(^ft jttitnc 



Jtettis 



FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. lo. {New Series.) 



MARCH 9th, I J 



rWeekly, Price Sa. 

 L By Post. 3id. 



CONTENTS. 



Current Events 



Scientific Table Talk 



The late Eclipse of the Moon (ilhis.) 



Ship Waves 



Electric Projection Microscope (illus.) 

 An Animated Trinket (illus.)... 



The Vision of Spiders 



Sulphur Bacteria — Sewage Fungus ... 



General Notes ... 



Storms — II. (illus.') 

 Some Severe Winters ... 

 Photographic Exhibition 



Natural History : 



Phyllopteryx (illus.) 



The Earth-Worm 



The Poison of the Yew and La- 

 burnum ... 

 Technical Education : 



Mr. Swire Smith on the Technical 

 Education Bill ... 

 Snow and the Formation of Humus ... 



PAGE 



217 

 218 

 219 

 219 

 220 

 221 

 222 

 222 

 223 

 225 

 226 

 2:6 



227 

 228 



229 

 231 



Reviews : 



Report of the Committee of 



Council on Education 



Thorough Cultivation 

 Nottingham Naturalists' Society 



The Eskimo Tribes 



Flower Land 



The Stevens Indicator 



Elementary Physiography 

 Transactions of the Institution of 

 Engineers and Shipbuilders in 



Scotland 



Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. : 

 Royal United Service Institution 

 Glasgow Geological Society 

 Edinburgh University Chemical 



Society 



Royal Physical Society of Edin- 

 burgh 

 Anthropological Institute 

 Edinburgh Geological Society ... 

 Institution of Civil Engineers ... 



232 

 232 

 232 

 232 

 233 

 233 

 233 



233 



234 

 234 



234 



234 

 235 

 23s 

 235 



Liverpool Geological Society ... 

 Liverpool Engineering Society ... 



Society of Arts 



East of Scotland Engineering 



Association 

 Royal Horticultural Society 

 Liverpool Science Students' Asso- 

 ciation ... ... ... ... 



Greenock Philosophical Society... 



Correspondence : 



Aurora Borealis and Magnetic 

 Perturbation— Flame Contact in 

 Water Heating — Volapiik — Mete- 

 orological Notes — Incidence of 

 Technical Education 



Technical Education Notes ... 



Recent Inventions 



Announcements 



Diary for Next Week ... 



Sales and Exchanges ... 



Selected Books ... 



Notices ... 



PAGE 

 23s 

 23s 

 235 



236 

 236 



236 

 236 



236 

 238 

 238 

 239 

 240 

 240 

 240 

 240 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



Poisons and Poisoning. — As was to be expected, Dr. 

 Meymott Tidy's lecture on this subject at the Royal 

 Institution was adorned with some of his amusing 

 rhetorical flourishes, but at the same time it was interest- 

 ing and instructive. After explaining the etymology of 

 the word toxicology, and endeavouring to define the 

 exact meaning of " poisons," he described the character- 

 istic effects of some of the well-known poisons. He 

 showed, for instance, that the haemoglobin, or red colour- 

 ing matter of blood, gives a certain well-defined spectrum, 

 and that when the haemoglobin is combined with the 

 poisonous gas carbonic oxide, there is an additional band 

 in the spectrum. He showed incidentally that the 

 spectroscope is not only of great use in the detection of 

 some poisons, but in the detection of blood itself in 

 criminal cases, and he experimented with a spot of blood 

 on a portion of a victim's hat, which was many years 

 old. He treated the supposed blood with citric acid, and 

 on testing the solution with the spectroscope, the spectrum 

 of reduced heematin was at once visible. He also pointed 

 out the remarkable fact that many substances which are 

 chemically alike are totally different in their physio- 

 logical action. Thus cyanogen is the most poisonous 

 .gas known, but another substance, para-cyanogen, which 

 has the same chemical composition, is an absolutely inert 

 soHd. Piperine and morphine are also chemically alike, 

 but the former has the effect of waking up, whereas 

 the latter produces sleep. The case of oxygen and ozone 



is also very striking ; we cannot live without a good deal 

 of the former, though in much of the latter, which is the 

 same chemical element in a different state, we should 

 die. 



The Technical Education Bill. — We give else- 

 where an abridgment of Mr. Swire Smith's able paper 

 on this subject, read at the Society of Arts, and we feel 

 sure that it will help many to have a better understand- 

 ing of the true bearings of the important questions in- 

 volved. Mr. Swire Smith speaks with authority, for not 

 only did he serve on the Royal Commission and visit 

 the leading technical schools of Europe and America, but 

 he has had much to do in founding and conducting some 

 of the leading technical schools in Yorkshire. It is his 

 opinion that in the production of staple goods and metal 

 work of various kinds we are within measurable distance 

 of being equalled, it not surpassed ; and he attributes 

 this, in most cases, not to the longer hours and the 

 lower wages of foreign operatives, as is generally sup- 

 posed, but to the superiority, attractiveness, or novelty 

 of the goods themselves. The Commissioners discovered 

 English machines in foreign countries which were pro- 

 ducing better, more attractive, and more saleable goods 

 than were being produced by similar machines in com- 

 peting manufactories in England. This is believed to be 

 due to the scientific or artistic training of the employers, 

 foremen, designers, chemists, or workmen where the 

 goods are produced. Mr. Smith says that in every 

 industry, in competing countries abroad, those persons 



