4i6 



NATURE 



\JMarch 21, 1878 



brought in contact with it, care being taken to place the point 

 accurately over the groove. If now this plate be sung or spoken 

 to, the tinfoil will be indented in accordance with the vibrations 

 communicated to the plate. The emitting plate having been 

 provided with a resonator, its point is now brought into the 

 position initially occupied by the point of the receiving plate, 

 and on rotating the drum, with the same velocity, fairly identical 

 sounds are given out. It will be seen that Mr. Stroh's apparatus 

 has an advantage over that of Mr. Pidgeon, in that it secures a 

 constant rate of rotation ; but on the other hand, the sounds 

 emitted by the paper disc appeared to be more distinct than those 

 from the iron. A number of experiments were performed with 

 the instruments. The sounds were reproduced at times with 

 remarkable distinctness, and when Mr. Spagnoletti and Mr. 

 Sedley Taylor sang " God Save the Queen," as a duet, through 

 a double mouthpiece, the two voices could be clearly distin- 

 guished on its being reproduced. It was shown that even when 

 an indented sheet of tinfoil has been employed to emit sounds, it 

 retains its form with such perfectness that the sounds can be 

 reproduced by means of it a second, and even a third time, with 

 nearly equal distinctness. Prof. Graham Bell pointed out that 

 the articulation of the instruments was very similar to what he 

 had observed in the earlier forms of telephone, and he had no 

 doubt, judging from his own experience of that instrument, that 

 the phonograph will ere long be so adjusted as to articulate 

 much more perfectly. He anticipated that the quality of the 

 sound would be found to vary as the rate of rotation was altered, 

 as well as the pitch, and this proved on experiment to be the 

 case. 



Royal Microscopical Society, March 6. — Mr. H. J. Slack, 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Chas. Stewart described a new 

 species of coral said to have been obtained from an island in the 

 vicinity of Tahiti, and which was referred to the genus Stylaster. 

 The characteristics of the genus and the distinctive features of the 

 new species were explained and illustrated by black board 

 drawings, and specimens of the coral were exhibited under the 

 microscope. — A paper on a new operculated infusorian from New 

 Zealand, by Mr. Hutton, of Otago, was read by the president. — 

 A paper by Mr. Adolf Schulze on a new and simple method of 

 resolving the finest balsam-mounted diatom tests, was read by 

 the secretary, and described the success which had attended the 

 examination of this class of objects by means of the reflex- 

 illuminator, and the immersion paraboloid, moistened with 

 castor oil in place of water. The lines on Amphipleura pellucida 

 were shown in this manner by Dr. Dickson, in illustration of the 

 paper. — Lissajous curves drawn microscopically uj^on glass by 

 Mr. West, were exhibited by Mr. Curties. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, February 26. — Mr. W. H. 

 Barlow, vice-president, in the chair. — The paper read was on 

 liquid fuels, by Mr. H. Aydon. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, March 4. — A paper 

 was read by the Rev. Dr. Rule, in reference to ancient Oriental 

 monuments. 



Cambridge 



Philosophical Society, February II. — Mr. J. W. L. 



Glaisher made a communication on the mode of formation of the 

 factor table for the fourth million, now in course of construction. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, March 11. — M. Fizeau in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On the phenomena con- 

 nected with vision of coloured objects in motion, by M. Chevreul. 

 He is able to show on a circle, one-half of which is black, the 

 other half coloured, the complement of this colour, and prove 

 that it is due to the arrangement of the two surfaces with regard to 

 circular motion.-— On some applications of elliptical functions 

 (continued), by M. Hermite. — On the relative affinities and 

 reciprocal displacements of oxygen and halogen elements com- 

 bined with metallic substances, 'by M. Berthelot. Tlie compara- 

 tive reactions of the halogens and oxygen on various metals, and 

 specially the reciprocal displacement between iodine and oxygen, 

 depend neither on type nor on atomic or other formulae of the 

 combinations, but on the quantities of heat liberated by direct 

 combination of the metals with each of the antagonistic elements 

 taken in equivalent weights. — Influence of M. Pasteur's discoveries 

 on the progress of surgery, by M. Sedillot. He shows the 

 relation (to those discoveries) of Lister's treatment of wounds 

 and its results; also Guerin's (with wadding, &c.). M. 

 D'Abbadie stated that on the shores of the Red Sea the natives 



have a maxim that a wound, to be healed, should remain in 

 contact with air ; and he found this was the case. He thinks 

 the air may there be free from microbes. — The vibrations of 

 matter and the waves of the ether in chemical combinations, by 

 M. Fave. — On Mr. Edison's phonograph, by M. du Moncel. — ■ 

 On the^ industrial applications of electricity, by M. Du Moncel. 

