240 



NA TURE 



\yan. 5, 1888 



Subjoined are the names of the successful competitors for the 

 annual prizes. Geometry : Prix Francceur, M. Emile Barbier ; 

 Prix Poncelet, M. Appell. Mechanics : Extraordinary Prize of 

 6000 francs, divided between MM. Heraud, Dubois, Rouvier, 

 and Moisson ; Prix Montyon, M. Paul Vieille ; Prix Plumey, 

 M. Guyou. Astronomy : Prix Lalande, M. Duner ; Prix Valz, 

 M. Perigaud ; Prix Janssen, the late M. Kirchhoff. Physics : 

 Grand Prize for the Mathematical Sciences, M, Willotte ; Prix 

 La Caze, MM. Paul and Prosper Henry. Statistics: Prix 

 Montyon, MM. Victor Turquan, de Saint-Julien, and G. 

 Bienayme. Chemistiy : Prix Jecker, MM. Arnaud and A. 

 Haller ; Prix La Caze, M. Moissan. Geology : Prix Delesse, 

 M. Gorceix. Botany : Prix Barbier, MM. Edouard Heckel 

 and M. Schlagdenhauffen ; Prix Desmazieres, MM. Ardissone 

 and Dangeard ; Prix Montagne, M. Boudier. Anatomy and 

 Zoology : Grand Prize for the Physical Sciences, M. Raphael 

 Dubois. Medicine and Surgery: Prix Montyon, Drs. Henri 

 Leloir and E. Motais, and MM. Nocard and Mollereau ; Prix 

 Breant, MM. Galtier, Chantemesse, and Widal ; Prix Godard, 

 M. Azarie Brodeur ; Prix Chaussier, Dr. Jaccoud ; Prix Serres, 

 M. Alexandre Kowalevsky ; Prix Lallemand, MM. Pitres, Vail- 

 lard, and Van Lair. Physiology : Prix Montyon, M. Ch. E. Quin- 

 quaud ; Prix L. La Caze, Dr. Ch. Rouget. Physical Geography : 

 Prix Gay, MM. Alfred Angot and Wilhelm Zenker. General 

 Prizes : the Arago Medal, M. Raphael Louis Bischoffsheim ; 

 Prix Montyon (Unhealthy Industries), Dr. Edouard Heckel; 

 Prix Tremont, M. Jules Morin ; Prix Gegner, M. Valson ; Prix 

 Petit d'Ormoy (Mathematical Sciences), the late M. Laguerre ; 

 Prix Petit d'Ormoy (Natural Sciences), M. Balbiani ; Prix 

 Laplace, M. Jules E. R, de Billy. — Honourable mention was 

 made of the two English physiologists, Drs. Augustus D. Waller 

 and E. Waymouth-Reid, for their memoir on the excised heart 

 of mammals, published in the Comptes rendus for May 31, 

 1887. This study contains a number of new and highly interest- 

 ing facts regarding the electric phenomena of the heart, the 

 duration of the regular action of its four parts after excision, and 

 the slowness acquired vinder certain circumstances by the wave 

 of cardiac contraction. — Amongst the more important prizes 

 offered for competition under the usual conditions during the 

 years 1888 and 1889 are the following : — Geometry : Grand 

 Prize for the Mathematical Sciences, to complete the theory of 

 algebraic functions of two independent variables ; Prix Bordin, 

 to complete in some important particular the theory of the move- 

 ment of a solid body. Mechanics : Prix Fourneyron, theoretic 

 and practical essay on the progress of aerial navigation since 

 1880. Astronomy : Prix Damoiseau, to complete the theory of 

 the irregularities occurring at long intervals in the motion of the 

 moon caused by the planets. Physics: Grand Prize for the 

 Mathematical Sciences, to complete in some important particular 

 the theory of the application of electricity to the transmission of 

 labour. Agriculture: Prix Vaillant for the best work on the 

 diseases of cereals. Anatomy and Zoology : Grand Prize for the 

 Physical Sciences, a complete study of the embryology and 

 evolution of any animal, at the option of the candidate ; Prix 

 Bordin, comparative study of the auditory apparatus in warm- 

 blooded Vertebrates, mammals and birds. Physical Geography : 

 Prix Gay, to prepare monthly charts of the surface currents in 

 the Atlantic, with a survey of the movement of drift ice in the 

 waters about the Arctic regions ; Prix Gay, to determine by a 

 comparative study of their respective faunas and floras the 

 relations formerly existing between the Polynesian Islands and 

 the neighbouring lands. 



