JUNJB 19, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



977 



for guns and rifles, and a spherometer of 

 great delicacy. The Rev. John Bacon's 

 aerial photographs were extremely inter- 

 esting. They were obtained recently from 

 balloons in unique circumstances. Mr. T. 

 Matthews showed some incandescent oil- 

 burners which have been designed by him, 

 primarily for use in the Trinity House 

 lighthouse service. The arrangement, like 

 that of most of the other exhibits, is too 

 elaborate to be understood by mere verbal 

 description; but it may be stated that the 

 intensity of a single mantle burner for 

 flashing lights is 1,100 candles, and the 

 consumption of oil one pint per hour, while 

 the intensity of a triple mantle-burner, for 

 fixed and occulting lights, is 2,700 candles, 

 and the consumption of oil three pints per 

 hour. 



From the Solar Physics Observatory, 

 South Kensington, were photographs illus- 

 trating a comparison of the arc spectra of 

 various samples of dust, showing what 

 chemical elements are represented in the 

 samples. There were also some very in- 

 teresting and convincing curves illustrating 

 the long-period solar and meteorological 

 (rainfall) variations of about thirty-five 

 years. As might have been expected, a 

 number of exhibits were connected with 

 the recent destructive volcanic phenomena 

 in the West Indies, which were investigated 

 by a commission sent out by the Royal So- 

 ciety. There were a number of photo- 

 graphs illustrating the late eruptions in 

 St. Vincent and Martinique and also speci- 

 mens of the volcanic dusts, ashes and other 

 ejecta of the West Indian volcanoes. It 

 need hardly be said that Mr. Arthur J. 

 Evan's exhibit illustrative of the excava- 

 tions at Knossos, in Crete, deservedly at- 

 tracted considerable attention. The ex- 

 hibit consisted of a general plan of the 

 Palace. 



There were a considerable number of 

 biological exhibits, which can only be 



briefly alluded to. Deserving of careful 

 study are the results of the experiments 

 shown by Miss B. R. Saunders illustrative 

 of what she calls structural atavism, re- 

 sulting from cross-breeding in plants. Dr. 



A. Macfadyen and Mr. S. Rowland, of the 

 Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine, 

 illustrated their methods of disintegrating 

 cells and micro-organisms and of obtaining 

 their intracellular constituents. Dr. Alan 



B. Green had an exhibit illustrating the 

 method of preparation of chloroformed 

 calf lymph, from the government lymph 

 laboratories. Dr. G. H. Fowler showed 

 specimens of a remarkable radiolarian, 

 differing in structure from all other forms 

 hitherto described, and Dr. H. Gadow a 

 very beautiful illustration of the develop- 

 ment of the color pattern in Mexican spe- 

 cies of lizards and a convincing illustration 

 of the influence of environment. The five 

 specimens of sea snakes that swarm round 

 the coasts of India and in other tropical 

 seas, exhibited by Dr. Leonard Rogers, 

 their poison being more powerful than that 

 of any other snakes, though interesting in 

 their way, can hardly be said to have been 

 attractive. Miss Dorothy Bate showed the 

 remains of pygmy elephant and pygmy 

 hippopotamus, obtained from caves in 

 Cyprus. 



The exhibition by means of the lantern 

 of Sir Benjamin Baker's magnificent slides 

 illustrative of the Nile Dam works, it need 

 hardly be said, met with universal admira- 

 tion. Dr. Cantellani's specimen of Tryp- 

 anosoma, found in sleeping-sickness pa- 

 tients in Uganda, should be mentioned. 

 There were many other exhibits in the 

 rather crowded rooms, all of them illus- 

 trative of important scientific work. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



NEW YOEK ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



SECTION OP BIOLOGY. 



A REGULAR monthly meeting was held at 

 the American Museum of Natural History 



