196 



NATURE 



[_Dec. 25, 1S79 



but connected by a pipe, is a small chamber 2\ inches long and 

 I A inch deep from back to front, standing about I inch- more 

 forward than the vessel above, and with a piece of thin, black 

 "lass in front. Inside this chamber, parallel to the front, is a 

 division which separates it into two parts. This'division does not 

 extend quite to the top of the chamber, and is slightly turned 

 over towards the front, so as to allow water to pass over it, and 

 to induce the latter to flow more directly to the centre of the 

 front of the chamber. The upper vessel is connected with the 

 bottom and back part of this chamber by a small pipe with a 

 tap to it, which is turned from the outside. The front of the 

 chamber has a pipe attached to the bottom, passing upward 

 in an inclined direction, and terminating at the outside in 

 a small lip or spont. A thermometer, with the bulb in- 

 side and over the front of the chamber, passes through an 

 india-rubber collar at the top of it, and is protected by a groove 

 funk in the face of the wooden case. The action of the instru- 

 ment is as follows :— Water, of a lower temperature than the 

 dew-point, is placed in the upper vessel, and, on the tap being 

 turned, flows into the back of the small chamber, and thence, 

 passing over the top of the middle division, flows downwards 

 cooling in its passage the thermometer and black glass, and 

 eventually escapes by the small spout on the right side of the 

 instrument. As soon as dew appears on the glass, the flow of 

 the water is stopped by means of the tap, and the temperature is 

 read off by the thermometer. When ether is used it is poured 

 into the small spout, passes down the inclined pipe, and remains 

 in the front part of the chamber. A piece of metal tube, ground 

 so as to fit tightly the inclined pipe, and with an aspirator 

 attached, is then inserted, and the dew-point is ascertained in the 

 same way as by Regnault's hygrometer.— The diurnal range of 

 atmospheric pressure, by R. Strachan, F.M.S. The author has 

 compiled a table of constants from thirty places in various parts 

 of the globe, which support Sir John Herschel's remark that 

 "the diurnal oscillation of the barometer is a phenomenon which 

 invariably makes its appearance in every part of the world where 

 the alternation of day and night exists, and that within the 

 Arctic Circle the diurnal dies out, or rather merges in, the annual 

 oscillation." — Note on a curious fracture of a solar radiation 

 thermometer, by G. M. Whipple, B.Sc, F.R.A.S.— Mr. R. H. 

 Scott, F.R.S., exhibited and described a new form of sunshine 

 recorder, which is to be used during the coming year at a con- 

 siderable number of stations distributed over England. 



Society of Telegraph Engineers.— At the annual general 

 meeting of the Society on the 10th inst., the following gentle- 

 men were elected office-bearers for the year 1880 :— Pre- 

 sident— W. H. Preece. Vice-president— Prof. Foster, F.R.S., 

 Carl Siemens, Willoughby Smith, Major Webber, R.E. Council 

 —Prof. Adams, F.R.S., W. A. Andrews, W. T. Ansell, Sir 

 Charles Bright, H. G. Ericksen, Col. Glover, R.E., Charles 

 Hockin, Prof. Hughes, Louis Loeffler, C. E. Spagnoletti, 

 Augustas Stroh, C. F. Varley, F.R.S., Members, and Alex- 

 ander J. S. Adams, Capt. Macgregor Green, R.E., and J. T. 

 Hill, Associates. Hon. Treasurer— Edward Graves. Hon. 

 Sec— Lieut.-Col. Frank Bolton. Secretary— F. H. Webb.— 

 The Annual Report of the Council stated that fifty-nine new 

 Members and Associates had been elected during the year. 

 Among the losses by death the Society had to deplore those of 

 Sir William FothergiU Cooke, Prof. Clerk Maxwell, and Mr. 

 R. S. Brough. Special mention was made of the International 

 Telegraph Conference, held in London in the summer, many of 

 the most distinguished delegates being foreign members of the 

 Society. Many valuable and interesting papers have been read 

 during the session. The printing of the "Ronalds Catalogue, 

 containing upwards of 12,000 entries, is being rapidly proceeded 

 with, nearly 400 pages have been set up in type, of which 360 

 h ve been finally corrected and struck off. The valuable library 

 equeathed to the Society by Sir Francis Ronalds, including 

 some hundreds of rare pamphlets, and constituting the most 

 important collection of works on electricity and magnetism in 

 the world, is being bound, and will shortly be available for the 

 use of the members of the Society, and all students of electrical 

 science. It was stated that steps were being taken for the in- 

 corporation of the Society, and that arrangements were in 

 contemplation for the further development of its proceedings in 

 respect to the purely scientific branch of electricity. The 

 Society would be duly represented in the deliberations, being 

 held to give effect to the proposal for the erection of a central 

 hall to accommodate all the societies established for the encourage, 

 ment of the applied sciences, towards which scheme Dr 



Siemens had offered the munificent contribution of 10,000.'. 

