January 19, 1899J 



NATURE 



'■77 



ground to Drs. Auche and Hobbs of Bordeaux. The Laborie 

 prize (200/. )> for the best work in surgery, was divided between 

 MM. Poncet and Berard of Lyons. The Chevillon prize of 60/. 

 is given for the best work on the treatment of cancerous 

 diseases. This year a portion of it {40/.) was awarded to Drs. 

 A. Guinard and Livet, who have used carbonate of calcium as a 

 local. application with considerable success as far as the relief of 

 pain and the arrest of hemorrhage and the prevention of feeler 

 are concerned. The Buisson prize consists of a sum of 420/. , 

 awarded triennially to the discoverer of methods ofcuring diseases 

 regarded as incurable. This year there were only three com- 

 petitors : Dr. Frenkel, who propounded a method of training 

 whereby ataxic patients may be drilled into the recovery of 

 muscular coordination ; Dr. Jayle, who has made a series of 

 investigations as to the practical utility of ovarian extract in the 

 treatment of nervous and circulatory disorders accompanying 

 <lysmenorrho;a and the menopause, whether natural or artificial ; 

 and Dr. Petit, who presented a thesis on tuberculosis of the 

 glands of the neck. The Academy did not see its way to award 

 the prize, but gave 40/. each to Dr. Frenkel and Dr. Jayle, and 

 20!. to Dr. Petit by way of encouragement. 



The performances of the submarine vessel, Giislave ZMl', 

 appear to have given much satisfaction to naval experts on the 

 other side of the Channel, though our own engineering papers 

 are by no means impressed by the experiments. We learn from the 

 Times that the semi-official JMonitcur de la Flolle, commenting 

 upon the trials of the Giistaiv Zide, says that at length, after twelve 

 years of continued efforts, the problem has been solved. The 

 Guitave ZidJ, unassisted, has steamed from Toulon to the Salins 

 d'Hyeres and to Marseilles, sometimes on the surface and some- 

 times submerged, and has successfully discharged her missiles at 

 the mark. On the surface she is almost invisible, and presents 

 a target scarcely capable of being hit ; below water her presence 

 is revealed neither by the noise of her engine nor any movement 

 of the surface. The objection raised against the submarine boat 

 that she is blind loses force, since the Guslave Zidi' makes 

 momentary appearances on the surface to redirect her course, 

 while she has a telescopic tube, with an arrangement of prisms 

 and mirrors, utilising the principle of the camera obscura, which 

 permits the surroundings to be surveyed, though imperfectly, in 

 case of emergency. The ' Guslave Zedi has a restricted range, 

 owing to the great weight of the electric accumulators ; but the 

 new boats of the Narval class will have auxiliary steam for 

 surface navigation. 



Some interesting particulars with reference to the White Star 

 Jiner Oieanit, which was successfully launched from the Belfast 

 ship-yard of Messrs. Harland and Wolff at the end of last week, 

 and is the longest and heaviest ship yet projected from a slip- 

 uay, are given in Engineering of January 13. The following 

 table shows how the new vessel compares with others : — 



NO. 1525, VOL. 59] 



The displacement of 28,500 tons given in the table for the 

 new vessel is that at the load draught, which, as stated, is 

 32 feet 6 inches. The passenger accommodation of the Oceani,- 

 will be for 410 first-class passengers, 300 second-class, and 1000 

 third-class passengers, whilst the officers, crew, and other 

 members of the ship's company will be 394, bringing the total 

 up to 2104 persons. 



On Thursday last (January 12) the whole of the British 

 Islands experienced a storm of unusual violence, which 

 caused much loss of life and damage to property both on land 

 and at sea. The storm was noteworthy because of the sudden- 

 ness of its appearance and the rapidity with which it travelled, 

 .as well as for the area which it covered ; for while the centre of 

 the disturbance passed over Scotland, its fury was felt far to the 

 south of the English Channel. On the morning of the previous 

 day the Weather Chart published by the Meteorological Office 

 showed that, although small secondary depressions were cross- 

 ing our islands from west to east, the symptoms were favourable 

 for an improvement of the recent unsettled weather, and the 

 observations taken at 6h. p.m. on Wednesday showed that the 

 barometer was steady or rising all along the western coasts. 

 The chart for 8h. a.m. of Thursday showed that the barometer 

 had fallen more than half an inch at some stations during the 

 night, and that the northern part of Ireland was already 

 e.xperiencing the full force of the gale that had suddenly set in 

 from the Atlantic ; at BelmuUet, in the north-west of Ireland, 

 force 12 of the Beaufort wind-scale, or a complete hurricane, 

 was blowing. During the day it rapidly spread to other parts 

 of the country, a heavy south-west gale was blowing in the 

 Channel, with terrific seas, and very heavy gusts and rainfall 

 were experienced in London. By the next morning (Friday) 

 the centre of the disturbance was passing over Germany and the 

 Baltic, the storm area having travelled at the unusually high 

 rate of about thirty-four miles an hour. 



At the Institution of Civil Engineers, on January 10, a paper 

 was read on " High-speed Engines," by Mr. J. H. Dales. In 

 applying provisions for eliminating knock in double-acting 

 engines, Mr. Dales has found that the ordinary rates of rotation 

 can, with practical immunity from overheating, and an absolute 

 freedom from seizure of bearings, be exceeded to the extent of 

 30 per cent, to 50 percent. This has been effected by providing 

 a close-up, and at the same time expansible, adjustment of 

 bearing brasses, and so reducing the production of heat to only 

 that caused by the rotation of a shaft as distinguished from the 

 usual cause of seizure — namely, the expansive force of the metal 

 of both journal and brasses. 



Ox August 15 and September 17, 1S97, three earthquakes 

 occurred in Turkestan, which, considering their comparatively 

 slight intensity, were recorded by horizontal and other pendulums 

 over a very wide area, the most distant station being more than 

 5000 km. from the epicentre. In each case the estimates of the 

 velocity vary greatly, and Dr. Agamennone, who has studied 

 the records, considers that the differences are to be ascribed to 

 the variety of the instruments employed, rather than to any 

 uncertainty in the time-records. It is important to notice that 

 the highest velocities are always given by the Italian pendulums, 

 which therefore appear, in spite of their mechanical system Oi 

 registration, to be the most sensitive to these disturbances. 



The publication of Cohn's Beitrdge stir Biologic der Pfiamen 

 will not be discontinued owing to the death of Prof. Cohn. It 

 will still be brought out, as heretofore, at irregular intervals, 

 under the editorship of Prof. O. Brefeld, his successor in the 

 chair of Botany at the University of Breslau. 



The Botanical Gazette announces two expeditions for the 

 purpose of discovering food-plants and others of economical 



