lOO 



NATURE 



\Pec, 2, 1875 



report, prepared by himself, on the excavations lately made by 

 the Exploration Committee of the Anthropological Institute in 

 Cissbury Camp, near Worthing, Sussex, and illustrated it by a 

 series of diagrams and models and a large collection of fiint im- 

 plements, flakes, &c. The animal remains iound in the excava- 

 tions, including the skeleton of a woman, were exhibited and 

 described by Professor Rolleston, F. R.S. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, Nov. 23. — Mr. Thos. 

 E. Harrison, the president, in the chair. The paper read was 

 On experiments on the movement of air in pneumatic tubes, 

 by M. Charles Bontemps, Engineer in the French postal service. 



Edinburgh 

 Scottish Meteorological Society, Nov. 15. — At a meeting 

 of the council of this society there was read a correspondence 

 between Mr. Archibald Young, Fishery Commissioner, and Mr. 

 T. Stevenson, the honorary secretary, regarding an investigation 

 into the habits of the salmon. — Besides other elaborate investi- 

 gations of a national character which the society has at different 

 times undertaken, an inquiry, suggested by the president, the 

 Marquis of Tweeddale, into the meteorological conditions which 

 are supposed to affect the migrations of the herring, is being 

 carried out by Mr. Buchan. For this purpose the temperature 

 of the sea is observed at different parts of the coast ; and stations 

 where maximum and minimum thermometers are constantly im- 

 mersed have been established. The investigation into the 

 habits of fishes is now to be further extended to those of the 

 salmon. For some years back observations have been made by 

 Mr. Paulin on the depth and temperature of the water and the 

 takes of fish in the Tweed, and these are being discussed by 

 Mr. Paulin and Mr. Buchan. Observations were also made for 

 some years on the temperature of the Doon in Ayrshire. But 

 the inquiry suggested by Mr. Young has more especial reference 

 to the question of the earliness or lateness of the different rivers, 

 which among other causes may be found to be due to the tem- 

 perature of the fresh water as compared with that of the salt 

 ■water into which the rivers discharge. It is hoped that by means 

 of this investigation the causes which produce late and early 

 rivers may be elicited, and the best times for closing and opening 

 different rivers for fishing may be more satisfactorily determined 

 than at present. On the suggestion of Mr. Young, different late 

 and early livers have been selected for observation, and the 

 necessary arrangements for carrying these on are being estab- 

 lished, and those connected with the river Ugie, in Aberdeen- 

 shire, are now completed, and the observations will be com- 

 menced immediately. At Peterhead the Harbour Commis- 

 sioners have on the suggestion of Mr. Stevenson established a 

 station for thermometers under continuous immersion, which has 

 for some years been superintended by Mr. Boyd, who is a 

 member of the Committee, and who has kindly undertaken, in 

 connection with the sea-temperatures at Peterhead, to ascertain 

 those of the fresh waters of the Ugie. 



Dublin 



Royal Irish Academy, Nov. 8. — Dr. Stokes, F.R.S., pre 

 sident, in the chair. — Dr. S. Ferguson, V.P., read a paper On 

 the alleged literary forgery respecting Sun-worship on Mount 

 Callan. — The Secretary read a paper by Dr. Doberck, On the 

 binary stars, 44 Bootis, f Cassiopeiase, and /x Draconis (this 

 paper will appear in an early number of the " Transactions.") — 

 Dr. Macalister read Notes on anomalies in the course and distri- 

 bution of nerves in man. The following parts of vol. xxv. of 

 " Transactions " were laid on the table : — Part 16, Re- 

 searches on the Structure of the Spines of the Diadematidae, 

 by H. W. Mackintosh plates 31* to 33 ; part 17, on Nine-point 

 Contact of Cubic Curves, by Dr. Hart ; part 18, Experiments 

 on the Movements of Water in Plants (part ii. ), by Prof. M 'Nab, 

 M.D. ; part 19, on the Binary Stars a Coronse, t Ophiuchi, 

 7 Leonis, f Aqaurii, 36 Andromedas, and j Leonis, by Dr. 

 Doberck ; part 20, Report on the Superinduced Divisional Struc- 

 ture of Rocks called Jointing, and its Relation to Slaty Cleav- 

 age, by Dr. W. King (plates 34 to 38) ; this part concludes vol. 

 xxv. , and is accompanied by a title-page and table of contents ; 

 also the July and October parts of the " Proceedings." 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Nov. 22. — M. Fremy in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — Thermal researches on 

 citric acid, by MM. Berthelot and Longuinine. — Remarks on the 

 interpretation of two tables of chemical analyses, by M. Du- 

 chartre. This refers to treatment of beet. — On the periodicity of 



great movements of the atmosphere, by M. Sainte-Claire Deville. 

