520 



NATURE 



{April 2i^, 1878 



between the trees liable to be affected. — The following gentle- 

 men were elected Fellows of the Society : — Frederick Manson 

 Bailey, Dr. Archibald Hewan, George Payne, jun,, and James 

 R. Reid. 



Zoological Society, April 2. — Prof. Newton, F.R.S., vice- 

 president, in the chair. — A communication was read from the 

 Marquis of Tweeddale, F.R.S., containing the seventh of his con- 

 tributions to the ornithology of the Philippines. The present 

 paper gave an account of the collection made by Mr. A. H. 

 Everett in the Island of Panaon. — Mr. A, G. Butler, read de- 

 scriptions of new Lepidoptera of the group Bombycites in the col- 

 lection of the British Museum. — A communication was read 

 from M. E. Oustelet, containing the description of a new species 

 of cassowary, from New Guinea, proposed to be called Casu- 

 arius cdwardsi. — A communication was read from Mr. F. 

 Nicholson, F.Z.S., containing the description of an apparently 

 new species of American pipit from Peru, which he proposed to 

 call Atitkus pemvianus. — Prof. A. H. Garrod, F.R.S., read 

 some notes on the placentation of Hyomoschtis aquaticus as 

 observed in the pregnant uterus of a fresh specimen of this 

 animal recently examined. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, April i. — A paper 

 on modern geology and its bearing on the antiquity of man, was 

 read by Prof. Birks, of Cambridge. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, April 9. — Mr. Bateman, 

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

 ments of the River Thames, by Mr. Edward. Bazalgette, 

 Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



Edinburgh 



University Chemical Society, March 13. — Mr. W. Inglis 

 Clarke, B.Sc, vice-president, in the chair. — A paper was read 

 by Mr. Adrian Blaikie on the salts of trimethylsulphine, con- 

 taining the results of a joint investigation carried on by Prof. 

 Crum-Browa and himself. They find that the oxalate of tri- 

 methylsulphine crystallises in clear hydroscopic plates with one 



molecule of water of crystallisation, |(CH3)3S|2Ca04 -}- IIjO. 

 On heating, the salt at 110° C. gives off its water of crystallisa- 

 tion, and at 140° gives off sulphide of methyl, leaving pure 



oxalate of methyl, {(CH3)3S}2C204 = {,ZYi^\Q^O^ -h 2(CH3)jS. 

 The sulphide of trimethylsulphine, obtained by mixing equal 

 quantities of sulphydrate and oxyhydrate of tiimethylsulphine, 

 can only be obtained in a solution which when evaporated over 

 phosphoric anhydride in an atmosphere of coal gas, decomposes, 

 after a certain strength of solution has been reached, into sulphide 



of methyl, {(CH3)3S|.jS = 3(CH3)jS. The hyposulphite of tri- 

 methylsulphine is obtained either by oxidation of the sulphide or 

 polysulphide of trimethylsulphine. It crystallises in clear hydro- 

 scopic four-sided prisms with one molecule of water of crystallisa- 

 tion, {(CH3)3S}2S203 4- H2O. This salt has all the charac- 

 teristics of an alkaline hyposulphite. On drying over phosphoric 

 anhydride it gives off its water of crystallisation, and on heating 

 the anhydrous salt at 137° C. it gives off 23-5 per cent, sulphide 

 of methyl, leaving a white crystalline substance, soluble in water, 

 alcohol, and ether, which is at present under investigation. — A 

 paper was also read by Mr. John Treharne, M.B., CM., on 

 some phenomena observed in the cooling of fats. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 15. — M, Fizeauin the chair. — 

 The following among other papers were read : — Sun-spots and 

 magnetism, by M. Faye. Replying to Prof, Piazzi Smyth's 

 question (NATURE, vol. xvii. p. 220), M. Faye says : — i. The 

 periods 10*45 years for the needle, ii'ii for the spots, have been 

 well determined by Mr. Broun and M. Wolf respectively. 2. 

 The two phenomena are not related. 3. A combination of 

 favourable circumstances, reproduced every 176 years, has led 

 to belief in their connection. 4. These temporary concomi- 

 tances are not absolutely rare in the history of sciences. — On a 

 new compound of palladium, by MM. Sainte-Claire Deville and 

 Debray. This relates to an ammoniacal sesquichloride of pal- 

 ladium, obtained by causing chlorine solution to act in the cold 

 state on yellow chloride of palladamine. One analysis of it 

 gave : palladium, 42*6 ; chlorine, 43'5 ; ammonia, 12*9. — 

 Experiments tending to imitate various forms of foldings, 

 contortions, and ruptures met with in the earth's crust 

 (continued), by M. Daubree. A thin layer of an ad- 

 hesive coloiuring matter is applied] to the surface of a dis- 



tended balloon of vulcanised caoutchouc. On letting some of 

 the air escape the coated portion forms a protuberance with 

 regular and parallel wrinkles in certain directions; and M. 

