Jan. lo, 1890] 



NATURE 



263 



alkaloid of the formula Ci-H.j-.NOj. Some human brains con- 

 tained as much as 4 per cent, of phren ;sin in addition to other 

 glucosides. The crystallized sugar (galactose) from phrenosin was 

 always accompanied by an almost equal weight of uncrystallizable 

 sugar, of which the nature was not yet ascertained. — The action 

 of chloroform and alcoholic potash on hydrazines, Part 3, by Dr. 

 S. Ruhemann. The products formed by the action of chloroform 

 and alcoholic potash on hydrazines are to be regarded as deriva- 



.cn.NH. 



lives of tetrazine, N^ jN ; and in the present com- 



Xnh.ch/^ 



munication the author describes the di-paratolyI,-orthotolyl, and 

 -pseudocumyl derivatives of this base (cf. Chem. Soc. Trans., 

 1889, 242). 



Royal Microscopical Society, December ii, 1889. — The 

 Rev, Dr. Dallinger, F. R. S., Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. 

 E. M. Nelson read a short paper descriptive of a new semi- 

 apochromatic objective which he exhibited. — Mr. C. Rousselet 

 exhibited a small tank for Rotifers which could be readily 

 moved about in such a way as to render an examination 

 of the contents very easy, so that any desired specimens 

 could be easily picked out. The lens used was a Zeiss's 

 No. 6 Steinheil, the focussing being done by rackwork. — 

 Mr. Crisp called attention to a number of stereoscopic photo- 

 micrographs of embryos, by Prof. Fol. They afforded a con- 

 clusive answer to the question brought forward at their meeting 

 as to whether stereoscopici photomicrographic slides had been 

 produced before that time. — Mr. Crisp read some extracts 

 from a paper by Mr. Gill, which he was sorry to say 

 was only handed in at the conclusion of their last meet- 

 ing, as otherwise it could have been read then, and 

 would have added to the interest of the specimens ex- 

 hibited at the conversazione, which' seemed almost conclusively 

 to prove that the "markings "on certain diatoms were aper- 

 tures. — Mr. A. W. Bennett gave a rhwne of his paper on the 

 freshwater Algae and Schizophyceae of Hampshire and Devon. 

 It was the result of collections made, during his summei 

 holidays, in the New Forest and on Dartmoor, many of the 

 species being not only interesting, but also new to science. 

 — Mr. Crisp reminded the Fellows present that at the last 

 meeting mention was made " of a new objective with an 

 aperture of i "60, the price of which was said to be ;^40o. Some 

 doubt was expressed at the time as to whether the account was 

 true, but since then they had received several communications 

 about it. A letter from Prof. Abbe, describing the principles of 

 its construction, was read. Letters were also read from Dr. 

 van Heurck, describing the performance of the lens, and 

 inclosing a series of remarkable photomicrographs of diatoms 

 taken with it, with magnifying powers of 10,000 and 15,000 

 diameters. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 6. — M. Hermite in the 

 chair. — State of the Academy on January i. Full lists are 

 given of the Members of the various Sections. Amongst the 

 foreign Associates and Correspondents occur the following 

 English and American names : — Associates : Sir Richard Owen, 

 Sir George Biddell Airy, and Sir William Thomson. Cor- 

 respondeiits : Geometty — James Joseph Sylvester and George 

 Salmon ; Astronomy — John Russell Hind, J. C. Adams, Arthur 

 Cayley, Joseph Norman Lockyer, William Huggins, Simon 

 Newcomb, Asaph Hall, Benjamin Apthorp Gould, and Samuel 

 Langley ; Geography and Navigation — Rear-Admiral George 

 Henry Richards ; General Physics — George Gabriel Stokes ; 

 Chemistry — Edward Frankland and Alexander William William- 

 son ; Mineralogy — James Hall and Joseph Prestwich ; Botany — 

 Joseph Dalton Hooker and Maxwell Tylden Masters ; Rural 

 Economy — John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbert ; 

 Anatomy and Zoology — James D wight Dana, Thomas Henry 

 Huxley, and Alexander Agassiz ; Medicine and Surgery — Sir 

 James Paget. — M. Duchartre was elected Vice-President for the 

 year 1890. — Analogy of diamantiferous matrix in South Africa 

 to meteorites, by M. Daubree. It is argued that the South 

 African diamonds were not formed in situ, but were erupted 

 from great depths together with the fragmentary materials in 

 which they are embedded. The presence of the diamond in the 

 pormal state and as carbonado, as well as transformed from 

 graphite in various types of meteorites, is now placed beyond 

 reasonable doubt. Attention is here called to the analogous 

 conditions of association under which this crystal occurs in 



South Africa and in meteorites. M, Daubree incidentally infers- 

 that the diamond is not, as is generally supposed, of vegetable 

 origin, but is of inorganic nature, as is also the graphite 

 occurring in analogous beds. — On some new fluorescent materials, 

 by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. The author describes some 

