274 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 922 



making of line cuts; of half-tones, including 

 duplex half tones, and the three and four- 

 color processes; of heliotype, photogravure, 

 and intaglio prints. Especial advice is given 

 on the technical points involved in the prep- 

 aration of good originals designed for these 

 different processes. 



The National Bureau of Standards is about 

 to issue a circular entitled " State and Muni- 

 cipal Eegulations for the Quality, Distribu- 

 tion and Testing of Illuminating Gas." This 

 circular (133 pages, uniform in style with 

 other bureau circulars) has been prepared 

 after conference and correspondence with a 

 large number of gas engineers and inspectors; 

 and it represents, as nearly as possible, the 

 average opinion of many men active in the 

 field of gas manufacture and gas testing. 

 Part I. of the circular gives a summary of the 

 municipal gas ordinances now operative, pre- 

 sents a general discussion of municipal gas 

 requirements, and proposes an ordinance 

 largely compiled from the best ordinance re- 

 quirements now in force. Part III. quotes a 

 few ordinances typical of those recently en- 

 acted and gives the main portions of state gas 

 laws now in force affecting gas quality, pres- 

 sure and meter accuracy. The circular does 

 not concern itself with financial regulation of 

 gas companies nor does it include any discus- 

 sion of the comparative value of various meth- 

 ods of works management. It deals mainly 

 with the candlepower, heating value, purity 

 and pressure of the gas and gas meter testing. 

 The present publication has grown out of the 

 investigation of the methods and standards 

 employed in gas photometry and gas calorim- 

 etry, undertaken by the bureau three years 

 ago. A second circular on the methods of 

 testing employed for official inspection work 

 is now being prepared. Although it can not 

 be expected that the regulations for or meth- 

 ods of gas testing will ever be entirely uni- 

 form throughout the country, it is believed 

 that if the results of a comprehensive investi- 

 gation of the subject are published, a greater 

 uniformity of method, and in some cases more 

 accurate measurements will result. The atti- 



tude of the Bureau of Standards is entirely 

 advisory and its intention is to place in the 

 hands of the technical and general public an 

 impartial and, as nearly as may be, an accu- 

 rate summary of the facts which must be con- 

 sidered in connection with the fixing of stand- 

 ards of quality and the testing of illuminating 

 gas. Revision of the circular from time to 

 time is contemplated in order to amend the 

 recommendations as to the requirements to 

 adapt it to new developments in the gas in- 

 dustry. The circular is now in press and will 

 be ready for distribution soon after April first. 

 Copies may be obtained free of charge by 

 addressing The Director, Bureau of Stand- 

 ards, Washington, D. C. 



Nature states that the celebration of the 

 jubilee year in the history of the two French 

 reviews — the Revue Bleue and the Revue Sci- 

 entifique, the subtitle of which is the Revue 

 Rose — was held in Paris on June 12, at the 

 Hotel Continental. The editors were sup- 

 ported at a banquet by representatives of the 

 Government, Parliament, the University and 

 the Institute of Prance ; in fact, not only were 

 men of science, artists and men of letters 

 present, but Parisian society generally united 

 to do honor to the occasion. M. Ch. Moureu, 

 the editor of the Revue Scientifique, in speak- 

 ing in the name of science, dwelt on the ad- 

 vances made in science during the last fifty 

 years, and was followed by M. Lippmann, 

 president of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 who referred appreciatively to the work done 

 by our contemporary to assist the spread of 

 scientific knowledge. 



The museum committee of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons has issued its annual report 

 which is summarized in the London Times. 

 Altogether the museum has been enriched by 

 upwards of 1,000 specimens. The first place 

 must be given to a collection which has been 

 presented by the executors of the late Lord 

 Lister through the president of the college. 

 Sir Rickman J. Godlee. This comprises Lord 

 Lister's surgical instruments, appliances used 

 in early researches, records and tracings of ex- 

 periments, drawings and pathological speci- 



