January 4, 1906 J 



NA TURE 



231 



ing, the land is colder than the sea above lat. 4^°, and 

 warmer to the south of that latitude. The lowest mean 

 value is found between Lille and Dunkirk, being about 

 49° I.; the maximum is on the coast of Nice, and is 

 slightly above 59 . Except on part of the coast of Brittany, 

 the whole of France lies in the zone of moderate climates, 

 in which the annual amplitude is between 50° and 68°. 

 The lowest minima are found in the east ; in the winter 

 ol [879—80, temperatures of —22° were recorded. Contrarv 

 to current opinion, the highest minima are not on the 

 coast of Nice, where occasionally the cold is very severe, 

 but on the south-west of Brittany and at Ushant, where 

 Frosl is extremely rare. In the latter regions the absolute 

 maxima are not so high as in other parts. At L'shant a 

 reading of 86° has not been recorded. The highest maxima 

 are found near the Mediterranean, between Carcassonne 

 and Avignon. At Montpellier, a temperature of 109° was 

 recorded on July 19, 1904; this is the highest reading 

 known in France. The details of the discussion are being 

 published in the [nnales of the French Central Meteor- 

 ological Office. 



Is the Engineering Magazine for December, 1905, Mr. 

 E. Guarini gives some striking illustrations of the electric 

 railway at Gruyeres. The description is typical of much 

 • I the work now being done in the construction of electric 

 railways in Switzerland, where the abundant water-power 

 is especially favourable to the development of such enter- 

 prises. 



I\ the Engineering and Mining Journal Mr. F. L. 



Hoffman gives details of the fatal accidents in coal mining 

 in the United States in 1904. The fatal accident rate was 

 3-38 per thousand workmen employed, as against an average 

 °f 3-°3 P er thousand for the decade 1895-1904. The 

 relative mortality clue to fatal accidents continues to be 

 unreasonably high, and the problem of the prevention of 

 such accidents remains the most serious and perplexing in 

 coal-mining operations. 



The paper tecently read by Mr. E. M. Speakman on the 

 determination of the principal dimensions of the steam 

 turbine before the Institution of Engineers and Ship- 

 builders in Scotland, gave rise to a discussion of great 

 interest in which important information was given regard- 

 ing the application of the steam turbine to marine work. 

 It was pointed out that the trials of the Cunard steamship 

 Carmania, the largest turbine steamer yet built, had 

 fulfilled in every way the highest expectations of all con- 

 nected with the ship. 



A 1 tlv last meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers a paper on the behaviour of materials of con- 

 struction under pure shear was read by Mr. E. G. Izod. 

 The results obtained seem to point to the fact that there 

 is no common law connecting the ultimate shearing stress 

 with the ultimate tensile stress. With crystalline materials, 

 -in h ,i- cast iron or those with very little or no elongation, 

 the former exceeds the latter by as much as 20 per cent. 

 or 25 ]»t cent., while from fibrous material or, more 

 properly speaking, those with a fairly high measure of 

 ductility, the ultimate shear stress may be anything from 

 per cent, to 50 per cent, less than the ultimate 1 tensile 

 -tress. 



The second part of the report of the Ontario Bureau of 



Mines for 1005 is devoted to an important monograph on 



the cobalt-nickel arsenides and silver deposits of Temisk- 



' Mr. \V. G. Miller. It covers sixty-six pages, and 



is illustrated by twenty-eight reproductions of photographs 



NO. l888, VOL. 73] 



and two geological maps. The deposits were discovered 

 in October, 1903, during the construction of the Temisk- 

 aming and Northern Ontario Railway. They occupy 

 narrow, practically vertical fissures cutting through a series 

 of unusually slightly inclined metamorphosed fragmental 

 rocks of Lower Huronian age. A few veins have also 

 been found in the adjacent diabase. The chief ore! are 

 native silver, smaltite, niccolite, and chloanthite, with 

 which are associated argentite, pyrat gytite, dyscrasite, 

 erythrite, and other comparatively rare minerals. Nun.- of 

 the veins are wide, the maximum being about iS inches. 

 Some that have been traced 100 feet or more average 

 1 inch in width. The production during the quarter ended 

 June 30 was 53- tons, the average metallic contents 

 being: — silver, 4-158 per cent.: cobalt, 689 per cent.; 

 nickel, 3 09 per cent. ; and arsenic, 30111 per cent. An 

 interesting mineral occurrence is a white clay-like material 

 in the weathered parts of the veins. The white colour of 

 this mineral is due to the intermixture of the green nickel 

 arsenate, annabergite, with the pink cobalt bloom, the 

 mineral showing on analysis 2930 per cent, of niiktl 

 oxide, 043 per cent, of cobalt oxide, and 38-31 per cent. 

 of arsenic pentoxide. Hitherto New Caledonia has had 

 practically a monopoly of the world's production of cobalt. 

 Worked primarily for silver with their high values in that 

 metal, the Ontario deposits, with nickel and arsenic as 

 by-products, should prove a strong competitor, even if they 

 should not control absolutely the cobalt market. 



Messrs. F. Vieweg and Son, Brunswick, have just 

 published the ninth edition of Prof. A. Bernthsen's 

 " Kurzes Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie. " The work 

 appeared originally in 1887 ; and in the preparation of the 

 present edition Dr. E. Mohr is associated with the author. 



Students and others interested in microscopy will be 

 glad to have their attention directed to new lists of micro- 

 scopic slides and of second-hand instruments and accessories 

 just issued by Messrs. Clarke and Page, Leadenhall Street. 

 E.C. Special mention should be made of the marine and 

 botanical slides, which are fine examples of cutting, stain- 

 ing, and mounting. A series of objectives corrected for 

 photomicrography is also of noteworthy interest. 



A list of meteorological instruments for observatories 

 and climatological stations has been received from Messrs. 

 Pastorelli and Rapkin, Ltd., Hatton Garden, E.C. Instru- 

 ments of various forms for the accurate determination of 

 pressure, temperature, rainfall, and other meteorological 

 elements are described and illustrated in the list, which 

 may be consulted with advantage by anyone desiring to 

 equip a station with serviceable apparatus, or to supplement 

 instruments already in use. 



Messrs. Eason and Son, Ltd., of Dublin, have sent us 

 four of their time-saving indexed diaries for 1906. The 



Every Hour " diary provides a convenient record of 

 appointments, special business and events, for anv hour 

 of any day during the year. The " Cabinet Scribbling " 

 diary is furnished with a double index for rapid reference, 



the first arranged as ,1 record for such items as addresses 



and current literature, the second being to the first of each 

 month. 



A copy of " Hazell's Annual " for 1906 has been received. 

 This twenty-first issue maintains the high reputation of its 

 predecessors. ("o keep in touch with the important foreign 

 events of the year, numerous foreign biographies have been 

 added, and the text of many treaties included. Some 

 sixteen pages are devoted to scientific matters, most ol 

 them being given to scientific progress during 1905. 



