June 25, 1896] 



NA TURE 



do not exceed ;^30 a year. In the case of scholars proceeding 

 to the old universities a contribution of ^30 per annum is made 

 by the Board towards the college and university tuition fees. 

 Candidates must be resident within the administrative County 

 of London, and must send in applications to the Secretary of the 

 Board, at 13 Spring Gardens, on or before Monday, June 29, on 

 forms which can be obtained on application. Last year the 

 Board awarded several exhibitions of smaller value to specially 

 deserving candidates in addition to appointing five County 

 Scholars. Hitherto the selection of the scholars has been based 

 upon the record of their past achievements and testimonials 

 received from their teachers or others qualified to judge of their 

 capabilities. These scholarships are restricted to candidates 

 whose parents are in receipt of not more than £\oo per 

 annum. 



The Hartley Institutional Southampton has not developed so 

 much as it might have done since it was established, owing to a 

 divided management and limited finances, but it has now entered 

 upon a brighter part of its career, and we confidently expect to 

 learn of rapid and vigorous growth in the near future. The 

 Secretary of the Institution has retired on a pension, and the 

 Town Council of Southampton have decided to grant a farthing 

 rate for one year to the Hartley Council. The action of the 

 Borough Council in giving rate aid in support of technical and 

 scientific education, in addition to the whole of the residue under 

 the Customs and Excise Act, shows that the friends of educa- 

 tional advancement upon the Council are strong enough to make 

 headway in spite of contrary breezes. Dr. R. W. Stewart, the 

 Principal, is now free to develop his well-laid schemes for 

 extending and improving the work of the Hartley Institution, 

 and there is every reason for believing that under his whole 

 management, and with the increased resources now available, 

 the Institution will extend in the right direction, while at the 

 same time the position of Southampton as an educational centre 

 will be advanced. The objects of the proposed reorganisation 

 are, first, the extension of the evening technical classes, and, 

 second, a complete change in the work of the day classes. The 

 extension of the evening classes will take place mainly in im- 

 proving and extending the trade and commercial classes, and in 

 providing classes for teachers. It was to make these changes that a 

 farthing rate was solicited. The help was asked not to relieve the 

 Hartley Council of any present financial embarrassment, but to 

 enable them to carry out a scheme of educational reform which 

 must ultimately be of the greatest benefit to the town and 

 neighbourhood. A few of the reasons which showed the neces- 

 sity for reorganising the educational work of the Institution may 

 be specified. The Institution is already provided with buildings, 

 and during the last five years the accommodation and equipment 

 had been greatly improved by the provision of new lecture-rooms, 

 a chemical laboratory, a physical laboratory, and engineering 

 and other workshops. All this would be practically wasted and 

 lost to the town unless supplemented by the appointment of a 

 properly qualified teaching staff, able to utilise and develop the 

 resources of the Institution to the utmost. The income of the 

 Institution — about £i']ya — was not quite enough to meet the 

 general working expenses and to provide a staff of this kind; but 

 with the grant now made by the Tosvn Council a much more 

 eflicient return will be obtained. The development of the In- 

 stitution on the lines suggested will enable students to obtain an 

 education of university rank, and to proceed to a degree in arts, 

 or science, or law, at the Uinversity of London, by attending a 

 three years' course at the day classes of the Institution in their 

 own town. Lecturers are to be appointed in mathematics, 

 biology and geology, English and classics, French and German, 

 at a salary of ;^ 150 per annum each. This is something for 

 Southampton to be proud of, and we trust that the policy which 

 has inaugurated the new epoch in the educational history of 

 the town will permanently represent the feeling of the Borough 

 Council. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, June. — On the colour relations 

 of atoms, ions, and molecules, by M. Carey Lea. Part II. If a 

 coloured substance be formed by the union of a colourless kation 

 with a colourless anion, the colour belongs to the molecule only. 

 Consequently, if we find a solvent which, like water, is capable 

 of seiarating the ions, the resultant solution when dilute must 

 be colourless, no matter how intense the colour of the com- 



NO. 1391, VOL. 54] 



pound. Experiments confirm this law without exception. 

 Antimony pentasulphide, a strongly coloured compound, is a 

 case in point. When dissolved in an alkaline sulphide, the ions 

 of antimony and sulphur, themselves colourless, separate suffi- 

 ciently to no longer change each other's vibration periods. They 

 still, however, remain within the sphere of mutual influence. 

