April 2?,, 1S87J 



NA TURE 



613 



and, instead of the small quantities of material used by other 

 experimenters, prepared upwards of half a kilogramme of this 

 substance by passing bromine vapour over a heated mixture of 

 pure silicon dioxide and charcoal. The product was rectified 

 in an atmosphere of nitrogen, and portions for analysis were 

 collected in bulbs without exposure to air ; these bulbs were 

 then broken in bottles containing pure water, and in each case 

 the resulting turbid liquid was very slowly evaporated to com- 

 plete dryness, the relation of the weight of silicon dioxide 

 obtained to that of the tetrabromideused forming the basis of the 

 calculations. The result of this long and difficult series of 

 analyses fixes the atomic weight of silicon as 28'332. The 

 instability of the salts of gold has long been a stumbling-block 

 in the way of obtaining accurate determinations of its atomic 

 weight, but Prof. Thorpe and Mr. A. P. Laurie havi overcome 

 this difficulty by utilising the double bromide of gold and 

 potassium, which they prepared by digesting together pure gold, 

 bromine, potassium bromide, and water, the salt being after- 

 wards subjected to several recrystallisations. An unknown 

 quantity of the pure salt was then carefully ignited, and the 

 mixture thus obtained, of potassium bromide and gold, weighed ; 

 after removal of the potassium bromide by washing, the weight 

 of residual gold obtained in each analysis famished data from 

 which one set of values averaging I95'876 was obtained. The 

 bromine in the potassium bronide as determined by titration 

 with silver nitrate gave a second averaging I96'837, and the 

 weight of silver bromide formed yielded a third series of 

 numbers, averaging I96'S42. Taking Stas's'value for oxygen 

 at 1 5 '96 the atomic weight of gold is fixed by these analyses at 

 I96'85 ; but if, along with Mendelejefif, we consider oxygen 16, 

 then gold becomes I97'28, and it is interesting to note that 

 Mendelejeflf considered the old value, 196 '2, to be too low, 

 there being no place in the periodic system for an element of 

 this atomic weight having the properties of gold. Hence the 

 result of the present determination has been to place gold in its 

 proper position in the periodic claisification. Prof. Krliss 

 has just published {Ber. D.'ut. Ckem. Ges. No. 2, 1887) the 

 results of a determination of the atomic weight of gold recently 

 made by him, according to which the probable value is I96'64. 

 The method employed, however, was slightly different from the 

 above, a weighed quantity of the double bromide itself being 

 used as the basis of a portion of the anilyses. 



In a paper on Electric Locomotion, read before the Society of 

 Arts on the 20th inst., Mr. Reckenzaun pointed out that in the 

 United States and on the European continent there are dozens of 

 electric tramways at work to the satisfaction of everybody, while 

 we have few opportunities of testing their advantages in England. 

 Vet England is "the home of the dynamo-machine, the country 

 where the electromotor has found its highest development." 

 We have been outstripped in this matter chiefly because an Act 

 of Parliament must be obtained before electric cars can be run, 

 and every company has to apply for it separately. 



The other day M. Emile Riviere discovered a prehistoric 

 station in the wood of Chaville, to the right of the Versailles 

 road, in a part where there are comparatively few trees. Some 

 flint implements and weapons were found, and a fragment of 

 coarse pottery without ornament. 



At the February meeting of the Pekin 0-iental Society, Mr- 

 Owen read a paper on animal worship amongst the Chinese. 

 He referred at considerable length to the worship paid to the 

 fox, weasel, hedgehog, and snake, to which at Tientsin is adled 

 the rat. The first four are called the immortals. These deified 

 animals seem to usurp the entire attention of the people, even to 

 the exclusion of the Buddhist and Taoist gods. Dr. Edkins 

 quoted from the Chinese to prove that animal worship was 

 unknown in ancient times, while Dr. Dudgeon pointed out that 



it was a mistake to suppose that animal worship was confined to 

 the four animals mentioned. The horse, cow, dog, insects, 

 dragon, lion, &c., are worshipped. In the fifth month the 

 centipede, lizard, scorpion, frog, and snake — the five poisonous 

 animals, as they are called — a-e also objects of worship. Dr. 

 Martin disputed Dr. Edkin's theory that animal worship was- 

 unknown in ancient times because it was not mentioned by 

 Confucius ; he (Dr. Martin) believed '_that it existed to a much 

 greater extent in ancient than in modern times. From the 

 observations of other speakers it is clear that animal worship- 

 occupies a very large place in Chinese superstitious observances. 



There was an interesting Geographical Exhibition in con- 

 nexion with the meeting of the Deutsche Geographentag at Carls- 

 ruhe on the 13th inst. An historical department showed the 

 development of cartography, all the exhibits being from Baden 

 and Wiirtemberg. Water-colour sketches by the well-known 

 African traveller Paul Reichard, and some fine oil sketches by 

 the painter Hellgreve, who was sent to East Africa by the 

 Artists' Club at Berlin, were exhibited. In the plant depart- 

 ment were shown cotton plants found growing wild in Togo- 

 land, wild coffee and sugar-cane from Cameroons, and tobacco 

 and various seeds from the ga-dens of the German East African 

 Society. 



An interesting case of "colour-hearing " was recently reported 

 to a meeting of the Societe de Psychologic Physiologique. In this 

 case, colour hearing was an liereditary peculiarity, transmitted 

 from father to daughter. 



The third volume of the "Grande Encyclopedia " has just been 

 published It is expected that thirty volumes will probably be 

 required to complete this great work. Each volume conusts of 

 1200 quarto pages in two columns, printed in small type. 



Everyone who takes an interest in zoology is probably- 

 acquainted with the "Zoological Record," which consists of an 

 annual volume containing a summary of the work done in the 

 various branches of zoology. It was begun in 1865, and for the 

 first six years was published by Mr. Van Voorst. For the last 

 sixteen years it has been carried on by an Association of zoolo- 

 gists called the "Zoological Record" Association, who have 

 received assistance in the shape of grants froiii the Government 

 Fund of the Royal Society, the British Association, and the 

 Zoological Society of London. The "Zoological Record" 

 Association, having been lately unsuccessful in obtaining the 

 continuance of some of these grants, and being unwilling to carry 

 on the publication of the " Record " any longer, have agreed, 

 upon certain conditions, to transfer their whole stock to the 

 Zoological Society of London, who, for the future, have deter- 

 mined to carry on this most useful publication. The " Zoologi- 

 cal Record " will, therefore, beginning with the volume for the 

 present year (which will contain the record of the zoological 

 literature of 1886), be published by the Zoological Society of 

 London, under the management of a Committee of the Council 

 of that Society, and will be edited by Mr. F. E. Beddard, the 

 Society's Prosector. The " Record " will be published for the 

 Society by Messrs. Gur.iey and Jackson at the former price of 

 30.t. per volume. But all members of the Society will have the 

 privilege of receiving it, including the cost of delivery, at a sub- 

 scription price of 20,r. per annum. This subscription will be due 

 on luly I in every year, and the privilege of subscription will be 

 forfeited unless the amount be paid before December 1 following. 

 The Zoological Society, having purchased the entire stock ot 

 the " Zoological Record," are now able to supply complete sets 

 of the first twenty-two volumes at the price of 5/. 10s., that is 

 5^. per volume. Volumes of any single year can likewise be 

 supplied at' 10.;. per volume. Learned Societies and Institutions 

 and members of the former "Zoological Record" Associatiork 



