136 



NA TURE 



\August I, 1889 



Sydney. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, June 5. — Prof. 

 Liversidge, F.R.S., President, in the chair.— The Chairman 

 announced that the Council had awarded the Society's bronze 

 medal and a money prize of £z<-y to Mr. Thomas Whitelegge, for 

 his paper on the marine and fresh-water invertebrate fauna of 

 Port Jackson and the neighbourhood. — The following papers 

 were read : — Note on the composition of two sugar plantation 

 soil-, by W. A. Dixon ; and the Australian aborigines, by W. 

 T. Wyndham. — Three new meteorites were exhibited by Mr. 

 H. C. Russell, viz. two from Barratta Station, thirty-four 

 miles north of Deniliquin, weighing 31 4 pounds and 48 pounds, 

 sp. gr. 3706 and 3*429 respectively, and one from Gilgoin 

 Station, near Brewarrina, 67^ pounds, sp. gr. 3*857. — In the 

 course of some remarks respecting the recent heavy rainfall, Mr. 

 Russell (the Government Astronomer) stated that he had no 

 hesitation in saying that if rain equal to that which fell in and 

 around Sydney, {i.e. 20 to 26 inches) had fallen g'jnerally over 

 the catchment areas of Windsor, Richmond, the upper parts of 

 the Hawkesbury, and in the valley of the Hunter, most if not all 

 the towns on their banks would have been swept away. — Prof 

 Anderson Stuart exhibited (i) the kymoscope, an apparatus he 

 had devised for showing the action of the heart upon the blood 

 in the circulatory system, also the difference in the pulse beats ; 

 •(2) an appliance or means of showing that the shape of the chest 

 is largely due to gravitation. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July 22. — M. Des Cloizeaux, 

 President, in the chair. — Summary of the solar observations made 

 at the Observatory of the Collegio Romano during the second 

 quarter of the year 1889, by M. P.Tacchini. During this period 

 the solar spots have continued to diminish in number, so that 

 the minimum appears now to have been reached. The pro- 

 tuberances also show a perceptible decrease, their height and 

 expansion being even inferior to those of the previous quarter. 

 — Two solar eruptions, by M. Jules Fenyi. The forms are here 

 reproduced of the two eruptive protuberances of September 5-6, 

 1888, described in the Coviptes rendus, vol. cviii. No. 17. — Re- 

 storation of the meridian and curve of mein time traced by Monge 

 ■on the wall of the Ecole de Genie at Mezieres, now the Prefecture 

 of the Ardennes, by M. Cochard. At the request of the Mayor of 

 Mezieres, the author has carefully restored this interesting monu- 

 ment of the illustrious geometrician, which appears to have 

 been executed by him some time between the years 1780 and 

 1784. Monge's dial is 5'2o m. high, distance taken on the 

 meridian between the two solstices. — On the variations in the 

 intensity of the current during the process of electrolysis, by M. 

 N. Piltschikoff. In continuation of his previous note on the 

 initial phase of electrolysis {Coniptes rendus, March 25, 1889), 

 the author here describes a curious phenomenon of transforma- 

 tion of molecular into electric energy, which he has observed in 

 the course of his researches. — On the double elliptical refrac- 

 tion of quartz, by M. F. Beaulard. In a previous communica- 

 tion {Coniptes rendus, vol. cviii. p. 671), the author described 

 a new method of studying the phenomenon of double elliptical 

 refraction presented by quartz at a direction oblique to the axis. 

 Here he gives the first results of his researches carried on by 

 means of this method. — On the zinc and cadmium chromites, by 

 M. G. Viard. By modifying M. Gerher's process the author has 

 succeeded in obtaining the crystallized chroTiites of zinc and 

 • cxdmium which are here described. Their respective densities are 

 5*29 at 13° and 579 at 17°. — On the formation of crystallized 

 alkaline and alkaline-earthy platinates at high temperatures, by 

 M. G. Rousseau. The author here deals with the platinates of 

 baryta and soda, which are shown to be as stable as the man- 

 ganates and ferrites. They offer a fresh example of the forma- 

 tion of compound bodies at a temperature higher than that at 

 which they are destroyed. — Quantitative analysis of the bicar- 

 bonate of soda in milk, by M. L. Pade. During his researches 

 into the causes of the disappearance of the greater part of the 

 alkaline element in the soluble ashes of milk, to which the bi- 

 carbonate of soda has been added, the author has discovered an 

 exact method of effecting the analysis of this salt. During com- 

 bustion about two-thirds of the carbonate of soda are transformed 

 10 the phosphate of soda and the carbonate of calcium by re- 

 acting on the phosphate of calcium contained in the milk. 

