432 



NATURE 



{Sept. I, 1887 



Variable Stars. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 22. — M. Janssen in the chair. 

 — On the eclipse of August 19, by M. J. Janssen. The reports 

 received from the various stations in European Russia and 

 Prussia are generally described as unfavourable, owing to the 

 clouded state of the weather at the critical time. A telegram, 

 however, from M. Stanoiewitch states that at the Petrovsk sta- 

 tion it was clear enough to take some photographs and to make 

 a few observations. Much regret is expressed that so few obser- 

 vers could be induced to visit the Siberian stations, where much 

 more successful studies might have been made. — On the cooling 

 of the terrestrial crust, by M. Faye. This is a protest against 

 the Rev. Ch. Braun, who, in his recent work on " Cosmogony 

 •from the Stand-point of Christian Science," adopts without 

 acknowledgment the author's fundamental theory that the chill- 

 ing process goes on more rapidly and more deeply under the 

 ■seas than under the continents. M. Faye complains that M. 

 Braun refers to him by name when criticizing his views, but 

 omits to do so when adopting and reproducing them.- — Solution 

 of a problem, by M. J. Bertrand. Supposing a scrutiny of the 

 ballot for two candidates, A and B, the number of voters being ix ; 

 A, the successful candidate, obtaining in and B jj.- m votes, what 

 is the probability that during the scrutiny the number of votes 

 for A will throughout exceed those of his rival ? A rigorously 

 algebraic solution is given of this problem, and it is added that 

 the re-ult may perhaps be shown in a more direct way. Thus, 

 if the number of voters be sixty, the successful candidate must 

 have obtained forty-five votes in order that the probability 

 •of keeping the majority throughout the scrutiny be equal to ^. — 

 Remarks accompanying the presentation of a memoir on the 

 means of avoiding collisions at sea, by M. Moise Lion. The 

 author considered that optical signals of great intensity could 

 alone present sufficient guarantees of penetration in foggy 

 weather. On board ships in motion the warning signal should 

 consist of an electric focus projecting its light obliquely to the 

 horizon and revolving round a vertical axis. He insists on the 

 great advantage of imparting to the light an oscillatory motion 

 in order to increase its luminosity. — -On the partial lunar eclipse 

 partly visible at Orgeres CEureet-Loire) on August 3, by M. 

 Edm. Lescarbault. The shadow cast on the upper left part of 

 the moon was almost black ; but to the left, and especially to 

 the right, there were noticed two curvilinear triangles of 2' '5 to 

 3' '5 length at base, where the shadow was ruddier than a very 

 deep maroon. The triangle to the left was even darker than 

 that to the right, while both were connected by a thin streak of 

 the same colour, but deeper to the south of the moon. The 

 inner edges of these maroon surfaces blended insensibly in 

 the black shadow, and within them could be very faintly distin- 

 guished a few cirques, which could not be otherwise accurately 

 determined. On the disk the shadow was edged with a grayish 

 straw-coloured band, two and a half or three times as broad as 



Tycho, the common edge of this band and of the shadow bei 

 somewhat sharply traced. — On the coefficient of self-induction 

 two bobbins combined in quantity, by MM. G. Maneuvrier ai 

 P. Ledeboer. In a previous paper the authors dealt wi 

 the problem whether from the stand-point of self-induction 

 was possible to compensate two bobbins combined in quanti 

 by a single bobbin, and consequently whether it might be possil 

 to assign to such a system a determined coefficient of self-indv 

 tion in the strict sense of the term. A fresh series of expe 

 ments are here described which have been carried out for t 

 purpose of determining how far the results already obtained m 

 be approximately verified for the most general case. The 

 expeiiments lead to the conclusion that for the general case t 

 system of two bobbins cannot be compensated by a single bobbi 

 and consequently that such a system has no coefficient of se 

 induction properly so called. — On the compressibility of sor 

 solutions of gas, by M. F. Isambert. From the experimer 

 here described the author infers that a simple solution of g 

 changes very little the coefficient of compressibility of tl 

 solvent ; further that the solution of ammoniac gas in wat 

 behaves in the same way as that of a true chemical compoun 

 — On the titanates of zinc, and more particularly onatrititanat 

 by M. Lucien Levy. Metallic titanates are o'ltained either 1 

 the action of the metallic oxide on the titanic acid in the preseni 

 of the chloride or the fluoride, or else by the action of a mixtu 

 of the metallic sulphate and an alkaline sulphate on the san 

 acid. Applied to the production of the titanates of zinc the 

 two processes have yielded different results. The first, which 

 here more specially dealt with, leads in general to a trilitanat 

 The second, on the contrary, furnishes several salts according 

 the proportions employed. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVEI 



Science and Art Schools and Classes Directorj', 1887 (Eyre and Spottl 

 woode).— Calendar of Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyn 

 1887-88 (Newcastle-on-Tyne). — Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plan 

 in New Zealand ; The Scale Insects: W. M. Maskell (Wellington). 

 Electrical Distribution by Alternating Currents and Transformers : ] 

 Kennedy (H. Alabaster and Co.). — Proceedings of the Liverpool Naturalis 

 Field Club, 1886-87 (Liverpool). — Economic Forestry : Prof. Boulger. 

 Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 1886. vol. xi 

 (Wellington). — Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. .\liii. Part 

 No. 171 (Longmans). — Journal of Physiology, vol. viii. Nos. 3 and 4 (Car 

 bridge). — Annalen der Physik ui d Chemie, 1887, No. 9 (Barth, Leipzig) 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, August (Churchill). — T! 

 Asclepiad, No. 15, vol. iv. : Dr. 13. W. Richardson (Longmans). 



CONTENTS. 



Higher Algebra 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Sexton: " Outlines of Quantitative Analysis " . . . 

 Fresenius : " Qualitative Chemical Analysis " . . . . 

 Carnelley : " Melting and Boiling Point Tables " . . 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



The Law of Error. — J. Venn. {With Diagrams) . 



The Sense of Smell in Dogs. — ^J. M. H 



Electricity of Contact of Gases with Liquids.- — Prof. 



Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S 



The Lunar Eclipse of August 3. — M. C. ; H. P. 



Malet 



Masamarhu Island. By Capt. W. J. L. Wharton, 



F.R.S. {Illustrated) 



The Owens College Natural History Buildings. 



{Illustrated) 



The British Association 



Inaugural Address by Sir Henry E. Roscoe, M.P., 

 D.C.L., LL.D., Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.C.S., 



President 



Section A. — Mathematical and Physical Science. — 

 Opening Address by Sir Robert S. Ball, LL.D., 



F.R.S., President of the Section 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Variable Star in the Ring Nebula in Lyra 



New Variable Star 



Discovery of a Comet 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 



September 4-10 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



PAC 



