228 



NATURE 



[January 9, 1902 



suits both the object and the image of the cross ; also by 

 cutting divided scales on the diaphragm glass, useful 

 estimates may be made of both distance and windage. 



In an experiment made on a gun-sight, kindly lent to 

 the writer of this article by Sir Howard C.rubb, good 

 shooting was made on a white target when it was dusk, 

 and an ordinary fore-sight could not be seen, by illumin- 

 ating the cross, by a minute reflected side-light, entirely 

 shielded from view from the locality of the target. This 

 form of gun-sight could thus be used, in certain cir- 

 cumstances, long after the ordinary fore-sight had become 

 invisible. 



A very small diminution of light coming from the ob- 

 ject is produced by the deposit of galena on the mirror, 

 but it is so minute, that it practically causes no incon- 

 venience to the marksman when aiming a rifle at a 

 distant object. 



NOTES. 

 Prof. Albert Gauury has been elected vice-president of 

 the Paris Academy of Sciences for the year iqo2. 



THESymons Gold Medal of the Royal Meteorological Society 

 will be presented to Dr. A. Buchan, F. R.S. , at the annual 

 meeting of the Society to be held on Wednesday, January 1 5. 



We regret to see that Prof. Virchow met with an accident 

 on Saturday evening while alighting from an electric tramway 

 car in Berlin. The injuries are described as a wrench to the 

 hip joint and various contusions on the legs, in consequence of 

 which Prof. Virchow will for a long time be confined to his 

 room. 



The Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses have decided 

 to adopt wireless telegraphy as a means of establishing com- 

 munication between the mainland and certain of their light- 

 houses. The first installation will be at the Flannan Islands, 

 which are situated about sixteen miles outside the west coast of 

 Lewis. The installation, which will be made in conjunction 

 with Lloyd's shipping agency, will be on the Marconi system. 



The New York Elcctrital Revicxv for December 21, 1901, 

 contains some interesting particulars concerning Mr. Marconi's 

 recent success in transmitting signals across the Atlantic by 

 wireless telegraphy. It appears thai before leaving England 

 Mr. Marconi made arrangements for having the letter *'S'' 

 signalled repeatedly at frequent intervals for three hours daily 

 from his transmitting station at Poldhu. The power of the 

 transmitting arrangements in Cornwall had been increased con- 

 siderably since Mr. Marconi had succeeded in bridging a 

 distance of 200 miles. At .St. John's there was only a tem- 

 porary station, the aerial wire being suspended from a kite at 

 an altitude of about 400 feet. The transmitting and receiving 

 arrangements were carefully tuned, the receiver being of a new 

 type recently developed. On December 14 a succession of 

 *' S's '' was received with unmistakable distinctness, and a 

 similar series was received on the next day, but this time not 

 quite so distinctly. Mr. Marconi attributes the variability 

 partly to fluctuations in the height of the kite, bad weather 

 prevailing at the time, and partly to the fact that the receiver 

 had to be extremely sensitive and required constant adjustment. 

 The erection of a permanent station in America and the increase 

 in the power of the transmitters should remedy these two 

 defects. It is now almost exactly 150 years since Franklin's 

 classical experiment with a kite, which now, therefore, figures 

 for a second time as important in the history of electrical 

 development. 



The following news from Baron Toll's Arctic Expedition was 

 received by the chief of the Central Meteorological Observatory 

 at St. Petersburg, in a telegram, dated Yakutsk, December 4 17: — 

 NO. 1680, VOL. 65] 



"On September 1 1/24 caught by winter in Nerpichiya Bay, 75° 22' 

 N. and 137" 16' (E. longitude). From November I have opened 

 meteorological station, with hourly observations. All right, all 

 well. Sending greetings to Central Observatory. Zarya, 

 Octoljer 25 (November 7), 1901." It will be remembered that 

 the expedition started last summer on board the steamer Zarya 

 with the intention of wintering somewhere on the Arctic coast 

 of Siberia, so as to begin in the spring the exploration of the 

 New Siberia Islands. 



The Russian newspapers publish the following oflicial tele- 

 gram, dated Yakutsk, December 28 : — "The expedition which 

 was sent out by the Academy of Sciences, under the zoologist 

 llert?, to examine the mammoth remains discovered in the 

 district of Kolymsk, has reached Sredne Kolymsk, after a very 

 difiicult journey, bringing the mammoth with it. The animal 

 was a male and apparently middle-aged. Its skeleton and skin 

 have been preserved nearly intact. The tail was short and 

 covered with long hair. In the stomach, between the teeth and 

 on the tongue, remains of undigested food were found. The 

 different parts of the mammoth have been conveyed to St. 

 Petersburg in a frozen condition." 



The eleventh Congress of Russian Naturalists and Physicians 

 was opened at St. Petersburg on January 2 by the Grand Duke 

 Alexander of Oldenburg. The number of people anxious to 

 take part in the Congress was very large, more than 3250 mem- 

 bers' tickets having been taken on the day of opening. The 

 Minister of Public Instruction has given a sum of 500/. to 

 defray the expenses of the Congress, and both the Municipality 

 of St. Petersburg and the University have contributed large sums 

 for the same purpose. At the first general meet ing of the Congress, 

 the president (Prof. Menschutkin) spoke about the foundation of 

 a Russian Association for the Advancement of Science, which 

 would hold regular congresses every year. This proposal was 

 accepted by a congress held eleven years ago ; but the Ministry 

 of Public Instruction was hostile to the idea, and only now the 

 new Minister, Cieneral \'annovsky, has agreed not to oppose it. 

 At the same general meeting Prof. S. M. Lukianoff delivered 

 an address on the limits of cytological research under normal 

 and pathological conditions, in which he endeavoured to estab- 

 lish the limits of psycho-physiology ; and Prof. X. A. Umoff 

 delivered a brilliant address on a physico-mechanical model of 

 living matter. 



Three pleasure cruises have been arranged by our con- 

 temporary the Keviie ghi^rale del Sciences to take place this 

 year. At Easter there will be an excursion to Greece and the 

 Greek Isles, in charge of M. C. Homolle, director of the French 

 School at Athens, and M. G. Fougeres, of the University of 

 Paris. At the end of September there will be a trip to Syria 

 and Palestine, directed by M. C. Diehl, and in November an 

 excursion will be made to Egypt, up to the second cataract, 

 under the direction of a well-qualified Egyptologist. 



On Tuesday, next, January 14, Prof. A. Macfadyen will 

 deliver at the Royal Institution the first of a course of six 

 lectures on " The Cell, its means of Offence and Defence, 

 Immunity." On Thursday, January 16, Dr. A. S. Murray 

 will begin a course of three lectures on " Recent Excavations 

 at Delphi and in the Greek Islands." The Friday evening 

 discourse on January 17 will be delivered by Lord Rayleigh, 

 his subject being "Interference of Sound." On January 24 

 Mr. II. G. Wells will give a discourse on "The Discovery of 

 the Future," and on January 31 Prof. A. Crum Brown one on 

 the " Ions of Electrolysis." 



The Decimal Association has sent us a list of 172 members 

 of Parliament who have notified their approval of the compulsory 

 adoption of the metric system of weights and measures into Great 



