276 
NATURE 
 [Fan. 19, 1882 
of the expedition, describing the wandering of the ice-bound 
Feannette, the horrors and beauties of an Arctic winter, and 
other features, which must be the product of a French imagina- 
tion. Has some wag been imposing an extract from one of 
Jules Vernes’ works on our guileless contemporary? Of course 
no credence is given to the authenticity of the letter at the 
New York Herald Office ; it seems clear that no such letter could 
have reached Europe yet, and certainly there was no Frenchman 
on board the Feannette. 
AMONG the special articles in the Annuaire of the Bureau des 
Longitudes (Paris, Gauthier-Villars) for 1882 are a historical 
sketch of the development of astronomy, by M. Faye; on the 
intra-Mercurial planet, by M. Tisserand ; and M. Janssen’s pape. 
on his photograph of Comet 4 1881, with copy of the photo- 
graph. From the same publishers we have the Annuaire of the 
Montsouris Observatory, which is largely devoted to meteorology. 
Besides various tables for the use of agriculturists, and a variety 
of meteorological tables, we have several chapters discussing in 
detail agricultural meteorology ; a meteorological résumé of the 
agricultural years 1873-81 ; chemical analyses of air and water ; 
general investigation on atmospheric Bacteria ; purification of 
sewage, &c. 
A MOVEMENT is on foot in the United States, we learn from 
the Daily News, for securing the adoption of a uniform standard 
of time throughout that country. Considerable disagreement 
exists, however, as to the best standard to be adopted—that is, 
whether Washington or New York, or Pittsburg or Greenwich 
time shall be observed. The strongest claim appears to be put 
forward in favour of Washington, not only as being the capital 
city, but as possessing the well-known Naval Obseryatory, which, 
being the only national astronomical institution, should, it is 
contended, do for the United States what Greenwich does for 
Great Britain. The Signal Service Bureau proposes to utilise 
its system of telegraphic communication for distributing accurate 
time signals to all important points. 
A REMARKABLY rapid disappearance of a flaming solar pro- 
tuberance was observed last August by Herr Sporer, who 
describes the phenomena in the Astronomische Nachrichten. 
About 5 p.m. on the 2nd this protuberance was observed with 
broad base and intense luminosity, reaching a height of about 
one minute, while further out it appeared as a loose, less luminous 
cloud ; the entire height being about four minutes. Herr Sporer, 
haying passed to another part of the sun’s disc for about five 
minutes, was surprised to find on return that in this short time 
the whole lower part of the protuberance had completely disap- 
peared, while all that remained of the upper part was a few 
small isolated clouds, 
WE have received several of the sheets of the ‘‘ Enciclopedia 
Popular Ilustrada de Ciencias y Artes,” which is being pub- 
lished in Madrid under the care of Mr. Frederick Gillman, 
Mining Engineer there. Mr. Gillman seems to be doing most 
of the work himself, and the undertaking is a formidable one. 
It is, however, highly creditable; the text is evidently based on 
the best existing English and German Cyclopzdias, and the 
abundant illustrations are nearly all that could be wished. When 
one considers the state of education in Spain, Mr. Gillman’s 
attempt to diffuse elementary instruction in this form must be 
regarded as a really philanthropic undertaking, to which we wish 
the greatest success. 
THE colour of water forms the subject of a recent inaugural 
dissertation by Herr Boas, in Kiel (Weed. Betsl. No. 11). After 
reviewing previous observations, he describes his own experi- 
ments, the first of which were qualitative, sunlight being sent 
through water in a zinc tube about 46 feet long, closed with 
glass plates. Distilled water thus gave a fine deep blue-green 
colour ; the red was quite gone, the yellow feeble, while the 
maximum brightness was in the green, Water of the Kiel sup- 
ply let no light through the length of the tube stated ; with half 
the length it appeared deep orange ; blue and green failed. In 
his quantitative experiments the author illuminated two screens 
with the same light-source (sodium light or a gas flame), before 
which was placed red glass, or sulphate of copper solution. The 
light from one screen went through water in a tube; that from 
the other along the tube outside. Both beams were brought into 
a position for comparison by means of total-reflection prisms ; 
the screens were shifted till equal brightness was reached, and 
from their position the coefficients of absorption could be ap- 
proximately inferred. The decrease of absorption towards 
the blue in the case of distilied water is thus clearly shown 
Herr Boas further studied the polarisation of the light issuing 
from the water, by depolarising it. It was weakly polarised in 
a plane passing through the sun and the direction of the beam. 
Experiments with a view of detecting fluorescence had a negative 
result. 
On Saturday afternoon a series of interesting experiments on 
a practical scale were carried out in the grounds of the Crystal 
Palace with asbestos paint, in order to test its qualities as a pro- 
tective covering against fire. This paint is a new and special 
preparation of asbestos, and is being introduced by the United 
Asbestos Company, of 161, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. The 
asbestos in a finely divided state is mixed with a fluid material, 
and is used in a similar manner to other paints. Unlike them, 
however, it is uninflammable, and not only so, but is capable of 
communicating this valuable attribute to such substances as it 
may be applied to. This applies alike to cotton fabrics and to 
timber or other inflammable materials used for constructive or 
decorative purposes. Hence its great value in connection with 
theatrical properties and appliances, especially those connected 
with the stage arrangements. Several experiments were made, 
all of them reported completely successful so far as proving that 
the paint is a powerful protection against conflagration. 
AT the coast it may readily be observed that a red coloration is 
very common among invertebrate animals, and even fishes. And 
according to M. de Merejkowski (Compt, rend. Paris Academy of 
Sciences), even the animals colourei yellow, brown, green, and 
black have always a scarlet red pigment, which in their case is 
hidden by others, The red pigment, he finds, is always the same 
substance, viz. that known as /e¢ronerythrine ; he has verified its 
presence in 104 species (invertebrates and fishes). The question 
arises, What is the physiological 7é/e of this widely expanded 
substance? The author finds evidence that it corresponds to 
hemoglobin in higher ‘animals; serving for cutaneous respira- 
tion by virtue of its great affinity for oxygen. Thus, as regards 
distribution in organs, wherever oxygen has to be largely con- 
sumed by the tissues, there tetronerythrine is abundant, This is 
illustrated by skin tissues in immediate contact with the oxygen 
of the water; by the organs of respiration (e.g. in sedentary 
annelids, the tetronerythrine is concentrated in the branchiz, the 
rest of the body having only traces); by muscles, and such an 
organ as the muscular foot of Lamellibranchiates. Next, as to 
distribution in the animal kingdom: sedentary animals are often 
redder and have more tetronerythrine than errant animals ; the 
latter, which by constant change of place, are always in water 
holding plenty of oxygen, not having the same need of a special 
substance t» increase the oxygen absorbed by the tissues. Then 
the fact that tetronerythrine occurs by preference in invertebrates, 
where hzmoglobin is wanting (and only exceptionally in higher 
animals), points to similarity of function in these substances. It 
is further pointed out that animals provided with yellow cells 
(parasitic algae), which are proved to produce free oxygen in the 
tissues, are without tetronerythrine, or have very little of it. 
THE following appointments to the staff of the Normal School 
of Science and Royal Schoo] of Mines have been made by the 
