Augtcsi 23, 1883] 



NATURE 



401 



researches and measurements in the Gulf of Bothnia. A suit- 

 able steamer is to be purchased and fitted with the necessary 

 appliances and instruments. We have received a communication 

 from Prof. Lemstrdm, in which he informs us that the Senate 

 has also voted him a sum of 1500/. for the continuance of 

 his experiments in connection with the aurora borealis during 

 next vi inter at Sodankyla. In a few weeks he will forward the 

 programme of his intended researches to Nature. 



The arrangements for the autumn meting of the Iron and 

 Steel Institute, to be held on the iSth, 19th, and 20th of Sep- 

 tember, at Middlesbrough, are now almost completed. An in- 

 fiuential local committee has been furrned in that town, under 

 the chairmanship of Mr. Bolckow, and has organised a series of 

 excursions and entertainments in honour of the Institute. The 

 new Basic Steel Works of the North-Eastern Steel Company, 

 and the new and very extensive works of Bolckow, Vaughan, 

 and Company, at Eston, will be the chief works to be visited, 

 and as they are the first works that have been established in this 

 country for carrying on the manufacture of steel by the Basic 

 process, it is likely that they will be examined specially by the 

 various members. Another interesting excursion will be made 

 to the South Durham coal district, where a new system of manu- 

 facturing coke, admitting of very considerable economy in the 

 yield as well as in the collection and utilisation of all the by- 

 products obtained by the distillation of coal, has been for some 

 time successfully at work. A very good list of papers has been 

 fjrmed for reading and discussion, and a fund of several 

 thousand pounds has been raised to cover the expenses of enter- 

 taining the members of the Institute. 



Padre Denza, the Director of the Observatory at Mon- 

 c alieri, expresses, in a letter to the Bishop of Ischia, the opinion, 

 based on the information thus far obtained, that no ulterior 

 disasters are to be feared in Ischia for the present ; and espe- 

 cially if the forces at work under Mount Eromeo continue to 

 find vents in the two active fumaroli. At the same time he 

 add- : — " We have, however, to do with capricious and un- 

 cer-ain phenomena which are still a mystery to science. They 

 are u.atters which require close study, and I have recomaiended 

 them strongly to de Rossi's attention." Prof, de Rossi, in his 

 second report, a brief summary of which appeared in NATURE 

 1 1st week, limits himself to the consideration of the many warn- 

 ing- that Nature gave of the catastrophe. His third report will 

 treat directly of the phenomena connected with it. In the mean- 

 time he is emphatic in recommending to the Minister of Agri- 

 culture and Commerce the completion of that chain of observa- 

 tories over all the volcanic districts of Italy, for ihe recepiion 

 and con ideration of the signs and movements nottd in which the 

 Roman Observatory was founded. Had lhat chain been at least 

 more complete, and had the long-talked-of observatory in Ischia 

 constituted a link in it, the Roman Observa'ory would have 

 recognised the fact that the widely exte ided ^uhtcrpffSan move- 

 ment, manifested with augmentation during the t#u!ays anterior 

 to July 2S, had its centre of greatest, mot continuous, and most 

 variously marked activity at Casamicci da, and would have given 

 that timely warning of the approiching storm which might have 

 saved many lives. But, he add-, there is a question as to whether 

 such warnings should be given. The inhabitants of Albano 

 might, f >r instance, have abandoned their houses in alarm, and 

 have spent the night in the fields, had the extraordinary state of 

 the Solfatara there been known publicly on the 28th. "To this 

 I reply," writes Prof, de Rossi, "that the inhabitants of 

 Casamicciola would also have s, ent the nigbt in the open air, 

 and many lives would have been saved." But it is evident, ac- 

 cording to the Times correspondent, from de Rossi's first pre- 

 liminary report, that there is but little enthusiasm in favour of a 

 system of earthquake warnings, like the storm warnings sent 



across the Atlantic, being adopted in Italy, where in many 

 districts the inhabitants depend chiefly on strangers for their 

 existence. He does not hesitate to attribute to a selfish fear of 

 frightening strangers away the opposition made to the establish- 

 ment of an observatory at Casamicciola. It has now been 

 ascertained that the signs of warning at Casamicciola were 

 numerous, and well known to those most interested in concealing 

 them. But the possibility ef danger was ridiculed, and part of 

 the performance in the theatre on that fatal evening was Polchi- 

 nello flying from imaginary alarms of earthquake. Prof. 

 Palmieri summarises his observations on the earthquake in Ischia 

 as follows : — " A small or moderate earthquake causing immense 

 disaster. The continuous wearing away of the soil by the hot 

 subterraneous springs is sufficient to explain the immense cata- 

 strophe, which has been enhanced by the very bad construction 

 of the houses. Some damaged by the earthquake of 18S1 had 

 remained without repairs. The disaster of July 28 will be re- 

 corded more on account of the enormous loss of life and property 

 than of its seismographic importance." 



The Island of Ometepec in the Lake of Nicaragua has just 

 been utterly devastated by a volcanic outbreak, causing an over- 

 flow of several lava streams which filled up several valleys and 

 ingulfed in its fiery current farmsteads, cattle, and all the culti- 

 vated fields. The eruption began on June 19, when a new crater 

 opened. A continuous earth-tremor resulted in an overflow of 

 lava directed towards Las Pilas. Two days later several other 

 hills opened, pouring out lava in every direction, and the terri- 

 fied inhabitants fled. Boats were sent from the neighbouring 

 towns to save them. The whole island is described to be at 

 present a heaving mass of molten lava, quite uninhabitable. 



A shock of earthquake sufficiently strong to move beds and 

 displace crockery occurred last Thursday at Schuols, Pontresina, 

 and Tarasp, in the Engadine. The shock was preceded by a 

 violent storm and heralded by a peal of subterranean thunder. 



A STATUE of Daguerre will be unveiled at his native village of 

 Cormeilles on Sunday. 



The recent inquiry in the United States Patent Office con- 

 cerning the invention of the telephone has had the following 

 results : — Out of eleven interference cases, eight of them have 

 been decided in Bell's favour, two in Edison's, and one in 

 MacDonnugh's. MacDonough's award was for the invention of 

 a "telephonic receiver," consisting of the combination of an 

 electric current with a magnet and a diaphragm arranged close 

 to the magnet so as to reproduce accurately the sounds as regards 

 quality and pitch. Edison's awards are (1) for a " hydroelectric 

 telephone" ; (2) "for a spring carrying one electrode and con- 

 stantly pressing against the other electrode, and the diaphragm 

 to maintain the required initial pressure between the electrode 

 and yield to the movements of the diaphragm." The most 

 remarkable of Bell's awards is the art of transmitting and repro- 

 ducing sounds at a distance by means of an undulating elect ic 

 current. The remaining awards of Bell's consist of various 

 forms of transmitters. 



A new galvanometer has been brought out by M. Ducretet, 

 which contains the valuable properties of being dead beat and 

 bring used for both strong and high potential currents. Its chief 

 points consist in a movable compound coil, the fine wire coil 

 being near 6000 ohms, and the framew ork of this coil, » hich 

 consists of a copper ring, being the low resistance coil. The 

 magnetometer part consists of a box with a very delicately 

 balanced needle immersed in some transparent liquid. The 

 needle is very small, and has attached to it a fine aluminium 

 pointer by which the readings are made. The galvanometer 

 can be used for all strengths of current in practical use. 



Amongst the candidates who have offered themselves to fill 

 the place in the Academy of Sciences vacated by the recent 



