THE THE modification of the Callaud Cell shown in the annexed engraving was designed by Dr. ס our professional work are aware that many and PLUSH'S MODIFICATION OF THE poulpe, Dr. Fredericq is led to answer in the nega- WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH A CHEAP BY Ya cheap microscope is meant one costing less than 30dols. For any sum less than this it is impossible to procure, in the present state of the market, an instrument possessing the qualities and appliances necessary for the performance of anything except the most elementary work; but then, on the other hand, it is astonishing what a wide range of ground is covered by the term "elementary work." If we take the cheapest form, say a common lens of a quarter-inch focus, we shall be able to see a great deal that is utterly invisible to the unassisted eye; with a 20dols. microscope, judiciously selected, we can follow almost all the descriptions and explantions found in the ordinary text-books. Let us take a middle ground, and consider the capabilities of such an instrument as may be had for from 10 to 20dols. Such a microscope will not enable us to determine disputed points in histology, or to investigate the structure of test objects like the Podura scale, or P. angulatum. But it will show us clearly and well the various kinds of tissues, and even the cyclosis or so-called circulation of the sap in plants; it will show us the forms of the various kinds of pollen, and the number, situation, and form of the stomata or breathing pores of plants; it will even show the more minute forms of plant life-those beautiful desmids and diatoms, which have always been the delight and the admiration of those who use the microscope, and although it will not enable us to see the markings on the more minute diatoms, it will show us their general forms and outlines, and reveal to a diligent and careful observer much of their life-history. In animal physiology it will show us the peculiar forms of the blood of different animals, and it will show readily that most wonderful and beautiful of all microscopical objects, the circulation of the blood in the foot of the living frog. It will show us the structure of muscular fibre, and the peculiarities of the epithelium which lines the various internal organs. By it we can trace clearly the outlines and structure of many of the lower forms of animal life which would be otherwise invisible, and we shall be thus enabled to assign them their proper place in the great system of classification. By it, too, may be studied the habits and life hishistory of the majority of the animalcules found in liquids. That these statements are not exaggerated is shown by the fact that some of the most important discoveries have been made by means of microscopes far inferior to those that can now be had for 20dols. Indeed, much of the work of the great Ehrenberg was done with a microscope which to-day would not command 25dols. The refore, let not the owners of cheap microscopes despair, for the field which is open to them is sufficient to occupy the longest life and to employ the highest powers.Young Scientist. INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHIC DROP.* TI S. M. Plush. It consists of a glass jar of the usual proportions, having at the bottom a copper plate upon which is placed sulphate of copper, and attached to it an insulated wire, D, forming the positive pole. About half-way down the inside of the glass jar is the shelf, B, a perforated sheet of copper, upon which are placed pieces of zinc of any form. The shelf is suspended by three strips of copper, one of which, C, constitutes the negative pole. With this form of cell, the zinc of commerce can be broken into pieces of suitable size and used without any other preparation, and the zinc can all be consumed; while in the Callaud battery, the zinc must be cast into suitable form, involving some loss of metal and expense, and as a considerable percentage of the zinc of such castings is not consumed it must be remelted at still further loss. Another advantage is that the sulphate of copper can be fed into the bottom of the cell through the opening left by turning up one side of the shelf, B, and broken zinc placed upon the shelf, without disturbing any of the connections, thus making the battery absolutely continuous. Objection has been urged that there will be local action between the zinc and the copper of the shelf, but Dr. Plush holds that practically no such action can take place, as there is really no closed circuit between the pieces of zinc and the copper. Lead may be substituted for copper in making the shelf, B. NEW FORM OF SULPHURETTED THE HE following from the pen of Professor Le Roy C. Cooley, Ph.D., will interest many of our chemists:-Since hydric sulphide is one of the most By the use of the rubber spring, so fastened to indispensable and troublesome of chemical reagents, the body and slide of the apparatus as to very easily no apparatus can be more welcome to the chemist detached or exchanged for others stronger or weaker than one which is able to yield an abundant supply merely by the turn of a screw, greater latitude to of this gas and at the same time shield the laborathe speed of the slide for increasing or diminishing tory from invasion by its disgusting odour. To the time of exposure is given, which is also under furnish the gas at any moment, to generate it only complete control by increasing or diminishing the when in use, to retain the excess, which escaping in size of opening in the diaphragms. The arrange- bubbles from the fluid under examination contamiment of the spring together with the clamping screw nates the atmosphere, and at the same time to be for attaching the apparatus to the mounting of the easily and cheaply constructed and conveniently lens, are such that the slide works most admirably used; these are the most desirable qualities of the in a horizontal position, in