156 



NATURE 



[Dec. 20, 1877 



Mr. Hudleston, and Mr. Homfray last summer. — On the pre- 

 Cambrian rocks of Bangor, by Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, 

 F.G. S. The author described a series of slates, agglomerates, 

 and porphyritic rocks which, near Bangor, are seen to pass under 

 the Cambrian and seem to rest conformably upon the quartz 

 felsites and granitoid rocks of Caernarvon. He considered that 

 in the ma'n the Bangor beds were the equivalents of the Pebidian 

 of Dr. Hicks, while the Caernarvon beds nearly represented his 

 Dimetian. But he thought there was as yet no proof of an un- 

 conformity between these formations. — An appendix by Prof. 

 Bonney, on the microscopical examination of the rocks referred 

 to, accompanied this paper. 



Royal Microscopical Society, December 5. — Mr. H. C, 

 Sorby, president, in the chair. — The president announced that 

 in consequence of the death of Dr. Lawson it had become neces- 

 sary to reconsider the subject of publication, and the Council 

 had, after careful attention to the matter, decided in future to 

 publish their own proceedings. — A paper by Herr Zeiss on 

 Abbe's apertometer was read by Mr. Ingpen, who exhibited the 

 apparatus to the meeting and further explained its construction 

 and method of application by means of black-board diagrams. 

 Mr. Ingpen also described the method of measuring angular 

 "apertures last adopted by Mr. F. H. Wenham. — A paper by 

 Mr. F. A. Bed well on Cephalosyphon was read by Mr. Slack, 

 who afterwards explained the structure of this rotifer, and 

 pointed out the special features to which attention was drawn by 

 the author of the paper. — Another paper by the same author on 

 a new method of examining Actinia mesembryanthemum, was 

 read by Mr. Chas. Stewart ; it was illustrated by drawings, some 

 of which were enlarged upon the black-board. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, December 11. — Mr. George 

 Robert Stephenson, president, in the chair. — A description of 

 Cofferdams used at Dublin, Birkenhead, and Hull, by Mr. 

 WiUiam James Doherty, Assoc. Inst C.E., was read. 



GOTTINGEN 



Royal Academy of Sciences, August 24. — The division of 

 a language into several different languages, by M. Benfery. — On 

 the earthquake of Iquique on May 9, 1877, and the tidal move- 

 ments thereby produced in the ocean, by M. Geinitz. 



November 7. — Report on the Physical Institute (department 

 of experimental physics), from 1871 to 1877, by M. Riecke. 



November 14. — D instead of N, by M. Benfery. — Contribu- 

 tions to physiography of rock-forming minerals, by M. Lang. 



November 21. — Antiquities in the south-west of Switzerland, 

 and in Turin, by M. Wieseler. — On the secondary intestine of 

 the echinoidese, by M. Ludwig. — Obituary notices of M. Hartmann 

 and M. Marx. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, December 10. — M. Peligot in the 

 chair : — The following papers were read : — On some appli- 

 cations of elliptical functions (continued), by M. Hermite. — On 

 invariants, by Prof. Sylvester. — On the arrangements which, in 

 the system of a navigation sluice with single oscillation, conduce 

 to the maximum of production and the minimum of expense of 

 construction, by M. De Caligny. — On the development of eggs 

 of the phylloxera of the oak, and the phylloxera of the vine, by 

 M. Boiteau. — M. Volpicelli sent a note tending to prove, by means 

 of potential, that induced electricity of the first species has no ten- 

 sion. — Application of Leyden jars of large surface for distributing, 

 at various points, the effect of the current from a single source of 

 electricity, with strengthening of the effect, by M, Jablochkoff. 

 Connecting one surface of such an apparatus (called in this case 

 an exciter) with one of the conductors of a machine which gives 

 alternate currents, an alternating current is got by the other sur- 

 face of the exciter and the second conductor (or the earth), more 

 powerful than the current given directly by the machine. If a 

 series of exciters with surfaces of nearly 500 square metres be 

 thus connected with a machine which gives a spark equivalent 

 to that of six or eight Bunsen elements, a voltaic arc of 15 to 

 20 mm. is obtained, and carbons of 5 mm. diameter are red- 

 dened to an extent of 6 to 10 mm. from their extremity. Such 

 effects are utilised in electric lighting. — On the law of absorption 

 of radiations through bodies, and its employment in quantitative 

 spectrum analysis (continued), by M. Gov). He shows how sur- 

 faces of chromatic absorption may be obtained by means of the 

 analysing photometer, measuring the various simple radiations 

 which take part in a complex radiation. — On some properties 

 of chloride of calcium, by M. Ditte. He dea's with the calorific 



phenomena accompanying the reaction of water with this chloride • 

 If the latter be anhydrous, a heating is observed, and fresh addi- 

 tions of water cause successive heatings ; but if the chloride be 

 hydrated, its mixture with water produces at first a considerable 

 cooling followed by heating if some more of the solvent be added. 

