6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No. 413 



— "The Harvard Yard," an original etching by Robert R. Wise- 

 man, shows the " Harvard Yard," with a good view of the group 

 of older buildings. The plate is of large size. No plain prints 

 of the etching are to be had for the present, at any rate, possibly 

 not at all. Each remarque artist-proof is printed on imperial 

 Japan paper, and bears the signature of the artist and a remarque 

 representing the seal of the university, printed in dark crimson. 

 The publishers are the Frederick A. Stokes Company, 182 Fifth 

 Avenue, New York City. 



— Nature states that a novel whaling expedition is about to be 

 undertaken by three Americans whalers, which have gone to the 

 Arctic regions to winter at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. 

 In order to be well supplied with food, they have taken what will 

 last for two years, and they expect also to get food from the 

 whalers in the summer. This is the highest point any whaler has 

 reached, being a thousand miles from the North Pole. Directly 

 the ice breaks after the winter, the whales come to the mouth of 

 the river in great numbers to feed, and it is expected that a large 

 number of them will be secured. 



— A paper by Mr. W. B. Mason in the "Transactions of the 

 Seismolof^ical Society of Japan " deserves the attention of all who 

 lake special interest in seismology. It contains, according to Na- 

 ture oi Dec. 11, a list of earthquakes recorded at telegraph-sta- 

 tions in central and northern Japan from Aug. 11, 188tl, to Dec. 

 31, 1889. Mr. Mason, while allowing for various sources of un- 

 certainty in the observations, thinks that some results may be 

 deduced from what are still meagre statistics. Thus, of the 151 

 earthquakes recorded in Tokio, only 89 were felt at the other 

 telegraph-stations. So.-xic of those which were felt at all the sta- 

 tions seem to have been felt at almost exactly the same instant : 

 in other words, there was no indication of a progression of the 

 earthquake from point to point. 



— Some three year? ago MM. Fremy and Verneuil, two French 

 chemists, succeeded in producing rubies artificially. The crystals 

 obtained, i-ays Engineering, were small; and since then the in- 

 ventors have been occupied with the problem of increasing the 

 size of the rubies obtained. To this end considerable changes 

 ha\e been made in their methods of operating. In place of using 

 pure alumina, as in their previous experiments, alumina alkaiin- 

 ized by potassium carbonate is used. Tliis addition of an alkali 

 does not alter the purity of the crystals obtained, while it facili- 

 tates their regular formation. In their original experiments the 

 operations were completed in twenty-four hours, but they have 

 now succeeded in prolonging the re-action over several months, 

 ■with the result of obtaining njuch larger crystals. As much as 

 seven pounds weight of rubies have been obtained at a single 

 operation. Even yet, however, the crystals are small, but are at 

 least sufficiently large to mount, which was not the case with the 

 first essays of the inventors. 



— -The curious idea of preserving dead bodies by galvano- 

 plastic method is not new; but we note that a Frenchman, Dr. 

 Variot, has been lately giving his attention to it (La Nature). To 

 facilitate adherence of the metallic deposit, says Nature (Dec. 18), 

 he paints the skin with a concentrated solution of nitrate of silver, 

 and reduces this with vapors of whice phosphorus dissolved in 

 sulphide of carbon, the skin being thus rendered dark and shiny. 

 The body is then ready for the electric bath, which is served by a 

 tnermo-eleocric battery, giving a regular adherent deposit of cop- 

 per if the current is proj^erlj' regulated. With a layer of one- half 

 to three fourths of a millimetre, the envelope is solid enough to 

 resist pressure or shook. Dr. Variot further incinerates the me- 

 tallic mummy, leaving holes for the escape of gases. The corpse 

 disappears, and a faithful image or statue remains. 



— Mr. J. M. Coode records, in the new number of the Journal 

 of the Bombay A'atural History Society, the following instance of 

 an exceptional method of hunting which the panther is occa- 

 sionally 'forced to adopt. Mr. Coode was lately asked by the pa- 

 tel of a village in the Amraoti district to accompany him one 

 evening to a forest nursery of young bamboo shoots, to assist in 

 killing a large boar which nightly visited the place and did im- 

 mense damage. As stated in Nature, they waited for some tirae, 



when, just as it was getting dark, they heard the short guttural 

 sound of a panther, and heavy footfall of some running animal. 

