June 6, 1901] 



NA TURE 



value 10/., to Mr. A. C. Ebotall for his paper entitled " Some 

 Notes on Polyphase Substation Machinery " ; and an extra 

 premium, value lo/. , to Mr. J. S. Highfield for his paper en- 

 titled " Storage Batteries in Electric Power Stations controlled 

 by Reversible Boosters." Salomons scholarships, value 50.''. 

 each, have been awarded, one to Mr. J. D. Griffin and one to 

 Mr. H. A. Skelton. The sum of 2000/., bequeathed by the 

 late Prof. Hughes to found the David Hughes scholarship in 

 the Institution, has been received from the executors, and the 

 council has determined that, for the present, the manner of 

 award shall be the same as that of the Salomons scholarship. 

 Mr. C. J. Hopkins has been selected as the David Hughes 

 scholar for the present year, the amount of the scholarship 

 being 50/. 



The celebration of the ninth jubilee of the University of 

 Glasgow will commence on Wednesday next. The following 

 programme has been arranged : — Wednesday, June 12, 10.30 

 a.m., commemoration service in the cathedral (University 

 officials, guests and delegates are expected to attend in their 

 academic robes or official costume); 2.30 p.m., reception of 

 guests and delegates by the chancellor in the Bute Hall, and 

 presentation of addresses; 8.30 p.m., "at home," Queen 

 Margaret College ; 9 p.m., students' gaudeamus in University 

 Union. June 13, 10 a.m., orations in the Bute Hall : Lord 

 Kelvin on " Janjes Watt " ; Prof. Smart on "Adam Smith"; 

 followed by conferring of honorary degrees ; 3 p.m., opening 

 of the new botanical buildings by Sir foseph Hooker ; 4 to 6 

 p.m., garden party at (Jueen Margaret College ; 9.30 to 11.30 

 p.m., conversazione in the Bute Hall, Library and Museum. 

 June 14, II a.m., oration in Bute Hall: Prof. Young on 

 "William Hunter," followed by organ recital; 3 to 5 p.m., 

 "at home " in Art Galleries, International Exhibition ; 7 p.m., 

 banquet by corporation in municipal buildings ; 9 p.m., students' 

 ball in the Bute Hall. June 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., excursion 

 on the Firth of Clyde. Delegates will be present from Austria- 

 Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, 

 Sweden, Switzerland and from Australia, Canada and India. 

 All the Universities in the United Kingdom will be represented, 

 as well as scientific and other institutions. 



The number of experiments performed on living animals in 

 England and Scotland during the year 1900, under licences 

 granted for that purpose, is given in a parliamentary paper just 

 issued. Mr. G. D. Thane, inspector under the Cruelty to 

 Animals Act, states in his report that the total number of 

 licensees was 247, of whom 63 performed no experiments ; that 

 licences and certificates had been granted and allowed only 

 upon the recommendation of persons of high scientific standing ; 

 that the licensees were persons who, by their training and edu- 

 cation, were fitted to undertake experimental work and to profit 

 by it ; and that all experimental work had been conducted in 

 suitable places. The total number of experiments was 10,839, 

 few of which were in any serious degree painful. The ex- 

 periments performed under licence alone, or under the certificate 

 " permitting experiments in illustration to lectures," together 

 amounting to 1299, were unattended by pain because the 

 animal was kept under an ana'sthetic during the whole of the 

 experiment, and must, if the pain was likely to continue after 

 the effect of the ani^esthetic had ceased, or if any serious injury 

 had been inflicted on the animal, be killed before it recovered 

 from the influence of the anjesthetic. In 5S6 additional experi- 

 ments the operations were performed under anaesthetics, from 

 the influence of which the animals were allowed to recover. 

