114 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. \^0L. XI. No. 264. 



The latest numbers of the Chemical News 

 contaiu reprints of several papers on the new 

 radiant substances discovered by M. and Mme. 

 Curie. It is found that the radio-activity of 

 polonium and radium can be communicated by 

 contact to inactive bodies, such as many metals, 

 paper, barium carbonate and bismuth sulfid, 

 and this induced radio-activity persists for a 

 considerable time. 



Mme. Cueie has concentrated by fractiona- 

 tion the radium which is associated with barium 

 in the uranium minerals, and determined the 

 atomic weights of the successive fractions — one 

 fraction having an activity 3000 times that 

 of uranium had an atomic weight of 140. 

 (Ba= 137.8.) A later fraction of 7500 times 

 uranium's activity had an atomic weight of 

 145.8, hence it seems that radium has a higher 

 atomic weight than barium. In this work half 

 a ton of uranium mineral was used and the 

 radiferous barium chlorid which was fraction- 

 ated amounted to two kilos. The spectrum 

 of this concentrated radium was studied by 

 Demargay, and in addition to the spectrum of 

 barium, very intense and complete, a series of 

 new lines was found and measured. Some of 

 these are very characteristic. It thus appears 

 reasonably certain that radium has a definite 

 position as a chemical element, and the prop- 

 erties of the purified substance will attract 

 great interest when determined. Among the 

 chemical effects of the salts of radium is 

 the conversion of oxygen into ozone. This 

 phenomenon seems to be connected rather 

 with the radio-activity than with luminosity. 

 Radium carbonate is very luminous, but pro- 

 duces less ozone than radium chlorid, which 

 is much less luminous, but more strongly 

 radio-active. If a radium salt is placed 

 in a glass vessel, a violet coloration is seen in 

 the glass which proceeds from the interior 

 to the exterior. In ten days or so the bottom 

 of the flask is almost black. This takes place 

 in glass containing no lead. The effect of the 

 Bacquerel rays upon barium platino-cyanid is 

 also chemical. All these phenomena point to 

 the fact that the rays emitted by radium pre- 

 sent a continual development of energy. 



J. L. H. 



CURRENT NOTES ON 3IETE0R0L0GY. 



THE WEST INBIAN HURRICANE OF AUGUST, 1899. 



An account of the West Indian hurricane of 

 August 7-17 last, in the Monthly Weather Re- 

 view for August (issued October 30), brings out 

 several points worth noting here. The report 

 from the Weather Bureau observer at Arroya, 

 Puerto Rico, says that the Spanish steamship 

 Alava took refuge in the Port of Jobos, and with 

 all her anchors down and working full speed 

 ahead, she dragged for half a mile. At Agua- 

 dilla, Puerto Rico, the passage of the calm cen- 

 tral ' eye ' of the storm occupied about one 

 hour. At Nassau, considerable damage was 

 done by the northeast wind, which backed to 

 northwest, and fell calm. People then came 

 out to gather up their scattered effects, when 

 the wind suddenly began to blow from the 

 southwest with great force. An aneroid read- 

 ing of 27.75 inches, corrected for instrumental 

 error and for elevation, was made at Guayama, 

 Puerto Rico, and one of 28.11 inches was made 

 at Juana Diaz. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



Note. — The unusually large number of re- 

 cent publications of importance makes it neces- 

 sary, in view of the limited space, to restrict 

 our mention of them to a few lines only. 



Evelyn B. Baldwin : ' The Meteorological 

 Observations of the Second Wellman Expedi- 

 tion,' National Geographic Magazine, December, 

 1899, 312-316. Mr. Baldwin is an official of 

 the United States Weather Bureau, and was 

 equipped with instruments by the Bureau. 

 This is a preliminary report of his meteorolog- 

 ical work. 



Frank H. Bigelow : ' The probable State of 

 the Sky along the Path of Total Eclipse of the 

 Sun, May 28, 1900, Observations of 1899,' 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Weather 

 Bureau. Bulletin No. 27. 8vo. Washington, 

 D. C, 1899. Pp.23. Charts IV. This report 

 summarizes, for the information of astronomers 

 and others interested in the approaching eclipse, 

 the results of observations made in 1897, 1898 

 and 1899 to determine the prevailing average 

 cloudiness in the districts covered by the eclipse 

 track. 



Frank H. Bigelow : ' Some of the Results 