which position its pecu-apparatus, but qualities which hitherto have been larities are best utilised. found very difficult to combine. Believing that no other form is at once so efficient, so nearly odourless, so cheap, and so convenient in use, I offer the following description of an arrangement represented in the accompanying engraving. Notice, first, the With a diaphragm having a triangular-shaped opening, with the apex of the opening upward, a short exposure may be given to the sky; and, by reversing its position, a less exposure may be given to the foreground, for producing the effects generally termed "moonlight." While an unbroken horizon or ocean view may be admirably treated by using a diaphragm with opening something like a compressed Gothic capital letter T, a little practice will enable the operator to select forms of diaphragms, suitable for any subject. The diaphragms are very easily exchanged by pulling the slide a little past the position it occupies when ready for making an exposure, and they are held in position by the slide guides, from between which the opposite end does not entirely pass after the exposure is made. The slide is held in proper position for focussing by a pin in the block or body portion of apparatus attached to lens mounting. TH By Mr. O. G. MASON. A paper read before the Photoraphic Section of the American Institute. rubber spring, loosening the clamp screw, and W plain but strong wooden frame, consisting of the base board, B, the standard, T, supporting the lightly until it becomes true and the cement begins To remove the work from a cement chuck, it In Fig. 9 the mandrel C has permanently attached to it the cone D, and upon it is placed the movable cone E, which is forced against the work held between the two cones by a nut which turns on the threaded end of the mandrel. In Fig. 10 the manner of chucking work on the angle-plate, H, is shown so clearly as to require no explanation. It may be well, however, to state that when the work is rotated rapidly a counterbalance should be attached to the face-plate diametrically opposite the angle-plate. Fig. 11 shows a jaw for attachment to the faceplate, which consists of a right-angled piece, I, a jaw, J, which has two guide-pins, entering holes in the piece I, and the screw, K, which passes through a tapped hole in the piece I, and bears against the jaw J. The piece I has a dowel, a, that keeps it from turning, and a screw, b, by which it is secured to the face-plate. crosspiece, C, on top of which, near its ends, are AMATEUR MECHANICS.-CHUCKS In spite of all possible appliances to be used in a general way for chucking work in the lathe, a degree of inventive skill is often required to accomplish it quickly and securely. The accompanying cuts are designed to aid the amateur in chucking, but after all is said, there is a world of knowledge that can be gained by experience only. The arrangement of a metal disc in the lathe so that it can be turned on its face, and upon its edge, cannot well be accomplished by means of chucks; for this purpose recourse is frequently had to cement. A good cement for this purpose consists of Burgundy pitch, 2 pounds; resin, 2 pounds; yellow wax, 2 ounces; dried whiting, 2 pounds; melt together the pitch, resin, and wax, and stir in the whiting. To chuck work with this cement, apply a small portion of it to a face-plate devoted especially to this purpose; heat the plate so that the cement will cover the greater portion of its surface. The plate may be allowed to cool. Whenever it is desirable to chuck a metallic disc, it is heated and placed against the cement on the face-plate, and allowed to remain until the cement begins to stiffen, when a tool having a right-angled notch is applied to the edge of the disc, as shown in the cut, the lathe being rotated until, by the compound action of the tool pressure and the rotary motion, the disc becomes perfectly true. To chuck a spindle or any similar object a cement chuck like that shown in section in Fig. 2 is sometimes used. The larger portion is screwed on the lathe mandrel, and the inner end of the hole in the outer portion terminates conically. The hole is filled with cement, and the article to be chucked is warmed and introduced. It may sometimes be necessary to heat the chuck with an alcohol or gas flame. The lathe is rotated and the spindle is held From the Scientific American. It is sometimes preferable to use the yoke shown in Fig. 4 instead of the bars shown in Fig. 3; it is placed diametrically across the wheel and secured by two bolts. Fig. 5 represents a chuck, consisting of a wooden disk, c, bored to receive the wooden hoop, d, which may be forced inward by the common wood screws, e, which bear upon it. This chuck is useful where a considerable number of similar pieces are to be turned or bored. Fig. 6 represents a simple and well-known chuck. It is simply a block of wood secured to a face place by a screw centre and turned out to fit the work. Fig. 7 represents an easily made chuck, which is useful for holding plugs of wood to be turned or bored. It consists of a piece of hard wood fitted to the mandril, turned, bored, and split longitudinally, as shown in the engraving. Its outer end is tapered, and to it is fitted a metallic ring that serves to contract the chuck when it is forced on. Fig. 8 represents a tapered and split mandrel, which may be either of metal or wood according to the purpose to which it is to be applied. The part F is bored conically at the smaller end before splitting, and to this hole is fitted the conical plug G, which being forced in expands the mandril. In Figs. 12 and 13 the pin L, is fitted to the faceplate, and has formed on its projecting end an eccentric which fits the jaw, M. It has also a hexagonal head for receiving the wrench by which it is turned. Three pins, L, are fitted to the face-plate, which is quite thick. Two of the pins need not be turned after being adjusted for a certain kind of work; the third is loosened and turned when work is put in and taken out of the lathe. After the work is clamped tightly by turning the eccentric the nut on the back of the face-plate is tightened. Kerosene Dangers.