348 



NATURE 



{Feb. 15, 1877 



was then held. — The president read the report of the Council, of 

 which the following is a brief abstract : — The Council points 

 with satisfaction to the number and interest of the papers read 

 before the Society, and a brief summary is given of the more 

 important. The Society has to regret the loss of three of its 

 members, Mr. David Forbes, F.R.S., Mr. A. S. Hobson, and 

 Mr. Arthur Pinn. The publication of a new edition of Prof. 

 Everett's work and of a complete edition of Sir Charles Wheat- 

 stone's writings is announced, and the Council hopes shortly to 

 undertake the translation of scientific papers from foreign sources 

 to be published in its proceedings. — The following Officers and 

 Council were elected for the ensuing year : — President, Prof. 

 G. C. Foster, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Profs. W. G. Adams, 

 F.R.S., and J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S, Mr, W. Spottiswoode, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., Sir W. Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S., and Dr. 

 W. H. Stone. Secretaries : Prof. A. W. Reinold and W. 

 C. Roberts, F.R.S. Treasurer, Dr. E. Atkinson. Demon- 

 strator, Prof. F. Guthrie, F.R.S. Other Members of Council: 

 Prof. W. F. Barrett, Latimer Clark, Major Festing, W. Huggins, 

 D.C.L., F.R.S., Prof. Kennedy, O. J. Lodge, Prof. H. 

 MacLeod, Prof. B. Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S., Prof. Unwin, and 

 E. O. W. Whitehouse. — The proceedings terminated with votes 

 of thanks to the Lords of the Committee of Council on Educa- 

 cation for the use of the Physical Laboratory at South Ken- 

 sington and to the several officers of the Society. 



Royal Microscopical Society, February 7. — Anniversary 

 meeting. — H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The 

 president delivered the annual address, in which, after reference 

 to the memory of those of their number deceased during the 

 past year, he gave an interesting account of his recent researches 

 into the composition and origin of the loose materials which 

 form the sands and clays of this country, and also of those com- 

 posing the sandstones and stratified rocks. — The result of the 

 ballot for officers and council for the ensuing year was as fol- 

 lows : — President, Mr. H. C. Sorby. Vice-presidents : Dr. L. 

 S. Beale, Sir John Lubbock, Bart., Rev. W. H. Dallinger, and 

 Mr. Fl. Powell. Treasurer, Mr. John W. Stephenson. Hon. 

 Secretaries : Mr. H. J. Slack and Mr. Chas. Stewart. Council : 

 Dr. Robert Braithwaite, Dr. Lawson, Dr. Millar, Messrs. 

 Bevington, Brooke, F. Crisp, Ingpen, E. W. Jones, Loy, 

 M'Intyre, Thos. Palmer, and F. H. Ward. Assistant Secre- 

 tary, Mr. Walter W. Reeves. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, February 6. — Mr. George 

 Robert Stephenson, president, in the chair. — The paper read 

 was on " The Sewage Question," by Mr. C. Norman Bazalgette. 



Rome 



R. Accademia dei Lincei, January 7. — Second appendix 

 to memoir on the construction, properties, and applications of a 

 constant inductor, by M. Volpicelli. — On complete elliptic in- 

 tegrals, by Prof. Smith. — On the small oscillations of an entirely 

 free rigid body, by M. Cerruti. — On the anatomy and physiology 

 of tlie retina (continued), by M. Franz Boll. — On the spinal 

 medulla and the electric lobe of the torpedo, by M. Reichen- 

 heim. — Geological studies on the group of the Gran Paradiso. — 

 Rational catalogue of the rocks of Friuli, by M. Taramelli. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, February 5. — M. Peligot in the 

 chair. — M. Duchartre , presented the second and last part of the 

 second edition of his "Elements de Botanique." The following 

 papers were read : — On the fundamental invariants of the binary 

 form of the eighth degree, by Prof. Sylvester. — Preliminaries of 

 a comparative study of living and fossil European oaks ; defi- 

 nition of present races, by M. De Saporta. — On monochlorised 

 oxide of methyl, by M. Friedel. — Composition and origin of 

 diamantiferous sand of Du Toit's Pan, in South Africa, by M. 

 Meunier. Geologists have assigned a deep origin, representing 

 them as the residue of alteration of pyrogenous rocks emitted 

 like lava. The author's analysis gives, besides minerals proper, 

 a number of complex rocks which cannot have been formed at 

 once in the state of mixture by the same causes. Each of them 

 must have been removed from a special deposit, then carried 

 to the point where mixture took place. These sands be- 

 long to the so-called vertical alluvia, and are related in formation 

 to the Kaolinic sands in the environs of Paris. — On the prepara- 

 tion and use of the liquid for washing vines attacked by Phyl- 

 loxera, by M. Boiteau. — MM, Andre and Angot expressed a 

 desire to be sent to San Francisco to observe the transit of 



Mercury on May 5, 1878. They hope thus to render the study 

 of the next Venus transit more fruitful. — Diathermaneity of 

 metals and of paper, by M. Aymonnet. They are not ather- 

 manous, as generally thought. They are more diathermanous 

 for dark heat from metallic bodies raised to a temperature under 

 100° than for luminous calorific radiations or those near red. 

