Miscellaneous Intelligence. 87 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards. S. W. Stratton, 

 Director. Vol. ii, No. 3, pp. 319-483 ; vol. iii, No. ], pp. 1-161.— 

 The two numbers above noted complete the second volume of the 

 Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards and begin the third volume. 

 This Bureau, since it was established by Act of Congress in 1901, 

 has not only accomplished its organization on a practical basis, 

 carried on the regular routine work of the office, and issued a 

 series of twelve Bureau circulars, but it has also completed a 

 large number of investigations in various related lines in physics 

 and chemistry. The papers which have thus far appeared in the 

 Bulletin number fifty-four. A considerable number of these 

 deal with electrical problems, including theoretical discussions, as 

 for example that by Dr. E. B. Rosa (vol. ii, No. 3) on the formu- 

 lae for the mutual inductance of coaxial coils; also measurements 

 of inductance, capacity, electromotive force; descriptions of instru- 

 ments, as the electrodynamometer and potentiometer, etc. The 

 different aspects of photometry are repeatedly presented, with 

 also the problems of radiation, absorption and spectroscopy, the 

 phenomena of incandescent lamps, etc. Still other papers deal 

 with subjects under heat, the testing of thermometers, and so on. 



A large number of workers have contributed to the list of 

 papers referred to ; among these the following names are often 

 repeated: E. B. Rosa, E. P. Hyde, P. G. Nutting, K. E. Guthe, 

 G. K. Burgess, C. W. Waidner. W. W. Coblentz has an article 

 in vol. ii, No. 3, on a vacuum radiomicrometer, and another on 

 the investigation of infra-red absorption and reflection spectra. 

 This last is a somewhat novel method of investi satin sc the chem- 

 ical constitution of various compounds, chiefly minerals. The 

 fact is brought out that minerals containing water of crystalli- 

 zation show quite uniformly water bands, while those containing 

 hydroxyl groups generally have a marked bandat3;u,; further, 

 sulphates have a strong band at 4/55/a, one less constantly shown 

 at 9'1/x, while silicates lack such definite bands, thus suggesting a 

 lack of uniformity in the structure of the silicate radical. The 

 fact that the 3/x band is absent with talc, while it is given by ser- 

 pentine, confirms the general view that hydroxyl is present in the 

 latter but not in the former species. 



2. Carnegie Institution of Washington. — Recent publications 

 from the Carnegie Institution are included in the following list : 



Variation and Differentiation in Ceratophyllum ; by Raymond 

 Pearl with the assistance of Olive M. Pepper and Florence J. 

 Hagle. Pp. 136, with 26 figures and 6 7 tables. — The immediate 

 purpose of this investigation is stated to be an " attempt to work 

 out as exactly and completely as possible for a particular organ- 

 ism the laws according to which post-embryonic differentiation 

 and growth occur." 



