670 NATURE. [FEBRUARY 12, 1914 
In a recent issue of The Chemical News | of the crown plate, as gauged by the inspector, varied 
(vol. cix., p. 37, January 23, 1914), Dr. J. C. | from one-thirty-second to one-sixteenth inch, yet this 
Cain describes some new experiments on the | flat plate had withstood satisfactorily a working 
estimation of alcohol in beer by Malligand’s | pressure of 70 lb. per sq. in., the stays being pitched 
ebullioscope. This instrument was invented in | at 5ix4% in. centres. No bulging was reported. 
1874, and tested thoroughly at that time with French 
wines and with German and Scandinavian beers, but 
appears to have been almost forgotten. The per- 
centage of alcohol is determined by its influence in 
lowering the boiling point of the water; the solid 
contents of the wine and beer, being of high mole- 
cular weight, are-almost without effect on the boiling 
point. The thermometer is provided with a movable 
scale, which can be set to correspond with the boiling 
point of water as it varies with changes in the baro- 
metric pressure. It is calibrated directly to correspond 
with percentages of alcohol, so that no tables or 
calculations are required. The whole determination 
can therefore be carried through in a few minutes by 
anyone who is capable of reading a thermometer. In 
a series of twenty-two analyses, the percentage of 
alcohol found in this way was usually within o-1 per 
cent. of the percentage determined by the standard 
method of distillation. 
Tue properties of alcohol and of stimulants in 
general in relation to their physiological effects form 
the subject of an address, given by Prof. H. E. 
Armstrong to the Institute of Brewing, which is 
printed in the December issue of their journal. The 
account given of the power of alcohol and its homo- 
logues, when used in moderate amounts, to penetrate 
the membrane which encloses the cell is a clear state- 
ment of facts which will have to be considered by the 
physiologist, and should do something to overcome 
the prejudice against alcohol which exists in the minds 
of otherwise fair-minded people. The ill-effects pro- 
duced by alcoholic beverages are more probably to be 
ascribed to the presence of small proportions of still 
more active substances. The action of alcohol and 
similar hormones is to accelerate the rate of passage 
of water and diffusible substances through the cell 
walls. Probably the ordinary changes involved in the 
life of the living cell cannot go on without some kind 
of stimulus from without to disturb equilibrium, so 
that, particularly with a simple diet, some form of 
stimulant must be taken with the food. Such stimu- 
lants are not necessarily alcoholic, as one of the most 
common digestive stimulants is carbonic acid—e.g. 
aerated waters. Excess of such stimulants are con- 
tained in meat extracts, the supposed body-building 
power of which is almost entirely fictitious, being due 
to an increased proportion of water in the cells. 
Tuer strength of stayed flat plates forms the subject 
of a report issued by Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, chief 
engineer of the Manchester Steam Users’ Association. 
Mr. Stromeyer has analysed and correlated a number 
of experiments on this subject, and suggests empirical 
formule for practical use. Some interesting informa- 
tion is included regarding working conditions. Thus, 
one of Mr. Stromeyer’s inspectors examined recently 
a loco-portable boiler, and found that the firebox had 
wasted almost to the vanishing point. The thickness 
NO. 2311, VOL. 92] 
Reference is made to Bach’s experiments, and we are 
reminded that fuller details of these experiments may 
be expected shortly. 
Tracuers of geography who have adopted modern 
methods of instruction should examine the coloured 
“Contour Hand Maps” of the counties of England 
and Wales which are being published at the price of 
2d. net each by Messrs. G. W. Bacon and Co., Ltd. 
Judging from the eight specimen maps which have 
been received, teachers will have no difficulty in devis- 
ing an abundance of practical exercises which will 
make easy to young people an appreciation of the 
relief of an area from a study of its contoured map. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
DETONATING FIREBALL OF JANUARY 19.—Mr. W. F. 
Denning writes :—‘‘A few minutes after 7 p.m. on 
January 19 a magnificent meteor was seen at Read-— 
ing, Oxford, and other places in that part. It illu- 
minated the sky with a brightness superior to the full 
moon, and startled many persons as the night had 
been very dark, and the transformation was almost 
instantaneous. The fireball traversed a long are ex- 
tending probably over 60°, at a slow rate of motion, 
the estimated duration being from five to seven 
seconds. ; 
‘A few minutes after the meteor had disappeared 
a heavy sound as of distant artillery was distinctly 
heard at many places, and there was a decided vibra- 
tion of houses, the windows shook, crockery ware 
rattled, &c., as during an earthquake. At Oxford 
there was a loud report rather like thunder. At 
Finstock, Oxon., the noise is said to have resembled 
the boom of a heavy gun rather than a clap of 
thunder. At Shinfield, near Reading, and at other 
places in Berks, the doors and windows rattled. Cer. 
tain persons who did not see the meteor thought that 
the disturbance was due to an earthquake shock. At 
Wallingford the sound followed the light three 
minutes, so that the explosion may have been about 
thirty-seven miles distant. This represents the motion — 
of sound in ordinary air. In the rarer atmosphere of - 
great elevations it travels much slower, and the dis, 
tance may therefore have been greater. The fireball 
seems to have passed from N.E. to S.W. from Hert-— 
fordshire to Berkshire, at a height of about fifty-one 
to eleven miles. It had a luminous flight of about 
sixty-seven miles, and a velocity of about twelve miles 
a second. 
“During the last fifteen years an unusually large 
number of fireballs have appeared in the month of 
January. Mrs. Fiammetta Wilson has informed me 
that there is an old Roumanian superstition that 
bolides may be abundantly observed from January 
14-20, and especially on January 19.” 
Comet 1913f (DeLavan).—Dr. G. van Biesbroeck, 
of the Uccle Observatory, sends to the Astronomische — 
Nachrichten, No. 4711, his determinations of the para- 
bolic elements and ephemeris of comet 1913f, dis-_ 
covered by Delavan. The former are based on ob- 
servations made on December 19 and 29, 1913, and 
January 14 of this year, and the ephemeris satisfied 
the latest observation of this object made on January 
