30 



NATURE 



[Nov. 9, 1871 



A NEW FORM OF SENSITIVE FLAME 



MR. PHILIP BARRY, of Cork, has sent the following 

 account of a new and very beautiful sensitive 

 fianie to Prof. Tyndall : — " It is in my experience the 

 most sensitive of all sensitive flames, though from its 

 smaller size is not so striking as your vowel flame. It 

 possesses the advantage that the ordinary pressure in the 

 gas mains is quite sufficient to develop it. The method 

 of producing it consists in igniting the gas (ordinary coal 

 gas) not at the burner but some inches above it, by inter- 

 posing between the burner and the flame a piece of wire 

 gauze. 



" With a pressure of I'yths at the burner, I give a sketch 

 of the arrangement I adopted, the space between burner 

 and gauze being two inches. The gauze was about seven 



inches square, resting on the ring of the retort -stand — 

 ordinary window-blmd wire-gauze 32 meshes to the lineal 

 inch. The burner was Sugg's steatite pin-hole burner, the 

 same .is used for vowel flame. 



"The flame is a slender cone about four inches high, the 

 upper portion giving a bright yellow light, the base being 

 a non-luminous blue flame. At the least noise this flame 

 roars, sinking down to the surface of the gauze, becoming 

 at the same time almost invisible. It is very active in its 

 responses, and being rather a noisy flame, its sympathy is 

 apparent to the ear as well as the eye. 



" To the vowel sounds it does not appear to answer 

 so discriminate^ as the vowel flame. It is extremely 

 sensitive to A, very slightly to E, more so to I, entirely 

 insensitive to O, but flightly sensitive to U. 



"It dances in the most perfect manner to a small musical 

 snuffbox, and is highly sensitive to most of the sonorous 

 vibrations which affect the vowel flame, though it possesses 

 some points of difference." 



NOTES 



The following telegram has been received from the Englisii 

 Government Eclipse Expedition': — "Onboard the Mirzaporc, 

 Malta, Saturday, November 4. We have arrived here in safely. 

 W\ the members of the Eclipse Expedition are quite well, no 

 thanks, liowever, to the weather, which during the voyage has 

 been very bad. It was so bad that there was no possibihty of 

 practising with the instruments. Last night Mr. Lockyer, at 

 the request of all on board the Mirzapore, rave a scientific lecture 

 with experiments. Vou may form some idea of the novel cha- 

 racter with which the lecture was invested Avhen I state that it 

 was blowing half a gale at the time." 



Sir Roderick Murchison has appointed Professor Archi- 

 bald Geikie, of Edinburgh, his literary executor, and has left 

 him a legacy of 1,000/. The Professor will write Sir Roderick's 

 life, for which the deceased baronet had collected ample materials. 

 Sir Roderick has also bequeathed to each of the professors at 

 Jermyn Street a little remembrance of 100/. To the institution 

 itself he has left the diamond snuff-box and the magnificent 

 Siberian avanturine vase, mounted on a porphyry pedestal, pre- 

 sented to him by the late Emperor of Russia. He has not been 

 unmindful of the scientific societies with which he has been so 

 long connected. To the Geological and Geographical Societies 

 he has bequeathed legacies of 1,000/. each, for the purpose of 

 furthering the cause of science by rewarding men of science by 

 prizes or otherwise as may be deemed proper. To old associates 

 with him in his work he has likewise left legacies as expressions 

 of his regard. Besides that to Mr. Gelkie, sums of 350/. are 

 appropriated for Prof. John Monis, Prof. T. Rupert Jones, Mr. 

 Trenham Reeks, and Mr. Bates, and a sum of 100/. to Mr. C. 

 \V. Peach. We believe also that in the event of the failure of 

 some of the heirs designated in the will, considerable sums are to 

 go to various charitable and scientific institutions. 



In addition to the appointments to the governing bodies of 

 the public schools, made by the Senate of the University of 

 London, which we announced last week, the Council of tlie 

 Royal Society has made the following : — Prof. P. M. Duncan, 

 for Charterhouse ; Prof. Tyndall, for Harrow ; Prof. Henry J. 

 Smith, for Rugby ; Sir James Paget, Bart, for Shrewsbury ; and 

 the Rev. Prof. Price, for Winchester Scliool. 



Prof. P. M. Di'Nca.m, F.R.S., of King's College, has been 

 ajipointed Lecturer on Geology to the India Civil Engineering 

 College, Cooper's Hill. 



We learn from the Pall Mall GazctU that a mixed Committee 

 has been appointed by the authorities of the War-Office, to con- 

 duct an inquiry into the safety of gun-cotton, and to make the 

 necessary experiments. The committee will also be required to 

 collect evidence with regard to its value as an explrsive agent ; 

 and generally to pronounce as to the suitability and safety of the 

 material for use in torpedoes, breaching stockades, mining, &c. 

 The Committee consists of Colonel Younghusband, R. A., presi- 

 dent ; Colonel Milward, R. A., Colonel Galhvey, R.E., Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel Nugent, R.E., Captain Field, R.N., Dr. Odhng, 

 F.R.S., Mr. H. Bauerman, and Mr. G. Bidder, C.E. The 

 question of the safety of the new explosive " Lithofiacteur," 

 which a German firm is anxious to be permit' ed to make in this 

 country, has also been referred to the same Committee. 



Mr. G. M. Se.aeroke, the Temple Observer at Rugby, 

 states, in a letter to the Times, for the information of those who 

 possess telescopes of moderate aperture, that Encke's comet is 

 now within their reach. It has been examined at the Rugby 

 Observatory with an 8^ in. aperture, and was very plainly seen. 

 It has somewhat the shape of a fan, and there is a marked con- 

 densation on the eastern side, being the leading portion of the 