-A correspondent mentions a source of danger in using kerosene lamps which seems to have been generally over-looked, namely, the habit of allowing lamps to stand near hot stoves, on mantelpieces, and in other places where they become heated sufficiently to convert the cl into gas. Not unfrequently persons engaged in cooking or other work about the stove will stand the lamp on an adjacent mantelpiece, or even on the top of a raised oven; or when ironing will set the lamp near the stand on which the heated iron rests. It is needless to enlarge upon the risky cha racter of such practices. he F.R.S., described some of the results HE LONDON INSTITUTION. In Japan there is, he said, an absence of house walls, interior and exterior, the houses consisting of a roof supported on only a few posts enclosing very little but empty space, and sliding screens alone divide off compartments. Why, in this comparative absence of all that we should call furniture, does one article pertaining to the ladies' toilette-the bronze mirror with its stand-hold so prominent a position? This mirror is usually circular, from 3in. to 12in. in diameter, made of bronze, and with a bronze handle covered with bamboo. The reflecting face is generally more or less convex, polished with a mercury amalgam, and the back is beautifully ornamented with a gracefullyexecuted raised design. Some for the rustic population have also polished letters. The explanation of the fact that the mirror is almost par excellence the entire furniture is found partly in the elaborate head-dresses of the Japanese ladies and the painting of their faces, and partly from the belief that as the sword was the soul of the Samouri," so is the mirror the "soul of woman." It therefore constitutes the most valuable of all her possessions, and two mirrors form part of the trousseau of every bride. The characteristic qualities of the mirror stitution, lay evening lecture at the London In inust, it is believed, be in accordance with the constitution, last week, was delivered by Sir Edmund stitution of the possessor, and "second sight is Beckett, Q.C., LL.D., the subject being, The resorted to in the selection of a mirror. But why Meaning and Origin of Laws of Nature." Some is the mirror so important in the Imperial palace, thought, said the lecturer, that to refer any partiwhere the Court ladies, still preserving the fashion cular phenomenon to a law of nature was to give a of old days, comb back their hair in the simplest sufficient account of the matter, forgetting that style? Why does the fortune-teller, instead of these laws are simply generalised statements of oblooking at a girl's palm, regard the reflection in a served uniform results. It is not a law of nature mirror? Why, instead of referring to the book that two and two make four, nor was any matheof the recording angel, does the Japanese Pluto matical theorem such a law. These were simply bring before the boatman his evil deeds re- necessary truths. Gravitation was a law of nature, flected in a mirror? And why does the mir- and its universal operation was proved by the obror hold so important a place in Japanese served motions of bodies at an immeasurable distemples? The mirror ranks far higher in Japanese tance, such as the double stars. He had met with history than has been supposed; it, in fact, takes an attempt to explain it by the assumed diffusion the place of the Cross in Christian countries. Pro- through a large part of space of what was called fessor Ayrton read the myth of the origin of the "gravific gas. This theory was based on the worship of the mirror. The main points in it are propositions, that motion is as natural as rest, that that when gods alone inhabited the earth the sun-energy is self-contained, and that a gas normally goddess one day hurt her hand with her shuttle, tends to vibration and change, the absurdity of having been suddenly frightened by a practical joke every one of which assertions was shown. To talk of her brother the god of the sea. She indignantly of the power inherent in the particles of matter was retired to a cave. Darkness followed, and the not explanation. The atoms in a cubic inch of goddess had to be appeased. The wisest of the matter, it had been said, if as big as peas, would gods suggested making an image of her more beau- cover the surface of the globe to a depth of fifteen tiful than herself. The Japanese Vulcan fashioned miles. By the chance motions of such atoms, a mirror in the shape of the sun, and all the gods according to Epicurus and his modern admirers, laughed and shouted, "Here is a deity who sur- the world was brought into being. But what we passes even your glory." Woman's curiosity could call chance is merely the result of laws of nature not stand this. The goddess peeped out, and while unknown to us, the number of which laws is far admiring herself in the mirror was caught and greater than we think. If a pair of dice were to dragged out by a rice rope. The national traditions throw aces 1,000 times running we should not call have it that this sun-goddess (Amaterasu & mi that chance, but should say they were loaded. Kami), sending her adopted grandson, who was Much less can atoms move with the rhythmical also the great-grandfather of the first Emperor of regularity of the laws of nature apart from some Japan, to subdue the world, made him three pre-moving force outside. Nor will the hypothesis of a sents: the maga-tama (the precious stone, em- prime cause acting once for all solve the problem, blematical of the spirit of woman, the sword (emblematical of the spirit of man), and the mirror (emblem of her own soul). Look," she said, "on this mirror as my