1/4 



NA TURE 



[June 25, 1896 



less index of a ray of light, first overcame the difificiilty 

 and reduced the battery power required to something 

 like a fiftieth or a hundredth part of that originally em- 

 ployed. Then came the beautiful siphon-recorder with 

 its pen of lightest capillary tubing, through which the 

 ink was forced by electrical action, so that it wrote its mes- 

 sage on a ribbon of paper without actually touching the 

 paper-surface, thus avoiding in the most ingeniously simple 

 manner what for long-cable signalling would have been 

 most detrimental, the friction of the glass on the ribbon. 

 The recorder-siphon once deflected registered successive 

 signals in the same direction by small ripples drawn on 

 the mo\ing paper as from a new zero, and thus the 

 reduction to zero between two of these signals of the 

 current deflecting the coil, was rendered unnecessary. 

 The shifting zero of the siphon-recorder was made still 

 more definite m whatever position it took up by means 

 of curb-sending, which brought out clearly the individual 

 ripples of the last three signals of the letter b, the four 

 successive signals in the same direction which form the 

 letter //, and so on. 



Returning, however, to the conversazione and the part 

 played by the telegraphic instruments, we have first to 

 mention the message of congratulation which was sent 

 by the Jubilee Committee to Lord Kelvin, present in the 

 same room, round a circuit as long as about three- 

 quarters of the earth's circumference. The Anglo- 

 American Company sent the message to Heart's Content, 

 thence to New York, thence round by Chicago and San 

 Francisco back to New York, thence again to Heart's 

 Content and (Glasgow. The message was as follows : — 



By the Atlantic cable which represents your unrivalled com- 

 bination of scientific genius and practical skill, the Glasgow 

 Jubilee Committee send you their warmest congratulations. 



The interval between sending and receiving was seven 

 and a half minutes, and Lord Kelvin replied : — 



The Cable Companies have beaten Ariel by half a minute. 

 Warmest thanks to the Glasgow University Jubilee Committee. 



The reply took only four minutes. 



From Simla the Viceroy of India telegraphed : — 



I offer congratulations and desire to join with the University 

 of Glasgow in celebrating your fifty years of service. We in 

 India, thanks to your labours, constantly feel closer to friends at 

 home. 



From the capital of the Orange Free State the follow- 

 ing message was received : — 



The Tresident of the Orange Free State, in the name of 

 many Free Staters who have either directly or indirectly pro- 

 fited by Lord Kelvin's magnificent services to science, desires to 

 ofter his hearty congratulations to Lord Kelvin on the celebra- 

 tion of his professorial jubilee. 



Congratulatory telegrams were also received from Earl 

 Grey (Buluwayo), Sir James Sievewright (Cape Colony), 

 the Earl of Glasgow (Wellington, New Zealand), the 

 Postmaster-General of New Zealand, Sir John Robinson 

 (Prime Minister of Natal), the Governor of Hong Kong, 

 Lord Hampden (.Sydney), the Universities of Adelaide, 

 Madras, New Zealand, Calcutta, Santiago, the Johns 

 Hopkins University of Baltimore, and Chicago, from 

 the Indian Telegraph Department, the College of Science, 

 Poona, and old students and friends in Japan, and almost 

 all parts of the world. 



Lord Kelvin telegraphed his thanks to General Eckert, 

 the President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 

 New York, in the following terms : — 



Pray accept my sincere thanks to yourself and staff for your 

 great kindness and assistance. The messages you have trans- 

 mitted to me have given very great pleasure to the whole 

 assembly. 



The following is a list of the delegates and other 

 distinguished visitors who, besides the Lord Provost, 

 Magistrates, and Town Council, the ir.embers of the 



NO. 1 39 1. VOL. 54] 



Senatus Academicus, and the local guests invited, were 

 announced as present at the reception and throughout 

 the celebration : — 



REPRESEXT.VTIVES OF UNI\ERSITIES, SOCIETIES, 

 INSTITUTIONS, &c. 



AusTRO-HuNGARY. — Prof. Dr. Izidor Frohlich, Academy of 

 Sciences, Buda-Pest. 



Belgiiim. — Senator Montefiore Levi, of Brussels. 



