June i r, 1903] 



NATURE 



137 



external impressions. In regard to the second question, 

 evidence is adduced to show that, although the growth of 

 the organ of consciousness may be considered spontaneous 

 and congenital, yet that there are instances where the in- 

 telligence of individuals displays a forward movement 

 which may have important effects upon the habits of the 

 race. As regards the third question, the author observes 

 that if it be unphilosophical to attribute to a certain species 

 of moth a knowledge of vegetable physiology, " what is 

 left but to speculate whether the F"irst Cause be not also a 

 Directing Power, with means of communicating his man- 

 dates to the humblest of his creatures? " 



In the current number of the Bulletin of the American 

 Mathematical Society, Mr. E. B. Wilson reviews a very 

 interesting work. Prof. G. Loria's " Ebene Curven," which 

 ought to attract all classes of mathematicians. Besides 

 giving an account (illustrated with numerous figures) of 'a 

 large number of special plane curves which are of interest 

 for historical or other reasons, Prof. Loria gives a summary 

 <)f his memoir on panalgebraic curves. A panalgebraic 

 curve is one for which x,y and dy/dx are connected by an 

 algebraic equation ; in this class are included a very large 

 proportion of all plane curves which have hitherto been 

 studied, and the fact that Prof. Loria has demonstrated a 

 considerable number of geometrical properties common to 

 them all is very interesting and remarkable. 



Messrs. Dawbarn and Ward, Ltd., have published a 

 booklet by Mr. H. Snowden Ward entitled " Profitable 

 Hobbies," containing much useful information upon manual 

 work of various kinds which can be successfully performed 

 by amateurs. 



By arrangement with Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, 

 Triibner, and Co., Ltd., the Rationalist Press Association 

 has published, through Messrs. Watts and Co., a si.xpenny 

 edition of J. Cotter Morison's " The Service of Man. An 

 Essay towards the Religion of the Future." 



In the Physikalische Zeitschrift, No. i6, p. 457, Messrs. 

 Elster and Geitel discuss the question of the cause of the 

 electrical conductivity of the air in the neighbourhood of 

 phosphorus undergoing slow oxidation. Experiments are 

 described which indicate that the cloud rising from the 

 surface of the phosphorus is not responsible in any way for 

 the electrical conduction. It is also rendered probable by 

 -uitably devised experiments that the conductivity is really 

 liie to ionisation of the air in the neighbourhood of the 

 phosphorus. 



In a recent investigation of the properties of colloidal 

 solutions by Mr. H. Garrett, experiments on the viscosity 

 of solutions of gelatin, silicic acid and albumin have been 

 made which appear to throw considerable light on the 

 nature of such systems. They behave like heterogeneous 

 liquids composed of two solutions having a surface tension 

 at the contact surfaces. At any given temperature the 

 viscosity of these solutions is not constant, since this de- 

 pends on the surface tension, and this again is a variable 

 depending on the previous history of the solution. 



A NEW refractory material, to which the name 

 ■" Siloxicon " has been given, is now being manufactured 

 on a large scale by the International Acheson Graphite 

 Company at Niagara Falls. It contains silicon, oxygen 

 -and carbon, and is said to give most satisfactory results as 

 a substitute for refractory clays, magnesia, lime and 

 graphite in their application to high temperatures. The 

 product is obtained by the action of carbon on silica at a 

 temperature of 4500-5000° F. in 'the electric furnace, the 

 quantity of carbon employed being insufficient for the com- 

 plete reduction of the silica and its conversion into carbide. 



NO. 1754, VOL. 68] 



It is stated that in these circumstances compounds con- 

 taining all three elements are obtained. 



The current number of the Journal of Physical Chemistry 

 contains an interesting paper by Messrs. Miller and Kenrick 

 on the subject of the identification of basic salts. The 

 allocation of formulae to basic salts is apt to be somewhat 

 arbitrary, and there is no doubt that many of the " amor- 

 phous finely-divided precipitates " which have been endowed 

 with formulse and thus raised to the dignity of chemical 

 individuality are nothing more than mixtures of different 

 bodies in proportions dependent upon the conditions of 

 preparation. The authors show that, at any rate for those 

 precipitates the equilibrium of which with the mother-liquor 

 is attained, the question of ifidividuality can in many cases 

 be solved by simple application of the phase rule. The con- 

 siderations brought forward hAve been applied to establish 

 the individuality of several basic salts which have been 

 investigated. 



In the current number of the Comptes rendus there is 

 an account, by M. P. Lemoult, of the preparation and 

 properties of dibromoacetylene. Tribromoethylene, which 

 is easily obtained in quantity by the action of sodium 

 ethylate upon symmetrical tetra-bromoethanes, is heated 

 with alcoholic potash in the absence of air, and the dibromo- 

 acetylene collected under water. The distillation has to be 

 carried out in a current of nitrogen, as the substance is 

 spontaneously inflammable in air. Dibromoacetylene can- 

 not be distilled, even in a vacuum, and under certain con- 

 ditions may explode violently. Bromine and iodine give 

 rise to C,Br^ and C^Br^I^ respectively, and cautious treat- 

 ment of the ethereal solution with moist air or oxygen 

 gives rise to oxalic and hydrobromic acids. The first action 

 would appear to be the addition of oxygen resulting in the 

 formation of oxalyl bromide, which is then acted upon by 

 the water present in the usual manner. 



We have received from Mr. H. Kondo, director of the 

 Taihoku Observatory, Formosa, valuable results of meteor- 

 ological or rainfall observations made at fourteen stations 

 in that island and in the Pescadores in the years 1896-1901, 

 also a discussion of the observations (in Japanese) accom- 

 panied by diagrams showing very clearly the general 

 characteristics of climate, tracks of typhoons, &c. We 

 extract the following values for Keelung and Koshun, on 

 the extreme north-east and south respectively ; these are 

 stations of the second order, but at the central observatory 

 hourly observations are recorded. At Keelung the mean 

 annual maximum temperature is 75°-7, minimum 66°-6 ; 

 absolute maximum 94°-6 in July, minimum 37°-4 in 

 February ; mean annual rainfall about 150 inches. At 

 Koshun the corresponding values are : — mean maximum 

 8i°-7, minimum 7i°i ; absolute maximum 92°i in July, 

 minimum 49°-6 in February ; mean annual rainfall about 

 92 inches. 



The additions to the Zoological .Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Grevy's Zebras (Eqtius 

 grevyi (S 9 ) from Southern Abyssinia, presented by Lieut. - 

 Colonel J. L. Harrington, C.V.O. ; two Leadbeater's 

 Cockatoos {Cacatua leadbeateri) from Australia, presented 

 by Lady Katherine Coke ; two Eastern Sarus Cranes 

 (Grus antigone), two Thurgi Terrapins {Hardella thurgi), 

 a Batagur Water Tortoise {Batagur baska), twelve Long- 

 fingered Frogs {Rana hexadactyla) from India, five Wall 

 Lizards (Lacerta muralis, var. melisselensis) from St. 

 Andrae, a Magpie (Pica rustica albino), British, deposited ; 

 two Common Camels {Camelus dromedarius, 9 9) ^^°"^ '^^ 

 Soudan, purchased ; a Red-fronted Lemur {Lemur rufifrons), 

 two Japanese Deer {Cervus sika), born in the Gardens. 