 They have weaker absorbent powers than water. It is possible 

 to find a mathematical relation between the absorbent power of 

 a body and its coefficient of conductivity. — Note on the presence 

 of ammonia in cast steel, by M. Regnard. Ingots of steel newly 

 broken gave a distinct smell of ammonia, with perceptible noise 

 in escape of the gas, and bubbles in soapy water if applied. 

 The appearance of the fracture in all such cases was crys- 

 talline, varying slightly from periphery to centre ; the 

 liberation was greatest at centre. Soft steels in general 

 did not give the phenomenon, nor did ingots previously 

 annealed. Analysis of the gas showed it to be nearly pur' 

 hydrogen, with perhaps a few traces of acetylene. — On the 

 active principle o^ Strophantus hispidus, or Inee, by MM. Hardy 

 and Gallois. This is the plant used by the Pahonias in poisoning 

 their arrows. The isolated body, called indite, has not the same 

 physiological properties as Stropkantine (so-called by Eraser). 

 Injected in considerable quantity under the skin of a frog's foot, it 

 does not stop the heart's movements.— Immediate disorders pro- 

 duced by injections of pure fuchsine into the blood, by MM. 

 Feltz and Ritter. The nervous disorders, like those of drunken- 

 ness, cannot, the authors now think, be due to embolic lesion (in 

 the capillaries), but to direct impression of the nervous system 

 by the fuchsine itself. — Structure and mineralogical composition 

 of variolite of Durance, by M. Michel Levy. The globules of 

 variolite are not petro-silicious. By its petrographic affinities it 

 seems to be a compact term of the series of euphotides. It pre- 

 sents an interesting association of several varieties of amphibole 

 and pyroxene ; also a new example of spherolites entirely 

 crystallised. — C3n the intestinal anguillule {AnguUlula intes- 

 tinalis), a new nematoid worm found by Dr. Normand in 

 persons attacked by diarrhoea of Cochin China, by M. Bavay, 

 It is distinct from, and much less abundant than, the Anguilhila 

 stercoralis. — On the minute phenomena of fecundation, by M. 

 Fol. All the phenomena are reduced to two typical cases. — On 

 Filaria hemaiica (Hsematozoa), by MM. Galeb and Pourquier. 

 The authors found filaria in the blood of the foetus of a bitch 

 whose heart was teeming with them ; the embryos doubtless 

 passed through from mother to offspring. This explanation 

 destroys the idea of verminous diathesis, and of spontaneous 

 generation, called in to explain the genesis of such hsematozoa. 

 The authors also verify M. Davaine's view that the nematoid 

 worms circulating in the vessels of certain dogs are larvae of the 

 haematic filaria. — Determination of ammonia in the air and in 

 meteoric waters at Montsouris, by M. Levy. — On two new species 

 of Ibis, from Cambodge, by M. Oustalet. — On a new sounding- 

 line, by M. Tardieu, 



CONTENTS Page 



Darwin on Fertilisation. By Prof. W. T. Thiselton Dyer . . 329 



Our Book Shelf : — 



" Bulletin des Sciences Mathimatiques et Astronomiques "... 332 



Lbttkrs to the Editor : — 



The Obsidian Cutlers of Melos.— Rev. Gerald S Davies . . 332 



Ocean and Atmospher.c Currents. —Capt. Digby Murray; Rev. 



W. Clement Ley . 333 



Auroric Lights. — G. Henry Kinahan 334 



On the Sense of Hearing in Birds — Prof. A. Leith Adams . . 334 



Tape-worm in Rabbits. — R. D Turner 33s \ 



Meteor of January 7, 10 31 P.M. — W. F. Denning 335 ,| 



The United States Geographical and Geological Survey of 



THE Western Territories under Dr. F. V. Hayden .... 335 



Alloy of Platinum and Iridium for a Nkvv Metric Standard 



OF Length By W. Chandler Roberts, F.R.S 336 



The Upper Colorado By Prof. Archibald Geikie {IV, th Illus- 

 trations') .... 337 



Deep Sea Muds, IE, By Mr. John Murray {With Illustration) . 340 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



New Comet 342 



The Occultation of Regulus on February 23 342 



The Solar Eclipse of 1567, April g 342 



New Minor Planet 342 



Meteorological Notes: — 



Meteorology of the Libyan Desert 342 



Height of the Seine at Paris during 1876 343 



Oscillations of Tides 343 



Hurricane of January 31, in Belgium and Holland ; 



Weather Notes ., ,' 



International Weather Maps ; 



Notes : 



Scientific Serials ...» 34^ 



Societies and Academies ; 



