432 



NA TURE 



\_August 50, 1888 



the proportion of glycogen contained in the muscles. Com- 

 pared with healthy animals, those intoxicated with these sub- 

 stances have an excess of muscular glycogen varying from 28 

 to 30 per cent. — On the precautions required to be taken in 

 order to secure good photographs of lightning, by M. Ch. 

 Moussette. An experiment is described, which is intended to 

 show that the defective photographs of electric discharges are 

 mainly due to the vibrations communicated to the apparatus by 

 the trembling of the ground, the force of the wind, or the crash 

 of the thunder. Hence, in order to obtain good impressions, 

 these disturbing elements should be neutralized to the utmost. — 

 Observations of Brooks's new comet, made at the Paris Observa- 

 tory with the equatorial of the West Tower, by M. G. Bigour- 

 dan. This comet was discovered by Mr. Brooks at the new 

 Observatory of Geneva, State of New York, on August 7, 1888. 

 It was faintly visible in Paris on August 9, and the present 

 observations were taken on the three following days. — On 

 amorphous antimony, by M. F. Herard. The author has suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining directly the allotropic modification of anti- 

 mony indicated by Gore, and resulting from the decomposition 

 of a chloride, bromide, or iodide of antimony. It takes the 

 form of a gray powder containing 987 per cent, of antimony, 

 with density 6 22 at 0° C. , and point of fusion about 614 , 

 whereas crystallized antimony melts at about 440 . — On four new 

 titanates of zinc, by M. Lucien Levy. Since his communication 

 {Comptcs rendiK, vol. cv. p. 378) on a trititanate of zinc obtained 

 by means of fluorides, the author has obtained four other titan- 

 ates by fusing titanic acid with mixtures of zinc and potassa 

 sulphates These titanates are here described, analvzed, and 

 reduced to their proper formulas, — M. A. Duponchel has a note 

 on a 24-years' cycle of periodicity in the oscillations of tempera- 

 ture on the surface of the globe, based on the records of mean 

 temperatures in Paris from the year 1765 to 1783, and from 

 1804 to the present time. 



August 20. — M. Janssen in the chair. — Note on the adoption 

 of a legal hour in France, by M. Bouquet de la Grye. The 

 Commission appointed in January by the Bureau des Longi- 

 tudes to inquire into the best means for establishing a common 

 legal hour sent in its Report on June 4, and the Bureau has now 

 invited the Minister of Public Instruction to support a project 

 of law intended to give effect to the recommendations of the 

 Commission. — On inoculation against Asiatic cholera, by Dr. 

 N. Gamaleia. The substance of this paper has already appeared 

 in the last number of Nature (p. 395). — Observations of Faye's 

 comet, rediscovered at Nice on August 9, by M. Perrotin. The 

 observations here recorded were taken on August 9 and 10, when 

 the comet was faintly visible, showing a slight central condensa- 

 tion with enveloping nebulosity of circular form, and nearly 1' 

 in extent. — Observations of Brooks's new comet, made at the 

 Observatory of Nice with the o"38m. Gautier equatorial, by M. 

 Charlois. The observations are for August 9 and 10, when the 

 comet had a brightness equal to that of a star of the 9th or 10th 

 magnitude, with a faint tail about 5' long ; position-angle, 270°. 

 — On the satellites of Mars, by M. E. Dubois. The two 

 satellites discovered by Asaph Hall on August 11 and 17, 1877, 

 have since been observed by several astronomers, and their 

 elliptic elements recorded in the Annuaire dtt Bureau des 

 Longitudes. How have they hitherto escaped observation, 

 notwithstanding the favourable conditions presented for detecting 

 them ? It is suggested that Phobos and Deimos, as they have 

 been named, may perhaps be two small members of the telescopic 

 planetary zone between Mars and Jupiter, which have recently 

 been drawn within the influence of Mars. — Provisional laws 

 determining the subsidence of the land in certain parts of 

 France, by M. C. M. Goulier. A comparison of the altitudes 

 recorded by former and recent surveys seems to indicate a 

 progressive sinking of the surface in the direction from south to 

 north, where the discrepancy amounts to 078m. Although the 

 available data are still insufficient to determine the laws regu- 

 lating this vertical movement, it appears no longer doubtful that 

 subsidence and upheaval take place not only along the seaboard, 

 but also in the interior of the continents to a much greater 

 extent than has hitherto been suspected. — On the vapour- 

 tensions of solutions made in alcohol, by M. F. M. Raoult. 