 — Application of palladium wire to determination of the hydro- 

 carbons mixed in a small proportion with air, by M. Coquillion. 

 It is necessary to operate with a cherry-red, near white-red. The 

 results agreed with theory. — On the development of the functions 

 of M. Weierstrass according to the increasing powers of the 

 variable, by M. Andre. — On the lesions of the nervous system in 

 diphtheritic paralysis, by M. Dejerine. There is an atrophy of 

 the anterior roots, which follows destruction of the cells of the 

 anterior horns of the spinal cord, by a process similar to that of 

 myelitis. — Orography, by M. Schrader. The author presented 

 a geographical map of Mont Perdu, made with his orograph, 

 which consists of a circular paper-covered plate with central 

 vertical axis carrying a sleeve which can turn round freely. On 

 the top of the sleeve is a telescope, the movements of whose 

 frame in the vertical direction are communicated to a pencil, and 

 transformed by gearing into to and fro movements. If the tele- 

 scope describes a circle round the horizon, the style describes a 

 corresponding circle on the plate ; if the telescope goes up or 

 down, the trace produced is further from or nearer to the central 

 axis. A spirit level being fixed to the telescope, the circle made 

 when it is even, 'gives a means of estimating the heights and 

 depressions. — On the folding of the lacustrian strata of Auvergne 

 in Central Limagne, and its consequences, by M. Olivier. — 

 Influence of soil and forests on climate ; temperatures of air 

 layers over woods; consequences as regards vegetation j effects of 

 currents arising from differences of temperature under wood and 

 beyond wood, by M. Fautrat. The frigorific action of the forest 

 is very manifest in the hot season. Under pines in September the 

 temperature is lowered i '60°. Pure sand raises the temperature 

 of a place. Leafy woods, during vegetation, produce a slight 

 lowering of temperature in the atmosphere above. Above pines, 

 in the daytime, there is always a rise of temperature, from the 

 solar heat being retained by the vapours enveloping the tree-tops. 

 From the differences of temperature within and without woods, 

 a current arises in the wood from below upwards, and round the 

 woods course lateral currents from the wood to the plain. — On 

 the disinfecting properties of cellulosic substances carbonised by 

 concentrated sulphuric acid, by M. Garcin. 



CONTENTS PAjE 



The "Inflexible" 137 



Hydrophobia, II 139 



Dikn's "Celestial Atlas" 141 



Our Book Shblf : — 



Burbidge's " HotticuUure" , 142 



Meyer's " Mittheilungen aus dem k. zoologischen Museum zu 



Dresden "...., 142 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The Radiometer and its Lessons — Prof. G. Carey Foster, 



F.R.S. ; Dr Arthur Schuster 142 



The Proposed Channel Islands' Zoological Station, Aquarium, aud 



Piscicultural Institute — W. A. Lloyd 143 



The ■' Challenger " Estimates of the Volume of the Gulf Stream — 



T. Mkllaru Reade 144 



The Fossil Peronospora as a Primordial^ Plant. — Worthington 



G. Smith 144 



The "Challenger" IN the Atlantic (W/M ///Kj^r«/«(7«i) . . . 145 

 On the Presence of Oxygen im the Sun. By Dr. Arthur 



Schuster 148 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Jupiter's Satellites 349 



Donati's Comet of 1858 149 



The Observatory of Lyons 149 



The Meteorite of June 14, 1877 150 



Prof. Newcomb 150 



Chemical Notes ; — 



Mineral Oil in a Lava of Mount Etna 150 



Formation of Certain Bodies at Temperatures above that of their 



Decomposition 150 



lodates of Cobalt and Nickel 150 



Origin and Formition of Boracic Acid 150 



New Modes of Forming Ethylen 0\ygen 150 



The Action of certain Antiseptic Vapours on the Ripening of 



Fruits ISO 



A Problem in Chemical Affinity 151 



Halogen Derivatives of Amines 151 



Double Salts with Cyanide of Gold 151 



The Fourth Nitrobenzoic Acid 151 



Influence of Isomerism on the Formation of Ethers between Acids 



and Alcohols 151 



Phosphides of Tin 151 



Chemical Action of Light 151 



Notes 151 



University AND Educational Intblligenck 154 



Societies amo Academies 155 



