214 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 29, 1887 



much more rapid solution might be anticipated by substituting 

 for such a plate platinum immersed in a powerfully oxidizing fluid 

 such as strong nitric acid, or sulphuric acid solution of chromic 

 anhydride. In point of fact, the authors have found that on 

 setting up such cells where the silver was immersed in dilute 

 sulphuric acid {i.e. Grove's cell with silver instead of zinc, and 

 so on), electromotors of notable power are produced, at any rate 

 until the silver plate becomes coated with sparingly soluble 

 sulphate. Even in these cases, hoivever, jjerfect correspondence 

 between the amount of silver dissolved and that deposited in a 

 voltameter included in the circuit does not subsist, the latter being 

 always measurably the greater. 



Just as silver is capable of being dissolved in an appro- 

 priate fluid when opposed to an aeration plate, so may several 

 other metals not ordinarily prone to atmospheric oxidation ; thus 

 mercury with dilute sulphuric acid as fluid, and an aeration plate 

 of platinum sponge, generates a measurable continuous current, 

 forming merctiroiis su'phate in so doing, so that after some time 

 the liquid becomes turbid through separation of that sparingly 

 soluble salt, and the filtered fluid precipitates calomel on ad- 

 dition of dilute hydrochloric acid. Acetic acid acts similarly, 

 but far less energetically. Potassium cyanide solution, on the 

 other hand, causes a much more rapid solution of mercury, form- 

 ing mercuric potassiocyanide ; it is noticeable that in this case 

 only 100 parts of mercury go into solution for 108 of silver 

 deposited in the voltameter, whereas when sulphuric acid is 

 used 200 parts of mercury become sulphate per 108 of silver 

 deposited. 



If gold be substituted for mercury in this latter arrangement, 

 rapid solution takes place with formation of aurocyanide of 

 potassium, 196 parts of gold being dissolved per 108 of silver 

 thrown down in the voltameter. Palladium behaves precisely 

 as gold, 52 parts of metal being dissolved per 108 of silver 

 deposited ; local action sometimes causes in each case a slight 

 excess of amount dissolved relatively to the current passing, the 

 opposite result to that observed with the silver cells above 

 described. 



Of course, if more powerful oxidizing agents are used than 

 simple aeration plates (such as platinum in sulphuric-chromic 

 solution) the action goes on in all such cases still more rapidly. 



"On the Functions of the Occipital and Temporal Lobes 

 of the Monkey's Brain." By Dr. Sanger Brown and Prof E. 

 A. Schafer, F.R.S. 



The authors gave an account of experiments upon the brain 

 of monkeys, involving the removal of the occipital and temporal 

 lobes respectively. These experiments show that removal of 

 the whole of one occipital lobe produces permanent hemiopia, 

 and that removal of both occipital lobes produces complete and 

 permanent blindness of both eyes ; and, further, that for the 

 production of these effects it is not necessary that the angular 

 gyrus should be involved in the lesion. 



They also show that not only the superior temporal gyrus but 

 even the whole temporo-sphenoidal lobe can be removed on both 

 sides of the brain in monkeys without producing any appreciable 

 permanent effect on hearing. 



The reading of the paper was illustrated by diagrams exhibit- 

 ing the extent of the lesions, as well as by casts of the brains. 



Royal Meteorological Society, December 21. — Mr. W. 

 Ellis, President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : 

 — The mean temperature of the air at Greenwich, from September 

 181 1 to June 1856, by Mr. H. S. Eaton. This is a discussion 

 of the meteorological journals of the late Mr. J. H. Belville, 

 and those of the Koyal Observatory. The general results of this 

 investigation are : — (i) That there was no appreciable change in 

 the mean annual temperature of the air at Greenwich in the 

 period 1812 to 1855 inclusive. (2) That on the eminence on 

 which the Royal Observatory is situated the average temperature 

 at night, or rather the early morning, is in all cases higher than 

 over the lower grounds. (3) That with a north-wall, or possibly 

 a north-window exposure, higher maximum temperatures are 

 found at the lower stations. (4) That the movements of the 

 thermometer are retarded with a north-wall exposure as compared 

 with an instrument on an open stand, especially where the 

 situation is a confined one, the indications of the thermometer 

 not following changes of temperature so promptly owing to the 

 modifying influence of the adjacent building. — Report on the 

 phenological obsers'ations for the year 1887, by the Rev. T. A. 

