February 28, 1895] 



NA TURE 



421 





be said to have been verified with an accuracy of one 

 part in a million. 



The certificate of the verification of the end standard, 

 or iiutre-d-bout (c'talon No. 6), will not be issued by the 

 Committee until their general conference in September 

 ; but this standard has been verified also with great 

 accftte-y, with a probable error of ± 03 ^z. In the verifi- 

 cation of the end standard {inclrc-d-boiit) MM. Cornu 

 ■id lienuit have introduced a method of reflection, by 

 means of which it is unnecessary to bring the ends of the 

 metre bai into contact with any touching surfaces, and 

 thus the measuring ends of the bar may be carefully pre- 

 served and used. Only Austro-Hungary, Germany, 

 Great liriiain, and Russia have at present applied 

 to the International Committee to be supplied with end 

 standard metres. 



Experiments with reference to light-wave analysis, 

 which have been carried out under the directions of the 

 International Committee by Dr. Michelson during 1S93, 

 with the view to the discovery of a radiation of light of 

 sufficient homogeneity to serve as an ultimate standard of 

 length, appear to show that it is possible within certain 

 limits to reproduce the length of the metre by reference 

 to such physical constant. 



The Kilogramme. 



The unit of mass of the kilogramme is determined by a 

 piece of iridio-platinum in the form of a cylinder, the 

 height and diameter of which are equal (thirty-nine 

 millimetres). The kilogramme. No. 18, supplied to 

 Great Britain has no distinguishing marks, and is highly 

 polished. On analysis it showed very faint traces of 

 ruthenium, rhodium, and iron. Its volume was found to 

 be at 0° C. 



Prototype 18 = 46'4I4 millilitres, 



corresponding to a density of — 



2rS454- 

 After its final adjustment it was found to be in vacuo 

 at o^ C. 



Prototype 18=1 kg. ■\- 0070 ± 0002 milligramme. 



So that it may be said that the kilogramme (kg.) has 

 been verified with a probable accuracy of 0002 parts in 

 a million. 



NOTES. 



The Committee of the Athenccum Club, acting under the 

 Rule which provides for the annual election of persons " of dis- 

 tinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or for 

 public strvices," have admitted to membership Prof. Bayley 

 Balfour, F.R.S., and Sir W. H. White, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



Dr. F. J. Lauth, the eminent Egyptologist, died at Munich 

 on the llih inst., at the sge of seventy-three. He w.is 

 Honorary Professor of Egyptology .it the University of Munich, 

 and Keeper of the Egyptian Collections. His writings on the 

 antiquities of Egypt are numerous and important. 



We regret to announce the death of Prof Ileinrich Wild, of 

 St. Petersburg. He was a Swiss by birth, and his work in 

 magnetism and optics, as well as the magnetometer, polari- 

 strobometer, and other instruments devised tiy him, are well 

 known to students of physics. 



It is reported from Athens that the architect who has 

 examined a number of the ancient monuments in Athens, states 

 that the majority of them, and particularly the Parthenon 

 and the Temple of Theseus, are in a dangerous state. The 

 work of rendering them secure would cost a million drachra.is. 

 The Archsological Society intends to make an appeal to all 

 countries for a portion of the money required to restore these 

 wonderful monuments to a sound condition. 



NO. 1322, VOL. 5 l] 



General Annenkoff, constructor of the Russian Central 

 Asian Railway, has been appointed one of the vice-presidents 

 of the International Congress of Geography to be held in 

 London in July next. Russia will further be represented on 

 that occasion by nine or ten other well-known men, including 

 Senator Semenoff (vice-president of ihe Imperial Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society), M. GrigorielF (secretary of the same 

 sjciety), and Baron Wrangel (director of the Imperial Lyceum)- 



A Reuter telegram from St. Petersburg reports that a 

 scientific expedition, oiganised by the French Minister of 

 Public Works, has just arrived at Samarcand. The head of 

 the expedition is M. Jean Chaflanjon, who has previously made 

 a journey in South America, and he is accompanied by two 

 naturalists, MM. Henri Mangine and Louis Gay. From 

 Samarcand the expedition will proceed to Tashkend, and after 

 completing all the necessary preparations there, will start on a 

 journey of exploration in Tibet and other countries. 



We are informed by the trustees of the Australian Museum, 

 Sydney, that Dr. E. P. Ramsay, after twenty years' service as 

 Curator of this Museum, has retired, owing to ill-health. Dr. 

 Ramsay's official connection with the Museum as Curator 

 ceased from December 31, 1894. The trustees have appointed 

 as his successor Mr. R. Etheridge, jun., formerly of the British 

 Museum, and lately Palaeontologist to this Museum, and to 

 the Department of Mines of New South Wales, and who has 

 on several occasions temporarily acted as Curator. Mr. 

 Etheridge has entered on the duties of Curator. 



Dr. a. R. Willis will commence a course of six lectures 

 to working men at the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn 

 Street, on Monday, March 4. The subject of the course is 

 " Heat Engines." 



The weather over these islands has been comparatively mild 

 during the past week, and the higher temperatures which set in 

 at the end of the prolonged frost were maintained for some 

 days ; subsequently there was a slight return of cold, with 

 high barometric pressure, accompanied by strong northeasterly 

 winds, and snow showers in various places. Fiost occurred on 

 Sunday and following nights, the lowest shade temperatures 

 being 27.' in the central parts of Ireland, while in the south- 

 eastern and midland portions of England the readings were 

 several degrees below the freezing point. 



At a recent meeting of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, 

 the President announced that the late Herr Joseph Treith, 

 director of the First Austrian Savings Bank, had be- 

 queathed the whole of his considerable fortune to the 

 Academy for the purpose of the advancement of science. The 

 grants are to be apportioned by a committee of five, three of 

 whom are to be appointed bv the Academy, and two by the 

 Minister of -Education, the -Academy to decide all doubtful 

 questions. The branches of science to be encouraged are those 

 for which there is no other official provision made. Among 

 the subjects suggested are the physical structure of the earth 

 and of the heavenly bodies. The income is to be divided 

 every year into several grants, but if some great enterprise is to 

 be undertaken, it shall be permitted to let the funds accumulate 

 for not more than three years. The extension of higher in- 

 struction among all classes fitted for it by education, the 

 strengthening of moral character, the advancement of technical 

 education, the simplification of medical practice, and the 

 furtherance of the material prosperity of the human race by 

 invention and discovery, are the guiding principles indicated 

 by the donor lor the administration of his generous gift. 



At the last meeting of the Socieli.- Franraise de Navigation 

 Aiirienne, M. de Fonvielle- gave an account of a paper by M. 

 Andrce, the chief engineer of the Swedish Patent Office, read 



