Nov, 10, 1870] 
NATURE 
ad 

i - Amonc the mass of correspondence which has recently reached 
_ M5 are several interesting letters on early notices of the Aurora, 
for some of which we hope to find room next week. 
We rejeice to see several men of science, with Professor 
Huxley at their head, coming forward as candidates for the 
London School Board. We shall be glad to be informed if this 
_ example is followed elsewhere. 
We read in the Zcho that the Electric Telegraph has been 
_ put to a new use in Canada. At Mimouski, when the late 
7 earthquake came upon them, they sent at once to Quebec, a 
distance of 200 miles, to ask, ‘‘ How do you feel?” While the 
4 operator there was at his work the shock arrived. He at once 
_ sent to Montreal, about 200 miles further on, to ask if they had 
_ felt it. They had just time to say ‘‘ No” before the earthquake 
came up. 
‘THE new buildings of the Glasgow University were formally 
opened on Monday last. The proceedings were conducted 
_ within the Hunterian Museum. The Duke of Montrose, Chan- 
_ vellor of the University, presided, and congratulated the principal 
professors upon the success which had attended their efforts, and 
that they had lived to see the opening day of the new University. 
‘Phe merchants of Glasgow had made princely fortunes, which 
“Was treditable to their talents*and their industry ; but it was 
Still more creditable to them that they had made such a use of 
theif riches as to enable this noble building to be erected for the 
- €ducation of the rising generation. After Prof. Lushington had 
delivered an address, Mr. A. Orr Ewing, M.P., stated that 
fiom subscriptions and from Government 254,c00/, had been 
- pltained, and 117,000/. had been received for the ground upon 
E which the old college stood. Everything in connection with the 
mew building was paid. Of the 150,000/. in public subserip- 
- tions, Glasgow had given nearly all. The various classes met 
wn Tuesday. 
WE believe that Mr. W. Spottiswoode will succeed the late 
Dr. W. A. Miller as Treasurer of the Royal Society. 
ON the isth inst., Dr. Grey will read a paper at the Statis- 
tical Society ‘On the Claims ef Science to Public Recognition 
aod Support.” We are glad that the attention of such a power- 
fal body as the Statistical Society is to be so authoritatively 
; drawn to Such an important subject. 






"Pik Polytechnic School of Ziirich has been siddenly deprived 
Ot itS themical teachers. In addition to the death of Prof. 
- Boley, which we have already recorded, Prof. Hiideler, giving 
Way to the demands of failing health, has relinquished his chair 
‘of Pure Chemistry. 
ff was recently determined to erect a statue to Prot. Morse, 
“Which bears his name, and for this purpose subscriptions were 
wpened inthe States. The full amount has been very speedily 
Snyscribed, and the erection of a marble statue is to be at once 
fteceeded with. It is to stand inthe Central Park, New York, a 
 Stitable position having been willingly granted by the Com- 
4x ssioners. 
Ir is a question of some interest and curiosity how to com- 
“pare the forces of steam and gunpowder. The following cal- 
culation, each step of which can be easily followed, may 
_ therefore be acceptable to our readers. The force exerted by an 
‘‘xploding charge of powder in a gun requires for its calculation 
_ ‘two considerations, 7/z. the ameunt of force given to the shot, 
@hd the time in which that force is imparted. Taking as our 
example tle 300-pounder Woolwich gun, the first element of 
_ the calculation is as follows :—One steam horse lifts 33,000lb. 
_ one foot_in_one minute, or 550lb. in one second, The 3o00lb. 
a 
‘the emiirent American electrician and inventor of the telegraph | 

shot leaves the muzzle of the gun at the rate of 1,300 feet per 
second, Let 4 represent the force in horse-power in the shot, 
then, by the well-known equations /7=1 m7, and m=“, 
£ 
H x 550= oe x (I,300)* = ee 1,690,000, H/ = 14,403°409 
8 
The force, 7.e. the work in the shot, is therefore measured 
by 14,403'409 horse power. ‘That is, it would require that 
amount of horse power acting for the space of one second 
to give to a 300lb. shot the velocity with which it is driven 
from the gun by the explosion of the charge (43lb. of gun- 
powder). But this is done by the powder during that minute 
portion of a second in which the shot moves down the 
bore of the gun. The results of Captain Noble’s chronoseope 
make it appear that this time is somewhat Jess than one two- 
hundredth part of a second. The force exerted by the powder 
must, therefore, be 14,403°409 x 200: that is 2,880,681°8 horse 
pewer. Some comparatively small considerations, as the friction 
of the shot in the gun, are neglected in this calculation. It 
does not, therefore, err in excess, and is sufficient to give some 
idea of the enormous force exerted. Nor is it uniformly exerted 
throughout the whole time of*the shot’s movement in the gun, 
nor does the caleulation above made necessarily give the greatest 
intensity of action. This much we may state, that at some 
txstant during the 200th part of a second in the case taken, the 
force of the expanding gas was to be measured by nearly three 
million horse power. 
THE unpublished manuscripts left by the late Sir James Simp- 
son on the important subject of Hospitalism have been confided 
to the care of Mr. Lawson Tait, of Birmingham, for completion 
and editing. 
In addition to the outbreak ot the long-quiescent volcano ot 
Tongariro in New Zealand, to which we lately called attention, 
we hear from American sources that ‘‘a volcano, near San 
Rafael Valley, Lower California, which has been in a dormant 
state for years, has commenced a violent eruption, emitting 
columns of smoke and scattering ashes and cinders for miles 
around its base. St. Diego telegrams say it is plainly visible 
from there.” 
Tur islands in the Sea of Okotsch, off the north-east coast ot 
Asia, are being visited by ships in search of seals. A vessel 
recently arrived at San Francisco from Jones Island, between 
lat, §2° and §3° and long. 145° and 146°, with 11,500 seal-skins 
on board, and another vessel with a still larger cargo is expected. 
This island is half a mile in circumference, and is uninhabited, 
and is remarkable for the great abundance of seals. 
CONSIDERING the many uses to which india-rubber is now 
applied, ohe of the most important being its recognised supe- 
riority over gutta-percha for deep-sea telegraphs, and remembeting 
the fears entertained some time back of the probability of a 
decrease in the supply, owing to the exhaustion of the forests 
consequent upon the immense demand, it is gratifying to learn 
that the quantity of rubber exported from Para during the past 
year exceeded that of the previous year by 22,731 arrobas (an 
arroba is equal to about 25}1b.), and by 241,2g0/. in market 
value. It is true that the more accessible rubber districts are 
becoming exhausted, and give a smaller yield than in former years, 
but the rubber-bearing country is so extensive, and its rivers so 
incompletely explored, that the newly-discovered sources will, 
no doubt, more than make up any deficiency arising from the 
exhaustion ot the old. It is difficult, however, to obtain accurate 
or reliable information from those engaged in the collecting ot 
the rubber. The continued demand for rubber, which is col- 
lected with comparatively little labour, and requires but little 
skill and experience, absorbs all the attention of the natives over 
other products, and the constant rise in its value so stimulates its 
