Dec. 25, 1873J 



NA TURE 



IS: 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Jounial of the Fninldin Lislilalc, November 1S73.— In 

 this number Mr. Richards, mechanical engineer, communicates 

 the first part of a treatise on " The Principles of Shop Manipu- 

 lation for Engineering Apprentices ;" the points dealt with being 

 these : plans of studying (and here he advocates the order, first, 

 machine functions, next, p?ans or adaptations of machines, 

 third, construction of machines), nature of mechanical engineer- 

 ing, engineering as a calling, and the conditions of apprentice- 

 ship. — Dr. Coollcy, in a lecture-extract, shows how convection 

 may be usefully applied in detection of heat. He has an instru- 

 ment somewhat like a Coulomb electrometer; in a glass case, a 

 thin glass tube with black pith ball at one end is suspended hori- 

 zontally by a sillc fibre over a graduated disc. A heated body is 

 introduced near the ball, which immediately swings towards it ; 

 while a cold body will repel the ball ; these effects being due to 

 air currents. The experiments Dr. Coolley makes, shov/ that 

 this forms a very sensitive thermoscope. — An account is furnifhed 

 of tlie Cleveland Waterworks Tunnel, just completed, and which 

 is similar to the one at Chicago. The shore section and l.-.ke 

 section were carried on simultaneously, 40 ft. to 70 ft. below the 

 bottom of the lake ; the starting-points being a mile and a quarter 

 apart. The work was soniewhat disturbed by quic]c?ands, l)Ut 

 tlie sections met on an exact level. The capacity of the tunnel 

 ii 60 to 70 million gallons daily ; though the average daily con- 

 sumption is at present only about 5 million gallons. — A new 

 process is described for utilising coal waste. The inventor uses, 

 as a cement, only yellow clay with some milk of lime, but no 

 bituminous or resinous matter ; merely waterproofing the surface 

 with a solution of rosin. From first to last no handling is 

 required ; and the lumps are delivered, in shape and size like 

 hen's eggs. The process is highly commended. — We find notes 

 on American machinery abroad, friction of screw propellers in 

 water, &c., and, among other novelties of construction described, 

 a planing bar, a compound beam engine, an antifriction journal, 

 an irrigating machine, and a new optical toy (Prof. Dolbear). 



Annalcn dcr Chanie mid P/mrmacic. Band 169, Heft i, u. 2. 

 —We notice that in this number Liebig's name disappears from 

 the list of editors, and the title is changed to Justus Liebig's An- 

 valen dcr Chemie mid Fhannacic. The following papers are pub- 

 lislied :— Hubner and Post on the constitution of bromtoluol in 

 relation to its hydrogen atoms. The authors give a collection of 

 minor papers by various authors, dealing with the substitution 

 of different hydrogen atoms in the formula by various radicles. — 

 On the estimation of nitrogen, by S. W. Johnson. The author 

 finds that a mixture of sulphate or carbonate of sodium with 

 slaked lime can be employed instead of the soda-lime usually 

 used in Varrentrapp's and Will's processes. The mixture, when 

 heated, of course, yields sodic hydrate and sulphate or carbonate 

 of calcium. Experiments made with such mixtures are de- 

 scribed.— On thenitro derivatives of naphthalin, by F. Beilstein 

 and A. Kuhlberg. The mono-, di-, and tri-nitro compounds are 

 described. — Onatacamite, by E. Ludwig. The author proposes 

 some alteration in the ideas of the constitution of this mineral 

 advocated by Rammelsberg and others, his suggestions being 

 based upon the way in which the substance gives up its water 

 at different temperatures ; he also makes some suggestions as to 

 formula of brochantite.— On the action of sulphocarbonyl chlo- 

 ride on amidogen compounds, by B. Rathke and P. Schiifer. — 

 Note on a po'ljacetone, by W. Heintz. — On the production of 

 talanin by means of potassic cyanide, and on a byproduct of the 

 reaction by W. Ileintz. The author gives details of the prepara- 

 tion of alanin, the by product is lactyt-urea.— On the constitution 

 of natural silicates, by Dr. K. Haushofer, is a lengthy paper 

 dealing with the probable constitutional and graphic formula: of 

 these bodies.— On the polyolenes and on the change of ethylene 

 into ethyl alcohol, by W. Goriainow and A. Butlerow.— On 

 protein substance?, by H. Hlasiwetz and J. Habermann. — On 

 the compounds of the camphor group, by J. Kachler. Th.e 

 author describes pimelinic acid, CrHjoOi, and many of its salts. 

