OCTOBEK 5, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



535 



We learn from the Experiment Station Record 

 that the Russian Government has made pro- 

 vision for a commissioner of agriculture for 

 each of the twenty governments of the Empire. 

 They will have charge of all public measures 

 relating to agriculture and rural affairs and will 

 exercise supervision over the local agricultural 

 institutions maintained by the government. 



The third Pan American Medical Congress 

 will be held at Havana from December 26th to 

 29th. 



The Jury of Final Appeal of the Paris Ex- 

 position has finished its work, and it appears 

 that in all the United States has received 2204 

 awards ; Germany, 1826 ; Great Britain 1724, 

 and Russia, 1493. Germany, however, re- 

 ceived more grand prizes than the United 

 States — 236 as compared with 215. 



The secretary of a British anti-vivisection 

 Society has complained to the Department of 

 State regarding the experiments by Dr. Noel 

 Patton in which animals were deprived of 

 food. Sir Matthew Ridley refused to prose- 

 cute the case, and was unwilling to give 

 an opinion as to whether such experiments 

 came within the provisions of the anti-vivi- 

 section Act. 



At the Bradford meeting of the British As- 

 sociation, Mr. Glazebrook, the director of the 

 National Physical Laboratory, presented a re- 

 port on the construction of practical standards 

 for use in electrical measurements, in which it 

 was recommended " that a particular sample of 

 platinum wire be selected, and platinum ther- 

 mometers be constructed therefrom to serve as 

 standards for the measurement of high tem- 

 perature, and that Mr. Glazebrook and Profes- 

 sor Callendar be requested to consider the de- 

 tails of the selection of wires and construction 

 of thermometers for the above purpose." It 

 ■was announced that the sub-committee had se- 

 cured specimens of a sufficiently pure platinum, 

 and that some recently constructed thermom- 

 eters had been tested at the National Physical 

 Laboratory. During the summer a very full 

 comparison had been made of the unit of re- 

 sistance coils, and that these coils had been 

 compared with some belonging to the Board of 

 Trade and the Imperial Reichsanstalt of Berlin, 



and also with resistance tubes prepared by M. 

 Benvit in 1885, which were in the possession of 

 the director of the National Laboratory. Con- 

 siderations of temperature had deferred the 

 completion of these comparisons, but further 

 observations would be made. Some advance 

 had been made during the year with the con- 

 struction of the Ampere balance. Material pe- 

 cuniary assistance had been received from Sir 

 Andrew Noble. 



The American Consul at Frankfort sends to 

 the Department of State an abstract of an ar- 

 ticle in the Elektroteohnische Zeitschrift discussing 

 the progress made in the use of single lines for 

 telegraphing and telephoning simultaneously. 

 After describing the Rysselberghe system of at- 

 taining this end, and fully explaining the im- 

 portant part played by condensers, the writer 

 describes a modification of the system recently 

 introduced by the Telephone Works of Hanover, 

 which, it seems, has already been adapted to a 

 number of large installations, including the Ber- 

 lin fire-brigade service. There are fifteen bri- 

 gade stations in Berlin, each of which is served 

 by a special network of fire alarms. From 

 these stations underground wires radiate in all 

 directions, each wire being connected with a 

 great number of alarm pillars. The alarms are 

 arranged for automatic working, and to each is 

 fitted a key for telegraphing to the station. As 

 it is, however, a very great advantage to be 

 able to maintain during the progress of the fire, 

 a good connection between the alarm pillars 

 nearest the fire and the brigade station, ex- 

 haustive trials have been made with a specially 

 adapted telephone constructed by the above- 

 mentioned firm, which have resulted in the gen- 

 eral introduction of the same. To the Morse 

 apparatus at the station a stand is attached 

 from which a microtelephone fitted with a bat- 

 tery switch and a second receiver are suspended. 

 The remaining apparatus is inclosed in a flat 

 box and placed under the table. This box con- 

 tains an induction coil, a condenser and a cir- 

 cuit key. As it would be expensive to equip 

 each of the fire-alar^ posts with telephone ap- 

 paratus, a portable set is used, which may be 

 attached to the posts by means of a plug and 

 socket provided for the purpose. Such a port- 

 able set is carried by each of the brigade carts. 