 The financial position of the Society is very satisfactory. — A 

 paper was read by Mr. E. Marsh Webb on the operations con- 

 nected with the laying of the new Algiers-Marseilles cable, 

 which led to an interesting discussion. 



Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, November 10. — 

 Charles Bailey, F.L.S., president, in the chair. — Additional note 

 on hydra, by Marcus M. Hartog, F.L.S. — On some undescribed 

 hairs in Copepoda, by the same. — On an undescribed Acinetan, 

 by the same. 



November iS. — J. P. Joule, F.R.S., president, in the chair. 

 — Recording sunshine, by David Winstanley, F.R.A.S. — On 

 some notices in classical authors of the action of sunlight on 

 purple dye, by James Bottomley, F. C.S. — On the origin of the 

 word chemistry, by Carl Schorlemmer, F.R.S. 



December 2. — R. Angus Smith, F.R.S., in the chair. — On a 

 peculiar feature in the water of the well in Carishrooke Castle, 

 Isle of Wight, by Harry Grimshaw, F.C.S. — Note on the 

 identity of the spectra obtained from the different allotropic 

 firms of carbon, by Arthur Schuster, F.R.S. , and H. E. 

 Roscoe, F.R.S. 



Boston, U.S.A. 



American Academy of Arts and Sciences, November 

 12. — The following papers were presented: — On the relative 

 replacability of the bromine in the three brombenzyl bromides, 

 by Prof. C. Loring Jackson.— On a new form of astro- 

 nomical level, by Prof. W. A. Rogers. This consists of a 

 mercury surface to which any surface can be brought parallel 

 by means of electrical contacts. — On orthobrombenzyl com- 

 pounds, by C. Loring Jackson and J. L. White. — On measure- 

 ments of the satellites of Mars, by Prof. E. C. Pickering. Prof. 

 Pickering described the measurements of the position angles of 

 the satellites of Mars, now in progress at the Harvard College 

 Observatory. Ins'ead of spider lines, two glass threads of such 

 a diameter that they are visible without illumination are used. 

 The settings are made accurately and rapidly by placing the lines 

 so that they shall cut off equal segments of the planet and that 

 the satellites shall be midway between them. The light of the 

 planet is reduced by a shade glass, so that it can be seen at the 

 same time as the satellite. The improvement of the method 

 more than compensates for the increased distance of Mars, so 

 that the observations are much more accordant than those taken 

 in 1877. When the outer satellite is well seen, the probable 

 error of the separate settings, compared with their mean, is less 

 than half a degree. I So settings of Deimos and 33 of Phobos 

 have already been obtained.— Prof. Hagen read a paper on the 

 destruction of insect pes's by dilute yeast.— Prof. Trowbridge 

 read by title a paper on dynamical ideas in the calculus. 



CONTENTS Page 



Indian Entomology. By R. McLachlan 173 



Mineral Deposits '74 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Fritsche's " Climate of Eastern Asia • • . '75 



Roy's " Report on the Pathological H istology of EpizoSUc Pleuro- 

 pneumonia." — Dr. E. Klein, F.R S r 75 



Letters to the Editor:— xinr-it. 



The Temperature of the Air at vanous Levels.— L. Hajnis (Irith 



Diagram) • • '7 6 



Alternative Interpretation of Sensation.— Fred D.Brown. . . 177 



Curious Incubation.— Dr. R. F. Hutchinson 177 



The Geology of the Heniy Mountains '77 



Finnic Ethnology. By A. H. Keane . ■ • • • • ■ • • • '19 

 Researches on Telephone Vibrations. By Prof. Silvanus P. 



Thompson (With Diagram) „•,•«' ' ' r ' „',^ 



On the Eocene Flora of Bournemouth. By J. Starkikl>ardner 



(With Illustrations) • ■ ■ • - • • • • I » 1 



Recent Experiments on Radiation. By Dr. Arthur Schuster, 



F R S 3 



Note on a Consolidated Beach in Ceylon. By Rev. R. Abbay 



(With Illustrations) • ■ • "p,. 



On the Potential Dimensions of Differentiated Energy, cy 



A. v. Nudeln *el 



A Tidal Probi em (With Map) "|| 



Notes . l8o 



Physical Notes 



Geographical Notes 1 • ' V, ' A„ " q" 



On the Nature of the Absorption of Gases. By Dr. 3. 



Wroblewski • ■ * • ' ' T02 



Note on Prehistoric Stations in Carniola ........ *»» 



Geology of Greece . . . ■ • • - • • • ' " 



Notes from New Zealand. By T. H. Potts . ••;;;;; |g 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies 