spirit, keep it in the same house and on the same floor with yourself, and worship it as if you were worshipping my actual presence." AT PHYSICAL SOCIETY. SCIENTIFIC NEWS. TH tion. On page 491 the defects of the electric lamps at the Liverpool-street (G.E.R.) Station were attributed to the engine. We are happy to find that they were due solely to the carbons, and that no engine could work better than Messrs. Robey's semi-portable. It appears that the lighting arrangements had been carried out without previous experiment, and that the carbons at first employed were devices of the makeshift kind. We were present during some experiments calculated to test the capabilities of the Wallace-Farmer dynamo-electric machine, when Robey's engine was very severely tested at various speeds, working excellently in each instance. The data obtained in these experiments disclose some interesting facts, and we may shortly expect to hear of further developments of the Wallace system. bons, which, it seems, are not easily obtained perThe great difficulty appears to lie in the carfectly homogeneous and pure, and consequently give rise to fluctuations in the light. A good opportunity presents itself to inventors in this connection. The reading-room of the British Museum is to be illuminated by the electric light. A Siemens's machine, driven by a Robey engine, will be used we believe. Dr. Siemens's new lamp was exhibited at the lecture delivered by Professor Tyndall. It has a copper cone kept cool by a circulation of water for the negative electrode-a new departure which promises to be fruitful in results. The experiments is gas-lighting, which we announced on page 482, as about to be made near Waterloo-place and Pegent-circus, were commenced last week, the results being excellent. The cost is stated to be much below that of a similar quantity of electric light. The Jablochkoff candles are to be discontinued at Billingsgate. The system is defective, because, if one goes out, all are extinguished, and it is necessary to put up fresh candles, or for an attendant to complete the circuit by joining the two carbons of each lamp by means of a smaller piece of plumbago or carbon. The salesmen, however, object to the white light, and the absence of the warmth which gas diffuses. The Rev. E. Ledger, M.A., F.R.A.S., will deliver his lectures as Gresham Professor of Astronomy, on February 11, 12, 13, 14, at 6 p.m., at Gresham College. The subjects will be the Recent Solar Eclipse and Intra-Mercurial Planets. The lectures are free, and will be illustrated by the lime-light. since a dead cause cannot bequeath its effects. How T the meeting of this society on Jan. 25, Prof. G. C. Foster, vice-president, in the chair, Dr. Erck exhibited a constant bichromate battery. The erdinary bichromate battery soon loses power when in use, and in order to secure a powerful constant battery to drive a small astronomical clock Dr. Erck devised the modified form shown. It consists of a narrow lead trough twelve inches long by three inches wide and one inch deep, lined along both sides with the carbon plates. The zinc plate, ten inches long, is immersed in the solution to the depth of an inch midway between the two carbons. A continual circulation of the bichhomate solution is kept up by allowing fresh solution to drop into Graphite in New Zealand.-An important the cell at one end, and the exhausted solution to discovery of graphite has lately been made in the drop away by a tap at the other end. As the space interior of Wellington Province, New Zealand, between the two carbons is only about half an inch where large deposits are believed to exist, very pure wide, there is merely a thin layer of solution in quality and compact in texture. A correspondent between the positive and negative poles. The of the Colonies and India states that samples internal resistance of the cell is therefore very low; sent to the Colonial Laboratory have been carefully when short-circuited only about ohm. To obtain examined and prove equal to the best "Cumberland the maximum current about eight ounces of solu- lead," the deposits of which have proved such a tion per hour should be supplied. Dr. Erck also source of wealth to this country. The importance showed a battery formed of zinc and carbon of the discovery is enhanced by the fact that the circular plates mounted on an axle which is presence of the graphite indicates the existence of rotated by wheelwork, thus mechanically stir-coal of a quality superior to any yet found in New ring the bichromate solution. Dr. Guthrie, | Zealand. spars of Scotland," originally communicated to the Society. Prof. Jevons, in his recent controversy on sunspots, having impugned some of the data of Dr. Wolf, that gentleman writes a letter to a friend in England:-"Je dois vous dire que je ne peux m'enthousiasmer pour cette sorte de discussion, où l'on se base sur un matériel insuffisant, et même souvent sur des 'on dit,' pour refuter des résultats bien fondés. Le seul fait, que le parallelisme des variations et des tâches se constate a présent de nouveau d'une manière remarquable, a pour moi plus de poids que tous ces raisonnements hazardés." It is stated that Mr. Edison will soon pay a visit to this country. Failing to establish his scheme of International Arctic Observatories, Lieut. Weyprecht, accompanied by Count Wilczek, will pay a visit to Novaya Zemlia this year, and take daily obser-rary magnetic properties developed by induction a recent paper in the Journal für Praktische vations of meteorological, electrical, and other phenomena during twelve months. Dr. Tempel detected Brorsen's periodical comet on January 14, a month before it was expected. According to an ephemeris calculated by Prof. Schulze, its place on February 19 will be R.A. Oh. 31m., N.P.D. 103' 39', and on February 26, R.A. Oh. 51m., N.P.D. 99° 23′. The comet will be nearest to the earth on or about the 10th of May, and it will be