642 
in the temperature-room for about fifty days, and 
during this time they are given two tests at three dif- 
ferent temperatures (between 45° and 90°); one set 
going from a lower to a higher temperature, and one 
from a higher to a lower, always beginning with one 
extreme, and ending with the same. The chronome- 
ters are also tested for polarity by rating them with the 
XII of their faces north, south, east, and west suc- 
cessively. ‘‘ Great care should be taken, when chro- 
nometers are suspended in their gimbals, that they 
swing perfectly free, but without play enough to give 
them a jar; and the gimbals should be so adjusted that 
the chronometers will always hang with their faces 
level.”” Two chronometers, both running very regu- 
larly, were canted 9°, first with the XII down, then 
with the VI, IX, and III down successively, leaving 
them two ‘terms’ of seven days in each position, and 
placing them level again for two terms between the 
successive changes. ‘‘ They both lost on their level 
rates, varying from five-tenths to three seconds, and 
were more or less irregular; but, when placed level 
again, they each time came back to their regular 
rates, running a little irregularly at first.’”’ The paper 
is illustrated by a number of drawings of the appa- 
ratus, diagrams of temperature curves, etc. 
— The following item comes from the Pilot-chart 
data, collected by the hydrographic office, under date 
of Philadelphia, May 15: ‘‘Schooner M. A. Nutter 
(British), at this port, from Bahia, reports on April 
21, at 9 A.M., latitude 21° 6’ north, longitude 61° 44’ 
west, the vessel was shaken from stem to stern by 
the shock of an earthquake, apparently from the 
westward.’’ The position assigned for the vessel 
places it in deep water (about three thousand fath- 
oms), about two hundred miles north-east of Som- 
brero, Windward Islands; and the date of the shock 
- js noteworthy as being a day before the recent dis- 
turbance in England. 
— Herr Moritz Honigmann’s fireless locomotive, 
worked by chemically induced heat, has been used 
regularly since March 31 for passenger-traffic be- 
tween Stolberg, near Aix-la-Chapelle, and Wirfelen. 
When charged, it is found, the locomotive will go 
for twelve hours. 
— Capt. Sorensen has communicated some impor- 
tant observations, taken in the arctic seas, to the 
Société de géographie of Paris. They include nu- 
merous rectifications of the charts of Spitzbergen, 
especially of the shores of the canal between the 
West Island and Prince Charles Island, and of Wood 
Bay, the head of which is divided into two arms, like 
Wijde Bay. From Cape Platen, North-east Land, 
Capt. Sorensen saw on the 28th of August, to the 
north and east, a land composed of an elevated pla- 
teau, cut into two parts by afiord. A shipmaster from 
Tromso also saw this land in 1876, and it is indicated 
on a chart of these seas issued at Tromso by the cap- 
tains of that port. This is probably the Gillis Land 
of old charts, lying between Spitzbergen and Franz 
Joseph Land. 
— One afternoon, during the recent cruise of the 
Albatross, in the Caribbean Sea, several boobies were 
SCIENCE. 
» 
(Vou. III, No. 68. 
flying around the ship; and finally one of them alight- 7 
ed on the forecastle, when he was caught by one of 
the men, who, after amusing himself and his ship 
mates a while, tossed it overboard, expecting it would © a 
take itself off as quickly as possible; but, to their sur- 
prise, it returned immediately, alighting on the rail, . 
where nearly every man of the crew had congregated 
to watch its performance. It did not seem to be 
distressed in any way, and went deliberately to work 
re-arranging its plumage, which had been somewhat 
rufiled by handling, calmly surveying the noisy crowd 
of men gathered around it. They tried to feed it, 
offering every thing that could be found, but nothing 
seemed to suit its taste. It would not submit quietly 
to being handled, but made no attempt to fly away; 
and, although tossed overboard six times during the 
afternoon, it returned as often, invariably alighting 
in the same place among the men, where it finally 
took up its quarters for the night, remaining till six 
o’clock the next morning, when it left without cere- 
mony, and was not seen afterward. 
— The working in agate, jade, and chalcedony, done 
at Idar and Oberstein in Germany, was described by 
Mr. G. F. Kunz at a recent meeting of the New-York 
academy of sciences, and many of the articles manufac- 
tured there exhibited. Some perforated carnelian or- 
naments were shown, in which the perforations, round 
at one end and over an inch across, run to an acute 
point, and vary in length from two and a half to four 
inches. These ornaments are sent to the interior of 
- Africa, and sold at from four to five cents each, and 
are there worn by the natives. A jade pendant was 
shown over an inch and a half long, being one of a 
lot of over two hundred pounds of jade made up 
and sent to New Zealand. Mention was made of a 
mass weighing nearly three hundred pounds, to be 
used for the same purpose. The cost of making 
these ornaments at Oberstein was about forty cents 
each, which was much less than they could have been 
made for by native or skilled New-Zealand labor. 
There was also exhibited an oval carnelian disk that 
had been shaped for cutting by chipping with a small 
hammer: this chipping is equal to any that can be 
seen on American stone antiquities, and the entire 
cost is perhaps one cent. Some onyx beads were also 
shown, that in London or Ceylon would bring from 
ten pounds to twenty pounds sterling per string, and 
were here made for as many dollars. Mention was 
made of an American who achieved a fortune by 
importing the elephantine dentalium from the Red 
Sea, and selling to our American Indians. ‘These 
instances illustrated the far-reaching influences of 
modern commerce in the most remote regions of the 
earth, and also the increasing difficulty in determin- 
ing the genuine character of supposed aboriginal 
work in jade, chalcedony, and other similar material. 
— Charles Adolphe Wurtz, the distinguished French 
chemist, died May 12, in his sixty-seventh year. © 
— The Houghton farm has issued in pamphlet 
form (ser. iii., No. 3) an account of experiments on 
the diseases of plants as affected by different fertil- 
izers and the condition of the soil. 
