326 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 488 



on each of the plates, and thus produce local action and the 

 formation of lead sulphate. It would not be a diflBcult matter 

 to effect such diffusion, and the esperiment would be one of 

 considerable interest. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The ancual meeting of the Society of German Men of Science 

 and Physicians, according to Nature, vvill be held at Nurnberg 

 from Septem'^er 12 to 18. At tlie same time and plane there will 

 be a meeting of tlie German Mathematical Association. In con- 

 nection with these meetings there will lie a mathematical exhibi- 

 tion, incluriins: models rirawings, apparatus, and instruments 

 used in teaching and in re^t^arch in pure and applie I mathematics. 

 The project has the suppor". of tlie fiivarian Government, and 

 those who are organizing the exhiijition have secured the co- 

 operation of various competent men of science, and of the mathe- 

 matical departments of some co'lege^, be.-ides that of prominent 

 publishers and well-known technical institutions. Space will be 

 granted free of charge to exhibitors. 



— Mr. E. H. Parlier, the British consul at Kiungchow, in 

 Haiaan, a large island off the southern coast of China, mentions 

 a curious phenomenon in connection with the tides of that port. 

 The tides inside the inner harbor, as we learn from Nature, require 

 several years of careful observation before they can be tabulated. 

 It appears certain, however, that there are always two tidal 

 waves a day, though one is so much more considerable than the 

 other that the effect is often practically that of one single tide in 

 the twenty four hours. The easterly and westerly currents 

 through the straits are not necessarily connected with the rise 

 and fall of the water, either there or in port. The phenomenon of 

 •'slacli water" {morte eau) is also observable every tea days or so 

 at Haiphong, and is probably orving to much the same causes as 

 at Hoihow. At Tourane in Tonquin, too, it is popularly thought 

 that there is usually but one tide within the twenty-four hours. 

 This tide is felt away up to the citadel of Quangnam. In the 

 Gulf of Tonquin the incoming tidal wave flows from the south, 

 a fact %vhich perhaps accounts for the singular circumstance that 

 the westerly current in the Hainan Straits always sets for sis- 

 teen hours. One at least of tbe tidal waves from the east, which 

 pass Hoihow, cannot get through the straits to Tonquin so soon 

 as that portion of the same wave which takes a circuitous course 

 by way of Annam. 



— A Report of the State Geologist of Missouri, dated June 3, 

 shows that much attention has been given to the study of the 

 zinc and lead deposits, and in this connection examinations have 

 been made in Jasper. Newton, Lawrence, Greene, and St. Fran- 

 cois Counties. In addition, detailed mapping has been prosecuted 

 in Jasper County, and about 1-tO square miles have oeen covered 

 during the past month. Further, there has been collected in 

 Jasper County a large number of charts showing tlie location of 

 mining pi-operties, shafts, and ore bodies; and a great amount of 

 statistical matter relating to these. The material thus acquired 

 will be used in the preparation of the general report upon the zinc 

 and lead deposits and also in the special report which will accom- 

 pany the maps of Jasper County, now in preparation. In con- 

 nection with the examination of the iron-ores, stratigraphic 

 studies of the Ozark region have been prosecuted along the Big 

 Piny and Gasconade Rivers in Texas, Pulaski, Phelps, Maries, 

 Osage, and Gasconade Counties. In addition, iron-ore deposits 

 have been inspected in Ripley, Carter, Wayne, and Butler Coun- 

 ties. The clays of the State have been subjects of further exam- 

 ination in both the field and the laboratory, deposits having been 

 visited in St. Louis, Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Bollinger, 

 GanoU, Chariton, and Randolph Counties. The study of the 

 Quaternary geology of the State has been prosecuted in Jackson, 

 Lafayette, Johnson, Macon, Randolph, and Saline Counties. In 

 Greene and Polk Counties a small amount of systematic geological 

 mapping has been done. The excessive rains during the past 

 month have not only made all the field-work difBcult and disa- 

 greeable, but have made certain work impossible, and have mate- 

 rially retarded the progress in other directions. It is greatly to 



the credit of the assistants of the survey that, notwithstanding the 

 hardships endured and the difficulties overcome, such advance 

 has been made. In the office the preparation of reports has been 

 constantly in progress. This includes the original composition, 

 the revision, and preparation for the printer, the correction of 

 proof, the drawing of maps and illustrations. The reports which 

 have thus specially received attention during the past month are: 

 the report on the iron ores; the report on the mineral waters; the 

 report on paleontology; the report on the Higginsville sheet; the 

 reports on the Warrensburg, Iron Mountain, and Mine La Motte 

 sheets; and the report on the crystalline rocks. 



