48 



NATURE 



\Nov. 14, 1889 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, Nov. 4. — M. Des Cloizeaux, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Instrument for measuring the coefficient of 

 elasticity of metals, by Mr. Phillips. This is a large spiral spring 

 and balance wheel, the former made of the metal to be examined. 

 ■ — Role and mechanism of the local lesion in infectious diseases, by 

 M. Ch. Bouchard. Whereas in absolute immunity, there is, after 

 inoculation, neither general infection nor local lesion, and in 

 total absence of immunity, general infection, often without local 

 lesion, in relative, normal, immunity there is local lesion mostly 

 without general infection ; in the last case, as experiment shows, 

 it is not the local lesion that causes the immunity, but vice 

 versa. Inoculating vaccinated and unvaccinated rabbits with 

 pyocyanic Bacillus, the author found, in the former, rapid appear- 

 ance of leucocytes, all having many Bacteria, which were soon 

 resolved into granulations, and in sixteen hours were quite gone ; 

 while the free Bacteria soon decreased in number. In the other 

 animals, few leucocytes, no Bacilli in them, and free Bacteria 

 multiplying. — Statistics of preventive treatment of rabies, from 

 February 9, 1888, to September 15, 1889, at the Pasteur In- 

 stitute of Rio de Janeiro (Dr. Ferreira dos Santos), by the 

 Emperor of Brazil. Of 156 who underwent full treatment, only 

 one died, and not certainly from rabies ; this gives a mortality of 



64 per cent. — On the velocity of wind at the top of the Eiffel 

 Tower, by M, A. Angot. Three months' observations give a 

 mean of 7*05 m. as compared with 2*24 m. at the Central 

 Meteorological Office (21 m. from the ground). While at low 

 stations there is a minimum at sunrise and a maximum at 



1 p.m., the Eiffel (like mountains) showed a minimum about 

 10 a.m. and a maximum at 11 p.m. (while at midday there was 

 but a slight upward bend of the curve). — On phenyl-thiophene, 

 by M. A. Renard. This is prepared by passing through an iron 

 tube, heated to dark redness, vapours of toluene and of sulphur, 

 and distilling the condensed product. Analysis gave the formula 

 CjsHg — C4H3S. With bromine, nitric acid, and sulphuric acid, 

 substitution products are obtained. — Researches on digitaline 

 and tanghinine, by M. Arnaud. By heating digitaline with 

 baryta- water to 180° for several hours, it combines with water 

 yielding the compound C31H52O11, from which the formula 

 CsjHsqOjo is deduced for digitaline. The formula of tanghinine, 

 similarly deduced, is Q,^-\\^^0^. This formula differs from that 

 of Schmiedeberg for digitaline, viz. C.21H32O7. — Studies on 

 the embryology of the axolotl, by M. F. Houssay. He 

 describes the mechanics of segmentation, the origin and de- 

 velopment of the peripheral nervous system, and the morpho- 

 logy of the head. — On the cytoplasm and the nucleus in 

 Noctiluci, by M. G. Pouchet. Flemming's chromatine seems 

 to be formed of two substances, chromatoplasm and hyaloplasm ; 

 and the proportion of the former increases as gemmation pro- 

 ceeds ; hence the more and more lively colour of the seg- 

 mented nuclei. — On the parasitic castration of Typhlocyba by 

 •a Hymenopterous larva {Aphelopus melaleuctis, Dalm. ), and 

 a Dipterous larva {Atelenevra spuria, Meig.), by M. A. Giard, 

 In T. hippocastani, the weight terminal branches of the 

 penis are reduced to six, four, or three. A pair of curious 

 invaginations on the ventral surface of the body are also 

 shortened. — Action of serum of diseased or vaccinated animals 

 on pathogenic microbes, by MM. Charrin and Roger. Operat- 

 ing with the pyocyanic Bacillus and rabbits, they found the 

 serum of vaccinated animals more adverse to growth of the 

 Bacillus than normal serum, but somewhat less than that of 

 the diseased animals. — Contribution to the semeiological and 

 pathogenic study of rabies, by M. G. Ferre. Inoculating by 

 trepanation, and with stronger virus than before, they found that 

 the respiratory acceleration appeared on the fourth instead of the 

 fifth day ; the respiratory centres being invaded correspondingly 

 sooner. The symptoms could not be attributed to thermal 

 elevation, the maximum of this occurring later. — Statistics of 

 preventive inoculations against yellow fever, by Dr. Domingos 

 Freire. From 1883 to 1889, there were 10,524 persons inocu- 

 lated in Brazil ; and the mortality was 0*4 per cent. The deaths 

 of non-vaccinated during the four epidemics were over 6500. — On 

 the modifications in normal gaseous exchanges of plants by the 

 presence of organic acids, by M. L. Mangin. He injected malic, 

 citric, and tartaric acids into leaves of Japanese prick-wood, bay 

 rose, and lilac, and found these leaves to behave like Cacteae and 

 Crassulacese. In the dark, the volume of carbonic acid liberated 

 is greater than that of oxygen absorbed ; and in the light, there 

 is emission of oxygen without correlative absorption of carbonic 

 acid. — On the existence of 1 numerous zeoliths in the gneissic 

 rocks of Upper Ariege, by M. A. Lacroix. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 

 London, 



THURSDAY, November 14. 



