28 



NATURE 



[May 2, 1878 



the arrows were thrown by means of a string, which he 

 illustrated before the meeting with a model. He expressed sur- 

 prise that, as far as he was aware, nothing was known of the 

 bow among the Maoris, a weapon so commonly used by natives 

 of other islands. Mr. Grace, who had been in New Zealand 

 from his youth, said that the bow and arrow was a common 

 weapon in the interior with the Maori youths, and he believed 

 that it was originally used by the natives. It was, however, 

 found by them to be an inconvenient weapon in the bush, and 

 hence their reason for adopting the plan mentioned by Mr. 

 Phillips. The Maori scarcely ever threw a spear by hand ; they 

 used the string twisted round a fork in the spear. The notch 

 mentioned by the author was new to him. — The President read 

 a paper on grasses and fodder plants by Dr. Curl, being a con- 

 tiiiuation of a paper by the same author read last year, and 

 printed in vol. ix. of the Transactions. — Mr. Carruthers read a 

 paper on a system of weights and measures, in which it was pro- 

 posed to change the radix of counting from 10 to 16, and to 

 adopt the latter number as the radix for all weights and 

 measures. 



Philadelphia 



Academy of Natural Sciences, November 13. — The agri- 

 cultural ants of Texas, by Rev. H. C. McCook, — On a stone 

 axe, by Mr. J. Ford. This was found in a bluff fifty feet above 

 the level of the Mississippi, and embedded twenty feet deep in 

 solid limestone, without fissure or crevice, giving evidence of 

 great age. 



November 27. — Remarks on American species of Difflugia, 

 by Prof. Leidy. — On the aeronautic flight of spiders, by Rev. 

 H. C. McCook. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, February 7. — "Mono- 

 graphia Pulmonariarum," by M. Kemer. — On bixin, by M. 

 Etti. — A centrifugal air- ship, by MM. Szigyarto and Kuczera. — 

 On the originals of v. Bom's Testaceis Musei Caesarei Vindo- 

 bonensis (1780), found in the Imperial Zoological Museum, by 

 M. Brauer. — On new neuroptera, by M. Steindachner. — On a 

 peculiar spinal cord band in some reptilia and amphibia, by M. 

 Berger. 



February 14. — Construction of tangents at the contact line of 

 a rotation surface and the developables described outwards and 

 round it from a point, by M. Drasch. — Completing additions to 

 the general mode of determination of the focus of contours of 

 surfaces of the second degree, by M. Pelz. — On the action of 

 bromine on phenoldisulphoacid, by M. Schmidt. — On the pro- 

 ducts of decomposition of a gum-ammoniac of Morocco by 

 melting hydrate of potash, by Dr. Goldschmidt.— Telephone 

 signalling apparatus, by M. Puluj. 



Rome 

 R. Accademia dei Lincei, February 3. — New researches 

 on the ossiferous caves of Liguria, by MM. Gasteldi and Ferroti. 

 — Discovery of arms of stone and bronze in Calabria, by M. 

 Ruggeri. — Geological and palseontological studies on the middle 

 cretaceus of Southern Italy, by M. Seguenza. — On benzylic 

 santonate, and on tribenzylamine and its chloroplatinate, 

 chlorhydrate, sulphate, alum, and nitrate, by M. Panebianco. — 

 On the new anomalous anastomosis between the trochlean nerve, 

 the supra-orbital and the sympathica cavernosa, by M. Berte. — 

 New general theorem of mechanics, by M. Cerruti. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 22. — M. Fizeauin the chair. — 

 The following among other papers were read: — Researches 

 relative to the action of dry oxalic acid on primary, secondary, 

 and tertiary alcohols, by MM, Cahours and Demar9ay. This is 

 in completion of a former study (C. R. vol. Ixxxiii. p. 688). 

 The experiments were made with methylic alcohol, primary and 

 secondary octylic alcohol, trimethyl-carbinol, and dimethyl 

 ethyl-carbinol. The action of dry oxalic acid on tertiary 

 alcohols, which consists in splitting them into hydrocarbons and 

 water which unites with the acid, establishes a very marked 

 distinction between them and primary and secondary alcohols, 

 which, in like circumstances, are transformed always into oxalates. 

