96 



NA TURE 



[May 24, 1888 



Engel. It is generally assumed that the solubility of stannous 

 chloride in water increases in the presence of hydrochloric acid. 

 But the experiments here described show that this is the 

 case only when the quantity of acid added to the saturated 

 solution of the chloride attains a certain value. The hydro- 

 chlorate of stannous chloride, here also described, has for 

 formula, SnCl 2 + HC1 2 + 3H 2 6. It crystallizes and melts at 

 about - 27°. — On the existence of a pyrophosphorous acid, by 

 M. L. Amat. The existence here demonstrated of this body is 

 a brilliant verification of the theory of Wurtz regarding the con- 

 stitution of the phosphorous and hypophosphorous acids. — Essay 

 on the equivalents of the simple bodies, by M. Delauney. 

 Taking as unity the equivalent of hydrogen, the equivalents 

 of the simple bodies may be obtained by the expression, 



_ «/5 2 - «' 2 , where N and n are integers, the values of n 



being obviously restricted to o, I, 2, 3, or 4. According to these 

 several values of n the elementary bodies are disposed in so 

 many family groups, from which chlorine alone is excluded, 

 while its neighbour, bromine, appears to belong to as many as 

 three of the groups. This classification seems natural, the first 

 family supplying the true metals — copper, gold, lead — below 

 which, in the descending scale, the fifth family corresponds to the 

 alkaline metals and metalloids. From all this is deduced a 

 curious molecular theory based on the assumption of a primitive 

 molecule formed of six atoms. Around one of these the other 

 five describe circles with radii I, 2, 3, 4, 5, all moving in the 

 same plane, and the central atom revolving round its own axis 

 perpendicular to the plane. The atoms at the distances 1, 2, 3, 4 

 revolve in the same direction as the central, the outer in the 

 contrary direction, the molecule thus constituting a sort of 

 astronomic system, infinitely small, but analogous to the stellar 

 groups. All these considerations go to confirm in principle, if 

 not in fact, the views of those chemists who hold that all the 

 simple bodies are ultimately reducible to one — that is, hydrogen. 

 — Researches on the synthesis of the albuminoid and proteic 

 substances, by M. P. Schutzenberger. Having completed his 

 analytical studies of albumen, fibrine, ca c eine, gelatine, and 

 other proteic substances, the author has now begun the study of 

 their synthesis. In this paper the first results are given, showing 

 that the leuceine obtained by the synthetic process is identical 

 with that yielded by decomposition. 



Berlin. 

 Physiological Society, April 27. — Prof, du Bois-Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Blaschko spoke on the develop- 

 ment of horny tissue. Between the rete Malpighii and the 

 corneous layer (stratum corneum) of the epidermis two layers 

 are found — the stratum granulosum and the stratum lucidum — in 

 which the cells of the rete, produced karyokinetically, must 

 undergo their conversion into the epidermal cells of the stratum 

 corneum. The speaker confined himself first to a consider- 

 ation of the granules of the stratum granulosum, about which 

 most widely different views have been advanced by various 

 writers. They have been regarded as consisting of fat, chole- 

 sterin, amyloid substance, proteid, keratin, and hyalin ; and 

 further as fluid, semi-fluid, or solid. Dr. Blaschko has satisfied 

 himself that the granules are not fluid, but that they contain 

 more water than the cells of the epidermis. He has further 

 proved by employing all the chemical reactions which are charac- 

 teristic of such different substances as fat, cholesterin, proteid, 

 &c, that the granules cannot be regarded as composed of any 

 of the above. The curious colour they assume when stained 

 with hematoxylin, and their behaviour with chemical reagents, 

 shows that their proper place is one intermediate between 

 albumen ar.d keratin ; the speaker hence proposed to give the 

 name of prokeratin to the material of which the granules are 

 composed. — Dr. Klaatsch had made a series of preparations 

 from the skin of monkeys, by which he shows that it is possible, 

 by using various colouring-matters, to give different colours to 

 the stratum lucidum and stratum corneum in one and the same 

 specimen, thus making it easy to distinguish these layers each 

 from the other and from the stratum granulosum. He shows 

 further that in the skin of monkeys, as in that of man, alter- 

 nating elevations and depressions are met with ; the former, or 

 gland-hillocks, cover the glands of the skin, while the latter, or 

 folds, are joined by tense bundles of connective-tissue passing 

 through the rete, and thus forming an attachment for the skin. 

