504 



NATURE 



{Sept. 22, 1887 



weapons, by W. Prinz. An examination of these crystals and of 

 their physical properties, now for the first time detected on some 

 ancient Prankish arms, shows that they are formed of specular 

 iron, and their presence is compared with that of anhydrous 

 ferric oxide in sedimentary deposits of all ages, produced, as on 

 the arms in question, by the moist process at a low temperature. 

 — On the origin of the curative effects of hypnotism, by 

 J. Delboeuf The author, who is one of the founders of the new 

 branch of the medical art, based on the application of hypnotism 

 to the cure of numerous maladies, here treats the subject as 

 throwing light on the reciprocal action of mind on the body. He 

 believes that there is a great future for hypnotism in the field of 

 therapeutics, and describes in detail some of his own remarkable 

 experiences and successful treatment of hypnotized patients. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, September 12. — M. Herve Mangon 

 in the chair. — Experimental researches on the morphology of 

 the muscles, by M. Marey. By comparing the form of the 

 gastrocnemian muscles in the white race with those of the Negro, 

 the author has discovered a fresh example of the harmony that 

 exists between the form and functions of the muscles. His con- 

 clusions were confirmed by experiments made on rabbits at the 

 Physiological Station, and a fresh proof is thus afforded of the 

 evolutionist doctrine that the organs tend to adapt themselves to 

 the varying conditions under which their functions are performed. 

 To complete these researches nothing now remains except to 

 bring about variations in the muscular form by changing the 

 outer conditions of locomotion without modifying the anatomical 

 relations of the organs by the direct intervention of surgery, and 

 then ascertain to what extent the modifications thus obtained 

 become fixed by heredity. — Invasions, varying aspects, and 

 intensity of the pestilence in the Caucasus, Persia, Russia, and 

 Turkey, since 1835, by M. J. D, Tholozan. From a careful 

 study of all the circumstances attending the various visitations of 

 the plague in this region since the great epidemic of 1830-35, 

 the author concludes that in the great majority of cases the out- 

 breaks have been of a purely local character, appearing in one or 

 two houses, spreading thence by secondary contagion to others 

 in the village, occasionally also to one or two neighbouring 

 villages, but scarcely ever advancing beyond the district and 

 never sweeping over extensive regions, like the cholera and pest 

 in former times. A remarkable instance was that of Resht in 

 Northern Persia, where it carried off 2000 of the 24,000 in- 

 habitants, lasting altogether over a twelvemonth, during which 

 period the people emigrated freely to the neighbouring towns, 

 which nevertheless remained unaffected despite the absence of 

 prophylactic measures and quarantine regulations. He therefore 

 considers that, without denying the possibility of future wide- 

 spread diffusions like those of the past, the contagion has now 

 entered a new phase of purely local or isolated development, 

 without any tendency to spread further. The special conditions 

 of its appearance in such places should therefore be studied, 

 just as those, for instance, of typhoid fever are sought and found 

 in the districts where this disorder happens to make its appear- 

 ance. In Turkey the plague has from time to time acquired a 

 certain intensity, but without ever assuming the deadly character 

 of certain previous outbreaks, except in Mesopotamia in 1873. 

 But in Persia it has often been attended by an excessive 

 mortality, and a very great local development relatively to the 

 actual number of the inhabitants. Its range has been mainly 

 confined to an area stretching for 1700 kilometres from Merv to 

 Bagdad, and for 1760 from Bassora to Astrakan, but within these 

 limits mainly confined to isolated points and never radiating 

 from them to any great distance. — Observations of Olbers' 

 comet (1815 I.) on its return in 1887, made at the Observatory 

 of Bordeaux with the 0-38 m. equatorial by MM. G. Rayet and 

 Courty. The observations cover the time from September 8-10 

 inclusive, and comprise the mean position of three stars taken 

 as points of comparison. — Observations of Brooks's new comet 

 (August 24, 1887) made at the Observatory of Nice with the 

 0-38 m. Gautier equatorial, by M. Charlois. The apparent 

 positions are given for the period from August 25 to September 

 2 inclusive. On the former date the comet had a nucleus of 

 the tenth magnitude surrounded by an elongated nebulosity at 

 the angle of position of 304°.— On the variations of the telluric 



currents, by M. J. J. Landerer. During the last nine years, the 

 number of days when the current flowed north-east and south- 

 west being indicated by i, those on which it flowed in the 

 opposite direction will be represented by 67. Several changes 

 of direction very seldom occurred on the same day, and they 

 were nearly always connected with violent atmospheric dis- 

 turbances. From 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. the intensity of the current 

