I04 



NATURE 



{Dec, 5, 1889 



Le fruit ramasse par un hoy, " // y porte la dent, fait la 

 grimace. . . . Le moindre ducaton serait bien mieux son 

 affaire." Notre hoy se decide des lors a porter le fruit au 

 jardinier de " North End Park." Le vegetal confie a la terra 

 poussa et donna un arbre, Baningtonia speciosa, qui avait 

 attaint 4 pieds de hauteur vers le milieu de I'annee 1888. 



M. A. W. Buckland emettait I'hypothese que fruit et pumites, 

 comme aussi quelques poissons et serpents appartenant a des 

 especes jusque-la inconnues dans le pays, et arrives en meme 

 temps, provenaient des parages de la Sonde, et, a la suite de la 

 grande eruption de Krakatoa en 1883, avaient ete portes par les 

 flots jusque sur les rivages de la cote Sud-Africaine. 



II n'y a plus a douter, je crois, de la provenance des pumites. 

 Je n'ai rien a dire au sujet des poissons et serpents. Mais pour 

 ce qui est du fruit de Barringtonia speciosa, il me semble qu'on 

 pourrait lui donner une autre origine ou point de depart, et 

 diminuer ainsi de beaucoup la duree de sa traversee sur I'ocean. 



L'arbre Barringtonia speciosa croir, en effet, a Madagascar, oil 

 je I'ai vu a Tamatave, sur les bords de la mer. II ne serait 

 done .point du tout improbable que le fruit porte par les flots a 

 Port- Elisabeth provint de la grande ile Africaine. En meme 

 temps que je signalais I'arrivee sur nos plages Malgaches des 

 pumites de Krakatoa, en Septembre 1884 et en Fevrier 1885 

 {Cosmos, nouvelle serie, No. 12, p. 320), j'envoyais en Europe 

 divers specimens de ces pumites ramasses sur la plage de Tama- 

 tave. Parmi les specimens adresses a la Societe Nationale 

 d'Acclimatation de P' ranee s'en trouvait un dans lequel s'etait 

 loge une partie de vegetal, — une fleur, si je ne me trompe, d'une 

 espece de Terminalia, qui croit aussi a Tamatave sur les bords 

 de. la mer {Bulletin de la Sociite Nationale d'Acclimatation de 

 France, Decembre 1884, p. 983). 



Un fruit de Barringtonia speciosa arbre qui, comme je I'ai 

 fait remarquer, croit au bord de la mer sur la cote orientale de 

 Madagascar, a tres bien pu, de meme, prendre "passage" sur 

 une pumite ou un banc de pumites atterrees sur la plage Malgache ; 

 puis, a la premiere haute maree, avoir cingle sur ce " transport " 

 d'un nouveau genre vers la cote Sud-Africaine, pousse par le 

 Courant 'Indien, jusqu'a son arrivee a Port-Elisabeth, ou il a 

 enrich i le " North End Park " d'un nouvel arbre exotique. 



Mais, , meme dans cette hypothese, le phenomene observe 

 a Port-Elisabeth n'aurait pas un moindre inteiet. L'iie de 

 Madagascar y gagnerait de pouvoir etre consideree comme une 

 grande "escale," etablie par le Dieu Createur et Ordonnateur 

 des Mondes, pour le service des " Messageries maritimes " de la 

 Nature entre les Archipels de la Malaisie et la cote Sud- 

 Africaine. 



Veuillez agreer, Monsieur le Redacteur, les respectueuses 

 salutations de votre humble serviteur, 



Paul Cambou^, S.J., 

 Missionnaire apostolique a Tananarive. 



Tananarive, Madagascar, 15 Octobre. 



A Marine Millipede. 



British naturalists, especially such as work on the south 

 coast, will hear with interest that Mr. J. Sinel has lately found 

 in Jersey the very curious marine Millipede, Geophilus sub- 

 marilima, Grube {Verh. d. schles. Gesellsch., 1872). Dr. Latzel, 

 of Vienna, tells me that the specimens differ somewhat from the 

 type, and probably constitute a well-marked variety. Some 

 examples were found close to the low-water mark of very low 

 spring tides, where they could not be exposed more than two 

 days in a fortnight. 



