48o 



NATURE 



{March 15, 1888 



combine either with the acids or the anhydrides to yield ethers. 

 — Deleterious influence of alcohol on offspring, by MM. A. 

 Mairet and Combemale. The results are described of some ex- 

 periments on dogs, showing that their progeny were injuriously 

 affected for two successive generations by the influence of alcohol 

 administered under various conditions to the parents. 



Berlin. 

 Physiological Society, February lo. — Prof, du Bois 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — Dr. Baginski spoke on the 

 origin and course of the auditory nerve. As the result of experi- 

 ments on young cats, in which the peripheral end of this nerve 

 had been destroyed, and which were then killed at the end of 

 six weeks, he was able to follow the course of the degeneration by 

 means of a series of sections through the root of the nerve to 

 the posterior corpus quadrigeminum. In this way his earlier 

 experiments on rabbits were fully confirmed. The degeneration 

 spread to the olivary body of the same side, and was continued 

 through the trapezium of the pons. After removal of the facial 

 nerve the olivary body was similarly found to be affected. These 

 observations are closely connected with those of von Monakow 

 who found that destruction of the auditory centre, described by 

 Munk, led to a degeneration which could be traced right into the 

 hinder corpora quadrigemina. At present no observations are in 

 existence as to the course of the anterior root of the auditory 

 nerve. — Dr. Rawitz gave an account of the results of his re- 

 searches ontheeyes of mussels, and explained the same byreference 

 to preparations which he exhibited. Three distinct types may 

 be observed among the eyes, sometimes to the number of one 

 hundred, which occur on the edge of the mantle of Pecten. Each 

 eye consists of an epithelial layer, a lens, and a retina composed 

 of rods, whose ganglionic layer is on the side turned towards the 

 light, while the rods are turned away from the light and abut 

 on the tapetum and layer of pigment cells. The speaker had 

 been able to trace the endings of the nerves through the cells 

 connected with the rods into the rod itself. The mussels are 

 only able to see with the central portions of each eye. — Dr. 

 Virchow presented and explained a plaster cast of the gluteal 

 region. He had had this cast made in order to throw light upon 

 a deep furrow which extends from the gluteus maximus to the 

 tensor muscle, and is not due to the edge of either of these muscles. 

 This furrow may be observed in the sitting posture, and is due to 

 the stretching by the point of the trochanter of a portion of the 

 fascia which envelop the gluteus medius : by this means the 

 gluteus medius is divided into two projecting portions. When 

 this muscle contracts, the furrow disappears. 



February 24. — Prof, du Bois-Reymond, President, in the chair. 

 — Prof. Liebreich spoke on the testing of the action of local 

 anesthetics on animals. There are a number of substances which, 

 when injected subcutaneously, give rise to a localized anaesthesia 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the place where they are in- 

 jected. Antipyrin, sal-ammoniac, salts of tannin, resorcin, chloride 

 of iron, and other substances have this action, although there is 

 neither chemical nor physiological similarity between them. They 

 possess, however, this property in common, that they all have 

 a corrosive action on the tissues, when this expression is under- 

 stood to imply any kind of alteration of molecular structure. 

 The alkaloids, in the cases where they possess a local 

 anaesthetic action, act in the same way, as, for instance, 

 erythrophoein. Cocaine alone is an exception to the rule, 

 inasmuch as it is a local anaesthetic, but does not corrode 

 the tissues. When applied subcutaneously to man, the above 

 substances either produce no localized anaesthesia, or one 

 which is very imperfect. When testing the action of anaesthetics 

 on the eye, it is essential to take into account the difference in 

 sensitiveness of the conjunctiva and cornea, as already pointed 

 out by Claude Bernard. — Dr. Virchow exhibited a plaster cast 

 of the hip-region taken from a female corpse in a hanging posi- 

 tion. It brought to light a whole series of most surprising 

 relationships which can never be observed, in preparations made 

 from a corpse in the recumbent position, as at all corresponding 

 to those existing in the erect posture. One of the most striking 

 facts is the considerable stretching of the sciatic nerve, which 

 must be still greater when the leg is advanced, as in walking. 

