NOVEMBER 19, 1896] 
NATURE 
61 
number (November 14). It is proposed to widen the scope of 
the interests and influence of the paper ; but whether the changes 
will mean increased attention to science, it is difficult yet to 
decide. At present the expansion seems to be confined to the 
limits of a page of science notes. 
WE have received from Messrs. C. W. Faulkner and Co., the 
well-known artistic colour printers, some specimens of their new 
parlour games, together with numerous samples of their Christmas 
and New Year cards and calendars. In the case of the first- 
named, this firm has hit upon some ingenious games which 
combine both amusement and scientific skill, and which can be 
played by both the old and the young with delight. Of these 
we may mention the game entitled, ‘‘ Attracto ”’ or ‘‘ Catch em,” 
which is a novel form of fish-ponds. In place of the hook a 
magnet is employed, by which one must catch in a prescribed 
way small metal fish. ‘‘ Nurky,” or the game of ‘* Ducks and 
Drake,” also requires some skill in manipulation, and is a good 
round table game. Perhaps the most striking feature about the 
cards, in addition to their artistic nature, is the excellence of the 
process illustrations ; the subjects being both well chosen and of 
a varied nature. An excellent series of new publications, both 
in photogravure and platinotype, in most cases well worth fram- 
ing, are also issued, the types of which are both humorous and 
sedate. Mention must also be made of the many different 
styles of calendars for the coming year, for all of them are very 
attractive. 
WE have on our table new editions of several scientific works. 
From Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. has come the third 
edition of Dr. Augustus D. Waller’s ‘‘ Introduction to Human 
Physiology.”” The principal changes in this edition are in the 
chapters on nerve and animal electricity, the results described 
in this year’s Croonian lecture at the Royal Society having 
been incorporated. The same ‘publishers have just issued a 
second edition of “The Life and Letters of George John 
Romanes,” written and edited by his wife. To the new issue 
of Stanford’s compendium of geography and travel, another 
volume by Mr. A. H. Keane has been added. The volume is 
on Southern and Western Asia, and like the one on Northern 
and Eastern Asia, published a short time ago, it forms an 
admirable work for reading and reference. A revised edition 
(the third) of ‘A New Course of Practical Chemistry,” by 
Mr. John Castell-Evans, has been published by Mr. Thomas 
Murby. The course covers the principles of qualitative and 
quantitative analysis, and comprises a systematic series of ex- 
periments and problems for the laboratory and class-room. 
“The book is intended,” says the author, ‘‘to help students to 
attain a real knowlege of scientific chemistry, and not to pre- 
pare for mere examinations.” Certainly the student who per- 
forms all the experiments in the book, and works out all the 
numerical problems, will advance his knowledge considerably. 
So long ago as 1872, the first edition of ‘* A Junior Course of 
Practical Chemistry,” by Mr. Francis Jones, was published by 
Messrs. Macmillan and Co. It speaks much for the character 
of this little volume that in general arrangement, and in the 
prominence given to experimental work on the principles of 
chemistry, the course followed much the same lines as that 
adopted only last year by the Science and Art Department as 
suitable for chemical laboratory practice. The eighth edition 
now published will, no doubt, be widely adopted in depart- 
mental classes, and it may be introduced with advantage into 
all schools and colleges where elementary practical chemistry is 
taught. 
In the current number of the Aerichte, Prot. Victor Meyer 
records some remarkable observations which he has recently 
made on the oxidation of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. It 
has been long known that these gases, even when pure, are 
NO. 1412, VOL. 55 
slowly absorbed by a solution of potassium permanganate. The 
process has hitherto been regarded merely as one of slow oxida- 
tion, presenting no special feature of interest. But in the attempt 
to devise an apparatus for the exact study of the change, a re- 
markable fact came to light. It was found that an acidified 
solution of the permanganate, when continuously shaken with 
either hydrogen or carbon monoxide in a closed vessel, absorbed 
these gases, and was reduced, but that at the same time a large 
volume of oxygen was liberated. It was proved by a series of 
experiments that the evolution of oxygen in the quantity ob- 
served was in some way dependent on the oxidation process, for 
the permanganate solution evolved a comparatively small amount 
of oxygen when agitated in an indifferent gas or 2 vacuo. With- 
out committing himself to a final opinion, Prof. Meyer can, at 
present, suggest no other tenable explanation of the phenomenon 
than that in the slow oxidation process one atom only of each 
molecule of oxygen yielded by the permanganate is used for 
oxidation, the unused halves of the molecules being set free and 
combining to form fresh molecules of oxygen gas. This view 
is in reality the same as that to which van ’t Hoff has been 
led by the study of other less simple cases of slow oxidation. 
[Hs 0/0 
— 
H» O|O 
The quantitative results, so far as they go, offer some support 
to this view ; but a further study of the question is in progress, 
and the results will be awaited with great interest. 
The scheme would be as follows :-— = 2H20 + Oo. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Diana Monkey (Cercopethecus diana), a 
Campbell’s Monkey (Cercopithecus campbell) from West Africa, 
presented by Mrs. Skottowe; a Macaque Monkey (d/acacus 
cynontolgus, 2) from India, presented by Mrs. Monillot; a 
Himalayan Bear (Ursus debetanws, 6) from India, presented by 
Mr. Alfred W. Alcock ; a Virginian Opossum (Dézde/phys ver- 
giniana from North America, presented by Mr. Edward John- 
son; a Great Eagle Owl (Subo maximus), European, de- 
posited ; a Green-cheeked Amazon (Chrysol?s zridigena) from 
Colombia, a Malaccan Parrakeet (Paleornis longicauda) from 
Malacca, purchased ; a Cocteau’s Skink (Macroscincus cocteaut) 
from the Cape Verde Islands, a Gay’s Frog (Colyptocephalus 
gay?) from Bolivia, received in exchange. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
PARTIAL Impact OF CELESTIAL Bopirs.—We have received 
from Prof. A. W. Bickerton, of the New Zealand University, a 
collection of papers which he has published on his theory 
of partial impact. This theory, he says, gives ‘‘a perfectly 
simple explanation of the origin of temporary, variable and 
double stars, and accounts for all their peculiarities. It explains 
the formation of multiple stars, star clusters, and also the mode 
of evolution of every definite form of nebula... ” 
As for the theory itself, something may be said in its favour. 
The author has grasped the fact that enormous masses of in- 
candescent matter cannot cool practically in a few weeks, and 
his hypothesis explains satisfactorily the phenomenon of new 
stars. ‘‘A typical new star is probably a thousand times as 
bright as our sun ; it appears suddenly and disappears in a year 
. . . The formation of such a body is difficult enough to explain 
on any theory except that of impact, but to explain its disappear- 
ance is more difficult still. It is estimated that it will take the 
sun ten million years to lose half its lustre. Think of a sun a 
thousand timesas bright cooling ina year. The ideais absurd.” 
Prof. Bickerton suggested his idea of partial impact as long ago 
as 1879, and it certainly strengthens the hypothesis put forward 
by Mr. Norman Lockyer, that some stars are not stars like our 
sun, but masses of meteorites, which in the case of new stars 
and variables collide with one another. 
This hypothesis was suggested in the year 1877, and in a 
paper read before the Royal Society on April 16, 1891, entitled 
