400 



NATURE 



[February 21, 1895 



WIS a rapid rise of temperature followed by marked improve- 

 ment in the condition of the animal. This observer believes 

 that antiioxinecan he obtained by this method that will be much 

 more suitable for the treatment of the hum\n subject than tho^e 

 obtained byihe ordinary methods. His experiments, however, 

 are far too few to carry any great weight, though they open up a 

 mi's: interesting 6eld for future investigation. 



( To be continut:1. ) 



uMVERSITV AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The extension of the buildings of the Caven- 

 dish l.ai'oia'oiy is about to be undertaken, at an expense of 

 over /'4000. About half the cost will be met from the accu- 

 mulated Ires of student^ working in the la'>oratory. 



Nfr. E. Hamilton .-Vcton, Fellow and Lecturer in Chemistry 

 of St. John's College, died sudJenly, from heart di<ease, on 

 Friday niiiht. Mr. Acton was only in his thiriy-third yeir ; 

 but he had eamrd a considerable reputation as a chemist, and 

 his researches in vegetable chemistry, in particular, were of im- 

 portance He was an al>le and successt'ul teacher. His'uneral 

 on Tuesday was attended by some hundreds of the junior 

 mcmt>er4 < f the University, and by representatives of all the 

 sciemific departments. 



Mr. Robert Perkins, of Je'us College, Oxford, leaves 

 England next week for Honolulu to resume his investigations 

 on behalf of the Joint Commitiee appoimed by ihe Royal 

 Socie'y and the Bti i*h Association for the zoological explora- 

 tion 111 the Sandwich Islands. The large collections he male 

 there during his former stay (March 1892 to September 1894) 

 have I een submiiieH 10 various -pecialists, wi'h results that show 

 him to be an indefatigable observer in all branches of terrestrial 

 zoolo^v ; and, since his return 10 England last autumn, he has 

 been busily engag-d in discovering what has yet to be done to 

 complete our knowledge of the indigenous Fauna which is so 

 rapidly disa|>pearing. 



The County Councils of Northumberland and Durham are 

 truly advancng technical education by alTording as-i-iiance to 

 Dr. \V. Somerville, Professor of Agriculture in the Darhim 

 Collfge ol Science, to carry out extensive manurial trials. The 

 experiments were begun in 1892, on nine farms in Northumber- 

 land ; in 1S93, when Durham joined in the work, the number 

 of fa'm^ rose to t*eniysix ; while nuring 1894, ihe trials xere 

 made at no le-s than (orty-ihree difT-rent centres in the two 

 counties. The investiijati >ns mu-'t have a nit inconsiderable 

 influence np<in ihe prosperity of the agriculture of the district 

 to which they refer. 



The Technical Instruction Committee of Ihe Essex Cnunty 

 Cotini il, wi h a view to promoting the sp end of scieniitic know- 

 ledge amrngihose engaged on the coast in ihc iishing indisries, 

 started a m-tiie-t hitilo^^ic »1 station at Bright I mgsea last year, anil, 

 nnderihesuprrinicndenceol Mr. J. T. Cunningham, a numbei of 

 spec mens were c- 'I lei ted for the pur poses of demon si rat ion. Some 

 exprrimenis 1 n the coniinemal method of growing oysiers were 

 tlv> commtnced but, owing to ihe unfav lurahle character of 

 the >eason, tte p suits could not be carried very far. We are 

 glad I" learn, however, that tl e Comnii irc, in conjunction wi h 

 the BiiMiii>h Ci ui cil o' Colchesier, propose 10 cary on ihc 

 work of ihesialion, and that ihe Fishmongers' Company hive 

 aI»o 9ho«n ti eir apprecn'tmn of the movement by giving a 

 grani ol £^0 per annum for three years. 



The Manihesler Town Council have accepted a tender for 

 Ihe (Fiction ol a lechnical schiol at a cost ol £mo,ocx>. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Amtriian yournal of Afailifmnlui, vol. xvii. No. i. (January, 

 1895).— bar line iransfo'maiion de mouvcments, P. Ap|>ell, is a 

 treatment of Elliot's problem {Comfit! niidus, 18^3), and of a 

 qiiesiion fjl'cd by Mc»ischenky, in the Kiilleiin Jet Sciences 

 Malti. 1K94, Ks a pariic'lar < a.e of Ir msforination • f move- 

 ments. — An eitract from a letter arldrc-scd 10 I 'r. Craig by 

 M. He mile, gives the result of an in-e-lgati n of the 

 aiymploiic value ol log r(a) when a is arge. — On the fi'sl and 

 second Inganthmic derivatives of hvpcrclliptic « function , by 

 Oikar Doiza, ojicns with a statement of certain well known I 



NO. 1321, VOL. 5 1] 



