596 



NATURE 



{Oct. 16, 1879 



matriculation. The examination will begin on Friday, November 

 21, at 10 A.M. Papers will be set in (l) Mechanical Philosophy 

 and Physics ; (2) Chemistry ; (3) Physiology. Candidates are 

 not expected to offer more than two of these sul)jects. There 

 will be a practical examination in one or more of the above 

 subjects. 



The Science Scholarships at Exeter College have been awarded 

 to Mr. Alfred Evans, of Aberystwith College, and Mr. Percy 

 Morton, of Manchester Grammar School. Proxime Mr. 

 Makinder. The examination was held in Biology, Chemistry, 

 and Physics. An extra scholarship was awarded this year on 

 account of the proficiency of the candidates. 



Mr. J. J. Hummel, who has studied at the Polytechnic 

 School at Zurich, and in the Chemical Laboratory at the Royal 

 Institution, Manchester, under the late Mr. Grace Calvert, and 

 lias had wide experience in the art of dyeing at some of the best 

 establishments in the kingdom, has been appointed to the post of 

 instructor in the recently founded School of Dyeing, at the 

 Yorkshire College. 



Mr. a. J. Bentley, M.A., Fielden Lecturer at Owens Col- 

 lege, has been appointed Principal of Firth College, Sheffield ; 

 we are told there were "forty applications for the post." The 

 college is to be opened next week by Prince Leopold. 



On Wednesday last week, the Rev. J. Percival, M.A., LL.D., 

 who, from the establishment of Clifton College, and for seventeen 

 years, was its popular head-master, and to whose exertions the 

 high position that College has taken among the public schools of 

 the country is mainly due, was presented by the citizens of 

 Bristol with a very handsome and valuable service of plate on 

 his leaving that city for Oxford, he having been elected to the 

 office of Principal of Trinity College, in that University. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, Reiidiconti, 

 vol. xii. fasc. xvi. — Periodical variations of tension of atmo- 

 spheric aqueous vapour and comparative humidity in the climate 

 of Milan, deduced from thirty years' observations at the Brera 

 Observatory, by Signor Schiaparelli. — Further studies on the 

 pelagic fauna of the Italian lakes, by Prof. Pavesi. 



The Rivisia Scientifico Industriale (No. 16), contains the 

 following papers : — On the power of dry and moist air of absorb- 

 ing radiant heat, by Prof. Eugenio Cicognani. — On the diffused 

 vapour in the interior of liquids, by Prof. Giovanni Cantoni. — 

 On the thermal and galvanometric laws of electric sparks pro 

 duced by complete, incomplete, and partial discharges of con- 

 densers, by Prof. Emilio Villari. — On the discovery of nitrous 

 acid in the presence of nitric acid, by Dr. Augusto Piccini. — On 

 a new balance spherometer, by Prof. Domenico Surdi. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, October 16. — M. Daubree in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On the development of 

 the perturbative function, &c. (continued), byM. Tisserand. — On 

 artificial laurite and ferriferous platina, by MM. Sainte-Claire 

 Deville and Debray. Laurite is got by heating to a bright red 

 a mixture of ruthenium and iron pyrites. The sulphur from the 

 pyrites combines with the ruthenium ; the sulphide is dissolved 

 in protosulphide of iron, and crystallises, on cooling, in regular 

 octahedra, like natural laurite, or even in cubical crystals, easily 

 separated from the iron by hydrochloric acid. A crystallised 

 alloy of platina and iron is obtained by heating a mixture of 

 platina and pyrites with borax, and treating with certain acids 

 and potash. — Studies on the effects and the mode of action of 

 substances employed in antiseptic dressings, by MM. Gosselin 

 and Bergeron. The imputrescence of i gr. of blood is secured 

 by a dose of o'oio gr. to o'oi5 gr. of carbolic acid ; with smaller 

 doses the putrefaction is retarded, but not prevented (at least if 

 the dose be not gradually increased). As to the mode of action, 

 the authors consider it is not exclusively by destruction of 

 atmospheric germs (as Lister represents), but by the contact of 

 the antiseptic producing coagulation of albumen. What the 

 authors call the antiseptic alteration of the blood (by addition of 

 a considerable proportion of carbolic acid or alcohol) consists (i) 

 in thickening and yellowing (to the naked eye), and (2) in 

 replacement of the globules by granular masses. This very 



rapidly-produced imputrescence could not be realised in wounds, 

 the dose of antiseptic being too large ; one can merely retard or 

 diminish the putridity, and hope the blood will be absorbed 

 before being altered in septicscmic degree. — On a sporadosideric 

 meteorite that fell on January 31, 1879, at Becasse, Commune of 

 Dun-le-Poelier (Indre), by M. Daubree. The detonation was 

 heard (about midday) at 20 km. distance. A sound as of a distant 

 train preceded it, and it was followed by rumbling as of thundc-. 

