214 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Aug. 31, iS 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents, nor can he take notice of anonymous com- 

 munications. All letters must be accompanied by the name and 

 address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a 

 guarantee of good faith. 



BALLOONING. 



In the Freeman's Journal of the 22nd inst. there is a leader 

 on balloons. It is a very interesting article, and ends up by 

 saying that " before long these airy speculations will have 

 assumed a very practical form indeed,'' meaning we shall soon 

 be able to navigate the air successfully. There are a large 

 number of readers of your valuable and clearly-written paper, 

 I am sure, who would be glad to see a few good articles in 

 the Scientific News on the subject. 



Some say to even think of " aerial navigation " is absurd ; 

 and others condemn balloons altogether, and advocate " flying 

 machines." One of your correspondents gave a very plain 

 hint a short time ago that he possessed exceptional knowledge 

 of the subject. 



Should England be the first to become " master of the 

 air " as well as being " mistress of the seas," her lease of life 

 would be indefinitely extended, and the sketching visit to the 

 ruins of London of Macaulay's New Zealander would be at 

 once deferred to the very dim and distant future. 



Hoping for information from you or your correspondents 

 on the subject. W. P. W. 



PRESCRIPTION FOR MOSQUITOES. 



I notice in your journal of 17th August prescription for 

 mosquitoes. You say, " We should also be happy to learn 

 whether ' F. B.'s ' mixture is better than tincture of ' Ledum 

 paluslre.'" Will you please inform me what this is, and give 

 me some particulars of it, as, having travelled nearly all over 

 the world, I never heard of its being used as an antidote for 

 mosquito bites or a protection from the same. By far the 

 best thing I know of is a preparation from the Margossa 

 tree of Ceylon, which, except from the scent, is unobjection- 

 able, whereas being coated, as "F. B." recommends, with 

 Stockholm tar would be more objectionable than being 

 bitten, I should say. A. Brown. 



55, Woolwich Common, August 21st, 1888. 



[The Marsh Rosemary, Ledum palustre, otherwise known 

 as Labrador tea, is a shrub growing to the height of 3 ft. or 

 4 ft. It grows in swampy districts in the north-west of Ire- 

 land and Scotland, in the countries around the Baltic, in 

 Siberia, and the Dominion, especially Labrador. The alcoholic 

 extract of its leaves has a very peculiar but not absolutely 

 disagreeable smell. If it be diluted with water and applied 

 to the skin, no sand-fly, mosquito, etc., will, to the best of our 

 knowledge, settle on the person thus protected. We have 

 heard of this remedy and of its efficacy so long that we do not 

 remember who first discovered and applied it. Mr. Brown is 

 right concerning the disagreeableness of " F. B.'s " lotion ; 

 but we must remember after all that the bite of a mosquito 

 may mean the injection into the system of the poison of 

 yellow fever or of malaria. — Ed. Scientific News.] 



PETALS OF THE WHITE JASMINE— FERTILISA- 

 TION OF FLOWERS. 



In reply to " Scrutiny" I would observe that the genus Jas- 

 minum has long been noticed as varying in the number of 

 petals. If I remember rightly, Dr. Lindley gave a series of 

 diagrams in his " Botany for Ladies," but such variations are 

 extremely common in many flowers, as, e.g., fuchsia, elder, 

 loosestrife, members of the Alsincce, etc., in which the sepals, 

 petals, and stamens may all vary together. In my work on 

 " The Origin of Floral Structures " I have suggested that it 

 may simply result from nutrition, which brings about such 

 " symmetrical increase or decrease ; " so that if a 5-merous 

 state be normal, an excess will produce a flower with say 

 6-merous whorls ; while a deficiency results in a 4-merous 

 one. 



With regard to " L. H. A.'s " observations on the flowers of 

 tobacco and evening primrose not being fertilised, the tubular 



structure of the calyx in the latter, and of the corolla in 

 the former, points to insects with long proboscides as visitors ; 

 but as neither plant is indigenous to Great Britain, it is 

 possible that they have not met with a suitable insect ; just 

 as Sphinx convolvuli, being a comparatively rare insect here, 

 Convolvulus septum seldom sets any seed in our hedges. 



