8o 



NATURE 



\Nov. 25, 1875 



house, sen., but the manuscript had been unfortunately lost, and 

 the insects had remained imnoticed till the present time. 



Berlin 



German Chemical Society, Nov. 8. — A. W. Hofmann, 

 president, in the chair. — J. Landauer described a blowpipe- 

 apparatus consisting of two bottles, one of which contains air, 

 ■while the other, filled with water, is placed above and is con- 

 nected by a tube with the air-bottle. The water replacing the 

 air produces the blast. — T. Grabowsky has found amongst the 

 products chlorine forms with acetone, a liquid of the formulae 

 C5H7CI3O, and another liquid CgHyCljO (trichlorinated oxide 

 of mesitylene). — The same chemist has studied anew the trans- 

 formation of chloral into chloralid and solid chloral. — P. Griess 

 has obtained betain by the action of iodide of methyl on glycocol. 

 — S. P. Sadler appears to have transformed glycerine into tar- 

 tronic acid by means of diluted fuming nitric acid. — V. von 

 Richter reverted to a reaction formerly observed by him, through 

 which nitrobromobenzol and cyanide of potassium form cyano- 

 bromobenzol, and consequently a bromobenzoic acid, of which 

 the acid group CO2H is not corresponding in position to the 

 nitro-group of the original compound. He has repeated the 

 experiment with bibromo-nitro-benzol, and finds corresponding 

 exchanges to take place in their case. He also described the 

 formation of certain di-tri- and tetra-bromo-benzols. — F. Beil- 

 stein and A. Kurbatow, by adding chloride of antimony to nitro- 

 benzol and passing chlorine gas into it, have obtained a good 

 yield of meta-chloronitrobenzol and higher chlorides. — T. A. 

 Roorda Smit prepares acetate of ammonium and acetamide by 

 means of carbonate of ammonium. The same fluids, nitro- 

 benzol and sulphite of ammonium, yield anilosulphite of am- 

 monium C6HgNHS03NH4. The same chemist lias found 

 thioanilide, CgHgNH — S— NHCgHj, a yellow oil, amongst the 

 products of the reaction of chloride of sulphur on aniline. — Ira 

 Remsen communicated researches on the action of potassium on 

 succinate of ethyl and on the action of ozone on carbonic oxide. 

 — The President then read to the meeting an autobiographical 

 sketch by F. Wohler, not intended for publication, of which the 

 following is an extract :— His father, as well as a friend of the 

 family, encouraged his pleasure in collecting natural objects, and 

 experimenting. In 1814 he was sent to the grammar-school of 

 Frankfort. He was b.ckward particularly in mathematics, partly 

 because he was constantly occupied in collecting minerals. Dr. 

 Buch in Frankfort was his first serious instructor in chemistry. 

 Buch published remarks on selenium conjointly with Wohler. 

 Hagen's old treatise, based on the phlogistic theory already used 

 by his father, was his first guide, but was soon exchanged against 

 more modern views and books. His room was changed into a 

 chemical laboratory ; he learnt to engrave on copper, and collected 

 antiquities ; but his great pleasure was the construction of a Volta- 

 battery of 100 couples and the reduction of potassium by means 

 of it, as well as by heat alone. He was fond of bodily exer- 

 cises, such as swimming and shooting. In 1820 he went to the 

 University of Marburg, but was offended by one of the pro- 

 fessors, who forbade" his making chemical experiments while he 

 was studying medicine ! He therefore continued his studies in 

 Heidelberg. The great physiologist Tiedemann became his 

 friend, and he published researches on the change that organic 

 acids imdergo through passing the human body. He obtained a 

 prize for this paper, and used it for his dissertation as Doctor of 

 Medicine. He still had the intention of entering into the prac- 

 tice of a profession. He worked in Gmelin's laboratory, but 

 never heard any lectures on chemistry. The sketch does 

 not enter into his life in Sweden, described in a former paper. 

 After returning from Sweden his friendship with Liebig com- 

 menced in Frankfort, to cease ouly -.vith Liebig's death. In 

 1825 Leopold von Buch proposed him as teacher of chemistry of 

 the newly founded School of Industry (Gewerbeschule) at Berlin. 

 He accepted the place, and Avas named Professor in 1828. He 

 derived great benefit from living in friendly intercourse with 

 Magnus, H. and G. Rose, and Mitscherlich. He remembers 

 with enthusiasm the influence of Humboldt and his eloquence. 

