1870.] Physics. 285 



cashire, and the Bristol Channel, on the west coast, as jointly capable 

 of Yielding a similar quantity of coal to that of the Firth of Forth, we 

 shall then have 25,344,000,000." These are large figures— of their 

 value we can only judge by the exactness of other statements made 

 in this paper. " The investigation of the Eoyal Commission happily 

 assures us that there is coal enough in store for several generations 

 to come." Such is the opening paragraph of Mr. Walter Ness's 

 paper. The fact being that the Eoyal Commission has not given 

 one word of assurance in any form — and, we can state upon autho- 

 rity, that they are not yet in a position to do so. 



Metallurgy. 



There does not appear to be any novelty worthy of notice. The 

 arrangements made upon the termination of one of the Bessemer 

 Patents have led to considerable activity in the manufacture of 

 Bessemer steel, and probably the result will be that, ere long, steel 

 rails will almost entirely have superseded the iron ones, to which 

 we have been so long accustomed. 



A few interesting experiments are in progress, but none of the 

 results yet obtained are sufficiently reliable to warrant our placing 

 them on record. 



11. PHYSICS. 



Light. — It is a well-known fact that M. Schroetter proved that 

 the action of sunlight converts ordinary phosphorus into red 

 amorphous phosphorus. Sulphur, according to M. Lallemand, is 

 similarly affected by the direct action of sunlight, inasmuch as the 

 sulphur previously soluble in sulphide of carbon, and crystallizable, 

 is converted into an amorphous modification insoluble in sulphide 

 of carbon. The author placed a concentrated solution of sulphur 

 in sulphide of carbon in a sealed tube, and exposed that tube some 

 time to the action of the sun's rays, concentrated by a lens ; this 

 causes a copious precipitation of sulphur as an amorphous insoluble 

 matter. 



Mr. Burt has examined the action of coloured light upon the 

 Mimosa pudica. The plants are placed under glass jars constructed 

 of variously-coloured glass. The chief fact observed in respect of 

 these very sensitive plants is that by being covered with a green- 

 coloured glass jar, the plant rapidly becomes insensible, and dies in 

 a very short time. 



The Bev. Father Secchi, after referring briefly to his former 

 observations of the spectrum exhibited by Uranus, states that the 



