96 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 28, 1889 



Meteorological Society, November 5. — Dr. Vettin, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The President spoke on the interchange of 

 air which takes place between regions of high and regions of 

 iow pressure. He first described his own measurements of the 

 altitudes of the various most characteristic forms of clouds, find- 

 ing them in complete accord with those of Abercromby and 

 Ekholm. He then passed on to his determinations of the 

 velocity of the wind at those several altitudes, using as a means 

 of measurement the records afforded by the direction and rate 

 of motion of the clouds. The mean values thus obtained for 

 the i-ate of flow of the air-currents were compared in each case 

 with the positions of maximal and minimal air-pressure ; from 

 this comparison the speaker found that the motion of the air 

 between points of maximum and minimum pressure does not 

 take place in the way in which it has usually been supposed to 

 occur. He then gave a detailed account of the results of his 

 observations, but these do not admit of being reproduced within 

 the limits of a brief abstract. 



Sydney. 



Royal Society of New^ South Wales, August 21. — A 

 *' reception" of the members of the Society was held for con- 

 versational scientific discussion, and the exhibition of various 

 ■objects of interest : upwards of 100 members were present. 



September 4. — Prof Liversidge, F.R. S., President, in the 

 chair. — Mr. H. G. McKinney read a paper on irrigation in its 

 relation to the pastoral industry in New South Wales, which 

 was freely discussed. — Sir Alfred Roberts, Vice-President, exhi- 

 bited a large collection of photo-micrographs taken by the late 

 Captain Francis. 



October 2. — Prof. Liversidge, F. R. S., President, in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read:— The analysis of 

 prickly pear ; on the occurrence of arabin in the prickly 

 pear {Opicntm brasiliensis), by W. M. Hamlet. ■ — Personal 

 recollections of the aboriginal tribes once inhabiting the 

 Adelaide Plains of South Australia, by Edward Stephens. 

 — The Chairman exhibited some interesting fungoid growths 

 which had formed in water containing finely-divided gold in 

 suspension. The gold had been precipitated from a weak 

 solution of the chloride by phosphorus dissolved in ether ; the 

 mycelium of the fungoid growths had acquired a purple colour 

 from the gold which it had absorbed ; on incineration, a skeleton 

 outline of the mycelium is left in gold. 



Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, October 26. — M. Mulder pre- 

 sented, for the Reports and Communications, an essay on tartar- 

 ate of ethyl, and its relations to ethylate of sodium and potassium. 

 — M. Grinwis spoke on two forms of energy occurring in rolling 

 motion, and presented an essay on this subject for the Reports 

 and Communications. — M. Rauwenhoff presented for the Trans- 

 actions an essay in quarto, with plates, on the sexual generation of 

 the Gleicheniacese, and communicated briefly the results to which 

 his researches had led him. — M. van der Waals spoke of the 

 equilibrium of solid compounds in presence of fluid and vapour 

 mixtures, illustrated by the »|/ surface of a mixture of two kinds 

 of matter. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 

 London. 



THURSDAY, November 28. 

 i.vsTiTUTiON OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.— Electrical Engineering in 

 America : G. L. Addenbrojke. 



FRIDAY, November 29. 

 In';titution of Civil Engineers, at 7.30.— Principles of Iron Foundry 

 Practice : G. H. Sheffield. 



SA I I "R DAY, November 30. 

 Royal Society, at 4.— Anniversary. 



Essex Ii'ield Club, at 7.— How to commence the Study of Botany: 

 George Massee. 



SUNDAY, December i. 

 'Sunday Lecture Society, at 4.— Invisible Stars ; tbe Use of the Camera 

 in the Observatory (with Oxyhydrogen Lantern Illustration^ : Sir Robert 

 S. Ball, F.R.S., Astronomer Royal, Ireland. 



MONDAY, December 2. 



Society of Arts, at 8.— Modern Developments of Bread-making : William 

 J ago. 



Society of Chemical Industry, at 8.— Some Notes 'on Variations in the 

 Products of the Destructive Distillation of Different Gas Coals, Heated 

 Separately in the same Retort, and under Similar Conditions : Watson 

 Smith. — Cresontinic Acid and its Applicatians : I. Hauff. 



Victoria Institute, at 8.— Instinct and Reason : Dr. C. Collingwood. 



Aristotelian Society, at 8.— The Esthetic Theory of Ugliness : B. 

 Bosanquet. 



Royal Institution, at 5.— General Monthly Meeting. 



TUESDAY, December 3. 

