636 



NATURE 



[Oct. 24, 1889 



to the presence of catechin. He then deals with the first group, 

 and shows that, with one anthereally doubtful species, the 

 inembers are identical with the group Kenantherse of Bentham 

 and Miiller's anthereal classification. He shows how the examin- 

 ation of kinos is a valuable aid or supplement in the diagnosis 

 of Eucalypts, and concludes this part with an account of all the 

 ruby kinos at present known to science. — On Rhopalocera 

 from Mount Kosciusko, New South Wales, by A. >Sidney 

 Olliff. In this short paper some sixteen species are recorded 

 from specimens obtained by Mr. R. Helms, a most pains- 

 taking and energetic collector, who recently made an excursion, 

 ■chiefly in the interests of entomology, on behalf of the Australian 

 Museum. The collection contains both the species described 

 from the mountain by Mr. Meyrick, as well as a new Xenica, 

 proposed to be called X, correce. — Note on the fructification of 

 Fhlebopteris alethopter aides, Etheridge, fil., from the Lower 

 Mesozoic Beds of Queensland, by R. Etheridge, Jun. From 

 the examination of additional material the author has been able 

 to determine an arrangement of the sori similar to that in 

 P. polypodioides, Brongn,, and other known species of the 

 genus. — Note on the bibliography of Lord Howe Island, by 

 R. Etheridge, Jun. This paper is supplementary to a recently- 

 published work ('* Lord Howe Island : its Zoology, Geology, 

 &c.," Mem. Austr. Mus., 1889, No. 2), and gives a digest of 

 •certain valuable reports by Dr. Foulis, Mr. White, Captain 

 Denham, R.N., and Dr. J, Dennis MacDonald, contained in 

 the "Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council of 

 New South Wales for 1853," ^^^ with which, when contributing 

 to the above-mentioned work, the author had been unable to 

 meet 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, October 14. — M. Des Cloizeaux, 

 President, in the chair. — Presentation of vol. iv. of the 

 ■" Collection of Memoirs relating to Physics," published by the 

 French Physical Society, by M. C. Wolf. This volume is de- 

 voted to the pendulum ; and contains memoirs by La Condamine, 

 Borda, Cassini, Prony, Kater, and Eessel. M. Wolf supplies 

 a bibliography and chronology of works on the pendulum from 

 Galileo's time to 1885 ; also an historical introduction. The fifth 

 "volume will deal with the same subject. — Reciprocal displace- 

 ments between the halogen elements and oxygen ; hydro- 

 bromic and hydriodic acids, by M. Berthelot. A dilute solution 

 of iodide of potassium remains an indefinite time colourless in 

 presence of oxygen ; but it is otherwise with a saturated %o\\x\\or\., 

 owing to the formation of a small amount of tri-iodide. 

 Dilution of theyellow liquor with fifty times its volume of water(or 

 more) removes the colour almost entirely ; dissociation of the 

 tri-iodide allowing the potash to react fully with the iodine. — On 

 transformism in pathogenic microbiology ; limits, conditions, 

 and consequences, of the variability of the Bacillus anthracis ; 

 researches on ascendant or reconstituant variability, by M. A. 

 Chauveau. The natural Bacillus, with its virulence quite re- 

 imoved by compressed oxygen, may be revivified by degrees, thus : 

 it is cultivated in bouillon, to which fresh blood of, e.g., 2, guinea- 

 pig is added, and in very rarefied air ; it then becomes fatal to 

 •mice, guinea-pigs, rabbits, &c., and is vaccinal to small 

 ruminants, but does not kill them. Cultivation of this Bacillus 

 in bouillon to which sheep's blood is added renders it fatal to 

 small ruminants, and probably vaccinal to the ox. — New 

 (relation between sugars and furfuric compounds ; constitu- 

 tion of rnethylfurfurol and of isodulcite, by M. Maquenne. 

 Distilling isodulcite (CgHijOg) with dilute sulphuric acid, he got 

 some pure rnethylfurfurol (CgHgOj) identical with that obtained 

 from Fucus ; and he infers the presence of isodulcite in tissues of 

 marine plants. Its relations to arabinose suggest that it may be 

 •much more widely diffused than has been supposed. — On the 

 physical properties of the free superficial layer of a liquid, and of 

 the layer of contact of a liquid and a solid, by M, Van der Mens- 

 brugghe. — On doubly harmonic linear elements, byM. L. Raffy. 

 — On the area of certain ellipsoidal zones, by M. G. Humbert. 

 — On the fermentation of rafiinose, in presence of different 

 species of beer-yeast, by M. D. Loiseau. A claim of priority. — 

 Observations on the communication made by M. Ch. E. 

 Guignet, at the meeting of September 30 last, by MM. C. 