The Geophilus occurs associated with two or three beetles, 

 of which at least one appears to be new, and with a remark- 

 able Chelifer which is probably identical with Ohisium littorale, 

 a new species described by Moniez from Boulogne, in this 

 month's Keviic Biologique, or with the doubtful species 0. mari- 

 timuin of Leach (Zool. Miscellany, iii. 181 7). 



Mr. Sinel's crowbar, a tool the naturalist makes too little me 

 of, is doing wonderful service. D. W. T. 



December 2. 



A Case of Chemical Equilibrium, 



During some experiments made in connection with a research 

 recently laid before the Royal Society, we came upon an in- 

 teresting case of chemical equilibrium. 



The object of the research was to determine the rate of 

 evolution of oxidizing material liberated, under varied condi- 

 tions, in a solution containing dilute hydrogen chloride and 



potassium chlorate. There was also introduced a little starch 

 solution and a small quantity of potassium iodide to serve as an 

 indicator of the completion of a certain amount of work, which was 

 the conversion of a known small weight of sodium thiosulphate 

 into tetrathionate. The completion of this change was marked 

 by the appearance of a blue colour in the liquid. The operation 

 was then repeated. 



In these experiments the amount of substances undergoing 

 change, when compared with the total amount present, was so 

 large that the masses of the substances remained practically 

 constant during each experiment. 



In such a mixture the condition of equilibrium may be con- 

 sidered to be represented by the following equation : 



«HC1 + ;;/KCI03 = /wHClOs -I- wKCl + {n - m)HC\, 



where n is greater than w. 



We may then regard the oxidizing material as being liberated by 

 the reaction of the (« - m) molecules of hydrogen chloride with 

 the jn molecules of hydrogen chlorate so liberated. The pre- 

 sence of the m molecules of potassium chloride will produce its 

 specific effect (in this case acceleration) on the rate of reaction. 

 So that out of the n molecules of hydrogen chloride employed 

 only n - m are actively engaged in liberating oxidizing materia^ 

 the rest having been employed in saline decouiposition. If such 

 be the case, it ought to be possible to obtain a similar rate of 

 oxidation by taking m molecules of hydrogen chlorate instead of 

 potassium chlorate, and then reducing the hydrogen chloride 

 used from n to {n - m) molecules. If we then add the m 

 molecules of potassium chloride we should then be able to build 

 up a system similar to what is obtained in the former case as 

 regards saline equilibrium. The following results were obtained 

 by this method of procedure. 



The numbers signify millionth gram molecules per c.c, and 

 the rates, B, denote the number of millionth gram molecules of 

 CIO3 decomposed per minute in each cc. 



A. nUCl + ;'«KC103 

 I, ;; = 18 X 65'ii gives A' = 0'0I04 



;« = 6 X 51-5 B. {n - w)HCl + ^^HClOj + wKCI 



gives B = o 0105 



II. ;/ = 15 X 65 'U 

 m = 6x51-5 



III. « = 15 x 65 1 1 

 m = 2 X 51-5 



Dover College. 



A. «HC1 -f- WKCIO3 



gives B = o'oo554 



B. (« - ;«)HC1 + WHCIO3 -1- wKCl 



gives B = 0-00555 



A. «HC1 + ;«KC103 



gives B = o '001 95 



B. (« - /«)HC1 + mUClO-i + mKC\ 



gives B = o "0019 1 



W. H. Pendlebury. 



On the Use of the Word Antiparallel. 



After reading Mr. James's note, I looked out the reference 

 quoted by him from Stone's Dictionary in the " Acta Erudi- 

 torum." Stone's reference is quite correct, and, as the passage is 

 an interesting one, it may be well to quote it in full. It occurs 

 in an article by Leibnitz treating of the catenary. 



" Tangentem ducere ad punctum lineas datum C ; in AR hori- 

 zontali per verticem A sumatur R ut fiat OR aqualis OB datas 

 et ipsi OR ducta antiparallela CT, occurrens axi AO in T, erit 

 tangens qujesita. 



^' Antiparallel as compendii causa hie voco ipsas OR et TC 

 si ad parallelas AR et BC faciant non quidem eosdem angulos 

 sed tamen, complemento sibi existentes ad rectum, ARO et 

 BCT." 



The following quotation is given in Murray's "New English 



