620 



NATURE 



[Oct. 23, 1879 



tories ai Sderostoma syngatnus, Dies., and Stroiigylus pergracilis. 

 Cob., supposed to produce the so-called "gapes " in poultry and 

 other birds, and also the grouse disease. Messrs. Stainton and 

 McLachlan, both objected to the Society dealing with subjects 

 relating to the Entozoa which could in no case be considered as 

 entomology, for the study of which the Society was founded, and 

 considered that the matter would have been more properly placed 

 in the hands of the Linnean or Zoological Societies. — Mr. Philip 

 Hy. Gosse, F. R.S., of Torquay, was"elected an Ordinary Member. 

 — Mr. McLachlan exhibited specimens of the hemipterous insect, 

 Anthocoris nemorum, reported to be doing great damage to hops 

 growing in the neighbourhood of Canterbury, but the exhibitor 

 suggested that it was on the hops in search of aphides or other 

 small insects, and therefore beneficial to the hop-grower. He 

 also exhibited examples of the larva; of one of the Embida found 

 by Mr. Wood Mason at Jubbulpore. Mr. McLachlan further 

 called attention to the sculptured stones on the shores of Lake 

 Leman, previously referred to and considered by Prof. Forel to 

 be due to the action of trichopterous larvse. From a recent 

 examination of many similar stones on the shores of Lake 

 Neuchatel Mr. McLachlan inclined to the opinion that the 

 markings were caused by MoUusca. — Mr. Pascoe exhibited a 

 specimen of a species of the Acridiidt?rem3.i]i.a.hle for its aquatic 

 habits, which was found in some numbers on the surface of a pool 

 nearJPara.— The Rev. A. E. Eaton exhibited larvze, pupse, and 

 cases of species of Hydroptila (restricted) collected in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Haute Savoie, describing their habits and refer- 

 ring to a case of synonymy to which they had given rise. — Sir John 

 Lubbock exhibited a specimen of Orchesella rufesccns taken in 

 Kent, being a species of Collembola new to Britain. — Mr. E. 

 Boscher exhibited a coloured drawing showing the extreme forms 

 of two varieties of the caterpillar of Smerinthus ocdlatus, and 

 remarked on their food-plants and habits. — The following 

 papers were either reader communicated : — "Descriptions of 

 Phytophagous Coleoptera," by Mr. J. S. Baly ; "Descriptions 

 of New Sphingidse," by Mr. A. G. Butler ; and "On the Affinity 

 of the Genus Polyctenes, West, with Description of _ a New 

 Species," by Mr. C. Waterhouse. 



Royal Microscopical Society, October 8. — Dr. Beale, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Prof. Martin Duncan and four 

 other gentlemen were elected Fellows, and eleven nominations 

 were made for the November meeting. — Several valuable dona- 

 tions to the Society were announced, consisting of a revolving 

 table, a ruling machine, and a clock, and of books, apparatus, and 

 slides, for which special votes of thanks were given to the donors. — 

 Mr. J. Beck read a paper on the structure of the scale of a spe- 

 cies of Mormo, Mr. Gilburt on the morphology of vegetable 

 tissues, and Dr. Stolterforth on a new species of the genus 

 Eueampia. — In the discussion on the papers the President, Mr. 

 Stewart, Mr. Be'ck, Mr. Gilburt, Dr. Edmunds, and Mr. Crisp 

 took part. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, October 15. — M. Daubree in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On the present state 

 and the future of thermo-chemistry, by M. Berthelot. The 

 author presented his new work, " Essai de Mecanique chimique 

 f ondee sur la Thermochimie, " comprising the matter of some 300 

 memoirs published in the Annalesde Chimie, &c. The first of the 

 two volumes treats of calorimetry : its first part expounding the 

 theoretical rules, its second experimental methods, while its 

 third contains numerical data accumulated during the last sixty 

 years by physicists and chemists, on heats of combination and 

 of physical changes and on specific heats. The first part of the 

 second volume comprises the general study of chemical combina- 

 tion and decomposition, and principally that of systems in 

 equilibrium between two contrary tendencies. The next part 

 deals with the fundamental object of the work, the prevision of 

 reciprocal actions of substances, and the rules by which it is 

 determined, which are deduced from the principle of maximum 

 work. This simple principle separates effects due to chemical 

 energies, between particles of ponderable matter, and foreign 

 energies between ponderable matter and the etheric;medium. This 

 separation is (in the author's opinion) the chief original feature of 

 the work. The prevision of phenomena, from numerical data of 

 thermo-chemistry seems to him destined to work great changes in 

 chemical science. — Regular alignments of joints or diaclases, in 

 the tertiary strata of the environs of Fontainebleau ; their relation 

 with certain features of relief of the grovmd, by M. Daubree. — 

 M.Marey announced, by letter, that he had received an elec- 

 trical Gymnotus alive from Para. Having recoTcred from the 



fatigues of the voyage, it now gives strong discharges when 

 touched ; it also grows tame and eats gudgeons offered it. It is 

 placed in an aquarium at 25° C. The discharges are not so 

 violent as those of a gymnotus received last year, which, 

 wounded and ill, died soon after being experimented with, and 

 which was probably frightened and angry when touched. — The 

 President announced, with regret, the death of M. De Tefs: n. 

