154 



NA TURE 



[June 15, 189: 



a stiff, visible pellicle, composed, as it appears, of small 

 -incoherent particles. 



Certain peculiarities of some substances still must be 

 mentioned. 



(1) The contamination due to colophony and palmitic 

 acid continually diminishes, and at last seems to disap- 

 pear altogether on standing, which is not the case with 

 mastic. 



(2) On the other hand, if the surface has been for a 

 moment in contact with a piece of soap, the contamination 

 ■continues to increase after the removal of the soap. 



(3) Stearic acid renders the water surface stiff as soon 

 as the tension begins to sink. 



(4) A surface made anomalous by olive-oil in the 

 •course of twenty-four hours undergoes a change, by 

 which the curve of tension is totally altered. 



On the whole the phenomena are rather complicated, 

 the tension by no means being determined by the 

 quantity of contaminating substance in the unit of area ; 

 but depending considerably upon conditions that are still 

 to be investigated. Especially in the experiments 

 relative to the final tensions attainable by the various 

 substances in the state of utmost concentration I could 

 not succeed in getting definite results. 



Agnes Pockels. 



NOTES. 

 A BRONZE statue of Arago, erected in the grounds behind 

 the Paris Observatory, was unveiled by M. Poincare on Sunday 

 last in the presence of several members of the Institute, the 

 observatory officials, and a few spectators. This is the third 

 monument that has been erected to the memory of that 

 renowned astronomer. 



Prof. Max MCller has had the order of Medjidieh 

 conferred on him by the Sultan of Turkey. This is a graceful 

 ■recognition of Prof. MiiUer's scientific researches. 



Baron von Nordenskjold, of Stockholm, has been elected 

 a Foreign Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



Dr. E. B. Tyler, Curator of the Oxford University 

 Museum, has been elected an Associate of the Brussels Academy 

 of Sciences. 



The announcement that Mr. E. B. Poulton, K.R.S., has 

 been appointed Hope Professor in succession to the late Prof. 

 Westvood will be received with satisfaction by all naturalists 

 who are familiar with this author's work. For more than ten 

 years Mr. PouUon has displayed the greatest activity as an 

 original investigator, more especially in connection with the 

 subject of inject colouration, which he has advanced by many 

 important discoveries. His contributions to insect morphology 

 are sufficient guarantee that the purely systematic side of 

 entomology will not be neglected at Oxford. All who are 

 interested in the status of the University as a centre of bio- 

 logical research will recognise the wisdom of the electors in 

 making their selecdon. 



In the House of Commons on June 8 Mr. Rentoul asked 

 the Secretary of State for War whether he was aware that at 

 the recent Staff College examination there was a striking change, 

 of which no notice had been given, in the nature and scope of 

 the mathematical examination ; and whether steps would be 

 taken to prevent any of the officers who were candidates at the 

 examination being disqualified in consequence of this unusual 

 procedure. Mr. Campbell-Bannerman replied that the change 

 was due to the app lintment of a new examiner, and said that, 

 as the examination is competitive, the candidates would not be 

 put to any disadvantage by the greater difficulty of the ques- 

 tions. This may be a sufficient explanation of the circumstance, 

 but, in many cases, candidates for Government appointments 

 NO 1233, VOL. 48] 



have found upon reading the question paper, that important 

 changes have been made in the character of the examination 

 without any intimation whatever having been given to them. 



A conversazione of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 

 will be held in the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters 

 in Water Colours on Friday evening, June 23. 



The Selborne Society have made arrangements for a visit to 

 Selborne, the home of Gilbert White, on Saturday, June 24. 

 Lord Selborne will occupy the chair at lunch, and be supported 

 by Lord Northbrook, the Earl of Stamford, and Sir John 

 Lubbock, Bart. Tickets for the excursion can be had from 

 Ihe Secretary, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. 



The fourth annual meeting of the Museums' Association will 

 be held in the rootns of the Zoological Society during the first 

 week in July. The formal proceedings will commence on 

 Monday, July 3, at 8.30 p.m., when Sir W. H. Flower, F.R.S., 

 the President-Elect, will deliver an address. It is proposed to 

 devote mornings to the reading and discussion of papers bearing 

 upon the subject of museums, and in the afternoons and even- 

 ings visits will be made to various Metropolitan museums. 

 The arrangements of the meeting will be greatly facilita:ed if 

 those who propose to attend will give early notice to Mr. F. W. 

 Rudler, 28, Jermyn Street, S.W. 



The fifth summer assembly of the National Home Reading 

 Union will be held at Ilkley, Yorkshire, from July I to July 8. 

 The inaugural address will be delivered by the Master of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, and there will be lectures by Mrs. 

 Henry Fawcett, Prof. Michael Foster, Sir Robert Ball, Mr. W. 

 G. Collingwood, Mr. Churton Collins, and others. Short 

 lectures on archaeology, botany, and geology will be given 

 each day, and will be followed by excursions to places of 

 interest in the neighbourhood. There could hardly be a more 

 pleasant road to knowledge than that afforded by such a meet- 

 ing as this. 



Various learned and scientific bodies of Liverpool and the 

 district, being desirous of inviting the British Association to 

 meet at Liverpool in 1896, sent representatives to the Ma}'or on 

 June S for the purpose of soliciting his aid in the furtherance of 

 their object. The Mayor would not pledge himself to any. 

 course of action, but said he would consult the Corporation upon 

 the matter. 



The Permanent Committee of the International Congress of 

 Zoology propose, as the subject for the S. A. I. le Tsarevitch 

 prize, the study of the fauna of one of the great regions of the 

 globe and the relations between this fauna and that of neigh- 

 bouring regions. The award will be made at the Leyden Con- 

 gress in 1895. By the rules of the Congress this prize cannot 

 be given to a Dutch man of science. The jury will accept 

 works bearing upon a branch or a class of the animal kingdom. 

 Manuscripts or printed papers should be written in French and 

 sent, before May I, 1895, to M. le President dn Comite per- 

 manent, Societe Zoologique de France, 7 Rue des Grands- 

 Augustins, Paris. 



With the exception of heavy thunderstorms which 

 occurred in the central part of Ireland during the n^ht of 

 Friday, the 9th inst., in which 1'2 inch of rain fell, and 

 in Merioneth the next day, the weather, as represented 

 by the stations reporting to the Meteorological Office, has 

 been practically rainless over nearly the whole of the British 

 Islands. These conditions were owing to the persistence of an 

 anticyclone over Scandinavia, the North Sea and our own area. 

 The temperature has been somewhat high for the time of year, 

 the highest daily maxima in the south and west having at limes 

 exceeded 75' ; but in the north, and especially on the east coast, 