more favourably situated for observation than it was in 1873. In a long series of researches which will The largest and best known compounds of this shortly be published in the Annales de Chimie, M. order contain in the molecule one atom of plaHenri Becquerel has been studying the tempo- tinum, combined with two to four of nitrogen. In in different specimens of cobalt and nickel. The Chimic, Her von Meyer describes a new set of principal result is that these metals are much the compounds, presenting the constant ratio of more sensitive (other things equal) to weak 11 for the platinum and the nitrogen. Ee show a different behaviour to that of iron in like from their explosive properties manifested under actions than to strong, and consequently they calls them Knallplatine, or fulminating platinas, heat. They are obtained by decomposition of chloroplatinate of ammonium by means of canstic potash. The most easily-formed are those containing in the molecule four atoms of platinum and four atoms of nitrogen. circumstances. To measure with precision the variations of level of a liquid surface, M. Le Chatelier employs a point immersed in the liquid, which is gradually raised till it is tangent to the surface; the displacements of the surface are mea- Among items in physics brought before the to keep the two in contact. The moment at sured by those which must be given to the point, French Academy at its séance on 20th ult., were experiments by Professor Hughes regarding which contact occurs, or more exactly, at which the effects of induction produced in telephonic it is a little passed, is perceived from the deform-circuits (inter alia, he finds the telephone, withations the liquid surface undergoes round the out bobbin, a delicate detector of currents in the point of mergence. A small meniscus is raised neighbourhood); a study of M. Plateau, on the (through capillarity) having large horizontal persistence of impressions in the eye; some dimensions as compared with the vertical. To curious researches, by M. Cros, in measurement know the moment at which this deformation of the luminous intensity of colours; and a decommences, the author adopts a simplified form scription of a new battery, conceived by M. of a method of Foucault. The liquid surface is Herault. In this new battery, calomel, or protoilluminated by a luminous beam, and the re- chloride of mercury, is employed to produce flected light is examined with a lens, the focal depolarisation. The active liquid is sal-ammoplane of which passes through the end of the niac. The effects seem to be very satisfactory. point. So long as the point is under water, one It is a remarkable feature of the battery that the sees a circle uniformly bright; but whenever the sal-ammoniac, in proportion as it is destroyed, is regenerated by means of the chlorine of the calomel. At the meeting of the Royal Dublin Society last week, Mr. Grubb read a paper on improvements in the stereoscope, in which he alluded to the impossibility of increasing the size of the picture, and the impossibility of making an instrument that would be best for all persons. These defects may be avoided by a new construction of instrument, in which the pictures are placed, not one beside the other, but one over the other, and the optical parts modified to suit the new conditions. The improvement seems to partly depend on the fact that while the human eyes have a great facility of altering the relative direction of their axes horizontally, they have no power whatever of producing any relative alteration vertically, and Mr. Grubb has taken advan-point emerges, a black spot appears in the lumintage of this fact. This instrument is available ous circle. The raised meniscus appears wholly for any size of picture. Mr. Grubb also showed dark, it reflects beyond the eye the luminous and explained another form of stereoscope espe- rays which it receives. With a lens magnifying cially adapted for transparencies, in which the three or four times, the displacement of a liquid observer stands before and looks into a box in surface may be measured, with an error less which is placed a concave mirror, on the surface than 1-1000th of a millimetre. of which images of two pictures are thrown superposed on one another, but so arranged that the observer sees one picture with the right and one with the left eye, the result being an exquisitely stereoscopic image of the object apparently suspended in mid-air. The Vega, Prof. Nordenskjöld's steamer, is reported to be icebound about forty miles from East Cape. Several expeditions were to be organised for the relief of the explorers, who it is believed can be easily reached over the ice from a large village near the coast. Captain Galton's experimental van is going to France in order that the French railway companies may make some experiments on brakes. The Midland company intend to fit continuous brakes to their mineral and goods waggons. The advisability of doing so is well exemplified by an accident on the South Wales line last week, when a coal train of 45 waggons overpowered the engine and ran through a station at the rate of 42 miles an hour, finally toppling over a bridge into a street. The Société de Géographie of Paris intend to hold a meeting in cominemoration of Capt. Cook on Feb. 14, the centenary of his death. The Royal Geographical Society has been invited to send representatives. M. Coquillion's grisoumètre, an apparatus for detecting firedamp, the action of which is based on the decomposition of hydrocarbons in presence of steam by a red-hot palladium wire, has been found to give good results with platinum-a substitution which permits of the utilisation of the Planté pile. along with M. Breguet, from which it appears M. Lippmann has lately made experiments that a magnetic screen of soft iron does not at all modify the electro-motive force produced by relative rotation of a magnet and a copper wire, A closer