Fuly 29, 1886 | 
NATURE 
299 
add quicklime to this. Allow it to stand some hours, and distil 
again. Show that this is much stronger, catches fire readily, 
and tastes more burning. Make a solution of common sugar in 
a large flask ; add yeast, and fit a cork with a bent tube to the 
flask. Let the tube dip into lime water. Place it in a warm 
place, and after some days show that spirit has been formed in 
the flask by distilling the liquid and collecting the portion 
coming over first. 
All the substances and experiments mentioned above are to 
be shown to the class. This does not preclude such other ex- 
periments and illustrations as may suggest themselves to the 
teacher. 
NOTES 
WE trust that it is not in the least likely that the proposal 
“*From a Correspondent” in Saturday’s 7zzes to remove the 
Science Museum to make way for a permanent Colonial Museum 
will receive serious attention in any influential quarter. For this 
proposal really involves the monstrous step of shunting col- 
lections which have been brought together with so much trouble 
and at so much expense. Their value was recognised by the 
Duke of Devonshire’s Commission. As to the Colonial Museum 
we shall be in a better position to express an opinion upon it 
when its nature and objects are further developed. We wish in 
no way to disparage it; but there is room for it elsewhere. 
Why should its founders try to build it on the ruins of an existing 
and valuable collection ? 
THE thirty-fifth meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science will be held at Buffalo, from Wednes- 
day, August 18, until Tuesday evening, August 24, 1886. For 
the third time, at intervals of ten years each, the Association 
has accepted an invitation to hold a meeting in Buffalo. The 
Local Committee intend to make the meeting a great success : 
and members who were at the meeting of 1876 need only to 
recall it in order to form an idea of what the coming meeting 
promises to be. The facilities which the city offers are all 
that can be desired, both in regard to rooms for the several 
Sections and in hotel accommodation, while the health and 
comfort of the city in the month of August are well known. 
The headquarters of the Association will be at the High School, 
and all the offices and meeting-rooms will be in that building or 
in one of the schoolhouses near by. The hotel headquarters 
will be at the Genesee House. A special circular in relation to 
railroads, hotels, and other matters, has been issued by the Local 
Committee. Arrangements for excursions and receptions will be 
announced by the Local Committee. The officers of Sections 
D and H have issued special circulars relating to the meeting, 
which can be had by addressing the respective secretaries. 
Special information relating to any of the Sections will be fur- 
nished by their officers. In Section E special attention will be 
given to the problems connected with the Niagara Falls and its 
gorge. 
WE have only just received the Proceedings of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science at the Philadelphia 
meeting of 1884. The volume is particularly well printed and 
fully illustrated. 
THE Institution of Naval Architects is holding a summer 
meeting at Liverpool this week. 
THE recent elections have done nothing to alter the compara- 
tively small but distinguished band of men of science in the House 
of Commons. Sir John Lubbock retains his seat for London 
University. The electors of South Manchester have remained 
faithful to Sir Henry Roscoe, and those of South Leeds to Sir 
Lyon Playfair. Mr. Story-Maskelyne returns from North Wilt- 
shire, and Sir Edward Reed, after one of the principal contests 
of the ejection, from Cardiff. 
M. JANSSEN is continuing, at Meudon, his researches on the 
influence of gases on the rays of the spectrum. He is building 
tubes, which can be loaded with 1000 atmospheres of hydrogen, 
oxygen, or carbonic acid. In this last case the real density of the 
gas will be superior to the density of water. The filling of the 
tubes to these high pressures is not directly obtained by pres- 
sure ; they are loaded by a sort of step-by-step or cascade 
process. This is a very long affair. After the filling of 
these tubes some time must be allowed for the settling 
down of the dust which has been raised by compression. As 
long as the cloud of minute particles is floating, the colour 
of the light traversing longitudinally the tubes is blood-red. 
This effect can be shown with a far lessened pressure. 
Mr. J. M. Horspurcu has been appointed Secretary of 
University College, London, to enter upon his duties on 
October 1. 
DurinG the last ten years M. Marcel Deprez has been 
engaged in experiments connected with the transmission of force 
by means of electricity. The Rothschilds some time since pro- 
vided him with an unlimited credit to prosecute his researches 
at Creil, under the inspection of a commission of thirty-eight 
men of science. On Friday the commission met to hear a report 
on the results at present obtained, drawn up at their request 
by M. Maurice Lévy. This report was unanimously approved. 
It appears from it that we can now, with only one generator and 
only one receiver, transport to a distance of about 35 miles a 
force capable of being used for industrial purposes ef 52-horse 
power, with a yield of 45 per cent., without exceeding a current 
of £0 amperes. When the amount of force absorbed by the 
apparatus used to facilitate the recent experiment, but not 
required in the applications to industrial purposes, is added, the 
yield will be nearly 50 per cent. The commission certifies that 
the machines now work regularly and continuously. The maxi- 
mum electromotive force is 6290 volts. Before the construction 
of the Marcel Deprez apparatus the maximum force did not 
exceed 2000 volts. The report states that this high tension does 
not give rise to any danger, and that no accident has occurred 
during the past six months. The commission is of opinion that the 
transmitting wire may be left uncovered on poles provided it be 
placed beyond the reach of the hand. It estimates at nearly 
5000/. the probable cost of the transmission of 50-horse power 
round a circular line of about 70 miles. This price would, how- 
-ever, be much diminished if the machines were frequently con- 
structed. The commission, in the name of science and industry, 
warmly congratulated M. Deprez on the admirable results which 
he had obtained, and expressed thanks to the Rothschilds for 
the generous aid extended to the undertaking. 
Tue eighth congress of the French Geographical Societies 
will meet at Nantes on the 4th proximo, and will continue until 
the 9th. 
Ir is stated that Baron de Miklouho-Maclay is now busy 
getting printed at St. Petersburg, by command of the Czar, the 
result of his scientific researches in New Guinea from 1870 to 
1883. 
A CONFERENCE was held by the National Fish Culture 
Association on Monday last at the Colonial and Indian Exhibi- 
tion. Sir Albert K. Rollit, M.P., presided. The chairman, in 
delivering the presidential address, stated that the Association 
had made a great impression upon the public as to the necessity 
for remedial, protective, and other measures in the interest of our 
fishing industries and population. The Association was doing 
work which many other nations and colonies thought it expedient 
and economical to do upon a much larger and more expensive 
scale. He therefore thought the public ought to support it 
liberally in order to enable it to carry out the work which could 
