572 



NA TURE 



[October 12, 1893 



Mr. W. F. Petterd has issued, through Mr. Wm. Grahame, 

 Jun., Hobart, a catalogue of the minerals known to occur in 

 Tasmania, with notes on their distribution. 



We have received reports containing the results of physical 

 and meteorological observations mide on the coast of Germany 

 during the first half of 1892. The reports are published by Herr 

 Paul Parey, Berlin. 



The last ordinary meeting of the session of the North of 

 England Institute of Technical Brewing will take place in 

 Manchester on October 20, when Prof. Percy Frankland, F. R. S. , 

 will read a paper on " The Polariscope in relation to Chemical 

 Constitution." 



The Upper Norwood Literary and Scientific Society has 

 prepared a varied programme of lectures for the coming session, 

 in which science and literature are given equal prominence, and 

 are treated by well-known lecturers. 



A MEMOIR, by Dr. Carlos Berg, the Director of the National 

 Museum at Buenos Ayres, on Geotria macrostoma (Burm.), Birg, 

 and Thalassophyrne Montevidensis, Berg, has been reprinted 

 from the Anales del Museo de la Plata. 



The second part of " Dissections Illustrated," by Mr. C. 

 Gordon Brodie, has been published by Messrs. Whittaker and 

 Co. It refers to the lower limb, and includes twenty finely- 

 drawn coloured plates and six diagrams, by Mr. Percy Highley. 



Messrs. O. Newmann and Co. are publishing a series of 

 120 new wall diagrams for instruction in boiany and zoology in 

 schools and colleges. The diagrams are well printed in colours 

 on a black ground, and are highly commended by German 

 educationalists. 



The thirteenth edition of Gray's " Anatomy, Descriptive 

 and Surgical," edited by Mr. T. Pickering Pick, has been pub- 

 lished by Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. The work has 

 been thoroughly revised, and in some parts rearranged, and 

 much new matter referring to surgical anatomy has been added. 



The first number of a bright little quarterly magazine, The 

 Nature Lover, edited by Mr. H. Durrant, has just been pub- 

 lished by Mr. Elliot Stock. In style it is like the Selborne 

 Society's magaz ne. Nature Notes, though in rather lighter vein. 

 We trust that the lovers of nature are numerous enough to make 

 the venture a success. 



Dr. V. Sterki has made an exhaustive study of those 

 minute and interesting molluscs which are generally regarded as 

 constituting the genus Vallonia. His paper appears in the 

 Proceedings of the Academy of National Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, 1893 (pp. 234-279), and though not a monograph of 

 the genus, it will serve as a useful guide to further investiga 

 tioDS. 



The Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society (part 

 I, vol. vii.) contains several interesting papers communicated 

 during the thirty-fourth session (1892-93). Among these may 

 be mentioned the address of the president, Mr. W. Hewitt, on 

 "The Physical Conditions of the AraloCaspian Region, as 

 bearing on the conditions under which the Triassic rocks were 

 formed," and a paper on " The Formation of Clay," by P. 

 Holland and G. Dickson. 



A lecture on " Bulbous Irises," delivered before the Royal 

 Horticultural Society in May, 1892, by Prof. Michael Foster, 

 has been expanded, and is now published separately at the 

 society's offices. A detailed description of the various species 

 mentioned in the lectures has also been added. Growers of 

 irises will find the book of great use to them, it being intended 

 more for the gardener than the botanist. 



NO. I 250, VOL. 48] 



A MONOGRAPH of the "Coraciidse, or Family of the 

 Rollers," by Mr. Henry E. Dresser, will shortly be published 

 by subscription. This work will contain illustrations, accom- 

 panied by letter-press, giving as complete an account as possible 

 of all the known species of these richly-coloured birds. All the 

 species have been drawn, life-size, on stone, i>y Mr. J. G. 

 Keulemans. 



The Rev. W. Colenso, F.R.S., read several interesting 

 botanical papers before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute 

 during 1892, and they are published in the Transactions of 

 the New Zealand Institute, vol. xxv. A paper of much 

 interest, entitled " Bush Jottings," is a brightly-written account 

 of many botanical sights to be seen in the high inland wooded 

 district known as "the bush." More technical in their character 

 are the descriptions of a few newly-discovered rare indigenous 

 ferns, some phanerorgamic plants, and a list of fungi. All 

 these contributions help to make known the botany of New 

 Zealand. 



We have received from Mr. Stanford an " Illustrated 

 Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa," which 

 reflects the greatest credit upon all who have had anything 

 to do with its production. The volume is edited by John 

 Noble, who evidently recognises the importance of science, 

 for we find chapters devoted to the following subjects : — 

 "Geology, Fossils and Minerals of S )Uth Africa," " Vertebrate 

 Fauna of Siuth Africa," "Flora of South Africa," " Woods 

 and Forests," and " Viticulture," all of which are contributed 

 by specialists, who, as far as we can see, have performed their 

 several tasks with great care. The work is enriched with a 

 map and over a hundred "process " illustrations. 



SiLiciDE of carbon, CSi, has been obtained by M. Moissan 

 in beautiful large crystals very similar in appearance to sapphires 

 and considerably harder than rubies, by four different processes 

 involving the use of his recently described electric furnace. The 

 existence of this curious compound of two closely allied ele;aents 

 was first pointed out by .\I. Colson, who obtained it in the 

 amorphous form by heating crystals of silicon in a current of 

 hydrogen charged with vapour of benzene. Some years ago M. 

 Moissan obtained it, in the condition of crystals several milli- 

 metres in length, by dissolving carbon in silicon, the latter being 

 maintained in a state of fusion by means of a small but power- 

 ful blast furnace. The crystals were isolated from the excess of 

 silicon by treating the product with a boiling mixture of nitiic 

 and hydrofluoric acid. M. Moissan now shows, however, that 

 crystallised silicide of carbon may be much more readily pre- 

 pared by heating a mixture of carbon and silicon, in the propor- 

 tions of their atomic weights, in the electric furnace. The mass 

 of crystals produced during the passage of the current may be 

 purified by boiling first in the acid mixture above mentione.1, 

 and subsequently in an oxidising mixture of nitric acid and 

 potassium chlorate. The crystals produced by this simple 

 method are most frequently yellow, but are quite transparent if 

 the operation is performed rapidly in a closed crucible of carbon, 

 and provided the silicon employed is free from iron. Sometimes, 

 however, the crystals are coloured blue, and closely resemble 

 sapphires. The second process for the preparation of the com- 

 pound consists in heating in the electric furnace a mixture of 

 iron silicon and carbon, or more simply of iron silica and 

 carbon ; a regulus of metallic iron containing large crystals of 

 silicide of carbon is produced. The third process consists 

 in reducing silica by means of carbon in the crucible of the 

 electric furnace, and this mode of preparation possesses 

 the advantage of furnishing crystals which are more nearly 

 colourless than those produced by the first two methods, inas- 

 much as the silica and carbon can be employed in a fairly pure 

 state. Perhaps the most interesting of all the methods of pre- 



