April!':,, 1889] 



NATURE 



623 



^ave me the formula; by means of whicli the induced currents 

 can be calculated. This investigation is given in an appendix 

 to the paper. The result is very interesting. If the earth is 

 treated as a conducting sphere, the observed reduction in 

 mplitude is accounted for, but that reduction should be 



companied by a change of phase which is not given by 



iservation. We c?.n reconcile all facts if we assume, as 

 suggested by Prof. Lamb, the average conductivity of the 

 outer layers of the earth to be very small, so that the reduction 

 in amplitude is chiefly due to currents induced in the inner 

 layers. If the conductivity inside is sufficiently large, a con- 

 siderable reduction in amplitude would not be accompanied by 

 I sensible change of phase. We have arrived, therefore, at 

 the following result : — 



The vertical forces of the diurnal varia'ioii can be accounted 

 '<-;- ij we assume an outside cause of the -■ariatio)t, 7uhich induces 

 •! 'rents in the earth, and if the earth's conductivity is greater in 



■: lozoei- strata than near the surface- 



Prof. Balfour Stewart's suggestion that convection currents in 

 the atmosphere moving across the lines of the earth's magnetic 

 forces are the causes of the daily variation, gains much in 

 probability by this investigation. If the daily variation of the 

 barometer is accompanied by a horizontal current in the 

 atmosphere similar to the tangential motion in waves propagated 

 in shallow canals, and if the conductivity of the air is sufficiently 

 good, the effects on our magnetic needles would be very similar 

 to those actually observed. The difficulty as to the conductivity 

 of the air is partly met by the author's investigation of the 

 behaviour of gases through which electric discharges are passing. 



It will be interesting to follow out the investigation, especially 

 with a view of examining the influence of sun-spot variation, j 

 The question of magnetic disturbances is more complicated, j 

 but as magnetic observatories are being established in many 



Mr. A. H. l.verett, containing remarks on the zoo-geographical 

 relationships of the Island of Palawan and some adjacent 

 islands. In this paper it was contended that Palawan and the 

 other islands intervening between Borneo and Mindoro form an 

 integral portion of the Bornean group, and do not naturally 

 belong to the Philippine Archipelago, with which they have 

 hitherto been treated. The writer founded his contention upon 

 the grounds (i) that the islands in question are connected with 

 Borneo by a shallow submarine bank, while they are separated 

 from the Philippines by a sea of over 500 feet depth ; and (2) 

 that a comparison of the Bomean and Philippine elements in the 

 fauna of Palawan, so far as it is known, shows a marked pre- 

 ponderance of the former over the latter element ; while the 

 Philippine forms are also more largely and more profoundly 

 modified than the Bomean species. This fact indicated that 

 they had been longer isolated, and consequently that the fauna 

 of Palawan was originally derived from Borneo, and not from 

 the Ph lippines, though a considerable subsequent invasion of 

 soecies from the latter group had taken place. — A communication 

 was read from Mr. Oldfield Thomas, containing an account of 

 the mammals of Kina Balu, North Borneo, from the collections 

 made on that mountain by Mr. John Whitehead in 1887 and 

 1888, The species represented in Mr. Whitehead's collection 

 were 21 in number, of which six had proved to be new to 

 science. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger read the second of his com- 

 munications on the fishes obtained by Surgeon-Major A. S. G. 

 Jayakar at Muscat, on the east coast of Arabia. The two 

 collections recently received from Mr. Jayakar contained 

 examples of 80 species not included in Mr. Boulenger's former 

 list. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, April 8.— M. Des Cloizeaux, 

 President, in the chair.— Fixation of nitrogen by vegetable soil 



countries the time may not be far distant when we shall be | ^j^h o'r"withou7the aid of leguminous plants, by M.^Berthelot. 

 bring the irregular disturbances withm the reach of ^;;,%°;p,,d°j;3 ^i,h a fresh series of sixty-four methodic experi- 



able to 

 calculation 



The author acknowledges the help he has received from Mr. 

 William Ellis in some ot the reductions ; he has also to thank 

 his assistant, Mr. A. Stanton, for much labour bestowed on 

 making and checking numerical calculations. 



Royal Meteorological Society, April 17.— Dr. W. Marcet, 

 F. R.S., President, in the chair.— The following papers were 

 read :— On the deaths caused by lightning in England and Wales 

 from 1852 to 1880, as recorded' in the returns of the Registrar- 

 General, by Inspector-General R. Lawson. The total number 

 of deaths from lightning during the twenty-nine years amounted 

 to 546, of which 442 were of males, and 104 of females. In 

 consequence of their greater exposure, the inhabitants of rural 

 districts suffer more from lightning than those of towns. It 

 appears also that vicinity to the west and south coasts reduces 

 the chances of injury by lightning, and that distance from the 

 coast and highland seems to increase them. — The diurnal range 

 of the barometer in Great Britain and Ireland, by Mr. F. C. 