— At a meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Phila- 

 delphia, May 20, the following preambles and resolutions were 

 read and considered : " Whereas, This Society did in the year 1843 

 celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of its foundation by a series 

 of addresses, meetings, receptions, exercises, etc., upon the 25th, 

 26th, 37th, 2Sth, 29th, and 80th days of May. the results of which 

 were published in a special volume of over two hundred pages; 

 and, Whereas, We are approaching the Sesqui-Centennial Anni- 

 versary of the same auspicious event; therefore, be it Resolved, 

 That the Society will celebrate the same in a worthy and becoming 

 manner. Resolved, That the president be authorized to appoint a 

 committee of five members to make all necessary arrangements 

 for the same and with full power to act, and that the president 

 be ex-officio a member of said committee." The preambles and 

 resolutions, being considered by the society, were unanimously 

 agreed to. The president subsequently appointed as said commit- 

 tee Messrs. Henry Phillips, Jun., chairman, J. Sergeant Price, 

 Daniel G. Brinton, Richard Vaux, and William V. Keating. 



— The usual monthly meeting of the Royal Meteorological So- 

 ciety was held on Wednesday evening. May 18. The following 

 papers were read: (1) "Raindrops," by Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.R.S. 

 The author has made over three hundred sketches of raindrops, 

 and has gathered some interesting facts respecting their variation 

 in size, form, and distribution. Sheets of slate in book-form, 

 which could be instantly closed, were employed ; these were ruled 

 in inch squares, and after exposure the drops were copied on 

 sheets of paper ruled like the slates. Some drops produce a wet 

 circular spot; whilst others, falling with greater force, have 

 splashes around the drops. The same-sized drop varies consid- 

 erably in the amount of water it contains. The size of the drop 

 ranges from an almost invisible point to that of at least two inches 

 in diameter. Occasionally large drops fall that must be more or 

 less hollow, as they fail to wet the whole surface inclosed within 

 the drop. Besides the ordinary rain drops, the author exhibited 

 diagrams, showing the drops produced by a mist floating along 

 the ground, and also the manner in which snowflakes, on melting, 

 wet the slates. (2) '• Results of a Comparison of Richard's 

 Anemo-Clnemographe with the Standard Beckley Anemograph at 

 the Kew Observatory," by Mr. G. M. Whipple. This instrument 

 IS a windmill vane anemometer, and is formed by six small wings 

 or vanes of aluminium, four inches in diameter, inclined at 45°, 

 rivetted on very light steel arms, the diameter of which is so cal- 

 culated that the vane should make exactly one turn for a meter 

 of wind. Its running is always verified by means of a whirling 

 frame fitted up in an experimental room where the air is abso- 

 lutely calm, and, if necessary, a table of corrections is supplied. 

 The recording part of the apparatus differs entirely from any 

 other anemometer, and is called the Anemo-Cinemographe, and 

 in principle is as follows: The pen, recording on a movable paper, 

 is wound up at a constant rate by means of a conical pendulum 

 acting as a train of wheel-links, whilst a second train, driven by 

 the fan, is always tending to force it down to the lower edge of 

 the paper; its position, therefore, is governed by the relative dif- 

 ference in the velocity of the two trains of wheel- work, being at 

 zero when the air is calm, but at other times it records the rate 

 of the fan in meters per second. The author has made a com- 

 parison of this instrument with the Standard Anemometer at the 

 Kew Observatory, and finds that it gives exceedingly good results. 

 (8) " Levels of the River Vaal at Kimberley, South Africa, with 

 Remarks on the Rainfall of the Watershed," by Mr. W. B. Tripp. 

 Measurements of the height of the River Vaal have for several 



