264 



NATURE 



{Jtdy II, 1889 



this subject, the author here contrasts the advantages and defects 

 ■of the old and new processes, showing how they are comple- 

 mentary one of the other, and should consequently be associated 

 in all important anatomical researches. — On the duration of light- 

 ning, by M. Daniel Colladon. In connection with M. Trouvelot's 

 recent note, the author claims priority of discovery, having shown 

 nine years ago that in thunderstorms the flash cannot always be in - 

 stantaneous, and must last perceptibly longer than the thousandth 

 part of a second assigned to it by Wheatstone. — Presentation of a 

 volume of the " Annales de I'Observatoire de Paris : Observa- 

 tions de 1883," by M. Mouchez. The delay in issuing this 

 volume is mainly due to the greatly increased number of meridian 

 observations which were required to complete the revision of 

 Lalande's Catalogue. The volume for 1884 is already half printed. 

 — Note accompanying the presentation of M. Ch. Ed. Guillaume's 

 work entitled "Traite Pratique de la Thermometrie de Pre- 

 cision," by M. Cornu. In this work is embodied a summary 

 account of the researches that have been undertaken by the 

 International Bureau of Weights and Measures for the purpose 

 of removing the defects in the mercury thermometer, and 

 giving the required degree of accuracy to that instrument. 

 — On a new apparatus for zoological and biological research 

 at determined marine depths, by Prince Albert of Monaco. 

 With a view to remedying the defects of the instruments used in 

 the expeditions of the Challenger, \^\e. Blake, and the Vettor Pisani, 

 the author has prepared the instrument here described and illus- 

 trated. It is constructed on entirely new principles, and may 

 be let down closed to any desired depth, then opened for purposes 

 of observation, and re-closed before being brought to the surface. 

 With this appliance Prince Albert has operated with satisfactory 

 results to a depth of 500 metres in the Madeira waters. — 

 Influence of temperature on the mechanical properties of metals, 

 by M. Andre Le Chatelier. The mechanical properties of the 

 metals at the different temperatures to which they are exposed 

 in the various industrial processes have hitherto been little 

 studied. The author here describes a series of researches that 

 he has undertaken chiefly for iron and steel, but also for copper, 

 zinc, aluminium, silver, nickel, and sundry alloys of copper, iron, 

 and nickel. The results of these researches show generally that 

 the mechanical properties of these metals are gradually modified 

 with increased temperature. The detailed results obtained for 

 iron and steel are reserved for a future communicatioa. — On the 

 malonates of barium, by M. Massol. The neutral malonates 

 CHo(COO)2Ba . aHoO and HgO, with their respective heats 

 •of solution and heats of formation, are described. — On the 

 sardine fisheries on the coast of Brittany in 1888, by M. 

 ■Georges Pouchet. The shoals were fully as abundant as in 1887 ; 

 but for some unexplained reason there was a total suspension of 

 the fisheries from about June 28 to July 20, during which period 

 the sardines everywhere disappeared from the seaboard. — On the 

 ■scales and calcareous epidermic glands of Globularia and Selago, 

 by M. Edouard Meckel. During his general anatomical re- 

 searches undertaken to establish a histotaxic classification of the 

 •Globulariese, the author has detected in some species certain pro- 

 minent anatomical characters, which appear to have escaped the 

 notice of the numerous botanists who have occupied themselves 

 with this family. They are described as calcareous epidermic 

 glands of a scaly type, and are regarded by M. Heckel as 

 condensed hairs clothing the outer surface with granular and 

 crystalline, calcareous concretions, instead of secreting an internal 

 <:ystolith and lo.alizing it in their unicellular chamber, as is the 

 case with the Urticcse, Verbenacese, and some other families. — 

 On the occurrence of a granulite with riebeckite characters in 

 Corsica, by M. Urbain Le Verrier. A microscopic study of this 

 rock, which occurs in large masses about the middle of the west 

 •coast, shows that it is a hornblende of a special type, presenting 

 the characters of the riebeckite recently described by M. 

 Sauer. — On the leaves of Lepidodendron, by M, B. Renault, i 

 Since his last communication on this subject {Comptes reiidus, 

 November 28, 1887), the author has found a considerable number l 

 of leaves of Lepidodendron in the fossiliferous quartzes of j 

 Combres, de Lay, and Esnost near Autun. Some were still 

 attached to the branches of L. rhodumnense and L. esnostense, 

 and the present paper is restricted to a description of the former 

 species. — The Qaaternary stations in the neighbourhood of 

 Lorrez le-Bocage, Seine-et-Marne, by M. Armand Vire. In 

 these stations, numbering about ten, and distant 25 leagues from 

 Paris, M. Vire has collected several thousand flint instruments 

 and weapons of different types, ^besides a few fragments of a 

 blackish unornamented pottery. 



