5i6 



NA TURE 



[September 22, iJ 



Institutions aided. 



University College of North Wales, 

 Bangor 



University College of North Wales, 

 Bangor 



Durham College of Science, New- 

 castle-on-Tyne _ 



Durham College of Science, New- 

 castle-on-Tyne 



University College of Wales, Aber- 

 ystwyth 



Reading College 



Yorkshire College, Leeds 



University College, Nottingham ... 



South-Eastern Agricultural College, 

 Wye 



Cambridge and Counties Agricul- 

 tural Education Committee 



Eastern Counties Dairy Institute, 

 Ipswich 



British Dairy Institute, Reading ... 



Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 



Collegiate centre 



College farm 



Collegiate centre 



College farm 



Collegiate centre 



Collegiate centre 



Collegiate centre 



Collegiate centre 



Collegiate centre 



Collegiate centre 



Dairy instruction 



Dairy instruction 



Class for foresters and 

 gardeners 



Bath and West and Southern Coun- 

 ties Society Field experiments 



Bath and West and Southern Coun- 

 ties Society Cider experiments 



Bath and West and Southern Coun- 

 ties Society Cheddar cheese research 



Highland and Agricultural Society Agricultural experiments 



Agricultural Research Association,! 



Aberdeen Agricultural experiments 



Stewartry of Kircudbright Dairy 

 Association Cheese discoloration inquiry 



The grants to the collegiate centres in England and Wales 

 are of a general character, intended to assist and improve the 

 local provision made for instruction in the higher forms of 

 agricultural education. The thirty-two separate counties are 

 thus provided with an efficient and economical means of 

 systematising their local instruction, and of supervising demon- 

 stration plots and agricultural experiments by securing scientific 

 advice and the assistance of qualified lecturers drawn from the 

 collegiate educational staffs. The Durham College of Science 

 and the University College of North Wales have been granted 

 special assistance in consideration of- their having taken farms 

 for practical work and field experiments. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 12.— M. Faye in the 

 chair.— Meadow land in warm dry summers, by M. Ad. Chatin. 

 A list of those species of plants which have been found to be the 

 most capable of resisting a hot, dry summer. — Observation of 

 an aurora borealis, by M. H. Deslandres. An aurora was 

 observed at Meudon on September 9 about 9 p.m., and its 

 general direction was very nearly that of the magnetic meridian, 

 the rays having a greenish colour. — On the crystallisation of the 

 anhydrous sulphides of calcium and strontium, by M. Mourlot. 

 The crystallised sulphides of these metals can be prepared in 

 two ways, either by heating a mixture of the corresponding 

 sulphate with carbon, or by simply fusing the anhydrous 

 sulphide obtained by the method of M. Sabatier, the tempera- 

 ture employed being that of the electric furnace with a current 

 of 1000 amperes at 60 volts. The crystallised sulphides thus 

 produced are more stable than the corresponding amorphous 

 salts, and are attacked with difficulty by reagents ; carbon at a 

 very high temperature converts them into carbides. Both 

 crystallise in the cubic system, and are without action upon 

 polarised light. — On a double carbide of iron and tungsten, by 

 M. Percy Williams. This compound, the existence of which 

 was indicated in an earlier paper, is prepared by heating a 

 mixture of tungstic acid, iron and coke, in the electric furnace 

 with a current of 9CX3 amperes at 45 volts. The ingot formed 

 in the reaction contains the carbide of tungsten WC, probably 

 WoC, and the double carbide sWgC.aFeaC— On the com- 

 mercial extraction of thorium, by "MM. Wyronhoff and A. 

 Verneuil. The mineral is worked up by one of the usual 

 methods as far as the production of the oxalates, these pre- 

 cipitated by sodium carbonate and hydroxide, and the washed 

 precipitate dissolved in hydrochloric acid. This liquid is 

 treated with small portions of barium peroxide, until hydrogen 

 peroxide no longer gives a precipitate. The deposit, which is 

 NO. 1508, VOL. 58] 



of a reddish orange colour owing to the presence of cerium, 

 contains the whole of the thoria, with about 20 to 30 per cent. 

 of impurities. Further treatment with hydrogen peroxide after 

 a similar set of operations readily gives a very pure thoria. 