 The operations were performed aseptically, and the healing 

 of the wounds, as a rule, took place without pain. If 

 the antiseptic precautions failed and suppuration occurred, 

 the animal was required to be killed. These operations as 

 NO. 1649, VOL. 64] 



now practised were seldom, if ever, followed by pain. ' 

 It is stated that in a large proportion of the inoculations the 

 result was negative — that was, the animal did not exhibit any 

 ill effects, and therefore did not suffer any pain. That was 

 especially the case with many inoculations for purposes of 

 diagnosis, with the great majority of the inoculations performed 

 for the testing of articles of food, and with many of the inocula- 

 tions made for the purpose of standardising antitoxic serum — 

 namely, those cases in which the antitoxin was sufficiently 

 powerful to neutralise the amount of toxin injected, so that 

 the latter had no action. Only a small proportion of the 

 inoculations practised were followed by disease or poisoning. 



Si>"CE the publication in Nature (vol. Ivii. p. 563) of an 

 article upon photographic surveying, much progress has been 

 made in the application of the methods of photography. 

 Valuable information on the subject was given in a lengthy 

 paper on the field-work of photographic surveying as applied 

 in Canada, by Mr. A. O. Wheeler, of the Topographical Surveys 

 staff" of the Canadian Government, at the recent London 

 meeting of the Institution of Mining Engineers. In Canada, 

 he stated, the principal surveys upon which the method has 

 been employed are (i) survey of the Rocky Mountains by Mr. 

 J. J. McArthur and Mr. W. S. Drewry, (2) survey in connec- 

 tion with the establishment of the boundary line between Alaska 

 and the Yukon district by Mr. W. F. King, (3) survey of the 

 Alberta watershed for irrigation purposes, (4) surveys in the 

 Yukon district, on the Columbia River and in the Kootenay 

 mining district, and {5) a survey of the Crow's Nest coalfield. 

 The scale upon which the Canadian surveys have been mapped 

 IS as follows : — Rocky Mountains survey, i to 20,000 ; Alberta 

 watershed and Crow's Nest survey, i to 30,000 ; Alaska surveys, 

 I to 80,000. The larger the scale the greater is the detail 

 required for the draw'ing. The office work occupies at least 

 twice the time of the field work. To offset this the field work 

 can be accomplished in half the time required for any other 

 method. In the discussion that followed the reading of the 

 paper, Mr. Bennett H. Brough gave particulars of the applica- 

 tion of photographic methods to the survey of mining properties 

 in the Carrara marble district, in Mexico and in the Styrian iron 

 ore fields. The rapidity with which the field work was carried 

 out was, he pointed out, a conspicuous advantage in unhealthy 

 malarious districts which a mine surveyor was often called upon 

 to survey. 



SiN'CE the trials of H.M.S. Viper, when the wonderful speed 

 of thirty-seven knots per hour was attained, until quite recently 

 further data have not come to hand ; but (says Engineering 

 Magazine for May) a vessel is now under construction at Dum- 

 barton (Messrs. W. Denny and Bros.) 250 ft. long, 30 ft. beam, 

 and 17 ft. 9 in. depth, which will be propelled by Mr. Parsons' 

 marine turbines, and will be arranged as follows : — There will 

 be three (for going ahead) turbines, each on its own shaft, the 

 high pressure turbine will drive the centre shaft and the two 

 low pressure turbines the two outer shafts. The two " astern " 

 turbines (which propel the ship backwards) are placed inside 

 the exhaust ends of the two low pressure turbines. By this 

 arrangement in going " ahead " steam is expanded five times in 

 the high pressure turbine and again twenty-five times in the 

 two low pressure turbines, giving a total expansion of " 125- 

 fold" instead of about " 16-fold" which is obtained with triple 

 expansion reciprocating engines. The vessel under construction 

 is for passenger traffic, which necessitates a regular high speed, 

 and there is no doubt that with a ship of this class the best and 

 the most useful results will follow, and not only will she be the 

 pioneer of Mr. Parsons' marine compound turbine in the mer- 

 cantile marine, but also she will embody all the advantages 

 claimed over ships driven with reciprocating engines, which may 



