474 



NATURE 



\Oct. lo, 1872 



Cat's Toes 



At the village of Cookham-Dean, near Maidenhead, there is 

 a race of cats having more than their normal complement of toes. 

 They generally have six toes on the fore feet, and the usual num- 

 ber on the himl feet ; but I saw two individuals which had six 

 toes on each fool, and others which had seven toes on the fore 

 feet, and either five or six on the hind feet. The stock, as far as 

 I can learn from the not over-bright natives, appears to have 

 originated about seven or eight years ago in the person of a 

 " Tom " having si-x toes on each of its feet. I should think there 

 are now a score or more living in the village. 



Harpendcn, Sept. 19 R. Lydekkek 



NEW IXSTRUMENT FOR THE PRODUCTION 

 OF OZONE 



IN the American Journal of Science and Arts for 

 July 1872, Prof. A. W. Wright, of Yale College, 

 describes a simple apparatus for the production of ozone 

 with electricity of high tension, and intended for use with 

 the Holtz electrical machine. "The apparatus consists 

 of a straight glass tube about zo centimetres long and 

 having an internal diameter of 2'5 centimetres, the two 

 ends being stopped with corks covered on the inner side 

 with a thin coating of cement to protect them from the 

 action of the ozone. Through the axis of each cork is 

 inserted a glass tube of about 5 millimetres calibre, and 

 7 centimetres in length, having a branch tube inserted 

 perpendicularly at the middle, and long enough to permit 

 a rubber tube to be slipped upon it. The outer ends of 

 the tubes themselves are closely stopped with corks, 

 through i which are passed straight thick copper wires 

 carrying suitable terminals at their inner ends, and bent 

 into a ring at the others. They are fitted so as to make 

 tight joints, but to allow of motion in order to vary the 

 distance between their inner ends. One of these wires 

 carries a small ball, the other terminates in a disc with 

 rounded edge, set perpendicularly to the axis of the tube, 

 and so large as to leave an annular space of some two or 

 three millimetres breadth around it. The gas is admitted 

 through one of the branch tubes, and escapes from the 

 other after having passed through the whole length of 

 the tube. 



" In using the apparatus the wires must be connected 

 with the poles of the machine in such a manner that the 

 disc becomes the negative terminal, as this arrangement 

 gives the greatest degree of expansion and diffusiveness 

 to the current. On turning the machine, and adjusting 

 the ball and disc to a proper distance, a nebulous aigrette 

 surrounds the latter, quite filling the interval between it 

 and the wall of the tube, while the part of the tube 

 between the disc and ball is crowded with innumerable 

 hazy streams converging upon the positive pole, or simply 

 causing the latter to be covered with a faint glow. A 

 current of air or oxygen sent into the tube must pass 

 through this, and ozone is very rapidly produced, and in 

 great quantity. The condensers are of course not used 

 with the machine, when this apparatus is employed. 



" The great quantity of the ozone, as well as the ease 

 and rapidity with which it is produced, render the appa- 

 ratus especially serviceable for use in the lecture-room." 



THE FRENCH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



f F a good start in life is as serviceable for a society 

 y. as for an individual, the French Association for 

 the Advancement of Science must be considered as 

 highly fortunate. There has already appeared in NATURt; 

 a short account of its first meeting at Bordeaux, and of 



the papers read there ; but the impressions of one of its 

 invited guests may not be altogether without value or 

 interest. 



Confessedly the French was framed on the model of 

 the British Association, and doubtless there was wisdom 

 in that; but our friends across the Channel showed their 

 wisdom also in making no servile copy, but endeavouring 

 to modify our plans, so as to suit their national character 

 or special requirements. The reception-room, the card 

 of admission with a map of the town on the back, the 

 various sections in the morning, the discourses in the 

 evening, the municipal hospitality, all reminded us 

 strongly of our own meetings ; yet there were some dif- 

 ferences that could not fail to strike an English visitor. 



In the first place, it was not so popular an assembly. 

 This arose partly from its constitution. There arc two 

 kinds of membership ; there are the foundation members, 

 who have qualified by taking one or more shares of 500 

 francs each, and subscribers who pay 20 francs for the 

 meeting or a life composition. By enrolling these mem- 

 bers a large society was created with a large capital 

 before ever the first place of meeting was named. And 

 very quickly was this accomplished ; for it was only about 

 Midsummer of last year that M. Friedel talked with M. 

 Wurtz as to the best means of extending knowledge 

 through the departments of France, and it was only last 

 Midwinter that the project was nearly shipwrecked by 

 the sudden and lamentable death of M. Combes, in whose 

 rooms the first meeting had been held, and who had been 

 named the provisional president ; yet by the aid of large- 

 hearted friends, such as J\I. D'Eichthal and M. Alemer 

 (" Chocolat-Menier"), the promoters of the movement 

 were able to announce in April a sufficient capital to start 

 with, and before the meeting at Bordeaux the Association 

 numbered 700 members, and possessed i4o,ooofr. 



No provision had been made for ladies' tickets, so 

 when the meeting opened there was a sombre uniformity 

 of black coats. But the English visitors brought ladies 

 with them ; there was a learned lady, who was believed 

 to be writing for the press, and another, Madame Hureau 

 de Villeneuve, followed her husband's paper on the 

 Steam-engine by reading one of her own on the t light 

 of Birds. Encouraged by these, several other ladies 

 made their appearance, and brightened the later meetings. 



The accommodation afforded by Bordeaux was singu- 

 larly good. The brilliant concert-room of the great 

 theatre (which is historically interesting from the National 

 Assembly having been convened in it during the German 

 war) was given as the reception-room ; and all the meet- 

 ings were held in the Ecole Professionnelle, a large build- 

 ing just erected in a very substantial manner by the 

 Philomathic Society, with funds bequeathed for the pur- 

 pose. This new edifice contains a large lecture-room, 

 which served well for the general meetings, and no end of 

 good class-rooms, which accommodated the eleven sec- 

 tions into which the Association was divided. It is in- 

 tended for the instruction of the working classes of the 

 neighbourhood in the natural sciences, modern languages, 

 drawing, &c., and so the sittings of the large scientific 

 body were a good inauguration of its future work. 



The great subdivision of the sections naturally gave rise 

 to but small audiences in each. As far as I could judge, 

 the chemists and the anthropologists were in greatest 

 force ; few naturalists or geologists of eminence were 

 present. The sectional proceedings had more the charac- 

 ter of a sitting of one of our learned societies than of a 

 morning gathering at the British Association ; but besides 

 a couple of hours thus devoted to more abstruse points of 

 science, there was an afternoon sitting at which subjects 

 of more general interest were brought forward. This 

 came intermediate in character, as in time, between the 

 morning sections and the evening discourses ; and it is a 

 fair matter for consideration whether it might not be ad- 

 vantageously copied by us. 



