206 



NATURE 



[December 27, 1894 



now realised in the inTcntion of Messrs. Hulin and Leblanc, 

 gives greater elasticity to the system ; while the precautions 

 taken to avoid sudden opening or closing of the circuits, gives a 

 security against troubles experienced in the past by others such 

 as has not obtained before. The success that has attended Prof. 

 Forbes's effjrts during the period of design and construction is 

 of good augury for a successful issue to the commercial stage 

 which the Niagara Falls Power Company now enters upon. 



Reuter reports that a violent earthquake shock, lasting one 

 minute, was felt at Oraviczi, South Hungary, at 10.35 P-™- on 

 December 19. Many houses fell in, while the walls of others 

 were seriously cracked. 



A Bacteriological Institute is about to be established in 

 the University of Kie(r(says the British Medical yoiirnal), at 

 an estimated cost of ;^lo,ooo. A well-known druggist of 

 Moicow has also given a house, valued at £y>oo, with ;£^S00 

 towards the fiitinj^ up o( it as a bacteriological laboratory. 



We regret to record the death, on the 19th inst., of Prof. 

 Allen Harker, of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 

 at the age of forty-six. Mr. Harker was a popular and success- 

 ful teacher, and did good work, not only at the College, but in 

 connection with County Council technical education schemes, 

 both in Glojcestershire and Bedfordshire. 



The Italian Botanical Society has decided to hold its annual 

 meeting for 1895 in Palermo, in the latter part of April. 



The influence of the Royal Gardens at Kew upon other 

 Botanic Gardens is strikingly shown in a list of the staffs of 

 botanical departments and establishments at home, and in 

 India and the Colonies, given in the AVii' BuUclin (.\ppendix 

 III.). Disciples have gone from Kew to the ends of the world 

 to become directors or curators of Botanic Gardens ; indeed, 

 almost every Garden seems to have on its staff someone trained 

 at Kew, or recommended by the Director there. A clearer 

 testimony of esteem could not be desired. 



From Mr. Carruthers's Report of the Department of Botany 

 in the British Museum for 1893, we learn that the herbarium 

 received some valuable additions during that year by gift and 

 purchase. The most important were Mr. Deby's great 

 collection of diatoms, numbering nearly 30,000 named slides ; 

 the late Mr. Jenner's collection of over 6000 specimens of alga;, 

 a collection of over 1000 of the lower cryptoglms of Dominica 

 and St. Vincent, presented by the committee for the exploration 

 of the West Indies ; and a large number of flowering plants 

 from Malaya, presented by Mr. Ridley. 



A RAPID fall of the barometer on Friday, the 21st inst., made 

 it clear that a serious disturbance was approaching our shores 

 from the Atlantic, and by 6 p.m. of that day a "fresh " gale 

 had already set in on the nonh-west coast of Ireland. Daring 

 the night the centre rapidly crossed Scotland, and the whole of 

 the United Kingdom experienced severe westerly gales, which 

 occasioned great loss of life and properly, and although the 

 storm ar-a (ubsequcntly crossed the North Sea, violent north- 

 westerly winds continued during the whole of Saturday. The 

 anemometer at (jreenwich on .Saturday morning showed a 

 pre«ure of 29 pounds on the square fool, which is equivalent to 

 a velocity of about 76 miles in the hour ; but considering that 

 the centre of the disturbance was at that time at least 400 miles 

 to the north, there is no doubt that considerably higher veloci- 

 liei occurred in other parts of the country. In .Scotland the 

 barometer fell more than an inch and a half in 24 hours, and 

 the subsequent rise was even more rapid. 



Wk have received two numbers of Biology Notes, a monthly 

 pamphlet published by the Technical Instruction Committee of 



NO. 13 I 3. VOL. 51] 



the Essex County Council. Under the direction of Mr. Houston 

 'he problem of reconciling the practical reiiuirements of this 

 district with a really scientific method of instruction in biology 

 seems to be in rapid progress towards a satisfactory solution. 

 Pioneer lectures are given, short courses for farmers and gardeners 

 on such immediate topics as plant diseases, and systematic and 

 largely practical courses of study in botanical science, at the 

 Chelmsford Laboratory, and at various local centres. In addi- 

 tion, the Chelmsford Laboratory is rapidly becoming a centre 

 for inquiry into, and the discussion of, agricultural problems. 

 During the last three months the influence of ergot on gravid 

 cattle, the toxic eftect of bracken fronds, certain samples of 

 foreign hay that had caused disease, and the distribution o 

 potato disease, among other topics, have received attention. The 

 combination of elementary instruction in science, on the one 

 hand, with original inquiry on the other, and the practical 

 Simplicity of both depirtments of work, appear to us to be admir- 

 able features, and we would recommend it to the attention of 

 those who are interested in Technical Education in similar 

 districts in otherJparts[of the country. 



Field experiments of an instructive kind are carried on al the 

 Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, under the direction of 

 Prof. E. Kinch. A pamphlet just received conlainsjan account of 

 CNperiments on oats grown this year on twenty-four plots differ- 

 ently treated. The general results were as follows : — The smallest 

 yield of corn was from the plots receiving ammonium salts only, 

 the unmanured plots, .tnd the plots receiving cinereal manures 

 only. The highest yield of corn was from the plots receiving four 

 teen tons of farmyard manure every year since 1SS5, followed by 

 the plots receiving cinerealsand mineral nitrogen, and phosphates 

 and mineral nitrogen. The largest amount of s'raw was also given 

 by the plots which had received the larger amount of farmyard 

 manure annually, followed by tho;e receiving mineral nitrogen 

 with phosphates. The withholding of potash appeared to make 

 little or no difference in the yield of straw, but the withholding 

 of phosphates made a difference. The unmanured and cinereal 

 manured plots gave the least straw. Experiments were also 

 made to determine the crops of hay from twenty plots, to which 

 different kinds and quantities and manures had been applied. 



The last issue of the Zcitschrift fiir Physiialisclie Cliemie 

 (vol. XV. part 3, p. 386) contains a paper by Messrs. Raoul 

 Pictet and Altschul on " Phosphorescence at very Low 

 Temperatures," which is of special interest in connection with 

 recent work on this phenomenon. Glass tubes containing the 

 sulphides of calcium, strontium, and barium were exposed to 

 sunlight, and the duration and the extent of the phosphor- 

 escence were noted. The various lubes, after having been ag.ain 

 exposed to sunlight, were plunged into liquid nitrous oxide, the 

 temperature of which, by rapid diminution of pressure, could be 

 brought to -140°. After twelve minutes' immersion the tubes 

 were brought into a dark room, iand their behaviour carefully 

 observed. Al first no indication of phosphorescence could be 

 seen. In a few moments the upper part of the tube, which had 

 not been so strongly cooled .as the rest, began to phosphoresce, 

 and gradually ihe feeble light seemed to spread itself down the 

 tube, the lower pari of which, however, glowed much more 

 feebly than the upper. .Vftcr five minutes the tubes acquired 

 their ordinary vivid colour, without subsequent exposure to sun- 

 light or even to diffused daylight. All phosphorescent sub- 

 stances appeared to behave in this way. I'urther experiments 

 were then made in order to determine the limits between which 

 these phenomena occurred. For this purpose a quantity of 

 alcohol was cooled to -80°, and in it a tube containing some 

 phosphorescent substance, after insolation, was immersed. That 

 portion of the tube which was surrounded by alcohol in the out- 

 set glowed feebly, but in proportion as it took up the tempera- 



