iS8 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the tube, where it is moistened and expanded. The 

 depth of colour seen on looking through the tube 

 indicates the degree of impurity in the air. It takes 

 an immense number of particles of dust to produce 

 any visible colour. Thus, 80,000 per cubic centimetre 

 only produce a very faint tint It requires one million 

 and a half of dust particles to give the air a fine blue 

 colour, and four millions of such to produce a dark 

 blue. By means of this instrument it is easy to 

 trace the pollution taking place in rooms, as well as 

 the pure and impure currents of air. 



Entomologists have this year been much con- 

 cerned with the influences of temperature on the 

 development of insect life. The days have recently 

 been brilliantly sunshiny and hot, but there has 

 seldom been a night without a frost. In consequence 

 butterflies have been very plentiful, and moths com- 

 paratively scarce. Easterly winds, with frost at 

 night, are injurious to moths, but do not appear to 

 affect butterflies so long as there is plenty of sun- 

 shine and blue sky. 



It can hardly be wondered at that our chief 

 scientific journals feel a trifle bitter at the manner 

 in which the University of Cambridge has conferred 

 honorary degrees on the occasion of the installation 

 of the new Duke of Devonshire as Chancellor. 

 Nature remarks that " culture, and especially 

 scientific culture, goes for very little among the 

 classes of distinction recognised by the university. 

 Eminence in the political world and in society, seems 

 to be the claim chiefly recognised." 



In the United States the naval people are now 

 concerned with experiments on armour plates 10A in. 

 thick. Some are all steel, some nickel steel. Is the 

 world's available supply of iron to be used up in 

 this stupid manner ? The nickel steel, we are told, 

 proved the best defence. But why should defence 

 be required, unless you have nations who want to 

 attack ? An attacking nation is an international 

 burglar, and ought to be handled by the scruff of the 

 neck, as you would your neighbour's cat when it 

 disturbs your rest. 



Transactions of the Guernsey Society of Natural 

 Science and Local Research for 1891 contain the 

 following papers : — " The Flora of Guernsey," by 

 Mr. E. D. Marquand ; " On Mica Trap Dykes in the 

 Channel Islands," by the Rev. E. Hill, F.G.S. ; 

 " A List of the Neuroptera inhabitating the Island 

 of Guernsey," by Mr. W. A. Luff, etc. 



We have received a copy of the Transactions of the 

 Burton-on-Trent Natural History and Archaeological 

 Society, containing the following papers : — '-' The 

 Lepidoptera of Burton-on-Trent and neighbour- 

 hood," Part II., Micro-Lepidoptera "compiled 

 by J. T. Harris, F.E.S., and Philip B. Mason, 

 M.R.C.S., etc. ; " The Functions of a Local Natural 



History Society, with Special Reference to the Study 

 of Plant Galls," by Philip B. Mason, M.R.C.S., etc. ; 

 "Some Varieties of Huskless Barley from Thibet," 

 by Horace T. Brown, F.R.S., etc.; "The Irish 

 Aran," (with seven plates) by Philip B. Mason, 

 M.R.C.S., etc. ; " Notes on a Salt-Marsh at 

 Branston," (with one plate), by J. E. Nowers and 

 J. I. Wells ; " Trout and Grayling," by G. Mor- 

 land Day ; " Notes on a Summer Tour in Norway," 

 by Horace T. Brown, F.G.S. , etc. ; " Some Ancient 

 Burton Manuscripts," by T. Knowles, M.A., etc. 



We are pleased to draw attention to a cleverly 

 written essay, bearing on Systemisation, published by 

 Williams and Norgate, entitled, "The Organisation 

 of Science." It is cleverly written, and bristles with 

 numerous points of scientific interest. 



THE report for 1892 of the " Parents' National 

 Education Union " is well worth reading. We 

 know of no other educational association that is doing 

 better work for the present generation, or more 

 work for the generation to come. It has been the 

 dream of educationalists that some day or other 

 education might grow into a possible science. Could 

 there be a science of greater importance ? Miss 

 C. M. Mason of Ambleside has to be credited with 

 splendid work done in this direction. 



Thank Heaven, bread is cheap. In a new book 

 just published by Dr. Goodfellow, on " The Dietetic 

 Value of Bread," the author gives his reasons for 

 holding that the ordinary wholemeal bread is not a 

 desirable food, and that it is much inferior to good 

 white bread as regards the weight of actual nourish- 

 ment, and the thoroughness of the diet. White 

 bread, he says, is one of the cheapest foods, not only 

 with regard to the actual weight of nourishment 

 obtained from it, but also with regard to the variety 

 of nutrient constituents it contains. A purchaser 

 who spends i\d. on a two-pound loaf cannot spend 

 his money to better advantage. 



The juvenile and too accurate reporter stated of a 

 shower which fell at a horticultural fete, that " the 

 drops varied in size from a shilling to eighteenpence." 

 Mr. E. J. Lowe, the well-known meteorologist, has 

 recently shown that the sizes of raindrops do vary 

 very considerably. He made 300 sketches of them. 

 Sheets of slate in a book form, which could be 

 instantly closed, were employed. These were ruled 

 in inch squares, and after exposure the drops were 

 copied on sheets of paper ruled like slates. Some 

 drops produce a wet circular spot, while others, 

 falling with great force, have splashes around the 

 drops. The same-sized drop varies considerably in 

 the amount of water it contains. The size of drop 

 ranges from an almost invisible point to one of 2 in. 

 diameter. Occasionally large drops fall which must 

 be more or less hollow, as they fail to wet the whole 



