at 18. In this respect, again, it differs from the tetrabromide of allylene, which remains liquid when surrounded by a freezing mixture. The constitution was finally proved to be CH2— (CH, as expected, the tetrabromide being, consequently, CH,Br—CBr2-CH,Br; while allylene possesses the constitution CH,-C=CH, being, in fact, methyl acetylene, its tetrabromide being, therefore, CH,—CBr,—CH Br2, a substance very different from the tetrabromide of allene.

INVITATIONS have been issued to each maritime nation to send one or more delegates to attend an International Maritime Conference to meet in Washington on April 17, 1889. The objects of the Conference will be to revise the regulations concerning vessels at sea, to adopt a uniform system of signals to indicate the direction in which vessels are moving in fog, snow, or thick weather, and at night, to convey warnings of approaching storms and other important information, and to formulate regulations for the prevention of collisions. The importance of the subject is so great that a full attendance of delegates is expected.

IN the Archiv der naturwissenschaftl. Landesdurchforschung van Bohmen, Band vi. No. 5, 1888, is a valuable memoir by Prof. Franz Klapálek under the title Untersuchungen über die Fauna der Gewässer Böhmens, Part I, Metamorphose der Trichopteren," in which the transformations of nearly twenty species of Bohemian caddis-flies are detailed, with illustrative gures and copious introductory general remarks on the internal and external anatomy of the larva and pupæ. The author states that the larva may be divided into two sections, which he terms "raupenformige" and "campodeoid" respectively, and which correspond pretty nearly with the divisions "inæquipalpia" and "æquipalpia" employed by systematists for the perfect insects. Prof. Klapálek has been very successful in breeding these insects, a matter always attended with difficulty, more especially with those forms that inhabit rapid streams and torrents. A further series of observations will appear next year.

SOME interesting prehistoric remains have been discovered near Basingstoke. Six urns have been disinterred, and stone implements of very rude form have been found in the field in immediate relation with the vessels, although none have actually been discovered buried with the pottery. The site of the interments is a field adjoining Dummer Clump, a conspicuous landmark in the parish of Dummer, and near Kempshott Park, the seat of Sir Nelson Rycroft, who is the owner of the estate. A shepherd was pitching hurdles, when the bar came in contact with a large stone, which, on being removed, was found to have covered two very rudely-formed vessels, of which the under one was pronounced by Dr. S. Andrews, of Basingstoke, to contain hu man bones which had undergone incineration. Subsequently, another urn was removed, of a much coarser character, bearing a hand round the base of the rim ornamented with sunken dots. All the vessels are hand-made and apparently fire-baked, and the larger ones have suffered some damage from the plough, which must have repeatedly passed over them.

1 THE new number of the Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie (Band i. Heft 5) will fully maintain the reputation of this excellent periodical. Among the contents are an article on arrows from Torres Straits, by Dr. M. Uhle; a note on a singular mask from Boissy Island, North-East New Guinea, and queries on the lizard in the folk-lore of Australasia, by Prof. H. H. Giglioli; and a paper on the chewing of the betel-nut, by F. Grabowsky. The coloured illustrations, as usual, are

admirable.

FISHING is to be resumed this season at the Sild oysterbanks, on the coast of Jutland, which have been preserved for six years. The oysters are reported to be plentiful and in splendid condition.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Grivet Monkey (Cercopithecus griseoviridis 8) from North-East Africa, presented by Lord Archibald Campbell; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus rhesus ) from India, presented by Major Dudley Buckle, R. A.; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus 8) from India, presented by Mr. G. C. Gosling; two Sooty Mangabey Monkeys (Cercocebus fuliginosus ?) from West Africa, presented by Mr. Edward Felton, R.E.; an Ocelot (Felis pardalis 8) from Pernambuco, presented by Mr. E. Percy Bates; a Weka Rail (Ocydromus australis) from New Zealand, presented by Mr. H. Lindsay; a Rose crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) from Moluccas, presented by Miss Eve; a Puffin (Fratercula arctica) from Cornwall, presented by Mr. J. Muir Drew; a Common Snake (Tropidonotus natrix), a Common Slowworm (Anguis fragilis), British, presented by Mr. P. S. Hutchinson ; a Common Viper (Vipera berus), British, presented by Mr. A. H. N. Smith; four European Tree Frogs (Hyla arborea), European, presented by Mr. Lionel A. Williams; two Grivet Monkeys (Cercopithecus griseo viridis 8) from NorthEast Africa, deposited; a White-backed Trumpeter (Psophia leucoptera) from the Upper Amazons, received in exchange; two Collared Fruit Bats (Cynonycteris collaris), an Axis Deer (Cervus axis 8), a Canadian Beaver (Castor canadensis), four Chilian Pintails (Dafila spinicauda), bred in the Gardens.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN.

