6oo 



NA TURE 



[April 23, 1903 



M. Georges Meslin. — An experimental contribution to the 

 physiology of death, by MM. N. Vaschide and CI. Vurpas. 

 — On the principal alimentary Leguminosae of the French 

 colonies, by M. Balland. 



St. Louis. 

 Academy of Science, April 6. — Prof. F. E. Nipher 

 reported that he had apparently succeeded in producing a 

 distortion of a magnetic field by means of explosions. The 

 apparatus used was a transformer consisting of concentric 

 coils wound upon brass tubes. The outer tube was five 

 inches in diameter and six feet long, wound with more 

 than four thousand windings of No. 16 wire. This coil 

 was traversed by a continuous current from a storage 

 battery. Within this, and separated from it by an air- 

 space of an inch, is a secondary coil of equal length, having 

 more than twenty-five thousand windings of No. 25 wire. 

 This coil is connected to a D'Arsonval galvanometer. 

 Within the tube on which this coil is wound is a smaller 

 brass tube within which a train of black gunpowder is laid. 

 This tube is open at both ends, and has practically no 

 recoil when the explosion is made. When hung by a bifilar 

 suspension on cords ten feet in length, the recoil is about 

 an inch. When the exciting current is small compared 

 with the capacity of the battery, the galvanometer reading 

 is very steady. When the train is exploded, a sudden and 

 marked throw of the galvanometer results, which could be 

 accounted for by an increase in the permeability of the long 

 explosion chamber. The deflection reverses when the field 

 is reversed. The hot gases liberated in the explosion are 

 all diamagnetic, and tend to decrease the observed effect. 

 In two cases the galvanometer deflection was in the opposite 

 direction from that stated above, and this is being further 

 inquired into. When seven tubes between the two coils 

 are simultaneously exploded, only slight effects can be 

 obtained, and these deflections are wavering, or to and fro, 

 in character. A wire was threaded through the inner com- 

 bustion tube, through which a current of three amperes 

 was passed. This circuit was opened and closed with no 

 visible effect. The galvanometer circuit is shielded by tin- 

 foil, which is also connected with the explosion tube, and 

 grounded. Sparks an inch long to the tin-foil produce no 

 result. When the explosion tube is removed from the 

 transformer, and taken near the galvanometer or the 

 storage battery, no deflection is produced by the explosion. 

 An explosive mixture of gases from water electrolysis under 

 atmospheric pressure produces a much less violent ex- 

 plosion, and produces a correspondingly less effect. The 

 scale reading of the galvanometer changes by more than 

 twenty divisions with the heaviest explosions, and an ex- 

 citing current of 0-6 ampere. With smaller explosions or 

 feebler currents, the effect is diminished. No deflections 

 can be produced by striking the table upon which the trans- 

 former rests, nor by striking the transformer itself, even 

 when it moves slightly under the blow. The secondary and 

 primary coils are held rigidly in fixed position with respect 

 to each other. Arrangements have now been made to place 

 the explosion tube in the focal line of a parabolic cylinder 

 of metal, the galvanometer coil being in the focal line of 

 a similar mirror. Either or both are to be surrounded by 

 an exciting coil. This line of research was suggested by 

 Young's account of his observation of five solar outbursts 

 in 1872, which were each accompanied by sharp fluctuations 

 in the magnetic tracings at Kew and Stonyhurst. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, April 23. 



Rovai. Institution, at s.— Hydrogen : Gaseous, Liquid and Solid : 

 Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. 



SoriE'V of Arts, at 4. 30.— The Province of Sind : Dr. Herbert M. 

 Bird wood. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— Distribution Losses in 

 El.-, trie Supply Systems : A. D. ('(instable and E. Fawssett. — A Study 

 of the Phenomenon of Resonance in Electric Circuits by the Aid of 

 Oscillo rams : M B Field. And, if time per?nit. — Divided Multiple 

 Switchhoards: An Efficient Te.ephone System for the World's Capitals : 

 W. Aitken. 



FRIDA \ April 24. 



R>v^i Institution, ar Seme Recent Investigations on Electrical 

 Conduction : The Hon. R. J Strutt. 



Inst ruriON OF Civil Enginfi-rs. at 8.— Bacterial Sewage-Disposal 

 Works, at Ash, Dover : H. S. Watson. 



