JULY 31, 1902] 
an electrochemical laboratory, or if there is no special labora- 
tory at least the subject is taught, and the same may be said 
of America. France also is making considerable headway in 
the teaching of electrochemistry, Here in this country the 
whole subject has been practically ignored. In order to try to 
bring the claims of this very important science before the scien- 
tific world and to interest manufacturers in electrochemistry, a 
small committee of electricians and chemists has been sitting 
since March in order to see whether it would not be possible to 
form a British Electrochemical Society. A fair amount of 
support has been promised, and the committee is now sending 
out circulars inviting cooperation in the formation of the 
proposed society. It is to be hoped that there will be a 
ready response to the invitation, so that all who are interested 
in electrochemistry may combine their efforts to promote its 
advancement in this country. 
INTERNATIONAL balloon ascents were made on the morning 
of March 6 in France, Germany, Austria and Russia, and kites 
were also sent up by Mr. Rotch at Blue Hill, Boston, U.S.A., 
on the previous evening. The following are some of the pre- 
liminary results of the highest unmanned ascents :—Itteville 
(near Paris), temperature at starting, 2°°8C.; greatest height 
reached, 14,000 metres ; lowest temperature recorded, — 67°°0. 
Strasburg, temperature on ground, —0°'4; at 9300 metres, 
— 540. At Blue Hill the kites ‘ascended through a thick 
snowcloud ; the lowest temperature, — 7°°0, was recorded at a 
height of 1658 metres; above this the temperature rose, and at 
a height of 2000 metres it reached — 2°°4. Over Europe an 
area of high barometric pressure prevailed, while at Blue Hill 
the kite rose on the north-west side of a deep depression, the 
centre of which lay over the Atlantic. 
THE results of the meteorological observations made at the 
Rousdon Observatory, Devon, during the year 1901 have been 
published by the Hon. Lady Peek. The observations have 
been regularly made, as hitherto, by Mr. C. Grover, and the 
tables have been prepared for publication under the supervision 
of Mr. W. Marriott, assistant secretary of the Royal Meteor- 
ological Society. The volume also contains an account of 
damage done by lightning to a room occupied by two persons 
on the night of June 29-30. The results of this valuable series 
of observations for the years 1884-1900 are discussed by Dr. J. 
Hann in the current number of the Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 
chiefly from tables given in the previous volume (1900). In 
this discussion Dr. Hann lays stress on the advantage of calcu- 
lating the mean monthly and yearly extremes of temperature 
and pressure instead of merely quoting the absolute extreme 
readings, because the latter may only refer to any one of the 
years under discussion, and are not comparable with the results 
of a series of years. ; 
AN interesting instance of that adaptability to changing tastes 
and conditions which is the mainspring of progress in industry as 
well as in science is afforded by a note in the /oz7na/ of the Society 
of Arts (July 18). For some years the demand for claret has 
greatly diminished in favour of the wines of Champagne, and 
has seriously affected the wine industry in the Bordeaux district. 
Several proprietors in the Médoc have, however, now com- 
menced the production of sparkling wines by the same process 
as champagne is made, and their action has been the means of 
developing practically a new industry. It may at first seem 
strange that white wine should be able to be made in the Médoc, 
where only black grapes are grown, but as a matter of fact cham- 
pagne is almost entirely made from black grapes, and the most 
celebrated vineyards in the Champagne district are all planted 
with them. The colour of the wine depends only on the way 
in which the wine is made. All the colouring matter is in the 
skin, while the fruit itself is colourless, or nearly so. If the 
NO. 1709, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
329 
whole of the grape, skin and all, be allowed to ferment together, 
the colouring matter in the skin will be dissolved in the juice of 
the grape, and the wine produced will be red. If, on the con- 
trary, the skin be removed before the fermentation begins, the 
wine will be white. Sparkling wines require much more working 
and preparation than still wines, and a second fermentation has 
to take place when the wine is in bottle, and it is this which 
gives the gas. The wine has to pass through a long series of 
operations, which have to be carried out, from first to last, under 
a perfectly even temperature. For this reason, the cellars in the 
Champagne district are dug out often to a great depth in the 
ckalk. It would have been impossible to find such cellars in the 
Médoc, where the soil is of a gravelly nature, but at Bourg, on 
the right bank of the Gironde, opposite the Médoc vineyards, 
there are cliffs of Oolitic limestone, whence the stone has for 
centuries been quarried. The stone has been quarried out in 
long galleries, which are now adapted for cool cellars, with a 
perfectly even temperature all the year round, and in these the 
sparkling médoc is made in identically similar circumstances to 
the wines of Rheims or Epernay. It is stated that to the ordinary 
taster there is nothing but the label to distinguish the sparkling 
médoc from the best brands of champagne. Another white 
sparkling wine is made at St. Emilion, and the cellars are in the 
caves below the ruins of an old monastery, from which the wine 
takes its name. 
In a note contributed to the A/t det Lincei, xi.(1) 10, by 
Signor E, Daniele, dealing with certain particular cases of 
motion of a point in a plane, we notice the following interesting 
conclusion :—‘‘In the motion of a point under a central force, 
the trajectories can be divided into an infinity of -isothermal 
orthogonal systems, when the force is proportional to any 
power of the distance.” 
THE theory according to which the properties of colloidal 
substances are attributed to particles in a fine state of suspension 
is advanced by Dr. J. Billitzer in a recent communication to 
the Vienna Academy (Sz¢zungsberichte, No. 9). The author 
starts with the assumptions that we have to deal with a fine 
suspension and that the particles of this are oppositely electri- 
fied to the fluid. From these hypotheses numerous important 
conclusions are derived, and an attempt has been made to 
answer the principal objections to the theory. 
A MATHEMATICAL investigation of the principles of the 
seismograph is given by Dr. M. Contarini in the <A¢ti dez 
Lincet, xi. (1) 10. In this paper the author passes from 
the problem of the motion of a chain of rigid bodies, the first 
of which is fixed to the ground by at least one point, to the 
special case of two bodies only. It is shown how with such a 
system it is possible to determine four out of the six components 
of the seismic disturbance. For the other two components an 
instrument resembling the Vicentini microseismograph may be 
used. 
THE question as to whether bats are capable or transmitting 
bubonic plague is discussed by Dr. B. Gosio in the Aétz det 
Lincet, xi. (1) 10. During a recent small epidemic at Naples 
it was suspected that the disease emanated from a building com- 
pletely isolated by walls from the town, and with separate 
drainage, and the idea suggested itself that the infection must 
have been carried by the numerous bats that were constantly 
flying around the building. Dr. Gosio accordingly made ex- 
periments by inoculating specimens of Vespertiléo noctula with 
doses of the virus varying from 0°5 c.c. to 0'05 c.c. of cultures 
developed for twenty-four hours. The result was that in every 
case the bats contracted the disease and died in a comparatively 
short interval, and on examination all the organs of the dead 
animals were seen to be rich in germs. It is suggested that the 
