44° 



NA TU RE 



{March 12, 1885 



[3] Artificial Cloud Glow. For producing the intense 

 diffraction colours of the cloud-glow it is necessary to 

 procure a cloud consisting of small particles all about the 

 same magnitude. This is best attained if the air before 

 entering the globe is first led through hot water. If the 

 conditions are favourable the colours are sufficiently in- 

 tense as to permit of their being received on a white 

 screen one metre distant. The colours change rapidly in 

 a regular gradation of order, each colour appearing first 

 at the centre of the field, and moving outwards. 



Several additional phenomena are to be observed with 

 this apparatus ; and its inventor has devised an ingenious 

 proof of the once-disputed point that the particles of mist 

 are spherules, not vesicles. This he does by showing 

 that certain diffraction phenomena which depend on the 

 size of the particles remain unchanged during a sudden 

 change of external pressure, which, if the particles were 

 bubbles or vesicles, would at once cause them to expand. 



ILLUMINATION OF MICROSCOPES AND 

 BALANCES 



T N measurements and weighings where high scientific 

 ■*■ accuracy is needed it is sometimes necessary to use 

 artificial means of illumination, and it is found that when 

 reflected light cannot be conveniently introduced, the 

 heat from ordinary lamps causes variations of the tem- 

 perature of the room, &c, which slightly affect the accu- 

 racy of the results to be obtained. By using, however, an 

 incandescent electric lamp fitted inside a glass vessel of 

 water, the light may be even brought near to the micro- 

 scope or balance without any appreciable interference 

 with temperature. The glass vessel is provided with a 

 pierced cover or shade, and a little stream of water of a 

 uniform temperature may be kept flowing through the 

 vessel. 



By means of a "chromozone" battery, supplied by Mr. 

 O. March, it has been found, at the Standards Office, that 

 a light may be maintained at an insignificant cost for fifty 

 hours without, of course, any attention. During a recent 

 comparison made by Mr. Chaney of two standard kilogram 

 weights it became necessary to use the lamp, but the 

 action of the balance was not interfered with by the 

 proximity of the lamp, the probable error of the result 

 being only + o"oo5 mgr. 



NOTES 



In an overflowing Convocation at Oxford, on Tuesday, the 

 battle of vivisection was fought out a third time. The vic- 

 tory of sound sense over false sentiment has again been won ; 

 and on this occasion the vote is unmistakable. In spite of 

 the most vigorous exertions of the opponents of physiology, the 

 decree to endow the Physiological Laboratory — as the other 

 scientific departments in the University are endowed — has been 

 carried by the large majority of one hundred and sixty-eight. 

 The Dean of Christchurch opened the debate in a moderate 

 speech recommending the grant. lie pointed out that the vote 

 was for teaching purposes, and in no way concerned vivisection, 

 for Prof. Burdon Sanderson had given the most complete assur- 

 ances that he would not use painful experiments on living 

 animals for the purposes of teaching. Canon Liddon opposed 

 the decree on the ground that the Council should have introduced 

 further safeguards against the indiscriminate use of vivisection. 

 He admitted that vivisection was justified in certain cases, and 

 spoke of it as a painful necessity. The Bishop of Oxford denied 

 the moral right of man to inflict pain in order to advance know- 

 ledge, and declared vivisection to be degrading to the sensibility 

 and humanity of the operator. The vote was supported by 

 Prof. Dicey and Sir W. Anson, and unintentionally damaged 

 by Dr. Acland. The last speakers were much inter- 



rupted by a clamour which prevented their remarks being 

 heard. The announcement of the result— placets, 412; non- 

 placets, 244 — was received with great enthusiasm, both in the 

 arena and in the undergraduates' gallery. It is to be hoped that 

 this decisive vote will put an end to the warfare waged against 

 the teaching of physiology in Oxford. 



Geologists throughout the world will be interested to learn 

 that Dr. Franz Ritter von Hauer, who for so many years has 

 so admirably guided the progress of the Geological Survey of 

 Austria, has resigned his post as Director of that institution, 

 and has been appointed Intendant of the Imperial-Royal Natu- 

 ral History Museum, Vienna. He carries with him into his 

 new sphere of labour the hearty good wishes of a large circle of 

 friends and well-wishers, who hope that the official duties he 

 must now perform will in no way diminish the service he has 

 rendered to science so long and so usefully. 



It has been proposed that, for the present session, in place of 

 the formal receptions which have hitherto been held, the rooms 

 of the Royal Society should be kept open on certain nights in 

 order that Fellows and their friends may meet together for con- 

 versation and for the examination of such objects of interest as 

 may be collected for the occasion. The first of these meetings 

 will take place on Thursday, March 19, from 7.30 p.m. Any 

 one desirous of showing on that evening any experiments, appa- 

 ratus, or specimens illustrating any inquiry in which he may be 

 engaged, should communicate with the Assistant Secretary, in 

 order that appropriate arrangements may be made. 



The death is announced of the eminent Russian geologist, 

 George Helmersen, at the age of eighty-two. He studied at 

 Dorpat under Engelhardt, whom he accompanied on his scien- 

 tific journey along the course of the Lower Volga and the Ural. 

 He subsequently took part in Hofmann's and Humboldt's ex- 

 plorations of the Ural region. Having completed his studies, 

 especially in mineralogy, he spent some years, by direction of 

 the Russian G ivernment, in geological travels through Germany, 

 Austria, and Switzerland. In 1835 he joined the body of 

 mining engineers, and was appointed Director of Studies at 

 the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg. During leisure periods 

 he carried out a series of important geological journeys over the 

 Kirghiz Steppe, through Norway and Sweden, the coal districts 

 of Foland and Silesia, the mining districts of Lakes Onega and 

 Peipus, and the bituminous coal region in the governments of 

 Kherson and Kiev. He also thoroughly explored the gold 

 mines at Bei'esovsk, and traced the course which has been fol- 

 lowed in making the Ural Railway. The results of his inde- 

 fatigable industry have been published in numerous memoirs of 

 the Russian Academy of Sciences and other works. 



We have heard with regret of the untimely death of the 

 eminent Russian naturalist, Mr. N. Severtsoff, which occurred 

 on the evening of January II, when driving across the Don, in 

 the Government of Voronej, his horses and vehicle breaking 

 through the ice. The coachman managed to extricate Mr. 

 Severtsoff, but the thermometer stood at - 10° Reaumur, and, 

 before he could be taken to a neighbouring village, he was 

 frozen to death. It is a singular coincidence that Prof. Fed- 

 chenko, another of the greatest of Central Asian naturalists, 

 who, like Mr. Severtsoff, had so often risked his life in the 

 pursuit of science in Turkestan, was also frozen to death in 

 Europe. Mr. Severtsoff so early as 1867 explored the Thian 

 Shan as far as the sources of the Narin. His work on the 

 vertical and horizontal distribution of Turkestan animals was 

 written in Russian, and he has since published original researches 

 on the birds of the Pamir. Certain portions of his remarks on 

 Turkestan mammals and birds have been translated, and it is 

 chiefly to him that we are indebted for what information we 

 have in English respecting the mammals, birds, and reptiles of 