 The noises came nearer and nearer, until a nilghai and a panther 

 could be distinctly seen against the sky-line, the former being 

 chased by the latter. The nilghai kept moaning, and was evi- 

 dently in an abject state of fear. The two ran round in a circle 

 of about one hundred and sixty yards diameter, within thirty 

 yards of where the observers were standing, and passed them 

 twice, both animals making their respective noises. They then 

 disappeared, but Mr. Coode has reason to believe the nilghai got 

 away. 



— At the last meeting of the Physical Society (London), as 

 reported in the Electrical Revieiu of Deo. 19, Mr. Shelford Bid- 

 well, F.R.S. , told a great many useful facts about selenium cells 

 and their behavior; and he gave several experimental illustra- 

 tions, the most effective of which points to practical applications. 

 Mr. Bidwell connected one of his selenium cells with a delicate 

 relay, which in its turn caused a circuit to be established with an 

 automatic switch and an electric lamp. So long as sufficient 

 light impinged upon the selenium, the electric lamp did not 

 act ; but, directly the gas (or daylight in practice) diminished to 

 a certain decree, the electric lamp shone forth in its glory, and 

 again became extinguished when its rival re-appeared. The 

 fact of any light going out could thus be signalled to a distant 

 attendant, and this would be useful in case of ships' lights 

 and numerous other purposes. The effect of diifereut colored 

 glass interposed betv/een the liglit and the cell revealed peculiar 

 results upon the properties of the seUnium, and Dr. Thompson 

 suggested that one could almost imagine the near possibility of 

 seeing by electricity if the effects of colors could be transmitted 

 to distances in some analogous manner. 



— It is stated in the " Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 

 Society " (December, 1890) that M. Thoroddsen, the well-known 

 explorer of Iceland, has returned to Reykjavik from his summer 

 excui-sion into the district between Borgarfjord in the south and 

 Gilsf jord in the north. The topographj^ of the country as shown 

 on existing maps was found to be fairly accurate. The geologi- 

 cal results of the journey are more novel. The volcano situated 

 at the extreme point of the peninsula of Snaefellenes was visited. 

 It is especially interesting from the fact that clear indications 

 have been found that this volcano commenced its eruptive activity 

 long lefore the glacial epoch ; and, although no outbreak is 

 known to have occurred within historical time, it is tolerably cer- 

 tain that its activity continued to comparatively modem times. 

 The volcanoes of the district traversed have not the same direction 

 as those in the south of Iceland, viz., from south-west to north- 

 east, but range themselves in a semicircle round Faxe Bay, which 

 is a distinctly volcanic depression. M. Thoroddsen's expedition 

 was largely supported by Baron Dickson. 



— Some experiments have just been made at Annapolis by the 

 United States Government with the object of testing the resist- 

 ance of nickel-steel armor-plates at low temperatures. The plate 

 tested, according to Engineering of Dec. 13, which had already 

 received five shots under ordinary conditions, was fired at twice 

 more, — once before subjecting it to a freezing mixture, and once 

 afterwards. A 6-inch gun was used with a powder char.ge of 

 44-1 pounds, and a Holtzer shell weighing 110 pounds, the striking 

 velocity being 3.055 feet per second. The first shot struck 15 

 inchps from the edge of the plate, and the projectile penetrated 

 till its point entered the wood backing, reaching a distance of I'Si 

 inches from the face of the plate. The sheU rebounded, and was 

 picked up entire at a distance of 40 feet from the plate. The 

 plate showed a crack 14 inches long extending down to the left 

 edge of the plate, and another horizontal crack 13 inches long, 

 both of which were apparently through cracks. The plate was 

 then put in a freezing mixture of ice and salt, and its temperature 

 reduced to 28° F. The second shot was then fired, the conditions 

 being similar in all respects to the first. The shell, however, 

 bi-oke up badly, about one half remaining on the plate, and the 

 other half flying to fragments. A triangular piece of the plate, 

 36 inches across the top, broke off, and was thrown 25 feet in 

 front of the plate. A wide gaping crack connected the hole with 



