I20 



NATURE 



\_Dec. I, 1887 



•was not a single crane in Robert Stephenson's shops in 1837 ; 

 and the only steam-engine, in that which was the most important 

 locomotive shop in the world of that day, was a vibrating pillar- 

 engine, with a single 16-inch cylinder and 3-feet stroke. About 

 the only machine-tool, properly so called, in the works was a 

 planing-machine, which probably weighed about 3 tons. At 

 the present time there were lathes 75 feet long, weighing 100 

 tons, giving a yield of steel-turnings at the rate of 10 and 20 tons 

 a day, and planing-machines weighing 90 tons and operating 

 over surfaces of 20 feet by 15 feet. Having spoken of the 

 changes in the position of the workmen, the President referred 

 to the progress of railways, the development of the iron and steel 

 industries, and sanitary engineering. Reference was made to 

 the electric telegraph, which had developed from the 5-needIe 

 instrument of Cooke and Wheatstone, employing six wires and 

 working at about the rate of four words a minute, to the system 

 of multiplex and automatic telegraphy, by means of which six 

 messages could be sent at once on one wire with a speed of, say, 

 600 words per minute. Touching successively on the telephone, 

 electric light, and the application of electricity as a motive 

 power, the President hazarded the opinion that when some way 

 should have beeh discovered of storing up in a more efficient and 

 financially successful manner the unemployed forces of Nature, 

 such as the winds and tides, then would electricity become a 

 factor in the world's life compared with which it was at present 

 as nothing. 



Anthropological Institute, November 22. — Prof. Flower, 

 C.B., Vice-President, in the chair. — Canon Isaac Taylor read a 

 paper on " The Primitive Seat of the Aryans," in which he 

 urged the view that the Finns are the nearest representatives of 

 the ancient Aryan stock, and that the race took its origin in 

 North Germany. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Physical Society, November 16. — Prof. Duns 

 delivered the introductory addressfor the session 1887-88. At the 

 outset obituary notices of several deceased Fellows were given, 

 notably of Mr, Robert Gray, the late Secretary of the Society. 

 After some remarks upon the history and progress of the Society, 

 he passed on to consider the claims of Scotland upon Government 

 aid for scientific purposes, and advocated the union of the various 

 scientific corporations of Edinburgh to form an Academy of 

 Science for dealing with general questions of this nature. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, November 21. — M. Janssen in the 

 chair. — On the nervous system of the Gasteropods (Aplysiatype, 

 A. depilans and A. fasciata), by M. H. de Lacaze-Duthiers. 

 The Aplysia, a large mollusk, abounding especially in the 

 Mediterranean seaports, is here studied for the purpose of deter- 

 mining the type of its nervous system in order to compare it 

 with those of Gadinia, Testacella, and other Gasteropods 

 already described by the author. — Remarks in connection with 

 M. Colladon's recent note on waterspouts and tornadoes, by M. 

 H. Faye. It is again shown that M. Colladon's illustration, as 

 published in the Couples rendtis, has only a very remote con- 

 nection with true waterspouts and whirlwinds. Reference 

 is also made to the statement, in W. Ferrel's new work on 

 meteorology, that much sea-water is carried up by the ascend- 

 ing current of waterspouts, the fish and other animals in small 

 ponds being even in this way borne aloft and wafted to great 

 distances. On the contrary, M. Faye insists with Lieutenant 

 Finley, of the United States Signal Service, that no appreciable 

 quantity of water is pumped up in this way, although much is 

 driven horizontally to the right and left by the gyratory velocity 

 of the air, which has always a descending, and never an ascend- 

 ing motion. — On the crystalline form of cinchonamine, by M. 

 C. Friedel. Some crystals of the alkaloid discovered by Arnaud 

 in certain varieties of quinquinas are described as hexagonal 

 prisms terminating in a rhombohedron and of the true ortho- 

 rhombic type. — On a meteorite which fell on August 18/30, 1887, 

 at Taborg, in the Government of Perm, Russia, by M. Daubree. 

 This meteorite, which has but slight cohesion, with density 3 '620, 

 appears to closely resemble those which fell on April i, 1857, at 

 Heredia (Costa Rica) ; on May 14, i86r, at Canellas, Province 

 of Barcelona (Spain) ; on January 19, 1867, at Khethree, Rajpu- 

 tana (India) ; and on August 17, 1875, at Feid Shair (Algeria). 