 The union of coloured and colourless ions gives rise to the most 

 surprising changes of colour. Two similar coloured ions may 

 unite to form a colourless element. Two similar colourless ions 

 may unite to form a strongly-coloured element. No black ion is 

 known. There is absolutely no relation traceable between the 

 colour of an ion and that of the element which it aids to form.— 

 The gravimetric determination of selenium, by A. W. Peirce. 

 The usual method used in the gravimetric determination of 

 selenious acid, that of precipitating the selenium with sul- 

 phurous acid in presence of hydrochloric acid, is slow and in- 

 complete. The author substitutes potassium iodide for the 

 sulphurous acid. To avoid obtaining the selenium in the pasty 

 condition when large quantities are present, the potassium iodide 

 should be considerably in excess of the amount necessary for 

 precipitation.— The extinct Fclidic of North America, by G. I. 

 .'Vdams. This is an attempt to give a genera! account of this 

 family, to summarise the literature on the subject, and to work 

 out a comprehensive classification. The paper is accompanied 

 by three admirable plates. — The age of the igneous rocks of the 

 Yellowstone National Park, by Arnold Hague. The pouring 

 out of igneous rocks began with the post- Laramie uplift, or 

 closely followed it, and from the time of the first appearance of 

 these rocks, volcanic eruptions continued throughout Tertiary 

 time.— Researches on the Rontgen rays, by Alfred M. Mayer. 

 Herapathite, an iodosulphate of quinine, the most powerfully 

 polarising substance known, is incapable of polarising X-rays. 

 The actinic effect of X-rays varies inversely as the square of the 

 distance of the sensitive plate from the radiant source. — On the 

 Pithecanthropus erectus, from the Tertiary of Tava, by O. C. 

 Marsh. It may be taken as established that the remains of this 

 "missing link" at present known are of Pliocene age. The 

 tooth, skull, and femur found belonged to the same individual. 

 This individual was not human, but represented a form inter- 

 mediate between man and the higher apes. 



Wicdemamis Annaleii der Physik und Cheinie, No. 5. — 

 Anomalous electric dispersion of liquids, by P. Drude. Short 

 electric waves (of 70 cm wave-length in air) are more strongly 

 damped in alcohol, and especially in glycerine, than in water or 

 in aqueous solutions. Theoretically, the damping should 

 increase with the conductivity. But these badly conducting 

 bodies are found to damp electric waves as effectually as a 5 per 

 cent, solution of copper sulphate, which is 6ocx3 times more con- 

 ducting. This is not the only anomaly exhibited by ethyl and 

 amyl alcohol, glycerine, and acetic acid. They also show 

 anomalous dispersion for rapid electric oscillations, i.e. a 

 decrease of the electric index of refraction with increasing 

 frequency. Further, the specific inductive capacities are greater 

 than the squares of the electric indices of refraction. Water, 

 methyl alcohol, and benzol show no such anomalies, and ether 

 only shows anomalous absorption. — Thermo-couples of amalgams 

 and electrolytes, by A. Hagenbach. These were prepared by 

 connecting two beakers filled with an amalgam by means of an 

 M -shaped siphon filled with an aqueous solution of a salt of the 

 same metal, the ends of the siphon being closed by a membrane. 

 The amalgams were enclosed in water baths, and could be 

 heated simultaneously or alternately. The only metals suitable 

 for accurate measurements were cadmium and lead. Theory 

 demands that as the salt solutions are diluted the thermo-electric 

 forces .shall increase. This law was found to fail with the 

 divalent elements named. A couple, consisting of cadmium 

 amalgam and cadmium chloride or nitrate, showed a steady 

 diminution of the thermo-electric force as dilution increased from 

 O'l to O'oooi of the normal. — Contributions to the knowledge 

 of fluorescence, by G. C. Schmidt. The author maintains that 

 all bodies are capable of fluorescence if dissolved in suitable 

 solvents. The most favourable form in which a substance may 

 occur is that of a " solid solution." Aniline dyes may be made 

 to fluoresce by solution in sugar, gelatine, hippuric acid, quinine 

 bisulphate, and other substances. The colour of fluorescence is 

 often nearly independent of the .solvent. — Theoretical investiga- 

 tions concerning light, by P. Glan. The author calculates the 

 absorption of various substances for a certain kind of ultra- 

 violet light from their thermal conductivities and refractive 

 indices, and shows that muscle, horn, wood, bone, cork, paper, 