 From two years' observations he shows a quadruple, dodecuple, 

 and tridodecuple period in recurrence of barometric maxima and 

 minima in tiie year. — Continued observations of eclipses of the 

 satellites of Jupiter, made at the Observatory of Toulouse, by 

 M. Tisserand. — New observations on the law of expansion in 

 steam-engines, by M. Ledieu. — Remarks on the Balsenides of the 

 Japan seas, apropos of the cranium of a Cetacean of this group 

 sent to the Museum by the Japanese Government, by M. 

 Gervais. — M. Pierre exhibited a specimen of fibres of remark- 

 able length and tenacity, obtained by setting a stem of Lavatera. 

 — On the mechanism and the causes of changes of colour in the cha- 

 meleon, by M. Bert. There are two sets of nerves, the one bringing 

 the coloured corpuscles out to the surface (and comparable to 

 vaso-constrictor nerves), the other bringing them under the 

 dermis (corresponding to,the vaso-dilator nerves). Each cerebral 

 hemisphere commands nerves on both sides of the body, and is 

 generally excited through the eye on the other side ; but it acts 

 chiefly on nerves of the vaso-constrictor type on its own side, and 

 the other kind on the opposite side. Blue violet rays act directly 

 on the corpuscles, bringing them to the surface. — Granitic dilu- 

 vium in the neighbourhood of Paris ; Lithology of the sands of 

 Beynes and St, Cloud, by M, Salvetat. — On the electrolysis of 

 bodies of the aromatic series, by M. Goppelsroeder. — On the 

 fixation of atmospheric nitrogen in soils, by M. Truchot. — Water 

 of the Vanne, and distilled water ; examination of the salt of 

 brine, by M. Monier. — On the construction of lightning conduc- 

 tors, by M. Saint-Edme. — On the formation, structure, and de- 

 composition of the swellings produced on the vine by Phylloxera, by 

 M. Max. Cornu. — Observations on the planet Jupiter (continued), 

 by M. Flammarion. — New examples of representation, by geo- 

 metrical figures, of the analytical conceptions of geometry of n 

 dimensions, by Mr. Spottiswoode. — On employment of marine 

 chronometers in the German navy, by M. Pettrs. — On co- 

 ordinated surfaces, such that at every point considered as centre 

 of a sphere of constant radius, the normals to the surfaces, 

 form in this sphere the apices of a spherical triangle of constant 

 area, by M. Aoust. — On the numbers of Bernouilli, by M. Le 

 Paise.— On a reaction of the homologues of ethylene, which may 

 explain their absence in the natural petroleums, by M. Le Bel. — 

 Remarks apropos of the discovery of gallium, by M. Mendeleef. 

 In accordance with a law he enunciated in 1869, he thinks the 

 new metal maybe ekaaluminium. — On the saccharification of 

 amylaceous matters, by M. Bondonneau. — On stripping off the 

 leaves of the beet, by M. Violette. — TroiUte ; its true mineralo- 

 gical and chemical place, by Mr. Lawrence Smith. — On certain 

 alterations of agates and silex, by M. Friedel — On explosive com- 

 pounds ; influence of the fuse on compressed gun-cotton, by MM. 

 Champion and Pellet,— Researches on the functions of the spleen, 

 by MM , Malassez and Picard. The increase of globular richness in 

 the blood of splenic tissue is not due to concentration of blood, for 

 the quantity of iron diminishes. — On the ichthyologic fauna of the 

 Isle of Saint Paul, by M. Sauvage. — Examination of rain-water 

 in the udometers of Paris Observatory, Oct. 14 to Nov. 15, 1875, 

 by M. Gerardin. — On the action of monohydrated and trihy- 

 drated phosphoric acid on coagulation of blood, by M. Ore. 



CONTENTS 



Pagb 



The Government and the Pollution of Rivers . ..... 



Manchester Science Lectures. By W. F. U. . . ; 



Recent Australian Explorations 



Our Book Shelf : — 



Saville Kent's " OflScial Guide-book to the Manchester Aquarium " 



Browne's " Elementary Science Manuals" 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Hoffmeyer's Synoptic Weather Charts. — Robert H. Scott, F.R.S. 



CoUomia. — A. G 



Sir Thomas Millington and the Sexuality of Plants. — Alfred VV. 

 Bennett, F.L.S 



The Late Echpse. — Dr. Arthur Schuster 



Lommel's Optics. — W. F. B 



The Rainfall.— Col. J. Puckle 



A New Palmistry. — ^John C. Galton ; M. M. Pattison Muir 



Faye on the Laws of Storms. — Joseph John Murphy 



Our AsTRONOiMiCAL Column ; — 



Satellites of Uranus 



The Minor Planets 



Publications 



Dr. R. Von Willemoes-Suhm. By Prof. Wvville Thohson, F.R S. 



The Penikese School . . 



The Theorv of " Stream Links " in Relation to the Resistance 

 OF Ships, II. By Wm. Froudb, F.R.S. (With Illustrations) . . 



Notes 



Prof. Nordenskjold on the Jenisei. By Prof. A. E. Norde.nskjold 



Scientific Serials 



SocisTiBS AND Academies 



89 