Mathematical Society, at 8. — Isoscelian Hexagrams : R. ^Tucker. — On 

 Euler's ^-Function : H. F. Baker. — On the E.xtension and Flexure of a 

 Thin Elastic Plate : A. B. Basset, F.R.S. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8. — On the Lighting of the 

 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition : K. L. Murray. 

 FRIDAY, November 15. 



Physical Society, at '5. — On the Electrification due to the Contact of 

 Gases and Liquids : J. Enright. — On the Effect of Repeated Heating and 

 Cooling on the Electrical Resistance and Temperature Coefficient of 

 Annealed Iron : H. Tomlinson, F.R.S. — Notes on Geometrical Optics, 

 Part II.: Prof. S. P. Thompson. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 7.30. — The New Harbour and 

 Breakwater at Boulogne-sur-Mer : S. C. Bailey. 



MONDAY, November 18. 



Aristotelian Society, at 8. — Scepticism : S. Alexander. 

 TUESDAY, November 19. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — Water-Tube Steam-Boilers for 

 Marine Engines : John I. Thornycrofc. 



Royal Statistical Society, at 7.45. — Opening Address by the President, 

 Dr. T. Graham Balfour, F.R.S. 



WEDNESDAY, November 20. 



Geological Society, at 8. — On the Occurrence of the Striped Hysena in 

 the Tertiary of the Val d'Arno : R. Lydekker. — The Catastrophe of 

 Kantzorik, Armenia: M. F. M. Corpi. Communicated by W. H. Hudle- 

 ston, F.R.S. — On a New Genus of Siliceous Sponges from the Lower 

 Calcareous Grit of Yorkshire : Dr. J. G. Hinde. 



Royal Meteorological Society, at 7. — Second Report of the Thunder- 

 storm Committee — Distribution of Thunderstorms over England and 

 Wale":, 1871-87 : William Marriott. — On the Change of Temperature 

 which accompanies Thunderstorms in Southern England : G. M. W'hipple. 

 — Note on the Appearance of St. Elmo's Fire at Wakon-onthe-Naze, 

 September 3, 1889 : W. H. Dines. — Notes on Cirrus Formation : H. Helm 

 Clayton. — A Comparison between the Jordan and the Campbell-Stokes 

 Sunshine Recorders : F. C. Bayard. — Sunshine : A. B. MacDowall — 

 On Climatological Observations at Ballyboley, Co. Antrim : Prof. S. A- 

 Hdl. 



Society of Arts, at 8. — Opening Address by the Chairman, the Duke of 

 Abercorn, C.B. 



University College Chemical and Physical Society, at 4.30. — 

 Pyridine and the Alkaloids: Dr. N. Collie. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Science and the Future Indian Civil Service Exa- 

 minations 25 



The Lund Museum in the University of Copen- 

 hagen 26 



Hydraulic Motors. By A. G. G 27 



Physiology of Education. By J. H. G 28 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Whitham : "Steam-Engine Design," — N.J. L, . . . 29 



Hake: " Coloured Analytical Tables " 29 



Tidy: " The Story of a Tinder Box " 30 



Jamieson : ' ' Magnetism and Electricity " 30 



Ball : " Time and Tide ; a Romance of the Moon " . . 30 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Specific Inductive Capacity, — Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, 



F.R.S 30 



Who discovered the Teeth in Ornithorhynchus ? — Prof, 



W. H. Flower, F.R.S. ; Oswald H. Latter . . 30 

 "LaPietraPapale."— Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. . 31 

 On a Mite of the Genus Tetranychus found infesting 

 Lime-trees in Leicester Museum Grounds. — F. R. 



Rowley 31 



Retarded Germination.— E. A 31 



The Relation of the Soil to Tropical Diseases. — 



Surgeon A. Ernest Roberts . 31 



The Earthquake of Tokio, April 18, 1889.— Prof. 



Cargill G. Knott 3^ 



A Brilliant Meteor. — Paul A. Cobbold " 



On the Hardening and Tempering of Steel, XL 

 {Illustrated.) By Prof, W, C. Roberts-Austen, 



F.R.S 32 



Prof. Weismann's "Essays," By Dr, St, George 



Mivart, F.R.S 38 



Notes 41 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Objects for the Spectroscope. {With Diagram.)— K. 



Fowler 44 



Large- Scale Charts of the Constellations 45 



Barnard's Comet, II. 1889, March 31 45 



The Structure of Jupiter's Belt 3, III, {^Illustrated.) . 45 



Geographical Notes 45 



The Flora of China 46 



Scientific Serials 46 



Societies and Academies • • 47 



Diary of Societies • • .48 



