572 



NATURE 



{April 17, 1879 



than thirty miles, on either side of the nodal line referred to, 

 there will be high tide on the east simultaneously with low tide 

 on the west. He explains this by showing that in a canal of 

 uniform breadth and depth, along which a wave is travelling, 

 the effect of the rotation of the earth is to make the wave cling 

 to the right hand side in whichever direction the wave is tra- 

 velling. This manifests itself by the crest of the wave not being 

 of equal amplitude all across the canal, but falling off from the 

 right side down to nothing on the other side if the breadth of 

 the canal is great enough. Where y is the distance of a point 

 from the ri^ht bank and x the distance along the bank, the ex- 

 pression for the height of the crest is ^ ~ "^^ sin (/) x - q t). In 

 a canal which has non-parallel sides, i.e., in which the sides 

 converge, the effect is more marked. This is true of the English 

 Channel or of any other where the time of an oscillation running 

 across from one side to the other and back, is comparable with 

 the period of rotation of the earth. He has worked out the 

 problem in the case of the canal mentioned above, and also for 

 forced and free oscillations in a circular basin. — The next paper 

 was one by Dr. Joseph Coats, Dr. Wm. Ramsay, and Prof. 

 McKendrick, on the action of ansesthetics on the blood pressure. 

 The question they originally wished to solve was whether, in 

 cases where the use of chloroform destroyed life, the result is 

 due to its effect on the respiration or to the action on the heart. 

 They found that at first sight it affected the respiration, but by 

 keeping up artificial respiration they found that it also had an 

 action upon the heart. They experimented both on rabbits and 

 on dogs with the following results : — Chloroform and ethydene 

 chloride reduce the blood pressure, while ether has no appreci- 

 able effect. Chloroform reduces the blood pressure much more 

 and much more rapidly than ethydene. It has also an apparently 

 capricious effect on the heart's action, the blood pressure being 

 reduced to nothing and pulsation being very rapid. Sometimes 

 the heart's action was affected as much as a minute or more after 

 the chloroform had ceased to be administered and after the blood 

 pressure had recovered nearly its normal state. The effect of 

 ethydene was to reduce gradually the blood pressure. Chloro- 

 form causes death in dogs primarily by paralysing either the 

 heart's action or the respiration according to the individual's 

 peculiarities. The respiration generally stops before the heart's 

 action ceases. They found that artificial respiration was very 

 effective in restoring animals in danger of dying from the effects 

 of chloroform. Ethydene never produces absolute cessation 

 either of the heart's action or of respiration. The results ob- 

 tained confirm and amplify those of the Committee of the Royal 

 Medical Chirurgical Society of 1864. — Prof. McKendrick showed 

 some experiments by Mr. Aitken on the physiological action of 

 rotating disks on the retina. — Mr. Thomas Muir gave some ; 

 general theorems on determinants, viz., an expression for the '. 

 product of a determinant by one of -its minors ; a theorem for 

 the reduction of the order of a determinant, another for [the 

 multiplication of a determinant by an expression of a number of 

 terms equal to the order of the determinant. He laid on the 

 table a note on alterants. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 7. — ^M. Daubree in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On the iodides of stann- 

 propyls, by M. Cahour-;. — On complementary pirouettes, by M. 

 Chevreul. A disk having one half painted with colour a, and 

 the other half white, and being rotated not more than 160 times 

 a minute, nor less than 60, the co.nplementary c oi a appears on 

 the white half. — Consequences of experiments made to imitate 

 terrestrial fractures, with regard to various characters of exterior 

 forms of the ground, by M. Daubree. He points out several 

 examples of the influence of diaclases and paraclases in deter- 

 mining the form of land, their directive influence on erosion, &c. 

 — M. de Lesseps presented a brochure of the International African 

 Association, containing a recent lecture by him, and a catalogue 

 of African products at the recent exhibition. — The following 

 elections were made : — M. Alphoase Milne Edwards, member in 

 anatomy and zoology, in place of the late M. Gervais ; M. 

 Abich, Correspondent in Mineralogy, in place of M. Damour, 

 elected Free Academician; Mr. Lawes, correspondent in rural 

 economy, in place of the late Marquis de Vibraye. — Analysis of the 

 physiological action of sulphates of magnesia and soda, by M. 

