388 



NATURE 



\March i, 1877 



The president, Mr. Blackmore, Mr. Franks, and others spoke 

 on the subject. 



Society of Telegraph Engineers, February 5.— Prof. 

 Abel, F.R.S., in the chair.— The paper read vras on shunts and 

 their applications to electrometric and telegraphic purposes, by 

 Mr. W. H. Preece. Having briefly explained the laws of shunts, 

 Mr. Preece referred to the use of shunts for measuring purposes 

 as well as to their early employment in practical telegraphy. The 

 author entered minutely into the question of electro-magnetic 

 induction, and gave the results of the experimental investigations 

 on the "extra" current upon which he has been recently engaged. 

 The " extra " current which is received from a simple coil of 

 insulated copper wire being selected as the unit, it was shown 

 that by the insertion of a core as well as by varying the quantity 

 of iron in the armature, the strength of the " extra " current might 

 be increased no less than 2,238 times. The means which should 

 be adopted in order to counteract the prejudicial effects of the 

 extra currents upon the speed, of working were then described at 

 length, and the employment of electro-magnetic shunts in order 

 to compensate for the static induction which proves so trouble- 

 some on long lines was also fully gone into. 



Medical Microscopical Society, January 19. — Annual 

 General Meeting. — Dr. J. F. Payne, piesident, ia the chair. - 

 The secretary's report for the year 1876 was read.— Twelve 

 papers on important svibjects were read durmg the year, of which 

 four were illustrative of new forms of instruments applicable to 

 medical histology. — The number of members in December, 

 1876, was 129.— The retiring President (Dr. Payne) then de- 

 livered his address, in the course of which he remarked that 

 the Society was passing through a crisis, having outgrown 

 its developmental stage, and that its sphere of usefulness was to 

 be found rather among medical practitioners than among 

 students, for whom it was first intended. After pointing out the 

 special function of the Society to be the study of histology in 

 its relation to medical practice and public health, the speaker 

 passed in review the work done during the past year by tlie 

 members of the Society. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, February 19. —Dr. C. 

 Brooke, F.R.S., in the chair. — Mr. Morshead read a paper on 

 comparative psychology. 



Boston 



Natural History Society. — Mr. Hyatt's important contri- 

 bution on the life-history of the groups of Ammonites {Proceed- 

 ings, December, 1876) develops and applies in detail to the 

 Stephanoceras group (of which A. humphtesianits is an important 

 member), his doctrines as to the period in life at which specific 

 peculiarities appear. He endeavours to pi ove that the species of 

 a group inherit the characteristics of their ancestors at earlier and 

 earlier periods, until they become present even in the very young 

 forms. He further brings forward evidence of the inheritance 

 of old-age or senile characters which forebode the extinction of the 

 group. Thus the successive species of almost all large groups 

 sooner or later inherit the senile features of their ancestors, so 

 as to reproduce them at early stages. Further, there is a broad 

 similarity between the senile characters in different groups. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, February 19. — M. Peligot in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — Meridian observations 

