December 14, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



•289 



great importance of this faculty. By way of explanation, \)i-. 

 Gould suggests, that, without the faculty of hrding the way hoine- 

 ward, the sphere of an animal's life would be very narrow. The 

 maintenance of the species would develop the power of .seeking 

 new fields and the power to turn homewards. The ordinary senses 

 cannot account for this homing instinct, as actual e.xperiments have 

 shown. Dr. Gould sees here the true sixth sense, and regards it as 

 a sensibility to changes in electric and magnetic tension, ilue to 

 position on the earth's surface. The home is the animal's north 

 pole. By habit, it is accustomed to the magnetic conditions there, 

 but when away is restless, and finds its way homeward by this 

 mysterious compass. Dr. Gould connects with this some fanciful 

 speculations as to the import of the pineal gland as a possible 

 magnetic organ, and some hints as to the physical nature of home- 

 sickness in mankind. 



ELECTRICAL NEWS. 

 A Novel Telephone. 

 We take the following from a recent issue of the New York 

 Electrical Review : " The Lowth stetlio-telephone hails from Chi- 

 cago, and is a combined transmitter and receiver. A hollow ex- 

 tension about four inches long is attached to the receiver, from the 

 end of which a small button protrudes slightly. The button is 

 placed against the throat near the vocal chords, and the receiver 

 is held against the ear in the usual manner. When the operator 

 speaks, the vibrations of the throat are transmitted with, it is said, 

 distinct clearness. The instrument is operated by the muscular vi- 

 brations that accompany the utterance of words. The inventor, 

 James Lowth, is said to have been experimenting and working on 

 this instrument for over ten years. When he first applied for a 

 patent, three years ago, the authorities at Washington thought him 

 a crank, and refused to issue one. He attached the instruinent to 

 wires in the office, and asked over it, ' What do you think now .' ' 

 Back over the wire came, ' I give in. It works perfectly.' Our 

 Chicago informant says it has been successfully operated between 

 that city and Milwaukee, and in Pittsburgh it worked over a line 

 seventy-five miles in length, on which were twenty-five Bell instru- 

 ments." While, if the evidence is correct, this instrument certainly 

 works, yet it is difficult to see how sounds produced by changing 

 the relative positions of the tongue, teeth, and lips, such as go to 

 make up a large part of the human voice, are accurately transmit- 

 ted by this telephone. Never having seen one of these instruments, 

 we do not yet " give in." 



Faure's New Secondary Battery. — In this battery M- 

 Faure uses finely divided metals pressed together in a self-support- 

 ing mass, or metal plates are used having combined with them finely 

 divided particles of the same metal. Each plate is surrounded 

 by a sheet of prepared asbestos, the sheet being a thirty-second 

 of an inch thick, dipped first into some soluble salt, and then into a 

 solution of a soluble silicate capable of producing with the first an 

 insoluble compound. In his cell M. Faure uses zinc combined with 

 finely divided zinc, and copper combined with finely divided copper. 

 The solution used is phosphate of potash. On subjecting such a cell 

 to the action of the electric current, phosphate of copper is formed 

 on the surface of the copper element. M. Faure then substitutes a 

 fresh solution of phosphate of potash, and, upon discharging the 

 battery, phosphoric acid is transferred from the solution to the zinc, 

 and from the copper to the solution ; so that the solution remains 

 unchanged as regards its constituent elements. The preliminary 

 preparation would be avoided if phosphate of copper were placed 

 upon the copper element in the first instance ; but phosphate of 

 copper is not easy to obtain and manipulate, and the process de- 

 scribed is said to accomplish the desired object. 



An Italian Commission on Electric Traction. — The 

 Societi Anonima degli Omnibus of Milan some time ago selected 

 three engineers to travel through Europe, inspect the various elec- 

 tric-traction roads in operation, and report on the adaptability to 

 the tramways in Milan. The main part of the report of the experts 

 is taken up with the description and discussion of storage-battery 

 systems ; overhead, underground, and rail conductor systems being 

 only incidentally mentioned. The commission was unable to make 



a report on any line that was a complete financial success. The 

 system in Brussels has not given perfect satisfaction, although im- 

 provements have been made that will reduce the cost. The road 

 is on a small scale, however, and it does not necessarily follow that 

 it would not pay, even now, if it was on a larger scale. The road, 

 too, is a difficult one, with long grades of over three per cent. A 

 carefid study was made of the different types of accumulators in 

 use at present, and an estimate is made of the comparative cost of 

 storage-battery traction, as compared with that of horses. As a 

 result, the commission advised that electric cars be tried, and states 

 that it would be an honor to Milan, which was one of the first 

 cities in the world to adopt electric-lighting on a large scale, to be 

 also one of the first to utilize electricity for the propulsion of its 

 tramcars. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Mr. H. p. Tuttle has recently indicated on a map of California 

 the shadow path of the total eclipse of the sun which occurs on 

 Jan. I, 1889, and through his kindness we are enabled to reproduce 

 this map. The cone of darkness will first appear on the western 



coast of California, the central line passmg near Punta Arenas- 

 The space within the lines marked ' northern limit ' and ' southern 

 limit ' indicates that in which the eclipse will be total. The dura- 

 tion of the eclipse will be about two minutes. 



— During the past week the Society of Amateur Photographers 

 of Xew York has been holding at its rooms, 122 West 36th Street, 

 an informal exhibition of prints, the work of members of the soci- 

 ety. The exhibition has proved very successful ; so much so, that, 

 at the request of many visitors, the exhibition will continue until 

 Saturday, Dec. 15. About six hundred pictures are exhibited, and 

 include views in many parts of Europe, China, Japan, Corea. the 

 United States, historical buildings in this city, flash-light pictures, 

 etc. The rooms will be open from 10 .-i.M. to 6 P.M., and from 7 to 

 10 P.M. every day and evening this week, except Tuesday evening. 

 There is no charge for admission, and non-members of the society 

 wishing to see the exhibition can obtain tickets by writing to the 

 secretary of the society. 



