Oct. ii, 1883] 



NA TURE 



57i 



mania, Nicaragua, and Honduras have accepted. Replies are 

 expected from Italy, Great Britain, Ru-sia, France, Chili, 

 Brazil, and Germany. 



University College, Dundee, the munificent gift of Miss 

 Baxter, was duly "inaugurated" on Friday, Prof. Stewart of 

 Cambridge giving an able address on higher education. The 

 college starts w iih a clear endowment of ioo,coo/., and a well- 

 selected staff of professors. 



The Photographic Society's Exhibition has been opened at 

 the rooms of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours. 



We notice in the hvcsiia of the Russian Geographical Society 

 an interesting paper by Dr. Woeikof, on the velocity of the 

 wind in Russia. In addition to the important works of MM. 

 Hann and Koeppen, Dr. Woeikof has calculated for fifty 

 Russian and Siberian stations the ratio between the velocity of 

 the wind at I p.m. and that in the morning and evening. Thee 

 calculations have been made in order to show the increase of the 

 force of the wind towards midday and to verify Hen Koeppen's 

 hypothesis as to the dependency of this increase upon the differ- 

 ences of velocities of air in its upper and lower strata, which 

 strata are mixed together by the ascending currents occasioned 

 by the heating of the surface of the soil. The Russian and 

 Siberian stations displaying a great variety of local conditions, 

 M. Woeikof points out the influence of these conditions, but 

 arrives, in their broad features, at the following conclusions: — 

 Throughout Northern and Middle Russia, where the heating of 

 the surface of the soil is very small during the winter, and the 

 ascending current is feeble, the force of the wind increases but 

 slowly as the sun rises above the horizon. The increase is much 

 more during the spring and summer, and at some places the 

 wind at midday blows n ith a force on an average nearly double 

 what it was in the morning and will be in the evening. In 

 Southern and South-Eastern Rus.-ia the increase of the force of 

 the wind during the day is felt even in the winter, owing to the 

 greater heating of the steppes in these lower latitudes. In the 

 Ural region the same increase becomes obvious after February, 

 and the ratio between the forces of the wind at 1 p.m. and at 

 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. becomes more than 2 to I in the summer. In 

 Siberia and Mongolia the relations become more complicated on 

 account of the anticyclones, but the same explanation of the 

 phenomena holds good if the local circumstances be taken into 

 account. 



In his recent work on " Jade and Nephrite Articles in the 

 Dresden Museum," Dr. A. B. Meyer expressed the opinion that 

 there must be other sources of the raw material than those of 

 raw nephrite found in North Germany, Turkestan, New Zealand, 

 and New Caledonia, and of raw jade in Burmah and Montevideo, 

 in order to account for the diffusion of articles wrought from 

 these materials. This view has been so far confirmed that four 

 pieces of raw nephrite of the specific weight of 3'ol have since 

 been found in Suckow, Uckermark, a boulder of the same material 

 in Steiermark, and raw jade in large masses, generally in the 

 form of boulders, in Alaska. He further was of opinion that 

 China could not draw all its nephrite from Turkestan. It had 

 already been shown that the large masses of raw material 

 transported by sea from Burmah to China consisted of jade 

 with the specific weight of nephrite, and Dr. Meyer remarked 

 that by far the largest number of Chinese articles seemed 

 to be of nephrite. Out of the stone hatchets, as they 

 were thought to be, brought by Mr. Anderson from Yunnan, 

 there were but three which hnd the specific weight of nephrite, 

 and Dr. Meyer conjectured that they were of jade. A piece of 

 the only "indubitable" hatchet out of the three, having been 

 forwarded by Mr. Anderson to Dr. Meyer, was on examination 

 found to be genuine nephrite. The fact is therefore established 

 that genuine nephrite as well as jade exists in the region of 



Further India, though their exact bcil'ity has yet to be dis- 

 covered. 



