July 3, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



21 



mals obtained by him and prepared by the taxi- 

 dermist of the party are very rare. 



The periodical comet discovered by Mr. W. 

 R. Brooks on July 6, 1889, whose orbit has 

 been computed by Dr. S. E. Chandler, Prof. 

 Chas. Lane Poor and others, has been detected 

 by M. Javal, one of the assistants of the Obser- 

 vatory of Nice. 



The Josselin Botanical Society of Maine will 

 hold its second annual meeting at Farmington 

 on July 7th to 10th, 1896, The first two days 

 will be devoted to the reading of papers and 

 discussions and the last two to field expeditions 

 in the surrounding country. Further details re- 

 garding the meeting may be obtained from the 

 Secretary, Mr. M. L. Fernald, Cambridge, 

 Mass. 



In an article contributed to the Naturivissen- 

 schaftliche Rundschau Dr. L. Fomm, of Munich, 

 states that he has secured interference effects 

 with the X-rays and has found their length to 

 be about 0.000014 mm. 



Dr. Charles M argot has recently investi- 

 gated {Arch, des Sciences phys. et nat.) the cvirious 

 colors of the alloys of aluminium. White 

 metals usually give white alloys, but 78 parts 

 of gold and 22 parts of aluminium give an alloy 

 of a brilliant purple color, and 72 parts of plat- 

 inum and 28 parts of aluminium give a bright 

 yellow alloy. The author holds that these al- 

 loys are true chemical combinations. They 

 might prove useful for coins, except that the 

 structure is crystalline and the alloy turns to 

 powder when struck by a blow. 



M. A. RivoiRE has recently described before 

 the Paris Academy an instrument that automati- 

 cally transcribes a composition played on the 

 piano. The record is said to be as legible as 

 the ordinary musical notation, and it might be 

 an advantage to a composer to directly record 

 his compositions. It would also show the exact 

 rate at which a composer or performer plays a 

 given piece, our ordinary musical notation being 

 deficient in this respect. 



An English magistrate has recently decided 

 that it is illegal to sell green peas colored with 

 copper sulphate. It is said that about twenty 



million tins containing these peas are consumed 

 annually in Great Britain. They are also sold 

 extensively in America, and the makers should 

 be required at least to state the amount of cop- 

 per sulphate that they contain. 



An expedition for the purpose of boring to a 

 considerable depth into the atoll of Funafuti in 

 the Ellice group (lat. 9° S., long. 179° W.) 

 left Sydney on May 1st, on board H. M. S. 

 Penguin, a surveying vessel, under command of 

 Captain Field, E. N. Prof. W. J. Sollas, of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, and the Geological 

 Survey of Ireland, is in chief charge as geolo- 

 gist, and with him are Mr. Stanley Gardner, of 

 Cambridge, and Mr. Hedley, of the Australian 

 Museum, who will be doing biological work and 

 collecting. The department of mines of the 

 New South Wales government is lending dia- 

 mond drill plant and giving some monetary aid 

 as well, while Prof. Anderson Stuart, Mr. Slee 

 and Prof. David have given much time and 

 thought to the expedition. The main funds 

 are provided by the British Government Grant 

 Committee and by the Royal Society, while the 

 Admiralty are providing a ship to carry men 

 and apparatus^ from Sydney to the island and 

 back to Fiji, where the expedition will disperse. 

 Although the work is surrounded by many dif- 

 ficulties, and possibly by unforeseen ones which 

 may prevent the carrying out of the complete 

 program, it is hoped that a section through a 

 considerable part of an atoll at sea level may 

 be obtained sufficient to show the constituent 

 rocks, the fovindation on which they rest, and 

 possibly the exact method according to which 

 the atoll has been built up. It is hoped that 

 the work may be completed before October. 



A Reuter despatch to the London Times 

 states that the steam yacht Windward left St. 

 Katharine Docks yesterday afternoon for Franz 

 Josef Laud. The Windward, which is now 

 under the command of Captain James Brown, 

 an Arctic explorer of over 36 years' experience, 

 is taking out as ice master Mr. John Crowther, 

 who has already made the return journey to 

 Franz Josef Land on three occasions. All told, 

 her crew consists of 22 officers and men. 

 Since her return from Franz Josef Land the 

 Windward has been strengthened throughout^ 



