i6o 



NATURE 



[June 14, 1900 



the same Gardens for April, contains, in addition to some 

 natural history notes, a continuation of the descriptive list of 

 West India and Guiana ferns. 



A 'SHORT obituary notice of the late Franz Ritter von Hauer 

 appeared in Nature for April 13, 1899. A full account of the 

 life and labours of this distinguished geologist has now been 

 published by Dr. E. Tietze (Jahrb. k.k. geoL Reichs. Wien, 

 Bd. 49). It is accompanied by a portrait, and by a list of 

 geological papers and books dating from 1846 to 1897. 



Messrs. Williams and Norgate have just published a 

 sixth revised edition of "Prehistoric Times as illustrated by 

 Ancient Remains and the Manners and Customs of Modern 

 Savages," by Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock). The first 

 edition was published more than thirty-five years ago. 



Prof. Prantl's " Lehrbuch der Botanik," upon which Prof. 

 Sydney Vines' " Students* Text-book of Botany" is based, has 

 reached an eleventh edition. The new edition has been revised 

 and enlarged by Dr. Ferdinand Pax, professor of botany, and 

 director of the Botanical Gardens, at Breslau. Mr. W. Engle- 

 mann, Leipzig, is the publisher. 



Prof. Vivian B. Lewes has in the press an exhaustive 

 work on acetylene gas — a handbook for the student and manu- 

 facturer. The book will contain over 250 illustrations, and 

 comprises a history of acetylene, its preparation, properties and 

 chemical reactions, together with a complete list of legal enact- 

 ments in full concerning its manufacture, patents, and other 

 important data. Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. are the 

 publishers. 



Two publications of interest to botanists will be issued from 

 the Clarendon Press before long— the first part of the authorised 

 English edition by Prof. J. B. Balfour of Dr. K. Goebel's 

 " Organography of Plants," and Dr. A. Coppen Jones's transla- 

 tion of Prof. Alfred Fischer's "Structure and Functions of 

 Bacteria." The former brings within reach of English students 

 the only book of recent years upon its special subject ; the latter 

 is the only work on bacteriology of similar scope and mode of 

 treatment that has appeared in England since Dr. A. de Bary's 

 *' Lectures on Bacteria," a second edition of which appeared in 

 1887. This translation of Prof. Fischer's '* Vorlesungen iiber 

 Bakterien " should be welcome in pathological laboratories. 



The Orient Company announce that the cruise to Norway, 

 Spitsbergen and Iceland will be repeated this summer. Their 

 steamship Cuzco, 3912 tons register, is appointed to leave 

 London on July 3, and to arrive back on August 4. After 

 visiting some of the most interesting Norwegian fiords, the 

 Cuzco will proceed to Spitsbergen, thus affording an opportunity 

 of viewing the midnight sun, as for five days and nights after 

 the ship leaves the North Cape the sun will be continuously 

 above the horizon. Thereafter the Cuzco will proceed to 

 Iceland, and her contemplated stay there of three days will 

 enable passengers to see some of the most interesting sights in 

 this remote island. The Faroe Islands will also be visited on 

 the way back to London, via Leith. 



The purification of mercury is frequently necessary in physical 

 and physico-chemical work, the process generally relied upon 

 being distillation in vacuo. The apparatus in general use for 

 this purpose, although convenient, has the disadvantage of 

 being somewhat fragile, and requires large quantities of mer- 

 cury. Some doubts, moreover, have been thrown on the 

 efficacy of distillation as a purifying process, as Victor Meyer, 

 in 1887, showed that traces of foreign metals passed over even 

 after repeated redistillations. According to G. A. Hulett 

 {Zeitschrift fiit physikalische Chemie, xxxiii. p. 611), these 

 traces of foreign metals are carried over mechanically during 

 the bumping of the boiling mercury ; and if measures are 

 NO. 1598, VOL. 62] 



taken to prevent this bumping, perfectly pure mercury can 

 be obtained in one distillation. Instead of the complicated 

 apparatus of Weinhold, or its various modifications, a slight 

 modification of the arrangement of two distilling flasks, with 

 a capillary tube for admitting air, as commonly employed in 

 organic work, was found to work perfectly. 



