May 4, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE\VS. 



415 



©General 0oU$. 



Geology for All. — A conspectus of the science in a 

 popular form, by Professor J. Logan Lobley, will be 

 published shortly, by Messrs. Roper and Drowley, 

 Ludgate Hill. 



Regulator for the Electric Light. — M. Lippman 

 handed in to the French Academy of Sciences a paper by 

 M. Pollak on an electric light regulator founded on the 

 thermic expansion of the conducting wires. These wires 

 in expanding keep up the mutual distance of the carbons. 



Hereditary Stature. — Excess in height is rarely 

 perpetuated even if both parents are above the average ; 

 the height of the offspring being only about a third of 

 the excess reached by the parents. The offspring of 

 parents of unequal height most frequently follow the 

 shorter. 



Fixation of Nitrogen by Vegetable Soil. — The 

 discussion on this question between M. Schloesing and 

 M. Berthelot (Comp/es Rendtts) continues. The former 

 stated that in 1859 Boussingault had expressly said " The 

 soil is the habitation of beings which preside over 

 chemical transformations." 



Sanitary Value of Tea. — Professor Germain See 

 {Hygiene Pratique) pronounces tea to be the best 

 digestive and the surest means of maintaining 

 the intellectual energy. He recommends that it should 

 be used weak, at a high temperature, and in the quantity 

 of at least half a litre ! 



Recognition of Science by the State. — Mr. Jennings 

 lately said, in the House of Commons, that of the ^^1,200 

 yearly placed at the disposal of ministers for rewarding 

 eminent discoveries in science or distinguished proficiency 

 in literature and art, very little goes to persons who have 

 made their mark in these departments. 



Great Geodetic Junction.— The great Anglo-Franco- 

 Spanish meridian has now been connected with measure- 

 ments in Africa, extending as far as Laghouet. The 

 study of this arc, extending from the Orkneys to the 

 confines of the Sahara, will doubtless furnish important 

 results as to the true form of the earth. 



on April 3rd, about 2 p.m., it suddenly began to snow at 

 Brussels after a very sunny morning. The flags of the 

 foot-ways had been strongly heated and there was pro- 

 duced a very rapid evaporation. A white smoke, which 

 rose to the height of nearly twelve inches from the 

 ground, extended along the footways. 



Market Value of Scientific and Technical Train- 

 ing. — A fully qualified chemist, holding the diplomas of 

 M.A., F.C.S., and F.LC, writes to the Chemical News 

 to say that he was offered ^20 for analysing 36 samples 

 of milk weekly, during the whole season, from April to 

 November. He calculates that this would be about 3|d. 

 per sample, and asks, " How is it done ? " 



An Interesting Experiment. — The Pittsburg Electric 

 Railway Company, finding its line blocked with snow, 

 ordered a large quantity of salt to be thown along the 

 line so as to dissolve it. The conductors working at a 

 difference of potential of 500 volts were carried in 

 wooden troughs, and the melting snow and salt speedily 

 estabhshed a circuit between the conductors with the 

 result of setting fire to the troughs. — Electrical Review. 



Longevity in Japan. — According to the Medical Press, 

 among the 38 million inhabitants in Japan, there are 

 upwards of a million persons between the ages of 70 and 

 80 ; a quarter of a million between 80 and 90 ; and 

 12,200 between 90 and 100. There are 97 centenarians, 

 two of whom have respectively reached the ages of 1 09 

 and III, 



Influence of Comets upon Temperature. — La 

 Liberie suggests that the comet which we have recently 

 lost sight of may have brought us, not as it has been 

 sometimes supposed, an increase of heat, but a fall of 

 temperature. We hear of the wines of " comet years," 

 but the visit of the last " heavenly stranger " may be 

 remembered for icicles. 



Curious Phenomenon. — Cicl et Tcrrc informs us that 



Gulach's Embryoscope. — This instrument, described 

 in the ^««/o;K/sc/;er^«se?^er, supplies, says the American 

 Naturalist, a great and long-felt desideratum in experi- 

 mental embryology. It is a mechanism for closing 

 hermetically a circular opening made with a trepan in 

 the shell of an egg, and it serves the purpose of a window, 

 through which the embryo may be observed, and its 

 development followed from day to day. 



Albumen for Industrial Purposes. — According to 

 Le Voltaire, a chemist of the name of Waters has at last 

 succeeded in extracting albumen from the eggs of fishes. 

 By means of a preliminary washing he removes blood 

 and other impurities from the ovaries of the fish. They 

 are then burst, and the eggs are laid to steep for twenty- 

 four hours in three times their weight of water containing 

 about 5 per cent, of soda or potash. On heating the 

 liquid at the end of this time to about 120° (?) 'the 

 albumen separates and may be collected in a satisfactory 

 state of purity. 



The Depreciation of Cattle in France. — The fall 

 in the value of cattle experienced in all parts of France 

 is a disastrous fact for farmers and graziers. In Nor- 

 mandy cows which in April 1887 were bought at a mean 

 price of 500 francs, are not now worth 150 francs. In 

 Le Cantal a pair of oxen for which 1,300 francs had been 

 offered in September last, have recently, according to the 

 Journal de l' Agriculture, changed hands for 300 francs. 

 Such facts show that a peasant proprietary and a system 

 of small holdings do not ward off agricultural depres- 

 sion. 



An Aborigines of France. — M. Bouchard maintained, 

 at a meeting of the Anthropological Society of Bordeaux, 

 that the basis of the population of France is Iberian, and, 

 therefore, in his opinion, like the Finns and ^ the 

 Hungarians, of the MongeHan stock. He repudiates 

 the common notion that the French are either a Latin or 

 a Celtic nation. He said : " The Celts and the Romans 



