236 



NATURE 



\ya1t. i?, 1878 



describes his own anemometer at length, and deals with its cor- 

 rections in detail. The speed of the ship was determined by 

 a special logging machine, and by this means and the anemo- 

 metrical observations, the true motion of the wind was ascer- 

 tained. The part of the paper which presented most novelty 

 was that referring to the evaporation of the sea-water. Two 

 different forms of atmomtters were described, both of them 

 devised by Prof. Mohn, and the theory of their action and of the 

 errors to which the experiments were expose 1 are carefully con- 

 sidered. The paper concluded with tables of the diurnal range 

 of the various meteorological elements for the period of observa- 

 tion. — Report on the phenological observations during 1877, by 

 the Rev. T. A. Preston, M.A.. As a rule, the same order of 

 flowering of plants is observed this year as in 1876, viz., that 

 plants came into flower first in the south-west of England and 

 then in regular order to the north of Lincolnshire, where plants 

 were latesc in coming into flower. From the tables accompany- 

 in;? the report may be deduced the general state of the weather 

 as regards temperature, and to a certain extent moisture. There 

 is no doubt but that damp acts more powerfully than cold in 

 retarding the flowering of some plants and this has been particu- 

 larly evident this year. The year, as a whole, has been very 

 unfavourable to vegetation ; the bitter cold of May checked the 

 growth of plants, and by the autumn there was comparatively 

 little new wood, and that not properly ripened. — Note on a 

 peculiar foo; observed at Kew on October 18, by G. M. Whipple, 

 B.Sc, F.R.A.S. 



Royal Microscopical Society, January 2. — Dr. J. Millar in 

 the chair. A paper was read by Dr. Bartlett on the detection 

 of toxic matter connected with typhoid and other enteric diseases, 

 in the course of which he gave an account of his attempts to 

 trace to its ultimate source the cause of a recent outbreak of 

 typhoid fever, and showed that whilst chemical analyj.is had 

 failed to discover any impurity either in the water or milk, he 

 had been able, by means of microscopical examination, to detect 

 in the water certain bodies, presumat)ly of a fungoid character, 

 which were identical with ttiose found in the bowels of persons 

 who had succumbed to the disease. — Mr. Slack brought beiore 

 the notice of the meeting a section" of bone of Megulosaurus 

 bucklandii and its remarkable resemblance to the structure now 

 identified as peculiar to birds, was pomted out by Mr. Charles 

 Stewart. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, January 7, — M. Fizeau in the chair. 

 — M. Daubree was elected vice-president, from the Section of 

 Physical Sciences (the other candidates being MM. Wurtz, 

 Chevrcul, and Blanchard). — M. Pcligot reported on volumes just 

 published, or being published, by the Academy. Vol. xxxix. of 

 the Mimoires is devoted chiefly to researches by M. Chevreul, 

 vol. xli. to researches by MM. Becquerei ; a second volume on 

 the transit observations, relating those at Pekin and St. 

 Paul's Island, has been published ; a memoir on Phylloxera vas- 

 tatrix, by ,M. Cornu, appears in vol. xxvi. of the Mimoires des 

 Savants Etrangers. The Academy lost by death, in 1877, one 

 member, M. Leverrier, and five correspondents, MM. Santini, 

 Hofmeister, Braun, Weddell, and Gintroc. — M. Faye presented, 

 in the name of the Bureau des Longitudes, the first volume of its 

 Annales. In these Annales will be inserted, with additions, the 

 memoirs which the Bureau formerly published in the Connais- 

 sance des Temps, its circle of activity having been enlarged. — On 

 persulphuric acid, a new oxygenated acid of sulphur, by 

 M. Beithelot. This is obtained pure and anhydrous, by 

 making the electric ejjluve act, with strong tension, on a 

 mixture of equal volumes of dry sulphurous acid and oxygen ; 

 it is got in the dissolved state by electrolysis of concen- 

 trated solutions of sulphuric acid, or by mixing with care a 

 solution of oxygenated water with sulphuric acLd, concentrated, 

 or diluted with less than one equivalent of water. At a tempe- 

 rature near zero, it crystallises, and resembles, in its general 

 aspect, anhydrous sulphuric acid, only it has longer, and tninner, 

 and transparent needles. The formula, determined variously, is 

 SjOy. Heated in a flame, the substance is immediately de- 

 composed into oxygen and anhydrous sulphuric acid. In air it 

 gives off thick fumes. In concentrated sulphuric acid it dissolves 

 without liberating oxygen. In water it dissolves, giving thick 

 fumes and effervescence, &c. — On a new flat regulating spiral for 

 chronometers and watches, by M. Phillips. The theory of this 

 is explained. — On some new modifications in the teb phone, by 

 M. Breguet. According to indications by MM. Gamier and 

 Pollard, a thin plate of sheet iron is arranged with the end of a 



blacklead pencil pressing slightly on the central part ; plate and 

 pencil are connected by wires of ordinary lines with the two ends 

 of the bobbin wire of a Bell telephone, which has, instead of the 

 magnetic bar, a bar of soft iron. A battery of two Laclanche 

 elements is placed in the circuit. The plate, vibrated by the 

 voice, causes variations in the blacklead, and so in the resistance 

 of the circuit and the intensity of the permanent current, which 

 produces alternative attractions and non-attractions in the electro- 

 magnet of the receiving telephone ; thus the voice is reproduced. 