circuit, onesurrounded by the screen. The temperature of the sun has recently been the subject of an able investigation by M. half of which is concealed by such a screen does Rossetti. He first sought to establish the laws not, however, behave like an open circuit. The of radiation in relation to the temperature. First, total electro-motive force of induction in it is nil, the radiation of a Leslie's cube filled with as when the soft iron is suppressed. M. Lippmercury and heated to 300° was measured with mann concludes (with the aid of some geomeThe formula arrived at was tested in the case of produce continuous currents with an apparatus a thermopile and a Wiedemann galvanometer.trical considerations), that it is not possible to burner to about 700° to 800°. a copper ball heated in the flame of a Bunsen formed of magnets, soft iron, and copper wires radiating power of various bodies (copper, copper Further, the without gliding contacts. covered with lampblack, iron, platinum and oxychloride of magnesium), heated in the Bunsen burner or oxyhydrogen blowpipe, was also examined, and gave satisfactory confirmation of the formula for temperatures ranging up to 2,400°. Taking into account absorption in our atmosphere, and making observation of the heating of a thermopile by the radiation of the sun, the effective temperature of this orb was concluded to be 9,965-4° C., or 20,380.7° C., according as regard is had to the absorption by the solar atmosphere round the photosphere or not. The two In connection with a recent discussion in the French Academy on the nature of ferment actions, M. Berthelot devised an experiment for simultaneous hydrogenation and oxygenation of sugar. A battery of 6 to 8 Bunsen elements was connected with a commutator giving a change of direction 12 to 15 times in a second. electrodes, cylinders of spongy platinum, being placid in acidulated water, there was developed at each pole alternately hydrogen and oxygen. The apparatus could be so regulated as to give no gas, the water being constantly formed again immediately on decomposition. Thus regulated, it was immersed in aqueous solutions of glucose, which were partly neutral, partly somewhat acid or alkaline, and he hoped to effect thus the decomposition of sugar. He did obtain alcohol, though in very small quantity (a few thousandths); but the greater part of the glucose resisted. He considers the fact worth communicating, though he does not think it decisive as to the hypothesis that was under notice. This was, that assuming the action of ferment to consist in dividing sugar into two complementary constituents, one of which contains more oxygen, the other more hydrogen, these two products must then have reciprocal action. But as the energy consumed in the first splitting up cannot be reproduced, the original sugar cannot be regenerated. Accordingly there must appear in its place the products of a new and lower decomposition, viz., alcohol and carbonic acid. The industrious editor of Les Mondes gives a little descriptive picture of himself in a recent number of his journal. He desires to take "quite a little place" between his master and his brother in arms, between Cauchy and Secchi. "It is a glory which will not be refused me," he proceeds, "that of having been one of the most intrepid workers, one of the most indefatigable writers of my time. It is acquired by the 200 volumes which bear my name, many of which were written with my own hand, and which suppose the reading of thousands of volumes, brochures, journals, letters, &c.; the visiting of A singular and almost unprecedented meteoroa host of workshops, laboratories, &c." He tells logical phenomenon has been observable during us he is constantly in his bureau, entering it the past ten or fifteen days in many parts of sometimes at 4 or 5 a.m. and remaining late Switzerland. While the temperature in the at night; he no longer knows what it is to take a eys and plains has been low, the waters walk, nor feels a desire for it; and for over wered with ice, and snow resting on the twenty years he has not taken a week, or a day He has a pretty little State Aid to Art.-In the last number of the ad, a warm south wind has prevailed in the (almost) of vacation. nds and among the higher Alps, where the garden, but he has not gone into it more than Kunst-Chronik a comparison is inade between the "To appre-art budgets of France and England for the present remain unfrozen and the snow has some four times in fifteen years. disppeared. This has been especially hend, to study, to write, always to write-or year, and it is shown that, although the French in Uri, Schwytz, the Grisons, Neu- rather to scrawl, is all my life; and also all my Government grants aid to a much larger number of and the Bernese Oberland. An English-happiness." He is careful to say, however, that he art institutions, museums, public buildings, manuwith four guides, made the ascent of the factures, &c., the total sum voted for the present Schneekhorn last week at 4 o'clock in the year was less by about three million francs than that allowed by England, which only supports the when the thermometer on the summit South Kensington Museum, the British Museum, Hoitain marked several degrees above National Gallery, Portrait Gallery, and the museums of Edinburgh and Dublin. This is note worthy, for we are apt to think that the State aid granted to art in France is much larger than in England, and so it is, but it certainly, according to these budgets, does not cost so much. The Kunst Chronik proposes to compare also the budgets of other countries, especially Germany and Austria. general monthly meeting of the Royal does not neglect the duties of his sacred office; Though the platinum compounds containing which it appears. "I would have everyone write what he knows, and as only, but in all other subjects: For such a person may much as he knows, but no more; and that not in this have some