JO'- 



NATURE 



[August 8, 1895 



|K)Ii<gj- is good ns knowledge, and good as discipline.' But 

 Convocation thought he did not, ' know anything about the matter," 

 and threw out the proposed statute." Huxley"s career as biologist 

 issketched by " A Student of Science." The following i.-; worth 

 cjuoting from that contribution. " It «as characteristic of the 

 I'rofes.'^irs general mental attitude that mere novelty ne\er 

 at^'righted him. When Ramsay pro]xiunded his theory of the 

 c.\ca\-ation of lake basins by glacial action, Huxley sup[x)rted it, 

 even against the opposition of Lyell and Falconer. Sup|x>se 

 .St. I'aufs Cathedral removed from its present site to any part of 

 the North Sea, the KnglLsh Channel, or the Irish Sea. and the 

 whole dome would lie clear out of water. I'lacc it, 

 on the other hand, on the flow of I.och Lomond, and 

 the largest ship in the British Navy might float safely over 

 the golden ball, for the Loch has a maximum depth of 

 630 feet. Sir .\ndrew Ramsay's theory explains a striking fact 

 like this, and aflfords undoubtedly a rational explanation of many 

 similar phenomena." The fourth of the papers treats of Huxley 

 as philosopher, and is by Mr. \V. L. Courtney, the editor of the 

 I'ortnightly. Under the title " The Spectroscope in Recent 

 Chemistry," Mr. R. .\. C>regory contributes to the s;xme review 

 a brief history of the discover>' of argon and helium, and dis- 

 cusses the many interesting points raised by the advent of those 

 two new terrestrial elements, especially with reference to their 

 spectra. It is worthy of contemplation that, so far as instru- 

 mental possibilities go, l)oth argon and helium could have 

 been discovercxl sjiectroscopically many years ago, and Lord 

 Rayleigh would have lieen save<l his years of tantalising ex- 

 |>crimentation. .\nd yet there are some who think that the 

 spectroscojx; will not helj) much more in the extension of natural 

 knowledge I 



The ev<ilution of the orator and poet, actor and dramatist, is 

 traced by Mr. Herbert Spencer in his fourth paper on " Pro- 

 fessional Institutions," which ap|x^rs in the Contemporary. 

 First in his story of development comes the orator, who pro- 

 claimed the great deeds of a victorious chief during the triumphal 

 reception ; then wa^ evolved, through natural selection, the 

 |>oet, who, with picturesque phrases and figures of speech, gave 

 rhythm to the laudatory speeches. Gradually the orator or poet 

 joined with his speeches mimetic representations of the achieve- 

 ments of the living or the apotheosiscd ruler, or else they were 

 simultaneously given by .some other celebrant. So the actor 

 was prfxlucetl, and a.s more complex incidents came to Ix: illus- 

 trated by speech and action, it w.ts necessary for one to arrange 

 the parts to be played, and thus the dramatist was developed. 

 In support of this very natural sequence, Mr. Spencer adduces a 

 variety of evidence supplied by uncivilised races and by early 

 civilised races. Another |n|x:r in the Contcnifiorary consists of 

 extracts from Mr. K. .\. Fitzgerakl's journal of his ascents of 

 virgin peaks in the New Zealand ,\lps. live new peaks vvere 

 a.vrendefl, namely. Scaly, .Silberhorn, Tasman, Ilaidingcr, and 

 Sefton, the Matterhorn of the range. He also discovered a 

 (Hs-i which has received his name, and across which the range 

 has now l)een traverse<l to the west coast. Several attempts had 

 previously Ijeen made to find such a route, but unsuccessfully. 

 .Mr. I- il/gerald's |>apcr will therefore not only Ix; read with in- 

 terest by lovers of Al|)ine a<lvenlHre, but will also be valued by 

 the geographer. 



The story of Antarctic exploration is told in J\/ai)iii//aii's 

 Afaga'iiif. and the iiuivement for further researches in those higher 

 vniihern latitudes is given .sup|X)rt. It will be remembered that 

 ihe efforts made by the Royal Geographical .Society, in ("onnec- 

 lion with a committee of the Koyal Society, to induce the 

 < lovemment to fit out an cx|x;dition for exploring in the .Xntarclic 

 Ocean, were not succes.sful. Notwithstanding this, the writer of 

 the article expresses the general opinion vihen he s,iys ; " When 

 it i- undertaken at all it is desirable lli.it Ihe next .Antarctic ex- 

 n ~lKmld l>e a national one. Private enterpri.se, which 

 ni splendidly active of late in Ihe way of .\rctic di.scovery, 

 v\iju1'I scarcely be equal to nil '.he demands of extensive and 

 thorough .\niarclic exploration." 



