March lo, 1881J 



NA TURE 



439 



construction is so simple that if accidentally broken any 

 watchmaker can repair it. Ttie smoked paper on which 

 the pulse is recorded runs through the instrument in ten 

 seconds, so that the number of the beats per minute can 

 be reckoned by multiplying the pulse-tracings on the paper 

 by six. The patient's name, the date, the disease, the pres- 

 sure of the spring, and some conventional sign to indicate 

 his position when the tracing was made, may be written on 

 the marked paper with any sharp-pointed instrument, 

 such as a pin or a toothpick, and tlie whole permanently 

 fi.'ced by dipping the paper in some quickly-drying varnish, 

 such as is used by photographers. In this way a series 

 of pulse-tracings taken during the course of the disease 

 may be preserved for future study and comparison. 



Dr. Dudgeon's pocket sphygmograph is manufactured 

 by Mr. John Ganter, 19, Crawford Street, W. The wood- 

 cut represents its actual size. 



NOTES 

 We understand that the fifth volume of the Catalogue of 

 Birds in the British Museum will shortly be published. Ac- 

 cording to tlie classification followed in this work the families to 

 be described will be the Thrushes and Warblers, and the volume 

 will be written by Mr. Henry Seebohm, whose co-operation Dr. 

 GUnther has been fortunate in obtaining. Mr. Seebohm has 

 devoted a close study of several years to these families of birds, 

 and may now be considered the best living authority on the 

 subject. 



M. Fl.\m.marion, the author of several works in popular 

 astronomy, has been made a Knight of the Legion d'Honneur. 

 Admiral Mouchez, director of the Paris Observatory, has con- 

 sented to act as his parrain, and to hand over to him the star 

 and ribbon. This liberal determination has created some 

 sensation in the French astronomical •\\orld. The work of 

 transformation of the Observatory will begin very shortly, all 

 the legal difficulties having been solved. The area of the 

 establishment is now 30,000 square metres. The magnetical 

 instruments will be placed in the deep trenches separating the 

 old ground from the newly an-.ie.xed buildings. 



We regret to have to announce the death of M. Eugene 

 Cortambert, author of a number of geographical works, honorary 

 president of the Geographical Society of Paris, and head of the 

 geographical department in the National Library. 



About a year ago Admiral Mouchez asked for a credit of 

 4000 francs per year in order to publish a monthly astronomical 

 review. M. Jules Ferry refused the grant, but a similar review 

 is now being published at Brussels under the name Ckl et Terre. 

 It appears twice a month, and is devoted to meteorology and 

 astronomy. 



Although our Government has declared the interest which 

 it takes in the forthcoming International Exhibition of Elec- 

 tricity at Paris, still it sees no necessity for appointing a Special 

 Commissioner to take measures with regard to the participation 

 of British subjects in the Exhibition which is to open in Paris 

 on August I next in the Champs Elysees Palace. The French 

 Government is nevertheless disposed to welcome all British sub- 

 jects wishing to participate in the Exhibition. M. Berger, the 

 Commissaire-General, has placed himself unreservedly at the 

 disposal of intending exhibitors to afford every information and 

 assistance. He would be thankful if they would fill up and 

 retu-rn to his address the printed form of demand of admis- 

 sion which accompanies the copy of the general regulations. 

 English exhibitors will be placed in every respect on the same 

 footing as French exhibitor?. \l. Berger will form a special 

 section for the group of English exhibitors, and requests that 

 all demands be forwarded within the briefest delay possible. 

 The Exhibition rooms and dependencies will he considered 



as real Custom-house stores) so that all the articles sent there 

 shall be exempt from the duties to which they would otherwise 

 have been liable. The French railway companies have con- 

 sented to an abatement of 50 per cent, on the ordinary rates of 

 transport, whether by fast or by slow trains, for all packages or 

 boxes forwarded to the Exhibition Hall, and bearing the official 

 labels. The Postmaster-General has been authorised by the 

 British Government to exhibit in the name of the latter. 



A COMMITTEE has been formed at Dijon for erecting a statue 

 to Carnot, the celebrated French geometer and politician, who 

 was born in Nolay, a small country town of Burgundy, in 1753. 

 The youngest son of Carnot is now living, one of the members of 

 Senate, and his grandson is M. Sadi Carnot, the present 

 Minister of Public Works. The other son of Carnot died fifty 

 years ago, after having written a small essay, " Sur la Puissance 

 motive du feu." M. Carnot's brother has just published a new 

 edition of this work, with a number of essays, mostly unpublished, 

 by the same author, and a history of his life. 



At the conclusion of the proceedings of the Quekett Micro- 

 scopical Club on February 25 occasion was taken to present 

 to Mr. J. E. Ingpen a memorial of the esteem in which he 

 is held and the appreciation of his services as honorary secretary 

 for the last eight years. After an able address by Dr. Matthevi'S, 

 setting forth the reasons which had led to this movement on the 

 part of the members, and short speeches by Dr. Cobbold, Mr. 

 Crisp, and Mr. Michael, Mr. T. C. White handed to Mr. Ingpen 

 a beautifully illuminated and framed memorial, together with a 

 valuable microscope by Zeiss and a handsome silver tea-service, 

 which were accepted and acknowledged amidst hearty demon- 

 strations of good feeling on the part of the meeting. The 

 attendance of members was unusually large, and in the course 

 of the evening telegrams were received from Dr. M. C. Cooke 

 and Mr. Henry Lee, expressing their regret at unavoidable 

 absence. 



At the ordinary meeting of the Meteorological Society, to be 

 held at 25 Great George Street, Westminster, on Wednesday, 

 the l6th inst., at 7 p.m., there will be an exhibition of instru- 

 ments, consisting of various kinds of hygrometers and of such 

 new instruments as have been brought out since January I, 1880. 

 During the evening the President will give a historical sketch o 

 the different classes of hygrometers, and will also describe such 

 forms as are exhibited. 



The to'.vn of Casamicciola, in the Island of Ischia, has been 

 almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake. More than 200 

 houses have been thrown down, and many others are so much 

 damaged as to be uninhabitable. The number of persons thus 

 far ascertained to have been killed is 104, and very many more 

 have been injured. The total number of victims is estimated at 

 300. This dreadful catastrophe was the result of two shocks — 

 the first at half-past one in the afternoon of the 4'h inst., lasting 

 seven seconds ; the second after an interval of an hour and a 

 half. The whole upper part of the town has been destroyed. 

 The handsome Albergo delta Grande Sentinella is a mass of 

 ruins. Clefts and fissures opened in the streets 50 centimetre; in 

 width. It was at first sup losed that this disaster was connected 

 with the partial eruption of 'Vesuvius on the 3rd hist., but Prof. 

 Palmieri has stated that the seismographic instruments having 

 given no indications, he is inclined to think the catastrophe is . 

 due to some local phenomenon, possibly to a sudden sinking of 

 the ground through subterranean corrosion caused by the con- 

 tinual w-orkinT of the mineral waters. Shortly before the first 

 shock of earthquake the mineral springs were observed to be ;r. 

 a state of ebullition. Another shock was felt at midnight. 



Shocks of earthquake occurred at St. Ivan-Zelina (Hungary) 

 on February 26 at 3h. S4m., in the night of February 26-27 at 



