764 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 124. 



apparently been overlooked. The com- 

 pound formed seems to have a very complex 

 formula, being represented by C^CUgH^Og. 

 It is more explosive than the corresponding 

 cuprous compound and, unlike it, on treat- 

 ment with dilute acid yields very little 

 acetylene. It gives, on the contrary, a 

 humus-like substance of a formula of about 

 CjjH^Og, which resembles both humic acid 

 and the so-called graphite hydrate obtained 

 from the graphite of cast iron. It would 

 seem to be an unique case of the condensa- 

 tion of acetylene, at ordinary temperature 

 under the influence of a copper salt, to a 

 compound of high molecular complexity. 



J. L. H. 



ASTBOPHYSIOAL NOTES. 



In No. 367 of the Proceedings of the Eoyal 

 Society is a note by Professor Oliver Lodge, 

 read on February 11th, in which he calls at- 

 tention to the notable discovery by Professor 

 P. Zeeman, of Amsterdam, that lines in the 

 spectrum of a flame may be broadened 

 when a magnetic field is concentrated upon 

 the flame. 



Zeeman's paper appears in the Philosoph- 

 ical Magazine for March (Vol. 43, pp. 226- 

 239). He alludes to the fact that similar 

 experiments were the last researches of 

 Faraday, in 1862. With the relatively 

 slight dispersion then available, however, 

 the effects could not have been observed. 



Sodium and lithium were used by Zee- 

 man, and the broadening effects were ob- 

 served in both the emission and absorption 

 spectra, which were obtained from a power- 

 ful concave grating. 



The experiment was also tried on the 

 band spectrum of absorbing iodine vapor, 

 with negative results, which, however, con- 

 firmed the accuracy of the experiments 

 with sodium. The widening of the sodium 

 lines to both sides amounted to about ^ of 

 the distance between Dj and D^ (that is, to 

 about 0.15 tenth-meters). As the intensity 



of the magnetic field was about 10* c.g.s. 

 units, there would be a positive and nega- 

 tive magnetic change of ^^^ of the period. 



The theory of the motion of ions or 

 electrons, whose vibrations are those of 

 light, is discussed according to the views of 

 Professor Lorentz, who pointed out to Zee- 

 man that if the theory was true the edges of 

 the widened lines ought to be circularly 

 polarized in the direction along the lines of 

 magnetic force, and plane polarized in direc- 

 tions normal to the lines of force. This 

 was clearly shown by experiment to be the 

 case, and it has been confirmed by Lodge, 

 who also readily obtained the broadening 

 effect in the sodium flame. 



These researches are decidedly suggestive, 

 and have an important astrophysical as well 

 as physical application. The view is held 

 by many that strong magnetic forces occur 

 in the sun (and hence by analogy in the 

 stars). Thus a new cause may perhaps be 

 assigned for the wide range and variations 

 in the breadth and intensity of spectral 

 lines of celestial bodies. 



E. B. F. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 LEGISLATION ON THE FOREST EESEEVATIONS. 



The Senate, on May 6th, adopted Senator 

 Pettegrew's amendment to the Sunday Civil 

 Appropriation Bill, suspending President Cleve- 

 land's order of February 22d, setting aside some 

 20,000,000 acres of timber lands in the North- 

 west as forest reservations. The N. Y. Even- 

 ing Post calls this action 'monstrous,' and it 

 seems to be generally misunderstood. The 

 Senators from the States concerned favor forest 

 reservations, but President Cleveland's order, 

 with the laudable purpose of adequately cele- 

 brating Washington's Birthday and securing to 

 his administration the credit of this important 

 movement, seems to have been premature. The 

 letter from the Secretary of the Interior to the 

 President of the National Academy of Sciences 

 requested an official expression of the Academy 

 upon the following points : 



