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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 313 



Dr. Lazear's life has not been altogether 

 thrown away if these experiments lead, as they 

 must, to their repetition under more rigid con- 

 ditions, and if it be found that yellow fever is 

 conveyed by the mosquito, the important sani- 

 tary measures which will result from the dis- 

 covery will atone, in a measure, for the 

 regrettable sacrifice. Meanwhile the bacillus 

 icteroides of Sanarelli is being discredited, and, 

 like so many of its predecessors, may have to 

 give place to some other microorganism, in this 

 case, possibly, of a protozoal nature. 



UNINSULATED CONDUCTORS AND SCIENTIFIC 

 INSTRUMENTS. 



In his inaugural address as president of the 

 British Institution of Electrical Engineers de- 

 livered on November 8th, and published in 

 Nature, Professor John Perry urged the impor- 

 tance of scientific and mathematical training for 

 electrical engineers. He said: "In this ad- 

 dress I mean to put before you this simple 

 question : Is electrical engineering to remain a 

 profession oris it to become a trade? Is this 

 Institution to continue to be a society for the 

 advancement of knowledge in the applications 

 of scientific principles to electrical industries, 

 or is it to become a mere trades union ?" 



Professor Perry, in the course of his address 

 referred to the use of insulated return conduc- 

 tors in connection with electrical transportation, 

 where uninsulated conductors may disturb 

 scientific instruments, saying : 



" At Potsdam this sacrilege has been forbid- 

 den. At Washington, Toronto, Capetown and 

 most other important places, the magnetic 

 records have already been rendered useless. 

 Professor Eiicker and I were asked by the other 

 members of the Committee of the Royal Society 

 which was in charge of the Kew Observatory to 

 defend Kew, and with the help of her Majesty's 

 Treasury we thought we were able to insist 

 upon the use of insulated returns in all under- 

 takings authorized by Parliament where harm 

 was likely to be inflicted on Government obser- 

 vatories. * * * We were, however, mistaken, for 

 the only clause which we have been able to get 

 inserted in all Parliamentarj' authorizations of 

 undertakings leaves it to the Board of Trade 

 to substitute other methods of protection than 



the insulation of the return conductors in cases 

 where these other methods seem to be suffi- 

 ciently good for the protection of laboratories 

 and observatories, and this is why the Board of 

 Trade appointed the committee which met on 

 October 31st, probably for the last time. * * * I 

 beg to assure you that I have been acting in your 

 best interests. As an electrical engineer I ought 

 surely to regret the use of uninsulated returns, 

 even if we leave Kew Observatory out of account. 

 Suppose we do not now insulate our returns. 

 Electricity will certainly return by gas and water 

 pipes and the amount of harm done to those pipes 

 is merely a question of time. Because of the 

 ignorance of legislators and gas and water com- 

 panies, nothing is said just now ; but will noth- 

 ing be said at the end of ten or twenty years, 

 when pipes are found to be eaten away every- 

 where? And if by a slight increase of ex- 

 pense, or rather, as I think, actually no increase 

 of expense, but merely a little increase in in- 

 ventiveness and common sense on the part of 

 electrical engineers, this evil may be entirely 

 prevented, surely it is in the interests of all of 

 us that insulated returns should be insisted 

 upon. But even if we do not insist on insula- 

 ting the returns in all systems, surely something 

 may be said for the giving of this protection on 

 lines near such a magnetic observatory as Kew. 

 Even the magnetograph records now being 

 made have been continuous for forty five years, 

 and if Kew is interfered with no sum of money 

 can compensate for the interference ; for if the 

 observatory were removed the future observa- 

 tions would have no link with the past." 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The programs of the scientific societies in 

 session during Christmas week at Baltimore, 

 Chicago, New York and Albany show that an 

 interesting series of meeting will be held. We 

 hope to publish in early issues the official ad- 

 dresses and discussions, together with accounts 

 of the meetings. 



Dr. G. a. Miller, of the mathematical de- 

 partment of Cornell University, has just been 

 awarded the prize of $260 offered by the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences of Cracow, for researches 

 in the theory of groups. 



