2l8 



NATURE 



\yuly 12, 1877 



the weight of a single engine on the Metropolitan Railway. 

 The maximum resistance at twenty miles an hour will be about 

 2;420 lbs., requiring to overcome it a pneumatic pressure of 26 

 ounces per square inch, and 162-horse-power, assuming the 

 us'iful effect to be sixty per cent. 



A VERY severe thunderstorm passed ever London on the 

 evening of July 5. Between eight and nine there came a very 

 lirilliant flash of lightning, followed by a deafening peal of 

 thunder. Many people were stunned and in several cases were 

 found quite insensible. Immediately after it was found at 

 Kilburn that the telegraph wires, running from the top of the 

 Queen's Arms to a house about 300 yards higher up the 

 Edgeware Road, were struck by the lightning, and fell in red-hot 

 fragments, varying in length from six inches to an inch, all along 

 the road, a great deal of yellow smoke attending the fall of the 

 wire. In one or two houses windows were broken, and a little 

 g!rl who was passing through the street had her hair singed and 

 her jacket burnt. The instruments at the office with which the 

 destroyed wires were connected were much agitated, and the 

 telegraph clerk, a young lady, was much stunned. 



The fourth edition of the " Lists of Elevations principally in 

 that portion of the United States West of the Mississippi," edited 

 by Mr. Henry Gannett, and pubhshed in connection with Mr. 

 Hayden's Survey, must prove of great value to the geographer and 

 meteorologist. The first edition, published in 1872, contained only 

 thirty-one pages, the present edition contains 164 pages. It 

 contains, among a variety of other matter, profiles of nearly all 

 the railroads in the part of the United States above mentioned. 

 The results given by these profiles have been made to accord, 

 and the heights of several thousands of points on them have 

 been determined with an approach to accuracy. This edition 

 contains also the heights of many thousands of points deter- 

 mined approximately by means of the barometer. Elevations of 

 many thousands of mountain-peaks are given, from which very 

 correct ideas of the ruling heights of the principal ranges may 

 be derived. It contains also tables of the slopes of the principal 

 streams of the west, which are of value in studying the important 

 question of irrigation. With these various lists of elevations 

 there is given with this edition a map of the United States, in 

 approximate contours of 1,000 feet of vertical intervals, which, 

 in a measure, e.nbodies all the results of this department. 

 Toward the improvement and ultimate perfection of this map 

 tliis work is to be mainly directed in future. To express still 

 more clearly the facts brought out by the map, it is the intention 

 of the Survey to make sliortly a relief model of the United 

 Slates, on the basis of this map. 



We have on several occasions referred to the association known 

 as the Yorkshire Na'uralists' Union, composed of a large number 

 of local scientific societies in Yorkshire. This association pub- 

 lishes a useful monthly journal. The Naturalist, intended as a 

 general field club record. We have received the twenty-fourth 

 number of this journal, which, besides several papers on natural 

 history, contains reports of several of the associated societies. 

 From a report of the third meeting of the Union held recently 

 at Wakefield, we notice that the Bradford Scientific Association 

 was admitted to the Union, and that a testimonial, in the shape 

 of a microscope, was presented to Mr. J. M. Barker, late secretary 

 of the West Riding Consolidated Naturalists' Society. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include four Common Kingfishers {Alcedo ispida) 

 European, presented by Mr. J. Lyford ; two Horned Lizards 

 {Phrytiosoma cornutum) from Texas, presented by Mr. W. A. 

 Bowie ; a Sun Bittern [Eurypy^a Iidias), a Sacred Ibis [Geron- 

 tkiis a'thiopicus), bred in the Gardens ; eight speckled Terrapins 

 (Clemmys «uttata), three Red-vented Terrapins (Clemmys rubri- 

 vetitiis), two American Box Tortoises {Teirapene carinatd) from 

 Nortli .\merica, purchased. 



