568 



NATURE 



[Oct. 28, 1875 



function of mosses in nature and art. — The Chairman exhibited a 

 collection of Ammonites from the Kimmeridge Clay and from the 

 Tertiary Sand near Alexandria. — Mr. C. Robinson showed local 

 drift-shells ; and Mr. Gee a mmer's lamp-glass, tempered by the 

 new process to withstand change of temperature, although of the 

 usual thickness (J inch). 



California 

 Academy of Sciences, Aug. 2. — Mr. H. Edwards, vice- 

 president, in the chair, — Mr. Lackington presented a paper on 

 some new Crustaceans of the Pacific coast. — Dr. Blake made 

 some remarks on a mineral which he had presented to the 

 Academy a few months ago under the name of Colomite. He 

 stated that a superficial analysis of the mineral had then led him 

 to believe that it was a potash mica, containing a very large 

 quantity of chromium. Since that time the mineral had been 

 analysed by Prof. Genth, of Philadelphia, who had discovered 

 that it contained a large quantity of vanadium, more than 20 per 

 cent. Under these circumstances he proposed to name the 

 mineral Roscoelite, as Prof. Roscoe, of Manchester, had so suc- 

 cessfully investigated the properties of vanadium. The mineral 

 occurs in a gold mine in the lower hills of the western slope of 

 the Sierra. It is associated with a small vein of quartz, but it is 

 principally in the mica that the gold is found, a few pounds of 

 the mineral (a miner's panful) often yielding as much as $240 in 

 gold. The occurrence of so large a quantity of a pentivalent 

 metalloid in a mica offers another and perhaps the most striking 

 anomaly presented by this class of minerals as regards their 

 chemical composition. Dr. Blake then alluded to some physio- 

 logical experiments he had performed to determine the molecular 

 relations of beryllium. Neither the specific heat of the metal 

 nor the vapour density of its chloride had been determined, and 

 chemists were undecided as to whether it was a bivalent or 

 quadrivalent element. Its physiological reactions, when intro- 

 duced directly into the blood of living animals, so closely 

 resembled those of alumina that there can be no doubt but that 

 it belongs to the same isomorphous group, and that it is a quad- 

 rivalent element. There is also a close relation between the 

 intensity of physiological action of this substance and its atomic 

 weight. "When compared with aluminum, as in a series of 

 experiments conducted expressly to determine this point, the 

 quantities of 86263, under the form of sulphate, required to kill 

 2,270 grammes of rabbit, when injected into the veins in divided 

 doses (three injections), were '059, '061, -050 ; the quantities of 

 AI2O3, introduced into the veins under the same conditions were 

 •021, "023, -022 ; and the smallest quantity required to kill, 

 when introduced in one injection, was, of AlgO^, "016, and of 

 BcgOg, '038, showing a marked increase in the physiological 

 action of these substances, with an increase in the atomic weights, 

 the atomic weight of Al being 27-4 and of Be, 14. This, the author 

 believes, is the first occasion on which physiological reactions have 

 been used to determine the chemical properties of a substance. 

 Should, however, the carbon compounds follow the same laws in 

 their physiological reactions as the inorganic elements, living 

 matter must offer a valuable reagent in investigating their 

 molecular properties. The interesting experiments of Messrs. 

 McKendrick and Dewar, published in the 23rd vol. of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society, would indicate that such may be 

 the case, as these gentlemen found in experimenting with the 

 compounds ot the Chinolin and Pyridin groups, that the phy- 

 siological actions became stronger in going from the lower to the 

 higher members of the series. They also observed that in the 

 Pyridin group, when the base became doubled by condensation, 

 not only was the physiological action more intense, but its cha- 

 racter was completely altered, agreeing in these respects with the 

 salts of iron with which analogous changes take place, both in 

 the character and intensity of their physiological action, when 

 the molecule is doubled in the change from ferrous to ferric salts, 

 as the author has shown in the Journal of Anatomy and Phy- 

 siology, vol, iii, p, 24. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, Oct. 18.— M. Freniy in the 

 chair.— Admiral Paris presented the volume of the "Connais- 

 sance des Temps" for 1877. This publication, prepared by 

 M. Loery, is now double in size what it was twenty years ago, 

 and much improved. The following papers were read :— ISlew 

 problems relative to the conditions of equality of size of recti- 

 Imear segments on the tangents of geometrical curves of any 

 order and class, by M, Chasles.— Third note on the electric 

 conductivity of bodies moderately conducting, by M. Du Moncel. 

 in the polarisation currents obtained with silex of Herouville. 



he found that the electrodes do not simply play the part of con- 

 ductor, but acquire a peculiar electric state, which they may 

 retain for days, and even under intense heat ; this state cannot 

 alone produce a current of polarisation ; the dielectric must have 

 undergone electrification under influence of the electrodes. But 

 once this has occurred, they may be separated for some time 

 without losing the power of giving a current when brought 

 together again. The phenomena are analogous to those ot 

 phosphorescence.— On the trepanation and evacuation of long 

 bones in cases of osteitis of neuralgic form, by M. Gosselin. — 

 Fall of a meteorite on 12th May, 1874, at Sersukow, in Russia, 

 by M. Daubree. It weighs ninety-eight kilogrammes, and is 

 of the oligosidere type.— On the carpellary theory according to 

 the IrideK (second part), by M. Trecul.--On the rotatory 

 power of quartz in the ultra violet spectrum, by M. Croullebois. 

