442 



NA TURE 



[March 7, 1895 



and his mental and physical conditions altogether were the 

 reverse of what they were in the English stage. From these 

 objervations, Mr. Bruce is led to believe that "the cerebral 

 hemispheres are capable of individual mental action, and that 

 the mentally active cerebrum has a preponderating influence 

 over the control of the motor functions, the patient living two 

 separate existences during the two stages through which he 

 passes ; the mental impressions received during each of the^e 

 separate existences being recorded in one cerebral hemisphere 

 only." If the cerebral hemispheres did not act independently, 

 it is difficult to account for the patient's ignorance of events 

 which happened to him in the Welsh stage when he passed into 

 the English condition. 



A NOTE on the electrostatic capacity of resistance coils wound 

 in the ordinary way to avoid self-induction, is published in the 

 Comples rciiJus (February il). The author (M. J. Cauro) 

 has experimentally determined the electrostatic capacity of 

 coils wound in several different ways, using for this purpose 

 a Wheatstone's bridge arrangement with a commutator 

 similar to that used by Ayrton and Perry in their secohmmeter. 

 By comparing coils of practically the same shape and resistance 

 the author finds that the errors due to capacity may, in the case 

 of coils containing a large number of turns, be considerable 

 when the ordinary double method of winding is .idopted, but 

 these errors are considerably reduced if the method of winding 

 proposed by M. Chaperon is employed. The best results of 

 all are obtained by winding the two wires in alternate layers, 

 always slatting from the same end of the bobbin, the wire 

 being brought back parallel to the axis of the coil. For 

 instance, with coils having a resistance of about 14,000 ohms 

 and about 9500 turns, the three methods of winding give 

 apparent self-induction (due to capacity) of - 1 79, - o'27 

 and -o'i6 respectively. In order to make sure that the values 



obtained were really due to capacity, the author placed bundles 

 of fine iron wire inside the difi'erent coils. The results 



obtained in this case were the same as those obtained without 

 any iron core. By altering the connection of the two wires in 



the coil wound in the ordinary manner, so that the current 



tiaverscd the two circuits in the same direction, the self- 

 induction was found to be 0'13. Thus by winding the wire- 

 double, the error due to electrostatic capacity was about 

 twelve times as great as the error to eliminate which this 

 method of winding was adopted. 



Two volumes recently added to the comprehensive Aide 

 Mcmoire series, published jointly by Gauthier-Villars and 

 Mujon, Paris, are : — " Appareils .\ccessoires des Chaudiires a 

 Vapeur," by MM. Dudebout and Croneau, and " Trailc des 

 Bicyclei et Bicycleltes " by Dr. C. Bourlet. 



Thk names of the members of the electrical and kindred 

 industries throughout the world are contained in " The Universal 

 Electrical Directory," published by Messrs. II. Alabaster, Gate- 

 house, and Co. For simplicity and facility of reference the 

 names are divided into four groups — namely, lirilish. Con- 

 tinental, American, and Colonial, which are .igain subdivided 

 into alplial)etjcal and claisified sections. There are nearly 

 twenty-one thousand names in all, or two thousand five hundred 

 more names than were given in the Directory foi 1894. 



Amono the forthcoming books to be published by Messrs. 

 J. and A. Churchill, the following are announced to appear at 

 an early dale :— " A Manual of iiotany " based on that of the 

 late Prof. Bentley, vol. i., " Morphology and Anatomy," 

 enriched with a large number of new illustrations, by 

 Prof. J. Keynoldi Green; "Elements of Health, an 

 Introduction to the Study of Hygiene," by Dr. Louis C. 

 Parkes ; and "Mental Phyjiology, especially in its relation to 

 Mental Disorders," with illustralioni, by I)r. T. IJ. Hyslop. 

 NO. 1323. VOL.51] 



A VALUABLE work on the climatology of Africa, and 011 the 

 distribution of disease in that conlinent, has just appeared. It 

 is entitled " Tropic.il Diseases in .Vfrica," by Dr. K. W. Felkin> 

 and is published by Mr. W. F. Clay, Edinburgh. The volume 

 's based upon a lecture delivered at the .African Ethnological 

 Congress held at Chicago in 1S93, and contains, as an appendixi 

 a paper, read before the Budapest Congress last September, 

 on a new method for graphically illustr.Aling the geographical 

 distribution of disease. The book forms an important addition 

 to the literature upon tropical disease in Africa. 



Men of science are indebted to the beneficent provisions of 

 the Smithsonian Institution for the generous distribution of 

 scientific literature. A publication of special value to chemists 

 is the " BibliOijraphy of Aceto Acetic Ester and its Deriva- 

 tives," by Mr. Paul H. Seymour, which, acting upon the 

 recommendation of the American Association's Committee on 

 Indexing Chemical Literature, the Institution has lately issued. 

 The bibliography is arranged in chronological order from 1840, 

 with author and subject indices appended. The outlines of 



I memoirs are given, in order to show the scope of the originals. 

 Mr. Seymour deserves the gratitude of chemists for this time- 



j saving bibliography, upon which he has evidently bestowed 

 much care. 



1 Ani'THER paper prepared for the Committee on Indexing 

 i Chemical Literature, is " An Index to the Literature of Didy- 

 mium," by Dr. A. C. Langmuir, just distributed as No. 972 

 of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. The index con 

 lalns references to all the papers published on didymium, from 

 the discovery of the element in 1842 to the year 1S93. It 

 furnishes a striking illustration of the wonderful results .iccom- 

 plished by the use of the spectroscope in modern chemistry. 

 In addition to didymium, the following elements have now 

 been indexed: Coiumbium, iridium, manganese, titanium, 

 uranium, vanadium. 



We note the publication of the BulUtin Mil^orologique of tlie 

 Imperial Observatory of Constantinople, for the year 1S94. 

 Although telegraphic observations have been published 

 in the Paris weather report, we believe that very few regular 

 observations from Constantinople have been received in tlii 

 country for some twenty years. The bulletin contains son 

 means derived from twenty-seven years' observations, whu I 

 show that the maximum shade temperature was 99 '5, in iSSS 

 and the minimum, 17''2, in 1S69. The average yearly rainfall 

 is 23 '3 inches, and the average frequency, eighty-six days. 

 Snow falls on about fifteen d.ays, and fog occurs, on an average, | 

 on filty-nine days. An appendix contains a list of the earth- ( 

 quakes in the Ottoman empire during the year 1894. 



A SKETCH of the attainments and life-work of Dr. T. li. Rake, 

 who died at Trinidad last .Vugust, is given in the Joiiriiat of 

 the Trinidad Field-Naturalists Club for December 1894. Dr. 

 R.ake was the superintendent of the Leper .'\sylum at Trinidad, 

 and presided over the Leprosy Commission. The reports issued 

 during his eight years' administration of the Asylum are of the 

 highest value, for he was well acquainted with bacteriological 1 

 methods of research, and he put on record numerous observa- 

 tions referring to the leprosy b.icillus. He was not, however, j 

 only a high authority on leprosy, but an enthusiastic and kecnd 

 observer of natuie. At the time of his death he was the Prew-j 

 dent of the Trinidad Field-Natur.ilists Clul), the members ofi 

 which will remember him for many years to come. An excel-q 

 lently reproduced portrait of Dr. Rake forms the frontispiece'! 

 of the Jturnat containing the very appreciative obituary 

 notice. 



A moni;meNI Io the humanitarian spirit of the members ol| 

 the Mulhouse Association pour prevenir les .Accidents dc 



