352 



NATURE 



\7uly 25, 1878 



catinc process can be traced in a line across the Pacific from 

 Formosa, where rice is the ingredient thus employed, to Peru 

 and Bolivia, where maize is used for the same pm-pose, the 

 manufacturers being always women. The next advance is that 

 acquired by agricultural races, who make a kind of beer from 

 the chief cereal grown by them. This liquor probably reached 

 our shores from Egypt, where it was very early known, through 

 the lake dwellers, and still forms the principal drink of all 

 African races. Pastoral tribes, meanwhile, use the milk of their 

 flocks and herds and the honey of wild bees in the manufacture of 

 their fermented drinks : hence the celebrated koumiss and mead 

 of Scythic nations, the same liquors reappearing amongthe Kaffirs 

 in South Africa, the vessels used in both countries being the 

 skins of animals, which were also used for storing wines in the 

 East. Later, in Greece and Rome mead was a favourite 

 beverage of the Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons, and there seems 

 to be a shadow of the Scythic koumiss in the Devonshire liquor 

 known as white or grout ale, whilst both liquors may be traced 

 more distinctly in the famous amrita and soma-wineoi the Vedas. 

 Various plants and fruits have been used in all civilised and 

 semi-civilised countries from very ancient times in the manufac- 

 ture of wines, but grape juices had formerly a circumscribed 

 range, having been confined to Western Asia, Egypt, Greece, 

 and Rome, but forbidden in China and the vines extirpated. 

 The religious ceremonies and prohibitions attached to these 

 various beverages were briefly noticed, as also the deification of 

 plants on account of their medicinal properties and. the form and 

 material of drinking vessels, whilst alcohol, the latest and most 

 pernicious development of the art of manufacturing stimulants 

 was only mentioned as not having been included among the 

 beverages of the ancients nor known to savages until introduced 

 by Europeans.— The Director then read a paper by Mr. John 

 Sanderson on polygamous marriage in South Africa. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, July 16. — M. Fizeau in the chair. — 

 The following among other papers were read : — Remarks on 

 the influence of atmospheric electricity of weak tension on 

 vegetation, by M. Berthelot. A propos of M. Grandeau's ex- 

 ]:ieriments, M. Berthelot recalls his own, proving fixation of 

 free nitrogen on organic matters under weak electrical action, 

 &c., such action (in nature), being probably more efficacious 

 than that of thunderstorms, owing to its duration and extent. — 

 On a brochure of M. Hirn relating to whirlwinds, by M. Faye. 

 M. Hirn distinguishes two kinds of descending whirling move- 

 ments, represented by cyclones and by trombes. The former 

 (he considers) are propagated naturally downwards by simple 

 lateral communication of a gyratory motion, originating in the 

 upper regions. They enlarge and diminish in rapidity (owing to 

 friction). For the other class, which become more and more 

 restrained in their transverse dimensions (and take the figure of 

 an upright, not an inverted, funnel), he calls in a small force 

 in the form of electricity of the clouds, and the attraction 

 between them and the ground through an imperfectly conducting 

 medium. M. Faye doubts this view, and supposes mechanical 

 identity of the two phenomena. — Processes and apparatus- for 

 study of the velocity of propagation of excitations in different 

 kinds of motor nerves in mammalia, by M. Chauveau. In this 

 note he merely describes his mode of experimentation, which 

 was on mammalia of large size, chloralised, or subjected to sec- 

 tion of the bulb and artificial respiration. He used induced 

 currents for the (uncovered) nerve, by the unipolar method. At 

 each turn of an automatic distributer the current is passed to a 

 different point of the nerve. The results of experiment are 

 stated to differ from those of Helmholtz in his experiments on 

 the nerves of a killed frog. — General Morin referred to the loss 

 sustained by the Section of Mechanics in the death of General 

 Didion, author of a "Traitede Balistique," &c. — On galvano- 

 plasty of cobalt, by M. Gaiffe. Cobalt may be advantageously 

 substituted for iron and nickel, as a protective layer for 

 engraved and typographic plates. M. Gaiffe uses a bath 

 of neutral solution of the double sulphate of cobalt and 

 ammonia ; the anode a sheet of platinum or (better) a plate of 

 cast or forged cobalt. The current is kept at about six B.A, 

 units, and reduced to three, when the whole piece has become 

 white. The deposition may be made nearly as rapid as that of 

 nickel. — On the existence of lesions of the anterior roots in 

 acute ascending paralysis, by M. Vulpian. These lesions, found 

 in every preparation (the spinal cord being unaltered), consisted 

 in fragmentation of the myeline into drops and droplets, hyper- 

 genesis of the protoplasm of each inter-annular segment, and 



multiplication of the nuclei of Schwann's sheath. The cylinder- 

 axis had completely disappeared. — M. Ducretet presented 

 (through M. Du Moncel) a stethoscopic microphone of great 

 sensibility. He utilises M. Marey's delicate tambours, the 

 vibrations of sound from the body acting on the elastic mem- 

 branes. — Discovery of a comet by Mr. Lewis Swift, at 

 Rochester, U.S. (telegram from the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion). — Measurement of the calorific intensity of solar radia- 

 tions, by M. Crova. This relates to observations last 

 year. The intensity at mid-day increased from the end of 

 January to March 15, when there was a maximum of 1*320 cal. 

