when selectively excited tends to give off perceptible intensities of radiation corresponding to every possible mode of molecular motion. Another aspect of increased rapidity of spreading of energy among the various modes of motion of a gas with increased temperature is that the spectrum of a very hot gas when excited by the electric current tends to show many lines that are invisible when the gas is relatively cool. Thus the spectrum of the mercury arc has no red lines when the vapor is relatively cool, but when the vapor is very hot red lines appear.

W. S. FRANKLIN.

NOTES ON ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.

THE NITRATION OF ANILINE.

Ir is generally stated in text-books of organic chemistry that aniline and nitric acid, of tolerably high concentration, yield resinous, tarry, or carbonaceous material from which no definite compounds can be isolated, whereas, in the presence of a large excess of concentrated sulphuric acid, nitration of the aniline takes place without difficulty. This behavior is explained by assuming that in the first case the nitric acid attacks the amino group of aniline more readily than it affects the benzene nucleus, but that the former is 'protected' by the concentrated sulphuric acid.

Several objections can be made to this explanation, among which the following may be mentioned: (1) Aromatic amines form stable compounds (nitrates) with nitric acid, but with nitrous acid the products (nitrites, diazonium derivatives, etc.) are, in general, highly unstable. (2) The primary products of the action of aniline on nitric acid or sulphuric acid are, presumably, aniline nitrate, CH,NH.NO,, and aniline hydrogen sulphate, CH,NH,SO.H, respectively, and it is not apparent why the amino group is less well 'protected' in the former compound than in the latter.

Guided by these and other considerations, we began, some months ago, a study of the action of nitric acid on aniline and on aniline nitrate, and of the behavior of certain derivatives of aniline towards nitric acid alone and

A preliminary account of our work has recently appeared,' and we hope to publish further communications on the subject in the course of a few months. The object of this note is to call attention to certain of our results which we think may be of some general interest. Nitric acid of any concentration up to 75.33 per cent. when mixed with aniline in equimolecular proportion forms the nitrate, provided a suitable temperature is maintained, but the slightest excess of acid, if of comparatively high concentration, changes this colorless nitrate to a reddish pink compound. This may be kept for a day or two if it remains sufficiently cool, but, more or less quickly, depending on the temperature and on the excess of acid, it darkens, blackens and may become incandescent. The color is instantly discharged by a drop of water and is regenerated by more acid.

In the formation of mononitro derivatives of the substituted anilines referred to above, the position taken by the nitro group (ortho, meta, para) appears to depend on two factors: (a) the nature of this substituting group, i. e., whether it be negative (acidic), positive (basic), or neutral; (b) the strength, not concentration, of the acid which has been mixed with the nitric acid. Should this conclusion be justified by our subsequent experiments, it will be seen that, as we can vary each of the above factors between very wide limits, the possibility is afforded of varying a in the same direction as bor in an opposite one, in order to prepare some desired isomer. Moreover, similar conditions might reasonably be expected to apply to the nitration of compounds in general, and if to nitration, then also, so far as experi1Amer. Chem. Jour., 36, 605 (1906).

J. BISHOP TINGLE, F. C. BLANCK.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, November 24, 1906.

NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF NATURAL SCIENCE.

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.

To that dauntless literary freebooter of the fourteenth century who styled himself Sir John Mandeville, and whose Voiage and Travaile' enjoyed for a long time enormous popularity, very little consideration is given by historians of natural science. Yet this extraordinary compilation contains many matters of interest to the zoologist, botanist and even geologist of our day, to say nothing of its value from a purely literary or philological standpoint.

A fruitful theme for investigation has been an analysis of the sources, contemporary, early medieval and ancient, from which the narrator made wholesale robberies. Claiming to have been the traveling companion of Friar Odoric, the Bohemian (1286-1331), he appropriated bodily large portions of that noted traveler's itinerary, and precisely these portions are of chief interest to the naturalist. Concerning this question of sources, one may consult the splendid bilingual edition published by the Roxburghe Club, with notes by Mr. Warner, of the British Museum, and the valuable essay by Albert Bovenschen, published by the Berlin Geographical Society in 1888.