 M. Breguet is hopeful of an increased intensity of effect by such 

 a method. — On the production and properties of a new suction- 

 ram without air-reservoir, capable of drawing water from all 

 depths, by M. de Caligny. — Density of liquid oxygen, by M. 

 Pictet. The author experimentally confirms M. Dumas' view, 

 who obtained the expression ^1=1= 5, for the solid, and 

 probably the liquid state also. The jet of oxygen showed a 

 strong polarisation of the electric liglit, indicating the presence 

 of solid dust, probably small crystals of solid oxygen. — On the 

 quartic of Sterner, by M. Amigues. — On a single principle on- 

 taining the whole theory of curves and of surfaces of any 

 order or class, by M. Serret. — On a theorem of M. Villarceau; 

 remarks and consequences, by M. Gilbert. — On phenomena 

 of dispersion in mefallic reflection of polarised luminous or 

 calorific rays, by M. Mouton. The greater the wave-length 

 the longer is the interval during whicb mirrors act like 

 glass on light, simply impressing a certiin rotation in the original 

 plane of polarisation, and the shorter therefore is that in which 

 the original rectilinear polarisation of the incident ray is changed 

 by the )act of reflection into elliptic polarisation. — On normal 

 ethyloxybutyric acid and its derivatives, by M. Duvillier. — Re- 

 searches on the intracellular alcoholic fermentation of plants, by 

 M. Muntz. Plants kept in air give no trace of alcohol ; those kept 

 in niirogen give a quite appreciable quantity, and they continue 

 to live and grow. These facts are a confirmation of M. Pasteur's 

 views, — On the inversion and alcoholic fermentation of cane- 

 sugar by mouldiness, by M. Gayon. — S-ime remarks on the 

 origin of alcoholic yeasty by M. Trecul. — Verbal response of M. 

 Pasteur. — On a new gorilla from Congo, by M.\I. Alix and 

 Bouvier. This seems, like chimpanzees, to have more arbori- 

 colar habits than the Gorilla gena. The name of G. Mayema is 

 given it from that of the negro chief of the village near which it 

 was killed. — On the formation of fibrine of the blood studied 

 with the microscope, by M. Hayem. — On a process for obtain- 

 ing recomposition of the light of the solar spec'.rum, by M. 

 Lavand de Lestrade. 



CONTENTS PA(.K 



The Density of Liquid Oxvgen , • . 217 



Frankland's Researchss in Chemistry. By Prof. J. Emerson 



Reynolds 2i3 



Our Book »hklf :— 



The Silesian Society 219 



Merriman's " List of Writings relating to the Method of Least 



Squares, with Historical and Critical Notes " 219 



Letters to the Ebitor : — 



The Radiometer and its Lessons —Prof. Osborne Reynolds 



F.R S 2JO 



Sun-spots and Terrestrial Magnetism —Prof Piazzi Smyth. . . 22c. 



On the 'nsects o Chili and New Zealand. — Edwin Birchall . 221 



Mac'osilia cluenlius.- Dr. Hermann MIIller 221 



Met- or. — P. W. Reilly 22t 



Philadelohia Diplomas. — Dr Richd. C. Brandeis ..... 221 



Great Waterfalls.— Arthur G Guillbmard 2!i 



Biological Notes : 



Self-Fertilisai ion of Plants 221 



Physiological Action of Nicotin 223 



Glassy Sponges • 222 



A Male Nurse 222 



Structure of Cycadeae 222 



The hirain of a Kosiil Mammal 222 



Insectivorous Plants. By Francis Darwin, M.B 222 



Albert VON Hai.lsr 223 



The Modern Telescope, IV. By J. Nor.man Lockyer, F.R.S. 



{^With Illustration) .... 225 



Electrical Analogifs with Natural Phenomena By M. 



Gaston Plante i^lVith Illustrations) .... 216 



Entomology IN America 225 



Sounding apparatus. By Lieut. T. F. Jewell {With Illustration) 230 

 Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Variable Star R Aquarii 231 



c Iiidi 231 



The Satellites of Mars 231 



Notes 231 



Certain Movements of Radiometers. By Prof. G. C. Stokes, 



Sec. RS 234 



University and Educational Intelligence 235 



Societies and Academies 215 