 Zoological Society, at 8.30. — On the Anatomy of Burmeister's Cariama 



(Chunga burmeisteri). — On the Relations of the Fat-bodies of the Sauro- 



psida : G. W. Butler. — List of the Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fresh-water 



Fishes, collected by Prof. Moesch in tne District of Deli, Sumatra : G. A, 



Boulenger. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — Ballot for the Election of 



Members. — Water-Tube Steam-Boilers fir Marine Engines : John I. 



Thornycroft. (Discussion.)— The Triple-E.xpansion Engines at the Owens 



College, Manchester: Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S. 



WEDNESDAY, December 4. 



Society of Arts, at 8. — Rabies and its Prevention : Dr. Armand Ruffer. 



Geological Society, at 8. — On Remains of Small Sauropodous Dinosaurs 

 fr.im the Wealden : R. Lydekker.— On a Peculiar Horn-like Dinosaurian 

 Bane from the Wealden : R. Lydekker. — The Igneous Constituents of the 

 Triassic Breccias and Conglomerates of .'^outh Devon: R. N, Worth. — 

 Notes on the (^laciation of Parts of the Valleys of the Jhelum and Sind 

 Rivers in the Himalaya Mountains of Kashmir : Captain A. W. Stiffe. 



Entomological Society, at 7. — Systematic Temperature Experiments on 

 some Lepidoptera in all their stages : Frederic Merrifield. — Notes on 

 Indian Longicornia. with Descriptions of New Species : Charles J. 

 Gahan. — On the Peculiarities of the Terminal Segment in some Male 

 Heniiptera : Dr. D. Sharp. — Notes on a Species of Lycaenidae : Lionel 

 de Niceville. 



THURSDAY, December 5. 

 LiNNKAN Society, at 8. — Life History of a Stipitate Fre.5h-water Alga : G 

 Massee.— On the Anatomy of the Sand Grouse : G. Sim. 



FRIDAY, December 6. 

 Geologists' Association, at 8. — Conversazione. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Proposed Method of Recording Variations in the Direction of the Vertical : 

 H.C. Russell.— The Storm of September2i, 1888 : H. C Russell.— O Therii 

 Forem Bilinearnych : E. Weyr (V. Praze). — Journal of Physiology, vol. x., 

 No. 6 (Cambridge). — Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, vol. i., Part i (Sydney). — Quarterly Journal of the Geological So- 

 ciety, November 1889 (Longmans). — Papers and Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society of Tasmania, 1888 (.Hobart). — Proceedings of the Physical Society 

 of London, vol. x., Part 2 (Tayl ir and Francis).^ — Transactions of the 

 Seismological Society of Japan, vol. xiii., Part i (Yokohama). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Mr. Stanley .... • 73 



The Habits of the Salmon 74 



An Elementary Text-book of Geology. By Prof. A, 



H. Green, F.R.S 75 



The Flora of Derbyshire. By J. G. B 77 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Bower: " Science of Every-day Life " 78 



Wright : " Elementary Physics " 78 



Redway : " Teacher's Manual of Geography " .... 78 



Williams: "Notes on the Pinks of Western Europe " 78 

 James: "American Resorts, with Notes upon their 



Climate" 79 



Knight: " Idylls of the Field " 79 



Letters to the Editor : — 



A New Logical Machine. — Mary Boole 79 



Lamarck versus Weismann. — Prof. E. D. Cope ... 79 



Galls.— Prof. George J. Romanes, F.R.S 80 



"Modern Views of Electricity." — Prof. Oliver J. 



Lodge, F.R.S 80 



Geometrical Teaching. — H 80 



A Brilliant Meteor.— J. Cockburn 80 



Star Distances. By A. M. Gierke 81 



Dr. H. Burmeister on the Fossil Horses and other 



Mammals of Argentina. {^Illustrated.) By R. L. . 82 



Notes 84 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Objects for the Spectroscope. — A. Fowler 87 



The Total Solar Eclipse of 1886 88 



Palermo Observatory 88 



The Variable Star Y Cygni 88 



Paramatta Observatory 88 



Minor Planet 282 88 



Comet Davidson (^ 1889) 88 



A New Variable Star in Hydra 88 



Sun-.spots in High Southern Latitudes 88 



Proposed Memorial of Dr. Joule 89 



How Plants Maintain Themselves in the Struggle 



for Existence. By Prof. Walter Gardiner .... 90 



University and Educational Intelligence 92 



Scientific Serials 92 



Societies and Academies 93 



Diary of Societies • • .96 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 96 



