540 



NATURE 



{Sept. 26, 1889 



that various effects were obtained by making two glasses act on 

 -each other. In one case of interior twisted marbling, e.g., a 

 yellowish glass (charged with iron protoxide) reddened only at 

 its contact with the enveloping mass of greenish-blue glass 

 {copper-oxide). In another case (parallel marbling), each 

 pellicle of yellow glass is reddened at its two faces. M. 

 Henrivaux has adopted a similar method at St, Gjbain. 



September 16.— -SI. Des Cloizeaux, President, in the chair. 

 — On an adynamic gyrostatic constitution for the ether, by Sir 

 William Thomson. He describes a system of small spheres, 

 ■connected by rods, with terminal cups moving on the spheres, 

 and, at their middle part, two gyroscopes, with outer rings at 

 right angles to each other. — On an application of the electric 

 transmission of force, made at Bourganeuf, by M. Marcel 

 Deprez. Further details are given of the system, which has 

 worked well since May. The high tension generator, driven by 

 a turbine, has two rings on one shaft, excited by two rectilinear 

 inductors parallel to the axis, having the four poles quite free. 

 The receiver is similar. The machines for light are of the 

 Gramme type ; and with a line resistance of 23 ohms, about 50 

 per cent, of the force imparted to the generator is recovered in 

 light. — Determination of the microbe producing contagious 

 peripneumonia of the ox, by M. S. Arloing. Of the four he 

 describes, he finds the Pnewnobacillus liquefaciens (as he 

 calls it) the essential element in the virus. — Observations of 

 Brooks's comet and its companion, at Algiers Observatory, by 

 M. Rambaud. — On the occultations of Jupiter's satellites, by 

 M. Ch. Andre. With three different telescopes at Lyons, the 

 time of contact determined differed to the extent of 2^ 

 minutes ; immersion being noted earlier, and emersion later, 

 with the smaller instrument ; also the apparent complete 

 visibility of the satellite, continued after contact (as others have 

 observed), is referred to. This is thought to be due to a zone of 

 diffracted light, spread by the object-glass round the geometrical 

 image of the planet, covering the focal image of the satellite. — 

 On the calculations of ^laxwell, relative to movement of a 

 rigid ring round Saturn, by M. O. Callandreau. — On the heat of 

 vaporization of carbonic acid near the critical point, by M. E. 

 Mathias. He uses the heat of dilution of sulphuric acid in the 

 water of the calorimeter, as a compensating source of heat, and 

 finds Clapeyron's formula satisfactorily verified. At the critical 

 point the latent heat, L, is rigorously nil. — On the use of the new 

 Edison phonograph as a universal acoumeter, by M. Licht- 

 witz. With it, one may form phonograms, to serve as acou- 

 metric scales, with vowels, consonants, syllables, words and 

 phrases, &c., according to their intensity and acoustic value (as 

 determined by O. Wolf). The sound-source being nearly con- 

 stant, could be used to compare the hearing of different patients, 

 or the same patient at different times. A set of uniform phono- 

 grams could be got by placing phonographs at a fixed distance 

 from a reproducing instrument. Thus aurists in all countries 

 could compare results.— Catadioptric objectives applied to 

 celestial photography, by M. Ch. V. Zenger. Two correction 

 lenses of magnesium glass, of the same focal length, one 

 concave and the other convex, are inserted, the focal length of 

 the system being identical with that of the spherical mirror. The 

 time of exposure is reduced to a third or a quarter, for stars of a 

 given size. — Some supplementary thermal data, by ^I. J. Ossipoff. 

 Thermal formation of salts of phenylene diamines, by M. Leo Vig- 

 non. Comparing the heat of neutralization of the three diamines by 

 hydrochloric acid, he finds orthophenylene diamine to show less 

 than the meta isomer ; which, again, shows less than the para. 

 The bisubstituted derivatives of benzine studied by Berthelot and 

 Werner present a similar case. — On the alcoholic fermentation 

 of honey and the preparation of hydromel, by M. G. Gastine. 

 Solutions of honey generally give but poor alcoholic fermenta- 

 tion. The author verified an idea that this is because the fer- 

 ments, in a medium so poor in mineral and azotized matters, miss 

 the conditions necessary to their evolution. — Physiological action 

 of the poison of the terrestrial salamander, by MM. Phisalix and 

 Langlois. The characteristic symptom is convidsion ; and the 

 poison acts successively on the cortical, bulbar, and medullary 

 cells. Temperature rises rapidly, and dyspnoea occurs, followed 

 by asphyxia. Arterial tension is increased. — Cyclone of Jougne, 

 on July 13, 1889, byM. Ch. Dafour. This appeared at 1. 15 p.m., 

 on a very hot, calm, cloudy day, in the canton of Doubs, and 

 tore along eastwards 6 km., with a rattle like thunder, lasting 

 two to three minutes. Of many trees uprooted, those at the outset 

 lay mostly east to west ; those further on, mostly west to east. The 

 width of region devastated grew from iod to 250 metres. The 



intensity seems to have varied in this space, and to have been 

 greater on the right than on the left side (probably through the 

 velocity of translation being added to that of gyration in the 

 former case). Curiously, the weather changed at the time of 

 the cyclone, from dry and warm to cold and wet. 



