SCIENCE. 
24; 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 
cations . ,] 
PYROLOGY. 
To H. C. Sorby, Esq., F.R.S., LL. D , etc. 
My Dear Sir , — As you are the only scientific Englishman 
of note who seems to have studied blowpipe crystallizations 
with the view of applying your observations geologically, 
I will not apologize for addressing you on this interesting 
subject, and I do so publicly for the following reason, 
which I think ought to be made public : 
The last ten years of mv life have been wasted in vainly 
trying to show that blowpipe chemistry, if studied on the 
rational basis of ordinary chemical analysis, i. e., employing 
acids or alkalies and not salts, in the first place, as weapons 
of attacking substances, will inevitably lead to new discov- 
eries and most interesting results in what scientific men of 
all branches are agreed to term their common pursuit — the 
revelation of Nature’s secrets, — but my humble efforts have 
been met, in England, not merely with what Mr. Crookes has 
called “the conspiracy of silence,” but with the most deter- 
mined, if not underhand, opposition. Indeed, a foreigner 
considering the circumstances related to him, in which 
neither my purse, nor time, nor mental efforts, have been 
spared — hitherto, only to my own disadvantage — said “it 
appeared more as if I had been trying to commit a felony' in 
England than to advance science there.” I readily admit 
that the three exceptions to this category' of eminent scien- 
tific enemies constitute a trinity of talent not easily found 
elsewhere, but then there aie only three, if three of the 
leading men of science in Britain, and I fear therefore, that 
it was rather unadvised of me to forward my' paper on this 
subject to you for presentation to the British Association, 
lately' assembled at Swansea, and which was returned to 
y'ou by the Secretary of the Chemical Section (to whom y'ou 
seem to have forwarded it) as being “ Unsuitable.” 
It will therefore afford you some consolation to learn that 
this paper, so ignominiously rejected at Swansea, was read 
before the German Association at Dantzic, on the 23d of 
September, by' one of the chemists on the Swansea Com- 
mittee, Professor Gilbert Wheeler, of the University' of 
Chicago, United States of America, who had it translated 
into German for the purpose, and he informed me that one 
of the learned gentlemen there expressed “ his astonish- 
ment ” that tire paper (a very' brief one) had not been read 
in England ; — adding, “in our country, when anything is 
objected to in a paper, that constitutes the greater reason 
for reading and discussing it.” 
So much for personal matters, and now, putting individual 
injustice or recognition aside, does it not appear to you that 
the rejection of any contribution, however feeble, towards 
the advancement of science “by a section of an association 
originally organized for that purpose by' two Scotsmen — 
Sir David Brewster and Sir Roderick Murchison — shows a 
lack of what Sir John Herschel terms “that central thread 
of common sense on which the pearls of analytical research 
are invariably strung?” 
The question seems to me not to be “ Has England as 
many learned professors as Germany or France ? ” but have 
the masses of the people — the people, tor instance, whom 
we may see so devoutly thronging the public houses and 
gin palaces in London on Sunday evening, when anything 
in the shape of scientific instruction would be considered 
“ a desecration of the Sabbath ” — have these poor religious 
people as much opportunity and possibility, within their 
little means, afforded them of acquiring practical scientific 
knowledge (which after all, underlies all art and labor) as 
the same classes have in Germany, France, or America? 
The following little anecdote, among many other similar 
ones, shows that they have not. The other day, passing a 
book stall in the West of London, I asked a youth. of 19 
or 20, in charge, “if he had any books on chemistry?” 
“ Chemistry, ” said he — “ what’s that?” I rejoined to this 
rather startling question — “ I suppose you are a pupil of 
the London School Boad?” — to which he replied “yes.” 
I then said “ what did they teach you, if they didn’t teach 
chemistry ? ” — whereupon, to my grave satisfaction, he said 
“ Oh, we learnt all about placental mammals, and verte- 
brata and all that ” — an answer which shows that Mr. Hux- 
ley’s remonstrances with the London School Board have 
not been altogether in vain. 
With this little illustration of the state of things scientific 
at our very doors I will conclude this letter, and propose, 
with your leave, to consider in my next, the subject of your 
admirable address to the geological section at Swansea, of 
which you are President. 
W. A. Ross, Lieut. -Col., R. A. 
CHEMICAL NOTES. 
The Sun has a Sensible Inductive Action on the 
Earth, even when its Magnetic Power is simply equal 
to that of our Globe. Induction of the Moon by the 
Earth and Diurnal Lunar Variation ok the Terres- 
trial Compass. — M. Ouet has shown that the sun induces 
the earth in various manners ; by its rotation, by' the speed 
of the earth in its orbit, by the rotation, of the earth, and by 
the variations which it experiences in its electric constitu- 
tion. The electromotive forces due to the three first-men- 
tioned causes are : — The first 14 times greater than the sec- 
ond, and the second 72 times greater than the third. 
The Variations of the Coefficient of Expansion of 
Glass. — J. M. Crafts has summed up, in his former papers, 
the most important theories on the variation of the fixed 
points of thermometers, but the variation of the coefficient 
of expansion of glass, which presents a much more serious 
inconvenience, has hitherto escaped notice. If this coefficient 
varies, the interval between two fixed points varies, and the 
graduation becomes inexact. In thermometers heated for 
a long time to 355°, the coefficient of expansion decreases, 
so that whilst the zero-point is raised by ' t degrees, the point 
ioo° is raised to 100° + ?+/. 
Tungstoboric Acid. — According to D. Klein, this acid 
differs in its constitution from various other borotungstic 
acids which have been prepared, and is the analogue of the 
unknown decatungstic acid. It is formed by the union of 
9 mols. tungstic acid, 1 mol. dimetaboric hy'drate, with 
elimination of 6 mols. water. Its composition is — 
9 W 0 3 ,B 2 0 3 , 4 H 2 0 . 
Products of the Distillation of Colophonium. — Ad. 
Renard has isolated a carbide, which he names heptene, of 
the sp. gr. 0.8031 at + 20°. It is without action upon polar- 
ized light, and boils at 103° to 106 0 . He examined its be- 
havior with reagents. 
Dilatation and the Compressibility of Gases under 
Strong Pressures. — E. H. Amagat concludes from his re- 
searches that the coefficient of expansion of gases for tem- 
peratures above the critical temperature increases with pres- 
sure up to a maximum, on passing which it decreases in- 
definitely. The maximum diminishes for the more elevated 
temperatures, and finally' disappears. For pressures lower 
than the critical pressure the deviation, which is at first posi- 
tive at a temperature sufficiently' low, becomes null, and then 
negative as the temperature increases ; but, proceeding 
from a certain negative value, it diminishes indefinitely 
without changing its sign. For the pressures comprised 
between the critical pressure and a superior limit, special 
for each gas, the period during which the deviation is posi- 
tive is preceded by' a period where it is negative, so that 
the deviation changes its sign twice. 
New Results of the Utilization of Solar. Heat Ob- 
tained at Paris. — M. A. Pifre’s improved apparatus en- 
ables him to utilize 80 per cent, of the solar heat, thus obtain- 
ing, at Paris, 12.12 cal. per minute and per square metre of 
surface exposed to the sun. 
Remarkable Instance of Lightning Ascending Verti- 
cally. — A. TrGcul perceived, during the storm of the even- 
ing of August 19th, lightning ascending perpendicularly 
behind the trees of the Place Jussieu, apparently from the 
conductors of the wine magazine. 
