Aug. 10, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



127 



Deaths from Lightning. — In that part of Europe 

 which comprises Italy, France, Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, 

 and the British Islands about 400 persons are killed 

 each year by lightning. In Belgium alone the storms of 

 June last proved fatal to 1 1 persons. — del el Tare. 



Memorial to Charles Darwin. — It is announced that 

 a tablet with an inscription will be shortly inserted in the 

 front wall of the house, No. 11, Lothian Street, Edin- 

 burgh, in which Charles Darwin lived in the years 

 1825-6 whilst studying in the University of that city. 



Vulcabeston. — Under this name Mr. R. M. Pratt oi 

 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A., is introducing a substi- 

 tute for vulcanised fibre. It can be moulded into any 

 shape, and can be turned and polished. It is said not 

 to soften when exposed to steam, and will not ignite in 

 a gas flame. 



Honours Awarded to Pasteur. — M. Pasteur has 

 received no fewer than fifteen orders, of which one only, 

 the Legion of Honour, is French. He is an honorary 

 doctor of all the leading Universities of Europe, and is 

 a member, according to the Medical Press, of eighty-three 

 learned societies. 



The Fixation of Coal-Tar Colours. — According to 

 a recent discovery, the antimony employed as a mordant 

 can be dissolved, instead of in tartaric acid, in the whey 

 resulting as a waste product in the preparation of cheese. 

 This liquid contains acetic acid, along with a smaller 

 quantity of lactic acid and traces of butyric acid. 



The Synthesis of Organic Compounds. — Professor 

 Maumene, in a recent communication to the Paris 

 Chemical Society, maintains that it is possible to effect 

 by means of the electric effluve (silent discharge) the 

 synthesis of all the organic compounds or immediate 

 principles met with in plants or in animals. This can 

 be effected by setting out from principles existing in the 

 atmosphere, such as water, carbonic acid, ammonia, etc. 



Predominance of the Polar Atmospheric Current. 

 ■ — This phenomenon, from which we have been suffering 

 during the present season, appears to have been recog- 

 nised in 1885, and to have persisted to an abnormal 

 extent ever since. Thus in 1887, polar current (that is 

 northerly and easterly winds) is recorded for 202 days, 

 the average being about 120-130. In this year up to 

 August 3rd, the polar current has prevailed for 102 days. 



Etching Liquid for Steel. — Take 1 oz. sulphate of 

 copper, \ oz. alum, and half teaspoonful of salt in a fine 

 powder, and mix with one gill of vinegar and 20 drops 

 of nitric acid. The liquid thus obtained may be used for 

 either cutting deeply into the metal, or for imparting a 

 beautiful frosted appearance to the surface, according to 

 the time it is allowed to act. The parts to be protected 

 from its action should be covered with beeswax or tallow. 



The French International Exhibition. — M. E.Sar- 

 tiaux, chief telegraph engineer to the Northern Railway 

 Company, has been nominated a member of the Orga- 

 nising Committee of the International Congress of Elec- 

 tricians, to be convoked for the Great Exhibition of next 



year. The other members are — MM. D'Arsonval, G. 

 Berger, Boudet, Bouilhet, Bourdin, Carpentier, A. Cornu, 

 M. Delahaye, H. Fontaine, Gariel, Hillairet, Hospitalier, 

 Joubert, Lemonnier, Lippmann, Mascart, Napoli, de 

 Nerville, Pellat, Picou, Postel-Vinay, Potier, Raymond, 

 Renard, Seligmann-Lui, de la Touanne, Violle, and 

 Vivarez. 



Inventors and Lunatics. — Anent the trial of the in- 

 ventor Raynaud, the Medical Press remarks that persons 

 of real or fancied inventive faculties seem peculiarly 

 liable to mental derangement. Our contemporary adds 

 with considerate kindness, that " We would not urge 

 this as a reason for applying restraint to all (!) persons 

 who display inventive tendencies, but lunacy statistics 

 show that the inmates of asylums are drawn largely 

 from their ranks." We think a careful inquiry would 

 show that not a few eminent inventors have been wrong- 

 fully treated as lunatics, and have been driven to in- 

 sanity, not so much by " the constant and unremitting 

 application of the intellectual faculties to one object," as 

 by the treatment which they have undergone. 



Manufacture of Wood Oil in Sweden. — -This pro- 

 duct, along with oil of turpentine, creosote, acetic acid, 

 charcoal, tarry oils, etc., is obtained by the dry distillation 

 of roots, stumps, and other residual parts of trees felled 

 for timber. Wood-oil, as it is produced in Sweden, is 

 not suitable for burning in common lamps, which smoke 

 in consequence of the excess of carbon in the oil. It 

 requires special lamps, which differ, however, little from 

 the ordinary photcgen lamps. If wood oil be mixed with 

 photogen in certain proportions, it can be used in ordinary 

 lamps. In its unmixed state it is the cheapest lamp-oil 

 known, costing only 5d. per litre. It is, further, inexplosive, 

 and lasts much longer than the mineral oils. In Sweden 

 there are at present about thirty works, which produce 

 40,000 litres of this oil. 



Production of Wool in the World. — According to 

 La Nature, the total j'early crop of wool is about 800 

 million kilos (1 kilo equals 2\ lbs.). Australia and New 

 Zealand contain 75 million sheep, yielding annually 100 

 million kilos of wool. At the Cape the number of sheep 

 is not ascertained, but the wool exported is 15 million 

 kilos. In La Plata there are at least 100 million sheep, 

 but their produce is only 50 million kilos. The United 

 States contain 50 million sheep, but they do not produce 

 wool enough for home consumption. Europe possesses 

 200 millions of sheep, which yield 200 million kilos. 

 Here Russia takes the first rank as a wool-producer, 

 followed by Britain, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, 

 and Spain. Forty years ago France had 35 million 

 sheep, but the number has since fallen to 22 millions. 

 India, Central Asia, and China yield 150 million kilos. 



A Huge Bridge. — A Bill has been introduced into 

 the American Senate, to obtain the authorisation of Con- 

 gress for the construction of a bridge across the Hudson 

 River, between the City of New York and the State of 

 New Jersey. The bridge is intended for railway traffic 

 and other purposes. According to the designer, Mr. 

 Gustave Lindelthal, the middle span would be at least 

 140 ft. above high-water level, and 2,850 ft. in length, 

 and the end spans 1,500 ft. No piers or other obstruc- 

 tions to navigation, either temporary or permanent, 

 would be placed or built between the pier lines. The 



