Jan. 20, 1876] 



NATURE 



237 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The current number of the Journal of Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy — the second under the new system — commences with a 

 paper by Dr. G. Thier and Mr. J. C. Ewart, entitled " A Contri- 

 bution to the Anatomy of the Lens. " The fibres of that organ are 

 stated to be composed of a number of flattened bands, termed 

 primary fibres, and to be covered with elongated flat cells 

 restirg on a structureless membrane. — Dr. Mcintosh describes 

 the central nervous system, the cephalic sacs, and other points in 

 the anatomy of the Lineidse, demonstrating that in the Nemerteans 

 the nersous system is highly developed, and that the cephalic sacs 

 are special organs of sense, their internal surface being in direct 

 commimication with the surrounding water by the ciliated 

 duct, whilst the fibrous peduncle places their cells in continuity 

 with the central nervous system. The paper is profusely illus- 

 trated. —Prof. Rutherford, who has been assisted by M. Vignal, 

 records his experiments on the biliary secretion of the dog. In 

 almost every case the animal had fasted about eighteen hours. 

 Under the influence of curare a tube was tied into the bile duct. 

 The amount of bile which flowed in each quarter of an hour was 

 •ntasured. The cholagogue action of croton oil is shown to be 

 nil ; that of podophylline considerable ; that of aloes powerful ; 

 that of rhubarb well marked ; that of senna feeble ; that of col- 

 chicum considerable, by making the bile watery j that cf 

 taraxacum very feeble ; that of scammony feeble ; that of 

 calomel probably nil ; that of gamboge nil ; that of castor-oil 

 nil. The memoir, with its valuable diagram?, deserves special 

 attention. — Dr. Galabin contributes an article on the pulse-wave 

 in the different arteries of the body. The author, we are glad to 

 see, has modified his previous statement as to the modification of 

 a double wave the result of a single impulse, in the explanation 

 of the predicrotic undulation in the sphygmograph trace. He 

 gives an explanation of this as well as of the predicrotic wave. 

 Some of his arguments are, we think, based on tco few facts, 

 whilst others are complicated by their pathological nature. — Mr. 

 D. J. Cunningham has some notes on the broncho- oesophageal 

 and pleuro-oesophageal muscles of man, first described by HyrtL 

 — Dr. i^ tilling contributes a memoir on the summation of elec- 

 trical stimuli applied to the skin, in which, from an excellent 

 series of experiments on the frog, he demonstrates, according to 

 the view of \V. Baxt, that reflex movements can only be liberated 

 by repeated impuhes communicated to the nervous centres. — Mr. 

 F. M. Balfour commences a series of papers to ultimately con- 

 stitute a monograph on the development of Elasmobranch 

 Fishes. Commencing with the ripe ovarian ovam, its descrip- 

 tion is followed by that of the segmentation, in the volume 

 before us. This monograph will be an invaluable adjunct to 

 that on the hen's egg, by Dr. M. Foster and the same author, 

 and is a most promising production of the Biological school of 

 the University of Cambridge. — Prof. Huxley writes on the 

 nature of the craniofacial apparatus of Petromyzon, a specially 

 favoured region of that author. The plates are unfortunately de- 

 layed for three months. — Mr. S. M. Bradley has a note on the 

 secondary arches of the foot. — Prof. Turner, lastly, gives a note 

 on the placental area in the uterus of the cat after delivery, in 

 which he shows that in delivery not all the mucosa cf the pla- 

 cental area comes away, its deeper structures being partly left. 

 — Prof. Turner and Mr. Cunningham's report on the progress of 

 anatomy concludes the part. 



Archives dcs Sciences Physiques et Xaturelles, Oct. 15, 1S75. — In 

 this number is concluded an important paper by Prof. Lemstrom, 

 of Helsingfors, on the theory of Aurora Borealis, apropos oi somt 

 phenomena of Geissler tubes. The phenomenon from which he 

 set out was that a Geissler tube is illuminated when near the 

 pole of an electric machine, without the tube touching the poles. 

