ISlA TURE 



[July 4, 1895 



The following recent appointments are announced in Science. 

 To be assistant professors in Johns Hopkins University : Dr. C. 

 Lane Poor, astronomy ; Dr. A. S. Chessin, mathematics and 

 mechanics : Dr. Simon Klexner, pathology ; Dr. .-Mbert Mann 

 to be professor of biolog)- in Ohio Wesleyan University. In 

 Syracuse University, Dr. E. C. (Juereau to be professor of 

 geoli^- and mineralogy, and Dr. W. H. Metzler associate 

 professor of mathematics. Mr. M. A. Mackenzie has been 

 appointed professor of mathematics in Trinity University, 

 Toronto. The chair of physics in the University of California, 

 recently filled by the late Prof. Harold Whiting, h.os been 

 offered to Dr. E. I'. Lewis. 



A NOVEL engineering .scheme in the construction of the 

 foundation of the retaining wall of the new speedway at High 

 Bridge, in New York City, is the freezing of a bed of quicksand 

 which impeded the work. A row of 4-inch pipes have been 

 sunk a few feet apart, to the depth of 40 feel. These pipes are 

 capped at the bottom, and inside them are inserted smaller 

 pipes, open at the bottom. Cold air is forced from a condenser 

 through the smaller pipes into the larger, and thence returned 

 to the condenser. The air is cooled by expansion to a tempera- 

 ture of about -45° C. , thus freezing the surrounding mud and 

 wet sand, and checking the flow into the excax-ation. 



Those who have read Prof Crum Brown's " Robert Boyle " 

 Lecture, reported in our columns (vol. Hi. p. 184), will be 

 interested to leam that among the " Studies from the Princeton 

 Laboratory," contributed to the current number of the Psycho- 

 io^'cal AW'/Wt', there is a pa^xir on *' Sensations of Rotation," by 

 Mr. H. C. Warren. The particular object of this investigation 

 was to determine the relative influence of sight and the internal 

 .sense of rotation on the subjective estimate of movement. By 

 means of a mirror — which could be inserted or removed at will — 

 thcapjMrent motion, as given to sight, could be reversed. For 

 the detailed results the paper itself must be consulted. In 

 general they seem, we are told, to favour the view that 

 the semicircular canals constitute the organ for the sense of 

 rotation. 



The Meteorological Office has received from the Central 

 Physical Observatory of St. Petersburg, copies of a circular 

 addressed to various institutions with reference to a proposed 

 meteorological exhibit at Nizhny-Novgorod Exhibition in 1896. 

 The Central Physical (Jbservatory being desirous of making this 

 exhibit as complete as possible, and at the same lime of making 

 known to the Russian public the progress of meteorological 

 science in various countries, desires to obtain information on any 

 of the following points : — ( I ) Number of stations, of diflerenl 

 orders. (2) Titles of pcriwlical publications, any of which will 

 lie exhibited. (3) Summary of practical applications of meteor- 

 ology, with titles of any works on the subject. (4) Copies of 

 works containing mean values or references to them, instruction s 

 for t.aking observations, descriptions of instruments with methods 

 of exposure, and charts referring to maritime meteorology. 



The autumn meeting of the Iron and .Steel Institute will be 

 helil at Birmingham from Tuesday to Friday, August 20-23. 

 The programme will embrace visits to the leading industrial 

 establishments in and around Birmingham. The Mayor of 

 Birmingham will hold a reception, at the City Council House 

 and Art Gallery, on the evening of August 20. The Earl and 

 Countess of Warwick will also give a reception at Warwick 

 Castle. Among the pa]>crs that arc ex|x:cted to be read are : — 

 " The Thcrmo-chemistry of the Bessemer Process," by Prof. W. 

 N. Hartley, F.R.S. ; "The Hardening of Steel," by H. M. 

 I Inwe ; " The Mineral Resources of South .Staffordshire." by H. 

 W. I lughcs ; " On Tests of Ca.st Iron," by W. J. Keepand by T. 

 I). West ; " The Estimation of Oxide of Iron in Steel," by A. E. 



