SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A reprint from the "Journal of the Quekett 

 Microscopical Club," vol. vii. November, 1898, of a 

 paper by Mr. J. E. Lord, of Rawtenstall, describes 

 two new rotiters, viz., Taplivocampx nitida Lord, 

 and Callidhia cat.n-acta Lord, both being British. 

 They are illustrated. 



Miss Kate M. Hall, the Curator, desires us to 

 call attention to the efforts being made to establish 

 a museum of natural science objects in connection 

 with the Whitechapel Free Public Library, Lon- 

 don, E. A considerable number of specimens have 

 been given in various orders, but further assistance 

 is needed. 



The Geologists' Association of London has an 

 arrangement with Messrs. Adams and Co., 

 26, Charing Cross Road, for the reproduction of 

 photographs of geological sections. The original 

 photographers may have special reprints at almost 

 cost price. This should encourage the photo- 

 graphic record of local geological features. 



Birds are curiously losing their timidity in 

 London. At noon on February iGth, a hawk, 

 probably a sparrow-hawk, swept down among the 

 pigeons feeding on the pavement in front of fehe 

 Guildhall and carried away one of them. This, as 

 the " Evening Standard " points out in noting the 

 fact, occurred in the presence of a number of 

 persons, some of whom were feeding the pigeons 

 according to custom, and before "several con- 

 stables," as that paper innocently remarked. 



We are glad to find the " Spectator" has taken 

 up the subject of preserving the New Forest from 

 the ravages proposed by those into whose hands 

 the country placed the property when it was 

 secured as a National Park. 



The Commissioners of Woods and Forests ad- 

 minister this magnificent tract of woodland and 

 wilderness on behalf of the nation, and now it 

 appears that certain interested parties, with the 

 sanction of the Commissioners and Verderers, are 

 promoting a Bill in Parliament, to enable the Com- 

 missioners to give or sell land in the New Forest 

 for sewage farms, cemeteries, waterworks, gas- 

 works, schools, infectious hospitals, private roads 

 to building sites, and other abominations. All 

 interested in this lovely sanctuary of wild-life 

 should raise a voice in protest against such 

 iniquity. It was hard enough to secure the 

 Forest, let us keep it in its wild condition. 



By the death of Dr. William Rutherford at 

 Edinburgh, on February 21st, science has lost one 

 of her staunchest devotees, and the professorship 

 of Physiology in the University of that city is 

 vacated. One of the most earnest of men, he 

 spared no pains to keep himself abreast with the 

 latest strides of research and most recent advances 

 in science, so that his lectures might be of the 

 utmost value to the students attending. So greatly 

 was this appreciated, that on the day of his demise 

 a meeting of students was held, when a resolution 

 waspassed expressing their sense of the deep loss sus- 

 tained by the death of their distinguished teacher. 



CONDUCTED BY JAMES QUICK. 



A Simple Volumenometer. — In practical 

 physics classes the need is continually felt of 

 simple apparatus that will demonstrate the law 

 or principle involved and at the same time give 

 good quantitative results. An interesting and at 

 the same time useful arrangement for measuring 

 volumes of solids and arriving at their specific 

 gravities, was shown recently by Mr. H. Wigley 

 at the Teachers' Conference at Chelsea. It consists 

 of a tin can, on the edge of which is soldered a 

 tube for a cork to fit. Through a horizontal hole 

 in this cork passes one limb of a right-angled glass 

 tube, the vertical limb of which is drawn out to 

 a point, dipping down inside the can. To the 

 horizontal end of this tube is connected, by means 

 of a short piece of rubber tubing, a similar tube, 

 also with its vertical limb drawn out to a point. 

 The two tubes therefore form an inverted \J tube, 

 one limb of which is inside the vessel, the other 

 outside. The outside limb being longer than the 

 inside, the U tube acts as a syphon, and one which 

 will always keep full when once filled. Water is 

 poured into the vessel, the syphon of course always 

 bringing it to the same level, viz., that of the 

 point of the inside limb. Any body whose volume 

 is required is then lowered into the can, and its 

 own volume of water, which overflows, is measured 

 in a burette or by any other convenient method. 

 Without taking this body out again another may 

 be inserted and its volume measured, and so on. 

 Five or six measurements can thus be made in 

 about fifteen minutes. Results obtained by this 

 arrangement show errors less than half per cent. 



Physical Society. — At the annual general 

 meeting of the Physical Society on February 10th, 

 Professor Oliver J. Lodge was elected president, 

 Mr. Shelford Bidwell vacating the chair. In read- 

 ing his presidential address, Dr. Lodge deplored 

 the fact that many physics teachers have an anti- 

 pathy to call in the aid of mathematics to their 

 physics teaching. If the teacher has an aversion 

 to mathematics, it will be unnatural for him to 

 induce such an interest in the minds of his pupils. 

 This is perfectly true, and he should, therefore, 

 endeavour to equip them with a good reasoning 

 power, but not, however, at the expense of practical 

 work. The satisfactory strides that practical 

 physics has made during the last decade must not 

 be lost sight of, especially when one considers the 

 commercial side of the question, and the number 

 of openings held out to youths with experience in 

 practical physics and electrical engineering. 



Langley's Bolometer. — In the American 

 "Journal of Science," No. 5, 1898, Dr. S. P. Lang- 

 ley describes some further modifications he has 

 made to his bolometer. A metal case is added 

 which is kept at a constant temperature. The 

 instrument is also protected against earth tremors. 

 It can be set to within a second of circular arc in 

 the dark, and indicates a change of temperature 

 less than one ten-millionth of a degree centigrade. 



