SCIENCE-GOSSIJ'. 



279 



Climate of Norway. — At the Annual Meeting 

 of the Royal Meteorological Society Dr. C. Theo- 

 dore Williams delivered the Presidential Address, 

 taking for his subject " The Climate of Norway 

 and its Factors." He considered that its meteoro- 

 logy should prove an attractive study for the 

 Society, as having much in common with that of 

 our country. Both the Norwegian and the British 

 shores are influenced by the same Gulf Stream. 

 and have their winters and summers tempered 

 by the same equalising agency. The factors which 

 influenced the climate were: (1) The insular cha- 

 racter of the country ; (2) the distribution of the 

 mountain ranges, which explains to a large extent 

 the rainfall ; (3) the waters of the ocean, which 

 from a variety of circumstances come into close 

 connection with much of the country and thus 

 temper extremes of climate ; and (4) the sun, 

 which in this latitude remains in the summer 

 long above the horizon and in the winter long 

 below it. 



The Telegraphoxe. — This instrument, in- 

 vented by M. Valdemar Poulsen, is described by 

 the inventor in the " Journal de Physique " for 

 December. The principle is simple. An electro- 

 magnet, with a soft iron core about 8 mm. long 

 and - 75 mm. connected with a microphone, is 

 moved over a steel wire. On speaking into the 

 microphone, the currents traversing the electro- 

 magnet will permanently magnetise the portions 

 of the wire successively in contact with it, and a 

 permanent record or " writing" will thus be im- 

 pressed on the wire. On substituting a telephone 

 for the microphone, and again passing the electro- 

 magnet over the wire, currents will be induced by 

 the variations in the magnetisation, and these will 

 reproduce the words originally spoken. Finally, 

 by connecting the electromagnet with a pile, and 

 again passing it over the record, the latter will be, 

 so to speak, erased, and the wire, now uniformly 

 magnetised, will be ready to receive another in- 

 scription. — {Dr.) G. H. Bryan, Bangor, N. Wales. 



Mounting Beetles on Celluloid. — Take a 

 piece of card and spread on it a thin layer of 

 fairly thick gum. While the gum is still wet, 

 place the beetles on the card and arrange legs and 

 antennae in desired position. Allow to set, and 

 leave until the insects are thoroughly dry. Remove 

 them from the card by dissolving the gum in water 

 and dry on blotting paper, taking care not to allow 

 them to stick to the paper. Procure thin celluloid, 

 such as is used to support the sensitive film in the 

 kodak cartridges, and cut a number of triangular 

 pieces, each about three-eighths of an inch long 

 and an eighth of an inch wide at the base. The 

 apices may be more or less pointed, according to 

 the size of the insect. Take one of these triangles 

 and pierce, it at the base with a Continental pin, 

 pushing the latter three-quarters of the way 

 through. Apply a little gum to the apex at the 

 upper surface of the triangle and mount the insect 



thereon. Allow l<> set. Descriptive labels may 

 then be placed on the pin. The advantage of this 

 method is the facility with which both the upper 

 and under surfaces of the in>ect can be examined, 

 the celluloid being perfectly transparent. — G. 

 Granville Bvcltley, Norwood, Oldham. January 

 L901. 



Anodonta Cygnea. — At a recent meeting of 

 the Linnean Society of London the Rev. John 

 Gerard exhibited a number of specimens of Ano- 

 donta cygnea of large size. They were sent by 

 Mr. W. Fitzherbert Brockholes from a pond at 

 Claughton, Garstang, Lancashire. When the water 

 was let out of the pond, it is said that one specimen 

 measured-nine inches in width, twenty-eight others 

 upwards of eight inches, and a hundred or more 

 upwards of seven inches. 



Green Elder Fruit. — With reference to the 

 Rev. C. F. Thornewill's note on green-fruited elder 

 in Derbyshire, the following may be of interest. Mr. 

 G. Greensmith, of Thorpe, near Ashbourne, writes 

 me : — •' I have two or three trees in my garden 

 which produce very fine white elderberries. A 

 few years ago I made some wine from them, and it 

 was very fine. I made it extra strong, and after 

 remaining in the cask for about three years it was 

 almost as good as yellow Chartreuse, and very 

 much like it." When these trees are in fruit again 

 I will examine them, and send a note describing 

 this form more exactly. I understand, though I 

 have never seen it, the colour of the fruit is whitish- 

 green. — John E. Kowers, Burton-oa-Treni . 



Science Appointments.— Instead of dwelling 

 on the achievements of the past masters in 

 Chemistry, and by so doing lull ourselves into a 

 state of self -gratification, we would rather draw 

 the attention of our readers to the boundless horizon 

 opened by the following advertisement, which we 

 take from a recent journal devoted to General 

 Education : — " Wanted, a Senior Master, able to 

 teach Chemistry, Physics, French, and Mathe- 

 matics. Salary £75 a year, non-resident." Are 

 the achievements of science real when the future 

 freemen of our land are to be trained by one man 

 in four subjects ; each of which ought to be the 

 life-work of the teacher — this, too, whilst the tutor 

 is himself trying to work out the bread, butter, and 

 silk-hat factors of £75 a year 1 — II. 31. Bead, 

 London. 



Australian Ceratodus. — I should be ex- 

 ceedingly pleased if any of your readers can 

 enlighten me through your columns with regard to 

 the Australian Ceratodus or burnet salmon. Is its 

 air-sac a swim-bladder or a lung .' Dr. Mivart. in 

 the " Common Frog," says that it is a swim-bladder 

 and not a lung, because blood is not brought to it 

 directly from the heart. Drs. Parker and Haswell, 

 however, in their "Text-Book of Zoology." dis- 

 tinctly refer to it as a lung. There is. however, a 

 pulmonary artery given off from the afferent 

 branchial system carrying blood directly to the 

 air-sac. It certainly has a highly developed 

 apparatus for the respiration of air, because farther 

 on Dr. Mivart says that " at night it leaves the 

 brackish streams it inhabits and wanders among 

 the reeds and rushes of the adjacent flats." The 

 air-sac well performs the functions of a lung. 

 There are now two >peeirnens of this interesting 

 and curious fish in the Reptile House at the London 

 Zoological Gardens. — Arthur B. Mynott, 78 

 Hivnsdon Boat/. Nem ('rots, London. S.E. 



