Nov. 12, 1885] 



NATURE 



39 



of the story reported by Nordenskiold, that a sea-cow 

 {Khytina gigas) had been seen aUve in 1 854. There are 

 two plates : one of the Saccopharyngoid Ophiognathtis 

 aiiipullaceus, the other of some new shells from Alaska. 

 The index is as complete as usual in American books of 

 this class. 



NOTES 

 The following is a list of the names which the President and 

 Council of the Royal Society will recommend to the Society at 

 their forthcoming .A.nniversary Meeting on the 30th inst. for 

 election into the Council for the ensuing year : — President, 

 Prof. George Gabriel Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D. Trea- 

 surer, John Evans, D.C.L., LL.D. Secretaries: Prof. Michael 

 Foster, M.A., M.D., The Lord Rayleigh, D.C.L. Foreign 

 Secretary, Prof. Alexander William Williamson, LL.D. Other 

 Members of the Council : Prof. Robert B. Clifton, M.A., Prof. 

 James Dewar, M.A., Prof. William Henry Flower, LL.D., 

 Archibald Geikie, LL.D., Sir Joseph D. Hooker, K.C.S.I., 

 Prof Thomas Henry Huxley, LL.D., Admiral Sir A. Cooper 

 Key, G.C.B., J. Norman Lockyer, F.R..A..S., Prof. Henry N. 

 Moseley, M.A., F.L.S., Prof. Bartholomew Price, M.A., Prof. 

 Pritchard, F.R.A.S., William James Russell, Ph.D., Prof. J. S. 

 Burdon Sanderson, LL.D., Prof. Arthur Schuster, Ph.D., 

 Lieut. -Gen. R. Strachey, R.E., C.S.I., General James Thomas 

 Walker, C.B. 



We greatly regret to announce the death, on Tuesday, of Dr. 

 W. B. Carpenter, at the age of seventy-three years. His death, 

 it would seem, was the result of an accident a few hours before. 

 The funeral will take place lo-morrow (Friday) at Highgate 

 Cemetery. We hope next week to refer at length to the scien- 

 tific work of Dr. Carpenter. 



A VERY remarkable article appears in the Nation of October 

 29, on "The Private Endowment of Research," remarkable as 

 appearing in a paper like the Nation, published in a " practical " 

 country like America. " Society," the Nation says, " may not 

 be prepared to interfere with the breeding of great men, but 

 when they have once been sporadically produced there is no 

 reason why it should not concern itself with their careful pre- 

 servation. In a state of nature there is a sure process for 

 securing the supremacy of the most perfect individuals of a race, 

 but the qualities which make the human being great are not 

 always qualities which fit him for taking part in the vulgar 

 struggle for existence. . . . Huxley has well said that any country 

 would find it greatly to its profit to spend a hundred thousand 

 dollars in first finding a Faraday, and then putting him in a 

 position in which he could do the greatest possible amount of 

 work." To expose a man of genius, according to the Nation, 

 " to the same harsh treatment which is good for the hod-carriei 

 and the bricklayer, is to indulge in a reckless waste of the means 

 of a country's greatness. But instead of the rarely-gifted being 

 treated more favourably by the present highly scientific genera- 

 tion, they actually receive less consideration than they have done 

 in many past ages of the world. . . .The waste of water-power 

 at Niagara (tire article concludes) is as nothing compared with 

 the waste of brain-power which results from compelling a man 

 of exceptional qualifications to earn his own living. The owner 

 of a great estate admits that the important charities of his town 

 have a well-founded claim upon his purse ; it would not 

 require a very great change of heart for him to feel a vivid sense 

 of shame if a few scholars are not carrying on their researches 

 at his expense." 



