520 



NATURE 



{Oct. 5, 1876 



upper part of a tree opening later than those below ; and in any 

 case the influence of age on foliation is nil, or small, compared 

 with the influences of climate. — M. Ebray contributes a paper on 

 the impossibility of establishing the limits of geological forma- 

 tions, and discusses some other geological principles. — The July 

 number is mainly occupied with a coup (Tceil over the principal 

 publications on vegetable physiology in 1875, by M. Micheli. — M. 

 Wiedemann communicates two short notes on the specific heat of 

 gases, and on the changes of the co-efficients of friction of gases with 

 the temperature. — M. Hagenbach, in the August number, studies 

 the equilibrium of a sphere on a jet of water. There are two 

 cases of the phenomena. In one of these, the jet, divided into 

 drops, strikes the sphere laterally at about 50° from the lowest 

 point, and makes it turn rapidly about a horizontal axis. The 

 sphere also often moves round the jet, sometimes in one direc- 

 tion, sometimes in the other. The water follows the sphere in 

 its movement, flies off" in a series of tangents, some of it, however, 

 returning to the point of initial impact. The other case is that 

 in which the sphere receives a homogeneous jet at the same point, 

 and does not rotate about it, but passes to-and-fro across the jet 

 between the two corresponding positions. It turns about the 

 horizontal axis, now in one direction, now in the other. M. 

 Hagenbach gives an explanation of these results. — M. Schmanke- 

 witsch replies to some criticism of his researches on the changes 

 of Artemia salina in water of varying saltness. ' 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, September 18. — Vice- Admiral Paris 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — Examination 

 of observations presented at various epochs regarding the 

 transit of an intra-mercurial planet over the disc of the sun, by 

 M. Leverrier. He cites eleven of these, comprised between 

 1761 and 1820 (the paper to be continued). — Theorems relating 

 to systems of three segments having a constant product, by M. 

 Chasles. — Note on the period of the exponential ^% by M. Yvon 

 Villarceau. — Lighting by means of products extracted from 

 resinous trees, by M. Guillemare. Distillation of oil of turpen- 

 tine resting on an equal volume of slightly alkaline water, re- 

 moval of it by steam, and direct and prolonged action of con- 

 centrated solutions of alkaline carbonates on oils of resin, 

 produces complete separation of the colophony and naphthaline 

 these liquids contain ; this effect is proved if ammonia no longer 

 affects their limpidity. To utilise the large percentage of carbon 

 for light, two lamelliform currents are arranged round the wick ; 

 the exterior, by means of a cone 8 centimetres in height, the other, 

 interior, with a movable conical nipple. The draught is effected 

 with a glass chimney, which has to be ground at the base, so 

 intense is the light. This light is recommended for ships' lanterns 

 and photo- telegraphic apparatus. — On a mode of treatment of 

 phylloxerised vines with lime, by M. Pignede. — M. Lucan pre- 

 sented an instrument employed by the negroes in Congo for 

 capturing serpents. This is a tube, the walls of which are made 

 of pieces of reed interlaced ; when the serpent enters they con- 

 tract through the very efforts which he makes to escape. — On 

 the capture of rattlesnakes, and the supposed association of these 

 serpents with a small owl and a small dormouse, by M. Trecul. 

 Travelling, in 1848, in the region west of Arkansas, he caught 

 snakes by passing over them, when erect, a loop with runnmg 

 knot attached to his ramrod ; they remained quite straight and 

 were easily killed. The "villages of little dogs," or dormice, 

 are sometimes pretty large, e.g., half a kilometre in diameter. 

 One was in a fertile district covered with high herbs, but the 

 ground of the village was entirely denuded by the animals, and 

 little earthworks thrown up, with holes in them, and communi- 

 cating together. The dormouse takes a survey from the top of 

 these eminences, with only his head thrust out. In coming out, 

 which they do most cautiously, they give a small sharp bark. In 

 another village the author saw a little owl issue from one of the 

 burrows, which was alsOj evidently frequented by dormice ; and 

 in another burrow was a rattlesnake, but this burrow had evi- 

 dently been long deserted by the other animals. — Symbolic 

 formula giving the degree of the position of points, the distances 

 of which from given algebraic curves verify a given relation, by 

 M. Fouret. — On the physical properties of gallium, by M. 

 Lecoq de Boisbaudran. This subject is noted elsewhere in connec- 

 tion with the Journal de Physique. We here note that the density 

 the author formerly obtained (47 at 15°) was different from that 



to which M. Mendeleefs theoretical views pointed (5*9), for a 

 body between indium and aluminium to which gallium otherwise - 

 closely corresponded. Having lately, however, treated some 

 gallium by keeping it half an hour at 6o°-7o° in nitric acid, 

 diluted with its volume of water, washed, heated strongly, 

 then solidified it in dry air, he obtained the number 5 '956, 

 which agrees with that of M. Mendeleef. — Anatomical and mor- 

 phological researches on the nervous system of hymenopterous 

 insects, by M. Brandt. He studies the metamorphoses which 

 occur in the ganglionic chain in passage from the larval to the adult 

 state. — Experiments and observations on vitreous rocks, by M. 