 Finally, and in the third place, the preparations showed that the 

 nuclei of the cells in the rete are still here and there recognizable 

 in the stratum corneum as spaces which are probably formed by 



a disappearance of the nuclear substance, the nuclear membrane 

 being persistent. — Dr. R. Schneider has carried on a series ol 

 researches, extending over nearly every class of animals, on the 

 absorption of iron and on its occurrence as oxide in the organ; 

 and tissues of the animals. Up to the present time all the 

 animals examined, whether living in water, mud, or under- 

 ground, have contained oxide of iron ; which was detected, 

 using all due precautions, by employing ferrocyanide of potas- 

 sium and dilute hydrochloric acid. The speaker gave an account 

 of the behaviour of single animals taken from the Protozoa, 

 Coelenterates, Worms, Arthropods, Gasteropods, Fishes, and 

 Amphibia. Among Vertebrates, oxide of iron was found in the 

 cells of the alimentary canal, in the liver and spleen, occasion- 

 ally in the kidneys and teeth, and in Proteus it occurred through- 

 out the whole skeleton. Among the Invertebrates oxide of iron 

 was found to occur in the cells of the liver and intestine, 

 in the respiratory organs, the shells and chitinous envelopes. 

 The oxide occurred chiefly in the protoplasm of the cells, but 

 also frequently in the nuclei. It is impossible here to enlarge 

 further upon the interesting details of which Dr. Schneider 

 supplied an extended series. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Theoretische Geologie : Dr. E. Reyer (E. Schweizerbachsche).— Practical 

 Lesscms in the Use of English : M. F. Hyde (Heath, Boston).— The Origin 

 of Floral Structures : Rev. G. Henslow (Kegan Paul).— The Baths and Wells 

 of Europe, 3rd edition, revised : j. Macpherson (Stanford). — Jahrbuch der 

 Naturwissenschaften, 1887-88 : Max Wildermann (Herder, Freiburg).— A 

 Manual of General Pathology : J. F. Payne (Smith, Elder).— Practical 

 Zoology, 2nd edition : Marshall and Hurst (Smith, Elder). —Tropical Africa : 

 H. Drummond (Hodder and Stoughton). — A Manual of Practical Assaying, 

 6th edition : J. Mitchell ; edited by W. Crookes (Longmans).— Hand-book 

 for the Stars, 4th edition : H. W. Jeans; revised by W. R. Martin (Long- 

 mans). — Descriptions of New Indian Lepidopterous Insects from the Collec- 

 tion of the late Mr. W. S. Atkinson ; Part 3, Heterocera (continued) : F. 

 Moore (Calcutta). — Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Palaeonto- 

 logia Indica, ser. xiii., Salt Range Fossils, vol. i. Part 7 : W. VVaagen 

 (Iriibner). — Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Nagelfluh derSchweiz: Dr. J. J. 

 Fruh (Williams and Norgate).— Plotting, or Graphic Mathematics : Dr. R. 

 Wormell (Waterlow).— Hylomorphism of Tnought— Being Part 1 Theory 

 of Thought : Rev. T. Q. Fleming (Williams and Norgate). — Transactions of 

 the Society of Naturalists of Cracow University, 1887. — Memoires de la 

 Societe" de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve, tome xxix. seconde 

 partie (Geneve).— drain, April (Macmillan). 



CONTENTS. page 



The Polytechnic Institute 73 



The Geographical Distribution of the Family Chara- 



driidae. By R. Bowdler Sha*rpe 73 



The Minerals of New South Wales 75 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Furneaux : "Elementary Chemistry " 76 



Milne : " Companion to the Weekly Problem Papers " 76 



Mukerjee : " Elementary Hydrostatics " 76 



Lock: " Arithmetic for Beginners " 76 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Weight and Mass. — Rev. John B. Lock 77 



Work and Energy. — Rev. Edward Geoghegan . . 77 

 On the Reappearance of Pallas's Sand Grouse (Syr- 

 rhaptes paradoxus) in Europe. — Dr. A. B. Meyer ; 



F. M. Campbell j 



Tables of Reciprocals. — V.A.Julius 77 



On the Veined Structure of the Mueller Glacier, New 



Zealand.— F. W. Hutton ; 



On the Rainfall and Temperature at Victoria Peak, 



Hong Kong. — Dr. W. C. Doberck 



Problem by Vincentio Viviani. (With Diagram.) — 



Rev. Edward Geoghegan 78 



Suggestions on the Classification of the Various 

 Species of Heavenly Bodies. VI. (Illustrated.) By 



J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S 791 



Natural Science in Japan. (Illustrated.) 83 



The Aurora in Spitzbergen. By Dr. H. Hilde- 



brandsson 84 



Notes 85 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1888 a (Sawerthal) 88 : 



New Minor Planet 89 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



May 27— June 2 89! 



Geographical Notes 89, 



The Iron and Steel Institute 90 ! 



Scientific Serials 91 



Societies and Academies 92 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 96 



