Notes. 
[March, 
264 
merous poisonous fishes on the African coasts, which it fears 
may be brought into European markets preserved by the appli- 
cation of artificial cold. 
According to Prof. Haeckel no expression has given rise to so 
many errors and misunderstandings as the word “ instinCt.” 
Physics. 
M. Sergius Kern sends us an account of a very interesting ex- 
periment by M. Slouginoff, which is likely to be fruitful in physical 
research. He takes the two electrodes of a battery, one of which is 
a thin, plain platinum plate, placed horizontally, and the other is 
a platinum wire, placed perpendicularly to the plate and nearly 
in contaCt with it. A small quantity of water, acidulated with 
sulphuric acid, is next poured on to the plate. If a current of 
8 to 12 elements passes through the apparatus, and the wire is 
made the cathode, a spot of light is observed on its point. 
When using 15 elements the light appears, even if the direction 
of the current is changed. During these phenomena the water 
is only slightly decomposed, and the needle of a galvanometer, 
if introduced into the circuit, is only slightly deflected. It was 
also remarked that the surface of the water under the wire is 
lowered, forming the shape of a cup. The bubbles of gas 
arising from the decomposition of the water, in this case, travel 
constantly round the wire, forming a very pretty figure of 8. 
This is caused by the movements of the surface of the water, it 
being alternately repelled or attracted to the wire carrying the 
current. The gaseous bubbles obey these movements. It was 
further discovered that during these actions in the apparatus the 
current was intermittent. It is well known that the mechanical 
movements in iron or steel bars, during their magnetising by 
discontinuous currents, may be used as a source of sound. In 
employing a current of 12 elements, and introducing into it 
Slouginoff’s apparatus, a distinct sound is remarked. If the 
platinum plate is well polished the water is repelled from the 
point of the wire equally in all directions and some millimetres 
from it. The current is thereby interrupted, and the liquid ad- 
vances to the wire; in this case the liquor will be again repulsed, 
and so on. Taking advantage of these actions of the current, 
the apparatus may be employed as a very simple form of an 
eleCtrical interrupter. 
At the Technical Society of St. Petersburg M. Latchinoff 
recently delivered a leCture on the eleCtric light. He made some 
experiments with Jablochkoff’s condensators, which consist of a 
set of tin plates placed one on another ; the surface of every 
plate is 07 square metre. Between every pair of such plates a 
piece of silk covered with varnish is introduced. The height of 
the condensator is about 6 feet. On introducing two condensa- 
tors into a circuit the intensity of the eleCtric light is doubled. 