Stockholm, 



Royal Academy of Sciences, September 11. — A new 

 arrangement of the species of the cod-fishes, by Prof. A. F, 

 Smitt, — On types of weather-maps, and on the latest dis- 

 positions as to the circulation of the meteorological observa- 

 tions of the Meteorological State Institute to the public 

 in general, by Prof. R. Rubenson. — On the genus Prisci- 

 turben, Kunth, by Prof. G. Lindstrom. — Analytic construc- 

 tion of the integrals of a linear homogeneous differential 

 equation of a circular ring, which does not include any singular 

 place, by Prof. G. Mittag-Leffler. — Analytic construction of the 

 invariants of a linear homogeneous differential equation, by the 

 same. — Contribution to the history of the mathematical studies 

 in Sweden during the sixteenth century, by Dr. G. Enestrom. 

 — On the constitution of the cumenyl-propin-acid, by Prof. O. 

 Widman. — On hydro-canel-carbon-acid and some of its deriva- 

 tives, by the same. — A contribution to the question of the re- 

 adjustment of the atoms within the propyl group, by the same. 

 — Derivatives of theortho-amidbenzyl-alcohol, by Prof. Widman 

 and Dr. Soderbom. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED, 



Hints to Travellers, 6th Edition (Royal Geographical Society). — Travels 

 in France by Arthur Young during the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789: M. 

 Bethamtd wards (Bell). — Contributions to Canadian Paljeontology, vol. i. 

 Part 2 : J. F. Whiteaves (Montreal). — The Fauna of British India, including 

 Ceylon and Burma ; Fishes, vol. ii. : F. Day (Taylor and Francis).— The 

 Hand-book of Jamaica for 1889-90 (Stanford). — A Treatise on Analytical 

 Mechanics ; vol. ii., Dynamics of a Material System, 2nd edition : B. Price 

 (Oxford, Clarendon Press). — Animal Bio'ogy, 2nd edition : C. Lloyd Morgan 

 (Rivingtons\ — Notes on the Pinks of ^Vestern Europe : F. N. Williams 

 (West).— Simple Shorthand: W. Heather (Groombridge).— The Birds in my 

 Garden : W. T. Greene (R.T.S.).— First Mathematical Course (Blackie).— 

 An Elementary Text-book of Geology : W. J. Harrison (Blackie).— On the 

 Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals : W. Harvey; Willis's Transla- 

 tijn, revised and edited by A. Bowie (Bell). — The Rotifera or Wheel- Ani- 

 malcules ; Supplement : C. T. Hudson and P. H. Gosse (Longmans). — The 

 British Moss-Flora. Part 12 : R. Braithvvaite (published by the Author). — A 

 Monograph of the Horny Sponges: R. vun Lendenfeld (Triibner). — Records 

 of the Geological Survey of New South Wales, vol. i. Part 2, 1889 (Sydney, 

 Potter). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Tertiary Flora of Australia, By J. Starkie 



Gardner 5^7 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Rankine: " Useful Rules and Tables " 517 



Whitmell : "Colour" 5^^ 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Sailing Flight of Large Birds over Land, — S. E. 



Peal 518 



Bishop's Ring and Allied Phenomena. — T. W, Back- 

 house 519 



Observations of Twilight and Zodiacal Light during 

 the Total Eclipse of the Sun, December 21, 1889. 

 (With Diagrams.) By Prof. Cleveland Abbe . . . 519 

 The British Association : — 



Section D (Biology). — Opening Address by Prof. J. 

 S. Burdon Sanderson, M,A., M.D., LL.D., 

 F.R,SS. L. and E., President of the Section . . 521 

 Section H (Anthropology). — Opening Address by 

 Prof. Sir William Turner, M.B., LL.D., 

 F.R.SS.L. and E., President of the Section , , 526 



Reports 533 



Notes 53^ 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1889 e (Davidson) 52 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



September 29— October 5 51 



Geographical Notes Si 



Societies and Academies 53 



Books, Pamphlets, and SerialsReceived 5ij 



