296 



NATURE 



\_7tdy II, 1878 



by the dry and wet bulb thermometers when a hot wind is blow- 

 in<' varies from 25° to 52° of moisture. The highest temperature 

 recorded during the six years was 97° "6, the lowest 29°, and the 

 mean 63°'3. — Note on the mean relative humidity at the Royal 

 Observatory, Greenwich, by W. Ellis, F.R.A.S. In this paper 

 the author gives the mean relative humidity in each month of the 

 year at 9 A.M. and 9 p.m., and the mean of the twenty-four 

 hourly value;, derived from the photographic records of the dry 

 and wet bulb thermometers for the twenty years 1849- 1868. 

 The 9 A.M. value is smaller than the mean in summer and 

 larger in winter; and the 9 p.m. value is larger than the mean 

 throughout the year, but most in summer. The mean monthly 

 values change little from April to August, and from October to Feb- 

 ruary ; and there is a great decrease between February and April, 

 and a corresponding great increase between August and October. 

 The mean for the year is 80*7. — On a method of sometimes deter- 

 mining the amount of the diurnal variation of the barometer on 

 any particular day, by the Hon. R. Abercromby, F.M.S. — On 

 the relative duration of sunshine at the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, and at the Kew Observatory, during the year 1877, 

 by G. M. Whipple, B.Sc, F.R.A.S. The author having insti- 

 tuted a comparison of the amount of sunshine recorded at these 

 two observatories, finds that the totals show that for the whole 

 year the excess in the number of hotu-s the sun shone at Kew 

 over the number at Greenwich, amounted to 171. This differ- 

 ence is no doubt due to the direction of the wind, for Greenwich 

 lying to the south-east of the chief part of London, and having 

 also large manufacturing establishments on its northern side, is 

 greatly shaded by cloud, probably in a great measure due to smoke, 

 when the wind blows from W., N.W., or N., while at Kew, 

 which is situated to the west of London, and is remote from 

 factories and shipping, enjoys a larger percentage of sunshine 

 with these winds. With winds from the N.E., S., and S.W., 

 Kew has but slight advantage over Greenwich. With E. and 

 S.W. winds the London smoke is driven over Kew, and its 

 presence in reducing the transparency of the air is evident in the 

 diminished amount of sun recorded, the quantities being only 

 81 and 65 per cent, of those registered at Greenwich. — Account 

 of the atmospheric disturbance which took place in lat. 21° N., 

 and long. 25° W., on January 27-28, 1877, by J. H. Cardew. 

 — Notes on some remarkable cloud fonnations accompanying 

 sudden and frequent changes of temperature and wind, by Capt. 

 W. Watson, F.M.S. 



Vienna 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences, February 28. — The 

 following, among other papers, were read : — On some sen- 

 sations in the region of visual nerves, by M. Briicke. — On the 

 galvanic polarisation of platinum in water, by M. Exner. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, July i. — M. Fizeau in the chair. — 

 The following among other papers were read : — On sulphuric 

 saponification, by M. Fremy. He expresses his satisfaction 

 because this process, without distillation (which discoloured the 

 fatty acids), is now become an industrial operation, as the Exhi- 

 bition proves. — On a system of telephone without electro- 

 magnetic organs, based on the principle of the microphone, by 

 M.du Moncel. A reference to recent results by Blyth, Hughes, 

 &c., in this direction. He thinks some of the sounds heard in 

 telephones connected with telegraph lines may arise from fric- 

 tion of the lines on their supports. — On diphtheria in the East 

 and especially in Persia, by M. Tholozan. There is no record 

 or tradition of croup, scarlatina, or diphtheritic or gangrenous 

 angina in Persia previous to 1869. In that year and the next a 

 small epidemic of scarlatina appeared. In 1874 an epidemic 

 of diphtheria broke out in the south of Persia and spread 

 towards the north and west. Particulars are given. — M. Friedel 

 was elected member in the section of chemistry in room of the 

 late M. Regnault. — Thermal researches on the chromates, by M. 

 Morges. The electrolytic decomposition of the chromates is 

 not comparable to that of the alkaline sulphates. The heat con- 

 fined does not exceed 12,500 calories. The chromates are 

 rather comparable (thermally) to the carbonates. — Trombe of 

 May 15, 1878, in the department of Vienne, by M. De Touchim- 

 bert. This appears to have been very violent, uprooting strong 

 trees, damaging houses, lifting railway carriages, and throwing 

 persons down. Its course (about forty kiloms.) was from S.S.W. 

 to N.N.E. and E. Its width was l,ocK) to 1,200 m. ; velo- 

 city about 44 m. per second ; pressure about 220 kilog. per 

 square metre. — On the deformations of the disc of Mercury 



during its transit, by M. Lamez. Calculation shows that an 

 advance of 8 sec. on the theoretical instant of contact may have 

 been produced by the ellipticity ; and an advance was observed. 

