5^4 



NATURE 



[April 26, 1877 



given. Alcoholic lead acetate gives with purpurin dissolved in 

 alcohol a precipitate soluble in excess, with alizarin a precipitate 

 insoluble in excess. Triacetyl-purpurin and brom-purpurin were 

 prepared and analysed by the authors. By heating pure pur- 

 purin in sealed tubes to 300° C. it was found to be partially con- 

 verted into quinizarin. 



Physical Society, April 14. — Prof. G. C. Foster, president, 

 in the chair. — The secretary described a new form of colorimeter, 

 devised by Dr. Mills. It consists of two vertical glass tubes 

 about ten centimetres in length and two centimetres in diameter, 

 and contracted at their lower ends, which are graduated in 

 millimetres and fixed in a frame. In each tube a loosely-fitting 

 disc of white or black glass (as occasion may require) can be 

 raised or lowered from below by means of a glass rod fitting 

 v/ater-tight, and the meniscus of the liquid is concealed by a 

 wooden screen. The two liquids under examination are intro- 

 duced into the tubes to the same level, and the discs adjusted 

 until rendered invisible. — Mr, Christie gave an account of a 

 new form of spectroscope, in which " half-prisms " are used to 

 magnify the dispersion (see Astronomical Society). 



Geneva 



Society of Physics and Natural History, March i.— 

 Prof. Zahn presents preparations of the human costal cartilage, 

 showing a fragmentary infiltration of the cellules. This infiltra- 

 tion is very frequent ; it is observed in half of the men over 

 forty, and especially in such as have any touch of lung disease. 

 — Dr. Prevost described a case of aphasia observed at the Can- 

 tonal Hospital, in a young girl attacked with a right hemipiegia, 

 in whom the aphasia subsisted after the cure of the hemiplegia. 

 Though she cannot speak she has recovered the power of articu- 

 lating words when she sings, and her intellect is untouched. 



March 15. — M. Alph. de CandoUe announced the conclusion 

 of his work on the family of the Smilacece for the work which 

 he will publish under the name of ' ' Monographs of the Phane- 

 rogamese." This family includes three principal species, Heie- 

 rosmilax, Smilax, and Biphozonu?ii, and is found in the division 

 of the globe between India, Japan, and the Sandwich Islands. 

 The first of these species is probably the most ancient. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 16. — M. Peligot m the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — Note on a problem of 

 mechanics, by M. IBertrand. Knowing that the planets describe 

 conic sections, and without supposing more, to find the expres- 

 sion for the components of the force soliciting them, in function 

 of co-ordinates of its point of application. — On a solar spot 

 which appeared on April 15, by M. Janssen. While the disc 

 had been wholly without spots on the 14th, it had, next day, a 

 space near the centre some 2' diameter, covered with them. 

 This is of the order of things that occurs at a maximum ; 

 and the old idea seems incorrect that the rarity of spots at the 

 minimum is due to an absence of activity of the photosphere. 

 There is a tendency to prompt extinction of the pheno- 

 mena. — Researches on iodic acid, by M. Berthelot. — On 

 the theory of plane elastic plates, by M. Kirchhoff. — Deter- 

 mination of the differences in longitude between Paris and Mar- 

 seilles, and between Algiers and Marseilles, by MM. Loewy and 

 Stephan. The apparatus comprised a meridian instrument and 

 pendulum, a Hipp's chronograph, a very sensitive Siemens' relay, 

 a galvanometer, and a rheostat. The diiference of longitude 

 observed between the Paris and Marseilles instruments was 

 12m. 1 3 '4303. io'oogs. ; that between the Algiers and Mar- 

 seilles instruments 9m. 23*2198. ±o'009s. The difference of 

 these, viz., 2m. 5o*2iis. expresses the difference of longitude 

 between Paris and Algiers ; which closely agrees with that got 

 by MM, Loewy and Perrier by direct measurement (viz., 

 2m. 50 "2 1 7s.). The velocity of transmission of the signals the 

 authors state to be 36,000 km. per second in the aerial line and 

 4,000 km. in the cable. — New experiments on the origin and 

 nature of typhoid fever, by M. Guerin. Experimenting with 



vomited bilious matters, bile, and fecal matters proper from the 

 larger intestine (of typhoid subjects) introduced into rabbits by 

 injection, he found that they rarely caused death — once in twelve 

 experiments ; while the special diarrhoeic matter from the small 

 intestine caused death almost constantly in a few hours or days. 



Experiments distinguishing the periods of the disease also pointed 

 to the special toxical matter being almost entirely contained in 



he smaller intestine. M. Guerin offers some interpretation of 



these facts. — Divisibility of the electric light, by MM. Denay- 



rouze and Jablochkoff. Using alternating currents and induc- 

 tion coils with interrupter and condenser suppressed, and a 

 kaoln plate between the wires, a steady light is obtained. 

