72 



NATURE 



\May 15, 1879 



by M. Jamin (see last week's Nature). — On criticism of 

 experiments undertaken to determine the direction of the 

 pressure in oblique arches, by M. de la Goturnerie. — On the 

 choice of moduli in hyperelliptic integrals, by M. Borchardt. — 

 The president of the Venus Transit Committee presented fas- 

 cicle B of " Documents relating to Measurement of Photogra- 

 phic Negatives." This includes a thorough discussion of the 

 measurements at St. Paul's Island. — Report on a note relative 

 to the embankment of the Tiber at Rome, presented by M. 

 Dausse. Instead of trying to obviate inundations by high quay 

 walls, this engineer recommends a partly natural deepening of 

 the bed, securing continuous navigation. He bases his argu- 

 ments on results of a system adopted on the Po and elsewhere, 

 in which the river is narrowed by submersible dykes (within in- 

 submersible ones), and by its thus increased velocity insures a 

 sufiScient draught of water. In flood-time the water-level is 

 lower than formerly, and the expanded river gives rich deposits 

 in the larger bed beyond the submersible dykes. — On the elec- 

 trical inscription of speech, by M. Boudet de Paris. A very 

 sensitive microphonic transmitter is used, in which the carbons 

 are simply held in contact by a small piece of paper folded in 

 the form of V. The receiving telephone has diaphragm and 

 cover removed, a spring fixed at one end on the wood, and at 

 the other end (to which is added a small piece of soft iron), 

 resting on tbe magnet ; a light bamboo style with whalebone ex- 

 tremity is attached to the spring, and gives instructive traces on 

 decalcomanic paper. — Observation of the periodic comet II., 

 1867 (Tempel), made by M. Tempel at Florence Observatory. 

 — On a new form of co-ordinates in the problem of two bodies, 

 by M. Gylden. — On a class of non-uniform functions, by M. 

 Picard. — Theoretical and experimental demonstration of the 

 following definition of temperature : Temperature is repre- 

 sented by the length of calorific oscillation of the molecules 

 of a substance, by M. Pictet. He verifies these two laws : 

 I. The higher the points of fusion, the shorter are the 

 molecular oscillations. 2. The temperatures of fusion of solids 

 corresponding to equal lengths of oscillation, and the product 

 of the lengths of oscillation by the temperatures of fusion, should 

 be a constant number for all solids. — Siren with electromagnetic 

 regulator, by M. Bourbouze. An improvement on an apparatus 

 described December 18, 1876; with a pinion and double rack 

 he can simultaneously bring near both electromagnets to the 

 copper disk or remove them, obtaining any note in the siren. 

 — On a mode of continuous registration of the direction of 

 the wind, by M. Andre. This instrument, constructed by M. 

 Redier, is used at Lyons Observatory. — On the present state of 

 Vesuvius, by M. Semmola. The large crater of 1872 is almost 

 wholly filled up ; the new cone of eruption has grown so that it 

 is now on a level with the old crater, and wll soon be above it 

 Lavas are sometimes poured out on the north side, and seen 

 from Naples. Fumeroles of lava are very frequent and lively 

 on the interior walls of the old crater ; they are all acid. (The 

 products, &c., are described.) — On the laws of dissociation, by 

 MM. Moitessier and Engel. From experiments with hydrate of 

 chloral they find {inter alia) that the dissociation of a substance 

 whose two components are volatile takes place even in presence 

 of one of the products of the dissociation, so long as the tension 

 of this product does not exceed that of dissociation of the sub- 

 stance at the temperature operated with. — On the determination 

 of glucose in the blood, by M. Cazeneuve. — Facts bearing on 

 the history of beer yeast and alcoholic fermentation ; physical 

 and physiological action of some saline substances on normal 

 yeast, by M. Bechamp. The action of acetate of soda is specially 

 studied. — On the form of muscular contraction of the muscles 

 of the crayfish, by M. Richet. Between the principal muscles, 

 that of the tail and that of the claw, there is as considerable a 

 difference as between smooth and striated muscles in vertebrates. 

 • — The cochineals of the young elm, a new genus, Ritsemia pi4pi- 

 fera, by M. Lichtenstein. — Why one sometimes finds plants of 

 limestone associated with those of silica, by M. Contejean. 



May 5. — M. Daubree in the chair. — The following papers 

 were read : — On the heat of formation of cyanogen, by M. 

 Berthelot. Cyanogen (hke acetylene and bioxide of nitrogen) 

 is a substance formed with absorption of heat. The mean 

 number, I32'3 cal., was obtained for its heat of combustion (the 

 equivalent (CjN = 26 grammes) ; this number is somewhat less 

 than Dulong's. — On some derivatives of durol (o-tetramethyl- 

 benzine), by MM. Friedel, Crafts, and Ador. — Experiments for 

 determining the direction of the pressure in a slanting arch, by 

 M. de la Gournerie. — On the itransformations of the second 



order of hyperelliptic functions, which, applied twice succes- 

 sively produce duplication, by M. Borchardt. — On the crystals 

 extracted from cast iron by ether or petroleum, by Prof. 

