288 



NATURE 



{Jan. 25, 1877 



to about 30 metres further on, making a hole. It is of the most 

 common type of sporadosiderites. — M. van Tieghera was elected 

 member in the section of Botany, in place of the late M. Brong- 

 niart. — Report on a memoir of M. Haton de la Goupilliere, 

 entitled " Researches on the Brachistochrone of a Heavy Body 

 with regard to Passive Resistances." — Determination of the polar 

 distance in magnets, by M, Benoit. — Experiments on the coagu- 

 lation of fibrine, by M. Schmidt. This is essentially a process 

 of fermentation ; soluble albuminoid substances are changed by 

 the action of a specific ferment and in presence of a small 

 quantity of neutral salts of alkaline metals, into insoluble bodies. 

 The ferment does not pre-exist ; it is formed when the liquids 

 are brought into abnormal conditions. The places of its forma- 

 tion are the white corpuscles of the blood, the lymph, chyle, and 

 pus, and the cells of certain tissues, which undergo decomposi- 

 tion, the liquid then receiving from them a new quantity of 

 fibrinoplastic substance. Meanwhile all the fibrinogen substance 

 disappears as such, while the fibrinoplastic substance in excess, 

 with the ferment becomes a constituent part of the serum. 

 A temperature of zero retards considerably the formation of the 

 ferment ; concentrated neutral salts of alkaline metals hinder it 

 almost entirely. They also paralyse the action of the ferment in 

 the liquids. — On the spontaneous disappearance of a disease 

 which for seven years attacked the vines in the island of Cyprus, 

 by M. Dubreuil. It seems to have been oidium ; its disappear- 

 ance is attributed to the growing of abundance of sumach 

 among the vines. — On the construction of open manometers, for 

 measuring high pressures, by M. Cailletet. In his apparatus a 

 metallic tube (70m. long 2mm. inner diameter) is soldered into 

 a reservoir of mercury at the foot of a hill side. At the free end 

 above is adapted a wide glass tube. When the mercury is com- 

 pressed in the reservoir it rises to the glass tube. This upper 

 part is movable by reason of the flexibility of the metallic tube, 

 and may be shifted between stakes fixed on the slope. The 

 pressure developed is measured by the difference of levels of the 

 mercury in the glass tube and the reservoir. — Effects of heat on 

 voltaic circuits completed by an electrolyte, by M. Hellesen. In 

 one arrangement two test tubes are connected by a tube near the 

 top and fitted with saturated solution of sulphate of copper ; a 

 copper plate is inserted in the upper part in one, another in the 

 lower part in the other ; and the former is heated with a spirit 

 lamp. A considerable current is had. — Action of sulphate of 

 lime on alkaline sulphates, by M. Ditte. — On the camphor of 

 patchouli, by M. de Montgolfier. — Note on the life and survival 

 of spermatozoids within the mammalian egg, by M. Campana. 



January 15. — M. Fizeau in the chair. — The following papers 

 were read : — Exploration of the Great Syrtes, by M. Mouchez. 