 ISayard. The author has reduced the hourly records of the 

 barometer at the nine Observatories, Aberdeen, Armagh, 

 I'.idston, Falmouth, Glasgow, Greenwich, Kew, Stonyhurst, and 



'alencia, during the years 1876-80. The curves of inland places 



I c smoother than those of places on the sea-coast, and the curves 

 ■ A places to the westward are more irregular than those of places 

 to the eastward. As we go from south to north the general ^,,^.^„^ „..^„,. 



tendency of the curve is to get flatter with a lessened diurnal ^he Influence of refraction 'in the reduction of the observations 

 range,— Note on a working model of the Gulf Stream, by Mr, ^^ jj^^ circumpolar stars (Comptes rendus, March il, 1889), are 

 A. W. Clayden. The author showed this interesting model at ^^^^ shown to be equally applicable to the reduction of the 

 work ; it has been constructed to illustrate the formation of ocean observations of transits at any declination. — Direct determina- 

 currents in general and of the Gulf Stream in particular.— On j ^j^jj ^f ^j^g compressibility of glass, crystal, and metals, 

 the rime- frost of January 6 and 7, 1889, by Mr. C. B. Plowright. | j^ 2000 atmospheres, by M. E. H. Amagat. By direct de- 

 The author gives an account of the very heavy rime which | ^^mination is here meant a determination effected without 

 occurred in the neighbourhood of King's Lynn on these days, j employing any formula. The results already communicated in 

 when the fringe of crystals upon twigs and branches of trees was | recent notes were for slight jiressures only ; hence these further 



experiments have been undertaken for the purpose of ascertain- 

 inP whether, under very high pressures, the compressibility ot 



paper 



ments carried out during the year 1888, and fully described in 

 the April number of the Annates de Chimie ct de Physique. 

 They form a sequel to the systematic researches begun by the 

 author in 1883, and tend fully to confirm the views already 

 announced by him on the fixation of free nitrogen in the ground 

 1 effected either with or without the co-operation of luzem, 

 I vetches, and other leguminous plants. He considers the fixation 

 now fully established, and finds in this fact the true interpretation 

 ' of a multitude of phenomena highly important to agriculture.— 

 i Experiments on putrefaction and the formation of manures, by 

 i M. T. Reiset. The more recent experiments here described fully 

 1 confirm the results of those undertaken by the author so far back 

 as i8';4, and show that, in the process of organic decomposition, 

 nitrogen is not fixed, but liberated.— On the identity of erysipelas 

 i and acute lymphangitis, by MM. Verneuil and Clado. 1 he 

 I researches of the authors in the Hospital de la Pitie show that 

 ! these are not two distinct disorders, as is often assumed, but 

 ! merely two forms of the same contagious, infectious, and parasitic 

 ! disease, due to a special microbe easily recognized, isolated, 

 1 cultivated, and inoculated in animals. This microbe, hitherto 

 discovered in ery-ipelas alone, has now also been detected m 

 : acute lymphangitis with all its characters and biological pro- 

 perties —On the influence of refraction in the reduction ot the 

 observations of a meridian transit, by M. G. Rayet. The con- 

 ditions already described by the author in his communication on 



about 2 inches in length. The weight was so great that nearly 

 all the telegraph wires were snapped and an immense number of 

 branches of trees broken off. 



Zoological Society, April 16.— Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — The Secretary exhibited a pair of 

 a fine large Buprestine Beetle of the genus Jtilodis (julodis 

 ffinchi), obtained by Mr. B. T. Ffinch near Karachi ; and a M.o\t- 

 ci'\c\iQt [Gryllotalpa vulgaris), sent by Mrs. Talbot from Bagdad. — 

 .Mr, Sclater made some remarks on the animals he had noticed 

 during a recent visit to the Zoological Gardens of Rotterdam, 

 Amsterdam, and Antwerp. — A communication was read from 



...g whether, under very high pressures, .. . 



glass crystal, &c. , undergoes any considerable diminution 1 he 

 process employed is that adopted by Mr. Buchanan, and after- 

 wards by Prof. Tait in their researches. -On the intensity of 

 telephonic efi-ects, by M. E. Mercadier. During his researches 

 on the theory of the telephone, the author has been led to study 

 the causes to which is due the varying intensity of the effects 

 produced by this instrument. Here he studies more particulariy 

 the influence of the thickness of the diaphragm for a telephone 

 of well-defined form, and for a like variation of the magnetic 



