24 



NATURE 



\May I, 1879 



aves, among extinct forms of life, gives every ground for hoping 

 that, before long, the transition between the lowest mammalia at 

 present known and the simpler vertebrata maybe similarly traced. 

 The preceding remarks are intended to direct attention to the 

 indications of the characters of these pro-mammalian vertebrata, 

 which the evidence at present forthcoming seems to me to 

 suggest. 



In the relatively large size of the brain, and in the absence of 

 teeth, the only existing representatives of the Ornithodelphia 

 present characters which suggest that they are much modified 

 members of the group. On comparing the brain of Echidna, 

 for example, -ftith that of many marsupialia and insectivora, its 

 relative magnitude is remarkable : and, in view of the evidence 

 which is now accumulating, that the brain increases in size in the 

 later members of the same series of mammalia, one may sur- 

 mise that Echidna is the last term of a series of smaller-brained 

 Ornithodelphia. Among the higher vertebrata I think that there 

 is strong reason to believe that edentalous animals are always 

 modifications of toothed forms. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, April 22. — Mr. Bateman, 

 president, in the chair. — The paper read was on dioptric appa- 

 ratus in light-houses for the electric light, by Mr. James T. 

 Chance, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, April 24. — M. Daubrfe in the chair. 



— The following papers were read : — On the condition of the 

 roadstead of Port Said, by M. De Lesseps. The bottom appears 

 to have reached a state of equilibrium, and the dredging opera- 

 tions carried out annually will suffice to maintain this state. The 

 sand deposits, opposed by dredging, are chiefly formed to the 

 north and north-east of the large jetty, in a region reaching about 

 800 to 1,000 metres from its base. Beyond this, as also to the 

 west, the deposits are more muddy, and are carried away by the 

 action of the sea. M. De Lesseps also spoke hopefully of the 

 Congress to meet on May 15, for determining the best course for 

 an inter-oceanic canal (which he thinks will be achieved before 

 the close of this century). — Complementary researches on the 

 products of distillation of alcohols, by MM. Pierre and Puchot. 

 The authors reproduced synthetically most of the phenomena 

 observed, by operating on aldehydes. — On the navisphere, a 

 nautical instrument, by M. De Magnac. This gives, without 

 calculation, and in a few seconds, the names of the stars that are 

 .-ibove the horizon at a given moment ; also very approxi- 

 mately, the altitudes and azimuths of these stars ; also the 

 Kngle of route for going from one point to another by the 

 arc of a great circle, and the distance between these points. 

 The instrument has been tried on the steamship Washington 

 with excellent results. — Experimental researches on the metallic 

 "rains of sporadosideric meteorites, by M. Meunier. The grains 

 are essentially angular and branching, and do not seem to have 

 passed through fusion. They often form envelopes round stony 

 elements of cosmic rock. The Greenland masses of native iron 

 (whose grains are of this character) cannot be thought the pro- 

 duct of reduction of the dolerite by the lignite through which 

 they have been erupted. M. Meunier considers them brought 

 from a great depth with ordinary basalt, in which they had been 

 embedded. — On the artificial production of bioxide of man- 

 :;anese, by M. Gorgeu. Artificial bioxide, having all the 

 properties of polianite and pyrolusite, was got by heating, gently 

 and long, at a temperature of 155° to 162°, nitrate of manganese 

 in a glass phial placed in a bath of oil or paraffin. Other methods 

 were tried without success. The authors are of opinion that, in 

 formation of polianite and pyrolusite, the iron suspended in the 

 very fluid mass of fused nitrate of manganese was decanted 

 before decomposition of the nitrate occurred ; and the same with 

 p.ll other powdery products mixed with the nitrate. — On tritnng- 

 • tales, by M. Lefort. — On the methodic employment of coloured 

 L'iasses in achromatopsy, by M. Conrsserant. May not the ex- 

 clusive excitation of certain nerve elements of the retina cause to 

 be produced and accumulated, in certain elements in repose, a 

 quantity of work which will manifest itself in the form of 

 variously coloured light, when these rested elements, solicited in 

 turn, come into action ?— Observations of Jupiter's satellites, 

 at the Toulouse Observatory in 1878, by M. Baillaud. 

 — Formation of a function, F{x), possessing the property 

 P\<^ (J^)] = F(x), by M. Appel.— Letter to M. Dumas on the 

 apparatus of Lavoisier, by M. Truchot. The Conservatoire 

 des Arts et Metiers contains about a dozen of Lavoisier's instru- 

 ments, chiefly relating to synthesis of water and calorimetry. 



But this is not all that remains ; his chemical laboratory and 

 physical cabinet have been piously preserved by his family. 

