reh 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



441 



A PRACTICAL Society of Natural History has ibeen recently 

 established in Paris under the title of Society Parisienne. Its 

 special aim is to procure young people the means to study nature 

 by lectures and excursions. 



From researches on the nature of the vowel "clang," in Prof. 

 Helmholtz's physical laboratory, M. Auerbach [,Pogg. Ann.) 

 comes to the following conclusions, which appear to throw new 

 light on some unsolved problems : — I. All clangs, especially the 

 vowels of the human voice and speech, are to be defined as the 

 consequence of the joint action of two moment?, a relative 

 and an absolute. 2. The relative moment is the mode of 

 distribution of the whole" intensity among the individual partial 

 tones as determined by their ordinal number. The absolute is 

 the dependence of the whole intensity on the absolute pitch of 

 the partial tones, and the modification of the distribution, on 

 change of the fundamental tone, therewith connected. 3. The 

 difference of the vowels in the former relation is a result of the 

 power of changing the form of the mouth-cavity. The differ- 

 ences of the absolute pitches characterising the various vowels, 

 and of their influence, are a result of the power of changing the 

 volume and size of the mouth-cavity. 4. The first partial tone 

 is always the strongest in clang ; it deserves, therefore, the 

 name of fundamental tone. 5. The intensity of the partial tones 

 as such decreases in general as their ordinal number increases ; 

 exceptions indicate the nearness of the boundary of the con- 

 sonant region. 6. The intensity of the partial tones decreases 

 more slowly the nearer the vowel clang is, therefore more 

 quickly the duller this is. 7. The characteristic pitch is higher 

 the clearer, and deeper the duller, the vowel clang. 8. The 

 variations of the intensity, in consequence of the influence of the 

 characteristic pitch, are greater the fuller the vowel is. Very 

 slight variations indicate the nearness of the consonant region. 

 9. All the vowels admit of being sung within the whole range 

 of the human voice ; but the dull speak in very high, the clear 

 in very deep, positions. 10. A little attention only is needed to 

 perceive in a vowel clang the over- tones (often comparatively 

 very strong) without artificial aids. They then sound very simi- 

 lar to the pure tuning-fork tones. 



Continuing his researches on fluorescence, M. Lommel 

 (Pogg. Ann.) arrives at the following conclusions: — i. There 

 are two kinds of fluorescence. In one each excitant homo- 

 geneous ray falling within the limits of the fluorescence-spec- 

 trum excites not only rays of greater and equal, but also rays of 

 shorter wave length ; the latter so far as they belong to the 

 region in question. In the second kind, each homogeneous ray 

 excites only rays of greater or equal wave length. 2. There arc 

 substances which have only the first kind of fluorescence ; each 

 excitant ray excites the whole fluorescence spectrum. Hence 

 they are not subject to Stokes's law. Such are naphthalin, red 

 chlorophyll, and eosin. 3. There are substances which have only 

 the second kind of fluorescence, anJ which therefore, throughout 

 their fluorescence spectrum, obey Stokes's law. Such are most 

 of the fluorescent substances hitherto examined. 4. There are 

 substances which have both kinds of fluorescence, so that the 

 first kind is proper to a certain portion of their fluorescence 

 spectrum, and the second kind proper to their remaining parts. 

 Hence these obey Stokes's law only in part. Such are chamae- 

 lin red, blue, and green. 



There are several ways of decomposing water with only one 

 electrode. One is this : let some water in a glass be brought in 

 contact with a Wollaston electrode (i.e. , a fine platinum wire 

 inclosed in glass and touching the water only by its extreme 

 section), and connect the wire with the conductor of an electric 

 machine in action. Fine bubbles of oxygen are liberated at the 

 point. What becomes of the hydrogen ? M. Lippmann replies 



{^Journal de Physique) that so long as the water continues charged 

 the hydrogen remains in excess. On discharging the water it 

 escapes at the platinum point, this being then the electrode of 

 exit. But may it not be that the hydrogen is set at liberty within 

 the liquid or at its surface while the corresponding oxygen is 

 liberated (there being, according to this view, two electrodes, 

 one the platinum point, the other diffuse and of large surface) ? 

 The objection, M. Lippman says, cannot be refuted by direct 

 experiment, but the impossibility of the hypothesis appears on 

 considering the quantities of chemical and electrical work called 

 forth during the experiment. He gives two demonstrations ot 

 this. 



We have received the first two numbers of a new Italian 

 monthly periodical, r Ekttricista, the object of which is to give 

 an account of the progress of the science of electricity. This 

 publication is one of many signs that the countrymen of Galileo 

 have made up their minds again to take an active part in scien- 

 tific investigation, and especially not to forget that branch which 

 owes so much to Volta. The papers do not lay claim to origi- 

 nality, but the first number especially is interesting, and if kept 

 up on the same standard the periodical caa do a great service in 

 spreading modern ideas in Italy. We note especially the paper 

 on absolute electrical units, by Naccari, and on some phenomena 

 presented by electrified powders, by A. Ricco. The second 

 number contains chiefly abstracts from foreign periodicals. 

 Padre Secclii draws some conclusions from imaginaiy results, 

 which he believes were obtained by Mr. Chrystal in his verifica- 

 tion of Ohm's law. 



In a paper read the other day by M. Fulke, before the 

 Wissenschaftlicher Club of Vienna, on German emigration to the 

 United States, it was estimated that :rom 1820 to the present, 

 nearly 10,000,000 must have emigrated, or a fourth of the entire 

 population of the United States. M. Fulke lamented the extent 

 of the movement, also the facility with which the Germans in 

 America seemed to lay aside their customs and usages, and even 

 their native tongue. In conclusion, he drew a parallel between 

 the Germans in the United States, and the Germans in the 

 whole of Austria. Here, too, the German element was about a 

 fourth of the whole population, but what a contrast to the other 

 case ! 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus radiatus) from 

 India, presented by Mrs. Payton ; a Rose Hill Parrakeet (Platy- 

 cercus eximliis) from Australia, presented by Mr. J. J. Chapman ; 

 a Rufous-vented Guan (^Penelope criitata) from Central America, 

 presented by Mr. Daniel Miron ; two Hooded Crows (C^rz/wj 

 comix), European, presented by Mr. F. Cresswell ; a Macaque 

 Monkey [Macacns cyftoDiolgus) from India, deposited ; a Two- 

 Wattled Cassowary {Casuxrius bicarunculatus) from the Aroo 

 Islands, a Hooded Crane {Grus monachiis) from Japan, a 

 Hodgson's Barbet {Megalcrma hodgsoni), two Striated Jay 

 Thrushes {Grammatopila striata), three Black-headed Sibias 

 {Sibia capistrata), three Brown-eared Bulbuls (Hemixos flavala), 

 two Rufous-bellied Bulbuls {Hypsipetes Mclellandi), a Red- 

 headed Laughing Thrush ( Trochaloptiron erythrocephalum) from 

 the Himalayas, purchased. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



From the Naturforscher (January, 1877) we note the following 

 papers: — On radiation in space, by H. Buff. — On cave-insects, 

 by L. Bedel and E, Simon. — On the germination of the fruits 

 of mosses, by P. Magnus. — On the action of a di-electric body 

 upon an electric one, by R. Felici. — On the preparation of pure 

 alcohol yeast, by Moritz Traube. — On the limit between chalk 

 and tertiary deposits in the Rocky Mountains (U.S.), by M. 

 Delafontaine. — ^New researches on Bacteria, by E. v. M. — On 

 the specific power of glycose (grape sugar) of turning the plane 



