A'bril lo, 1890] 



NATURE 



551 



these was of an abnormal form. — Mr. Sclaler exhibited (on behalf 

 of Mr. Robert B. White) examples of four species of Mammals, 

 obtained in the Upper Magdalena Valley, in the department of 

 Tolima, U.S. of Colombia. — Dr. Mivart, K. R. S., read a paperon 

 the South- American Canida?. The author called attention to the 

 difficulties in the way of the correct discrimination of these 

 animals, and to what appeared to him to be the unsatisfactory 

 character of some of Burmeister's determinations and de^ 

 scriptions. Forms to which the names ftdvipes, griseiis, 

 patagonicus, entreriauiis, gracilis, vetultis, unA fulvicaudtis had 

 been assigned were declared to be quite insufficiently discrimin- 

 ated from Canis azar,,: On the other hand, two very marked 

 varieties, or possibly species, were noted and distinguished 

 under the appellations Canis fatTidens and Canis uroslictus, the 

 type of each of which wAs in the British Museum, both the 

 skin and the skull extracted from it in each case.— Mr. R. I. 

 I'ocock read a revision of the genera of Scorpions of the family 

 Buthidte, and gave descriptions of some new South African 

 species of this family. — Mr. F. K. Beddard read a paper on 

 some points in the anatomy of the Condor [Sai-corhaniphus 

 gry pints). — A communication was read from Prof. R, Collett, 

 containing the description of a new Monkey from North East 

 .Sumatra, proposed to be called Scmnopithecits thomasi. 



Geological Society, March 26.— J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair.— The following communications 

 were read : — On a new species of Cyphaspis from the Car- 

 boniferous rocks of Yorkshire, by Miss Coignou, Cambridge. 

 Communicated by Prof. T. McK. Hughes, F.R.S. —On com- 

 posite spheruliies in obsidian from hot springs, near Little Lake, 

 California, by Frank Rutley, Lecturer on Mineralogy in the 

 Royal School o( Mines. The spherulites which form the subject 

 of the present communication have been previously noticed, 

 and it was then suggested that a smaller spherulitic structure was 

 set up in the large spherules after their formation. In the present 

 paper evidence was adduced in favour of a different mode of 

 origin. It was argued that the small spherulitic bodies (primitive 

 spherulites) were developed in the obsidian before it assumed a 

 condition of rigidity, and that they floated towards certain' 

 points in the still viscid lava, and segregated in more or less 

 spherical groups, though there is no evidence to show what 

 determined their movements ; furthermore, that from a point or 

 points situated at or near the centre of each group, crystallization 

 was set up, giving rise to a radiating fibrous structure, which 

 gradually developed zone after zone of divergent fibres until 

 the entire mass of primitive spherulites was permeated by this 

 secondary slructure^ — a structure engendering a molecular re- 

 arrangement of the mass, such as would obliterate any trace of 

 structure which the primitive spherulites might have originally 

 ]>ossessed. In a supplementary note the views of Mr. J. P. 

 Iddings with reference to the spherulites in question were given. 

 Mr. Iddings considers that the structures here described as 

 primary are of secondary origin. The author stated in detail 

 his reasons for adhering to the conclusions given in this paper. 

 The Chairman said that the sequence of the different portions 

 brought forward with so much care by the author is one which 

 admits of much discussion. Rev. E. Hill said that the explana- 

 tion of the divergence of these crystallizations was extremely 

 interesting. As to which structure came first, it is difficult to 

 determine. In the section exhibited under the microscope he 

 agreed with Mr. Rutley as to the sequence. The question of 

 molecular motion alter consolidation in igneous rocks is a subject 

 of great importance. — A monograph of the Bryozoa (Polyzoa) of 

 the Hunstanton Red Chalk, by George Robert Vine. Com- 

 municated by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S. — Evidence 

 furnished by the Quaternary glacial-epoch morainic deposits of 

 Pennsylvania, UiS.A., for a similar mode of formation of the 

 Permian breccias of Leicestershire and South Derbyshire, by 

 William S. Gresley. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, March 31. — M. Hermite in the 