I should like to take this opportunity of correcting a mis- 

 print in my article on the " Formation of Ice." (Scientific 

 News, vol. ii., p. 189), Instead of "angle of 30 degs. '' it 

 should have been 60 degs. or 120 degs. 



George Henslow. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 Leopold Vinning. — The original statement is correct. 

 Pressure per square foot is not the same as overturning 

 force, into which leverage enters. The remarks about 

 leaping apply equally to lifting by the hands. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



Whitworth Scholarships. — The Department of Science 

 and Art of the Committee of Council on Education notifies 

 that the following candidates have been successful in the 

 competition for the Whitworth scholarships of the value of 

 ,£125 a year (tenable for three years). — James Whitaker, 

 student, Nelson, Lancashire ; James Mair, engineer, Glas- 

 gow ; C. Humphrey Gilbert, engineer student, Nottingham ; 

 and John Calder, mechanical engineer, Glasgow. 



Exhibitions (tenable for one year) of the value of ,£100 

 have been obtained by Harry Bamford, engineering student, 

 Oldham ; John Harbottle, draughtsman, Newcasile-on-Tyne ; 

 John Taylor, engineer, Glasgow ; John Dalglish, mechanical 

 draughtsman, Paisley ; Archibald S. Younger, engineer stu- 

 dent, North Shields ; Joseph Butterworth, engineer, Roch- 

 dale ; George A. Burls, mechanical draughtsman, Greenwich ; 

 Charles H. Kilby, engineer apprentice, Crewe ; Charles R. 

 Pinder, engineer student, Bristol ; Robert Dumas, engineer, 

 Glasgow ; Charles L. E. Heath, fitter apprentice, Devon- 

 port ; Charles Forbes, engine fitter apprentice, Glasgow ; 

 Benjamin Young, electrical engineer apprentice, Belfast ; 

 Edward Y. Terry, engine fitter, Devonport ; William J. 

 Collins, draughtsman, Woolwich ; John H. B. Jenkins, assis- 

 tant analytical chemist, New Swindon ; John I. Fraser, 

 apprentice engineer, Glasgow ; Henry E. Cheshire, fitter, 

 Crewe ; Oscar Brown, pattern maker, Plumstead ; Henry 

 Elliott, mechanical engineer, Glasgow. Exhibitions of the 

 value of £50 have been won by James H. Binfield, engineer 

 student, Preston ; George U. Wheeler, engineer apprentice, 

 London ; William Day, fitter, Wolverton ; Samuel Lea, 

 turner, Crewe ; Evan Parry, engineer student, Bangor ; 

 Thomas O. Mein, engineer, Stratford, E. ; Benjamin Conner, 

 apprentice engineer, Glasgow ; Thomas J. Bourne, marine 

 engineer, Tunbridge Wells ; George Ravenscroft, fitter, 

 Crewe ; Thomas F. Parkinson, engineer student, Bury, 

 Lancashire. 



The following is a list of successful candidates for the 

 National Scholarships : John B. Coppock, student, Notting- 

 ham ; James G. Lawn, mining surveyor, Barrow-in-Furness ; 

 Herbert Grime, teacher, Manchester ; Alfred Stansfield, stu- 

 dent, Bradford ; John Eustace, engine fitter, Camborne ; 

 Edwin Wilson, student, Bradford ; Lionel M. Jones, student, 

 Llanelly ; Joseph Jefferson, student, Bradford ; Henry T. 

 Bolton, student, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Ben. Howe, student, 

 Manchester ; John Yates, draughtsman, Manchester ; Harry 

 Cavendish, student, Manchester ; Thomas S. Fraser, labo- 

 ratory assistant, Glasgow. Royal Exhibitions have been 

 obtained by Benjamin Young, electrical engineer apprentice, 

 Belfast ; James Harrison, shoemaker (riveter), Northampton ; 

 John D. Crabtree, student, Bradford ; Joseph Burton, stu- 

 dent, Manchester ; John Taylor, engineer, Glasgow ; Joseph 

 Husband, student, Sheffield. Thomas Beatham, student, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Charles H. Kilby, engineer apprentice, 

 Crewe ; George H. Gough, student, Bristol ; Henry E. 

 Cheshire, fitter, Crewe; Ernest W. Rees, engineer apprentice, 

 Carnarvon ; Stanley H. Ford, student, Bristol ; have secured 

 Free Scholarships. 



