January 2, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



one of the shot-holes previously made in the plate. Numerous 

 old cracks were opened and enlarged, and other new ones made, 

 the longest being 34 inches. With the exception of two cracks, 

 the injury to the plate was in the neighborhood of previous frac- 

 tures. The perforation of the two rounds was much the same. 



— The Swedish expedition to Spitzbergen under the leadership 

 of G. Nordenskield and Baron A. Klinkowstrom returned in safety 

 to Tromso, as we learn from the '• Proceedings of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society. " The party landed first of all at Horn Sound, 

 whence G. Nordenskiold made his way on snow-shoes overland to 

 Bel Sound ; but the deep snow prevented geological work. The 

 longest stay (July 18 to Aug. 10) was made at Ice Fiord. The 

 fartliest point north reached was Lago, east of Hinlopen Straits. 

 The passage was still quite blocked with ice, and, there being but 

 small chance of being able to penetrate to the Seven Islands, the 

 return voyage was commenced. On their way back, the trav- 

 ellers made hydrographical explorations on the Norwegian 

 islands. 



- — Professor Briickner of Berne, Switzerland, has recently called 

 attention to the existence of climatological periods of about thirty- 

 five years for the whole globe (more marked in the interior of 

 continents). The years 1700, 1740, 1780, 1815, 1850, and 1880, 

 says Nature of Dec. 18, appear as centres of cold, wet periods ; 

 while the years 1720, 1760, 1795, 1830, and 1860 are centres of 

 warm, dry periods. During the warm periods the passage of 

 oceanic air to the continent has been hindei'ed, and during the 

 cold it has been favored, increased rainfall occurring in the latter 



— "We learn from Engineering of Dec. 13 that Mr. P. Schoop, of 

 the Oerliken Electrical Works (Switzerland), with the object of 

 rendering accumulators more portable, has adopted the plan of 

 absorbing the electrolyte with gelatinous silica. With this ob- 

 ject. Mr. Schoop adds a small quantity of sodium silicate to the 

 cell. This is decomposed by the sulphuric acid, and the silica is 

 liberated in the form of a translucent, firm, and elastic jelly, 

 which is unattacked by sulphuric acid, or by the more powerful 

 oxidizing agents which come into existence during the charging. 

 The jelly but slightly increases the resistance of the cell, though 

 it somewhat diminishes its capacity in watt hours. The best 

 method to adopt in gelatinizing a cell is to add to three volumes 

 of sulphuric acid, at a density of 1.35, one volume of sodium 

 silicate at a density of 1.18, and leave the mixture to itself for 

 twenty-four hours. At the end of that time the whole liquid is 

 set to a jelly. In charging a cell, a small quantity of liquid rises 

 to the surface of the jelly, but this disappears again during the 

 discharge. 



— The French Government have had carried out for them a 

 number of experiments on gun- steel at very low temperatures. 

 Both hardened and unhardened specimens were subjected to a 

 variety of tests at temperatures of between 75° and 100° below 

 the zero of the Fahrenheit scale. The specimens were cooled, ac- 

 cording to Engineering, by immersing them in a bath of solid 

 carbonic-acid gas and sulphuric ether, several pounds of the gas 

 being required for this purpose. The first set of tests were simply 

 intended to determine the expansion of the test bars per degree; 

 and the results, though somewhat irregular, showed that the ex- 

 pansion per degree decreases with the temperature. A number 

 of test bars were then piepai'ed in sets of threes, two of each set 

 being used as reference bars, and tested at the temperature of the 

 surrounding air, while the third was cooled down to between 76° 

 and 100° below zero, and then tested, with the following results: 

 both the hardened and unhardened bars had their- elastic limit 

 raised by about 11 per cent by being tested cold; the breaking 

 load of the unhardened bars was raised about 3 per cent, and 

 that of the hai'dened by about 6 per cent, by the cooling; the 

 elongation of the unhardened bars was diminished 13 per cent, 

 and that of the hardened ones 14 per cent; the contraction of 

 area was also less in the bars tested cold. None of these changes 

 are, however, permanent, as the bars completely recovered their 

 original properties on attaining the ordinary temperature of the 



air. All the above tests were made in tension in the usual way. 

