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NATURE 



[Jan. 8, 1880 



indicating gains or losses, in accordance with the nature of the 

 rectangle to which it belongs. The game is played with eighteen 

 flags corresponding to the principal States of the world, from 

 China, the most populous, down to Holland, the least populous. 

 A brass slip, from pole to pole, contains eighteen holes, into which 

 the flags are successively placed by the players at each revolu- 

 tion, commencing at the south pole and moving northwards. 

 The gains and losses correspond with the nature of the facts 

 indicated in the space above which a flag may stand when the 

 globe stops revolving. Thus London counts thirty, Paris twenty, 

 and so on, according to population. A coal-mine, a Manchester 

 cotton factory, a grain centre, all count for gains ; while meeting 

 a Zulu or a lion in Africa, a storm in Atlantic or Pacific, a 

 crocodile in the Nile, being caught in the Polar ice, &c, cunt 

 for losses. Thus it will be seen, the new game is calculated to 

 afford considerable excitement as well as instruction. 



Dr. B. W. Richardson has been re-elected Assessor of the 

 University Council of St. Andrew's University. This will be 

 Dr. Richardson's third term of office. 



We last week referred to the new appointment to the Registrar- 

 General hip and the resignation of Dr. Farr. The following is 

 Dr. Farr's dignified and temperate letter to Major Graham, 

 the retiring Registrar-General :— " December 23.— Sir,— Having 

 now heard from you that Sir Brydges Henniker is to be the new 

 Registrar-General, and thus having lost all chance of being your 

 successor, I shall be glad if the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury 

 will allow me to resign my appointment, and will grant me 

 superannuation allowance to the extent of my full pay. I have 

 served under you nearly forty years, I have taken with you three 

 censuses, and I feel confident that I can leave my case in your 

 hands.— (Signed) William Farr." The Government has possibly 

 a complete justification to give for the appointment of Sir 

 Brydges Henniker ; if so, they should lose no time in making it 

 public, as their treatment of Dr. Farr has roused universal 

 indignation. 



Mr. Edison publishes through the columns of the New York 

 Herald, an elaborate and detailed account of his labours with 

 his new form of electric lighting. Minutely describing the 

 course of his studies, Mr. Edison says that he has made the 

 discovery that the carbon framework of a small piece of paper is 

 the best substance for incandescent lighting. A piece of card- 

 board, known in the trade as " Bristol," is cut, with a - . 

 punch, into strips in the form of miniature horseshoes, about 

 2 inches long, and one-eighth wide. A number of these strips 

 are placed in a wrought-iron mould, separated from each other 

 by tissue paper. The mould, after being well covered, is placed 

 in an oven, where it is gradually exposed to a temperature of 

 about Geo F., so as to allow the volatile portions of the paper 

 to pass away. The mould is then removed to a furnace, kept 

 there till it retains almost a white heat, and subsequently allowed 

 gradually to cool down. On opening the mould, the charred 

 remains of the cardboard must be taken out with great care, in 

 order to prevent them from falling to pieces. They are placed 

 in a small globe and attached to the wires connecting the 

 generating machine. The next thing is to extract the air, by 

 means of the pump, from the globe ; that being accomplished, 

 the globe is sealed, and the lamp is ready for u-e. It should be 

 observed that the new lamp requires no complex regulating 

 apparatus, such as characterised the earlier efforts. In fact, Mr. 

 Edison finds that all previous labour in regard to regulators was 

 practically wasted, and furthermore, that electricity can be 

 regulated with absolute reliability in a manner precisely similar 

 to that in which the pressure of gas is now produced. The 

 system now adopted by Mr. Edison in connecting the wire s 

 admits of a given number of lights being extinguished without 

 affecting those of other burners. In the same way as we would 



shut a certain number of gas burners and permit others to draw 

 a supply from the meter, the electric light can be obtained or 

 shut out. From the description now given it appears that the 

 apparatus primarily used by Mr. Edison was in the shape of a 

 large tuning-fork, constructed in a manner that both ends would 

 vibrate when placed near the poles of the great magnet- 

 Experience has demonstrated the impracticability of that appa- 

 ratus, and it became necessary to search for other means. One 

 experiment was made after another, which had the tendency to 

 lead gradually to the adoption of the system now employed in 

 the generating machine, and which Mr. Edison terms the 

 Faradaic machine. It is briefly described thus : — Two up- 

 right iron columns 3 feet in height, and 8 inches in diameter, 

 covered with coarse wire and resting upon a base, form the 

 magnetic poles. Fixed on an angle, so as to admit a free 

 revolution between the poles, is a cylindrical armature of wood, 

 wound parallel to its axes with fine iron wire. This cylinder is 

 made to revolve rapidly between the magnetic poles, and by 

 means of a belt, driven by an engine, strong currents of electri- 

 city are generated in the wire surrounding the armature, and 

 these currents are carried along the wires to the electric lamp. 



A change has taken place in the French Ministry, and M. 

 Freycinet, the Minister of Public Works, has been created Prime 

 Minister by the President of the Republic. M. Varoy and General 

 Farre, two pupils of the Polytechnic School, have been appointed 

 to the Department of Public Works and War Office. It is 

 known that M. Freycinet was educated in the same institution, 

 which has never, since 'it" was created in 1798, given at once 

 so many Ministers to France. 



In the Annual Report of the Royal Botanical Garden at 

 Calcutta for the year 1878-79, Dr. King confirms the opinion he 

 has expressed in former reports regarding the unsuitabillty of the 

 Para rubber plants for acclimatisation in some parts of India. 

 He acknowledges that plants may be coaxed into growing in 

 conservatories, but considers the species far too thoroughly 

 tropical to withstand without protection the vicissitudes of the 

 climate of Northern India. He says, " I believe it is useless to 

 try it anywhere in India except in the south of Burmah or the 

 Andamans, or perhaps in Malabar. Contrary to the experience 

 with Tara rubber, the Ceara Kin.-! (Manihot glaxumii) promises 

 well, and if the quality of rubber yielded by it in India proves 

 to be good, its introduction will no doubt turn out of much im- 

 portance. Seeds of a species of Lanaolpliia yielding African 

 rubber have been received at Calcutta from Zanzibar. Dr. King 

 reports upon them as not looking very promising, but thought 

 possibly some of them might grow. Seeds of the mahogany tree 

 have been received at Calcutta in large quantities, and a large 

 number of seedlings have been distributed. The cultivation of 

 this valuable timber tree has been taken up by the Forest Depart- 

 ment in the Government Plantation near Chittagong. Large 

 quantities, also, of the seed and seedlings of the Pitheeolobium 

 soman, or rain-tree, have been distributed ; and as the plant 

 grows rapidly and seems to flower and seed freely, it may prove 

 a valuable introduction to India. 



The annuil prize of 25,000 francs (1,000/.), given by the 

 King of the Belgians for works of a scientific character, is now 

 offered for the year 1SS1. It will be awarded to the author of 

 the best work on the means of improving sea-ports situated upon 

 low and sandy coasts, such as the Belgian ports. Foreigners as 

 well as Belgian subjects may compete, as the competition is an 

 international one. The works must be sent to the " Ministere 

 de l'lnterieur," at Brussels, before January I next. The prize 

 will be awarded by a jury composed of four foreigners and three 

 Belgians, all of whom are nominated by his Majesty. 



A prize is offered by the Governor of the Prussian province 

 of Saxony for the best text-book of natural science and agricul- 