 Meunier. He concludes (i) That vitreous rocks do not represent 

 the product of a vitrification of crystalline rocks, but the latter 

 are derived from the former by way of devitrification. (2) The 

 direct devitrification of obsidian, gallinace, retinite, &c., cannot 

 be produced, and the presence of gases and vapours in the 

 vitreous rocks seems to be the opposing obstacle. (3) This 

 devitrification becomes possible when the rocks, by fusion, are 

 freed from their volatile elements. 



Rome 



R. Accadenjia dei Lincei, June 4. — On the specific rota- 

 tory power of asparagine, by M. Cossa, He extended the 

 researches of Pasteur on this subject, varying the proportion 

 of asparagine to the solvent and experimenting with other 

 acid solutions. He refers the specific rotatory power (which, 

 for most of the liquids experimented with, might be con- 

 sidered as a constant) to the yellow rays of the spectrum. — 

 On the rotatory power of santonic, metasantonic, and hydro- 

 santonic acid in various solvents, by M. Cannizzaro. — On the elec- 

 trical state of bodies, by M. Volpicelli. The electricity manifested 

 in bodies through the condenser is to be attributed to the electricity 

 of the atmosphere, since itfollows in quantity and quality the phases 

 of that. — M. Volpicelli replied to memoir of M. Pisati, entitled 

 " Defence of the Old Theory of Electrostatic Induction ;" also 

 to a note by M. Cantoni on a pretended reform of the theory of 

 electrostatic induction : also to a letter of Maxwell's in Nature 

 (vol. xiv. p. 27). — Studies on microscopic images of medullary 

 nerve-fibres, by M. Boll. He studies the alterations produced 

 by a variety of chemical agents — sodic chloride, osmic acid, 

 glycerine, ether, chloroform, &c. He finds that the myaline does 

 not form a continuous sheath within the axis cylinder. The medul- 

 lary sheath is composed of a series of segments placed one above 

 another (in the sciatic nerve of a frog he counted twenty to twenty- 

 five of these segments). — Duration of vitality of the macula ger- 

 minativa, by M. Colasanti. Experimenting with hen's eggs, he 

 found that in the first twenty days after the egg is deposited, 

 development of a chicken may take place, but after that epoch 

 development is not the rule but the exception. But the germinal 

 spots which did not produce chickens always showed some deve- 

 lopment, though incomplete. This shows that the evolution is 

 not the result of a force which exists or does not exist in a germ, 

 but rather of a force subjected to quantitative modification, and 

 which expires gradually. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Wounded in Shooting 501 



Blaserna on Musical Sound. By Dr. W. H. Stone 502 



Two Books on Language. By tha Rev. A. H. Sayck 503 



Our Book Shelf : — 



Jukes's " School Manual of Geology " 504 



Page's "Geology: its Influence on Modern Be'iefs" 504 



Rosser's " Law of Storms Considered Practically " 504 



Letters to the Editor :•— 



Force. — P. T. Main 505 



An Intra-Mercurial Planet. — Hon. F. A R. Russell 505 



Brilliant Meteor. — John^I. Plummek, F.G.S 505 



The Age of Palaeolithic Man. — R. H. Tiddeman, F.G.S. . . . 505 



The Flame of Chloride of Sodium in a Common Coal Fire. — . 



Edward T. Hardman, F.G.S 5c6 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Intra-Mercurial Planet Question 506 



The Variable Star, Algol 507 



The Minor Planets 507 



The Radiometer in a Balloon. By W. de Fonviellk .... 508 



The Recent Tornabo 508 



The Puy-de-D6me Observatory [With Illustrations) ^og 



On the Apparatus employed by the late Mr .Graham, F.R.S. 

 IN his Researches. By W. Ch/ndlkr Roberts, F.R.S. (With 



Illustrations) 511 



German Expedition to Siberia t . 514 



The " Challenger" Expedition 515 



Notes 316 



Scientific Serials 518 



Societies and Acabemies s^o 



