532 



NATURE 



{April 27, 1876 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Weeper Capuchin {Cibiis cafucinus) irom. 

 Brazil, presented by Major F. J. Ricarde Seaver ; a Common 

 Otter {Lutra 7'ula-ans), European, presented by Mr. J.Herbert ; 

 a Grey Squirrel {Schirns ciuereus) from North America, presented 

 by Mrs. M. E. Symons ; a Yarrell's Curassow {Crax cartmcu- 

 laia) from South-east Brazil, presented by Mr. Aug. Ceiyoto ; a 

 Scaup Duck {Fuligiila marila), European, presented by Mr. II. 

 Colliver; two Common Thicknees {CEdkttnmis crepitans), 

 European, presented by Mr. J. E. Harting ; a Coati {iVasna 

 ftasjca) from South America, two Silky Marmosets {Midas 

 rosalia) from Rio Janeiro, Brazil ; five Graceful Pigeons {Co- 

 hirnba speciosa) from South America, purchased ; a Molucca 

 Deer {Ca-vtts moluccensis), born in the Gardens. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The current number of the Jotimal oj Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy commences with a paper by Dr. A. Ransome on the rela- 

 tive pow.ers ol fresh and previously used pepsine in the digestion 

 of albumen, in which it is demonstrated that pepsine has greater 

 activity after it has been used than when fresh, in which respect 

 it is shown to agree with ptyalin, as shown by Dr. Foster, and 

 with pancreatin according to Thiersch.— Following is a contri- 

 bution on the anatomy of the cutis of the dog, by Dr. Stirling, 

 with two plates, republished from the Berichte d. Math. Phys. 

 Classe der Konig. Sachs. Gesel. d. IViss., 1875. — Mr- I^- H. A. 

 Schofield makes observe tions on taste-goblets in the epiglottis of 

 the dog and cat, closely resembling the same structure in the 

 tongue. — Dr. J. Blake, of San Francisco, describes the physio- 

 logical action of the salts of beryllium, aluminium, ytrium, and 

 cerium, by injecting them into the blood. — Dr. Brunton shows 

 that Condurango is physiologically inert. — Mr. J. C. Ewart has a 

 note on the abdominal pores and urogenital sinus of the lamprey, 

 in which he demonstrates that the ureters and internal abdominal 

 pores open into a urogenital sinus which opens behind the rectum 

 on a papilla. — Mr. E. Thurston determines the length of the 

 systole ol the heart, as estimated from sphygmograpii tracings, 

 in which, from a series of measurements, he verifies Mr. A. H, 

 Garrod's law that in health the systole, as indicated in the radial 

 artery, is constant for any pulse-rate, and varies as the cube 

 root of the rapidity. — Mr. A. M. Marshall explains the mode of 

 oviposition ol Amphioxus, verifying Kowalevsky's observation 

 that the ova escape by the mouth. — Mr. F. Darwin describes 

 the structure of the snail's heart histologically. No nervous 

 mechanism was found. The contractile tissue is striated, and 

 the fibres of the auricle and ventricle arc continuous. — Dr. Stir- 

 ling notes the effects of division of the sympathetic nerve in the 

 neck of young animals. — Prof. Turner describes the structure 

 of the non-gravid uterine mucous membrane in the kangaroo, 

 and makes a note on the dentition of the narwhal. — Mr. F. M. 

 Balfour continues his valuable account of the development of the 

 Elasmobranch fishes, with five excellent plates and many wood- 

 cuts. — Mr. P. H. Carpenter makes remarks on the anatomy of the 

 arms of Crinoids, his results being arrived at from sections of decal- 

 cified specimens. — Dr. Foster describes some effects of Upas 

 Antiar on the frog's heart, demonstrating that the resulting 

 tetanus is brought about by an extraordinary prolongation of the 

 diastole, and not by a too rapid sequence of beats. The argu- 

 ments for and against the existence of both accelerator and inhibi- 

 tory fibres in the heart are discussed, in relation with the influence 

 of antiar ; and the assumption of the existence of specific accelerator 

 fibres is shown to be unnecessary. — Dr. Cumow notes variations 

 in the arrangement of the extensor muscles of the fore-arm. — 

 Dr. Brunton explains a simple method of demonstrating the 

 effect of heat and poisons upon the heart of the frog. — Mr. G. 

 A. Berry and Prof. Rutherford note with reference to Pfliiger's 

 law of contraction, that the excitability and length of the portion 

 of nerve traversed by the voltaic stream must be taken into 

 account in studying the changes of the electrotonic state.- — Prof 

 Rutherford notes with regard to the action of the internal inter- 

 costal muscles, their elevating action, as rendered evident by 

 binding similarly situated elastic bands to the ribs themselves. 

 — Mr. Reoch has a paper on the oxidation of turea. — Mr. R. 