 Preston. The past season was a most exceptional one. For 

 flowers it was disastrous ; fruit was generally a failure, though 



there were exceptions ; those kinds which promised well turned 

 out very small or spoilt by insects. Vegetables were universally 

 poor, roots were destroyed by insects or drought, and green crops 

 soon passed off". The wheat crop, however, was better than 

 was expected. Barley on light lands was poor, but that which 

 was sown early was satisfactory. Meadow hay was not up to an 

 average crop, but clover and seed hay were much more nearly 

 so. In Kent the fruit crops turned out lighter than usual, but 

 the prices have ruled higher. — Earth tremors and the wind, by 

 Prof John Milne, F.R.S. The author has made a detailed 

 examination of the tremor records obtained in Tokio, and 

 compared them with the tri-daily weather maps issued by 

 the Imperial Goverment of Japan. From this comparison 

 the following conclusions have been drawn : — (i) Earth tremors 

 are more frequent with a low barometer than with a high 

 barometer. (2) With a high barometric gradient tremors 

 are almost always observed, but when the gradient is small it 

 is seldom that tremors are visible. (3) The stronger the wind 

 the more likely it is that tremors should be observed. (4) When 

 there has been a strong wind and no tremors the wind has usually 

 been local, of short duration, or else blowing inland from the 

 ocean. {5) When there has been little or no wind in Tokio and 

 yet tremors have been observed, in most cases there has been a 

 strong wind in other parts of Central Japan. (6) From 75 to 

 80 per cent, of the tremors observed in Tokio may be accounted 

 for on the supposition that they have been produced either by 

 local or distant winds. (7) The only connection between earth 

 tremors and earthquakes in Central Japan is that they are both 

 more frequent about the same season. — Pressure and tempera- 

 ture in cyclones and anticyclones, by Prof H. A. Hazen. The 

 author has made a comparison of the observations at Burlington 

 and on the summit of Mount Washington, U.S.A., and as the 

 result of a study of about 4000 observations from two days 

 before till two days after the passage of cyclone and anticyclone 

 centres, he has arrived at the following conclusions : — (i) In 

 both cyclones and anticyclones the pressure lags froih 10 to 

 II hours at the summit of Mount Washington. (2) The tem- 

 perature change at the base precedes very slightly the pressure 

 change, but at the summit the change occurs nearly 24 hours 

 earlier, (3) The temperature appears to be a very little 

 earlier at the summit than at the base, and certainly varies much 

 more rapidly at the former. (4) In a cyclone the diff"erence in 

 temperature between base and summit is less than the mean 

 before the storm, but the difference rapidly increases after the 

 centre has passed. Just the contrary is true in an anticyclone. 

 (5) The total fall in pressure in a cyclone at the summit very 

 nearly equals that at the base, and likewise the rise in an anti- 

 cyclone. (6) The fluctuation of temperature — that is, from the 

 highest to the lowest — at the summit is double that at the base 

 in a cyclone ; but it is only a Utile greater in an anticyclone. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, December 5. — The Hon. Lord Maclaren, 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — After reading an openihg address, 

 the Chairman presented the Victoria Jubilee Prize to Sir W. 

 Thomson, for his contributions to the Society's publications on 

 various subjects in hydrokinetics. — Sir W. Thomson read a 

 paper on Cauchy's and Green's doctrine of extraneous pressure to 

 account for Fresnel's wave-surface. The object of his investi- 

 gation was to place Green's treatment of the subject on a more 

 satisfactory basis than it had been left by its author. — Sir W. 

 Thomson also exhibited models of the minimal tetrakaideka- 

 hedron, a figure which he discusses in the Philosophical Magazine 

 for this month. — The second part of a paper on micro-organisms, 

 by Dr. A. B. Griffiths, was communicated by Prof Crum- Brown. 

 — Prof Wallace laid on the table a paper on the blackening of 

 the skin of domesticated animals in tropical regions. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, December 19. — M. Janssen in the 

 chair. — Generation of algebraic surfaces of any order, by M. de 

 Jonquieres. The theorem here demonstrated supplies a fresh 

 instance of the intimate and essential part played by the 

 properties of numbers in several questions of general geometry, 

 and especially in those concerned with the generation of surfaces 

 and curves, as well as with the number of double and multiple 

 points with which the latter may be endowed. — Reply to M. 

 Wolfs communication entitled, " Comparaison des divers 

 systemes de synchronisation des horloges astronomiques," by 