 For gun-sfeel, however, the resistance of the metal to shock is of 

 more importance than its strength under a quiet tensOe stress. 

 A number of bars were accordingly prepared in sets of 

 threes, as before, and one bar of each set was cooled down to be- 

 tween 75° and 100° below zero, and tested by means of a falling 

 weight, the other bars of each set being tested in the same way 

 at the ordinary temperature. The experiments showed that cool- 

 ing the bars much increased their brittleness. Thus, on an aver- 

 age, each unhardened bar required 5.9 blows to break it when 

 cooled, as against 14.6 blows for specimens tested under ordinary 

 conditions. With the hardened bars, the reduction in strength 

 was less, 13.57 blows being required as an average at the low tem- 

 perature, and 14.4 at the ordinary temperature. As before, the 

 metal regained its qualities as its temperature rose. Some further 

 experiments seemed to shcJw that metal into which a great deal of 

 work had been put was less affected by a reduction in tempera- 

 ture, but this requires confirmation. 



— According to the Journal de la Chambre de Commerce de 

 Constantinople, the greatest electric project which has yet been 

 suggested is being planned, — the construction of a line from St. 

 Petersburg to Archangel. The electric current would be sup- 

 plied by a series of generating stations distributed along the line. 

 It is estimated that the cost, including the rolling stock, would be 

 46,509 francs per kilometre. 



— Nature states that at a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of 

 Medicine, M. Motais of Angers maintained that myopia, or short- 

 sightedness is one of the products of civilization. An unexpected 

 proof of this view was found in the condition of the eyes of wild 

 beasts, such as tigers, lions, etc. M. Motais, having examined 

 their eyes by means of the ophthalmoscope, discovered that animals 

 captured after the age of six or eight months are, and remain, 

 hypermetropic, while those who are captured earlier, or, better 

 still, are born in captivity, are myopic. This shoi-t-sightedness is 

 evidently induced by artificial conditions of life. 



— On Monday, Dec. 15, Mr. T. G. Pinches read a paper before 

 the Royal Asiatic Society, on the newly discovered version of the 

 story of the creation. He had had the good fortune, in the course 

 of his investigations into the contents of the unregistered tablets 

 in the British Museum, to find in one of them, brought home by 

 Mr. Rassam in 1883, a still earlier version than that which the late 

 Mr. George Smith had translated. It was a bilingual tablet, the 

 text being Akkadian, and the gloss Assyrian; and while the date 

 of the tablet itself was, like the rest of those in Assur-bani-pal's 

 library, not older probably than 650 B.C., the Akkadian text was, 

 in his opinion, an exact copy of an older document, which had, 

 in all probability, been put into its present shape 3000 B.C., 

 or even earlier. One side, the obverse, as described in Nature, is 

 devoted to the creation story : the other, the reverse, is simply an 

 incantation form for the purification of the great temple tower 

 E-zida, now so well known as the moimd called Birs-Nimrud. 

 The text might be roughly divided into three paragraphs or sec- 

 tions of about ten lines each. The first describes the time when 

 nothing was, neither " the glorious house of the gods," nor plants, 

 nor trees, nor cities, nor houses, no, not even the abyss (Hades) 

 nor Eridu (regarded by the author as Paradise). The second 

 section describes the making of Paradise with its temple tower 

 E-Sagila, founded within the abyss. Then was Babylon made, 

 and the gods, and the land, and the heavens, and mankind. The 

 third section then proclaims the creation of animals, plants, and 

 trees (in that order) of the Tigi-is and of the Euphrates. The 

 fourth records the building of cities and houses. Of all except 

 the last, Merodach, the god, seems to be the active creator, and 

 he is also to be imderstood as the builder, through men, of the 

 cities, etc. Mr. Pinches pointed out several interesting words and 

 forms occurring in this oldest form of the creation account, which 

 had subsequently assumed so many diverging shapes. A 'discus- 

 sion followed, more especially on the word. "Adam," rendered 

 by Mr. Pinches " foundations" (of earth), but by Dr. Zimmern 

 "living things." This was probably the origin of the Hebrew 

 word "Adam." 