A point of interest to the geologist is Sir John's mention, in chapter 8, of the eruptive condition of Etna and the Lipari Isles. Very incomplete records have been preserved of early Liparian eruptions, and it would be interesting to find the statement confirmed by other writers that there be seven swelges that burn.' In the original French version this passage concludes: "Et de Ytaille iusques a ces volcans nad pluis de xxv. lieuez; et dit homme qe ces sunt chymenes denfern." This last remark is evidently a localization of a familiar legend, but whether original or not on the part of the author is hard to say. A parallelism exists, though I am not aware of any one having called attention to it, with one of the Dialogues' of St. Gregory, where the hermit of Lipari is described as having seen Theodoric the Great, on the day of his death, carried in bonds between Pope John and Symmachus, and thrown into the Volcano. of Lipari. It was also a popular belief during the middle ages that Charles Martel had been banished within the crater of Stromboli.

Concerning the animal lore scattered throughout Sir John's book, it has been observed that "all the old legends of the Alexander saga and of the 'Miracles of the Orient are here amalgamated with much that is new about those fabulous monsters with which the medieval fancy populated the mysterious East." Yet besides these fables there is much authentic information of real value. A single point, of minor interest to be sure, is worth mentioning on account of its having engaged Cuvier's attention. A curious subversion of the Andromeda legend occurs in chapter 5 of Mandeville's book, where it is said that one of the ribs of the monster found at Joppa measured forty feet in length. The statement is evidently borrowed from Solinus (chapter 34), who obtained his information in turn from Pliny ('Nat. Hist.,' v. 14; ix., 4). According to the latter, the total length of the creature, whose bones were conveyed to Rome and exhibited there, was forty feet; and as shown by Cuvier, the description could not have applied to any other animal than a whale. 1 References to the spread of this literature are given in SCIENCE, Vol. 23, p. 195.

Other instances of the stranding of whales are reported by the same classic author.

C. R. EASTMAN.

CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. LANTERN SLIDES FOR TEACHING METEOROLOGY.

THE Geographic Society of Chicago has done an excellent work for the development of meteorological instruction in the United States. It has collected a set of 270 lantern slides of various meteorological subjects. It has published a good descriptive text to acIt sells the slides at cost. company them. This is one of the more important meteorological contributions along educational lines which has been made in this country within the last few years. The plan was inaugurated in 1905 by Dr. J. Paul Goode, then president of the Chicago Geographic Society, and on the committee which was put in charge of the work were Dr. Goode, Professor Henry J. Cox, of the U. S. Weather Bureau in Chicago, the chief observer of the Weather Bureau in Chicago, and three teachers. The slides are copied from maps and diagrams in the Atlas of Meteorology, recent text-books, and in the Monthly Weather Review; from photographs, and from weather maps and weather records selected and prepared by the committee. A wide range of subjects is covered, and any teacher of meteorology, climatology or geography will surely find many slides suitable for use in his particular line of teaching. The text to accompany the slides embraces 130 pages. includes a 'General Introduction,' by Professor Cox; a paper on 'The Use of the Lantern in Teaching Meteorology,' by Dr. Goode; a short working bibliography for the use of teachers, and then the descriptive text (110 pages). The latter is subdivided according to the subjects covered by the slides, including the following: weather observatories; meteorological instruments and instrument records; temperature distribution; atmospheric pressure and circulation; sunshine and other optical phenomena; humidity, cloudiness and precipitation; cyclones and anticyclones; thunderstorms and tornadoes; floods; synchronous weather conditions; life response to

It

climate. This descriptive text is almost a small text-book in itself, and will be very helpful to teachers (unless perchance it be so complete that it tempts them to limit their reading to this alone). We welcome most heartily the Chicago Geographic Society's valuable contribution to meteorological education.

LAND AND SEA BREEZES ON THE GERMAN COAST.

