54^ 



NATURE 



\Oct. 21, 1875 



feet,* and he adds that even if the diminution of the increase of 

 heat with depth took place at the rate of only ^^° R. instead 

 of ^|tr° R., the region of constant temperature would be reached 

 at 13,500 feet, 



A similar diminution of the increase of heat with depth was 

 observed in the case of the boring at Crenelle ; but here the 

 depth reached was far less, and the diverse character of the rocks 

 passed through caused doubts to be entertained as to the accu- 

 racy of the result, t 



In these results Prof. Mohr finds a strong confirmation of all 

 the objections that have been urged from other sides against the 

 Plutonistic theory. "The cause of the increasing heat in the 

 interior of the earth, " he says, ' ' must lie in the upper strata of 

 the earth's crust. . . . The theory of volcanoes must of course 

 adapt itself to the above results, and the fluidity of the lavas is 

 not a part of the incandescence (no longer) present in the earth, 

 but a local evolution of heat by sinkings which have always been 

 produced by the sea and its action upon solid rocks, as indeed all 

 volcanoes are situated in or near the sea. This local superheating 

 of the volcanic foci contributes greatly to the internal heat of the 

 earth. For the internal nucleus of the earth can lose but little heat 

 outwards on account of the bad conductivity of the siliceous and 

 calcareous rocks, whilst, in the lapse of ages, it must propagate 

 uniformly all the heat-effects of the volcanoes, and thus a constant 

 elevated temperature must prevail in the interior, and therefore 

 we come to the conclusion that increase of heat in the interior of 

 the earth which is everywhere met with is the result of all pre- 

 ceding heat-actions, uniformly diffused by conduction in the 

 internal nucleus of the earth. " Further causes of terrestrial heat 

 are, according to Prof. Mohr, the formation of new crystalline 

 rocks from sun-warmed, infiltrated fluids, and also chemical 

 processes such as the evolution of carbonic acid by the contact 

 of oxide of iron with the remains of organisms, the formation of 

 pyrites and blendes by the reduction of sulphates in contact with 

 organic mattei-s, the decomposition of lignite and coal, &c. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The yournal of Anatomy and Physiology, which in future will 

 appear quarterly instead of twice a year, and has two additional 

 editors, both physiologists. Dr. Foster and Dr. Rutherford, con- 

 tains several important memoirs. The first is by Mr. Frank 

 Darwin, on the primary vasculai dilatation in acute inflamma- 

 tion, in which, from a study of the effect of irritants on the web 

 of the frog's foot, he concludes, in opposition to Cohnheim, and 

 in accordance with Schiff, that local irritants produce these 

 effects on vessels by acting on the peripheral terminations of the 

 vaso-motor nerves ; that they do not cause dilatation by direct 

 paralysis of the tissues of the arteries, and that when the vaso- 

 motor nerves include both inhibitory and constrictor fibres, both 

 are stimulated by them, the attendant alteration in the calibre of 

 the vessel being the result of the victory of the one set over the 

 other. — Mr. F. M. Balfour has an important article on the origin 

 and history of the urinogenital organs of Vertebrates, in which 

 the independent discovery by Semper and himself of the seg- 

 mental-organ condition of the primitive Wolffian bodies and 

 kidneys in Elasmobranchiata is fully described, and the mode of 

 development of the Mullerian duct explained. The way in 

 which the segmental organs, opening externally in Annehds, have 

 a ductal termination in Vertebrates is discussed. It is analogous 

 to the manner in which the gill-sacs of Petromyzon, opening 

 externally ; those of Myxine have a single external orifice. The 

 paper deserves careful perusal. — Dr. Ogston writes on articular 

 cartilage, and illustrates his observations with six plates. After 

 a description of healthy cartilage, the changes developed in 

 scrofulous arthritis and chronic rheumatoid arthritis are discussed. 

 The paper is more pathological than physiological. — Mr. W. 

 II. Jackson and Mr. W. B. Clarke describe elaborately the 

 brain and cranial nerves of the Shark Echhiorhinus spinosus, 

 from two specimens transmitted from Penzance to the Oxford 

 Museum, to which are appended accounts of the digestive and 

 urogenital organs. — Mr. J. Priestley demonstrates that the so- 

 called corneal cells described by Dr. Thin as being brought into 

 view by the action of saturated caustjc potash solution at 1 10° F. 

 are, in reality, those of the corneal epithelium. — Mr. E. C. 



* In this calculation Prof. Mohr seems to have made a slight slip. If the 

 increase of heat diminiskes at the rate of o'o5° R. per loo feet, it is hard to 

 see why strata of 200 feet should be taken as the units in the calculation. 

 Taking too feet as the unit of space, the zero point should be reached at 

 4,280 feet. 



t See Vogt's " Lehrbuch der Geologie," Bd. I. p. 2g. 



