NATURE 529 
Deep-sea Soundings and Deep-sea Thermometers 
__ We feel sure you will not deny us space in your valuable periodi- 
cal, when we tell you that, however unconsciously on your part, 
as well as other scientific authorities, are the means of doing us 
_ injustice and much professional injury, by the frequent allusions to 
the so-called Casella-Miller Thermometer, now used in deep-sea 
_ investigations. We are certain that we have only to call your 
attention to the real facts of the case for you to set the matter 
right before your readers. 
I. We beg to state that in the year 1857 we invented, made, 
and supplied the Meteorological Department of the Board of 
Trade with upwards of fifty instruments of this description. 
2. This thermometer we called the Double Bulb Deep Sea 
Thermometer, and a notice of it was published in the first 
number of the Meteorological Papers for the year 1857. 
3. This thermometer, identical in every respect (except in 
its size), has been, after a lapse of some twelve years, ve-invented 
and ushered before the scientific world with all the prestige of 
having a paper read upon it by the Vice-President of the Royal 
_ Society, Dr. Miller, who declared that he had just invented the 
Now it is true that in the spring of 1871, at a meeting of the 
Settle Caves Committee, I suggested the probability of the beds 
of lower Cave-earth in the Victoria Cave being of preglacial age 
from the physical evidence in the cave alone ; butat a committee 
meeting at Settle soon after I laid much stress upon the im- 
possibility of any animals, existing before the time of the Ice- 
sheet, having their remains preserved in the open country, 
although it was very likely that they might be found sealed up in 
sheltered caves. Acting on this idea the committee, notwith- 
standing some opposition, fortunately determined upon continuing 
their researches, and the result was the interesting discovery of 
the older mammals 
May I be permitted to cite the following paragraph from 
the Geological Magazine of Jan. 1873, to show that I do not rely 
upon the physical evidence in the cave alone as determining the 
age of the lower cave-earth, although I confess that evidence, 
to my mind, is almost conclusive. ‘‘ Perhaps one of the strongest 
pieces of evidence that the older cave mammals mentioned lived 
in this district only at a time previous to the great ice-sheet is, 
that so far as we know the remains of none of them (except of 
instrument, in which task (of inventing an instrument well-known 
to all leading instrument makers, and Mr. Casella among the 
number) the learned doctor says he was assisted by Mr, Casella. 
(See Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 113, page 482). 
4. Annexed is an extract from Dr. Miller’s paper describing the 
instrument, and by its side we give an extract from a treatise 
published by us in the year 1864, called ‘‘ A Treatise on Meteo- 
rological Instruments.” 
Extract from ‘‘ The Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Soci- 
ety,” vol. xvii. page 483. 
Paper read June 3, 1869, by 
Dr. Miller. 
“The expedient adopted for 
ae the thermometer 
om the effects of pressure 
consisted simply in enclosing 
the bulb of such a Six’s ther- 
mometer ina second or outer 
glass tube, which was fused 
upon the stem of the instru- 
ment. 
** This outer glass tube was 
nearly filled with alcohol, leav- 
ing a little space to allow of 
variation in bulk due to ex- 
pansion. 
‘The spirit was heated to 
displace part of the air by 
means of its vapour, and the 
Extract from ‘‘Negretti and 
Zambra’s Treatise on Meteo- 
rological Instruments,” pub- 
lished 1864, page 90 :— 
‘‘The usual Six’s thermo- 
meters havea central reservoir 
or cylinder containing alco- 
hol. This reservoir, which is 
the only portion of the instru- 
ment likely to be affected by 
pressure, has been in Negret 
and Zambra’s new instrument 
superseded by a strong outer 
cylinder of glass containing 
mercury and rarefied air ; by 
this means the portion of the 
instrument susceptible of com- 
pression has been so strength- 
ened that no amount of pres- 
sure can possibly make the 
instrument vary.” 
outer tube and its contents 
were sealed hermetically.” 
