October 26, 1893] 



NA TURE 



621 



An electrical method of fog-signalling, which has great 

 possibilities before it, has been invented by an electrician in the 

 employ of the Great Northern Railway Company. A wire is 

 laid by means of a pipe from the signal-box to the various 

 signals, at which points brushes composed of copper wire pro- 

 ject some four or five inches above the side of the rail nearest 

 the signal. To the foot-plate of the engine a similar brush is 

 fixed, connecting with an indicator and bell on the engine. If 

 the signal be at danger the two brushes coming in contact has 

 the effect of ringing the bell, and indicating to the driver by 

 means of a miniature signal fixed on his engine that the line 

 is not clear. The arrangement can be switched off in fine 

 weather. The process, which is in working order at Wood 

 Green, has proved so satisfactory that the company have 

 decided to fit up the suburban lines, and eventually the whole 

 of their system. 



The report of the meeting of the Societe Helviiique des 

 Sciences Naturelles, held at Basle in September 1892, has just 

 been published. 



Naturund Halts, edited by Dr. L. Stabyand Herr Hesdorffer, 

 begins its second year with a number full of article; on a variety 

 of scientific topics. The journal must help to popularise science 

 in the Fatherland, for its contents — both text and illustration — 

 are excellent. 



The second year's meetings of the University Extension 

 Philosophical Society will commence on Friday, October 27, 

 at 8 p.m., when Mr. Bernard Bosanquet will give an 

 address on " Atomism in Psychology," at Whitelands College, 

 Chelsea. Among other gentlemen who will read papers during 

 the present year are Prof. Sully, Mr. G. F. Stont, Mr. C. S. 

 Loch, and Mr. P. H. Wicksteed. 



The trustees of the Australian Museum have issued their 

 thirty-ninth annual report. We are sorry to notice that there 

 has been a slight falling off in the attendance of visitors during 

 the year 1892. The number of visitors was 130,701, being fewer 

 by 2144 than in the previous year. The average week-day at- 

 tendance was 265, and that for Sundays 712. 



The following lectures will be delivered at the Royal Victoria 

 Hall during November : — November 7, Mr. Francis Bond, on 

 " Norway and the Norwegians " ; November 14, Prof. II. G. 

 Seeley, F.R.S., on "Skulls"; November 21, Mr. James Swin- 

 burne, on "The Mechanics of Street Toys"; November 28, 

 Mr. Douglas Carnegie, on "The Philosopher's Stone, or 

 the Royal Road to Health and Wealth." 



A NEW and revised edition of " Our Reptiles and Ba- 

 trachians," by Dr. M. C. Cooke, has been published by Messrs. 

 W. H. Allen and Co. As the author remarked in the preface 

 of the original edition, he aimed at producing ' ' a popular volume 

 on a rather unpopular subject," and not a work for the man of 

 science. The fact that a new edition has been called for shows 

 that the general public appreciate tales of snake-stones and the 

 incarceration of frogs in blocks of granite; of the "toad's 

 envenomed juice," and incombustible salamanders. However, 

 in the reading of these accounts something is learned con- 

 cerning the habits and characters of the lizards, snakes, newts, 

 toads, frogs, and tortoises indigenous to Great Britain ; so 

 instruction is happily combined with amusement. 



The "Zoological Record for 1892," edited by Mr. David 

 Sharp, F.R.S., and being the twenty-ninth volume of zoological 

 literature, has just been published. The scope of the Record has 

 been greatly enlarged, and an index of special subjects has been 

 included in each department, in addition to the list of titles and 

 the taxonomical arrangement according to genera. It has not 

 been possible, however, to make a complete epitome ofpiliejn- 



NO. 1252, VOL. 48] 



tological literature ; indeed, Mr. Sharp thinks that palaeonto 

 logists should undertake the compilation of a separate record. 

 We are inclined to agree with this. Everyone knows that an 

 incomplete record is of very little use ; for valuable time may 

 be wasted in searching through it for references which it does 

 not contain. But if every branch of science had a publication 

 which did for it what the "Zoological Record " does for zoo- 

 logy, scientific papers would be in a fair way of organisation. 



Some years ago Prof. Frank Clowes communicated to the 

 Royal Society and to the Aberdeen meeting of the British As- 

 sociation the fact that there occurred in the neighbourhood of 

 Nottingham a large area of sandstone, in which the cementing 

 material was wholly crystalline barium sulphate. The subject was 

 mentioned again in the Geological Sectional the recent Notting- 

 ham meeting of the British Association, and several geologists 

 gave instances of similar sandstone occurring in other parts of 

 England. Prof. Clowes writes that he would be glad to learn 

 of the occurrence of such sandstone in any locality, and to 

 receive specimens for examination and chemical analysis. 



We have received part 4, vol. v. of the Transactions of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, and are glad to find 

 that both financially and numerically the society is in a satis- 

 factory condition. Of the 250 members many are non-resi- 

 dent in the county, and it is probably owing to thei- help that 

 for a small subscription the society is able to issue a goodly 

 publication CDUsisting of mire than 190 pages. The addres-; of 

 the president, Mr. H. B. Woodward, of the Geological Survey, 

 deals mainly with the geology of the county, which presents 

 many very interesting features, and he also contributes a 

 memoir (with portrait) of the late Caleb B. Rose, one of the 

 fathersofNjrfolk geology. These mamoirsof local naturalists 

 of note form a marked feature in the society's publication, as 

 also do the lists of the fauna anl flora of the county, the twelfth 

 of which, namely the Coleoptera, by Mr. Jas. Edwards, in which 

 1728 species are enumerated, is included in the present number. 

 Amongst the other contributions are a very interesting paper on 

 tortoises in domestication, by Sir Peter Eade, containing 

 miisuremeats and weights of two tortoises, taken annually 

 since the year 1886 ; notes on the occurrence of the Siberian 

 pectoral sandpiper and Sowerby's whale in Norfolk, on the 

 Lapland bunting, the Holkham shooting parties at the com- 

 mencement of the present century, on Norfolk slugs, and other 

 matters of local and general interest. 



In these Notes on August 24, reference was made to some 

 recent modifications in the method for staining the cilia of 

 micro-organisms. Strauss mentions in the Bulletin MMicale, 

 1892, No. 51, that he has succeeded in colouring the cilia of the 

 cholera spirillum, the spirillum Metschnikowi, and Finkler 

 Prior's spirillum in a living condition. For this purpose broth 

 cultures, from 1-3 diys old, are employed, one needle-loop of 

 which is placed on a microscopic slip and carefully mixed with a 

 needle-loop of Ziehl's fuchsin solution diluted with water 

 (i : 3-4). A cover glass is then superposed, and the preparation 

 examined under the microscope as rapidly as possible. The 

 above-mentioned organisms become intensely red in colour, and 

 many retain their motility for a short time, and at one of the 

 pores may be seen the extremely thin corkscrew-shaped or wavy 

 cilium-tinted pale red containing more highly coloured granules, 

 which are disposed in longitudinal series in its interior. When 

 the organism is no longer in a living condition, the cilia may 

 still be seen although less distinctly, whilst numerous isolated 

 and detached cilia may be seen moving with great activity in 

 the fluid. Strauss has not so far been successful in exhibiting 

 by this method the cilia of other organisms in a living 

 condition. 