NO. 1340, VOL. 52] 



Tucker ; " The Use of Nickel in the Metallurgy of Iron," by 

 H. A. Wiggin. 



Prof. Kikuchi, of the Science College, Tokyo, is preparing 

 a short life of the late Prof Cayley, to be accomixmied by a. 

 photograph, for a Japanese popular scientific monthly, viz. the 

 " Toyo Gakugu Zasshi." 



A REMARKABIX system of electric lights on buoys has just 

 been completed at the Gedney Channel, off Sandy Hook. This 

 channel is only 1000 feet wide, and vessels have not heretofore 

 been able to pass through it by night. The new system, how- 

 ever, provides a brilliant thoroughfare, lighted by ten incan- 

 descent lights of 100 candle-power each, and each on a buoy, 

 about 50 feet long, and rising 12 feet out of water. The cable 

 which conveys the electricity carries the pressure of 1000 volts- 

 under water, and is sL\ and half miles long, being the longest 

 cable in the world carrying a liigh-pressure current under water, 

 and also the only one of its kind ever made. It consists of a 

 copper conductor, insidated with gutta-percha, bedded in jute, 

 and sheathed with hard drawn copper wire. The machines have 

 an output of only 100 volts, but the current flows through a 

 step-up converter, back of the switchboard, where it is converted 

 into the required voltage, thus being perfectly safe to operate. 



The palaiontological department of the American Museum 

 has recently secured by purchase the entire collection of fossil 

 mammals of North America brought together by Prof E. D. 

 Cope since 1S70. This includes 552 of Prof. Cope's mammalian 

 types, besides the unique single skeletons of Plienacodus, 

 Hyracotherium and Hyrachy;is, and the rich series from all 

 formations described .and figured in Cope's Tertiary Vertebrata, 

 besides all his unpublisheil material. This famous collection, 

 together with the otliers which are rapidly coming in from the 

 annual western expeditions to the Rocky Mountain region, will 

 be arranged in the Lirge new hall upon the geological floor 

 of the Museum, which h.-is been designed and cased for the 

 purpose. The coUectiorLs are being prepared for exhibition and 

 research as rapidly as possible. 



By the kindness of Mr. R. H. Scott, we are .ible to print the 

 following information received at the Meteorological Office with 

 reference to some recent earthquake disturbances in the Leeward 

 Islands. The note was drawn up by Mr. F. Watts, the t'lovern- 

 ment .Vnalytical Chemist at .Vntigua, and was sent to the Colonial 

 Office with two letters on the effects of the earlliquake in Barbuda. 

 " On Monday, May 20, 1895, a long and somewhat severe earth- 

 quake shock was felt in Antigua at 4.44 p.m. This shock threw 

 down a steel rod 4 inches long and J inch in diameter, in a. 

 rough earthquake indicator at Skcrretts. Slight shocks followed 

 at intervals. I Wiis able to ascertain Ihitt there were at least seven 

 shocks between 4.44 anil 8. 20 p.m. A shock at 6. 58 p.m. was 

 rather severe, causing one of the C.ithedral bells to sound slightly 

 and slopping the clock. Slight shocks have been experienced 

 almost every day since. Similar shocks are reported from. 

 Mont.serrat, Nevis, .St. Kilts, and Barbuda. Some injury to 

 buildings is reported from Barbiula, but I am unaware of the 

 extent of the damage. It is stated that distant sounds, as of 

 explosions, were heard in Harbuda ; these appear to have been 

 heard in a northerly direction. Through llie courtesy of the 

 Telegraph Company, I am informed that these earthquakes have 

 not been felt in any islands save those in the groups .Antigua, 

 .Mont.serrat, Nevis, St. Kills, Barbuda. From this fact, coupled 

 with the rei>orl of noises heard in Barbuda, I .should infer that 

 these disturlxinces are purely local, and in no way related to (lie 

 earthquakes in Euroix: about the same time." 



An elal)oriile investigation on the Iwcterial contents ot 

 margarine and margarine-products has been recently made by 

 Messrs. Jolles ami Winkler. It is satisfactory to find, in view 

 of the large quantities of margarine which are placed 011 Ihc 



