190 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 7. 



Prof. Newcombe. It is called the iron- 

 tannin-safranin stain and consists of the 

 following solutions: 1, 1% aq. sol. of fer- 

 rous sulphate; 2, 5% aq. sol. of tannic acid; 

 3, alcoholic solutions of anilin-safranin; 4, 

 aq. sol. of picro-nigrosiu. The sections are 

 placed for thirty- to forty minutes in the 

 iron solution, washed, then placed for the 

 same period in the tannic acid solution; 

 again washed and replaced for a few min- 

 utes in the iron sol. After washing again 

 they are placed in the safi-anin for thirty 

 minutes; then fifteen minutes in the picro- 

 nigrosin. This method is said to give good 

 results. 



The special results of the investigations 

 may be summarized as follows: (1.) Cen- 

 trosomes and attraction spheres are present 

 in non-reproductive as well as in reproduc- 

 tive vegetable cells. (2.) In phanerogams 

 there are two of these bodies for each resting 

 nucleus. (3.) When the nucleus prepares 

 to divide, one or both of the centrosomes 

 migrate to take then- position at the poles 

 of the future spindle. (4.) Stibsequently 

 they immediately begin to divide. The 

 division is complete in the prophase of the 

 mother nucleus. (5.) After their migra- 

 tion the spheres remain at the poles of the 

 nuclear spindle and do not change theu- 

 position until the beginning of the following 

 division. (6.) Centrosomes are persistent. 



One plate and a list of thirty-three valu- 

 able references accompany the article. 



Albert Schneider. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 THE ELIHU THOMSON PRIZE. 



The Elihu Thomson prize of 5,000 francs 

 has been awarded to Dr. Arthur G. Web- 

 ster, of Clark University, Worcester, Massa- 

 chxisetts. The history of this prize is, 

 briefly, as follows : — 



In 1889 the City of Paris offered a series 

 of prizes for the best ' electric meters,' it 

 being required that certain conditions should 



be satisfied, to be determined by an exact- 

 ing pi'actical test. The first prize, 5,000 

 fi-ancs, was awarded to Professor Elihu 

 Thomson, who submitted the well known ^ 

 Watt-meter devised by him. Wishing to 

 encourage investigation of certain theoreti- 

 cal questions Professor Thomson donated 

 the prize for the establishment of a new 

 competition, the subjects to be considered 

 and the prize to be determined by a com- 

 mittee which consisted of J. Carpentier, Hip- 

 polyte Fontaine, Hospitaller, Mascart, A. 

 Potier and Abdank-Abakanowicz. Four 

 subjects for investigation and discussion 

 were selected, and it was announced that 

 competing memou-s must be submitted on 

 or before September 15, 1893. Four me- 

 moirs were submitted to the committee ; one 

 of these was wiitten in German, one in 

 French and two in English. The two latter, 

 numbered respectively three and four, re- 

 lated to the same subject, namely, the de- 

 termination of the period of electric oscilla- 

 tions. On examining the memoirs the com- 

 mittee reported that it ' considered memoir 

 number four to be worthy to receive the 

 prize estabhshed by Professor Elihu Thom- 

 son,' and expressed the hope that the author 

 will be encouraged to continue his beautiful 

 researches. 



At the same time they express their re- 

 gret that they have not available another 

 prize of the same value which they would 

 be glad to award to memoir number three. 

 When their desire in this respect was made 

 known, Professor Thomson and the French 

 and English Thomson-Houston Electric 

 Companies joined in offering another 5,000 

 francs, which was awarded to the author 

 of memoir number three. On opening the 

 sealed envelopes containing the authors' 

 names, it was found that memoir number 

 four, for which the first prize had been 

 awarded, was prepared bj' Dr. Webster, 

 and number three was the joint product 

 of Oliver Lodge and Glazebrook. 



