264 



NATURE 



{Jan. 10, li 



which have been identified beyond doiiibt with members of the 

 Pikermi fauna. Amongst them are the Ictitherium (three 

 species), a mastodon {M. pentelici), a rhinoceros, a hipparion 

 {H. mediterraneuni), Sus erymanthius, and seven antelopes. 

 Representatives were also found of the two families of Edentates 

 still living in the Old World ; a gigantic Ruminant belonging to 

 the giraffe family, but forming a new genus {Samotherium 

 boissieri. Major) ; and an ostrich {Strut hio karat heodoris, Major), 

 equal in size to the largest members of the Struthio camelus 

 group. 



Berlin. 

 Physical Society, November 30, 1888. — Prof. Kundt, 

 President, in the chair. — Prof. Neesen spoke on a photographic 

 method of registering the oscillations of projectiles. The 

 conical end of the projectile is hollow, and at the point of it 

 there is a small round opening ; a sensitive photographic plate 

 is placed in the cavity of the projectile. If the latter is now 

 fired towards the shining sun, a ray of light must fall on the 

 centre of the sensitive plate as long as the projectile moves 

 horizontally ; any deviation in a vertical or horizontal direction 

 must produce an elongated image on the plate, and from this 

 the deviation of the projectile from its true flight may be 

 determined. If the projectile rotates in its flight a spiral will be 

 obtained on the plate. The speaker had made some preliminary 

 observations on rotating and vibrating hollow conical balls, and 

 exhibited the negatives which he had obtained. The rotation 

 of projectiles presents great difificulties, inasmuch as in a series 

 of experiments the sensitive plate must not participate in the 

 rotatory motion. The arrangements necessary for securing this 

 result were described. Experiments as above described must be 

 of the greatest interest in connection with the theory of pro- 

 jectiles, since up to the present time but little is known of the 

 extent of the vertical and horizontal deviation during flight. — 

 Prof. Neesen also gave an account of a stroke of lightning whose 

 effects he witnessed while on a journey last summer. The 

 lightning struck the centre of the roof of a two-storied house, 

 passed along externally for a short distance, then made a round 

 hole through the wall, and came upon the hook from which a 

 mirror was suspended ; it then passed over to the glass, fusing it 

 at the upper corner, in the middle where the two halves of the 

 glass joined, and at the lower opposite corner, and finally passed 

 out again through a round hole in the wall below the glass. The 

 way in which the latter was injured by the lightning was 

 especially remarkable, as also was the way in which the lightning, 

 instead of passing straight along the outside of the wall, made its 

 way by one hole to the looking-glass in the room, and then passed 

 out again by another similar opening. 



Physiological Society, December 7, 1888.— Prof, du Bois- 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — Prof. Munk continued the 

 communication which was interrupted at the last meeting of the 

 Society, on the physiology of the thyroid. 



December 21, 1888. — Prof, du Bois-Reymond, President, 

 in the chair. — t)r. Earth gave a detailed description of his 

 method of preparing the membranous labyrinth, and ex- 

 hibited a series of preparations which had been made by 

 this method. He intends to study fully the minute anatomy of 

 the internal ear with the help of these preparations. — Dr. Weyl 

 gave an account of his researches made with a view to determin- 

 ing the toxic or harmless action of the colouring-matters derived 

 from tar. Inasmuch as the German Statute-book only forbids 

 the use of two of these colouring-matters derived from tar as being 

 poisonous, the speaker had made a systematic examination of an 

 extended series of these colours, including such as might possibly 

 be employed for the coloration of food-materials and might hence 

 be a matter of dispute. He first tested the nitroso-and nitro- 

 derivatives of benzol and phenol, and found the first to be 

 non- poisonous, taking phenyl green as a typical representative. 

 The nitro-derivatives which he examined — namely, picric acid, 

 dinitro-kresol,and Martius's yellow — hefound to be poisonous ; the 

 sulpho-compounds of the last-named colouring-matter, of which 

 two are now articles of commerce — namely, naphthol-yellow S, 

 and brilliant-yellow S — he found to be harmless. This fact 

 points to a relationship between the chemical constitution and 

 physiological action of these bodies. He busied himself further 

 with an examination of the azo-colours, of which many hundred 

 are used commercially. These fall naturally into two groups — 

 namely, one in which the colouring substances contain only one 

 azo-gioup, and a second in which they contain the azo-group 

 twice, or as it may be called the Congo-group. These groups 

 are distinguished physiologically by the fact that the first does 

 not impart any colour to the urine, while the second does ; they 



are further distinguished technically by the fact that the first 

 group can only be used for dyeing by the help of a mordant, 

 whereas the second does not require the use of any mordant. 