Stockholm. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, June 5. — On the heredity of 

 exterior lesions and of acquired characters, by Prof. G. Retzius. 

 — Prof. A. F. Smitt reported upon a paper, by Dr. Fr. Heincke, 

 of Oldenburg, entitled "Researches on the Stickleback." — 

 Baron Nordenskiold exhibited some fine specimens of minerals 

 from Norway, sent as a gift by Dr. Jellef Dahl. — Prof. Nilson 

 reported upon an investigation by himself and Prof. O. Petter- 

 son on the molecular weight of chlor-aluminium. They 

 have found that it is expressed by the formula AlCIs and not 

 by AljCig, as given by P'riedel and Craft. — On some definite 

 integrals, by Dr. Lindman. — Observations on the tidal waters 

 at Polhun in Spitzbergen, by Prof. Wijkander. — On the am- 

 moniacal combinations of iridium, by Herr W. Palmar. — On 

 amidoximes and azoximes within the triazol and tetrazol series, 

 by Dr. Bladin. — On the action of cyanium on a- and^^-naphthyl- 

 amin, by Herr O. Nordenskiold. — On a- and iJ-monofluor- 

 naphthalin, by Messrs. A. Ekbom and R. Manseliu«. — Observa- 

 tions on the radiation of the sun, by Dr. K. Angstrom. — 

 Ornithological observations made during the year 1887 at 

 Sandhamn and its neighbourhood, by Herr O. Ekbohm. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, June (Trubner).— Pro- 

 ceedings of the Geologists' Association, November 1888 (Stanford). — Journal 

 of the Royal Microscopical Society, June (Williams and Norgate).— Bul- 

 letin of the U.S. Geological Survey, No. 43 (Washington). — The Geological 

 and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, Report for the Year 1887 

 (St. Paul). — Aus dem Archiv der Deutschen Seewarte, i.x. Jalirg., 1886; 

 X. Jahrg., 1887 (Hamburg). — Musical Instruments and their Homes ; M. E. 

 Brown and W. A. Brown (New York, Dodd). — The Second Report upon 

 the Fauna of Liverpool Bay and the Neighbouring Seas : edited by Prof. 

 Herdman (Liverpool). — The Chemistry of the Coal-tar Colours, 2nd edition : 

 Dr. K. Benedikt ; translated and edited by Dr. E. Knecht (Bell) — Contri- 

 butions to the Tertiary Flora of Australia : Dr. Constantin (Sydney, Potter). — 

 Hydraulic Motors : G. R. Bodmer (Whittaker). — Contributions to the Know- 

 ledge of Rhabdopleura and Amphioxus : E. Ray Lankester (Churchill). — 

 Der Einfluss einer Sthneedecke auf Boden. Klima und Wetter: A. Woeikof 

 (VVien). — The Invertebrate Fauna of the Hawkesbury-Wianamatta Series of 

 New South Wales : R. Etheridge, Jun. (Sydney, Potter). — Proceedings of 

 the Geologists' Association, May (Stanford). — Mind, July (Williams and 

 Norgate). 



PAGE 

 241 



CONTENTS. 



African River Life 



The Mathematical Method in Political Economy. 



{With Diagrams.) 242 



Professor von " Crank" 244 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Fabre : " Traite Encyclopedique de Photographic " . 244 

 Le Bon : " Les Levers Photographiques, et la Photo- 

 graphic en Voyage" 245 



Harrison and Elliot: "The International Annual of 



Anthony's Photographic Bulletin " 245 



Magnus: " Industrial Education " 245 



Letters to the Editor : — 



An Index to Science. — James Blake Bailey . . . 245 



A Cordial Recognition. — W. J. Stillman 245 



Seismology in Italy. — Prof. Giulio Grablovitz . . 246 

 Saxicava Borings and Valves in a Boulder Clay 



Erratic. — T. Mellard Reade 246 



Test of Divisibility by any Prime. — Robt. W. D. 



Christie 247 



Quartz Fibres. {Illustrated.) By C. V. Boys, F.R.S. 247 



A New School of Oriental Studies 251 



Notes 252 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Late Prof. Cacciatore 255 



Comet 1889 ^/( Swift) 255 



Comet 1889 /' (Barnard, March 31) 255 



Comet 1889 c (Barnard, June 23) 255 



Comet 1888 ^(Barnard, September 2) 255 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



July 14-20 '..... 255 



Geographical Notes . 256 



Optical Torque. II. [Illustrated.) By Prof. Silvanus 



P. Thompson 257 



Babylonian Astronomy. II. By G. Bertin .... 261 



The Institution of Me^chanical Engineers 2C1 



Scientific Serials . . t 262 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received . . 



J 