Denmark. — Prof. C. Christiansen, Royal Danish Society of 

 Science, Copenhagen. 



France. — Prof. Aug. Angellier, Academy of Lille ; Prof. 

 Pinloche, Academy of Lille ; Prof. Lippmann, University of 

 France, Paris ; Prof. Henri Moissan, University of France, 

 Paris; Prof. Picard, University of France, Paris; Prof. Bonet 

 Maury, University of Paris ; Prof. Eleuthere Mascart, College 

 de France, Paris ; Prof. \'iolle, Ecole Normale Superieure, 

 Paris. 



CiERMANV. — Prof. Heinrich du Bois, University of Berlin ; 

 Prof. Georg Quincke, University of Heidelberg ; Prof. Wolde- 

 mar Voigt, Royal Society of Science, Gottingen. 



Holland. — Dr. Elie van Rijckevorrel, Batavian -Society of 

 Experimental Philosophy, Rotterdam. 



Italy.— General Annibale Ferrero, Italian Ambassador, 

 London, representing Royal Institute of Science and Letters, 

 Milan; Royal Academy of Science, Letters, and Arts, 

 Modena ; Italian Society of Science, Rome. Prof. Peter G. 

 Tait, M.A., D.Sc, Edinburgh, representing University of 

 Rome. Prof. J. J. Thomson, M.A. , F. R.S., Cambridge, 

 representing Royal Academy of Turin. 



Mexico. — George J. Symons. F.R.S., representing the 

 Antonio Alzate, Scientific Society. 



Russia. — Prof Nicholas Oumov, representing University of 

 Moscow ; Imperial Society of Friends of Natural Science, An- 

 thropology, and Ethnography, Moscow ; and Imperial Society 

 of Naturalists, Moscow. 



Sweden. — Prof. Per Theodor Cleve, University of Upsala. 



Switzerland. — Mons. Lucien de CandoUe, Societe des 

 Arts, Geneva. 



United States of America. — Prof. Joseph .S. Ames, 

 Ph. D, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore ; James C. Thomas, 

 M. D. , Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore ; Prof. Cushney, 

 University of ^Iichigan ; Prof. Robert M. Wenley, M.A. , 

 D.Phil., University of Michigan ; Prof. G. F. Barker, M.D., 

 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia ; Mr. Samuel Dickson, 

 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia ; Prof Woodrosv 

 Wilson, Princeton University, New Jersey ; Prof. \'an Am- 

 ringe, Columbia College, New York ; Mr. T. C. Martin, 

 National Electric Light Association, New York ; Right Hon. 

 Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., representing American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, Boston ; General Wistar, Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; Dr. J. Cheston Morris, Philo- 

 sophical Society, Philadelphia. 

 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, THE COLONIES, 

 AND INDI.\. 



Canada.— Sir D. A. Smith, K.C.M.G., LL.D., M'Gill 

 University, Montreal; Principal Peterson, ISl'Gill University, 

 Montreal ; Mr. James Ross, Canadian Society of Civil 

 Engineers, Montreal. 



India. — Mr. Justice Jardine, I.C.S., Bombay University; 

 Ghanasham N. Nadkarin, LL.B., Bombay University; Prof. J. 

 H. Gilliland, M.A., Calcutta University. 



New SofTH Wales. — Prof. Liversidge, M.A., F.R.S., 

 University of Sydney. 



UNITED KINGDOM. 

 I. Universities. 



ENGLAND. 



Cambridge University.— Prof. A. R. Forsyth, D.Sc, F.R.S. ; 

 Prof Sir George G. Stokes, LL.D., F.R.S. ; Prof. J. J. Thomson, 

 M.A., F.R.S. 



Durham University. — Rev. Principal Gurney, D.C.L. ; Dr. 

 Merz. 



London University. — Prof. Carey Foster, F.R.S. ; Sir Henry 

 E. Roscoe, F.R.S. 



Manchester — Victoria University. — Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, 

 D.Sc, F.R.S. ; Principal A. W. Ward, Litt.D., LL.D. 



Oxford University.— Prof. Clifton, F.R.S. ; D. B. Monro, 

 M.A. ; Provost of Oriel College ; Prof. Burdon Sanderson, 

 F.R.S. 