 going north-eastwards attained a maximum towards 10 o'clock 

 and two minima about 4 and 9 o'clock, the mean intensity of 

 the maximum being 0-000124 ampere, that of the minima 

 0-000073 and 0-000074. For the opposite current this anaxi- 

 mum and these minima become respectively one minimum and 

 two maxima at about the same hours, with mean intensities 

 0-00064, 0000122 and 0-000138 ampere. — Formation and 

 elimination of ferruginous pigment in poisoning by toluylen- 

 diamine, by MM. Engel and Kiener. Having in a previous 

 communication studied the ferruginous residuums of heemoglobin, 

 which accumulate in certain organs of animals poisoned with 

 the sulphuret of carbon, the authors here submit the results of 

 similar researches in the case of another substance, toluylendia- 

 mine. — Experimental researches in connexion with the physio- 

 logical action of Cytisus laburmtm, by ]\IM. J. L. Prevost and 

 Paul Binet. The experiments here described were made on 

 frogs and on warm-blooded animals, such as cats, dogs, rat-;, 

 guinea-pigs, rabbits, and pigeons, with the general results that 

 Cytisus must be regarded as a good emetic with central action, 

 acting rapidly and better by hypodermic injection than by in- 

 gestion. — Note on Greeneria jnliginea, by MM. L. Scribner and 

 Pierre Viala. This is a new species of microscopic fungus 

 which has lately made its appearance in North Carolina, where 

 in very hot and moist districts it attacks and destroys in a few 

 days vines that had been spared by the black rot. Its true 

 characters not being yet determined, the fungus must be pro- 

 visionally included in the numerous class grouped by M. .Sac- 

 cardo under the general name of SpliDcropsidese. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



A Text-Book of Algebra : W. S. Aldis (Clarendon Press). — Longman's 

 Shilling Geography (Longmans). — Die Bildung des Natronsalpeters : Dr. 

 C. Ochsenius (Stuttgart). — Die Crustaceen der Bohmischen Kreideformation : 

 Dr. Ant. Fritsch und Jas. Kafka (Prag).— Fauna der Gaskohle und der 

 Kalksteine der Permformation Bohmens, Band ii. Heft i : Dr. Ant. Fritsch 

 (Prag). — Astronomical Revelations (E. Dexter). — Manual of Mineralogy 

 and Petrography, 4th edition : J. D. Dana (Trubner). — Botanische Jahr- 

 biicher fiir Systematik, | Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie, 

 Neunter Band, i Heft : A. Engler (Engelmann, Leipzig). 



CONTENTS PAGE 



Two Recent Works on Microscopical Technology . 481 

 Our Book Shelf :— 



Burnham : " Precious Stones in Nature, Art, and 



Literature " 482 



Suzor : "Hydrophobia : an Account of M. Pasteur's 



System " 482 



Letters to the Editor : — 



A Monstrous Foxglove. — F. R. Tennant 482! 



The Law of Error, — F. Y. Edgeworth 482 



A Null Method in Electro-calorimetry. — Dr. William 



Stroud 483 1 



Mental Development in Children. — M.A 4831 



Fifty Years' Progress in Clocks and W^atches. II. |> 



By Henry Dent Gardner. {Illustrated) 484 = 



The British Association : — I 



Section F. — Economic Science and Statistics — Opening ' ; 

 Address by Robert Giffen, LL.D., V.P.S.S., '; 



President of the Section 487 ; ' 



Reports 497 \ 



Notes 499 . 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



New Variable 501 [ |; 



The Dearborn Observatory 501 ^ 



The Spectra of Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Water \'i 



Vapour 501 1 1 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 I 



September 25— October I 502!^ 



The Unwritten Chapter on Golf 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