 According to this transformation the phosphate of soda is con- 

 tained in the ashes of a milk to which the carbonate of soda has 



been added. But the soluble ashes of a pure milk being but 

 slightly alkaline, and containing only traces of phosphoric acid, 

 in order to ascertain exactly the quantity of bicarbonate of soda 

 that has been added, all that is needed is to take the alkalinity 

 of the ashes and analyze the phosphoric acid contained in them. 

 — Study of a molar of an elephant and of the process by which 

 it is fixed in the maxillary, by M. V. Galippe. The recent 

 death of an elephant in Paris has afforded the author an oppor- 

 tunity of studying the general structure of the gum in this 

 animal, as well as certain pathological lesions, the analysis of 

 which is here given in detail. — Papers were contributed by M. 

 J. Mace de Lepinay, on the interference fringes produced by 

 extended luminous sources ; by M. Ad. Carnot, on the ammonio- 

 cobaltic tungstates and vanadates ; by M. E. Duvillier, on 

 adiethyl-amido-propionic acid ; by M. J. Courmont, on a new 

 bacillary tuberculosis of bovine origin ; and by M. H. Wild, on 

 the earthquake of Werny indicated by the magnetic and electric 

 registering apparatus of Pavlovsk. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Proceedings of the National Electric Light Association at its Ninth Con- 

 vention at Chicago (Boston, Mass.).— The Respiratory Functions of the 

 Nose: G. Macdonald (Watt). — Oceania, linguistic and Anthropological: 

 Rev. p. Macdonald (Low). — My Lyrical Life : G. Massey (K. Paul). — 

 Memoir on the Anatomy of the Humpback Whale : J. Struthers (Edinburgh, 

 Maclachlan and Stewart).— The Theory of Cred.t, vol. i. : H. D. Macleod 

 (Longmans). — Health Troubles of City Life : G. Herschell (Hamilton) — Re- 

 ports of Geological Explorations during 1887-S8 (Wellington, N.Z.) — 

 Twenty-third Annual Report of the Colonial Museum and Laboratory 

 (Wellington, N.Z.). — References to Papers in Anatomy : J. Stnithers 

 (Edinburgh, Maclachlan and Stewart). — Journal of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, No. 81 (Spon). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Microscopical Mineralogy. By Prof. John W. Judd, 



F.R.S 313 



The Influence of Snow on the Soil and Atmosphere 314 



The " Circolo Matematico " of Palermo . . , . . 316 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Egerton-Warburton : " Names and Synonyms of 



British Plants" . . • 316 



Gwinnell : " Geology in Systematic Notes and Tables 



for the Use of Teachers and of Taught" ... , 316 

 Falsan : "La Periode Glaciare : Etudiee principale- 



ment en France et en Suisse" 317 



Davies : " Physiological Diagrams " 317 



Brooksmith : " Woolwich Mathematical Papers". . 317 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Head Growth in Students at the University of Cam- 

 bridge.— F. M. T. ; Francis Galton, F.R.S. . 317 



Intermittent Sensations. — Thomas Reid 318 



The Aurora. — Dr. M. A. Veeder 318 



Do Animals Count ? — Dr. H. A. Hagen 319 



The Hatchery of the " Sun-fish." — Theo. Gill . . . 319 

 Centrifugal Force and D'Alembert's Principle. — 



Prof. F. Guthrie 320 



"The Theorem of the Bride." — R. T 320 



Recent Researches into the Origin and Age of the 

 Highlands of Scotland and the West of Ireland. 



II. By Dr. Archibald Geikie, F.R.S 320 



The Entire Skeleton of an English Dinosaur. {Illus- 

 trated.) 324 



Notes 323 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Discovery of a New Comet, 1889 e 32J 



Comet 1889 ^/(Brooks) 32 



Comet 1888 e (Barnard, September 2) and 1889 /' 



(Barnard, March 31) 32J 



The Vienna Observatory 32 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



August 4-10 321 



The Newcastle Meeting of the British Association 32! 



The Government's Technical Instruction Bill . . . 334 



Prof. Loomis on Rainfall. By R. A. Gregory . . . 33J 



The Sources of the Nitrogen of Vegetation .... 332 



University and Educational Intelligence 334 



Scientific Serials 334 



Societies and Academies 335 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 330 



i 



