456 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1889. 



ters bearing on meteorology and plant injuries, and he proposed com- 

 pleting it with copious indices, so that no difi&culty would be met in 

 finding the exact behavior of every plant in any country and in any 

 winter. A discussion followed, in which the great importance of elabo- 

 rating the report as fully as possible, and of speedily publishing it, were 

 insisted on. (Kature, xxv, 452.) 



Professor Hunfalvi, as president of the physical section of the Hun- 

 garian Association for the Advancement of Science, made an important 

 address upon the meteorology and forestry of Hungary. Owing to the 

 immense consumj>tion of wood for fuel in that country the destruction 

 of the forest is proceeding in quantity. (Nature, xxvi, p. 457.) J 



Cornu has studied the direct absorption of atmospheric vapors and 

 gases by the epidermis of the leaves and stems of plants, and finds that 

 such absorption takes i)lace directly without the necessity of a previous 

 solution in water. Thus, growing grapes were exposed to the vapors of 

 heavy oils distilled from coal tar, and the sense of taste easily detected 

 the empyreumatic substances in the interior of the pulp and the pedun- 

 cle. {Nature, xxv, 544.) 



A. H. Swinton makes out a relation between sun-spot cycles and 

 the appearance of rare species of lepidoptera. His observations are con- 

 tinuous from the year 1832 to 1875. For some species their maxima 

 coincide with the maxima of sun-spots, but for other species the coinci- 

 dence is with the minima of sun-spots. (Nature, xxv, 584.) 



The eflect of the temperature of the air on the pitch of the cricket's 

 chirp is such that both rise together, and observations of temijcrature 

 and pitch by Miss M. W. Brook closely verify a rule given by a writer 

 in the Salem Gazette, namely : " Take 72 as the number of strokes 

 ■per minute at a temperature of 60°, and for every 4 strokes more add 

 one degree more of temperature ; for every 4 strokes less deduct the 

 same." We believe this is the newest item of connection between 

 meteorology and entomology. It converts the chirping cricket into a 

 natural thermometer. (Nature, xxv, p. 229.) 



€ YULCANOLOGY AND SEISMOLOaY. 



Eev. O. Fisher has published in his work " On the Physics of the Earth's 

 Crust" a valuable collection of facts and theories relative to the structure 

 and history of the earth. Among other things, says Mr. E. Hill, it seems 

 to be fairly well established that the contraction of the earth by cool- 

 ing is inadequate to the production of its greater inequalities. The earth 

 isnot so homogeneous as required by the hypothesis of cooling from a 

 molten globe. A plastic or fluid substratum best explains many facts 

 of the present epoch. (Nature, xxii, 434.) 



Many of Mr. Fisher's conclusions are, however, controverted by A. H. 

 Green. (Nature, xxv, 481.) 



The Seismological Commission of S witzerand have published, in French 