Messrs. Crosby Lockwood and Co. announce the following 

 new and forthcoming publications: — "British Mining; a 

 Practical Treatise on the Metalliferous Mines and Minerals of 

 the United Kingdom, dealing comprehensively with the theories 

 of Mineral Deposits, the History of Mines, their Practical 

 Working, and the Future Prospects of British Mining Industry," 

 fully illustrated, by Robert Hunt, F.R.S., late Keeper of Min- 

 ing Records, editor of Ure's " Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, 

 and Mines, author of "Researches on Light," &c, formerly 

 or of Physics, Royal School of Mines; "Earthy and 

 other Minerals and Mining," with numerous illustrations, by D. 

 C. Davies, E.G.S., Mining Engineer, &c, uniform with and 

 forming a companion volume to the same author's " Metalli- 

 ferous Minerals and Mining " ; "Graphic and Analytic Statics 

 in Theory and Comparison, their Practical Application to the 

 Treatment of Stresses in Roofs, Solid Girders, Lattice, Bow- 

 string and Suspension Bridge-', Braced Iron Arches and Piers, 

 and other Frameworks, to which is added a chapter on Wind 

 Pressures," by R. Hudson Graham, C.E., containing diagrams 

 and [dates to scale, with numerous examples, many taken from 

 existing structures ; " A Handbook of the Art of Soap-making, 

 including the Manufacture of Hard and Soft Soaps, Toilet 

 Soaps, Medicated and Special Soaps, Bleaching and Purifying 

 Oils and Fats, Recovery of Glycerine, &c, Sec," with a series 

 of engravings, by Alexander Watt, author of " Electro-Metal- 

 lurgy Practically Treated, " &c : "The Engineers' and Ship- 

 Coal Tables,'' hy Nelson Foley, author of "The 

 Engineer's Office Book of Boiler Construction." 



Messrs. Siemens and Halske have brought out an instru- 

 ment called a torsion galvanometer to lie used for large currents. 

 It consists of a magnet suspended between two coils, so as to be 

 affected by both, but to which is attached a torsion spring so 

 arranged that the amount of torsion necessary to bring the 

 needle back to its normal position can easily be determined. 

 These instiuments are made in two form-, a vertical and a hori- 

 zontal form. In the vertical form the needle is suspended by a 

 cocoon silk, and the reading is taken from above ; this is the 

 more delicate form. In the horizontal form, which is meant for 

 more practical work, the needle is balanced on knife-edges, and 

 carries at one end a light pointer which passes behind a scale. The 

 amount of torrion required to bring the needle back to zero is indi- 

 cated by another pointer attached to a handle, and which moves 

 in front of the scale. These instiuments can be used either in 

 main circuit or .-hunt ; in the latter case they are often used in 

 conjunction with a resistance box so arranged as to reduce the 

 fall of potential between the terminals of the instrument in a 

 know n ratio. It is necessary, however, to use a table of calibra- 

 tions which are subject to very little change with time. 



A course of elementary lectures upon Recent A.-tronomy and 

 Sidereal Astronomy will be delivered in Gresham College, at six 

 o'clock p.m. on October 16, 17, 18, and 19, by the Rev. Edmund 

 Ledger. 



The President of the Aristotelian Society, Mr. Shadworth H. 

 Hodgson, M.A., LL.D., will open the ensuing session with an 

 address, on Monday evening, October 15, 1S83, and the society 

 will then meet forlnightly as usual. The chief work of the 

 session will be a study of Berkeley's " New Theory of Vision" 

 and " Principles of Human Knowledge,'' and Hume's " Treatise 

 of Human Nature." 



The recent soiree of the Chester Society of Natural Science 

 was marked by the publication of a useful programme or descrip- 

 tive catalogue, which gave to the objects exhibited a teaching 

 value, which may be well imitated, and which forms a permanent 

 reference to those who had the opportunity of being present. 

 The sixty microscopes shown were classified, according ti the 