 new fluorescent appearances which he has obtained by employ- 

 ing samaria and the earths Za and Z/3 as agents, and calcined 

 silica and zircon as solid solvents. Mr. Crookes's failure to 

 obtain any fluorescences from samaria with SiO, and ZrOj, he 

 considers was probably due to their having been calcined 

 at too low a temperature. — Observations of Borrelly's comet 

 made at the Observatory of Algiers, by MM. Trepied, Ramraud, 

 and Renaux. The observations are for the period December 

 23-30, when the nebulosity was somewhat elongated, and about 

 2' in extent. — Observations of Brooks's comet (July 6, 1889) 

 made at the Observatory of Nice with the o'38m. equatorial, by 

 M. D. Eginitis. — On the elliptic functions, by M. Paul Appell. 

 It is shown that the representation of the elliptic functions by 

 the quotient of functions may be justified a priori by con- 

 siderations which seem capable of being extended to the functions 

 of two variables with four groups of periods. — On the rational 

 integrals of equations of the first order, by M. P. Painlevc. 

 Given a differential equation of any order, it is shown that the 

 polynomes may always be found which verify the equation by 

 determining a higher limit of their degree. — On the absolute 

 value of the magnetic elements on January I, 1890, by M. Th. 

 Moureaux. These values are deduced from the mean of the 

 horary observations taken at the Pare Saint-Maur on December 

 31, 1889, and January i, 1890, and at Perpignan from the 

 twenty-four horary observations taken on January i. — On the 

 refracting powers of the simple salts in solution, by M. E. 

 Doumer. Owing to Mr. B. Walter's recent note in Wiedemann^ 

 Annalen {iSSg, No. 9, p. 107), M. Doumer here publishes some- 

 what prematurely the researches on this subject, which he has 

 carried on for over five years, and during which he has dealt with 

 90 salts. He concludes that all salts formed by the same acid 

 have the same molecular refracting power when they are con- 

 structed on the same type ; that the refracting powers of salts 

 belonging to different types are approximately multiples of the 

 same number ; lastly, that the molecular refracting powers of all 

 salts are functions of the number of valencies of the metallic 

 element entering into their construction. — Papers were read by 

 M. Georges Vogt, on the composition of the rocks employed in 

 China for the manufacture of porcelain ; by M. Charles Combes, 

 on matezite and matezo-dambose ; by M. E. Guinochet, on the 

 carballylates ; by M. A. Lacroix, on the mineral-bearing cipo- 

 line marbles and the wernerite rocks of Ariege ; and by M. 

 Thoulet, on the sub-lacustrine relief, geology, and temperature 

 of Lake Longemer (Vosges). 



Berlin. 



Physiological Society, Decemberr3, 1889. —Prof, du Bois- 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — Prof. Moebius spoke on a 

 *' drumming" fish {Batistes aculeatus) from Mauritius. During 

 a recent visit to this island he observed a bright blue-coloured 

 fish in the shallow waters of the harbour ; when caught and held 

 in the hand this fish emitted from its interior a most striking 

 noise, like that of a drum. A careful examination of the animal 

 failed to reveal any obvious movements, with the exception of 

 one part of the skin, lying just behind the gill-slit, which was in 

 continuous vibration. Noth withstanding prolonged endeavours 

 he had not been able to secure a second living example of this 

 fish, and had hence been able to carry out his investigations on 

 the cause of the drumming noise only on dead specimens. The 

 portion of the skin (membrana supra-axillaris) which vibrates 

 stretches from the clavicle to the branchial arch : it is provided with 

 four large bony plates, and lies over the swim-bladder, which in 

 this fish for the most part projects out of the trunk -muscles. 

 Behind the clavicle lies a curiously-shaped long bone, which is 

 attached to the clavicle at one point in such a way as to form a 

 lever with two arms. The long arm of this bony lever (os post- 

 claviculare) is embedded in the ventral trunk-muscles, and is. 

 capable of easy movement to and fro. The short arm slides 

 during this movement over the rough inner side of the clavicle, 

 and gives rise to a crackling noise, and this noise is then inten- 

 sified by the swim-bladder, which lies in close proximity to the 

 short arm of the lever, and acts as a resonator. When the trunk- 

 muscles contract the body cavity is diminished in size, the air in 

 the swim-bladder is driven forward, and the bladder then com- 

 municates the vibrations of the bony lever to the membrana 



