624 



NATURE 



\_April 2^, 1889 



field. Some experiments are described with iron diaphragms, 

 and it is generally inferred that for all telephones of a given 

 magnetic field there is a given thickness of the iron diaphragm 

 which yields a maximum effect. — On the solubility of salts, by 

 M. H. W. Bakhuis Roozeboom. This is a reply to M. Le 

 Chatelier's critical remarks {Comptes renins, March 18, 1889) 

 on the work recently published by the author on the conditions 

 of equilibrium between the solid and liquid combinations of 

 water with salts, more particularly with calcium chloride. — On 

 methylacetanilide, by M. H. Giraud. It is pointed out that the 

 scientific name of ortho-methylacetanilide given to the exalgine 

 recently prepared by M. Brigonnet, can only be applied to the 

 substance described by Beilstein and Kuhlberg under the name 

 of acetoorthotoluide. It is further shown that M. Brigonnet's 

 preparation is not new, that it was described by Hofmann in 

 1874, and that its true name is methylacetanilide. 



Berlin. 

 Physiological Society, March 27. — Prof, du Bois-Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Klemperer spoke on the proteid 

 needs of the animal economy in health and in certain pathological 

 conditions. Voit's teaching, that the human body in health 

 requires daily from 100 to 1 20 grammes of proteid in order to 

 supply its nitrogenous needs, has been recently contested from 

 many sides ; and even if the experiments on which the attacks 

 were based were not altogether free from some defects, they still 

 sufficed to cast a good deal of doubt on Voit's theory. The 

 speaker had endeavoured, working from the clinical point of 

 view, to decide the question whether an increased proteid meta- 

 bolism can be prevented or diminished by an increased ingestion 

 of carbohydrates or fats. He carried out experiments on the 

 nutrition of two healthy persons, in which the daily dose of 

 proteids was very considerably diminished, even down to 40 

 grammes, while in compensation for the lessened proteids larger 

 quantities of fats, sugar, and easily absorbed and oxidizable 

 alcohol were administered. The nitrogen excreted in the urine 

 was constantly less in amount than that taken in the food, thus 

 showing that healthy, active men can be fed with largely 

 diminished amounts of proteid without the occurrence of any 

 destructive metabolism of their tissue-proteids. He next pro- 

 ceeded to investigate whether, in diseases which are characterized 

 by an abnormally large breaking down of tissue-proteids, this 

 increased nitrogenous metabolism could be lessened by the in- 

 gestion of an increased quantity of non-nitrogenous food. An 

 increased nitrogenous metabolism occurs in dyspnoea, fever, 

 anaemia, cancer, tubei-culosis, diabetes, and Addison's disease. 