Baber repeats Tillmann's observations on the fibrillar nature of 

 the matrix of hyaline cartilage, confirming them, but differing 

 as to the reagents which best demonstrate them. — Prof. Turner 

 has an important memoir on the structure of the diffused, the 

 polycotyledonary, and the zonary forms of placenta, which con- 

 tains the substance of his course of lectures on that subject at the 

 Royal College of Surgeons last summer. — Prof. Rutherford 

 replies to Mr. Lawson Tail's comments on his freezing micro- 

 tome, satisfactorily demonstrating the value of the instrument, 

 — Dr. Stirling describes his way of preparing skin for his- 

 tological examination by the rather crude method of partial 

 artificial digestion. — Finally, Mr. J. N. Langley writes on the 

 action of Jaborandi on the heart, discussing its slowing action, 

 which he was the first to determine. — Dr. Stirling's Report on 

 Physiology concludes the number. 



The current number of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science commences with an illustrated memoir, by Mr. D. J. 

 Hamilton, " On Myelitis, being an experimental inquiry into 

 the pathological appearances of the same," in which the effect 

 of traumatic injury of the cord is investigated microscopically. — 

 The second paper is an abridged translation by Dr. W'. R, 

 M'Nab, of a paper by Dr. Oscar Brefeld, from his " Botanische 

 Untersuchungen liber Schimmelpilze," Heft. II., on the life- 

 history of Penicillium. — This is followed by an article "On the 

 Resting-Spores of Peronospora infestans, Mont, by Mr. Worth- 

 ington Smith, with photographic illustrations. — After this Dr. 

 Klein describes the Structure of the Spleen. He finds "that 

 the pulp of the spleen of the rat and the cat is similar to that of 

 the dog, whereas that of the monkey is similar to that of man ; 

 also that in the pulp the matrix, instead of being composed of 

 fine fibres, has the appearance of honey-combed membranes, 

 which only when seen in profile have the appearance of fibres. All 

 the author's observations support the view of the splenic circu- 

 lation adopted by W. Midler, Frey, and others, that the venous 

 radicles represent merely a labyrinth of spaces in the splenic 

 parenchyma. He agrees with those who find that there is a 

 gradual passage from the matrix of the pulp to that of the 

 adenoid tissue of the arterial sheaths and the Malpighian cor- 

 puscles. — Mr. C. H. Golding-Bird describes a simple differential 

 warm stage by which a fairly uniform temperature may be main- 

 tained for a long time. To the central copper stage proper are 

 fixed a tongue of copper and an iron wire, round both of which, 

 for part of their extent, bell-wire is wound. — Mr. W. H. Poole 

 describes the effect of the double-staining of tissues with ha;ma- 

 toxylin and aniline. The nuclei stained by hematoxylin are 

 made of a richer colour by the second reagent, whilst the proto- 

 plasm surrounding them is much bluer than the nuclei them- 

 selves. — Mr. J. M'Carthy makes some remarks on Spinal Gan- 

 glia and Nerve-fibres. — Dr. Klein has a note on a Pink-coloured 

 Spirillum [Spirillum rosaceum). — The last paper is by Mr. Frank 

 Darwin, on the Structure of the Proboscis of Ophideres fuUo- 

 nica, an orange-sucking moth, in which the peculiar confor- 

 mation of the apex of that organ is described and figured, as is 

 the interlocking of the two halves of its component maxilla:. — 

 Notes, chronicle, and proceedings of Societies complete the 

 number. 



The Transactions of the Linncan Society of London will in 

 future be published, like the Journal, in two series. Zoological 

 and Botanical. Three parts have recently been issued. The 

 third and concluding part of vol. xxix. completes the accovint of 

 the Botany of the Speke and Grant Expedition, by Prof. Oliver 

 and Mr. J. G. Baker, and is illustrated by sixty-four plates, 

 making 136 for the whole volume. The first part of the first 

 volume of the second series (Zoology) includes Mr. W. K. Par- 

 ker's paper On the Skull of the Woodpeckers ; Dr. Willemoes- 

 Suhm's, On the Crustacea of the Challenger Expedition ; and 

 Prof Allman's, On the structure and systematic posit on of 

 Stephanoscyphus mirabilis, the type of a new order of Hydrozoa : 

 and the first part of the new Botanical series is occupied by Mr. 

 Miers's papers on Napoleona, Omphalocarpum, Asteranthos, 

 and on the Auxemneas. An account of all these papers was 

 given at the time of their delivery before the Society. 



The Geological Magazine, Nos. 133, 134, 135. — The prin- 

 cipal original articles are instalments of long articles on volcanoes, 

 by Mr. Judd ; on Cretaceous aperrhdtda:, by Mr. Starkie 

 Gardner ; on meteorites, by Dr. Walter Flight. Carl Pettersen 

 contributes a sketch of the geology of Northern Norway, in No. 

 135. A list of previous writers is given. Five groups of stratified 

 rocks are recognised: i. The primitive ; 2. The Tromso mica 

 slate group, probably the equivalent of the Cambrian ; 3. Slates 



