Mar. 2, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



215 



fitted to the back of the machine, so that when the 

 almonds are fed on to this table they slide down to the 

 rollers, through which they are drawn and forced against 

 the knife, which splits them through the centre. 



Automatic Temperature Regulator. — An apparatus 

 for regulating temperature has been patented by Mr. A. 

 B. Willway and Mr. E. Moon, both of Bristol. In a casing 

 is arranged a coil of metal of two different expansive 

 natures, and through the centre of the coil passes a pipe 

 conveying steam. The coil terminates in a tail-piece 

 on which is placed a valve, working in connection with 

 an outlet from the casing, which is also provided with an 

 inlet aperture. When the steam is passed through the 

 tube in the centre of the coil, the difference of expansion 

 between the two metals causes the metal strip to uncoil, 

 which, acting on the valve, closes, or partially closes, the 

 outlet aperture. 



Fire-damp Tester. — An apparatus for detecting fire- 

 damp has been patented by Mr. B. J. B. Mills on behalf 

 of Mr. N. W. Perry, United States. A strip of platinum 

 or palladium, coated on one side with gold, occludes fire- 

 damp, etc., and so expands most on the uncoated side, 

 thereby bending upwards and closing an electric alarm 

 circuit ; or the terminals of the circuit can°be placed in 

 some non-conducting compounds of the above metals 

 such as palladium oxide, which is reduced in the cold by 

 hydrocarbon gases to the conducting metal, which there- 

 fore closes the circuit. Or a block of platinized or 

 palladinized charcoal may be attached to a thermopile, 

 which actuates a relay circuit containing the alarum. 



Colorimeter. — An apparatus for testing the intensity 

 of colour of transparent bodies has been patented by 

 Mr. J. W. Lovibond, 26, St. Ann Street, Salisbury. The 

 apparatus consists of two tubes separated by a wedge- 

 shaped partition so that they are slightly inclined to one 

 another. An eye-piece is fitted to command a view of 

 both tubes, the other ends of which are open, or merely 

 covered by a screen of ground glass so as to freely admit 

 light. In one tube is placed a block of the substance to 

 be tested, a definite thickness of course being chosen, 

 generally one inch ; in the case of liquids a containing 

 vessel of white glass is used. Into slots in the other 

 tube a series of coloured glasses of standard intensity are 

 placed until the required shade is obtained as viewed 

 through the eye-piece. 



Electrical Switch. — An automatic switch for electric 

 alarms has been patented by Mr. H. C. Chocqued, Mel- 

 rose Gardens, West Kensington. Through a case of 

 insulating material is passed a rod of metal moving freely, 

 and projecting at each end through suitable openings in 

 the case. This rod carries a tongue, which, by shifting 

 the rod in either direction, is caused to impinge on a contact, 

 and so close a circuit, which comprises a battery and an 

 alarm bell. The rod is so controlledby a spring that it tends 

 to press on one of the contacts. The rod is held back against 

 the spring, so that its tongue is midway between the con- 

 tacts, by means of a cord connecting one of the ends of 

 the rod with the door or article by the movement of which 

 the alarm is sounded. Thus if the cord be pulled or 

 allowed to slacken, the tongue of the rod will be moved 

 against one of the contacts, and the alarm sounded. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



London Society for the Extension of University 

 Teaching. — On the 3rd inst. Sir James Paget, F.R.S., will 

 give, at the Mansion House, at 3.30 p.m., the annual address 

 to the students of this Society. The subject of the address 

 will be " Scientific Study." 



The Professorship of Botany at EniNBURGH.^Dr. 

 Isaac Bayley Balfour, Sherardian Professor of Botany in 

 Oxford University, has been appointed Professor of 

 Botany at Edinburgh University, in succession to the late 

 Professor Dickson. Professor 13alfour is the son of the late 

 Mr. Balfour, who occupied the chair of Botany at Edinburgh 

 so long. He succeeded the late Dr. Dickson at Glasgow, 

 removing to Oxford in 1884. 



Hygiene and Life-saving Exhibition at Ostend. — 

 Under the auspices of the Communal Administration of 

 Ostend an International Exhibition of Hygiene and Sauvetage 

 will be held in the Pare Leopold. The Exhibition will remain 

 open from the ist June to 1st October, and will include all 

 that relates to public, private, industrial, naval, and maritime 

 hygiene. There will be a special section connected with 

 childhood, and another devoted to the saving of human life 

 under various circumstances. Further information may be 

 obtained on application to the Organising Committee, 3, Rue 

 des Regnesses, Ghent. 



Institution of Mechanical Engineers. — The summer 

 meeting will this year be held in Dublin, an interval of 

 twenty-three years having elapsed since the previous meet- 

 ing in the capital of Ireland. The Provost and Senior Fellows 

 of Trinity College have obligingly offered every facility and 

 accommodation in their power ; and the members will thus 

 enjoy a renewal of the hospitable reception which was 

 accorded to them on the occasion of their former visit. The 

 meeting will commence on Tuesday the 31st of July, and will 

 last four days. Further particulars will be announced in 

 due course. 



Canals and Inland Navigation. — It is the intention of 

 the Society of Arts to hold a conference in May next on the 

 subject of canals and inland navigation. In the year 1885 an 

 international conference on this subject was held at Brussels, 

 and in the following year there was one at Vienna. The 

 third meeting is to be this year at Frankfort. It is not, how- 

 ever, proposed that the Society of Arts Conference should be 

 of an international character, as naturally the canals of this 

 country are not in any way dependent on, or connected with, 

 those of other countries. Amongst the subjects set down 

 for discussion are included the history of canals in Great 

 Britain, the engineering of canals, the present condition of 

 canal navigation, with suggestions for its improvement, the 

 connection between canals and railways, tariffs, cost of 

 carriage, etc. It is also proposed to include in the proceed- 

 ings some account of the canal systems of foreign countries, 

 and the committee have already been promised several 

 papers on this head. Further information as to the details 

 of the arrangements may be obtained from the Secretary of 

 the Society of Arts. 



St. Dunstan's Senior Exhibitions. — Three exhibitions, 

 each of the value of ^100 a year for three years, will be 

 awarded on the results of an examination to be held in June, 

 1888, to girls under 19, on the first day of the examination, 

 and resident within the area of the metropolis as defined in 

 the Elementary Education Act, 1870. The exhibition will be 

 for the purpose of enabling the holders to fit themselves for 

 the practice of teaching, or the medical or any other pro- 

 fession, and will be tenable at any place of higher education 

 approved by the Governors. The exhibitioners must, in the 

 opinion of the Governors, be in need of assistance for the 

 above purpose, and they will not be allowed to hold any 

 other exhibition, scholarship, or similar emolument, without 

 permission from the Governors. Forms of entry for the 

 examination may be obtained on application to Hugh Cooke, 

 Esq., Clerk to the Governors of the Charities of St. Dunstan's- 

 in-the-East. The forms must be returned, filled up, on or 

 before April 30th. 



