6oo 



NATURE 



[April 24, 1890 



important part in the chemistry of their metabolism.— Dr. 

 Rosenberg demonstrated a new reaction of uric acid. When 

 urine is made faintly alkaline, it yields a dark blue colouration 

 on the addition of phosphotungstic acid, which he had satisfied 

 himself was due to the presence of uric acid alone among the 

 other constituents of the excretion. — Dr. Goldscheider gave an 

 account of some experiments which he had made some five years 

 ago, to show that the principle of "specific nerve energy " holds 

 good for the sense of taste. By isolated stimulation of separate 

 taste-papillae he succeeded in showing that there exist, in all, four 

 kinds or qualities of taste — sour, sweet, bitter, and salt ; and that 

 specific end-organs exist for each kind of taste. By electrical 

 stimulation there arises at the anode not only the sensation 

 of sour, but also of bitter and sweet ; at the kathode purely 

 sensory impulses are aroused in addition to the gustatory, and 

 to the fusion of these two is due the "alkaline" taste of which 

 some authors speak. It appeared from his researches that the 

 hard palate contained end-organs chiefly for the perception of 

 sweet tastes. — Dr. I. Munk spoke on muscular work and 

 nitrogenous metabolism. He criticized the recent work of 

 Argutinsky, according to which the work done in climbing a 

 mountain, and the heat produced, are the outcome of a breaking 

 down of nitrogenous material. Having recalculated Argutinsky's 

 results, he came to the conclusion that (l) his body was not in 

 nitrogenous equilibrium even during rest ; (2) the amount of 

 carbohydrate which he took was insufficient to account for the 

 heat-production during rest. As is well known, both these 

 factors lead to an increased nitrogenous metabolism when extra 

 work is done, the energy required for the excess of work being 

 obtained from the breaking down of proteids ; hence no con- 

 clusions as to what normally takes place can be drawn from 

 Argutinsky's experiments. He further pointed out that 

 Oppenheim's experiments have shown that dyspncea leads to 

 increased nitrogenous metabolism, and that hence dyspnoea may 

 very probably have played some part during the exertion of 

 excessive climbing. While not doubting the accuracy of the 

 experiments, he did not feel that the conclusions which 

 Argutinsky had drawn from them were justifiable. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences, Oct. 15, 1889. — On the granular 

 pigments occurring in man, by Dr. F. Maas. Two chemically 

 distinct groups of pigments occur : (i) melanin, (2) the granu- 

 lar colouring matters here referred to. The latter are found at 

 all periods of life, but increase in quantity and in the size of the 

 granules with age. They are normal products, not morbid. 

 They are not only transformed but produced by the corpuscle- 

 carrying cells. They are not wholly derived from the blood : 

 the pigment found in the heart is derived from a fatty body. The 

 several pigments can be distinguished by their reactions with 

 hydrochloric and acetic acids, and with caustic potash. — On the 

 analogue of Kummer's surface for ^ = 3, by W. Wirtinger. 

 The author investigates the continuum obtained by taking, as 

 the eight homogeneous point-co-ordinates of a 7-dimension 

 space, eight linearly independent squares of theta-functions of 

 three variables. It appears that this possesses collineations 

 analogous to the system for Kummer's surface, as also the cor- 

 responding system of reciprocal transformations into itself. 



October 23, 1889. — Determination of the elastic constants of 

 Iceland spar, by W. Voigt. The author uses the refraction 

 observations of G. Baumgarten, and gives elaborate tables of his 

 own measurements. I He discusses the property of spar by 

 which the crystal can be forced by shearing into its twin form, 

 and gives diagrams illustrating the changes in the traction and 

 torsion coefficients. — Determination of the elastic constants of 

 certain dense minerals, by W. Voigt and P. Drude. The 

 minerals are dense fluor spar, Solenhofen stone, and dense 

 barytes. 



December 3, 1889. — On thermo-electric currents in crystals, by 

 Th. Liebisch. The author confirms some of Biickstrom's results, 

 and finds that, in a rectangular parallelepiped of homogeneous 

 conducting crystal of the triclinic system, embedded in homo- 

 geneous isotropic " normal " metal, " the thermo-electric force 

 in the direction of the steepest temperature gradient is repre- 

 sented by the squared reciprocal of the parallel radius vector of 

 a certain ellipsoid E."— On contrast-phenomena resulting from 

 suspended attention, by Dr. F. Schumann. Psycho-physical 

 experiments on the estimation of short periods of time, &c. 



