432 



NATURE 



{March i, 1888 



Society. — Mr. Crisp referred to the great loss the Society had 

 sustained by the death of Dr. Millar, who had always taken a 

 lively interest in the affairs of the Society, and for nearly thirty 

 years had been a member of Council. — Dr. Dallinger delivered 

 his annual address. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, February 20. — M. Janssen in the 

 chair. — Third note on the doctrine of probabilities as applied to 

 target practice, by M. J. Bertrand. The object of this paper, 

 which has been prepared at the request of several artillery 

 officers specially interested in the subject, is to present in a form 

 capable of immediate application the results already arrived at 

 asset forth in tlie previous communications. — On the species of 

 Proneomenia on the coast of Provence, by MM. A. F. Marion 

 and A. Kowalevsky. In a previous note the authors described 

 a new genus of Solenogaster from the Gulf of Marseilles differing 

 from the Proneomenia by its thorny integument. Here he 

 describes four distinct species of the genus Proneomenia which 

 occur on the coast of Provence, and which present features by 

 which they may be readily distinguished from P. shiiteri 

 described by Hubrecht. These species, none of which exceed 

 15mm. in length, are respectively named/", vagans, P. caulini, 

 P. desiderata, and P. aglaophenitE. Incidental reference is 

 made to a fifth species {P. gorgonophila) discovered on the coast 

 of Algeria. — Observations of the new planet Charlois, 272, made 

 at the Observatory of Algiers with the 0'5o m. telescope, by 

 MM. Rambaud and Sy. The observations for right ascension, 

 declination, apparent position, &c., extend over the period 

 February lo-ii. — Observations of the same planet are also 

 recorded for February 8-13 made at the Observatory of Mar- 

 seilles with the Eichens equatorial, by M. Borrelly. — Permanent 

 deformations and thermodynamics (continued), by M. Marcel 

 Brillouin. The chief subjects here discussed are the principle 

 of equivalence, specific and latent heats, and the differential 

 relations between the specific heats. — On the electrostatic 

 attraction of electrodes in water and attenuated solutions, by 

 M. Gouy. The theory of the propagation of electricity in 

 the permanent state suggests the presence of free electricity 

 during the passage of the current, not only on the outer 

 surface of the conductors, but also on the surface separat- 

 ing two conductors of different specific resistance, the 

 electric force necessarily having different values on either side 

 of this surface. The author here endeavonrs to ascertain 

 whether this hypothetic layer of free electricity on the contact 

 surface might be capable of exercising any electrostatic action-. 

 For this purpose he studies the case of two metallic conductors 

 placed in a moderately conducting liquid and maintained by a 

 pile with different potentials, in order to determine how far they 

 may be acted upon by appreciable forces. His experiments seem 

 to show that these forces really exist, and are in fact much mo::e 

 considerable than could have been foreseen. — On the coefficients 

 of proportionality in radiating heat, by M. L. Godard. The 

 experiments here described seem to show that the coefficients of 

 proportionality given by the study of the diffusion of heat, and 

 confirmed by the spectro-photometric an'alysis of coloured sub- 

 stances, are the same as the numbers obtained by M. L. Mouton 

 in his researches on the distribution of heat in the normal 

 spectrum of the sun. — Preparation and properties of a bi-hydro- 

 fluate and of a tri-hydrofluate of fluoride of potassium, by M. H. 

