94 



NATURE 



[A/ay 



'5. if 



their notice ; while tbe Supeiintemlents themselves by carefully 

 and steadily pursuing the same plan year by year, by selecting 

 from all their crops, and again selecting from that selection, will 

 be able apparently, if the present results may be relied on, to 

 increase the production and fruitfulness of the plant, and in 'the 

 course of a few seasons to estal lish a veritable ' Pedigree Cotton ' 

 as unlike its parent as ihe 'English thorough-bred,' with his 

 long stride and fine skin, is unlike the stock whence he originally 

 sprang. It remains for me to notice the avidity with which our 

 surplus seed was purchased by the cultivators. Mr. Wilkinson 

 says this seed was sufficient for the requirements of tw 

 and that the crop produced was an abundant one. He fuilher 

 adds, 'I was informed by the Patel of one of the villages lint 

 this seed had given great satisfaction; yields being reported of 

 96 lbs. to 150 lbs. cotton per acre, according to the amount of 

 care in cultivation.' This gives an average of 123 lbs., but I 

 will only take 100 lbs. as the average product, and even then I 

 find the figures loudly speaking in favour of carefully picked 

 and selected seed. 



Average yield of our Departmental seed 

 Average yield for Kandeish 



Difference in favour of our seed 



100 



82' 



... ... 17I 



or about 20 per cent 

 If only this 20 per cent, could be established as the increased 

 out-turn, l.y the efforts of our Department, it would bring wealth 

 to thousands, and unspeakable benefit to the Presidency gene- 

 rally. It would represent an increased produce, valued at last 

 year's rates, of Rs. 26,365,979 = ,£2,636,597 iSs. od. ■ a result 

 and a prize worth striving for, and, it would appear, possible of 

 attainment ! " 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge.— The election to the Professorship of Animal 

 Morphology will take place on May 31. 



The Moderators and Examiners for the Mathematical Tripos 

 have announced that logarithmic tables will be provided for each 

 of the candidates during the examination. 



The mineralogical laboratory will be open to students durinc 

 July and August. a 



The proposed enlargement of the space available at the new 

 museums for Practical Morphology and Histology is to te at 

 once proceeded with. 



Mr. W. H. Caldwell, B.A., Scholar of Gonville and Caius 

 College, is approved as a Teacher of Comparative Anatomy 

 with reference to certificates for medical study. 



Dr. Anningson has been approved as a teacher of Medical 

 Juris] ru.lence in the Medical School. 



'1 lie proposal to continue the opening of the Botanic Garden 

 for (line hours on Sundays to Members of the Senate accom- 

 panied by their friends during the summer, months, has met with 

 warm opposition from some who consider that in this case 

 Sunday labour is imposed on others for the selfish pleasures of a 

 few. It has been pointed out that owing to the value of the 

 contents of the garden it must always be watched, and it could 

 not possibly be said that the proposed regulations will impose 

 additional Sunday labour. The voting on this question takes 

 place to-day (25th). 



ION.— Prof. Ray Lankester has been re appointed Pro- 



l /.oology and Comparative Anatomy in University 

 College, London. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 American Journal of Science, May.— Photographs of the 

 spectrum of the nebula in Orion, by H. Draper.— Mean annual 

 rainfall for different countries of the globe, by A. Woeikoff.— 

 Physiological optics, by W. L. Stevens.— Flood of the Con- 

 necticut Kiver valley, from the quaternary glacier, by ]. D. 



Dana. — Brazilian specimen, of Martite, by O. A. Derby. 



Method of determining the flexure of a telescopic tube for all 

 positions of the instrument, by J. M. Schseberle.— Dykes of 

 micaceous dial ase penetrating the bed of zinc ore al 

 furnace, by B.K. Emerson.— Occurrence of smaltite in Colorado, 

 by M. W. lies.— Conditions attending the geological descent of 



some freshwater gill-bearing molluscs, by C. A. White. -Mea- 

 surcs of the rings of Saturn in the years 1879, iSSo, 1SS1, and 

 15.62, by E. S. Holden.- Interference-phenomena in a new 

 form of refractometer, by A. A. Michelson.— New minerals, 

 monatlte and mon.te, with a notice of pyroclasite, by C U 

 Shepard.- Marine fauna of New England, by A. E. Verrill. 



