262 



NATURE 



{July 20, 1876 



silver nitrate is brought into contact with a drop of the super- 

 natant yellow liquid. — Mr. Thomas Fletcher gives a brief note 

 on a simple form of gas regulator, differing only in form from 

 one described by Mr. Page in the January number of the Chem. 

 Journ. for 1876. — Mr. Thomas Carnelley, B.Sc, F.C.S., con- 

 tributes a paper on high melting-points, with special reference 

 to those of metallic salts. The author describes a new method 

 which he proposes for determination of high melting-points, and 

 the results of his investigations by this new method. The prin- 

 ciple of this new method is as follows : — In a platinum crucible 

 a small quantity of a salt is placed, and the crucible suspended 

 in the flame of a Bunsen's burner or oi a blowpipe. If the tem- 

 perature at which the salt fuses is not above a certain point, the 

 temperature of the crucible after a time reaches that point. If, 

 at the instant the salt is seen to melt, the crucible be dropped 

 into a known weight of water of known temperature, and the 

 rise in temperature noted, from the equation for specific heats, 

 we obtain the initial temperature of the crucible at the time the 

 salt melted, and hence the temperature at which the fusion 

 occurred, assuming that the mean temperature of the crucible is 

 the same as that of the salt at the moment of melting. — Numerous 

 abstracts of papers published in other journals, together with a 

 full account of the anniversary meeting of the Chemical Society, 

 complete the contents of this number. 



American yournal ef Science and Arts, June. — We have here 

 some interesting observations on Saturn, made by Mr. Trouvelot 

 during the last four years with the refractors at Harvard, Wash- 

 ington, and Cambridge Observatories. He notes, inter alia, 

 some singular dark angular forms on the inner margin of the first 

 ring, outside the principal division of the rings ; it seems due to 

 a jagged conformation. The three outer rings have shown a 

 mottled or cloudy appearance on the ansae ; the cloud-furms at 

 some parts attain different heights, and change their relative 

 positions. The dusky ring is not transparent throughout, as has 

 been supposed ; and it grows more dense as it recedes from the 

 planet, so that, at about the middle, the limb of the planet 

 ceases entirely to be seen through it ; further, the matter of this 

 ring is agglomerated here and there into small masses. — The 

 " 1474" line, which is reversed in the spectrum of the solar 

 corona, coincides with one of the short lines in the spectrum of 

 iron. It appears in ordinary spectroscopes like a fine hard black 

 line ; but in lately examining this part of the spectrum with a 

 diffraction spectroscope armed with a silver glass "gitter platte " of 

 8640 lines to the inch, Prof. Young found th» line to be unmis- 

 takeably double. The more refrangible line he regards as the 

 real corona line ; the other belonging to the spectrum of iron. 

 — Mr. J. Lawrence Smith, in a paper on carbon compounds in 

 meteorites (here concluded) arrives at some important results. 

 The phenomena of the graphite nodules are very puzzling ; the 

 presence of such substances as free sulphur, and a hydrocarbon 

 in the interior of the graphitic concretions was certainly not 

 to be expected. We now know of celestial carbon (Mr. Smith 

 says) in three conditions, viz. , in the gaseous form as detected by 

 the spectroscope in the attenuated matter of comets ; in meteo- 

 rites m the solid iorm, impalpable and diffused through pulveru- 

 lent masses of mineral matter ; also in the solid Jorm, but compact 

 and hard, like terrestrial graphite, and imbedded in metallic 

 matter, that comes from regions in space. — From experiments on 

 the diminution of the minute distance between two surfaces in 

 contact, with the increase of the contact pressure (the substances 

 being iron, brass, and plate glass), Prof. Norton found that the 

 diminutions were very nearly the same, whatever the nature or 

 condition of the surfaces in contact ; that they were nearly indepen- 

 dent of the extent of the surface in contact ; and that the diminution 

 of contact-distance for an increase of one ounce in the pressure, was 

 nearly inversely proportional to the pressure. — Mr. Carey Lea 

 dtscribes experiments on the sensitiveness of silver bromide to 

 the green rays as modified by the presence of other substances. 

 Finding no red substance capable as such of increasing this sen- 

 sitiveness, and on the other hand, many colourless substances 

 which have that effect, he is confirmed in the opinion that there 

 is no relation between the colour of a substance and that of the 

 rays to which it increases the sensitiveness of silver brom.ide. — 

 We further note a translation of M. Hartt's first report on the geo- 

 logical survey of Brazil, a paper by Mr. King on palaeozoic 

 divisions on the fortieth parallel, and an account of a nebula 

 photometer, by Mr. Pickering. — Prof. Marsh describes some new 

 fossil birds. 



Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, Feb. 15. — From 

 researches on the specific heats of saline solutions, described in 



this number, M. Marignac concludes that the specific heat de- 

 pends not solely on the nature of the acids and bases of the 

 salts ; so that one cannot calculate it from their composition. 

 It may be modified by other causes special to each salt, and 

 the nature of which is still unknown. These causes do not 

 seem to be connected with the greater or less tendency of 

 salts to combine with water and form definite cryslallisable 

 hydrates. —It is a disputed point among physiologists whether 

 fat is a product of decomposition of albumen. M. Secrctan 

 here describes an investigation on the subject His experi- 

 ments were on albumen decomposed in current water, and in 

 the ground. He considers that the transformation in question 

 is improbable, and accepts Orfila's theory, that the fat of dead 

 bodies is only formed where there is already tat present, and an 

 azotised matter. — In a paper on the constituents of woman's 

 milk and cow's milk, M. Lachenal finds that the latter is richer 

 in nitrogen, and consequently in albumenoid substances than 

 the former, in the proportion of 3 "51 to 2*53. After coagula- 

 tion, the serum of cow's milk no longer contains either caseine 

 or albumen, whereas the serum ot woman's milk holds in 

 solution a quantity of albumenoid matters which may be estimated 

 at a half of the nitrogenised substances of the milk. — M. Gillieron 

 studies the traces of ancient glaciers of the valley of the Wiese 

 in the Black Forest. — In a reply to M. Soret, on the temperature 

 of the sun, M. Violle describes some interesting observations on 

 the radiation from incandescent steel. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, May 18. — "Note on a Simultaneous Dis- 

 turbance of the Barometer and of the Magnetic Needle," by 

 the Rev. S. J. Perry, F.R.S. 



Linnean Society, June 15. — Prof. AUman, president, in 

 the chair. — Prof. RoUeston read an interesting paper on the 

 prehistoric pig of Britain, illustrating this by a series of skulls 

 of species, wild and tame. — Dr. Masters followed by remarks 

 on the superposed arrangement of the parts of the flower. 

 The alternate arrangement in the parts is so general that 

 exceptions are invested with peculiar interest. " Alternate " 

 and "superposed" the author used in preference ta the t^rm 

 "opposite," and he stated superposition exists in a large number 

 of very diverse families. He then gave instances of apparent or 

 false superposition in certain ot the cultivated varieties of Ca- 

 mellia, &c. Real superposition may arise from (l) superpo- 

 sition of whorls, exemplified in the monstrous Daffodil {Nar- 

 cissus Eystettensis ; (2) spiral arrangement of parts, e.g. Sabia ; 

 (3) enation, chori^is, between which it seems necessary to draw 

 a distinction, although the differences in the adult flower may 

 not be always obvious (in chorisis the original organ is repeated, 

 in enation the process is subsequent to the first stages of develop- 

 ment, example scales before the petal in SiUne) ; (4) abortion or 

 suppression of intermediate whorls, e.g, Vine, &c. ; (5) fleio- 

 mery, when numbers of successive whorls are unequal, some of 

 the additional parts become superposed yVz^^/Za cited ; (6) substi- 

 tution of one organ for another, in Zanthoxylum ; (7) torsion of 

 the axis, either between two successive whorls or of constituent 

 elements of whorl, exemplified in leaves rather than flower. — Dr. 

 Masters then drew attention to illustrations of the relative position 

 of the perianth and androecium in genera of the Tiliacia; and 

 OlacaccB. — A paper by Dr. J. Anderson on the skeleton and 

 feathering of the spoon-biUea sandpiper {Eurynorhynchus pyg- 

 maeus) was read, and Mr. E. Harting in exhibiting skins of this 

 rare Indian bird and its allies, made remarks thereon. Dr. 

 Anderson shows that, excepting deviation in the bill, E.pygmaeus 

 in detail agrees with the genus Tringa. — Mr. W. Archer gave 

 a summary of a paper of his on the histology and development 

 of the genus Ballia. The material for research was furnished 

 partly by the Challenger and partly by the Transit of Venus expe- 

 ditions, and obtained in Kerguelen's Land. The author found that 

 the septa separating contiguous cells contained circular "pits" 

 which were closed by plano-convex "stoppers," the purpose of 

 which is difficult to determine. The pits do not communicate and the 

 pair of stoppers, easily disturbed from their positions, resemble 

 a rivet passing through the septum. He further described the 

 peculiar manner in which the cells of the rachis are jointed 

 together, the mode of development of the branches, the origin 

 of the cortical investment of confervoid filaments, and tanta- 

 mount modifications in nearly-allied species. — A second com- 

 munication of Mr. Archer's was on fresh-water algae collected 



