August 15, 1889] 



NATURE 



o'-'o 



used in transacting the world's business could be made to re- 

 appear, if not with scientific, at least with commercial accuracy, 

 cm the other side of an abyss of time and space before which the 

 human mind shrinks back in dismay. The science of the 

 eighteenth century sought to render itself immortal by basing its 

 standard units upon the solid earth ; but the science of the 

 nineteenth century soars far beyond the solar system, and con- 

 nects its units with the ultimate atoms which constitute the 

 universe itself. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



'XwE. Aiiurkan Aleieorolo'^ical JouDial for July contains an 

 article by Prof. H. A. Hazen on storms and a central ascending 

 current. The author discusses a few of the arguments for and 

 against the theories of storm formation, viz. the theory of an ascen- 

 sional current in the centre of a storm, and that of the increase of 

 energy, through the liberation of latent heat and consequent pro- 

 duction of a partial vacuum. Some of the conclusions arrived 

 at are that the theories are exceedingly unsubstantial, and 

 that, above all things, positive information of the processes 

 going on in upper air strata is necessary ; that the dependence 

 of the generation of storms on temperature distribution in a 

 vertical direction appears open to doubt ; and that, reasoning 

 from the behaviour of thunderstorms, it seems possible that 

 some electrical action, not thoroughly understood, supplies the 

 force which keeps up their energy. — Mr. A. L. Rotch contri- 

 butes an article on the organization of the Meteorological Service 

 in Holland. The Institute at Utrecht existed as a private estab- 

 lishment as early as 1849, and its Director, Dr. Buys Ballot, first 

 stated publicly in 1857 the relation between wind and atmo- 

 spheric pressure in the law which bears his name. Dr. Buys 

 Ballot has for many years endeavoured to combine trustworthy 

 observations all over the world with each other, and has pub- 

 lished, in his "Year-book," detailed observations for various 

 distant parts. Branch offices are established at Amsterdam and 

 Rotterdam, and the collection of observations made at sea is 

 actively carried on. At present the work bears upon the South 

 Atlantic in connection with the Deutsche Seewarte, and, inde- 

 pendently, upon the Indian Ocean. — Prof. C. F. Marvin con- 

 tinues the discussion between himself and Prof. Hazen as to the 

 cause of differences obtained in anemometer experiments. Prof. 

 Hazen attributes them to the influence of the natural wind 

 blowing at the time, while Prof. Marvin thinks this of little im- 

 portance and calculates its effect by a formula. He thinks that 

 the momentum theory of the cups explains the discrepancies in 

 a satisfactory manner. — Lieut. J. P. Finley contributes tornado 

 statistics for the State of Iowa for fifty-two years ending 1888. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London, 

 Entomological Society, August 7. — The Right Hon. Lord 

 Walsingham, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Prof. C. V. 

 Riley, of Washington, was elected an Honorary Fellow in place 

 of the late Dr. Signoret, of Paris. — Mr. Walter F. Blandford 

 exhibited a specimen of CardiopJiorus ciiicreus, taken at Tenby, 

 and remarked that the species had rarely, if ever previously, 

 been found in the United Kingdom. Mr. C. O. Waterhouse 

 .said he believed that there was a specimen in the collection of 

 his late father, and also another specimen in the collection of 

 ihe British Museum. — Mr. Waterhouse stated that the British 

 Museum had just received from the Rev. A. Elwin, of Hang- 

 chow, China, a luminous larva about lA inch long, and 3 J lines 

 broad, which he believed to be one of the Lampy)-ida\ — 

 Lord Walsingham exhibited specimens of Conchylis dcgyeyana, 

 McLach., bred from se-ed-heads oi Planlai^olanccolata at Merton, 

 Norfolk ; also a specimen of Tineidic allied to the genus 

 Soknobia, probably belonging to Dissoctena, Stand., but differ- 

 ing somewhat in the structure of the antenna;. He said that the 

 specimen was taken by himself at Merton on July 31 last, 

 and that the species was apparently undescribed. — Herr Meyer 

 Darcis exhibited a collection of Coleoptera, comprising speci- 

 mens of a species of Loethriis from Turkestan ; julodis globi- 

 thorax, Stev., from the Caucasus ; a new species oljtilodis from 

 Kurdistan ; Cardiaspis Moiihotii, Saunders, from Sikkim ; 

 Carabus smaragdinus, Fisch., from Siberia ; Juiodis arnpliata, 

 Mars., from Aintab, Asia Minor ; and Jiilodis luteogramuia. 

 Mars., from Syria, and a variety of the same from Kurdistan, 

 — Mr. H. Goss read extracts from letters from Mr. R. W. 

