624 



NATURE 



[Oct. 27, 1887 



stars comprised between oh. and 6h. of right ascension, for 

 which 8o,coo observations are recorded. A comparison of the 

 results shows the surprising accuracy of Lalande's observations 

 made with instruments which would now be regarded as very de- 

 fective. — On the formulas of dimensions in electricity, and on their 

 physical significance, by M. G. Lippmann. Some of these for- 

 mulas give the idea of a corresponding physical interpretation. 

 But it is shown that no electric magnitude appears susceptible 

 of such interpretation, except where the dimensions may be 

 reduced to those of time, certain electric phenomena having a 

 duration capable of being calculated. — Researches on drainage, 

 by M. Berthelot. Numerous experiments made at Meudon in 

 connection with the study of nitrogen in vegetable soil lead to 

 the general conclusion that the drainage of rainwater carries off 

 a much larger quantity of nitrogen than that supplied to the soil 

 by the atmosphere, and especially by the rain-water itself. This 

 result is destined profoundly to modify the views hitherto 

 accepted regarding the conditions of natural vegetation and of 

 husbandry. — Duality of the brain and of the spinal marrow, by 

 M. Brown-Sequard. It is shown that anaesthesia, hypersesthesia, 

 paralysis, and various phases of hypothermia and hyperthermia, 

 due to organic lesions of the cerebro-spinal centre, may be 

 transferred from one side of the body to the other. In a word, 

 the author undertakes to establish as the result of a prolonged 

 series of crucial experiments that, contrary to the generally re- 

 ceived opinion, each half of the encephalon and of the spinal 

 marrow may equally and independently serve for all the 

 functions of the two halves of these nervous centres. The 

 anaesthesia and analogous affections caused by an organic lesion 

 of the nervous centres are transferred to the opposite side under 

 the influence of a second lesion of those centres ; hence it 

 follows that such manifestations are not necessarily effects of the 

 destruction of certain nervous elements endowed with certain 

 functions, but may be the results of purely dynamic actions 

 exercised at a distance by the irritation caused by the lesion. In 

 the same way one half of the encephalon may serve as the seat 

 of the voluntary motions and vaso-motor actions for either half of 

 the body ; and so with the spinal marrow, at least so far as 

 concerns sensibility and the vaso-motor actions. — Remarks 

 accompanying the presentation of the second volume of the 

 " Compendium Florae Atlanticae, &c.," (Flora of Algeria, Tunis, 

 Morocco), by M. E. Cosson. This volume contains a supple- 

 ment to the already published notice on the botanical explora- 

 tions in Mauritania, together with a detailed description of the 

 families, genera, and species from the Ranunculaceas to the 

 Cruciferse inclusive. — Observations of Peters's new planet, 270, 

 made at the Paris Observatory (equatorial of the West Tower), 

 by M. G. Bigourdan. The observations extend over the period 

 from October 14 to 16. On the 15th the planet was of the iO"5 

 magnitude. — A mechanical and automatic registering apparatus 

 of signals transmitted by telegraph and by optical projectors, by 

 M. E. Ducretet. The apparatus here described and illustrated 

 has the advantage over others in general use of automatically 

 recording all messages for the purposes of reference in case of 

 doubt or error occurring in the transmission of signals. It is 

 equally available for ordinary telegraphic service, and for optical, 

 military, and other .systems. — Isoclinous magnetic curves, 

 second memoir, by M. C. Decharme. This paper serves as a 

 supplement to the author's previous communication on the 

 isotjonous magnetic curves relative to the declination. It deals 

 specially with the isoclinous curves obtained with the dipping 

 needle. — On a new mode of formation of the substituted 

 safranines, by MM. Ph. Barbier and Leo Vignon. It was 

 shown some years ago that the nitrous derivatives of the 

 aromatic tertiary monamines, by acting on the primary mona- 

 mines, give rise to certain colouring substances. Here are given 

 the results of studies undertaken to determine the true character 

 of these substances. — Researches on the bovine origin of scarla- 

 tina, by M. Picheney. The experiments here described tend to 

 confirm the conclusion arrived at in England that scarlatina has 

 its origin in the milk of diseased cows consumed especially by 

 children. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Mattie's Secret : E. Desbeaux (Routledge).— Unfinished Worlds: S. H. 

