SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



That want has now been supplied by the " Illus- 

 trated Annual of Microscopy," an excellent pub- 

 lication issued by Messrs. Lund and Co., Amen 

 Corner, E.C., at the price of 2s. 6d. Its table of 

 contents is varied and extensive, among other 

 articles being several on photo-micrography, bacte- 

 riological investigations, the technique of mounting, 

 pond life, and the theory of micro-optics. Among 

 the contributors appear the names of such well- 

 known workers as Van Heurck, Cole, Hartog, 

 Beck, Karop, Soar and Spitta,each of whom treats 

 of the subject that he specialises. It is an extremely 

 valuable work, well edited, well printed on excel- 

 lent paper, and profusely illustrated with exquisite 

 photo-micrographs and engravings. 



British Freshwater Mites. — Notwithstanding 

 the great attention that has been given by micro- 

 scopical workers to pond life, a very small amount 

 of systematic work has been done among the 

 British freshwater mites. The labours of Dr. C. 

 F. George and Mr. C. D. Soar in this direction are 

 well known to all students of the Hydrachnidae, 

 but, excepting their publications and a few isolated 

 papers by other workers, contained in miscellaneous 

 journals and periodicals, there is little literature on 

 the subject that is accessible to the average British 

 student. The works of Walckenaer, Midler, Koch 

 and Kramer are classic, but they contain such a 

 heterogeneous mass of data, that we still await the 

 services of a bibliographer who has the time and 

 ability to collate and arrange the numerous details 

 respecting the genera and species that are scattered 

 through them. For British workers this branch of 

 microscopical study offers itself as a fruitful field 

 for investigation. Not so much in the discovery of 

 new varieties and species, as the determination of 

 what it is that serves as the host of the parasitical 

 young of these organisms, and in the elucidation of 

 the many other obscure points in connection with 

 their life-histories. 



Spots in Cheese. — Professor Connell has been 

 giving his attention to the investigation of the 

 spots and rings that so frequently appear in 

 cheeses, and which are popularly known as cheese 

 "rust." The result of his labours has been to 

 demonstrate that the disease is due to an organism 

 that varies in size from 3^^ to TS $rnj of an inch 

 in length. He has isolated and mounted it. It 

 stains well with ordinary aniline dyes in recent 

 cultures, but it stains best with carbol-fuchsin or 

 aniline water, gentian or violet. 



A Microbe-proof Laboratory. — An eminent 

 German bacteriologist has recently erected at 

 Yokohama a microbe-proof laboratory built of 

 glass blocks. There are no window-sashes, and 

 the doors when closed are air-tight. The air 

 supply is forced into the room through a pipe, and 

 filtered through cotton-wool to cleanse it of 

 bacteria. To ensure further sterilization the air 

 is driven against a glycerine-coated plate-glass, 

 which captures the microbes that the wool spares. 

 The few microbes brought into the house in the 

 clothes of the workers soon die in the intense 

 sunlight with which the house is flooded. 



Loan of Mounted Specimens. — Mr. C. Baker, 

 244, High Holborn, London, proposes starting a 

 department for lending mounted specimens, much 

 on the same lines as a lending library. To micro- 

 scopists in general, but to those far removed from 

 microscopical clubs and societies especially, this 

 innovation will be a boon. Full particulars of the 

 scheme can be obtained on application to the above 

 address. 



Daylight Aurora. — Did any of our readers 

 see anything of a daylight display of aurora on the 

 morning of 10th September last ? From the cliffs 

 between Heme Bay and the Reculvers, at about 

 10 to 10.30 a.m., our esteemed editor, Mr. Carring- 

 ton, saw what seemed to be an elongated, glowing,, 

 slightly-curved belt, or arc, over the magnetic pole, 

 which varied in intensity. The sky was quite 

 clear of clouds, with brilliant sunshine. The 

 phenomenon was visible for about half-an-hour. 

 Further observations would be useful. Daylight 

 aurora was said to have been seen from Tuam, on 

 January 2nd, 1756. — F. C. Dennett, 60, Lenthall 

 Road, London, N.E. 



Fossils from Millstone Grit. — Bands of 

 fossils in the Millstone Grit not being common, I 

 mention a section in a quarry which I first visited 

 about ten years ago, on the side of Pule Hill, a 

 well-known eminence a short distance from Mars- 

 den, near Huddersfield. Here, abundant casts of 

 fossil shells are found. The beds have a slight 

 easterly dip, and are a considerable distance above 

 the Yoredale shales, and below the Coal Measures. 

 The summit of Pule Hill is capped by the Rough 

 Rock, the highest bed of the Millstone Grit. The 

 quarry is chiefly worked for flagstones. The fossil- 

 iferous bed is but a narrow one, about one foot 

 thick, and lies just above the flagstones. It is of a 

 yellowish colour, and very fine-grained. The fossils 

 are numerous, though they occur almost without 

 exception as casts. The most abundant is Beller- 

 ophon, which is found in hundreds. There are also 

 several Gasteropods and Lamellibranchs, especially 

 the genus Myalina. — /. H. Grundy, Lynwood, Small- 

 shaiv, AsIiton-itnder-Lyne. 



Royal Institution . — Among the lecture arrange- 

 ments at the Royal Institution before Easter are 

 the following, on scientific subjects : — Sir Robert 

 Ball, six lectures (adapted to young people) on 

 Astronomy ; Professor E. Ray Lankester, ten 

 lectures on " The Morphology of the Mollusca" ; Mr. 

 A. Henry Savage Landor, three lectures on " Tibet 

 and the Tibetans " ; Dr. Allan Macfadyen, four 

 lectures on " Toxins and Anti-toxins"; the Right 

 Hon. Lord Rayleigh, seven lectures on "The Me- 

 chanical Properties of Bodies." The Friday evening 

 meetings will begin on January 20th, when a dis- 

 course will be delivered by Professor Dewar on 

 "Liquid Hydrogen"; succeeding discourses will 

 probably be given by the Right Hon. Sir Mount- 

 stuart E. Grant Duff, Mr. Victor Horsley, Pro- 

 fessor H. S. Hele-Shaw, Mr. Richard R. Holmes, 

 Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., Professor H. L. 

 Callendar, the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, and 

 other gentlemen. The year 1899 is the Centenary 

 Year of the Royal Institution, and arrangements 

 are being made with a view to its celebration in a 

 fitting manner. Details will be announced at a 

 later period. There seems to be an impression 

 among some people that the work carried on at 

 the Royal Institution is largely physical ; but, as 

 will be seen by the above list of lectures, this is by 

 no means the case. 