 Moissan. While hydrochloric acid yields with difficulty the 

 hydrochlorates of chlorides, hydrofluoric acid combines readily 

 with the neutral fluorides to produce hydrofluates of the general 

 formula KFl, HFl. But these compounds, including i equi- 

 valent of hydrofluoric acid, are not the only ones that may be 

 obtained, at least with the alkaline metals. The author has 

 succeeded in preparing two new combinations containing 2 and 

 3 equivalents of acid for i of fluoride of potassium. These 

 ombinations, abounding in hydrofluoric acid, and capable of 

 being kept in the fluid state at temperatures ranging from 

 65° to 105° C, may perhaps under certain conditions en- 

 able the hydrofluoric acid to react readily on a certain 

 number of organic or mineral compounds. — On a new 

 reagent of the products of saponification of cotton-oil, by 

 M. Ernest Milliau. The chemical reagent here described, 

 which is not observed in the fatty acids of olive-oil, is so sen- 

 sitive that by its means the presence may easily be detected of 

 1 per cent, of cotton-oil in olive-oil. All risk of error is re- 

 moved, as the operation is effected, not on the oil itself, but on 

 the fatty acids free from all impurity. Science has thus supplied 

 the long sought-for means of infallibly detecting any adultera- 



tion of olive-oil by cotton-oil in the proportion of from 5 to 

 20 per cent., as is usually practised in the trade. — On the essence 

 of lavender, by MM. R. Voiry and G. Bouchardat. The results 

 of the analysis of this essence differ in some respects from those 

 hitherto published. The authors have determined the presence 

 of an oxygenated compound identical with eucalyptol, and the 

 almost complete absence of carburets of hydrogen. — The sardine 

 fisheries on the west coast of France in 1S87, by M. Georges 

 Pouchet. Last year was characterized by an extreme abundance 

 of sardine on the French fishing-grounds, at the very time when 

 the most opposite reasons were being advanced to account for a 

 supposed gradual disappearance of the species from the French 

 waters. On this point nothing positive can be asserted in the 

 absence of any accurate knowledge of the migrations and spawn- 

 ing-grounds of the sardine. — On the Quaternary station of La 

 Quiiia, Charente, by M. Emile Riviere. This station of pre- 

 historic man, which lies near the banks of the Voultron in the 

 Canton of La Valette, has recently been carefully explored by 

 the author, who agrees with M. Chauvet in assigning it to the 

 Mousterian (reindeer) epoch. The animal remains include the 

 cave-bear, jackal, wild cat, horse, Bos pninigeiiius, Ceivtis 

 elephas, and especially the reindeer, in great abundance. No 

 human bones were found, but there is an abundance of chipped 

 flints, some very fine, and evidently worked on the spot. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Navigation and Nautical Astronomy : W. R. Martin (Longmans). — Tfie 

 Method of Creation : H. W. Crosskey (Sunday Sch. Assn.). — Elementary 

 Physiography : J. Thornton (Longmans). — Life in Corea : W. R. Carles 

 (Macmillan), — Discursive Essays on the Phenomena of the Heavens and 

 Physical History of the Earth, Part i (London Literary Society) — Techno- 

 logical Dictionary, 3 vols.. English. German, and French: Rohrig and 

 Schiller (Triibner). — Emin Pasha in Central Africa (Philip). — Das Antlitz 

 der Erde, vol. ii. : E. Suess (Tempsky, Wien).— Jahrbuch der k. k. Geolo- 

 gischen Reichsanstalt, Jahrg. 1887, x.xxvii. Band, 2 Heft; Abhandlungen 

 der k k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, Jahrg. ibSy, xi. Band, 2 Abthg. 

 (Wien). — Industrial Instruction: R. Seidel (Heath, Boston).— The Manual 

 Training School: C. M. Woodward (Heath, Boston). — A Pocket-book of 

 Electrical Rules and Tables, 5th Edition : Munro and Jamieson (Griffin). 

 — ii. Jahresbericht (1886) der Ornithologischen Beobachtungstationen im 

 Konigreich Sachsen : Dr. A. B. Meyer and Dr. F. Helm (Dresden). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Phys'cal Science and the Woolwich Examinations . 409 

 Tea Cultivation in India. By J. R. Royle .... 409 



Living Lights 411 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Battershall : " Food Adulteration and its Detection " 411 



Pinkerton : " Dynamics and Hydrostatics " 412 



Hughes: " Geography for Schools " 412 



Hunter: " Key to Todhunter's Differential Calcidus " 412 

 Bottone : "Electrical Instrument Making for Ama- 

 teurs" 412 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Language — Reason. — Prof. F. Max Miiller . . . 412 

 "Coral Formations."— John Murray ; Prof. G. C. 



Bourne 414 



Natural Science and the Woolwich Examinations. — 



Henry Palin Gurney 415 



International Tables.— Robert H. Scott, F.R.S. . 415 

 Weight and Mass.— Prof. T. C. Mendenhall ; Dr. 



Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S 416 



The Composition of Water. —Dr. Sydney Young . 416 

 On the Divisors of the Sum of a Geometrical 

 Series whose First Term is Unity and Common 

 Ratio any Positive or Negative Integer. By Prof, 



J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S. 417 



Lord Rayleigh on the Relative Densities of Hydro- 

 gen and Oxygen 418 



Notes 421 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Solar Activity in 1887 423 



A New Comet • 424 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



March 4-10 424 



The Relations between Geology and the Biological 



Sciences. II. By Prof. John W. Judd, F.R.S. . 424 

 On the Number of Dust Particles in the Atmo- 

 sphere. By John Aitken 428 



University and Educational Intelligence > 430 



Societies and Academies 430 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... 432 