particular knowledge and experience of the nature of such a person or such a fountain, that as to other things, knows no more than what everybody does, and yet, to keep a clutter with this little pittance of his, will undertake to write the whole body of physicks: a vice from whence great inconveniences derive their original." Montaigne's Essays. go TOM THUMB MICROPHONE. and accept the value and beauty-depths of the husband, the Rev. T. W. Webb, occasionally cor onomatopoetic faculty of speech. Compared with certain deductions by this great scholar, of which I shall hereafter speak, the iconoclastic method of his just indicated would seem to betray some amount of inconsistency. His conversion to a fuller faith certainly makes Faults of omission in the above-mentioned letter a I naturally shrink from the idea of posing myself as controversialist against so great a master in this and other realms of knowledge, but I venture to offer some problems, the true solution of which might possibly, I think, militate against the favourite basis-theory of Language. A noun represents a thing-subject or object. Roughly speaking, things have relationship with things by motion, which, per se, is a noun. Motion is diversely exhibited. word. Let us, for a moment, conceive the position of primitive man in relation to circumambient things, of the capacity of speech was being evolved from at the period when the first faint, appreciative idea his growing mental faculties. [15367.]—I HAVE now for some days been trying in how small a compass I could make a microphrone. The result has astonished me. If any of your A pure verb indicates kind of motion, and is, readers like to follow the directions I now give, I therefore, a special adjective, and can only be other think they also will be astonished. I procured some wise ranked when presented in the peculiar nounof the very small, in fact the smallest, of the homoeo-implication of conjugation, in which it dwells as pathic globule bottles. With some trouble I an attractive, ghostly nucleus-a mere verbum filed a piece of carbon of an inch in depth to just down to the bottom, making a groove round it, in which I twisted a piece of the hair-sized wire in this to take the lower end of the carbon needle; used for induction coils; I then made a conical hole I cut another carbon to just fit as the cork does the top of the bottle; through this a conical hole was drilled completely through; I then cut a very fine carbon needle to drop into the lower piece and just pass of inch through the top piece. I had only now to drop in some powdered sealing wax, and lowering by the wire the carbon base, holding the tube over a spirit lamp, with the aid of a piece of a netting needle, it was easily fixed in place, level. A groove being cut in the top carbon, and the fine wire twisted firmly to it, I had only to slip the top carbon over the head of the needle when dropped into the tube, letting the head of the needle project of inch, fixing it with some scaling wax. I fixed two small binding screws into the lid of one of the flat wooden boxes used to send pills by post, bored a hole in the centre which would just take the base of the tube, which I cemented into it. I had only now to fix the wires to the binding screws and the instrument was complete, but as the whole affair was so small and of such little weight, I fixed the base of the box to a circular piece of slate about inch thick; in this slate I filed a semicircular recess, into which I can slip in the edge of a ferrotype disc, this for the purpose of receiving flies or other objects, whose motion I wish to exhibit. To my astonishment, I find this Tom Thumb affair, gives the ticking of a watch far louder and clearer than any of the large number I now possess. It answers to the voice and gives any sounds in the room in the most wonderful manner. I confess it has upset all the theories I had formed as to the modus operandi of these instruments. I have arrived at the conviction, that a good workman with fine tools, could make a microphone which could be worn as a signet ring. This form of instrument not only has extreme portability, but this further advantage, the needle cannot be out of place when in use, as it must shake into place. If any of your scientific readers will make one, and then give me some explanation of the fact, that the usual work of the microphone is so extended by this extreme reduction of its size, I shall be most thankful. Sidmouth. S. G. Osborne. ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE.-VOWELS. [15368.]-THE interesting subject-Origin of Language-being again under discussion, I am induced, as an old champion of certain theories in the attractive field of lingual science, once more to enter the lists. The letter of Mr. Toy (15338, pp. 494-5) indicates a somewhat happy departure from Max Müller's tutelage to that of Farrar. To all who desire to study impartially what is perhaps the noblest of literary sciences, I would offer the following advice. For historical aspect, and vigorous, if unmethodical analysis of a wide subject, read Max Müller: but for keener insight into the wondrous depths of language, consult Farrar. I am glad to find Mr. Toy has learned to know and to love him. Does Mr. Toy now own some kind of belief in onomatopeia? Belief in the intrinsic poetry and music of language need not mean acceptance of the theory of onomatopeic radical or root forma tion. The untenableness and weakness of such an idea was proved long ago by Max Müller, who did not, however, until recently, sufficiently acknowledge responds with you. Henrietta Montagu Webb. Hardwick Vicarage, Hay. Feb. 1, 1879. PRACTICAL NOTES ON ELECTRIC BAT TERIES-THE RELATIONS OF ELECTRO-MOTIVE FORCE, QUANTITY, AND RESISTANCE TO ONE ANOTHER.-V. [15370.]