556 



SCIENCE. 



Secondary Batteries.— J. Rousse.— In order to 

 accumulate electricity for the production of light or mo- 

 tive power, the author has arranged secondary batteries, 

 which differ from those of M. G. Plant, At the nega- 

 tive pole he uses a sheet of palladium, which, during the 

 electrolysis, absorbs more than 900 times its volume of 

 hydrogen. At the positive pole he uses a sheet of lead. 

 The electrolysed liquid is sulphuric acid at i-ioth. This 

 element is very powerful, even when of small dimensions. 

 Another secondary element which has also given good 

 results, is formed at the negative pole of a slender plate 

 of sheet-iron. This plate absorbs more than 200 times 

 its volume of hydrogen when electrolysed in a solution 

 of ammonium sulphate. The positive pole is formed of a 

 plate of lead, pure or covered with a stuatum of litharge, 

 or pure oixide, or all these substances mixed. These me- 

 tallic plates are immersed in a solution containing 50 per 

 cent of ammonium sulphate. Another arrangement is at 

 the negative pole, sheet-iron ; at the positive pole a cylin- 

 der of ferro-manganese. The electrolysed liquid con- 

 tains 40 per cent ammonium sulphate. 

 "Constitution of the Milky Way— When the milky 

 way is regarded with an indifferent eye, it seems that its 

 brightness is the same in all parts. But it is quite other- 

 wise when the relative luminous intensity of its different 

 portions is measured. It is then found that the milky way 

 is composed of a series of luminous plates separated from 

 each other by darker portions. . Thirty-three of these 

 nodules have been counted, the centre of which is more 

 brilliant than the borders, and it is stated that they are 

 arranged nearly mathematically along a great circle of 

 the celestial sphere. 



AN EXPLANATION. 



To the Editor of " SCIENCE." 



Dear Sir, — In giving the specific rotatory power in my 

 article " Amylose" in Science of Oct. 1st this year, I 

 used the expression (a) to designate the specified rotatory 

 power for the teinte dc passage since that is the usual ray 

 employed. On the other hand I used (a)j to designate 

 the same property for the. yellow ray, meaning by the 

 yellow ray the monochromatic sodium flame. 



Since, however, it is the usual custom to designate the 

 " rose-purple " transition tint by (a)j as if it were a yel- 

 low ray and the sodium ray by (a) D, I desire to make 

 this explanation of the symbols used. 



Respectfully, 



H. W. Wiley. 



Lafayette, Ind., Nov. 5, 1881. 



Observations and Researches on Blood-Stains. 

 — D.Vitaci — Attention has been recently called to a reac- 

 tion discovered by Schcebein — the blue coloration pro- 

 duced by a mixture of oil of turpentine and alcoholic 

 tincture of the resin of guiacum, on the additionof a little 

 blood or a very dilute solution of haemoglobin. It is 

 said that this reaction is preferable to any other, not ex- 

 cepting that founded on the formation of crystals of 

 haemine and on spectroscopic observation, and that none 

 of the substances capable of Simulating blood-spots give 

 the same opaque blue color. The author, however, shows 

 that all substances capable of acting as direct or indirect 

 oxidising agents are capable of producing the same re- 

 action. 



METEOROLOGICAL REPORT FOR NEW YORK CITY FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOV. 12, 1881. 



Latitude 40 45' 58" N.; Longitude 73° 57' 58" W.; height of instruments above the ground, 53 feet ; above the sea, 97 



feet ; by self-recording instruments. 



barometer. thermometers. 





MEAN FOR 

 THE DAY. 



MAXIMUM. 



MINIMUM. 



MEAN. 



MAXIMUM. 



MINIMUM. 



maxi'm 



NOVEMBER. 



Reduced 

 to 



Freezing 



Reduced 

 to 



Freezing. 



Time. 



Reduced 

 to 



Freezing. 



Time. 



Dry 

 Bulb. 



Wet 

 Bulb. 



Dry 

 Bulb. 



Time. 



Wet 

 Bulb. 



Time. 



Dry 

 Bulb. 



Time. 



Wet 

 Bulb. 



Time. 



In Sun. 



Sunday, 6.. 

 Monday, 7.. 

 Tuesday, 8.. 

 Wednesday, 9 . 

 Thursday, 10.. 

 Friday, ix__ 

 Saturday, 12.. 



30.151 

 3°-3i5 

 3 -i45 

 30.008 

 30-245 

 3°-3'9 

 29.801 



30.302 

 30.400 

 30.252 



30. 1 T2 

 30.296 



3°-394 

 30.222 



12 p. m. 



9 a. m. 



a. m. 

 12 p. m. 

 12 p. m. 



9 a. m. 



a. m. 



29.988 

 30.252 

 30.100 

 29.910 

 30.1 12 

 30.222 

 29-548 



a. m. 



12 p. m. 



12 p. m. 

 4 P m 

 a. m 



12 p. m. 