THE SATELLITES OF MARS.-These faint objects have been successfully observed, during the late opposition, with the great telescope of the Lick Observatory. The building operations prevented the observations being carried on systematically, but measures of distance and position of one or both satellites were obtained on nine evenings between April 9 and April 28, and Phobos was seen as late as July 18, when the theoretical brightness of Mars was but one-tenth of what it was at the opposition of 1877, or one-fifth of what it will be at the coming opposition of 1890. A preliminary reduction of the observations gives the following corrections to the times of elongations as given by Mr. Marth in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and by the American Nautical Almanac respectively :

:

American N.A. h. - 0.33 + 0.35

Mr. Keeler, who made the observations, remarks (Astr. Fourn., No. 178) that, so far as his estimates of the brightness of the satellites go, they support Prof. Pickering's conclusion that Deimos is one half-magnitude brighter when on the eastern side of the planet than when on the western.

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OF JANUARY 28.-No. 4 of vol. xviii of the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory contains an account of the observations made there of the eclipse of the moon of January 28. The observations were of three classesfirst, of the occultations of Dr. Döllen's list of stars; secondly, of the variation in the actinic brightness of the moon; and thirdly, the search, by means of photography, for a possible lunar satellite. In this second inquiry Mr. W. H. Pickering found that the photographic brightness of the full earth was 236 times as great as that of the full moon, equivalent to an albedo of 17 times that of the moon. The diminution in brightness ascribed to the moon during eclipse is most remarkable, Mr. Pickering giving the uneclipsed full moon as 1,400,000 times as bright as during the central phase, or about twice the ratio existing between the sun and full moon. In the search for the satellite a succession of photographs were taken, the telescope being made to follow the moon's motion as closely as possible, so that the stars were represented by short trails. A satellite would have left a trail inclined to the star trails and of a different length. The result of the search was negative, and as a satellite of the tenth magnitude, would have been registered on the plates, it appears probable that the moon has no satellite more than 200 metres in diameter, unless it was involved in the shadow of the earth during the eclipse, or

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

A TELEGRAM from Mr. Joseph Thomson, dated Mogador, September 10, reports that he has been successful beyond expectation in his exploration of the Atlas Mountains. He left Morocco city on August 27, and after being driven back from the Urika Valley to the south-east of the city, he proceeded eastwards, and succeeded in crossing the range southwards from Imintanut into the Sus district. From Rezaya he ascended the main range to nearly 13,000 feet. Mr. Thomson intended to return to Hava for a few days, and afterwards to proceed northwards to Fez, Mequinez, and Tangier, returning home about the middle of December.

THE Report for 1887 of H.M.'s Special Commissioner for British New Guinea, contains information of considerable geographical interest. This is especially the case with the Report of Deputy-Commissioner Milman, who has charge of the western district, lying between the Dutch boundary and the Aird River. Mr. Milman refers to the discoloration of the sea about the coast between Talbot Island and the Fly River, due, doubtless, to the vast bodies of fresh water that empty into the sea from the Fly, Tait, Katoer, Mai-Kassa, and other rivers. The Fly River, as far as it has been ascended by Mr. Milman, is thickly populated with a purely agricultural and hunting people, living in large communities; while some houses in the villages are over 200 feet in length. As the river is ascended, traces of careful cultivation are seen here and there on the banks, the gardens or plantations being kept free from weeds, and planted with crotons and other brightleaved shrubs between the bananas or other fruit-trees, besides being systematically irrigated by dykes cut at regular intervals, which, filling at high water, remain full as the water recedes. About 60 or 70 miles above Soomaioot several large creeks or rivers join the main river, but whether they are flowing into the river, or only form other mouths of this vast system, remains to be proved. The shores of the Fly River, as far as Mr. Milman ascended, are uniformly low, but owing to its great width he is inclined to think they are not subject to inundation. A tidal wave or bore, according to Mr. Milman, ascends the river, but only on the right bank, which accounts for previous visitors not having noticed it. A marauding tribe coming from the westwards have been in the habit of making attacks on the people in the neighbourhood of Sabai Island, but the exact locality they come from is a mystery. Their language and customs are entirely different from those of the Sabai Island people. They had probably never a white man until the Rev. E. B. Savage (who happened to be at Sabai when their lights were seen on the mainland) fearlessly visited their camp, and tried to hold some intercourse with them. He describes them as a much lighter race than the rest of the New Guinea natives, and as having long straight hair, while some of them have their nasal-bone pierced in three places, into which are introduced pieces of bone or shell. They appeared entirely unacquainted with fire-arms. Civilization has so far advanced at Port Moresby that a reading-room has been erected, in which the Times and other English journals are kept, a hotel has been opened, and a supply of water laid on by means of pipes to the native village.

