Scientific worthies : [No.] 29, Sir Joseph Lister / [Hermann Tillmanns].

  • Hermann Tillmanns
Date:
[1896]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scientific worthies : [No.] 29, Sir Joseph Lister / [Hermann Tillmanns]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lecture-room at the Gardens, on Saturday last. The lecture was of an introductory character, explaining the position of Mammals amongst the Vertebrates, and their classification into three main divisions. The extinct Multituberculata and their possible relation to the Monotremes were also spoken of. The course will be continued every Saturday at 4 p.m. until July 4. At the International Meteorological Conference at Munich, in 1891, a Committee was appointed to consider the question of concerted observations on the direction of motion and the height of clouds. The report of this Committee was made to the International Meteorological Committee at their meeting at Upsala in 1894, the result being that all countries were invited to take part in the investigation of the upper currents of the atmosphere, by means of cloud observations, which are to com¬ mence on the 1st prox., and be continued for a year at least. For the use of observers who adopt the international classifica¬ tion recommended at Munich, a standard cloud atlas has been prepared, consisting of about thirty coloured pictures, and is now in course of publication in Paris ; while persons who do not adopt that classification are at liberty to use the nomen¬ clature employed in their country. The observations of motion may be made without instruments, or with simple nephoscopes ; but the measurements of altitudes require the use of theodolites or photogrammeters, and can only be carried out at regular observatories. Descriptions of the methods to be employed have been published by Dr. Hildebrandsson, of Upsala, and others, and also in Das Wetter for February last. Various countries in Europe, the United States, and Java, have under¬ taken to make the more difficult instrumental observations, and it is recommended by the International Meteorological Com¬ mittee that the observations from each country should be eventually published in extenso, as a separate publication. The south-east of Europe is one of the most pronounced seismic districts of the world, and it is gratifying to learn that the earthquakes there are to receive the attention they deserve. In a previous note, we have referred to the work of the seismo- logical section of the meteorological observatory at Constanti¬ nople, and we have now to announce the formation of a similar section of that at Athens. This has been placed under the charge of Dr. S. A. Papavasiliou, who is well known for his careful investigation of the Locris earthquakes of 1894. In¬ formation with reference to Greek earthquakes has indeed been transmitted to the observatory since 1893, and the accounts of these shocks will be published later on. It is only, however, within the last few months that an attempt has been made to organise regular observations. At the observatory of Athens two Brassart seismoscopes of a simple, character have been erected, one of them giving the time of occurrence of each shock felt there. The officials at the meteorological stations and telegraph offices (twenty-three in number) have been in¬ structed to make observations, and forward their registers to the observatory; and, commencing with this year, a monthly seismological bulletin has been started. The number for January has just been published, and tends to confirm Dr. Papavasiliou’s estimate that hardly a day passes without an earthquake being felt somewhere in Greece, for no less than thirty-four are recorded as occurring during January alone. The most interesting is an after-shock, on the 24th ult., of the great earthquakes of April 20 and 27, 1894, showing a still further displacement of the epicentre towards the W.N.W. along the great fault formed at the time of the last-mentioned shock. In Tunbridge Wells, on Saturday last, a congress was held of the naturalists of the South Eastern District, with the object of forming a Union of Natural History Societies for mutual help and investigation. The idea originated with Dr. George Abbott, who carried out all the preliminary details for the congress. NO. 1384, VOL. 54] The first part of the day was taken up by the delegates inspect¬ ing the geological features of the town, and after luncheon they assembled in the Pump Room, where the congress was held, under the chairmanship of the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, President of the Tunbridge Wells Natural History and Philosophical Society, and whose name is amongst those selected for election into the Royal Society. A large number of delegates from im¬ portant Natural History Societies of the south-eastern counties of England were present. Dr. Abbott described how the Union could be of assistance to science. Each Society in the Union would offer its members (1) free admission to their lectures and excursions ; (2) copies of their Transactions ; (3) the use of their library ; (4) assistance in naming of specimens, and with the formation of school museums. The corresponding members, in return, would be asked to (1) forward surplus natural history specimens to their Societies’ Museum ; (2) supply prompt in¬ formation on the following subjects : (a) new geological sec¬ tions ; (h) details of wells, borings, springs, &c. ; (e) finds of geological and antiquarian interest ; (3) answer such questions as the British Association or the local Society may require ; (4) keep an eye on historic buildings ; (5) assist the Selborne Society in carrying out its objects. Such appointments would be certain to stimulate individual investigation in the parishes, and useful scientific work would be done. After a discussion, the following resolution was adopted: ‘ ‘ That the delegates from various scientific Societies of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex, assembled in congress at Tunbridge Wells on April 25, 1896, agree that the congress shall meet annually, by invitation, at the home of one or other of the associated Societies.” The Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing was elected President of the Union, and Dr. Abbott, Secretary. It was agreed that Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, and Hampshire should be included within the scope of the Union’s operations. An extremely interesting series of experiments on the action of a powerful magnetic field on the kathodic rays in Crookes’ or Ilittorf s tubes, is described by Herr Kr. Birkeland in the Elek- troteknisk Tidsskrift (Christiania). These experiments prove that in such a field, the kathode rays are st rongly deflected in the direction of the lines of force, and can even be concentrated on to the surface of the tube until the glass melts. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the rays which emanate from one and the same kathode fall into groups, of which the physical constants are connected by some definite law, just as are the frequencies of the different tones emitted by a vibrating rod. The investi¬ gation has an important bearing on the theory of the Aurora Borealis. The Danish meteorologist, Herr A. Paulsen, is of opinion that the aurora owes its origin to phosphorescence of the air produced by kathodic rays in the upper strata of the atmo¬ sphere, and Herr Birkeland suggests that the earth’s magnetism may be the cause of this phosphorescence becoming intensified in the neighbourhood of the terrestrial poles. Under the editorship of Mr. F. S. Macaulay, of St. Paul’s School, the first number of a new series of The Mathematical Gazette has just been issued by the Association for the Improve¬ ment of Geometrical Teaching. The size of the pages has been changed from quarto to demy octavo ; by this change the Gazette has been brought into uniformity with the leading English and continental mathematical and other scientific octavo publications. The present number contains articles on “ The Geometrical Method,” by Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S. ; “Annuities treated with¬ out Progressions,” by Dr. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S. ; and “The Conic determined by Five Given Points,” by the editor ; to¬ gether with a large number of problems and solutions. The Gazette deals exclusively with points of interest in the history and teaching of elementary mathematics (not extending beyond the Calculus), and it thus covers a somewhat different range of