Astronomical Society, November 9, 1887. — M. Flam- 

 marion. President, in the chair. — The President read a paper on 

 some observations on the relative colours of stars, which he had 

 made in 1875 by means of a specially constructed sextant in 

 which the images of two stars wide apart could be brought into 

 the same field. — M. Detaille read a paper on the photography 

 of the solar spectrum with a direct-vision spectroscope, and 

 stated that this subject was quite within the reach of amateurs, 

 on a small scale of course, and presented many interesting 

 points. He showed some negatives and positives obtained with 

 a small instrument. 



December 14. — M. Flammarion, President, in the chair. — 

 The meeting was opened by the distribution of the calendar 

 reform prizes, amounting, in medals and money, to the value of 

 5000 francs (an anonymous gift) : — 1st prize, 1500 francs, M. 

 Gaston Armelin, of Paris; 2nd prize, 1200 francs, M. Hanin, 

 of Auxferre ; 3rd prize, 1000 francs, M. Francis de Roucy, of 



Compiegne ; 4th prize, 800 francs, M. Barnout, of Paris ; 5th 

 prize, 250 francs, M. Remy Thouvenin, of Nancy ; 6th prize, 

 250 francs, M. Blot, of Clermont (Oise).— M. Flammarion read 

 a paper on some probable common proper movements of certain 

 stars. In looking over the catalogue of the Paris Observatory, 

 he had observed that several stars in Taurus — namely, Lalande 

 8178, 8209, 8237, 8256, 8297, 8404— had no motion in declina- 

 tion, and had all about the same proper motion in R.A. The 

 same remarks apply to d^ and 0^ Tauri. The two stars 7 Leporis 

 and Lalande 1093 1 seem also to be connected. — Colonel Lausse- 

 dat. Director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, exhibited a 

 curious binocular glass, constructed for Louis XIV. by Father 

 Seraphin in 1681. This huge instrument comprises three rect- 

 angular bows which slide into each other. The length of the 

 whole affair is no less than 3 metres 10 centimetres. — M. Neu- 

 ville, in a letter, notices that the minimum of Algol seems longer 

 than 6 minutes as given by several authors. He adopts 18 

 minutes, and gives a probable size of Algol's dark companion. 

 — MM. Paul Henry and Detaille remark that Webb gives 

 18 minutes as the duration of Algol's minimum. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Birds of Wiltshire : Rev. A. C. Smith (Porter). — Arithmetic Papers : 

 S. J. D. Shaw (Deighton, Bell, and Co.). — Major Lawrence, F.L. S., 3 vols. : 

 Hon. E. Lawless (Murray). — Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the 

 British Museum ; Natural History, Part v. : R. Lydekker (London). — 

 Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, Decades 1-14 : F. McCoy (Mel- 

 bourne). — The Theory and Use of a Physical Balance : J. Walker 

 (Clarendon Press). — Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, January (Williams 

 and Norgate). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Electricity for Public Schools and Colleges .... 217 



Indo-China and the Indian Archipelago ...... 218 



The Zoological Results of the Challenger Expe- 

 dition 219 



Saline Deposits 220 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Stone: " Tenerife, and its Six Satellites" 221 



Lansdell : " Through Central Asia " 221 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Star of Bethlehem.— John T. Nicolson ; Prof. 



Wm. Pengelly, F.R.S. ; E. Coatham .... 221 

 On some Apparent Contradictions at the Foundations 



of Knowledge. — S. Tolver Preston 221 



Christmas Island. — Dr. H. B. Guppy 222 



A Mechanical Cause of the Lamination of Sandstone 

 not hitherto noticed. {Illustrated). — T. Mellard 



Reade 222 



Total Solar Eclipse of October 29, 878.— Rev. C. S. 



Taylor 223 



Height of T'ai Shan.— Prof. Silvanus P. Thomp- 

 son 224 



The Shadow of a Mist. — W. Fawcett 224 



The Ffynnon Beuno and Cae Gwyn Caves. ^ — A. J. 



Jukes Browne 224 



The Old Mouth and the New : a Study in Verte- 

 brate Morphology. {Illustrated). By Dr. J. Beard 224 

 Timber, and some of its Diseases. III. {Illustrated.) 



By Prof. H. Marshall Ward 22* 



Professor Alexander Dickson 229 



Notes 23c 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Brazilian Results from the Transit of Venus 23. 



The Asteroids 23 



Olbers' Comet 23 



The Clinton Catalogue 23 



Occultation of Stars by Planets 23 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



January 8-14 23 



Duner on Stars with Spectra of Class III. I. . . . 23 

 The Art of Computation for the Purposes of Science. 



I. By Sydney Lupton 2, 



Societies and Academies 2. 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 2. 



