562 



NATURE 



[Oct. 19, 1876 



on Saturday, at 3 o'clock. Admiral Sir G. P. Sartorius will 

 preside. 



Prof. W. K. Parker, F.R.S., and Mr. G. T. Bettany, B.A., 

 of Caius College, Cambridge, are preparing a work on the 

 Morphology of the Skull, in which for the first time will be 

 brought together for comparison descriptions of the remarkable 

 succession of modification through which the skull passes in 

 development in the principal types of vertebrated animals ; the 

 forms illustrated will be the sharks and rays, the salmon, the 

 axolotl, the frog, the snake, the fowl, and the pig. A special 

 value will attach to the work inasmuch as it will record many 

 corrections of facts and important modifications of view since 

 the publication of Prof. Parker's elaborate papers in the Trans- 

 actions of various societies, and will also include many observa- 

 tions yet unpublished. A simple description of each form at 

 successive stages will be followed by a chapter dealing with 

 theoretical questions, and summarising the results of study. The 

 work will be illustrated by a large number of woodcuts, and will 

 be published by Messrs. Macmillan. 



The scintillation of stars, and its close connection with changes 

 of weather, has, as is known, much interested Humboldt, Arago, 

 Kaemtz, Secchi, and many others ; and recently [^it has also 

 been the subject of valuable spectroscopic researches by M. 

 Respighi. M. Montigny, who some time ago investigated scin- 

 tillation in relation to the special characteristics of the light of 

 different stars, publishes in the Bulletin of the Belgian Academy, 

 1876, No. 8, an elaborate report upon his researches into the 

 connection existing between scintillation and various meteoro- 

 logical elements. The chief results arrived at after a discussion 

 of 1,820 observations made on 230 days on 70 different stars, are 

 as follow : — The intensity of scintillation (measured by a special 

 apparatus, the scintillometre) increases invariably with the 

 occurrence or approach of rainy weather, and with the increase 

 of tension of vapour in the air on one side, and the increase of 

 pressure and decrease of temperature on the other ; the in- 

 fluence of the two former factors being far more sensible than the 

 combined influence of ^the two latter. The scintillation, which is 

 on an average stronger during winter than during summer, in- 

 creases with the arrival of moist weather at all seasons. It 

 increases also not only on [rainy days, but one or two days 

 before, decreasing immediately after the rain has ceased. More- 

 over, the intensity of scintillation increases during strong winds, 

 and with the approach of barometric depressions, or bourrasques, 

 the increase being most pronounced when the depression passes 

 near to the observer. It then largely exceeds the average 

 increase corresponding to rainy days, and the influence of great 

 movements in the atmosphere totally coimteracts the contrary 

 influence of a lowering of pressure. M. Montigny is thus 

 correct in saying that a continued investigation of scintillation 

 would be of great service, not only for the prevision of weather, 

 but also for the general^ study of meteorology, affording a very 

 useful means for the exploration of the higher regions of the 

 atmosphere. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Chacma Baboon (Cynocephalus porcarius) 

 from South Africa, presented by Mr. Henry S. Wright ; a 

 Macaque Monkey {Macacus cynomolgus) from India, presented 

 by Mr. H. Jones ; a Little Grebe (Podiceps minor), European, 

 presented by Mrs. Johnson ; two Snowy Owls (Nyctea nivea), 

 European, presented by Mr. L. W. Gardiner ; nine Red-bellied 

 Newts (Triton alpestris) from Tyrol, presented by Mr. P. L. 

 Sclater, F.R.S. ; aTamandua Aat-Q&itr (Tamandua tetradactyla) 

 from South America, purchased : za Octiot (Felis pardalis) iiora 

 America, two Indian Cobras (Naia iripudians) from India, de- 

 posited ; a Geoffrey's Dove (Peristera geoffroii) bred in the 

 Cardea?. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



yournal of the Chanical Society, July, 1876. — Mr. Thomas 

 Camelley, B.Sc, communicates the results of investigations 

 recently 'made by him, on the action of water and of various 

 saline solutions on copper. Mr. Carnelley has found that dis- 

 tilled water dissolves an appreciable amount of copper, on 

 standing in contact with the metal even for the comparatively 

 short space of an hour. — Mr. M. M. Pattison Muir, F.R.S. E., 

 gives the second part of a paper on certain bismuth compounds. 