.\ [xussing notice must suftice for the remaining articles of 

 mote or less scientific interest in the m.igarine>. and reviews 

 received. .\ brief sketch of the characteri.stics of .Sonya Koval- 

 cv.<ky is given in the Cfiitiiry, and one of the concluding sen- 

 tence* rcails : "Notwithstanding her solid contributions to 

 apiiliol malhenulics, she originat«l nothing ; she merely <le- 

 vclo|xtl the ideas of her teachers." A numl>er of elementary 

 fact* with reference to the transiKirting |iower of water and the 

 deposit of .»edimcnl, arc .Mated by Mr. W. II. Wheeler in Long- 



mail's Magazine: The A'aliona/ contains an article, by 

 Mr. J. L. Macdonald, im fruit-farming in California, which 

 is worth the attention of agriciilturists. In the Quarterly 

 Kci'iciv, roses and rose cultivation are surveyed, though 

 more from an historical than a .scientific point of view. 

 An Edinburgh /■!ez'inver discusses organic variation and 

 animal coloration, Ixusing his remarks uixm Mr. Bateson's 

 " Materials for the Study of Variation " and Mr. F. E. Bed- 

 dards " .\nimal Coloration." In Gomi Words we find an illus- 

 trated article by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, on curious nests of birds, 

 and a paper on the Earl of Kosse and his great telescope, by Sir 

 Robert Ball. Chamlvrs's Journal contains, among other in- 

 structive articles, one on the U.S. North .-Vtlantic Pilot Chart, 

 and another on " T.tka Joli," a new .substitute for yeast. 

 Finally we have to acknowledge the receipt of Scrihiitrs Maga- 

 zine, the Sunday Magazine, and the Hiinianilarian. 



T 



NO. 1345, VOL. 52] 



PHOTOMETRIC STAX HARDS. 



HE following Re|Kirt of the Committee appointed by the 

 Board of Trade, in December 1S91, " to inquire into and 

 report to them ujwin the subject of the standards to Ix' used for 

 testing the illuminating power of coal gas," h.is just been published 

 as a Parliamentary paper. 



" (1) I' "•">* intimated to us, by a letter from the Secretary to- 

 the Boar<l, that the method at present in use for measuring the 

 illuminative value of coal gas has been objected lo, alike by the 

 Metroixilitan tlas Referees and the London County Council, as 

 lieing of an unsatisfactory nature ; that the Ixjndon Gas 

 Comimnies are alive to the defects in the present system ; and 

 that legislation is admittedly necessitry for the jiurpose of sub- 

 stituting a more trustworthy standard for that now in existence p 

 l>ut that, in view of ihe ditVerence in opinion as to what the sub- 

 stituted standard shouKi be, the President of the Board deemeil 

 it advisable that, before his support was given to any legislation, 

 the whole question should be considereil by a C'ommittee that 

 would command the confidence of the various interests aflecteil. 



" (2) The method at present in use for measuring the illuniina- 

 tive value of coal gas con.sists in comparing the light of tlie gas, 

 when burning from a particular burner at a specitied rate, with 

 the light of a sperm canille burning also at a spuciliecl rate, 

 which last is taken as a staiulard. We have satisfied ourselves, 

 from considerations set forth in the .\ppendix to this Keptirt, 

 that the flame of a sperm candle does not furnish a .siitis- 

 factory standard, by reason of the amount of light which it 

 affords varying over a wide range, under conditions as to the 

 manufacture of the candle, as to its mode of use, and as to- 

 advenlitious circumstances allending its use, which, as a whole, 

 it is not ixissible to regulate and define. 



*' (3) Though recognising, however, that tlie s|K'rni candle 

 flame does not furnish a .sal isfiictory standard, we nevertheless 

 consider it advi,s;ible that, in olVicial documents and reports, Ihe 

 quantity of light yielded by coal gas burned under specified con- 

 ditions should continue to be expres.sed as heretofore, in leriii> of 

 candle-light, the actual comparison, however, being iiKule 

 between the gaslight and some well-defined and constant light 

 a.scerlained to be equal in quanlily lo, or a definite multiple of, 

 the average light given by the slaiulard sperm candle. 



" (4) We have further come to the conclusion that, in the pre- 

 sent .state of ex|x-rie[ice and knowledge, the source of ihe light 

 lo lie used .as a standard by gas-testers generally must be jiro- 

 diiced by the process of combustion, and be in the nature of a 

 flame. 



" '5).We find Ihat the one-candle-lighl flame proposed by Mr. 

 .-\. Vernon Harcourl as giving a standard light, and commonly 

 known as Ihe ' Harcourt |>enlane air-gas flame,' when used 

 under the conditions defined, <loes constilule a very exact 

 .standard, ca|)able of being reproduced at any lime wilhoiit 

 variation of illuminative value. 



"(6) We have salisfied ourselves that the Mghl given 

 by Mr. Haicourl's above-mentioned pentane air-gas flame as 

 defined, in respect to the conditions of ils production, in ihc 

 Apjiendix, is a true representative of the average light 

 furnished by the s|)erm candle flame constituting the present 

 st.andard. Since 1879, when Ihe penlane air-gas flame w.is first 

 introduced, many series of experiments have been made liy 

 different olwervers, in which the lighl of ihe pro|«)sed standard 

 has Iwen c<mii)ared with the light of the standard .sperm candle 



