12 



NATURE 



[July 26, 1900 



of technical instruction in Cheshire from the commencement. 

 The Technical Instruction Committee has framed a scheme of 

 work which has gradually embraced the whole county, and has 

 provided for the various and special requirements of the 

 different districts, as well as of the county at large. The 

 annual report just received records a year's work of steady 

 progress and development, more especially in regard to rela- 

 tively advanced instruction, and improved methods of carrying 

 on the classes. During the year ending March 31, 1900, the 

 grants made for purposes of technical instruction amounted to 

 nearly 17,000/., and this sum will be considerably increased 

 during the ensuing year. A number of secondary schools re- 

 ceive grants from the Committee, and it is proposed to increase 

 the payments to such schools. As has been before remarked 

 in these notes, assistance thus given is having a very important 

 effect upon the character of the education in secondary schools ; 

 for a condition of the grant is that scientific subjects should be 

 taught, and proper laboratory accommodation provided. We 

 read, for instance, in the present report : "All the schools to 

 which grants for building and equipping laboratories and lecture 

 roonis were made have completed these additions, hence they 

 are in a much better position to give sound instruction in 

 science subjects, and especially in the practical stage, than they 

 were formerly. " It is well to bear in mind the beneficial influence 

 which Technical Instruction Committees have thus had upon 

 the curricula of Grammar Schools and others of the old-fashioned 

 type. Among other matters dealt with in the report are ex- 

 periments on tuberculosis in cattle, for which the Committee 

 made a grant of 250/. , and experimental work in agriculture. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 16. — M. Maurice Levy in 

 the chair. — On the uranium radiation, by M. Henri Becquerel. 

 By mixing uranium chloride with barium chloride and precipi- 

 tating with sulphuric acid, a precipitate of barium sulphate is 

 obtained which is more or less radio-active according to the 

 quantity of barium salt introduced. The radio-activity of the 

 uranium salt remaining undergoes a corresponding diminution. 

 It cannot be settled from these experiments whether uranium 

 salts possess a radio-active power of their own, or whether this 

 property is due to an admixture of an impurity. — Preparation 

 and properties of two borides of silicon, by MM. Henri Moissan 

 and Alfred Stock. By heating together, with special precautions, 

 in a tube of infusible material a mixture of silicon and boron in 

 the electric furnace, two new borides of silicon are produced, 

 SiBj and SiBg, which can be separated by taking advantage of 

 the facts that SiBj is moi-e readily attacked by fused potash, and 

 SiBg is more readily destroyed by concentrated nitric acid. Both 

 compounds resist the attack of most reagents and are very hard, 

 scratching ruby with facility.— On the crystallisation of gold, by 

 M. A. Ditte. Gold leaf, heated with a mixture of salt and 

 sodium pyrosulphate or ferrous sulphate, is attacked, and shows 

 traces of crystalline structure, although the temperature has been 

 far below that of the fusion of gold. Platinum gives rise to 

 similar phenomena under the same treatment. — On the solubility 

 of calcium phosphate in the water of soils in presence of carbon 

 dioxide, by M. Th. Schloesing. Neutral Ca3(P04)2, obtained 

 free from sodium salts, is practically insoluble in water free from 

 dissolved carbon dioxide. The solubility increases with the 

 amount of dissolved carbonic acid, but if this is accompanied in 

 solution with the corresponding amount of calcium bicarbonate, 

 the solvent action is practically destroyed. — New researches on 

 double fertilisation in angiosperms, by M. L. Guignard. In 

 addition to tihe cases previously given of double fertilisation in 

 monocotyledons, this has now been observed in Narcissus 

 poeUcus and Scilla bifoUa. In dicotyledons. Anemone nemorosa 

 has been most completely studied. — The movements of the air 

 on encountering surfaces of different forms, by M. Marey. — 

 Observations of the planets (F.G.) and (F.H. ) made with the 

 large equatorial of the Observatory of Bordeaux, by MM. G. 