 There are also two communications from Dr. Thudicum's Physio- 

 logical Laboratory. The first is by Dr. Thudicum and C. T. 

 Kingzett, on glycerophosphoric acid and its salts, as obtained 

 from the phosphorised constituents of the brain. The second is 

 by Dr. Thudicum, on some reactions of biliverdin. There are 

 besides a note on the occurrence of benzene in rosin light oils, 

 by Mr. Watson Smith, F. C.S., and a second paper by the same 

 gentleman on a new method of preparing diphenyl and isodi- 

 naphthyl, and on the action at a high temperature, of metallic 

 chlorides on certain hydrocarbons. 



Gazzetta Chimica Italiana, Fasc. v. and vi. — The following 

 papers comprise the contents of this number : — The inactive 

 amylic alcohol of fermentation, by L. Balbiano. — An alkaloid 

 which they found in spoiled Indian corn and in stale maize 

 bread, by T. Brugnatelli and E. Zenoni. The authors con- 

 sider this alkaloid to be the cause of "pellagra," a disease 

 which commits great ravages in Lombardy. — Concerning a series 

 of compounds derived from ammonaldehyde, by R. Schiff. — On 

 gelatine, considered especially as regards its reducing agency, by 

 G. Bizio. — On the emission of nascent hydrogen from vegetables, 

 by G. Pollacci. — G. Scurati Manzoni contributes two papers ; 

 the first, on the action of certain reagents upon the principal 

 organic colouring matters, is accompanied with extensive tables, 

 which contain much valuable information ; the second treats of 

 the employment of sodic hydrosulphite as a reagent in the analysis 

 of the colours fixed upon tissues. — On the natural poison of the 

 human body, by A. Moriggia. — Concerning the methods of pre- 

 paring the iodides of potassium and sodium, and of potassic 

 bromide, by P. Chiappe and O. Malesci. — Observations on a 

 process for obtaining iodic acid, by causing chlorine to act upon 

 iodine suspended in water, by G. Sodini. — On the precipitate of 

 sulphur, by M. .Sansoni and G. Cappellini. — A method for detect- 

 ing the adulteration of plumbic iodide, by L. Alessandri and C. 

 Conti. — A new reagent for the investigation and estimation of 

 glucose, by A. Soldaini. 



Mevioria della Societa degli Spettrocopisti Italiani,y[z.y, 1876. — 

 Prof. Tacchini gives the statistics of solar eruptions observed at 

 Palermo in 1872. In 134 days of observation fifty-two eruptions 

 were seen — twenty-four on the eastern limb and twenty-eight on 

 the western, and none apparently occur within 40° of either pole. 

 There also appears a detailed statement by Prof. Tacchini of the 

 positions on which magnesium was seen on the limb during the 

 months of August, September, and October, 1875. — Observations 

 of the partial eclipse of the sun on September 29, 1875, made at 

 Padua by Dr. Abetti. — Spots and faculse on the sun's limb, ob- 

 served at Palermo ; the lines seen bright in the spectrum of the 

 jets are b^ b^ P b*, 1474, 4923, 5017, and sodium lines. A sheet 

 showing the chromosphere on each day in August, 1874, accom- 

 panies this number. 



June, 1876. — Observations of spots and faculse made at Palermo 

 in May, 1876, with a table showing the numbers of positions at 

 which the b and 1874 line were visible at the limb. — Observations 

 of solar protuberances from June 29 to December 11, 1875, 

 showing the number in each 10° of the sun's circumference, their 

 heights, and area. — A note by Father Secchi on the change of 

 position of the lines in the spectra of stars caused by their move- 

 ment in space. In his experiments the author placed the vacuum 

 tube for comparison in front of the object-glass, and he and his 

 assistants found the stellar and tube lines could be made to change 

 places by the motion of the telescope, and that the results by this 

 method are not trustworthy. The author then gives a list of 

 stars with their motions as given by Huggins, Greenwich, Secchi, 

 and Vogel, showing a great discrepancy between the observers. 

 — On the observation of the zodiacal light, made by Rev. Geo. 

 Jones, from April, 1853 to April, 1855, by A. Serpieri. About 

 thirty-nine observations with the lat. and long, of the place of 

 the observer appear, together with other tables of the positions 

 of the light, and a lengthy paper of remarks on the same. Draw- 

 ings of the chromosphere for September, October, and November, 

 1874, accompany the number. 



