i86 



NATURE 



\ymie 13, 1878 



like a street lamp in a November fog. A Tines correspondent 

 at Cheltenham says that the path of the body was almost due 

 east and west, and the apparent time of flight about 20". The 

 meteor was also observed at Southampton, Tnnbridge Wells, 

 and Beckenham. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



The Sedgwick Memorial Committee (Cambridge) have 

 passed the following resolution, which has been sent to the Vice- 

 Chancellor : — " That a communication be made on behalf of the 

 Committee to the University to the effect that a sum of about 

 12,000/. is now at their disposal for a memorial to the late Prof. 

 Sedgwick, and that the Committee are prepared to apply this 

 money towards the erection of a new geological museum when a 

 plan satisfactory to the Committee has been approved by the 

 Senate." 



On the nomination of Prof. Miller, Mr. W. J. Lewis, M.A., 

 Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, has been approved as Deputy 

 Professor of Mineralogy for twelve months, from October i, 

 1878, Prof. Miller assigning to Mr. Lewis two-thirds of his 

 stipend. 



Mr. J. A. Ewing, B.Sc, F.R.S.E., has been appointed 

 Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Tokio, 

 Japan. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletin de r Academie Royal de Belgique, No. i, 1878. — In 

 researches on Daltonism, here described, MM. Delboeuf and 

 Spring used a solution of fuchsine between two convergent 

 plates of glass (the red is wanting in M. Delbceuf's sight). Thus 

 a suitable thickness of red could be readily selected, and it was 

 found that colours previously confounded showed notable 

 differences. A solution of chloride of nickel interposed between 

 objects and the eye produces in non-Daltonians the same con- 

 fusion as that of Daltoni'ans. Fuchsine opposes and destroys 

 the effect of chloride of nickel : so that the non-Daltonian in 

 whom the latter produces confusions ceases to have thee when 

 he looks also through the fuchsine. Daltonism is regarded as 

 merely an exceptional exaggeration of a peculiarity found in all 

 eyes to a certain degree. — M. Terby furnishes fifteen figures of 

 Mars as observed during the opposition of 1877. — The physio- 

 1 ogical action of Gelsemine, on respiration, circulation, and tem- 

 perature, is described by MM. Putzey and Romiee. — M. de 

 Koninck announced that his son found, in the Ardennes, the 

 very rare mineral carpholite, hitherto only met with in the 

 Plarz and Bohemia. 



No. 2. — From experiments with regard to the fertilising action 

 of the grey chalk of Ciply, in Belgium (which contains 11 '50 

 per cent, of phosphoric acid), M. Petermann concludes that 

 bicalcic phosphate, called precipitated phosphate, and the phos- 

 phates of iron and alumina, have the same agricultural value as 

 the phosphoric acid of soluble phosphates, that is, their phos- 

 phoric acid may be immediately assimilated by plants. lie 

 therefore advises the disuse of the Cipley Chalk, and he con- 

 siders it can only be utilised in agriculture after its transforma- 

 tion into precipitated phosphate. (M. Stas thinks this conclusion 

 too absolute.) — M. Quetelet reviews observations of the move- 

 ments of the magnetic needle at Brussels from 1828-76. The 

 magnetic line diverges very little from a central axis, with which 

 it makes an angle of about 5°. It turns round this axis in a 

 direction opposite to that of the earth's diurnal motion ; the 

 angle described annually is about 42'*2, and the complete revo- 

 lution would appear to be effected in 512 years. The secondary 

 movements and accidental displacements do not sensibly affect 

 the principal secular movement. — M. Donny recalls experiments 

 he made, in 1S43, with Prof. Mareska, on liquefaction of gases. 

 They often compressed air (with a hydraulic pump) in the capil- 

 lary part of a manometer to more than 500 atm., and M. 

 Donny thinks they may have liquefied the gas without knowing 

 it. — MM. Navez describe a combination of an induction coil 

 with the telephone for speaking at great distances. The induced 

 currents are sent into the line, while the sending instrument is 

 inserted in the local circuit connected with the battery. The 

 receiving telephone is somewhat modified. — The subjects for 

 prizes offered by the Academy for 1879 are announced in this 

 number. 