THE phenomena of land and sea breezes on the eastern coast of Germany bordering the Baltic have been studied by Max Kaiser, of Halle (Inaugural-Dissertation,' Halle, 1906), who has made use of anemograph records for the period 1901-5 at five stations extending over a strip of 300 miles of coast-line; of the observations taken thrice daily at storm-warning stations of the Deutsche Seewarte, and of observations on light-ships and on passing vessels. The sea breeze was found to begin at various times, often at 8 A.M. and often not until 2 P.M. or later. The absolute maximum velocity was 13.2 miles per hour; the absolute minimum was 0.8 miles per hour. The mean velocity is 4.5 to 6.7 miles per hour. April to September are the months of occurrence. Only those days were taken as sea-breeze days which had an offshore wind early, an onshore wind at noon and an offshore wind again in the evening. The 'roundabouts' which have been noted on the New England coast and in other places are but partially developed on the Baltic coast of Germany. An interesting study of the place of beginning of the sea breeze, based on observations from vessels offshore, makes a decided addition to our present knowledge on this subject. In the region under discussion the sea breeze, when conditions are favorable, begins between four and five nautical miles offshore, and the land breeze extends as far out as eight nautical miles.

MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW.

No. 8, Vol. 34, 1906, of the Monthly Weather Review contains the following papers: The International Symbols,' by H. H. Clayton. It is pointed out that the American term frostwork' is equivalent to the German 'Rauhfrost,' and the English term 'silver thaw' is the equivalent of the Amer

ican 'ice storm.' The Meteorological Optics of Professor J. M. Pernter' is a review of Pernter's standard work, recently published, by Professor R. W. Wood. "The Meteorological Conditions Associated with the Cottage City Waterspout' (August, 1896), by Professor F. H. Bigelow. A full review and discussion of the weather conditions leads to the conclusion that a sheet of cold air, in front of an approaching anticyclone, overran the lower, warmer air, the cold air following at the surface a few hours later. This gave the exact conditions required to produce the observed powerful convection.' 'Variation in Temperature over a Limited Area,' by Professor W. I. Milham, of Williams College, embodies the results of studies at Williamstown, Mass., supplementary to those previously discussed in the Monthly Weather Review (July, 1905) by the same writer. 'Monthly Review of the Progress of Climatology throughout the World.' This is a comparatively recent addition to the regular contents of the Review; the notes are prepared by C. F. Talman, and will be found useful by teachers of meteorology and climatology. 'The First Daily Weather Map from China,' by the same writer, notes the publication of this new map on July 1, 1906.

CLIMATE OF FORT GRANT, ARIZONA. WE note the publication of a paper on 'The Climate of Fort Grant, Graham County, Arizona' in the Journal of the Outdoor Life for November. The writer is Dr. I. W. Brewer, and special attention is paid to the relations of this climate to disease.

R. DEC. WARD.

EVENING TECHNICAL COURSES AT

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.

THE Board of Extension Teaching of Columbia University announces a series of nine evening technical courses which will be given at the University this winter, beginning December 3, and lasting twenty weeks. The courses are under the immediate direction of Professor Walter Rautenstrauch, of the Faculty of Applied Science, and are to be given

by professors and instructors of the university and other persons especially qualified. Moderate fees ($7.50 to $15) are charged and most of the courses are for two evenings a week. The courses are as follows:

Engineering Physics.-As illustrated in the mechanical plants of modern buildings. (1) An elementary study of physics: (2) a practical study of steam and electrical machinery, heating, ventilating, water system, wiring, elevators, etc., included in the plant of Columbia University. For two classes of students: those wishing an introductory study of physics as preparation to advanced study in electricity, steam, etc., another winter; those desiring practical training for posi tions as superintendents of buildings, engineers, janitors, etc.

Elementary Mathematics.-Those parts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry used in technical work. Practice with engineering hand-books, tables, etc.

Drafting. A beginner's course; fits for positions as draftsmen; reading of drawings, etc.

Strength of Materials.-A lecture course for those who design or manufacture machinery, or modern structures. With this course should be taken either the first or second of the two following courses in design.

Machine Design.-Advanced drafting, computations, and designing for persons engaged in the design and manufacture of machinery.

Structural Design.-Advanced drafting, computations, and designing for those who do structural work.