 Daubree finds like phenomena in the earth's crust.— On 4he 

 annual temperature of the air, the earth, and the water, in the 

 Jardin des Plantes of Montpellier, according to twenty-six 

 years of observations, by M. Martini. The mean annual tem- 

 perature (of the air) is 13 '42°; at Paris and Montsouris Obser- 

 vatories it is 10*67° for the same twenty-six years. The mean 

 annual temperature at O'lom. depth in unsodded ground is 

 inferior to that of the air (about 2") if only morning obser- 

 vations are taken ; but from observations morning and evening 

 they are nearly the same (ground, 14*65°, and air 14*11°, in the 

 year 1863). The mean temperature of the subterranean sheet 

 of vyater is 12*77°. — Report on a memoir by M. Jobert 

 relating to aerial respiration of some Brazilian fishes. M. 

 Jobert has found several fishes in the Upper Amazon, 

 having two modes of respiration, one by the gills, the other by 

 the alimentary canal, swallowing air and evacuating by the anus 

 a gas which has more COg and less O than air has. The intes 

 tine has a number of filiform appendices composed of blood 

 vessels, which doubtless absorb some of the swallowed oxygen. 

 In other fishes the gas returns by the mouth instead of the anus. 

 In others the swimming-bladder (which has numerous blood 

 vessels in its walls) takes the place of the lungs. — On the equi- 

 valent of gallium, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaiwiran. From calcina- 

 tion of the alum and calcination of the nitrate the mean obtained 

 for the equivalent is 69*865. This agrees closely with a theo- 

 retical number got for a body between aluminium and indium. — 

 On the mode of formation of the meteoritic breccia of Santa 

 Catharina, Brazil, by M. Meunier. Four phenomena are traced: — 

 I. Shattering of the metallic iron, and accumulation of the 

 fragments with spaces between. 2. Penetration of sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen into these spaces, producing sulphur, and a 

 mixture of pyrrhotine and graphite. 3. Mechanical crushing 

 of the m^ss. 4. Production of new graphitous matter filling the 

 fissures of the second formation. — On the dissociation of hydrate 

 of chloral, by MM. Moitessier and Engel. From experiment 

 they find that the tension of the vapour of the substance, when 

 boiling, is superior to atmospheric pressure, hence they infer 

 dissociation of the hydrate between 78° and 100° as affirmed 

 by M. Wurtz. — On a rare form of the hepatic organ in worms, 

 by M. Chatin. In a nematoid of the group of Agamonema, 

 Dies, an exterior glandular mass is developed round the middle 

 intestine. — Experiments proving that pure urea never causes 

 convulsive disorders, by MM. Feltz and Ritter.^On two rain- 

 bows with opposite curvature, by M. Faraguet. This was 

 observed at Agen, on April 8. The bows formed a figure like 

 X. — M. Tommasi presented a new system of relays for long sub- 

 marine cables. 



CONTENTS 



Page 



The Coming Total Solar Eclipse, II. By J. Norman Lockyek, 

 F.R.S 



SOI 



Atlantic Shells 503 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Indian Rainfall. — E. D. Archibald 505 



Sun-spots and Rainfall. — Alexander B ugh an 506 



Trajectories of Shot. — Rev. F. Bashforth 506 



" Mimicry " in Birds.— Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S. ; H. H. S. 507 



The Westinghouse Brake. — G. O. K 507 



Sound and Density. — J. Cameron 507 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Transit of Venus in 1882 507 



Encke's Comet in 1878 507 



The " Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch " and the Minor Planets . 507 



Ghogkaphical Notes : — 



Tasmania i 508 



African Exploration 508 



Paris . . 508 



French Guayaua 508 



Survey of New York , . . . 508 



Biological Notes : — 



A New Fruit . 508 



Fossil Insects 508 



The Climbing of the Virginia Creeper 508 



The Earliest Changes in Animal Eggs 509 



Glacial and Post-Glacial Fishes of Norway 509 



Poaching Birds 509 



Geological Time. By G. H. Dakwin 509 



Early Electric Telephony. By Prof. W. F. Barrett {IViih Illus- 

 trations) 510 



Action of Light on a Selenium (Galvanic) Element. By 



Robert Sabine 512 



Notes 5^3 



The Deterioration of Oil Paintings, II. By Dr. R. Liebreick . 515 



University AND Educational Intelligence >_•••• S'? 



Societies and Academies 5i8 



