I40 



NATURE 



\yune 5, 1879 



the photography of vision, showing from researches made by M. 

 Kuhne and Prof. Boll, that a visual purple pigment existed in the 

 eye, and a theory therefrom of a result similar to that in photo- 

 graphy, viz., a fixation of an image by physical changes in 

 certain minute rods and cones found in some membranes of the 

 retina, the experiments recorded tending to the old theory that 

 the eye of a deceased person or animal retained the last visual 

 impression. 



Statistical Society, May 20. — Mr. Wm. Newmarch, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — The paper read was by Mr. John 

 B. Martin, M.A., banker, of Lombard Street, " On some 

 Effects of a Crisis on the Banking Interest." 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, June 2. — Sir C. Wyville Thomson, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — The following communications were 

 read : — On the carboniferous volcanic rocks of the basin of the 

 Firth of Forth : their structure in the field and under the micro- 

 scope. Second paper, by Prof. Geikie. — Additional observa- 

 tions on the fungus disease affecting salmon, by A. B. Stirling, 

 Conservator of the Anatomical Museum (communicated by Prof. 

 Turner).— On the form and structure of the teeth of Mesoplodon 

 layardi and M. ifficerbyi, by Prof. Turner. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, May 26. — M. Daubrie in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On the refraction of obscure 

 heat, by M. Desains. With a view to getting lenses which will 

 cause to converge to a point rays from the beginning and end of 

 the dark spectrum, he tries to follow and recognise in dark 

 spectra a given group of rays, spite of differences in the ref ringent 

 and dispersive powers of the bodies employed, so as to reach the 

 ab-olute value of the refractions of dark rays of given length in 

 different diathermanous bodies. Hence may be calculated the 

 radii of lenses of flint and crown glass, e.g., which will give the 

 convergence sought. — Chemical researches on the formation of 

 coal, by M. Fremy. He concludes that coal is not an orga- 

 nised substance ; it has taken plant impressions readily, be- 

 cause of its bituminous and plastic nature. The plants which 

 produced coal seem to have first undergone fenty fermentation, 

 which destroyed all vegetable organisation, and the coal was 

 formed at expense of the peat, by a secondary action, produced 

 by heat and pressure. — Determination of the difference of longi- 

 tude between Paris and Berlin, by MM. Loewy and Le Clerc. 

 Astronomers of the t« countries made simultaneous observations 

 in contiiiuous tents, but with instruments and methods of their 

 own choice. The principal differences of method are indicated. 

 From the French observations (in one series of which M. Lcewy 

 was in Berlin and M. Le Clerc in Paris, in the other vice versA), 

 the ultimate value of the difference of longitude with Cassini's 

 meridian was 44m. I3'99s. (careful tests were applied). This 

 showed a difference of c 1 3s. with the German's result, which the 

 authors think due to a slight variation of the optic axis in one 

 or other of the instruments of either mission. From the various 

 longitudes effected in Europe, several values of the longitude 

 between Paris and Berlin may be deduced indirectly, and the 

 authors hope, by discussing these numbers, to arrive at the true 

 value. — On the distribution of work to a distance by electrical 

 means, by M. Tresca. This relates to experiments made at 

 some sugar works. A Gramme machinedriven by a steam-engine, 

 set in action another Gramme machine 400 metres or 650 m. 

 off (as desired), and this latter rotated a drum with cable, which 

 worked a double plough. An effective force of 3 horse-power 

 was thus transmitted. The (copper) wire was formed of nine 

 strands i mm. diameter, giving a section of 7 square mm. The 

 first ^Gramme rotated 1,123 times per minute, the second 890. — 

 On earthquakes which occurred in the East from the seventh to 

 the seventeenth century, by M. Tholozan. According to the 

 data obtained, Persia seems to have been most frequently attacked 

 (the other countries are Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and 

 Magreb) ; but one cannot draw very exact conclusions from 

 the records. M. Tholozan, however, is able to contradict von 

 Hoff's assertion that from the beginning of the thirteenth to the 

 second half of the seventeenth century there was almost com- 

 plete ce-sation of earthquakes in Syria and Judea ; and Quatre- 

 mare's, that the north-east of Africa has been almost always 

 exempt. — M. Gylden was elected Correspondent in Astronomy 

 in room of the late P. Secchi. — On the characteristics of 

 functions, by M. Jordan. — On a new representation of ima- 

 ginary quantities, by M. Dupont. — New demonstration of the 



law of reciprocity, in the theory of quadratic residue;--, by M. 

 Schering. — On the development of cot. x, by M. Le Page. — 

 On the fluorescence of salts of earthy metals, by M. Soret. The 

 liquid was placed in a quartz vessel, on which was concentrated, 

 with a quartz lens, the light of the induction-spark passing, e.g., 

 between cadmium electrodes. — On the determination of calorific 

 wave-lengths, by M. Mouton. The method was that of M. 

