July 25, 1878] 



NATURE 



345 



ology of Adelaide, as well as of the behaviour of introduced 

 plants from various parts of the world. The sudden changes of 

 temperatiure during the Australian summer months of Decem- 

 ber, January, and February, are often very injurious to vege- 

 tation. The lengthened period of eight or ten weeks without a 

 drop of rain, which is not uncommon, has a serious effect upon 

 both indigenous and acclimatised plants. In the months of 

 March, April, and May, when our own deciduous trees are 

 putting on their fresh gi-een foliage, the same identical European 

 plants which have established themselves in their Australian 

 home are assuming their autumnal tints and dropping. Alpine 

 and tropical plants suffer in South Australia not only from the 

 dry atmosphere, but — the tropical ones especially — from the 

 cold of the winter months. On the other hand, the extreme 

 heat in the month of January, coupled v/ith the hot north wind, 

 literally bakes the fruits upon the trees. At three o'clock in the 

 afternoon of the loth of January last, it is stated that the 

 thermometer in the Botanic Garden registered 116° in the shade 

 and 166° in the sun. The catalogue is illustrated by seventeen 

 full-page views in the garden, engraved from photographs. 



We have before us quite a pile of Reports and Proceedings of 

 provincial societies, all of which, we may say, appear to be in a 

 prosperous and healthy condition. We can do little more than 

 give the names of the societies which have issued these reports. 

 As usual, the Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, 

 Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne contain some papers of great 

 importance. A paper on Eggs, by Dr. Embleton, and one on 

 Roman remains at South Shields, by the Rev. Dr. Hooppell, 

 deserve special mention ; there are also some interesting Bewick 

 letters. The preface to the Report of the Rugby School Society 

 is rather desponding, but the contents are really creditable to the 

 contributors, and we are glad to see the attendance is generally 

 very good ; in the Report on the Temple Observatory, a descrip- 

 tion and plan of the new buildings is given. The eighth 

 Report of the Wellington College Society shows it to be 

 in a state of vigorous activity, all the departments adding 

 largely to their collections ; an ethnological department has been 

 set on foot. Besides the above we have received the Proceedings 

 of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society ; the 

 Report and Proceedings of the Manchester Field Naturalists and 

 Archseologists ; Proceedings of the Birmingham Philosophical 

 Society ; Eighth Annual Report of the Leeds Naturalists' Club ; 

 Annual Report and Transactions of the Plymouth Institute and 

 Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society; Proceedings 

 of the Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club ; Seventh Report of the 

 Croydon Microscopical Club ; Report of the Northampton 

 Natural History Society and Field Club ; and the Eighth Annual 

 Report on the Devon and Exeter Albert Memorial Museum, 

 &c. Several of these publications contain really important 

 papers which deserve a wider circulation than they are likely to 

 receive in their present form. In this connection we may 

 mention an interesting tractate published at the Advertiser office, 

 Wilmston, containing an account of some Lancashire Artisan 

 Naluralists, by Mr. A. A. Reade. From abroad we have 

 received the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of 

 Tasmania ; Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales ; Report of the Auckland Institute ; Report of the 

 Dunedin Naturalists' Field Club, and the Bulletin of the Essex 

 CU.S.) Institute. 



The temperature of flames has been investigated by Signor F. 

 Rosetti {Istttuio Veneto, ser. v. vol. iv.) in a very thorough manner 

 by means of his ingenious calorimeter. The maximum tempera- 

 ture of a Bunsen flame is found to be 1,360° C, and results 

 from a combustion of I volume of gas and 2i volumes of air. The 

 admi-sion of a greater or less quantity of air reduces the tempera- 

 ture. Changes in pressure have but slight influence on the 



temperature. The flame given by gas diluted with the same 

 volume of nitrogen shows a temperature of 1,180°, and diluted 

 with 3 volumes of nitrogen, 1,040°. The same degrees of dilu- 

 tion with carbonic acid show respectively 1,100° and 780°. 

 Among other temperatures noted were the following : — 



o 



Locatelli lamp 920 



Stearine candle 940 



Petroleum lamp with chimney 1,030 



The same without chimney — 



Illuminating part 920 



Sooty envelope 780 



Alcohol lamp (alcohol o'9i2) i>i7o 



Ditto (alcohol 0822) 1,180 



The slight difference in heating power resulting from widely- 

 varying percentages of water in the alcohol is worthy of remark. 



The medical students of Paris have not forgotten that 

 Rousseau was a botanist as well as a philosopher, and sent a 

 delegation on July 2 to Ermenonville to celebrate the looth 

 anniversary of his death. Three addresses were delivered in 

 the name of the medical body — one by Dr. Bergeron, the 

 toxicologist, the second by M. de Lannessau, and the third 

 by M. Baillon, himself a botanist and a professor of the 

 School of Medicine. The speakers referred in eloquent 

 terms to the love of Rousseau for nature, his observa- 

 tional genius, and his works on botany. The students had 

 prepared a splendid crown made of pervenches (periwinkle, 

 Vinca") the flower which Rousseau loved best, and which had 

 been collected by them in the very forest where the philosopher 

 spent his last years. As no boat was to be had to reach the 

 island where the author of the " Nouvelle Heloise " is buried, one 

 of the students threw himself into the wafer and swam with the 

 testimonial to the spot sacred to the memory of the impulsive 

 Frenchman. 



H. J. Rink has recently laid before the Dutch Academy of 

 Sciences an elaborate paper on the alterations caused by changes 

 of temperature in the resistance offered by mercury to the passage 

 of the galvanic current. The coefficients found hitherto range 

 between o"ocio86 and 0*00104. Tti^ author has made experi- 

 ments with seven tubes of mercury, each a metre in length, and 

 after making all corrections for expansion of glass, &c., obtained 

 the number o'ooogSg as the coefficient for the change in the 

 resistance corresponding to an alteration of a degree Celsius. He 

 finds, furthermore, that the resistance increases in a more rapid 

 ratio than the temperature. 



The great Giffard captive balloon is in the hands of a Com- 

 mission appointed by the Prefect of the Seine, and composed of M. 

 Troost, Professor of Physics attheSorbonne, Capt. Renard, head 

 of the balloon service of the War Office, and a few others. The 

 Commission was appointed on July 19, and on the 20th paid its 

 first visit to the balloon, which is attracting public notice to an 

 unprecedented degree. Thousands of spectators look through 

 the railings of the Cour du Carrousel at the stupendous sphere 

 which is ready to start for its elevated station. On the 20th the 

 wind was very violent, and no ascent was tried. The balloon 

 will not be opened to the public before the Commission has ren- 

 dered its report. A second visit took place on the 21st, when 

 a successful trial ascent was made. A M. Carrol has designed 

 and made wings for directing an elongated balloon. A man will 

 be suspended under it by a rope and will try to direct it. This 

 kind of experiment has been tried at Paris twice — by Deghen, a 

 Viennese clockmaker, about seventy years ago, who failed ; and 

 a year ago at la Villette gasworks, by a policeman, who obtained 

 no result. M. de Fonvielle writes that he visited the Carrol 

 flying machine which is yet imperfect, but may eventually 

 work. The balloon will be inflated with hydrogen gas, and the 