seen

A RUSSIAN scientific explorer, M. K. Nossilof, has recently returned to Archangelsk from Novaya Zemlya, where he spent a year, from the summer of 1887 to August 1888. He has brought with him rich botanical, zoological, and mineralogical collections, and means to return to the island soon, as he has resolved to devote five years to its exploration. M. Nossilof is reported to have discovered beds of iron, copper, coal, gold, and sulphur, some of which, he believes, could be profitably worked. Among other results obtained by him are many interesting observations on the animal, especially the bird, life of the island, thirteen months' meteorological observations, surveys covering 2500 square kilometres of land, observations on the ice-conditions of the east and west coasts, and 125 kilometres He has, moreover, discovered three new islands. During the winter and spring, M. Nossilof undertook excursions into the Kara Sea, and he hopes by-and-by to undertake a series of soundings as far as the River Yenissei. In the coming winter he intends to fix his station at the east end of Matotshkin Schar, and to establish there a second meteorological station, making excursions along the coast and into the interior.

of coast survey.

ELECTRICAL NOTES.

THE Volta Prize of 50,000 francs has been awarded by the French Institute to M. Gramme for his labours in introducing and perfecting the continuous-current dynamo. The prize is given to the inventor who has formed a memorable epoch in the history of electricity. M. Gramme is a Belgian by birth, but a Parisian by residence. He is entirely a self-taught, self-made man. Although Gramme was anticipated by Pacinotti, his invention was entirely independent, and Pacinotti's was completely dormant, and would probably have remained hidden and unknown but for Gramme's success. No one will contend that the prize has not

been richly deserved.

CONSIDERABLE attention has recently been drawn to some experiments by Chappuis and Maneuvrier, in Paris, on the decomposition of water by alternate currents. It is well to point out that the whole question was thoroughly threshed out by Sir W. Thomson in 1853, and his paper in the June number of the Philosophical Magazine of that year gives all that is necessary to know on the subject. Jamin, in 1882, showed how electrolysis could be performed by alternate currents by inserting an arc in circuit, the opposing E.M.F. of the arcs producing a partial rectification of the alternate currents. Mr. J. F. Kelley has just

repeated the experiment in Newark, U.S.A.

MR. LOWRIE (B. A., 1888), showed how the insertion of an opposing E. M.F. in an alternating-current circuit enables electrolysis to be effected and how it could be utilized to measure the electrical energy consumed in electric light installations. If a decomposing cell of copper sulphate, and a constant E. M. F. such as a secondary cell, be inserted in the circuit, the current in one direction is assisted, while that in the reverse direction is opposed, and the cell is acted upon by the difference: an average current flowing, depositing copper at the same rate as if no alternate currents were present. o 23544 gramme of copper is deposited per kilowatt-hour, or every gramme of copper deposited means 4 205 kilowatt-hours expended.

PROF. EWING (Philosophical Magazine, September 1888) has published, with additions, the paper read by him and Mr. Low at the Manchester B. A. meeting, on the influence of a plane of transverse section on the magnetic permeability of an iron bar. A joint between two portions of an iron core possesses distinct magnetic resistance even when the surfaces are true planes. Compression reduces this resistance in the rough faces and eliminates it when the faces are true planes. In all cases the resistance greatly diminished as the point of saturation was approached. A film of gold leaf interposed between the faces and compressed has only a very little injurious effect. Compression, however, reduces the permeability of the solid core for moderate magnetizing forces, though the contrary effect occurs when the magnetization is strong. Villari found the same reversal in the case of longitudinal pull, but in the opposite direction.

