232 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



it emerges as a combustible mixture of carburetted 

 oxygen and, as such, flows on to the jet. 



From the fact that the gas is generated very 

 steadily and not under pressure, the apparatus 

 should compete with cylinders, both on the score 

 of economy and safety. No difficulty at all is 

 experienced in timing the intervals at which to 

 replenish the cartridges in the retort, nor does 

 their insertion disturb the apparatus in the least 

 degree. On the average about eight or nine cart- 

 ridges are needed per hour when a continuous 

 light is being used. The whole system shuts up in 

 a box measuring 23 x 15 x 7 inches outside, and 

 the total weight is under thirty pounds, this 

 weight including two pounds of cartridges in 

 box. Furthermore, the box is so arranged that 

 the top can be used as a lantern-stand, the bellows 

 working inside. 



Suffolk House, 



Dartmouth Park Hill, N.W. 



A CORAL GALLERY FOR 

 HASTINGS. 



(~\t the various institutions which have from 

 ^^^ time to time been started, alike for the 

 amusement and instruction of the public, very few 

 can vie with the one lately added to Hastings. 

 It is one of those exhibitions which both command 

 the admiration of the mere seeker after the curious, 

 and furnishes food for the really earnest student 

 of nature in some of her most remarkable by- 

 ways. Few, even amongst the ranks of biologists, 

 realize how difficult it is to get detailed trust- 

 worthy information upon the corals and their 

 allies. It is by no means an uncommon thing to 

 hear them placed in the wrong sub-kingdom by 

 people who really ought to know better. In this 

 beautiful gallery, recently opened by Mr. John 

 Morgan, may be seen the stony houses of the 

 coral polypes, the external appearance of which, 

 alas, too often constitutes our -only knowledge of 

 the subject. There are also there the polypes 

 themselves, preserved in spirits, and such living 

 illustrative specimens as can be kept in sea- 

 water in aquaria. When one remembers that 

 even in our national collection only some 

 nine or ten genera of Madrepores are as yet 

 named, while the group Alcyonaria are practically 

 untouched, the value of a collection of this 

 description, all named, described, and illustrated, 

 becomes obvious. No expense appears to have 

 been spared by Mr. Morgan in casing the gallery 

 for the suitable display of the beautiful specimens 

 he has been getting together for many years. In 

 labelling each specimen, the chief pecularity is 

 detailed and enlarged upon, no matter whether it 

 be one of structure in the polype, or in its lavishly 

 decorated house, or in its possession of a messmate. 



In the first case specially constructed lenses are 

 arranged so that the otherwise unnoticed details 

 become apparent ; and in the latter, spirit-preserved 

 specimens, or enlarged drawings of the various 

 creatures, are displayed, and their functions 

 described. The greater part of the problems of 

 the life and origin of the creatures which we 

 usually lump together as corals, are very fully 

 dealt with. Thus a few hours spent in this gallery 

 would place a student in possession of more facts 

 than he could acquire by years of mere reading. 

 It has been the experience of many students to 

 acquire what they considered a tangible idea of the 

 various structures of corals, but when referring to 

 two or three other books they have ended in 

 confusion, which has led to the abandonment of the 

 subject. It is such backsliders as these that this 

 gallery is able to win back by illustrating the some- 

 what numerous phenomena and structures. One 

 dare not trust oneself to commence descriptive notes 

 of the specimens, as many even excel those in the 

 British Museum. 



A large quantity of the treasures were originally 

 in the Goddefroy Museum, Hamburg, and others 

 have been collected by well-known scientific 

 men who have made corals their special study, 

 and include numerous rarities both for the mor- 

 phologist and the mere admirer of elegance and 

 beauty. There is one feature which ought to be of 

 special interest, and that is, that every Wednesday 

 afternoon a lantern demonstration is given, which 

 ought to popularize this fascinating subject. In 

 addition, there is always a curator in charge to 

 conduct parties round the gallery, or give the 

 information required by the individual student. 

 W. J. Lewis Abbott, F.G.S. 

 St. Leonards; 21st November, 1898. 



PURE VACCINE. 



TT is stated that Mr. Stanley Kent, who is 

 attached to the Medical Department of St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, in London, has succeeded in 

 isolating the microbe 'of vaccine. Mr. Kent has 

 been studying and experimenting with this 

 organism for the past five years with, considerable 

 success. By making a pure artificial culture he 

 has produced vaccine independently of all the 

 surroundings that have latterly raised so much 

 public discussion. This being the case, much of 

 the objection that has been raised by those who 

 have claimed the exemption granted by the recent 

 Act will disappear. A pure cultivation of the 

 vaccine microbe cannot be open to the same 

 objection as that obtained from other persons ; 

 for the germs of diseases must necessarily be 

 absent. The culture has been used for the purpose 

 of inoculation with the greatest success. 



