20 



NATURE 



{May 6, 1875 



chloride of benzyl with sodium, thus obtaining (CHjygCH.CHj 

 CbH,, phenyl-isobutan.— H. Hiibner proved that benzoic acid 

 can liberate nitrobenzoic acid from nitrobenzoate of barium, 

 although the latter is the stronger acid of the two. The experi- 

 ment consisted in heating the solutions to 80". — H, Hiibner 

 and C. Rudolf have obtained an ethenyl-phenylenediamine, 



^6^*N ^^-^^3' ^y treating orthonitroacetanilide with tin 



and glacial acetic acid. — O. Billeter has transformed sulpho- 

 cyanate of phenyl into the sulphide by treatmg it with sodium- 

 amalgam. Lead allyl sulphydrate and chloride of cyanogen have 

 yielded allyl sulphocyanate to the same chemist ; it is converted 

 into the isomeric mustard-oil on distillation. — H. Limpricht com- 

 municated researches on derivatives of the three amidosulphoben- 

 zolic acids. — W. Weith, by heating chloride of ammonium with 

 methylic alcohol to 280° for ten hours, has transformed it com- 

 pletely into trimethylamineandtetramethylammonium-chloride. 



April 26. — Researches were read by A. Burghardt, on bibro- 

 mobenzoic acid ; by H. Glassner, on paraiodosulphotoluene, 

 CgHj . CH3 . 1 . SO3H ; by T. Ebell, on nitrobenzonaphthy- 

 lamide, C^oHg . NOg . NH . CO . CgHg, which was found 

 to combine with iodide of amyl ; by F. Meinecke, on deri- 

 vatives of benzanilide ; by E. A. Grete, on derivatives 

 of metabromotoluene. — H. Hiibner defended modem che- 

 mistry against attacks launched against it by Prof. Kolbe, 

 and showed the insufficiency of the proofs hitherto furnished for 

 the existence of four nitrobenzoic acids, four bihydrobenzene, and 

 four bromobenzene-sulphonic acids. These doubtful cases of iso- 

 merism, which, if true, would be opposed to Kekule's benzene 

 theor}', were also vigorously attacked by experiments published 

 by A. Ladenburg, as well as by P. Griess and by E. Nolting. 

 The constitution of benzene derivatives, viz., CgH4Br. CHjand 

 CgHjBr. NOg. CH3, also formed the subject ot a communica- 

 tion by E. Wroblewsky. — Mr. P. Siljestrom defended his opinion 

 on the density of gases under diminished pressure against that 

 expressed by Mr. Mendelejeff. — A. Stutzer has tried the action 

 of nitric acid on the fibre of grasses, and not finding benzene deri- 

 vatives amongst the products, concludes that the fibre does not 

 contain aromatic bodies preformed. — Dr. Ewald described an 

 improved method for determining urea with hypobromite of 

 sodium by ordinary volumetric analysis. — V. Mering reported on 

 the action of digestion on sarcosine, arriving at the conclusion that 

 urea and uric acid are not diminished in quantity in the urine of 

 individuals fed with sarcosine. This is contrary to the obser- 

 vation published by Schultzen some years ago. — E. Fischer, in 

 reducing a diazo-compound, CgHg — N — N — NO3, with 

 bisulphite of sodium, and treating the resulting compound, 

 CgHs — NH - NH . SO3K, with chloride of benzoyl, obtained 

 the first of a new class of bodies : 



CgHg -NH-N(CO. CgHg), 

 that is, an ammonia, NH3, in which one H is replaced by an 

 amido-group, NHj. He calls this class of bodies hydrazines ; 

 the body whose formula is given above is dibenzoylated phenyl- 

 hydrazine. By the action ot water and hydrochloric acid it yields 

 benzoic acid and a base, phenyl-hydrazine, CgHg - NH - NHg, 

 which forms well-defined crystalline salts with HCl, &c. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 26. — M, M. Fremy in the 

 chair. — The fellowing papers were read : — On ascents to great 

 heights, by M. Faye. M. Faye advocates strongly that the 

 Academy should forbid any balloon ascent beyond 7,cxx) metres 

 of elevation ; he considers that any observations that might be 

 made beyond that point will not be of any greater value than 

 those up to that limit, and will certainly not outweigh the 

 danger to life. He thinks that all aeronauts will respect the 

 Academy's decision. — On the determination of ordinary alcohol 

 when mixed with methylic alcohol, by M. Berthelot. — A note by 

 M. A. Ledieu, on thermo-dynamical machines. — A note by M. 

 Mares, on the results of the experiments made by the Commission 

 invt stigating the diseases of vines in the Herault. — A note by M. 

 Dumas, on the use of alkaline sulphocarbonates against {Phyl- 

 loxera. — A note by M. F. de Lesseps, on the methods to be 

 employed for the maintenance of ports. — A note by M. L. 

 Saltil, on the geometrical principle of correspondence of 

 M. Chasles.— On the curves of the order n with a multiple 

 point of the order n — i, by M. B. Niewenglowski. — On 

 the development of the perturbating function according to 

 the multiples of an elliptical integral, by M. H. Gylden. — On 

 binauricular perceptions, by M, F. P. Le Roux.— On the deter- 



mination of methylic alcohol in the presence of vinic alcohol, 

 by MM, Alf. Riche and Ch. Bardy.— On the spiroscope, an 

 apparatus for the study of auscultation, of the anatomy and 

 physiology of the lungs, by M. Woillez. —A note by MM. G. 

