406 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 90. 



a substance much resembling gum-tragacanth, which, 

 when added to the jelly, makes it harden. This milk- 

 jelly is easily digested, its taste is perfect, and it may 

 be preserved, even in the air, for ten days. The in- 

 habitants of the north of Sweden preserve the pre- 

 cious microbe, caring for it as the savages care for 

 their fire. They put it in all the milk they wish to 

 preserve, as such milk is better and more easily ob- 

 tained, in every case, than the condensed milk of the 

 factories of Cham and Montreux. Alcoholic fermen- 

 tation is produced in milk when sown with koumiss, 

 or with the fungus of kefir, a favorite Russian drink. 

 This curious ferment is a combination of two distinct 

 ferments, — a yeast analogous to that of wine, and a 

 microbe, Dispora caucasia. These two organisms live 

 together in perfect harmony, and for a common end, — 

 the production of a gaseous, piquant, agreeable, and, 

 above all, healthful beverage. The kefir is especially 

 valuable as a food for infants and invalids. Several 

 physicians of Geneva intend to make trials of it, and 

 we are in hope of being soon enriched by the addition 

 of a new and valuable hygienic food. 



THE MERIDIAN CONFERENCES 



At Tuesday's meeting, Oct. 14, the resolution to 

 reckon longitudes east and west from Greenwich 

 to plus and minus 180° was advocated by Professor 

 Adams, Capt. Evans, and Gen. Strachey, of Great 

 Britain, and by Mr. Rutherford; the very strong point 

 being urged in its favor, that the jump in longitude 

 from + 180° to — 180° occurs in the Pacific Ocean, 

 where the local time now jumps twenty-four hours, 

 — and it must do this somewhere, — and hence it will 

 cause no change from the present practice among 

 navigators, or in the date of the present local time of 

 any part of the earth ; and the relation between the 

 local date and hour of any place, and the universal 

 time of the Greenwich meridian, will always be cor- 

 rectly given by the simple formula, L. T. = U. T. + \ 

 /I being the longitude expressed as above. After a 

 short recess for informal discussion, the resolution 

 was adopted by a small majority. 



A resolution was then introduced, that the confer- 

 ence propose the adoption of a universal day for all 

 purposes for which it may be found convenient, and 

 which shall not interfere with the use of local time 

 where desirable. 



The delegate from Italy offered as a substitute the 

 resolution of the geodetic conference at Rome, which 

 proposed a universal day of twenty-four hours, be- 

 ginning at Greenwich, mean noon; i.e., the present 

 astronomical day, twelve hours later than the civil. 



Mr. Allen here read a paper upon the needs and 

 conveniences of the railroads and telegraphs, advo- 

 cating local times differing whole hours from each 

 other, and introduced a resolution that local time be 

 held to mean that of the nearest meridian situated 

 some whole number of hours from Greenwich ; but, 

 after some discussion as to the competence of the 

 conference to go so far into details, he withdrew it. 



The resolution to adopt the recommendation of the 

 1 Continued from p. 378. 



Roman conference was lost, and the original resolu- 

 tion was adopted by a large majority. 



It was then proposed that the universal day be a 

 mean solar day, to begin for all the world at the mo- 

 ment of midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding 

 with the beginning of the civil day and date of that 

 meridian, and to be counted from zero up to twenty- 

 four hours. 



To give time for informally considering this, and 

 for the secretaries to revise and publish in English 

 and French the two-days' proceedings, the conference 

 adjourned till Monday, the 20th. 



At the meeting on Monday, the delegate from 

 Spain proposed the adoption of a universal day cor- 

 responding to the local day of Rome, ' on account of 

 classic historical associations,' and apparently with 

 the idea that somehow the epoch of the Gregorian 

 calendar would be changed by adopting the Green- 

 wich day. 



Professor Adams and Commander Sampson pointed 

 out the confusion that would arise from reckoning 

 time from one meridian, and longitude from another; 

 and, after further discussion, all the amendments 

 were voted down, and the original resolution, recom- 

 mending a universal day beginning at midnight of 

 the prime meridian, and counted from zero to twenty- 

 four hours, was adopted by a considerable majority. 

 Another resolution was passed by a large majority, 

 expressing the hope of the conference that the astro- 

 nomical and nautical days may soon be arranged 

 everywhere to begin at midnight. 



Mr. Janssen introduced a resolution expressing the 

 hope of the conference that all nations will make a 

 study of the advantages of dividing the day and cir- 

 cular measure, wherever used, into four quadrants, 

 with decimal division of quadrant. After considera- 

 ble discussion, this was adopted with a slight modifi- 

 cation in the phraseology. 



Gen. Strachey offered a resolution recommending 

 that all local times differ, by some multiple of ten 

 minutes, from that of the prime meridian. Without 

 acting on this, the conference adjourned till Wednes- 

 day. 



COTTERILUS APPLIED MECHANICS. 



Applied mechanics : an elementary general introduction 

 to the theory of structures and machines. By James 

 H. Cotterill. London, Macmillan, 1884. 20 

 + 584 p. 8°. 



The appearance of a new book b}^ the dis- 

 tinguished lecturer on applied mechanics at the 

 Royal naval college, the organization of which 

 he has done so much to forward, and the pros- 

 perity and success of which are ascribed so 

 largely to Professor Cotterill, is an event likely 

 to interest all who are engaged in similar lines 

 of work. The opportunity is not open to the 

 writer upon the subject of applied mechanics 

 to produce as completely novel a work as was 

 the earlier book by the same author, — ' The 

 steam-engine considered as a heat-engine.' 



