2 l6 



NA rURE 



\yune 27, 1889 



violet rays, by M. A. Cornu. The tables here communicated con- 

 tain the values of the following elements : the vk^ave-leagth, X, 

 of the reflected radiation ; the principal incidence, 3, which cor- 

 responds to a difference of phase, (^, equal to ^batwe-'in the 

 two reflected vibratory components ; the coefficient H, cal- 

 culated on the empirical relation between (^ and i — 



H = sin (Q: - i) cot 27r {<p - \), 

 in the neighbourhood of the principal incidence ; the coefficient 

 k ; Cauchy's coefficient of ellipticily, e, calculated by the formula 

 H = 6 sin^ 3 ; the product 2k cos S, which should be equal to e 

 when 6 is very small before unity. The substances studied are 

 selenium, realgar (sulphide of arsenic), senarmontite (cry.stallized 

 antimony oxide), blende, diamond, fluor-spar, and silver. In 

 general, these numerical data confirm the conclusions already 

 announced, especially as regards the constant increase of the 

 positive and negative coefficient of ellipticity with the re- 

 frangibility of the reflected radiations. — On the heats of com- 

 bustion and formation of the nitriles, by MM. Berthelot and 

 Petit. The nitriles of monobasic acids (acetonitrile, propio- 

 nitrile, benzonitrile, orthotolunitrile, benzyl cyanide), and those 

 of bibasic acids (oxalic, malonic, succinic, and glutaric nitriles) 

 have been investigated. — A short summary of the thermo-chemical 

 method in its principles and results, as applied to anatomical 

 studies, by M. Sappey. Attention is called to a new method of 

 research, which has for its object the study of the intimate 

 structure of the tissues and organs. The advantages, import- 

 ance, and absolute necessity of this thermo-chemical method are 

 insisted upon, not as superseding, but as supplementing, older 

 .processes. M. Sappey has practised it since i860, but has 

 hitherto refrained from publishing anything on the subject 

 through his desire to thoroughly verify all the facts before pro- 

 •claiming the new doctrine. The method itself is based on the 

 fundamental principle of the association of calorific with chemical 

 action in the animal organism ; and in its application to the study 

 -of the tissues, cuticle, secreting gland-, the stomach, ovary, &c., 

 yields highly satisfactory, and in some instances quite startling, re- 

 sults, which cannot fail to challenge the attention of all physio- 

 logists. — On the prophylactic method as applied to patients after 

 being bitten, by M. L. Pasteur. In his brief report for the year 

 •ending May i, 1889, the Director of the Pasteur Institute an- 

 nounces the treatment of 1673 subjects, of whom 6 were 

 -seized with rabies during, and 4 within a fortnight after, 

 che process. But 3 only succumbed after the treatment had 

 been completely carried out, making one death in 554, or, 

 including all the cases, one in 128. — On the photographic 

 spectrum of Uranus, by Dr. W. Huggins. — Improvements in the 

 graphophone, by Prof. C. V, Riley. Several defects inherent in 

 Mr. Tainter's instrument are stated to have been at last com- 

 pletely removed by Mr. John H. White, of Washington, who 

 has greatly improved the graphophone by employing certain 

 appliances which have been constructed by Prof. Riley on 

 acoustic principles. — Observations of the planet Eucharis (181), 

 made at the west equatorial in the garden of the Paris Observa- 

 tory, by M. D. Eginitis. The observations are for February 7 

 and 9, 1889. — On the enlargement of the spectral rays of metals, 

 by M. Gouy. These investigations show that the so-called 

 narrow metallic rays present two distinct structures. Some are 

 -widened in a uniform manner on both sides (symmetric rays), 

 while others are enlarged almost exclusively on one side (dis- 

 symmetric rays). The difference is very marked, and the author 

 has failed to detect any intermediate phase. Nearly all the 

 metallic rays are symmetric, the only exceptions hitherto ob- 

 served by him being those of sodium and potassium, which 

 belong to the dissymmetric group. — On the limit between 

 polarization and electrolysis, by M. H. Pellat. These researches 

 lead to the establishment of a general law thus announced : 

 Electrolysis begins the moment the double electric layer 

 has been neutralized by polarization. — On actino-electric phe- 

 nomena, by M. A. Stoletow. Owing to some improvements 

 in the conditions of the investigation, the author has succeeded 

 in determining more accurately the laws of the actino-electric 

 currents in the atmosphere at ordinary pressure. He now thinks 

 that the hypothesis attributing the actino-electric phenomena to 

 the condensed gaseous layers which cover the metallic surfaces, 

 must be rejected. — On the duration of lightning, by M. E. L. 

