360 



NA TURE 



{August 9, 1888 



five in Algeria, one in Morocco, eight in Spain, and one in 

 France. In a future communication will be given the magnetic 

 charts constructed from these observations. — Analysis of the 

 Nile waters, by M. A. Muntz. At the request of M. Antoine 

 d'Abbadie, the author has examined several specimens with a 

 view to determining the proportion of nitrates contained in these 

 marvellously fertilizing waters. The results show that, while the 

 proportion is variable, it does not exceed or even equal that 

 found in the Seine and some other rivers. The analysis gives 

 4 - 02 mgr. per litre for nitric acid, which is derived partly 

 from the soil, partly from the tropical rains which cause the 

 periodical floods. The nitrates are not regarded as the chief 

 cause of the great fertility of Egypt, which is more probably due 

 to the chemical properties of the sedimentary matter deposited at 

 each recurring inundation. — Researches on some salts of rhodium, 

 by M. E. Leidie. The author here determines the constituents 

 and formulas of the chloronitrate of rhodium and ammonia, the 

 sulphate of rhodium sesquioxide, the oxalates of rhodium and 

 potassium, of rhodium and sodium, of rhodium and ammonium, 

 and of rhodium and barium.- — On a new method of quantitative 

 analysis for the lithine contained in a large number of mineral 

 waters, by M. A. Carnot. The process here described is effected 

 by means of the fluorides, and is based especially on their 

 different degrees of solubility. — On the chloride, bromide,' and 

 sulphide of yttrium and sodium, by M. A. Duboin. The 

 paper deals with the preparation and properties of the crystallized 

 anhydrous chloride and bromide of yttrium, and the crystallized 

 sulphide of yttrium and sodium. — On the quantitative analysis of 

 glycerine by oxidation, by M. Victor Planchon. A detailed 

 account is given (with further applications) of Messrs. Fox and 

 Wanklyn's new process of analysis, based on the fact that 

 glycerine, oxidized by the permanganate of potassa in a strong 

 alkaline solution, is transformed to water, carbonic acid, and 

 oxalic acid, according to the equation given in the Chemical 

 Neivs of January 8, 1886.— On anagyrine, by MM. E. Haniyand 

 N. Gallois. The authors claim to have first discovered this 

 extract of Anagyris fcetida, a poisonous leguminous plant ranging 

 over the whole of the Mediterranean basin. They here describe 

 its toxic properties, and determine the formula of anagyrine as 

 C 14 H 18 N 2 2 . — Action of aniline on epichlorhydrine, by M. Ad. 

 Fauconnier. Some months ago the author announced that he 

 had obtained by the action of aniline on epichlorhydrine an 

 oleaginous base, the chlorhydrate of which corresponds to the 

 formula C ]5 H 20 N 2 Cl 2 O. He has since prepared this base in the 

 crystallized state, and has also obtained some derivatives, which 

 have enabled him to determine its constitution and true formula, 

 C 3 H 5 (OH)(NH.C 6 H 8 ) 2 . Instead of dianilglycerine, as first 

 suggested, he now proposes to call this base oxipropylene- 

 diphenyldiamine, which has the advantage of indicating its 

 composition. — M. Pierre Zalocostas describes the constitution of 

 spongine ; MM. Arm. Gautier and L. Mourgues deil with the 

 volatile alkaloids of cod-liver oil (butylatnine, amylamine, 

 hexylamine, dihydrolutidine) ; M. Massol gives a process for 

 neutralizing malonic acid by means of the soluble bases ; and 

 M. H. Moissan describes the method of preparation and the 

 properties of the fluoride of ethyl. 



Berlin. 153 . 



Physiological Society, July 20. — Prof, du Bois-Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Benda explained his views on the 

 structure of striated muscle-fibres in connection with the state- 

 ments recently laid before the Society by van Gehnchten. He 

 took as his starting-point the wing-muscles of insects, which are 

 composed of fibrillar permeated by transverse partitions ; each 

 division of the fibre consists of a hollow cylinder of isotropic 

 substance filled with contractile anisotropic material. The 

 latter shrinks under the influence of reagents, leaving above and 

 below a disk of isotropic substance. In the muscles of the body 

 in insects, and in those of the higher animals, the isotropic disks 

 of neighbouring fibrillar are fused into continuous layers, between 

 which the small cylinders of anisotropic substance run perpen- 

 dicularly. When the muscles are resolved by the action of 

 reagents into Bowman's disks, the cleavage of the fibrils takes 

 place either across the anisotropic cylinders or the isotropic 

 disks. — Dr. Heymans spoke on the relative toxicity of oxalic, 

 malonic, succinic, and methyl-succinic acids, and of their sodium 

 salts. He had been requested by Prof. Henry, who had studied 

 the chemical and physical properties of these acids, to investigate 

 the relative toxic action of this series of acids, and had found 

 that the strongest acid — namely, oxalic — was the most poisonous. 



