a a 
to them, 
_ NovEMBER 9, 1916} 
NATURE 
195 
Noctiluca—a globular Cystoflagellate, about 
I mm. in diameter, and well known for its phosphor- 
_ escence—is occasionally present in enormous quantities 
- in Limfjord, but cannot maintain itself inside the 
_ Skager 
ak; it disappears each winter and is re- 
introduced in the following autumn by the ‘Jutland 
current.” A few planktonic organisms are carried 
_ into the Danish area by the outgoing current from the 
_ Baltic. 
One of these—Ebria tripartita, referred to a 
new order Pyritoflagellata, near the Silicoflagellata—is 
found to be capable of living under wide variations of 
salinity (4 per mille to 25 per mille). A short account 
is given of the occurrence of Vampyrella (parasitic in 
the diatom, Chaetoceras boreale) and of Hyalosaccus 
(parasitic in Ceratium), both organisms of uncertain 
affinities. A list is appended of the phytoplankton and 
protozoa recorded from Danish waters. ; 
SEVERAL articles dealing with different aspects of 
the geography of New York occupy the September 
number of the Geographical Review (vol. ii., No. 3). 
Mr, Ellsworth Huntington, writing on the water 
barriers of New York City, shows the important part 
that ferries and bridges play in the economy of the 
city, and the inevitable tendency towards crowding 
that arises from the island site. This results on one 
hand in ‘“sky-scrapers"’ and high rents, and on the 
other in weakened health and nervous strain. Another 
article, by Mr. E, P. Goodrich, on some problems 
incident to the growth of New York City, is par- 
ticularly valuable on account of the number of maps 
reproduced. Although these are necessarily much re- 
duced, and in cases a little difficult to decipher, they 
illustrate many important considerations in town plan- 
ning and municipal organisation which are essentially 
questions within the province of the geographer. Some 
“of these maps incorporate useful suggestions for other 
towns, 
Tue recent formation of a conference of representa- 
tives of electric power supply companies to consider the 
best methods of linking up generating stations in the 
Greater London area, and the formation of a National 
Power Supply Joint Committee covering a still wider 
area, both point to a greater uniformity in orders and 
rules for the regulation of electric supply in the near 
future. It is to the interest of neither consumer nor 
supply company that a piece of apparatus which is 
pronounced dangerous or inefficient on one side of the 
street should be deemed adequate on the other side. 
That the same desire for greater uniformity in the 
rules for the regulation of electric supply is felt at the 
present time in America is shown by the recent issue by 
the Bureau of Standards of a circular of 260 pages 
dealing with the most important of the factors which 
determine the safety and efficiency of electric supply. 
It has been drawn up after conference with the supply 
companies and others concerned, contains rules and 
regulations suitable for companies under either State 
or municipal control, and gives specifications for the 
approval of the various types of electricity meters. 
Tue appendix to the annual report of the Board of 
Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 
ending June 30, 1915, as usual, consists of a selection 
of miscellaneous memoirs of interest to all engaged in 
the promotion of knowledge. The articles for the 
most part are those of the year 1915. Many are trans- 
lations into English of foreign contributions to science, 
and among these may be mentioned the following :— 
A review of astronomy for the year 1913, by M. P. 
Puiseux, of the Paris Observatory; the earthquake in 
the Marsica, Central Italy, by M. Ernesto Mancini, 
secretary of the Royal Academy of the Lincei; Atlantis, 
by M. Pierre Termier, director of the service of the 
NO. 2454, VOL. 98] 
Geologic Chart of France; construction of insect nests, 
by Prof. Y. Sjostedt, of the Royal Museum of Natural 
History, Stockholm; excavations at Tell-El-Amarna, 
Egypt, in 1913-14, Herr Ludwig Borchardt; and vac- 
cines, by Prof, L. Roger, of the Paris University. 
The original contributions to the report include ;— 
Evidences of primitive life, by Dr. C. D. Walcott, 
secretary to the Smithsonian Institution; olden-time 
knowledge of Hippocampus, by Dr. C. R. Eastman, 
of the American Museum of Natural History ; progress 
in the reclamation of arid lands in the Western United 
States, by Mr. J. B. Beadle, of the U.S. Reclamation 
Service. The appendix, as is customary, is illustrated 
by a profusion of beautiful plates, 
THE recent issue of the Central—the organ of the 
Old Students’ Association of the City and Guilds 
(Engineering) College, South Kensington—is virtually 
a special number, in which some of Prof, Armstrong’s 
old students have sought to put on record their im- 
pressions of the work of the Chemical Department of 
the college during the period from 1884 to 1914. The 
most remarkable feature of the record is perhaps the 
great variety of the subjects in which work of real 
value was done in a department which was always 
small in numbers, but for that. very reason received 
an intensive cultivation which would have been impos- ° 
sible in a larger school or department. The writers 
include Prof. Pope, Mr. W. M. Heller, Prof. Compton, 
Dr. Lowry, Prof. Lapworth, Sir Henry Miers, Prof. 
Wynne, and Dr. Eyre, and Prof. Armstrong himself 
has added some ‘Personal Notes on the Origin and 
Development of the Chemical School at the Central.” 
The chemical subjects touched upon in the record will 
be familiar enough to those who have followed the 
developments of chemical science during the past thirty 
years, but an even wider circle will welcome Mr. 
Heller’s account of the ‘‘Reform in Education” with 
which Prof. Armstrong’s name will always be asso- 
ciated. Sir Henry Miers has given an account of the 
school of crystallography at the Central, probably the 
only school in which the subject was taught regularly 
to all matriculated chemical students, and Dr, Eyre 
describes the biological investigations which became an 
important feature of the work of the department from 
1900 onwards. The periodical contains an excellent 
photograph of Prof. Armstrong on holiday in 1909, 
and a list of careers of the students who passed 
through the chemical laboratory. 
Mr. C. Baker, 244 High Holborn, London, has 
issued his October list of second-hand scientific appa- 
ratus. The list contains the usual large assortment 
of instruments, and all are guaranteed to be in per- 
fect working order before being sent out. In view 
of the comparative scarcity of new apparatus owing 
to the demands of the war on manufacturers, this 
catalogue deserves the careful attention of science lec- 
turers and others. The 1500 pieces of apparatus are 
for sale or, with some exceptions, for hire. The cata- 
logue deals with microscopes and microscopic appa- 
ratus, surveying and drawing instruments, telescopes 
and accessories, spectroscopes, and a great variety of 
other physical apparatus. 
Messrs. H. SOTHERAN AND Co. (Strand and Picca- 
dilly) have just issued the sixth and last part of their 
catalogue—‘‘ Bibliotheca Reuteriana’”’ of modern 
standard works on mathematics, astronomy, physics, 
chemistry, engineering, crystallography, and meteoro- 
logy, forming the final supplement to the ‘ Biblio- 
theca Chemico-Mathematica.” Messrs. Sotheran an- 
nounce that after the war they will publish a library 
illustrated edition on fine paper of the ‘ Bibliotheca 
Chemico-Mathematica” complete. It will contain 
