324 



NATURE 



[January 31, 1895 



Tub metric system of weights and measures is to be intro- 

 daced into Tonis OD March i. 



Dr. Bredii'Hin has resigned the Directorship of the 

 Pallcova Observatory, on account of ill-health. 



Dr. E. Ki \J., Protessor of Physiology in ihe University of 

 Marburg, has just died. lie carried out a number of important 

 researches in physiological and pathological chemistry. 



Sir James Cockle, who held the post of Chief Justice of 

 <.>ueensland from 1862 to 1S79, died on Monday, at the age of 

 seventy-six. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 

 June 1865. 



Prof. Lewis R. Giubes, of the College of Charleston, 

 South Carolina, U.S.A., whose death occurred towards the 

 end of last year, was born .\ugust 14, iSio. He was a 

 Professor in the above-mentioned College for more than 

 tifty years, from 1S3S to 1892 ; at first as Professor of Mathe- 

 matics, afterwards of Astronomy, Chemistry and Physics. 

 Prof. Gibbes published a number of articles on .islronomy, 

 natural historj', &'C., in various journals and in the pu^ilica- 

 tionsof scientific societies. 



It will be remembered by our electrical readers, that at the con- 

 test organised by the City of Paris in 1889 for the best electric 

 meter, Prof. Elihu Thomson was awarded the prize of five 

 thousand francs. Desiring that this sum should serve for the deve- 

 lopmentofthelheoretical knowledge of electiicity, Prof. Thomson 

 arranged to offer a prize for the best work on one of four impor- 

 tant questions in electricity. The papers had to be sent in by 

 the middle of September 1893, but the decision of the Com- 

 mittee organised to adjudicate upon them has only lately been 

 made known. Four memoirs were received, one written in 

 German, one in French, and two in English. It was decided 

 that each of the two memoirs in English deserved the prize. 

 One was by Dr, .-\. Webster, of the Clark University, Wor- 

 cester, U.S.A., the subject being "An experimenial deter- 

 mination of the period of electric oscillations." The subject 

 of the other memoir was " An eximtnation of the absolute 

 accuracy of the formula for calculating the period of free oscil- 

 lation of a discharge condenser under circumstances such that 

 the resistance of the circuit has noappreciaMe disturbing effect." 

 This memoir dealt practically with a determination of " ri " 

 by a method of free oscillations, and the authors were Prof. O. 

 Lodge and Mr. R, T. Glazebrook. Ultimately it was decided 

 to award a prize of five thousand francs for each of these 

 papers, the money fir the purpose having been collected. 

 The collection of the additional money caused the delay in 

 the publication of the decision of the Committee. 



The opinion has often been expressed that corn or at least 

 grass could be profitably cultivated on Ihe high plateaux of 

 Norwa). Dr, Hans Reii'ch, the Director of the Norwegian 

 Geologrcil Survey, concludes, however, in a recent publication, 

 that the loil which once existed, was nearly all scrapcdaway 

 daring Ihe Ice Age, and that cultivation could not now be 

 carried on wilh much success. 



The Royal Photographic Society, which became incorporated 

 on January I in this year, have iletermined that the Society 

 shall hereafter con«i«l of two clasic<. Members and Fellows. 

 la future, m members will be admitted to the fellowship until 

 they have given the Council satisfactory proof of the possession 

 by them of suitable .laaliftcations for the litle F. R.P, S., 

 which in thii way will become a guarantee of ability on the part 

 of it* holder in cither scientific or artistic photo^>raphy. 



