34 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 28s 



— Nature states that the vapor-density of sulphur has been re- 

 determined by Dr. Biltz in the laboratory of Prof. Victor Meyer 

 with unexpected results. It has hitherto been generally accepted 

 that at a temperature (524° C.) not very far removed from its boil- 

 ing-point (447° C.) the molecule of sulphur is built up of six atoms. 

 This assumption is based upon vapor-density determinations by 

 Dumas and Mitscherlich, who obtained values about this tempera- 

 ture pointing to a hexatomic molecule. However, the work of the 

 last few years upon the chlorides of aluminium, tin, and iron, has 

 opened the eyes of chemists to the fact that the double formulae 

 AlgClg, SnjClj, and FejClj, resting as they did upon a few experi- 

 ments performed within a very limited range of temperature, are 

 erroneous, and have no foundation in fact. The older work upon 

 the constitution of sulphur molecules was notably of this class. 

 The experiments themselves were irreproachable, and completed 

 with all the skill for which the experimenters were famous ; but un- 

 fortunately the temperatures at which they worked were not suffi- 

 ciently removed from each other, there being only a difference of 

 27° C. between their maxima and minima. It is now, moreover, a 

 demonstrated law that the existence of molecules of fixed composi- 

 tion can only be assumed when the vapor-density remains constant 

 within a notable interval of temperature : hence a series of fresh 

 determinations have been undertaken in the case of sulphur. Ex- 

 periments conducted at 518° in a bath of vaporized pentasulphide 

 of phosphorus by Dumas's method gave values averaging about 

 7.0, which are nearly coincident with Dumas's own. At the higher 

 temperature of 606°, using a bath of stannous chloride vapor, the 

 density had diminished to 4.7. At 860°, as is well known, sulphur 

 vapor attains the normal constitution of two atoms to the molecule, 

 and the density remams constant for about 200° higher still : hence, 

 in order to finally set the question at rest, a series of ten determina- 

 tions were made at intervals of about io°-i5° from 468" to 606°, 

 with the conclusive result that the density regularly diminished from 

 7.9 at the former, to 4.7 at the latter temperature. Hence the no- 

 tion of S5 is completely dissipated : there is no more experimental 

 reason for it than there is for the existence of molecules of the con- 

 stitution S5 or S„. None but the value corresponding to the nor- 

 mal composition, S2, stands the test of interval of temperature : 

 therefore we must conclude that sulphur obeys the usual law, and 

 that its molecules when completely vaporized are each composed of 

 two atoms. 



— The following comparison of several physical measurements 

 of men belonging to the " upper professional classes, well fed, 

 well clothed," with Cambridge students, suggests interesting re- 

 flections on the superiority of university men : — 



^— In Wide Awake ior ]M\y , Sallie Joy White writes of Helen 

 Keller, to whom we have already referred, " The ideas of death and 

 burial had never been communicated to her; but, taken into a 

 cemetery on account of some beautiful flowers there, she grew pale 

 and grave, and put her little hand upon her teacher's eyes and her 

 mother's, and spelled out ' cry, cry,' and her own eyes filled with 

 tears. Her teacher says that one day when her brother was com- 

 ing toward them, as they were walking, Helen knew it, spelled his 

 name repeatedly, and started in the right direction to meet him ; 

 and that she gives the names of people she meets walking or rid- 

 ing as soon as their presence is recognized ; and that often, when 

 she is about to make known some plan, the child will anticipate 

 her and spell out the very plan about to be unfolded. Whether 

 this be the action of some sharpened sense already known to us 

 and named, or the awaking and working of some sense not recog- 

 nized and named, is interesting matter for study." 



