878 
when under a pressure of something less than 
two atmospheres, is violently explosive ; where- 
as, at a pressure of less than one and a half at- 
mospheres, it appears to be reasonably free from 
liability to explosion, provided it is not ad- 
mixed with oxygen or atmospheric air. For 
commercial and practical purposes it is con- 
sidered sufficient to allow a pressure of twenty 
inches of water above that of the atmosphere 
(i.e., roughly about one and one-twentieth at- 
mospheres), and it is accordingly proposed to 
draw the safety line at this point, and to de- 
clare acetylene, when subject to a higher press- 
ure, to be an ‘explosive’ within the meaning 
of the Explosive Act of 1875. In France and 
Germany the authoritities have fixed the limit 
of danger at one and a-half and one and one- 
tenth atmospheres respectively, and have im- 
posed prohibitions or restrictions on the keep- 
ing or the manufacture of the gas when it is at 
a higher pressure. 
Two notable articles in the Revue de Mécanique 
for October are those of Dwelshauvers-Dery on 
the effect of compression of steam in the ‘ dead 
spaces’ of steam engines, and Sinigaglia on the 
employment of superheating as a source of 
gain in thermodynamic and actual efficiency. 
The former finds by trial with the ‘ experi- 
mental steam engines’ of the University of 
Liege that increasing compression results in 
increasing waste and decreasing efficiency, 
the loss of power in the engine more 
than counterbalancing the ‘initial’ condensa- 
tion in the steam cylinders. The latter de- 
scribes in the third of a series of papers the vari- 
ous types of superheating apparatus employed, 
and gives results of their use, the gain being 
sometimes 20 % and more. 
AT the Sydney meeting of the Australasian 
Association for the Advancement of Science, to 
be held in the second week in January, Sir 
James Hector, F.R.S., will give a popular lec- 
ture on ‘ Antarctica and the Islands of the far 
South,’ and Professor R. Threlfall and Mr. J. 
Pocock will give a lecture to workingmen on 
‘Hlectric Signaling without Wires.’ The Syd- 
ney Morning Herald states that the Australasian 
Association originated in a letter from Professor 
Liversidge published in that journal in 1884. 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. VI. No. 154. . 
The first meeting of the Association was held 
in Sydney from August 27th to September 5th of 
the Centennial year, 1888, under the presidency 
of Mr. H. C. Russell, F.R.S., when 850 mem- 
bers were enrolled. Meetings have also been 
held at Melbourne, with 1,162 members, in 1890, 
when the late Baron von Mueller, F.R.S., was 
President ; at Christchurch, New Zealand, with 
550 members, in 1891, President Sir James Hee- 
tor. F.R.S.; at Hobart, with 600 members, in 
1892, President Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton; at 
Adelaide, with 488 members, in 1893, Presi- 
dent Professor Ralph Tate, F.G.S.; and at Bris- 
bane, with 524 members, in 1895, when the 
Hon. A. C. Gregory was President. The gov- 
ernments of Victoria, Tasmania, New Zealand, 
South Australia and Queensland have each in 
turn given assistance to the extent of about 
£1,200, either wholly or in part, as a money 
grant towards the expenses of the session and 
publication of the annual volume. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
Mr. DEAN SAGE and Mr. William D. Sage 
have given to Cornell University the house of 
the late Henry W. Sage for a University Infirm- 
ary. They also endow the institution with 
$100,000 and will equip the building for a hos- 
pital, the total value of the gift being $200,000. 
THE will of the late Sir Thomas Elder, of 
Adelaide, South Australia, leaves large sums to 
charitable and public institutions of Adelaide, 
including the following: To the Zoological So- 
ciety, £2,000 ; to the Geographical Society, £2,- 
000 ; to Way College, £2,000; to Prince Alfred 
College, £4,000 ; to the Picture Gallery, £25,- 
000; for a chair of music at the University, 
£20,000 ; to the Medical School of the Univer- 
sity, £20,000, and to the University £25,000. 
Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE has given $10,000 to 
the endowment of the Mechanics’ Institute in 
Richmond, Va. 
THE late Sir William Mackinnon has left a 
legacy of £2,000 to the University of Glasgow 
for a scholarship, in the following subjects: (1) 
Geology ; (2) Natural History, together with 
Comparative Anatomy; (8) Modern Foreign 
Languages ; the examination in each subject to 
be taken in each succeeding year in rotation. 