 — Dr. Virchow further spoke on the striae medullares acustica; 

 in man, in connection with the statement made before the 

 Society a fortnight before by Dr. Baginski. His experiments 

 have shown, in correspondence with the results of many other 

 observers, that the striae can be traced through the raphe to 

 the other side of the medulla. It must still remain an open 



question whether the fibres which lead to the anterior root of 

 the auditory nerve have a different course in cats and rabbits 

 (examined by Baginski) than they have in man (examined by 

 the speaker), or whether in the above-named animals we have 

 to deal with a frequently-recurring division and rearrangement 

 of the fibres of any one tract. 



Physical Society, February 17.— Prof. Helmholtz, Presi- 

 dent, m the chair.— Prof. Lampe made a report on McGregor's 

 book, " An Elementary Treatise on Kinematics and Dynamics." 

 —Prof. Bornstein exhibited an electricity-meter which enables 

 the intensity of the current to be read off direct.— Dr. Gerst- 

 mann gave an account of a preliminary communication by 

 Aubel on the influence of temperature and magnetization on 

 the electrical resistance of bismuth. — Dr. Kotter spoke on a 

 problem in the theory of projectiles— namely, that a bullet shot 

 out of a rifle tends to deviate in a direction away from the 

 side on which the bayonet is attached to the muzzle. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Johnston's Botany Plates (Johnston).— The Testing of Materials of Con- 

 struction : W. C. Unwin (Longmans).— Leitfaden der Zoologie : Dr. B 

 Graber (Tempsky).— Science Sketches : D. S. Jordan (McClurg).— Home 

 Experiments in Science : T. O. Sloane (Low).— Memoirs of the Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, 3rd series, vol. x. ; Proceedings of the 

 Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, vols. xxv. and xxvi. 

 (Manchester). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Life Contingencies 4C7 



Rosenbusch's " Petrography." II. By F. H. Hatch '. 458 



A Treatise on Chemistry 460 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Bentley : " A Text-book of Organic Materia Medica " 460 

 Lydekker: "Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in 



the British Museum (Natural Plistory) " 461 



Stohr : " Lehrbuch der Histologic" 461 



Abney : " A Treatise on Photography " 461 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Coral Formations. — Robert Irvine ; James G. 



Ross ; Dr. H, B. Guppy 461 



Reason and Language. — Dr. St. George Mivart, 



F.K.S 462 



Oil on Troubled Waters. — Right Hon. Lord Justice 



Edw. Fry, F.R.S 463 



Were the Elephant and Mastodon contemporary in 



Europe? — Henry H. Howorth, M.P 463 



True Average of Observations ? — Prof. Robert H. 



Smith 464 



Crepuscular Rays in China. — Dr. W. Doberck . . 464 

 " An Unusual Rainbow."— H. M. Andrew . . . 464 



The Nest of the Flamingo. — E.J. Dunn 465 



Dynamical Units and Nomenclature. — Robert E. 



Baynes 465 



Too many Decimal Places. — ^J. Rayner Edmands . 466 

 "The Teaching of Elementary Chemistry." — M. M. 



Pattison Muir 466 



The Gale of March II.— C. E. Peek 466 



The Dispersion of Seeds and Plants. By D. 



Morris 466 



On the Appearances presented by the Satellites of 



Jupiter during Transit 468 



The Monsoons. By Hon. Ralph Abercromby . . . 469 



No. 2 Museum, Kew 470 



Apparatus for Experiments at a High Temperature, 

 in Gas under High Pressure. {Illustrated.) By 



L. Cailletet 470 



Notes . . . 472 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Annals of Harvard College Observatory 475 



Washington Astronomical Observations, 1883 . . . 475 

 Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



March 18-24 475 



The Public Gardens of British India, especially 



the Botanic Gardens 476 



Scientific Serials 477 



Societies and Academies 478 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 480 



