3o8 



NATURE 



{Jan. 26, 1888 



Prof. Burdon Sanderson is treating of the Nervous System, 

 and Prof. Bayley Balfour of the Algae. 



Dr. Tylor is giving Anthropological Elucidations of Greek 

 and Latin authors, and the Reader in Geography is continuing 

 the courses which he began last term. 



The Professorship of Geology is to be filled up in the course 

 of this term : applications will be received by the Registrar up 

 to February i. 



The Radclifie Fellowship will be awarded this term ; also the 

 Burdett-Coutts Scholarship, as soon as the Professor of Geology 

 is appointed. 



The number of men reading Medicine is steadily increasing, 

 and now that it is possible for a man to pass his B.A. examina- 

 ions and his first M.B. examination in four years, there can be 

 little doubt that the increase will continue. 



Cambridge.— Mr. H. D. Rolleston, B.A., M.B., of St. 

 John's College, has been appointed Demonstrator of Pathology. 



Sir F. A. Abel, F.R. S. , has been appointed to deliver the 

 Rede Lecture this year. 



The Disney Professor (the Rev. G. F. Browne) will lecture 

 on Tuesdays this term on Sculptured Stones of pre-Norman 

 type in the British Islands. The inaugural lecture will be given 

 in the Senate House on January 31. 



Dr. F. Warner's lectures on the Growth and Development of 

 the Intellectual Faculty began on January 25. The lectures 

 aim at describing and analyzing the action of the brain of a 

 child, with special application to educational methods. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The most important article in the numbers of the Journal 0/ 

 Botany for December 1887 and January 18S8 is one by Mr. 

 S. Le M. Moore, " On Epidermal Chlorophyll," in which he 

 shows that the presence of chlorophyll-corpuscles in the cells of 

 the epidermis is of much more common occurrence than is 

 usually stated intextbooks, and that these chlorophyll -corpuscles 

 very commonly contain starc'i-grains. The other articles relate 

 to botanical nomenclature and to the distribution of British plants. 

 In addition, Mr. J. G. Baker continues his " Monograph of the 

 Tillandsiece,"and Colonel Beddome contributes a piper on Ferns 

 of Perak and Penang. 



In the Botanical Gazette (Crawfordsville, Indiana) for Decem- 

 ber 1887 is an interesting paper by Mr. Byron D. Halsted, 

 showing that under certain coiditions pollen-grains may contain 

 three nuclei, instead of the two usually found in the;n. 



Bulletin de VAcademie Royale de Bels^que, November 1887. — 

 Action of the acids on the taste, by j. Corin, The object of 

 these researches has been to ascertain what relation there may 

 exist between the acid taste and chemical composition. The 

 author arrives at the curious result that acidity increases with 

 the quantity of basic hydrogen contained in the acid molecule, 

 and decreases with the weight of the molecule itself. — Physical 

 observations on Saturn, by Paul Stroobant. These observa- 

 tions, extending over the period from January 27 to April 20, 

 1887, show that the famous divisions of Encke and Struve 

 appear to be subject to great modifications, especially as regards 

 the actual position occupied by them. No doubt the state of 

 the terrestrial atmosphere, the proximity of the moon, and other 

 outward circumstances, must exercise a considerable influence 

 on the character of the manifestations. But the changes 

 here recorded, such as the disappearance of Encke's division 

 while that of Struve is still visible, make it evident that other 

 and more recondite causes are at work in producing these shift- 

 ing appearances. — Experimental researches on the sense of 

 vision in the Arthropods (second part), by Felix Plateau. la 

 this section the author passes from a study of the Myriapods to 

 that of the higher order of the Arachnidae, and arrives at the 

 general conclusion that in all the sub-groups of the Spiders, 

 Scorpions, and Phalangidae the visual sense is very feebly deve- 

 loped. They exhibit in general a vague perception of move- 

 ment acting on their nervous system, rather than a clear sight of 

 any definite object. In the case of Epiblemum sceniciim, dis- 

 tinct vision does not seem to extend beyond a distance of i 

 centimetre, while Tegenaria domestica and others seem unable 

 to distinguish form at all. Even in the closest proximity they 

 rush with equal avidity on true or false objects of prey. The 



scorpions also show little evidence of sight, shunning the light 

 and awaiting, rather than pursuing, their prey, which they fail 

 to detect except at very short distances. The same remark 

 applies to the Phalangidae, which compensate the defect of 

 vision by the exquisite tactile sense of their extremities. 



