March 4, 1880] 



NATURE 



42 r 



bases his claims to the existence of the new element. 

 The characteristic properties thus far noted are the fol- 

 lowing : — When fused with phosphor salt, its compounds 

 yield in the oxidising flame a reddish or brownish 

 yellow be id. and in the reducing flame a green bead. 

 The alkaline vesbiates arc soluble in water. The com- 

 pounds with the other bases are soluble in acids, but 

 insoluble in water — with the solitary exception of the 

 manganese salt. The zinc salt is green, the silver 

 salt is of a reddish yellow. The acid solutions of 

 the iron and aluminium salts arc green. Addition 

 of sulphuretted hydrogen causes a flo;culent brown 

 precipitate, while the liquid assumes a deep azure blue 

 hue — one of the most distinctive properties of the 

 acid. The yellow vesbiate of potassium when fused, 

 turns black, and if then cooled is insoluble. If on the 

 contrary the temperature is further elevated, the fused 

 mass becomes transparent and is soluble on cooling. 

 The analysis of the silver salt showed it to contain 47'S8 

 per cent, of vesbic acid. This would give 105 '29 as the 

 equivalent weight of vesbic acid, and an atomic weight of 

 about 130 or 162, according to the amount of oxygen in 

 combination. 



In view of tbe small quantity of but three grammes of 

 vesbic acid which Prof. Scacchi has thus far succeeded in 

 isolating, he very prudently desists from making any 

 definite claims with regard to the certainty of the exi: tence 

 of vesbium, until he has obtained quantities sufficient to 

 insure purity in the compounds and exactness in the 

 analytical results. 



Thus far it appears allied to vanadium or molybdenum, 

 although not responding to the special tests of these 

 metals. A more accurate determination of the atomic 

 weight will also show whether it can fill the gaps in the 

 groups containing these metals according to Mendeleefi's 

 classification. T. H. Norton" 



PRIZES OF THE PARIS ACADEMY OF 

 SCIENCES 



A T the annual meeting on March I, the Academy of 

 ■**■ Sciences distributed a large number of prizes, 

 besides the extraordinary prize awarded to Mr. Crookes 

 for the " Ensemble de ses Experiences." The Poncelet 

 prize has been granted to M. Moutard, Professor at the 

 Polytechnic School, for his works in analysis ; the Dal- 

 mont prize to M. Collignon, Engineer of the Ponts et 

 Chaussc'es, for similar services rendered to mechanics. 

 M. Collignon is the author of a treatise on rational 

 mechanics, containing not less than five large 8vo 

 volumes. The Lalande prize was granted to Mr. Peters, 

 the well-known astronomer of Clinton, for the discovery 



three small planets, eighteen of them discovered 

 in 1879. M. Trouvelot, the French astronomer who was 

 banished in 1S51, and settled in the United States, took 

 the Valz prize for his descriptive designs of Mars, Jupiter, 

 and Saturn, which are exhibited in the large hall of the 

 Paris) ib ervatory. M.Trouvelot's observations onjupiter's 

 spots were considered as deserving of special mention. 

 The Lacaze prize for physics was awarded to M. Leroux, 

 Professor to the School of Pharmacy for his researches on 

 vapours, on chronographs, magneto-electric machines, 



polar induction. The Lacaze prize for chemistry 

 was granted to M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran for his discovery 

 of gallium 



A large number of the questions proposed for solution 

 by the commissions of the Academy, have been left un- 

 solved and unrewarded, such as the Plumey prize for 

 improvements in steam navigation, the great prize of 

 mechanics for any invention tending to enlarge the 

 efficiency of French men-of-war, the Damoiseau prize for a 

 revision of the theory of Jupiter's satellites, the Vaillant 

 prize for improvements in phonetic telegraphy, the 

 Breant prize (4,000/.) for a remedy against choleraic 

 infection, and others. 



It is alleged that the failure of these competitions is 

 caused by the too narrow limits imposed on the competi- 

 tors, and the want of interest felt by the learned public in 

 the proposed subjects. It may be noticed that the practice 

 of rewarding men of science for the whole of their work 

 is gradually gaining ground. Mr. Crookes's prize, an 

 " extraordinary " one, was proclaimed after all the 

 others. 



One of the most important functions of the Academy 

 of Sciences is the distribution of these annual prizes, the 

 number of which is considerable — not less than thirty- 

 one, whose aggregate value is about 10,000/., exclusive 

 of the Breant prize for cholera (4,000/.). Four of these 

 prizes are paid out of public money, others from sums 

 bequeathed by individuals whose number is yearly in- 

 creasing. Generally these sums are vested in the funds, 

 and the interest is employed in granting prizes, some- 

 times yearly, sometimes every two or three or four years. 

 Some of the prizes to be delivered in 18S0 are an exception 

 to the rule, and the money is to be given at once if any one 

 be found deserving it, according to the verdict of the 

 Academical Commission. 



The sitting was opened by an address delivered by M. 

 Daubree, and after the proclamation of the prizes, M. Ber- 

 trand, Perpetual Secretary, read the iloge of M. Belgrand, 

 a free Academician, who died recently, fie was engineer of 

 the Ponts et Chaussc'es, and the head of the water service in 

 the city of Paris. It was M. Belgrand who superintended 

 the construction of the aqueduct, which from an immense 

 distance brings within the fortifications of Paris an 

 inexhaustible supply of pure spring water. In prefacing 

 his address M. Bertrand remarked that the number of 

 departed academicians who, from 1 656 up to 1880 had not 

 had the advantage of having their Moge pronounced by the 

 Perpetual Secretary, amounts to seventy-two, amongst 

 whom are Napoleon I., Mho was a member of the section 

 of Mechanics, Leon Foucault, and Arago ! 



ARTIFICIAL DIAMONDS 



AN unusually large audience gathered at the Royal 

 Society last Thursday to hear Mr. Hannay's account 

 of his artificial diamonds. 



The President, after inviting discussion of the paper 

 by Messrs. Hannay and Hogarth, observed that probably 

 the large audience had assembled more especially in 

 consequence of the general interest attaching to the next 

 paper on the artificial formation of the diamond, and he 

 felt that the valuable investigation just detailed showed 

 Mr. Hannay to be a person worthy of attention when he 

 claimed to have made even so startling a discovery as 

 that on the face of this next communic ition. With 

 regard to this the President observed that the attitude of 

 science was always sceptical, and the Society would need 

 ample proof that the metamorphosis of carbon into 

 diamond had been really effected. But when once it has 

 been proved, even with regard to the most microscopic 

 particle, the scepticism of scientific men would cease for 

 ever. And he reminded the Society that the present was 

 only a preliminary notice dealing with the statement that 

 headed it, and that a more complete memoir detailing 

 the process would be eagerly expected by the Fellows of 

 the Royal Society. 



The following paper by Mr. Hannay was then' read by 

 Prof. Stokes : — 



While pursuing my researches into the solubility of 

 solids in gases, I noticed that many bodies, such as 

 silica, alumina, and oxide of zinc, which are insoluble 

 in water at ordinary temperatures, dissolve to a very 

 considerable extent when treated with water-gas at a very 

 higli pressure. It occurred to me that a solvent might be 

 found for carbon ; and as gaseous solution nearly always 

 yields crystalline solid on withdrawing the solvent or 

 lowering its solvent power, it seemed probable that the 



