December 22, 1904J 



NA TURE 



181 



Ruff and Plato at Berlin. The method employed by 

 these workers was in principle that of Matthiesen, but 

 by suitable construction of apparatus and regulation 

 of temperature much better yields were obtained, and 

 the metal was thus prepared in larger quantities. 

 Borchers and Stockem electrolysed molten calcium 

 chloride, which was maintained at a temperature below 

 the fusing point of calcium ; they ascribe the low yields 

 at higher temperatures to the reaction of fused calcium 

 with calcium chloride to form a subchloride. Using 

 an iron rod as kathode, they obtained a metal sponge 

 which was pressed with tongs before removing from 

 the electrolyte. The raw material prepared in this 

 way contained some lo per cent, of calcium chloride, 

 which could, however, be almost entirely removed by 

 subsequent fusion of the metal. 



■ The final step in the evolution of the commercial 

 process was taken by Suter and Redlich, of the Elektro- 

 chemische-Werke, JBitterfeld. By the ingenious em- 

 ployment of a kathode which only just touches the 

 surface of the fused calcium chloride, they obtain a 

 small layer of fused calcium under the kathode ; before 

 the calcium has collected in sufficient amount to flow 

 away the electrode is very slightly raised ; the metal 

 thus comes into a cooler zone and solidifies. Bv con- 

 tinuing the process a rather irregular rod of calcium 

 is built up, which itself forms the kathode. The metal 

 is supplied in these rough rods, which in outward 

 appearance strongly resemble cabbage stalks, but show 

 a white metallic surface when cut through. 



The present price quoted in Germany is about 20s. 

 a kilogram retail, or I2X. a kilo, in 100 kilogram lots, 

 which quotation alone proves the feasibilin- of the 

 process. The technical product is said to contain about 

 97- 1 1 per cent, pure calcium, 1.64 per cent, calcium 

 chloride, and 0-4 per cent, sodium. If one mav judge 

 by the case of metallic sodium, there will doubtless be 

 difficulties in finding any large demand for the metal, 

 but it will obviously be much appreciated for experi- 

 mental purposes in many chemical and physical 

 laboratories. R. S. Huttox. 



NOTES. 



We regret to announce that Sir Lowthian Bell, Bart., 

 F.R.S., died on Tuesday, at eighty-eight years of age. 



The death of Mr. Norman MaccoII, late editor of the 

 Athenaeum, at si.xty-one years of age, will be deeplv re- 

 gretted by many men of science. Mr. Maccoll did much 

 to further the interests of science, and to cultivate sympathy 

 with the pursuit of natural knowledge among readers not 

 actively engaged in scientific work. 



On Saturday last, direct telegraphic communication was 

 established between Liverpool and Teheran, in Persia, a 

 distance of four thousand miles. The line belongs to the 

 Indo-European Telegraph Company. 



On Tuesday next, December 27, Mr. Henry Cunynghame 

 will deliver at the Royal Institution the first of a Christmas 

 course of si.K lectures adapted to a juvenile auditory on 

 ancient and modern methods of measuring time, experi- 

 mentally illustrated. 



At the December meeting of the .'\stronomical Society of 

 France an address was given by Mr. de Watteville on the 

 temperatures of stars. The lecturer described a series of 

 experiments made by him in the Count de Labaume Pluvinel 

 laboratory, and exhibited a series of photographs of spectra 

 obtained by him, reproducing the principal types described 

 by Sir Norman Lockyer. The president congratulated the 

 speaker on having obtained such brilliant results, on the 

 subject of which he has already delivered a thesis at the 

 Sorbonne. 



NO. 1834, VOL. 7 I J 



It is announced by the Athenaeum that the Circolo Mate- 

 matico di Palermo intends to offer an international prize 

 ' for geometry at the fourth International Mathematical 

 j Congress, which will meet at Rome in igo8. The prize 

 will consist of a small gold medal, to be called the Guiccia 

 ' medal, after its founder, and of 3000 francs, and will be 

 given by preference, though not necessarily, to an essay 

 which advances the knowledge of the theory of algebraical 

 curves of space. The treatises may be written in Italian, 

 French, German, or English, and must be sent to the presi- 

 dent of the Circolo Matematico before July i, 1907. 



We learn from the Times that on Friday last President 

 Loubet received Dr. Otto Nordenskjbld, who was presented 

 by the Minister for Sweden and Norway in Paris. On the 

 evening of the same day Dr. Nordenskjold delivered a lecture 

 on his .Antarctic explorations before the French Geographical 

 Society. Prince Gustav Adolph and Prince William of 

 Sweden were present, and several Ministers were represented. 

 Dr. Nordenskjold was the guest on Saturday afternoon of 

 the Paris Municipal Council at the H6tel de Ville. He was 

 welcomed by the president of the council, who presented 

 him with a silver medal commemorating his visit to the 

 city. On Saturday evening Dr. Nordenskjold delivered a 

 lecture before a large and distinguished audience at the 

 Sorbonne. 



The death is announced of Mr. C. G. Barrett, one of the 

 editors of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, at the age 

 of sixty-eight years. 



It is stated that at a meeting of the French Surgical 

 Society held on December 14 a report of the committee 

 appointed to investigate Dr. Doyen's researches on cancer 

 and its microbe was read, and that some of the conclusions 

 support Dr. Doyen's claims. No authentic details have, 

 however, as yet been published. 



The following recent deaths are announced in the Bulletin 

 of the French Physical Society and the Popular Science 

 Monthly : — M. Jeunet, late professor of physics ; Prof. 

 Lespiault, of the University of Bordeaux ; Prof. Joseph 

 Thimont, of the Ecole Ste. -Genevieve and other institutions ; 

 Prof. Clemens A. Winckler, professor of chemistry at 

 Dresden ; Prof. Max Berbels, of Berlin, noted for his publi- 

 cations on ethnologT,' ; Major Henry F. Alvord, chief of the 

 dairy division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 



In the Bulletin of the French Physical Society, No. 2ig, 

 the death is announced of Prof. Mac^ de L^pinay, of 

 Marseilles, a former member of the council of the society. 

 Prof. Macd de L^pinay's researches were mostly connected 

 with optics, and had special reference to the determination 

 of wave-lengths by means of Interference phenomena, on 

 the lines first laid down by FIzeau. The methods used were 

 interference due to double refraction. Interference of a direct 

 ray with one passing through a lamina of the crystal, and 

 Interference of two rays, one passing once and the other 

 twice through the lamina. A further series of researches 

 dealt with the inverse problem of determining the specific 

 mass of water. Most of the experiments were performed 

 with sodium light. Prof. Mac^ de L^pinay's latest re- 

 searches were conducted conjointly with M. Bulsson, who 

 proposes to complete them. 



Glass hives for the observation of bees at work have 

 been in use for many years, and latterly ants' nests have 

 been on view at the Crystal Palace ; but it may be new to 

 many of our readers to learn that Messrs. A. W. Gamage, 

 Ltd., of Holborn, have actually put on sale a contrivance 

 called " The Lubbock Formlcarlum." which Is really a 