Electrical Engineering.—A course especially for those engaged in electrical work of any sort.

Steam Engineering.-A course for those engaged in the manufacture or management of steam machinery of any sort.

Special Engineering Problems.—A study of any special elementary or advanced engineering prob lems desired by the student: Individual instruction will be arranged for such a period of time as the special problem may demand.

The courses will be given in the buildings of Teachers College, Columbia University, at West 120th Street and Broadway, which affords necessary lecture rooms, laboratories, drafting rooms, etc. A complete catalogue of these courses will be sent on request, by addressing Evening Technical Courses, Extension Teaching, Columbia University. Personal information may be secured on Tuesday

and Thursday evenings, between 7:30 and 9 o'clock from Mr. Benjamin R. Andrews, Room 111, Teachers College.

PROFESSOR OSBORN AND THE SECRETARYSHIP OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

PROFESSOR HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN has declined the secretaryship of the Smithsonian Institution, to which he was elected by the regents on December 4. His letter to Hon. Melville W. Fuller, chancelor of the Smithsonian Institution, dated New York, December 11, contains a full statement of all the reasons which, after reconsideration, finally render Professor Osborn unable to accept the post of secretary. Chief among these reasons is the fact that he is nearing the completion of several monographs and books, the prosecution of which is dependent upon the collections which he has brought together in New York and the staff of trained assistants who are working with him.

Among these works

especially is the History of the Tertiary or Fossil Mammals of North America,' the 'Titanothere Monograph' and the 'Sauropoda Monograph' for the United States Geological Survey, which were begun by the late Professor O. C. Marsh, a monograph on the evolution of the horse in preparation for the American Museum of Natural History series, also a popular volume on the evolution of the horse to be published by Columbia University, in addition to a large number of minor or supplementary papers and researches. The main tenor of Professor Osborn's letter is shown in the following abstract:

I was absolutely taken by surprise and deeply moved by your generous action in voting to elect me to the most honorable post of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. It is the greatest honor I have received or expect to receive; yet after several days which I have devoted almost exclusively to reflection on this matter from every standpoint, I find myself unable to accept your invitation.

I desire to explain to you fully why I have reached this conclusion, and I trust I may be able to convince you it is through no lack of the sense of public duty which should inspire every American. I hope I may convince you also that accept

ance would involve a change of career just at a time when I am trying to publish the results of thirty years of research. These results would have been partly or entirely in print at this time had it not been that for the past sixteen years I have been interrupted and drawn away by execu tive and administrative work of the very character which would be demanded of your new secretary on a grander scale. The possibility of continuing and completing these researches and at the same time serving the office as it should be served is the point on which my attention has been centered during the past few days.

As to time for research, my friend Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in the course of two conferences has assured me that the Regents especially desire an investigator as well as an administrator; in other words, that the secretary should continue his scientific researches, whatever they may hap pen to be, and I have tried to convince myself that even with my peculiar temperament I might be able to withdraw from time to time to pursue and complete these publications. On this point I have chiefly reflected, reviewing my experience here in far less responsible positions. Naturally there is some strong pressure here against my acceptance of the post; but to reach an impartial conclusion I have listened chiefly to those who desire to see me accept. In these conferences and among the numerous letters of congratulation which I have received from scientific workers in all parts of the country, I have not found one to hold out the hope or expectation that my scientific researches will continue even as they have in the past. I am myself convinced that even with the assured cooperation of a very able staff, the ideal development of the Smithsonian with all its auxiliary institutions will require nothing less than the entire time, thought, energy, and strength of the secretary for four or five years to come. The quiet days of Joseph Henry and even of Spencer F. Baird in this country have passed. The enormous growth of the country, the telephone, the telegraph, the wireless, the great newspaper, make the seclusion and quiet absolutely essential for research increasingly difficult every day.

Failure in the post or anything short of complete success would disappoint you and would disappoint the public, who naturally cannot appreciate the undisturbed conditions essential to the prosecution of successful intellectual work. Other men may be so constituted as to assume a grand office like the secretaryship, with its splendid possibilities for the future, and not have it