 The minimum was on June 28 (1*023 cal.) ; then the radiation 

 increased, and on October 16 reached the pretty high value of 

 1*260 cal. As before, the weakest radiations were with S. 

 or S.W. winds and comparatively high temperatures; the 

 strongest with N. or N.W. winds and low temperatures ; the 

 former Avinds increasing, the latter diminishing the vapour in 

 the atmosphere. The author adds some observations on this 

 last point. — On the reform of some processes of analysis in 

 laboratories of agricultural stations, and observatories of chemical 

 meteorology ; volumetric determination of sulphate contained in 

 water, by M. Houzeau. A new method for the latter is 

 described. -^The septicity of putrefied blood is destroyed by a 

 very long contact with compressed oxygen at high tension, by 

 M. Feltz. — Identity of nature of spontaneous and traumatic 

 erysipelas ; consequences, by M. Real. A discussion took 

 place on explosions in flour-mills, h propos of a recent letter of 

 Mr. Lawrence Smith from the United States. — Structure of the 

 stem of Sigillaria, by M. Renault. 



GOTTINGEN 



Royal Society of Sciences, INIarch 2. — The following, 

 among other papers, were read : — Comparative anatomy of the 

 crystalline lens, by Prof. Henle. — Thebursre of Ophiura and their 

 homologies with tlie Pentremites, by Prof. Ludwig. 



May 4. — The systematic position of Sclerophylax and Cor- 

 tesia, by Prof. Grisebach. — Observations on the pharmacology of 

 Salicin, by Dr. Marme. — Relation of the left intercostal rein to 

 the vena azygos, by Prof. Brunn. — Some Avestic words and forms, 

 by Prof. Bezzenberger. — Coptic-Arabian inscriptions in the Uni- 

 versity library, by Prof. Wiistenfeld. 



CONTENTS Paot 



Botany IN America. By Sir J. D. Hooker, P.R.S 325 



Report on the Hvdroids 'i 326 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Sawyer's " Automatic Arithmetic ; a Xew System for Multiplica- 

 tion and Divisian without Mental Labour and without the Use of 



Logarithms " 327 



Spicer's " Handbook of the Plants of Tasmania " 327 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The Natural History Collections.— A Naturalist 328 



The Genesis of Cyclones. — H. F. Blanford 328 



The Tasimeter and Magnetisation. — Andrew Gray ; Thomas 



Gray 329 



Physical Science for Artists. — Rev. R. Abbay (JVitk Illustration) 329 

 Zoological Geography — Didus and Didunculus. — Prof. Alfred 



Newton, F.R S 331 



Autophyllogeny.^Dr. A. Ernst {With Illustraiimi) 331 



Microscopy — the Immersion Paraboloid. — John May all, Jun. . 331 

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



Illustration) 331 



Varying Experiences. By Thomas Meehan 334 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Double Stars 334 



The New Comet 335 



Meteorological Notes 335 



Chemical Notes : — 



Influence of Temperature on the Rotatory Power of Quartz . . . 336 



Change of Indices of Refraction in Mixtures of Isomorphous Salts . 336 



Allotropic Modification of Copper 336 



Saccharose .... , 336 



Heat Evolved in the Formation of Isomeric Bodies 336 



Chemical Changes Taking Place during the Ripening of Grapes . 336 



Ripening of Grapes after Removal from the Vine 337 



Use of Methyl Chloride for the Production of Low Temperatures . 337 

 Formation of Hydrocarbons by the Action of Water on Manganese 



Iron Alloys containing Carbon . . 337 



Action of Boron Fluoride on Certain Classes of Organic Com- 

 pounds • 337 



Geographical Notes 337 



A Method of Recording Articulate Vibrations by Means of 



Photography. By Prof. E. W. Blake {With Illustrations) . ■ 338 

 The Phonograph and Vowel Sounds. By Prof. Fleeming Jenkin, 



F.R.S., and Prof. J. A. EwiNG (?rzV/£///2<j/razfw«) 34° 



Notes 343 



Joseph Black . . - „;,./, ;„ *^* j" ; ^'' 



A School Laboratory. By W. A. Shenstonk {Wtth Illustration) 347 



A New Deep-Sea Thermometer (»^zV/j///?«/raj'w«j) 348 



University and Educational Intelligence 35° 



Scientific Serials 35° 



Societies and Academies 35° 