 — On a single liquid pile depolarised by the actio.n of at- 

 mospheric air, by M. Pulvermacher. The exciting liquid, 

 (dilute sulphuric acid, caustic potash, or sal ammoniac) is placed 

 in a porous cylindrical vessel. The positive metal is a rod of 

 amalgamated zinc placed in this vessel, and the negative con- 

 sists of long bell-springs of fine wire (silver or platinum) coiled 

 round the cylinder, their coils sufficiently apart to avoid capillary 

 action. The wire is thus in contact at a great many points 

 with the liquid which transudes the porous vessel, and the ex- 

 ternal air has a continual oxidising action on these numerous 

 small surfaces of tangence, thus effecting depolarisation. — On a 

 new mode of formation of glycolate of ethyl, by MM. Norton 

 and Tchermak. This is by action of glycolide on ethylic 

 alcohol. — On the action of chlor-hydrates of amines on glycer- 

 ine, by M. Persoz. On heating, e.g., glycerine with chlor- 

 hydrate of aniline, one easily obtains phenylised derivatives of 

 glyceramine along with secondary products. — On anaerobiosis of 

 micro-organisms, by M. Gunning. With the aid of ferro- 

 cyanide of ferrosum, which he found an extremely sensitive 

 reagent for oxygen, he had shown that the apparatus 

 and media commonly used for culture of micro-organisms 

 cannot be freed from oxygen by the methods recommended 

 for this purpose. In a memoir to the Amsterdam Academy, he 

 gives arguments for attributing the cessation of putrefaction 

 solely to the death of the bacteria, caused by absence of free 

 oxygen. M. Pasteur considers that putrefaction is sometimes 

 stopped because the small organisms have passed into the state 

 of germs.— On the "piedra," a new species of parasitic affection 

 of hair, by M. Desenne. This consists of hard nodosities 

 (visible to the naked eye) at regular intervals on the hair. It is 

 met with in the province of La Cauca, Columbia. It is cured 

 by greasing the head well, and is not contagious. — On the 

 explanation of the effects of irrigations practised in the south of 

 France, by M. Barral. These are important, not only on 

 account of the matters brought by the water, and the satisfac- 

 tion of the need of moisture, but on account of the reactions they 

 favour in the layer of earth necessarily moistened, aerated, and 

 put in- contact with mineral or organic compounds. — Letter from 

 Prof. Du Bois Reymond presenting two new volumes of his 

 researches on the physics of the muscles and the nerves. They 

 contain memoirs published since 1855. — A memoir by Prof. 

 Villari was presented, on emissive power and the different kinds 

 of heat which some bodies emit at 100°. 



CONTENTS Pa6« 



Science in Schools 273 



The Jubilee of University College . . 273 



Windmills and Waterfalls 274 



West Yorkshire 276 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Taylor's "Flowers."— J. S. G 276 



Millar's " Elements of Descriptive Geometry " 277 



Letters to the Editor :— 



Hughes's Microphone.— Prof. D. E. Hughes 277 



Insects Corroborative of the Nativity of Certain Plants.— Dr. F. 



Buchanan White 278 



Physical Science for Artists.— Mrs. G. Hubbard 278 



Remarkable Form of Lightning.— E. J. Lawrence 278 



Microscopy. The Immersion Paraboloid.— Dr. James Edmunds. 278 



RevieviT of Henfrey's Botany. — Rev. iGEORGEHKNSLOw; A. W. B. 278 



Alumina.— W. A. Ross 279 



A Subject-Index to Scientific Periodical Literature.— A. Ramsay 270 



Club-Root. By Prof. E. Perceval Wright 279 



Science in Schools 279 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Tempel's Comet, 1873, II. . 281 



The " Temporaiy Stars " of Kepler and Anthelm 281 



Jeremiah Shakerley „•„ « V,/,..; ^^^ 



The Genesis of Limbs. By St. George Mivart, F.R.S. (Wtfh 



Illustratiom) 282 



The Observatory of Paris 284 



Prof. W. M. Gabb • 285 



On the Anatcmy of the {Organ of Hearing in Relation to 

 the Discovery of the Principle of the Microphone of Prof. 

 D. E. Hughes, and the Magnophone of Mr. W. L. Scott, 

 A.S.T.E. By John Denis Macdonald, M D., F.R.S. {With 



Illustrations) '^ ■^ 



Work and Progress of the Imperial Geological Institute of 



Vienna f^ 



Meteorological Notes go 



Geographical Notes „„„ 



Notes ^ 



Further Researches on the Scintillation of Stars ... 292 



UuiVERsrrY AND Educational Intelligence ....•••• 293 



Societies and Acade.mies ^^ 