 Vincent and Delachanal. The addition of ammoniacal sulphate 

 •of copper to the juice of sorbs precipitates sorbite itself, so the 

 production of this precipitate does not prove the presence of 

 mannite nor its separation from sorbite. — On the optical analysis 

 of oils and of butter, by MM. E. H. Amagat and Ferdinand 

 Jean. They describe a method based on variation of the index 1 



of refraction of various oils, and of the melted fatty matter of 

 butter, due to the presence of adulterating substances. — On air 

 contained in the soil, by M. Th. Schloesing, fils. He has 

 improved on the method adopted by MM. Boussingault and 

 Lewy thirty years ago ; he forces into the ground a steel tube 

 with conical point, the opening of which is temporarily closed 

 by wire. The upper end is connected by means of a capillary 

 tube with a bulb, from which mercury is withdrawn on lowering 

 a small connected reservoir ; thus the air of the soil is drawn 

 in. He finds abundant gaseous oxygen in the soil, and much 

 variability at different times ; details are promised. — On a 

 musculo-cutaneous strip, in form of a flap, applied to the restora- 

 tion of eyelids, by M. Leon Tripier. The strip is dissected out 

 from one eyelid and transferred to the other side. — On the ex- 

 ploration and the formation of avens, by MM. E. A. Martel and 

 G. Gaupillat. These avens are natural, open, deep pits, found 

 in numbers on calcareous plateaus. The authors hold that four 

 factors participate in their formation : (i) previous dislocations 

 of the ground ; (2) surface waters (erosion) ; (3) interior waters 

 (erosion, hydrostatic pressure, falling in) ; (4) chemical pheno- 

 mena. Frequently only three or two of these factors have been 

 in operation. It is only accidentally that the avens communicate 

 with subterranean rivers. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Chief Ancient Philosophies— Aristotelianism : Rev. I. G. Smith and Rev. W. 

 Grundy (S.P.C.K.)— Toilers in the Sea ; M. C. Cooke (S.P.C.K.).— Federal 

 Government in Canada-: J. G. Bourinot (Baltimore). — Elementary Manual 

 of Magnetism and Electricity ; Part i, Magnetism : Prof. Jamieson (Griffin). 

 — Index of the Genera and Species of Molluscain the Hand-list of the Indian 

 Museum, Calcutta, Parts i and 2 (Calcutta). — Journal of the Chemical 

 Society, October (Gurney and Jackson). — Journal »of Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy, October (Williams and Norgate). — Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 15 

 Band, 2 Heft (Leipzig). — ^Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 

 August (Williams and Norgate). — Key to Lock's Arithmetic for Beginnerj : 

 Rev. R. G. Watson (Macmillan). — A General Formula for the Uniform Flow 

 of Water in Rivers and other Channels : E. Ganguillet and W. R. Kutter ; 

 translated (Macmillan). — Scientific Papers of Asa Gray, 3 vols., selected by 

 C. S. Sargent (Macmillan). — Hand-book of the Bromeliacese : J. G. Baker 

 (Bell). — Ker Kompass an Bord ; ein Handbuch fiir Fuhrer von Eisernen 

 Schiffen (Hamburg, Friederichsen). — A Bibliography of Geodesy ; Appendix 

 No. 16, Report for 1887 (Washington). — Calendar of the University College 

 of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1889-90 (Manchester, Cornish). — Les Industries des 

 Animaux : F. Houssay (Paris, J. B. Bailliere). — Glasgow and West of 

 Scotland Technical College Calendar for the Year 1889-90 (Glasgow, Ander- 

 son), — ^The Engineer's Sketchbook: F. W. Barber (Spon). — Proceedings 

 and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for the Year 1888, vol. vi. 

 (Montreal, Dawson). — Iris ; Studies in Colour and Talks about Flowers : F. 

 Delitzsch, translated by Rev. A. Cusin (T. and'T. Clark, Edinburgh). — 

 Steam : W. Ripper (Longmans). — The Tornadoes and Hailstorms of April and 

 May 1888 in the Doaband Rohilkhand : S. A. Hill (Calcutta). — Journal of the 

 Royal Statistical Society September (Stanford). — Journal of the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society, 3rd series, No. 6 (Blackwood). — Journal of Morpho- 

 logy, vol. iii. No. I (Boston, Ginn). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



James Prescott Joule 613 



The Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton .... 614 

 The English Translation of Weismann's " Essays." 



By P. C. M . 6i8 



Our Book Shelf:— 



"Chambers's Encyclopaedia" 619 



Wallace : "Farm Live Stock of Great Britain" . . . 619 



Japp : " Days with Industrials " 619 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Lamarck versus Weismann. — Dr. Alfred R. Wallace 619 

 A Mechanical Illustration of the Propagation of a 

 Sound-Wave. {Illustrated.) By Frederick J. 



Smith 620 



On some Effects of Lightning. — Spencer Pickering 620 



Yew-Trees in Berks. — George Henslow 621 



Slight Slip in Maxwell's " Electricity and Magnetism." 



—Herbert Tomlinson, F.R.S 621 



An Examinatioa of some Points in Prof. Weis- 

 mann's Theory of Heredity. By Dr. Sydney H. 



Vines, F.R.S 621 



Notes . . 626 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



October 27 — November 2 628 



The Geographical Papers at the British Association 629 

 The Mechanical Papers at the British Association 630 

 The Anthropological Papers at the British Associa- 

 tion 631 



The Maoris 634 



Scientific Serials 635 



Societies and Academies 635 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 636 