 of small planets, at the Greenwich and Paris Observatories, 

 during the fourth trimestre of 1876; communicated by M. Le 

 Veirier.— The human species, by M. de Quatrefages. An out- 

 line of the views published in his new work on the subject. — 

 Remarks of M. Chevreul on a recent note of M. Radziszewski 

 relative to phosphorescence of organic bodies. — Properties 

 common to canals, to conduit pipes, and to rivers with 

 uniform flow (continued), by M. Boileau.- — MM, Dumas, 

 Milne- Edwards and Boussingault were appointed a Com- 

 mission to give an opinion on the matter of discussion be- 

 tween Dr. Bastian and M. Pasteur. — On the air-jet in water, 

 by M. de Romilly. When a steady jet is sent normally against 

 the surface, and the tube gradually withdrawn, there is found a dis- 

 tance at which a smooth pocket, deeper than broad, is made at the 

 surface, showing often a slow rotation, and giving a sound, which 

 is strengthened if the same note be played on the violin. When 

 a jet is sent upwards from an orifice near the bottom of a vessel 

 of water, a spherical air-chamber forms about and under the 



orifice, becoming the base of an ascending air-column, which 

 base is more than triple the diameter of the orifice. The column 

 suddenly contracts near the orifice, then gradually widens. The 

 author describes some other effects. — On Kepler's problem, by 

 M. de Gasparis. — On orthogonal systems comprising a family 

 of surfaces " of the second degree, by M. Darboux. — Memoir 

 on the methods employed for determination of the curves 

 of astronomical objectives, accompanied with tables for abridg- 

 ing the calculation, by M. Martin. — On a means of varying 

 the focussing of a microscope without touching either the in- 

 strument, or the object, and without altering the direction 

 of the line of vision, by M. Govi. This is based on the fact 

 that the interposition between objective and object of a medium 

 more refringent than air, with plane parallel sides at right- 

 angles to the axis of the microscope, will cause an apparent ele- 

 vation of the object represented hy d — e , where ^is the 



elevation produced, e the thickness of the medium, and 11 its 

 index of refraction relatively to air or vacuum. He uses a vessel 

 of liquid with glass bottom and varies the height of the surface 

 either with a plunger or a communicating vessel. — New process 

 of photomicrography, by M. Fayel. The upper end of the micro- 

 scope catches m a wooden frame on colonnettes, the aperture of 

 this corresponding with that of a dark chamber whicli can be 

 plac'-d or removed at will. In this chamber is a moveable 

 plano-convex lens, and through it an image equal to that seen 

 by the eye is thrown on sensitised glass. — On the micro- 

 scope and the dark chamber, by M. Neyreneuf. This gives 

 some theoretical results from examination of Dr. Fayel's method. 

 — On the manufacture of carbon conductors for the electric lamp,, 

 by M. Carre. He reminded the Academy of his own experi- 

 ments. Moistening carbon-powder with syrups of gum, ;;elatine, 

 &c., or fixed oils thickened with resins, he gets plastic and con- 

 sistent pastes very suitable for making carbon points of. Even 

 without other admixture, they give more light than the ordinary 

 carbons, in the proportion of i '25 to I. — Study and determina- 

 tion of the principal colouring matters used to falsify wines, by 

 M. Chanal. — On the action of alkaline sulphocyanates on chlor- 

 hydrates of alkalies of the fatty series, by M. De Clermont. — 

 Action of electrolytic oxygen on glycol, by M. Renard. — On the 

 discharge of the torpedo, studied with Lippmann's electrometer, 

 by M. Marey. If the discharge of a torpedo, much weakened, 

 be directed into the electrometer, the mercury moves in the posi- 

 tive direction, in a jerky way, progressing always more than it 

 goes back. This shows a striking analogy to the phenomena of 

 muscular contraction. — On the localisation of copper in the 

 system, after ingestion of a salt of this metal, by ]\I. Rabuteau. 

 It would be rash to affirm poisoning with a salt of copper, be- 

 cause eight or even twelve centigrammes of the metal might be 

 found in the liver. Salts of copper are less poisonous than 

 hitherto supposed.— On the first development of a star-fish, by 

 M. Fol. — On the hair of vine-shoots, applied to manufacture of 

 paper, by M. Boutin. — On the reconcilement of moral liberty 

 with scientific determinism, by M. Boussinesq. 



CONTENTS Pack 



Government Grants in Aid of Science 363 



The Life of Sir William Fairbairn ..... ' 37° 



Groth's " Crystallography " 37^ 



Our Book Shelf : — 



Morren's " Digestion Vegetale, 'Note sur le Role des Ferments 



dans la Nutrition des Plantes " 373 



Letters to thb Editor : — 



Hj'groscopic Seeds. — Francis Darwin 374 



Mind and Matter.— Rev. J L. Tuppkr .374 



Atmospheric Currents. —Joseph John Murphy 374 



Halo round Shadow.— Arnulph Malloch {With Illustration) . 375: 



Meteor. — C. M. Inglebv 37S^- 



Tape- worm in Rabbits.— Gbo RGB J. Romanes 37S| 



A Problem IN THE Natural History of the Salmon 37|J 



The South African Museum 37fl 



Atlantic Soundings. By John Jambs Wild ( JFz'M ./»/«/) . . . 3f 

 HuMMOCKY Moraine Drift. By G. H. Kinahan (^m/i Illustra- 

 tion) 37_,^ 



Contraction OF the Leaf of "DioNyEA Muscipula" 379 



The Spontaneous Generation Question. By M. Pasteur and 



Dr. H. C. Bastian, F.R.S 380 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The New Comet 381 



The Variable-star T Coronae Borealis 381 



The Radcliffe Observations, T874 • • • 3^' 



Dun Echt Observatory Publications, Vol. i 381 



Notes 382 



SciB'NTiFic Serials • 3°5 



Societies and Academies 385 