12 p. m. 



52-3 

 47.6 



5S.0 

 62.3 

 46.7 

 42-3 

 5&3 



48.3 

 46.0 



57.6 

 60.0 

 43-3 

 39.0 

 50.0 



60 

 51 

 62 

 68 

 5i 

 46 

 60 



3 P- m. 

 5 P- m. 



4 p. m. 

 3 P- m. 



2 p. m. 



3 P- m - 

 8 p. m. 



52 

 50 

 61 

 65 

 45 

 4 1 

 59 



3 p. m. 

 12 p. m. 



4 P- m- 

 3 P nr. 



2 p. in. 



3 P- m - 

 8 p. m. 



46 

 42 



5° 

 54 

 43 

 39 

 42 



12 p. m. 



7 a. m. 



a. m. 

 12 p. in. 

 12 p. m. 



8 a. m. 

 2 a. m. 



43 



42 

 49 

 49 

 40 



37 

 3« 



12 p. m. 



7 a. m. 



a. m. 

 12 p. m. 

 12 p. m. 

 10 a. m. 



2 a. m. 



112. 



56. 



68. 



80. 

 110. 

 in. 



62. 



Dry. Wet. 



Mean for the week 30.140 inches. Mean for the week 51.5 degrees 49.1 degrees 



Maximum for the week at 9 a. ra., Nov. 7th... 30.400 " Maximum for the week. at 3 pm. 9th 68. at 3 pm 9th, 65. 



Minimum " at 12 p. m., Nov. 12th 29.548 " Minimum '" " 8 am. nth 39. " at 10 am nth, 37. " 



Range 852 " I Range " " 29. " 28. " 



WIND. 



HYGROMETER. 



CLOUDS. 



RAIN AND SNOW. 



| OZONE. | 





DIRECTION. 



VELOCITY 

 IN MILES. 



FORCE IN 

 LBS. PER 

 SQR. FEET. 



FORCE OF VAFOK. 



RELATIVE 

 HUMIDITY. 



CLEAR, 

 OVERCAST. 





 10 



DEPTH OF RAIN AND SNOW 

 IN INCHES. 



NOVEMBER. 



7 a. m. 



2 p. m. 



9 p. m, 



Distance 

 for the 

 Day. 



X 



a 



Time. 



i 



s 



p. 



N 



6 

 p. 



o> 



6 



B. 

 P. 

 « 



E 

 P. 



o> 



s 



«' 



6 



P. 

 w 



a 

 p. 



Time 



of 

 Begin- 

 ning^ 



Time 



of 

 End- 

 ing. 



Dura- 

 tion, 

 h. m. 



lAmount 

 lof water 



O 

 IO 



Sunday, 6. 

 Monday, 7- 



Tuesday, 8. 



Wednesday, 9. 



Thursday, 10. 

 Friday, II. 

 Saturday, 12. 



w. 

 n. e. 



n. e. 



s. s. e. 



w. n.w. 

 n. n w. 



e. s. e. 



n. w. 

 e. n. e. 



s. e. 



w. s. w. 



n. w. 

 n. w. 

 s. e. 



n. e. 



e. 



s. s. e. 



n. w. 



n. w. 

 e. 



w. s. w. 



188 

 155 

 107 



'54 



273 

 177 

 '34 



5 



2* 

 'i 



4i 



7i 



3i 



6* 



1.00 am 

 5.00 pm 



0. 1 5 am 



10.00 pm 



1.30 am 

 0.00 am 

 6.00 pm 



.310 

 .267 



.418 



.487 



■275 

 .216 

 .231 



.269 

 .283 



•505 



•577 

 .220 

 •J73 

 .348 



.283 

 .321 



.487 

 .409 

 .218 

 •'95 

 .487 



92 

 100 



100 



94 

 92 

 90 

 83 



54 

 78 



94 



84 



59 

 60 

 93 



78 

 86 



94 



82 



75 

 08 

 94 







8 cu. 

 10 



10 



1 cir. 

 3 cir. cu. 



10 







9 CU. 



IO 



9 cu. 



7 cir. cu. 

 1 cir. s. 

 10 





 10 



10 \ 



8cu. -j 



4 cir. cu. 



5 cu. 

 10 



7 pm 

 4 am 

 3 pm 

 4 am 

 4 Pm 



io.j am 



12 pm 

 8 am 



5 Pm 

 1 1 am 



6 pm 



11 pm 



500 

 4.00 

 2.00 

 7.00 

 2.00 



12.30 



•04 



.10 

 .10 



■»3 

 .02 



■°S 



3 

 



10 



6 

 

 2 

 1 



Distance traveled during the week 1,188 miles. I Total amount of water for the week - 1.04 inch. 



Maximum force 7% lbs. | Duration of rain 1 day, 8 hours, 30 minutes. 



DANIEL DRAPER, Ph. D. 

 Director Meteorological Observatory of the Department of Public Parks, New York. 