— G.-Stanley Hall has accepted the presidency of Clark Univer- 

 sity, Worcester, Mass. The two following extracts, the first from 

 the letter tendering the position, the second from Professor Hall's 

 letter of acceptance, throw some light on what may be the policy 



and character of the as yet unformed institution. The trustees 

 write, " In the work to which you are thus called, the trustees 

 promise you a hearty and unselfish co-operation. They desire to- 

 impose on you no trammels. They have no friends for whom they 

 wish to provide at the expense of the interests of the institution, no- 

 pet theories to press upon you in derogation of your judgment, no 

 sectarian tests to apply, no guaranties to require, save such as are 

 implied by your acceptance of this trust. Their single desire is to 

 fit men for the highest duties of life, and to that end that this in- 

 stitution, in whatever branches of sound learning it may find itself 

 engaged, may be made a leader and a light. To this high purpose 

 they have dedicated their university, and, in calling you to the first 

 position of influence and authority for its accomplishment, they give 

 you their present confidence, and the assurance of sympathy, 

 co-operation, and support." Dr. Hall replied, " The work of or- 

 ganizing another college of the old New England type, or even the 

 attempt to duplicate those that are best among the established in- 

 stitutions, old or new, would not induce me to leave. But as I have- 

 come to know the rare educational wisdom, as well as the rare muni- 

 ficence, of your founder ; the single and express desire of the corpora- 

 tion, that, in whatever branches of sound learning it may engage, the 

 new university may be a leader and a light ; the many advantages 

 of location afforded by your city, which seem to make the place of 

 this great foundation no less auspicious than is the present time ;: 

 the public co-operation, interest, and good-will of your citizens ;. 

 and as I realize how these influences, once fairly organized, must 

 tend in this day to still further university progress along old lines 

 and the opening of new ones. — I am drawn with hope and enthu- 

 siasm, too strong to resist, from this present to the future service 

 to which you call me." 



— The value and popularity of the general government exhibits at 

 the great fairs in this country are becoming so universally recognized,. 

 that Congress is asked to authorize the sending of such exhibits to- 

 every important exhibition that is held. The latest applicant is the 

 Virginia Agricultural, Mechanical, and Tobacco Exposition, to be held; 

 in Richmond from Oct. 3 to Nov. 21 of the present year. The sum 

 asked for is twenty-five thousand dollars, five thousand each for 

 the Agricultural Department and the Fish Commission, and fifteen 

 thousand for the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum- 

 It would be establishing a rather dangerous precedent to send a- 

 government exhibit to a State fair, for every other State in the 

 Union will immediately demand that the interest in their State fairs- 

 shall be promoted by an appropriation by Congress. 



— In a recording rain-gauge recently devised by M. Brassard, as 

 described in Nature, the water passes from the bottom of the re- 

 ceiver into a centrally pivoted trough, having each arm slightly de- 

 pressed in the middle. It fills the two divisions alternately. The- 

 fiUed arm goes down, and empties itself into a lower trough, and' 

 the rocking thus caused is registered by an ordinary counter. Each 

 rocking of the trough indicates one-tenth of a millimetre of water 

 having fallen into the receiver. The instrument is designed to- 

 eliminate the error usually arising from evaporation. 



— Advices from the fishing-village of Kerschkaranza, in the Kola^ 

 Peninsula, on the White Sea, state, according to Nature, that on 

 Jan. 5 a curious and destructive phenomenon occurred there. At 4. 

 A.M. the inhabitants were awakened by a peculiar, dull, heavy de- 

 tonation like that of distant artillery. Piled up to a height of sev- 

 eral hundred feet, the ice — in consequence, no doubt, of the enor- 

 mous pressure of the ocean-ice without — was seen to begin mov- 

 ing from the north-west towards the shore. The gigantic ice wall 

 moved irresistibly forward, and soon reached the shore and the- 

 village, which it completely buried, the ice extending a mile inland. 

 The forward movement of the ice lasted four hours. No lives- 

 were lost. 



— According to the report of the inspector of schools in Hong 

 Kong for the past year, as noticed in A'ature, the total number of 

 schools subject to government supervision was 94, as against 45 in 

 1877 and 13 in 1867 ; the numbers of scholars for the corresponding 

 years being respectively 5,974, 3,144, and 700. Of the 5,974 pupils 

 who attended school's under government supervision in 1887, 4, i6o- 

 attended missionary schools, and 1,814 the government undenomi- 

 national establishments. In the colony there are five classes o5 



