March 21, 1878] 



NATURE 



411 



once were directly measured, and the average value (from thirty 

 measurements) was 99*25 m. From this the velocity of sound 

 in free air = 335*19 m. Reducing the value to that for dry air 

 at zero the number obtained is 331*57 m. This lies about 

 midway between Regnault's value (3307) and that of Moll and 

 Van Beck (332*26). 



At a recent meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society, Prof. 

 Karsten, of Kiel, read an interesting account of the activity 

 of the Commission established in Schleswig-Holstein, which 

 has for its object the exact and minute investigation of the 

 climatological, physical, and chemical conditions of the Baltic 

 and the German Ocean, as well as of the influence which these 

 conditions exercise upon organic life. The commission has 

 established a large number of stations for making observations of 

 the currents existing in these seas, in order to obtain data for the 

 understanding of the general laws governing marine currents. 

 With regard to animalilife, the commission has up to the present 

 confined its labours to the most important inhabitant of the two 

 seas, the common herring, and it has succeeded in determining 

 with certainty the few zoological varieties of this fish, as well as 

 in finding its spawning places, and as a result, the artificial culti- 

 vation of herrings has already been set on foot. The commission 

 will now devote its attention to other species of fish. 



A German Viticultural Society has just been formed at 

 Cassel. For the present the Society intends to take up two 

 important matters, viz., (i) discovering the best method for the 

 destruction of phylloxera, and (2) the suppression of the secret 

 manufacture of wines by artificial means. 



In Nature (vol. xvii. p. 372) an account is given of the diffi- 

 culty met with in Australia in get'lng bees to work after a few 

 years. A correspondent calls attention to the fact that a similar 

 difficulty occurred in California, where it has been obviated by a 

 systematic abstraction of the honey as the bees collected it. If 

 this were tried in Australia it might possibly meet the difficulty. 



In a recent communication to the Belgian Academy on diges- 

 tion in insects, M. Plateau, after a careful examination of forty 

 individuals of various types retires from his former position that 

 the digestive juices (in the normal state) are never acid. In 

 insects which feed wholly or partly on animal matters, they are 

 slightly acid. He will not, however, concede a constant acidity 

 for all insects (which some naturalists affirm) ; and in reply to 

 the objection based on the characteristic acidity of the gastric 

 juice of vertebrates, he contends that the digestive liquid in 

 articulata, insecta, myriapoda, arachnida, and Crustacea is not 

 analogous to that juice, but rather to the pancreatic juice ; the 

 acidity is an accessory character and not the sign of a physio- 

 logical property. The ferment present is evidently something 

 quite different from the gastric pepsine of vertebrates. Thus, 

 a very little hydrochloric acid, so far from promoting its action, 

 retards or arrests it. 



A NEW method, said to be more accurate in its results than that 

 of Helmholtz, for determining the tones of the mouth-cavity which 

 correspond to the vowels, is recommended by^M. Auerbach in 

 a recent number of the Annalen der Physik. It is based on 

 percussion. Having made a long inspiration, you bring the 

 mouth into the position corresponding to the particular vowel, 

 and then strike the larynx after the manner of physicians, i.e., 

 place the middle finger of one hand firmly on it, and strike it 

 with that of the other hand. A comparatively distinct tone is 

 then heard, which varies with the position of the mouth, but for 

 a given position is always the same. The effects are perceived 

 more distinctly if the ears are previously stopped with wax. 

 M. Auerbach describes results of observation by this method. 



Mr. a. W. Bennett (Lecturer on Botany, St. Thomas's 

 Hospital, London, S.E.) requests us to state that he is engaged 

 on an introductory handbook of Cryptogamk Botany, to be pub- 



lished in the Intenkational Scientific Series, and that he will 

 be extremely glad of any recent original memoirs, English 

 or Foreign, bearing on any branch of the subject which the 

 authors may incline to send him. 