 For dyspnoea, experiments were made on animals ; while for 

 anaemia, cancer, diabetes, and Addison's disease, observations 

 were made on the human subject, and results were obtained 

 which corresponded to the supposition under which the 

 experiments were started. A very considerable reduction of 

 the nitrogen excreted in the urine was observed when only 

 moderate quantities of proteid were given, while at the same 

 time increased amounts of carbohydrates, fats, and alcohol, 

 were administered. It is impossible to enter here into the 

 interesting details of these experiments, which were all carried 

 out by very precise methods, or into a discussion of the hypo- 

 theses which were advanced in explanation of the phenomena 

 which had been observed. — Prof. Rosenthal, of Erlangen, gave 

 an account of calorimetric experiments with which he had been 

 busied for the last few years. He employed in these an air- j 

 calorimeter of special construction. It consisted of a copper 

 vessel, of easy ventilation, in which the animal was placed ; this 

 was surrounded by an air-tight envelope, filled with air and con- 

 stituting the reservoir of an air-thermometer ; external to this 

 was a covering to shield the whole apparatus from any changes 

 in the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. When the 

 animal gives up to the envelope of air, per unit of time, exactly 

 the same amount of heat as the whole apparatus radiates into 

 the surroundings, the temperature of the air in the envelope 

 remains constant, as also its presnire : hence the heat produced 

 and given off by the animal during any known time could be 

 measured by means of a manometer. Notwithstanding that the 

 dog used in the experiments was fed in exactly the same way at 

 each meal, the quantities of heat produced varied very largely, 

 and any considerable uniformity is only obtained by taking the 

 mean of a long series of observations. Up to about the third 

 hour after the meal the heat-production diminishes, then rises 

 rapidly to a maximum, and from this point, at about the eighth 

 hour, it begins to fall again slowly and with irregularities, until 



the next meal. Over the whole twenty-four hours the heat- 

 production is more uniform during the second period of twelve 

 hours than in the first ; about 20 per cent, more heat is produced 

 during the first than during the second half of the whole day. 

 When an excess of food was given the heat produced was always 

 less than that calculated out from the oxidation of the food itself; 

 but with a uniformly constant diet the mean value of the heat 

 produced corresponded to the heat calculated f »r the oxidation 

 of the food. The amount of carbonic acid gas given off by the 

 animal was found to correspond to the heat given off during the 

 same period only in cases where prolonged intervals of time were 

 taken into account. When the surrounding temperature varied 

 between 5° and 25° C, all other conditions remaining the same, 

 a minimal production of heat was observed at 15° C. : from this 

 point it increased uniformly in both directions, not only when 

 the temperature fell to 5° C, but also when it rose to 25° C — 

 Prof. Schweigger demonstrated several pieces of apparatus, 

 which by the use of small incandescent electric lamps, could take 

 the place of the ophthalmoscope, and even render a binocular 

 examination possible. They also made the measurement of 

 refraction in the eye both simple and exact. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Useful Native Plants of Australia (including Tasmania) : J. H. 

 Maiden (Triibner).— The Psychic Lif« of Micro-organisms : A. Binet ; trans- 

 lated by T. MacCormack (Chicago). — The Elements of Vital Statistics: 

 Dr. A. Newsholme (Sonnenschein).— Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the 

 British Museum (Natural History). Part i : A. Smith Woodward (London) 

 — Richtigstellung der in bisheriger Fassung unrichtigen Mechanischen 

 Warmetheorie und Grundzuge einer Allg. Theorie der Aetherbewegungen : 

 A. R. von Miller-Hauenfels (Wien).— The Land of Manfred : J. Ross 

 (Murray).— Bulletins de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, tome xi., 4e 

 fasc. (Paris). — Meraoires de la Socieie d'Anthropologie de Paris, tome iv.. 

 fasc. I (Paris). — Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, April (Williams and 

 Norgate).— Zeitschnft fiir wissenschaftiiche Zoologie, xlviii. Band, i Heft 

 (Leipzig). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Surface of the Earth. By Prof. H. G. Seeley, 



F.R.S 6oi 



Natural Inheritance 603 



Nature's Hygiene 604 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Sexton: " Elementary Inorganic Chemistry " . . . . 605 



Clarke: " A Class-book of Geography " • 605 



Baddeley: "Travel-Tide" 605 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Large Fireball. — W. F. Denning 606 



Variable Stars and the Constitution of the Sun. — Dr. 



A. Brester ; A. Fowler 606 



Tertiary Chalk in Barbados.— A. J. Jukes Brown 



and J. B. Harrison 607 



A New Mountain of the Bell. — H. Carrington 



Bolton 607 



Air-tight Subdivision in Ships. By J. Y. Buchanan, 



F.R.S. • 608 



Notes on Stanley's Journey. By Colonel J. A. 



Grant 609 



Further Notes on the Geology of the Eastern Coast 



of China and the Adjacent Islands 610 



Which are the Highest Butterflies ? By Dr. Alfred 



R. Wallace ; W. H. Edwards 6u 



Notes 612 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Constitution of Celestial Space 615 



Comets 1888 e and / (Barnard, September 2 and 



October 30 616 



a Ursse Majoris 616 



The White Spot on Saturn's Ring 616 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



April 28— May 4 616 



The Corrosion and Fouling of Steel and Iron Ships. 



By Prof. V. B. Lewes 6i6 



Societies and Academies 622 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 624 