 Trouvelot. Aided in his observations by photography, the 

 author infers that the flash is not instantaneous, as is generally 

 supposed, but has a perceptible duration beyond the thousandth 

 part of a second, denied to it by Wheatstone. —Researches on the 



phenomenon of dispersion in organic compounds, by MM. P. 

 Barbier and L. Roux. The first results of the researches 

 undertaken by the authors on the dispersive power of fluid 

 organic compounds are here communicated. The present note 

 is confined to the monosubstituted derivatives of benzine. — 

 M. G. A. Le Roy describes a new method of preparing nitrites 

 of the alkaline metals ; and M. Alphonse Combes contributes a 

 paper on the action of the diamines on the diketones. 



Amsterdam. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, May 25. — Dr. H. G. van 

 de Sande Bakhuysen in the chair. — M. Lorentz read a paper on 

 the molecular motion of dissolved substances. The values of 

 the osmotic pressure, which M. van't Hoff has deduced from 

 various data, seem to indicate that this pressure is due to the 

 molecular motion of the dissolved body, the mean kinetic energy 

 of a molecule being equal to that of the molecule of a gas at the 

 same temperature. These views were tested by a discussion of 

 molecular equilibrium in a solution under the influence of 

 external forces. — M. van de Sande Bakhuysen exhibited an 

 instrument for determining, by means of rectangular co-ordinates, 

 the right ascensions and declinations of stars on photographs, 

 and the results obtained by measuring, after this method, a 

 photograph by M. Henry. The probable error of each co- 

 ordinate is ± o""043. He pointed to the great interest of photo- 

 graphs in the determination of the sun's parallax, and stated 

 that during the coming opposition of Victoria, M. Henry at 

 Paris will make photographs which are to be measured at 

 Leyden. — M. Bierens de Haan announced that the second 

 volume of Huyghens's correspondence will soon be published. — 

 M. Forster treated of the influence of our common salt on the 

 life of pathogenetic bacteria, and stated that, from many and 

 various experiments, he had come to the conviction that, whereas 

 cholera bacilli are very sensible to that salt, and when brought 

 into contact with it very soon die, the typhoid and pyogenetic 

 bacteria, the bacilli of tuberculosis, and the cattle-distemper 

 bacilli may remain for months buried in common salt without 

 losing their powers of growth and reproduction. The salting of 

 butchers' meat may, therefore, in some cases prove ineffectual. 

 M. Forster further exhibited some preparations, obtained in the 

 hygienic laboratory, which went to prove that neither the bacilli 

 of tuberculosis nor cholera bacilli can develop under the influence 

 of iodoform vapour. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Scientific Worthies, XXVI. — Dmitri Ivanowitsh 

 Mendeleeff, By Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S. {With 



Steel- Plate Engraving.) • 193 



The Prevention of Hydrophobia 197 



Stellar Evolution. By A. Fowler 199 



The Telephone. By Prof. A. Gray 200 



Our Book Shelf :-^ 



De la Martiniere : "Morocco" 202 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The "Hatchery" of the Sun-fish, {llhistrated.) — 



Prof. William L. Stone 202 



Black Rain.— The Earl of Rosse, F.R.S 2C2 



On the Theory of Hail.— C. Tomlinson, F.R.S. . 203 

 Curious Effects of Lightning on a Tree. By Alfred 



S. Gubb 203 



The Formation of Cumuli.— Dr. M. A. Veeder . . 203, 



Coral Reefs. — W. Usborne Moore 203 



Hydrophobia. — A. D 2\ 



Sir Lyon Playfair on Universities 



The Oxford University Observatory 



John Percy, M.D., F.R.S. By Prof. W. C. Roberts- 

 Austen, F.R.S 



Henry William Bristow, F.R.S 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Recent Determinations of the Amount of Lunar Radia- 

 tion 2t 



Astronomical Phenomena for the W^eek 1889 



June 30 — ^July 6 201 



Geographical Notes • 2fl 



The Ladies' Conversazione of the Royal Society . . 2^ 



University and Educational Intelligence 2t« 



Societies and Academies 212 



A 