 Hughes describes an improved freezing microtome, in which 

 ether spray is the cold-producer. — Dr. S. Coupland records an 

 example of Meckel's diverticulum in man. — The Report on 

 Physiology, by Dr. Stirling, concludes the number. 



P»ggendorff'^ s Annalen der Physik und Chetnie. Erganzung, 

 Band vii. Stiick 2, — In this number is concluded M. Voigt's 

 paper on determination of the constants of elasticity of rock 

 salt ; the case of torsion being here dealt with. Comparing 

 his general results with Navier and Poisson's theory, he finds 

 they contradict it in some points, e.g. the crystals of the regular 

 system do not behave, in reference to elasticity, like uncrystalline 

 media; for the bending and torsion coefficients are not independ- 

 ent of the direction ; the constants also have different relative 

 values. — M. Obach describes some interesting experiments on 

 the behaviour of amalgams and metallic alloys under the gal- 

 vanic current. He finds (l) that the current does not produce 

 in either electiolytic separation of the constituents; (2) that 

 sodium amalgam, after being traversed by the current, decom- 

 poses water at both poles as before ; (3) that action of the cur- 

 rent alters neither the hardness nor malleability of tin- lead alloys, 

 nor the liquid state of potassium-sodium alloy. It works in the 

 chemical composition ot the alloy near the electrodes no changes 

 exceeding errors of experiment and analysis. In all these points 

 the author opposes M. Gerardia, who, a short time ago, pub- 

 lished experiments on the subject. As to the electric curreists 

 occurring in amalgamation of metals, M. Obach regards them 

 as thermo-electric currents due to the temperature changes pro- 

 duced by amalgamation. — M. Clausius contributes a lengthy 

 memoir on the proposition of the mean ergal and its application 

 to the mechanical motions of gases ; and a paper by M. Wein- 

 berg treats of the application of the mechanical equivalent of 

 heat to molecular forces, size, and distance. 



Zeitschrift der Oesterreichischen Gesellschaft fiir Mtteorologte, 

 Jan. I. — An article extracted from the Proceedings of the Vienna 

 Academy, containing the results of Prof. Kerner's studies and 

 observations, in the neighbourhood of Innsbruck, on the abnor- 

 mal rise of temperature with increasing elevation in the valleys 

 of the Alps in late autumn and in winter, occupies nearly the 

 whole of this number. The phenomenon occurs every year 

 without fail in this district, and has been observed in Carinthia, 

 Upper Austria, the Tyrol, and Switzerland. The number of larm- 

 houses upon the mountain sides at an inconvenient distance from 

 the pastures below shows that the inhabitants are well aware of 

 the milder climate to be found at moderate altitudes. While 

 frost reigns in the valleys and trees are leafless, the grass and 

 trees upon the heights frequently keep beautifully green, and 

 flowers that bloom elsewhere in autumn and even in spring 

 bloom in the genial air. The valley folk say at such times that 

 the south wind blows aloft and will soon descend to them. Prof. 

 Kerner acknowledges the plausibility of this notion, but gives 

 gooU reasons for believing it to be ill-founded. It is true that 

 the equatorial current does descend upon the valleys, gradually 

 displacing the polar, but in the first half, at least, of the period 

 of reversed temperature, none of the signs of a south wind 

 appear in the atmosphere, barometric pressure keeps very high, 

 and the sky clear. The latest uncommonly long spell of seven- 

 teen days with reversed temperatures, from Oct. 25 to Nov. 10, 

 1874, enabled Herr Kerner to ascertain the real cause of the 

 strange and hitherto perplexing phenomenon. From an ascent 

 of the Unnutz {2, III metres), he learnt that the warm region 

 in every valley hes between two cold regions, whose borders 

 differ in position in every valley. The situation of the 

 nether border of the warm region certainly depends on the 

 height of the bottom of the valley. He reached this border at 

 about 200 metres above the level of the Inn, or 700 metres 

 above the sea, and passed out of the warm region into an 

 atmosphere colder than that of the valley at 1,890 metres above 

 the sea. In crossing the Achnenthal at 950 metres, there was a 

 fail of the thermometer, which was soon succeeded by a rise as 

 he continued to climb. In descending the favoured slopes of 

 the mountain he observed several kinds of flowers, some of which 

 generally come out in spring ; but a little lower all vegetation 

 was sprinkled with hoar frost. In making his ascent on the sunny 

 side an upward current accompanied Jiim., On the summit a 

 very slight air came from N. E. as long as the sun kept high. 

 Late in the afternooon it had risen to a fresh breeze, and after 

 sunset the N.E. wind was violent. He then made a short 

 descent on the N.E. slope to about 30 or 40 metres from i 

 the top. Here he found a calm, and a little lower a breeze 

 blowing down towards the valley. It appeared accordingly 

 that the polar wind divided itself near the top into t>vc ' 

 streams, one of which turned down into the valley, whr 

 the other flowed over the top and then down into the othe 

 valley at the foot of the southern slope. This distribution 1 



