DecembeeH, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



871 



erties from any of the known rare earths, 

 and possessing an atomic weight of about 

 98 or 99. An element of this atomic weight 

 and with the properties the author de- 

 scribes could not find a place in the peri- 

 odic system. Mendeleef's eka-manganesium 

 would have this atomic weight, but its prop- 

 erties would be very difierent from those of 

 the new element. The author hence con- 

 siders the element may not be a simple sub- 

 stance. 



J. E.. E.YDBBRG has made further study 

 of the gas evolved from cleveite, and con- 

 firms the view of Ra.msay that helium is a 

 mixture of two gases. This conclusion is 

 reached from a study of the spectrum of 

 helium. 



A FURTHER study of the amount of ar- 

 gon in the atmosphere has been made by 

 Schloesing, in which a remarkable uniform- 

 ity appears in air from different sources. 

 The average value is found to be 1.184 per 

 cent, of the total volume of nitrogen and ar- 

 gon. 



A STUDY of the heat of formation of lithi- 

 um hydrid by Guntz gives a value of 21.6 

 calories, a magnitude which might be ex- 

 pected from the great stability of this hy- 

 drid. Its dissociation tension at its melting 

 point, 680°, is about 27 mm. J. L. H. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



The Astronomical Society of the Pacific 

 will publish shortly an interesting account 

 of observations of the eclipse of last August. 

 This eclipse was successfully observed in 

 Lappland, whither an expedition had been 

 sent by the Russian Astronomical Society. 

 An account of the expedition, to be pub- 

 lished by the Astronomical Society of the 

 Pacific, has been written by M. Eydzewski, 

 one of the members of the expedition, and 

 will be accompanied with reproductions of 

 several very good photographs of the corona 

 obtained during totality. 



The Academy of Sciences of St. Louis 

 has published a paper on Flexure of Tele- 

 scopes by Prof. M. Updegraff, of the Univer- 

 sity of Missouri. The question is treated 

 from a theoretical standpoint. The author 

 points out that the small systematic errors 

 which are often found in the results of 

 declination measures with meridian circles 

 may be the effects of ' unsymmetrical action 

 of gravity on the telescope tube.' H. J. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 THE DECIMAL DIVISION OF TIME AND ANGLES. 



The Bevue Scientifique for October 31st con- 

 tains an article by M. J. de Eey Pailhade, ad- 

 vocating the introduction of the decimal system 

 in the measurement of time and of angles. The 

 author states that attention was first attractied 

 to this subject when the metric system of 

 weights and measures was introduced into 

 France. Laplace and Poisson made use of the 

 plan proposed at that time, and one measure- 

 ment, the 'grade' (x^o^ part of | circle), is still in 

 use in the Geographical Survey of the French 

 army. The subject was discussed before the 

 Paris Academy, in 1870, by MM. d'Abbadie, 

 Yvon Villarceau and Wolf, but was not again 

 brought prominently forward till 1893, when it 

 was taken up by M. Pailhade in a paper read 

 before the Congres des societes frangaises de 

 geographie at Tours. Since then other scientific 

 societies have recommended the serious study 

 of the question by men of science. Among 

 these may be mentioned the Association fran- 

 §aise pour I'avancement des sciences, the 

 Society astronomique de France, the Soci^te de 

 topographic de France and the International 

 Congress of Geography held in London in 1895. 



All those who are engaged in making elabor- 

 ate calculations would reap, it is claimed, 

 great benefit from the system. Not only 

 would the time required in computing results be 

 very much shorter, but the chance of error 

 would be greatly decreased. Men of science 

 chiefly, therefore, should be interested in this 

 reform, for though it would also benefit the 

 general public it would do so in a less degree. 

 M. Pailhade lays stress on the fact that the sys- 

 tem can only be introduced very gradually, and 