Reale Istitnto Lombardo di Scienze S Lettere. Rendiconti, 

 vol. xi. fasc. iv.-vi. — We note the following papers in these 

 numbers : — Deformative hypertrophy of the nails, by M. San- 

 galli. — Claustrophobia, by M. Verga. — Some experiments with 

 the telephone, by M. Serpieri. — On the dominant diseases of 

 the vine, by MM. Garovaglio and Cattaneo. — On the kinematics 

 of a solid body, by M. Bardelli. — Lecture experiment (illus- 

 trating liquefaction of gases), by M. Brugnatelli. — An experi- 

 ment on electrostatic induction, by M. Cantoni. — On a case of 

 heterogenesis observed in nature, by MM. Battista and Corrado. 

 — Reduction of argentic and ferric chloride, by M. Tommasi. — 

 Geological observations on the Carso di Trieste and the valley of 

 the J\ecci with reference to water supply, by M. Taromelli. 



The Bulletin di V Academie Iinpcriale des Sciences de SL 

 Petersbourg (t. xxiv. No. 4) contains the following papers of 

 interest : — Development into converging series of the odd nega- 

 tive powers of the square roots of the function i - 2 »; U -f tj-, by 

 Dr. J. Backlund. — Variation of the volume of liquids through 

 the effect of temperature, by M. Avenarius. — On some new 

 forms of crystals of ilmeno-rutile, by P. Jeremejew. — On the 

 development of excrescences (cephalodia) on the thallus of Licheny 

 Peltigei-a aphtJiosa, Hoffm., by M. Babikoff. — On a new case of 

 divisibility of the numbers of the form 2-™-l-i, found by the 

 Rev. J. Pervouchine, by V. Bouniakowsky. — A note on the 

 opposition of planets during 1877, by A. Sawitch. — On aa 

 extremely slight earthquake observed by means of a very delicate 

 level on May 10, 1877, by M. Nyren. 



Morphologisches yahrbuch, vol. iv., supplement, dedicated to 

 Carl von Siebold. — On the cranial skeleton of alepocephalus, a 

 clupeoid fish, by Prof. Gegenbaur, two plates, 42 pp. — Fossil 

 vertebrse, by C. Hasse, dealing with the relationship of the 

 genus Selache ; two plates. The author believes this genus to 

 have developed from Carcharodon in the tertiary period. — The 

 gorilla's brain and the third frontal convolution, by Prof, von 

 Bischoff, a controversial article referring to Prof. Broca's 

 researches and views. — Contribution on the coral family Antr- 

 patharia, by G. von Koch. — The disposition and development 

 of elastic tissue, by L. Gerlach, with two beautiful plates. — The 

 development of the muscular structure of the human foot, by G. 

 Kuge, 36 pp. one plate. 



The Notizblatt des Vereins fiir Erdkunde lu Darmstadt (iiu 

 xvi. Nos. 181 to 192) contains some interesting statistical data 

 from the Hessian Central Statistical Office. The papers of 

 geological interest are : On the crystalline lime of Auerbach on 

 the Bergstrasse, by R. Ludwig. — On the minerals found in the 

 cavities of the melaphyr from Traisa and in the basalt of the 

 Rossberg, by the same. — On the minerals and fossils found near 

 Ilering (Ilessen), by the same. — Comparative account of the 

 products of all Hessian mines during the years from i860 to 1876, 

 by Herr Tecklenburg. — On the fauna of the real Cyrene emery 

 of Sulzheim, near Woerrstadt (Hessen), by Dr. O. Boettger. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, May 2. — " Preliminary Notes on Ex- 

 periments in Electro-Photometry." By Prof. James Dewar^ 

 F.R.S., Jacksonian Professor, University of Cambridge. 



Edmond Becquerel, in the year 1839, opened up a new fielii 

 of chemical research through the discovery that electric currents 

 may be developed during the production of chemical inter- 

 actions excited by solar agency. 



Hunt, in the year 1840, repeated, with many modifications, 

 Becquerel's experiments, and confirmed his results. 



Grove, in 1858, examined the influence of light on the 

 polarized electrode, and concluded that the effect of light was 

 simply an augmentation of the chemical action taking place at 

 the surface of the electrode. 



Becquerel, in his well-known work, " LaLumiere," published 

 in 1868, gives details regarding the construction of an electro- 

 chemical actinometer formed by coating plates of silver with a 

 thin film of the sub-chloride, and subsequent heating for many 

 hours to a temperature of 150° C. 



Egeroff, in 1877, sugested the use of a double^ apparatus of 

 Becquerel's form, acting as a differential combination, the plates 

 of silver being coated with iodide instead of chloride. 



The modifications of the halogen salts of silver when subjected 

 to the action of light have up to the present time been used most 



