^50 



NA TURE 



[July 12, 1894 



The pressure increases immediately, and stops when 

 -equilibrium is established. The spectroscopic pheno- 

 mena are always followed and compared at the beginning 

 and when equilibrium is established. 



KiG. 3. — .Apparatus UyX experiments at twgh \ rc-s 



In the experiments made with the tube of two metres in 

 length, and with gaseous pressures up to loo atmo- 

 sphere, perceptible modifications in the length of the 

 spectrum observed have not been noted. The attained 

 temperatures have been estimated between 8oo' and 

 900 , according to the spectrum given by the spiral. 



To obtain higher temperatures if is necessary to 

 increase the power of the electric generators, and that is 

 what it is proposed to do ; but it must be observed that 

 the solar phenomenon point of view, it is the e.\terior 

 and middle parts of the coronal atmosphere 

 which interest us most. It is those which, if 

 they contain oxygen, would, above all the 

 others, produce steam, by reason of their lower 

 temperatures. But temperatures of Soo and 

 900 , which have already been realised, cor- 

 respond to the deep parts of the coronal 

 atmosphere, and in these, as well as in 

 those which are more exterior, and con- 

 sequently colder, the absence of oxygen may 

 be affirmed. 



XOTES. 

 Lord Kelvin has been awarded the Grande Midaille of the 

 Socielt- d'Encouragement pour I'lndustrie Nationale of Paris, 

 for his scientific works. Among other awards we note the fol- 

 lowing : 3000 francs to M. Dulac for a means of 

 diminishing smoke at industrial centres ; lOOO 

 rancs to MM. Fuchs and de Launay for their 

 work "Giles Minciaux" ; and 500 francs to M. 

 Chapel for his " Caoutchouc et laGutta-Percha " ; 

 2000 francs to Prof. Roberts-Austen for his work 

 on alloys (see N.\ture, June 7) ; 1500 francs 

 to M. Pagnoul ; and 500 francs to the Socicti; 

 d'Agriculture in the Meaux district, for in- 

 vestigations on the comparative physical nature 

 and chemical constitution of the soils of certain 

 regions. 



After a long illness the Right Hon. Sir 

 Henry Layard passed away on July 5, at the age 

 of seventy-seven. His excavations at Nineveh 

 and li.ibylon, and his travels through various 

 pans of .'\sia, have made his name eminent 

 among archa;ological investigators and dis- 

 coverers. 



We regret to record the death at Paris of M. 

 Mallard, the Professor of Mineralogy in the Ecole 

 Nationale Suprrieuie des Mines. 



The Times correspondent at Calcutta tele- 

 graphs that, since the beginning of the rainy 

 season, the water in the Gohna Lake has been 

 rising about two feet daily, and is now 160 feet from the 

 top of the dam. As percolation has begun through the dam, 

 and is increasing with the increased pressure, it is thought 

 that the overflow will probably not occur before the middle of 

 September. 



A ReI/Ter telegram from .St. John's, dated July 7, states 

 that the Peary Auxiliary Expedition has sailed on board the 

 steamer Falcon for Inglefield Gulf, Greenland, to bring home 

 Lieut. Peary's party. They will call at Carey Island, where 



PHOTOGRAPH OF A LANDSCAPE IN 

 LIVING AND DEAD BACTERIA. 



A FTLM of living bacteria in Agar was dis- 

 •**• iributcd over very thin (cover-slip; glass 

 sterilised ; this thin glass alone separated the 

 film from the negative. After exposure over a 

 mirror for two hours, and then fi)rty-cight 

 hours' incubation, the bacteria behind the trans- 

 parent pans of the negative were killed ; 

 tho»e behind the opaque parts developed 

 normally ; those partly protected were re- 

 tarilcd, giving the half tones. The photograph 

 wa» sharper when first made, several weeks before 

 reproduction. 



NO. 1 289, VOL. 50] 



the Swedish naturalists lijorling and Kallstenius were wrecked 

 in the schooner KippU in 1892, and will also search at Cape 

 Faraday and Clarence Ilcad to ascertain the fate of the 