One milligramme of this acid sufficed to kill a frog; of malonic acid, 

 whose physiological action, as well as that of methyl-succinic 

 acid, had not been investigated, 2 to 3 mgr. were necessary; of 

 succinic acid, 3 to 4 mgr.; and of methyl-succinic acid, 6 to 7 mgr. 

 The toxic action of the acids diminished thus as the molecular 

 weight increased. When the sodium salts of these acids were 

 used instead of the free acids, the toxicity was the same in the 

 case of oxalic acid, but was much less in the case of the other 

 three acids. — Dr. Sklarek gave an account of the recently 

 published observations of Weismann and Ischikawa on partial 

 impregnation of the Daphnidse. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Symons's British Rainfall 1887 : G. J. Symons (Stanford). — Mediaeval 

 Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources, 2 vols. : E. Bretschn eider (Triibner). 

 — My Microscope, second edition : by a Quekett Club Man (Roper and 

 Drowley). — The Fauna of British India, Mammalia : W. T. Iilanford 

 (Taylor and Francis). — Schriften der Physikalisch-Okonomischen Gesellschaft 

 zu Konigsberg i. Pr., 1887 (Konigsberg). — Maps Nos. 3 to 7 to accompany 

 Annual Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, 

 vol. ii. 1886 (Dawson, Montreal). — Fauna der Gaskohle und der Kalksteine 

 der Permformation Bohmens ; Band ii. Heft 3, Die Lurchfische, Dipnoi : 

 Dr. Ant. Fritsch (Prag). — Beobachtungs-Ergebmsse der Norvvegischen 

 Polarstation Bossekop in Alten, ii. Theil (Grondahl, Christiania). — The 

 Education of the Imagination: C. H. Hinton (Sonnenschein). — Many 

 Dimensions, C. H. Hinton (Sonnenschein). — Die Siisswasserbryozoen 

 Bohmens: J. Kafka (Prag). — Archives Italiennes de Biologie, Tome x. 

 Fasc. i. (Turin). — Journal of the Trenton Natural History Society, No. 3 

 (Trenton, N.J.). — Bulletin de la Societe Impe'riale des Naturalistes de 

 Moscou, No. 2, i888(Moscou). — Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 

 vol. xx. , 1887. 



CONTENTS. page 



The Zoological Results of the Challenger Expe- 

 dition 337 



Matthew Fontaine Maury. By E. Douglas Archi- 

 bald 339 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Masters: " Pflanzen-Teratologie " 341 



Simpson: " Parish Patches " 341 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Functionless Organs. — The Duke of Argyll, F.R.S. 341 



Syrrhaptes paradoxus. — Dr. A. B. Meyer 342 



Milk v. Fire. — F. M. Wickramasingha 342 



The Red Spot on Jupiter. — W. F. Denning ... 342 



Circles of Light. — Edmund Catchpool 342 



Michell's Problem.— Joseph Kleiber 342 



Cloud Electric Potential.— Prof. J. D. Everett, 



F.R.S 343 



The Absorption Spectra of Crystals. By A. E. 



Tutton 343 



The New Vegetation of Krakatao. By W. B. 



Hemsley 344 



The Non-Chinese Races of China 345 



The Bath Meeting of the British Association . . . 346 



Prof. H. Carvill Lewis 346 



Sonnet 347 



Notes 347 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Encke's Comet 35° 



The Mass of Titan 35° 



Names of Minor Planets 3.5 l 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



August 12-18 35 l 



The Scientific Value of Volapiik 351 



The Lick Observatory. By Prof. Edward S. Holden 355 



Scientific Serials 35^ 



Societies and Academies 357 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received . . . . • 360 