 This is a ,short summary of vol. v. of his * ' Expose des Applica- 

 tions de I'Electricite " (third edition). — M. Cialdi was elected 

 correspondent for the section of Geography and Navigation, in 

 room of the Emperor of Brazil, elected Foreign Associate. — On 

 elliptic polarisation by reflection at the surface of transparent 

 bodies, by M. Cornu. — Note on the vibrations of liquids, by M. 

 Barthelemy. A claim of priority. — Discovery of a small planet 

 at the Observatory of Pola, by M, Palisa. — Observations 

 of small planets, by M. Palisa. — On the fundamental points of 

 the system of surfaces defined by an equation with partial 

 derivatives of the first algebraic order, linear with regard to 

 these derivatives, by M. Fouret. — On a class of transcendant 

 functions, by M. Picard. — On the variations of terrestrial mag- 

 netism, by M. Quet. He examines, with the aid of calculation, 

 the theory which attributes to the sun a direct action on the 

 magnetic and electric fluids of the earth. — On the precise orien- 

 tation of the principal section of Nicols, in apparatus of 

 polarisation, by M. Laurent. For this purpose he places 

 between polariser and analyser a diaphragm, one-half of which 

 only is covered with a thin plate of quartz parallel to the axis, 

 having the thickness of half a wave. When the Nicol, e.g., has 

 to be placed at a determinate angle to certain reticular wires, 

 the border of the plate is brought into the position, then the 

 Nicols are placed accordingly. — Study of chloride of sulphur, 

 by M. Isambert. There is only one chloride of sulphur in which 

 the chloride is dissolved in considerable proportion at a low 

 temperature. — On the substitution of sulphur for oxygen in 

 the fatty series, by M. Dupre. — On the catechines (third note). 

 Catechines of gambirs, by M. Gautier. — Action of fluoride of 

 boron on organic matters (benzylic aldehyde, ethylene), by M. 

 Landolph. — On a new pyrogenous derivative of tartaric acid, 

 dipyrotartaric acetone, by M. Bourgoin. — On the acid of gastric 

 juice, by M. Richet. The hydrochloric acid of gastric juice is 

 in combination with tyrosine, leucine, and perhaps other similar 

 substances. — Experimental researches on the inequality of the 

 corresponding regions of the brain, by M. Le Bon. He examined 

 287 skulls in the Museum of Anthropology, and found 125 with 

 predominance of the right side over the left, 1 11 with predomin- 

 ance of the left side, and 51 in which the bones were unequal 

 but compensated each other, making the right side nearly equal 

 to the left. — Classification of Stellerides, by M. Viguier. — On 

 Garnierite, by M. Gamier. — Artificial production of brochantite, 

 by M. Meunier. This was done by keeping fragments of galena 

 about eleven months in a moderately concentrated solution of 

 sulphate of copper. — The Silurian Tigillites, by M. Crie. He 

 attributes those in the west of France to ancient plants, of 

 calamitoid aspect, that lived in shallow water. — On the role of 

 the retina in vision of near or distant objects, by M. Fano. 



CONTENTS p^E 



Eastern Excavations • • ;, 397 



Professor Bell's " Sklborne " 399 



Our Book Shelf :— 



" Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society " 400 



Letters to the Editor :— 



Trajectories of Shot.— Rev. F. Bashforth 41 



Australian Monotremata.— E. P. Ramsay.— E. P. R. .... 401 



Fetichism in Animals. — Discrimination of Insects. — C. G. O'Brien 402 



Nitrification.— F. J. B 402 



The Wasp and the Spider.— Mrs. E. Hubbard 402 



Entomology at the Royal Aquarium 402 



The Government Reseakch Fund 403 



The Sources of Light. By Alfred M. Mayer and Charles 



Barnard ( With Illusirations) 404 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Double Stars 407 



Schmidt's Lunar Chart 4°8 



'rempel'sComet of Short Period (1873 II ) 408 



Geographical Notes : — 



American Longitudes 408 



New Guinea 4o3 



African Exploration 408 



Arctic Exploration • 4°8 



Petermann's Mittheilungen _ 408 



American Geographical Society 409 



Berlin Geographical Society 4<^9 



Sumatra 4°9 



Notes ........ 4°9 



The Analogies of Plant and Animal Life, II. By Francis 



Darwin, M.B 4" 



University and Educational Intelligence 415 



Societies and Academies 415 



