Dec. 



0' 



1887] 



NATURE 



157 



their diflferent points of solidification. Ethyl naphthalene, 

 CjoHy . C0H5, was most readily obtained by warming, in a flask 

 connected with an inverted condenser, a mixture of 2CX3 grammes 

 naphthalene, 200 grammes ethyl iodide, and 20 grammes of alu- 

 minium chloride, added gradually as the reaction proceeded. 

 The fraction of the product boiling between 249° and 254" was 

 isolated as a colourless highly refractive liquid, exhibiting violet 

 fluorescence, and was shown by analysis, and by the nature of 

 its oxidation products, to consist of almost pure j8 ethyl naphtha- 

 lene mixed with a minute quantity of the o compound. In a similar 

 manner, propyl, butyl, amyl, and benzyl naphthalene have been 

 prepared ; indeed, there appears to be no limit to the number of 

 naphthalene derivatives possible to be obtained in this manner, 

 and there can be no doubt that M. Roux is perfectly warranted 

 in applying the somewhat exclusive term "classical" to the 

 work of Messrs. Friedel and Crafts, which has led to the 

 synthesis of so large a number of carbon compounds. 



At the meeting of the Helvetic Society of Sciences this year 

 Prof. Weber described a very sensitive micro-radiometer made 

 in the following way : — One arm of a Wheatstone's bridge is 

 formed by a thin tube, which is filled in its middle part with 

 mercury, and at its ends, for about 5 mm., with a solution of 

 zinc sulphate. To each end of the tube is fitted a metallic case, 

 one side of which consists of a plate of rock salt. This case is 

 filled with air, which dilates under the influence of radiation 

 forces back the zinc-sulphate solution in the tube, and thus 

 greatly increases the electric resistance on that side. The appar- 

 atus is made symmetrical, to eliminate variations of temperature 

 and pressure. This radiometer will indicate loo-millionths of a 

 degree. The moon's radiation gives a galvanometric oscillation 

 of about five divisions. 



It is estimated that the air in a room becomes distinctly bad 

 for health when its carbonic acid exceeds i part in looo. 

 An apparatus has been recently patented by Prof. Wolpert, of 

 Niimberg, which affords a measure of the carbonic acid present. 

 From a vessel containing a red liquid (soda- solution with phenol- 

 phthalein) there comes every 100 seconds, through a siphon. 

 arrangement, a red drop on a prepared white thread about a 

 foot and a half long, and trickles down this. Behind the thread 

 is a scale beginning with "pure air" (up to 07 per 1000) at the 

 bottom, and ending above with "extremely bad " (4 to 7 per 1000 

 and more). In pure air the drop continues red down to the 

 bottom, but it loses its colour by the action of carbonic acid, and 

 the sooner the more there is of that gas present. 



Some interesting experiments on the reciprocal influence of 

 organs of sense have been recently made by H err Urbanschitsch, 

 of Vienna. His general conclusion is that any sense-excitation 

 has for result an increase of the acuteness of other senses. Thus, 

 sensations of hearing sharpen the visual perceptions. If coloured 

 plates are placed at such a distance that one can hardly dis- 

 tinguish the colours, and various sounds are then produced, the 

 colours become generally more distinct the higher the sounds. 

 Similarly, one can, while a sound affects the ear, read words 

 which one could not read before. Again, the ticking of a watch 

 is better heard when the eyes are open than when they are 

 closed. Red and green increase auditive perceptions ; but blue 

 and yellow weaken them. Several musicians, however, were 

 agreed that red, green, yellow, and blue caused an intensification 

 of sound about one-eighth ; while violet had a weakening 

 effect. Taste, smell, and touch are under like laws. Light, 

 and red and green colour, increase their delicacy ; while darkness, 

 blue, and yellow diminish it. Under the influence of red and 

 green, taste extends from the anterior border of the tongue to 

 the whole surface. On the other hand, a strengthening of smell, 

 taste, or touch, exalts the other sensitive perceptions. Specially 

 interesting is the reciprocal influence of touch and the sense of ; 



temperature. If one tickle the skin with a hair, and plunge the 

 hand in hot water, the tickling sensation ceases ; on the contrary, 

 if the hand be placed in cold water, and a part of the body 

 tickled, the temperature is felt more vividly. Herr Urban- 

 schitsch finds in this reciprocal action an explanation of supposed 

 double consecutive sensations on excitation of one sense. 