An International Congress of Botany and Horticulture will be 

 held in Paris on August 16 and following days, under the 

 auspices of the Botanical Society and the Central Horticultural 

 Society of France, in the rooms of the latter Society, 84, rue 

 de Crenelle. A programme of subjects, botanical and horticul- 

 tural, is announced, on which papers are especially invited, as 

 well as the exhibition of illustrative specimens, collections, and 

 apparatus. One of these subjects is the establishing and fitting 

 up of botanical laboratories. The attendance and co-operation 

 of foreign botanists are cordially invited. 



In the year 1877 no less than 8,000 new publications appeared 

 in Italy. Amongst these there were 5,743 new books 

 (1876 : 4,323), 1,880 pamphlets (1876 : 1,524), and 194 new 

 journals (1876 : 256). 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Common Marmosets {Hapalc )acchns) 

 from South-East Brazil, presented by Mr. R. Donaldson ; a 

 Three-striped Paradoxure {Paradoxurus trivirgattis) from India, 

 presented by Capt. Dalrymple ; a Secretary Vulture (^Serpen- 

 tarius reptilivorus) from South Africa, presented by Messrs. W. 

 Rigg and J. Curtis ; a Green Glossy Starling {Lamprocolhts 

 chalybeus) from North-East Africa, a White-eared Bulbul 

 (Pycnonoius leucoiis) from India, a Californian Quail ( Callipepla 

 californicd) from California, presented by Mr«. Arabin, F.Z. S. ; 

 a Common Kestrel ( Tinnunculus alaudarius), European, pre- 

 sented by Mr. A. Blumenthal ; a Lion {Felis leo) from Africa, a 

 Variegated Sheldrake ( Tadorna variegata) from New Zealand, 

 received in exchange ; two Common Swans (Cygnus olor), Euro- 

 pean, deposited J three Black Swans {Cys;nus atraius), bred in 

 the Gardens ; a Zebu {Bos indicus), two Common Badgers 

 {Meles taxus), born in the Gardens, 



THE ANALOGIES OF PLANT AND ANIMAL 

 LIFE ' 



W^ 



IL 



E may find a kind of analogy for these cases of contradictory 

 action — for they really strike one as contradictory. 



The chameleon and the frog are both affected in a peculiar 

 manner by light ; they both change Colour in accordance with 

 variations in the intensity of the light. Moreover, the change of 

 colour is produced by the same mechanism in the two cases ; by 

 a kind of contraction and expansion of certain coloured cells in 

 their skin. But the curious fact is that chameleons ^ become 

 darker in sunshine, while frogs' become pale in sunshine 

 and darker in darkness. No doubt both these changes are in 

 some way serviceable to the frog and the chameleon, and we may 

 suppose that the whole phenomenon is really analogous to the 

 opposite effects of light which occur in plants. 



To quit the paths of science for those of another region of 

 ** Wonderland,' it has been pointed out by Mr. Lewis Carrol 

 that dogs wag their tails when they are pleased, whereas ca^s du 

 so when angry. Seriously the principle is the same — given that 

 emotion produces disturbance of the tail, it will depend on the 

 surrounding circumstances in which the creatures live as to 

 whether a given emotion shall produce a wagging or a rigid tail. 



Let us once more consider what needs will arise in the life of 

 an animal, and then see how the same needs are supplied by 

 ' plants. An animal needs to be alert to changes going on in the 

 world around it ; it needs delicate sense-organs to perceive the 

 approach of enemies or the whereabouts ol its food. In fact it 

 is evident that to prosper in the varying conditions of life an 

 animal must be sensitive to these changes. By sensitiveness one 



• A Lecture delivered at the London ItJStittJtion on March 11 by Francis 

 Darwin, M.B. Continued from p. 391. 



^ Brucke, IVicn. Deukschri/t, 1851 ; v. Bedriaga, " Die Entstehung der 

 Farhen bei den Eidechsen," 1874. 



3 Lister, Cutaneous I'lgmentary System of the frog, {fhih Traits., 

 1858 ; V. Wittich, Mailer's Archtv, 1854. 