 — On the isomers of amylene obtained from the amylic alcohol 

 of fermentation, by F. Flavitzky.— On the synthesis of anthra- 

 cene and dimethyl-anthracene, by W. A. van Dorp.— On cceru- 

 lignon and its derivatives, by C. Lieberman. The author re- 

 gards cocrulignon as a quinone.— On pentabrom resorcin and 

 pentabromorcin, by C. Lieberman and A. Dittler.— The number 

 concludes with an abstract from M. L. d'Henry's late paper in 

 the Comptes h\iidiis, on the use of the sodium flame for observing 

 litmus tints in alkalimetry. 



Verhandlungat- der k. k. qeologischcn Rcichsanstalt. Nos. I 

 to 6. {1873.) Amongst many other papers o( interest contained 

 in these numbers of the Proceedings we note the following : — 

 On the occurrence of a new genus and new species of palm seed- 

 vessel [LepidocaryoJ'sis Wcstplialeni) in the cretaceous sandstone 

 of Kaunitz in Bohemia, by D. Stur. — Notices of the earthquake 

 at Vienna on the 3rd January, by Dr. G. Stache. — Hugo Rittler's 

 sketches of the rothliegende in the environs of Rossitz, by D. 

 Stur. — On the analogies of the three carboniferous resins, anthra- 

 cox, middletonite, and tasmanite, and their probalile origin, by 

 O. Feistmantel. — On the geological position and distribution of 

 the silicified woods in Bohemia, by the same author. — The usual 

 literary notices and other matters^ accompany each part of the 

 Proceedings. 



Ocean Highways, December. This number commences with 

 an appreciative memoir of the late Sir Robert Maclure. An ar- 

 ticle entitled " The Straits of Magellan" contains some very 

 interesting information concerning the little knovni region in that 

 quarter of the world, and what has been done recently for the 

 settlement of the mainland-cosst of the straits. The paper 

 recomm.ends to emigrants Sandy Point, the Chilian settlement 

 at which most of the steamers touch on their way to and from 

 the West Coast, and which " is admirably situated on Eiomswick 

 Peninsula, nearly on the line of demarcation between the dense 

 forests which cover the whole western end of the .Straits, and 

 the naked, rolling Pampas, which spread uninterruptedly north- 

 ward to the very shores of the river folate." — H. H. Giglio sends 

 a letter, with some remarks from Dr. Beccari, on the latter's 

 Exploration of Papuasia. Three small maps of parts of New- 

 Guinea illustrate the discoveries of BeccAri, D'Albertis, Moresby, 

 Cerruti, and Meyer. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, Dec. ir. — "On the Action of Heat on 

 Gravitating Masses," by William Crookes, F.R.S. 



The experiments recorded in this paper have arisen from ob- 

 servations made when using the vacuum-balance, described by 

 the author in his paper " On the Atomic Weight of Thallium," * 

 for weighing substances which were of a higher temperature than 

 the surrounding air and the weights. There appeared to be a 

 diminution of the force of gravitation, and e.xperiments were in- 

 stituted to render the action more sensible, and to eliminate 

 sources of error. 



After discussing the explanations which may be given of these 

 actions, and showing that they cannot be due to air-currents, the 

 author refers to evidences of this repulsive action of heat, and 

 attractive action of cold, in nature. In that portion of the sun's 

 radiation which is called heat, we have the radial repulsive force 

 possessing successive propagation required to explain the pheno- 

 mena of comets and the shape and changes of the nebulae. To 

 compare small things with great (to argue from pieces of straw 

 up to heavenly bodies), it is not improbable that the attraction 

 now shown to exist between a cold and a warm body will equally 

 prevail when, for the temperature of melting ice is substituted 

 the cold of space, for a pith ball a celestial sphere, and for an 

 artificial vacuum a stellar void. In the radiant molecular energy 

 of cosmical masses may at last be found that " agent acting con- 

 stantly according to certain laws," which Newton held to be the 

 cause of gravity. 



Dec. iS. — "On Double Refraction in a Viscous Fluid in 

 motion," by Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell, F.R.S. 



According to Poisson's t theory of the internal friction of 

 fluids, a viscous fluid behaves as an elastic solid would do if it 

 were periodically liquefied for an instant and solidified again, so 

 that at each fresh start it becomes for the moment like an elastic 

 solid free from strain. The state of strain of certain transparent 

 bodies may be investigated by means of their action on polarised 

 light. This action was observed by Brewster, and was shown 

 by Fresnel to be an instance of double refraction. 



In 1866 I made some attempts to ascertain whether the state 

 of strain in a viscous fluid in motion could be detected by its 

 action on polarised light. I had a cylindrical box with a glass 

 bottom. Within this box a solid cylinder could be made to ro- 

 tate. The fluid to be examined was placed in the annular space 



• Phil. Trans. T872. 



t Journ.-il de I'EcoIe Polytechnique, tome; 



. cah. XX (1829). 



