^52 



NATURE 



\yuly 15, 1880 



The death is announced, at the age of fifty-seven years, 

 of 'Dr. Karl Neumann, professor of history and geography in 

 the University of Breslau ; his name is well known to students of 

 historical geography. 



At the file in Paris yesterday the electric light played a 

 prominent part. It was used to illuminate the fountains of the 

 Tuileries Gardens, the upper part of Notre Dame, the Bourse, 

 the dome of the Pantheon, Porte Saint Denis, and several other 

 public places, besides private buildings. One of the most 

 interesting experiments was that of M. Serrin from the top of 

 his house, facing the Place de la Republique, where the gas 

 companies organised an unrivalled display. M. Serrin has 

 invented an apparatus which has been already tried with great 

 success, and may be moved in any direction with an amazing 

 velocity. His powerful ray of light describes curves in space 

 visible at an immense distance. Some new forms of regulators 

 were exhibited for the first time on this occasion. The /<■?<•, 

 being national, was celebrated all over France in the 40,000 

 communes or townships of the Republic, and the electric light 

 was used in the provinces as well as in Paris. The most 

 notable display was probably at Rouen, where a group of 

 sixteen Siemens lights, of a power of about 100,000 candles, 

 was placed on the top of the spire of the Cathednal. 



The several improvements in the National Library of Paris 

 have resulted in a large increase in the number of readers. In 

 1S69, when the new hall was opened, the number of readers 

 was 24,000. who used 71,000 "volumes exclusive of the library 

 of reference. In 1S79 the number of readers was 63,000, 

 and of volumes used 230,000. It must be added that other 

 librai'ies are open to the public in Paris and largely frequented, 

 such as the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers for mechanical 

 science and physics, the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle for natural 

 history ; the Mazarin St. Genevieve, for general purposes ; 

 the Sorbonne, Ecole de Droits, IJcole de Medecine, &c., for the 

 general public, as well as for students. Readers are admitted to 

 the National Library reading hall only by tickets ; a special 

 room has been opened to the public, and is also largely fre- 

 quented. Tire present hall is only provisional, and a new one, 

 on a larger scale will be opened very shortly. 



A TKIAL has just been made on the measured mile in Stokes 

 Bay, under the superintendence of the Steam Reserve and in the 

 presence of the Controller of the Navy, of a service steam 

 pinnace propelled by the Mallory screw. This is the first appli- 

 cation of the American invention in the English service, and 

 much interest was manifested as to the results of the trial. The 

 propeller, which was fitted to a pinnace constructel specially for 

 the purpose, is capable of being turned to any angle by means 

 of' a pinion and gearing, like an ordinary rudder, with which it 

 dispenses. The boiler is stowed away under the forecastle, 

 while the cylinders are placed at the stern and act directly upon 

 the vertical shaft which turns the screw. Six runs were made 

 with the engines going ahead and tuo with the engines going 

 astern, there being scarcely half a knot's difference in the mean 

 speed realised, 8'S28 knots being obtained while going ahead 

 with 339 revolutions, and 8"45i knots going astern with 340 

 revolutions. The engines were reversed from full speed ahead 

 to full speed astern in ten seconds. But the most remarkable 

 results were obtained in turning, the little craft showing such 

 remarkable handiness that it not only turned in its own length, 

 42 feet, but was put by Col. Mallory through the movements of 

 a^QuadriUe, chaining, setting to partners, and galloping to places. 

 She made a circle to starboard in thirty-six seconds, and without 

 stopping, made a second circle to port, thus completing the 

 figure S in thirty-seven seconds. The trial was deemed satisfac- 

 tory, but the vibration at the stern was so great that the after 

 part of boats fitted with the Mallory propeller will require to be 

 specially strengthened. 



Through the kindness of General Myer we have received 

 some further details concerning the extraordinary memory 

 credited to the man in charge of the hat room at the Fifth Avenue 

 Hotel, New York, referred to in N.\ture, vol. xxi. p. 562. He 

 is an Irish- American about tliirty years of age, Gilmartin by 

 name, and has occupied his present position about a year. His 

 sole duty consists in looking after hats during meal hours. The 

 fact of his possessing a remarkable memory is indisputable, but 

 still he is not looked upon as 'a prodigy by the hotel officials. 

 They state that a Tommy Hart, now dead, who figured con- 

 spicuously in the "Stokes trial," %vas for a long time in charge 

 of their hat-room, [^and was this man's superior as regards 

 memory, and cited other instances of men now employed in 

 different hotels throughout the countiy whom they consider his 

 equals. It is very evident, however, that he possesses a 

 wonderful talent for selecting the right hats, and mistakes are 

 rare with him. 



The suggestion made by A. Martin with regard to radiometers 

 (BritisJi Journal of Photography, July 9, p. 312) is a very obvious 

 one, and has been made dozens of times. We believe that soon 

 after Mr. Crookes commenced working with Becquerel's lumi- 

 nous sulphides he tried to get a radiometer to move by means 

 of the light given out by these bodies after insolation. He used 

 them painted on one side of the vanes of a radiometer, and also 

 as luminous screens outside the radiometer to act on the darkened 

 vanes, but it was all to no purpose. The light evolved was too 

 faint to have any effect. It is just possible that if a room were 

 entirely coated internally with Balmain's luminous paint and 

 excited by sunlight or burning magnesium, a radiometer might 

 revolve in it for a short time, but even this is not likely to occur. 

 The most sensitive radiometer wiU not turn to a candle more 

 than twelve feet off, and the torsion-balance photometer will only 

 just move to a candle thirty feet off; yet the illumination given 

 by a candle at this distance is far greater than any we have seen 

 produced by the luminous sulphides. 



Further accounts of the earthquake in Switzerland on 

 Sunday week prove it to have been one of the most severe and 

 widespread which has happened in Switzerland for several years. 

 It was felt in the Central and Pennine Alps, at Berne, Zurich, 

 Payerne, Andermatt, on the Lake of Lucerne, in the Bernese 

 Oberland, in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud, and doubtless in 

 Savoy. The principal seat of disturbance was in the Valais, in 

 the neighbourhood of Visp and Brieg. In both places the shock 

 was preceded and accompanied by aerial noises and underground 

 detonations. The time of its occurrence is variously stated at 

 9.20 and 9.30 a.m., and the direction of the movement, so far as 

 can be made out, was from south to north. At Leukerbad the 

 shock is said to have been accompanied by subterranean thunder. 

 Further east, in the neighbourhood of Geneva and Lausanne, the 

 oscillation was perceptible only in the upper rooms of houses 

 near the Lal;e. 



An occurrence, %vhich may be partially or wholly attributable 

 to the mde shakings which Switzerland has recently undergone, 

 is reported by the Times Geneva correspondent from Quarten, 

 in the canton of St. Gall. A short time ago the people of the 

 neiglibourhood noticed signs of uneasiness about the Sehnebel- 

 berg. The summit of the mountain appeared to be in a very 

 lirecarious position, and it was feared that it might slip down 

 and overwhelm the Schnebelwald, an extensive wood in the 

 valley below. In anticipation of a possible catastrophe, great 

 efforts were made to cut down and carry away as many trees as 

 possible, though the men engaged in the work wrought at the 

 peril of their lives. On Sunday fortnight, when fortunately 

 there was nobody in the wood, a deafening report, like the firing 

 of hea\7 artillery, Tesounded [through the valley, and the moun- 

 tain was hidden from view by a thick cloud of dust. When it 