 Fereday, of New Zealand, and Sir John Hall, K.C.M.G., 



relating to a number of Lepidoptera recently collected at sea, 

 about half-way between the River Plate and Rio, at a distance of 

 over 250 miles from land, in about 30" S. lat. and 46" \V. longi- 

 tude. It was stated that the ship was surrounded by swarms 

 of moths. Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., observed that he had seen 

 large numbers of insects at sea about 150 miles off the coast of 

 Brazil, and he referred to othe- records of the capture of insects 

 at sea in Darwin's " Voyage of the Beag'e," and Dr. Carpenter's 

 " Cruise of the Alert." The discussion was continued by Dr. 

 Sharp, Lord Walsingham, Mr. White, and Mr. Kirby. — Mr. E. 

 Meyrick read a paper entitled "On some Lepidoptera from New 

 Guinea," and exhibited the species described in the paper. He 

 stated that the specimens were derived from two sources, viz. 

 (i) a portion of the collection received by the Society from 

 Baron Ferdinand von Miiller, F.R.S., and collected by Mr. 

 Sayer when accompanying the Australian Geographical Society's 

 Exploring Expedition ; and (2) a number of specimens collected 

 by Mr. Kowald near Port Moresby. — Mr. Blandford read a letter 

 from Mr. Wroughton, of Poona, asking for assistance in work- 

 ing out certain Indian Hymenoptera and Diptera in the collec- 

 tions of the Bombay Natural History Society. Lord Walsingham, 

 Colonel Swinhoe, and Mr. Moore made some remarks on the 

 subject. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July 29. — M. Des Cloizeaux, 

 President, in the chair. — On a means of studying the natural 

 history of the river- eel after its migration from fresh to salt water, 

 by M. Emile Blanchard. It was shown by the author many 

 years ago that, during its sojourn in fresh-water lakes and rivers, 

 the eel remains in an immature state, incapable of reproduction. 

 With a view to completing its life-history, he now suggests that 

 large numbers should be taken on their way seawards, labelled 

 with a little metallic plate, and then returned to the water, in 

 the hope that a few so marked may afterwards be captured at 

 intervals in the sea, and thus enable zoologists to follow their 

 complete evolution. To give effect to this project, he seeks the 

 co-operation both of Government and naturalists. — On the 

 variations of latitude in the solar .spots, by M, R. Wolf. At- 

 tention is directed to pp. 84-91 of No. 73 of the Aslronomische 

 Mittheihcngcn, where the author infers, from his studies of solar 

 physics, that the abrupt change of latitude noticed at the epoch 

 of the minimum does not depend exclusively on the period of 

 11^ years, but also on the longer period of 66f to 88^ years. 

 This longer period determines the altitude of the maxima, 

 so that the extent of the change in latitu le and the altitude 

 of the ensuing maximum increase or diminish simultaneously. 

 Hence the change of latitude recorded by Spoerer for the 

 second half of the seventeenth century would not appear 

 to have been anomalous, but merely the result of the low 

 maxima reached at that time. — On the transmission of 

 power by alternate currents, by M. Maurice Leblanc. But 

 for the difficulties caused by the phenomena of self-induc- 

 tion, alternate currents might be advantageously eniployed for 

 transmitting power, as they may easily receive the highest ten- 

 sions, while they do not alter the insula! ors, as is the case with 

 continuous currcrnts. The author here describes an apparatus 

 by means of which he hopes that the-e difficulties may be ob- 

 viated. — On the conductibility of electrolytes at very high tem- 

 peratures, by M. Lucien I'oincare. The methods employed by 

 MM. Bouty and Poincare in their expeiinents on the electric 

 conductivity of sails in solution cannot tje directly applied beyond 

 the melting-point of glass. But, by various dispositions here 

 detailed, M. Poincare has been enabled to obtain measurements to 

 within about one-fiftieth of ab-olute accuiacy. — On a new method 

 of volumetric analysis for silver, mercury, and thallium, by M. 

 Adolphe Carnot. Chemists possess excellent processes for the 

 volumetric analysis of silver, but very defective ones for that of 

 mercury. M. Carnot here describes a new method, based on 

 the use of potassium iodide, which is about equally applicable to 

 both of these metals, as well as to thallium.- — Researches on the 

 sulphites, by M. P. J. Hanog. Fe-pite the difficulty of its pre- 

 paration, the author has succeeded in obtaining an anhydrous 

 and crystallized sulphite of potassa in large quantities. By the 

 same process, which is described in detail, he has alsj prepared 

 the sulphite of soda in the same form, but not in a pure state, 

 and the double normal sulphite of potassium and soda. The 

 preparation of other sulphites will be described in a future com- 

 munication. — Synthesis of some selenium compounds in the aro- 

 matic series, by M. C. Chabrie. The syntheses here undertaken 

 are those in which the m.etalloid is united directly with the car- 