 Humboldt was president of the Association of Natuial Philo- 

 sophers at Berlin, and the contrast between his never-ceasing 

 flow of language and the silence of Berzelius is humorously 

 described in the following anecdote. During an excursion 

 of the Association, Wohler had to take his seat, as he says, 

 on account of his thinness, in a carriage nearly filled already 

 by the stoutest members of the Association, viz. Humboldt and 

 Berzelius. The former held forthwith his usual readiness, when 

 Berzelius suddenly broke {out in Swedish : "Mr. Wohler, what 



eloquence ! I cannot stand it any longer ! " Fortunately Hum- 

 boldt's all but universal knowledge did not comprise the Swedish 

 language. In Berlin Wohler published his text-book (Grundriss) 

 of chemistry, at first anonymously. Soon afterwards he left 

 Berlin for Cassel. In 1829 he visited France together with 

 Magnus ; in 1835 England. In 1836 he was named successor 

 of Stromeyer as Professor of Chemistry in Gottingen. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, Nov. 15. — M. Freniy in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On meridian obser- 

 vations of small planets at the Greenwich and Paris Observatories 

 during the third trimestre of 1875, by M. Leverrier. — On the 

 density of pure platinum and iridium and their alloys, by MM. 

 Sainte-Claire Deville and PI. Debray. The numbers obtained 

 (about 21 '5 ior platinum and 22*4 for iridium) are higher than 

 those found hitherto. — Researches on the composition of dis- 

 solved acids and salts, by M. Berthelot — Memoir on measure- 

 ment of the affinities between liquids of organised bodies by 

 means of electromotive forces, by M. Becquerel. He studies 

 the electromotive force obtained from the white and the yolk of 

 an egg, from the arterial and venous blood of dogs, and from 

 each of these with albumen, the reactions between plant liquids, 

 and between them and animal liquids, the electro-capillary effects 

 of sulphurous liquids in contact with liquid exuded from the 

 skin, &c. — Examples of the contemporaneous formation of iron 

 pyrites in thermal springs and in sea water, by M. Daubree. — On 

 the carpellary theory according to the Amaryllidece (Part r, 

 Alstrjemeria), by M. Trecul. — Fifteenth note on the electric con- 

 ductivity of moderately conducting bodies, by M. Du Moncel. 

 — M. Janssen presented four cases of natural history specimens 

 from the Japanese Government. — Ou the representation of figures 

 of geometry of n dimensions by correlative figures of ordinary 

 geometry, by Mr. Spottiswoode. — On the development of the 

 fruit of Coprini, and the supposed sexuality of the Basidio- 

 mycetes, by M. van Tieghem. — Theory of hail, by M. Couste. 

 — On the employment of nickel deposited electrically to pro- 

 tect the magnets of compasses against oxidation, by M. Duchenin. 

 — Application of the principle of analytic correspondence to the 

 demonstration of the theorem of Bezout, by M. Saltel. —Obser- 

 vations of the .planet Jupiter, by M. Flammarion. He notes 

 {inter alia) the appearance of white elliptic spots followed by 

 shadows. Some sketches are given. — On some combinations of 

 titanium, by MM, Friedel and Giierin. — Solution of platinum 

 in sulphuric acid during the industrial process of concentration, 

 by M. ScheurerKestner. — On the presence of a new alkaloid, 

 ergotinine, in spurred rye, by M. Tanret. — On the rSU of carbonic 

 acid in the phenomenon of spontaneous coagulation of blood, 

 by M. Glenard. — Reply to MM. Mathieu and Urbain's last note 

 on the same subject, by M. Gautier. — On the embryogeny of the 

 flea, by M. Balbiani. — On larval forms of Bryozoa, by M. 

 Barrois. — Note on the storms of November 6 to 11, 1875, by' 

 M. Marie-Davy. 



CONTENTS Pag« 



The Oxford Botanic Garden 61 



LoMMEL ON Light. By W. b'.B. [IVith Illustrations) 62 



Darwin on Climbing Plants &S 



Our Book Shelf : — 



Willson's " Report of the Meteorological Reporter of the Govern- 

 ment of Bengal ". . . 66 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Oceanic Circulation. — James Croll . 66 



Refraction of Light and bound through the Atmosphere. — Dr. 



Arthur Schustkr . 67 



Evidences of Ancient Glacier Action in Central France. — Rev. W. S. 



Symonds 67 



Communication of Information among Bees. — Prof. H. Blackburn 6i 



A New Palmistry.— J. C. Galton, F.Z.S. ; F. T. Mott ; R. A. N. 68 



Extraordinary Tides. — B. G. Je.nkins 69 



Further Linkage Work.— Geo. J. P. Grieve 69 



A Criminal Dog — R. S. Cullev 69 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Binary Star 44 Bootis 69 



The Minor Planets 69 



The Zodiacal Light 69 



The Rainfall /<• 



The Work of the "Challenger." By Prof. Wyville Tho.mson, 



F R.S 70 i 



Acoustic Cloudiness. By Prof. J. Tvndall, F.R.S 7^ 



Charles Blacker Vignoles, F.R.S ' 



The German Co.mmission on Arctic Exploration 



The Fauna of the Caspian Sea ; 



New Form of Tube for observing the Spectr.a. of Solutions By 



MM. Delachanal and Mkrmet (fF/^/« ///i«/?vi^,-'<j«) . . . . I-- 



Science IN Germany " 



Notes 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies • . 7 



I 



