lS2 



NATURE 



[December 20, 1894 



A PArER on the various more or less pliantastic forms as- 

 sumed by combinations of alkalies with oleic acid when brought 

 into contact with water, is contiibuted to the current number of 

 Wiedemann s AiinaUn, by Dr. G. Quincke. Oleic acid with 

 little alkali, or containing an acid ole.-ne of an alkali in solu- 

 tion, form in much water hollow spheres, globules, and 

 foam, with walls of liquid oleic acid. The hollow spaces are 

 filled with aqueous soap solution. When more water is added, 

 the walls are covered with a solid skin of the acid oleate, which 

 may then become quite liquid again by decomposition into 

 liquid oleic acid and aqueous soap solution. The periodic flow 

 of soap solution at the surface separating liquid oleic acid and ] 

 water produces vortex motions, which may be made evident 

 with methylene blue or other colouring matter. More hollow 

 spheres and bubbles of oleic acid are formed, which are arranged 

 by the capillary forces on the larger bubbles in definite posi- 

 tions, such as straight lines, circles, and ellipses. Dr. Quincke 

 points out the remarkable analogy between this arrangement 

 and the configuration of various small portions of the stellar 

 universe, such as portions of Orion, Virgo, and Coma 

 Berenice's, and recalls Plateau's experiments with weightless oil 

 spheres illustrative of the generation of the solar system. He 

 also emphasises the fact that the protoplasm of the organic 

 world shows a structure and motions similar to those of oil 

 loam with liquid or solid surfaces. 



Under the title, " Science Teaching ; an Ideal, and some 

 Realities," Mr. H. G. Wells delivered a lecture at the College 

 of Preceptors last week. Much attention is now being given 

 to the methods of science teaching in our elementary schools 

 and colleges, and Mr. Wells' views on the subject are sound 

 enough to be taken into consideration. In the course of his 

 lecture, he pointed out that a rational course of science should 

 grow naturally out of kinderg.arten. This should lead to object- 

 lessons proper, and demonstrations in physics and chemistry 

 may be made to grow insensibly, without any formal begin- 

 ning, out of such lessons. The best, about the only perman- 

 ently valuable, preparation for a scientific callmg that can 

 be given to a boy in a secondary school, is the broad basis of 

 physics and chemistry led up to io this way. 



The 1895 Annuaire of the Montsouris Observator) — the 

 Observatory of the Paris Municipal Council— has been pub- 

 lished. Though the observations made at the Observatory 

 have special reference to the climatology and hygiene of Paris, 

 researches into the domains of pure science are carried on. 

 M. Lton Descroix has charge of the physical and meteoro- 

 logical service, and M. Albert- Levy of the chemical part of 

 the work. This department includes the study of the variations 

 in the chemical composition of the air in various parts of 

 Paris, and of rain and river waters. The third branch of the 

 work, dealing with micro-organisms, is under the direction of 

 Dr. Miquel, who contributes to the Annuaire his sixteenth 

 memoir on the organic matter found in air and water. 



The papers read at meetings of the Natural History Society of 

 Northumbeiland, Durham, and Ncwcastlc-upon-Tyne, and the 

 Tyneside Naturalists' licld Club, during the past two years, 

 have just been published in the Society's Transactions, vol. xi. 

 part ii. Amoni; them is an address by the President, Prof. G. 

 S. Biady, F. K.S., on the life-history and character of some 

 internal parasites, and a lecture on parasitism in plants and 

 animals. The latter forms one of a scries of reports of five 

 lectures given in the Museum of the Society ; the others being 

 " On the Egg," by Dr. D. Embleton ; " Frogs and Tadpoles," 

 by Prof. M. C. Potter; "The Structure of Timber," by Dr. 

 W. Sumcrvillc i and "Germs," by Mr. H. Dc Haviland. The 

 Society appears to be in a far more flourishing condition than 

 most provincial societies. 



