48 



NATURE 



[May 12, 1887 



developed in alternation, an examination of the tubes showing 

 them to contain developed eggs alternating with others in an 

 undeveloped condition and of which some very curious instances 

 were seen in the specimens before the meeting. — Mr. Crisp called 

 attention to some photomicrographs of animalcules sent by Mr. J. 

 B. Robinson ; and to photographs of snow-crystals sent by Mr. 

 Waters, from Davos Platz ; also to a specimen of one of the 

 earliest forms of the compound microscope by Campani, of 

 Rome, made some time prior to 1665. — A new form of adjust- 

 able nose-piece, by Dr. Zeiss, was exhibited, in which the 

 objective was made to slide in a groove in an inclined plane 

 which insured its not scraping along the surface of the cover- 

 glass when being changed. — A paper by Mr. P. H. Gosse, on 

 twelve new species of Rotifera, was read. 



Liverpool. 



Biological Society, March 12. — Prof. Herdman, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — A paper was read by Mr. I. C. 

 Thompson on some new and little known Copepoda of Liverpool 

 Bay. The paper included the description of several new points 

 in the anatomy of several species new to British seas. — Dr. 

 Collins communicated some observations on anatomical abnor- 

 malities. — Mr. Harvey Gibson (Secretary) read the first of a 

 series of notes on floral morphology, dealing with the angle of 

 insertion of the petals on the thalamus in the Polypetalce andi the 

 form of the flower as a whole in the Gamopetalce, in their relation 

 to the protection of the essential organs. 



April 23. — Prof. Herdman, Vice-President, in the chair. 

 — The Secretary (Mr. Harvey Gibson) read a preliminary 

 paper on a research into the nature and function of the so-called 

 "hepatic cells" of Lumbriais ierrestris, by himself and Mr, A. 

 J. Chalmers. The results so far tend to show that the so-called 

 "cells" are rather digestive glands and not "vasifactive 

 tissue" as suggested by some biologists. — Mr. G. F. Moore 

 read a note on a new tank for the maceration of osteological 

 specimens. — Dr. Herdman read a preliminary paper by Miss F. 

 Palethorpe and Miss C. Wilson on a collection of Ascidians 

 from Australian seas, sent by the Sydney Museum authorities to 

 the Fisheries Exhibition, and containing a number of new species. 

 — Dr. Bruce exhibited a collection of surface animals from 

 Maltese seas, and Mr. R. McMillan exhibited a specimen of a 

 pile from the works of the Canadian Pacific Railway, destroyed 

 by the borings of Teredo. — Mr. G. H. Morton exhibited the 

 spicules of sponges that he recently found in several places in 

 the chert-beds of the Cefn-y-Fedw sandstone of Denbighshire 

 and Flintshire, on the horizon of the millstone grit. Mr. 

 Morton's observations have been confirmed by Dr. Hinde. The 

 spicules probably belong to a genus of Hyalonema, and have not 

 been recorded previously from North Wales. 



Berlin. 



Physiological Society, April 15.— Prof. Du Bois Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Prause spoke on the degeneration 