 Fizeau, freed from the uncertainty resulting from ignorance of 

 the law of dispersion of double refraction of the plate employed 

 in calorific radiations. — On a peculiar mode of transmission of 

 sound to a distance, by M. Decharme. One may, by a purely 

 mechanical process, transmit 5, 10 . . . metres, the different 

 sounds of a vibrating plate, a tuning-fork, or a stringed instru- 

 ment, by putting these in communication, by means of metallic 

 wires not stretched but in spiral, with suspended sheets of Dutc 

 metal or tin (the fastenings are with wax). — On the diffusion of 

 lithia and its presence in sea-water, by M. Marchand. He 

 claims to have found lithia in sea-water before M. Bunsen did. 

 — On the salts of guanidine, by M. Jousselin. — Experimental 

 researches on the physiological signification of the terminal ner- 

 vous plexus of the cornea, by M. Ranvier. The arrangement 

 seems simply relative to the transparence of the cornea. The 

 nerves themselves are nerves of general sensibility. — On the 

 metamorphosis of cantharides (Lytta vtsicatoria. Fab.), by M. 

 Lichtenstein. — On the body-cavity of sedentary annelids, and 

 their segmentary organs ; some remarks on the genus Phascolo- 

 soma, by M. Cosmovici. — On the Taenia giardi, and on some 

 species of the group of Inermes, by M. Moniez. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, March 20. — The following 

 among other papers were read : — On Cerianthus mcmbranaceus, 

 a contribution to the anatomy of the Actinia, by Dr. von Heider. 

 — Action of salt solutions on aldehydes (continued), by Prof. 

 Lieben and Herr Zeisel. — On the formation of a rational plane 

 curve of the third order on a conic section, by Prof. Weyr. — On 

 the passage of light-rays in a homogeneous ball, by Prof. Lip- 

 pich. — On the chemical composition of pyroxilin and the for- 

 mula of cellulose, by Prof. Eder. — On the relation between 

 heat-radiation and temperature, by Prof. Stefan. — Studies nn 

 ellagic acid, by Prof. Barth and Dr. Goldschmiedt. 



April 3. — On the methods of investigating the polar actions 

 of the electric current in striated muscle, by Prof. Hering. — On 

 the polar actions of the electric current in muscles deprived of 

 nerves, by Dr. Biedermann. — On phosphate of zinc, by Herr 

 Demel. — On the solution of dynamical problems by means of 

 Hamilton's partial differential equation, by Dr. Hocevar. — Con- 

 tribution to a knowledge of copper chloride, by Herr Rosenfeld. 

 — Geological description of North-east Thessaly, by Herr Teller. 

 — On some points in geography and geology of European Tur- 

 key, by Dr. Boue. — Researches on the diffusion of salt solutions, 

 by Herr Schulemeister. — On resorcindisulpho-acid, by Herr 

 Tedeschi. — Action of melting caustic soda on aromatic acids, by 

 Herren Barth and Schreder. — On derivatives of a phenoldisul- 

 pho-acid, by HeiTen Barth and Schmidt. — On a local influence 

 on the magnetic observations in Vienna in the period 1860-71. 



CONTENTS pase 



Science Teaching in London Board Schools 117 



Noad's ** Electricity." By Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson . . . 118 



Lenz's Sketches from West Africa '^^.^Hl 



Letters to the Editor : — .. ^^hI 



The Average Flush of Excitement.— F. G, '^'^11 



Lunar Crater. — John Bikmingham 121 ^^ 



A Remarkable Meteor. — Robt. J. Ellery i2t 



Disease in Salmon. — W. Walker i2r 



Inherited Memory. — James Ellis 122 



A Golden Eagle and a Decoy. — Audacity of a Hawk.— Prof. A. 



LakIS 122 



Intellect in Brutes. By G::orge J. Rcmanes 122 



Notes on the Fauna of the Solomon Islands 125 



The Sorting Demon of Maxwell. By Sir William Thomson, 



LL.D., F.R.S. , J26 



Paolo Volpicelli i«6 



An American Suggestion 127 



The Standing Stones of Callanish. By W. J. Millar (With 



Itlustrations) 127 



Ot;R Astrono.micalColu.mn: — 



Biela's Comet in 1879 129 



Geographical Notes 130 



The First Observations of Sun-Spots. By Alexander Hosie . 131 



National Water-Supply Exhibition 13* 



Natural Science Degrees at Oxford 13* 



Notes 133 



Prehistoric Investigations in Austria 135 



Scientific Serials '3^ 



Societies AND Acadbmies (JF/M/ffwi/ra^iVws) , . 136 



