712 



NATURE 



{Oct. 31, 1878 



practice. Dr. Simplice proposes that a maximum salary should 

 be given to the former, and a minimum to the latter. This is a 

 subject that calls for consideration here as well as in France. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Boston, U.S.A. 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, October 9. — 

 Charles Francis Adams, president, in the chair. — Prof. W. A. 

 Rogers read a paper on the limits of accuracy in measurements 

 with the microscope, in which he stated that Prof. E. N. Morley 

 and himself independently measured 195 spaces having a magni- 

 tude of about -rrtr of an inch, each space, however, varying 

 slightly from this value. The measures were made with a gJass 

 eye-piece micrometer, a Beck's spider line micrometer, and with 

 a screw attached to the sub-stage of the microscope. After the 

 results were prepared for the press they were for the first time 

 compared. It was found that the average difference between 

 the results for a single space was 32 millionths of an inch, and 

 the greatest difference was 12 millionths. There were only four 

 cases in which the difference amounted to one hundred thousandth 

 of an inch. — In a second paper Prof. Rogers gave a determina- 

 tion of the errors of the subdivisions of a copy of the British 

 yard known as Bronze No. 11 and of the metre of the U.S. 

 Bureau of Weights and Measures and the production therefrom 

 of an inch, which is one thirty-sixth of this particular yard, and 

 of a centimetre, which is one-hundredth part of this particular 

 metre, the temperature in both cases being 67° F. — Prof. John 

 Trowbridge described a new electro-dynamometer for measuring 

 strong electric currents without shunting them. The principle 

 consists in cooling the two points in the revolving axis of the 

 instrument where the current enters and leaves by means of a 

 current of water and in using mercury pivots. The instrument 

 can measure from a fraction of a Weber up to six hundred 

 Webers. It is especially adapted for the measurement of ciu:- 

 rents produced by dynamo-electric machines. 



GOTTINGEN 



Royal Academy of Sciences, July 6. — The following 

 papers were read : — On the solution of equations of the fifth 

 degree, by L. Kiepert. — On Duboisia myoporoides, by W. 

 Marme. — Herr Hanselmann of Brunswick presented to the 

 Academy the certified copies of eighty-two letters written by or 

 addressed to Gauss. 



August 3. — On the feldspar in the basalt of the Hohe Hagne, 

 near Gottingen, and its relation to the feldspar from the Monte 

 Gibele on the Island of Pantellaria. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, October 22. — M. Daubree in the 

 chair. — The President announced the deaths of M. Bienayme, 

 free Academician, and M. Leymerie, correspondent in mine- 

 ralogy. — M. Des Cloizeaux read a note on the works of the late 

 M. Delafosse. — The following papers were read : — On the 

 thermal formation of the combinations of oxide of carbon with 

 other elements, by M. Berthelot. The heats liberated by 

 chlorinised and sulphurised combinations of carbonic oxide are 

 less than those of hydrogen : which corresponds to their less 

 stability. — Various thermal determinations, by M. Berthelot. 

 This relates to boric acid, chromate of soda, biacetate of soda, 

 iodide of silicium, and earthy phosphates. — On the vision of 

 colours, and especially on the influence exercised on vision of 

 coloured objects in circular motion when observed comparatively 

 with similar bodies in repose ; extract from a small work by M. 

 Chevreul. He supports the view of dyers and artists that 

 there are three simple colours, viz., red, yellow, and 

 blue. He finds, also, that by a motion having a maxi- 

 mum of 160 to 120 turns, and a minimum of sixty per '"inute, 

 one may generate the complementary of every colour sub- 

 mitted to this movement. — On ytlerbine, a new earth con- 

 tained in gadolinite, by M. Marignac. The name is given 

 to recall its presence in the mineral of Ytterby, also its similarity 

 to yttria, on one hand, by absence of colour, and to erbine, on 

 the other, by the elevation of its equivalent (say 131) ; to both, 

 by the ensemble of its properties. The atomic weight deduced 

 for ytterbium would be 115 or 172*5, according as its oxide 

 receives the formula YbO or Yb203. — On the dentition of 

 Smilodons, by M. Gervais. — The disease of chestnuts in the 



Cevennes, by M. Planchon. The gradual death of the stem 

 and branches is caused by an alteration of the roots, which 

 become softened with a sort of moist gangrene, giving out an 

 exudati n of tannic nature. These phenomena are caused by 

 the mycelium of a fungus. M. Planchon thinks untimely 

 irrigations are the chief occasional cause of the evil. — Processes 

 for determining the butter in milk ; reply to note by M. Adam, 

 by M. Marchand. — Complementary observations on formulae re- 

 lating to perforation of iron armour plates, by M. Martin de 

 Brettes. — M. Ponti, of Milan, announced his intention to place 

 60, coo ItaUan pounds at the disposal of the Academy, for 

 founding an annual prize. — Observations on a communication 

 from M. Amigues on flattening of the planet Mars, by M. 