December 25, 1889. — On the fertilization of the owaoi Agelastica 

 alni, L., by Dr. H. Henking. In this insect it is observed that 



in ova taken from the oviducts a number of spermatozoa pene- 

 trate deeply among the yolk-masses as far as the level of the 

 female pronucleus. Peculiar karyokinetic appearances are 

 described. — Contribution to the theory of the even Abelian 

 sigma-function of three arguments, by Ernst Pascal. This is a 

 continuation of the author's previous work on the odd sigma- 

 function. The terms of the developments are combinants of a 

 net of quaternary quadratic forms. — On a hyperelliptic multi- 

 plication equation, by H. Burkhardt. This equation for hyper- 

 elliptic functions (/ = 2) is the generalisation of Jacobi's 

 equation for elliptic functions, 



Amsterdam. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, March 29, — Prof, van der 

 W^aals, Vice-President, in the chair. — M. H. A. Lorentz dealt 

 with the molecular theory of diluted solutions. He showed how 

 the known formula for the vapour-pressure of such solutions may 

 be derived from considerations on molecular motion and attrac- 

 tion, and how a similar theory applies to a conceivable mechanism 

 of osmotic pressure, — M. Baehr gave some observations on the 

 herpolhodie of Poinsot, and explained that this cannot have any 

 points of inflexion, unless the ellipsoid be not a central one. — M. 

 Pekelharing spoke of "the destruction of anthrax spores by 

 rabbits' blood." 



Stockholm. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, April 9. — On the researches 

 in zoology made at the Zoological Station of the Academy during 

 1889, by Prof. S. Loven. — On the possibility of the triangulation 

 of Spitzbergen, by Prof. Rosen. — An analysis of the liquid 

 inclosures in topaz, or the so-called Brewsterlinite, by Otto 

 Nordenskiold. — On the use of invariants and seminvariants for 

 the solution of common algebraic equations of the four lowest 

 degrees, by Dr. A. Bergen. — On the structure of the fruit-wall 

 in the Labiatas, by Miss A. Olbers. — Some researches on acci- 

 dental double refraction of gelatinous substances, by Dr. G. 

 Bjerken. — On the action of iodohydric acid on 1-5 nitronaph- 

 thalin-sulphon-acid-amid, by A. Ekbom. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Revised Instructions to Inspectors 577 



Oranges in India. By C. B. Clarke, F.R.S 579 



A Naturalist among the Head-hunters. By A. R, W, 582 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Girard : " Recherches sur les Tremblements de 



Terre " 583 



Eder : "La Photographic a la Lumiere du Mag- 

 nesium " 584 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Panmixia. — Prof. George J, Romanes, F.R.S. ; 



R. Haig Thomas 584 



The " Rollers" of Ascension and St, Helena. — Prof. 



Cleveland Abbe 585 



Self-Cclonization of Coco-nut Palm. — Captain W. 



J. L. Wharton, R.N., F.R.S 585 



Nessler's Ammonia Test as a Micro-chemical Reagent 



for Tannin. — Spencer Moore 585 



The Moon in London.— T. R. R. Stebbing .... 586 

 Foreign Substances attached to Crabs. — Ernest W. 



L. Holt 586 



The Relative Prevalence of North-east and South- 

 west Winds.— William Ellis 586 



Science at Eton.— Lieut. -General J. F. Tennant, 



R.E., F.R.S 587 



Modigliani's Exploration of Nias Island. {Illus- 

 trated.) By Prof. Henry H. Giglioli 587 



Notes 591 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Objects for the Spectroscope.— A. Fowler 595 



Mathematical Study of the Solar Corona 595 



Solar Observations 59'» 



D'Arrest's Comet • 59^ 



Influenza and Weather, with Special Reference to 

 the Recent Epidemic. By Sir Arthur Mitchell and 



Dr. Buchan 



Mathematical Teaching at the Sorbonne, 1809-1889 ^, 



Scientific Serials 598 



Societies and Academies 598 