 Lawrence Smith. The cast iron is treated in a finely divided 

 state. It yields a soluble matter consisting chiefly of sulphur, 

 and crystallising in fine needles, like the matter which the author 

 has separated from meteoritic graphite. M. Berthelot stated he 

 had got like crystals by treating artificial or natural sulphides 

 with ether or alcohol, and he attributed the matter to chemical 

 action of the sulphur on the hydrocarbonised solvent. The 

 results inspire reserve in conclusions as to pre-existence, in 

 meteorites, of those crystallisable hydrocarbonised matters which 

 are capable of extraction by organic solvents. — M. Daubree pre- 

 sented a memoir by M. Abich, on the production and geotechnic 

 conditions of the naphtha region near the Caspian. — Mr. 

 MacCormick was elected correspondent for the section of 

 Rural Economy, in room of the late M. Chevandier deValdrome. 

 — Reflex effects produced by excitation of the sensitive fibres of 

 the pneumogastric and the superior laryngeal on the heart and 

 vessels, by M. Franyois-Franck. The effects are moderation of 

 the heart's action conjointly with constriction of the vessels. 

 — Effects of sulphide of carbon on the radicular system of the 

 vine, by M. Boiteau. He points out certain evils connected 

 with this mode of treatment. The sxilphide destroys organic 

 substances which are in its most concentrated atmosphere. In- 

 jections should be made 30 or 35 ctm. from the stem, and 

 combined so that there should be two (of 10 grammes) per square 

 metre. — Geometrical determination of umbilici of the surface of 

 the wave, by M. Mannheim. — On the equivalence of algebra: 

 forms, by M. Jordan. — On the calculation of perturbations, b 

 M. De Gasparis. — On a theorem of dynamics, by M. Siacci 

 — On the thermal formation of siliciated hydrogen, by M, 

 Ogier. He tried to determine the heat of combustion by] 

 means of free oxygen ; whence he finds the union of Si -^ H, 

 be accompanied by a liberation of heat = -h 24*8 cal., which 

 is near the heat of formation of marsh gas ( -t- 22 cal.). — On the 

 limit of separation of alcohol and water by distillation, by M. 

 Le Bel. Ninety-seven per cent, was attained. — On a new isomer 

 of angelic acid, by M. Duvillier. — Transformation of camphic 

 acid into camphor, by M. De Montgolfier. — On the contractility 

 of blood-capillaries, by M. Rouget. In all vertebrates a con- 

 tractile coat of the same type, modified only in the number of its, 

 elements, envelopes the whole system of vascular blood-canals, 

 including the heart and the capillaries. Contractility (modified) 

 only according to region) is an essential property of all th( 

 system. — On the action of salts of strychnine on gasteropoi 

 molluscs, by M. Heckel. These animals show a remarkable' 

 immunity as regards salts of strychnine. As in vertebrates, the 

 degree of injuriousness of the poison is in inverse ratio of the 

 animal's weight. The toxical phenomena are of the same order 

 as in higher animals, i.e., strychnine is a poison of the nervous 

 system (tetanising). — On the Haptophrya gigantea, a new opaline 

 of the intestine of anouran Batrachians in Algeria, by M. Maupas. 

 — Artificial reproduction of native carburetted iron of Green- 

 land, by M. Meunier. 



CONTENTS Pact 



The Victoria Unive«sity 4$ 



OlGANISMS m THE Blood, AND .THE GsKM Theoky. By Prof. H. 



Charlton Bastian, F.R.S. 50 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Antiquity of Orchids. — D. Wetterhan 53 



Barometric Pressure and Temperature in India. — E. D0UGI.AS 



Archibald (M'lM -C/d^aw): 54 



Insect Galls Buds.— A. .Stephen Wilson 55 



Cyclones.— Joseph John Murphy 56 



Showers of Rain and Gusts of Wind.— A. Mallock 5* 



Phosphorescence. — Walter B. Woodbury 56 



A Large Egg. — E. L 56 



The Iron and Steel Institute 56 



The Meteorological Congr'hss at Rome 57 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Tempel's Comet (1867 II) 59 



Brorsen's Comet . . . 59 



Annuaire pour I'an 1879, public par le Bureau des Longitudes . . 59 



An Inter-Oceanic Canal (With Map) 39 



On the Evolution of the Vertebrata, II. By Prof. Parkek, 



F.R.S. [IVithJtlustrattoHs) 61 



Geockaphical Notes ^4 



Notes ^ 



Recent Contributions to the Histoky or Dkto.>jatino Agents, 



III. ByProf.ABE^C.B., F.R.S «7 



University and Educational Intelligence •> 



Societies and Academies 7^ 



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