THE INFLUENCE OF LIGHT UPON THE 



DEVELOPMENT OF BACTERIA^ 

 \iy'E have been engaged during the last kvi months on an 

 investigation into the effect of light upon the develop- 

 ment of bacteria in certain of those solutions in which they are 

 usually produced. 



We reserve the details for a paper which we hope to submit 

 to the Royal .Society in the course of their next session, but wi^li 

 to state, in the meanwhile, that the first portion of our Inquiry 

 has led us to the following conclusions : — 



1. That light is inimical to the development of bacteria. 



2. That under favourable conditions it may prevent their 

 development. 



3. That under less favourable it may not prevent but only 

 retard. 



4. That for the full effect of light to be produced direct 

 insolation is necessary. 



5. That those conditions which tend to neutralise the action of 

 light are the same which are known to favour processes of 

 fermentation and putrefaction. 



6. That the fitness of the solution to serve as a nidus is not 

 destroyed by insolation. 



7. That, so far as our investigation has yet gone, it would 

 appear that the germs originally present in the solution are 

 destroyed by direct insolation. 



We are still pursuing the inquiry, and have devoted much 

 time to investigating the influence of the refrangibility of the 

 ray, but regret that at present we are not in a position to give 

 any definite conclusions on this point. 



We are endeavouring also to trace an analogy between facts 

 which we have observed and certain vital and chemical pro- 

 cesses, in which light is known to play a part, and are extending 

 our observations to other phenomena of fermentation and to 

 microscopic fungi. 



That light is not essential for the development of bacteria has 

 been long known, but that it is absolutely inimical to their 

 production has not, so far as we are able to ascertain, been 

 previously shown, and we are encouraged, therefore, to lay 

 before the readers of Nature this statement of our results. 



Arthur Doavnes ; T. P. Blunt 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 

 London. — The following is the list of the new associates of 

 the Royal School of Mines : — Associates in Mining and Metal- 

 lurgy— C. W. Folkard, A. K. Huntington, E. W. Voelcker ; 

 Associates in Mining — E. H. Liveing, W. H. Merritt ; Associites 

 in Metallurgy — A. C. Copeland, J. F. Hogan, C. H. Lemann, 

 W. Leyson, E T. McCarthy ; Associate in Geology — A. R. 

 .Sawyer. The Edward Forbes Medal and prize of books was 

 awarded to A. Heilprin ; the De la Beche Medal and prize of 

 bo:)ks to E. W. Voelcker ; the Murchison Medal and prize of 

 books to F. G. Mills. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



y-oiintal de Physifjue, ]\ine. — On the theory of electrometers, 

 by M. Mascart. — On the dynamical theory of gases (continued), 

 by M. VioUe. — Process for measuring the index of refraction of 

 liquids, by M. De Waha. — Application of the electric current to 

 the study of the spheroidal state of liquids, by M. Hesehus. — 

 Temperature and humidity of the air at different heights observed 

 at Upsala during 1875, by M. Ilamberg. — Proceedings of the 

 Physical Society of St. Petersburg. 



Archives dcs Sciences Physiqiies et Naturelles, June 15. — Study 

 on the variations of transparence of the waters of LakeLeman, by 

 M. Forel. — On the different modes of crystallisation of water, 

 and the causes of the varied appearances of ice, by M. I'lctet. — 

 Researches on some niobiferous and tantaliferous minerals, by 

 M. Delafontaine. 



Annakn der Physil; iind Chaiiie, No. 4, 1S77. — Johann Chris- 

 tian Poggendorff (memoir). — New experiments on the expansion 

 of bodies by heat, by M. Glatzel. — On the objections of Clausius 

 to Weber's law, by M. Zcillner. — On normal magnetisation, by 

 M. Petruscheff^ky. — On stratification of the electric light in 

 Geissler tubes after insertion of a flame and some other resist- 

 ances, by M. Holtz. — On the cohesion of salt solutions, by M. 