Prof. Linijeman contributes to the last two issues of the 

 Bulletin de la Sociite des Naturalistes de Moscou (18S7, Nos. 2 

 and 3) two very elaborate papers on the Hessian fly. He points 

 out that there can be no universal remedies for this pest, because 

 the manner of life of the Hessian fly, and the conditions of its 

 multiplication, vary to some extent in different climates. His 

 study of the Hessian fly in the neighbourhood of Moscow has 

 enabled him to describe at length the conditions which are, and 

 those which are not, favourable for its development in that dis- 

 trict. About Moscow it never propagates on any of those plants 

 — Gramincce or others — which grow amidst the crops of the 

 Russian corn-fields. Of the three generations which develop 

 there — the spring generation, from the beginning of May to the 

 beginning of June (old style), the summer one, from June 19 to 

 the beginning of August, and the autumn one, to the end of 

 August — each must find for its propagation green stems of rye, 

 wheat, or barley ; and these stems must remain green and 

 succulent throughout the twenty-eight days that the larva is 

 living. Of insects which hunt the larvre of the Hessian fly, 

 Geophilus, the larva of a Cantharid, and one mite are noticed. 

 The parasitic Pteromalines of the fly have been described by the 

 same author in the first number of this year's Bulletin. 



We have received the last number of the Transactions of the 

 Asiatic Society of Japan (vol. xv. Part l), in which the well- 

 known Chinese scholar Mr. E. H. Parker discusses in two papers 

 the relation between the Japanese language and the languages of 

 the neighbouring continent. He comes to the conclusion, after 

 an elaborate examination of a list of a thousand Japanese words, 

 that a great part of the modern Japanese language may be traced 

 back to a language common with that language from which the 

 modern dialects of China have all been derived. Mr. Walter 

 Dening gives an abstract of the rules, an account of the general 

 work, and a list of the papers published in the Proceedings of a 

 Japanese Society established for the discussion and elucidation 

 of various educational questions ; or, in the words of its rules, 

 " to raise the standard of scholarship and supply the wants of 

 the teacher and reformer." Amongst the papers which have 

 been published by the Society we select the titles of a few in 

 order to show its scope : — " Female Education " ; "An Account 

 of the Origin and Development of Natural History in Japan " ; 

 "The Compilation of a Japanese Grammar"; "On Sending 

 Students of Natural History to China and Corea " ; " The Con- 

 nection of Clothing and Health '"' ; " Iron Ore " ; " The Origin 

 of Certain Customs"; "The Five Races of China." So far, 

 eight parts of the Society's magazine appear to have been pub- 

 lished, and these contain about a hundred papers by Japanese 

 scholars of eminence, many of them, like Ito Keisuke, the 

 veteran botanist, bearing names known in Europe. 



We have received Nos. 31-45 of " Landerkunde des Erdteils 

 Europa," a valuable and most interesting work, edited by Prof. 

 Alfred Kirchhoff, which is being issued in " Lieferungen. " Prof. 

 Kirchhoff is aided by many eminent writers. The publishers 

 are F. Tempsky, of Vienna and Prague, and G. Freytag, of 

 Leijizig. 



Two papers just printed in the Philosophical Transactions of 

 the Royal Society have been sent to us — " Some Anomalies in 

 the Winds of Northern India, and their Relation to the Distri- 

 bution of Barometric Pressure," by S. A. Hill ; and " Studies 

 on some New Micro-organisms obtained from Air," by Grace 

 C. Frankland and Percy F. Frankland. 



