November 28, 1895] 



NATURE 



89 



certify as to the amount of power that is lost, or as to the 

 efficiency of the machine when working under its best possible 

 condition. Mechanical engineers are accustomed to determine 

 \ery accurately the relation between the work done and the 

 force expended ; but no arrangement has yet been organised in 

 America, though in England the Royal Agricultural Society 

 tioes something by means of which the farmer may obtain, for a 

 ^Inall fee, accurate information as to the efficiency of the wind- 

 mills, pumps, and other apparatus used by him. Such tests are 

 sometimes applied, but oftentimes imperfectly, to machines that 

 arc offered in competition for prizes at shows ; but the results 

 apply only to those specific samples, and not to others that are 

 t'ldinarily found in the market. There are standards for the 

 sale of illuminating gas, electricity, and other sources of energy. 

 The time may come, concludes Prof Abbe, when Governments 

 will standardise and regulate the sale of the machines for the 

 conversion of force or the doing of work. 



The current number of the Journal de Physique contains a 

 description of an instrument for measuring the specific inductive 

 capacity of liquids or solids, designed by M. Pellat. The instru- 

 ment consists essentially of two Kelvin attracted disc electro- 

 meters, in which the two movable discs are rigidly connected 

 together. The two attracting discs are in metallic connection, 

 and one of them can be moved by means of a micrometer screw. 

 The attracted discs are attached to the arm of a delicate balance, 

 the position of the beam being observed by a microscope. 

 An air damper attached to the beam serves to check the oscilla- 

 tions, which otherwise would render the measurements ex- 

 tremely tedious. Weights are used to roughly counterpoise the 

 weight of the attracted discs when the whole instrument is at 

 one potential. The final adjustment is made by means of a fine 

 spiral spring, attached to the arm of the balance, and which can 

 be stretched more or less by means of a micrometer screw. This 

 spring has the advant^e of increasing the range of potential 

 difference over which the position of the balance is stable. The 

 substance to be examined^f a solid in the form of a slab, or if a 

 liquid contained in a glass dish — is placed between the fixed 

 attracting disc and its movable disc, being supported on three 

 small glass blocks which rest on the guard-ring. Readings of 

 the position of the movable attracting disc are taken with and 

 without the substance in place, and from the difference of the 

 readings the specific inductive capacity is calculated. The 

 sensitiveness of the instrument is such that the author has been 

 able to measure, roughly it is true, the specific inductive capacity 

 of mica, using a plate of this substance only 0-013 c.m. in thick- 

 ness. In the case of liquids, measurements have been made in 

 which the one set of plates, attracting plate, attracted plate and 

 guard-ring, were entirely immersed in the liquid. The effect of 

 capillarity on the stem joining the two attracted discs was to 

 very much increase the range of potential difference giving 

 stability of the balance. It was found that at the moment of 

 applying the difference of potential an initial and very sharp 

 movement always takes place when the balance is not perfect ; 

 so that the measurements could be made with an accuracy as 

 great as in the case of solid dielectrics. 



We have received from M. A. Lancaster, of the Royal Ob- 

 servatory, Brussels, a i>amphlet containing his communications to 

 the Congress of the Science of the Atmosphere, held at Ant- 

 werp last year : (l) On synoptic weather charts, advcKating the 

 establishment of an international meteorological institute, acting 

 on the part of all countries, and the publication of weather 

 charts for extensive areas. The question of an international in- 

 stitute for meteorolog)' has frequently been discussed, and at the 

 recent meeting of the International Meteorological Committee 

 at Upsala it was decided that the idea was not practicable. But 

 the author points out that in the cases of geodesy- and metrolog}' 



r;o. 1 36 1, VOL. 53] 



such institutions have long been established. (2) On the nature 

 of the wind. The principal object of this paper is to draw at- 

 tention to the similarity of the views of the late M. Houzeau 

 (formerly director of the Brussels Observatory) to those of Prof. 

 S. P. Langley, expressed in his treatise on the internal work of 

 the wind (Nature, vol. xlix. p. 273), in which he shows that 

 the wind consists of a succession of pulsations of very short 

 duration, of variable amplitude and direction, relatively to the 

 mean movement of the wind. (3) On the strength of the wind 

 in Belgium. This paper contains tables of the principal results 

 of observations at Brussels from 1850 to 1889, showing inter alia 

 the mean monthly velocity, the bi-hourly variation, the maxi- 

 mum velocity and its direction in each month. These tables 

 afford valuable information for architects and engineers, and for 

 any one requiring details as to the effect of the motion of the 

 atmosphere. 



Responsible measle-microbes, although suspected, have long 

 eluded the diligent search of the investigator. Dr. Joseph 

 Czajkowski, however, appears to have opened up the subject 

 afresh by bacteriological researches which he has been carrying 

 on for nearly four years on cases collected from four different 

 epidemics of measles. Although the total number of cases 

 bacteriologically examined was not great, amounting to only 

 fifty-six in all, yet in every instance the same microbe was 

 identified from the blood of measle patients, and is described as 

 being a somewhat slender bacillus with blunted ends, producing 

 occasionally threads in cultures some months old. No difficulty 

 is experienced in staining it with the usual aniline colours, and 

 in drop-cultures it is seen to be very motile. Gelatine and agar 

 are not suitable for its growth ; on the other hand, glycerin-agar 

 and broth form convenient culture materials. As regards the 

 pathogenic properies of Dr. Czajkowski's bacillus, the informa- 

 tion is only at present limited to its action on rabbits and mice. 

 The former experienced no inconvenience whatever after being 

 inoculated with it, but the mice died in from three to four days, 

 exhibiting symptoms of septicaemia, and the same bacillus was 

 subsequently obtained in pure cultures from the blood, spleen, 

 and liver of the infected animals. Perhaps the strongest evidence 

 in favour of the author's researches is to be found in the fact 

 that two other investigators, P. Canon and W. Pielicke, working 

 at the subject quite independently of Dr. Czajkowski, discovered 

 the same bacillus. Further inquiries must, however, be made 

 before we can define with certainty the precise relationship to 

 measles possessed by this new microbial claimant. 



The last number of the Mittheilungen von Forschungsreisen 

 den tind Gelehrten aus den Deutschen Schutzgebieten, Bd. viii. 

 Ht. 3, continues the scientific description of the German 

 colonies. The first contribution deals with the Hinterland of 

 the Cameroons, from materials collected during Dr. Passarge's 

 expedition during 1893 ^"^ 1894. Schnauder has worked out a 

 series of twenty longitudes. Passarge gives the data on which 

 the altitude determinations rest, and some of the results. Dr. 

 Limpricht has prepared three maps of the district on the scale 

 of I : 350,000, and connected Passarge's routes with those of 

 previous travellers in this region, viz. Barth, Flegels, Maistre, 

 Zintgraff, and Baikie. The second contribution in the number 

 is Stuhlmann's description of the Uluguru Mountains, a district 

 in German East Africa between Usambara and Usagara, and 

 about one hundred miles inland. Geologically it consists mainly 

 of gneiss, with some clay-slates, oolitic limestones and red sand- 

 stones, on the plains at the eastern foot of the mountains. Mica 

 and graphite were the only minerals found, which Dr. StUhlmann 

 thinks may be of economic value. The gneiss forms a plateau, 

 to the east of which are the steppes of the " Vorland." The 

 former is regarded • as healthy and free from malaria. The 

 author of this report has previously expressed the belief that 