 He describes this coast as in great part an utter desert of sand, 

 without tree or dwelling ; and the beach strewed with wreck of 

 vessels whose surviving crews were probably massacred. Careful 

 survey was made of some 250 leagues of coast line, also observa- 

 tion of the tide (total amplitude at Syzygies about l '^va.. ), the 

 strange atmospheric refractions preceding and following the 

 sirocco, the declination of the needle, and natural history. — 

 Note on the question of the nature and the contagion of the 

 disease called typhoid fever, by M. BouiUaud. M. Pasteur referred 

 to his researches in which he had proved the disease of silk- 

 worms to be both contagious and infectious in the highest degree 

 and not at all epidemic, in the ordinary sense. The same would 

 probably hold good for typhoid fever. M. Chevreul also made 

 some remirks. — Spectroscopic study of the new star observed by 

 M. Schmidt, by P. Secchi. His observations chiefly confirm 

 those by M. Cornu. — On the application of photography to ob- 

 servation of the transit of Venus, by M. Angot. This treats of 

 the measurement of direct parallactic effect ; which can be mea- 

 sured (i) by the angle of position ; and (2) by the distance of the 

 centres of the two stars. In the former it is difficult in practice 

 to get with sufficient exactness a fixed direction as origin for the 

 angles of position. The American expeditions have come nearest 

 solving the problem, and their results will aid to a judgment on 

 the method. In the second method, the determination of the 

 angular value of the images is a difficulty ; M. Angot shows how 

 it may be met. A third method, based on the fact, that for 

 objects uniformly illuminated, with straight borders and dimen- 

 sions far above the zone of diffraction, the increase of the image 

 of a luminous object is equal to the diminution of that of a 

 dark object in like circumstances, seems at first irreproach- 

 able, but, in practice, leads to much error, because (i) the diameter 

 of Venus is far from being large with reference to the extent 

 of the diffracted zone ; and (2) the luminous intensity of 

 different parts of the sun is not uniform. — Experiments on the 



coagulation of fibrine, by M. Schmidt. He distinguishes pro- 

 plastic liquids, which do not contain ferments but contain sub- 

 stances generative of coagulation ; plastic liquids, which coagulate 

 spontaneously and contain ferment and which are generators of 

 fibrine; z.nAJibrinoge}tous liquids, serosities which contain the 

 substance fibrinogen. — Second note relative to the effects pro- 

 duced by Phylloxera on the roots of various American and 

 indigenous stocks, by M. Foey. — Effects of dilute sulphocar- 

 bonates on vines, by M. Maistre. — On the simultaneous determi- 

 nation of annual constants of aberration and of parallax, by M. 

 Tre^ied. Observations of declination will give at once and with 

 the same weight, the special constants of aberration and parallax 

 for each of the stars, and these determinations, made at two 

 stations suitably chosen will enable us to appreciate the influence 

 of the absolute movement of translation of the solar system on 

 the phenomenon of aberration. — On the relations which neces- 

 sarily exist between the periods of the quadratrix of the most 

 general algebraic curve of degree m, and, ^ fortiori, of a parti- 

 cular curve in its degree, by M. Marie. — Tlie phenomena of the 

 radiometer explained by means of pyro-electricity, by M. de 

 Fonvielle. Pyro-electric phenomena occur not only at the sur- 

 face of certain crystals when subjected to a variation of tempera- 

 ture, but any non-conducting body submitted to the action of 

 luminous rays is heated, then electrified more or less according 

 to its nature and the intensity of the action. M. Fonvielle thinks 

 all the phenomena hitherto observed in the radiometer may be 

 thus explained. — Note on a new derivative of albuminoid matter, 

 by M. Schiitzenberger — On the optical properties of Mannite, 

 by MM. Miintz and Aubin. — Action of chlorochromic acid on 

 organic matters, by M. Etard. — Chemical studies on mistletoe 

 [Viscum album, Linn.), by MM. Grandeau and Bouton : i. The 

 composition of the stem differs essentially from that of the 

 speciesof trees on which it grows. 2. The composition varies with 

 the species. 3. Mistletoe contains much more potash and phos- 

 phoric acid than its supporting trees, and much less lime. 4. It 

 seems to live on the tree like a plant on the soil ; it takes from 

 the yellow parts gorged with nutritive juices, the incombustible 

 matters necessary for its organisation. — On testing of wines for 

 fucusine and other similar colouring matters, by M. Bechamp. — 

 On the passage of plasma through living unperforated mem- 

 branes, by M. Cornu. It passes in a manner contrary apparently 

 to the laws of endosmose. — On the winter of 1877, by M. Renou. 

 — M. Archereau presented prepared carbons for the electric 

 light, said to increase the stability and illuminating power. 

 They consist of carbon agglomerated and compressed, mixed 

 with magnesia. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Encyclopedia Britannica 269 



Packard's , Life-Histories of Animals. By Prof. E. Ray Lan- 



kester, f.r.s 271 



Our Book Shelf : — 



" Economic Minerals of Canada" 272 



Lbttbrs to the Editor :— 



Holly Berries and Rare Birds.— The Duke of Argyll .... 273 

 On the Southern Tendency of Peninsulas. — Sir John Lubbock, 



F.R.S 273 



Basking Shark. — Prof. Henry J. Giglioli 273 



The " Challenger" Collections.— Henry H. HiGGiNS 274 



Traces of Pre-Glacial Man in America. —Dr. Chas. C. Abbott . 274 



Glacial Drift in California — Alfred R. Wallace 274 



The Number of Species of Insects.— R. McLachlan ; Prof. T. H. 



Huxley, F.R.S 275 



- Meteor. — R. M. Barrington 275 



Diurnal Barometric Range at Low and High Levels. — W. W. 



RuNDELL 275 



Former Climates.— D. Pidgeon 275 



Tape-worms of Rabbits.— George J. Romanes 275 



PoLARii cope Objects. By W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S, 275 



Museums . 276 



" Across Africa " (With Illustrations) 277 



The Tkopical Forests of Hampshire, III. By J. Starkie 



Gardner, F.G.S 279 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Red Star in Cetus 281 



Variable Stars 2S1 



A Fifth Comet in 1831 28'. 



Coloured Bells on Jupiter. . , zS- 



The Intra-Mercurial Planet 2K.: 



Chemical Notes : — 



Atomic Weights of Caesium and Rubidium 2S2 



On the Specific Heat of Gaaes 283 



Action of Antimony Pentachloride on certain Organic Substances 282 



Action of chlorine on Peroxydes 283 



Boron and its Specific Heat 283 



Heated Air 283 



Notes • 283 



SciBNTiFic Serials 28C 



Societies and Academies 286 