 The method has been applied on the large scale, starting with 

 five tons of monazite, with good results. — On the composition 

 of the humic constituents of the soil, by M. G. Andre. — On the 

 transformation of luminous variations into mobile relief, by M. 

 Dussaud. — On a new coccus, by M. Louis Leger. The new 

 species is found in the digestive tube of Lithobius hexodus, 

 and belongs to the genus Echinospora. Its microgametes are 

 furnished with vibratile cilia ; the name E. ventricosa is 

 suggested. — Influence of light on the form and structure of the 

 branches of the wild grape and ground ivy, by M. Maige. 

 Comparative cultures placed in light of decreasing intensities 

 showed that both from the morphological and anatomical 

 points of view, a feeble light increases the adaptive powers 

 of climbing plants, diffused light favouring the conversion of a 

 flower-bearing bud into a tendril. Direct sunlight produces 

 the opposite effect. — On the adherence of the cupric solutions 

 used for curing the cryptogamous diseases of the vine, by MM. 

 Guillon and Gouirand. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Books.— The Unconscious Mind : Dr. A. T. Schofield (Hodder).— U.S. 

 Departrrent of Agriculture : Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau, 

 1896-97 (Washington) —Bird Studies : W. E. D. Scott (Putnam).— CofTee 

 and India-rubber Culture in Mexico: M. Rvmero (Putnam). — The Sphere 

 of Science : Prof. F. S. Hoffman (Putnam).— A Text-Book of General 

 Astronomy: Prof. C. A. Young, new edition (Arnold).— A Pocket Dic- 

 tionary of Hygiene : C T. Kingzett and D. Homfray (Bailliere). — Uni- 

 versity College, Bristol, Calendar, 1898-99 (Bristol). — A Memoir of T. 

 Sterry Hunt: J. Douglas (Philadelphia). — Infinitesimal Analysis: Prof. 

 W. B. Smith, Vol. i (Macmillan).— Die Photometrie der Gestirne : Prof. G. 

 MuUer (Leipzig, Engelmann).— Die Photographic der Gestirne : Prof. J. 

 Scheiner (Leipzig, Engelmann).— Atlas to ditto (Leipzig, Engelmann).— 

 Untersuchungen zur Physiologic der Pflanzlichen Organisation : Prof. G. 

 Berthold, Erstcr Teil (Leipzig, Engelmann). — A Text-Book of Geodetic 

 Astronomy : I. T. Hayford (Chapman). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Fauna and Flora of the Pamir. By W. T. B. 493 



Sociological Science. By A. E. Taylor 494 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Strasburger, Noll, Schenck, Schimper : "A Text- 

 Book of Botany " 494 



Dumont : " Automobiles sur Rails " 495 



Lecornu : ' ' Regularisation du Mouvement dans les 



Machines " 495 



Kingzett and Homfray: "A Pocket Dictionary of 



Hygiene" 495 



Campion : " The Secret of the Poles " ...... 495 



Kerr: " Wireless Telegraphy, popularly explained " . 495 

 Letters to the Editor :— 



Chance or Vitalism.— Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S. 495 

 The Moon's Course.— Sir Samuel Wilks, Bart., 



F.R.S 496 



The Aurora of September 9.— Hon. Rollo Russell . 496 



AWhiteSea.— James W. Barrett 496 



Deep-Sea Dredging, and the Phosphorescence of 

 Living Creatures, at Great Sea Depths. — E. L. J. 



Ridsdale 497 



The Injection of Cocaine as a Remedy for Stings. — 



M.D., Oxen 497 



The Geography of the United States. {Illustrated.) 



By Dr. Hugh Robert Mill 497 



The British Association 498 



Section D.— Zoology. {With Diagrams.)— Opening 

 Address by Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 



President of the Section 499 



Section G.— Mechanical Science.— Opening Address 

 by Sir John Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., F.R.S., 



President of the Section 506 



International Sea Fisheries Congress at Dieppe . 511 



Notes ... 512 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



The Nebula of Andromeda 515 



Comets Tempel 1866 and Perrine-Chofardet . . . . 5^5 



Catalogue of Nebulse 5^5 



University and Educationallntelligence 515 



Societies and Academies 516 



Books Received 516 



