35^ 



NA TURE 



[Atigtist io, 1882 



reorganising the alphabet and cutting types to express distinct 

 sounds now represented by one letter ; also a similar Report of 

 the Spelling Reform Association, with such new characters 

 recommended both for printing and writing ; and five new 

 rules for writing words with present letters, which have become 

 widely known, and a rather longer code of desirable changes. 

 The circular contains also a sanguine account of the support and 

 success that the movement has had in the States. It is a most 

 interesting risumi of what amount of agreement has been arrived 

 at among phonetic spellers and the moderate changes which 

 they urge should be adopted first. But there are signs in it that 

 there is small hope of all English-speaking nations agreeing upon 

 a uniform standard of pronunciation, still less of their agreeing 

 to represent uniformly the sound of such words in print ; the 

 result, therefore of the adoption of phonetic spelling must be 

 the break-up of the English language, which it might have been 

 hoped, would have become the language common to at least 

 half the civilised earth. Each country — and it is hard to say 

 how small division of each country — would soon have a brogue 

 of its own, whose steadily increasing differentiation from all 

 others will have nothing to check it. We have before our eyes 

 now the small beginning of a natural confusion of tongues which 

 the Hebrews of old well knew to be a curse, though ignorant of 

 the process of evolution. 



A useful little "Guide to Southampton and Neighbour- 

 hood" has been prepared by Mr. Thomas W. Shore, of the 

 Hartley Institution in that town, in view of the approaching 

 visit of the British Association. A few pages are devoted to 

 notes on climate, vital statistics, geology, botany, zoology, &c. 



A proposal has been made to the Municipal Council of Paris 

 to give the name of Miss Sophie Germain to one of the newly 

 opened streets. This lady was a clever mathematician, who 

 died about fifty years ago, and left some papers relating to 

 high analysis. 



The Astronomical and Meteorological Bulletin of the Obser- 

 vatory of Rio de Janeiro (April number) has an account of solar 

 observations by M. Lacaille, on nine separate days in February- 

 April, with reference to variations of the solar diameter. The 

 solar image was thrown on a screen which had a series of parallel 

 lines directed perpendicularly to the diurnal motion. The pas- 

 sages of the sun's border over those lines were recorded in a 

 chronograph. Each of the tables (referring to one day's obser- 

 vations) gives the angle of position of the solar equator reckoned 

 from north towards east, the angle, north or south of the solar 

 equator, which the diameter mea-ured makes with the latter, 

 the radius vector of the earth's orbit, and the sun's declination. 

 The difference between the time of passage of the semi-diameter 

 deduced from observation and that given by the A r autical 

 Almanac is in general very small ; it does not exceed o'los. 



In consequence of the long time which elapses between the 

 meetings of the Meteorological International Congress, the Pre- 

 sident, Dr. Wilde, of St. Petersburg, has decided to form a 

 permanent Committee to meet once a year, in order to examine 

 and record the materials collected within such time. The first 

 meeting of the Committee has just taken place in Copenhagen, 

 lasting from the 2nd to the 5th inst. 



The Argentine Republic is at present organising two stations 

 for observation of the transit of Venus ; the first at Buenos 

 Ayres, the second in the south of the province, in the environs 

 of Tandil. One expedition is organised at the expense of the 

 Argentine Government, and the other at that of the province of 

 Buenos Ayres. The instruments have been ordered from M. 

 Gautier, Paris ; they are 6 inch and 8-inch equatorials. The 

 two observatories are meant to become permanent ; the Republic 



will then possess three, the principal one being that at Cordoba, 

 established by M. Gould. The enlightened Governor of Buenos 

 Ayres, M. Dando Rocha, has decided to carry out a scientific 

 work of the first importance, viz. measurement of a meridian arc 

 of 7 or 8°, which will serve as base for a geodetic map of the 

 Argentine Confederation, and be of great interest for determining 

 the form of the earth (southern measurements of the kind being 

 very few). 



We have received from M. E. Hospitalier (whose work on 

 the Modern Applications of Electricity, as translated and 

 enlarged by Mr. Julius Maier, we reviewed in Nature, vol. 

 xxvi. p. 2S9) a letter, too long to insert in its entirety, com- 

 plaining that for most of the points adversely criticised by us 

 he is not responsible. He has courteously sent us a copy of the 

 original edition, in French, of his work, that we might assure 

 ourselves that his repudiation of what he justly terms errors 

 against common sense was justified. M. Hospitalier protests 

 against having been made to confound the ampere with the 

 coulomb. He points out that in describing Edison's armature he 

 described it as being founded in principle upon that of Siemens, 

 not that of Gramme. He calls attention to the passage of his 

 work where he says : " La machine Pacinotti a figure a l'Expo- 

 sition et a valu a son inventeur un diplome d'honneur. Sa 

 prionte eX. son identite de principe avec la machine Gramme tie 

 pent done tire contestie aujourd'kui." (The italics are M. Hospi- 

 talier's). We willingly accord to M. Hospitalier the claim he 

 makes to repudiate the blunders for which he Is not responsible, 

 but we think he is a little too severe when he writes us that he is 

 experiencing the truth of the Italian proverb, Iradultore, 

 tradittore. 



We observe that a correspondent of a daily paper proposes 

 that men addicted to the pursuits of science should be called 

 scicnliates, after the Italian scienziati ; and in like manner the 

 studies of science, sciential studies (stud/ seienziali). The sub- 

 stitution of the American scientist for our unsatisfactory phrase 

 men of science is of course much to be deprecated ; perhaps we 

 shall come to accept Sir William Thomson's proposed use of 

 naturalist for the designation in question, if its sense may be 

 extended. Scientific studies is a phrase which cannot be com- 

 mended for accuracy. 



We have received a letter from Rio de Janeiro stating that 

 M. Drills, the Imperial astronomer pro tern., has established a 

 time-ball similar to that at the Greenwich Observatory. 



Experiments have been made at Havre to test a system of 

 telephony between the Roads and the city. They have been so 

 successful that it has been proposed to form a pontoon structure 

 at a distance from the land, on board of which public telephones 

 should be placed for use by the shipping in communicating with 

 the land. 



The credit for the French mission for the Venus transit has 

 been recently voted by both Houses of Parliament, and amounts 

 to 18,000/. 



The Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies proposes 

 to the House to spend a sum of 3680/. for microscopical inspec- 

 tion of bacon and other meat liable to be infected w ith trichina;. 

 A special tax will be imposed on such goods for that purpose. 

 There is a decided tendency to make the microscope an instru- 

 ment of common use in the hands of the French administration. 



The conditions of habitability of Mars are discussed by 

 M. Flammarion in the August issue of his excellent new journal, 

 V Astronomic. With S. Schiaparelli (who describes his recent 

 observations in the same number), he accounts for the striking 

 variability of geographical configuration of the planet by sup- 

 posed alternate inundations and dessication of water, due to 