 Hennedy. He confirms M. Amigues' calculations from inde- 

 pendent researches, — Remarks on M. Levy's note regarding a 

 universal law relative to dilatation of bodies, by M. Boltzmann. 

 He finds in fluid water a contradiction of M. Levy's theorem 

 (about the pressure of an inclosed heated body increasing rigor- 

 ously with the temperature). — Note relative to the theorem on 

 the composition of accelerations of any order, by M. Lignine. — 

 On the rectification of the ovals of Descartes, by M. Darboux. — 

 Second note on the resolution in whole numbers of the equation (i) 

 ax^ + by'^ = cz^, by M. Desboves. — On the Mosandrum of Prof. 

 L. Smith, by M. Delafontaine. He rejects Prof. Smith's claim of 

 priority, and affirms the identity of mosandric acid and terbine. — 

 Researches on sulphates, by M. Etard. This relates to rose ferroso- 

 ferric sulphates, mixed proto-sulphates, and simple or double 

 sulphates, more or less hydrated. — On the nerve terminations in 

 striated muscle, by M. Tschiriew. Pie has found, in several 

 species, new forms of nerve-termination, intermediate between 

 the motor termination (as met with in the frog), and the terminal 

 plates. The most simple is in the tortoise; nerve- fibres 

 deprived of myeline, ramify without atiastomosing, and termi- 

 nate, on the muscular bundles, by rods, sometimes smooth, but 

 oftener moniliform, or surrounded by grains. There are gene- 

 rally several such terminations on one muscular fibre. — On the 

 albuminoid matters of organs and of the spleen in particular, by 

 M. Picard. Globuline exists in the spleen independently of the 

 presence of blood. — On the hydrophorous reservoirs of 

 Dypsacus, by M. Barthelemy. He rejects M. Boyer's view 

 that the water present is produced by secretion (principally) and 

 by dew, and attributes the liquid entirely to rain. — Apparatus 

 for experimenting on the action of electricity on living plants, by 

 M. Celi. This consists of a bell-jar, into which electricity is 

 admitted by a metallic collector, connected with an insulated 

 metallic vessel at 2 m. height, from which streams a thin vein of 

 water. — Influence of salicylic and thymic acid, and some essences 

 on gpi-minatinn, t)y ivi. xra«.f>i<ei. While phenic acid suspends 

 germination, salicylic acid (even in vci^ »mall qxiantity) stops it 

 altogether. 



CONTENTS Pag. 



Scientific Worthies, XIII.— Sir George Biddhll Airy. By 



Vtoi. A. 'WivuKCKK (With Steel Plate Engraving) 689 



Foreign Orders ^91 



The " Encyclopedia Britannica " 691 



Our Book Shklf:— 



Lang's "Cyprus: its History, its Present Resources, and Future 



Pr.ispects" 693 



Millar's " Studies in Physical Science " 693 



Magnus's " Hydrostatics and Pneumatics" .693 



Wood's " Bulb Garden ; or, How to Cultivate Bulbous and 



Tuberous-Rooted Flowering Plants to Perfection " 693 



Letters to i hh Editor : — 



American Exploration.— Prof. Arch. Geikie, F.R.S 694 



Discovery of a Scottish Crannog.— Dr. Robert MuNRO .... 695 



Power of Stupefying Spiders Possessed by Wasps.— Henry Cecil 695 



A Fossil Plant— Misquotation.— Prof. J. W. Dawson 696 



Sense of Fear in Chamseleons.— R. Morton Middelton, Jun. . 696 



An Unusual Rainbow.— G. M.Whipple 696 



Ouh As tkonomical Column : — 



A Missing Star 096 



The Saturnian Satellite Mimas ^9° 



Geookahmicai Notes ^57 



The Telbihone, its History, and its Recent Improvements, I. 



By Prof. W. F. Barrett {With Illusiratian) 698 



Colour Blindness in Relation to the Homeric Expressions 



for Colour, II. By Dr. W. Pole, F.R.SS. L. and E 700 



No r«.s J 7°^ 



A New Galvanometer for Strong Currents. By Eigen 



Obach 7°^ 



Gulf-Wked. By Mrs. Mary P. Merkifield 7o8 



IjNU'b.KSrrv AND (iDUCATIONALlNTEI LICENCE • • 71*^ 



SaciKTiES ANij Academies 7 