 The meteorite (only one) was dug out from about 0*30 m. depi! 

 it must have reached the ground almost vertically, while i 

 trajectory seems to have been from south-south-east to nortli- 

 north-west. It weighed 2'8oo kg., and its form was roughly that 

 of a pyramid with quadrangular base. It seemed to be chiefly 

 formed of peridot and bisilicates (such as pyroxene or enstatite). 

 The metallic grains consisted of nickelLsed iron, accompanied by 

 troilite. It belongs to the sub-group of oligosideres in the 

 sporadosideric group. — On the mathematical theory of changes 

 of brightness of double stars, by M. Gylden. — The mildew, or 

 false American oidium in the vineyards of France, by M. Planchon. 

 — Extract of a letter to M. D'Abbadie, on the operations for 

 junction of the triangulation of Algeria to that of Spain, by M. 

 Perrier. These have been quite successful, and the meridian of 

 France is now extended to the Sahara. The electric light was 

 used in signalling.— On the synthesis of diphenylpropane, and 

 on a new mode of formation of dibenzyl, by M. Silva. — Reaction 

 of the cyanamide with the chlorhydrate of dimethylamine, by M. 

 Tatarinoff. — On the cleistogamic state of Pavonia hastala, Cav., 

 by M. Heckel. Physiologists who, like Pontedera and M. 

 Bonnier, rtpresent the role of nectaries to be that of organs of 

 nutrition of embryos, have to give account of the fact that in 

 the same cleistogamous plant, the close flowers, without nectar, 

 are as fertile as the perfect flowers, sometimes mo! 2 so, ai. 

 sometimes fertile to the exclusion of these others. — Upper sf.nu 

 of Pierrefitte, near Etampes, by M. Meunier. He calls atter.- 

 tion to some new species of moUuscsrepresented there. — On the 

 mineral associations contained in certain trachytes of the ravine 

 of Riveau-Grand, in Mont Dore, by M. Gounard. — M. Chasles 

 presented the first part of a memoir on the history of geodesy in 

 Italy from the most ancient times to the middle of the ninteenth 

 century, by Prof. Riccardi. — M. Larrey presented an English 

 work by Air. Longmore, on wounds by fire-arms. 



CONTENTS Page 



Polar Ice. By H. N. Moseley, F.R.S m 



The Silk Goods of America 574 



Darwinism AND OTHER Essays 575 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Richardson's " Ministry of Health, and other Addresses " . . . 576 



Eden's " Frozen Asia : a Sketch of Modem Siberia" 576 



Tanner's ' Jack's Education ; or, How he Learnt Farming " . . 576 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Greenwich Meteorological Observations. — William Ellis . . . 576 



Saturn's Dusky Ring. — A. A. Common 576 



Suicide of the Scorpion. — Dr. Allen Thomson, F.R.S 577 



Climatic Effects of the Present Eccentricity.— Rev. O. Fisher . . 577 



Does Sargassum Vegetate in the Open Sea ?— Dr. J. J. Wild . . 578 

 The Temple of Nodens in Lydney Park.— CapL S. P. Oliver 



(With Illustration) 579 



Do Bacteria or their Germs exist in the Organs o£ Living Healthy 



Animals? — E. Burke, Jun 580 



Subject-Indexes to Transactions of Learned Bodies.— Jas. B. 



Bailey 580 



Change of Colour in ■ Frogs.— Rev. W. Clement Ley; H. J. 



Carter 580 



Intellect in Brutes.— Rev. Chas. PofHA.M Miles 580 



Butterfly Swarms.- M. B 581 



The Hunting Spider.- Dr. H. F. Hutchinson 581 



Geographical Notes • 581 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Biela's Comet 583 



The Galleries of the Cutting Ants of Texas. By G. T. 



Bettanv 583 



Routes TO China OT.i Asam. By S. E. Peal ( ;*7<A J/(1» . . . . 5S3 



Karl Friedrich Mohr 585 



The International Astronomical Society. By Prof. K. WiN- 



necke 58s 



Influence of Electricity on Vegetation 587 



The Diffusion of Liquids. By W. Chandler Roberts, F.R.S. . 587 



The Parkes Museu.m of Hygiene s88 



Notes 589 



So.ME Recent Experiments on the Crystallisation of Super- 

 saturated Saline Solutions. V" John M. Thomson (JVith 



Illustrations) 59= 



On THE Early Stages or THE C^ ;ans „' / r-' ^'^ 



Philosophy or the Pupation of t . ie Butterflies. By Prof. C. 



V. Riley 59'* 



University and Edocational Intelligence 595 



Scientific Serials 59* 



Societies and Academies 59<> 