 Parkes (Hodder and Stoughton). — Bees and Bee-keeping, vol. ii. part 13 : 

 F. R. Cheshire (Gill).- -British Uogs, No. 12: H. Dalziel (Gill).— Meteoro- 

 logische Beobachtungen in Deutschland. 1885 (Hamburg).— Report on the 

 Meteorology of India in 1885 : H. F. Blanford (Calcutta) — Charts of the 



Bay of Bengal and Adjacent Sea North of the Equator, showing the Specific 

 Gravity, Temperature, and Currents of the Sea Surface.— Charts of the Bay of 

 Bengal and .\djacent",Sea North of the Equator, showing the Mean Pressure, 

 Winds, and Currents in each Month of the Year. — The Vegetable Lamb of 

 Tartary : H. Lee (S. Low).-— Austral Africa, 2 vols. : J. Mackenzie (S. Low.) 

 — Report of the Meteorological Service of the Dominion of Canada for the 

 Year ending December 31, 1E84 (Ottawa).— The Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 

 vol. vi. part 2 (Cassell) — Handbuch der Oceanographie, Band ii. : Dr. 

 Kummell (Engelhorn, Stuttgart) —Cow-Pox and Vaccinal Syphilis : C. 

 Creighton (Cassell). — A Manual for Steam Users : M. P. Bale (Longmans).— 

 Universal Phonography : W. Benson (Chapman and Hall). — Studies in 

 .some New Micr.j-Organisms obtained from Air : Grace C. Frankland 

 and Percy F. Frankland (Trubner).— The Preservation of Fish: J. C. 

 Ewart (Gr'ffin). — Report of the Entomologist, C. V. Riley, for the Year 

 1886 (Washington). — Modern Lessons in Dynamical Geography and Topo- 

 graphy. — Journal of the Chemical Society. October (Gurney and Jackson). 

 — Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, October (Williams and 

 Norgate). — Indian Meteorological Memoirs, vol iv. parts 2 and 3 — 

 Sitzungsbericht der K. Academic der Wissen.schaften ; Math.-Naturw. 

 Clas.se, Mineralogie, Botanik, Zoologie, Geologie und Palaontologie. 

 Jahrgang 1886, April to December (Wien). — Pnysiologie, Anatomic und 

 Theoretischen Medicin, 1886, January to December. — Mathematik, Physik, 

 Chemie, Mechanik, Meteorologie und Astronomie, 1886. January to De- 

 cember. --Journal of Physiology, vol. viii. No. 5 (Cambridge). — Annalen 

 der Physik und Chemie, 1S87, No. 10 (Barth, Leipzig).— Proceedings of the 

 Bristol Naturalist's Society, vol. v. part 2 (Bristol). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Study of Embryology 601 



Some Mathematical Books 602 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Sturmey : "The Photographer's Indispensable Hand- 

 book" 603 



Lange : " Ueber Gemiithsbewegungen " 603 



Macdonald : " Three Lectures on the Forms of Nasal 



Obstruction in Relation to Throat and Ear Disease " 603 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



" The Scenery of Scotland." — The Duke of Argyll, 

 F.R.S.; Dr. Ch. Callaway; Prof. A. H, Green, 



F.R.S 603 



A Hydroid Parasitic on a Fish. — ^J. Walter Fewkes 604 



Music in Nature. — A. P. Coleman 605 



Swifts. — Aubrey Edwards 605 



Hughes's Induction Balance. — ^J. Cook 605 



Prof. Kirchhoff. By Prof, P. G. Tait 606 



On the Signification of the Polar Globules. By Prof, 



August Weismann 607 



The Total Eclipse of Last August in Japan. By 



Prof. David P, Todd. {Illustrated) 609 



The Marjalen See. By.Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R,S. 



{IVithaMap) 6l2 



The Bacillus of Malaria 613 



Notes 614 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Parallax of 2 2398 , . 616 



New Minor Planet ,616 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 



October 30 — November 5 616 



Geographical Notes 616 



Meteorological Notes 616 



The Sixth International Congress of Hygiene and XJ 



Demography in Vienna ^Vl 



The|Mineral Wealth of the United States, By 'II 



A. E. Foote 6fll 



The Exploration of New Guinea. {With a Map) . . 6fll 



The Wheat Crop of 1887. By Sir J. B. Lawes ... 622 ■ 



University and Educational Intelligence 623 



Societies and Academies 623 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 6i 