Prof. Richards, of Harvard, continuing his valuable re- 

 determination of atomic weights, has lately published, in con- 

 junction with Mr. G. P. Baxter, a preliminary paper on the 

 atomic weight of iron. He points out that the value Fe = 56, 

 which is now used, is practically based on work of fifty years 

 since — being Wackenroder's corrected value of Berzelius' result, 

 which was based upon the conversion of metallic iron into ferric 

 oxide. In their preliminary determinations, Messrs. Richards 

 and Baxter have reduced ferric oxide to the metal. The ferric 

 oxide was prepared in the first case from ferric hydrate, which 

 itself was prepared with elaborate precautions from very pure 

 iron ribbon. The mean of two closely agreeing determinations 

 gave Fe = S5'900. In the second case, ferric oxide was prepared 

 with equal care from ferric nitrate. The mean value of five de- 

 terminations gave Fe = 55'883. Further determinations are 

 promised, but meanwhile the higher value of the older number 

 (Fe = 56) is explained as probably due to one or more of the 

 following causes : — The possible presence of magnetic oxide in 

 the ferric oxide ; the possibility of incomplete reduction during 

 the analysis of the substance ; the possible presence of alkaline, 

 siliceous or other non-reducible material. At the present stage 

 of the work 55 "88 may be taken as the most probable value. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Sykes's Monkey {Cercopithecus albigtclaris) 

 from British Central Africa, presented by Mr. C. H. Ambruster 5 

 a Barbary Ape {Macacus inuus) from Algeria, presented by Mr. 

 R. S. Allen ; a Large Red Flying Squirrel {Pieromfs iiwrnaius) 

 from Northern India, presented by Mr. A. Dudley Yorke ; 

 three Goshawks {Astur palunibarius), European, presented by 

 Mr. John Simonds ; a Little Egret [Ardea garzetta) from 

 North-west Africa, presented by Mr. J. H. Yates ; an Allen's 

 Porphyrio {Hydrornia alleni), captured at sea, presented by 

 Miss Wallace ; a West African Python {Python sebae) from 

 West Africa, presented by Francis E. Colenso ; a Green Lizard 

 {Lacerta viridis), European, presented by Miss Mabel A. 

 Heaton ; a Common Snake ( Tropidonotus natrix), British ; two 

 Mocassin Snakes ( Tropidonotus fasciatus) from North America, 

 presented by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin ; a Lion [Felts leo, i ) from 

 Kattiwar ; a Nylghaie {Boselapktis tragocainelus, <J ), two Four- 

 horned Antelopes {Tetraceros quadricornis), three Indian 

 Gazelles ( Gazella bennetti) from India ; four Bearded Lizards 

 (^4;///^?7i?/Mr««i5ar(5a/z<5), two Stump- tailed Skinks {Trachysaurus- 

 rugosus) from Australia, five American Box Tortoises (Cistttdo 

 Carolina), six Stink-pot Mud Terrapins [Cinosternum odoratum) 

 from North America, deposited ; a Rocky Mountain Goat 

 {Haploceros montana, 6 ) from British Colombia, two Cuitning 

 Bassaris {Bassaris astuia) from Mexico, five Gentoo Penguins 

 ( Pygosceles taeniatus) from the Falkland Islands, a Three-toed 

 Sloth {Bradypus tridactylus) from British Guiana, purchased ; 

 two Japanese Deer (Cervus sika), a Burchell's Zebra (Equus 

 burchelli, S ), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Rotation Period of Venus.— In the Astronomische 

 NcLchrichten (Bd. 152, No. 3641), Prof. A. Belopolsky gives the 

 detailed measurements of the photographs of the spectrum of 

 Venus taken during the recent favourable disposition, from 

 which he has been enabled to confirm the short rotation period 

 of the planet. 



The spectrograms have been made with the 30-inch refractor 

 at the Observatory of Pulkowa,usingtwo different spectrographs, 