DCRINO Ihe past week, snow has filirn over all parts of the 

 Rriliih ('lands ; in Scotland and the north of Ireland the 

 amounts have been large, and even in the Channel Islands a 



HO. 1318, VOL. 51I 



depth of six inches was recorded. Very sharp frosts have also 

 been experienced in all parts, and for some days the ther- 

 mometer in places has not risen above the freeninjj point. The 

 following low readings have been notified to the Meteorological 

 Office : S'at Lland iviry, on the 2ith ; 2° at llillington (Nor- 

 folk), and 11° at Varmouth, on the 27th: and 9° at Lough- 

 borough, on the 29lh January. At H.ipar.nnda, in the Gulf of 

 Bo hnia, a temperature of - 24' w.is recorded on January 26 

 and 29, and over Europe gen;rally the weather was very cold, 

 frost and sn )w occurin^ as farsniihas Nice and Biarritz. A 

 den^e fog occurred in London on the afternoon of January 29. 



TuEtwenty.f'ifih anniversary of the transfer of the telegraph 

 to the State in the United Kingdom was celebrated on Monday, 

 by a banquet at the Hotel Mctropole, under the presidency of 

 the Postmaster-General, Mr. Arnold Morley. The very re- 

 markable developments of telegraphy during the last quarter of 

 accniury is shown by some statistical information furnished to 

 the guest-;. The telegrams have risen from 6,Sjo,ooo to 

 71,465,000, the mileage of line from 14,776 to -32,881, the 

 mileage of wire from 59,430 to 206,304, the instruments in 

 use from 670 to S500, the number of words per minute capable 

 of beinj transmitted on the fastest form of instrument from 70 

 to 600, and the offices from 2932 to 9637. 



On Wedneslay, February 6, the Hon. T. F. Bayard, United 

 States .'Vr.bassador, will distribute the prizes to evening 

 students of the People's Palace, .Mile End Road, E. 



The following are the names of the candidates who passed 

 the recent examination of the Institute of Chemistry : — -\. E. 

 Bell, C. S. Ellis, Dr. M. O. Forster, J, Lones, G. H. Russell, 

 W. H. Sodeau, W, L, Sutton, and W. G. Young. 



On Thursday afternoon, February 14, Mr. L. Fletcher, 

 F.R.S., Keeper of Minerals at the British Museum, will begin 

 a course of three lectures at the Royal Institution on Meteorites. 

 The P'liday evening discourse on February 8 will be delivered 

 by Dr. G. Sims Woodhead, his subject being " The Antitoxin 

 Serum Treatment of Diphtheria. " 



I.v accordance with the scheme recommended by the Royal 

 Commission, telegraphic and telephonic communication has 

 been established by the Post Office authorities in connection 

 with the Liverpool life-buat service and look-out sta'ions, and 

 also at various points on the Welsh coast. 



According to the Paris correspondent of the /.<iiicet, a 

 survey of the statistics hitherto published in divers countries of 

 the results of the application of Behring and Roix's method in 

 ihe treatment of diphtheria up to the last day of December 

 1S94, gives a total of 2700 cases with 433 deaths, or a mortality 

 ol 16 per cent. 



A GENERAL meeting of the members of the Federated 

 Institution of Mining Engineers will be held on Tuesday, 

 February 12, at 10.30 a.m., in the Examination Hall of the 

 Mason Science College, Birmingham. Arrangements have 

 been made for visits to collieries, &c., on the following day. 



TllK third series of lectures arranged by the Sunday Lecture 

 Society begins next Sunday afternoon, in S'. George's Hall, 

 L.-ingliam Place, at 4 p.m., when Mr. A. Smith Woodward will 

 lecture on "The Restoration of Exiinct .Vnimals." Lectures 

 will subse<iuently be given by Dr. R D. Robert-. Prof. 

 Henry K. Armstrong, F.R..S., Mr. C. T. Wnitmell, Dr. C. W. 

 Kiuimins Mr. Douglas Carnegie, and Mr. W. Mayhowe 

 Heller. 



The twenty-second annual dinner of the old students of the 

 Royal School of Mines took place on Friday evening;, at the 

 Criterion Restaurant, under the presidency ol Mr. W. H. 

 Greenwood. A large number of guests were present, among 