The following papers (among others) will be read at the 

 Society of Arts during the present Session : — Apparatus for the 

 Automatic Extinction of Fires, by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson ; 

 The Load Line of Ships, by Prof. Francis Elgar, F.R.S.E. ; 

 Technical Art Teaching, by F. Edward Hulme, F. L, S. ; The 



Treatment of Sew.age, by Dr. C. Meymott Tidy ; Calculating 

 Machines, by C. V. Boys ; The History and Manufacture of 

 Playing Cards, by George Clulow ; Domestic Electric Lighting, 

 by W. H. Preece, F.R.S. ; The Scientific Development of the 

 Coal Tar Industry, by Prof. R. Meldola, F.C.S. The First 

 Course of Cantor Lectures will be on " The Microscope," by 

 John Mayall, Jun., on November 25, 30, December 7, 14, 21 ; 

 the Second Course will be on " Friction," by Prof. H. S. Hele 

 Shaw, on January 18, 25, February i, S ; the Third Course 

 will be on "Science Teaching," by Prof. F. Guthrie, F.R.S. , 

 on February 15, 22, March I ; the Fourth Course will be on 

 "Petroleum and its Products," by Boverton Redwood, F.C.S., 

 on March 8, 15, 22, 29; the Fifth Course will be on "The 

 Arts of Tapestry-Making and Embroidery,' by AlanS. Cole, on 

 April 5, 12, 19; and the Sixth and concluding Course will be 

 on " Animal Mechanics," by B. W. Richardson, M.D., F.R.S., 

 on May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31. The two Juvenile Lectures on 

 "Waves" will be given by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson on 

 Wednesday evenings, December 30, 1S85, and January 6, iSS5, 

 for which special tickets will be issued. 



Science contains accounts by Profs. Mendenhall and Paul of 

 the attempts made to obtain records of earth tremors from the 

 explosion at Flood Rock at the entrance to New York harbour. 

 Arrangements to secure observations were made by the Geo- 

 logical Survey, together with representatives from the Naval 

 Observatory and Signal Service. The apparatus used by the 

 Naval Observatory party was that usual in mercury observations, 

 and three seismoccopes, one chronograph, and a number of 

 chronometers. Unfortunately the firing of the mine was delayed 

 for fourteen minutes, and this prevented good observations being 

 taken at many places. The reports so far received indicate that 

 out of seventeen stations (three occupied by geological survey 

 parties and fourteen co-operating with them) five watched till 

 the disturbance came, and got more or less satisfactory observa- 

 tions. At one of these the rock was directly in sight, and the 

 others were so near that the observers felt sure that it had not 

 escaped them. Four observed and timed some slight disturb- 

 ances between llh. 3m. and lih. 7m., and, attributing them to 

 the explosion, ceased watching for more, and either missed it 

 entirely or were taken by surprise ; two heard nothing at all up 

 to about ilh. lom., and so ceased observing and missed it, and 

 six were yet to be heard from. It will thus be perceived that the 

 results with regard to earth- tremors, which there was every 

 reason to expect from this colossal explosion, have been greatly 

 diminished by the long delay in firing the mine. 



Part II. of the Report of the Trinity House Committee on 

 the recent experiments with electricity, gas, and oil as light- 

 house illuminants at South Foreland, which is now issued, con- 

 tains some interesting details in connection with the trials. The 

 first portion is devoted to illustrations of the arr.angements made 

 at the South Foreland for exhibiting, observing, and measuring 

 the lights. The second section consists of the report of Prof. 

 W. Grylls Adams, F.R.S., of King's College, London, on the 

 electric light apparatus employed in the production of the light 

 shown from A tower. Following upon Prof. .\dams's report is a de- 

 tailed description by Baron .\. de Meritens of the magneto-electric 

 machines supplied by him for the experiments. This communi- 

 cation shows the principles of construction of the machines and 

 the mechanical disposition of the magnets. Section IV. is a 

 detailed record of the photometric observations made by Mr. 

 Harold Di.xon, of Balliol College, Oxford, and referred to by 

 him in his report in Part I. The record consists principally of 

 tables showing the work done on each night. Following this 

 are some remarks upon the pentane standard devised by Mr. 

 Vernon Harcouit, and adopted as the basis of measurement 

 throughout the trials. Soaje interesting experiments to ascertain 



