OcTOBER 9, 1902 | 
Weather Bureau, and that stations equipped with his instru- 
ments are shortly to be located along the Pacific coast, for use in 
the dissemination of the weather reports throughout that part 
of the country. 
Ar the festivities held in Bologna on the occasion of Mr. 
Marconi’s return to his native town, Prof. Augusto Righi, in 
congratulating his former pupil on his successes, spoke to the 
following eff-ct:—Perhaps no one can appreciate better than 
I his exceptional inventive power and his unusual intellectual 
gifts. I remember with great pleasure his visits when quite a 
young man, for asking my advice, for explaining his experi- 
ments, made with simple apparatus ingeniously put together, 
and for keeping me informed of his new projects, in which his 
passion for applied science always stood out. Even then}I 
predicted that he would sooner or later attain fame. The system 
of wireless telegraphy which he derived from Hertz’s classical 
experiments . . . is the most pleasing transference to the field of 
practical industry of those instruments and principles which might 
have seemed to be relegated to the domain of natural philosophy. 
Science always contains the germs of every unexpected marvel, 
and never has a seed fallen in ground that is more fertile or more 
suitable for causing it to germinate and transform into a 
fine and healthy plant. It is to the credit of Marconi that he 
has once more proved how much those are in error who regard 
with disdainful or indifferent eyes the work carried on con- 
tinuously in the silence of the laboratory by the modest and 
disinterested scientific students, and who only appreciate 
science in proportion to the immediate uses that can be obtained 
from it. They do not know that even fromthe most abstruse 
result, a sympathetic mind may unexpectedly derive one of 
those applications which accelerate the advance of humanity on 
the path of progress and social welfare. 
I is suggested by Mr. R. Hedger Wallace in the October 
number of Mafure Nofes that Gilbert White’s house, which, as 
has already been stated in these columns, is offered for sale, 
should be purchased and used as a school of nature-study. 
** What,” says Mr. Wallace, ‘‘ could well be housed at Selborne, 
and would assist the nature-study movement, is a library—say 
the ‘Gilbert White Memorial Library ’—which would illustrate 
what has been and is the influence of his teaching over the wide 
world—especially the English-speaking world. The number of 
such books is by no means small, and when once the library 
is formed, if it be kept up to date, it would be of very great 
service indeed to all interested in nature-lore and nature- 
studies.” 
AT the suggestion of the Astronomer Royal for the Cape, 
Mr. R. T. A. Innes, of the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good 
Hope, has made special observations in order to decide whether 
the stars marked ? in the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung 
really exist or not. Using a 7-inch refractor, Mr. Innes has 
found that all these stars except seventeen do exist. 
THE application of the stereoscope to lantern projections has 
proved a fruitful field for the ingenuity of inventors. M. J. 
Macé de Lépinay now describes a very simple method of pro- 
ducing the desired effects. He projects two pictures side by 
side on the screen, and provides each observer with a pair of 
prisms the angle of which depends on the distance of that 
observer from the screen. 
of one metre apart, the angles of the prisms used are 12°, 10°, 
8° and 6° for distances of 4°5, 5°4, 6°8 and 9 metres, the | 
accommodatory power of the eye enabling intermediate distances 
to be used without further multiplication of prisms. One of the 
advantages of the system is the convenient and portable char- 
acter of the prisms when mounted in the form of spectacles for 
observing the projections. 
NO. 1719, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
Taking the two images at a distance | 
581 
Pror. RINALDO FERRINI contributes to the Lombardy 
Rendiconti a short note on the calorimetric determination of high 
temperatures. A mass of platinum or nickel being heated to the 
temperature to be measured and then plunged into a water calori- 
meter, the rise of temperature determines the number of units 
of heat given out by the metal, and it is only necessary to know 
the specific heat of the metal at different temperatures in order, 
to determine the initial temperature. Taking an approximate 
algebraic formula for the relation between specific heat and tem- 
perature, Prof. Ferrinideducesa linear equation for the tempera- 
ture calculated with the use of nickel, and a quadratic equation 
for the temperature calculated by the use of platinum, within 
the limits considered in his investigation. 
Messrs. WITHERBY AND Co., the publishers of Avow/dedge, 
announce for early publication in book form the series of articles 
by Mr. E. W. Maunder entitled ‘‘ Astronomy without a 
Telescope,” which has been recently running through 
Knowledge. 
We are glad to notice that a new and cheaper edition of 
Prof. L. C. Miall’s admirable book ‘‘ Round the Year ” has 
been issued by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd. In this 
popular form the book will doubtless be much in favour in schools 
where nature-study is encouraged. 
THE secretary of the National Home Reading Union informs 
us that the new syllabus of subjects for the coming session—the 
fourteenth—of the Union is now ready for distribution. We 
notice that among the subjects included in the special courses 
are geology, Egyptian archeology, physiology and the laws of 
health. Information as to fees, text-books, &c., can be obtained 
from the secretary of the Union, Surrey House, Victoria 
Embankment, W.C. 
Tue October issue of Climate, the interesting and useful 
organ of the [Livingstone College at Leyton, contains many 
items relating to health and travel which should be of service 
to travellers, e.g. among its contents are to be found illustrated 
interviews with Sir Harry Johnston, respecting ‘“‘ An African 
Equipment,” and Dr. H. White, concerning ‘“* Life and Travel 
in Persia” ; there are also, among other things, notes on 
‘Kashmir from a Climatic Standpoint ” and the progress of 
the various campaigns against malaria. 
Mr. J. C. Nimmo promises, ‘‘ Fragments in Philosophy and 
Science,” by Prof. J. Mark Baldwin; ‘“‘ History of the Baby- 
lonians and Assyrians,” by Dr. H. Winckler ; and new editions 
of Rev. F. O. Morris’s ‘A Ilistory of British Birds,” six 
volumes (illustrated), and ‘‘ Natural History of British Moths,” 
four volumes (illustrated), 
In Messrs. Hutchinson and Co.’s new list of announcements 
we notice :—‘‘ British Fresh-water Fishes,” by Sir Herbert 
Maxwell, Bart., F.R.S.; ‘‘ Fishes of our Seas,” by F. G. Affalo, 
W. Senior and F. B. Marston; ‘‘ British Birds,’’ by Aubyn 
Trevor-Battye ; ‘‘ British Butterflies and Moths,” by F. Edward 
Hulme; and ‘‘ British Mammals,” by Sir Harry Johnston, 
G.C.M.G., K.C.B., all in the Woburn Library, and each 
illustrated ; ‘‘ The Po/ar Star in the Arctic Seas,” by H.R. H. the 
Duke of the Abruzzi, in two volumes (illustrated) ; ‘‘ Lord Lilford 
on Birds,” a collection of unpublished writings by the late Lord 
Lilford, with contributed chapters on falconry and otter hunting, 
his favourite sports, edited by Aubyn Trevor-Battye, in parts (illus- 
trated) ; ‘© Our Poultry and all about Them,” by Harrison Weir ” 
(illustrated); ‘‘ Hillside, Rock and Dale,” bird life pictured with pen 
and camera by Oliver G. Pike; ‘ Lizards, Living and Extinct,” 
by T. Saville-Kent (illustrated) ; ‘* The Insect Book of North 
America,” by Dr. L. O. Howard (illustrated) ; “ The Butterfly 
Book of North America,” by W. J. Holland (illustrated). 
