72 



NATURE 



{May 19, 18J 



Anthropological Institute, April 26. — Mr. Francis 

 Gallon, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. R. A. Cunning- 

 ham exhibited some aboriginal Australians from North Queens- 

 land. The party consisted of a man, a woman, and a boy. 

 They sang a corroborree song, and successfully showed the 

 manner of throwing the boomerang. — Mr. C. H. Read read a 

 paper on the ethnological bearings of the stone spinning-top of 

 New Guinea, in which he gave a description of some spinning- 

 tops recently presented to the British Museum. — Lieut. F. 

 Elton, R.N., read some extracts from notes on natives of the 

 Solomon Islands, obtained by him in reply to questions 

 addressed to the solitary European resident on one of the 

 islands. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, May 9. — M. Janssen in the chair. 

 — A general method for determining the constant of aberration, 

 by M. M. Loewy. A demonstration is given of the remarkable 

 geometrical property that the action exercised by aberration on 

 the great arc connecting two stars is in proportion to the cosine 

 of the angle formed between the median and the direction of 

 the motion. It is then shown that, by effecting two conjugated 

 observations, the constant of aberration may be determined inde- 

 pendently of any physical corrections. — On Admiral Cloue's 

 second memoir regarding the cyclone which swept over the Gulf 

 of Aden last year, by M. 11. Faye. Some exceptional features 

 of this destructive cyclone are described and accounted for, and 

 it is suggested that a regular signal service should be established 

 in Socotra, or at some other favourable point, for the protection 

 of shipping in these much -frequented waters. — Researches on 

 the liberation of ammonia by vegetable soils, by MM. Berthelot 

 and Andre. The experiments here described have reference 

 mainly to the argillaceous soil on the higher plateaux in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris. They tend to show that vegetable 

 humus possesses the property of spontaneously liberating ammo- 

 nia in proportion to the slow but certain decomposition of the 

 starchy and ammoniacal compounds contained in it. The de- 

 composition is effected under the influence of the purely chemical 

 actions due to the water and the earthy carbonates, and doubt- 

 less also to the physiological actions attributable to the fer- 

 mentations, microbes, and vegetation properly so-called ; causes 

 continually at work in Nature. — On a method of recording the 

 calorific intensity of the solar rays, by M. A. Crova. A study 

 of the curves obtained with his registering actinometer has 

 enabled the author to estimate more accurately the value of the 

 methods employed for determining this quantity, and to study 

 the causes of the diurnal and annual variations of atmospheric 

 absorption. He promises soon to communicate the method 

 adopted by him for the study of the actinometric curves and 

 its application to the determination of the law of atmo- 

 spheric absorption. — The earthquake of February 23, 1887, by 

 M. Albert Offret. In supplement to his previous communica- 

 tion, the author here gives in tabulated form the exact time 

 when the shocks were felt in various places lying beyond the 

 line of general movement. Appended is a corresponding table 

 for the magnetic disturbances recorded at different observatories 

 lying mostly beyond the seismic area, but evidently produced 

 under the influence of the earthquake. A comparative study of 

 these tables gives the unexpected result that the velocity of the 

 seismic waves increases with the distance from the central area of 

 disturbance. — Study of the effects of an electric shock felt 

 during the earthquake of February 23, by M. Onimus. A 

 detailed account is given of the severe shock felt by a person 

 at Nice while working the telegraph at the moment the third 

 seismic wave occurred. The incident seems to place beyond all 

 doubt the fact that earthquake movements are normally accom- 

 panied by strong electric currents. — On the two species of 

 Phylloxera of the vine, by M. A. L. Donnadieu. The two 

 species of this organism, hitherto confused under one form, are 

 here carefully distinguished and described under the names of 

 P. vastatrix and P. pemphigoides. — On the direct photography 

 of the barometric state of the solar atmosphere, by M. G. M. 

 Stanoiewitch. The author has made a comprehensive study of 

 the solar photographs taken at the Meudon Observatory during 

 the last eleven years, for the purpose of elucidating as far as 

 possible the question of the origin of the solar photospheric net- 

 work viewed in its relation with the solar pores, spots, and 

 faculse. The general result is that this phenomenon is nothing 

 but the direct photograph of the barometric maxima and 

 minima of the solar atmosphere. — On synthetic acetic acid and 

 its derived forms, by M. Louis Henry. The author's researches 



show that monochlorureted acetic acid and malonic ac 

 essentially one, always identical with themselves, forming' 

 single variety whatever be the nature of the acetic acic 

 which they are derived. — On anemonine, by M. Hanric 

 full description is given of the properties of this neutral 

 nitrous substance, extracted by Heyer from different aner 

 some forty years ago, but since then entirely neglect 

 chemists. — On the creatines and creatinines, by M. E. Du^ 

 This note deals mainly with the formation of a-amido 

 cyamine and o-amidocaprocyamidine. — Variations of the 

 phoric acid in cows' milk, by M. A. Andouard. The obj 

 this paper is to complete our knowledge of the modifi 

 which the composition of milk undergoes during lactatioi 

 especially the variations occurring in the quantity of the 

 phoric acid present during that period. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEH 



Anatomy of Movement: Dr. F. Warner (Paul). — Atlantic V 

 Charts, part 2 (Eyre and Spottiswoode). — Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfa 

 3 and 4 Lief. : A. Engler and K. PrantI (Engelmann, Leipzig). — A 1 

 on Geometrical Optics : R. S. Heath (Cambridge Press). — Sadd 

 Mocassin : F. Francis (Chapman and Hall). — Jahrbuch der Natur 

 schaften: Dr. Max Wildermann (Herder, Freiburg). — Proceedings 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh, No. 122. — Naturse Veritas : G. M. IV 

 (Macmillan). — Schriften der Physikalisch Okonomischen Gesellscl 

 Konigsberg i. Pr. 1886 (Konigsberg). — The Species of Ficus of the 

 Malayan and Chinese Countries, part i, Palseomorphe and Urosl 

 Dr. G. King (Reeve). — Notes from the Leyden Museum, vol, ix., 

 (Brill. Leyden). — Journal of the Chemical Society, May (Gurne 

 Jackson). 



CONTENTS. 



Local Names of British Birds 



Recent W^orks on the Theory of Determinants. B 

 Thomas Muir 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" The A B C of Modern Photography " 



" Newcastle-upon-Tyne Public Libraries " .... 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



Thought without Words.— The Duke of Argyll 

 Dr. Hyde Clarke; T. Mellard Reade ; S. F. M. C 



Scorpion Virus. — Prof. A. G. Bourne 



Weight and Mass. — W , 



Dynamical Units. — Robert H. Smith 



Monkeys opening Oysters. — Commander Alfrec 



Carpenter, R.N 



Zirconia. — Hopkin and Williams 



Sunspots.— The Writer of the Note 



" The Game of Logic." — ^John Venn 



The Paris Astronomical Congress 



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



Hugh Robert Mill. {Illustrated) 



Science and Gunnery, II 



The Total Solar Eclipse of August 19, 1887. {With 



a Map) 



The Steering of H.M.S. Ajax 



Edward T. Hardman 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Micrometric Measures of Jupiter and Saturn 



Present Appearance of Saturn's Ring 



The Red Spot upon Jupiter 



Discovery of a New Comet 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 



May 22-28 



Geographical Notes 



The Royal Society Conversazione 



The Meteor of May 8. By W. F. Denning .... 



University and Educational Intelligence 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