 —On the laws which govern reactions with direct addition, by 

 M. y. Markovnikoff. — On a case of oxidation in the cold state, of 

 acetic acid in neutral or weakly alkaline liquids, in presence of 

 nitrates and phosphates of soda and potash, by M. Mehay. — 

 Process for artificial cooling of considerable masses of air by 

 contact with a cold liquid, by MM. Mignon and Rouart. In a 

 candle manufactory at Amsterdam, they use a cooled solution of 

 chloride of calcium, which descends on the uppermost of a series 

 of plates rotated with the axis of a cylinder between discs pro- 

 jected from the cylinder -wall, thus giving a continuous finely- 

 divided cascade. Through this passes 26,000 kilogrammes of 

 air in an hour, and a building of 3,051 cubic metres' capacity has 

 thus been kept, in September, rt 12° or 13° C— On the sexual 

 generation of the Vorticellians, by M. Balbiani.— M. Petit and 

 M. Godet presented notes on treatment of Phylloxera. — M. 

 Hugo, one on a transformation of the law of Bode, regarding 

 the distances of the planets. — M. Brachet, on an improvement 

 of Gramme's machine, a modification in the microscope, and a 

 process for rendering ordinary glass fluorescent.— M. Varssin- 

 Chardanne submitted several memoirs on aerial navigation. — 

 M. Marchand described his process of aerial navigation.— The 

 Secretary quoted from a work of M. Mouchot's in 1869, where 

 he refers to the ancient Roman method of utilising solar heat. — 

 The Secretary also noticed a second edition of " Preliminary 

 notions for a treatise on the construcdon of ports in the Mediter- 

 ranean," by M. Cialdi. — Magnetic map of France for 1875, by 

 M. Marie Davy. This note gives tables of declination and 

 annual variation for different districts. — Observations of the 

 Perseides, made on Aug. 10, 1875, at Spoix (Cote d'Or), by M. 

 Gruey. — On a chloride of silver pile composed of 3,240 elements, 

 by MM. Warren de la Rue and H. W. Miiller.— On a successful 

 case of trepanation for an osteitis of neuralgic form, in a flat 

 bone— the frontal— by M. Pingaud.— On the frequency of earth- 

 quakes relatively to the age of the moon, by M. Perrez. He 

 finds evidence that during the last century and a quarter, earth- 

 quakes have been more frequent at syzygies than at quadratures. 

 — M. Rivet transmitted a note from Martinique on earthquake 

 shocks there and the electric phenomena which preceded them 

 in telegraph wires.— M. Montucci presented a note on the hypo- 

 thesis of a terrestrial central fire, and M. Noirit one on an auto- 

 matic dredger. 



CONTENTS pagk 

 Sixth Report of the Science Commission. By Rev. W. Tuck- 

 well 5. 



Drew's "J uMMoo AND Kashmir (^iV/4///«,r^ra^zV«j) ceo 



OuK Book Shelf :— / • . ■ 55" 



Blake's " Zoology for Students " cr. 



Letters to the Editor :— 



"Instinct and Acquisition."— George J. Romanes 553 



Curious Australian and. N. American Implement.— O.^T. Mason 



{With Illustrations) ", ^ _ ^^^ 



Our Astronomical Column :— ■ • • • o:> 



Double Stars, (i)/ Eridani c?. 



(2) o. 2 387 • ; • • ^^* 



The Minor Planets i ........ siS 



'^'^'^^ J«-^'^^ the "Challenger." By Dr. George J. Allman, 



F-RS jH- 



Nordenskjold's Arctic Expedition .' r^^ 



Science in Germany i ...'.! 557 



Among the Cyclometers and some other Paradoxer's \lVit'h 



Illustration) j-g 



International Meteokologv !!!''.'.'' 560 



Notes ! ..'...' 561 



On the Variations of the Electromotive Force of a New 



Form of Leclanche's Cell By S. A. Saunder . . . . 564 

 Our Botanical Column :— 



Exotic Timber-trees in Mauritius 565 



Bamboo as a Paper Material , . . 565 



cikntific Serials 565 



OCIETIES AND ACADEMIBS '...'... St 



