NoVEMliEK 28, 1901 J 



NA rURE 



is fed continuously with sand and water, the sharp par- 

 ticles of sand gradually cutting a groove. As the groove 

 is deepened the cord must necessarily be kept applied to 

 the rock. This is effected by guiding-pulleys mounted 

 in pits sunk at the ends of the proposed cut. These 

 pulleys must be at least 20 inches in diameter, and the 

 ])its somewhat larger. For sinking these pits there are 

 employed in some Belgian quarries a rotative borer 

 composed of a steel tube cutting an annular groove. 

 The wire saw was applied at Carrara for subdividing 

 blocks of marble, but the impracticability of using the re- 

 volving cylinder or hand labour for sinking inclined pits 

 was an obstacle to its further use. The difficulty was, 

 however, overcome by Mr. A. Monticolo, who invented 

 an ingenious appliance which he termed a penetrating 

 pulley, with which it is possible to replace the somewhat 

 costly pit by a bore-hole 3 inches in diameter. The 

 penetrating pulley consists of a disc 20 inches in diameter 

 and 4 inch thick, with a semicircular groove round its 

 periphery deep enough to take half the thickness of the 

 wire, the other half projecting. The disc is mounted on 

 a pivot and is supported by a hollow steel shaft of slightly 

 smaller diameter than the bore-hole. To the shaft is 

 attached a series of tubes of equal diameter forming a 

 column that may be lengthened at will, in the interior of 



Sir William RobertsAustex, K.C. B., F. R.S., will 

 deliver the tenth " James Forrest " lecture at the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers on April 17, 1902, the subject being " Metal- 

 lurgy in Relation to Engineering." 



The governing committee of the Allegheny Observatory 

 has decided to erect a 30-in. reflector at that institution as a 

 memorial to the late Prof. Keeler. As it is expected that the 

 funds subscribed will exceed the estimated cost of the instru- 

 ment (2000/.), the balance will be used either to found a general 

 fellowship for the study of astrophysics, or the award of a 

 Keeler medal for work in the same field. 



The Royal Society of Public Medicine of Belgium has 

 awarded Prof Corfield, of University College, London, its 

 bronze medal in recognition of his devotion to public health 

 work. 



A SUCCESSFUL kinematograph of the Severn bore was ex- 

 hibited by Dr. Vaughan Cornish at the meeting of the Royal 

 Geographical .Society on Monday. This is, we believe, the first 

 time that the impressive movement of a tidal bore has been 

 recorded by photography and the phenomenon reproduced 

 before an audience by a series of moving pictures. 



X , helicoldal wire ; A, fixed pulley ; B, motcr 

 nding pulleys ; m, block of marble being quarried. 



which is a fine tube serving for the lubrication of the j 

 pivots. As the cut deepens the pulley is fed down auto- 

 matically by means of an eccentric. For cutting a groove, 

 two bore-holes, to receive the shafts carrying the axes of 

 the pulleys, are first made by hand or by the diamond drill. 



The pulley was first applied in March 1898 at the 

 Campanile quarry, Carrara, where cuts have been made 

 50 feet long and 16 feet deep, inclined at an angle of five 

 degrees from the horizontal. The highly satisfactory 1 

 •results obtained with the penetrating pulley serve to show ! 

 that there is a great savmg of expense by the substitu- 

 tion of bore-holes for pits, far less waste of valuable ! 

 marble, and increased rapidity of quarrying and conse- 

 quently increased output. ! 



.■\lniost simultaneously with the publication of Mr. 

 Williams' report, the Revue Gencrale des Sciences pub- 

 lished an exhaustive article by Mr. J. Boyer on the 

 present condition of the French marble industry. This 

 article is profusely illustrated and contains a large 

 amount of information relating to the use of the wire 

 saw. From this article the two illustrations accompany- ^ 

 ing this note have been borrowed. 



NOTES. 

 Dr. F. McClean and Sir John Murray, whose names were 

 included in the list of the new Council of the Royal Society 

 given in Nature of November 14, are unable to serve ; and 

 the two Fellows recommended for election in their places are 

 the Right Hon. Sir John Gorst and Prof II. II. Turner. 

 NO. 1674, VOL. 65] 



A NEW Highland meteorological station has been established 

 at Achariach in Glen Nevis, 4^ miles S.E. of the Low Level 

 Observatory at Fort William, and 2\ miles S.W. of the ob- 

 servatory on Ben Nevis. The station is about 150 feet above 

 sealevel, and the observations in the valley will be especially 

 interesting in connection with the study of descending currents 

 of cold air from the glens in the vicinity. 



The Council of the Royal Meteorological Society has de- 

 signated Dr. Alexander Buchan, F.R.S., as the first recipient of 

 the Symons gold medal in recognition of the valuable work 

 which he has done in connection with meteorological science. 

 This medal, which is to be awarded biennially, was founded in 

 memory of the late Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., the distinguished 

 meteorologist and originator of the British Rainfall Organisa- 

 tion. The medal will be presented at the annual meeting of 

 the Society on January 15, 1902. 



A Reuter telegram announces that the Gauss, with the 

 German Antarctic Expedition on board,' arrived at Cape 

 Town on Saturday morning, after being six weeks overdue. 

 .\fter leaving Hamburg on August 1 1 the Gauss touched at Las 

 I'almas, and St. Vincent Islands. Deep-sea soundings were 

 taken towards the west, but the ship did not go so far as the 

 American coast. The Gauss was under sail the whole time, and 

 the scientific observations made are said to be most satisfactory. 

 The vessel will remain at Cape Town for ten days, and will then 

 proceed to Kerguelen Island. 