 Rayet and F. Feraud. — On the formation of coal basins, by 

 M. Grand'Eury. Remarks on the mode of formation of the 

 Loire basin. — M. Lipschitz was nominated a correspondent in 

 the section of Geometry. — On the instability of certain periodic 

 solutions, by M. Levi-Civita.— On the ternary bilinear forms of 

 Hermite, by M. Louis Kollros. — On the law of corresponding 

 states, by M. Daniel Berthelot. After discussing various modi- 

 fications that have been suggested for bringing Van der Waals' 



NO. 1604, VOL. 62 j 



formula into closer agreement with experiment, the author 

 concludes that the three constants yj... Vc, Tc are not sufficient to 

 rigorously define the function / (/, v, T) of a substance. It 

 is necessary to add two new constants, T^ and z/,„, correspond- 

 ing to the displacements; of the zeros of volume and temperature 

 — On the temperature of maximum density of aqueous solutions 

 of ammonium chloride and lithium bromide and iodide, by 

 M. L. C. de Coppet. The molecular lowering of the tempera- 

 ture of maximum density varied from 7*16 for ammonium 

 chloride to 8*31 for lithium iodide. — On the electrolytic 

 estimation of bismuth, by M. Dmitry Balachowsky. It is 

 possible to get a coherent metallic deposit of bismuth allowing 

 of washing, provided the following conditions are observed : 

 slight acidity of the solution, absence of large quantities of 

 halogen ions, matt electrodes, and low current density. — On the 

 amalgams of sodium and potassium, by MM. Guntz and Feree. i 

 Four amalgams of mercury and sodium- were isolated and | 

 analysed, HggNa, HggNa, Hg^Na, Hg4Na. Similar amalgams, I 

 although less clearly defined, were obtained with potassium. — I 

 On the reduction of tungstic anhydride by zinc : preparation of I 

 pure tungsten, by M. Marcel Delepine. Tungsten of a purity | 

 varying from 98*5 to 100 per cent, is obtained by heating zinc 

 with tungstic anhydride or with ammonium tungstate. — Action 

 of reduced nickel upon acetiylene, by MM. Paul Sabatier and 

 J. B. Senderens. Acetylene does not react upon reduced 

 nickel in the cold if precautions have been taken to remove all 

 traces of hydrogen from the metal by heating it in a current of 

 nitrogen. — Action of cyanacetic esters with substituted acid 

 radicles upon diazobenzene chloride and tetrazodiphenyl chloride, 

 by M. G. Favrel. — On the limits of grafting in plants, by M. 

 Lucien Daniel. — Action of dry and moist air upon plants, by 

 M. Eberhardt. Compared with dry air, moist air increases the 

 development of the plant, both leaves and stem, the diameter 

 of the latter being reduced. It tends to exaggerate the leaf 

 surface and to diminish the quantity of chlorophyll contained in 

 the leaves. — The volcanic rocks of che Somali Protectorate, by 

 MM. A. de Gennes and A. Bonard. — On a marine formation at 

 the bottom of the Cation of Regalon, by M. David Martin. — On 

 certain substances specific in pellagra, by MM. V. Babes and E. 

 Manicatide. 



PAGE 



290 

 291 



292 



292 



CONTENTS. 



Trade in Ancient Assyria . . . . • 



Electrical Organs. Muscle or Nerve ? By E. H. S. 



Fluorine. ByJ, W 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Lehfeldt : " A Text-book of Physical Chemistry." — 



T. E 



Henderson and Parker : "An Introduction to 



'Analytical Chemistry." — A. S 



" Maryland Weather Service " 292 



Righi: " Volta e la Pila " 293 



Letters to the Editor:— 



An Optical Phenomenon.— Prof. A. M. Worthing- 



ton, F.R.S 293 



Temperatures of Recently Killed Chamois. — G. 



Stallard 293 



The London Mathematical Society.— R. Tucker . . 294 

 The Consultative Committee and Technical Education. 



-Prof. J. Wertheimer 294 



The Centenary of the Royal College of Surgeons of 



England. By Victor Plarr 294 



Electrical Power Distribution. By Prof. W. E. 



Ayrton, F.R.S 296s 



The Daily Weather Report of the Meteorological 



Office. By W. N. Shaw, F.R.S 300; 



The Bradford Meeting of the British Association 



By Ramsden Bacchus 300 1 



Notes . 30M 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Astronomical Occurrences in August 304 



New Variable in Herculis 305 



New Star in Aquila 3^5 



Meteoric Theory of the Gegenschein 305 



Meteor of July 17 S^S 



The Great Earthquake of June 12, 1897 305 



Explorations of the Albatross in the Pacific .... 307 



University and Educational Intelligence 311 



Societies and Academies 31^ 



