FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. i6. {New Series.) 



APRIL 20th, iJ 



[Weekly, Price Sd. 

 L By PoBt. Sjd. 



PAGE 



Current Events... ... ... ... 361 



Scientific Table Talk 362 



The Lick Observatory (illus.) 363 



M. Pasteur and the Rabbit Plague 



(illns.) ... ... ... ... 365 



Acclimatisation. — III ... 366 



General Notes ... ... ... ... 367 



E.xploration in Egypt (jV&j.) ... ... 369 



Steam Heating of Railway Car- 

 riages ... ... ... ... 370 



Natural History : 



Processionaiy Caterpillars (illus. } 371 



Cats z;. Rabbits 372 



Sensitiveness of Plants ... ... 372 



Miscellaneous Notes ... ... 372 



C ONTENT S. 



Death Snakes in South Africa 



The Universal Day 



Formation and Function of Stomates. 



—in 



Reviews : 



The Fundamental Principles of 



Chemistry 

 Proceedings of the Royal Physical 



Society 



Granites and our Granite Indus- 

 tries 

 Schools of Forestry in Germany... 

 Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. : 



Royal Institution 



Royal Scottish Society of Arts ... 



PAGE 



373 

 373 



375 



376 

 376 



377 

 377 



378 

 378 



Royal Institution of British 



Architects 



Institution of Civil Engineers ... 



Modern Photographic Engraving and 

 Printing.— Ill _ 



Enemies of Trees ... ... 



Correspondence : 



Luminous Phenomenon at Sea — 

 Screeching Water Beetle — Science 

 and Art — Furculaof Fowls 



Recent Inventions 



Announcements 



Diary for Next Week ... 



Sales and E.xchanges ... 



Selected Books ... 



Notices ... 



378 

 380 



380 



382 

 382 

 383 

 383 

 384 

 384 

 384 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



The Telantograph. — A short time since much excite- 

 ment was caused by the accounts received from New 

 York of Mr. Edison's new phonograph. By means of 

 this instrument a spoken message could be recorded on 

 A small strip of tinfoil, this strip could then be forwarded 

 by post or otherwise, and the receiver could reproduce 

 the message in the voice of the sender by placing the 

 strip of foil in a speaking instrument. Mr. Elisha Gray, 

 an electrician of great repute, is now said to have made 

 important improvements in his telantograph. In this 

 system the sender of a message writes it with a pen or 

 pencil holder of special construction, to which are 

 attached two fine wires which are connected with another 

 similar pen or pencil holder in the possession of the re- 

 ceiver. A call signal is first given, and when the sender 

 and receiver are both ready, the former writes his 

 inessage, and simultaneously the self-same message is 

 written by the pen or pencil in the latter's possession. 

 There is, in fact, an exact reproduction at the receiver's 

 end, of the message written by the sender. 



Any language may be used, and the message may be 

 written in cypher or not, as preferred. It is also stated 

 that an outline drawing may also be " wired " and re- 

 produced. Several inventors in this and other countries 

 have partially succeeded in the same direction, but the 

 present development of the system appears to have 

 rendered it much more complete, and its importance is 

 self-evident. Without doubt, the telephone is a most 

 ingenious and useful instrument, and it is a decided ad- 

 vantage in many cases to be able to hear and identify 

 the voice of the sender of a message. On the other 

 hand, it is often a serious drawback that the message sent 

 and received cannot be written or otherwise recorded 



There are endless cases of misunderstanding owing to 

 the sender not speaking clearly, to the instrument being 

 out of order, or to the receiver not hearing distinctly. 

 All these objections, however, can be avoided if the 

 sender writes his message, and if the receiver gets a 

 written facsimile of the message sent. 



The Egyptian Exploration Fund. — We give else- 

 where an interesting account of the important work being 

 done by the energetic explorers of this society. The 

 Fund was only started in 1883, under the Presidency ol 

 the late Sir Erasmus Wilson, but, thanks to the intelli- 

 gence and skill of its workers, many valuable monuments 

 and records have already been brought to light. The 

 primary object of the fund is to promote investigation in 

 Egypt by systematically conducted explorations, with a 

 view to the solution of important historical and geogra- 

 phical problems, and the results already obtained show 

 that the explorers have very practical ends in view. The 

 work they have in hand is necessarily of great value 

 to archaeologists, but further than this it has a wide and 

 deep interest for all concerned in the understanding of the 

 past. Enough is known to make us wish for a larger and 

 more exact knowledge of the remarkable people who 

 lived and worked in the Delta of the Nile. The pro- 

 moters of the fund have our cordial support, and as its 

 good work cannot be carried on without the sinews of 

 war, we shall be pleased if some of our readers will 

 favour us with subscriptions for not less than jQi. Sub- 

 scriptions so received will be forwarded to the Secretary 

 of the fund and duly acknowledged. We may add that 

 each subscriber of ;£i and upwards is entitled to receive 

 gratuitously a volume giving the results of excavations, 

 and that this volume is illustrated with maps, plates, and 

 autotypes. 