 — Report on a memoir by Lieut. Pinheiro of the Brazilian navy, 

 on a sondograph. This instrument is for giving information 

 regarding banks in rivers. A wooden rod is fitted at its lower 

 end with a hollow roller to roll on the bottom and collect small 

 portions of the material ; at the top it is articulated round a 

 horizontal axis carrying a graduated arc (which shows the various 

 mchnations) and also a toothed wheel, which, though a pinion 



and eccentric, gives a straight motion to a style, tracing 

 a continuous curve on a moving band of paper. — M, Gaiffe 

 exhibited a manometric safety steelyard. It is mounted 

 on steel pivots, and connected with a piston having 

 ten square millimetres of surface. It indicates with pre- 

 cision the pressure of the boiler. Annexed is an alarm 

 whistle communicating with a valve box by a graduated rod. — 

 A letter from M. Andre was read, announcing the arrival at 

 Ogden, Utah, of the party sent out to observe the transit of 

 Mercury. The U.S. Government laad given them the use of 

 the nearly finished observatory at Ogden, and any instruments 

 they wished ; the photographic instruments used by the Ameri- 

 can Venus transit expedition were put in their hands. A tele- 

 graph wire connects Ogden with Washington. — Observations of 

 solar spots and protuberances during the first quarter of 1878, 

 by M. Tacchini. The number of spots has continuously 

 diminished since the beginning of last year, so that the minimum 

 appears to fall, not in 1877, but in 1878. The protuberances, 

 too, have been very few and small: 2'l on an average daily, 

 with a height of half a minute ; they occupy only 3*5° of the 

 solar limb. In distribution they extend over a large zone, but 

 with the peculiarity of two characteristic maxima beyond the 

 principal zones of spots, i.e. between 30° and 60° in both hemi- 

 spheres. The nebulous structure predominated. There were 

 no isolated metallic eruptions. — On observations of Mercury, 

 made at the end of last century, by Vidal at Mirepoix, by M. 

 Bigourdan. These are shown to be as accurate as was possible 

 with the means at Vidal's disposal. — Results of experiments 

 made at various points of Algeria, in industrial use of solar 

 heat, by M. Mouchot. The reflectors he finds best are made 

 of a plate of silver, or brass electro -plated with a thin layer of 

 silver. At Algiers the heat received per minute by his solar 

 boiler was 7 calories in April, 8 in May, and 8*5 in June and 

 July. M. Mouchot tabulates the results obtained in various 

 localities ; they range from 9*8 cal. to 5. — On a large fossil 

 reptile [Eiirysattrus raincourti), by M. Gaudry. The remains 

 of this were come upon by workmen in a quarry near Vesoul, 

 as far back as 186 1. A Dr. Gevrey happened to pass and 

 brought some of the blocks of bone to Vesoul, where they 

 have been forgotten seventeen years. The Marquis de Rain- 

 court having seen them perceived their interesting nature. 

 The remains are estimated to have covered a space five metres in 

 length. The animal has affinities to the plesiosaurians, but it 

 is not a true plesiosaurus, for its head is so heavy and its teeth are 

 so large that it could not have had a very long neck. The 

 cervical vertebras, too, are narrower and convex behind. The 

 cranium was flattened and the teeth weie directed outwards. 

 The nostrils must have been placed far back. 



CONTENTS f. Page 



Retrospect and Prospect. By the Editor 1 



The American Storm Warnings. By Jerome J. Collins .... 4 



Newcomb's Astronomy. By J. R. Hind, F.R.S 7 



Slate and Slate Quarrying 10 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Hulme's " Familiar Wild Flowers " 11 



Geographical Books n 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Telephone. — George S. Clarke ; Herbert McLeod . . . ii 



Poisonous Australian Lake.— George Francis . 11 



Transmission of Vocal and other Sounds by Wires.— W. J. 



Millar, C.E 12 



Westinghouse Brake. — R 12 



The Oxford Commissioners' Statement. — B 12 



Contact Electricity. — J. Brown 12 



Solar Halo. — E. Rodier 13 



Floating Magnets. By Sir William Thomson, F.R S. (JVith 



Illustrations) 13 



A Rotating Book-Case (fJ^zV/z/Z^^/m^/^jw) .....'. '. .' ] 15 



Faustinus Jovita Marianus Malaguti 15 



Dr. Thomas Thomson, F.R.S. By Rev. M. J. Berkeley .... 15 



The Greenland Eskimo. By A. Bordibr {With Illustrationi) . . 16 



PozzoLANA Mortar and Pine Timber 19 



Stanford's Stereographical Map of the British Isles .... 19 

 Our Astronomical Column : — 



Transits of Mercury 19 



Kepler's Manuscripts and Relics 20 



The Pulkowa Library Catalogue 20 



Geographical Notes : — 



Round the World 20 



Africa 20 



Notes 20 



The University of Oxford Commission 23 



An Improved Method of Projecting Lissajous' Figures on the 



Screen. By J. Dixon Mann, L.K.Q.C.P. (^^zM ///«j/m^w«) . . 24 



The Paris Observatory 25 



Societies and Academies {With Illustration) 25 