 Dr. Weyl first investigated the action of substances containing 

 one azo-group — namely, aurantia or imperial-yellow of commerce 

 (hektanitro-diphenylamine) ; this colouring-matter was non- 

 poisonous, and remained so after it had become soluble by the 

 introduction of the sulpho-group (HSO3) into its molecule. In 

 the above researches the speaker used fibres of wool or silk, 

 either mordanted or not according to the nature of the colouring- 

 matter, for the purpose of determining their presence in the 

 fluids and urine from the animals on which he was experimenting, 

 dipping the threads into the fluids : he found that the com- 

 mencing coloration of the fibres was the most certain sign of the 

 presence of the colouring-matter. 



Note. — In Nature for December 13, p. 167, column 2, the 

 sixth line from the bottom of the page, instead of " fall " read 

 "rise," 



Amsterdam. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, December 29, 1888. — Mr. 

 J. A. C. Oudemans criticized the value of the retrogradation of 

 the plane of Saturn's ring, determined by Bessel in 1835, and 

 generally adopted also for the plane of the orbits of the inner 

 seven satellites of that planet. He remarked that Bessel's value 

 3" "848, being exceeded by its mean error, is not trustworthy. He 

 prefers the theoretical value, for which he finds o""25. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



A Text-book of Elementary Biology : R. J. H. Gibson (Longmans). — 

 Chance and Luck, new edition : R. A. Proctor (Longmans). — The Photo- 

 grapher's Diary and Desk Book, 1889 (Wyman). — A Text-book of Physio- 

 graphy : E. Hull (Deacon) —The Telephone : W. H. Preece and J. 

 Maier (Whittaker). — Triennial Calendar of the Tungwen College (Peking). — 

 Descriptive Catalogue of the Sponges in the Australian Museum, Sydney ; 

 R. von Lendenfeld (Taylor and Francis).— Corona ; the Bright Side of the 

 Universe: F. T. Mot- (Williams and Norgate). — Manual of Orchidaceous 

 Plants, Part 4, Cypripedium (Veitch). — Explosion of an Air Receiver at 

 Ryhope Colliery (Newcastle-upon-Tyne). — The Anatomy of Megascolides 

 australis (the Giant Earth-worm of Gippsland) : W. Baldwin Spencer (Mel- 

 bourne). — Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, January (Williams and 

 Norgate). — Mind, January (Williams and Norgate) — Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science, December (Churchill). — Quarterly Journal of 'Royal 

 Meteorological Society, October (Stanford). — Geological Magazine, January 

 (Triibner). — Journal of Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians, No. 

 75, vol. xvii. (Spon). — Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, 

 Japan, vol. ii. Part 4 (Tokyo). — Proceedings of the Society for Psychical 

 Research, Part 13 (Triibner). 



CONTENTS. Page 



The Late William Denny. By Francis Elgar . . 241 



Memory. By Dr. W. C. Coupland 244 



The Species of Ficus of the Indo-Malayan Archi- 

 pelago 246 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Lcewy : "Questions and Examples on Elementary 



Experimental Physics" 247 



James: " The Unknown Horn of Africa " 247 



Abercromby : " Seas and Skies in Many Latitudes " 247 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



Alpine Haze.— Antoine d'Abbadie; Dr. George 



F. Burder 247 



On the Use of the Words " Mass " and " Inertia " — 



a Suggestion. — Prof. A. M. Worthington . . . 248 



Eight True Ribs in Man.— Prof. D. J. Cunningham 248 



" The Cremation of the Dead."— A. B. Basset . . 249 



" Degradation " of Energy.— H. G. Madan . . . 249 



Hares Swimming.— Gets. Deacon 249 



The Recent Solar Eclipse 249 



Recent Works on Algae. By Mrs. Mary P. Merri- 



field 250 



The Journal of Morphology • . . . . 252 



The Bald-headed Chimpanzee. {Illustrated.) . . . . 254 



Notes 255 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



January 13-19 258 



Gtographical Notes 259 



Some Annelidan Affinities in the Ontogeny of the 

 Vertebrate Nervous System. {Illustrated.) By Dr. 



J. Beard 259 



The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society . . 261 



A Relic of Ancient Mexico 262 



Scientific Serials 262 



Societies and Academies 262 



B 3oks, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 264 