 chair. — M. dejonquieres, having presented a memoir containing 

 the complete text and review of a posthumous work of Des- 

 cartes, •• De Solidorum Elementis," with the translation and 

 commentary of the work, addressed a note giving some brief 

 explanations of the matter contained in it. In communications 

 made on February 10 and 17, the author endeavoured to show 

 that Descartes knew and applied the relation between the faces, 

 apices, and ed^es of a polyhedron, known as Euler's formula, 

 and expressed as F + S = A + 2. The present communication 



seems to put the maHer beyond doubf. — M, P. Schulzenbergerr 

 in reply lo criticisms of M. Berthelot, adduces experiments^ 

 pointing to the conclu.sion that the condensation of carbonic 

 oxide by the siltnt discharge cannot be effected without the 

 presence of water. — Some further remarks on the preceding 

 communication, and on the desiccation of gases, by M. Berthe- 

 lot. The author still holds the opinion that the water shown by 

 M. Schutzenberger to be present in his condensed carbonic oxide- 

 may have passed through the glass tube under the action of the 

 electric discharge. — A new method for the microscopical study 

 of warm-blooded animals at their physiological temperatures has 

 been devised by M. L. Ranvier, and consists of placing the 

 microscope and the preparation under examination in a bath of 

 warm water (36° C. to 39° C). — Defoimities of the feel 

 and toes following phlebitis of inferior members ; phlebilic 

 club-feet, by M. Verneuil. — Observations of Brooks's new 

 comet {a 1890), made at the Paris Observatory, by M. G. 

 Bigourdan. — Observations of the same comet, made with the- 

 great equatorial of Bordeaux, by MM. Kayet and L. Picart. — 

 Observations and elements of the new minor planet (^ dis- 

 covered at the Nice Observatory on March 10, by M. Charlois. 

 — On the position of the sun-spot of March 4, by M. Spoerer. — 

 On the graphic sialics of elastic arcs, by M. Bert rand de Fontvio- 

 lant. — Theoretical and expeiimental researches on Ruhmkorff's 

 coil, by M. R. Colley. The author has investigated the current 

 which results from the superposition of two currents — one non- 

 periodic, diminishing according to the law of an exponential' 

 curve ; the other periodic, ard with progressively decreasing 

 amplitude. — On the conductivities of the phenols and of oxy- 

 benzoic acids, by M. Daniel Berthelot. In this important paper 

 the author gives the results of an examination of the three oxy- 

 benzoic acids by means of their electrical conductiviiies, and a 

 research into the way they behave in the presence of one, two, 

 or three molecules of soda. These acids having both phenol and 

 acid function?, the conductiviiies of alkaline phenates were first 

 determined. — 1 he laws of annealing, and their consequei ces 

 from the point of view of the mechanical properties of metals, by 

 M. Andre Le Chalelier. These laws have been studied by heal- 

 ing metallic wires, hardened by a series of passages through a 

 draw plate, to different temperatures and during different periods 

 of time. — On the indices cf refraction of salt-solutions, by M. B. 

 Walter. — Action of hyposulphite of soda on silver salts, by M. J. 

 Fogh. The amount of heat disengaged during the action of 

 hyposulphite of silver upon various silver salts has been investi- 

 gated. — M. V. Marcano, from his anthropological researches at 

 Venezuela, gives evidence of the existence of metallurgy in South 

 America previous to Columbus. — Influence of the chemical con- 

 stitution of compounds of carbon on the senses and variations in. 

 their rotary power, by M. Philippe A. Guye. — On the prepara- 

 tion and some of the properties of fluoroform, by M. Meslans. 

 The density of the gas obtained is 2-44, and it is found to liquefy 

 at 20° under a pressure of 40 atmospheres. — On some sulpho- 

 conjugues phenols derived from ordinary camphor, by M. P. 

 Cazeneuve. — On the stranding of a whale on the island of Re, 

 by MM. Georges Pouchet and Beauregard. — On the blood and 

 the lymphatic gland of the Aphysia (sea-hare), by M. L. Cuenot. 

 — On the method of union of sexual cells in the act of fecunda- 

 tion, by M. Leon Guignard. — On a new and dangerous parasite- 

 of the vine, by M. G. de I.agerheim. The description of the- 

 parnsite is here given: — '' UreJo Via he : Soris hypophyllis, 

 solitariis majoribus vel dense gregariis minimis, soliiariis in 

 pagina superiore foliorum maculas parvas forroaniibus ; uredo- 

 sporis pyriformibus vel ovoideis 20/1-27^ longis, I5;u-i8/i latis,. 

 membrana hyalina tenui aculeata et contentu aurco praedilis,. 

 paraphysibus cylindricis curvatis incoloribus circumdatis, Hab 

 in foliis vivis Vitis%^. parasitica in insula Jamaica, inter Kingston 

 et Rockfort, Octob. 1889."— On the series of eruptions of 

 Mezenc and Meygal (Velay) ; also a note on the existence of 

 segyrine in the phonolithes of Velay, by M. P. Termier.— Com- 

 position of some rocks from the north of France, by M. Henri 

 Boursault. — General results of a study of the carboniferous earths- 

 of the central plateau of France, by M. A. Julien. 



Berlin. 



Physical Society, March 21. — Prof, du Bois Reymond,. 

 President, in the chair.— Dr. Brodhun described a re" contrast- 

 photometer, based on the principle of one he and Dr. Lummer 

 had previously constructed (see Nature, vol. xxxix. p. 336), 

 and intended to compare by contrast the intensity of any 



