280 



NATURE 



{July 19, 1883 



Science announces the death last month of Stephen Alexander, 

 Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Princetown. He was edu- 

 cated at Union College, where he graduated in 1824. In 1840 

 he was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Princetown, and 

 more recently he received a Professorship of Mechanics. It 

 was as an astronomer, however, that he was most generally 

 known. 



We have been asked by the local secretaries of the Meeting ot 

 the British Association for the Advancement of Science to be 

 held at Southport in September next to call the attention of 

 those who have in their possession scientific instruments, curiosi- 

 ties, and other objects of special or artistic interest, to the fact 

 that there will be an exhibition of such articles in connection 

 with the meeting of the Association. Intending exhibitors and 

 others interested in this matter should communicate with Mr. Ch. 

 de Wechmar Stoess, the Hon. Sec. Conversazione Committee, 

 .ind Mr. Alfred Morgan, the Hon. Sec. for Exhibits, immediately. 



The steamer Pola has just called at Reikjavik, in Iceland, on 

 her way to Jan Mayen, to bring away the Austrian observation 

 party wintering there. Towards the end of the present month 

 the Swedish gunboat Urd will proceed to Spitzbergen to relieve 

 the Swedish party wintering there. It is reported, both from 

 Iceland and Norw ay, that the state of the ice in the Arctic seas 

 is very favourable to navigation. 



The Sophia, Baron Nordenskjbld's vessel, left Rodefjord, 

 Iceland, for Ivigtuk, in Greenland, on June 10, leaving Count 

 Strbmfelt and Drs. Arpi and Flink behind to pursue geological 

 and botanical researches there. 



A letter from M. Thouard, the well-known French traveller, 

 dated Santiago (Chili), states that he heard from Chiriguanos 

 Indians that a part of the Crevaux parly were still prisoners of 

 the Tobas tribe. M. Thouard will try to assist his countrymen. 



Mr. Crookes and Professors Odling and Tidy have lately 

 given in their Report on the composition and quality of London 

 water during 1SS2 to the Local Government Board. In that 

 year they examine 1 21 10 samples of water drawn in nearly equal 

 proportions from the mains of all tbe seven London Companies ; 

 testing generally seven samples daily by their colour according to 

 the registers of the colour-meter, by the quantity of free oxygen 

 and ammonia contained in them, by the amount of oxygen re- 

 quired for oxidation of the organic matter present in them, by 

 their proportions of organic carbon and nitrogen, of nitrates and 

 chlorine, and by their initial hardness in degrees of Clark's scale. 

 The results exhaustively set forth in numerical tables are further 

 illustrated by seven diagrams, in each of which three wave-lines 

 represent the fluctuations throughout the year of discoloration, 

 of the proportion of organic carbon, and of the amount of oxygen 

 required to oxidise the organic matter of the water of the London 

 Company in question. These diagrams show to the eye what 

 the statistics confirm, the remarkable parallelism existing between 

 the degree of di-coloration, the amount of organic carbon present 

 in the water as determined by combustion, and the amount of 

 oxygen requisite to oxidation of the organic matter as determined 

 by permanganate. The Report altogether would seem to reflect 

 most favourably on the quality of London water. Throughout 

 the whole year the water of the New River Company as deter- 

 mined by the samples was, without exception, " clear, bright, 

 and well filtered," a character supported by analyses of other 

 kinds, and in only a few cases in the samples of the other Com- 

 panies was the water describable as "turbid," "slightly turbid," 

 or "very slightly turbid." For the nine months from February 

 to October 1S82 the organic matter in the water of all the London 

 Companies is estimated at '137 per 100,000, and the highest 

 monthly mean for the same period at "181 per 100,000. There 

 is, however, one important factor in the question with which 



chemical analysis cannot directly cope, the comparative innocuous- 

 ness, namely, of the organic matter present in the water accord- 

 ing as it is of vegetable origin, or its comparative virulence 

 according as it is of animal origin. As Prof. Huxley, in a lec- 

 ture in 1880 to the Chemical Society, said, water as regards 

 chemical analysis may be perfectly unobjectionable, and yet as 

 regards its operation on the human body deadly as prussic acid. 



We have received advanced copies of the following books 

 from the Literary Superintendent of the Fisheries Exhibition : — 

 "British Marine and Freshwater Fishes," by W. Saville Kent, 

 F.L.S., F.Z.S. ; "Zoology and Food Fishes," by George Bond 

 Howes, Demonstrator of Biology at the Normal School of 

 Science ; " On the Capture of Salmonida: and the Acclimatisa- 

 tion of Fish," by Sir James Ramsay Gibson Maitland, Bart, j 

 and " The Fishery Laws," by Frederick Pollock. We must 

 congratulate the Commissioners of the International Fisheries 

 Exhibition on their activity, and on their care for the scientific 

 aspect of the specimens in their collection. There are two kinds 

 of books published by the Exhibition authorities. Reports of 

 papers read at the conferences and the important discussions 

 which have followed their reading are published, and other books 

 are written in explanation of the exhibits and other subjects 

 bearing upon fish and fish culture. 



There is an interesting article on "The Import Duty on 

 Scientific Journals " in Science for June 29. The writer ventures 

 to suggest that at its next meeting, the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science should appoint a committee to draw 

 up a definite list of those foreign technical journals of mathe- 

 matics, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, geography, 

 botany, zoology, physiology, and ethnology which do not com- 

 pete with similar enterprises of publishing firms in the United 

 States, and urge Congress to pass a special Act putting these 

 journals on the free list. The article goes on to say that, if a 

 suitable Bill were drawn up, there is little doubt that some 

 member of Congress could be found to introduce it, and if 

 framed so that it touched no publisher's pocket, and vigorously 

 supported by the scientific influence of the country, it would 

 certainly become law. 



The earthquake at Voss in Norway on June 13, reported in 

 Nature last week (p. 233), was felt over the entire district 

 between Bergen and Aalesund, but most severely in the well- 

 known Dalsfjbrd. A further shock was felt over the same dis- 

 trict on June 15 at 1.50 p.m., and some people assert that 

 another followed at about 1 1 a.m. on the following day. 



On the evening of the 2nd inst. a terrific cyclone passed over 

 Stockholm. Its course was north-west to north-east. Houses 

 were unroofed, trees uprooted, and a number of people thrown 

 down, while not a shred of canvas was left on the masts of the 

 vessels in the harbour. Barely a mile from the track of the 

 cyclone there was almost a perfect calm. 



We learn that the Dutch Government have decided not to 

 grant the sum of 30,000 guilders which Baron Nordenskjold 

 claims as the discoverer of the North-East Passage. The 

 decision is founded on the motive which led the States General 

 in 1596 to offer this award, viz. to find a passage of commercial 

 value to the nation ; Baron Nordenskjold having, however, dis- 

 covered what may be termed a purely scientific one, the award, 

 it is argued, has not been earned. As several reasons have been 

 advanced for this claim made by the gallant Swedish explorer, 

 we do not think we err when we assert that it was his intention 

 to have expended the sum in the interest of science, viz. on an 

 expedition to the Arctic regions. 



A State paper recently issued by the Minister of Public 

 Works in France contains some interesting details on the French 