 — On a simple relation between the. wave-lengths of spectra, by 

 M. A. E. Nordenskjold. The researches here described tend to 



confirm the author's previous view that, at least in the spectra of 

 certain simple bodies, the differences between the logarithms of 

 the wave-lengths of each element are simple multiples of the 

 same number. The universality of this law, as applicable to the 

 spectra of all bodies, is still far from being established. But 

 further investigation will probably show, either that the spectra 

 of all simple bodies conform absolutely to this law, or else that 

 they are disposed in more' or less independent groups, to which 

 the law may still be applicable. — 'On the volcanoes of Hawaii, 

 by Mr. James Dana. Reserving for the American Journal of 

 Science a detailed account of a recent visit to these volcanoes, the 

 author here remarks chiefly on the remarkable fluidity of the 

 lavas, and on the fact that the eruptions show no sign of being 

 in any way associated with the surrounding marine waters. The 

 salts deposited in the hottest recesses, and those of solfataras, do 

 not appear to have hitherto yielded any chloride, while the sul- 

 phate of soda is very common. — Researches on meteorites : 

 general conclusions, by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer. — Observa- 

 tions of Olbers' comet (1815 I.), at its return in 1887, made 

 with the 0.38 m. equatorial of the Bordeaux Observatory, by 

 MM. G. Rayet and Y. Courty. The observations cover the 

 period from September 8 to September 25. — On sidereal evolu- 

 tion, by M. Stanislas Meunier. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Die Welt in Ihren Spiegelungen unter dem Wandel des Volkergedankens. 

 Prolegomena zu Einer Gedankenstatistik ; Ethnologisches Bilderbuch mit 

 Erklarendem Text: A. Bastian (Mittler, Berlin). — Sound; Light, and Heat : 

 M. R. Wright (Longmans).— A Primary Geometry: S. E.Warren ( Iri'ibner). 

 — Quantitative Chemical Analysis ; Classen and Herrick (Triibner). - Myth, 

 Ritual, and Religion : A. Lang (Longmans). — Translations of Foreign Bio- 

 logical Memoirs, I. Memoirs on the Physiology of Nerve, of Mu.scle, and of 

 the Electrical Organ, edited by J. Burdon-Sanderson (Clarendon Press). — 

 Earth Knowledge : Harrison and Wakefield (Blackie). — Colour : Prof A. 

 H. Church (Ca'^S'.ll). — Elementary Microscopical Manipulation : T. C. 

 White (Roper and Drowlev). — Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 

 November (Churchill).— Annales de la Faculte des Sciences de Toulouse, 

 tome i., 1887, 4 parts (Gauthier-Villars, Paris). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Mathematical Theory of Perfectly Elastic 



Solids 97 



The Volcanic and Coral Islands in the Solomon 



Group. By Dr. Hugh Robert Mill 98 



Agriculture in some of its Relations with Chemistry 100 



Weather loi 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Cook : " Class- Book of Algebra Examples for Middle 



and High Schools " 102 



A Quekett Club Man: "The Student's Hand-book 



to the Microscope " 102 



Hull: " A Sketch of Geological History " 103 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Politics and the Presidency of the Royal Society. — 

 W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S. ; 



F.R.S. and M.P • . , • 103 



The Vitreous State-of Water. {/lluslraled.)—R&v. 



A. Irving 104 



The Bagshot Beds. — R. S. Herries 104 



The Ffynnon Beuno and Cae Gwyn Caves. — Worth- 



ington G. Smith 105 



Meteor. — B. Truscott. 105 



Modern Views of Electricity. Part III. — Magnetism. 



V. {Illustrated). By Dr. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. . 105 

 Discovery of Diamonds in a Meteoric Stone .... no 



Notes Ill 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Probable New Variables • 114 



Names of Minor Planets 114 



The Spectra of Oxygen and Carbon compared with 



that of the Sun 114 



Olbers' Comet, 1887 114' 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 [ 



December 4-10 Ii4i 



Geographical Notes 115 ; 



The Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society . . 115 



Scientific Serials 118 



Societies and Academies 118 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 120 



^ J 



