23b 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar. 9, li 



Columbia." The author gave a description of the country, 

 paying special attention to its coalfields, mines, and 

 forests. 



On the loth. Captain Manifold, R.A., communicated to 

 the Indian Section an account of the work of the Afghan 

 Frontier Commission, which contained nothing of scien- 

 tific interest. 



On the 15th Mr. John Harrison read a paper on 

 " Type-writers and Type-writing," in which the author 

 traced the development of the type-writer and pointed 

 out its great utility. 



EAST OF SCOTLAND ENGINEERIMG ASSO- 

 CIATION. 

 At the meeting of this Association, held on February 

 22nd, Mr. H. H. Campbell read a paper on "The Dis- 

 charge of Rivers and Streams, with comparisons of 

 diflerent formulas." Referring to the importance of 

 arriving at an accurate determination of the discharge of 

 rivers under their diflerent conditions, and to the prin- 

 ciples that govern the flow or discharge, the two methods 

 of gauging, viz., by rectangular or V-shaped notches, and, 

 where these are impracticable, by the simple expression 

 Q = AV, were considered. Comparing the various for- 

 mulse framed for the rectangular notch, those by Francis 

 and Turner were contrasted by tabulated results with 

 others in which the uncertain element of a co-efficient is 

 employed, and preference expressed for the former, in 

 that Ihey altogether avoided this uncertainty. The V- 

 shaped notch, designed by Professor James Thomson, 

 was next treated, and described as specially adapted for 

 the measurement of shallow and varying 'flows. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 At the February meeting of the Scientific Committee, 

 a communication from Mr. C. B. Plowright was read, in 

 which he said, having in my herbarium some specimens 

 of the fungus of the Silver Fir which Mr. Munro had 

 sent me some years ago, I submitted them to Professor 

 Julius Kiihn, with the request that he would examine 

 them and report whether they were the true .'Ecidiiim 

 columnare of Albertini and Schweinitz, which has its 

 teleutospores of J'acciiiiiiiii Vitis-idcea as Calyptospora 

 Gceppertiani, or whether they were the recently de- 

 scribed ^Hcidinin pseudo-cohimnare into whose life cycle 

 the Calyptospora does not enter. Professor Kuhn in 

 reply says that they belong to his .-Ecidium pseitdo- 

 columnarc, a fungus which has not previously been re- 

 corded as British. 



A specimen of honey from Eucaliptus globulus from 

 Adelaide, South Australia, was exhibited. It is said to 

 possess similar properties to those of the tree itself; 

 being, for example, antiseptic in its nature. It is found 

 to be very efficacious in cases of lung disease. The 

 honey can only be procured every other year, as the tree 

 flowers biennial!}'. It has a very peculiar flavour and 

 scent. 



Mr. T. Christy sent a growing plant as well as seeds 

 oi " Jaiubiil" Eagcnia Jainbolano, an important drug. Its 

 peculiarity resides in the power of its seeds to arrest 

 the conversion of starch into sugar ; hence it is of great 

 value in certain diseases. The seed appears to contain 

 about 31-4 per cent, of oil and 4-33 percent, of ash ; a yel- 

 low-green resin and a crystalline principle are also present. 

 Experiments with starch and malt extract, with and 



without jambul, showed that while 22-4 grains were con- 

 verted into sugar where no jambul was present, only 9'S 

 grains were changed with 15 grains of the seed ; and 6-3 

 grains of starch became sugar with 25 grains of jambul. 

 It is now used very extensively in America and Ger- 

 many, and has begun to be employed in England appar- 

 ently with very beneficial results. The seed does not 

 appear to contain any starch. 



LIVERPOOL SCIENCE STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION. 

 On February 17th Mr. W. H. D. Deane, M.A., read an 

 exhaustive paper on the subject of "Comets and Meteors " 

 before this Association. 



GREENOCK PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

 On February loth Mr. Cathcart W. Methven delivered a 

 lecture on " The Early History and Development of the 

 Art of Diving, and the Application of its Principles to 

 Submarine Engineering Works." The lecture embraced 

 the whole subject of diving from the earliest records of 

 classical writers down to the latest developments of the 

 various kinds of modern apparatus employed for sub- 

 marine engineering works. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents^ nor can he take notice ofanonynious com- 

 munications. All letters must he accompanied by the name and 

 address of the writer, not neccssirily for publication, but as a 

 guarantee of good faith. 



AURORA BOREALIS AND MAGNETIC 

 PERTURBATIONS. 



In answer to the question of your correspondent, "A 

 Student," I am happy to be able to inform him that the 

 absence of clouds on the 26th of last month allowed a very 

 careful examination of the solar surface to be made on that 

 day, and the sun was found to be perfectly spotless. On the 

 25th there was only one small spot, covering one tvvo- 

 hundred-thousandth of the solar hemisphere, and on the 28th 

 a new spot that had broken out, was smaller even than that 

 seen on the 25th. The sun could not be observed on the 27th. 



I venture to ask in my turn whether your correspondent 

 is quite certain as to the date of the magnetic disturbances 

 observed in France. My photographic record shows nothing 

 abnormal in the magnetic force on January 26th, but it does 

 indicate very considerable magnetic disturbance earlier in 

 the same month. If the storm observed in France was 

 so local, as the date given would lead us to suppose, we 

 could scarcely expect any corresponding display of solar 

 energy, as magnetic storms connected with 'solar outbursts 

 would probably be felt throughout the whole of the surface 

 of our earth. S. J. Perry, F.R.S. 



Stonyhurst. 



FLAME CONTACT IN WATER HEATING. 

 In your criticism on ray experiments as to the absence of 

 flame and also the absence of high temperatures in the thin 

 zone surrounding all vessels containing water, the most im- 

 portant part of my proofs seems to have been overlooked. The 

 space appears to me to be filled with a viscid or closely ad- 

 herent film of air, which is exceedingly difficult to remove 

 and which slowly conducts heat, while at the same time it 

 offers an impossible barrier to flame, whatever its temperature 

 or force of impact. That a high temperature does not exist 

 in the space, and that a resisting film docs exist, is to my mind 

 conclusively proved by the fact that the paper on the bottom 

 of the vessel is instantly and completely charred through by 

 contact with a wire or other solid body at a very much lower 



