December 12, 1901] 



NA TURE 



135 



of this fact the college which is shoitly to be opened will have 

 for its objects the extension of general technical knowledge in 

 the Army and also the special technical training of engineer 

 officers, as well as of those officers who desire to prepare them- 

 selves there for a career in the railway, ballooning and other 

 special departments of the service. It is expected that the 

 college will be opened on October i, 1902. The ordinary 

 annual expenses are estimated at 300,000 marks. 



.\mong the lecture arrangements at the Royal Institution, 

 before Easter next year, we notice the following : — Prof. J. A. 

 Fleming, six lectures (adapted to young people) on waves and 

 ripples in water, air and xlher Dr. A. Macfadyen, six lectures 

 on the cell, its means of offence and defence, immunity ; Mr. 

 W. N. Shaw, two lectures on the temperature of the atmo- 

 sphere, its changes and their causes ; Prof. E. B. Poulton, two 

 lectureson recent researches on protective resemblances, warning 

 colours and mimicry in insects ; Dr. A. S. Murray, three lec- 

 tures on recent excavations at Delphi and in the Greek Islands ; 

 six lectures on some electrical developments, by Lord Rayleigh. 

 The Friday evening meetings will commence on January 19, 

 when Lord Rayleigh will deliver a discourse on the interference 

 of sound. 



A CIRCULAR just issued announces that the Andrew Carnegie 

 research scholarship or scholarships, of such value as may appear 

 expedient to the Council of the Iron and Steel Institute from 

 time to time, will be awarded annually, irrespective of sex or 

 nationality, on the recommendation of the Council. Candidates, 

 who must be under thirty-five years of age, must apply, on a 

 special form, before the end of March to Mr. B. H. Brough, the 

 secretary of the Institute. The object of this scheme of scholar- 

 ships is not to facilitate ordinary collegiate studies, but to enable 

 students who have passed through a college curriculum or have 

 been trained in industrial establishments to conduct researches 

 in the metallurgy of iron and steel and allied subjects, with the 

 view of aiding its advance or its application to industry. There is 

 no restriction as to the place of research which may be selected, 

 whether university, technical school or works, provided it be 

 properly equipped for the prosecution of metallurgical investi- 

 gations. The appointment to a scholarship will be for one year, 

 but the Council may at their discretion renew the scholarship 

 for a further period instead of proceeding to a new election. 

 The results of the research will be communicated to the Iron 

 and Steel Institute in the form of a paper to be submitted to 

 the annual general meeting of members, and if the Council 

 consider the paper to be of sufficient merit, the Andrew Carnegie 

 gold medal will be awarded to its author. 



The death is announced of the Rev. Hugh Alexander 

 Macpherson, of Glendale, at the early age of forty-three. Mr. 

 Macpherson was an authority on the fauna of the lake country, 

 and had published an elaborate work on the subject, " A Verte- 

 brate Fauna of Lakeland, including Cumberland and Westmor- 

 land, with Lancashire North of the Sands." He was also the 

 author of a book entitled " British Birds." 



The " Association Internationale des Botanistes," founded in 

 August at Geneva, having purchased the Bolanisches Central- 

 blatt, will continue it as the organ of the Association. It will 

 be published by Messrs. Brill, of Leyden, and the first number 

 will be issued on January i, 1902. The journal will appear 

 weekly and will contain abstracts of all important publications 

 on botanical subjects. The cooperation of a large staff of 

 highly competent special editors in various countries has been 

 secured, and the abstracts will be published in English, French 

 or German. The annual subscription of members of the 

 Association is 25^., and they will receive the journal post free. 

 NO. 1676, VOL. 65] 



Applications for membership may be made to Dr. J. P. Lotsy, 

 Oude Rijn, 33A, Leyden, Holland, who acts as the editor-in- 

 chief. A feature of the journal will also be a very full list of 

 the current publications in the science. In order to assist the 

 editor, authors of botanical publications are invited to send 

 copies of their works to him, or to the special editor in their 

 own branch, in their country. The special editors for Great 

 Britain are as follows : — -Algce, Miss Barton, British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist. ) ; Fungi, Mr. Massee, Royal Gardens, Kew ; 

 Archegoniat£E, Mr. A. Gepp, British Museum (Nat. Hist.) ; 

 Phanerogams, Mr. Daydon Jackson, 21, Cautley Avenue, 

 Clapham Common, S.W. ; Cytology, Prof. Farmer, Roy. Coll. 

 of Science, S. Kensington ; Physiology, Prof. Vines, Heading- 

 ton Hill, Oxford ; Morphology, Dr. W. H. Lang, University, 

 Glasgow ; Palaeontology, Prof. Scott, Old Palace, Richmond, 

 Surrey. 



A NEW form of stereoscopic fluoroscope, worked out by Mr. 

 E. W. Caldwell, is described by him in the New York Elec- 

 trical Review for November 16. The method employed is the 

 same as that first brought forward by Dr. McKenzie Davidson, 

 but some modifications are introduced which, it is said, make it 

 more easy to operate. Instead of using two different tubes as 

 the sources of Rontgen rays, a single tube is used into which 

 two antikathodes are sealed. The tube is excited by an 

 alternating current by connecting it to the secondary coil of a 

 transformer the primary of which is connected to the street 

 mains through a Caldwell liquid interrupter ; when a direct- 

 current supply only is available, a small rotary converter is used 

 to give an alternating current. The antikathodes are thus 

 alternately sources of Rontgen rays, and the shadows these cast 

 on the fluoroscope screen are viewed through a rotating shutter 

 which only allows the right eye to see the shadow from one 

 antikathode and the left eye that from the other. The shutter 

 is rotated by a synchronous motor supplied from the same 

 source of current as the X-ray tube. The speed of rotation is 

 such that 7200 shadows are cast per minute, 3600 of which are 

 visible to the right eye of the observer and the alternate 3600 to 

 his left eye ; the result is that the radiograph is seen as a con- 

 tinuous image showing the shape and space relations of the 

 object examined. The fluoroscope screen and rotating shutter, 

 with its motor, are mounted together in a portable form in order 

 that in surgical cases they may be conveniently adjusted to suit 

 the case of the patient. 



The Royal Meteorological Society has published in its 

 Quarterly /ournal an account of the bequest made to it by Mr. 

 G. J. Symons of such of his books, pamphlets, maps and photo- 

 graphs, copies of which were not already possessed by the 

 Society, and exclusive of works specially relating to rainfall. 

 As a result, some 6200 books and pamphlets and 900 photographs 

 have passed into the library of the Society, including some 

 valuable works on rainfall to which Mr. H. Sowerby Wallis 

 generously yielded his prior claim. In addition, Mr. Symons 

 bequeathed to the Society various medals, .Sic., and a sum of 

 200/., which has been utilised in providing accommodation for 

 this valuable legacy. Mr. Symons's library was almost entirely 

 meteorological ; many of the volumes were exceedingly scarce and 

 of very early date, and he endeavoured to procure a copy of each 

 edition published. Nine of the works belong to the fifteenth 

 century, 128 to the sixteenth and 214 to the seventeenth cen- 

 turies. One of the earliest daily records of weather kept in 

 London (166S-1689) is contained in a work entitled " Nauticum 

 Astrologicum : or the Astrological Seaman," by John Gadbury 

 (London, 1710). Another early record in London is " A Meteor- 

 ological Journal kept in Paternoster Row" (1786-1792), by \V. 

 Bent. Mr. .Symons's note is, " Excessively scarce. I never saw 

 or heard of another copy." A later publication, carrying the 



