Septe.m)!i;r 5, 1S95] 



NATURE 



455 



to the negative electrode did not ditiler from that in the vessel 

 adjacent to the positive electrode Ijy more than I per cent., and 

 this could he accounted for liy errors of experiments, as test 

 experiments, in which the mixture had not been exposed to the 

 electric field, yave differences comparable with these. We should 

 conclude from the preceding experiments thai the molecules of a 

 gas are not acted on by any ap])reciable transjational force 

 tending to move them from one place to another, when they are 

 near to a body charged with electricity. To test this jioint 

 further, two large terminals were placed in bulbs which were con- 

 nected by a horizontal capillary tulje, in which a drop of sulphuric 

 acid was placed ; a difference in the pressure of the gas would 

 cause the sulphuric acid to move, and the arrangement acts as a 

 very delicate pressure gauge. The bulbs and tube were filled 

 with chlorine at atmospheric pressure. The terminals were then 

 connected to the electrodes of a battery giving a potential differ- 

 ence of 1200 volts, but not the slightest movement of the drop 

 of acid could be detected. 



I wish to acknowledge the help I have received in making the 

 preceding experiment from my assistant, Mr. E. Everett. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



In the ninth session of Edinburgh .Summer Meeting, which 

 was o]5ened by Lord Reay on August 5, and has just concluded, 

 natural science was represented by Elisee Reclus (" On the 

 Evolution of Cities"), Dr. W. W. J. Nicol ("On Every-day 

 Cheniistr>'"), .Mr. J. C. Goodchild ("On the Geology of 

 Edinburgh"), Mr. A. J. Herbertson (" On theC.eographyof the 

 District"), Dr. Louis Irvine ("On the Nervous System"), 

 Mr. J. Arthur Thomson (" On the Biology of the 

 Seasons"), Mr. R. Turnbull("On Applied Botany") ; Prof. 

 Lloyd Morgan lectured " On F^volution Ethics," Prof. Haddon 

 " On the Savage Mind," and Prof. IJeddes " On Life and 

 Thought." 



'Mr. JosIvI'II Bissiirr, who was for two years lecturer at the 

 Agricultural College, Aspatria, has been appointed Agricultural 

 Lecturer to the County of Ayr. 



Mr. F. O. Jonks goes to the Huddersfield Technical .School 

 as Lecturer in Physics, Applied Mechanics and Steam, and Mr. 

 J. Brierley is to fdl the post of Assistant .Master in Chemistry 

 and Physics at the same school. 



Till-; Calendars for the Session 1895-96 of the University 

 College, Bristol, and the (ilasgow and West of .Scotland Technical 

 College have just been published, and may be obtained, 

 respectively, of Arrowsmith, Bristol, and .Vnderson, Glasgow. 



The Educadoiui! Times understands that Mr. Arthur Mihnan 

 will retire early in 1S96 from the Registrarship of London 

 University, under the Civil Service regulation as to age. 



SCIENTIEIC SERIALS. 



Amaiian Meteorological Joitnial, August. — The prlnci|>al 

 articles are: — Relation of clouds to rainfall, l>y II. Helm 

 Clayton. A special study of cloud-forms before and after 

 rain was made at the Blue Hill Observatory, and it was 

 found that the most frequent succession of clouds preceding 

 rain was cirrus, cirro-stratus, alto-stratus, and nimbus; 

 the first which appeared in advance of the rain being usually 

 cirrus. Rain was observed to fall from four classes of clouds : 

 (l) a high cloud sheet (alto-nimbus); (2) a low, ragged cloud 

 sheet (nimbus) ; (3) long, low rolls of cloud, giving fight inter- 

 mittent .showers ; and (4) a towering cloud of the cumulus type 

 (cumulo-nimbus). Following rain, the most frecpient clouds 

 were sirato-cumulus, in long, low rolls, while above there was 

 most frequently cirrus or cirro-stratus. The result of the in- 

 vestigation showed that cloud-forms cannot, in general, be u,sed 

 in predicting rain for more than twenty-four hours in advance, 

 liut that, for a few hours in advance, the existence of certain 

 I iouds frec|uently furnish most trustworthy indications of coming 

 rain. — The meteorograph for the Harvard Observatory on El 

 .Misli, Peru, by S. P. Fergusson. It has been found imixis- 

 sible to maintain observers at this elevated station (19,300 feet), 

 and during the rainy season, which lasts three or four months, 



NO. 1349, VOL. 52] 



no ascent can be made. A meteorograjih, on the principle of 

 Richard's well-known instruments, has been constructed at 

 the request of Prof. Pickering, which will work for four months, 

 and will be installed on the summit of the mountain this summer. 