 Member of the Section of Geography and Navigation. — Produc- 

 tion of a new manure capable of meeting the requirements of 

 agriculture, by M. De Molon. He utilises wrack or seaweed, 

 mixing them, in successive layers, in pits, with jjulverised phos- 

 phate of lime, in proportions suitable for fermentation. The 

 mixture is allowed to ferment six weeks to two months, according 

 to the season, and if the decomposition of organic matter is not 

 completed then, the compost is mixed anew for further fermen- 

 tation. The manure thus produced contains, besides phosphate of 

 lime, rendered very assimilable, the fertilising elements, nitrogen, 

 mineral salts, potash, soda, and magnesia. — A note by General 

 Ibaiiez, accompanying the second volume of ' ' Memoirs of the 

 Geographical and Statistical Institute of Spain," was presented. 

 — On the separation of roots of an algebraic equation with 

 numerical coefficients, by M. Laguerre. — Experiments on the 

 electric discharge of the chloride of silver battery, by Messrs. 

 Warren de la Rue and Miiller. — Action of metallic nitrates on 

 monohydrated nitric acid, by M. Ditte. Certain nitrates com- 

 bine with the acid named to form acid salts. Others (of which 

 nitrate of magnesia is a type) are fused, under heat, in their 

 water of crystallisation, which is then liberated along with nitric 

 acid, and there remains a matter containing still more or less 

 water, neutral nitrate, and either a sub-nitrate or an oxide. On 

 contact with the monohydrated acids, the sub- salts are changed 

 into neutral nitrates, setting at liberty some water, which is add 3d 

 to what the matter still contains, and which cannot be separated 

 without decomposing the matter entirely. (The nitrates of man- 

 ganese, zinc, alumina, iron, copper, and manium, also belong to 

 this group). A third, and the largest group of nitrates, are simply 

 insoluble or extremely little soluble in the acid considered. 

 Nitrate of lead may be taken as a type. — On nitrate of silicium, 

 by M. Schutzenberger. — On the physiological action oi Strych- 

 nea of South America, by M. Jobert. He has tried several of 

 these, and finds they all act similarly ; they are not tetanising, 

 like the strychne^ of Asia. They quickly affect the motor- 

 nervous system, not affecting the sensibility and the circulation. 

 — On the treatment of sympathetic ophthalmia, by section of the 

 ciliary nerves and the optic nerve, in place of removal of the eye, 

 by M. Boucheron. — On the innervation and circulation of tlie 

 breast, by M. Laffont. The breast contains true dilator nerves, 

 as well as those which, when excited, cause increase in the 

 quantity of milk'secreted. — Origin and morphological value of 

 the different pieces of the labium in Orthoptera, by M. Chatin , 



CONTENTS Paoe 



The Ihtra-Mercueial Plamet Question ......... 537 



Australasia . 59S 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Oldliam's " Geological Glossary for the Use o£ Students ** , . . f 01 



Reyer's '* Ueber die Tcktonik der Vulcane von Boliinen" . . . 601 

 *'An Essay on Spiritual Evolution considered in its Bearing upon 



Modem Spiritualism, Science, and Religion " . , 602 



Letters to the Editor; — ■ 



Sun-Spots in Earnest.— PlAzzi Smyth 602 



Climatic Effects of the Present Eccentricity. — James Croll . . 602 



Greenwich Meteorological Observations. — Alexander Buchan . 602 



Rag-Bushes.— S. P. 602 



The Theory of Hailstorms.— J. A. B. Oliver 603 



Underground Tides. — Morris B. Belknap 603 



The Uses of Tails. — Lawson Tait 603 



Due Astronomical Colu.mn:— 



Binary Stars 603 



The Satellites of Mars 603 



The Minor Planet, Pandora 604 



Palisa's Comet 604 



Geographical Notes 604 



The Planets of the Season. By Rev. T. W. Webb 605 



Noi^denskjold's Arctic Voyages (^^i//i ///wfi?ra/iV;«) .... 606 

 Hering's Theoky of the Vision of Light amd Colours. By Dr. 



William Polk, F.R.S «" 



Alfred Henry Gakrod 613 



John MiERs, F.R.S *'■• 



Notes ^'4 



The Sanitary Congress ^'7 



University and Educational Intelligence 619 



Scientific Serials ^^^ 



Societies and Academies *^° 



