120 



NATURE 



{]\lay 30. 1889 



mixing of cold air with warm moist air, and since the tempera- 

 ture of the mixture falls to the arithmetical mean of the other 

 two, so much moisture must be condensed as corresponds to the 

 considerably lowered saturation-point which results from the 

 above process. Now, however, it is known that both the rise 

 in temperature of the cold air and the heat set free by the con- 

 densation of the moisture must be taken into account, so that in 

 reality very little moisture is precipitated : this was clearly 

 shown by the speaker in a series of examples, both by calcula- 

 tion and by graphic representation. Thus appreciable precipi- 

 tations occur either very seldom or not at all when masses of air 

 ■of differing temperatures are mixed together. Precipitation 

 only occurs when a saturated mass of air is directly cooled, such 

 cooling being brought about in nature chiefly by radiation and 

 by the upward flow of currents of air. Hence the precipitations 

 which take place on the lofty sides of mountains as the air rises 

 along them, as a result of its having been warmed, and in 

 cyclones. Since warm dry air is carried into the cyclone from 

 the anticyclone, the clouds formed at the edge of the cyclone 

 are subsequently absorbed ; thus the clouds are most dense in the 

 centre where the pressure is a minimum, and are progressively 

 less dense towards the periphery. Dr. Vettin showed several 

 experiments on the movement of smoke inside a glass case 

 vi'hich was slowly rotating about its centre. Small vessels filled 

 with ice were suspended in the case, causing downward currents 

 of air, and towards these places the smoke made its way from 

 the periphery in a whirling, screw-like formation. 



Vienna. 



.Imperial Academy of Sciences, March 14. — The follow- 

 ing papers were read : — On the oxidation of )8-naphthol, by E. 

 Ehrlich. — On the encysting of protoplasm with regard to the 

 function of the cell-nucleus, by G. Haberlandt. — Contribution 

 to the anatomy of the aerial roots of Orchidea, by E, Palla. — 

 Results of comparative researches on the spectra of cobalt 

 and nickel (sealed), by A. Griinwald. — Contribution to the 

 ■systematic knowledge of Muscaria (sealed), by F. Brauer. — On 

 the intestinal mesenteries and omenta in their normal and ab- 

 normal state, by C. Toldt. — On the oxidation of paraphenylene- 

 •diamine and paramido-phenol, by E. von Bandrowski. — On 

 some phenomena of electrical discharges and their photographic 

 fixation, by A. von Obermayer and A. von Hiibl. — On the ele- 

 ments of the geological structure of Rhodus, by G. von Bukow- 

 ski. — Determination of the orbit of the Andromeda (175) planet, 

 'by F. Bidschof. 



Amsterdam. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, April 20. — Prof, van de 

 Sande Bakhuigzen in the chair. — M. Martin read a paper on the 

 ■so-called "old-slate formation of Borneo." This formation is 

 known among others in the western parts of the island, where 

 •a few fossils were collected by the mining engineer, C. J. van 

 Schelle, viz. at the Soengli Molsong, and near Boedoek and 

 Sepang, in the "Chinese districts." It appeared, on examina- 

 tion, that these fossils belong to the genera Gervillia and Corbula, 

 and as neither genus ever occurs in Palaeozoic strata, the "old 

 slate " Jiere cannot be Palseozoic. The slates are, moreover, 

 ■covered by Tertiary strata, so that the only alternative is to 

 assume that they belong to the Mesozoic age. A further con- 

 firmation of this hypothesis he found in the fact that he had 

 succeeded in finding, in a grey limestone of the Bojan, in the 

 Upper Kapoes dominion, Orbitulina centicularis. As this 

 •fossil is Cretaceous, and the limestone in question occurs like- 

 wise in company with clay-slate, he concluded that the strata 

 with Gervillia and Corbula are of the same age as those with 

 Orbitulina, and that they all belong to the Cretaceous period. 

 M. Martin feels persuaded that the Cretaceous formation is 

 widely spread in the Indian Archipelago, and, on aci;ount of the 

 absence of fossils, has been partly included among the " old 

 slate," and partly among the Tertiary system. 



Stockholm. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, May 8. — Prof. S. Loven 

 :gave an account of a recently published memoir, by Prof, 

 y. Steenstrup in Copenhagen, with the title, " On the Station 

 of the Mammoth Hunters at Tredmort in Moravia." — Baron 

 Nordenskiold exhibited the first copy, now ready, of his great 

 work, " Facsimile Atlas to the Oldest History of Charto- 

 graphy, containing copies of the best maps printed before 

 the year 1600," a volume in folio, with fifty-one large maps, 

 and eighty-four maps and figures inserted in the descriptive 

 letterpress. The interesting manuscript map of Northern 



Europe from 1467, di.-covered by Baron Nordenskiold in the 

 library of Count Zamoiski at Warsaw, is also copied. — He also 

 exhibited a large meteoric stone, \o\ kilogrammes in weight, which 

 fell on April 3, this year, in the province of Scania. — Contribu- 

 tions to the knowledge of the absorption of the radii of heat 

 through the various components of the atmosphere, by Dr. 