-IF we take, say twelve Bunsen cells and connect them, not in series, as before, but by joining all the zincs to one screw-terminal and all tho carbons to another, we obtain a "quantity current" with very little electro-motive force, viz., that of one cell only; but the quantity of that current will be twelve times that of an element of ordinary size. It will be quite clear from this explanation that the twelve elements joined as stated last act simply as one cell with plates of very large dimensions. Suppose now that we want to fuse platinum-wire or produce an electric light by effects of Geissler's tubes, &c., in the last case all incandescence, or work an induction coil, show the the exterior resistance in our circuit is that of the thick primary coil, the contact breaker, and the connecting wires; the electro-motive force produced by one or two cells is quite sufficient to overcome that small amount of resistance; the effects produced will in this case and in those mentioned above correspond with and depend upon the quantity of a given current. For such a purpose we should make a quantity arrangement. If, however, we are to send a telegraphic message through a cable of great the zinc of each cell to the carbon in the following length, viz., one that offers a great resistance, we should couple the elements for electro-motive force: cell, as shown. Would he not indicate primarily by his utterIt must be quite clear from this, that whenever ances, in a precarious state of existence, the objects of his wants, and all tungible things or nouns sur-generators of the electric current, we have to conwe do work of any kind with batteries or other rounding him? Would not the idea of representing by speech sented by the liquid or liquids inside the battery sider two amounts of resistance, viz., that repreany part of the abstract relationship of things with cells, called internal resistance, and that represented himself, or to each others, be the secondary stride of by the outer circuit from the pole of the battery the savage towards the goal of Dialect-formation? to its + pole; the latter is called external resistance. Aryan roots are said to partake either of the Pre-Exactly the same conditions are given with other dicative or of the vaguely named Demonstrative sources of electricity, such as the magneto-electric character. When we consider to what high level machine. With all generators of the electric curabove the savage condition the Aryans must have rent the maximum effect is obtained with a attained when certain words known as Roots be- minimum outlay, if the internal resistance is very came corner-stones of their grammar, might we not nearly the same as the external resistance. The in reasonable perplexity ask whether or not the internal resistance of a battery is great-(1) if the Analysis of Language towards the discovery of plates are small; (2) if they are widely apart; (3) if Roots can yet be called exhaustive? the exciting liquids are bad conductors; (4) if there are any powerful obstructions to the flow of the current, such as porous cells, sand, clay, &c.; (5) if The first words would necessarily be formed of vowels, and be closely related, possibly, to the pooh-poohed Interjections. The primum cognitum might, we know, rest in rude abstraction, but always apparently uncertainty has lain in the determination of the base of the primum appellatum. Are Nouns the true parents of Verbs, or was the The further study of Chinese and the groups of These necessary factors of the great fabric of Have not grammarians wrongly classified, and races of consonants. INTELLIGENCE IN A BULLOCK. the number of elements is considerable. Let us consider then what battery we should construct for sending telegraphic messages over a long cable, either by land or by sea. Our circuit offers the resistance of many miles of iron wire (a comparatively bad conductor), and that of the inductive action of the circuit and the Morse instruments. The resistance is considerable. We should employ, say, 30 pint-cells of Daniell's battery, with their badly-conductive solutions, porous walls inside the elements, and plates widely apart. In magneto-electric generators, the internal resistance depends upon first, the conductivity of the wire, or if copper-wire is used in all cases, as is practically done, upon the diameter or surface of the wire employed; secondly, upon the lengths of the circuit thus formed inside the magneto-electric machine, in the bobbins of the armatures, and those of the indicators or "magnets." Thin wire offers a great resistance, while stout wire, or copper band of large surface, offers very little resistance. Magneto-electric machines, whose armatures are wound with a great length of fine wire, and in which the current is made to pass through all the coils of the armatures, as well as those of the inductors at the same time, represent a very high internal resistance, and are employed for working circuits of great external resistance, for which purpose a high electro-motive force is required. Medical magneto-electric machines which have to produce a current that is to overcome the resistance offered by the human body (which is a bad conductor), and, moreover, of two bad contacts, are wound with a very great number of turnings of very fine wire. On the other hand, Gramme's and Wallace's electro-plating machines are wound with a very short length only of copper-band, ĝin. to lin. in width, and the coils, moreover, are divided in sections, and so arranged that they have on each end the terminals of 2 or 4 sections (of equal resistance) of that coil, so that the current divides itself, and passes in portions through those sections, and not, as a whole, through the entire lengths of the coil. A machine, constructed on this principle, could be employed for producing light by incandescence. This "quantity arrangement is perfectly analogous to the quantity coupling of a voltaic battery, described at the beginning of this paper. What is stated above is strikingly verified also in the induction coil. The secondary helix consists of |