Journal of the Franklin Institute, May.— On the several 

 efficiencies of the steam-engine, and on the condition of maximum 

 economy by R. H. Thurston. -Ninety miles in sixty minutes, 

 Dy W. B. Le. Van.— Intonation of chime bells, by I W 

 I^ystrom.— The Mears chlorination process, l.y W. U. Greene" 

 Action of charcoal on a solution of gold chloride bv G F 

 Kcenig. ' ' 



fui'letin c/e I' Academic Royale des Sciences de Belgiqut, No. 3 

 —On the sensations the author experiences in his eyes by M 

 Plateau.— On a claim of pri irity, introduced in the Academy by 

 M. E. Dewalque, regarding my note on the origin of Devonian 

 limestones of Belgium, by M. Dupont.-On the respiratory 

 eltects of excitation of the pneumogastric, by M. Henriiean — 

 Various products obtained from fresh stocks of peony : new- 

 reaction of salicylic acid, by M. Joris ; en.— Repoits. 



Reale Istitulo Lombards di Scienzt e Lcttere. Rendiconti, vol 

 xv. fac. vn. — The geology of the Parman Apennines, by A. Del 

 Prato.— The double quadratic transformation of space, &c. (con- 

 cluded), by F. F. Archieri.— On rational skew curves, by L. 

 Weyr.— On the transformation of the co-ordinates in space, bv 

 F. Borletti. ' 



Fase. viii.— On a formula of Cauchy, concerning the develop- 

 ment of functions in infinite products, by P. Cazzaniga,— - 

 Whether cemeteries may have an injurious influence on the 

 public health, by L. Gabba —Remarks on the subject, by C. 



Zucchi, and reply by L. Gabba 



Atli della R. Aceadcmia dei Lined, vol. vi., fasc. 10 —On 



some derivatives of cilraconic acid, by Drs. Ciamician and 



Dennsledt.— Studies on fluoxysalts and fluosalts of molybdenum, 



by Signors Mauro and Panebianco. — Reports. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Royal Society, May 4.— "On the Specific Resistance of 

 Mercury." By Lord Kayleigh, F.R.S., Professor of Experi- 

 mental I hysics 111 the University of Cambridge, and Mr« 

 H. Sidgwick. 



The observations detailed in the paper were made with the 

 view of re-determining the relation between the B.A. unit and 

 the mercury unit of Siemens, i.e. the resistance of a column of 

 mercury at o °, one metre in length, and one square millim. in 

 section. 



According to Siemens' experiments 



I mercury unit = 0-9536 B.A. units, 

 and according to Matthiessen and Hockin, 



I mercury unit = 0-9619 B.A. units. 

 The value resulting from our observations agrees prettv closelv 

 wilh that of Siemens. We find— 



1 mercury unit = 0-95418 B.A. units. 

 Four tubes were used to contain the mercury, of lengths vary. 

 ing from S7 to 194 centims. The diameter of the three first 

 tabes was about 1 millim., and that of the fourth about 2 millims. 

 The final numbers obtained from the several fillings of the tubes 

 are as follows : — 



f 0-95386 ) 

 I 0-954I2 



lube I -{ 0-05424 



I 0-95436 I 

 1.0-95421 J 

 ( 0-953S9 ) 



Tube II ) 0-95414 ( 



) 0-95437 ( 

 { 0-95436 ) 

 ( 0-95424 ) 



Tube III ) 0954, S( 



) o-95399 ( ' 

 I 095425 ) 



Tube IV i 0-95440 t 



( °'954 I 5 / ' 



Combining the results of the present paper with our deter- 

 mination of the B.A. unit in absolute measure, we get— 

 1 mercury unit = 0-94130 x io 9 C.G.S. 



0-95416 



0-95419 



0-95416 



0-95427 