 The record drum revolves once during three days, giving to thj 

 paper a speeil of three inches in a day, and the paper used for 

 the records is rolled upon a removable reel under the record 

 drum. An illustration of the apparatus is given in the journal. 



Hiilkliiis de la So(ii!lt' it Anthropologie de Paris, 1895, fas. '■ 

 — Discussion of the Pithccautkropus erettus as the presumed pre- 

 cursor of man, by L. .Manouvrier.- — This paper contains a critical 

 examination of the remains recently discovered by M. Dubois in 

 Java, upon which an article by Prof. Cunningham has already 

 appeared in NArtiRli. — The dolmen of Ethiau, by M. Lionel 

 Bonnemcre. After a careful examination of the marks upon the 

 dolmen, the author has come to the conclusion that they are 

 not due to atmospheric action but to the hand of man. — Lower 

 terrace of Villefranche-sur-.Sa6ne, by M. (i. de Mortillet. Many 

 worked flints have been found associated with teeth of Elephas 

 priiiiigeiiius and K/iiiioeeros tichorhinus. At Chelles, the molars 

 E. aii/ii/iiiis are common and characteristic, and the teeth of 

 rhinoceros, which arc very almndant, appear to belong to a small 

 variety of A'. Merkii. — The engraveil stones of New Caledonia, 

 by M. L. Bonnemcre. The author exhibited, in the name of 

 M. Glaumont, collector at Coron. a most interesting series of 

 drawings made by him representing certain remarkable objects 

 from the colony. Many large stones are covered with designs 

 that were evidently executed before the European occupation of 

 the island. 



L' .inthropologie, 1895, ^°- 3' — General considerations on 

 the Yellow Races, by Dr. E. T. Hamy. The opening lecture 

 of the course of Anthropology at the Museum. — Infantilism, 

 feminism, and antique hermaphrodites, by Henry Meige. 

 .Several cases in illustration of this paper have been drawn from 

 the patients of Salpetriere. — Studies in prehistoric ethnography, 

 by Ed. Piette. Manyarchiisologists have imagined that between 

 the quaternary period and the modern era there was a long 

 interval of desolation, during which the lands of Western Europe 

 were devoid of inhabitants, and the record of human life was 

 interrupted. They named it the hiatus. The author traces the 

 history of the harpoon during this period, and shows that no 

 such hiatus occurred. —Sculpture in Europe before the Greek- 

 Roman Influences, by .M. Salomon Reinach. In this section 

 of M. Reinach's valuable monograph, the subject of gesture is 

 treated, and numerous illustrations of bronze figures are given in 

 illustration of the authors argument. 



Bollittiiio della Soiietit Sismologicallaliaiia, i. , 1895, No. 4. — 

 Vesuvian notices (1894), by G. Mercalli. — On the propagation in 

 Italy of the Lubiana earthquake of April 14, 1895, by M. 

 Baratta. .\ brief account, with a map showing the course of the 

 isoseismal lines in Italy. — Notices of Italian earthquakes (April 

 1895). -^ valuable list of records, principally of the earthquake 

 which forms the subject of the preceding paper. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 20. — "On the Refractive Index of 

 Water at Tem])eratures between 0° and io°." By Sir John 

 Conroy, Bart., F.R.S. 



In 1856, Jamin {Cotiiplcs rendus, vol. xliii. p. 1191) published 

 an account of observations he made on the refractive index of 

 water at temperatures between 30° and 0°. He used an inter- 

 ference method, and found that as the water cooled the index 

 increased ; similar results have been obtained by other observers, 

 but although it appears to be proved that the refractive index of 

 water increases with the decrease of temperature until the freez- 

 ing point is reached, few determinations of ihe values of refrac- 

 tive indices of water near its point of maximum density have 

 been published. 



riie method employed was the ordinary one, the determina- 

 tion ol the angle of minimum deviation for a ray of definite wave- 

 length passing through a hollow glass prism containing water at 

 a known temperature. 



Tlie prism was filled with distilled water which had been rc- 

 cmtly boiled and allowed to cool under reduced pressure, and 



