16 
NATURE 
[Wov. 3, 1881 
These experimenters worked with spectra obtained by 
prisms of quartz, rock-salt, and other refractive sub- 
stances. 
obtained by reflection from the surface of one of Ruther- 
ford’s diffraction-gratings ruled on speculum-metal. This 
showed the result that the feat-maximum (of solar 
tays) 7” a normad spectrum is not in the infra-red rays, 
but ts at least as far up the visible spectrum as the orange 
acar the D-line. This result is so important that we 
append the figures. In the upper line are the wave- 
lengths of rays in millimetres ; in the lower the corre- 
sponding reduced galvanometer deflections. 
"00035 | “0004 "0005 | -0006 | 
rx 
| 
"0007 | “2008 00 | eae | “Oorr 
3 12 55 207 58 41 
Be lines 
athe 
256 198 
[The H line in the violet has \ = ‘00039; the D line in 
the orange has A = ‘00059; and the A line at the end of 
the visible red has \ = ‘09076.] 
We give the above figures as stated by Prof. Langley ; 
but we cannot help remarking that if these were obtained 
by letting sunlight fall upon strips of folished metal they 
cannot be accepted offhand as a true representation of 
the facts of solar radiation, as they merely in that case 
indicate the position of the maximum of ¢he rays absorbed 
by the metal surface employed. A blackened surface 
would without doubt tell a very different tale and show a 
maximum for other rays. 
In conclusion it may be pointed out that the funda- 
mental principle of the bolometer is identical with that of 
Siemens’ electrical pyrometer, where also changes of tem- 
perature are measured by changes in the electric resistance 
ofaconductor. But though the principle be identical the 
application is quite novel; and we must congratulate 
Prof. Langley on the skill and ingenuity with which he 
has applied an unpromising principle to the construction 
of this most interesting and most promising instrument 
of research. Seaboubs 
NOTES 
THE announcement will be received with rezret that Prof. 
Huxley, in consequence of the pressure of other duties, has been 
compelled to resign the Secretaryship of the Royal Society. It is 
believed that Prof. Michael Foster will probably be his successor. 
Sir C. WYVILLE THOMSON has not yet resigned the chair of 
Natural History in Edinburgh University, though we regret to 
learn that he is likely to do so in a few days. 
THE arrangements for the Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibition 
are progressing very satisfactorily. Major Flood Page has gone 
over to Paris to put himself in direct communication with the 
different administrations there and with the largest exhibitors. 
Applications for space have been very numerous, especially from 
English manufacturers. The Postmaster-General has signified 
his intention of sending all the apparatus now in Paris, and in 
addition there will be a considerable accession of modern appa- 
ratus in use in the Post Office Telegraph Department. The 
display will be essentially a display of the electric light. The 
whole of the building will be divided off and illuminated by 
the different inventors and manufacturers of lamps. The new 
Edison light will be shown in operation in the Concert Hall, 
and very great interest is evinced in the public display of this 
light. The effect produced by it in Paris was quite startling, 
and it is generally believed that Mr. Edison has solved the 
ptvb!em that he set himself, viz. to produce a light to supersede 
gas in our houses. 
THE success of women in the late Honours Examinations of 
the University of London in Arts, Science, and Medicine was 
very remarkable. In the conjoint Honours Examination in 
Mathematics for candidates for the 1st B.A. and 1st B.Sc. Exa- 
Prof. Langley used the far purer spectrum ‘ 
minations Miss Charlotte A. Scott obtained the first place in the 
first class, with marks qualifying for an exhibition, In the 1-t 
B.A. Honours Examination in English subjects Miss M. L. G. 
Petrie obtained a precisely similar position, whilst two other 
ladies, Misses C. A, J. Cluer and H. E. Clay, were also placed 
in the first class. In the 1st B.A. Honours Examination in 
German, Misses A. Page and H. H. Brown were placed in the 
first class, the former qualifying for a prize. Miss F. H. 
Prideaux actually carried off the supreme honours ia Human 
Anatomy at the Honours Examination of the 1st M.B., bein 
placed first in the first class, and being awarded the Gold Medal 
in Anatomy. In the Honours Examination in Materia Medica 
and Pharmaceutical Chemistry Mrs. M. A. D. Scharlieb attained 
a place in the first class. 
THE first meeting of the one hundred and twenty-eighth 
session of the Society cf Arts will be held on Wednesday, 
November 16, when the opening address will be delivered by 
Sir Frederick J, Bramwell, F.R.S., chairman of the Council. 
The following are among the papers which will be read durin 
the session :—The American system of heating towns by steam, 
by Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B., F.R.S. ; practical hints on the 
manufacture of gelatine emulsions and plates for photographi- 
purposes, by W. K. Burton ; stained glass windows, by Lewis 
Foreman Day ; photometric standards, by Harold Dixon ; tele- 
phonic communication, by Lient.-Col. C. E. Webber; the 
causes and remedies of bad trade, by Walter R. Browne, M.A. ; 
the native tribes of the Hudson’s Bay Territories, by Dr. Rae, 
F.R.S. ; the manufacture of ordnance, by Col. Maitland; some 
practical aspects of recent investigations in nitrification, by R. 
Warington ; the production and use of gas for purpo-es of heat- 
ing and motive power, by J. Emerson Dowson; gas for light- 
houses, by John Wigham (illustrated by an exhibition of some 
of the gas flames and apparatus used in lighthouses) ; the relation 
of botanical science to ornamental art, by F. Edward Hulme, 
F.L.S., F.S.A.; the storage of electricity, by Prof. Silvanus 
Thompson, D.Sc. ; the high-pressure steam-engine, by Loftus 
Perkins ; the industrial resources of Ireland, by J. Philips Bevan; 
a new chemical compound, and its application to the preservation 
of food, by Prof. Barff, M.A.; the distribution of time by a 
system of pneumatic clocks, by J. A. Berly ; tonnage measure- 
ment, by Admiral Sir R. Spencer Robinson, K.C.B., F.R.S. 3 
tools and cutting edges, by D. A. Aird ; the teaching of forestry, 
by Col. G. F. Pearson ; the art of turning, by P. W. Hasluck. 
The usual short course of Juvenile Lectures, given during the 
Christmas holidays, will be by Mr. W. H. Preece, F.R.S., the 
subject being ‘‘ Recent Wonders of Electricity.” The following 
are the subjects of the courses of the Cantor lectures for the 
session just about to commence :—First course, on some of the 
industrial uses of the calcium compounds, by Thomas Bolas, 
F.C.S. ; second course, on recent advances in photography, by 
Capt. Abney, R.E., F.R.S. ; third course, on hydraulic machi- 
nery, by Prof. John Perry ; fourth course, on book illustration, 
old and new, by J. Comyns Carr. In connection with Capt. 
Abney’s lectures, it is intended to arrange for an exhibition of 
photographic apparatus, processes, &c. These lectures origin- 
ated in 1863, with a bequest t> the Society of Arts by the late 
Dr. Cantor. Since that date three or more courses have been 
given every session, each course dealing with some application 
of science or art to industry or manufactures. 
WE understand that Mr. Donald McAlister, Fellow and Lec- 
turer of St. John’s College, Cambridge, has undertaken to 
prepare for Messrs. Macmillan and Co. an English edition of 
Prof. Ernst Ziegler’s ‘‘ Text-Book of General and Special Patho- 
logical Anatomy,” which is on all hands regarded as the standard 
authority on its subject. The book will range with Dr. M. 
Foster’s ‘‘ Text-Book of Physiology,” Gegenbaur’s ‘‘ Compara- 
tive Anatomy,” and other works published by the same firm. 