 Air, at a pressure of 5 to 10 mm., acquires its maximum electric 

 conductivity, and Prof. Lemstrom conceives the air in the upper 

 regions of the atmosphere, rarefied to about 5 mm. , as forming a 

 great conductor concentric with the earth ; its height some 3, coo 

 kDometres less at the poles than at the equator, and the electric 

 density (on both conductors) 9 per cent greater, while the force 

 with which the electricity of the atmospheric conductor is 

 attracted to the earth is 42 per cent, greater (at poles than at 

 equator). Thus there is accumulation of atmospheric electricity 

 at the poles, and the auroras are produced on its combination 

 with that of the earth. The theory regards aurora as a pheno- 

 menon entirely of our globe ; but the possibility is not excluded 

 of an action of the sun, causing a periodical variation of auroras, 

 through meteorological phenomena, such as evaporation on the 



earth's surface. — Prof. Schnetzler contributes some observations 

 on Bacteria.— M. Cellerier investigates mathematically the simul- 

 taneous movement of a pendulum and its supports ; and a resumi 

 is given of the proceedings at the extraordinary session of the 

 Geological Society of France, held in the end of August at 

 Geneva and Chamounix.— In the " Bulletin Scientifique " there 

 is a description of a curious phenomenon observed by M. 

 Gumcelius in Sweden, viz., intercrossing rainbows. 



Journal de Physique, November, 1875. — This number contains 

 the second part of M. de Romilly's paper on the conveyance of 

 air by a jet of air or of vapour. He investigates the effects of 

 the jet when driven against the lateral wall of the receiver, the 

 orifices' of the discharge-pipe and the receiver forming, if pro- 

 jected on a plane parallel to them, two circles exteriorly tangent. 

 The form and separation of the two instruments are varied. — M. 

 Angot, in another continued paper, gives a good accoimt cf 

 Thomson's quadrant electrometer. — There are also short mathe- 

 matical notes on the verification of the law of Huyghens, by M. 

 Abrin ; and elementary demonstration of the formula of La Place, 

 by ^L Lippmann, together with the usual amoimt of matter ab- 

 stracted from other serials. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, Jan. 6. — On the Expansion of Sea-water by 

 Heat. By T. E. Thorpe, Ph.D., and A. W. Rucker, M.A. 

 (Fellow of Brasenose CoUege, Oxford), Professors of Chemistry 

 and Physics in the Yorkshire College of Science. 



The extensive contributions which have recently been made to 

 the physical history of the ocean have shown the desirability of 

 exact knowledge of the relations of sea-water to heat The 

 authors have accordingly made observations in order to deter- 

 mine the law ot the thermal expansion of sea-water. 



The only attempt hitherto made to solve this problem which 

 can lay any real claim to consideration is due to the late Prof. 

 Hubbard, of the United States National Observatory. The 

 results of his investigation are contained in Maury's "Sailing 

 Directions," 1S58, vol. i. p. 237. 



Muncke, nearly fifty years ago, determined the expansion of 

 an artificial sea-water at various temperatures between 0° and 

 100° C. ; but our confidence in the results as applicable to natural 

 sea- water is affected by the circumstance that the solution was 

 prepared from data furnished by the imperfect analyses of Vogel 

 and Bouillon La-Grange. 



The observations of Despretz were confined to temperatures 

 below I3°"27, as the main object of his inquiry was the deter- 

 mination of the point of maximum density of sea-water. The 

 subsequent investigations of Neimaann and Rossetti were equally 

 limited, as they were undertaken with the same view. 



The water used in the authors' observations was collected from 

 the Atlantic, in laL 50° 48' N. and long. 31° 14' W. ; and its 

 specific gravity at o^ C, compared with distUled water at the 

 same temperature, was found by the bottle to be i 02867. 



The method of experiment was precisely the same as that 

 already employed by one of the authors in determining the ex- 

 pansion of the liquid chlorides of phosphorus. It was essentially 

 that already used by Kopp and Pierre ; i.e. the expansion was 

 observed in thermometer-shaped vessels (so-called dilatometers), 

 graduated and accurately calibrated. 



Three of these instruments and two sets of thermometers were 

 employed. The latter were made by Casella ; the length of a 

 degree in different instruments varied between 9 and 13 millims. ; 

 they had been compared (the one set directly, the other indi- 

 rectly) with Kew standards. 



Three perfectly independent sets of observations were made 

 with the water in the state in which it was collected ; but as 

 Mr. Buchanan, of H.M.S. Challenger., has found that the specific 

 gravities of different sea-waters lie between the extreme values 

 I "0278 and I 0240, and since, in order to be of value in the in 

 vestigation of the physical condition of the ocean, the observa- 

 tions on their value and the formulje of reduction ought to be 

 correct to the fourth decimal place, quantities of the sea-water 

 were diluted with distilled water, so as to have specimens of 

 approximately the specific gravities of i"020 and I 025 ; and a 

 third quantity was concentrated by evaporation until its specific 

 gravity was increased to I 033 ; two series of independent obser- 

 vations were made on the expansion of each solution. 



Empirical formulae were calculated to express the results of 



