202 



NATURE 



\yune 29, 1876 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The current number of the Ibh commences with two papers 

 on the ornithology of the Fiji Island?, by Mr. E. L. Layard, in 

 which the following species are described : — Platycercus taviun- 

 insis, Myiolestes macrorhynchus, M. conipressirostris, Pachycephala 

 torquata. Additional notes on other birds are given, including 

 Lamprolia victories. — Mr. H. Durnford has ornithological notes 

 from the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, in which the habits of 

 the birds of the district are briefly described. —Mr. R. Ridgway 

 writes on the genus Helminthophaga, precisely defining the dis- 

 tribution of the ten species and their specific characters. — Mr. 

 H. E. Dresser continues his notes on Severtzoff's " Fauna of 

 Turkestan," the species of birds most lengthily noticed being 

 Leptopoecile sophics, Anthus pratensis, and Lanius isabellinus, 

 together with Caprimulgus palltns and C, arenicolor. — Mr. F. 

 Barratt gives ornithological notes made during trips between 

 Bloemfontein and the Lydenburg gold-fields, figuring Bradypterus 

 barrati. — Messrs. H. Seebohm and J. A. Harvie Brown con- 

 tinue their notes on the birds of the Lower Petchora, figuring 

 the eggs of Squatarola helvetica. — Mr. J. H, Gurney continues 

 his nules on Mr. Sharpe's " Catalogue of the Accipitres in the 

 British Museum," devoting himself on this occasion to the 

 American Buzzards. — Mr. P. L. Sclater gives an interesting 

 account of the recent ornithological researches of Beccari, 

 D'Albertis, and von Rosenberg in New Guinea, and Count 

 Salvadori writes on two New Guinea species, Sericulus xantho- 

 mster and Xanthomdus aureus. — Canon Tristram describes a 

 collection of birds from New Hebrides, among which is a new 

 species of Porphyria, P. aneiteiimensis. 



Po^gcndorff^ s Annalen der Physik uiid Chemie. — Ergdnzung, 

 Band vii., Stuck 4. — We have here a valuable second memoir 

 by M, Chwolson on the mechanism of magnetic induction, which 

 process he seeks to explain by the supposed existence of mole- 

 cular magnets that are turned by the external force in one direc- 

 tion. In his former paper he dealt with the case of temporary 

 induction in soft iron ; he here treats of magnetic induction in 

 steel. The paper is in five chaptejs : in the first are summa- 

 rised the refcults obtained by previous observers, those of Jamin 

 being given with special fulness. In the second the author 

 describes his experiments, which require a modification of 

 Jamin's theory. Of Jamin's two laws relating to the action of 

 positive and negative currents on permanently magnetised bars, 

 M. Chwolson finds the first absolutely correct ; the second incor- 

 rect. Jamin's mistake he considers to be in the supposition that 

 the negative current only acts on the surface layers, leaving those 

 below untouched ; ic is shown, on the contrary, that the least 

 negative current acts on all the layers and diminishes the^r inten- 

 sity. Then he gives a mathematical theory of induction in 

 steel ; supposed the first attempt of the kind (if Maxwell's but 

 partly successful one be excepted). In the fourth chapter he 

 explains, on the basis of theory, the various experimental results 

 got by different observers ; and in the fifth, sriows how certain 

 results that might h priori be foreseen, from the theory, have 

 been verified. — M. Holtz has a paper on some changes of form 

 of the Leyden battery (with a view to extending the length of 

 spark), and its use with influence-machines ; and he describes 

 some good phenomena of discharge. The remaining papers are 

 extracts. 



Der Natur/orscher, February. — In this number we may note 

 an account of observations by M. Mallard on the velocity of 

 inflammation in a mixture ot fire-damp and air. The various 

 mbctures were set in motion with different velocities, and that 

 velocity at which the zone of combustion remained stationary 

 measured the velocity sought. The highest velocity of inflam- 

 mation was 0'56o metres in a second, and it occurred in a mix« 

 ture of 0"io8 vol. of fire-damp in one volume of the mixture. 

