June 8, 1 88 2 J 



NATURE 



*35 



arrivedat. By a series of test experiments he demon- 

 strated that the lines of pressure in the air between the 

 two drums are practically identical in direction with those 

 which Faraday revealed to us in the magnetic field by 

 means of iron filings. These were investigated by ex- 

 ploring the field between the drums with a small taper 

 flame and noting the direction of the blast, as well as 

 with a small windmill mounted on a stand, but the action 

 of both these explorers requires a still atmosphere, and 

 therefore could not be shown to a large audience. Mr. Stroh 

 however, had devised a means of showing the movements 

 of the air by models of the drums vibrating in glycerine 

 traversed by the electric light which threw an image of 

 the drums upon a screen. The membranes of the drums 

 were oscillated in this case by working a crank and pulley, 

 and four star-like water-wheels were pivoted between 

 them in such a manner that when the drums were vibrated 

 the wheels revolved under the streaming of the glycerine 

 caused by the vibrations of the drums. Aniline blue 

 placed in the glycerine at the middle of the surfaces of 

 the drums also indicates the stream lines of the fluid to 

 an audience. Starting from the middle, the glycerine 

 separating into two trails, curved outwards into a kind of 

 volute. This happened at both membranes, so that 

 the space between was filled up by four such curves having 

 a diamond space between them. This effect was pro- 

 duced by unlike phase, and closely resembled the arrange- 

 ment of lines seen when two like magnetic poles are 

 opposed to each other. On the other hand, the stream 

 lines produced by vibrations in like phase were much less 

 complex, and resembled the lines of force crossing over 

 between two unlike magnetic poles. 



NOTES 



At a meeting of the subscribers to the Memorial to the late 

 Prof. Rolleston, held at the Royal College of Physicians on 

 Thursday, June I last, it was resolved that the fund subscribed 

 for the above object, which amounts to a little over iioo/, 

 should be paid to the University of Oxford, as trustees, for the 

 purpose of founding a prize, to be known as the Rolleston Prize, 

 to be awarded every two years to the author of the best memoir 

 embodying the results of original research on any branch of the 

 following subjects : — Animal and Vegetable Morphology, Phy- 

 siology and Pathology, and Anthropology. The prize, which 

 will amount to about 70/. on each occasion, is to be open to all 

 members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge who have 

 not exceeded in standing ten years from the date of their matri- 

 culation. The adoption of the report of the executive committee 

 was moved by Prof. Acland. Sir James Paget, Mr. Douglas 

 Galton, and other distinguished men of science were present. A 

 vote of thanks to the chairman, Dr. A. B. Shepherd, who has 

 been most active in the furtherance of the objects of the Memorial, 

 and also to the secretaries, Messrs. W. M. Moullin, M.D., C. T. 

 Acland, M.A., A. P. Thomas, M.A., and E. B. Poulton, M.A., 

 was carried. 



Capt. Douglas Galton-, R.E., C.B., F.R.S., has accepted 

 the Pre-identship cf the forthcoming Congress at Newcastle of 

 the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain. 



M. Dumas, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, 

 Paris, has, we understand, requested Dr. Siemens to allow a 

 translation of his paper on the Conservation of Solar Energy to 

 appear under M. Dumas' authority in the Annates de Chimie et 

 rhysiqite. 



The Committee for the arrangement of the Electric Exhibi- 

 tion in Vienna have resolved to delay the opening of the 

 Exhibition till 1883. 



The fifth annual meeting of the Midland Union of Natural 

 History Societies takes place at Nottingham on June 15. The 



programme includes a conversazione on the 15th and various 

 excursions on the 16th. 



The Jubilee Exhibition of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic 

 Society and the Fine and Industrial Arts, w ill be opened at the 

 Polytechnic Hall, Falmouth, on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. 

 The Exhibition w ill be on an extensive scale, and the Committee 

 have determined to make it representative of the progress of the 

 past half century in science and art, mining enterprise, naval 

 architecture, and fishing, meteorology, photography, natural 

 history, and statistics, as well as the fine arts pure and applied, 

 more especially in connection with the county of Cornwall. The 

 Exhibition will be attended by men eminent in science, who will 

 come to Falmouth after the British Association Meeting at 

 Southampton, several of whom will deliver lectures at the 

 jubilee. Electricity and the electric light will be a special 

 feature of the Exhibition. The Exhibition itself will occupy the 

 Polytechnic Hall and the Volunteer Drill Hall, and will be open 

 for double the ordinary period. Excursions on a large scale will 

 also be organised for exploring the sea coast, the scientific and 

 archaeological interests, and the natural beauties of the neighbour- 

 hood. In order to ensure success the Committee with confidence 

 solicit the aid of all Cornishmen. They estimate that 6co/. will 

 be required to carry out the object in view. 



A YOUNG Finnish lady, Miss Irene Astrbm, passed the ex- 

 amination for a candidate of philosophy at the_ University of 

 Helsingfors, on May 24, with great honours. The young lady 

 was subsequently, through a deputation of ladies, presented with 

 a gold watch and ch-un, at a festive meeting given in her honour 

 at the /Esthetic Club, Hesperia. 



At the expense of Herr Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg, a 

 promising young Swedish entomologist, Herr A. S. Mortenson, 

 will, during the summer, "study the entomology of the islands of 

 Gotland and Oland in the Baltic. 



It ought to be mentioned, to the credit of our namesake, 

 Natural, that its recent numbers contain an unusually large 

 proportion of original matter of more than local interest. To 

 the April number, Hr. J. B. Barlh, Director of Forests, has 

 contributed an exhaustive and highly interesting memoir on 

 forest economy generally, and on the biology of the Norwegian 

 pine, Abies e.xcelsa, specially. He treats at great length of the 

 physical influence exerted by this tree, in rendering the earth 

 around it more adaptable for its own rapid diffusion, as well as 

 for that of other plants, and he regards it as of later develop- 

 ment than the common fir, Finns syhestris, which, it appears, 

 it is destined to some extent to supersede. The same number 

 contains an amusing, but not uninstructive paper by Hr. 

 Uhrbrand, on the appearance of will-o'-the-wisps (Norw. 

 Lygtemamd) and their chemical or meteorological character, and 

 a short notice by Hr. Reusch, of the conglomerates near Chns- 

 tiania. The May number gives a summary of Vogt's recent 

 reports of the mines and minerals of Norway, from which it 

 would appear, that while no sanguine hopes can be entertained 

 of the continued yields of the once prolific Norwegian silver 

 mines, the newly opened copper, nickel, and apatite works 

 promise to become the most remunerative of the otherwise unim- 

 portant sources of national industry. The same number records 

 the most interesting results of Hr. Tromholt's comparisons of 

 the various meteorological observations made in Greenland, 

 chiefly by officers of the Danish navy. . From these it is shown, 

 that while the auroral manifestations exhibit in Greenland the 

 same periodicity of intensity as elsewhere, their minima and 

 maxima do not correspond with those of the solar spots, the 

 minima of the aurora coinciding with the maxima of the spots, 

 and vice versd. It also appears, that the arch of the aurora is 

 most frequently seen at the south of the magnetic pole, and only 

 in exceptional cases in the north, and that mostly at the winter 



