March 20, 1885.] 



SCIENCE 



243 



of Feb. 24, in latitude 37° north, longitude 170° 15' 

 east, the captain was aroused by the mate, and 

 went on deck to find the sky changing to a fiery red. 

 All at once a large mass of fire appeared over the 

 vessel, completely blinding the spectators; and, as it 

 fell into the sea some fifty yards to leeward, it caused 

 a hissing sound, which was heard above the blast, and 

 made the vessel quiver from stem to stern. Hardly 

 had this disappeared, when a lowering mass of white 

 foam was seen rapidly approaching the vessel. The 

 noise from the advancing volume of water is de- 

 scribed as deafening. The bark was struck flat 

 aback; but, before there was time to touch a brace, 

 the sails had filled again, and the roaring white sea 

 had passed ahead. To increase the horror of the 

 situation, another ' vast sheet of flame ' ran down the 

 mizzen-mast, and ' poured in myriads of sparks ' from 

 the rigging. The strange redness of the sky remained 

 for twenty minutes. The master, an old and expe- 

 rienced mariner, declares that the awfulness of the 

 sight was beyond description, and considers that the 

 ship had a narrow escape from destruction. 



— A series of experiments has recently been con- 

 ducted at Spezzia to ascertain the effect of torpedoes 

 on a keel vessel of the type of the iron-clad Italia. 

 Her steel plates were displaced and bent, and the 

 water entered the compartments, but she maintained 

 her position. The result is regarded as showing that 

 the effect of torpedoes is overrated, and that they 

 are insufficient for the defence of forts. 



— The U. S. naval bureau of ordnance is experi- 

 menting with the megaphone in order to determine its 

 usefulness in detecting the approach of hostile ves- 

 sels and torpedo-boats while they are yet some dis- 

 tance off. It is thought, also, that by the aid of this 

 instrument it may be possible to communicate be- 

 tween vessels by means of steam or other sound- 

 signals at considerable distances. 



— A cablegram received March 10, at the Harvard- 

 college observatory, from Dr. Palisa, announces the 

 probable discovery of Pogson's lost planet. Position, 

 March 9 d .3533, Greenwich mean time; right as- 

 cension, 6 h. 44 m. 41.7 s. ; declination, 28° 10' 1". 

 And a message from Dr. Krueger, received March 15, 

 announced the discovery of an asteroid by Dr. Lu- 

 ther. Position, March 14 d. 10 h. 50 m. 52.8 s., 

 Greenwich mean time ; right ascension, 11 h. 48 m. 

 48 s. ; declination, + 5° 13' ; eleventh magnitude. 

 No motion mentioned. 



— The preparations for the Inventions exhibition 

 at South Kensington are proceeding briskly. The 

 literature of the exhibition will differ considerably 

 from that of the two other exhibitions. No hand- 

 books are to be prepared, but the papers which will 

 appear in the catalogue will to a large extent supply 

 their place. The catalogue will contain twenty- 

 three prefaces written by authorities upon the par- 

 ticular subjects intrusted to them. Amongst those 

 who have already consented to contribute are Sir 

 Henry Nugent, on 'Fire-arms and explosives;' 

 Sir E. G. Reed, on ' Naval architecture ; ' Capt. 

 Douglas Gal ton, on 'Railway plant;' Capt. Abney, 



on 'Photography;' Professor Unwin, on 'Machine- 

 ry ; ' Professor Armstrong, on ' Physical and chemi- 

 cal apparatus ; ' Professor Yernon Harcourt, on 

 'Gas;' Mr. G. Matthey, on 'Fuel;' Dr. Hugo 

 Miller, on 'Paper and printing.' The first part of 

 the catalogue is already in the hands of the printers. 



— We learn from Nature that the Geological society 

 of London has just awarded the Wollaston medal to 

 Mr. George Busk, for his researches on fossil polyzoa 

 and on pleistocene mammalia; the Murchison medal 

 to Professor Ferdinand Roemer, the eminent paleon- 

 tologist of Breslau; the Lyell medal to Prof. H. G. 

 Seeley, for his long-continued work on fossil saurians ; 

 and the Bigsby medal to Mr. Renard of the Brussels 

 museum, on account of his petrographical researches. 



— Liouville's journal is in future to be published 

 quarterly to avoid the fragmentary publication of 

 important mathematical papers. 



— The original lectures delivered by Harvey at the 

 College of physicians are to be published in autotype 

 from the manuscript in the British museum, accom- 

 panied by a transcript. 



— The Cambridge (Eng.) university press has just 

 decided to publish Mr. Charles N. Doughty' s account 

 of his extensive travels in the interior of Arabia, dur- 

 ing which he discovered in the Harras beds of lava 

 similar to those in the Zejah or Argob of the Hauran 

 district, south of Damascus. The maps are already 

 completed : so there will be little delay in the pub- 

 lication. 



— The Academy announces the preparation, by 

 Prof. O. Stolz of Innspruck, of ' Vorlesungeu iiber 

 allgemeine arithmetik,' intended to present in a 

 form suitable to learners the results of modern 

 researches on the science of number. The first part, 

 now in press, contains an introduction on the con- 

 ception of magnitude, treated in accordance with 

 the views of Grassman; also chapters on the theory 

 of irrational numbers, powers, roots, and logarithms, 

 the theory of functions and of infinite series. The 

 investigations of Hankel, Du Bois-Reymond, Can- 

 tor, Cauchy, Abel, Dirichlet, and other eminent 

 mathematicians, have been carefully studied. The 

 second part of the work will treat of the arithmetic 

 of complex numbers, and some of its geometric ap- 

 plications. 



— Mind in nature, a popular journal of psychical, 

 medical, and scientific information, is announced to 

 be published the first of every month, by the Cosmic 

 publishing company, Chicago. 



— The Journal of the Iron and steel institute 

 notices some experiments recently made by Reinau 

 (Annates industrielles) to determine the strength of 

 iron as affected by different temperatures. It was 

 found that the strength increased up to 554° F., at 

 which temperature it attained a maximum, being thir- 

 ty per cent stronger than at 68° F. Between 554° F. 

 and 626° F., the decrease was very little, but the 

 strength rapidly diminished after the last limit was 

 passed. At 806° F. the bar broke under a load of 

 only thirty per cent of the rupture load at 68° F. 



