very slight on it, and when there is any, 

 the compounds formed would not be harmful." 



In his latest communication to the American Journal of 

 Science (for November), Prof. Goodale describes his visit to the 

 Queensland Museum at Brisbane, under the charge of Mr. 

 De Vis, rich in specimens illustrating the natural history and 

 ethnology of the colony. An account is also given of the 

 well-known Botanic Garden and Laboratories at Buitenzorg in 

 Java, under the directorship of Dr. Treub, and of the annex on 

 a contiguous mountain ; of the Botanic Garden and Experi- 

 mental Garden at Singapore, under the control of Mr. Ridley ; 

 and of the new and at present but poorly developed Botanic 

 Garden at Saigon in French China. 



Poisoning by mussels is a well-known fact. Such poisoning 

 appears in chronic form in Tierra del Fuego, mussels being 

 abundant on the shores, and other kinds of food rare, so that the 

 natives eat large quantities of the former daily, both of bad 

 and of good quality. According to a doctor of the Argentine 

 fleet, M. Segers, the mussels are rarely injurious at their 

 maximum time of growth, which corresponds with full moon, but 

 when the moon wanes, they become poor and often poisonous. 

 The poisonous quality apparently results from the death of a 

 large number at this time, and the putrefaction of their bodies 

 yielding ptomaines which are absorbed by the surviving mollusks. 

 In any case, the Fuegians are often attacked by a liver com- 

 plaint, consisting in atrophy of the organ, with jaundiced colour 

 of the skin and tendency to htemorrhage ; and M. Segers 

 believes this is due to mussel poisoning. He finds sulphate of 

 atropine an efficacious antidote. 