NO. 1747, V0L - 6 7] 



Phvsical Society, at 5. — An Electrical Thermostat : H. Darwin. — 

 Dimensional Analysis of Physical Quantities and the Correlation of 

 Units : A F- Ravenshear. — Note on the Dimensions of Physical Quan- 

 tities : R. J. Sowter. 



Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 8. — Address by the 

 president, J. H. Wicksteed. — The Education of Engineers in America, 

 Germany and Switzerland : Prof. W. E. Dalby. 



MONDAY, April 27. 



Society of Arts, at 8. — Mechanical Road Carriages: W. Worby 

 Beaumont. 



Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30. — Four Years' Arctic Explora- 

 tion in the Fritm : Captain Otto Sverdrup. 



Institute of Actuaries, at 5.— On the Valuation of Staff Pension 

 Funds. Part II. Widows' and Children's Pensions: H. W. Manly; 

 With Tables by H. Foot. 



TUESDA V. April 28. 



Royal Institution, at 5.— The Blood and some of its Problems: Prof. 

 Allan Macfadyen. 



Society of Arts, at 7.30.— Visit to the Whitefriars' Glass Works. — 

 Modern Table Glass: Harry Powell. 



Anthropological Institute, at 8.15.— The Classification of the 

 Materials of Anthropology: E. N. Fallaize.— Measurements of the 

 Colonial Coronation Contingent: J. Gray. —Implements used by West 

 Australian Natives in Manufacture of Glass Spear-Heads : H. Balfour. 



WEDNESDA I', April 29. 

 Society of Arts, at 8. — Automatic Wagon Couplings on Biitish Railways : 



T. A. Brockelbank. 

 Geological Society. at»8.— The Age of the Swiss Alpine Lakes : Dr. C. S. 



DuRiche Preller. — On a Shelly Roulder-Clay in the so-called Palagonite- 



Formation of Iceland : Helgi Pjetursson. 



THURSDAY, April 30. 

 Royal Societv, at 4.30. — Croonian Lecture : The Cosmical Function 



of the Green Plant : Prof. K. A. Timirjazev. 

 Royal Institution, at 5. — Hydrogen: Gaseous, Liquid and Solid: 

 Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. 



FRIDAY, May i 

 Royal Institution, at 9. — Recent Advances in Stereochemistry : Prof. 

 W. J. Pope. 



CONTENTS. pace 



School Geometry Reform. By J. Harrison .... 577 

 Systematic Petrography. By Prof. Grenville A. J. 



Cole 578 



Alternating Current Engineering. By C. C. G. . . 580 



The Principles of Dyeing. By W. M. G 581 



Agricultural Research in Italy. By A. D. H. ... 582 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Righi and Dessau : " La Telegrafia senza Filo " . . 582 

 South : " Catalogue of the Collection of Pal^earctic 



Butterflies Formed by the late John Henry Leech" 5S3 

 FranUlarud : " Bacteria in Daily Life."— Prof. R. T. 



Hewlett . . . . 5S3 



Letters to the Editor : — 



A New Theory of the Tides of Terrestrial Oceans. — 



R. A. Harris 583 



March Dust from the Soufriere. — Prof. T. G. 



Bonney, F.R.S 584 



The Lyiid Meteors.— John R. Henry; Prof. 



A. S. Herschel, F.R.S 584 



Mendel's Principles of Heredity in Mice. — W. 



Bateson, F.R.S. . . . . . . 585 



Experiment to Illustrate Precession and Nutation. 



(Illustrated.)— Rev. H. V. Gill 586 



Distribuiion of Pithophora. — Kumagusu Minakata 5S6 



Pedigrees. By Francis Galton, F.R.S 586 



Standardisation 587 



Italian Visit of the Institution of Electrical 



Engineers. (With Diagram.) 588 



Notes 5S9 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Nova Geminorum . . 593 



Spectrum of the Nebulosity Surrounding Nova Persei 593 



Stellar Parallax. By W. E. P 594 



Ridgway's American Birds. By R. L 594 



A Periodical of Precious Plants 594 



Interaction Between the Mental and the Material 



Aspects of Things. By Sir Oliver J Lodge, F.R.S. 595 



University and Educational Intelligence 597 



Scientific Serial 597 



Societies and Academies . . 59S 



Diary of Societies 600 