5. We leave your readers to draw their own conclusions as to 
the similarity of the two instruments. Dr. Miller, when we called 
his attention to the fact of our prior claim, stated that he was 
not aware of the existence of our instrument, and we freely acquit 
Dr. Miller of conscious plagiarism, but we cannot omit to state, 
at the same time, that at the date at which Dr. Miller’s paper 
was read, any scientific instrument maker worthy of the name 
was fully acquainted with our arrangement. 
6. In order to prove what we thought of our instruments and as 
to their fitness for the purpose they were intended, when we 
were written to by the Meteorological Committee, three or four 
years ago, to produce a thermometer to be submitted to them 
for approval, we replied that we had already produced 
the only thermometer which in our opinion would answer the 
purpose, and that the thermometer was well known to them ; we 
also said we were ready to make that instrument smaller, or 
larger, but that we could not possibly produce a better one. 
Holborn Viaduct, E.C. Hy. NeGRETTI & ZAMBRA 
October 14 
Settle Caves Report 
In your abstract of the ‘‘ Report of the Committee for explor- 
ing the Victoria Cave at Settle, by W. Boyd Dwakins, F.R.S.” 
vol. viii. p. 476, are the following sentences. ‘“‘The exact 
age of theCave-earth is a matter of dispute. Mr. Tiddeman 
from the physical evidence alone regards it as preglacial, or rather 
as older than the great ice-sheet of that district.’ 
Cervus elaphus, which ranges from the Forest-bed to the present 
day) have been found in any of the Post-glacial deposits in this 
district. Though so common in the river-gravels in the Midland 
and Southern counties, they are never found except in caves 
until we get much farther south or east. Leeds, I believe, is 
the nearest locality where they occur. This would seem to imply 
that their remains were wiped off the area by the great ice-sheet 
which occupied what is now the Irish Sea and its tributary river- 
systems, and only left in the shelter of caves to which it could 
have no direct access. Brown bear, horse, red deer, reindeer, 
megaceros, the more modern Bovidz, and other more recent 
forms are not uncommon in the Post-glacial beds ; but the older 
cave mammals seem conspicuous only by their absence.” 
Clapham, Lancaster, Oct. 6 R. H. TIpDEMAN 
Carbon Battery Plates 
Mr. T. W. FLETCHER will obtain what he requires from the 
India Rubber, Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Cv., No. 100, 
Cannon Street, E.C. 
I have 12,000 Carbons, or as we call them Graphite Plates, at 
work at this moment, and for some years past have obtained them 
solely from the above Company. 
Tunbridge, Oct. 14 CHARLES V. WALKER 
ASTRONOMICAL ALMANACS * 
I1].—Foundation of the Nautical Almanac 
URING his voyage of 1761 to the island of Saint 
Helena, for the purpose of observing the transit of 
Venus, Maskelyne, like La Caille, investigated the methods 
for determining longitudes at sea, and on his return, in 
“The British Mariner’s Guide” (1763), proposed to adopt 
the plan ofan almanac sketched by the French astronomer. 
There existed at this time in England a commission in- 
stituted by George III. for the discovery of longitudes at 
sea ;+ it was a body almost analogous to the present 
French “ Bureau des Longitudes.” Maskelyne took many 
steps to induce this Commission to approve of his pro- 
posal ; and, at the same time, he commissioned several 
ship-captains to put it to the test. Their reports con- 
firmed his assertions, and on February 9, 1765, Maskelyne 
presented to the Commissioner of Longitude a detailed 
report,t in which, besides a complete exposition of the 
method and plan of a nautical almanac, he gave from 
the entries in the log-books the result of this new 
method. The proposition of the wise abbé was 
adopted, and Maskelyne was entrusted with the cal- 
culation and publication of the “ Nautical Almanac 
* Continued from p. 352- : ' 
+ ™ the GC: mmissioners appointed by Act of Parliament or the discovery 
of longitude at Sea, and for examining, trying, and judging of all Proposals, 
Experiments. and Imperiments (sic) relative to the same, and encouraging 
attempts to find a Northern Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 
and to approach the Northern Pole.” 
t It is found zx exéenso in the ‘‘ New and Correct Tables of the Motions 
of the Sun and Moon,” by Tobias Mayer: London, 1770. Published by 
order of the Commissioner of Longitude. 
