424 



NATURE 



[February 2S, 1895 



that biologists miy look forward to the early achievement of 

 valuable results by Dr. Zacharias and his assislanls. The 

 present report goes far to justify this expectation. 



The history of the Royal Microscopical Society, as told by 

 Mr. A. D. Michael in his presidential address last month, is 

 contained in the February /ciirnal of the Society. 



A BOOK of gummed labels, for the chemical laboratory, 

 having the names of 750 special reagents, &c., printed upon 

 them, has been compiled by Mr. \V. H. Synions, and published 

 by Messrs. A. Gallenkamp and Co. 



We are always glad to see the Reports of the Natural Science 

 Societies of our Public Schools. The twenty-fifth annual re- 

 port of the Wellington College Society has ju>t come to hand, 

 and the abstracts of the lectures delivered under the auspices of 

 the Society, as well as the records of observ.itions in various 

 branches of science, show thai excellent work is being done in 

 creating and fostering interest in natural knowledge. 



Mr. H. Warinxton Smyth's I"Notes of a Journey on the 

 Upper Mekong, Siam," read before the Royal Geographical 

 Society just a year ago, have been published in a handy .ind 

 attractive form, for the Society, by Mr, John Murray. Siamese 

 and Laos life are vividly described in the volume, and interesting 

 information is given with regard to the geographical and general 

 features of the country traversed. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds was called into 

 existence to protest against the slaughter of birds for decorative 

 purposes. It now numbers more than eleven thousand members, 

 and the fourth annual report shows that it plays an important 

 part in preventing the extermination of our rarer species of 

 birds. Owing to the Society's efforts, that remnant of primitive 

 ornamentation — the bird-wearing fashion — is on the decline. 

 The Bill passed last July, to amend the Wild Birds' Protection 

 .\ct of 1S80, is given at length in an appendix to the report. 



.■\ HANDY work of reference, occupying an intermediate 

 position between a mere school dictionary and a bulky lexicon, 

 is Ogilvie's "Student's English Dictionary," a new edition of 

 which, edited by Dr. C. Annandale, has been published by 

 Messrs. Blackie and Son. The new is.uc has been so greatly 

 changed and augmented, that it is practically a fresh work. A 

 large number of scientific and technical terms, many of them 

 recently introduced, as well as thousands of other woid;, have 

 been added. The woodcut illustrations have been more than 

 doubled, there being now nearly eight hundred of them. 

 Experience has taught us that the " Students' Dictionary " rarely 

 dbappoinO the inquirer ; in its improved and enlarged form, it 

 will be even more useful. 



Messrs. Macmii.lan and Co. will shortly publish an im- 

 portant work on " Meteorology," by Mr. T. Russell. The 

 book ha* for its main object the explanation of the use of 

 wcathcr-mapi for the purpose of making forecasts. The variou? 

 forms of meteorological instruments .tre described, and a general 

 view il taken of all knowledge connected wiih the science of 

 meteorology, and of interest in relation to weather changes. To 

 a large extent, the volume refers to weather prediction in the 

 United .Stales, and to the use of wcnther-ma|is in the prediction 

 of I1oo:l> along I he lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. It will, how- 

 ever, alio appeal to European meleorologi«ls, as well as assist in 

 the development of scientific weather ubscrvation and predic- 

 ion. Another work which will very soon be published by the 

 same firm, it a translation of the late Prof. A. dc Qualrefages' 

 NO. 1322, VOL. 51] 



" Les Pygmces." This volume, which is the second in the 

 Anthropological Series, has been tr.inslaled by the editor of the 

 series. Prof. F. Slarr, of the University of Chicago. 



The atomic weight of tungsten has been subjected to a 

 careful revision by Prof. E.F. Smith, of the Pennsylvania Uni- 

 versity, and the specific heat of the pure metal again determined. 

 Two independent series of atomic weight determinations have 

 been carried out, in which Prof. .Sinilh has been assisted, re- 

 spectively, by Miss M. E. Pennington and Mr. E. D. Desi, and 

 accounts of the work are contributed to the current issue of the 

 Ztilschri/t fiir Anorganische Chemie. In the first series the 

 method employed consisted in the reduction of pure tungstic 

 acid to metal in a stream of pure hydrogen, and then deter- 

 mining the amount of oxygen absorbed by the metal upon con- 

 version of the latter into tungstic anhydride by ignition in con- 

 tact with the air. The mean value of the atomic weight derived 

 from nine such determinations, taking oxygen as 16, is iS4'92. 

 The highest and lowest values obtained differed by only 002 

 from this mean value. The second series of determinations 

 were based upon the estimation of the amount of water pro- 

 duced during the reduction of tungs.ic acid by hydrogen. 

 Exceptional precautions were taken with the purification of the 

 latter, in order to exclude error from this source. The mean of 

 six experiments affords the value 184 '"o for the atomic weight 

 of tungsten, the greatest difference between the individual 

 values being only 007. The slight difference of o"2 between 

 the results derived from the two methods of work is probably 

 to be ascribed partly to the difference in the methods, and 

 partly to the different personal factors involved. The mean of 

 the two series, iS4'8, may therefore be taken as representing 

 a close approximation to the true atomic weight of tungsten. 

 This value is considerably higher than the currently accepted 

 one, 184 02, the number afforded by Clarke and Becker's re- 

 calculation of the experimental results of older determinations. 

 The increase is in all probability due to the great pains which 

 have been taken to remove the last traces of the lighter molyb- 

 denum from the tungstic acid employed, a task which is par- 

 ticularly difficult, and which most likely has never previously 

 been so completely achieved. 



The specific heat of the pure tungsten obtained during 

 the course of the atomic weight determinations has been ascer- 

 tained by Prof. Smith in conjunction with Mr. Gioilspeed 

 The method adopted was that described by Joly in 18S6, in- 

 volving the use of the "gravimetric calorimeter." The final 

 mean value arrived at for the specific heat of tungsten 

 o'033S, a result closely agreeing with former determinations 

 this constant. The atomic heal obtained by multiplying the 

 new value for the atomic weight by this number ex|)ressing the 

 specific heat is 6'25, a value in f.iirly close accordance with that 

 usually accepted as representiuL; the constant ol Dulong and 

 Petit for the truly metallic elements. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Lion (/v/iV/tv, i ) from India, presented by 

 Iler Majesty the <Jucen ; a Black-striped Wallaby {Ihiltiitilurus 

 (iorsalis, i) from New South Wales, presented by Miss 11. W. 

 Howes; a Hairy-rumped Agouti (/>asyfiroclti prymnoLipha 

 from Guiana, presented by Miss W. B. Jackson ; a Ros-ite 

 Cockatoo (C(Jfa/KiJ roscicopilla) from Australia, prcsenir Ny 

 Mr. A. Reynart ; four Triangular-spotted Pigeons (Coliinilm 

 guinea), two spoiled Eigle Owls (/lii/w ma ulosa) from .South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. J. E. Malcham ; a I'ieUlfare (Titrdiis 

 pilaris) British, presented by Mr. (lervasc !•'. Mathew ; two 

 Lions (/■ir/ij Ico, i 9 ) from India, deposited ; an Eland {Oreas 

 canna, 9), two Collared Fruit liats (Cynonycltris coltaris) 

 born in the Gardens. 