Rivista Scicntifico-Indtistriale, November 1887. — On the 

 heating of metallic points when discharging their electricity, by 

 Prof. Eugenio Semmola. Some experiments are described 

 scientifically demonstrating the fact that heat is generated while 

 metallic points discharge their electricity, the points themselves 

 becoming at the same time heated. It is suggested that thi^ 

 fact, now for the first time verified, might under certain con- 

 ditions be utilized as a new means of studying atmospheric 

 electricity. — On the anassthesis and poisoning of plants, by Dr. 

 Flaminio Tassi. An analysis is given of the researches and 

 experiments carried out by Prof. T. Caruel, tending to show 

 that certain plants really possess a property analogous to the 

 irritability, excitability, sensitiveness, or contractibility of 

 animals, as it is variously called ; that this property is not 

 derived from any particular nervous system, but from the veget- 

 able protoplasm itself; that certain organic substances are alike 

 fatal to p^lants and animals ; and that a state resembling animal 

 an^sthesis is also produced especially in those plants which art- 

 endowed with excitable organs, and in many flowers that open 

 and close at fixed times. 



The last two parts of vol. xviii. of the Tzuestia of the East 

 Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society contain a 

 variety of valuable information. In a paper on the lower course 

 of the Upper Angara, Dr. Kiriloft" brings together some inter- 

 esting facts about the fishing in Lake Baikal, which, notwithstand- 

 ing complaints about the disappearance of the Salmo omul, still 

 yields every year about 30,000 cwt. of fish. MM. Priklonsky 

 and Slycptsoff contribute notes on the religious beliefs of the 

 Yakutes, who, although christened, have retained in full their 

 Shamanist religion and practices. M. Karpinsky gives some 

 notes on the gold-diggings of the Olekma system. Especially 

 valuable papers are contributed by M. Savenkofif, on his archa-o- 

 logical researches on the Yenisei, and by M. Eleneff on the 

 caves on the banks of the Biryusa River. It would be impo^ 

 sible to enumerate in a short note all the interesting data men- 

 tioned in M. Savenkoff^'s preliminary report. His numerous 

 collections contain, among other things, big bones of the mam- 

 moth and the rhinoceros, which bear unmistakable traces of 

 having been broken by man for the sake of the marrow, and thus 

 belong to the very rare relics of the Palaeolithic period in 

 Siberia. His collections also include bones with grooves for 

 the insertion of a stone arrow-head, and many interesting im- 

 plements, showing that stone implements were largely used 

 during the Bronze Age, and partly during the Iron Age. The 

 full report of M. Savenkoff, which will contain accurate draw- 

 ings of the Yenisei inscriptions, will be most valuable. As to 

 the exploration of caverns on the ban^cs of the Biryusa and the 

 Yenisei, M. Eleneff gives only a short description of his diggings, 

 with detailed drawings and lists of the implements and various 

 things found : Chinese miney from the thirteenth or fourteenth 

 century in the upper layers, various iron implements in the 

 middle layers, and Neolithic stone implements in the lowest 

 layers. The same parts of the Izvestia contain preliminary 

 reports about an excursion to Lake Kosogol and the Munku- 

 Sardyk, by MM. Prein and Yaczewski, during which excursion 

 the glacier of this peak was thoroughly mapped and photo- 

 graphed, and large collections of Alpine flora were gathered. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, December 22, 1887. — "Heat Dilatation of 

 Metals from Low Temperatures." By Thos. Andrews, F. R.S.E. 



The experiments of this paper were made to approximately 

 determine the coefiicients of heat dilatation of modern steels 

 from low temperatures. The metals employed were wrought 

 iron, "soft" Bessemer steel, "hard" Bessemer steel, "sofc" 

 Siemens-Martin steel, "hard" Siemens- Martin steel, "soft" 

 cast .'teel, "hard" cast steel, &c., of known composition, 

 specific gravity, &c. , given in detail in the paper. The 

 terms "soft" and "hard" relate only to difference of 

 percentage of combined carbon. The ranges of tempera- 



