Nov. 



!•] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



527 



An Application of the Phonograph to Medical 

 Studies. — According to Cosmos, it is proposed to supple- 

 ment pathological treatises by a collection of typical 

 phonographs representing the normal sounds of the heart 

 and lungs. 



Chemical Interaction of Solids. — Mr. W. Hallock 

 (Science) has read a paper controverting the views of the 

 Belgian chemist Spring. Hallock maintains that the 

 chemical action detected by Spring is due to the vapour 

 given off by one of the bodies. 



Sanitary Neglect in Florida. — Sanitary investiga- 

 tions in Florida undertaken in reference to the epidemic 

 of yellow fever show in some of the towns a most deplo- 

 rable condition. In Maclenny, a small town of perhaps 

 600 inhabitants, the only water supply is obtained from 

 wells of 15 to 20 feet deep, and inevitably polluted. 



Royal Society. — We learn that the Copley medal has 

 this year been awarded to Professor Huxley, in recogni- 

 tion of his investigations into the morphology and histo- 

 logy of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, and for his 

 services to biological science in general during many past 

 years. The Rumford medal is to be given to Professor 

 Tacchini, renowned for his researches in solar physics, 

 and the Davy medal to Mr. Crookes for his researches on 

 the electric discharge in high vacua. The Queen has 

 approved the award of the Royal medals to Baron 

 Ferdinand von Mueller, the Australian botanist, and to 

 Professor Osborne Reynolds, of Owens College, for his 

 researches in mathematical and experimental physics. 

 The medals will, as usual, be presented at the anniver- 

 sary meeting of the Society on St. Andrew's Day. 



Comparative Statistics of the Sexes. — Every census 

 taken in Germany shows a decrease in the number of 

 men and an increase of women. The last census shows 

 a million women more than men, or 104:3 women to 100 

 men. There are still more boys than girls, which proves 

 that a higher death-rate is the cause of the numerical 

 inferiority of males, joined also to emigration. In Berlin 

 women predominate to such an extent that there are 

 more than 108 women to 100 men. Between the ages 

 of 60 and 70 there are 150 women to 100 men, and 

 between 70 and 80 no fewer than 196 women to 100 

 men. This shows that men expend more vital energy 

 than women, and therefore succumb more readily to any 

 destructive influence which they may encounter. 



Adulteration of Wines. — The sophistication of wines 

 and liqueurs in France is exciting not merely popular but 

 official alarm, and at a recent Cabinet Council special 

 legislative action was resolved on. Dr. Laborde, in a 

 memoir laid before the Academy of Medicine, states that 

 he has found in one litre of " liqueur de noyau " from 

 five to six grammes of nitro-benzol, a highly poisonous 

 product of coal-tar. The same liqueur is sometimes got 

 up instead, with the aldehyde of benzo-nitril. The same 

 authority shows that absinthe occasions tetanic convul- 

 sions. It is remarkable that none of our moral reformers 

 call attention to the necessity of absolutely prohibiting 

 the importation of this deadly liquid into Britain, and 

 its manufacture and sale here. 



The Edinburgh Exhibition. — Last Friday a meeting 

 of the Edinburgh International Exhibition Association 

 was held in Dowell's Rooms, Sir Thomas Clark presid- 

 ing. The report of the joint committee, appointed by 

 the association and the executive, as to the disposal ot 

 the exhibition surplus, recommended that the sum 01 

 ^2,000 be paid to Sir James Gowans for services ren- 

 dered to the exhibition, and that the surplus be there- 

 after divided as follows : — ^1,500 to the Edinburgh 

 Public Library, ^1,000 to the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society in aid of the Ben Nevis Observatory, ^850 to 

 the Edinburgh Exhibition Trust for the purpose of carry- 

 ing on or assisting future exhibitions in Edinburgh or 

 elsewhere, including artisan and amateur exhibitions, 

 ,£100 to the Edinburgh Choral ^Union, ^100 to the 

 Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and ,£50 to the 

 exhibition of decorative handiwork at present being held 

 in Edinburgh. 



Royal Geographical Society. — At the opening meet- 

 ing of this session of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 Mr. H. H. Johnston, the well-known traveller, and Her 

 Britannic Majesty's Consul in West Africa, read a paper 

 on the Niger Delta and the Oil Rivers. The theatre of 

 the University of London, in which the meeting was 

 held, was quite filled, the audience including several 

 distinguished persons. Mr. Johnston's account of the 

 Niger and its neighbours, their scenery, their luxuriant 

 and varied vegetation, the native villages and towns on 

 their banks, with their inhabitants, the results ot 

 European contact with the natives, and his own remark- 

 able adventures, was of an unusually attractive character. 

 Moreover, Mr. Johnston exhibited on the screen through- 

 out his lecture a continued succession of pictures from 

 the lantern, some of them from photographs, but most of 

 them from his own beautiful sketches ; while a large 

 number of his original sketches were inspected by the 

 interested audience after the lecture. The large map 

 constructed under Mr. Johnston's care, which was 

 exhibited, records the results of his own observations, and 

 is a valuable addition to the cartography of West Africa. 



A Spring over 3,000 feet Deep. — In carrying out 

 the works for utilising the waters of the Seltzer Spring, 

 Saratoga, for the purpose of liberating and storing in 

 liquid form the carbonic acid gas with which the spring 

 abounds, Mr. Oscar Brunler, who is superintending the 

 arrangements, has made a remarkable discovery. The 

 Seltzer Spring was discovered about three years ago by 

 Dr. Haskins, who put down the drill to the depth of 

 500ft. At this depth an abundant supply of water was 

 found flowing from a crevice in the rock bottom. 

 Recently, in order to ascertain the depth of the spring, 

 Mr. Brunler sounded it with a line and plummet ; but, 

 instead of resting at 500ft., the weight sank the whole 

 length of the line, 900ft. Other soundings have since 

 been made, the weight used being a piece of lin. gas- 

 pipe, filled with lead, and weighing 34lbs., until a depth 

 of 3,300ft. has been reached, and yet without touching 

 bottom or any obstacle. It will be impossible to take 

 further soundings until instruments expressly designed 

 for the purpose have been made. Mr. Brunler admits 

 that the line may have been carried away by some 

 powerful current, but he holds to his belief in the exist- 

 ence of a subterranean sea of greater or less extent, and 

 of there being some connection between it and the 

 Atlantic Ocean. In other words, Saratoga is over a vast 