 They are now in possession of M. de Chazelles, at Caniere, 

 near Aigue-perse (Puy de Dome), and M. Truchot has made 

 an ^inventory of them, which he here gives briefly. Many 

 of the instruments are of great interest. — Chemical func- 

 tion of anhydrous acetic acid, by M. Loir. It presents 

 the general properties characterising aldehydes. — On nitro- 

 soguanidine, by M. Jousselin. He indicates a method of 

 obtaining it in considerable quantities, and describes several of 

 its reactions. — On the value of certain chemical agents employed 

 in dyeing with aniline black, by M. Witz. The proved inertia 

 of chromium in mixtures with chlorates contrasts singularly 

 with the marvellous energy of vanadium, the industrial use of 

 which presents the greatest economical advantages. — On the 

 formation of hail, by M. Oltromare. Suppose the temperature 

 of a considerable cloudy mass (formed by cooling and conden- 

 sation of saturated air and electricity keeping the molecules 

 apart) to go down to - 14°, implying a state of surfusion, — and 

 the electricity of the mass suppressed by discharge, the mole- 

 cules then clashing together will be changed into pieces of ice 

 more or less coherent. — On the amyloid appearance of ceUulose 

 in champignons, by M. de Seynes. — On the mode of formation 

 of biliary canaliculi in hepatitis, and the consecutive production 

 of tubulated glands in the liver of the rabbit, by MM. Nicati 

 and Richaud. — M. Jaubert claimed priority with regard to the 

 MM. Henry's new catadioptric telescope. M. Faye pointed out, 

 however, that MM. Henry did not seek to modify the optical 

 power of reflectors by addition of a large refracting lens, but 

 simply to close the tube so as to suppress movements of the 

 interior air. — M, Larry presented the catalogue of the South 

 Kensington Loan Collection (third edition), accompanied with 

 a French Guide. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, March 6. — The following 

 among other papers were read : — On the new recurrence of 

 halotrichite and melanterite at Idria, by Prof. Zepharovich. — On 

 the electrical perforation of glass, by Prof. Waltenhofen. — On 

 the decomposition of formiate of ammonium at a high tempera- 

 ture, by Herr Andreasch. — On determination of the co-efficient 

 of internal friction in viscous liquids by gravitation experiments, 

 by Herr Schrottner. — On direct introduction of carboxyl groups 

 into phenols and aromatic acids, by Prof. Senhofer and Dr. 

 Brunner. — On facts of experience lying at the base of mechanics, 

 by Herr Heller. — Muscular system of the extremities of th« 

 orang, by Prof. Langer. — On lacunar consumption of striped 

 muscular fibres, by Prof. Klemmsiewicz. — Eruptive rocks of the 

 WMtern Balkans, by Prof. Niedzwiedzki. — Theory of the 

 metallic thermometer, by Herr Jiillig. 



March 13. — Remarks on the telephone, by Prof. Boltzmann. — 

 On a new substance, nitroso-sulphhydantoin, by Prof. Naly and 

 Herr Andreasch. — On resorcin-sulpho-acids, by Herr Fischer. 



CONTENTS Pagk 



CouEs's '* Birds of the Colorado " i 



British Burma 3 



Our Book Shelf: — 



PrejcYalsky's '* From Kulja, across the Tian Shan, to Lob-nor " . 4 



Biyth's *' Manual of Practical Chemistry " 4 



Letters to the Eoitok; — 



On the Spectrum of Brorsen's Comet. — W. H. M. Christie . . 5 



Blue Flame from Common Salt. — A. PaRCY Smith 3 



Did Flowers Kxist during the Carboniferous Epoch ? — R. McLach- 



LAN, F.R.S 5 



Captain Cook's Accuracy. — Capt S. R. Franklin fi 



Sense of Force and Sense of Temperature. — A. K. R C' 



Mr. Preston on General Temperature-Equilibrium. — Wm. MuiR 



The Migration of Birds. — E. H. Pkinglb i 



An Observatory of Newton's. — Chas. Coppock 7 



Waterton's Wanderings — Goat-Suckers. — Rev. Henry H. HiGGnfS 7 



A Statue TO Captain Cook 7 



Thhrmo-Chemical Investigation. By M. M. Pattison Muir * . S 

 Are there no Euckne Floras in the Arctic Regions? By J. 



-Starkie Gardne« >o 



An English Microscope for the Use of Students ofMineralogy 



AMD Petrology. By Frank Rutlry (^FiiA /Uusira^itm) ... 1,? 

 Stellar Magnitudes. By Prof. Edward C. Pickering {H'ii/t 



Dia^TaM) 14 



Geographical Notes i.s 



Notes 16 



Recent Contributions to the History op Dkto sating Agbnts. 



By Prof. Abki.C.B., F.R.S i» 



Intellect in Brutes at 



University and Educational Imtellicencx ....;.... 23 



Scientific ^krials 33 



Societies and Academies 32 



