Deo 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 21, 1904 
Prof. Hele Shaw, of Liverpool, has been appointed senior 
professor, and he will be in charge of the department of | 
mechanical and electrical engineering, with Prof. Orr, late 
of Kimberley, as assistant professor. The chair of mining 
engineering and the assistantship in that department have 
not yet been filled, but arrangements will soon be completed 
for the due carrying on of this department. 
The courses at present provided by 
the Transvaal 
Technical Institute are those of the third and fourth years | 
of the Cape mining curriculum arranged by the University 
of the Cape of Good Hope, but the council has under con- 
sideration the development of the Institute, so as not only 
to give a complete four years’ mining course, but also to 
provide courses in other departments of engineering and 
technical education generally, and to provide post-graduate 
courses for mining engineers. 
Evening classes in subjects bearing on certain trades and 
industries are already being carried on in Pretoria and in 
Johannesburg, and the council is preparing a scheme of 
technical instruction for mines employees and others which 
involves the early opening of evening and day classes along 
the line of Reef, and eventually in other parts of the 
Transvaal. 
The council of the Institute has also under consideration 
the wider proposals recommended by the Commission on 
Technical Education, and it is intended that no undue delay 
shall intervene in the carrying out of these. 
Joun Rosinson (Secretary). 
Transvaal Technical Institute, Secretary’s Office, 
Johannesburg, December 23, 1903. 
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower of 1904. 
THE evenings of January 2 and 3 were clear here, but 
the moon being full and near perigee, rendered invisible in 
the north-eastern sky all stars less bright than second 
magnitude. A brief watch before midnight on January 2 
indicated a total absence of meteors, and it was not thought 
advisable to prolong observations on this night, as it had 
been previously determined by the writer that it was on the 
following night that the Quadrantid maximum would 
occur. 
The calculated time of this maximum was January 3, 
18h. G.M.T. On the same night there was an earlier, and 
what had been supposed would be a much weaker, maxi- 
mum at 13h. Observations were therefore commenced here 
shortly after midnight, and it very soon became apparent 
that, notwithstanding the strong moonlight, shooting stars 
were unusually numerous. Between 12h. 5m. and 13h. 
(Dublin time) there were observed 17 meteors, of which 8 
were as bright, or brighter, than first magnitude stars. 
They made their appearance at very considerable distances 
from the Quadrantid radiant, and, owing to the very limited 
number of fixed stars visible in that quarter of the sky, it 
was impossible to record the meteor-paths with accuracy, 
but several of the latter indicated a divergence from the 
region of Boétes, there being at the same time another 
probable centre of emanation near the tail stars of Ursa 
Major. 
The advent of clouds from the south-east rendered observ- 
ations impracticable or fruitless between 13h. and 14h. 15m., 
but during the first quarter of an hour succeeding this in- 
terruption 4 more meteors were seen, of which 2 were of 
first and the rest of second stellar magnitude. The early 
maximum of the night was now evidently declining, as in 
the next half hour but 3 shooting stars were visible, the 
two brightest of these being only of second magnitude. 
The two hours’ interval between 15h. and 17h. was remark- 
able for its meteoric paucity, only 1 bright meteor equal 
to second magnitude having been observed during this 
period at 15h. 30m., though the sky was very clear; and 
the watch would very probably have been abandoned after 
15h. but for the maximum expected some hours later. This 
anticipation of a recrudescence of the phenomenon was fully 
realised, for between 17h. and 17h. 30m. 10 meteors were 
observed (half of them of first magnitude), although two- 
thirds of the eastern sky had by this time become covered 
with light clouds. The meteors radiated in all directions 
_ although the clouded area had by this time increased to five- 
from a region very evidently situated in the north of Boétes. | 
In the next ten minutes 2 more Quadrantids were observed, 
NO. 1786, VOL. 69] 
sixths. The 
Observations were discontinued at 17h. 40m. 
| meteors had a fairly rapid motion, and were slightly red in 
colour. Their paths ranged from 10° to 20° in length. The 
excessive moonlight must have detracted considerably from 
the splendour of the present display, but, even as it was, the 
meteoric rate during the shower’s activity was much higher 
on the night of January 3 than on the corresponding night 
in 1903. 
Dublin, January 13. Joun R. Henry. 
M. Blondlot’s 7-Ray Experiments, 
Ir would be interesting to know whether anyone has 
succeeded in confirming the above, as described in your 
columns and elsewhere. 
Personally, I have repeated most of M. Blondlot’s experi- 
ments, but I have not been able to discern the slightest 
trace of any of the remarkable phenomena that he describes. 
This is also the case with Mr. J. C. M. Stanton and Mr. 
R. C. Pierce, who have assisted me in the investigations. 
In order to get away from personal physiological idiosyn- 
crasies we have also applied delicate photographic methods 
of observation, but without result, and as a general con- 
clusion I am inclined to think that M. Blondlot’s observ- 
ations must be due, not to physical, but to physiological 
processes, and further, that these are not operative in the 
case of all persons. 
Perhaps others may have tried the experiments and may 
have met with greater success. 
A. A. CamMpBELL SwInTOon. 
66 Victoria Street, London, S.W., January 109. 
Phosphorescence of Photographic Plates. 
SOME time ago when developing an X-ray photograph I 
observed the effect noticed by your correspondent in your 
last issue. Very little of the silver salt had been affected, 
and the plate, after development, when put into alum solu- 
tion lit up as described. JI have often watched for the same 
effect since with ordinary negatives; sometimes there is 
phosphorescence, sometimes not. Apparently a fairly long 
development with the pyro soda is necessary. Not only the 
plate itself, but the used developer will give the phosphor- 
escence with alum solution. Dilute sulphuric acid may be 
used instead of the alum. Quinine sulphate or hydro- 
chloride does not light up when the used developer is added, 
but will do so if a few drops of sulphuric acid are sub- 
sequently introduced. Printing out paper may sometimes 
be successfully used instead of the plate, or the experi- 
ment may be still more easily made by mixing potassium 
bromide and silver nitrate solutions in dim gaslight, de- 
canting, and shaking up the resulting silver bromide with 
pyro soda. A red liquid results which gives the lighting 
up effect when’ poured into alum solution or dilute sulphuric 
acid. H. J. Epwarps. 
Heaton, Newcastle-on-Tyne, January 16. 
BIRD-LIFE IN WALES.+ 
LTHOUGH the writings of Messrs. Murray 
Mathew, Cambridge Phillips and others have 
made us more familiar with the avifauna of southern 
Wales than we are with that of some other parts of 
that country, Mr. Walpole-Bond’s description of the 
bird-life of a part of the district is not any the less 
welcome and instructive. For he enters very fully 
into the nesting habits and comparative abundance or 
scarcity of the birds in a way that is only possible to 
a good climber, indifferent to weather, who is able to 
devote every day wholly to the pursuit of his favourite 
study. The wild Wales of this book seems to lie, in 
the main, in part of the county of Brecon, although 
Pembrokeshire and other districts are touched upon. 
Incidentally, Bucks, Kent, and Hampshire are 
mentioned. 
1 “Bird Life in Wild Wales."" By J. A. Walpole-Bond. Illustrated 
with photographs by Oliver G. Pike. Pp. xv+283. (London: T. Fisher 
Unwin, 1903.) Price 7s. 6d. 