 On increasing or diminishing the proportion of fire-damp, the 

 velocity in question diminished very rapidly, becoming nil with 

 a proportion of 0^077 vol. on the one hand, and 0"I45 vol. on 

 the other, below which the mixtures are neither explosive nor 

 iaflammable. It is notable that a variation of even O'Oi in the 

 proportion of fire-damp is sufficient to convert an absolutely indif- 

 ferent mixture into a highly dangerous one. — In geology there is 

 an adverse criticism of Mr. Mallet's theory of volcanic action, 

 by M. Roth, and an experimental inquiry by M. Hoppe-Seyler 

 into the formation of dolomite. The latter points out that 

 wherever, on a sea-bottom covered with chalk or limestone, 

 eruptions of lava occur, dolomite is a necessary product, the 

 lava supplying the temperature (which must be high), the lime. 



stone the calcium and carbonic acid, and the sea-water the 

 magnesium. — From twenty years' observations in St. Petersburg, 

 M. Rikatcheff draws some conclusions as to the influence of 

 cloudiness on the daily variations of temperature. — We further note 

 an abstract of a recent brochure by Prof. Lommel, on the inter- 

 ference of reflected light (the author developes variously a well- 

 known experiment of Newton), and a summary of an interesting 

 lecture by M. Lowe to the Physiological Society of Berlin, on 

 the theory of descent. 



March. — The formation of cheese has lately engaged the 

 attention of Prof. Ferd. Cohn in connection with his researches 

 on the lowest forms of plant life ; and he has made personal 

 observations on the manufacture, as carried on in Switzerland. 

 The phenomena accompanying the process are thus described ; 

 The rennet contains a liquid ferment which causes coagulation 

 of the milk ; also ferment-organisms (Bacillus), which probably 

 bring on butyric-acid fermentation, and cause the slow maturing 

 of the cheese. It is their resting-spores that, enclosed by the 

 dry cheese substance, resist boiling heat for a long time, and, in 

 a suitable nutritive liquid, may afterwards develop to bacillus 

 rods. (One of Dr. Bastian's results is thus explained.) — In a 

 paper by M. Rosenthal, the action of the automatic nerve-centres 

 is explained as dependent, not on some immanent property of the 

 nerve apparatus, but on the nature of the blocd. To account for the 

 rhythmusof the movements in breathing, he supposes a constant 

 resistance opposed to the constant excitation, and illustrates the 

 case by supposing a vertical tube closed below by a plate which is 

 pressed against it by a spring, while a constant stream of water flows 

 in from above. VVhen the liquid reaches a certain height the 

 spring yields, and some water escapes ; then the spring forces 

 back the plate, and the process is repeated, thus giving a rhythm. 

 From experiments made by M. Bartoli, in Italy, it is inferred 

 that aU solid and liquid substances, whatever their nature, have, 

 in air, a damping influence on the oscillations of a magnetic 

 needle suspended over them, and that this action depends on 

 the air that is between the two surfaces. Among other subjects 

 handled in this number may be mentioned those of irregularities 

 of the sea-level (Hann), the molecules of isomeric andallotropic 

 bodies (Smit), the physical properties of litter in woods (Eber- 

 mayer), and decomposition of albuminous matter in animal 

 bodies (Drechsel). 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, May 4. — Supplementary note " Oa the 

 Theory of Ventilation " (see Nature, vol. xi. p. 296). By 

 Francis S. B. Fran9ois de Chaumont, M.D., Surgeon- Major, 

 Army Medical Department, and Conjoint Professor of Hygiene, 

 Army Medical School. Communicated by Prof. Stokes, Sec. 

 R.S. 



In his previous paper the author endeavoured to establish a 

 basis for calculating the amount of fresh air necessary to keep 

 an air-space sufficiently pure for health, taking the carbonic acid 

 as the measure. The results showed that the mean amount of 

 carbonic acid as respiratory impurity in air undistinguishable by 

 the sense of smell from fresh external air was under 02000 per 

 1000 volumes. His object in the present note is to call attention 

 to the relative effects of temperature and humidity upon the con- 

 dition of air, as calculated from the same observations. 



Linnean Society, June i. — Prof. AUman, president, in the 

 chair. — An interesting series of photographs illustrating coffee 

 cultivation in Ceylon, an enormous banyan tree and other 

 tropical vegetation, were shown by Mr. J. R. Jackson, of the 

 Kew Museum ; Mr. W. Bull's exhibition of several fine healthy, 

 growing plants, and the seeds of his lately introduced Coffea 

 liberica and of C. arabica for comparison came in most h propos 

 to the above. — The Rev. G. Henslow read a paper on floral 

 jEStivations, in which, after giving the eight kinds, viz., distichous, 

 tristichous, pentastichous, half-imbricate, imbricate proper, con- 

 volute, valvate, and open, he explained their origin, and 

 specially dwelt upon the new term half-imbricate, which he 

 applied to a very large number of cases ranging from perfect 

 regularity to extremely irregular and zyomorphic flowers of the 

 pea and snap-dragon. The author then showed how that, as 

 well as the fitth and sixth kinds were successively deducible from 

 the third or pentastichous (quincuncial) by merely shifting one 

 edge of the second part under the adjacent edge of the fourth 

 part. The author added a note on a new theory of the cruci- 