 His further experiments here described enable the author to 

 generalize the law already formulated by him {Comptes rendits, 

 May 23, 1887) to the effect that one molecule of a non-saline 

 fixed substance dissolved in 100 molecules of any volatile liquid, 

 diminishes its vapour-tension by a constant quantity correspond- 

 ing to about o - oio5 of its value. — Experiment on the treatment 



of the potato disease, by M. Prillieux. A mixture of 6 parts 

 of the sulphate of copper and 6 of lime to 100 of water (the 

 " Bordeaux broth ") has been applied with complete success to 

 some potato plants at Joinville-le-Pont attacked by Peronospora. 

 But to be efficacious the remedy must be applied either as a 

 prophylactic or in the early stages of the disease. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Building of the British Isles: A. J. Jukes-Browne (George Bell). — 

 Annales de l'Observatoire Imperial de R.o de Janeiro, tome iii. ; Passage 

 de Venus, 1882 (Rio de Janeiro). — Planetary and Stellar Studies: J. K. 

 Gore (Roper and Drowley). — History of Modern Philosophy ; Descartes and 

 his School : K. Fischer, translated by J. P Gordy (Unwin). — Encyklopaedie 

 der Naturwis=enschaften, Erste Abthg., Liefg. 55, 56, 57; Zweite Abthg., 

 Liefe. 48 (Williams & Norgate). — iii. Jahresbericht (1887) der Ornithologischen 

 Beobachtungstationen im Konigreich Sachsen : Dr. A. B. Meyer und Dr. F. 

 Helm (Dresden). — The Species of Ficus of the Indo-Malayan and Chinese 

 C 'untries, Part 2 : G. King (Calcutta). — A New Era of Thought : C. H. Hinton 

 (Sonnenschein). — The Nature of Harmony and Metre : M. Hauptmann ; 

 translated and edited by W. E. Heathcote (Sonnenschein). —Magi etical 

 and Meteorological Observations made at the Government Observatory, 

 Bombay. 1886 ( Bombay) — The Princ.ples of Manure and Luxuriance in 

 Plant Life : W. K. b'ulleylove (Birmingham). — A Propos des Chatiments 

 dans l'Education : F. Hement (Paris). — Ino Chukei, the Japanese Surveyor 

 and Cartographer: C. G. Knotr. — Anniversary Address delivered to the 

 Royal S ictety of New South Wales. May 2, 1888: C. S. WilKinson.— Pro- 

 ceed. ngs of the Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club, 1887 ( Liverpool). — Boletin 

 de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Cordoba, Tomo x. Ent. 20-. 

 (Buenos Aires). — Third Annual Report of the City of London College Science. 

 Society, 1887-83 (L ndon). — Abstract of Proceedings of the South London 

 Entom (logical and Natural History Society, 1888 (London). — Journal of 

 Physiology, August (Cambridge). 



CONTENTS. pa.-e 



Theoretical Geology 409 



A Guide to the Lick Observatory 410 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Macdowall : " Curve Pictures of London for the Social 



Reformer 410 



Gorham : "A System for the Construction of Crystal 



Models" 411 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Functionless Organs. — The Duke of Argyll, 

 F.R.S. ; Joseph John Murphy; William 



White 411 



Lamarckism versus Darwinism. — Prof. George J. 



Romanes, F.R.S 413 



A Substitute for Carbon Disulphide in Prisms, &c. — 



H. G. Madan 413 



Michell's Problem. — Sydney Lupton 414 



Remarkable Rainbows. — L.J. H. ; M. C. C. ... 414 



Sun Columns. — Dr. B. Brauner 414 



Meteor. — Lieut.-Colonel H. W. L. Hime, R.A. . 414 

 Fire-bail of August 13 — August Meteors. — W. F. 



Denning 415 



Sonorous Sand in Dorsetshire. — Cecil Carus- 



Wilson 415 



A Column of Dust. — Hugh Taylor 415 



The International Geological Congress 415 



Modern Views of Electricity. X. By Frof. Oliver J. 



Lodge, F.R.S 416 



Storm Warnings. {With Charts.) 419 



Sonnet 421 



Notes 421 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Spectrum of R Cy^ni 423 



Milan Double- Star Observations 423 



Encke's Comet 423 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



September 2-8 423 



Geographical Notes 423 



Notes on Meteorites. I. {Illustrated.) By J. Norman 



Lockyer, F.R.S 4 2 4 



The Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical 



College. By Henry Dyer 428 



University and Educational Intelligence 429 



Scientific Serials 43° 



Societies and Academies 431 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received . . . . * 43 2 