 of nerves resulting from sectional injuries. According to Waller, 

 when a nerve is cut through, the peripheral parts degenerate, 

 whereas the central remain intact. The result of a thorough 

 investigation of the nerves in cases of amputation, which the 

 speaker carried on some years ago in conjunction with Dr. Fried- 

 lander, has however shown that the central parts of the divided 

 nerves had degenerated even right up to the spinal cord. Quite 

 recently, Dr. Prause has repeatedly examined the nerves in cases 

 where, owing to gangrene of the foot, the leg had been amput- 

 ated close below the knee. Here the degeneration of the nerves 

 extended up to, and probably beyond, the surface of amputation, 

 havmg m such cases started from the gangrenous parts, and 

 progressed centripetally. Side by side, however, with the larger 

 number of degenerated fibres a few normal fibres were also 

 found. From experiments on animals in which nerves of very 

 different kmds, both sensory and mixed, were cut through, it 

 appeared that m the peripheral parts by far the larger number of 

 the fibres degenerate, while at the same time a not inconsiderable 

 number remam unaltered ; similarly degenerated and normal 

 fibres were found m the central part of the nerve, only in this 

 case the relative number of each kind is in an inverse proportion 

 to that in which they are found in the peripheral part. It 

 follows from the above that, starting from the point of section 

 of a nerve, one set of fibres degenerates towards the periphery, 

 the other towards the centre. It seemed right to assume that 



those fibres which degenerate towards the periphery have the 

 trophic centre in the spinal cord or brain as the case may b( 

 while those which degenerate centripetally are dependent fc 

 their nutrition on some centre at the periphery, such as presun 

 ably the tactile corpuscles of Meissner. Were this not sc 

 Waller's law would again hold good, since only those parts of 

 nerve degenerate which are cut off from their trophic centre 

 only sensory nerves degenerate centripetally. — Dr. Grunmac 

 communicated the results of some experiments on the relatio 

 between the curve of distension of elastic tubes and the rate c 

 the pulse-wave in the same. These experiments were carrie( 

 out with various gutta-percha tubes and with the aorta of horses 

 the internal pressure being varied from o to 200 mm, of mercury 

 the alteration of volume of the tubes and the rate of trans 

 mission of the pulse-wave were both measured. The result 

 showed that the rate of the pulse- wave is most marked! ' 

 dependent upon the distension-curve or coefficient of elasticity 

 of the tube ; this coefficient is, however, very variable witl 

 different tubes. The behaviour of a horse's aorta approximatec 

 to that of an india-rubber tube wrapped round with linen. The 

 thickness of wall of the tubes and the size of their lumen wa; 

 very slightly, if at all, altered by the varying pressure, and theii 

 influence upon the relationship of pressure and rate of pulse 

 wave was quite subordinate. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



La Cytodierese chez les Animaux: J. B. Carnoy (Peelers, Louvain).— 

 Report on the Mining Industries of New Zealand (Wellington).— Gold Fields 

 of Victoria; Reports of the Mining Registrars for the Quarter ended De 

 cember 31, 1886 (Ferres, Melbourne).— Elements of Dynamics, part i, booli 

 iv.: W. K. Clifford (MacmiUan). — Lessons in Elementary Practical Physics, 

 vol. ii. : B. Stewart and W. W. H.Gee (Macmillan).— Pioneering in New 

 Guinea : James Chalmers (R.T.S.)— Eastern Geography : Prof. A. H. Keane 

 (Stanford). — Systematic Lists of the Flora, Fauna, Palaeontology, and 

 Archaeology of the North of Ireland, vol. i. (Belfast Naturalists' Field Club). 

 — Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 2nd series, vol. i., 

 part iv. (Trubner). — Challenger Reports — Zoology, vol. xix. (Eyre and 

 Spottiswoode). — Beobachtungen der Russischen Polarstation auf Nowaja 

 Semlja, ii. Theil. ; Meteorologische Beobachtungen : K. AndrejefF. — Beobach- 

 tungen der Russischen Polarstation an der Lenamiindung, ii. Theil. ; Meteoro- 

 logische Beobachtungen, i. Lief.; Beobachtungen v. Jahre 1882-83: A. 

 Eigner.— A Classification of Animals : E. T. Newton (Philip).— Botanische 

 Jahrbucher fur Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie, 

 Achter Band, iv. Heft (Leipzig). —Journal of the Society of Telegraph- 

 Engineers and Electricians, vol. xvi. No. 66 (Spon). — ^Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England, April (Murray). —Beiblatter zu den Annalen 

 der Physik und Chemie, No. 4, 1887 (Leipzig). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Ainos 25 



The Zoological Results of the " Challenger" Expe- 

 dition 26 



The Elements of Economics 27 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Mills: " Outlines of Lectures on Physiology " . ... 28 



Taylor: " Chemistry for Beginners " 28 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Thought without Words. — Francis Galton, F. R.S. , 28 

 Tabasheer mentioned in Older Botanical Works, — 



Dr, Ernst Huth 29 



A Brilliant Meteor. — Arthur Nicols ; Maures 



Horner ; Isabel Fry 30 



Residual Affinity. — Wm. Durham ; Prof. H. E, 



Armstrong, F.R.S 30 



The Spherical Integrator. — Fredk. Smith 31 



The Henry Draper Memorial. By Prof. Edward C. 



Pickering. {^Illustrated) 31 



Science and Gunnery, 1 34 



The Temperature of the Clyde Sea-Area, I. By Dr. 



Hugh Robert Mill. {Illustrated) 37 



Dr. Junker. ( With a Map) 39 



Notes 41 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Melbourne Observatory 43 



The Transit of Venus in 1882 44 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 



May 15-21 44 



Remarkable Hailstones. {Illustrated) 44 



Scientific Serials 45 



Societies and Academies 45 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 48 