LORD RAYLEIGH (B. A., 1888) has been endeavouring to discover if an electric current flowing through an electrolyte causes the velocity of light to vary through the liquid. He experimented with dilute sulphuric acid. The result was negative within the range of the experiment, which was extremely delicate. In H2SO, diluted, one ampere per quare centimetre does not alter the velocity of light by one part in thirteen millions, or by 15 metres per second.

It is estimated that in the United States there are 5351 electric light plants and stations working 192,5co arc and 1,925,000 glow lamps, and consuming 460,000 horse-power. There are thirty-four electric railways, 138 miles in length, run over by 223 motor cars using 4180 horse-power.

SIR WILLIAM THOMSON (B. A., 1888) dealt with the diffusion of rapidly alternating electric currents in the substance of homogeneous conductors. The surface is affected first, and the depth to which the di-turbance penetrates depends on the With a frequency of 150 per frequency of the alternations. second a cylindrical copper conductor is said to be penetrated to a depth of 3 mm. Hence, if this be true, conductors for powerful alternating currents such as are used in the Gaulard and Gibbs system, should be tubes or flat bars with a thickness of 6 mm.

TROUVELOT has by photography obtained effects which lead to the conclusion that flashes of lightning may last several seconds. He gave his apparatus a slight horizontal displacement, and found a broad ribbon-shaped band on his plate.

NOTES ON METEORITES.

IV. Meteorites are Bodies which, like the Earth itself, revolve round the Sun.

WE have seen that the phenomena which accompany meteorites entering our air, whether they are soon burnt up and give rise only to the appearance of a shooting or falling star, or whether they are bulky enough to withstand the melting process till they reach the earth's surface, are similar. We are now in a position to discuss the origin of all these phenomena on the assumption that they have a common cause.

It is not so many years ago since the planetary spaces were supposed to be untenanted by anything more tangible than that mysterious fluid called ether. This notion is exactly represented by the French equivalent for those spaces, le vide planétaire. Hence, not to mention imagined supernatural causes-such as that, for instance, embodied in the tradition that Saint Lawrence, on the anniversary of his martyrdom (August 10), shed burning tears-the cause of the phenomenon was ascribed to atmospheric perturbations, exhalations of sulphur, ignes fatui, and so forth. An account of the August shower of 1857, even, published in the Bulletin de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, is accompanied by a minute record of rain, temperature, atmospheric electricity, &c. Leaving out of consideration the opinions of the ancients, among whom Anaxagoras and Seneca may be especially mentioned, as being in favour of a cosmical origin, it may be pointed out that Kepler2 regarded meteorites and shooting-stars as akin, and derived both from the ethereal regions.

Halley was the next to express an opinion that shooting-stars were of cosmical origin, but to Chladni belongs the credit of having broached the theory which modern observations have so abundantly justified. This theory was that space was full of the matter which, attracted by the earth, entered its atmosphere, accompanied by luminous effects only in some cases, and by actual falls of the matter in others. 3 The general acceptance of this view was retarded by Laplace and others, who saw a more probable origin for the phenomena by suppo-ing meteorites to be masses shot out of lunar volcanoes. The first step in the demonstration of such an origin, which is now universally accepted, was made when Chladni,* in 1794, showed that no known terrestrial agency was capable of producing masses like the meteorites which had been seen to fall. At his and Lichtenbergh's suggestion, Brandes and Benzenberg in 1798 showed that, whatever they appear to do, shooting-stars never shoot upwards, but always downwards towards the earth. the same time he showed the similarity of phenomena presented by fire-balls, shooting-stars, and the fall of meteorites, to which we have already called attention. He subsequently returned to and strengthened this view.5

At

"Should it be asked how such masses originated, or by what means they were brought into such an insulated position, this question would be the same as if it were asked how the planets originated. Whatever hypothesis we may form, we must either admit that the planets, if we except the many revolutions which they may have undergone, either on or near their surface, have always been since their first formation, and ever will be, the same; or that Nature, acting on created matter, possesses the power to produce worlds and whole systems, to destroy them, and from their materials to form new ones. For the latter opinion there are, indeed, more grounds than the former, as alternations of destruction and creation are exhibited by all organized and unorganized bodies on our earth; which gives us reason to suspect that Nature, to which greatness and smallness, considered in general, are merely relative terms, can produce more effects of the same kind on a larger scale.