theorems of the theory of elliptic functions and then extends 

 these and some a'lied theorems to liypereloptic funaions. — Sur 

 la de6nition de la limi.e d'une lonction. Exercice de logique 

 maihematiqiie, by Prof. Pcano. Ihe definition is one 

 previously used I y the writer, and also by two or three previous 

 writers. It is practically given by Al>el {IVoris ii. p. 199), in 

 the form. "Pour qu'une st'rie 2«„ soit convergente. il faut 

 que la plus petite dei limites de /;«„ soit zero." The 'ame 

 gei eral idea of a limit is given in Cauchy's "Cours 

 d'Analyse algebrique " (1821, p. 13), "quelquefois . . . une 

 expre sion converge a-I.a-fos ver- plnsieurs limites differentes les 

 unes ne« autres." Prif. Peano works on this (definition, and 

 demon-trates at <ome length its principal properties. To this 

 end he cmi<lo«s la log que mithematique, " Cette science s'est 

 rapi'ement deve'oppce rie nos jours, et on la appliquee dans 

 plu-ieurs travaux." — Dr. E. McClmtock contributes an article 

 on ttieoieiis in the calculus of enlirgement (a paper read 

 be'ore the Amer'can Mat^iematical Society, -August 14, 1S94). 

 It is an iniere-tiiig sequel to his essav on the calculus of en- 

 largement (vol. ii. pp. 101-161). — In his note on Foucault's 

 pendulum, Mr. Ch'ssm considers the motion of a physical 

 pendulum on the surface of the earth, taking into account the 

 rotation of the eanh about its axis. The init al velocity 

 relativelv to the eaith of the pendulum is supposed equal to 

 zero, as in Fiucauli's experiment. Hence he leta ns the name 

 of *' Foucault's pendulum," although oscillations of any finite 

 amplitude are considered. The p irtrait which is given with 

 this nuiiiber is that of M. E. Picard. 



ll'ieifeiiiiiin's Antialen der Phynk und Chemic, No. 2. — 

 Fluorescence of solutions, by O. Knoblauch. There is a con- 

 stant r.Tti I between the in ensity of the flu irrsience and the 

 existing light, t ven uhen the intensity of the latter is altered in 

 the ra io ol I to 6400. The author proves exp nmenially and 

 theaelicallv that ihe effect upon ihe various fluorescent bodies 

 of virying the solvent is very dilTerent.- — The potential gradient 

 in the positive portion of the glow discharge, by A. Ilerz. 

 The poteniial gradient in the prsiiive unsiratifi d glow dis- 

 charge of a v.icuum tube decreases as the currem increases, and 

 also as the diameter ol the tube is incicased ; but it increases 

 »iih Ihe pns-urc, ihounh nnt as npidlv — Unip'l.ir induction, 

 by Ernst Leclur. The author discusses the difleient aspects 

 of the qutstion whether, when a cylindrical magnet rotates 

 ab ut its axis, the lines o' force due to ii are siationary, or 

 totiiewih ihe magnet. The former «as Karaday's original 

 view, tlie la'ter has been maintained by Tolvrr Pie-ton and 

 otheis. Afttr showing that all the experiments hiihertn quoted 

 as rie- isive one w ay or the other may be equally well interpreted 

 on eiiher assump ion, he describes s me test experimcn s which 

 show Ilia' he lines of foice stand still \vh le l^e magnet lotates. — 

 Electric dispersion, by P. Drude. A nt'^thol is desiiibed for 

 inves igating ihe iclaii. n betwien th- di lect ic cons'ant of a 

 substance and the period if the el' ciric waves triversing it, or 

 what mayb- described as the electric dispersion of the sub- 

 sUncc. If the oirltclric constant deciencs as the period 

 increase, th' re will be normal, if it incr ases, anomalous 

 dispersi n. F'"«r al ohol the d spersion was found to lenormal, 

 anil of ihe s'.me ordi r of mi'gnitiide as its optical r'i^persion. 

 Water sI'O • ed abnormal diS|erion with he la'ge wave-lengths 

 U'C I, whereas e onite showed no pc ceptible dispersion. — 

 Ellect o ka'iiode rays upon some sa't-, by E. Goldstein. 

 Litliinm c'llor de, «hen exposed m Kithode rais, assumes a 

 h lioirope "f durk vio'ei ci loui, which it retain- lor siine time 

 in a se led tul'C, I hi rides and o lie h.'loii S'lts ol potassium 

 and oiiiiim show simi ar efiects. The colours are vciy super- 

 ficial, and di.-appcar on heating, or by the action of moisture. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London 



Geological Society, January 23. — Or. Henry Woodward, 

 F.K.S., I'ns'ileni, in the chair. —Carrock Fed : a study in the 

 vaiiaiiou of Igneous rock-mosses. Pari li. The Carrock Fell 

 Gr..niiphyie. Pait iii. The tirairsj^dl Grei-en, by Allrcd 

 lliik-r. The augite-granophyre ol Carmck Fell was first 

 decnbcd in iis noimal devc opmei.t, special ailtnion being 

 drawn 10 the various lypcs of micmgiopiiic intergiowths which 

 It exhibits. The variation of the roik was next examined, 