 Moreau. This describes an experiment wherein, some time after 

 ingestion of magnesian sulphate into the intestine, he introduced j 

 yellow cyanide of potassium as a test of absorption. The urine j 

 afterwards showed no trace of cyanide. The sulphate causes , 

 afflux of liquid in the intestinal cavity j so that this occurred in \ 



the present case without manifest absorption.— On the summa- 

 tion of a particular species of series, by M. Andre. On dis- 

 placements produced in the interior of an elastic ground by 

 \ normal pressure exercised at a point of its surface, by M. 

 j Boussinesq. — Heat-centre produced by molecular shocks, by 

 ' Mr. Crookes. — Reply to M. Flammarion's note on the declina- 

 tion of the magnetic needle, by M. Marie-Davy. The reason of 

 the alleged different action of the needle at Paris he finds in the 

 : dissimilarity of the methods employed in calculation of the 

 I averages grouped in M. Flammarion's tables.— On the gravivolu- 

 I meter, by M . Houzeau. In this instrument liquid is forced up 

 out of a vessel into a siphon by blowing through a caoutchouc 

 , tube, which is then closed with a spring pincer ; on pressing the 

 ; latter, air enters, and the liquid comes from the siphon drop by 

 drop, with great regularity ; the numeration of the drops gives 

 \ precisely the weight of the liquid.— On determination of the 

 presence of fire-damp in the atmosphere of mines, by MM. Mallard 

 and Le Chatelier. They use a lit jet of hydrogen, which gives 

 j a larger and more distinct blue aureola than the flame of a com- 

 I mon safety-lamp in presence of fire-damp, and reveals the 

 ! presence of even 0-25 per cent, of the latter gas. The flame, 

 i within a cylinder of copper, is viewed through a lens closing a 

 ' lateral orifice. — On some conditions of alcohohc fermentation, 

 I by M. Richet. Oxygen renders more rapid lactic fermentation 

 j of milk. Boiling, by coagulating an albuminoid matter origin- 

 ally soluble, diminishes by one-half the activity of the fermenta- 

 tion. Digestive juices which give soluble albumen and peptones 

 increase the rapidity of lactic fermentation. — On the amylaceous 

 and amyloid granules of the egg, by M. Dastre. He opposes 

 M, Dareste's affirmation of the presence of amyloid bodies in 

 eggs, maintaining that they are certainly not starch, and have 

 not even the appearance of it. — Determination of sugar in the 

 blood, by M. d'Arsonval. He defends a method of the late 



Claude Bernard's against recent objections by M. Cazeneuve. 



On the method used by Claude Bernard for determination of 

 reducing sugars in the blood, by M. Picard. If there are some 

 animal substances which have the same action on cupric liquors 

 as glucosic solutions, there are a very large number which have 

 rotatory power. — On the distribution of phospliates in the dif- 

 ferent elements of the blood, by M. Jolly. Alkahne phosphates 

 predominate in the aqueous part of the blood. AH the ele- 

 ments contain a variable quantity of phosphate of iron, but it is 

 chiefly accumulated in the corpuscles. — On the formation of a 

 peculiar amyloid matter in the asci of some Pyrenomycetes, by 

 M. Crie. What distinguishes this essentially is (i) its forma- 

 tion in profound darkness by a protoplasm without chlorophyll, 

 and (2) its insolubility in the cellular liquids. This amyloid 

 matter, the physiological role of which is not yet known, M. 

 Crie calls amylomucine. — On ancient glaciers in the Maritime 

 Alps, by M. Desor. 



CONTENTS Pagb 



The Australian AND Tasmanian Racks. By A. H. Keane . . 549 

 On the Magnetis.m of Artificial Magnets. By Prof. Silvanus 



P. Thompson 55a 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Meyer's " Mittheilungen aus dem k. zoologischen Museum 2u 

 Dresden, herausgegeben mit Unterstiitzung der kdoiglichen 



Sammlungen f iir Kunst und Wissenschaft " , 553 



Brown's " Countries of the World " .... 554 



Letters to the Editor: — 



A Carnivorous Goose. — The Duke of Argyll . 554 



Sense of Force and Sense of Temperature. — J. T. B 554 



Did Flowers Exist during the QtrbonUerous Epoch? — R. 



McLachlan 554 



Water-Level Indicators. — H. Rofe 554 



Eastern Yucatan. — Dr. A. Woeikof 555 



Deltaic Growth. — Georg3 Higgin, C.E. 555 



Temperature Equikbrium in Relation to the Kinetic Theory. — S. 



Tolver Presto.v 555 



Transportation of Seeds. — Arthur Nicols 555 



Earthquakes. — T. G. Bonney; AuGUSTO T. ARtlMis 555 



Our Astrono.mical Colu.mn: — 



Bessel's Nebula in Perseus 555 



Brorsen's Comet 555 



New Minor Planets 556 



Geographical Notes 556 



The Wolf Fish. By Dr. Asdrew Wilsou (IVttA Illustraiitms) . . 556 



The E] na Observatory. By G. F. Rodwell {With Diagram) . 557 

 Note on the Spectru.m of Brorsen's Co.met. By Prof. C. A. 



YauNG 559 



Notes 559 



The Results of Recent Researches in Ani.mal Electricity. 



By Prof. L. Hermann {With Illustrations) 56* 



Barometric Pressure 5*9 



Scientific Serials . . . , • 5^ 



Societies and Academies • 570 