"But many variations have been observed on distant bodies, which, in some measure, render the last opinion probable; for example, the appearing and total disappearing of certain stars, when they do not depend upon periodical changes. If we now admit that planetary bodies have started into existence, we can. not suppose that such an event can have otherwise taken place, than by conjecturing that either particles of matter, which were before dispersed throughout infinite space, in a more soft and

|

chaotic condition, have united together in large masses, by tpower of attraction; or that new planetary bodies have hem formed from the fragments of much larger ones that have been broken to pieces, either perhaps by some external shock, or i'v an internal explosion. Let whichever of these hypotheses he the truest, it is not improbable, or at least contrary to nature, if w suppose that a large quantity of such material particles, either of account of their too great distance, or because prevented by a stronger movement in another direction, may not have unite! themselves to the larger accumulating mass of a new world; but have remained insulated, and, impelled by some shock, have cou tinued their course through infinite space, until they approach near to some planet as to be within the sphere of its attraction, and then by falling down to occasion the phenomena before mentioned.

"It is worthy of remark that iron is the principal componpart of all the masses of this kind hitherto discovered: that a is found almost everywhere on the surface of the earth as a com ponent part of many substances in the vegetable and animal kingdom; and that the effects of magnetism give us reason to conclude that there is a large provision of it in the interior par of the earth. We may therefore conjecture that iron in general is the principal matter employed in the formation of new planetary bodies; and is still farther probable by this circumstance, that it is exclusively connected with the magnetic power, and also on account of their polarity may be necessary to these bodies. It is also probable, if the above theory be just, that other substances contained in such fallen masses, such as sulphur, siliceous earl, manganese, &c., may be peculiar, not to our globe alone, but may belong to the common materials employed in the formation of all planetary worlds"

This paper of Chladni's, it will be seen, dates from ja before the beginning of the present century.

The subject was invested with a new interest in 1709 when the great Humboldt, who was then travelling in South America, saw an enormous quantity of shooting-stars covering the sky. In his long account of the shower in his "Personal Narra tive," "he states that, from the beginning of the phenomen r there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon that was not filled at every instant with bolides and falling stars; while he was locally informed that during a previous display in 1766 the inhabitants of Coman: had beheld the neighbouring volcano, Cayamba, veiled for an hour by a similar display.

In the next display, observed in the year 1833, 240,000 mete were computed by Arago to have been visible above the horizon of Boston on the morning of November 13; while Mr. Baxendell, who observed the shower from the west coast of Mexico, states that "the number of meteors seen at once oftes equalled the apparent number of the fixed stars seen at a glance

Olmsted, when he bad witnessed the shower of 1833 (a shower heralded and followed by less brilliant displays in 1831-33 1834-35-36), and when, moreover, he had compared the phenomena with those recorded by Humboldt and Bonpland 1799, announced the view which has since been so brillants confirmed that the appearances are due to the passage of he earth through a storm, so to speak, of planetary bodies

This was the first blow given to le vide planetare. instead of being empty, was full of bodies, some of t being congregated into rings, each body composing the revolving like a planet round the sun. In fact, these rings ra be compared to tangible orbits; indeed, they almost rea or the schoolboy's idea of an orbit, as a considerable part of the occupied by a string of little planets, while in the case f earth's orbit, for instance, each point of the path is occupied succession only.

Still Olmsted did not accept the view that the falling were of the same nature as meteorites.

Olmsted also noted that, however numerous the falling might be, or in whatever direction they appeared, or what ever the apparent lengths of their paths, the lines of moto of these paths, retraced along the sky, nearly all found a comes focus of emanation or visual crater of projection among the ha stars. This has since been called the radiant point.

The most salient fact, noticed even by those who did not its significance, during the subsequent display in 1866, was that all the meteors seemed to come from the same region of the sky Among all those seen by myself from 11 p. m. on Tuesday till a.m. on Wednesday morning, two only were exceptions to the general direction. In fact, there was a region in which the