 Hayem and A. Nachet, on a new method of counting the blood- 

 corpuscles. — On the wine-growing districts attacked by Phyl- 

 loxera in 1874, by M. Duclaux. — M. Dumas then announced to 

 the Academy the loss which science has sustained by the death 

 of M. Anton. Schrottcr, secretary to the Academy of Sciences 

 at Vienna. — On the precipitation of silver by protoxide of ura- 

 nium, by M. Isambert. — On the action of platinum and palla- 

 dium upon the hydrocarbons of the benzenic series, by M. J. J. 

 Coquillion. — A note by M. Peslin, on the law of diurnal and 

 annual variations in the temperature of the soil.— On the theory 

 of storms, by M. Couste. — A note by M. U. Gayon in reply to 

 M. Bechamp's paper on the spontaneous alterations ia eggs. — 

 On the helminthological fauna of the coasts of Brittany, by M. 

 A. Villot. — On a new intermediary type of worms {Polygordius? 

 Schneider), by M. Edm. Perrier.— On the ornamentation of 

 striated wood-fibres and their relation to ordinary spotted fibres 

 in the wood of certain species of Conifera, by M. G. de Saporta. 

 — On the glacier deposits of the inferior valley of the Tech, by 

 M. E. Trutat.— On the differences in the rising and setting of Mer- 

 cury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, as stated in \h!t Journal 

 du Ciel axid in the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, by M. J. 

 Vinot. — On a method of re-establishing the concordance of the 

 solar with the civil year, by M, Crampel. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



British.— A Manual of Diet in Health and Disease : T. King Chambers, 

 M.D., F.R.C.P., &c. (Smith and Elder).— The Journal of the Iron and Steel 

 Institute, iS74(E. and F. N. Spon).— Electricity ; its Theory, Sources, and 

 Applications : John T. Sprague (E. and F. N. Spon).— Researches in Che- 

 mical Optics : John H. Jellett, B.D. (Dublin University Press).— Journal of 

 Proceedings of Winchester and Hampshire Scientific and Literary Society. 

 Vol. i. Part iv. 1874 (Winchester, Warren and Son).— Meteorology of West 

 Cornwall and Scilly, 1870 t» 1874, and Observations on Sea Temperature, 

 1872 to 1874: W. P. Dymond, F.M.S. (Falmouth, Wm. Tregaskis).— An 

 Address deHvered by the President of the Meteorological Society at the 

 Annual Meeting, January ?o, 1875.— Journal of the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club (R. Hardwicke).— Perthshire Society of Natural Science. Sixth Annual 

 Report.— On Protoplasm : James Ross, M.D. (R. Hardwicke).— Commercial 

 Handbook of Chemical Analysis, bv A. Normandy ; Enlarged and to a great 

 extent re-written by H. M. Noad, PhD., F.R.S. (Lockwood and Co.)— Life 

 of .Sir Roderick Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S. : Archibald Gcikie, 

 LL.D., F.R.S. (John Murray). — New Code Progressive Reader. Fifth 

 Standard (Wm. Collins, Sons, and Co.) — Unseen Universe (Macmillan and 

 Co.)— Year Book of Facts in Science and the Arts. Edited by Chas. W . 

 Vincent, F.R.S. C. (Ward, Lock, and Tyler).— Thirteenth Annual Report of 

 the Free Librarians' Committee (Birmingham, Hall and English). — Text- 

 Book of Botany, Morphological and Physiological. By Julius Sachs ; trans- 

 lated by Alfred W. Bennett, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., assisted by W. T. 

 Thiselton Dyer, M. A., B.Sc, F.LS. (Oxford, Clarendon Press).— Report 

 of the Permanent Committee of the First International Meteorological Con- 

 gress at Vienna, 1874 (H.M. Stationery Office).— Climate and Time : James 

 CroU (Daldy, Isbister, and Co.) — Fiji : Our New Province in the South 

 Seas: /. H. de Ricci, F.R G.S. (E. Stanford).— Journal of the Anthropo- 

 logical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, April to July 1874 (Triibner 

 and Co) — An Elementary Book on Heat: J. E. Gordon, B.A. (Mac- 

 millan and Co.) 



CONTENTS Pack 



Geikik's "Life of Murchison" i 



The Flora of British India ; 3 



Our Book Shelf : — 



The London Mathematical Society c 



De Ricci's •' Fiji " 5 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Geology in America. — Prof. N. S. Shaler 5 



I'he Attraction and Repulsion caused by the Radiation of Heat. — 



Prof. Osborne Reynolds 6 



The Kdle of Feet in the Struggle for Existence {With Illustration) 7 



Destruction of Flowers by Birds. — H. George Fordham .... 7 



Note on the Common Sole. — T. Ogier Ward 7 



Colour in Goldfinches. — Lucie Woodruffe 7 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Variable Stars 7 



The Binary Star 2 2107 8 



High-latitude Phenomena 8 



The Solar Eclipse, 1876, March 25 8 



The Minor Planet " Lydia '' 8 



Lectures at the Zoological Gardens, II 8 



On Lightning Figures. By C. Tomlinson, F.R.S. (H^ith Illus- 

 trations) 9 



Inauguration OP the Zoological Station at Naples n 



The " ViLLE DE Calais" Balloon Ascent. By W. de Fonviklle . 13 



Notes 13 



Meteorology, Etc., IN Mauritius. By C. Meldrum 10 



Scientific Serials 16 



Societies and Academies 17 



Books and Pamphlets Kbckived . . . , , 20 