 Angstrom. — On the construction of the integrals of the linear 

 differential equations, by Prof. Mittag-Leffler. — Note sur la 

 serie generalisee de Riemann, by Dr. A. Jonquiere, of Bern. — 

 On the action of cyanium on phenyl-sulpho-urinate, by Herr D. 

 S. Hector. — On the action of some oxidating bodies on phenyl- 

 sulpho-urinate, by the same. — On integration of differential 

 equations in the problem of the n bodies, by Prof. Dillner. — 

 The singular generatrices of the binormal and principal surfaces, 

 by Prof. Bjorling. — Studies on the peat bogs of Southern 

 Scania, by Herr G. Andersson. — Zoological notes from Northern 

 Bohusliin, by Herr C. A. Hansson. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Unrivalled Atlas (W. and A. K. Johnston). — An Illustrated Manual 

 of Biitish B.rds, Parts 11-14 : H. Saunders (Gurney and Jackson). — A His- 

 tory of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge : W. W. R. Ball (Cam- 

 IriJge University Press). — Nature's Voice: H. H. (Vickers-Wood). — The 

 Physiology of the Domestic Animals: Dr. R. M. Smith (Davis). — A Visit 

 to Stanley's Rear Guard : J. R. Werner (Blackwood). — Reports from the 

 Laboratory of the Royal College of Physician", Edinburgh, vol. i. (Pent- 

 land). — A New Theory of Parallels, 2nd edition: C. L. Dodgson (Mac- 

 millan). — Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, vol. iii. : R. P. Graves 

 (Longmans). — Untersuchungen iiber die Theorie des Preises : R. Auspitz 

 und R. Lieben (Leipzig, Duncker and Humblot). — Spacial and Atomic 

 Energy, Part i : F. Major (Eyre and Spottiswoode). — Record of E.xperi- 

 ments in the Manufacture of Sugar from Sorghum, 1888 : H. W. Wiley 

 (Washington). — Six Species of North American Fresh-water Fishes ; Six 

 Lithographs from Drawings by A. Sonrel ; Explanation of Plates by D. S. 

 Jordan (Washington). — Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. 

 Louis, vol. v., Nos. I and 2, 1886-88 (St. Louis). — Journal of Morpholo^, 

 vol. ii., No. 3 (Boston, Ginn). — Journal of the Marine Biological Associa- 

 tion, New Series, No. i (Plymouth). — Journal of the Anthropological 

 Institute, May (Triibner). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Intermediate Education in Wales 97 



Flora Orientalis. By W. Botting Hemsley .... 98 



A Treatise on Manures 99 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Dupuis : " Elementary and Synthetic Geometry of the 



Point, Line, and Circle in the Plane " 100 



Harvie- Brown and Buckley : "A Vertebrate Fauna 



of the Outer Hebrides " loi 



Wall: " Dictionary of Photography " lOl 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Upper Wind Currents over the Equator in the Atlantic 



Ocean. — Hon. Ralph Abercromby loi 



The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. — Dr. 



H. B. Guppy 102 



Atmospheric Electricity. — C. Tomlinson, F. R.S. ; 



R. T. Omond 102 



SailingFlightof the Albatross.— R. E. Froude . . 102 

 The Science and Art Examination in Physics. — A 



Science Teacher of Seven Years' Standing . . 102 



Dr. Hansen's Journey across Greenland 103 



On the Telluric Origin of the Oxygen Lines in the 



Solar Spectrum. By M. J. Janssen 104 



The Zoological Society's Insect House. (^Illus- 

 trated.) 105 



Notes ic6 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1888 ^(Barnard, September 2) 109 



The Motion of Stars ia the Line of Sight 109 



The Latitude of Detroit 109 



The Minor Planet Victoria 109 



Meridian Observations of Iris 109 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



June 2-8 109 



Geographical Notes no 



Beacon Lights and Fog Signals. II. {Illustrated.) 



By Sir James N. Douglass, F. R.S no 



Preliminary Report of the Newall Telescop; Syndi- 

 cate 114 



Some Properties of the Number 7. By R. Tucker . nS 



The Bhils and their Country 116 



Scientific Serials n6 



Societies and Academies ii7 