NO. 1312, VOL. 51] 



Several new editions of scientific books have been received 

 during the past week. Prof. Richard Hertwig's " Lehrbuch 

 der Zoologie ' (Guslav Fischer, Jena) is one of these. The 

 original edition was reviewed in NATURE in June 1893 (vol. 

 xlviii. p. 173), and we have nothing to add to the remarks 

 then made, except that the work has been improved by revision. 

 We are glad to see that Mr. Cumming's "Introduction to the 

 Theory of Electricity " (Macmillan) has reached a fourth 

 edition. The chief additions to the new issue are articles upon 

 the magnetic circuit and on the dynamo. " Symbolic Logic,' 

 by Dr. John Venn, F.R.S. (Macmillan), has survived the 

 prejudices of anti-mathematical logician?, for a second edition, 

 revised and rewritten, has just appeared. Finally, Messrs. 

 Whittaker and Co., have issued a second edition of "The 

 Electro-Platers' Handbook,'' by Mr. G. E. Bonney. This 

 useful manual has been enlarged by an additional chapter on 

 electrotyping, and by a number of short sections on new 

 methods of interest to amateurs and young students of electro- 

 metallurgy. 



A Bulletin (really a volume of 259 pages), by Mr. J. E. 

 Spurr, has come to us from the Geological and Natural History 

 Survey of Minnesota. The subject is "The Iron Bearing 

 Rocks of the Mesabi Range in Minnesota,'' and the author 

 treats it from many points of view. A number of reproductions 

 of the appearances presented by thin sections of the rocks 

 when microscopically examined, accompany the memoir. 

 The matter is not merely descriptive of the general structure 

 and characteristics of the Mesabi iron-bearing rocks ; if it were, 

 it would only be of local interest. Space is given to the state- 

 ment of theories to account for the origin of rocks of the 

 kind described — a subjectwhich is still one of doubt, discussion, 

 and speculation. In this connection the origin of glauconite is 

 dealt with. An examination of a thin section, with a view to 

 finding whether the forms in which the glauconilic grains some- 

 times occur have any resemblance to organic forms, led to a 

 negative result. Mr. Spurr thinks it possible, however, that 

 further study of more favourable sections may result in finding 

 traces of the organisms which possibly once existed in the rocks 

 investigated. His work thiows new light upon several per- 

 plexing problems in economic geology. 



Anhydrous hydrogen peroxide has at last been isolated by 

 Dr. Wolflenstein in the laboratory of the Technischen Iloch- 

 schule at Berlin, and the somewhat surprising fact demonstrated 

 that this substance, which has hitherto been regarded as pos- 

 sessing but little stability, is capable of actual distillation with 

 scaiccly any loss under reduced pressure. In attempting to 

 concentrate solutions of h)drogen peroxide in vacuu by the 

 method of Talbot and Moody, and also in the open air upon 

 the water bath, a solution as strong as 66 per cent. Il.jU.,. was 

 obtained, but with a loss of over 70 per cent, of the oii^inai 

 amount of peroxide employed. Moreover, it was found that 

 when the common commercial 3 per cent, solution is con- 

 centrated, the percentage of ILO^ may be bioughl up to 45 

 without the loss of any considerable quantity of the peroxide by 

 volatilisation, but that as the concentration continues to rise 

 above this limit the volatilisation of the peroxide increases at a 

 very rapid rale. Fur the great loss was proved not to be due 

 to decomposition, but to actual vapourisation of the substance. 

 Evidently hydrogen peroxide is rcniaikably stable at the tem- 

 perature of a water bath. An attempt w.is therefore made to 

 actually distil it under reduced pressure. A quantity of com- 

 mercial peroxide which had been further concentrated until it 

 contained about 50 per cent. 1I._,0,_. was first puiificd from all 

 traces of suspended impuriiics, and at the same time still lurther 

 concentrated, by extraction wiih ether ; alter evaporation of the 

 ether the solution was found to contain 73 per cent. HjOj. 



