l84 



NA TURE 



[December 22, 1898 



Under the somewhat ambitious and comprehensive title, 

 "On kathodic rays, on Riintgen rays, and on the size and 

 density of atoms," Signor G. Guglielmo discusses in the Alii 

 dei I.inccx, vii. 8, that much debatable point, the nature of 

 Riintgen rays. The author favours the hypothesis that these 

 tays are due to non-periodic disturbances of the ether ; and 

 seeing that the impact of kathodic rays produces in bodies a 

 regular vibration which is fluorescence, Riintgen rays may be due 

 to the ether entrained by the particles of the kathodic rays, and 

 set free when these particles are brought to rest. 



In ihe /oil nia! of the Royal Statistical Society (l.\i. iii.) 

 Prof. F. Y. Edgeworth is endeavouring to show that the higher 

 theory of probabilities is not restricted to organic nature ; but 

 the law of error is fulfilled in social life also, whenever a great 

 number of independent causes act. Remarking that the multi- 

 farious motives which sway voters at a contested election may 

 be expected to produce results dispersed about an average 

 according to that normal law, I'rof. Edgeworth has obtained 

 tables of the ratio of Unionists to Gladstonians, and Unionists 

 combined in each English constituency for the three last general 

 elections. The grouping of these ratios shows a certain ap- 

 pro-ximation to the normal form. Prof Edgeworth also discusses 

 the reasons for selecting the above-named ratio as the attribute 

 to be tabulated, and shows that the values of this ratio lie more 

 symmetrically between the mean and the extremes than those of 

 other ratios which might be suggested. 



The report on the Administration of the ileteorological 

 Department of the Government of India in 1S97-S shows that 

 the observatories, 174 in number, remain practically the same 

 as in the previous year. In order to give early information of 

 the advent and progress of the south-west monsoon, a daily 

 telegram was received from the Seychelles Islands from May to 

 July. Actinometric observations have been continued as in the 

 eight previous years, and have been sent to the Solar Physics' 

 Committee in I.x)ndon. The day of the total solar eclipse 

 (January 22 last) was remarkably fine nearly all over India, and 

 158 observers took pirt in the observations. These have been 

 tabulated and reduced, and it is proposed to publish them in 

 detail during the ensuing year. A large number of reports of 

 earthquake shocks have been received during past years, and 

 copies have been sent to the Geological Survey Department ; in 

 future a brief statement of the earthquakes of each month will 

 be published in the Monthly Keviiws. The results of the cloud 

 observations taken at various stations, in accordance with the 

 scheme proposed by the International Meteorological Com- 

 mittee, are said to be very interesting and encouraging, and will 

 probably throw much light on the meteorology and more massive 

 air currents in India. The extraction of observations made in 

 ships' logs has been continued at several ports ; these are used 

 chiefly in the preparation of daily weather charts of the Indian 

 monsoon area. The collection of accurate information relating 

 to the snowfall in the Himalayan and Afghan mountain areas 

 has been continued, and enabled its probable effect in modifying 

 the distribution of the south-west monsoon rainfall to be deter- 

 mined. The work of issuing storm warnings to the various ports 

 appears to have been carried out very satisfactorily ; ample notice 

 was given of all the more important storms which visited the 

 Indian coasts during the year in (juestion. The selection of 

 weather types, to aid in the issue of daily forecasts, has been 

 under consideration, and the preparation of an atlas and hand- 

 book, with that object in view, will proUibly be taken up in due 

 course, as it is considered that there are now sufficient materials 

 in the possession of the Department for the adequate treatment 

 of the subject. 



Prof. R. H. Thurston calls attention in Science to some 

 points of scientific interest in the report of the Chief of the 

 NO. I 52 I. VOL. 59] 



Bureau of Steam Engineering upon the engineering work of the 1 

 navy in the war with Spain. Some work was performed with mar- 

 vellous despatch. Thus,theold and worn-out " .shell-boilers "<f 

 the monitors Manhaltaii, Mahopac and Canoniciis, at Leagu 

 Island, were replaced by new constructions in thirty days. Th 

 new water-tube boilers were passed in parts through the hatches 

 and the old boilers were cut in pieces below and passed up in 

 small sections. Water-tube boilers are unqualifiedly approveii 

 for naval purposes, and experience with those of the Marietta, 

 while accon>panying the Oregon on the long 14,000-mile voyage 

 around Cape Horn, proves that such boilers are trustworthy 

 when properly made and handled. The steam turbine is referreii 

 to, but with the statement that it is not yet certain that it will 

 find permanent place in the naval service. The use of oil-fuel- 

 is pronounced promising in some naval work where costs ci 

 fuel are not of prime importance. Success is met with in the 

 use of an oil of specific gravity, 085 to 087, a flash-point of 

 315° F., and a burning point of 350° F. 



The new volume of " Who's Who" (.\. and C. Black) con- 

 tains several additional features, and more than fifteen hundred 

 new bit^raphies, some of which refer to men of distinction in thi- 

 scientific world. 



A BULKY volume of " Anales de la Oficina Meteorologic.t 

 Argentina" has just been received from the Director, Seftf 1 

 G. G. Davis. The volume is full of statistics referring to th 

 climates of Asuncion in Paraguay, and Rosario in the Provinc 

 of Santa Fe. 



A NEW part of Prof. G. O. Sars' monograph on the Crustace 1 

 of Norway has just been published by the Bergen Museum. Th 

 family Oniscidae is concluded, and members of the familii 

 Bopyridae and Uajidae are described. 



In a pamphlet entitled " A Record of Study of .-Vboriginni 

 American Languages," Dr. D. G. Brintnn surveys his writinc 

 in this branch of linguistics, extending over a period of fori 

 years. The papers are arranged geographically, and sufficier. 

 reference to their contents is given to indicate their aims ar 

 conclusions. 



The November (supplementary) number of the Oeslei 

 reichische Monatsschrift fiir den Orient includes an importar 

 report from Shanghai, dealing with sericiculture in China, ■ 

 which we particularly call the attention of persous commerciaK 

 interested in the silk trade. 



The last number received of the Keu> Bulletin of Miscellanies 

 Information (designated .Appendix I , 1899), is entirely occupit 

 by the annual list of seeds of hardy herbaceous plants and ■ . 

 trees and shrubs, which the Department ofl'ers in exchange wii 1 

 Colonial, Indian, and foreign botanic gardens, as well as wi: \ 

 regular correspondents of Kew. 



The United States National Museum has just published 

 Urge paper of nearly two hundred pages, with twenly-tw 

 plates, by the indefatigable entomologists, Drs. John B. Smi 

 and Harrison G. Dyar, including a revision of the species i 

 Acronycta (Ochsenheimer) and of certain allied genera. Wii > 

 this paper is issued a set of seven coloured plates of moths an 

 larvic belonging to the same group, which were prepared 1 • 

 illustrate an unfinished paper intended to be issued by lli- 

 Deparlment of Agriculture. 



Part I. of the Proceedings of the South London Entomo- 

 logical and Natural History Society for 1S9S is chiefly devotC'l 

 to Lepidoptera. The most important paper is one by Mr. ].^- 

 Tutt, on the British l.asiocampidae, containing a hypotheticl | 

 phylogenelic tree of the genera, and another exhibiting tl 

 phylogeny of super-families of the Sphingo-Micropteryg: I 