 There is a central artery of the series of interior wires, and as 

 many distinct conductors branch off as there are coils in the 

 circuit. Each luminous centre is thus quite independent, and 

 each may be extinguished or lit separately. — Discovery of a 

 Gallo-Roman port and a GauKsh port near St. Nazaire ; deter- 

 mination of the age of the layers at different heights (second 

 note), by M. Bertrand. — The Phylloxera in the department of 

 the Gironde (continued), by M. Azam. At the end of 1873 

 97 communes were attacked; at the end of 1876, 268. 

 — On ozoena, by M. Brame. — Investigation of the law which 

 must be obeyed by a central force, so that the trajectory it pro- 

 duces may be always a conic, by M. Darboux. — On the laws of 

 reciprocity in the theory of the residues of powers, by M. Pepin. — 

 On the radii of curvature of the successive podaries of a plane curve, 

 by M. Niewenglowski, — On the rolling of ships in calm water, 

 by M. Bourgoin, — On the state of salts in solution, by M. 

 Gernez. His experiments contradict M. Tscherbatschew's view 

 that saturated solutions of sulphate of soda, made under 33°, 

 contain the hydrate with loHO, those heated to a higher tem- 

 perature the hydrate with 7HO. — On a new series of acid salts, 

 by M. Villiers. — Transformation of ordinary pyrotartaric acid 

 with tribromic bromhydrate of ethylene, by M. Bourgoin, — On 

 the properties of resorcine, by M. Calderon. — Male flowers of 

 Cordaites, by M. Renault. — Note on the calcifugal flora of the Albe 

 of Wurtemberg, by M. Contejean. — Researches on the cardiac 

 disorders which produce the intermittences of the arterial pulse, 

 called _/tt/j-£ intermittences, by M, Frangois Franck. — Experiments 

 proving that the septicity of putrefied blood is not due to a 

 soluble ferment, by M. Feltz. — On the winter of 1877 in Paris, 

 by M. Renou. It is very rare that the minimum of the cold 

 season falls in November or March (which show the lowest in 

 the present case), or that March should present the lowest 

 monthly average. — On the thunderstorm of April 4, 1877, by 

 M. Godefroy. Figures of the hailstones are given, the form 

 being that of a solid of revolution from a spherical pyramid. — 

 On poisoning with salts of copper, by M. Decaisne. — On the pre- 

 cautions taken by tortoises against cold, and the indications they 

 may furnish to farmers, by M. Bouchard. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Geology of the Lake Country 545 



VeNNOR'S " ACCIPITRES OF CANADA " 546 



Our Book Shelf : — 



Rosenberg's "Use of the Spectroscope in its Application to Scien- 

 tific and Practical Medicine " 547 



Von Thielmann's "Journey in the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey-in- 



Asia" S47 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Structure and Origin of Meteorites. — H. N. Moseley .... SAl 

 On the Simplest Continuous Manifoldness of Two Dimensions and 



of Finite Extent. — C.J.Monro 547 



Non-Amphibious Batrachians. — Rev. George Henslow . . . 548 



Morphology of " Selaginella. " — Thomas Comber 548 



The Rocks of Charnwood Forest. — James Plant 548 



Patenas of Ceylon.— E. Heklis 548 



Cumming's Electricity. — L. Cumming 549 



Remarkable Papuan Skull. — J. E. Z. , 549 



Meteor. — F. T. Mott 549 



OuK Astronomical Column : — 



The U. S. Naval Observatory, Washington 549 



New Variable Star 549 



Early Observation of Solar Spots 549 



Comet 1877 in. 549 



"The Observatory, a Monthly Review of Astronomy " .... 550 



The Nebula— What are They? By E. J. Stone, M.A., F. R.S. . 550 



The Races and Tribes of the Chao Basin. By A. H. Keane . 550 



The "Lost Atlantis" an» the "Challenger" Soundings 



i^WithMap) 553 



Remarks on the Investigation of Climates. By Tho.mas 



Stevenson, C E 55*5 



Volcanic Phenomena During 1875 • • 557 



Biological Notes : — 



Broca's Stereograph 558 



Tendrils of Climbing Plants 553 



Eyeless Crustaceans 559 



Origin of the Flying-power of Bees 559 



The Birds of Celebes 559 



Italian Pliocene Equidae 559 



Development of Mollusca 559 



Parthenogenesis in a Phanerogam . 559 



Respiration of Roots 559 



Notes S6o 



Societies AND AcABEMiBS S62 



